The (Second) Greatest Person Ever Born

0:44 Welcome to church. We're glad you're here. It's so good to see you. Welcome to this service. This is our third service of the weekend. And we are in the Gospel of Mark. Mark chapter 1. Are you ready to read about John the Baptist? Mark chapter 1. Let's make our way there. So there were five guys on an airplane. There was a pilot, a teenage boy, a preacher, a doctor, and a lawyer. the plane was having some problems the pilot knew we couldn't hold it together so he makes the announcement he says okay you guys the plane's going down and there's only four parachutes on the airplane i'm the pilot i'm taking one and he jumps out staircase smartest guy in the world, so I deserve one. He grabs one, he jumps out. So there's the preacher and the teenage boy left. The preacher says to the kid, he goes, look, you're young, you have your whole life ahead of you. I've lived a good life. I know where I'm going when I die. I'm going to heaven. I'm going to go down with the plane. The boy smiles and says, relax, preacher. The smartest guy in the world just jumped out of the airplane with my backpack.

2:22 so so it's one thing it's one thing to call yourself the smartest guy or the wisest person or the greatest person but what if Jesus calls you the greatest person well that would be something and that is exactly what our Lord called John the Baptist Not in Mark, but in Matthew chapter 11, Jesus said, Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women, there is not risen one greater than John the Baptist. So what that means is, next to Jesus himself, who was the greatest person who ever lived, and John the Baptist will even know that and say that, John the Baptist then was the second greatest person who has ever been born. Now, that's quite a statement because there's been a lot of great people. Great because of their political achievement, great because of their influence, great because of their scientific advancement. They won the Nobel Peace Prize or their athletic ability. But by those standards, John the Baptist wouldn't be great. John the Baptist never owned a business. John the Baptist never owned his own home.

3:57 John the Baptist never went to college. John the Baptist never held political office. John the Baptist never had his own family. But if those are the standards by which you measure greatness, then by those standards, Jesus wouldn't have been great either. So why was John so great? What made him such a great person? I can think of a few things. First of all, he was born, it was a supernatural conception, right? His parents were old. The Bible says advanced in years. They were unable to have children. Zacharias and Elizabeth were older people. John the Baptist was the natural product of a supernatural conception. I discovered that the oldest woman in modern history to give birth was a 73-year-old woman from India. 73 years old from Andhra Pradesh, India, and this 73-year-old woman gave birth to twin girls. Well, that makes John in a league of his own. But also, it was his relationship with God. The Bible says he is filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. So his supernatural conception, relationship with God, another reason that would make him great is he was the last Old Testament prophet. The last Old Testament prophet. Jesus, in Matthew chapter 11, verse 13, marks John the Baptist as being the end of the Old Covenant.

5:47 He said this, For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. the fourth reason why he was so great is what we're getting to here. He is the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that points people to Jesus.

6:09 I found a business review from New York, and I'm just going to put up a little bit on the screen. They wrote this, great men have but a few hours to be great. That's a good statement. Great men have a few hours to be great. Like the rest of us, they must dress, bathe, and eat. And being human, they must also make visits to the dentist, doctor, and barber, and have conferences with their wives and families about domestic matters. What makes men great is their ability to decide what is important and to focus their attention on that. Now, that's exactly what John the Baptist does. He knows what's great, and he focuses all of his attention on that. So we're going to look at the ministry of John the Baptist in the shorter version, the Gospel of Mark. And I want to show you four notable characteristics of this second greatest man who was ever born.

7:07 Let's look at our text. Verse 1 of Mark 1, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, There comes one after me who is mightier than I, whose sandals strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.

8:10 I indeed baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. four characteristics about this second greatest person. First, he was anticipated by Scripture. That's how Mark begins the gospel. Mark begins by quoting two Old Testament prophets. One is Malachi, Malachi chapter 3. The other is Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 40. and that is in verse 2 and 3. As it is written in the prophets, behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. That's Malachi. This is Isaiah, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.

9:01 Mark is going back to the Old Testament to prove the point that Jesus didn't just show up as some random guy that people said, oh, he must be the Messiah. But that Jesus was anticipated by the Old Testament prophets, and one of those prophecies, or two prophets, anticipated John, who would point to Jesus. Notice that he is called my messenger in verse 2. so the messiah is to have a forerunner a messenger an envoy an emissary somebody who comes before and announces him that's what a forerunner does and you should probably know that this was the practice of ancient kings if a king was coming to a new place a new town he would send a forerunner an emissary an envoy a front man who would say the king is coming clean up your streets paint your homes, get ready, and he would make sure, the envoy would make sure that the roads were clear of all the debris and it was safe to travel on for the king. That's John's role. He's the forerunner, the emissary. He is not clearing literal debris from a literal road, but spiritual debris, the sins that are living in the different hearts of the people he is speaking to.

10:34 So that is what he's doing, and it's anticipated by Scripture. And if you notice verse 5, he's very popular. It says, All the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem, it's a hyperbolic statement. It's called a metonym or a synecdoche. That's the figure of speech. all the land of Judea, those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. Now, we don't know how long John was doing this. We don't know how many people exactly, but I did a little digging, and the best estimates is that John the Baptist was preaching for his ministry was between three months and 30 months. So I think it's conservative to say at least a year, a little more than a year. Let's just say that. And it is believed by some sources that as many as 300,000 people went to hear him from all these places over that length of time.

11:40 Now, you got to keep in mind, this is before television. He has no Instagram feed. He's not posting on X. I'm down by the Jordan today, you know, come check it out. This is all word of mouth. So we have to wonder why on earth would anybody want to leave their town and go way out in the middle of nowhere to hear this guy rant and rave. And here's why, I believe. The messianic expectation in Israel at that time was at an all-time high. Historians will tell you that. Messianic expectation was at an all-time high. Keep in mind the history of the Jewish nation. They had been in Babylon for 70 years. They had then been handed over to the Medes and then the Persians. Then they were oppressed by the Greeks and by the Ptolemies and by the Seleucids and now the Romans are occupying their land, ruling the world, and not favorable at all toward the Jews.

12:46 So they have a history of this kind of oppression. And what grew in their hearts was a yearning and a longing for all of those Old Testament predictions to come true, that the Messiah would come. And history tells us, historians tell us, that messianic anticipation was at fever pitch. right at this time. I'm going to give you just one source. There are others, but I'm going to give you one from Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver. He wrote a book called The History of Messianic Speculation in Israel. He writes this, quote, the generation before the destruction of the second temple.

13:32 That means this generation, this time period, John the Baptist, Jesus, New Testament, The generation before the destruction of the second temple witnessed an outburst of messianic emotionalism. When Jesus came into Galilee, spreading the gospel of the kingdom of God, he was voicing the opinion that was universally held that the age of the kingdom of God was at hand. So all of this yearning and desire for the Messiah, now there's this guy out in the desert and people come to him. And if you remember the whole story and the gospel of John tells us some of the other details, the first question they asked John the Baptist, do you remember what it was? Are you the Christ? Are you the Christ?

14:24 Why would they ask him that? Because they're expecting Messiah. Are you the Christ? He says, I'm not. Are you that prophet? That's an Old Testament description of the Christ. by Moses. I am not. They said, well, who are you? And I love his answer. I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. I love his answer. And his answer is reflected here. I love his answer because, you know, when people say, well, who are you? He could say, well, I am the son of the great and notable priest of the temple, old Zacharias. Or he could have said, I'm the kid who was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. No, he said, I'm a voice of one crying in the wilderness. I'm just a road worker pointing the way to Messiah, like Isaiah said.

15:23 So John was anticipated by Scripture. Second, John was an unusual character. Verse 6 says he was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate bugs, locusts, and wild honey. So he's like the original hippie.

15:44 I got to tell you where my mind goes. Whenever I read John the Baptist, I'm going to give my age away, but some of you may remember back in the 1960s, and by the way, just for you younger people, there was television back then. In the 1960s, there was a TV commercial by a guy named Yul Gibbons. Any of you remember Ewell Gibbons? A few of you know, some of you do. Okay, so Ewell Gibbons was this outdoorsman. He was this nature guy and he was a survivalist and he became so popular that he was hired by Grape Nuts Cereal for their commercials. So he would open his commercials by like holding a pine cone saying, I bet you didn't know many parts of this pine cone are edible or many parts of this tree are edible. And you're thinking, are you kidding? You're eating a tree. But it has nothing to do with my message. It's just where my mind goes whenever I read about John the Baptist. So let me give you a little background sketch. Can I have John? John was born in the hill country of Judea, very close to Jerusalem. His dad was Zacharias, who was a priest. His mom was Elizabeth.

16:56 Mary and Elizabeth, Mary the mother of Jesus, Elizabeth the mother of John, were first cousins, which makes John the Baptist and Jesus second cousins. Which means, since you have to go to Jerusalem three times a year to worship, that no doubt John and Jesus knew each other, at least in part growing up. John was from a priestly home, as we said, so he's like a PK, a priest kid in this regard. But he did not follow the priestly protocol. The priesthood was passed down generationally, so Zacharias was the priest, which would mean John the Baptist is going to be a priest in the temple. Not going to happen. He's not going to follow that protocol.

17:52 You may remember, can I jog your memory, when Zacharias was burning incense in the temple and the angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him, your wife's going to have a little boy. He's going to be great in the sight of the Lord. He's going to be John. He's going to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and all that beautiful stuff. That Zacharias seeing this vision was kind of skeptical. And I can't imagine asking an angel who appeared to me this question, but he says, how do I know that's really going to happen? An angel appearing to you would be enough for me, but you know, he like needed proof. So he goes, okay, you need proof. You won't be able to talk for the next nine months. He was struck dumb for nine months. So he had to go home for nine months. He could not talk to his wife, but his wife could talk to him for nine months. I'm not going to go much further than that. But that's what he was up against. but when John was born, when the Baptist was born, he could speak.

18:56 Eight days after his birth, Zacharias and Elizabeth took John in to get circumcised according to Jewish law, and Zacharias looked down at his son and said, you will be called the prophet of the Most High. you will tell his people how to find salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.

19:21 I'm guessing that even saying that, Zacharias anticipated John's going to grow up and do all that I just said as a priest in the temple of Jerusalem. But he didn't. he grew up and he went out into verse 4 the wilderness just north of the Dead Sea where the Jordan River hits the Dead Sea it's barren it's hot think of Phoenix Arizona turned up higher it is the middle of it's a limestone barren hot desert he goes out to the wilderness which is interesting because if you're going to start a ministry and preach wouldn't you go to Jerusalem? That's the big town. That's the big city. No, he goes in the middle of nowhere and tells the people in Jerusalem, come find me. That's an unusual character. I guess if there was a PR advisor, a public relations advisor, he would say, John, you are starting your ministry in the worst possible set of circumstances. You're going to the wrong place. First of all, you got to take a demographic study of where you want to go. You should find a place conveniently located for people with a nice environment, air conditioned, good children's program, John Scraps, all of that goes out to the middle of nowhere. Then when people come out to him, get this, he yells at them.

20:53 he yells at people. He has a message of no compromise, and he focuses on God's judgment. Okay, that's not a good way to open your first Sunday morning service. Matthew tells us the story. When they came to him, John the Baptist said, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees and every tree that doesn't bear fruit will be cut down and tossed into the fire his winnowing fork is in his hand and he will thoroughly clean the threshing floor and gather the wheat into the barn and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire if john the baptist came to the average town and went to the average church most people would run for cover with that message why was john so denunciatory why was he so accusatory why was he so excoriating in his tone here's why verse one of mark one tells us why look at it the beginning of the what? Gospel of Jesus Christ. What does gospel mean? Good news. That's why. Why was John so denunciatory? Because this is the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ. Now listen, this is what John thought. They're never going to appreciate the good news unless they are aware of the bad news. The good news isn't good unless you know the alternative is really bad.

22:43 They got to know the bad news. What's the bad news? The bad news is the possibility of his audience being left out of the kingdom of God because they refuse to repent. You got to know the bad news, then you'll love the good news. So example, you go to the doctor. What would it be like if you went and sat at the doctor's office, he met you, I'm Dr. So-and-so, and then he launched in and said this, I'd like to cut into your body, create a severe wound, and take a part of you out and throw it away. You would say, I'm getting out of here now.

23:22 But if the doctor first said, we've run the test, you have a cancer, I can save you by cutting into you, taking that part out and throwing it away. Well, that's good news. But you need to know the bad news before you hear the good news. So it's the beginning of the gospel. He tells them the bad news and what Jesus is coming to save them from. So he was an unusual character. Now let's just talk about his fashion sense, his wardrobe. He's wearing camel's hair. I know some of you are thinking of a camel hide. This is probably a woven garment of camel's hair, something the very poor would have worn. A camel hair keeps out heat and cold and rain. It's very practical, but it's very itchy.

24:13 A camel is considered an unclean animal, unkosher. That is, you can't eat a camel by law, not that you'd ever want to. You can, however, wear a camel. There's no law against wearing camel hair. You just can't eat one. And John's appearance reminds us of a prophet named Elijah. Because the description is similar. 2 Kings 1, Elijah says, was a hairy man with a leather belt.

24:49 So John's dressing weird and going out to the desert. And I don't know what it was like in his home growing up. maybe his dad saying, oh, he's going to join the priesthood one day. And Elizabeth says, well, honey, he's been wearing that camel hair thing around and going out to the desert a lot. So what is going on? Actually, I think that John took the vow of a Nazarite. Have you ever heard that term, Nazarite? A Nazarite is an Old Testament vow that a man would take. If he took that vow, he would never cut his hair. He could not touch a dead body or even attend the funeral of a loved one who had died, and he could not eat or drink anything that is the fruit of the vine, of the grape. In other words, John lived an uncontaminated life, taking a Nazarite vow, wanting nothing to hinder his ability to preach. And then there was a matter of what he ate, his diet. He ate locusts. Now locusts, did you know locusts in Jewish law are considered kosher?

25:59 You can eat them. I don't know if that sounds good to you or not, but Leviticus 11 says they're kosher. You can eat them. They're suitable for source of protein. And you're thinking, who in the world would want to eat bugs? Well, you should know that 2 billion with a B people today on planet earth eat insects. Two billion. In Africa, Asia, South America, they're considered delicacies. So let's go back to John. Eating locusts, they were prepared in different ways. Not that you're looking for a recipe for locusts, but just in case you are. They would be pounded and mixed with flour and baked into cakes. So you got locust cupcakes. Or they were boiled, roasted, stewed in butter. You have locust souffle.

26:54 Oftentimes, the Assyrians would pluck off their wings and legs, roast them with salt, and store them for like chips, snacks later on. I know, that would bug me too. I couldn't resist. So he's eating bugs. Then he's topping it off with dessert, honey, wild honey, either from bees or extracted from dates. So he's an unusual character. He's anticipated by Scripture, and he was an unusual character. Third characteristic of John, John was preparing the future. Verse 4, John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. He's preparing for the future by doing two things.

27:48 Preaching, baptizing. Preaching is proclamation. Announcing the king is coming. Baptizing, it says it's a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Okay, here's something you may not know. Baptism was not a Christian invention.

28:11 Baptism did not start with the church. That's how most people think of it. Baptism was of Jewish origin. The Jews baptized all the time for a number of reasons. They had little pools called a mikvah for ritualistic cleansing. But in particular, if you were a Gentile and non-Jew and you wanted to convert and believe in the one true God of Israel, so you want to convert to Judaism, you had to do three things. Number one, be instructed by a scribe. Number two, if you were a male, be circumcised. And number three, self-immersion. Going down under the water and coming out on the other end, a true Israelite indeed. That was the process of conversion. What made John's baptism so shocking and why the religious leaders were so mad at John is because John is not baptizing Gentiles to become Jews.

29:11 He's baptizing Jews to repent. they'd never seen or heard of that before. Baptism was a mark of being an outsider wanting to become part of God's people. To tell a Jew to be baptized required that they see themselves as outsiders. And it was to make an admission that I am not fit for Messiah's kingdom any more than a Gentile is. That's an act of humility to be baptized. that is why John the Baptist laid into the religious leaders. When they came to the Jordan River and who are you and what are you doing? He said this, don't think in your own head, in your own heart. Don't think within yourselves. We have Abraham as our fathers for God can raise up from these stones, children of Abraham.

30:06 If you're hiding behind your religious system, that's not going to be good enough. John is saying. so it was the religious leaders that took umbrage to him and i've discovered honestly religious people are the hardest people to reach for the gospel have you found that i mean give me a garden variety pagan any day because there's no baggage there's no background there's no well you know i was baptized when i was a kid so well my parents drug me to church therefore there's none of that. There's just, my wife was raised an atheist. She knew she didn't know God. She wasn't hiding behind anything. And I find religious people are often the hardest people because they have to be convinced they are not fit for God's kingdom on their own or because of their tradition or their practices or their good works. They have to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. So he is preaching a baptism of repentance. What does that mean?

31:10 Repentance is to change your heart, mind, and will. It is a transformational turning. And repentance is often accompanied with another word, belief. Belief. In verse 15 of Mark chapter 1, the very first recorded words of Jesus in this book, Jesus' first message, repent and believe the gospel. Repent and believe. To repent is to turn away from sin. To believe is to turn to Christ. It's a complete transformational turning. If you just turn away from sin, but don't turn to Christ, well, you haven't accomplished anything. And some people will say, well, it's Lent, so I'm going to give up watching Netflix. I'm going to turn away from things that aren't so wholesome for me.

32:06 or I'm going to stop doing this behavior or that behavior. If you haven't turned all the way to Jesus Christ, it's not a complete turning. Or if people say, well, I'm going to give my life to Christ, but I'm going to keep doing all the things and sins that I want to do like everybody else does. That's not right. You have to turn from and then turn to. That's the idea of repentance and believe. Repent and believe the gospel. I'm going to make another fine point here. Notice in verse 4, John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance.

32:49 What's the word? Next word, for. A baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Some people make a big deal out of that word for as if it means in order that. You get baptized and by your baptism, that's in order that you can be forgiven. So you have to be baptized to be saved. That's where they go with that. That's not what this means. The word for is the Greek preposition ice and it is often rendered because of, not in order that. Here's an example. If I say, he was decorated for bravery,

33:39 do I mean he was decorated so that he could become a brave soldier? Or do I mean he was decorated because he was already brave? Yeah, the second is correct. If I were to say the girl was rewarded for good grades, do I mean she was rewarded so that she could get good grades? Or do I imply she already has good grades and we're giving her a reward? That's what we mean. If I say the criminal was punished for his crime, do I mean we punished the criminal so that he could commit more crimes? No. He's punished because he has proven himself already to be a criminal. Likewise here, baptism for the remission of sins isn't you get baptized in order to get your sins forgiven, but because your sins are forgiven, you get baptized.

34:36 I wanted to make that. That's a very, very important point. So John was anticipated by scripture. He's an unusual character. He's preparing for the future. Fourth and finally, John is introducing the Savior. Verse 7 and 8 sum up his ministry. And he preached saying, There comes one after me who is mightier than I, whose sandals strap. I'm not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

35:11 In other words, I'm just a signpost. I'm just a voice. I'm just here to point to one much greater than I am. In fact, notice in verse 7, he preached saying, there comes one. There comes one. Is that how yours reads? There comes one. In the Greek language, there's an article before one. And it should actually read, there comes the one after me. I'm pointing to the one, the king, the Messiah the one John the Baptist knows who he is he knows his ministry is limited he knows his role is limited he knows his influence is temporary John the Baptist will say to his own disciples pointing to Jesus later on he'll say he must increase I must decrease He must increase.

36:14 I must decrease. He's the one. I'm just the temporary placeholder pointing people to the one. Any good leader realizes this. Every president, every prime minister, every king, every queen realizes they are just temporary placeholders. There will be other kings and presidents and prime ministers after them.

36:36 All pastors should remember this. every pastor is simply an interim pastor. I'm an interim pastor, and I'm not getting any younger. And as years go on, my son, Nate, will increase, and I must decrease. That's just stewardship. John says, whose sandal strap, we would say shoelace, I'm not worthy to untie. That's the job of a slave, the menial task in a household, a slave when the Lord of the house would come in, the slave would bend down, untie the sandal, take off the sandal and wash the feet. John says, I'm not even worthy to do that. This guy is so great, so awesome. In John chapter 1, he will say he's the son of God.

37:30 He's the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Okay, hold that thought. I mentioned earlier that John and Jesus were what? Cousins. Cousins. To me, that adds more weight to John's testimony of what he says about Jesus. how many of you would say of your cousin, my cousin's God, my cousin will take away the sins of the world. You're kidding. You say my cousin, we fight every time we're together. For John the Baptist, who knew Jesus on that familial plane, but also knew who he was to say, I'm not even worthy to untie his shoe. He's the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He's the son of God. he knew him well. I think it adds weight to it. So here you have the second greatest person, J the B, John the Baptizer. And I like that term better than Baptist because he wasn't Southern Baptist. He was John the Baptizer. Here's the second greatest person pointing to the greatest person. Now let me close three quick little takeaways. Three tips on how to become great.

38:51 Not that I'm giving you any personal authority or experience, but I'm taking this from John. Number one, be aware. Be aware. Know who you are and know who you're not. Be aware. Know who you are. Know who you're not. John knew that he was not the Messiah. John knew he was just the voice crying in the wilderness. Know who you are. Know who you're not. You are not the Messiah. You do not have the answer to all people's problems. You know somebody who does.

39:26 The message is always greater than the messenger. The message is always greater than the messenger. So know who you are. Know who you're not. Be aware. Second, be a signpost. Be a voice.

39:46 John chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. The Word was God. Verse 14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus is the Word. Every word needs a voice. John just says, I'm the voice, crying in the wilderness. Jesus is the Word. I'm the voice. I am pointing the way for him to have the platform and speak. Be a signpost. The word needs a voice. People need to hear the gospel. Ready? Through you. Through you. By your lips and by your life.

40:30 If I were to sum up John the Baptist's life and ministry and sentiment in a nutshell, by the irreducible minimum, I would say this. John is simply saying, I'm just a nobody telling everybody about somebody. we can do that. I'm just a nobody telling everybody about somebody. Be aware, be a signpost. Three, be filled with the Holy Spirit. John was, according to Luke chapter 1, filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. It is that spirit-controlled life that enabled John to be bold and to stand up for what he believed.

41:25 Maybe we need to be a little more like John the Baptist and not worry about what people think about our camel's hair, but be bold enough to preach the gospel of repentance. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, remember, as we said, great men have a few hours to be great. great men have a few hours, great men and women have a few hours to be great. Greatness begins by knowing the great one, the mighty one, the most high. Question, are you ready to repent and believe the gospel? Are you ready for a transformational turning? Or are you like some of those religious leaders hiding behind? I was baptized when I was a kid. My parents took me to church. You know, I've always had some influence. Put that aside.

42:26 Come face to face with God and invite Christ into your life and into your heart as personal Lord and Savior. That's repenting and believing, transformational turning. That's available to anyone who is willing to take it. Let's pray together. Thank you, Father, for the life and ministry of John the Baptist. What a man. So humble to say I'm not even worthy to bend down and untie Messiah's shoelace.

43:06 He knew his place. More than that, he knew his Savior and he knew your will. And we love his example. and Father, to honor his ministry. and to honor the message of the good news of Jesus Christ, who delivers us from the bad news of the wrath and judgment that is upon us because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

43:38 We pray that as this opportunity is extended, that you, by your spirit, would convince and tap on hearts around this auditorium as well as other campuses and outside and on social media and on live stream media, et cetera. And just would you, Lord, convince people now is the time to stop running or hiding behind an excuse or a religious experience and say yes to the Savior face to face and surrender. With our heads bowed, our eyes closed, I'm gonna give you an opportunity who are here today to say yes to Jesus. And if you're willing to make that decision to say yes to the Savior, to invite Christ into your heart, into your life, and to have your sins deleted,

44:36 you given a reset, if you're willing to say yes to him, maybe for the first time, maybe as a recommitment, I want you to raise your hand up in the air. Just raise it up. My eyes are open. and I'll notice your hand, but keep it up, please. God bless you, sir, right there in the middle. Over here to my left. A couple of you over here. Who else? Raise your hand up. In the family room. Thank you. slip that hand up just raise it up let me acknowledge you anyone else in the balcony yep god bless you thank you it's the best time if you've not done it you may have other opportunities like this but you know what this could be your last opportunity i don't say that any kind of a weird thing or guilt thing but it's true great men have a few hours in which to be great this could be your greatest moment if you've not released your life into the hands of the Savior, be willing to raise your hand up, say, yep, here's my hand.

45:52 Acknowledge me. Pray for me. Right here in the front. Awesome. Awesome. Father, thank you in Jesus' name for those willing to make this proclamation. I pray you'd strengthen them. to make a decision of being public with their faith.

46:18 I pray you'd settle deep within their hearts that they're loved by you, that you have a purpose and a plan for their life. And I pray you'd fill them with joy and peace when they walk out of here having prayed a prayer of salvation that their sins are forgiven because of what Jesus, who brought the good news, meant to them. It's in his name we pray, amen. I'm going to ask you all to stand now. And here's why I'm asking you to stand. Because those of you who raised your hands, I'm going to be asking you in a second, maybe in about 10 seconds, to leave your seat, find the nearest aisle, and come stand here facing me. Every person Jesus called, he called publicly. Or most people in the New Testament, he called publicly. and something happens when you're willing to make a public commitment, come out of the shadows and say once and for all, I'm following Jesus, today's the day. So if you raise your hand, whether you were in the back, in the family room, or right here up front, get up, just say excuse me.

47:24 You will part the Red Sea in your aisle. If you just say excuse me, we'll all get out of your way. Maybe somebody will stand with you even and come on up with you, but awesome. Come on up here. Come on up. If you're in the back, make your way down here. We're going to wait for you to come. Come on over here. Awesome. What's your name? Glad you're here. I'm so glad. Everybody.

48:01 Please come. Louise Yeah. I believe that you coming forward is the smartest thing you could ever do in your entire life. It's the best decision you could ever make.

48:59 And if there's anybody else, don't let pride or anything keep you back. Come and join these who are making this decision. Awesome. Awesome. Yes. Yeah. Come on, come on, you're awesome. Feels pretty good, doesn't it? I mean, honestly, it might even hurt, but it hurts so good. It's a good sorrow.

49:55 Okay, we got a trend going. Anybody else? You've been putting this off for way too long. Now's your time. Come on, get down here. Anybody else? Okay, those of you who have come forward, I'm going to pray. I'm going to lead you in a prayer. I'm going to ask you to pray these words after me. Pray them out loud. It's not a prayer. It's not a formula. You're simply talking to God.

50:34 You ready to pray? Let's do this. Say, Lord, I give you my life. I know I'm a sinner please forgive me I believe in Jesus I believe he died on a cross I believe he rose again I turn from my sin I turn to Jesus as Savior I want to follow him as Lord