What Is Your Magnificat? First B Jackson 2022-12-18 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Good morning, everybody. How are we doing? Good. We are a full house this morning. Welcome. Welcome to church this morning. A little different. A children's Christmas pageant. So, would you would you stand with me and let's let's worship in song. We'll open with good Christian friends rejoice. Couple of announcements this morning, I think. Monday nights at First Bee. Is it happening, Carl? Yep. Yep. We are on down the hall tomorrow. It's a soup night, and we're gonna just read part of the Christmas story. We're in Luke two, the birth announcement of Jesus to the shepherds. And so please feel free to join us. 06:00. 06:00. Meal music and a message down the hall. We are not having Awana tomorrow night. If you would like to sign up for connect hour, you're welcome to do that. Monday night kitchen volunteers too, you can still do that. Angel Tree, I don't think Tanya is in this room right now with us, but she will be before it's over. If you don't see her and you have questions about the Angel Tree or you are looking for specific tags or something like that, you can call her, (956) 357-3676, and she will answer your questions and help you out with that. She should be here before the close of service today, but if you need to know more information, please let her know. Also, we had asked that the Angel Tree presence be back by the day, but as soon as you can get them in, the better. That helps us with distribution. I'm going to ask the Jackson Hole Men's Alliance, Wednesday, December 14 has already passed, but there's another one coming. What's the last of this? January 4, there's to be another one where the Men's Alliance will have a chance of feeding folks at the Good Samaritan. That's a service opportunity. I'm going to invite Brad, if you would, come forward. Maybe just jump on Ryan's microphone there. How about that? Can we just like real quick, I mean, you've got a few minutes left. If you have one, it will almost shame you to read some of these other ones. Really seriously, like what am I doing up here? That's amazing. Yeah, really good. Benefited them. You know, if if you guys are one of the writers, nod your head. I mean, is this something that has benefited you in your walk with Christ? Yes. So we are looking for more writers. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can take a picture of that with your phone, and it will help you sign up for the Bible reading plan. You'll get God's word delivered into your inbox at 5AM every morning. And I guarantee it'll bless your socks up. Yep. So we're looking for more writers. We're looking for readers. And if there's any other feedback, I'd love to hear it. You can reach out to me at that email address, and we're getting ready for next year's project, which is we're gonna walk through the Old Testament, select parts of it as a church body. So we're gonna do Genesis, Exodus, minor prophets, wisdom literature, and then we're gonna wrap everything up with John. So I think it's gonna be a great plan. I think everybody's gonna benefit from it, and we'd love to have you. Thank you, That's awesome, man. So good. I'm going to invite up the Pfeezers, Andreas and Emily Pfeezers, for our Ed Vet reading this morning. Amen. Thank you, Phaesers. Now, would y'all just pray with me? We're actually this will be kind of the operatory prayer too. God, thank you for this gathered group this morning. We are two services, one local church, Lord, but we are a longing for the unity of the biggest organization or institution that you have set forth, your church. You say the gates of hell will not prevail against it, Lord. May we be crashing those gates with your good news. In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask that you would use this presentation this morning by the kids, that this would bless hearts, Lord, that it would have ripples in the water from this place out to the very uttermost parts. Lord, we ask your blessing on this service, and we ask that you would take everything that is offered to you, Lord, everything that is offered. Our time, our conversations, the meditations of our heart, everything that we do, Lord. I pray that you'd take that, that you'd multiply it to do your good work, that you'd bless it, and then it would be fruitful. You said to your disciples, Lord, that you didn't choose me. I chose you, and I chose you to bear fruit and fruit that will last. So, Lord, we're praying for that fruit that will last all the way into the eternity. In Jesus' name, we ask your blessing on this offering, Lord. Everything that's placed in these plates may be used for the upbuilding of your kingdom. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright. I've always wanted a backup choir. Would you stand and and join us in song? We're gonna sing, oh, come all ye faithful. Sing out. Sing loud. Came for the baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them. Luke two eight through 12. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were terrified. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people today in the town of David. A savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in clothes in line in a manger. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. And there were the shepherds living out in the fields near by, keeping watch over the flocks by night. The good news of Jesus' birth was given first to the shepherds. They lovingly cared for their sheep and protected the ones who trusted them. In the same way, Jesus lovingly cares for us. Isaiah two six through seven. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given. And the government will be on his shoulders, and he'll be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and that we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. Next thing on the program says short message from Ray. A few years back, this church went on a trip to Israel, and we went to this little place called Ein Kerem. And Ein Kerem is a hill country little town. It's beautiful. It's really pretty. Reminds me of area or kind of reminds me of the area I grew up in. When you get there, you come up to several little churches. And in Israel, everything everywhere there's anything mentioned in the Bible about anything, there's a church built on top of it. That's just the way it is. And this one's called the Church Of The Visitation. And these two ladies sculpture these two ladies with their bellies touching each other is to commemorate the visitation of Mary after she's heard the annunciation from the angel that she is going to bear God's son. She runs off down the hill, and she meets up with Elizabeth, her relative, who has also received a kind of a divine visit. Right? And Zechariah is there. Zechariah is John the Baptist's dad, and he's struck mute for this time. But Elizabeth is able to speak, she cries out like, oh, blessed are you. She's so happy when she sees Mary, she says, the baby in my womb leapt for joy at this meeting. You know, just hearing your voice from afar. So Ein Karim is pretty cool. And up on those plaques behind the wall, behind the sculpture right there, there are a bunch of these. I mean, like a bunch of these, hundreds probably. And there's a picture, that's Tanya and Pascal and some of the rest of our group looking at all these things. But if you look up close, that's what it is, is the Magnificat, the Magnificat. We don't spend a whole lot of time in the church calendar, as it were, the liturgical church calendar. And Magnificat might not be something that you're familiar with the term, but Mary's song, that she spontaneously just comes up with this song. It says a lot about Mary. I mean, she's already said, May it be to me just as you have said to the angel. So she yielded herself to be used of God. That's wonderful. But also, when she sees Elizabeth, she can't help it. She just starts praising God again for what's going on. And there's lots of scripture here. I won't point it out. I won't chase every rabbit. But it's pretty cool, and I just want to read it. And then we're going to sing it. Like, after I read it, we'll sing Mary's song. But here it is. It says, and Mary said, this is at their gathering together, Mary said, my soul exalts the Lord. Actually, magnificat is that. It's the first word in the Latin version of this. Says, my soul magnifies. My soul exalts, lifts up, amplifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior. He is the one that I can look to for salvation. For he has had regard for the humble state of his bond servant. He looked on me in my lowly estate. And behold, from now on, all generations will look at this story and they'll call me blessed. She knew that what was happening had eternal significance because of her visit from the angel, because of what was going on. For the mighty one, God Almighty, for the mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name. Wow. The recognition that God is at work in her life is something that it was unique for her, obviously. It was unique for her. But is God still at work? He is. Is he still at work in each individual life? If they are humble, the answer to that is yes because God resists pride, but he gives grace to the humble. And when Mary says he's regarded the humble state of his bond servant, she was not wealthy and she was not well known at the time. As the Christmas story would go on to say, if you keep reading Luke one and Luke two, you'll see a lot of humility in there, Difficult, desperate even situations. But she's recognizing it. The mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name and his mercy. His mercy is from generation to generation toward those who revere or fear him. He has done mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their heart, he has brought down rulers from their thrones, and he has exalted those who are humble. I think this is good to do this on a children's Sunday because there's nothing that blesses like a humble child singing God's praise. It's just wonderful. To think that Mary was just a couple of years older than the oldest one up here, maybe not even a couple of years older, and just had the humility to say, Lord, do as you will in my life. Take my life and use me, Lord, the way that you will. He has filled the hungry with good things, sent the rich away empty handed. He's given help to his servant, Israel. It's it has a little bit of a a national tone there. He has given help to his servant, Israel, in remembrance of his mercy. We've fallen away over and over and over and over again, but God has remembered us. In his mercy, he's remembered us. Just as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever. We mentioned Abraham last week, the week before, and the week before that. Trusting in the physical lineage of Abraham was not the deal. Trusting in the spiritual lineage of Abraham. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. He did as the Lord commanded, just as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever. And that's kind of the close of Mary's song. But I want you to think about this. What is my Magnificat? What is it? I mean, for Mary, it's unique. She's gonna bear God's one and only. Right? Son. But what is what is your Magnificat? What is it that God wants to do in your life? What is it that you might have that he's directing you towards that you're able to say, Lord, may it be to me just as you have said? What is it that you have in your life where you're able to say, God has done great things for me. He's chosen me to do something that's amazing. I think that's my last slide. I'm going invite Carl and the band to come on up. And we're here all together. This is both services here together today, and it's probably going be shorter than either one of the services usually are. Would you hang around? Would you hang around and just encourage one another? If you see somebody you don't know, would you get to know them a little better? As we contemplate Christmas and look towards Christmas Eve next Saturday, we'll have our two services, 04:30 and six And then Christmas Day next week, we'll have a service. It will be one service at ten We had several folks show up at nine this morning and then go get and come back. But we're going to do a 10:00 or next time, two combined service, and we just want to get all of our hearts in the same place at the same time. Praise the Lord. Would you stand with us and sing, My soul, my soul magnifies the Lord. Amen. Now may the Lord bless and keep you, make his face to shine upon you. In this Christmas season, may you experience the peace of God. May that peace that you experience be towards all men. May we be spreaders of this peace of God. In Jesus' name, amen.