The Thrill of Hope--Zachariah's Story

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with your family. Cindy and I drove to Baytown several times, but we were able to visit with my parents and family, with our girls, and with Cindy's Mom and family. This week, we had Cindy's sister and her husband join us in College Station for some culture--we took them to see "A Tuna Christmas."

In the two weeks prior to Thanksgiving, we have been watching Andy Stanley's series on "TIME." We will return to this series for the final three messages after the Christmas Season. However, beginning this week, we will be looking at Andy Stanley's series called "The Thrill of Hope." This is a message series leading us to the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This week's message is called, "Zachariah's Story."

Andy reminds us of the many Christmas Mornings that we experienced as children in which the waiting for that special day seemed to be unbearable. It seemed as if Christmas would never get here. Do you remember those days? Do your children now wait anxiously as you and I once did? Andy uses this illustration to explain the promise of the certainty of Christmas Morning and how the dynamic of waiting....waiting...waiting... set up the first Christmas. There were a group of Jewish people who lived their lives waiting everyday for the fulfillment of prophecy which promised the delivery of a Messiah. These devout Jewish believers had been living this way, waiting for the Messiah for hundreds of years, yet still waiting and expecting the Messiah to appear in their lives. Certainly, they began to experience that feeling that many of us felt as we waited for Christmas Day when we were youngsters...when will it EVER get here? Even in our Christian Experience, we may feel the same emotions that the Jews who were expecting the Messiah certainly felt at some point. After waiting and waiting, God seems to be quiet. He seems to be so silent that we begin to question and may actually doubt.

Then, in Luke, Chapter 1, beginning in Verse 5, we see the story of a priest and his wife who "walked blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord." We see the story of an angel appearing to the priest and promising a son who would become the "forerunner" of the promised Messiah. Yet, this promise of a son appeared to be highly unlikely when one considered the age of the parents and the years of infertility that had haunted them throughout their married life. Yet, the story of Zachariah is a story of God's promise being delivered. It is an example of how God can be trusted to deliver what He promises.

Christmas is also a reminder that your faith in God is not misplaced. God pays attention and is moved by and blessed by those that remain faithful...even when the waiting seems unbearably long. After hundreds of years of waiting, God sent a Messiah on that first Christmas night. Halleujah! Christ, the Savior is born!