Blameless Yet Barren (Lu. 1:5-7)

Read Luke 1:5-7.

1. Are you disappointed in God?  You have lived for Him and thus far He hasn't granted your heart's desire.
1. Call to repentance and submission
2. Call to surrender your dreams
• If God never answered how you wanted - for whatever reason - would you still serve Him wholeheartedly?
2. Define "blameless".
1. It doesn't mean "sinless."
• You can't earn God's blessing.
• You can disqualify yourself from a blessing or delay one, but you can never earn one.
• God doesn't owe you.
3. Barrenness isn't an excuse for a lack of faith, prayer or effort.
1. Did Zachariah and Elizabeth stop trying to have children?
• Did they stop seeking God about the matter?
4. Character is more important than circumstance.
1. "Blameless" is mentioned before barrenness.
2. Zachariah and Elizabeth didn't allow their circumstance to dictate their relationship with God.
• They stayed true to God in spite of the barrenness.
5. Sometimes, barrenness isn't about inability but timing.
1. Knowing the larger story, we understand God waited until the right time for Elizabeth to give birth.
• The prophecy about the "forerunner" had to be fulfilled.
• John couldn't have been born too early before Jesus and Jesus couldn't have been born before John.
2. God's delay doesn't necessarily mean His denial of your desire.
1. The desire has to be right.
2. The timing has to be right.

Zachariah & Elizabeth (Lu. 1:5-17, 23-25, 57)

Read Luke 1:5-17, 23-25, 57.  (You might want to read the whole chapter.)

1.  God's delay does not mean His disinterest, His displeasure or His denial.

2.  When God has a plan for you (and He does), you can't fully understand it all at once.

3.  Zachariah and Elizabeth were broken, battered, belittled, beyond and barren.  God came through anyway!  Your inability becomes God's opportunity.

4.  God not only meets and satisfies but He exceeds.  Zachariah and Elizabeth got a son, but he became a prophet, a voice, a forerunner, the promised "Elijah".

Clarification -- Distraction to Obedience? (Lu. 1:18, 34)

Read Luke 1:18, 34.

Both Zachariah and Mary received a word from an angel.  Both responded with a question.  Mary's question wasn't more spiritual than Zachariah's, yet he suffered a consequence and she did not.  He was indicted for unbelief, she wasn't.  What does this tell us about the nature of faith and unbelief?

Perhaps the answer is found in verse 38.  Mary lacked understanding of details.  Nonetheless, the spoken word was enough.  She questioned, yet submitted.  Zachariah wanted more detail, more understanding before he would believe.  He questioned, yet did not submit.

When God brings you a word (direction, insight, counsel, rebuke, etc.) through the method He chooses, it is not wrong to want to verify it.  He doesn't want you following a word that isn't from Him.  What He minds is our seeking continued clarification as nothing more than excuse for inactivity, disobedience and unbelief.

Note on Luke 1:20

Read Luke 1:20.

Doubt comes when we attempt to understand more than has been revealed earlier than is necessary. The call is not to understand more but to obey immediately.  Embrace the word.  Don't try to explain it or excuse it.  The word, the revelation, has a season.  Only in that season will it be fulfilled.  Until fulfillment, believe.

Pentecost Hadn't Come (Lu. 1:64)

The context is not Pentecost or speaking in tongues, but the principles apply.

• Open my mouth.
• Loose my tongue.
• Let me praise the Lord.