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It's a good thing we don't have to sing the second, third, and fourth verses of many

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of our Christmas carols by memory, isn't it?

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Most of us know the first verse, but we get beyond that, at least I'm lost.

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The author of a novel carefully introduces his main characters, and after he has done

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that he begins to weave in the secondary characters who surround the main character in the novel.

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As John writes in our text today in John chapter 1, verses 6, 7, and 8, he introduces to us

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a secondary character, but nonetheless a prime mover in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

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He came for a witness that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through

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him.

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He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light.

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In writing his account of Jesus' life, John introduces to us his main character, not by

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name but by title first of all.

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And that title is the word we've been looking at now for a couple of weeks, logos, or word.

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Regarding the nature of the word, John tells us that he was eternal, for in the beginning

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he was already existing.

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He says the word was with God, and thus was distinct from God, yet being equal with God.

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And he tells us that in fact the word was God himself.

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As to his work, John tells us the work of the logos is the work of revelation, revealing

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God to mankind.

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He was the agent of creation by which we see the glory of God displayed night by night,

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day by day, hour by hour.

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And his work in the incarnation fully reveals the glory of God.

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The life of the Lord Jesus Christ is the life of God himself, so that we can see it and

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understand something of the divine nature.

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Now the second person in John's account is introduced to us in our text.

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It is not the same John who wrote the Gospel, I'm sure most of you know that.

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The John that is here is the one that is called John the Baptist.

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The details surrounding John's birth are found actually in Luke chapter 1.

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We'll not read that today, but for your own study you may want to go back and review the

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interesting details concerning his birth.

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John the Baptist sets before us a model of how God's servants should see themselves.

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There are three statements that seem to summarize the matter as they arise from our text.

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The first statement is this, God's servants are humans with a divine mission.

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There was a man sent from God.

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John was given a special appointment for service.

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In fact I'd like to go to Luke chapter 1 and just look briefly at some words that were

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spoken to his father whose name was Zacharias.

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John was yet to be conceived, but to Zacharias the angel says beginning in verse 13 of Luke

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1, do not be afraid Zacharias for your petition has been heard and your wife Elizabeth will

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bear you a son and you will give him the name John and you will have joy and gladness and

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many will rejoice at his birth for he will be great in the sight of the Lord and he will

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drink no wine or liquor and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's

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womb and he will turn back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God and it is

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he who will go as a forerunner before him, capital H on him, before him in the spirit

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and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient

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to the attitude of the righteous so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

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Notice that the appointment given to John involved being a forerunner that is he was

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the one who was to go before the Christ and announce him to the people of Israel.

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Going back now to John chapter 1 we see John the apostle recording for us the fact that

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John the Baptist accomplished this mission.

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In verse 19 this is the witness of John when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from

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Jerusalem to ask him who are you?

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You see John just appeared out there in the wilderness he had no pedigree he had not gone

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to their schools he was this rather strange individual who was out there in the wilderness

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preaching and the people were responding to him in droves and so the priest sent the delegation

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out from Jerusalem to find out who are you and they asked him several questions and then

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down in verse 25 they said why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ nor Elijah

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nor the prophet?

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John answered them saying I baptize in water but among you stands one whom you do not know

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it is he who comes after me the throng of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

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In verse 29 the next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said behold the Lamb of God who

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takes away the sin of the world.

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In response to the delegation sent from the Jews John quoted from Isaiah the prophet saying

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I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord.

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John understood that he was not the Christ he was not Elijah nor was he that prophet

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spoken of by Moses but in fact he was one come in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

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He was the one that Isaiah had predicted would come and would cry in the wilderness calling

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upon the people to make a way straight for the Lord.

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He was a forerunner and he came to prepare the people's hearts that they might be prepared

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to receive their Messiah.

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This preparation was symbolized by his baptism of repentance.

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John did not invent baptism it was practiced broadly in religions including the Jewish

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religion in that day.

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Others who were not Jewish for example when converting and identifying with the Jewish

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religion would be immersed to symbolize the fact that they were converts.

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John took that form of baptism and gave to it a spiritual meaning not merely an external

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meaning that one had converted religions but a meaning of the heart for he called it a

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baptism of repentance.

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An outward act that symbolized to those being baptized that they were changing their minds

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about their ways in sin.

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As a result of their baptism John called upon them to bring forth the works of repentance.

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You see this was an acknowledgement on their part of sin and their desire for a change.

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John's purpose was to prepare to stir up the people to awaken them spiritually from their

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years of spiritual sleep and lethargy so that when the Messiah would come there would be

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a people prepared to hear his words.

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Oh what a mission this was.

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No one would ever have this mission besides John unique in all of the annals of history

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as John the Baptist and the greatest of the prophets of the Old Testament.

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He was divinely commissioned by God.

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But I want you to keep in mind that John was only human.

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In fact you notice the word used of him in verse 6, there came a man.

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There came a man.

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It doesn't say that there always had been a man as the word had always been but here

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is a man.

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In contrast to the word he was a man who came, who was conceived, who was born, who arrived

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on the scene.

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He became.

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It is true that he was close to God.

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In fact the very preposition used there, sent from God, means sent from the side of God.

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You have the picture perhaps of a coach who prepares the player for the game and then

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with a swat sends him into the game.

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Or a parent who puts the arm around the child to prepare, to console, or to encourage and

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then sends the child on to school or out to play.

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It's that position of closeness and intimacy that is in view when it says there came a

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man sent from the side of God.

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But though he was close to God he was also a human.

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For example John recognized his own sinfulness.

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When Jesus came to him to be baptized John tried to prevent him and his words to Jesus

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were on that occasion, I have need to be baptized by you.

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John recognized his own unworthiness.

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He recognized his sinfulness.

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Further illustrating his humanness we see him later in his life, not much later than

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this but a little later when he was put in prison by Herod.

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Being unsure about Jesus, in fact he sent some of his followers to ask Jesus some questions

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it says in Matthew 11 to try to confirm if in fact Jesus was the Messiah.

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You see he was human.

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He came to a point of doubt in his life.

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Why?

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Well because he was in prison and during those months that he preached and prepared for the

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coming of the Lord he predicted blessing from the Lord and judgment.

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But now instead of judgment upon the sinful people he finds himself imprisoned.

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Undoubtedly as day after day followed there in the prison, most likely on the east side

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of the Jordan River, a very desolate area, as he was there imprisoned doubts began to

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bubble in his heart.

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And he needed reassurance to settle the second thoughts he was having.

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Jesus sent a message back to John saying, John you hear what is happening.

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The lame are made to walk, the blind are able to see and so on.

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This was a message that John would understand to mean that in fact Jesus was the Messiah

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even though he wasn't doing everything that John expected him to do at that time.

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There was a man sent from God.

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He was not superhuman any more than you or me.

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From this I observe that God uses ordinary people.

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That would make a nice song wouldn't it?

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God uses ordinary people to do his work, to achieve his purposes.

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People like you, people like me.

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And though there are times of second thoughts or doubts that arise within us that only reveals

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the fact that we too are human like John the Baptist.

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For we are humans with a divine mission.

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I observe that every Christian has a mission in the world.

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There are no exceptions to that.

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We are not precisely like John the Baptist for he was unique as the forerunner of Messiah.

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But can we not say that all of us are afterrunners?

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All of us are bearers of his good news.

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We are all commissioned by our Lord with a task in life.

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There is no Christian whose life is to be wasted.

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God has gifted us.

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God has given us a mission to accomplish in this world.

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It's best that we be about that faithfully.

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I would observe this too, that we should not be overwhelmed with discouragement when realizing

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that we're human.

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There are times that we seek with all of our hearts to serve God and we put out everything

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that we have only in the end to find that somewhere we have failed.

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That we have come short of our own expectations and therefore we become discouraged.

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Let me encourage you today.

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You are a human being.

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Expect yourself to fail.

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God knows that you're dust.

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He remembers that.

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We forget it, don't we?

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And we think that somehow we're going to perfectly achieve all of our dreams or all of the things

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we want to do for God.

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That we're going to fulfill that witness.

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We're going to do that project.

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Or we're going to read the Bible every day and pray every day.

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Whatever that goal is, God knows that we're human.

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And when we fail, just as he did with John, he sends encouraging words to us.

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Being a Christian is a little bit like living in Kansas.

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Now why do I say that?

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Because the state song of Kansas says, where never is heard a discouraging word.

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You know our Lord never comes to us to discourage us.

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He comes occasionally to convict us because we need it.

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But our Lord is the comforter.

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He has sent the Holy Spirit to be our encourager.

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So if you find today that you are a little bit low because you have failed in your Christian

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walk, remember you're a human.

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And our Lord's desire is for you not to grovel there in your failure, but to acknowledge

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it and to get up and go on.

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He has a divine mission for you to accomplish.

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Be about your Lord's business.

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Now there's a second statement that I think is important for us to see as we see the model

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that John sets before us.

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And that is that the divine mission involves being a herald of the light.

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Now you understand when it says here, he came for a witness, that he might bear witness

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of the light.

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It's talking about the light that is described to us in verses four and five.

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It is the light of the logos.

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In him was life and the life was the light of men.

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And the light shines in the darkness and John came to bear witness of the light.

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The divine mission that God has given you and me is that we might be a herald of the

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light that is in Jesus Christ.

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God wants us to spread the knowledge of him which he gave in his son, the Lord Jesus.

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Jesus said, light is come into the world.

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About himself a couple of times in the Gospel of John he makes the statement, I am the light

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of the world.

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And then listen to these words near the end of his earthly ministry when he says, I have

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come as light into the world that everyone who believes in me may not remain in darkness.

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The Lord Jesus Christ is the light of the world and those who will believe in him will

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not remain any longer in moral and spiritual darkness.

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He is the light and you and I who have trusted him like John are privileged to be witnesses

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to point to Christ.

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Now it says clearly regarding John that he was a witness that all might believe through

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him, that is through John.

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John was the agent, he was the one who was the proclamer of Christ, he was the herald

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who went before the Lord.

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Now you and I come after him and we herald to the darkened world today regarding the

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light that is in Jesus Christ calling men to be reconciled to God through him.

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John witnessed faithfully regarding the Savior.

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When the Savior came to be baptized that day at the Jordan River, what did John say regarding

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him?

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To the people.

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He said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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I would submit to you that there is no message that is more needy in our world today than

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that same message.

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To call upon those people that live and work around us who know us and say to them, Behold

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the Lamb of God who takes away your sin and the sin of the world.

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Is that not the mission that Jesus Christ has given to us?

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Isn't it what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5 20?

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We are ambassadors for Christ as though God were entreating through us.

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Think of yourself as that.

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As one who has sent on a mission through whom God entreats others.

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He speaks to others calling upon them to be reconciled to himself.

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And isn't there a sense that as John went before him that we also go before him into

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the lives of people to prepare his way?

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Isn't that a beautiful picture of a Christian who touches the life of an individual so that

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that person is never the same again?

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And because of that loving touch, that gentleness, that compassion, that person's heart is a

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bit more opened and prepared for the Savior.

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Think of yourself that way.

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This week, though like John the Baptist, you are a herald of the light.

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You are sent on a mission by God.

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You go before the Lord to prepare the hearts of people.

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It is sad, isn't it, that often the further we get away from our conversion, the less

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we concern ourselves with our commission.

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Somehow that becomes old stuff to us.

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Oh, that God would rekindle in our hearts and renew in our hearts a sense that I am

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here with something to do for God.

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And in that office or in that factory, in that school room, in that neighborhood where

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I live, with those people that I have contact with, God wants to use me to prepare the way

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for the coming of Christ, that they might see Him, see the light that is in Him.

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We said last week a little bit of light punches a big hole in the darkness.

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You may feel that you are just a little light.

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Let me tell you, that little light makes a lot of difference.

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Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father

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who is in heaven.

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Prepare the way for the coming of Christ into the hearts of people that know you.

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I see a third statement arising out of John's ministry as a model for us.

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In the first place, we are God's servants with a divine mission, but we are human.

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Our mission involves being heralds of the light.

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Heralds of the light must remain humble servants of God.

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Would you agree with me that there is no arrogance that is more odious than that which is in

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the name of God?

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I feel that way.

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There is no arrogance in the world that is more odious than that which is in the name

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of God and religion.

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Pride of position or pride of privilege will destroy a servant of God.

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The attitude of a servant must be carefully cultivated in the heart of one who is a herald

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of light.

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We must understand as we carry that message and herald Jesus Christ to a darkened world

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that we are not the source of the light.

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In fact, Paul uses a beautiful figure of this in Philippians, doesn't he?

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When he says that we are illuminaries, that means that we are reflectors of the light.

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Like the moon reflects the light of the sun.

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So we are really reflectors.

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Oh, that our inner man may be like a mirror that has no cracks in it, no smudges on it

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so that that mirror might reflect him out of us.

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Heralds of the light must remain humble servants of God.

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I think that's why John says twice regarding John the Baptist, he was not the light.

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He was not the light but came to bear witness of the light.

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Why would John the Apostle say that twice about John the Baptist?

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I would submit that it's probably because that was really the attitude of John the Baptist.

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I think that can be proven in Scripture.

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Look over in chapter 3 verse 22 where John really comes to a test.

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After these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea and there he was

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spending time with them and baptizing.

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John also was baptizing in Neon near Salem because there was much water there and they

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were coming and were being baptized for John had not yet been thrown into prison.

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There arose therefore discussion on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification

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and they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to

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whom you have borne witness, behold he is baptizing and all are coming to him.

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You see what his disciples are saying to John?

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They're saying, Master, this one that you bore witness to, that you baptize, is now

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baptizing himself and there are more people going to his meetings than coming to yours.

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Now if John were a typical televangelist today, he would be pretty upset about that and there

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might be a mass mailing to try to get his audience back.

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But John answered and said, a man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from

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heaven.

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Isn't that a great statement?

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You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent

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before him.

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He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom.

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That's how John sees himself.

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Who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice and so

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this joy of mine has been made full.

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He must increase, but I, I must decrease.

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Do you see the humility of this servant of God who has been given such a unique mission

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in all of history?

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He sees now that his role is coming to an end, that he has accomplished the mission

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for which he has sent.

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And part of that mission involves his own diminishing.

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He says, I must decrease.

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He must increase.

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John was not interested in building a kingdom of his own followers.

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For that we must admire him.

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And yet that must have happened because in Acts chapter 19, in the city of Ephesus, we

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come to understand that there was at that time, even a quarter of a century after Jesus'

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death and resurrection, there was even at that time a people who were called the disciples

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of John.

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Now they came to faith in Christ when the gospel was fully explained to them, but up

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to that point they were followers or disciples of John the Baptist.

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It may be that they were part of a heretical group.

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Even yet today in Iraq there is a sect that is hostile to Christianity that claims direct

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ties to John the Baptist.

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They do not have the spirit of the founder of their sect, their so-called founder.

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For his attitude was the light that I came to bear witness of.

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He must increase and I must get off the scene.

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John was willing to leave center stage and then exit altogether.

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He understood that he was sent to introduce, not to interfere.

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His sole concern was to repair the way for Christ.

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What an example John sets for you and me in our service for the Lord.

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John and Jesus, cousins through their mothers, humanly speaking.

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And yet an infinite contrast exists between the two of them.

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Dr. William Hendrickson in his Commentary on John outlines the contrast in just five

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simple thoughts.

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Regarding Christ, it says he was from all of eternity.

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In the beginning, was and always had been the Word.

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But regarding John, it says in our text, there came a man.

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He had a beginning.

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Regarding Christ, it says he is the logos, the Word of God.

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Regarding John, the Bible says that he was a man sent from God.

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Regarding Christ, it says that he himself is God.

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But regarding John, it says he was sent by God.

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Of Jesus, it says that he is the true, the real, the genuine light.

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But John said that he came to bear witness of the light.

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Jesus is the object of our faith.

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But John saw himself as merely the agent through whose testimony others would come to faith

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in Christ.

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An infinite distinction between them.

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The distinction between God and man.

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And yet it was the purpose of the eternal to use the mortal.

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Just as it is today.

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It is the purpose of the eternal to use the mortal that other mortals might come to believe.

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In this case, one is the sovereign, the other is the servant.

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And all of God's servants should follow the model of this servant.

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We should see ourselves as humans.

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Mere humans.

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But with a divine mission.

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A mission to be heralds of the light.

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To see ourselves fulfilling that mission with a humble spirit.

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How does this apply to us?

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Well I think there are several questions that we can ask ourselves with profit.

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The first one might be this, how do I view myself?

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Do I see myself as a star or as a servant?

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If someone else comes along who begins to get more attention than I do, do I resent

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that?

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If someone else is promoted over me, how do I feel about that?

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If another gets the nod instead of me, or another is chosen for that position that I've

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worked for, what is my response to that?

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May I remind you of the Lord Jesus?

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He says regarding him in Philippians chapter 2, he emptied himself.

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That is, he laid aside his outward glory as God, became a man, and he humbled himself.

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That does not come natural to our human nature, does it?

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We are much better at resisting that one who has given the promotion over us.

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We feel a lot more comfortable being in center stage than in some secondary role on the side.

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But the fact is that God has called us to be servants, not stars.

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Then I think we can ask ourselves this question with the prophet if we think about it, how

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do I respond to my disappointments with God?

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Oh, you say we're never supposed to have disappointments with God.

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Ideally, that is true.

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But in our humanness, do we not occasionally find ourselves disappointed with God like

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John did?

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John sent a delegation of his disciples to find out from Jesus, are you truly the one?

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He was disappointed with what had happened, though he was later reassured.

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Are you disappointed with God this morning?

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Not that God has failed, I don't mean that, but God has not come through like you expected

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him to.

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Can I be content with what the word of God promises me even though I don't understand

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what God is doing?

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Oh, this morning I would hope that all of us could say truly to God, Father, I don't

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understand.

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I do not understand, but I trust.

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The third question we might consider asking ourselves is this, how am I doing on my mission?

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Someone says, well you mean that I'm supposed to be like John the Baptist?

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Absolutely.

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Can you think of a more eternally important purpose in life than going before Jesus in

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the power of the Holy Spirit, preparing others to receive him?

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Can you think of something that is more significant than that?

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Whether you're a doctor or a businessman or an attorney or a teacher or a factory worker,

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a homemaker, a student, whatever you are, can you think of some mission that is more

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exciting and fulfilling than going before Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to prepare

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others for him?

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How are you doing on that mission?

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God has called us to be channels.

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That's becoming kind of a negative word these days because of the New Age movement, but

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I'm going to use it anyway, not in the sense in which they use it.

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But it's a wonderful word that describes what we are to be in our mission, channels

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for the Lord to use, channels.

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I look back in my life upon some of those men and women who were channels of God for

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me.

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I remember a pastor when I was nine years of age who was a man in his 40s at that time

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00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:16,320
who had been in business for those years of his life until he sensed God's call to go

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00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:20,600
into ministry.

403
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:26,640
He then resigned from his business, sold his business, and went to a seminary in Kansas

404
00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:32,560
City and lived in our little town about 50 miles out of Kansas City.

405
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In those days, that was close to an hour and a half or two hours drive by the roads.

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He went to seminary, pastored that little church with 80 people on a good Sunday.

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00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:58,520
But the kind of a man who was a beautiful testimony of Jesus Christ, carried himself

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00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:11,760
with such dignity and yet warmth so that he had time to talk to little boys.

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He would stand in the pulpit and preach from the Bible.

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00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:22,560
As a result of that, the little boy came to faith in Christ.

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Many boys and girls and moms and dads did.

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I thank God for those channels that God used in my life.

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I saw that man about five years ago in a meeting.

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It was wonderful to be able to relate to him as a fellow pastor.

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He was retired by that time.

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Now he's with the Lord.

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00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:52,440
Can you think back upon those that God used in your life?

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00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:58,040
It may have been a business partner, not a pastor.

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Maybe it was a friend in school or a parent.

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But don't you thank God for those channels that opened the way of your heart for Jesus.

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00:39:12,940 --> 00:39:19,440
Maybe not a word was spoken by some of those people, but by the love, the compassion, the

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fullness, the goodness.

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00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:28,160
Your heart was opened up a little bit and the seed was planted.

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Then someone else came along and planted a little more and watered it.

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Over the process of time, the Holy Spirit caused that seed to germinate.

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Now you have life because you believed.

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You see, that's what God's called us to be, folks.

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Not stars, not famous, not successful as the world measures it, but channels.

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00:39:54,320 --> 00:40:01,000
So that wherever we are, whatever the relationship is, we're just continuing planting the seed,

430
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:06,400
sowing, opening hearts, preparing the way for the coming of Christ, whether it be by

431
00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:17,080
word or merely by a life in a given instance, preparing the way for Him.

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00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:27,220
God's servants should see themselves as humans with a divine mission, that we might be heralds

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00:40:27,220 --> 00:40:33,360
of the light with a humble servant spirit.

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Let's pray.

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00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:41,040
How do you view yourself?

436
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:47,080
I mean really, really down in your heart.

437
00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:51,760
Do you see yourself as a servant?

438
00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:55,800
Do you see yourself as a servant with a mission?

439
00:40:55,800 --> 00:41:01,520
If you're a Christian, let me tell you, you've got a mission.

440
00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:04,960
It is that you also might be a herald of the light.

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00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:10,240
Will you say something to the Lord today about that?

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00:41:10,240 --> 00:41:15,520
Just tell Him to help you get back on track perhaps with that mission, to get on with

443
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:19,840
it in the power of the Holy Spirit, to be faithful.

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What are the words you want to use?

445
00:41:22,240 --> 00:41:31,240
Talk to the Lord right now about your mission.

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It may be that you're disappointed with God today.

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00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:39,940
And again I say not because God has failed, but because it hasn't worked out the way

448
00:41:39,940 --> 00:41:44,660
you thought it would or should.

449
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Can you say to the Lord, I don't understand, but Lord I do trust.

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00:41:55,400 --> 00:42:05,120
Father today, may each one of us see something in the model that John set before us that

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we can apply to our lives and may we go forward from this time of study and worship benefited

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00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:18,520
because of what the Holy Spirit has said to us today.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:46,080
I'd like for us to sing number 92, the first and the second verses please, number 92.

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How I praise thee, precious Savior, that thy love laid hold of me.

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Thou hast saved and cleansed and filled me, that I might thy channel weep.

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00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:26,680
Thy channels only, blessed Master, but with all thy wondrous power, flowing through us,

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00:43:26,680 --> 00:43:37,480
thou canst use us every day and every hour.

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00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:47,080
Empty that thou shouldest fill me, our clean vessel in thy hand,

460
00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:57,480
with no power but hast thou grievous, graciously with each command,

461
00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:10,680
thy channels only, blessed Master, but with all thy wondrous power, flowing through us,

462
00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:27,880
thou canst use us every day and every hour.