NEWSLETTERS WRITTEN BY:


Delbert & Earnestine Hammons
P.O. Box 130
Lily, Kentucky 40740
praying@kih.net or spiritual@kih.net

May 11, 2005


Prepare ye the way of the Lord



Mt 26:26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
Mt 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mt 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Mt 26:29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
Lu 1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
Lu 1:14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

In this passage we can see clearly that there are two types of drink and shall drink "neither wine nor strong drink" He was told neither drink however.
the reason for this was to be blameless in the eyes of the people for the job he had to do which was prepare the way for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lu 1:15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
Lu 1:16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.
What does the verse below tell us to do? "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord".
Lu 1:17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, 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
Here we see Zacharias having some doubt because of his age and the age of his wife.
he looked at the physical realm instead of at God's power so let's go on down and see what happens as the result of his doubt.
Lu 1:18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.
Lu 1:19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.
Ok here we see what he reaped from the doubt,which stood as a witness in itself later on.
Lu 1:20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.
Lu 1:21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple.
The people waiting outside for him recognized the factor that he had seen a vision based upon his speechlessness, but I have to wonder if they thought it may be a short term speechlessness due to excitement.
Now we will see later on just what happens there with his speechlessness.
Lu 1:22 And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless.
Now here in the verses below we see another preparation taking place six months later.
Lu 1:30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
Lu 1:31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
Lu 1:32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
Lu 1:33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Lu 1:34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
Lu 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Gabriel was telling her about Elisabeth's conceiving for a specific purpose,
to confirm the truth of his word to her, for Elisabeth to be filled with the Holy Ghost
and for John to experience the power of God before time,so that he could prepare the way
in truth, knowing the power of God first hand from the womb
and knowing that Jesus was indeed the promised Savior on His way into the world.
So knowing all of this he was able to speak in the fullness of truth about the one coming whose shoes he was not worthy to unlatch, spoken of in John 1:27.
Lu 1:36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
Lu 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
Now here we see great Faith and Strength all based upon the above words of Gabriel.
She took God's word sent to her for exactly what it was, a message of glad tidings.
She knew she would bring forth the Savior as stated in verse 32 above. She knew nothing was impossible with God.
Lu 1:38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
Lu 1:39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;
Lu 1:40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.
Here we get a glimpse of God's power, at the mere words of greetings from Mary; Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost and the babe she was carrying leaped in her womb for joy at the presence of the Lord.
Lu 1:41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
Elisabeth has now realized that Mary is carrying Jesus and is now Blessed, she looks upon her differently now than just her cousin,
she now places her in reverence as we would a Pastor, or a Priest.
Lu 1:42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
Lu 1:43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Lu 1:44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
Elisabeth is confirming the faith of Mary here when she stated "blessed is she that believed".
Lu 1:45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
Mary recognized that God was a three head here because she said magnify the Lord and rejoiced in God my Saviour;
this is before Jesus Christ's birth, even now she knew He was the Saviour,
Jesus Christ as well as God the Father and Elisabeth is filled with the Holy Ghost so there is no doubt as to the trinity here.
Lu 1:46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
Lu 1:47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Verses 48 through 55 are stated by Mary for the purpose of acknowledging God's power in the things He HAS done and WILL do.
Mary had a great knowledge of God's kingdom.
Lu 1:48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Lu 1:49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
Lu 1:50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
Lu 1:51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
Lu 1:52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
Lu 1:53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
Lu 1:54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
Lu 1:55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
Lu 1:56 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.
Lu 1:57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.
From all indications no-one knew of Elisabeths conceiving until the very end when John was born.
Based upon the fact that the verses below said she hid for five months and here it says they heard.
Lu 1:58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
Lu 1:59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
Lu 1:60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.
This was unheard of naming a child outside of the family,it was not an acceptable thing to do,
and the people were disagreeing with her about it so they proceed to go against her and turn to Zacharias and made signs asking him what he would have him named.
Lu 1:61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
Lu 1:62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.
Lu 1:63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.
They are wondering now why this name, out of tradition;
marvelled is used to mean wondered with emphasis placed upon it.
Now we see in the next couple of verses the reason for the speechlessness, he was to serve as a witness to God's power involved.
Lu 1:64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.
Lu 1:65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.
Through all of these verses one thing sticks out very clearly prepare the way of the Lord for He is coming.
Do we doubt the power and abilities of God like Zacharias, or do we immediately stand in faith like Mary did.
We look at the world and flesh and do not stay focused on God as He clearly tells us to do.
Do we have to become speechless or worse in order to do what we are supposed to do?
What is it going to take for us to believe, to focus on the spiritual and not the carnal world?
What is it going to take for us to do the work we are supposed to be doing as children of God?
I don't know about you, but I have seen enough of God's movement as I was growing up to believe and know that He is a mighty God,
He is a loving God and He is a vengeful God,
I have seen both sides in lives of people around us.
We Love do we not? We get angry do we not?
Well why would you think that God is restricted to being only a loving God then?
He tells us clearly that He is both in His word.
Now I will tell you why you restrict Him to being only loving and
THAT IS BECAUSE YOU DO NOT WANT TO FACE THE FACT THAT YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING WRONG AND WILL BE PUNISHED FOR IT .
We bring the vengeful side on ourselves by disobeying, NO IT IS NOT HIS WILL TO PUNISH US but He loves us so very much that He lets us do exactly what we want to do THEN we have to take the consequences of our own actions whatever the punishment is.
You as a parent love your children to, but if they disobey then you are going to punish them in some manner because you do love them aren't you.
PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD instead of hunting excuses out.
Prepare for the truth, prepare others with the truth.
Tell them Jesus is coming and soon, to get ready.
Prepare the way of the Lord.
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(C)copyrighted by Mrs.Earnestine E. Hammons
1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005
Contents the sole property of the Author Mrs.Earnestine E. Hammons
May be Re-Distributed as a witnessing tool only
with all Author/ownership rights remaining the property of
Mrs. Earnestine E. Hammons and MAY NOT be re-Distributed for profitable gain .

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