October 12, 2025 • 40 mins
Listen to Pastor Chris for his weekly sermons and lessons. Enjoy his down-to-earth and experiential style of communicating the Truths of an Eternal Life with Christ, which starts now and continues throughout all eternity.
It is made complete not only by His Sacrificial Act of the Cross but also by the Love, Grace, and mercy He has demonstrated, and serves as the model of how we should treat each other daily!
https://www.talknetworkradio.com/hosts/TNR
It is made complete not only by His Sacrificial Act of the Cross but also by the Love, Grace, and mercy He has demonstrated, and serves as the model of how we should treat each other daily!
https://www.talknetworkradio.com/hosts/TNR
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Is a blessing to be with you today, as it
is every Sunday.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
We have me and the pulpit. As opposed to Pastor Chris.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Chris is enjoying watching Gloria enjoy Mother's Day with their
daughter back in Indiana. What's that she's also graduating today?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
That's right, and so we have.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Prayed for them, and it's just a blessing that God
is able to or that God has given them, that
they're able to be there with.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Amanda and Glenn. And that means you're stuck with me.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
But I am happy to be here, and I'm happy
to see one of you. I'm glad that I'm glad
you're here. And of course Mother's Day is a special time,
isn't it. I'm looking at.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I don't know who. I'll hear a mother? Raise your
hand if you are a mother.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
We have, we have several motherly people, and I said,
I want to say thank you. Mothering is a difficult job. Now,
Dad's how raise your hand if you're a dad. Okay, dads,
you're great too. But but moms are moms, you know
what I mean. Moms don't only give birth to us,
(01:26):
but they carry us for nine months ahead of time,
and they continue carrying us the rest of their lives.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
And that's that's the way moms are.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
My mom was visiting last weekend, and she says it
still says.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
The same things to me as she did when I
was just a kid.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
You know. She she asks if I'm meeting enough? She asks,
am I sleeping enough? She uh, you know, she's she's still.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
My mom now.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
When I was growing up, Dad loved me, but sometimes
he would miss a parent teacher conference. Mom never missed
parent teacher conference at school.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
When I was.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Dad might have missed a junior high concert.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Mom never missed a concert.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And she was there every day when I was practicing
my trombone and heard every bad note I played. Moms
nurse us when we're sick, don't they. They kiss our
skin knees, They're there in the afternoon to swat our
backsides if we need it. They hear our prayers, They
(02:38):
teach us to pray, and in my case, occasionally my
mom washed my mouth out with soap when I said
things I shouldn't have said.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Not that you mothers would know anything about that.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
But a mother's work is never done, is it? As
long as you live, you will be a mother. Moms
aren't perfect. Many of us have very complicated relationships with
our parents and moms, I think especially. Sometimes there's all
(03:11):
the good stuff, but sometimes it runs into humanity qualities
that might be construed as nosiness or bossiness or over protectiveness.
Mothers have been known to nag. But moms love their kids,
(03:32):
and kids love their moms. And it's no wonder that
the Lord tells us to honor your.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Father and your mother.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So moms, I honor you today for the good work
you do and for raising your kids as well as
you can. One biblical mother I find very interesting is Elizabeth,
the mother of John the Baptist.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Her story is told in the first chapter of the
Book of Luke.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
If you're looking that way, you're not going to see anything. Really,
I didn't make up a PowerPoint.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I figured that we could all work together this morning.
But her story, Thank you, Quincy.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Her story begins in Luke chapter one, verse five. In
the time of Herod, King of Judea, there was a
priest named Zachariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
His wife, Elizabeth.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
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 barren, and they were both well along in years. Once,
when Zachariah's division was on duty and he was serving
(05:03):
as priests before God, he was chosen by lot, according
to the custom of 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 worshipers
were outside praying, and then an angel of the Lord
appeared to him, standing at the right hand of the
altar of incense. And when Zachariah saw him, he was
(05:24):
startled and gripped with fear. But the angel said, 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 name John. He will be a
joy and a 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
(05:46):
wine or other ferment to drink, but 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 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
(06:07):
people prepared for the Lord. And Zachariah asked the Angel,
how can I be sure of this? I am an
old man, and my wife is well along in years,
And the Angel answered, I am Gabriel. I stand in
the presence of God, and I've been sent to you
(06:29):
to speak the good news and tell you this thing.
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. Meanwhile,
the people were waiting for Zachariah and wondering why he
(06:50):
stayed so long in the temple, and when he came out,
he could not speak to them, and they realized.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
He had a vision, for he kept making signs to.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Them but remained unable to speak, And when his time
of service was over, he returned home. And after this
his wife Elizabeth, became pregnant and for five months remained
in seclusion.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
And she said, the Lord has done this for me
in these days.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
He has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace
among the people. Father, I thank you for your word,
and I pray that you'll teach us with it, help
me to open it clearly, and I pray by your
spirit you will carry it to our hearts in Jesus' name.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
So who is Elizabeth? And what can we learn from her? Well?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
She's an upright woman. The Bible says. She obeyed the law,
she kept the regulations. She did the things a good
woman is supposed to do. She was descended from Aaron,
the first high priest. Her husband was a priest. She
seems like the kind of person that God would want
to bless, doesn't she? But here she was well along
(08:15):
in years and missing one of life's great joys.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
She had no children.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
The Bible describes childless women as barren. The picture is
of land where nothing is able to grow. That's a
sad thing. But it wasn't a woman's fault if she
was barren. In Genesis and again in First Samuel were
told that God opens the womb or he closes it
(08:45):
as he chooses.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
He makes a woman fertile or not.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Now, Elizabeth desired a son, but for reasons he knew
God had not allowed her to conceive. What we know
is God can do what is inconceivable. The Angel told
(09:16):
her husband, her old man husband, your prayers have been heard.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Your wife will bear you a son, and you are
to name him John.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
You understand that this was physically impossible, right, It was
not going to happen. He wasn't capable, She wasn't capable.
At this age. This woman was never going to have
a baby. We don't know how old she was, but
we do know that she was well along in years.
(09:56):
That's kind of a tender way of putting it right.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I suppose Luke could have looked it up and said.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
You know, she was seventy three years old, or she
was eighty seven. We don't know, but she was no
young woman. And yet God decreed, now is the time
I am going to give you a son. I am
going to open your womb, and I am going.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
To give you a child.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Now, I'm sure that Zacharia and Elizabeth had wanted a
child for many years. They had tried for a baby,
They had prayed hard without any result. And I wonder
if the time came when they just gave up praying
because the time was passed. Have your prayers ever run
out of time?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah? Mine, half mine.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Have I asked and what I wanted just didn't happen,
and the time passed and it was gone. The Bible
says if we ask anything according to his will, that
he hears us. And if we know that he hears us,
(11:06):
whatever we've asked, we know we have well we've asked
of him. When our prayers are barren, maybe it's because
they haven't met the high standards of the will of God.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
I pray for no dandelions in my yard.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
God says, dandelions have their place too. I pray, Lord,
give me that job, and he says, no, I have
something else for you. Last week, we prayed for our
(11:52):
friend Janice. Lord heal her mother, and the Lord responded,
I have decreed that.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
All will die.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
And Janice ran into that reality on Friday. Let's not
forget to pray for her. What this elderly couple didn't
know after all this time and all these prayers, was
that God had heard them, and he had stored up
(12:25):
their prayers for the proper time, the time of his choosing,
and then and only then he would answer by doing
what could not be done. God can do the inconceivable,
And I see in this pass as that God does
(12:47):
what is important? Do you think that being a mother
was important to Elizabeth?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Look what she says in verse twenty five.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
In these days, I'm old, when my hair's gray, when
I'm wrinkly, when I'm all that. In these days, the
Lord has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace.
Among the people in Israel, it was an embarrassment to
(13:22):
not have kids.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
It was a shame. It was maybe even shameful. It
was disgraceful. It was like being cursed.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Now people may have many reasons for not having children, but.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Even today.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
We think God blesses his upright servants. And what does
that mean about a woman who.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Isn't blessed by God.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I'm sure that kind people felt sorry for her, but
who knows what the mean ones said at home in
their own kitchens. Elizabeth had lived all these years under
a shadow of disgrace, but God, with one wave of
(14:28):
his hand, took it away.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It was important, wasn't it. But it got better.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Not only did he take away the disgrace, verse fourteen
and fifteen, the angel says, your boy 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 fermented drink, but we'll be filled with the
(15:02):
Holy Spirit even from birth. Wow, Mom's, Dad's, how would
you like to hear that?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
How would you like to hear that?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Not only are you getting a kid one you're old,
but he's gonna be great? Maybe, parents, you see in
a note on your kid's report card if your child
is a joint you teacher, Ah, that's great. Probably made
(15:39):
you feel good, maybe even a little bit weepy if
you got one of those. Huh, how much better to
not get it from a teacher but from an angel.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
You know what an angel is, don't you.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
In both Hebrew and Greek, the word we translate angel
literally means messenger. Angels aren't just big, shiny guys with
wings or cute little babies with halos. They are messengers
from God, the God sends to do as he wishes
(16:15):
and to do what he wishes. Hebrews one fourteen tells
us that angels are ministering spirits for those who will
be saved.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
They bring information, they offer protection. They are ministers.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And to Elizabeth and Zachariah, this angel said, your kid,
it's gonna be a joy.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I can't imagine what that would be like.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
How much better when it says God will consider him
a great man man, This is wonderful, no wonder Zachari
didn't believe it. He probably met a few kids in
his day.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
The angel could have said that to my dad about
his first boy. Oh, that'd be great.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
After he met the first boy, he wouldn't have thought
that about the second boy. You know, boys aren't all that.
But what a messenger, and what a message, What a
message for this elderly couple. It was important.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
But you needed to understand this.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
What was important to Elizabeth was important in a different
way to God.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Get that what was important to Elizabeth was important in
another way to God.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Because what God does is very intentional. Well, God does
is intentional. By that, I mean he doesn't act on
a whim. He doesn't act by chance. He acts because
he wants to and because he has a plan that
he is acting on. Have you ever thought that is
(18:04):
what is important to you?
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Might not be important to God. That's not a happy thought.
But let me give you a few examples.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Moses had a happy life as a shepherd living with
his wife in Midian, and God said, you're going to Egypt.
Jeremiah was content to be an obscure priest. God appointed
him to be a weeping prophet. Daniel lived as a
young aristocrat in Jerusalem.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
God sent him to Babylon. Mary looked forward.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
To having a family, raising a children, raising children, all
the aspirations of a typical young Jewish girl. But God
called this adolescent to be an unwed mother, to have
a son who was called crazy and in league with Satan,
and then to watch him die a humiliating death on
the cross. Was that Mary's idea of what she wanted
(18:56):
for her life?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
No, and did God ask? No?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
God had some intentions, and we could share many other examples.
Perhaps your own life is an example of how God
does what he wants. You are on one path, a
path maybe that you found satisfying when your heart heard
that silent voice of God say it's time to make
a change. It's time for a change in my life.
(19:27):
I aspired to be a musician. Then God called me
to be a pastor, and I was happy. But then
God called me to be an educator, and then I
was happy. But then I lost my job, and now
I'm unemployed and playing guitar.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And looking for work and going to Haiti because I
have time off listen.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
I have always loved to travel always. I was born
in Florida, I was raised in Arizona. And every summer
when I was a kid, we would load up the
Pontiac or the Plymouth and we would we drive two
thousand miles.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
From Tucson to Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
We'd see El Paso, we'd see Van Horn, we'd see
San Antonio. We'd try to get them to stop at
the Alamo and they never did. We'd go through Houston
and cross the Mississippi River. Then we'd see the battleship
Alabama and Mobile Bay, and there are three kids in
the backseat, all going, Dad, can we go see the battleship?
And we kept going, No, that's not We did stop.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
We stopped.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Wise man, it was something to be seven years old
on a battleship.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And we'd go through.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
We'd enjoy the music in New Orleans, get out and
play in the White Sands at Pensacola, onto Jacksonville, and then.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
To my granny's house in Melbourne.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
It was mythic, it was wonderful. It was the classic
American childhood road trip. Every summer now, sometimes we'd go
west to California, or north to see Granddad in Chicago,
or even drive up the East coast to Virginia and
Williamsburg in Washington. Collett thinks, it's no wonder that I
became a history teacher.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Because I saw it all in my life.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I've hit fifty states, twenty countries, and five of the
seven continents. And I love to travel, but I never
wanted to go to Haiti, and I especially never wanted
to go to Haiti after an earthquake. But God's decisions
(21:32):
are intentional. He does things for his plans, and I
want to thank you for helping me on this trip.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
You know, the church has.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Committed a certain amount of funds, and I know that
some of you have contributed on top of that, and
I appreciate it. You're a blessing to me, and the
Bible says that God will use you through me to
be a blessing in Haiti, and that is intentional. Speaking
of that, Geny of you ladies are men. So I
(22:08):
got some pants that need to be hemmed. I went,
I went to the youth range, bought some brought some
work pants and they're too long. Anyway, I'll peg thanks.
But it's intentional that God. God works his.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Plans, not our plans.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
He works his plans, and in the same way as
in this roundabout fashion, sending all of us to Haiti.
God answered the prayers of these two elderly people, but
he answered.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
The prayer on his terms and for his purpose.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Amen, your son will be filled with the Holy Spirit
even from birth. And many of the people of Israel
will he bring back to the Lord, their God.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
And he will go on before.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
The Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to
turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and
the disobedience to the wisdom of the righteous, to make
ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
And that is exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
God's decision worked for God's intention. And that might be
hard for us to accept some time, because we think, well,
didn't God love Elizabeth, wouldn't he just do this for
because he loved her?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Didn't he make her a mom as a blessing? To her.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Well, yes, but that was only a little part of it.
That was just a bit. It wasn't the most important thing.
When we Americans, we have a very hard time imagining
that God doesn't just like us so much that he
won't shower us with teddy bears and bedeck us with
gum drops.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Because we're just so darn special to God. But that's
not what the Bible says.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
The Bible doesn't say that he just throws goodies at us.
It says that he is working toward purposes. And we
need to grasp this about the God who does the
inconceivable and the important and the intentional.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
This God acts.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Imperially, and by that I mean he acts as an emperor.
An emperor is a ruler over many nations, a king
of kings. China had emperors for eighteen twenty centuries ah
(24:47):
more than that, twenty one hundred years from two hundred
BC until this century until the last century, over two
thousand years worth of emperors. They ruled an area larger
than the United States, and a Chinese emperor could do
practically anything he wanted. He was called the son of Heaven,
(25:12):
and you don't mess with the son of Heaven. Christian
God is your father, but he is also your emperor.
We don't comprehend in our world what it means to
have a father who is a true lord, not just
(25:36):
a minor lord, but a king, and not just a
minor king, but an emperor, and not just an emperor,
but an emperor to every king who has ever lived,
an emperor over every empire that ever existed. This is
our father, an absolute ruler, and you and I are
(25:58):
his subjects. Last week, Colet and I played a game
with our niece and nephew.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
It's called in a pickle. It is a board game
and it has cards. On each card there's written a word.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
And now, and the object is to think of things
that are bigger than other things.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
You're trying to come up with the biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
In the hand, So everybody puts something down. Whoever's got
the biggest thing wins the round.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
It can be tricky. For example, you know what it
means to be in a pickle. It means you're you've
got a problem, right, That's what it.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Means, Okay, But a pickle could be in a hamburger bun.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
So if you're in a pickle, can you be in
a hamburger bun. That's the way this game.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Works, and it's fun. But one round ended very easily.
One card said a lie librairi.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Somebody put that down.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
The next person said the world, which is a pretty
big card, I guess, and the third person put down
the galaxy, and the fourth person put down the universe,
and that person won. Because there's not that much is
(27:25):
bigger than the universe?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Is there? Big to bigger to biggest?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
But every world, every galaxy, every universe, and everything in
them is subject to one creator or one ruler, one God.
And this God does whatever pleases him. He is imperial.
He does what he wants to do. This Father loves us.
(27:52):
Don't get me wrong. This Father loves us, but you
and I are expected to fit into his plans, not
vi versa.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Let me ask you.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Could God have answered elizabeth prayers when she was a
young woman. Could he have answered her prayers even when
she was middle aged?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Of course he could have, He's God.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
But in his wisdom, he chose to wait until she
was elderly after years of heartache, because that fulfilled his.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Plan, a plan bigger and more important than the dreams
of two people. In love. Let's talk about that plan.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
When she was already middle aged and barren, Elizabeth cousin
had a baby.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Girl and named her Mary.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
And some thirteen years later, after Elizabeth has grown old
and has given up praying for a child, cousin Mary
was just starting to think of marriage. And it was
at that point that God moved and sent his angel
to Zechariah with the good news Elizabeth will bear a son,
(29:30):
and he will turn the.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Hearts of his people to their God. And yes, miraculously
Elizabeth became pregnant.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
And six months after this miracle, God sent this same
angel to little cousin Mary, living off in Nazareth, and
she heard two messages. The first was that she he
would become the mother of the Son of God, and
the second message was that the proof of God's power
(30:09):
was even at that moment, growing in.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Her elderly cousin Elizabeth. If God, in his.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Choosing, can cause this elderly woman, well in advance, well
in advanced in years, to have a baby, then you
marry a virgin can become pregnant. Nothing is too difficult
(30:42):
for God. And both women did indeed have their babies,
and things went quiet.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
But then again, the truth of God's word bore fruit.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Elizabeth's baby, John, full of God's spirit from the womb,
grew up and began preaching that people should turn from
sin and turn to God and prepare themselves for the
arrival of God's.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Messiah, the Savior, the King of the world. And you
know what happened. They did it.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
They believed him, they repented, they turned their hearts toward.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
God, just like God had planned.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
And then one day John's younger cousin, Jesus, came to
see him, and standing there in the Jordan River, John
pointed at him and said, behold the lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
And that was the plan.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
All of us are sinners, separated from God by our
own evil decisions. But God was not satisfied with that situation,
so he gave his own son, who died, to take
away our guilt, your sin and mine.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
What does the Book of Romans say?
Speaker 1 (32:23):
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God and are justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him an
atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
God's plan was to show grace and to.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Remove the guilt of those who trust Jesus as their
dying savior and their risen king.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
That was the plan.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
His plan was to glorify himself by restoring these broken relationships,
by proving himself to be a merciful God.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
That was his plan.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
And it still is his plan. That is God's plan
for the world. And God said to Zachariah and Elizabeth,
you have had your dreams, you've had your desires. Come
into my plan. It's his plan today.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
It's his plan for boys, just as.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Much it is his plan for Haiti. It's his plan
for America and his plan for China. It was the
plan that brought his son Jesus to Earth. And it's
his plan for your children as well. Moms get that
it is the plan for your children. So I wonder,
(34:08):
what is your plan? What's your plan? You can have
your dreams and desires, but is your plan the same
as God's plan? Are you committed in your life to
fulfilling the plans of God? Are you willing in your
(34:34):
life to commit your children to fulfilling the plans of God.
Elizabeth's child was beheaded for fulfilling the plans of God.
Mary's child was crucified for fulfilling the plans of God.
(34:58):
Are you willing to give you your children to God
and to his plan to accomplish his great purposes. There's
nothing greater a young person can do with his life
than commit himself to God's great plan to join up.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
With the things of God.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
And mothers, there's nothing better a mother can do than
offer her child to God and.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Say, my Lord, here is your child.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Do as you will with this life to say his
mother's day. I'll never really know what it means to
be a mother, but God is calling you, mothers to
give your children to him.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Children. God is calling you to give yourselves to.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Him, and if you will do that, God's great plan
will be fulfilled in your life.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
We're gonna pray.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Together, but I don't ask you to pray for anyone else.
I ask you to pray for yourself, because moms, it's
hard to give up your kids and kids and hey,
we're all kids, we're somebody's kid.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Kids. It's hard to give up our lives.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
But that's what God calls us to do.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Lord. My prayer today is first a prayer of thanks.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
I thank you for my mother, who, with Dad, raised
me to serve you, to seek you.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
To honor you. I pray your blessing on her this morning.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
I thank you for all the mothers who are here
and who will be here later, and in fact who
are gathered in churches across the country and around the globe,
who today are bowing before you and, like Elizabeth, rejoicing
because you have blessed them. My prayer, Father, is that
(37:40):
you will speak to their hearts and that they would
give up their children to you, that they would say,
this child belongs to you.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
I'll care for her, I'll watch over her. She belongs
to you. Do it, Throw.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Whatever you want. I'm behind you. God, You're in the lead.
Give them the heart to do that, to not hold on,
but to trust even their dearest ones to you, knowing
that you do what is right and great and good.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
And Father.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
I pray for each younger person in this room, and
by younger person I mean child, and we're all somebody's child.
But I pray for the ones from three years old
on up to eighty, that we will give ourselves to you,
(38:43):
that will relinquish control and say, God, you are my God.
You are my father but also my emperor. Do with
me as you wish. You gave your son to die
for me, I will live for you. I pray, Father,
by your spirit, that you would plant that in each
person's heart, and the today people will fully turn to you,
(39:07):
just as when hearing the message of John, they repented
and turned to you. Now I thank you, Father, and
I bless you in the name of my King Jesus,
my Savior.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Now John is going to come up and lead us
in worship. But as he does, I'm going to be
here praying, and if you would like to come down
front and pray with me, I invite you to do that.
Maybe you have a question about this, a concern, or
maybe you're in a place where right now you hear
God saying to you, I want you. You've got something
I want you to give up to me.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Come and pray with me. Let me pray with you.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I'd count it an honor, a privilege to pray with you.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
And let's sing together.
Is a blessing to be with you today, as it
is every Sunday.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
We have me and the pulpit. As opposed to Pastor Chris.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Chris is enjoying watching Gloria enjoy Mother's Day with their
daughter back in Indiana. What's that she's also graduating today?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
That's right, and so we have.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Prayed for them, and it's just a blessing that God
is able to or that God has given them, that
they're able to be there with.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Amanda and Glenn. And that means you're stuck with me.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
But I am happy to be here, and I'm happy
to see one of you. I'm glad that I'm glad
you're here. And of course Mother's Day is a special time,
isn't it. I'm looking at.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I don't know who. I'll hear a mother? Raise your
hand if you are a mother.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
We have, we have several motherly people, and I said,
I want to say thank you. Mothering is a difficult job. Now,
Dad's how raise your hand if you're a dad. Okay, dads,
you're great too. But but moms are moms, you know
what I mean. Moms don't only give birth to us,
(01:26):
but they carry us for nine months ahead of time,
and they continue carrying us the rest of their lives.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
And that's that's the way moms are.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
My mom was visiting last weekend, and she says it
still says.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
The same things to me as she did when I
was just a kid.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
You know. She she asks if I'm meeting enough? She asks,
am I sleeping enough? She uh, you know, she's she's still.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
My mom now.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
When I was growing up, Dad loved me, but sometimes
he would miss a parent teacher conference. Mom never missed
parent teacher conference at school.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
When I was.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Dad might have missed a junior high concert.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Mom never missed a concert.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And she was there every day when I was practicing
my trombone and heard every bad note I played. Moms
nurse us when we're sick, don't they. They kiss our
skin knees, They're there in the afternoon to swat our
backsides if we need it. They hear our prayers, They
(02:38):
teach us to pray, and in my case, occasionally my
mom washed my mouth out with soap when I said
things I shouldn't have said.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Not that you mothers would know anything about that.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
But a mother's work is never done, is it? As
long as you live, you will be a mother. Moms
aren't perfect. Many of us have very complicated relationships with
our parents and moms, I think especially. Sometimes there's all
(03:11):
the good stuff, but sometimes it runs into humanity qualities
that might be construed as nosiness or bossiness or over protectiveness.
Mothers have been known to nag. But moms love their kids,
(03:32):
and kids love their moms. And it's no wonder that
the Lord tells us to honor your.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Father and your mother.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
So moms, I honor you today for the good work
you do and for raising your kids as well as
you can. One biblical mother I find very interesting is Elizabeth,
the mother of John the Baptist.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Her story is told in the first chapter of the
Book of Luke.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
If you're looking that way, you're not going to see anything. Really,
I didn't make up a PowerPoint.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I figured that we could all work together this morning.
But her story, Thank you, Quincy.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Her story begins in Luke chapter one, verse five. In
the time of Herod, King of Judea, there was a
priest named Zachariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
His wife, Elizabeth.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
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 barren, and they were both well along in years. Once,
when Zachariah's division was on duty and he was serving
(05:03):
as priests before God, he was chosen by lot, according
to the custom of 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 worshipers
were outside praying, and then an angel of the Lord
appeared to him, standing at the right hand of the
altar of incense. And when Zachariah saw him, he was
(05:24):
startled and gripped with fear. But the angel said, 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 name John. He will be a
joy and a 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
(05:46):
wine or other ferment to drink, but 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 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
(06:07):
people prepared for the Lord. And Zachariah asked the Angel,
how can I be sure of this? I am an
old man, and my wife is well along in years,
And the Angel answered, I am Gabriel. I stand in
the presence of God, and I've been sent to you
(06:29):
to speak the good news and tell you this thing.
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. Meanwhile,
the people were waiting for Zachariah and wondering why he
(06:50):
stayed so long in the temple, and when he came out,
he could not speak to them, and they realized.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
He had a vision, for he kept making signs to.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Them but remained unable to speak, And when his time
of service was over, he returned home. And after this
his wife Elizabeth, became pregnant and for five months remained
in seclusion.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
And she said, the Lord has done this for me
in these days.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
He has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace
among the people. Father, I thank you for your word,
and I pray that you'll teach us with it, help
me to open it clearly, and I pray by your
spirit you will carry it to our hearts in Jesus' name.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
So who is Elizabeth? And what can we learn from her? Well?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
She's an upright woman. The Bible says. She obeyed the law,
she kept the regulations. She did the things a good
woman is supposed to do. She was descended from Aaron,
the first high priest. Her husband was a priest. She
seems like the kind of person that God would want
to bless, doesn't she? But here she was well along
(08:15):
in years and missing one of life's great joys.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
She had no children.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
The Bible describes childless women as barren. The picture is
of land where nothing is able to grow. That's a
sad thing. But it wasn't a woman's fault if she
was barren. In Genesis and again in First Samuel were
told that God opens the womb or he closes it
(08:45):
as he chooses.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
He makes a woman fertile or not.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Now, Elizabeth desired a son, but for reasons he knew
God had not allowed her to conceive. What we know
is God can do what is inconceivable. The Angel told
(09:16):
her husband, her old man husband, your prayers have been heard.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Your wife will bear you a son, and you are
to name him John.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
You understand that this was physically impossible, right, It was
not going to happen. He wasn't capable, She wasn't capable.
At this age. This woman was never going to have
a baby. We don't know how old she was, but
we do know that she was well along in years.
(09:56):
That's kind of a tender way of putting it right.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I suppose Luke could have looked it up and said.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
You know, she was seventy three years old, or she
was eighty seven. We don't know, but she was no
young woman. And yet God decreed, now is the time
I am going to give you a son. I am
going to open your womb, and I am going.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
To give you a child.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Now, I'm sure that Zacharia and Elizabeth had wanted a
child for many years. They had tried for a baby,
They had prayed hard without any result. And I wonder
if the time came when they just gave up praying
because the time was passed. Have your prayers ever run
out of time?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah? Mine, half mine.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Have I asked and what I wanted just didn't happen,
and the time passed and it was gone. The Bible
says if we ask anything according to his will, that
he hears us. And if we know that he hears us,
(11:06):
whatever we've asked, we know we have well we've asked
of him. When our prayers are barren, maybe it's because
they haven't met the high standards of the will of God.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
I pray for no dandelions in my yard.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
God says, dandelions have their place too. I pray, Lord,
give me that job, and he says, no, I have
something else for you. Last week, we prayed for our
(11:52):
friend Janice. Lord heal her mother, and the Lord responded,
I have decreed that.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
All will die.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
And Janice ran into that reality on Friday. Let's not
forget to pray for her. What this elderly couple didn't
know after all this time and all these prayers, was
that God had heard them, and he had stored up
(12:25):
their prayers for the proper time, the time of his choosing,
and then and only then he would answer by doing
what could not be done. God can do the inconceivable,
And I see in this pass as that God does
(12:47):
what is important? Do you think that being a mother
was important to Elizabeth?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Look what she says in verse twenty five.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
In these days, I'm old, when my hair's gray, when
I'm wrinkly, when I'm all that. In these days, the
Lord has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace.
Among the people in Israel, it was an embarrassment to
(13:22):
not have kids.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
It was a shame. It was maybe even shameful. It
was disgraceful. It was like being cursed.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Now people may have many reasons for not having children, but.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Even today.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
We think God blesses his upright servants. And what does
that mean about a woman who.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Isn't blessed by God.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I'm sure that kind people felt sorry for her, but
who knows what the mean ones said at home in
their own kitchens. Elizabeth had lived all these years under
a shadow of disgrace, but God, with one wave of
(14:28):
his hand, took it away.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It was important, wasn't it. But it got better.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Not only did he take away the disgrace, verse fourteen
and fifteen, the angel says, your boy 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 fermented drink, but we'll be filled with the
(15:02):
Holy Spirit even from birth. Wow, Mom's, Dad's, how would
you like to hear that?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
How would you like to hear that?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Not only are you getting a kid one you're old,
but he's gonna be great? Maybe, parents, you see in
a note on your kid's report card if your child
is a joint you teacher, Ah, that's great. Probably made
(15:39):
you feel good, maybe even a little bit weepy if
you got one of those. Huh, how much better to
not get it from a teacher but from an angel.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
You know what an angel is, don't you.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
In both Hebrew and Greek, the word we translate angel
literally means messenger. Angels aren't just big, shiny guys with
wings or cute little babies with halos. They are messengers
from God, the God sends to do as he wishes
(16:15):
and to do what he wishes. Hebrews one fourteen tells
us that angels are ministering spirits for those who will
be saved.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
They bring information, they offer protection. They are ministers.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And to Elizabeth and Zachariah, this angel said, your kid,
it's gonna be a joy.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
I can't imagine what that would be like.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
How much better when it says God will consider him
a great man man, This is wonderful, no wonder Zachari
didn't believe it. He probably met a few kids in
his day.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
The angel could have said that to my dad about
his first boy. Oh, that'd be great.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
After he met the first boy, he wouldn't have thought
that about the second boy. You know, boys aren't all that.
But what a messenger, and what a message, What a
message for this elderly couple. It was important.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
But you needed to understand this.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
What was important to Elizabeth was important in a different
way to God.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Get that what was important to Elizabeth was important in
another way to God.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Because what God does is very intentional. Well, God does
is intentional. By that, I mean he doesn't act on
a whim. He doesn't act by chance. He acts because
he wants to and because he has a plan that
he is acting on. Have you ever thought that is
(18:04):
what is important to you?
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Might not be important to God. That's not a happy thought.
But let me give you a few examples.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Moses had a happy life as a shepherd living with
his wife in Midian, and God said, you're going to Egypt.
Jeremiah was content to be an obscure priest. God appointed
him to be a weeping prophet. Daniel lived as a
young aristocrat in Jerusalem.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
God sent him to Babylon. Mary looked forward.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
To having a family, raising a children, raising children, all
the aspirations of a typical young Jewish girl. But God
called this adolescent to be an unwed mother, to have
a son who was called crazy and in league with Satan,
and then to watch him die a humiliating death on
the cross. Was that Mary's idea of what she wanted
(18:56):
for her life?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
No, and did God ask? No?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
God had some intentions, and we could share many other examples.
Perhaps your own life is an example of how God
does what he wants. You are on one path, a
path maybe that you found satisfying when your heart heard
that silent voice of God say it's time to make
a change. It's time for a change in my life.
(19:27):
I aspired to be a musician. Then God called me
to be a pastor, and I was happy. But then
God called me to be an educator, and then I
was happy. But then I lost my job, and now
I'm unemployed and playing guitar.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And looking for work and going to Haiti because I
have time off listen.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
I have always loved to travel always. I was born
in Florida, I was raised in Arizona. And every summer
when I was a kid, we would load up the
Pontiac or the Plymouth and we would we drive two
thousand miles.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
From Tucson to Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
We'd see El Paso, we'd see Van Horn, we'd see
San Antonio. We'd try to get them to stop at
the Alamo and they never did. We'd go through Houston
and cross the Mississippi River. Then we'd see the battleship
Alabama and Mobile Bay, and there are three kids in
the backseat, all going, Dad, can we go see the battleship?
And we kept going, No, that's not We did stop.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
We stopped.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Wise man, it was something to be seven years old
on a battleship.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And we'd go through.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
We'd enjoy the music in New Orleans, get out and
play in the White Sands at Pensacola, onto Jacksonville, and then.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
To my granny's house in Melbourne.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
It was mythic, it was wonderful. It was the classic
American childhood road trip. Every summer now, sometimes we'd go
west to California, or north to see Granddad in Chicago,
or even drive up the East coast to Virginia and
Williamsburg in Washington. Collett thinks, it's no wonder that I
became a history teacher.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Because I saw it all in my life.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I've hit fifty states, twenty countries, and five of the
seven continents. And I love to travel, but I never
wanted to go to Haiti, and I especially never wanted
to go to Haiti after an earthquake. But God's decisions
(21:32):
are intentional. He does things for his plans, and I
want to thank you for helping me on this trip.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
You know, the church has.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Committed a certain amount of funds, and I know that
some of you have contributed on top of that, and
I appreciate it. You're a blessing to me, and the
Bible says that God will use you through me to
be a blessing in Haiti, and that is intentional. Speaking
of that, Geny of you ladies are men. So I
(22:08):
got some pants that need to be hemmed. I went,
I went to the youth range, bought some brought some
work pants and they're too long. Anyway, I'll peg thanks.
But it's intentional that God. God works his.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Plans, not our plans.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
He works his plans, and in the same way as
in this roundabout fashion, sending all of us to Haiti.
God answered the prayers of these two elderly people, but
he answered.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
The prayer on his terms and for his purpose.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Amen, your son will be filled with the Holy Spirit
even from birth. And many of the people of Israel
will he bring back to the Lord, their God.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
And he will go on before.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
The Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to
turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and
the disobedience to the wisdom of the righteous, to make
ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
And that is exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
God's decision worked for God's intention. And that might be
hard for us to accept some time, because we think, well,
didn't God love Elizabeth, wouldn't he just do this for
because he loved her?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Didn't he make her a mom as a blessing? To her.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Well, yes, but that was only a little part of it.
That was just a bit. It wasn't the most important thing.
When we Americans, we have a very hard time imagining
that God doesn't just like us so much that he
won't shower us with teddy bears and bedeck us with
gum drops.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Because we're just so darn special to God. But that's
not what the Bible says.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
The Bible doesn't say that he just throws goodies at us.
It says that he is working toward purposes. And we
need to grasp this about the God who does the
inconceivable and the important and the intentional.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
This God acts.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Imperially, and by that I mean he acts as an emperor.
An emperor is a ruler over many nations, a king
of kings. China had emperors for eighteen twenty centuries ah
(24:47):
more than that, twenty one hundred years from two hundred
BC until this century until the last century, over two
thousand years worth of emperors. They ruled an area larger
than the United States, and a Chinese emperor could do
practically anything he wanted. He was called the son of Heaven,
(25:12):
and you don't mess with the son of Heaven. Christian
God is your father, but he is also your emperor.
We don't comprehend in our world what it means to
have a father who is a true lord, not just
(25:36):
a minor lord, but a king, and not just a
minor king, but an emperor, and not just an emperor,
but an emperor to every king who has ever lived,
an emperor over every empire that ever existed. This is
our father, an absolute ruler, and you and I are
(25:58):
his subjects. Last week, Colet and I played a game
with our niece and nephew.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
It's called in a pickle. It is a board game
and it has cards. On each card there's written a word.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
And now, and the object is to think of things
that are bigger than other things.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
You're trying to come up with the biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
In the hand, So everybody puts something down. Whoever's got
the biggest thing wins the round.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
It can be tricky. For example, you know what it
means to be in a pickle. It means you're you've
got a problem, right, That's what it.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Means, Okay, But a pickle could be in a hamburger bun.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
So if you're in a pickle, can you be in
a hamburger bun. That's the way this game.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Works, and it's fun. But one round ended very easily.
One card said a lie librairi.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Somebody put that down.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
The next person said the world, which is a pretty
big card, I guess, and the third person put down
the galaxy, and the fourth person put down the universe,
and that person won. Because there's not that much is
(27:25):
bigger than the universe?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Is there? Big to bigger to biggest?
Speaker 1 (27:31):
But every world, every galaxy, every universe, and everything in
them is subject to one creator or one ruler, one God.
And this God does whatever pleases him. He is imperial.
He does what he wants to do. This Father loves us.
(27:52):
Don't get me wrong. This Father loves us, but you
and I are expected to fit into his plans, not
vi versa.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Let me ask you.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Could God have answered elizabeth prayers when she was a
young woman. Could he have answered her prayers even when
she was middle aged?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Of course he could have, He's God.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
But in his wisdom, he chose to wait until she
was elderly after years of heartache, because that fulfilled his.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Plan, a plan bigger and more important than the dreams
of two people. In love. Let's talk about that plan.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
When she was already middle aged and barren, Elizabeth cousin
had a baby.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Girl and named her Mary.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
And some thirteen years later, after Elizabeth has grown old
and has given up praying for a child, cousin Mary
was just starting to think of marriage. And it was
at that point that God moved and sent his angel
to Zechariah with the good news Elizabeth will bear a son,
(29:30):
and he will turn the.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Hearts of his people to their God. And yes, miraculously
Elizabeth became pregnant.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
And six months after this miracle, God sent this same
angel to little cousin Mary, living off in Nazareth, and
she heard two messages. The first was that she he
would become the mother of the Son of God, and
the second message was that the proof of God's power
(30:09):
was even at that moment, growing in.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Her elderly cousin Elizabeth. If God, in his.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Choosing, can cause this elderly woman, well in advance, well
in advanced in years, to have a baby, then you
marry a virgin can become pregnant. Nothing is too difficult
(30:42):
for God. And both women did indeed have their babies,
and things went quiet.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
But then again, the truth of God's word bore fruit.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Elizabeth's baby, John, full of God's spirit from the womb,
grew up and began preaching that people should turn from
sin and turn to God and prepare themselves for the
arrival of God's.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Messiah, the Savior, the King of the world. And you
know what happened. They did it.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
They believed him, they repented, they turned their hearts toward.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
God, just like God had planned.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
And then one day John's younger cousin, Jesus, came to
see him, and standing there in the Jordan River, John
pointed at him and said, behold the lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
And that was the plan.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
All of us are sinners, separated from God by our
own evil decisions. But God was not satisfied with that situation,
so he gave his own son, who died, to take
away our guilt, your sin and mine.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
What does the Book of Romans say?
Speaker 1 (32:23):
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God and are justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him an
atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
God's plan was to show grace and to.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Remove the guilt of those who trust Jesus as their
dying savior and their risen king.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
That was the plan.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
His plan was to glorify himself by restoring these broken relationships,
by proving himself to be a merciful God.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
That was his plan.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
And it still is his plan. That is God's plan
for the world. And God said to Zachariah and Elizabeth,
you have had your dreams, you've had your desires. Come
into my plan. It's his plan today.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
It's his plan for boys, just as.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Much it is his plan for Haiti. It's his plan
for America and his plan for China. It was the
plan that brought his son Jesus to Earth. And it's
his plan for your children as well. Moms get that
it is the plan for your children. So I wonder,
(34:08):
what is your plan? What's your plan? You can have
your dreams and desires, but is your plan the same
as God's plan? Are you committed in your life to
fulfilling the plans of God? Are you willing in your
(34:34):
life to commit your children to fulfilling the plans of God.
Elizabeth's child was beheaded for fulfilling the plans of God.
Mary's child was crucified for fulfilling the plans of God.
(34:58):
Are you willing to give you your children to God
and to his plan to accomplish his great purposes. There's
nothing greater a young person can do with his life
than commit himself to God's great plan to join up.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
With the things of God.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
And mothers, there's nothing better a mother can do than
offer her child to God and.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Say, my Lord, here is your child.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Do as you will with this life to say his
mother's day. I'll never really know what it means to
be a mother, but God is calling you, mothers to
give your children to him.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Children. God is calling you to give yourselves to.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Him, and if you will do that, God's great plan
will be fulfilled in your life.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
We're gonna pray.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Together, but I don't ask you to pray for anyone else.
I ask you to pray for yourself, because moms, it's
hard to give up your kids and kids and hey,
we're all kids, we're somebody's kid.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Kids. It's hard to give up our lives.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
But that's what God calls us to do.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Lord. My prayer today is first a prayer of thanks.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
I thank you for my mother, who, with Dad, raised
me to serve you, to seek you.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
To honor you. I pray your blessing on her this morning.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
I thank you for all the mothers who are here
and who will be here later, and in fact who
are gathered in churches across the country and around the globe,
who today are bowing before you and, like Elizabeth, rejoicing
because you have blessed them. My prayer, Father, is that
(37:40):
you will speak to their hearts and that they would
give up their children to you, that they would say,
this child belongs to you.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
I'll care for her, I'll watch over her. She belongs
to you. Do it, Throw.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Whatever you want. I'm behind you. God, You're in the lead.
Give them the heart to do that, to not hold on,
but to trust even their dearest ones to you, knowing
that you do what is right and great and good.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
And Father.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
I pray for each younger person in this room, and
by younger person I mean child, and we're all somebody's child.
But I pray for the ones from three years old
on up to eighty, that we will give ourselves to you,
(38:43):
that will relinquish control and say, God, you are my God.
You are my father but also my emperor. Do with
me as you wish. You gave your son to die
for me, I will live for you. I pray, Father,
by your spirit, that you would plant that in each
person's heart, and the today people will fully turn to you,
(39:07):
just as when hearing the message of John, they repented
and turned to you. Now I thank you, Father, and
I bless you in the name of my King Jesus,
my Savior.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Now John is going to come up and lead us
in worship. But as he does, I'm going to be
here praying, and if you would like to come down
front and pray with me, I invite you to do that.
Maybe you have a question about this, a concern, or
maybe you're in a place where right now you hear
God saying to you, I want you. You've got something
I want you to give up to me.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Come and pray with me. Let me pray with you.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I'd count it an honor, a privilege to pray with you.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
And let's sing together.
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