Luke chapter 1 verse 26 leading up to this and the first part of Luke chapter 1 you can
go back and read it this week but it had been revealed to Zechariah that he and Elizabeth
were going to have a child and that child would be John and this had several months had passed
after Elizabeth became pregnant with John and that's where we take up tonight in verse
26 in the six month of her pregnancy, of Elizabeth's pregnancy, then we are introduced to Mary's
pregnancy here.
So let's pray and we'll get started.
Father God we come to you, we thank you for a good day, we thank you that we can come
here and sing these songs and see your word.
I pray God that your word would speak to us, that your Holy Spirit would lead us in your
word dear Lord, that you would help us to grow in it tonight, that we would see things
in our life maybe that we need to see to be the people we need to be for you God.
I pray that during this season that we reflect on who Jesus is dear Lord in the midst of
the busyness and the hustle and the bustle that we would just seek Jesus not just at
this season but every season of the year dear Lord, every day of our life and I pray that
your Holy Spirit would just hide me behind the cross as I preach and teach tonight in
Jesus name I ask it, amen.
Luke chapter 1 verse 26, in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town
in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph of the house of David.
The virgin's name was Mary and the angel came to her and said, rejoice favored woman, the
Lord is with you.
She was deeply troubled by this statement wondering what kind of greeting this could
be.
Then the angel told her, don't be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God.
Now listen, you will conceive and give birth to a son and you will call his name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give
him the throne of his father David.
He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end.
Mary asked the angel, how can this be since I have not been intimate with a man?
The angel replied to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most
high will overshadow you.
Therefore the Holy one to be born will be called the son of God.
And consider your relative Elizabeth, even she has conceived a son in her old age and
this is the sixth month for her who was called childless for nothing will be impossible with
God.
Now we can imagine the difficulty, the fear that Mary must have felt when all of this
came to be.
We see here in just a few verses, in just a minute's time we see some really heavy news.
I mean can you imagine what it must have been like for Mary, a young woman, probably not
very old at all.
And here is this angel that appears, that in and of itself would have been a scary thing
and this angel tells her that she has been chosen by God, that in and of itself is a
scary thing and that she is going to give birth to the son of God.
And it's all going to happen miraculously.
Even Mary questions, wait a minute, I've never been with a man before, how is this going
to happen?
Mary understood how this works, she understood how giving childbirth worked and she said
wait a minute, this is not even possible.
But the angel says this is the Lord's plan and through the Holy Spirit you will conceive
and you will give birth to the son of God and all things are possible with God.
And this would have been unbelievable news to receive.
And I suppose, especially for the women in here, how would you feel if that experience
happened to you?
What would be our response if the Lord appeared to us tonight, if an angel appeared to us
tonight and told us news like that?
Now we all like to think that we would be ready to go like Mary, that we would say,
okay Lord, I'm willing, I'm ready, whatever you say.
But maybe we're not so willing.
For us guys, maybe the story is much like it is for Joseph.
Joseph's ready to call the whole thing off when he finds out that Mary is pregnant.
But yet the angel of the Lord appears to him and says, hold up Joseph, this is of the Lord.
How many of us men would say, yeah right, I'm not stupid, I know how babies are made.
So we look at Joseph and Mary and it's a pretty amazing thing that the Lord speaks to them
and they both say yes Lord.
They both follow through.
That Mary doesn't really question the angel too much other than the obvious questions,
but not questioning in a way of doubt like, no, go on to the next woman angel, I'm not
the woman for the job.
She questions, obviously there's probably some fear and there's some uncertainty there,
but nonetheless, Mary receives the message from the angel and Joseph receives the message
from the angel and they both follow through in the plan of the Lord.
Now you and I are not going to be approached by an angel tonight.
You women are not going to be approached by an angel tonight that's going to tell you
that you're going to give birth to the son of God.
It's not going to happen.
If an angel appears to you tonight and tells you that, then you call me.
We want to have a talk.
Jesus has already come.
The one and only son of God has already come.
That's not going to happen to us.
There's no angel going to appear to us men and tell us that our wives are going to give
birth to the son of God.
That's not going to happen to us, but God calls us to do things all the time.
We might like to say, well, if I was Mary, I would have done that.
I would have been willing to do whatever God called me to do.
We may say to us men, we'd say, if my wife was pregnant and God sent that message to
me, I would stand by her and be a man of God and raise that child just like Joseph did.
Maybe we would, but then again, maybe we wouldn't.
We might like to say that we would do the big things for God, but the question that
we really have to answer tonight is are you ready to do the small things for God?
Because God's not going to appear to us and tell us that our family is going to bring
the son of God into the world, but there may be other ways that God speaks to us and that
God calls us to do something, not to bring the son of God into the world through birth,
but to take the son of God into the world that needs to hear the gospel.
How many times in our life do we feel the Holy Spirit leading us to do something?
Yeah, it may not be an angel appearing to us in the middle of the night, or maybe it
will be.
I'm not going to say what God will or won't do in your life.
There are certainly people that claim that angels appear to them with some pretty powerful
things even still today.
Maybe God still works in that way, but more often than not, God doesn't work that way.
More often than not, we read God's word and maybe God speaks to us through his word.
He puts something on our heart, some way that he wants us to serve him, some way that he
wants us to serve other people.
Perhaps it's the Holy Spirit.
We're driving down the road in the middle of the day and the Holy Spirit really begins
to burden us about someone or something.
We really feel led by God that we need to help somebody out, that we need to give somebody
a phone call, that we need to give somebody a visit, that there's something that God may
want us to do.
There's some way that God may call us to serve.
How many times do we say yes and how many times do we say no?
And Mary and Joseph didn't say no in this pretty amazing event that occurred.
And many of the things that God call us to are not nearly as hard to do as what he called
Mary and Joseph to do.
It takes a pretty strong man of God to say, okay, God, if this is what you tell me to
do, I'm going to stay with this woman and I'm going to trust that this is of you.
That takes a pretty strong man.
It takes a pretty strong woman to say, okay, God, this is a crazy thing.
And man, what if people see me pregnant before I'm married?
What are people going to think?
Or I'm not ready for this responsibility.
We can make a lot of excuses, but neither one of them made any excuses.
But what about you and I?
Do we do the big things?
Well, if we don't do the small things, probably not.
If we're faithful with the little, we'll be faithful with a lot.
But are we faithful with the little?
Or are we faithful to pick up the phone of that person that maybe God puts on our heart
that we need to call and reach out to and say, how you doing?
You're on my mind.
Are we willing to go see that person that's really hurt us?
Maybe knock on the door of a neighbor that hadn't been too good to us.
Maybe they're just an old scrooge.
Maybe we really don't want to go see him, but maybe that's who God put on our heart.
Maybe there are ways that God calls us to serve him.
Maybe not nearly as beautiful and as wonderful and as amazing as what God has called Joseph
and Mary to here.
But nonetheless, if God calls us to something, then we need to be faithful to be servants
to God when he calls us to it.
So this angel comes before Mary and presents this information, and Mary's response is good
for us to consider tonight.
She says, in verse 38, at the end of the angel speaking to her, she says, I am the Lord's
slave, said Mary.
May it be done to me according to your word.
Then the angel left her.
What a good response.
God sends an angel to her and says, Mary, this is how I'm going to use you to accomplish
my will.
And Mary said, I am the Lord's slave.
I am the Lord's servant.
Here I am, Lord, send me, as we see in Isaiah.
That's Mary's response.
And so what is your response and my response today?
Maybe our response is like Mary here.
Maybe God speaks to us and calls us to serve him in some way.
And we say, God, here I am.
I am your slave.
I am here to do your will.
Or maybe we're more like Moses and say, God, it's not me.
I'm not the man for the job.
I don't want to do it.
I'm not good enough to do it.
Are we those who make excuses when God calls us to serve in some way?
Are we those that make excuses when God says, I want you to be part of my will to accomplish
my will for my kingdom.
I've chosen you to do it.
But what is our response?
More times than I'd like to admit, my response is making some excuses.
But Mary gives us the right example.
And our response should be today, if there's something God's been calling you to do, if
there's somebody that God's been putting on your heart, if there is something that you
just really feel like you need to do, then maybe today is the day that you need to say,
God, I am your servant.
I am ready to serve you.
I'm ready to go where you send me.
I'm ready to do what you want me to do.
God, here I am to do your will.
That was the response of Mary.
And that needs to be your response and my response tonight.
Let's pray.
God, we come to you.
We thank you for your good word.
And I pray, dear Lord, that we can learn from this beautiful story.
What a beautiful and amazing night that must have been for Mary when she heard this news.
Dear Lord, when the angel appeared to her, what fear and just amazement she must have
felt that night.
But dear Lord, what a beautiful response she had.
So God, I pray that those of us in here tonight would be a little more like Mary and a little
more like Joseph.
God, sometimes the things that you call us to, the things that you put before us may
seem just as crazy and as impossible as what Mary and Joseph heard.
But dear Lord, your will and your kingdom is going to be done, dear Lord.
And you call us to help do it so many times.
And dear Lord, I pray that you would help us to be faithful servants to what you call
us to.
So God, I pray tonight that maybe if there are areas in our life that we've seen that
you would help us to walk in obedience to you in those areas.
Maybe there's some areas to serve tonight that we have not seen.
Maybe we hadn't been asking you.
Maybe we just need to ask you tonight.
Maybe we need to open our eyes and we need you to help us to open our eyes to see the
ways that you may be calling us to serve, the opportunities that you may put before
us.
That tonight we would be like Mary, dear Lord, and say, I am your slave.
I'm your servant, dear Lord.
I'm here to serve you and to do your will.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.