Four Hundred Years of Silence
First B Jackson
2025-12-14

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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I think

Good morning, everybody. Good Thanks for being here. As we enter the as we continue in the Advent season, here's a good word from Matthew two to lead us into worship. When the wise men saw the star, they get they guided them they guided them to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. It says, they were filled with joy.

They were filled with gladness because they recognized God's grace towards them. And they bowed down and and they bowed down and worshiped him. Let's start by singing, oh, come all ye faithful. If you would, take us not take a seat. Maybe maybe stand.

Well, welcome. Merry Christmas y'all. Whoo. Let's have a seat. We've got a few announcements and no clicker.

So, Blake, you'll to run me through the clicker if you don't mind. Iwana, is Iwana happening tomorrow night? Yes. Yes. Iwana is happening tomorrow night.

You know how I know that? Because Iwana store is tomorrow night. That's a big deal in family McDaniel. So Wana store is happening. Seeking truth in your twenties is having a Christmas party, December 21.

So that's next week, thank you very much, at 5PM out at the McCooey's place on North Roberta behind the airport. If you would, RSVP, that'd be great by the seventeenth. Via text, can do it to that number right there. Let them know you're coming. Seeking truth in your twenties, it's Christmas party next weekend at five Sunday.

The angel tree, there may be a few tags still left out there. If there are, those are the remaining ones for the families that we are attempting to bless and help and during this Christmas season. Tanya should be around here somewhere. Actually, Pascal should also be around here somewhere. She is an introvert, fair warning.

No. Anyway, I'm just messing with y'all. They they should be around here somewhere. And the angel tree, it's it's been a blessing already to a lot. And if you have those gifts, can bring them back in by the twentieth.

Try to get them back here by the twentieth, so that we can get them distributed before Christmas. So by the twentieth wrapped and with tags on them, so that we know what they are. So we don't have to unwrap them to figure out what they are. Okay. That's Angel Tree.

Tonight, tonight's night, 04:30 to six. 04:30, we will start the caroling. We'll leave from here and go and carol around Jackson. We'll come back here and have a chili competition, chili cook off. Buzzer breath, chili cook off.

I know how long we've been doing this, but it's a long time. And bring your chili with you. So if if you would, get in on this competition. Come on, it's at 06:00 this evening. Caroling first, 04:30, and then chili at six.

And so this is the way that this is gonna go down. Christmas at first v this year. The twenty first, we're having the children's choir present in this service, the 09:00 service, and we're only having one service. So it's a 09:00 service, we're not doing an eleven next week, it's a combined service at nine. We're doing Christmas Eve services at the same time as we always do them, 04:30 and six.

And then on the twenty fifth, it's not a Sunday, so we're not doing a Christmas service so that you all know. And let me see what else. Connect hour. So next week after our combined service, we'll do a potluck afterwards. And please do bring something to share, some dish to share down the hall.

And mentioning that this morning reminds me that Naomi Anderson was here much much of the day yesterday in preparation, and all of the morning this morning in preparation. And she has quite a breakfast for you down there. So if you wanna join in during the connect hour, it should be all kinds of goodness down there. And for our missions moment this morning, thinking of these two away in Zambia, Africa, directors of J Camp. This is Anders and Brooke Olsen.

And so I wanna pray for them right now before we go on to Advent and everything else. Lord God Almighty, for Anderson, for Brooke, we pray that you'd bless them. And Lord, not that you would just bless them, that they'd be filled with your joy and filled with your hope and filled with your peace, but that they would be carriers of your joy and your peace and your hope. And I pray, Lord, that they would see that they'd see light in the darkness, that that they would see many that would come to to know you. In Jesus name, we ask you that you would superintend, that you would take control or that your light would be shining through them in the darkness.

In Jesus name, we ask for your blessing on Brook and Anderson. Amen. Amen. I I think that that's all announcements but it is Sunday. Sunday is from the Latin for rejoice Sunday, joy Sunday.

I'm gonna invite Diane and Gary, geek, to come forward to do our advent reading and light the pink candle.

I assume it is on. Yay. Joy, joy, joy. And the Hammond said there could be song in it. No.

No. No. That's a tease. Anyway, this is the third Sunday in Advent, joy. On this third Sunday in Advent, the candle of joy is lit.

Jesus came to give us fullness of joy and abundant life. Joy is ours because of Jesus. His presence brings the promise of joy. Luke two eight through 11 says, and there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shown around them, and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that there will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. Amen.

Alright. Thank you.

We're gonna sing, joy of the world. But first, if you wouldn't mind, just say hi to your neighbor real quick. Come on. Stand up. Good job.

It sounded great. Let's pray. God, thank you for meeting us here today, and thank you for the gift of Jesus for the light and the darkness and the hope that you provide. Thank you for your grace and your mercy that meets us exactly where we are. Tired, grateful, joyful, stressed, or at peace, you are Emmanuel, God with us.

Thank you for meeting us right here where we are. Amen. Thank you. You can have a seat for a minute. We're gonna enter the worship of giving part of the service, and I'll invite the ushers to come on forward.

We are gonna sing a song that a lot of us can't get out of our head this Christmas. He shall reign forevermore. But before we do, Ray, would you pray for us?

God, thank you for the joy of the season. I thank you for the the spirit of generosity, Lord, that has picked up even if it's even if it's just in sympathetic vibration to the gift that you have given. Lord God almighty, may we be always ready, always ready to share the good news that angels share. May we be angels. May we be messengers, lord.

May we carry the good news of the gospel and the way we carry ourselves and the way we use our words. In Jesus name, lord, would you give us opportunity? Would you let us see the opportunities that we do have? Would you let us see that, lord, in this time, for this offering right here. I pray that you do whatever you wanna do with it, Lord.

We want to do your will, and we want to do your will in your way. Would you allow that, Lord? In Jesus name, we ask your blessing on this offering for the gift and for the giver that you'd do your will among us and through us. Amen. Amen.

Thank you to the band. It's time for children's church downstairs and there they go. There's a lot of joy in these first couple of rows up here. They're excited and probably amped up on Christmas sugar. Yeah.

Pretty excited, it looks like. We have been in for the last, I don't know how many weeks, eight or nine weeks, we've been studying in the minor prophets. And I had somebody in the first couple of those send me a, oh, man, am I thankful for Jesus because this is dark. You know, and I agree with that. And I want you to think about that today on Gaudete Sunday or rejoice Sunday.

It's about joy, joy, joy, joy down in our heart. That's available in Jesus, and how joyful that is kinda depends on what you see yourself delivered from. Right? Let's go into it. Messianic prophecies from within the minor prophets.

I haven't gotten to all these guys yet, I will, but I haven't gotten to them yet. I I just gonna do in canon order, just the ones that were messianic. Hosea eleven one, we have not covered yet. But when Israel was a youth, I loved him. I loved my people, he says, and out of Egypt, I called my son.

And this is in the New Testament called back to this. This is what it means when da da da da. Right? So that's a messianic prophecy. Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?

This is Hosea 13. Shall I redeem them from death? He's talking about judgment. Death, where are your thorns? Shield, where's your sting?

God says he's the one that is in charge and he says compassion will be hidden from my sight. Now Paul takes this in first Corinthians 15 and he quotes it and he says, death, where is your sting? Because Christ has come and he's delivered us from the power of death. So that straight up messianic prophecy, Joel two thirty two, one of my favorites. We haven't gotten to Joel yet either.

And it will come about that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Peter at the day of Pentecost said, no, no, no, no, no. These guys are not drunk like you think. What it is as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel where the spirit of the Lord is being poured out and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Micah five two, we covered last week and the week before.

Micah five two says, but as for you Bethlehem, it's forecasting the exact place where Jesus would be born. This guy's family doesn't even live there, but he's still born there. Right? But as for you Bethlehem and Paphra, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from out of you, one will come forth for me to be a ruler of my people. In his times, his times are coming forth are from long ago from the very days of eternity.

Merry Christmas. That's good. Well, that one we we we charge that one out during Christmas season pretty regularly. Not much of the rest of Micah though. Haggai, haven't gotten Haggai yet either.

This is what the Lord of armies. In the minor prophets, it's always not always, it's a lot of times the Lord of armies, and he's saying he is the one that controls the rising and the falling of kingdoms, and this is what the Lord of army says. Once more in a little while, I'm gonna shake the heavens and the earth, and I'm gonna shake the sea and also the dry land, and I will shake all of the nations, and they will come with the wealth of all the nations, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of armies. The silver is mine. The gold is mine.

When we say, it's all God's money anyway. That's the way it goes. Right? The silver is mine. The God is the gold is mine.

Declares the Lord of armies. The latter glory of this house, my people, will be greater than the former. If you're gonna save a world, you gotta start somewhere. And he started with one family, and it grew from there. Abraham and Sarah, and it grew from there.

His people Israel, right? It grew from there, and the latter glory of this house, my people, will be greater than the former says the Lord of armies. And in this place, I will give peace, declares the Lord of armies. That's a messianic prophecy in this place, in Jesus, in this place. Now listen, Joshua, you high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you, indeed, they are men who are a sign.

For behold, I'm gonna send I'm gonna bring in my servant. And this is a play on words for those of you who like puns and wordplay. The branch, Netzer. It's the Nazarene. It's kinda cool.

This is one of them that people look at and go, I don't see that in there. It's in there. Okay? It's just figurative. He says it again right here.

Then he says to them, the Lord of army says this, or say this, Zechariah. The Lord of army says this, behold, there's a man whose name is Branch, Netzer, Nazarene. For he will branch out from where he is, and he will build up the temple of the Lord. Yes, it is he who will build up the temple of lord, and he who will bear the majesty and sit on and rule on his throne. So he will be a priest on his throne and council of peace will be between the two offices, prophet, priest, and king.

This one mentions priest and king. Right? It's forecast in Jesus. Zechariah nine. We see this one at Easter.

This is the time we well, Palm Sunday you. So rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion. Shout in triumph daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you. He is righteous.

He's endowed with salvation. Who's that sound like? That's Jesus. This is what they were saying when he was coming in humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. This we use at Palm Sunday and Easter.

This is forecasting Jesus, Zechariah 12. And I will pour out on the house of David on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at me whom they pierced. This is a long time before the crucifixion. He's gonna pour out their spirit so they'll see Jesus whom they pierced, and they will mourn for him like one morning over an only son. They will weep bitterly over him like a bitter weeping over a firstborn.

My goodness. How in the world? God says he doesn't do anything without telling his prophets about it first. Okay? Now whether we understood what the prophets meant, that's a completely different thing.

Usually, prophecy is notoriously difficult to tell what it is from the front side, but from the back side, it's like, oh, that's what he meant. Behold, Malachi three. I'm Malachi's last of the minor prophets, if you're wondering how long this is gonna go on, it's only a couple more slides. Behold, I'm sending my messenger, and he will clear away before me. And the Lord whom you are seeking will suddenly come into his temple and the messenger of this covenant in whom you delight.

Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of armies. Malachi, the last of the minor prophets chronologically and canonically in the canon order. And then four, five, and six says this, behold, I'm gonna send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the lamb with complete destruction. We heard lots of judgment in the minor prophets, but we also heard lots of hope.

And he's saying in Malachi three and in Malachi four that he's gonna send a forerunner to go before himself, Christ. This is what is gonna happen. Now, if you look at all of those and you say, have memorized all those because you've heard them your whole life. Right? You we might find that difficult in our historical setting where our brains have rotted from looking at a phone all the time.

But to think that you can memorize one of these, maybe Obadiah, you just remember that really dark cloud and that silver lining, and you're holding on to that, and you remember it. Think about them, they went and they paid attention to these things, especially the Pharisees and those who believed in the prophets, but it had been four hundred years. Four hundred years elapsed between Malachi and the events that happened in the gospels. This is what we call the intertestamental silence of God, And we have heard it forecast in multiple books that says, and in those days, you will long for a word from the Lord and you will not receive one. And so that's a part of the judgment that the folks were facing in that time that God was going to be silent, and let you study all that stuff, and let you go through all of that stuff, and let it humble you that He's not speaking.

That's really hard. Actually, you just take the life of Jeremiah, and you read Jeremiah, we've got some folks here that read Jeremiah whole loop. And Jeremiah calls out to God and he goes, oh, you're my guy for this. I know you feel bad, but don't worry about it. I'll let you together from your mother's womb.

You're my you're my guy, deliver this message, and he does. But they threw me in a pit. He calls out to him again, he goes, you're right, Jeremiah. It's bad, and it's gonna get worse. And then the next time, even Jeremiah, the prophet of the Lord is faithful for forty years and has no fruit to show for it really, except for that he wrote this book so we can all read it, you know.

He calls out to God and God does not answer. It's the intertestamental silence that makes your ears perk up. Okay? So for four hundred years, they have been going through these motions and there are there is a remnant for sure, and there are folks that have become complicit with the government for selfish reasons, but the historical context is they're waiting for Messiah. All those things are minor prophets.

I didn't go into the major prophets, there are tons more like 300 and something of them. The Roman government practices syncretism. They'll accept any religious beliefs as long as that's just your deal. So pluralism in a way. They'll accept any philosophical teachings and they'll even accept from conquered peoples governmental ideologies that they can be held together under the Roman system.

As long as we're in charge, you can do whatever you want, just keep the peace. We hear that a lot at Easter too, right? Because the chance for a riot is really big when people are whipped up into a religious fervor. So religious freedom, political freedom, and freedom of thought for the individual were touted, but the government did enforce its control in local matters to maintain the peace. It's the peace, but at the tip of a spear, you know.

Are you with me? Okay. Judea was a client kingdom of Rome, Herod the Great was the one that was in charge. If you study Herod the great, you'll see that he's barely Jewish even. He's Edomite, which has always been the enemies of the Jews.

He's Edomian. He really doesn't belong on that throne. But he is because he's complicit with Rome and educated by Rome. He's a client king and he's gone under massive building projects and he's got all kinds of stuff going on. So Herod the Great is politically speaking in a position where he's very powerful, has a big war chest, he's getting a lot of things done, people are working, but there's a distrust.

The Jews held much distrust and hatred for the Roman Empire. We see it throughout the whole New Testament. They were unwilling subjects, just wanting to throw off that yoke, right, of oppression. They had resentment for the Roman government. It was very very apparent all over the place, but the Jewish people had a measure of freedom.

They could in their governing system, they had Sadducees and Pharisees. I won't go into that much. Sadducees basically complicit, Pharisees aggravatingly not complicit. Yet, the Roman government required that everything be held at their authority. So the economics of the place, the client king employed a lot of laborers, so he was very wealthy and in charge, and he commissioned a lot of public works.

If you go see Masada, that's one of those works. If you go see there are a lot of these things that are still left. Ornate stone carvings and all sorts of stuff. So there's a very large disparity between the rich and the poor at the time. And the minor prophets is the last thing they heard from God, which is blasting the rich, honestly.

And it's blasting the way that you take care of one another. The Jewish upper class is made up of the temple priest and the priestly aristocracy. And if you read the if you read the minor prophets, the priestly class that enriches themselves are called bad shepherds throughout Ezekiel. And so, this is still the way it is four hundred years later. Does that make sense to you?

I will get to the story. The story is the story. We'll get to that in a minute. The middle class was comprised of traders and merchants, and this was actually a growing middle class at the time. The Pharisees were mostly a part of the middle class.

And the lower class was laborers, weaver, stone carriers, slaves, a lot of slaves. They would have been most of the people. The lower class would have been most of the people. Middle class is emerging, and the rich is a very small percentage. The Jewish people were seeking a Messiah.

They wanted for him to throw off all of the oppression. If you read Isaiah, I didn't mention it, but the government will be on his shoulders. He's gonna be a wonderful counselor. He's gonna be really really good. They're looking forward to that, but they expected him to be military.

So they expected a grown man to come in with armies behind him, lord of armies is who it was going to be, and he's going come in and whoop everybody, and then we're going to be in charge, finally. Who according to their understanding, they bring them spiritual renewal, political freedom, centuries of foreign oppression, Currently, it's just the Romans. Now, we know it had been the Assyrians, we know it had been the Babylonians, and we know that throughout history, it rocked back and forth, and the Romans at this point were in charge. And here we hit Luke. Luke is a Gentile historian and physician, and he gives a little prologue right here, and it says, in as much as many have undertaken.

Now, this is after the life of Jesus, after the the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection of Jesus, Luke undertakes this and he wants to put in an orderly account, in as much as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us that we saw just as they were handed down to us by those from the beginning who are eyewitnesses and servants of the word. It seemed fitting to me as well. Having investigated everything carefully from the beginning and if you if you look at the other gospels, I mean, one one does start with before Genesis one one, yes. But Luke picks up the earthly order of events earlier than anyone else. He's done a very thorough study.

It seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning with eyewitnesses, he says later, to write out for you in consecutive order, because it makes the most sense to him, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the exact truth about the things that you've been taught. This Theophilus is a guy who apparently has come to Christ, but he wants to be sure and certain of the events. And so Luke sets out to write these things down for him. Theophilus could have been a patron of Luke's that said, you just take the next couple of years and write this stuff down, you know. So he's a documentary historian, and this is where the story picks up.

It's before Jesus because we got another week. We're gonna do the story of Jesus next week. This, I'm gonna pick up from Malachi three and Malachi four, and then go for this story from the beginning, chapter one of Luke. I know you can do chapter one of Luke because y'all did like five chapters of Micah. So I know you can handle it.

Alright? In the days of Herod, king of Judea, we just heard about him, there was a priest named Zacharias. He was of the division of Abijah. Hear the details? He's very detailed.

As far as geographical details, he's never been proven wrong. There are some of you all that can't get to work without using your GPS. He's never been proven wrong in two thousand years, and it keeps on proving him right. He had a wife from the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth and they were both righteous in the sight of God. They were looking forward to Messiah in a humble way.

They're both righteous in the sight of God. They're walking blamelessly in all the commandments and the requirements of the Lord, but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and they were both advanced in years. If you hear that, that immediately should take you back to Abraham and Sarah, right, who were advanced in years because Sarah was barren and she had not had anybody, but God made him a promise, and that's where the whole thing got started. Right? And we see this so many years later.

It's just a beautiful beautiful thing. They're both advanced in years. Now, it happened that while he was performing his priestly service, humble, righteous man before God, four hundred years since anybody heard from God. He was in the important appointed order of his division according to the custom of the priestly office. He was just going through things just like they went.

He was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and to burn incense and the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. Now an angel of the Lord appeared to him. Angel means messenger. It always means messenger. It's usually an angelic messenger like angelic heavenly being, and it is in this case.

An angel of the Lord appeared to him standing to the right. He's so detailed at the altar of incense and Zechariah was troubled. That's a typical response to seeing an angel. When he saw the angel and fear gripped him, but the angel said to him, don't be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. And your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.

Now, he had the he had the forethought. He had the story ahead of him of Abraham and Sarah and it not happening and they took matters into their own hands and decided Hagar blah blah blah. And that was a lot of trouble. And so, Zechariah is like, Well, let's get to that in the text. Do not be afraid Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall name him John.

You will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice over his birth, For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will drink no wine or liquor and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. Wow. What a beautiful first word in four hundred years. And it's he who will go as the forerunner before him before him.

Jesus. In the spirit and power of Elijah, he's connecting the dots here for us to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous to make ready a people prepared for the Lord in Malachi. What do you say? Behold, I'm sending my message. He's gonna clear away before me.

He said, I'm going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming day. He's gonna turn the hearts of fathers back to their children. Isn't this all cool? It just ties right together. It's like had a professor that says like a a plate that was broken and when you put it back together, you can't even see the scene.

Right? And it's he who will go as a forerunner. He's going to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Zechariah said to the angel, how will I know this? Because I'm an old man and my wife is advanced in her years too.

We're past that. The angel answered to him and said, I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God. I think I'd have feared again right there. I am a Gabriel who stands in the presence of God and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news and behold, you will be silent, mute, and unable to speak until the day when these things take place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time. And meanwhile, while the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering what was taking him so long, I know how long it takes to burn incense and this has taken forever.

They're wondering about his delay in the temple and when he came out, he was unable to speak to them. What took you so long? And they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. He repeatedly made signs to them, and he remained speechless. Tanya and I have a have a seven year history of building schools for the deaf in Mexico.

And when a kid comes in that does not know any language whatsoever, does not even know that there is a language, all he has is a home language, they make some of the wildest signs. And to find out that there is a way to communicate. Man, that's a that's a beautiful time to be around those kids, you know. But he comes out, he's just newly dead, newly mute. He's making signs to them.

He remained speechless. When the days of his priestly service were concluded, he went back home. Now after these days, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months saying, this is the way that the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked with favor upon me to take away my disgrace among people. Now, in the sixth month of her pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee named Nazareth, Netzer, Branch to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you.

But she was very perplexed at this statement and she was pondering what kind of greeting that was and the angel said to her, don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God and behold, you'll conceive in your womb and give birth to a son and you shall name him Jesus. See, there are some parallels to these stories, you see that? And he will be great and he will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and he will reign forevermore, forevermore. His kingdom will have no end, but Mary said to the angels, well, how will this be since I'm a virgin? And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you, and for that reason, also the holy child will be called the son of God.

And behold, even your relative Elizabeth cousin herself has conceived a son in her old age and she who was called infertile is now in her sixth month for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, behold, the Lord's bond servant. May it but be done to me according to your word and the angel departed from her. Now, at this time, Mary set out and she went in a hurry to the hill country to that's not Texas by the way. Went in a hurry to the hill country to a city of Judah.

Now, Nazareth is up in Galilee, so it's this is something for her to get down there, and she greeted Elizabeth. She entered the house of Zechariah, she greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leapt in her womb. Joy. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she cried out with a loud voice and said, blessed are you among women, Mary, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, and how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me?

Wow. For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leapt in my womb for joy, and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. If you hear Mary's Magnificat, we call it, it's just scripture. It's all scripture. Right?

Just keeps on coming, and this is that. And Mary said, my soul exalts the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my savior, for he has had regard for the humble estate of his bond servant. God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For the mighty one has done great things for me and holy is his name and his mercy is to generation after generation toward those who fear him and he has done mighty deeds with his arm.

He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He's brought down the rulers from their thrones. He's exalted those who are humble. This sounds like she's been reading and coming along with the study of the minor prophets, don't know? He's filled the hungry with good thing.

He sent the rich way empty handed. He's given help to his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. Just as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever. We heard that line last week from Micah. Mary stayed with her about three months and then she returned home.

Now, the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son, and her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed his great mercy toward her, and they were rejoicing with her. And it happened that on the eighth day, when it came to circumcise the child, they were gonna call him Zechariah after his father. Yet his mother responded, no, no, no, no, no, don't don't write that on the birth certificate. No. Indeed, he's gonna be called John.

And they said to her, there's nobody among your relatives who's called by this name. Why would we call him John? People always have an opinion about what you're gonna name your kid. And don't ever tell somebody what you're gonna name your kid ahead of time or they'll name their kid before you get get the chance. There's no one among your relatives who's called by this name, and they made signs to his father as to what he wanted him called, and he asked for a tablet, and he asked for a tablet, and he wrote as follows, his name is John.

And they were all amazed, and at once his mouth was opened, and his tongue was freed, and he began speaking in praise of God. And fear came upon all those who lived around them and all these matters. He was now the messenger. He was now the messenger and it caused fear for other people too. And fear came on those all who lived around him and all these matters were being talked about in the entire hill country of Judea.

And all who heard them kept them in mind. And remember Luke what he said? I took eyewitness testimony. He's talking to these people, you know. What then will this child turn out to be?

For indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him. And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and he prophesied. Four hundred years of silence. He gets the word. Elizabeth gets the word.

Mary gets the word. Now, he's gonna proclaim the word. He prophesies saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel. For he has visited us. He's accomplished redemption for his people.

He's raised up a horn of salvation. We heard that two weeks ago. He has raised it up in the house of his servant David just as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from the ancient times. Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham, we've heard that about five times in the last nine weeks. Micah was one of those.

You'll give truth. You'll give truth to your people and favor to Abraham, which you swore to our forefathers from the days of old. To grant us that we being rescued from the hand of our enemies, and he will rescue us from the Assyrian, it said last week in Micah. We'll be rescued from the hand of our men and and we would be able to serve God without fear, In holiness, in righteousness before him all our days and you, child, you also. This is to his own child.

You, child. You will be called the prophet of the most high. For you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways. Behold, I'm sending my messenger ahead of him. He's the forerunner of Christ.

For you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. What was John's gospel? John's gospel was repentance. Recognize where you stand, recognize the direction that you're going, and turn from it. Now, it's not the full gospel that we see when Jesus comes and makes the salvation but they still had to be looking forward to it just like we have to look back to it.

So, to give us people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins because why? Not because you deserve it, because of the tender mercy of our God with which the sunrise from on high, he will visit us to shine on those who sit in the darkness and shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. Amen. That's pointing us towards Christmas. We got one more week.

But that is the joy of this. Four hundred years of intertestamental silence, and then God breaks forth on the scene, and this is John's coming in the spirit of Elijah. I will use one Isaiah reference here. You will keep in perfect peace. All who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you.

When you can't see the way out because of your historical or political or economic or even religious setting, when you can't see the way out, put your trust in God on high. He's made a way. Jesus is that way, but if he's just a higher power to you right now, keep on leaning towards that higher power. Pray for him to show you the truth and humility and he will. The last line of chapter one of Luke says, now that child, John the Baptist grew and was becoming strong in spirit.

That seems like an understatement to me. And he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel, and then next week, we'll hit those familiar words. And now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus. Let a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. And we'll talk about the birth of Jesus next week.

That's the that's the benediction. Would you all stand with us? I'm gonna invite the band back up. And we're gonna sing something we sang last week. I think we sang it during the offering last week when y'all didn't have any words.

But for me and for several of the band members, the the refrain of there's hope for everyone. There's hope for everyone. There's hope for everyone. That brings joy. That brings joy to my heart to to think, you know what?

I might have given up on a few people but there's hope for everyone. This week, I've had multiple people that have come in that have faced significant real world problems and God delivered them from em and they're overjoyed and have a renewed lease on life. There's hope for everyone. Would you sing it out like you mean it as we play? Angels sing there's hope for everyone Amen.

And then I do wanna go to Philippians four for the benediction today. Rejoice in the Lord always, not just on Gotta Taste Sunday, when it's joy Sunday. Right? Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I'll say, rejoice and let your perfect theology be known to everyone.

No. Let your gentleness be known to all people. The Lord is near. Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and with pleading and thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which suppresses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Lord God almighty, may it be so here in this building and in every place we tread all week long.

Would you allow us to be carriers of your peace and may we rejoice all the way along. Amen. Amen. 04:30 tonight, we'll be caroling all over town, alright? Carriers caroling.