1 00:00:06,510 --> 00:00:08,980 Thank you to our worship team this morning for leading us in 2 00:00:08,990 --> 00:00:12,400 worship so soon. We'll get Dan to come up and 3 00:00:12,490 --> 00:00:14,340 bring the Word of God to us this morning. 4 00:00:14,350 --> 00:00:17,490 But before that, we'll just take a time of prayer. 5 00:00:17,500 --> 00:00:20,480 We'll pray for our offering. We'll pray for our Sunday School 6 00:00:20,490 --> 00:00:22,520 children who will be hitting out to Sunday School soon. 7 00:00:22,690 --> 00:00:25,780 And we'll pray for Dan as he brings the Word this morning. 8 00:00:25,790 --> 00:00:29,340 So let's pray every Father, we come before you and we come 9 00:00:29,350 --> 00:00:30,860 before you again with thanks and praise. 10 00:00:30,870 --> 00:00:34,160 We thank you for this time of worship we've had where we can 11 00:00:34,170 --> 00:00:37,980 bring our praise and our worship to you, the one who all honour 12 00:00:37,990 --> 00:00:40,840 and glory is for. And Lord, we just pray now. 13 00:00:40,850 --> 00:00:44,490 We thank you for the offering. We thank you for the the gifts 14 00:00:44,500 --> 00:00:46,550 you give us. We thank you for the financial 15 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:49,990 things you give us in Lord as we come each week. 16 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,360 And we we bring that before you, Lord, as part of our worship 17 00:00:53,370 --> 00:00:55,540 this morning. Lord, we just pray that it will 18 00:00:55,550 --> 00:00:57,890 be used wisely and for your glory. 19 00:00:57,990 --> 00:01:01,740 And we just thank you for releasing us in that way that we 20 00:01:01,750 --> 00:01:04,470 can give back a small part of what you've given us. 21 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:06,670 A little bit might be a big part in our hearts. 22 00:01:06,900 --> 00:01:09,870 And Lord, we just thank you for our Sunday School. 23 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:12,530 We thank you for our children. What a blessing it is to have 24 00:01:12,540 --> 00:01:15,670 them as part of this church. And Lord, we just pray for each 25 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:17,850 one as they go out to Sunday School this morning. 26 00:01:17,860 --> 00:01:21,030 Lord, we pray your work in each of the young hearts that your 27 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,220 word that they learn from the Sunday School teachers and Lord 28 00:01:24,230 --> 00:01:27,180 that it will sink deep, LOL. We pray for them that they will 29 00:01:27,190 --> 00:01:29,610 one day come to know you as their own personal Lord and 30 00:01:29,620 --> 00:01:31,070 Saviour. We thank you for our Sunday 31 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:34,770 School teachers for the gift of time that they give and that 32 00:01:34,780 --> 00:01:37,870 that offering that they give through their time to teach our 33 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:40,400 young children. And we thank you for them would 34 00:01:40,450 --> 00:01:43,040 give them the words to say. We pray this day. 35 00:01:43,110 --> 00:01:46,400 And Father, we pray for Dan as he comes this morning to bring 36 00:01:46,410 --> 00:01:49,260 the message to us this morning as we continue our series and 37 00:01:49,270 --> 00:01:52,120 and your book of Luke. And Lord, we just pray you'll 38 00:01:52,130 --> 00:01:55,280 give him the words to say, Lord, give him clarity of thought. 39 00:01:55,350 --> 00:01:57,210 And Lord, we just pray for our hearts. 40 00:01:57,220 --> 00:02:00,780 We pray our hearts will be open to hear the word of God, but not 41 00:02:00,790 --> 00:02:03,040 just here. We pray, Lord, that it will 42 00:02:03,250 --> 00:02:06,720 challenge us and stir us and that we will apply it into our 43 00:02:06,730 --> 00:02:08,820 lives. So Lord, we thank you for this 44 00:02:08,830 --> 00:02:12,710 time ahead and we committed into your hand in Jesus name, Amen. 45 00:02:14,980 --> 00:02:18,640 Good morning. Hey, great to see everybody this 46 00:02:18,650 --> 00:02:20,320 morning. Hey, we are continuing our 47 00:02:20,330 --> 00:02:26,140 series this morning in through Luke's gospel as we look at how 48 00:02:26,150 --> 00:02:30,770 Luke has laid out his orderly account for Theophilus, who 49 00:02:30,780 --> 00:02:35,990 seems to be this Roman living in a Greek world, serving a Jewish 50 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,690 Messiah. And so we've seen over the last 51 00:02:38,700 --> 00:02:42,270 few weeks how as Luke's laying out what happened, there's this 52 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:44,870 contrast where he's talking about what happens John the 53 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,470 Baptist, and then it flicks to Jesus and then back to John the 54 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:50,910 Baptist and then back to Jesus. And so this week we're going to 55 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:55,370 be looking at the birth of John the Baptist, literally in Greek, 56 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,170 John the Mercer, probably in modern English, we say John the 57 00:02:58,180 --> 00:03:00,030 dunker. We're going to look at his 58 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,470 birth. So we just need to review a 59 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:03,980 little bit. Jeff did an excellent job a 60 00:03:03,990 --> 00:03:07,470 couple of weeks ago talking about what happened in the 61 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,640 announcement of John's birth to Zacharias, John's dad. 62 00:03:11,710 --> 00:03:16,300 If you remember this along long time before the birth of John, 63 00:03:16,790 --> 00:03:20,710 there was these guys, Nate having a boy who they were doing 64 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:23,810 the worship in the temple. And they sorted decided that 65 00:03:23,820 --> 00:03:26,560 well, you know, because God had laid down very specifically how 66 00:03:26,570 --> 00:03:29,140 he wanted worship done. They said, well, you know, 67 00:03:29,150 --> 00:03:31,100 worship has me expressing myself to God. 68 00:03:31,110 --> 00:03:33,120 I'm going to ignore that. I'm going to do it my way. 69 00:03:33,170 --> 00:03:35,200 And they were struck dead, right. 70 00:03:35,310 --> 00:03:38,240 And so there was this kind of fear went through everybody. 71 00:03:38,250 --> 00:03:40,650 And so when the priest was serving in the temple, remember 72 00:03:40,660 --> 00:03:42,930 they they were really, really worried that they would get this 73 00:03:42,940 --> 00:03:44,680 wrong, right? They wanted to do it exactly the 74 00:03:44,690 --> 00:03:49,150 way that God wanted it done as they lived that part of worship. 75 00:03:49,220 --> 00:03:53,330 And if you remember, Zacharias sees the Angel standing by the 76 00:03:53,340 --> 00:03:55,610 older Vincents. And there was this Jewish 77 00:03:55,620 --> 00:03:59,170 legend, Jeff showed us this. If the priest got it wrong, he 78 00:03:59,180 --> 00:04:03,170 would see the Angel of death standing by by the altar before 79 00:04:03,180 --> 00:04:06,260 he was struck down. And so when Zacharias saw the 80 00:04:06,270 --> 00:04:10,750 Angel, he was terrified that the Angel said, I bring you glad 81 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:12,810 tidings, right? I bring you good news. 82 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,769 That legend about the Angel of death turned out not to be 83 00:04:16,779 --> 00:04:20,220 correct, so hang on to that thought cause we'll we'll come 84 00:04:20,230 --> 00:04:22,220 back to that in a minute. But do you know what the most 85 00:04:22,230 --> 00:04:25,300 common phrase is that angels say in the Bible say? 86 00:04:25,310 --> 00:04:27,040 Anyone know? Have a guess. 87 00:04:27,130 --> 00:04:31,600 Somebody said, yeah, do not fear, fear not, do not be 88 00:04:31,610 --> 00:04:33,150 afraid. That's that's the most common 89 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,110 thing they say when people realise that they are in the 90 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,870 presence of an Angel, once they realise that they fall on their 91 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:42,780 face in terror, absolutely petrified. 92 00:04:42,790 --> 00:04:44,480 I think that's important. There's some stuff that goes 93 00:04:44,490 --> 00:04:46,230 around, You know, I see these things all the time. 94 00:04:46,270 --> 00:04:49,090 People say, you know, I was working on this worship song and 95 00:04:49,100 --> 00:04:51,230 it wasn't really coming, right. And then this Angel turned up 96 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:53,050 and the Angel went, hey, have you tried playing that in the 97 00:04:53,060 --> 00:04:54,400 key of D? And it's like, ohh, yeah, that 98 00:04:54,410 --> 00:04:55,270 works. Thanks, Angel. 99 00:04:55,380 --> 00:04:57,990 It's like, no, when people realise they're in the presence 100 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,170 of an Angel, they fall on their face in fear. 101 00:05:01,260 --> 00:05:04,090 If you remember the the Angel Gabriel tells Zacharias that 102 00:05:04,100 --> 00:05:07,330 he's going to have a son, but the Angel Gabriel tells 103 00:05:07,340 --> 00:05:09,370 Zacharias he's gonna have a son. Here's what the son was gonna 104 00:05:09,380 --> 00:05:11,420 do. This is from Luke chapter 1, 105 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:15,710 who's 16 says, and he will turn many of the children of Israel 106 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,510 to the Lord their God and he will go before him in the spirit 107 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:24,690 and power of Elijah to turn their hearts to to sorry to turn 108 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,730 the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to 109 00:05:27,740 --> 00:05:31,690 the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord of people 110 00:05:31,700 --> 00:05:34,830 prepared. And Zacharias said to the Angel, 111 00:05:34,900 --> 00:05:38,370 how should I know this? But I'm an old man and my wife 112 00:05:38,410 --> 00:05:41,250 is advanced in years. Mary says something very 113 00:05:41,260 --> 00:05:43,550 similar. We saw this last week when the 114 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,400 Angel tells her about that she's going to give birth to the 115 00:05:46,410 --> 00:05:48,330 Messiah. But I think in Mary's case, you 116 00:05:48,340 --> 00:05:51,390 can see from Gabriel's reaction to Mary that she was just really 117 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:54,570 asking like, what are the mechanics of this going to be? 118 00:05:54,660 --> 00:05:56,690 I mean, how can I have a son? I haven't been with a man, 119 00:05:56,700 --> 00:05:57,870 right? How's how's this going to work? 120 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:00,650 And you can see that from from Gabriel's response. 121 00:06:00,940 --> 00:06:03,090 But I think from Gabriel's response that we're going to see 122 00:06:03,100 --> 00:06:08,610 to to Zacharias, Zacharias was thinking, look, I know how 123 00:06:08,620 --> 00:06:10,870 things work. My wife is old. 124 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:13,330 We've long since given up on this idea. 125 00:06:13,530 --> 00:06:15,270 So what you're saying can't be right. 126 00:06:16,540 --> 00:06:19,650 He's really sort of pushing back, I think in some way 127 00:06:19,660 --> 00:06:21,850 towards what Gabriel's telling him. 128 00:06:22,060 --> 00:06:26,450 And Gabriel says to him, I am Gabriel who stands in the 129 00:06:26,460 --> 00:06:31,290 presence of God, right? That's, that's, that's quite a 130 00:06:31,300 --> 00:06:33,770 quite a strong statement. And he tells Zacharias that he's 131 00:06:33,780 --> 00:06:36,890 not going to be able to speak until after the baby is born. 132 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:40,120 And he's named the baby John. God is gracious. 133 00:06:40,180 --> 00:06:42,790 I don't want to get into too much detail about this one, but 134 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,810 much later on in Jesus ministry because we going to see this 135 00:06:45,820 --> 00:06:48,720 when we get into Luke Chapter 9 we'll see in more detail. 136 00:06:48,730 --> 00:06:52,780 But Jesus takes three of his disciples up onto a mountain and 137 00:06:52,790 --> 00:06:55,170 they get to see him in his glorified state. 138 00:06:56,050 --> 00:06:59,520 He's talking with two other guys who are also in in a glorified 139 00:06:59,530 --> 00:07:03,750 state. And Peter figures out who those 140 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,990 two other guys are. And that takes a bit of work, 141 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:08,790 right? You have to have quite a bit of 142 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,730 Bible knowledge to kind of figure that out because you go, 143 00:07:11,740 --> 00:07:14,970 wow, is it, was it, is it Adam? Is it Abraham's father? 144 00:07:14,980 --> 00:07:16,590 People. But but he figured this out. 145 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,350 It takes quite a bit of biology, quite a bit of deep thinking to 146 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:24,340 figure out who they are. And Peter says to Jesus, he says 147 00:07:24,350 --> 00:07:28,360 it's great for us to be here. We should make 3 Tabernacle was 148 00:07:28,590 --> 00:07:32,680 one for you, one for Moses and 1:00 for Elijah. 149 00:07:32,730 --> 00:07:35,760 He figured it out. And then there's booming voice 150 00:07:35,770 --> 00:07:40,190 comes from heaven and says, this is my son, my chosen one. 151 00:07:40,270 --> 00:07:42,960 Hear him. And they fell on their faces in 152 00:07:42,970 --> 00:07:45,260 fear. You were in the presence of the 153 00:07:45,270 --> 00:07:49,300 Son of God. Be quiet and listen, right? 154 00:07:49,370 --> 00:07:51,900 That's kind of kind of the message there, right? 155 00:07:52,050 --> 00:07:56,050 Peter was right about who they were, but I think he really 156 00:07:56,060 --> 00:07:58,480 wanted to let Jesus know that he'd figured it out. 157 00:07:59,140 --> 00:08:02,660 I kind of connect with that cause when I know something 158 00:08:02,670 --> 00:08:06,070 about a subject I like to let you know that I know, but they 159 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:10,510 can very quickly cross a line right into the sin of being a 160 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,330 self centred know it all. And that's quite a fine line. 161 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:17,550 Sometimes it's just really important to stop and listen to 162 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:20,130 God. Stop and listen to God. 163 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:22,130 Why is it important to stop and listen to God? 164 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,160 Lots and lots of reasons, I guess, but I think kind of the 165 00:08:25,170 --> 00:08:29,800 main 1, main 2, I guess main one is we don't know everything. 166 00:08:30,570 --> 00:08:34,260 And sometimes the stuff we think we know is wrong. 167 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:39,210 And so it's really important to just get with God to to pray, to 168 00:08:39,220 --> 00:08:42,390 read your Bible, right, to make that connection, listen to God, 169 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:46,100 make time to do that. Remember that legend about 170 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:50,330 seeing the Angel of Death, the older event incense that turned 171 00:08:50,340 --> 00:08:53,350 out to be wrong? Yeah, that that just wasn't true 172 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:54,880 at all. Let me show you this one. 173 00:08:57,240 --> 00:08:59,670 Who's in this picture? It's not a trick question. 174 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:01,390 Who's depicted in this in this picture? 175 00:09:02,460 --> 00:09:03,090 Satan. Yeah. 176 00:09:03,100 --> 00:09:04,710 The devil, right. And where is he? 177 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:07,030 It's kind of obvious. Is that there's a sign there? 178 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:08,830 Yeah. Hell, right. 179 00:09:08,900 --> 00:09:11,610 You could probably most people would kind of recognise that 180 00:09:11,620 --> 00:09:13,230 what what's going on in that picture. 181 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:15,950 And in fact, most non Christians in New Zealand would probably be 182 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:18,310 able to tell you very quickly what that is. 183 00:09:18,620 --> 00:09:20,510 Think about. That is almost everything that's 184 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:24,620 in that picture is wrong. It's not, it's not biblical, 185 00:09:24,630 --> 00:09:26,100 it's not what the Bible says, right? 186 00:09:26,170 --> 00:09:28,380 And it's funny cause we all kind of look at this and we all know, 187 00:09:28,390 --> 00:09:30,520 right, all Satan's that it's kind of red guy and he's got 188 00:09:30,530 --> 00:09:33,900 horns and he's usually carrying a pitchfork for some reason. 189 00:09:33,910 --> 00:09:35,960 It's always a Trident, like the 3.1. 190 00:09:36,030 --> 00:09:38,400 He's got a tail and kind of trotters. 191 00:09:38,510 --> 00:09:40,690 You know that that's what Satan looks like. 192 00:09:41,290 --> 00:09:43,430 Did you know the Bible? When you actually start reading 193 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:47,240 this and you start connecting with what God says, Lucifer, 194 00:09:47,250 --> 00:09:50,380 Satan, the Devil was one of the most Beautiful Creatures in 195 00:09:50,390 --> 00:09:53,260 creation. In effect, if you take the 196 00:09:53,270 --> 00:09:59,000 descriptions of Lucifer in Isaiah 14, in Ezekiel 28 and you 197 00:09:59,010 --> 00:10:02,420 punch them into an A I and you say from their description, draw 198 00:10:02,430 --> 00:10:04,050 me a picture. What, what, what do you think he 199 00:10:04,060 --> 00:10:06,300 would look like? You get something like this and 200 00:10:06,310 --> 00:10:08,110 there's lots of different ones on this end. 201 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,620 There's, there's problems with that one as well, but that's a 202 00:10:10,630 --> 00:10:13,460 lot closer than the, the red guy with the horns. 203 00:10:13,910 --> 00:10:15,640 We just pick up on these legends, right? 204 00:10:15,650 --> 00:10:18,900 And they just become a part of what we believe, but they 205 00:10:18,910 --> 00:10:23,160 actually not connected with the, the, the scripture in anyway. 206 00:10:23,270 --> 00:10:26,940 Also, there's this idea that Satan is in in hell right now 207 00:10:26,950 --> 00:10:29,590 torturing people. That's what he does, except 208 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,080 that's not what the Scripture says. 209 00:10:31,370 --> 00:10:33,990 He's on the earth. He is Peter. 210 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:36,300 She's walking to and through look like, to and fro like a 211 00:10:36,310 --> 00:10:39,170 roaring lion seeking who he made the vow. 212 00:10:39,330 --> 00:10:42,280 So we just pick up on all these kind of legends. 213 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,680 And so it's really, really important that we stop. 214 00:10:45,690 --> 00:10:48,420 We just constantly stop getting to God's word. 215 00:10:48,430 --> 00:10:51,920 Listen to what God says because all of us have things that we 216 00:10:51,930 --> 00:10:56,840 believe about God or we believe about ourselves or we believe 217 00:10:56,850 --> 00:11:00,710 about the way life works or the way life should work that are 218 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:04,150 wrong, that they're just wrong. And and it makes the difference. 219 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:09,030 It makes a difference to the decisions we make, to how we 220 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:11,310 connect with God, to how we treat other people. 221 00:11:11,500 --> 00:11:13,270 All these things make it make a huge difference. 222 00:11:14,060 --> 00:11:17,860 One more of these legends and then we'll we'll get into our 223 00:11:17,870 --> 00:11:20,680 text. When Elijah went back to heaven, 224 00:11:21,610 --> 00:11:24,170 he was a, a prophet of God in the Old Testament. 225 00:11:24,180 --> 00:11:27,580 When he went back to heaven, it seems that the sort of flaming 226 00:11:27,590 --> 00:11:30,620 chariot and flaming horses came down and picked him up and took 227 00:11:30,630 --> 00:11:33,280 him away. He threw his, his cloak to 228 00:11:33,430 --> 00:11:36,590 Elishah. He was Elijah and he Elijah was 229 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,180 his apprentice and he threw his his cloak to him and he was 230 00:11:40,190 --> 00:11:42,160 taken away in this in this flaming chariot. 231 00:11:42,210 --> 00:11:45,080 Now several places in the Scripture, particularly in 232 00:11:45,090 --> 00:11:49,400 Isaiah, but also in Malachi, it says that before the awesome day 233 00:11:49,410 --> 00:11:51,980 of the Lord comes, Elijah's going to come back. 234 00:11:52,190 --> 00:11:55,800 And so let's have a look at one of these Malachi chapter 4 and 235 00:11:55,810 --> 00:11:58,380 we'll see this because Zachary's going to paraphrase it in a 236 00:11:58,390 --> 00:12:00,430 minute. The hold I will send you, Elijah 237 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:03,620 the prophet before the great and awesome they have the Lord comes 238 00:12:03,810 --> 00:12:06,520 and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children 239 00:12:06,590 --> 00:12:08,800 and the hearts of the children to their fathers. 240 00:12:08,910 --> 00:12:10,570 Do you see that? That same thing that Gabriel 241 00:12:10,580 --> 00:12:14,500 said to to Zacharias, unless I come and strike the lamb with a 242 00:12:14,510 --> 00:12:18,400 decree of utter destruction. So Elijah goes when he went back 243 00:12:18,410 --> 00:12:20,780 to heaven, when in the sort of flaming chariot. 244 00:12:20,790 --> 00:12:24,850 So the Jewish people had built up this legend that when he 245 00:12:24,860 --> 00:12:27,260 comes back, he's going to come roaring in and a flaming 246 00:12:27,270 --> 00:12:29,680 chariot. And you can kind of see how they 247 00:12:29,690 --> 00:12:31,880 got to that. Cause that's how we how we went. 248 00:12:32,010 --> 00:12:36,670 So that's how they they kind of saw he would come back, except 249 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:38,750 the description doesn't actually say that. 250 00:12:39,020 --> 00:12:40,670 It doesn't say it doesn't, but it doesn't say. 251 00:12:40,680 --> 00:12:43,930 But they that was just kind of the the legend that they built 252 00:12:43,940 --> 00:12:47,130 up. So when Gabriel told Zacharias 253 00:12:47,140 --> 00:12:48,890 that his son would this is what he says. 254 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,310 His son would come in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the 255 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,350 hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to 256 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:58,950 the wisdom of the just to make ready for the law that people 257 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:02,170 prepared. Zacharias was likely thinking, 258 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:04,990 no, that's not right. Elijah comes in a flaming 259 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,150 chariot, not as a baby. Everybody knows that. 260 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:11,150 So I think that's probably playing into this whole thing. 261 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,230 The stuff that Gabriel said to him is is not making sense to 262 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:15,930 him. And he says, you know, how can I 263 00:13:15,940 --> 00:13:18,050 know this? How can I understand this? 264 00:13:18,390 --> 00:13:21,530 Well, this doesn't make sense. So Gabriel says them. 265 00:13:22,370 --> 00:13:24,260 I stand in the very presence of God. 266 00:13:24,270 --> 00:13:26,620 I am Gabriel, who stands in the very presence of God, he says, 267 00:13:26,630 --> 00:13:29,410 tells him that for the next 10 months he's gonna be mute. 268 00:13:30,410 --> 00:13:32,280 You know I gotta talk for the next 10 months. 269 00:13:32,330 --> 00:13:34,380 Stop talking. Just listen. 270 00:13:35,730 --> 00:13:39,290 Stop talking. Just listen and Zacharias 271 00:13:39,300 --> 00:13:44,120 listens to God and he observes what's happening and he reads 272 00:13:44,130 --> 00:13:46,610 his Bible and Mary comes to stay with him. 273 00:13:46,620 --> 00:13:50,320 We saw that last week and he watches what happens and you can 274 00:13:50,330 --> 00:13:53,790 kind of imagine his internal monologue as he's going through 275 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:55,660 all this stuff. Okay, what are the angels say? 276 00:13:55,670 --> 00:13:58,480 What did he say? He said that we would have a 277 00:13:58,490 --> 00:14:00,560 son. How does the Angel know this? 278 00:14:00,570 --> 00:14:02,220 I guess he stands in the presence of God, right? 279 00:14:02,270 --> 00:14:03,800 But doesn't he know how old I am? 280 00:14:03,850 --> 00:14:05,750 And doesn't he know how old Elizabeth is? 281 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,620 You know, and and he said that I should call his name John. 282 00:14:09,690 --> 00:14:10,620 Why? Why John? 283 00:14:10,630 --> 00:14:13,380 There's nobody in in our family called John. 284 00:14:13,790 --> 00:14:17,500 He said that I would have joy and gladness, but of course it 285 00:14:17,510 --> 00:14:19,790 wouldn't. Any father joy and gladness and 286 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:23,310 having a son especially, you know, at my age, will my joy be 287 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:26,230 special? He he said many will rejoice at 288 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:29,060 his birth. Why will many rejoice? 289 00:14:29,070 --> 00:14:31,990 Aren't we just ordinary people that live in the country? 290 00:14:32,060 --> 00:14:34,830 How will many rejoice? He said he'll be great before 291 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:36,940 the Lord. But I guess you know it. 292 00:14:36,950 --> 00:14:39,230 Doesn't every father believe that that this about his son? 293 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:41,570 But but if all these other things are true, what does this 294 00:14:41,580 --> 00:14:43,680 mean? What does this mean? 295 00:14:43,770 --> 00:14:45,260 What does it mean that he'll be great? 296 00:14:45,430 --> 00:14:48,820 He said that he, he mustn't be filled with, with strong drink. 297 00:14:48,950 --> 00:14:52,470 So are we supposed to raise raise him, you know, in in the 298 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:55,070 form of the Nazarite according to the Nazarite vow like Samson, 299 00:14:56,090 --> 00:14:58,620 he said that he would turn many to the Lord. 300 00:14:58,730 --> 00:15:01,040 OK, well, you know, what more could any further hope for it 301 00:15:01,050 --> 00:15:03,500 and his son. But but he he said that he would 302 00:15:03,510 --> 00:15:05,900 go 4th in the spirit and power of Elijah. 303 00:15:06,010 --> 00:15:08,060 What does that even mean? We're all waiting for Elijah. 304 00:15:08,070 --> 00:15:10,620 But could he be Elijah? But there's no flaming chariot. 305 00:15:10,630 --> 00:15:12,640 But but maybe he could. He said that he would make 306 00:15:12,650 --> 00:15:15,340 people ready for the Lord. He said that he would turn the 307 00:15:15,350 --> 00:15:16,420 hearts of the father of the children. 308 00:15:16,430 --> 00:15:20,740 That's exactly what Malachi said that when he and his prophecy, 309 00:15:21,050 --> 00:15:23,720 maybe he really could be Elijah. What does the scripture say? 310 00:15:23,730 --> 00:15:27,030 You can just imagine all these thoughts for 10 months where he 311 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,670 can't speak and all we can do is process what happened and think 312 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,130 about what's going forward. OK, so let's pick up the story. 313 00:15:34,140 --> 00:15:36,490 We're in Luke chapter one, verse 57. 314 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:40,270 Here's what it says. Now the time came for Elizabeth 315 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:44,250 to give birth and she bore a son and her neighbors and relatives 316 00:15:44,260 --> 00:15:47,430 heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her and they 317 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,150 rejoiced with her. So friends and family came. 318 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:52,310 Two things there. One is, you know, they were old 319 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,130 and their long past given up on the idea of being able to have 320 00:15:55,140 --> 00:15:56,540 children. And so this was, you know, this 321 00:15:56,550 --> 00:16:00,270 was a thing to celebrate And and so the all the friends and 322 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:02,460 relatives came. But also, you know, it was very, 323 00:16:02,470 --> 00:16:05,170 very common in those days for women to die in childbirth. 324 00:16:05,420 --> 00:16:07,590 I mean, it was not that long ago that it was common in New 325 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:08,950 Zealand. But you know, these days it's 326 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,770 quite a rare thing, probably not as rare as you think, but it's, 327 00:16:11,780 --> 00:16:14,330 you know, but back then it was, it was really common. 328 00:16:14,380 --> 00:16:17,560 And she's an old lady, so there was a good chance she she wasn't 329 00:16:17,570 --> 00:16:20,260 gonna make it. And so the the friends and the 330 00:16:20,270 --> 00:16:22,730 family are there and they're, they're all rejoicing. 331 00:16:22,940 --> 00:16:27,770 And then it says this, this 59. And on the 8th day they came to 332 00:16:27,780 --> 00:16:30,050 circumcise the child. That's the according to the, 333 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,520 the, the custom from the the Old Testament law. 334 00:16:32,700 --> 00:16:37,430 And they would have called him Zacharias after his father, but 335 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,550 his mother answered and said, no, he should be called John. 336 00:16:41,330 --> 00:16:45,480 That actually demonstrates a lot of faith from Elizabeth in in 337 00:16:45,490 --> 00:16:47,920 the message in in Gabriel's message, because she wasn't 338 00:16:47,930 --> 00:16:51,340 there as as opposed to her. But it shows a lot of faith and 339 00:16:51,350 --> 00:16:56,260 trust this number 61. And they said to her, none of 340 00:16:56,270 --> 00:16:58,020 your relatives is called by this name. 341 00:16:58,670 --> 00:17:02,260 And they made signs to his father inquiring what he wanted 342 00:17:02,270 --> 00:17:04,210 him to be called. So you can see this. 343 00:17:04,220 --> 00:17:06,960 This is not what everybody else does. 344 00:17:08,190 --> 00:17:10,880 This is not what our culture dictates. 345 00:17:11,869 --> 00:17:14,089 This is not the way we do things. 346 00:17:14,980 --> 00:17:18,859 And this is their own family putting the family and friends, 347 00:17:18,869 --> 00:17:22,020 putting the pressure on. And so she said, no, no, he's 348 00:17:22,030 --> 00:17:24,470 gonna be called John. And they go talk to the hand. 349 00:17:24,530 --> 00:17:26,290 And then Zacharias, what do you say? 350 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:28,810 This pressure is coming on. This is not what we do. 351 00:17:28,820 --> 00:17:30,250 This is not what our culture does. 352 00:17:30,260 --> 00:17:33,270 And I think for us, this is where we live because the it's 353 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:37,490 this really hard choice between are we going to do what God says 354 00:17:37,940 --> 00:17:39,670 or are we going to follow the culture? 355 00:17:40,140 --> 00:17:43,550 And that's a lot more difficult, I think, than than we sometimes 356 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:46,350 make it out to be. It's really, really hard 357 00:17:46,420 --> 00:17:49,770 sometimes to go against the culture and go, no, this is what 358 00:17:49,780 --> 00:17:51,840 Scripture says. This is what we're going to do. 359 00:17:52,670 --> 00:17:57,770 But is that Karas had been listening, not talking, 360 00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:00,810 listening and this is what it says. 361 00:18:00,820 --> 00:18:03,630 And he asked for a tablet for writing tablet. 362 00:18:03,700 --> 00:18:08,490 And he wrote, his name is John Definitive. 363 00:18:08,530 --> 00:18:15,290 And they all wondered, yeah, this is what this is just not 364 00:18:15,340 --> 00:18:18,910 normal, not what we do. But as soon as he he did that, 365 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:23,700 as soon as he wrote, that this is this for 64 And immediately 366 00:18:23,710 --> 00:18:27,500 his mouth was open, and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, 367 00:18:27,510 --> 00:18:30,940 blessing God. And fear came upon all their 368 00:18:30,950 --> 00:18:33,230 neighbors. And all these things were talked 369 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:35,130 about throughout all the Hill Country of Judea. 370 00:18:35,220 --> 00:18:38,250 And all who heard them laid up and laid them up in their 371 00:18:38,260 --> 00:18:41,030 hearts, saying, What then will this child be? 372 00:18:41,100 --> 00:18:42,820 For the hand of the Lord was with him. 373 00:18:43,620 --> 00:18:48,280 So then following what God had told them to do just has this 374 00:18:48,350 --> 00:18:51,050 outsized impact around all of all of Judea. 375 00:18:51,770 --> 00:18:57,040 But he says this, it sees this. 67 And his father Zacharias was 376 00:18:57,050 --> 00:19:02,510 filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, so let's just 377 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:05,250 pause there for a sake, because what does that mean? 378 00:19:05,420 --> 00:19:08,330 Filled with the Holy Spirit? Because this is the third time 379 00:19:08,340 --> 00:19:10,480 that Luke has used this phrase so far. 380 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,650 And I counted about another 7 times after this that Luke will 381 00:19:14,660 --> 00:19:18,090 use this phrase in, in looking in X. 382 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:22,930 So the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. 383 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,330 The word spirit is the word Numa. 384 00:19:25,620 --> 00:19:28,910 You know, when you buy tyres, we would have to buy a wheelbarrow 385 00:19:28,980 --> 00:19:31,140 while ago and they had two different kinds, right? 386 00:19:31,150 --> 00:19:33,750 One that just had rubber wheels and one that had pump up tyres 387 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:35,890 to take air in them. And those tyres called pneumatic 388 00:19:35,900 --> 00:19:37,950 tyres cause they're the ones that have the air in them. 389 00:19:38,020 --> 00:19:41,550 So the word Numa actually means it means spirit, but it also 390 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,330 means breath or, or wind. So that's where we get our 391 00:19:45,340 --> 00:19:47,870 pneumatic tyres that have the have the air in them that's 392 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:49,920 numerous. So the Holy Spirit, the Holy 393 00:19:49,990 --> 00:19:55,220 Spirit or breath or wind. And I think because of that, I, 394 00:19:55,230 --> 00:19:59,420 I think because of that kind of description of him, sometimes we 395 00:19:59,430 --> 00:20:02,920 can get the wrong idea that the Holy Spirit is like some kind of 396 00:20:02,930 --> 00:20:05,920 power that comes out from God, you know, but like in Star Wars 397 00:20:05,930 --> 00:20:09,060 when someone uses the force, you know, I think we get that, that 398 00:20:09,070 --> 00:20:11,360 kind of idea in our heads about the Holy Spirit. 399 00:20:11,490 --> 00:20:13,740 But throughout the Scripture, the Holy Spirit is always 400 00:20:13,750 --> 00:20:19,180 referred to as a he as a being. But the Holy Spirit can empower 401 00:20:19,270 --> 00:20:23,840 and influence people in the same way that wind fills up the sails 402 00:20:23,910 --> 00:20:26,940 of a sailing ship. It empowers and directs where 403 00:20:26,950 --> 00:20:29,290 the ship goes. Paul say something very 404 00:20:29,300 --> 00:20:31,600 interesting about this in in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 405 00:20:31,610 --> 00:20:35,030 18. He says this and do not get 406 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:40,030 drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with 407 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:42,610 the spirit. So he's, he's making a contrast 408 00:20:42,620 --> 00:20:45,100 here. If somebody gets pulled over for 409 00:20:45,110 --> 00:20:49,780 drink driving, the technical term for that is it is a DUI 410 00:20:49,790 --> 00:20:51,810 that's used in sort of legal things. 411 00:20:51,820 --> 00:20:53,740 DI didn't know what UI stands for. 412 00:20:56,430 --> 00:20:58,940 Driving under the influence. Yeah, driving under the 413 00:20:58,950 --> 00:21:01,100 influence. So what Paul saying here is 414 00:21:01,290 --> 00:21:06,030 don't be under the influence of alcohol, be under the influence 415 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:09,930 of the Holy Spirit. So why does Luke keep using this 416 00:21:09,940 --> 00:21:12,510 phrase? Well, if somebody was Jewish in 417 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:14,700 their day or even even today, you know, if, if you're a 418 00:21:14,710 --> 00:21:17,550 Christian who, who grew up in church, we're, we're totally 419 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:22,450 used to the idea of an Old Testament prophet speaking the 420 00:21:22,460 --> 00:21:25,980 words of God, that we, we just grow up thinking, yeah, yeah, 421 00:21:25,990 --> 00:21:27,400 that's, that's kind of what they do. 422 00:21:27,570 --> 00:21:30,830 But for someone like Theophilus, who's a Roman living in the 423 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:32,840 Greek world, so he's, he's growing up in the, in the Pagan 424 00:21:32,850 --> 00:21:35,940 world, it would be easy for them to be thinking, well, how can 425 00:21:35,950 --> 00:21:39,140 someone speak the words of God? How does this work? 426 00:21:39,150 --> 00:21:42,480 Because it was quite common in the Pagan world to go to an 427 00:21:42,490 --> 00:21:46,380 Oracle and the Oracle's like a spokesman for the gods. 428 00:21:46,450 --> 00:21:49,030 And the Oracle would put themselves in a trance and they 429 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:50,960 did this thing called ecstasy and enthusiasm. 430 00:21:50,970 --> 00:21:52,560 Is the is that what it was called? 431 00:21:52,610 --> 00:21:55,000 Now put themselves in a trance and then they would speak these 432 00:21:55,010 --> 00:21:57,720 kind of ecstatic utterances, which were thought to be the 433 00:21:57,730 --> 00:22:00,560 words of of the gods. And so that's probably, you 434 00:22:00,570 --> 00:22:03,120 know, the kind of the mindset of of most Pagan people. 435 00:22:03,250 --> 00:22:07,540 But Luke uses this phrase to help him understand what's 436 00:22:07,550 --> 00:22:10,280 happening. So Zacharias was speaking. 437 00:22:10,330 --> 00:22:15,370 He was speaking, they were his words using his voice, but what 438 00:22:15,380 --> 00:22:17,830 he said was influenced by God's Holy Spirit. 439 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:19,790 He was filled with the Holy Spirit. 440 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,530 He was influent under the influence of God's Holy Spirit. 441 00:22:22,540 --> 00:22:26,320 So these, even though Zacharias were speaking, they were the 442 00:22:26,330 --> 00:22:29,750 words that God wanted. Sid, does that make sense? 443 00:22:29,900 --> 00:22:33,150 So what did he say? Right, verse 68. 444 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:35,910 First of all, the plan. He's he's he's understanding the 445 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,440 plan. He says this the 68 Blessed be 446 00:22:39,450 --> 00:22:43,230 the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his 447 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:48,380 people and he's raised up a horn of salvation for us in the House 448 00:22:48,390 --> 00:22:52,380 of his servant David. Okay, so after 10 months nearly 449 00:22:52,390 --> 00:22:56,640 of observing, studying, quietly observing, studying the 450 00:22:56,650 --> 00:23:01,240 scriptures, listening to God, Zacharias realises that that 451 00:23:01,290 --> 00:23:05,680 what is happening is part of a plan that God had right from the 452 00:23:05,690 --> 00:23:08,880 very beginning. How awesome is that? 453 00:23:08,890 --> 00:23:11,010 Right when you just suddenly make that connection and go, 454 00:23:11,020 --> 00:23:14,580 wow, this is this is part of stuff that God's said ages ago 455 00:23:14,590 --> 00:23:17,920 and how it's all playing out. And I've got a part to play in 456 00:23:17,930 --> 00:23:21,220 this that the God of Israel, right all the way back at the 457 00:23:21,230 --> 00:23:24,700 beginning of their nation had promised to redeem them. 458 00:23:24,930 --> 00:23:29,140 Redeem refers to when you had something and then you, you lost 459 00:23:29,150 --> 00:23:32,020 it for whatever reason, and then you get it back. 460 00:23:32,820 --> 00:23:35,290 Sorry, had these friends and they had this, it was their 461 00:23:35,300 --> 00:23:37,850 second car and it was like an old, like 1970s Jeep. 462 00:23:37,890 --> 00:23:41,030 And they loved that car. And then times got tough. 463 00:23:41,100 --> 00:23:44,590 So they sold the, sold the car and then times got better again 464 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,630 for them in their business. And so they bought another car, 465 00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:49,270 but they never liked the other cars they had as much as they 466 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:52,350 liked that, that Jeep. And years later, he met up with 467 00:23:52,360 --> 00:23:55,150 the, the guy who was now the current owner of that Jeep. 468 00:23:55,220 --> 00:23:56,480 So would you like to sell it to me? 469 00:23:56,490 --> 00:23:59,730 And the guy said, yeah, for a price, the GP gone up in price. 470 00:23:59,820 --> 00:24:02,510 And but he bought the Jeep and he redeemed the Jeep. 471 00:24:02,580 --> 00:24:05,610 They, they got it back again. And so God had promised to get 472 00:24:05,620 --> 00:24:08,030 them back, to get his people back, even though they they had 473 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:12,310 turned away to redeem them. And this is the horn of our 474 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:14,580 salvation, the horn of our salvation. 475 00:24:14,590 --> 00:24:18,560 So the the horn of salvation or the horn of rescue refers to an 476 00:24:18,570 --> 00:24:20,500 animal that fights with its horns. 477 00:24:20,590 --> 00:24:22,500 That's the the kind of picture there. 478 00:24:22,570 --> 00:24:25,800 In other words, just like He promised King David year, 479 00:24:25,810 --> 00:24:30,510 generations ago, God has fought for us and He's won our freedom. 480 00:24:31,420 --> 00:24:34,560 Here's what God said to David one of the times in Second 481 00:24:34,570 --> 00:24:37,910 Samuel 7. He says this when your days are 482 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:39,590 fulfilled and you lay down with your fathers. 483 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,630 In other words, you, you die. I'll raise up your offspring 484 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:45,990 after you, who will come from your body, and I'll establish 485 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,310 His Kingdom. He should build a house for my 486 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,740 name and I will establish the throne of His Kingdom forever. 487 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,370 Second Life is kinda connecting onto this, right? 488 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:57,300 And then he says this, right? Here's the next bit of it. 489 00:24:57,310 --> 00:25:02,140 The person. Here's how it works verse 70 as 490 00:25:02,150 --> 00:25:05,680 he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from old that we 491 00:25:05,690 --> 00:25:08,580 should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who 492 00:25:08,590 --> 00:25:12,520 hate us to show the mercy promise to our fathers and to 493 00:25:12,530 --> 00:25:17,390 remember His holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father 494 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,150 Abraham. So God had promised right back 495 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,170 at the start of the the nation that he would make Israel a 496 00:25:23,180 --> 00:25:25,750 great nation and through them all the families of the earth 497 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:29,400 would be blessed and if you were in at the moment young adults 498 00:25:29,410 --> 00:25:32,270 were going through look at Genesis and you just see how 499 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:35,390 messed up that family was. You know, the the first several 500 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,650 generations, just how often they they just were terrible, 501 00:25:38,660 --> 00:25:41,490 terrible people. And we're very unfaithful to God 502 00:25:41,500 --> 00:25:44,150 it a lot of times. And God was always faithful to 503 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:45,530 that promise. And there were plenty of times 504 00:25:45,540 --> 00:25:48,230 throughout history that that promise could have been cut off 505 00:25:48,420 --> 00:25:51,930 and God made a way right all the way through to here that all the 506 00:25:51,940 --> 00:25:54,350 families of the earth would be blessed through them. 507 00:25:54,420 --> 00:25:58,850 Here's the next bit, the present this 73 the oath that he swore 508 00:25:58,860 --> 00:26:04,630 to our father Abraham to grant us that we, being delivered from 509 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:08,650 the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in 510 00:26:08,660 --> 00:26:13,110 holiness and in righteousness before him all our days. 511 00:26:13,540 --> 00:26:18,670 God has brought us to this point that we can serve him, that we 512 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,630 can be right with Him. Amazing what he's what he's 513 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:24,370 connecting up, right? And then he turns to the baby. 514 00:26:24,380 --> 00:26:26,470 This is the first thing he said in 10 months. 515 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,250 And you'd think, ohh, well, you know it all be all about the 516 00:26:29,260 --> 00:26:30,710 baby. But it's been all about God and 517 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,610 what God has done and the promise and how God's done this. 518 00:26:33,660 --> 00:26:37,860 Now he turns, turns to the to the sun, and he says, And you 519 00:26:37,870 --> 00:26:42,040 child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for 520 00:26:42,050 --> 00:26:45,130 you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways. 521 00:26:46,300 --> 00:26:50,490 And this is what that will cause verse 77, to give knowledge of 522 00:26:50,500 --> 00:26:54,650 salvation to his people through the forgiveness of the ascents. 523 00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:59,850 What Knowledge is a Greek word that means in Greek they had two 524 00:26:59,860 --> 00:27:03,890 words for knowledge. One was a word order that means 525 00:27:03,900 --> 00:27:06,270 to have an intellectual understanding of something. 526 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:09,490 And it's it's the idea that literally means to read again. 527 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:11,530 So you can read something in your book book and go, yeah, I 528 00:27:11,540 --> 00:27:14,250 understand that they have another word which means to know 529 00:27:14,260 --> 00:27:16,010 something because you've experienced it. 530 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,320 Experiential knowledge. This is the word that's used 531 00:27:19,330 --> 00:27:23,010 here, the knowledge of salvation, the experience of 532 00:27:23,020 --> 00:27:27,790 salvation to his people through the forgiveness of their sins. 533 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:29,350 Forgiveness. The Greek word emphasis that 534 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:33,700 means a pardon from prison or a pattern from the consequences of 535 00:27:33,710 --> 00:27:37,970 what you've done. Well, this is the whole message 536 00:27:37,980 --> 00:27:40,200 here, right, Isn't it? Yeah. 537 00:27:40,310 --> 00:27:44,880 That we can experience rescue. We can experience salvation 538 00:27:45,030 --> 00:27:48,880 through the forgiveness of sins. Do you think Zacharias has been 539 00:27:48,890 --> 00:27:55,310 listening? Wow, this 78 because of the 540 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:59,230 tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from 541 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:03,630 on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the 542 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:07,530 shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. 543 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:10,680 Zacharias has been reading God's word, and we know this because 544 00:28:10,690 --> 00:28:13,990 he's he's repeatedly paraphrasing passages from the 545 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,270 book of Isaiah. Have a look at these these Old 546 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,840 Testament prophecies from Isaiah as I am 92. 547 00:28:20,050 --> 00:28:22,840 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great 548 00:28:22,850 --> 00:28:26,370 light. Those who dwelt in the land of 549 00:28:26,380 --> 00:28:29,370 deep darkness on them has light shine. 550 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:31,670 Do you have to take us through the Messiah and the, and the Old 551 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:33,560 Testament? We were looking at this and, and 552 00:28:33,570 --> 00:28:36,650 the people in these, the, these northern areas of Galilee were 553 00:28:36,660 --> 00:28:39,910 the first ones to go into captivity when, when the, when 554 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:43,720 the Syrian invasion happened, they saw some horrific things 555 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:46,100 and the devastation of the nations. 556 00:28:46,110 --> 00:28:48,190 And they were, they were the first ones to see it. 557 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:49,420 And that's what this property is about. 558 00:28:49,430 --> 00:28:52,390 These people that lived up in Galilee have walked in darkness, 559 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:57,900 have seen a great light. As I 42 Mr. Six and Seven, I am 560 00:28:57,910 --> 00:28:59,810 the Lord. I've called you in 561 00:28:59,820 --> 00:29:02,090 righteousness. I'll take you by the hand and 562 00:29:02,100 --> 00:29:04,290 keep you. I'll give you as as a covenant 563 00:29:04,300 --> 00:29:08,170 for the people, a light for the nations to open the eyes that 564 00:29:08,180 --> 00:29:11,030 are blind to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from 565 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:16,070 the prison, those who sit in darkness as I 60 verse one, 566 00:29:16,260 --> 00:29:19,010 arise, shine, for your light has come. 567 00:29:19,180 --> 00:29:22,460 The glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 568 00:29:23,750 --> 00:29:25,540 He's saying, Look that the sunrise has come. 569 00:29:26,390 --> 00:29:28,960 All the stuff that was in the in, in the Old Testament, it's, 570 00:29:28,970 --> 00:29:30,270 it's, it's coming, it's happening. 571 00:29:30,990 --> 00:29:32,610 We're in the middle of it. It's it's going on. 572 00:29:33,540 --> 00:29:37,210 The apostle John sums this up this way, and in John chapter 1, 573 00:29:37,970 --> 00:29:40,280 there's #4 and I think this is really good. 574 00:29:40,290 --> 00:29:44,560 He says in him, he's talking about Jesus was life and the 575 00:29:44,570 --> 00:29:47,980 life was the light of men. The light shines in the 576 00:29:47,990 --> 00:29:51,040 darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 577 00:29:51,490 --> 00:29:53,650 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 578 00:29:53,660 --> 00:29:55,070 He's talking about John the Baptist hero. 579 00:29:55,730 --> 00:30:00,000 He came as a witness to be a witness about the light that all 580 00:30:00,010 --> 00:30:02,890 might believe through him, through Jesus. 581 00:30:02,940 --> 00:30:05,470 He was not the light. John was not the light, but he 582 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:07,030 came to be a witness about the light. 583 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:11,460 The true light, which enlightens everyone was coming into the 584 00:30:11,470 --> 00:30:13,900 world. Yeah. 585 00:30:13,910 --> 00:30:16,690 This is what Zacharias has connected with, right? 586 00:30:16,740 --> 00:30:18,570 This 80. And then we'll we'll finish up 587 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:21,820 Susan. The child grew and became strong 588 00:30:21,830 --> 00:30:26,470 in spirit that would spread means attitude is a strong 589 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,710 attitude and he was in the wilderness until the day of his 590 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:32,950 public appearance to Israel. Lots of similarities there to a 591 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:41,550 lodger conclusion sometimes. A lot of times it's important to 592 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:45,450 forget what we think we know, stop talking and listen to God. 593 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:50,260 You slipped up the side of the head by my own my own swimming 594 00:30:50,270 --> 00:30:52,170 here. You know, it's a very 595 00:30:52,180 --> 00:30:55,730 convicting, isn't it? But I think sometimes we talked 596 00:30:55,740 --> 00:30:59,450 about this during the week. Sometimes I think we see prayer 597 00:30:59,460 --> 00:31:02,460 as a last resort. When we get in a real jam, 598 00:31:02,470 --> 00:31:05,910 that's when we pray, but it should just be a routine thing 599 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:07,420 that we do. We go to God all the time and 600 00:31:07,430 --> 00:31:10,020 pretty we're connecting with God, We're stopping and 601 00:31:10,030 --> 00:31:11,910 listening. We sang the song, you know that 602 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:15,220 you know, from the quoted Psalm 46, be still and know that I am 603 00:31:15,230 --> 00:31:17,080 God. That's really cool phrase that 604 00:31:17,090 --> 00:31:19,530 be still in Hebrew. It's a military term and when 605 00:31:19,540 --> 00:31:21,460 they used to fight, you know, you have a sword in one hand and 606 00:31:21,470 --> 00:31:23,960 you had a shield trapped the other arm and the word beast 607 00:31:23,970 --> 00:31:27,060 still means to drop your hands by your side as a military term 608 00:31:27,070 --> 00:31:28,880 that meant that be still and know. 609 00:31:28,890 --> 00:31:33,300 I'm glad there are times just to stop and listen to God because 610 00:31:33,670 --> 00:31:35,540 like we say, you know, we don't know everything. 611 00:31:35,610 --> 00:31:38,450 And sometimes the things we think we know are just wrong. 612 00:31:39,090 --> 00:31:43,160 And also, you know, our culture, we just get infected by it or 613 00:31:43,170 --> 00:31:47,300 affected by it, and it can drive us towards unpleasant places. 614 00:31:47,750 --> 00:31:52,240 And we pick up on these false legends, these bad principles, 615 00:31:52,430 --> 00:31:55,950 and even without realising that we're doing that, it just 616 00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:59,470 becomes part of how we think. So it's really, really important 617 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:03,830 to stop and listen to God. We want to be under the 618 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:06,670 influence of the Holy Spirit, not our culture. 619 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:09,670 We have wrong ideas about what what God's like. 620 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,740 We have wrong ideas about what we're like about the best way to 621 00:32:13,750 --> 00:32:17,130 live life and James Book of James tells us that God's Word 622 00:32:17,140 --> 00:32:21,050 is like a mirror that helps us see ourselves as we really are. 623 00:32:22,150 --> 00:32:25,140 One of the things it does is is help us to see our sinfulness 624 00:32:25,250 --> 00:32:30,260 and how we fall short and need a rescuer, which is this one. 625 00:32:30,570 --> 00:32:34,740 Pardon from the consequences of our sin is possible, right? 626 00:32:34,930 --> 00:32:38,570 That's why Jesus came. John's message was one of 627 00:32:38,580 --> 00:32:41,870 repentance. Repent, turn around, point 628 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:44,610 people to Jesus. We need to inform our sins and 629 00:32:44,620 --> 00:32:48,040 turn to Christ and ask for forgiveness, and then we can 630 00:32:48,050 --> 00:32:50,700 have a knowledge that's gained through experience of being 631 00:32:50,710 --> 00:32:54,980 rescued by Jesus and from the ultimate consequences of of what 632 00:32:54,990 --> 00:32:56,590 we've done. You know, sin always has 633 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:59,230 consequences, but we could be forgiven. 634 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:01,670 So we're not. We're rescued from the ultimate 635 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:04,980 consequences of that. And I think it's also important 636 00:33:04,990 --> 00:33:09,270 to stop and remember that you're part of something that goes 637 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,000 beyond the bookings of your life. 638 00:33:11,990 --> 00:33:14,340 And I think this is what Zacharias kind of connected with 639 00:33:14,350 --> 00:33:16,800 during his ten months of not saying anything. 640 00:33:16,910 --> 00:33:20,140 That man is this plan that's been going on from way back here 641 00:33:20,190 --> 00:33:22,640 and it goes on way off and into the future. 642 00:33:22,650 --> 00:33:25,160 And we have a part to play in that. 643 00:33:25,230 --> 00:33:27,900 We have a purpose in that. No matter who you are, you have, 644 00:33:27,910 --> 00:33:31,100 you know, purpose in that. You know that crisis, you know, 645 00:33:31,110 --> 00:33:34,870 Elizabeth, just people from the country youth group studying 646 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:37,280 through book of Amos. You know, Amos was just a, a 647 00:33:37,290 --> 00:33:40,700 farmer and a fig picker, a farm hand actually, and a fig picker, 648 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:42,300 right? He's just an ordinary guy. 649 00:33:42,390 --> 00:33:44,980 He, he, he wasn't something he says I'm not, I wasn't a prophet 650 00:33:44,990 --> 00:33:48,100 or the son of a prophet, but God told me, God do this. 651 00:33:48,170 --> 00:33:50,440 We all have a part to play, no matter who you are, because we 652 00:33:50,450 --> 00:33:53,200 always think, well, I'm just me. I'm not this or I'm not that. 653 00:33:53,210 --> 00:33:55,830 I don't have this skill or I don't, you know, but we all have 654 00:33:55,840 --> 00:34:00,130 a part to play in in God's big scheme of things, which is 655 00:34:00,140 --> 00:34:03,190 awesome to think about that God uses people like us. 656 00:34:04,020 --> 00:34:07,070 Next week we're going to look at the birth of Jesus. 657 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:09,460 And so you won't be. You don't wanna miss that. 658 00:34:09,780 --> 00:34:12,770 Really awesome, isn't it? The way that all these things 659 00:34:12,780 --> 00:34:14,590 just connect and you start reading the script and you say 660 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:16,929 God this, Ohh, you said this, but that connects to here and 661 00:34:16,940 --> 00:34:20,739 this connects to here and how it's all like it's amazing to 662 00:34:20,750 --> 00:34:22,280 see. Alright, let's let's pray. 663 00:34:23,020 --> 00:34:28,750 Father, we do come before you or struck at the brilliance of your 664 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,030 plan. Lord, we also come before you as 665 00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:35,610 simple people and we often doubt and we often doubt your words or 666 00:34:35,620 --> 00:34:40,650 doubt that you have our best interests at heart or that your 667 00:34:40,659 --> 00:34:42,710 way of doing things would be the best way to do things. 668 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:46,280 And we just have those doubts and we fight those all the time. 669 00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:51,270 Lord, help us to, to trust you. Help us to just have that faith 670 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:53,770 so that we could be like Elizabeth and just go, no, this 671 00:34:53,780 --> 00:34:56,449 is what God said. Forgive us when we mess that up. 672 00:34:56,460 --> 00:35:00,750 Thank you that you have provided you're the horn of salvation. 673 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:03,290 You, you've, you've fought and rescued us. 674 00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:07,970 Lord, help us to make use of that forgiveness and that free 675 00:35:07,980 --> 00:35:10,830 gift that's offered. Lord help us to understand that 676 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,700 we fall short. Lord, thank you for the chance 677 00:35:13,710 --> 00:35:16,710 to worship today. Thank you for a chance to get 678 00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:20,450 into your word and thank you for this amazing story as as Luke's 679 00:35:20,460 --> 00:35:25,120 laid it out of of who you are and who Jesus is and how all 680 00:35:25,130 --> 00:35:27,600 this works. Thank you for caring about us. 681 00:35:27,610 --> 00:35:28,680 Thank you in Jesus name.