Your Story - Mary’s Story - Mother’s Day Sermon

things.

Amen. Is my conviction that the story of

your life is written in moments. It's

not about how long you live. It's about

the moments that happen in the time

period that you are alive. And some of

those moments are going to be very happy

moments. Some of them are going to be

sad moments. Some will be unexpected.

Some will be stressful. Some will be

joyful. But I guarantee you this, you

will have these things called God

moments. These are moments where God

tells you to go, to give, to speak, to

be silent, to change course. It's times

when God speaks to you. And it's your

response to those moments that make the

pivotal points in your story. So today,

I want to look at one of my favorite

people in scripture, which is Mary, the

mother of Jesus. And I want to look at

her encounter specifically with the

angel Gabriel in Luke chapter 1. So if

Luke 1 · chapter mention

you join me there, Luke chapter 1. Uh

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Gabriel is mentioned three times in

scripture. The first time we see this

angel, he appears to Daniel. The second

time we see him, he appears to

Zachchariah, which is uh Mary's cousin.

And then the third time that we see him,

he speaks to Mary. And this is that

encounter in Luke 1

26 says, "In the sixth month," that's

important. We'll come back to that. So

keep a mental note there. In the sixth

month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God

to a town of Galilee called Nazareth to

a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph

of the house of David. The virgin's name

was Mary. So, the angel Gabriel comes to

a uh a small town in Galilee called

Nazareth. And what I love about this

this story is that it kind of reminds us

that it doesn't really matter where

we're from. If God calls us to do

something, then we will be equipped to

do it. So he goes to this this little

town that's no bigger than 20 acres,

very small town, and

explains explains to Mary that she's got

an important task. And as you read

scripture, you you read about Nazareth,

you always see things like what

Nathaniel said when Philip came to him

and said, "Hey, the Messiah is here. He

came out of Nazareth." And Nathaniel

says, "Well, what good can come of

Nazareth?" That's how small and

insignificant this this town was. But

the pivotal po moments of our life are

not built around contextual details.

Please understand that the pivotal

moments in your life are not built

around contextual details. God does not

disqualify you from kingdom moments

based on things like your education or

your experience, your money, your

stature, your last name, or where you're

from. Your employer, yeah, they value

those things. But God, he looks past all

of that. And he looks directly into your

heart. And he gives you opportunities

not based on anything externally about

you. He gives you opportunities based on

his calling in you. The kingdom

potential that he placed in you, the

gifts and talents that he knitted

together in your DNA while you were in

your mother's womb. Like you can be from

a a small town. You can be from a town

with like one stop sign and a piggly

wiggly. You can be from a town with one

stoplight in the Dollar General or you

can be from New York City. It really

does not matter where you're from

because your core identity is not based

on your last name or your hometown. Your

core identity is based on who Christ

created you to be. So, we have this this

angel Gabriel and he appears to a virgin

named Mary. And again, she's just a

small town

girl living in a lonely world.

Hey, look. I'm sorry. You can fire me if

you want. The Holy Spirit speaks to me

in music. Okay? So, it

just that's who she is, man. She's

probably about 15 years old, small town

girl, lonely world. Like, and then verse

28, it says this angel came to her and

said, "Greetings." What's the next two

words?

Greetings, favored woman. The Lord is

with you. But she was what?

Deeply troubled by this statement,

wondering what kind of greeting could

this possibly be, Mary was confused by

the phrase, "Favored woman, the Lord is

with you." Now, these words should have

been empowering, especially coming from

an angelic being, but she did not

receive them as empowering. So, women in

the room, could you help me out? Why Why

did she not receive those words as

empowering?

What's your

theories? Moms don't talk on Mother's

Day. Is that how this works?

Guys, you want to man explain it to

them? I mean, we can do that. I'm trying

to give y'all a chance. Why Why didn't

she receive these these words as

affirming and empowering? Why do you

think she didn't feel she deserved it?

Right? She did not believe them to be

true. She did not believe them to be

true. That's the key to today's message.

God is speaking to you and he's saying,

"Greetings, favored person." But there's

so many of us that do not believe those

words to be true. I mean, think about

it. She's from a small town. She's a no

account teenager. She probably spends

all of her time working. And that little

bit of free time she gets, she's she's

planning her wedding. She's a perfectly

ordinary girl. So, she's asking herself,

"What could possibly qualify me to be a

favored woman? I am not some senator's

kid from the big city of Jerusalem. I'm

just plain old Mary. How could I be

favored?" And then, so the angel says to

her in verse 20 or verse 30, "Do not be

afraid." So the angel picks up on the

fact that she's troubled by that

statement and he says, "You have found

favor with God." So you're favored.

Okay? And then reinforces it. You have

found favor with God. This phrase favor

with God, it's it's caris. It's it means

unmmerited favor. Means you didn't earn

it. Doesn't matter what you think about

you. It matters what God thinks about

you. And he says you're favored. Now, I

love these little Easter eggs in

scripture that kind of reward you for

reading the Old Testament very

thoroughly. Like when you get to the New

Testament, there's there's callbacks to

the Old Testament. And if you take your

time in the Old Testament, you study the

language and you study the words that

some of the stuff in the New Testament

is just like, whoa, this is incredible.

These little God moments that he puts in

scripture to help us know that it was

all knit together by the Holy Spirit. So

the first time that caris is used is in

the old testament and it's when God

speaks to Noah. So God says to Noah, you

have found Caris. You have found

unmmerited favor. He's like, greetings

favored Noah. And then he tells him, I'm

going to spare you and your family from

this this global flood, this God's

judgment on all of humanity. And now

this is the pivotal moment in Noah's

life. He's like, "Do I actually listen

to God and build an ark on dry land in a

place that's never flooded before, or do

I give in to the attacks from my

community, my friends, my family that

think I'm crazy for building this huge

ark?" Now, it is hard to resist the

temptation to quit when people that are

in your your community and your friend

group, especially when they criticize

you for doing the things that you just

know God called you to do. But Noah

persevered in this moment. Like this is

his God moment. And he persevered and he

he was obedient. And his obedience saved

humanity because he and his family, they

got into that ark and it rose them above

God's judgment, the flood that he sent.

So then we go back to the New Testament.

The very first time this word is used is

when Gabriel speaks to Mary. Mary, who

is going to give birth to the savior of

the world, the ark, if you will, of the

New Testament. All who are in Christ are

what? Spared from God's judgment.

Friends, that that's incredible. I don't

know if it hit you like it hit me, but

man, I I'm reading this and I'm like,

"Wow." The very first time this is used

is when God is talking about saving

humanity in the Old Testament. And then

the very first time in the New Testament

that it's used is when God is actually

literally saving humanity through the

ark that is Jesus

Christ. And so in verse 31, the angel

continues. He says, "Now listen, you're

going to conceive and give birth to a

son, and you will name him

Jesus." This is the fulfillment of the

prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 that says, "The

Isaiah 7:14

virgin will conceive a child. She will

give birth to a son. They will call him

Emanuel, which means God with us." Now,

think about this from Mary's

perspective. She's been going to to

church. She's been going to the temple.

She's been going to synagogue her entire

life. She's heard rabbi after rabbi

preach this sermon. Like this is their

Easter sermon. This is the the biggest

sermon of the year. When they talk about

the fact that even though the world

around them is falling apart, there's

going to be a day when the Messiah comes

to be with us and saves us from all this

sin and all this terrible stuff that is

going on around us. And she's been in

that worship service. She's probably

raised her hands and and praised God for

hearing that message. And now she hears

it from the the very mouth of an angel.

And she's like, "Oh

my, that that that rabbi was talking

about me. That that scripture was

talking about me. That that prophecy in

Isaiah, it was talking about me." And

the angel continues. He says, "He will

be great and be called the son of the

most high. and the Lord God will give

him a throne on his father David's

throne and he will reign over the house

of Jacob forever and his kingdom will

have no end. So Mary is still processing

all this and she probably remembers this

as well because this is a direct quote

from Psalm 89 where God speaks to David

and says look I'm going to establish

your descendants as kings forever. And

she's like whoa this story in Psalm 89

is now my story. I'm the one. See,

Gabriel shows up after 400 years of

silence. The last prophet was Malachi.

The last person to speak the will of God

to people was Malachi. And that was 400

years ago. So, they have been waiting

for 400 years to hear a word from God.

And then Gabriel shows up and he speaks

to Zachchariah, Mary's cousin. Then six

months later, he goes and he speaks to

Mary. And he's like, "All of those

prophecies that you have studied in the

scriptures your entire life are getting

ready to come true in you. You are the

favored woman. You are going to be the

fulfillment of prophecy." Samaria, 400

years, your people have waited for a

word. Generation after generation,

waiting on the Messiah. And the Messiah

is finally here. And you are going to

bring him into the world. and you are

going to raise him. Now, if an angel

said that to me, I would pass out

immediately. I would be of no use to

that angel at that point. But what I

love about Mary is she receives all of

this and then gets practical. Look in

verse 34, she's like, "Well, how can

this be since I have not had relations

with a man?" Good question, Mary. Maybe

the angel doesn't understand how biology

works. I don't know. But that's her

initial response. Don't pass out.

Actually ask the angel how this could

possibly be. And he has a word for her,

of course. In verse 35, he says, "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." Mary has

just received this lifealtering news

from God. And from what we know about

her, she is very pragmatic. She thinks

things through. She doesn't just jump

into the deep end. She has a plan,

right? And so she thinks through this

and she's like, "Wow, this has some

major ramification ramifications in my

life, especially for my relationship

with Joseph." See, she was already

engaged to Joseph and in the Old Test or

in the uh first century Jewish culture,

and engagement wasn't just a proposal or

a social media photo opportunity. like

when you got engaged, you were legally

married to that person. It was a formal

agreement between two families that

these two individuals were married

already. Now, they would not consummate

the marriage until the day of the

wedding ceremony. But in the eyes of

man, in the eyes of the law, she was

already married. And so this pregnancy

would be looked at as her by her

community as either immorality or

something that that she and Joseph had

entered into earlier than they should

have. And so there was no real clean way

out of this. She was going to have to

tell the love of her life that she was

pregnant and that the baby was not his.

And there was a very distinct

possibility that Joseph would think that

she had disobeyed God and dishonored her

family and disgraced her name. She knew

there was potential that she would have

to go and face the city council and then

be shamed and shunned publicly. But this

is her moment and it would have been a

crushing moment if not for the fact that

the angel led into this difficult

conversation by reminding her that she

is a favored woman by speaking about

Caris. Now will she receive this truth?

Will will she receive the fact that

she's actually a favored woman? Or will

the the weight of this call just crush

her? Well, what I love about this

scripture is that it reminds us that

faith is accompanied by proof of what is

not seen. Faith is the assurance of what

is hoped for. So, the angel doesn't just

drop all this in her lap and go away.

The angel continues to give her

affirmation to help her understand that,

hey, you are equipped for this calling.

God is ahead of you in the power of the

Holy Spirit. He is paving the path for

you. So he says in verse 36, 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. So he's like, Mary, I know

that you are confused. I know this is a

lot to take in. It's like drinking water

out of a fire hydrant. Man, this is I

know what I've what I've laid on you in

this moment. I know that I've put you in

an impossible situation, but I'm going

to give you some evidence that God is in

control, that God has got this. And he

says, "For nothing will be impossible

with God." Gabriel's like, "Look, the

Holy Spirit's going to handle all of

this stuff. I know you think you need to

be in control. I know you think that you

need to map this whole thing out. I know

what's going on in your mind as you're

thinking through the ramifications of

what this is going to do to your

engagement with with Joseph. I know that

you're worried about all of those

things, but I need you to just look at

this. Look at what God has done in your

cousin Elizabeth's life. Then verse 38,

she responds. She says, "I am the Lord's

servant. May it happen to me as you have

said." And then the angel left her. So

let's back up six months. Six months

earlier in the story, Mary's cousin

Elizabeth and Zachariah, they have their

God moment. The scripture says of them

that they are well advanced in years.

It's a nice way of saying they old.

Okay? Way past childbearing years.

They're they're way too old to to have a

baby. Zachariah was a a priest. And I

can imagine when he went into the temple

to pray, I could just see him a lot of

times praying for God to give them a

child, God to to bless them with a baby.

And God never answered that prayer. And

I'm sure they had given up at some

point. But then this angel Gabriel shows

up to to let them know that Elizabeth is

actually going to become pregnant. And

Elizabeth receives this news with great

joy. And Zechariah is like, "Huh?" And

guess what? He doesn't get to talk again

till his baby boy is born because God

does not want a faithless man in the

pulpit. That that's my interpretation of

all of

that. So the angel Gabriel then waits

six months before he goes to tell Mary

about Elizabeth. So why does the six

month

matter? Why the

delay? Come on ladies, help me out, man.

Killing me up here.

What happens after six months of

pregnancy? Like something usually

little baby bump maybe. I'm just I don't

know. I don't know how that works. I'm

just saying. So he waits six months

because of this. He waits six months so

that when Mary goes to visit Elizabeth

when she sees Elizabeth, there is 100%

evidence that her cousin Elizabeth, who

wasn't going to be able to have babies,

is now pregnant with a baby. It's that

little extra bit of assurance that I

promise you God gives you when he calls

you to do something. When he says go,

when he says serve, when he says give,

when he says teach, when he says talk to

that person, don't talk to that person,

when he says that to you, he will give

you evidence that he is able to do all

things. He will give you evidence that

nothing is impossible with God. And that

was the key for Mary. She needed to see

it. She needed to to have a tangible

representation of God's incredible

power. And that was what Elizabeth did

for her. It says in verse 39, "In those

days, Mary set out and hurried to the

town in the hill country of Judah where

she entered Zachariah's house and

greeted Elizabeth." So Mary goes to see

Elizabeth so she can clearly see if the

angel is speaking the truth or not.

See, Mary struggled with this whole idea

that she could be favored, that she

could be called to such an incredible

task. She's just ordinary Mary, you

know, and now she shows up and she sees

Elizabeth and she has to think in her

mind, well, nothing is impossible with

God. But then it gets weird. All right,

verse 40. When Elizabeth heard Mary's

greeting, the baby leaped inside of her,

and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy

Spirit. And then in verse 42 it says,

"She exclaimed with a loud with a loud

cry," "Blessed are you among women, and

your child will be blessed." That's

right, folks. Elizabeth just tells

another woman who is not showing at all

that she is pregnant. All right? You

don't do that. Okay? Like my mom taught

me that at a very young age. You never

assume. Never assume. Well, Elizabeth

sure enough assumed. Why? Because she

had the power of the Holy Spirit in her.

And the Holy Spirit gave her vision to

see that Mary was already pregnant with

the son of God. That's why John the

Baptist who was in Mary's tummy in

Elizabeth's tummy. That's why he jumped

because he was praising Jesus. So for

all the Baptists that think we can't

have a joyful praise every now and then

just look at this baby. The baby

understood exactly what was supposed to

happen when you get in the presence of

Jesus. So, I can just imagine Mary,

she's showing up at her cousin's house,

and I guarantee you on the way there,

she was thinking about how she was going

to try to explain all of this to her

cousin. But she doesn't have to because

when she gets there, the Holy Spirit has

already explained everything to them.

So then

Elizabeth looks at her and says, "God

has blessed you above all women, and

your child is blessed." What does that

sound like? It sounds just like the

angel

Gabriel. Blessed are you, favored woman.

See, sometimes you just need another

human being to confirm what God sees in

you. I really feel like that's the main

role of the church that when we gather

together, we need to know each other so

well that we can tell each other, hey,

this is what God is doing in your life.

This is the the good things that I see

you doing. These are your spiritual

gifts. Like it says that we should get

together and encourage one another on to

good works. Well, that's how you do it.

You you look at and you say, "Wow, you

are favored. You are blessed. You are

good at this." A lot of times when I was

a kid, we had a family TV night and it

was always like 8 o'clock on the week

weekdays and there'd be like a Monday

night and MacGyver was on. Anybody

remember that show? Yeah. I was like

that was appointment viewing for my

family. So 8:00 Monday night we would

watch some MacGyver. Thursday night was

always America's Funniest Home Videos.

You know, we were we were an AFV family.

Like you had to be there 8:00 we were

going to watch together. But there were

nights when we would be getting ready to

watch these shows and my mom wasn't home

from work yet and she she'd already

pulled a 12-h hour shift, but she was

still not home from work and I'd be

like, "Dad, where's mom?" You know, like

we didn't have DVR, you know, so like if

she wasn't there at 8, she was going to

miss some of the show. So it it kind of

bothered me. And then as I got older, my

mom would explain to me that there were

nights that she would finish up cutting

people's hair at the beauty salon and

they would just need to talk to her.

they they would just need uh what she

had to offer. And she was a very

spirit-led woman. And so she would speak

truth into these people's lives. And and

a lot of the things that she would do

was affirm what God was already doing.

They would come in with questions like,

"I don't understand what God is doing in

my life right now. I I don't know why

he's doing this. Why he allowed this to

happen or why he's calling me to do

this." And so mom would finish cutting

their hair and they would just sit there

in that beauty salon for an extra hour

so she could just speak truth into their

life and just affirm what the Holy

Spirit was already saying to to her or

to them. So friends, that's part of our

role too. Part of our role is to affirm

what God is already doing in someone

else's life. And it is their

responsibility to receive what we are

offering. So in verse

43 she says, "How could this happen to

me?" She's still not there yet. "How

could this happen to me that the mother

of my Lord should come to me? For you

see, when the sound of your greeting

touched my ears, the baby leaped for joy

inside me." So Mary's like right on the

precipice. She's Elizabeth's saying this

to her. She's like she's right there.

And then in verse 45, it finally clicks.

She says, "Blessed is she who has

believed that the Lord would fulfill

what he has spoken to her." Everything

just falls into place for Mary. The the

calling, the angel speaking, the Holy

Spirit prompting, her cousin speaking

truth and affirming what the Holy Spirit

had already told her. What this is is

Mary's white flag moment. We've talked

about these before. And I know that when

we think white flag, we think surrender.

We think giving up. We think losing

that's not the way the white flag is

used in scripture. A white flag when

used in scripture when you give up when

you surrender to the will of God. When

you listen to the Holy Spirit when you

listen to what other people are saying

about you when they're speaking truth

and life into you. When you receive

those things, that's you waving the

white flag and saying, "I'm no longer

seeing myself the way that I view

myself. I'm seeing myself the way that

God views

me. And we don't have time to read it

today, but Mary just prays the one of

the most beautiful prayers in all of

scripture. Verse

46-5. Go back, read that this week.

Meditate on it. But I want to skip ahead

to verse

48. She says, "He has looked with favor

on the humble condition of his servant.

Surely from now on, all

generations, all generations, that's us.

All generations will call Mary

blessed. She finally surrenders to the

version of herself that God sees in her.

So you might be struggling with seeing

yourself beyond a surface level, beyond

a context, beyond your name, beyond your

bank account, beyond your hometown,

beyond your occupation, beyond your

reputation, beyond what all the people

are saying about you. I know it's hard

to see yourself as anything other than

the the context. But what I want you to

do this morning is just wave your white

flag because it's so important. Think

about it this way. Mary is getting ready

to endure some of the most horrific

trials that any mom could ever go

through. First of all, she's going to

have to go to Joseph and have this

conversation with him. And then she's

going to have to raise Jesus in a town

where people are going to wonder about

who Jesus real dad really is. And then

worst of all, she's going to be there at

Calvary when her son Jesus is crucified

on a cross. And there is no way, no way

that this woman could have endured those

trials if at this point she didn't wave

her white flag and say, "God, I believe

I am who you say I am. God, I I believe

that you have a calling on my life. God,

I believe that all things are

possible in

God." She couldn't face those things

without that.

So, here's what we need to take away

from Mary's story today. Psalm

Psalms 84:4

84:4, there are a lot of scriptures that

say this. I just like this one says,

"How highly favored are those who reside

in your house, that's God's house, who

praise you continually, not once every

six months, but praise you continually."

So all people who believe in Jesus and

all people who worship Jesus are favored

people. Yes, you. Not talking to your

neighbor. I'm talking to you. You are a

favored person. Now, here's what I've

noticed over the years, about 20 years

in ministry now. I've noticed this

multiple times. It is easy for a lot of

people to say, "God, I love you."

I would venture to say that a lot of

people in this room right now, if I ask

you, could you say that? You would say

yes. You would say yes. I could say,

God, I love you. But what I've noticed

over the years is there's a lot of

people that struggle with saying the

words, "God, you love

me." Those are two completely different

things. It is easy to say, "God, I love

you."

It is very hard for a lot of us to say,

"God, you love me." And so, friends,

that's why I need you to take a a look

at the the cross

today. Because, friends, we were not

pursuing Jesus. In fact, the Bible says

that before we're Christians, we are

actually enemies of God. Most of us were

doing whatever felt good in the moment.

But Jesus was like, "Hey, even though

they're acting that way, I want to go

there and I want to be with them. I want

to go down to earth to be with them. I

want to die for them. I want to give

them eternal life. I want to take them

back to heaven with me forever. For God

so loved the world," it says. And in

Romans, it says, "But God proves his own

love for us. In this, while we were

still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus

saw me in my rebellion and he came after

me." And friends, if that's true, if

Jesus saw me in my rebellion and he came

after me to save me because he loved me,

then doesn't it just make sense that he

still gives me cherish? That he still

gives me unmmerited favor and unmmerited

love now that I'm a son and that you're

a daughter. If he loved you then, he

loves you now. So don't be scared to

wave the the white flag today.

Don't be scared to say, "God, I'm going

to do what you've called me to do. I'm

not going to listen to the the

naysayers, the negative voices, the

critics, the ones that try to tear you

down. I'm going to I'm going to just

listen to you. And whoever you say I am,

that is exactly who I am going to be.

I'm going to do what you've called me to

do. I'm going to go where you've called

me to go. I'm going to give what you

called me to give because I'm confident

in my calling. Because I know that I'm

really a favored person. And I know that

all things are possible with God.

Friends, you don't have to earn God's

love. All you have to do is surrender to

it. So right now, this moment

matters. And for some of you, today is

going to be a day where you need to wave

that white

flag. Father, I thank you for the

opportunity to open your word and to

preach

it. I pray that I've done a good enough

job.

I pray that the Holy Spirit would take

the words and apply them to the people

that need it the most. Lord, right now,

I know there might be some in this room

that are living under an identity that

has been given to them. An identity that

did not come from you, but came from the

people in their life that have great

influence over them. And sometimes that

identity is not true to who they

actually are. And sometimes, Lord, some

of us, myself included, we have this

tendency to to view ourselves as less

than. No one said it. We just think it.

We wake up in a every morning in a a

situation sometimes like where we're

just like, man, I'm I'm not worthy to

even do anything today. We get

depressed. We get anxious. And it's all

because we are not viewing ourselves as

favored and loved. It's all because

we're not viewing the impossible made

possible through you. So for people in

either of those two categories today, I

pray, Father, that through your word

today, that they would be able to relate

to Mary's

story, that this God moment in their

life right now would be met with the

truth of the word, which says that you

love us even at our worst, and that your

love never fails and your love never

changes. Father, you are here with us

this morning. No matter what emotional

state we find ourselves in, you are here

with us, wrapping your loving arms

around us and telling us that it's going

to be okay. Why is it going to be okay?

Because you are in control, just like

you did with the Holy Spirit for Mary.

You go before her to prepare the way.

And so Lord, we pray today that you

would help us to see that the Holy

Spirit has gone before us and prepared

the way for us to be the people that you

called us to be, to be those favored men

and favored women and favored children

that are in this room right

now. Lord, speak to our hearts. Give us

that that joy. Help this day to be an

incredible day, even for the most

brokenhearted. Lord, it's my prayer that

today would be a day of great

celebration. even if they have to

celebrate through tears. Lord, I pray

that today you would grab hold of our

hearts and help us experience that same

wonderful calling that you spoke through

Gabriel when you said you are favored.

Lord, help us to leave knowing that we

are favored. Thank you for your death on

the cross. Thank you for your

resurrection. Thank you for the hope

that it

provides. Lord, help us to praise your

name well as we close out this service.

Jesus name I pray. Amen.