The Star Witness (John 1:19-34 Jeff Kliewer)

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Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org The Star Witness

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I want to say good morning and come on in.
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It's awesome to have you here with us this morning, sharing in fellowship. I was meditating a little bit this morning, this week, on the first Passover.
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And I know we're going to be talking a little bit about that. Drew's going to talk a little more at Communion, but my imagination kind of goes kind of wild every now and then.
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And I was thinking what it was like for the families sitting in their house.
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Now they put the blood on the lintel and on the doorposts and what were they talking about at dinner that evening?
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I like to think that somehow God has encouraged them with thoughts of his sovereignty, of his provision, and maybe excitement.
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But here's the thing, we're here together this morning and the table is being set in front of us.
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In fact, as we talk, here comes some more of the elements. We're going to be able to fellowship together over the elements as we remember
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Christ's sacrifice. And I'm going to want us, as we come together, to remember the purpose, the excitement, the fulfillment of us being here in the very, very presence of God, knowing,
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I don't know about you, but knowing the depth of the sin that I carry, knowing that God knows that, and still he died on the cross for me.
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That has to be an overwhelming and an amazing thought of encouragement as we get together.
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I want to open us up in Psalm 119, your testimonies are my heritage, forever they are the joy of my heart.
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And as I was reading that, the word testimonies caught my eye, because in Psalm 119 you frequently read your law or your precepts, but here it says your testimonies.
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Do you know what's going on there? It's the reality of who Jesus is being testified to my heart.
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This goes beyond just the words, it goes beyond the very truth, the very words of God, to a call to being with God.
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Jesus said, it's recorded in John, you study the scriptures for in them you think you find eternal life, but they are those which testify of me.
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We get together, we read, we meditate, and it all is with the purpose and with the privilege of coming closer to our
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Lord and Savior, and that's what we're getting to do together this morning.
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A few announcements I want to bring your way, it's going to be a great week, it's going to be a busy week as we move into August, moving into September, the first thing is going to be, and this flyer
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I think is on the back table, it's for our VBS, it's going to be Thursday and Friday, I think it's at 6 o 'clock at night, the 11th and 12th.
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If you have children of age, if you have neighbors with children of age, family with children of age, whatever, this is a great opportunity for them to come, have some fun, but to hear the word of God, so I want to highlight our
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VBS, which is coming, and be in prayer for it, and pray for those who will be speaking God's word.
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Then on Saturday is the Love Life Prayer Walk, what an important opportunity for us to sit in front of the throne of God and to be praying for these children that are at risk for never getting to experience the light of day, these women, these men who are potentially making a horrific decision, and we're in prayer, we're in prayer for these lives.
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I don't know if you saw an article, but Indiana has now passed, and the governor has now signed the law in Indiana following the reversal of Roe v.
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Wade, that abortion with very, very few exceptions is no longer legal in the state of Indiana.
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God is awesome, we continue to pray for that, the battle rages on. In a couple of weeks from now, on Sunday at 3 o 'clock, it will be the 21st, so that's in two weeks, we're going to have an opportunity for people to come back in and just join together in fellowship, and to proclaim the amazing blessings that God, it's being called a
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Praise Party, that just means we're going to come together, and we're going to lift up what God has done, and we're going to celebrate it right back.
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Do you know that at the end of times, after the
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Millennial Kingdom, we are going to sit in front of the Bema Seat, those who are believers, and our works will be brought forth in front of the
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Lord and measured, and those which are of hay, wood, and stubble will be burned, but those which are of precious metals will be judged, and we'll be given crowns, you know what we're going to do with those crowns?
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We're going to give them right back to God. We get to do that now as we express our praise for what we have done.
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If you see in your life the amazing blessings of God, share them with each other, and that will be in two weeks, so you can come for that.
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Our regular schedule continues, come back tonight for our prayer meeting, the women meeting with precepts on Mondays, the men with their apologetics class, so much going on.
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Small groups, we are getting ready to launch a couple of new small groups in September. One of them will be another marriage matters for couples, the
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Bittles will be leading that, it's a limited attendance, if you're interested in it, see the
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Bittles, see Pastor Jeff, if you are interested in it, if you can get into it, that would be great.
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And then a new care group is going to start just north of Mount Holly at the home of Dan and Holly Wright, and so be looking for that, and with other opportunities to join together.
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September will have baptism, and September will also have a new members class, so much, much going on.
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A little bit later today, right after the prayer time, we are going to recognize and pray for several of our youth, of our young adults, who are going to the mission field.
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They think they're going to college. It's a mission field, and so we are going to pray for them, and so we'll have that opportunity after we pray together.
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So let's turn to prayer. Dear Father God, we do acknowledge you. Your testimonies are my heritage forever, they are the joy of my heart.
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Pray Father that our hearts will be turned to you, will be turned towards your word, will be desiring that closer relationship with you, that seeing you and being with you is truly our joy.
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We thank you for that. Lord, you have called us to be a witness and a testimony, to give your word to a dark world.
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We pray for the obedience of that. John the Baptist was an amazing, an amazing obedient servant, much that he did.
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We will learn today that we can have it within our hearts to obediently seek after you.
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We pray in Jesus' name, and our missionaries around the world, two of them in specific this morning, the
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Hobsons in Manila, there is a health issue for both Steve and for the director, Jeff. They're doing well, but we pray for the healing power of our
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Lord and Savior. And for many of the international students that they deal with needing to go to Manila, there's a need for visas and for funding to come through.
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You are the great provider. For the Kamlins who are returning after 25 years, doing your work in Portugal, they'll be departing on the 16th.
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We pray for safety, but right now we also pray that as Terri comes home to the States that she'll find those doctors that can continue to treat in her needs.
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We also pray for the leaders that will take Terri and Gary's place back in Portugal.
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Lord, for the VBS that's coming up this week, the youth to hear your word to be changed in their hearts, we pray,
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Lord, for the power of your Holy Spirit. Father, we do have many in our midst in need.
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You know them. We continue to pray for them, and Father, now as we prepare to hear your word from John to understand the power of John the
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Baptist, the voice crying in the wilderness who proclaimed this is the one, the
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Son of God, that we would also be obedient. Prepare, Pastor Jeff, with your words and our hearts to hear.
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We pray these things in Jesus' name. And right now I'm going to ask any of the youth who are heading to the mission field, you think it's college, but if you guys would come up so we can pray over you.
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All right.
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And why don't we ask the college students to share, first of all, their name, and then also what school you're going to.
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I'm Rob Stock and I'm going to Rome. I'm Donovan Boone.
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I'm going to... I'm Jack Reed. I'm going to Reformation Bible College.
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I'm Jigah Polk. I'm going to Reformation Bible College. I'm Julianne Meyer.
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I'm going to Liberty University. I'm Maddie Navinger and I'm going to Liberty University.
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What a mission field God has prepared our youth to go to and has called them to.
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We need to be in prayer that God continues to instruct them, equip them, and protect them.
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Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for each of these youth, this next phase of their life, which can be scary, but at the same time, it's an amazing opportunity.
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They're going to learn. They're going to grow. They're going to experience life in many ways. Father, we pray that as they have been here at home with their families, as they've been here at Cornerstone with us, as they've been prepared with your word, that their hearts are filled with a deep sense of truth.
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As they go into places where many confusing things are said, protect them from falsehood.
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As they go into world areas where there is darkness, give them your word and give them the courage to speak your word.
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We lift them up for this next phase of their life that you would watch over them, protect them, send them, we pray in Jesus' name.
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I'm going to pray as well. Father, we thank you for these young people. Lord, we know that your word says that nothing can snatch them out of your hand and we claim that promise over them,
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Lord. Keep them by the power of your word. Lord, we pray also that you would fill them with your
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Holy Spirit to send them out into this mission field. Where they go, Lord, we pray they go in your power to be witnesses.
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We pray that you would make them like John the Baptist. Give them courage to be truth tellers, even if that truth is unpopular in the culture.
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We pray that you would take away any fear and anxiety that they might have and replace that with a spirit of courage and fortitude and strength and power in the
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Holy Spirit that they would go forth proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray that you would use each one of these young lives to bring others to saving faith.
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Help them to be teachers of your word. Give them the gifts of the spirit that they would walk as children of God and serve you all the days of their lives.
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In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Lord, we've come to give you thanks for all you've done.
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Because of your love, we're forgiven.
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Because of your love, our hearts are clean.
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And we lift you up with songs of freedom.
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Forever we're changed because of your love.
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Because of your love, we're forgiven.
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Because of your love, our hearts are clean.
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And we lift you up with songs of freedom.
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Forever we're changed because of your love.
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Water you turned into wine. Open the eyes of the blind.
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There's no one like you. None like you.
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Beaten and tortured to die. Hung on a cross crucified.
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There's no one like you. None like you.
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Our God is greater. Our God is stronger. God you are higher than any other.
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Our God is healer. Blossom in power. Our God. Our God.
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Power that conquered the grave. Paid all my sins and my shame.
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There's no one like you. None like you.
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Risen from death and alive. Reigning on heaven on high.
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There's no one like you. None like you.
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Our God is greater. Our God is stronger. God you are higher than any other.
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Our God is healer. Blossom in power. Our God. Our God.
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And if our God is for us, Then who could ever stop us? And if our
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God is with us, Then what could stand against? And if our God is for us,
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Then who could ever stop us? And if our God is with us, Then what could stand against?
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What could stand against Our God is greater, our
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God is stronger God you are higher than any other
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Our God is healer, awesome in power Our God, Our God See, on the hill of Calvary My Savior bled for me
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My Jesus set me free Look, at the wounds that give me life
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Grace flowing from His side No greater sacrifice
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What He's done, what
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He's done All the glory and the honor to the
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Son My sins are forgiven My future is heaven
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I praise God for what He's done
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Sing, for the freedom He has won
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Even death is dead and done His life has overcome
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Speak, say the name above all names
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Over every broken place He is risen from the grave
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What He's done, what
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He's done All the glory and the honor to the
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Son My sins are forgiven My future is heaven
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I praise God for what
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He's done Now, on a throne of majesty
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The Father's will complete He reigns in victory
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Sing, hallelujah to the
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King He is worthy to receive All the worship we can
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What He's done, what
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He's done All the glory and the honor to the
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Son My sins are forgiven My future is heaven
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I praise God for what
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He's done What He's done, what
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He's done All the glory and the honor to the
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Son My sins are forgiven My future is heaven
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I praise God for what
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He's done I praise God for what
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He's done Sing, hallelujah to the
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King He is worthy to receive All the worship we can
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All the glory and the honor to the Son My sins are forgiven
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My future is heaven I praise God for what He's done All the worship we can
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All the glory and the honor to the
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Son My future is heaven I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven
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I praise
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God for what He's done All the glory and the honor to the
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Son My sins are forgiven
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My future is heaven I praise God for what He's done All the glory and the honor to the
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Son My sins are forgiven My future is heaven
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I praise God for what He's done
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My future is heaven I praise
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God for what He's done My future is heaven I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what
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He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what He's done
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My future is heaven I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what
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He's done
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My future is heaven I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven I praise
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God for what He's done
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My future is heaven I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what
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He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven I praise God for what He's done My future is heaven
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I praise God for what He's done Lamb of God, I come,
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I come Just as I am and waiting not
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To rid my soul of one dark blot
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To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot
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Lamb of God, I come, I come
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Just as I am, Thou wilt receive
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Will welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve
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Because Thou promised, I believe
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Lamb of God, I come, I come
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Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind
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Sight, riches, healing of the mind
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Yea, all I need in Thee I find
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Lamb of God, I come,
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I come I saw one hanging on a tree
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In agony and blood He fixed his languid eyes on me
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As near his cross I stood Oh, can it be upon a tree
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The Savior died for me My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled
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To think He died for me Sure, never till my latest breath
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Can I forget that look It seemed to charge me with His death
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Though not a word He spoke Oh, can it be upon a tree
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The Savior died for me My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled
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To think He died for me My conscience felt and owned the guilt
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And plunged me in despair I saw the sins
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His blood had spilt And helped to nail Him there Oh, can it be upon a tree
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The Savior died for me My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled
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To think He died for me A second look
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He gave which said I freely all forgive This blood is for Thy ransom paid
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I die that Thou may live Oh, can it be upon a tree
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The Savior died for me My soul is thrilled, my heart is filled
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To think He died for me Already our cups runneth over.
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Amen. Just to worship the Lord And to enjoy communion To think about His body and blood shed for us
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Let's give Him thanks and prayer God, what can we say but thank
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You God, thank You so much that You gave Your one and only Son The Lamb of God Who has taken away our sin
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We are so thankful And now, Lord, as we come to open the bread of Your Word To receive life from Your Word We pray that we would be trained by it
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That Your Word would nourish us and strengthen us Correct us
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Lord, give us ears to hear Make us receptive to receive the bread of Your Word Thank You that You're a
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God that speaks You don't just leave us here to do whatever But You direct us
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You are with us So through the preaching of Your Word The hearing of Your Word, Lord We pray that You would strengthen us
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In Jesus' name. Amen. I'd like to begin by sharing a short biography
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Of a very unique person An extraordinary life, unparalleled
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And that is the life of John the Baptist Some may not realize
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But his story actually begins hundreds of years Before he's born Because Isaiah the prophet
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In chapter 40, verses 1 -5 Prophesied the coming of John the
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Baptist A voice crying in the wilderness Make straight the way of the
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Lord Likewise, Malachi Ended the Old Testament By prophesying of John the
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Baptist In chapter 3, verse 1 And then in chapter 4, verses 5 and 6
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Elijah the prophet Who will turn the hearts of the fathers Back to their children
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Elijah will come So consider this First of all That John the Baptist is unique Because he himself was prophesied
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The prophets foretold the coming Of John the Baptist Secondly Consider the way he was conceived
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A miraculous conception Elizabeth was barren
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And Zechariah and Elizabeth Tried to have kids Through all of the childbearing years But they never did
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Compound that barrenness With the fact that now Elizabeth Had aged well beyond the childbearing years
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She was up maybe in her 60s or 70s And it seemed absolutely impossible
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From a human perspective That she would bear a son And yet that's precisely what happened
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He was conceived John the Baptist was conceived Miraculously Third Consider that John the
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Baptist's life In the womb Is recorded for us
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Isn't that unique? Who else do we have in the Bible Or really what do we know
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Of what goes on in the womb? It doesn't seem like much Would be happening there And yet we learn
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That John the Baptist Was already praising God He was rejoicing He was filled with the spirit
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From the womb And we're even told that when Mary came into the room Where Elizabeth was
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Both of them were pregnant Mary was pregnant with Jesus Elizabeth was pregnant With John the
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Baptist He leapt for joy In the presence of the Lord So he was already praising
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While he was yet A child in the womb Which again We can't stress enough The child in the womb
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Is a child A living person His birth
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Was likewise miraculous He's born into the world In the ordinary way But his father
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Had been mute Since the angel spoke And prophesied Of his birth
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When it came time To name John the Baptist He would have been given A family name
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But instead Elizabeth said That his name would be John And actually
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Zechariah wrote that On a tablet And as soon as he said His name is John As soon as he wrote that His tongue was loosed
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And Zechariah began To praise God And the Bible tells us
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That this miracle The opening of a mute man's tongue Began to spread
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All throughout Israel And fear came upon every man So even in his birth
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The revival began Fear Fear of the Lord Spread across Israel In his birth
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He was unique as a child As a young child We're told he grew strong In spirit
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Now children are known For being weak, right? Kids are like Hey, wait a minute
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No The weakness of developing Into adulthood But that's also
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A spiritual development That needs to take place Children are not born Into the world
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In the fullness Of spiritual maturity Rather, they're born children
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In fact, dead in sin They must be regenerated And grow as disciples Like anyone else Well, John the
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Baptist Even as a child Was called strong in the spirit I can picture this little boy Walking around his house
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Praying And lifting his hands And asking questions And learning the scriptures
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He was an eager student Of God's word Even as a child Very unique And then as soon as he was old enough
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To sustain his own life He left As a teenager
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He left his home He made a break with the world And he took off for the wilderness
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And began to live By eating locusts and honey He made prophet's clothes
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Out of camel hair And so he was a prophet
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Living in the wilderness Quite unique at this point All by himself But meeting with God Communing with God Well, his ministry then began
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Can you imagine If you were the first person To hear John's ministry I mean, this guy's been living out
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In the wilderness by himself It would be kind of intimidating He's kind of like a wild man And you go
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And he begins to call out your sin But strangely
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The spirit of God comes over you And you feel conviction for sin And you go down into the water
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With this wild man in the wilderness Wouldn't that be a little intimidating? To go underwater
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How do you know He's not just going to hold you there? And that will be the end of you But it was the spirit of God Drawing people into the water
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And after that first man came Then another and another And before long
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All of Israel is coming out And his ministry is powerful
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It's the work of God And to the tax collector He says
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Stop extorting money Take only what is owed To the soldier He says
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Be content with your wages And stop oppressing people To the Pharisee He says
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You brood of vipers Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Here's a truth teller
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Without fear He calls the people to repentance He's filled with the spirit of God His ministry is marked by the power of God I heard someone say
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The sun will burn your eyes From 92 ,000 miles 92 million miles
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That's how far the sun is If you stare directly into it And yet you think you can go
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Strolling into the presence of God Flippantly? John the
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Baptist Had the fire of God Deep in his bones And he called people
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To look not at the physical sun But to look at the son of God And to do so with fear and trembling
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This was a prophet And he spoke the truth He was unafraid
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In fact, he would even speak truth to power Politically He spoke to Herod Who at the time
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Was the king over the area Over Galilee This was not the original
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Herod Who built the Herodian And the Masada Which you could visit in Israel He built
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Caesarea Philippi And he rebuilt the temple The great temple mount Herod, the first Herod, the great
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Was a great builder His son, Herod Antipas Was like him As a builder to some extent
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But really in character Herod was the one that killed All the babies of Bethlehem And Herod Antipas was likewise
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Wicked And so Herod Antipas Had divorced his wife And married his brother's wife
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Because he preferred her Herodias And John the Baptist In the wilderness
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Began to speak out against Herod And said it is not lawful For you to have your brother's wife
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And before long What happened, you know the story He was arrested Thrown in jail
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But see his ministry Was a call to repentance But there was one aspect of his ministry
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That trumped all of it He had a special role A unique role
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And that was To be the forerunner Of the
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Messiah John came to introduce The Messiah Kind of like the introducer in the boxing ring
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He's not going to do any boxing He just introduces the ones who will Right? John the
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Baptist is an introducer And he says Behold the Lamb of God He is the one who introduces
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The Messiah Think about that All the prophets had foretold the coming of Messiah All of them
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Ending with Malachi But it was John uniquely Who got to see him
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And say Here he is What a special role John had
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But where did that get him? We said it landed him in prison But there came a day when
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Herodias The wicked wife of Herod Brought out her daughter
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To dance in front of the party And the people of The party, the men were so Pleased by her dancing that Herod said
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I'll give you Anything you want dear girl Ask for it and it's yours And at the prompting of Herodias Who of course hated
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John the Baptist She asked for John the Baptist's head On a platter
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And so Herod sent the Executioner And John the Baptist Was killed, was martyred
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For the truth That he was unafraid to speak He gave his life
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Preaching the truth Church This is what America has lost
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This is what the church in America Specifically Has laid down and that is
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The prophetic mantle We've lost that John the
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Baptist spirit That's willing to tell the truth The whole truth and nothing but the truth
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Willing to say the hard things The things that could get you killed Or at least ostracized
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In our present culture John the Baptist came To rebuild families
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And church in America today The family is under attack We're all aware of BLM The movement that swept through the country in 2020
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Well on their website They advocated for the Dismantling of the
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Nuclear family And in fact if you look at the policies of this country
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Very often they're aimed at Undermining the nuclear family Welfare is graded in such a way
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As to disincentivize Family And reward the breakdown of family
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That's the welfare system That dominates our country And the results of this is the breakdown of family
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Wherever the family breaks down You see all manner Of devastation and that's why
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You see that in our country In fact There are other ways that The family is under attack
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It is the state's goal To pull children out of The home as soon as possible
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Trying to push Public funded preschools and kindergartens As early as possible
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To take kids away from The influence of fathers and mothers In the home In all of these things
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The family is under attack But when Elijah came In the spirit of Elijah John the
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Baptist According to Malachi The end of the Old Testament Malachi 4, 5 and 6
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He would turn the hearts of the fathers Back to the children The church needs
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John the Baptist We don't need him in the flesh He's come once and for all to do
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His work but the spirit The prophetic spirit of preaching The truth and the whole truth of God Needs to return to the pulpit
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And the classroom and the home Where Christian Parents are raising their children
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In the fear of the Lord We have the gospel of grace And there is much emphasis
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On that in our churches But we have forgotten To teach
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Or purposely Neglected to teach The fear of the Lord The fear of God That God Is a blazing fire
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And just like you can't Stare at the sun You cannot enter the presence of a holy God Apart from the blood of the
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Lamb And having come under the blood And come into relationship with God There is an ethic
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There is a morality That we must Walk in John the
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Baptist restored Israel to that Calling Tax collector and soldier
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And every common person Back to the law Of God The moral law of God To live in such a way as is pleasing
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To him So this is what we'll see in John the Baptist Let's turn there now to John Chapter 1 verses 19 to 23
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This prophetic Fire in his heart John's primary purpose
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Is to exalt Jesus Christ To make known The Son of God Let's read about this, we'll read it in three parts
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Verses 19 to 23 first And then two short sections After that Remember that John's gospel was
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Written to reveal who Jesus is In the beginning was the word, the word was with God And the word was
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God Right away verses 6 to 9 He calls on John as his witness His star witness, the primary witness
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To ground his argument Then he gives the offer To whoever believes
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Would receive Eternal life, would become a child of God And he says the word became
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Flesh and dwelt among us And then he delights in grace Upon grace
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That the Son of God has come And now we get into the The, kind of the flow
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Of the story And he picks up with that witness So let's read it, verse 19 to 23
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And this is the Testimony of John When the
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Jews sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem To ask him, who are you? He confessed
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And did not deny But confessed, I Am not the Christ And they asked him
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What then, are you Elijah? He said, I am not Are you
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The prophet? He answered, no So they said to him, who are you?
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We need to give an answer to those Who sent us, what do you say about Yourself? He said
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I am the voice Of one crying out in the wilderness Make straight the way of the
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Lord As the prophet Isaiah Said Isaiah Said that in his 40th chapter
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But let's look at this interaction Because what's happening here Is that the credentials
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Of the witness Are being established Why is John so unique To be the star witness
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In the gospel Of John? What credentials does he have?
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Why is he believable? Well let's look at it, in verse 19 The Jews ask that question
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And in verse 20, the very First thing that John says Is who he is not
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I am Not the Christ He's very clear
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That he's not the Messiah He wants to get that card on the table Right away, lest anybody be confused
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I'm not the Christ So they ask What then?
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Are you Elijah? He's going to answer
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I am not But let's turn back to Malachi Chapter 4, which I've already referenced a couple times
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As we have the Old Testament Laid out with the Minor prophets concluding And as it is historically
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Chronologically This would be the end Of the Hebrew Bible Malachi 4 5 and 6
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If you don't know how to get there Just get to the end of The Old Testament You can turn to Matthew and go back one page
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Here's how the Old Testament ends Behold I will send you
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Elijah the prophet Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes And he will turn the hearts
01:00:02
Of fathers to their children And the hearts of children to their fathers Lest I come and strike the land
01:00:08
With the decree of utter destruction The Old Testament The Old Testament ends this way
01:00:15
And so the expectation of the Jewish people Is that Elijah must come Do you see that in verse 5
01:00:22
Elijah has to come So go back with me now To John 1 21
01:00:29
Why does John the Baptist answer No Is he not the
01:00:37
Elijah to come Not in the sense that the Jews Understand it
01:00:43
They are expecting Elijah himself Reincarnated Or coming down from heaven
01:00:50
Even as he went up on the chariot of fire To come down Are you
01:00:55
Elijah Physically he himself And the answer is no Now Jesus will explain the dynamic of what's happening here
01:01:03
In Matthew chapter 17 Verses 9 to 13 After the mount of transfiguration
01:01:09
They're coming down the mountain And the disciples had just seen Elijah And Moses And Jesus answers
01:01:15
Their question About Elijah And he says
01:01:20
Elijah must come and will come Now that refers to an event
01:01:27
Just prior to the second Coming of Christ There will be a prophet
01:01:33
One of the two witnesses In the book of Revelation Who will either be
01:01:39
Elijah himself physically come from heaven Or at least Another Elijah like figure
01:01:45
Who carries that prophetic mantle That is still yet to come And so Here John the
01:01:52
Baptist answers no But Jesus tells us in that very passage That John the
01:01:58
Baptist is The Elijah as well What does he mean by that Well the answer to that is in Luke 1
01:02:05
The angel Gabriel said That John the Baptist would be in the spirit And power of Elijah He comes with The prophetic mantle that Elijah had
01:02:15
And so in that sense He is the Elijah to come So the reason he answers no
01:02:21
Is because he's not the Elijah as they Meant it But he is the
01:02:26
Elijah Prophesied in Malachi Make sense
01:02:31
Depends on what perspective You're looking at it So he says no from their perspective But he knows himself to be the forerunner
01:02:38
And so he answers from Isaiah 40 I am the voice of one Crying in the wilderness Prepare the way of the
01:02:44
Lord But there's one more interesting question Before he says that Look at the end of verse 21
01:02:50
Are you the prophet And he answered No When the
01:02:58
Jews asked Are you the prophet What are they asking Turn back with me to Deuteronomy 18 15
01:03:10
It's good for us not to Unhitch from the Old Testament Like Andy Stanley recommends
01:03:16
We are to understand What the Old Testament has to say because it's all connected
01:03:22
You can't have any Coherence in the New Testament and John's Testimony in particular without Understanding what
01:03:28
God already said in the old So the Jewish people Were expecting someone called
01:03:33
The prophet He is a prophet like Moses Deuteronomy 18 15
01:03:41
Moses speaking The Lord your God Will raise up for you
01:03:49
A prophet Like me From among you
01:03:54
Your brothers Meaning from the Jewish people It is to him
01:04:01
You shall listen This is a very important teaching
01:04:08
The Jews Were always expecting A Messiah from this passage The Messiah would have
01:04:15
To be like Moses And whatever Messiah said Would be the final word
01:04:20
You need to listen to him He would be Jewish He would come from the line of Moses Well from the
01:04:29
Family of Israel I should say From the brethren But he would be
01:04:35
Like Moses was John the Baptist that Prophet No he is not
01:04:43
He is not the Deuteronomy 18 15 prophet So who is The greater
01:04:50
Moses Jesus Christ himself Hebrews makes this clear That Moses is like The house that God built
01:05:01
But Jesus Is the builder of the house He is the greater
01:05:07
Moses Consider the parallels Between Moses And Jesus Moses is famous For bringing the people out of Egypt When Jesus was
01:05:23
Just a child He fled Herod's persecution To where? Egypt In order that it might be fulfilled
01:05:31
Out of Egypt I have called my son Jesus is the greater
01:05:36
Israel coming out of Slavery he is the greater Moses who leads them out as Moses follow this as Moses brought the people out of Slavery and Egypt Into the freedom of the promised land
01:05:50
Jesus is the Deliverer he's the Savior who comes and takes sinners
01:05:56
Like me who are trapped In the slavery Of sin And he saves me
01:06:04
And sets me free and delivers Me from captivity From enslavement to sin
01:06:11
And how does that Deliverance take place Well Think about Moses before He became the
01:06:19
Deliverer Spending that time In the wilderness And when he gets the ten commandments
01:06:26
What does he do He fasts for forty days on the mountain Eating neither food or Drinking drink
01:06:35
Jesus likewise spent forty days Fasting But how could the people come out of Israel There was one thing that could
01:06:43
Deliver them and that was the blood of the Lamb An angel of death would pass over the
01:06:49
Camp follow this this is Incredible An angel of death would pass over the camp
01:06:55
And only those who were marked by the Blood would be spared from the Angel of death even as The blood of lambs mark the doorposts
01:07:05
Of the Israelites Jesus puts his Blood on the cross so that The angel of death would pass
01:07:11
Over us who belong To him who have come under his Blood you see
01:07:17
Moses could Offer the blood of physical lambs But Jesus Alone the greater
01:07:22
Moses could Offer his own blood the Lamb of God and so John the Baptist Will introduce him behold the
01:07:29
Lamb Of God who takes away the Sin of the world when you come out
01:07:36
From your sin into freedom What do you do to proclaim that new Birth You go into the waters of baptism
01:07:45
You're buried With Christ in baptism and raised to Newness of life we are told that in Moses the
01:07:51
Israelites were Baptized in the cloud And in the sea They went
01:07:57
Through the Red Sea buried Under the water and emerged In that newness of life picturing
01:08:03
Baptism but Jesus himself Baptizes us not just in Water but in the
01:08:08
Holy Spirit and in Fire The fire of God changing us on the Inside killing the old man
01:08:14
Making us new making us alive Jesus does the greater work He is the greater
01:08:20
Moses He is the Deuteronomy 1815 prophet
01:08:26
That Moses himself foretold Moses knew he was not that Guy he could bring
01:08:32
Them into some physical deliverance For a time But that only pictured the
01:08:38
Great Moses the greater Moses the Lamb Of God Jesus The Messiah So John answered
01:08:47
No I'm not him He's there to point And prepare the way for Jesus and that brings us to the second point
01:08:56
Verses 24 to 28 We now who have that Spiritual baptism we will
01:09:04
Preach like John but we should expect To be received the same way That John was received
01:09:10
Let's read it now they had Been sent from the Pharisees They asked him
01:09:18
Then why Are you baptizing if you are neither The Christ nor Elijah nor the Prophet John answered them
01:09:26
I baptize with water but among you stands One you do not know Even he who comes after me
01:09:33
The strap of whose Sandal I am not worthy to untie These things took place
01:09:39
In Bethany across the Jordan Where John was baptizing Now the clue to Understanding what's happening in this
01:09:46
Pericope this little section of scripture Is that parenthetical Statement in verse 24
01:09:52
Do you see it Now they had been sent From the
01:09:58
Pharisees why does John The author insert this at this Particular point Well throughout
01:10:05
John's writing and also through all the Synoptic Gospels the Pharisees Oppose the message of Jesus These are
01:10:14
The opponents and that's what we're to Take from this They're hostile They're going to be argumentative
01:10:20
They're not receptive He came into his own But his own did not
01:10:26
Receive him that's what's happening And notice how It goes down in verse 25 they ask him
01:10:34
Then why Are you baptizing Do you see how argumentative this is He told them who he's not
01:10:40
I'm not the Christ I'm not the Elijah I'm not the Prophet I'm the voice of one
01:10:46
Crying in the wilderness He just quoted Isaiah chapter 40 and applied it to himself
01:10:52
That's a big deal that should have Had them listening and Alert and excited
01:10:58
What is God doing here In the Jordan Instead how
01:11:04
Do they respond They're completely incredulous
01:11:12
They're argumentative They take his own Words and twist them back upon him
01:11:18
And say this Well You're neither the
01:11:23
Christ Nor the Elijah nor the Prophet So what gives you the right to be Baptizing in this water
01:11:30
You see what they did there They completely Neglected his claim from Isaiah 40 verse 3 and all they did
01:11:38
Was seize on what they wanted to Use to accuse him And reject what he had to say
01:11:44
Church Expect to be received that way as well When you go out preaching that Jesus is the
01:11:52
Christ And in that message You declare repentance In his name
01:12:00
Meaning that people Must turn From their sinful ways To trust in the living
01:12:06
God When you preach that Expect To be hated
01:12:12
Expect to be regarded As a fool In fact here's what they're going to say Who are you
01:12:19
To tell me what to do Who do you think you are You have your religion that's fine
01:12:24
Go do your thing But who are you to tell me How I should live my life
01:12:32
That's how people respond Who don't have the spirit of revelation They're defending their turf
01:12:44
It's a threat to them And John the Baptist is received Just that way but notice what he says Verse 26
01:12:51
John answered I baptize with water But among you stands one You do not know
01:12:57
See the problem is they don't know The God With whom they have to do
01:13:04
If they knew how bright The sun really is S -O -N They wouldn't trifle
01:13:13
They wouldn't live their lives so willfully and rebelliously They would fall
01:13:19
On their face and cry Lord have mercy on me the sinner But they don't know They don't know who he is
01:13:25
They don't know him So John's preaching and they're not receiving
01:13:30
They're only argumentative John continues on though Humbly he's not
01:13:36
Getting argumentative and bowing up And beating his chest What is he doing He says even he who comes after me
01:13:45
The strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie See that John humbly gives the glory to Jesus He exalts
01:13:56
Christ Not himself We're just jars of clay To show that the all surpassing power
01:14:03
Comes from God and not from us This is how John evangelizes
01:14:08
He exalts Christ He does speak the truth to their sin He calls for repentance
01:14:15
And he gets An argument From them These things took place in Bethany across the
01:14:22
Jordan Lastly We see the testimony he gives And it is beautiful Guys there are some things about John the
01:14:30
Baptist That we have nothing to do with Conceived Supernaturally Dancing in the womb
01:14:37
Miracles at his birth Preaching in the wilderness And praise God Our heads will probably not be chopped off For our unique calling
01:14:46
But listen What we have here is what we're to preach Ready Finally 29 to 34
01:14:54
We can emulate John In preaching Christ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him
01:15:00
And said behold The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world
01:15:06
We could do a whole sermon on that Sentence right Behold you're to look at him
01:15:11
Just look there's life There's light there's everything you need His name is
01:15:17
Jesus Behold look The Lamb of God That harkens back to the earliest pages
01:15:24
Of our Bible The Lamb that dies in the Garden of Eden To make a covering for Adam and Eve The Lamb That would be sacrificed
01:15:34
For the Passover Whose blood is shed For the passing over Of our sins
01:15:41
In Exodus chapter 12 Isaiah 53 We like sheep
01:15:48
Have gone astray But there is one Lamb Who goes without opening his mouth
01:15:54
Without objection To the slaughter To be killed as the sacrifice
01:16:00
For our sins He's the Lamb of God Listen You know what
01:16:05
John the Baptist could do He could dunk people Under water You know what pastors can do
01:16:15
We can dunk people under water And you know what that water Can do It can get some dirt off of the skin
01:16:23
If the water's clean Unless you're in a muddy river somewhere But no prophet
01:16:31
Besides Jesus No preacher Can take away sin There's one who can do that His name is
01:16:40
Jesus The Lamb of God alone Who bleeds to pay the penalty of sin
01:16:45
And by that blood The penalty of sin Is satisfied God's wrath against that sin is satisfied
01:16:52
And now the sinner like me Is clean Washed by the blood of the
01:16:58
Lamb Jesus alone takes away sin He is The Lamb of God He goes on This is he of whom
01:17:06
I said After me comes a man who ranks before me Because he was before me
01:17:12
John 1 1 John the Baptist recognizes That he came into the world And was created at conception
01:17:20
But Jesus not so Jesus was with the Father Before the world began
01:17:25
He's always been the Son The Eternal Son Before me Says John Now a personal testimony
01:17:33
Look at verses 31 to 34 Learn to share how Christ Has saved you, your personal testimony
01:17:40
You have a testimony My little brother was down in the Dominican Republic Last week and he got to share
01:17:46
His testimony And he didn't have a big dramatic Paul testimony of Being a murderer of Christians and then
01:17:54
But he said listen I was blessed To be raised in a Christian home And he told his own story of Of coming to understand that for himself
01:18:07
But his testimony is how Christ has Kept him from so many Things How Christ has been with him for those 40 some years, how old is my, 43,
01:18:17
I'm 44 Your testimony is how God Has worked with you and is still working
01:18:23
In you, keeping you From all of the destruction That sin causes
01:18:30
It's a good testimony Here's John's He says I myself
01:18:35
Did not know him But he who sent me to baptize with water Said to me He on whom you see the spirit
01:18:43
Descend and remain This is he who baptizes With the Holy Spirit And I have seen and have borne
01:18:51
Witness that this Is the son When John the
01:18:58
Baptist was in the Jordan here came Jesus And when Jesus Went in the water to be baptized
01:19:04
The dove or in some form The Holy Spirit like a dove Descended and landed on Jesus' shoulder and John knew
01:19:12
There's the Messiah That I've been waiting for, that was the sign That was the marker that God had given
01:19:18
John To indicate the Messiah And then of course God Spoke from heaven, this is my son
01:19:25
Whom I love So in closing, what do we take
01:19:30
From John the Baptist? Do we need to hear from John still today?
01:19:38
There's a few things I want to say, just three quick Things about John the Baptist One, his life was unique But exemplary
01:19:49
There's some things we can't emulate And praise God we don't have to But there are many things
01:19:55
That are an example for us One of them is Seriousness How many pulpits across America Are filled by comedians
01:20:05
Rather than preachers John the Baptist wasn't a jokester And we should be joyful And laughing and we're constantly laughing
01:20:14
In our home it's joy all the time And yet There comes a time
01:20:19
Where we get serious With the serious things of God Churches have lost that Spurgeon talks about How there would come a time
01:20:29
When preachers would be Entertainers of goats Rather than shepherds of sheep And that sadly could characterize
01:20:38
Many churches And I pray not ours But wouldn't we be prone to that too Sometimes taking things
01:20:44
Like communion As if it's just common To something we just do Now these are
01:20:51
The serious things of God And John the Baptist was calling a nation To repent
01:20:57
There's a word you don't hear enough We need to be called To the Christian ethic as given in the
01:21:03
Bible It's not pray a prayer Get baptized and go about your merry way It's be born again
01:21:09
And live for him according to his Law The Ten Commandments And our culture has completely
01:21:17
Repudiated the Ten Commandments At every point Celebrating Everything that stands opposed to God's word
01:21:26
So we need to be John the Baptist again Every church man Every church woman to go preach
01:21:33
The whole counsel of God And expect to be Treated the way
01:21:39
John was treated when he did Hopefully none of us will be martyrs But we'd have to be
01:21:45
If we're willing to be Secondly He did speak
01:21:51
To politicians Notice that He's out in the wilderness talking about Herod the king
01:21:59
There are times that we like John Need to speak out against the horrors Of what politicians do
01:22:07
Don't be afraid to do that Because it has An impact On real lives
01:22:13
Real babies in the womb Real children who'd be given Some chemical poison
01:22:19
To keep them From puberty It's harming real people
01:22:26
And so we need to be willing to speak Like John the Baptist Lastly the third quick point I'm encouraged by a moment in John's life
01:22:37
Where he wavers Because if Even John the Baptist Sometimes has a moment of weakness
01:22:44
What does that say About our Lord towards us Jesus said A smoldering wick he will not snuff out
01:22:51
A bruised reed he will not break off He is a loving
01:22:58
God There came a point in John's life where he was in prison And he was hurting And he began to doubt and he sent messengers to ask
01:23:05
Jesus Are you really the Messiah And Jesus sent word back to say The lame walk
01:23:12
The blind see The dead are raised And blessed is he who does not stumble on account of me
01:23:19
He built his faith up And then he went on to praise John Saying there's none greater than him
01:23:25
He did not crush him In his moment of weakness Church If you're struggling in faith
01:23:32
God doesn't want to crush you He wants to build your faith back up But turn to him in repentance And call to him and say
01:23:40
Lord restore me to my first love I don't feel that fire I need a fresh baptism of the
01:23:45
Holy Spirit Now we're baptized into the body Once and for all But we need fresh fillings of the
01:23:52
Spirit And John the Baptist Received that from Jesus And he died well
01:24:01
Believing that Jesus was the Messiah So in closing I'd like to ask everybody to stand
01:24:06
And we are going to read The Apostles Creed Worship team would you come on up John the
01:24:19
Apostle gives us The book of John and John the Baptist Was proclaiming this same Christ That we believe in Let's say this to one another
01:24:28
In the room maybe you're not yet a believer Then don't say it It's okay to remain quiet But if you believe this
01:24:37
Confess it to the world The way John the Baptist did Let's say this together I believe in God the
01:24:43
Father Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth I believe in Jesus Christ His only
01:24:50
Son Our Lord Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit And born of the
01:24:56
Virgin Mary He suffered Under Pontius Pilate Was crucified
01:25:02
Died and was buried He descended to Hell The third day he rose again
01:25:09
From the dead He ascended to Heaven And is seated at the right hand
01:25:14
Of God the Father Almighty From there He will come to judge the living and the dead
01:25:20
I believe In the Holy Spirit The Holy Catholic Church The communion of saints
01:25:27
The forgiveness of sins The resurrection of the body And the life everlasting
01:25:34
Amen Oh Lord my
01:25:44
God When I In awesome wonder
01:25:50
Consider All The worlds
01:25:55
Thy hands have made I See the stars
01:26:02
I hear The rumbling Thunder Thy power throughout
01:26:10
The universe Display And sings
01:26:17
My soul My Savior God to Thee How great
01:26:26
Thou art How great Thou art
01:26:33
And sings My soul My Savior God to Thee How great
01:26:43
Thou art How great And when
01:26:52
I think That God His Son not
01:26:57
Sparing Sent Him to die I scarce
01:27:03
Can take it That on the cross
01:27:10
My burden gladly Bearing He bled and died
01:27:18
To take Away my sin And sings
01:27:25
My soul My Savior God to Thee How great
01:27:33
Thou art How great Thou art
01:27:39
And sings My soul My Savior God to Thee How great
01:27:50
Thou art How great Thou art
01:27:57
When Christ shall come Wish out Of acclamation
01:28:04
And take Me home What joy
01:28:09
Shall fill my heart Then I shall
01:28:15
Bow In humble Adoration And there proclaim
01:28:23
My God And sings
01:28:30
My soul My Savior God to Thee How great
01:28:39
Thou art How great Thou art
01:28:45
And sings My soul My Savior God to Thee How great
01:28:55
Thou art The next day
01:29:10
He saw Jesus coming toward him and said Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world
01:29:17
This is he of whom I said After me comes a man Who ranks before me Because he was before me