His Name is John! | Trusting Beyond Tradition [Luke 1:57-65]

Dec 9

Sermon Summary

In this message, we explored the thought-provoking story of Zechariah and Elizabeth from the book of Luke, focusing on the birth and naming of their son, John the Baptist. This story is a powerful reminder of how God's plans often challenge cultural norms and personal expectations. Zechariah and Elizabeth faced a choice that defied tradition: naming their son John instead of following the customary practice of naming him after his father. This decision was not merely about breaking tradition but about obedience to God's specific revelation to them. It highlights the importance of discerning God's will, even when it contradicts societal norms or personal desires.

The story of Zechariah and Elizabeth teaches us that God's will is often mysterious and may not align with our understanding or expectations. It requires us to trust in His higher ways and thoughts, which are beyond our comprehension. This trust is rooted in a deep relationship with God, cultivated through prayer, devotion, and a willingness to surrender our plans to His divine purpose. The narrative also emphasizes the significance of revelation, where God unveils His plans to us in new and personal ways, though not necessarily unprecedented.

As we navigate our lives, we are encouraged to seek God's perfect will, which may involve making choices that are not merely between good and evil but between good and best. This discernment requires us to be open to new things God might be doing in our lives, even if they seem unconventional or challenging. We are reminded that God's will is not always a straightforward path but a journey of faith, requiring us to step out in obedience and trust.

Watch/Listen

Message Study Guide

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[00:00] - Welcome
[30:47] - Announcements and Events
[36:30] - Offering and New Building Update
[42:28] - The Story of Zechariah and Elizabeth
[47:43] - Obedience Over Tradition
[49:58] - Cultural Norms vs. God's Will
[51:06] - Jesus' Unexpected Arrival
[52:24] - Trusting in God's Higher Ways
[54:33] - The Mystery of God's Will
[01:01:16] - Pursuing God's Perfect Will
[01:02:35] - The Sin of Disobedience
[01:04:47] - Revelation and New Things
[01:07:08] - Joseph's Dream and God's Plan
[01:09:43] - Faith and Obedience
[01:12:28] - Knowing God's Word and Ways
[01:15:03] - Embracing New Things
[01:17:49] - Six Steps to Knowing God's Will
[01:23:42] - Trusting God's Guidance
[01:27:19] - Seeking God's Will in Our Lives
[01:31:43] - Surrendering to God's Will

Key Takeaways

Obedience Over Tradition: Zechariah and Elizabeth's decision to name their son John, as instructed by God, illustrates the importance of prioritizing divine revelation over cultural norms. This obedience opened the door for God's blessings and reminded us that God's plans may require us to break from tradition. [47:43]
Trusting in God's Higher Ways: God's ways and thoughts are higher than ours, often leading us into the unknown. Like Abraham, we are called to trust God even when His plans seem mysterious or counterintuitive, knowing that His purposes are ultimately for our good. [52:24]
The Mystery of God's Will: Understanding God's will involves embracing the mystery and unpredictability of His plans. We must be willing to follow His lead, even when it disrupts our own plans or expectations, trusting that He is guiding us toward His perfect purpose. [54:33]
Revelation and Relationship: Knowing God's will is not just about understanding His word but also about cultivating a relationship with Him. Through prayer and devotion, we learn to discern His ways and align our lives with His divine purpose. [01:12:28]
The Role of Timing and Surrender: God's will often involves a sense of divine timing, requiring us to act promptly and decisively. Surrendering to His will means being open and ready to respond to His leading, trusting that He will equip us for the journey ahead. [01:31:43]

Bible Reading

Luke 1:57-66 NKJV - 57 Now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. 58 When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her. 59 So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. 60 His mother answered and said, "No; he shall be called John." 61 But they said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name." 62 So they made signs to his father--what he would have him called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, "His name is John." So they all marveled. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue [loosed], and he spoke, praising God. 65 Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. 66 And all those who heard [them] kept [them] in their hearts, saying, "What kind of child will this be?" And the hand of the Lord was with him.

Isaiah 55:9 NKJV– For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Observation Questions

What was the cultural expectation for naming Zechariah and Elizabeth's son, and how did they respond? [43:52]
How did Zechariah communicate his agreement with Elizabeth about their son's name, and what was the immediate result of his action? [43:52]
What does the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth teach us about the importance of obedience to God's revelation over cultural norms? [47:43]
How does the sermon illustrate the concept of God's will being mysterious and often counterintuitive to human understanding? [52:24]

Interpretation Questions

Why might God choose to reveal His will in ways that challenge cultural norms or personal expectations, as seen in the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth? [47:43]
How does the sermon suggest that a deep relationship with God can aid in discerning His will, even when it seems mysterious or counterintuitive? [54:33]
In what ways does the sermon highlight the role of timing and surrender in following God's will, and how can this be applied to personal decision-making? [01:31:43]
How does the sermon use the example of Zechariah and Elizabeth to illustrate the difference between choosing what is good and what is best according to God's will? [01:02:35]

Application Questions

Reflect on a time when you felt God's will was leading you in a direction that contradicted societal norms or personal desires. How did you respond, and what was the outcome? [47:43]
The sermon emphasizes the importance of a relationship with God in discerning His will. What specific steps can you take this week to deepen your relationship with God through prayer and devotion? [54:33]
Consider a decision you are currently facing. How can you apply the principle of choosing between what is good and what is best in this situation? [01:02:35]
The sermon discusses the role of timing in God's will. Is there an area in your life where you feel God is prompting you to act promptly? How can you ensure you are ready to respond? [01:31:43]
How can you cultivate a mindset of surrender to God's will, especially when it involves stepping into the unknown or the unconventional? [52:24]
Think about a tradition or cultural norm in your life that might be hindering your obedience to God's will. What steps can you take to align more closely with His revelation? [47:43]
How can you seek wise counsel from fellow believers to help discern God's will in your life, and who might you approach for such guidance? [01:20:58]

Let's open up our Bibles this morning. We are grateful for all that God has done. If you were here last week about this time, I began the Christmas season by preaching through a story about a man, a priest named Zechariah in the book of Luke, and we're going to return to this story because I believe we can find some interesting truth again from the wife of the priest Zechariah, her name is Elizabeth.

And I want to look at a moment in her life that I believe is very inspiring and helpful to us this morning. So Luke chapter one, if you'll join us there, Luke chapter one. Maybe you heard the story about the family that they every year when they began to cook the traditional Thanksgiving turkey that this family had a tradition that what they would do is every year they would take the turkey and they would always cut it in half before they would cook it.

And that's kind of unusual, but that was just the tradition that this family had. We're always just going to split it right down the middle. And so instead of having one nice presentable bird that the families normally have, we're going to cut it in half. But this whole turkey is cut in half and becomes the centerpiece in that way.

And so this strange ritual went on and on until one year a child decided that she was going to find out why they had such a strange tradition. Why do we cut this bird in half? And when mom heard this question from the child, she thought about that and thought that's a good question. Why do we always cut the turkey in half? And she couldn't come up with a good reason.

She said, well, I cut the bird in half because my mother always cooked the turkey the same way. She cut it in half, and so I thought that was just the way that we do it. So, of course, they got Grandma on the phone. Grandma got on the phone and said, well, to tell you the truth, I can't figure out why we cut the turkey in half either. All I know is that I saw my mother do it, and that's how I did it all these years.

So, why don't we ask Great-Grandma Nanny? So, they all gathered together, and they asked Grandma Nanny. They said, Grandma, we always cut the bird in half. Nobody else does that. Why do we do it? And they all huddled around waiting for some deep inspiration or some meaning behind the symbolism of cutting the bird in half.

And Great-Grandma sat up, and she said, and she looked at them. She said, didn't you realize that our oven was never big enough to put a whole turkey in it? We had to cut it in half to make room. You know, not every tradition is rooted in good reasons.

In the Scripture we're going to read, we're going to find an interesting moment where they're going to give John the Baptist this miracle baby that has been conceived in the womb of Elizabeth, the wife of the priest, Zechariah. And there is a good and a wholesome tradition in the Jewish community and in many other families around the world. But in that moment, they understand that the tradition is not for them.

And I want to preach a message I've titled, "His Name is John." I want you to lock in your mind with me, his name is John. Let's read the Scripture, Luke chapter 1, beginning with verse 57.

Now Elizabeth's time came for her to be delivered. And she brought forth the 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, they came to circumcise the child, and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zechariah, the normal, healthy family tradition.

But his mother answered and said, "No, he shall be called John." But they said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name." So they made signs to his father, what he would have called him. Remember, Zechariah had been silenced for his lack of faith when the angel spoke to him in the temple. And he is still not speaking at this moment.

So they made signs to his father. What would he have him called? And he asked for the writing tablet and wrote, saying, "His name is John." So they all marveled. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he spoke, praising God. Then fear came on all who dwelt around them, and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea.

Let's pray. Father, we come by the precious blood of Jesus. We thank you that in this Christmas season, Lord, in this time, Lord, this is a time that we celebrate. And not every tradition is evil, but some traditions, God, according to your word, must be broken. And I'm praying, Father, that you would help us to have wisdom and discernment about your will for our lives. I'm praying, God, that you would give us that wisdom. You said, if any man lacks wisdom, that we can seek and we can ask. And Lord, that you are a good father who gives good things. I'm praying, give your people wisdom as they pray. Seek to do your will, and we give you glory in Jesus' mighty name. God's people would say, amen.

His name is John. And let's look first at encountering some cultural norms. Verse 59 of our scripture says it was the eighth day. And if you know anything about Jewish culture, Jewish history, Jewish tradition, you know that baby boys experience what they call the bris. It is the day of circumcision. It's also the eighth day, is the day that baby boys experience what they call the bris. It is the day of circumcision. It is the day that baby Jewish boys receive their names.

In the tradition, those two things are connected. It is the continuation of the promise which was given to Abraham. This was the mark that God spoke to Abraham and said, "This is how my people will be identified by a circumcision of the flesh." And the tradition of the Jews is that when a baby boy receives that promise, that tradition, that mark of the covenant, that that is the day they receive their name as well and how they are going to be defined for the rest of their lives.

The cultural norm, of course, at the time was, as it is in many families to this day, that a son, especially a firstborn son, will receive the name of his father. And so the expectation that everyone had, that as this baby boy, this miracle child born to two people in their older years, this is kind of the Abraham and Sarah story of the New Testament, Zechariah and Elizabeth, they have a child in their latter years.

And this was no doubt a joy to everyone who knew them, that they would have struggled for many years dealing with the fact that they did not have children. And finally, after all this time, here's a new baby boy to enter the world and enter their family. And everyone expected that they would be born to this boy, that this boy would receive the name of his father, Zechariah.

Everyone gathered around for the birth, for the circumcision, for the naming of the boy. And so they began to get the name, get documents together. What are we going to call him? We're going to call him Zechariah. And in this moment, that is not wrong, right? It was not a bad tradition. However, we know that God had a different plan for this boy.

And we know that based on what God spoke to both Zechariah and Elizabeth in verse 13, same chapter, the angel said to Zechariah, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayers are heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son and you shall call his name John." The angel spoke.

And can I just tell you, first of all, this morning, God spoke to Zechariah. He spoke to Zechariah. He spoke to Zechariah. He spoke to Zechariah. God has the right to disrupt your plans. God has the right to tell us to do things that we might think strange or inconsistent with what we know and what we understand.

Zechariah no doubt would have been overjoyed and filled with compassion and love for his son to call his name the same as his own, Zechariah. But in this case, God had another plan for this. And that plan required that Zechariah and Elizabeth had to stand up against the cultural norm.

And what I see in this scripture is what I see a struggle in many people who are trying to live for God in our time, in our generation, is that how many understand there are some cultural norms that are not the will of God. In fact, to do God's will, to live for him in this time, means that there are some things that we're going to have to reject what the world says.

We're going to have to reject what friends and family might expect. Obviously, some of the most obvious examples is the culture of the world. John said that any man who loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. One of the marks that you are saved and changed by God is that you are willing to live for God. You are willing to go against the grain of the world. Somebody said amen.

That, you know, living for yourself, right? The world says put self number one, put your self-interest number one. Well, we can't do that as believers, can we? In the kingdom of God, we follow Jesus who takes up his cross and he says to us, now take up your cross and live for me daily. Follow me daily. We don't get the right to live for ourselves.

Examples like living together before marriage. This is not the will of God. We understand that, but it's such a normal practice of the culture, people who sleep together before they get married, and it becomes such a, just an automatic of the world. But Christians, we are following Jesus. We don't get to do that. We don't have that right to shack up before marriage.

Listening to worldly music, addictive behaviors, wasting our time, wasting time on frivolous things. These are just some examples of how living for Jesus means living different than the rest of the world. How many know Jesus called us to be a little bit weird?

That when Jesus came to the earth, he exemplified this. Didn't he? People had an idea of what they thought the Messiah would be. Especially the Jews, their people thought that the Messiah would come as a conquering king riding on a great stallion and leading the people of God in a rebellion against the Romans.

But Jesus showed up and he did none of those things. He didn't come as a conqueror. He came as a suffering servant, at least the first time. They were confusing his first arrival with his second. One day Jesus is going to come back, as we sang about this morning, and he will be the conquering king. He will take his place, his rightful place as king of the universe.

But when he first arrived on the scene as Messiah, he came to bear the sins and the consequences of the world. And so that took people by surprise. That was unexpected. That was not the norm that they wanted. And so the scripture says, Isaiah 55 verse 9, "So are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts."

How many have figured it out already that you can't figure God out? If you could figure out God, then he wouldn't be God. There will always be a sense of mystery when it comes to doing God's will for our lives. You're just going to have to get used to that. You're going to have to get used to the idea that I can't figure out all that God is doing in my life.

We have to make a commitment like Abraham did. The reason we call him the father of our faith is because God called him out to a place he did not know where he was going. But he says, "Lord, I'm willing to follow you because I trust you." That is the heart of the true believer. I don't understand everything, Lord, but I'm willing to follow anyway.

And to do that means we're going to have to go against the sense of the world, the norms, the cultural standards, and even sometimes what we think is best for our lives. Think of Joseph. Joseph in the Christmas story, man, I feel bad for Joseph. He had it rough because he had everything planned out. He had his life laid out before him. He'd be betrothed to a nice girl. He's getting ready to marry her. He's got his plans laid out. And he's a carpenter. And he's got a skill. He's got a place to stay. He's got a woman laid out. And everything's on the track.

He's got everything he thinks he needs. And then he hears the news. Mary's pregnant. What a monkey wrench. How many know that the will of God is often like a monkey wrench in the middle of our plans? So most of us, when we got saved, it's not that we were planning to get saved. We weren't planning, "Oh, yeah, when I turn 18 years old, I'm just going to surrender my life to Jesus, and it's going to..." No, we weren't planning that, right? I wasn't certainly, I was certainly not planning to get saved.

God showed up in my life, and I had a choice to make whether to surrender or whether to reject. And I chose to surrender to Him. Thank God I did. And serving God, there's a sense of mystery behind everything that we do. The Bible is a mysterious book. Yes, we know that there are some things that are absolutely clear, right?

But some things you're going to read in the Bible, and you're like, I can't figure that out. Lord, you're going to have to help me. You're going to have to show me. You're going to have to give me some revelation here. Think of the midwives in Egypt. That when the Pharaoh began to destroy all of the baby boys, and they had to reject what was expected of them. They had to stand up with civil disobedience and say, "No, we're not going to do that. We fear God before we fear you, Pharaoh. And we're going to save these baby boys."

This idea of overturning what is expected and what the world is going to do, and what the world expects, this is something that Christians have to be prepared to do. Much of Jesus' ministry was, how many know, upending cultural norms. We love Jesus calling the little children to himself. We love the Jesus that's pictured in so many religious iconography where he looks like a woman with a beard. Or he looks soft. Do you know what I'm saying?

But Jesus wasn't soft. There was a time that Jesus braided, he did a whip and took it to the temple and began driving out the money changers. That was savage. He turned over their money tables. Everybody expected Jesus to just go along, get along, but he didn't do that. He turned over their tables and said, "My father's house shall be called a house of prayer. You've turned it into a den of thieves." He was angry in a righteous way.

How many times did Jesus upend their expectations regarding the Sabbath laws? He finds people that need healing, the man with the withered hand, and he says, "Stretch forth your hand," and the man's hand was miraculously healed. But guess what? It happened to be a Sabbath day. And to them, those priests, those rabbis, those religious people, those Pharisees, they saw Jesus healing on the Sabbath day, and it just popped a fuse in their brain. They couldn't handle it.

He's working on the Sabbath, and Jesus, he's upending and overturning their cultural expectations of what the Messiah is supposed to say and what he's supposed to do. He touched the lepers. Nobody touched lepers. He healed them. He believed God for them. He entered into their world.

Can I tell you serving God sometimes there is an element of mystery and we've got to do something about it. We've got to be okay with that, church. Now I'm not saying here that every trend or every cultural norm is evil. The Bible does say don't remove the ancient landmarks. We don't reject tradition just for the sake of rejecting it. There's a reason why traditions exist.

But we have to be willing to examine them in the light of scripture and in the light of how the Holy Spirit leads us. Can you say amen? See, we look at these stories in the Bible and thank God we have to be willing to examine them and we have to be willing to see the whole story as it plays out. We see the benefit of beginning, middle, and the end of the story, right?

We see Zechariah and Elizabeth, they were childless and barren. We see the action that happens, the angel visits them, a child is born, and we see how it plays out and how they're going to trust God. But we see the whole run of the story as it plays through and we can learn lessons from that. But guess what? We see the whole, we don't have that advantage for our own lives.

I can't see everything how God is going to work everything out. I know the past, I know my testimony, I know how God has moved in my life, but I can't see how everything's going to play out, right? We don't have that advantage. And so we have to be willing to trust God that he is sovereign, that he does know what he's doing, and that he is good. Can you say amen?

The will of God for Zechariah and Elizabeth and for their son was different and distinct from the good and decent cultural norm that everybody expected. And so what we have here then is not a battle of good versus evil, okay? Both choices that they would not have sinned, but the choice was between what is good and what is best.

And often that's what requires the most wisdom and discernment for the Christian believer. This is what so many people struggle with when it comes to the will of God. What is the will of God for my life? The will of God is not always a black and white sin versus righteousness decision. So often the will of God is what do most people do and what is God calling me to do?

And that is where it requires discernment and an open ear to heaven. Imagine how many been on a cruise? Anybody here? Okay, some blessed people, hallelujah. Okay, so if when you're on a cruise, you know, you can get, they have a lot of people on those ships or maybe even like an aircraft carrier. You know, they have a population of what, four thousand people, five thousand people?

And so, you know, five thousand people leave the port and they're all on the same ship, right? But does that mean that they are all held captive? No, they're free. They're doing their duties. They're on a cruise ship that you're having a good time, you're watching shows, you're eating food, you're sleeping in your quarters, you're swimming in the swimming pool. There's a lot of things you can do on the ship, right?

But everybody's moving together in the same direction. The will of God is kind of like that, that we trust the sovereignty of God that we are all traveling together in His will, but within the will of God that we do have the ability to make certain decisions about God's will for our life.

Everybody with me so far? And the question this morning is not always, should I sin or should I not sin? Sometimes the question is being able to pursue God's mysterious will even when it's going to break some expectations that somebody has for me.

So, my question as we think about this story with Zechariah, would it have been a sin for them to name him Zechariah Jr., ZJ? You think that's a sin? And at first when I thought about that question, I thought, I mean, it wouldn't have been a sin, right? It's the cultural norm. It's the expectation.

But then I thought about the scripture in James chapter 4, verse 17, where it says, "Now listen carefully, church." The reason I believe it would have been a sin for them to name their son Zechariah is because they had received a clear word from the angel. And the angel told them specifically, "You will call his name John."

Now, the norm, the cultural tradition of naming a son after the father, there's nothing wrong with that. It's normal. It's good. There's a reason for that. Maintains a certain tradition, right? And so there's a reason why most fathers would name their sons in this way.

But for Zechariah to do that, it would have been a sin. It would have been wrong. He would have violated the trust of God to do that. And so this is what I'm saying. We can learn from this situation that just because something is permitted for you does not mean that God has ordained it.

There's a lot of things that God would permit you. You're not going to go to hell over it, but it's not the will of God. What's important for us then, church, is that we have to seek God's perfect will for us. It takes discernment.

There's a scripture in Isaiah chapter 43. We read it this morning in our Sunday school lesson. Isaiah 43 verse 19, "Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth, shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

Is it possible for God to do something new in your life? I'm not saying completely new that the world has never seen before. I'm always wary about when people come to me saying, "I read something that never has been revealed before in the word of God." Come on, buddy.

Okay, there's nothing new under the sun, it says in Ecclesiastes. But there are new things that God can do in our lives. The more that I've lived for God, the more I've come to appreciate when God does something new or reveals something new in my life. Revelation.

So think about the idea of revelation. The word is something is being revealed to us, right? So when you have a revelation, you read a scripture and something pops out from the Bible that you never saw there before. That is a revelation.

And a revelation is not a brand new truth that the world has never seen. A revelation is simply new to you because you never saw it before. Thank God that he shows us new things, that new springs can flow in the desert wilderness of our hearts, that God can bring you to new levels of faithfulness and obedience to him.

But that doesn't mean that it's something uniquely brand new that the world has never known. It's just new for you. That's why we call it revelation. It's revealed. It was there already. You just didn't see it. And God reveals it to us.

The will of God requires revelation. This is what Jesus said to Peter. When Peter piped up, Jesus is asking them, "Who do men say that I am?" And Peter pipes up and he says, "You are the Messiah, the son of the living God."

Now, was that true? Had it always been true? Won't it always be true? But somehow, Peter figured it out before others. And Jesus said to him, "Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you. My Father revealed it to you."

It was new for Peter. It was new for the others that heard it that day. But it doesn't mean it was completely. There are some things, I believe, in our lives that God wants us to do some new things.

And the reason I'm saying this is because this idea can be abused. The idea of, "Oh, God spoke to me in a unique way, Pastor, and so I'm going to go out on this tangent, this left field idea, and start a new ministry." Well, most of the time, that's just rebellion, a spirit of rebellion at work.

Don't abuse the idea of God doing a new thing. But it is true that God, His will, often goes against the grain of what we expect. Think of Joseph in the Old Testament for a moment. When Joseph, God gave Joseph a dream for his future, right?

And this image of the barley sheaves that, and there was 12 of them, and they're all bowing down, and even the sun, moon, and stars, they're bowing down to him. And man, what a dream that would be like. And that made no sense to anybody at the time.

It didn't even make sense to him. He's just telling this dream to his brothers, and they're like, "What are you talking about, Joseph? You think we're going to bow down to you? You're just the bratty little brother. Daddy's favorite." That don't make no sense to you, to me, to nobody, even to mom and dad. They were like, "Shut up, Joseph."

Got him in all kind of trouble. But that dream, that dream was a prediction of Joseph's future, wasn't it? That years passed, down the road, he ascends to the throne of Pharaoh, and he's the right-hand man in the powerful superpower of the nation, of the world at the time.

And guess what? There he is. He is responsible for divvying out the wealth and resources of Egypt, and here come the brothers. What do they do? They all bow down before him. God predicted it, and it came to pass.

But what I'm saying is that in that moment, it didn't make sense. Only in the course of serving God and doing his will and following closely after the Lord, only then, after time, eventually, it would make sense.

This is why serving God is a mystery. In the moment, not everything is going to make perfect sense to you. You're not going to be able to figure everything about God. Thank God. I don't want a God I can figure out. That's not a God I'm interested in.

I want a God who is bigger than my common sense, who is beyond my ability to imagine. Abraham, it would make absolutely no sense on a human level to take your son, your only son, up to the mountain and there sacrifice him like an animal.

That makes no sense on a human level. It only makes sense that as he simply obeys, as he simply does what God told him, he lifts up the knife to murder his son, and God says, "Stop. Now I can see, Abraham, that you will withhold nothing from me, and now I am able to radically bless you."

It was a test. There will be moments like this in your life when God will call you out to do something that makes no sense, that doesn't make sense to the culture, doesn't make sense to your family, doesn't make sense maybe even to people in the church?

Will you have the heart to step out in faith and follow the mystery of God's Word? I want to close with the idea of knowing God's Word and God's ways. Going back to our Scripture in Zechariah, Luke chapter 1, verse 63.

So we're here at this moment. They say, "Aren't we going to name the son Zechariah, right?" And Elizabeth pipes up. She says, "No, we're not going to call him Zechariah. We're calling him John. His name is John. Get it? His name is going to be John. Stop arguing with me."

And all of the people, they were like, "She's crazy. She just had a child. I made something wrong with her brain." They turned to Zechariah. Remember, he's been silent. For the last, I don't know, nine, ten months maybe. God made him mute supernaturally because of his lack of faith.

So they turned to Zechariah and said, "What do you say, Zechariah? What do you say about this?" He asked them for a writing tablet. He began to write, saying, "His name is John." It's John. And they all marveled.

Now, what's amazing about that scripture is that it's this moment that God chooses to open his mouth back up. It's when he obeys, when he does the thing that is weird to everybody else. "His name is John." He shows it to them. "His name is John."

And everybody's like, "Oh, he spoke." God opened his mouth again, and he spoke and began to praise God. You know what this tells me? This tells me that serving the Lord and doing his will is much more than just a matter of faith.

It tells me much more than just following a list of do's and don'ts. Zechariah discovered something here, that doing the will of God is much more about having a relationship with him. It's not just following the commandments.

It's knowing who God is. This is how Abraham is able to trust God when he tells him to do something crazy. "Okay, God, I know you. I have experience with you. I've followed you. I've done your will so many times that when you tell me to do something that doesn't make sense, God, I'm just going to follow because I know who you are, Lord."

It's out of relationship that obedience begins to flow. It's not just a list of do's and don'ts. It's the moment that Zechariah writes the name. His obedience is fulfilled, and his mouth is opened.

It's not just a dry religious thing. It's that he trusted God in that moment. Let me ask you, do you know the difference between God's word and God's ways? They're not always different, but they are distinct.

It is possible to read the Bible from the back to the front and still not know God. You can know his word, but not know him. You can't know him personally. And so much of serving God is not just learning his word, but learning his ways.

How do we learn the ways of God? How does God act? How does God think? Well, we learn his ways the same way that you learn about the ways of anybody else. You've got to spend time with them, right?

You have to know the kind of person that they are. So what about you? How's your relationship? How's your relationship with God? I'm not asking how much of the Bible you've memorized.

There's plenty of Christian professors who know the Bible inside and out and have a deep understanding of theology, but they don't know God. Many there will be on that day, Jesus said, who say, "'Lord, Lord, did we not do all these things in your name?' But I will say, "'Depart from me, for I never knew you.'"

The way that we know the ways of God, not just his words, but his ways, is by spending time with him in prayer, in devotion, worship, to spend time seeking, devoted to his word and his truth.

Sometimes serving God means doing something that's out of the ordinary, a change in your schedule, out of the ordinary. And, you know, that's hard for us because we get set in our ways. We become inflexible.

We say, "Well, God never did it before, so he can't do it now." And I want to challenge you. Be open to new things. I am so grateful that we have a fellowship, we have a church, that is open to new things that God is doing.

You know, if you rewind the clock back to the time when Pastor Mitchell was taking over the church in Prescott, Arizona, and, you know, he started out with 20, I think it was 24 people, and seven of them were his family, right?

And he's there in this little tiny cowboy town, Prescott, Arizona, but God begins to sweep across the nation, starts saving hippies in the 1970s. Those people were very different from the normal church-going believer at that time.

Very different from Pastor Mitchell, who was 40-plus years old at that time. And all these young hippies with long hair and long beards and no shoes and bringing their dogs to church. And they'd sit on the floor with their guitars and play along.

But they were getting saved in miraculous ways. And thank God Pastor Mitchell was able to receive them. God was doing something new. And our fellowship was born in that environment.

So as we close, I want to give you some practical ways to discovering the mystery of God's will. And this thought comes from a book written by Chuck Swindoll called The Mystery of God's Will.

Chuck Swindoll, interesting about him, he was born with a genetic deficiency in one of his ears. There was a hole inside his ear. And when he was young, this caused a lot of pain and even infections in his ear.

And so as he got a little bit older, the doctors told him that they should probably close this hole up and perform some surgery on there to repair this hole. And so as he was going through that, there was a time that he had hearing loss in that ear.

And so he began the process of thinking this was going to be a permanent change that he's going to have to live with. So he began learning how to read people's lips. And he observes that as he began to learn this skill of reading lips, that he discovered something.

It's possible to hear someone's words without looking at them. But if you're going to read their lips, you have to, like, stare intently at their face to get every word. If you can't hear the word, then you have to be able to see the lips moving.

And he began to appreciate people who articulate their words in a way that was easier for him to understand. Thankfully, that was not a permanent condition, but... He equates that to the idea of learning to hear from God.

It's possible for us to hear his word, but not look at his face. And learning the divine mystery of God's will is more than just reading his word, but it's looking into his face.

So, six steps to knowing God's will as we close. Number one, we have to approach God with an accepting frame of mind. Meaning, "Lord, whatever you have for me, I'm ready." That's like step one. That's like entry level, "Lord, whatever you have for my life, I'm willing."

Some people never make it that far. Some people are still holding on to their dream, their idea of what's best for their life. You're not going to get there. You're not going to be faithful to God's will unless you're willing, first of all, to say, "Lord, I'm open, I'm teachable, I'm sensible, I'm available." That's step one.

Step two is a biblical investigation. And I say that because God's will is never contrary to his word. God will not tell you to rob the bank. I was praying last night, and God told me, "I'm going to supply for your need. So just purchase a firearm and go to the local bank of Hampton Roads. Hold up the teller there, and they're going to give you all the money that you need."

The angel is not going to tell you that. He's not going to say that to you. Okay? We know that. Because the will of God is clear. Thou shalt not steal. That's easy. You don't have to pray about whether or not to rob the bank.

We have to investigate the Bible. Knowing God's will, we understand that God will never speak contrary to his word. The third thing is clarification and conviction of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, the will of God is not an impulse. It's not an emotion. It's not just mere inspiration, and we get all fired up about something and exciting, and, "Oh, I'll jump into it." We have to be open to hearing from the Holy Spirit, waiting patiently for the Lord. Psalm 40, verse 1.

The fourth thing is determine if peace is occurring. The peace of Jesus is like an umpire that keeps the game moving. Never move ahead unless you have the peace that passes understanding, like Philippians 4, verse 7.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. I've had God speak to me about things, and sometimes it's not necessarily a thing that God wanted me to do because it's a test, like Abram on the mountain.

Are you willing to move? But I have experienced the peace of God, which passes understanding, about certain decisions. We have to be sensitive to that peace. If we don't sense it, we shouldn't move forward.

Fifth, we should expect struggles and surprises as we experience the results of following the Lord and His mystery. And finally, the last thing, is to seek out wise counsel. This is one that's often missed. Talk over the way that God is leading you with other believers who are faithfully serving Him.

There is wisdom in the multitude of counselors, Proverbs 15, 22. Doesn't mean that every time you're going to do what counselors tell you to do, but to have the confidence of people that you trust, people who have more experience in the Lord than you do.

I close with this illustration. Jim Lovell, who's an astronaut in Apollo 13. Maybe you saw the movie from Ron Howard, Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks. And he tells a story in that movie about how he had gotten in trouble.

There was a time when he was a Navy pilot and he was flying in a Banshee at night in combat. There were no running lights on the carrier. He's trying to land in the Sea of Japan. His radar had jammed. His homing signal was gone.

And so it was leading him away from where he was supposed to be. He says, "I'm looking down at a big black ocean and my instruments are failing. So I flip on my map light. I'm going to try to read the map. And as soon as I turn on the light, he says, everything shorts out right there in the cockpit. All the instruments fail and it's completely dark."

He says, "I can't even tell what my altitude was. I know I'm running out of fuel. So he says, I'm thinking about ditching into the ocean. And then in a moment, I looked out of the window and I see in the darkness, a green trail."

He says, "It's like a long carpet laid out right beneath me." What was it? It was the algae in the ocean, this phosphorus light that is churned up with the ocean. And he says, "I can't even tell what my altitude was. I know I'm running out of fuel. When the carrier goes through and those big propellers stir up the water and that algae begins to glow with a phosphorus green light."

He says, "I never would have seen that if the lights were on. I never would have seen that unless my map light failed." And he says, "The lesson that he got from that was you never know what is going to transpire to get you home."

And this is what it's like. The mystery of trying to figure out what's going to transpire to get you home. God's will. Sometimes it's not going to make all the sense to you, but God will lead us into his will.

And my prayer this morning is that like Jim Lovell, that you and I would be able to close our eyes and trust God sometimes with what he's doing. Do you have a relationship with him? One of trust.

And when we do, I want to tell you, God will supernaturally equip us. It's just after this that Zechariah begins to prophesy. The Bible says he's filled with the Holy Spirit and begins to prophesy. And all of that struggle comes to pass.

And God wants to help you this morning. Let's bow our heads and close our eyes for just a moment. Thank you for your patience this morning. I believe God's trying to speak to some people about his will.

God's trying to reveal his will for your life. How often it goes against what we anticipated and what we expected. How often the will of God is so much greater than anything we could predict or understand.

The will of God is for you to be saved, first of all. God is not willing that any man should perish, but that every man would come to the knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ.

God's will is not to send us to hell. And yet many people end up there because they never turn to Jesus in their desperation, in their sin, in their brokenness. Maybe you're here this morning and the first and greatest need of your life is to be forgiven.

Maybe you came here this morning not planning, not planning to surrender your life to Jesus, but you find yourself here and he is speaking to you. The Spirit of God is convicting you of evil and wrong that you have worked in your life.

The Bible says there's a way that seems right to a man, but it leads to destruction. And if you're here today, you say that you're not going to be forgiven. You're not going to be forgiven. You're not going to be forgiven.

Pastor, I'm not living right. I'm living in sin. I've done things I'm ashamed of and I don't want to continue. There is a God in heaven who loves you and he proved it by sending his son Jesus to die for you.

Before we leave this place, you have an opportunity. Cry out to God and ask him to forgive you and set you free. If you need that this morning, can I pray with you? Somebody here, God's speaking to you. Would you lift up your hands?

Somebody here. God's dealing with your heart right now. He's knocking on the door of your heart. If anyone would open that door and let the Lord come in, become the Lord of your life. You receive Him as your Savior and your Lord.

The Bible says you can be saved. Old things would pass away. Everything will become new. That happened in my life when I was 16 years old. God changed me and transformed me in a moment of time because I reached out to Him.

I didn't even know if He was there or not. I said, "God, if you are there, I don't want to live like this. I don't want to continue like this. Please save me. I'm lost. I'm broken."

Maybe that's you right now. And with an uplifted hand, you'd say, "Pastor, please pray for me. I'm not right with God, but I want to be. Before I leave this place, I want Jesus to set me free." Is that you? Quickly, would you lift up your hand?

Somebody here. God's dealing with you. Unsaved or backslidden in your heart, maybe like a prodigal son. You're living in that far country. You're far away from the Lord, but you want to come home today.

Today is the day of salvation. Don't wait for tomorrow. Would you lift up your hand? Unsaved or backslidden in your heart? Please don't miss this opportunity. Is there someone here? Anyone at all? Quickly, with an uplifted hand, you'd want to respond.

Thank you. I want to speak to believers then. I want to speak to those of us who have made a commitment to Christ. We realize what He's done for us. He died on the cross so that we could be set free.

And that now this life does not belong to us. We've been bought. We've been paid for. We've been purchased by the precious blood. And that means our lives do not belong to us.

That means that our greatest purpose is to figure out what God wants us to do. What is your will for my life, Lord? And you might be surprised. God's will for you might be different than your will for you.

God's will for you might be different than your parents' or your family's will. Might be different than any expectation. The will of God is something that we have to be open to in order to receive it.

And if you're here this morning and this is something that's a concern of your heart, say, "Pastor, I want to speak to God. I want to believe God to show me His will. Reveal it to me."

I want to ask you to come to this altar and pray. Could we stand up to our feet for just a moment? We're going to open this altar for prayer. If God's dealing with you, God's leading with you, you want to find God's will for your life. Would you come to this altar?

We're going to pray together. Lord, lead me in your ways. Lead me in your truth. Lead me according to your word and your ways. I want you to show me, Lord, the will of God for my life, even when it goes against what some might expect.

Lord, I'm trusting you to help me. Let's pray. Come on, let's let our voices be heard. By heaven this morning, let's cry out to the Lord for a few moments. Church, would you pray with me while these are here? Let's cry out to the Lord for a few moments.

God, we come. Let's pray.

This is a place of surrender. Pastor Mitchell, the founder of our fellowship, used to make a statement, and he said, "God will often not reveal His will to you until you are surrendered to it."

The requirement to knowing God's will is, first of all, being surrendered to it. And I want to pray a prayer with you this morning, a prayer of surrender. Can we stand up to our feet together?

We're going to lift up our hands. Thank God for the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They said, "No, his name is John, because that's what the angel told us."

And I believe that there are some things that God is speaking to His people this morning. There are some specific actions that God is asking you to make, but it seems weird, it seems strange, it seems out of the ordinary.

But through counsel of Scripture, through seeking the will of God, through seeking His peace that surpasses understanding, through godly counsel, God is able to lead you in the mystery of His will.

And I just want to pray that we would have the heart to surrender to it. Let's lift up our hands together, and I want you to pray this prayer with me. Say, "God in heaven, I thank you that you are the Lord of my life. I give you all authority, power to make decisions. I release that into your hands.

I give up control over my own life, and I recognize that your ways are higher than my ways. Your thoughts are higher than my thoughts. And I surrender completely freely to your will for my life.

Give me wisdom and understanding, revelation of what you want me to do with the life that you've given me. I believe, Lord, that you are faithful to speak to me as I seek your will.

And I give you glory this morning, in Jesus' name. Amen. Come on, let's give Him praise right now. God, we want to make one last statement this morning, and that is, that there is a sense of timing when it comes to the will of God.

We don't always have forever. There are some chapters that God is trying to move on us with expediency. There is a time and a place for the will of God. Think of Zechariah. They didn't have the liberty.

Let's just wait another six months to name the boy, because we're not too sure about this. No, they couldn't do that. They had to do it now. They had to make up their mind.

And sometimes there are issues of our lives that if we delay, if we wait, if we say, "I need to pray another six months, I need to believe," sometimes the will of God passes by. Jesus, he's out there on the lake walking on the water, and it says he would have passed them by.

Isn't that crazy? Until they called out to him. And I believe the will of God can be like that, that there is a sense of divine timing. So I want to charge you, church, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

Stay in your word. Surround yourself with godly people that you trust that you can help. They can help you to discern the will of God for your life. And I believe that as each one of us is faithfully doing this, that the purpose of his church can go forward in the earth today.

This is not about a single person. This is about the will of God playing out in all of our lives together, and God is able to use that for his kingdom, for his purpose. Amen.

Amen. So grateful for all of you this morning. I'm believing God that there will be some powerful decisions made as a result of this truth revealed in our hearts today.

We do want to encourage you. We're back this evening for another service. We open up the doors at 6 p.m. We can pray together. The service begins at 7 p.m. We've got another from heaven. Let's believe God to speak to us tonight. Amen.

Let's close with the word of prayer, and we do appreciate each and every one of you this morning. Brother Steven, will you close us in prayer?

Happy birthday for Mr. Andre back there. One, two, three, happy birthday!