The Gospel according to John, beginning in chapter
1, verse 19. This was John's testimony when the
Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites
to ask him, Who are you? He didn't deny it, but
confessed, I am not the Messiah. What then? they
asked him. Are you Elijah? I'm not, he said.
Are you the prophet? No, he answered. Who are
you then? they asked. We need to give an answer
to those who sent us. What can you tell us about
yourself? He said, I am a voice of one crying
out in the wilderness, make straight the way
of the Lord, just as Isaiah the prophet said.
Now they had been sent from the Pharisees, so
they asked him, why then do you baptize if you
aren't the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet?
I baptize with water, John answered them. Someone
stands among you, but you don't know him. He
is the one coming after me whose sandal strap
I am not worthy to untie. All this happened in
Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him
and said, Look, the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world. This is the one I told
you about. After me comes a man who ranks ahead
of me because he existed before me. I didn't
know him, but I came baptizing with water so
that he might be revealed to Israel. And John
testified, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven
like a dove, and He rested on Him. I didn't know
Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water
told me, The one you see the Spirit descending
and resting on, He is the one who baptizes with
the Holy Spirit. I have seen and testified that
this is the Son of God. The Word of the Lord.
You all can have a seat. You guys ready for John?
Hey, if you don't have one of these Bibles, this
is our gift to you. The cool thing about it is
you can write notes in it and write it all up
and do whatever you want with it. The first thing
you do is grab one of these. If you don't have
one right now, you can jump up. We won't be afraid.
We won't shame you. Just go in the back, grab
one off the table. They're there for you. And
then write your name in it so that when you leave
it here at the school, They know who it goes
back to. Just kidding. So keep it, all right?
Andrew, can you turn me down just a little bit?
Thank you. All right, I can pull up. Notice today
I've got two, what I'm wearing. Just look at
me for a minute. Look at this craziness of what
I'm wearing. I've got the Radiant logo, and I've
got the Living Stones logo right here. Okay,
what is Living Stones? Well, if you remember
a few weeks ago, I told you about I was down
in Reno. At South Reno, Livingstone, South Reno.
So it's a church. So over a number of years ago,
we began kind of a close relationship with another
network of churches called the Livingstone's
Family of Churches. So we have five Radiant Churches,
and they have ten Livingstone's Churches now.
And so we just began to say, let's work together.
find ways to help one another. In fact, when
I was down there, I met with a potential church
planner that they're looking to start an 11th
church, and we were talking about what would
it look like for Radiant Matsu to financially
contribute to help make that church to go. I
don't know what just happened there, but anyway,
way down. So I was down there at South Reno.
South Reno Church has financially... From the
very beginning, when we moved here, financially
jumped on board and said, we want to support
and believe in this church plant. And so Brad
Browski, who had been a part of the Living Stones
for a while, planted a church in Winnemucca.
Anybody know where Winnemucca is? Yeah, I've
got like two people. Yeah, it's a... Kind of
like an Alaskan town. It's a mining town, ranching
town in a sense of independence. Well, anyway,
I've heard that. I've never been there. So Brad
planted a church there, and now he has moved,
handed that church over, and he's at South Reno
Church in the south part of Reno. And he is the
executive pastor of this church. When we were
down there, I invited him up, and he's come up
to be a part of the Convergence cohort that we're
launching this week, which we'll talk about that
more later. But Brad's come on up here, and Brad's
a good friend. He's been to Alaska before. I
won't tell all of his stories, but he's a good
friend. And I asked him to preach because we
don't get this opportunity very often. And just
so you know, he can preach pretty well. So we're
going to pray for you. We need it, though. Lord,
we just pray for Brad right now, that as he preaches,
that by your spirit, not by what Brad does, but
by your spirit, you empower him to unpack this
amazing text. God, thank you for the relationship
we have with Living Stones. Thank you for the
relationship with Brad, and thank you that he
can be here with us. So will you work in our
hearts as well, by your spirit. Amen. Thank you,
Caleb. And hello, Radiant. A lot of people struggle
to tell Caleb and I apart because we have equally
awesome beards. But yeah, it's great to be with
you. I've finally met you guys for the first
time today. But so you know, this is special
for me. Like Caleb said, we've been supporting
and not just financially, but through prayer
and thinking about and hearing from and wanting
to know and be part of this church plant from
the very beginning. And so it's awesome to finally
be here. I've never been able to worship with
you guys and to meet all of you. And if you've
been coming to, if maybe you met Jesus here,
just so you know, people have been praying that
that would happen for you since long before.
And God had a purpose, and that was fulfilled
here. And you were able to meet Jesus because
churches a long way away from here prayed for
you and supported this ministry. And so there's
something big going on here. And I actually love
Alaska. I've been here. My uncle was stationed
in Kodiak when I was a kid, and so I can't come
up here a bunch. I've got lots of stories. I
come up here a couple times a year to hunt and
fish and plan. in retreat, you know, while I'm
hunting and fishing. But one time I brought my
wife up and I tried to convince her to move here.
And she was totally on board until she found
out about this thing called winter. And then
she was less on board. And so, actually, it's
been record heat wave where I live. I don't know
if you could tell, but I got a sunburn a couple
of days ago because I was outside too long in
the nice sun. Did you guys see the sun two days
ago? Not sure? Too soon? Too soon? Is that a
sore spot? Okay, I apologize. Again, we love
this church. I love this church. I've been praying
for you for a long time. And so you know, if
you've been coming, last week you started a series
in the book of John. And the book of John is
an awesome book. And we're actually, it's an
awesome book because it reminds us of the fundamentals
of what our hope is and what our purpose in life
is and who Jesus is. We always need that reminder,
right? Like Caleb said last week, the foyer.
We got to go back to the foyer and say, what
is all this about? Because it can seem kind of
hopeless and kind of routine. Life can just seem
sort of like that. And so we need to remind ourselves
of who Jesus is and why do we really follow him
and who are we really following. And if you're
a Christian, if you're a follower of Jesus, then
I'm guessing that you want to do that. You want
to follow him. And today we're going to talk
about exactly what that looks like. And maybe
this is your first time here. Maybe you're here
and you're a skeptic of all this. You actually
don't believe these things. And just so you know,
you're here on purpose too. People far from here
have been praying that you would be here today.
And God has a purpose for you. And just so you
know, a fundamental four -year type thing that
you need to know about. about Radiant and about
Living Stones too, and about gospel preaching
churches, is we believe that this Bible is God's
word. That every single word of this is from
the one who made us. And it's what we need in
order to know why we're here and what he did
to bring us back to him. And every single word
of this is important and vital for our living.
And you may not believe that yet, but I'm going
to go out on a limb. And if you're a follower
of Jesus, then this is true for you too. It's
true for me. I bet you've spent at least a small,
if not a large portion of your life, trying to
live without a source of truth. Trying to live
by your own source of truth, by your own desires
and ideas and hopes, and without a clear path
of why you're here and what you're supposed to
be doing, without a constant hope that's never
going away. And I'm guessing you've probably
realized, and if not, let me tell you today,
there's no other place you can find that except
in Jesus. There is no other way. There is no
other source of truth besides God's word. There
is no other hope besides what Jesus provides
for us. And so that's why we're in the book of
John. And Living Stones is actually preaching
through the book of John right now also. We're
a little bit further ahead. We've been in it
for a while. We're way further in chapter 12
or 14 or something. And I'm not going to give
you any spoilers. Actually, I am. I'm definitely
going to give you some spoilers and ruin the
ending for you. But that's all right. We're going
to get into the passage. Let's turn to John chapter
1 as we just read. And by the way, I think I
could listen to that Bob guy read scripture all
day. Holy smokes. That was amazing. I kind of
want him just to come up and read my sermon so
I can listen to it. His voice is soothing. All
right. Verse 19 of John chapter 1. This is John's
testimony. This just means story. When the Jews
from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask
him, who are you? He didn't deny it, but confessed,
I am not the Messiah. What then? They asked him.
Are you Elijah? I am not, he said. Are you the
prophet? No, he answered. Who are you then? They
asked, we need to give an answer to those who
sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?
Now, the first time I actually came to a Radiant
church, it was the Radiant in Fairbanks where
Caleb planted first. And this was long ago before
Matsu was in his view. And we went for a cohort.
We were gathering with a bunch of pastors. It
was actually during COVID. We were part of this
church planning network that put pastors together
to help each other, encourage each other, and
share ideas and support each other. And they
said, no cohorts because it's COVID and people
can't travel. And we said, we're going to do
it. anyway, but we're going to go to where no
COVID could possibly be, and that's the wilds
of Alaska. So we went to Fairbanks, and then
we went two hours outside of Fairbanks. But as
you guys know, because you were most likely here,
Alaska really didn't want anyone coming here,
right? Because then we might bring some germs.
And so it was tricky. You had to have a COVID
test within a certain period of time in order
to get on the plane or to be let in to the state.
And so all of us had to deal with that. And one
of the pastors, we get to the Fairbanks airport,
and we're waiting for him to come. through the
checkpoint. He had to get off the plane. He had
to go to the checkpoint. They had to get your
documents, you know, and he had apparently some
issues with his document, right? The doctor signed
it wrong or the test he got was not quite right
or whatever, and they sat there. They like took
him into a side room and like held him there
for like 45 minutes, almost not letting him out,
almost like trying to send him back to California
or wherever he was from. And they were just grilling
him. Hey, what actually did you get? Can you
log on to this thing? Can you call the doc? I
mean, they were grilling him. They were trying
to figure out if he was legitimately able to
come into the state. And that's exactly what's
happening here in John 1. Right? These Pharisees,
in fact, the Pharisees, by the way, are the religious
leaders, right? So they're kind of the stewards.
They have portions of the Old Testament in there
and they're like trying to make sure people are
believing the truth, right? It's a good thing
to try to do. They kind of added a bunch of their
own rules in there and so that got complicated.
But basically what they do is they're trying
to keep the people from believing false prophets
and people who... preach who claim God's word
but aren't really true. And what we find out
later is these aren't the Pharisees themselves.
They actually send some lackeys, some interns,
some Pharisee interns to John because they hear
this guy's been preaching. And they're like,
you guys need to go and find out who he's claiming
to be, what he's claiming to do. Now, they grill
him with all these questions. Hey, who are you?
Who are you saying you are? Are you saying you're
the Messiah? Are you saying you're Elijah? Are
you saying, who are you? What is going on here?
These interns are like grilling this guy. Now,
we love to hate on the Pharisees, right? Jesus
is constantly, you know, making them look stupid.
They're constantly asking dumb questions and
doing shady things, and Jesus is like tossing
tables and constantly making them look dumb and
arrogant, and he's like, don't be like those
guys, right? But these are actually really good
questions. Like, if we're honest, it doesn't
denigrate the Pharisees or their interns from
asking John these questions. If someone comes
claiming, Like an authority from above. If I
were to come and say, hey, you don't need to
worry too much about what Caleb's saying. You
just need to listen to me. You need to have some
questions. What exactly are you saying? Where
are you claiming your authorities from? These
are good questions. This dude comes on the scene.
He's preaching. He's baptizing. And by the way,
baptizing was something that only the Pharisees
were supposed to do. And they were doing it to
take people who were not Jews to baptize them,
to symbolically make them Jews. John the Baptist
over here is over here baptizing Jews into something
else. They're not quite sure. And so he's doing
some strange things. And so the Pharisees are
like, we're only supposed to do that. What are
you claiming? What are you baptizing people?
Why are you preaching? What's going on? And he's,
not only that, he's saying some new ideas and
they're not quite sure what he's claiming to
be. So they send these people to ask him, to
grill him, say, who are you? Who are you claiming
to be? What authority are you claiming to have?
And really the question they're asking is, why
should we listen to you? The story we're going
to talk about today has three questions, really
three truths that we can, we'll bring your questions
in later, that are just baked into creation.
First one is this. You are shaped by who you
listen to. You are shaped by who you listen to.
Who you follow. Who you respect. Who you spend
time with. And not people you listen to once,
but people you repeatedly listen to. What are
the voices that you constantly listen to? You
are shaped by those. And that's by design. Psalm
1, 1 -2, it says, Blessed is the man who walks
not in the counsel of the wicked, but his delight
is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he
meditates day and night. Proverbs 13 says, he
who walks with the wise becomes wise, but the
companion of fools will suffer harm. This dynamic
is part of God's creation order. It's a principle.
You can't get away from it. We were made with
purpose in mind, and that's one of the purposes
is that we're shaped by the voices that we listen
to, and the fact is if you listen to the voices
you shouldn't, you'll become the person you shouldn't.
And the religious leaders knew this, right? The
Pharisees knew this. And so that's why when this
guy comes on the scene, he's baptizing, preaching
some weird things. They send the interns to go
find out what's going on. And so they start grilling
him. So he responds. They're like, who are you?
He responds in verse 24. He said, I am a voice
of one crying out in the wilderness. Make straight
the way of the Lord, just as Isaiah the prophet
said. Now. These Pharisee interns would have
had this memorized. They were supposed to memorize
the entire first five books of the Bible and
a bunch of Old Testament scriptures. They would
have had this memorized. They would have known
what he was referencing. When John the Baptist
responds and says this, this is actually a quote,
as he says, from the prophet Isaiah. And see,
the Pharisees knew something. One of the reasons
they were so hard after asking them, are you
the Messiah? What does that mean? Well, there
was very clear. voice from god in the early days
saying i'm gonna send someone to you called the
messiah and this goes back to the very beginning
of creation right the genesis chapter one god
makes us and just so you know this is the story
of you as well he makes humanity to listen to
him to be shaped by him to trust him to follow
him to glorify him to enjoy him in his world
and we decided we didn't want to do that we wanted
to go and forge our own path and find our own
way and do our own thing and so God said, he
promised that one day he was going to send someone.
He was going to come and he was going to die
for the ways that we've ruined his world with
our rebellion. And he was going to pay for those
sins and he was going to rise from the dead.
And he was going to prove that he had the keys
to death itself. And that person was going to
be called the Messiah. Now, this is kind of cryptic
in the Old Testament. It's sort of hard for them
to understand. So they kind of had an idea. But
basically, their role, the Pharisees' intern's
role, was basically just to squash anyone's claiming
to be that. They didn't really want him because
they had the power. They didn't want someone
trusting in someone else besides them, even if
it was God's Messiah, the one he had promised.
And so they knew that there was someone supposed
to be sent to save the world. called the messiah
but to be fair there's a lot of people that claimed
this and so there's a whole lot of times where
someone claimed hey i'm him follow me and they
had to go down and squash it and so that's why
the pharisees themselves didn't go there's too
many people claiming this and so they sent some
folks to go do it and basically they were just
there to confirm that he was saying he was the
messiah so that they could write him off that's
what they were doing So they're like, are you
claiming to be him? Because if so, then we can
ignore you because we know you're not him. And
he says, no. He says, no, I'm not the Messiah.
He says, I, if you remember from your studies,
John the Baptist, this random homeless guy from
the woods, schools them in Old Testament scripture.
He says, if you remember from your studies, Isaiah
actually said there would be one that comes before
the Messiah. God's going to send someone beforehand
to... tell everyone that he is coming, and that
will be part of the proof that he is really him.
And so, basically, they say, okay, this is above
our pay grade, we're not quite sure, they scurry
away, right? Sometimes it's easy to know truth,
and sometimes it's hard, and they're above their
heads, and so they run away. So, the question
for us is, who do you listen to? What are the
voices that you listen to the most? You can probably
think of your day in terms of what voices are
constantly talking to you and how is that shaping
you? Because you're going to be shaped by the
voices you listen to. John the Baptist had steeped
himself in God's words so much that even in the
moment when they were trying to prove him wrong
and he could have said, well, yeah, I'm here
to do something great. I'm here to baptize. He
just ignored all that and he just... basically
went back to God's word and they couldn't say
anything. What voice do you agree with and consume
the most? Obviously, we believe that this is
God's word and this is something we should listen
to. This is a voice we should be dwelling in.
Now, if you grew up in church like I do, you
have an immense amount of guilt that you don't
spend enough time in this book. I'm just guessing
if that's you. That's how I am. If I don't spend
enough time in this every day, I feel guilt and
shame galore. I want to free you. You actually
don't have to read this book every day. You don't.
In fact, you don't have to read it at all. The
only question you have to ask is, how dumb do
I want to be? Then you don't have to read this
if you're cool being as dumb as possible. Now,
that's a joke. Really, you guys are really in
March Madness. Goodness gracious. I'm trying
to bring some, like, joy here. Look, God gave
this to us as a gift, not to guilt us that we
don't listen to him enough. Jesus already paid
for all of our guilt, even every day when you
don't read this as much as you should on the
cross, which means that now we're free. We get
the opportunity to read this and to know more
about him and to steep ourselves in this voice
so that we can live in more truth and have more
joy. But if we want to become like Jesus, we
need to listen to his voice because we're shaped
by that. Okay, so John talks to them. They run
away. It says, now they had, in verse 25, now
they had been sent from the Pharisees. So they
asked him, why then do you baptize if you aren't
the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet? I baptize
with water, John answered them. Someone stands
among you, but you don't know him. He is the
one coming after me whose sandal strap I'm not
worthy to untie. All this happened in Bethany
across the Jordan where John was baptizing. So
the second truth is who you talk about reveals
what you worship. You can say what you talk about
as well, but who you talk about reveals who you
worship. Notice John the Baptist immediately
directs them to Jesus. I guess they haven't scurried
away yet. They're going to in a minute. They're
asking him, who are you? What are you saying?
Why are you baptizing? You're not supposed to
do that. And he's like, look, it's not important.
I'm just a guy dunking dudes in water. The point
of my life is to point to his life. The point
of my life is to prepare you and to point you
to Jesus. And he says, someone stands among you,
but you don't know him. Jesus is already on the
scene, right? He's there. He says, Jesus is already
here. The Messiah is already here. The one God
sent to save you from your sins is already here.
You just don't recognize him. You're just ignoring
him. He's among you, but you don't know him.
And this is really important for us today. Because,
and this is true whether or not you're a follower
of Jesus, but we spend so much time talking around
Jesus, but not talking about Jesus. You know
what I mean? We spend so much time talking about
what we think Jesus would want the government
to do. Or what we think Jesus would want to happen
in politics. Or how we think Jesus would want
us to treat one another or other people to treat
us. How we think Jesus would want us to talk
to each other. And how we think Jesus would want
our laws to be constructed. But we don't spend
a whole lot of time talking about Jesus. We have
a lot of opinions that we think are shaped by
him. About what we want to happen in his world.
But we don't spend a lot of time talking about
him. Did you know that our life is a vapor? We're
going to be here and then we'll be gone. The
only thing that matters is how much attention
we give and bring to the one who can actually
save the world through the gospel message that
he's given us to preach. If all we have as our
legacy is that other people get to meet the one
who died for them and are saved from their sins
forever so they can be with him now and experience
freedom now and eternal life forever, that is
worth. If it's just one person, that is worth
giving all of our time. But we've got to talk
about him. We can't talk around him our entire
lives. and not lead people to him. Now, one of
the reasons we don't want to do this is because
if we really talked about Jesus a lot, we're
going to be weirdos. It's true. We're going to
look weird. I mean, look at John the Baptist,
for example. He doesn't say it in this particular
passage, but John the Baptist, it's not wrong
to say he lived a weird life. I mean, he was
a homeless guy, lived in the woods, wore camel's
hair clothing, which is a famously uncomfortable
clothes. You could barely call it clothes. He
ate locusts and honey. That's how he survived.
Bugs. It's important, as a side note, to recognize
that the Bible has two types of commands. One
is, or two types of thoughts. One is descriptive
and one is prescriptive. right? The difference
is sometimes the Bible says this person did this
thing. Sometimes the Bible says you should do
this thing, and thankfully this is one of those
descriptive things. John the Baptist did all
this stuff, and it doesn't say you need to do
this stuff. Thank the Lord, right? We don't have
to go live in the woods. We would all instantly
die if we tried to do that right now here in
this part of the world. Well, maybe I would.
You guys would. In Matthew 11, Jesus actually
talks about John the Baptist. He says, truly
I say to you, among those born of women, there
has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.
If you forgot about biology, that's all people,
everyone. You guys get this. You guys are like,
there's like a thousand kids here. You guys know
how that works. So that's everybody. Why would
Jesus say this? Of all the prophets, I mean,
some prophets did some awesome stuff, right?
Like Elijah, you know, like did the whole like
calling fire from the heaven. Like that was pretty
epic. Why did Jesus say, among those born of
women, there has arisen no one greater than John
the Baptist? What do we need to learn from John
the Baptist? Of all the prophets, why does he
so great? Three reasons. Three reasons he's great.
Number one is his clarity. He had a clarity like
no one before him. He knew exactly who Jesus
was. And you can't say this for the prophets
in the Old Testament. I don't know if you've
read some of the Old Testament prophets. They're
not clear. Like there's a story in Ezekiel. Ezekiel
is a prophet. God sent to tell people stuff,
right, from him. There's a story where he tells
Ezekiel to like go and take his hair and to do
three things with it. To burn some, to take his
hair and burn a third of it, to take another
third and throw it up and chop it with a sword,
and then to take another third and throw it into
the wind. And that was supposed to symbolize
something to the people. Do you know how many
people understood what Ezekiel was doing out
there? I guarantee you it was zero. No one understood
that. Daniel 12. I love Daniel. You see, God
shows him all this stuff, and it's crazy, you
know, a bunch of like angelic things. And he
literally says, I have heard, but I did not understand.
He's like, I saw a bunch of stuff. I don't know
what's going on. I'll just write it down and
see if people can figure it out. I have no idea.
John had a clarity. He knew exactly who Jesus
was and why he was there. He said, I'm the voice
preparing the way. Remember Isaiah? I'm who he
was talking about. See that guy? That's Jesus,
right? He's got a clarity like no one else. The
next day, he saw Jesus coming toward him and
said, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world. Right? He did exactly his job.
And unlike any prophet before him, he was able
to be like, you know what God's telling you to
do? Look over there. Look to that guy. Number
two, his humility. Prophets were famously not
humble. But he knew not only exactly who Jesus
was, but exactly who he wasn't. These guys come
in and say, who are you? Are you someone great?
Are you like Elijah reincarnated? Are you in
some sort of, we need to know. Are you worth
listening to? And he's like, look, it's not important.
I'm not important, but let me tell you who is.
There's a guy who's right over there, and I'm
not even worthy to untie his sandal. Who I am
and what I'm here to do is not important. Just
go look to him. Just go listen to him. And gosh,
you and I get mad at Jesus when he doesn't give
us instant gratification over the things we want
from him. And we shouldn't feel too out of sorts
about that because the disciples did the same
thing. They really wanted to be great. In fact,
one time they were arguing about who was greater
and they're like, Jesus, which one of us is best
to Jesus? He's like, neither. You both suck.
John the Baptist had a humility, even unlike
Jesus' disciples. And he saw Jesus and says,
look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world. He's on the greatest mission. He's
the greatest one to ever walk the earth. I'm
not even worthy even to look at him. This is
he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks
before me because he was before me. Jesus. literally
made the world tells us father son holy spirit
he's god the son he he didn't just start walking
the earth he's he's fully god and fully man he's
existed since the beginning of time and this
is another proof of jesus divinity that he's
he's god walking among us and that's why john
unlike anyone else actually recognized who jesus
was and pointed to him now this is kind of confusing
And if John really wanted to get a lot of followers,
he probably wouldn't talk like this. But John
didn't care. Jesus was way greater than him,
and it wasn't even close. Let me ask you, would
you rather have greatness in this life, or would
you rather people forget about you and see Jesus?
I had a professor in seminary. He wrote a book
called Nobody's for Jesus. It was one of my favorites.
That God does his greatest work through people
who are content to be unknown so that Christ
is known. This is a temptation for people who
speak before people. And maybe in your job, you're
really good at your job, and there's a temptation
for you that you want to be known. You want to
be impressive. You want people to remember you.
Like Caleb said, I planted a church 12 years
ago in Winnemucca, a small town in Nevada. My
wife and I grew up in Florida, and so we moved
there to start the church. So from the very beginning,
you know, I led this church, and it was great.
And God blessed us, and it was an awesome, awesome
church. And then he called me out of it years
ago. He called me to lead the lead pastor role
of a church I started and to become the executive
pastor of another church that someone else started
and to kind of hand off that church to someone
we had raised up. That's an emotionally difficult
request. But the fact is God showed me that this
was where he was calling me and gifting me to
be. And just a couple months ago, that church
in Winnemucca celebrated their 200th baptism.
200 in the last 10 years. And that church is
only 250 people. It's a small town. And you know,
I want to go back and like be there for it, you
know, celebrate with them. And the fact is I
had this realization the other day. If I went
back there, it's so transient. If I went back
there, I don't think most of the people would
even know who I was. That's a tough thing, right?
We have to be okay choosing Jesus as our legacy
over our own reputation. What's worth living
for? John the Baptist knew. Clarity, humility.
The third thing that made him great was purpose.
He knew what he was living for. He said, in verse
31, I myself did not know him, but for this purpose
I came, baptizing with water, that he might be
revealed to Israel. That he might be revealed
to Israel. Is that your purpose? Would I know
that if I walked around listening to who you
talk about? Or would I think that your whole
life is oriented and devoted to worshiping and
making your kids name great? Or your grandkids?
Or an athlete that you talk about? Or a politician
that you won't shut up about? Now I'm in the
same boat, right? I'm sure I talk about other
things a lot more than Jesus. Most of the time
I spend time talking about the next hunt I want
to go on. Like I want to go on this caribou hunt.
I was just at Caleb's house last night, and the
first thing I started talking about was I want
to go on this caribou hunt. It's a 20 -hour drive.
You guys probably are familiar with it up the
hall road, and no one will go with me because
it's a 20 -hour drive up a hall road. And I spend
time talking about hunts. I spend time when I
come to Alaska just talking about all the times
I've been to Alaska. came and almost died waiting
across Eagle River, when I came and almost died
flying a plane over the Kachemak, when I came
and almost died on a four -wheeler up in Fairbanks.
I should probably stop coming up here, I think.
But I like talking about going places and doing
things. I'm almost addicted to adventure, and
I want to be out and do things and enjoy God's
world. But enjoying God's world is not the same
as enjoying God and worshiping Him and making
Him known. I have to ask the same question that
you do. What kind of legacy are you trying to
leave? What is your purpose? Because your life
will point to some hope and other people will
learn what they should hope in by what you are
hoping in. And if it's the next adventure or
the next child or the next government, are you
teaching them that their purpose is something
that is not going to hold their hope long? The
next thing we see, we see that you're shaped
by who you listen to. Who you talk about reveals
who you worship. And three, your behavior proves
your belief. Your behavior proves your belief.
And John shows us this in verse 32. John testified,
I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like
a dove, and he rested on him. I didn't know him,
but he who sent me to baptize with water told
me. The one you see the Spirit descending and
resting on, He is the one who baptizes with the
Holy Spirit. I have seen and testified that this
is the Son of God. John's like, look, I was like
you. I had no idea who Jesus was. All I know
is that I listened to God. I listened to him.
I leaned in and I asked, and God said, go. and
baptize people with water, preparing them for
the one who's going to baptize them in the Holy
Spirit. Meaning you're going to do a symbol.
The baptizing with water represents us dying
to ourself and rising to new life. Just like
Jesus literally dies on the cross and is buried
for our sins. He pays the price that you and
I deserve for ruining our life and God's world
with our rebellion. And Jesus rises from the
dead. And that's that symbol. And he does that
spiritually, whereas baptism with water is just
a symbol. But Jesus baptizes us eternally. He
actually rises us to new life with God. He takes
our dead spiritual life, our dead relationship
with God that none of us have when we're born
because of the sinfulness of the world. You and
I start in the same place. And Jesus died to
give us a relationship with him again. And he
gives us the Holy Spirit to give us an eternal
hope with God. That we're not just going to have
him now but forever. John listened. And he oriented
his whole life over that. He forsook even a bed
to sleep in. So that he could point everything
to Jesus. Again, he has not said you have to
do that. But he did that. And he's called us
to a unique version of that that he's gifted
us and wired us and positioned us for so we can
point with the things he has given us, the time,
the resources, the talent, and the treasure so
we can point to Jesus so other people can know
him. And there's so many places in my life and
maybe yours that I just, I'm like, God, I'll
do it. I'll do what you want. I just want you
to show me what's on the other side of the request.
Give me the next three or four steps, and there
we go. I'll see it. He's asking us to take the
one, and if you give me the next three, he's
like, no, I'm not doing it. That's not how he
works. We don't grow in faith when we don't have
to trust him. Some of you, maybe say you believe
in Jesus. You say that you're a follower of his,
but no one would know that. If they look at how
you spend your time, talent, and your treasure.
Your behavior doesn't look like it at all. And
that's okay. We're all in the same boat where
we're constantly failing. This is why we need
Jesus to pay for our sins. But have you been
called to something and you're making excuses?
You're not going to find... The hope of Jesus
that way. I'm not trying to shame you. Jesus
did. In fact, later on in the book of John, he
says he didn't come to condemn the world but
to save it. But what it means that Jesus came
to baptize with the Holy Spirit is that the things
that are keeping you from being with God now
and forever are your sin and he wants to free
you from them. And the longer you spend not listening
to him and not talking about him and not... orienting
your behavior around him, the less of that freedom
you will experience. He inspired John, the author
of the book, and John the Baptist, and me, to
do for you what John the Baptist does for his
disciples right here. The next day, 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. Your Bible says, look. the Lamb
of God. Behold the Lamb of God. The two disciples
heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
So John's got disciples. He's literally got a
following. People are like, wow, you're definitely
preaching the truth. We've been ready for this.
We're jiving with what you're saying. We believe
that you are this voice crying out in the wilderness,
and they're following him. They're disciples.
He's literally got an entourage, and instead
of being like, yeah, bud, you know, like, follow
me. Like, come, let's create a compound and do
our thing. He's like, see Jesus? Go over there
to him. I'm nobody. Go over there. Behold, look
to Jesus. And they go. Why does he do this? The
main point of the message today is you become
what you behold. You become what you behold.
Like I said, in your Bible, John said, look.
I'm using the ESV, which is what I normally use.
And I came up with the main point before Caleb
told me you guys use the CSV, which doesn't have
the word behold in it. But that's my main point.
You become what you behold. His whole life is
about helping people behold Jesus. And what does
it mean to behold? Well, it means to listen to
his voice the loudest. Behold is like more, I
like it better than look, even though look technically
is a better translation for us today because
we don't use the word behold ever. But behold
to me gives this deeper spending more attention
and time than just like a passing glance. And
so that's why I like it. But it's first to listen
to his voice the loudest. To behold someone is
to kind of spend some time hearing what they
have to say when deciding how to think or how
to live or how to plan your future. Are you beholding
Jesus before you make those decisions? It's sitting
with and it's dwelling in his words. And number
two, it's talking about him. To behold someone
is not just silent, it's active. It's I'm going
to actually spend some time talking about him.
Like when I first beheld my wife, before she
was my wife, when I first met her, I was like
everything in me wanted to tell someone. You
see how freaking beautiful she is? There's something
that has to come out when you behold something
beautiful, something incredible. You want to
tell people about him. And if you really believe
that Jesus is the savior of the world that will
take away the sins and bring about the joyful
freedom forever, then you can't not talk about
him. Remember, what you talk about reveals what
you worship. Number three, behave like Jesus
did. To behold Jesus means to listen to his voice
the loudest and to talk about him. And three,
to behave like he did. Here's the reality. Every
single major religion and even atheists, they
want what Jesus talked about. I mean, they either
think he was a good teacher, he said good things,
talked about good things, or every major religion
has Jesus somehow in their doctrine or theology
as he was some sort of prophet or something.
Why? Because when Jesus, the fruit of the life
Jesus lived and the fruit of what he tells people
is exactly what all of us know we deeply long
for inside. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.
Goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.
The fruit of the Spirit, right? The fruit of
Jesus baptizes us in the Spirit, shapes us from
the inside out. His salvation makes us new, and
then we can experience those things the more
we walk and behold Him every day. Everyone knows
we want all these things. None of us don't want
those things. We just don't want to, like, surrender
our way. To get them. We just don't want to stop
following our own path in order to follow Jesus'
where those live. We want the sculpted body without
the tracking the calories and lifting weights.
We want the caribou without the 20 -hour drive.
We want the unmatched Alaskan summer without
the harsh Alaskan winter. Which is why many people
stay consumers and spectators like me. And we
get to experience one fiftieth of being Alaskan
and enjoying one of those beautiful places in
the world that you get because you're here and
you dwell and you behold it every day. John the
Baptist is an excellent example for us on living
a life that matters and beholding what God has
called us to behold. Jesus said it. No one's
been greater than John the Baptist, but that
verse doesn't end there. Truly, truly, I say
to you, among those born of women, there has
arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.
Yet, the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he. How is that possible? John
the Baptist is so great. How is the least, the
person who struggles to follow Jesus the most,
which is me, How am I greater than he? And maybe
that's how you feel about yourself. He says you
are greater than even John the Baptist in directing
people to me. Why? Well, because the three things
that made him great, clarity, humility, purpose.
We can have more. We can have greater clarity.
We know exactly not just who Jesus is, but what
Jesus did and what happened after. We know that
Jesus died and rose. John the Baptist didn't
get to see that. He got his head chopped off
before that happened. For following Jesus and
teaching people and directing people to him.
That's a spoiler. But we're not there yet. We
can have greater clarity. We know the whole story.
We can have greater humility because we know
that Jesus, it wasn't just John the Baptist believed
Jesus was going to rise from the dead. We actually
saw him do it. And the world changed. Everyone
saw it in front of them that Jesus rose from
the dead. There's nothing greater. positions
him as clearly greater than all of us. We can
have greater humility. And we can live with greater
purpose. Because we know that Jesus said, go
into all the world, make disciples and baptize
them. He gave it to us right there. So I want
us to do an analysis today. And maybe you probably
already have, hopefully a little bit, but later.
Do an audit of your life. And just ask the question,
who am I beholding? Because you become who you
behold. For most of us, it's probably yourself.
If we're honest, we talk to ourselves the most,
we listen to ourselves the most, we talk about
ourselves the most, and the problem is our hearts
are deceptive and wicked. We all know this. If
you haven't figured this out, just everyone does
at some point. You can't trust your own feelings.
You can't trust your own thoughts. Maybe the
person you're beholding the most is a politician
or journalist or an influencer online. And let
me just ask you, the church is not about politics,
but let me ask you, is the person you're listening
to make your heart harder or softer toward those
Jesus died to save? Does it make you more...
Loving or more ready for a fight? Who are you
beholding? The invitation is that Jesus says,
I can free you if you come to me. If you deny
yourself and you follow me, you can be with me
now and forever. You can know the freedom. You
can know the joy. You can have the fruit of the
Spirit. You can have it. Pastor wrote a book
that I love about hospitality. He says the gospel
is not about trying to wedge a little Jesus into
our crazy lives. The gospel is about letting
God bring redemption and the way of his crazy
kingdom into our frantically dysfunctional patterns
of living. I got here this morning and a dozen
of you showed up to help set up. everything you
see. There's cords literally every square inch
of this stage. Someone put those there. Literally
so that they could create a place for you to
hear about God's great love for you and sing
and worship the one who made you and reconnect
with Jesus. What a purposeful use of time. What
a lasting legacy. Who are you beholding? Imagine
a life centered around beholding Jesus, sitting
with him, listening to him, talking with others
about him, adjusting your behavior and your actions
and your attitude and your rhythms of life around
seeing him and beholding him more. That's literally
the point of this church. That's what we prayed
for seven, eight years ago, whenever it was,
that would happen here in this place. The fact
is we all need a Savior. What John the Baptist
shows us is not about us. Everyone needs a Savior
and we are not him. That Jesus came to die for
you and he rose to behold, to help you behold
the one who made you so that you could find life
again. And that's why we come. That's why we
gather. That's why we preach. That's why we...
Listen, it's why we open the Bible is because
that truth is the foyer of our life. We always
have to go back to it. It's why we, after we
hear God's word preached every week, we take
communion or the Lord's Supper. We take these
elements. Jesus gave us this ritual, kind of
like baptism, to remind us of this truth that
it's not just... We come on Sundays and that's
it. It's that we are actually now a part of his
family. That he wants to be with us, not just
tell us what to do. He wants us to spend time
with him. He wants us to be with us. He gathers
disciples together and he put them at a table
and he said, I want you to remember this moment.
I want you to remember me and what I'm going
to do for you. doing for you on the cross is
to bring you back to the table with me so you
can be with me like you were intended to be.
So I'm going to invite the band back up, and
we're going to sing, but we're also going to
take communion, and there's going to be communion
in the back of the room. But what that is is
it's bread and it's wine or juice that represents
Jesus' body and blood that was broken for us,
that his love was so great that in order to bring
us back, he had to die. So that he could pay
for your sin. But that in his death and resurrection,
that's what he did with his disciples. He gave
them the bread and the wine to represent how
we can take his death and we can live life from
it. How it's all paid for. Every way you fail
to behold him with your whole life. And so we're
going to do that as an act of worship. It's part
of beholding. It's part of this. This lifestyle,
we get a tangible witness of the gospel in the
bread and the juice, and that's why we do it.
And so I'm going to pray, and then we're going
to sing some more praise to him. We're going
to take communion together, and then we can go
and hopefully behold him more in a lot of ways
this week as well. Let's pray. Lord, we know
that we're strugglers. in your world. And we
don't, we rarely know what to do or what to think
or how to live. Lord, even the moments we think
we do, we quickly recognize we're wrong. And
so, Lord, we thank you deeply for your word.
Thank you for this truth that we can stake our
life on, that we can trust, that has stood the
test of time, that is adequately described. and
us and what's in us and around us. And Lord,
we thank you for Jesus who died to save us. We
thank you for sending your son and doing what
we couldn't do, which is live that perfect life.
And thank you for taking our penalty. Thank you
for giving us freedom. Thank you for the reminder
from John the Baptist of the life worth living.
Lord, we ask that you give us clarity today,
maybe for the first time. about your love for
us. Give us humility if we've been arrogant and
proud about our own entrenched ways of living.
Remind us of our purpose and fill it with us
when maybe we lack hope, we lack meaning in our
days. But I pray that this week is filled with
hope for this amazing church and that you get
all the glory and the credit. Your sons and we
pray. Amen.