DECEMBER 6, 2020 SUNDAY MESSAGE
JOIN US LIVE AT 10 AM ON SUNDAYS!
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SAVE THE DATE: The 2020 Marriage Retreat is scheduled to be Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and November 8!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
Coty Miller’s own “Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
SERMON TRANSCRIPTION:
From the moment we are born to the moment we take our last breath, we are constantly in a learning phase.
Learning to talk or walk &
learning to engage in the ever changing social dynamics around us. Learning who we can trust &
all about the wonderful world around us.
Some lessons come easy - from successes - and some are built on re-evaluation after failure or HOLY INTERRUPTIONS in our lives.
One of the few things I remember my dad saying was that you can make mistakes and recover from them but you can also learn by observing others and understanding the things they do and decisions they make which come from something in THEIR past. Pay attention to others and learn from their successes and failures too.
It was a great lesson and a few weeks later we were camping at a friends’ property we called the moose lodge because he and his buddies built a MASSIVE treehouse and mounted a giant rack of moose antlers on it. My dad was starting a bonfire and to give it a little kickstart, he threw some lighter fluid on it but forgot he had a cigarette in his mouth. Some of the ashes dropped down and the fire exploded to life. Dad was fine but I remember when he turned around his eyebrows were singed off. Just stubs of hair left over his eyes.
The next day we went to start the fire again and when he went to light it I took off running as fast as I can and stand like 30 yards away from the fire
Dad’s laughing at me and saying “what are you doing?”
I said “I’m learning from YOUR failure!”
We learn a lot by failure...even when we observe it in behaviors of others!
In the Advent story this week, we read about someone who opens his mouth and says something wrong... something that, perhaps, he WISHED he could take back. HE LEARNS A LESSON and we may be able to learn a lesson FROM HIM but I also think there is a lot of ourselves found in His character...if we are honest with ourselves and with God as we read.
Turn your bibles back to Luke chapter 1 and we will pick it back up in verse 18.
We are going to do a recap to gain some context and momentum as we jump back into the story…
Typically when we think of Advent we immediately think of Mary and Joseph but, last week, the Gospel of Luke introduces us FIRST to Zechariah and Elizabeth - they’re like forerunners to the Holy family in the same way John is the forerunner to Jesus.
Last week, we read that, in the last words of the Old Testament Malachi speaks a prophecy of hope to God’s people, then...silence from God.
No prophet,
no messenger,
no angelic visitation,
While the world was roaring with upheaval and the people were BEGGING for God to answer them the was silence but we learned God was working in the silence the whole time!
After 400 YEARS, God broke the silence by sending an angel to a Priest named Zechariah. The angel tells:
His barren wife Elizabeth will give birth to a son, and they are supposed to name him John
This boy is the answer to the 400 year old prophecy who comes in the spirit and power of Elijah
To bring back many of the people of Israel to the fold AND
to prepare the way for Messiah!
This is a HUGE moment in the cosmic narrative of the Gospel Story and AND for Zechariah and Elizabeth personally because God answers their lifelong prayer to have a child.
As you could imagine in their old age, they had settled into the idea that they were just not going to be able to have children. So, when the Angel tells Zechariah the news, this is what he said...Luke 1 verse 18:
18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
All the pragmatists in the room said, AMEN. Zechariah is just throwing out the facts to the angel.
We can identify with Zechariah - he just wants a little assurance that this miraculous thing is going to happen? Then...THIS:
19 The angel said to him, “I...am GABRIEL. I STAND in the PRESENCE of GOD, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news...
I love that there’s a bit of angelic attitude. It’s so obvious from Gabriel’s perspective and as he stairs at Zechariah and he’s like: “don’t you know who I am? God sent me to say it...why would he do that if he wasn’t going to come through?!”
If you’re Zecharaiah, whatever boldness you had in that a few moments ago...just melted like wax! ALL your thoughts and composure are reduced to,
“OHHHH NOOOOO, what did I do? Did I just ruin it?!”
You are taking a critical analysis of the words that just came out of your mouth and trying to figure out how you can hit delete, erase his history...
I mean you’re really regretting your word choices after an angel addresses you like that!
Then verse 20 says:
20 And now...you will be SILENT and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time (that’s Kairos btw).”
Gabe doesn’t skip a beat...he just rolls right into, “Know what? Enough out of you...if you want a sign, I’ll give you one...Imma hit the mute button on this human so he can THINK about what he’s just done!”
The thing is...I don’t think what Zechariah asked was all that crazy! We ALL would be thinking it…most of us are keeping up appearances so we wouldn’t have said it...it would have been right on the tip of our tongues thought!
Gabe may have even seen it coming and leaned in saying… “what did you say...did you have a question?”
“Nope. Got it...old man, wife is along in years...and we are having a child. No questions here…”
“You sure? Because it looks like you were about to ask me something!”
LISTEN, what seems OBVIOUS in the eyes of a celestial being isn’t always as obvious to those of us who are earth-bound HUMANS!!
Zechariah DOUBTS - and he put it out there!
Like all of us from time to time, Zechariah has doubts.
If you walk through seasons of doubt, you are in good company with Zechariah.
Zechariah’s doubt was put on display and Gabriel decided to make sure this was a lesson He wasn’t going to forget and YOU & I get the opportunity to learn a lesson through His experience!
Gabriel DOESN’T:
sit him down and give a lesson on faith,
he doesn’t tell him all the OT stories of Faith, or
lay out all the systematic attributes of God’s miraculous capabilities…He INTERRUPTS Zechariah’s life by silencing him!
Gabe says, “SIT DOWN, BE QUIET...and WATCH GOD WORK!”
This creates space for Zechariah to LEARN
It disables much of Zechariah’s ability to over-explain or even manipulate the circumstances.
Maybe Gabe heard the first thing out of his mouth and does Zechariah a favor, “I’m gonna quiet this guys right now before he says something else he will regret!”
Zechariah is learning a lesson and it’s going to overflow out into the community because Zechariah went IN to the temple talking and will emerge SI - LENT...This is what happens, verse 21:
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. 23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home.
Zechariah’s “sign” becomes a lesson for the masses as the others become aware of the encounter and the residual effect it has on the priest.
Verse 24...
24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
Elizabeth responds differently than her husband! She holds it down with some tried-and-true faith ascribing praise to God for operating on their behalf.
Now, jump down in the same chapter to LUKE 1:57 where we see the fulfillment of the ANGELS words.
57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.
59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
Elizabeth isn’t going to play around with them! She remains steadfast in her obedience to the angel’s command.
The people haven’t quite got it though and they argue with her! V.61
61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what HE would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”
CLEARLY Zechariah gets it! Over his period of silence AND a miraculous conception, he learned the lesson and he isn’t going to miss the opportunity to be obedient again.
He isn’t questioning the Angel’s words any longer and he MAKES SURE to complete what the Angel told him to do…“His name is John.”
This is what happens next...Verse 64
64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.
Zechariah’s first response after all that he has gone through is to PRAISE GOD!!
Don’t MISS THIS: through God’s INTERRUPTION, “words of doubt are transformed into words of praise!”
...but I bet it didn’t happen without a little grumbling! Zechariah probably replayed the conversation over and over in his head when the angel was gone, thinking, “I just asked a question! It didn’t seem unreasonable to want a sign given our age.” Maybe he was even ANGRY...but things changed!
Over time though, through the interruption of silence and the circumstances, Zechariah had a change in heart.
He sees his wife get pregnant
he hears the heartbeat of his son,
He listens and listens...and listens some more!
And the powerful display of God’s sovereign hand humbles him...
What we learn though is that God’s INTERRUPTION becomes the incubator where “words of doubt are TRANSFORMED into words of praise!”
Verse 65….
65 All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.
67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
Just as we saw news about Zechariah’s DOUBT circulate through the people around him, we see the news of these extraordinary events permeate the community AS WELL:
They all bear witness to the loosened tongue of Zechariah
See the miraculous pregnancy of Elizabeth AND
recognize God was DIRECTLY involved in this child’s birth!
The next 14 verses record the song of Zechariah whose response is Prophetic, filled with praise and proclamation of the coming messiah. We don’t have time to get into the song today but please read it on your own outside the service - it’s incredible!
I do want us to check out verse 80 to bookend the narrative. It says…
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.
The lessons learned by Zechariah in this encounter don’t just end here...SO, where do you find yourself in this story?
What can WE glean from our observations of this moment?
Have you had an encounter with God wherein you were changed by HIM?
Have you walked through a moment with God that was an unwanted INTERRUPTION but, as you looked back later, you realized it was the incubator for change in your life?
1. One of the things I LOVE about this story is that Zechariah’s doubt doesn’t cancel his blessing. His doubt is laid bare before the angel and before God but God is patient with him and decides to bring Him in for a quick lesson, right...“just be quiet for a while and watch Me work!”
Having faith doesn’t mean that you never doubt. It means your faith is alive and working itself out in the real world.
Don’t let doubt overcome you...some of you have been living in a land of doubt though and dwelling in it as if it was your home!! It’s not a residence, it’s a training ground.
And some of you need to stop grumbling or questioning, put your focus on God, and watch Him work?
2. If he can’t get your attention, he loves you enough to step in and get it! God operates in the interruptions SO TRUST Him in it because the interruption of God doesn’t just turn words of doubt to praise, they take a grumbling, questioning man, and GIFT that person with a touch of the Kingdom giving him stronger faith, insight that is prophetic, and the story will often resound further than you realized...it PROCLAIMS the good news of the Messiah to those around!
And remember...
3. God is gracious in seemingly mysterious ways. Sometimes we are deprived of something because God has better things awaiting us down the road.
You might need to let go of some things in your past that you have been carrying too! You picked up some baggage along the way! Maybe the grumbling is coming from years of carrying pain, fear, shame or regret! I’m not minimizing the reality of it, I’m just saying, if you hold on to it for too long how are you going to receive what God has in store for you next him. When we wait patiently on the Lord, he often gives us more than we imagined possible.
“Zechariah and Elizabeth wanted a child; what they got was a prophet. God’s ways are set to his clock, and they are often filled with things that cause us to wonder as we rejoice at his surprises.”
May the lessons we learn from Zechariah and Elizabeths God-ordained interruption resound throughout our community building our trust in the Most High God and allowing us to taking us into journeys we have yet to imagine let alone walk!
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.