The Zeal of John

I want to start today by saying I am both Honored and Humble to be here. The passage of scripture I will be reading today I am reading from a Bible that was given to me from first Baptist Church of Hawthorne on Aug 25th, 1996. This was the last church I would go to in my teenage years and it would be many seasons before I would return to the Church at Bethel Baptist of Hawthorne when I was well into my thirties. But God knew what he was doing and I am great full to him that he would give me this opportunity to stand before you all.

I want to start today by saying I am both Honored and Humble to be here. The passage of scripture I read today I read from a Bible that was given to me from first Baptist Church of Hawthorne on Aug 25th, 1996. This was the last church I would go to in my teenage years before I would return to the Church at Bethel Baptist when I was well into my thirties. But God knew what he was doing and I am great full to him that he would give me this opportunity to stand before you all.

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In the text we see that the Good news of Jesus Christ did not start with the birth of Jesus but actually started with the arrival of John. John was placed amongst the people as a messenger prior to the arrival of Jesus. We see this in verse 2 to where it says “Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.” And as I read this I thought to myself why does Jesus who is Jesus need John to prepare the way for him, And the Holy Ghost reminded me that Johns arrival on the scene comes on the back end of a 400 year period of silence, where GOD terminated all contact with his people. See GOD had returned the Israelite back into the land he had promised them from exile in Babylon, and though most had given up idol worship they still were not being obedient to the commandments that GOD have given them. They where doing things like mistreating their wives, they weren’t paying tithing, priest where not fulfilling their temple duties there over all behavior was not honoring to GOD. So God sent John as “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight”

verse 4 goes on to tell us that John baptised in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sin. Verse 5 amazes me because it says 5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. As I studied this text in verse 5 I locked in on this word all. One man, and I am sure there where some who thought John had lost his mine,running around the wilderness dressed in camels hair eating locust and wild honey, and yet all came to him, and I had to ask myself what happened, what had changed between then and now? Why is it that the Christian Body has minimal effect on the community around them.

As a denomination we have adopted some of the practices and principles of John the Baptist, things like full water submersion baptism and preaching repentance of sin. But we have not been able to produce the same effect as John.

And as I prayed for the answer God brought to my knowledge the fact that he hasn’t changed, God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He brought to my mind the fact that the word hasn’t changed it is still the infallible, incorruptible, eternal word of GOD, and if you get into the word, study your bible you will find that the unbeliever hasn’t changed, the sin nature you read about in Sodom and Gomorrah you’ll find today, the same sin nature you read about in the children of Isreal you’ll find today, the same sin nature you’ll read about in the church of Corinth you’ll find today. Sin and the effects of sin haven’t changed so the question is why is the church so ineffective today. When I look at the list of things that haven’t changed the only thing left that could have changed is the presenter and the presentation. It was at this point of my study that my heart sank because I came to the realization that its me. I had to own up to the fact that I haven’t been a good steward of the commission, commandment, or the community that Good has entrusted me with. I asked GOD what do we have to do to get back to being effectual for him. What he reviled to me is we have to get back to the basics.

I want to share these three quick points with you.

First We have to get back to the Commission says 16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Us coming together every Sunday, and Monday and Wednesday, is not the commission. Its edification, illumination and in some forms fro some of us its regeneration, but it is not commission its missing the key ingredients, the first being “Go YE” which indicates a movement outward and for the most part where also not baptising people in the functions we have on these days. The truth is the corporate worship, Sunday school, pray meeting and bible study are inward focused activities.

The second basic we have to focus on is the Commandment. As Jesus laid out the Commission in verse 20 he said Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and if your thinking to yourself right now what did he command I would encourage you to get into a bible study and be in attendance in Sunday School I promise you that they will cover this topic many times over. But let me give you two majors to start with when the Pharisees who was an expert in Law tested Jesus with the question “which is the greatest commandment in the Law” and Jesus answered him in it says 37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Now loving GOD no problem we can do that all day but loving your neighbor now that’s a tougher pill to swallow. Just for the purpose of clarity and since we live in a time when we want to define everything let me take a minute and define neighbor for you its not your neighborhood its not the person that lives on the right and on the left of you.But your neighbor is whoever GOD places in your personal space and environment at the time he places them there. Right now were your neighbors, but when you leave here and go to the elcap for lunch the people in the elcap eating around you become your neighbors, when your done eating and you run by Jackpot to Grab a soda and fill up your car the people at Jackpot are now your neighbors. You see the pattern and I love that Jesus put these two commandments together because one way we show God we love him is through our obedience to his word and if you find yourself unwilling to love your neighbor then you must assess through self evaluation your commitment to the first commandment of love your GOD with all your heart, mind, and soul.

38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ j

40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

They last point I want to make is in relation to the place where commission and commandment collide and that is in community. God has entrusted us with all that is around us he has made us stewards of the community of Hawthorne, the county of Mineral, and the state of Nevada. We as the Christian body have sat in the safety and security of the sanctuary for to long. We have carried out our religious rituals and built up our personal relationship with GOD but all the while shutting out the very community that GOD placed us in to help him push forward his good news. The community is not just the church, its the church and all those who are not walking through the doors, and due to the lack of christian influence in the community all those out side the walls of the church remain in darkness and the devices of the Devil remain unchecked and unchallenged. I believe we live in a time where Drug addiction and alcoholism are at a all time high. Sexual immorality is perverting the way our men view pleasure and devaluing the dignity and self worth of many of our woman. Marriages are being destroyed because people no longer value the commitment and responsibility that come with the vow. Our community is crumbling around us and we have the nerve to say we have the answer, and yet we wont go administer the medicine. We don't present Jesus. I know we can do better, we have to do better. If your here today.

The New International Version. (2011). (). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., ). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

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