First Wednesday 10/06/2021

Introduction:

Praise time:

Go ahead and take a seat.

I don’t know about you but I’m so thankful for all that God is doing in and through our church.

Can we give Him some praise tonight.

I want to take the next few moments to set our prayer agenda for tonight.

And to do that I want to go to Luke 1 and expand on something I mentioned on Sunday during the prayer time.

If you weren’t with us Sunday I referenced the story of the birth of John the baptist and the impossible circumstances that led up to his birth.

And so what i’d like to do tonight is look at that passage again, and from it give us two prayer focuses, and hopefully bring some encouragement into your life tonight.

Because I have a feeling that maybe there are some here tonight that are feeling a little hopeless in a situation you are facing. in fact, it might even seem impossible. So impossible that you’re beginning to lose hope.

My goal tonight is for you to leave with hope. To leave knowing that regardless of what the circumstances say, God is at work and He has a plan.

So, with that as our basis, let’s go to Luke 1 where we are introduced to the future parents of John the Baptist.

Luke 1:5–7 ESV

5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

Luke begins by introducing us to couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth. And from what Luke tells us, they are spiritual power houses. So much so that Luke says they walked blamelessly in God’s commandments.

To be honest, I’ve never met anybody I could say that of.

But what’s intersting is that despite their blamelessness, they were still facing come challenging circumstances in their life. Because according to Luke, they had no child. Why? Well according to Luke, because Elizabeth was barren.

In other words, for whatever reason she was unable to have children. Which would have a been a giant blemish on Elizabeth in the culture of her day.

And apparently, this had been a life long struggle for her because Luke says at this point in the story, they were both advanced in years.

In other words, they were old, and Elizabeth was more than likely past the age of being able to have a child.

Which means, humanly speaking, the situation seemed hopeless.

And let’s just be honest, that would have had to have been frustrating for Zechariah and Elizabeth. Frustrating because they had devoted their entire lives to serving God.

To the point they had walked blamelessly before Him.

And yet despite their faithfulness, God hadn’t given them a child.

To be honest, that’s where I think some of you are tonight. Like Zechariah and Elizabeth, you’ve been doing everything you can to walk right before God.

You’re going to church every week.

You’re reading your Bible everyday.

You’re spending time in Prayer.

You even showed up for First Wednesday prayer.

But like Zechariah and Elizabeth, there’s a “but” in your life. There’s a desire in your heart. A desire that’s not being met. A void that hasn’t been filled. A loss that humanly speaking can’t be replaced.

And as a result, tonight you feel barren. You feel empty. You feel forgotten. You don’t feel like God is present in your life. And if you’re honest, you’re frustrated with God, and you’re maybe even at the point where you feel like giving up.

To be honest, that’s a scary place to be. And it’s a place nobody wants to be.

But what if I told you it’s a place that God has brought you to on purpose. A place He needs you to be in order to work in your life. A place that is necessary fin order for the impossible to become possible in your life.

We see this in the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Because as they reach the point of giving up, that’s where God steps in to do the impossible.

But in order for God to do the impossible, there are some pitfalls we need to avoid. And in Zechariah’s case, he avoided one but hit the other.

So, what are the pitfalls?

We see the first pitfall beginning in verse 7. Because Luke goes on to write:

Luke 1:7–10 (ESV)

8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

This is the pitfall that Zechariah was able to avoid. And I would label this pitfall:

Pitfall #1 - Don’t Lose Faith when the answer you want doesn’t come.

What I want you to notice, is that as Zechariah and Elizabeth faced their impossible and frustrating circumstance, Zechariah didn’t lose faith.

In other words, they kept serving and trusting the Lord regardless.

We see this as Zechariah continues to perform his priestly duties and continues to serve the Lord as a preist in the temple.

And I think that’s an important insight for us tonight. That in the midst of our impossible and frustrating circumstance, that we not lose our faith and that we would continue to serve the Lord regardless of what we consider a lack in our life.

Because at the end of the day, we don’t serve God so we can get everything we want or think we need in order to be fulfilled. We serve God because ultimately He should be our fulfillment. He should be all we need.

And to be honest, I think that’s why God doesn’t always give us what we think we need or want. Because He needs us to see that all we really need is Him. And that if we have Him, then we have all we need.

And unfortunately, that’s also why a lot of people end up leaving their faith or leaving church. Because they feel they’ve given everything to God, but God has given nothing in return. And so in frustration and anger they walk away from their faith.

But not Zechariah. No, he didn’t like that they didn’t have a child. But he had come to accept it and he continued to serve the Lord regardless.

I think that’s where some of you are tonight. You’re at a place where you’re questioning the goodness of God. You’re questioning his faithfulness. You’re beginning to wonder if all the time you’ve invested in church, reading your Bible, and prayer is really worth it. Because after all this time, your greatest desires haven’t been fulfilled. So, maybe it’s time to walk away.

And I would agree, it’s time to walk away. But not from God. It’s time to walk away from your desire. It’s time to walk away from what you think will bring you fulfillment. From what you think will bring you happiness. From what your so fixated on that you’re missing what God is trying to do in your life.

Again, I think this is where Zechariah had finally gotten. Because it’s in that place that God finally has your attention in a way that you will be able to hear him.

And we see this as Zechariah enters the temple. Because as Zechariah continues to serve the Lord, the Lord shows up. Luke puts it like this:

Luke 1:11–13 ESV

11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

Luke says as Zechariah enters the temple to serve the Lord, that an angel appears and gives him a message. And the message is simply this:

Zechariah, God has heard your prayer, and the answer to your prayer is on its way. And his name will be John.

What a faith building and joyous moment that must have been for Zechariah, right? To finally know that what he had been praying and hoping for was finally going to come to pass. That after all of these years of serving and trusting God, and going to church, and fasting, and going to 21 day prayers, that God was finally coming through.

But what’s intersting is that’s not how Zechariah responded at all. In fact, he responded in a way you wouldn’t expect, which leads us to the pitfall he actually fell into. And I would label this pitfall:

Pitfall #2 - Don’t become a cynic when God makes a promise.

Here’s how Luke describes it:

Luke 1:18 ESV

18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

Zechariah basically says, “Really? Right? Like that’s going to happen. It’s too late for that. You’d have to give me some pretty strong evidence to prove that to me.”

Not what you’d expect from such a godly man who walks blamelessly, right?

But you know what it tells us? It tells us that Zechariah is human. He’s just like you and me.

What it also tells us, is that although Zechariah is still trusting the Lord, he’s grown cynical in his faith.

In other words, while he knows God can do the impossible, he’s highly sceptical that He will.

And that’s important for us to recongize in this passage, because I think the same thing happens to a lot of Christians.

Yeah, we still trust God despite our circumstances, but we become cynical towards God.

In other words, we know God can do the impossible, but we’ve come to believe that in our case He probably never will or would.

So we say or think things like:

Ok, I’ll serve Him, even though He’s forgotten about me.

I guess I just need to accept that God works for the good of others, but not me.

I guess others will get married but I’ll always be single. Guess God doesn’t want me to be happy.

I guess others will get promotions, but I’ll just stay stuck in a dead in job.

This is where Zechariah is at. Yes, he’s faithful. Yes, he’s devoted to the Lord. But he’s become cynical. He doesn't’ really believe God will work in his life even though God’s promised He would.

And so like a good Father, God responds to Zechariah’s poor attitude. Because after questioning the legitimacy of what the angel says, the angel responds by saying:

Luke 1:19–20 ESV

19 And the 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. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

The angel basically rebukes Zechariah for his cynical behavior, and then declares that he will be mute and unable to speak until the baby is born.

Which means, in the midst of God working, Zechariah won’t be able to celebrate. He won’t be able to share what happened. He has to wait for 9 months before he’ll be able to utter another word.

You know what this is. This is God putting Zechariah in time out. This is God saying, “Listen Zechariah, if you’re going to act this way, then you need to go stand in the corner until you can behave.”

In other words, we’re all going to the park, but you’re staying home. We’re all going to get ice cream, but you don’t get any. Sure, you’ll get some later, but not today.

And again, I think this is what happens to a lot of Christians as we become cynical towards God.

Because while our cynical attitude doesn’t keep God from working, it does keep us from experiencing the joy and excitement that comes when God begins to work in the situation we’ve been praying for.

And as a result, it delays the joy we could have experienced earlier.

For example, maybe you’re single and you’ve been praying God would bring Mr or Mrs right along, but it just isn’t happening, to the point that you never think it’s going to happen.

But then somebody comes along and says, “You know what I know God has somebody special for you.”

And you’re like, “Yeah right. I’ll believe it when I see it.”

So God says, “Ok, be miserable for a little bit longer until you’re ready to receive the promise.”

Or maybe you’ve been praying for a promotion you’ve never recieved. And then one day your boss says, “I think you might be in line for that promotion.”

But you think to yourself, “Yeah, like that’s ever going to happen. I’ve been praying for that promotion for months, and now all of sudden I’m going to get it. Whatever.”

So God says, “Ok, keep praying for several more months.”

You see, What I want you to understand is that it’s not that God isn’t going to make good on His promise, because He will. The issue is will we be ready to receive it, or will our attitude delay it.

Again, I think this happens all the time. I know for me, there was a time when I sulked in unforgivness while God was sitting there waiting to deliver me from it.

And He let me sit there for a good year sulking before I finally humbled myself and allowed Him to deliver me from what He wanted to deliver me from a year prior to that.

And what’s said is that for a year I missed out on the joy of being delivered from unforgivness.

But that’s what the pitfall of cynicism does. It keeps us from experiencing the joy of God’s promises.

That being the case, as we go to our prayer time tonight, I have two questions and two actions I want to challenge you to take wit you to your prayer time.

The first quesiton is, “What are you asking God for?”

Maybe for some, it’s healing. Maybe for some, it’s provision. Maybe for some, it’s relational. Maybe for some, it’s financial.

Now here’s the action I want you to take. I want you to Keep asking.

Keep asking until God gives you an answer. Don’t give up.

Don’t give up on that marriage.

Don’t give up on your lost son or daughter.

Don’t right that person off as unsavable.

Keep praying, keep asking, even when you think it’s too late.

Second Question - What promises has God given you?

Maybe it’s a promise in scripture.

Maybe it’s a promise God spoke to you.

Whatever it is, instead of becoming cynical, I want you to claim it as if it’s already happened. Begin to praise God for the answered prayer. Thank him for the promise fulfilled.