In this episode, we reflect on the powerful story of the Advent wreath’s third candle, symbolizing joy and illumination brought to a darkened world. We recount the angelic visits that heralded the arrival of the Messiah, and examine the reactions of those who first heard the joyous news. From the courage of Mary and Joseph to the awe of the shepherds, this engaging narrative invites listeners to reconnect with the spiritual meaning of Christmas. Emphasizing the eternal message of goodwill and divine grace, this episode offers a heartfelt reminder of what it truly means to celebrate this sacred season.
The Crawford Stand, as the president of Crawford Media Group, Don Crawford, brings the third of three Advent messages. This week, the greatest love story ever told. The story of how God’s miraculous power brought light to a dark world.
SPEAKER 03 :
With God, all things are possible. All things. Even an event like the virgin birth. Some 2,000 years ago, an angel was sent by God to the tiny town of Nazareth in the Galilee area of Israel. The area was small, the inhabitants few, and a popular saying of the day was, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Perhaps not. Perhaps not before, but after the visit by the angel Gabriel to an unknown Mary, from Nazareth would come the Savior, the Savior God. of the world Mary the Virgin was pledged to be married to a man named Joseph a descendant of David the angel Gabriel said to her greetings greetings Mary you who are highly favored the Lord the Lord is with you and don’t be afraid Mary you have found favor with God you will be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus Jesus. He will be great, he will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end. Wow! Can you believe that kind of message? Isn’t that incredible? Can you imagine the reaction of Mary? Mary was troubled, and she said to the angel, How will this come about, since I am a virgin? I’m a virgin. To which the angel responded, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born would be called the Son of God. Well, I’ll tell you what, it takes a whole lot of faith to believe in that, but to believe it is probably the most wonderful commitment any human being can make.
SPEAKER 02 :
And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
SPEAKER 03 :
The natural man scoffs at angels, but the spiritual man knows that with God, with God, all things are possible, all things, including angels. So Mary, now with child, the Holy Ghost having come upon her, went to the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. relatives of hers. And when she arrived, Elizabeth knew of this immaculate conception, and Elizabeth said to Mary, wonderful, wonderful words, Blessed are you, Mary, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb through the Holy Spirit, Jesus. Elizabeth knew that Mary would be the mother of her Lord and ours as well. So the world was about to change because of that event in Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth would soon be born in Bethlehem of Judea, and this Nazarene, this Son of the Most High, would soon be known as the Savior, the Savior of the world, the Prince of Peace, the Christ of Glory. And when Elizabeth had finished, Mary began her very own song of praise, the Magnificat. Mary’s Magnificat.
SPEAKER 02 :
Listen to these words. And Mary said, He that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
SPEAKER 03 :
Ah, such powerful, powerful praise and adoration this Magnificat of Mary was! Mary the Virgin, so humble in spirit, thought of herself as the handmaiden of the Lord, perhaps still puzzled as to why she was chosen to bear the King of Kings, but willing and obedient to do the will of God. and the babe of Bethlehem grew within her. Fiancé Joseph, of the lineage of David, sought to put her away, but again an angelic message explained to him what had happened, foretold the birth of this son, and the instructions to him that his name would be Jesus. Thereafter, Mary would be wife and mother for Joseph, but only thereafter. It really is incredibly difficult to imagine how this man 2,000 years ago would react. How would you as a man react to that news? Nothing like this in human history had ever happened before, ever. He, Joseph, was chosen to supervise and support the birth of the Savior of the world. That would be impossible for any man to comprehend. But Joseph, obedient like Mary, accepted the angelic explanation, and this divine drama proceeded. Surely Joseph could see the remarkable changes in Mary. For those precious months, Mary’s soul glorified the Lord. She told all that her spirit rejoices in God, in God my Savior. Surely that glorifying and rejoicing was well noticed, even participated in by Joseph. I hope so. Mary, the humble servant of the Lord, knew what great things God had done for her, and she was perhaps the first to live in a brand new revolutionary state of praise and worship. And soon, soon, my fellow Americans, soon that would be available to all mankind. to you and me. And then came the decree from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. Joseph, who belonged to the house and lineage of David, therefore went to Bethlehem of Judea to register with Mary, since Bethlehem was the city of David. But the town was full, full, and there was no room in the inn, no room in the inn, so that Mary and Joseph slept in a manger.” And there, there, in that manger, Mary gave birth to a son, and as a proud and loving mother, she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and she laid Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, in a manger. Such were the humble circumstances of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the Babe of Bethlehem, the Prince of Peace, and the Savior of the world. And that, That is the real meaning of Christmas. That birth of the Savior of the world is what we celebrate at Christmas, or we should. This rabidly secular world of ours wishes to de-spiritualize this event and take Christ out of Christmas. And boy, are they doing a good job of that. We who believe, we who believe in this miracle, for again, all things with God are possible, we who believe must never let that happen, but rather band together in glorious praise and worship to the babe, and especially to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let not, my fellow Christians, let not the secularists abandon the Christ of Christmas. Don’t let it happen. So, Christ was born. And there began the spreading of this marvelous message.
SPEAKER 02 :
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.
SPEAKER 03 :
I find it so interesting that shepherds were chosen as the first to hear this angelic enunciation. Shepherds were watchmen, observant, especially at night, as they made certain to protect their sheep. and they knew the heavens and the stars and their movements. They were familiar with the night, and they could, like wise men and kings, identify and follow the star of wonder, the star so bright, the star with royal beauty bright, the star which shone brightly that night over the city of David, the blessed Bethlehem of Judea, where the Prince of Peace was born, our Lord. And those shepherds left immediately, and they found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. And when they had seen him, when they had seen him, they were the very first evangelists. They spread the word of this miraculous and marvelous birth, the message they had been told by the angel about this babe. And that, that was the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. From then on, the shepherds glorified and praised God for all the things they had heard and seen, even as we who believe do so today. And we do so today, never having seen him like the shepherds did. And we will say today as the shepherds and angels did then. Glory to God in the highest. Glory, glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace and goodwill toward all mankind. Men and women search for truth, even as the shepherds did. They do that today. We all do. The search is everywhere. But the truth, the ultimate truth, was revealed to mankind in a manger in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. Wise men and wise women who truly seek him will find him there and here and now. Those who scoff, mock at a virgin birth, the concept of angels, and the creation of a God-man will never ever know that nothing, but nothing, is impossible with God. nothing but to find him as a most joyous, wondrous discovery. It is an epiphany like no other. The finding of the babe is the finding of the world’s greatest treasure. The power, the love, the understanding which results from finding him is life-changing then and forevermore. That finding allows us to become, as a little child, open and transparent, filled with love and compassion, fully understanding the grace of God and that gracious gift which changed the world 2,000 years ago. That faith in the babe of Bethlehem is the key, the key, to entering the kingdom of God, humbly trusting and believing even as Mary did of old. Women become handmaidens of the Lord like Mary did. Men, believers, become servants of the Lord as the shepherds did. So that on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day, on such a wonderful day, we discover the greatest present, the greatest gift one could ever find, the babe, the babe of Bethlehem, the Savior of the world. The gifts we give to others at Christmastime can never begin to equal the gift of God to us. We should celebrate that gift first, and wherever possible, give the love of that gift to others. That is what Christmas is all about. And that, that must never change. it must never change. And we, like the shepherds of old, should spread the good news of the gospel, of the birth of Jesus Christ, the good news that is true evangelism. And we who believe must never let that message die, not only at Christmas, but every day of the year. The wise men of old found him, and the wise men and women of today they do the same. The truly wise who search will find him. For in him it is all that God is. And that, as the angels well said, is indeed the glad tidings and the great joy for all mankind. Have you found that? Have you experienced the joy, the love, the forgiveness, the salvation offered by the babe of Bethlehem? I hope and pray you have. For God so loved the world, He so loved the world, that He gave His only Son to all mankind, so that those who believe could have life abundant here and life eternal there. For those who received this gift of God, there comes the power of God, making them sons and daughters of God. Life all brand new. Do you have it? Women praise the Lord like Mary of old. Men glorify the Lord as the shepherds of old. And that, and only that, can bring peace to the world. The message of that babe is the only message which can spread the goodwill of God and transform the lives of all mankind. Oh, I hope and pray at this wonderful season that this gift may be yours. We, the Crawford Broadcasting Company, all of us, wish you a very happy, merry, blessed Christmas centered around the Babe of Bethlehem. And may the love of God in Jesus Christ be your very special gift this Christmas season. And I say, glory to God, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill for all, like the angels of old. Christ, Christ is born.
SPEAKER 01 :
Let him know you appreciate his daily visits here on the Crawford Stand. His email address again is stand at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. When you want to review what you hear, go to our website, CrawfordMediaGroup.net. The Crawford Stand is a public affairs presentation of Crawford Media Group and this station, serving God and country. I’m Bill McCormick.
