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Amen All right. Look at Isaiah chapter number 40 in verse number one. It says come for ye come for ye my people Say it's your God speaking comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned For she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness Prepare ye the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for our God Every Valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough Places plain and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken. The title of the sermon this evening is character analysis of John the Baptist Character analysis of John the Baptist now go with me if you would to John chapter number one in Isaiah chapter 40 We see a prophecy of John the Baptist This is a scripture that's commonly quoted in the New Testament in reference to John the Baptist and who he is He's it says there the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness Prepare ye the way of the Lord make straight in the desert a highway for our God So what was the main purpose of John the Baptist ministry? Well, someone say he was like the forerunner for Jesus Christ He was clarifying the road that led to Jesus Christ. He wasn't making it crooked. He wasn't making it foggy He wasn't making it indiscernible he was making it as plain as the nose on your face He wanted people to know hey behold the Lamb of God, which should take away the sins of the world He wasn't trying to confuse anybody. He wasn't trying to make it obscure or enigmatic He wanted everyone to know this is Jesus Christ Make the path straight This is the voice crying in the wilderness and then it also tells us that he's that voice that shall be that people shall glorify of Excuse me, they shall glorify God in him. Look what it says in verse number Five, excuse me verse number six of John chapter one There was a man sent from God whose name was John The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light. So what do we see? We see that throughout John's ministry people were constantly confusing him for whom for Jesus Why is that because he was a burning and shining Light the Bible says and he constantly had to tell people I am NOT that Christ, you know, I am NOT him He constantly had to deny the fact that he was not Jesus Christ But that was due to the fact that he was a burning and shining light He was a man of God who the Spirit of God was upon He was being used greatly of him to do great exploits for him. And this is why people glorified God Why is that because he showed he was showing forth that light of the gospel now go with me We went to Matthew chapter number 11 I want to talk about John the Baptist this evening and Just talk about his characteristics and some of the things that he did and some principles that we can learn from his life John the Baptist embodied the spirit of the prophets In fact, he was the last of the prophets, but he was very unique in the sense that John did no miracle So he was never used of God to feed 5,000 to raise the dead to do great exploits like Elijah or Elisha He was never used like any of the prophets of old to do great things such as that But he was used to see a lot of people saying he was used to make the path straight and this is why He was one of the greatest men in the Bible. Okay. This is why Jesus Christ said of him You know that he was one of the greatest men born of women because of the fact that he testified of Christ He decreased that Jesus Christ might increase what makes us great Well, what makes us great is when we decrease in order for Jesus Christ to increase when we get out of the way And we glorify Jesus Christ That's what makes a person great. And I think John the Baptist is one of those characters that we should look up to him, man You know, even though he existed 2,000 years ago. This should be a modern-day hero You know today we have Christians who have unbelievers as heroes You know last Sunday Kobe Bryant Died in a helicopter accident, you know and you know people I'm talking about Christians now look obviously We can't necessarily point to something in Kobe Bryant's life to say. Oh, he was just a wicked person I'm sure he was prideful. I'm sure he was arrogant I'm sure he had the pride of life, but in the world according to the world standards, you know He was a moral guy so to speak and then even then I don't really think so because there wasn't he involved in some sexual You know controversy Adultery yeah So here's the thing is but people looked up to that guy Christians You know Pattison, right? He posted a picture with Kobe Bryant Pattison pastor pastor Pattison I just feel dirty saying it, you know He took a picture with Kobe Bryant and he's just like oh this is a great guy rest in peace What in the world rest in peace. That's Catholic theology right there. What do you mean rest in peace? There is no rest for the wicked saith the Lord And I'm not saying you know, we should just get on and make videos condemning him and stuff like that But when you have a pastor getting up and saying oh and by the way talk nothing about God Said nothing about him and his so-called relationship with God All he did was glorify the fact that he was a successful basketball player that he was able to throw a basketball into a hoop Okay, that's not a great accomplishment folks You know, you have millions of people who you say well, yeah, but he was famous people made him famous You know buying his brand buying his shoes or whatever making him popular, you know Christians should not look up to people like that as heroes Why because they're not saved they're not Christians, you know and at best at best I think he was just a Catholic and that's that's at best. Okay, and obviously that's not the best You know today we should have living men of God as our heroes You know preachers of the Word of God people who stand up for the truth people who go soul-winning Churches that are doing great things for God. This should be our example And you know what more so even the examples of the people in the Bible You know look up to a man like David and Elijah Elisha Moses John the Baptist Jesus Paul Peter these should be the men of God that we look towards and say these are great men of God I want to exemplify their godliness. I want to be able to mimic what they were doing in order for God to basically recognize me You know the Bible tells us that that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the eyes of God So think about you know Suck on that for a second suck on that lemon for a second and think about this. Hey God Thinks that those people are abominable Think about that. Oh, yeah, but he was such a good guy, but God says if they're highly esteemed among men They're an abomination in the eyes of God Why is that because of the fact that God Wants to be glorified. He doesn't want others to be glorified instead of him You know people look and look I know the sincere people out there that love Kobe Bryant and stuff and and you know they Idolized him and they it was he was like a role model to them But you know at the end of the day at the end of the day. He was not glorifying God Yeah, but you shouldn't say things like that. Well. I just did So it'll be posted tomorrow on YouTube for everyone to see What I'm saying is this is that a man like John the Baptist should be someone that we look towards That we look up to okay Living men of God today should be our examples, okay So I just wanted to chase that rabbit for a little bit go to Luke chapter number one if you would Luke chapter number one Luke chapter number one now what can we learn from Kobe Bryant's death well Here's something we can learn from Kobe Bryant's death You know what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Right you know I guarantee you Kobe Bryant was not saved He did not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and I guarantee you all of those championship rings that he got mean zero to him right now Zero okay, I was gonna say Chris. What are you doing, man, but it says it says soul winner right yeah It looks like I said Lakers or something And look I don't care if you like Kobe Bryant or if you like the Lakers what I'm saying is this is that you know When we hear about something like that We need to see it through a biblical perspective and not separate that from what the Bible actually says about people Okay, hell still exists heaven is real And you know what we should esteem and hold valuable that which God esteems and holds valuable, okay? So let's talk about John the Baptist well first and foremost Let's look at a couple things that he did and first and foremost the beginning of his life Let's talk about his miraculous birth You know John the Baptist is a very unique person in the sense that he was a product of a miraculous birth He was in a sense likened unto Jesus the difference being that he was not born of a virgin however His mother was barren look at verse number five of Luke chapter number one says there was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias of the course of Abaya and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth and there were both righteous before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless So what do we see we see that he had? Spiritual parents a priest for a father and his mother was of the daughters of Aaron Hey young people you know who should be your role models your mom and your dad How about that? You know if your mom and dad go to church. They're in the Bible They're doing their best to raise your right for the for the things of God that should be your idol there in a sense Okay, not idol in the sense of idolatry, but I'm saying that should be your role model That should be the people you look up to you exemplify you look towards you admire Why because they're living for God oh, but they're not famous. You know they're famous to God And they should be famous to you as well So his father was a priest his mother was of the daughters of Aaron his parents were spiritual people But his mother was barren look at verse number seven And they had no child because that Elizabeth was barren and they both were now well stricken in years So they're up there in years, and you know as you get older the less likely you are to have children So that's why it's a miracle the fact that he they were able to bear John It says in verse number eight and it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his Course according to the custom of the priest's office his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord and the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense and There appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense and when Zechariah saw him He was troubled and fear fell upon him But the angel said unto him fear not Zechariah's for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son And thou shall call his name John now His birth wasn't a miraculous birth like Jesus But it was still miraculous in the sense that his mother was barren she could not have children But in spite of that God still blessed that woman you see a lot of similarities between him and Jesus in that regard Look at verse 15 It says for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord speaking of John the Baptist and shall drink neither wine nor Strong drink and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. This is this is amazing So he was filled with the Holy Ghost. He was filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb now That's kind of interesting. Is it not because of the fact that we think about us today You know only safe people can have the indwelling spirit dwelling within them, right? The Bible tells us that after we believe on Christ that we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise He is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession the Bible says But you got to keep in mind that this is taking place during the Old Testament When the Holy Spirit did not indwell believers, but he did come upon them He could fill people whether saved or unsaved We have examples of people in the Old Testament not only of saved people but even of unsaved people Who had the Spirit of God come upon them and still use them? Etc. So we see this taking place even with John the Baptist The Bible says in Luke chapter 1 verse 80 and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in Deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel So just right off the bat godly parents had a miraculous birth He was filled with the Spirit from the womb and the Bible says that as he began to grow in age he waxed strong in Spirit and he was in deserts until his showing unto Israel go to Matthew chapter number three if you wouldn't Matthew chapter number three Matthew chapter number three. What does it mean to wax strong in the spirit? That means he was mighty in spirit He walked in the spirit. He didn't fulfill the lust of the flesh He was filled with the power of God and this definitely showed forth in his preaching You know, you can tell when preaching his spirit filled and when it's not You can tell when preaching is powerful and when it's weak and you know what John the Baptist is preaching was powerful and It's obviously obviously because of the fact that he was waxing strong. He was growing in his knowledge of the Word of God Etc. Now, let's look at his gospel. Okay, because isn't John the Baptist accused of having a different gospel Just because it says that he preached repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand I mean look at Matthew chapter 3 verse number 1 It says in those days King John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying repent of your sins That's what everyone wants to insert there by the way Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Let me just give you a news flash Just because the Bible says repent it doesn't mean always mean of your sins And in fact, you'll never even find that phrase in the Bible repent of your sins Now the concept of repenting of your sins is in the Bible Repenting of wickedness, but you'll never find it in relation to salvation You'll find repentance from dead works and faith toward God, which is something completely different You know and people Primarily dispensationalists will use something like this to say well, you know back in these days. This was a different gospel You know, John the Baptist preached the baptism of repentance They have to repent of their sin And then once that was over now, we're in the church age and you know We have where we're Pauline Christians and we're preaching salvation by grace through faith And then when we get into the end times, it'll be by works again. You have to repent of your sins false wicked heresy stupid Say repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness Prepare you the way of the Lord make his paths straight now Go to Acts chapter 19. Hold your place there go to Acts chapter 19 I'm gonna read to you from Luke 3 3 which is a parallel passage to what we just read It says and he came into all the country about Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of Sins so make no mistake about it. His message was repent in order to be saved to receive the remission of sins But it's just not repentance of sin The repentance there is to repent from what they're trusting in for salvation to believing on the Lord Jesus Christ That is the message that he had that was his gospel presentation. It's not different Gospels Okay, look at Acts 19. Let's prove this verse number four It says then said Paul John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance Saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him that is on Christ Jesus So acts 19 for works as a commentary on Matthew chapter 3 Luke chapter 3 So when we see when he said repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand acts 19 for defines for us What specifically he said in that message, which is what to believe on Jesus Christ? Not to repent of your sins Okay, and look anybody who believes that or anybody who teaches that from the pulpit they're they're they're hypocrites They are a bunch of hypocrites why because what they mean by that is you need to repent of the sins that they repented on You know and isn't it interesting then many of these preachers are overweight They're 500 pounds overweight They want you to repent of your cigarettes of your alcohol of whatever sins that they repented of But yet they still haven't repented of gluttony And being overweight, you know having their belly as their God But yet they want to go ahead and just have the self-righteous attitude this holier-than-thou Attitude towards others and say you need to repent of your sin in order to be saved And then when you approach them with it, so I said well well not repent But you just got to at least want to let go of your sin It's just like good night in the morning. You know, you cannot repent of your sins to be saved It's impossible because of the fact that you didn't even know all the sins of your committee Okay, you know when people say repent of your sins, it's like which ones the sins of omission or sins of Commission You know, are you talking about, you know, the Ten Commandments which by the way, there's more than Ten Commandments The Bible is filled with Commandments folks You know when we get saved we don't become sinless Christians in spite of what the Calvinists say Okay, they think that as soon as they get saved that batteries come included You no longer have to struggle with sin, you'll no longer desire certain things, you know Well, you know at that point so you mean you're dead basically. Oh, so you mean you're not alive anymore. Okay? Yeah, we're not alive spiritually No You're still alive physically folks and because your life physically you have the flesh the flesh Lesseth against the spirit the spirit against the flesh These are contrary the ones of the other city cannot do the things that you would the Bible says, you know Don't give me this nonsense. Oh, I don't desire to smoke cigarettes, even though I smoke cigarettes for 20 years you liar Now look, will there be times when you don't desire to smoke? Yes, but you know what as long as you're in that flesh you will desire that every once in a while Okay, don't tell me that you've been drinking alcohol for 15 years you get saved and God just takes that desire away You know, he might take it away, you know, it's your intervals But I guarantee you there'll be times in your life when you want to drink again because you live in the flesh You know, oh man I got saved and I no longer wanted to smoke weed I No longer wanted, you know to smoke pot and get high God just completely removed that from me You are self-righteous and you are misled my friend That's a that's a sin You probably struggle with for the rest of your life and I'm not saying there's not gonna be times in your life where you feel Victorious you don't desire those things you have replaced those desires with godly habits and godly actions But you know as long as you're in the flesh you're gonna desire to do those things. Okay? So this repenting your sins nonsense is just that it's nonsense What God wants you to do when it comes to salvation is to turn from what you're trusting in and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ Okay Repentance from dead works and faith toward God and look this is what John the Baptist is doing. He made it clear He was making straight the ways of the Lord, you know, why is that? Well, because he his ministry started at the apex of the Pharisees ministry Which were teaching a false doctrine about salvation They were teaching that they have to obey the law Moses, you know, they were completely perverting the ways of the Lord Therefore he came to make those crooked ways straight He came to set people straight to correct people on that doctrine and make sure that they weren't listening to this generation of vipers Okay, he made the way of salvation clear. He made it straight The Bible tells us of the lawyers Woe unto you lawyers for you have taken away the key of knowledge He entered not in yourselves and then that we're entering in ye hindered and look it's no different today Today you have pastors today. You have the ray comforts of this world who seek to pervert the ways of the Lord They're taking away the key of knowledge. What is the key of knowledge? It's that it's by faith alone without works You know, they're perverting the ways of God now look go to Matthew chapter number three if you would So, what was his gospel his gospel was this same gospel that you guys were preaching in the afternoon same gospel that we preach every single week same gospel that Believers have always preached from the beginning of time until now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ By the way, it might not have been Jesus Christ by name in the Old Testament, but it was believe on the Lord Same God, okay Because people say oh, you know, yeah the gospels to believe on Jesus Christ What do you say about those in the Old Testament Jesus Christ is the Lord There you go, but it doesn't say Jesus Christ. It's okay. It says the Lord Okay, and in fact Romans chapter number 10 is quoted in the Old Testament So we not only see his miraculous birth we see His his gospel presentation, but now let's look at his fruit inspection Okay, he did some fruit inspection and you know what he would not be popular today with a lot of people Look what it says in Matthew 3 verse 5 then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around about Jordan And were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism he said unto them Oh generation of vipers Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come now? This is not a nice thing to say A viper is a snake Who does the snake remind you of the devil? He's like you guys are a generation of vipers. You're a bunch of snakes. Oh That's not very, you know, you're not gonna build the church like that John John that's not how you're gonna reach people like that calling people snakes and vipers. It's not very nice You got to make sure you win their hearts That's not what he said. He's like who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. I like that now What is he's to look at verse number eight bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance and think not to say within yourselves We have Abraham to our father for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham now people who want to use this scripture to say you know, that's why we need to make sure that people bring forth fruits and to repentance and what they the way they Interpret that is that they're basically saying, you know someone who gets saved they need to produce works You know if they're really saved they're gonna come to church if they're really saved they're gonna do good works If they're really saved they're gonna start reading their Bible. They're gonna start getting their life, right? These are the fruits meet for repentance. That's not fruit meet for repentance Fruit in the Bible is when you win someone to Christ, right? It's what you produce Okay, so when we go out so many and we lead someone to we'd lead someone to the Lord that person is our fruit That's what we're bearing. Okay Not to be confused with the fruits of the Spirit Excuse me, the fruit of the spear which is singular. Okay Fruits in the Bible in relation to the Christian is when we get someone saved that person is our fruit It's what we're bearing. Okay, and this is the byproduct of abiding in Christ when we're abiding in Christ He's dwelling in us and we in him we bring forth much fruit the Bible says So he said well then why is he telling the Pharisees this then? Why is he telling them? Hey, I'm not gonna baptize you you need to bring forth fruits me for me for repentance Well because of the fact that the Pharisees and the Sadducees were spiritual leaders So the way we determine if an individual is saved or not is based upon their tip their testimony You know if I asked them, you know, I asked a couple people this morning I said are you gonna present sure that if you die today you go you'd go to heaven. They said yes I said, how do you know he said it's by faith alone. I believe them Lord Jesus Christ And I said, can you ever lose your salvation they said absolutely not I said great so that was my inspection of their salvation However, when it comes to a pastor a spiritual leader who is preaching the Word of God on a weekly basis Who is using the Bible? To teach doctrine. He has a position of spiritual leadership Now the standard has changed You understand so now the standard is not what do you have to do to be saved now? We need to look at that person's fruit Who are the people in that person's church? Okay, you look at if the people are saved or not now Let me just start. Let me just say this there are certain churches that have saved people and our excuse me, there are safe pastors that have churches with unsafe people and One of the reasons for that is because they're just not thorough They're not thorough or they're just not a soul winning church. They're more Concerned with bringing people in the church and making sure they warm a sea or whatever They're not necessarily concerned with the salvation of the personality. It's bad. It's wicked. It's wrong to do that You know a pastor should have the heart to see everyone in this church say amen and here at our church We try to make sure that everyone, you know when visitors come that we check on their salvation It will make sure that they're saved and they hear clear presentation of the gospel if they're not However, when it comes to a leader though Leaders are held to a different standard and the way you can tell if a leader is saved or not is based upon the people That attend that church, okay So if you go to a church and you start having conversations with people and you ask them Hey, so what do you have to do to be saved and they give you they give you this answer Why are you asking me that? Don't judge judge not that they you know, lest he be judged It's like, okay Check that one off. By the way, no one should ever get offended at that question if you're saved. I Mean how many times have you been to a door and you've had people say that to you? You like are you 100% sure if you died today you go to heaven you like that's personal. Of course. I'm safe Why would you ask me that? I? Went to Bible college So You know, what does that mean, you know If you get offended at that It's it's a red flag that you're probably not safe because like anybody if someone asked me Hey pastor, are you 100% sure that if you died today you go to heaven? I'd be like, yep I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ conversation done You like aren't you offended by that, you know, you're a pastor not really because it's the truth I Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and look I don't think that person sure now I don't think anybody here would ask me that and and if you ask me that now Okay, and you've been in our church for like two years and you're just asking me, you know There's probably a problem with that But you know if a new person comes to our church and says pastor are you 100% sure you died today you go to heaven But yeah, I believe them Lord Jesus Christ. You can't lose your salvation I give them all the verses I explained to him what I believe now if you ask a pastor that And they get offended at that then there's a problem You know, I'm sure you've run into people out there where you know, you ask them like of course I'm a pastor Shut my mouth, I'm sorry. I Didn't know that. Okay, so pastors have a different way of salvation than anybody else They get a different type of ticket into into heaven than anybody else, you know, it's nonsense You know, I've talked to people at the door where they literally said, yeah, of course. I went to seminary Of course I went to seminary, you know, I read the Bible You don't have to tell me go tell someone who needs this, you know, don't they say that? You need to go take this to someone else who needs this. I know the Bible. It's like yeah, but you haven't quoted anything You know, you're basically showing me your lack of understanding of the Bible, okay You know deacons look I remember when we first went to Compton. I let a deacon to the Lord You know and he was very receptive towards the gospel He was he was very open towards the gospel and he told me he was a deacon he was a deacon for years But apparently his pastor his church was not teaching the right way of salvation salvation is important folks Preaching the right salvation is important You know having the right gospel is important We can't have a church that's divided where the front row believes is faith alone The back row believes is repenting of your sins. The other row just believes in oneness doctrine You can't have a church split like that. We need to believe the same thing We need to be unified in regards to the gospel the doctrine of salvation Okay, so he was inspecting their fruit, you know, he's willing to baptize people But as soon as the Pharisees and the Sadducees came he's like huge generation of vipers Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come he was harsh on them because he knew how wicked they were Okay Now, how did he know about their fruit? Well the same way Jesus knew about their fruit He said Jesus said of the Pharisees that they cross come past sea and land to make one proselyte And after he hath made them he they make them twofold more a child of hell than themselves You know often unsafe pastors produce some of the most wicked people Some of the most wicked evil people. This is what the Bible teaches. Okay? Look what it says you're in Matthew chapter 3 go down to verse 10 And by the way, what what were the Pharisees depending on in order to be saved that they were descendants of Abraham This is about this while this is why he says think not to say within yourselves We have Abraham to our father, you know, God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham Hey Pharisee, it's not about your Jewish race Your Jewish race doesn't get you saved You need to be a believer in Christ. It's not about race. It's about the grace of God And these bunch of racists here because that's exactly what they were Bunch of racist, you know leaders and Pharisees They thought that they were better than everyone else because they had some sort of covenant with God that they violated by the way You know They thought that they were gonna get to heaven based upon the fact that they were physical descendants of Abraham Oh, yeah, but I was in the Bible Jews. They're not like that today. Oh, yes, they are. I Went soul winning in Montebello the city where I live and I ran into a Jew a Mexican Jew mind you They come in all sorts of colors folks And I'm not I'm not kidding you he literally He answered the door. He had that that beard. Okay, he had the skull cap and Then you know, I say you're 100% sure you died today you go to heaven. He's like Give me a second close the door. He came out with this little tassel and his coat and then I asked him again He's like, of course. He's like I got a covenant with God You know and then he begins to like mock Christianity He's like we like you guys because you guys are gonna help us rebuild the temple. I'm like screw that I'm not helping you do nothing What are you talking about? I'm not hoping you've rebuilt nothing and I even told him I was like, I'm more of a Jew than you are And he and he thought like he thought I was just gonna be bound down in his feet Worshipping him because he even told me he goes we like Trump. He's gonna help us rebuild that temple. So we like you Christian He's like we like you Christians, you know, and I'm like, I'm not for Trump She's like, you know, I'm like, no, I'm not I'm a Christian, you know, and so don't give me this Oh, that was them back then that's not them now. No, that's exactly what they believe now And in fact, you know don't and don't come at me with all we need to use the Old Testament to be able to win Them they reject the entire Word of God and in fact this same Jew this so-called rabbi Told me you need to read the Talmud And I was like no That blasphemous book that says that Jesus Christ is currently in hell today. No, thank you. Okay What message that John the Baptist had for them look at verse 10 and now also the axe is laid into the root of the trees Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. What is he talking about? He's like he's basically telling you guys are going to hell He's basically telling the Pharisees go to hell Pharisees. I Indeed baptized you with water. He's being a little facetious here now I indeed baptized you with water into repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire Now who is he baptizing with the Holy Ghost believers? Who's he baptizing with fire these people? Okay, what he's basically saying is like, you know, Jesus Christ, you're not gonna be void of Jesus Christ's baptism You're just gonna get a different baptism. It's called health. You're gonna be engulfed in the flames of hell. He's pretty rough Right people today would be like, hey, no, we can't have you preach at our church anymore You're a little rough on God's chosen people Okay, you can't speak like that to God's chosen people tell them they're going to hell and stuff like that How are you gonna win them? Apparently he didn't care Right. Does anybody see anywhere in here where he cared about these people the Pharisees and the Sadducees? No, he's hitting them where it hurts Whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat in the Garner But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire He's basically telling me you're like the chaff and you're gonna be burned with unquenchable fire. It's a hard preacher I like this guy go to Matthew chapter 7. This is why I say we should look up to him And let me just say this this man existed He's a man of like passions Okay, and we ought to desire the spirit of John the Baptist. We had a desire the spirit of Elijah, right? We had a desire to be like these men of God in times of old. Oh, but that's in the Bible No, God expects us the Bible talks about the testimonies of the Lord He expects us the reason he gives us these examples is because real men like this kind of stuff You know real men don't like limp-wristed sissy faggotry Amen real men don't like you know, the Mohawk faggoty looking pastor with the skinny jeans ripped knees You know man bun They don't like that stuff, you know, why those churches are filled with women because that's what women like Not what men like? men like John the Baptist Men like a pulpit that has a John the Baptist behind the pulpit not some sissified little skinny Jean weenie It's the truth Look at Matthew 7 verse 15 beware of false prophets Which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves Ye shall know them by their fruits do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit But a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit Every tree that bringeth not forth fruit good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. It seems as though John the Baptist spent a lot of time with Jesus Message is exactly the same here. They should be cast in the fire. You know, you shall know them by their fruits Now go back to Matthew chapter 3 if you would Matthew chapter 3 So we saw his gospel presentation. We saw how he did his fruit inspection. Okay? And look in our church we need to check on people's salvation, okay Sometimes you'll have people who just slip in and slip out and we don't get a chance to talk to them for the most part We try to do our best to check on people's salvation But you know when it comes to so-called pastors, we need to look at their fruit. Okay? Matthew chapter 3, let's look at his preaching. I know I already talked a little bit about his preaching But let's look at his preaching look at verse number 3 says for this is he that was spoken of by the prophet of Zias Saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness Prepare you the way of the Lord make his past straight and the same John Had his raiment of camel's hair and a leather girdle about his loins and his meat was locust and wild honey You see John the Baptist, you know, the gospel was not the only message that he was bringing He was not just only preaching repent and believe the gospel. He wasn't just preaching the baptism of repentance He was preaching the entire word of God. He was preaching on sin. He was preaching against politicians he was preaching everything that he could and verse number four basically embodies The content of his preaching because it says there that his raiment his clothing Was camel's hair and a leather girdle about his loins and his meat was locust and wild honey Now, why does it say camel's hair and a leather girdle? Well because in the Old Testament That's how the prophets used to dress and more specifically you think of Elijah Who was good about with a leather girdle as well. And this is basically symbolic of being rough Okay, you think of camel's hair leather things that are coarse. It's rough. It's the opposite of being smooth, right? Well in the Bible smooth is synonymous with lying With deceit and in fact you look throughout the book of Jeremiah For example the false prophets of that day they were preaching the seats and lies there were smooth preachers And I think of Jacob not this Jacob Jacob in the Bible, you know, he was a smooth man Okay, he was a smooth guy and you know what? He was a deceiver a heel catcher This guy was a deceiver and it the Bible is laying out for us the stigma that the word smooth has You know and people's in prophets and in their messages Okay, so you see the camel's hair and the leather and girdle. So this guy was rough That means his preaching was rough. That means it was offensive It wasn't smooth Now, let's give some examples of smooth preaching. How about Joel's thing? That's buttery smooth That's like baby oil smooth You know, it's filled with deceit. It's filled with lies. It's like cotton candy Okay You know Rick Warren is another example Paul Chapel is an example of smooth preaching This is not preaching that it has camel's hair and a leather and girdle Okay The reason it says camel's hair is because of the fact God wants you to associate his preaching with Elijah's preaching Do you guys remember Elijah's preaching how he mocked the prophets of Baal? He mocked their God He's like, you know calling to your God. Has he gone away on a vacation? Maybe he sleep with or he slumbered I mean, he's mocking them That offends people When I get up here and I start mocking false prophets people don't like that. There's people not not here You guys love it People out there like oh you shouldn't talk like that. You know, what's wrong with you? You know why because they like smooth preaching they want baby oil is what they want for preaching You know, but what God God's kind of preaching is the rough hard course preaching It's the preaching that hits the heart It's the preaching that changes lives preach the word begins to end season out of season Reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine the Bible says notice that it says reprove and rebuke It says exhort one positive two negatives. That means a lot of preaching has to be negative That's not to say we're not going to exhort. We're not going to encourage people We're not going to motivate you to keep going and go forward and not quit and not give up But you know what at the end of the day sometimes God's people need a swift kick in the rear end Then they need a fire to be lit under their hinder parts to get them going They need them, you know Their sin to be called out when they need to hear about the things that they're struggling with they need to be told repent of your sins To get right with God You know women need to be told, you know, hey be a keeper at home Men need to be told stop being effeminate You know people need to be told to fulfill their biblical roles this is hard preaching and guess what it's not popular Some people just don't like it. But here's the thing the people that don't like this type of preaching just just admit it You don't like the Word of God You give me an example of a nice preacher in the Bible Every single one of them were offensive every single one of them were hard every single one of them were hated by their own people Jesus Christ included Don't give me this weird image of Jesus this faggoty long-haired Jesus Caesar Borgia Then he was just nice all the time and you know, he wore a dress and he was just so kind You know what Jesus Christ embodied kindness and meekness, but you know what you better read the book of Revelation You better read when he comes back if you think he's all you know roses and daisies Then you haven't read Revelation chapter number six the day of the Lord where the people are literally saying Hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb For the great day of his wrath has come and who shall be able to stand When the people are literally saying to the rocks and to the mountains fall on us and hide us That doesn't sound Like he's coming nicely When you have people in the world telling the rocks in the mountains fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb This means he's coming and he's ticked off Okay We need to have a right perspective of Jesus and Jesus is like the prophets of old amen Says he had Raymond speaking of John the Baptist Raymond of camel's hair and a leather girdle about his loins, but I want you to notice and his meat was locusts and wild honey This is a man's man. I've never eaten locusts before I'm here you have you've ever eaten locusts. Has anybody ever eaten locusts? We're from LA. Okay. Oh you have of course Glenn has bugs What kind of bugs oh Yeah, of course I have no idea what I'm never eating any bugs ever in my life, okay Now by the way, Leviticus 11 22 permits eat the eating of locusts, okay Locusts have protein a man. So he's just getting the bare basics what I'm picturing He's just grabbing the locusts dipping them in honey and just eating them like that, you know This is a man's man right here eating locusts Making it happen Now the reason I believe it says locusts and wild honey. I believe this is basically symbolic of his preaching as well Because what is locusts represent in the Old Testament? judgment, right Locusts was always representative of God's judgment Upon a people when he would send the locust in Exodus in Egypt, he would always destroy the crops It's symbolic of God's judgment. Okay, and you know what John the Baptist preaching was it was judgmental It brought a lot of judgment upon the nation of Israel. So what about the wild honey? The wild honey is symbolic of the Word of God the sweetness Of the Word of God go to Revelation if you would revelation chapter number 10 So what can we say about his preaching it was bittersweet Right. Why was it bittersweet because it was hard. But yeah, what did he do? He pointed people to Jesus all the time So yes, it was hard and it was hateful. It was hateful preaching You don't call people you love generation of vipers Right, it was pretty hateful But you know, it was very sweet at the same time because he would say behold the Lamb of God Who should take away the sins of the world? he brought the love of God to a lost and dying world and So we can say that his preaching was balanced, right? It had love but it also had a lot of judgment Righteousness and even hatred why because the Bible says he that loved the Lord hate evil. Okay? Look at Revelation 10 9 says and I went into the angel and said unto him Give me the little book and he said unto me take it and eat it up and it shall make thy belly Bitter but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey You know the Word of God is sweet When you read it, it's sweet when you when the Holy Spirit teaches you the Word of God, it's sweet, but no one can I Mean be honest out of it out. We understand that the Word of God can be bitter at times Preaching can be bitter It doesn't sit well with us sometimes Why maybe because we're not right with God or we're involved in sin or maybe you're effeminate or maybe you know You're not fulfilling your role and it's bitter towards you. Well, that's exactly what the Word of God is supposed to do So we see that his preaching was balanced, you know, he had judgment, but he also had wild honey He was also it was a bittersweet type of a mixture and look this is the type of preaching we need today. Okay? The vast majority of it especially when he comes to church. Hey, we need to preach bitter stuff We need to preach judgment Righteousness when you talk about hell we need to talk about false prophets and lame preaching We need to call sin sin abomination abomination We need to make sure that we just cover everything that God says is abominable and preach it from the housetops The bitter things of the Word of God we need to cover But you know what in like manner we need to take that locust and dip it in wild honey and speak the truth and love Right speaking the truth in love How do we do that by preaching the gospel? Okay. Now look you said what about in church? I want to hear about the love of God in church Well, here's the thing if you're saved, you know about the love of God Right If you're saved, you know the love of God How do you know the love of God God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life You know, the love of God is already shed abroad in your heart We know the length breath depth and to know the love of Christ with which passeth all knowledge the Bible says we already know about These things how can we effectively give out that wild honey? Well, we have so many times when you go out and talk about the love of God. In fact, I believe our church Talks a lot about the love of God In fact, I would go as far as to say is that our church talks more about the love of God Than I talk about the judgments of God because there's more people in here Going out so winning than people who are standing behind this pulpit preaching the judgments of God right Multiple times throughout the week people go out and they talk about the love of God to see people saved Hey, that's wild honey right there You know, I think about Thursday when we went out so winning on Thursday and I was with my my fellow Aussies right over here and Actually Rams was with Mark and I was with these two two brothers right here and we're we were just standing there waiting for waiting for them to finish their gospel presentation and We're just standing this lady just walks out right? She just walks out and she's like you guys are like an answer to prayer and She basically was just like what must I do to be saved? And I'm just like is this real you're just gonna like just come up to me like that and She was speaking in Spanish and she basically said like She was saying, you know Last night. She said I was literally praying. I Was literally praying she said God, please send someone to tell me about salvation She's like, I know I'm not saved. I know I'm condemned. I know I'm going to hell, but I'm trying I'm trying to keep your commandments. I'm trying to obey the Word of God I'm trying the best that I can and you know what God answered her prayer by sending a hateful preacher To come just I'm just like waiting there and you know, she comes and we got we got to get her saved She was in tears, right? She was in tears She was just rejoicing over salvation. She gave us all a hug, right? You know and to be honest, she brought me to tears Just because just to see her rejoice over the fact that she felt like God answered her prayers and look I was quoting her I was like, you know the Bible says Romans 3 23 for all I've sinned and then she would go and fall short of the glory of God Yeah, okay And then I said, you know Romans 6 we did for the wages is in his death and she would finish it But the gift of God is eternal life to Jesus Christ our Lord. I'm like ma'am. Can you shut up? No, I'm just kidding. I Didn't say that I didn't say that But I'm thinking myself she knows the Bible the only thing that she was struggling with was the salvation was not by works She thought that it was she thought you had to repent of your sins, you know And she had been going to some lame church for an entire year and they didn't tell her about the gospel at all This is wicked Well, you shouldn't judge that church if she would have died. She would have split hell wide open You call that loving nothing. That's not loving You know, but we got her saved That's love right there folks. Yeah, love is when we give them the gospel We talk about the love of God. It's that wild honey. It's that sweetness Okay, and this is exactly what we see with John the Baptist is that he had the the the locusts He preached the judgments of God, but he also had the honey. He spoke the truth in love. Okay? But he also called the names now the Bible says I'm seeing turn with you to Go to Luke chapter 3. Are you in Luke chapter 3? Go to Luke chapter 3 if you wouldn't So he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. Okay, I Like what it says in 2nd Kings chapter 1 verse 7 it says and he said unto them what manner of man was he which came up to meet you and told you these words and they answered him he was a hairy man and Girl with the girdle of leather about his loins and he said it is Elijah the Tishbite It's like who's the guy who came to you and said all these things he said well He was hairy and he had a leather girdle and they're like, it's Elijah That's great. So everyone knew him Because of this now obviously this is symbolic right? This is symbolic of his manner of preaching His preaching was hairy. It wasn't smooth Look what the Bible says in Luke 3 verse 14 and the soldiers Likewise demanded of him saying and what shall we do and he said unto them do violence to no man neither accused any falsely and be content with your wages, so We see that John the Baptist preached the gospel. He pre he had hard preaching, but he also preached righteousness He preached practical ways to live as a Christian to live righteously because he tells them there Hey, don't accuse anybody falsely be content with your wages He says in verse 15 has the people were an expectation and all men mused in their hearts of John whether he were the Christ or not now Go to Matthew chapter 11 if you would Matthew chapter number 11 So he preached righteous living He told people to get right with God Let's see here Now This type of preaching got him in a lot of trouble because of the fact that he called out Herod who was the political leader of that day and It caused him to basically get thrown into jail and ultimately beheaded So what do we know about John the Baptist? He counted the cost He was willing to put his life on the line To preach the Word of God to give all the truth, even if it meant it would cost him his life You know, this is the reason why a lot of pastors they stay away from this type of preaching because they love their lives They want to stay alive. They love living Whereas John the Baptist was willing to just give up even his life This is a man we should look up to should we not This man loved the Bible. He loved the Word of God and he loved the truth even to the point where he was willing to lose His own life So that it would go out You know, this is an example that we should take and think upon ourselves to say man, how much do I love my life? Do I love it so much that I would be willing to die for the truth You know, we should be as John the Baptist to say, you know what? I can't count my life dear unto me I should be willing to lose it for his sake if need be and As we near the end times it could possibly come to that point now I believe that those who live for God who serve God, you know God will keep them from the hour of temptation But who knows, you know if this so happens in our lifetime and your life is in jeopardy Are you willing to just lose it all the light your life in the life of your family to preach the truth? That's a wake-up call is enough. It's a sobering thought to think of to say that this man was willing to just Put it out on the line his own life to preach the truth What I have you turn Go to Mark chapter 6 go to Mark chapter 6 if you would It says in Mark chapter 6 verse 16, but when Herod heard thereof he said it is John whom I beheaded He has risen from the dead. So not only was John the Baptist mistaken for Jesus. Jesus was mistaken for John the Baptist Because when he heard of Jesus when they heard of Jesus Herod thought that it was John He's like man, it's John's he's come back from the dead. I behead that guy. I took his head off and he's still back Well, it's just that they just they're just prophets. Okay It kind of reminds me of this. Okay now look I'm no pastor Anderson, and I know that I'm Bruce Mihia. I'm no Jack Hiles I'm no, you know, but here's the thing I find it funny that I'll preach a sermon and literally people will put on the comment section. Oh, this is Steven Anderson I'm like, I'm Bruce Mihia. What are you talking about? Like literally I'll put a sermon and people will like start calling out pastor Anderson as though he's the one who's preaching it And I'm thinking to myself like I take that as a compliment then if you're mistaken me for him You know or people mistake other people for me. Hey great. It just means that we have the spirit of the prophets Right, you know, they say all these bunch of Andersonites what they're saying is basically this these bunch of Christians Bible believers, okay You know, don't be ashamed to be associated with us. I Kind of like to listen online, but you know, I just you know, I just don't want to be seen in public with you You know, you know, you're like you're watching a sermon on your phone. Then your your family comes What are you watching? Nothing? Nothing Paul Chapel Paul Chapel What do I owe the joltson joltson Don't be ashamed You know, we are not to be ashamed of the men of God in our lives. Amen And look if they if they say if you tell them you go to first works Baptist Church And they're like, oh you go to first works Baptist Church be like, yep churches bomb. I Love that church You know, I just I go to I go to first works where first works Baptist Church Hey, I go there every once in a while, you know, I just Speak up man. I Go to first works BC That's my church. I See you throwing gang signs up there But I like that he said that he says who might beheaded he is risen from the dead He thought it was John the Baptist for Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold on Upon John and bound him in prison for Herodias to sake his brother Philip's wife for he had married her For John had said unto Herod. It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife Hey, John, you're stepping out of bounds here Hey, you shouldn't be talking about the political leaders. We're having you know American hero Sunday coming up soon We're trying to get Herod to come to church, you know, we're not gonna be able to win him John if you're preaching against his sin He's like you are an adulterer you're a wicket Baptists today who's the equivalent to Herod Trump right Trump is like the equivalent and you have all these Baptist pastors who are just bowing down before hair before Trump You know, even though he's a he's a major adulterer You know, no one wants to you know No one wants to talk about all the perversion Perverted things that he said in the past and all the perverted things that he was involved with All these Baptist pastors they would they would love to have him just come to the church on American hero Sunday. He's wicked Yeah Be a John the Baptist pastor be a John the Baptist and say it's not lawful for you to be the president of the United States You're wicked Therefore Herodias had a quarrel with against him and would have killed him But she could not for Herod feared John Knowing that he was a just man and holy and observed him and when he had heard him He did many things and heard him gladly Of course, we know that he ended up dying because of it now go to John chapter number three. We're almost done John chapter number three, he preached against the political parties. He was not fearful of them. He Preached it from the housetop. He told him to his face Okay, you know pastors today. They want to have the mayor at their church They want to have the mayor the governor. They want the clout. I Want God I Want Jesus Christ to sup with us Right John to revelation chapter number three behold I stand at the door and knock, you know That's what I want for our church. I can care less. I don't want any politician to ever come to our church Bottom line, you know when Politicians come and they put those stupid little signs around our church. I take them on I throw them away. Oh But it's for Omani I could care less This is not a Republican Church nor a Democratic Church. It's a it's a Baptist Church Anyways Lastly we're gonna look at his greatness. Okay, and we've seen a lot of great things from him Look at John chapter 3 verse 25 says then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying And now also, oh, excuse me And they came unto John and said unto him rabbi He that was with thee beyond Jordan to whom thou barest witness behold the same baptizeth and all men come to him John answered and said a man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am NOT the Christ But that I am sent before him he that hath the bride is the bridegroom But the friend of the bridegroom which standeth in here at them Rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase but I must decrease That's greatness right there. He's like I'm not here for the fame. I'm not here for the cloud. I'm here to direct people to Jesus And that's why he became famous in the eyes of God That's what's most important, right? Now go to Matthew chapter 11 And lastly I want you to notice that the reason he was great was because he was just a regular human being You know, he was a great prophet he preached hard he knew the Bible he loved the Lord, but he had his times of doubts He had his moments of relapse when his faith would have relapsed and he questioned at times and that's what really made him great As well why because that means that's a person that we can relate to All right, you know if John just never struggled and he never struggled he never had any doubts It'd be difficult to attain to be a person like that, but we see him struggling even in his faith He questioned he doubted and that's why he was great because look don't we all doubt sometimes Don't we question whether God's provision is upon us whether his protection is with us whether his presence is with us Of course, we do. It's normal We were of like passions look at Matthew 11 verse 1 and it came to pass when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ He sent two of his disciples and said unto him art thou he that should come or do we look for another? Now let me just say this is that I don't necessarily believe that he's questioning his salvation, okay, and The reason I don't believe that is because he's not saying like he's questioning whether he believes He's just the reason he's questioning right now. He's saying are you are about the Christ? Do we look for another? It's because he's in prison So he's questioning the salvation of his body's what he's questioning whether he's gonna be rescued from this moment of temptation. Okay, and The reason we know that the reason I know that it's because of the fact that what's the answer that Jesus gives To his disciples to give unto John look at verse 4 Jesus answered and it sends him go and show John again those things which he's do here and see The blind receive their sight and the lame walk the lepers are cleansed and the deaf here the dead are raised up and the poor Have the gospel preached unto them and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me He's saying look here are the works that are being done. It's me is what he's saying now I'm not saying that people don't doubt their salvation because there's times when people do doubt their salvation Let me give you my take on that. Okay, if you're in here and you doubt your salvation Then this is what you need to do. You need to come talk to one of us so you can get that nailed down Now here's my problem if we nail it down and then three months from now, you're still doubting At that point I'd say, okay, I don't know if you're saved or not You know because if you if we show you from the Bible, we show you clear scriptures what the Bible says about it We nail it down and yet you're still doubting There's got to be a different reason why you're doubting your salvation other than the fact that maybe your backslidden or whatever It may be, you know, you may be Believing that it's by works as well or you're just not clear on something But if you're constantly doubting your salvation at that point, I doubt your salvation as well Okay, and look we're in a church where people are very thorough When they give the gospel presentation So I don't think we were gonna have people that constantly are doubting now Well, there come people who just doubt their salvation because they came from a different church They got backslidden they go into sin. Maybe they get into some heresy and they're like, I don't know if I'm safe Yeah, of course, that's normal. And look they could be saved too Maybe they're just not grounded in the Word of God But after we give them assurance of that salvation by clearly explaining from the scriptures and they continue to doubt at that point They're not trusting in Christ in my opinion. Okay But in this particular instance, I believe that John the Baptist is just doubting whether Jesus Christ is gonna save him physically Okay, cuz he's in prison and this is the reason why he's so great Cuz I'm thankful for this I'm thankful that we saw him struggle because he's such a great man. He did so many great things He was Jesus Christ's forerunner and yet he himself Doubting and you know what that means a lot to us because there's gonna be times in our life But we're going through a dark path We're going through a dark season. We're discouraged depressed going through a difficult time and you know what you question There's gonna be times when you question God and you wonder man. Does God really love me? I feel like nothing's ever turning out for me. I'm just not succeeding. I'm not prospering Am I in sin is gotten out with me is his power not with me and you know what? It's in those days that we need to look towards people like John the Baptist Because he's a man of like passions passions meaning sufferings and understand. Hey, he went through that same thing So it's not unique to you. It's not unique to him It's just human nature to question to doubt to wonder and you know what? Sometimes we go through that dark path because God wants us to in order to make us stronger Okay in order to increase our faith, you know Our faith needs to be tried and in order to to strengthen that faith We there needs to be a time where God is not answering us He's not answering our prayers because it's a time to basically evaluate our faith and say I believe he's there no matter what I Believe he loves me no matter what I believe he's gonna provide for me no matter what happens, you know I believe you know, though he slay me yet. Will I trust him, you know? Even if I'm thrown into the furnace, I know God is able to deliver me But if not, you know, I'm not gonna serve you never can answer I'm just I'm gonna do what I'm supposed to do. And what does that do when God actually rescues you from that? Your faith is increased now look Did God did Jesus rescue John the Baptist? Well, he's in heaven today You Know and guess what we get to hear and read about his martyrdom and be inspired by it say man This guy was legit. Yeah, he got beheaded and he went out in style You know, he's inspired millions of Christians throughout many years and He's great. Even though he didn't do a miracle What did he do he suffered and his suffering gives us something that we can relate to when we're going through a dark time You know, maybe tonight you're going through a difficult time You know right now. I'm not giving you locusts right now. I'm giving you that sweet that that wild honey Okay, you know you maybe you're going through a difficult time You're going through a tough time and maybe no one even knows about it Because you don't talk to anybody about it. You're going through a difficult time, you know, just think about John the Baptist Where and he even said, you know He's questioning all right out there without that Christ. What do we look for another? It's like God Are you really there for me? Am I really doing the will of God? Am I really are you pleased with me? But either way just stick it out. Okay, and so What's that? What's the message tonight? The message tonight is this? Hey Let's look at John the Baptist as an example of something that we should attain to that we should strive to be like He had a short ministry, but man he did so much during that time, you know And he gave us a great example to live by let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father We thank you so much for your word. Thank you Lord for John the Baptist. I'm so thankful to be a Baptist I'm so thankful that That John was a Baptist and that he was one of the best preachers in the Bible He did so much and he was such an example of someone who decreased that you may increase I pray God that you'd help us Throughout our lives to be bold to be filled with the spirit and filled with your power To not be afraid what man could do unto us Whether they take our lives or maybe even the lives of our family members that they would try to destroy our bodies Lord may we have faith like John the Baptist and Although his faith may have wavered a little bit and he questioned we knew that he was faithful even unto death And I pray God that that the same could be said of us. We love you so much And we thank you pray these things in Jesus name. Amen