Luke 1: His ways are not our ways!

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Welcome back to the Iron Saints Podcast with your host, Dan Willis. Welcome to the first episode of the Iron Saints Podcast. I am so excited to have you guys here. I'm your host, Dan Willis. We are going to be daily dropping into the Bible, taking a look at God's word, ripping apart the scriptures, not exclusively for men, but with a targeted focus to fathers, brothers, husbands. We're going to be taking a look at how the word speaks to us as men and what we can do to apply that word daily. For the most part, guys, we are going to be working in sequence. And so to get us started in this journey, we're going to start with Luke chapter 1. We're going to work our way through Luke, which is a 2-parter. We'll start with Luke, we'll work our way through Acts, then we'll head through Paul's letters straight through till Revelation. Hopefully you guys are able to come along on the journey with me. It'll be a blast. We'll be able to take a look at a few things, break some things down. I'm excited to get going. Let's see what we can pull out of the scriptures. I, I'm going to be reading from the English Standard Version here. Obviously everybody's got their own favorite, but for me, I will I'll always be reading from the English Standard Version, just if you guys are trying to follow along with your scriptures at home, that that'll be what I'm reading from personally. So we're gonna get started in Luke one. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the book of Luke, Luke was written by not an apostle, but somebody who was around the apostles sufficiently, had a had a long-running relationship with Paul. This book is written very much as a gospel of Christ for the Gentiles, for those that aren't coming from a Hebrew. Tradition. We're not looking for a historical account. It's not necessarily as poetic or waxing poetic as John's is, but it is very much designated and designed in its writing to reach to the Gentiles, to share the story of the gospel, which I think is super practical for today. So we are going to be reading from the English Standard Version. We'll be taking a look at Luke as he walks us through the journey. And as I mentioned at the beginning, Luke is kind of a two-parter, whereas the other gospels stand on their own in many respects. Luke is the first part of a 2-parter with Luke and Acts. The 2 books go together almost hand in hand. So the same authors, same intent to continue sharing the story of the early church. So that will be exciting where we're able to not only see the gospel of Christ and how that applies, but how the early church actually takes that gospel and applies it and starts to grow. So I'm looking forward to doing that with you guys, but let's get into this. Chapter 1, Luke 1. Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things that you have been taught. In the days of Herod, the king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth, and they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now, while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. The whole multitude of people were praying outside at the hour of incense, and there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John, and you will have joy and gladness Many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the children of Israel, the fathers to their children, and the disobedient of wisdom to the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. And Zechariah said to the angel, how shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years. And the angel answered him, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. The people were waiting for Zechariah, And they were wondering at this delay in the temple. When he came out and he was unable to speak to them, they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. He kept making signs to them and remained mute, and when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for 5 months she kept herself hidden, saying, Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among the people. All right, we're going to stop there for today. We're not going to keep going all the way through chapter 1, but I think that this is a really great start. So we understand right away that as this book is being written, it's being written for the exclusive purpose of giving an orderly account of the things that happened through Jesus's life. So this is putting some chronology to it. It's giving us an understanding of, you know, start to finish, kind of what happened here. It is a little bit interesting, though, that we do start before before Jesus is even in the picture, right? Now, people will argue, of course, Jesus was always in the picture, but we're talking physically on this earth. We start apart from Jesus, the narrative that we know elsewhere of Mary and Joseph. We actually start with the story of Elizabeth. And the story of Elizabeth is a very, very interesting one where you have a woman who's barren, who has been barren. You've got a couple that has served the Lord their entire life, constantly praying to the Lord. Zechariah goes in, he gets a promise from God. The thing that you've been yearning for, the thing that you've been wishing for, the thing that you've been praying to me for, it's going to happen. And the amazing thing here is Zechariah uses his own understanding and goes, but that's not possible. That's not possible. Even though I've been praying for this for decades and decades and decades, even though I have been a faithful believer, even though I know who you are, God, and I teach who you are, God, and I share who you are, God, even though all those things are true, I cannot believe what you've said is going to happen is going to happen because I can't make sense of it. I think that this is a really, really telling and, and convicting thing that most men have gone through. Think back to things that you have in your own life that you have prayed for, yearned for. Maybe it's a wife, maybe it is children, maybe it's a job, maybe it's success, maybe it's health, maybe it's whatever it is. But you've wrestled under long suffering in prayer to make it happen. And then the Lord shows up and says, well, this is how we're going to make this work. And you go, that doesn't make any sense to me, God. The interesting thing here is God doesn't immediately just allow this. He— there is a discipline for this. There is a guidance from the Lord of, you begged for this, you prayed for this in earnest, and now you doubt who I am. And so Zechariah has to go through this time of silence as a result of his lack of faith and trust. I think this is a really good place for us to start in this because as much as this podcast, I want it to be for all of you that will listen to this eventually. For many respects, this podcast is for me as well. That I not only do the devotion, but reach out to men that otherwise just don't have the time or make the time to do it. This has been a struggle that I've had in my my own personal journey for a long time. Just praying, you know, Lord, I pray that our relationship would get closer, that we would come closer together as a result of of where I am in life. Here are the things that I'm struggling with. Here's the things that I want. And many times. And sometimes the answer, while not audible, has come through the scriptures and said, well, this is how God's going to go about doing this. And I don't have the faith to believe in that, even though I've gone to him and I've asked him and I've been there and I've, I've cried through it and I've been angry through it and I've, I've wrestled like Jacob through it. I've done all the things that scripture would tell you to do. Ultimately, it, it lacks the conviction because as soon as the answer presents itself, it's not how I would do it. I think that this is a beautiful way to get started in the, in the Book of Luke as we take a look at this as a group of men, just to, to really temper our hearts. Just take the time, consider what is it that the Lord is capable of first before we ask. Our Father who art in heaven is how we start the Lord's Prayer. And I think that there's a, there's a real reason for that, that before we get into anything else that's going to follow in the Lord's Prayer, we have to get our eyes firmly focused and centered on who God is and what he's about. And I think that that's just about the most perfect way that we could start on this journey through Luke. So I would challenge you today, guys, take the time, take a few minutes. It doesn't have to be anything crazy. Just take a few minutes and really dial in on who is God? Who is he to you? Identify him. What is he capable of? Is he incapable of anything? Does he do the things the way that you want them done? Does he do them in a crazy way? How have you seen God work in the past through your life? Really wrestle through those things today. And if you have things that are on your heart, that you are lifting up to God in long suffering. Take the time to realize his ways are not going to be your ways. More than likely, he's going to do a work if he chooses to in a very different way than you would have done it. Take the time to sit back and look and see if maybe the prayer that you've been praying has already been answered. That's it for today, guys. Just that simple. We're going to do a quick passage of scripture. We're going to break it down. I'm going to give you my insights on it. And then I'm going to send you guys off with just that little bit of try this today. Try Try to struggle with this, try to wrestle with this concept. I'm going to pray for you guys today, but I would ask that if you have the time, check the description on the podcast wherever you're listening to this. There are all the social media channels, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Those are all there and available for you. If you want to comment directly on the podcast itself, that's fine. But anybody who's willing to share a prayer request, I'm more than happy to pray for that on the podcast itself. Obviously, I will not use full names or whatever. I will use either a pseudonym or your first name. But if you have prayer requests that you would like to be prayed for on the podcast, please just let me know on social media or on the podcast itself and just let me know and I'll lift those things up in prayer as well. I hope you guys enjoyed the podcast today. Please take a moment and let me know your thoughts as well. Have an amazing day today and I will catch you guys tomorrow with the next segment from Luke. Lord, thank you so much for these men. Thank you for all of those who are listening today and following along in the scriptures. I just pray that you would speak to their hearts, that they would trust in you, Lord, even if it seems impossible that they would trust in you. They would take this time every day to just dive into your word for 10 quick minutes, whether it's on the drive in or it's as they have their morning coffee. I just pray that they're able to take this time of devotion with you, Lord, to listen to your word, to come together as men, and to just appreciate who you are and what it is that you hope to do through us and for us. In your name we pray.