I'd like for you to turn with me this morning to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. We have an account of this same thing in the book of Matthew, but Luke is more detailed concerning the birth of Christ than Matthew. So let's begin reading in verse 26. And in the sixth month, this is not talking about the sixth month of the year, but in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy.

She was pregnant with John the Baptist. Hid herself for five months, it says in the verse before. And then in this verse, and in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto the city of Galilee named Nazareth. to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.

And the angel came in unto her, said, Hail, thou art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying. and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.

And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. And he shall be great, and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there'll be no end.

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. And Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah and entered into the house of Zacharias, Elizabeth's husband, and saluted Elizabeth. And they began to talk to one another. Now look over in chapter 2. in verse 1.

And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first when Cyrenius was governor in Syria. And all went to be taxed, everyone to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth Judea unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You'll find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which came to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And so they did.

Father, we come to you this morning realizing our weakness and inabilities. praying for your hand upon us to help us to make known these things, these great mysteries hidden from men under the glory of your own children. And Father, we realize that we've been singled out and that you've been gracious to us, given us all that we have, given us faith, deliverance, justification, even glorification in our Christ. And Father, we'd ask that you be with us this morning. Allow us, enable us by your grace to worship you. That our hearts might be raised up in fear and raised up in joy and praise. Allow us to worship you for those things and make us thankful. Oh Lord, how thankful we ought to be.

Be with us now, we ask it for Christ's sake. Amen. All right, if you would for our hymn this morning, let's turn back to hymn number 13. I'm going to sing this hymn to Majestic's weakness. Hymn number 13, all things together work for good. Hymn number 13, All Things Together Work for Good. All things together work for good by God's all-wise design. To those who love their sovereign Lord, the call by grace divine. The call by grace divine. My God before the world was made predestinated all.

And nothing happens in this world beyond my God's control. Beyond my God's control. He chose me in eternal love. Redeemed me by His blood He called me and He gave me life And He will do me good And He will do me good My God, I trust Your providence Your will, not mine, be done Content I wait to see your grace and bow before your throne, and bow before your throne. My life, my all, I now resign to you, my Lord and God. Nothing I ask or seek except the glory of my God. The glory of my God.

Thank you. He will turn back with me. You can put a marker there in Luke chapter 1, maybe even one in Matthew chapter 1, if you'd like to. I have one verse from Matthew 1 I want to read to you in just a minute. It's my sincere prayer and my heart's desire to see God's sheep brought into his fold. I think I can say that. without being a hypocrite. I really do. I desire to see men believe. Don't you? To see his elect called and brought into a saving relationship with his dear son. I want to see chosen sinners arrested.

They're going on their way. They're on. We used to use this saying, I'm on a roll. They're on a roll. We got a business. We got a job. We got a name. I got a goal. I'm on a roll. Don't bother me. And they're just going about their business. And God arrests them. He said, that's enough. That's enough. He puts a stop to it. He intervenes in their life and brings them to an abrupt halt.

And then he turns them. He turns them. He turns them from this present evil world to the true and living God. Turns them from their religious idolatry to the true and living God. I long to see it, to see them arrested and then broken. Oh, I tell you, you haven't been broken till the Lord breaks you. You're broken, brokenhearted. Blessed are the brokenhearted. I want to see chosen sinners arrested, broken, brought to repentance toward God. How does a man come to repentance? He's led there. How? By the goodness of God. The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.

That's what it says. and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know without a doubt that all for whom Christ died are saved by the person and work of his Son, and that because they are saved in his Son, that salvation purchased, that righteousness wrought out, that justification accomplished, I know that because they are, the Spirit of the living God shall do affects your work in them and bring them to faith in Christ. I know that's going to happen to every one of his children. And I also know by the Word of God and by personal experience that the Spirit of God uses the means of gospel preaching to do this amazing work.

Now that's how it comes to pass. We could sit here all afternoon and I could show you scripture after Scripture, after Scripture. False religion, anti-Christ religion, a religion that's cursed this present evil world and caused them to wander after the beast. That's how it's described in the book of Revelation.

They glory in a universal salvation, a universal love, and a universal sacrifice, none of which are even mentioned in the Scripture. But here is a universal statement concerning all men. First Corinthians 121. For after that in the wisdom of God, the world, the whole universe, the world by wisdom knew not God. Now that's not their confession. They'll argue with you all day long that they do know God. I know who he is. I know who Jesus Christ is. I know what he did. I know these things. No, you don't. No, you don't. After that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

You want something universal? There it is. There it is. Paul called this a great mystery. He said it was hidden from the world from the very beginning under our glory. Why is it under our glory? Because he gives his people an understanding. It's given under you to know the mysteries of the kingdom, Christ said to his apostles, but under them it's not given. It's under our glory, this mystery hidden from generations. It's under our glory, he said.

And you can live in denial of the word of God and die in your sins, or you can bow unto the Lord and submit to his word. You're going to do one or the other. It's just so. Now, Isaiah 7, where the Lord speaks of this virgin-born son of God, God himself shall give you a sign. A virgin is going to conceive, bring forth a son. Isaiah 7, where the Lord speaks about this virgin born son of God, he's giving this promise concerning the preservation of the kingdom of Judah. The rest of Israel is all fired up and they're going to destroy Judah. God said, no you're not. No you're not. The scepter's not going to depart from Judah till Shavuot comes.

Isn't that what he said? You reckon God's going to have his way? That's what he says. But he goes all the way forward to the reason why. He goes all the way forward to the birth of Jesus Christ, which is our hope. That's our hope. And that's my message to you this morning, a picture of hope.

God has an Israel, a spiritual Israel, a chosen people, and some of those people are Jews. Not all of them, but some of them are Jews, and some of them are Gentile. And of him that is of God are ye, whether you be Jew or Gentile, are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us righteousness, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Salvation is in a person. And it's in a person that according as it is written, he that gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord. That's why it's in a person. That's how you save in him.

Now, what I want to do this morning is to show you a picture of how God saves sinners. And you may look at it and say, well, that's an oversimplification. Well, be that what it is, I'm trying to be as simple as I know how to be. Ignorant as we are, we need to be simple, don't we? So I want us to see this morning, I want to show you a picture of how God saves sinners.

Someone once said a picture is worth 1,000 words. And I don't know how accurate that formula is, but it's certain that a picture carries a better understanding than a bunch of words. Our Lord used pictures. He used parables. It said, without a parable spake he nothing unto them. Why? Because they needed simplicity. And we do too. We do too.

We throw too many terms out and expect everybody sitting here to understand what they mean. I used to sit there and wonder, I don't, well, everybody knows what this means. No, I didn't. I wasn't going to hold my hand up and show my ignorance, but I didn't understand it. And a lot of times we throw out terms, justification, sanctification, and expect that everybody listening understands exactly what you're talking about.

They don't. They don't. Our Lord used parables to teach for this very reason, and without a parable is faking nothing. And my text may seem a little unusual, But I promise you the picture is the same gospel picture given everywhere in this book. As the whole of creation groaneth in expectation of the manifestation of the sons of God, so it waited on the appearing of their Savior. They waited, waited. And there's two appearances that really concern our hope in God. The first is his appearance as the promised redeemer. Scripture said, once in the end of the world hath he appeared.

Why? To put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. My hope rests on that. Don't yours? The others given in Titus chapter 3, verse 4. And that is the kindness and love of God our Savior appearing through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. There's something that takes place in the center, and this hope is generated in Him.

And that's my subject this morning, a picture of hope. I want us to examine how our hope come into this world through this young lady and see how he comes into the hearts of chosen sinners the same way and for the same reason. I've got six things I want us to see this morning. I'll try to hurry and spend just a little time on each one. And I pray by these things that a real hope will be wrought in us. And if we have a real hope, it'll be an encouragement to you. It'll be a confirmation of it.

First of all, I want you to see that this took place in the life of this young lady was the fulfillment of Holy Scripture. If you're here this morning and you have a hope and it's not based on the word of God, it's based on a feeling or an experience or some tradition of some denomination, You don't have a hope. Our hope is based on the word of God. Based on the word of God.

In Ephesians 2 verse 20, it said, we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. The first thing God's messenger said to Mary when he come there is, I'm here to fulfill the scriptures. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm here. I've got no other reason to preach to men except I'm convinced that this is what the scripture teaches. If it's not, then I'm wasting my time. I'm wasting your time and wasting mine. If this is one of many options, I'm still wasting my time.

In Matthew's gospel it says concerning Mary, now all this was done, verse 22, Matthew chapter 1. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. God with us. Now let me just ask you a question. I'm going to get away from my notes for just a minute. You think Mary thought all this was going to happen to her? You think she was seeking this in any way, shape, or form?

Her mind was no different than any young lady about to be married. Her mind was on her marriage, probably some upon her poverty. Some upon their future, thinking about children and their future and where they're going to live and where they're going to go and what's he going to do to support me. She wasn't thinking about the Lord accomplishing his salvation. She's just another sinner just like you and I. You know how our Lord described this world at the very end of time. They shall be marrying and given in marriage. They're going to keep right on doing it. That's where their mind is. That's what their thoughts were on. It was on nothing else.

And here's this young lady, and God sends her a messenger. And that's the second thing. Every person God has chosen to give this hope of glory to, he visits with a messenger sent of him. Be he angel or man? It never says. I was interested to see. But it never says what form Gabriel appeared to Mary in. Usually, when he comes to God's saints, he appears as a man. But it doesn't say that. Mary might have just heard the voice. I don't know. I don't know. But he tells her who he is. I'm Gabriel.

Our Lord said, no man can come unto me except the Father which sent me draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. So how then does God the Father draw me to Christ? How does he teach me? John 6, 45, as it's written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me. How does the Father teach us?

I read it to you in 1 Corinthians 121. It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Christ gave his commission to the church. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.

And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Do you think God is going to vary from that? No. He's unchangeable. He ain't going to vary. There is a time and an occasion set for every chosen sinner to be given the faith of God's elect. Do you believe that? Boy, I do. I do. And they don't know who it is. The preacher don't know who it is. And the one being saved don't know. They won't know until the situation comes to pass.

That's how it's revealed. Now, here's the third thing I want you to see. Every message sent of God to give hope to a chosen sinner is the same message. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now this was a grand messenger. This was Gabriel. I stand before God. That's what he told Zechariah. I'm Gabriel. I stand before God. God sent me here. And this is Gabriel talking to Mary.

And what did he tell her? You're going to have a child. You're going to have a child. What's that got to do with anything? Oh, he's the son of God. He's the son of God. He's the son of the highest. He's going to reign forever in the house of Jacob. Of his kingdom, there's going to be no end. This wasn't just a child. This was the child.

God's going to put his son in you. That was his message. What's my message to you? Every believer, God's going to put his son in you. That's the gospel, isn't it? Without that, you don't have a prayer. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Ain't that what it says?

God's going to put his son in you. And what he's going to put in you shall be called Immanuel, God with us. God and man in one person. The God-man, the mediator, the son of God, son of man, the firstborn among many brethren. In him, Paul said, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in him. Mary didn't need anything else, did she? Huh? She didn't need a specialist to have a baby. She had it in her manger. Huh? Didn't have a bit of trouble either.

We're complete in Him. And He's the head of all principality and power. The messenger said to Mary, that holy thing that's in you shall be called the son of the highest. That's a lot different than what I heard growing up. What they told me to do was accept Jesus. Now we're gonna, the angels was very specific. You're gonna call his name Jesus, but here's who he is. He's the son of the highest. He's the God man. He's gonna reign. Oh, well, what if you don't let him? He's gonna reign. That holy thing in you, holy, oh my soul, there's none holy but God. What he puts in you is holy. And that's our hope. Did you know that? He'd chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we might be holy. What he puts in you is holy. There ain't no other way you can talk about a man being holy before God. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. How'd they get to be holy?

In Christ. In Christ. He shall be great. He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there'll be no end. What God put into her physically, he puts into us spiritually. The Son of God, the Savior, Emmanuel. That's why all the repetition and me telling you that Christ is Lord. He's the son of God. He's the God man. I tell you about his accomplishments, his glory, his reign.

That's your only hope. All right, here's the fourth thing. Here's this little maiden. I'm just guessing now. I don't know what the age was, but 16 or 17. And she's talking to Gabriel. I mean, when you think about the greatness and majesty of what's taking place, I just can't wrap my mind around it. But here's this little young girl, and she's talking to Gabriel that stands before God. And she said, how shall these things be? Well, I'm going to tell you something. Before God gave me any understanding of the gospel at all, I asked that very same question.

How can this be? I tried this thing in the flesh. It don't work. Now, I'm telling you, it'll make a hypocrite out of you, and it'll make you know you're a hypocrite. It just don't work. Well, all you have to do is believe. Huh? Show me how you do that. Well, man, it's impossible. Faith is God-given. It's a miracle. It's a miracle.

You think you could walk on water? Peter did by faith, didn't he? You think you could raise the dead? Paul did by faith. Faith is a miracle. Faith lays hold on eternal life. What God put into her physically, he puts into us spiritually. And she asked, how can this be? I know not a man. I have no seed in me. In our case also, has to be a seed. You can't generate something out of nothing. Has to be a seed.

In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul tells us that he and Apollos were ministers by whom you believed. Now listen to this. Even as the Lord gave to every man. Is there a preacher for each one of God's elect? Write it down. That's exactly what that verse says. Even as the Lord gave to every man.

Here's the very next verse, I have planted. What do you mean you planted? Would he plant lettuce? What'd he plant? He planted God's seed. We're fellow laborers with God. He said, you're God's husbandry. I planted the seed, and a pile is watered, but God gave the increase.

Turn with me to chapter 4 of 1 Corinthians. Let me show you something over here. He just continues. He starts his way back in 1 Corinthians 1, and he continues with this thing of the necessity of gospel preaching. He goes halfway through this letter to the Corinthians about this. He tells us in verse 1 of 1 Corinthians 4, that he and Apollos were to be accounted as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Now look down at verse 15. I'm trying to show you how this spiritual seed is put in us.

Verse 15, for though you have 10,000 instructors, what's he talking about? Well, he's talking about every prophet in the Word of God is an instructor. He's talking about everybody who's ever told you anything about the truth of God's elect is an instructor. The Holy Spirit of God, in general, instructs us. We're instructed through creation. It declares the glory of God, doesn't it? Night unto night shall wisdom teach us. For though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel.

I planted. That's what he's talking about. I planted. Where there is no seed, there's going to be no sun. Now it's just so. Mary knew it, and we ought to know it. How can this be? I'll tell you how it's going to be. God's going to plant some seeds. If he's merciful, he'll plant the seed in you. But if he don't, nothing's going to change. Nothing's going to change.

All right, here's the next thing, number five. The presence and power of the Holy Ghost. God was gracious. You know, when Zacharias, we've talked about this on the way over, when Zacharias questioned the giving of a son to his wife, he was struck dumb. Gabriel said, I'm Gabriel. I stand before God. Now, you ain't going to be able to talk till this comes to pass because of your unbelief. He didn't do that to Mary. But Mary wasn't a priest and Zacharias was. And Mary said, I don't see how this will be. I have no seed. I know not a man. Well, we don't have seed either. That's our problem. That's our problem.

Nothing's going to happen until you hear. Isn't that what the Lord said? Read Romans chapter 10 all the way through verse by verse and see if that's not what he's telling you. You can't call on him and whom you've not heard. You can't hear without a preacher. And how's he going to preach if God don't send him? Faith cometh by hearing. How's this going to be?

Well, the presence and power of the Holy Ghost. The works of the Holy Ghost and salvation is all but denied in modern religion. A situation is given. a decision demanded, the answer of which determines the success or failure of the work of Christ. Isn't that what religion does?

If you don't believe, his sacrifice is going to be for nothing. That's what they say. You reckon God's going to allow such a thing? No way. That's nothing but absolute blasphemy. The father himself determined the success of his son's suffering and death, determined his work was effectual by raising him from the dead, and faith is not our savior. It's not. It lays hold of the savior, but faith ain't your savior. Faith didn't justify you. Christ did. Faith doesn't make you righteous. Christ did. He did that by his representative person and work. And faith is a gift of God. It's not a work lest any man should boast. I'll tell you what faith is. It's the receiving of the seed.

That's what it is. Do you think Mary knew she was pregnant right there on the spot? No. No. I don't believe that. I believe it was a little while, and a change took place. And I'm going to tell you something. If he ever puts his seed in you, it'll take a little bit, but a change is going to take place in you.

And it's one that you can't deny. Can't deny. You can't hide it. Lack of a better word, she swelled up. So do we. You can't hold that stuff in. How are you going to hold that in, God's grace and mercy? Oh, my soul. Faith is the gift of God, not of work. It's the receiving of the seed. It's often called being born again. being born again to as many as received him. To them gave he power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born." Born. In John 6, it's described as coming to Christ. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.

In another place, it's called putting on the new man. What new man? He's not talking about the reformed you. He's talking about Christ. That's the new man. I tell you, what he's going to do to reform this flesh, he's going to send it back to the dust. From whence it was taken, isn't that what he said? From dust thou was taken, from dust shalt thou return. He's not going to reform this old flesh. That which is flesh is flesh. That which is spirit is spirit. In another place, it's called entering into his rest.

In Ephesians 1 and 13, it said, in whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. That's the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory. But here's how Gabriel answered the question.

The Holy Ghost shall come upon you. Boy, the only way to understand that is when the Holy Ghost comes upon you. That's the only way. There's no way you can describe to somebody what that is. He opens your mind and heart and you begin to understand things and see the reality of things as they're stated in the scripture, and they're just as real as if you've known them your whole lifetime.

But you didn't know them your whole lifetime, and you're very much aware of that. He's going to come upon you, and the power of the highest shall overshadow you. Therefore, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Paul prayed for the Ephesian saints that the eyes of their understanding, being enlightened, might know what is the hope of their calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he brought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Same power brought in us. The Holy Ghost, that's the answer.

Is preaching important? It is. Is it necessary? It is. But I tell you, it's of no value whatsoever apart from the Holy Ghost. That work done is a work of God. He can do in you what I can only speak of. Moses stood there at that rod and told that seed to split. You reckon that seed heard anything he had to say? That's not what split that sea, God did. He did it through a man, but he split the sea.

And then lastly, what took place in Bethlehem's manger, and you can't bring forth what ain't been put in you. You can't do it. We're going to bring forth that testimony of Christ. We're going to put on the new man. But you can't produce what ain't produced in you. You can't do it.

And lastly, what took place in Bethlehem's manger was confirmed by shepherds watching over their flocks. First of all, the angel of the Lord appeared. Here's these shepherds. They're out here in the field. It's nighttime. The wolves are out. They're watching over their flocks.

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him. Boy, that was something, wasn't it? The angel of the Lord. That's Christ, isn't it? He's the angel of the covenant. He speaks to him. All right, now watch this. And while he was speaking, the heavenly host began to praise God. All these heavenly bodies in glory began to shout and praise God about what was taking place, a confirmation to the shepherds. You know what happened next? The shepherds said, let's go see. They came to the manger, and they confirmed who he was and how they knew who he was.

God told us. This is his son. Now, we're going to have a Bible conference, Lord willing, if he tarries, in October. We're going to have six shepherds. And they're going to come here. And they're going to confirm the same Christ that I've been preaching to you. If they don't, they won't be back. These shepherds are just confirming what God said had already taken place. That's what we do when we preach, isn't it? It's exactly what we do.

But I know without a doubt that their voices will confirm what I've been preaching to you, and more importantly, whom I've been preaching to you. And I pray that the Lord will use what I've preached to you today for his name's honor and glory, and that he'll help you to understand what this is.

Mary carried in her womb a real person. We carry in us a hope, a hope. But that hope's gonna be realized because of what Mary brought forth there, that the same Christ is in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. And religion has us hanging on to everything in the world, including our works. Do you think Mary lived a different life after she conceived and bore the Son of God? I think everything that Mary learned about this one that was in her changed her life. brought her to worship Him as her God and Savior.

That's what she said. He's my God and my Savior. What she had in her womb was all she needed. And what we have in us by the Holy Ghost is all we need. That's what Paul said. You're complete in Him. You don't need anything else. And He's sufficient to change your life. Change the way you talk, the way you deal with people, the way you dress, the way we act, our behavior. It's enough. It's enough. And I was thinking, too, about poor little Mary. Here she is. She's very poor, so she has to be ignorant. She didn't have all this education and stuff. And here she is.

First the angel, the Lord's talking to her, and then next comes along Elizabeth. She'd been visited by the Lord, and she begins to talk to her. And when Mary starts to tell her what the angel said to him, John the Baptist realizes that his mother's womb was going on. He's covered by the Holy Ghost, his mother's womb, and he starts leaping for joy. Now she's taken in all this, and then the shepherds came and told what they'd saw. And the news was spread abroad all over the land, it said.

And Mary held these things and pondered them in her heart. And that's what we do. These are magnificent, great things that have taken place. And we ponder these things in our heart. And it can't help but have a change on you. Our problem is we don't want to ponder them. I want to ponder how many fish I'm going to catch next week. We need to stop. That's why we worship here every week. We need to stop. Be reminded of these things. Think on these things. Think of the greatness of it, what's taken place, and what's yet to come. I tell you, one of these days, he's going to appear.

This whole world is going to be cut off like somebody took a big sword and just cut it in half. Everything's stopped. All this confusion, all this nonsense, it's stopped. And he'll come in all the glory of his father's house and that'll wind things up.

And I tell you, we need to think on these things. Don't put these things off. Don't put them over in the corner somewhere. Got up this morning. I no more sit down in my study. And I hear this bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. My freezer died. I could write a book on things that's happened on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Strangest thing is something weird is going to happen, and it usually happens then. Why? Because of the greatness of what's about to take place. Take your mind from it, your heart from it. Just don't let those things, I tell you, I don't want to lose all the food in my freezer, but I'd rather lose that than miss out on worship.