I'm All In! Series

Advent Series – Discovering God’s Will - Mary

Title: I’m All In!

Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6; Luke 1:26-38

INTRO:

Grace and peace in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

What does it mean to say that you want to be in God’s Will?

That you want your life plan to line up with God’s Life Plan for your life.

Is such a thing even possible?

Psalm 37:23 reminds us that the steps of a righteous person are established and they are given direction by the LORD, and He delights in their way.

This morning, I would like for us to revisit the life of a young woman who like some of the most famous women in the Bible – the likes of Sarah, Hagar, Rebekah, Hannah, Deborah, Ruth, Esther and Elizabeth knew what it meant to discover God’s will for their live and then did their best to live out that will of God.

Her story is similar in some ways to Hannah and Esther – in that it involves a child and the realization that she was made for a time such as this, but it has an element that none of the other women’s stories holds.

No other woman was asked to carry a child that was conceived of the Holy Spirit.

No other woman was asked to carry a child that is a part of the Holy Trinity.

While other women had carried children both male and female that had proven to be instrumental to Israel’s salvation – you could think of Moses’ mother, David’s mother and Esther’s mother. But none of those mothers could later say – not just Israel’s salvation – but the salvation of all creation.

So, in some ways we must put Mary to one side of history and realize that the life path given to her by the LORD is in many ways different than anyone else’s life plan – even including the likes of Eve, Sarah or even Moses or Daniel.

She is a positive one-off.

Hagar’s life has been lived by other women who have suffered being thrown out of their home with child in hand.

Esther was not the only woman who stood up to the plate for her nation – think of Deborah, Joan of Arc and even Golda Meir.

And the line of women that have been falsely accused of being unfaithful would be in the millions if not billions since the time of creation.

Mary would not even be the first woman to have to deal later with the murderous death of her son – for the woman named Rizpah too had not only one son but two sons who were murdered by the state in power. In more recent times you could think of Mamie Elizabeth Till-Mobley the mother of 13-year-old Emmitt Till who was killed and butchered without cause.

She wasn’t even the first woman to see an angel for we read about a couple of angels appearing to Lot’s wife and later Sarah ease drops on some angels talking to Abraham. Add to that you can read about the time that Samuel’s mother Hannah saw an angel and of course in the New Testament there was an angel that talked to the women at the Tomb and told them that Jesus was risen from the dead.

But she would be the first one to be asked to bring Immanuel (God in Flesh) into the world.

She would be the first woman for God to tell her that it was His will for her to be the mother of Jesus the Messiah, the Savior of the World and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

So, how did this young woman who many put as a teenager or at least a very young woman fulfills God’s will for her life?

1. She listened and obeyed what God told her to do

We don’t know where Mary was the day that the angel Gabriel showed up to talk to her.

We don’t know if she was at the well drawing water.

We don’t know if she was merely walking down the road and Gabriel shows up and joins her as she walked.

I tend to think that Mary was in her prayer place. That place that she went to spend some time with the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. And that it was in this place, quiet and alone, that Gabriel showed up to share some interesting news with her.

She would have a baby. A very special baby. So special that conception and birth would be talked about for centuries.

For she was to bring the Messiah into the world. Only she was to do so through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. There would be no man involved in giving her a child.