The Most Unique Ordinary Mere Man - Part II Matthew 11:1-15

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We live in a world where people are fascinated with greatness
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People ask who's the greatest? musician Who's the greatest artist?
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Who's the greatest athlete? Who's the greatest inventor? Who's the greatest president?
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People are fascinated by greatness, and we even have rankings to see who is the greatest
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Historians, for example, rank presidents To the best and Usually when people talk about greatness what they have in mind is the level
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That one rose to in the world as one maximized his or her ability in one sense
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Greatness can be defined this way. I Red Sox pitcher
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Pedro Martinez pitched when he pitched everyone was riveted The hallways of the concourse were empty
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No one was standing in line at the concession stand and no one was using the restroom people just wanted to see every pitch
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That he threw in the early 1970s. There was a distance runner by the name of Steve free
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Fontaine And what people said is that when he ran? It was like you had never seen anything like it before the way that he ran the intensity that he ran and he would he
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Just won and won and won When he ran Greatness can be defined this way but when the
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Bible talks about Human greatness. This is not the main focus. It is good for us to use our abilities
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We all have different abilities. It's it's good for us to use those for the glory of God But when the
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Bible talks about greatness, that's not the main focus During Jesus ministry the disciples were having a conversation about who was the greatest among them and Jesus took the opportunity to tell them what true greatness is
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Mark chapter 9 verses 35 to 37 Jesus said if anyone would be first he must be last of all and Servant of all and he took a child and put him in the midst of them and Taking him in his arms.
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He said to them whoever receives one Child in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me
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So it is not those Who elevate themselves over others for selfish ambition are the greatest in God's eyes?
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It is those who are humble and live to serve others who are truly great
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Great ones serve others when no one is looking and even help the downtrodden of society and in the downtrodden the people, you know
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Those who humble themselves and live with a servant's heart are the ones who are great But the ones
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Who the world considers great are not great in God's eyes These are the people who want to be great for selfish reasons
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Stepping on others in the process to arrive at this destination
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But the great ones love God and love others Doing the hard non flashy often unnoticed tasks
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And this is greatness One thing you learn as you read the Bible and look at the world we live in is that the
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Bible often Defines things differently and we need to be biblical It is noble to desire great
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But only the way that God defines it
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This morning as we once again look at John the Baptist Jesus is going to talk about greatness last
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About Crisis Wonder what what
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Jesus is I encourage you to turn in a Bible If you use it
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Better okay, so I encourage you to turn the Bible with me to Matthew chapter 11
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If you're using a red Bible in the pews is on page 970 now last week we looked at verses 1 through 10 and this morning
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We were going to look at verses 11 through 15, and here's our big idea for this to Sunday sermon
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The big idea is this to understand John the Baptist is to better understand the
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Messiah And we saw three reasons why in verses 1 through 10 they are this first John became perplexed about Christ's ministry
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Second his misunderstanding is corrected by Christ and third his ministry as the forerunner is authenticated by Christ and Today we're going to see reasons four and five
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So once again this sermon is titled the most unique mere man And we'll begin by reading verses 11 through 15 of chapter 11.
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These are the words of Jesus Truly I say to you Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the
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Baptist Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he from the days of John the
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Baptist Until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force
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For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John and if you are willing to accept it
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He is Elijah who is to come He who has ears to hear Let him hear
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To understand John the Baptist is to better understand the Messiah. And here's the fourth reason why?
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His greatness is tied to the greatness of Christ John's greatness is tied to the greatness of Christ We're about to see
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Jesus say something about John We just read it in fact, but we're gonna zero in on it here in verse 11 that that's truly remarkable
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Once again, Jesus says in verse 11 Truly I say to you among those born of women there has arisen.
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No one greater than John the Baptist Now you'll notice that he begins this verse by saying the word truly or Verily depending on what translation you have in These times when people made a strong statement they would start the sentence with this word and if they said it you better listen and Jesus does this here when talking about John Then Jesus uses the phrase born of women
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This was a common ancient Jewish expression explaining that one was a part of the human race, right?
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We don't talk this way, but this is how they talked we are born of women And what
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Jesus says is that no one born of Women or no one born in the human race
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To that point was greater than John the Baptist Now what in the world is
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Jesus saying is Jesus saying that John the Baptist is the greatest man who has ever lived
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There's two ways to look at this Well, we know who the greatest man who ever lived right the one who's talking about him is the greatest man who ever lived
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But let's just consider everyone else besides Jesus. There's two ways to look at this the two ways to look at this is to look at who
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John was as a man and Also his unique role in history his role in God's plan
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First let's look at who he was as a man From what we see about John in the
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Gospels. He is a faithful man He knew his calling and he was committed to fulfilling that calling
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He knew his place He knew who Jesus is and he knew who he was
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In Matthew 3 11 John said that he was not worthy to even carry Jesus sandals in John 3 30
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John the Baptist said that he must increase but I must decrease What this shows is that John was a very high character man, he was a humble man
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One of the most prominent men in the history of the church is a man by the name of Augustine He was born in 354
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AD and died in 430 Augustine said that the root of all sin is pride and the root of all virtue is humility.
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I Think that's pretty well said If you know someone who is very godly then one thing you know about that person is that he or she is humble
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One simple definition of humility that I have heard is this Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less
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It's knowing your place and not getting a big head Humility is an interesting virtue
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Sometimes you hear people say I am humble But one thing you know about the person who says that is that that person is not humble
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It's not for you to say Whether you are humble Someone else might say it.
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But most of all, what does God think? humble people
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Realize who they are and who God is we are ants and God is far more majestic than we can imagine
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And when we think about world leaders The best leaders are those who are humble They realize that they are a leader who has lots of power, but they also realize that they are an ant before God That they will stand before him one day.
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God is the judge they will stand before him Jesus knew who he was and Jesus was able to highlight
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John's greatness because of his humility His heart's desire was that Jesus increase and he decrease
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This is the secret to John's greatness and this is like when your friend does something well, or is very good at something and you're not jealous of your friend, but Sincerely happy and you want your friend to receive the recognition
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That he is due. So the secret to John's greatness is his
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Humility the Apostle Peter wrote in 1st Peter 5 verses 5 through 6 To clothe yourselves all of you with humility toward one another for God opposes the proud
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But gives grace to the humble Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time.
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He may exalt you As John has humbled himself what
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Jesus is doing here is exalting him So as you look at John's greatness, his character is certainly included
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And I think a lot of people as they read this look past that But not only is his character being referred to here but also his unique role in history
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All the prophets in the Old Testament held a very important role Only a few only a handful of people were ever selected to be a prophet of God And if you're a prophet of God, you're a spokesperson of God You say what
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God has told you to say But John's role is unique of all the prophets in the
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Old Testament area. Only John would be the forerunner to the Messiah As we saw last
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Sunday he prepared the way for God in the flesh No other prophet can make this claim of all the prophets.
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He was given this very important task In ancient times
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When a king came to a town He sent a messenger before him to prepare the way for his arrival
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John did this for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and he is the only one in all of history who did this
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So as we look at who John was as a man in his role Jesus rightly says among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the
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Baptist But then Jesus says something very interesting in the second half of verse 11 He tells the crowd that the one least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he
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Okay, the one least in the kingdom of heaven is greater Than the greatest one born of women
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Wow, that's a remarkable statement In order to understand this we need to understand what
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Jesus means by the kingdom of heaven The kingdom is something that the
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Jews longed for in the Old Testament Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 through 7 describes the
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Messiah and his kingdom the Prophet Isaiah Proclaimed for to us a child is born
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To us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor mighty
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God everlasting father prince of peace of The increase of his government and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and Over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore the zeal of the
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Lord of hosts will do this in Luke 1721 while talking to the
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Pharisees Jesus said This he said the kingdom of God is in the midst of you
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So the question is is the kingdom here or is it just a future event?
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There's a big debate about this And my answer is that the kingdom is mostly in the future
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When Christ sets up his rule on the earth but 2 ,000 years ago
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Jesus was able to say the kingdom of God is in the midst of you because he is the king and he was about to accomplish a salvation through his death and through his resurrection that would be
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Populated with people who trusted in him. Those are the residents of this kingdom
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So if you belong to Christ not only are you a resident of the kingdom
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In some sense now, but you are in the future as well You have a reservation, but you haven't arrived yet So the kingdom arrived in some sense when
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Christ came to the earth and John the Baptist was the last Significant prophet before the king of this future kingdom arrived.
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So now that we understand What he means by the kingdom of heaven. How are those in the kingdom greater than John as we have seen
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John was a great man And the greatest prophet of anyone before him
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But while that is a big title here on earth, the title is still in an earthly title
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Prophet a prophet is one who speaks on behalf of God while on earth
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And at this point when Jesus said this John did not live in the kingdom because the kingdom is still future
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Once again you have a reservation for the for the kingdom, but but we're not really there yet it and I know that's controversial to say that You heard by the way, the word kingdom is thrown on all the time
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Let's build the kingdom build the kingdom build the kingdom as if it's already here It's not here until the king takes his throne officially okay, but in some sense,
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I mean it is here in the sense that the king came and That kingdom is being this future kingdom is being built as it's being populated with Christians With people who believe in this future
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King this Messiah everyone who dwells in the future kingdom though is
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Greater than John the Baptist greater than the prophets even the greatest prophet
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John and This is so because one who lives in the kingdom lives in the spiritual inheritance
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Where Christ is reigning? physically on the earth
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Every prophet including John foretold this future wonderful place, but they did not yet live in it
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Jesus is describing the future residents of the Saints When believers live in that future kingdom, they will be in a better position than those who held an important office
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During world history. So in that sense Those in the kingdom heaven are greater than the prophets
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Including the greatest prophet John the Baptist Jesus is describing the future glorious blessedness of the
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Saints first in the Millennial Kingdom where Christ reigns on the earth for 1 ,000 years and Then in the forever kingdom when
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God reigns forever more This future honor and glory is something that not even the greatest people of God in human history
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Experienced during their lives on earth and in that sense the least in the kingdom of heaven is
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Greater than these prophets including John the Baptist. Okay, does that make sense?
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It's I know it's kind of confusing. I hope it does By the way, you can always ask me afterwards
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So to understand John the Baptist is to better understand the Messiah and the fourth fourth reason
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Why is that his greatness is tied to the greatness of? Christ the fifth reason why to understand
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John the Baptist is to better understand the Messiah is this his ministry faced the same hostility as Christ His ministry faced the same hostility as Christ verses 12
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Through 15 we'll see this Now in the last verses of the section
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Jesus moves on from talking about John's greatness to the rough reception that he received verse 12 will start
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From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force
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When Jesus came to the earth and Started his ministry He did
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What John did before him? John Cape came preaching the kingdom, but it was not well received most of the people rejected his message as We've already seen
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John went after the Jewish leadership calling them to repent This was not well received
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He also confronted King Herod which led to his imprisonment and eventual death
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John got his head delivered on a platter Because he challenged the status quo
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He called for repentance, but the people he called to repent were self -righteous
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They thought they were going to be future citizens when this kingdom arrived
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But in reality they were only citizens of hell and Jesus calls them that in Matthew 23.
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He calls them sons of hell what a contrast all these people who thought they were going to be in the kingdom were left out and These others would be the ones who are actually residents of this place
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So the kingdom of heaven suffered violence through the rough reception John's rough reception was nothing new
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What verse 13 tells us that John was continuing the ministry of others verse 13
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For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John So the prophets in the
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Old Testament also did not receive a warm reception The phrase the prophets in the law is a common way in the
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New Testament of saying the whole Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi In Matthew 23 37
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Jesus lamented of the reception that the spokesmen for God Received in the
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Old Testament. This is what Jesus said He said Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem you who killed the prophets and stone those sent to you how often would
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I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and You were not willing one of the great tragedies of the
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Old Testament Frankly the greatest tragedy of the Old Testament is the rejection of The Messiah and not just the
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Messiah But the rejection of all the prophets that came before him
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Largely speaking Israel throughout its history did not want to hear the truth
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God sent a prophet to bring a message, but they rejected the message and by rejecting the prophet the people rejected
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God and They showed their disfavor to God by killing the prophets.
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Okay, these people are sent on behalf of God They're stoned to death I think we find a lot of parallels between what we see in the
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Bible and what we see right now in American Christianity People don't want to hear what
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God wants to say People don't want to hear that you are a wretched sinner in need of the grace of God People don't want to hear that.
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We should utterly reject every worldly philosophy And it's amazing how attracted
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Some Christians are to the ideas of the world as if somehow the world has an angle on truth that we don't
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We we know the Bible and Somehow we can learn from things from the world that that we don't see in the
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Bible and there's some teachers in America evangelicalism
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That have sold many books Speak at big conferences and have a huge following and I'm wondering if these are really sheep to be honest
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Are they true shepherds If you tell the whole truth on everything you will not get invited to speak at major conferences, that's something
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So in other words you have to be a little bit of a compromiser if you're gonna be featured on the stage And anytime you see a
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Christian leader who has no problem criticizing conservative Christians who hold tightly to the
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Bible and Will not call out the world. That's a serious problem, and it makes you wonder what side is
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This teacher on And I'm not just one teacher but lots of teachers in the church right now who are doing this and if the world loves what?
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Preachers say that's a problem If the world says we think this guy is okay, but we don't like those guys who stand on everything the
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Bible says This happens all the time, and it shouldn't happen Worldliness among well -known
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Christian leaders is a big problem in that it worldliness works two ways by the way it works in with your teaching
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And it works with your life right and both need to be avoided right if you're just attracted to worldly philosophies
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That's a huge problem, but if you're attracted to worldly living that's a huge problem, too And I'm primarily focusing on the teaching here, and this is sobering to me
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There are there are no prophets in the world today in Relation to how they were in the
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Old Testament and in the New Testament So the spokespeople for God are pastors who preach his word afresh and bring the proper application to bear on people's lives
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Yet some evangelicals are more outraged at conservative Christians calling out the evil of society
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Then they are about the evil of society So and again if there's hypocrisy in the church, okay call that out.
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Yes But what if you're sticking to the Bible? And what
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I'm saying is that just like the prophets of the Old Testament and John the Baptist Just as they were not well received by the religious of their day
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So we see this in America right now And the reason why this is so is because some of the so -called
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Christian leaders aren't really Christians If you defend the utterly corrupt actions of the world and think there are some good
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Qualities that we can pull from and are frequently pointing the finger at Christians who are following the
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Bible It may be that that person's true allegiance is not to Christ But to the world the world and these false
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Christians are the ones who will throw their figurative and maybe literal stones At the
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Christians who stand on the Word of God and let me give you an example of this John MacArthur in my estimation is one of the most reliable voices in American Christianity today
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MacArthur is firm in his words and some people don't like that But so were the prophets and apostles in the
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Bible MacArthur has pastored Grace Community Church in California for over 50 years.
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He preached through every book of the New Testament In fact, he wrote a commentary on the entire
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Bible and yet many evangelicals are embarrassed by him They are embarrassed of him because he says things that others won't say he calls out the evil of society and the evil of society that has infiltrated the church and He hasn't retired because he feels the need he still needs to do it.
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He's 82 years old I was talking with a friend. I dread the day when he dies who's gonna rise up in his place and Call out the pagan influence of the church
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And while looking at MacArthur they say to the world These so -called
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Christian leaders. That's not us. That's not Christianity Christianity is about being nice to the world and picking our spots
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It's about getting the world to like us and then we share the gospel Let's be careful
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About calling out their evil. We'll lose our witness. That's that's the kind of talk you hear
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And when I hear this kind of talk and it's very common in the American Evangelical Church It makes me ask the question.
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What side are you on? Are you with the world?
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Are you with Jesus? When we talk about false teachers in the church Joel Steen's an obvious one that's an easiest to easy target
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He's easy to pick on he preaches the prosperity gospel and he's made millions off this false gospel
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But here's the fearful thought there are far more false teachers out there than we realize and When you hear someone so quickly defend the world and point the finger at conservative
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Christians While also Synthesizing Christianity with worldly philosophies.
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It makes you wonder maybe this person is not a sheep at all but a wolf I Heard someone recently
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Say that the reason the far left hates Christians is because we've been too mean to them over the last several decades
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Do you know that someone said that? And I'm thinking did Jesus tell us that the world will hate you for following me for following the
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Bible The reason they hate us is because they hated Jesus Now it is possible
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That people like this could be misled in a serious way and just be a compromiser but it could be a wolf and This should be a consideration and at the very least teachers like these should not be commended.
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They should not be followed It doesn't mean throw out everything you've learned from them, but it doesn't mean that there's not a reliable voice right now
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But for everyone who stands on the Word of God proclaiming it and defending it you will always face opposition from the world of course but even from the corruption within the church just like John and Jesus faced opposition from the corruption within the
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Jewish system Right most of their problems. It wasn't with the world It was with the people within the church who corrupted the
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Bible who corrupted how to live how to teach John's opposition came from the corrupt
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Jewish system and he died Standing up to the corruption just like so many prophets before him, right?
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They go to these religious people These religious religious people who had been compromised and they say you need to turn you need to repent and that was the end
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They would be stoned to death Now these Jews who rejected
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John because of their hardness of heart did not believe that John was a prophet predicted in the
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Old Testament We looked at the prophecies already that predicted John We've already seen
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Jesus explained that John was predicted in the Old Testament as the messenger who prepared the way for the Messiah But Jesus says something very interesting in verses 14 through 15 about John He said this and if you are willing to accept it
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He is Elijah who is to come he who has ears to hear let him hear
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The Old Testament passage that predicted John the Baptist as Elijah is Malachi chapter 4 verses 5 through 6 where the prophet proclaimed
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Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes and he will
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Turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers Lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction
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Now some Jews thought that Elijah would come back to earth and preach in the last days when the kingdom arrived this messianic kingdom and remember
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Elijah Was taken up in a whirlwind to heaven as second Kings 2 explains but John is the literal
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Elijah But one who has the spirit of Elijah in Luke 1 17
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The priest Zechariah said concerning John the Baptist he will go before Jesus in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and The disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the
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Lord of people prepared in John 121 John was asked if he was
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Elijah and he said he was not so it almost looks like a contradiction And what
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John meant there was that he was not a literal Elijah Returning to the earth like so many
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Jews at this time thought But as I mentioned Elijah was taken up to heaven and he is one of only two people in History that did die.
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Who's the other one? Enoch Is Genesis 5 says that Enoch walked with God and he took him
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Not a bad deal, huh? Don't have to die God sent John the
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Baptist with the spirit of Elijah so that Israel would repent and turn to receive the
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Messiah But the Jewish nation as we learn Largely rejected
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John the Baptist because they rejected The kingdom that John offered and by rejecting
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John and By rejecting the kingdom the kingdom would not start the kingdom doesn't start until Israel receives their
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Messiah To fulfill that prophecy there still needs to be an
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Elijah to come This prophecy will be fulfilled during the final seven -year tribulation right before the return of Christ The Elijah like prophet will be one of the two witnesses described in Revelation chapter 11
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And it may be literally Elijah coming back to preach to the Jews calling them to repent
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And it's amazing how this all connects what the Bible teaches is that there will be a mass conversion of Jews in the end times
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The Jewish people rejected their Messiah at his first coming, but it is second coming.
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They will receive them at least Zechariah says one -third of Israel will receive him and when
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Jesus says He who has ears to hear what he means by that is listen up listen
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To what he has said to fulfill the prophecy of Malachi 4 verses 5 through 6
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Where the preaching of Elijah would turn the hearts of fathers to their children in the hearts of children to their fathers
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The nation as a whole needed to receive the preaching of the forerunner to the Messiah and This did not happen at his first coming
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The Jews rejected God's spokesperson Right, and he and he lost his life
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They rejected Elijah and so there needs to be another one who will precede the
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Messiah But his message will be received by many Jews As Zechariah says they will look on him whom they have pierced because the one who pierced the
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Messiah were the Jews By delivering him up to be crucified So to understand
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John the Baptist is to better understand Christ and we've seen five reasons why the last two
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Sundays The first is that John was perplexed about Christ's ministry Secondly, his misunderstanding is corrected by Christ Third his ministry as the forerunner is authenticated by Christ Fourth his greatness is tied to the greatness of Christ.
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And lastly as we just saw his ministry faced the same hostility as the one he paved the way for And I think this is such a valuable lesson to us right you like you will face hostility
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That's that's the story of Christians, that's the story of God's people down through history Old Testament New Testament church history and now in the present day as well
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And what we've seen is that John had that experience as we looked at John The Lord has shown us how important this man is in biblical history and his importance comes from his very close
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Association with the Messiah and may we praise God that John was faithful That he indeed did pave the way
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Some hearts were prepared and received the Messiah many others rejected But John was faithful and by learning about his important role.
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We learned that his role was still very small Compared to Christ who came after him and John would be the first to tell you that remember what he said.
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He must increase I Must decrease But as we think about the
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Christ, may we also remember John and his message When John started his ministry the first words that come out of his mouth are this
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Matthew 3 to repent For the kingdom of heaven is at hand
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Central to his message and central to the message of the Bible is the repentance of sins and the one
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He prepared the way for was the one who paid the penalty For sinners at the cross.
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We just recognized that day. We had a good Friday. We had Easter What did what did Jesus do the
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Messiah? He lives a perfect life. He dies a sacrificial death on the cross
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He is raised to life in The Old Testament they preached repentance now we preach
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Christ Which is also preaching repentance But we're pointing people to the one who already finished the work when he went to the cross when he rose from the dead
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And what John wants us to know what the Word of God wants us to know today is that only those who are repentant and Trust the
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Messiah are the ones who will populate that future kingdom and may that be all of us
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And that's our mission as a church not only to believe this ourselves But to get the word out
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When I go on my bike rides in my runs throughout the week, I'm thinking who knows
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Christ in this community Let's find these people. Let's find them. Let's share the gospel with them
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People moving to this area Do they know Jesus? Let's reach out to them because we're preaching this repentance to them repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand
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And the question is will they be in this future kingdom only those who believe in the
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Messiah Will be there So may we be faithful to do that now next
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Sunday We are once again going to look at John the
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Baptist and Jesus is going to describe the dark circumstances for those who rejected
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John's ministry now this time. Let's pray Father in heaven
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Thank you for John And as we look at his life and continue to look at his life
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There's so much we can learn here. And whenever we talk about John though, we need to talk about Christ John is not the focus.
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No one is the focus except for Jesus He is what the
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Bible points to He is the one We are to worship He is the one we are to live for And so may we see this as we as we have looked at John and as we look at John again to better Understand John the
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Baptist is to better understand the Messiah to understand who the Messiah is to understand what the Messiah accomplished to understand
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What is the expectation of us? based on this information So so may we take that Lord my prayers that the
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Holy Spirit would apply this Message everyone right where they are at and I asked us in Jesus name