in the first chapter, Luke chapter number 1. And we'll be considering a novel thought that comes from this passage. We'll read our text for the morning message. We'll begin our reading in verse 37, which was the close of Gabriel's comment to Mary. telling her that even though she had not known a man, she could bear a child. She was a virgin when she bore Jesus Christ. The Bible prophesies about that. And the angel Gabriel said in verse 37, for with God, nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. And Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. And she spake out with a loud voice and said, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior." What you have here is a beautiful story of two women who are both greatly used by God in the Christmas story, meeting together in one house. Now before we pray, just consider this. This is the house of Zacharias and Elizabeth. We talked about this a couple weeks ago, how Zacharias went into the temple to burn incense to the Lord, and when Gabriel came to him and said, you are going to father a child, and you're going to name him John. This would be the birth of John the Baptist. And he said to the angel, how could I know this? I'm an old man, and worse than that, my wife is old too. We're past the childbearing years, it's exactly what the Scripture said. And he said, listen pal, this is modern day vernacular, the angel said, listen pal, I came from God and if you don't believe my word I'm just going to strike you with being mute. And he struck Zacharias with not being able to speak until John the Baptist was born. So you got two women meeting in a house where only women could speak. The sermon title today is, Two Pregnant Women in One House. Let's see if we can get through this without offending anyone. Let's pray. Father in heaven, help us as we consider this great passage in the Bible. Lord, a unique time in human history when you would bring your son, Jesus Christ, to the earth in human flesh. I pray, Lord, that you'd bless the preaching of your word and help us today as we consider these beautiful truths. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You know many messages have been preached on this, in fact Charles Spurgeon preached two messages about what he called Mary's Magnificat. The term Magnificat comes from a Latin term, which I don't speak Latin, but he preached a sermon regarding this two different times, two different facets of his sermon, one of them he named Mary's Song. And Spurgeon said of this, about what Mary said after this meeting with Elizabeth, he said, I am afraid angels frequently do not hear those poor, feeble, dying whisperings which often drop from our lips merely by force of custom. Mary is all heart. Evidently, her soul is on fire. While she muses, the fire burns. Then she speaks with her tongue. May we too call home our wandering thoughts and wake up our slumbering powers to praise redeeming love." What a beautiful statement regarding Mary's song that she sang to the Lord beginning in verse number 46. The first thing we want to point your attention to is the place and the circumstance where this song was sung. First of all, it was in the hill country of Judea, in the home of her elderly cousin, Elizabeth. This was no ordinary visit. It was a meeting of two women who both of them were experiencing the impossible. Elizabeth was able to become pregnant after being barren for all of her childbearing years. Now she's passed the time after the manner of women as denotes the Scripture, and the Lord opens her womb and allows her to have a baby boy, and his name would be John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ. And now Mary comes to her home. The Bible talks about that birth that would take place with her, and how the Lord would overshadow her, and the Holy Ghost would come upon her, and the thing that would be born of her would be called the Son of God. Two women experiencing the impossible. And it's truly an interesting story because as Mary comes into the house to say hello to Elizabeth, she gets there. It's an unexpected visit. She didn't write her a letter. She didn't send her a text or a fax. They didn't have anything like that at that time. She just took a journey, and she had already been told by Gabriel that her cousin was pregnant. Now you know that Elizabeth was hiding herself at that time. I don't know if Mary knew prior to Gabriel's, you know, instruction or not. I kindly believe that Mary did not know that Elizabeth was pregnant. But when Gabriel told her, she said, I gotta go and talk to her. And she took that journey alone into the hill country of Judea, and when she gets into the house, and salutes Elizabeth, the Bible says something incredible happens to her. The Bible says in verse number 40, and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth, and it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb. If there was ever a case for what you should believe about life and death and birth and conception, it should be found right here in this passage. Young people, please don't call babies in the womb of their mother a fetus. It's not a clump of cells. It's not a parasite. These people running around town calling babies parasites, they are out of their mind! They are babies that are inside the womb of their mother. John the Baptist was alive at six months old, and he was, when he heard Mary's voice, he leapt in the womb and Elizabeth felt it. You know, for those of us who are fathers, and our wives have given us the privilege of coming over and say, hey honey, the baby's moving, put your hand on that belly. I've never once called that baby anything less than a baby. In fact, I talk to children. You know, children have hearing abilities as they get older in the womb of the mother. And those of you who are fathers, you can actually talk to your children while they're in the womb. When my daughter Becca was pregnant with baby Wally, I did the same thing to Wally as I did to all my children. I put my face right down by that belly and I said, hey, what's going on? And I was the first one to introduce him to Jesus, the Son of God. I thank the Lord for children. And I thank the Lord for this story because Elizabeth, when she was filled with the Holy Ghost, she said these things about Mary. Now she made four profound statements about Mary when she began to speak here, and I don't want to take a long time about this. Listen, we do not worship Mary, and the Bible never tells you to worship Mary, but she was blessed among women. She was highly favored by God, and God took notice of her. But that doesn't mean that we put her on the same plane as Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean we pray to Mary, because we don't pray to Mary. The Bible says there's only one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. That's 1 Timothy 2 and verse number 5. There's blasphemous things that other churches teach, like Mary was crucified on the other side of the cross with Jesus. This is false. It's false to claim that you need to go through Mary in order to get to Jesus. No, you don't. Mary herself in this very story said that she needed a Savior, and she rejoiced in God her Savior. But it's not to diminish who she was. Mary was the only person who was chosen to bear God's Son. And it was said of her in this very passage that she was special. First of all, if you review what Gabriel said to her, Luke chapter number 1 in this very same passage of Scripture, the Bible said that she was a virgin in verse number 27. And notice in verse 28 what Gabriel said to her, Hail, thou art highly favored, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. And the Bible says further than that in verse number 30 that thou hast found favor with God. Mary is to be emulated, she is an example to women, and there's something that every woman in this room today could learn from Mary. And I'm gonna hope to bring that out during the service. Number one, Elizabeth said concerning Mary, blessed art thou among women. Isn't that amazing? Being filled with the Holy Ghost, Elizabeth said the exact same thing as Gabriel told Mary. You know why? Because when the Holy Ghost is at work, It always, the Holy Spirit always cooperates with the Word of God. The Holy Spirit never tells you to disobey God's Word. The Holy Spirit didn't tell you to do a lot of things that people are saying the Holy Spirit told you to do. The Holy Spirit will lead you into righteousness. And the Holy Spirit agrees with the Word of God. Here's Elizabeth being filled with the Holy Spirit. She agreed with everything Gabriel said and it lined up with the Word of God. She was blessed among women. Concerning Christ, she said, blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Jesus Christ was the Son of Man because He was born of Mary. It was prophesied about in Genesis chapter 3 and throughout the Old Testament. She was basically saying Jesus is blessed. Last week we preached that Jesus was great. According to Gabriel, He shall be great, and we still preach, proclaim, and believe in the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matter of fact, He's the head of this church. Oh, I thought you were the head pastor. No, I'm not the head of the church. Jesus is the head of the church, and Jesus has the preeminence here. Concerning humility, Elizabeth said, and whence is this to me, in verse 43, that the mother of my Lord should come unto me? She recognized that she was a privileged lady to have been able to be a part of Mary's family, and that Mary would even be in the same house as her because she would bear the Messiah. And concerning faith in God's promises in verse number 45, and she says this, and blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. You know, this is a great truth that God's promises demand faith, and faith always finds its reward. Elizabeth knew that. It took faith for her to be united with her husband and have a child at her age. She believed what was spoken to her husband by that angel. And now Mary comes to her house having believed what Gabriel said when she said, I'm the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. She believed what God told her. God always requires faith. Now isn't it amazing that these women, you've got Elizabeth crying out with a loud voice, you've got Mary about to sing this song and all the things that she declares in this. It still is a great thought to think that Zacharias was mute at this time. I mean, if there was ever a time for a guy to have a garage. You guys, you guys are slow. One time my wife said to me, are you even listening? I thought, that's a pretty strange way to start a conversation. Mary's reaction was priceless. I mean, she hears that the baby leaped in her womb and she just overflows with praise to the Lord. She says this, and I can only imagine the heart and the depth and the feeling and the emotion that was on Mary's face when she said, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, verses 46 and 47. Mary didn't magnify herself, she magnified God. The choir sang that song today, that was in the person of Mary. My soul magnifies the Lord. He has shown His love to me." She was pouring out praise to her God. She wasn't magnifying herself, focusing upon herself. She was making big of her God. You know, when you make your God very big, your problems become small. When you focus on God, your problems become more easy to bear, and when you recognize how powerful God is, He has the ability to carry every burden that you carry. A soul that magnifies God is focused on God and not self. It makes God big and everything else small. It rejoices not in position but in salvation. In Mary's song, Spurgeon had three points. He said, she sung sweetly and is she going to sing alone? What three great points for a sermon. You know, are we going to sing with Mary? Are we going to praise God like Mary did? I hope you do. True praise is vocal, it can't be done silently. You know, so if you come to church and you can't sing, well perhaps you think you can't sing, but you actually can. You can do something called making a joyful noise to the Lord. Now not every person who is in church belongs in the choir, in fact some people do not belong in the choir. The one person I was thinking of was Jeffrey Evans. And he acknowledged that, he said that's right. Some people can't carry a tune, they're tone deaf, but there's still a song that can come from our heart. The Bible says that those who are spiritual can sing and make melody in their hearts to the Lord. True praise is heartfelt, it invites others to join. You know it's an amazing thing to think that her heart was just, she heard these things from the angel, she goes to meet her cousin, and when she hears about the baby leaping it was too much and she just overflowed with praise, God had been so good to her. Has God been good to you? You can praise God too. What Mary declared about herself in this as she goes on, and we didn't read all these passages, but in verses number 48 through 40, she says, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. He that is mighty hath done unto me great things, and holy is His name." She talks about herself as being someone of low estate. In other words, she wasn't born into riches. She wasn't born into status and life. She was somebody who was born to a low estate. And some of us, and some of you have been born to poverty. I've heard men in this church say that when it snowed here in Texas, at times in their childhood, they would wake up with snow on their covers because of the holes in the ceiling. Some of the people who are in this room grew up on ranches and they lived in abstract poverty. Some people that are in this room had parents or they themselves survived the Great Depression. Two people in this room date back to the Civil War. But there's a lot of people that came from real poverty. We've got a lady in this room who was raised by her older brother because mom died in childbirth on this side of the room. We've got some of God's gold in this room right here. We have people in this room who have really gone through hard times. Now I haven't experienced much of the hard times that my parents did. I can't identify with trying to raise a family on three dollars an hour. You know, money and inflation has changed an awful lot in the last 20 to 30 years. All I can do is speak from my own perspective that in the early 80s, when this country was in a real bad depression, when mortgage rates were 18 percent, 18 percent! Gas was rationed, you couldn't get as much gas as you wanted. You had to stay in line and you could only get so much. Our family had Campbell's soup for many a holiday meals, and we couldn't go out to eat. We were raised in poverty, and I'm just here to tell you, Mary was very similar. She was someone of low estate and she was okay with it. She loved the Lord her God. You don't just promise to love God when you make it. You don't just promise to love God when you start making money, you start loving God right where you're at. And God will take care of you just like He took care of Mary. She had no worldly status, she had no earthly riches, she recognized God's favor and power and His holiness and she said this, Lord you filled the hungry with good things. Who do you think she was referring to there? She said I was hungry and you filled me Are you satisfied? Have you come to the Lord's table and tasted and seen that the Lord is good? She's the very picture of the kind of woman God uses You know the Bible declared here that the angel was sent to a girl. That was a virgin and Now I know this isn't talked about in many modern-day houses of God these days, but God still values purity morally. God still values that. I know that this culture has changed greatly, but God still values purity, and had Mary not been pure, she wouldn't have been chosen by God. She was genuinely humble and she fully trusted in the Lord. She worshiped God while she was poor. You know, in fact, when Jesus was born, they could only afford to bring two turtle doves, which is what the Bible said the poor would bring for an offering. She had no riches to speak of. Ladies, are you like Mary? Are you like Mary? Are you filled with a heart of praise and song? Do you love the Lord? Are you willing to praise His name publicly? Are you humble? Are you recognizing the blessings of God in your life? You know, the women that this culture are producing, is producing, it's no one to emulate. If you're a young lady in the house today, you've got people around the house of God who are similar to Mary. Hey, you want somebody to emulate? Look at Sister Susie Hudson, who in her 80s still works in the nursery and serves in the kitchen and cleans up tables and does anything any other woman in the church does. If every woman worked like she did, we'd have so much to, so many people to share the burden. Good night. There's people to emulate and there's people not to emulate. And if you're a young lady in the house today and the world is telling you to emulate Taylor Swift or Beyonce, I'm here to tell you there's a better option. Mary's better. She chose that good part. You say, oh you're attacking my favorite song artist. For some reason I just don't think Mary would be running around singing her music. The music she sang was music that honored and glorified God. Young ladies, do you value purity and holiness before you're married and after you're married? Mary's beauty wasn't just an outward beauty, although I'm sure she was a beautiful woman. She had a spiritual beauty that outweighed anything else, and God recognized it and said, that's the young lady I'm going to use to bring my son into the world. What Mary declared about God, and it was rich with all kinds of theological truth. First of all, in verse 50, the Bible says that His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. When Mary was singing this song, she basically was declaring things that the Old Testament declared about God. You know in the Old Testament, in something called the Ten Commandments, in Exodus chapter 20, the second commandment says thou shalt not make any graven image and bow and pray to them. We're not supposed to be bowing and praying to statues. And the Bible says that there's a promise that goes along with that if you're obedient to it. The Bible says that God shows mercy unto thousands of them that love Him and keep My commandments. And He also said that He'll visit the iniquity of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those that hate Him or would not keep His commandments. Mary echoed the truths of the Old Testament when she was penning this song. Listen, ladies, Don't doubt God's Word, believe God's Word. Mary was blessed because she believed. She wasn't blessed because she was filled with all these questions. Well, how could that be true? Has it ever occurred to you that the ways of God are above your ways, that God knows more than you do, and maybe made this world to where nobody could figure it out? Scientists are still trying to figure out how old the world is. Scientists are still trying to figure out how the eye works, and goodnight all these years that, you know, Jim Valvano died about 30 or 40 years ago and untold millions of dollars have been given towards resolving the issue of cancer, and mankind is still trying to discover it. I'll tell you who knows the cure for cancer, God Almighty knows it. The reason that there's diseases like this in the world is because of sin. Death is passed upon all men, no amount of money in all the world can resolve that. Oh I wish there was a cure for cancer, I hate cancer, I hate all manner of disease. I hate things that take our loved ones for us, I truly do. But here's the main issue of that matter is, you would rather die with cancer with Jesus Christ than die healthy without Jesus Christ. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? " Mary, during her conversation and during her song to the Lord, was declaring that she trusted the Old Testament, that she trusted God, that she trusted God's power. She said in verse number 51, he has showed strength with his army and scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. Who do you think she was thinking of there? Well, I've got a few ideas. Who did God scatter? Who did God destroy when they were in the pride of their heart? There was a guy in the Old Testament named Pharaoh who was told to let my people go, and he said, who is the Lord that I should obey Him? You know what? God had a Red Sea in His future. He had something that was insurmountable to Him in His future, and God brought an end to Pharaoh and the Egyptian army because he was foolish enough to follow the children of Israel into a sea that God had parted and allowed them to walk over on dry ground, but after they were through That water started plunging down and there was no saving them. God scattered them. God's more powerful than any earthly army. Notice what she says in verse 52, He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree. I wonder who she was thinking of there. Who did the Lord put out of their seat and exalt of low degree? Well all she had to go on was the Old Testament. You ever read the book of Esther? Where there was a guy named Haman, and he wanted everybody to worship him, and there was a guy, a Jewish man named Mordecai, and he said, I'm not getting on my knees for this fella. Because I'm not going to worship him." Oh, Haman was so upset, he built gallows and he had intended to hang Mordecai on those gallows. And you know what? Haman got hung from the very own gallows that he was building for somebody else. I wonder if Mary was thinking about that, God's justice. Mordecai was exalted but Haman was brought low. And he also, she also said in verse number 55, as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. Mary trusted the covenant that was given to Abraham. You know the Bible said that in Abraham all, every family of the world would be blessed. And I have openly declared this year, and I'll declare this for the rest of my life, the Bujack family has been blessed by a Jewish man named Jesus Christ. And the Bujacks family has been blessed by the family of Abraham. Thank the Lord for them. Our worship needs to be Biblical, God-centered, the Word-centered and faith-filled. All of this was true of Mary's song in Luke chapter number 1 and verses 46 through 56. You know she spent three months in the house of Elizabeth. probably blessed with those kind of, you know, moments that'll be blessed forever. All of us are going to be experiencing the holidays, and I hope and pray that you get a chance to experience holidays with your family this year, to smile with them and to hug them, to make memories with people, to be filled with joy and laughter and gladness. You know, the story of Jesus was a story of joy. You know, they said, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. You know those angels said that they came bringing goodwill from God the Father, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. God was wanting to do good things for mankind through the birth of Jesus Christ. What Mary teaches us here is that God works through impossible circumstances, He exalts the humble, He keeps His promises, and He deserves wholehearted praise. Are you like Mary today? Maybe you've been too focused on your lack, your poverty, or your problems. Maybe you need to come and bow the knee and say, Lord, I want to praise you like Mary praised you. You've been good to me. You've done great things for me. Say, Pastor, I'm not even sure if I know this Jesus Christ. I want to tell you today, Jesus can save you today. If God could save a lowly maiden in Nazareth, and He did, she called Him her Savior, then He can save you. There's no person here in Fort Worth, Texas or anywhere around the world who Jesus is not willing to forgive and bring into His family if they believe on Him. And Jesus invites all of us to be saved. If you don't know Jesus by way of salvation, or if you don't know what that means, listen, our church stands at the ready to disciple you, to teach you what the Scripture says, to even teach you how to win other people to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we're supposed to be doing! Jesus came as a light, and He wants us to be a light. As for believers, I want to encourage you to follow Mary's example. Believe God's Word and worship God with your whole heart. Magnify the Lord with your life. And if we're ever cold and we ever exhibit lifeless praise, may our souls be like Mary's and set on fire with praise to our God. If that's your soul today, if you're cold, if you're indifferent, if you're not as in love with Jesus as you were last year, or if there's something going on in your life that's taking your focus, won't you turn your focus to the Lord Jesus Christ and let Him have His way in your life today? Let's stand together. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. We're preparing for an invitation. Maybe God's spoken to your heart today. Maybe your life has been like many others. It's busy, it's bustling. There's no time. You're running from place to place. You're trying to prepare your home, your heart, your family for this holiday season. But maybe as you come into the Lord's house today to worship Him, you just want to say, Lord, I remember where I came from. I remember where you've brought me from. Some people need to be thankful for the marriages that God has given them, for the families God's given them, for the finances, for the help He's provided. Think about where He's taken you from and where you started from. Maybe somebody has a knee to bow or a prayer to offer to the Lord as we sing, Lord I'm coming home, won't you come? I've wandered far away from God. Won't you come today? If you're not saved, won't you come and be saved today? Don't wait. Don't put it off. God have His way. The paths of sin too long I've trod. Lord, I'm coming home. Coming home, coming home, never more to roam. Now I'm coming home I now remand with bare hands Lord, I'm coming home. Coming home. Coming home. Never more to roam. Lord, I'm coming home. Verse number three. I've died of sin and strife. Lord, I'm coming home. Coming home. Coming home. Never more to roam. open wide thy arms of love. Lord, I breathe one last verse for thee. My soul is sick, my heart is sore. Coming home, coming home, never more to roam. Home and wide, wide open. And all of God's people said, amen. It's been good to be in the house of the Lord today. A couple of things I want to bring to your attention. Missionaries, Brother Penny and Sister Robin are celebrating an anniversary today. And so if you have an opportunity to send them a card, a signal message, or just email or something to let them know how much you appreciate them, you make sure you do that. They're special to our church. We're looking forward to hopefully seeing them for a period of months next year as they come back for a brief furlough. How many of you are excited to see the Fafuinas again? Make sure you let them know happy anniversary also brother brother Ed several boxes of red delicious apples That are on your way out and he said please take some of those apples if not a box of those apples How many of you like apples? Any any diabetics in the room and you just can't have apples anymore Well there I think we have diabetics and they just don't care But you grab some of those red delicious apples as you're on your way out Also, if you'd please pray for Carol Ann Webster, she was having some heart palpitations in between services And so she's gone to the doctor. She's gone to the hospital brother Allen. I All right, so she went to the emergency room. Pray for her that they'll discover what's causing this, and pray for us throughout the afternoon. Pray for me as I travel, and please be in your place tonight. We have a 4.30 choir practice with the choir. Is that correct, Brother John? 430 please be here for that choir and don't forget church this Wednesday night Benny versin 7 o'clock Come with your family and enjoy some music and don't forget about next Sunday morning Let's fill up this house for the glory of God With our cantata the gospel will be preached in song and in message and I know that your hearts will be blessed All right, brother Tim if you'd come to the pulpit and dismiss the service in prayer Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for allowing us to meet in your house today. Lord, we thank you for your presence. And Lord, we thank you for your son. We thank you for this time of year that we can celebrate your birth. Lord, we thank you for the attendance today. Lord, we thank you for many visitors. Lord, I pray that you'll continue to bring them to us. Lord, I pray that you'll guide them and this will become their home. But Lord, we thank you for them. Lord, we lift up these prayer requests. Lord, be with Carol Ann. Lord, bless the doctors there. Be with the pastor as he travels today. Bless each one as we go our way. Bring us back tonight at the next appointed time. In Jesus' name, amen.