{"id":5620,"date":"2012-12-21T11:46:37","date_gmt":"2012-12-21T16:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=5620"},"modified":"2012-12-21T11:46:37","modified_gmt":"2012-12-21T16:46:37","slug":"just-like-mary-you-too-can-give-birth-to-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=5620","title":{"rendered":"Just like Mary, you too can give birth to Jesus!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What, you say? How can this be? Simple, just check you Cable listings for the <em>Casting Crowns Christmas Celebration<\/em> and listen to the sermon [sic] from Max Lucado (about 30 minutes into the program). After reading the scriptural account of the angel Gabriel visiting Mary, Lucado then launches into one of the strangest evangelistic talks I&#8217;ve ever heard.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some direct excerpts:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The virgin birth \u2013 more than just a Christmas story, but a heavenly promise that what God did for Mary, he will do for you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The virgin birth \u2013 the core of the Christian hope, that God could work such a miracle in those that would trust and obey him, that Jesus himself would be placed within them, so that they could do what Mary did \u2013 deliver hope into a dark world.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And John was clear that those who obey his [Jesus&#8217;] commands live in him and he lives in them. And the sweet invitation of Christ is this, \u201cIf anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come-,\u201d not just near, and not just around, but \u201cI will come in.\u201d Jesus&#8217; invitation to all people is this, \u201cIf you&#8217;ll let me, I&#8217;ll move in.\u201d And what Christ did for Mary, he&#8217;s willing to do for you. To grow in you, until he <strong>has<\/strong> to come out \u2013 until you deliver him. Until he comes out through your speech \u2013 through your touch \u2013 through your eyes \u2013 through your love. Every place you live will be a Bethlehem, and every day you live will be a Christmas. And you, like Mary, will deliver Christ into the world.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2026<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And the day you deposited your faith in Christ he performed an irrevocable yet undeniable miracle \u2013 he moved in. And he took up residence, deep within you, until he grows and he grows and he grows, and he must be delivered. You do not have a choice \u2013 you are third trimester heavy, with the presence of Christ. And you deliver him into the world.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I think this takes metaphorical analogy, with a personal application, to a whole new level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What, you say? How can this be? Simple, just check you Cable listings for the Casting Crowns Christmas Celebration and listen to the sermon [sic] from Max Lucado (about 30 minutes into the program). After reading the scriptural account of the angel Gabriel visiting Mary, Lucado then launches into one of the strangest evangelistic talks [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,59],"tags":[967,969,968],"class_list":["post-5620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-rusty","tag-casting-crowns","tag-max-lucado","tag-virign-birth"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}