1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,080 Some time ago we met for a beautiful banquet at a hotel nearby here, and on that evening 2 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:15,520 we received commitments from the church family of about $2.7 million for the construction. 3 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:18,200 We knew at the time that wasn't going to be enough to pay for it. 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:23,240 We were grateful for that wonderful commitment to get us started. 5 00:00:23,240 --> 00:00:29,040 And as the construction has taken place over this last year and a half or so, the vision 6 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,720 for what we have done has grown. 7 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:39,440 And the vision we've ended up with is so much better than where we started the process. 8 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:47,240 But the result of that is that we have a cost of this worship center of about $4.5 million. 9 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,960 And we still have the atrium to do out there in the front. 10 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:56,960 And so we believe, Dave and I believe, that it's time for all of us to get on board to 11 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:04,760 help make possible paying for the place that we meet and finishing this phase one of renovation. 12 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:09,640 And as you can see in your worship folder this morning, we're going to have just a brief 13 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:16,200 mini-capital campaign the first three weeks of January, kicking it off on January 4th, 14 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,160 culminating on January 18th. 15 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:24,560 And on that day we're going to give the opportunity for all of us to make a commitment, a three-year 16 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:32,440 commitment to the payment for the renovation work for our facility here. 17 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:38,160 We do that with a heart overwhelmed with gratitude for those of you who are maintaining 18 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,120 your commitments made some time ago. 19 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:43,200 We thank God for you. 20 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:50,360 We just couldn't have done this if it hadn't been for your first commitment to this project. 21 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,920 And by the way, we're coming in not only on time with those commitments, but actually 22 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:56,520 ahead of time. 23 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:58,560 So we praise God for that. 24 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:03,680 But now it's an opportunity for all the rest of us to come on board and help make possible 25 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:07,480 this place that God has blessed us with. 26 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:12,400 And what a wonderful place to come for us to worship, but also a wonderful place to invite 27 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:19,840 our community to come for various kinds of programs and events where we can share with 28 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,200 them the good things of God. 29 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:23,200 So thank you. 30 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:30,160 Be praying please about what God would have you to do to be a part of that. 31 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:35,960 One of the things I enjoy about Christmas season is the music on the radio kind of changes. 32 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:38,560 My favorite station is KDFC. 33 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:40,680 Do any of you listen to KDFC? 34 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:42,720 It's a classical station out of San Francisco. 35 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:45,840 It's one of the best classical stations in the country. 36 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,160 It is a commercial station. 37 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:57,240 They always have good music, in my opinion, but in the last 36 hours or so, they've actually 38 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:00,440 become a Christian radio station. 39 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:01,440 Did you know that? 40 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:02,440 Isn't that wonderful? 41 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:03,760 Let me explain to you what I mean. 42 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:05,160 They don't know it. 43 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:06,160 Okay. 44 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:13,040 They don't know it, but they have begun playing Christmas carols in all of their programs. 45 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:16,200 And the result is that several times every hour. 46 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:22,920 I mean, there's the kind of holiday music also, but every hour there are many times 47 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:29,440 during the hour when Christmas carols are being sung and the gospel of Jesus Christ 48 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,640 is being laid out for their listeners. 49 00:03:32,640 --> 00:03:33,640 Praise God for that. 50 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:34,640 That's a marvelous thing. 51 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:37,560 That's a marvelous thing. 52 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:45,960 I love Christmas carols because the carols that we sing encapsulate so much of the truth 53 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:47,560 about this season. 54 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:48,960 We sang some this morning. 55 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:53,600 And boy, we're going to have a great time on Wednesday evening at the Christmas Eve 56 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:56,800 services singing more of the carols and being together. 57 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:04,400 I hope you'll be with us at 4.30, 6.00, or at 11.00 on Christmas Eve. 58 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:06,640 But I have a little test for you this morning. 59 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:09,320 I want to find out how much you know about Christmas carols. 60 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:15,400 And if you're able to recognize them from some generic kinds of statements, descriptives 61 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,520 that I will make about them, they're going to be on the screen. 62 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:23,760 And as soon as you can identify the Christmas carol that is on the screen, just blurt it 63 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:24,760 out. 64 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:26,760 Let's go with number one. 65 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:31,440 Wanted in December, top forward incisors. 66 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:32,440 There you go. 67 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:33,440 There you go. 68 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:34,440 Now you got the idea, right? 69 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,000 Okay, so let's go to number two. 70 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:37,000 The lad is... 71 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,840 I don't even get a chance to tell you. 72 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:43,280 Somebody's passed around a cheat sheet. 73 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:44,280 Who is it? 74 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:48,720 See, before I even look, you give me the answer. 75 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:50,960 Let's go to the next one. 76 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:53,880 We are Kong, Lear, and Nat Cole. 77 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:56,640 We three kings, exactly. 78 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:57,680 Far off in the hay bin. 79 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:01,640 So farmers, correct, away in the manger. 80 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:02,720 Listen. 81 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:06,080 You're good. 82 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,400 Try the next one. 83 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:10,800 Jubilation to the entire world. 84 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,000 That doesn't quite ring the same, does it? 85 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,080 All right. 86 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:21,360 Do you perceive the same vibrations which stimulate my auditory senses? 87 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:25,160 Yeah, I think I like that title better. 88 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:34,400 May the deity bestow an absence of fatigue to good-mannered male humans. 89 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:35,400 God bless you. 90 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:39,760 By the way, God bless you, Mary, gentlemen. 91 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:40,760 It's not Mary, gentlemen. 92 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:42,640 Did you know that? 93 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:44,880 God bless you, Mary, gentlemen. 94 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:48,080 Okay, let's go to the next one. 95 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:49,600 Somebody's already said it. 96 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:51,360 Angels we have heard from in elevation. 97 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:52,360 There we go. 98 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:53,360 All right. 99 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,120 And the next one. 100 00:05:55,120 --> 00:06:00,920 As the guardians of the woolly animals protected their charges in the dark hours, shepherds, 101 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:07,040 exactly, watching over their sheep, and Sir Lancelot with laryngitis. 102 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:09,040 Silent night. 103 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:10,800 Exactly. 104 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:13,280 You got it. 105 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:14,760 Well now I have another one. 106 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,800 Which of the Christmas carols is titled Benedictus? 107 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,800 Benedictus. 108 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:26,200 Zachariah's song, exactly right. 109 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:30,880 It's the Christmas Carol written by Zachariah, and it's the one we're looking at this morning. 110 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:36,360 So would you open your Bible with me, please, to Luke chapter one. 111 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:37,760 Luke chapter one. 112 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:46,720 As we think about the original Christmas carols, and today Zachariah's song of hope. 113 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:51,520 Only Luke gives us this information we're going to look at today. 114 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:57,200 Only Luke tells us about John the Baptist's birth announcement, and what an announcement 115 00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:58,880 that was. 116 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:03,040 The angel Gabriel appeared to him in the temple. 117 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,960 Only Luke tells us about his birth. 118 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:12,920 Only Luke tells us about his dedication, his being named John by his father, and then his 119 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:17,080 father breaking out in song. 120 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:22,680 Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth were a couple who lived without a lot of hope. 121 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:23,680 Personally that was true. 122 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:25,040 They were childless. 123 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:30,760 They were well along in years now, and having no child was a grief to them. 124 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:35,600 Furthermore, they lived in a time in Israel when there was a lot of oppression because 125 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:41,080 of the Roman domination of Palestine in those days. 126 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:49,200 In fact, at the end of his song he talks about living in darkness, living under the shadow 127 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:50,760 of death. 128 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:52,920 They really did. 129 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:56,000 It was a tough time to be alive. 130 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:02,920 There wasn't a lot of hope among the Jewish people on a lot of levels, but God brought 131 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:07,480 them hope in this song. 132 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:13,960 The theme of this song is one of eager anticipation for what God is about to do, and because of 133 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:19,000 that hope flows out of this original Christmas carol. 134 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:22,920 Now, hope is an emotion. 135 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:28,560 It's more than that, but it's an emotion that we feel that is based upon divine commitment. 136 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:32,160 I want you to understand that with me. 137 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:38,400 Hope is not spelled H-O-P-E and then a question mark. 138 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:43,080 It's H-O-P-E and an exclamation point. 139 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:50,080 You see, hope in the Bible is not about wondering if something might happen. 140 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:57,520 It's about having absolute confidence and certainty that something is going to happen. 141 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:03,120 Hope is based upon divine commitment. 142 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:08,120 Hope fills the heart of the one who anticipates by faith what God is about to do, and that's 143 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:10,200 Zachariah. 144 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:15,920 This man who didn't live with much hope is now filled with hope in the song that he sings. 145 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:24,720 By the way, this song that he writes for us here is probably more like a prophecy than 146 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:27,920 it is a song of praise. 147 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:32,000 He certainly praises the Lord, but if you would go back to the book of Isaiah, you would 148 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:39,680 find statements very similar to what Zachariah says here. 149 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:42,920 Zachariah had hope. 150 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:48,880 Hope empowers you to press on in the tough times. 151 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:50,760 Hope empowers you to press on. 152 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:58,680 Folks, if you don't have hope, motivation is drained from your life. 153 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:03,600 We all need hope to exist. 154 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:07,000 Hope is an emotion that is based upon divine commitment. 155 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:13,520 Now, Zachariah tells us in this song how to experience hope, how to live with hope. 156 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:18,400 I'd like you to think about that theme with me, because to live with hope, you need to 157 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:20,720 do two things. 158 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:27,320 First of all, you need to understand what God is committed to. 159 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:31,760 If hope is based on divine commitment, then you need to understand what it is that God 160 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:33,160 is committed to. 161 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:37,440 And Zachariah gives us an answer in this song. 162 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:42,440 First of all, he tells us that God is committed to His people. 163 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:44,200 Look at verse 68. 164 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:49,080 Praise be to the Lord, the God of what? 165 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:50,920 By the way, you have the Scripture there in your notes. 166 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:55,560 If you don't have a Bible with you, oh, you don't have this one, though. 167 00:10:55,560 --> 00:10:56,640 You have other Scripture. 168 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:57,920 So pull out your outline. 169 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:00,880 But if you have your Bible, open it. 170 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,400 Then you'll know how to answer questions like I just asked. 171 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:07,360 Praise be to the Lord, the God of who? 172 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:12,640 Israel, because He has come and has redeemed what? 173 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:13,640 His people. 174 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:15,640 Notice that. 175 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:17,200 Israel. 176 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:20,640 His people. 177 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,640 Who are His people? 178 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:29,000 The answer to that is that it's the people with whom God is in relationship. 179 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:35,520 God is in relationship with people based upon covenants or agreements that He makes with 180 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:36,520 them. 181 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:40,720 And in history, there have been a number of these agreements or covenants. 182 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:46,040 Now these are required because God is holy. 183 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:53,960 But whatever He is going to do is based upon certain moral principles. 184 00:11:53,960 --> 00:12:02,120 These principles give God a legal basis for doing everything that He does. 185 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:10,440 So when God makes a commitment, it's based upon an agreement, a covenant with His people. 186 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:14,640 And as we see here, Zachariah belonged to the people of Israel. 187 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,240 He was a Jew. 188 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:20,560 They're called God's people. 189 00:12:20,560 --> 00:12:27,680 They were God's people because of a covenant God had made specifically with Israel. 190 00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:32,520 We call it very often the covenant of the law. 191 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:38,720 Some call it the mosaic covenant because Moses is the one who mediated it. 192 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:44,760 It's a covenant that God made with them as a nation at Mount Sinai in the desert after 193 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:48,720 they had been delivered from Egypt. 194 00:12:48,720 --> 00:13:00,480 Moses reminds the people of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 7, you are a people holy to the Lord. 195 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:06,080 The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be 196 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,720 His people. 197 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:14,160 Verse 7, the Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more 198 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:18,960 numerous than other peoples, you were the fewest. 199 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:22,920 Because the Lord loved you that He did what He did. 200 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:30,000 Verse 9, know therefore that the Lord your God is God, He is the what? 201 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:37,000 The faithful God keeping His what? 202 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:42,120 Keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep 203 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:47,000 His commandments. 204 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:51,160 God is committed to His people. 205 00:13:51,160 --> 00:14:01,360 Now today in these last days in which we live, God has a new chosen people. 206 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:07,920 God has related Himself to us on the basis of a different covenant. 207 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:15,120 It's not the covenant of the law at Mount Sinai, it's the covenant of what? 208 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:16,320 How would you put it? 209 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:19,160 The covenant of grace. 210 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:30,160 Based upon not the sacrifices of animals, but the sacrifice of His Son on Mount Calvary. 211 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:35,800 You and I today are the people of God in this age for the last two thousand years. 212 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:39,960 We are part of what's called the church. 213 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:48,400 And out of all the world, those who relate to God based upon Christ's sacrifice are 214 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:54,840 the people of God and no one else. 215 00:14:54,840 --> 00:15:00,400 Peter says, you know that it was not with perishable things that you were redeemed, 216 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:07,040 but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish or defect. 217 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:12,760 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed when? 218 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:16,240 In these last times for your sake. 219 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:21,040 Through Him you believe in God who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him. 220 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:22,920 So that your faith and hope are in God. 221 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:28,000 And then he says in chapter two, a little bit later he says, you are a chosen people, 222 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:35,360 a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. 223 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:40,080 You are a people belonging to God. 224 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:48,640 In verse 10 he says, once you were not a people, but now you are the people of whom? 225 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:52,560 The people of God. 226 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:58,200 God is committed to His people. 227 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:04,580 Now God remains committed to His chosen people, the Jews. 228 00:16:04,580 --> 00:16:11,720 They were set aside for this period of time because of their as a nation, because of their 229 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:15,680 disobedience to Christ. 230 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:20,240 And therefore God has gone into the gentile nations of the world and He is calling out 231 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:23,240 a people for His name's sake. 232 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:25,960 Acts chapter 13. 233 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:32,880 You need to understand that God is still committed to the people of Israel as well. 234 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:36,080 God remains committed to His chosen people. 235 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:38,280 And God is committed to you. 236 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:40,640 He will never leave your forsake you. 237 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:46,480 Peter says, and the God of all grace who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after 238 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:52,440 you have suffered a while, will Himself restore you and make you strong and firm and steadfast. 239 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:57,380 In other words, the God who has called you to be His people. 240 00:16:57,380 --> 00:17:02,040 Even though you may suffer, even though you may go through times of darkness and times 241 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:09,160 when the shadow of death is over you too, even though there may be gloomy times, God 242 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:11,400 is going to take care of you. 243 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:16,120 He's going to restore you and make you strong and firm and steadfast. 244 00:17:16,120 --> 00:17:18,520 He's committed to His people. 245 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:23,280 God's committed to His plan in your life. 246 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:26,000 He's not going to fail you. 247 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:31,240 I don't know what it may be that is shadowing you this morning. 248 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:35,040 If you've come to church and you feel a little gloomy, a little down, like the clouds that 249 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:38,520 are outside, I want to tell you something. 250 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:44,360 You can live with hope if you will simply remember that God is committed to you. 251 00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:46,360 Absolutely. 252 00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:51,480 Faithful is He who called you who will also do it. 253 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:56,120 What God has begun in you, He will complete at the day of Jesus Christ. 254 00:17:56,120 --> 00:17:58,000 He is committed to you. 255 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:03,760 Secondly, Zachariah tells us that He has committed to His plan. 256 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:08,480 Verse 69 says, For God has raised up a horn of salvation. 257 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:14,640 A horn is a poetic term meaning something that's strong like the horn of an animal. 258 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,200 And some translations therefore put it this way. 259 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:23,720 He has raised up a mighty Savior for us in the house of His servant David, David's royal 260 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:25,680 family. 261 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:30,880 As He has said through His holy prophets long ago, salvation from our enemies and from the 262 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,200 hand of all who hate us. 263 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:37,000 God is absolutely committed to His plan as well as His people. 264 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:45,520 And His plan can be summarized in this one word, verse 71, salvation. 265 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:48,520 God brought the Messiah right on time. 266 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:53,560 And in the fullness of time, He was born, made of a woman, under the law that He might 267 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,800 redeem us and save us. 268 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:04,560 Zachariah himself foresaw the ultimate restoration of His people. 269 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:11,320 Zachariah did not comprehend in Luke chapter 1, Zachariah did not understand that the Messiah 270 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:21,120 that His Son was going to announce would one day be rejected by the people of God. 271 00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:23,960 He did not understand that they would be set aside. 272 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:25,360 Zachariah did not see that. 273 00:19:25,360 --> 00:19:31,480 But what he does see here is God's ultimate salvation for the people of Israel. 274 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:36,040 This ties together exactly with what John said, for example. 275 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:41,800 God was in the world and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize 276 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:43,180 Him. 277 00:19:43,180 --> 00:19:51,440 He came to that which was His own, His own people did not receive Him. 278 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,640 That's the story of Christ's rejection. 279 00:19:54,640 --> 00:20:00,000 And Paul says in Romans chapter 11, we should not be ignorant about this. 280 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:06,200 Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has 281 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:08,080 come in. 282 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:13,440 In other words, this plan of God for salvation was not just for the Jews. 283 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:19,880 It was for all nations of the world as promised through Abraham. 284 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:25,360 And even though the Jewish nation as a whole has been set apart, there are still some Jews 285 00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:28,520 who believe on Christ. 286 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:34,120 And during this time, God is especially working among the Gentiles, the non-Jews, calling 287 00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:36,560 out a people for Himself. 288 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:42,800 And He says, there is a time coming when the fullness of that call will be realized. 289 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:44,600 It will be completed. 290 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:48,940 And then He says, all Israel will be saved. 291 00:20:48,940 --> 00:20:54,240 As far as election is concerned, they, the Jews, are loved on account of the patriarchs 292 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:59,840 for God's gifts and His call are irrevocable. 293 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:02,720 Zachariah couldn't have seen this. 294 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:07,120 But we see it in retrospect exactly what happened. 295 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:12,440 God's plan of salvation was accomplished through the rejection of His Son by the people of 296 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,080 Israel. 297 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:18,600 As a nation, they were then set aside in their unbelief. 298 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:25,160 And God's call to believe on His Son went out to the Gentiles, and it still is today, 299 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:27,960 2,000 years later. 300 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:32,080 But one day, that's going to be finished. 301 00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:37,360 The church will be complete, and God is going to turn back to His people, Israel, and finish 302 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:38,560 His plan for them. 303 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:44,440 I want to tell you why, because God is committed to His plan. 304 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:46,800 He's committed to it. 305 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:51,000 And nothing is going to keep His plan from coming to pass. 306 00:21:51,000 --> 00:22:02,080 Whether that be in the world, in our nation, in this church, in your family, or in your 307 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:05,120 life, God is committed to His plan. 308 00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:11,960 Now that ought to give you hope on the gloomiest of days. 309 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:16,920 You also need to understand that God is committed to His promises. 310 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:18,720 Verse 72. 311 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:23,800 God has done this to show mercy to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant He swore 312 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:27,040 to our Father Abraham. 313 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:31,200 God's promises are absolute, and they cannot fail. 314 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:36,520 They cannot fail because God's own reputation is at stake. 315 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:40,320 If He makes a promise, He has to keep it. 316 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:47,600 God made promises to the fathers of the Jews, to Abraham, and He will keep them. 317 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:52,120 Zachariah knew what you and I need to remind ourselves, and that is that God will never 318 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:53,800 lie. 319 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:55,160 God will never deceive. 320 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,240 God will never mislead. 321 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,440 God is truth. 322 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:06,360 Therefore the writer of Hebrews says, because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of 323 00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:14,520 His purpose very clear to the errors of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. 324 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:22,560 God did this so that by two unchangeable things, His promise and His oath, two unchangeable 325 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:30,200 things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the 326 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:35,960 hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 327 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:45,120 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. 328 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:48,520 God is committed, my friend, to His promises. 329 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:58,440 He not only promised, He gave His word on an oath that He would keep what He has promised 330 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:00,160 to do. 331 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:08,480 You and I, if we will live in the hope of God's commitments, will be a people of great 332 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:15,560 encouragement and hope in the world, and our world today is desperate for hope. 333 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:20,720 Zachariah knew also that God is committed to His purposes. 334 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:29,040 Verse 74, he says, God has made this promise to rescue us from the hand of our enemies 335 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:36,200 and to enable us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all 336 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:37,700 our days. 337 00:24:37,700 --> 00:24:38,700 What is God's purpose? 338 00:24:38,700 --> 00:24:46,720 It is that He might rescue us, that He might enable us to serve Him, that we might live 339 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:53,440 without fear of Him, might live in holiness and righteousness. 340 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:58,720 But it all boils down just to two words, and really to one word, it's a preposition in 341 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:00,360 these two verses. 342 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:05,360 It's the word before. 343 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:08,000 What is God's purpose? 344 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:12,760 It is that you and I might live before Him. 345 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:24,400 The word before means in the face of Him, in the direct sight of Him. 346 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:30,200 You see what God really wants to do is to have a relationship with you and with me through 347 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:42,600 Jesus Christ, in which we live right before Him, His eyes upon us with pleasure and love, 348 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:48,200 and we living in such a way through Christ and holiness and righteousness that God is 349 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:51,400 in continual relationship with us. 350 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:56,600 That's God's purpose, and God is committed to that. 351 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:02,680 He wants us to be right before Him, not off somewhere, straying and walking around without 352 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:08,680 aim and purpose, but living right before Him. 353 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:12,040 God has made that possible through the sacrifice of Christ. 354 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,640 Paul reminds us of this in Ephesians 4. 355 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:23,200 It says, He chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless 356 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:34,360 where in His sight, the very same idea in the face of God. 357 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:37,440 God's purpose is that we might live and dwell with Him. 358 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,880 Folks, that's what heaven is all about. 359 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:46,000 That's what the New Jerusalem is all about, that we might dwell in the very presence of 360 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:47,000 God. 361 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,600 That's God's purpose. 362 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:53,400 God's committed to that. 363 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,080 Yeah. 364 00:26:56,080 --> 00:27:02,400 Whatever may be your disappointment, whatever question mark may be upon your life today, 365 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:11,160 whatever shadow of death, whatever darkness may be looming over your shoulder so that 366 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:19,600 your hope is being drained out of your life, understand what God has committed Himself 367 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,100 to. 368 00:27:22,100 --> 00:27:25,080 And if you will understand that, you will live with hope. 369 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:31,120 You can't help but live with hope. 370 00:27:31,120 --> 00:27:32,120 But the song goes on. 371 00:27:32,120 --> 00:27:34,560 There's another verse here. 372 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:39,040 Tone changes a little bit, just like verses often do. 373 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:45,240 You not only need to understand what God has committed Himself to, but you need to observe 374 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:50,360 where God is at work if you want to live with hope. 375 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:56,120 It's possible for you and me just to close our eyes or to be so busy we miss what God 376 00:27:56,120 --> 00:27:59,040 is doing. 377 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:04,600 If we want to live with hope, we have to open our eyes and observe what God is doing around 378 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:06,240 us, where He is at work. 379 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,040 Now Zachariah did this. 380 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:11,760 We're going to read the rest of the song. 381 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:17,320 It says, and you, my child, who is He talking to? 382 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,080 John. 383 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:25,640 He's holding his little baby son, John, in his arms. 384 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,880 He has just named him John. 385 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:31,280 And then he's broken out into this song. 386 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:39,320 And so now Zachariah looks down at this little baby and he says, and you, my child, will 387 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:43,400 be called a prophet of the Most High. 388 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:49,900 For you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him, to give His people the knowledge 389 00:28:49,900 --> 00:28:57,000 of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God, 390 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:04,240 by which the sunrise will come to us from heaven, to shine on those living in darkness 391 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:11,960 in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the path of peace. 392 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:18,800 Zachariah observed, he's heading verse 68, God has come. 393 00:29:18,800 --> 00:29:21,360 He has come. 394 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:29,160 And now he tells us that he's observing what his son's role is going to be in God's work. 395 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:36,640 In the first place, he talks about God's vocation for John, his calling. 396 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:43,600 And he says, John, my son, my child, you will be a prophet of the Most High. 397 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:45,720 Question. 398 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:49,760 Where did Zachariah get this information? 399 00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:58,800 The answer is, he got it from the angel, Gabriel, who appeared to him nine months before this 400 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:02,920 and told him he was going to have a son. 401 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:08,640 If you look at what he says here about his boy, you see that Zachariah has been thinking 402 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,040 about what Gabriel had said to him. 403 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:19,600 Now he's had some time to think because he couldn't talk for these nine months. 404 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:24,200 The Lord shut his mouth so he could not speak because he did not believe what the Gabriel 405 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:26,920 had said to him. 406 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:31,640 And so he thought a lot. 407 00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:39,280 And now he has named his son and he breaks out into this song, the spirit-inspired song. 408 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:42,600 And he begins to talk about his boy and he says, you're going to be the prophet of the 409 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,040 Most High. 410 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:51,760 John is the fulfillment of what Malachi had said. 411 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:57,160 Malachi had written 400 years before this and more. 412 00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:04,960 Malachi had said, behold, I am going to send my messenger and he will clear the way for 413 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:05,960 me. 414 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,960 God's speaking there through his prophet. 415 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:16,600 I am going to send my messenger, Zachariah connects this. 416 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:20,480 My son, you are going to be the prophet of the Most High. 417 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:25,600 He also observed God's commission for John. 418 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:32,400 He says you're going to go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him. 419 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:34,520 He's been thinking. 420 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:39,760 Isaiah the prophet said that there would be a voice arising in the wilderness who would 421 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:44,880 say clear the way for the Lord. 422 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:48,280 Make the high places low and the low places high. 423 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:51,200 Smooth out the pathway. 424 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:53,800 Get the freeway ready. 425 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:56,480 The Lord is coming. 426 00:31:56,480 --> 00:32:04,880 Zachariah says that's God's commission for you, my son. 427 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:09,280 He also reveals to us here God's intention through John. 428 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:16,920 It was to give his people the knowledge of salvation. 429 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:21,000 This salvation would come through the forgiveness of sins. 430 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:25,920 The forgiveness of sins would come, he says, through the tender mercies of God and God's 431 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:35,000 tender mercies would provide the sunrise on people who are living in gloom and hopelessness. 432 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:40,480 The sun would rise upon the people in the land of the shadow of death. 433 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:51,720 These are words from Isaiah the prophet again that John was thinking about. 434 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:55,000 You and I will have hope. 435 00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:00,400 If we also will learn where God is working and get busy working with him. 436 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,520 That's what's happening here to Zachariah. 437 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:09,400 He understood God's commitments and then he observed where God was at work and he began 438 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:14,920 to live with hope and talks about it here in this song. 439 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:23,720 Now, frankly, most of us are not going to have an angel appear to us like he did. 440 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:27,040 God doesn't work that way all the time. 441 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:30,280 Occasionally, if you have an angel appear to you, come and tell me. 442 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:32,640 I want to know what he said. 443 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:38,560 I've had people who've told me this and I believe them. 444 00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:40,400 God does use angels. 445 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:46,720 But how do you and I who are more normal, more ordinary, let's say, who experience the 446 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:51,120 more common way, how do we know where God is at work? 447 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:55,320 Let's have some things I want to work down through very, very quickly. 448 00:33:55,320 --> 00:34:00,840 Here's how you can know where God is at work and where he is assigning you to work with 449 00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:01,840 him. 450 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:08,920 Number one, discover from the Bible how God works. 451 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:14,560 Discover from the Bible how God works and then make any decisions based upon biblical 452 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:16,680 principles. 453 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:19,840 That's the most important thing that you can do. 454 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:26,080 Secondly, realize that God is always at work around you. 455 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:28,680 Always. 456 00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:33,800 I didn't say you would always understand it, but he is always at work around you. 457 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:37,760 Are you missing it? 458 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:43,960 The point is to learn where he wants you to join him in his work. 459 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:48,640 So realize he's always at work around you. 460 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:54,000 And as you're doing that, number three, pursue what God wants most and that is a loving personal 461 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,200 relationship with you. 462 00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:58,200 That's what he wants above everything else. 463 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:04,000 More than your work, he wants your heart. 464 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,440 Focus on pursuing that relationship with God. 465 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,360 Number four, listen to your heart. 466 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:10,860 Listen to your heart. 467 00:35:10,860 --> 00:35:15,840 You got to be quiet long enough to hear it. 468 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:17,760 Listen to your heart. 469 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:28,960 Be alert to God's voice by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, in prayer, in circumstances, 470 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:33,560 and through the counsel of Godly people in the church. 471 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:36,280 Listen. 472 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:44,680 Number five, ask him to show you where he's working and where he wants you to join him. 473 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:48,040 As you're looking around you and you're seeing God at work, just say, Lord, where are you 474 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:52,040 working and where do you want me to participate with you? 475 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:56,320 Because God will speak to you. 476 00:35:56,320 --> 00:36:01,760 Number six, recognize that you are to work with, if you are to work with God, it will 477 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:04,800 require, are you ready for this? 478 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:10,440 Major adjustments in your life. 479 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:12,720 Major adjustments. 480 00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:15,920 I think there was a major adjustment in the life of Zachariah and Elizabeth when they 481 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:18,480 had a baby in their old age. 482 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:26,200 Now, please God, may that not be an adjustment I have to make. 483 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:28,920 If you're going to work with God though, it means you're going to have to give up some 484 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:34,080 things and add some other things. 485 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:38,520 It may mean for you, you're going to sell your home and move somewhere else. 486 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:45,240 Or you're going to have to live on a different level, a different kind of lifestyle than 487 00:36:45,240 --> 00:36:47,280 you've had before. 488 00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:50,720 It's going to require adjustments. 489 00:36:50,720 --> 00:36:56,080 Number seven, act by faith on what God shows you to do. 490 00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:57,080 Act by faith. 491 00:36:57,080 --> 00:36:58,160 It always requires faith. 492 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:01,220 If God says, build a boat, build a boat. 493 00:37:01,220 --> 00:37:05,560 If he says, go over to this mountain, go over to that mountain. 494 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:06,920 Whatever God says, do it. 495 00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:07,920 Act by faith. 496 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:14,600 You can do nothing apart from God, but with God you can do what? 497 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:15,600 That's right. 498 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:18,920 Did you hear that? 499 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:21,920 Some of you are sitting there today saying, I could never do that. 500 00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:23,320 I can never do what God wants. 501 00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:25,440 Yes, you can. 502 00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:30,360 You can do nothing apart from God, but with him in your life, you yielding to his control, 503 00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:34,960 you can do anything through Christ Jesus who strengthens you. 504 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:39,720 Now, I want to summarize this by just a couple of statements. 505 00:37:39,720 --> 00:37:43,360 When you understand God's commitments, and I hope you understand them a little better 506 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:48,200 this morning, when you understand God's commitments, you live with hope. 507 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:49,700 Why is that? 508 00:37:49,700 --> 00:37:52,440 Because God is faithful. 509 00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:53,440 God is faithful. 510 00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:56,880 He will not fail. 511 00:37:56,880 --> 00:38:00,640 He always keeps his commitments. 512 00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:09,320 Number two, when you see God at work and join him in it, you also live with hope. 513 00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:12,360 Why is that? 514 00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:18,240 Because you are now engaged in what cannot fail. 515 00:38:18,240 --> 00:38:26,020 It cannot fail because God has committed to his work. 516 00:38:26,020 --> 00:38:29,480 Your labor is never in vain in the Lord. 517 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:34,160 So let your heart be filled with anticipation of what God is going to do. 518 00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:38,920 Let it be filled with expectation of the worth of what he's calling you to be a part 519 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:39,920 of. 520 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:46,160 Just like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm, let 521 00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:49,080 nothing move you. 522 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:53,760 Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor 523 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:57,080 in the Lord is not in vain. 524 00:38:57,080 --> 00:38:58,080 Ever. 525 00:38:58,080 --> 00:38:59,080 Ever. 526 00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:00,080 Ever. 527 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:08,960 Are you living in hope this morning? 528 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,000 God wants us all to live in hope. 529 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:15,760 And if we will only understand what God has committed to, if we will only observe where 530 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:22,440 God is working and get busy there and join him, we will live with hope no matter what 531 00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:24,920 comes against us. 532 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:32,160 No matter how gloomy the threat, no matter what shadow it is that's fallen in our lives, 533 00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:35,320 we will still live with hope. 534 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:38,560 That's the way God wants us to live. 535 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:41,320 Reminds me of a story I heard, true story about a preacher. 536 00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:47,200 Went to visit on Mother's Day in a nursing home. 537 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:55,840 And he observed there an older woman in her 80s sitting in a wheelchair. 538 00:39:55,840 --> 00:40:01,400 She had a large corsage on, someone had given her. 539 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:07,080 And so he said to her, oh, I see you're a mother. 540 00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:10,320 She said, no, not yet. 541 00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:16,160 Now friends, that's hope. 542 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:21,560 That's Abraham's kind of hope, hoping against hope. 543 00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:26,480 Whatever it is in your life today that may be draining the hope from your life, will 544 00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:31,640 you turn away from that and see what God's committed to and get busy working with God 545 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:37,240 where he's working and know that nothing is ever in vain in your life? 546 00:40:37,240 --> 00:40:38,400 Nothing. 547 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:40,200 Because God's there. 548 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:44,520 And he is the God of hope. 549 00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:46,280 Let's pray together. 550 00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:52,600 Father, I especially want to pray for some friend who has come this morning under the 551 00:40:52,600 --> 00:41:02,440 load of a burden who may be experiencing some level of hopelessness, gloominess. 552 00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:04,800 I pray that you would lift those clouds. 553 00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:08,680 Lord Jesus, be the sunrise for them. 554 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:10,800 Chase the clouds away. 555 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:20,760 And today, because of your commitments to them, because of the joy of working with you 556 00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:27,320 and the world and knowing that it will never fail, I pray that you will cause hope to be 557 00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:33,360 reborn, hope to fill the heart. 558 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:36,840 May they abound in hope through the Holy Spirit. 559 00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:43,920 Father, if there'd be someone here today who doesn't know Jesus, who's not one of your 560 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:51,160 people, Lord, help them today to believe, to enter into that relationship with you that 561 00:41:51,160 --> 00:42:00,600 you so longed for and you've provided for through the sacrifice of your Son, who is 562 00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:01,600 our hope. 563 00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:05,440 It's in His name I pray. 564 00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:06,440 Amen. 565 00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:07,440 Amen.