Today we celebrate the arrival of a new born named John, whose birth brings us a step closer to the savior he was destined to describe……There are lots of ways people have birthday parties, but today as we being I wanted you to see how some of our young people celebrated the birth of Jesus this past Friday, recreating the village of Bethlehem…….

The day does come…….when it is time

Ahh, the final days of pregnancy. I remember them well, in large part because I wrote everything down. Weighing in at over 200 pounds (I am over 6 feet, but that is still a lot of girth to be hauling around, especially when it's distributed completely unevenly in the middle of the body), there was little I could do. There was little I wanted to do, my mind kept rolling about the possibilities of my baby's entrance into the world.

I was reminded anew of those days spent on uncomfortable tenterhooks as I read She Speaks, the blog of a dear Internet friend. She is nearing the end of her pregnancy and doesn't quite know what to do with herself. Many women don't work in the last few days near their due date, and finding things to do (other than obsessing about labour and what life will look like with a brand new flailing human being) is pretty hard to do.

I tried to clean, but the truth is I'm not great at it and it was hard to get into position to scrub under the sink or on top of the cupboards. I'd sometimes take the dog for a walk, but five minutes in I'd be overcome with paralyzing fear that the baby might just pop out in the bushes as I walked along……And also, walks were not very constructive due to my need to use the bathroom every two minutes or so. I'd read, but couldn't concentrate. In the end, I read a lot of blogs -- over and over…. in a battle to prepare myself mentally.

What did you do to pass those agonizingly slow final days of pregnancy?

The time does come…..

Shared with neighbors and friends…….the story of your birth will be repeated by your mother, grandmother, uncles aunts and close friends, until they all die and you take their place with stories of your own…….

In this case mom and baby turn out fine
Dad is relieved - having heard all those horror stories about what happens to old women having babies for the first time….
Everyone is rejoicing with the new parents…..

This story is unusually memorable

Seems dad was speechless something about seeing a vision while in the temple
But turns out that Mom (Elizabeth) had been the object of God’s mercy the story goes - because God finally exalted her above the shame of being childless, freed from being the source of all the gossip about her family’s sinful background or the stinging accusations regarding Zechariah’s behavior ….he must have done something really bad that God would do leave then without children……….

So I imagine every year at John’s birthday parties growing up they relived those amazing events.

Eight days after a boy is born he is dedicated to the Lord,

And so these faithful followers of God had their son dedicated like every other son in Jewish culture. At this ceremony several things happen, one is the confirmation of the child’s name. And everyone their thought he was to be named after his father….
But after mom said no, he was to be named John, and a message from dad on one of the uncle’s iPads…..and confirmed the boy’s name was to be John…..

that is just not how its done! But apparently when God breaks in he takes precedence over family traditions…..hmmm….

And that wasn’t all that happened - Dad - Zechariah’s voice was restored and he began saying some pretty amazing things about God…that is the meaning behind the word praise - to speak highly of someone…..

After 9 months of silence do you think he would have much to say? It was almost like God was saying Zechariah - since you don’t believe me….then just be quiet and watch me follow through on my promises….

And God did…seems new beginnings like baby dedications are good places to say great things about God, to speak blessings over the lives of newborns, that they would grow to be healthy, strong, committed followers of God, and would learn early that God is a faithful God, one who could be trusted……and that God a gracious God, because dad doubted God’s promise and lost his ability to speak for 9 months……..but apparently Zechariah learned how God is faithful, and God did give his voice back to him…..a voice that would be more confident in God than ever before….…..

The story goes on to say that people realized someone bigger than they are was at work somehow….

And this work caused them to reflect the NLT says, - it literally means “They took it into their hearts…….for some deep time of soul searching….

You get the idea that baby dedication services are times for deep soul searching about what we really believe and why…..

now that is a story worth celebrating.

One thing that this story wants us to believe is the faithfulness of God

God cannot not be able - the double negative in the phrase Nothing is impossible with God…1:37 when Gabriel reminds Mary about her having a baby…

Zechariah now speaks after 9 months of silence…..
Full of the Holy Spirit - (the one who seems to be in charge of the accuracy of the details as things progress) he begins to declare the truth ….

He Comes - visits, to tend to the details of God’s redemptive plan…. same word used that is translated the Holy Spirit will overshadow you in - see to the details of you becoming pregnant - same word used to describe elders in the church - who oversee the work of God’s redemptive plan in each one of our lives…..

2. He redeems - he purchases his people, pays for their sins because they rent able to and so they don’t have to….

3. He raised up a strong leader to provide salvation - literally raises the horn of salvation - that is what leaders do, strong leaders do, when rallying the troops during battle, it is a symbol of power. God is able to save through his son Jesus.

4. fulfills - completes, follows through

by being merciful to our ancestors……they are dead, powerless, yet God honors his promise to them

by keeping in mind, the opposite of forgetting….the commitment he made to Abraham in Genesis 17….

The Lord protects, builds a wall around, repels the enemy on our behalf - great picture of how God builds a wall of safety around us.....

Serve - word used to describeServe - word that has become associated with the activity of worshipping the Lord

Without the paralyzing effects of fear

Holiness - freedom to work above the polluting influences of sin

Righteousness - the standards and models that God uses for handling the things of life

For our entire lives - not just for certain periods of life…..

Chance to turn life around

To learn something new

Experience forgiveness

Turn on the light

Revealing things that we previously didn't notice

Reassuring - in terms of what is actually going on and in providing encouragement about "where you are"

Guidance - go this way next....