Your prayers prepare the promise

Hi, this is Dave Olson. I'm the senior leader of

Heartland Church located in Ankeny, IA.

I hope the following message challenges, encourages, and

ultimately changes you. Thanks for joining us.

Turn with me to Luke Chapter 1. What we're going to do is I want

Luke 1 · chapter mention

to start a series this morning, a Christmas series.

We're going to look at, you know, we, we talk about the wise

men. You know that you've heard of

the three wise men. Actually, Scripture doesn't say

there were three wise men. That's more tradition.

It may or may not be accurate. We don't know.

But that's not what I want to talk about.

I want to talk about the three wise women of Christmas.

There are three distinct ladies that are mentioned in the

Christmas story that are fascinating to me, and they

don't get enough press, They don't get enough emphasis.

Now, one of them gets a little more than the other, another one

a little more than the last one, and then the last one, she

doesn't get mentioned much at all.

So what we're going to look at over the next number of weeks is

we're going to look at the three wise women of Christmas.

We're going to look at, of course, Mary.

But before we get to Mary, we're going to look at Elizabeth this

morning. And we may not get all the way

through Elizabeth this morning, but you got Elizabeth, who

interestingly enough, was a woman well along in years

married. But Baron had never had

children. And so she was a woman that was

still married, but well along in years had wanted children and

never had children. So that was her state of

affairs. Then you have Mary, who was this

young teenager, a young virgin who had never known a man.

She was betrothed, but she had never, you know, she.

So we had this one who had a husband, had known a man but

never produced a child, this one who never had the opportunity.

She was betrothed. And then we have Anna, who was

well along in years and she was widowed.

So she, she had been married as a young woman was, we don't know

all the details to Anna's life, but Anna was a widow from her

very young years. And so even though she had been

married, she lost her husband early on and she dedicated her

life to fasting and prayer. It says she was a prophetess and

now she had dedicated all those years to prayer.

And I would propose to you that she had much to do with Jesus

birth as well. That all three of these ladies

had a role to play. And I don't want to get too far

ahead of us because we'll get into Anna later, but we need to

understand this, that Anna's decades of prayer paved the way

for Jesus arrival. When God moves, he doesn't move

in a vacuum. There is a human component to

every move of God. You know, we, we talk about, oh,

it was a sovereign move of God, a sovereign move of God.

I'm not really interested in the sovereign element of a move of

God. That's God's responsibility and

he will never shirk his responsibility.

You know, that we can count on him to fulfill his.

I want to know what our role is. What, what part do we play as

human beings? And Anna prayed for decades,

depending on the way you interpret her story, she could

have prayed up to 85 years as a widow or she was 85 by the time

this coming. She had been a widow from her

young years, but she had spent years.

So we have these, these three ladies in three distinct

circumstances, one who had gotten married, wanted children.

And we know that her and her husband Zachariah had prayed

because the Angel said the the Lord has heard your prayers.

The Angel came to them, came to him when he was in the temple.

And so you know that she got married, had all these dreams,

aspirations of a big family, wanted kids.

And now she's well along in years.

She's past her child bearing years and she's given up on

that. And that that's the circumstance

she finds herself. And we have Mary who's just

starting out this the the emerging generation and she was

the one through whom the Messiah came.

But we need to understand that these two anchor women, these

ladies who had gone before her, one who had been denied all

these years had had her hopes up and was denied.

And then the other who lost her husband and lived as a widow for

many decades but dedicated herself to fasting and prayer

and they had as much to do with Jesus birth.

There's a reason that Scripture talks about these two ladies,

because they had a part to play. If you read the Christmas story,

it's fascinating to me when you begin to read through this and

you realize on how many fronts the Lord is moving, there's all

these players in the narrative. I love Scripture and Scripture

is so poetic. And as you begin to read through

these stories, you begin to just, it's like good wood, fine

wood. If you begin to rub in the oil,

all of a sudden the grain comes to the surface.

These narratives, these stories in Scripture are just like that.

As you begin to just read over them again and again, all of a

sudden this, this emphasis emerges.

And the amazing thing is, depending on what the Lord's

wanting to speak to you and the time that you're reading it, a

different grain will emerge. And I've been just, I've been

polishing Luke chapter one for the last few days and just have

fallen in love with this story for the 1 millionth time.

So let's look at verse 5. Let's pray, Father, we just pray

this morning, God, that you would speak to us.

And Lord, I ask that over the next number of weeks that you

would drive home your ways for your people.

And Lord, I ask that you'd speak to us, that you'd encourage us,

You'd strengthen us, Lord, in our various circumstances, Lord,

that you would drive home the encouragement each of us needs

in Jesus name, Amen. All right, Luke chapter one,

verse 5, Listen to what it says. In the days of Herod, king of

Judah, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of

Abijah. Abijah.

And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name

was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous

before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and

statutes of the Lord. And so Luke is setting up this

scenario. He's kind of giving us the back

story, setting up the characters, and he's telling us

about what he's about to get into.

And he wants to make sure that we understand that this was a

righteous couple. They were walking blameless

before the Lord. And he even sets up the timing.

He says in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, he gives us

both the time and the place. The time was during the reign of

Herod. The place was in the Kingdom of

Judea. Now Herod that that's no small

thing when it says in the days of Herod.

Now those of you who watch a lot of news and are wringing your

hands and you lay up late at night worried about global

situations, I'm with you. I'm I can do the same thing.

I've got to be careful how much news I watch 'cause I can get

myself all worked up. My poor wife, she knows that I

don't watch TVI speak to the TV. So those of you that have a

spouse like that, pray for my wife.

This, this hour in which Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth and

Zechariah found themselves with was a very dark period of

history. You know, Herod was ruling over

Judea. Herod was not even really a

Jewish man. He was of the Hasmonean dynasty.

He was an Edomite and he was a politically savvy, ruthless

character. He was the one who built the

temple that we see now in Jerusalem, the Temple Mount.

If you go under the Temple Mount, it was fascinating.

When I was there a few years ago, we were down underneath the

Temple Mount and there were stones literally from here to

the other side of this room that were at least this tall to the

floor, 1 stone that were laid one on another.

I don't know how they did it, but they built this whole Temple

Mount. He was very savvy, but he also

built temples to some of the Caesars.

Herod was actually a friend of a Mark Anthony.

Now, he was an adversary of Mark Anthony's mistress Cleopatra.

But when Octavius, who would eventually become Caesar

Augustus, killed Mark Antony and drove, you know, conquered his

army, then Herod, being a very savvy politician, just pledged,

pledged his loyalty to him and even built cities after Caesarea

Philippi being one of them, you know, in in his honor.

And so he was a very politically savvy guy.

There was a saying with Herod that it was better to be his pig

than his son because you would live longer because at least you

would take the time to fatten his pigs.

And with his sons, you may not live very long.

He killed at least three of his sons and maybe more.

And the reason is because he felt threatened by his sons

being in his lineage. And so he'd just bump them off

so they couldn't take his place. The dude was nuts.

That era of human history. If you read about Roman history,

these guys were crazy. And this was the setting in

which the people of God in their promised land were occupied by

the Roman government and by vassal kings like Herod that

were ruthless people and they would crush any opposition

underneath them unless you wring your hands, you watch the news

and think, oh man, how what are we going to do?

Understand that this whole thing that called Christianity began

in a very dark part of human history, and it grew from there.

And so we have in the time of Herod in the in the the king of

Judea, there was a priest named Zachariah of the division of

Abuja and his wife had daughters from Aaron.

So Elizabeth was also, she was a cousin of Mary.

And we know that Mary and Joseph were both of the lineage of

David, whereas Elizabeth was in the Levitical line.

And so it's very likely that Jesus being born of those two

lines was of the priestly and the kingly line merging them.

We know he is the ultimate priest king in the order of

Melchizedek, the priest king. So just it's fascinating how the

Bible talks about all this lineage stuff because it really

does matter. God works generationally and so

we have this couple that have this They're from the priestly

line. Elizabeth is related to Mary,

who's of the Davidic line, and they were both righteous before

God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of

Lord. Why does the Bible mention that?

Because he wants to make sure we understand that because of

what's going to be said next. But there's a but in this story,

there is a however, in this story, the all the good things

that were happening. However, because Elizabeth was

barren both and both were advanced in years.

And so it says they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and

they both were advanced in years.

Now, I believe what the Bible says that it was Elizabeth.

But the fact is, and in ancient times, the women were always the

one who were to blame when when families had a hard time

conceiving a child, it was always just assumed it's the

lady. And so Elizabeth was barren and

they were both advanced in years.

So they had there was a double whammy.

There was a however, in this desire.

They were walking blameless, but yet she was barren.

And in the Jewish mindset, often those two things were at an

antithesis to one another. They thought that if somebody

wasn't able to produce a child, there must be something morally

wrong with them. They must be under a curse.

God must not be pleased with them.

But in this scenario, the Holy Spirit is very, very careful to

explain to us that they were blameless.

They walked before the Lord very righteously.

However, they had a double whammy.

Elizabeth was barren. She was unable to conceive.

And not only they had been praying that that situation be

overcome all these years, but now they've given up on that

prayer because now they were well advanced in years.

She was beyond her child bearing years.

And so this is the scenario we find ourself in.

It's very important for us to understand that often what we

look at as something, a defect in US or a demonic opposition

may find itself in the plan of God.

God ordained barrenness that God may have created something for a

purpose. Now let let me explain myself

here. Look at verse what is it verse 8

now while he was serving as priest.

So it says now it there there is nothing in Scripture that is

just by happenstance. OK, so every little word means

something. So when it says now in other

words, they had this long history of prayer of this they

they were married. You know, Zechariah, many even

even not religious rulers would counsel a guy to divorce his

wife if she wasn't able to produce children for them In the

Jewish world at that time, they would say, well, you're

defective. I'm going to find a woman who

can produce children for me. But Zechariah was a godly man

and Elizabeth was a godly woman. And they began to pray and years

of prayer. They prayed asking God for a

breakthrough. And now they find themselves

well advanced in years. And so they're beyond the child

bearing years. And but Zechariah is still

faithfully living with his wife and he's serving as a priest.

And then there was a point in time in which it says now there

was a moment in which they stepped into the destiny that

God had for them. And what we need to understand

about this story, and we're going to look at this in a

moment, is that the the, the barrenness was God ordained to

create something greater, you know, and Isaiah, it says many

are the children of the barren woman.

Sing aloud, cry aloud, You, O barren woman, for many are the

children of the barren womb. I would propose to you that not

only many, but great are the children of the barren room.

All through Scripture, we see these stories of couples who

wanted to have children and suddenly God intervened through

prayer and those children were great.

We need to ask ourself why. Why is it that there's something

unique about those children over and above the children that were

conceived in the normal ways? That's not to say that, you

know, I mean, David was conceived well, say, normal way.

It's likely David was conceived in an illicit relationship.

But there's something about these children that were born of

a barren situation. Why is that?

Well, let's read on here he says verse 8 while he was serving his

priest before God, when his division was on duty according

to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter

the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

Their their mindset, their understanding was that God would

choose the drawing of the lot. And that's why the last time we

see this happen was just before Pentecost when they were looking

for someone to replace Judas. After that, the apostles were

led by the Spirit. But before that they were

drawing lots saying, OK, God, we're going to kind of throw the

dice and you choose what you're going to do.

And God definitely orchestrated this.

It says that when the division was on duty, So there was the

now was marked by when his division was on duty and it was

according to the custom of the priesthood.

He was chosen by law to enter the temple of the Lorne and Bird

incense. And the whole multitude of the

people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

Now this is fascinating to me. Think about this, Zacharias.

He he he's had this whole long life living with this woman,

wanting kids and they've given up on that promise and he's

going through the motion, still serving God, keeping his heart

right. He's walking blameless before

the Lord. He's not not he's not allowed

himself to get bitter. They've not allowed it to come

between their relationship. They're living together.

They're serving the Lord. He's just I guess this is my lot

in life and I'm going to serve the Lord.

And he hits a now moment when all of a sudden his division is

chosen. There were, there were probably

15 to 1800 different priests. They, it was likely this was the

only time and it would have been rare for him to been chosen.

But that day he went into the presence of the Lord to burn

incense. Now incense, the incense burners

we know represented intercession.

It's the, the smell of intercession coming before the

throne. And it says that there were

people on the outside at the time of the burning of incense,

and Zechariah had gone into the temple to burn the incense.

So you had people outside praying.

And Zechariah goes before the Lord to pray, and all of a

sudden he's thrust into this angelic encounter with the Angel

Gabriel. And it says he was troubled and

great fear fell upon him. I imagine all these years he has

served faithfully. All these years he has gone

through the motions, being faithful, showing up, doing what

he's called to do. And the suddenly of God, he

crossed the line. And now you never know when

God's going to break in. You never know when God's about

to move. And what we've got to be careful

is that we assume that when we don't see the answer to our

prayer, when it seems like nothing's moving, we assume that

God's not heard or God said no. When in actuality, God was

moving this entire time. And there was an accumulation

literally of decades of prayer that we're going into what was

about to break loose. You said again, there was the

accumulation of decades of prayer that was invested in this

situation that was about ready to break loose.

And if we're not careful, we can become in bitter, disillusioned

or we can abandoned the request when God has been listening the

entire time. So Zechariah is standing there

and it says, and Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and

fear fell upon him. And the Angel said to him, do

not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.

And your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall

call his name John. Let's just stop there.

I mean, that is those of you who are at that stage in life where

you know you ain't going to have any more kids.

Can you imagine hearing this? Can you imagine that would just

be, it would be terrifying. I I think there might have been

some fear that fell on him for more than one reason.

It may not just have been the Angel.

Can you imagine? I remember when we found out we

were going to have our youngest that's back there on the camera.

He was our, our, our final one. He's our surprise.

I was 40 years old when he was born.

I thought we were done. And it was a whole different

deal, man. He's, he's been, he's been the

easiest to, to be a father to. He's he's a great we.

Yeah. But man, I tell you what it was.

But we were still within our childbearing years.

We were just towards the end of it.

And Can you imagine hearing that now?

I would propose to you. I I don't, I I think there's a

reason that the Spirit of God instructed Luke to mention that

the people were outside praying when Zechariah went inside to

offer the incense of prayer. And that message of the Angel

was your prayers have been heard.

Now there's two possibilities. I, I very strongly believe it's

the there's two possibilities here to this prayer that the

Angel is alluding to it either that there he had been praying

all these years in spite of the fact that they were well past

their child rearing years. I doubt that that's the case.

I think what he was referring to is the prayers you prayed

decades ago, the prayers that you invested in this situation

all those years, they have never fallen to the ground.

They're still coming before the throne, and now is the time that

God's going to answer prayers you prayed decades ago.

Now, I don't know about you, but that encourages me.

Some of you need to be a little encouraged that there were some

prayers that you prayed decades ago that you already wrote off

as denied, that God is still working in those situations.

And often God doesn't work on our timetable.

And I think here's the thing, Zechariah had an encounter while

the people were on the outside praying.

I don't think it's in a coincidence that he had an

encounter when he was praying, but I think it very well may be

that what broke that Angel through in the encounter was

they were already they were all praying as well.

There are a lot of players in this narrative that are

mentioned by the the the writers of Scripture, and none of it is

insignificant. And so it was while the other

people were praying. Let me let me just land it for

you a little application here as your pastor.

I pray, but man, pray for me. I need those encounters for you

for your sake. I got away a few days ago or a

couple weeks ago for three days just to just to pray and and I

spent some time with the Lord. It was really good, but several

of you were praying for me and I appreciate that, especially as I

began to read this. I thought, man, isn't that

amazing that the author mentions they were all on the outside

praying while the priest went in to pray and he had this

encounter. I don't think that's just a

coincidence, something that's a side issue.

And there's a very specific reason that that Angel came at

that now moment at the time of prayer.

And he says to him, this, It puts a little fear of God on me

even to read this. Your prayer has been heard.

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

rejoices at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord.

That's an interesting phrase, Great before the Lord.

The word there before the Lord is ENOPION Anyopon.

He says he will be great before the Lord and he must not drink

wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy

Spirit even from his mother's womb.

Almost as if there's some type of Nazarite vow this young child

will enter into and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even

from his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the children

of Israel to the Lord their God and he will go before him in the

spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the

fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the

just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.

And what what the Angel is doing is he's drawing from 2 Old

Testament passages, one in Malachi and one in Isaiah and

saying, listen, the child that your wife is going to bear is

going to be the fulfillment of these two prophetic passages

that everybody has been waiting for.

It's an amazing thing to hear and it's interesting.

It says he'll be great before the Lord and he will go before

the Lord. And it's using the same word

because when someone is great before the the word, that word

means in the sight of or just before.

It's like someone you can see before you.

And so it's kind of a play on words.

He's going to be great in the sight of God when God looks at

him. God's estimation of John will be

this man is a great man. There are some people that God

looks at and and says that's a great man.

It's an amazing thing, but he would also go before the Lord

and pave the way for the Lord according to Isaiah.

And so he would be paved, he would be in the sight of the

Lord, but he's going to make away.

He's going to he's going to cut the path.

He's going to be the announcer that's going to go before the

Lord so that people will look for the 1 coming.

And Zechariah said to the Angel, how should I know this?

For I am an old man and my wife is well advanced in years.

And the Angel answered him, this is his answer, I am Gabriel and

I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you

and bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent

and unable to speak until the day of these things take place,

because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in

their time. He said, how can I know this

will happen? He really didn't answer the

question. He just said, you know who

you're talking to. I stand in God's presence.

And because you even ask that question, you will be silent.

I'm going to silence you so you don't speak your unbelief into

your wife's ear. There anybody else involved in

this situation. And he comes out and they're

waiting and waiting and waiting for Zechariah to come out and

finally comes out and he's motioning with his hands, but he

can't talk. And it said they perceived that

he had had a vision. They understood he had some kind

of encounter and lo and behold, his wife conceived after all

these years. It's an amazing thing.

And she it says that she for the first verse 24, for the first

five months, she kept herself hidden, which I wonder why.

I mean, is it was it that she was embarrassed at her age or

she, you know, she's hoping against hope, thinking is this,

is this real? We don't know.

But for five months she hid herself, and then finally it

says, look at verse 2026. Rather, in the sixth month, the

Angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee near

Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed. So for five months, Elizabeth is

hiding this thing she's not going on in public.

She's beginning to show. And she can't believe this.

All these years she's wanted a child, longed for a child, even

gave up praying for a child. And now she finds herself

pregnant. You know, she's she's part of

the season sisters group, but she's the only pregnant one in

the group. You know, she's like, what?

What group do I hang around with?

She's she's great with child 5th.

And it wasn't until she went public that the Angel then

visited Mary, her cousin. Isn't that interesting?

And the same Angel that visited her now visits her cousin.

And they both had a supernatural conception.

Both had a supernatural birth. There was the older one that

couldn't conceive. She she'd known intimacy, but

she we call it potency, we call it the Old Testament said the

first born son is the first sign of the father's strength.

So the ability to produce sons is a sign of the father's

strength in Jewish culture. And she knew intimacy, but she

didn't know power. She wasn't able to You conceive

and then you have this emerging generation, this young gal who

had never known intimacy. It's like the the emerging

generation in the church, this this older woman, she'd known

years of intimacy, but nothing had been produced.

And then this younger woman who she wasn't even married yet and

she was going to find herself with children.

Don't you find that interesting? Here's the one who went so much

longer than average. And this other one entered in

quick. She didn't even cross the finish

line of a wedding ceremony before she had conceived.

So what gives? And the Holy Spirit is obviously

connecting these two scenarios. They're cousins and as soon as

the Angel comes to Mary, he tells her what's going to happen

to her. The Holy Spirit is going to over

shadow you and you will be found with children.

And when Mary asks how will this be, she doesn't get rebuked like

Zachariah did. You're going to be silent.

He just explains to her what's going to happen.

Now we don't know if it was because of their their, the, the

posture of their hearts. Maybe Zachariah was cynical and

Mary was believing but questioning we don't know.

Or was it because Zechariah had more years in the faith and

shouldn't have been questioning? I don't know.

But he tags on to the end when when Gabriel talks to Mary, he

said, and he'll by the way, your cousin Elizabeth, she is in her

6th month and she hightails it over there to go see her cousin

Elizabeth. And when she walks in the room,

Elizabeth's baby jumps and her her baby is filled with the

spirit. And it's a picture of the

interaction between the generations of the faith, the

older generation who had gone before.

And here's here's a principle that's obvious from this

passage, that God will choose one generation that has to go

much longer than normal so the next generation can enter in

much earlier than normal. And what one generation paid the

price for the other generation got for free.

And what Elizabeth was carrying would actually pave the way for

what Mary was carrying because John would be the one who

prepares the way for the Lord, the one that Mary was carrying.

And there's this generational relationship in the body of

Christ that we need to understand.

And those of you who are older beyond those years where you're

having the dreams of the big family and all that, it may be

that may be a metaphor for some of the things you dreamed about

seeing your your life, God use you in such a way.

And now you're looking to think, well, I don't think that's going

to happen. Listen, it very well may be that

the reason those things didn't materialize in your life is

because your decades of prayer are actually being invested in

the next generation and together they're going to move into

something. And Jesus needed John.

John was the one that was prophesied that he'd prepare the

way for the Lord. Years ago, I woke up on a Monday

morning. Mondays are my day off and I was

just laying there in bed. So I grabbed my phone and pulled

up the Bible and I was reading and I was reading this story and

I read about how the Angel says that John will be filled with

the Spirit while still in his mother's womb.

Not amazing. My little brother was baptized

in the Spirit when he was six years old.

John had him beat way. He was he was a little human

embryo and he's in there, Shundai, he's having church

there. He was filled with the spirit in

his mother's. That's amazing.

And I remember reading that and I was just so, so struck by

that. And I didn't expect an answer,

but I said out loud to the Lord God, why don't you do that with

all of us? We could wrap this thing up by

Thursday, man, if you had a whole generation of John's that

we were all filled with the spirit from our mother's wombs.

What? Let's, let's see that happen.

And I just said it out loud to the Lord.

I didn't expect him to answer me.

And the Lord spoke to me and he said John was able to enter in

earlier than most because his mother and father entered much

later than most, that their decades of intercession over

their barrenness actually removed some of the barriers for

young John even before he was conceived.

Now, you might think, well, I don't know if that was the Lord.

You'll find out when we get to heaven.

I heard from God on that. So I got in my car.

I was, I was speaking at a, a ministry school out in Nebraska,

way out in central Nebraska later that day.

So I was driving out there and taught for did a couple

sessions. And then at the end I was just

praying over people and spirit of prophecy came on me and I was

prophesying over people. And this young man came forward

and I laid hands on him. And all of a sudden I felt led

to share with them that principle that I'd read that

morning. And when I began to share that

story with him, his jaw just dropped about hit the floor.

He said, I can't believe you're sharing this with me.

I always, he said my, my parents were always the oldest parents.

They wanted children for so many years and they could never have

a kid. And finally they were well into

their later, you know, that at the end of their childbearing

years, they've given up on ever having a kid.

And then I was born. I had these old parents and I

felt like the Lord had me share that with him as an

encouragement not only to him, but to me as well that there is

a principle. There are times where God will

birth a desire within your heart and then he will deny you longer

than most. But the reason for that denial

is there is a an accumulation of that intercession.

And there was something going on.

And if you look at you look at Samuel, Samuel was an uncommon

man. It says his words never fell to

the ground. He was the transition man

between the times of the judges and the kings, the David, the

Saul's reign to the Davidic house that still Jesus rules

from the throne of David to this day.

Saul was the man that was the pivot there.

He was that prophet, but he was the son of a barren womb.

You see it with Samson, you see it with John, these these

children that were born of unusual circumstances.

And what I'm saying this morning is this, that there may be times

you're praying for something and you see other people around you

stepping into things that you've longed to step into.

And it looks so normal for them. And it's like there's something

being withheld from you. And I want to encourage you this

morning that it just may be the hand of God because God is

investing the frustration and the intercession that's mounting

in something greater, a greater breakthrough.

And it just may be. There are times, we know from

Hebrews Chapter 11, that there are times where one generation

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

doesn't get to see the breakthrough, but it's visited

on the next generation. And when the Angel stood before

Zechariah and he said, Zechariah, your prayers have

been heard. That's an amazing thing.

A prayer that he had prayed decades earlier and given up on

was still coming before the throne of God, waiting for that

now moment so that God could trigger it.

And often we have our time frame and we can get disillusioned and

embittered or find all these excuses, feel like there's

something wrong with us. But in fact, God was

orchestrating something great. John, Jesus would later say, is

the greatest of the prophets. I believe one of the reasons

that John was able to do the things he did, why he entered in

so early on in his life, even as a child in his mother's womb, he

entered into the spirit filled life.

That's wild. He came out spirit filled.

I don't know, maybe he didn't cry when the doctor spanked him.

Thank you. And he had a real good attitude.

Thank you. I needed that.

You know, I'm just kidding. But I mean, just he was, he was

a spirit filled from the beginning.

But there were decades of intercession that preceded his

birth. And so the first of the wise

women of Christmas was one who had been denied for decades so

that God could mount something. And there these this

accumulation of intercession and prayer so that God could give

birth to a very unique man in human history.

You know, we, we read these stories, we think, oh, John was

a great man. I guess that was just God.

God just chose he'd be great. I believe God did.

But there was a whole lot of human interaction behind the

scenes. There were a lot of things that

were happening, and those are the things that you and I need

to understand. Amen.

Thanks for listening to our podcast.

If you'd like to help more people hear this message, you

can get the word out by subscribing and sharing it on

social media. If you'd like to support the

ministries of Heartland Church, you can do so at Heartland

Church online.com/give.