Welcome And Bible Talk Format

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Well, what's up, Life House family? Welcome back to the Life Talk Podcast. A joy to be coming back to you today. And uh hopefully everybody listened to our first episode of 2026 last week and got the information that we are starting a Bible talk format for this year. Just excited to be doing that and going through the book of Luke. We had a great introduction looking at the first four verses, but really we're gonna go zero to fifty, or in this case, four to fifty. You know, we're going to uh continue to jump into the book of Luke for you. And today we're gonna be studying John the Baptist, which actually covers a lot of verses. We joke, but uh we are gonna look to cover a lot of ground today. And so for those uh who are following along, and we definitely encourage, uh we prayerfully will bring you a lot of good insight, a lot of good discussion, but we would encourage you to go back if you don't have your Bible in front of you. And today we're gonna be looking at Luke uh chapter one, and we're gonna go verse five through thirty-eight, and then we will pick up in 57 and go through 80. So a long chapter, but we are breaking this down to really focus on the person of John the Baptist, a lot that goes into who he is and how that confirms Christ. So we're gonna really look at some different aspects. We won't read all of it, but Jeremy, we have the same all-star crew from last week. Jeremy Allrich, Jonathan Bush, and Mitch Poe. And you guys all rested up, had a good week, restudied, and ready to go for another episode, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:53

Hey, so yeah, Nate, thanks for having us back on. Jeremy, take it away. Slight correction on it. Like I was joking with you that this was a BOGO episode where you buy one, you get one free, because we're gonna have quite a bit of content in here. But we are gonna be going through verse five to twenty four. Twenty-four, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

See, some that's why you guys are around. Somebody got to keep me straight because it is all remember last week we talked about the orderly account. It ain't gonna happen if uh you guys aren't here.

Zechariah And Elizabeth Introduced

Temple Service And Gabriel’s Message

Doubt, Discipline, And Silent Sign

SPEAKER_03 2:18

Yeah, so we're doing five to twenty four and fifty-seven to eighty. So we're gonna be talking about the story of Zechariah, Elizabeth, the birth of John the Baptist, and the moment that God rakes 400 years of silence. So, and in this story, we see that uh Luke wants us to see that God is faithful, God remembers his promises, and God is at work even when people feel forgotten. So let's dive in. Uh, in like Nate said, we uh we have a lot of scripture to cover. So we won't be reading the scripture word by word, but what but I'm trusting and we're trusting that you're following along with us. So let's take a look at verses five through seven, where Luke actually introduces Zechariah and Elizabeth, who are a priestly couple. They both come from priestly families, they have a rich spiritual heritage, and he describes them as righteous before God and walking blamelessly. This is actually echoes back to uh for me, it echoes back to Noah and Job when we see that in Genesis 6 and Job 1. Um yet this couple who are righteous and blameless, um, they actually carried yet deep disappointment. Um they're advanced in years and and they were unable to have children, uh, which in that culture was a source of sorrow and shame. Um we can see the um similarities of that in in the story of Rachel and and Hannah and Genesis 30 and 1 Samuel uh 1. But Luke makes it clear that their suffering is not a result of sin. Um moving on, just as we as we uh uh uh want to interact with this text, we'll start we'll pause it for a little bit and interact with it, but I want to move on to verses eight through ten. Um we see that uh Zechariah is doing um his priestly service in the temple, and uh the priests were actually divided into 24 um divisions. Um, interestingly enough, in my studying, during the exile, only four of those divisions had returned. Um, and then in order to set up the 24 again, they they took men from other divisions and put them into so Zachariah might not have been directly related to Abijah, but he was put into the priestly division of Abijah. And you can see those divisions in 1 Chronicles 24 if you're one interested in going back and and studying. Um but what he was doing, he was like for about uh a two-week period, they would be on duty at the temple and ministering at the temple. And he was um dri he had the privilege and honor of being drawn and chosen to offer the incense in at the altar. And the incense offering took place in the holy place just outside of the veil of the Holy of Holies. Uh it symbolized the prayers of Israel rising to God. Uh-huh. And we can see uh similarities or or some of that some of that incense rising to God in Psalms 141 and in in Revelation we see an angel we actually see it twice in Revelation 5, 8, and 8 and Revelation 8, 3 and 4. Excuse me. The priests uh participated. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event, and there were actually three priests that participated, but only one and in this in the ceremony, but only one that would be able to go in and offer the incense and prayers for Israel. And the really intent of this was it was a day as a time for the priest to pray on behalf of the nation uh for God's mercies. And as he's doing this, um, in his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, moving on to verses eleven and twelve, we see that uh an angel suddenly appears at the altar. And we know what happens in history, we've seen other accounts of when an angel appears, um, it's very common for human for us frail humanity to be uh overwhelmed by fear. Um, and that's happened with Zechariah as well. Um we see uh Gideon or excuse me, Gabriel show up. Um, and this isn't the first time we've seen him. He's he appears in uh Daniel chapters eight and nine um with mess, and he is a messenger from God. Um his name actually means God is my strength, um, and which is a fitting identity for a messenger who's announcing God's intentions. Uh so and then moving on, like they uh Gabriel and Zechariah start to have a conversation. Gabriel says, Do not be afraid in verse 13 through 17, your prayers have been heard. Now, what is he what what kind of prayers is he talking about? Well, he could be talking about the prayers that Zechariah is offering right then for Israel, but he also um because because of the basis of the conversation, could be talking about the prayers that Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed for years for a son, for a child that they may have thought that God had forgotten. Um but Gabriel tells them that Elizabeth will bear a son and his name will be John. John actually means God is gracious or Yahweh is gracious, and that he will be great before the Lord, filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb, and serve as the forerunner promised in Malachi. His ministry will turn the hearts and restore relationships and prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah, just like prophesied in Isaiah 40 and Malachi 3. Well, how do we see Zechariah respond? And so it's interesting in this chapter, and I don't want to spoil the next week's um next week's uh episode as well when we talk about Mary's response, but we see I'll I'll highlight two responses here, uh two of the three, and Mary's will save for later. Zechariah responds with How is this possible when when I am old? Um He's taking it in his in himself, in his flesh. I this isn't like both my wife and I are old, and this is we're we're past the childbearing years. It's rooted, his response appears to be rooted in unbelief. And so when when he's responding, I am old, Gabriel immediately answers, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. And so when we look back at his name, God is my strength, it underscores the weight of his message that God is going, God is the one who can accomplish this. It's not in in your flesh, Zechariah, but it's in God's that God will accomplish it. But because of his unbelief, Zechariah gets a sign, and as we were talking earlier a little bit, it might not have been a welcome sign for Zechariah, but um he is going to be struck mute. And this is actually discipline, but not rejection. Um and it becomes a sign for him and for the people around him. And to cap off this this section, and then we'll pause for reflection and and some and some get your guys' insight on it. The people outside, this this whole interaction took so long that the people outside were starting to wonder what was going on. And Zechariah emerges unable to speak, and they were they were in awe of that, knowing that something had happened. And but he completes, he's still faithful, he completes his priestly service, and Elizabeth conceives and praises God for removing her disgrace. Um, and which echoes back to again Genesis when we see Rachel praising God, almost the same language in in chapter 30 of Genesis, verse 23. So we'll take a brief pause because uh we have a a chunk, uh a gap here in the scripture, but I'm just curious about any of your insights into some of the scripture, some of the that that we've talked about so far.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Yeah, I think, man, so much to unpack, and like we say, we're gonna get through a lot here, but I think Jeremy, you covered a lot of really important points that we could go into, both you know, how this ties into Malachi, how this ties into Genesis, and uh Mitch set us up last week talking about this is one of those accounts in Luke that we don't necessarily get in all of the others, and so you know, I think Matthew speaking to a Jewish audience and others would not have, you know, this would be kind of assumed they knew Malachi, but I think especially for us as a Gentile audience, and Luke's going in depth here, right, with this detail, with how we can know that we know that we know that Christ is who he says, and educating us a little bit on you know John the Baptist, because all of the gospels will tell us the importance of John the Baptist as the forerunner and of course God giving that prophecy. But even before that, we see with Zechariah, I think some things you brought out in his reaction, and like you said, we'll talk about Mary's reaction next week, and we can draw some very definite distinctions that can give us some encouragement. But yeah, he's been praying, right? Like you're a priest, you believe in Yahweh, you have faith, and you've been praying, and I'm telling you this prayer is going to be answered, and you're doubting you know what I'm telling you. So, yeah, I think that's something we can learn a lot from. And but we're all guilty of that, right? We pray, and do you really pray expectantly? Do you really pray truly in faith? Or sometimes do we go through the motions? But we we can take away a lot from Zechariah in this, and how this is tying into you know, like an angel's literally talking to you and sharing this, and you know, but we commonly do the same. So I think that's a huge, huge thing that we get from the scriptures here. But you did a great job talking about a lot of the really going back to the Old Testament, even all the way back to you know, Abraham and Sarah, you know, and being barren and old and being faithful, and God's promised, you know, we're gonna do this in the 400 years. So, you know, God's timing is always perfect. We we talked about that a little bit last week, but we're just seeing that theme right from the get-go, and I think you hit that pretty well.

SPEAKER_03 12:17

Yeah, I was uh I mean when you were talking, I'm reminded of uh Romans 4 when when we're talking about Abraham and how God sees things as they will be and not as they are, like and um and how you know with the story of Abraham and Sarah, with this this is this very similar story with Zechariah and Elizabeth, we see God sees things as they as he wants them to be and not and not as we can sit and necessarily see them, um, because our sight is limited.

God Remembers Long-Prayed Prayers

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Yeah, I think one thing for me that as you were kind of walking through that, that stood out and kind of jumped off the page is the description that's given by Luke about Zechariah and Elizabeth. He starts out in verse 5 and he says, In the days of Herod, king of Judah, and this is how Luke kind of time stamps things. He always tells you who's king, and you'll see that same pattern all the way through his book. And that again kind of reflects back to last week how he's doing this orderly account. So that's the date. Then he talks about there's a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abidjah, and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, so she's of the lineage of Aaron, which was the high priest in the Old Testament. Her name was Elizabeth. Here's the description he gives, after kind of their heritage. Um he says, they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and the statutes of the Lord. So that's the description. Then he says, but verse 7, they had no children because Elizabeth was barren. That culture back then, it was always the woman's fault, believed to be the woman's fault, if they couldn't have children. And uh and that again, I think, is Luke, like we talked about last week, Luke kind of um emphasizing or or putting importance on some of the uh marginalized people. So here he says, because Elizabeth was with Baron, but both were advanced in years. Um and then the the angel appears to him and then he says, Your prayer's been answered. I mean, both are old. My question is, how long have you been praying about this? You know? I mean, and at some point, you know, they're both old. Biologically, they've got to be thinking, there's no way this is gonna happen for us naturally. So my guess is they probably stopped praying about it at some point. I'm reading between the lines a little bit, but I don't think that's a that's a big jump. So, what's the point? I think the point is God remembers the prayers of RHS people. And even in the face of seemingly completely odds that are against you, he remembers the prayers that we've prayed and he's faithful to that to answer that. And he and he does obviously answer that with the birth of uh of John the Baptist a little bit later.

SPEAKER_03 14:44

So Yeah, uh a hundred percent. I mean, the the thing that um the thing that I was one one of the things I had written down was that you know, even the forgotten prayers, God remembers. And so they had when when Gabriel showed up and he said your prayer's been answered, Zechariah might have been like, Well, what are you talking about? You know, because I mean oh, that's prayer about the child. Well, well, what child how is that possible now? Right, you know, right.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

And it kind of reinforces the fact that I mean Luke goes to a great extent to give the the heritage of both um Elizabeth and Zechariah. He describes them in verse six as they righteous before God, walking blamelessly. All they're these are godly people, and they prayed, obviously, for a very long time, but then what happens? I um Zechariah doubts and he puts it back on him, as you mentioned. He says, you know, how are we gonna do this if when we're both my wife and I are both old? So he he's looking at this through his own strength. I guess the implication or the application for us is, you know, and I'm guessing most people who are tuning into a podcast on the on the gospel of Luke are probably Christians, and most of the audience is probably people that are trying to seek after the Lord, at least learn more about scripture and learn more about what God has in their life. But even if we're meet this the resume of Elizabeth and Zechariah in verse number six, and and we've prayed, we've done all those things, it's we are one step away from stupid. We we can easily doubt the power of the Lord. And that's what Zechariah did, you know, a little bit later in this. And then he was he was hit with nine months, he wasn't able to speak. Nine months he was he was mute as a result of really his unbelief.

unknown 16:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:19

So another thing that I had written down and and um is that like the pro the presence of pain of our pain or or anguish is not proof of his absence. He's still there with us. Um so like he's uh even though we're walking through pain, it doesn't mean that he's not with us.

Personal Story On Waiting And Trust

SPEAKER_01 16:36

So yeah, I think it's it go ahead. Sorry, I was just gonna jump in real quick. Uh I was just gonna say for Christine and I uh this was uh early on in our marriage, this was something we had to deal with. Um because uh for our first child, it it was over seven years. Medically speaking, usually it's after about I think it was uh at the time like two to three years of not having a child after trying to have a child, uh you you would you could start the process of looking and trying to figure out medically speaking, you know, who's what's going on physically speaking, why why you can't have kids. But in that process, I mean it it's it's a difficult thing. Uh for us, it it definitely um if you don't keep God at the center of okay, what's going on here, uh it can drive a family apart. And um it is, I am thankful for that time. It was a tough time. Um, you know, you you know, now we know that I got three beautiful kids and and God uh was able to overcome that, you know, not exactly like here, but at the same time, it's tough because you know, physically speaking, to some level, and they even know less. Like it's hard sometimes nowadays because there's so much medical understanding of how conception and and development of a child in the womb and and all of that, uh, exactly what's going on. And so, you know, the the medical uh establishment today can give you very detailed of, okay, this is exactly why maybe you can't have kids. Or and for us, it was uh just overall, there was things both medically speaking for her and I that uh statistically speaking, we were considered infertile. Didn't mean we couldn't, they're just saying the chances of that happening pretty low. But what's amazing in part of our story now is how God uh utilized that time. And I think for me, I I think to some of you asked Christine as well, but for me, it was uh getting to the point where, like with Zachariah, he he had at some point, like you're saying, he reached a point where he no longer he was like, it's not gonna happen. Physically speaking, I'm old, she's old, it's not gonna happen. But likewise, um, as we were going through the process, medically speaking, uh, for Christine and I, we were supposed to say, Okay, God, I don't know what it's gonna look like five years from now or even tomorrow, but I'm just gonna trust you, and however that happens, thank you. You know, and so I think that's that's the level I think probably what's being addressed here for Zachariah was he was still praying to some level, but he's like, I gotta God, it's probably not gonna happen. But there's still that doubt, that's still that lack of faith. And so I think to some level that's what's being addressed here is that when uh uh Gabriel came, he was he was like, you know, he probably knew to some level what what Zachariah, you know, there was that level of doubt, and that was what was being addressed. And and so I think I have found in my life at least a lot of times with these challenges to our faith, um, you gotta reach a point of where you just release it and go, okay, God, you know, it it it's in your hands, however it turns out, praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Yeah. I like one thing you said, Jeremy, though, relating to that. The discipline was not rejection, you know, it was discipline not rejection, you know, that God can handle our doubts. And too often in a church, you know, context, you know, doubt is frowned upon. Like, what are you doubting? You know, and we'll get to Mary's response of more healthier doubt. You know, Zachariah's was more of an unhealthy way, but even in that, I think you pointed out, it's kind of like Jonah, you know, second chances and you know, God has a plan, even if we struggle in our faith and belief, you know. God will bring us through that, you know. So take your doubts to him ultimately. It might involve some, you know, discipline in some ways, but God's not going to cast you out just because you're struggling with some doubts in in his plan for your life in things that are happening. And I think, Jonathan, your illustration there, like there was probably some struggles during that time and what you went through, but you know, God did not reject. But maybe there's some discipline. I don't know. You can share the detail go into the details later. You know, we'll get a full testimony episode in the podcast. That's right. So, but I think that's a great story, and I think that's into what you were saying too, Jonathan.

Birth And Naming Of John

Zechariah’s Benedictus And Covenants

John’s Calling To Prepare The Way

SPEAKER_03 20:34

Well, let's take a look at uh verses, we'll skip forward because next episode will be all about Mary. Um, but we'll say we'll we'll skip forward to the birth of John in verse 57, and then we'll we'll finish the chapter 57 to 80. But in 57, Elizabeth gives birth to the son, and everyone is rejoicing. On the eighth day, um they uh circumcised John, and uh and then that was also the naming, and then the neighbors assumed that he would be named after his father. But I want to pause. I actually learned an interesting thing while I was studying through this about the uh about the eighth day and why circumcision on the eighth day, and how God uh the Bible actually is line lined up with and and how God is so so um lines up science with scripture, and and that's actually that um apparently on the eighth day, vitamin K peaks in a baby's body, uh, and and vitamin K apparently is a is a clotting agent. And I'm not a science or a doctor or anything, so I I might be speaking incorrectly, but the little I researched it was really neat that this was the actually the healthiest day for the baby to be circumcised, and so God God was um speaking to that, and science has proved that out. Science has proved what God already knew. Like that's kind of a was a cool thing for me. But so we see uh moving forward, we see, you know, everybody assumes he's the boy's gonna be named Zechariah, but Elizabeth says no, his name shall be John. Um and then they're kind of scoffing at her, but then Zechariah affirms when he's when he writes down his name is John. Um he actually though I'm gonna sometimes I can get in to be a word nerd, like so like differences between shall be and is. Um Zechariah is actually saying at this point, I think he's learned his lesson. Uh, and he's saying, you know, God has already named this child John. Like, so he's saying his name is John, not his name will be John. Like, and so he and and uh in that obedience, he's he we we see his tongue was loosed, and he begins to praise God, you know, and all the people are sp like are asking at this point, like, what's gonna happen with this child? This is like it's such an amazing uh event happening right now. Um then moving forward, um now that Zechariah can finally talk, he has a lot to say. So we we see his uh what's called the Benedictus or his prophecy. We see um that God in in 68 through uh uh really 79, um, but we can break it down into a little bit littler chunks, and 68 to 69, um we see Zechariah talking about how God has uh visited and redeemed, and visited uh echoes back to Exodus in 431, where we God sees and acts and redeems um we redeems, anticipates Christ's work, um the horn of salvation symbolizing strength and victory that uh that Christ will have. And then moving on in verses 70 through 75, he uh Zechariah gets into a lot of the covenantal, um uh back into the covenants of the old testament. We see that Zechariah ties Jesus to the prophets, um, he ties Jesus to the covenant, to the Davidic covenant from 2 Samuel 7. Um, he ties this promise back to even back to the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis uh back in Genesis 12 and 22. Um and then he starts talking about his son and what his son will be, and how this is is a fulfillment of the prophecies that we see in Isaiah 40, uh verse 3 and Micah 3:1, that John will be a prophet of the most high and a forerunner, the f the promised forerunner. He will teach repentance and he will point people to forgiveness, like like we see in Jeremiah 31, 34. And finally, as we as he's wrapping up, he ends with this beautiful prophecy of the Messiah. We see as Jesus is the sunrise, the breaking of dawn, um, in the in the darkness. He will Jesus is going to bring light and guidance and peace. Um and then at the to wrap up the chapter, we see John uh being formed and he grows strong in the spirit, lives in the wilderness, God's training and gr and sometimes in the wilderness when we feel like we're alone, that's uh it's it's a training ground for um for us as we're as God's preparing us for something else and something new. And then in my study, I had a little bonus content. Like I looked at um uh like we already talked about how John um is talked about in all of the Gospels. Um and you know, we see him throughout the Gospels and in Matthew, Mark, and and in the book of John as well. One of my favorite verses about John is is in the book in the Gospel of John, when in chapter one he's called he said that he bore witness to the light, but he was not the light himself. Um and then in John 3 30, when Jesus' ministry was starting to take off, uh some of John's disciples came to him and and and said and were concerned, and John says, Well, he must increase and I must decrease. And what that really strikes home to me, and like it hits like home to me. Um, you know, and then uh in in our own lives, we we should be bearing witness to Christ. And we should be uh just like John um was bearing witness to Christ, um, and how it's not about us, it's about Christ, and how you know, with like whenever we serve or whenever we're doing something, and like it he must increase in our lives and in the in the in in our testimonies, and and we must decrease. Um so again, um that's the rest of that rest of chapter one. Um, curious to hear your all's insights.

From Silence To Praise And Application

SPEAKER_00 27:04

I think one of the things that has always kind of struck me about this is Zacharias, who you know we we already established, had a pretty uh impressive resume spiritually, if you will. Um he doubts what Gabriel tells him, and Gabriel strikes him with muteness for basically the period of when uh Elizabeth was pregnant. And then he's unmuted at the end of uh this section, verse 64 says, And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loose, and he spoke blessing God. First words out of his mouth, after not speaking for nine months, verse 68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. Not why was I not able to speak? For the he wasn't complaining, he wasn't looking about him, he's clearly learned, I think, his a little bit of his lesson, um, and God had a place for him. But the first thing out of his mouth, he's blessing the Lord, even after an undesirable circumstance. How many of us do that? You know, yeah it it's there's a there's a lesson in there for each one of us because we're all going to go through things. Jonathan shared a very personal story between him and Christine and just some of their challenges initially of getting getting pregnant. And sometimes, you know, we don't see what God sees. We're not on his timing. Um one of the things we haven't really talked about here is you know what happened right before this? Nothing. 400 years of silence. They're called the silent years between Malachi and Um and the Gospels. So if you look at even the part that that he's talking about, back to verse 17, when he's describing this child, he's he will go before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers of the children and the disobedient to the wisdom to the just, and to make ready the Lord a prepared people. That is a direct quote from the last two verses of the book of Malachi, Malachi 4, 5, and 6. So this is a direct link that you know when God has been silent for 400 years, he chooses now to speak through his messenger, Gabriel, Zechariah, who has been faithful to the Lord amidst all that silence. And then he himself is silenced for nine months. And the first words out of his mouth is not why did this take so long, not why am I why am I being punished like this? Is first words out of his mouth, blessed be the Lord God of Israel. Man, what a lesson for each one of us.

SPEAKER_02 29:24

Absolutely. I think another important thing, too, and you went into the naming, you know, the naming that was a fatherly right to name your child and a big deal, legacy-wise. And this ties directly into, you know, Joseph had to do the same thing. You know, Joseph was told his name will be Jesus. So in both cases, Zechariah and Joseph, you know, that's in Matthew, they had to give up their name, you know, right to control, you know, this child, you know, like this child is for God's purposes, he's being set apart. And so often our faithfulness requires, you know, we're in a culture where we're all about our rights and you know, having our way and desires with things and whatnot. And too often it can be, you know, well, that's my right. And when we come to God, we have to come humbly and and give up a lot of those. So I think that was a really important, you know, tie in with Matthew and and yeah, Mitch, which love what you said because there's so much, and even the end of it, you know, talking about the light, you know, going all the way to Isaiah, you know, the people walk in darkness will see a great light, which will be Christ. Like I say, he's being prophet, not he is the light, but bearing witness to the light, like you said. So so much that seeing how that looks is is pretty impactful. Amen. Jonathan's got many words for us. Put it that well, right now.

Takeaways And Next Week’s Focus

SPEAKER_01 30:42

I d I do like the the the idea though, that as especially for as men, um be you know, in the beginning was the word, you know, that is God. And for us, our words are impactful, but we got to be careful of what we say and what we think and do. And I think he this is an example, like uh, you know, as as the lead priest of of doing the duties for the the nation of Israel, you know, he had a he had a very important role to carry out, and part of I think part of that punishment you see of being mute was because he wasn't fulfilling that role and just that that responsibility of uh speaking truth. You've been quiet for nine months, you better have something good to say when you have absolutely but he was redeemed. That that was utilized in a way that redeemed him, redeemed, you know, and God used it to some level. Sometimes our stubborn heartedness sometimes can be God can even use that. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

We go through suffering, we go through the discipline, and some people want to curse God. They don't want to come to that point of learning what God is trying to show them. But we see, like you said, Zachariah through that comes out redeemed in terms of learning that and giving that to the Lord and submitting to you know his plan, being obedient. I think a lot of themes we see, even though we could bang on him for you know his doubts, but we see where he comes to. And we all go through a similar journey very frequently. So especially for people listening, hopefully can get a lot of takeaways from this as well as confidence in Christ and learning personally how we can learn from those examples in the Bible.

SPEAKER_03 32:17

Yeah. Um something I heard, it's not not my original phrase, but I've heard it in in other preachers, but it's not how you start, it's how you finish. And we can see that that uh Zechariah finished well, he and it finished at least the story of what we we see in the Bible of him of praising God, and and and and you know, after 400 years of of silence and darkness, we can see God uh breaking through, breaking in, speaking, and the sunrise starting to happen where we will see the light, light in the darkness here. And I'm excited for the next next couple episodes where we start to see that.

SPEAKER_02 32:54

So this will be the last we see of John the Baptist, but super important Luke gives us, and we've kind of set the table some of these super important details, and next week we will get into the more direct prophecy of Christ. But I think Mitch highlighted, Jeremy did a great job. Jonathan really appreciates you sharing. You know, just gives us this confidence in who Christ was because of John the Baptist. You know, God didn't, you know, not telegraph this. This is just continues to build our confidence of who Christ was, all of the prophecy he fulfilled, you know, three, four hundred-something prophecies, but John the Baptist paving the way, preaching, being that prophet, hugely important, tying back to the end of Malachi. Like, all right, this was the last you heard, and you know, here, this is how you know God is working, God is moving. So it should give us a lot of confidence in our faith in who Christ is and what we read in scripture.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

So yeah, I love the fact that Luke recorded that. He recorded the last two verses. Uh, he chose to record that. And again, this is the only place that's recorded in any of the gospels, but it's by Luke. And that's one of the reasons we selected this. It's just, I don't know. I love those little fascinating details that you you pick up through scripture. I think when you kind of zoom out, there's application all the way through this. And I think today, for me, the big takeaway is regardless of what state, you know, whatever your circumstances are, you know, they could be trying to have a child, it could be a financial situation, it could be a family difficulty, whatever that is, God is in it. And his timing is perfect, and you have to be patient. And the and you know, they were patient, they were old, and God finally answered this prayer. Uh, and when he did, when he does, and he he ultimately will, well, but when he does answer that prayer, you know, have faith that you know he will see it through. And that's where Zachariah kind of stumbled a little bit. But nine months of silence was he come out as soon as the first words out of his mouth is how good God is. And I think God did kind of a work in his heart and reassured him. And uh, I don't know, it's just an amazing story. I'm looking forward to uh to talking about Mary next week.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

All right. Well, Life Talk family, thanks for joining us. Pray this is a blessing for everyone as we are journeying through Luke a couple weeks in, and as uh we said, we will be looking more at Mary next week. So join us next time for another great episode, and we will look forward to seeing you then. Thanks for tuning in to the Life Talk Podcast. If this episode encouraged you, please be sure to like, comment, subscribe, and leave a review so others can find this content as well. And we'll look forward to seeing you next Monday for another great episode.