Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these
Speaker 2: new sermons every week. I hope you're blessed today.
Speaker 1: Ah, good morning, Elevation. Shit. I never take it for
Speaker 1: granted when I get to stand in this pulpit, because
Speaker 1: every week our pastor stands up here and he preaches
Speaker 1: God's word in a way that would set our lives free.
Speaker 1: And as he mentioned, I'm one of the old gies.
Speaker 1: It means old guys. I've been around since the beginning.
Speaker 1: You might know this, but I feel like one of
Speaker 1: my responsibilities every time I stand in the pulpit is
Speaker 1: to be the storyteller, to be the old guy, reminding
Speaker 1: you where you came from. Some of you don't know
Speaker 1: your spiritual legacy. Elevation started more than seventeen years ago.
Speaker 1: Our first Sunday February fifth, two thousand and six, we
Speaker 1: had one twenty one people. Now we got more watch
Speaker 1: parties than that around the world. Look what God has
Speaker 1: done unbelievable. But it really didn't start February fifth. It
Speaker 1: started actually a year before that, in two thousand and five.
Speaker 1: When eight families committed to do this thing called Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: I want to show you a photo of your early
Speaker 1: family heritage. This on the screen here, this is this
Speaker 1: is way back in the day Elevation Church. This is
Speaker 1: what we call the Blue Room days from back in Shelby,
Speaker 1: North Carolina. Let me give you a little context around
Speaker 1: this photo. Eight families at this point are committed to
Speaker 1: sell their houses, quit their jobs, moved to an unnamed
Speaker 1: city in part of an unnamed part of the country
Speaker 1: to be part of an unnamed church. He doesn't want
Speaker 1: to sign up for that? Then, does sound amazing? We're
Speaker 1: all sitting in were wondering like what is it gonna be?
Speaker 1: And what's gonna be the name, and what's gonna be
Speaker 1: the city? And can you put that photo back up?
Speaker 1: Because Pastor Stephen is the on the bottom right corner
Speaker 1: with the shaved head. That's Pastor Stephen, Holly next to him,
Speaker 1: Chunks and Amy, and then that guy in the upper
Speaker 1: corner that's not Kevin James, that's me. That's and that
Speaker 1: was March thirteenth of two thousand and five, and we're
Speaker 1: all sitting there, what's it gonna be? Here's the notes
Speaker 1: that Pastor Stephen gave us that night, and I wanted
Speaker 1: to speak these over our church today, to revisit a
Speaker 1: spirit that was spoken more than eighteen years ago, because
Speaker 1: the timeless message that Pastor Stephen has spoken into us
Speaker 1: does not outdate. Just because we flipped the calendar, this
Speaker 1: would be on the screen things we must do. He
Speaker 1: has him on the screen that night March thirteenth, two
Speaker 1: thousand and five, he said, here are eight things we
Speaker 1: must do again. We didn't have a name, had no money,
Speaker 1: but we had a lot of vision. I wonder as
Speaker 1: I read these what applies to you today. Number one,
Speaker 1: we must get people to catch the vision rather than
Speaker 1: watching the show. I think that's a good word right there.
Speaker 1: We must call on God walkie talkie style, step by step.
Speaker 1: We must play our three chords loud to know what
Speaker 1: makes us distinctive, not lose that. Some of you have
Speaker 1: tried to imitate somebody else's sound, and God wanted you
Speaker 1: to hear today. No, No, he gave you a specific note.
Speaker 1: Go back to who He made you to be. We
Speaker 1: must step forward like God is behind us. We must
Speaker 1: protect the vision like it's a newborn baby. And we
Speaker 1: must love each other. We must think marathon, not sprint.
Speaker 1: That's why we're here eighteen years later, serving in all
Speaker 1: these communities because Pastor steven and knows the voice that says, guys,
Speaker 1: we got to think about the long term, not just
Speaker 1: the short term, and then we must feel the burden.
Speaker 1: I am so glad that we've got a pastor that
Speaker 1: eighteen years ago was saying no, no, no. I know
Speaker 1: there's a lot of things we don't know, but here's
Speaker 1: what we must do. Thank you, Pastor Stephen, for faithfully
Speaker 1: serving God, for faithfully preaching his word. We love you.
Speaker 1: We honor you with the privilege to preach today. Hey,
Speaker 1: remain standing for just another moment. I want to read
Speaker 1: God's verse for what we want to dive into today.
Speaker 1: This is going to be out of Luke chapter one.
Speaker 1: I've been in this scripture for about six months and
Speaker 1: it's really wrecking me, and I'm excited to deliver it
Speaker 1: to you today. This is in verse sixty two of
Speaker 1: Luke chapter one. It says they made signs to his
Speaker 1: father to find out sorry about that what he would
Speaker 1: like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet,
Speaker 1: and to everyone's astonishment, he wrote his name is John.
Speaker 1: You see, they asked him, what do you want to
Speaker 1: name this child? That I would do well to remind
Speaker 1: some of you that God has given you naming rights.
Speaker 1: Some of you as settled for a label that a
Speaker 1: past mistake has identified you as, and God says, that's
Speaker 1: not you. I've given you naming rights. You have the
Speaker 1: ability to rewrite some things today. And I think that's
Speaker 1: what God wants to do in our lives today. He
Speaker 1: wants to relabel some things today. Some of you as
Speaker 1: settle for a label that somebody else gave you, that
Speaker 1: is beneath you. Jesus died for you to be. You've
Speaker 1: got naming rights. He goes on to say his name
Speaker 1: is John. Immediately his mouth was open and his tongue
Speaker 1: was set free, and he began to speak, praising God.
Speaker 1: All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the
Speaker 1: hill country of Judea people were talking all about these things.
Speaker 1: Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking what then
Speaker 1: is this child going to be? For the Lord's hand
Speaker 1: was with him. Here's the title for the few minutes
Speaker 1: we have together. What's it gonna be? Say? It allowed
Speaker 1: to say? What's it gonna be. Type it in the
Speaker 1: comments what's it gonna be? You guys can be seated.
Speaker 1: Thank you Worship Team. This is a story about a
Speaker 1: couple that gets the opportunity to name a child. It's
Speaker 1: a pretty cool privilege. My wife, Janet and I we
Speaker 1: celebrate twenty three years of marriage this year. Yes, we
Speaker 1: do baby, and we've got four kids and ages seventeen
Speaker 1: down to nine. And our youngest her name is Lenya.
Speaker 1: And this is a picture of her when she was born.
Speaker 1: This is her baby photo. And we remember looking at
Speaker 1: that baby photo going, what's I know? That's what was
Speaker 1: the effect I was going for. Oh, any parents here
Speaker 1: of some newborns. You can tell me because your eyes
Speaker 1: are wide open and you're not getting any sleep. And
Speaker 1: that's Lenya. And now here she is as a nine
Speaker 1: year old, and uh, that's that's our littlest one. And
Speaker 1: when you meet a child, you walk up to them
Speaker 1: and you say, what do you want to be? What
Speaker 1: do you want to be? She wants to be a YouTuber.
Speaker 1: She has no idea what that means, but she wants
Speaker 1: to have nine YouTube channels and she wants to go
Speaker 1: to Barry College. She's got it. All mapped out, and
Speaker 1: when you see a kid, you're like, what do you
Speaker 1: want to be when you grow up? But two adults
Speaker 1: they meet each other like what do you Where did
Speaker 1: we go from becoming something for God's glory to doing
Speaker 1: something for him? I think we've lost a little bit
Speaker 1: of that wonderment that God wants. The staff, maybe you
Speaker 1: would do well the next time you're in a business
Speaker 1: meeting to look at your business and say what do
Speaker 1: you want to be when you grow up? And I
Speaker 1: think it speaks to the assignment that maybe God has
Speaker 1: placed on her hearts today to remember some of the
Speaker 1: things that He spoke in to us that maybe time
Speaker 1: has talked us out of. In this story, it's about
Speaker 1: the birth of a child. But to really understand the story,
Speaker 1: he got to rewind a little bit. I want to
Speaker 1: hop back to chapter one of Luke, starting in verse five,
Speaker 1: and I want to give you that story because some
Speaker 1: people see the end of a story you don't appreciate
Speaker 1: unless you saw Whariot began. It's really easy for like, oh,
Speaker 1: it must be nice be an elevation church with all like,
Speaker 1: let me take you back to the photo where there
Speaker 1: was no money, there was no name, because God is
Speaker 1: faithful in those little moments, and when you stay faithful
Speaker 1: in those things, you see Him do much with it.
Speaker 1: In chapter one, verse five, this is in the time
Speaker 1: of Herod, King of Judah. There was a priest name
Speaker 1: of Zachariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah.
Speaker 1: His wife was Elizabeth, and who was also a descendant
Speaker 1: of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight
Speaker 1: of God, serving all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly.
Speaker 1: So you have this couple that the husband is a
Speaker 1: preacher man, he's a priest, he's got it going down.
Speaker 1: And Elizabeth, she comes from a royal blondeline. Aaron was
Speaker 1: the first high priest of Israel. He's Moses's brother. So
Speaker 1: these people come from the right side of the tracks.
Speaker 1: They're like the all American they're the Jewish couple. Like
Speaker 1: he's the homecoming king and she's the homecoming queen, and
Speaker 1: he's the captain of the football team. And they got
Speaker 1: it all going on. They got the right pedigree. And
Speaker 1: then verse six it says they were both blameless in
Speaker 1: the side of God. It doesn't mean they were above
Speaker 1: without sin. It means they were above reproach. It means
Speaker 1: they were living their life in such a way that
Speaker 1: the ordinances, in the commands that God had given, they
Speaker 1: were following them. They were observing, not just they were
Speaker 1: coming from the right place, but they were doing the
Speaker 1: right things. What an example for those of us that
Speaker 1: claimed the cause of Christ to run after to we
Speaker 1: want to be the kind of person who observes the
Speaker 1: decrease in the commands of the Lord blamelessly. And you
Speaker 1: would expect verse seven to start with. And they all
Speaker 1: lived happily ever after. But you see, the Bible is
Speaker 1: not a fairy tale. It's the story of a great
Speaker 1: God that we were separated from because of sin. But
Speaker 1: God is long suffering, willing that none should perish. And
Speaker 1: it's set the stage for a savior to come on
Speaker 1: the scene of the world who in the form of Jesus,
Speaker 1: to redeem us from our sins. But it's also the
Speaker 1: story of a broken humanity and the depravity of the
Speaker 1: human nature and the result of sin and what happens.
Speaker 1: This is a book of great faith. I think sometimes
Speaker 1: we open up God's word wanting a fairy tale, and
Speaker 1: verse seven shows me that this is not a fairy
Speaker 1: tale because it says, but they were childless, because Elizabeth
Speaker 1: was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the scripture shouts, it says, here's the answer, and
Speaker 1: sometimes whispers, but it's never silent. I think the whisper
Speaker 1: in verse seven is the subtle sound of disappointment. You see,
Speaker 1: they had this deep desire to be parents, but but
Speaker 1: they were childless. So but often speaks to a desire
Speaker 1: that's delayed or it feels like it's been denied. It's
Speaker 1: this place of disappointment, and it says they were very old,
Speaker 1: and when you read the original language, it means they
Speaker 1: were very old. It's like you know, you've got hungry,
Speaker 1: and then there's very hungry. You know you're angry, and
Speaker 1: then there's very angry. There's old and then there's very old.
Speaker 1: Zacharias ninety and Elizabeth is eighty eight, and the text
Speaker 1: is showing you a story that not only was Elizabeth
Speaker 1: not able to conceive, but they're past the age of
Speaker 1: biological reproduction in a reasonable person's eyes, and it sets
Speaker 1: the stage and but becomes a foreshadowing of God's favor.
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful there's profound disappointment in this versus picture
Speaker 1: them because in the culture, they would have been married
Speaker 1: as teenagers. So picture Elizabeth being sixteen and Zachari being eighteen,
Speaker 1: and they get married, like, all right, we're married. We're
Speaker 1: both come from good blood lives, we're both doing it right,
Speaker 1: we're serving God. Certainly we'll have a baby by the
Speaker 1: time we're twenty. And now Zachariah looks at Elizabeth at
Speaker 1: age twenty five and says, I cannot talk to your
Speaker 1: mama one more time. Just if she says, when are
Speaker 1: you gonna give me a grand by, I'm gonna slap her,
Speaker 1: just keeping it real. And then thirty comes and goes,
Speaker 1: and the whispers of the people in the community are like,
Speaker 1: what's wrong with them? Why can't they get pregnant? And
Speaker 1: now they're begging God, God, have you forgotten us? God?
Speaker 1: We're serving you. Did we do something wrong? But no,
Speaker 1: they were not being punished. And some of you feel
Speaker 1: like the situation you're walking through us a punishment for
Speaker 1: something you did. It's not. They were not being punished
Speaker 1: in this moment. How they come to age forty and
Speaker 1: Elizabeth is like, hey, why don't you go find somebody else?
Speaker 1: Some marror so that you can have a child, because
Speaker 1: evidently I think it's me. They say, no, no, we're
Speaker 1: going to keep serving God. We're going to do this
Speaker 1: thing together. But now they're fifty. They expected to be
Speaker 1: holding a baby, but now they're just holding bitterness. Then
Speaker 1: by the time they get to age sixty, they forgot
Speaker 1: about the desire to become parents. And they used to
Speaker 1: be praying earnestly, seeking the presence of God, give us
Speaker 1: a child, give us a child. But now sixty they've
Speaker 1: stopped praying those prayers. So by the time we pick
Speaker 1: up the story here, it's been about thirty years. I
Speaker 1: think since they've even thought about praying for a child,
Speaker 1: they forgot about that deep desire. I wonder how many
Speaker 1: desires have been buried in the graveyard of disappointment. We
Speaker 1: treat God's desires like a loaf of bread. We put
Speaker 1: an expiration date on it, and when it doesn't then
Speaker 1: happen in our time, we disregard it and we get
Speaker 1: rid of it. And I think God wants to pick
Speaker 1: some of those things back up today. What's your butt?
Speaker 1: But some of you at Christmas time prayed, like, Lord,
Speaker 1: help my marriage get better. And if it doesn't by summer,
Speaker 1: I'm out. And now it's summertime and you're not left physically,
Speaker 1: but emotionally and spiritually, you have left the marriage. But
Speaker 1: I thought it was gonna get better, but I didn't
Speaker 1: expect it to happen like this. How many business owners said,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it right, I'm gonna do it God's way,
Speaker 1: but you can't meet payroll. But you see everybody else
Speaker 1: cutting corners, and it seems like they're getting ahead. This young, young,
Speaker 1: young lady finished her senior year of college, and she
Speaker 1: started her senior year saying, if I don't get a
Speaker 1: ring by spring, and now you're getting a wedding invitations
Speaker 1: from everybody. Ashley sends you. Ashley, she has had more boyfriends,
Speaker 1: my gosh, and she's getting married now, Melissa. Melissa is crazy.
Speaker 1: And you settle on trying to do it right. And
Speaker 1: you were holding out for mister right, but now you're
Speaker 1: subtle for mister right now. And a part of yourself
Speaker 1: you said you'd keep sacred till marriage. You're willing to
Speaker 1: compromise because you feel like it'll make you more loved
Speaker 1: and it'll help get that ring on your finger, and
Speaker 1: the deep desire of your hearts fades into the background,
Speaker 1: and you feel like it's for everybody else. What's your Butt's?
Speaker 1: What is it? What's your butt? When I showed you
Speaker 1: that picture of our daughter, Lenya, I need to tell
Speaker 1: you the full story of I need to take you
Speaker 1: back to Mother's Day twenty and thirteen. This is a
Speaker 1: photo of my family Mother's Day twenty and thirteen. It's
Speaker 1: my wife, Janet and our three kids, and we're pregnant.
Speaker 1: In that photo. We're about twelve weeks pregnant. And my
Speaker 1: wife wakes up that day and she starts having symptoms,
Speaker 1: and yet she still comes to church, and yet we
Speaker 1: still get on the stage, and yet she still holds
Speaker 1: the microphone, and we're still faithfully serving God. In a
Speaker 1: couple days later, we end up having a miscarriage. Like,
Speaker 1: but God, Like, are you kidding me? We're serving you,
Speaker 1: We're standing on stage, We're doing it right. We helped
Speaker 1: sacrifice for this church. We sold our house and this
Speaker 1: is happening to us, and it took us to such
Speaker 1: a hard place. But God, what happened. And it was
Speaker 1: at the end of the year, we find ourselves pregnant again.
Speaker 1: And we had a pastor come in. Pastor Levi Lusco
Speaker 1: came to preach at Elevation Church. And we're sitting in
Speaker 1: the sermon and I haven't told anybody we're pregnant. I
Speaker 1: couldn't pray for that child. And Pastor Levi's preaching a
Speaker 1: sermon about his daughter that had died a year before.
Speaker 1: She was like four or five. And in the sermon,
Speaker 1: I hear the Holy Spirit saying, pray for your daughter.
Speaker 1: Open your mouth and start praising me for what I did,
Speaker 1: rather than letting disappointment bury the desire. And he said,
Speaker 1: you're gonna name her Lenya, because Lenya was the name
Speaker 1: of Pastor Levi's daughter that passed away. So you see,
Speaker 1: when you hear this story about Elizabeth and Zachariah, this
Speaker 1: old couple, we just skip right through verse seven. What's
Speaker 1: your button? The story continues in verse eight. It says,
Speaker 1: once when Zacharai's division was on duty and he was
Speaker 1: serving as priests before God, he was chosen by Lot,
Speaker 1: according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into
Speaker 1: the Temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when
Speaker 1: the time of burning incense came, all the assembled worshipers
Speaker 1: were praying outside. Our production team is going to bring
Speaker 1: out some stage props that will help illustrate the rest
Speaker 1: of the sermon. And as they do, would you help
Speaker 1: me Thank all of our volunteers at all of our locations,
Speaker 1: and all those volunteers that take care of your crazy
Speaker 1: kids and park your cars when you don't want to
Speaker 1: be in the parking lot. But thank you, and especially
Speaker 1: want to shout out our elevation Ashville location. Thank you
Speaker 1: for five years faithfully serving God. We love you, and
Speaker 1: we honor you, and we're so grateful for you. So
Speaker 1: in the passage, Elizabeth and Zachariah are part of a
Speaker 1: priestly division, and in nation Israel at this point there's
Speaker 1: eighteen thousand priests. They're divided up into twenty four different
Speaker 1: groups or divisions. Each one of these divisions would have
Speaker 1: two weeks of the year where they would make the trek.
Speaker 1: Part of their duty was to go to Jerusalem and
Speaker 1: help at the temple, because the central part of the
Speaker 1: Jewish life at that point was the Temple. The temple
Speaker 1: is what set everything up, and the temple had three
Speaker 1: basic parts. It had this part out here the courtyard,
Speaker 1: it had this part here called the Holy Place, and
Speaker 1: it had a lamp stand, and it had an altar
Speaker 1: for incense, and had a table for bread. And then
Speaker 1: the behind here is called the Holy of Holies. This
Speaker 1: is once a year the high priest would go with
Speaker 1: blood where he would meet with God to offer sacrifices
Speaker 1: for Nation Israel. The duty of the priests was families.
Speaker 1: If there was sin in their life or sin in
Speaker 1: their home, they would make the trek to Jerusalem. Elizabeth
Speaker 1: and Zachariah would walk about fifteen miles one way just
Speaker 1: to get to Jerusalem. They've been making this trek five
Speaker 1: times a year for seventy years. They've been faithfully serving God.
Speaker 1: This is their duty and they're faithfully doing it each
Speaker 1: and every year, five times a year. The first three
Speaker 1: years they're seeing families walk up with all their kids.
Speaker 1: I wonder how many years went by before they stopped
Speaker 1: seeing that because they just didn't want to see kids anymore,
Speaker 1: because the deepest deserve of their heart was to have
Speaker 1: a kid. But they kept being faithful with their duty.
Speaker 1: And part of the duty of Nation Israel is if
Speaker 1: there were sin in your home, you would make the
Speaker 1: trek to Jerusalem to the Temple to offer sacrifices for sin,
Speaker 1: because there must always be bloodshed for the forgiveness of sin.
Speaker 1: In the Old Testament, that was through the lot of
Speaker 1: goats and rams and lambs, and then a New Testament.
Speaker 1: That's why Jesus blood sacrificed all of humanity satisfied the
Speaker 1: penalty of sin. But although we're reading the New Testament,
Speaker 1: we're still in the Old Covenant. So what the priests
Speaker 1: would do is a family would make their way to
Speaker 1: Jerusalem and Zacharai would meet with the husband and the
Speaker 1: head of the household and he would offer a sacrifice,
Speaker 1: and the head of the household would have to put
Speaker 1: his hand on the head of the animal as the
Speaker 1: high priest would grab the knife and he would slit
Speaker 1: the throat and the blood would leave the body. Because
Speaker 1: the family needed to feel the weight of sin and
Speaker 1: to realize that there's always a penalty be paid for it.
Speaker 1: That was part of the duty of the priests and
Speaker 1: what they would do five times a year, and then
Speaker 1: they would make take some of the blood back into
Speaker 1: the Holy Place. Back here, and the Holy Place has
Speaker 1: got three parts. It's got the lamp stand, it's ninety
Speaker 1: pounds of solid gold that's hammered out to look like
Speaker 1: a tree. So part of the duty of the priest
Speaker 1: is to come back and light the lamp to burn incense,
Speaker 1: and then there's a table of showbread. The show bred
Speaker 1: has got twelve loaves. This inner space is to remind
Speaker 1: you that God is light. Your prayers come into his presence,
Speaker 1: and He is the provider. That's what this holy place represents.
Speaker 1: So as Zachariah was on duty, he's making his way back,
Speaker 1: and the first thing you must do is to attend
Speaker 1: to the lamp. It's ninety pounds of gold hammered to
Speaker 1: look like a tree. It's to remind you of the
Speaker 1: tree of life. Because every time they would see it, it
Speaker 1: would take him back to the garden of Eden, and
Speaker 1: it would remind them of what God intended it to be.
Speaker 1: He intended it to be this way. So his duty
Speaker 1: was to attend to this. He has been doing it
Speaker 1: for seventy some years. Do you know what Eden means.
Speaker 1: It means delight. Do you think it was a delight
Speaker 1: for Elizabeth and ZACHARII for seventy years to make their
Speaker 1: deway to Jerusalem five times a year to serve everybody
Speaker 1: else but feeling their own desires unfulfilled. Do you think
Speaker 1: that was always a delight? No? No, no, see you see,
Speaker 1: delight is not a feeling. It is a decision, it
Speaker 1: says of Jesus, for the joy set before him. He
Speaker 1: endured the cross, scorning at shame, and he sat down
Speaker 1: at the right hand of the brother. Do you think
Speaker 1: it was an emotional high for Jesus to go on
Speaker 1: the cross? No, what was it? It was a duty,
Speaker 1: but it was a delight. You're not getting that. It
Speaker 1: looks like a duty to everybody else, But it is
Speaker 1: a delight. Psal I'm thirty seven to four. Delight yourself
Speaker 1: in the Lord, and he will give you the desires
Speaker 1: of your heart. What happens is we delight in our
Speaker 1: dreams and will eventually walk away from our duty. Pastor
Speaker 1: Stephen preached a couple of weeks ago, I'm gonna keep
Speaker 1: digging until he does it. Part two. I'm gonna keep
Speaker 1: delighting until he does it. I'm just gonna keep delighting
Speaker 1: in the Lord for seventy years until he does it.
Speaker 1: I don't know when, I don't know how, but I'm
Speaker 1: gonna keep delighting and delighting looks like duty to everybody else,
Speaker 1: And I want to tell you that it sometimes feels
Speaker 1: more like duty than it does delight. And I would
Speaker 1: want to ask you the question, what has he put
Speaker 1: in your hands? What has he given you? What has
Speaker 1: he entrusted to you? Are you delighting in what He's
Speaker 1: placed in your hands? Or because it doesn't look like
Speaker 1: what you expected, you walk away from it. Here's what
Speaker 1: I think real faith is to keep delight lighting in
Speaker 1: the Lord when the desire of my heart is unmet.
Speaker 1: Let me give you a husband hack on Father's Day.
Speaker 1: Husband's when you come home at the end of the
Speaker 1: day and you're exhausted and you're tired, you just can't
Speaker 1: wait to sit down and turn on the TV. And
Speaker 1: you finally sit down and your wife's like, hey, can
Speaker 1: you go to the store? Honey? You're like, oh God,
Speaker 1: I'd be delighted because I understand it's a duty. Are
Speaker 1: you letting unmet desires keep you from being faithful with
Speaker 1: the duty He's placed in your hand? So when you
Speaker 1: see the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth, it is one
Speaker 1: of faithfulness, faithfully fulfilling their duty five times a year
Speaker 1: for seventy years, and now finally, on this day, Zachariah
Speaker 1: gets picked. He's going to be the one, randomly to
Speaker 1: go into the Holy Place to offer some of this
Speaker 1: sacrifices to God. And it's just raindom that you clicked
Speaker 1: on this stream today, and it's just random that you
Speaker 1: walked into one of our locations today. No, it is
Speaker 1: divine appointment. I believe God has ordered your steps in
Speaker 1: such a way that he brought you to this place
Speaker 1: because there's something He needs you to hear. But disappointment
Speaker 1: is keeping you from embracing the duty. And the story
Speaker 1: goes on in verse eleven and it says, then an
Speaker 1: angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the
Speaker 1: right side of the altar of incense. When Zachariah saw him,
Speaker 1: he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the
Speaker 1: angel said to him, don't be afraid, Zachariah, your prayer
Speaker 1: has been heard. Now. Picture Zachariah ninety year old Zachariah,
Speaker 1: not a sixteen year old spry boy, but a ninety
Speaker 1: year old, very old man. Because at the time he
Speaker 1: goes into the Holy Place, this is a place that's
Speaker 1: covered with drapes and its dark inside and the first
Speaker 1: thing he had to do was to go light the lamp.
Speaker 1: If you walk into a dark room, what's the first
Speaker 1: thing you do? Some of you are stumbling around in
Speaker 1: the dark, trying to find your dreams. God says, I
Speaker 1: need you to do this first. Seek first the Kingdom
Speaker 1: of God, and all these things will be added to you.
Speaker 1: Seek first, though desires are not bad, but there must
Speaker 1: be an order to it. And it says as he
Speaker 1: went inside to do that, all of the worshippers were
Speaker 1: assembled outside. Now context all of you had just offered sacrifices.
Speaker 1: You had come because there was a sin, there was
Speaker 1: something that needed to be offered or sacrificed for the
Speaker 1: remission of sin. And he would go A priest would
Speaker 1: go in there two times a day. This occasion is
Speaker 1: on the Sabbath, the busiest day of the week. I said,
Speaker 1: we're like, oh, my Sabbath is when I rest. No,
Speaker 1: Sabbath is when you worship. That's not work, that's worship.
Speaker 1: To show up and they're all out there praying, and
Speaker 1: I think there's two kinds of there's individual prayers and
Speaker 1: there's corporate prayers. The individual prayers would have been like, Lord,
Speaker 1: please receive the sacrifice we just offered you. May you
Speaker 1: forgive us, May you redeem us. May you look past
Speaker 1: our transgressions. They would have been praying for marriages to
Speaker 1: be healed. They would have been praying for children to
Speaker 1: be healed. They would have been praying for all those
Speaker 1: things individually, all the individual stuff that you're praying for.
Speaker 1: But maybe because you didn't see it happen, you started
Speaker 1: to withhold your petition. I wonder if disappointment has disconnected
Speaker 1: your vocal courts, and now you're not offering prayer to
Speaker 1: God anymore because you didn't see it happen in your timeline.
Speaker 1: It didn't happen in any thought. But there'd also be
Speaker 1: corporate prayers going on because the nation Israel was very
Speaker 1: familiar with oppression. They were under Egyptian slavery for over
Speaker 1: four hundred years, they were in Babylonian captivity for hundreds
Speaker 1: of years, and then now they're under Roman oppression. And
Speaker 1: they had knew the prophecies that a savior would come,
Speaker 1: a redeemer would come, someone would come one day. So
Speaker 1: all those prayers are being lifted up in the courtyard,
Speaker 1: And I wonder if we're complaining more about the culture
Speaker 1: than we are praying. I wonder what the sound of
Speaker 1: the courtyard of the Christian looks like. I'm wondering what
Speaker 1: it sounds like. Have we lost the prayer of the
Speaker 1: righteous or powerful and effective? What does it sound like
Speaker 1: in the courtyard of your life? Is your petitioning God?
Speaker 1: If the depth of my prayer is only me getting something,
Speaker 1: I'm in the shallow end of the faith pool, and
Speaker 1: I'm insulting God with the size of my prayer because
Speaker 1: I'm only wanting to get something from him. What I
Speaker 1: consider interceding for the body of Christ, what I consider
Speaker 1: eating interceding for this generation. All those things are going on,
Speaker 1: and just at the time all those prayers are being
Speaker 1: lifted up, Zachara is like, now it's my day. He
Speaker 1: gets picked he's ninety years old, to go back in
Speaker 1: and light the lamp. And as he does, he would
Speaker 1: go over and he would sprinkle some of the blood
Speaker 1: of the animals on the other. But as he does,
Speaker 1: he sees the Angel of the Lord standing there, and
Speaker 1: He's like, what you freak out too? And then he says,
Speaker 1: the angel says to him, your prayer has been heard,
Speaker 1: Oh my soul, and I Asus Zachar I had to
Speaker 1: like that. What is he talking about? Is that the
Speaker 1: prayer for the giveness of the families? Like, is that
Speaker 1: the prayerfer a savior? What is the prayer? What is it?
Speaker 1: Because I don't think he's prayed for a son in
Speaker 1: three decades. And then he says to him, your wife,
Speaker 1: Elizabeth will bury you a son, and you are to
Speaker 1: call him John. He will be a joy and a
Speaker 1: delight to you. And he's like, what are you talking about.
Speaker 1: I'm very old and my wife is very very old
Speaker 1: and her wound doesn't work. And he's like, what are
Speaker 1: you talking about? My the prayer he didn't remember. God
Speaker 1: never forgotten those tears you shed, sister, those private prayers
Speaker 1: that you cried into your pillow. God heard them. He
Speaker 1: hasn't forgotten them. He's not forgotten you. It might take
Speaker 1: seventy years, but God is faithful and he will show up.
Speaker 1: And I love that he's showing up on the scene
Speaker 1: of this story. It's like, and you will be a father,
Speaker 1: and she will bury you a son, and he will
Speaker 1: be a joy and a delight. Remember when you're changing
Speaker 1: that diaper as a delight, that would do well for
Speaker 1: some of you because the dream you had doesn't match
Speaker 1: up with the experience you have, and you don't see
Speaker 1: it as a delight. It's a duty. But it is
Speaker 1: a delight because he's been praying seventy years for a
Speaker 1: child and they finally is going to get it. And
Speaker 1: I love this story. And it goes on in in
Speaker 1: verse eighteen. It picks it up and I think the
Speaker 1: Angel's kind of looking at Zachary, all right, Zachari, what's
Speaker 1: it gonna be? What's it gonna be? Man? Are you ready?
Speaker 1: You've been praying for this? Here we go? And it
Speaker 1: says this in verse eighteen, it says Zachariah ask the Angel,
Speaker 1: how can I be sure of this? I'm an old
Speaker 1: man and my wife is well along in years. Then
Speaker 1: the Angel said him, I am Gabriel. I stand in
Speaker 1: the presence of God, and I've been sent speak to
Speaker 1: you and tell you this good news verse twenty. And
Speaker 1: now you will be silent and not be able to
Speaker 1: speak until the day this happens, because you did not
Speaker 1: believe my words, which will come true with their appointed time.
Speaker 1: I picture the Angel of the Lord standing here and
Speaker 1: he's asking Zachary, all right, what's it gonna be? What's
Speaker 1: it going to be? And then he hears this response
Speaker 1: and he's like, shut up, ship it. It might sound
Speaker 1: like God is punishing, He's protecting. God is more committed
Speaker 1: to your desire than you are. And I will not
Speaker 1: let your disbelief destroy what I'm trying to birth into
Speaker 1: your life. Some of us have killed in utero a
Speaker 1: dream and a desire because of the disbelief. We spoke
Speaker 1: over it. Some of you, if you examine your language,
Speaker 1: you have lived in disappointments so long. All that's coming
Speaker 1: out now is poison, and it is disbelief. Disbelief can
Speaker 1: be more corrosive to the Christian life than the devil.
Speaker 1: We give him way too much credit. What we destroy internally,
Speaker 1: sometimes this is way more than he will do externally.
Speaker 1: Some of you have lived with disappointment. It has become
Speaker 1: your best friend and you have made partner. But now
Speaker 1: that disappointment has gone to the level now it's disbelief.
Speaker 1: And I love it because I think in this verse
Speaker 1: it gives us a better definition of what disappointment is.
Speaker 1: Right at the end of verse twenty, it says, because
Speaker 1: you did not believe my words, which will come true,
Speaker 1: at their appointed time. God has appointed a time for
Speaker 1: that desire to be fulfilled. But when it doesn't happen
Speaker 1: on my appointed time, I've got disappointment. I wonder how
Speaker 1: many of us are schedules, are not sinking with Gods
Speaker 1: in ours is superseding his. And because it didn't happen
Speaker 1: on my timeline, and he wasn't disbelieving God because he
Speaker 1: hated God. He just didn't want to be disappointed again.
Speaker 1: The reason I couldn't pray for a child when we
Speaker 1: were pregnant at that time is I just didn't want
Speaker 1: to be disappointed anymore. So rather than be disappointed, I
Speaker 1: will lower my expectations. And some of us have lowered
Speaker 1: our expectation through the level of our experience because we
Speaker 1: never want to be disappointed again. And some of you
Speaker 1: have stopped expecting anything out of life. And I speak
Speaker 1: the word of God over you. He's coming into your
Speaker 1: lives and he's saying, I heard that desire. I didn't
Speaker 1: forget it, did you? And I always say shut up.
Speaker 1: Some of you need to pray the spirit of shut
Speaker 1: up over your life. I don't elbow your husband. I
Speaker 1: saw that Lord give my husband that spirit. Some if
Speaker 1: you want something to die, you need to starve it
Speaker 1: if you want that disappointment and that disbelief to die.
Speaker 1: Go in a twenty one day opinion fast. Some of
Speaker 1: you are so addicted to your opinion it just freely
Speaker 1: flows over everybody, even unsolicited. I think you should and
Speaker 1: I think you should, And it's coming from a place
Speaker 1: that you think is wisdom, but it is not. It
Speaker 1: is disbelief. I'm just keeping it real. No, you suck,
Speaker 1: and you are destroying what God is trying to build.
Speaker 1: And you now become the thermostat for your children and
Speaker 1: it becomes generational conditioning. Is they carry your Oh I'm
Speaker 1: preaching to myself right now, damen. Because Zachariah's deepest prayer
Speaker 1: was to have a child at an individual level, but
Speaker 1: there was also a corporate prayer for a Messiah, a savior.
Speaker 1: Both were happening in the same place. And what would
Speaker 1: happen with his son named John is he was supposed
Speaker 1: to be the one who would point people to Jesus.
Speaker 1: He would be the one to say, one coming after me,
Speaker 1: I'm not fit to tie his sandals. It is John
Speaker 1: the Baptist. You mean that God could answer Zachariah's prayer
Speaker 1: and the prayer of Nation Israel together. Yes, you are
Speaker 1: settling for too shallow on the desire of your heart,
Speaker 1: because God not only wants to do something in you,
Speaker 1: he wants to do something through you into the world.
Speaker 1: God mest Zachariah's deep desire and the petitions of Nation Israel.
Speaker 1: At the same time, God says, I'm gonna see your
Speaker 1: desire and I'm gonna one up it because I am
Speaker 1: that kind of God who can do immeasurably more than
Speaker 1: you can ask or imagine. And that's the kind of
Speaker 1: God that we serve. And that's what he was doing,
Speaker 1: and it is beautiful. But John's whole life was to
Speaker 1: point people to Jesus. And at the same time, the
Speaker 1: angel Gabriel is also going to be working in a
Speaker 1: sixteen year old virgin named Mary. In the very same story,
Speaker 1: the Angel is about to do another miraculous birth. You
Speaker 1: realize at the same time God's doing something, it's somebody
Speaker 1: in your row. You realize, at the same time God's
Speaker 1: doing something on somebody else in your city. He's doing
Speaker 1: something on somebody else in your campus. And if we
Speaker 1: would take a step back and see the bigger picture
Speaker 1: of what God is weaving together for his glory. It
Speaker 1: is absolutely beautiful. And God shows up on the life
Speaker 1: of a sixteen year old virgin. And if before the experience,
Speaker 1: I were to stand up here, a ninety year old man,
Speaker 1: a priest who's observing all the decrees in commands blamelessly,
Speaker 1: and a sixteen year old virgin girl, which one would
Speaker 1: you say has more wisdom? All of us would have
Speaker 1: started over here, because that's the human knowledge we bring
Speaker 1: to it. But God is of a different economy. And
Speaker 1: I want to give you one verse. I don't have
Speaker 1: time to unpack the whole thing, but I want to
Speaker 1: show you Mary because in the same chapter, chapter one
Speaker 1: of Luke, verse thirty eight, the Angel now comes. Since
Speaker 1: it's Mary, you are greatly favored. You are highly favored,
Speaker 1: and you will give birth to a child, to a child,
Speaker 1: and he will be the Messiah, and he will be great.
Speaker 1: And I love Mary's response. It says this in verse
Speaker 1: thirty eight. And Mary said, behold, I am the servant
Speaker 1: of the Lord. Let it be to me according to
Speaker 1: your word. Oh my goodness, it is beautiful. What's it
Speaker 1: gonna be? Are you gonna be like Zachariah, I don't
Speaker 1: know how can this be? Or are you gonna be?
Speaker 1: Like Mary? Let it be to me according to your word.
Speaker 1: What's is it gonna be? What's it gonna be? Are
Speaker 1: you gonna rely on your whole human wisdom that says
Speaker 1: that time has passed, that desire is buried? Are you
Speaker 1: gonna have an innocent faith? What can I be? For
Speaker 1: God's glory? Let it be to me? And I believe
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is stepping into your life whispering about
Speaker 1: those desires that you have buried in the graveyard of disappointment.
Speaker 1: And I believe God is calling some of you to
Speaker 1: go back and to reconsider and to pick those things up.
Speaker 1: And the Angel said to Zachariah, you will not speak
Speaker 1: again until this happens. That's nine plus months of silence.
Speaker 1: Elizabeth is pricing, Thank you, thank you, thank you. What
Speaker 1: would it look like for some of you to learn
Speaker 1: to be silent rather than the poison of the past
Speaker 1: and the disappointment that's now become disbelief be just spewed
Speaker 1: on everybody. What if you were to settle into the
Speaker 1: spirit of silence. This says, I don't understand it, but
Speaker 1: let it be to me according to your words. So
Speaker 1: now as we get to the end of Luke fifty seven,
Speaker 1: this is where we started. I think Zachariah is getting
Speaker 1: another opportunity. He's getting a second chance here and a
Speaker 1: verse fifty seven, it says when it was time for
Speaker 1: Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.
Speaker 1: What a beautiful occasion. She's almost ninety years old at
Speaker 1: this point. Her friends would have been holding their great
Speaker 1: great great grandchild, and she's holding her firstborn. It might
Speaker 1: take a few generations, but it will happen in your life.
Speaker 1: I don't know when I speak over you that it
Speaker 1: will happen at its appointed time, not your appointed time,
Speaker 1: at his appointed time. Her relative, her neighbors, and relatives
Speaker 1: heard that the Lord has shown her great mercy, and
Speaker 1: they shared her joy. I don't think they shared at
Speaker 1: the same level. She did. Think about the woman who
Speaker 1: the whispers of the community were one that her wound
Speaker 1: was barren, and she wasn't a good enough wife. And
Speaker 1: if in that culture you didn't have a child, you
Speaker 1: were lower than cattle. So she walked through life feeling
Speaker 1: unworthy by everybody, and yet she remained faithful with the
Speaker 1: duty that God had given her, child of God. I
Speaker 1: know the grief is significant, but you can be faithful
Speaker 1: with what He's put in your hands. You absolutely can.
Speaker 1: I don't think they fully shared in the joy that
Speaker 1: she had. And when it happens in your life, people
Speaker 1: will try to be there to celebrate you. But God
Speaker 1: is in that moment with you, and he's saying, well done,
Speaker 1: good and faithful servant. And on the eighth day they
Speaker 1: came to circumcise the child, and they were gonna name
Speaker 1: him after his father, Zachariah, but his mother spoke up
Speaker 1: and said, no, he is to be called John. They
Speaker 1: said to her, there's no one among your relatives who
Speaker 1: has that name. It's funny. Who are they? Who are they?
Speaker 1: They that said you're too stupid, They that said you'll
Speaker 1: be a statistic They that said you will be just
Speaker 1: like your father. They that said you will never amount
Speaker 1: to anything. They that said, you gave that part of
Speaker 1: yourself away, and you are a second rate, second class,
Speaker 1: and you don't deserve it to see the table, just
Speaker 1: settle for crumbs on the floor. Who are they? They
Speaker 1: don't have in mind the things of God. All they
Speaker 1: saw was the past and God says, I'm about to
Speaker 1: do something new. How dare you label things according to
Speaker 1: the past. I'm about to do a new thing in you.
Speaker 1: It's a new thing. It won't look like the past,
Speaker 1: So don't use the labels of a previous generation. Zachari.
Speaker 1: That's that name was good for who needed it. But
Speaker 1: the assignment on this child is different. Some of you
Speaker 1: have been labeled according to they, he is to be called.
Speaker 1: They didn't believe Elizabeth and I love this in verse
Speaker 1: sixty two because I think this is the second chance.
Speaker 1: I think Zachari is getting another opportunity because the first time,
Speaker 1: all it was when the angel showed up to was disbelief.
Speaker 1: How could I be sure of this? That was the
Speaker 1: last thing he said. He hadn't spoken in nine plus
Speaker 1: months Verse sixty two. Then they made signs to his
Speaker 1: father to find out what he would like to name
Speaker 1: the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to
Speaker 1: everyone's astonished, he wrote, his name is John. He didn't
Speaker 1: even say it, he just wrote it. He just wrote.
Speaker 1: Some of you need to write something down. God spoke
Speaker 1: something into your spirit that if you do not write it,
Speaker 1: you will forget it. Don't forfeit the revelation because you
Speaker 1: don't capture it. God is breathing something into your spirit
Speaker 1: right now. Would you capture it so that you don't
Speaker 1: forget it? The devil wants to snatch it from you.
Speaker 1: God says, no, write it down. I needs you to
Speaker 1: be sure of it. His name is John. Immediately whoo,
Speaker 1: his mouth was open, his tongue was set free, and
Speaker 1: he began to speak praising God. The last time his
Speaker 1: mouth was open, poison was flowing out. Now it's all
Speaker 1: about praise. Now I'm gonna be praising him. Now, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be thanking him. Now I'm gonna be worshiping. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be praising God. Do you mean that mouth that's
Speaker 1: so familiar with disbelief can be switched over to speak praise? Yes,
Speaker 1: you can discipline your tongue. How do you discipline your
Speaker 1: tongue by remaining faithful with the duty He's put in
Speaker 1: your hands. What's interesting about the story is everything has
Speaker 1: been pointing to Jesus. The Bible points to Jesus. John's
Speaker 1: life is pointing to Jesus. Zachariah at that time. The
Speaker 1: way that the law was written is when he was
Speaker 1: picked to go into this holy place. He would have
Speaker 1: only had the chance to do that once in his life.
Speaker 1: It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and he
Speaker 1: would never get that opportunity again. And some of you
Speaker 1: feel like that, You feel like you forfeited the opportunity.
Speaker 1: But Jesus, But Jesus, because John's life was pointing to Jesus,
Speaker 1: the scriptures are pointing to Jesus. You need to understand.
Speaker 1: In the courtyard of the Temple, when they would bring
Speaker 1: in these animal sacrifices, you realize that Jesus was the
Speaker 1: lamb slain before the foundations. All of the temple was
Speaker 1: pointing to Jesus. Every part of it was pointing to him.
Speaker 1: His blood was offered for the forgiveness of sins. You
Speaker 1: realize that Jesus is in the Holy Place. He is
Speaker 1: the light of the world. You realize that he is
Speaker 1: the media, the one that gives us access to God.
Speaker 1: You realize that he is the bread of life. It
Speaker 1: is all pointing to Jesus. And then as Jesus is
Speaker 1: on the cross, he says, Father, into your hands, I
Speaker 1: commit my spirit. And he breathed his last breath, and
Speaker 1: as he did, the veil was torn, separating us from God,
Speaker 1: and he created a way for us to come into
Speaker 1: his presence, and he says, Father, into your hands, I
Speaker 1: commit my spirit. Why would he say that? Because the
Speaker 1: Father delighted in the sun, and the son's duty was
Speaker 1: to be obedient for the joy set before him. He
Speaker 1: endured the cross, scorning and shame. What's it going to be?
Speaker 1: Child of God? Are you going to keep letting disappointment
Speaker 1: keep Jesus at a distance. Are you going to keep
Speaker 1: labeling yourself according to your lowest moments? Are you going
Speaker 1: to live in an outdated Old Testament sacrificial system that
Speaker 1: it's all about you bludgeoning yourself and proving to God
Speaker 1: you're good enough? Or are you going to receive the
Speaker 1: forgiveness that's found in Jesus. What's it going to be?
Speaker 1: Child of God? What's it going to be? Doing you
Speaker 1: your way or coming to Jesus? Stand up here at
Speaker 1: Balancine all of our locations, and I want to give
Speaker 1: somebody an invitation to place their faith in Jesus. You
Speaker 1: have been playing religion, You've been purposing to try harder
Speaker 1: and do better, but you are separated from God because
Speaker 1: of your sin, and I really want to speak to
Speaker 1: somebody who's living in the land of disappointment. That disappointment
Speaker 1: where it didn't happen on your timeline, has made you
Speaker 1: feel like God has forgotten you. The evidence of the
Speaker 1: scripture would suggest that he's not forgotten you. He sees you,
Speaker 1: he hears you, and he's in this moment with you.
Speaker 1: And if you need to begin a relationship with Jesus
Speaker 1: or you've wandered away and you need to come back
Speaker 1: to him, I want to lead us all in a
Speaker 1: prayer enough for someone to begin that relationship, to profess
Speaker 1: that Jesus is Lord and be forgiven, and of all
Speaker 1: of your sins, would you buy your heads? Would you
Speaker 1: close your eyes? I don't want everybody praying this out
Speaker 1: loud with me. I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Speaker 1: Son of God who died on the cross and rose
Speaker 1: from the grave to forgive me of my sin. I
Speaker 1: give you my life, I give you my sin, I
Speaker 1: give you my shame. Forgive me, and I'll spend my
Speaker 1: life following you with your head still bowed and your
Speaker 1: eyes still closed. If you just placed your faith in
Speaker 1: Jesus or you're coming back to him. I'm going to
Speaker 1: count to three, and when I get there, without hesitation,
Speaker 1: I need you to boldly shoot your hand into the air.
Speaker 1: This is your moment. One, two, three, shoot your hand
Speaker 1: up all across the sauditorum. Come on, let's celebrate that,
Speaker 1: Elevation Church, come on, celebrate that. Hey.
Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as
Speaker 2: they're available. I also want to take a moment and
Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
Speaker 2: Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
Speaker 2: just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
Speaker 2: able to reach people all around the world.
Speaker 1: And if you want more information on how to.
Speaker 2: Be a part of Elevation, click the link in the description.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 2: Make sure to leave a review, share the message, and subscribe.
Speaker 2: God bless you.