← ArchiveMissing ChristmasSunday, December 30, 2018DateDecember 30, 2018Speaker—TextLuke 1Passages in this sermonLuke 12:23Luke 1:53:04Revelation 5:611:37Numbers 629:49TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00*music* I love seeing what the Lord is doing at the Well Church, one of our sister churches.0:30Just a reminder that what you do here is impacting the world. We have people that are serving in the foster community right now in St. Clair County. We have people that are praying and serving in Zambia and Dominican and New Hampshire and other places in our state and in our county and in our local municipalities. Look, church, what you do matters.0:58So thank you for serving Christ. We might never know the impact until we get to heaven one day and God's gonna say, you don't realize it, but the power of God was working. And so thank you. On behalf of your pastor, thank you for serving. Thank you for giving. Thank you for praying. Thanking you for what the Lord is doing around our community. So God bless you for that. It's exciting to see the Well Church. So we were gonna put the finishing touches on a sermon series today called Missing Christmas.1:25And one of my greatest prayers for my life and for our church's life and for our community is that we would never miss out on what God wants to do in your life. I never want, I never want to see God face to face. And he says, Josh, I was gonna do this, but your faith wasn't enough or you didn't pray. And there's so many things that could limit God working in life. You can't ever limit God, but missing out on what God wants to do.1:54But there's one reason that we don't miss out and that's Jesus Christ. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. And we've been looking at different people in the Advent narrative story. And today we're gonna look at a man named Zechariah. Some of your translations, if you have the NASB, it actually says Zacharias, same individual. But we're gonna look at that today. So if you have your Bibles, turn with me in the book of Luke. Luke chapter one, beginning in verse five.2:23And I'm always reminded, look, this is the living and active word of God. And we have it and we are able to open it. And when we do, and when we read it, it impacts our life. And so we do not read this as if it is any other book. This is the very word of the Lord. My sermon this morning is affectionately entitled, Shut Your Mouth.2:51Shut Your Mouth. It'll make sense shortly. So let's read this entire text. Luke chapter one, verse five. "In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest of Abijah's division named Zechariah. And his wife was from the daughter of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.3:18Both were righteous in God's sight, living without blame according to all the commands and the requirements of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth could not conceive and both of them were well along in years. When his division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, it happened that he was chosen by Lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense.3:39At that very hour of incense, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. An angel of the Lord appeared to him standing to the right of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified and overwhelmed with fear. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard.4:07Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. There will be joy and delight for you, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother's womb. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.4:33And he will go after, before him, in the Spirit, with the power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people." And Zechariah said, "Well, how can I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years." The angel said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God.5:02And I was sent to speak to you and tell you the good news." He said, "Listen, you will become silent and unable to speak until the days take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time." Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah, amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary. When he did come out, he could not speak.5:30Then they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He was making signs to them and remained speechless. When the days of his ministry were completed, he went back home. And after these days, his wife Elizabeth conceived and kept herself in seclusion for five months. And she said, "The Lord has done this for me. He has looked with favor in the days to take away my disgrace among the people."5:56Zechariah, shut your mouth. Let's pray. Father, may we be people who do not miss the glory of God in our lives. Father, help us pray with fervency. Lord, help us fear you and you alone.6:23Lord, help us fill our minds with the glory and the majesty of the truth of God. Father, this morning, may we believe in a way that it makes a difference in our life. Lord, we commit ourselves to you. We have read your holy word. Now move in our hearts that we would not be hearers only, but that we would do what your word says. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.6:51So what do we know about Zechariah? Well, we know that he lived in the reign of Herod who was, by this time, a brutal king. And we know that not only did he grow up and did he serve at a time of Herod, but he was a priest. But we know that he had a wife named Elizabeth. And we know that he and Elizabeth could not have children together.7:17And something, though, was different about this day. Something was different about the day that he served in this moment than any other day. And we ask ourselves the question maybe, well, how often did Zechariah serve? We don't know the answer to that. But we do know this. We know that Zechariah was one of about 18,000 priests that served in the sanctuary. And so with that number of priests, what was happening here by lot?7:46And we just glossed over it in verse 8. But it says it happens that he was chosen by lot. Now, when you hear the word it happened, you just think, well, it must have been happenstance. No, no, no, no, no. God appointed this day in Zechariah's life. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. When you see by lots or casting lots in the New Testament, we see God, and even Old Testament,8:13we see God orchestrating and showing the people his will through that. So this is not a chance occurrence. This is, for Zechariah, a moment of God's sovereign grace in his life, where he is having a once in a lifetime opportunity. Zechariah is probably doing something in this day that he never thought he would get to do. One of 18,000 people, and he's going into the sanctuary.8:40Now, I put a graphic on the back, and it's sort of small. I'm going to walk you through what would happen here. So pretend I'm Zechariah. And so you're walking now. If you see the outer chamber, it's the women's courtyard. So ladies, you have your own courtyard. And that's where the ladies would stay and the Gentiles. And then if you go into the inter gate, you would see the priest's courtyard. And this is the place where the Jewish population, men, would pray. And so upon coming into this courtyard, the man who is designated to offer incense on this day would fill it at the altar and put it in a bronze bowl.9:09He would put the coals there and then he would take that bowl. And if you can see, he would go into the holy place. So that's your far left on the image, if you can see that. Now, the holy place is not the same thing as the holy of holies. The holy of holies is within the holy place. And so here is Zechariah going into the holy place. Everyone else is outside.9:38And he would take this rake-like instrument and he would hit it on the ground. It's called a magrafah. And some would say, well, it's a musical instrument. Some would say it's a rake. We're not sure. But he would hit that and it would remind all the other priests, go to your stations because we're offering incense to the Lord. And at this moment, the people began to pray. And he said, well, why is the incense important?10:02Because over and over again in scripture, we see that the incense represents the prayers of the people of God. Twice a day in the morning and the evening, the people of God would gather and pray. And so they would gather some in the outer court, some in the inner court. But the priest who is designated by lot in this day would go into the holy place and offer incense to the Lord as a sweet aroma unto Yahweh himself.10:30We see in Revelation the same thing happening. You see in Revelation, John, this powerful picture of the throne of God. And he sees around the throne, he sees people standing and prayers going up before the Lord. And so once in a lifetime offering prayer. And can you imagine with the smoke and the noise and the darkness of the holy place?10:57Zechariah looks to the right. And what does he see? He sees an angel. Now at that moment, he's probably scared to death thinking, have I approached the Holy of Holies? Am I about to die? So you can imagine how he's startled when he sees this angel for the first time. So how do we now apply this to our life? So let's walk through this we see in Zechariah's life.11:25One, we see the power in the presence of God in prayer. We see the power of prayer in our life. Revelation, the verse I talked about earlier, Revelation 5:6. John, he's this glorious vision of the throne. And this is what he sees around the throne of God. There were four living creatures and 24 elders. And they were holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense.11:51Does that sound familiar? Zechariah in this moment in Luke chapter one is holding a gold bowl full of incense. And these 24 elders are around the throne of God, which are the prayers of the saints. And over and over and over again in Luke, when major God events happen, they're almost always associated with prayer. Think about that.12:22Let that sink in. Over and over again in Luke, when something major happens that's divine oriented by the Lord, it's happening through prayer. And that's what's going on right now. Zechariah is praying. And this is what the angel says. Did you catch when we read this? At the very hour, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in verse 11 and said, "Don't be afraid," in verse 13, "because your prayer has been heard."12:47Now the best translation is not, has been heard, but it's really, it's an aorist tense in Greek. It is, it was heard. And in that moment, Zechariah is thinking, I'm offering prayers for the people of God to the Lord. Which prayer was answered? But there's no doubts in Zechariah's mind what prayer is answered.13:13Look what the angel says here in verse 13. "Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you will name him John." Now we know this about John. Well, we know this about Zechariah. On the scale of young to old, he's old.13:39Right? That's what the scripture says. And we know his wife. I didn't say this. The word of God said this. His wife is old. And can you just imagine how long ago had Zechariah quit praying that prayer? I can just see him praying every day, "Lord, give us a child." You see the devastation on my wife. Lord, do we just want a child to give to you and to change this world for the name of the Messiah?14:05Maybe he'd given up. I was reminded as I read this story. Maybe you feel the same way. Maybe you're praying. You just feel like, God, you're not listening. God, I've been praying and all I hear is silence. I'm praying and all I hear is silence. I'm praying and all I hear is silence. I'm praying and all I hear is silence. I'm praying and all I hear is silence. I'm praying and all I hear is silence. I'm praying and all I hear is silence.14:34I'm praying and all I hear is silence. I'm praying and all I hear is silence. I'm praying and all I hear is silence. I'm praying and all I hear is silence. I'm praying and all I hear is silence. I'm praying and all I hear is silence. 1948. And as the reporters began to report on this, something, a phenomenon happened. All of the neighbors around the falls in the middle of the night woke up. Why? Because of silence. They never heard silence like this before.15:02And what happened near Buffalo? Because of the prevailing winds, ice had lodged the river upstream. And so for 30 minutes, the falls had stopped. But the deafening silence woke the people up. And I can only imagine in the midst of this unbroken silence, Zechariah looks at this angel face to face. And this is what he hears from this angel.15:29He's been praying this prayer. God, give us a child. We are old. I know it can't happen, but Lord, with you it can. And maybe he had given up and maybe you've been praying prayers for those in your family to come to Jesus. Or maybe there are sicknesses or things that you just wish. God, are you even listening to me? Look at Zechariah and hear what the angel says. The angel looks at him in verse 13 and says, Zechariah, your prayer has been hurt.15:56The economic difficulties of being childless. You don't have anyone taking care of you in your old age. The social stigma. Some Jewish teachers in this time, not all, but some would even encourage a man to divorce his wife if she could not bear children because it was a social stigma.16:17And so can you imagine Zechariah praying this prayer privately? And now he's here offering incense. And the angel says, we hear. And I just begin to think as I pray. Some of us need an angel right by us, tapping us on the shoulder saying, Josh, God heard.16:40I know all you think is, all you see is silence. I know you've been praying and you feel like it's futile, but don't worry. God heard your prayer. That's the power of prayer in our life. If you are a child of God through the grace of Jesus Christ, every prayer you pray is heard by Jesus, by God.17:01And I just begin to think as I was looking at Zechariah, I said, Lord, I don't want to stop praying. Don't let me give up. Don't let me get discouraged. God, don't let me limit you in my prayers and just thinking, man, what about my family? What would your community look like if God answered every prayer that you prayed this week?17:29You might not want to ask that question because it really hit me like a ton of bricks. God, if you answered every prayer like I wanted you to answer them this week, would people have come to faith in Jesus Christ? Lord, would marriages have been restored? God, would people who are sick, would they have been healed? God, would my community be a different place?17:56Because God, when we pray, you hear. And we need the reminder this morning, every prayer that you pray, God hears your prayers. Don't give up. I believe sometimes we just miss the presence of God in our life because we stop praying. As if it doesn't matter, it does. And the power of God is displayed in his prayers. Do not be afraid, Zechariah. Why? Because your prayer has been heard.18:23And if you're like me, I need Gabriel right here saying, do not be afraid, Josh. Your prayer, it was heard. God is listening. God is listening. I think the second thing we see that often causes us to miss out on the grace of God in our life is fear. Maybe you're like, well, I'm praying like I should. I'm praying God-sized prayers, but I'm scared. I am terrified. Maybe you have Zechariah's reaction in verse 12. When Zechariah saw the angel, he was terrified and overcome with fear.18:52Now, fear in the Greek language and often other languages is not a noun. They don't have a noun form for it. You know, fear is not like a watch. I mean, I have a watch and I can take off a watch. That's a noun, right? Fear is not something you can just take off. It's not like, well, I have a fear and now I don't have a fear. No, fear is different. Fear is present.19:21Anyone been fearful? And in that moment, fear is real. It is a present active state. And that was where Zechariah was. He was terrified of what he saw. We're not sure why he was terrified, but over and over and over again, we see that this is the righteous response to God is fear. You know, I think sometimes we like to dress down God and we say, well, God just accepts you as you are. So you just come into his presence as you are. Right?19:50Right? You just show up and say, God, here I am. I know you've been waiting for me. Sorry to make you wait, but I'm here finally. I know you've been expecting me. Over and over again in the scripture, when someone encounters the presence of God, it is woe is me for I am undone. And I believe we've lost our fear of God. We've lost. You say, well, why should I be scared of him? No, we've lost our awe of a holy, righteous creator.20:14And what the world needs to see in those who claim the name of Jesus Christ, they need to see you fear God. They need to see me fear God. They need to see my life look differently because I fear the Lord. Not because I'm afraid of him. Because when I see God, I see myself and I realize how can a holy God ever love a unholy, sinful, rebellious person like me.20:34And Zechariah has that response. And we're reminded this. The angel leans over to him and doesn't just say, hey, your prayer has been heard. But what does he say? He's like, pst, Zechariah, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Because the fear of the Lord drives out every other fear that we might have.21:03I just read an amazing story about the Korean War recently. And in the 1950, during the Korean conflict, the North Koreans were pushed north. And as they were pushed north, they took the prisoners of war from Europe and America with them. And as they were taken, it was a long, arduous journey.21:29These prisoners of war were emaciated. They were sick and they were wounded. And sometimes they would make them march 20 miles a day. And what the North Koreans did in this moment, they put some soldiers at the very rear. And so any prisoner of war that couldn't make the trip, occasionally you would hear a shot ring out. And you'd realize someone who couldn't make the trip was shot. But Philip Crosby and his friends started doing this.21:57He was one of that group, prisoners of war. And they stayed to the back. And as they passed close to GIs, they whispered it. Because they didn't want to be caught. And this is what they whispered. They said, God is near in this dark hour. His love is real. His mercy is real. His forgiveness is real. And His reward is waiting for us. And that was enough.22:26Some of these soldiers realized the presence of God was with them. That was enough to encourage them to keep going. You see, fear can paralyze us. We're afraid of so many things. And the reminder that if you fear the Lord, it drives out the fear of everything else. So what are you fearful of today? Just remember the Lord is near to us.22:53Do not be afraid. His reward is waiting. His reward is waiting. Don't miss out on what God wants to do in your life because you're fearful of everything else but God. Third, we see this in the word of the Lord. Look at Zechariah's response. If you want to feel good about yourself, you're not a priest and your lot wasn't chosen today. But Zechariah was and his lot was chosen.23:20This is the man that the entire city was looking to. You're offering the prayers of the city. And this is how he responds to the angel. You ready for it? He didn't say, I've been waiting for you angel. Verse 18. So let me just stop there. Zechariah is in the holy place, right? Yes. He's been praying this prayer and he knows the prayer has already been answered.23:46This messenger of God says already do not be afraid. And here's his response. All of this has happened and he looks right. And I can't imagine looking at Gabriel in the eyes in saying what Zechariah says in verse 18. He says this. How can I know this? You're talking to an angel. I was going to ask, has anyone else done that before?24:13But I don't. I don't want to ask that. You're talking to, and look at what Gabriel says in verse 19. The angel answered him and said, I am Gabriel. I mean, he's answering the priest who stands in the presence of God. And I was sent to speak to you and tell you this good news. I think often we can miss out on what God wants to do in our life because we want information.24:41Zechariah, you have everything. Gabriel came to visit you in the holy place. And you're going to ask him, how can I know this? And how often do we do that in our life? And he's asking a question that most of us ask because we live in a post enlightened world. And what the enlightenment did for us and for our society, it made us value and elevate reason and individualism above everything else.25:07It made us value reason and individualism above everything else. And think about how we speak. We speak in terms of reason and information. We say things like this. We say things like, well, our thinking has evolved. Or if you just, you know, to change your mind, just change your life, change your mind.25:35Or we think things like this. We believe as a society and it's true in our society. We believe that with mental assent and the process of gaining information that our society would just be a better place. Listen, we're not evolving morally. We're not evolving as a society. If anything, I can make the argument that we're the most educated society the world has ever known.26:05And we're still the most violent society the world has ever known. Something's amiss. And so we should just look at that and say, God, maybe it's not a mental issue. For Zechariah, it wasn't an issue of the mind. Look what he says. Look at the angel reminds him in verse 20. The angel doesn't say, well, Zechariah, you're right. You know what? You didn't have the information that you should have had.26:33And if you would have had the information that you should have had, then you, I'm certain you would have believed. So let me fill in the missing fact that you should have had besides the fact that I am Gabriel. That should have been your clue. Right? That's not what the angel says. Look at what the angel says to him. He said, you will become silent in verse 20 and unable to speak because you did not believe.26:56See, Gabriel shows us what we all have wrong. We don't have a mind issue. We have a heart issue. For Zechariah, it wasn't a part of the mind. It was a heart.27:25And let me just stop there. So look, God doesn't want you to turn your mind off. He wants you to tune your heart in. There's a difference. Some of us think, well, for me to have faith, I need to take my mind out. No, that's not true at all. The more I set my mind on the glory of Christ, the more I believe. This does not check your mind at the door and you will believe. This is if you believe, he will tune your mind to sing his praise. But often for many of us, we miss out because we need the empirical verified facts before we believe.27:51And the truth is you bought into the lie of our culture because you don't live your life like that. Some of you say, well, if God would just prove to me mentally, I'll believe. You did not verify the strength of your seat before you sat down today. I didn't see anyone look around and say, hmm, a little sketchy today. Let me take a core sample and see if this pew will hold me up.28:21No, why did you sit down? It was based on trust. It was based on the fact that over and over again, some of you have seen someone sit down in a seat. And because of the promises of that strength, you believe. And how often does God verify himself and show himself faithful to us over and over and over again in his word? But we make it and say, God, if you just gave me the info, I would believe.28:51And God says, I have. I've proved myself over and over as we sing. Is a mental, intellectual ascent keeping you from seeing Christ in your life. You're not alone. Zechariah was there. We don't have head problems. We have heart problems. And lastly, we see this. Zechariah is rebuked because he's not believing for this heart.29:19Now, this is what you might not know about what's going on here. So I gave you the temple image. So Zechariah is supposed to offer incense and then he comes out. Well, tradition says that the priest would come out and they would say a blessing immediately. So the priest would go in the temple, bronze bowl, coals from the altar. He's offering incense as prayers of saints.29:47And he's going out and he's saying something, maybe Numbers chapter six. May the Lord bless you and keep you and may his face shine upon you. And so Zechariah has seen this angel. He's not believing in his heart. And so he comes forth from the holy place and he goes. And something is going on here because the word of God says the people understand that he's seen a vision.30:11Now, I don't know what game I should raise they're playing. But something that Zechariah says, I mean, what do you do for an angel? But something is Zechariah is communicating that he saw something divine in that place. Because he didn't believe. Now, we also know this. The word could not only mean not speak, but it also could mean that he could not hear.30:37What does Gabriel say in verse 20 to him? Because you did not listen. Now you cannot hear for five months. He cannot hear. So let's fast forward. Some of you men are going to amen to this. Praise God for wives. Right? Praise God for wives who listen to the Lord. Because this is what happens to Zechariah's wife. So fast forward to verse 60.31:02Elizabeth responded, we will call him John. And everyone said to her, well, none of your relatives have that name. So they motioned to his father to find out what he wanted to be called. Now, so they motioned to his father. So I think that gives us a clue. They probably were waving that he might not even be able to hear.31:31Because he didn't listen to God. God made him not hear man. And so he asked for a writing tablet. And he wrote, his name is John. And they were all amazed. And immediately his mouth was open. His tongue set free. And he began to speak, praising God. And fear. Sound familiar? Fear came upon all those who lived around them. And all these were being talked about throughout the hill country and Judah.31:58Now, what you might not know is that prior to that, Elizabeth encounters Mary. The mother of Jesus Christ. And listen to what Elizabeth says to Mary. Now, Elizabeth has a husband who saw an angel in the holy place and did not believe. And this is what she says about Mary.32:27Back up again now to verse 45. Elizabeth speaks to Mary and says, "Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord will fulfill what he has spoken to her." You see, Mary is not like Zechariah. Zechariah saw and heard and did not believe.32:55Mary saw and heard and believed. You say, "Well, what is belief? What is true belief? What is the difference in that?" Spurgeon says it best. Spurgeon says, "Do you trust? For this is the cream of the word believe. Do you trust in Jesus? Do you lean your whole weight on him? This is the faith that saves.33:24Faith that falls back into the arms of Jesus. A faith that drops from its own hanging place into the mighty arms." It's very simply, "Do you trust God today?" The sad reality of the culture that we live in is that we have told people this lie. "Well, you know what? Just believe in God, make a decision, and nothing has to change,33:51but you'll be saved one day." That's not belief. The belief that we see over and over again in Scripture is a belief that changes lives. It's a belief that says, "God, I don't understand it all, but I'm going to lean my full weight upon you. God, I don't know how my old wife can have a child, but you said it's going to happen." And God, I believe.34:20And I believe that this child, we're going to name him John. We don't even have a relative named John. All of our relatives are named Zechariah or Aaron, and you want to name him John. But Lord, we believe. We're going to believe so much that it's going to change our lives. And Mary, how do you explain this virgin birth? But Lord, I'm going to trust. I'm going to believe in a way that it's going to change my life.34:49And let me just say this. If you've grown up in church all your life, and you are hanging your hat or your hope on a decision you made years ago, and nothing has changed in your life, that's not belief. That is a hope and a wing and a prayer, and wings and prayers don't save anyone. The Son of Man saves people. The one who died on the cross for our sake. The one that said, "Take up your cross and follow me."35:16The one that we can look at is we say, "God, I don't know what's going to happen, but I do know if I trust fully in Jesus Christ, no matter what happens, you'll be there." That's the belief that we need. We need a belief like Mary. That when she walked into the room, when she walked into the house of Elizabeth, something in Mary's life told Elizabeth that she believes. And what would our world look like35:45if every time you went in the store, every time you walked home someone looked at you and said, "Man, I don't know what's going on," but you believe in Jesus. And you believe it like you mean it. And you believe it like it makes a difference in your life. And when you believe, it does make a difference in your life. What would it look like if that's how we believed? If we lean our full trust on Jesus Christ?36:06I want to let Zechariah close our time together. The message is entitled, "Shut your mouth." But we know that God opened his mouth. And look at what Zechariah says in verse 68. "After five long months of silence,"36:30this is what he says, "Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and provided redemption for his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us." Zechariah gets it. He realizes that Jesus is who he says that God is.36:57He realizes that he's the one who will offer redemption. What is redemption? Redemption means that you have been purchased back. You've been redeemed. What do we need to be redeemed from? Because of our sins and your sins, your relationship is broken with God. It is infinitely broken. And Jesus has purchased that back. That's the great exchange on the cross. He gave his life.37:26He lived a sinless life, a life that we should have lived but we can't. He lived a sinless life that if we believe, Jesus now takes our place on the cross. He takes your sin and he gives you his righteousness. That's redemption. So what did he purchase you with? Jesus gave his life for you. He said, "Well, what does God think of me?" He thinks enough of you to let his son die for you. That's the power of the good news.37:54That's what Zechariah is saying. He's opening his mouth and saying, "Look, your redemption is here. The good news is here. The horn of salvation. Jesus saves if you believe." So the question is, do you? Do you believe? And maybe you're here and you say, "Well, I don't." We want to invite you to believe today. We want you to be in a relationship with God. We can't do that for you.38:22Only Jesus can. But he promises this. If you will recognize that you're a sinner and you put your full trust. Lean on Christ. If you put your full trust. If you believe in your heart. It's not a mind issue. It's a heart issue. And if you confess with your mouth that he is Lord, what is that? It is saying, "Jesus, you're king. I give up all rights to my life. You are now in control. You will be saved." And if you've never done that, God wants you to be in relationship with him.38:51He sent his son to pursue you, to rescue you. And we invite you to trust him fully today. If you've done that, I just want to leave you with four simple questions from the story of Zechariah. What if every time you prayed, you knew that God was listening? Would it change the way that you prayed? What if every time you prayed,39:18you looked to your right and Gabriel's there? And he says, "Josh, don't forget. God heard that prayer." I know it might feel like silence to you, but it's not silence. God is listening. Because you have an advocate, Jesus Christ, that is petitioning the Father on your behalf. Would it change the way that we prayed if every time we prayed, you knew in your mind and your heart God hears? Because he does.39:47Don't miss out on what God wants to do. Secondly, what if the fear of the Lord drove away every fear in your life? What if the fear of God drove away every other fear? He said, "That's not possible. With man, it is not." But when we see God as he really is,40:15there's an old song that says, "The things of this world will grow strangely, dim in the light of his glory and grace." Do you need to fear the Lord like you never have before? Third, what if your mind was filled with full trust in the Savior? What if your mind was filled with full trust?40:44It's not a mind, it's just a heart issue. And lastly, what if you had a belief in Jesus Christ that radically changed your world? Because when we believe in Jesus, he does. And may that be our heart and our mission. Let's pray.← Previous in Missing ChristmasSunday, December 16, 2018More sermons on Luke →
