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This is My Story (Luke 1:80, 3:1-6)
14 Plays3 months ago
Sunday Message recorded 08 September 2024
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church -- Columbus TX
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Introduction: Luke 3 and John the Baptist
00:00:06
Speaker
Good morning. Thank you so much, Marsha, and all the worship team. Appreciate it. Good morning. It's good to see you this morning. Would you open with me to Luke chapter 3? I don't know that Luke wrote that song, but he certainly could have. This is my story. This is my song praising my Savior all the day long. If you were to look at the beginning of the gospel of Luke, you'd read these words.
00:00:32
Speaker
The gospel according to Luke. So you would think this is going to be a story about Luke, but that's not right. You see, the author never mentioned his own name. He never talked about his own life. Actually, he just wanted to lift up Christ to point to Jesus. He said, these are the facts. This is what I want you to tell about what you i want you to know about Jesus. So he focused on him.
John the Baptist's Mission: Preparation and Retreat
00:00:58
Speaker
The same could be said about someone else, John the Baptist. We're going to look at his life today in Luke chapter 3, verses 1 through 6.
00:01:07
Speaker
But in John chapter three, verse 30, John the Baptist said, you know what? He must increase and I must decrease. Is that the attitude of your heart? That Christ must increase, I must decrease.
00:01:22
Speaker
Someone asked John the Baptist, who are you? You know what he said? He said, look, it's not important who I am. I'm just a voice. I'm just a voice saying prepare the way for the Lord. Chuck Swindoll says that Luke records John the Baptist's story with two different chapters. First, Luke 3, verses 3 through 14, he said the first chapter of his life was prepare the way for Jesus.
00:01:51
Speaker
But when you get to Luke chapter three, verse 15, down through verse 20, the second chapter would simply be, get out of the way of Jesus. I think that's a great way to live, to say, you know what? I want other people to prepare the way for Jesus, and then I simply want to get out of the way of Jesus.
Our Lives as Letters from Christ
00:02:10
Speaker
If ah John the Baptist could say anything to us today in words we understand, I think he would say, life is not a selfie. You know, he would say, it's not about us. It's about Jesus. God wants to write his story through each one of us. Second Corinthians 3, 3 actually says, you are a letter. You're a letter of Christ.
00:02:36
Speaker
Do you know that in Psalm 139 and thirty nine in verse 16, it says that before you and I were formed in our mother's womb, do you know that God had already been writing a book. He had already been writing a book and he had already written the last chapter because it says he knows the days.
00:02:56
Speaker
that He has for me before there were even any days of my life. Ephesians 2 10 says that our Creator has already planned out the good works that He's going to do through us before the foundation of the world. Isn't that incredible credible to think that God knows that much about you, that much about me, that much about each one of us.
Formative Wilderness Years: John and Jesus
00:03:22
Speaker
The book the Lord God the Almighty has for each life is perhaps like a ledger. I wonder if on one side there would be a column that says God. On the other side would be a column that says you, your name, my name.
00:03:38
Speaker
On the God's side would be these kinds of things, God's plans, God's provisions, God's work, God's messages, God's opportunities, God's gifts that He has given throughout our lives. More and more is being written all the time. But on our side would be written our response, our actions, our attitudes, our words, our motives, our heart,
00:04:05
Speaker
And the most sobering thing of all is when you get down to the last book of the Bible. Revelation. In the Revelation 20 verse 12, it says that each one of us will eventually stand before the throne of God. And if our name is written in the book of life, then guess what? All of those things that were written on the self column over there about us, all of those things that were wrong and off and sinful and rebellious and so forth, all of those things will be gone. He will wipe them all the way. And all it takes is that commitment to Jesus Christ. That's what his blood can do. But if we reject Christ, then all of those things are going to remain there on that column. The good, the bad, the ugly, all of it. It will be there. And so we will each be judged that day, those who have not trusted Christ, those who have said, I don't want Jesus. I don't want to listen to the Bible. Those will be judged.
00:05:04
Speaker
Not because their name is not in the book of life, but they're going to have to face the truth of how unworthy anyone is. I would be that way if I hadn't trusted Christ. I did so many things of which this day I would be ashamed. But do you know, all those things are under the blood. So if you've never trusted Christ, I encourage you, please don't put it off another day, not another week. Please trust the Lord and let him change your life.
00:05:35
Speaker
But you see, as God was writing his story through John's life, he tells us quite a bit about John's parents and about his birth. Almost the entire first chapter of Luke, that's all it's all about that. But then
Life's 'Parentheses': Growth and Preparation
00:05:50
Speaker
something's going to happen.
00:05:51
Speaker
You see, John's public life and his influence didn't actually take place until he turned 30. When he turned 30 years of age, just like Jesus, pretty much the same thing. Just like that. That's when he began a public ministry. But where was he until he was 30?
00:06:09
Speaker
Well, you would have to read Luke 180, because in Luke 180, that's going to tell us where he was. If I was to put it in a grammarians way of of talking, I would say, John the Baptist was in a parenthesis until he turned 30. And maybe you'd say, why a parenthesis? Well, let me read to you the purpose for a parenthesis. Have you ever been reading a story?
00:06:37
Speaker
and something is in a parenthesis? I checked today in Luke, he uses a parenthesis twice. In chapter two, he'll use a parenthesis once. In this chapter, we're about to read in chapter three, the first six verses, but it'll be a little bit later in there. But anyway, what is a parenthesis in a story for? You might be surprised. A parenthesis is a qualifying or amplifying phrase within a sentence.
00:07:05
Speaker
a parenthetical remark that is totally initiated by the author and is always an interruption for the reader. See, the reader is interrupted because the author has some very important additional information to communicate to the reader that will help him or her better understand the body of the material. The parenthesis will clarify. The parenthesis will amplify, explain, enclose details, or provide examples. If one skips over the content within a parenthesis, then it's likely that he or she will misunderstand the story.
00:07:48
Speaker
Does God have you in a parenthesis? Don't resist that time. It's an important time. God's trying to speak during the parenthesis. Have you ever read the little devotional, God, my but most for His highest.
00:08:02
Speaker
I was reading the biography, or one of them, of Oswald Chambers' life. It was written by a man named David McCaslin. But he says in one sentence, he says, you know what Oswald Chambers' favorite sermon was? It was called God's Parenthesis. And I thought, man, that's important. I never could find one on God's Parenthesis until I was in the word of God myself. And I thought, right here is God's Parenthesis.
00:08:31
Speaker
You know, God's writing his story through our life, and we need to know the purpose that a writer would place us within a parenthesis. What is it that God is saying, listen closely right now, right now. You know, Luke 180 says that John the Baptist grew and became strong in the spirit. Where?
00:08:55
Speaker
in the wilderness. As a matter of fact, he's going to use in the wilderness a second time in our passage that we're going to but read today in Luke chapter three, verse two. It says the word of God came to John in the wilderness.
God's Work in Waiting Periods
00:09:10
Speaker
Did you hear all that was taking place in the wilderness in the parenthesis?
00:09:15
Speaker
Well, let me review it for you. Those years were not wasted. They were formative, they were constructive, they were informative, they were productive, they were significant, they were beneficial. See, in the wilderness, Luke says God was growing John the Baptist, making him become a man of God. In the wilderness, God was filling him with spiritual strength. In the wilderness, God was training him in the word of God.
00:09:46
Speaker
I just want you to know, if you're saying, why doesn't God just move? Why does he just move things forward? I want you to know God has a purpose for this time in your life. Even though you would prefer things be moving, don't skip over this time. When John the Baptist emerged from the wilderness training school with God, you know what he was like? He was mighty. He was mighty. He was focused. He was fruitful.
00:10:14
Speaker
The same can be said of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, whenever he got through with this baptism, it says the Spirit of God drove him, led him, led Jesus into the wilderness. But then that's in Luke four one, but in Luke four verse 14, it says, when Jesus came out of the wilderness, he came out in power.
00:10:34
Speaker
See, God's not wasting any time in your life or my life. So what we need to do is say, God, grow me. God, give me your strength that's going to help me to finish out the rest of the story, that I'll be able to finish my life well. Help me to listen closely. to what you will say through your word. So I'd like for you to stand in honor of God's word and reverence of it. I wanna share four different things today, but I want you to listen closely to this passage. We're gonna look at Luke chapter three, verses one through six.
00:11:09
Speaker
In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, being governor of Judea, inherited Ben Tetrarch of Galilee. His brother Philip Tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis in Lysanias, Tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas in Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
00:11:47
Speaker
As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah, the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low and the crooked shall become straight and the rough places shall become level ways and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Let's pray.
00:12:16
Speaker
Lord, we long for that day. We long to see a spiritual awakening in our day when all flesh will see the salvation of God. I pray you would speak to us through this passage.
00:12:28
Speaker
Help each one of us to realize that if we are in a parenthesis, there's a purpose for this. And help us to listen closely to your word today. This may explain something that you you're working in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated.
Trusting God's Control Through History
00:12:46
Speaker
um If you're waiting on God to use you, then don't miss what he's doing and what he's saying right where you are right now. So let me get to it and share the first possibility. Why are you in a parenthesis? I don't have a clue, but I can tell you what I see in this passage and what the Holy Spirit was just speaking to me through his word. The first possibility is, are you aware of God's sovereign control over your life?
00:13:15
Speaker
Are you always wanting circumstances to change? You know, it says in Luke three, one through two, this long list of these, you know, people who are all authority figures in John's day, John the Baptist day, you know, there were seven historical figures. And if you were to go through there and do a study on each one of those,
00:13:38
Speaker
All but Lysanias, I can't find anything on that man, but all the rest of them, they were true people. They were real people. But if you were to do a study on their lives, this is the words that I read in all the commentaries about them. Some said they were oppressive. Some said they were cruel. Others said they were greedy. Some said they were corrupt. Some said, well, they're arrogant. They were degenerate. They were fragmented.
00:14:07
Speaker
Do you have anything in your life that's like that? And you're saying, it's not right, look at those people, they're not right and so forth. Well, I just wanted you to know that all of the challenges in our lives, evil people cannot stop God speaking to your heart and to your mind. If you will simply say to God, Lord, i want you I want to be reminded that you're in control, that you run things, you're working out a plan,
00:14:35
Speaker
If you were to go back and ask the the biblical character Joseph in the Old Testament, if you were to say, Joseph, you went through a lot of hard times, would you say after all that you've been through that you learned that God was in control? I think he would say yes. If you were to interview Moses, say, Moses, I know the people were 400 years waiting for ah for deliverance from Egypt.
00:15:01
Speaker
Did y'all learn that God is in control? I think Moses say, yes, we sure did. How about David? He was running from Saul a long time, I think maybe 20 years, 25 years, something like that. That's a long time to wait. But David, did you learn that God was ultimately in control? Yes, I think he would say. Hannah waited a long time to give birth to a baby.
00:15:25
Speaker
And yet, if you were to interview Hannah, having given birth to ultimately to Samuel, Hannah was God in control. Oh yeah, I learned he's in control. You can interview Esther. You could interview Paul. All of these would tell you the same thing. David wrote about it in Psalm 31.15. He said, you know what? My times. Why don't you put your name in there? Your times.
00:15:49
Speaker
Our times, all of us, our times are in His hand. My times, David says, are in your hands. And yet sometimes we resist and we wrestle and we struggle and so forth. We're so doubtful. You know, Ephesians 1 11 says that God works everything according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.
00:16:14
Speaker
If you were to go back and interview the Habakkuk, Habakkuk would have said, there's no way what's happening in my country would have pleased God. And you'd have been right. Habakkuk was right. But where Habakkuk missed it was, he thought, Lord, you can't possibly be in control. He said, oh yeah, I'm in control. And he said, I've got a solution. Great. I'm sure Habakkuk said.
00:16:40
Speaker
God said, I'm going to send the Babylonians over there and teach your nation a lesson. that He's like, no, wait, that's not exactly what I had in mind. But you know what? Habakkuk learned to trust God. Are you learning to trust God? You know, that might be what the whole parenthesis is about. When you finally surrender to him, when you finally say, OK, God, I do believe that you run things. I trust you. I believe you. I have faith in you.
00:17:09
Speaker
But let's move to a second possibility. Perhaps it is the awareness of his sovereign control. Secondly, though, perhaps it's something else. Have you accepted God's sacred call upon your life?
00:17:22
Speaker
You know, look how personalized it is. The word of God, it says in verse two, the last part, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias. There's a lot of Johns. There's a lot of Johns in the Bible. There's a lot of Johns in our church. You better use the last name or if people are going to say, I don't know which one you go to you're talking about. But the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
00:17:49
Speaker
Was it just a John that God would call out a name? No, no, it wasn't just a John. If you were to look within scripture, you would see there was a whole lot of other people God called their name. Abraham and Moses and Ruth and Jeremiah, Samuel, Paul, on and on it goes. God has a personal plan for each person's life. But you know what? Sometimes we don't really care to know His plan.
00:18:14
Speaker
We've already decided what we want our life to be like, so we don't even ask him. We're not even listening. And so the parenthesis goes longer and longer and
Hearing and Responding to God's Call
00:18:24
Speaker
longer. And all we're all we're called to do is listen, listen to what he's saying and surrender. Say, God, I really want what your plan is.
00:18:35
Speaker
You know, if you were to look in verse three, it says that when John comes out of the wilderness, he went straight to Jerusalem. He started preaching in Jerusalem. That was where all the people were. That's where the power was. So that's where he was called to be. Nope. That's not what it says. We better check that again. Verse three says, and he went into all the region around the Jordan, around the Jordan River. This is a country preacher. This is a guy off the beaten path. He's not in the middle of things. And so maybe sometimes you feel that way. You're thinking, Lord, I don't think what I'm doing is really that important. Oh, let me tell you, it is. We saw a movie last night, I think it was, but about Rebecca St. James and
00:19:24
Speaker
the uh there's a band that she's related to her brother started it but anyway it's called unsung hero and at the end you're thinking i know it's going to be one of those christian musicians that's not the unsung hero the unsung hero was the mother and so that's what the movie is about it's such a powerful movie about a family that went into a parenthesis And they thought, they assumed, it's all for nothing. I mean, this is just wasted time. Let's get on with it. And God's like, no, this is where it's ah where it's at. But when he called John the Baptist out of the wilderness, he called him to hang out around the Jordan River.
00:20:06
Speaker
You know, if you were to go to Mark chapter one and verse five, you would see just how powerful it was when he got out there around that river. You know, there's not a lot of things happening out there, but you know what was happening? People were going out there to see him. People were saying, I've heard that there's a preacher out there. Let's go and hear him. You see, God's not limited to where you are.
00:20:34
Speaker
It all depends not on where you are and not even who you are. it's all It's all contingent on who he is, right? It's all dependent on who he is. So in the wilderness, in the parenthesis, you need to say, God, am I where I'm supposed to be? Am I in a specific place? Is this the center of your will?
00:20:57
Speaker
I think another thing God may help you understand is a little bit more of, let's say let's call it the fabric of God's will, or let's say it's this tailored fabric. What was God calling John the Baptist to do? Not that this is what he's calling you to do, but God was calling John the Baptist to be a preacher, to proclaim, to proclaim a baptism of repentance.
00:21:25
Speaker
So just think about that. You know, if you were to say, what how does God call people today? I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, God's called our youth pastor, Josh El. He's called him. So Ron Dishman, I just called Josh El's name. So we got him back, okay? But Josh, but then you've got Trudy, she's working with children. You've got Marsha, who works with our music and worship. We've got so many Sunday school teachers who are helping with teaching. We've got people that are in our church who are helping with outreach. We've got some who are focused on missions. And he goes on and on. There's people in our church who help with pine cove camps. There's people in administration. There's so many different ways are you doing what God has called you to do. There's so many ways to to serve the Lord and to honor him.
00:22:20
Speaker
What about the message, though? See, his message was a message of repentance. You know, he was telling people, you better get right with God because the Lord's coming. He's going to send the Messiah.
00:22:35
Speaker
But you know, 66 books are in the Bible. If you were to read Hosea and you were to read Jeremiah, they were talking about the same Lord, but not the same message. The theme was different. Hosea's message was love. Jeremiah's message was judgment. And so what's the message that's supposed to come from your life? What is that?
00:22:59
Speaker
The first possibility of why you're in your parenthesis could be, are you aware that God runs things? Second possibility is, have you accepted God's call? Are you doing anything to honor the Lord with all those gifts that he's entrusted
Spiritual Growth and Development
00:23:17
Speaker
to you? Well, let's go to a third one. How about adjustment to his spiritual construction?
00:23:24
Speaker
You know, we went into Katie yesterday and I thought, man, how long are they gonna work on I-10? I think, I've been here 17 years. I think they've worked on I-10 for 17 years. I don't know. I don't know when it's ever gonna end, but when is God's construction in your life, his spiritual construction, when is that ever gonna end? Well, I think it's gonna go longer than the I-10 construction. Philippians 1.6, he had began a good work in you. He's going to keep on doing that good work until the day. See, until we go home, until he comes back, he's not going to stop. he's He's really concerned. You trusted your life to him. And so he says, great, let's get to work. And so he wants to start doing things in your life.
00:24:13
Speaker
But sometimes we're not listening. And so God says, you know what? I'm going to have to stop the story. I'm going to have to put them in a parenthesis so they can listen to what I'm saying. And one of the things he may be trying to get you to hear is he's saying, we need to work on this. We need to work on that. There's some construction over here we need to be a part of together. Me and you, the Lord and you.
00:24:38
Speaker
Notice that he says, every valley shall be filled, every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level waves. Wow. You know, I got to thinking about, I thought, okay, low places could represent when we get in the flesh.
00:24:58
Speaker
And we are so defeated by getting into flesh. So we've got a low place in our life. We're discouraged. We're embarrassed by what we've done. And so God knows how to fill that up, but we have to work with Him. We have to go to Him. What about the high places? High places could represent pride. Anybody in here got pride?
00:25:19
Speaker
What about unbelief? High places need to be lowered. And what about crooked places where we take a detour with this world and the Lord saying, that's not what I want for you. It's a straight way that I want for you. And so God has to help us to straighten out those crooked places. But then there are rough places need to be smoothed out relationships. What is it that God would
Aligning Life with Scripture
00:25:45
Speaker
say to you? This is what I want to work on.
00:25:47
Speaker
Do you remember in the Old Testament, there were two guys, they roughly were about the same time, but Nehemiah and Ezra. Nehemiah said, you know what, folks, we are so vulnerable, we've got to build a wall around our city. The enemies are coming in, so let's build a wall. So he wanted to focus on building a wall.
00:26:10
Speaker
But when Ezra came, Ezra said, folks, the wall is there, but what about our walk? What about our walk with God? You have strayed away from walking with the Lord. You need to come back in line with what God would want. So that was the spiritual construction that God was calling them to. What's the spiritual construction he's calling you to?
00:26:36
Speaker
Well, let me go to a fourth possibility. The fourth possibility could be alignment with his scriptural commissions. Alignment with his scriptural commissions. You know, I lived for a while in Alberta.
00:26:52
Speaker
and and there were so many ranchers and so many farmers that I was around and one of them I hung around a lot with was Keith Hale and he and Kathy Sizer had several cattle and one time he called me and said, will you help us fence? And I said, sure, yeah, I've never done it, but let's do it. So he says, I need a post right here. Can you dig the hole? He was 77. So I was younger. I was a lot younger. I said, sure, I can deal the hole. So anyway, I get the post hole digger and start going at it. And it was pretty pretty tough. So I thought we were done. you know Once we put the post in there, I said, is that all we need? He said, no, now we got to go way down there at the edge of the property.
00:27:34
Speaker
He said, OK. I said, do I need the post hole digger? Yeah, you want to bring that. And also, bring that other post. So anyway, I put the post on. it but the This is my younger days. So anyway, I'll bring them both down there. We go way down to the edge of the property. And he said, I need another hole right here. So he got lined up, and he knew right where the edge of his property was. He said, let's set this one here. So we set that one there. So anyway, I said, that wasn't too bad. Are we done? He said, no. No, we're just now getting started. And he said, now I'm going to go back to the house. But he said, what I want you to do is I need you to line up with this post and that other post. I want you to string one strand of barbed wire and then use these staples here and this hammer. You better put your gloves on. He said, I want you to put this on and give me a straight line. And then all along that wire, I need you to give me 10 more posts. And I'm like, you're going to be kidding. when We're doing this all week, right? you Nobody was like, no, we're doing this today. you know So anyway, it was amazing. you know But that's kind of like God's word, right? It's like, I got i gotta to get in line with God's word. Some places in God's word calls it the plumb line. I've got to say, okay, Lord, I wanna line up correctly with what you're about.
00:28:59
Speaker
And the Spirit gave John the Baptist a vision of the last post. What's the last post? And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
John the Baptist's Impact: A Life of Focus
00:29:15
Speaker
Where did he get all this stuff anyway? I mean, if you look at verse four and five and six, you'll notice that the the italics, it's kind of offset. The print is offset. And so you're thinking, what's up with that? That's because this was a quote from Isaiah the prophet who lived before John the Baptist. And so John the Baptist had heard this and he said, this is what God's going to do next. And so John the Baptist said, I'm going to align my life.
00:29:47
Speaker
with God's word. And this is what we're supposed to do is to get things straight before the Lord returns. And he said, the end of it all is going to be all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
00:30:03
Speaker
It's from Isaiah 40 verses three and four and five. But I got to thinking in for us, what's the end post? Well, Matthew 28, 19 and 20 says, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commended and lo, I'm with you always. That is the last post. That's the vision. That's the commission. That's where God's going. And so if you want God to get you out of the parenthesis, then you've got to say, Lord, help me. Help me to stay lined up with you, because he can get you out of the parenthesis just like that. So if you're in the waiting room, he's saying, this is what we're waiting on. you know matt ah I think it's ah Matthew 7, verses 13 to 14.
00:30:54
Speaker
says that God knows that everybody is not going to receive, everybody is not going to believe the salvation of God. So that's not what he said, was it? He said, what I want is I want everybody to see the salvation of God. They all need to hear the gospel. So that's why we've got to share the gospel with those that are around us.
00:31:17
Speaker
Because Revelation 7 verses 9 through 12 tells us the end vision is when at the throne of God, you see people of every tribe tribe and every tongue and every people in every nation, and they're all praising the Lord. They're saying salvation belongs to you. That's the last post. That's what God's warning.
00:31:40
Speaker
Is that where your life, are you investing that way in your life? No matter what your your work is, are you being a disciple at your work, through your work, in addition to your work? I'll never forget hearing Henry Blackaby speak from Isaiah 43 verses one through seven while I was in Canada. And I remember he said in Isaiah 43 verse four, that really our life is a lot like currency.
00:32:08
Speaker
It's like a currency exchange. Sometimes when you go on a mission trip, you have to exchange your dollars into something else. Well, life is a lot like that, he said. And so every day you're saying, here's my life, here's this week, here's today. And so you're spending your life. And so he said, the thing we need to stop and ask ourselves is, we need to stop and say, am I satisfied with what I'm getting in return for my life?
00:32:38
Speaker
Every day I'm running out of currency. I'm running out of dollars. I'm running out of time with my life. So are you getting in response, in exchange, what you want? That's why ah John the Baptist says, you know what? Times of the essence. As for me, this is what I'm going to work toward. I want to make sure that everybody can see the salvation of God.
00:33:02
Speaker
You know, John the Baptist was basically off the grid. He was in the shadows. He was in the parenthesis for 30 years. He wasn't among Judas best dressed and people didn't just flock to him because he had feel good messages.
00:33:18
Speaker
If you were to read Matthew 3 verses 4 through 6, you would see, yeah, it's amazing that anybody even came. But God's power had filled him. God's word had inspired him. And so people just kept coming to listen to what he had to say. They'll come to listen to what you have to say. If you will say, God, I want to align my life with you.
00:33:42
Speaker
You know, Mark also records the tremendous impact that this country preacher had upon the people in the big city of Jerusalem and across the entire region of Judea. You know, I read this week that it would have taken people in Jerusalem a whole day, a whole day to walk out there to Jordan River just to hear this preacher preach.
00:34:04
Speaker
You know, both most Bible scholars agree that although God took 30 years to prepare John the Baptist for his public ministry, guess how long his public ministry lasted? Six months. Six months, that's it.
00:34:20
Speaker
Maybe, maybe all that God's been doing is to get you ready for what your role will be. And maybe you'd say, he's never used me, but he wants to use you. Maybe you'd say, for the rest of my life, I want you to use me.
00:34:37
Speaker
I love what it says in Matthew 11, 11, truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than him. Was John's life a waste? Jesus' assessment of John was there's nobody greater. There's nobody greater that's ever been born.
00:35:02
Speaker
What made John's story so significant? What made his life worth listening to, paying attention to? What will make your story significant? When will people pay attention to your life when you point to Jesus, just like John the Baptist?
Surrendering to God's Plan
00:35:19
Speaker
Here's what Jesus said of John in John 10, 40 through 42.
00:35:24
Speaker
He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first. And there he remained. Now, John's already dead by this point. And many came to him, to Jesus. And they said, here's what the people said. John did no son, but everything that John said about this man was true. and Many believed in Jesus there. Huh. You see, John the Baptist didn't perform miracles. That's not what his calling was. His calling was, give a message. Give a message. And that message was so accurate. It was so pinpointed accuracy on Jesus. it said The people said, you know what? Everything that he said was true about Jesus Christ. Would that be the the way people would describe us?
00:36:20
Speaker
everything they said, every every every day I saw them, they reminded me so much of Jesus. If you're currently living in one of God's parenthesis,
00:36:32
Speaker
then maybe you could say, Lord, do I need to say yes to the fact that you're in sovereign control over my life? So I can rest. I can trust. I can believe you. Or do you need to say yes to his sacred call? The way you do that is say, OK, Lord, not not my will. Your will be done. So I'm going to trust him. He's in control. I'm going to surrender to him whatever he wants. But what about repentance? Repentance is important.
00:37:02
Speaker
So repentance means I'm tired of going in my own direction, my own way. I want to work with you, Lord, on that spiritual construction. I want you to change the things that need changing in my life. Well, what about the scriptural commissions? Have you said yes to that one? Maybe say, yeah, I try to live for the Lord. But are you trying to make disciples? Are you trying to share the gospel with anyone?
00:37:30
Speaker
I think together as a church family, we can do it together. And so my job is to get you ready, to equip you. So don't write off what God is doing right now. If your life is not moving the way you thought it was going to move, then maybe you're just simply in a parenthesis.
00:37:49
Speaker
So rather than shutting down, you need to wake up and you need to say, I need to pay attention because God may be saying something to me from this passage of scripture. Why don't you stand and let's pray and let's give an opportunity for any that need to make a response to what God has said to them.
00:38:06
Speaker
Lord, thank you so much for this time to look into your word. Lord, I know that there are people here and maybe they feel frustrated. Maybe they feel discouraged because their life is sort of stuck. They want to move on, but it's just like this parenthesis.
00:38:22
Speaker
But it's not wasted. You've got so much you want to say, so much you want to do in their lives right now. And the neat thing is it's all going to be useful later. And so help us, oh Lord, if we're struggling with the now to realize that I got to surrender to him now so that he can help me with the rest of the story later.
Conclusion: Devotion to Jesus
00:38:45
Speaker
And really, Lord,
00:38:47
Speaker
In the end, it's not about us. It's just about you, Jesus. And so help us to point to you all the days of our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:39:03
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.