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And this reaction, in my opinion, demonstrates one really important character trait that Mary had

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that's super important for everybody today and especially our teenagers to understand.

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And that character trait is humility.

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Her reaction was not,

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Thank you, I know.

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It instead was incredibly humble.

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The Bible is full of examples of young people doing extraordinary things.

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Last episode, we looked at David and talked about the importance of teenagers understanding their identity,

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like David did when he was faced with the task of fighting Goliath.

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Our next example is that of Mary from the Gospel of Luke.

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Mary was a young teenager when she was visited by an angel and told that she would give birth to Jesus.

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As we look at this story, let's focus on Mary's reaction to the news in that conversation with the angel Gabriel.

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So Gabriel appears to Mary in Luke chapter 1 and says this to her,

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Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you.

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Greetings, O favored one.

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Not a bad thing to hear from an angel, right?

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Could be a lot worse.

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And people throughout the Bible did hear much different messages from angels that weren't as good as this one is.

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But look at her reaction in verse 29.

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Mary, but she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this may be.

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So an angel shows up, gives her good news, says,

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O favored one, the Lord is with you.

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And she's greatly troubled. Why?

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Well, first of all, an angel shows up.

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That could be troubling, right? And that would be shocking.

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No matter who you are, no matter how old you are, a young teenage girl or a grown man, it doesn't matter.

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An angel shows up. It's going to be troubling.

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But she's not just troubled by the appearance of the angel, also what the angel was saying.

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She's trying to figure out what this guy is talking about.

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Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you.

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And this reaction, in my opinion, demonstrates one really important character trait that Mary had.

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That's super important for everybody today and especially our teenagers to understand.

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And that character trait is humility.

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Her reaction was not, thank you, I know.

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It instead was incredibly humble.

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One of my favorite verses or passages regarding humility comes from 1 Peter 5.

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Starting in verse 5, it goes like this.

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Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.

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Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another,

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for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

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Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God,

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so at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you.

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These verses make me think of Mary, but they also remind me of Generation Z.

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Mary was not seeking a platform or seeking fame.

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She was living her life in a way that was honoring to the Lord and was humble.

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Generation Z, as we've talked about before, is known as the social generation.

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The generation that watches other young people achieve fame in ways that we haven't really seen before.

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Through social media, through YouTube, through short videos, wherever it is,

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young people can achieve fame and achieve a platform.

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And it seems really achievable and it's desirable to young people.

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But the Bible encourages us and young people specifically to humble themselves under God's mighty hand.

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Humble themselves under His perfect timing, that He may exalt you at the proper time.

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And what else Peter addresses in these verses is anxiety.

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Right after that, he says, cast your anxieties on Him because He cares for you.

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Because sometimes it's stressful and it doesn't make sense to stop, pause, and humble yourself under God.

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Because maybe you're a young person today who's eager.

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Maybe you feel like the Lord has marked you for something.

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Maybe you have a goal. You think you know where your life is headed.

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You have these goals. You want to do these things.

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Maybe good things for the Lord. It's on your heart.

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But that's not where you are right now and you feel stuck or you feel like you're spinning your wheels.

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Maybe at school or in a job that isn't what you're passionate about.

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Here's my encouragement to you.

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Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.

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Trust in Him and trust in the Lord's perfect timing.

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Work hard wherever the Lord currently has you, in school or in a job that feels like a dead end.

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excellently for the Lord. Colossians 3.23 says, whatever you do, work heartedly as for the Lord,

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not for men. So do it excellently, even if it's not that ultimate goal that you're trying to

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achieve or what you feel passionate about. And also, Peter says, cast, like we said, cast your

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anxieties on him because he cares for you. God cares about you and your future, so trust in him

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and give him your anxieties. Don't just give him your anxieties. Cast them on the Lord. Throw them

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to the Lord. Get them away from you. What's troubling you? What's making you anxious?

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What's bothering you? Throw it to the Lord. Pray about what scares you, about what worries you.

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Pray about your future and trust in God. So back to Mary. The Lord had a plan for her

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and she humbly responded. The angel Gabriel explains to Mary what's going to happen,

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that she's going to become pregnant, that she's going to give birth to a baby, and not just any

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baby, but this baby is going to be the son of God and is going to change the world. She does ask a

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clarifying question because she is not married yet and had never been with a man. So Gabriel

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explains that to her, how it's going to happen, and then responds in verse 37 by saying, for nothing

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will be impossible with God. Mary then responds and says, behold, I am the servant of the Lord.

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Let it be done to me according to your word. What a powerful and humble response from the young

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teenage Mary. So what can we learn from the example of Mary? Three things. Number one,

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humility. Let's talk about humility. Let's teach humility. Let's emphasize

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the power of being humble. In a generation striving for fame and influence, what if instead

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we strive for making God famous instead of ourselves? What if we use the influence platform,

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whatever we have, the circle, social circles we're in, if you're in school, if you're in work,

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wherever the Lord has you, what if the goal is promoting Him instead of promoting ourselves?

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Let's humbly submit to God's plan for our lives. Let's humbly submit to His perfect timing,

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and wherever we are, strive for making Him more known instead of ourselves.

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Let's push that agenda. Let's push the Lord in front and let's follow Him. Let's follow Him.

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So number one, humility. Let's strive for making God famous more than ourselves. And number two is

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trusting in the Lord. Mary trusted in God with something that sounded absolutely crazy,

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with something that sounded impossible, because it was. But Mary trusted in God. Let's trust in

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God with what scares us, with what doesn't make sense to us, with what's confusing to us. Let's

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give it to the Lord and trust in Him. Let's trust in God with what seems impossible, because,

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number three, nothing is impossible with God. Do we believe that today? Do we practice that? Do we

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live with faith, with a faith that's big enough to know that God can do anything, that nothing is

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impossible for Him? Do we talk about that? Do we live that way? Because if we don't, if the older

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generation doesn't, then the younger generation probably won't either. Do our teenagers, does

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generation Z believe that, that nothing is impossible for God? Let's live with a faith

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like the faith that Mary had, because we serve a God who can do the impossible. He can do the

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impossible with those who trust in Him and believe in Him regardless of their age, because that's the

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part that doesn't matter. Mary was a young teenager, but God saw her. He could have used someone older,

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but He saw her and her faith and her trust and how she was living her life and the humility

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that she walked with, and He said, I can use her and was not worried about the age. So if you're a

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young person today, don't be caught up about that, about how old you are or how capable you think you

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are. Seek God first. Trust in Him. Humble yourself under His plan and His timing. Walk closely with

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Him and follow Him. In the next episode, we'll look at another biblical example

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of the Lord using a young person to do more extraordinary things.