Introduction: In the Christmas season, we repeatedly use the words "glory," or "glorify." Christmas carols are a good example (see #s 128, 131, 132 and 133 in our hymn book). There are four Greek words used in the Christmas story of the Gospel of Luke which may be translated as "glorify," or a synonym, yet each has a flavor of its own.

I. Luke 1:46 "My soul magnifies the Lord."
Mary used the word, megalunei. "Mega" means great, or in computer terms, one million. My first computer, which I purchased about four years ago, had a 200 megabyte hard-drive. The average home computer now has a hard-drive 50 times as large as that, 10,000 megabytes! Mary was using words of praise to try to make us see how great God was in sending the Savior. Let's read her entire speech (Luke 1:46-55). Let's put God under a magnifying glass for our children and all those around us. Make Him look BIG in their eyes.

II. Luke 1:64 "He spoke, praising God."
Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, used the word eugolon. This comes from two Greek words, eu, meaning "good" and logos meaning "word." Zacharias was filled with good words about God, because of what God had done. Luke 1:67-79 records his good words about God. How often do you hear people say nice things about God? Are you speaking good words about Him?

III. Luke 2:13 "praising God, and saying, glory to God in the highest"
This is what the angels did as they announced the Savior's birth. "Praising God" is in the greek, aineo, and "glory" is doxa. Obviously this is the source for our English word "doxology." The very same words describe the reaction of the shepherds in Luke 2:20. The angels, and the shepherds, were speaking directly to God. They were telling Him how great He was. This is worship. We need to speak to God in our worship as they did.

IV. Luke 2:38 "she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption."
Anna's thanksgiving is conveyed by another Greek word, anthomologeito, which means, "to acknowledge fully." Sometimes when we get depressed, we can help ourselves by fully acknowledging all that the Lord has done in our lives. Make a list. We have many heartaches, but we DO have showers of blessings, as many as the raindrops in a thunderstorm.

Conclusion: Here then are four different aspects of praising and glorifying God: 1) to put Him under a magnifying glass for all those around us, to draw attention to Him; 2) to speak good words about God; 3) to speak directly to God praising Him and thanking Him for all He has done, which is worship; and 4) to fully acknowledge, to detail exhaustively the goodness of God. May God fill our hearts with praise of all kinds this Christmas Season!