Appreciate that. If you have your Bibles, open up to Luke chapter number one, Luke chapter number one. And I, I, uh, actually I had this thought of, of my message, uh, before I did my Sunday school lesson. And if you're, if you were in a Sunday school class other than mine, you're like, what's he talking about? And my, my adult Sunday school class, we're teaching on the, the life of Mary. And really I did not totally write out my message per se, but I had this thought before I ever wrote our Sunday school lesson. So it's gonna seem like while we're in the same passage, but don't worry, we're gonna cover some different angles and different material really. And we're gonna look at this in a little bit of a different light, but I wanna preach on the topic this morning of favor with God, favor with God. And let me just say this, because as I was pondering this thought and as I was studying this text and looking at this verse and really considering all of it, oftentimes in the word of God, there's two truths that are very clearly presented. And many of many times those truths are are like a coin. And I was going to bring a coin and I'm like a millennial and I don't have any cash or coins on me. But I thought, man, some of these kids have never even seen a coin. They don't even know what a coin looks like. You know, we've moved all currents, all digital cash, and they don't know what it is to hold a quarter in your pocket in case you need to make a phone call. And they might know a quarter from Aldi's, if their mom goes to Aldi's. They might know a quarter for that. But if you look at a coin, A coin has one side and the image on the one side is totally different than the other side. And we often call one side heads and one side tails. And back before we had computers and everything else, we used to flip a coin to decide what team would go first. Or if you had nothing else to do, you just sit there and flip a coin and catch it and all that. I mean, that's what you used to do. But there's two images on that coin. And sometimes you look at them and you're like, man, they're very distinctly different. And in the Bible, there are two truths that are often presented. That is one side of the coin and then the other side of the coin. And they are very distinct. but yet there's only one coin. And so those trues reconcile with each other. And sometimes it's difficult to find exactly how they reconcile other than the fact that they're both in the word of God and they're both very true. And so sometimes it's hard to look at both sides of that coin and really define that. And this morning, as we think about the idea of finding favor with God. I want us to understand that this is one side of the coin because there's certainly another side of the coin and that is this that is very, very true. God loves you. There's no doubt about that. And there's no way to get away from that very, very, very clear truth, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So God loves the world. The Bible says it this way in Romans 5a, but God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So there's no doubt about it. And don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Well, God doesn't love everybody. No, God does love the world. Let me just throw that out there because we have such a skewed concept of love today that love is not approval of sin. Understand that as well. But God does love the world. He cares about the world. He came and died on the cross of Calvary out of a great compassion and love for the world. But there's this other side of the coin that I want to look at this morning, and it's very clear and evident in the Word of God, and it is finding favor with God. And so don't misunderstand, well, God doesn't love those people. No, that's not true. God does love the lost and dying world. But then there is this idea of finding favor with God. Look with me in Luke chapter number 1 and verse number 28. And we find a very clear text where an angel, Gabriel, is coming and he's visiting Mary. And the Bible says there in verse number 28, And the angel came in unto her and said, Thou art highly favored. Notice this phrase, The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. Thou hast found favor with God. And so we're going to look at this idea of finding favor with God. Let's have a word of prayer before we get into the message this morning. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the fact that we can study it. God, I pray that you would use me this morning. I pray, Father, that you would help us to understand finding favor, God, and living within what you have given us, and I pray, Father, that you would speak to each and every heart, and Father, we'll thank you for that, and God, we'll be careful to give you the honor and glory for all that's said and done. In Jesus' precious name, I pray, amen. As I looked up and was studying this idea of finding favor with God, there's two other people that found favor with God. And one is, of course, in Luke chapter 2 and verse 52, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Now, for all of our friends, I'm very glad that God didn't just leave it, that Mary found favor with God, and that Jesus found favor with God, but there's another one that found favor with God, and that's Samuel. The Bible says in the Old Testament, in the book of 1 Samuel, chapter two and verse number 26, and the child Samuel grew and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men. And so we have three people in the Bible that found favor. One is Mary, we find Samuel in the Old Testament, and then of course Jesus, that we would expect would find favor with God. And listen, if it was just Jesus, then perhaps it would be a bar too high for us to attain. Because Jesus, undoubtedly, and very clearly within Scripture, He is God. But we find that there are other people. There's a man, Samuel, and there's a woman, Mary, and both of those, the Bible tells us, that they found favor with the Lord. And so I want to think about that idea of finding favor with God. What does it take to find favor with God? The Sunday school lesson this morning, I'll not repeat it because I don't have the outline in front of me, but Mary's life, the text doesn't really give us a strong indication of what it takes to obtain favor from God. But as I was looking up that idea and that word favor throughout scripture, I did come across the scripture that was very clear and will help us understand what it takes to find favor with God. Because as a Christian, as somebody that's born again and somebody that's sitting in church this morning, I would be under the assumption that you desire to be in favor with God. Be in good standing and we're talking about going just a little beyond love. God loves you. He will always love you There's go Romans chapter number 8 verse 38 You can find it that there's nothing that is going to separate us from the love of God It's Bibles very clear about that, but we're talking about having favor I'll be very, very careful here unless we meddle, but if you have more than one child, you love all of your children. In my house, it's commonly reported, errantly, I would add, that I have a favorite child. And it's errant, I would tell you that. Just to reiterate, I love all my children. But there is some truth that, listen, sometimes one child, one day, is in better graces with their parents than another day. There's no doubt about that. We have a running joke in our house about the favorite son-in-law. And that changes. That list goes up and down. There's only two. And so it's either Abe or it's Preston. And depending on how things go, if they bring ice cream, then that one gets to be the favorite. And if they don't bring ice cream, they don't get to be the favorite. You know, things like that. I don't know. I just know it changes. But that's the idea of finding favor. It's not that one is not loved because they both are loved and we love all of our children. But it's that idea of being in that position of finding God's favor. And we ought to desire to have God's favor. So go with me to Proverbs chapter number three, and I want you to see this in the Word of God. Matter of fact, as I looked up the word favor throughout the scripture, the majority of the times that you find favor, it was talking about finding favor with somebody else. If the king shows me favor, then I'll get this done. If the enemy, if I'm going to him and he shows me favor and mercy, then we'll be okay. And that's the whole idea of favor throughout the Old Testament. But when you get to the book of Proverbs, it tells us over and over and over again how to obtain God's favor. And it's very repetitive. As a matter of fact, it goes on in chapter number 8. And you can find several verses throughout the entirety of the book of Proverbs that talk about favor. But in Proverbs chapter number 3, and look with me in verse number 1. I want us to see this text as we think about Mary finding favor. The Bible says in Proverbs 3, in verse number 1, he says, My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments. For length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck. Write them upon the table of thine heart. Notice verse number four. So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. And we find here our answer to how is it that we can obtain God's favor. And so we find that Mary obtained God's favor. We know that Samuel obtained God's favor. We know that Jesus Christ obtained God's favor. But how can we obtain God's favor? Well, the answer lies right here in our text. Notice there in verse number one, he says, my son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments. And I want you to notice, number one, that you need to know the word of God. You cannot forget something that you did not know. It's not possible. You just say, I didn't know that. But on the other hand, if you knew something and you forgot it, then you have allowed it to slip from your mind. But you have to know it to begin with. And listen, knowing the Word of God becomes important. The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number 15, talking about Timothy, and that thou from a child, thou hast known the Holy Scriptures. which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Hey listen, young people, I tell you what, I have a real advantage and I'm not bragging on me. I'm telling you what, my parents were faithful to take me to church. And I can't imagine, I don't even know a time that I didn't know there was a God. I'm talking about in the nursery and the little speaker that plays in there. I'm talking about from the time that I did not even know how to utter a word. I've heard about God, I've heard about Jesus Christ, I've heard about the Scriptures, and the Word of God has been given to me over and over and over in the Sunday school classes, all the way from the primary, from the nursery to the primary, to the juniors, to all of the classes, all the way up. Hey, the Word of God has been given to me. You know what? I thank God for that. No, it wasn't a grievance for me to set them teachers. They made me memorize the word of God. Well, if you're bitter about that, let me tell you something. You got a worse problem than those teachers, because the word of God is a blessing to us. The word of God is a help to us. And as a child, listen, what a great opportunity. Let me just encourage you with families and young people, hey, make sure your children are learning the Word of God. There's no greater place. Get them in church because the school's not going to teach them about God. And if it does, it probably will be a skewed version of God. Hey, the workplace, you know this, they're not gonna teach you about God. But listen, the church house, we're gonna strive to teach the Word of God. Hey, open the Bible in your house and read the Word of God. Paul was admonishing Timothy, he said, man, you're blessed because that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. And what a blessing that you could take the Word of God and you can know it even from a child all the way up. And he's admonishing them to teach the young children, hey, we need to know the word of God. Listen, maybe you didn't know the word of God when you were younger. Maybe you didn't have the privilege of growing up in a Christian home or growing up in church. That's okay, because the Bible gives us this. He says in 2 Timothy 2, 15, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Hey, maybe you got a late start, but listen, You can always open the Word of God and start studying and find that, hey, there are great truths in the Word of God. What I'm saying is you must know the Word of God before you can ever forget it. And you've got to invest time in learning the Word of God. You have to know what it says. Not only that, but listen, that we are to teach, the Bible says in Second Timothy again, It says, Boy, Paul was awful bent on teaching the Word of God. Why? Because we need to know the Word of God. You're not going to learn it in the world. You're not going to learn it at work. You're not going to learn it throughout the week, by and large, unless you take time out of your schedule to read and study the Word of God. Unless you take time to come to church and, hey, here we're going to strive to preach the Word of God. Why is it we spend so much time? We have about 15 minutes of songs. And listen, those are important. What are we doing? We're praising God. But you know what, for the next 30, 40 minutes, you know what we do? The Word of God, why? Because you have to know the Word of God. This is important. And listen, we need to know the Word of God. Take time to read it and to memorize it. The Bible says in Psalm 119, in verse number 11, thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against God. I've said this before and I'll say it again that it's not in this Bible. I had to put it in this Bible because I've said that several times. But in my other Bible back at home that my parents gave me, it says this in the very front cover and those white pages. My parents wrote down that this book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book. That's true. Listen, we have to stay in the Word of God, because the Word of God will keep us pure. The Bible says in Psalms 1, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in His law doth He meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth His fruit and His season. And I'm just saying that, listen, you ought to spend time in the Word of God. Meditate upon the Word of God. We have our Bible reading schedules. Mine's probably up front there somewhere. But our Bible reading schedules. Why? We encourage you to get in the Word of God. Why? Because you need to know the Word of God. Not only that, but you can know the Word of God. Oh, pastor, some of that's some hard reading. Some of it is. Some of it's just enjoyable. I'll be honest with you. I love reading through the story books of the Old Testament. Even Genesis is really good. Exodus really good. Some laws in there, yeah. But there's some story portions in there. You get there to 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, 1 Kings, 2 Kings. And man, I just, I love those portions. I already know what's gonna happen next, but I wanna see what's gonna happen next. Because, man, there's great examples in there. And then the wisdom of Proverbs and Psalms and Ecclesiastes and all of those books that are there. And then the prophecies of the latter part of the Old Testament and God's prophecy. And you see God's involvement, His mercy and His concern for His people to do what is right. And I'm just telling you that you need to spend time in the Word of God so that you know the Word of God. I can assure you of this, Mary was favored. Why? Because she spent time in the Word of God. She knew. How do you know that? Well, it says right there in verse number one of Proverbs 3, my son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments. Verse number four, so shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. She's not going to find favor if she doesn't know the Word of God. And I'm just telling you, you need to know the Word of God if you're going to find favor with God. Not only do you need to know the Word of God, but listen, the Bible says there in verse number one, my son, forget not my law, but notice this, but let thine heart keep my commandment. Not only do we need number one, need to know the word of God. Number two, you need to keep or obey the word of God. What good is it if you know the word of God, but you don't obey it? We, uh, brother Preston and I, we go to a place where addicts kind of are recovering. And we teach there every week and we're trying to give them the word of God. And it's amazing. One thing that amazes me as we stand up there and we open the word of God and we teach the word of God and you start reading a verse and they know the gist of it. Wait a minute, what's the difference between them and us? Well, I'm not trying to be unkind, but one person obeyed the word of God and one person did not obey the word of God. And I'm just telling you this, having a knowledge of the Word of God is not going to help you if you do not obey the Word of God. I've been in prisons, not for anything I've done, I've gone in to preach. I've been in prisons and I preach and it's the same thing. You open up the Word of God and you tell them these things and you know what? Before you can even finish the verse, they'll finish the verse for you because they know the Word of God. But they don't obey the Word of God. And there's a difference between knowing the Word of God and obeying the Word of God. And the Bible makes it very clear. He says in the second part of verse number one, he says, but let thine heart keep my commandments. In other words, obey the Word of God. Listen, we can apply that to salvation and trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior or knowing that He died. I've heard it been said before. A church goer, I'll say it that way, has a head knowledge of God, but not a heart knowledge of God. In other words, they could tell you a lot of facts and figures about Jesus Christ, but they don't have a heart knowledge. They've never put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And I've heard it said before, and it's a sad thing. It would be the saddest thing in the world that you miss heaven by 18 inches, 18 inches, the average height from here to here. And you say you know all about God, but you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior. Hey, don't miss Heaven by 18 inches. Know that you've put your faith and your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Hey, we're looking at this idea of being in favor with God. That means that we're saved. That means that we're Christians. And listen, the reality is that we have to keep God's commandments. Let me just give you a couple simple commandments that are very clear in the word of God. Number one is attend church. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter number 10 and verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And notice the last phrase in this verse, it says, and so much more, the more as you see the day approaching. Hey, listen, don't miss church. I'm just telling you, make church a priority in your family. I've said it and I'll say it again. I'm thankful for my mom and dad that we went to church. Man, we were there every Sunday morning, every Sunday night. Oh, preacher, you went back Sunday night? Every Sunday night. There was no question in my house whether or not we were going to church. The question was, what time are we leaving? That was the question. There was no question, are we leaving? Oh, we're leaving. What time? Wednesday night, we were there. If there was missions conference, where back in those days, we had church from Sunday to Sunday, sometimes for missions conferences, for revival services. There was no question whether or not my family was going to be there. Well, mom, I got sports practice. She said, then you better get home. And when you get home, you better change your clothes. I'll bring you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and you can eat in the car on the way to church because we're going to church. There was no question about whether we would be in church. Why? Because the Bible is very clear that we are to be in our place. And listen, I would tell you this morning that I can assure you that Mary was faithful going to the synagogue and listening to the Word of God. You're not going to find favor if you're not walking with God. and she was walking with God. There's no doubt about it. You look and you'll go back and you'll find that the Bible two times says that she found favor with God and that she was highly favored of God. Hey listen, it's a simple command and yet for some it's so difficult to obey, not only attending church but listen, giving an offering. The Bible says in Malachi 3.10, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, and there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I'm grateful for our church, I am. I'm not preaching on this because we're lacking. No, our church has been faithful in giving and I thank God for that. Really, our church people have. But I'm just telling you what the Word of God says, because we have to tell the whole council of God that, listen, we ought to be giving. Giving people, oh, that's an Old Testament concept. No, it's a New Testament concept, too. The Bible says on Sunday to bring your gifts to the Lord, and Corinthians, the Bible says, for God loveth a cheerful giver. Well, I gotta give my offering, because the Lord said, you might as well keep it. God wants you to be a cheerful giver. not a begrudging giver. We used to sing that song, it's a scripture song in Spanish, and I don't know it in English, I just know it in Spanish, but every time we'd take up the offering, it was basically that scripture song that God loveth a cheerful giver. Man, I loved singing that song, and giving our offering to the Lord, and saying, God loveth a cheerful giver. Hey, listen, if you cannot do something as simple as attend church and give an offering, You might wanna check up, maybe you don't have favor with God. I'm not saying God doesn't love you, because He does. I'm saying that maybe you're missing out on some of God's blessings, because you're just not in favor with God like you ought to be. We find simple commands, attend church, give an offering, witness. The Bible says in Matthew chapter five and verse number 14, We are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Listen, I have no doubt that Mary was faithful going to synagogue. I have no doubt that Mary loved the word of God and she'd spend time in the word of God. I have no doubt that Mary would take offerings. Oh, she may have been a commoner as we discussed in the adult Sunday school class. She may not have had much, but she had no problem giving an offering and being faithful to God and reading the Word of God and being a witness and talking to other people about God and her faith. And it was not just a walk for her, it was not just rather a talk for her, but it was a walk for her. And when she talked about the Lord, listen, people knew it was real. And it wasn't a question of, well, she's just talking. She says a lot of stuff, but she doesn't do a lot of stuff. No, she was faithful. And that's why she found favor, because the Bible says, my son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments. I have no doubt in my mind that Mary would have read that passage and would have known, hey, the word of God is important to know. The word of God is important to keep. and obey. And I have no doubt in my mind that she would have obeyed the scripture because she found favor with God. Not just should we know the word of God, not just should we obey the word of God or keep the word of God. But I want you to notice as well. The Bible says, my son, forget not my law. And I put down there Keep again, but this keep is not obey, but keep it in front of you. Maintain the word of God as the main thing. It's easy to get distracted in our life. It seems like Christmas time is probably the easiest time to get distracted with the busyness of life. And I'm just telling you that we need to keep God in front of us. I have no doubt again that Mary knew the Word of God and she didn't want to get distracted. And listen, many young people, they grow up and they get distracted. They hit their teenage years and just right after teenage years, somewhere between teenager to about 20 or 30 years old when they get married, they kind of get out of church and wander in the world and they get lost. And listen, I'm just saying that that was not the case with Mary. Well, how do you know? Because God said she found favor with the Lord. God chose her before she ever got married to use her in a mighty way. And I'm just saying, listen, you have to keep God in the forefront of your life. There's a lot of things that would desire to knock you off course. There's a lot and they're not sinful. They're not wrong. Oh, listen, I, I, I enjoy deer hunting. I enjoy going out in the woods. You say, Pastor, kill a deer? Well, you eat cow and chicken, so it's all right. God said we could. We eat all the animals. That's all right. Well, not all of them. I clarify that. But we eat animals. And you know what? Man, I have this little app and it tells you, it shows you, it's dumb. I don't even know if I trust it to be honest with you. Monday I went out deer hunting and I opened it up and it said likelihood of deer movement and it showed one deer. I can assure you that that was correct. There was like no deer moving on Monday. Not in my neck of the woods. Yesterday I was busy and I thought, well, I'm just gonna open it up. And I opened it up and it showed four deer all the way across the store. I'm like, I don't have time today. And I can only, I can't look back and I can only look one day ahead because I'm a cheapskate and I didn't buy the app. So I pushed the next day, Sunday, five deer. And I purposely didn't tell any of my Christian deer hunting friends, because I didn't want them to have the temptation that I had. Deer hunting's not wrong, but if it's pushing God out of your life, it is wrong. Hey, sports, playing basketball, playing football, playing soccer, playing, you name it, it's not a wrong thing to play sports, but if it pushes God out of your life, it is a wrong thing. If it becomes more important than church and God and the Bible, then there's a problem. And we need to be careful. And I'm just saying that, listen, he said, forget not my law. In other words, we were reminded of God's law. We have to know God's law. We have to keep or obey God's law. But then listen, there's something to be said. with faithfulness and faithfulness and faithfulness year after year after year of being faithful to God and not getting sidetracked by hunting, not getting sidetracked by fishing, not getting sidetracked by sports, not getting sidetracked by social issues, not being sidetracked by family, not being sidetracked by everything else, but staying faithful to God and saying, hey, I'm gonna be faithful, and I'm gonna keep, I'm not going to forget the law of God. I'm not gonna forget to obey the law of God. I'm gonna go forward and do what God would have me to do, and I'm gonna be faithful. There's something to that faithfulness, because in Matthew 25, in verse number 21, Jesus said this. He was giving a parable, and he says, his Lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hath been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. And I'm just telling you that faithfulness to giving, faithfulness to church, faithfulness to reading your Bible, faithfulness to the basic fundamentals of Christianity are the foundation with which your house is built upon. And the higher and larger your building, then the deeper your foundation has to go. And you need to be faithful to God. Wow! Attending church, giving offering, witnessing, reading your Bible, all of the basics of Christianity, just being faithful. The Bible says that Mary had favor with God. You know why she had favor? I think she was faithful. Bible says right there in Proverbs 3, my son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments. For length of days and long life and peace shall they add unto thee. Boy, that's a blessing we haven't even got to. That's a blessing of being a saved Christian, following God. He goes on, let not mercy and truth forsake thee, bind them about thy neck, write them upon the tables of thy heart. And notice what he says, so shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. I'm telling you, you wanna find favor, it's right there. It's simple. It's not that hard. You just, as he says, know the word of God. Not only know the word of God, but obey the word of God. Keep his commandments. It's not enough. I've given the illustration over and over. You go to the doctors. And the doctor says, this is what's wrong with you. You have this sickness, and he gives you this medicine. He says, hey, you take that medicine, and he gives you a prescription. You run down to the pharmacist, and you fill that out, that subscription, and you get that prescription, not subscription, and you bring that thing back, and you have that thing of pills, and you put it in your pocket, and you carry it around with you. It's not gonna help you. So you open it up, and you take. what they've told you to do. You'd carry that around with you every day for the rest of your life. It's not gonna help you carrying it around. It has to get in you. Listen, the word of God has to get in you. You have to obey it. It has to be part of your heart. I love the way it's worded in verse number one. It says, but let thine heart keep my commandments. He said in the New Testament, he said, for my commandments are not grievous to you. In other words, they're not painful for you to fulfill. Listen, if it's hard for you to fulfill the commandments of God, maybe you need to go back and check up with God. Maybe some things aren't right. Maybe there's some things you need to clear up with God. Maybe you just need to get the air clear and get back on track and follow God. I'm telling you this, Mary knew the word of God because she found favor with God. Mary obeyed the word of God because she found favor with God. Mary was faithful. She did not forget the things of God. She kept them faithfully. Lastly, we'll not spend any time here, but he says in verse number three, let not mercy and truth forsake thee. I just have two comments. One truth, many people I've learned this over the years, many people are not honest with themselves about their own life. We preach that at Bridge to Recovery on a regular basis. People lie to themselves, I'm doing a lot better than I think I am. But they don't say that, they say, I'm doing great, I'm getting better. And they lie to themselves. And they're convinced to themselves, I'm okay, when they're really not. And I'm telling you, you need to be honest with yourself. He says, let not mercy and truth forsake thee. The second thing is mercy. Be merciful to others. People will hurt you. People will offend you. People sometimes will even purposefully do so. But you know what? Be merciful to other people. Why? Because God showed us great mercy and we have a great responsibility to reciprocate that, show that mercy to other people. Peter came to Jesus. And he was asking Jesus, he said this, he said, then came Peter unto him, in Matthew 18, 21 and 22, you can note it down, Matthew 18, 21, 22. Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how off shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times, Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until 70 times seven. mercy, being merciful to those. I was thinking about that. And I thought, boy, Joseph showed mercy to his brothers, not Mary's Joseph, Joseph in the Old Testament. Remember his brothers that sold him into slavery? He was lost in Egypt, but God was with him that whole time. And God brought him up to the king of Egypt, the second in command, and his brothers come back. And you know what he did? He was merciful unto them. Oh, he razzed him a little bit. You go back and read it, it's a great story. But he was merciful unto them and he showed them mercy. And let us never think that we're better than anybody else because we find favor with God. Hey, Mary, I don't think thought herself better than anybody else. You go back and you read it, it seems like she lived pretty much a normal life. and that all of her family or all of her neighbors rather and all the people that lived in Nazareth just thought there's Mary and Joseph and Jesus and Josie and Simon and Judah and the sisters and they're just a family. And they were actually shocked that Jesus was a Messiah. She didn't think herself better than somebody else because God had showed her favor. She lived a normal life. as much as we can tell. And I'm just telling you, the Bible says, show mercy and truth. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee. I think Mary knew the Word of God. I think she kept the Word of God in obedience. I think she kept the Word of God as in did not get distracted or stray from the Word of God. And then I think she knew mercy and truth because I know this, that the Bible says she found favor. of God. Listen, you can have favor, too. It's written right here in the Word of God as we stand to our feet with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. Father, we thank you for your word. And God, what a great truth that Mary found favor with you. Samuel found favor with you. And God, it is possible as a Christian living in 2024 to find favor with you. And again, God, not that we could brag, not that we could be high-minded or heady or arrogant, but God, just to be pleasing to you would be our heart's desire. I pray, God, that you would help us to know your word. I pray that you would help us to keep as in obey your word. I pray that you would help us to keep as in be faithful to your word. God, I pray that you would help us to be merciful and truthful. God, I pray that you would speak to hearts as only you can. God, I pray that we would desire to find favor with you. God, I ask all these things in Jesus' precious name, I pray. Amen. As our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed.