Luke 1:26-38Evangelical Heritage Version
The Angel Gabriel Appears to the Virgin Mary
26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.”[a]
29 But she was greatly troubled by the statement and was wondering what kind of greeting this could be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, because you have found favor with God. 31 Listen, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.”
34 Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Listen, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age even though she was called barren, and this is her sixth month. 37 For nothing will be impossible for God.”
38 Then Mary said, “See, I am the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
A conversation for the ages ….
The Angel Gabriel suddenly, quietly appears to a young teenager named Mary.
And now, unfolding before each of us is the glorious mystery of a conversation unlike any other in all of the Word of God for His Children as it then takes place.
– some how, today, we are all privy to this moment in Luke’s Gospel Narrative.
The Angel Gabriel appears …. and in his angelic voice …. speaks to Mary ….
“Greetings, YOU who are highly favored!
“The Lord IS with YOU!”
“Blessed are YOU among women!”
“Do not be afraid, MARY, because YOU have found favor with God!”
“Listen, YOU will conceive and give birth to a son, and YOU are to name him Jesus.”
“He WILL be great and WILL be called the Son of the Most High!”
“The Lord WILL give Him the throne of his father David!”
“He WILL reign over the House of Jacob forever!”
“AND his kingdom WILL NEVER end!”
“The Holy Spirit WILL come upon you, and the power of The Most High WILL overshadow YOU!”
“So, the holy one to be born WILL be called the Son of God!”
“Your relative, Elizabeth, has also conceived a son in her old age even though she was called barren, and this IS her sixth month!”
“For nothing is impossible with God!”
Blessing after blessing after blessing is pronounced by the Angel Gabriel.
One after the other, after the other, after the other ….
Indescribable blessings, Unimaginable blessings, are being announced ….
To a stunned teenage girl who is not the least bit sure what is happening in but the few short minutes it might have taken for this conversation to take place.
What can we allow ourselves to imagine are her thoughts at this revelation?
“How can this be…?” she mutters to herself – but still loud enough for the Angel Gabriel to hear her and respond with more blessings than Mary can even grasp.
She heard the Angel of the Lord speak out her name – Mary, as if he had always known it and her – but they had never met before, or have ever been introduced.
“How can this be…?”
“The Angel of the Lord …. KNOWS MY NAME!?!”
That means that “GOD KNOWS MY NAME TOO AND HAS ALWAYS KNOWN IT!”
“I am an anonymous teenager from a quiet little village, going about my daily chores, as are many others on this day, and suddenly I realize “God knows me!”
“GOD KNOWS ME!”
“GOD KNOWS MY NAME!”
The One who created the heavens and earth, by the command of his voice and touch of a finger, knows each of our names.💛
Genesis 1:16 reminds us, “God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.”
“It always makes me smile when I read, “He made the stars also;” as if they were an after thought and not important.”
“My mind cannot even comprehend how easy it was for Almighty God to bring forth the magnificence and beauty of ALL the stars and constellations.”
“Though, obviously anonymous, lesser brilliant than the stars of the night, I am STILL the handiwork of MY God’s finger and containing all His glory!”
“Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.” Isaiah 40:26
“As I look out into the night sky at all the twinkles that stretch as far as my tiny little eyes can see, I am amazed that God calls them each by name and He knows where they ALL are located. Not one of them is missing – and NEITHER AM I!”
“My very thoughts extend to the heart cry of David in Psalm 8:3-9. One who is acquainted with spending nights under a blanket of stars as a shepherd boy.
The young Psalmist boy now declaring the greatness of the Lord with humility and reverence for his grace bestowed on us, BESTOWED ON EVEN ME, MARY!
“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?”
“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is woman, Mary, that you are even mindful of her,
and the son of man that you care for him?”
“What amazing love God has for each of us, His Children that He even took us into consideration when creating the brilliancy of the heavens. He gave us eyes to see, cared about our comfort to provide and give us each a genuine identity.”
“God, with just a word formed light (setting every star in place, day and night, sun and moon, planets, and every expanse of light) making a way for us to look upward, see the work of His hands, then look down and see ME His handiwork.”
“To now, as I gaze upwards upon the heavens in awesome wonder to all that belongs to Him (Psalm 115:16). A reminder of His love for mankind and how much more His gaze is forever and ever upon us, and WE BELONG TO HIM”
“We never have to question if we are known in this tiny little acre of this tiny little section of the world. For we were not hidden from Him when formed in our mothers womb. He is knows everything about us and loves us without end.”
GOD KNOWS MY NAME!
“What an awesome thought!”
“What a comforting thought!”
“What an incredibly indescribably JOYFUL, JOY-FILLED THOUGHT!”
“Out of all the people in world; God knows MY Name! Out of all the stars and planets in the universe; God knows MY Name, He knows ME. Out of all the animals upon yonder hills and the deep forest; God knows even MY Name!”
“God called Hagar by name.”
“Lonely in the wilderness and crying – He called her, He knew her Name.”
She did not know His Name but in that moment – He KNOWS her Name.
God blessed Hagar with a son, Ishmael … Ishmael … God WILL hear YOU!
Ishmael … The Lord WILL HEAR YOUR AFFLICTION! (Genesis 16:11)
“Think about how important we feel, when so called important people so dryly call us by name – how “so what” anonymous we continue to feel afterwards.”
“Yet, how can we ever allow ourselves to ever imagine; the God of the universe coming to us, but not just “coming to us” but too calling us each by our Name!”
“What Does it mean?”
“My Name is the sum total of who I am.”
“I am not a number…I am not a meaningless symbol.”
“I am God’s own.”
“I am His FRIEND!”
“I am known by the Most High!”
“I am His and He IS mine!”
“He who occupies heaven’s throne, KNOWS MY Name!”
To know a Name is to know ALL there is to know about the person.
“He KNOWS My Name. He KNOWS the good and the bad equally.”
“He sees my heart and my mind and soul immediately at all times; (like even exactly right NOW), He knows all of my thoughts before their manifestation!”
WHAT DOES EVEN ONE WORD OF THIS CONVERSATION MEAN TO US NOW?
I. God Knows YOU.
He knows YOU apart from everyone else.
He knows YOU apart from everyone else with the same name.
He knows you incomparably.
No one knows you like God does.
He knew me before conception.
Before my mother named me, He knew My Name.
Before My Name was written on my birth certificate, He knew My Name.
Before My Mother was born, He knew My Name.
He knew the name she thought about giving me before naming me.
II. God Knows YOU Absolutely.
He knew you too, from your mother’s womb.
He knows your thoughts.
He knows your deeds.
He knows your hurts.
He knows your weakness.
He knows your sickness.
He knows your circumstances.
He knows your down sitting and your uprising.
He knows YOU.
EXACTLY RIGHT IN THIS MOMENT; God KNOWS our Name.
III. God Knows Where You Are At All Times.
Hagar was sent away by Sarai but not beyond the all seeing eyes of God.
Hagar declared; God sees Me.
Her value jumped up immediately.
She was cast aside with her son by Sarai and Abram as a nobody.
But God knew her Name.
To God Hagar was somebody.
You may be down right in this exact moment but God KNOWS your name!
You may be used and refused but God ABSOLUTELY KNOWS your Name!
IV. God Calls Us By Our Name.
Hagar was evicted and unemployed.
Hagar was impregnated by Abram and thrown aside by Sarai.
Hagar was broken by a conspiracy between a husband and a barren woman.
Hagar was hurting and helpless with no solution in sight.
There was no one to help her or her son.
Hagar was setup by Sarai and used up by Abram.
Hagar fell out of favor with the woman who asked her for a sexual favor.
But still God CALLED her by Name.
God will meet you where you end up and He WILL CALL YOU by name.
V. God Knows Your Name. Do you Know His Name?
Is is (amazing) that God knows My Name.
But do we realize it is OUR SALVATION) when WE KNOW His Name?
There’s no other Name given whereby men can be saved.
His Name is a saving name.
His Name is a prayer endorsing Name.
His Name is a healing Name.
His Name is a soothing Name.
His Name is a powerful Name.
His Name is Demon scaring Name.
His Name is sin remitting Name.
His Name is a Death Conquering Name.
His name is a present refuge name.
His Name is a God given Name.
His Name is a Praise Worthy Name.
In this EXACT moment, I dare you, Praise His WORTHY Name, right Now!
VI. One Day God Will Call Our Name to Enter Our Heavenly Home!
John 11:20-26Evangelical Heritage Version
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary was sitting in the house.
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. 26 And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish.[a] Do you believe this?”
Do WE believe this?
Do WE also believe this …. ?
John 14:1-14English Standard Version
I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life
14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;[a] believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?[b] 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”[c] 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.[d] From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me[e] anything in my name, I will do it.
VII. I Know His Name.
All My fears have been hushed because I know His Name.
I go to sleep at night remembering that He KNOWS MY NAME!
I go to sleep at night remembering that I know His Name.
I wake up each morning declaring that He KNOWS MY NAME!
I go to work or I go shopping KNOWING He KNOWS MY NAME!
I eat my meals with my wife thankful WE KNOW HE KNOWS OUR NAMES!
I faced sickness knowing that HE KNEW MY NAME!
I faced sickness knowing that I knew His Name.
My Wife has faced sickness knowing that she KNEW HIS NAME!
My Wife has faced sickness knowing that HE KNEW HER NAME!
I will die peacefully one day, because I KNOW His Name!
Isn’t it an AMAZING thought?
The GOD of the UNIVERSE KNOWS MY NAME!
The God who ordered the stars, who knows them all by name ….
Should also KNOW YOUR NAME and desire to give order to your life?
HMM ….
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 8 Evangelical Heritage Version
Your Name Is Majestic
Heading
For the choir director. According to gittith.[a] A psalm by David.
The Glory of God Declared by the Heavens
The Glory of God Declared by Children
1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Set this glory of yours above the heavens.[b]
2 From the lips of little children and nursing babies
you have established strength[c] because of your foes,
to put a stop to the enemy and the avenger.
The Glory of the Son of Man
3 Whenever I look up at your heavens, the works of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place—
4 what is man that you remember him,
the son of man[d] that you pay attention to him!
5 Nevertheless, you make him suffer need,
apart from God for a while,[e]
but you crown him with glory and honor.
6 You make him the ruler over the works of your hands.
You put everything under his feet:
7 all flocks and cattle, and even the wild animals,
8 the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea,
which pass through the currents of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
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Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 