Another Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Have you ever won something?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You know, when they have a drawing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I remember going to uh an expo once and I was talking to uh

Pastor Dale Tunnell: one of the people there that uh was operating a booth and they were giving away

Pastor Dale Tunnell: uh an iPod.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: didn't know much about iPods, but I wanted one.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I said

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I need that to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: put some music on.

And I'm going to put some music on there and I'm going to have something that I can listen to while I go hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

And so I was talking to the person there at the booth and I said, you know, we can just save you and me some time.

Just give me the iPod

now.

And

then you don't have to call me this evening

when you have the drawing.

And

uh

I don't have to drive back here and pick it up and you don't have to plan a time to meet me to give me the iPod.

He said, You know it doesn't work that way.

And I said, well, it could work that way.

You

and I could just come to an agreement

and

we could do it.

And he said, no, no, no.

And I think

that he was probably as surprised as I was.

When he called me that evening

and he said, You're the winner of the iPod.

And I said, I told you I was going to win the iPod.

I

don't know.

Some people just don't believe me when I tell them that I I'm one of the luckiest people in the world.

I have won lots of things like that.

I mean, I was listening to the

the

Christian music group

radio program there in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

And they were

giving some advertisements and they said, hey, we're going to let

caller number seven

is going to receive

uh

certificate from the cheesecake factory to have cheesecake delivered to you and the office staff that you have.

And a cheesecake factory.

I

dialed on the phone

and guess what?

I was caller number seven.

I told the

office staff, I told Cheryl, I said, we've got a whole lot of cheesecake coming tomorrow.

Well, who's gonna eat it?

I said

the office staff.

Well, who's the office staff?

I said, I got enough for the whole board.

I know the board wasn't there for

at the office every day, but

Cheesecake Factory gave me enough for the whole board.

And so I took advantage of it.

I tell you, when it comes to drawings like that.

I'm blessed.

So a lot of times I don't enter anymore.

Give other people a chance.

Isn't that nice of me?

Yeah.

In our story today, Luke chapter 1, Zechariah

Luke 1 · chapter mention

had won the lottery.

It says that the lots were cast.

and he had won.

His

his

habit was

he would go to Jerusalem twice a year, because that was his term of service as a priest.

He would go there twice a year for him to serve there in the temple.

And he would normally serve at the

various functions of the temple.

But when they got there, the priest would have a

lottery.

Or they would cast lots.

Or however you want to say

what they did, they would cast lots

and they would dis

determine by the casting of lots

Who was going to have certain functions and what their function was going to be during their one week of service that they were there?

And this time

Zechariah

had won the lottery.

He had

the lots had been cast

and he was chosen to get to go into the holy place

and to get to go up to the

the

the

the altar of incense in the holy place, and during the prayer time, when the people were outside praying, he was going to get to go to the

the altar of incense

and make sure that the incense was lit

to make sure that it stayed lit, to make sure that the the

smoke was ascending.

I mean you can almost see

Zechariah

as he goes into

the sanctuary.

I wonder

if he was a little bit nervous.

I don't know, it doesn't tell us.

One of those questions you would like to know, how

often had he won the lottery?

How many times had he been into

the holy place?

Had he ever gotten to go before the altar of incense

before?

Doesn't tell us.

What kind of instructions was he given ahead of time?

Did they remind him about what he was supposed to do?

You know, sometimes when when we're in the in the back room in the in the library back there and we talk about coming out here, some people are really nervous.

Have you ever noticed that?

Some people they come up here and they're not sure what to do.

Some people still ask me, Pastor, are you ever nervous?

My answer is

a little bit.

There's still

a tinge of excitement, a tinge of nervousness, a tinge of, am

I going to do it right?

Because the desire is not just to

share what I've studied through the week, but to make sure I

give glory to God.

To make sure it feels like

we've come into the presence of God and we have worshiped Him

as a

believers,

as a church family.

I wonder what Zechariah thought as he he he went in the to the

the the holy place

there

as he he was standing before the altar, as he was making sure the incense was

was going up as the the cloud of incense

went up, I can imagine that he began to pray.

Because that that that cloud of incense that was the the the

to represent the prayers of the people and my guess is that that Zachariah had his

his own prayers that that they were were were going up as well

and he he he was probably standing there watching the

The sanctuary filled with smoke, watching as some of the smoke went over the veil

into

the most

holy place.

Before the throne of God, you wonder what was going through Zechariah's mind.

You wonder exactly what he was praying.

The scripture says there in Luke 1 that all of a sudden he was startled.

Luke chapter one, let's see, verse twelve

It says,

and when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

It was a surprise to him.

Nobody else was supposed to be in the in the holy place with him.

He was

he was doing the

his function there in the

holy place.

He was he was offering his prayers.

The people outside were praying.

He was praying.

And

and

Who

was this

in here with him?

Scripture tells us that

the angel was at the

right hand of the

the altar there, the the sign of favor, but my guess is

Zechariah

was so startled he wasn't recognizing right or left hand.

He wasn't contemplating on on

was the

angel in the right place or the wrong place.

He was just startled that somebody was there.

The angel has to say to him, Be

not afraid

My guess is

Zachariah thought that's easy for you to say.

You're the one that startled me

And then the angel says, Don't be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard

Now I don't know how long the angel paused there, but my guess is there was a a dramatic pause

and and Zechariah's mind began to whirl a little bit.

What prayer is is is heard?

What prayer is is the angel talking about?

Because I've been praying many prayers and some prayers I've been praying longer than than other prayers.

This is the prayer that

Somebody just gave me as I as I came into the sanctuary and they asked for me to to to to pray for their loved one that was sick?

Was it the the one that

w they

gave me that uh I'm praying for the the person that's having financial problems

Which prayer are they talking about?

Is it the one that I've I've been praying for for years

that the Messiah is going to come?

That the Romans are going to be overthrown?

That we're going to get out from under the

the

the

Oh, the slavery that we're in.

Are we going to be delivered

finally?

What prayer are you talking about?

Well that was a long dramatic pause, wasn't it?

And then the angel continued on and says, Your wife

Elizabeth

will bear you a son, and you will call his name John

I'm not sure Zachariah was all that excited about hearing that.

He probably thought, oh, that prayer.

That

prayer was the prayer I was praying a long time ago.

That was 30 years ago.

That I was praying for the sun.

That was

twenty-five years ago that I had continued praying.

That was twenty

years ago.

We were still praying for

some.

What are you

what do

what

what

what

it

What do you mean?

The angel continues on, and you will have joy and gladness, and and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great

and the

in the sight of the Lord, and he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, he will also 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 them in the spirit and power of Elijah

to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people

prepared for the Lord.

And Zechariah said to the angel, How shall I know this?

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

My guess is

the only thing that he heard from the angel was: your

wife is going to be with

child.

The

angel said those other things.

But Zechariah was still focused on the one thing that

the angel had said: how

can this

be?

I'm old.

I'm too old.

Elizabeth is old.

She's too old.

This time has passed in our life

You know, at Christmas time we tell the story about

Mary

and how the angel comes to Mary.

And

says that

you're going to be with

child.

And the question she asked is, how

can this thing be?

I've never been with a man

I mean

Zechariah

though, he he he's

he's an old man.

He he he's a priest.

He's been

he's been coming to the the sanctuary here

year after year after year after year.

He's been te

Itching to the people around the

The the

the land.

He's been going to from synagogue to synagogue.

He's been telling people the stories of of the history of Israel

so that people understand who they are as a people.

He knows the stories.

He knows the stories about Abraham and Sarah.

He knows the stories about Hannah.

He knows the story about people

pleading with God for a child.

And yet

Zachariah

says, How shall I know this?

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

It's hard for us to understand.

Sometimes we say

God, that's not possible.

Have you ever said that to God?

God, what you have in mind is is is not

going to work.

What we really mean is, God, that's not the way I do things.

I mean, for for us, living in the day and age in which we live, we understand how things work, and there comes a time and place where

Things don't work like that anymore.

And so

God,

you can't do it that way.

Zacharias should have known better

Israel walking through the Red Sea on dry land.

Israel walking through the River Jordan

on

uh on dry land.

The way God had taken

manna, day after day, a cloud by day, a fire by night, the way God takes care of his

people.

Zechariah

should have understood

Do we

understand

Desire of Ages, page 98.

Says

the birth of a son to Zechariah, like the birth of a child to Abraham.

was to teach a great spiritual truth, a truth that we are slow to learn

and ready to forget.

In ourselves

we are incapable

of doing any good

thing.

But that which we cannot do

will be wrought by the power of God.

In every

submissive and believing soul

It was through faith that the child of promise

was given.

It is through faith that spiritual life is begotten, and we are enabled to do the works of righteousness.

Had Zechariah forgot how it had worked in the past?

How guilty

are we?

To say, oh, it

doesn't work that way anymore.

We can't do it like that anymore.

Have you ever said that

Sometimes we do, don't we?

Okay, I'll try not to step on your toes too much right now.

I had some things written down here to say, and I I I may get to them, but we'll wait just a second.

Come back up here to verse sixteen.

I skipped some good stuff here

The angel talking to

Zechariah.

I'm not sure how this is recorded in scripture.

I don't know who gave it to

to Luke to write down.

I don't know if it came back to Zachariah's mind later and he recorded what the angel

said, because I think at the time

when he the angel announced that they were going to have a child, I really believe that

He didn't really hear the rest of the things the angel said.

So

maybe there was a question and answer time later before he went back out

and

And uh

before he was muted, I'm not exactly sure, but it

somehow

got recorded here in Scripture

Verse 16 it says, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord

their

God.

Do we realize

the times in which

Zechariah was living

I went back this week

and I read some in

Josephus

about

the times in which

Zechariah

was living.

I read some in Desire of Ages

about the times in which Zechariah

was living.

It says the the the Jews there at that time thought they had a monopoly on the truth.

They had been given the truth, they had a monopoly on the truth, and they were going to hold on to that.

It says that they were going to hoard the living manna.

And because they had hoarded the living manna, it had

corrupted them.

Mana

was supposed to be

supposed to be picked up daily.

It was supposed to be given to the people that needed to be fed by it daily.

It wasn't just to be hoarded.

In

Desire of Ages, it says

they they they

hoarded that.

They robbed God of his

glory, defrauded

God

of what God had expected them to do.

Does God have expectations for us

that He wants us to do

Are we very similar to the people of Israel?

It says that the people of Israel

that they were

had become agents of Satan

For the destruction of Israel.

The people who God had called to be the pillar and ground of truth

had become representatives of Satan.

That's pretty strong words.

They were doing the work that Satan desired them to do, taking a course to misrepresent the character of God.

This was in the in the days of Zechariah.

It goes further and it says

Satanic agencies were incorporated with men, the bodies of human beings

made for the dwelling

place of God.

had

become the habitation of demons.

The senses, the nerves, the

passions, the organs of men

were worked by supernatural agencies in the indulgence of the vilest lust.

The very stamp of demons

were impressed upon the countenance of men.

Human faces reflected the expression of the legions of evil with which they had been possessed.

prospect upon which the world's Redeemer looked.

You talk about the

the

the day and age when Zechariah

was living

It says that

people

were possessed by demons

many places.

Have you seen a demon-possessed person?

Have you seen a person that you thought was demon-possessed?

If you haven't, I want to take you with me to to some

to some other countries.

I'll take you with me to to Mongolia.

I'll take you with me to to Vietnam.

I

I have seen demon-possessed people.

In fact, the families in Vietnam, the families will tell you that every family has

Experienced

a demon-possessed person within the family

somewhere.

You talk about spiritual darkness

That's the way it was in

in the days of Zechariah.

That's the way it was in the days of Zechariah.

In

the people

of God, the people of Israel.

Luke chapter one, verse seventeen.

The angel goes on and says, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of who?

Elijah.

That's a key text for our our our series that we're on.

We just spent several weeks talking about Elijah in the Old Testament.

The reason we have the title today is

Another Elijah

is

because of this text right here.

It says that

this child is coming, and he's going to have the spirit and power of Elijah.

But this phrase, the spirit and power of Elijah, it is coming from Malachi

Malachi 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4.

Written 400 years before this.

Malachi

Malachi 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4.

Oh, let's see.

Come down to verse 4.

It says, Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb.

For all Israel, with the statutes and the judgment.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet

before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

And he will turn the hearts of the fathers of the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

Almost a direct quotation is what the angel is saying here to

Zechariah.

It says, and he will come in the spirit and power of Elijah

to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the

disobedient

to the wisdom of the

just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

I don't know if

if

Zechariah was hearing this.

I don't know if he was understanding this when the angel was

talking to him

there.

I don't know how long it took for him to

process what the angel was saying.

But the angel was saying was

You're going to have a son, and your son

is going to prepare the way for the Messiah.

Yeah, we need to say amen to that.

Let's go back to what the angel had said

at first.

Don't be afraid.

Your

prayer

has

been

answered.

What had Zechariah

been praying for?

He had given up on that prayer for a son many years before.

Zachariah was praying the prayer that every person in Israel was praying.

Every person of Israel had been praying for years and years and years, at least 400 years since Malachi.

That the person would come in the spirit and power of Elijah

to prepare the way for

The Messiah.

Because when the Messiah comes, Israel is going to be back on top

Israel is going to be the nation that rules all other nations.

Israel is going to be able to overthrow the Romans.

When

when

when

when

the angel says these words, I am sure this is the thought that goes through Zachariah's mind

when he gets over the fact that Elizabeth is going to be with

child.

His prayer, Israel's prayer, is

going to be answered

Oh, he's coming in the in the power of Elijah

to turn the hearts.

Oh

my, this is the

the

They begin to replay the power of Elijah, the spirit

and power of Elijah.

Elijah

prayed, and for three years

there was

a drought, no

rain.

Because of the prayers of Elijah, the spirit and power of Elijah, Elijah

stood before the king

and said, It's not going to reign for years until I say so.

Elijah was that that

person of prayer and what was

going.

I wonder if

Zechariah was replaying the story of Elijah.

How Elijah knelt

down there on Mount Carmel.

How he knelt

down and he he he he prayed and and fire came down from heaven and

devoured

the sacrifice

The wood

,

the stones, the water, and how the people had cried out, Jehovah is

God!

Oh, I'm

I I

I'm sure that Zachariah

was

was replaying

the story as it had been told down

through the ages.

They were looking forward to the hearts being turned

Oh, if only the Messiah could come.

The

hearts turn to the children

and disobedient to

righteous.

Make people

ready.

Oh.

Oh, what a blessing that would be.

Zechariah, how

will

I

know?

He doesn't ask, How will I know that the Messiah is coming?

He only asks, How will I know this?

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

The angel answers,

The angel answers and said, Verse 19:

and said to him,

I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.

And

behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you do not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time.

The angel gave him a sign.

He said, I am Gabriel.

You read back through the Old Testament, and the last time we read about Gabriel is where?

Daniel.

Do you remember what Daniel and Gabriel was prophesying to to Daniel?

Yeah, the the the kings and kingdoms and and and what was going to happen with those kings and kingdoms

and and how it was going to come and how the Messiah was going to come.

And

here was Gabriel again

announcing that the preparer for the Messiah

was going to come

Oh, if you had been Zachariah, if I had been Zechariah, I I I'd have been almost, what's that word?

Giddy

I'd be so excited.

I'm

filled with with joy and with

eagerness and with anticipation.

And

that little boy can't grow up fast enough.

Elizabeth can't get pregnant quick enough.

This thing needs to happen and it needs to happen quickly.

Those are the kind of things that would have run through my

mind if I'd have been Zachariah

hearing the words from the angel.

And then

to say, and you will be mute

and not able to speak

until the things this

take place

Would you like to be mute?

I don't know that I would appreciate that very well.

I kind of like

talking

I don't really like

writing.

I don't really like other ways of communication.

I tell people

if you want to communicate with me, call me.

Don't text me.

Don't send me emails.

Because if you text me and send me emails, that means I have to.

Text you and send you emails.

I'd rather

talk.

My guess

is

As Zechariah turned around and and and began to go out, and the people that were outside, because it had been prayer time

He was inside to

to

take care of the the altar of incense.

The people were outside.

It was prayer time.

They were still praying and they were probably wondering

why is

what's that word

Why is Zachariah

dilly-dallying so much?

Why is he taking his time?

What's going on in there?

They were waiting for him on the outside.

And it says there that Zechariah

The people waited for Zachariah

and marvelled that he lingered so long in the temple, but when he came out

he could not speak to them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned

to them

and remained speechless.

He

hadn't

passed sign

language

class.

He hadn't been in Pathfinder's where he learned to do the sign

language.

He tried to communicate with them.

My guess is he began to write and write and write and he had so much excitement, so much joy.

He

Where do you start?

Do you start with

I saw an angel?

Do you start with

Gabriel came to me?

Do you start with

Elizabeth is going to be pregnant?

Where do you start with the

Messiah is coming?

The person to prepare the way for the Messiah is coming.

The Messiah may very well come in our lifetime.

Where do you start with the message?

My guess is

Zachariah

had a message to tell.

And I wonder how much time he took to tell the message.

How long did it take for him to to get it out?

How long did it take for for people to understand

what was being said?

People to understand

play pictionary and try and draw something and people guess what you're trying to draw?

He's drawing pictures

and there's a the altar of incense

and there's an angel and

yeah, yeah, yeah, got

you got it.

Okay.

And he's

you wonder how he communicated the whole

story

so that they understood

what

was going to take place

Desire of

Aegis says, Zechariah

communicated to them

what he had seen

and

heard.

He shared with them

there

just outside the the temple.

He shared with them

his

testimony

Do you and I have a testimony that we have to share?

I I made a small announcement earlier.

This is a a longer announcement.

Do you know what next year is?

The year next year is 2027.

That's the anniversary of

Oh, some of you do know

Jesus baptism.

Jesus was baptized in 27

A.

D.

And so we are

next year we will be 2,000 years from Jesus'

baptism.

Boy, does that sound like a reason to celebrate

or

what

have we done to delay his coming so long?

Uh

he said he was coming back soon.

How long is soon?

He began having some of these questions.

Seventh day Adventist World Church believes that we have a testimony to share.

That Jesus is coming soon.

And 2027

is going to be another emphasis, another opportunity for us to share Jesus.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

Does our world need to hear about Jesus?

Do you have any neighbors that need to hear about Jesus?

Do you know anybody that needs to fall in love with Jesus

Do you know anybody that Jesus can deliver

from demon possession?

One voice, twenty-seven.

Our North American division is kind of twisting a little bit and and

uh

With a theme

all things new, and

encouraging us

conferences and churches

to

pray

Pray, pray, pray, pray.

Shall I say it again?

Next, next, because

nothing happens without prayer

Prayer is the

key that unlocks the storehouse

of everything that heaven has to offer to us.

We need

to be people of prayer.

Did we learn that as we were looking at the life of Elijah?

Just a little bit, didn't we?

Is

he a man of prayer?

We need to emulate that and and and do

things similar.

North American Division is asking us to serve our community like Jesus did.

Does our community need us to serve them like Jesus?

Do we have opportunities to serve like Jesus?

Number three, they want us to share Jesus.

Do we have a testimony about Jesus to share?

What has Jesus done in your life?

And I'm not talking about 40 years ago.

What has he done in your life

last

week

Do you have a

current testimony that you can share about what Jesus has done?

They're encouraging us to

read the book, Desire of Ages.

Every member to read it.

Now they gave us some options.

They said we want you to

September twenty f

I mean September 5th, that's the kickoff day for that's why you're hearing about it today.

That's the kickoff day for

our

getting ready for 2027.

They said

you can choose.

You can read it uh

one chapter a day between now and New

Year's.

And go through desire of ages.

I'm going to tell you, I've tried that.

I don't read that quickly.

So

I did not choose that option.

Now if you want to do that,

You can go look at One Voice

27

and they have a reading plan there that you can read

Desire of Ages

that quickly.

I chose

a different option

to read it

over a year's time

with

the Gospels, not just

Desire of Ages

Because

we need

to be studying about Jesus, the life and teachings of Jesus

And then we need to be encouraging people

to

follow

Jesus.

Encouraging people to

live a lifestyle like

Jesus

would live.

That's why we're doing the the

Tuesday morning Bible study.

And I

like the idea of Tuesday morning.

It's a pretty good idea, but I would like it better if it was

was, how do I say this, not held here at the church?

Maybe held in one of your fifty-five plus

communities where you got a room for us to meet and we could have a

uh

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

focus for a year.

Or

maybe we could just encourage you to go and uh

join the Bible study in your community that's already going on, and you could could be there and encourage people to

to talk about Jesus, to lift up Jesus.

To join in the Bible studies that are already taking place in your community.

Jesus is already at work in our communities.

Do we understand that?

Jesus is alive and

we're not the o

we

we don't have a monopoly on Jesus.

We have something extra special.

We have we have a uh

a few more things that we can share about Jesus.

We have things that God has given to us.

But

we don't have a monopoly on Jesus.

He's already aware.

There are places that we can find to serve.

We don't have to

reinvent the wheel to be able to do this.

Okay, that's an

effort.

That was a commercial, long commercial.

I'm sorry about that.

I'm not sorry about that.

It needed to be said, but I want to come back to to John.

I want to come back to Zechariah.

Verse 23.

So as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his house.

And after those days his

wife conceived, and she hid herself five months, saying, Thus the Lord has

dealt with me

in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among the people.

Come down to Luke

One

Verse 57.

Now

Elizabeth's

full time came for her to be delivered

She brought forth a son.

When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her.

So it was on the eighth day that they came to circumcise the child, that he would have called him by the name of his father

Zacharias.

His mother answered and said,

No, he will be called John.

But they said to her,

There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.

So they made signs to his father that he would have him

what

he would have him called.

And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, saying, His name is

John.

And they all marveled.

And immediately his mouth was open, and his tongue was loose, and he spoke

praising

God.

He had been waiting a while to praise God verbally.

He had been doing it through his life and through his actions.

He may have been doing it through through writing.

He may have learned how some sign language.

But he was excited for his tongue to be able to to

tell the good news about God

and what God

was going to do with his

son

John.

Look at the prophecy here.

Verse 67

it says now

his father Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit

and prophesied, saying, Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.

He has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his

holy prophets, who have been since the world began.

that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant.

the oath which he swore to our father Abraham

to grant us

that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him

without fear.

in holiness and righteousness before him

all the days of our life.

And you,

child

in his prophecy

now he's talking to his son

John

You 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

day spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness

in the shadow of death, to guide our feet unto the ray of peace.

This was the prophecy of uh of Zechariah.

This was the

what happened when his

tongue was loose.

And he was able to

proclaim the prophecy that

the Holy Spirit came upon him to

share with the people.

I want to point out just a couple of verses here, verse 76.

Notice it says, and you, child, will be called the prophet

of the highest.

Oh, can you believe that?

I mean, just the sound of those words.

You

are going to

be the prophet

of

God.

Did you know what you were going to do from the time you were born?

Most of you did not.

I don't remember knowing it from the time I was born as well.

But by the time I was three, I knew what I was going to be doing.

What I desired to do.

I'm gonna tell you, John

knew

before his

conception.

Uh

John didn't know then.

Zachariah

knew.

John

was was told about it from the moment

he was born, what he was going to be doing.

Notice

here it says, For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his

ways.

You're going to have a special mission that is given to you.

Verse 77, to give knowledge of salvation to his

people

by the remission of sins.

He is going to be sharing a special message

at a special time in earth's history

so that people will repent

of their sins.

Oh, friends, sometimes I think we're living in the days and age of

Do I say Elijah number two?

If I say that in Asia, they think reincarnation.

You won't think that, will you?

They will think Elijah has been reincarnated and

come back to life.

This is not Elijah.

This is not a reincarnation of Elijah.

This is the spirit and power of Elijah.

Goes on and says, 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 and the shadow of death.

To guide our feet into the way of peace.

Oh

friends, there were there were people in

Zechariah's time and in Zechariah's day and the age in which he was living, they

needed to hear this message.

They needed to hear the message that that John

was going to be sharing with them.

They needed to hear that they could

could have their their sins forgiven.

They needed to hear that there was a God that had tender mercy towards them, that loved them and cared for them.

Verse seventy nine, they

needed to to receive the light

because they were sitting in darkness

They had death all around them.

It was not a happy place.

They were not full of joy and

peace.

Zachariah, if you will, in his prophecy, he is preparing the way

for the prepare of the Messiah.

He

's telling the people

the one

is coming that's going to give you even more light.

Don't you like it when that happens?

Well, I have a friend that's a a missionary.

He's he's a missionary in one of those closed countries that have uh

lots of of Muslims

And he says that he was in the

his favorite store there to go into.

He says it's almost as nice as Home Depot.

And he says he likes going there because it makes him feel

at home.

Meaning

back in the States.

He was in Home Depot.

And as he was going to the checkout line, somebody came to him and says, I know

you.

And he looked at him and he says

,

I don't recall you.

And he says, No, I know you.

I saw you last night in my dream.

And

you're going to share with me

about

Jesus.

What would you do?

If you went into

fries

tomorrow, you know, a little extra shopping for the holiday.

You're picking up some last-minute supplies for the picnic you're going to have

Monday.

And somebody came to you and said, I

saw you

in my dream last night.

And

you have something to share with me

about

this man

Jesus.

Are you prepared for

I want you to know

these

are the days of Elijah