There are certain people who push the paradigms you think in, John the Baptist was one of those people. Jump in with us in Sections 17, 19, & 20 of the Gospel Harmonies @ https://www.harmonychurch.cc/tracking-jesus-timeline/. IT’S EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ).
OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
You ever met someone and thought, “I just want to spend more time with you to learn the way you think…”
My buddy Dan Mitchell is like that – he was my youth pastor and the one who mentored/discipled me and still continues to.
Still to this day, 30 years later he challenges me. I still want to learn to think like he does, I still want to have the kind of heart he has for Jesus.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in life is to stop putting yourself in positions where your paradigm is pushed.
It’s one of the reasons I think you should make being in church every week a huge priority because you need someone outside of you pushing on your paradigm
Who in your world pushes your paradigm? Your way of thinking?
This morning, I want to put you into contact with someone from the timeline of Jesus who should push your paradigm…
We are jumping into the history of Jesus’ life at the beginning of his ministry.
His baptism by John the Baptist.
John is out in the desert baptizing people who are coming to him. He’s dressed in camel hair clothing with a leather belt and his primary diet is honey & locusts.
Josephus the ancient Jewish Roman Historian talks briefly about John the Baptist in Antiquities 18 (https://www.livius.org/sources/content/josephus/jewish-antiquities/josephus-on-john-the-baptist/)
I want you to get that John was a real person and we really have stuff to learn from him.
Today, the Jordan river where John was baptizing is gross and full of runoff junk – but it would have been a spot of life in the middle of a desert. People have traveled a long way to get to John. This is a little like Woodstock – but the religious version. And where we come into the scene John is being questioned by religious leaders about who he is and what he’s doing, check it out…
as we go through this – I want you to let John push your paradigm
3 Ways John Should Push Your Paradigm…
Jn 1:19-34
19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders[a] in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
Let me explain real quick – Malachi talked about how Elijah would come before the Messiah – this is such a deeply held belief among the Jews that many to this day at Passover set an extra setting for Elijah in case he should return and they open their door to let him in.
Moses was also promised by God that a prophet like him would come.
So these priests and Levites are asking John if he is one of these guys…
It’s interesting because his answer is no, but later, Jesus will tell us that John was Elijah
What’s interesting is John didn’t fully know what his role was..
22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”[b]
John may have not known the role he played on a grand scale, but he knew what he was doing – he was making the way
Paradigm Push 1: Stop waiting for all the information from God, just be obedient in what you already know.
Oof, can I tell you something? You already know God wants you to be a servant, you already know God wants you to make disciples, you already know God wants you to be living your life completely for Him.
Stop letting the fact that you don’t know all the details keep you from living for the eternal.
24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 “I baptize with[c] water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
The Jewish people were the ones that invented baptism, did you know this? In Hebrew it’s called Mikva – it’s a very specific purity ritual to purify yourself after touching death or in preparation for a religious event – going to the temple, consummating marriage, etc.
They want to know if John isn’t one of these expected people, what in the world is he doing baptizing apart from a religious reason?
John’s answer is interesting – the one he’s preparing the way for is so great that John isn’t even worthy to help him take off his sandals for baptism.
28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
John Testifies About Jesus
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
Paradigm Push 2: Point people to Jesus
We live in the weirdest period of human history. The idea of fame & influence has been democratized and anyone can become an overnight famous person influencing the world around us. And almost exclusively what those people are wanting to do is push people to listen to them. Look, I get that most of you don’t care about that, you’re not interested in it. But you do need to realize, the people around you are.
And, you need to realize you have influence.
ILLUSTRATION:
I remember the first time it hit me that often times as a youth pastor I made kids who were pretty or popular feel bad for having that status – not intentionally, but I did. Then it hit me, what if they used their beauty, their popularity, and their status for Jesus and His Kingdom.
What if the way to die to self was not in sabotaging your influence but to stop using it to boost your own ego and instead, become an influencer for the Kingdom
We need more business people who stop and pray for people, teachers who answer spiritual questions when asked with bravery, business owners who care for their employees personal life
John was always pointing people to Jesus
32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”[d]
with this last paradigm push, can I just talk to those of you who have been on the fence about following Jesus?
Paradigm Push 3: You need Jesus
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:
One of the weird things about being a pastor is people think you’re better than you are. I try and let you know I’m not that great all the time, and with me it’s probably easier than lots of others. But I need you to know, the only things that are good about me are because of Jesus. Kent in his Kentness is a mess. I always know when I’m living in my Kentness – the other night, I got mad about something, it wasn’t anything important, but I could feel in myself that I was not living by the Spirit of God. I was full on in my Kentness – I was harsh and not kind in my thoughts – even if on the outside you can’t tell, I can tell. I’m miserable to be within my own mind even. Because my Kentness is focused completely on…. Kent.
Look, Jesus did come to save you from your sins – to free you from the slavery it put you in and to rescue you from hell – but that’s just the entrance into the park.
He came to immerse you in the work of the Holy Spirit in your life so you and I no longer have to live in the filth of our Kentness… We can live in the God flow of life.
He came to restore the relationship that was broken in the Garden – to have God in your life, taking up residence inside of you every day, all day.
Even when I’m in my Kentness, it is the Spirit of God that pulls me out of that. “Kent, you were harsh, go apologize to your son…” “Kent, she just needs you to give her a hug, not a lecture.” “Kent, give that $100 in your pocket to him…”
Life immersed in the Holy Spirit is unequivocally the most exciting, freeing, hope-filled, peace-generating thing I’ve ever experienced
B
Jesus came to give it to you, why wait any longer?
Pray to close
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