Mary was the First to Carry the Gospel
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The Christmas story is amazing. It tells of our heavenly father’s love that leaves awe struck. Why? How?... We weren’t the first ones to ask such questions. Mary too wondered How such a thing could be.
Now I know you likely have read this scripture for about the thousandth time and are doubtful that anymore could be said from this passage.... this is what makes God’s word so amazing, for it is the living Word of God..
Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant 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."
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.
31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name 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 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
35 The angel answered, "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 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.
37 For nothing is impossible with God."
38 "I am the Lord’s servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
(NIV)
Famous Firsts
Virginia Dare
1587 --- 1st child born in the American colonies, on August 18th, on what is now Roanoke Island, North Carolina.
André-Jacques Garnerin
1797 --- 1st parachute jump. Dropped from about 6,500 ft. over Monceau Park in Paris in a 23-ft.-diameter parachute made of white canvas with a basket attached (Oct. 22).
Charles Blondin (Jean Francois Gravelet)
1859 --- 1st person to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope
Jesse James
1873 --- committed the world’s first train robbery on July 21. (Adair, Iowa)
Herbert Hoover
1874 --- 1st US President born west of the Mississippi
Annie Moore
1892 --- 1st immigrant to pass through Ellis Island. She was 15 years old and from County Cork, Ireland
Alexander Winton
1903 --- set the 1st land speed record in car racing. Set at Daytona Beach, his speed was 68.18 mph.
Arthur R. Eldred
1912 --- 1st boy to reach the rank of Eagle Scout -- the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America program. He was of Oceanside, NY.
Dolly, the lamb
1996 --- 1st cloned mammal.
And Mary the mother of Jesus was the First to carry the Gospel
Mary was entrusted with an overwhelming job. She was to raise the Son of the living God. As we have already noted in last weeks message it was under less than ideal circumstances. But Mary willing took on the impossible.
Mary was the First on to carry the Gospel and she did...
She carried Him From the manger to Bethlehem.
She Carried Him To the house in Nazareth.
She Carried Him to Egypt and back home.
She Carried Him it the village in Canaan where Jesus performed his first miracle.
She Followed Him to Jordan’s river where John Baptized him.
She Followed Him in Galilee as he preached and healed the multitudes.
She Followed Him as he entered in to the gates of Jerusalem as he rode the colt amid the shouts of Hosanna
She watched in horror as they led him through the streets beaten and bleeding.
She wept bitterly as they nailed her son to the tree and watched helplessly as he appealed to his heavenly father “Eloi, Eloi, Lama, Shabatni...
She Carried him to the tomb knowing that this would be the last time she would ever carry her precious son.....
But you know Mary was wrong, this was not the last time she would carry him..
For Jesus rose and as he left this world he Commanded Mary and All of us to carry him to all the World
Matt 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."" (NIV)
The Gospel has been carried all over the world by those who responded as Marry did.
"I am the Lord’s servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."
How will you respond to the call to the Gospel today. For you it may be a call to accept Him.
And to those who have accepted him it is a call to action. We have a Job to do!!
Rom 10:13-15
13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"(NIV)
ILL: An old man was walking the beach at dawn. He noticed a young man ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Catching up with the youth, he asked what he was doing. The answer was that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. "But the beach goes on for miles and miles, and there are millions of starfish," countered the man. "How can your effort make any difference?" The young man looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it to safety in the waves. "It makes a difference to this one," he said.
Hugh Duncan, Leadership.
Have beautiful Feet
