Let the Games Begin
In these next few weeks news will be focused on the heroism of athletes competing in the Olympic Games. From the Bible we can learn much from the athletics illustrations of life. Consider these metaphors.
First, “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5). Similarly, every believer must live in obedience to the standards set by God.
“Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.” (1 Corinthians 9:25) “Self-control” means “self-restraint, self-government.” This involves avoiding negative, carnal, and impure secular toxins.
In contrast we must “Train yourself for godliness.” (1 Timothy 4:7) “Train” (Greek gymnaz?) literally means “to exercise naked.” No females were allowed in the gym or to attend the contest. They removed all hindrances, so we need to rid our life from what hinders us.
Winners had to extend themselves to win the crown. So we must “toil” (1 Timothy 4:10) to win the prize. “Labor” (Greek kopia?) means “to toil to the point of exhaustion.” In the pursuit of holiness, we must give ourselves until we have nothing left to give. Again using the athletic metaphor, “I press on” (Phil. 3:12), employing a word (Greek diok?) meaning “to move rapidly and decisively after an object.” This requires running after the knowledge of Christ as fast as our spiritual legs can propel us. The Bible says, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” (Heb. 12:1) This “race” (Greek ag?n) was the excruciating long-distance event that involved agony and agonizing. We must constantly expend ourselves in running the lifelong race set before us.
The boxer entered the ring to fight his opponent. A line was drawn and the contestants had to “toe the line.” The object was to either knock out the opponent or disable him so he could not toe the line in the allotted time. An ancient boxer could not afford to wear himself out by throwing wild punches that never connected. He had only so much strength to expend. Every punch had to be on target. In the same way, like a boxer: “I do not box as one beating the air.” (1 Cor. 9:26) In our spiritual life, we are not shadowboxing and jabbing at thin air. One must resolve, “I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (v. 27) “Discipline” (Greek hupopiaz?) literally means “to bruise, to beat black and blue.”The object is to beat down our formidable spiritual foe.
Returning to the metaphor of the runner requires “forgetting what lies behind.” (Phil. 3:13) He could not win the crown if he was looking back over his shoulder at his past failures or victories. We must be “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.” (Heb. 12:2) Our singular focus must remain on Christ, who generates the strength we need to run with endurance. Keeping our gaze on Christ produces the stamina.
A Moral Muddle 8/9/98
Judges 21:25
Page 400 Come Alive Bible
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).
Jesus Christ gave us a short course in truthfulness when He said: “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one” (Mat 5:37).
Simple, isn’t it. Sub-title: “Don’t attempt to deceive.”
When Jesus encountered Nathaniel, who was to become one of His disciples, He said, “Here is an Israelite in whom there is no guile.”
Guile is the tactful art of verbal deception. Nathaniel was a straight shooter. He was candid and up front. He left no doubt about what he meant.
An example of guile is this. Suppose two persons have engaged in certain conduct together. Soon they learn they are going to be asked if they did the deed of which they are accused. One says to the other “When asked if we did just say ‘no we didn’t.’”
When asked did you tell your friend to lie the answer is “No, I didn’t.” To that person he is telling the truth. In that persons mind he didn’t use the actual words “Lie about it” even though he did instruct his friend to give the wrong answer. That is guile.
In the mind of the person exercising guile terms are redefined to suit the users desire. They do what is right in their own mind.
In Judges 21: 25 a society of guileful people is described. They each did that which was right in their own eyes. Each person established their own standard for right or wrong. It was one of the bleakest periods in the glorious history of ancient Israel. Such a national mentality eventually leads as it did then to anarchy.
At a time when the daily news leads with a story of reputed immorality can the church dare be mute on the subject? It is not my purpose to impose guilt on individuals the court has not and may not judged. I want to be candidly clear that I am not saying our president is guilty of any impropriety. The ultimate evidence will determine that. However, we do well to consider public reaction to alleged conduct. A big “IF” hangs in front of all allegations. It is not the President’s alleged conduct that is the subject of this message, but public response to principles associated with claimed conduct. Got it? If you don’t you might very well judge my intent as improper instead of gaining a better understanding of a major moral trend in our national life.
The allegations against the President have unsettled many American Christians and others of high moral standards. All the talk of alleged moral impropriety and criminality has pushed the issue of morals to the forefront.
In assessing our response to the President we should model the behavior of the early church as noted in I Timothy 2: 1, 2: “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (I Timothy 2:1, 2).
Most of their leaders were either ignorant or defiant of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. Neither Israel’s anointed kings nor Rome’s emperors ever gave evidence of a moral life worth writing home about.
Of rulers and governing authorities one has said, “God rides a lame horse and draws a straight line with a crooked stick.”
Let’s pray for our leaders even if they turn out to be less than advertised.
It is a seemingly broad based approval of alleged conduct that is disturbing. Something is wrong in a society that tunes in daily to see the latest moral mutants on the “Jerry Springer Show.”
When vegetarians and animal-rights advocates debate the morality of eating eggs and advocate abortion something is morally wrong. When protests are held against putting stray animals to sleep but support Dr. Kevorkian’s helping to put people to sleep a moral anchor is missing.
Three major attitudinal changes have emerged in the last decade in America. They each contribute to the popularity of guile.
I. RELATIVISM
In the late 1960’s a book emerged entitled Situation Ethics. The thesis is that the situation determines what is right and what is wrong. There are no absolutes. Thus, what is right for one person at a given time and under a specific circumstance might not be right for others.
Push that out of the envelop and consider what it does to our legal system. It would dramatically impact education.
In chemistry there are absolutes. One atom of oxygen and two atoms of hydrogen always produces H2O, water. That’s an absolute. Think what it would be like in a chemistry lab if there were no absolutes.
There are absolutes in math. Try to convince a math teacher that your answer is different and right from the rest of the class because you did yours at 6:00 AM on Tuesday and the rest of the class did theirs at 8:00 PM on Monday.
In the matter of morals and ethics there must be absolutes. One reason certain groups have worked to have the Ten Commandments taken from public view is they are absolutes. In ruling to remove them from certain public places the court even said they must be removed lest persons looking upon them might come to believe in them as absolutes.
Have you established your core beliefs? That is, have you set your own personal moral and ethical standards and said these are they.
Parents need to be sure they don’t subtly teach children right or wrong is a matter of personal choice. This is done by a parent giving instruction to a child followed by “O.K.” Such as, “Junior, don’t do that, O.K.?” or, “Sissy, pick up your toys, O.K.?” If the child is being given instruction it should be made clear and not optional, “O.K.?”
II. TOLERANCE
Tolerance is the new “virtue” in our society. Tolerance is now taught as one of the basics in school.
Teachers are taught to tell students “We cannot tell you what is right or wrong. You must decide for yourself. We can only tell you what the options are.”
Most of the above 30 population has one understanding of the term and those younger another. It is now a relative term.
For years The American College Dictionary defined tolerance as “the disposition to be patient toward those whose opinions or practices differ from our own…” That is now known as negative tolerance.
For years many have felt it proper to say, “I love you, but I disapprove of what you are doing and your belief.”
That is negative tolerance. That statement is now considered bigotry.
Positive tolerance is defined as “every single individuals beliefs, values, lifestyle, and truth claims are equal.”
To assert your opinion is right and another wrong is to be called prejudiced.
William Penn, founder of the state of Pennsylvania, said, “Right is right, though all be against it and wrong is wrong thought all be for it.” Today he would be called prejudice.
Ask an advocate of tolerance if he is sure there are no absolutes and he will say, “Absolutely!”
Advocates of positive tolerance are tolerant of everything except the Christian belief that there are moral absolutes.
Tolerance has replaced the former virtue of justice.
Justice and what is called “positive tolerance” can not co-exist. Justice is the enemy of tolerance. Justice says there is a moral basis for discerning right from wrong. Positive tolerance says there is not such moral basis.
Secular journalist, Rowland Netaway wrote of the present generation, “They don’t seem to know right from wrong.” Current teaching regarding positive tolerance is the reason.
Such value-free, morally neutral, education opens the door for sources in Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and even Nashville to bombard young minds with thousands of hours of sounds and images that glamorize immorality and mock Biblical values.
King David asked, “If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3).
There are two distinct foundational models of truth:
1. Truth is defined by God for everyone; it is objective and absolute.
2. Truth is defined by the individual; it is subjective and situational.
The first model accepts God not man as the central Source of truth. The Bible is the repository of truth defining right and wrong. In the second model every person considers himself to be the judge of what is right or wrong in a given situation.
Regarding absolutes and tolerance the Bible advocates, “Speak the truth in love.” No guile, just truth.
A lady desiring a parrot for a pet went to a pet store in search for one. Sure enough there was one on sale at a low price. She decided on that one but the store owner urged her not to buy it because it was very bad to curse.
“I can break him of that,” she said.
Once she got the bird home it started cursing. She put it in the freezer for 15 minutes. It came out shivering but as soon as it warmed up it began cursing again. She warned the parrot and put it back in the freezer. This time for 30 minutes. It came out coated with ice crystals and shivering. As soon as it warmed up it began cursing again.
Back in the freezer. This time for an hour. When it came out it was stiff and ice coated. Soon it thawed out. The lady asked, “Are you going to curse any more?” It shook its head “no.” “Are you through cursing?” The head shake indicated a big “yes.”
Then the parrot spoke, “I have a question for you? What did that turkey in the freezer say to you?”
If you didn’t get that you are slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through chunky peanut butter.
Chill out! Speak only the truth in love.
The third factor impacting America’s moral climate is –
III. SUBJECTIVISM
Subjectivism has replaced objectivism.
In Christian ethics and morals the Lord as revealed through the Bible has been the object affording us the standard for right and wrong.
Now the source of right or wrong has shifted from the object, the Bible, to the individual “I.”
“I” am the authority for right or wrong. That brings us back to absolutes. “I,” the subject has no absolutes, everything is relative.
This leaves a conscious free of conviction. The individual becomes “god.” When the moral compass of Scripture is replaced by the will of the individual direction is lost in life. Every person does that which is right in his or her own sight.
Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) are popular. It is a simple little device that is locked on to a satellite. It can tell you where on earth you are within a matter of inches.
If lost you might not like what the GPS shows. You might dispute it and decide to go the direction you desire rather than the one indicated to be correct. The standard remains. You don’t judge the standard, it judges you.
How are we to live in such a culture?
1. When you blow it, confess your sin quickly and repentantly return to the Lord in faith and obedience.
2. Build your faith through the study of God’s Word and prayer.
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
3. Be prepared for spiritual conflict against:
A. The world.
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (I John 2: 15, 17).
B. The flesh.
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish” (Galatians 5:16,17).
C. Satan.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” (I Peter 5:8, 9).
The Beginning of the Olympics
The Olympic games are said to have begun in 776 BC. There is evidence the games may have started earlier. They began as a simple foot race in a rural sanctuary of Zeus in a relatively obscure part of Greece. They grew during a span of 1,200 years becoming the most prestigious athletic/religious festival in the Greek-speaking world. Victorious competitors were thought to be favorites of Zeus, chief god of the Greek pantheon.
The games grew to the point they were held at the massive Temple of Zeus, built between 471 and 457 BC. The current concept of the Olympic torch has an ancient origin. The “ash altar” to Zeus was a focal feature of the sanctuary. The games began by the athletes processing into the sanctuary where they sacrificed 100 bulls on the altar to Zeus.
Crowds grew so dramatically large embankments of earth were piled along the sides of fields of competition on which spectators stood. The word for this, “stadion,” meaning “the standing place,” gave us our word for stadium.
The Greek word “athlon,” meaning “one who competes for a prize,” gives us our word athlete.
At different games prizes varied from a shield, to an amphora filled with olive oil, or crowns made of olive or laurel branches At a time benefits consisted of cash, exemption from taxes, and a free meal a day in the town hall for the rest of their life.
Little known is one of the most influential characters in the development of athletics competition is a rather well known Bible character, Herod the Great (73 BC – 4 BC). Though the practice he proposed was not originally a part of the Olympic games, it later influenced them.
To attract world class athletes he came up with a creative way to reward more competitors. Until his idea was adopted, each contest simply had a winner. His idea was to give a gold medal to the winner, a silver medal to the person who finished second, and a bronze medal to the person finishing third. It worked and not only gained popularity for his games, but the concept became universal.
The formal religious aspects of the games have been eroded from the games and seemingly replaced by political intrigue.
Parallels have been made by Christian athletes between the ancient training regimen and personal faith. Some are, dealing with the issues of life can be agony, but the prize makes it worth the effort. There was one training regime for all athletes, so all persons of faith have one standard of right or wrong. The ultimate prize for a victorious well lived life is a crown or righteousness.
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made – Part Three
“Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 124:8
Look yourself in the eye. It consists of 120 million rod cells and 6 million cone cells with the capacity to distinguish 100 million colors. The 137 million light cells in the eyes take in more information than the largest telescope known to man. It works closely with the brain; in fact, it’s often regarded as the window to the brain. The human eye is the second most complex organ in our body, after the brain. Although it is only approximately the size of a golf ball, your eye has 2,000,000 working parts! If your eye were a digital camera, it would have 576 megapixels.
Even Darwin marveled at the human eye commenting, to imagine the human eye evolving by natural selection is an absurdity to the highest degree.
The brain is the center of a complex computer system more wonderful than the greatest one ever built by man. It computes and sends throughout the body billions of bits of information that controls our every action, right down to the flicker of an eyelid. The brain can hold five times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica. There are 100 billion neurons in the brain that process an average of 600 thousand thoughts a day.
Studies show a single human brain contains some 200 billion nerve cells connected to each other by hundreds of trillions of synapses. It has more information processing units than all the computers, routers, and Internet connections on Earth.
Without a doubt, the most complex information-processing system in existence is the human body. If we take all human information processes together, i.e. conscious ones (language, information-controlled, deliberate voluntary movements) and unconscious ones (information-controlled functions of the organs, hormone system), this involves the processing of 1024 bits daily.
If this overall information is not fascinating enough, consider a sampling of one square inch of your epidermis. Each square inch of your skin includes four yards of nerve fibers, 600 pain sensors, 1300 nerve cells, 9000 nerve endings, 36 heat sensors, 75 pressure sensors, 100 sweat glands, 3 million cells, and 3 yards of blood vessels.
Our bodies are living miracles, ongoing miracles, awesome miracles of creation. The miracle, that is your body, is the house in which the real you lives. We are not a body with a soul, we are a soul inhabiting a body. What a wonderful habitat.
“What a piece of work is man,” wrote William Shakespeare. “How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty!”
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
He Gave the Gift That Keeps on Giving 12/13/98
II Corinthians 9:15
Page 1695 Come Alive Bible
JESUS CHRIST’S birth was God’s way of saying, “Merry Christmas, planet earth. I have a present for you.”
JESUS CHRIST was the reference when Paul wrote, “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift…” (II Cor. 9:15).
The gift is indescribable, inexpressible, marvelous, and wonderful. The gift is Jesus Christ Himself.
Our distinctive southern tongues have a way of making certain words sound alike. Two such words are presents and presence. “Presents” meaning gifts and “presence” meaning to be in close proximity. God’s present to the population of planet earth was the presence of His Son, Jesus Christ.
An appropriate gift does two things:
It reveals the love of the one giving it.
It suits the needs of the one receiving it.
Isn’t it rewarding when you give a gift for the recipient to say, “How like you to give such a thoughtful gift and it is just what I wanted and needed.”
The gift of Christ as Savior does both. Our response should be, “How like you dear God to give me just what I wanted and needed.”
A gift is an expression of the giver’s heart. The recipient gets it but not because it is earned, merited, or deserved. It is simply an expression of the loving heart of the giver.
Wouldn’t it be a magic Christmas if you placed neatly wrapped packages under the tree with names of family members on them and then set up a cash box to collect a fixed sum for each? The moment you received money for one it would not be a gift, but a purchase.
In Bud Blake’s “Tiger” comic strip two little boys were talking about Christmas. One said, “My folks got us an artificial tree this year.” The other little guy asked, “Does that bother you?”
“No,” was the response, “just as long as the gifts are real.”
The gift of God the Father is Jesus. His name evidences the scope of the gift. Jesus means, “Jehovah is Salvation.” Thus, in the end, the gift is salvation.
Suppose God had said, “You can purchase your salvation.” That would have left out millions who are too poor to buy their salvation.
Suppose He had said, “Be good enough and I will give it to you,” or “Do enough good deeds and you can merit your salvation.” Who could have done that much good or behaved that well?
Suppose God had said, “If you do sufficient penance, or suffer enough, you can deserve your salvation.” Some, having a clouded understanding of just how far their sins had separated them from God, might not have performed sufficiently.”
In Rome, Italy I have seen persons climbing stairs on their knees as an act of penance, thinking they were garnering the favor of God by their work.
In Brazil, I have seen persons climb gravel roads on their knees hoping to gain God’s favor by their penance.
There are millions who live under this misconception today.
Suppose God had said, “I am going to grade on the curve and if you score high enough you will pass and get your salvation.” When Jesus entered the earthly scene He messed up the curve.
Instead, God said, “I will give you salvation if you will receive the gift.” The gift is His presence.
I walked through the Nazi concentration camp of Dachau, and reflected on an account I had read in the book by Corrie Ten Boom entitled “Christmas Remembered.” It was her memory of her experience in such a Nazi hell hole.
It was Christmas eve. Corrie and the other Christians in the camp had placed meager handmade decorations on a few trees in celebration of Christ’s birth. Beneath some of these trees were the lifeless bodies of fellow prisoners who had died and been thrown there.
Corrie was weary of trying to tell people of the love of Jesus and physically fatigued as she glanced out a crack to see the bodies by the light of the moon. Amid all the moaning and groaning she heard a child’s voice pleading, “Mommy, come to Ollie. Ollie is so alone.”
Corrie knew one of those bodies beneath those trees was that of Ollie’s mother. Corrie went to the bunk of the child and softly said, “Ollie, mommy can’t come, but I want to tell you of One who did come on that first Christmas and that He will come to be with you right now.” Corrie continued to tell how Jesus in love had come to earth and how He lovingly died on the cross of Calvary for our sins. She proceeded to tell little Ollie how the death and resurrection of Jesus enabled Him to provide a lovely house in heaven where there were no cruel people; only those who had love for Jesus and one another. In faith, little Ollie trusted Jesus that night and found great comfort in His presence.
A few days later Corrie saw Ollie with her sores and wounds bandaged only with toilet paper. She could tell the child was in pain but asked anyway: “Ollie, where is Jesus?” With a warm though weak smile the child said, “He is in heaven where He has provided a little house for me.”
“Is He just there in heaven?”
“No,” she said, “He is here with me and when I hurt, I let the pain remind me of His suffering and dying for me to provide that little house in heaven.”
The Nazis saw to it that the little house didn’t stay vacant long. Ollie died and went into the presence of the Lord, all because of a present from the Lord — Jesus Himself was that gift of salvation. Ollie went to heaven because of Christ’s presence.
Let’s consider some passages of Scripture as though they are correspondence delivered to us. First,
I. SPECIAL DELIVERY FROM ZACHARIAS (LUKE 1:5 – 25)
Zacharias and his wife lived in a little hillside town near Jerusalem where he served as a priest in the temple.
An angel appeared to him and told him his wife Elizabeth would have a child.
Verse 18, Zacharias’ understanding of nature prompted him to respond in a natural way and both doubt and question the angel’s message: “How can I know this is true? I am an old man myself, and my wife is getting on in years….” He was so alarmed the angel said, “Fear not…” Well, why not? Why should he not have been virtually terrorized?
The text answers, “Thy prayers have been answered.”
Because of his doubt, God sealed his lips until the birth of his son, John the Baptist. This should be a clear indication to us that God doesn’t like His children going around sowing discord and stirring up dissension.
When his son was born Zacharias began to praise the Lord.
To some, faith comes after hesitation. When it does come, then comes praise.
II. PERSON TO PERSON FOR MARY (LUKE 1: 26 – 55).
In Nazareth a young virgin received an angelic message regarding having a baby. Normal child birth is exciting but this is something special. Husbands often get more excited than wives. Such an excited husband spoke excitedly over the phone, “My wife is pregnant and having contractions every two minutes.”
The operator questioned, “Is this her first child?”
“No, you dummy, this is her husband.”
Parental arrangements for marriage were made for children when at a very young age. This was considered both an engagement and marriage. As they approached marriageable age, they entered into a one year period of betrothal. During this time they lived apart but were legally married. Unfaithfulness during this time was punishable by death.
This process of marriage is the reason secular writings referred to virgins who were widows.
Six months after visiting Zacharias, Gabriel was sent to Nazareth with a message for a teenage girl named Mary.
Mary was frightened and the angel again spoke that familiar line: “Fear not…”
Why not? Because, “You have found favor with God.”
A. Mary said of her son, He was her “savior” (Vs. 47).
Mary was special. She was “blessed” (Vs. 28). What Jesus thought of her and what she thought of Him can be learned from the Scripture.
Christ and Mary must each be acknowledged for what they are.
Some failing to understand the Scripture try to attribute to Mary the work of Christ. Only He saves; not His mother.
Mary never hinted she was savior.
Jesus never hinted Mary was savior.
Mary stated Jesus was Savior. In verse 47 she called Him “my savior.”
Jesus stated He was savior. He said of Himself, “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
A Christian receptionist in a doctor’s office tried several times to explain to her friend this basic principle. Over and over she tried to communicate that Mary, His wonderful and blessed mother, could not do what only Christ could do.
One day the lady called and asked to speak to the doctor about a medical problem. The receptionist said, “He isn’t in, but his mother is. Will she do?” Further explanation of this parallel helped the caller understand this truth.
After calming the fears of Mary, that angel told her she was going to have a baby. She never questioned the fact.
She simply asked “How?” (Vs. 34).
The supernatural nature of what was to happen never puzzled her. The Holy Spirit would supernaturally invest an ovum with the germ of life, and the child to be born would be divine.
This clearly teaches Christ was conceived of a virgin. If you deny that, you have an inadequate concept of God. If God couldn’t do that, He couldn’t save anyone. If your view of God is of One who couldn’t do that, in the view of a book authored over thirty years ago by J.B. Phillips, Your God Is Too Small, he writes, ” My God, the God of the Bible, could handle that easily, and He did.”
The angel greeted her, “Hail.” The word was CHAIRE which means “rejoice.” She did so in a big way. She did so because she chose to.
The fact that as a single pregnant girl she might lose her beloved Joseph and even be stoned did not repel her. She disregarded the possible social stigma.
Mary then made one of the most courageous statements ever recorded: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Vs. 38).
Her response: “I belong to the Lord, body and soul. Let it happen as you say” (Vs. 38). Self had been brought under God’s control.
How you respond to the Lord determines the direction of your life. You are a sum total of your choices.
Later in life, under different circumstances, Mary said to Christ’s disciples, “Do whatever He says for you to do” (John 2:5). She was urging them to respond as she had responded.
When I left for college, my cousin who had played basketball in college with the man who was to be my coach said, “Whatever he tells you to do — do it. He did twice as much in college as he will ever ask you to do.”
In effect Mary was saying, “Do as I have done.” That is her message to us.
Remember we pray: “Thy will be done…” Not, “Thy will be changed…”
B. Of Mary’s soon-to-be born Son, it was said: (Vs. 32)
“He shall be great…”
“…called the Son of the Highest.”
C. Of Him she said:
“My soul does magnify the Lord” (Vs. 46).
“Magnify” comes from the word MEGALUNEI, which means to laud, to celebrate.
“Don’t you ever get discouraged?” Yes, but I am never going to tell you when I get discouraged because that might discourage you and that would discourage me and I can hardly stand my present discouragement.”
“My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (Vs. 47).
The coming of God to her as Savior was the cause of her rejoicing.
Some persons sigh, “I just love Jesus.” If you do, notify your face.
Joy is the banner that flies over the castle of the heart when the King is in residence.
III. RETURN RECEIPT REQUIRED FROM YOU
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2: 8, 9).
Christmas was the time of Christ’s birth. He was the gift, salvation embodied. For the gift to be yours, you must receive it.
Three responses are potential. They are: BELIEVERS, NON-BELIEVERS, MAKE BELIEVERS.
Which are you?
Do you rank among those who say there is “a” Savior or perhaps even Jesus is “the” Savior?
Can you truthfully say, “Jesus is MY Savior?”
“The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23a).