1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,560 Hi, this is Dave Olson. I'm the senior leader of 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:04,600 Heartland Church located in Ankeny, IA. 3 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:08,039 I hope the following message challenges, encourages, and 4 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,160 ultimately changes you. Thanks for joining us. 5 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:15,200 Turn with me to Luke Chapter 1. What we're going to do is I want 6 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:17,920 to start a series this morning, a Christmas series. 7 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:22,520 We're going to look at, you know, we, we talk about the wise 8 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:23,680 men. You know that you've heard of 9 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:27,320 the three wise men. Actually, Scripture doesn't say 10 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,360 there were three wise men. That's more tradition. 11 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:32,880 It may or may not be accurate. We don't know. 12 00:00:33,160 --> 00:00:34,600 But that's not what I want to talk about. 13 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:37,520 I want to talk about the three wise women of Christmas. 14 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,480 There are three distinct ladies that are mentioned in the 15 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:45,480 Christmas story that are fascinating to me, and they 16 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:47,960 don't get enough press, They don't get enough emphasis. 17 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,600 Now, one of them gets a little more than the other, another one 18 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,760 a little more than the last one, and then the last one, she 19 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:55,360 doesn't get mentioned much at all. 20 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,040 So what we're going to look at over the next number of weeks is 21 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:00,480 we're going to look at the three wise women of Christmas. 22 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,560 We're going to look at, of course, Mary. 23 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,200 But before we get to Mary, we're going to look at Elizabeth this 24 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:08,240 morning. And we may not get all the way 25 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:12,280 through Elizabeth this morning, but you got Elizabeth, who 26 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,880 interestingly enough, was a woman well along in years 27 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:19,320 married. But Baron had never had 28 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:21,920 children. And so she was a woman that was 29 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,440 still married, but well along in years had wanted children and 30 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:27,480 never had children. So that was her state of 31 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,920 affairs. Then you have Mary, who was this 32 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:35,000 young teenager, a young virgin who had never known a man. 33 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,040 She was betrothed, but she had never, you know, she. 34 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:44,200 So we had this one who had a husband, had known a man but 35 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:48,160 never produced a child, this one who never had the opportunity. 36 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:52,080 She was betrothed. And then we have Anna, who was 37 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,240 well along in years and she was widowed. 38 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:59,400 So she, she had been married as a young woman was, we don't know 39 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,360 all the details to Anna's life, but Anna was a widow from her 40 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:05,760 very young years. And so even though she had been 41 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,759 married, she lost her husband early on and she dedicated her 42 00:02:09,759 --> 00:02:13,040 life to fasting and prayer. It says she was a prophetess and 43 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,920 now she had dedicated all those years to prayer. 44 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:21,080 And I would propose to you that she had much to do with Jesus 45 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:25,680 birth as well. That all three of these ladies 46 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,240 had a role to play. And I don't want to get too far 47 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,360 ahead of us because we'll get into Anna later, but we need to 48 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:36,240 understand this, that Anna's decades of prayer paved the way 49 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:40,600 for Jesus arrival. When God moves, he doesn't move 50 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:43,800 in a vacuum. There is a human component to 51 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,400 every move of God. You know, we, we talk about, oh, 52 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:48,720 it was a sovereign move of God, a sovereign move of God. 53 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,640 I'm not really interested in the sovereign element of a move of 54 00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:54,560 God. That's God's responsibility and 55 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:56,440 he will never shirk his responsibility. 56 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:58,800 You know, that we can count on him to fulfill his. 57 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,400 I want to know what our role is. What, what part do we play as 58 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:06,400 human beings? And Anna prayed for decades, 59 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:10,840 depending on the way you interpret her story, she could 60 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:15,920 have prayed up to 85 years as a widow or she was 85 by the time 61 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:17,840 this coming. She had been a widow from her 62 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,440 young years, but she had spent years. 63 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:24,560 So we have these, these three ladies in three distinct 64 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:29,560 circumstances, one who had gotten married, wanted children. 65 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:32,800 And we know that her and her husband Zachariah had prayed 66 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,640 because the Angel said the the Lord has heard your prayers. 67 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:39,280 The Angel came to them, came to him when he was in the temple. 68 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,840 And so you know that she got married, had all these dreams, 69 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,800 aspirations of a big family, wanted kids. 70 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:48,400 And now she's well along in years. 71 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,840 She's past her child bearing years and she's given up on 72 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,960 that. And that that's the circumstance 73 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:57,160 she finds herself. And we have Mary who's just 74 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:01,000 starting out this the the emerging generation and she was 75 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:02,840 the one through whom the Messiah came. 76 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,920 But we need to understand that these two anchor women, these 77 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:12,080 ladies who had gone before her, one who had been denied all 78 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,760 these years had had her hopes up and was denied. 79 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:19,079 And then the other who lost her husband and lived as a widow for 80 00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:22,680 many decades but dedicated herself to fasting and prayer 81 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,600 and they had as much to do with Jesus birth. 82 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,600 There's a reason that Scripture talks about these two ladies, 83 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:36,080 because they had a part to play. If you read the Christmas story, 84 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,200 it's fascinating to me when you begin to read through this and 85 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:45,280 you realize on how many fronts the Lord is moving, there's all 86 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:52,200 these players in the narrative. I love Scripture and Scripture 87 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,640 is so poetic. And as you begin to read through 88 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:58,600 these stories, you begin to just, it's like good wood, fine 89 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:00,360 wood. If you begin to rub in the oil, 90 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,520 all of a sudden the grain comes to the surface. 91 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,440 These narratives, these stories in Scripture are just like that. 92 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,320 As you begin to just read over them again and again, all of a 93 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:11,680 sudden this, this emphasis emerges. 94 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:14,520 And the amazing thing is, depending on what the Lord's 95 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,600 wanting to speak to you and the time that you're reading it, a 96 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:21,560 different grain will emerge. And I've been just, I've been 97 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:26,960 polishing Luke chapter one for the last few days and just have 98 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:29,880 fallen in love with this story for the 1 millionth time. 99 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:34,240 So let's look at verse 5. Let's pray, Father, we just pray 100 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,440 this morning, God, that you would speak to us. 101 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,680 And Lord, I ask that over the next number of weeks that you 102 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:45,000 would drive home your ways for your people. 103 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,760 And Lord, I ask that you'd speak to us, that you'd encourage us, 104 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,120 You'd strengthen us, Lord, in our various circumstances, Lord, 105 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:57,600 that you would drive home the encouragement each of us needs 106 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:02,200 in Jesus name, Amen. All right, Luke chapter one, 107 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:06,880 verse 5, Listen to what it says. In the days of Herod, king of 108 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,280 Judah, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of 109 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:11,920 Abijah. Abijah. 110 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,960 And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name 111 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,560 was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous 112 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:22,240 before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and 113 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:26,080 statutes of the Lord. And so Luke is setting up this 114 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:27,720 scenario. He's kind of giving us the back 115 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,640 story, setting up the characters, and he's telling us 116 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:32,600 about what he's about to get into. 117 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:36,200 And he wants to make sure that we understand that this was a 118 00:06:36,280 --> 00:06:39,240 righteous couple. They were walking blameless 119 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:41,720 before the Lord. And he even sets up the timing. 120 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:46,080 He says in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, he gives us 121 00:06:46,280 --> 00:06:50,600 both the time and the place. The time was during the reign of 122 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:52,880 Herod. The place was in the Kingdom of 123 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:56,720 Judea. Now Herod that that's no small 124 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:58,440 thing when it says in the days of Herod. 125 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,120 Now those of you who watch a lot of news and are wringing your 126 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,600 hands and you lay up late at night worried about global 127 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:09,880 situations, I'm with you. I'm I can do the same thing. 128 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:13,200 I've got to be careful how much news I watch 'cause I can get 129 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,000 myself all worked up. My poor wife, she knows that I 130 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:20,840 don't watch TVI speak to the TV. So those of you that have a 131 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:22,800 spouse like that, pray for my wife. 132 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:31,160 This, this hour in which Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth and 133 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:34,960 Zechariah found themselves with was a very dark period of 134 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:38,240 history. You know, Herod was ruling over 135 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:40,040 Judea. Herod was not even really a 136 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:43,080 Jewish man. He was of the Hasmonean dynasty. 137 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:48,720 He was an Edomite and he was a politically savvy, ruthless 138 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:51,280 character. He was the one who built the 139 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,760 temple that we see now in Jerusalem, the Temple Mount. 140 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:57,000 If you go under the Temple Mount, it was fascinating. 141 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,040 When I was there a few years ago, we were down underneath the 142 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,240 Temple Mount and there were stones literally from here to 143 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:07,880 the other side of this room that were at least this tall to the 144 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,520 floor, 1 stone that were laid one on another. 145 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:14,520 I don't know how they did it, but they built this whole Temple 146 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:16,440 Mount. He was very savvy, but he also 147 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:19,000 built temples to some of the Caesars. 148 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,120 Herod was actually a friend of a Mark Anthony. 149 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,760 Now, he was an adversary of Mark Anthony's mistress Cleopatra. 150 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,960 But when Octavius, who would eventually become Caesar 151 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:35,679 Augustus, killed Mark Antony and drove, you know, conquered his 152 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,720 army, then Herod, being a very savvy politician, just pledged, 153 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:44,039 pledged his loyalty to him and even built cities after Caesarea 154 00:08:44,039 --> 00:08:47,640 Philippi being one of them, you know, in in his honor. 155 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:49,600 And so he was a very politically savvy guy. 156 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:54,200 There was a saying with Herod that it was better to be his pig 157 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:57,720 than his son because you would live longer because at least you 158 00:08:57,720 --> 00:08:59,960 would take the time to fatten his pigs. 159 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:02,720 And with his sons, you may not live very long. 160 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:05,200 He killed at least three of his sons and maybe more. 161 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:10,080 And the reason is because he felt threatened by his sons 162 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:12,680 being in his lineage. And so he'd just bump them off 163 00:09:12,680 --> 00:09:15,080 so they couldn't take his place. The dude was nuts. 164 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,880 That era of human history. If you read about Roman history, 165 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:24,040 these guys were crazy. And this was the setting in 166 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:29,880 which the people of God in their promised land were occupied by 167 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:34,280 the Roman government and by vassal kings like Herod that 168 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,960 were ruthless people and they would crush any opposition 169 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:42,080 underneath them unless you wring your hands, you watch the news 170 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:43,760 and think, oh man, how what are we going to do? 171 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:48,240 Understand that this whole thing that called Christianity began 172 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:52,840 in a very dark part of human history, and it grew from there. 173 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:59,720 And so we have in the time of Herod in the in the the king of 174 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:02,400 Judea, there was a priest named Zachariah of the division of 175 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:05,200 Abuja and his wife had daughters from Aaron. 176 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:09,600 So Elizabeth was also, she was a cousin of Mary. 177 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,600 And we know that Mary and Joseph were both of the lineage of 178 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:16,720 David, whereas Elizabeth was in the Levitical line. 179 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:21,280 And so it's very likely that Jesus being born of those two 180 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:25,240 lines was of the priestly and the kingly line merging them. 181 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:27,720 We know he is the ultimate priest king in the order of 182 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:31,800 Melchizedek, the priest king. So just it's fascinating how the 183 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:36,520 Bible talks about all this lineage stuff because it really 184 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:41,920 does matter. God works generationally and so 185 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:45,760 we have this couple that have this They're from the priestly 186 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:49,840 line. Elizabeth is related to Mary, 187 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:54,680 who's of the Davidic line, and they were both righteous before 188 00:10:54,680 --> 00:10:58,400 God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of 189 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:00,360 Lord. Why does the Bible mention that? 190 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,480 Because he wants to make sure we understand that because of 191 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:08,760 what's going to be said next. But there's a but in this story, 192 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:13,120 there is a however, in this story, the all the good things 193 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,440 that were happening. However, because Elizabeth was 194 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:18,840 barren both and both were advanced in years. 195 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:23,080 And so it says they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and 196 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:24,720 they both were advanced in years. 197 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,800 Now, I believe what the Bible says that it was Elizabeth. 198 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:31,120 But the fact is, and in ancient times, the women were always the 199 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:35,280 one who were to blame when when families had a hard time 200 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:38,000 conceiving a child, it was always just assumed it's the 201 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:40,400 lady. And so Elizabeth was barren and 202 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:41,840 they were both advanced in years. 203 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:43,200 So they had there was a double whammy. 204 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,640 There was a however, in this desire. 205 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:48,640 They were walking blameless, but yet she was barren. 206 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:53,200 And in the Jewish mindset, often those two things were at an 207 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,120 antithesis to one another. They thought that if somebody 208 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,520 wasn't able to produce a child, there must be something morally 209 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:01,360 wrong with them. They must be under a curse. 210 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:03,400 God must not be pleased with them. 211 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:07,880 But in this scenario, the Holy Spirit is very, very careful to 212 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:10,640 explain to us that they were blameless. 213 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:13,320 They walked before the Lord very righteously. 214 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:16,040 However, they had a double whammy. 215 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:20,480 Elizabeth was barren. She was unable to conceive. 216 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:25,480 And not only they had been praying that that situation be 217 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,760 overcome all these years, but now they've given up on that 218 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:31,280 prayer because now they were well advanced in years. 219 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:33,200 She was beyond her child bearing years. 220 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:37,200 And so this is the scenario we find ourself in. 221 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:41,360 It's very important for us to understand that often what we 222 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:49,240 look at as something, a defect in US or a demonic opposition 223 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:52,400 may find itself in the plan of God. 224 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:58,040 God ordained barrenness that God may have created something for a 225 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:01,200 purpose. Now let let me explain myself 226 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:04,040 here. Look at verse what is it verse 8 227 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:06,520 now while he was serving as priest. 228 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:11,040 So it says now it there there is nothing in Scripture that is 229 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:15,160 just by happenstance. OK, so every little word means 230 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:18,000 something. So when it says now in other 231 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:22,280 words, they had this long history of prayer of this they 232 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:25,320 they were married. You know, Zechariah, many even 233 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:29,720 even not religious rulers would counsel a guy to divorce his 234 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:32,440 wife if she wasn't able to produce children for them In the 235 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:35,680 Jewish world at that time, they would say, well, you're 236 00:13:35,680 --> 00:13:37,160 defective. I'm going to find a woman who 237 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:41,640 can produce children for me. But Zechariah was a godly man 238 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:46,680 and Elizabeth was a godly woman. And they began to pray and years 239 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:49,160 of prayer. They prayed asking God for a 240 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:50,800 breakthrough. And now they find themselves 241 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:54,120 well advanced in years. And so they're beyond the child 242 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,840 bearing years. And but Zechariah is still 243 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:01,600 faithfully living with his wife and he's serving as a priest. 244 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:06,720 And then there was a point in time in which it says now there 245 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:09,560 was a moment in which they stepped into the destiny that 246 00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:11,800 God had for them. And what we need to understand 247 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:13,840 about this story, and we're going to look at this in a 248 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:20,680 moment, is that the the, the barrenness was God ordained to 249 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:24,280 create something greater, you know, and Isaiah, it says many 250 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,480 are the children of the barren woman. 251 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:30,880 Sing aloud, cry aloud, You, O barren woman, for many are the 252 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:34,760 children of the barren womb. I would propose to you that not 253 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:38,200 only many, but great are the children of the barren room. 254 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:42,360 All through Scripture, we see these stories of couples who 255 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:46,720 wanted to have children and suddenly God intervened through 256 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:49,480 prayer and those children were great. 257 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:53,640 We need to ask ourself why. Why is it that there's something 258 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:57,400 unique about those children over and above the children that were 259 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:00,000 conceived in the normal ways? That's not to say that, you 260 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,920 know, I mean, David was conceived well, say, normal way. 261 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:07,520 It's likely David was conceived in an illicit relationship. 262 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:11,640 But there's something about these children that were born of 263 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,440 a barren situation. Why is that? 264 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:21,760 Well, let's read on here he says verse 8 while he was serving his 265 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:24,640 priest before God, when his division was on duty according 266 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:28,760 to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter 267 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:30,520 the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 268 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:34,600 Their their mindset, their understanding was that God would 269 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,800 choose the drawing of the lot. And that's why the last time we 270 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:43,160 see this happen was just before Pentecost when they were looking 271 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:46,880 for someone to replace Judas. After that, the apostles were 272 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,120 led by the Spirit. But before that they were 273 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:52,160 drawing lots saying, OK, God, we're going to kind of throw the 274 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,720 dice and you choose what you're going to do. 275 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,320 And God definitely orchestrated this. 276 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,400 It says that when the division was on duty, So there was the 277 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:05,320 now was marked by when his division was on duty and it was 278 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:07,200 according to the custom of the priesthood. 279 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,800 He was chosen by law to enter the temple of the Lorne and Bird 280 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:14,200 incense. And the whole multitude of the 281 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:18,040 people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 282 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:22,680 Now this is fascinating to me. Think about this, Zacharias. 283 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:26,280 He he he's had this whole long life living with this woman, 284 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:29,640 wanting kids and they've given up on that promise and he's 285 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:32,960 going through the motion, still serving God, keeping his heart 286 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:34,800 right. He's walking blameless before 287 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,200 the Lord. He's not not he's not allowed 288 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,440 himself to get bitter. They've not allowed it to come 289 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,000 between their relationship. They're living together. 290 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,120 They're serving the Lord. He's just I guess this is my lot 291 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:46,600 in life and I'm going to serve the Lord. 292 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:50,560 And he hits a now moment when all of a sudden his division is 293 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:53,760 chosen. There were, there were probably 294 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:59,640 15 to 1800 different priests. They, it was likely this was the 295 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:02,440 only time and it would have been rare for him to been chosen. 296 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:06,880 But that day he went into the presence of the Lord to burn 297 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:10,000 incense. Now incense, the incense burners 298 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:12,760 we know represented intercession. 299 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:15,560 It's the, the smell of intercession coming before the 300 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:17,079 throne. And it says that there were 301 00:17:17,079 --> 00:17:21,240 people on the outside at the time of the burning of incense, 302 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:26,000 and Zechariah had gone into the temple to burn the incense. 303 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,240 So you had people outside praying. 304 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:32,400 And Zechariah goes before the Lord to pray, and all of a 305 00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:36,880 sudden he's thrust into this angelic encounter with the Angel 306 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:40,760 Gabriel. And it says he was troubled and 307 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:48,120 great fear fell upon him. I imagine all these years he has 308 00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:51,360 served faithfully. All these years he has gone 309 00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:55,160 through the motions, being faithful, showing up, doing what 310 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:58,040 he's called to do. And the suddenly of God, he 311 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:00,600 crossed the line. And now you never know when 312 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,880 God's going to break in. You never know when God's about 313 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,160 to move. And what we've got to be careful 314 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:09,800 is that we assume that when we don't see the answer to our 315 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,400 prayer, when it seems like nothing's moving, we assume that 316 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:17,760 God's not heard or God said no. When in actuality, God was 317 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:21,360 moving this entire time. And there was an accumulation 318 00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:24,880 literally of decades of prayer that we're going into what was 319 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:29,120 about to break loose. You said again, there was the 320 00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:35,000 accumulation of decades of prayer that was invested in this 321 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,360 situation that was about ready to break loose. 322 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,280 And if we're not careful, we can become in bitter, disillusioned 323 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:49,600 or we can abandoned the request when God has been listening the 324 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:53,840 entire time. So Zechariah is standing there 325 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:57,720 and it says, and Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and 326 00:18:57,720 --> 00:18:59,480 fear fell upon him. And the Angel said to him, do 327 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:02,920 not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. 328 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:07,080 And your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall 329 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:09,120 call his name John. Let's just stop there. 330 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:14,240 I mean, that is those of you who are at that stage in life where 331 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:15,920 you know you ain't going to have any more kids. 332 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:20,120 Can you imagine hearing this? Can you imagine that would just 333 00:19:20,120 --> 00:19:23,160 be, it would be terrifying. I I think there might have been 334 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,520 some fear that fell on him for more than one reason. 335 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:28,440 It may not just have been the Angel. 336 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:32,040 Can you imagine? I remember when we found out we 337 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:34,320 were going to have our youngest that's back there on the camera. 338 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:37,760 He was our, our, our final one. He's our surprise. 339 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:39,400 I was 40 years old when he was born. 340 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:42,440 I thought we were done. And it was a whole different 341 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:44,840 deal, man. He's, he's been, he's been the 342 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:49,080 easiest to, to be a father to. He's he's a great we. 343 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:51,920 Yeah. But man, I tell you what it was. 344 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,160 But we were still within our childbearing years. 345 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:56,720 We were just towards the end of it. 346 00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:01,560 And Can you imagine hearing that now? 347 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,920 I would propose to you. I I don't, I I think there's a 348 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:11,640 reason that the Spirit of God instructed Luke to mention that 349 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:16,600 the people were outside praying when Zechariah went inside to 350 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:22,080 offer the incense of prayer. And that message of the Angel 351 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:24,440 was your prayers have been heard. 352 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:29,960 Now there's two possibilities. I, I very strongly believe it's 353 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:33,520 the there's two possibilities here to this prayer that the 354 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:37,360 Angel is alluding to it either that there he had been praying 355 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,160 all these years in spite of the fact that they were well past 356 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:43,800 their child rearing years. I doubt that that's the case. 357 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,400 I think what he was referring to is the prayers you prayed 358 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:51,600 decades ago, the prayers that you invested in this situation 359 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:54,960 all those years, they have never fallen to the ground. 360 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,440 They're still coming before the throne, and now is the time that 361 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:01,480 God's going to answer prayers you prayed decades ago. 362 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:04,640 Now, I don't know about you, but that encourages me. 363 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:09,200 Some of you need to be a little encouraged that there were some 364 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,760 prayers that you prayed decades ago that you already wrote off 365 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:17,880 as denied, that God is still working in those situations. 366 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:20,760 And often God doesn't work on our timetable. 367 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:29,600 And I think here's the thing, Zechariah had an encounter while 368 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:31,640 the people were on the outside praying. 369 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,280 I don't think it's in a coincidence that he had an 370 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:39,000 encounter when he was praying, but I think it very well may be 371 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:42,440 that what broke that Angel through in the encounter was 372 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:44,560 they were already they were all praying as well. 373 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:47,600 There are a lot of players in this narrative that are 374 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:52,080 mentioned by the the the writers of Scripture, and none of it is 375 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,120 insignificant. And so it was while the other 376 00:21:55,120 --> 00:21:57,880 people were praying. Let me let me just land it for 377 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:00,880 you a little application here as your pastor. 378 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:06,120 I pray, but man, pray for me. I need those encounters for you 379 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:10,600 for your sake. I got away a few days ago or a 380 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:14,480 couple weeks ago for three days just to just to pray and and I 381 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:19,080 spent some time with the Lord. It was really good, but several 382 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:22,360 of you were praying for me and I appreciate that, especially as I 383 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:23,760 began to read this. I thought, man, isn't that 384 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,960 amazing that the author mentions they were all on the outside 385 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:31,160 praying while the priest went in to pray and he had this 386 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:33,680 encounter. I don't think that's just a 387 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:35,680 coincidence, something that's a side issue. 388 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:39,880 And there's a very specific reason that that Angel came at 389 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:42,600 that now moment at the time of prayer. 390 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:48,280 And he says to him, this, It puts a little fear of God on me 391 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,760 even to read this. Your prayer has been heard. 392 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:55,440 Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call 393 00:22:55,440 --> 00:23:01,320 his name John, and you will have joy and gladness, and many will 394 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:06,320 rejoices at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. 395 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,520 That's an interesting phrase, Great before the Lord. 396 00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:17,120 The word there before the Lord is ENOPION Anyopon. 397 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:21,200 He says he will be great before the Lord and he must not drink 398 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:24,720 wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy 399 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:26,280 Spirit even from his mother's womb. 400 00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:31,280 Almost as if there's some type of Nazarite vow this young child 401 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:35,600 will enter into and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even 402 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:40,200 from his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the children 403 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:44,560 of Israel to the Lord their God and he will go before him in the 404 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,880 spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the 405 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:51,920 fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the 406 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:55,280 just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. 407 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:59,120 And what what the Angel is doing is he's drawing from 2 Old 408 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:02,880 Testament passages, one in Malachi and one in Isaiah and 409 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:06,640 saying, listen, the child that your wife is going to bear is 410 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,760 going to be the fulfillment of these two prophetic passages 411 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:11,720 that everybody has been waiting for. 412 00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:17,760 It's an amazing thing to hear and it's interesting. 413 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,720 It says he'll be great before the Lord and he will go before 414 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:23,800 the Lord. And it's using the same word 415 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,760 because when someone is great before the the word, that word 416 00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:30,640 means in the sight of or just before. 417 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,280 It's like someone you can see before you. 418 00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:35,080 And so it's kind of a play on words. 419 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,240 He's going to be great in the sight of God when God looks at 420 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:41,400 him. God's estimation of John will be 421 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,960 this man is a great man. There are some people that God 422 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,800 looks at and and says that's a great man. 423 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:54,960 It's an amazing thing, but he would also go before the Lord 424 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:57,720 and pave the way for the Lord according to Isaiah. 425 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,560 And so he would be paved, he would be in the sight of the 426 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:03,000 Lord, but he's going to make away. 427 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,200 He's going to he's going to cut the path. 428 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,360 He's going to be the announcer that's going to go before the 429 00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:11,080 Lord so that people will look for the 1 coming. 430 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:17,320 And Zechariah said to the Angel, how should I know this? 431 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:21,080 For I am an old man and my wife is well advanced in years. 432 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:25,720 And the Angel answered him, this is his answer, I am Gabriel and 433 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:31,000 I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you 434 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:35,320 and bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent 435 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,240 and unable to speak until the day of these things take place, 436 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:41,680 because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in 437 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,320 their time. He said, how can I know this 438 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:46,760 will happen? He really didn't answer the 439 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:48,080 question. He just said, you know who 440 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,720 you're talking to. I stand in God's presence. 441 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:55,800 And because you even ask that question, you will be silent. 442 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:59,080 I'm going to silence you so you don't speak your unbelief into 443 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:02,480 your wife's ear. There anybody else involved in 444 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:06,520 this situation. And he comes out and they're 445 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,000 waiting and waiting and waiting for Zechariah to come out and 446 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,720 finally comes out and he's motioning with his hands, but he 447 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,000 can't talk. And it said they perceived that 448 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,120 he had had a vision. They understood he had some kind 449 00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:22,280 of encounter and lo and behold, his wife conceived after all 450 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:24,800 these years. It's an amazing thing. 451 00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:29,920 And she it says that she for the first verse 24, for the first 452 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:33,680 five months, she kept herself hidden, which I wonder why. 453 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:38,560 I mean, is it was it that she was embarrassed at her age or 454 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:41,520 she, you know, she's hoping against hope, thinking is this, 455 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:42,880 is this real? We don't know. 456 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:47,720 But for five months she hid herself, and then finally it 457 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:51,960 says, look at verse 2026. Rather, in the sixth month, the 458 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:55,560 Angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee near 459 00:26:55,560 --> 00:27:01,560 Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed. So for five months, Elizabeth is 460 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:03,440 hiding this thing she's not going on in public. 461 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:05,520 She's beginning to show. And she can't believe this. 462 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:10,720 All these years she's wanted a child, longed for a child, even 463 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:14,160 gave up praying for a child. And now she finds herself 464 00:27:14,360 --> 00:27:16,520 pregnant. You know, she's she's part of 465 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,120 the season sisters group, but she's the only pregnant one in 466 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:21,200 the group. You know, she's like, what? 467 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:22,840 What group do I hang around with? 468 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:25,560 She's she's great with child 5th. 469 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:30,240 And it wasn't until she went public that the Angel then 470 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:34,200 visited Mary, her cousin. Isn't that interesting? 471 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:40,440 And the same Angel that visited her now visits her cousin. 472 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,800 And they both had a supernatural conception. 473 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:51,160 Both had a supernatural birth. There was the older one that 474 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,040 couldn't conceive. She she'd known intimacy, but 475 00:27:54,040 --> 00:28:02,280 she we call it potency, we call it the Old Testament said the 476 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:08,120 first born son is the first sign of the father's strength. 477 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,280 So the ability to produce sons is a sign of the father's 478 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:16,960 strength in Jewish culture. And she knew intimacy, but she 479 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,720 didn't know power. She wasn't able to You conceive 480 00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:25,240 and then you have this emerging generation, this young gal who 481 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:28,120 had never known intimacy. It's like the the emerging 482 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:33,440 generation in the church, this this older woman, she'd known 483 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,360 years of intimacy, but nothing had been produced. 484 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:40,840 And then this younger woman who she wasn't even married yet and 485 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:42,520 she was going to find herself with children. 486 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:46,280 Don't you find that interesting? Here's the one who went so much 487 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:50,120 longer than average. And this other one entered in 488 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,240 quick. She didn't even cross the finish 489 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:55,160 line of a wedding ceremony before she had conceived. 490 00:28:56,160 --> 00:29:00,560 So what gives? And the Holy Spirit is obviously 491 00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:06,440 connecting these two scenarios. They're cousins and as soon as 492 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:10,240 the Angel comes to Mary, he tells her what's going to happen 493 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:11,720 to her. The Holy Spirit is going to over 494 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,040 shadow you and you will be found with children. 495 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,000 And when Mary asks how will this be, she doesn't get rebuked like 496 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:19,680 Zachariah did. You're going to be silent. 497 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:22,280 He just explains to her what's going to happen. 498 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:25,760 Now we don't know if it was because of their their, the, the 499 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:30,240 posture of their hearts. Maybe Zachariah was cynical and 500 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:32,960 Mary was believing but questioning we don't know. 501 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:36,000 Or was it because Zechariah had more years in the faith and 502 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:37,960 shouldn't have been questioning? I don't know. 503 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,560 But he tags on to the end when when Gabriel talks to Mary, he 504 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:48,760 said, and he'll by the way, your cousin Elizabeth, she is in her 505 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:55,840 6th month and she hightails it over there to go see her cousin 506 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:57,920 Elizabeth. And when she walks in the room, 507 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:03,040 Elizabeth's baby jumps and her her baby is filled with the 508 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:08,560 spirit. And it's a picture of the 509 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:13,080 interaction between the generations of the faith, the 510 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:15,120 older generation who had gone before. 511 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,160 And here's here's a principle that's obvious from this 512 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:22,160 passage, that God will choose one generation that has to go 513 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:26,480 much longer than normal so the next generation can enter in 514 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:30,840 much earlier than normal. And what one generation paid the 515 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:33,560 price for the other generation got for free. 516 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:38,440 And what Elizabeth was carrying would actually pave the way for 517 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:42,040 what Mary was carrying because John would be the one who 518 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:45,600 prepares the way for the Lord, the one that Mary was carrying. 519 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:50,560 And there's this generational relationship in the body of 520 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:52,200 Christ that we need to understand. 521 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:57,000 And those of you who are older beyond those years where you're 522 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:00,760 having the dreams of the big family and all that, it may be 523 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,880 that may be a metaphor for some of the things you dreamed about 524 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:07,720 seeing your your life, God use you in such a way. 525 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:09,640 And now you're looking to think, well, I don't think that's going 526 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,640 to happen. Listen, it very well may be that 527 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,800 the reason those things didn't materialize in your life is 528 00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:19,560 because your decades of prayer are actually being invested in 529 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:22,600 the next generation and together they're going to move into 530 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:24,920 something. And Jesus needed John. 531 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:30,040 John was the one that was prophesied that he'd prepare the 532 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:34,480 way for the Lord. Years ago, I woke up on a Monday 533 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,600 morning. Mondays are my day off and I was 534 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:39,800 just laying there in bed. So I grabbed my phone and pulled 535 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:43,800 up the Bible and I was reading and I was reading this story and 536 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:49,040 I read about how the Angel says that John will be filled with 537 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:51,680 the Spirit while still in his mother's womb. 538 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:57,320 Not amazing. My little brother was baptized 539 00:31:57,320 --> 00:31:59,440 in the Spirit when he was six years old. 540 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:05,720 John had him beat way. He was he was a little human 541 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:10,600 embryo and he's in there, Shundai, he's having church 542 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,760 there. He was filled with the spirit in 543 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:14,960 his mother's. That's amazing. 544 00:32:15,200 --> 00:32:18,000 And I remember reading that and I was just so, so struck by 545 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,080 that. And I didn't expect an answer, 546 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:23,440 but I said out loud to the Lord God, why don't you do that with 547 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:26,000 all of us? We could wrap this thing up by 548 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:30,600 Thursday, man, if you had a whole generation of John's that 549 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,640 we were all filled with the spirit from our mother's wombs. 550 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:36,800 What? Let's, let's see that happen. 551 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:40,680 And I just said it out loud to the Lord. 552 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:42,320 I didn't expect him to answer me. 553 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:48,320 And the Lord spoke to me and he said John was able to enter in 554 00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:53,640 earlier than most because his mother and father entered much 555 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:59,960 later than most, that their decades of intercession over 556 00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:04,520 their barrenness actually removed some of the barriers for 557 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:07,240 young John even before he was conceived. 558 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:10,680 Now, you might think, well, I don't know if that was the Lord. 559 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:12,360 You'll find out when we get to heaven. 560 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:17,080 I heard from God on that. So I got in my car. 561 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:20,680 I was, I was speaking at a, a ministry school out in Nebraska, 562 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:23,880 way out in central Nebraska later that day. 563 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:26,960 So I was driving out there and taught for did a couple 564 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:28,520 sessions. And then at the end I was just 565 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:32,240 praying over people and spirit of prophecy came on me and I was 566 00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:35,000 prophesying over people. And this young man came forward 567 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,200 and I laid hands on him. And all of a sudden I felt led 568 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:40,480 to share with them that principle that I'd read that 569 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:43,320 morning. And when I began to share that 570 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:46,520 story with him, his jaw just dropped about hit the floor. 571 00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:48,880 He said, I can't believe you're sharing this with me. 572 00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:53,480 I always, he said my, my parents were always the oldest parents. 573 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:57,760 They wanted children for so many years and they could never have 574 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:00,440 a kid. And finally they were well into 575 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:03,240 their later, you know, that at the end of their childbearing 576 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:05,080 years, they've given up on ever having a kid. 577 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,920 And then I was born. I had these old parents and I 578 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:11,880 felt like the Lord had me share that with him as an 579 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:17,199 encouragement not only to him, but to me as well that there is 580 00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:20,679 a principle. There are times where God will 581 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:26,239 birth a desire within your heart and then he will deny you longer 582 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:30,280 than most. But the reason for that denial 583 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:35,239 is there is a an accumulation of that intercession. 584 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:37,000 And there was something going on. 585 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:43,080 And if you look at you look at Samuel, Samuel was an uncommon 586 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:46,000 man. It says his words never fell to 587 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,440 the ground. He was the transition man 588 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:51,719 between the times of the judges and the kings, the David, the 589 00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:55,880 Saul's reign to the Davidic house that still Jesus rules 590 00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:58,360 from the throne of David to this day. 591 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:01,400 Saul was the man that was the pivot there. 592 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:05,080 He was that prophet, but he was the son of a barren womb. 593 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:11,840 You see it with Samson, you see it with John, these these 594 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:15,160 children that were born of unusual circumstances. 595 00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:20,360 And what I'm saying this morning is this, that there may be times 596 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:23,720 you're praying for something and you see other people around you 597 00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:27,000 stepping into things that you've longed to step into. 598 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,200 And it looks so normal for them. And it's like there's something 599 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,120 being withheld from you. And I want to encourage you this 600 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:36,640 morning that it just may be the hand of God because God is 601 00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:40,400 investing the frustration and the intercession that's mounting 602 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:42,600 in something greater, a greater breakthrough. 603 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:46,600 And it just may be. There are times, we know from 604 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:52,240 Hebrews Chapter 11, that there are times where one generation 605 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:55,360 doesn't get to see the breakthrough, but it's visited 606 00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:59,680 on the next generation. And when the Angel stood before 607 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:05,480 Zechariah and he said, Zechariah, your prayers have 608 00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:08,840 been heard. That's an amazing thing. 609 00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:14,880 A prayer that he had prayed decades earlier and given up on 610 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,840 was still coming before the throne of God, waiting for that 611 00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:21,240 now moment so that God could trigger it. 612 00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:29,440 And often we have our time frame and we can get disillusioned and 613 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:33,640 embittered or find all these excuses, feel like there's 614 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:36,960 something wrong with us. But in fact, God was 615 00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:42,320 orchestrating something great. John, Jesus would later say, is 616 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:48,080 the greatest of the prophets. I believe one of the reasons 617 00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:52,400 that John was able to do the things he did, why he entered in 618 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:56,680 so early on in his life, even as a child in his mother's womb, he 619 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:58,200 entered into the spirit filled life. 620 00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:03,200 That's wild. He came out spirit filled. 621 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:08,800 I don't know, maybe he didn't cry when the doctor spanked him. 622 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:11,160 Thank you. And he had a real good attitude. 623 00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:12,480 Thank you. I needed that. 624 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:16,920 You know, I'm just kidding. But I mean, just he was, he was 625 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:19,120 a spirit filled from the beginning. 626 00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:23,400 But there were decades of intercession that preceded his 627 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:27,960 birth. And so the first of the wise 628 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:36,720 women of Christmas was one who had been denied for decades so 629 00:37:36,720 --> 00:37:40,000 that God could mount something. And there these this 630 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:45,560 accumulation of intercession and prayer so that God could give 631 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:48,440 birth to a very unique man in human history. 632 00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:52,200 You know, we, we read these stories, we think, oh, John was 633 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:55,280 a great man. I guess that was just God. 634 00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:58,000 God just chose he'd be great. I believe God did. 635 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:01,440 But there was a whole lot of human interaction behind the 636 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:03,640 scenes. There were a lot of things that 637 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:06,480 were happening, and those are the things that you and I need 638 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:08,920 to understand. Amen. 639 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:11,920 Thanks for listening to our podcast. 640 00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:14,400 If you'd like to help more people hear this message, you 641 00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:17,040 can get the word out by subscribing and sharing it on 642 00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:19,320 social media. If you'd like to support the 643 00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:22,200 ministries of Heartland Church, you can do so at Heartland 644 00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:24,440 Church online.com/give.