 Let's begin reading together here in Luke chapter 1, at verse 18, and we'll read to verse 25 and get into our study tonight, Luke chapter 1, beginning at verse 18. Luke writes in Zechariah, said to the angel, How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years. And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time. And the people waited for Zechariah and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. And so it was as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. Now after those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she hid herself five months, saying, Thus the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among men. And so last time we're together, just so we can lead up to verse 18, we need to remember that there was a man by the name of Zacharias. Zacharias is who we're seeing here in this passage. Zacharias was an old man, an older man. He was a priest. And as he was ministering in the ways of the Lord and to the Lord through the offering of incense, an angel appeared to him. The angel is now identified for us in verse 19 by the name of Gabriel. And Gabriel had appeared to him and told him that his wife would become pregnant. Now this pregnancy that she was about to have was actually an answer to prayers that they had made to God on behalf of one another for them to have a child. You see in Israel it was regarded as something shameful if you were incapable as a woman to conceive. And part of the reason why it is looked at as a reproach or a shame to you is because the promises of God included fruitfulness. All the way back in the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis chapter 17, God was speaking to a man by the name of Abram. And there he had said in Genesis 17, 4 through 6, Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you." And so part of the blessings of God would be fruitfulness. And so on account of the promises that God had given, including the ability to bear children, children were regarded as an absolute blessing, a genuine heavenly blessing. The psalmist in Psalm 127 verse 3 said, Children are a heritage of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is his reward. And so the people regarded children and being able to conceive and bear a child as a blessing. Barrenness, on the other hand, is a picture of shame, and also is a picture of God being displeased with you. And so they had been praying, and they're growing older, even as I mentioned to you last time we're together. Zacharias was not an ancient man. He was less than 50 years old, because had he reached the age of 50, he'd be retired. But he was at the age where the thought of having a child with his wife, whom he undoubtedly had been married to for many years, had really basically been just a hope and a dream and a prayer. It wasn't a reality, it hadn't become one. And yet, as he is there, Gabriel approaches him and begins to speak to him and says to him that God has heard your prayer, and makes an unbelievable promise to him. In verses 13 and 14, the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zacharias, your prayer has heard, your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, you shall call his name John, you shall, and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. And so God had made a great promise to him, showing him tremendous grace. And as he's speaking to him, concerning this, he points out that his son is going to be a great man of God, and he's going to be one who blesses the entire nation. Now as a righteous man, and as a devout man, the words that he spoke were simply too good to be true. And that's what we're picking up here in verse 18, because notice in verse 18 how he responds to this promise. Zacharias says to the angel, well, how shall I know this? I'm an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years. How am I going to see this take place? This is just simply too much for me to believe. Aging has had its natural effect on us. We're beyond our ability to have children. So how is this going to take place? So he responds in shock and amazement. But what has happened is he's forgotten. He's forgotten his Bible. He's forgotten biblical history. He forgot that Abraham and Sarah were barren and aged. But because God had promised them, they had conceived and had a child in their old age. That's found in Genesis 18, 1 through 10. He had forgotten about Samson's father and mother, how they had Samson in a miraculous way. Judges 13, 2, and 3 says there's a certain man from Zara of the family of the Danites whose name was Manoa. And his wife was barren, had no children. The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, said to her, Indeed, now you are barren and have born no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. He forgot about that. He forgot about Hannah in 1 Samuel, chapter 1, how Hannah had prayed and sought the Lord. And now God had ultimately given to her a conception, and she gave birth to the prophet Samuel. He forgot the history that he had taught others. And so in hearing this, the first thing he says is, how shall I know this? I'm an old man. My wife is well advanced in years. Now, what's interesting to me how he says, I am an old man. And then the response of the angel in verse 19, the angel said to him, I am Gabriel. And so on the one hand he says, I'm an old man, and Gabriel says, and I'm Gabriel. I've got some news for you, buddy, and you're going to blow your mind. He doesn't say that literally, but that is in the Greek. I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. You may be an old man, but I'm a messenger of the Lord, is what he's saying. You may be thinking right now of human frailty and inability, but I want you to know that I'm coming from the throne of God, the throne of grace, and I've got a message for you. And I want you to know that what God has said will indeed take place. Now, Gabriel, you might find this interesting. If you take notes, you might want to note this. In the Bible, there are only three angels that are ever mentioned by name. There are multitudes of angels, but only three of them are ever mentioned by name. That's interesting to me. Gabriel is mentioned. The name Gabriel is an interesting name. It speaks of one who is a warrior. It speaks of the warrior of God or a man of God, literally. You have Michael. Michael is translated who is like God. And then you also have one other angel. And can you guess who that one is? Well, it's Lucifer, light-bearer. And so you have three mentioned in Scripture, all three high-ranking angels. Gabriel and Michael are also referred to as archangels, meaning that they are the highest rank. And so Gabriel is one who is seen often in Scripture as a messenger of God. You see Gabriel mentioned in the book of Daniel in chapters 8 and Daniel chapter 9, who comes and brings messages to Daniel. He stands in God's presence, and he is a messenger of God. And the point that he's making here is very simply, seeing that I stand in the presence of God and seeing I am who I am, you ought to have listened and believed what I had to say to you. But in verse 20, behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time. Well, you've asked the question, how shall I know this? In other words, you're asking for a sign. Well, in as much as you've asked for a sign, you're going to receive it. You're going to be unable to speak. Now, you spoke or used your tongue in unbelief, but when this thing comes to pass, you will speak, and the next time you speak, it will be words of praise and faith. And so in verse 21 continuing, it says, the people waited for Zacharias and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. You see, when the priest would be there ministering in the temple, especially at this time of incense, offering up prayers to God, his prayer would normally be very short. If it was a long prayer, well, obviously the people would begin to worry and be concerned. Perhaps he's done something that got him struck and perhaps the Lord has leveled him or killed him, and they actually would be afraid. And so the people are marveling. Now, when the priest would walk out after offering the incense, normally he would bring a blessing to the people there. He would stand at the stairs and he would quote scripture. Often it was found in the book of Numbers, chapter six, verses 24 through 26. And he would stand on the stairs and he'd be looking at the people who were waiting for him and he'd pronounce the blessing. The Lord bless you and the Lord keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. And that's what he would do. He'd come out and he would bring a blessing. But this time he walks out and as he stands there, they see that he has nothing to say. He's absolutely stone quiet. And so they're marveling. In verse 22, when he came out, he could not speak to them. They perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. And so off he goes. Verse 23, and so it was. As soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. Now, after those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived and she hid herself five months saying, thus the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among men. And so the priest would normally serve the temple for a week. He remained and concluded his time of service. And then he went home. Now, when he went home, Elizabeth, his wife, conceives. And notice with me, she withdraws herself for five months. Now, there are questions asked concerning that. Why would she withdraw herself for five months? And there really isn't an answer for that. But I think the best solution to that, or that question, if someone wondered, why did she leave for five months, would be, and it's something that is lost on us today, but I think is a proper way of approaching this. She would withdraw herself for five months just so that she could spend time with the Lord, just so that she could worship God, just so that she could get closer to the Lord for what he has done. She withdrew herself for a few months that she might enjoy herself with her Lord. And what's interesting also is you think about it, that she's withdrawn for five months, because within the first five months of her pregnancy, she's not really going to be revealed as being pregnant anyway, because she doesn't instantly blossom with pregnancy. It takes a while for her to begin to actually show that she is pregnant and all, and so she left. And as she left, and all within five months or so, she became recognizably pregnant. And as she begins to show that she has child, that's why she says in verse 25 that the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among men. Now people would see her and they would blow their mind. Basically, they'd say, boy, we didn't think you'd ever get pregnant. And it was something for her that was amazing. It was something for her that was such a great and wonderful blessing. It was a miraculous pregnancy in that the Lord had made it possible when she herself was barren. I remember a couple in our fellowship several years ago now, and she was 40 years old, and she came to me and she said, it's gonna have a baby. So we teasingly called her Sarah, 40 years old. And she said, you know, with the birth of my other child, I received a tubal ligation and they cut my tubes and all. It's obvious that the operation didn't take. And she was quite surprised. But we dedicated her baby. And when we dedicated her baby, I said, do you mind if I share the story with the congregation? And she said, okay. And I said, you know, this is a miracle birth because I said she hadn't received a tubal and so when she gave birth, she asked the doctor to redo the operation. And the doctor opened her up in order to do so, to once again cut her tubes and all. And the doctor said, there's no way you should have become pregnant. He said, your tubes are, there's a gap of over two inches. It's impossible for the egg to have made it to the place where it could be fertilized by the sperm. He said this undoubtedly is one of those babies that just had to be born. And I was absolutely amazed that that didn't make her feel any better, but it sure blew the church's mind. I remember dedicating a baby for a lady who had had a tubal and her husband had a vasectomy. And the baby was still born, you know, was born. And you know, so those things, you know, I've seen that in more or less, just in just normal days of life, you know, but in this particular case here, this woman was beyond and was beyond childbearing age. She also was recognizably barren, but God had done a miracle here. And now she says, God has taken away my reproach because it's a blessing to have children. And she recognized it as such in verse 26. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his greeting and considered what manner of greeting this was. So notice with me here in verse 26 that Gabriel is once again sent on a mission. This time, instead of going to Jerusalem, he goes to a small village by the name of Nazareth. Six months as we read this have passed and now he pays a visit on a virgin by the name of Mary. Her actual Hebrew name is Miriam. And we translate it through the Greek. The Greek word is Maria or Miriam. And but the Hebrew name is Miriam. And so he goes and he pays a visit on a virgin named Miriam. Now she lives in a small village called Nazareth. Nazareth is located, if you were in the city of Jerusalem, 70 miles to the northeast of the city of Jerusalem. It was a small city at that time. It was more of a village. And as he goes there to pay a visit there in Nazareth, verse 27 tells us that he's going to speak to the virgin who is betrothed to a man whose name is Joseph. Now during that day, when a man and a woman were betrothed, normally what it was is they would get betrothed or engaged. But when that engagement took place, they were recognized as being married with all the privileges of marriage, if you will, in terms of the mentality of it, except for the sexual involvement. That was not consummated until approximately a year later. I've mentioned this too many times, but there is a lot of things that would go on in the betrothal period. And one of the things when the engagement was actually taking place was the drinking of a cup of wine that would take place between the man and the woman. Some of you went with us last week to the movies and you saw that actually enacted right in front of you. When the betrothal took place and they brought a cup out and Joseph was there and he has a prepared speech and he said, I'm going to make a home for you. He said, I'm going to build a home for you, something like that. Well, the way that that speech normally took place was this. The man would stand there looking at the woman. The cup would be handed to her or actually they would normally be seated and it would be placed on a table. The young woman who was being asked for and the young man who wanted to be the husband to her would be facing each other. They would place the cup of wine. The cup of wine would be presented to her and she had at that point the ability to reject or accept. If she wanted to make him sweat, she'd pretend that she was going to reject and he'd be just waiting for her to see whether she's going to reach and take it. And then when she finally took that cup and drank from it, when she drank of it, and that was a symbol that she accepted the terms of betrothal. At that point, he would stand up and he'd give that prepared speech. Even if you see the movie, that's what he does. He gives the speech. I'm going to go home and I'm going to make a home for you. But the speech was more or less like this. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will receive you to myself. That where I am, there you shall be also. Does that ring a bell? Because that's what Jesus said to us in John chapter 14 as he was making it clear to us that he would return for his bride. And so that's what's taking place here. There is a woman who is betrothed. Now, if this woman who is betrothed enters into sexual sin during her betrothal period, it is regarded as the sin of adultery and she can be put to death for that. Keep that in mind because we'll see this later on. And so she's betrothed to a man. His name was Joseph of the house of David. Her name was Mary. It says in verse 28, Having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. And so as that is taking place, the angel speaks to her. I want you to see how it says here. Rejoice, highly favored one. Now the angel is not saying that grace comes from her, but that grace is being given to her by God. God is the one who gives grace. And so when he says Hail Mary full of grace or Hail Mary, one who is highly regarded or one who is highly favored, what he's literally saying is you are the object of God's favor because she is now one who is receiving the grace of God. God is the one who gives grace. It comes no other way. In Ephesians chapter one, verse seven, the Bible says in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. So God is showing her incredible grace by choosing her to be the mother of Jesus, his son. Her reaction, she's troubled. She's troubled. That word troubled means greatly agitated or shaken. She's troubled at what he has just said. It's just too much. It's much more than she can understand. And as she's troubled over this and considering what manner of greeting this is, the Lord continues to minister. Look at verse 30. It says the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. That word favor there is carous or grace. You have found grace with God. God, in other words, has given you his grace. Behold, you'll conceive in your womb and bring forth the Son. You shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest. The Lord God will give 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. Fear not, he says to her. Do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You are regarded as a special object of God's favor. God has given to you his grace. So do not become fearful because you become aware of your unworthiness. Well, speaking to somebody recently who said that they have a desire to minister in the name of the Lord, but sometimes they just regard themselves as being so unworthy, they asked the question of me, does that disqualify me? And my answer was, well, if you have no other things that are disqualifying you, other than the sense that you are unworthy of the task, I said then it seems to me that you're usable by God. And I said, do you realize that every time I go up and open the word of God, I have a sense of unworthiness? I always do. Every time I open up the Bible and share it with somebody, every time I give a Bible study, there is this overwhelming sense of unworthiness. It's an overwhelming sense because that's what the Lord would have for us. Who is adequate for all of these things? Who is capable of doing this? Listen, if you have a sense of unworthiness in your life of the goodness and grace of God, then you're just joining the line of many saints who have gone before you. Mary had the same kind of mentality that's an unworthiness. But that sense of unworthiness is also an evidence of humility. This regarding of herself in that way isn't because she has a low self-esteem, it's because she has a high honor for God. And when you have a high honor for God and a regard for God, and when you see God for who He is, you inevitably will see yourself for who you are. And all you need to do, if you want to have humility, is spend time with the Lord. Just getting in His word, getting into prayer, and being with those who love Him and serve Him will produce within you a sense of, of I'm not capable, I'm unworthy, but it'll also give you a sense of but how gracious God is. And so as she's speaking here, he has to, as he's speaking here, the angel in verse 30 says, don't be afraid Mary. You have found favor with God. It's part of the reason that, that God is honoring you in this way is simply because of your humility. And he goes on and he says in verse 31, behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth the Son and you shall call His name Jesus. By God's grace, He has chosen you to bear His Son. And notice with me in verse 35, how it says it's the Holy One who is to be born of you is going to be the Son of God. And so you're going to be receiving this great honor because the Lord your God is going to make it possible. In verse 32, when it says He'll be great and will be called the Son of the Highest, when He says the Son of the Highest, that's another title of God. God is the Most High God. And He says the Lord God will give Him the throne of His Father, David. And so He's pointing out that God has chosen her to bear the Son. The Son is Jesus is the Son of the Most High God. And that is going to fulfill the promise that God had given to King David many years before. If you take notes, it's found in 2 Samuel chapter 7, verses 12 and 13. And God was speaking to David through the prophet. And God said to him, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body. And I will establish His kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. And so He's going to reign forever. That's what it says in verse 33. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom. There will be no end. Of His kingdom, there will be no end. Recently I was reading something. I've been reading a book on the origin of the faith of Islam. And one of the things I'm more and more impressed with related to that is God's pronouncements in Scripture concerning the revelation of Christ and its ultimate meaning. You see, the Muslim believes that they are the final revelation of God's will towards man. You know this already. And they believe that that final revelation came through their prophet whom they know as Muhammad. And believe that what has happened is that the Jews as well as the Christians had a certain amount of revelation, but it was finally consummated through their own prophet Muhammad. And that's basically what they believe. The problem is when you study the Scripture, the Bible doesn't give any room for any new prophets. The Bible finds its consummation in the final declaration of God as he incarnated as Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Hebrews for a moment. Hebrews, I want to show you this. Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. I'll show you this very briefly. Chapter one verses one through three. In Hebrews chapter one verses one through three, the writer of Hebrews said this. He said, God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. The picture you have there, and if we were to take you through this, you would see this very clearly, is that Jesus Christ is a final declaration of the mind of God to man. God spoke in various ways through nature, through prophets, through miracles, through the scriptures. He spoke in a variety of ways, revealing himself to man, but his final, his consummating act in terms of who he is to man is found in the incarnation. Jesus Christ coming, taking upon himself flesh and dwelling amongst men. Jesus being the final demonstration of God's will towards men and that he is given to us in order to save us, establishes a kingdom that is eternal, turning on back to Luke. It's a kingdom that is eternal. And so Jesus Christ has a kingdom that reigns, and he reigns forever. And that's what he's saying in verse 33. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, his kingdom of his kingdom. There will be no end. Jesus Christ fulfilling the promise that God gave to David back in 2 Samuel chapter 7, his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And that's what Mary is hearing. Now Mary was somewhere between the ages of 14 and 16 years of age. The typical age of a woman getting married during her day was somewhere around 13, 14, up to around 16 years of age. This is a young woman that is being spoken to. And as she's hearing him speak, she naturally has fear, she has humility, but what an incredible moment she's having with this angel who is speaking to her in such a way that it must be absolutely blowing her mind over the things that he's saying to her. You are going to conceive in your womb, you're going to have a son, you shall name his name Jesus. His name is Jesus, he's the Savior. He's the one who is salvation. The name Jesus is the Greek word for Jehovah is salvation. And what he's saying is that God is going to give to you the one who is the Savior of the world. He's great, he says in verse 32. He's called the Son of the highest. He's God's Son. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his Father. He's going to reign forever and he's from the lineage of King David. Thus he's consummating the promises that God gave to David. Well, as she's hearing this, verse 34, Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I do not know a man? How is it possible, she is saying, for me to conceive and give birth, seeing that I am sexually pure? How is it possible, she's saying, for me to conceive and give birth to this Son, seeing that she's a virgin? Now it's not that she's doubting his word. She's wondering how can this actually happen? The answer is going to be that the Holy Spirit is going to bring about the fulfillment of God's purposes. Because it says in verse 35, the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you therefore also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. The child that you will conceive will be through a miraculous conception. It isn't going to come in a natural way. In some of the older Mormon documents, there's a portrayal of Mary actually conceiving through physical intercourse with God. Mormons teach that. But the Bible doesn't. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit begets the child. Notice how it says in verse 35, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now when it speaks about this Holy Spirit coming upon her and overshadowing her, it's a picture of what is called the Shekinah glory. The Shekinah glory is the presence of God and you see that in various places of the Old Testament. When Solomon was dedicating the temple in 1 Kings chapter 8, for example, verses 10 and 11, the Bible says it came to pass when the priest came out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. And so when he's speaking concerning the overshadowing and the Holy Spirit coming upon her, it's a picture of the glory of God being made manifest and also it's a picture of the creative activity of God. All the way back in the first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, the Bible says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And so that's the picture of God overshadowing. The glory of God as well as the creativeness of God is going to produce this child who is the Son of God. He goes on in verse 36 and says, Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age and this is now the sixth month for her who was called Barron, for with God nothing will be impossible. Mary said, Behold the maid servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word and the angel departed from her. Elizabeth, your relative has conceived. It may be that he is encouraging her to pay a visit, which she ultimately does, to pay a visit to her relative Elizabeth. But I want you to see something and I want to spend the last few minutes of our study looking at verse 37. I want you to see something with me. I underscored this scripture many years ago because it's something that the Lord wants me to remember with God nothing will be impossible. That's something you might want to remember always with God nothing will be impossible. God is able to do whatever he wishes and therefore, Mary, you should trust him. God is able to do anything that he wishes because nothing will be impossible with him and therefore, because he loves you, you need to understand that God is able to do anything and therefore, trust him in all things. Trust him in all things. Ask yourself right now. Let's make this practical. Ask yourself for just a moment. What is it in your life that you're so concerned about that you think there's no hope? There's no help. There's nothing that can be done. It's a done deal. There's nothing you can do about this. This is the way it's going to be forever. I've discovered something. Nothing shall be impossible with God. I've discovered that just today, just today as I was here on the grounds and all, I was walking around and I had my grandson with me, Josiah, and as we were walking around, I was just spending time with him and visiting with him and all. And once again, the Holy Spirit just began to minister to my heart. And I'm walking around and I'm looking at a building that we're in right now. I'm looking at a house. I mean, if you look at the house right over here, that we have that we use for children's ministry, I remember when we first bought this property and how it looked at that time, I remember how there was nothing here. There was some asphalt. We had a basketball court, a half court that was set up. We had barns and houses and we had a stable and we had a lot of dirt. And it was hard for us to even minister here. The houses had been transformed into children's ministry. It was just inadequate and yet such a blessing. And yet today as I'm walking through and I'm just looking at everything the Lord has done, it blows my mind. It always does. And sometimes I just stand there and I'll just look around and I'll say, look what you've done, Lord. Look what you've done. I'm amazed. I'm amazed. I was talking to a lady. I got interviewed the other day from a local newspaper, Riverside, some paper in Riverside. And the lady was speaking to me and she says, I'm doing an article on mega churches. And she said, I understand that your fellowship is a large fellowship of this and that. And I said, well, yeah, fairly large. And she said, can you tell me how many people you have that attend your church? And I said, we estimate the total church population to be about 8,500. And I said, what's interesting is we started with 25 adults and 15 kids. And she said, you're kidding me. And I said, no, isn't that cool? I said, you know, God's too much. And you know, well, why do they come? How would I know? How would I know? You know, I said, you know, one of the things that the Lord has spoken to us is just to lift Jesus up. And I said, Jesus Christ, you know, that's the reason anybody should gather in the first place. I said, you go, people come to church because we love the Lord. I said, I guess that would be the answer. So we love God's Word and we love to worship God and we love the fellowship of God's people and we want the world to know. I said, this church is built on Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone. Everything revolves around him. We want people to see him and to know him and to love him. And I said, and that would be the answer. Why do churches grow? I'm not sure, but I can tell you this. This is a church that loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Why do people show up? They show up for whatever reason they desire, but hopefully they're coming for Jesus because that's why we gather. That's what it's all about. You know, and I understand that. I was talking to Marie the other day about this. I was talking to Mike about this just today. You know, you can build a church built on personality, but it's only going to go as far as the person who built the church. But if you build it on Jesus Christ, it's going to go as far as he wants it to go. And it has to always be built and done for his glory. That's how it works. And God is capable of doing anything. He can do things abundantly above all we could ask or think. And so what we do is we simply say, nothing shall be impossible with him. God is capable of doing whatever he desires. And all I want to do is be on the same page with him because if God is moving, I want to move alongside of him and work alongside of him and see God moving in that way. So when she's speaking, she's saying to him, how is this going to be? He said, nothing's impossible with God. You think it's impossible for him to give life to your womb though you have not known a man? That is not impossible. Jeremiah 32.17 says, Oh Lord God, behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you. And later on in the same chapter, Jeremiah 32.27, the Lord responds, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? The answer obviously is no. The Psalmist in Psalm 115 verse 3 says, Our God is in heaven. He does whatever he pleases. And Paul said to us in Ephesians 3.20 and 21, To him who was able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, to all generations forever and ever, amen. He does all things. He does all things according to his own will. And so was it impossible? You know, those who would argue and say, Oh, you know, she wasn't truly a virgin. She was just a one young woman. I was reading one of my commentators today and he made that statement. He said, Does it really matter if she was a virgin or not? You know, what if she was just a picture of a woman who was capable of being used by God and open to being used by God. The guy's denying the deity of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us in Isaiah in chapter 7 verse 14, The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a child and you shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. Shall anything be with God impossible with God? No, because with God nothing will be impossible. Now, I encourage you to know that today. Sometimes we have kids that just aren't doing well and we say, God, I just, I don't understand this. I don't understand it because I look across the street and I see the kids across the street who are neglected. You know, the mom and their dad don't spend any time with them and I spend time with my kids, I give them devotions, take them to church, I serve along with them and yet they're not following you and they're not doing well and yet the kid across the street is an honor student. The kid across the street just got accepted to go to Yale and my kid can't even go to Citrus. I don't get it. Have you ever gotten to the point where you look out and you say, this person is neglecting that kid and that kid's turning out to be an honor student, president in this class and all of that and I'm doing the best that I can and my kid doesn't show any interest in God at all. What's going on here, Lord? I hang on to the Lord. I hang on so tightly to him. I was talking to one of my kids the other day and I was sharing with them the story of Jacob and I was sharing, you know, the angel of the Lord came to Jacob and as the angel of the Lord came to him, the Bible says that the angel wrestled with Jacob and I was sharing, you know, the name Jacob means supplanter. It literally can be translated sneaky and he had a history of being a supplanter. He had a history of being sneaky. Stole his brother's birthright and blessing that belonged to him and in doing so, basically circumvented the proper way that families ought to be run and as a result of that, the brother wants to kill him and so he flees and as he flees, he has a wife, he has a second wife, he has a lot of children, he's returning home as he does so he gets word that his brother has heard that he's coming and he's afraid that he's going to be killed by his brother and so there he is as he's just all by himself by a brook called Jovach and as he's there, the angel of the Lord comes and wrestles with him and as the angel of the Lord begins to wrestle with Jacob, the angel seeing that it's dawn, they've wrestled all night, says let me go and Jacob says to him, I will not let you go unless you bless me and the angel looks at him and says what is your name and he says my name is sneaky, my name is supplanter, my name is Jacob and the angel looks at him and says no, no longer shall you be supplanter for he says you have wrestled with God and you have prevailed and from this day on you shall be Israel which is Prince with God. You see, he held to him tightly not because he wanted to control because he had finally come in the place in his life that he was broken and the Lord touched his socket of his hip and withered the muscle there so for the rest of Jacob's life he limped as a constant reminder of his encounter with the living God who transforms people, breaks them, changes them and uses them. So you may have somebody in your family right now that you regard as being beyond God's ability to reach. God would say there's nothing impossible with me. You see one of the prayers that I know that I can pray with great faith is the prayer of God save that person. I know that because God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. So I can pray Lord would you save my son, Lord would you save my daughter, father could you save my dad, Lord would you save my mom, Lord would you save my aunt, my uncle, my grandmother, my boss. I can pray that with great prayer of faith knowing that God isn't willing that they should perish and therefore I'm praying according to your will Lord. Now if they resist that's between them and you but I know your desire is to save them therefore I lift them to you that you might do so. Lord this person isn't so far gone. If you can bring life, give life into the womb of a virgin can you not bring life into a person who's alive right now and simply running from you. Nothing shall be impossible with God. And think about whatever it is that may be on your heart tonight where you're thinking you know I'm going to get fired or I'm not providing for my family or whatever it may be and lift it to the Lord and take this scripture. I underlined this scripture so many years ago with God nothing will be impossible. And I said oh God in Jesus' name I am praying that you would do a work to your glory and notice Mary in verse 38 how Mary said behold the maid servant of the Lord behold I am God's bond servant I am his slave literally let it be to me according to your word and the angel departed I am God's servant I am submitted to whatever whatever he's planning on doing let it be done in my life because whatever God does is the right thing now I want you to keep in mind something and we'll close with this when Mary said let it be done she counted the cost because in her society once again she could have been stoned to death because they would regard her as an adulteress for having sexual intimacy before marriage and with someone she was not married to and do you know I might as well get ahead of myself but you already know the conclusion of the story here when we finished Luke you already know it that she went through a lifetime a lifetime 33 years of bearing the shame people believing that she had conceived out of wedlock which was in the Jewish society recognized as a great sin and all of her adulthood as a mother to Jesus all of her 33 years she was regarded as a woman who became pregnant prior to marriage and they didn't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Joseph was the father at least in the natural sense and so her whole 33 years of her life was lived in the shadow of this humiliation of rejection and the judgmental spirit of all those who would not forget what had happened and do you know that she finally received her proper due only after Jesus was resurrected because when Jesus was resurrected he demonstrated himself to be the Son of God according to Romans chapter 1 verse 4 and so for 33 years she bore the stigma in her Jewish society of being an unwed mother and she said let it be done unto me according to your word because she trusted the Lord in all things and she knew that God could take this and could use it and would use it for the good of mankind and so she is a tremendous example of a woman of humility and faith and she said let it happen because this is how God is going to fulfill his sword and what a woman Mary, Mary was