A Mother's Praise

Today we title of the sermonism Mother's Praise. And that's

what we come to do today is praise the Lord together.

It's what that Psalm declares, Come magnify the Lord with me.

So let's do that today. Let's look at God's word

and let's look at how Mary praise the Lord. If

your turned with me in your Bible is to Luke.

Luke is where we see Mary's praise Luke, chapter one,

and we were starting verse forty six in just a moment.

You know, as we think about Mother's Day, what a

wonderful day is a day that we share a lot

of time together. We share meals together, share gifts together.

It's the time that we honor our moms. We think

about all the different ways that they cared for us,

all the different sacrifices that they did, fun memories of

different fun times through the years, in times of care.

I wonder today for you moms and you ladies today,

what do you want to be remembered for? As we

think about and reflect act about your sacrifice and different

things that you did, what is what is the one

thing that that you want to be remembered for. I

heard a story of a two little boys. It was

a four year old and a six year old, and

they wanted to buy their mom a present from Mother's Day.

So they went to a florist and they looked and

they put all their money together and they bought this

beautiful bouquet of flowers and took it to their mom

and they gave it to their mom and there they said, Mom,

I know it's real pretty and all, but this is

not the one we wanted to get to for you.

We felt like there was one that that flower shop

that really fit you perfect, but Mama, we just couldn't

afford it. The one that we saw, mom, that we

felt like was for you was the one that says

rest in peace. Said that we thought it'd be perfect

for you, Mom, because you always asking for a little

piece so that you can have a little rest. You know,

what do you want to be remembered for? You want

to be remembered for always complaining a little bit and

you need a little rest, you need a little peace.

Or do you want to be remembered for your sacrifice?

You remember how you love the Lord. Today as we

come to this passage of scripture, Mary's remembered by something

She's remembered. She's she is remembered for a lot of

different things, but in this passage of scripture, she is

remembered for her praise to the Lord. This psalm in

this past I mean, this passage we're reading today is

a passage is called the Magnificent, and it is a

praise to the Lord. And so as we read this,

let's read this together. It's Luke chapter one, starting in

verse forty six, where you stand with me, and let's

read God's word together. Luke chapter one, starting in verse

forty six. The Bible says here and Mary says, my

soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God, my savior,

for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

And for behold, from now and all and on all

generations will call me bless, For he who is mighty

has done great things for me. And holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him, from generations

to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He

has scattered the proud and the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the mighty from their thronested exalted

those on humble estate. He has filled the hungry with

good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped the servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy,

and as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and

to his offspring forever. And Mary remained with her for

about three months and returned to her home. Let's pray together, Father,

we thank you Lord for this service. We thank you Lord.

Today we get to we get to see Mary's prayers

to you. Lord. We come together today, Lord because we

want to give you praise. God, You are worthy of praise,

and so God. Today, may the message that we look to,

may the words that I proclaim. May we may our

hearts today as hearers. May all of our thoughts, our hearts,

our words today bring you praise and everything we say

and do today, Lord, we pray that you would lead us. Now. Lord,

we ask Godfather for a movement of your spirit in

this place this morning. Your name. We pray, Amen, you

may be seated Mary's praise and a mother's praise. And

when you see Mary's praise this morning she come to

this pastor of scripture, It's very important as we see

his praise that we see or we see her praise

this morning that we see what leads up to this.

We understand that Mary is with child, she's pregnant by

the Holy Spirit, and she goes and visits her cousin Elizabeth.

And I want you to turn back with me and

see that together. In verse thirty nine, we see in

those days, Mary rose and went in haste to the

hill country to a town of Judah. And she entered

the house of Zacharia and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth

heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.

Elizabeth filled with all his spirit, and she exclaimed, with

a loud cry, blessed are you among women? Blessed is

the fruit of your womb? Why is it? Why is

this granted to me that the mother of my Lord

shall come to me? For behold, when the sound of

your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my

womb leaped for joy. And blessed is he who believed

that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken

to her from the Lord. We see this passage of

scripture that what leads up to Mary's praise is a visit.

She goes and visits her cousin and Elizabeth. Elizabeth doesn't

know Mary's pregnant, but as Mary calls out in greeting

to Elizabeth's name, the Bible says Elizabeth is filled with

the spirit, and she begins proclaiming, Blessed is the fruit

of your will. Blessed is your baby, and blessed am

I Elizabeth by being in your presence and being in

the presence of My Lord. She says, so Mary, Elizabeth

declares that that blessed is Mary, Blessed is Mary's baby.

Elizabeth declares that she's blessed by Mary's presence. Elizabeth declares

that the baby is filled with joy, that her baby,

John the Baptist, which is in her belly, is filled

with joy. At Christ's presence. Elizabeth declares the blessing of

believing in God's promises Messiah, all these different things. You've

got to understand that Mary comes and she's just man,

she is just she is just pulled out on praise.

I mean, Elizabeth just lays it out. I mean she

just marry you are blessed, your child is blessed. I

am blessed by being in your presence. She's filled with all.

But I want you to see this is so important.

Mary's response just that' say, you know what, you're right,

I am really good, I am really special. So it's

my baby, really special. No. She responds in a word

of praise, and this praise is called the magnificent and

it's studied throughout all the scripture, I mean throughout church history.

And in the beginning of her praise, listen what she says.

Mary says in verse forty six, and Mary says, my

soul magnifies the Lord, and my respirit rejoices in God,

my savior. You know how Mary responds by all the

praise of Elizabeth, all the understanding that she's blessed, she

responds by saying, I praise the Lord because he's my savior.

You know, the Catholics have, over the last many many years,

have had old titles to Mary, and they declared that

marries the Mother of God. They've called her the Queen

of Heaven, neither of which of these titles are find

in the Bible. They have a view that has kind

of developed over the last many many years that Mary's

immaculately conceived just as Jesus, and she was born sinless,

and that she, like Enoch, was transported into heaven. Thereby

she escaped to death and she's which is also unsupported.

And they also as early as the nineteen fifties, this

became a truth for the Roman Catholics. And so now

they something they do is they pray to Mary, and

they say Mary is co redemptive as Jesus, and so

you can fast to Mary because they believe that she

is sinless, she's miraculously conceived and all these different things,

and she escaped death. Can I tell you? According to scripture,

Mary was a sinner, just like you and I. And

in this passage of Scripture, as Mary begins her praise,

she doesn't begin by saying, oh, Holy am I. She

begins by saying I need a savior, and God, I

praise you because you saved me. Can I ask you today?

I heard a story of a little boy and he

was going to go get his mom a present. Went

into one of these big stores like Belts or Macy's,

and he went into the the lingerie apartment, went up

to the count a little boy, and he says, I

want to buy my mam a slip. The salesman's person

said to her, well, and he said to her, I

don't know what the size she is. The sales clerk

looked at a little boy and says, well, do you

know what she's short, she's tall, she's fat or skinny?

He says, she's perfect. So he got her a certain

size and took it to her his mom. Days later

she had to return it. But can I tell you

there is no perfect warming. There's no perfect mom. Everyone

in this room, there's no perfect man. We're all sinners,

from Mary to you, and we all need a savior.

And as we think about a Mother's Praise Day, it's

very important as we start off our praise by even

though we may have gotten alcolades all, you may get

a lot of praise today on Mother's Day. Ladies, today,

it's very important for you to say, Lord, I want

to praise you that you're my savior. I know I'm

a sinner, and I know I need you, Jesus, I

need you in my life. There's a mother praise. She

praised the Lord for his salvation. Secondly, she praised the

Lord for his grace. You look at verse forty eight

in this passage of scripture, it says, for he is

looking on the humble state of his servant for behold,

from now all generations will call me black, for he

who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy

is his name. It's interested. In verse forty eight, she declares,

Mary declares her praise. I praise the Lord for his

for he is my savior. But then in verse forty

eight she says, he's looked upon me. The word looked

upon me in the Greek is a word that expresses

God's graciousness. It's the idea that God graciously looks upon something,

someone in a time of need, and he gives compassion,

he provides care, he does something miraculous. It's the same word.

If you go back in the Old Testament, you remember

a mom who wasn't quite a mom yet who was baring.

Her name was Hannah. And you remember Hannah goes to

the temple and she's praying to the Lord because she's

been bearing all these years, and she seeks the Lord.

And that's what Hannah says in Hannah and Hannah Hannah

chapter one, actually First Samuel, chapter one, verse eleven. She

vowed a vowed and said, Oh, Lord of Hosts, listen

to this. If you will indeed look on the affliction

of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant,

but will give your servant a son. Then I will

give him to the Lord all the days of his life,

and no razel shall touch his head. You know what

Hannah's saying there? She said, Lord, I'm broken, I'm barn

And God, would you, just in your graciousness, just in

your goodness, would you look down to look upon my life?

Would you, God, see the ears where I'm broken? And God,

would you move where you touched the places where I'm broken?

There's that passage. That word is only used in Samuel,

but it's also used in Luke chapter nine and verse

thirty seven. There is this father who has a demon

possessed son, and he's suffering, offering over this possessions and

he cries out to Jesus and Luke nine thirty seven.

On the next day, when they come down from the mountain,

a great crowd met him. And behold, a man from

the crowd cried out, teacher, I beg you look at

my son, for he is my only child. You see that,

here's this father looking down and he has this demon

possessed son. We know Mark, this, this demon possessed son

has tried to hurt himself and done different things. And

the Father says, Oh, Jesus, were just shoking passion. Will

you see what's happening to my son? And God, will

you act? And Mary says in this passage of scripture, listen,

I was broken, God, I was bearing. I needed your grace. God,

and you look down upon me. And God, you, in

the midst of my sinful nature, in midst of my

broken despair, God, you chose to demonstrate your grace upon me.

And God you showed compassion to me by you choosing me.

Now you have to understand. Mary has just heard all

this praise from Elizabeth. Blessed? Are you blessed is your child?

And Mary's responses. I praise God for my savior, and

I praised him that he saw me in my darkest hour.

He saw me when I was hurting, He saw me

when I was alone, and God showed his compassion upon me.

Look at what Mary says. She says in verse forty eight,

For he said, looked upon the humblest state of his servant.

For a whole from now on, all generations will call

me blessed. Look at verse forty nine, for he who

is Mighty has done these great things for me. Holy

is his name. Mary doesn't say, you know what, after

all hearing all the blessing, you know I am really

I've really been faithful to church. You know this is

probably this was probably coming, you know. You know I

have really worked hard in my career. You know I've

done a lot for the church. You know I really

have been a good person. Mary doesn't say, you know,

this is look at what all I've done. She says,

look at all what He's done for me. It's not

because I earned it or I deserved it. It's because

God's grace at work in my life. I ask you, ladies,

would you praise the Lord today for your salvation? Would

you look beyond the last many years of your life,

and would you praise the Lord for his grace in

your life, that even in the times of need, in

times of brokenness, God graciously showed compassion on you and

did things in and through you that you could not

do on your own. It was His power at work

in you, not your power, not your strength, not your accolades.

Mary praised the Lord for her salvation. She praised the

Lord for his for his grace. Lastly, she praised the

Lord for his faithfulness. You look at the passage of

scripture here in verse fifty, Mary does a catalog basically

in the next few verses of the faithfulness of the Lord.

She says in verse fifty one, his mercy is for

those who fear him. From generation from generation, he has

shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud

and the thoughts of their hearts. He's brought down the

mighty from their thrones. He exalted the humble estate. He

has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich

he has sent away empty. He has helped to servant

Israel and rememberance of his mercy as he spoke to

our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. She

praises the Lord, and the next she verses. Mary's praise

focuses on the birth of her son and how God.

It demonstrates God's faithfulness to his promise to deliver a love.

That imagery of this passage because it says from in

verse fifty and also in fifty five, it explains from

generation to generation from Abraham's I mean from Abraham to

his offspring forever. It's the idea that God's faithfulness continues

to endure. From every generation. God has been faithful. From

what God promised to Abraham to the seed now of Jesus.

God has been faithful, and she praised as the Lord

for his faithfulness. In verse fifty, he is faithful to

give mercies to those who fear him. In verse forty

fifty one, he's faithful to demonstrate his strength in to

governing the hearts of the proud. In fifty two, he

is faithful to bring down the mighty leaders of the

world and to exalt the weak of the world. In

fifty three, he's faithful to care for the hungry and

cast away rich. In fifty four, he's faithful to his

people and he's not forgotten his promises of mercy. In

verse fifty five, he is faithful to his promise Abraham

to every generation. Mary gives praise to the Lord God.

I praise you for my salvation. God, I praise you

for the grace in my life. But God, I praise

you because you have been faithful from every generation and forevermore, God,

you will be faithful. I think I've told you this

story before, but my great great grandma, I guess you

could say my grandpa's grandma was a love the Lord,

and my grandpa was in a revival. He was a

teenager in Ashburgh, North Carolina, and throughout that revival he

was under conviction, so much under conviction that he says

that he had a hard time sleeping every night because

he was not saved, and the conviction of what was

happening in his life was was honing me at night.

That next night he went to the revival service and

the Holy Spirit was owning, And about that time his

great grandmother came by and she put her arms around

him and she says, would you have my Jesus? I've

been praying for you, and I ask you tonight, will

you have my Jesus? Can I tell you that there's

a in my life, There's been a lot of wonderful,

faithful women, from my great great grandma to my grandma Lanier,

Betty Lanier, to Bernice Barbie, my Dad's that mom, to

my wife's grandmother, Daddy Williamson, Fleeta Belle Fowler, my mom,

Janet McKnight, my mother in law Dean Fowler, now Brandy,

and now my girls. But you know, as you think

about the generations after generations, the faithful women that God

has put in my life and the impact that that's

made on me, but now the impact that now was

made on my two girls. But listen. As important it

is to recognize their faith to the Lord and their

love for the Lord, and their desire to share that

love of the Lord with their children and future generations

to come. Listen. It's important to remind of their faith

and their love to share that faith. But listen to

me at the center their love for the Lord was

a faithful God. God was faithful to my grandma when

she lost her child, Betty Lanier Bernice Barbie, my grandma.

God was faithful to her when she got Parkinson's. God

was faithful to Brandy's grandma, Betty Williamson, when she lost

the love of her life. He was faithful to Fleety

Bellflowler when she lost her love of her life. God's

been faithful to my mom through a divorce and through cancer.

God was faithful to Brandy's mom through lupus and many

losing her dad and many other her mom. God's been

faithful to Brandy through the sick and dealing with a

husband who's a preacher. Through it all, God has been

faithful and for every generation. God has been faithful, from

Abraham to today. Listen you, ladies today, will you praise

the Lord because he's your savior? Will you praise the

Lord today because of his grace at work in you.

It's not been your power, it's not been your might,

It's been the grace of God in you and will be.

Will you praise the Lord today because he is and

he's faithfully to give you mercy in every need of

your life? Would you pray with me God, we thank

you Lord today that as we come to your word, Lord,

we recognize that God, you are worthy of praise. As

we think about Mother's Day, we think about giving praise

to our mothers. But today Lord, we want to be

a church that we give you praise. Lord, We praise

you from from mothers to men. Here today, God, may

you receive the praise of Lord, Lord, of your of

how you've given us salvation. May we praise you as

our savior God today. May we praise you for the

grace have been upon our life, the work that you've

done in and through us. Today, Father and day, may

we praise you because you are faithful, Lord, Lord. So

I pray today as we come to this time of invitation.

I pray that this would be a service Lord, that

we Lord, we call out to you, just as Elizabeth

called out and was filled with the spirit and felled

full of praise. Lord. May you feel us now, Lord,

that we might give you praise. Lord, You deserve our

praise this morning. Or I pray for someone here today

that doesn't know Yours, Lord and Savior, and maybe they

don't have the legacy of faith that day that I shared,

but today's today, that it can start with them. R

I pray they'd be those today that, just like Mary,

recognize that she was a sinner. I pray they'd be

those today that recognize their sinner. They sinned against you, God,

and their sin separates you from a God, that separates

them from You. Lord. I pray that be those today

that wouldn't admit that Lord, their sinner, their sinner. They

would believe that You came and lived and died on

a cross for their sins. And Lord, I pray that

there would be those who would confess you as Lord

today and receive Lord forgiveness of sin and salvation in

You today. Lord, I pray, Lord, if there's someone here today,

I pray they wouldn't make that right with you. Today, Lord,

I pray, as we have this time of invitation, something

needs to come to this, alter it and just spend

some time in prayer, praising or Lord, praying for salvation

for a son or a daughter, or child or a grandchild.

I pray, Lord, you lead them. Lord, just like we

see Mary praying and praising Lord, you, may we follow

her example today. Lord, we love you. We thank you

Lord for your word and your name. We pray Jesus

to