12/02/2018

Can from Luke chapter 1 verses 26 through 38? And the 6-month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town and Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the House of David The Virgins name was Mary and he came to her and said greetings favored one. The Lord is with you, but she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God and now you will conceive in your room and beerus sun and and you you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give to him the Throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom and of his kingdom there will be no end Mary said to the angel. How can this be since I am a virgin the angel said to her the holy spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you there for the child to be born will be holy. He will be called Son of God and now your relative Elizabeth and her old age has also conceived the Sun and this is a 6-month for her who was said to be Barren for nothing will be impossible with God. Then Mary said here. Am I the servant of the Lord let it be with me according to your word then the angel departed from her? the word of God for the people of God

Thank you, sir. What is prey? Lorde May the meditations of our hearts in the words of my lips be pleasing in your site our Rock and Our Redeemer. amen

You know in our simplification of the Christmas story. In order to share it with children. We kind of gloss over something. We kind of say well. Mary was the the perfect student. Nobody ever talked about her sideways everyone always thought the best right? Want to simplify things?

But in the simply speak, we're going to need to get down to the nitty-gritty of what it means to follow Jesus. Because what was Mary's status? She didn't have one. You didn't have one. She wasn't even worthy of one. He certainly didn't come from the right family. That was Joseph. and and it certainly didn't have any power. She was probably what 13-14 maybe 15. And she was going to marry a much older man. like probably 7 8 9 years older.

They probably didn't really have much in common. That wasn't what it was about then and and even so into that this Angel appears to this girl who's not from the right family who doesn't have any status who lives in a world of violence and depravity and in this Angel says the first thing which is fear not

I don't know how ugly Angel Gabriel was is whatever offense. The reality of it is every time he shows up. He's got to say fear. Not Don't Be Afraid don't be afraid and it kind of goes along with with the Annunciation it it's this is about the Annunciation of Jesus and I'm not trying to have good diction. Okay. So Annunciation is a and and and it's the announcement of Christ coming. Okay and sew in on our church calendar. We celebrate it like March 25th or something, right like the perfect 9 months and so March 25th is when we have it this Sunday is part of Advent because we think you'll forget about it if we did at 9 months ago, and so we want to put it now and so there's so much that happens in this time frame, but what essentially happens is that marries life. speaks Mary's life speaks Do you like the prophets of old they showed up and the first thing they said was fear not and then they went right into sane Mary in the vision. They would say the name of the person that they were speaking to to let them know that God was speaking to them. And then they would say you have God's favor. If God ever if it there is an angel that appears that says you have God's favor. That's a lot. a lot of weight It's a lot of weight because God's favor is going to lead to what? Leaving town running away having a son that's constantly getting in trouble having to get his brothers together and his sisters together to go see if he's even mentally stable anymore that happens from the things you like to go out sober. And so so all of these responsibilities Mary receives, that's her favor. But it's our reward. Because without Mary saying what she says at the end, we never get savior. All of our Christian faith relies on Mary's life speaking.

Christ to the world around And so Merry disfavor and then and then the angel always says like this is what you're going to name the kid. Okay, right like no choice. Don't worry about it. Put the books away. We got a name. In this case, it's really Yeshua like Josh. Hey, so nothing real out there. And so then the roll Lord and Savior the world And it's not where Mary probably fought the savior of the world was coming from the Messiah was coming from let alone anyone else. And so Mary has to say something. And in response Mary says here.

I am I the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.

Here I am.

the servant of the Lord she offers all that she has which is nothing. But her life which is all that she has its all-encompassing and she says God. Here I am. Your servant whatever may happen according to your will.

in order

to speak we have to have Breath Right in order for others to hear us. We have to have breath. I am so up before we get there in Genesis chapter 1. How does God create the world? and the Lord said And the Lord said and the Lord said it's like and the Lord said let there be light and then the Lord said let there be the separations or if you just look it up. It's all the Lord said right? So God speaks. And it happens. until he gets to other home. Adam you say Adam was more like a dumb and the Nets. Adam comes from out of mine. Which is soil. If you remember at a graveside committal of the funeral what we say pastor says ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Did the ashes aren't that you were formed from ashes but that Humanity was formed from ashes and the dust is that's what happens. So the idea that that God took this so oil. Created a human. And then God breathed into the nostrils of a dime. And that brought about life. That breathing into God's breath breathed into the nostrils. brought about life and and we know that that's Adam. His wife spoke once he was created. And then and then they had two kids and then one of them listen to him they were the good kid and then one of them didn't write. And then generation after generation after generation until until you get to Isaiah Wright way way way down when Isaiah talks about the coming of Jesus right using his voice to talk about the coming child. It will rain. And then down and down and down to timehri. And then get this Mary's life spoke. to Jesus Jesus Spoke to the disciples end of the apostles then to the church fathers and down and down and down to some of our favorite person John and Charles Wesley. And then those people spoke their lives down and down and down to us. And so our lives are speaking to others and here's the thing about letting your life speak. You don't have to use words. Your life is already speaking and you don't have to utter a word.

What is your life? saying two others What what are you bringing to the table of Grace? Are you bringing judgement? Are you bringing self-righteousness? Are you bringing hatred? Are you bringing hostility? Are you bringing guilds? Are you bringing race? Are you bringing hope? Are you bringing salvation and words of assurance? Are you bringing with your life the kinds of words that speak? Better why you're here today. Because you're here today because someone spoke to you. And it clicked. It clicked so much that you kept coming back. And others have spoken to you and maybe you had people that spoke to you words of love. But the reality is all of us have had people who spoke to us with guilt and shame and hatred. See, that's the other opportunity for our lives to speak. But we as Christians are called to speak this hope and love that we felt from God because we come from this grace that we've been covered by not because we're good enough. But because our God is good. Amen. And so what what it means to simply speak?

I have this.

What it means the simply speak is the simply be our souls following Jesus. To where others might see God's faith. That's all it is. You know in in all the discussion. about migrants in our country, right? It's our country like but but but people on the borders, right? A conversation with a friend this last 2 weeks. I was reminded something. The only reason I'm welcome here is because you welcome The Stranger. The only reason I'm welcome here is because you welcome a stranger. I am nothing but a blind beggar in a suit. I have a house because you love God I get a paycheck because you give I'm no different than a bagger. message we have the message we have is the difference cuz the message brings life because it's brought you life is brought me life and we hope that it brings the children life. that is why we are here to worship. We are here to worship so that our lives can simply speak and that others may hear what we have to say and others may feel the love of Christ a new. But we have to make the decision to allow that to happen.

And so I asked you this week.

What do you say with your life? How does your life speak? Mary lived in a world of violence and oppression and depravity. We live in a world of violence and oppression and depravity. Nothing has changed except God continues to speak. this Christmas What will your life say? simply speak amen