The Birth and Naming of St. John The Baptist

The Birth Of John The Baptist

Please be patient this week and read through the passages as they really are the lesson, the Homily will follow the passages thanks so much for understanding how important this message order is.

Though not done in the majority of the Church We will use Blue today to mark the birth of John, one of 3 Sundays we will use Blue, the other two are the two annunciations by Gabriel.

 

 

First Reading

Isaiah 40:1 ? "Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God.

 2 "Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the LORD'S hand Double for all her sins."

 3 ? A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

 4 "Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley;

 5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

 6 A voice says, "Call out." Then he answered, "What shall I call out?" All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.

 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.

Malachi 4:5 "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.

 6 "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."

(NAS95)

This Is The Word Of The LORD

Response By All: Thanks Be To GOD!!!

 

 

Second Reading and Lesson

Luke 1:1-37 & 57-80

1 ? In as much as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us,

 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,

 3 it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus;

 4 so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.

 5 ? In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

 6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.

 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

 8 Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division,

 9 according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

 10 And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering.

 11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.

 12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him.

 13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.

 14 "You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

 15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb.

 16 "And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.

 17 "It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

 18 Zacharias said to the angel, "How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years."

 19 The angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

 20 "And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time."

 21 The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple.

 22 But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute.

 23 When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.

 24 After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying,

 25 "This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men."

Lu 1:26 ? Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,

 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

 28 And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."

 29 But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.

 30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.

 31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.

 32 "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."

 34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"

 35 The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

 36 "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.

37 "For nothing will be impossible with God."…..

Lu 1:56 And Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her home.

 57 ? Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.

 58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.

 59 And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father.

 60 But his mother answered and said, "No indeed; but he shall be called John."

 61 And they said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name."

 62 And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called.

 63 And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, "His name is John." And they were all astonished.

 64 And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God.

 65 Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea.

 66 All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, "What then will this child turn out to be?" For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.

 67 ? And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

 68 "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,

 69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant--

 70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old--

 71 Salvation FROM OUR ENEMIES, And FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US;

 72 To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant,

 73 The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,

 74 To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear,

 75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

 76 "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS;

 77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins,

 78 Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,

 79 TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace."

 80 And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

(NAS95)

The Holy Gospel Of Our LORD Jesus Christ

Response By All: All Glory To YOU LORD Christ

 

Lesson The Birth of John The Baptist

Again we might ask why are we talking about Luke 1 in June?

I had one of those weeks where I wrote the message based on one I taught in North Texas a few years ago at this time, and ended up ripping it up as being to wordy for the long and clearly laid out Passage we just read.

So our lesson will be a homily as we Pastors too many times get in the way of the Bible, so we will look at a couple of brief points.

First we celebrate the Birth of John the Baptist here in June as he really was 6 months older than his Cousin Our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.

We also remember that one of the goals I am committed to is returning the true events of the Bible to the Calendar year and allowing us to be able to know quickly the dates and enjoy them year in and year out.

I will bet that many Churches will give little thought to this being the week celebrate John’s Birth, and yet what pivotal promise in the Course of our salvation it was.

 

The LORD laid out a clear map for us to follow, and after 400 years of silence we open up Luke 1 with the LORD doing what the LORD does best, making the impossible a sure thing.

I listened to Bill Maher recently speaking to Charlie Rose about the “impossibility of Jonah being swallowed by a fish” and I realized that Mr. Maher is perhaps closer to the Kingdom of Heaven than most people sitting in Church pews each week, as he actually sees these events as humanly impossible.  

I actually wish Pastors saw Luke 18:25 "For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

 26 They who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"

 27 But He said, "The things that are impossible with people are possible with God." 

As a key to the whole Bible, but sadly in every Church we have attended they still preach the same garbage the Pharisees spread demanding “We get better and better” and NOT seeing the work of the HOLY SPIRIT and the fruit HE gives us to be more and more Christ like.

You see in most of the Churches and we have traveled Coast to Coast 8 times in 6 years so our sampling is NOT small, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is NOT Preached, but instead they are the “Religious Self Righteous” Jesus warns us about. LET ME BE BLUNT, THEY DON’T BELIEVE WE START OUT DEAD, AND NEED TO FIRST BE REGENERATED PERIOD!!!!

If you are NOT walking out weekly on your “Pastors” sermons you might be the 2% that actually have by the Mercy of GOD a true Gospel Preaching Pastor, or Your Ears HAVE NOT BEEN OPENED.

As I have asked, and again saw it the “Theological Stars of the Day’s” Tweets, there is NO mention of our strength alone being in Jesus Christ alone, and one could confuse Dr. Keller, Dr. Horton, and these others quotes as being Buddhist, Hindu, or Humanistic Philological babble, but as I promised let’s stick to the lesson, but please keep this in mind as we walk through the Birth of John, and enjoy the breath taking and needing to sit down interaction we REALLY are seeing here. 

With the case of Elizabeth Mary’s cousin being able to conceive this was the case as Dr. Luke the recorder of this history was clear to point out She was barren, period.

 We know the players in this real event, and we know that Gabriel announces to Zacharias the Birth of this son, to be named John even though there where NO John’s in the entire line of David.

It is these tensions that I call the head snapping moments in the Bible that sadly get miss preached as they are also the whole point and normally get overlooked.

Such examples happen weekly and sadly the low hanging fruit gets missed for some agenda driven point that really is either not there or really NOT the point.

But why are they missed?

Well is most likely do to a poor understanding (the HOLY SPIRIT not opening our eyes to the passage) of our starting point.

If you by GOD’S Grace have been walked to the real point where you see that causing Jonah to be swallowed for real by a fish and allowing him to live in that fish for 3 days is scientifically impossible, and that you own personal conversion was even a more impossible, then the LORD has opened your eyes to the truth.

It is why I like to say the whole Bible is about the LORD putting Camels through the eyes of needles, as Jesus HIMSELF says Mt 19:26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Our Next head snapping moment is in the very naming of the baby on the eight day John, as NO one in David’s line was named John, and as we do today our children are named after familiar names so John is indeed a shocker!

Do yourself a favor and read through Luke’s record of Mary’s genealogy in Chapter 3, and note the repeated use of names as we still do.

So John will come in the Spirit of Elijah, but what does the LORD also do?

2nd Kings 1:8 They answered him, "He was a hairy man with a leather girdle bound about his loins." And he said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."

Matthew 3:4 Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

HE even dressed them alike so if the Religious Leaders really were able to open their spiritual eyes on their own they would NOT have been able to NOT notice John is the prophet promised in the spirit of Elijah.

As I promised this would be brief, and I hope it has whet your appetite to dig into these passages more.

Just think in Six Months we will be Celebrating the Birth again of Our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.

Please be patient this week and read through the passages as they really are the lesson, as the Homily to follow the passages.

Though not done in the majority of the Church We will use Blue today to mark the birth of John, one of 3 Sundays we will use Blue, the other two are the two annunciations by Gabriel.

 

 

First Reading

Isaiah 40:1 ? "Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God.

 2 "Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the LORD'S hand Double for all her sins."

 3 ? A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

 4 "Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley;

 5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

 6 A voice says, "Call out." Then he answered, "What shall I call out?" All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.

 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.

Malachi 4:5 "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.

 6 "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."

(NAS95)

This Is The Word Of The LORD

Response By All: Thanks Be To GOD!!!

 

 

Second Reading and Lesson

Luke 1:1-37 & 57-80

1 ? In as much as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us,

 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,

 3 it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus;

 4 so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.

 5 ? In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

 6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.

 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

 8 Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division,

 9 according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

 10 And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering.

 11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.

 12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him.

 13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.

 14 "You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

 15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb.

 16 "And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.

 17 "It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

 18 Zacharias said to the angel, "How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years."

 19 The angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

 20 "And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time."

 21 The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple.

 22 But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute.

 23 When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.

 24 After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying,

 25 "This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men."

Lu 1:26 ? Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,

 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

 28 And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."

 29 But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.

 30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.

 31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.

 32 "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."

 34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"

 35 The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

 36 "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.

37 "For nothing will be impossible with God."…..

Lu 1:56 And Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her home.

 57 ? Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.

 58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.

 59 And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father.

 60 But his mother answered and said, "No indeed; but he shall be called John."

 61 And they said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name."

 62 And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called.

 63 And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, "His name is John." And they were all astonished.

 64 And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God.

 65 Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea.

 66 All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, "What then will this child turn out to be?" For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.

 67 ? And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

 68 "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,

 69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant--

 70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old--

 71 Salvation FROM OUR ENEMIES, And FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US;

 72 To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant,

 73 The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,

 74 To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear,

 75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

 76 "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS;

 77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins,

 78 Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,

 79 TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace."

 80 And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

(NAS95)

The Holy Gospel Of Our LORD Jesus Christ

Response By All: All Glory To YOU LORD Christ

 

Lesson The Birth of John The Baptist

Again we might ask why are we talking about Luke 1 in June?

I had one of those weeks where I wrote the message based on one I taught in North Texas a few years ago at this time, and ended up ripping it up as being to wordy for the long and clearly laid out Passage we just read.

So our lesson will be a homily as we Pastors too many times get in the way of the Bible, so we will look at a couple of brief points.

First we celebrate the Birth of John the Baptist here in June as he really was 6 months older than his Cousin Our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.

We also remember that one of the goals I am committed to is returning the true events of the Bible to the Calendar year and allowing us to be able to know quickly the dates and enjoy them year in and year out.

I will bet that many Churches will give little thought to this being the week celebrate John’s Birth, and yet what pivotal promise in the Course of our salvation it was.

 

The LORD laid out a clear map for us to follow, and after 400 years of silence we open up Luke 1 with the LORD doing what the LORD does best, making the impossible a sure thing.

I listened to Bill Maher recently speaking to Charlie Rose about the “impossibility of Jonah being swallowed by a fish” and I realized that Mr. Maher is perhaps closer to the Kingdom of Heaven than most people sitting in Church pews each week, as he actually sees these events as humanly impossible.  

I actually wish Pastors saw Luke 18:25 "For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

 26 They who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"

 27 But He said, "The things that are impossible with people are possible with God." 

As a key to the whole Bible, but sadly in every Church we have attended they still preach the same garbage the Pharisees spread demanding “We get better and better” and NOT seeing the work of the HOLY SPIRIT and the fruit HE gives us to be more and more Christ like.

You see in most of the Churches and we have traveled Coast to Coast 8 times in 6 years so our sampling is NOT small, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is NOT Preached, but instead they are the “Religious Self Righteous” Jesus warns us about. LET ME BE BLUNT, THEY DON’T BELIEVE WE START OUT DEAD, AND NEED TO FIRST BE REGENERATED PERIOD!!!!

If you are NOT walking out weekly on your “Pastors” sermons you might be the 2% that actually have by the Mercy of GOD a true Gospel Preaching Pastor, or Your Ears HAVE NOT BEEN OPENED.

As I have asked, and again saw it the “Theological Stars of the Day’s” Tweets, there is NO mention of our strength alone being in Jesus Christ alone, and one could confuse Dr. Keller, Dr. Horton, and these others quotes as being Buddhist, Hindu, or Humanistic Philological babble, but as I promised let’s stick to the lesson, but please keep this in mind as we walk through the Birth of John, and enjoy the breath taking and needing to sit down interaction we REALLY are seeing here. 

With the case of Elizabeth Mary’s cousin being able to conceive this was the case as Dr. Luke the recorder of this history was clear to point out She was barren, period.

 We know the players in this real event, and we know that Gabriel announces to Zacharias the Birth of this son, to be named John even though there where NO John’s in the entire line of David.

It is these tensions that I call the head snapping moments in the Bible that sadly get miss preached as they are also the whole point and normally get overlooked.

Such examples happen weekly and sadly the low hanging fruit gets missed for some agenda driven point that really is either not there or really NOT the point.

But why are they missed?

Well is most likely do to a poor understanding (the HOLY SPIRIT not opening our eyes to the passage) of our starting point.

If you by GOD’S Grace have been walked to the real point where you see that causing Jonah to be swallowed for real by a fish and allowing him to live in that fish for 3 days is scientifically impossible, and that you own personal conversion was even a more impossible, then the LORD has opened your eyes to the truth.

It is why I like to say the whole Bible is about the LORD putting Camels through the eyes of needles, as Jesus HIMSELF says Mt 19:26 And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Our Next head snapping moment is in the very naming of the baby on the eight day John, as NO one in David’s line was named John, and as we do today our children are named after familiar names so John is indeed a shocker!

Do yourself a favor and read through Luke’s record of Mary’s genealogy in Chapter 3, and note the repeated use of names as we still do.

So John will come in the Spirit of Elijah, but what does the LORD also do?

2nd Kings 1:8 They answered him, "He was a hairy man with a leather girdle bound about his loins." And he said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."

Matthew 3:4 Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

HE even dressed them alike so if the Religious Leaders really were able to open their spiritual eyes on their own they would NOT have been able to NOT notice John is the prophet promised in the spirit of Elijah.

As I promised this would be brief, and I hope it has whet your appetite to dig into these passages more.

Just think in Six Months we will be Celebrating the Birth again of Our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.