The Realization Of God’s Guidance-3

The REALIZATION Of GOD’s GUIDANCE-III—

Luke 1:65-67(:57-80)

Attention:

'Daddy Wouldn’t Like It'

A man is on vacation driving thru Pennsylvania’s Amish country.

He drives over a hill & spies a huge wagon that had spilled it’s entire load of hay.

A young boy was picking up handfuls of hay & placing them back on the wagon.

The tourist gets out & offers the boy help.

The tourist says, ‘Son, it’ll be simpler with the pitchfork, watch this!’

The boy immediately stops the man & says, ‘Oh, no sir, Daddy wouldn’t like it!’

The tourist was incensed that a father would punish such a small boy in such a way.

The tourist then says “Step aside son & we’ll have this done in no time. You won’t have to touch it, & nobody will be the wiser. Your Daddy won’t know a thing about my helping you.”

With fear in his voice, the boy maintains, ‘Daddy wouldn’t like it!’

The tourist brushes off the boys concerns & slams the pitchfork into the hay pile. And immediately a blood-curdling scream comes out!

The boy says, ‘I told you Daddy wouldn’t like it!’

The man who helped the boy needed much better Guidance than the boy was able to provide!

*And every person, of all mankind, stands in need of the Guidance that only God can supply!

1:76-79—““And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness & the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.””(cf.-Isa. 9:6-7; Isa. 40:3-5;)

God’s ‘GUIDANCE’ ultimately comes to an individual, a person, thru their willful & conscious, personal trust in Jesus Christ.

And that personal trust comes to a person, thru their accepting Jesus as their Savior. And the evidence of the Savior’s saving is seen in in a person’s trust in Jesus as the Lord of their life. And thru such a person living a godly life, God’s GUIDANCE thru Jesus, also becomes ‘tangible’ for others to discover, by their personal faith.

But The ‘touchstone’ for the arrival of God’s promised GUIDANCE, was the birth of John the Baptist. With his birth, God’s promise began to be realized in that generation, & it’s results carried forward to all generations beyond, including our own.

So GOD’s ‘GUIDANCE’ is always, actually, & readily available to & for everyone thru Jesus!

Need:

To really KNOW the direction you should go, in anything you undertake, is something you can WILLINGLY DISCOVER.

•And that discovery will give a beautiful clarity to your life!

On the other hand, to really KNOW the direction you should go, in anything you undertake, is something you can WILLINGLY AVOID altogether!

•Willingly avoiding God’s Guidance & direction, leaves your life devoid of real substance & real answers to all the troubling quandaries that you will ever face.

Luke records prophetic events surrounding the birth of John the Baptist.

The means towards God’s ‘guidance’(1:79) was realized thru the birth of John the Baptist.

God’s ‘guidance’(in the way of peace) has been realized.

But:

?How is God’s guidance realized?

We are attempting to answer that question by examining...

...6 Realizations that bring God’s Guidance to us.

So far, in our examination of verses :57-80, we’ve found that

‘God’s Guidance is realized thru a...’:

1. Prophetic BIRTH(:57-58)

2. Prophetic RITUAL/CUSTOM(:59)

& a:

3. Prophetic ENCOUNTER(:60-64)

And TODAY we’ll find that:

4—God’s guidance is ALSO realized thru a Prophetic...

GRASP(:65-67)a realization that God has spoken

Explanation:(:65-67)a realization that God has spoken

:65—“Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; & all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea.”

The action of God, in bringing about the fulfillment of the birth of John-the-Baptist, thru Zacharias & Elizabeth, caused all those to fear, who “dwelt around” Zacharias & Elizabeth.

•The confirmation of the events that took place, caused a great stir among the people.

•And so much so, that the miracles & the speculations surrounding them became the topic of conversation “throughout all the hill country of Judea.”

Judah(:39) versus “Judea”(:65)—There is a slight difference between the two terms.

•Judah is (1)The area deeded to, & largely occupied by the tribe of Judah.

—Whereas—

• (2) “Judea” is the entire larger area(including Judah) west & South of the Dead Sea, that was recognized as a specific Roman ‘province’—as distinguished from Samaria, Galilee, Peraea, Idumaea, & the like.

*No one knew the all the implications nor all the ramifications & fallout from what God would do thru this miracles surrounding this boy named John.