Growing in spirit and waiting on God do not come easily to us American Christians, because we have so much to do that does nothing for our spiritual development, and we have learned to want so much with immediate fulfillment. We tend to be inattentive for persistent growth and impatient with prolonged waiting, but both are necessary for walking with God and working for God. So, we look at this verse under two points: growing in spirit while filled with the Spirit, and waiting on God in the wilderness.
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Although John's role as the Lord's forerunner was unique, his message was universal, not for a select few in a select time. As John was to announce the coming of the Lord, our horn of salvation, he was to proclaim a message of salvation, including the means and the end of salvation. In the last message, we focused on two of four keywords: preparation and remission. In this message, we will focus on compassion and illumination.
In the Lord's plan of salvation, there is a means to an end, and both must be given equal focus. To not focus on the means is to lose the way to the end, and to not focus on the end is to lose the urgency of the means. As John went before the Lord, he was to focus people on both, in a message to be repeated until the Lord's return. We look at it under four key words: preparation, remission, compassion, and illumination.
If you are a Christian, then you are a citizen of God's nation, and you have enemies, both physical and spiritual, which are out to destroy you. Therefore, you need to understand and take your stand on the two points we look at in this text: God's promise of His nation's preservation and God's purpose of His nation's preservation.
ZECHARIAH'S PROPHECY OF PRAISE & PEACE, PART 2: HE HAS VISITED & REDEEMED HIS PEOPLE (LUKE 1:68-69)6/6/2016 In looking at God's people in contrast to all other people, Zechariah understood the scope of God's redemptive work to claim, carve out, and consecrate a people for Himself. He pointed right to that in beginning his prophecy, as the reason the Lord God should be praised. So, we turn to look at the one, true God of one particular nation, as well as God's visitation and redemption in a horn of salvation.
We go from the perplexed question of the people to the prophetic answer from Zechariah. The Holy Spirit had an answer for them through Zechariah's prophecy of praise and peace. We start this new section with looking at the great turnaround for Zechariah to prophesy, as well as the great turn of everyone to praise God by Zechariah in his prophecy.
THE BIRTH OF THE LORD'S FORERUNNER, PART 3: THE LORD'S HAND WAS CERTAINLY WITH HIM (LUKE 1:65-66)5/23/2016 Now, we come to look at the impact all of this was having on everyone around Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were in revival - a revival of abounding joy and awestruck reverence, as God interrupted their normal flow of life with His supernatural intervention. Let's get into how He stirred them up, and see how He might want to stir us up - how He might want to stir our communities up.
THE BIRTH OF THE LORD'S FORERUNNER, PART 2: A NAME SETTLED & A TONGUE SET FREE (LUKE 1:59-64)5/16/2016 Zechariah and Elizabeth were in a revival from God. But their neighbors and relatives did not understand the full extent of what God was doing, and were headed for an unexpected, awe-inspiring encounter with God, as He was about to show them that He had more in store for this child than they realized. We look at a friendly dispute they had with his mother over what to name him, his father settle his name, and his father's tongue set free (in this we have a lesson on how God disciplines His children).
THE BIRTH OF THE LORD'S FORERUNNER, PART 1: THE BIRTH OF THE OLD, BARREN WOMAN'S SON (LUKE 1:57-58)5/12/2016 Luke now shifts our focus to the fulfillment of what the angel Gabriel foretold about the birth of the Lord's forerunner. We turn our attention first to what everyone around Elizabeth understood to simply be the birth of the old, barren woman's son. What a great first "mother's day" it was for this old, new mom.
As Mary ends her song of praise, in her awe-struck gaze on God's great works for her and many more besides her, she sums up what she sees that God has done in the world, in sending His own Son and Messiah into the world. In His mercy, God has mightily come through for His people.
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Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:31–32 NASB |