Mark 14:12-16 "The Passover"

Good Morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Well… if you haven’t noticed… we have a new seating arrangement… just trying to keep you on your toes!

If you don’t know Thomas Boyd… he is a professional in working with large venues and their seating…

So… if you love it… he’s the guy to applaud.

If you hate it… give it time! You’ll get used to it!

Life’s full of change!

Let’s continue our chapter and verse study through the New Testament… picking up where we left off in Mark 14. Mark 14:12-16 today.

We are in the final week of Jesus’ ministry… and even with the cross looming ahead… Jesus was teaching the people… and His disciples…

We spent 6 weeks looking at His major teaching on end times- The Olivet Discourse…

Amazing how Jesus… knowing torture and the cross was ahead… was focused still on teaching.

Two days prior to the Passover… the religious elite of Judaism gathered again to plot against Jesus…

And… they found one who would betray Jesus… “one of the Twelve” nonetheless… the infamous Judas Iscariot.

Last week, we focused entirely on Judas… the topic of betrayal… and how Jesus dealt with it…

Even knowing Judas would betray Him… Jesus kept him in the fold for an entire year… and even washed Judas’ feet… ate the Last Supper supper with him.

Truly a supernatural response!

We closed out last week looking at Ps 55… and gleaned some wisdom from the Psalmist David on how he handled betrayal as well.

Well, today we pick up in V12… zooming in on the account of Jesus and His disciples celebrating “The Passover”… our message title for today.

Let’s Pray!

In reverence for God’s word, please stand as I read our passage today…

Mark 14:12-16 “Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?”

13 And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. 14 Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’ 15 Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.”

16 So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.”

Praise God for His word. Please be seated.

In V12, our Gospel writer, Mark, provides a confusing timestamp… writing this is the first day of Unleavened Bread… which is typically the 15th of the Jewish month Nisan…

However, by adding the phrase “when they killed [or sacrificed] the Passover Lamb”… Mark indicates this is actually the 14th of Nisan… Thursday of the Passover Week…

Making this scene one day prior to the Passover… one day prior to what Christians call “Good Friday”… the day our Lord endured the cross.

On so, on this day… Thursday… the disciples,… Judas Iscariot the betrayer still included,… they ask Jesus, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?”

It’s interesting that the Disciples are in the dark here… as to where they will be eating their Passover Seder dinner.

Which I believe was all part of God’s sovereign plan… because if Judas caught wind of the location… he could have led the Temple Guard right to them…

And, then Jesus would have been arrested in this scene today… and there would be No Last Supper… No institution of Communion… No John 17… No praying in the Garden…

In God’s providence, He preserved this night for the betrayal to happen precisely when He ordained.

So, since the location was veiled… they DID eat the Passover…

This would be the Passover Seder dinner…

A meal celebrated by Jews since the Exodus from Egypt… and still celebrated today.

“Seder” means “Order” for the order in which the dinner is conducted… which includes reading Scripture of the Exodus account, drinking 4 cups of wine, telling stories of the Patriarchs, eating special foods, singing, and other Passover traditions.

And, they do this as commanded in scripture… to remember how God delivered them from the bondage of Egypt.

Calvary Chapel hosted a “Christ in the Passover Seder” a couple years ago… which is fascinating… because you see Jesus consistently symbolized in the meal.

And, as Christians… what we so often forget when we think about “The Last Supper”… which is synonymous with “The Lord’s Supper”… where Jesus instituted “Communion”…

What we forget is this was a traditional Passover Seder dinner. The Lord’s Supper when He instituted Communion was a Passover meal.

With that… turn in your Bibles to Exodus 12. We’re going to take a moment to go back to Exodus 12… when the LORD instituted the Passover…

Mark 14 mentions the feast of Unleavened Bread… a seven day feast with the Passover Meal celebrated on the Friday of that Feast…

And, we could just read Mark 14:12 and somewhat mindless glance over it’s significance…

OR… we could take a moment to look at Exodus 12… which first mentions the Passover… and displays God’s command for the feast.

And, in doing this… the significance of this scene and what we read next week regarding ‘The Lord’s Supper’ or ‘The Last Supper’… same thing…

It all has much deeper significance… and should increase the significance of what it means for us to take communion as well.

And, we’re not going to look at Exodus 12, and just point our the symbolism, but we’re going to back it with scripture. We’re going to support the symbolism with a number of NT cross references that clarify the intent of the Passover… that Jesus is our Passover Lamb… and Passover points to and was fulfilled in His death.

A great lesson today which is summarized in the saying “The new is in the old concealed; the old is in the new revealed.”

And, while there are several passages that record the Passover feast being kept…

Number 9 records the Second Passover… Deut 16 reviews the Passover… king Hezekiah keeps the Passover in 2 Ch 30… king Josiah in 2 Ch 35…

NO chapter is as detailed as Exo 12…

Especially when it comes to seeing how Passover is a type for Jesus’ death on the cross…

Which is what will will keep in mind as we read this passage.

Let’s read Exo 12 with the express intent of finding Jesus in the Passover.

Which is what you should do whenever you read the OT…

Ask yourself when you read the OT… “How does this point to Jesus?”

In John 5:39 Jesus said to the Jews, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

To the two disciples on the road to Emmaus Luke 24:27 records, “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He [Jesus] expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

You can find Jesus throughout the OT... in the creation… the Exodus… the Feasts… the Temple… The prophecies… even the word “God” in Hebrew is plural testifying of the Triune nature of God.

So, let’s observe Christ in the Passover…

Exodus 12 V1 “Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.”

So, Passover marks the first month of the Jewish Calendar… which starts with the month of Nisan.

Nisan was originally called aw-beeb´ (Abib) as seen in Deut 16, but during the Babylonian captivity… the month was changed to Nisan as seen in Neh 2:1 or Est 3:7.

Now… unlike the Gregorian Calendar… where our first month marks our New Year… the Jewish New Year is in the seventh month of Tishri, when the feast of Tabernacles and Trumpets is celebrated… as well as the Day of Atonement recognized.

And, that might seem weird to have New Year in the seventh month of the year, but… we have new beginnings in the middle of our year as well… such as the fiscal year for businesses begins in our 7th month… or the school year starts in our 9th month… so it’s different, but not that odd.

This is all just free information… If you have blank pages in the back of your Bible… that’s where you write this down.

Back to Exodus 12… V3 “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb.”

I love how personal this was. There wasn’t one lamb slaughtered for the whole nation at this time…

Every man was to have a lamb for their household…

And so it is with Salvation… every person must take their own lamb…

You can’t be saved with someone else’s lamb… you can’t be saved because your family is saved…

Or because your Great Grand-pappy was a preacher…

Or because you live in the land of the red, white and blue which was founded on Christian principles.

You must have your own lamb!

V43 also states “No foreigner shall eat it.”

The Passover was not for anyone… but only for those who were circumcised… symbolically set apart from the life of the flesh… those who are part of the community of faith.

And, if you haven’t figured out the symbolism… the lamb is a type for our Lord Jesus Christ… and how we each individually must come to Him in faith.

Look at V5…

V5 “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.”

The Lamb was to be without blemish… which points to the sinlessness of Christ…

According to 1 Pet 1:19 … you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold “but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

1 Cor 5:7 states, “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”

Leaven was a picture of sin… this is to be purged from our life… just as Christ’s life was sinless… making Him an acceptable sacrifice.

Heb 9:12 tells us our redemption is “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood...”

There are so many great cross references linking our redemption with Jesus’ blood… and Jesus being the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world…

The type is crystal clear.

And, the idea of the lamb being of the first year may point to Jesus being cut off in His prime…

Continuing on…

V6 “Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.”

And, indeed our Lord was kept through His ministry… reserved for a specific day… and the whole assembly of Israel shouted “Crucify Him.”

Acts 2:23 reads, “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death...”

And He was killed Him at twilight.

Twilight in a general sense is the period of time between sunset to sunrise…

Specifically it is often linked to sunset…

But, for Jews… scholars prefer this time to mean between 3-5pm to allow the lamb to be slaughtered and prepared before sunset… which started the new day…

And, being that Friday was Passover… that new day was the Sabbath… where work was not permitted… so 3-5pm is preferred.

And, Matt 27:46 declares “And about the ninth hour [3pm] Jesus cried out with a loud voice… “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

And a few verses later we read He “yielded up His spirit.”

And, that evening Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus quickly prepared His body for the grave… just before sundown… prior to the Sabbath beginning.

Exo 12 V7 “And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts [the vertical beams] and on the lintel [the horizontal beam] of the houses where they eat it.”

Another stand out verse and a type for His crucifixion…

The blood of the lamb is applied to the vertical and horizontal beams of the doorposts… which forms a cross.

I think I heard a sermon where Chuck Smith described this as two crosses and the blood of the lamb in between…

Just as two crosses stood on either side of Jesus… the blood of the Lamb in between them.

V8 “Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. 10 You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.”

And, V46 states “nor shall you break one of its bones.”

The Lambs bones were not to be broken…

Which was prophesied in Psalm 22:17 “They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones.”

And, fulfilled in John 19:33 after they broke the legs of the thieves on the left and right of Jesus… causing a quick death…

John 19:33 reads, “But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.”

The flesh roasted in the fire pictures Christ’s substitutionary death for all who believe…

He took on the cross… shed His blood… and His sacrifice satisfied God’s wrath for our sins…

Symbolically… it was His flesh in the fire… not ours…

Fire so often in the Bible is symbolic of judgment…

And, Rom 3:25 declares God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement…

Rom 3:25 declares this of Jesus “… whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed...”

Because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… God would be just to sentence us… for our flesh to be in the fire…

For us to face the destroyer, but through the blood of the Lamb… He passes over us…

For all who have faith in Jesus Christ… we are justified…

And, Jesus’ sacrifice propitiated God’s wrath.

MacDonald defined propitiation this way, “A propitiation is a means by which justice is satisfied, God’s wrath is averted, and mercy can be shown on the basis of an acceptable sacrifice.”

Sacrifices in the OT were coverings for sin. People brought their lamb or another acceptable animal…

And it’s blood was spilled to cover their sins… it’s flesh would be on the fire and not theirs…

But they would have to repeat these sacrifices yearly… “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” (Heb 10:4)

But… “By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Heb 10:10)

Jesus is our Passover Lamb… the perfect sacrifice…

V8 instructs for the people to eat the flesh of the Lamb, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs…

It is by Jesus that we are sustained… and we are to live lives without leaven… without corruption…

And, in remembrance of His sacrifice which allows us to live… the bitter herbs… remembering the bitterness of His suffering…

Of course… for the Jews… when they think of the bitter herbs… they don’t think about Jesus… they remember the bitterness of bondage in Egypt…

And, just as the Jews were sold into slavery… so were we…

Romans 6 discusses how we were ‘slaves to sin’… and Jesus freed us from our slavery…

Rom 6:6 “… our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

The old life that we led was one of bondage to sin. It was a bitter bondage.

And, just as the Jews were freed from bondage … so are all who place their faith in Jesus Christ.

V11 “And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover.”

They were to be ready to depart Egypt… God was preparing them for a journey… and He would lead them.

And, is it not the same for anyone who looks to Jesus in faith?

He leads us in a journey… and just as Israel had a new life… and a promised land to look forward to after Egypt…

So too is there is a new life after Egypt… after the life of bondage to sin.

And, we must all be ready to follow Him where He leads.

With no leaven in the bread… by the blood of the Lamb… ready to exodus from Egypt…

This is the life of faith… which is highly exemplified in the following two verses…

V12 ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

In the tenth and final plague great judgment came upon the firstborn from small to great… and like the nine plagues before… against the false gods of Egypt…

The plague of the death angel… the destroyer… would visit any home where the blood was not applied…

… and God’s judgment would pass-over any home when He saw the blood.

That’s all God needed to see… it was all about the blood.

He was not inspecting their houses to make sure all the leaven had been removed…

He was not verifying they kept the order of the Seder meal…

He didn’t inspect their clothing to see if they had a belt, sandals, and a staff…

He just wanted to see the blood on the cross of their doorposts…

God did not look for their sinless lives… or their good works… or to make sure they were wearing the right clothes…

There was only one things that saved them… and it was faith in the blood.

You had to have your lamb… without blemish… and in faith to apply to blood, and trust that by it you would be saved.

Moses, and the Israelites, took a step of faith to believe God…

Heb 11:28 records, “By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.”

And, it’s the same today… we are saved from eternal death as we have faith in the blood.

Not by our works… we have peace with God through the blood of His cross.

Col 1:20 “… and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

Through Jesus, God reconciled everything to Himself…

Through faith in the blood of the cross, we are saved from death,

… and even more… we are reconciled to God… we who were formerly at enmity with God… not find peace with God…

Once enemies… we become His friends…

Faith in the blood reconciles… and makes peace with God.

“… having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...” Rom 5:1

If you are here today… and you are not at peace with God… know that Jesus made the way…

In love He died for you, and through faith you just need to believe that it was by His blood, that judgment passes over you.

Can you accept that by faith?

At the end of service, we will have our prayer team and elders up front at the end if you want to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior today.

Well… let’s flip back to Mark 14… we could keep going in Exodus 12… there’s so much to look at, but I think you get the idea.

For what we are looking at today… and next week as well…

When Jesus and His disciples sat to eat the Passover… the Lord’s Supper… the institution of Communion…

It was built so deeply into Jewish culture… somewhere around 1400 B.C. … the first Passover was celebrated…

And, for 1400 years… Jews had been commemorating the Passover and trusting in the blood… for judgment to Passover them…

Just as commanded in Exo 12:14 “‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations.”

And, here in Mark 14… once again… the disciples were preparing to eat a Passover… that would be unlike any other Passover they would eat…

Because Jesus would fulfill the Passover… through His shed blood…

And, He would say the famous words, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.”

He would institute a new and better covenant… one not dependent upon keeping the Law… but one based in grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus also said in Matthew 26:28 that the blood of the new covenant, was shed for many “for the remission of sins.”

Remission means “deliverance from captivity… release from bondage...”

Again… just as He led the Israelites out of Egypt… so too He leads us out of our bondage.

So, back in Mark 14… let’s read V12 again… “Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?”

I hope you read those verses with new eyes and greater depth of understanding of the significance of all that was upon them on this day.

And, so in preparation for the Passover, the disciples ask Jesus for the location… where they would prepare and celebrate the feast.

And, so Jesus instructs… vv 13-15 “And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. 14 Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’ 15 Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.”

As we read these verses… there’s not much that strikes us as odd.

I mean if anything what may seem odd to us is how on earth would they find a guy carrying a pitcher of water…

… during the Passover… when the city population has swelled to some 2-3 million from all the pilgrims?

“Hey guys… go into Jerusalem… where there are millions of people presently… and there’s going to be a guy carrying a pitcher of water… that’s your guy.”

To us… this seems like ‘Where’s Waldo?’

But, are we Jews living in the first century?

That’s not a trick question… No we are not.

So, is it possible that there may have been some cultural norms different from the time in which we live?

Yes there are.

So, what is it about this scene that may not make sense to us… but would make sense to the disciples?

Notice the disciples don’t question Jesus… or push back asking, “You want us to do what? How will we ever find that guy?”

And the reason they don’t push back was because… it was truly odd for a man in the first century to be carrying a pitcher of water.

In that day and time… this was the role of the woman.

It was odd to find a man carrying a pitcher of water…

Like today it would be odd to see a man…

I don’t know… I guess there’s nothing odd these days…

But, you get what I’m saying…

They had very specific roles for men and women… and this was ‘women’s work.’

“You’ve come a long way baby!”

If you think about the various scenes in the Bible of people fetching water at wells… it was not common to find the men drawing the water…

Where did Jesus meet the Samaritan woman? At the well. John 4.

Jesus even said to her “Give me a drink.”

He didn’t even say, “please.”

In Gen 24… where was Rebekah first seen? At the well… the servant of Abraham came to the well “at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water.” Gen 24:11

Gen 29… Jacob met Rachel at the well as she came to water the sheep.

Exo 2:16… the priest at Midian had seven daughters and they drew water…

1 Sam 9:11 Saul met some young women going out to draw water…

Not to say men never drew water from a well… 2 Sam 23… three mighty men drew water and carried it back for David…

Shepherds were seen by wells so their flocks could drink…

But… largely… gathering water was women’s work… for men it was more of an exception…

In the city… if a man wanted a drink of water… he would say to his wife or daughter… like Jesus said to the Samaritan woman… “Give me a drink.”

And, she’d say… “OH… Yes husband… -or- OH Yes father… ANYTHING FOR YOU!”

The good ‘ol days.

One commentator wrote, “…women carried water jars (men carried wineskins)...”

Men… don’t nudge your wife and get any bright ideas. “Hey… it’s in the Bible!”

SO… back to our passage… as the two disciples would go into town… there would be a man with a pitcher of water…

He would be a stand out…

Perhaps his wife didn’t feel well that day… and she texted him a “honey do” list… “Babe, can you please pick up the water on your way home from work?”

We don’t really know the back story… which has led to some scholars speculating this was all pre-arranged…

Possibly… or it could testify of the omniscience and sovereignty of God…

Would it be beyond Jesus… who raised Lazarus from the dead… and cleansed the lepers… and gave sight to the blind… and made the lame to walk…

And, could discern the inner thoughts and intentions of man…

Would it be beyond Him to know that a guy would be in the city with a pitcher of water?

Was that too big for your God? Not at all.

And, so… the two disciple head into Jerusalem… probably from either Bethany… or the Mount of Olivet… where they had been in prior scenes…

And, they step out in obedience to find the guy with the pitcher of water…

The guy who Jesus knew would be in the city…

And, don’t you love how… as we see God’s sovereign plan unfolding… don’t you love how He invites the disciples into the plan?

Don’t miss this…

He sent out two of His disciples to go into Jerusalem to find the man with the pitcher.

If they had responded… “No way… I’m not doing that…”

Like Peter said in Acts 10 & 11 “Not so, Lord!”

Words that should never be paired together… if He is your Lord… to say “Not so” is inappropriate and defiant.

But had these disciple protested… His plan would have still been accomplished… yet without them.

They would have missed out on being part of God’s story at this time.

Don’t miss out when He calls you to big or small things…

So the two disciples go… no recorded objections from them…

And, look how Jesus guides them… step-by-step…

V13… there will be a man carrying a pitcher of water… follow him…

V14… say to him, “‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’

V15… Jesus even knows the man will respond in the affirmative… showing them a large upper room, furnished and prepared for them to use for the Passover.

The Upper Room being that second story room typically built upon a rooftop for sleeping, dining, or entertaining guests…

Jesus has the plan all laid out and tells them what to expect…

Which I find astounding and gracious… because often God provides step 1… and once you are obedient He reveals step 2…

How many times have we seen God reveal step 2 in Scripture… once Step 1 was followed in faith?

In Gen 6… God commanded Noah to build an Ark for judgment was coming upon the earth…

God gave specific instructions on the dimensions and the details…

But, not the timing of the flood… or full understanding of how all the floodwaters would come… or how the animals would gather…

There were many details and steps of faith…

Landing Noah in Heb 11… “the Faith Hall of Fame”…

Heb 11:7 declares, “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

In Gen 11… to Abram… God said, “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great...”

Step one was for Abram to leave his Chaldean roots… to go to a far country…

And, God would bless Him… but the details… they would be further revealed along the journey.

Of Abraham, Heb 11:8 states, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

Abraham took a step of faith… leaving his home country… a great sacrifice… and dwelt in a foreign land obedient to the direction of God.

Moses… Exo 2… adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter… recognizing the affliction of his people… Moses stepped into the role of deliverer of Israel…

Which was premature at first… but in God’s perfect timing… 40 years later… God would call Moses…

And, there are four “By faith” statements recorded of Moses in Heb 11… and many step-by-step instructions by God telling Moses what to do next…

Probably one of the best Biblical examples of walking by faith…

And… probably one of the best biblical examples of a man who endured a consequence for NOT following God’s instructions…

You may recall that heated moment when Moses struck the rock… misrepresenting God…

And, Moses never entered the promised land as a result.

God calls His people to do His will. And, “Not so, Lord” should NOT be uttered from our mouths.

His will be done… and if you are His chosen vessel… don’t fight it… obey the Lord.

How far did Jonah get? God used a great fish to turn around His running from the Lord.

When Zacharias did not believe the angel Gabriel that his wife… well advanced in years… would bear a son…

He was struck mute for the duration of the pregnancy…

That moved his heart to obedience… when John the Baptist was born and those present pressed to name him after his father…

Zacharias wrote, “His name is John.” And, immediately he could speak again.

Is our Lord’s hand too short to withhold from us… until we walk in His will?

There are steps of faith that God lays before us…

And, if Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever…

Might I suggest “Yes… Lord”… is the correct response…

Yes Lord… “I’ll go find the man carrying the pitcher of water… even though that seems a bit odd to me…”

Shortly after Zacharias was visited by Gabriel… Gabriel also visited Mary… the mother of our Lord…

And, delivered to her the message that God had chosen her to bring forth the Messiah in her virginity…

Which was no small calling, because it would appear as though she were unfaithful to Joseph…

And rumors follower her all of her days… there were consequences for her obedience…

But, she was obedient… astounded by how God would make her conceive in her virginity, she asked… not doubting like Zacharias… but in faith she asked…

As recorded in Luke 1:34-35 “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” 35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you...”

And, so it is today… whatever step of faith God is calling you to…

From trusting in the blood of the lamb…

To being part of His sovereign story… to find a man carrying a picture of water…

Know that in this His Holy Spirit will come upon you… the power of the Highest will overshadow you…

He leads and guides… our lives… this church… even this very sermon… maybe this message is for you today.

And, it’s comforting to know that as we are led by the Spirit… we know… You’re not going to ‘go it alone.’

Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Heb 13:5)

And, “… lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age...” (Matt 28:20)

And He said He would send the Helper the Holy Spirit as a guide to us. John 16.

So, step out in faith. What is that long forgotten step of faith that has been buried? How can we help you see that come to pass?

Worship team please come…

Our account today ends in V16, “So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.”

This is no surprise. Jesus said it would be this way and it was.

His word is trustworthy. “Scripture cannot be broken.”

And, just imagine… these faithful disciples entered Jerusalem…

And, to their amazement, I imagine… everything was just as Jesus said.

“Look… there’s the guy!”

I wonder if they ribbed him… “What are you doing carrying a pot of water man?”

Probably not… but that would be funny… guys do that.

But, everything was perfect… everything was precise… the prophecy of the moment was unfolding before their eyes…

And, the same Lord invites you… in many… and diverse ways to daily be part of His same story…

Abide in Him… listen for His still small voice… watch out for the doors He opens for you… and walk through in faith.

Let’s Pray!

Heb 12:1 instructs “… let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

This same Jesus is interceding on your behalf today.

And, as we play this last song… if you need prayer… come forward… our elders and prayer team will be here to pray with you now.

God bless your week ahead… as you walk forward in faith.