Mary did you know

And amen.

Mary, did you know?

You know, that's one of my favorite Christmas songs.

Actually, I happened to be pretty good friends with the guy that wrote that song, Mark Lowry.

In fact, when he was writing the song, it took him, I think, about a month to, well, actually, he said about a month.

But he was beginning to write the song, Mary, did you know, at a super conference that we were attending at Liberty University when we were up there.

And we were in a multi-purpose building like this, packed out, about 2,000 folks.

And we were in the back of the gym upon the bleachers, and Mark had a paper bag, and his nephew had just been born.

And so he was thinking about the birth of his nephew, and then started relating it to the birth of Christ.

And so there he was, sitting there with me and Susan, and he was writing on the paper sack, really.

And he'd say, Hey, Doc, what do you think about this?

Whew.

I said, Man, that's good.

So we were right there at the very beginning, the birth of that song, and uh I often uh think about Mark and uh the Vignelle twins, their sons back here, they've become a part of our church.

Can you imagine having your dad, Mark, your uncle, and and Mark Lowry and Pastor Danny all in the same classroom?

I'm telling you what, God have mercy on the teachers.

But boy, did we have a great time.

And the exciting thing about that was Falwell, Dr.

Falwell, who's with the Lord, my mentor, and who started Liberty University, uh, he would ag us on.

I mean, he was a prankster.

So we used to have a good time.

I'll never forget when we were doing the Living Christmas tree and Mark.

Uh, this was bad.

Robbie Heiner was singing, and they stuck up behind him and they poked him with a rod in the middle of a song on live television.

And uh, so that was that was something, and that same night they had filled Dr.

Falwell's coat, right pocket.

He always put his hand in his pocket when he'd be preaching.

They filled it with uh shaving cream.

So Dr.

Falwell's getting up there and he's starting to preach, and he did this, and we all started laughing, and he went like this.

He turned and looked at Mark Lowry just like this.

But he never he preached for 35 minutes, never took his hand out of his pocket.

Real spiritual things going on there, guys.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 1.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Mary, did you know?

I love this.

In chapter 1, verses 26 through 38, basically is part of the Christmas story.

Now, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed, to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David.

The virgin's name was Mary, and having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you.

Blessed are you among women.

But when she saw him, the angel Gabriel, she was troubled, she was afraid, she was frightened, at his sayings, and consider what man of greetings this was.

She saying, What is going on?

Then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And behold, ye shall conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus.

Another passage of scripture or another version says Emmanuel, which means God with us.

And he will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

Then Mary said to the angel, How can this be?

I do not even know a man.

I've never had a relationship sexually with a man.

How can this be?

And the angel answered and said to her, said unto her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you.

Therefore also, that holy one who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

Now, indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age.

And this is now the sixth month for her who is called barren.

For with God nothing is impossible.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible.

With God, nothing is impossible.

If you believe that this morning, church, say amen.

Nothing is impossible.

And then I love this last saying Mary said.

Mary, did you know?

There's three things I want us to understand this morning about Mary.

Things that she didn't understand, but things that she was able to see on that day.

When the angel Gabriel showed up.

Number one, if you have your outlines, does everyone have an outline?

Okay.

Number one, he the angel Gabriel assured her of God's divine companionship.

This Christmas, when the birth of Jesus took place, what we understand is that one thing you and I know, we've got a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Amen.

In fact, he says in Proverbs 18, 24 that we have a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

God assured Mary of God's divine companionship.

And then I saw that.

And because God is a personal friend, say this with me: God is my friend.

But he's not just a friend, he's a personal friend.

And that means a personal friend knows a lot about you.

In fact, look at what I see God's word says.

Because God is a personal friend, and he was a personal friend to Mary, he knows A, in your outline, he knows our address.

He knows your address.

Do you know he knows exactly where you live?

In fact, if you notice verse 26, and he said, Hey, Nazareth, a town in Galilee, he knew exactly, exactly where Mary was.

I meant, hey, listen, folks, he knows your address.

And I got to thinking about that.

He knows my address.

In fact, he says in Isaiah 66, 1, God fills the heavens, hey, and the earth.

The earth is his footstool.

Hey, he knows everything about you.

And then I thought about that.

Hey, there are no secret places that we can hide from God.

Jeremiah 23, 24.

And I got to thinking about what does he know about you?

Do you know he knows everything about you?

But what does he really know about you?

I asked myself, what does God know about Pastor Danny?

Well, let me tell you what he knows.

First of all, in Proverbs 15, 3, he knows our background.

He knows your background.

In fact, listen to what Proverbs 15:3 says: the eyes of the Lord in every place.

Proverbs 15:3

Beholding the evil and the good.

Uh-oh.

You know, I like for him to know my good.

Can I get an amen?

I don't like for him to know my evil.

Do you know something?

He knows all about you.

Notice what else he knows.

Acts 1.24.

Not only does he know our backgrounds, he knows where we came from.

Do you know he even knows, hey, who you are when you're in the womb of your mother?

Amen.

I mean, he knew you before you were born.

Hallelujah.

He knows you.

He knows your address.

He knows, hey, your background.

But notice in Acts 124, he knows our hopes and our dreams.

Now I got to thinking about that.

All those dreams and those hopes that you've, I hope you've dreamed about or you've thought about, the visions that God has given you and the things, you know, I can remember early in my teen years, I had all kinds of dreams and I had all kinds of aspirations and goals in my life.

And then when I got saved, God gave me goals.

And when he called me to preach, he gave me goals.

He gave me visions of what he wanted to do in my life and through me for his glory.

He knows your hopes and dreams.

Can I say something?

He wants you to have hopes and dreams.

Can I get an Amen?

That's what Christmas is all about.

Oh, it really is.

In fact, he says, hey, the Lord knows the hearts of all.

He knows your dreams.

He knows your hopes.

Amen.

By the way, he knows your sorrows.

He knows your hurts.

He knows your difficulties.

He knows your trials, your temptations.

There's nothing you can hide from God.

There's no secret place.

Jeremiah 23, 24 says that you can go and hide from him.

But listen, what else?

Uh-oh.

Here's another thing he knows.

He knows our thoughts.

Uh-oh.

He knows our thoughts.

But he, knowing the thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house false.

He knows your thoughts.

Good or bad.

Now I know CCW church members, we don't have any bad thoughts.

I know what you're thinking.

Where's the punchline?

There's not one.

How many of us have bad thoughts?

Let's just go ahead and confess it.

I have bad thoughts.

Now, if you say you don't have bad thoughts, then you're lying.

Now think a minute.

When's the last time you had a bad thought?

Don't you say I'm having one right now because you're preaching on bad thoughts.

Right now, preacher, I'm having a bad thought about you.

He knows our thoughts, folks.

That's why you have to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Oh my soul.

He knows the bad thoughts you had about your husband this morning.

Isn't that the truth?

He knows the bad.

That was good.

He knows the bad thoughts.

He knows the good thoughts.

And oh Lord, let us have good thoughts.

Say, Lord, let me have good thoughts.

But let me tell what else he knows.

He knows the secrets.

Notice what he says in Psalms 44, 21.

Would not God search this out, for he knows the secrets of the heart.

I can fool.

Well, I can't fool Susan.

She knows me so well.

But I make him fool you.

You make him fool me.

In fact, you can.

Because I'm gonna I want to think the best of you.

I don't want to think anything negative of you.

But you know who you can't fool?

You can't fool God.

You can't fool him.

You can pretend, you can fake it.

My youngest daughter used to fake it well.

I mean, she knew the scriptures, she could quote them.

She was in church every day singing on the platform.

But you know what?

We knew something was wrong.

And I used to say, honey, are you sure you're saved?

That automaker, that made her so mad?

She would just lamb blast me.

And then she got saved.

And changed tremendously.

Whole attitude differed.

Folks, you can fool me, but you can't fool God.

So let me ask him, we're gonna have a beautiful service today with the Lord's Supper.

Do you really know him?

Do you really know that little baby that was born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago on Christmas Day?

We're really not sure it was the 25th.

It could have been anywhere from the last of November to February.

But thank God we choose a day to celebrate it so that we can exalt the King of Kings because when he's exalted, he draws all men unto himself.

John 12, 32.

So, Mary, did you know?

He knows your address.

Secondly, he says, Mary, hey, I have given you angels, let her be, to attend to you.

Do you know you got angels?

You know Daniel had angels in the lion's then.

Amen.

Sherach Meshach and Nabednego had angels in the fiery furnace.

He said, but that's Old Testament.

Yes, but we're in the New Testament.

And do you realize angels are very active in your life and my life as Christians?

Let me prove that.

Hebrews 1.14 says, are they not all ministering spirits talking about angels sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?

The moment you get saved, you get some angels assigned to you.

I don't know about you.

That gets me pretty excited.

Whew! Come on, angels, let's go.

Let's go.

Now, some of us probably have more angels than others.

I know I have more angels than Susan does because she's a godly spirit-filled woman.

And I try to be, but sometimes I'm not.

And I get in trouble and I start stuff, especially when I was young.

You know, I may not have as, I think probably the older I've gotten, the Lord said, okay, you don't need quite as many angels as you did 20 years ago.

I'm hoping I'm maturing, you know, and getting a little wiser and, you know, living out my real Christianity that I've preached all these years, that I'm a walk, hey, not just preaching it, I'm living it and walking it, and I'm being more calm, I'm being more patient, I'm being more sweet, more kind, Susan's laughing, more kind.

That's it.

That's it.

But we have angels.

You remember the disciples, the apostles, were put in prison, and guess what?

At night, and an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out.

Oh, do you remember Peter in Acts 12?

Peter was in prison.

He was locked up.

I mean, he he had two soldiers chained to him.

And the angel came in the middle of the night and woke him up.

The Bible says it touched him, woke him up.

Gabriel woke him up.

Really, that probably was Michael.

And I'll tell you why in a minute.

But they woke him up and then said, Let's go, let's go.

And then they got to the gate, the big gate, and all of a sudden the gate went, just flew open.

And Peter, Peter didn't know what was going on.

He he thought he had had a dream or a vision.

But then he realized the angel parted and Peter ran to the house.

Now listen to this.

Went to the house where they had gathered to pray for Peter's release.

There was a bunch of Christians gathered together, praying their hearts out for the release of Peter, that he wouldn't be executed.

And Peter goes to the door and he knocks on the door.

And the little girl that was in the home ran to the door and saw Peter and turned around and ran back and said, Peter's at the door.

And you know what the Christians did?

They said, Uh-uh.

You gotta be kidding me.

Now, isn't that something?

They're praying for Peter's release.

He shows up at the door and they won't even let him in.

I thought sometimes how we pray.

We pray really not believing.

But aren't you glad God does it anyway?

Can I get an amen?

So we see that.

And then the third thing, and by the way, Psalms 911, put that down.

For he shall give his angels charge over you, and I love the next statement, to keep you in all your ways.

There's been a couple of times that I've been in a situation.

One was almost went over the side of the rail.

And Benji knows of one time there were some angels with he and Eric as they were coming to Lynchburg, Virginia.

Eric went to sleep at the wheel.

Benji was already asleep.

And next thing you know, Benji wakes up and they're headed toward a ravine, really, that was going to take them over into, off the side of the mountain, basically.

And the only thing that saved them was a guardrail.

Eric Benji shouted, I think that's the way it went.

Eric woke up and did it like this, and bam, the vehicle hit the rail.

They stopped.

And praise God.

Now you say, well, that was the rail.

No, that was angels.

That was angels.

And the truck wasn't hardly even scratched a whole lot.

Well, it was scraped, but it was scraped, yes.

But but it was drivable.

They kept coming.

They made it.

And then they told us, and Susan and I went, ah.

Hey, angels of the Lord encamp round about us to deliver us.

Can I get an amen?

You got angels looking out for you.

We've all been in those situations that we can't explain, but only the way to explain it is we had divine intervention.

You say, Well, how did that happen?

Angels.

That'd be a good series to preach on angels.

So, then he says, Not only does he know your address, Mary, not only has he sent you angels, but then he says, see, he's aware of every need we have.

Look at what he says.

Do not be afraid.

Verse 30.

Do not be afraid.

Psalms 115 says, He's been mindful of us.

Say this with me, church.

God is mindful of me.

Now you ought to already be excited about that because he knows your dreams, he knows your secrets, he knows your hopes, he knows everything about you.

He's mindful.

Do you know God's thinking about you right now?

God's thinking.

I got up this morning and as I was praying and getting ready to preach this morning.

I thought to myself, whoo, thank you, Lord.

Thank you for another day.

Thank you for caring about me enough that you're thinking about me.

Say this with me, church.

God's thinking about me.

I love that.

Think about that.

And I love it when Susan's thinking about me and she can't get me out of her mind.

Preacher, I'm having a good time.

I did not fall.

That's the Lord saying, get back on subject.

But think about it.

God is thinking about you.

God is thinking about me.

Oh my goodness.

Oh, my God, you supply all our needs.

And then he says in Matthew 6, don't worry.

Don't worry about what you're going to eat, what you're going to drink, what you're going to wear.

Don't worry about that.

He's got it.

Hey, hey, Jesus has got you back.

Can I get an amen?

I got you back.

He's got you back.

He's got you.

And then at the end of that scriptures, he ends up with verse 33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you.

Don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow take care of itself.

But this is the day the Lord hath made.

I will rejoice.

Amen.

So we see right here.

God assured Mary of his companionship.

Second thing this morning is this God appreciates our commitment.

He said, Mary, did you know that God appreciates your commitment?

He said, What do you mean, Pastor?

Watch.

Watch.

He says in verse 30, you have found favor with God.

Wow.

Mary, you found favor with God.

Now, let me ask you a question this morning.

Wouldn't you like to find favor with God this morning?

I don't know about you, but I sure would.

I would love to have favor with God.

So the question ought to be asked, why did Mary find favor with God?

Are you ready for this?

Let me show you three things.

One, because of her A, humility.

Notice what she said in verses 46 through 52.

Mary said, Well, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant.

And then verse 51, he says that he had scattered the proud, but watch, he what?

Exalts the lowly in verse 52.

But he gives more grace, and then he goes on and he says, God resists the proud, but he gives grace unto the humble.

He appreciates people being humble.

The hardest thing for me to be is humble.

I got one amen.

How about I owe me?

Huh?

The hardest thing for most of us is to be humble.

Especially if you've got talent.

Especially if you're smart.

Not that dumb people can't be unhumble.

Hey, that's me.

That's what I that's why I said that.

I'm not the smart one of my bunch.

I'll tell you, I'm the average.

I graduated, thank the Lord.

Susan graduated, Kumasoon Lord.

I graduated, thank the Lord.

So you can still not be real bright and still be proud.

Can I get an Amen or O me?

Amen.

So the hardest thing, in fact, let me tell you something.

I'm going to give you a test this morning right now.

You want to know if you're really humble?

Now, a lot of us think we're humble.

Or try to be humble.

But how do you know when you're humble?

Well, I'm going to take you to the Word.

Listen to what it says.

1 Peter chapter 5, verses 5 and 6.

1 Peter 5:5

Likewise, you younger people, by the way, thank you for all the birthday cards and all the texts and all the little cakes on Facebook.

The only problem with those little cakes, I can't eat them.

Man, if you're going to give me a cake, give me something to eat.

Amen.

The cakes look so good.

Have you ever tried to eat a cake in a phone?

But anyway, thank you.

68 years old.

Wednesday.

And I still feel like I'm, hey, I can do everything right now I could do 30 years ago, just not quite as long.

Real humble.

That's good.

I told you.

But now notice, he says, submit yourselves to your elders.

That means your authority.

And all, and then he says, yes, and all of you be submissive to one another.

And be clothed with humility like Mary was, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.

Now watch this.

Here's how you know if you really are humble.

When you can submit to authority with the right attitude.

Now let me give you a good example.

When that policeman pulls you over and starts writing you a ticket, I guarantee you you're not humble.

When's the last time you said, oh, thank you so much for this ticket?

I deserve this ticket.

Oh, I'm just gonna love paying this$150.

My insurance going up.

Thank you, officer, very much.

I wasn't speeding, or my wife would tell you, I didn't see the sign.

There was a car between me and that sign, and now you know you just go on and on and on.

But when you can submit to authority, seriously, whether it's a police officer, whether it's your boss, whether those that are in authority over you, with the right attitude, with a pleasing attitude, saying, I want to be everything I can to be the best at what I'm doing, to honor God, so I honor you.

Ooh.

Ooh, that hurts.

I'm guilty.

I'm very guilty.

But that's what it means.

That's what it means.

And then second thing he said, Mary, not only was that she found favor because of her humility, but she found favor because of her honor.

Look at verse 28.

Favor, she said, you found favor.

One, hey, the Lord is with you, and blessed are you among women.

In verse 30, he said, You honor me because verse 1, hey, verse 50 in chapter 1 says, It's mercy to those who fear him.

She feared him, but she didn't just, she didn't fear him in a frightful way.

She feared him in an honorable way.

She loved him, she adored him.

And the Bible says, Are you ready for this?

Look at verse 46.

Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord.

Here's how you know when you're honoring the Lord Almighty.

It's when you are glorifying God.

A while ago, for about 25 minutes, we were glorifying God, lifting our hearts to God.

But that shouldn't just be done every 25 minutes on Sunday morning.

It ought to be done every day.

Glorifying Him, praising Him.

And then secondly, hey, she praised Him for her salvation.

Look at verse 47.

She honored Him for her salvation.

And my spirit has rejoiced.

Now, this is very important.

Underline it.

And God, my Savior.

What did Mary say?

God, my Savior.

See, a lot of religious organizations tried to exalt Mary coequal with Jesus.

And my friends, let me say something to you.

Mary was an ordinary peasant girl.

And she was probably between the ages of 13 to 17 when she had baby Jesus.

That just blows my mind because I remember my daughters when they were that age.

We have some young ladies here that age right now.

But she was an ordinary peasant girl.

And I thought to myself, hey, God takes the ordinary and transforms it to the extraordinary so he can use them for his glory.

He's not looking for extraordinary people, he's looking for ordinary people.

So that he can transform them to extraordinary.

There was nothing good that could come out of Nazareth.

Hello?

That's what he said.

There was nothing good that could come out of Sylvester, Georgia.

I was voted the most likely to be locked up.

Not to succeed.

You ought to see when I do my word for the week on Saturday mornings, I've got a group of people from Sylvester, Worth County High.

My little hometown at that time was about 4,500 people.

Now it's about 12,000, and we got a Walmart.

I mean, you have arrived when you get a Walmart.

And there we are.

But think of, in fact, Saturday morning, Andy Nard came up and said, Amen.

Amen, brother.

Amen.

And I I even made this statement.

If some of y'all were watching this live, I said, Oh my goodness, Andy's on.

I said, Andy and Nard and I used to skip school together.

Close your ears, teenagers.

And then I said, But aren't we glad God changes us?

I mean, Andy and I did a lot of bad things.

And now to see how God changed him, I mean, I was bad, but Andy was real bad.

He led me astray.

That's what I told you.

He said, I didn't lead you astray, boy.

He didn't.

I willfully went.

Hey, that's what sinful people do.

That's what lost people do.

Don't get so upset about a lost.

Hey, person living like the devil, that's their master.

Hello.

But when you get saved and get changed, there's a big difference.

Nothing good can come out of Nazareth.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

And then notice what else?

She was grateful.

Look at verse 48 and 49.

Regarded the lowest state.

For he who is mighty, verse 49, has done great things for me.

And holy is his name.

In other words, she knew that everything she was and everything she would be was because of the grace of God.

Amen.

She exalted him.

She was so thankful.

See, Mary needed a savior just like you and I need a savior.

Mary cannot bestow grace upon you.

Mary cannot save you.

Mary needed the grace of God just like you and I needed the grace of God.

That's why she said, I rejoice in God, my Savior.

And then she recognized the power of God, verse 35.

She knew that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the power of the highest would overshadow her.

Therefore, she knew that the child would be born, would be named Jesus.

Would be named Jesus.

Now listen, Mary didn't understand it all.

She didn't know how she could have a baby without being married, even though she was a betrothed, which was as almost being married back then.

But she didn't understand it.

Listen to me.

Now here's a this is going to be a Christmas present for all of us.

When God shows up and tells you to do something, you don't have to understand it all.

Amen.

You don't have to understand it all.

But what you do do and need to do is to submit to it all.

At thy word.

Look at verse 38.

I don't understand it, she said, but at your word, I will do it.

At your word.

What a beautiful, beautiful submission there.

Which brings me to, I think.

The last point, but it's, well, the other one was, why did God find uh Mary find favor in God?

See, she had a hunger for God.

He has filled my hunger.

Let it be to me according to your word.

I love what the word says.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after God, for they shall be filled.

Do you really hunger for the Lord this morning?

There are times that I hunger more than other times.

But I really try in my heart every day when I get up.

The first thing to do is to go spend some time with my Lord.

I hunger for him.

And the last thing he said, Mary, do you know God enthrones himself in your heart?

And that's what we want this morning.

We want this Christmas to allow God to enthrone himself into our hearts.

Look at what he says.

Verse 32 God will give him the throne.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest.

And the Lord God will give him the throne of his Father David.

In other words, God will set Jesus up on the throne.

And what Jesus is saying to you and me this morning, he wants to be set up on the throne of our hearts.

He wants to be Lord of all.

Not some, but all.

Over all these years of walking with the Lord, there's been opportunities in my life that I took control of some of my areas.

See, it's kind of like a house.

You know, you can let the Holy Spirit fill the whole house, or you can let him fill some of the house.

And then some doors you have closed to him.

But here's the problem.

You and I think we're getting away with it, but remember, he knows the secrets of our hearts.

So why not open all the doors and say, Lord, I need help in this room right here.

This is a room that my flesh loves to go to, and I need you to clean this room out.

That's good.

I need you to clean this room out.

I need you to clean that part of my mind out and fill me with your word and fill me with your spirit.

He wants to reign supremely.

And that's what A says Christ reigns within us.

Emmanuel means God with us.

Oh, God with us.

Oh, my friends.

Verse 28, and having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you.

Blessed are you among women.

You know what that meant?

That Mary, listen to me.

Mary understood three things.

Are you ready?

The perception of God.

Write it down.

This is worth you being here right here.

He, this Christmas, I want you to understand something.

God's perception.

Hey, look at what she said in verse 30.

She was troubled.

But then notice the angel said, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And then she realized God's perception that he was mindful of her and he was mindful to bless her.

And she realized that she could cast all her cares upon him.

Because he cares for her.

Listen to me this morning.

You can cast all your cares upon him because he cares for you.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

And then the second thing she realized, she realized God's position.

Listen to what it says.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest.

And the Lord God will give him the throne of the Father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom.

There will be no end.

In other words, she realized that he was Lord of all.

That he had her best interests in mind.

Can you imagine all you young ladies, older ladies, young teenage girls being chosen to birth the Son of God?

Wow.

She had a relationship.

She had a perception.

She knew his position at thy word, verse 38.

She knew that.

And because of that, the last thing, she experienced his power.

She experienced his power.

Verse 37.

Oh church.

With men it is impossible, but not with God.

All things are possible.

Mark 10, 27.

Wow.

Let me ask you this morning.

Do you know him?

Mary, did you know?

She did.

She knew.

Christmas is almost here.

I wrote this to me.

Does it find Danny love it with problems, difficulties, and confusions?

Yes, we've we've had some major problems and difficulties these last 10 or 14 days.

Thank you for praying for Susan's dad.

We got him home.

Friday.

Thank you.

But he still needs our prayers.

Ben's grandmother went on to be with the Lord.

Christmas is a great time, but it's also a sad time.

I think you've heard me say more people commit suicide there in December than any other time.

But there's a reason.

And the reason is they have not come to understand that there's a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

And his name is Jesus.

What we need to do is to take them, hey, all our difficulties, our problems, our confusions to the hey, indwelling king.

When you do this, we discover the marvel of Christmas, which is Christ reigns.

Remember these three things.

You may want to jot it down.

Christ reigns, Christ rules, Christ reassures.

Isn't that sweet?

That He's got you.

I want every head bowed and every eye closed.