As the Christmas season wraps its festive arms around us, our church family recently had a children’s Christmas program that truly embodied the reason for the season. The little ones, dressed as shepherds, took us back to the miraculous night of Jesus' birth with a performance that warmed every heart in the room. Special thanks go out to Terry, Kathy, and Lori, whose tireless efforts made this event possible.
Peering through the lens of Luke 1:26-38, we uncovered insights about the moment Gabriel delivered the life-altering news to Mary. We traveled back in time to decipher the complex political and social landscape of the era, marveling at Mary's faith in contrast to Zechariah's doubt, and reflecting on the themes of fear, favor, and faith that permeate Luke's Gospel. As we pondered Mary's lineage and her understanding of Messianic prophecies, it became clear that her humility and unexpected role in the grand narrative spotlight the power of trust and obedience to God's promises.
With the holiday season often stirring a mix of emotions, we extend an open-hearted invitation to anyone seeking a place of worship or spiritual kinship. The doors of Bible-believing churches are open wide, ready to envelop you in a community that finds strength and hope in Jesus. As the episode draws to a close, we share a heartfelt prayer and blessings for the week, acknowledging the unique challenges this time of year brings, and reminding you that within the family of faith, you are never alone.
As the Christmas season wraps its festive arms around us, our church family recently had a children’s Christmas program that truly embodied the reason for the season. The little ones, dressed as shepherds, took us back to the miraculous night of Jesus' birth with a performance that warmed every heart in the room. Special thanks go out to Terry, Kathy, and Lori, whose tireless efforts made this event possible.
Peering through the lens of Luke 1:26-38, we uncovered insights about the moment Gabriel delivered the life-altering news to Mary. We traveled back in time to decipher the complex political and social landscape of the era, marveling at Mary's faith in contrast to Zechariah's doubt, and reflecting on the themes of fear, favor, and faith that permeate Luke's Gospel. As we pondered Mary's lineage and her understanding of Messianic prophecies, it became clear that her humility and unexpected role in the grand narrative spotlight the power of trust and obedience to God's promises.
With the holiday season often stirring a mix of emotions, we extend an open-hearted invitation to anyone seeking a place of worship or spiritual kinship. The doors of Bible-believing churches are open wide, ready to envelop you in a community that finds strength and hope in Jesus. As the episode draws to a close, we share a heartfelt prayer and blessings for the week, acknowledging the unique challenges this time of year brings, and reminding you that within the family of faith, you are never alone.
Welcome to the Be Disciples podcast with your host, kyle Morris, dakota Smith and David Glavin. Merry Christmas everybody. How's everybody doing this morning? Good morning, we're doing great Good. Awesome you guys ready for Christmas? Oh, I am. We had a good Christmas program last night. It was actually really amazing. It was nice to see the kids up there.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:They were crawling around going. Eh, they had these cool little hats on and these costumes. It was really good. Yeah, we had a couple of women in our church, Terry and Kathy.
Speaker 1:And Lori, and Lori they put this whole thing together throughout the year and, yeah, it was just good and there were adults involved, children working together, families could come and it was a display of the angels coming to the shepherds and the shepherds going and seeing Jesus and what that meant and the connection of shepherds in the scriptures and things like that. So lots of scripture was read. All the songs were written by Kathy and, yeah, it was a great time.
Speaker 3:I enjoyed it Shout out to my son and all the weeks of practice. He did not get his line right but he was like clear and loud and precise. He was clear and loud and precise man. He did a good job. He did.
Speaker 2:That was both services, because I was in the six and you guys, I think we're in the four.
Speaker 3:All the kids did a great job. Yeah, I was a little worried about it. He's like his father he has a hard time taking things seriously.
Speaker 2:Same with Sela. I think she had a passage from John seven that was like you know. The words filled up the entire screen and she read it perfectly and pronounced the word of God. It was awesome, so I am not knowing what to expect. You know, I thought it went excellent this year. In the past we haven't always had enough mics, but everything was mic'd up. The show was online as well. It was a great time, and I think it built a lot of memories for us as parents too, to see. I mean, each of us had children. You know they're in the play, so it was good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and the AV team worked hard to make that happen.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, steve put a lot of effort into the slides and I see he was working all the week before I see and saw him back there, so that was really good. It was a team effort of a lot of different ministries coming together and working together and so, yeah, it was good it was. It was we've had since I've been here. We've had a couple of different, different kinds of children's programs. This one was was different than the others. Others were more was, a little more singing. This had more of a story with it, but it was. It was really good.
Speaker 2:I think that kind of thing puts everybody in the Christmas spirit. You know, it's something that's new, it's something that's different, you know, and it's enjoyable for families to get together grandparents, parents, kids and we just pray that they'd remember that for the rest of their life and that the word of God would be hidden in their heart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we also have Caroline coming up this week. That we do We've been doing every year. I remember as a youth group in Arizona we would do it and like nobody went, caroline, in Arizona. That was like people would be shocked that you came to their door and they were just so appreciative, like, oh, this has never happened. And so it's sometimes it's fun to go around and do that, because it doesn't always happen, not every time. Every year you get somebody coming to your door singing you a carol and for us we'll sing carols that talk about Jesus and that gives us an opportunity to invite and to share the gospel and to pray for people. So it's just another avenue to go share Jesus during the holidays.
Speaker 2:So today we're going to pick up with a passage that I'm going to preach on Sunday morning. It's going to be found in Luke, chapter 1, verses 26 to 38. It's the announcement of the angel Gabriel as he's speaking to Mary for the first time, and I think one of the reasons why we are recording this conversation is just to show you the practice of the Koma method, you know, as you start to analyze the Word of God. Kyle, when did we start this podcast officially? In 2020?
Speaker 1:Yeah, kind of around April May 2020, something like that.
Speaker 2:It's called the Be Disciples podcast, and one of the things we want to do is equip you to be disciples and to make disciples, and I think one of the things we're going to do here in this episode is to take a passage that's going to be preached this coming Sunday but then to show you like what some of those initial conversations look like as we're jumping into preparation, and so many of us from our church we know this is the Koma method, where you study context, observations, meaning and then application, and so this episode will deal with just that Again. Luke, chapter 1, verses 26 to 38. Kyle, why don't you pray for us?
Speaker 1:and then we'll dive right in All right Father, just be with each one of us as we have a conversation over your Word. I pray for all those listening that, just as we discuss what the scriptures say, that it would help just teach them you know just ways to read your Word, to sit down to have conversation that's why we do this podcast and so, just as we go over, you know some basic biblical interpretation ways to make sure that we're reading your Word as it was intended by the original author, that you would just help strengthen us in these skills, strengthen our listeners, and that we would actually leave this episode not just with the skills, but with what the scripture means and how we're supposed to live it out. And so be with us today, in this time, in this discussion. Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2:Amen. Now, in the six month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her greetings, favored one. The Lord is with you. But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her do not be afraid, mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, david, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end.
Speaker 2:Mary said to the angel how can this be, since I'm a virgin? The angel answered and said to her the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you, and for that reason the holy child will be called the son of God. And behold, even your relative, elizabeth, has also conceived a son in her old age, and she, who was called barren, is now in her six months, for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said behold the bond slave of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. Okay, guys, looking at context, where do we start here with Luke 1.26-38? Is there anything that's significant beforehand, anything that's significant afterwards that we should take into account?
Speaker 1:I think the time period is stated at many moments in this narrative, what area they're in, who's ruling, just to give us actual time markers, which is important, because what is our whole calendar based off of? Well, the birth of Jesus Christ. So it's really important that we know who is ruling at what time and what place, and so that helps us. Even in Luke 1, prior to this passage, when we talk about John the Baptist's birth being foretold prior to this and that being Jesus's cousin, somebody that's related to Mary, and we know that John the Baptist is foretold to be the forerunner for Jesus, the one that's going to declare the coming Messiah, who's going to pave the way, who's going to baptize Jesus later on as Jesus starts his ministry, and so we get that story as well, because we know that Mary is going to go stay with Elizabeth, and so we're given time stamps, we're given locations, we're given some of the familial circumstances with Zachariah and what happens with him prior to verse 26, him being in the temple and the angel coming to him and telling him what's going to happen about him and his wife having a baby in their old age, and so that kind of leads into Mary, because that is a part of her world, that is a part of her family.
Speaker 1:That's going on, and so that's important to know some of the other things that are going on. Mary is not the only one pregnant at a unique setting. We have an Elizabeth, an older age, being pregnant, and now Mary becoming pregnant without actually being married or being with a man, but the Holy Spirit coming upon her and the angel coming to her. So that's really important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think in light of the things that you mentioned. I was looking at this last night. In Luke 1, verse 12, says Zechariah says troubled when he saw the angel in fear gripped him. But the angel said to him do not be afraid, zachariah, for your petition has been heard. So he tells him not to be afraid. And then he tells him of what's going to happen His wife's going to bear a son, his son will be filled with the Holy Spirit, while yet in his mother's womb. Verse 18,.
Speaker 2:Later on down the road in chapter one, zachariah said to the angel how will I know this for certain, for I'm an old man and my wife is advanced in years? And then from there the angel pronounces muteness on him for the next nine months. But then in our passage, it's really interesting that in verses 26 to 38, you see in verse 30, the angel comes and says to Mary do not be afraid, mary, for you found favor with God. But then Mary asks the question in verse 34, how can this be, since I'm a virgin and the response of the angel Gabriel is totally different, based on the individual that he's talking to here and likely the attitude that they responded with? And so I think that's just like a theme that's kind of picking up and it's it's carrying throughout the book of Luke. David, do you have any thoughts? Like as it pertains to context?
Speaker 3:Not particularly you. One thing stood out to me you guys covered a lot, but that I wanted to look back at the different responses because each of them had a question. Zacharias to the angel, how will I know this for certain? For I'm an old man, my wife is advanced. And then Mary's question was how can this be, for I'm a virgin? Yeah, each of them had questions. It seemed to me there was more doubt in Zacharias and there would have been a Mary because they would have been active as a married couple, but they're old, so there was doubt that that could happen. Zacharias, like I, have not been united with my husband. To be like this is completely outside of being physiologically possible. So how could this happen? I feel like hers was more of a genuine question. His might have been more doubt that I. I feel like both Elizabeth and Zachariah were more doubtful and more had a heart of hesitation, but Mary quickly accepted.
Speaker 2:Which I think is really interesting, that the book of Luke begins with this foreshadowing of doubt from the temple. It's in the location of the temple, a place of God's presence, and you haven't heard from the Lord in 400 years. And here it all comes about and then boom, look at the response. It's anticlimactic and so all of that kind of builds. And then you get to Mary. Who's this teenage virgin, we assume, and I guess she could be considered as one of the lowest in society, and her response is totally different than those who are high in society.
Speaker 3:And there's also the contrast between young and old, where even Christ in his ministry said blessed are you, or he thanked the Lord that he brought his message to babes the faith of the young and there's more doubt in the old. So Mary would have been young and she would have had a more pure faith. Maybe.
Speaker 2:Anything after the text. What do you guys see?
Speaker 1:Well, I know at least biblical context we're going to think you're going to have to go to. We have a little bit on Joseph but not the full Joseph experience. We're going to have to go to Matthew. We're going to have to go to look at some other places. The angel comes to Joseph as well Within it. We have to go to chapter 2 as Jesus' birth An angel of the Lord shown went to the. We know they went to the shepherds in 2, but we might have to go to Matthew for some of those. For Joseph's we have Mary's angel visit in Luke. So there's more to the story.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you got to go to the other gospels. We get some other information of things that happen, nothing that contradicts each other, but just to kind of add layers to the actual narrative itself. Here I know like we get Mary's song but we also get Zachariah's prophecy. So we kind of have some different additions to the story of themselves, some words from them, not just the narrative but actual words. So that's also added in Luke compared to the book of Matthew. So yeah, just some different things.
Speaker 1:If you want to go compare the other gospel accounts, it's good. It kind of adds in those layers. That's always helpful for context. You may read through Luke and go, hey, I thought this would happen or that happened. You may have to go to the other gospels to see those things. So that's just something to remember when you're reading an account that may have taken place multiple times in the scriptures. That can happen in the Old Testament, right With chronicles and all the different you know accounts of different things that have happened. So there may be multiple layers. You can go and find all that information to help out. So that's something good. That's called biblical context.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you're totally right on that. When we look at what's called the Magnificat, mary's response to these things you know, or at least as you know she had been speaking to Elizabeth it's a she essentially gives parallel prayer that Hannah gave in 1 Samuel 2. And so Hannah was barren and she couldn't bear forth children. And you know, you had Penenah, the wife who was, I guess you could say, able to have children, and she was the wife who couldn't have children. And it's in Elkana, of course was the husband over the two of them.
Speaker 2:And the whole theme of Samuel is starting to set up for the thing that you know, god raises up the humble and God brings down the prideful. And I think when Mary prays a prayer very similar to Hannah, that tells us a couple things about her. One, it tells us that she's placing her trust and who this Savior is going to be. Look at verse 47, and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior, right. But it also tells us that Mary, she understood Scripture. I mean, the prayer is darn near exact and so that, like, imagine Mary as this young girl who's got prayers memorized. That says something extreme about her character, and so I think it just kind of fills in our passage for us a little bit. Let's do this, observationally speaking, in verses 26 to 38,. What are some things that you guys found significant as we read through the passage.
Speaker 3:Well, in Mary's initial response in 38, she says Behold the bondservant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. Also, you see, bondservant used in the Magnificat. You know her rejoicing a bondslave. Her humility, I mean in the Catholic Church tradition. You know they raised Mary up. But even in Mary, from the very beginning, mary acknowledged herself in humility, you know, covered herself in humility and I think that's, you know, being that Christ came in humble circumstances. I think that this sets the tone for that as well, seeing that Jesus is coming to do things outside of the box. You know that the community has kind of put the Messiah in. You know, kind of begins here in Mary's humility.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's interesting that I mean right, when the angel comes though greetings favored one, the Lord is with you, like huh. And it says she was very perplexed at this statement. She actually doesn't say anything here. I can't imagine what maybe the look on her face was or was. I mean I'm sure that it's a mixed of scared right? Because then the angel says Do not be afraid, mary, you have found favor with God. He says it twice You're the favored one. You have found favor. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and be called the son of the Most High, the Lord. God will give him the throne of his father, david. I mean, think of the details that the angels rolling out here. You're going to be the son of the Most High Lord. God will give him the throne of his father, david will reign over the house of Jacob. These Kingdom will have no end. Like what an amazing declaration this angel is giving Mary.
Speaker 1:Mary's, like I'm just some girl from Nazareth. Like what are you talking about? Like I'm a nobody, I'm, no one knows who I am. Why are you coming to me? And she's Mary said finally says to the angel after all that, how will this be? Since I'm a virgin? That's her only question, like, well, how's it all gonna work? Not, she doesn't say no way, that can't happen. She doesn't. She just says she asked the question, not, that can't happen. She just asks how, well, if all that's, if I'm supposed to have a son and all those things are gonna come true, angel, now I don't. I believe you, but I just don't get how that's going to happen because I I'm not married and and I'm a virgin.
Speaker 1:And so Mary's posture towards the angel and submission to what's happening is very different than Zachariah. The angel doesn't come to Zachariah and Say hello, yo favorite one, one who's been Favored above above all others. He doesn't say that to Zachariah. Zachariah just trembles in fear and quickly speaks, whereas Mary doesn't speak right away. She waits all the way until after the declaration from the angel and then just merely asks how is God gonna do this? And then the whole angel says the Holy Spirit is gonna do it. So Very different posture here from Mary. Maybe it is because she doesn't really know. I think she knows the Lord and I think she's clearly well-versed and understanding Torah and some of these other things, we could tell that she loves God, but she's very uncertain of herself, perplexed, why me? But she doesn't ask why me.
Speaker 2:She just asked how let me ask the question for both of you, just kind of see your response and then see if you can capitalize on it. Which individual should have had a greater expectation or should have been less surprised that God appeared to them, and why?
Speaker 1:Well, zachariah, of course he's in the temple for one right. He's a priest right, Like Annie's in the holy of holy place of God.
Speaker 3:Yeah, where they expected to meet with right.
Speaker 1:Should have been a shock.
Speaker 2:I mean, after four hundred years, it would have been a surprise, but nevertheless, you, you've got a greater responsibility to come into the presence of the Lord. Even before you walk in, dude, before you even knew, gabriel would show up. Like you've got a greater responsibility. You shouldn't know that Mary's just like I don't know, she's like sitting around.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that shows us something that we should all have when we come to the Lord, which is expectation. We should expect the Lord to answer. Zachariah should have expected the Lord to answer when he walked in there. Mary was, wasn't a priest, wasn't in the temple. The angel came to her. She was not. She wasn't expecting that sort of thing to happen to her, that she would be the one to bear the Messiah. But I mean, I can imagine if you're, if you're a Jewish woman and you know the prophecy, what, what would you want more than anything else to be the mother of the Messiah Right? Wouldn't that be like a? That's a little bit of an expectation, like wow, when that be amazing and she's from the family of David.
Speaker 2:She knows that right.
Speaker 1:So I think maybe she may not have expected it, because it hasn't happened yet and years have gone by. But there could have been some sort of like want there Right, or a dream, as we all wish something would happen. So she was in a different spot. She was young, not like Zachariah, old and age Should have known these things, should have been expecting it. But I think we can learn from that. We should have expectation of what God's going to do, especially based off of what he's already said. And so I think Mary had A bit of a more humble posture, maybe a little bit more naive, because she just wasn't old enough to know yet. But I think that warns us a little bit about you know, we're studying God's word. We should have expectation and how God works and not be surprised when he does.
Speaker 2:I think maybe, going back to the comment and capitalizing on what you just said, if Mary later this is where the post text helps you if Mary later Praise the Magnificat, or she praised the prayer very similar to Hannah's, and at first and second Samuel were one book all together, you know we divided it into first and second, it's just always been Samuel. Then when you get to second Samuel, chapter 7, it speaks of the Davidic Covenant, which we covered a little bit this past Sunday. And so if she knows like Hannah's prayer by heart, and she's from the family and royal lineage of David, she must know the Davidic Covenant, for crying out loud, you know she does so. Second Samuel, chapter 7, 8 through 17, is the Covenant that God made with David saying you you will never lack a king on your family's Throne. I will continue with a dynasty of kings with you forever, and there will be one who receives that kingdom and he will possess it forever, never, never to let it out of his hand.
Speaker 2:And so it's almost like maybe Mary has had this humble expectation throughout her life. Now she's being pronounced the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant, and all she's asking is great. So how's that gonna happen, right? You look at verse 37,. You know, the angel says nothing will be impossible with God, and so I think that's kind of the. The key to this is that God is Fulfilling what seems to be impossible Because he's promised to do so. You know Other observations, kyle, I think you hit on something specifically like around verse 32 and 33. You mentioned a list.
Speaker 1:Yeah, listen names, names of Jesus.
Speaker 1:Yeah, his identity what he's going to do and who he is. So we have all these would have been ones that Mary would have recognized, especially speaking to the throne of his father, david, so she would have known what that meant to reign over the house of Jacob. She would understand what that meant, and so I think the angel is giving her exact I mean very detailed this is who this individual is going to be. Mary would have not said I don't know what that means. Yeah, because that's not what she asks. I think she knows exactly who this is when the angel says it. This is the Messiah, this is the one we've been waiting for, and so there's no question there.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, a list of names is always important, either that or repetition. But I mean, we have the Father in this passage, the Holy Spirit in this passage, the Son of the Most High in this passage yeah, that's true. Again, we have the Trinity, we have God working, all three persons identifying the work of all three in this passage. That's really really important. And we also are connected back to the prophecy through the line of David. So, yeah, really really important when it comes to understanding who God is and what he is doing, his identity in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. So that's in here, that's all wrapped up in the angel's message.
Speaker 3:And there also I must have been in immediacy in the way it was presented, because you know, mary could assume well, this is going to happen after I'm married. But there must have been something to say this is going to happen now. I mean because she was engaged, you know that was going to not be too long down the road. But well, how's that going to happen? I'm a virgin. Right Could be like well, duh, you're going to be married. Well, no, no, so soon. The Spirit's going to come, yeah.
Speaker 2:Now, well, verse 31, 2,. I think another observation of significance is that you shall call his name Jesus, and Yeshua literally means Yahweh delivers, yahweh saves, and so you're going to name this Messiah God saves, which is that's pretty amazing. So I think she's receiving this information. She's doing a great job of responding in the right way. This I think this, by the way, shows the why behind her favoring she's favored by God because she, her character's put on display from the beginning. You can tell she's a young lady of faith, and that's impressive to see.
Speaker 1:And her final response really wraps that up in a bow for us, right.
Speaker 2:What she says at the very end.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, because she just says behold the Lord's bondservant, may it be done to me according to your word. Yeah, and that's how she responds. Not the same as Zachariah got another contrast, but she just humbly submits If this is the will of God, this is his word, let it be done. Yeah, who am I to get in the way? Who am I to question? So that showed some maturity. I also think, again, we can also lean a little bit on being naive.
Speaker 1:I think of being young and doing things where you're just yeah, I'll do that whatever, even if it's dangerous, like okay, cool, like I'm in I think there's probably a little bit of that from Mary too but she does recognize who the word is coming from and that it is the Word of God, and that is the most important. Even if we do act out of not knowing everything that's going to partake, like in this moment she's not thinking oh, my son's going to die on a cross. Like she doesn't know that, she isn't thinking that, she doesn't think, she's not necessarily thinking of all the things, she's just okay, let it be done, I'm going to do what you want me to do. I'm going to play my part, lord, and I think we can all lean into that a little bit. Lord, let me play my part that you want me to play, not the part that I've written for myself.
Speaker 1:On the side, I think we can submit to the steps and the path that God wants us on, and Mary does that here. She says nope, I submit to the path you want me to be on and I'm going to do your will. So that's something we can learn from a young Mary Listen and obey yeah, very simple, but can be so hard at times. So listen and obey.
Speaker 2:And I think naturally in this conversation we've touched on context and observations, but we've started to just transition into meaning, and that's where we find this is to trust and obey is a part of the meaning of the text. I think the meaning of the text, or the importance of the text, is pointing towards God's faithfulness as well, the faithfulness of the Davidic covenant. The Davidic covenant was the last major covenant that we see found in the Old Testament, and so, while think about it this way while they might not have heard from the word of God in 400 years, you know new scripture per se. The last covenant of the Old Testament was spoken way prior to that as well. David reigned roughly 1000 years before Jesus, so that's even a larger gap than 400 years. So you've got the 1000 year gap of massive covenantal promises of God, and now you're starting to see it come to fruition, which I think there's meaning in that too.
Speaker 2:Sometimes God doesn't speak to you for prolonged periods of time to keep you waiting and trusting, and waiting and trusting, and then finally, one day, here he is and it's like, oh my gosh, he's doing something again. He was actually doing something all along, but I just am not made privy to it every day, and therein lies a big lesson for us. Have you guys experienced times in your life where you feel like you've gone a while without hearing the voice of the Lord, or you've gone a while without feeling necessarily on fire, or you, you know, feeling like the way you did when you first got saved, or something like that, and then then God suddenly shows up and he does something.
Speaker 1:I can see that in Zachariah's case here. Yeah, you know, just doing his job, hey, temple stuff, right, like it's been however many years, right, since much has happened. Yeah, you know, he's probably just old and ready to retire, right? Whatever, you know, like I could just see that being the state of what he's in. So when this angel comes, it's probably like what is a child? Right, I'm about to die, I'm old.
Speaker 1:You know, like I don't want to do this, but I think we sometimes get in our minds that things have to happen when we're younger for them to be significant, or things have to. You know these just weird lies that we tell ourselves. But God can work and do the greatest things in our lives whenever he wants to. Right, right, you could go your whole life and you're 90 and God uses you for something incredible. Yeah, and you're like, why a 90? Well, that's when God wanted it.
Speaker 1:You know, so I think for us to be patient and to wait, and sometimes what God is using you for could be something that will never be noticed, yeah, but we'll still have a large impact because you're faithful and obedient, you know. Yeah, of course Mary gets elevated by some people to more of a God-like figure. Yeah, and that's not okay, and I don't think Mary would have been okay with that. But I see a humility from Mary throughout the scriptures. Yeah, I see her taking her role seriously as a mother. You know she didn't go around bragging about Jesus as the Messiah One. They were running for their lives, part of their childhood.
Speaker 1:But I just think I see a humility from Mary. I see a sweet relationship between Jesus and Mary and I think all parents can have that sweet relationship and that relationship with their children is your work, that is your great work. That can be done. So, just through the lives of Zachariah which he had a fault and he messed up like we all do, and you know he got his voice back eventually, right when his son was born. Mary, we see what happens to her throughout her life, but I think we can learn from their lives. I think we can bring great meaning out of those extraordinary lives that were really just ordinary people, and I think sometimes we elevate these people in scripture to above what we need to, when really they are ordinary people like you and I, just being used by God. God can use you too and we need to have expectation that he's going to use us and know our word and live it out and we can really relate to these people because they are humans just like you and I.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, one thing that I think separates people that God uses and people that he doesn't. God uses people who are recipients, passive recipients, just of his grace and his blessings and his utilization. But for people who rise up and say, all right, I'm going to show God or I'm going to do this for him, or I'm, you know, and then they take control.
Speaker 2:Well, now you're not operating under the gift of grace. Having been a recipient, now you're a controller and you're stepping above him. And so it's interesting that, despite both the responses, though, of Zacharias and Mary, they're both recipients of God's grace One receives John the Baptist, the other receives Jesus, and God will use them in their time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think just in my life in ministry, everything I've received most of it I didn't even ask for, I didn't even want to be honest, you know what I mean. And God used it, God did it. I always say there's no ministry opportunity that I sought out. God gave it to me. He opened the door. Did I respond when the door opened? You sure, did I always respond no. But I think all of those opportunities are ones that I couldn't produce, and anytime I thought about producing something it seemed like God was like always reminded me, like Kyle.
Speaker 2:I've got something else.
Speaker 1:I've got something else, dude? What are you doing, right? Oh, yeah, like, why waste my time? So I think, when we learn that, I think that becomes a place of maturity, and I think we can take that from this passage Wait for God, he will use you. Amen. Wait for God, but be ready. Yeah, be ready. Prepare, read your word, know it. I mean, that's why we do this podcast, that's why we're reading the Bible. We don't know when God's going to use us. We don't know when something's going to happen. We don't know when an opportunity arises, and that can be hard in the midst of chaotic life, but that's the reality. Are we ready? Are we prepared, are we equipped to shift when a moment happens? This is what God wants me to do. Yeah, zachariah, was it maybe as prepared, even though he had a lifetime of preparation? Right, mary seemed to be a little more prepared in her young age, being willing to be used by God.
Speaker 2:I think that's a really good point. Actually, as long as you're faithful to walk with God, then you're going to be ready when he brings you something your way. When God decides to gift you with something else, when he decides to gift you with a blessing, a lot of it's because what you thought was the silence of God for so long. If you've been faithful to walk with God, whether he's been speaking or not, then when he does come and he does speak and he does make something ultra apparent, he does bring an opportunity to you. Then your character has already been primed. Mm-hmm, I think we saw that in King David, as Per mentioned yesterday as well. Just the scripture speaks to these principles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, some are willing to rise up and do it and some take a little longer. I mean Abraham he got up and left when God told him to Moses he had to leave Egypt for a little bit to get it. But then, when God called him back, what'd he do?
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I'm going to go. I don't know how I'm going to do it because I'm one man Right but God said I got you and he went. So all these individuals trusted in God and they just walked forward. God did the work, they just obeyed. I think that's significant for us to understand. We sometimes feel like we have to make something happen. We don't Just have to listen and obey.
Speaker 3:I think there's also danger in becoming complacent and comfortable in our general obedience to the Lord, where we can kind of raise ourselves up like, well, I'm active in the church, I lead a Bible study, my family goes to Bible study, I lead my family, we are living for the Lord, yeah. And then we get well, like I said, complacent or comfortable there and think that that's what we're doing, that's just general obedience, that's what the Lord calls us to do in a general sense, what we do out of love, as worship to the Lord. But then there's this special call that you can receive above and beyond that, and I think sometimes, especially in our culture, in our church, we can either not hear that special call or not accept it or be ready to accept it. We're like, well, I'm already doing what the Lord has me to do.
Speaker 1:I agree with you, I think, in that we are all called to that general obedience and we all need to stay faithful in that. But we have to be ready to move. We have to be ready to go if that does come. Mary didn't want to, she wasn't gonna like get pregnant, go to Bethlehem, have a baby stable.
Speaker 2:Like that wasn't her plan. Yeah, she didn't think I've got to prepare for this moment. No.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But for us, if we're just doing our part as the word tells us to, to be obedient, to raise our families, to be in the church, I'm not gonna say everyone's gonna get a special call to go somewhere. Like, maybe that call is right where you are, to be obedient, to show faithfulness, that is important too. But you also need to be ready to say my roots aren't so deep that God can't move me. Yeah, that's all. I just think you have to keep those roots like there for the time that you're there, be bought in fully to what God's doing in your current situation. But when God says, I want you to do something else, let go of those and move, and so that's. That's that place where you got to be in.
Speaker 1:Mary didn't plan on this, joseph didn't plan on this, zachariah, elizabeth didn't plan on this. But they had to adjust and they had to say God's moving and we're gonna have to move with him. And sometimes we wrestle, sometimes we fight against it. But I think it's important that if we're prepared, living in obedience, willing and waiting, I think we'll have a different response. I think we'll have a good response to the Lord and what he wants and being able to be a little bit more flexible when sometimes we wanna be rigid.
Speaker 2:Amen. I think that's a good place to close. You know, as we're preparing for this Christmas season, we are reminded not only of the Savior who came to save us, but, because he saved us, we're reminded of, I guess, the expectations for our own faith, our own obedience. You know, god is gonna call His people to live a life of faith and obedience. That's pre-Messiah, present Messiah, post-messiah I'm speaking of First Advent.
Speaker 1:Good job, just kidding. Thank you all for listening to the Be Disciples podcast. Merry Christmas guys, merry Christmas everybody. I hope that you get to spend time with family and friends, and I wanna encourage you. If maybe you do, you're gonna be alone on Christmas.
Speaker 1:There's a Bible-believing church that wants you to show up on Christmas Eve and wants you to engage and say, hey, you know what, I'm gonna be alone on Christmas. There are any families that would just be able to spend time with, and a Bible-believing church who loves Jesus will invite you in, and so if that's out of a Bible church, because you're in the area, please come. Don't be shy, Come talk to us, but I encourage you to go and find people. They, these individuals who love Jesus, love you, and so we invite you to go find somebody to be with. I'll be praying for everybody. We'll be praying for everybody. This is the time of year where it can be a little difficult for some. We're reminded of loss, but we're also reminded of the Savior that has come and that our hope is in Him this time of year and in nothing else. Have a blessed week, popularity, you.