Welcome And Luke Chapter One Focus

SPEAKER_02 0:12

What's up, Lifehouse family? Welcome back to the Life Talk Podcast. Continuing to get into January of 2026. The year is getting away from us a few weeks in, and uh, but we are excited to be taking you through Luke this year.

SPEAKER_04 0:30

And man, it's uh we're gonna finish chapter one today, but uh before we get there, joined by uh another trio, uh the same trio who's been journeying so far. Excited to have Jonathan, Jeremy, and Mitch with me again today. They haven't abandoned ship, you know. Good to have you guys back.

SPEAKER_03 0:49

You know, haven't seen you in a while, but everything good, you know, New Year's off to a good start, and all your resolutions are still in line. I think some of them may have dropped off already. Already?

SPEAKER_04 0:59

Yeah, yeah. Hey, we're only, you know, a couple weeks in, but that's what they said, right? Average of like 10 days is the the normal New Year's resolution.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

But hopefully, Life Talk Family, you're journeying with us.

SPEAKER_04 1:10

Make a resolution to uh just keep going as we get into Luke. And so today, if you've been with us, uh, we really did kind of a preface of what Luke was all about. And last week Jeremy took us through the birth of John the Baptist, a whole lot we could learn from Zachariah and his response. But uh today we really want to get into the remainder of chapter one. We'll be in verses 26 through 58. For those we were last time, I messed this up and Jeremy had to correct me. So am I good?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

I think you're good.

Framing Prophecy From Malachi To Luke

SPEAKER_04 1:43

All right, quality check on the air. But uh, but really we're getting into today the prophecy of the birth of Christ, which we know stretches back thousands of years, but Luke is really bringing it home to us in terms of hey, this is about to really happen. God is really working, it is coming to that time. So, Jonathan, take us through what we got here in terms of the angel coming to Mary, her response, man, so much we can really see in this portion of scripture.

Gabriel’s Announcement To Mary

Comparing Mary And Zechariah’s Responses

SPEAKER_05 2:12

Absolutely. Well, gotta uh it's kind of interesting because uh I always love how God in his word, you know, the when you read it, it's just how it fits together. I think some of it isn't isn't just always the word, but it's also you know what is said and when it's said and the pieces, and and it's unique in this uh section here is that uh if you know, like last week you guys uh or Jeremy when he was leading us through, we actually skipped over this section. And that was intentional because it was, you know, kind of uh when we look at John the Baptist, he was um that bookends, but really it's it's also the the image of a temple of the temple where we had Zacchaeus, uh Gabriel came to Zeke uh excuse me, Zachariah, and um, and then you have the circumcision of John, uh, which would have happened at the temple. And and that is the bookend for what is now uh bringing together the prophecy like you're you were alluding to there with um you know Jesus and uh and specifically with Gabriel coming to Mary. Um but before we get into that real quick, I just also kind of want to just uh quickly review uh last week too. One of the cool things I think Mitch brought up, or I guess yeah, it was last week, with uh uh just the end of the Old Testament in Malachi. And just uh if you go to Malachi 4, uh basically verses five and six, it says, Behold, I will send to you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, least I come and strike the land with the decree of utter destruction. And then basically, break, we've got a bunch of time, and now we're basically where we hear God and and ultimately to some level when we talk prophecy, uh, you know, prophecy um is is ultimately it's it's a message of God. It's a message being brought, and the prophet is who who that message comes through, and we have it recorded here in Scripture. And so um Luke in this in this gospel, uh basically in section one that you know Jeremy went over with John John the Baptizer, like that was that is the messenger, that is who is alluding to, like that should be the first sign that that people realized and picked out, and and you know, the the the as they're eagerly anticipating that the Messiah would come is who they're looking to. And so uh what we're gonna look at now uh is is just uh as it um basically comes to uh Mary and the play and the role she had and who she was and is. So in uh if we start there in uh verse uh twenty six, it says, In the sixth month the angel Gabriel is sent from God to a city in Galilee named Nazareth, so a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary, and he came to her and said, Greetings, a favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the same, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. And then we see Mary's response, and she asks, How will this be since I am a virgin, which is which I will talk more about, and is an important uh aspect of this. And then uh and then but the angel answers her and says, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you, therefore the child will be born, will be called holy, the son of God, and behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren, for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, Behold, I am your servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. And the angel of the Lord departed from her. So here we got a pretty amazing uh account of, you know, and to some level, like we talked about uh in the first week, with uh Luke probably interviewed her, you know, sat down, was able to talk with her exactly what what happened here, um, and so got first uh the first hand account of of exactly this detail that we don't see in the other gospels. Uh but um it is something that uh for a lot of people find very hard to believe. Like, how can someone be born that is a virgin, right? Yet that is exactly what if when we talk about prophecy and some of the things that God laid out early on through his prophets of what to anticipate, of what to look forward to, and uh and we see uh in Isaiah 7.14, it highlighted in the Old Testament, therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign, behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel. The Messiah there that Israel and and uh they were waiting upon was going to be a virgin. Yet even with the account like you were talking, Jeremy, last time with with uh Zachariah, he wasn't uh like for him, he still had some of that doubt there, you know, and and his response to what when Gabriel came and said, Hey, you're gonna you're just in your old age. It's not not that you aren't even a virgin that that's transpiring here. This is this is something impossible. So we went from improbable to impossible. And so uh so what Mary is being asked is even to a higher level. And I just it's fascinating too, again, comparing some of these things with John or excuse me, uh Zachariah, how he was uh priest that was recognized, he was he was in kind of the face of you know the religious uh proceedings and things that were being done, and he was actually chosen to bring the prayers of Israel before at the temple versus this humble or this unknown young woman, girl really to some extent, and and just the you know, contrasting the differences between how the encounter with a servant of the most high or Gabriel the angel, you know, went. So thoughts?

SPEAKER_04 7:51

I think it's pretty important, you know, like you comparing Mary to Zachariah. Zachariah was really afraid. We don't see that Mary was afraid, but she was troubled, right? Like, what is this all about? You know, I'm being visited by an angel, and I think you brought out a couple of good things, you know. Zachariah was a priest, he was a man of prayer, he really was a leader spiritually for the people, so like it should have been less unexpected for him. Mary's a young girl, a virgin, not a priest, you know, like should she was probably the one that should have been more afraid, but it does say she thought about it, right? Like she's not just like, oh, cool, an angel, no big deal. So I think her response, and then I know we'll talk about a little bit more, but how she then comes to respond differently than Zachariah in Faith. But I see some big ways that we can take away some different things in terms of Mary's initial response to the angel as well.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Yeah, the another thing that you hit on, Jonathan, is that you know, God is the the God of the impossible, and he can do things that we, you know, we there were exceedingly and abundantly above what we imagine. And so you have the parallels between Elizabeth and Mary there, with the you know, God doing something in both of them that was conceivably impossible. Like Elizabeth was barren and and Mary is a virgin. Um and both are you know in this point of their they're in a lowly state. They're considered and like you talked about their Zachariah is a priest, but you know but God works uh through the lowly sometimes. He he works through like in First Corinthians it talks about he chose the foolish things uh to shame to humble the wise and and uh and that brings him glory. Like like when when when when he uses someone who uh is uh completely unable to do something on their own, and then it and then it's like his his will is accomplished, it brings it brings him glory. And that's that's one of the things I see here with uh Elizabeth and Mary.

Why The Virgin Birth Matters

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Yeah, one of the things I noticed in here is kind of how it opens in twenty-six. Um and this is classic Luke. Look at the detail in twenty-six. He says, in the sixth month, that's the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to where to a city of Galilee named Nazareth. Who was he sent to? Verse 27, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph. Joseph happened to be of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. There's so much detail in there. But Jeremy, one of the things you mentioned, um, I think it's interesting to me, just in those two verses, that uh one of the things that kind of jumps off the page, God doesn't use the obvious and he doesn't use the prominent things in life, he uses obscurity. Here's this little town of Nazareth, and ultimately, you know, um Jesus was born in Bethlehem. And, you know, if you if you kind of dig into the the roots of Bethlehem versus you know the other surrounding cities, why Bethlehem? Two to three hundred people, it was just this uh unknown, basically village. And here he says, you know, this little town of Nazareth, and then he says, Mary, and Mary's not known. She's this young virgin, probably, you know, somewhere 14 to 16 years old, it's estimated. Um, he didn't choose somebody really prominent, but that's how God works. He uses the little things in our lives, and he used the little things here in these couple of verses just to kind of open this story up and uh kind of get our mindset around, you know, God God uses the least of these in many cases.

SPEAKER_04 11:23

Really important thing on the virgin birth, too, that I had learned, and I think Jeremy, you brought up the eighth-day circumcision, you know, last time we were talking and how biology and the way God's designed, something I learned that was fascinating. The blood of the mother and the fetus does not mix. So why would that matter? Why would we need a virgin birth? Well, we know original sin is imputed to us through Adam, you know, it's passed down through us. We're born into sin. David says, you know, in my mother's womb I was conceived in iniquity. Well, how do we have a human Messiah who would be born that way? Well, the answer is the virgin birth. You know, so Mary's blood did not mix with the blood of Christ, which I found like one of those just blows your mind kind of ways that God set that up from the beginning, but that the virgin birth was critical so that Christ would be sinless. You couldn't say, Well, you carried the sin of Adam. Well, no, because he was from the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin. It's like, why the incarnation, not just being miraculous, but being so theologically important that we would have a sinless savior that didn't have that sin that we know comes to us through our just our broken nature, you know, the sin that came from Adam, that fall that Christ would redeem us from, had to had he had to be kind of protected from that physically. So that was just like when I learned that several years ago, it was just like, you know, mind-blowing kind of facts. So I don't know if you guys knew that, but it was something that I had learned a while ago.

God Uses The Lowly And Unseen

SPEAKER_05 12:49

But yeah, it's it's amazing just how the practicality of God's word impacts us physically or the physicality of of of who we are, and and just uh, you know, kind of like last week you were talking about Jeremy, just uh circumcision and then the the nature of that and you know science is catching up with what God's word already has taught us, right? Um yeah, absolutely. The uh I think and one of the things we will see as we uh continue on here through Luke, one of the themes uh, and I think it may be mentioned uh when uh Mitch uh that first week was um the Son of Man and how Christ fulfills that. And there's a lot of prophecy that we'll get to in uh subsequent chapters here. Um but but you're right, Nate. The first thing that was keyed off upon or that was brought up by Luke was the virgin birth. And to some level, this is this is a rather scandalous thing where you have a young woman telling that she's gonna she's gonna be conceived, everybody's gonna see it. They're gonna see she's carrying a child, and everybody knows how a child's created to some level, right? And and you know, there's never been another way to create a child, yet yet that's what uh is brought. Um but before we get there, I just wanted to also just to highlight too, just like you you teased with uh Mary's response versus uh Zachariah or uh in uh chapter one. It said uh in verse 12, Zachariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him, whereas for Mary, she was troubled, but it doesn't it doesn't account that she was necessarily fearful. But still, the response was don't be afraid. But but to some level, I think part of what she was troubled with was just that greeting, oh favored one, the Lord is with you. So I mean you can just imagine uh you know, Gabriel there's in your house, you know, you're just going about your day, and all of a sudden, boom, there's an angel, like just the uh how stark a contrast that would be from the the mundane day-to-day stuff versus now uh God is directly intervening. You know, it'd been 400 years since the last word from God, yet now uh getting that I guess uh second word, Gabriel went first to with John the Baptist, but now we got uh the the mother of Christ.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

So I think Mary's reaction, you touched on it, Jonathan, was do not be afraid. This is the words of Gabriel back to Mary says, do not be afraid, uh, verse 30. Mary, you have found favor with God. You know, favor didn't mean she was gonna have it easy. And I think that's a there's an important lesson there because you know, a lot of people they come to Christ and they think, oh, now the sky's gonna part and just, you know, it's just gonna be smooth sailing from here on out. It's it's quite the inverse of that. The Christian life is hard. Um, and I think even though we have favor with God, um, and then the next phrase, you know, he says, uh actually dropping back up to verse 28, and he says, and he came and he said to her, Greetings, oh favored one, the Lord is with you. We have to have the Lord with you. And Mary had to have the Lord with her to be able to go through what she was about to go through, and it was anything but easy. So favor doesn't equate to an easy path for any of us.

SPEAKER_04 15:53

I think an interesting difference too that we talked about last episode. You know, Zachariah prayed, and we talked about kind of being answered to her prayer. We don't see anywhere in scripture that Mary wasn't really, she didn't ask for this, right? You know, but she found favor with the Lord. You know, we don't know all the details what that means, but God chose her. You know, God had a plan for her. God, you know, she wasn't necessarily special or or that unique in in any certain way, but we see what the angel is telling her, like you found favor in the Lord, and he's going to bless you, but that's going to require obedience. You know, we see, and I know you'll take us through it, Jonathan, that response of obedience, even though, like you said, Mitch, it's nothing says this is going to be easy, nothing says, and and we'll even get to it later in Luke, you know, about the sword in your soul and knowing what we know about where Christ ultimately would be, she didn't know that. You know, she didn't know what Christ would do for her, but she was having faith in her response, I think, to the angel, which is we can take a lot away from that.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Yeah, and the question she asked in 34, you know, after Gabriel tells her all this, is how can this be since I am a virgin? Um, she wasn't questioning that it was going to happen, she was questioning how it was going to happen. And I think that's the difference between her response and Zachariah's response that we talked about last week. Is, you know, Mary had the faith to believe this was going to happen. She knew she had favor of God. Um, God was with her, but at the same time, that doesn't mean it was going to be easy. But now she's she's already moved on to what's the process involved in in making this happen. And then then the angel tells her that in verse 35, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore the child to uh therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the son of God. I think it's interesting also, it says the child that will be born is called holy, the son of God, not the son of Joseph, son of God. And the same thing happens back up in verse 32. Gabriel's describing, he said he will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High. Never the Son of Joseph. It's always the Son of God or the Son of the Most High. I thought just interesting.

Favor, Fear, And Costly Obedience

SPEAKER_05 17:58

Yeah, which are key characteristics of who Jesus Christ is and who we believe him to be is uh, you know, we talked earlier about the son of man, but he's also so he came in flesh, which is another amazing just thing to think about that God, holy, magnificent, never ending, should then you know, submit himself or humble himself to to flesh. But yet he still remained, you know, we say a hundred percent man, yet a hundred percent God, and you know, son of God. Uh and so Luke Luke I uh you know makes that very clear. And um just kind of concluding this part out is just uh so Mary is is uh uh Gabriel tells her the the how and and I uh uh like you said, Mitch, just the most high, the Holy Spirit is with you. So it was enabled this impossible thing that it's gonna happen. God's gonna do it. You know, it's not anything you're gonna do, per se, but it's gonna be God is gonna enable this. And uh and then so uh and then her response is just beautiful. She says, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. And the angel left.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Yeah, and that's pretty cool. I mean, just complete unconditional surrender of her of her will to you know what was in store for her. Um and I think what's interesting also, just a couple of verses right before that. Uh, if you look up at verse 36, this is still Gabriel speaking, it says, Behold, your relative Elizabeth, in her old age, has also conceived a son and is in the sixth month. So she's six months pregnant. I think it's interesting. I think God here is really reminding Mary, who's probably scared. Elizabeth's quite a bit older, we learn that. Um, Mary's probably scared. She's she's thinking about all the social aspects of, you know, the shame of potentially being, you know, married or uh pregnant out of wedlock. She's thinking about all these things, and I think Gabriel's reminding her of the importance of community, the importance of gathering ourselves around other brothers and sisters in Christ that are going through the exact same thing or something very, very similar. And and you'll see in the Following verses in verse 39 through 45 is where Mary actually goes and visits Elizabeth. And I think there's an important lesson there, and it's something that we can all anchor to, and that is when we're going through something and we don't completely see the path forward. We have faith in God, but we're saying, how's this actually going to happen? And that's what Mary's response was. Get yourself around somebody that's going through something close. Get yourself around another brother or sister in Christ that can help you, maybe as if maybe he's walked that path before you, or at least can give you some some good spiritual maturity and some guidance into what you're going through.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Yeah, Mitch, I I see. And not to get too far ahead of uh you, Jonathan, but I see I I'm right there with you. Like I um, you know, we see in the Bible and scriptures that like there's lots of uh figures in in scriptures who needed that reassurance, right? Moses and Gideon, John the Baptist even needed that reassurance. Um, but you know, we see that the Lord the Lord providing that. We see a sign that that he said that he provides to Mary. Like Elizabeth is also pregnant. We see that sense of community where you know Mary travels to uh Elizabeth, the who's the literally the one person who can understand what she's going through, right? Like and then we see the Holy Spirit later on in this passage like um just filling Elizabeth and empowering that like that prevent that that confirmation. So I'm like, I couldn't agree more with you. You just get into like that sense of community is so important that that in the inner community.

Community And Confirmation With Elizabeth

SPEAKER_05 21:30

God, God, you know, you can see his hand through this the whole way. Because the other aspect of it, because uh uh Joseph and Mary were betrothed, which to some level would be, you know, it was pretty much legally they were married, although they hadn't consummated it yet. And so but it's interesting because it wasn't like God say, Okay, now now you guys just get married and you're you know, we'll take care of it that way. No, we're gonna make it clear that that you are a virgin. I'm gonna separate you, you're gonna remain separated, and you're gonna but I'm gonna provide someone else. And so we see here in the following verses just sending her to Elizabeth, and it's just a unique family tie that John the Baptizer or John the Baptist was uh you know, a cousin. Yeah. And and how um, you know, and and so what we see here as we move into to that section, uh, just how uh it's it's I I find it amazing because uh Elizabeth, when she it says uh uh in verse uh forty-one there, and when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with her loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to me, to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy, and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_05 23:00

It's just it it's amazing how um in and obviously like the Holy Spirit is is enabled in her of what to of what to say and to speak, but just acknowledging the the reality of what's happening, not like woe is me, can't believe this is so tough, but just this is awesome. Like, praise the Lord, what he is doing here, and how you rightly recognized and and responded to to what God did. And and then, you know, because it said uh earlier on when we were talking about John the Baptist, he would be the Holy Spirit be with him from the womb. And so even in the womb, he he he rec like everybody there is recognizing what God is doing and acknowledging it and playing their part to the role of God's story, Christ's story.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Yeah, and what what immediately follows that, and we're gonna get to this in a minute, is the is the magnificent, uh, which starts in verse 46. But leading up to that, as soon as Gabriel tells tells Mary that, hey, you're not alone in this, go see Elizabeth, who's also conceiving a son, verse 39. Well, as soon as Mary concedes to this and and accepts it and surrenders, verse 38 says, Behold, I'm a servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. The angel departed. But as soon as she did that and she got that confirmation, she acted. She did exactly what she was supposed to do, and that is go to her community. And verse 39, in those days, Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to the town of Judah, and she entered to Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. So I think it's important when God tells us to do something and gives us an idea of that community that is around her, that is around us, we should act on it. And then look what follows. She's blessed by it, and then she her heart is just immediately filled as it reads all of it. So she's shifted from a position of being greatly troubled, trying to figure out all this, saying, How is this going to be possible? The the Gabriel says, Hey, Elizabeth's going through the same thing. She rushes, gets there, takes action, and then immediately what follows this is the magnificent where she says in verse 46, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior, makes it personal. So immediately her heart was filled, and she just her immediate reaction was glorification of the Lord and magnifying his name.

The Baby Leaps And Elizabeth’s Blessing

SPEAKER_04 25:06

I think an important thing timing-wise on that too is you know, the magnificent doesn't come immediately after the angel, like you might have thought that, but it's that kind of confirmation and encouragement that we're talking about of going to Elizabeth. And it can be easy that way in our lives, right? Sometimes we come to faith and we're excited, but then you know, we kind of like we say, it's not all roses and rainbows, and life gets hard. That encouragement that comes from others, and you know, especially if God calls you to do something specific and you start doing it, and then it just gets hard, and you're like, wait, this isn't blessing. But then when there's somebody else who sees like God's working in you, or there's something I can see that you're being obedient, like it just encourages you that you get filled up by others, and I think that's what Luke's telling us here that God brings other people around us to encourage, to confirm. You know, He doesn't leave us out there on our own. Like the angel could have left, and then Mary's like, wait, you know, now, like you pointed out, Jonathan, the shame and the difficulty, and I'm having to do this on myself. No, God doesn't do that, he brings us together to walk alongside each other, to encourage each other. And that confirmation really then, oh wow, you know, not only did you call me to this, but you brought people around, you brought encouragement, you brought confirmation. I think that elicits our praise and response very often. Yep.

The Magnificat: Praise And Scripture Saturation

SPEAKER_05 26:22

Amen. Yeah, and uh, and we were like we were talking a little bit before this, uh, just it's interesting in Luke how uh this is one of several songs that he records that aren't isn't in any of the other gospels. And you know, I was just mentioning to me, it it shows how in song, you know, like when we're praising the Lord, it just really reveals the heart of the individual. And for all the songs that are recorded here, like you had uh Zachariah, he had nine months to think about it. Uh uh, even uh the exclamation with Elizabeth, you know, she had been dwelling on this for at least six months of what was you know processing. And then Mary at least took her a few days to get there. But just they all had their different timelines, if you will, to some extent, but again, their heart was uh to praise what God was doing and to come alongside with what had been revealed to them and acknowledge just that this is the Christ magnificent. So uh if we look at the magnificent itself itself, uh, you know, like you were talking, Mitch, it's a it's a song of praise uh and it's it kind of reflects Mary. Uh a few things uh it that I noticed uh if we jump in uh verse forty-eight, uh it said, For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant, for behold, from now on all generations will be called will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name, and his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the th uh in the thoughts of their hearts, he has brought down the mighty men from their thrones, and exalted the the those of humble estate. Uh he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty, he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, he has spoken to our fathers, to Abraham, and to their offspring forever. And uh just again, she's uh acknowledging what uh Christ is doing. And sorry, I missed the verse 47 there too that you had read, just the the leading off with Um, My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, and just keying off of my savior, of how she recognized that the the child within her, it wasn't just her child, it was her savior. And um and so, and because of that, not just and and to some level this is what we're gonna see in Luke, and it's in the other gospels too, but the point of of you know, and we see it in the old testament. What was the point of Christ coming to be our Savior, to to save man from their sins? And so this is you know one of the first times, or not the first time, but in this this account where and and to some level what John the Baptist was saying, hey, repent, prepare yourself for the way, you know, the way of the Lord, uh that we see in the other gospels with that, and just um the the intent is is God is starting his plan for Christ to to he's now here, you know, coming to what we'll talk about next week, Nate, uh, with what God is going to do. But this is this is the initial, you know, putting all the actors or pieces in place so then Christ can come. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

Other thoughts, I think, too, the the Magnificat, like you said, shows Mary knew he was the savior. It reminds me of David, you know, Jesus comes to it later in terms of you know, who's you know, is David the Lord's father? And it's like, no, he says the Lord said to my Lord, and I see that exactly reflected here in Mary of my Savior, not coming from me, but someone I'm obedient to and responsible to. So I know we talked, you know, Pastor Mark gave a sermon in December, you know, a little while back. You know, if you didn't watch that sermon, encourage everybody to go back and check that out. But just reminds us, you know, there's a lot of false belief and veneration of Mary and making her out. We can learn a lot from her. There's certainly much to be certainly encouraged in terms of her obedience and her faith and her response, but that doesn't make her above in terms of like somebody we should pray to or above humanity. And I think her song even shows that humility and that response that I think is important and worth pointing out because that can be, you know, depending on you know what tradition you come through, specifically, you know, Catholicism has some of that in it, and so we need to make sure we understand. We don't pray to Mary, she's not God, she's not above us, she is a sinner who needed a savior just like us as well.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Yeah, the yeah, I mean, just to echo on that and follow on to it, like Mary is not an object of our devotion, but she she actually is an example of what devotion looks like. I mean, she she displayed faith, humility, submission, she worshiped, um, and you know, her the her the magnificent is saturated with scripture, um the Old Testament references and showing that she had the scripture in her heart, like and it was it was buried deep in her heart, and it came out naturally. And I know that we kind of talked to the four of us and you know before we started the recording about you know the importance of a Bible reading plan and and um you know if you're not doing that, like like I would encourage anyone who's listening to to to dive into the scriptures daily, spend time in the word. Um there's a lot of good Bible reading plans out there. And um you know, if you're not if you don't have one or you don't know know of one, just come see any uh, you know, one of us or like in Forge. I know in Forge we're gonna be handing out the Forge curriculum that has a Bible reading plan. Um but there's lots of good Bible reading plans out there and just dive into the scripture, it's so important like to have it in your heart.

SPEAKER_05 31:56

Yeah, I'll be going through the uh navigator plan this year. So I'll be for those in Forge, I'll probably have a slide or two to of the some different plans that you guys can uh kind of like we did last year with the QR code, but definitely uh ingesting God's word on a daily basis definitely helps uh helps when you face the all the other voices that are going on with with society and everything that's out there.

Mary’s Humility Versus Misplaced Veneration

SPEAKER_01 32:19

Yeah, this this whole section's really about Mary and her reaction, getting the news of from Gabriel, and then really her reaction, finding community with Elizabeth, uh, and then really her song of praise that that kind of wraps that up. But you know, kind of getting back to, you know, we don't worship Mary. Uh in verse 42, this is Elizabeth, verse 41, she says, we should fill with the Holy Spirit 42, and she exclaimed with a loud voice, Blessed are you among women, not above women, among women. You're one of us. And here's the bigger thing, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. That's the focus where we should have. You're one of us, you're among us. You're not above us, you're one of us, but blessed is the fruit of your womb. And that's when John the Baptist then leaped for joy in the belly of Elizabeth at that particular time, soon after that was uh that was uttered. So I just think it's an it's a it's a great story. I think Mary uh has a a lot to teach us in terms of our own reaction. It's human to be troubled and to possibly be afraid, but and it's maybe even okay to question, to offer a question, as long as it's done in a faithful kind of way and and from a perspective that you're just trying to understand the how, the process. There's an element of faith here, but there's an element of show me how, show me the path. He wasn't questioning that it was going to happen, just how it was gonna happen. And then you can tell by the response um from get from Gabriel that you know that I mean he ends this section in verse 37 right before Mary concedes, and he says, For nothing is impossible with God. And I think that's really the takeaway that I see, anyway, from this passage. And that's what Mary really anchored on. Uh, and then she gave all glory to God, really uh starting verse 47 on.

SPEAKER_04 34:00

Let's encourage all of us. Nothing's impossible with God. Anybody who thinks they're beyond salvation or any sin can can separate us. Christ makes the way through all of that. And I think even that can be a huge verse that we're encouraged. And just seeing the virgin birth, like God doing something absolutely incredible and entering our time.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

So when you're going through something scary, you're going through something unknown. Get yourself around, rely on God, surrender your will to Him. That's what Mary did first. Secondly, get yourself in community, and then thirdly, give all glory and all praise. Moke make God the focus of your attention, not yourself. And that's the storyline of Mary's reaction, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Well, Life Talk Family took us three weeks to get through the first chapter, but it is 80 verses.

Closing And Tease For Luke Two

SPEAKER_04 34:44

So uh lot to unpack, but I know it's uh definitely been a blessing for us going through it. Hopefully, it's been a blessing to you. Our conversation hopefully will encourage you, give you some things to take away to dive into God's word, and uh we will look forward to seeing you as we move ahead to chapter two next week, all the buildup and wow, Christ comes. Let's see how that happens. So thanks for joining us, and we will see you next time. We'll look forward to seeing you next Monday for another great episode.