521. Luke - Chapter 1 (#3) - Mary Visits Elizabeth April 1, 2024

[00:00:00] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast

[00:00:12] we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.

[00:00:21] An in prayer, Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord,

[00:00:27] I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one

[00:00:33] of them. In addition, I pray that everyone listening would have favor with both God

[00:00:38] and man. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen. This is Proverbs 1 beginning in verse 1. The Proverbs

[00:00:48] of Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive

[00:00:57] the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment and equity,

[00:01:05] to give prudence to the simple, to the young man, knowledge and discretion. A wise man

[00:01:13] will hear an increased learning and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,

[00:01:20] to understand a proverb and anigma, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear

[00:01:29] of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

[00:01:36] My son, hear the instruction of your Father and do not forsake the law of your mother for

[00:01:43] they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck. My son, if sinners

[00:01:51] entice you, do not consent, if they say come with us, let us lie in weight to shed blood,

[00:02:00] let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause, let us swallow them alive like sheel

[00:02:08] and whole like those who go down to the pit. We shall find all kinds of precious possessions,

[00:02:16] we shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in your lot among us, let us all have one

[00:02:25] curse. My son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your foot from their path for their

[00:02:33] feet run to evil and they make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread

[00:02:42] in the sight of any bird but they lie in weight for their own blood, they lurk secretly

[00:02:50] for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain, it takes away the

[00:02:58] life of its owners. Wisdom calls aloud outside, she raises her voice in the open squares,

[00:03:09] she cries out in the chief concourses at the openings of the gates in the city, she

[00:03:15] speaks her words. How long you simple ones will you love simplicity for scorners delight in their

[00:03:24] scorning and fools hate knowledge? Turn at my review, surely I will pour out my spirit on you,

[00:03:35] I will make my words known to you because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out

[00:03:43] my hand and no one regarded because you disdained all my counsel and would have none of my

[00:03:51] rebuke. I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror

[00:04:00] comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come

[00:04:10] upon you. Then they will call on me but I will not answer, they will seek me diligently but

[00:04:17] they will not find me because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord,

[00:04:25] they would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke, therefore they shall eat the fruit

[00:04:34] of their own way and be filled to the full with their own fancies. For the turning away of the

[00:04:43] simple will slay them and the complacency of fools will destroy them but whoever listens to me

[00:04:51] will dwell safely and will be secure without fear of evil. Friends today I'd like to take a closer

[00:05:01] look at verses 5 and 6 and proverb 1 verses 5 and 6 tell us this, a wise man will hear an

[00:05:12] increase learning and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel to understand a proverb

[00:05:21] and anigma the words of the wise and their riddles. Friends this is your host Bill Kelly and

[00:05:30] I don't know who walls listening today but some of you may be listening for the very first time

[00:05:36] and as I begin this new week this is the beginning of my third year of doing this podcast.

[00:05:44] That's right, this is the first podcast of my third year. I originally began this podcast on April

[00:05:54] 1st of 2022 on a Friday and since then I believe this is episode number 526 that anyway I've enjoyed

[00:06:07] it. And one of the main things that I really wanted when I began this podcast is the Holy Spirit

[00:06:16] actually woke me up in the middle of the night and asked me to begin this podcast but he told me

[00:06:22] he says Bill everyone needs more wisdom and I thought about that and you know over the course of

[00:06:30] a couple weeks you know it didn't take me long to figure things out you know he gave me a starting

[00:06:36] date he told me wanted me to start on April 1st but you know what I knew and at the time I was

[00:06:43] attending Karris Bible College and my wife and I have since graduated from there but I felt in my heart

[00:06:51] that I was too be obedient to the Lord and since then I feel even more so and you know God has

[00:07:01] been good to me ever since I began this podcast the Lord has blessed me and friends I believe

[00:07:08] that that is common to anyone who listens to the Lord and follows the leading and guiding of the

[00:07:15] Holy Spirit I believe that Holy Spirit is still speaking with us today and if you truly seek him

[00:07:23] he will give you words of encouragement he will give you words of wisdom and he will also give you

[00:07:31] an idea of what he has in store for you and I believe that once you hear the word of the Lord

[00:07:38] and begin to follow the path that he begins to lead you on that eventually more and more will

[00:07:48] become clear to you now I feel that this podcast is better than it was when I began I

[00:07:55] has a certain structure now every Tuesday I have testimonies on I have a special guest on

[00:08:02] but Monday Wednesday and Thursday I consider basically my regular teachings Tuesdays are testimonies

[00:08:09] and Friday I will either wrap up the week that I'm studying or I will have a particular

[00:08:18] passage of scripture that I like to end the week on a good note and I try to bless people

[00:08:25] but last week we began our study in the gospel of Luke and we are continuing that

[00:08:32] and chapter one of Luke is one of the longest chapters in the Bible it actually has 80 verses

[00:08:40] and so this will be my third podcast on chapter one of Luke and we now are right in the middle

[00:08:51] so we are going to pick up where we left off on Fridays podcast and this is entitled Mary

[00:08:59] Visits Elizabeth so for any of you that were not around last week basically last week we began

[00:09:07] with the announcement that Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth would be the parents of John the Baptist

[00:09:16] even though they were passed their prime in years Elizabeth had been barren and had never had

[00:09:23] children and God gave her favor and allowed her to be a proud mother even though she was well-passed

[00:09:35] child-rearing years next we went to the announcement that Mary a young virgin woman probably around 15 or

[00:09:44] 16 years old would become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit and that she would be the mother

[00:09:54] of the Savior of the world Jesus so we are going to pick up in chapter one of Luke beginning in verse 39

[00:10:04] now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to a city of Judah

[00:10:13] and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth now the first point that I'd like to bring

[00:10:21] up on today's podcast is that Mary went to help her elderly cousin Elizabeth now I'm not sure

[00:10:30] exactly how they are related but Elizabeth was a cousin of Mary now remember Elizabeth is an

[00:10:41] elderly woman at this time so she is probably at that time maybe in her 60s maybe 70s but Mary

[00:10:50] is a young teenager but she is a cousin and the angel had told her that her cousin Elizabeth was

[00:11:00] with child and so she made haste because she wanted to help her out so it had been about six months by

[00:11:09] the time she got there so she helped out the last two or three months of her pregnancy prior to

[00:11:17] coming back to her hometown let's go to verse 41 and it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting

[00:11:26] of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit now point

[00:11:35] number two Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit now I want to remind anyone that wasn't with us

[00:11:44] last week that the angel of the Lord when he came to Zacharias and predicted that he would be

[00:11:52] the father of John the Baptist he said that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother's

[00:12:02] womb so this is that happening so the prophecy has been fulfilled but this verse also tells us

[00:12:12] that Elizabeth herself was filled with the Holy Spirit as well then she spoke out with a loud voice

[00:12:22] and said blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb but why is this granted

[00:12:32] to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me Elizabeth here is realizing how she is being used

[00:12:43] of God in one of the greatest moments in the history of the world she is asking why did she

[00:12:52] get this particular favor from God why has she been blessed with the presence of Mary I think this

[00:13:02] is such a wonderful passage of scripture for indeed as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded

[00:13:11] in my ears the babe leaped in my womb for joy blessed is she who believed for there will be a fulfillment

[00:13:22] of those things which were told her from the Lord and my third point today is Mary will be blessed

[00:13:34] and I just want to make the contrast between Mary being blessed because when the angel Gabriel came to her

[00:13:44] and told her that she would be the mother of Jesus she sat there it said let it be according to thy word

[00:13:54] she believed even though she had not known a man she was going to be a virgin she believed

[00:14:02] because she was told by the angel that these things would happen while Zacharias

[00:14:10] questioned whether it would happen because of the age of him and because of the age of his wife

[00:14:19] and Mary said my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior

[00:14:30] now friends that word magnifies actually is the name of a title song called the Magnificat

[00:14:38] and it is a very very well-known piece of music and it was done because of this in Luke chapter 1

[00:14:50] Mary being the mother of Jesus and being told that she would do that for he has regarded

[00:14:59] the lowly state of his maid servant for behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed

[00:15:09] so Mary went from an obscure teenager maybe 15 or 16 years of age a Hebrew young girl to basically

[00:15:22] becoming the most blessed woman in the entire world Mary is honored probably more than any other woman

[00:15:33] in the history of the world because she was the mother of Jesus for he who is mighty has done great

[00:15:43] things for me and holy is his name and his mercy is on all those who fear him from generation to

[00:15:54] generation I'm going to read verse 50 again that bears repeating and friends if you are a follower

[00:16:02] of Jesus listen to this and his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation

[00:16:13] he has shown strength with his arm he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts

[00:16:21] he has put down the mighty from their throats and exalted the lowly friends these two verses talk

[00:16:30] about the importance of not having pride in your life these two verses tell us that if you do have

[00:16:39] pride that you will be brought down but God looks at those who do not have pride and who humble

[00:16:51] themselves and he will exalt the lowly he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich

[00:17:01] he has sent away empty he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to

[00:17:10] our fathers to Abraham and to his seed forever friends my call to action the day is very simple really

[00:17:21] I just want you to ponder this story for just a moment I want you to think about had you been

[00:17:30] Zacharias in your old age and your wife has been barren her entire life and has never given you a child

[00:17:43] what would you have done if an angel the Lord came to you and declared that you would now be

[00:17:50] apparent I understand where Zacharias is coming from then I'd like for you to pretend that you are a

[00:18:00] 15 year old girl and you are addressed by an angel and you are classified as highly favored

[00:18:13] and that you are going to be the mother of the Savior of the world I just want you to think of the

[00:18:21] contrast of those two different relationships and how you would feel if that had happened to you

[00:18:33] friends I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their

[00:18:40] Lord and Savior if there's anyone listening today and you've never taken that step I invite you

[00:18:46] to repeat a simple prayer after me today Jesus I believe that you are the Son of God I believe

[00:18:54] that you came to earth and you died on a cross I believe you were buried and on the third day you

[00:19:01] rose from the dead Jesus I acknowledge that I am a sinner and I have need of a Savior Jesus I believe

[00:19:13] by asking you to come into my heart that all of my sins are forgiven I ask that you come into my heart

[00:19:23] I ask that you lead me and guide me from this point forward in my life I make you my Lord and Savior

[00:19:31] friends if any of you repeated that prayer if you would go on my web page wisdom today

[00:19:38] bk.com there is a contact tab simply click on that tab give me your name let me know you said

[00:19:47] that prayer and I want to get back with you now may the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make

[00:19:55] us stay shine upon you and be gracious to you the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give

[00:20:03] you peace friends tomorrow is testimony day please join me in a special guest as we further explore

[00:20:13] wisdom today