Speaker 1: All your life, you've heard about the three Wise Men
Speaker 1: of Christmas. This year, I want to talk to you
Speaker 1: for just a second about the three Wise Women of Christmas.
Speaker 1: You maybe have never realized that there were three wise women,
Speaker 1: but there were. One of them was married, one of
Speaker 1: them was single, and one of them was widowed. The
Speaker 1: first one was named Elizabeth, the second one was named Mary,
Speaker 1: and the third one was named Anna. Every one of
Speaker 1: these three wise women faced a major obstacle in their life.
Speaker 1: Elizabeth faced major disappointment. She was old and unable to
Speaker 1: bear a child. She had been childless.
Speaker 2: Her entire life.
Speaker 1: Big disappointment. Mary had to face a major change. She's
Speaker 1: pregnant and she's single. How's she going to explain that?
Speaker 1: And Anna had lost the love of her life, her husband,
Speaker 1: just a few years into her marriage, and so she
Speaker 1: had to deal with loss. So disappointment and change and
Speaker 1: loss were the three things these three wise women had
Speaker 1: to deal with. But they all overcame each of those
Speaker 1: because they were wise. Elizabeth overcame resentment and bitterness, Mary
Speaker 1: overcame her fears, and Anna overcame her grief because they
Speaker 1: all made wise decisions. By making wise choices, how do
Speaker 1: you know when somebody is wise. How do you know
Speaker 1: when somebody is really wise or not by looking at
Speaker 1: the decisions they make. Wise people make wise decisions. Foolish
Speaker 1: people make foolish decisions. Unwise people make unwise decisions. If
Speaker 1: I want to know if you are wise, if you're
Speaker 1: truly a wise woman, I want to know if you're
Speaker 1: truly a wise man, all I have to do is
Speaker 1: they tell me about the decisions you've made in your life,
Speaker 1: because your decisions reveal whether you are wise or not.
Speaker 1: The Bible says this about the wisest man who ever lived.
Speaker 1: His name was Solomon. He was the king of Israel
Speaker 1: because God gave him wisdom because when God said, I'll
Speaker 1: give you anything you asked for, he didn't ask for money,
Speaker 1: he didn't ask for fame, he didn't ask for comfort.
Speaker 1: He said, God, I want you to make me wise.
Speaker 1: And he became the wisest man in the world. And
Speaker 1: the Bible says this on the screen First Kings three
Speaker 1: twenty eight. The people saw that Solomon had God's wisdom
Speaker 1: by the decisions he made. What I want us to
Speaker 1: do right now is look at the three decisions that
Speaker 1: these wise women made because if you want to be
Speaker 1: a wise woman or you want to be a wise man,
Speaker 1: you need to make these exact three decisions this next
Speaker 1: year and for the rest of your life. So first
Speaker 1: we're going to start with the first wise woman. If
Speaker 1: you want to write her name in if you're taking notes,
Speaker 1: the first wise Woman of Christmas is Elizabeth. We find
Speaker 1: her story in Luke chapter one. We find Mary's story
Speaker 1: in Luke chapter one, and we find Annas story in
Speaker 1: Luke chapter two. Now on your outline, the Bible says this,
Speaker 1: when Herod was the king of Judah, there was a
Speaker 1: priest named Zachariah and his wife was named Elizabeth. Both
Speaker 1: zachari and Elizabeth were righteous and godly people. This is
Speaker 1: what the God says about them. Their lives pleased God.
Speaker 1: Circle that their lives pleased God because they always did
Speaker 1: everything God commanded, and they lived with a clear conscience
Speaker 1: before God. But they had no children because Elizabeth had
Speaker 1: been unable to conceive, and now they were both too old.
Speaker 1: Now in these couple of verses, we learned a couple
Speaker 1: of things about this first wise woman. First, we learned
Speaker 1: that Elizabeth was a very strong woman. She's mature, she's strong,
Speaker 1: she's godly, she was a woman of God. She was
Speaker 1: probably a great mentor to young girls. Probably a great
Speaker 1: mentor because she's very strong in her faith. Verse six
Speaker 1: says her life pleased God. You know what, as your
Speaker 1: pastor and coach, that's what God. I want God to
Speaker 1: be able to say about you, that your life pleased God.
Speaker 1: That's what it means to be a godly woman. That's
Speaker 1: what it means to be a godly man. Your life
Speaker 1: pleased God. That's the highest compliment. There's nothing better than that.
Speaker 1: The Bible says she was righteous. The Bible says she
Speaker 1: was devout. The Bible says she was dedicated. So we
Speaker 1: know she was a wise woman. But the second thing
Speaker 1: we learned in this is that she's carrying a lifelong heartbreak,
Speaker 1: a lifelong hurt. The Bible says in verse seven, had
Speaker 1: no children. And many of you can identify with this hurt,
Speaker 1: with this heartbreak. For some reason, it hasn't happened. You've
Speaker 1: always wanted to be a mother, or you've always wanted
Speaker 1: to be a father, but it hasn't happened so far
Speaker 1: in your life. The Bible says that Elizabeth was pleasing
Speaker 1: to God. She did everything right. She was a woman
Speaker 1: of integrity. But the hurt and the heartbreak in his
Speaker 1: heart is that her greatest prayer had not been answered.
Speaker 1: And this means that Elizabeth had every temptation to get bitter,
Speaker 1: She had every temptation to get resentful against God, because
Speaker 1: she could say, you know, God, I have served you
Speaker 1: my entire life. I have lived for you. I've done
Speaker 1: what's right. I've tried to do the right thing. I've
Speaker 1: tried to honor you and worship you and love you,
Speaker 1: and yet you haven't answered my biggest, biggest prayer.
Speaker 2: I want a baby. Now.
Speaker 1: This is a great temptation to be hurt and to
Speaker 1: be bitter and to be resentful. You could probably think
Speaker 1: about something in your life You've prayed about a lot
Speaker 1: and it just hasn't happened yet. You can be bitter,
Speaker 1: or you can be better. You can trust God, or
Speaker 1: you can get mad at God. And Elizabeth, in her wisdom,
Speaker 1: did not get mad at God. But the point I
Speaker 1: want to make here is that living for God does
Speaker 1: not guarantee you a hurt free life. God never said
Speaker 1: that everything's going to happen the way you want it
Speaker 1: in life. This is not heaven. I've told you this
Speaker 1: so many times. Don't expect heaven to be on earth.
Speaker 1: In heaven there is no sorrow, no suffering, no sadness,
Speaker 1: no problems, no pressure, no pain, no disappointment, no tears,
Speaker 1: no grief, no loss. None of these things are in heaven.
Speaker 1: But this is earth, and on earth everything is broken.
Speaker 2: Not everything God wants.
Speaker 1: To happen happens, because the Bible says the Lord's not
Speaker 1: willing that any should perish, but people perish all the
Speaker 1: time without Christ. God doesn't want people to sin, but
Speaker 1: they sin all the time. God gives us that choice.
Speaker 1: And so to expect heaven on earth is going to
Speaker 1: set you up for disappointment. Nothing works perfectly on this planet.
Speaker 1: I've told you this many times. The weather doesn't work perfectly,
Speaker 1: the economy doesn't work perfectly, your relationships don't work perfectly,
Speaker 1: your body doesn't work perfectly. Everything is broken. Living for
Speaker 1: Christ does not guarantee a pain free life. In fact,
Speaker 1: Jesus said just the opposite. He said, in this world
Speaker 1: you will have trouble, not might not, might not could happened.
Speaker 1: It says you're going to have trouble, So we shouldn't
Speaker 1: be surprised when things don't always go the right way.
Speaker 1: We shouldn't be surprised when we have pain in our lives,
Speaker 1: because it's not heaven. But Elizabeth had wanted a baby
Speaker 1: all of her life and it hadn't happened. Now we
Speaker 1: pick up her story in Luke. Chapter one started with
Speaker 1: verse eight, and this is the story of the miraculous
Speaker 1: birth of John the Baptist.
Speaker 2: Elizabeth was the sister of the cousin.
Speaker 1: Of Mary, and she was the mother of John the Baptist,
Speaker 1: who was the forerunner, or the announcer of the Messiah.
Speaker 2: Here's what it says on the screen.
Speaker 1: One day, Zachariah was chosen to enter the Temple of
Speaker 1: God to burn incense.
Speaker 2: He was a priest.
Speaker 1: While he was doing that, a large crowd of worshippers
Speaker 1: stood outside the temple praying. But inside the temple, an
Speaker 1: angel appeared to Zachariah standing at the right side of
Speaker 1: the incense altar. When Zachariah saw the angel, he was
Speaker 1: startled and overwhelmed with fear. But the angel said, don't
Speaker 1: be afraid, Zachariah. Your persistent prayers have been heard. Now
Speaker 1: we'll come back to that. I might circle it. Your
Speaker 1: persistent prayers have been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will
Speaker 1: finally conceive. She'll bear you a son, and you are
Speaker 1: to name him John. This boy will not only bring
Speaker 1: great joy to you, but many other people are going
Speaker 1: to be blessed by his life too, and they'll celebrate
Speaker 1: his birth one day. John will become a great man
Speaker 1: for the Lord. Later, Jesus would call John the Babtist
Speaker 1: the greatest human being that ever lived. God said, John
Speaker 1: the Babtist was the greatest human being that ever lived.
Speaker 1: John will become a great man for the Lord. He
Speaker 1: is never to drink any wine or any other alcohol,
Speaker 1: and God will fill him with his Holy spirit, even
Speaker 1: from birth as a baby. And God will use him
Speaker 1: to bring many people back to the Lord. He will
Speaker 1: preach with the spirit and the power of Elijah. And
Speaker 1: he's gonna reconcile fathers and children. He's gonna put families
Speaker 1: back together, restore harmony in the home. He's gonna get
Speaker 1: disobedient people to think and act in the right ways again.
Speaker 1: And this will prepare the people for the coming of
Speaker 1: the Messiah. Those of you who are old enough to
Speaker 1: remember Johnny Carson, anybody remember him, and Johnny Carson's sidekick
Speaker 1: was who Ed McMahon and everything on night TV. He'd go,
Speaker 1: here's Johnny. He was the announcer. John the Baptist was
Speaker 1: the announcer for Jesus. Here's Jesus, He's coming. He's gonna
Speaker 1: be here. Get ready. This will prepare the people for
Speaker 1: the coming of the Messiah. But then Zacharih said to
Speaker 1: the angel, how am I going to know that what
Speaker 1: you're saying is true? I can't believe he's doubting an angel? Okay,
Speaker 1: But he go, ah, am I gonna know what you're
Speaker 1: saying is he's doubting? He says, I am an old man,
Speaker 1: and my wife is well along in years too.
Speaker 2: Notice how polite he is to his wife.
Speaker 1: I'm an old man, he doesn't say, And I'm married
Speaker 1: to an old lady. An he says, and my wife's
Speaker 1: old in age too, or up there, he's very polite.
Speaker 1: Then the angel answered, I am Gabriel. I'm Gabriel. I stand.
Speaker 1: He's an archangel. I stand in the presence of God,
Speaker 1: and God has sent me to tell you this good news.
Speaker 1: But because you've doubted my words, you're going to be
Speaker 1: struck silent and unable to speak any words until the
Speaker 1: day that Elizabeth delivers her baby. But every word that
Speaker 1: I've told you will happen at just the right time now. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: all the people outside of the temple are wondering what's
Speaker 1: taking Zachariah so long. He's just going into light incense,
Speaker 1: And people weren't allowed in the temple. Only the priest
Speaker 1: could go on the temple, and in the Holy of
Speaker 1: Holies only one day a year, on the day of Atonement.
Speaker 1: But when he came out, Zachariah couldn't speak a word,
Speaker 1: so they realized that he'd seen some kind of vision
Speaker 1: in the temple. Zachariah kept making signs to them, but
Speaker 1: he was unable to speak. Now, in this passage, we
Speaker 1: learned two more things about the wisdom of the wise
Speaker 1: woman named Elizabeth. First, we know verse thirteen, he says,
Speaker 1: your persistent prayers have been heard. So we know that
Speaker 1: Elizabeth and her husband never stopped praying, even after they
Speaker 1: were physically unable to conceive. They kept praying. This is
Speaker 1: a mark of wisdom, even in all of her pain,
Speaker 1: even in all of her disappointment, even in all of
Speaker 1: her dashed hopes, even as she got older and older,
Speaker 1: she kept on praying. That's a mark of wisdom. And
Speaker 1: in verse twenty, when Gabriel says every word that I've
Speaker 1: told you will happen at just the right time, we
Speaker 1: know that Elizabeth also understood the timing of God is
Speaker 1: better than my own timing. She understood what it meant
Speaker 1: to wait on God's timing. She had her timetable for
Speaker 1: a baby, but God had his timetable for a baby.
Speaker 1: She had her plans, and she knew that she could
Speaker 1: trust God and she could trust God's timing. Both of these,
Speaker 1: praying persistently and being patient are marks of wisdom. That's
Speaker 1: why Elizabeth is a wise woman. Now there on your outline,
Speaker 1: it says this one Peter Luke. Sometime later, Elizabeth became pregnant.
Speaker 2: This is a miracle.
Speaker 1: Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months she never left
Speaker 1: her home. Okay, she isolates herself, she's housebound. She never
Speaker 1: left her home. I think this is probably she's just
Speaker 1: being careful and smart with her pregnancy. I'm an old woman.
Speaker 1: I don't want to miscarry. I'm going to stay home
Speaker 1: because God's given me this miracle baby. But she kept
Speaker 1: praising God all these months, saying, the Lord did this
Speaker 1: for me, and he has shown his blessing and has
Speaker 1: taken away my shame and pain. Now she gives all
Speaker 1: the credit to God, and he says she's taken God
Speaker 1: has taken away my pain and my shame.
Speaker 2: Why would she be ashamed of not having a baby.
Speaker 1: Well, because she lived in a very different culture than ours,
Speaker 1: and two thousand years ago, a woman's value was largely
Speaker 1: determined by how many kids she produced, and if she
Speaker 1: produced a big family, she was extremely valuable to that family.
Speaker 1: She was considered the mother of future generations. Now that's
Speaker 1: not true today. But she felt the shame of the
Speaker 1: culture of that day because she was unable to have children.
Speaker 1: If you had a lot of kids, you were highly valued.
Speaker 1: If you had a few kids, okay, if you had
Speaker 1: no kids, well, there was a a there was a
Speaker 1: pallor there was a shame on that. She said, God
Speaker 1: has taken away my shame. Now we pick up the
Speaker 1: rest of the story in verse fifty seven. Look up
Speaker 1: here on the screen. When Elizabeth gave birth to her son,
Speaker 1: her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had blessed her.
Speaker 1: All three of these women get the word blessed in
Speaker 1: their life. You want God's blessing, you make wise decisions.
Speaker 1: I'll say it again. If you want God's blessing, you
Speaker 1: make wise decisions. The Lord had blessed her, and she
Speaker 1: shared her joy. They shared her joy. Now eight days
Speaker 1: later later, they that's all the relatives came for the circumcision,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna name the baby after his father, Zachariah.
Speaker 1: But Elizabeth spoke up and said, no, he is to
Speaker 1: be called John.
Speaker 2: So they objected.
Speaker 1: But wait a minute, Elizabeth, you don't have any relatives
Speaker 1: with that name. So they asked his father Zachariah what
Speaker 1: he'd like to name the child. Zachariah asked for a
Speaker 1: writing tablet, and immediately, and to everyone's astonishment, he wrote,
Speaker 1: his name is John. This is what they had been
Speaker 1: told by the angel to name him immediately. As soon
Speaker 1: as he did that, he got his voice back. This
Speaker 1: is the miracle, and he began praising God. Now, this
Speaker 1: story the miraculous birth, and John is Zacharai getting this
Speaker 1: miraculous voice back. This story filled the entire community with
Speaker 1: deep awe and everywhere everyone was talking about it and
Speaker 1: wondering what kind of special person. Is this child going
Speaker 1: to be for what was obvious that God's power was
Speaker 1: on him. Now Elizabeth understands the delay. Her entire life,
Speaker 1: She's been praying for a baby. God intended to give
Speaker 1: her a baby. But God's plan was bigger than Elizabeth.
Speaker 1: Elizabeth just wanted a baby. God says, No, you're going
Speaker 1: to be the mother of the greatest human being ever
Speaker 1: to live, as Jesus called John the Baptist. You're going
Speaker 1: to be the mother of the forerunner of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Doubt to be the forerunner. John couldn't be born thirty
Speaker 1: years early or twenty years earlier. He needed to be
Speaker 1: born just about the same time, literally just a few
Speaker 1: months before the Messiah is going to be born.
Speaker 2: Now she gets it. Now, she understands.
Speaker 1: All that time he had been praying, I've been thinking
Speaker 1: God wasn't here in my prayer. Here's the point. A
Speaker 1: delay is not a denial. You need to realize that
Speaker 1: in your life. A delay is not a denial. And
Speaker 1: the difference between a wise person and a foolish person,
Speaker 1: or the difference between a mature person and an immature
Speaker 1: person is you know, the difference between no and not
Speaker 1: yet no child knows the difference. When a child asks
Speaker 1: a parent can I have this and you say not yet,
Speaker 1: they think it means no and they start having to crying.
Speaker 1: Only when you get mature, only when you get wise,
Speaker 1: do you understand the difference between no and not yet.
Speaker 1: All of Elizabeth's life, she'd been wanting and praying for
Speaker 1: this to something to happen in her life that hadn't happened.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've been wanting and praying for something to happen
Speaker 1: in your life it hadn't happened yet. It just tells
Speaker 1: me that a God has something bigger and better planned
Speaker 1: for you. You need to be patient, You need to trust God.
Speaker 1: Now Here is the choice that Elizabeth made that made
Speaker 1: her a wise woman. If you want to be a
Speaker 1: wise woman, if you want to be a wise man,
Speaker 1: here's the first thing you need to do.
Speaker 2: Write this down.
Speaker 1: Elizabeth was blessed because she chose to trust God's plan
Speaker 1: instead of being bitter. She chose it was a decision
Speaker 1: to trust God's plan instead of being bitter. What are
Speaker 1: you being tempted to be bitter about? It just means
Speaker 1: you're not trusting God's plan. You think you know more
Speaker 1: than God does a wise person trust God's plan and
Speaker 1: timing even when it doesn't make sense, even when you
Speaker 1: can't figure it out. Now, the second wise woman of Christmas,
Speaker 1: of course, is Mary, and we find her story in
Speaker 1: Luke chapter one. Start in about verse twenty six. Up
Speaker 1: here on the screen, it says this, in the sixth
Speaker 1: month of Elizabeth's pregnancy. Remember, Mary and Elizabeth are related
Speaker 1: by which makes by the way John, the Babists and
Speaker 1: Jesus were cousins. In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy,
Speaker 1: God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
Speaker 1: to a young virgin pledged to be married to a
Speaker 1: man named Joseph.
Speaker 2: Her name was Mary. Now the angel said, greetings, God.
Speaker 1: Has chosen you for a special blessing and He is
Speaker 1: with you. But Mary was frightened and confused. This is
Speaker 1: her initial reaction, fear and confusion, and she tried to
Speaker 1: figure out what this greeting might mean. So the Angel
Speaker 1: said to it, don't be a frightened Mary, for God
Speaker 1: has decided to bless you in a wonderful way. You're
Speaker 1: going to have a baby, and he will be a boy,
Speaker 1: and you're going to name him Jesus. He will be
Speaker 1: great and he will be called the Son of the
Speaker 1: Most High, and God will give him King David's throne.
Speaker 1: But his kingdom is going to last forever and never end.
Speaker 2: How can this be?
Speaker 1: Mary asked, since I'm a virgin, I've never known a man.
Speaker 1: The Angel answered, God's spirit will come over you and
Speaker 1: his power will overshadow you. So the holy child that
Speaker 1: you carry will be called the Son of God. For
Speaker 1: right now, your own relative Elizabeth is about to have
Speaker 1: a baby, even in her old age, because nothing is impossible.
Speaker 1: With God, he can do anything. Then Mary answered, well,
Speaker 1: I am the Lord's servant and I accept whatever he
Speaker 1: plans for me.
Speaker 2: May it happen as you have said.
Speaker 1: This is a surrender, it's a submission. So the angel
Speaker 1: left her. Then Mary got ready and traveled quickly to
Speaker 1: the town where her relatives, Zachary and Elizabeth lived. When
Speaker 1: Mary entered their home, she greeted Elizabeth, and when Elizabeth
Speaker 1: heard Mary's greeting, her baby leapt in her womb, and
Speaker 1: instantly Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Overcome with joy,
Speaker 1: Elizabeth exclaimed in a loud voice, Mary, you are the
Speaker 1: most blessed woman. On earth, and the child you are
Speaker 1: caring is the most blessed too.
Speaker 2: But why why am I so blessed that the mother
Speaker 2: of my Lord should visit me?
Speaker 1: The moment I heard the sound of your voice, Mary,
Speaker 1: the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
Speaker 2: Mary, you are this is the key.
Speaker 1: You are blessed because you believed that God would do
Speaker 1: what he said he'd do.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Mary responded by singing her praise to God. My soul
Speaker 1: praises God's greatness, and my spirit rejoices that he is
Speaker 1: my savior. He noticed me, He noticed me. God noticed
Speaker 1: me his humble servant girl. And from now on all
Speaker 1: generations will call me blessed because of what the Holy
Speaker 1: God has done for me. So Mary stayed with Elizabeth
Speaker 1: for about three months and then return home.
Speaker 2: In those days, men and women married very very young.
Speaker 1: Mary might have been fifteen years old, probably at the
Speaker 1: most sixteen, when she hears this news that she's pregnant,
Speaker 1: and she's filled with fear. Who wouldn't be first of
Speaker 1: an angel showed up. That scare me, probably scare you too.
Speaker 1: But then what the angel says to that's even more scary.
Speaker 2: Mary.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be pregnant, You've never known a man, and
Speaker 1: the daddy.
Speaker 2: Of the baby's gonna be God, right right?
Speaker 1: Okay, So imagine all the possible fear is going through
Speaker 1: her mind. First, there's a fear of criticism. How'm I
Speaker 1: gonna tell my mom?
Speaker 2: Hi? Mom? Uh, yeah, I know I'm.
Speaker 1: Engaged to Joseph, but I'm pregnant and Joseph isn't the daddy.
Speaker 1: Oh and by the way, the daddy is God and
Speaker 1: I'm caring the son of God. Would your mother believe that?
Speaker 1: Pretty unlikely? Teenage girl? Hi Mom, I'm pregnant and God's
Speaker 1: the reason. So how am I gonna explain that to
Speaker 1: my mom? How I'm I gonna explain it to all
Speaker 1: my aunts and my uncles, to my sisters. How am
Speaker 1: I going to explain it to Joseph, the man I love.
Speaker 2: That I'm gaging.
Speaker 1: Hi, honey, I'm pregnant and you know we haven't had sex.
Speaker 1: How am I going to explain it to the whole community.
Speaker 1: It's probably one of the reasons why immediately after she
Speaker 1: heard this news, she goes to another town for three months.
Speaker 2: To live with her relatives.
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Zacharie because she doesn't want to have to explain
Speaker 1: this to everybody. It's not gonna make any sense at all.
Speaker 1: So there's the fear of criticism. But there's also the
Speaker 1: fear of the supernatural. She said, how am I going
Speaker 1: to be pregnant? And the Holy Spirit I mean and
Speaker 1: angel says, the Holy Spirit will come over you and
Speaker 1: overshadow you. The fear of the supernatural. What's gonna happen
Speaker 1: to my body? How am I going to be pregnant?
Speaker 1: In the way, the fear of the supernatural. That would
Speaker 1: be a scary thing for anybody, but yet less a
Speaker 1: young girl. Then the fear of inadequacy. How in the
Speaker 1: world am I supposed to be the mother of the
Speaker 1: son of God.
Speaker 2: I'm inadequate.
Speaker 1: I I don't have any schooling, don't have any education.
Speaker 1: I'm just a peasant girl in a tiny village. Why
Speaker 1: me of all people, not something queen or somebody really
Speaker 1: educated in her sense of fear of inadequacy, and then
Speaker 1: of course, the fear of change. How in the world
Speaker 1: is going to change my life? She was engaged to
Speaker 1: be married. You know what, an engaged girl is thinking
Speaker 1: about nothing but her wedding, and she's.
Speaker 2: Making all the wedding plans in her mind. That's what
Speaker 2: she's consumed with. And then Joseph and I'll.
Speaker 1: Get married and will settle down and eventually we'll have
Speaker 1: some kids. But all of a sudden, a monkey wrench
Speaker 1: has been thrown into the plants. Her plans are out
Speaker 1: the window. It's a major, massive change, and this is fearful,
Speaker 1: but she's wise. She's wise, and in verse thirty seven,
Speaker 1: Gabriel says, Mary, nothing is impossible with God. So she's saying,
Speaker 1: God loves me, God chose me, God is with me.
Speaker 2: Nothing's impossible with God.
Speaker 1: Okay, I can handle this, not because my strength, but
Speaker 1: because God is with me. God loves me, God planned it.
Speaker 1: He's not going to overwhelm me with something I can't handle.
Speaker 1: And so, based on the fact that nothing is impossible
Speaker 1: with God, that God's going to help her lover. In
Speaker 1: the next verse, verse thirty eight, she says, I am
Speaker 1: the Lord's servant. I accept whatever he plans for me.
Speaker 1: May it be according to your word. Mary wisely surrenders
Speaker 1: to the will of God. Have you done that yet?
Speaker 1: Have you wisely surrendered your life to the will of God?
Speaker 1: If you hadn't, there's a word for that. Foolishness. It
Speaker 1: is unwise to go with your plan for your life
Speaker 1: when God, who created you, has a plan for your life.
Speaker 1: Wise people say whatever God wants from my life. I'm
Speaker 1: in I did not understand it, but I'm going to say,
Speaker 1: whatever God wants for my life, that's what I want.
Speaker 2: That's what wisdom does.
Speaker 1: And so she wants God's will more for her life
Speaker 1: than anything else. She's like David in the Old Testament
Speaker 1: Psalm forty. On the screen, David said, I desire to
Speaker 1: do your will, Oh my God, have you ever prayed
Speaker 1: that prayer? Have you ever told God, God, I desire
Speaker 1: to do your will, not mine. I desire to do
Speaker 1: your plan, not mine. I desire to fulfill your purpose
Speaker 1: for my life, not mine. That's what wisdom does. So
Speaker 1: we know that the wisdom of surrendering to God's will,
Speaker 1: God's plan shows a mark of wisdom. And the second thing,
Speaker 1: we know that Mary was a woman of the words.
Speaker 2: She knew this book, she.
Speaker 1: Had much, many many scriptures memorized. I don't have time
Speaker 1: to read the song that Mary sings spontaneously at Elizabeth's house,
Speaker 1: but it contains about ten references to Old Testament verses
Speaker 1: She knew this book backwards and forwards, so much so
Speaker 1: that she could do, on the spot write a song
Speaker 1: that would quote Isaiah and quote so many others in
Speaker 1: the Old Testament.
Speaker 2: Could you do that?
Speaker 1: Could you on the spot just write a song based
Speaker 1: on scripture verses.
Speaker 2: That's why she's a wise woman. She knew the word
Speaker 2: of God.
Speaker 1: And if you want to be a wise man, you
Speaker 1: need to know the word of God, the Bible says
Speaker 1: to Luke chapter two. Here on the screen, Mary quietly
Speaker 1: treasured these things, all that God told her in her heart,
Speaker 1: and she often thought about them.
Speaker 2: That's a mark of wisdom.
Speaker 1: You think about what God says, and you think about
Speaker 1: it over and over and over. Now here's the second
Speaker 1: key to being a wise person, a wise woman, or
Speaker 1: a wise man. Number two, Mary was blessed. Write this down.
Speaker 1: Mary was blessed because she chose to believe God's word
Speaker 1: instead of her fears. She chose to believe God's word
Speaker 1: what God had said, then to believe her fears. And
Speaker 1: she certainly had a lot of fears, I'm sure in
Speaker 1: her life. But she said, I'm not going to believe
Speaker 1: my fears. I'm going to believe the truth. That God
Speaker 1: has said. Let me ask you this morning, what are
Speaker 1: you believing? Are you believing your fears, all those fears
Speaker 1: that pop in your mind, all those worries, all those anxieties.
Speaker 1: Are you believing your fears? Are you believing what God
Speaker 1: says in his word? To believe your fears is dumb.
Speaker 1: To believe your believe what God has said is wise.
Speaker 1: That's what makes wise women and wise men. Now we
Speaker 1: come to the third wise woman in the story of Christmas,
Speaker 1: and her name is Anna, and Anna is in Luke
Speaker 1: chapter two.
Speaker 2: On your outline, it.
Speaker 1: Says in verse twenty two of Luke two, after the
Speaker 1: birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary took the baby to
Speaker 1: the temple in Jerusalem to dedicate him to God because
Speaker 1: the law that God gave Moses, the Jewish law, said
Speaker 1: every firstborn boy is to be dedicated back to God.
Speaker 1: This specifically is Exodus thirteen to two. Now, here's the
Speaker 1: first part of the story before we get to Anna.
Speaker 1: Up here on the screen Luke chapter two, Verse twenty five. Now,
Speaker 1: there was an old man living in Jerusalem named Simeon,
Speaker 1: who was very righteous and.
Speaker 2: God and loved God deeply.
Speaker 1: God had promised Simeon that he would not die until
Speaker 1: he had seen the promised savior of the world with
Speaker 1: his own eyes.
Speaker 2: It's quite a promise.
Speaker 1: Now, on the day that Joseph and Mary arrived in Jerusalem,
Speaker 1: God's spirit prompted Zachariah to go and wait in the temple. Course,
Speaker 1: now this message is not about Zachariah, but I want
Speaker 1: to make this point. When God's spirit prompts you to
Speaker 1: do something, run because you're about to have the biggest
Speaker 1: blessing of your life. If Zachariah had not listened to
Speaker 1: that inner spirit that prompting go to the temple now,
Speaker 1: he would have missed what he'd been promised to see
Speaker 1: all of his entire life. No, I think I'm a
Speaker 1: little tired. I'm not going to go to the temple.
Speaker 1: I'm going to stay home and watch the ball game.
Speaker 1: I'm going to mow the lawn. I've got some chores
Speaker 1: to do. I need to clean up the kitchen. When
Speaker 1: God prompts you to do something, do it instantly. Some
Speaker 1: of you have missed amazing blessings in your life because
Speaker 1: you didn't listen to the promptings of God. You got
Speaker 1: this little inkling, this little impression that said, go do this,
Speaker 1: and it was the Holy Spirit telling you to do that,
Speaker 1: go do this, and you didn't, and you missed a
Speaker 1: huge blessing in your life. When you get a prompting
Speaker 1: of God's spirit, you need to do it immediately because
Speaker 1: it means God's getting ready to do something really cool,
Speaker 1: really great. So he goes to the temple, and in
Speaker 1: the temple he finds Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus,
Speaker 1: and in verse twenty eight it says this Simeon took
Speaker 1: the baby in his arms and he thanked God loudly,
Speaker 1: loudly saying, Lord, now I can die in peace as
Speaker 1: you promised me. I've now seen the savior that you've
Speaker 1: given to all people. He is the light that you
Speaker 1: have sent to the world to reveal yourself to all people.
Speaker 1: You want to know what God's like, look at Jesus.
Speaker 1: God sent Jesus to be the light of the world
Speaker 1: to let us see what God is really like. You
Speaker 1: want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.
Speaker 1: So now you sent the light to the world to
Speaker 1: reveal yourself to all people. Now Joseph and Mary just
Speaker 1: stood there speechless. They were amazed. At what was being
Speaker 1: said about the baby. When the word there says when Zachariah,
Speaker 1: I mean Simeon thanked God for the baby. The word
Speaker 1: there in Greek is the word you look gay. Oh,
Speaker 1: you look gay? Oh is the word we get eulogy from.
Speaker 1: A eulogy is what we usually say about people when
Speaker 1: they die. But here a Simeon is giving a eulogy
Speaker 1: about Jesus, but he's just been born on the front
Speaker 1: end of his life. A eulogy literally means to speak
Speaker 1: a bleating, to say something good, to say something good.
Speaker 1: And he says, this little baby is going to be
Speaker 1: the savior of the whole world. He's speaking something good,
Speaker 1: and they're shocked. Now in verse thirty six, we come
Speaker 1: to Anna and it says this that day there was
Speaker 1: also a woman named Anna worshiping in the temple. Anna
Speaker 1: was a prophetess, and she was very old. She'd been
Speaker 1: a widow most of her life because her husband had
Speaker 1: died after being married only seven years, so as a
Speaker 1: young bride loses the love of her life. Anna was
Speaker 1: now eighty four years old, so she's spent over seventy
Speaker 1: five years alone alone, So we're seventy five years old,
Speaker 1: and since she had no family, she never left the
Speaker 1: temple courtyards. She stayed there day and night, worshiping God
Speaker 1: with her prayers and her fasting. Interesting thing here, what
Speaker 1: do you do with a blocked love when all of
Speaker 1: a sudden who you want to love is not there?
Speaker 1: You redirect it. When you have a block love, you readirect.
Speaker 1: If you can't have a baby and you want and
Speaker 1: you would love to love it, you can adopt. You
Speaker 1: can help with foster children. You can redirect your love.
Speaker 1: There are plenty of children in the world who need
Speaker 1: your love. But Anna redirects her love. She says, I've
Speaker 1: lost the love of my life, my husband. We've only
Speaker 1: been married seven years. And she says, I'm going to
Speaker 1: redirect my love toward God. And she says, I'm just
Speaker 1: going to worship God and love God and love the
Speaker 1: people who come into the temple, and that that's going
Speaker 1: to be my life. That's going to be my ministry.
Speaker 1: She stayed there night and day, worshiping God with prayers
Speaker 1: and fasting. Now, Justice Simeon was dedicating the baby to God,
Speaker 1: and I walked by. She paused to listen. Then Anna
Speaker 1: joined in praying for the baby. And she thanked God
Speaker 1: for sending a Now here's the key to her life.
Speaker 1: From then on the moment she had seen Jesus, the
Speaker 1: moment she met Jesus.
Speaker 2: From then on, Anna.
Speaker 1: Talked about Jesus to everyone. Anna talked about Jesus to
Speaker 1: everyone who was looking for redemption and freedom in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: Write this down. Here's the third mark of wisdom. Anna
Speaker 1: was blessed because she made a decision. And the decision
Speaker 1: she made was she chose to focus on God's presence
Speaker 1: and talk to everyone about Jesus.
Speaker 2: Said, I've lost the love of my life. I'm alone.
Speaker 1: I'm going to use my life to focus on God's presence.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna worship him all the time, love him all
Speaker 1: the time, pray all the time.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna focus on and I'm going to tell everybody
Speaker 2: about Jesus. That's wise. That's wise.
Speaker 1: Are you wise? Are you focusing on God? Are you
Speaker 1: telling other people about Jesus? The Bible says he who
Speaker 1: wineth souls is wise? Why don't you be like Anna
Speaker 1: and say, I'm going to focus on God's presence, not
Speaker 1: my pain, not my grief, not my loss, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to focus on telling people about Jesus. Now, all
Speaker 1: three of these wise women had heartaches. Okay, Remember Elizabeth
Speaker 1: is a married woman unable to have a child. Mary
Speaker 1: is a single woman pregnant with the pregnancy she can't
Speaker 1: explain to anybody else. And Anna is a widowed who
Speaker 1: spent most of her life without any family and no relatives.
Speaker 1: And so they have resentment, and they have fear, and
Speaker 1: they have grief. But they all made choices. Will you
Speaker 1: make these same three choices? Will you choose to trust
Speaker 1: God's plan instead of being bitter? Will you choose to
Speaker 1: trust to believe God's word instead.
Speaker 2: Of your fears?
Speaker 1: And will you choose to focus on God's presence not
Speaker 1: your loss?
Speaker 2: And tell everybody about Jesus.
Speaker 1: Last night in the service, there was a man who
Speaker 1: came who had never ever been in a Christian church.
Speaker 2: Ever, he was a Hindu background.
Speaker 1: And he came in and he watched the Christmas story
Speaker 1: and he heard this message, and at the end of
Speaker 1: the service he opened his life to Christ. And afterwards
Speaker 1: he went outside and was baptized immediately.
Speaker 2: Some of you need to do that. Now, let's bow
Speaker 2: our heads first.
Speaker 1: I want those of you who already know the Lord
Speaker 1: to pray this prayer.
Speaker 2: Everybody can pray it, actually, but.
Speaker 1: Just say God, I'm going to true choose to be wise.
Speaker 1: I want to be wise, and I want to choose
Speaker 1: to trust your plan instead of getting bitter that things
Speaker 1: don't always go my way and the things I've prayed
Speaker 1: for don't always get a yes answer. I'm going to
Speaker 1: trust your plan and your timing. Then when you say God,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna choose to believe your word instead of my fears.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna believe my fears anymore. I'm going to
Speaker 1: believe the truth. And then will you say God, I'm
Speaker 1: going to choose to focus on your presence, that you're
Speaker 1: close to me, You're near me. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: focus on what I've lost. I'm not going to focus
Speaker 1: on my grief. And I'm going to talk to everyone
Speaker 1: about Jesus. I want to be known for the person
Speaker 1: who talks about Jesus. I want to be a wise man.
Speaker 1: I want to be a wise woman. If you've never
Speaker 1: opened your life to Christ, say Jesus Christ, I open
Speaker 1: my heart to you right now.
Speaker 2: I invite you to come into my.
Speaker 1: Life and fill it with your love and your peace
Speaker 1: and your purpose. And I want to get to know you,
Speaker 1: and I want to learn to love you and trust you.
Speaker 1: And today I accept God's Christmas gift to me, the
Speaker 1: gift of his son. I ask you to accept me
Speaker 1: into your family. And I humbly ask this in your name,
Speaker 1: amenas as