Sermon Central
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Mary's Assignment Series
Contributed by Jon Daniels on Dec 16, 2025 (message contributor)
Summary: Based on Luke 1:26-38 - Encourages hearers to accept God's assignment for their lives.
“MARY’S ASSIGNMENT” Luke 1:26-38
FBCF – 12/14/25
Jon Daniels
INTRO – Most downloaded Scripture in 2025 on YouVersion Bible app – Isa. 41:10 (slide) What are you afraid of today? Your greatest source of fear? I want to invite you to bring that thing to the Lord today, b/c when God shows up, fear diminishes. Words “Fear not” heard different times in the story of Jesus’ birth:
- The “fear not” of salvation – Luke 2:10-11 – “Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy which shall be for ALL people. For unto you is born…a Savior…”
- The “fear not” of unanswered prayer – Luke 1:13 – “Fear not, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard…”
- The “fear not” of immediate obedience (b/c delayed obedience is disobedience) – Matthew 1:20, 24 – “Joseph, son of David, fear not to take Mary to be your wife…When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him…”
- The “fear not” of the humanly impossible – Luke 1:30-31 – “And the angel said to her, ‘Fear not, 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.’”
“From the very beginning, God’s heart has been to draw people close. The prophets pointed to His coming. The angels announced His birth. The shepherds ran to see Him. The wise men followed the light until it led them to worship. And today, His Spirit still calls out in the middle of our darkness: Come and see. Come and find Me.” (“Light of the World” – YouVersion devo)
This is why we are here today. As the Holy Spirit moves & works in this place & in our lives today, I want to invite you to come & see Jesus – invite you to come find Jesus.
- Like the OT prophets, we are pointing to Jesus as the one & only Messiah, the Chosen One to bring the message of salvation into the world, the One who is the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
- Like the angels, we are announcing Him to you as the “Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
- Like the shepherds, we are inviting you to run to Him.
- Like the wise men, we exhort you to fall down before Him & worship Him like you have never done in any previous Christmas season.
All of them – the prophets, angels, shepherds, & wise men – had their assignment given to them by Almighty God. All important – All essential – All unique to them.
And someone else had a God-given assignment that changed the world forever – “Mary’s Assignment”
EXPLANATION – Luke 1:26-38 (855)
4 parts of this familiar passage:
GABRIEL’S MESSAGE – v. 26-33 – “angel” – “messenger” – “Gabriel” – “God is great.” This heavenly messenger whose very name proclaims the greatness of God had some great news to bring to Mary. What an honor to be the one chosen to deliver this message from God Almighty to a virgin girl named Mary who was probably 15-16 yrs old.
After he calmed her down, he shared God’s miraculous msg:
- Miraculous GRACE – “favor” – charis – unmerited favor – God giving you that which you do no deserve
- Miraculous conception – She had not been intimate w/ Joseph or any other man
- Miraculous birth – At this point, she didn’t know it would be in a stable in Bethlehem
- Miraculous child – JESUS – His very name means, “The Lord is salvation.”
MARY’S QUESTION – v. 34 – Legit question based on simply biology & the human reproductive process that God created. CSB puts it a little more bluntly: “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” She knew that God’s plan has always been that a man & a woman come together intimately only after they are married. And sexual intimacy is a wonderful gift from Him that has been grossly distorted in every way possible in our world – but that’s a whole other sermon for another day.
GABRIEL’S ANSWER – v. 35-37 – Simply put: It’s gonna be a God-thing! The Holy Spirit would “overshadow” her – Gk for “overshadow” - a divine, powerful, cloud-like presence or influence of God's power. Not some bizarre type of mating, but the simple, powerful, life-changing, history-altering presence of God. When His presence shows up, things change in our lives!
MARY’S SUBMISSION – v. 38 – NIV 84 – “May it be to me as you have said.” In other words: “Done! I’m all in! Let’s go! I’m surrendering to you. I’m yielding to you. I don’t have to understand it all b/c I know that, if you have said it & you want me in it, then it’s the right thing. So let it be done.”
