THE GIFT OF ANSWERED PRAYER

The Message Brother Ken Wilson brought to The Orchard Church on December 14, 2008

Luke 1:56-80

Lk 1:56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

The Birth of John the Baptist

Lk 1:57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.
Lk 1:58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.
Lk 1:59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah,
Lk 1:60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
Lk 1:61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
Lk 1:62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child.
Lk 1:63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”
Lk 1:64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God.
Lk 1:65 The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things.
Lk 1:66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Zechariah’s Song

Lk 1:67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
Lk 1:68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people.
Lk 1:69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David
Lk 1:70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
Lk 1:71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—
Lk 1:72 to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,
Lk 1:73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
Lk 1:74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear
Lk 1:75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Lk 1:76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
Lk 1:77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
Lk 1:78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
Lk 1:79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Lk 1:80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.