Worshiping God While You Wait | Draw Near With Pastor Amy Groeschel
He doesn’t have to draw near, He chooses to draw near. And we see this natural response to all these people in the Bible. God was drawing near to them or their, it was ’cause He usually was initiating. Then they start drawing near in worship. (relaxed music) – Hey, it’s great to have you back, week number five.
It’s been a very special five weeks. And if you’re just joining us, we’re discussing the Bible study Draw Near, and we’re talking about drawing near to God. And the amazing thing is that when we do that, God draws near to us. And so for week five, we’re jumping to the New Testament and we’re looking at some of the personal and purposeful qualities of who Jesus is.
Amy, we’ve got Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us. God Jesus is the living water who satisfies. We’ll never thirst again. We’ve got Him as Lord and Savior our life. We’ve got Jesus as the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. Let’s start at the beginning, the birth of Jesus. And look at Mary who had quite a weighty assignment as a young girl who’s called to carry the son of God.
And we see that Jesus is referred to as Emmanuel, which means God with us. Can you tell us a little bit about Mary’s response to the invitation to carry Emmanuel? – Yes. Let’s think about that, her response. She has an angel appear to her, right? And that is terrifying, that’s crazy enough. But to get the assignment that she was given, we’re so used to hearing the story, but think about the weight of that, to carry as a virgin, a child that’s the son of God.
Her response reveals so much about her relationship with God because it wasn’t a response of fear, but of trust. And Luke 1 shows us exactly what her immediate response was after hearing what she heard, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” Wow, Craig. And Elizabeth, another response, when she went to her cousin Elizabeth’s house who was also pregnant, Elizabeth said, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her.
” She believed and said, I’m God’s servant. Her identity was so in the Lord. She said yes to this weighty, unbelievable assignment. And what is even more incredible than that is that when Elizabeth said that to her, she broke out in song and worship. She just, she saw God as a praiseworthy God, that in a challenging assignment, she could praise God because He’s so good.
And so her song to God is so beautiful. In Luke 1, she responds to Elizabeth’s words and says, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit is rejoicing in God my savior.” He’s her personal God, her savior. He has been mindful of the humble state of a servant. So she sees that she’s chosen out of a place of being a humble servant.
And from now on, she sees that all generations will call her blessed. That it was a blessing to get this assignment. For the mighty one, she knows God’s greatness has done great things for me. Holy is His name. His mercy, she got, She’s got his character down. His mercy, His holiness, His might. His mercy extends to those who fear Him.
