Mary Mother of Jesus - Hero of the Bible

Mary the mother of Jesus
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This summer my home church is doing  a series on Heroes of the Bible and so this Sunday we studied Mary the Mother of Jesus as another hero of the Bible. The basic point of the sermon was that Mary was available to God to use her however He would see fit. We see this clearly in the gospel of Luke where the angel's announcement came to Mary.
Luke 1:38  And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.


So here are the notes I took from Sunday's sermon:

Why would God choose Mary?
There was nothing super special about Mary - She is poor, she is a peasant, she has no power or influence. She is not already well established to be able to give a child the best of everything.

Just as we sometimes ask why would God want to use me she may also have asked why me? Why would God pick me? Why would He choose to use me when there are so many other people who seem to have it all together?
God chooses to work through me, I am not that smart nor am I worthy of such an honor.

Then we may also look for excuses and ask "why should I do this?" or "what is special about me, who am I that I could think even for a moment that I could do this?"

Mary is available for God to use her.

We see this at the wedding in Cana where they run out of wine. Mary sees the need and goes to Jesus for help. We find the story in John 2 - And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:

2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.

4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.

5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.

7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.

8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.

9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,

10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

When Jesus responds in verse 4 by saying Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.,  he is really asking her to slow down. She knows Jesus is come as the Messiah but His time to reveal Himself as Messiah is not yet come. Then Mary says these important words " 
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. she says this because that is exactly how she lives her day to day life - in obedience to God the Father. 
I will do whatever God tells me to do. She is available to God.
Are we available to God to use us?
When God calls - do you respond " I'm here" ?

God works with our weaknesses. We must be open to doing what God calls us to do.

Regarding the recent tragedies in our community -  ( the deaths of two teenagers in separate tragic accidents ) we do not understand why things happen but we can see how God responds in tragedy.  We are called to be available to extend love and mercy to those around us.
 Every morning start your day by praying to God making yourself available to Him. Be open to God's Hand and leading.

Last Sunday we saw how God was working behind the scenes in the life of Esther. God is working on our character to make us more like Jesus. God is setting up work for us to do.

Are we available??

Esther - Hero of the Bible ( The Girl who Became Queen )

Last Sunday at my home church the message was about the story of Esther. You can find the sermon  notes at the bottom of this post.

Esther 4:14  For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Esther the Ordinary girl who became Queen

The Biblical account of the story of Esther is a favorite to people of all ages. An ordinary girl who becomes a royal queen and heroically saves her people ( that is the Jews.)  King Ahasuerus has a royal feast for his male friends which lasts many days. One day Ahasuerus in his drunken condition decides that his royal Queen Vashti should be brought out so all his male friends can see how beautiful she is. Vashti refuses to be put on display like this and that is why she gets dismissed and King Ahasuerus begins to look for a new queen to replace her. This is where Esther comes in. We will continue by reading a condensed account of this story from the Veggie Tales website. I am a Veggie Tales fan and always enjoy their Dvds. You can link to the Veggie Tales page  HERE

( You will notice that King Ahauserus is referred to as King Xerxes here. Ahasuerus is the Hebrew name while Xerxes is the Greek name of the same King.)

So we continue the story now from Veggie Tales -

King Aheruerus and Esther  ( veggietalesitsforthekids.wikia.com )

King Xerxes of Persia was searching the entire kingdom for a beautiful
woman to become his new queen. Esther was a very beautiful Jewish girl
and was one of the women brought to the palace as a possible queen successor. Esther did
not tell anyone about her Jewish family. Mordecai, Esther’s cousin who took care of her
because she had no parents, worked for the king and was able to check on her daily. When
it was time for Esther to go before King Xerxes, he was very pleased and crowned her as his
new queen.
Two of the king’s officers became angry at King Xerxes and were planning to kill him.
Mordecai overheard their plans and told them to Queen Esther. Esther reported the plot
to the king and gave Mordecai the credit for saving the king’s life. After all of these things
happened, King Xerxes promoted another of his officers, Haman, to a higher rank, and all of
the other officers had to bow down and kneel to him. Mordecai was a Jew and refused to
bow down or kneel to anyone but God, so Haman became very angry and convinced the king
to sign an order that all of the Jews in the land were to be killed. Mordecai told Esther that
she must tell the king of Haman’s plot, but Esther knew it was against the law to approach
the king unless she was invited. But Esther was courageous… her people were depending
on her. When she approached the king, he was pleased and held out his scepter for her to
come forward. Esther told King Xerxes of Haman’s plan to destroy her people. The king was
so angry with Haman that he had him killed, and Mordecai was promoted to his position.
Because of Esther’s courage, all of the Jewish people in the kingdom were saved.

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Sermon Notes
My home church is doing a summer series on Heroes of the Bible. So this past Sunday we covered the story of Esther. So what can we learn from Esther?
Here are a few points from the sermon from Pastor Ben:

The Name of God is never mentioned in the book of Esther. So why is it in the Bible?
The Bible is not primarily written to record history, nor to tell amazing stories.
The primary purpose is to reveal the character of God. To give us an understanding of the God of Israel and the Lord Jesus Christ.

How can the book of Esther teach us about God?
* Just because God is not mentioned does not mean He is not there.
* We see God's hand throughout the story.
* God is in every situation.
* God works in the background in behind the scenes in the circumstances making things happen.
Most of our lives are that way - God working in the background, working though our circumstances.
We see God working in our world, we have to pay attention to figure out what God is doing.

Ephesians 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

God is working in your life. He is forming you - making you the person He wants you to become. He is working on your character.

God wants you to do good works.
Just as Esther stood up and risked her life so must we.

God is working in you not just so you can sit there.

God has prepared good works in advance for you to do.

He is getting things ready for you to do.

See God's work around you.

Isaac - Hero of the Bible

We are in our summer sermon series at church on Heroes of the Bible. This Sunday Pastor Ben spoke about Isaac. He told stories from the life of Isaac. The question of why Isaac is a hero in the Bible was not answered though.
 I would say that Isaac was a hero in how he demonstrated his faith in God. He was willing to trust God for His choice of wife for him and when the servant came back with Rebekah he took her as wife and loved her. He had no complaints - she was the one for him and he loved her. Secondly we see that time passed and no children were born to Isaac and Rebekah. Now Isaac goes to God and prays sincerely for a child. He puts his faith and trust in God - and God blesses them with twin sons. In Hebrews 11:20  we read  20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. Here again we see the faith of Isaac. He believed God for the future. This is the lesson for all of us today. Isaac teaches us to 
1) Believe God to provide and then be content and thankful for His provisions
2) Pray to God, tell Him what is on your heart. God hears and answers the prayers of His children
3) Believe God concerning things to come. God knows the future. He will carry us through. We can depend on Him and trust His promises!

I would encourage you to study the Bible study below on the life of Isaac. It is quite thorough. I have highlighted a few important points. 

This Bible Study on Isaac is written by the good folks at  http://www.wenstrom.org/downloads/written/people/old/isaac.pdf

Link here to get to their site   Wenstrom



Outline
I. Who was Isaac?
II. Abraham and Isaac
III. Isaac and Rebekah
IV. Jacob and Esau
V. Abraham Blesses Jacob
I. Who was Isaac?
A. Isaac was the son of Abraham!
B. God promised Abraham that He would give him a son (Gen. 17:19; 15:4).
C. His mother was Sarah!
D. Both, Abraham and Sarah were heroes because they trusted in God’s promises!
E. Isaac became a hero also!
F. Hebrews 11:20, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.”
G. Isaac showed his faith in God by blessing Jacob and Esau!
H. He trusted that God would keep His promises.
II. Abraham and Isaac
A. One day God told Abraham to sacrifice his Isaac!
B. Genesis 22:1-2, “Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said
to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He (God) said, ‘Take now you son, you
only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a
burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.’”
C. This must have been hard for Abraham because he waited a long time for Isaac to be born.
D. Abraham loved his son Isaac very much.
E. But Abraham did what God told him to do and passed the test.
F. Hebrews 11:17, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and who
received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.’”
G. What Abraham did was a picture of what God the Father do when He would offered up His
only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ!
H. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He (God) gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him (the Lord Jesus Christ) should not perish, but have eternal life.”
I. God was really going to have Abraham kill Isaac.
J. God was just testing Abraham’s doctrine in his soul.
K. God wanted to show the angels (both elect and fallen) Abraham’s trust in Him!
L. Abraham and Isaac both showed their faith in God by going to Moriah!
M. Abraham was ready to kill Isaac but God stopped him (Gen. 22:9-14).
N. Isaac showed courage and faith in God by not crying or becoming afraid when his father
raised the knife to kill him.
O. Isaac went with his father and did what he was told just like the Lord Jesus Christ did what
His Father told Him to do!
P. Isaac obeyed his father.
Q. He was a good boy.
R. Isaac’s obedience to his father is a picture of God the Son’s obedience to His Father’s will!
S. We are to follow in their footsteps.
T. We should be obedient to our heavenly Father and our earthly father’s.
1 U. Isaac learned Bible Doctrine from his father and mother and became a hero also like his
parents did!
III. Isaac and Rebekah
A. Isaac was 40 years old and still hadn’t gotten married.
B. His mother had died a few years earlier.
C. He was spending too much time feeling sad over the death of his mother whom he loved
very much.
D. Isaac was also in the Negev which means that he was not into learning God’s Word at the
time.
E. Yet, God still blessed him because of his association with Abraham!
F. Abraham sent one of his trusted slaves to go and bring back a wife for Isaac from among his
people (Gen. 24).
G. Rebekah was the distant cousin of Abraham.
H. Rebekah lived in Mesopotamia in the city of Nahor.
I. Abraham wanted the slave to bring back a wife from among his relatives there.
J. The slave prayed to God to give him guidance in choosing the right women for Isaac and
granting him success (Gen. 24:12-14).
K. The servant met Rebekah at the well and she was the answer to the servant’s prayer (Gen.
24:15-26).
L. The servant told her parents about his mission to find a wife for his master’s son (Gen. 24:34-
51).
M. Rebekah’s parents let her go with the servant and marry Isaac.
N. The servant was very happy!
O. Rebekah was brought to Isaac while he was still feeling bad over his mother’s death.
P. When Isaac saw Rebekah he went “OH, BABY!”
Q. Isaac stop thinking about his dead mother and married Rebekah whom God had given to
him.
R. He loved Rebekah very much!
IV. Jacob and Esau
A. After 20 years of being married, Isaac and Sarah still had no children.
B. Back in the days when Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived that was not good.
C. This was a terrible thing for the wife to go through because she couldn’t bear a child for her
husband.
D. Isaac prayed that the Lord would open Rebekah’s womb (Gen. 25:21).
E. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer and Rebekah became pregnant with twins (Gen. 25:22-23).
F. The Lord told Rebekah that she had two nations in her womb, Jew and Gentile (Gen. 25:23).
G. Rebekah gave birth to two twin boys, Jacob and Esau!
H. Esau was the oldest because he came out first.
I. Jacob came out second.
J. Jacob was grabbing onto Esau’s heel when he came out after Esau (Gen. 25:26).
K. Esau was a hairy person like a chimp (Gen. 25:25)!
L. Isaac was 60 years old when Rebekah gave birth to the twins (Gen. 25:26).
M. Esau grew up and became a great hunter (Gen. 25:27).
N. Jacob hung around the house with his mother!
O. Isaac loved Esau because he like to play outdoors and was rough and tough.
P. Rebekah loved Jacob because he hung around the house vacuuming and cooking brownies
with his mother!
Q. Jacob was wimpy because he always hung around his mother in the house!
2 3
R. Esau was rough and tough and like to go out and kill animals for food!
S. Esau was not God’s choice to receive the promise from God!
T. Jacob was!
U. Jacob was a liar and a deceiver!
V. Jacob deceived Esau into giving him his birthright!
W. Esau didn’t think to much of his birthright.
X. Jacob did!
Y. Isaac blessed Jacob instead of Esau because he was God’s choice!
V. Isaac blesses Jacob
A. Isaac got old and became blind.
B. Isaac thought he was going to die so therefore he wanted to passed down the blessing to his
son Esau!
C. Esau was his favorite but not God’s choice to receive the blessing from God!
D. Jacob was God’s choice even though he was a liar and deceiver.
E. One day Rebekah was listening to Isaac and heard him instruct Esau to go out and kill him
his favorite game and prepare him dinner.
F. After the dinner, Isaac was going to bless Esau!
G. Rebekah wanted her favorite son Jacob to receive the blessing instead.
H. She came up with a plan to deceive her husband into giving Jacob the blessing.
I. She told Jacob to go out and get a goat and she would prepare a savory dish for Isaac.
J. She then put animal’s hair on Jacob’s arms so that he would feel like Esau.
K. Remember, Isaac can’t see anymore.
L. Jacob went along with his mother’s plan and deceived his father Isaac into giving him the
blessing instead of Esau (Gen. 27)!
M. Even though Jacob was a jerk, God still blessed him, Grace!
N. Isaac was going to do the wrong thing by blessing Esau!
O. Esau was not God’s choice but Jacob was!
P. Isaac realized that Jacob was God’s choice!
Q. God used the deception of his wife and son to bring to pass His plan!
R. Isaac showed his greatness by remembering the prophecy and believing.
S. The prophecy in Genesis 25:23 said that Esau the oldest must serve Jacob the youngest!
T. This was God’s plan!
U. Isaac remembered this prophecy from God and understood that Jacob must receive the
blessing even though Jacob was a deceiver and not Isaac’s favorite son!
V. Isaac showed his faith in the Lord by blessing Jacob instead of Esau!
W. Hebrews 11:20, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.”
X. Isaac became a hero by obeying God’s prophecy in Genesis 25:23!
Y. Isaac blessed Jacob with the promise and not Esau which was the according to God’s plan!