Sermon

Mary's Christmas

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  1. Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

  2. Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

  3. We pray that this message changes your life.

  4. Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

  5. Turn with me this morning in your Bibles to Luke chapter 1.

    Luke 1 chapter mention

  6. Luke, if you're here this morning, you do not have a worship guide.

  7. Would you raise your hand?

  8. We want to make sure you have one.

  9. Everybody has a worship guide.

  10. Get your pen out and follow us as we begin.

  11. And my wife said last week that I went everywhere but the outline.

  12. Well, I'm sorry.

  13. I'll try to do better.

  14. Jason said the same thing to He said, I couldn't keep up with you.

  15. I said, Well, sometimes I don't know where I am either.

  16. Amen.

  17. When I get sometimes I get in that preaching mode and I just start preaching.

  18. See, my problem, my problem, my wife is probably the greatest teacher of all teachers I've ever sat under, and I've sat under a lot.

  19. And uh, honey, you are, really.

  20. And so Sunday I went home and I said, Man, I you know, when you just preach, you know, so that's like you did last time, you man, you feel good.

  21. And I said, Whoa, man, honey, wasn't that a good message?

  22. She said, I said, Well, what?

  23. She said, I couldn't follow you.

  24. I thought to myself, well, don't worry about following me, just get in on it.

  25. Oh, man.

  26. I try, I I and I was a professor almost 25 years, I understand.

  27. So I try to stay as close as I can with my outline, but uh every once in a while I just I just, yeah, that's what I do.

  28. I promise I will not.

  29. But I do understand you teachers and you analytical people, you got to fill in that blank.

  30. Get the blank filled in.

  31. So I yeah, uh-huh.

  32. I know, I know.

  33. Um, here, here.

  34. I am gonna be so good this morning, you got to fill it in, I promise.

  35. You can have mine, honey.

  36. I when I was at open door, it was funny.

  37. When I was, I don't need one.

  38. I I've I've got the whole thing memorized.

  39. Hey, hey, that's my problem.

  40. What I was I was telling Anita the other day, what I do, y'all don't realize I spend 20, 25 hours just studying and and and and what you get's only about 40 minutes of about 20 hours of studying.

  41. So for me to sometimes have to condense that down, y'all, and I get up here and start preaching.

  42. Oh, that was good.

  43. Remember that?

  44. Yeah, over here.

  45. And so I gotta oh, but it's gonna be good for you teachers.

  46. This is for you.

  47. We're gonna go, I'm gonna try to take you step by step.

  48. All right.

  49. At the end of Luke chapter one, last week, we saw the fear knots of Christmas.

  50. So I had so many people come online and uh last week and just say how much they enjoyed the fear knots.

  51. And we've got a lot of people following us, and for you that are online, welcome.

  52. I'm excited about today because today we're going to be looking at Mary's Christmas.

  53. Mary's Christmas.

  54. And I've I've preached a lot on Mary, but I never really preached the last part of Luke.

  55. So I'm trying to, I told you what I do every year, even though I got some great Christmas messages, but I try to go back through the characters and look at something different.

  56. And next week, oh, we're gonna meet.

  57. Hey, here's the title of next Sunday.

  58. When the shepherds meet the chief shepherd.

  59. Oh, it's gonna be good, I promise.

  60. When the shepherds meet the chief shepherd.

  61. But this morning we want to look at the last paragraph of Luke chapter 1, verses basically 46 through 55.

    Luke 1 chapter mention

  62. And this contains the months between the announcement of Christ's birth that we saw last week in The Fear Not Mary, and the actual moment of Jesus' arrival were months of hard decisions and anxiousness waiting for the baby Jesus to be born.

  63. And we know these hard decisions and anxious waiting on the part of Mary and Joseph had to be very hard.

  64. However, as a difficult a time as it surely was, it is still a pleasure today to watch how Mary handled this.

  65. In fact, what we see, she conducted herself in an unbelievable, dynamic way.

  66. In fact, in this passage, we see that Mary goes and takes a journey of about a three-month journey, and she goes to her cousin Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant with a little baby boy named John the Baptist.

  67. And you remember what Jesus said about John the Baptist.

  68. There's none greater than John the Baptist.

  69. So she is pregnant, that is Elizabeth with John the Baptist, and Mary comes in and starts to tell her all that the angel had told her about the Christ child that she was going to bear.

  70. And the Bible says, when she began to share the excitement and the joy of the birth of Christ, that John the Baptist leaped in Elizabeth's womb.

  71. Now that tells me that's a lot more than a blob of flesh in that womb.

  72. Can I get an amen?

  73. And that's why we're entirely against abortion.

  74. It's murder.

  75. God help us.

  76. Amen.

  77. Amen.

  78. So we see that this is an exciting time.

  79. And we see that Elizabeth responds by telling Mary that she is blessed because she has believed the Lord and that God will do all that he has said he will do.

  80. Now, ladies and gentlemen, the introduction today I want you to understand.

  81. God will do all that he said he will do, not just for Mary, but for you and for me.

  82. Can I get an amen?

  83. He says in Philippians 1 6, being confident of this very thing, that he which begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

  84. And one of the verses that I have there on your outline, 1 Kings 8.56, literally says that God has promised, and I love this, that not one promise of all that he has said will fail.

  85. Now that's pretty exciting, folks, and that's what we see.

  86. And 1 Thessalonians 5.24 says, Faithful is he that's called you, who also will do it.

  87. So we see that, and so they're excited.

  88. But here's what I want you to realize.

  89. Hearing this, Mary, even though she is young, she's unmarried, she's pregnant, begins to lift her voice and praise to the Lord, and in doing so, she reveals a heart that is in love with the Lord.

  90. You know what I love about Mary?

  91. Her heart was filled with the love of God.

  92. Proverbs 23, 26 says this My son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways.

  93. And then we see not only was her heart filled with the love of God, but also her mind had been saturated with the Old Testament scriptures.

  94. One of my favorite scriptures is Colossians 3.16.

  95. I think I have it there on the introduction too, and it says, Let the Word of God dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody unto the Lord.

  96. Ladies and gentlemen, you can't study the word of God.

  97. You cannot study the word of God and it not bring praise and honor and adoration to your heart because it's all about Him.

  98. It's all about Him.

  99. And when it's all about Him, folks, it's joyful, it's exciting, it's passionate, it's comforting.

  100. But more than that, it's joyful.

  101. Joyful, all ye people.

  102. And we see that.

  103. And then we see right here that she teaches us, Mary, that we can praise the Lord in spite of our circumstances at that moment, and that God's, what is it?

  104. Grace is sufficient.

  105. Hey, in the most troublesome times, ladies and gentlemen.

  106. And then she starts out with her song here in Psalms, I mean in Luke 46.

  107. And Mary's great song of praise has come to be known as the magnificent.

  108. And it literally means, it means in the Latin translation, are you ready?

  109. The few words which Mary speaks, and we're going to look at them in a minute, literally means my soul celebrates the Lord.

  110. My soul, say that with me.

  111. Celebrating the Lord.

  112. This doxology that Mary really is singing here, it's a hymn of praise unto the Lord, but it reminds us today that the birth of Jesus Christ is more than the gifts, it's more than the trees, it's more than Santa Claus.

  113. Hey, it's more than Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer.

  114. It's more than frosty, and it's more than my favorite, the Grinch.

  115. It's more.

  116. A lot more.

  117. This Christmas season is about our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and about learning to celebrate his glory and his goodness.

  118. So let's begin and let's look.

  119. Let's spend a few minutes looking at this great anthem and praise and join Mary.

  120. She celebrates Christmas.

  121. Number one, Mary celebrates the Lord for personal grace.

  122. For personal grace.

  123. Look at verses 46 through 49.

  124. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Savior, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden.

  125. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

  126. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things.

  127. Say that with me, great things.

  128. And holy is his name, and his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

  129. Wow.

  130. First of all, in these first few verses, Mary expresses her personal praise to the Lord for his blessings to her own life.

  131. And in doing so, she sets an example that every Christian should follow.

  132. Notice what she celebrates, number one.

  133. She celebrates that she has been redeemed.

  134. Oh, this is good.

  135. You know, the Bible says, For by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourself.

  136. It is a gift of God, not of not of works, but by the grace of God, He saved us.

  137. In fact, that morning that the little baby was born in that manger.

  138. It's really about, it was the gift of the grace of God.

  139. And we're going to look at three things about that grace that we saw in Mary.

  140. First of all, it was a personal grace.

  141. Notice what she said.

  142. Now, this is important.

  143. She said in verse 47, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Savior.

  144. It was a personal redemption.

  145. The first object here, as she lifts her voice and praises for her own salvation.

  146. Mary was born in sin, just like you and I, and she was in need of a savior, just like you and I are.

  147. Psalms 51, verse 5 says, Behold, I was formed in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

    Psalms 51:5

  148. Do you see that?

  149. You and I are born with a sin nature.

  150. We're born in sin.

  151. When you remember your little your little child when they were babies?

  152. Did you have to teach them to do evil and do bad?

  153. It was natural.

  154. You had to teach them to do good.

  155. And I can remember praying, praying, and Susan and I say, Oh, I'll be glad when Stephanie gets saved.

  156. Amen.

  157. Yeah.

  158. Oh, she's so much like me.

  159. Oh, but boy, when she got saved, it was a whole different thing.

  160. We're born with that.

  161. In fact, Paul put it this way: behold, I'm foreign.

  162. No, for as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned.

  163. So we see that Mary had to be saved just like anyone else.

  164. Salvation of the righteous is of the Lord.

  165. He is their strength in time of trouble, the psalmist says.

  166. Psalms 37, 39.

  167. This morning, I don't care if you feel like your life is falling apart, but if you have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb, ladies and gentlemen, we got something to be excited and praise about.

  168. Amen.

  169. I'm serious.

  170. Our salvation means more than just getting saved.

  171. It means coming into a family and intimate relationship with a real God.

  172. It's more than church.

  173. It's more than just singing songs.

  174. It's becoming a part of the I'm a child of the king.

  175. I'm a child of the king.

  176. He's my father.

  177. It's an intimate relationship.

  178. I'm simply saying that we have an abundant reason to rejoice, as did Mary.

  179. I mean, oh.

  180. In fact, listen to Hebrews 13, 15.

  181. One of my favorite, it says this.

  182. Therefore, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God.

  183. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.

  184. Because we've been redeemed.

  185. We've been saved.

  186. And Luke 10, 20 says, because our names are written in heaven.

  187. Can I get an amen?

  188. I've got a lot to be excited about.

  189. I'm going to heaven.

  190. I'm not going to hell.

  191. Y'all heard me preach on hell a few weeks ago.

  192. You don't want to go to hell, do you?

  193. You're not going.

  194. That's enough to shout about right there.

  195. Oh, as I look and think about it, Mary is speaking out of a personal relationship with the Lord.

  196. Oh, some some per I was talking to the other guy, and he said, Man, you kind of get a little excited.

  197. I said, Absolutely.

  198. The Bible says, clap your hands on you people.

  199. Shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

  200. Amen.

  201. Psalms 47, 1.

  202. That's what it says.

  203. Hey, can I help you?

  204. The Hebrew word for shout means shout.

  205. Some of you were shouting yesterday.

  206. Some of you were crying.

  207. Poor old Georgia.

  208. Can I get a reason I'm saying that, Deedra and Derek, they're Georgia graduates.

  209. Whoever thought Georgia would be?

  210. Oh, yeah, and my nephew Trent, he's from Georgia.

  211. But what I'm saying is, folks, 79,000 people there eventually were shouting at one time.

  212. I mean, they were shouting excited about a ball game.

  213. Hey, and a ball game that doesn't have no eternity value whatsoever.

  214. None.

  215. None.

  216. So why in the world are those same people, if they do go to church, they come and most of the time they just sit there and as quiet as they can be.

  217. Let me tell you why.

  218. Because see, in the heart, they don't have that relationship with a God that Mary had such a relationship.

  219. But that what they, hey, what they have when you see them jumping up like a bunch of Indians, hey, hey, they have a relationship with a football.

  220. Woo!

  221. And don't get wrong, I love football.

  222. But that's not my relationship.

  223. That's my hobby.

  224. My relationship is with Jesus Christ.

  225. And bless God.

  226. I in fact, y'all would probably look at me at a ball game and say, Pastor Danny doesn't look like he's having a good time.

  227. Because I sit there and I go, yeah, yeah, but I don't jump up and holler.

  228. You know why?

  229. Because in my early years I did, then I couldn't preach on Sunday morning.

  230. So I wait to jump up and holler on Sunday morning.

  231. Because that's when I'm ready to have a good time.

  232. That's when I'm ready to have a spell.

  233. Amen.

  234. Because what I'm talking about has eternity value.

  235. And it's so important.

  236. She was redeemed.

  237. Secondly, look at verse 48.

  238. Not only was she praising the Lord for that personal grace because she had been redeemed, but secondly, she had been regarded.

  239. Look at verse 48.

  240. Good word here.

  241. For he hath regarded my lowest state.

  242. Now the word regard there literally means to turn the eyes upon.

  243. To turn your eyes upon something.

  244. In other words, whoo, I regard that these.

  245. What do you call this flower?

  246. Poinsettia.

  247. What?

  248. Poinsettia?

  249. Poinsettia?

  250. But it means to turn my eyes on it.

  251. It means to turn my eyes upon the beautiful Christmas tree.

  252. It means that it's gotten my attention.

  253. Are you ready?

  254. When you bowed your head and you asked Jesus Christ to come into your heart, you know why you did that?

  255. Because you had gotten his attention.

  256. And he loves you that much that he wants to be the Lord of your life.

  257. He turned his eyes upon Danny Lovett at First Baptist Church and Sylvester Georgia sitting up in the balcony with the cheerleaders.

  258. That's why I went to church.

  259. And God got a hold of my heart.

  260. He turned his eyes upon me and chose me and called me, and I've never been the same since.

  261. He changed me.

  262. Mary realized the significance of her being chosen by God.

  263. She didn't totally understand it all, but she knew it was of God.

  264. She knew she was the highly favored one, Luke 1.28.

  265. And again, this is another reason.

  266. Christmas is God giving us something we don't deserve.

  267. Let me repeat that.

  268. What she realized, regarded here, the word regard means that she realized that God was giving her something she didn't deserve.

  269. When you and I got saved, God gave us something that we don't deserve.

  270. He gave us grace.

  271. He gave us the grace of God, unmerited favor.

  272. And again, this is another reason for rejoicing.

  273. We who are saved have been chosen, called, and saved by pure grace.

  274. There was nothing in us that was worth saving.

  275. Are you listening?

  276. There's nothing in us worth saving.

  277. In fact, I believe I have it up there.

  278. Isaiah 64, 6, and here's what it says.

  279. Oh, it talks about we are all an unclean thing.

  280. I read that and I said, hmm.

  281. Unclean.

  282. We are all an unclean thing.

  283. And then he says, All our righteousness is as filthy rags.

  284. There's none righteous, no, not one.

  285. There's none that understandeth, there's none that say that to God.

  286. Mary understood that.

  287. She understood that she was not worthy to be bestowed upon her what was happening in her life.

  288. However, in his grace, he loved us, he reached down to us, he saved us, and we respond to him in faith.

  289. To be regarded by the Lord is a tremendous thing.

  290. Titus 2.11 says, For by the grace of God, the grace of God that has appeared to all men is a grace thing.

  291. It's a great thing.

  292. And we see that.

  293. You know what Paul said to after Paul said in Titus 2.11, he said, By the great uh it's by the grace of God that all men come to know him as Lord and Savior.

  294. But look at 1 Corinthians 15 10.

  295. Oh, this is one of my favorite verses.

  296. About grace, but by the grace of God, I am what I am.

  297. This morning you are what you are because of the grace of God.

  298. Hey, and then he says, and his grace toward me was not in vain.

  299. That's important.

  300. Why?

  301. But I labor more abundantly than they all, yet not I.

  302. That's why Paul was a southerner.

  303. Understand that?

  304. Y'all?

  305. But anyway, it's by the grace of God that I am what I am.

  306. Now, here's the thing.

  307. Now, if you really understand it, like Mary understood it, that you had received that positional favor of God's grace, then you're gonna labor.

  308. You're gonna labor more abundantly than they all.

  309. In other words, God, hey, people can't keep you from serving God.

  310. People can't keep you from standing for what's right.

  311. God knows we need that in America today.

  312. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

  313. She had been regarded.

  314. I like what he the psalmist said.

  315. Look at this, Psalmist 126, 2 and 3.

  316. Our mouth is filled with laughter, and our tongue would sing, said they among the heathen.

  317. We, hey, where we are to be glad.

  318. Wow.

  319. Say this with me.

  320. God has done great things.

  321. Again, God has done great things.

  322. Now, you believe that?

  323. Now let's add one word me.

  324. God has done great things to me.

  325. Come on.

  326. God has done great things to me.

  327. To me personally.

  328. That's why you know I'm gonna praise him if nobody else does.

  329. Somebody says, How do you really know that you're saved?

  330. I'll tell you how I know I've been changed.

  331. I know what I was before I was.

  332. And now I know what I am after I was.

  333. Somebody goes, What did he say?

  334. What do you say?

  335. I'm a new creation.

  336. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.

  337. I know the old man I was before I got saved.

  338. And I know the new man that I've been saved.

  339. Big difference.

  340. Big difference.

  341. No comparison.

  342. And then the third thing.

  343. Mary celebrates the Lord for her personal grace that she had been redeemed.

  344. She had been regarded.

  345. But thirdly, she had been rewarded.

  346. Look at verse 48 and 49.

  347. She said, and I love this, for behold, from henceforth all generations should call me blessed.

  348. For he that is mining hath done to me great things.

  349. And holy is his name.

  350. Holy is his name.

  351. She realized that God is doing something pretty wonderful through her life.

  352. After all, she is to be the woman that's about to bring God of the world into eternity through his son Jesus Christ.

  353. While many in her day reliqueed her, talked about her, gossiped about her, she knew that in days to come others would look back on her obedience and know that she had been blessed by the Lord.

  354. Her reward was in the fact that God was to be glorified and that others would be blessed by her favor.

  355. Now that's a powerful statement.

  356. Do you realize when you realize you've been blessed by God and greatly blessed and great things God's going to do to you if you allow and be submissive to Him and allow Him to do His will through you, that you will bless others from generation to generation?

  357. Amen.

  358. You want your kids to be blessed?

  359. Live righteously.

  360. Hello.

  361. You want your kids to be blessed?

  362. Live righteously.

  363. Give them an inheritance that's worthy to be blessed.

  364. Abraham believed the promises of God.

  365. And his children and their children and their children were blessed.

  366. And we're beginning to see that even in our grandchildren now.

  367. How the righteous imparting into our kids.

  368. And now, isn't it amazing how kids, when they're growing up, think you know nothing?

  369. And then the older they get and they have kids, they start sounding just like us.

  370. In fact, Stephanie told Susan last time we were out there, she said, Mom, I'm sounding just like you.

  371. I said, Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?

  372. But isn't that true?

  373. Thank God.

  374. And by the way, sometimes when you think they're not listening, because we always say, You're not listening, you're not listening.

  375. They're listening more than you think they are.

  376. But what they do do is follow you.

  377. They follow your example.

  378. Don't do as I say, do as I do.

  379. If you just do as I say and I don't do, that's hypocrisy.

  380. Hello?

  381. And we see that in Mary.

  382. Every one of us in this room has been saved, that are saved, and hey, would have to acknowledge that the Lord is doing and has done great things in our life.

  383. Can I get an amen?

  384. The blessings and the benefit that we have have received as children of God.

  385. That's why Psalms 107, verse 2, one of my favorite verses here under C is let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

    Psalms 107:2

  386. Who have he redeemed from the hand of his enemy.

  387. Aren't you glad to know that?

  388. Wow, that's good.

  389. We're blessed.

  390. Say it with me, church.

  391. We're blessed.

  392. Because he does great things.

  393. We are blessed.

  394. Because he does great things.

  395. Notice the second thing about Mary.

  396. Mary celebrates the Lord for her personal grace.

  397. But Mary celebrates the Lord for perpetual grace.

  398. Verses 50 through 53.

  399. Look at verse 50.

  400. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

  401. Mary knows that she is not the only one who has received grace from God.

  402. His grace is to be revealed to every generation until the return of Christ to this earth.

  403. The grace of God that saves me, that by the grace of God that has appeared to all men, you and I have seen it from generation to generation.

  404. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, from one generation to the next generation to the next generation.

  405. And Lord help us that we.

  406. You know what's wrong with America today?

  407. Listen to me.

  408. I'm convinced.

  409. We're living in a society where half the homes are divided.

  410. There's no godliness in the home.

  411. There's no godly relationships in the home.

  412. So people, our kids are being raised in homes that they have no idea about a father relationship, a godly mother relationship, a godly father relationship.

  413. They don't see the example that God the Father means for them to see.

  414. That's it.

  415. They don't know.

  416. They don't know.

  417. Do you know?

  418. If right now, here's what broke my heart my last year of teaching, and that was about five years ago in classroom.

  419. And this is at a Christian university.

  420. People didn't even know who David and Goliath were.

  421. You learned them in second and third grade Sunday school.

  422. Amen.

  423. That's why our Bible study is so important here.

  424. And why we're excited about those five new rooms, we're going to be increasing.

  425. Your kids ought to be in Sunday school.

  426. They need to be in Iwana.

  427. They need to be in youth group.

  428. Why?

  429. We're teaching them the old, old stories that are so powerful, that change their life.

  430. Kids get saved so quick.

  431. And then what's the tragedy?

  432. They come and and the see thank God some parents will get them here and but they don't come.

  433. You gotta be the example.

  434. Lead by example.

  435. Don't, hey, you don't have to preach to them if you live right in front of them.

  436. Hello.

  437. They know.

  438. My kids knew where Susan and I stood.

  439. They used to say, oh, Dad's gonna get mad.

  440. Stephanie said, Dad's gonna kill me.

  441. Never, no, I never would kill her.

  442. Thought about it a couple of times.

  443. There's a real good story about Susan, but I won't tell it.

  444. See if she'll tell you.

  445. But we'll we'll go to their grave with that story.

  446. It was fun, though.

  447. I'll never forget it.

  448. That was so fun.

  449. But anyway, mama took control one morning.

  450. That's all I'm saying.

  451. So Mary celebrates the Lord for her perpetual grace.

  452. A, the permanence of this grace is forever.

  453. Her grace, this grace is sufficient from generation to generation.

  454. The grace of God is operating even today.

  455. There's grace to save sinners, can I get an amen?

  456. There's grace to reclaim black backsliders, can I get an amen?

  457. There's grace for battles, trials, valleys, grace for every situation we face in life.

  458. One of my favorite verses, two of them, 2 Corinthians 12 9 says, His grace is sufficient.

  459. His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.

  460. Most gladly we can glory in our infirmities because when we are weak, he is strong.

  461. That's 2 Corinthians 12.9.

  462. And then here's my favorite one.

  463. The next verse, Jason, my favorite verse on the grace of God, and it's so powerful.

  464. 2 Corinthians 9.8.

  465. I want you to see this.

  466. Woohoo! Woo! Yes! Here's Christmas.

  467. This is what you and I, the greatest gift in 2 Corinthians 9.15, the unspeakable gift, Paul says, of God.

  468. You know what it is?

  469. It's grace.

  470. It's God's grace.

  471. Watch.

  472. And God is able to make, I want you to underline the word all.

  473. And God is able to make all grace, not a little grace, not some grace, but all grace.

  474. That personal grace.

  475. That perpetual grace, all grace, hey, abound towards you.

  476. You know what?

  477. Remember what we said?

  478. Hey, when God, when He said uh highly favored to Mary, you've been graced, Mary, by God.

  479. You and I have been graced by God.

  480. And watch what it says, always having, there's that word again, all what?

  481. Sufficiency in what?

  482. All things that we may have an abundance for every good word.

  483. We've I'm telling you what, this ought to make a Methodist shout.

  484. Are you ready?

  485. All grace, all sufficiency in all things.

  486. Hallelujah.

  487. That's grace.

  488. And that's Christmas.

  489. Unspeakable grace.

  490. The unspeakable gift.

  491. 2 Corinthians 9 15.

  492. That's it.

  493. That's it.

  494. And then we see the performance of his grace in verse 51 and 52.

  495. And he had shown strength with his arm.

  496. Grace has strength.

  497. Say that with me.

  498. Grace, grace has strength with his arm.

  499. He had, oh, I love this, scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

  500. He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree.

  501. You don't have to worry about, hey, fighting your battles.

  502. The Lord will take care of them.

  503. All you got to do is be right, live righteously, and do right, and God'll handle it.

  504. Avenge not yourself.

  505. It is written, Vengeance is mine, I will replace, saith the Lord.

  506. Romans 12, 19.

  507. Amen.

  508. And this is he notice what he says right here.

  509. This is awesome.

  510. He says, Hey, I'm not going to use those great and mighty, proudful people.

  511. That's what he's saying here.

  512. I'm not going to use those that think they don't need God.

  513. Remember the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3?

  514. They were in need of nothing.

  515. But yet they were, hey, naked, blind, headed to destitution.

  516. Destitute.

  517. That didn't even know it.

  518. Now I want you to watch this.

  519. Look at 1 Corinthians 1, verses 26 through 27.

    1 Corinthians 1:26–27

  520. I think I have it there, Jason.

  521. Here's what he says.

  522. For you see your calling, brethren.

  523. Not many wise, according to the flesh.

  524. Not many, what?

  525. Not many, what?

  526. Not many noble are called.

  527. But now look at verse 27.

  528. In other words, that's those proud people that think they know it all and can do it all.

  529. They don't need God.

  530. That's what Paul's telling the church at Corinth.

  531. And then notice what it says in verse 27.

  532. But God.

  533. Don't you like it when it says, but God?

  534. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which were mighty.

  535. Wow.

  536. He chose a little peasant girl.

  537. Poor peasant girl.

  538. In a little village of Nazareth, who happened to be engaged to just an old common poor, probably carpenter named Joseph.

  539. Lower than middle class.

  540. They weren't even middle class.

  541. But that's who he chose.

  542. You know why?

  543. Because they had a heart for God.

  544. They had a heart for him.

  545. And they saturated their hearts and minds in him, in his word.

  546. They weren't worried about what the world thought.

  547. They weren't worried about trying to climb the world's success ladder.

  548. They weren't worried about the money that had no money.

  549. It's amazing.

  550. Let me tell you something about when you have no money, because I've been there.

  551. The key to, hey, God giving you more money is realizing where your money comes from.

  552. Hello?

  553. And you never forget where you came from.

  554. And you always are looking out to help those.

  555. Hey, listen, let me tell you something.

  556. I've always, God has blessed us so much, and I always, when I see people that I knew where I was, I was there.

  557. There's just something that automatically attracts me to them and wants me to help them because I know, especially when other people are shunning them and despising them, because I was there.

  558. But I've got news for you.

  559. Somebody's eyes turn toward me.

  560. And I've never forgotten that.

  561. I have never forgotten that.

  562. His performance.

  563. Oh, what a beautiful performance.

  564. He had not come to reach out to the proud and the mighty.

  565. He came to reach out to the lowly.

  566. And Matthew 18, 3 literally says, Except you come as a child, you'll not enter in.

  567. And then notice what else?

  568. The permanence of his grace, the performance of his grace.

  569. But then we see verse 53, the promise of his grace.

  570. Woo-hoo! He hath filled the hungry.

  571. Hey, folks, you're not gonna be filled if you're not hungry.

  572. Can I get an amen?

  573. You gotta be hungry.

  574. You know, I look out here and and and and and I see most of you almost every Sunday.

  575. You know what that does to me?

  576. It just fills my soul with goodness.

  577. Why?

  578. Because I know you you have come why I have come.

  579. I've come to be fed, I'm hungry.

  580. And I know you also come for the meal in a little bit.

  581. Because you're hungry physically too.

  582. That's okay.