From Fear To Faith: Your Prayer Is Heard

Good morning, buddy. What's up there, hand and the foot? Hey, hey. Well, if that seemed like a long winded worship service, wait till you get to heaven.

That'll seem like nothing. Because you're going to be doing that the rest of your lives. So you better get some practice in now. Well, let me just say Merry Christmas the week early.

Merry Christmas. Excited about this season. We've got a couple of good weeks planned out over the next couple of weeks, our services. Kristen, I ought to mention next Sunday night.

I just want to mention again, in the evening at 5.30, we're having kids, but we're also having a time of worship, a time of communion. And we're going to pray for healing along with that as well. So if you can make it out, it'll be about an hour long. It'll be a great time.

So just a time to reflect on Jesus and his birth. And also we're going to reflect on his death. That's the same time too. Let me start by getting rid of this.

There we go. Keep the whistle so later, please. So as Pastor Seth last week, he started just to overcome with the love of God. And he started launching what we're going to go to in the first of the year, series on the love of God.

And as he was talking about that, I was reminded of the verse in 1 John, chapter 4, I believe it's 18. It says, there is no fear in love. There's no fear in love. Because I want to say the perfect love passed out fear.

And so that in a relationship, in a love relationship, obviously the relationship we have with Jesus, there should be no fear in there. We just covered a couple weeks ago, the fear of the Lord, different, but there should be no fear. And I don't know the exact number. I think I heard one time there was 365 times in the Bible that were instructed to not fear.

And here's what I think. As I look at the Christmas story, I don't know. Let's assume there's 365. I can tell you this.

There's four times in the Christmas story we're told to not fear. And so if I believe that perfect love cast out fear, if God weaves in scripture times that he says, do not fear, there should be something within that that gives me a greater revelation of the love of God. Because God would not tell me to do something and not supply the grace and the power to carry it out. And so what I want to look at over this week, next week, and even into the evening service on Christmas Eve, is moving from fear to faith.

And looking at the four different times in the Christmas story where the angel Gabriel speaks the words, do not fear. Because within the words, do not fear will be a revelation of the love of God. I believe that. And I believe you'll see different aspects of things of God's love that will help you move from maybe things in your life that are holding you back, things that are hindering your faith to step into a greater faith.

Now that faith is not just something that happens the day we get saved. When we accept Jesus, we put our faith and trust in him. But it's not a one time event. That is.

But Paul says this. He quotes the Old Testament three times in the new. He says that the just shall live by faith. So the just are those that have been justified or declared righteous.

So once you're saved, faith is not just something you do the day you put your trust in Jesus. But it's how you live every day of your life. It's something that Paul says he says in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. That there's increasing levels of faith.

So hopefully as we look at the Christmas story, you see the love of God in it. It'll actually tear away maybe some fears in your life and increase your faith. That's my hope. So the four times that the angel Gabriel appears, the four different people were actually a one-time a group of people that he says this.

The first time he shows up is the one we're going to look at today when he appears to Zacharias. And we know Zacharias was married to Elizabeth. That's the story we're going to read today. And he says, do not fear for your prayer is heard.

And that's the message today. Do not fear your prayer is heard. When he appears to marry, six months later, Gabriel says this. He says, Mary, do not fear for you have found favor with God.

And so we're going to look at that next week. There's actually sometimes an anxiety of actually carrying God's favor. And he says, don't fear your found favor with God. He appears to Joseph not long after that in a dream.

He says, Joseph, do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes we begin to fear things that we don't understand in the natural, that there's things that God has birthed in the spirit realm of the Holy Spirit that don't make sense in the natural. And God says, hey, don't fear. Step ahead, marry your wife, because that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

And then after the birth of Jesus on that first night, and I believe this is what we'll look at on the Burke communion service, he appears to the angels. And he says, fear not, before I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior which is Christ the Lord. And it says that they took the words spoken to them and began to publish them to all people. So sometimes there's a fear of the gospel.

And he says, don't fear, I bring you good news. I bring you good news. It's not the message of Jesus is never bad news. God's not mad at you any longer.

It says they said that there's peace on earth, good will, toward man. That God's favor, God's good will, was toward mankind. That he loved you so much he sent Jesus. And he's not up in heaven like looking down at you with a frown on his face.

So that's kind of like the context of where we're going. But today we want to look at the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth. And we're going to go from fear to faith. It's a little bit of a lengthy passage, so I'm not going to read it in its entirety up front.

We're going to read some sections, and then we'll teach through it. But there's three points I want to bring to you today. First of all, obviously it says your prayer is heard. So number one, you can write these down.

God hears. God hears. Number two, these are very simple. God helps.

Number three, God heals. God hears. God helps. God heals.

I think you'll be blessed as we look at God's love in the story. So Luke chapter one, let's pray. I just ask you now in the next few minutes as we open your word, Father, that this word, according to your word, is alive. That this isn't just some words written on a page.

This is your breath. This is your life. This was inspired by the Holy Spirit. And it says alive today is the very moment that the words left your mouth.

And so Father Lord, I pray that your word today that is sharper than a two-edged sword. That it would pierce to the dividing line of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. Father, that it would cut deep in a good way, Lord, to carve off anything that we're holding on to, that we shouldn't be. The Father, we open our hearts now to your word, to your spirit, to have your way, and to do your work.

In Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so this is Luke chapter one, verses five through 25. And it says this, there were in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias.

Let me just set the turn a little bit. In the days of Herod, you might say these were the darkest of dark times. Because Herod was a maniac. This is the person they called Herod the Great.

He wasn't really, he was more infamous than he was great, because he had this, he was paranoid. So paranoid, he would actually kill his own family if he thought that they were trying to take over him, or get an advantage of him. He was a psychopath. Same guy that when the wise men didn't return, he said go find this king, so I can worship him.

The wise men are warned they go another way. He's the one that had all the babies under two years old in Israel slaughtered. So he's really a bad guy. This is very dark time for Israel.

God has not spoken for 400 years. There's been what they call the silent years. Malachi ends with chapter four. There's nothing spoken from God from his prophets for 400 years.

And so it's a dark time. It's a silent time. And it says, in the days of Herod, there was a certain priest named Zacharias of the division of Avidia. His wife was the daughter of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

So we have this priest, his name was Zacharias, and we have Elizabeth, his wife, who was also the daughter of a priest. She comes from that same ironic line. And so they're married. And it says, we're six.

They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. So these were good people. They kept the commandments of the old covenant. They did the best that they could do.

It said that their lives were actually blameless, that there was nothing that anybody could actually point a finger at and say, hey, you're doing this wrong. You should have done this. They were living good lives. It said that they were married.

They were before the Lord blameless. They walked in all the commandments, verse seven. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. And so here's one thing I want to point out on the next slide.

That Israel had a promise. There was a promise from God in the old covenant that there would be no women that would be barren among them. So in Exodus chapter three, verses 25 and 26, it says this. It says, I will take the sickness away from the midst of you.

No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days. And then before they go into the promised land, Moses reiterates this. And Deuteronomy 7, 14, he said, you will be best above all people.

There shall not be a male or female barren among you. So here's this promise of God. Here's the first five books of the Bible that they live their life by and that they're fulfilling every promise or every commandment that God's given them. And yet they're living their lives in their old age with an unfulfilled promise.

Because God's words said, there will be no barren among you. And yet here they are keeping God's commandments and they have no kid. It says because Elizabeth was barren. She wasn't able to bear kids.

And they were both in their old age. So if you look back, they estimate that they were probably around 60 years old, give or take. So I can tell you that I'm not 60 yet. 53, but I'm to the point where I don't really want kids anymore.

I've done my duty with kids. And we're beyond the, right? You don't want kids, right? Let me just make sure.

Maybe she does. I don't know. We're going to speak against that if she does. Grandkids, yeah, we're praying for those grandkids now.

That's where we're going. And it says in verse 8, it says, so it was, while he was serving as a priest before God, the order of his division. According to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense. And he went into the temple of the Lord.

And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. So here's the thing. At that time, there was about 20,000 priests that served at the temple. And so one or two weeks a year, you get to go.

And then they'd have, like, for lack of a better word, there'd be a lottery. And it says, by the lot, he was chosen, or by chance, he was chosen, that it was his day that he would go serve in the temple. And what he was chosen to do that day was not to walk in the holy of holies, because we know the high priest only went in there one day a year. But he went into the holy place.

And that was the room right before the holy of holies. And right in front of the holy place is the altar of incense. And to the right would have been the table of showbread. And to the left, on his left hand side, would have been the golden lampstand that gave light to that room.

And so he walks in there. Think of it like this. If there's 20,000 priests, what's the chance that your lot's going to get drawn? One out of 20,000, right?

So this is like a big deal. This would be like Charlie in the chocolate factory. It's like he's open in the Willy Wonka bars. And he goes, I got the golden ticket.

I'm going into the holy place. And so it's that big of a deal. This just doesn't happen every day. And so it's a dark time in Israel's history.

They're living in a terrible time. But here's this great day where he actually gets to walk in and offer incense. And they would take incense. And they'd take the coals from the burnt offering on the outside.

And they'd take them. And they would put them in the ordered incense. And they would offer incense, which symbolizes prayer. And they'd offer that to the Lord.

And it says in verse 10, it says, the whole multitude of the people are outside. And they're praying. So everybody's on the outside on the outer court. They're praying while he's on the inside offering incense, waiting for him to come out.

And it says, then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him. Now obviously, and all these times, if you saw Gabriel, then there'd be a measure of fear that would come along with that. Because he's probably awesome looking.

He's probably big and glorious. And there would be fear. But in addition to just the natural fear, in each of these situations, Gabriel speaks into something specific in their lives. And here he says, it says that, when he saw him, fear fell upon him.

And so here's where we get into the first point that God hears, which is in verse 13, it says this. Oh, wait, we're not there yet. OK, so verse 13. It says, let me read this first.

It said, but the angel said to him, do not be afraid Zacharias, where your prayer is heard. And your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. And you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness.

And many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. And he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's room.

So this is supernatural. It says, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. Now here is where verse 17. Remember I told you that there were 400 silent years?

And in Malachi, chapter four, verses five and six, the prophet Malachi talks about, before that day, the Lord calms that Elijah will come and will turn the hearts of the children. And so right where prophecy left off, 400 years later, Gabriel picks it up 400 years later and speaks into that very same thing. And he says this, he says, he will go before him, speaking of Jesus, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. So he's in there, and he's going in there to make incense.

And here's Gabriel, and Gabriel says, hey, don't fear. Do not be afraid for your prayer is heard. If you read or ever read the Passion Translation, there's a note, it doesn't translate it this way, but there's a note. And the note says this, it's added by the commentator.

It says that the tense of this verb in the Greek would allow it to be translated this way. Do not be afraid, the prayer that you no longer pray is heard. Do you have any prayers that you're no longer praying? Is there something that you prayed for at a certain point in your life and you were faithful and you were persistent and you took it before the Lord, but time passed, and you just dropped it?

Maybe you're in that season now. Maybe you're in the midst of praying for something, and you're wondering, is this thing ever gonna come to pass? Anybody ever prayed for something that hasn't happened yet? Yeah, right?

I have. I have a word I've been standing on since 1996, hasn't happened yet, but it will. He says, don't be afraid, your prayers are heard. If you look, this is a message in itself, but if you look at the meaning of the names, he says this, he says, he says, Zacharias, your prayer is heard, your wife Elizabeth will bury you son, and you will call his name John.

Zacharias means God remembers. I want you to write that down. Zacharias means God remembers. Elizabeth means God's oath or God of the oath, and John means Jehovah is a gracious giver.

Zacharias, Jehovah remembers, your wife Elizabeth, God's oath, will bury you son, and you will call his name John because Jehovah is a gracious giver. So here's the thing, what he's saying, within their name, they're married, they have no kid, but he says, I come to tell you this, don't fear your prayer is heard because God remembers his oath. God remembers his promise, and she will bury you son, and you will call his name John, not because you're so good, not because you were faithful in your prayer, but because God remembered his oath, and he's a gracious giver. See, God's gonna provide for you, not because of what you did, you can't earn it, he's a gracious giver, he gives because his nature is a giver.

Just don't be afraid, you've dropped the ball, you've forgotten about the thing that you were passionate about, you quit praying for it a long time ago, so long so that you're not even able to have a kid. But God remembers, you had an oath, that oath was cut the day that the old covenant was cut, the day that I gave the word to Moses, I said there will be no bearing among you, you have the word, you were faithful, now you're not, you dropped the ball, but I didn't, I remembered the oath, and I will give it to you because I'm a gracious giver. Man, that gets me excited, next slide. We didn't even get there, next slide, see this?

Keep going, do not be afraid, Zacharias, remember to Jehovah, your prayer is heard and your wife Elizabeth, oath of God, will bury you son, and you will call his name John, Jehovah, is a gracious giver. And that's a story within the story, that lets you know the love of God is there, the goodness of God is there, the faithfulness of God is there when you're not, he doesn't forget. Do you think about all the times, like why doesn't God answer my prayer, you ever ask that question? Well, there's a lot of, I'm not gonna give you all the reasons, but some reasons could be this.

Sometimes you're praying with selfish motives, right? James says this, you have not, because you asked not, and when you do ask, you ask a miss that you may consume it upon your lust, that the reason I'm asking for this thing is so because it's selfish in nature. Sometimes God doesn't answer prayer because the thing's not according to his will. Like in this case, this prayer was, according to the will of God, because God put it in writing.

Like he said, there will be no bear, bearing among you. Sometimes, I don't know how this works, but I can tell you I've experienced it, first Peter chapter three, it says, it says husbands dwell with your wives according to knowledge as the weaker vessel, because when your marriage is out of order, it says your prayers are hindered. Like if you're a married couple, and you're not in cohesion, you can actually hinder what God's trying to do in your life, actually hinder your prayer life. Like there's things that actually will keep God's promises from happening even sometimes in his own time.

But here's the thing, sometimes prayers aren't answered because it's not God's time. Relations chapter four, four said this, it says, Paul says, he says, when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem those that were born under the law. So he said, like there's some things that won't happen without my partnership. Like God says, I want this, I have to, I come into agreement with God, it happens.

Other things are gonna happen, whether I say yes, no amen or heck with it. And when the time was right for Jesus to come, it says, that actually means when the time was perfect or time was fulfilled, see there was a prophecy by Daniel that talked about Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a donkey, 400 and was it? 63, I don't know, 481, whatever it was, it was about two years, it was 490 minus seven, 483 years, 483 years later, and the clock is getting close. So Jesus has to be born in order for that to happen.

But before Jesus is born, there's a prophecy about somebody else that has to come before him and prepare his way. That's John the Baptist. So when the fullness of time came, Johnson or Jesus, God sent forth the son, Jesus, but also God sent forth, John the Baptist. See, so there's sometimes that things have to line up in God's timing.

And you can shout and holler and hoot and chant and declare all you want, but it may not be God's time. Sometimes God doesn't answer a prayer because he wants to give you a bigger answer than you're praying for. I imagine that when Elizabeth and Zachariah were praying for a baby, whoever prayed for their unborn kid before. Okay, two people.

Good to know you guys never prayed for your kids. No one of most people, let's just say how many people wished about a kid? Oh, God, just let them have 10 fingers and 10 toes. Oh, I just pray that the baby is healthy.

I pray that it's a boy or a girl. Like we pray those things. And so I'm sure that Zachariah and Elizabeth and I are different, they're praying for a son. They want their son to be healthy.

They obviously want a boy to carry on the family name. But God had a bigger answer than their prayer. See, sometimes God delays the thing until you grow into the place of maturity that you can actually carry the answer and the blessing he wants to release into your life. Because if God would release the thing that he has prepared for you now, your maturity and character, it would crush you because you're not at a point where you can carry that much weight.

And so he says when the time was right, look at this, Matthew chapter 11, 11 says this, they were praying for a boy. But God said this, Jesus said, sure among women, there was not born a greater than John the Baptist. Luke's version says there was not born a greater prophet than John the Baptist. But he that is least in the kingdom is greater than he.

Jesus himself said this man, this boy is the greatest that's ever been born to a woman, ever. And here they are, oh, go ahead, just give us the baby boy. That was their prayer. But what God wants to release into them was the greatest being of all time except for Jesus.

And there had to be a time till they got to a place till God's timing was perfect. And their maturity caught up to the answer that God wanted to release into their life. First John chapter five, verses 14 and 15 say this. It says this is the confidence that I have in my ability to pray.

Look at that. Does it say that? This is the confidence I have in my pastor. This is the confidence I have in my music leader.

This is the confidence I have in my Sunday school teacher. This is the confidence I have in my boss. This is the confidence we have in him. See, sometimes when we pray we think, well, my prayers aren't good enough.

I don't know how to pray. I don't know what to pray. Take your confidence out of yourself. This is the confidence we have in him.

That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. If you ask anything, say that anything according to his will, he hears me. He hears me. And if he hears me, if we know he hears us, whatever we ask, we know we have the petitions asked of him.

That's your confidence in him, in his word, in his ability to perform his word, in his willingness to perform his ability to perform his word. That God can, God wants to, God's faithful. Your confidence is in him. See, what happens sometimes is we hear this verse, we read this verse, or we read other verses.

Our faith gets stirred up. We pray and we believe. And then there's silent here. And during the silent years, when God's not speaking, or maybe God's not saying, or you're not hearing, it's not these not speaking if you're not hearing, but we begin to hear the of the enemy.

Maybe God for God. Oh, you did. Maybe God doesn't love you. Guess he doesn't.

Maybe God doesn't care. Guess he doesn't. Maybe God doesn't want to do it. And we hear whispers of the enemy.

And sometimes you can get to the point, you're like, you know what? Maybe God doesn't even care about this. Maybe God's forgotten. God's not forgotten it because he is Jehovah that remembers his other.

We had fair night, Monday night, this past Monday night. Heard us open with the verse from Revelation chapter five, verse eight. And it really struck me. I'm sitting, I'm sitting on almost four vertices right now.

I'm just kind of visualizing this verse. And in the verse, Jesus, John's in the spirit. And he goes up and says, come up here. I want to show you a few things.

And he takes John into the throne room of God. It says, God's sitting on the throne and in God's hand is a scroll. And on that scroll, there's seven seals. And John says, I began to weep because no one was worthy to open the scroll, no one in heaven and no one on earth.

And it said, one of the 24 elders said to me, it says, don't weep because there's a lion of the tribe of Judah that will come forth that can open the scroll. And it says, as they're standing there, it said, in the midst of the 24 elders, there arose a lamb as if he had been slain. And it said that lamb walked to the throne and took the scroll out of the right hand of God. And it said, immediately, verse eight, it says, now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the same.

And here's what struck me. In the throne room of God, in his presence, in the place where everything is an expression of his creativity, his glory, that he, everything there is a created being that he created. There's millions of angels, there's four living creatures, there's 24 elders, they're all there, they're worshiping, they're falling down. And there's one thing that passed from earth to heaven is my prayer, the prayers of the same.

If you're saved, you're a saint. And see, it just struck me because God cares about my prayer so much. It's not like I pray them and they go in some cardboard box somewhere. God actually thinks enough of my prayers to put them in a pure gold bowl.

And then he entrusts them to the 24 elders to carry them around. See, somehow the prayer that I released, I can't even put it into words, but somehow the prayer that I released escapes time and eternity, escapes time and space and ends up in eternity somewhere to a place that's so secure in the presence of God and he cherishes it so much that he puts it in a golden bowl. And if God thinks enough of my prayer to put it in a place like this golden bowl and then give it to one of his 24 elders, I think it means something to him. I think I mean something to him.

I think you mean something to him. And although I may have quit praying 20 years ago, my prayer 20 years ago escaped time and space and God has it. And then at the right time, when I've got to the place where I can carry the blessing God wants to pour out, he said, don't fear, your prayer is heard. I'm like, what prayer is it, the prayer you prayed 20 years ago that I've been carrying around for all these, man, that we forgot.

I think a lot of times we watch these movies like Bruce Almighty, not love Bruce Almighty. Remember when Morgan Freeman let him play God for a while and we see these prayers going up and Jim Carrey's like, he's trying to keep up with the prayers and they keep piling up and he thinks he's done, he looks and there's like 3.7 million ago, he's like, oh heck, yes, boom, they're all answered. But see, God in his mercy doesn't always answer yes right away because sometimes he needs to form something in us. To carry something so great that his mercy is what holds it back because he wants you to be able to carry the fullness of what he has for you.

Because what God has for you is so much bigger than you're actually even asking. Why do you think it says, according to the power that works in us, he says that he is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or think? Like his ability to do exceeds my ability to be mad. So sometimes he wants to release that.

All right, man, we got to get moving. Wow, it says we might even skip this. We're going to go this quick. And Zachariah said to Angel, how shall I know for I'm an old man and my wife is well advanced in years?

So you husbands, let me tell you this real quick. I had a little chuckle with God this morning. When I was reading this over, he said, never call your wife old, call her advanced in years. He said, this is a word of wisdom.

I just want to give you husbands. Like never call your wife old. So baby, you're just advanced in years. I'm old, you're advanced, you're advanced.

It says the Angel answered and said to him, I'm Gabriel, who stands in the present, and imagine this. So here's he's asking a question. So remember Mary, we're going to look at Mary next week. Mary asked a question too.

Mary said, how can this be because I've not had sexual relations with a man? See, Zachariah's asking a question. Well, how I know the difference is Zachariah is looking for evidence. Give me proof.

Mary's saying, give me an explanation because it doesn't make sense. Like in the natural, how am I going to have a baby if I haven't had relations with a man? Zachariah has no excuse because there was biblical precedent of two people beyond the age of having kids that had a kid when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90. It was written in scripture.

And so he had biblical precedent to believe the word. Here he is, he's like, well, I'm old. To me, it's comical. He goes, I'm old.

How will it be? And Gabriel says, well, I'm Gabriel. And I stand in the presence of God. He throws the trump card on him.

Like, what are you going to do? Like, here's my answer. I'm old. Oh, yeah.

Well, I just came from the Lord. What you going to do about that? He says, I'm Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God.

I'm sent to speak to you and bring these bad tidings. Behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time. And the people waited for Zachariah's and Marbledad. He lingered so long in the temple.

He came out. He could not speak to them. They perceive you. It's seen a vision of the temple.

Free back and end remains speechless. God wants to help you with your faith. God wants to increase your faith. God sends things into your life that actually, when he gives you a word and you grab onto that, the enemy's trying to bring fear and tear that down.

And God wants to help you. Sometimes God says, you know what? You need to get in the word and you need to meditate. And sometimes faith is increased from God's word.

Sometimes it's the Holy Spirit taking the written word and speaking a Ramah word into your life. Sometimes it's somebody delivering a word of prophecy or a word of knowledge. Sometimes it's when you hear the testimony of somebody else that's been delivered of something. Those things rise, bring your faith.

And God uses those to help you. But sometimes your narrative is so negative, God says, you know what? I don't want to hear that story anymore. I'm muting your Instagram.

Do you ever mute somebody on Facebook? Why do you mute them? Because you don't want to hear their negativity anymore. I muted somebody this morning.

Like, I'm not listening to this. Mute. We're still friends. We can still hang out.

But I'm not listening to what you're saying. So here's what happens sometimes. I'm not saying God's going to mute you and make you and mute where you can't talk. But sometimes God and His mercy will mute the voice of somebody whose confessions will eventually destroy their own destiny or the monasticity of other people.

Because your words matter. Life and death is in the power of the tongue. And those that love its fruit will eat their own. Like, your words matter.

So sometimes God says, you know what? So here's Zachariahs. He's saying, let me tell you Gabriel while I am the exception to the power of God. Then a dumb.

But don't we do that? That's right. I hear what you're saying. Let me tell you about the recovery rate.

Let me tell you about the mortality rate. Let me tell you what a terrible husband I have. Let me tell you about what my kid is stuck in. See, sometimes God needs to move you out of a situation so you don't have the ability to speak words into somebody else's destiny and actually destroy it.

And sometimes God needs to move people out of your life so they're not doing the same to you. Sometimes you need to hit the mute on their story. Because their story actually destroys your faith. See, do you realize that your words of unbelief can actually limit God's power?

Jesus says this in March, chapter six. It said that he went about the village. He's in his own hometown. It says he could do no mighty work there except heal a few sick people.

Imagine this. Jesus could only heal a few sick people. It says he marveled because of their unbelief. There's only two times in the Bible, it says that Jesus marveled about anything.

This story when belief should have been present but it wasn't. And with the centurion who had great faith, he marveled at his faith when faith was present and it wasn't expected to be. It's only two times he ever marveled. And it says he marveled at him marveled at him marveled at.

Look at verses two and three, next slide. It says, and many hearing him were astonished saying, where did this man get these things? What wisdom is this given him? That such mighty works are performed.

Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon, are not his sisters here with us? They began to see Jesus and see him after the natural instead of as the son of God. And we do the same thing with our words when we begin to anchor our words and our faith in what we can see instead of what's not seen and what God says is true. And so God says sometimes I need to mute that narrative because it's destroying your faith.

And it's an act of mercy. He helps us by, mute, mute, mute, buddy. Everybody do this. I was a prophetic act, you just didn't know it.

All right, last thing's this. Oh, let's go over here. It says, so here's John said, he asked for writing tablet wrote saying this is John, say marveled, immediately his mouth. So we're not gonna read it today, but John got his voice back when his words matched the word of the Lord.

John the Baptist, I'm sorry, Zacharias. John the Baptist had been born eight days ago by, they take him to the temple to name him. Elizabeth says his name's John, or by all said was his name's Zacharias. John writes on a tablet, his name's John.

Bam. Your voice needs to mirror the voice of the Lord. See when God speaks to your heart, his words is actually what gives us voice, so that my voice and his voice need to be the same voice. So my voice in opposition or apart from his voice is worthless.

And so God helps us sometimes by taking out those things actually destroy our faith and keep us from what he's calling us into. All right, last one, God heals. Now go, but I wanna read this just three verses. It says so it was, this is the end of the story.

As soon as the days of his service were completed, he departed to his own house. Now after those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she hit herself five months saying, the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among people. Next slide says, God heals. After those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, the Lord looked on me to take away my reproach.

Somebody say, shame, shame for among people. See, God just didn't heal her body only. God did a miracle in her body. He was barren.

He was not able to have kids. She was beyond the age of having kids. Zacharias was beyond the age of having kids. God did a supernatural physical miracle.

But do you realize the shame that she had been carrying her whole life? See, God doesn't just wanna heal your body. God wants to heal your emotions. He wants to heal your soul.

He wants to heal the hurts and the pains. See those things that life, those silent years, those years of waiting, those years of disappointment, those years of despair, those years of pain and hurt and betrayal and all those things, God just doesn't wanna physically make you better. He wants to actually, it says, take away the shame. We sang earlier, Graves the Gardens.

It says, what's the shame for glory? He gives me glory for shame. Beyond that, look at this next verse. So this is when Gabriel appears to marry, which we're gonna look at next week, but he says this.

He says, indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age. And this is now the sixth month for her, everybody say this, who was called barren. Let's assume for a minute I'm a woman, which I'm not. But let's assume I'm a barren woman.

Okay, because we saw in verse seven, it said that Zacharias was a priest, his wife was a daughter of a priest and she had no baby because she was barren. She was barren. And now when Gabriel goes to marry, he said, this is now the sixth month of your relative who was barren. See, if I'm barren and I get pregnant, guess what?

I'm no longer. I'm not barren, but what do we do? Well, I'm in barrenness recovery, right? I'm not a recovering, barren woman because once I've been made pregnant, I'm not barren anymore.

Like, well, why do we do that? Because when Jesus makes you new, old is passed away. See, he takes your sickness and replaces it with help. He takes your shame.

He replaces it with glory. He takes your reputation, which stumped because she had a reputation. She was the woman who was called barren, but no more. She's no longer the woman who was called barren.

She's now pregnant because once I become pregnant, I can't be what I used to be because what I used to be doesn't exist anymore. See, geez, see what happens? Do you ever hear the term has beens? What's a has been?

It's somebody that's beyond their point of being effective or influential, right? Well, here's what Jesus does. I was working out Friday morning doing my weight training and God said this, Jesus makes has beens into had beens. Jesus makes has beens people that think they're beyond their point of influence and effectiveness, and he makes them had beens.

Look at this. And those who were sent, this is the centurion. He sends for Jesus. He says, come to my house and heal my servant.

And when Jesus gets close, he says, no what? Just say the word. Just say the word. I have people under my authority.

I say go and they go and I come and they come. And he said, you just speak the word. Jesus said, I've not seen such great faith. No, not in Israel.

And it said, in those who were sent returning to the house found the servant who had been sick. Jesus, when he goes to the Gatorines in Mark 5, it says this, they came to Jesus. They saw one who had been demon possessed and had a legion, but now he's sitting clothed and in his right mind. And then Lazarus, you remember Jesus goes to the tomb?

What did Jesus say after he said, roll away the stone. He said, father, before he called in front. He said, father, I thank you that you have heard me. You always hear me.

How was Jesus so confident that God always heard him? Because every word Jesus spoke came from the threat of the Father. Jesus only said what he heard his Father say. Therefore, whatever he said, he knew God heard because it was according to God's will.

See, that's where you need to be with your prayers. If you actually pray the will of God, you can be confident that God always hears you. And it says, then six days before the pastor of Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus, who had been dead. Oh, hey, there's Lazarus.

He's a recovering dead man. Oh, there's that demonized man. He's in demon recovery. Oh, there's that sick servant.

He's a recovering sickie. He's a recovering swiftie. I had to say it. Look, when Jesus makes you new, old is gone.

Don't identify yourself with what you used to be because you may be were barren one day, but you're not barren any longer. You may have been diseased one day, but you're whole today. You may have been demon possessed one day, but today you're not. You might have been dead in your sins, but when you accept Jesus, you are alive forevermore.

What did blind man say when they're like, how did you get your blind eyes healed? He goes, I don't know, but all I know is this. Yesterday I was blind, but now I can see I'm not a recovering blind man. Quit calling yourself what you used to be.

Your words will actually destroy the destiny that God's trying to form in you. Say what God's word says, believe what God's word says, and walk it out. Hey, let's pray.