Luke 1:26-38 - 12/15/24

E [Music] to [Music] go e [Music] see for e we might have to sit over on the other vages it's true some IMB missionaries serve in remote locations but you can find spiritual lostness anywhere because lostness is found everywhere IMB missionaries serve everywhere in modern cities classrooms hospitals gyms cafes and virtual reality everywhere people gather is an opportunity to share the good news of God's love in Africa doctors cure of physical ailments and disease but also share Jesus with all they serve even in bustling locations like Japan teaching English can lead to Gospel conversations in Europe there are missionary coaches who lead a team yet also lead through evangelism and discipleship beyond the cities to the most remote places missionary explorers are trained to search for and find the lost who have never heard the Gospel there's not just one type of missionary nor is the Gospel confined to one location each missionary brings their unique passions experiences and skills to the mission field to reach the unreached in creative ways God has uniquely created you with your own passions experiences and skills how will you use them Faithfully you can be a missionary and reach the lost with the Gospel that's what a missionary [Music] does good morning welcome the First

Baptist it's so good to see you all this morning thank you we're thanking and praising God that we have a room that we can all gather together this morning as brothers and sisters in not just one room but multiple to where we can teach our children and have Community groups and just Worship the Lord together and grow together in his word I have a couple of announcements before I forget there are children's bulletins available at the entrances if you have not already got one for your kids please take advantage of that resource if you're a guest with us or a regular attender if you are with us there's this resource in front of you that I would invite you to take advantage of and that's your our way of connecting with you if you're a visitor please give us your contact information so we can get to know you if you have prayer requests by all means please put that on there and we will be praying for with you and for you for those requests there's a whole lot going on this morning in the in our service together so I'll be brief at the end of our service here to my left is a little Cedar church and that's where you're going to be bringing your lmon Christmas offering and we're looking to the Lord to not only reach our goal of $7500 but exceed it and I believe that will happen coming up on December 24th is our Christmas Eve service we hope that you'll be able to join us and invite your family and friends to come with you we're it'll be an amazing time of just worship and just F focusing our time together as we celebrate the birth of our Savior it's not on this sheet but I saw it on the slide coming up in February we're going to be re restarting supper 6 that is an opportunity outside of community group and outside of Sunday morning worship to

Get alongside your fellow brothers and sisters for Fellowship around food and it's just an amazing platform to get to know people and to have Gospel conversations and just to share what the Lord is teaching you at a more intimate level in a smaller group and I would also invite you to take full advantage of that opportunity when it becomes available the rest of the announcements of course you can read for yourself on this or check out our website I would invite you now to close your eyes as we enter into the next part of our worship we are all familiar with just the craziness that this season brings with schedules with parties with running here and there and I would invite you this morning now just to ask the Lord there in your seat to just be able to quiet those things that are even happening later today and as you are tempted to think about this week and just how you're going to be able to accomplish everything that's on your schedule I would invite you to just ask the Lord to just Ste your heart and allow you the ability to just enter into this worship deeply and to just be prepared for what God desires to do father I thank you and praise you that we freely get to stop that we get to be here this morning having your word in our language having the opportunity to have a relationship with you through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we thank you that this season is not just something we do once a year but that Lord it's it's a relationship that we have with you that you sent your son Jesus to pay the debt for our sin once and for all and that this Gospel that we talk about it's not restricted to just

Us but that it's it's for everyone and we thank you and praise you that we get to be your ambassadors to take it and to be that light to a dark and lost world Lord we have many in our church this morning in need of prayer we think of our sister nondas Lord we just bring her before you her needs the doctor the Medical Teams we pray that father they'd be able to continue with the treatment plan and be able to bring relief and Lord in your time that you would bring healing to her body we pray that you'd strengthen her and encourage her and just help her as she trusts you through this journey we pray for our brother Steve Lord who is also on his journey with cancer we thank you for his resilience for Cindy his wife helping him and Lord just their hope in you and I pray that Lord as they go to these treatments and walk this journey that Lord your light would shine brightly and that Lord you would give them opportunity to share and to testify to the hope they have in you Lord there's many that we are aware of but Lord you are aware of in even greater detail and you know all things and we pray that Lord you would just help us as the body of Christ to support our brothers and sisters and to remember them in prayer we ask now Lord as we continue in worship with music with your word with the children sharing the story we just ask that Lord this would all bring honor and glory and praise to your holy name and that Lord we would leave here fired up and excited [Music] and ready to be out and about sharing that hope that we have we ask this in your name amen if you would like to stand as we sing joyfully Joy to the

[Music] World join to the world the Lord is come let Earth receive her King let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature SE and heaven and nature SE and heav and Heaven nature SE [Music] Joy to the World th Savior rign let all their [Music] songs while felds and floods rocks Hills and ples the sounding Joy repeat the sounding Joy UNS speakable joy and overflowing well no tongue can tell Joy UNS speak Jo he rises in my soul never let me go he rules the world with truth and Grace and makes the nation Pro the glories his rightousness and wonders of his love and wonders of his wonderers wonderers of his love Jo unspeakable joy [Music] overflowing world no tongue can tell joy

Unspeakable joy it rises in my soul never let me go joy and speak of Jo overflowing well no tongue can [Applause] tell joy and speak of all joy he rises in my soul never lets me go amen let's pray Lord we thank you for the way you love and care for each one of us thank you for the opportunity to be able to gather here today as a group and as corporately to worship Worship You Lord bring you honor and glory and Lord we pray that this offering would be glorifying and honoring to you and help tell the story about what you did for us around the world Lord we ask these things in your name amen okay now for the lighting of our Advent wreath we began our journey two weeks ago with the Hope candle maybe and last week we remembered the love that is found in Christ Jesus with the second candle and this week one there we go okay it's gone oh barely it's the pink one anyways it's what it's the pink one it's the pink one it is the pink one okay so we have three candles lit now so this week is the coming of Christ brings joy for he has redeemed his people and dwells among them our first reading for today is from Zephaniah chapter 3: 14 through 20 it's on Israel's joy and restoration sing aloud oh Daughter of Zion shout o Israel rejoice and exalt

With all your heart oh daughter of Jerusalem the Lord has taken away the judgments against you he has cleared away your enemies the king of Israel the Lord is in your midst and you shall never fear evil on that day it shall be said to Jerusalem fear not o Zion let not your hands grow weak the Lord your God is in your midst a mighty one who will save he will rejoice over your you with gladness he will quiet you by his love and he will exalt over you with loud singing I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival so that you will no longer suffer reproach behold at that time I will deal with all your oppressors and I will save the lame and gather the outcast and I will change their shame into praise and Renown in all the Earth at that time I will bring you in at the time when I gather you together for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your eyes says the Lord and our second reading today is Luke 1: 39- 56 and it's when Mary visits Elizabeth so in those days Mary arose and went with haste Into the Hill Country to a town in Judea and she entered the house of Zachariah and greeted Elizabeth and when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb and why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me for behold when the sound of your greeting came to my ears the baby in my womb leaped for joy and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord and Mary said my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant for behold from now all

Generations will call me blessed for he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name and his Mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation he has shown strength with his arm he has scattered the proud and thoughts of their hearts he has brought down the mighty from their Thrones and exalted those of humble estate he has filled the Hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty he's H has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy and he spoke to our fathers to Abraham and to his offspring forever and Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home join me in a prayer of Joy Heavenly Father we rejoice in the Salvation you have provided through Christ Jesus like Mary May our souls magnify you and our Spirits rejoice in you our Savior teach us to find our deepest joy in your presence and Promises rather than the fleeting pleasures of this world world may our joy be a testimony to those who long for the Glad Tidings of the Gospel fill us with the joy of Christ who has come and is coming again amen at this time we're going to be getting the kids situated but also we're going to be moving into our time of giving for the ly Moon Christmas offering and so while the video is going and there's a little bit of movement in the sanctuary and stuff like that this is your opportunity to also come forward and give to lmon Christmas offering have you ever wondered what exactly a missionary does maybe you're picturing someone in remote places like Jungles or Villages it's true some IMB missionaries serve in remote locations but you can find spiritual lostness anywhere because lostness is found everywhere IMB missionaries serve everywhere in modern cities classrooms

Hospitals gyms cafes and virtual reality everywhere people gather is an opportunity to share the good news of God's love in Africa doctors cure physical ailments and disease but also share Jesus with all they serve even in bustling locations like Japan teaching English can lead to Gospel conversations in Europe there are missionary coaches who lead a team yet also lead through evangelism and discipleship beyond the cities to the most remote places missionary explorers are trained to search for and find the lost who have never heard the Gospel there's not just one type of missionary nor is the Gospel confined to one location each missionary brings their unique passions experiences and skills to the mission field to reach the unreached in creative ways God has uniquely created you with your own passions experiences and skills how will you use them Faithfully you can be a missionary and reach the lost with the Gospel that's what a missionary [Music] does okay all right well you can see that there's a whole bunch of kids up here and we have something that we'd like to share sh with you today and it's the reading of the Christmas story as well as some songs and so what will happen is we will have three readers and in between those readings they will sing some songs they will do actions and they will sing loud and you guys are welcome to join them and sing along with them and you know as we I was thinking about this as we as we look at our children and you know when they come up here and they do stuff like this we like ah it's so wonderful to see kids up there and part of the reason we like that is because they're cute

Right they're cute and it's a it's a tradition that we do and we've been you know we love that but I want to encourage you to start loving seeing them sing these songs and read the word as an expectation of hope that what that they singing in joy is an outpouring of what's being done in their heart as we give them the word give them the Gospel teach them the truths and these songs and as they sing those things you know let that resonate with you and be like ah that is what I love as cute as they are I love that there's a hope of the Gospel being planted in their hearts as they have been here learning and as you Faithfully as parents and grandparents train them up in the instruction of the Lord so children are you guys ready all right well we are going to start with a reading from Mr Camden I need in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered this was the first registration when quas was governor of Syria and all went to be registered each to his own town and Joseph also went up From Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house in lineage of David to be registered with Mary his betro who was with child and while they were there the time came for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swalling clothes and laid him in a Manger because there was no place for them in the in [Applause] [Music] M Lord Jesus lay down his sweet [Music] St Jesus the [Music] J [Music] [Applause]

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord Shone around them and they were filled with great fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people for unto you is Born This Day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord and this will be a sign for you will find a baby wrapped in swolling clothes and lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly hosts praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace among those with whom he is [Applause] [Music] pleased the Angels Sing glory to the new kingace on [Music] earthy Nation Jo Tri [Music] Christ is Bor [Music] in theal Angels Sing glory to the new king the Angels Sing glory to the new king [Music] mercy Jo Nations Jo [Music] Tri Christ is born in bethle theal Angels Sing glory to the newn [Applause] king when the angels went away from them into heaven the Shepherds said to one another let us go over to Bethlehem and see the thing has happened which the Lord has made known to us and they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and

The baby lying in a manger and when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told to them concerning the child and all who heard it wondered at what the Shepherds told them but Mary treasured up all these things pondering them in her heart and the Shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told to them [Applause] [Music] on the over the hills and everywhere [Music] go [Music] Christ watching Silence [Music] on the hills and everywhere go on the Jesus Christ was born tell on the M over the hills and everywhere go on Theus Christ [Music] is okay while we hand out some instruments for the prek if everyone would please stand and join us in the last song [Music] [Applause] let Earth let heart [Applause] prepare and heaven and nature sing and [Music] sing rules the [Music] world the glor of his and wonders of his love and wonders [Music]

And all right kids parents if you need to come get your little ones come up and get them otherwise let's dismiss one row at a time first and second you can go okay third and fourth go ahead and Fifth and six all right let's let's bow for a word of prayer dear heavenly father Lord we thank you so much for sending Jesus to come to this world and be the Joy to the world thank you for our kids Lord I pray that you would bless them would you as parents bless us as we look to you as we instruct them and as we raise them in your fear and instruction Lord I pray and I thank you for the gift of singing I thank you for just what it does to our countenance as we lift up our eyes and sing with all of our hearts towards you Lord as we as Cody brings us the word reflecting in on Mary's song Lord may we be inspired to sing at your goodness and at your truth and at the reality I ities of the Gospel we pray these things in Jesus name amen well amen and amen it's always a blessing to have h a house full of children amen you know it wasn't that long ago in our church that we didn't have very many children and so we give glory and praise to God for the work that he's doing in our midst amen and if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to Luke chap 1 we are going to be looking at Mary's song We in this season of Christmas there's tons of different songs that we sing we're all familiar with them we all love the Christmas songs there really are some stinkers out there when there comes to Christmas songs I don't know about you guys but I really do not like Santa Baby right it's awkward for everyone in the room gets really awkward really fast you know I'm not a fan of Hard Candy

Christmas I don't get it I know some of you love Dolly I'm just not about that game I think but really the one that takes the cake is war is over with Yoko Ono that one's just not good I don't I do not anybody anybody really love that song it's okay to disagree it's okay we'll just I'll just judge you silently no I'm I'm just kidding I'm joking I'm joking with you but we are looking at what's called The Magnificat okay God he chose Mary from all of the women throughout all of human history to be the mother of God son and she was given that one-of-a-kind privilege that no other woman has ever given nor will ever receive because Mary she was blessed not because she was sinless and not because she was full of grace or anything like that but because because she's the mother of the Lord and because she believed the that God's promise to her given to her from the angel would be fulfilled as Elizabeth said blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb but Mary she was also kind of caught in a hard spot wasn't she it was probably extremely awkward because she was pregnant and yet she wasn't married which meant that she would have been filed f with total disgrace in her culture and yet her reply to God upon a hearing the message from God that she would give birth to the Messiah is one that's filled with humility with faith love for God and joy the response that Mary gives is a song full of joy that's what we're talking about today and she sings a song as I said it's called mag Magnificat Magnificat it's Latin which means magnifies okay and today we're going to be learning about four reasons for our joy in the believer's heart so if you would stand with me in honor of God's

Word as we read Luke chap 1 verses 46- 56 God's word it says this and Mary said my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant for behold from now on all generations will call me blessed for he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name and his Mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation he has shown strength with his arm he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts he has brought down the mighty from their Thrones and exalted those of humble estate he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his Mercy as he spoke to our fathers to Abraham and to his offspring forever and Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home let's pray so God we do thank you for this time that we get to have to study your word we thank you for Mary's faithful response as an example to us Lord to just be filled with joy and Faith even in difficult and uncomfortable Seasons God and we pray that above everything else that we would learn about the joy that's given to us through the very presence of your son help our hearts to be attentive and open to what you have to say to us today we love you Lord in Jesus name amen there was once a king that lived in a country and he loved to travel and he traveled often and one day there was a man that lived outside the castle that remarked to his friendwell it looks like the king is home tonight the man said how do you know and so he pointed at the castle with its banners flying and torches of Blaze shining above the city and he said because when the king is home the Castle is all lit

Up you see grimness and solemnity are not signs of Christ's presence in your life I mean certainly there are times of seriousness but as Walter Knight said Joy is the flag that flies over the castle of our hearts announcing that the king is in residence for believers our lives are to be marked with such aurity and a joy that nothing can shake the Firm Foundation upon which we stand which is Christ Dr Marshall or inam he put it in his own words he said if he can't laugh you're toast and for us as Christians I remember the very first sermon I ever preached it was on Philippians chapter 4:4 which says rejoice in the Lord always again I will say rejoice you see that's one of the things that we do but let's look at the reasons that we have for Joy from this song because this is a deeply personal praise from Mary look at the language my soul my soul the very innermost part of who I am my being magnifies the Lord my spirit my spirit rejoices in God my Savior the first reason that we have to be joyful is because of God's personal work in our lives that's a very first thing Christians bear the fruit of joy in their lives I remember in my philosophy class I think we argued for about two or three weeks about the difference between joy and happiness okay if you've ever taken a philosophy class you know that they're pretty useless we talked about what makes a chair a chair right for probably another two weeks what gives a chair it's chairess that's a quote from the class paid 1,200 bucks for it but happiness happiness comes from it's it's a temp state of elation because of

Circumstances in your life it's the feeling that you get when you're going on vacation right you're you're excited to go you're excited to go down and to the beach or to the mountains or wherever it is that you go and it's that temporary feeling which totally goes away if you have kids on the way there it's the feeling that you get with Christmas with lights with songs giving of gifts and it all comes to an end happiness ends but joy is a fruit of the spirit and it's part of the Christian Life Joy can't be taken away by our situation and our circumstances it looks at cancer it looks at car accidents it looks at crummy situations and it reminds us that the joy of the Lord is our strength and let's look at the personal reasons that Mary gives for having Joy notice this truth he looks on the humble who was Mary but a young girl from a small town in a small part of the world in this great big old world who was Mary she sings for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant God is not one that looks at our accomplishments and our job and our bank account and is somehow impressed with us he looks for the lowly he looks for the humble and he raises us up and he's always worked like that you look the nation of Israel who was Israel honestly in Deuteronomy 6: 7 and 8 for you are a people holy to the Lord your God the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the Earth it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you for you were the fewest of all peoples but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he

Swore to your fathers that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt how many how many of Abraham's offspring were there when he first received the promise from God none zero it was just Abraham he was the smallest most insignificant in fact Abraham had even given up hope of having his own children at that point because he was so old and yet God made a promise to him that Abraham received by faith and he believed the promise and God was faithful to fulfill those promises and the direct descendants from him left Egypt by the hundreds of thousands if not Millions let me ask you this where were you when the Lord found you when you realized your need for him your total inability to save yourself that you couldn't be good enough or smart enough or nice enough or do enough good things to realize I need Jesus we all had to come to that point of humbling ourselves because that's the only way that we can ever be saved we don't come to God in our bigness we come to God in our smallness and in our weakness look at what it says in Matthew 16 if anyone would come after me let him deny himself that means tell yourself I can't do it anymore I don't need me anymore I need only Jesus and let him take up his cross and follow me for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it Charles hodj he said that humility is the beginning of true intelligence it is the recognition of our own weakness and the consciousness that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves in other words we value ourselves as being relatively unimportant in and of ourselves but because of God we know that we are loved

That we are cherished that we are we are beloved and it is when we finally come to the end of ourselves and we look to Christ and we profess him as Savior that he saves us and if we think that we bring something to the table that makes us worthy of Salvation we deceive ourselves the beautiful truth of the Gospel is that in spite of our sin in spite of our inability to save ourselves God still loves us he still redeems us for His Glory by his grace and that leads us to the second way that she gives glory to God in her life is that he has done great things for her you see he is mighty and he has done great things for you as well in this context Mary she declares that God is her Savior and the truth is that God is the Savior of every single person that would repent of their sins and Trust in Christ God's salvation is personal it is specific it is also covenantal for whoever would enter into that Covenant theologians they developed something called an ordo saludas right that's the order of Salvation and that before there is repentance there's faith we learn in John chapter 3 that we must be born of the water and of the spirit that's what we call regeneration right it's it's the new birth that's what it literally means that we must be born again and it's the gift of God in Salvation and that regeneration precedes anything that we do and not only does God work in our salvation but he also works in our lives generally look at what the psalmist writes in Psalm 4: 7 and 8 there are many who say who will show us some good lift up the light of your face upon us oh Lord but you have put more joy in my heart than they have grain and wine than when their grain and wine abound in

Peace I will both lie down and sleep for you alone alone oh Lord Make Me dwell in safety you see God he is so gracious to us he's so gracious to us and he gives us far more abundantly than what we could ask or think we have heat in our Sanctuary which I know many of you are very thankful for used to be being from the East Coast they got old churches out there right you know like they don't have old churches here they got old churches there but you know people they would bring hot holes and they'd have these little cubicles that they would sit in and they put the pretty much a hot pot right there in the middle and that's how they would heat up their their sanctuaries back then you know you think about the if we're if we're able to just take a breath that's that's a gift from God we don't deserve that breath we don't deserve the clothes that we're wearing and I'm thankful that you're wearing clothes but we don't deserve ve it and yet God has s fit to give us these gifts and if we were to just sit down and count our blessings it would be an endless list of the ways that God is working in our lives and how he provides for us and I think that this points us to a Gospel point that God he provides everything that we need for our existence Hebrews 1 teaches us that Jesus he is our sustainer and that he upholds the universe by the word of his power he doesn't have to but he does in Colossians 1 it teaches us that Jesus in Jesus all things hold together and what gift of Grace is that we couldn't ask for a better gift than God holding everything together the second reason that she gives that we can be joyful is because of God's character look at some of the attributes

That Mary lists here in verse 49 teaches us that God is Holy now Holiness is a primary attribute of who God is it's part of his character right it's part of the essence of his divinity Herman bavin he said that God is Holy not for that attribute alone but as the Perfection of all that he is yes God is Holy but in his love he is Holy in his Mercy he is Holy in his Justice he is Holy and listen to Isaiah's testimony and you guys youall know this passage but let it fall fresh on you it says I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple above him stood the sarap him each had six wings with two he covered his face with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one called to another and said holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory and the foundations of the threshold Shook at the voice of him who called and the house was filled with smoke in Revelation there are seven angels with seven plagues and here's what they do they sing this great and amazing are your Deeds oh Lord God the Almighty just and true are your ways oh King of the Nations who will not fear O Lord and glorify your name for you alone Are Holy All Nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed see the Holiness of God is a reason for you to have joy because it emphasizes his distinction as completely different and completely Incorruptible he's the sin eater he's the one that took on our dark sin and made us holy and yet he himself was totally uncorrupted God isn't going to suddenly become Wicked there nothing else like him in the entirety of the universe therefore he is supreme and he is unchanging and that's something that you and I we can take tremendous comfort in we also learn that God is merciful according to verse

50 it says that his Mercy is for all who fear Him and God he is not severe towards us he's not seeking to destroy sinners right now he does not Delight in the death of the wicked and yet he chooses to redeem Wicked people like myself like you and redeems Us by his grace and we see this most clearly displayed in the work of Christ This is why Christ came to save Sinners and why did he come because of the mercies of God Paul he teaches us that this is foundational to our Salvation in Ephesians 4: 4-5 it says but God being rich in Mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together in Christ by Grace you have been saved thank God thank God and it is through this work of Mercy that we are reconciled to God and called redeemed we are called child child of God an heir of God and coars with Christ we're even called friends Mary even she emphasizes the power of God she sings He Who is mighty has done great things for me and he has shown strength in his arm you see you and I we can have tremendous joy that all the universe is Under The Sovereign control of the God of Scripture my kids they were asking me the other day if a black hole could develop and swallow the Earth like yeah I guess it could but it won't right won't ever happen you don't want to know why is because God has already told us the end from the beginning he's already declared exactly how things are going to play out it's not going to end in a pandemic it's not going to end through an asteroid colliding with the Earth it's not going to be because of solar flares or global warming it's not be going to be because of nuclear

War or black hole or drones appearing Across the Nation it will end because God brings it to its conclusion at the return of Jesus and we can trust this because God is powerful enough to do this God even mocks all the other gods in Isaiah 46 he says to whom will you liken me and make me equal and compare me that we may be alike those who lavish gold from the purse and weigh out silver in the scales hire a Goldsmith and he makes it into a God then they fall down and worship they lift it to their shoulders they carry it they set it in its place and it stands there cannot move from its place if one cries to it does not answer or save him from his trouble remember this and stand firm recall it to mind you transgressors remember the former things of old for I am God and there is no other I am God there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all of my purpose Mary also sings that God is just he is just verse of 51 and 52 says a scatters the proud he brings down the rulers he lifts up the humble when we say that God is just we mean that he is always righteous in how he treats his creation Psalm 89 verse4 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy Throne that's where they live Justice and judgment are at the very center of his throne mercy and Justice shall be go before thy face you know many folks they try to pin the injustices of this world on God and there's lots of injustices there's sickness and suffering I mean we just got to go to the hospital we'll find plenty of it the argument goes that if God is all powerful and he hates evil and suffering and things like that then and they do exist then God can't be all powerful

Or then he doesn't always hate suffering problem is that they forget that evil will be destroyed somehow they believe that God is unjust and how he destroyed the world in Noah's flood but you know God's got a purpose in this and we were talking about this in our community group this morning that the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance that's why God delays that's why God puts up with evil and suffering is so that way more people would enter into the kingdom of God and thank God that he is righteous and even his judgments are righteous when we don't understand it when we don't understand why this circumstances in our lives why we don't understand why that we're placed in a situation we can still trust that God has a purpose in it and that the purpose is good and we can have full confidence that his holy Holiness his Mercy his power and his Justice will win out and it's not even close it may feel like that from our perspective I'm glad it worked out that way but God already knew that he wrot he wrote the script he knows it all and God is God and we can trust him third reason that we can have joy is because of God's provision look at what the song says verse 51 he has filled the Hungry with good things he provides for the needy guys God he doesn't have to fill the hungry but he does and when we see God provide him wonderful ways it leads us to naturally glorify him Thomas Watson he said it is God's glory to be a helper to the helpless and a deliverer to the captive you know we've all seen God provide in really

Neat ways I want to share with you a story recently about how God provided my kids they play this really annoying game called the floor is lava anyone else's kids [Music] yeah so you know game goes the floor is lava in three two one got to get off the floor right right and my son Josiah very lovingly encouraged my daughter Abigail to get up on the table right and it was our homeschooling table and it was a it was a metal and Oak Table the thing probably weighed you know 110 pounds and but it had a pedestal right that's where the steel was and so she's on one side it was kind of a an oval shaped and all the weight on one side and it goes just like that snaps it in half okay yeah I know right and but the thing is that table's very important for our family because you know we can't do homeschooling in the kitchen because well there's dishes to do there's meals to make there's snacks to get and things like that and so having like a designated area specifically set aside for educating our children that's not around that stuff really makes homeschooling functional in our home and it was broke there was no repairing it no way to fix it and you know bills are due and things like that it's not like we can just run out there and go grab another very large table that can accommodate five children and a mom and all their schoolwork and so we go where everyone goes when those things happen the Facebook Marketplace and you know I find this table and I'm looking at it's a big table and I'm talking to Amber about she's like no I'll just try to do it upstairs and you know just you know financially may not be able to swing it all that kind of stuff and wrote back yeah I think that it's

Probably just a little too big for our space right and the person said well you know if y'all can make it work I'll just give it to you and we were like we can make that work you know what I'm saying but God provides right he provides in really cool ways for even the anxieties of a table now we had good talking too and some disciplining that took place because of that right it's it's a lesson but God he provides even for those type of things he also this one's important and I want you guys to track with me on this one is that he provides by reversing human expectations now track with me on this one okay because he scatters the proud he brings down the rulers he exalts the humble he fills the hungry but the rich he sends away with nothing that's a countercultural Gospel it's like what Jesus said but many who are the first will be last and the last first now we know that God has provided for our greatest need by giving his only begotten son for our sin it is Christ that secured our salvation and it says this come everyone who thirsts come to the waters and he who has no money come buy and eat that's a total reversal of expectations you're broke you come to God not financially right I'm not talking about that I'm spiritually are you at the end of your Wit's End you go to God it doesn't make sense and yet he invites us he beckons us to come and buy and eat come buy wine or we're Baptists grape juice and I'm joking wine and milk without money price why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy listen diligently to me and eat what is good and Delight yourselves in rich food incline your ear and come to me hear

That your soul may live and I will make with you an Everlasting Covenant my steadfast sure love for David behold I made him a witness to the peoples a leader and Commander for the peoples behold you shall call a nation that you do not know and a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel for he has glorified you seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways declares the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts isn't that a blessing isn't that a blessing that he beckons to those of you who are spiritually poor to come to him and buy and eat and feast he doesn't say Feast on Ramen he says on rich food he beckons us to come and to drink deeply from the living water which is Christ and that invitation is for you and why does he do that he cares for his people that's how he provides because he cares for us what does it say in verse 54 he has helped his servant Israel you know we live under a New Covenant where the Gentiles have been grafted into the people of Israel according to Romans chapter 11 and we come to the Lord by faith and he cares for us he cares for us as though he has nothing else to care about and it's the kind of love and care that he has for you so what's interesting is that he doesn't get overwhelmed by our needs and our petitions if my kids are hungry at 3 o'clock and they're begging me for stuff

It just drives me crazy but yet that doesn't bother him he doesn't get annoyed by our petitions actually our petitions engage him more and he cares for us with deep love compassion and the fourth reason for our joy is God's faithfulness verses 54 and 55 says he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his Mercy as he spoke to our fathers God he remembers his promises he remembers the mercy that he extended all the way to Abraham he knows that he has made those promises and he keeps his promises Spurgeon said that God never made a promise that was too good to be true Mary may have been thinking about the numerous promises about the Messiah I'm sure that her head was just it was a whirlwind Mary would have known about the promises specifically made to Israel and it is in Christ that the those promises have been fully realized you see it's through Jesus that he fulfills that promise to bless all the nations through Abraham's offspring look at what it says for what I for I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the Patriarchs and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his Mercy as it is written therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing your name we also know we also know that he is faithful because he is the Eternal King verse 50 says that his Mercy is there from generation to generation and his promises to Abraham and his offspring forever see God he has no beginning he has no end he is Eternal and so we've learned four massive reasons for us to be joyful his work in our lives his character his

Provision the fact that he is faithful and all of these reasons resulted in Mary glorifying the Lord and so I have to ask you what about you are you recognizing ways that God is working in your life are you seeking the presence of God and seeing his Hidden Hand at work around you are you knowing his character more and more have you seen his provision have you glorified him in the way that he has provided for you or you just need him to be reminded of his faithfulness I thank God that he is who he is and my prayer for you is that all of this would result an overflowing joy in your life this Christmas season headart hand head God wants you to know that he is the true source of joy everything else in this world is going to let you down happiness sometimes masquerades as Joy but as I said before the joy of the Lord is our strength and you can know the joy of God by knowing God by coming to Jesus and if you don't know him you have to humble yourself you have to agree that you're a sinner and that you're in need of a Savior and you go directly to him that's the great thing about God is that you don't go through a priest you don't don't go through a pastor Pastor you don't go through a church you go directly to God and you ask him Lord would you would you work in my heart and in my life you place your faith and trust in him you must believe that he died on the cross for your sins and rose again on the third day and you can have the full Joy of knowing Christ heart God wants you to believe that Joy is found in him alone because happiness it comes and goes but joy Jo that can't be stolen is found in knowing God in hand God he wants you to live with joy in the great assurance that he cares for you see he works in our lives for his glory and our

Good and his character is good and it is unchanging so we can't trust him completely and he provides for all of our needs and he is faithful aren't those some good reasons to be joyful this Christmas Father we do thank you so much for this time that we get to have we ask that you would just bless us as we respond in worship we ask Lord that as we sing together Lord let it be filled with joy of knowing you Joy of seeing your hand of blessing Joy of all of those different things and I just pray and plead God that we would all know your joy and if there's anyone in here that maybe they don't know you that today would be that day that they do know you that in the quietness of their hearts that they would just talk with you about what it means to know you and to abide with you I pray that you would just move in us God For Your Glory and your honor and we pray that we would all walk out of here with more joy than how he came we love you Lord in Jesus name amen [Music] Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that save the [Music] like I was lost but now I am found was but now I see the Lord has brought good to me his word My Hope sec will my shield and Portion

Be as long as [Music] life when we' been there 10,00 years bright shine as the we no days to sing God prise then when we [Music] first and Lord we do thank you for that amazing grace that we get to sing about and that we are joyful partakers in if we have placed our faith and trust in you I ask that you would continue to work in us help us to go here with the joy of the presence of Christ in our hearts we love you in Jesus name amen oh sorry