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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, and thank you for listening to your

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Speaker 1: Daily Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each

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Speaker 1: day to learn more about God and his will for us.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jennifer Goetzler, and after this short word

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Speaker 1: from our sponsor, will continue with our advent series experiencing

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Speaker 1: Christ this Christmas with a discussion of Luke chapter one,

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Speaker 1: verse fifty. Today's Bible Verse is Luke chapter one, verse fifty.

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Speaker 1: He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who

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Speaker 1: fear him. As we step into today's episode, we're focusing

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Speaker 1: on a theme that's so deeply woven all throughout Scripture.

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Speaker 1: It's a theme of mercy. The Bible actually describes mercy

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Speaker 1: as a core part of who God is. It's God's character.

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Speaker 1: He is rich in mercy. We see God's mercy in

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Speaker 1: the way he moves, the way God cares about our sufferings,

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Speaker 1: and how he remains faithful to his people. The word

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Speaker 1: mercy is so layered the Biblical languages, in Greek and

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Speaker 1: in Hebrew use several different terms to capture and to

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Speaker 1: describe the fullness of what mercy actually means. Words like compassion,

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Speaker 1: words like loving, kindness, favor, steadfast love, are all used

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Speaker 1: to describe the word mercy, and at its heart, mercy

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Speaker 1: is God offering kindness and compassion that we could never

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Speaker 1: ever earn on our own. Before we get into today's

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Speaker 1: verse in Luke chapter one, verse fifty, let's look at

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Speaker 1: a little bit of contexts. The entire passage that we're

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Speaker 1: reading today is titled Mary's Magnificat. This is a song

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Speaker 1: that Mary sings. These are Mary's words about God's mercy,

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Speaker 1: his goodness, and all that he has done in her life.

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Speaker 1: She had just met with her cousin Elizabeth, and she's

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Speaker 1: in awe of what God is doing. So she's sharing

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Speaker 1: out of her heart, out of a fullness of love

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Speaker 1: and joy and gratitude for what God is doing right

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Speaker 1: then and there and all throughout her life. The word

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Speaker 1: magnificat means my soul magnifies the Lord. This is actually

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Speaker 1: one of the earliest Christian hymns recorded in scripture, and

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Speaker 1: it's Mary singing a song of praise, a song to

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Speaker 1: magnify God in his name. So in that moment, Mary

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Speaker 1: was magnifying God in the song. She was giving him

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Speaker 1: all honor and glory for all that he had done.

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Speaker 1: And right there at the center of her song is

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Speaker 1: Luke one verse fifty that we're looking at today that

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Speaker 1: says God's mercy reaches the those who fear Him from

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Speaker 1: generation to generation. So with that picture in mind, Mary

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Speaker 1: was standing right there with Elizabeth in her home. Her

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Speaker 1: heart is overflowing, and she says His mercy is for

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Speaker 1: those who fear him from generation to generation. She's speaking

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Speaker 1: from lived experience, from her entire life, all that she

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Speaker 1: knew and what it felt like to be seen by God,

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Speaker 1: her creator, after feeling unseen. Her worship to God in

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Speaker 1: this song, in this moment, inspires us today as believers

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Speaker 1: in so many ways. One part of the song that

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Speaker 1: strikes me in my heart about Mary's song is that

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Speaker 1: it doesn't draw attention to herself. She's singing these words

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Speaker 1: of praise to God, but she's lowering herself this type

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Speaker 1: of humility. It's inspiring to me, and I hope it's

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Speaker 1: inspiring to you. It's a maturity about her faith, her eyes.

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Speaker 1: Seeing through faith eyes, she draws attention to God. She

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Speaker 1: sees him and him alone. She doesn't exalt her own name,

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Speaker 1: or her own desire, or her own status or role

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Speaker 1: in the story. Instead, she's magnifying God. She worships him

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Speaker 1: for his power, for his holiness, for his mercy. She

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Speaker 1: keeps singing, and she shares her own lowliness. It is

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Speaker 1: not a false humility. She's genuinely understanding that everything good

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Speaker 1: in her life was a gift from God. We can

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Speaker 1: hear her heart that she's amazed that God would even

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Speaker 1: choose her, someone so ordinary. We could share her honor

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Speaker 1: to be part of God's saving work and of being

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Speaker 1: a part of his bigger story. Mary knew that the

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Speaker 1: child she was carrying was the fulfillment of all the promises,

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Speaker 1: all the promises and stories that she had heard and

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Speaker 1: had been shared with her as a child. Her song

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Speaker 1: in this moment wasn't just about her own blessing and

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Speaker 1: connection to Christ's the Messiah, about God completing his saving work,

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Speaker 1: his gift of salvation for all people from generation to generation.

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Speaker 1: These were stories that were shared from her mother, from

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Speaker 1: her grandmother, from her great grandmother, from her great great grandmother.

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Speaker 1: Every generation was sharing this promise, this blessing of good

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Speaker 1: news that would come of a Messiah that would show

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Speaker 1: up one day. And Mary was in awe of her

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Speaker 1: connection to Christ. As we are inspired by Mary's heart

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Speaker 1: for God and connection with Christ. In this special way.

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Speaker 1: Scripture consistently shows that Mary had deep humility. She never

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Speaker 1: presented herself as someone to be worshiped. She actually saw

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Speaker 1: herself as a servant whom God chose to use and

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Speaker 1: nothing more, nothing less Mary's life, and this passage invites

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Speaker 1: us to follow that same path, to look at God's

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Speaker 1: goodness and his kindness and his mercy in our own

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Speaker 1: lives and stand in awe of what He's done and

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Speaker 1: who he is. May we lift our eyes today to

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Speaker 1: the one who keeps his promises from generation to generation,

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Speaker 1: and may we experience Christ and God's great mercy this Christmas.

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Speaker 1: Let's pray, Heavenly Father, I just pray right now that

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Speaker 1: as we move toward Christmas, would you quiet our hearts.

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Speaker 1: Would you quiet our minds so that we don't miss

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Speaker 1: what you were doing in the middle of all of it. Lord,

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Speaker 1: help us to pause long enough to remember what you

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Speaker 1: have done in our own lives, to remember your great mercy,

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Speaker 1: your great love. Lord, Thank you for meeting us in

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Speaker 1: our need, Thank you for meeting us in our longing,

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Speaker 1: in our questions. God, I just asked that you would

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Speaker 1: give us more of your presence in the sea, And

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Speaker 1: would we feel you draw close to us, Would we

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Speaker 1: feel your rest, would we feel your presence and peace?

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Speaker 1: Would you remind us that you are a God who

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Speaker 1: is with us. Open our eyes, Lord, to see you

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Speaker 1: in the simple, ordinary moments, and just like Mary and

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Speaker 1: Joseph found you in a humble place, Lord, open our

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Speaker 1: hearts to receive your mercy, your grace, your hope that

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Speaker 1: you bring into this world. Lord, we celebrate your birth, Jesus.

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Speaker 1: Would you teach us to trust you more deeply today

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Speaker 1: and would we follow you faithfully? And when we reflect

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Speaker 1: your kindness to those around us today, Lord, we love you,

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Speaker 1: and we say thank you in Jesus' name. A men,