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[2:02] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:14] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:26] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:38] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. He'll prove His mercy. Though life is but a fleeting breath, A sigh too brief to measure, My King has crushed the curse of death, And I am His forever.
[3:00] Oh, praise Him, hallelujah, My delight and my reward, Everlasting, never failing, My Redeemer, my God.
[3:19] Amen. Good singing. You can have a seat as the choir sings. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[3:33] Thank you. Thank you. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain Holy, holy is He Sing a new song To Him who sits on Heaven's mercy seat Worthy is the Lamb who was slain Holy, holy is He Sing a new song To Him who sits on Heaven's mercy seat Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty
[4:39] Who was and is and is to come With all creation I sing Praise to the King of Kings You are my everything And I will adore you Clothed in rainbows Of living color Flashes of lightning Rolls of thunder Blessing and honor, strength and glory and power be To you the only wise King Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty Who was and is and is to come
[5:42] With all creation I sing Praise to the King of Kings You are my everything You are my everything And I will adore you Holy, holy, holy All the saints adore Thee Casting down their golden crowns Around the glassy sea Cherubim and seraphim Falling down before Thee Which word and art and evermore shall be
[6:47] Filled with wonder All struck wonder At the mention of your name Jesus, your name is power Bread and living water Such a marvelous mystery Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty Who was and is and is to come With all creation I sing Praise to the King of Kings You are my everything And I will adore you Amen
[7:50] Hey, let's all stand together Choir did a great job As they come down Let's find somebody That greet around us Good to have the Malcolm family here Look forward to getting to meet them All right Once you found your seats If you would make your way back to it I jumped into this pretty quick today Y'all look surprised But I'm ready to get to Luke chapter number 1 And I'm glad to have all of you here today Nate will be up here in a second Talk about the connection card I hope you'll take a moment to read through that Or to fill that out But I want to read our passage of scripture
[8:51] With you today In Luke chapter number 1 Starting in verse number 56 But before I read it As you know most Sundays I spend more time listening to sermons Than preaching sermons I have my seat right back there And next Sunday I will be back in it As pastor is preaching But there's a few things Advantages that I have From being somebody Who sits Where you sit Most Sundays And listens And this is what I know Is that you're listening to me Better right now Than you will When I make announcements At the end of the service I know that for sure Like you're watching And so I'm going to take advantage Of this fact And I want to talk about A few things coming up On the church calendar I love church announcements I know a lot of people don't This is the first time In probably 15 years That I didn't do the bulletin Miranda's doing the bulletin And I don't like letting that go Because I think The activities of our church Are more than just dates On a calendar But they're an opportunity For us to live out The one another's
[9:52] Of scripture So I don't put announcements Up with the preaching Of the Bible But I do put it right there As part of the invitation Because as the Bible's preached And we leave here And we don't want us To be hearers of the word We don't want to be doers also There's some things That we get to do As a church family So they really matter to me And so I want to tell you About a few of those things That we're doing Together as a church family Two weeks from now We're going to celebrate 15 years as a church And that matters Thank you Sherry P Woo hoo Alright That matters as a church Because God's done Big things in our church And He's done a lot Of small things And no one person Knows the complete story Of it all But my life has been blessed Because of you And getting to be A member of this church And it will do us well To take time And to rejoice In God's faithfulness And what He has done We've been through Hard days together We've been through good days We've been through 2020 Alright Together We've been through A lot of things together The church family It's going to be good For us to stop And reflect And talk about The goodness of God And just rejoice In what He has done
[10:52] And allowed us to see And that's in two weeks From now And in our volunteers meeting At 415 today We're going to talk A little bit about that If you don't attend That meeting It's a great way To jump in So what we did today At the Welcome Center There's an outline Of what we're going to go over In the 415 meeting So you can get that piece of paper And look at it And know what that meeting's about It's a great way To get plugged in Another thing that's coming up On April the 11th And the men in the back Will help me play A little bit of piano music As I do this For dramatic effect Now so that you can hear The guy that's coming Sam Brockman He studied at Juilliard He is a very prestigious Piano player And our piano players Say he's good right The guy's good right He's good alright They know what they're Talking about He is really good Alright He's really good But more than that He loves Jesus Has an incredible testimony And so we are I'm getting a little Emotional here alright That music's doing Something to me And he is going to play In a concert that night
[11:52] And share his testimony About Jesus And we're going to Invite people We're going to say Do you want to come And hear this man Played piano And you go online And get the information VisionBaptist.com Forward slash piano That's enough I can't handle Anymore of that Brother Brett Alright And then last here Last thing that's going on And a pastor is in Ohio today At Hope Baptist Church In Fairfield Ohio And he has been doing A lot of traveling Here lately He's always been a man On a mission But most certainly Right now I told our life group today That I get tired When I just look at his calendar Alright I'm half his age But he is traveling Because he has a purpose In what he's doing Which is we're getting ready For the Easter offering That we're going to take up As a church For the Our Generation Training Center T. Wayne If you wouldn't mind Coming up here for a second Okay And so Out there on the wall There is a picture Of the upcoming Building That's in Canton About 25 minutes away You can see blueprints You can see What they plan to build
[12:52] So that there will be Housing And classes And you can look At all that And some of you Will understand What you're looking at That doesn't do Anything for me Okay When we were building This building I went to all the meetings I listened to everything They said And when I finally Had a chance to talk I said Let's talk about Water fountains I got some ideas Alright That's about What my contribution was And they didn't Listen to me Alright But I don't When I look at a blueprint It doesn't do much For me But this is what I know This is T. Wayne T. Wayne This is T. Wayne Say hi Hi I'm T. Wayne This is T. Wayne Alright And T. Wayne's church In Atlanta Want to prepare him For the ministry And want him to be Equipped to be a missionary That's what God Would have for him Well that church in Atlanta What is it called?
[13:36] Your church Oh my church Well it's in Lawrenceville Lawrenceville Alright Everything Everything Everything in Georgia You're done T. Wayne Go down Sit down Alright Not Baptist church In Lawrenceville Alright Thank you His church in Lawrenceville Alright Wants to Wants to train him And see him sent out And as a church We're training up Our young people To send him out So we have an opportunity To partner So even though I don't understand blueprints I know T. Wayne And I love T. Wayne And when churches Entrust us with an opportunity To train people like T. Wayne We want to do it In an excellent manner And do it In a worthy manner And so that's what we're about And so that's what That property will do Will allow us to train More people like T. Wayne And give housing for them And send more people out And so that's why Pastor's not here today Because we're on a mission here To see that done So I ask that you'll pray for him Alright I ask that you pray for Pastor And his strength as he travels And I know many of them Traveling all the time But this is a very special season In our church And be praying about
[14:37] What God would have you to give In that Easter offering Okay I told you a couple hours ago To turn to Luke I hope you're there By now And in verse number 56 I'm going to read from 56 But I'm going to stop at 66 And I'm not going to get To Zacharias' song I want to read to that To you later After we spend a little bit Of time in this passage Before I read I want to remind you Because the beginning Of the chapter started And Pastor preached And told us a story Of a man that was Old And that his wife was old I can call him old The Bible calls him old And they're old But then they find out That they're going to have Children Or he does And in verse number 14 It says And thou shalt have joy And gladness And many shall rejoice At his birth And that's what we're going to see We're going to see that moment That happened Is that when the child is born There's rejoicing And But after verse 14 It goes on And in a moment of unbelief Zacharias Doesn't believe that
[15:38] This is what God's going to do And he has some questioning And Gabriel The angel tells him You're not going to speak Until an appointed time And so When what we read today Is he is going to speak And we're going to see What he says And we're going to see What they rejoice in And then we're going to hear A beautiful song That Zacharias will say A time of worship Where he makes much Of Jesus So if you will Join me in verse number 56 And Mary abode with her About three months And returned to her own house Now Elizabeth's full time Came that she should be Delivered And she brought forth A son And her neighbors And her cousins Heard how the Lord Had showed great mercy Upon her And they rejoiced with her And it came to pass That on the eighth day That they came to circumcise The child And they called Him Zacharias After the name Of his father And his mother answered And said Not so But he shall be called John But they said unto her There is none of thy kindred That is called by this name And they made signs To his father How he would have called
[16:39] And he asked for a writing table And wrote saying His name is John And they marveled all And his mouth was open Immediately And his tongue loosed And he spake And praised God And fear came On all that dwelt Round about them And all these things Were noised And abroad Throughout all the hill Country of Judea And all they that heard them Laid them up In their hearts Saying What manner of child Shall this be And the hand of the Lord Was with him Heavenly Father I pray that you'll Help us today Lord Crawl into this story And to know it And to face the decisions That they made To rejoice with this couple To rejoice in the fact That your son came The horn of our salvation Lord In strength Lord I pray that we will Understand this passage better And respond into it In a way that would Glorify you Lord I pray for Hope Baptist Church today As they have Our pastor preaching Today I pray that they will Respond to the word of God I pray that you give him Strength Lord As he continues
[17:39] We pray that We thank you for the churches Partnering with us In this endeavor We want you to be glorified Through our ministries In Jesus name I pray Amen I'm afraid I may have Jumped up here A little preemptively But nevertheless If you're visiting with us Here this morning I'd love to invite you To fill out One of our welcome cards There's a couple folks Here I haven't met here before So excited to see That you're here with us We'd love to get to know A little bit more about you To get to know about How we could pray for you So if you take a second To fill that out You can drop it In the offering plate As it passes If you don't have one already There should be one In the pocket In the seat there In front of you Thank you guys Alright if you've got your Bibles Please go to 1 Timothy chapter 6 1 Timothy chapter 6 We'll read verses 17 and 18 1 Timothy chapter 6 Verse 17 and 18 The Bible says Charge them That are rich in this world That they be not high minded Nor trust in uncertain riches But in the living God Who gives us richly All things to enjoy That they do good That they be rich in good works Ready to distribute Willing to communicate Read verse 19 as well It says Laying up in store for themselves
[18:39] A good foundation Against the time to come That they may lay hold On eternal life So going back to Verse number 17 When you read that phrase Them that are rich in this world You think Oh well he's not talking about me then You know He's talking about rich people Not about me So if you're like me You kind of tend to glaze over A little bit What comes next Because we don't We don't usually think of ourselves As being particularly rich But I've heard it said That if you have enough To buy food for today And to set aside for tomorrow Then you are rich If you have enough For what you need today And a little bit For later on in the world Then you are rich in this world And the fact is That today We live like kings Compared to how people live Back when this was originally written And so we ought to take We ought to pay attention We ought to take heed To what he's saying here When God draws a contrast Between two opposing things In which we can trust And you go back to verse 17 The first option we find is riches The first thing we can trust in Is in riches And this is pretty self-evident right I mean we see money We go to work We earn money Money is what we use to buy things We pay rent or mortgage with it We fill our cars with using our gas We buy with money
[19:40] We buy our food with money Money is all around us We feel like riches give us security Mobility Flexibility Comfort Before we were saved Our wealth Our career Our connections Was our only option for our trust That's what we lived on And so it's easy for us To look to money To be our provider And verse 17 tells us That this attitude Is rooted in high-mindedness And in pride When we trust in ourselves It's a function of our pride Because all of my wealth It makes me think That I'm different It makes me think That I'm better That I'm more valuable That I'm more productive Than other people It makes me exalt myself Instead of exalting God And all of my pride And my trust in riches It's going to make me resistant To decrease that wealth By giving to anyone And then that resistance to giving Soon leads to an attitude of fear Of what happens if I lose my wealth What happens if I lose my riches Because after all My security and my comfort Are all based on what I have And this is the conundrum That I fall into When I trust in riches I find that the very thing That I set my heart on for safety Is a thing that threatens to fly away
[20:42] And leave me destitute And so that's what we fall into When we trust in riches But the second option We see in this passage Is trusting in the living God The second option Is to trust in the living God It's easier for us To trust in riches Because that's what we see Right?
[20:54] We see money all around us It's more difficult To trust in God For the same reason We don't see God We don't come to church And see God sitting on the front row And shake his hand And say how are you doing That's not how faith in God works And so for us As people who have been saved People who have God Living inside us We need to learn How to trust in God Even though we aren't able to see him Because we feel that riches Provide for us We feel that riches give to us We feel that riches give us security They give us hope They give us comfort They give us the things we need But in the end They don't In the end They're incapable of giving us What we're truly looking for And compare that to God In verse 17 Verse 17 says that God He gives to us He gives to us richly He gives to us richly All things And he gives them to us For the stated What it says In verse 17 But in the living God Who giveth us richly All things to enjoy When my trust is in God I realize that God Actively provides for me And the blessings That he gives me I'm able to enjoy them Because I know Who they come from The person who trusts In their riches Lives a life of fear
[21:55] Because they think What happens if I lose my wealth? The person who trusts in God When they have the blessings of God They're able to enjoy them And they're able to live A life of freedom A life of freedom From fear A life of freedom In which they're able to Share the wealth That God has given them To other people Without fear Let's praise them And come forward Thank you Father For this morning Thank you for all of your blessings To us Thank you for being the God In whom we can trust The God who provides for us Lord Help us to overcome The tendency of our wicked hearts To trust in what we have To trust in what we see And not in you Lord I pray that you'd Teach us Lord To depend on you On your goodness And on your word Thank you for all of your blessings In Jesus name I pray Amen Still Still My soul Be still And do not fear The winds of change
[22:57] May rage tomorrow God Is at your side No longer dread The fires of unexpected sorrow God You are my God And I will trust in you And not be shaken Lord Of peace Renew A steadfast spirit Way than me To rest In you Alone Go ahead and stand And join us Be still My soul Be still Do not be moved By lesser lights And fleeting shadows Hold on to his ways
[23:59] Which shield our face Against temptations Flaming arrows God You are my God And I will trust in you And not be shaken Lord Of peace Renew A steadfast spirit Within me To rest To rest In you Alone Still My soul Be still Do not forsake The joy you learned In the beginning Wait Upon the Lord And hope And hope Will rise As stars Up here
[25:00] When day Is giving God You are my God And I will trust in you And not be shaken Lord Lord Of peace Reveal A steadfast spirit Within me To rest In you Alone To rest In you Alone I will rest In you Alone Hide me Now Under your Wings
[26:01] Cover me Within you Within your Mighty hand When the oceans Rise and Thunders roar I will soar With you Into the storm Father you are King over The flood I will be still And know you Are God Find rest My soul In Christ Alone Know his Power In quietness
[27:03] And trust When the oceans Rise And thunders Roar I will soar With you Into the storm Father you are King over The flood I will be still And know you Are God When peace Like a river Attendeth My way When sorrows Like sea Billows Like sea Billows Roar Whatever My lot
[28:04] Thou hast Taught me To say It is well It is well With my soul It is well It is well With my soul It is well It is well With my soul Though Satan Should buffet Though trials Should come Let this Blessed Assurance Control That Christ
[29:05] Has regarded My helpless Estate And has shed His own blood For my soul My sin Oh the bliss My sin Oh the bliss Of this Glorious Thought My sin Not in part But the whole Is nailed To the cross And I bear It is well Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Oh my soul It is well
[30:08] With my soul It is well It is well With my soul And Lord Praise the day When my faith Shall be sigh The clouds We rolled back As a scroll The drops Shall be sound And the Lord Shall be said Even so It is well With my soul It is well
[31:12] It is well With my soul It is well It is well With my soul Amen Great singing You can have a seat I can do all things Through Christ Who gives me strength But sometimes I wonder What He Can do Through me No great success
[32:16] To show No glories He is on my own Yet in my weakness He is there To let me know His strength is perfect When our strength is gone He'll carry us When we can't Carry on He'll carry us When we can't Carry on Raised in His power The weak Becomes strong His strength is perfect His strength is perfect His strength is perfect We can only know
[33:30] The power that He holds When we truly see How deep How deep Our weakness goes His strength In us begins Where ours comes To an end He hears our humble cry And proves again His strength is perfect When our strength is gone He'll carry us When we can't Carry on Raised in His power When we can't
[34:59] Raise in His power The weak Become strong His strength is perfect His strength is perfect Raise in His power Praise in His power Amen.
[36:24] How wonderful it was to get the same together and to say that it is well with my soul. And if that isn't the case through the day, I pray it is before you leave us the opportunity to help you with that.
[36:36] Luke 158, and her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord showed great mercy upon her, and they rejoiced with her. Just like Gabriel the angel had told Zacharias was going to happen, people would be rejoicing together.
[36:49] I could immediately think about four or five reasons why they should rejoice before we get to the reason that's mentioned here in the verse. If you could just picture this here with me. I actually have a picture.
[37:00] Brother Brett will put it on the screen. I don't recommend Google for Bible study, okay? However, if you're wanting to imagine what this moment might look like, Zacharias here with his child, and he's holding him.
[37:12] And just, there he is. And I just thought it was just a fantastic picture and excitement with people around them rejoicing together that this couple now has a child.
[37:23] And it says they rejoiced with her. So why would they be rejoicing today? Obviously, they have a baby. That's exciting. There was a birth announcement, and then now, nine months later, this couple did not think they would ever have children who had prayed and had thought that it would be beyond all hope.
[37:41] They now have a child, and they get to rejoice together. What a birth announcement, right? A lot of people on Facebook can like to announce they're having a baby. There she is. Gabriel came by, told my husband, we're having a baby.
[37:53] He can't speak, but everything else is going good, right? And so there's this birth announcement. I remember with our first child, there was about 75 people in our home, about 1,000 square feet, and it was just packed out.
[38:05] And Stephanie pulled me aside to the rest of the bathroom there and said, we're going to have a baby. We can't tell anybody. I walked out of the bathroom, and our house is just moving. I'm pretty sure I told everybody individually, hey, I've got to tell you something.
[38:19] You can't tell nobody. But we're going to have a baby. And then with our second child, I came home from a trip, and there was blooms everywhere, and she announced, we're going to have a baby.
[38:29] The third baby, we're having lunch at Chipotle. We're having a kid. Okay, great. All right, and that's honestly what happened. The poor third child's birth announcement happened over a burrito at Chipotle.
[38:40] But it was Chipotle, so it was special. All right, and so there's this, so they're happy. It's a birth announcement. So obviously, they're rejoicing, but so much more is happening there.
[38:51] This family is going to, this small family together, they're going to be spirit-filled joy, this rejoicing that we see out of mom and dad and out of the, even out of the unborn child.
[39:02] We saw in verse 41, And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. This child, it said in verse number 15, he should be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
[39:18] We never find this of anything but of humans, that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit. And so Joseph, or Zacharias, and Elizabeth, and those in the first churches there, they saw the unborn as a child, as a baby.
[39:35] Dr. Seuss, the Greek, not anything, all right, not theologian, but he says a person's a person no matter how small. This John was seen as John in the mother's womb.
[39:45] And so everybody is rejoicing. This child leaps with joy. Not just a leap of joy, but a leap of Holy Spirit-inspired joy. So much rejoicing is going on.
[39:56] Also, the joy of knowing that God had heard and answered their prayer. That was the first thing that pastors showed us in this chapter. It said, But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard.
[40:09] That's a cause of rejoicing, isn't it? Something is heavy upon your heart. Just because God had not answered in the time that they were expecting doesn't mean that their prayer had been rejected. But far beyond the time that they thought they would ever have a child, God answered their prayers, which is something to be excited about.
[40:26] And during that time, Zacharias just continued faithfully serving the God, doing what God had called them to do. Then they have that to rejoice in. Another thing to rejoice in that's said about their son, And they said his son would be great.
[40:40] And they shall have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice, for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord. You know, true greatness for our children or for anybody is in the sight of the Lord, right? It doesn't matter what the world would label somebody, or what they would think in the world's eyes.
[40:53] John the Baptist was a crazy man. He lived out in the desert. He dressed funny. He ate weird things. And his life and ministry was just absolute waste. I mean, was Elizabeth with her bridge club?
[41:05] And they're saying, you know, we could get your son a job if he would just put a resume in. We could help you out. We know you're embarrassed that your son is doing this. I don't know if any of that's happening. But in the world's eyes, John the Baptist was not the success.
[41:17] But in the eyes of the Lord, fulfilling the mission that was given, in the words of Jesus, none greater. And then John the Baptist, true greatness, they could rejoice in. We all want our kids to live lives.
[41:29] We love it when people say nice things about our kids and tell them that they're going to be something great and there's something with their lives. Well, here they had a child and that they were told that he is going to be great in the eyes of the Lord, which is all that matters.
[41:43] All those are great things to rejoice in. But it says here in verse 58, the Lord had shown great mercy upon her. The family is rejoicing because what God had done.
[41:55] The root of their joy was in the recognition that it was God's provision. What a great moment for rejoicing. That's the kind of joy that we ought to get together and we ought to celebrate is that God has provided, that it's in God's mercy that we have these things.
[42:10] And that type of joy that they had together when they said they came together and they rejoiced because God had shown His mercy upon them, that's the kind of joy that spreads. Verse 65, And fear came, everybody that had heard this story, and fear came in all that dwelt round about them.
[42:25] And all these things were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. And so as people were hearing about this couple and this baby being born and all that God had done, fear came upon people.
[42:38] And you'd say, well, fear doesn't sound like that is the beginning of joy, but it most certainly is. That moment where you stand back and say there's something bigger in this world, when you just stand in awe, that always comes between real joy.
[42:50] And so those people hearing what God had done, hearing how great and mighty God was, it causes them this fear and a reverence, which leads to rejoicing. Brother Brett, would you put that picture back again?
[43:01] Just imagine these people as they're around this couple and they're rejoicing in God's provision for them that the Lord had showed great mercy upon them. Joy requires us seeing God for who He is.
[43:13] And they all heard them, they laid it upon their hearts saying, what manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with them. That's what we should rejoice together.
[43:24] Seeing God's hand on the life of our friends should cause us to consider God's provision in their lives and what it means about God's plan for this world. What manner of child shall this be?
[43:35] As friends to one another, we should encourage each other in that, that God has shown mercy upon us, that God has provided for us, how wonderful that is.
[43:46] What manner of child will this be? It's going to be the manner of child that says in my weakness that God is strong. It's going to be the kind of child that points to Jesus with his whole life.
[43:57] The kind of child that maybe when he first starts off, he has to have a stool like Hamilton and Luther did as they preach from here. And I'm glad the stool is here. It's a reminder that we could be replaced very soon by little kids, right?
[44:10] But it's just a reminder to give people an opportunity. That's what we should be doing is they make much of Jesus. That was the great thing, right? Sam Paxson, every time I see him, he pulls me real close and he says, Trent, how's the family?
[44:24] And I tell him and he looks at me and he says, you're really blessed, Trent. God's been so good to you. He's given you a great family. What a great friend to do that to me, right? Because he's saying, let's take a moment and let's rejoice in God's mercy.
[44:39] Let's take a moment and rejoice in God's provision. Let's take a moment and say, what manner of child is this that you're raising? Maybe his whole life will be giving the pointing to Jesus and letting people know about how great Jesus is.
[44:53] What a true fellowship. I really believe nobody has what we can have as God's people together when it comes to celebrating and rejoicing together. The Bible tells us in James 117, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there's no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
[45:12] It comes in a portion in James where there's a temptation on every side and being drawn into it, drawn away from the wrong things, and there's certainly those things. But we know that the things that God leads us into, there's no shadow or variableness.
[45:24] There's nothing but perfect goodness in all of those. The solution for the temptation is to look and believe upon God. I read this years ago, and I believe it to be true.
[45:34] God is always doing 10,000 things in our lives, but we're only aware of two or three of them. It's really great when somebody points those out to you and says, let's rejoice together in God's mercy and what He has done.
[45:47] This child that you have, He's going to be great. This child you have, He's going to preach about Jesus. This child you have, what we rejoice together, is it was the mercy of God that was there.
[46:00] Jonah chapter number 2 verse 3, For thou hast cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas, and the floods could pass me about. All thy billows and the waves passed over me.
[46:11] Jonah was saying that it was the God of heaven that had cast him into the sea. Remember when this was pointed out to me, that I could see the hand of God in my life, and that God only gives good things to His children.
[46:24] Three simple truths that you ought to remember, but even good men like Zacharias, who was doing the Lord's work, in moments forgets this. It's first of all that God will withhold no good things from His children.
[46:36] Psalm 84 11, For the Lord God is a son and shield for the Lord, who will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. This is why the psalmist said in the beginning of that chapter, better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere.
[46:51] Better is a day with you than any other place. God will always do what is good for His children. Romans 8 28, For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, and that is you today, if you're a believer, you are a person that loves God, and to them that are called according to His purpose.
[47:08] And then the third simple truth is that God will always provide for your every need. Philippians 4 19, But my God shall supply all your needs according to the riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
[47:18] Our God is rich in mercy, and He provides for us, and it's the unbelief in His provision for us that causes us to be in the position like Zacharias, and said, Are you sure this is going to happen?
[47:31] You know, if he was to elaborate more on it, what he was really saying is, Are we sure that God only does a good thing? Are we sure that God is able to meet my need? Are you sure that God can give me a child? But we know those three simple truths about God's provision.
[47:44] Sunday morning in here, I read those to you, and it sounds like a Sunday school class, and it's so simple. But you're going to be tested throughout this week, and you're going to have to say, God only gives good things, even though this may not seem like a good thing in the moment.
[47:56] That God is going to meet my needs, even though I don't know how He's going to meet them. And we respond with faith to Him. And this is a reminder to us that the kind of joy that we ought to share together as believers in Lord Jesus Christ, whether it's at the birth of a child, or whatever other circumstances in life, ought to be rooted in the sense that God has provided.
[48:16] You know, I never get invited to speak at ladies' baby showers. Just never, you know? I get to go play. Nobody ever invites me to a baby shower. I would do it for cucumber sandwiches. All right, ladies? I know you all get together.
[48:27] You eat the best food. The best food is shower food. All right, people? Finger food is the best food. And you get together. And when you get together for those things, and you rejoice in all the wonderful things, make sure you take a moment and say, we rejoice together, and that our God and His mercy has provided.
[48:44] And also, not just that baby showers, but sometimes when we're standing beside somebody, pray for the Penrods on a Friday, and they're back here on Sunday, God met a need in the life of Dan's mom. We rejoice in you.
[48:56] Not that there's good doctor care, which there was, but because our God has provided, and we can rejoice. Out of the silence came a wonderful, unwavering statement of obedience.
[49:08] It may not sound like much, but these four words were just filled with faith. They were just filled with obedience. And it was these words, His name is John.
[49:19] See, Zacharias is getting a second chance. And I'm so glad that God gives second chances, that God is long-suffering, that He gave us a second chance. Many of us heard the gospel and rejected it till the time we came to know it.
[49:30] But now in our Christian life, as much as He proves to us that He is good, and that He only does things good towards us, and that He is faithful and that He can meet His needs, we sometimes do not trust Him, and we act in unbelief, but He is long-suffering towards us.
[49:44] And so we remember how Zacharias, in verse 18, said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? I'm in old years. And the angel answered, said unto him, I am Gabriel, you know, the one that came to Daniel, that you've heard about, you've read about, that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee this glad tidings.
[50:03] He didn't respond in faith, but He immediately responded in unbelief. And He says, You're not going to speak until the appointed time. And how He had to wait. He had to wait.
[50:14] And what was He going to say when He first had a moment to speak? Some of you, it might be a good thing. My wife, I don't know that she wouldn't mind if I couldn't speak for nine months, eight days. You know, there might be some blessings.
[50:25] There's definitely times that I'd do much better not to speak. I almost regret giving this example because in this story I do write, but in so many times I don't. So in this moment I do write, so I don't think it's always the case.
[50:38] But five, six, seven years ago, anything more than six months and less than ten years is just one box for me, so I have no idea how long ago it was, all right? Seven, eight years ago, I had a wreck on 285, and a lady, she clipped me in the back and I hit the wall going about 55 miles an hour and it felt like eternity before I was going to hit the wall and I just thought, how does this work?
[50:58] I mean, what happens when you hit a wall this fast? I guess we're going to find out. I had all these thoughts going through my head. I hit the wall and I bounced back and the airbag had come out, I had my seatbelt on and I hadn't caught my breath yet and an Escalade pulls up and two guys that looked like they were NFL players huge came up and they blocked my car from being there and they're standing there, which felt like eternity and they're just waiting.
[51:23] Am I going to speak? And I couldn't speak. I could not catch my breath. And as soon as I caught my breath, the first thing I thought was, praise God, praise God. And those two men started high-fiving and jumping up and down and we had church on 285 that day.
[51:41] And they said, exactly praise God. God protected your life. God extended your days. It was the goodness of God in that moment. Man, I wish I could tell you I always responded like that, but I don't always respond.
[51:54] But in that moment, I'm so thankful that I did. And so a good verse for Zacharias and for me and for you, 1 Peter 4, 11, if any man speak, if we're going to speak, because we don't have to, you know, but if we're going to speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.
[52:11] If any man minister, let him do it as the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom you be praised and dominion forever and ever.
[52:21] Amen. If we're going to speak, let us speak as the oracles of God. Let it be true and let it be honest. Let it say something about God that is true. Let's not speak in unbelief. So in nine months of silence and repentance and confession, self-examination, self-examination, Zacharias was now to live as a man of faith.
[52:40] Without silence, we're prone to miss out on some of God's working in our lives. You can see what I'm getting to. I'm going to encourage you to find times of silence in your life, to voluntarily choose.
[52:51] The power of our voices louder when there's times of long silence, when we reflect upon God, especially when there's times of unbelief and doubt. It's a good time to be quiet. It's a good time to listen to God.
[53:03] And the question I could ask here was, was he deaf? In verse 62, it says, they made signs to his father and how he should have called. And I'm going, they made signs into him. So as I was reading this, it said that we know that he couldn't speak, right?
[53:16] The angel said, you're not going to speak. So after he, they come to him and they said, we're going to name the baby Zacharias after you. And Elizabeth says, no, we're not going to name Zacharias.
[53:26] We have something else. My husband has communicated to me. He's not able to speak, but he must have written it out. Or maybe they, nine months of pantomiming, right? Of trying to guess what's going on. One word.
[53:37] All right. Starts with a J. All right. And so he is telling the story about Gabriel and he has to communicate this all to him. And then it comes to him and it says they, they talk to him, they communicate, they sign with him.
[53:49] And you kind of think he's like, guys, I can hear. I'm just mute. You know, you think you might would say like, like, what are you doing? And I don't know what's going on there in the story. I first thought, well, maybe he was also deaf and maybe that's what's going on.
[54:02] But it says in the scriptures we've already read that after the angel had come to him, he continued doing his office there as a priest after the point. So I tend to think that he was able to hear and not speak.
[54:15] But neither one of them are essential to this story. But it is interesting, right? And so as we're, as we're studying that, but maybe it's like, I want you to write this down, right? She's saying you want to name this baby John.
[54:26] And we're like, what kind of name is John? Who names their kid John? You know what I'm saying? John, like who names their kid John? You know, you think you're named John now, like, oh, everybody's named John. Well, back then it was like, John, that's a funny sounding name.
[54:39] Nobody in your family's named John. Why not a normal name like Zacharias, you know? Who's going to name, who names their kids John? And so he wrote it down, making sure the communication is clear.
[54:50] His name is John. And so out of all that's going on in his life, he had nine months and eight days, he had all this time to think about it, to repent, to come to a point.
[55:02] And so when he got to speak, for him to say, his name is John, it just had to feel great, right? Because it was saying so much. It was saying, I believe in what the angel said.
[55:13] I believe in the message from God. I am going to live by faith. I'm going to do things God's way. And he was able to communicate once again. You know, busyness can be the enemy from hearing from God.
[55:26] The busyness in your life can be the enemy from hearing from God. No matter how glorious and great you think your busyness is, it very likely is keeping you from hearing from God.
[55:36] It often ruins our joy. Mark 6, 31 said, Jesus said unto them, come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while. For there were many coming and going. They had no leisure so much as to eat.
[55:49] When we looked at the life of Mary, we looked at this passage where the family was worried about Jesus eating. But Jesus was promoting what we call today and what some books were promoted, living life with margins, the space between our load and our limits.
[56:02] That you're so busy, you don't even have time to eat. You're so busy, you don't even have time to hear from God. Zacharias' schedule freed up for him a little bit. He had an opportunity to hear and to listen.
[56:14] It also can rob our hearts of joy. It robs our hearts. You're familiar with the story, right? Of two sisters, Martha and Mary. And if it wasn't for Jesus saying that Mary had chosen the good part, you might all accuse her of being lazy, but it wasn't the case.
[56:31] That being so busy keeps you from hearing from God. Are you choosing the good part? You have so many decisions to make in your life, but are you choosing the good part? Are you choosing the time with the Lord?
[56:43] Are you choosing the things of God where you can hear from Him? Then lastly, I read this so many years ago and it brought conviction to me. It says, Busyness covers soul rot.
[56:54] Meaning there's the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things entering and choking out the word. It's that busyness kills more Christians than bullets. It's that if I can just stay busy enough then I never have to acknowledge what's going on in my life.
[57:09] Surrounding ourselves with superficial connections of technology can leave us with little time alone with our thoughts. We're always engaged with our thumbs and we're rarely engaged with our thoughts.
[57:21] Now driving down the road, you used to be quiet or you had one option. Now there's so many options. There's never a time that you're forced to be alone. So I would encourage you to voluntarily find times to be alone because there's things that you need to hear.
[57:36] There's something about being quiet. There's something about listening. There's something about our gospel message that's louder when we're taking time and not always being so busy and that we're able to listen to God.
[57:49] And so it's a declaration of faith. His name is John. You know, Zacharias' unbelief is in the same category with Peter's three denials of Christ. It's a temporary lapse.
[58:00] It's not a way of life. It's not who he is. That couple, they're blameless, the Bible says. They love Jesus. They love the Lord. They love the coming Messiah. They love God. But in that moment of unbelief, he does what so many of us did.
[58:12] He speaks and he acts upon his unbelief that is there. But then through a moment of silence in his life, a long moment of silence, he gets to thinking again properly that was him.
[58:23] And why do I, he believes it? Not only does it say his name is John, but he had to share the story with his wife because she knows it when it comes time to name the baby. And you only share what you believe, right? You only share what you believe, which is also to say you share what you believe.
[58:38] We believe the gospel. We share the gospel. We believe God is good. We share that God is good. What we act upon is what we really believe and everything else is just Christian talk. It's just talking.
[58:50] But he really believed it. And so God was going to allow him this opportunity, another chance. And then God in his goodness, he not only lets him name, he tells him his name is John, but God gives this old dad, who I don't know how long he lives into the life of his son, but he gives him a glimpse into his ministry.
[59:08] He says, let me tell you what your son's going to do and why he's going to be great. He's going to preach and he's going to tell people about make a path. He's going to preach about the remissions of sins. He's going to preach about salvation. What does John the Baptist do as soon as we see him in his ministry?
[59:21] All the things that his dad said he was going to do. What a gracious God to give this man a child to forgive him of unbelief and says, hey, let me just go ahead and let you see all the things that I see that are going to happen in your son's life.
[59:34] So wonderful. So after a time of silence and a statement of bold obedience, comes a song of worship from Zacharias. What will you say on the inspiration of God? It says that fear came upon all those that dwelt about them and now they're going to listen.
[59:48] Then I'm going to read to you a song and give you a few comments and I'm going to ask you to make a decision today based on what we've heard. And the father of Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he has visited and redeemed his people and he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of the servant David and he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been since the world began that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all those that hate us to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant the oath which he swore to our father Abraham that which he would grant unto us that we would be delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear.
[60:30] What a wonderful way to get to live our lives that we might serve him without fear and holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life and thou child shall be called the prophet of the highest for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of God whereby the day spring from on high has visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet unto the way of peace.
[61:01] What a complete change in this man, right? What God had done in his life the spirit-filled witness of the greatness of Jesus Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he has visited and redeemed his people He is speaking like a man of faith He is speaking about a man who is speaking about things to come as if they've already happened God has redeemed his people The mind of faith a promise act of God is as good as done Zacharias now sees this God promised it it's done God has redeemed his people Hope when it seemed like all hope was lost It says He raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of the servant David You know when we read the Bible the pages just turn real quickly together We're in the Old Testament we're in the New Testament and it seems like just a moment ago we were reading about the great kings of Israel and so the idea that God would bring a king from the house of David that would be the great horn doesn't seem like it was that far away but we have 400 years of silence we have all this time there is no mighty king at the house of David it seems so far removed but God's saying
[62:09] I haven't forgotten the promise of the house of David will come this horn of your salvation which will be Jesus here does not appear that anything is coming from the house of David when it's said Anna's prophetess says in Luke 2 38 she says for all them that look for redemption in Jerusalem and it was it was Simeon the prophet who said that the person a consolation that they had been waiting for their redemption they didn't think it was ever going to come they were without hope believing that some of these promises were never going to come true but here in faith Zacharias says it's as good as done this horn signifies strength for lo thine enemies O Lord for lo thine enemies shall perish all the workers iniquity shall be scattered when we think about a big bull and its horns you may not if you see them on television they're kind of small right depending on your television maybe big right but if you ever get to stand by one and see how massive they are one time in India they were just roaming the streets and they just almost seemed domesticated they came in the stores and all that and so I told my friend
[63:15] I said hey get a picture of me I'm going to grab this bull by the horns and I'm going to stare at its face and I'm just going to stare it down alright in this room we can tell who grew up in the country and who didn't because some of you are scared how this is going to end right and so I grabbed this and I'm staring at it I said hurry up and get the picture and the people ran out and they ran us off and they're like only because that bull decided not to kill you are you still alive it's monstrous the picture couldn't be any greater on that day of the strength that was given there of the horn here of salvation that was being brought and so this is a fulfillment of the promise Psalm 132 17 there will I make the horn of David the bud I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed the Messiah is coming he will sit upon his throne he will be the king that will rule the horn of our salvation is coming he also says and he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been since the world began we're running out of time so I won't take you but to the end of Luke chapter number 24 you know the story of road to Emmaus and there's some people that are there and they're walking with Jesus and they're all discouraged and they're downtrodden they're just thinking that all hope was that Jesus they really thought that he was going to sit upon the throne that he was going to liberate them and that he was going to bring the takeover and Jesus is walking with them and what does he do he walks them through the Bible and he shows them that Jesus is the key to all those stories that all throughout the Bible that Jesus is the redeemer that things aren't turning out as they thought but it's so much better that Jesus and he'll come back and he'll sit upon the throne but he is their redeemer and so is the key
[64:51] Jesus is the great demonstration of mercy verse 72 to perform thy mercy promise to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant and then the confidence that he gives it says that he will that we be delivered out of the hand of the enemies might serve him without fear God's aim in raising a horn of salvation is not nearly to liberate and oppress people but to create a holy and righteous people who live in no fear because they can trust him today in our life group in Bridge Builders Ben Mize talked about the Holy Spirit living inside of us and we don't have to live as people that are afraid and timid and scared of everything that God is with us and this is this declaration that's being said here the horn of our salvation in the great Charlie Brown Christmas classic right they ask what is Christmas about and Linus comes out isn't he the one with the blanket Linus right he comes out and he reads Luke chapter number 2 and at the end of it he drops his blanket and he says you know we don't have to be afraid anymore because of that we don't have to live afraid anymore the horn of our salvation means that we don't have to live afraid and then he's the light of the world it says as if the sun was rising those of us that sit upon the darkness the sun is now here we've been sitting in our sins but now we've been waiting for that night if you've ever been through a night where you just couldn't wait for the sun to rise where you just needed to be the next day and you didn't feel like the sun was ever going to rise and it gets darker before it gets light and you're sitting in it the world was sitting in its darkness and its sin and we had no hope we had no ability to do anything about it none of us could do anything but Jesus
[66:31] Christ comes and the sun rises and Zacharias he is just having a time and he is worshiping the Lord this is what it says about his son John the Baptist and we'll end with this in verse 80 and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the deserts till the day of his showing on the Israel he became strong in spirit human spirit a strong resolve for the work that he's going to do he's living in the desert and that's not common at any time not even then but he was given a special mission which John knew from an early age he was going to perform and he chose to follow the role of Elijah and to live in a desolate area kind of neat right as if in the same way that his dad was given all this time in silence the not to speak because God was preparing him for a ministry for preparing him to sing that song preparing him to proclaim Jesus so much and to cause people to rejoice that John the Baptist is going to spend a lot of his life in the desert not speaking and waiting spending time with God but then when it comes time so here's the challenge here's the first thing that I've asked myself as I read this is that maybe if I spent more time confronting my lack of faith like Zacharias in silence then I might be able to lead my family in a more joy-filled worship and a bold witness to who Jesus is maybe sometimes our voice is weak not because we're not being loud enough but because we haven't been silent we haven't spent time with God then I ask you in here today if you're an unbeliever
[68:03] I'm not talking about the unbelief of Zacharias who's a believer had this moment of doubt but maybe you've never put your faith in Jesus and you've had a moment now you've had 30 minutes where you've sat in silence you had a chance to listen and to think and now maybe in that silence something that you've put off a lot of your life because you can keep yourself busy all the time but God brought you to a place where you had a little moment where you got to face this and you're going to have to make a decision I want to tell you the story of Christmas and the message of the day is that God is a God of second chances and if he brought you here today he's giving you another opportunity to act in faith and not unbelief but believer would you make a decision today to follow the example that was given here our life ought to look like that message that song that Zacharias said where we're saying Jesus is the key to the Old Testament that Jesus is the key to understanding everything Jesus is the key to understanding my life Brett Broderick stood here the other night in a men's meeting and he told his story and then he brought out the key and he says let me tell you what made the difference it was Jesus every story went back to Jesus in Zacharias' prayer everything was about the greatness of his son because only two of those verses was about his son all the rest of them were about Jesus we should be teaching everybody around us that the greatest way we can live our lives the greatness that we can have is to be making much of Jesus but busyness will steal that away from us busyness will cause us to often times speak out and unbelief so let's take a moment here not a moment of silence but a moment of us being silent in God speaking
[69:33] Heavenly Father I ask that you'll be with us Lord now in this moment where we set this time aside as you know as a time of more than reflection but as a time of response Lord I pray if there's anyone in here the day Lord that they do not know you as Lord and Savior of their life that the day would be the day that they would put their faith and trust in you they would allow me the opportunity to take your word and to show them how they can know you but Lord right now I pray for the believers in this room some of them Lord that have had their joy robbed from them who have been masking problems in their lives Lord because of all the busyness I pray that they will have a conviction right now in their lives that they will make a decision come to an altar make this decision Lord or where they're at Lord I pray that they will make a decision to build times in their lives to listen to you with every head bowed and every eye closed piano plays but God's message has been delivered to you today from the Holy Spirit and I pray that you will respond to him as he would have you to do after you pray here at the altar or there at your seat if you'll stand and sing with Stephen still my soul be still and do not fear the winds of change may rage tomorrow
[71:00] God is at your side no longer dread the fires of unexpected sorrow God you are my God and I will trust in you and not be shaken Lord of peace renew a steadfast spirit within me to rest in you alone still my soul be still do not be moved by lesser lights and fleeting shadows hold on to his ways with shield of faith against temptations flame he bears
[72:11] God you are my God and I will trust in you and not be shaken Lord of peace renew he knew the steadfast spirit within me to rest in you alone still my soul be still do not forsake the truth you learned in the beginning waiting wait upon the Lord and hope will rise as stars appear when day is dim God you are my God and I will trust in you and I be shaken
[73:20] Lord of peace renew a steadfast spirit within me to rest in you alone please be seated still my soul be still what a great way to end that always encouraged when I know the song leader was listening to the message there what a great way for us to end let me just give a few quick announcements because you know how much I love it my favorite time of the week extended invitation time all right the announcements an opportunity for you to get involved in some things that are coming on Greg has made some posters that will get here in the next coming week about the beat in the musical with Mr. Rotman that will be coming obviously it is a night of piano concert but it will be a night where Jesus is he's going to share a great testimony about what the Lord has done in their life so please help us get the word out about that coming up two weeks away from now we have our celebration Sunday so I want to give you a reminder of what that looks like on those Sundays we have combined life group time in here from 930 then we meet again at 1030 in the service then we have lunch together and then we have an afternoon service typically the afternoon service is filled with sharing of testimonies so I'd like to encourage you to begin to think about that and we have many things we like to do for celebration Sunday and we could really use your help in that and so as you leave the day there's a little piece of paper out in the foyer called volunteer we need you and this gives an outline of what we're going to talk today about at the 415 meeting if you're wanting to serve and to volunteer that's a great way to jump in celebration Sunday is one of the things that we will be talking about this Tuesday is the last in the sessions in the Vision Bible
[75:04] Institute so they're ending this part of the semester and then they will be starting a new semester with two different teachers that are teaching and so the coming semester it will be the doctrine of Christ and salvation also New Testament survey and so you ought to be signing up for that this week and knowing that the semester is ending you can speak with John Pearson that is here the information is in the bulletin it has an email address for you and God just really blessed our church from people investing time in the Bible Institute helps our Sunday school classes and our life groups but it just really helps in our friendships when our friends are spending deep time and studying the word of God and so I would ask for you that's a great way to serve your church and serve your community and just get to know God better because that's the intention one of the unique things about the Bible Institute is that this is the book you need this is the only book you need and so if you bring it but you will need it okay but you're going to need to bring this book and you're going to study it and find what God has to say and in the pursuit of learning all the different doctrines what you're doing which is the high pursuit of our life is you're getting to know God better and there's nothing that is greater than that today at the choir we'll be meeting practice will be at 3 o'clock because we have a 415 meeting
[76:18] I told you about then we'll have our split sessions men will be meeting in here and we're going to be looking at Titus 2 and I've asked some men they're going to answer this question for our young men it's this how do I know if I'm considered a man around here because every young guy wants to know that and where they ask it and when they ask it and how people respond really shapes their life so I'd really like to encourage you I'd like to encourage you to have your sons here and to listen to that because the Bible has something to teach about biblical manhood that isn't necessarily or is not taught in the culture of the day and we have some older men answer that question and we look at Titus 2 call that the vision fraternity meets at 5 o'clock and I just love it and I think you will as well let's look at the big three for the week Andy Smith and his family headed to China they are staff missionaries Andy Lilly and Joy and the Roberts family missionary is the Indian we pray for them as they travel God uses them so it's a way they really want to get back into India so we pray for that situation and then the country of the week is on the wall here is Burma and so we are going to study about Burma and pray about it if you're new around here
[77:24] I'd love a chance to get to meet you pastor will be back this Thursday night he would love to get to meet you as well if you have any questions please let me know we're glad to have Miss Betty here I told her today I said if I had a choice I'll take pastor because he preaches better than you but I really love when you're here okay things feel right when Miss Betty is there and she's backslid a little bit she's usually in the front row she's on the second row so I have to get pastor a report of that to let her know how Miss Betty is doing let's stand together hope you have a great afternoon hope to see you this afternoon thank you