If you have your Bible, let's turn in your Bible to Luke chapter 1 today. If you don't have a Bible, then please get one of the black Bibles. It's on the end of each pew, and that Bible will be on page 856 today. We're going to look for these next three sermons at the three prophecies that are given to us in poetic form in Luke chapters 1 and 2 in response to the birth of Jesus, to the coming of the Messiah. And then following that we will return back to our study of Matthew. This morning we are, especially have our focus and our attention turned toward Christmas. That's coming up very soon, isn't it? Can you believe next Sunday is Christmas Eve? So when we gather next Sunday, we'll get to have our morning worship service, and then we'll get to come back and have candlelight service. We'll have two of those. All of that's listed in your bulletin about times and all of those things. But we have this cultural moment that happens every year that we call Christmas, where things seem to be different in our culture and all around us. And you see these decorations going up. You see these lights going up. You see stores filled with people who are buying presents. You see, in some sense, people having the sense that there needs to be something different about their hearts this time of year, that they need to appreciate things that are good, whether it's family or however that's interpreted. But not everybody always knows what this is about or why it's actually happening. And I want to think about what Christmas is. What is Christmas? In the strictest sense of looking at it, Christmas is something that is not in the Bible. Now, don't get me wrong. The birth of Jesus is in the Bible, but the holiday, the festival that we call Christmas, is not something that's in the Bible. It's not something that's prescribed for us. that we have to follow, and in fact Galatians 4.10 tells us that Christ has set us free from the obligations of the law to observe special days and months and seasons and years. Christmas falls within that category. There is nothing in the Bible that says in order to be a good Christian you must celebrate Christmas because there is no such celebration in the Bible. However, We have it in our culture. It's something that if you were around at the founding of the United States, it would have seemed strange and in some cases outlawed to celebrate Christmas. It was outlawed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. If you were around at the founding of First Baptist Church of Matawan 167 years ago, it never would have crossed their minds to celebrate Christmas. We have records from December of 1859 that on Christmas Day, it was a Sunday, they had their regular worship service, no mention of Christmas. They had a business meeting after church that day because it was just another day. And they actually inducted three new members into membership that day. And the next Sunday, which was New Year's Day, they went down to Matawan Creek, broke the ice, baptized them, noted in the book that it was bitterly cold, but they did it in obedience to Christ. That's what they did. But if those from 1850, 1860 were to come in here and to see the trees that we have and the wreaths and those kinds of things, they might think that they're beautiful, but they might not know what was going on. What are you guys doing? Because it was simply not a part of their worship. It was considered to be a Catholic holiday. And yet, as it took over something of the American culture, that December was supposed to be a time to celebrate Christmas. What it has given us is not an obligation to institute a new law of celebration of a particular festival because Christ has set us free from those things. What it's given us instead is an opportunity to reach out to our culture, to look at the world around us who senses that something is different this time of year, and to explain what this is about, to explain there is this good thing that we are remembering. The reason why the culture is doing this and having this celebration is because the God of the universe is broken in through time and space and matter and has been born. and took upon himself flesh and became a little baby and lived a life like us and did it perfectly, did not fail where we have failed, went all the way to the point of death on a cross to humble himself underneath us to serve us, bore the wrath of God in his death and rose from the dead in his Lord. And so this is a great time of year to talk about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and to look at those scriptures together. And so let's look together at Luke chapter 1. This is the account where where we're told of the birth of Jesus that first this angel had come to Mary's cousin Elizabeth and it announced to her that she would become with child. Elizabeth was an old woman at this point. Elizabeth was beyond the point of being able to have children and yet God caused her miraculously to conceive a child. It was still through natural means and yet it was a miracle of God that a woman who was beyond the age of being able to bear children had never been able to bear children before suddenly she and her husband Zechariah conceived this child. and they named him John. He's the one that we know as John the Baptist. And the angel Gabriel had announced to Elizabeth and to Zechariah that this child would be the forerunner to the Messiah. He would be the one who would prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. And then that same angel had come to Mary and had announced to her As we see back in Luke 1, verse 30, the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He 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, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God." Now, whereas Elizabeth had conceived in her old age, Mary conceived in her young age as a virgin, as one who had never known a man. And she said, how can this be? How can this be? Well, it was the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus came from the womb of a virgin, not inheriting the sins of Adam, not being born depraved as all of us were born, fully human and yet without sin. And God chose to do it through this young girl who was probably no older than about 15 years old at this point, whose name was Mary. And Mary's response, Mary's song of praise, is what we're going to look at today. So let's read together from Luke 1, verses 46 through 55. 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. That is Mary's song of praise. Sometimes this is called the Magnificat because that is the first word of Mary's song in the Latin language in the old translation of the Bible that Jerome did back in the fourth century into Latin. It says Magnificat. But I hope that we'll look at this together. as not something in Latin, not something that's just a chant or something of that sort, but this is an actual song of praise from an actual human being who has experienced the blessing of God in an extremely remarkable way and has moved to praise God because of that. So let's see a few things that we can understand from this passage of Scripture that God spoke through the mouth of Mary. The first is that Jesus, in His coming, Jesus brings joyful worship. So Mary says, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. One thing to know about this, first of all, is that Mary's mind was soaked in the Bible. Every verse practically of this song that she sings to the Lord is just reflecting the verses of the Old Testament that she's been taking in from the time that she was a little girl. She's never directly quoting the actual verses of any particular passage, but she is drawing parallels that are so close that they are unmistakable. and drawing them from all over the place. And the main place that she draws parallels to is what we call the Song of Hannah back in 1 Samuel chapter 2. So Hannah had miraculously conceived a child whose name was Samuel. And when that happened, she turned and she sang in praise to God. And Mary's song reflects the wording of Hannah's praise very closely, but not just from 1 Samuel 2, but from all over the place, from all over the Old Testament. So Mary says in v. 46, my soul magnifies the Lord. Psalm 34.2 says, my soul makes its boast in the Lord. In v. 47, here in what Mary says, she says, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. In Isaiah 45.21, it says, there is no other God besides me, a righteous God and a Savior. In verse 48, she says, he has regarded the lowest state of his handmaid. It says servant here, but it's a word for a female servant. 1 Samuel 1.11 says, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant, your handmaid, and remember me and not forget your servant. And it also reflects Psalm 136.23. It is he who remembered us in our lowest state for his steadfast love endures forever. In verse 48 of this song that she sings, she says, Behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed, which is reflecting Genesis 30, verse 13, where Leah says, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed. In verse 49, she says, He who is mighty has done great things for me, which reflects Psalm 126, verse 3, which says, The Lord has done great things for us. We are glad. In verse 49, she says, Holy is his name, which reflects Psalm 119. Holy and awesome is his name. As I said, none of these is a direct quote, but you can't overlook the fact that Mary has soaked her mind in the Scriptures. You may think to yourself, well, I just could never have that kind of knowledge of the Bible. I could never be one of these people who just really knows the Bible. Well, it's not about being one of these people. It's about being in the Bible. And Mary was in the Bible even as a 15-year-old girl in her song of praise. Those are the words that spewed out of her mouth was words from God's Word. That is a great example for us, a great example for Mary's devotion to the Lord. We need to just soak in the Bible so that the very words that come out of our mouths in praise to God are words where you may not necessarily be quoting a Bible verse directly, but just the ideas, the concept, the language of the Bible is what we use to praise our God. That's what Mary did, and I hope that's what we will do too. And you say, well, how do I do that? Well, the answer is to soak your mind in the Bible on a regular basis, on a daily basis. When I say, soak your mind in the Bible, what that typically means is, I am going to schedule tomorrow morning for this 20 or 30 minutes before I start the rest of the things in my day, that that will be the time in my schedule when I read a passage of Scripture. And this will be the passage of Scripture because it's the passage of Scripture that's in my Bible reading plan, which by the way, the next two Sundays, we're going to put a Bible reading plan for 2018 in your bulletin that you can take home and use on a daily basis where you say, I don't know where to start. That'll give you where to start. But it's taking it, it's reading it, it's identifying part of it that you connect with and going and meditating on that part. Where you soak in it, you pray it back to God, you think about it, you reflect on the words. That has to have been what was happening in Mary's life for her to be so steeped in the scriptures. And what a great example for us to do that on a daily basis. But apart from just the fact that she was soaked in scriptures and a good example for us in that way, I want to look at the actual content of what she's singing. She is singing praise to God. She says, my soul magnifies the Lord. My soul magnifies the Lord. You may not have thought about it, but that is a countercultural statement. The way of the world, and when I say the way of the world, I mean the way that I was born and the way that you were born, the way of being lost in our sins, the way of depravity. The way of the world is my soul magnifies itself. Or my soul likes the Lord because He will magnify me. She says, my soul magnifies the Lord. This is the purpose of why we were created, is to magnify the Lord. To be this sort of a lens, a looking glass, a magnifying glass, where the light of the Lord will shine through us and brighten. That our soul would be something where our purpose is to show that the Lord is good and glorious. And she says, my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. So she is glorifying the Lord and rejoicing. Now, in some ways, you might think that those are two different things. Well, am I going to glorify the Lord? Is he going to be the one who gets everything? Or am I going to rejoice? Am I going to be happy? Who's it going to be? Is God going to be happy or am I going to be happy? When you actually know the Lord, there's no difference between those two things. rejoicing in the Lord and magnifying the Lord as a believer in Jesus Christ, that's what happens because we love God. You magnify what you love and you enjoy magnifying what you love. You may think of it in simple terms. You may really, really love the New York Giants and I'm so sorry for you. But if that's the case, doesn't it feel good for you to cheer for them? When they do well to talk about it, to put their bumper sticker on your car and magnify the New York Giants, it makes you happy. Well, how much more if we know the Lord? There is no disconnect. There is no difference between enjoying God and magnifying God. And that's exactly what Mary is doing. My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. Now Mary says, God is my Savior. Mary needed to be saved. Mary is a great example. Mary was blessed. Mary received the mercy of God. Mary was living in a way that was upright and admirable. She had to be saved. She had to be saved. She was a sinner who had to be saved by God's grace. And she was. And she rejoiced. And she magnified God for that. And Mary sees here, she sees just the beauty of what has been done for her. I want to think about also all the things that could have been preoccupying Mary's mind at this point. I don't know if you've ever thought about what her situation might have been like as a 15-year-old girl, not yet married, pregnant. She's got a wedding to plan. She's probably going to be showing at that wedding. She's got everybody wondering what's going on with her. Elizabeth believed that this had been a miraculous conception because she had already met the same angel and had her own conception that was miraculous in a different way, but still miraculous. Joseph believed it because the angel came to him and said, don't divorce this girl that you are legally bonded to be married to. So Joseph knew, but I doubt that there were very many other people in the world that understood or believed even in the least bit what was going on with Mary at this point. That could have been a huge preoccupation in her mind. What do people think about me? It could have been preoccupied with wedding planning, could have been preoccupied with just the mere overwhelming feeling that I am about to be a mother. Even for those of us who have, you know, we've gotten ourselves established and gotten a home and all those things that you're supposed to have in place prior to having a child. Having a child is a big thing to prepare for. It's life-changing and she's about to have a baby before she ever thought that she would. But where is her heart? Where is her soul pointed? It's not at the cares of this world, the deceitful things of this world. What do people think about me? What logistics do I have to plan? Her soul is on the Lord. My soul magnifies the Lord. You know, we have so many opportunities in our own lives to get distracted by the logistics and the what do people think pains and the cares of this life. Mary's a great example here. Let's magnify the Lord. Let's put Him first. Let's treasure Christ first. Even in church, this can happen where we say, well, maybe the goal of church is for our programs to run well. I do hope our programs run well. I hope that all of you are actively engaged in using your spiritual gifts to serve the church, and part of that will be our programs running well. Or you say, I hope that our budget for the year will be met in giving. Maybe that's the point of the church, is to bring in money. Well, obviously that's not the point of the church, and obviously we have to have money to come in, or things just don't get to happen. But is that really the goal? Or maybe you think to yourself, well, maybe the point of the church is for all of the pews to be totally filled. Maybe that's the point of the church. I would love that. If God did that, praise God for that. But is that the point? See, what I'm saying here is that even in our religion, even in our worship, even in our church, There are so many things that could distract us, but let's look at the example of Mary here and say, we won't get distracted by those things. Let's rejoice in God, my Savior. Let's keep our magnifying glass pointed at God. Let's magnify the Lord and rejoice in Him. And why do we do that? She says, well, here's the reason. For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed. God didn't come and say, I will cause Jesus to be born from the queen or from the most respected person, the most respected family in Israel. Now, she did happen to be in the line of David, as was Joseph. She had that royal lineage, but a lot of people were in the line of David at this point. That was a lot of generations back. And Jesus came from this girl, and from this lowly carpenter that came and took her as a wife. He looked on the humble estate of his servant, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. That's true, isn't it? We look back on Mary, we look back on that event, we say it's amazing that God sent His own Son, that God Himself, God the Son, came in the flesh through this particular human being. What a blessing. What a blessing to her. And all generations have called her blessed, and in many cases that's gotten way out of hand, hasn't it? You know, as all generations have called her blessed, this thing that tends to happen just with humanity that God told us about this pattern in Romans 1, that there's this pattern among sinful man that we tend to confuse the created things of God with God. We tend to take what has been created and declared by God to be good and to turn and worship the creation rather than the Creator. And the veneration of Mary is an example of that. These stories have been concocted that are not in the Bible, and no indication that they're true whatsoever. But the story of the immaculate conception of Mary, that Mary had been born of a virgin herself, which is simply not true. This conception that Mary was sinless and did not need to be saved because she had no sin. Well, that's refuted right here, where she says, I rejoice in God, my Savior. She had to be saved. There's the story of the assumption of Mary that she didn't die, that she went straight into heaven. That's nowhere to be found in the scripture. There's this title of the queen of heaven that's given to her, this title of mediatrix and co-redemptrix that are given to her idolatrously. There's prayers to Mary. There's veneration of Mary, that form of worship. None of those things are what Mary was talking about when she said, all generations will call me blessed. What she's talking about is this is a remarkable thing, that God has looked upon this humble young girl who desperately relied upon God for the salvation of her sins, from her sins, and used her as the vessel to send salvation to the world and his son. That's amazing. That is amazing, and that is a blessed thing. But then she turns and says, let's consider what He's done. For God, who is mighty, has done great things for me, and holy is His name. This is why she is blessed. Not because of who she is in herself, but because of what God has done. That's why we can be blessed. Not because of who we are in ourselves, but because of what God in His might has done for us. And she turns and she relates this to us too. She relates this, you just see, verse 50, His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation. Yeah, none of us are going to be the physical mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. That only happened once. But she says, from generation to generation, that same mercy, that same might, that same working is there for those who fear the Lord, who come before God in humble reverence. This is the role of blessing of the humble. That's what Mary is bringing out here. God sought out this humble girl. I would say even He created the humility in her to begin with. And he used her as a humble vessel for these great purposes. And he continues to this day, not to exalt those who exalt themselves, but to exalt those who fear him, who understand that we are low, that we are not God, that he is God, and that we need his mercy. And then Mary sings out and she explains that Jesus brings judgment to the proud. So He brings mercy to the humble, judgment to the proud. If you look in verse 51, she says, 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. This is God's pattern. and it was especially exhibited in the life and the ministry and the teachings of Jesus, where Jesus said over and over that the last will be first and the first will be last. Those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted. There is this great reversal in the economy of God where He looks at what the world would think ought to be the highest, the most praised, passes over it. He looks at what the world takes to be the lowest, the least praiseworthy, sets His love and His grace and His mercy upon it. Why does God do this? I think it's because it leaves absolutely no room for boasting for anybody but God. There is no way when we get to heaven that we are going to say, when we look around at the people who are there and hear their stories, that we're going to say, boy, You didn't need God as much as I did, or I didn't need God as much as you did. Every single one of us up there is going to be just rejoicing that we were in such a low estate that we were so miserable and didn't even know it, or maybe we did, that we needed so much mercy and God did it. God gave it to us. God chose what was low and despised in the world to shame those who were exalted by the world. So this is the pattern that God shows, and it just reminds me, I want to read part of Jesus' teaching here that I think is relevant to this. This is what we call the Beatitudes. This is back in Matthew chapter 5, and it just reflects the same kind of thing that Mary is talking about. It says, He opened His mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, the spiritually bankrupt, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, not who possess righteousness, but hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." See, this is a picture of the kingdom of heaven, of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven, and Jesus is saying, here's what the citizens of the kingdom of heaven look like, who God has set his eternal love upon, is that they are low and they know it. They are low. They are poor in spirit. They are hungry for righteousness. They are meek. They are persecuted and rejoice in their sufferings. Well, that's the kind of reversal that Jesus has brought. Now think of this. Jesus has come to this lowly girl and has caused her to be called blessed by all generations. He's come to the lowly and exalted her. Not to the place of Queen of Heaven, not to the place of veneration and prayers, but He has exalted her. And He does that for us. He comes to us in our low state. And He has come from His high state and humbled Himself to lift us up. That's the reversal that Jesus brings. Let's just look at the last couple verses here. It says, verse 54, he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. Now, this understanding of scripture that Mary has, It's not simply an understanding in terms of, I kind of get these words and I'll fit these kinds of words into my prayers here and there. And I think even in that, it was much deeper than that. But she also has this understanding of the patterns that were throughout Scripture. We already saw this a little bit, and I didn't quite point it out as much as I wanted to, but the pattern of God coming and opening the barren womb. There are several places in the Old Testament where God did that, and she is directly placing herself in the line of that pattern of those barren wombs that have been opened, but this is an even more remarkable case because this is the birth by a virgin that God has brought about. But she puts herself in that line of historical pattern and she puts all of this and what's happening through her and the coming of this God and Savior Jesus Christ, she puts it in the pattern of what God has done in His mercy and His covenant love toward His people Israel. So she sees the Bible in the way that Jesus taught us to see the Bible, which is that there are patterns, that there are not necessarily just direct lines of history throughout the Bible, but sort of like stair steps, where you see this pattern has happened, and then it happens again, but it's higher. And it happens again, and it's higher, and it's leading all the way up to Jesus and his kingdom. And she sees that there was this pattern of Hannah, but now this is happening again, but it's higher. It's bigger. And who is this child that's coming from her womb? Well, the child that's coming is the one who will be called the Son of the Most High. The one who will inherit the throne of his father David. The one who is to be born holy and called the Son of God. Now that's something different than what has ever happened before. This is the highest step. And so she knowing that, knowing what has been declared to her, she says, he has helped his servant Israel. She's not just saying, He helped me. She's saying, God has helped His people Israel in remembrance of His mercy as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. What she is saying is, I sense, I understand that God's covenant promises to His people will be fulfilled through this child that is to be born to me. And that's the truth. Jesus comes and brings fulfillment of God's promises. What are those promises? Well this points back to Genesis 12. Here's what it says in Genesis 12. The Lord said to Abram, go from your country and from your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So, Jesus is the one who brings this final blessing to Abraham, to his offspring forever, to all the families of the earth. Now, who is it that partakes in this? Is Mary saying, is the Bible telling us through these words that are recorded here for us? Is the Bible saying, well, the blessing of Jesus is only for the Jewish people? No, absolutely not. Jesus did say that he's come for the Jew first. The Bible tells us that the gospel is for the Jew first, and also for the Gentile, for the Greek. But the Bible also tells us, what does it mean to be a child of Abraham? It says, this blessing is to Abraham and his offspring forever. Who are the offspring of Abraham? Well, the Bible says the offspring of Abraham are those who have the faith of Abraham. Those who understand that Jesus is the one who has come as the promised Messiah. that Jesus is the one that Abraham was looking forward to all along, the one that Moses was looking forward to all along, the one who's come and fulfilled all the promises, that Jesus is the Messiah. When we trust in Jesus, then God grants us every single one of His spiritual blessings without holding back any for some other group of people. We are counted in the line and the offspring of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ. And we can say and rejoice together with Mary who is in the line of David. We can say He has helped His servant Israel. He has given us, He has spoken His blessing to Abraham and his offspring forever. And Father Abraham. We could say Father Abraham has many sons. Many sons have Father Abraham. I am one of them. And so are you, if you believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will inherit the blessings of the nations that were given in this Savior. So now Mary, I just have to say about Mary, we have some indications throughout the recounting of the life of Jesus that Mary still didn't quite get it at this point. And we see that in the lives of a lot of the disciples, too. You'll have one passage where it really seems like, boy, they finally got it. I think maybe Peter was born again in this passage. And then you go to the next passage, and you're like, I don't think so. I don't know what's going on here. And Mary here, certainly, I mean, she has this great faith. Elizabeth has even said about her in the verse prior to what we've read, said, blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. That's the same kind of believing that Abraham believed. And it was counted to him as righteousness. But we also see later on that she didn't quite understand what was going on. That Jesus' own family kind of thought when He started His ministry that He had gone a little bit bonkers. And they were trying to pull Him back. Jesus was in a place, He was in a house ministering to people, and someone came and said, your mother and your brothers are outside, and He said, well, behold, my mother and my brothers, those who do the will of my Father in heaven, He points at His disciples. And so we don't know exactly how it was that Mary came to a full understanding of the identity of her son. How it was that she came to a full understanding of the necessity of his death and resurrection. But we know that she did. We know that she did. And we know that here she was believing. And we probably wouldn't have gotten it right away either. But it took her a while. But I want to ask you this. Have you seen now? There is no excuse anymore. Jesus has come. Jesus has lived. Jesus has died. Jesus has risen from the dead. Jesus has been witnessed by more than 500 eyewitnesses who all kept their story straight, which doesn't happen if it's not true. Jesus has come. And will we have that same kind of faith that will point us not just to a general sense of I think God is good, but to this human being is both man and God. this one is the Savior of Israel, this one is the Savior of me for my sins. Will you turn to Jesus in faith and will you magnify the Lord, will you rejoice in God our Savior? Let's pray. God, thank you for sending Jesus. We thank you for using Mary as a vessel for that. We thank you for the blessings that she expressed and for this hymn of worship that you poured out through her mouth. God, I pray that you would help us to follow in her example. But even more so, I pray that you would turn us to the Lord Jesus Christ, because I know that we can never follow any example or any person or any rules well enough to be rescued. God, we desperately need a Savior, just as Mary did. Lord, would you save us from our sins? Would you forgive us because of the Savior who's come? Lord, would you cause us to magnify you and to rejoice in your salvation? In Jesus' name we pray, amen.