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ministry with a gift of any amount. Thank you. We continue in Luke's Gospel investigating the man

who's God. We're in Luke 7, 18 through 27, a brief two week series on a man named John the

Baptistizer. And if you were with us early on in Luke, you know a little bit about this man. His

his family is a rather extraordinary story. His his dad's name is Zachariah was essentially a pastor

in a small town, likely working a part-time job, small congregation, maybe a town of dozens,

a hundred, a congregation of singles or dozens of people, a very humble, simple family. His family

was likely poor, working primarily among those who were in large part illiterate. His mother was

a devout woman, really did love the Lord, her name was Elizabeth. And this simple, humble, hardworking

rural couple devoted to God. They loved God. They loved one another. They loved the people that they

served in ministry. And what they really wanted was a child. They wanted to extend their love

to the next generation. And so they prayed for many years. God, please entrust to us a child. We'd

love to get pregnant and have a baby. And that prayer was not answered for many years. And what they

did not do is what Abraham and Sarah had done many years prior. That is sin against God. Tick matters

into their own hands. Encourage an adultery and the birth of a child out of the marriage covenant

and all of the chaos that is ensued since. Instead, they kept loving God, kept loving one another,

kept loving the people that God called them to serve in ministry and asking God for the gift of a

child. And even though they were older, perhaps 50 years or more, we know not exactly, we read

early in Luke's gospel that God answered their prayer. And by a miracle of God's grace, Elizabeth

...