Christmas: The Story Before the Story – Trusting God’s Timing in Our Prayers

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
And Christmas is here.
[00:00:05] And Merry Christmas to you as we go into this wonderful season and as we start a new book of the Bible, the Gospel of Luke that we're calling the Gospel for Everyone.
[00:00:17] And it just happens to begin, of course, with the greatest of all stories, the Christmas story.
[00:00:23] Now I think there's probably someone that is hearing this story for the first time.
[00:00:28] Maybe you became a Christian recently and you've never heard this story as you need to hear it as presented in the scripture.
[00:00:36] Then others, we know bits and pieces of it, but we get it a little bit confused.
[00:00:40] Like a little girl that came home from church and they talked about Christmas in her Sunday school class and so she wanted to show her Christmas drawing to her mother as they were driving home and the mom was surprised to find not
[00:00:54] Amen, Gersene, or the wise men, but an airplane.
[00:00:58] And she said, honey, why did you draw an airplane?
[00:01:02] She said, mommy, it's the flight into Egypt.
[00:01:05] Okay, the flight into Egypt.
[00:01:07] Who is this man piloting the plane?
[00:01:10] Mom, that's Pontius the pilot.
[00:01:12] Okay, now the mom is figuring it out.
[00:01:15] Okay, I see Joseph, I see Mary, I see the baby Jesus, but there was one round, plump little man sitting there, and the mother said, who is this round little man?
[00:01:26] She says, mom, that's round John Virgin, right?
[00:01:30] Remember this song?
[00:01:31] These are the jokes, people.
[00:01:32] What do you want from me?
[00:01:34] Round John Virgin, round John Virgin.
[00:01:36] Okay, so we laugh at that.
[00:01:39] At least three or four people laughed at that.
[00:01:44] But we want to get the real Christmas story, and it's much bigger.
[00:01:48] And it begins, of course, even before Bethlehem.
[00:01:52] And Luke begins his gospel by telling us the story before the story.
[00:01:57] A word about Luke.
[00:01:59] Luke is the only non-Jew or Gentile to write a book of the Bible.
[00:02:04] He was not an eyewitness of the life and ministry of Jesus like Matthew and John were.
[00:02:10] Mark some think was dictated to him by Simon Peter but Luke in contrast was commissioned to write the story of Jesus by a man named Theophilus.
[00:02:23] Theophilus whose name actually means lover of God
[00:02:27] Underwrote this story being written.
[00:02:30] And so Luke, like a good investigative reporter, no doubt, interviewed the key people who were a part of this story.
[00:02:40] He probably sat down with Mary and said, Mary, tell me what happened to you.
[00:02:44] He probably talked with Elizabeth and Zacharias who we'll talk about in this message.
[00:02:50] And maybe he interviewed the shepherds.
[00:02:52] Perhaps he even talked to the wise men.
[00:02:54] But he put the whole story together and wrote it down for each of us.
[00:02:59] And it's interesting how his gospel begins.
[00:03:03] He says, in the days of Herod.
[00:03:05] So that pinpoints it in time, historically.
[00:03:09] We know when it happened.
[00:03:11] But it also gives us a sense of what the backdrop of the birth of Jesus was.
[00:03:17] To say in the days of Herod would be like saying, in Germany in the days of Adolf Hitler.
[00:03:22] So we would know a dictator was running the country.
[00:03:26] And so in the same way here is the paranoid wicked Herod the Great as he was called.
[00:03:33] So this was a ruthless leader.
[00:03:35] He murdered his own wife.
[00:03:37] He murdered his sons.
[00:03:38] He murdered countless innocents and now to add to that the fact that for 400 years Israel has not heard from God.
[00:03:47] Not a single prophet giving a word from the Lord.
[00:03:51] Not a single miracle.
[00:03:53] Not a single angelic appearance.
[00:03:55] Just what appeared to be an icy silence from heaven and then suddenly everything falls into place.
[00:04:03] As Galatians puts it, when the time was just right, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those that are under the law.
[00:04:16] Bible commentator Arkent Hughes summed it up this way, quote,
[00:04:19] Great plans laid in eternal ages past now began to activate.
[00:04:25] Angels scurried around busily preparing for the dawn.
[00:04:29] End quote.
[00:04:29] Well said.
[00:04:30] So let's read a chunk of scripture together.
[00:04:34] How many of you brought your Bibles with you to church?
[00:04:36] Let me see your Bibles.
[00:04:37] Sir, why do you have a pink Bible?
[00:04:40] I don't understand.
[00:04:41] Oh, I see, it's the Barbie edition, that's okay.
[00:04:45] No, but now some of you may hold up a phone or a tablet, that's okay, so get to the app that has the Bible, because I want you to read along with me.
[00:04:53] As I'm reading and I look up periodically, I don't want to see you looking at me.
[00:04:58] So even if you don't have a Bible, fake it and just look down, not really.
[00:05:02] But no, it's better if you read along with me, okay?
[00:05:05] So let's go to Luke chapter one, and I'm gonna start in verse five, and I'm gonna read down to verse 17.
[00:05:14] Now there was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah.
[00:05:22] His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
[00:05:27] And they were both righteous before God, I would underline that, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless.
[00:05:39] Wow.
[00:05:40] But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.
[00:05:47] And so it was that while he was serving his priests before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
[00:06:00] And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.
[00:06:05] Then an angel of the Lord appeared before him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
[00:06:12] And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fearful upon him.
[00:06:17] And the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
[00:06:24] and you shall call his name John.
[00:06:27] And you will have great joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth for he'll be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink.
[00:06:37] He'll also be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb and he'll turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
[00:06:45] He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
[00:07:00] We'll stop there.
[00:07:01] So the story begins.
[00:07:03] The story before the story.
[00:07:06] Now we don't begin with Mary and Joseph.
[00:07:09] We begin with Elizabeth and Zacharias for they would be the parents of the forerunner of the Messiah and that would be John.
[00:07:18] So Israel was under the control of Rome at this point.
[00:07:23] They were experiencing what Rome called Pax Romana, which meant the Roman rule or peaceful rule, but really it was a forced rule.
[00:07:33] You either submitted to Rome or you paid the consequentis.
[00:07:37] But they had promises they were hanging on to.
[00:07:40] Promises that God had made to the people that one day their Messiah would come.
[00:07:45] Malachi 4.2 says, When you revere my name, the Son of Righteousness will rise with healing in its rays and will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.
[00:07:55] So, they told him Messiah's coming.
[00:07:58] They knew he was coming.
[00:07:59] But then Malachi also said that there would be a forerunner before the Messiah.
[00:08:05] Malachi 3.1, I'll send my messenger to prepare the way before me, then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come into his temple.
[00:08:15] So John is sort of the bridge between the Old and the New Testament.
[00:08:21] And John was the greatest of all of the prophets.
[00:08:25] Jesus himself said so.
[00:08:27] He said of those born among women, there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist.
[00:08:34] Now there were some pretty heavy duty prophets that we could talk about in the Old Testament.
[00:08:38] There's Isaiah, there's Ezekiel, there's the powerful, wonder-working prophet Elijah.
[00:08:45] But yet John is identified as the greatest of the prophets.
[00:08:50] Interestingly, John never wrote a book.
[00:08:53] John never performed a miracle.
[00:08:55] Yet he was called the greatest.
[00:08:57] Why?
[00:08:58] Because John and John alone was the direct forerunner of Christ.
[00:09:03] His greatness, if you will, came as a result of his proximity and closeness to Christ and the unique role he played in being the voice in the wilderness saying, prepare the way of the Lord.
[00:09:18] and to make sure everyone understood this was a big event, God dispatches the angel Gabriel to make the announcement.
[00:09:25] Now, any appearance of an angel is a big deal.
[00:09:28] And by the way, angels usually begin by saying,
[00:09:31] Don't be afraid.
[00:09:33] Because I think when people saw angels they thought, I'm gonna die right now.
[00:09:38] And now you don't just have an angel, you have a mega angel.
[00:09:41] One of the highest ranking angels out there, the great Gabriel, who makes appearances in the Old Testament in the book of Daniel.
[00:09:48] Here he is.
[00:09:49] It's been a long time since anyone's heard from Gabriel.
[00:09:52] So you know this is a big deal.
[00:09:55] When Gabriel makes the appearance, and indeed he does, to give this announcement to John.
[00:10:02] And now he's going to have an answer to his prayer.
[00:10:06] For him and his wife Elizabeth were elderly people.
[00:10:10] They were definitely getting the seniors discount wherever they went.
[00:10:14] They're the last couple anyone would have ever thought of as needing a baby shower at this stage of their life.
[00:10:22] But indeed they were gonna be the parents of a son in their old age and not just any son but John the Baptist.
[00:10:30] Can you imagine John the Baptist as a baby?
[00:10:34] Mom, I don't want that baby food.
[00:10:35] I want locusts and wild honey.
[00:10:38] And by the way, repent.
[00:10:40] He was a fiery guy.
[00:10:43] He was bold.
[00:10:43] He was courageous.
[00:10:45] And God gave such a privilege to this man, Zacharias, and his wife to be the parents of such a man.
[00:10:53] Why?
[00:10:53] Why did God choose Zacharias?
[00:10:56] Here's a thought.
[00:10:57] I think God chose him because he was a genuinely humble man.
[00:11:02] He was a humble man.
[00:11:03] The Bible says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
[00:11:09] So God picked this man not known by anyone
[00:11:13] and said, that is the man that's gonna be the father of John.
[00:11:17] He was just a simple country priest, a country preacher, if you will.
[00:11:23] There were many priests back in this time, around 6,000.
[00:11:26] To be a priest meant that you would represent the people to God, so you would go into the temple and bring the offering.
[00:11:35] But then being a priest also meant you represented God to the people.
[00:11:41] And that's an awesome responsibility.
[00:11:43] I recognize that as a pastor, I'm a representative of God.
[00:11:48] You should see how people react when they find out what I do.
[00:11:51] You know, someone will introduce me to someone and says, Greg, oh, what do you do?
[00:11:55] Greg, I'm a pastor.
[00:11:56] Ooh, you know, step back for a moment.
[00:11:59] You know, so I recognize that's a privilege to speak for the Lord.
[00:12:04] And by the way, we're all representatives of God.
[00:12:07] In a sense, we're all part of a royal priesthood because 1 Peter 2.9 says, you're a chosen race, a royal priesthood.
[00:12:16] so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
[00:12:22] Listen to this.
[00:12:23] You are the only Bible some people are ever going to read.
[00:12:28] Christians are walking epistles written by God and read by men.
[00:12:33] It's been said there's five gospels in the Bible.
[00:12:36] You say, Greg, you're wrong, there's four.
[00:12:37] No, there's five, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and you.
[00:12:41] You're the fifth gospel, and I know it's a lot of pressure, but people are gonna form an opinion about God based on you.
[00:12:50] So we want to be good examples and Zacharias was a good example and he was a faithful priest bringing me to point number two.
[00:12:57] He was a faithful man.
[00:12:58] When God called him he was just doing his duty.
[00:13:03] He had no idea that the world was gonna change and how his life was going to change as a result of this man just doing his job, going into the temple as all the priests would do eventually
[00:13:18] and bringing the offering on behalf of the people to God.
[00:13:23] But you will find that when God calls people in the Bible, He always seemed to call people that were doing something.
[00:13:30] God called Moses when he was tending his sheep.
[00:13:33] God called David when he was watching them.
[00:13:36] God called Elijah when he was plowing in a field.
[00:13:40] God called Peter and John when they were mending nets.
[00:13:43] God calls busy people.
[00:13:45] You want to find the best person for a job, find a busy person.
[00:13:49] Not a person sitting idly, but a person that's out and about getting something done.
[00:13:56] And so the Lord sees Zacharias faithfully going about his responsibilities as a priest and chooses him to be
[00:14:05] The Father of the Forerunner of the Messiah.
[00:14:09] You know, God has given to each of us spiritual gifts.
[00:14:12] And it is our job to figure out what those gifts are and to develop, cultivate, and use them.
[00:14:19] Romans 12 says, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.
[00:14:23] So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.
[00:14:30] If your gift is serving others, serve them well.
[00:14:33] If you're a teacher, teach well.
[00:14:35] If your gift is to encourage others, then be encouraging.
[00:14:39] If your gift is giving, then give generously.
[00:14:43] So God has given you gifts, and I wonder if you've discovered your spiritual gifts yet.
[00:14:49] The Bible says, stir up the gift that is in you.
[00:14:53] Or a better way to translate that is fan it into full flame.
[00:14:57] Sort of like starting a fire.
[00:14:59] You know, you get the fire ready,
[00:15:01] And then you put the logs down and the fire and it begins to grow and if it's not growing quickly enough you put lighter fluid on it.
[00:15:08] Don't do that.
[00:15:09] I recommend you don't do that.
[00:15:11] But sometimes we cheat a little bit and the fire grows.
[00:15:14] And so God gives you a gift.
[00:15:16] Cultivate it.
[00:15:17] Use it.
[00:15:17] Develop it.
[00:15:18] I have found sometimes one of the best ways to find out what you're called to do is first find out what you're not called to do.
[00:15:25] And that happens through process of elimination.
[00:15:28] Did you know I was once in a Christian band?
[00:15:32] So here's what happened.
[00:15:33] We were sitting around in a home Bible study and there was some very talented singer, guitar player, who came up with a song.
[00:15:40] And there was another guy in our little Bible study who played the flute beautifully, a flautist.
[00:15:46] And so he's playing his flute, the other guy's playing his guitar, and I'm pounding on the table, like trying to keep time to it.
[00:15:53] They said, let's form a band.
[00:15:55] And so we went down to Calvary Chapel when bands were forming every eight minutes.
[00:16:00] And we said, hey, we're a band.
[00:16:02] I think we even had a name, Bright and Morning Star or something like that.
[00:16:06] And I ended up with a conga drum hanging around my neck, okay?
[00:16:11] And we walked out there to do our first performance.
[00:16:14] The church was packed.
[00:16:15] The guitar player did great.
[00:16:17] The flautist did great.
[00:16:18] I could not keep time.
[00:16:20] And I thought, this is the worst mistake of my life.
[00:16:23] I am not called to be in a Christian band.
[00:16:24] Good.
[00:16:25] I just figured out one thing I'm not supposed to do.
[00:16:27] I think when people ask for volunteers, you should volunteer for everything.
[00:16:34] We need help up in the children's ministry.
[00:16:37] Could you follow?
[00:16:38] I don't know if I'm called to children.
[00:16:39] Well, maybe you're just called to help where help is needed.
[00:16:43] And maybe you might find that you have a gift in a certain area you didn't know you had a gift in.
[00:16:49] I'll tell you this much.
[00:16:51] All the best preachers I know started out in youth ministry.
[00:16:55] Because if you can keep the attention of a room full of kids, my friend, you have a spiritual gift.
[00:17:01] Because they won't be polite.
[00:17:03] They'll get up, walk out, pull out their phone, start talking to each other, mock you sometimes, even openly.
[00:17:11] So it's a great way to just figure out what your gift is and use it.
[00:17:15] So here's old Zacharias being faithful in the little things and God was preparing him for something so much greater.
[00:17:23] Number three, Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth were godly and blameless people.
[00:17:29] Look at verse six.
[00:17:30] They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.
[00:17:36] Blameless, wow, blameless.
[00:17:39] That doesn't mean they were sinless.
[00:17:41] It doesn't even mean they were flawless.
[00:17:44] It means they were faithful.
[00:17:46] You know, we're all sinful.
[00:17:47] We all fall short.
[00:17:49] None of us do it all perfectly.
[00:17:51] But these guys live lives of integrity.
[00:17:54] What is integrity?
[00:17:56] I like the definition that C.S.
[00:17:58] Lewis gave.
[00:17:59] He said, integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching, end quote.
[00:18:05] that's a good definition of integrity so they were godly people waiting on the Lord and the Lord was about to do something wonderful in their life okay look at verse 13 the angel said don't be afraid Zacharias for your prayer is heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and he will call his name John so here he is in the temple he's bringing his offering for the people
[00:18:33] And suddenly the angel Gabriel appears to him and gives him this revelation that he's going to be the father of John.
[00:18:42] It's implied in the way the text is laid out that maybe he was praying about this very thing when Gabriel appeared to him.
[00:18:53] So he might have been there in the temple saying, Oh Lord, you know,
[00:18:56] Just since I'm in the temple and I feel close to you, remember that prayer I've been praying for like 30 years about a son?
[00:19:02] I still would really like to have a son one day.
[00:19:05] And all of a sudden, Gabriel appears.
[00:19:07] You're gonna have a son.
[00:19:09] And I've got a name picked out.
[00:19:10] His name is John.
[00:19:12] His prayer was answered quickly.
[00:19:13] You know, sometimes the Lord seems to take his sweet time in answering our prayers.
[00:19:19] Though in reality, he answers all prayers, doesn't he?
[00:19:22] Yes, no, or wait.
[00:19:25] Yes is usually good.
[00:19:27] No, we may not like no, but at least it's a definitive answer.
[00:19:31] No one likes wait.
[00:19:32] No one likes to wait for anything, right?
[00:19:35] And sometimes the Lord wants us to wait and he doesn't answer the prayer as quickly as we would like, but there's other times when he answers the prayer so quickly it shocks us.
[00:19:45] Lord, I was wondering if you'd, boom, he does it.
[00:19:48] Three people just woke up, I saw you.
[00:19:51] Is he done?
[00:19:52] Okay.
[00:19:55] You never know.
[00:19:55] One of my favorite stories in the Bible is in Acts chapter 12.
[00:20:00] So Herod, speaking of him, had James arrested and he executed him.
[00:20:06] And then he arrested Simon Peter.
[00:20:09] So the church went into prayer.
[00:20:12] Acts 12 says, constant prayer was offered to Peter by the church.
[00:20:17] So they're praying passionately, praying fervently, Lord deliver.
[00:20:22] Peter from prison.
[00:20:23] So that prayer's heard in heaven.
[00:20:25] And so the Lord dispatches an angel.
[00:20:27] Now here we are in the prison cell.
[00:20:29] Peter's in a deep sleep and the angel comes and shakes him.
[00:20:33] Peter's not waking up.
[00:20:34] Some people can sleep through anything, can't they?
[00:20:36] Are you one of those people?
[00:20:38] Who's a deep sleeper?
[00:20:39] Raise your hand up.
[00:20:41] You know why they're not raising their hand up?
[00:20:43] Because they're sleeping right now.
[00:20:47] I've had more than one person say, I listen to you as I go to sleep.
[00:20:51] Well, thank you for that, all right.
[00:20:53] So I put you to sleep at night.
[00:20:56] But then some people wake up at the sound of anything.
[00:20:59] That's me.
[00:21:00] A dog barks four blocks away.
[00:21:02] I wake up, what's that, you know?
[00:21:04] But Peter apparently was a deep sleeper.
[00:21:06] The angel shakes him.
[00:21:08] He doesn't wake.
[00:21:08] So the angel actually kind of, you know, gives him a little punch.
[00:21:13] Oh, he wakes up.
[00:21:14] Come on, you're out of here.
[00:21:15] And Peter stands up and the door of the prison cell opens like the supermarket door just opens up.
[00:21:22] Peter walks out, okay.
[00:21:24] Walks over to a house where a bunch of Christians are praying, knocks on the door.
[00:21:29] A girl named Rhoda answers.
[00:21:30] Now think about what's happening.
[00:21:32] They're in this house and they're praying for Peter.
[00:21:35] Oh God, deliver Peter.
[00:21:37] Oh Lord, don't let Herod kill Peter.
[00:21:40] Oh Lord, get Peter back to us.
[00:21:41] Get him out of that prison.
[00:21:43] Knock on the door.
[00:21:44] Rhoda answers.
[00:21:45] There's Peter.
[00:21:45] Answer to her prayer.
[00:21:47] She leaves him standing at the door and goes back to where the guys are.
[00:21:50] Guys, guess who's at the door?
[00:21:52] Don't bother us.
[00:21:53] We're praying for Peter.
[00:21:54] Oh Lord, deliver Peter.
[00:21:56] Oh Lord, get Peter out of prison.
[00:21:57] Guys, Peter is standing at the door right now.
[00:22:00] They say, you're crazy.
[00:22:02] What?
[00:22:03] Where's the faith?
[00:22:05] And then one of them says, maybe it's this angel.
[00:22:08] Okay.
[00:22:08] If someone's angel was knocking at my door, I think I would answer it.
[00:22:13] and then they go to answer the door and it's kind of funny because it says they went so she's telling them they're all together and it's like okay let's go check this out they're kind of they make their way over to the door the whole group of them here we are now come over open it up or speeder hey I was kind of hoping you'd let me in before I get arrested again but isn't that like us we're shocked sometimes when God answers our prayer quickly but that's exactly what happened in the story
[00:22:42] Their prayers were answered.
[00:22:45] You know, there may be times when you're praying for something and the reason you have not received an answer is some heavy duty spiritual warfare is going on behind the scenes.
[00:22:58] In the book of Daniel, chapter 10, we have the prophet Daniel praying.
[00:23:04] His prayer is heard in heaven and an angel is dispatched with the answer.
[00:23:09] But as it turns out, this angel isn't able to get the prayer answered to Daniel for 21 days because he's overcome by a fallen angel or a demon.
[00:23:22] So it's angelic warfare happening.
[00:23:26] And so the Lord dispatches an even higher ranking angel.
[00:23:29] In fact, the highest ranking of all angels, the Lord sends Michael.
[00:23:34] Who's the most powerful of all the angels to help this lower ranking angel fighting with this fallen angel who is then freed to bring the answer to Daniel.
[00:23:46] So you know you're praying thinking my prayer is not being heard in heaven.
[00:23:49] You don't know what's going on behind the scenes.
[00:23:52] Reminding you that God's delays are not necessarily his denials.
[00:23:57] Spiritual warfare happens every day.
[00:24:00] It's happening in our world right now.
[00:24:01] It's happening in our nation right now.
[00:24:04] Attacks against the church.
[00:24:07] Attacks against Christian leaders.
[00:24:09] Attacks against you.
[00:24:11] The rise of violence.
[00:24:12] The rise of antisemitism.
[00:24:15] It could cause one to say, what in the hell is going on?
[00:24:19] Greg, did you just cuss?
[00:24:20] No, I meant it literally.
[00:24:22] What in the hell is going on?
[00:24:24] That's it.
[00:24:25] It's from hell.
[00:24:26] It's an attack from the devil.
[00:24:29] And so we need to remember that the devil is busy, and here's why he's busy.
[00:24:34] Because he knows his days are numbered.
[00:24:37] And he knows that Jesus is coming again.
[00:24:41] because it says in Revelation 12, the devil has gone down to you, he's filled with fury because he knows his time is short.
[00:24:51] See, as Christians, we believe Jesus is coming back, right?
[00:24:54] Hello?
[00:24:55] Am I getting the pulse out there?
[00:24:56] Come on, are you all in a deep sleep?
[00:24:58] Hello?
[00:24:59] Hi.
[00:25:01] You can say amen every now and then, that's okay.
[00:25:04] Try it, say amen, go.
[00:25:06] There you go.
[00:25:07] Okay, so we're in a spiritual battle, right?
[00:25:11] and now don't overdo it.
[00:25:17] How many of you believe Jesus is coming back again?
[00:25:19] You believe that, all right.
[00:25:22] For some reason, amen.
[00:25:26] I should have done this a long time ago.
[00:25:30] But for some reason this teaching, if you want to call it that,
[00:25:35] Which is to me just theology 101.
[00:25:37] But this teaching of the return of Jesus is not as popular as it used to be.
[00:25:43] And it needs to be.
[00:25:45] Why?
[00:25:46] Because the Bible tells us that he that has this hope of the imminent return of Christ purifies himself even as he is pure.
[00:25:56] It keeps me on my toes spiritually.
[00:25:59] When I am believing Jesus could come back at any moment.
[00:26:02] Number two, it's a motivator to preach the gospel.
[00:26:06] Well, the devil believes Jesus is coming as well, but he wants to wreak as much havoc as he can as he's waiting for that event to happen.
[00:26:15] As I read you that passage in Revelation, he knows his time is short.
[00:26:20] So what should we do?
[00:26:21] Because it can get kind of scary.
[00:26:23] Oh, the devil's at work.
[00:26:25] Spiritual warfare.
[00:26:26] Yeah, but listen.
[00:26:27] Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
[00:26:31] We're gonna win this battle.
[00:26:38] We're gonna win this war.
[00:26:39] And God has given us two weapons that we don't use enough.
[00:26:44] I would even call them secret weapons.
[00:26:47] Preaching and prayer.
[00:26:48] Preaching and prayer.
[00:26:50] When this opportunity came up in Utah to go do an event where a horrible act of violence took place against Charlie Kirk, we prayed about it and we said, let's do it.
[00:27:01] And so we committed to do something we've never done before, and that is stage a crusade in six weeks.
[00:27:08] But what did we ask you to do?
[00:27:09] We said, let's all pray.
[00:27:10] Set your alarm on your phone every day to 3.20.
[00:27:16] We'll pray Ephesians 3.20 that God is able to do exceedingly above and beyond that which we could ask or think.
[00:27:22] So we all prayed, right?
[00:27:24] And then we went there and we preached the gospel and God did a mighty work.
[00:27:28] Now look, we've done a lot of events over the last 30 years with Harvest Crusades.
[00:27:32] This one stands out to me.
[00:27:35] I don't use this word loosely.
[00:27:36] I would call it miraculous what God did.
[00:27:39] One pastor, it's true.
[00:27:45] One pastor described it this way.
[00:27:47] He said, you came behind enemy lines and you did what no one has ever done before.
[00:27:53] You preached the gospel and all these people came to faith, 2,500 people.
[00:27:59] It was just an absolute mind-blowing miracle as far as I am concerned.
[00:28:04] Praying and preaching, we need to do it more.
[00:28:07] And we need to pray believing.
[00:28:10] I heard about an old country preacher
[00:28:12] He was in a little farming town there with his congregation and they needed rain for their crops.
[00:28:19] So his folks came to him and said, preacher, you gotta pray for rain.
[00:28:24] Pray for rain for our crops.
[00:28:25] And he said, okay, I'll pray for rain, but where are your umbrellas?
[00:28:30] And the next Sunday they realized they weren't praying with faith because they didn't bring their umbrellas.
[00:28:34] So the next Sunday they showed up with umbrellas and with ponchos and rubber boots and they prayed again and sure enough it rained.
[00:28:41] In fact it rained so hard they weren't able to have their picnic.
[00:28:46] And he says next time we pray bring your umbrella and also let's pray for rain after the picnic.
[00:28:52] Now you say, did that story really happen?
[00:28:55] I have no idea.
[00:28:56] I just heard it somewhere.
[00:28:57] It's a great illustration.
[00:28:59] Maybe it did, maybe it didn't, but it shows how important it is to believe when you pray.
[00:29:05] Old Zacharias has been praying for 30 years for a son.
[00:29:10] That's about how long I prayed for my mother to come to the Lord.
[00:29:15] You know, people ask me all the time, did your mother ever become a Christian?
[00:29:19] Yes, she did.
[00:29:20] Toward the end of her life, she took her sweet time, but she did make that commitment to Christ toward the end of her life and tragically she didn't live much longer after that, but I was so thankful to see her finally make that commitment to follow Jesus.
[00:29:37] And maybe you have a mom, you have a dad, you have a son, you have a daughter,
[00:29:43] You have someone you've been praying for forever, it seems.
[00:29:46] Don't give up.
[00:29:48] 30 years, Zacharias was praying this prayer.
[00:29:51] And finally, his prayer is answered.
[00:29:55] And boy, is it answered, because the Lord does a great miracle.
[00:30:00] You know, and so we need to remember to keep praying.
[00:30:04] There's one little verse here I really love.
[00:30:06] Look at verse 16, excuse me, verse 18, bringing me to point number four.
[00:30:11] Zechariah was human and flawed, just like us.
[00:30:15] Luke 1, 18, and Zechariah said to the angel, how shall I know this?
[00:30:19] So Gabriel says, you're gonna have a son.
[00:30:21] Name him John.
[00:30:21] How shall I know this?
[00:30:23] He says, I'm an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.
[00:30:28] See what he did there?
[00:30:30] I'm an old man, but my wife is well advanced in years.
[00:30:35] That's very diplomatic.
[00:30:38] You could have said, I'm an old man, and she's an old woman.
[00:30:41] No, he didn't say that, did he?
[00:30:43] I'm an old man, but she's well advanced in years.
[00:30:47] Very nicely done.
[00:30:49] Now, we don't know how old they were exactly.
[00:30:52] It's weird as you get older, and you that are older will know what I'm talking about, because a lot of times you don't think of yourself as older than you look in the mirror, and you're reminded.
[00:31:04] But you know, I sort of play the old card when it works to my advantage.
[00:31:09] Someone will say, can you give me help lifting this?
[00:31:12] I don't know, I'm pretty old.
[00:31:13] Get one of those young bucks over there to help you.
[00:31:17] but then someone says we're offering a senior discount I'll take that right now okay so when I was back in Utah I went to buy a cup of coffee and I went into this restaurant they made really good coffee and so they said okay can I see your ID I said my ID yes we serve alcohol here as well and so you have to present ID I said well I don't want to buy alcohol I just want a cup of coffee
[00:31:43] Well, it's a state law here in Utah.
[00:31:45] Because we sell alcohol, you have to present your ID.
[00:31:49] I said, clearly, I'm old enough to buy whatever I want to buy, including alcohol, if I chose to.
[00:31:56] And he goes, how old are you?
[00:31:58] I said, I'm 72.
[00:32:00] And then he says, you look good for your age.
[00:32:04] So now, not only will you not sell me coffee, but you're insulting me.
[00:32:08] We'll call it a complice salt, right?
[00:32:11] You know what a complice salt is?
[00:32:13] It's basically an insult, but it's presented as a compliment.
[00:32:17] Like what he said to me, or when you show up somewhere and someone says, hey, you're actually on time.
[00:32:24] Which is another way of saying you're usually late, which you probably are.
[00:32:28] Or someone says to you, you're a good driver for a woman.
[00:32:32] Oh, that's not, that's a complice all.
[00:32:34] How about this one?
[00:32:35] You're so pretty, why are you still single?
[00:32:39] Complice all.
[00:32:41] And of course this one, you look good for your age.
[00:32:45] but Zacharias didn't know how to believe or how to receive this.
[00:32:52] And so Gabriel says to him, I am Gabriel, verse 19, who stands in the presence of God.
[00:32:59] I was sent to speak to you and bring you glad tidings for behold you will be mute and not able to speak until the day that these things take place because you did not believe my words.
[00:33:13] Okay, you didn't believe me.
[00:33:15] and now you're not going to be able to speak until John is born.
[00:33:22] I had surgery done years ago on my throat.
[00:33:25] I had a nodule and it affected my speaking so I had this vocal cord surgery done and I was not able to speak for I think two weeks.
[00:33:35] I had to write everything down.
[00:33:37] That became very frustrating.
[00:33:39] What do you want for lunch?
[00:33:40] I started drawing pictures after a while.
[00:33:44] So here is old Zacharias who can't speak.
[00:33:49] And finally he comes out of the temple.
[00:33:52] Everyone's waiting like where is he?
[00:33:54] Why is he taking so long?
[00:33:55] What's going on in there?
[00:33:56] Did God kill him?
[00:33:57] And finally Zacharias appears.
[00:34:01] Look at verse 21.
[00:34:02] The people waited for Zacharias and they marveled that he lingered for so long in the temple but when he came out he could not speak to them and they perceived that he had seen a vision
[00:34:13] In other words, he couldn't tell them what happened.
[00:34:22] He had to do a pantomime of it.
[00:34:26] I wonder what that looked like.
[00:34:28] He had to describe with gestures what just happened to him in the temple.
[00:34:33] Remember, he goes in the temple.
[00:34:36] God tells him he's gonna have a son.
[00:34:38] He doesn't believe it.
[00:34:39] So now Gabriel says you're not gonna be able to speak because of that.
[00:34:44] So how did he pantomime that?
[00:34:46] You want me to take a shot at it?
[00:34:48] Okay, here we go.
[00:34:49] You really don't, but I will.
[00:34:51] Do we have any mimes in the room that wanna help me?
[00:34:53] Okay, no mimes.
[00:34:54] I don't really like mimes.
[00:34:55] And I'm not one myself, but here.
[00:34:58] Okay, so maybe it'll look something like this.
[00:35:01] Okay, so he comes out.
[00:35:02] He is standing there and everyone is looking at him and he does the following.
[00:35:41] Does that make sense?
[00:35:49] That was a little embarrassing actually.
[00:35:54] So what did we learn from this story?
[00:35:56] Number one, be humble, wait on the Lord, and serve Him where you are.
[00:36:02] Be faithful in the little things.
[00:36:03] Number two, keep praying and don't give up.
[00:36:07] Your prayers are heard and duly noted by God.
[00:36:11] And when God tells you something, believe it.
[00:36:14] Don't act in feeling, act in faith.
[00:36:18] You know, we look at these characters of the Bible and we put them on pedestals, but we have to remember they're really ordinary people.
[00:36:27] As I pointed out, Zacharias and Elizabeth were just ordinary elderly people.
[00:36:33] Mary and Joseph, in contrast, very young.
[00:36:37] Unknown ordinary people.
[00:36:39] Now I know we put Mary on a pedestal.
[00:36:42] And indeed she was blessed by God and chosen by God to be the mother of the Messiah.
[00:36:49] But she was a sinner too.
[00:36:51] After she heard the announcement that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah, she says, my soul rejoices in God, my Savior.
[00:37:00] Mary needed a Savior as much as you and I need a Savior.
[00:37:04] But God chose these extraordinarily ordinary people to work through.
[00:37:11] And so as we read their stories, we say, wow, these people are just like me.
[00:37:17] I read about a 1964 Aston Martin sold a while back.
[00:37:22] It sold for millions of dollars.
[00:37:25] It has 282 horsepower and go 145 miles per hour.
[00:37:32] But why did this car sell for millions of dollars?
[00:37:36] Because this Aston Martin in particular was driven by James Bond
[00:37:42] in Goldfinger and Thunderball.
[00:37:45] More specifically, it was driven by Sean Connery, the first James Bond.
[00:37:50] So because of the person who drove it, the value increased.
[00:37:55] I don't know how much that car would be worth if he hadn't driven it and it wasn't used in the film.
[00:38:00] It does have some cool little features.
[00:38:01] It has little guns.
[00:38:02] They don't work.
[00:38:04] It has an ejector seat, which might be good for a spouse on certain occasions.
[00:38:09] I don't know if that works or not.
[00:38:10] It worked in the movie at least.
[00:38:12] But the point is the value of the vehicle grew because of the person who drove it.
[00:38:20] So we're like a vessel, a vehicle if you will,
[00:38:23] And it's all about who's in us and who's working through us.
[00:38:27] The value isn't in the vessel, it's in the one who fills it, you see.
[00:38:32] So God can take an ordinary person like you or me or a Zacharias or an Elizabeth or a Joseph or a Mary and do amazing things through our life if we will just dedicate ourselves to Him.
[00:38:48] And in closing, maybe you're waiting to hear from God.
[00:38:52] You know you've gone for years praying about a certain thing and you're wondering when that's going to happen and what if it was going to happen for you today or tomorrow.
[00:39:01] For some of you,
[00:39:03] Who have been far from the Lord and don't have a relationship with Him.
[00:39:06] This could be the moment you believe in Him and your life is transformed.
[00:39:11] The same voice that spoke from heaven to the people at this time can speak to you.
[00:39:18] And God has not forgotten about you.
[00:39:21] God loves you.
[00:39:22] God has a plan for you.
[00:39:24] And ultimately this plan was for this little baby to grow to be a man
[00:39:30] Involuntarily lay his life down and die for us on the cross and to atone for our sins and to rise again from the dead and come into your heart and life.
[00:39:42] And I ask you in closing, is Jesus living inside of you?
[00:39:45] Is your sin forgiven?
[00:39:48] Do you have the assurance right now that if you were to die, you would go to heaven?
[00:39:55] I hope you have that assurance because if you don't, you can have it.
[00:39:59] He's just a prayer away.
[00:40:00] You need to say, Lord, I know that I'm a sinner and I need a savior and I ask you to forgive me.
[00:40:08] If you haven't done that yet, why don't you do it as we close now in prayer.
[00:40:12] Father, thank you for your word to us.
[00:40:15] Thank you that you love us.
[00:40:18] Thank you that you can forgive us of any sin we've ever committed.
[00:40:22] Thank you that you can give us the certainty of heaven and also give to us the meaning and purpose of life if we will put our faith in you.
[00:40:32] And I pray for any person who does not yet have a relationship with you that this would be the moment they believe and receive Jesus Christ into their life.
[00:40:43] And if you've never asked Jesus to come into your life, if you've never asked him to forgive you of your sin,
[00:40:50] If you're not sure that you're going to go to heaven one day, why don't you just pray this prayer with me?
[00:40:56] You could pray it out loud if you like, but pray this after me.
[00:40:59] Just pray, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead.
[00:41:11] Now come into my life and forgive me.
[00:41:15] I want this relationship with you.
[00:41:19] I repent of my sins.
[00:41:22] Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer.
[00:41:26] In Jesus' name I pray.
[00:41:28] Amen.
[00:41:29] God bless you.