Luke 1:26-38 with Aaron Searles

Transcript

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So start off with uh a word today, uh a to the name of a town called Kanawa. And I would ask, has anyone been to Kanawa in the room? You have to raise your hand. This is a this is I don't think you have been, Mom and Dad. I know Christy has. Okay, Kanawa. Have you heard of the town Kanawa? Okay, it's actually in the state of Iowa. Uh population, I believe I looked up, it was like 600 people or so. Um I remember my first visit there. It is actually one of those one stop sign towns in north central Iowa, six-hour drive from here. And um I would call the stop sign more of a suggestion than a law. Sam's not here, so I can say that. So it's one of those stop signs when you know it's one stop. Maybe it's a light, I can't remember. Maybe it's a light now. But I remember going there, you know, and uh driving around in this town, and there are actual dirt roads to go to people's houses. Uh I think there's now one restaurant. I'm not sure if it's still holding strong yet in this town, Kanawa. It used to have two gas stations. Now it only has one gas station. Uh, and I think the reason why there's a Kanawa, Iowa, is there's a co-op of farmers that kind of collect their harvest and they put it together and then they sell it on the market, kind of thing. So I think that's why there's even the town, but I could be wrong in that. I gotta check my facts on that. But what who why am I bringing up this no-name town in north central Iowa? Well, uh, two World War II vets lived there, were born. I'm not sure if they were born there, but lived there. They met their wives there, they had children. And then my mother-in-law and my father-in-law met in Kanawa, Iowa. They were high school sweethearts, and so that's why I went to Kanawha's visiting family with my beautiful wife and her family, and got to learn about this town that a lot of you have never even heard of. But it's a very important town to me, the very important town to Christy and her family. And I bring that no-name town up for a reason, because we're going to be talking about uh a divine encounter that happens in a town that people likely wouldn't have been talking about. We talk about it a lot because of Jesus. But this town that we're talking about is Nazareth. And I would compare it, Kanawah to Nazareth. Similar population, similar knowledge of it before Jesus. You know, nobody would have really known of it or heard of it. Probably would never visit there unless you know someone from there. But again, what we talked about last week in Luke chapter 1 was the divine encounters with Zechariah. And there was this angel sent by God to speak to Zechariah. And I want to talk about Gabriel again. We'll be talking about his conversation with Mary in a little bit, but I want to go back to him a little bit and his encounter with Zechariah. One thing he says that really stuck out to me is he said, I have stood in the presence of God. That was his significance. That's who he's who this angel was. And that's what was why he was in why this angel was important. Because the presence of God. I think that's true. You know, our our connection to God and being around God is what gives us any significance, is being with God. And what's interesting, I didn't highlight this last week, and I want to highlight it this week, is when Malachi was referring to Elijah and saying he was preparing the way, it was like a direct quote from Malachi, the prophecy of Malachi. So you have just before the prophetic silence of 400 years, you now have this angel quoting this last thing that was said. So it's kind of like bookends of the silence of this 400 years. And now again, God is speaking through this angel to Zechariah, and now today Gabriel will be speaking to Mary. But this sermon series, you know, I want to ask this question from time to time as we talk about the prophecy or the promise or the communication to Mary about Jesus, but asking this question: who is this Jesus? What is the identity of Jesus? Very important understanding of who is this Jesus. And our sermon series kind of title is Christ Our Certainty. So we want to grow in our certainty. We want to have assurance, we want to have confidence and certainty in Jesus and asking this question and learning about how God's word reveals to us our certainty in Jesus. And so some really cool things we're going to highlight today that I believe will give us certainty in Christ. So let's jump into Luke chapter 1, verse 26. And again, we're going verse by verse through this today. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth. So it's six months. I'll highlight the significance of that as it relates to Elizabeth later. But now Gabriel, this angel named, again, there are other angels that speak to people in the Bible, and sometimes they're named. But the times where Gabriel is named is Daniel twice, Zechariah, now Mary. Interesting, I think, highlighting that. This Gabriel who stands in the presence of God. In Galilee, so this is the northern region, what you would call the northern kingdom, if just a little quick history. This was the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. They split. There was a disagreement. And the northern kingdom was later conquered by the Assyrians. And so because they were conquered by the Assyrians, they started to intermarry and intermix and dilute their chosenness in a sense. And so they were looked down upon because of that. They weren't kind of seen as pure anymore, pure Israel anymore. And again, this region, it's not been prophesied. It's really been forgotten. It's not really wanted. That's where Mary's at. That's what this region is. And this town, Nazareth, again, is like this one stop sign kind of town. Maybe they had one gas station. Maybe two. Maybe they had a restaurant. A kid. But again, this is the town, the no-name town, the known name place, the place of that wasn't mentioned in the Old Testament, wasn't mentioned. And Nathaniel, when he hears that Jesus is from Nazareth, he says this in John chapter 1, verse 46. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Like, it wasn't ringing any bells for people hearing. Like, like, who could this Jesus be if he's coming from Nazareth? I mean, we can all relate and think of places that you know we would think of maybe that we would, you know, that's not a significant place to come from. That's Nazareth. Again, a town maybe of 300 to 400 people, smaller actually than Kanawa, Iowa. Again, not a village of history, not a place of political power, a region in the northern kingdom that was once conquered by the Assyrians. Again, known for kind of intermixing and intermarrying and kind of diluting their ethnicity, the chosen people. And there was a lot of Gentiles around, and Jews didn't like that at the time. They were trying to preserve who they were. So they really looked down on this area in this region and this town. Let's continue on, verse 27. So let me read 26, and then I'm going to read 26. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. So to be super clear, she is known to be a virgin. She is pure. And this is the fulfillment of Scripture from Isaiah. And she's betrothed, which essentially means she's engaged. Now there were kind of like phases in that time of marriage and being engaged and that process, but this is a significant understanding that she was going to be, she was committed, the families were in agreement, she was getting married to Joseph. We would, I would say, assume or kind of relate that to engagement today. And it's to Joseph. Joseph, as it says, is of the house of David. So he's in the bloodline. He's a descendant of David. So God made a promise to David that I will establish your throne forever. In other words, the bloodline of David, the Messiah, must come because how do you establish a throne forever? Well, you need something eternal for that to happen. And that's leaving a lot at stake if you think about it with people having children and boys to carry on this bloodline. But that's the fulfillment of Scripture. That's fulfillment of the prophecy made about David or made to David. We call that the Davidic covenant. God keeps his promises. And Mary, again, Mary is her name. I learned this week for the first time. I'm this year's or this many days old when I learned what Mary's name is. It's Greek for Miriam, Moses' sister. Learned that this week. That was interesting. But just to highlight Mary a little bit. She was not a high priest's daughter. She was not Herod's daughter. She's not a Roman official. Some scholars believe that she was a humble teenager, 14 years old. Possibly illiterate. Again, from a no-name town that nobody heard of or nobody visited. And one commentary said this just because others have thought too much of her, we must not imagine that our Lord is pleased when we think too little of her. Again, we cannot, you know, in a sense, be too sure about what form this Gabriel took. You know, we see kind of different imagery and scripture of the, you know, forms that an angel. I would interpret this and understand this that an impressive, like kind of hard to comprehend visual, but more maybe closer to a human form because she's more responding to the greeting than the angel talking to her. That would be my understanding. When Gabriel says favored one, this appears nowhere else in the word, but it describes someone saturated with God's grace. Now there has been some misinterpretation of this. We're not going to do that today. But it's saturated with God's grace. Again, not because she earned it, but because God chose her. It means graced one, not grace giver. And how I would understand grace in this, you know, kind of saturated in grace, it's undeserved favor receiver. She is receiving God's undeserved favor, meaning she can't earn it. She isn't perfect. God is flowing his grace upon her. Again, favored one. The creator of the universe is going to use you, this is my paraphrase, he's going to use you in the greatest story of all time. That equals grace. Grace. God's work. What I love about Mary and what she does is she tries to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And I just think you'll notice in this moment, and you'll notice in other moments, in other gospels, about Mary and Mary's character and the character attribute, you know, almost like a spiritual gift that she has. She is a ponderer, a wanderer, a treasurer, a discerner. She was a deep thinker. To all us deep thinkers out there, we can see Mary trying to understand, trying to comprehend, trying to treasure these things as we read in other gospels. Verse 30. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Again, similar to Zechariah, when you encounter an angel, usually, you know, we see this repeatedly throughout scripture, people are afraid. Again, we're encountering something that's not usual, that we're not used to, we're not used to talking to angels. Fear. Again, don't be afraid. God is blessing you, Mary. So here's a question for us all. I think we can all ask this. Am I found in the favor, in favor with God? Am I found in favor with God? I think we can ask that question to you right now. In other words, you have God's favor. I would answer, there's like layers to this. You're hearing the truth of God's word right now. You are gathered in the name of Jesus right now. Most importantly, I would say though, you are being revealed to the good news of Jesus Christ. The favor of God. Again, we cannot earn this favor. God is revealing it to you right now. In this moment. The banner that's on my left, your right, the gospel is being clearly communicated to you. I don't think you can think of a better favor that the good news of Jesus Christ being revealed to you, being clearly presented to you for you to believe and to know by your faith in His grace, by your faith in God's work, you can be saved. You know, we can get distracted and focused on this world, the circumstances of this world, maybe the comforts of this world, the relationships, the things that are going on in this world, we can get again like seeking paradise now versus realizing the reality that this life is going to end. This world is going to end. What is our hope, but in the good news of Jesus Christ, that God is our Savior and His favor, His unmerited favor, His work is being presented to you, and all you simply need to do is receive His gift. Receive His good news. Receive and put your faith in Jesus, who is God, who died on the cross for your sins and conquered death on the third day. He covers your sin, he washes your sin white as snow, and he conquers death. That is, I don't know how to describe favor better than that. That I give you hope and faith for an eternity with a God who loves you and died for you. So you have favor if you believe that. I believe you have it today. Continuing on verse 31. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. I'd like you to turn to your neighbor. I'd like you to say his name out loud to your neighbor. Just say Jesus. Jesus. This is his name. Again, born of a virgin. Not a barren womb, but a pure vessel. Again, we have a resurrected womb in Elizabeth, giving birth to a child that by scientific understanding would have been impossible. This is a preparation of miracles that are going to be now happening in the life of Jesus. We have that with Elizabeth, but now with Mary, a virgin, a miracle. Again, this is the fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14. Approximately 700 years before Jesus, this prophecy was made that he will be called Emmanuel. This will be a virgin birth. And again, I love the word Emmanuel. I love the name, the title Emmanuel, because it means God with us. What good news for us to have that God is with us. With us. So that's a miracle. But the angel, kind of like, well, very similar to Zechariah telling Elizabeth, his name will be John, the angel names or is told with the name Jesus. To give him the name Jesus. So Jesus is Hebrew for, is Greek for Joshua. Which I always find interesting. I like telling people that. Joshua. And what does Joshua mean? Joshua means, in other words, God saves. So Jesus' name is Joshua, but that name means God saves. How cool. That the name of God is that he saves. That's his identity, that's who he is. So normally, typically, and this will happen in Zechariah, this will happen in Joseph, that typically the eldest boy would carry the name of their father. Not in this case. They have a destiny and a purpose. So the name Jesus, okay, again, means God saves. I think it's cool to think about the gospel and the name. God saves. That's what the destiny, the purpose, that's what Jesus was all about is God saving us. And it's just neat to think about in this moment in time this being uttered, that the Messiah would be called Jesus. I love thinking about history and thinking about the thousands of years God's chosen people knew that the Messiah was coming, but didn't know what to call him. So they would say titles and things to capture who is coming, the Messiah that's coming. Abraham, again, Jesus, his descendant, will be bless all people. On earth, and people call that the seed. Isaac was a foreshadow of his sacrifice. Jacob, you know, thinking about the latter and the visual and the vision of the latter, Jesus is the way to be in eternity with God forever. Moses referred to the Messiah as the great prophet. Joshua is obviously his namesake. David, again, the Davidic covenant, again, established his throne forever, called him the anointed one. Isaiah the suffering servant in Isaiah 52 and 53. There's obviously, I'm not capturing every title and name that Jesus would have, but just again thinking about throughout history about what did they call him? What did they, you know, what were the titles, what were the descriptions to talk about Jesus, but now we have his name. Jeremiah today, we read it in that verse earlier today. Righteous branch. Ezekiel called him the shepherd, and Daniel called him the son of man. Again, all these titles and names, and again, I just like thinking about, but now we know Jesus. We get to say his name. Jesus. God saves. We know his name. I like thinking about the humility of God. And he's, if you think about God, and you think about his plan, you think about the details of this plan, think about the revelation of this plan and the specifics of it. And in other words, like God not being so obvious, but at the same time, like God being humble and at the same time fulfilling prophecy, giving us confidence of who Jesus is. Again, born in a no-name town, forgotten bloodlines, but still those Davidic bloodlines. And to a teenage girl with no royalty or title or position, again, who is this Jesus who orchestrated time and fulfilled prophecy? Again, our God, I believe, is clearly humble. Humble. Let's continue on, verse 32 and 33. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Again, who is this Jesus? We see this destiny proclamation similar to John the Baptist. Abundantly clear who he is. He will be great. He will be the son of the most high. There's no question here about the identity of who this is. The son of the Most High. David's throne, again, the fulfillment of prophecy, the Davidic covenant. Again, he will live forever. He will reign forever. He'll be the king forever. And there'll be no end to his kingdom. That's never been said before about anybody. Only possible by the Messiah. So it's interesting these details that we read about. Again, we're the first week we spent in this series, we learned about Luke, the author, the person, the loyal friend, the beloved physician. And we know that he took the time and the energy to research to possibly interview these different people. And we can see almost Mary's witness, her recorded testimony, and thinking about being in a court case, if we're making the case for the evidence for the truth of who Jesus is, we have this eyewitness of this event, of these miracles claiming of who Jesus is. He again is the Son of the Most High. Again, you can't get any higher than the Most High. Again, the Davidic covenant, this is who Jesus is, and he keeps, God keeps his promises, and he will be the eternal king. No question about who this baby is, who Jesus is. We have certainty in Christ. Our Savior in his birth is the fulfillment of prophecy. Davidic, the prophecy in Isaiah, being born of a virgin, and the Abrahamic covenant that God would bless all peoples on earth, be a descendant of Abraham. Continuing on verse 34. And Mary said to the angel, How will this be since I am a virgin? It's interesting she's not focused on the identity of Jesus or the destiny of the child, but on the steps that involve her. Fair question to ask, I think. Very fair to ask. This has never happened before. Zechariah didn't have an excuse. Zechariah knew about Sarah. Zechariah knew about Hannah and Rebekah. And he doubted. Even though there were stories about the resurrected wombs of those women and God doing amazing things. And again, she asks a fair question. Again, some scholars believe a 14-year-old. Talking to an angel asks a question. How will this be since I'm a virgin? It's a very practical question. Again, this account is the only birth story from the female perspective. So again, it's speculated that he interviewed Mary himself, hearing from her eyewitness, hearing from this experience. But again, we contrast Mary asking, how will this be? Again, asking maybe for the steps, like what are the steps for this process? How am I going to give birth to the Messiah? Again, a fair question. Where Zechariah doubted, how can I be sure of this? So we do see Mary's humility, we see her faith, but she needs some help. Asking how God's going to do that. Again, this has never happened in human history, I think, a fair question to ask. Let's continue on the verse 35. And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the children to be born will be called, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. Again, there's no doubt in the clarity of the angel of Gabriel speaking to Mary about what's going on here. And that word overshadow is the same word to refer to God's presence in the sanctuary. Later to the glory cloud moment of Christ's transfiguration to cover in the covering of the glory cloud. So that's the visual or the picture, the word that's used to describe this process of the Holy Spirit, in a sense, placing Jesus in the womb of Mary. God will overshadow her. That's the answer to the question. So again, who is this Jesus? Who is this Jesus? It's crystal clear, as the angel says again, Son of God. Son of God. There was an early heresy, I wouldn't say maybe early, but a couple hundred years into church history, there was this heresy of Arianism, and it was that Jesus became God. That he wasn't necessarily born God, but that, again, this was what was going around, this is what the early church councils were about, was kind of defining like, what is the identity of Jesus? Was he just a human that became God and lived the perfect life somehow? It's impossible. It's impossible. And the Gospel of Luke and the other Gospels give us abundant clarity that early heresy was not scriptural. Was not reading Scripture, wasn't reading the Gospel of Luke, wasn't reading the Gospel of John to get this clarity about who this Jesus is and was. Jesus is God. Again, he's always been God. Before time, he was God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God. Again, the angel makes it abundantly clear who Jesus was from birth. And his birth was like no other human ever, of a virgin, overshadowed Mary. So I wondered this week, and I want to invite you to wonder as well. You know, we talked about increasing our awe quotient, our AQ. We want like to have a nice IQ and an EQ, but I want to increase your AQ, your awe and your wonder of God. And I just took a moment to think about Jesus. And to think about his biology. I like science. And just thinking about like the mechanics of that, thinking about like the reality of that, of Jesus, of God in the flesh. You know, scripture does talk about like he didn't look any different than any other human in the sense. He looked human, he was human, he he fit in into the world that he was born into. But I just wondered about God in the flesh. And thought about like the molecules of the biology of Jesus, thinking about the the neutrons and the electrons and the protons and how they could contain his majesty. God in the flesh. Thought about his eyes, his actual biological eyes, Jesus' eyes. Later we'll say in scripture that his eyes burn like fire. But when he was walking on earth, thinking about his eyes and seeing the world and being in the world, and then also thinking about how he, God, spoke and there was light. And the reason why we can even see is because Jesus spoke and there was light. And yet here God is in the flesh looking at the light that he created through his eyes. I also wonder, you know, even like Mary holding God in her womb and thinking about when Jesus was walking around on earth. You know, we talk about glory in the word, you know, I think it's Kavud or something like that, and it kind of essentially is understood as weight. And thinking about Jesus just walking around on earth, thinking about how this blue marble floating through space, spinning around the sun that he breathed in this massive universe that we can't even comprehend or see ourselves. How did God in the flesh, who made everything, how did this planet hold him? How did the tectonic plates that he set the foundation hold him? Again, we don't know the biology of that. We don't know the mystery of that, but I think it's good to think about that, to be in awe of him. And finally, just thinking about this, wondering about Jesus and his human form, God in the flesh. I even just thought about the cells, the other cells in his body. And I believe and know that God engineered the cells, and thinking about how God breathed into the dust and made life, and thinking about how he took on that biology, how he took on that humanity, and he's the one who designed it in the first place. So again, I totally, you know, it's a mystery to wonder, and I think it's good to wonder and to dream and to think about how amazing Jesus is, God in the flesh. Next two verses, verse 36. And behold, your relative Elizabeth, in her old age, has also conceived a son. And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren, for nothing will be impossible with God. I love thinking about God's plan and thinking about humanity and thinking about Mary and thinking about how scared she must have been and like how wild this would have been to hear a 14-year-old, a 14-year-old, a teenager. And thinking about like Elizabeth and how that is a provision for Mary, God's care for Mary. I mean, can you think about how crazy you would feel and think like I'm talking to angels that are telling me I'm gonna get pregnant by and being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit? Like you just have to assume crazy. And the provision, the provision of Elizabeth for Mary to go and visit and talk to and have a conversation with, you talk to Gabriel too? You talked to an angel too. To think about how Mary would have been in a uh to have a relative that was accessible and trusted for her to talk to. Again, a miracle confirmation. Not just in Mary's womb, but now in Elizabeth's womb, a resurrected womb. Again, her womb was once called barren, and now God says there's life. Again, the multi-layered, multidimensional preparation of the Lord. So many things going on at once. We see the genius and the orchestration of God in these stories, in these no-name towns, no-name places, places that up to this point had no significance. And again, his humility, his genius, the layers that it's just so amazing. It's also interesting, there's a connection to Genesis chapter 18, verse 14, when the angels were talking to Sarah, and they said, Is anything too hard for the Lord? This is a direct connect again to Elizabeth, to give her faith, to give Mary faith, to know that they are a part of this rescue story that we are learning and hearing about today, that we are hopefully a part of today, with our faith in the grace of God. This last verse, verse 38. And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. So Mary, she the the best word I would just describe this is just surrender. She surrenders to God. And so I would call this kind of response and prayer. I thought of um the Garden of Gethsemane prayer of Jesus. I couldn't find it. I was actually looking for it before I started today. I knew it was there, but which which gospel is it in? But Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane prays a similar prayer. You know, not my will, but your will be done. Just total surrender. Surrender to the mission, surrender to the rescue plan, to the love of God pouring out on us for us to have faith in. And we see this in the example of Mary. A full surrendered prayer. And I would challenge us, I would challenge me, that this is the kind of prayer that we need to pray. Full surrender. Full surrender to God. Whatever circumstances, whatever situations, hardship, you know, the verse that we're memorizing, whatever darkness that's in our life, full surrender to Jesus. Full surrender to God, who does it all, who loves us. And challenge you and encourage you with that today. So that is, again, as we conclude this sermon, we had another divine encounter today that we read about with Mary. So we have Mary and angels talking to Gabriel, we have Elizabeth, and now we have the name that we call God, Jesus. These are timeless truths that we can hold on to for the rest of our lives, rest of eternity. This gives us Christ, our certainty. Jesus Christ. Christ means Messiah. He is our certainty. And God gives us, again, reasons to believe. We again don't check our brain at the door. We don't suspend knowledge or reason. We're not believing in a fable or a tale, a story. No, we believe in history that happened. And we can have this confidence by this historical document that we read called Luke, that's found in the Bible, 66 books compiled together to give us the evidence of what has happened and the fulfillment of prophecy. The suffering servant, Isaiah, and the virgin birth prophesied 700 years before Jesus. We have the Davidic bloodline promise and covenant made, fulfilled in Jesus. We have the Abrahamic covenant and promise made, fulfilled in Jesus. All of this math going on that is impossible. But Jesus fulfills that. So we can have confidence in the prophecies fulfilled in the life of Jesus. We can have certainty in Jesus. We also have the eyewitness story, miraculous stories from Elizabeth now and Mary, and we can hold on to that. Hold on to that eyewitness testimony. And also we can recognize this. You know, I think this is evidence of God. You know, when we encounter people that are not of this world, and we can recognize they have something that I don't have. And we can recognize hopefully we want that as well. And that is the fruit of the Spirit. It's the presence of God, it's Jesus in us, flowing out from us in our words and our behavior and our love for people. That it's not of this world. And we can see God working through Mary, and we can see God working through Elizabeth. We can see the fruit of God in them, and that can be an evidence, that can be a witness to us of this truth. So we see the surrendered servant, we see the humility of Mary and the humility of God, and we see the faith of Of Mary. Again, all of this can be evidence, I believe, of God working through her. So I will end with this application. Three things to apply. And again, as always, I don't want to tell you the application. I want you to listen to the Holy Spirit. I want you to look at God's word and feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Where is God transforming you? What's your next step? What's the thing that God's laying on your heart? So the first thing is this surrender. Some of you are holding on to control. Some of you, and you know, what it could be a small aspect, could be a relationship, could be a circumstance, a provision. And we're trying to hold on to control. And some of us need to pray that prayer is surrender. So that might be for you today, and to trust in Jesus, to trust in the God who is in control of everything, and to put your faith and trust into Jesus. And that could be in a circumstance or that could be in relationship with Him for your salvation. I'll get into that at the end. Again, an application might be humility, that everything is unto the glory of the Lord for God. Mary was an example of this. God's plan in entering into human history is humility. How do we think less of ourselves and more of others? How do we humble our heart? How do we take our thoughts and our heart and our desires captive and be more humble? So just encourage you, maybe that's you today. Humility. How can I be more humble? And then finally, faith. What step of faith is God calling you to take? What I love about Mary is Mary believes the angel. We know she believes the angel because she goes to Elizabeth. She doesn't just go hide. She doesn't just not tell anyone. She goes on a journey and she's with her family. And she has a conversation. We'll read about that later. But she has faith, so she takes steps of faith, literal steps for her. So I ask you, what step of faith do you need to take today? What area of your life do you need to, again, trust in God? And you know, faith is, I believe, a gift from God. If you don't have it, ask for it. Receive it. Trust in God. Faith is also an action. You know, faith isn't a secret, it's action. We live differently because we have faith in God. We take steps of faith because of God. So, again, what is the Holy Spirit prompting your heart to take a step of faith in your life? Where can you step out in faith in God and your relationship with God? Again, where are you not trusting him? How can you take a step? And again, I would just encourage you, the first step of faith is, I believe, a step to put your faith and trust in him as your Lord and Savior. To invite him into your heart, take over your life, trust your eternity to Jesus, who died for your sin. We repent of our sin, we turn from our sin. We recognize we're not perfect. And we give our life to Jesus. We trust our heaven in Jesus. Encourage you to put your faith in Jesus today. Again, that starts with a prayer, inviting him into your heart, professing him with your mouth, turning from sin, acknowledging his grace and his love for you. So we'll just have a moment of quiet for you to reflect, to seek the Lord, and then I'll pray, a moment of quiet, and then I'll close. So, God, we just thank you again for today. We thank you for this moment. We thank you for your story, God, your rescue plan that we get to read about today, that we can have confidence, that we can have certainty in you, God. The evidence and the reasons that you've given us, God, we say thank you. We thank you, God, for your word. God, I pray by your Holy Spirit, you would just speak to us now. We want to listen to your prompting. We want to repent of sin, God. We want to recognize where we need you, God, where we need to surrender to you, where we need to trust in you. God, I pray for anyone in here that hasn't had a moment where they put their faith and trust and surrender to you, God. I pray that you would help them to do that today, God. I pray that you'd help them to turn from their control and to put you in control in their life, Lord. And God, for the little steps and the big steps, we just take this moment just to listen to you, to quiet our heart and our mind, and to listen to you, God, in this moment, where you're calling us, what steps you're calling us to take. So we just take that time now. God, as Gabriel said to Zechariah and to Mary, I'm just reminded of now, do not be afraid. God, we just uh pray that you would help us to take these steps of faith, God, to know our identity in you, that we are loved. And God help us in faith to take these steps to live for you, to proclaim your good news, God, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, to live differently for you, God, to be on mission for you, to live out these timeless truths. God, I pray you would bless us as we go from here, God. We love you with all our hearts. In your name we pray. Amen.