Joy In Every Step

Introduction: 00:03

Welcome to a place of peace, hope, and divine encouragement. This is Joy In Every Step with your host, beloved preacher, retired teacher, and faithful faithful servant of the Lord, Sarita Bernadette. Each week, Sarita shares heartfelt messages rooted in the Word of God, filled with wisdom, joy, and the gentle reminder that God cares deeply for you. Whether you're walking through the valleys or dancing on the mountaintops, Sarita's voice will guide you back to his promises step by step. So open your heart, settle your spirit, and take the next step in faith with Joy In Every Step.

Sarita Bernadette: 00:48

Hi. I'm Sarita Bernadette, and welcome back to another episode of Joy In Every Step. I'm glad you're here. Ephesians six verses one through three. Children, obey your parents in the lord for this is right.

Sarita Bernadette: 01:06

Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise. So that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. This is an instruction rooted in god's law. He promises us that this righteous behavior will lead to a long and blessed life.

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Note verse one says to obey your parents in the lord, meaning, this type of obedience is part of one's service to Christ. It's an important step in learning how to respect God's authority.

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I honor my mom as I share this episode with you. Beloved, it's

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a blessing to have her with me. She's 92 years old and still going. It's Mother's Day weekend twenty '26. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and grandmothers. To those of you who have stepped up to serve as mother figures and spiritual mothers as God has called,

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God bless you. The word of God recognizes a mother's love as one of

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the most powerful kinds of love there is. Isaiah suggests that a mother's love for her child is so well known that it becomes a rhetorical question in Isaiah forty nine and fifteen. Can a woman forget her nursing child or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these might forget, yet I will not forget you. Wow.

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God says, it's highly unlikely that a mother would forget her child, but even if she does,

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I won't. He won't, beloved. If for some reason you have not had the relationship with your mom that you needed, God is reassuring you right now that you're loved and you're cared for.

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He loves us with an everlasting love and it never ends. There's a passage of scripture describing love that we often hear at weddings. I believe it applies to moms too as the truth it espouses is not merely confined to the romantic And you know it. You know it beloved. First Corinthians 13 verses four through seven.

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Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable.

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It keeps no record of wrongs. It does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

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Love is a powerful force. A mother's love will cause her

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to run through troops and leap over walls for her offspring. And typically, that love begins way before a child actually enters the world and it lasts. In the first chapter of Luke, we find a story of two women. Some background here. The angel Gabriel appeared to the elderly priest Zechariah in the temple to announce that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son named John.

Sarita Bernadette: 04:38

Yes, the Baptist. Zechariah questioned this miracle due to their age causing Gabriel to strike him mute until the child was born. Boy, that's a whole different topic for another day's episode. His elderly life, his elderly wife rather, Elizabeth, is now six months pregnant with John the Baptist as promised by the angel and the Virgin Mary has just had her encounter with an angel who told her that the Holy Spirit would conceive a son in her womb and that her son would be called the son of God. In Mary's encounter with the angel, she was also told about the pregnancy of her previously barren relative, Elizabeth.

Sarita Bernadette: 05:26

So, let's pick up with a special encounter in Luke chapter one beginning with verse 39. Verse 39 reads, in those days, Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. Verse 41, when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this happened to me that the mother of my lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.

Sarita Bernadette: 06:12

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the lord. Then, Mary sings a song of praise. Verse 46 and Mary said, my soul magnifies the lord and my spirit rejoices in god, my savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. Surely, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For the mighty one has done great things for me and holy is his name.

Sarita Bernadette: 06:47

Indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. Have you ever heard the expression expect the unexpected? We know that to expect is to wait for something. Right? Well, Webster's eighteen twenty eight dictionary also says

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it is to look for,

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to entertain at least a slight belief that an event will happen. Unexpected is sudden, surprising, or unforeseen. Expect the unexpected is a phrase meaning one should be prepared for unusual events or disruptions. It suggests staying adaptable because challenges, obstacles, or surprise events are likely to occur. And you know, this kind of thinking, this mindset beloved also helps us manage uncertainty and it reminds us that we cannot always control outcomes.

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In the teaching profession, we call that being flexible. Speaking of being flexible, as you might imagine, after Mary's life changing encounter with the angel of the Lord, she's surprised but she also believes. She probably wanted to share that experience with someone who would believe her. And who would be more likely to believe her than her own relative Elizabeth, who was also taking part in these miraculous events. Imagine the excitement of being able to share with Elizabeth that you knew she was pregnant because an angel had told you.

Sarita Bernadette: 08:32

And though Mary hadn't asked the angel for a sign in order to believe, the angel had graciously provided one for her. And that was the prophetic information that Elizabeth was six months pregnant. And wouldn't you wanna go check it out? I know I would. Notice that Mary went in a hurry.

Sarita Bernadette: 08:52

We get the impression that she immediate that that immediately rather, after her encounter with the angel, she packed up her bags and left her home in Nazareth and hit the trail to Elizabeth's house in the hill country of Judah. And after her journey of several days, she arrived at Elizabeth's house. She went right in and said something like, Elizabeth, how are you? The amplified classic version of verses forty one and forty two reads, and it occurred that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit And she cried out with a loud cry and then exclaimed, blessed, favored of God, above all other women are you. And blessed, favored of God is the fruit of your womb.

Sarita Bernadette: 09:46

The greeting itself is miraculous. John the Baptist recognized the Messiah while he was still in the womb. The Holy Spirit through Elizabeth affirms who Mary is, the mother of the savior of the world. Can you imagine? These two pregnancies, one supernatural and the other geriatric, both seemingly impossible.

Sarita Bernadette: 10:14

Yet there they are together expecting the unexpected. Beloved, believing is the foundational act that activates or unlocks and allows us to receive God's blessings. We won't have access to his promises and his presence if we don't first believe. Even when it seems impossible, we ought to be so convinced that what he says is true, that we get excited and we look for someone who is also willing to believe in a miracle. In verse 43, Elizabeth asked a question.

Sarita Bernadette: 10:54

And why has this happened to me that the mother of my lord comes to me? This verse highlights Elizabeth's humility and recognition of Mary carrying the Messiah. In experiencing this miraculous reversal of her previous barrenness, Elizabeth hasn't concluded that she must be pretty special if god would do this for her. No. She hasn't allowed herself to think that she somehow earned this or she deserved this blessing.

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Instead, she's humble and she's thankful that god would be so gracious as to perform such a miracle within an ordinary old lady from the hill country of Judah. And now, she's even more amazed that he has invited the woman appointed as the mother of her savior to come and personally visit her and share her joy. Her heart of humility is what prepares the way for the spirit to work powerfully within her as a result. And as a result, God is glorified, not Elizabeth. God is glorified in this.

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Verses 44 through 45 in the amplified classic read, for behold the instant the sound of your salutation reached my ears. The baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed, happy to be envied is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her from the lord. It says, blessed, happy to be envied. My lord.

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These verses further validate Mary's faith in god's promise. They also emphasize the blessing found in trusting god's word. Again, she believed that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her from the lord. Expect his promises to be yes and amen. The passage underscores the joy of salvation and the sanctity of life as well.

Sarita Bernadette: 13:06

It's very clear in these verses that god is pouring out confirmation after confirmation to both Mary and Elizabeth that something big is about to happen and that the miracles he's promised to both of them are already being fulfilled. Mary didn't even need to explain to Elizabeth what had happened to her because the spirit revealed it to Elizabeth as she spoke. What an encounter this must have been.

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Mother to mother, expecting the unexpected.

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Mary had only greeted Elizabeth, but Elizabeth by the spirit of God already knew that Mary was pregnant and that the child in Mary's womb was the lord and that god had spoken a promise to Mary and that Mary had believed. Beloved, this accounting reminds us to listen for the voice of the lord and to acknowledge what he's doing in our lives and in the lives of those around us. It's so important that we do as instructed as in first Thessalonians five and eleven. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. We are to continue encouraging one another in the lord.

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In verses 46 through 50 of this first chapter

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of Luke, Mary praises god.

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Again, it reads, and Mary said, my soul magnifies the lord and my spirit rejoices in god, my savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant. Surely, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For the mighty one has done great things for me and holy is his name. Indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. These verses are the beginning of what's known as the Magnificat or Mary's song.

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Mary reveals how and why she is responding personally to what God has done for her. And then she boldly praises God for

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who he is and what he's done.

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Mary glorifies god for his holiness, his mercy, and his strength. She highlights god's grace in choosing her, a humble servant to bring the savior into the world, reminding us that god lifts up the lowly and shows mercy to those who fear him. James four and ten, humble yourselves in the sight of the lord and he will lift you up. Again, I just love the intimacy shown in Mary's praise here. It's personal for her.

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She says, my soul, my spirit, my savior, all of her soul and spirit is engaged in magnifying and rejoicing in Elroy, the God who sees.

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She acknowledges the Lord has noticed her, and

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he cares about her. She delights in this wonderful assignment that she's been given. The Lord has invited her into his magnificent plan

Introduction: 16:31

for

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salvation. We give him honor, and he gives us grace. Expect the unexpected, beloved.

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Let's look for god to do something extraordinary in our lives because that's the kind of god he is. Ephesians three twenty and twenty one. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think according to the power at work within us. To him, be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.

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You've been listening to Joy In Every Step. I'm Sarita Bernadette, and I'm grateful you chose to spend some time here with me. Feel free to share this episode with someone you know would appreciate it. You can find Joy In Every Step wherever you listen to your podcasts and give us a follow there. Do check out the website at joyineverystep.org.

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See you next time.