More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
DWDP - Behold Your Bondslave
What could be more transformative to your Christmas experience than embracing a spiritual practice that aligns with the profound narratives of the Bible? Join me on More Than Medicine as we journey through the Annunciation in the Book of Luke, where the angel Gabriel's visit to Mary sets the stage for the birth of Jesus, our deliverer from sin. We unravel the significance of Jesus' name and the consequences of sin, while pondering over God’s choice of Mary, blessed with His favor, to fulfill the divine prophecy of the Messiah's birth in Bethlehem. This episode aims to deepen your understanding of these sacred events and their implications on our spiritual lives.
As the Christmas season unfolds, I extend a heartfelt challenge to you—engage in a daily spiritual practice that focuses on surrendering to the divine will, using a specific phrase with sincerity and emotion until Christmas Day. This commitment holds the potential to not only transform your holiday experience but also bring lasting change to your life. As we conclude, my warmest wishes for a blessed Christmas are with you, and I eagerly invite you to explore more with us at the Jackson Family Ministry. Let this journey of faith and reflection inspire your holiday season and beyond.
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Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, dr Robert Jackson Papa can you tell me a story?
Speaker 2:Do you really want me to tell you a story? Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Welcome to Devotions with Dr Papa. Gather around, grab your Bible and let's look into the written word, which reveals to us the living word, which is our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, which is our Lord Jesus Christ? Well, merry Christmas to you. And let me share with you a lesson that I taught to my third grade boys and girls just last week, and this lesson comes from the book of Luke, chapter 1, and verse 26.
Speaker 2:Now, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her Greetings. Favored one, the Lord is with you. Favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her Do not be afraid, mary, for you have found favor with God and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be called Great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord. God will give him the throne of his father, david, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end. Mary said to the angel how can this be, since I am a virgin? The angel answered and said to her the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you and for that reason, the holy child shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative, elizabeth, has also conceived a son in her old age, and she, who was called barren, is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said Behold the bond slave of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her.
Speaker 2:Now I shared this lesson with my third grade boys and girls, and I thought that you would like it as well. I began by asking my third graders why was Jesus born? I let them ponder that a little bit and one of them answered me, and he said he was born to deliver us from our sins. And I said exactly right, he was born to rescue us from sin, to deliver us from sin. In fact, jesus' name is a derivative of Joshua, which means deliver us. So then I looked at them and I said what's the problem with sin? Well, they looked at me a little perplexed for a moment and then one of them raised his hand and said the penalty for sin is death. And I said exactly, what kind of death? Well, that stumped them only for a moment.
Speaker 2:They've been in my class for several months and one of them said spiritual death. And I said what do you mean by that? And he said we're separated away from God. And I said you got it Exactly. We experience both physical death and spiritual death.
Speaker 2:You see, I have budding young theologians in my third grade class. So then I asked them. I said who sins? Multiple hands went up at that point and I pointed at them and I said who sins? And they all answered we all sin. And I said sin. And I said exactly, there's none righteous. No, not one. You see, all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Speaker 2:And then I pointed out to him that in the Old Testament, god told his people, the Jewish people, the Hebrews, over and over, that one day he would send a Messiah. Now, he didn't tell them exactly when, but he did tell them where. He told them that one day the Messiah would be born in a little town called. And I stopped. They looked at me and they all said simultaneously Bethlehem. And I said exactly right. He promised and told them, through the prophet Micah, that the Messiah would be born in a little town called Bethlehem. So God's people understood that Messiah was coming. They just didn't know when he would come.
Speaker 2:So in the lesson that we just the verses of scripture that we just read, this angel named Gabriel appeared and he made a very important announcement to a young girl whose name was Mary, and he told her some important information about the Messiah. So we've read the scripture, and so I want to ask you the same questions that I asked my third graders. And here's the first question what was the angel's name? Well, of course his name was Gabriel, and we sing songs about Gabriel and about Gabriel go blow your horn. And Gabriel was the one who brought this very important message to this young girl named Mary.
Speaker 2:The second question was why did God choose Mary? Well, the Bible doesn't tell us, except for the fact that he found favor with Mary. Now, if you remember, in the Old Testament, god found favor with a man named Job because he was a righteous man and he shunned or, as the King James Bible says, eschewed evil. So God found favor with Job because he was a righteous man and he eschewed evil. Now, the Bible doesn't say anything about Mary. We don't know that she was especially righteous. All we know is that she found favor with God. We can assume that she was more righteous than others, but we don't really know that. She just found favor with God. Now, the next question is this how did Mary get pregnant? Now, that really perplexed my third graders and we had to talk a little bit about this in a very delicate way, and I pointed out to them that she was engaged to Joseph, but they were not yet married, and so I pointed out to them that she conceived a child in her womb because of God's power, because the Holy Spirit overshadowed her and God spoke.
Speaker 2:Now, in previous weeks now, we've been talking about the creation in Genesis, chapter 1. And God spoke and there was light. God spoke and the light was separated from the darkness. God spoke and the waters above were separated from the waters below. God spoke and he separated the land from the seas. And in this moment, god spoke and His Son, his only Son, was conceived in the womb of a young girl, a virgin young girl, and in her womb, in her uterus, his own son's life was conceived, and it was by the will of God, by the spoken word of God.
Speaker 2:How could that happen, brothers and sisters? I can't tell you how that happened. I can't explain how that happened, it's just that it did happen. There's no way that I can explain that to you, except that God spoke it into existence by the word and the will of God. The life of his son was conceived into the womb of a virgin girl who had never had relations with a man. Now, my third graders were completely perplexed by that, and if you're not perplexed by that, then you're proud and arrogant. There's no way that I can explain that myself, there's no way I can explain that to my third graders and there's no way I can explain that to you. It's a supernatural event. So the Holy Spirit overshadowed this young lady and the life of God was conceived in her womb.
Speaker 2:Next question how did Gabriel describe her son? Well, look in chapter 1 of Luke and verse 32 and 33, and we'll see what the Holy Spirit said to her about the son who was to be born. He said he will be great. Was that true? Of course it was true. If you read any of the gospels description of our Lord Jesus Christ, you will see that he was great. In fact, even his enemies said that never a man spoke like this man. Nobody ever performed the miracles that Jesus performed healing the blind and the paralyzed and the sick, and even raising the dead. Nobody ever did the things that Jesus did. Even the centurion who oversaw his crucifixion professed that truly he was the Son of God. Nobody was like Jesus. He was great.
Speaker 2:And then he went on to say that he will be called the Son of the Most High. And in fact Jesus was the Son of God, the incarnate Son of God, god in the flesh. And then Gabriel said the Lord, god, will give him the throne of his father, david. Well, this is one of those already not yet things about Jesus Christ. You see, the kingdom of God was already come. Jesus said repent, for the kingdom of God is among you. The kingdom of God is at hand and his kingdom had already started when Jesus was among us, but there were certain aspects of the kingdom that had not yet started. You see, the spiritual kingdom, which is in the heart of true believers, had already begun, but his physical kingdom will not begin until after the battle of Armageddon and when the millennium begins, and at that point in time, god will give him the throne of his father, david, and he will rule for a thousand years in the millennial kingdom, on the physical throne of David in Jerusalem. And that's what the passage says. Gabriel says to her he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end. In the sentence above it, it says he will give him the throne of his father David. And you see, that's the already not yet aspect of this prophecy by Gabriel. The spiritual kingdom has already begun. The physical reign of King Jesus is yet to come, and Gabriel is prophesying all of that.
Speaker 2:And you see, and Mary is perplexed by all of that and she asked the question how can this be? And then she says and how can this be, since I am just a virgin? Well, gabriel explains all of that to her and the next question is this what was Mary's question? Her question was how can this be? How can all of these things happen? Well, in verse 34 and 35, gabriel explained to her by saying and explaining how she would conceive and become pregnant, when he says the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and for that reason the holy child shall be called the Son of God and we've already discussed that part.
Speaker 2:But then, in verse 37, he says Nothing will be impossible with God. Nothing will be impossible with God. All of this sounds impossible to you and me, doesn't it? Every aspect of this story sounds impossible to our finite minds. But, brothers and sisters, nothing is impossible with God. If he can speak the heavens and the earth into existence, then it's not even the least bit problematic to him to place the life of his only son into the womb of a virgin girl. That's not problematic for our God, for he is eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, for through him and to him and for him are all things, both now and forever.
Speaker 2:Here's the next question. So what was Mary's response when the angel looks at her and says with God, all things are possible? What did Mary say. She looked at him and she said no, no, no. This is my body, this is my womb, this is my uterus. This is not a part of my plan. I've got my life mapped out. Joseph and I have our own plans and we are in control of our destiny. We are controlling the ship of our own life and having this baby is not part of our plan. And I know, god, that you said that children are the fruit of the womb and it's a reward and that children are a blessing.
Speaker 2:But in our book, children are a liability. They cost too much and we are poor. We can't afford a baby and, no, we're not going to go down this road. Is that what Mary said? No, that's not what Mary said. That sounds like a 21st century woman who only wants 1.8 children, or no children and just a cockapoo, so they can afford two cars and a fancy house in a gated neighborhood. That sounds like a 21st century woman. What did Mary say? Let me tell you what Mary said.
Speaker 2:Mary said Behold the bond slave of the Lord. May it be done to me. According to your word, bond slave is really just a polite way of saying your slave. She said God, I'm your slave, you can do with me whatever you want. You can give me life or you can give me death. And let me tell you, pregnant women out of wedlock in that day were often stoned to death. And she calculated in an instant what it meant for her to conceive and have a child out of wedlock. She calculated the consequences and she said immediately she said Lord, I am your slave. Be it done to me according to your word. And she knew in a moment that having a child out of wedlock could cost her her life. She trusted God. Implicitly, she trusted God with her life and she said I'm your slave, I belong to you, you do with me whatever you wish.
Speaker 2:Now here's the challenge, brothers and sisters. I would challenge you to say that phrase every day between now and Christmas Day. In fact, I challenge you to say it multiple times a day between now and Christmas Day and try to find it in your heart, to say it with sincerity and depth of emotion and say Lord, I'm your slave, I belong to you, be it done to me according to your word, according to your will. And I want you to know it'll change your life, it'll change your Christmas and it could very well change your life. You're listening to devotions with Dr Papa and I pray that the Lord will bless your Christmas and I pray that he'll bless your life and we'll see you again next week. May the Lord bless you. Real good.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry, dr Jackson's books, or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or their webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. This podcast is produced by Bob Sloan Audio Production at bobsloancom.
