The angel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!”And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.And he came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee.
6 sermons cite this verse
… with something fresh and new in his word. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth. You have to know there was a joke, a running joke in Israel. They went like this. Can anything good come from Nazareth? Imagine growing up with that being spoken over you. Even before you even set out in life to do anything, it's already being told you'll do nothing. You came from nothing. You'll amount to nothing. And he came to Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, Now again, in a fiercely patriarchal society, to have a female singled out as being the recipient of divine favor and love, this is shocking. This is scandalous. This is not how anybody would have written the story. but when she saw him she was troubled at his saying and she was trying to figure out what manner of greeting this was then the angel said to her do not be afraid mary i've pointed out there are 365 do not be afraids in the bible and for any circumstance you could be facing any day of the calendar year there's a promise from god to give you peace in the midst of what you're facing Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. …
… a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. I want to stop right there. I love this biblical truth. You are highly favored and the Lord is with you. Maybe people haven't, you know, said nice things to you over the years. Maybe you didn't have a family that was encouraging you and exhorting you and encouraging and building you up. I want to encourage you that that's not the way that God sees you. God sees you that you are highly favored and that the Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 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 Jacob's descendants forever. …
… no, here's the answer to your clarifying question, and Mary saying, behold, I'm the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your will. I don't know how much time passed in that moment. I don't know how much she had to reflect on this, or how much she had to process this, how much time she needed. But right now, you and I don't need any time. We just need to give our answer. We don't have to wait. God's grace has already been given. all we have to do is say yes. You know, this feast, this Immaculate Conception, is not about Mary being special. It's about God's determination to save us. It's about his ability to reach deeper than sin, reach deeper than brokenness, reach deeper than death. And he can heal before something even breaks. And that means that he can restore everything after it's broken. There's no need to wait. God's grace is greater. Sin does not have the last word. …
… The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, Greetings, O favored one. The Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And 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 call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. …
… a town in Galilee to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. That's why I had you tell your neighbor, the Lord is with you. I want you to see how it felt to talk to an angel. And verse 29 says, I could preach that, couldn't I? Mary was greatly troubled. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought he said something that was nice in the compliment, but the Bible says Mary was greatly troubled. Did you know you can be highly favored and greatly troubled at the same time? Come on, nod like you know what I'm talking about, or I'm going to start citing specific things in this room. You can be anointed and addicted. You can be saved and struggling. Yeah. You can be grateful and a gossip. you can be favored and afraid. Just because you feel afraid sometimes doesn't cancel out the favor in your life. I want to tell somebody today the favor doesn't care about your feelings. …
… Rejoice, highly favored one. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then 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 bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There will be no end. Then Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I do not know a man? And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore, also the holy one who is to be born will be called the son of God. …