And go to Luke chapter 1 and let's look at verse 26 kids go see mrs. Barbosa. There you go Luke chapter 1 verse 6 You have a Bible let's look at the book of Luke Matthew Mark Luke in the New Testament. Let's read a few verses here. It says in verse 26, and in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was, do we pray for the offering today? We didn't pray. I'll pray for you. Let's pray for the offering and we do this. Okay. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the blessing and the privilege we have to give to you a portion of what you have richly blessed us with. Lord, bless the giving. In Jesus name I pray, amen. All right, you may be seated for a second. I know Chrissy is caught off guard, me too. And let's go to the operating, I'm sorry. It's my fault. Yeah, that one just skipped me. Okay. All right, now you can stand. Do the aerobics over here, I am so sorry. That one just skipped me and anyway. Okay, let's look at a passage this morning Luke 1 26 it says and in the sixth month the the angel Gabriel Was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth Now when you read these passages look at what the Bible says the angel Gabriel was sent from God okay to a virgin a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David and a virgin and If you like the underlined in your Bible, if you have a Bible, that would be good for you. Name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Bless art thou among women. And when she saw it, she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what men of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not. You know, this is the word that they use in the Bible, the most is fear not. God tells you and me, fear not. Mary, for thou hast found favor with God, and, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. And he shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and over his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How should this be? See, and I know not a man. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which thou shalt be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she that hath conceived a son in her old age, and this is the six months with her who hath called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. Let's pray heavily father. Thank you lord for this passage of scripture Thank you lord for those words that with you nothing is impossible When we lord that's what we believe in a god that can do the impossible In jesus name. I pray amen. You may be seated So we come to this little series a season a season to celebrate Are we going to do this the christmas season and tonight this morning? I'm, sorry. We come to this one a season to worship listen Okay we put this clear even though our society is so wrong about this okay all right you ready let me give you a little theology over here before we start christmas is not about santa claus even though we like the little guy you know and i put a finger on his belly button you know it's not about santa claus not about reindeers Are you not about candies and mistletoes and all? I mean, the old tradition is all good, all right? If you put everything in the right perspective. Don't take God out of his place. All right? It's all good if you don't take him out of perspective. So Christmas isn't about that. Okay, another thing. Christmas is not about you. Oh, all right. Christmas is not about Santa Claus, not about reindeer. Christmas is not about you, because some people think Christmas is about themselves. Another thing is, okay, you ready? Christmas is not about the family. I don't care what people say. If you want a family reunion, you can make one. But Christmas is not about the family. See, this is the shift of society. because we think Christmas is about this and about this and about this and we need to be careful as Bible believing churches that we don't go with the ways of the world then we forget what Christmas is about. It's a celebration folks. What's the celebration? You don't understand. Jesus was not born in December. So what? Who cares? Oh, you said that? I did. Listen, my birthday is in August. If you come to me and say, Pastor, happy birthday, Am I going to tell you my birthday? I'll probably say, but I want to celebrate today. Why not? So Jesus was born sometime, maybe in the spring, whatever. You know what? We celebrate in December. I love when people just got with these things. You know what? So, again, okay. Christmas is not about Santa Claus and reindeers and Rudolph and all these things, even though it's traditional things, okay, and the music and all that. And, okay, interesting thing. The other day I searched Christmas music. I went to Spotify and I said, I searched Christian, no, what was it? It was Christmas Christian music. And it gave me all kinds of godly music. And I search, I just try it, and I search Christmas music and give me all this worldly stuff. It's amazing how they even separate it. But you know what? Christmas is not about Rudolph, reindeers and all that. Christmas is not about you. Christmas is not about me. Christmas is about Jesus. So He is the reason for the season. So we're celebrating His birth. Thanks be to God, thanks for the song, for His unspeakable gift. In the fullness of time he came to a manger in Bethlehem. See, this is a celebration. Anyway, all these colors and all these... It's all beautiful if we keep in the right mind who we are celebrating. You follow that? Beautiful. I mean, you can have... Listen, if you have somebody... Listen. Okay, let's say... Let's say your birthday was whatever. So we want to celebrate your birthday tomorrow. And we bring all these things for your birthday. We wrong? No. People say, oh, this don't fit in Christmas or what? It's the joy of our hearts causes us to bring all kinds of stuff to celebrate. You can bring balloons, you can bring whatever you want to bring. You follow that? People get hooked up in all kinds of things. It's not about that. Listen, Christmas is a celebration and the main character of Christmas is Jesus. All right. So Christmas is a season to worship. Follow that? Okay. Don't you know that the greatest or the number one privilege we have as Christians is the privilege to worship our Savior? Is it possible I can worship by myself? Yes, you can. What a privilege to worship in a local church with other believers. Even deeper, it is a great privilege to worship God in spirit and in truth. Worship is a wonderful thing and I'm glad that you are here this morning so we're worshiping the Lord together. When the service starts from beginning to end, it's a worship service. I hope your mind is in the right place, your heart is in the right place because when we start, when Christy starts with the music there, that's worship right there. heart might not be in the right place, guess what you're the one who's missing out on worshiping the Lord. It's all about worship you know so for one you can worship by yourself like I said but my friends is a wonderful things when we together make a joyful sound unto our maker to the Lord our God that took a form of a man so he could die on the cross of Calvary for me and you. So never take public worship for granted in your local church, never take. So if I miss a date, no, listen, you should strive to be with God's people and worship God together. You know, in America, we still have the freedom and liberty to do that. Let's pray that we continue to have that because our country is shifting and so is the world. Okay. So are you ready to worship this morning? Now, the weeks leading up to Christmas days are supposed to be full of peace and happiness, but are often the opposite because they are times, for many people, a time of worry and stress, bad memories. I know many people have said to me, I hate Christmas. And I always say, why you hate Christmas? Because this happened, that happened, this happened. You know what? Let's take our mind off that even though, you know, like for an example, December 17 is my mother's birthday. but I'm not going to stress out and get worried about it. She's in the presence of the Lord and just go and worship my Savior. So, you know, I miss my mom, absolutely. We all miss our loved ones. So when we find ourselves too caught up in the materialism of the season, we have to be careful because we lose focus by remembering that Christmas is about God's perfect gift, not about the material things. of this world what do you say so pastor you're telling me that i should not give gifts to anybody i didn't say that if isn't your heart if you have a joyful heart want to give somebody a gift yeah you want to give me a gift i accept it i say thank you i just you know try to make you understand you know as long as we keep focused on what we are doing okay by the way on christmas morning sing happy birthday to jesus I never did that moral start. I mean, you get up Christmas morning, who you celebrating? Jesus. So you know what? St. Mary, you know what? Happy birthday to Jesus. We do it every year. So Christmas, believe me, Christmas is the biggest holiday in the United States responsible for hundreds of billions of dollars spent on decorations, food, and of course the perfect gift for our loved ones. Many people begin their Christmas shopping even before Thanksgiving and take full advantage of the retails, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and all that. Nothing wrong with that. So the weeks leading up to Christmas, they are supposed to be filled with peace and happiness but too often we experience a holiday of worry and stress I'll give you an example yesterday I went did some Christmas shopping for the first time okay I've been trying to do it online but I did my I still like to go to the stores it's something so you know um I did my shopping I'm coming out I saw this two ladies coming in the car up and I stopped and I didn't know what they were too close to me so I stopped and like what in the world they want to do And I know right away, this woman was not happy. She was calling me all kinds of names under the sun. I could read her lips. They were like, this is awful. In the spirit of Christmas, because you know what? I didn't move fast enough because there was no other places to park. She has to park in my spot. So lady, if you don't get too close to me, I can move back so you can move in. I couldn't move anywhere because I was going to hit her. But she didn't see it that way. She was mad. And I was smiling at her. Some people get even worse, more angry when you smile. oh let me tell you this way but you know we have to understand the reason of christ may we don't go on celebrate ourselves and forget that what we celebrate this christ lucas says in isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 for unto us is born and unto us is giving and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be wonderful counselor the mighty god the everlasting father the prince of peace people need to make peace with the prince of peace the truth is this season that that is that jesus came to be the prince of peace for all who believe in him the scripture teaches three promises of peace made available through jesus christ and you can make it this season the first one is peace from god romans chapter 1 verse 7 says to all that be in rome beloved of god called to be saints grace to you and peace from god our father and the lord jesus christ when jesus came he came so we can have we can have peace uh the peace that comes from god secondly we have the peace peace we can make peace with god romans chapter 5 verse 1 says therefore being justified by faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ of course you you got to know jesus christ as your personal savior now you make peace with god so peace from god when jesus came and then he bring the peace of god to earth now we make peace with god through jesus christ and we can experience the peace of god in our hearts philippians chapter 4 verse 7 says and the peace of god which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through christ jesus what a wonderful gift we have received The peace from God came from heaven down in the person of Jesus Christ. We can make peace with God through Jesus Christ and we can experience the peace of God because we have Jesus in our hearts. Wow. So Jesus coming was foretold. by our sovereign God in Luke 1 we see that Mary received a special visit from the angel the mention of of Gabriel name was not random here this was the same angel that who had come to Daniel 550 years before early to give a prophecy concerning the Messiah in Daniel chapter 9 verse 24 to 27 so God brought his son into the world at an exact moment an exact way and the exact time not men's time in God's time people say when is Jesus coming how many people have uh have fallen their faces on their noses put dates when Jesus is gonna come listen here's one thing we know from the scripture Jesus is coming got that don't put a date on it because he's not coming on men's time he's coming in God's time Look what it says in Galatians 4, but when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law. It was in God's time. It was heaven's clock, so to speak. The announcement of Jesus coming was indeed to bring peace to troubled hearts, both in those days and still today. Listen, the problem of our world is not the government. The problem of our world is the wickedness of man's heart. They need to make peace with God. That's what they need to do. So in our last lesson, we consider how Joseph had to come to understand the announcement of Christ's coming. This week or today, we're going to look at Mary a little bit. So if you have an outline, if you want to jot things down, there it goes. Number one, a message of peace. God's message is always a message of peace. And believe it or not, here's the word that you see most in the Bible, fear not. God doesn't want us to be fearful and God over and over throughout the whole Bible is the word that you hear, fear not. Do a word search if you want to, you will find it. So it don't matter what kind of job you have or what career you have. It don't matter where you are in life. It don't matter if you're rich and poor. God's message to every single human heart is a message of peace. God wants to bring peace to troubled hearts. So when I accept Jesus as my Savior and I don't see peace in my heart, whose fault is that? Peace came to the world. We can find peace in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and we can live with the peace of God in our hearts if we trust Him and believe in His Word. In this troubled world, yes, we can do that. See, God's message, is to the troubled human heart. Notice that Gabriel was sent at a specific time to the heart of, to Galilee, to that place, little place, I'm sorry, to a little place there where Mary was. And the first thing he says is, fear not, don't be fearful. God's message, letter A, given in a humble place. We see verse 26 and verse 27. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into the city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin, a spouse of a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. So one might imagine that God could have picked a more impressive, more popular town for the birth of a son, the Messiah. Bethlehem was a small, poor little Jewish village that had no trade routes and it was a little too little economically speaking. It was not of great significance. For one thing, it was a place where shepherds raised sheep. for the for the sacrifices that they made in the temple. It was nothing like Jerusalem which is center or to to the nation and it would have fit a birthplace of a king. But God was not impressed with the magnitude of the city of Jerusalem. In fact God great work of God often starts in small places in people. They have little commitment a level of great commitment for God. Many works, many great works starts with people, little people or people that are not known to society. And God used them in a tremendous way. You know how the Great Awakening started in America? Two men decided to go to church, well actually one, decided to go to church to pray for America. Another one joined them. Before you know it, there were churches crowded with people. The only thing they did, they went to church to pray. God can do the impossible. By the way, Bethlehem means house of bread and it was from the house of bread that the bread of life came, the Lord Jesus Christ. What's the meaning for that? Bethlehem means that God is not looking for accomplishments of mankind, He's looking for people with humble hearts who love Him and believe in Him. He's looking for people to worship Him with broken and contrite hearts. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians 1.26 says, For ye see, your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world and things which are despised had God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught things there are. Verse 29 says that no flesh shall glory in his presence. May we come to the house of God with a humble heart and say, Lord, I come to you today. I come to this place to worship you. God is not looking at status. God is not looking at the quantity of money you have or the house you live, the car you drive. God looks at your heart and my heart and says that's what I'm looking for. The angel looked at a young lady, Mary. Listen, it was a woman in that place in that time in Israel. I'm talking about with status a lot better than Mary. Yeah. Why God looks at a poor young lady didn't have much to offer. See the angel Gabriel went to the city of Galilee named Nazareth to give the news of the Messiah's birth to Mary and Joseph. Those were two genuine, that's why God looks for people, for two genuine pure of heart people who love the Lord. Those two were believers of Jehovah. They love God and they have that in their hearts and God, the Bible says, looks at the heart of man and sees the condition of their hearts. Now let me give you an illustration. One Sunday school teacher asked her class, who do you think has the most important, I'm sorry, who do you think was the most important woman in the Bible? A lot of women in the Bible, right? This young man, Eric, not you Eric, another Eric. raises hands and answer Eve why do you think it was Eve the most important woman in the Bible I mean you can you know think why as the Sunday school teacher listen to this this is what the kid says it's what kids say in Sunday school is really wonderful I said it says because their name has two holidays after her her name has two holidays after her Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve Oh goodness, other things I feel. mary isn't this you know sometimes when a pastor prepares a message comes across saying things like that and you have a few laughs before you put it down but this was a cute one so mary was a necessary the most important woman in the bible but she did play a vital role in our savior's birth and in no area of her life is that role more clearly seen that her holiness and purity Let it be, God's message given to a holy woman. Look at verse 34, then said Mary unto the angel, how should this be? See, and I know not a man. So this woman was an intelligent woman. She knows at that time, she said, how can this be? Being a mother of a savior, I don't know any man. The last week, we also noted that the Holy Spirit emphasized Mary's purity through the scripture to protect the doctrine of the virgin birth. look what it says in Matthew 1 18 now the birth of Jesus was on the wise when his mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph before they came together she was found with with child of the Holy Ghost and let me tell you this here's one thing the virgin birth of Jesus Christ should not put into excuse and she is a doctrine of the Christian faith all right they are Okay, if you don't have a bible that doesn't have the virgin birth of mary was a virgin write it down somewhere there All right, you need because it's important to know because there are many so-called christians out there today that do not believe in the virgin birth of jesus That's a sad thing because it's a basic doctrine of our faith So we have to believe what happened is god. Listen. It was god doing the impossible Because even the angel says what god all things are possible And it's very clear for us to understand the way you know what when God came and what he did and why he did it he came to a virgin it's specifically in the bible that says that So the angel came to the city and this woman which is a godly woman loved the Lord and it was willing to take that message. That was a message that would change the heart of men forever. A message that traveled all the way from a little town in Bethlehem of Judea across the ocean all the way to the United States of America to reach your heart and my heart. A message that calls us to make peace with God. A message that calls us to worship God, the God that we made peace with. A message that changed your heart and my heart. Believe me, I grew up in a religion. I was born into a religion, I have to say. But one day, I met the Jesus of the Bible. I noticed that was not religion anymore. that's a problem a lot of people a lot of people are religious they have a religious jesus in their mind and they don't understand who is the jesus of the bible that's right this jesus this message still going on today it crosses countries and borders and languages and cultures and it reaches you ready your heart and my heart. And that's what makes us change. Think about it. If you never met Jesus, who would you be today? Think about it. If you never met Jesus, who would you be today? How about you online? What would you be today? Probably not in church. You probably didn't have a Bible. So we see number one, a message of peace. Number two, a message with reason for worship. Listen, this was the greatest news that came to the ears of mankind. And Jesus even said several times in the book of Revelation, he that have ears, let him hear. You know our world, you know what happened to our world? Our world doesn't want to hear God's message. Our world wants to just do what they want to do, live they want to, they want to live in the end say oh maybe I take you Jesus, my Jesus, yeah this is my Jesus. You know what Jesus said to everybody, you know what? He that hears let him hear. It's through the ears that the message goes to the heart. People have a problem with Jesus today. You know what? It is a wonderful message. It is a message that calls us to get to our knees and say, I worship you, my Lord. You are my Lord. I will sing to you. I will praise your name. I will get down. You know what? I'll tell others about you. Here's the song. Holy, holy, holy is Lord God almighty. That should stir your heart because it's stirring mine. When Jesus came, There was a reason to worship. The shepherds went there. The Magi went there. They bowed the knee to the Savior. They gave the gifts. Somebody didn't go there. The religious folks didn't go there. They were willing to tell where it was going to happen, but they didn't go there. The world did not go there either. Harry the Great would stay behind. He just want to kill the baby. He's allowing Satan to work through him. A message with a reason for worship. Now, Christmas morning, sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and acknowledge that He is your Savior and He's God Almighty. Because that's the reason for the season. I'll tell you why. I don't believe Mary understood at that moment what was going on because the Bible was being written. But think about this. How often God is working in our lives and we don't understand what's going on, on what He's doing. We simply trust Him. Listen, sometimes you say, Lord, God's going to get you through, and God does. It's amazing, sometimes some of you talk to me and you seem very worried, very concerned and the next Sunday I see you and you go, oh the Lord was so good to me. You know, I rejoice because you know what? That's what God does in our lives. When we open our heart to Him and let Him take the driver's seat, we sit in the passenger's seat. Listen folks, the same goes on to all of our folks. When God lays something in your heart, do you also leave He also leaves that choice with you. Mary that day, when the angel came, had a choice to make. Same choice that Joseph had. Same choice that Mary had when the announcement came. She had a choice to make. Don't you know that this morning you're sitting here, you have a choice to have your mind miles away, and your choice to be listening? So I can help my mind to wander. Yes, you can help your mind to wander. That's what you're doing. I'm not saying you're guilty, but I'm just giving you an example right here. God's desire is for you not to forsake the assembly of ourselves together. That's His desire, but we make that choice. Do I go or do I not go? God's desire is for you to be faithful. To him And you worship and do what he says in his word. God wants you to worship him, but leaves that choice to you So here's what i'm trying to say. This is a this is a season to worship, but you know what? He leaves that choice to you and me Am I come to church to worship or I come to church to be entertained? That's a choice isn't it? God gave us that free will to choose that way Why am I coming to church? Why am I going to God's house? Am I going there to worship my God my savior? Or I go there because I feel good when I'm there You see later here on the second point you see the name of Jesus and behold I shall conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus the angel is specific with the name the child Jesus which means he will save I love the name of Jesus. It tells us who he is. Consider just a few of the characteristics of his name. His name is easy. The Bible gives so many names that even on Wednesday night, if you come here, I have a hard time even saying those names. I say, brother, tell me, how do you say that name? I struggle immensely with it. Some names are very difficult. And we try to Americanize the name, even the way we say it is not the way it is written. You know, it is difficult. You know, you say, we Americanize the name, don't we? But I tell you what, the name of Jesus is very easy to know, very easy to memorize. You know what? The whole world knows about the name. Everybody knows who Jesus is. Everybody heard about Jesus. That's why they say, I don't want your Jesus. They know that Jesus is. But let me tell you, the Bible says, that his name is to be esteemed." Luke says in Philippians 2.9, wherefore God had a highly exalted him. and given him a name which is above every name that in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in heaven and things in the earth and things on the earth and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord for the glory of God the Father so what we do do at Christmas time we don't worship ourselves we don't worship others we worship the Lord Christmas is about Jesus and Him alone. So this celebration is not about you. It's not about me. It's not about family. It's about Jesus. Isn't that great? It's Jesus's birthday. Let's celebrate as is. That's why you have ugly sweaters today, right? Oh, goodness. Jesus' name is endured from Revelation, I mean, Genesis chapter 1 all the way to Revelation 22. Scripture declares that the name of Jesus, which exists in eternity's past, will continue forever. Okay. Why do you come to church? Amen. Why do I come to church? So I can make, you know, look at me, I can talk. I tell you what, if God tells me to sit down tomorrow, I will. Believe me, I don't take no pride being up here. I don't. Actually, when I... My first message, I think Brother Tom, maybe he remembers, I don't know, because you were there. When they opened the East Bay Baptist Church and our home church, the first thing I said, I am so grateful that God can use a servant like me. I'd never exalt myself high, anybody else. I can be sitting in that seat tomorrow and I'll be fine. I will never envy the person that comes up here. Never do, never will. You know why? Because God uses us differently and uses us in different phases of life. We just have to be willing to say, yes Lord, yes Lord, yes Lord. That's what God wants us to do. Now I know, look at me. It's not about me, it's not about you, it's about Him. Look what it says, the way that Jesus describes Himself in Revelation 22, 13 says, I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning of the end, the first and the last. Jesus' name is exclusive of any other name. The name of Jesus is wonderful and more special than any other name because it's only through Jesus that you find salvation. It's only through Jesus that you can get to heaven. It's only through Jesus that you will live with him for eternity in a new heaven and a new earth. It's only through him. Look what it says in Acts chapter 4 verse 12. Neither is there salvation in any other for there's no other name on the heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. You see salvation is like an option. You either reject or you receive. Oh, so I'm not ready for that. You know what you're doing? You're rejecting. When people say to you, I'm not ready to receive Jesus as yet. You know what they're doing? They're rejecting. Jesus' name is exclusive. The name of Jesus is one that we should love, protect, and exalt, and worship. Although we live in a society that threats His name, or treats His name carelessly. It uses His name in foul language. It uses His name in all kinds of profanities. You know why? I love what a brother of mine said one time. He was working in the bank as one of the tailors. And the lady right there, one of the workers, just putting Jesus' name right out, and he looks at her and said, could you please stop calling all these names, ugly names, to my Savior, and my God, and my Jesus? He said, she was speechless. And he said, I thought I was going to lose my job that day, but I was ready to lose it, because I couldn't take it anymore. Sometimes you know what I'm not saying, you know, but sometimes use God's wisdom Use God's wisdom You know, sometimes you don't have to say anything just your presence they say I'm sorry, I'm sorry I have any people that say that to me. Oh, oh, I'm sorry I'm sorry. I didn't know you're here just that respect that your presence is there they need to know that you are a follower of christ they need to know that you worship jesus they need to know that he is your savior they need to know that you live for him you worship him and you serve him and when they see that we don't have to make arguments with people or against anybody just our presence bothers them and when they see you there and they use their They will ask you, I'm sorry. You know why? Because it means something to us. So why Mary should have a reason to worship here? Because of Jesus' perfection, let it be. Mary feared, was calm as she was told more about his gift from God to this world. Luke chapter 1 verse 32 says, And he shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give him a throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob, forever and his kingdom shall be no end. Why do you worship Jesus? Why do you come to church and sing songs to him and praise him in adoration and worship? Why do we witness in his name? Why? Those are great questions and I'm glad you asked them. Mary got it and in Luke chapter 1 verse 46 and 56 we read of Mary's song. She understood the message and you know what she did? She didn't praise herself. She praised God. listen if I'm saying like this oh look at me I'm a pastor I am saved you know what that's arrogance and pride so is every Christian to say oh look at me I'm going to heaven you're going to hell don't be judge of a people it's the grace of God you know and Mary heard the news when she understood you know what she did read Mary's song she give glory to the one who saved her I'm moving a little bit because of our time. Let's go to point number three. We see a message of transformation. First, we see a message of peace when Jesus came, a message with reason for worship. And number three, a message of transformation. Mary said, behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. I remember one time I was struggling. This is what happened. OK, I'm going to be honest with you. I think the Lord was testing me. I didn't know, maybe he was, I don't know. But this one, I approached this man and I said, he was Portuguese like me. And I said to him, he said, I think the Lord is leading me to go to the ministry, even though being a missionary or a pastor. And this is what he said right to me. I would never sit in a church with a person that have an accent. You know what that did? It put a knife in my heart and twist it. They said, oh yeah, God just spoke to me. And for many years I excused myself not to follow that, to even know that I was the Lord who was... You know who told me the truth? Pastor Crichton said to me, don't listen to the naysayers. Don't listen to people. Because God will use you as much as He uses anybody. If God wants to use you, He will use you. and listen to the people, because I told him that, he goes, don't do that. Just follow what the Lord put in your heart. You know what I did? I think we need to all do this because that's what the message of the gospel does, it transforms our hearts. If we don't let the naysayers or the joy killers, you know, there are many joy killers out there, okay? The joy killers to get, when I got on my knees in the altar, And I said, Lord, here am I. Whatever you want to do, I'm willing to go. That was a decision between me and the Lord. And I said to the Lord when I was battling cancer, I said, Lord, if you take this cancer from me, I'm going to serve you however you want me to serve you. I'll be joyful in the seat. I'll be joyful anywhere. I just want to serve you. am I here today in front of you is a message of transformation. How many Christians you know and I know that God has transformed with this powerful message? How many people were doing much wrong out there and they received Jesus Christ and he saw a total transformation in their lives? What happened there? God's message clear their minds and it made peace with God. They know they understood what life is about. That's what it is. When we understand what life is about and what we're doing in this world, we begin to change. Because let me tell you, this history is about God, not about us. May we understand that. It's a message of transformation. When she heard the message, Mary, when she understood, she said, behold, the handmaid of the Lord. I mean, literally, I'm your servant, Lord. Whatever you want to do, I'm willing to do it. You think that was an easy decision for her to do knowing what could happen to her? Remember we look at the Bible right now. The Bible is being written because right there she could say you know what I have no man. I don't want to have a child. I can be stoned to death. She knew the law. A message of transformation. Luke 1 46 says and Mary said my soul do magnify the Lord and verse 47 and my spirit had rejoiced look what it says in God my Savior like all of us at the moment of salvation Mary understood that she was forever transformed by the power of God imagine a poor Jewish young lady that you know version of Israel you know choose by God to do something awesome for the human race I'll tell you what that's all pass but it's not about God can do great things through you or what God can do through me it's always going to do give your heart give your mind give your body to the Lord and see what God can do it's not that God will not do it's like what we don't want to hear what God has to say oh pastor if I do that what's going to happen to me you're going to be a joyful person Oh no way, yes you will. If you give, if you and I, if we give our will to the Lord and say Lord not about me anymore, it's all about you. I guarantee you, you're going to be more joyful than you are. Because that's what God did to Mary. Look what she said. Verse 46, Mary said, My soul do magnify the Lord. She was overwhelmed. She said, My spirit I rejoice. She was full of joy and she was overwhelmed. At the same time, she said, I thank God my Savior. How could God choose me? She consented, letter A, to do God's will. To consent to do God's will. It was not about her anymore, it was about God. William Barclay, once said that the most popular prayer is, thy will be changed by the great prayer on earth. I'm sorry, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That was Mary was saying her words, even though she couldn't comprehend the magnitude of God's plan. She essentially said, Lord, you are at work here. Use me for your honor and for your glory. Let it be we see she consented to God's word Mary choose choice came down to this. She was going to trust the The Lord don't matter what and she did It was hardship Yes, it was struggles Yes, but you know what they did what God wanted to do And they did it listen folks The God of Mary is the same God you and I worship today. You know what He wants? Us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. It's what He wants. You know what? Let me tell you. Listen, worship, when we get together in worship, it's for the audience of one. To God be the glory. So we should look at our hearts and mind. And when we participate in worship, we should say, Lord, is my heart in the right place? Is my mind in the right place? Because look what it says in Jeremiah 29, verse 11. This is a sobering verse, for I know the thoughts that I think towards you, say it the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. I conclude with this. As we close this morning, may we keep in mind that Christmas is a message of peace, a message with reason to worship, a message of transformation. May we not forget that Christmas time is not a time to It's not for family. It's not for you. It's not for me. It's not for Santa Claus and the reindeers and Rudolph. The message of Christmas is a message of peace from God. And it's for you and me as a celebration. We celebrate Christmas. But let me tell you this way, and I'm going to blow your mind right now. Let's celebrate Christmas in a godly way. Drunkenness don't fit in Christmas. I don't want to hurt your feelings. But at the manger scene, there was no alcohol. Even the Magi didn't bring nothing of that. Why I'm saying this? Because as I speak right now, there's people with hangovers from last night. As I speak right now, there is all kinds of celebrations being done in the name of Jesus. And people get drunk as skunks. And they say, oh, it's Christmas time. Let's celebrate. That does not glorify God at all. That's not the reason for the season. That's not the reason for the season. Friday night, I went with my wife out. We had just a bite to eat. And that's exactly the restaurant that I walk in. It was packed to the door with parties, Christmas parties. I don't know if it was a Christmas party. But the main course, it was heavy. And some people were very happy there. Some people were stumbling on top of others already, all in the name of Christmas. May we Christians don't go that route. May we understand Christmas about Him. We worship Him. We celebrating His birthday. Let's celebrate in a biblical way. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for Bethlehem. Thank you, Lord, for your birth. Thank you, Lord, for salvation. Lord, we are all grateful here for the wonderful gifts of salvation. Lord, as Paul says, thanks be to God for this unspeakable gift. Lord, we don't have human words to describe how grateful we are. And Lord, we're not perfect, far from that. But help us this Christmas season to celebrate you, not us, not others. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. If you could stand please, we're gonna have a song of invitation this morning. I think very appropriate for our message this morning. Page 294, Just As I Am. 294. God wants you just the way you are. That's how he's going to transform you. amidst me come to thee. Don't believe me, I didn't mean to be. If I was hard and harsh, please forgive me. That was not the meaning of my heart. I just wanted you this morning to have a concept and understanding what we celebrate in this Christmas. Because this is what the world is about. Me, me, me, me, me. I deserve, I deserve. Another thing is, here's one thing many people go, oh Christmas is about the family, about the family. It's not about the family. Family is wonderful, but it's not about the family. Christmas is about God. He, Jesus is the reason for the season. We celebrating his birthday, we celebrating him the prince of peace. We don't forget that. So this Christmas right, go through all your traditions and stuff nothing wrong with that but don't forget Jesus. Include him in you and everything that you do. All right. One more verse would be this and we'd be dismissed. Just as I am in waiting not To rid my soul of one dark blood To thee whose blood can cleanse Just a reminder before we be dismissed Wednesday night we will meet at Madeira's restaurant all right, so if you put your name on the Closet door if you didn't do it. Please do it so we can have a count how many people be there. Please do that Before I forget okay Saturday is the man's Breakfast I hope you can meet us there 8 30 in the morning okay, and The one I mentioned today, we're gonna do some caroling on December, I'm sorry, yeah, December 23rd, this is a Monday night. If you could be here by six o'clock, that'd be good. We're not leaving, we'll wait for you. If you say you're gonna be here, we'll wait for you, okay? We just wanna go sing some Christmas carols or some shout-ins of our church that we want to visit them, all right? If you wanna bring some cookies with you, that would be great, okay? and that would be good I mean because I need to know how many of you if you come see me and tell me so we see how much transportation we need all right for right now I have a seven passenger car maybe we need more than one I don't know if you something in your heart you want to do let me know as soon as possible okay with that said let's pray it would be dismissed Heavenly Father thank you Lord so much for this morning thank you for your many blessings thank you thank you for your for the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. May we celebrate you this Christmas season, Lord, not celebrate ourselves. And I pray for, go with us, help us to be a blessing to someone this afternoon. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.