Well, good morning and welcome to Crossland Community Church. We are a community of refuge and hope for all people. So glad you're here today on a beautiful Lord's Day. And the reason we call it the Lord's Day is because two profound things happened on a Sunday a little over 2,000 years ago.

Of course, the first event that's memorable and not repeatable is the self-actuated resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That moment when the promise that he himself made that if you destroy this temple, I will raise it up again in three days. The promise that he made that no one has the authority to take his life from him, but he has the authority to lay it down and to take it back up again. The fact that Jesus was raised from the dead does not make him distinctive. That would, you know, what about Lazarus and what about the widow's child that Christ raised from the dead? What is it about his resurrection that makes it different than every other resurrection that has ever happened? He raised himself from the dead. And that's what we celebrate.

But it's also Pentecost on that Sunday when the Spirit descended and birthed the church. And so welcome to the Lord's Day. And on this day, we get to celebrate a moment that God's been waiting for, as you'll hear today, far longer than you've been waiting for it. Far longer than your parents have been waiting for it. God's been waiting for this moment in your life before he ever created anything from nothing. The Bible says in the book of Ephesians that before the foundation of the world, God knew you. And that's when he chose you in order to conform you into the likeness of his Son. So you've been waiting a while. He's been waiting forever. So congratulations on this beautiful moment.

Why don't you tell everybody who you are?

I'm Bella Jones.

And Bella, let me ask you two very important questions. Are you absolutely convinced you've accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior?

Yes, I am.

And are you convinced that he's accepted you as well?

What a beautiful moment it is indeed. What an honor to now baptize you as my sister. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we are buried together with Christ through baptism.

Contrast between how the Bible defines you as unapproachable, yet fatherly. Above it all, and yet willing to intervene in it all. You're above and beyond, and yet you're in the moment that we're here. It's you're holy, you're righteous, you're wrathful, but you're gracious, merciful, and kind. We stand before you not because of any individual of those. We stand before you because of both sides of that reality. Because you, a wrathful God, had to be appeased because of the sin that man had committed. And you, being so kind and merciful, decided that that payment would be paid through the blood of your one and only Son. And that's why we stand here today, because you are worthy. We love you and thank you. In Jesus' name we pray to you. Amen.

You may be seated.

You guys step over here a little bit. You don't have to stand on the side. This is a great moment in the history and the life of our church. Standing with me today are the church's elders, myself being one of them. Andy Barker is the chairman of our elders. Mark Iverson and Scott Barbie. We have been serving together for quite a number of years. The elder position is ultimately in our church and in our constitution, so to speak. But this is where the buck stops in all matters of life, faith, and the practices of this congregation.

We obviously are led by a staff. We are controlled and comp-trolled, if you will, by trustees. But ultimately, we are spiritually led, spiritually protected. And it never has, to be honest with you, in my 20-plus years of being here. But if it ever got to a push-comes-to-shove moment, it would be this group of men who make the final decision on all matters. And that decision would, in fact, be final. The ultimate responsibilities of an elder are not just congregational here at Crossland. They start, first and foremost, with holding the pastor accountable to a life of purity and to teachings of accuracy. So their primary role is to examine me, which is gloriously fun. Never. So there are people who are looking at my life daily and weekly and monthly, just so you know. But they're also responsible for the well-being of our teachings, the purity of our teachings, the protection of all people. We're the ones who take the protection of all people in this congregation seriously. Seriously, very, very seriously.

And today, we have this incredible honor of presenting to you Wells Gunn. And Wells has been going through a year of examination with me and with the elders. I've given him stuff he needed to read to make sure we were all on the same page theologically. He and his wife, Erica, and children have been a part of this church for years. They have served passionately and valiantly. The first time Wells and I met was at Room in the Inn. We were doing it down in the old, old space. And Wells was spending the night at Room in the Inn. And from that point forward, they have served in every single solitary capacity. And so we're going to present him to you today. The elders and I are going to lay hands on him, and we're going to set him apart.

Just so you understand the elder process, it is I who nominates elders. And the primary reason for that is because they're going to have such an intimate look at my life. And they have access to my wife and to my children and to my financials and my computer. And everything that I have is availed to them at any ask, from my dish TV to my cell phone, my computer, my financial. They can pull credit reports without asking. And so I've got to make sure that I know these men personally and intimately. Because the second most important thing they accept is the responsibility to protect my wife. If anything were ever to happen to me, these are the men that step in. This is the man who gets the first call right here. And he would get the call if anything were to happen. And then they would do everything that the Bible requires them to do to protect a widow. So I cannot have men I do not know and do not trust have that kind of access to my wife. But I want you to know, you know how much I love my wife. That if I would trust them with my wife, I guarantee you I can trust them with this church.

So Wells, let me ask you publicly, are you prepared to defend our statement of faith? And to make sure that when wolves in sheep's clothing try and enter this house of God to alter those teachings, that you and us, you will join us in defending that statement of faith? Are you prepared to make sure that everything we do aligns with who God has called us to be? A community of refuge and hope for all people. And do you publicly promise now to hold me personally and professionally accountable, as well as accepting responsibility to protect my wife should anything happen? And if so, please signify by saying I do.

Gentlemen, let's lay hands on Wells and let's go ahead and set them apart.

In the old biblical tradition, Father, we're thankful that you have raised the person up such as this for a time such as this. As this church continues to explode in growth and seek new horizons, and to live out the calling that you have for this church. That we will take that seriously. We take it prayerfully. And that we will stop at nothing to fulfill your purposes. And Father, it was you who created the office of elder, the presbyteros, episcopoi, who absolutely holds the poymen accountable. That they are the overseer and the protector of the flock to which they've been assigned. And so we stand on the faithfulness of your word, knowing that this was something that you desired. And Father, Wells is someone that you steer to us. We're thankful. We ask you for his anointing over him to give him insight and wisdom and discernment he's never had before. That you would protect him and his family as he serves your body. We ask you all these things in the name of Jesus Christ.

And all of God's people together said, amen.

Let's put our hands together and welcome Wells Gunn to the elder body. God bless you, brother.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

All right. Well, if you're a guest or a visitor and this is your first time at Crossland, you just got kind of a small glimpse of the heart of our church and how we are set up and structured for spiritual leadership. Predominative financial leadership is handled by the trustees, but under the guidance of the elders. But ultimately, if you want to know the truth, the work gets done. We're a staff-led church. The engine behind what happens here is the staff under the guidance financially of the trustees and spiritually of the elders. And for over 20 years now, that structure has been working quite well, to be quite honest with you. And if you have any other questions about that, come to a new members gathering. You can ask me anything you like about that.

You know, this is the very first full Sunday in the month of December. And this time of year, I go to all the campuses. So good morning, Glasgow. Good morning, Morgantown. We're going to do these announcements every Sunday in all three campuses because this is that time of year when we begin to focus on our year end, where we talk a little bit about what's happened in this year as we prepare for the great things God's going to do in the coming year.

It's probably been six or seven months since we paused here at Bowling Green and we recognized and realized that we are a church with three locations, one church with three locations. And we always want them to know how important and how imperative and how much absolute a part they are of what this whole church does. So ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to ask you again, please put your hands together. Welcome those campuses into this moment, if you would, please.

You know, every year it's easy at Crossland Community Church to come up and talk to you about year-end giving, to ask you to seriously consider a year-end gift that's above and beyond your regular giving. Because when you see the things that God has been doing, it's hard not to want to be a part of it moving forward. And at Crossland, listen, all of the bills are paid for 2025. Our year-end giving is not to make up our budget. We'll hit our budget here maybe even this week, okay? So what we budgeted for giving, and we'll pay all our bills. We don't owe anybody any money other than we're aggressively paying off the debt for this building. And we've gone from, in the time that we've moved forward, from a high loan value of $14 million down to somewhere around $6.5 million in about three and a half years, which is extraordinarily aggressive, okay? And that we continue to do that because of your generosity.

But it's important to understand what happens with your giving, and why are we impacting so many people? I mean, just this past Christmas, when, like, we at this campus, combined with the other two campuses, we have sponsored over 725 children in Crossland Christmas Give this year. That's an extraordinarily high number. If you multiply that by 130, $130 per child, you realize that's a boatload of money. But when you add that to Backpack to School program, I did the numbers. Those two combined are about $220,000 a year just in taking care of the kids that the whole world thinks are the forgotten ones, that nobody ultimately spends hardly any time thinking about them. And yet every single solitary year, when we do, you make sure they feel unforgotten.

This year, because of your generosity, we've already sent out to other organizations like FCA and Young Life and the Kentucky Baptist Convention over $275,000 of your giving. Supporting these organizations who pour into children, the KBC who pours into their today—on this Christmas 2025, there will be 300 churches in the Commonwealth of Kentucky without a pastor. 300 of them. And the KBC is doing everything they can to recruit, train, and retain pastors so that they can step into these churches who desperately need a shepherd. And we committed $100,000 to them alone this year. When you add everything together, we will pour out more than 10% of our annual giving to benefit the lives of so many people in our community and within the Commonwealth. And the truth is, we're going to do that again next year.

And when you give large at the end of the year, all it does is fund the first quarter of our year so we can continue to be generous without having to take out a savings. Okay? So I want you to contemplate that. I want you to give big at the end of the year because you know big things are happening. We're coming up on probably 650 baptisms in that body of water since we've moved into this building. Yes, it's a wonderful number. We should celebrate that. And that's God honoring your giving.

So no, this giving, it is not to splurge. It's not to pay off debt. We're already doing that. It's to prepare ourselves for the next great movement of God amongst Crossland Community Church. And we've always, always, always been sold out to do whatever we got to do with everything we've got for as long as we have to to reach every child we can. And that is never going to change and that's never going to end. And so join us. No gift too small. No gift too big.

Let's pray. Father, we love you. We thank you. We don't have to give. We get to give. It's a privilege of participating. It's the privilege of partnership with you and your people to do what needs to be done. To reach people who are lost, people who have been forgotten, people who are being looked over. The whole point of the Gospel of Luke was for Christ because he came to look for those people. And the least we can do is be like Christ and look for them as well. Father, we love you. We thank you. In Jesus' name we pray to you. Amen.

So, the announcements are very simple because they're all Christmas related. Christmas Village today, right after the 11 o'clock service, a great time. It's going to warm up. Come on out. Get something to eat. Get your kids here. Participate in all the activities. It's a wonderful time. We did it for the first time last year and it was an absolute blast. So, we would love to have you.

Next Saturday, starting at 9 a.m. is Crossland Christmas Give where the 650 children at this campus that were sponsored, their parents will show up and will deliver everything that you purchased and bought for these families. It is an absolute blessing, okay, to walk those gifts out to the car, to meet mom and dad. The elders will be here. Staff will be here. We pray with every family. And just so you know, every single family also gets a $50 gift card from Walmart to make sure they have a good meal to eat on Christmas Day. And that is all because of your generosity. If you'd like to have your socks blessed off, you come. Come for an hour if you can. Come for a half an hour. All you need is a couple cars and you'll realize how blessed you are.

Just like yesterday, I didn't even consider all the money that was given to curbside. Yesterday at the curbside, we call it Bob, Bag of Blessings, over 650 children just at the Lee Point. Lee Point has that many kids in those apartments. 650 of them. And there was a large group of us out there from about 8:30 to 1:30. Didn't feel cold at all. Yes, it did. But it was still worth every bit of it, okay? So you gotta get yourself involved, all right?

The Very Merry Christmas, which is our Christmas spectacular, our Christmas show, December 14th. We only have tickets at 6 p.m. Please stop texting Savannah directly, okay? If you need tickets, go to our website or hit that QR code. We cannot let another body in at 4 o'clock. No way. We only have, we're probably down to about 100 tickets right now for the 6 o'clock. So do it while you're sitting here.

And last but not least, understand our Christmas Eve services. Here at this campus, Christmas Eve, Eve, and Christmas Eve. And on Christmas Eve, Eve, Morgantown, we're up there with you in the evening. And then on Christmas Eve, Glasgow, we end the Christmas celebration at your campus, and that'll be a blast of fun, okay?

So let's go ahead. Let's get ready. Let's prepare our heart and mind as we dive into week two.

Did you hear what he heard? From the prophet Malachi. And what I'm going to read to you this morning will be the final words spoken through God, through this prophet, by God, through this prophet in the Old Testament era. Malachi chapter 4:

"Surely the day is coming, and it shall burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, says the Lord Almighty. Not a root or a branch will be left to them, but for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. You will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked. There will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act, says the Lord Almighty. Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and the laws that I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day that the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the hearts of the children to their parents, or else I shall come and strike the land with total destruction."

Let's pray together. Father, a dreadful word. Even Malachi writes, spoke a dreadful word, for it shall be a dreadful day. Father, deep within that last prophetic voice, speaking a prophetic message is actually hope. It sounds horrible and in many ways it is and it will be, but yet there's hope in there and that as we live in this day, if we can hear what they heard, then we may begin to live as you told them to live. And that is the power of that passage and the passage that we shall see in the gospel of Luke today. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

It is so easy, as busy as we all get, you understand this, to forget things and overlook things. Overlooking things and forgetting things is one thing. When we overlook and forget people, that's completely another thing.

Who cannot recall with absolute smile on your face, Home Alone, right? The whole premise of Home Alone, the shaving cream still kills, I mean the aftershave still kills me when it burns his face. They all were so busy, they were trying to celebrate it and he was just off doing whatever he'd done. They left without him. There's a new one out this year and mom gets left behind. I don't know the name of it, nor do I care. How do you, like, how's mom get left behind? I'm not really sure. But we all know that I could see leaving dad behind. Don't you think that's a better story?

But sometimes we forget people. Sometimes, even if it's innocent, people are overlooked. And I believe what I'm about to say is the truth. I really do. I believe feeling forgotten is far worse on a human soul than actually being forgotten. Because the one is you didn't perform well. You did the forgetting. The other one is I'm forgettable. That I just don't matter. I don't measure up enough to be remembered. And so to be overlooked says something more about me than it does the people that are overlooking.

And I hope you heard in today's giving talk. Part of what we're trying to do through all of that is not necessarily bless them with things they need, certainly, but to make sure they never felt forgotten. Will they know that this Christmas? Will they connect the dots at Lee Point on Christmas morning? Not really. Will they connect those dots when they're 25? 25, probably. When they finally reach that point of adulthood and you're wondering, where do you fit? Do you matter? It's so easy when you think about it to get to a point where you feel forgotten. And rightly so. I mean, there's epic, huge events going on and we would all like to think, and I don't know why you think this way, because it's never been the government's job, although they've taken some of that on, is the last thing we really need is Washington being concerned with individual needs. Because they're bound to forget to take care of that, right?

I mean, they're supposed to be more concerned with the epic moments—this, let's deal with Russia, let's deal with China, let's deal with, you know, the stock market, let's deal with the labor force, let's make sure we don't have inflation. Sure, we all like to pretend like they're all concerned about the individual voter, but at the end of the day, it's not possible for them to be concerned about the individual voter, because that's not ultimately their responsibility. I'll show you today whose responsibility, well, I'll tell you right now, it's ours. Okay, now we can't ask the government to give it back to us, because it would cripple the church of Jesus Christ in America overnight. But if the government's not capable of doing it at an individual level, that doesn't mean we're not capable, right? Can we not step in and make sure that we do all we can to let all we can reach know you have not, nor will you ever be forgotten by God? And that's the power of Luke's gospel, because there's silence for 400 years after Malachi. And you'll hear the very first spoken word today after 400 years of silence. And it is being spoken in a time where there is a lot of upheaval.

Herod is now the king of Judea. He's probably been serving somewhere along the line of 37 years, maybe give or take based upon which calendar you follow. And Herod, while we all know, he's the one who's gonna murder every child under the age of two in Bethlehem. That's not a good thing. Like, he's willing to slaughter that which he thinks is forgettable, okay? But he's also a game player. You know, he's the one who thought that he could treat Jerusalem kind of like prostitutes, that he could buy favor from them, that he could throw enough money at them that they would finally give their intimate loyalty to him. And so he's the one that completely remodeled the temple and completely made it all this glorious building that the disciples would say to Jesus one day, "Hey, man, look at that building." And you know what Jesus said? Not one single stone will be left upon another. That thing's coming down.

And so the tension of the moment in human history cannot be understated. And yet in the midst of this incredible moment that had been prophesied since Genesis 3:15, it's a part of the promise to Abraham. You see clearly the typology of the fulfillment through the Mosaic covenant. You absolutely see the prophetic reality as one shall always sit on the throne of David. All of these kingdom projected promises of God about the ruling and reigning of Jerusalem. And yet, in the midst of all that, something very powerful.

Today's big idea is the powerful fulfillment of God's purposes, which we just discussed briefly, are deeply personal. And I don't mean to him. In this moment when he's gonna break forth, as you'll see in two weeks, maybe three weeks, this incredible fulfillment as Luke is writing about, right? He wrote that you might know that these things have been fulfilled to give you confidence. And in this fulfillment moment, of an epic moment that was declared even before the foundation of the world, he sees something so significant that is at the heart of the gospel.

Luke, chapter one, verse five through 25 today. "In the time of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife, Elizabeth, was also a descendant of Aaron."

So Luke, being the ever-present historian that he is, what he's doing is he's dating the historical moment that this is happening. And all throughout his gospel and well into the book of Acts, what Luke does is he uses historical references to validate his investigation. He could have left them out, if you will, and it still would have been the authoritative reality of God's word. But by putting them in, he creates something. Either he's absolutely right or he could be completely ignored. It's kind of like a $100 bill that looks really, really good until you hold it up. And it doesn't have the watermark of authenticity. That is what historical details do in the gospel of Luke. It gives it its historical authenticity that nobody could come back and say, "That's a fairy tale. There was never a king." Well, he's really a governor by the name of Herod in Judea. Well, that's kind of funny because plenty of the younger, Eusebius, Joseph, and Tacitus all wrote about him. And they all wrote about him living in exactly the era of time that Luke's talking about. So he's trying to make sure that people take what he's writing legitimately and factually. And he's talking about this man that huge, huge creature in this part of human history.

There at the time of the birth of Christ, the one who will slaughter all boys under the age of two. And you know his readers already know this. So when they hear Herod, they're like, "Oh, bad news. Bad news." He just bribed Jerusalem. He bribed Israel to just go along so that he could get along with them because he was a paranoid leader, okay? And so he does real nice work on the temple. So everybody who's hearing this for the first time is very familiar with Herod. But 40, 50 years removed from the resurrection of Jesus Christ, somebody says, "And there was a priest named Zechariah." Who? Yeah, you know Zechariah. I don't, I've never heard of him before. Right, and if I were to ask you like, who was the secretary of state for John Adams? Most of you would say, "Well, who's John Adams?" Right? Like who was the secretary of state under Reagan? You know what I mean? You just go down, it's like these are important people. We don't even remember their names.

And so you see the contrast? You got this well-known person with all the power in the world and then you got somebody from somewhere who I've like never even heard of him, let alone his wife, Elizabeth, okay? And what's important to notice in this is that even through 400 years of silence from Malachi to this moment, guess what? As bad a rap as Israel gets, guess what Israel was still doing? Everything that Malachi said, make sure you obey the law of Moses and all of its ordinances. They were doing the daily ritual, the twice-a-day ritual of burning incense. These were the prayers of the people for God, for the nation of Israel twice a day. For those people who say that Christianity is not a religion, you need to wake up and realize how ignorant a statement that really is. It's just a relationship. No, it's not just a relationship. Here you have a couple, a man and a group of people who've been doing everything God told them to do for as long as they had to do it until God showed up to do what only God can do. It's called perseverance. That's true biblical perseverance. And there are so many beautiful religious practices that we should never give up on. The most important one is prayer, okay? Pray, they're praying daily, twice a day, okay?

Both of these people were righteous in the sight of God. They observed all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly. But, there always has to be a but, they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive and they were both very old. A story that's very common in the Bible, three or four different times in the Old Testament. And now as we begin the new, we once again meet a couple who is very faithful but fruitless. They're very, very obedient but unbelievably powerless to change the situation or circumstances of their life. That they're not as some of you in this room and at our other campuses are dealing with right now. You're very faithful but you have yet to be fruitful. You feel very barren. You feel like, "I'm just not that important that God is going to move on my behalf." You know, because there's more powerful people.

I would ask you yesterday when we were ministering there at Lee Point and there's so many children and some of the youngest speak English. Most of the adults don't. They don't speak a lick of English. It's amazing what a bag of chocolate chip cookies will do though. It was like, "Hi!" And they're like, "Hi!" Right? But let me ask you something. I spoke to a girl who goes to Bowling Green High School. I will not tell you her name. She's in 10th grade in a very, very, very, very difficult situation. And yesterday, who do you think was more important to God? Donald Trump or that 10th grade girl that goes to Bowling Green High School? That's right. A 10th-grade girl that goes to Bowling Green High School. You're like, "Farrell, I don't believe that." I'm going to prove it to you here in a minute.

And just because your life in any area is fruitless, don't you stop being faithful. Don't you stop doing what you know God has called you to do. You just got to do it as long as you have to do it because you trust that God is finally going to do for you what you can't do for yourself. And every day they're going in there and you'll see in a second burning incense, burning incense, burning incense. Could you imagine if they just fell one prayer short? In other words, what maybe have you stopped doing because life just hasn't been going your way. And what we see here is not a competition as much as a contrast between the powerful people of this world and the people nobody ever heard of. And let me ask you this question before I move forward. Who did more for human history? Herod or Zechariah and Elizabeth? Who impacted human history more? Right. A barren widow. I mean, a barren woman. Not a paranoid, powerful world leader.

In the midst of the powerful and the powerless, God is getting ready to do something very, very personal. This is basically the contrast of the world in which we live. Once when Zechariah's division was on duty. So Zechariah is in a division. There's 24 divisions of priests in the Aaronic priesthood, which goes all the way back to Moses and Aaron, his brother. So this is a long-standing process, okay, that's been going on. So even in the misery of the world, the movement of God was not being stopped. It could not be stopped. So there's 24 divisions. Each division has 750 people in it. They pray once in the morning and once in the afternoon, okay? With 18,000 different priests, it would take 26 years, basically, for the odds, your lot to be called. And not counting the fact that more people are being born. And so more and more priests are being set apart at like 13 or 14 years of age. So as we continue this thing, the older you get, the less likely it's going to be that you're ever going to get chosen. It's the Super Bowl, in many ways, of an Aaronic priest.

They roll lots, and it's not by chance. It's by sovereignty. And on this day, they roll lots. Just so happens that his order's on duty. You get two weeks a year as each order. So you might get one in February and October. That's it, two weeks. And there's 750 of you. So there's not that many people that are going to be chosen every year. And boom, just so happens that when he was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot. Not by chance, not by happenstance, but by the methodology that God had given them to make decisions until the Holy Spirit indwelled us. So God was using this method. He used it all the way up until they replaced Judas with Matthias. Then the Holy Spirit descended. We don't do lots anymore. We have God within us according to the custom of the priesthood. And here was his job that he was selected for, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn the daily incense. You get one shot in a lifetime. Once you've done it once, you're done. You don't get to do it a second time. So here is his moment. And here's what we got to know going in. He has no idea this is his moment. He has no idea. He's just like, "Hey, my lucky day. I get to go in and burn. Woo! I'm not going to have to go to my grave never having had the opportunity to step into the inner room, not the Holy of Holies, the altar area, and offer this prayer of incense."

And when the time for the burning of the incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him. This has not happened before. There has been silence and no communication from heaven to earth and the Jewish people for 400 years. It's been utter silence, okay? Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and gripped with fear. The understatement of human history. It's just you and you'll find out it's Gabriel, the warring angel. Like, that's who shows up and comes to intervene in this moment. But the angel said to him, "Don't be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayer." It's singular. Doubt that he's in there being such a blameless and upright person. He knows his responsibility that day is to pray for the nation. The incense altar was a national prayer. A national prayer for God to do. Maybe he thought his prayer was answered with Gabriel, but no, it's his prayer that's answered.

In the midst of all this upheaval and Herod and all the insanity and the craziness and it's finally his chance to finally go in there, what's the very first thing God says basically through an angel in the last 400 years? "I heard your prayer." Not their prayers. Your prayer has been heard. And how do I know what God's talking about? Because he says, "Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you're gonna call him John." I heard you, buddy. I know you've been waiting a long time. I know this is, you've been praying probably every day. I just want you to know I wasn't ignoring you. I heard your prayer. And that's why it's critical that we persevere. We persevere in prayer because you are being heard and God is going to show up and he's going to finally have personally what him and his wife have longed for their entire marriage. A child.

He's in there praying nationally. You know, it's like getting on your face and praying for peace between Russia and Ukraine and God shows up and says, "Hey man, you're gonna get that new job." I wasn't even praying about that. I know, but I heard your prayer. Remember you prayed? I remember you prayed. God can't forget. God won't forget. You're not forgotten and you're not overlooked. And the power of this moment is, and not only, not only are you gonna have a son, I'm gonna tell you what his name's gonna be. His name's gonna be John. He'll be a joy and a delight to you. Now that's a wonderful promise because most of you who have had sons, not so sure that's the answer right there. You're like, "Why didn't I get that?" I know, I know, I'm sorry. He will be a joy and a delight to you and many will rejoice because of his birth for he'll be great in the sight of the Lord. He's never to take wine or any other fermented drink and he'll be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he's born.

You can imagine Zechariah thinking, "Listen, I'm just happy to have a baby. I'm just glad we're gonna have a boy." God's like, "No, no, no. You prayed for a boy, I'm gonna give the world a blessing. You prayed for a baby and I'm gonna make the world better because of him. In fact, I told you his name, I told you what he's gonna be, I've told you what he's gonna do and he's gonna have and he's gonna have the Holy Spirit in him even before he's born." You know, we're praying for this and God's like, "Oh, I'm not just making you wait but when I show up, there's a strong likelihood I'm gonna show off that this isn't just me making you wait." You as much as Aaron and the Aaronic priesthood are all a part of his movement, all a part of what God has been doing since the beginning. You know, he made this first Jesus promise in Genesis 3:15 and we're talking about five or 4,000 years later. That promise is about to dawn on the face of the earth.

I mean, if I was in there and God said, "Hey, Bubba, listen, Jesus is gonna come, I'm just letting you know to tell everybody else," but look, dude, I can't give you a baby but the Messiah is coming. I'd be like, "You told me first?" It's not what he told him. 400 years of silence. "Hey, buddy, you're gonna have that baby because being faithful always pays off. Even when you're not being fruitful, it always pays off to be faithful because God hears you. God knows you. God cares." Can you imagine, just imagine some of the prayers of some of those children that we're being given the privilege to minister to pray at night before they close their eyes? How many of them pray for breakfast? How many might pray for them that mommy and daddy might stop fighting? Daddy might find a job. I wish mommy didn't have to cry every day. And how do we tell the world that God has not forgotten you in your agony? How do we tell the world that God has not forgotten you in your tragedy, that he hears you and he cares for you and that yes, he is sovereign over everything and he's sovereign over everyone but he's so deeply committed and concerned about you. That's how.

This boy of yours will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God as Malachi said. He will go on before the Lord as Malachi said in the spirit and power of Elijah as Malachi said. See, remember Luke's writing about fulfillment? He's writing to Theophilus. Theophilus, let me tell you how you can live with confidence in the present about the future promises. God's past performance. If God did for a man who was just praying with incense what he always longed for God to do, bring him a boy, why would you think that God cannot bring Christ? And how we find present confidence, Luke said last week, is past performance produces present confidence in the future promises. Because when God fulfilled everything that I just read to you, this is like as big if not the biggest event in human history up to that moment. The next one will be the second coming. Like this is about the biggest thing that's ever happened in all of human history. And that if you take the entire historical books of this beautiful Bible, they're all talking and teaching us about this moment when the Messiah comes, the Christ, the son of the living God who's going to come and walk this earth. He was going to be born of a woman.

But the very first thing God says to him before he talks about fulfillment is his family. And I know. Believe me. We know. You think I don't want God to just show up and make Tammy better? You bet. But we're going to be faithful even when we are not fruitful. That when we continue to ask and continue to ask and continue to ask, we are going to be faithful even if there's moments and areas of our life in which we're not fruitful. Because God cares and God's concerned and you've got to know that. He knows and he cares.

And he's going to turn the hearts of the parents to their children. It was right in here. You've got to see the fulfillment if you're going to understand the significance. That this is probably, it is, except the second coming, the most profound moment in all of human history was the incarnation of Jesus Christ. And yet, how does God introduce this moment coming? "Hey buddy, you're going to have a boy." I heard your prayer. You're kidding me. No. No, I'm not kidding you. And Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this?" Well, that's a really good question, you know what I mean? And I know a lot of us, we know what's going to happen to him if you know the Bible here in a second, but I'm not so sure I wouldn't have asked multiple questions, but here's the thing. This is the one thing he's not sure of. Not all the fulfillment of God's promises about Malachi. He's like, "How can I be sure that I'm an old man and he's such a good husband and he doesn't say my wife's old too." Smart man. She's well along in her years. Isn't that great? Me? Old. Her? No, she's just well along in her years. He's showing his wisdom.

Then the angel said to him, "Unbelievable. I am Gabriel." No doubt the angel that God used in my humble opinion to kick Satan and a third of his minion angels out of heaven. Like you want him in your prayer life. You want, and I guarantee you, he showed up for some of you and you didn't even know it. There's a battle you're facing and you want it and you don't know how and it was him. There were times that the devil was trying to sift you as wheat like he was for Peter and God looked at Gabriel and said, "Go on down there." If it won the first time he came down, read Daniel. It won't be the last time. And when God sends Gabriel and his minion, watch out, something's going to happen. This is the most powerful angel in heaven. And God didn't just, well, he could have sent anybody. You know, he could have been like, "Hey Greg, you go tell him." But he didn't. The message was so important that he sent the most important messenger. And all Gabriel's talking to him about is, "Hey Bob, you're going to have a boy."

He's like, "How can that be? You see, I'm old. And she's well along in years." And he said, "Look, I stand in the presence of God and I've been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news, this gospel, this euangelion." What is the gospel to Zechariah and Elizabeth? "You're having a boy." Isn't that crazy? And now, "You will be silent. And you're not going to be able to speak to them until the day this happens because you didn't believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time." And so, the angel looks at him and says, "There's one thing you've got to do when you have doubt about what God said he's going to do. Silence it." This isn't punishment, this is protection. Because you could naturally, he's got to wait nine months, right? Or maybe a little longer, we don't know, but the truth is, God's like, "No, don't share your doubt. Don't do that. I don't want you to tell people about everything that happened and then you share with them, 'I don't know how this is going to happen,' so I'm just going to keep your mouth shut until it does happen." Okay? So, shh.

But here's the thing you cannot miss. Doubt was not a deterrent. Doubt did not disqualify him from God's promise. Doubt is a natural human response when God intervenes in your world in such a spectacular way and says, "Mm, I'm going to do that." But don't be shocked when God shuts your mouth a little bit because he doesn't want you to share your doubt because you know what happens. If you say the same thing over and over and over enough, it becomes your truth. Our doubt may silence us but it will never stop God.

How many of you have sat and doubted God? He hasn't shown up yet and so now you doubt that he will or he has shown up and you're doubting that it could possibly be true that what he's declared to you in your prayer life. Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple. Can you imagine what this guy must have looked like? For he kept making signs to them but he remained unable to speak and from what I can tell, historically speaking, this is the first game of charades that has ever happened. And what, I don't even want to wonder, what signs do you make to try and tell people you saw Gabriel and that you're going to have a baby boy? I don't even know. But whatever he was doing caused them to be like, "That dude saw something," and he just, all hands, he can't even explain what he has seen. They realized he had seen. And when he, it was time for his service to be completed, he returned home.

So here he is silent, he's walking out of the temple, he's doing everything he can to communicate to the people what has actually happened but he's silent and he can't do it. So think about this and not in a grotesque or vulgar or foul way because it's the same thing that Noah and his wife did or Adam and Eve did. It's the same thing that Abraham and Sarah had to do. He had to try and go home and explain this to his wife who was well along in the years. How do you go home when you can't speak? Because sometimes love is best displayed than explained. Just go home and make love to your wife and you're an old man. Can you imagine that and walk home? Because the first thing in my mind would be how do I tell her after this, his wife Elizabeth, I can't make this up, she became pregnant.

What does that say about Zechariah? That his doubt did not lead to disobedience. That his doubt did not lead to defiance. His doubt did not produce faithlessness. He had the whole gospel of Luke. He had heard enough. He had seen enough to know enough and believe. It's the whole gospel of Luke. You can hear enough to know enough that God really does care about those everybody else would walk right by and overlook and be too busy to care. You can know that. Now can you believe that he wants to birth something in you and through you in order to change you?

And as there's a line in the center of this stage. Thankfully I don't have to try and explain nor would it be appropriate. It'd be vulgar how she got pregnant but faith told him what he had to do and he did it. And for five months she remained in seclusion. And the Bible doesn't tell us why. There's no rule. There was no law that she was following. Nothing like that. So we're open to imagination. Not goofy but my heart tells me and I could be 100% wrong. She didn't want to show anybody until she was showing. She didn't want to be disappointed again. Because you'll see in a second what her life really looked like and I don't obviously she didn't doubt but I think she was concerned that I don't want to get out ahead of God. And some of you in this room you know that feeling. You've had a miscarriage or two sometimes three and then you finally get pregnant. You ain't telling anybody until at least the 12th week right? You're like, "I'm not telling anybody it's the end of the first trimester. No way. I'm not telling anybody." And you don't understandably because you don't want to be on public display. It's private. It's an intimate moment.

And for whatever reason, but this might be the theme of the entire gospel of Luke. It might be the entire theme of the entire New Testament. When Elizabeth was in seclusion she said, "The Lord has done this for me." He didn't do this for Israel. He didn't do this to fulfill Malachi. He didn't do it to have a John who's ultimately significantly symbolic of Elijah. God did this for me personally. God stepped in in the midst of a world that was so chaotically out of control and what he had on his mind was a woman who had been living in a state. She said, "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."

This woman had been walking for so many years with a shame that was placed upon her that had nothing to do with anything she had ever done. Everywhere she went there were whispers because in that day to be a barren woman was to be cursed. "You've done something wrong. You must have been immoral. What is wrong with you that you can't have a child?" And so wherever she went she was in public disgrace and what she sees in this moment—and it's probably one of the reasons she stays hidden because she knows the sting of public ridicule—she knows the pain of people watching her everywhere she goes and what's happened to her is what happens to so many of you that what you did is not who you are but who you know will never forget what you did. You're labeled because of the worst moments in your life and we have to accept the truth that we do become eventually what we continue to do. If you lie often enough you will become a liar. You will have a terrible character trait. If you steal continually you will finally become a thief. If you drink eventually you become a drunk. But she hadn't done anything wrong. This was a lie and a label and a libel that was so inappropriate because people thought they knew the story.

Some of you that's how you feel because you've walked this earth with less than what everybody else has and so they've defined you the way they've wanted to and you're so afraid to believe it could be different it could be better that I really do matter. And what Elizabeth wants us all to know is that God was thinking about her and he displayed his favor on her and took away her disgrace among the people. And so God never overlooks people in the midst of accomplishing his eternal purposes. And why this is such good news is because that is ultimately the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that what God longs to do is to remove the disgrace and the shame that comes along with sin and that he's never overlooked who you are. He's never overlooked what we've done either but he cares so much in the midst of a world that is literally going to hell in a handbasket and he can literally look down here on this earth and say, "You know what, you matter to me so much I did it for you. I sent my son. I killed my son because I wanted to remove something from you."

Yeah, yeah, Jesus died for the sins of the world no doubt about that but he also died for the people of the world for the individuals of the world. Yes, he died for you. He died for you to do what? Remove the disgrace. And while God is busy fulfilling all of his eternal purposes he would love for you to pause in the midst of that and realize nothing's more important to him than his eternal purposes than you as a person. And today's your day. Today's the day where the power of the Spirit of God—he doesn't need to send angels anymore because he has his Spirit here on this earth speaking to you now—you imagine in your heart that he did it all for you.

Father, we love you and we thank you. It's hard to comprehend and fathom it really is but it does mean it's not true and you are concerned about those who don't know Christ today more than you are about those who do know Christ. I know that because we're already dying and going to heaven with you and you want none to perish and everything you did you did for them individually because no we don't get saved in groups we don't get saved as families we get saved as individuals. And I know it's easy to doubt just like Zechariah but if we'll just do what he did and demonstrate the simple faith it isn't that John will be born it's that they will be reborn to everlasting life through faith—faith in Jesus Christ.

We love you and thank you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Let's give God a hand clap of praise in his house today. All right you fine folks come back after the 11 o'clock service—we're gonna have an absolute blast. God bless you. Have a wonderful week.

Subject: God's Grand Purposes, Deeply Personal for You

Dear Crossland Community Church,

I hope this finds you holding on to the truth that God’s grand purposes are deeply personal — he hears your prayers and has not forgotten you.

Last Sunday we stood with Malachi’s warning and Luke’s good news, hearing the first heavenly voice after four hundred years of silence in the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:5–25). Righteous and obedient yet childless and ashamed, they learned that God had heard Zechariah’s prayer: Elizabeth would bear a son, John, who would prepare the way. The point was plain — God’s cosmic purposes break through into real lives; perseverance in prayer and faithful obedience matter even when you feel fruitless, and doubt may silence your words but it will never stop God from keeping his word or removing the disgrace you carry.

So don’t stop praying, don’t stop showing up, and don’t let a season of barrenness convince you God has overlooked you — keep doing the small faithful things because God hears them. Join us this week at Crossland Christmas Give or serve at Lee Point so together we can show those who feel forgotten that they matter; and if doubt makes you quiet, let your obedience speak while God finishes what he has begun.

Blessings,
Crossland Community Church Team