In episode 50 of the “No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe” podcast, host Greg Ryan opens with John 1:1 and frames the episode around the power of spoken words in the New Testament. He honors the Virgin Mary, recounting Luke 1’s narrative of the angel Gabriel’s visits to Zechariah and Mary. Ryan contrasts Zechariah’s unbelief—evidenced by his muteness after questioning God’s promise—with Mary’s humble, faithful response, highlighting how both asked “How can this be?” but received different outcomes based on their heart attitudes. He emphasizes that God welcomes sincere questions but resists doubt rooted in unbelief, urging listeners to examine modern church culture’s prevalence of unbelief. Ryan calls believers to trust God’s word, ask legitimate questions, and let faith shape their spoken declarations. The episode concludes with a reminder to read Luke 1 fully and reflect on the power of words in personal faith.
Welcome to episode 50. We're going to start this episode like we do every episode, in the Gospel of John 1:1.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.
Welcome to episode 50. I can't believe I'm halfway to 100, but I want to thank you. If you've been a part of this, I want to thank you for continuing on with me. And if this is your first episode, I want to encourage you to go back. I think in episode 40, I started talking about the power of your word. So word We're 10 episodes into this, or 11 I guess, and we are about to move into the New Testament. And I've, I picked for episode 50, I really wanted to, to give honor to the Virgin Mary. And I just, it's so amazing and so unbelievable. I don't guess unbelievable is a good word, but it is, it's such a wonderful story where the Virgin Mary, she's a young girl and she is visited by Gabriel. And we're gonna get into that, but I just wanna give honor to her and to what she did as a young girl and believed the word of God. That is incredible. And I just wanna give a shout out. I don't know if she can hear me in heaven. I think she probably can, but I wanna say, "Attagirl," because that is incredible. This story is incredible. And she is the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is incredible. And so I just want to, I just want to give honor to the Virgin Mary, to Mary the mother of Jesus. And I want to, I want to give it— and that's, this is number 50, so it's kind of a big deal. It's kind of an anniversary kind of episode. So I wanted to give some credit where credit is due. And so I want to get into that. We're going to find this story in the Gospel of Luke. Now before we get to Mary, I want to talk about— because Gabriel went and visited with Zacharias before— Zacharias and Elizabeth that did not have any children. They both served the Lord, and they were— we're finding this in Luke, we find this in Luke 1:6: And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinance of the Lord, blameless. So it was while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. Then 1:11, then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also 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. He will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And then I— this is where I want you to to listen to what Zechariah said. Now, this— that was Gabriel speaking, and he was giving words straight from God to Zechariah, who was blameless. Now, I mean, I want you to see that this guy, this was a leader, and he, he is— he has been spoken to by an angel. And now Zechariah then says, and this is in 18, and Zechariah said to the angel, How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years. 17:18 And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. 17:19 But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time. Now I want you to, I want you to picture, we just talked about Joshua and he told his people to be quiet while they walked around the, around Jericho. Gabriel tells Zacharias this good news that he and Elizabeth are going to have a son, John, and then he tells them about what John's going to do and how, you know, what he's not going to do. And Zacharias then asked the question, How can this be? And I want you to hear the question because it's very similar to what Mary asked. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. 2 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 3 Then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 4 And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. 5 He will be great, and be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David: and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and his kingdom there will be no end.' Then Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I do not know a man?' And the angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore also the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age, And this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.' Then Mary said, 'Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her. Now I want you to, I want you to compare. Mary said, 'Now how can this be?' And this is found in 1:34. Then Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be since I do not know a man?' And I want you to go back and look at what Zechariah said to the angel in 1:18. And Zechariah said to the angel, 'How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.' So I want you to see they both are asking a question, and Gabriel responds to one question by making Zechariah mute. And then to the other question, he answers the question. So what is the difference? And you probably already know the difference, but because I think I told you, but it's, it's the unbelief that Zacharias used. He, he didn't come asking like, man, how's this going to happen? Because he's an old man, he knew how babies were born, and he knew how all of this stuff happened. But he was, he was speaking from doubt and unbelief. So he was coming to Gabriel from a, from a place of unbelief. Now, he, he heard the word of God, but he didn't receive it. He didn't believe it. Now, Mary— and I've got to get you in a picture because Mary, you know, the— they're not— again, there wasn't a lot of Google, there wasn't a lot of Facebook going on, and Twitter, I don't know if it was, if it was a thing yet back then. So Mary was getting prepared. She was preparing herself. She was betrothed to Joseph. So she was doing what all young girls— she was getting ready for a wedding. And I, you know, I don't know if you've got kids of that age, but my children are getting older now, and they're in that, you know, the friends of theirs are getting married, and the marrying stage, and there's— it's a big deal. There's announcements coming and saving the date, and you get a card in the mail that says save the date, and then you get another wedding invitation. So I mean, the same— the weddings are still the same but it was a big deal back then too. So Mary knew what was going on. She knew, you know, her wedding night she was gonna— she was gonna become Joseph's wife and all of this stuff. So she knew what— she kind of knew the score. She knew what was going to happen and she knew what to expect. They probably already had the birds and bees talk. But then Gabriel— she's like, wait a minute, how can— how can this be? And she was just asking because she You know, she just— she didn't understand. And so Gabriel said, you know, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, or God will overshadow you. But, you know, and it was a question. It was just a legitimate— and God's not— God's not mad at if you ask a question. If you don't understand, you ask for clarity. And I mean, God's— God's not— again, I'm telling you, God's not mad at you. God's not upset even in the least. So if you've got a legitimate question, ask him. Dig in his word, find it. But if, if you're just coming at it from, I don't believe that, that's a bunch of garbage, then God's going to be a little bit— he's going to handle it a little bit different if you're going to come at it— if you're going to come at him with that angle. And that again, he gives grace to the humble, but he resists the proud. So, you know, I mean, there, there's something it— and it And maybe— I mean, I don't, I don't know that Zacharias was proud. I, I just think his mind, he was just doubtful. He was just, he was in unbelief. And, you know, we'll see that in other, in other lessons. You know, God does not like— God does not like unbelief. And I think that the church, we're running rampant with unbelief now. And I think that's really a very big deal that no one really talks about. It's like that It's like the elephant in the room no one really talks about, but I'm here to talk about it. You know what, I'm here in my room with my microphone, so we're going to talk about the unbelief. And that's the whole— the more we read the word and the more we apply it to our lives, the more that it comes alive and the more belief we have. So that's enough for this episode. I looked up and my clock is, is ticking and we are past the 10-minute mark. So there's a lot in this story. There's two different pregnancies. There's two different— the same angel comes and talks to two different people, and he gets two different responses. This is found in Luke chapter 1. And go back, I want to encourage you to go back and read the whole story and think about, you know, the power of your words, what we're talking about, and how this came to pass. Well, thanks for staying this long, and I look forward to visiting with you in the next episode.
Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.
