Luke 1:26-35: Immaculate Conception: When Angels Speak

26 Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin legally promised in marriage to a man named Joseph of the house of David. And the name of the virgin was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was greatly perplexed at the statement, and was pondering what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in the womb and will give birth to a son, and you will call his name Jesus. 32 This one will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 33 And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” 35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the one to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

Pray

It’s the Christmas Season. Which means stress, and shopping, and family, and obligations, and busy schedules. And did I mention stress?

And with all that Going on, I feel it is important to slow down and look at what we are really talking about here

Yes Christmas is coming

And yes it was a date picked because it was already a season of celebration with the solstice times and the fertility religions and the beginning of the Life conquering death and that made it easier for Christians to have something to celebrate as well

But in the end, the date was chosen in December to celebrate the birth of Christ

SO as a Christian this is the date we have elected to gather together as a group and worship The divine act of God sending his son

Who is God and is the Word

The wonderful birth of the God/man who will take upon himself our sin and put his righteousness on us so that we can be adopted into the family of God and be free from the eternal punishment of our sins which is death and destruction in hell

But he couldn’t do this unless he was born and lived a perfect life

Mary

What a shocker

A young unmarried woman who is engaged but not married and is not married she is a virgin. In that society, it was just a given. If you weren’t married it was assumed that you were a virgin. To be proven otherwise was to disgrace your whole family.

And now she is told by an angel that she is going to have a child.

Do you think people believed her? Would You? I doubt it. She was probably ridiculed and accused of being less than honorable, to put it mildly.

In Matthew, We are told that she was a virgin till after she had a son. So Joseph here is taking care of a woman who is not really his wife. In these societies often marriage isn’t official until after consummation.

Jesus is considered a Mamzer. Someone whose fatherhood was doubtful. A person that is in effect an untouchable. A status that continues for 10 generations in Northern Israel at the time of Jesus’ birth. Is Joseph his father? This would disqualify him from higher statues. There would always be questions and rumors

What Trust it would take to say that this was from God in the face of all that. What courage. What doubts would occur?

If You are told something long enough, you will start to believe it even if it is not true. You say well they saw angels. If you are called crazy. Do you become crazy?

If you follow that logic then the Israelites who saw The waters part who saw the plagues and came to the mountain of God should not have made an idol of Gold. If you follow that Logic those who have seen the wondrous work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Should never doubt or sin again

And yet we do

So would they doubt

Would they doubt as they raised a boy

Would they remember or always keep it in mind?

I don’t know

What a blessing and a curse that this time would be And that’s even before the birth. This is just at conception.

Elizabeth

And this wasn’t the first in the family. Elizabeth had John in old age when she was supposed to be barren. What an incredible story of what incredible message of trust in God. No matter what the circumstance.

When God Speaks Do You Hear

God sent his angels to speak for him. The Lord speaks through angels often in the Bible: Moses, Abraham, Daniel, Mary, Joseph, Joshua, and on it goes. The Word Angel means messenger. God speaks through Messengers can be person, Heavenly Being. All inline and through his Word.

Are you ready to hear him? If He speaks will you trust Him?

He will provide the greatest Good, for the most possible people, for the longest possible time.

God calls you from birth To work a wonderful work That can only be done by you and may change the world. You may say I am nothing. I am not anything great. Look at Mary's mom. She raised a daughter that trusted God enough to give birth to the son of God. Jeremiah preached a message that he hated, But they had to trust God

Even in the stressful times

So as you prepare for all that is Christmas

And try to get all that shopping done we can’t afford

Remember to Trust God

Not in that he will magically provide Money for all that stuff But that in his will you are called to action. To be great and the best that you can No matter what the world says about you And no matter what your age

Your done when you are glorified in heaven not before

Next Steps

What is God calling you to do

What do you need to trust god with this Christmas

Celebrate with Joy His calling

As we remember His calling on a family

2000 years ago

pray

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