Be a Messenger This Summer
-
Be a Messenger This Summer
It really is great to be here. As Adam mentioned, in 2015, I became a church planter and I went through an organization in Chicago called Harvest Bible Fellowship. This church was a part of it then we were a part of that then. We are no longer a part of it. You are no longer a part of it. But I'm thankful for it because it created a relationship with us, with you. And so I was here for about 6 or 8 weeks and studying under some of the leadership of your church. Believe it or not, we actually had our first core group meeting. Um, I think it's, uh, is it the Ryle Room? I don'tknow, I'm trying to remember which room it was...like a nice banquet room. Is that the Ryle room? It is the Ryle Room. Okay. All right. So we had our first core group meeting. We brought like, 40 people up from High Point. They worshiped right over in this section right here with you guys. We had a dinner that you guys put on for all those people that came from High Point. Uh, Kurt Gebhart was the pastor then, and he and I talked and we had 32 people commit to being a part of our church plant team. So it all kind of started right here. And of all the churches that I know, there was only one church. I don't know what that says about me or what it says about you, but there was only one church that partnered with us financially, and it was this church right here. And your generosity, basically, it planted somegospel seeds and, um, it helped plant our church. And our church has grown into, um, it's more than 30 people. It's about 300 people. And as Adam just mentioned, we just bought a new facility in a very strategic location of High Point. If you know, High Point at all, I'm sure some of you do because of furnituremarket. Um, we bought a place in High Point, North Carolina. It's the old Barnes and Noble across from High Point University. And already we've been there about 15 months, 18 months, and we've doubled in size. We've been out the last 15 weeks because we're doing a massive renovation. And we are hoping, and we are praying that that new location will give us many, manymission opportunities. So that's how you can be praying for us.
I do want to say, before we get into God's Word, um, one of the things that I remember about this church in particular is their is their hospitality, the generosity that I just spoke about. And I have experienced that all weekend. I got to hang out with David Duncan yesterday. We drove around in his convertible. Uh, we talked ministry and we drank coffee. And it was great to fellowship with you, David. And then, of course, last night I went over to Steve and Mandy's house and they just put on an awesome steak dinner. And, um, yeah, it's been awesome. So, Adam, thank you for treating me so, so well.
One last thing I'm a little upset about. There's a couple right over here, and of course I get it. They're from here. They grew up here. Their dad's an elder here. But Will and Kaitlyn Duncan were in my small group. We loved them dearly. I was already in my mind, dreaming and scheming of how Will was going to be my little David at my church, but now he's back here. So, um, it's a little bit disappointing, but I love them, and I know they'reso happy to be here, and I'm grateful that they get to be with their family.
If you have your Bible and I know you do, turn with me to John chapter one. If you don't have a Bible, there's probably a Bible in a seat close by and you can turn with me to John chapter one. It's found on page 886. Did I say something wrong? What did I say? All right, I'm going to just keep going. All right? All right, 886 if you don't have a Bible....John chapter one.
You know, growing up, my favorite TV show as a little kid, it was this show called The Baseball Bunch. Do you guysremember the baseball bunch? Any Gen Xers, the baseball bunch, Johnny Bench. Yeah, so I played, I played baseball, I played catcher as a kid. And so the host of the show was Johnny Bench. Many people considered Johnny Bench to maybe be one of, at least at that time, probably the greatest catcher ever. And of course, I, I'm super competitive. I wanted to learn from the best so that I could be the best. So every Saturday morning I'dget up and I would watch that show closely. I would study the techniques. I would be watching the hitting lessons, the catching lessons. But here's the deal. Every Saturday I woke up early to learn from Johnny, and then I would go outside with my brotherand I would try to put into practice a lot of the things that he had just taught. Now, why would I do that? Because here's the deal. I didn't just want to play baseball. I wanted to get better. And I wanted to be the best version of me.
And I share that with you for simply this reason. When it comes to our evangelism and discipleship, which Adam has asked me to talk about as we go into the summer, a lot of times what happens is it's kind of like that summer slumber when it's like, oh, rest, and I can take some time off from ministry and I can kind of relax. Well, I'm sharing that story with you because when it comes to our evangelism and discipleship, we need to take on that mindset of, I want to be the best version of me.
And there are I would say there are experts in the scriptures that we need to watch and learn from. In the passage of Scripture that we're looking at this morning, the apostle John points us to the greatest messenger so that we will live as messengers in our city this summer.
So here's the big idea I call it the big idea. It's the one thought that I want you to walk away with this morning. The greatest messenger, John the Baptist...he shows every messenger how and the way to live as a messenger this summer. That's kind of. I added that part.
Here we go, John chapter one, starting in verse six, "There was a man sent from God whose name was John." Now, of course, John the Apostle, Jesus best friend, the beloved apostle, is writing. He's not writing about himself. He's talking about John the Baptist. "There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light." Drop down to verse 19, "and this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? He confessed and did not deny, but confessed. I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then, are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered, no. So they said to him, who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, then why are you baptizing if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? John answered them, I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know.Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day...so this is day two. He saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me. I myself did not know him"...even though he grew up with him. "But for this purpose I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness. I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the spirit descend and remain
This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. The next day...day three. Again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, behold, the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus."
Let's pray together. Father, we are so thankful to be here to worship the Son of God. And we have worshiped the Son of God. And now we get to hear from the Word of God so that we can be better worshipers for the glory of God. And so we ask you, Spirit of God, will you use the Word of God in a way that only you can speak it to us, so that we can be transformed for the glory of God? It's in his name we pray. Amen.
You know, we're parachuting into a passage of Scripture. So I just want to give you a brief background. The author, as I mentioned a moment ago, it is John, the beloved disciple. And the reason why John is writing this whole gospel is to convince his readers that Jesus is the Messiah. He's trying to convince the readers. It's been about 50 years since the resurrection. He'strying to convince them that Jesus is who he said he was. There has been a drift. There's some questions. Was he the man who he said he was? Even churchgoing people were beginning to wonder...who was Jesus. And of course, John is trying to clarify for the readers that he is indeed the Son of God. In chapter one it's all about the eternal word that Jesus is fully God. He's the creator of all things. He's the source of life and the light that the darkness can't overcome. And in verses six through eight, though, and in verses 19 through 37, which I just read to you, John takes the attention off of Jesus majesty, and he puts it on Jesus messenger, John the Baptist. At our church we call him JB...John the Baptist. We have JB the messenger and we have Jesus Christ the Messiah, and we call them JB and JC sometimes because they were cousins and they grew up together. And I like to think that they had a really close knit, tight relationship. Now, for those of us, though, who grew up in church, we probably weprobably know John the Baptist pretty well. And I don't know about you, but when I think of John the Baptist, I think honestly, I think weird. You know what I'm saying? He was a little bit weird. He lived in...how many of you been to Israel? Anybody? Alright, so when you go to Israel, when you head out into the desert, that's where John the Baptist lived. That is a weird place to live. But not only did he live in a desert, which is a little bit weird. His wardrobe was camel hair. I like audience participation. His wardrobe was camel hair, which means he was...weird. Yeah. So are you getting it. All right, we're close. We're close. Like three of you got it. His diet, I'm going to keep throwing them at you until you guys participate, okay? His diet was locusts and honey. He was...Weird. Yeah. There we go. And if 2000 years from now, people are talking about what you wore, what you ate, and where you lived, you are...weird. Yes, JB was weird. The man looked like a wilderness prophet. He was dressed like a caveman and he acted like a wild man.
But here's the thing. Yes, he was crazy, but he was crazy about Christ. And he was one of the most important people in the New Testament. He is mentioned 89 times in the New Testament. He was the man who introduced Israel to Jesus. He was the forerunner. He was calling people to repentance. And they were responding. I mean massive crowds were coming to hear this guy preach. Unlike Jesus, he wasn't performing miracles. He was just preaching the Word of God. And people would come in droves to hear this man and they would confess Christ. And then, of course, what would he do? He would baptize them. That's why we call him John the Baptizer. And he was doing some powerful ministry as God's messenger.
And here are the lessons that we need to learn if we are going to be messengers from the greatest messenger. This summer I want to give you three musts. It's really hard to say three musts for every messenger this summer. If I want to be a messenger in my city this summer, I must. I must. If I want to reach the person at the pool, I must. If I want to reach my coworker that sits next to me in the cubicle, I must number one, remember my role in redemptive history.
I must remember my role in redemptive history.
I don't know about you, but I tend to forget a lot of things. One of the things that I hate most in life is all these passwords that I'm supposed to remember. You know what I'm talking about...the password thing. And then they're like, sorry, your password has been compromised. And so what are you supposed to do? You're supposed to come up with a new password. And I'm a simple guy. I just have four Bible verses that I use for my passwords. But it's hard to remember some things. Our church is going through a renovation right now, and I'm always walking around the building, and I always typically have a cup of coffee in my hand, and I will put my coffee somewhere in that 25,000 square foot building. And the next thing I know, I'm looking for my coffee. Like I have a hard time remembering where I put things. Forgetting those kind of things...not a big deal...not life and death situations. However, one thing we often forget that is a life and death situation for some is the role that we play in redemptive history. Have you thought about that lately? Have you taken a moment to just think about the role that you play in redemptive history?
I love this guy, John the Baptist because he understood that. Look at what verses six through eight say about John the Baptist. Verse six makes it very clear that JB was commissioned by God. Verse six says, there was a man. Say it with me. What are the next three words...sent from God...whose name was John. The reason John says, the apostle John says, that JB was sent by God is because it's very simple. Remember this, this man, if you if you go back to Luke chapter one, I mean, he was a miracle baby. Do you remember that story? Remember who his dad was? Who was his dad? Yeah. I heard someone say it. Zacharias. What was the job of Zacharias? He was a priest. Who was that priest named Zacharias married to...Elizabeth. Elizabeth was a cousin to who? Mary. Yeah. You guys are on fire right now. You're rolling. Mary is the mother of who? Jesus. Yeah. I mean, he was a he was a miracle baby. So much so that angels announced his arrival. When we think of angels, we get that silly version of the cartoon kind of angel. Don't we? Like the ones strumming on the harp in the cloud? But listen, J.B. was weird, but angels were more weird. Okay, you study angel ology, man, those things were scary looking. Multiple wings, multiple faces on the head. Those angels meet up with Zacharias, and they announce JB's arrival. And they basically say that he was going to be the forerunner to the Messiah. And of course, Zechariah laughed it off. Right? But I bring that all up to say, like this man, he was commissioned by God. He was spoken about by the angels. He was the last Old Testament prophet. Remember, for 400 years between the last book of the Bible in the Old Testament, Malachi and the New Testament, 400 years had elapsed. Nothing's been happening. And so people are waiting for this, this Messiah. And of course, the angel comes and says, hey, John the Baptist is going to be the forerunner to the Messiah. And notice what else it says about John the Baptist. Verse seven says he came to testify. Not only was he commissioned by God, but he came to testify. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light. That's the name for Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world. And why did he come? What's the why behind the what? Why did he bear witness aboutthe light. Look at what the verse goes on to say...that all might believe through him. The coworker in the cubicle. The person at the pool...that they might believe in him. Verse eight. He was not the light. Again, John was writing 50 years after the resurrection. There was a lot of confusion about who John the Baptist was. So John the Apostle, he's clarifying John the Baptist's role. He's saying, look, because there's questions. Remember what I said...they're doubting was John the Baptist the Messiah? No, John the Baptist wasn't. He was not the light. But look at verse, verse eight. He came to bear witness about the light. He came to bear witness about the light, because every person you and I know are born in darkness. Romans chapter five says that when we come into this world, we inherit Adam's sin nature. We have a natural bent towards sin. Romans 3:23 says, all have sinned, and that sin has separated us from a holy God. He can't have sin in his presence. And Romans 6:23 goes on to say, for the wages of sin is death. That's a real thing. The coworker in the cubicle and the person at the pool are facing death. Jb and you and me, we came as a witness. And when I say when JB was a witness, like, think courtroom witness for a second. The job of the witness in the courtroom...it's not their job to determine whether or
not someone is guilty or innocent, nobody cares what the witness thinks as far as are they guilty or innocent? What is the job of the witness? The job of the witness is simply to say, here'swhat I know and here's what I saw. This is what happened. And that's John right here. He's basically saying, John the Baptist, here's what I know about Jesus. And here's what I saw. And as he's paving the way for Jesus, he's fearlessly confronting sin because Israel was in a really messy situation, weren't they? Remember Israel? I mean, they read the book of judges. I mean, those people are messed up. And he's fearlessly confronting sin. He's calling for repentance with a nine word sermon. You know, the gospel. Listen, if we're just faithful, God will use his words. We just finished Jonah. Jonah said seven words when he went into Nineveh and the city repented. I was thinking about that this week. As I was looking over this, Jonah says seven words. John the Baptist says nine words. John the Baptist says, "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." That's it. We have a simple gospel message that we must faithfully proclaim. And if we faithfully proclaim it, if we faithfully proclaim it, people will respond to it. Amen.
And what's crazy about this guy John the Baptist? And I say he was crazy. He's fearlessly confronting sin. But, I mean, he even went before Herod. Remember, Herod married his brother's wife. John the Baptist confronted him. And Herod was a wicked ruler. What it tells me is John had a heart for all people, even those who would persecute him. Look at verse seven. Verse seven tells us why he would testify in this way. Verse seven says that all might believe through him.
Listen, Hickory Bible Church, just as God chose and commissioned John to speak about the Messiah...he has chosen, and he has commissioned every one of us to do the same, hasn't he? That's right. We have been given a commission in Matthew chapter 28. And I know you know this verse, Matthew 28, verse 19, go therefore and make disciples. And I'm not trying to nerd out with you right now, but the reality is simply this...the go...it's a participle meaning in your going, in your going to work tomorrow at the cubicle, in your going to the pool tomorrow...in your going make disciples.
So really practically I want to give you something super interesting. I did a little research, um, about Hickory, North Carolina and the beliefs that the people in Hickory, North Carolina have about Jesus. And I want to show them to you. Soif we can get that slide up, um, you might want to take a picture of this. I find this fascinating. This is your city. This is you guys. This is about a five mile radius, and this is about three years old...3 or 4 years old. This is the best I could come up with. But five miles from this location right here. These are the stats. Those are the percentages. How many people have a personal relationship with Jesus? Only a quarter of the people really believe that they have a personal relationship with Jesus. A quarter of the people are like, no, I don't want a personal relationship with Jesus. And then you have a bunch in the middle. The beliefs about whether or not Jesus actually rosefrom the dead, which is essential to the gospel. That's what verifies that he is who he said he was. 31% strongly agree. Over 55%. I mean, really 60? If you can't really somewhat agree about that. So really, 70% of the people don't really know if Jesus rose from the dead. Like, this is your city, guys. These are your coworkers. Jesus is the only way. Look at that. Only 25% of people believe strongly believe that Jesus is the only way. When he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus lived a perfect life 23% Jesus was both divine and human. Again, this is an essential Orthodox truth if you're going to be a child of God. That's heartbreaking, isn't it? Because I don't know about you. And what's fascinating to me, David and I were talking today and it's like, I feel like Hickory and High Point were all kind of like, you know, people in High Point and High Point, people know people in Hickory. And, and I guess it's because of all the textiles and the furniture and all that kind of stuff. But what's staggering to me is I did a similar study for our city, and the numbers were nearly exactly the same. Yeah.
And the reality is, is when I walk around my town and when you walk around your town, we forget that every person that we see has a soul, don't we? So really quickly, I want to give you somepractical application, you might want to take a picture of this. Here's how you can play a role in redemptive history this summer. Just really practically. I call them the "I"'s of my gospel evangelism. Here's how you can play a role in redemptive history. How about this? Just be intentional. Be intentional when you're at the pool.
Be intentional when you're on vacation with the server. When you're on the road trip, just be intentional.
Second, be interested. There are so many hurting people that God is going to put in your life if you're just looking for them. I have a story that I could tell right now, but I think I only have about 22 minutes left, so I got to keep going. But it's briefly this a woman went up to my wife at the gym and just kind of pouredher heart out, and my wife started having conversations and invited her to church. Two weeks later, her husband took his own life. People are talking to you for a reason. Be interested.
Be invested. Don't just invite them to your church. Invite them into your home this summer. How about that? Find a way. Don'tlead with..do you want to come to my church? Lead with this. Do you want to come to my house and have a barbecue?
Be inconvenienced. You will be inconvenienced if you'reserious about being a witness and then.
Be interceding. That's the most important. Be prayerful. Be prayerful. Be prayerful. The greatest messenger shows every messenger the way to live is a messenger. Remember your role in redemptive history.
Number two, if I want to be a messenger in my city, the second must for every messenger,
I must share my story with gospel humility.
John's bold preaching created a stir. John Wesley said this light yourself on fire with passion, and people will come from miles to watch you burn. And listen, people, this is John's story right here. John was a bold, passionate, fiery preacher. People were coming from everywhere. The scripture say they were coming from Jerusalem. They were coming from Judea. They were coming from around the Jordan. Everybody is listening to him. And people wanted to hear this man, John, because here's the reality. When a person speaks with conviction, it doesn't matter as to whether or not they even agree with you. But if you have a convictional belief system in this day and age, and even in John's day and age, like people just want to hear it. So. So what'ssuper interesting...to God be the glory. There's this guy who'scoming to our church. I don't even know if you guys know this. His name is Matt Shin. Remember Matt? Like, he's a single guy. He's late 20s. He was more faithful than any church member. He was on the parking team. Matt came to our church, grew up Roman Catholic, became an agnostic, and he'd come every week. Matt tells me he's moving back to New Hampshire. So I'ma little bit discouraged because he had been coming at this point for like four years. He's moving back to New Hampshire, still hasn't become a believer. And I'm like, what in the world? Like the gospel is supposed to be an offense. I mean, am I not? Like it was super convicting. Like, what is going on? Am I the problem? Am I the problem? You ever feel that way, Adam, when you're like, they're not getting it. Like, I don't want to preach this gospel message. And he's here every week. Is it me? And I'm like, Matt, we got to meet. And I'm like, Matt, help me understand. Why would you come to our church week after week after week after week, and yet you don't believe any of this stuff. And this is what he said. It's because when I'm in your home and I
watch your life, and when I hear you preach, I know you actually believe it and live it. So I would come. Fast forward a year. Fast forward to this past Easter. We just baptized them. Finally came to know Christ. Took over five years sitting in the seats. People loving him, serving him, pointing him to the scriptures. Don't buy into the lie that people don't want to hear people with conviction. And the Jews were wanting to hear from John the Baptist, because for 400 years there was no prophetic word and they knew what was next. They are waiting with anticipation for the arrival of the Messiah, and they are thinking, maybe this is the guy. Maybe, maybe he's the Messiah. So when the religious leaders heard about the huge crowd that John the Baptist was attracting, if you look down at verse 19. Verse 19 says, they sent out the priests and the Levites to investigate...the religious leaders probably being the Sanhedrin. It says Jews. The Jewish leaders, they finally get to JB and it was it was probably a little bit of a letdown because they're hearing about this great preaching guy and this massive crowd. This is how I read the Bible, so I apologize. It's kind of like the Chosen. I use my imagination. Okay. Some of you, it's just kind of making its way back there. People are chuckling. They finally get to him. It's a little bit of a letdown because the guy's like munching on locusts. He's wearing camel's hair. This is the guy? And notice it's kind of like when it says, who are you? It's kind of like, who are you? That's how I imagine it. Who are you? And John knows what they're thinking, so he cuts them off. He's like, I am not the Christ. And then they're thinking, alright, he's not the Messiah. This guy's weird...Elijah was weird. They have the same wardrobe. And so the Jews, of course, they were anticipating Elijah's revival. They were anticipating a literal person. Malachi chapter four, verse five. Elijah would come back in the preparation of the king's arrival. And of course, they misunderstood the prophecy because it wasn't talking about a literal person, it was talking about a person in the spirit of Elijah. I think it's Luke one verse 35 that says that. And so they're like, all right, are you Elijah? Verse 21. And John's like, I'm not. Now they're really confused. So again, I imagine them kind of like, all right guys, huddle up, huddle up. Because it's Levites and priests, right, right, right. All right, come together. Huddle, huddle. Picture a football huddle. Here we go. What are we going to ask next? So verse 21, are you the prophet? Do you ever get to that point when people keep asking you questionsand you start getting annoyed? So your answer becomes shorter and shorter and shorter. That's John right here. Are you the prophet? No. But these three questions by the priests and Levites, they're based upon a wrong understanding of Scripture. In Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 15 through 18, Moses promised a prophet like him who would come and deliver God's people. And when Jesus came on the scene, the Jews were once again looking for a political figure who would deliver them from Roman oppression and Roman tyranny. So at this point, the confusion has turned to frustration. He's definitely not what they were hoping him to be. And now they have to go back to the Sanhedrin with some answers and they've got nothing. So look at verse 22, the priests and Levites, they're ticked. So they said to him...and I envision them being a little bit angry right now, like, like, so who are you? Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? Like that's what I think the tone would probably have been. But notice what John doesn't say when these religious leaders ask John why he's baptizing if he isn't any of these three people. He doesn't say, you know, hey guys, I'm the guy that people 2000years from now will be talking about me. Or I'm the guy who, an angel descended from heaven to announce my life and prophesy about the impact of my ministry. I'm the guy with the supernatural birth. I'm the guy that Jesus speaks about in Luke chapter seven, verse 28, when Jesus is going to eventually say no one is greater. He deflects. And when the greatest man ever to be born of a woman and a man. Obviously Jesus is the greatest ever born of a woman, but I mean a man and a woman...natural birth, not miraculous like our Savior who was born of a virgin. When the greatest man ever to be born is askedwhy he's baptizing, he deflects all the attention off of himself and he puts it directly on Christ. We already read it, but look at it again, he says in verse 23, he says, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said.
All right, I have a question for you. Can you see a voice? Can you see a voice? No. What's going on here is John's deflecting all the attention off himself. And he's saying, guys, I'm nothing. Look at what he goes on to say in verse 26 after they ask him why he's baptizing if he's not Christ, Elijah or Moses. Verse 26, John answered them, I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know. Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. So as John's sharing his story in his ministry and his testimony, he's making it clear that there's only one guy that's worthy of glory...Jesus. He's like, I'mnot even qualified to be at Jesus feet, untying his sandal. And that's a significant statement because remember the culture. Remember that culture of foot washing? I mean, that was a nasty job. I mean, fast forward to the Last Supper. Remember the last Supper? Who ends up washing the feet? Jesus. Why was Jesus washing the feet? Because nobody else wanted to do it. It was a terrible, nasty job. And as my sister just said, he was a servant. So Jesus gets up and he washes the feet. But nobody wanted to do that. It was the job of the lowest servant. And here's the greatest man to ever live apart from Jesus, the one who Jesus literally calls the GOAT, the greatest of all time. And he's letting these religious leaders who are trying to make him into something, know that he's not even worthy to be the lowest servant of the Messiah. That's his story. It's not about his ministry accomplishments. Not about his prominent position. That's not what he wants to declare. That's not what he wants to be known by. John is all about Jesus. He just wants to testify about Jesus. And when we witness loved ones, our story must be all about Jesus and His glory. When sharing your testimony, Jesus always has to be the hero. When sharing why you live a life that is fully devoted to living for Christ and making Jesus famous, make Jesus the hero. Echo the words of John in verse 26...I am just a nobody. I am totally unworthy. But I got lucky. God gave me grace. He called me. He saved me. He chose me. He set me apart to speak of him. John is showing every messenger how to live as a messenger...not by being impressive, but by being invisible. That's John's point. Not by making muchof yourself, but by making much of Jesus. So how do we share our story then, with that kind of gospel humility? Let me give you a simple acronym to help you craft a Christ centered testimony. I'm just trying to give you tools for the summer. Here's a simple acronym. You can take a you can take a picture if you'd like. We're going to just kind of cruise through it as we're coming to an end here. I've got a third point, but how to craft your story with gospel humility.
Just be convictional start with being convictional...be convictional as John was. It's going to draw a crowd. People are going to want to listen, speak with truth and confidence.
Then second, be relational or be relatable. Don't be weird like John the Baptist. Connect to where people actually are in their life. Look for those connect points.
Be Authentic. Don't fake it...be you. People are interested in you because you are you? Be authentic. You don't have to be somebody else.
Just be faithful. Humble people will always keep the spotlight on Jesus. Be faithful to the Word of God. Be faithful to the message of God. John said nine words. Jonah said seven words. Just be faithful to gospel fidelity.
And then last but not least, be transparent. Be transparent about your story. Here's where I was, and here's what God did. And now this is who I am. And it's not because of me. It'sbecause of what he did in me. And I want you to experience that same thing with me.
The greatest messenger shows every messenger how to live as a messenger. If I want to be a messenger in my city, I must remember my role in redemptive history. Second, I must share my story with gospel humility. And then last but not least,
I must showcase my Savior with evangelistic urgency.
I remember the first time I ever get a trophy. Man, I wanted that thing on the dining room table. My mom's like, get that out of here. I remember, I remember the first time I ever wore my baseball uniform. Remember the first time you ever put on your baseball uniform like, dad, do you want to go to the grocery store or something? Why? Because we want to show it off. We want to showcase it. We want to point it out. We want to prop it up. We want to promote it most. We want everybody to know about it. But what I love about John is he just wants to showcaseone thing. He just wants to showcase the Savior, and he wants to do it with urgency because he doesn't know if this is his last chance. And the first thing he does as he showcases the Savior, look at verse 29, It says, the next day he basically he points Jesus out. He's like, look at that guy. Verse 29, the next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Meaning all the attention was off of him and onto Jesus. He's deflecting. He'slike, man, you people are coming from miles to hear me. He'sthe Lamb of God. He's the one that the lamb in our in our Jewish history, the Lamb of God, the sacrificial lamb that started in Exodus that we all know about because many of these people were religious people. He's the Lamb of God. He's the fulfillment. He's the one we've been waiting for. He's the one who can atone for sin. He's the one who can give you hope. He'sthe one who can set you free. He's the one who can give youlife. He is the spotless one. He is the sinless one. He's the lamb. He points him out.
And then look at verse 30. He doesn't just point Jesus out. He props him up. He's like, this is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. Basically, John's like, you guys were asking me a lot ofquestions yesterday. This is the guy. Look at the text. He is eternal. He's before me. He is ahead of me. He ranks above me. He is whom I said. He is the promised one. He is the fulfillment of prophecy. John is just. He's. He's pointing him out. He'spropping him up, and then he promotes him most. Verses 31 through 34, I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel. John is basically saying, my ministry only exists to make him known. Verse 32, and John bore witness, I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him. But he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Basically, what's going on here is John is declaring that Jesus is the one who is anointed by the spirit. He's a fulfillment of the messianic prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 11, Isaiah 42. He is the fulfillment of prophecy. And what he's doing is he's contrasting his water baptism with Jesusspirit baptism, and he's basically showing Jesus superior power.
Now look at verse 34. He says, and I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. I mean, this is the highest possible promotion that John could give Jesus. He's publicly affirming Jesus divinity. He's not just a great teacher. He's not just a prophet. This is God's son who came to save the world. And then he ends in verses 35 to 37. And he puts him first, says, the next day, again John was standing with two of his disciples. So now is the third day. And he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, behold, the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Once again, John's not promoting himself. He's saying, look at him. It's almost like he'ssaying, get your eyes off of me. Stop looking at me. Stop! Stop following me. I don't want this crowd. Know him. Follow him.
When we come to a passage of Scripture like this, I think it'ssuper, super important that we recall the words of James. Remember, James? James chapter one says the word of God...it'slike a what? It's like a mirror, isn't it? It's like a mirror, and we'reable to look at it and we're able to kind of see where we are. And so right now, as Steven comes, I just want us to take a moment to just bow our heads and close our eyes and, and take a moment to just have a time of reflection. And there are just four questions that I'm going to ask and I'd want you to think about.
And the first question is probably the most important question. The first question is this do you have a story? Meaning, do you have a gospel story? Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you have recognized that you are a sinner and your sin has separated you from a holy God, and that sin will not allow you in that holy God's presence. And have you come to the point where you have confessed that sin. And not just confessed it, but you have repented of it. You've called upon the Lord to not just be your Savior who would pay for that sin, but to also be the Lord of your life. So that song that we sung about earlier, Yes I will. And you'll place the Lord over your own life. Have you done that? You can't share the story of Jesus until you first have a story. And so if you have never done that, I know there are elders. There are people with lanyards. They'rewearing name badges. If you have never done this, they would love to show you how you can have your own story, how you can share your gospel story.
And for those of us who are already believers in the room, the question is simply this are you playing a role in redemptive history? Listen, here's the reality Jesus plan is moving forwardand he doesn't need you and me. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. He's building a kingdom and it's going to live forever. But I don't know about you, but I kind of, by God's grace, I kind of want to play a part in that building of his kingdom, and he'scommissioned us to do that. So right now, just ask the Lord. Lord, am I playing a role in redemptive history? And if not, just talk to the Lord and say, Lord, I want to recommit myself to playing a role in redemptive history. Will you lead me to somepeople this summer that I can point to Christ, who's my one that I will focus in on this summer?
Third question is simply this. What are you most passionateabout? This is the one that really got me. There's a lot of things that I'm passionate about. I'm passionate about my kids. I like to brag on them. I'm passionate about what God's doing at my church. But are you most passionate about Christ the way John the Baptist was.
And last but not least, who around you needs to hear the message this summer? Let's take a moment right now. Let's bow our heads. Let's close our eyes. Lord, who's the person that needs to hear this summer from me? Talk to the Lord and we'regoing to transition to a time of worship in a moment.
Lord, it is awesome to think that we too are messengers, just like John the Baptist. We have been commissioned by you to proclaim about your son. And Jesus, we know that you are King of Kings. You are Lord of lords. Your kingdom will be built, but we want to be a part of it, and so help us to be invested this summer. Help us to be intentional this summer. Help us to be interceding for the people that you place in our life this summer, so that we might be able to play a role in redemptive history not for our glory, but for your glory. We want your fame to be known in this city. We want those statistics that we saw this morning. We want to see them changed. We want to see those 25% that don't believe we wanted to we want to move the needle. We want to pray in faith that you can stir a revival in Hickory, North Carolina, through this local church. Lord, we need to pray in faith that you can do that. And so, Lord, will you give us a heart for the lost? Will you give us a passion for Christ? Will you mold us? Will you break us more into the image of the suffering servant?...so that when people see us, they see your glory, and it's in your name we pray. Amen.
