Prepare the Way for the Lord: A Look at the Prophet of the Most High
Morning again. We are in Luke chapter 1 and I'm going to warn you it's a lot and we're going to read verses 1 through 25, then we're going to skip some and then look at vs. 57 through 80. It's a chunk buckle up. So I don't know what we need to do. But it it's a big chunk of of scripture to focus primarily today on on John the Baptist. There's just a lot here. So let's go ahead and get into the word. And we'll take it from there verse 1 inasmuch as many of undertaken to compile and Narrative of the things that have been accomplished Among Us just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and Ministers of the word have delivered them to us. It seems good to me. Also having followed all these things closely from time passed to write an orderly account or you most excellent Theophilus that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. And the days of Herod king of Judah there was a priest named Zachariah of the division of abijah. He had a wife from the daughters of Erin and her name was Elizabeth and they were both righteous before God walking blamelessly in all the Commandments and statutes of the Lord, but they had no child because Elizabeth was Barren and both were advanced in years. Not while he was serving as priest before before God when is division was on duty according to the custom of the priesthood. He was chosen by lot to enter the temple the Lord and burn incense and a whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense and there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense and Zechariah was troubled when he saw him and fear fell upon him at the angel said do not be afraid Zechariah. Your prayer has been heard in your wife Elizabeth will beerus you a son and you should call his name John and you will have joy and gladness and many Will Rejoice at his birth or he will be great before the Lord and he must not drink wine or strong drink and he will be filled the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God and he will go before them in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. Zechariah said the angel. I know this I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years Angel answered him. I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news and behold you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place. Because you do not believe my work because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their time and the people were waiting for Zechariah and I were wondering I just lay at the temple. When he came out he was unable to speak to them and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived and for 5 months. She kept herself hidden thing. Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among the people. We're going to jump from vs. 25/2 vs. 57.
All the time came for Elizabeth to give birth and she bore a son and her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord has shown great Mercy to her and they were Joyce with her and on the 8th day. They came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father. But his mother answered said no, no. No, he should be called John and they said to her and your relatives is called by this name. And they made signs to his father inquiring what he wanted him to be called. Any ask for a writing tablet and wrote his name is John and they all wondered and immediately his mouth was open and his tongue loose and he spoke blessing God and fear came on all the neighbors and all these things were talked about through all the Hill Country of Judea and all who heard them laid up in their hearts saying what then will this child be for the hand of the Lord was with him? And his father Zakaria was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied sing blessed be the Lord the god of Israel or he has visited and redeemed of people and raised up a horn of salvation for us and the house of the servant David as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from old that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show them Mercy promised our fathers and to remember His Holy Covenant the oath that he swore to Our Father Abraham to grant us that we being delivered from the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear and Holiness and righteousness before him all our days your child will be called the prophet of the most high or you will go before the Lord prepares ways to give knowledge of Salvation to his people in the Forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God. We're by the sunrise shall visit us from on high. To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace and the child grew and became strong in spirit and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance in Israel. Would you play with me? By the way, be thanking you for your word how it speaks to us how it moves in our lives how we can read the word of God and be convicted. And I'm like conviction that changes us. Follow me. We want to look today at 8 your Prophet the one who says prepare the way for the Lord we want to look at what that means in our lives and how that changes us when we prepare the way for the Lord. Father I pray that is we we look into this even speak to us you speak in spite of who I am up here that you your voice will be heard through your word this in Jesus name. I pray amen. Alright, so Luke chapter one is he meant I said, there are 80 vs in this chat 1 chapter. This is too much for one sermon is probably genuinely too much for the two sermons of a lot of it. It's a lot going on here in this one chapter. We see the amazing New Testament for telling of the coming of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ on one shot right? It's it's there. He is the one and only begotten Son of God being brought to us in the foretelling of all of that happening. It's the first New Testament account of all of that. That's what we want to focus mostly today on on the birth of John the Baptist and what he means preclude and got a free free upping pre-empting leaving into Jesus's birth and what that is.
Luke if you don't know who he is, he's a Greek physician he was a traveling companion of Paul and and some of his later missionary Journeys if you read through the book of Acts, you'll realize it the book of Acts was also written by Luke to his buddy Theophilus it it's kind of like Luke part 2. So this is this is Jesus here on Earth. Then acts is Jesus not honor than did the apostles in the disciples carrying out the word of God and that's kind of how our he writes it in the sections in acts when you start seeing where where does where the phrasing changes from Paul and Silas were Paul and Barnabas to we Oh, that's cuz Luke was with Paul when he was writing those things. And so that's kind of neat to see how that works out. Verses 1 through 4 standard introduction to a letter does not specifically mention himself that this is too to see opolis from Luke like we see with a lot of the Paul letters, but it but we do know that this is Luke's writing a he's just got interesting and he's writing for the purpose of Shoring up and kind of reaffirming. What's the office is already been taught about Christ. Moana things Chris and I were talking Tuesday night about this. We found it very interesting. There's no reason for us to not believe that the awfulest isn't a real person you find it interesting that is named in Greek means lover or friend of God. Bo being God Phyllis, meaning love or friend of her know that if when the opolis came to Christ if if that was his name. Change, we know that that happened a lot but I just found that really intriguing to me that this was a way of my dear excellent lover of God friend of God. This is what you need to know about Jesus Christ. This is he's writing this letter. I just thought that was so intriguing to me. So he's at he's showing all of that stuff up the yard. He knows Luke acknowledges those who came before him and Christ knowledge is the 12 apostles. He acknowledges other eyewitnesses. He also had it on his heart to put the story of Jesus Christ in an orderly account that the Holy Spirit moving in him to write this put it in an orderly manner. Meaning just well organized and logical telling of the story of the Son of God. And so that's what we see with Luke. It reads kind of that way. The New Testament classic took a feels like a million years ago if you were to read through the four Gospels. Mark is an adventure story. It's like the Indiana Jones of the gospels. It's everything's immediate the word immediate shows up more times in The Book of Mark than any other scripture that things happen. Immediately. Mark was very young. Holy Spirit use that. It is very adventurous Matthew and Luke feel very documentary, right Matthew was a tax collector organized accountants kind of this is how an account would write Luke a physician very organized neat and orderly. This is how he's going to write John. Reeds in some regards like a family story a very loving deep family story. So that's kind of the difference in how the Holy Spirit Works in in the gospel writers. Is there doing that? That's what he's doing this right organized logical telling of the story of the Son of God here in Luke. Verses 5 through 7. We are introduced to Zechariah and Elizabeth.
Zechariah and Elizabeth are these just Faithful Servants of God? they're both descended from Priestly Bloodlines to be a priest you had to be had to be more of a priest specifically had to be born from Aaron's lion Sabbath was the grandson of Eleazar who is the son of Aaron and so that's where he comes when he comes from that particular lineage in In the priesthood it says Elizabeth was also a daughter of Aaron she was amongst those so they were the the the the ladies that are you know, Erin had several children had daughters and so she comes from that line. So they both come from the Priestly bloodline. Both are deemed righteous and blameless before God because of their obedience to the commands of the Lord their faithful. They're devoted their they're good servants. But yet we should we read as we continue to read that there is some reproach in their life that they're their childless and it being childless and Baron in their old age was tough not having children, especially in Middle Eastern culture even to this day, especially at this time.
Meant that there was something wrong and God was giving you a punishment for something you had done wrong before turning to him. That's not what's happening here that that's not the case. But that was the mindset of a lot of people what had they had done wrong earlier in their life to lead them to now being married for as long as they had and never having had any children. There's there's no biblical indication that that's ever really true. There's not we see that that that's just not how it is that sometimes people are just without children. What we see here in an example of Zechariah and Elizabeth is it the sovereignty of God is in all aspects of our lives, right that God is is chosen these two people because he is God and he chooses who he chooses is chosen them to be childless because that's what he needed for that to happen. It's all about bringing him glory. It's all about his work being done in his timing for his sake. And that's what's happening here in Elizabeth and Zacharias wife that they're doing that. God has a purpose for having children that has a purpose in your life for not having children. He wanted Elizabeth and Zechariah to be delayed in her childbearing to bring God glory to himself and privata prove that the child born with special by Design and had a very specific purpose for God and a purpose to God. All right vs. 8 through 17. This is where Zechariah is visited by Gabriel now. The people of Israel had such a belief in the sovereignty of God that as the tradition here goes they were casting lots.
We read in the Old Testament about having a man in Thurmond, right and in these sorts of things it that the people believe that God was so Sovereign that you can take lots meaning dice or or the like they're of throw Mountain. Whoever wins. That is who God is choosing. That's how suffering they felt God was Herman and thummim. We're these things that the priests kept in their cloaks and when a decision has to be made and they couldn't wait out the decision they pull it out and then go well. I dropped them in and summon and landed this way that means God wants it that way and that's how they make these. They've got believe that God. Was that Sovereign that he was controlling those things?
And so that's how Zacharias chosen to go in and burn incense. All right. He's the castle lights out God is Sovereign and him. So here he is. He's getting this prophecy about the birth of John the Baptist. He's a faithful servant of God. He's doing his duty as a priest in the entrance into the holy place of the temple. All right, so the way that would work there were multiple Chambers in the temple time. Do you have the courtyard? This is where in the courtyard or women and children could worship then you had the inner Courtyard which is where the men could worship then you had another area in which were the Levites in the preschool Worship in you had the holy place and that's where is zechariah's at? That's where he could go and he was chosen amongst Ali fights in the priests to go there. Then there was inside of that the holy of holies and only the high priest could go in there and he can go only go in there once a year on the day of atonement. The Zechariah is in the chamber that is closest to the holy of holies, but not all the way into the holy of holies yet and he's going into just light incense OfferUp offerings unto God and there's people all those other people and those other Chambers and those other areas are all out there praying. For him is he's in there and praying for the people of Israel. Legos in and he's greeted by the angel Gabriel. Zechariah becomes afraid of Gabriel one of the things that happens almost all throughout scriptures when somebody's greeted by an Angel, they're afraid in the first thing Angel says don't be afraid. I'm a messenger from God I get it. That's scary. But it's good news to you. Right this is this is not a bad thing.
So he said not to fear then Gabriel explains everything that's happening with John.
But he's going to be a prophet similar to Elijah of that kind of magnitude of that kind of spirit of that kind of power is going to be devoted completely to the service of God is going to have this Nazarite vow. He's going to be filled with the Holy Spirit and he will proclaim the coming of the words Messiah the Christ. All of that is being said and then I'm just trying to imagine poor Zechariah. I don't know. How old is he says? I'm an old man. Now I know when I wake up in the morning and I snap and I pop and I crack I feel like an old man, but I'm not really old I get this in my head. I am but physically I'm not alright.
People had a long life expectancy even hear that wasn't like the average person lived into their 80s, but it was not unusual in the time of Christ for men and women who had Easy Living a priest job was not overly complicated. It wasn't like he was a stonemason and something could crushing one day at work, right? He had an easier life. It was not unusual for them to live into their 80s or 90s. It could happen right wasn't as soon as you turn 45. Look out your dad. That's not that's not how life expectancy word and so he can be old you can be in his seventies or eighties. Right now we don't know but you just think I'm old.
How does this play out? You know, there's really nothing. Can we look at this? There's nothing that special about Zechariah and Elizabeth. They really weren't there. Just two people who were obedient servant of God. It shows them because he's chosen them. There's there's nothing else to it. It's just that way is sovereignty Works in that way. He just chose them because they were who they were and he is who he is for me when I think about this. This is a personal side note. I guess this one brings me a little bit of comfort this story some personal hope and its remembrance of God sovereignty of who God is and why he's in charge of it is he's in charge of everything and every time
Lee and I can't have kids right now. Sweat is we've been married seven almost eight years and it's just not happen for us.
We want to have kids like have a slew of them someday. It's just not where God put us yet. And so when I read this passage about Zechariah and Elizabeth I get a little bit of something like personal hope here that the more I understand how the sovereignty of God works. It is not about whether or not we have kids. We don't have kids. That's it's not about that it it's a more about we can Rejoice with those who are having kids. We can Rejoice with those who have grandkids and we can rejoice and we can be a blessing to them. And and that we can love on our nieces or nephews that we have and but we can also know that for whatever reason.
Us not having kids right now brings God glory.
I just know that. not always easy, but it but it's not at all and end when God decides for us to have kids if that's going to bring him glory to Not anymore. It's just the way it works for him until I get personal hoping that. Did Emeril add a keep reading sometimes? I'm a little bit like Zachariah Wright III like his response here Verse 18. He's like You know, I'm old right and my wife she had his younger she used to be. All right, I think the Old Testament passage in the youth group. You guys is her or eggs or dry or right in that in that the eggs were kind of concept right? That's kind of what he's getting at that they're old enough to eat that apparently Elizabeth's well beyond menopause right. This is this is where she's at now. Basically, it's kind of getting around to Gabriel. Like you do know that old people don't make babies. This is not what we typically do and in. When I read that I thought my goodness is response to Gabriel is so much like Sarah's response to the Lord. You're going to have a child in your old age. Quit laughing. I'm not laughing at you old, but you did laugh at me right. Says that the Sarah. I'm Gabriel. I sit with God. He told me to tell you this shut up for 9 months or however long it was right. He makes you mute.
It's disbelief its its confusion is pondering its how does this happen with God anything can happen right is a miraculous God who does circles all the time and in here we see that in his life. Verses 19 through 23 of the section Gabriel assured him that God will do what he was what was told to him? And he's going to prove his point that Zachariah by making him mute until after John is born. People outside the temple praying or wondering what's happening inside like he's been in there longer than this normally takes a boy. We should maybe a dinner by now. There's got to be this whole what's happening inside of the temple because they can't go in and get him out. They that does not work. They just got to wait it out till he comes out. So there their they're waiting. Is taking longer than it then then it should be to get the task done. And then he comes out and he's mute and the other priests in the other Temple worker see that God has done something in the life of Zechariah that day and it's evident a physical manifestation of God's work in their life, and it's evident to them and are pondering interest confused. That's why I look at this like 8 through 23 here. There's so much happening. Up to this point the Holy Spirit had not been actively working in the lives of the people of Israel by were in this. This is the end of what we would call the intertestamental intertestamental. Write this is that time. Between the prophets of Israel. And the coming of Christ and it's a time in which the people of Israel had turn to very religious practices, but not necessarily faith and they were doing what they're supposed to do. But there was no active profit working in Israel that time about a 400 your time span at the Holy Spirit was for the most part kind of silent. in the in the nation of Israel and here all of a sudden God is doing something in his temple with one of his priests.
out of the blue in some regards not expected to be saying this so so here's this 400-year quiet. Between God and Israel, but in Luke one, we see this beginning of a new Spiritual Awakening and Israel through Zechariah through John the Baptist through this coming that the gate Angel Gabriel visiting them. There's Visions. There's worse. There's Miracles happening. Two Gods using the events here in to Usher's new covenant with the people the old Covenant has been fulfilled. I'm ushering in my new one and in what you mean about this. It's really interesting to me is using very similar means to bring forth this Covenant as he did with Abraham's Covenant. Abraham's Covenant, God used miraculous childbirth
Is New Covenant with the people he uses miraculous childbirth?
That's a clue folks, right? We see it. Right we look all that sauce. We see that they didn't see it. They missed it. I don't know how but here's to miraculous Choppers one. Who's going to be the Proclaimers of God's New Covenant one? Who is God's New Covenant both miraculous childbirth, and it's messed. It's just messed maybe miss it. So I don't get it, but just as he brought a miraculous birth for Abraham and Sarah with Isaac is using me similar circumstances of Zechariah and Elizabeth and John the Baptist and then he's just going to like it should be the carrier. I'm going to tell you the messages coming in. Then he uses the miraculous job worth of Mary and Joseph and Jesus. And Jesus is the New Covenant. He's bringing all this about the same way. He doesn't scripture like this should be a pattern that they can see we see with Isaac. We see with the infant protection of Moses, right? We see what the birth of Samson and his Devotion to the temple and what he supposed to do. God uses the sort of pattern inscription up that it should have been evident to the people, but it wasn't All right. Changes are happening in Israel that the people should have wakened in her eyes to look for the work of the god almighty and that's important here. There's something happening and there should be changes they could they should be able to see and look for.
Come look so he jumps on any moves on right and it looks telling it looks kind of telling the story here chronologically. So we find out that Elizabeth is pregnant. Any kind of jumps a little bit verses 26 through 56 or so RR when he starts telling the story about the foretelling of Jesus. We're going to look at that next week and that what that is like but that's important to that. This is the same the covenants coming there changes happening in Israel, right Jump Ahead 2 verse 57 some time has passed Zakaria still mute. He's been using hand gestures some sort of sign language writing on a tablet whatever to communicate people in to do a Services of priests cannot imagine.
Trying to do what I'm supposed to do. How I'm supposed to teach here teach at school teach anywhere and only be able to do it through sign language gestures. I don't even have analyzed sign language at least with American sign language is ASL. There's a formalized languages there syntax or contacts. There's all the other dudes just like
crude hand gestures trying to get communicated across what he needs and what he what he supposed to do how difficult that must have been to do this. Elizabeth is hitting her pregnancy for 5 months.
And she knows what's going on ladies know their bodies. She knows what's happening, but she's like, what do I do? How do I tell him? What what's going on? You need snow around us. She knows God's doing something through her and with this child she's going to try to protect and to save and to be cautious of that so she hides that information. In this time. She's visited by Mary was pregnant with Jesus at the time.
And John I love that part of the story. We're going to get to that next week, but John is so filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb. He jumps he leaps. At the presence of Jesus is an infant in the womb around him. Holy cow, that's a neat stuff. But he recognizes the Messiah of God there. Farmer John is designed by God Proclaim among Israel and he starts doing it by bouncing around inside of Elizabeth when Jesus is near Tony so from the time that
Zechariah comes out of the temple mute 910 months whatever it takes johnsbyrne whole Community their neighbors come out there already Joy sing was Zechariah and Elizabeth are so excited. You guys finally have a child. And if so excited about it. They're they're excited to see the blessing of God come upon them in the form of this baby. They're they're just ready to go. They get ready for John to be dedicated and circumsized and the priests want to name him Zechariah after his father. That was that was the deal you name your kids after people in your family grandparents parents. You named your children after your family names. That's why when you read through the Old Testament, they start going through a list and I'm like well Which Wich Abidjan is this which may whom is this which cuz there's some that you were named after all of these these other people before you mom glad I'm not Philip Arnold. Thank you. All right. Love Dad, but let us not my name. All right. So they want to do this Elizabeth is bold and she's she's arguing know the Lord. God has told us this child's name is John. She's going to stand firm on that and they're like, no we got it. You can't guys even thought birth certificates, right? That's just typically the mom. She still will draghi from dinner. And then I don't know if you do this is every it seems like every story I hear about naming a kid. The guy says I gave it to her. She filled it out. Right? I might just a little busy dude. So instead they go to Zechariah if she wants to name. This kid John. Are you okay with that? Give me my tablet. I want to write this down the right his name shall be John. And I love what happened, right? It is like once he says that his name shall be John.
Everything falls out, right? You can speak again. Then he starts to prophesy. Everybody around him sees that this is another miracle. My life of this man. God is doing an active work that he's not been doing an Israel in a while. They see it is told about this at their stories being told neighborhood to Neighborhood, right the whole Hill Country of Judea finds out about this.
Friends and neighbors go telling it. They knew that God was doing something great in the life of this child at the hand of God would be on this child as whole life. And in Zechariah exciting prophesize the prophecy here. So amazing about John the biggest chunk of his prophecies about Jesus. You really look at what he's saying here. He prophesize about the coming Christ. He proclaims that the Messiah is coming and at the birth of John. Is just who's going to proclaim the Messiah Usher's in the Messianic age in Israel. The prophecy is about Jesus and it spreads this event will take just I'm just a few short months. Maybe six months before Jesus is born. And they're spreading this message then and in Ennis get people talking that's got people talking about how God works in what God's doing and it's got people talking about the Miracles that they had Witnesses got people just talking about things that are to come and yet they don't do anything about it. Everybody's excited and talking. But they're doing nothing.
I'll talk. I read through this. I thought Mentor some caution in this. Right, we we should we should look at what's happening here and take some caution to the priest of Israel had seen a miracle and they knew God was working. It was evident a physical manifestation. Vision in the temple comes out mute cannot speak. Proclaims the name of his son to be the name that God has given him to give the name of that son. He can now speak he then prophesize. Here's an old guy with an old wife who should not be bearing children and they are we see these Miracles and yet they do nothing. They've been given clue and signs. That something was happening for God's glory in Israel. Here's what happened in this is where the caution comes in church. They allowed their religious practices to Blind them from seeing what God was really about. These priests these these Levites these neighbors. They allowed the practices the day today the blind them from seeing that too. They allowed their religious practices to override their faith. Rather than allow their faith to drive their religious practices. hear that allow their religious practices to override their faith rather than allowing their faith to drive their religious practices.
I have to think that some of these young priests here at the temple today that Zechariah got that got the visit from Gabriel. Right. They know they were in there praying. He was a man praying it and I think it's prayer had to have been God bring your glory unto Israel. Bring us the Messiah we need rescue us bring Redemption your people as well as his prayer to have a son right? It wasn't just this one fair to have a kid know he was faithful and just he knew the plan from old that there had to be Redemption. I've been praying that it so there he is in the Tempe gets the visit from Gabriel young people out there. That would have been young priest my age and younger, right who would have seen that miracle. New God was working the neighbors.
We were there there would have been in that neighborhood. People as old as Zechariah and Elizabeth, they may have been some of the older people in the neighborhood there would have been younger people there would have been young couples just starting out there have been a slew of people in that neighborhood. They would have all seen this.
They've seen and saw that God was working. The people of Israel have been given Clues they missed it.
Got to think. That some of those young priests who are at the Temple of Zechariah that day when he saw that vision from from Gabriel. Also were around when Herod had John the Baptist beheaded. Emerald Cay with it
I missed it. right
I kind of wonder if some of those priests who were at the temple was Hector II that day? Who knew that something was happening in Israel or also some of the ones who later? 33 34 years later said they wanted this Jesus to stop what he's doing. Causing A disruption. This isn't how we do things here.
Kind of wonder about the neighbors who are so excited or Zechariah and Elizabeth and if they'd heard and they knew that God's hand was on John. They knew God's hands on Zechariah and Elizabeth. They knew I was coming they heard Zechariah proclaim the coming of the Messiah. I wonder if on that pass over weekend. They were in the crowd yelling crucify him.
I wonder I have any evidence to say yes or no. It makes me wonder.
See it's easy for us to really look at scription go. How did they not see God's hand at work here. How in the world did they miss that? Well, it's always 20/20 thousand years are mood. We can look too. Well. That was a dumb mistake, right? We see this.
But yet often.
We ask these kinds of questions about the folks in Scripture. We don't see God's work around us. We don't see what God is doing in our lives. We can't allow our own practices are on habits our own Traditions sometimes our nostalgia. the blind us to True faith butt stuff
we have to be cautious Church to not allow that do we can allow our own things our own habits our own desires to override our faith instead of allowing our faith to drive our practices in her habits. You gotta be cautious of that. My question today is isn't it's one that hit me have I allowed?
These things to override my faith. Is there something in me practice that I do a a tradition that I love a habit that I have formed that overrides my faith or my turn to faith into said I'm going to serve I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do and I allow my faith then to drive my practice.
I'm not sure who said it has been attributed to a lot of people, you know.
Stupidity by definition is doing the same thing more than once and expecting different results. Right? I've heard some people said that Einstein said, I don't know. It's been attributed to a lot of people. It's a good, right. I do this same thing over and over and over and over again. Expecting it to happen to change. It doesn't change until I change. I don't change until God changes me.
I have to surrender in my faith for that change to happen. That's where the change comes. That's what's happening. It's my faith that does that.
Is we kind of go into the dinner invitation time today? Ask yourself? Why have I allowed to override my faith? What have I let blind me from seeing what God is doing here. Just here at Calvary Heights in Martinsville. You're in my life. Can I ask God to strengthen my faith so that I can prepare the way for others be open to the faith of Jesus Christ. Did John had a strong faith Zechariah and Elizabeth had a strong face their job was proclaimed the coming of the Lord. It's Advent season. We've already been we've already been given that challenge to proclaim the coming of the Lord the second coming the warrior king, right? Is my faith driving that? I asked God to strengthen it so that I can Proclaim who he is to those who need to hear.
Are you asking God to help you shed your blindness and open up your faith?
What challenge does what challenge me this week? I'm leaving you guys with dinner and time of of quiet reflection invitation time isn't me inviting you to do anything other than to do business with God? If you need to. Have some quiet time in prayer need to go to one another need to talk to somebody. That's what this * 4. Let's go to heaven the Lord's Prayer. Father I thank you. A my prayer for me is that my faith guide my practice that my faith Drive? My habits with you father I pray that. If there's something blinding me from faith. You said that if there's some practice that I have that I need to shed to serve you better. Put me shetit.
Father I pray that is a church. We look around we ask ourselves. What's keeping us from seeing what you're doing here in our in our midst as well as here in our community. We want to work with you and me the tools in your hand father God we ask that Jesus name. Amen.