November 16, 2025 | Zach Schlegel
Passage: Luke 1:57-80
If you live long enough, you will experience great disappointment or frustration. What you hoped for hasn’t come to pass. (Proverbs 13:12) When hopeful optimism is shattered, believers can live on the edge of cynicism. When cynicism creeps in, you may find yourself no longer hoping or dreaming. You stop thinking that God can and will do the big thing. You may think that if you assume the worst, as a defense mechanism, you won’t be disappointed.
Zechariah and Elizabeth lived with years and years of disappointment because they didn’t have a child. It could have been that, when the angel announced the impossible to Zechariah, he was guarding his heart, looking only at life from the viewpoint of what was humanly possible. Zechariah could only see a barren wife and two elderly people who couldn’t bear children.
Because of his unbelief, Zechariah was left in absolute silence until the child was born. This was a long time to be quiet. This was God’s loving discipline on Zechariah to move him from cynicism to divine hope. What about you? Has your child-like faith become shattered? Do you find yourself hesitant to take risks for the gospel because you are afraid of being let down again? God has shown us the light of salvation in Christ. How should we respond to that light?
Sermon Outline
1. Follow Jesus out of cynicism into obedience. Vs. 57-66
2. Follow Jesus out of cynicism into praise. Vs. 67-75
3. Follow Jesus out of cynicism into evangelism. Vs. 76-80
Series Information
