What’s It Gonna Be? (Larry Brey)

you where you came from. Some of you don't know your spiritual legacy. Elevation started more than seventeen years ago. Our first Sunday February fifth, two thousand and six, we had one twenty one people. Now we got more watch parties than that around the world. Look what God has done unbelievable. But it really didn't start February fifth. It started actually a year before that, in two thousand and five. When eight families committed to do this thing called Elevation Church.

I want to show you a photo of your early family heritage. This on the screen here, this is this is way back in the day Elevation Church. This is what we call the Blue Room days from back in Shelby, North Carolina. Let me give you a little context around this photo. Eight families at this point are committed to sell their houses, quit their jobs, moved to an unnamed city in part of an unnamed part of the country to be part of an unnamed church. He doesn't want

to sign up for that? Then, does sound amazing? We're all sitting in were wondering like what is it gonna be? And what's gonna be the name, and what's gonna be the city? And can you put that photo back up? Because Pastor Stephen is the on the bottom right corner with the shaved head. That's Pastor Stephen, Holly next to him, Chunks and Amy, and then that guy in the upper corner that's not Kevin James, that's me. That's and that was March thirteenth of two thousand and five, and we're

all sitting there, what's it gonna be? Here's the notes that Pastor Stephen gave us that night, and I wanted to speak these over our church today, to revisit a spirit that was spoken more than eighteen years ago, because the timeless message that Pastor Stephen has spoken into us does not outdate. Just because we flipped the calendar, this would be on the screen things we must do. He has him on the screen that night March thirteenth, two thousand and five, he said, here are eight things we

must do again. We didn't have a name, had no money, but we had a lot of vision. I wonder as I read these what applies to you today. Number one, we must get people to catch the vision rather than watching the show. I think that's a good word right there. We must call on God walkie talkie style, step by step. We must play our three chords loud to know what makes us distinctive, not lose that. Some of you have tried to imitate somebody else's sound, and God wanted you

to hear today. No, No, he gave you a specific note. Go back to who He made you to be. We must step forward like God is behind us. We must protect the vision like it's a newborn baby. And we must love each other. We must think marathon, not sprint. That's why we're here eighteen years later, serving in all these communities because Pastor steven and knows the voice that says, guys, we got to think about the long term, not just the short term, and then we must feel the burden.

I am so glad that we've got a pastor that eighteen years ago was saying no, no, no. I know there's a lot of things we don't know, but here's what we must do. Thank you, Pastor Stephen, for faithfully serving God, for faithfully preaching his word. We love you. We honor you with the privilege to preach today. Hey, remain standing for just another moment. I want to read God's verse for what we want to dive into today. This is going to be out of Luke chapter one.

I've been in this scripture for about six months and it's really wrecking me, and I'm excited to deliver it to you today. This is in verse sixty two of Luke chapter one. It says they made signs to his father to find out sorry about that what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment, he wrote his name is John. You see, they asked him, what do you want to

name this child? That I would do well to remind some of you that God has given you naming rights. Some of you as settled for a label that a past mistake has identified you as, and God says, that's not you. I've given you naming rights. You have the ability to rewrite some things today. And I think that's what God wants to do in our lives today. He wants to relabel some things today. Some of you as settle for a label that somebody else gave you, that

is beneath you. Jesus died for you to be. You've got naming rights. He goes on to say his name is John. Immediately his mouth was open and his tongue was set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking all about these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking what then is this child going to be? For the Lord's hand was with him. Here's the title for the few minutes

we have together. What's it gonna be? Say? It allowed to say? What's it gonna be. Type it in the comments what's it gonna be? You guys can be seated. Thank you Worship Team. This is a story about a couple that gets the opportunity to name a child. It's a pretty cool privilege. My wife, Janet and I we celebrate twenty three years of marriage this year. Yes, we do baby, and we've got four kids and ages seventeen down to nine. And our youngest her name is Lenya.

And this is a picture of her when she was born. This is her baby photo. And we remember looking at that baby photo going, what's I know? That's what was the effect I was going for. Oh, any parents here of some newborns. You can tell me because your eyes are wide open and you're not getting any sleep. And that's Lenya. And now here she is as a nine year old, and uh, that's that's our littlest one. And when you meet a child, you walk up to them and you say, what do you want to be? What

do you want to be? She wants to be a YouTuber. She has no idea what that means, but she wants to have nine YouTube channels and she wants to go to Barry College. She's got it. All mapped out, and when you see a kid, you're like, what do you want to be when you grow up? But two adults they meet each other like what do you Where did we go from becoming something for God's glory to doing something for him? I think we've lost a little bit

of that wonderment that God wants. The staff, maybe you would do well the next time you're in a business meeting to look at your business and say what do you want to be when you grow up? And I think it speaks to the assignment that maybe God has placed on her hearts today to remember some of the things that He spoke in to us that maybe time has talked us out of. In this story, it's about the birth of a child. But to really understand the story,

he got to rewind a little bit. I want to hop back to chapter one of Luke, starting in verse five, and I want to give you that story because some people see the end of a story you don't appreciate

unless you saw Whariot began. It's really easy for like, oh, it must be nice be an elevation church with all like, let me take you back to the photo where there was no money, there was no name, because God is faithful in those little moments, and when you stay faithful in those things, you see Him do much with it. In chapter one, verse five, this is in the time of Herod, King of Judah. There was a priest name of Zachariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah.

His wife was Elizabeth, and who was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, serving all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly. So you have this couple that the husband is a preacher man, he's a priest, he's got it going down. And Elizabeth, she comes from a royal blondeline. Aaron was the first high priest of Israel. He's Moses's brother. So these people come from the right side of the tracks.

They're like the all American they're the Jewish couple. Like he's the homecoming king and she's the homecoming queen, and he's the captain of the football team. And they got it all going on. They got the right pedigree. And then verse six it says they were both blameless in the side of God. It doesn't mean they were above without sin. It means they were above reproach. It means they were living their life in such a way that the ordinances, in the commands that God had given, they

were following them. They were observing, not just they were coming from the right place, but they were doing the right things. What an example for those of us that claimed the cause of Christ to run after to we want to be the kind of person who observes the decrease in the commands of the Lord blamelessly. And you would expect verse seven to start with. And they all lived happily ever after. But you see, the Bible is not a fairy tale. It's the story of a great

God that we were separated from because of sin. But God is long suffering, willing that none should perish. And it's set the stage for a savior to come on the scene of the world who in the form of Jesus, to redeem us from our sins. But it's also the story of a broken humanity and the depravity of the human nature and the result of sin and what happens.

This is a book of great faith. I think sometimes we open up God's word wanting a fairy tale, and verse seven shows me that this is not a fairy tale because it says, but they were childless, because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. Sometimes the scripture shouts, it says, here's the answer, and sometimes whispers, but it's never silent. I think the whisper

in verse seven is the subtle sound of disappointment. You see, they had this deep desire to be parents, but but they were childless. So but often speaks to a desire that's delayed or it feels like it's been denied. It's this place of disappointment, and it says they were very old, and when you read the original language, it means they were very old. It's like you know, you've got hungry, and then there's very hungry. You know you're angry, and

then there's very angry. There's old and then there's very old. Zacharias ninety and Elizabeth is eighty eight, and the text is showing you a story that not only was Elizabeth not able to conceive, but they're past the age of biological reproduction in a reasonable person's eyes, and it sets the stage and but becomes a foreshadowing of God's favor. It's a beautiful there's profound disappointment in this versus picture them because in the culture, they would have been married

as teenagers. So picture Elizabeth being sixteen and Zachari being eighteen, and they get married, like, all right, we're married. We're both come from good blood lives, we're both doing it right, we're serving God. Certainly we'll have a baby by the time we're twenty. And now Zachariah looks at Elizabeth at age twenty five and says, I cannot talk to your mama one more time. Just if she says, when are you gonna give me a grand by, I'm gonna slap her,

just keeping it real. And then thirty comes and goes, and the whispers of the people in the community are like, what's wrong with them? Why can't they get pregnant? And now they're begging God, God, have you forgotten us? God? We're serving you. Did we do something wrong? But no, they were not being punished. And some of you feel like the situation you're walking through us a punishment for something you did. It's not. They were not being punished

in this moment. How they come to age forty and Elizabeth is like, hey, why don't you go find somebody else? Some marror so that you can have a child, because evidently I think it's me. They say, no, no, we're going to keep serving God. We're going to do this thing together. But now they're fifty. They expected to be holding a baby, but now they're just holding bitterness. Then by the time they get to age sixty, they forgot

about the desire to become parents. And they used to be praying earnestly, seeking the presence of God, give us a child, give us a child. But now sixty they've stopped praying those prayers. So by the time we pick up the story here, it's been about thirty years. I think since they've even thought about praying for a child, they forgot about that deep desire. I wonder how many desires have been buried in the graveyard of disappointment. We

treat God's desires like a loaf of bread. We put an expiration date on it, and when it doesn't then happen in our time, we disregard it and we get rid of it. And I think God wants to pick some of those things back up today. What's your butt? But some of you at Christmas time prayed, like, Lord, help my marriage get better. And if it doesn't by summer, I'm out. And now it's summertime and you're not left physically,

but emotionally and spiritually, you have left the marriage. But I thought it was gonna get better, but I didn't expect it to happen like this. How many business owners said, I'm gonna do it right, I'm gonna do it God's way, but you can't meet payroll. But you see everybody else

cutting corners, and it seems like they're getting ahead. This young, young, young lady finished her senior year of college, and she started her senior year saying, if I don't get a ring by spring, and now you're getting a wedding invitations from everybody. Ashley sends you. Ashley, she has had more boyfriends, my gosh, and she's getting married now, Melissa. Melissa is crazy. And you settle on trying to do it right. And you were holding out for mister right, but now you're

subtle for mister right now. And a part of yourself you said you'd keep sacred till marriage. You're willing to compromise because you feel like it'll make you more loved and it'll help get that ring on your finger, and the deep desire of your hearts fades into the background, and you feel like it's for everybody else. What's your Butt's? What is it? What's your butt? When I showed you that picture of our daughter, Lenya, I need to tell you the full story of I need to take you

back to Mother's Day twenty and thirteen. This is a photo of my family Mother's Day twenty and thirteen. It's my wife, Janet and our three kids, and we're pregnant. In that photo. We're about twelve weeks pregnant. And my wife wakes up that day and she starts having symptoms, and yet she still comes to church, and yet we still get on the stage, and yet she still holds the microphone, and we're still faithfully serving God. In a couple days later, we end up having a miscarriage. Like,

but God, Like, are you kidding me? We're serving you, We're standing on stage, We're doing it right. We helped sacrifice for this church. We sold our house and this is happening to us, and it took us to such a hard place. But God, what happened. And it was at the end of the year, we find ourselves pregnant again. And we had a pastor come in. Pastor Levi Lusco came to preach at Elevation Church. And we're sitting in the sermon and I haven't told anybody we're pregnant. I

couldn't pray for that child. And Pastor Levi's preaching a sermon about his daughter that had died a year before. She was like four or five. And in the sermon, I hear the Holy Spirit saying, pray for your daughter. Open your mouth and start praising me for what I did, rather than letting disappointment bury the desire. And he said, you're gonna name her Lenya, because Lenya was the name

of Pastor Levi's daughter that passed away. So you see, when you hear this story about Elizabeth and Zachariah, this old couple, we just skip right through verse seven. What's your button? The story continues in verse eight. It says, once when Zacharai's division was on duty and he was serving as priests before God, he was chosen by Lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into

the Temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time of burning incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Our production team is going to bring out some stage props that will help illustrate the rest of the sermon. And as they do, would you help me Thank all of our volunteers at all of our locations, and all those volunteers that take care of your crazy kids and park your cars when you don't want to be in the parking lot. But thank you, and especially

want to shout out our elevation Ashville location. Thank you for five years faithfully serving God. We love you, and we honor you, and we're so grateful for you. So in the passage, Elizabeth and Zachariah are part of a priestly division, and in nation Israel at this point there's eighteen thousand priests. They're divided up into twenty four different groups or divisions. Each one of these divisions would have two weeks of the year where they would make the trek.

Part of their duty was to go to Jerusalem and help at the temple, because the central part of the Jewish life at that point was the Temple. The temple is what set everything up, and the temple had three basic parts. It had this part out here the courtyard, it had this part here called the Holy Place, and it had a lamp stand, and it had an altar for incense, and had a table for bread. And then

the behind here is called the Holy of Holies. This is once a year the high priest would go with blood where he would meet with God to offer sacrifices for Nation Israel. The duty of the priests was families. If there was sin in their life or sin in their home, they would make the trek to Jerusalem. Elizabeth and Zachariah would walk about fifteen miles one way just to get to Jerusalem. They've been making this trek five times a year for seventy years. They've been faithfully serving God.

This is their duty and they're faithfully doing it each and every year, five times a year. The first three years they're seeing families walk up with all their kids. I wonder how many years went by before they stopped seeing that because they just didn't want to see kids anymore, because the deepest deserve of their heart was to have a kid. But they kept being faithful with their duty.

And part of the duty of Nation Israel is if there were sin in your home, you would make the trek to Jerusalem to the Temple to offer sacrifices for sin, because there must always be bloodshed for the forgiveness of sin. In the Old Testament, that was through the lot of goats and rams and lambs, and then a New Testament. That's why Jesus blood sacrificed all of humanity satisfied the penalty of sin. But although we're reading the New Testament,

we're still in the Old Covenant. So what the priests would do is a family would make their way to Jerusalem and Zacharai would meet with the husband and the head of the household and he would offer a sacrifice, and the head of the household would have to put his hand on the head of the animal as the high priest would grab the knife and he would slit

the throat and the blood would leave the body. Because the family needed to feel the weight of sin and to realize that there's always a penalty be paid for it. That was part of the duty of the priests and what they would do five times a year, and then they would make take some of the blood back into the Holy Place. Back here, and the Holy Place has got three parts. It's got the lamp stand, it's ninety pounds of solid gold that's hammered out to look like

a tree. So part of the duty of the priest is to come back and light the lamp to burn incense, and then there's a table of showbread. The show bred has got twelve loaves. This inner space is to remind you that God is light. Your prayers come into his presence, and He is the provider. That's what this holy place represents. So as Zachariah was on duty, he's making his way back, and the first thing you must do is to attend to the lamp. It's ninety pounds of gold hammered to

look like a tree. It's to remind you of the tree of life. Because every time they would see it, it would take him back to the garden of Eden, and it would remind them of what God intended it to be. He intended it to be this way. So his duty was to attend to this. He has been doing it for seventy some years. Do you know what Eden means. It means delight. Do you think it was a delight for Elizabeth and ZACHARII for seventy years to make their deway to Jerusalem five times a year to serve everybody

else but feeling their own desires unfulfilled. Do you think that was always a delight? No? No, no, see you see, delight is not a feeling. It is a decision, it says of Jesus, for the joy set before him. He endured the cross, scorning at shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the brother. Do you think it was an emotional high for Jesus to go on the cross? No, what was it? It was a duty, but it was a delight. You're not getting that. It looks like a duty to everybody else, But it is

a delight. Psal I'm thirty seven to four. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. What happens is we delight in our dreams and will eventually walk away from our duty. Pastor Stephen preached a couple of weeks ago, I'm gonna keep digging until he does it. Part two. I'm gonna keep delighting until he does it. I'm just gonna keep delighting in the Lord for seventy years until he does it.

I don't know when, I don't know how, but I'm gonna keep delighting and delighting looks like duty to everybody else, And I want to tell you that it sometimes feels more like duty than it does delight. And I would want to ask you the question, what has he put in your hands? What has he given you? What has he entrusted to you? Are you delighting in what He's placed in your hands? Or because it doesn't look like

what you expected, you walk away from it. Here's what I think real faith is to keep delight lighting in the Lord when the desire of my heart is unmet. Let me give you a husband hack on Father's Day. Husband's when you come home at the end of the day and you're exhausted and you're tired, you just can't wait to sit down and turn on the TV. And you finally sit down and your wife's like, hey, can you go to the store? Honey? You're like, oh God,

I'd be delighted because I understand it's a duty. Are you letting unmet desires keep you from being faithful with the duty He's placed in your hand? So when you see the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth, it is one of faithfulness, faithfully fulfilling their duty five times a year for seventy years, and now finally, on this day, Zachariah gets picked. He's going to be the one, randomly to go into the Holy Place to offer some of this

sacrifices to God. And it's just raindom that you clicked on this stream today, and it's just random that you walked into one of our locations today. No, it is divine appointment. I believe God has ordered your steps in such a way that he brought you to this place because there's something He needs you to hear. But disappointment is keeping you from embracing the duty. And the story goes on in verse eleven and it says, then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the

right side of the altar of incense. When Zachariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, don't be afraid, Zachariah, your prayer has been heard. Now. Picture Zachariah ninety year old Zachariah, not a sixteen year old spry boy, but a ninety year old, very old man. Because at the time he goes into the Holy Place, this is a place that's covered with drapes and its dark inside and the first thing he had to do was to go light the lamp.

If you walk into a dark room, what's the first thing you do? Some of you are stumbling around in the dark, trying to find your dreams. God says, I need you to do this first. Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you. Seek first, though desires are not bad, but there must be an order to it. And it says as he went inside to do that, all of the worshippers were assembled outside. Now context all of you had just offered sacrifices.

You had come because there was a sin, there was something that needed to be offered or sacrificed for the remission of sin. And he would go A priest would go in there two times a day. This occasion is on the Sabbath, the busiest day of the week. I said, we're like, oh, my Sabbath is when I rest. No, Sabbath is when you worship. That's not work, that's worship. To show up and they're all out there praying, and I think there's two kinds of there's individual prayers and

there's corporate prayers. The individual prayers would have been like, Lord, please receive the sacrifice we just offered you. May you forgive us, May you redeem us. May you look past our transgressions. They would have been praying for marriages to be healed. They would have been praying for children to be healed. They would have been praying for all those things individually, all the individual stuff that you're praying for. But maybe because you didn't see it happen, you started

to withhold your petition. I wonder if disappointment has disconnected your vocal courts, and now you're not offering prayer to God anymore because you didn't see it happen in your timeline. It didn't happen in any thought. But there'd also be corporate prayers going on because the nation Israel was very familiar with oppression. They were under Egyptian slavery for over four hundred years, they were in Babylonian captivity for hundreds

of years, and then now they're under Roman oppression. And they had knew the prophecies that a savior would come, a redeemer would come, someone would come one day. So all those prayers are being lifted up in the courtyard, And I wonder if we're complaining more about the culture than we are praying. I wonder what the sound of the courtyard of the Christian looks like. I'm wondering what it sounds like. Have we lost the prayer of the righteous or powerful and effective? What does it sound like

in the courtyard of your life? Is your petitioning God? If the depth of my prayer is only me getting something, I'm in the shallow end of the faith pool, and I'm insulting God with the size of my prayer because I'm only wanting to get something from him. What I consider interceding for the body of Christ, what I consider eating interceding for this generation. All those things are going on, and just at the time all those prayers are being

lifted up, Zachara is like, now it's my day. He gets picked he's ninety years old, to go back in and light the lamp. And as he does, he would go over and he would sprinkle some of the blood of the animals on the other. But as he does, he sees the Angel of the Lord standing there, and He's like, what you freak out too? And then he says, the angel says to him, your prayer has been heard, Oh my soul, and I Asus Zachar I had to like that. What is he talking about? Is that the

prayer for the giveness of the families? Like, is that the prayerfer a savior? What is the prayer? What is it? Because I don't think he's prayed for a son in three decades. And then he says to him, your wife, Elizabeth will bury you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and a delight to you. And he's like, what are you talking about. I'm very old and my wife is very very old and her wound doesn't work. And he's like, what are

you talking about? My the prayer he didn't remember. God never forgotten those tears you shed, sister, those private prayers that you cried into your pillow. God heard them. He hasn't forgotten them. He's not forgotten you. It might take seventy years, but God is faithful and he will show up. And I love that he's showing up on the scene of this story. It's like, and you will be a father, and she will bury you a son, and he will

be a joy and a delight. Remember when you're changing that diaper as a delight, that would do well for some of you because the dream you had doesn't match up with the experience you have, and you don't see it as a delight. It's a duty. But it is a delight because he's been praying seventy years for a child and they finally is going to get it. And I love this story. And it goes on in in verse eighteen. It picks it up and I think the Angel's kind of looking at Zachary, all right, Zachari, what's

it gonna be? What's it gonna be? Man? Are you ready? You've been praying for this? Here we go? And it says this in verse eighteen, it says Zachariah ask the Angel, how can I be sure of this? I'm an old man and my wife is well along in years. Then the Angel said him, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I've been sent speak to

you and tell you this good news verse twenty. And now you will be silent and not be able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true with their appointed time. I picture the Angel of the Lord standing here and he's asking Zachary, all right, what's it gonna be? What's it going to be? And then he hears this response and he's like, shut up, ship it. It might sound like God is punishing, He's protecting. God is more committed

to your desire than you are. And I will not let your disbelief destroy what I'm trying to birth into your life. Some of us have killed in utero a dream and a desire because of the disbelief. We spoke over it. Some of you, if you examine your language, you have lived in disappointments so long. All that's coming out now is poison, and it is disbelief. Disbelief can be more corrosive to the Christian life than the devil.

We give him way too much credit. What we destroy internally, sometimes this is way more than he will do externally. Some of you have lived with disappointment. It has become your best friend and you have made partner. But now that disappointment has gone to the level now it's disbelief. And I love it because I think in this verse it gives us a better definition of what disappointment is. Right at the end of verse twenty, it says, because you did not believe my words, which will come true,

at their appointed time. God has appointed a time for that desire to be fulfilled. But when it doesn't happen on my appointed time, I've got disappointment. I wonder how many of us are schedules, are not sinking with Gods in ours is superseding his. And because it didn't happen on my timeline, and he wasn't disbelieving God because he hated God. He just didn't want to be disappointed again. The reason I couldn't pray for a child when we were pregnant at that time is I just didn't want

to be disappointed anymore. So rather than be disappointed, I will lower my expectations. And some of us have lowered our expectation through the level of our experience because we never want to be disappointed again. And some of you have stopped expecting anything out of life. And I speak the word of God over you. He's coming into your lives and he's saying, I heard that desire. I didn't forget it, did you? And I always say shut up. Some of you need to pray the spirit of shut

up over your life. I don't elbow your husband. I saw that Lord give my husband that spirit. Some if you want something to die, you need to starve it if you want that disappointment and that disbelief to die. Go in a twenty one day opinion fast. Some of you are so addicted to your opinion it just freely flows over everybody, even unsolicited. I think you should and I think you should, And it's coming from a place that you think is wisdom, but it is not. It

is disbelief. I'm just keeping it real. No, you suck, and you are destroying what God is trying to build. And you now become the thermostat for your children and it becomes generational conditioning. Is they carry your Oh I'm preaching to myself right now, damen. Because Zachariah's deepest prayer was to have a child at an individual level, but there was also a corporate prayer for a Messiah, a savior.

Both were happening in the same place. And what would happen with his son named John is he was supposed to be the one who would point people to Jesus. He would be the one to say, one coming after me, I'm not fit to tie his sandals. It is John the Baptist. You mean that God could answer Zachariah's prayer

and the prayer of Nation Israel together. Yes, you are settling for too shallow on the desire of your heart, because God not only wants to do something in you, he wants to do something through you into the world. God mest Zachariah's deep desire and the petitions of Nation Israel. At the same time, God says, I'm gonna see your desire and I'm gonna one up it because I am that kind of God who can do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine. And that's the kind of

God that we serve. And that's what he was doing, and it is beautiful. But John's whole life was to point people to Jesus. And at the same time, the angel Gabriel is also going to be working in a sixteen year old virgin named Mary. In the very same story, the Angel is about to do another miraculous birth. You realize at the same time God's doing something, it's somebody in your row. You realize, at the same time God's doing something on somebody else in your city. He's doing

something on somebody else in your campus. And if we would take a step back and see the bigger picture of what God is weaving together for his glory. It is absolutely beautiful. And God shows up on the life of a sixteen year old virgin. And if before the experience, I were to stand up here, a ninety year old man, a priest who's observing all the decrees in commands blamelessly, and a sixteen year old virgin girl, which one would

you say has more wisdom? All of us would have started over here, because that's the human knowledge we bring to it. But God is of a different economy. And I want to give you one verse. I don't have time to unpack the whole thing, but I want to show you Mary because in the same chapter, chapter one of Luke, verse thirty eight, the Angel now comes. Since

it's Mary, you are greatly favored. You are highly favored, and you will give birth to a child, to a child, and he will be the Messiah, and he will be great. And I love Mary's response. It says this in verse thirty eight. And Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. Oh my goodness, it is beautiful. What's it gonna be? Are you gonna be like Zachariah, I don't know how can this be? Or are you gonna be?

Like Mary? Let it be to me according to your word. What's is it gonna be? What's it gonna be? Are you gonna rely on your whole human wisdom that says that time has passed, that desire is buried? Are you gonna have an innocent faith? What can I be? For God's glory? Let it be to me? And I believe the Holy Spirit is stepping into your life whispering about those desires that you have buried in the graveyard of disappointment.

And I believe God is calling some of you to go back and to reconsider and to pick those things up. And the Angel said to Zachariah, you will not speak again until this happens. That's nine plus months of silence. Elizabeth is pricing, Thank you, thank you, thank you. What would it look like for some of you to learn to be silent rather than the poison of the past and the disappointment that's now become disbelief be just spewed on everybody. What if you were to settle into the

spirit of silence. This says, I don't understand it, but let it be to me according to your words. So now as we get to the end of Luke fifty seven, this is where we started. I think Zachariah is getting another opportunity. He's getting a second chance here and a verse fifty seven, it says when it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. What a beautiful occasion. She's almost ninety years old at this point. Her friends would have been holding their great

great great grandchild, and she's holding her firstborn. It might take a few generations, but it will happen in your life. I don't know when I speak over you that it will happen at its appointed time, not your appointed time, at his appointed time. Her relative, her neighbors, and relatives heard that the Lord has shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. I don't think they shared at the same level. She did. Think about the woman who the whispers of the community were one that her wound

was barren, and she wasn't a good enough wife. And if in that culture you didn't have a child, you were lower than cattle. So she walked through life feeling unworthy by everybody, and yet she remained faithful with the duty that God had given her, child of God. I know the grief is significant, but you can be faithful with what He's put in your hands. You absolutely can. I don't think they fully shared in the joy that she had. And when it happens in your life, people

will try to be there to celebrate you. But God is in that moment with you, and he's saying, well done, good and faithful servant. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were gonna name him after his father, Zachariah, but his mother spoke up and said, no, he is to be called John. They said to her, there's no one among your relatives who has that name. It's funny. Who are they? Who are they?

They that said you're too stupid, They that said you'll be a statistic They that said you will be just like your father. They that said you will never amount to anything. They that said, you gave that part of yourself away, and you are a second rate, second class, and you don't deserve it to see the table, just settle for crumbs on the floor. Who are they? They don't have in mind the things of God. All they saw was the past and God says, I'm about to

do something new. How dare you label things according to the past. I'm about to do a new thing in you. It's a new thing. It won't look like the past, So don't use the labels of a previous generation. Zachari. That's that name was good for who needed it. But the assignment on this child is different. Some of you have been labeled according to they, he is to be called. They didn't believe Elizabeth and I love this in verse sixty two because I think this is the second chance.

I think Zachari is getting another opportunity because the first time, all it was when the angel showed up to was disbelief. How could I be sure of this? That was the last thing he said. He hadn't spoken in nine plus months Verse sixty two. Then they made signs to his father to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonished, he wrote, his name is John. He didn't even say it, he just wrote it. He just wrote.

Some of you need to write something down. God spoke something into your spirit that if you do not write it, you will forget it. Don't forfeit the revelation because you don't capture it. God is breathing something into your spirit right now. Would you capture it so that you don't forget it? The devil wants to snatch it from you. God says, no, write it down. I needs you to be sure of it. His name is John. Immediately whoo, his mouth was open, his tongue was set free, and

he began to speak praising God. The last time his mouth was open, poison was flowing out. Now it's all about praise. Now I'm gonna be praising him. Now, I'm gonna be thanking him. Now I'm gonna be worshiping. I'm gonna be praising God. Do you mean that mouth that's so familiar with disbelief can be switched over to speak praise? Yes, you can discipline your tongue. How do you discipline your tongue by remaining faithful with the duty He's put in

your hands. What's interesting about the story is everything has been pointing to Jesus. The Bible points to Jesus. John's life is pointing to Jesus. Zachariah at that time. The way that the law was written is when he was picked to go into this holy place. He would have only had the chance to do that once in his life. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and he would never get that opportunity again. And some of you feel like that, You feel like you forfeited the opportunity.

But Jesus, But Jesus, because John's life was pointing to Jesus, the scriptures are pointing to Jesus. You need to understand. In the courtyard of the Temple, when they would bring in these animal sacrifices, you realize that Jesus was the lamb slain before the foundations. All of the temple was pointing to Jesus. Every part of it was pointing to him. His blood was offered for the forgiveness of sins. You realize that Jesus is in the Holy Place. He is

the light of the world. You realize that he is the media, the one that gives us access to God. You realize that he is the bread of life. It is all pointing to Jesus. And then as Jesus is on the cross, he says, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. And he breathed his last breath, and as he did, the veil was torn, separating us from God, and he created a way for us to come into his presence, and he says, Father, into your hands, I

commit my spirit. Why would he say that? Because the Father delighted in the sun, and the son's duty was to be obedient for the joy set before him. He endured the cross, scorning and shame. What's it going to be? Child of God? Are you going to keep letting disappointment keep Jesus at a distance. Are you going to keep

labeling yourself according to your lowest moments? Are you going to live in an outdated Old Testament sacrificial system that it's all about you bludgeoning yourself and proving to God you're good enough? Or are you going to receive the forgiveness that's found in Jesus. What's it going to be? Child of God? What's it going to be? Doing you your way or coming to Jesus? Stand up here at Balancine all of our locations, and I want to give

somebody an invitation to place their faith in Jesus. You have been playing religion, You've been purposing to try harder and do better, but you are separated from God because of your sin, and I really want to speak to somebody who's living in the land of disappointment. That disappointment where it didn't happen on your timeline, has made you feel like God has forgotten you. The evidence of the

scripture would suggest that he's not forgotten you. He sees you, he hears you, and he's in this moment with you. And if you need to begin a relationship with Jesus or you've wandered away and you need to come back to him, I want to lead us all in a prayer enough for someone to begin that relationship, to profess that Jesus is Lord and be forgiven, and of all of your sins, would you buy your heads? Would you close your eyes? I don't want everybody praying this out

loud with me. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on the cross and rose from the grave to forgive me of my sin. I give you my life, I give you my sin, I give you my shame. Forgive me, and I'll spend my life following you with your head still bowed and your eyes still closed. If you just placed your faith in Jesus or you're coming back to him. I'm going to count to three, and when I get there, without hesitation, I need you to boldly shoot your hand into the air.

This is your moment. One, two, three, shoot your hand up all across the sauditorum. Come on, let's celebrate that, Elevation Church, come on, celebrate that. Hey.