Grace Community Church
Winchester, VA
www.GraceCommunity.com
Rev. Bradford Reaves, Sr. Pastor
Watch This Message at: https://youtu.be/H3G0p7eublg
Introduction
On a scale of 1 to 10 where would you rank your faith today? Every day, I marvel at the things and people we put our faith. We drive our cars 60-70 miles per hour with an oncoming car. We fly on airplanes that take us over oceans. We ride on thrilling amusement rides. We trust pharmacists, surgeons, teachers, robots, vehicles, and computers. They are trained or programmed for a specific purpose.
How much do you trust God? If God shows up with the answer to your deepest heart’s prayer, would you trust Him - I mean really trust Him with the answer and the timing of the answer.
When we left Zechariah last week, he was serving as the priest tending to the Altar of Incense in the Temple. His job is a job of high reverence. The Altar of Incense is expressive of the prayers of God’s people reaching heaven. As Zechariah tends to his priestly duties at this altar, the Angel Gabriel appears on the right side of the altar to deliver Zechariah a message. This message was for both Zechariah and Israel.
The answer that was coming was an answer to the prayers of Israel and the prayers of Zechariah and his wife. Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth were up in years and childless. Israel was living in dark times and praying for the coming of Christ. Gabriel comes to Zechariah to let him know John the Baptist’s birth will answer both of those prayers.
As we will see today, the Zechariah doubts the very answer he’s been seeking. We all have times we doubt. What I want you to know today is that you can trust God - absolutely. And there is a cost for our unbelief.
18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. 24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”(Luke 1:18-25)
I. People of Faith Will Experience Doubt
18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this?
Luke is clear that Zechariah and Elizabeth were people of great faith. There were blameless and upright. So why would Zechariah after praying for a son and Christ for decades- an elder priest who was upright and righteous, versed in Scripture, visited by the Angel Gabriel, RIGHT THERE the Temple of the Lord, doubt? What Zechariah had been praying for ended up being the very thing he doubted God could do.
18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
It’s easy to point our fingers as Zechariah’s doubt, but if we admit it, it is easy to identify with him too. If we are honest, there are times when you look into the heavens and wonder, “What is God doing? Does he even hear my prayers?”
The best thing we can do while we are waiting on Jesus is to get ready. Aligning our hearts toward his, repenting, restoring broken relationships. It is hard to doubt when there is a spirit of expectancy that Jesus is about to show up.
Zechariah wasn’t ready. “The man without a child did not believe the angel with the gospel, and because of his unbelief, he became a man without a voice. Zechariah was focused on his own circumstances. He was stuck with his own limitations. He was building on his own possibilities. I’m old. I lost my mojo. I’m tired. Elizabeth is barren.
II. Doubt Focuses On What We Can’t do, Rather Than what God CAN do!
For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
If you are walking around saying, “We can’t do that...” Well, you’re right. Get your eyes on the One who CAN! That’s faith. Doubt hinders the mission. Faith will move mountains.
if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt 17:20)
Man’s strength is weak. God’s strength is perfect
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, (2 Cor 12:9)
Habakkuk 2:4 says that the “Just shall live by faith.”
Doubt hinders our mission. Prayer is the fuel to the mission.
Have you ever felt the urge to pray for someone and then just put it on a list and said, 'I'll pray for them later.'?Or has anyone ever called you and said, 'I need you to pray for me, I have this need.'? The following story may change the way you think about prayer.
A missionary on furlough told this true story while visiting his home church in Michigan.....'While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point.
On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital. Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about the Lord. I then traveled for two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident.
Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known I carried money and medicines. He said, 'Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight.
We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards. At this, I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said, 'No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.''
At this point in his story, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day, and time, this happened. The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story:
'On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?” The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were, he was too busy counting how many men he saw. There were 26.
Will you lay claim to the limitless power of God in your life? Yes, there are some of us here, so hardened by life that if the Angel of God showed up with us, we too will doubt because it is much easier to doubt and be right than having faith and be wrong.
It takes no faith to say, “let us plan a church budget that’s the same or less than what we received in the offerings last year. It takes faith to say, God has a great plan for us as a church and we’re going to be planning with him. It takes no faith at all to give an offering that we think we can afford. It takes faith to give a tithe, knowing that God will make the 90% go much farther than your 100%.
Yes, there will be days of doubt. Don’t use it as an excuse. Get back to God
III. Doubt Robs Us of Blessings
19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
Gabriel’s rebuke to Zechariah is a message that should all heed when we find ourselves doubting God’s promises. When we doubt God’s promises and what he can do in our lives we mute the blessings he has planned for us. Gabriel starts by declaring his name, “I am Gabriel.”
Which is your voice, “I am Old” or “I am Gabriel”? One talks about our limitation, the other declares our place with God. Gabriel means, “God is my Warrior.” And Gabriel is one of God’s warriors. Gabriel’s career is tied biblically to eschatological events (Dan. 8:15–16; 9:21). Jewish tradition regards him as one of the more significant angels who served next to God. The number of angels who stand in God’s presence varies from four to seven.
Gabriel represented God and God has a plan. He wasn’t there on his own authority, he was there an ambassador for God’s authority. When we receive that Word and authority, we move our lives under the blessing of God.
Doubt robs us of God’s blessings. Peter sank in the water. The disciples feared in the storm. Israel was forbidden to enter into the promised land. I’m going to preach the full counsel of God. The enemy will give you plenty of reasons to doubt. When we buy into the enemy’s doubt, we miss the blessings God has for us.
Zechariah’s doubt rendered him mute. “I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place.”
21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
You see, Zechariah was supposed to emerge from the Holy Place and proclaim God’s blessings over Israel. Gabriel was sent to share with Zechariah good new - the good news that was still going to happen - Zechariah could not tell Israel the Good News: His son was being born to prepare the way for Christ.
A church without faith is doomed to the same condition. Unbelief keeps us from sharing God’s best with others. Unbelief keeps us from living fully into the blessings God has for us. What blessings is disbelief causing you to forfeit?
This isn’t a health and wealth message. Those preachers deceive you that if you can conjure up enough faith you’ll get a better parking space. This is a message that reminds you that God’s plan - His plans - are underway with or without you. His church is preparing for the return of our Lord. His plans and blessings are being poured out on those who will trust in Him more than themselves of the world. Will you be one who trusts in him? Will you be a part of his plan.
IV. God’s Promises Are God’s Promises
24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
And so it happened just as Gabriel told Zechariah it would. There was good news for Zechariah and Elizabeth. There was good news for Israel. There was good news for the world. Elizabeth went home and she and Zechariah conceived. Her prayers are answered. Her reproach was ended and she was able to lift her voice and praise God for what He had done.
Zechariah was powerless. Unable to exclaim the joy of his son. Unable to bring hope in the dark days of Herod and the apostasy of Israel. These are dark days for us. Will God find His church - this church - faithful or doubting? When God speaks our responsibility is to trust his Word.
Conclusion
God’s delays are not necessarily his denials. Wait does not mean no. His timing and His methods are infinitely better than ours. What have you been praying for with God? Are you ready for the answer?
Jesus is coming and the thing to do when Jesus is coming is getting yourself ready. Clean your spiritual house. There is a sifting happening in churches today. The faithful are finding strength, the faithless are having to make a choice between the world and the church. Spiritual warfare is on the rise.
What we need in the midst of this puffed-up pandemic is a Holy Spirit pandemic in the church. A church willing to abandon preferences for passion. A church that is unified and not bickering. For Christ will find his Bride beautifully adorned.
Take it to the Cross
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