December 1, 2025 • 16 mins
On episode 137, Tim takes a pause in the 10-commandments and brings in a new series in the Gospel of Luke.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into episode one, one hundred and thirty seven of
Bring Heaven Down. My name is Tim and I'm the
host of this podcast that talks about Jesus. And right
now we're in the middle of the Ten Commandments. But
I want to take a pause because it is December
first today, and there's a special book of the Bible
(00:20):
called the Gospel of Luke. And what Luke does that
is amazing is it tells the story of Jesus in
twenty four chapters, from his birth to his resurrection. And
(00:43):
what's so amazing about that is if you start the
Book of Luke on December first, then you will finish
up with the Book of Luke on Christmas Eve, which
is kind of cool how it runs right into Christmas.
So I wanted to start a series in Luke, and
(01:05):
then we will revisit the Ten Commandments, starting at Commandment
six in just a few weeks when Christmas finishes up.
So this is what it says in Luke chapter one.
If you want to follow along and take notes, that
would be great. If you don't, that's okay too. If
you have a question about something I said about a verse,
(01:31):
you can email the show Bring Heaven down number seven
at gmail dot com. That's bring Heaven down number seven
at gmail dot com. All right, verse one of Luke
chapter one, and I think there's like eighty verses that's
along the long book. To start, many have undertaken to
(01:52):
draw up an account of the things that have been
fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to
us by those who from the f or eyewitnesses and
servants of the Word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully
investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to
me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theopolis,
(02:18):
so that you may know the certainty of the things
you have been taught, I underlined verse three. Therefore, since
I have myself carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it
seemed good also to me to write an orderly account
for you, most excellent. So Luke's gospel has been investigated.
(02:42):
There's been times in my life where it's like Luke
wasn't one of Jesus's disciples, and neither was Mark. How
do they have gospels? It's because they instigated everything from
the beginning, As Luke writes in verse three, verse five,
(03:07):
in the time of Herod, King of Judea. There was
a priest named Zachariah who belonged to the priestly division
of Abajah. His wife, Elizabeth, was also a descendant of Erin.
Both of them were upright in the sight of God,
observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they
had no children because Elizabeth was bren and they were
(03:30):
both well along in years. Once, when Zacharai's division was
on duty and he was serving as priest before God,
he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of
the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord
and burn incense. And when the time for the burning
of incense came, all the assembled worshippers were praying outside.
(03:52):
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing
at the right side of the altar of incense. When
Zachariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zachariah,
your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear
you a son, and you are to give him the
(04:14):
name John. He will be a joy and delight to you,
and many will rejoice because of his birth. For he
will be great in the sight of the Lord. He
is never to take wine or other for men to drink,
and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even
from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he
bring back to the Lord, their God. And he will
(04:37):
go on before the Lord in the spirit and power
of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to
their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous,
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. This
is John the Baptist, Zachariah's son that they're talking about.
(04:57):
He was the one that prepared the way for the Lord.
And I love how the Angel appears to Zacharai in
verse thirteen and is self aware. Do not be afraid,
the Angel says, because he would understand the Angel that is,
(05:19):
that Zachariah would be griped or gripped with fear. In
that moment. Verse eighteen, Zacharia asked the Angel, how can
I be sure of this? I'm an old man, and
my wife as well along in years, so Zachariah doubts
what the Angel says. Verse nineteen. The Angel answered, I
(05:42):
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. 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 proper time. So Zacharai gets disciplined for
(06:03):
not trusting what the angel said Verse twenty one. Meanwhile,
the people were waiting for Zacharai and wondering why he
stayed so long in the temple. 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. When his
time of service was completed, he returned home after his wife, Elizabeth,
(06:26):
became pregnant, and for five months remained in seclusion. 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. And the reason why she felt like
the Lord has taken her disgrace is that if you
(06:47):
did not have children, you were seen as not having
favor in the Lord. Verse twenty six. And the sixth month,
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in
Galilee to a virsion pledged to be married to a
man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name
(07:09):
was Mary. The angel went to her and said, greetings, you,
who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Mary
was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind
of greeting this might be. But the Angel said to
her again, this is a repeated phrase. Do not be afraid, Mary,
(07:30):
you have found favor with God. You will be with
child and give birth to a son, and you are
to give him the name Jesus. He will be great
and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his
father David, and he will reign over the House of
Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end. How will this be,
(07:52):
Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin. The
angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and
the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So
the holy one to be born will be called the
Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to
have a child in her old age, and she who
was said to be barren, is in her sixth month
(08:13):
for nothing is impossible with God. Can you imagine just
put yourself in mary situation your version, an angel appears says,
do not be afraid. You're greatly troubled, and then the
angel tells you that you're going to give birth to
the Son of God. There has to be a lot
(08:33):
of what of some disbelief, a lot of shock. And
this is Mary's response, I am the Lord's servant verse
thirty eight. Mary answered, may it be to me as
you have said. Then the angel left her. What a
(08:55):
mindset we all should have while we are going through
oh hardships, trials, questions, the mindset of I am the
Lord's servant, do with me what you want. That is
the mindset Mary had, a mindset we all should mimic
(09:18):
verse thirty nine. At that time, Mary got ready and
hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
where she entered Zacharai's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth
heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice,
(09:39):
she exclaimed, blessed are you among women, and blessed is
the child you'll bear? But why am I so favored
that the mother of my Lord should come to me.
As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the baby and my womb were leaped for joy. Blessed
is she was believed that what the Lord has said
(10:00):
to her will be accomplished Verse forty six, and Mary said,
my soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God,
my savior, for he has been mindful of the humble
state of his servant. From now on, all generations will
call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great
things for me. Holy is his name. His mercy extends
(10:24):
to those who fear him. I underline that in verse
fifty fear him, in other word, for respect from generation
to generation. He has performed many mighty deeds with his arm.
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
(10:44):
He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has
lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with
good things, but has sent the richuay empty. He has
helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham
and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.
God doesn't forget his promises. That's just all. I remember
(11:08):
that Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and
then returned home. Let's take a quick break and this
podcast will be right back to finish up Verses fifty
seven through eighty. Stay with us. When it was time
for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to
a son verse fifty eight. Her neighbors and relatives heard
(11:30):
that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they
shared her joy. Isn't that cool when you see that
the Lord has done a thing in someone's life and
you share their joy. You're not jealous or better or
WHI should happened to you, but you share their joy
Verse fifty nine. On the eighth day, they came to
(11:51):
circumcise the child, and they were going to name him
after his father, Zachariah. But his mother spoke up and said, no,
he is to be called John. This is a very
bold proclamation by the mom. They said to her, there
is no one among your relatives who has that name.
You can almost hear the tone. Then they made signs
(12:12):
to his father to find out what he would like
to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet,
and to everyone's astonishment, he wrote his name is John.
Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed,
and he began to speak, praising God. I love this
moment in verse sixty three because it shows humbleness by Zachariah.
(12:34):
He could have easily chose to disrespect his wife or
say she's wrong, we're naming my son after me. This
is our first kid. We've been barn for years, and Zachary'
is like, no, she's right, I'm gonna humble myself and
(12:55):
we are going to name this child John instead of
Zachariah after me. The neighbors were all filled with awe,
and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking
about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it,
asking what then is this child going to be? For
the Lord's hand was with him. His father Zachariah was
(13:19):
filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, Praise be to
the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come
and has redeemed his people verse sixty nine. He has
raised up a horn of salvation for us in the
house of his servant David, as he said through his
Holy prophets of long ago salvation from our enemies and
from the hand of all who hate us, to show
(13:40):
mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath he swore to our father Abraham, to rescue
us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable
us to serve him without fear, and holiness and righteousness
before him all our days. And you, my child, will
be called a prophet of the most High, for you
will go on before the Lord, prepare the way for
him to give his people with the knowledge of salvation
(14:04):
through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender
mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will
come to us from heaven to shine on those living
in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide
our feet into the path of peace. And the child
grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in
(14:27):
the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel I wrote
a question mark after verse eighty why was he living
in the desert? And my study notes say John's parents,
all that is birth, probably died while he was young,
and apparently grew up in the desert of Judea, which
(14:49):
lies between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea until he appeared publicly.
John's preaching and announcing the coming of the Messiah marked
his public appearance. He is about thirty years old when
he began his ministry. If we don't have a study
no Bible, I highly suggest you doing so. So that
is the end of chapter one. I'll start chapter two
(15:11):
tomorrow and this talks about the birth of Jesus. A
lot of good nuggets to chew on and to meditate
on from Mary coming with the mindset of Lord, I
am your servant, do with me what you want to
(15:32):
zach Raia's humble approach to naming his son. I love
this book and it's amazing to read the story investigated
by Luke. I hope you all enjoyed it too, and
I hope you're all going to enjoy this series. I
(15:53):
hope you're encouraged by the message today, and I hope
you all have a wonderful day filled with the fruits
of the Holy Spirit. I hope we're all can have
the mindset of Lord, I am your servant, Deal with
me what you want
Welcome into episode one, one hundred and thirty seven of
Bring Heaven Down. My name is Tim and I'm the
host of this podcast that talks about Jesus. And right
now we're in the middle of the Ten Commandments. But
I want to take a pause because it is December
first today, and there's a special book of the Bible
(00:20):
called the Gospel of Luke. And what Luke does that
is amazing is it tells the story of Jesus in
twenty four chapters, from his birth to his resurrection. And
(00:43):
what's so amazing about that is if you start the
Book of Luke on December first, then you will finish
up with the Book of Luke on Christmas Eve, which
is kind of cool how it runs right into Christmas.
So I wanted to start a series in Luke, and
(01:05):
then we will revisit the Ten Commandments, starting at Commandment
six in just a few weeks when Christmas finishes up.
So this is what it says in Luke chapter one.
If you want to follow along and take notes, that
would be great. If you don't, that's okay too. If
you have a question about something I said about a verse,
(01:31):
you can email the show Bring Heaven down number seven
at gmail dot com. That's bring Heaven down number seven
at gmail dot com. All right, verse one of Luke
chapter one, and I think there's like eighty verses that's
along the long book. To start, many have undertaken to
(01:52):
draw up an account of the things that have been
fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to
us by those who from the f or eyewitnesses and
servants of the Word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully
investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to
me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theopolis,
(02:18):
so that you may know the certainty of the things
you have been taught, I underlined verse three. Therefore, since
I have myself carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it
seemed good also to me to write an orderly account
for you, most excellent. So Luke's gospel has been investigated.
(02:42):
There's been times in my life where it's like Luke
wasn't one of Jesus's disciples, and neither was Mark. How
do they have gospels? It's because they instigated everything from
the beginning, As Luke writes in verse three, verse five,
(03:07):
in the time of Herod, King of Judea. There was
a priest named Zachariah who belonged to the priestly division
of Abajah. His wife, Elizabeth, was also a descendant of Erin.
Both of them were upright in the sight of God,
observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they
had no children because Elizabeth was bren and they were
(03:30):
both well along in years. Once, when Zacharai's division was
on duty and he was serving as priest before God,
he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of
the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord
and burn incense. And when the time for the burning
of incense came, all the assembled worshippers were praying outside.
(03:52):
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing
at the right side of the altar of incense. When
Zachariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zachariah,
your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear
you a son, and you are to give him the
(04:14):
name John. He will be a joy and delight to you,
and many will rejoice because of his birth. For he
will be great in the sight of the Lord. He
is never to take wine or other for men to drink,
and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even
from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he
bring back to the Lord, their God. And he will
(04:37):
go on before the Lord in the spirit and power
of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to
their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous,
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. This
is John the Baptist, Zachariah's son that they're talking about.
(04:57):
He was the one that prepared the way for the Lord.
And I love how the Angel appears to Zacharai in
verse thirteen and is self aware. Do not be afraid,
the Angel says, because he would understand the Angel that is,
(05:19):
that Zachariah would be griped or gripped with fear. In
that moment. Verse eighteen, Zacharia asked the Angel, how can
I be sure of this? I'm an old man, and
my wife as well along in years, so Zachariah doubts
what the Angel says. Verse nineteen. The Angel answered, I
(05:42):
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. 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 proper time. So Zacharai gets disciplined for
(06:03):
not trusting what the angel said Verse twenty one. Meanwhile,
the people were waiting for Zacharai and wondering why he
stayed so long in the temple. 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. When his
time of service was completed, he returned home after his wife, Elizabeth,
(06:26):
became pregnant, and for five months remained in seclusion. 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. And the reason why she felt like
the Lord has taken her disgrace is that if you
(06:47):
did not have children, you were seen as not having
favor in the Lord. Verse twenty six. And the sixth month,
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in
Galilee to a virsion pledged to be married to a
man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name
(07:09):
was Mary. The angel went to her and said, greetings, you,
who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Mary
was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind
of greeting this might be. But the Angel said to
her again, this is a repeated phrase. Do not be afraid, Mary,
(07:30):
you have found favor with God. You will be with
child and give birth to a son, and you are
to give him the name Jesus. He will be great
and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his
father David, and he will reign over the House of
Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end. How will this be,
(07:52):
Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin. The
angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and
the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So
the holy one to be born will be called the
Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to
have a child in her old age, and she who
was said to be barren, is in her sixth month
(08:13):
for nothing is impossible with God. Can you imagine just
put yourself in mary situation your version, an angel appears says,
do not be afraid. You're greatly troubled, and then the
angel tells you that you're going to give birth to
the Son of God. There has to be a lot
(08:33):
of what of some disbelief, a lot of shock. And
this is Mary's response, I am the Lord's servant verse
thirty eight. Mary answered, may it be to me as
you have said. Then the angel left her. What a
(08:55):
mindset we all should have while we are going through
oh hardships, trials, questions, the mindset of I am the
Lord's servant, do with me what you want. That is
the mindset Mary had, a mindset we all should mimic
(09:18):
verse thirty nine. At that time, Mary got ready and
hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
where she entered Zacharai's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth
heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice,
(09:39):
she exclaimed, blessed are you among women, and blessed is
the child you'll bear? But why am I so favored
that the mother of my Lord should come to me.
As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the baby and my womb were leaped for joy. Blessed
is she was believed that what the Lord has said
(10:00):
to her will be accomplished Verse forty six, and Mary said,
my soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God,
my savior, for he has been mindful of the humble
state of his servant. From now on, all generations will
call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great
things for me. Holy is his name. His mercy extends
(10:24):
to those who fear him. I underline that in verse
fifty fear him, in other word, for respect from generation
to generation. He has performed many mighty deeds with his arm.
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
(10:44):
He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has
lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with
good things, but has sent the richuay empty. He has
helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham
and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.
God doesn't forget his promises. That's just all. I remember
(11:08):
that Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and
then returned home. Let's take a quick break and this
podcast will be right back to finish up Verses fifty
seven through eighty. Stay with us. When it was time
for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to
a son verse fifty eight. Her neighbors and relatives heard
(11:30):
that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they
shared her joy. Isn't that cool when you see that
the Lord has done a thing in someone's life and
you share their joy. You're not jealous or better or
WHI should happened to you, but you share their joy
Verse fifty nine. On the eighth day, they came to
(11:51):
circumcise the child, and they were going to name him
after his father, Zachariah. But his mother spoke up and said, no,
he is to be called John. This is a very
bold proclamation by the mom. They said to her, there
is no one among your relatives who has that name.
You can almost hear the tone. Then they made signs
(12:12):
to his father to find out what he would like
to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet,
and to everyone's astonishment, he wrote his name is John.
Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed,
and he began to speak, praising God. I love this
moment in verse sixty three because it shows humbleness by Zachariah.
(12:34):
He could have easily chose to disrespect his wife or
say she's wrong, we're naming my son after me. This
is our first kid. We've been barn for years, and Zachary'
is like, no, she's right, I'm gonna humble myself and
(12:55):
we are going to name this child John instead of
Zachariah after me. The neighbors were all filled with awe,
and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking
about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it,
asking what then is this child going to be? For
the Lord's hand was with him. His father Zachariah was
(13:19):
filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, Praise be to
the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come
and has redeemed his people verse sixty nine. He has
raised up a horn of salvation for us in the
house of his servant David, as he said through his
Holy prophets of long ago salvation from our enemies and
from the hand of all who hate us, to show
(13:40):
mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath he swore to our father Abraham, to rescue
us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable
us to serve him without fear, and holiness and righteousness
before him all our days. And you, my child, will
be called a prophet of the most High, for you
will go on before the Lord, prepare the way for
him to give his people with the knowledge of salvation
(14:04):
through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender
mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will
come to us from heaven to shine on those living
in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide
our feet into the path of peace. And the child
grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in
(14:27):
the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel I wrote
a question mark after verse eighty why was he living
in the desert? And my study notes say John's parents,
all that is birth, probably died while he was young,
and apparently grew up in the desert of Judea, which
(14:49):
lies between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea until he appeared publicly.
John's preaching and announcing the coming of the Messiah marked
his public appearance. He is about thirty years old when
he began his ministry. If we don't have a study
no Bible, I highly suggest you doing so. So that
is the end of chapter one. I'll start chapter two
(15:11):
tomorrow and this talks about the birth of Jesus. A
lot of good nuggets to chew on and to meditate
on from Mary coming with the mindset of Lord, I
am your servant, do with me what you want to
(15:32):
zach Raia's humble approach to naming his son. I love
this book and it's amazing to read the story investigated
by Luke. I hope you all enjoyed it too, and
I hope you're all going to enjoy this series. I
(15:53):
hope you're encouraged by the message today, and I hope
you all have a wonderful day filled with the fruits
of the Holy Spirit. I hope we're all can have
the mindset of Lord, I am your servant, Deal with
me what you want
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