Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. Christmas is Christ.
Now that should be obvious. But it's not so obvious these days. Because it's often not about Christ. But our celebrations are so often about Christmas. On today's PowerPoint, Dr.
Graham brings a message about the young mother who carried the Savior of the world.
Now here's Dr. Graham with his message. Have yourself a Merry Christmas. Take your Bibles and turn now to Luke's Gospel, chapter one.
Now I love songs, I love music. And don't judge me when I tell you that I start listening to Christmas music November 1. The great carols and classics of Christmas, and new contemporary songs of worship and praise to our God, these songs span the generation, the songs of Christmas. And one of the songs that I like is: Have Yourself. A Merry Little Christmas.
So I got my title. Have yourself a married. Christmas. M-A-R-Y. In fact, It is because of Mary's Christmas that we can have a Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas. The first time the word Mary M-E-R-R-Y. is used in one of the great Christmas carols. Was in the great song, one of my favorites, God Rest You, Merry Gentleman.
Now, interestingly enough, when God Rest You, Mary Gentleman was written and sung 500 years ago. The word Mary meant something completely different than We understand today. The word Mary then actually meant mighty.
So, God, rest ye mighty gentlemen. And the word rest also meant something different back in the day, it actually meant make.
So, if I could translate the song, God rest ye merry, gentlemen, and there's a comma there, God rest ye merry, comma, gentleman.
So here's the translation. God make you mighty, gentlemen. God rest ye married gentlemen. Let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ our Savior was born to you this day.
to save us all from Satan's power. When we were gone astray. O tidings of comfort and joy. Comfort and joy, oh tidings of comfort. Enjoy.
God rest ye Mary. Gentlemen. This is A Merry Christmas. To know that we have been saved from Satan's power, even when we have gone astray. It was in 1843.
when Mary and Christmas were first connected. Merry Christmas. And it happened in Charles Dickens' novel, A Christmas Carol. Twenty-one times. Mary Christmas.
And it was in that same year, 1843, That Christmas cards were first commercially. produced And Sent around the world, distributed and displaying the words Mary. Christmas. When we say Merry Christmas, it is because we are filled with happiness. The joy that Mary, the mother of Jesus, experienced when she first.
sang this great song of the incarnation. Let's look at it beginning of verse 46 Mary said my soul Magnifies the Lord. My soul magnifies the Lord. Thus, this is known as the magnificent. The Latin word magnificent.
which means magnify. Or exalt the Lord, make him large. And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has looked on the humble servant. For behold, from now on, generations will call me blessed, for he who is mighty has done great things for me.
And holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him. From generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things. and the rich he has sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers to Abraham and to his offspring. Forever.
This song spans the centuries and the generations. It includes Christmas past. Christmas present. and Christmas future. It's all about Mary's Christmas.
And the joy, the jubilation, the celebration, and the adoration, the wonder, and worship that came from the heart of this young girl. Who was to become the mother of the Messiah? The Savior of the world.
So let's think first of all about the singer. of this magnificent, the singer of this song. Because a Merry Christmas It's not possible without Mary. Besides Jesus himself, the babe of Bethlehem, humanity's hope. No one commands more attention in the Christmas story than Mary, the mother of the Lord.
Her faith, her love, her hope, her obedience. brought joy, brought Jesus into the world.
Now remember Mary was a poor and pregnant Teen major. She was a small town girl from a town in the middle of nowhere in the Galilee. It was a wild town, a little bit like the wild west was Nazareth. Roman soldiers occupied it. It was known for its ungodliness.
And it was there. That this ordinary girl who would have lived an ordinary life like all the girls before her and after her in that town, who would have grown up, married a blue-collar worker. Like Joseph. Lived the rest of her life, probably dying young, as most people did in that generation, and we would have never heard of her. And yet God did something.
Extraordinary. With an ordinary girl. A nobody living in a nowhere town named Nazareth. She gave birth. To the one who would bring salvation.
To all. Before the Savior would carry the cross. Mary. would carry. The Savior.
Mary was the first one. to carry. The gospel. The child's mission. to save was the mission of Mary to deliver the Savior.
and the message of salvation to the world. Therefore, Mary was Mary. Mary was happy. And though no doubt There were fears that she faced, and uncertainties, and potential shame and embarrassment because she was not yet married to Joseph, betrothed, engaged to him. Which was a binding legal contract.
But she had never known a man physically, and yet now she is pregnant. Who would believe this story? Who would tell her parents? Why would people say? And yet, we see nothing of that really in this text unless you somehow read between the lines.
We see only the faith and the devotion and the adoration of Mary. And Mary gave us this psalm for the Savior. Mary gave us this great Psalm of praise. My soul does magnify the Lord. Note how personal this is.
My soul. My spirit. rejoices. Clearly. This young Hebrew teenager possessed a great devotion to God.
Remember what happened? An angel of the Lord appeared to Mary and gave her the news. That she, a virgin, would conceive in her womb. When she asked, How can these things be? I've never had physical relationships with a man.
The angel said, With God all things are possible. That's the important Jesus Christ, the virgin Conception and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ is a non-negotiable in the Christian faith. Mary believed that God would and did the impossible and responded with humble acceptance. Even though much of it didn't make sense. We always need to remember.
That just because something doesn't make sense to us It doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense. To God. God who does the impossible. And so she did what we should all do when we face fears or uncertainties or turbulence in our lives, when we have questions that we can't answer, and we all have those kinds of questions that we can't answer. But we should do what Mary did in chapter 1, verse 38.
When Mary said, Be it unto me according to your will, just as you said. Lord, be it unto me according to your word and according to your will. Have you said that? Have you said Lord, be it unto me. According to your word.
Your will, your way, your word in my life. Mary gave herself unconditionally to the Lord. Body, soul, and spirit. In Luke 1:38, she submitted her body to the Lord. Be it unto me according to your word.
In chapter 1, the first verse and the first stanza, she said, My soul doth magnify the Lord. And then she said, My spirit. rejoices. Body.
So and spirit. She committed and consecrated to the Lord. She took a trip of 100 miles after she received the news to speak with her cousin Elizabeth, perhaps even. Uh an aunt. We don't know if Elizabeth was actually a cousin or an aunt, but a family member.
She needed some confirmation and she got confirmation. when she met with Elizabeth and All along the way, no doubt, Mary was treasuring these words in her heart, as the scripture says. When the Bible says she cherished these words and treasured these things in her heart, it meant that Mary was contemplating the riches of God's grace in her life. And so she burst into praise. Glorious exaltation.
of the God who saves. That's Mary, the Savior. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: have yourself a Merry Christmas. We all know Christmas is right around the corner. During this Advent season, will you join Dr.
Graham in preparing our hearts to celebrate the arrival of King Jesus? If you're up for celebrating the reason for the season with us, just take your phone out and text the word ADVENT to 59789. Again, text ADVENT to 59789. We want to remind you that your support today will be doubled by a $250,000 matching grant to help ensure PowerPoint finishes the year strong. ready to reach more lives with the gospel in 2026.
When you take advantage of this match, your generous gift will be worth twice as much to help proclaim the life-changing message of Jesus around the world through PowerPoint's TV, radio, and online outreach. We'll say thanks for your gift today with a copy of Dr. Graham's book, Breaking Free from Stress. to help you experience God's peace even in life's most overwhelming moments. To give your gift, just text the word MATCH to 59-789.
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Now let's get back to today's message. Have yourself a Merry Christmas. But then think about the Psalm. The music here, the melody, the lyrics. Is more than mere emotion.
This isn't just an emotional outburst, as you will note, because the words that are recorded here by divine inspiration. are filled with the scripture. Filled with God's Word. In fact, From Genesis to Isaiah to Habakkuk to Micah. To Zachariah.
From the prayer of Hannah, who prayed that God would give her a child, we see echoes from the Old Testament. And the scriptures themselves here in the words of Mary.
Some have questioned, how could Mary, a girl 13, 14, 15 years of age, have known these words?
Some have even suggested that perhaps Mary would have been illiterate. And yet she gave us these words. How is that possible?
Well, number one, remember that all scripture is breathed out by the Holy Spirit. All scripture comes from God.
So the scripture here is inspired by the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that overshadowed her and birthed Jesus into her life. It's the same spirit who birthed these words and this worship in her. But also Beyond the supernatural effect of these words. is the spiritual impact of God's word on Mary's life. Mary though young, was filled with God's word.
Mary had learned from her parents, from her family. In the synagogue, She had learned From her youth. And in her youth, God's word. And so what we have here in this great song. That she composed by divine inspiration are the thoughts of a devout Hebrew girl who knew her Bible.
and had meditated Upon God's word. One of the best things that we can do for our teenagers. For our boys and girls. It is to train our children to magnify God by studying and singing the scriptures. When we know our Bibles The scriptures become the script of our life.
The Bible become the lyrics. of our lives. Merry Christmas. was so merry. Because of the joy of the scriptures in her heart.
Mary's song was also a gospel song. She said, My soul doth magnify God, my Savior. Mary would be aghast at the very idea that somehow she was a co-redemptrix. Or that she is somehow to be venerated as the mother, or even worshipped as the mother of our Lord. Mary understood this fact.
She needed a Savior like everybody else. God my Savior. Mary needed the Lord, and God touched her life. He sovereignly chose her. And the reason she can say.
From now on, in verse 48, all generations will call me blessed. Not because she in and of herself was blessed, but because God chose to bless her. She is blessed. Not above all women, but among all women. She was blessed like all the rest of us can be blessed by the grace of God.
God always exalts the humble. She says in verse 50. He does great things through people who fear and honor him. She speaks of humbling herself before the Lord, those who humble themselves and honor him. God does great things.
Do you know what it means to fear? The Lord It is to honor him. to please him. with our obedience. To respect him and reverence him, to love him from our knees upward.
to bow down before him and then From adoration and celebration to Rise in obedience and occupation as we serve him. Mary. was Mary. Because she humbled herself before God and honored him. Because she enlarged the name of the Lord and the glory of the Lord.
Mary knows that she is favored not because she was great, but because God is great. And that's our faith. To worship God. And notice what she says about. The Lord God.
This is just the first stanza. She says He is mighty in power, verses 49 and 51. For he who is mighty has done great things for me. He has shown the strength with his arm. The same power.
that did the impossible and the virgin birth and conception. It's powerful to say. She sings of his tender mercy in verse 50. She speaks of his mercy. If For all that fear him.
She speaks and sings of his perfect holiness. Verse 49: Holy is his name, unique, righteous, distinct, totally separated from sin. God is holy. She reflects upon his steadfast faithfulness. That's verses 54 and 55 when she reviews the history of Israel and God's faithfulness in history and God's faithfulness in our lives.
Point is That through it all, Mary's Christmas is centered. In God. Centered. In Christ. Christmas is Christ.
Now that should be obvious. But it's not so obvious these days. Because it's often not about Christ. But our celebrations are so often about Christmas. about the parties.
about the decoration. About the shopping, about the gifts, about the memories, about the family, about the get-togethers. It's about something else. Christmas. Is not about Christmas for the Christian.
For the Christian, Christmas is about Christ. That we are centered in Him. Center your Christmas on the celebration and the adoration of the Lord Jesus Christ. And like Mary, surrender your will to his word. and worship him.
He has shown us favor. And he has given us faith to believe. He has loved us and lifted us. No wonder we praise him. Christmas is merry and joyful and happy.
When you know the Lord, He has looked and remembered us. Verse 48. undeserving and unknown, the mighty one has done great things for us. Mary became a miracle. It's the miracle of God.
in the life of Mary. And the miracle of Jesus. can happen to you and to me. The same grace that saved Mary. and birth the Son of God in her life.
is the same Saviour. who by his spirit lives in us. Colossians 1.27, Christ in you. Christ in you, the hope. of glory.
That is Christmas. That his deity is reproduced in our humanity. His deity in our humanity. We therefore become miracles of God's grace. We like Mary, unknown, unheralded.
Undeserving. have received the gift of God. If you can't celebrate over that, what can you celebrate? The song. There are actually two stanzas in this song.
The first one is very personal. It's Mary's song and testimony. The second stanza, which is verses 51 to 55, just Very quickly. This is global. Because Mary then looks beyond herself and to the world.
And says, the Savior who is coming, she speaks not just personally here, but now prophetically. She's looking down through history and she's seeing what the Savior will do: that his mighty, strong arm will scatter the proud, and upheaval and revolution will take place. That He brings down the mighty from their thrones and exalts those of humble estate. And he fills the hungry, verse 33, with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. He is speaking of The mission of Christ to change the world.
That Jesus was not just a local regional Messiah figure. But a spiritual redeemer. Revolutionary. Who turns the world upside down? Everything has changed because of the coming of Jesus.
In his first advent, cultural change took place, spiritual change and revolution has taken place in Christ. But when Christ comes in the second advent, when he comes again, The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ. And the Christ who came the first time to save is coming another time, the second time, to subdue all things under his feet. And every despot, and dictator, and tyrant, and terrorist will be thrown down.
So when you think of Christmas Don't just think of the tiny little babe. But also of our mighty warrior king. It turns the world upside down and one day. is coming again. in great power and great glory.
Again. It is Mary's Christmas, the coming of the Savior. to the world. that makes our Christmas Mary. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: have yourself a Merry Christmas.
We all know Christmas is right around the corner. During this Advent season, will you join Dr. Graham in preparing our hearts to celebrate the arrival of King Jesus? If you're up for celebrating the reason for the season with us, just take your phone out and text the word ADVENT to 59789. Again, text ADVENT to 59789.
With just a few days left in 2025, We want to invite you to give a year-end gift to help ensure PowerPoint steps into the next year of ministry in the strongest position possible. The good news is that a generous friend has provided a $250,000 matching grant, which means any year-end gift you give by December 31st will be doubled. To take the life-changing message of the gospel to more people around the world. To give your gift, just text the word MACH to 59-789. That's MACH to 59789.
Pastor, what is your PowerPoint for today? The greatest joy the world has ever known was when Jesus was born. is hard for us to comprehend. Yet Jesus was God's special gift to mankind, God in the flesh, and He became the great sacrifice for our sins, and He is the giver of abundant and eternal life. At Christmas, so many people prefer to think about that little baby lying in the manger.
But of course, Jesus didn't stay a baby. He grew up. He did the will of the Father perfectly. And then He went to the cross and became the sacrifice for our sins. He took our place in our judgment upon His cross.
Then he rose from the dead so that we could be forgiven and empowered to live a brand new life. You can have a personal relationship with the God of the universe. That is great joy. And as a believer in Jesus Christ, I want you to take time to praise Him for all He has done for you, to thank Him. for the gift of His Son, for the love of Jesus.
If you don't have a personal relationship with Christ, If you've never put your faith in him, then do it today. You can only know the joy of this season, the joy of life, the joy of eternity when you know the joy of Jesus. This season, you can celebrate him as never before. You can be filled to overflowing with joy because you know that he has come to give you abundant and eternal life. And that is today's PowerPoint.
Remember that when you give a gift to PowerPoint, your gift will be doubled by a generous matching grant.
So text the word match to 59789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about trusting in Christ's presence and victory in your life. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham. PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
