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I want to just say it's a great honor and privilege to be able to preach tonight. The verse that I wanted to focus on was there in verse 11 where the Bible read, Barely I say unto you, Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And the title of my sermon tonight is how to be great. How to be great and why not look at the man who is considered by Jesus Christ's own mouth to be the greatest. But go to Mark chapter 9 if you would. Now before I start the sermon, let's define a few things. What does it even mean to be great? What does that word mean? If you look in the dictionary, the word great is defined as of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above the normal or average. So it's saying being way above average would be considered being great. Or the second definition it says of ability, quality, or imminence considered above the normal or average. Some synonyms go with this word being distinguished, being honored, being esteemed, being renowned, being famous. So getting that kind of idea, the question is well, should we even be great? Is that even something that we should desire is should we be great? Look at Mark chapter 9 verse 33. And he came to Capernaum and being in the house he asked them, What was it that you disputed among yourselves by the way? When they held their peace or by the way they disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest? And he sat down and called the twelve and saith unto them, If a man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all and servant of all. Now notice Christ didn't say there don't ever desire to be first, don't desire to be great. He was just attacking the way they were going about it, that they were arguing about who was going to be the greatest amongst themselves. But he said if you truly wanted to be great, what you have to do is you have to be the servant. You can't desire to be the first in this world, the first everybody that looks up to in this life, but rather you've got to be the servant if you truly want to be great. Flip over to chapter 10. But we see being great is not necessarily a bad thing to desire. We have Elisha. When he's asked by Elisha before he's departing, he says, You know, what do you want to give me? He says, I praise you, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. I mean, think about that now. We have Elisha, one of the greatest prophets to ever live, and he's talking to his understudy, his servant, and he's saying, What do you want? He's like, I want to be twice as good as you were. I want to be twice as great of the man of God that you were. And God grants that petition unto him. We see Paul when he was speaking he said in 2 Corinthians 11, Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more and labor is more abundant and stripes above measure and prisons more frequent and deaths off. He goes on a long list. Now what Paul is saying there is he's saying he's speaking as a fool. It's speaking as a fool to puff yourself up, to talk well of yourself, to say, Look at all the great things I've accomplished and all the great things I'm doing. That's not the way you become great. But desiring it's not necessarily bad. Just like we see with the disciples, they're arguing amongst themselves, Oh, I'm greater than you are. I'm going to be the greatest. But that's not what we should desire to be. As in Proverbs 14, In all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. If you want to be great, you have to actually go and do work. It's not just talking about how great you are and just lifting yourself up with words. You actually have to go and be a servant. You have to do some work. Says in 1 Corinthians 15 that Paul had labored more abundantly than they all. So Paul wasn't lazy. He wasn't arrogant. He was still humble, but he decided, I'm going to go out and work hard. And that's why he was the greatest apostle. That's why we look to Paul, why we look at him as a great example. Why? Because he did so much work. Because he was a great servant. Look at Mark chapter 10 verse 35, And James and John the sons of Zebedee come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. Now they begin to ask Jesus Christ, Hey, can we sit at your left hand and your right hand? Look at verse 41, And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to him and saith unto him, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you. But whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister, and whosoever he will be the chiefest shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. So we see even Jesus Christ set the perfect example of being a servant, of ministering unto others, of putting other people's lives before his own. We see he poured into twelve men. He poured his life into those guys so they could go out and preach the gospel, so they could be successful. And we see even John the Baptist was the same way. Go to Psalms chapter 18 if you would. So the desire to be great, I believe from the Bible, is a good desire. But Jesus Christ was trying to point them in the right direction. He didn't want them to be great in the way the world looks at greatness, the way the world desires for you to be great, or the way through carnal eyes, but through God's eyes how to be great. It says in 1 Corinthians 9, Know ye not that they which run and erase run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. We're not instructed to be weak. We're not instructed to not desire to do good things for God or to do great works. No, we should desire to do great works. He's saying, look, it's a race. If you're going to be in the race, why don't you want to get first place? Why don't you want a desire to be great? Why don't you want a desire to do big works? We need to get the right mentality from God's word of what being great really means. Look at Psalms chapter 18. It says, verse 30, As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those that trust in him. For who is God save the Lord? Or who is a rock save our God? It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hind's feet, and seteth me up upon high places. He teaches my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. Thou has also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. You want to know how you're going to be great? It's only through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way we can be great is through God. We can't be great on our own. We need him to be great. The Bible says great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. We know that obviously the Lord is the greatest of all. He's the ruler of all. He gets all the honor and glory. But in this life, it's not wrong for us to desire to do great works for him, to be great in his sight, to do things that he would be proud of us for and look good upon us. It says in 2nd Chronicles 16, For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show themselves strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. God wants to find a man who has his heart right so that he can show himself strong in his behalf. So he can preach the gospel to the whole world. God wants to find that man. He's just waiting for someone to decide, hey, I want to be great. Hey, I want to be that man. Hey, I want to do great things for God and not do it according to this world's view of greatness, not according to what this world says is great. But what does this society say is great? I looked up an article of the 20 greatest athletes of all time. It says, number one, Michael Jordan. Number two, Muhammad Ali. Number three, Usain Bolt. I think this list was kind of jaded. I don't think he's the third greatest. Fourth, Wayne Gretzky. Five, Michael Phelps. I'll list some more. Bo Jackson, Roger Federer, Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Pele, Maradona, Tiger Woods, Lebron James, Messi, Bruce Lee, Wilt Chamberlain, Joe Montana, Donald Bradman, Jim Brown, Tom Brady. So we kind of get a list of various people from various sports. And as I kind of tried to look at these guys in their individual lives, you know what's one thing that was in common of all these guys? None of them were Baptist. None of them believed on the Lord Jesus Christ according to what their faith was. You look at Michael Jordan. Most of these guys are divorced. They're whoremongers. They're fornicators. They're adulterers. We look at Muhammad Ali, a Muslim. We look at Usain Bolt, a Catholic. We look at Michael Phelps, a Catholic. We look at Federer, a Catholic. Babe Ruth, a Catholic. Jim Thorpe, a Catholic. Pele, a Catholic. Maradona, a Catholic. Tiger Woods, Buddhist. You know, these guys that aren't Catholic, they grew up Catholic. Lebron James went to school, Catholic school. Messi was Catholic. Bruce Lee, also Buddhist. Wilt Chamberlain went to school as Catholic. Joe Montana, apparently he doesn't have anything to do with religion. This guy Donald Brown was Anglican. Jim Brown, he was what you get at most doors when you go soul winning. He was just a good person. He was like, I don't really affiliate with any religion or domination. I just think we should all be good people. Sounds pretty common when you go door knocking, doesn't it? Tom Brady, also Catholic. Wow. You really think that's the type of people that our children should be looking up to? Children is the great person you should be looking up to. This great athlete who's a fornicator and an adulterer and doesn't even believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is going to burn in hell for all eternity and God's eyes is not great at all. He has no greatness. But the world today wants to say these guys are great. The world today wants to raise up their children. Have the poster of all these men. They want to idolize and worship them. Say I want to be great like these guys. You know, I grew up like that. I grew up desiring to be one of these type of people. I wanted to be a professional golfer. I wanted to be like Tiger Woods. I idolized these guys. I thought they were great. I spent so much time wasting my life trying to be this type of person. Every summer I spent 8 to 10 hours every day on the golf course from 14 and 15 and 16 and 17 and 18 and 19 and 20. How many hours did I waste of my life untold, untold? It's all vanity. It doesn't mean anything. That's not going to make me great. Go to Daniel chapter 5. You say well yeah but what if you reach the top? What if you become one of these great guys? What do you get to do? Well you know they have all this vainglory but the Bible says let us not be desirous of vainglory. But it's interesting in Daniel chapter 5 as I was thinking about this. Look at verse 3. It says then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem and the king and his princes, his wives, and his concubines drank in them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. Now what happens when one of these great guys wins the NFL, Super Bowl? What if they win the Stanley Cup? What if they win the America's Cup? What do they do? They get this big golden or silver graven cup image and drink wine out of it. And we think we're better than the people in the Bible. Oh we don't worship idolatry. We don't worship the gods of gold and of silver. But every time someone wins something what do they get? The gold medal, the silver medal, the bronze medal, just like Belshazzar. Just like all the people of the old time. There's nothing new under the sun. We're always desiring these idols and this vainglory. We're puffed up in our minds and yet we teach our children to do that. Children need to be desiring to be great like the men of God, the men of the Bible. Those are the people we should be looking up to. Not these fornicators and whoremongers and adulterers. Go to Matthew chapter 18. The Bible says train up a child in the way you should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. You know that verse is kind of a two edged sword because I believe if you train up a child in wickedness and desire all this vainglory they're going to also not want to depart from that either. It's going to stick with them too. It says in Matthew chapter 18 verse 1, at the same time came the disciples unto Jesus saying who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and Jesus called a little child unto him and said to him in the midst of him and said verily I say unto you except you be converted and become as little children you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever there shall humble himself as this little child the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So out of Jesus Christ's mouth he says look you've got to be a servant. You've got to be humble like a child. These are the attributes of someone who's going to be great and as I was thinking about being great I want to study John the Baptist because I think he's a great example for us to look at and you say well how am I going to be great? Well if you want to be great I believe you have to be Baptist. I mean there's a thousand churches out there today. You can go to the Catholic church, the Methodist church, the non-denom church if you don't really like any church. You can go to Church of Christ. You can go to Jehovah's false witness, the latter day Satan. I mean there's a million churches out there but if you want to be great you have to go to a Baptist church and it took me a while to figure that out. I grew up in a non-denominational church but when I started realizing that the Bible and what they were teaching were two different things I decided you know what I don't really care what denomination. I don't really care which group. I just want to find the group that lifts up this book, that actually wants to follow what this book says, that wants to read Christ's words and then do them and it didn't take long to figure out that the Baptist were the ones that were doing that. Now it took me a while to even realize that independent Baptist even existed. I kind of thought southern Baptist was the only thing that existed so I was kind of trying them out but then eventually I found out independent Baptist and I found King James only-ism and man it really changed my life. Now I understand what it could be to be great. Look at Luke chapter 3 if you would. Turn to Luke chapter 3. You say, why are we Baptist? I'm not going to take a long time to describe that but I'll give you two verses. It says in Matthew chapter 3, 16, and Jesus when he was baptized went up straight way out of the water and lo the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. So the word baptized even in and of itself can mean immersed, to be immersed in water. That's a big distinctive between a lot of Christian churches today if you use the world's label of Christian. I mean the Catholics they don't immerse anyone. They just kind of pour a little bit of water on child's heads, on baby's heads. You got the Methodists, baby sprinklers. They just kind of sprinkle a little bit of water. They don't actually dunk an adult down into the water, immerse him, baptize him and bring him up out of the water. But another distinctive is in Acts chapter 8 I'll just read for you. It says, and when they went on their way they came unto a certain water and the eunuch said, see here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Another Baptist distinctive is you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and you get saved before baptism and that baptism is not a part of salvation. Well that pretty much eliminates almost every variation of other church. I mean you got people that aren't baptizing even kind of correctly. They're doing sprinkling or some kind of pouring on child's heads and then you have all these other churches that teach that baptism is a part of salvation. That's when you get saved or that it's just a step in salvation. So being Baptist is these two distinctives. But I'm going to use this word, I'm going to break it apart to kind of use seven distinctives that I think were in John's life that really signify why he was great. Now I don't think this list is replete or is going to show every single way to be great. I just think it's an easy way for us to remember so I'm going to use the word Baptist. So the first letter there is B. So I think if you want to be great you've got to be bold. That's just a prerequisite. Now the world today, how are they bold? They're bold in their sin. They're bold in their blasphemy against the Lord Jesus Christ. Makes me think of the stupid idiot Conor McGregor. I don't know if anybody knows who I'm talking about. There's some boxer or some fighter out there. He was so arrogant that he said if he was in a fight against the Lord Jesus Christ that he beat him up. I'm not going to use his actual words because they were even more blasphemous and filthy than that. But he said look I could beat up the Lord Jesus Christ. Makes me think of Psalms 2. Why the heathen rage against the Lord Jesus Christ. Even when his wrath is kindled a little they're going to be in great fear is what the Bible says. But what about John the Baptist? How was he bold? In John chapter 1 verse 29 it says, the next day John sees Jesus coming unto him and sayeth, Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. John was bold and preaching Jesus Christ and preaching that we're sinners and we need a Savior. Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. These celebrities and these people that are considered great in our world they're bold in their sin. They want to lift up their sin. They're not. They're not. They're wanting to justify themselves. Look at Luke chapter 3 verse 16 where I turn. John answered saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water but one mightier than I cometh the latchet of whose shoes I'm not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and will gather the wheat into his garner but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. So we see John here. Look at verse 18. Let's keep reading a little bit. And many other things in his exhortation preached unto the people but Herod the tetrarch being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife and for all the evils which Herod had done added yet this above all that he shut up John in prison. So we see John the Baptist is preaching that we're sinners. He's preaching he's reproving people. He's preaching against the rulers of the area. He's preaching against Herod. We don't see that the preachers of today want to do that. The popular preachers of today are they lifting up, you know, standing up and preaching against all the rulers of the world today, preaching hard against sin? I mean you really think Joel Osteen's getting up there preaching against Trump? I mean is he saying whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another comitteth adultery? Yes. Trump is an adulterer today but you know what the preachers of today they don't want to get up and say that they want to support the man. They want to say hey we got to get him in office he's such a great guy he's really nice. Is that really what John the Baptist was like? If you want to be great according to the Bible are you going to be a specter of persons? Are you going to just lift up the rulers because they're a ruler? No he preached so hard that he went to prison. You want to be great? Preach so hard. He was a hard preacher. He liked hard preaching. His preaching was so hard it sent him to prison. That's some hard preaching. Look at Matthew chapter 3 flip over. It says in Matthew 14 verse 3 for Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias sake his brother Philip's wife for John said to him it is not lawful for thee to have her. So he was preaching the law. He was preaching against sin. He was preaching against the rulers. He was also a fire and brimstone preacher. Look at verse 7 but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism he said unto them oh generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come bring forth therefore fruits meat 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 and now also the axes laid under the root of the trees therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Now today a lot of people get a bad rap for being a fire and brimstone preacher but if you really believe that hell exists how can you not be bold to tell people that hell exists to warn them from the flames of hell from eternal damnation from eternal fire. We see John the Baptist he was a fire and brimstone preacher. You know John the Baptist was confident in who he was. He was confident that he was a Baptist. He was confident in the word of God. He was confident in Christ. He kept pointing to Christ. He was confident in the law preaching the law. He was confident about hell and he preached that the warning of hell. He had strong convictions. That's what made him bold and if you want to be great you have to be bold. You can't be timid in this world. You can't be shy. You have to go out and boldly proclaim the gospel. You have to boldly proclaim Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Ephesians 6 that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. It doesn't say maybe, should, kind of, no. You ought to speak boldly according to the word of God. Go to Luke chapter 7. So that's my first point that we need to be bold. We need to have boldness if we want to be great. If we desire to be great that's one area that we can be great. Another area looking at the letter A is that we need to be armored. We need to be armored. Now when you look at the thing of that word it could be in two different ways. It could be armored according to the flesh. It could be armored spiritually. Well let's think about the first way in a carnal way. What does the world say to someone who's great? They're dressed to the nines. They're dressed real sharp. They look so good. They're so fashionable. I mean the world wants to lift up those that dress so nice and so clean and so cut. I mean we see all these athletes that have their own apparel line. They have all their own clothes. People tonight might be wearing Air Jordans. Why? Because I mean these guys love apparel. They want to be fashionable. They want to be dressed to the nines. They want people to look at them. They want to be all showy. They want to wear the soft clothing. Look at Luke chapter 7 verse 24. And when the messengers of John were departed he began to speak unto the people concerning John. What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? I'll read Shaken with the Wind. But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? The old day which are gorgeously apparel and live delicately are in king's courts. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, and I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. So you see he wasn't you know in gorgeous apparel. He wasn't in soft clothing. It actually says that he was girded with a linen or I'm sorry a leathern girdle, right? He was wearing durable clothing, clothing that was very hard. It wasn't considered you know all this fashion rage. We don't see a whole bunch of people deciding hey let's go get linen girdle clothing. Now after John the Baptist we see that his meat was locusts and wild honey. I mean this guy was not armored according to the world's definition. He didn't have the fancy clothes. He wasn't going around trying to show off how fancy he looked. No he was wearing practical durable clothing out in the wilderness because that's what he needed to survive. Go to Romans chapter 13. So that's just one aspect of it but I think more importantly we need to look at it from a spiritual aspect. Spiritually armored. What does the Bible say about being spiritually armored? Look at Romans chapter 13 verse 10. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor therefore love is the fulfilling of the law and that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent the days at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting or drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envening but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. So he says we should be armored with the light. Go to Ephesians chapter 6. He says that we shouldn't be you know making provision for the flesh. John the Baptist when you think about him he's out in the wilderness. He has the the leather and clothes on. He's eating wild honey and locusts. He's not making provision for his flesh. He's not living some you know riotous living some drunken living. He's not fulfilling all the lust of the flesh. Nobody's armoring himself with the word of God. Look at Ephesians chapter 6 verse 13. Wherefore take you under the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there into with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador and bonds that there and I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. So we see John the Baptist, I believe he was armored with the whole armor of God. Why? Because he's constantly devoting his life to the word of God. He's filled with the spirit. We need to do the same. We need to be reading our Bible. We need to be filling ourselves with the spirit. We need to be coming to church. If you want to be great, you have to follow God's commandments. You have to get this book in your heart. You have to hide his commandments in your heart. Go to Luke chapter 1. We need to be filled with the spirit today, not filled with all the desire to be this great athlete, this desire to have all this vainglory, this desire to be all these fancy clothes. The third point I have is that we need to be a prophet. If you want to be great, you need to be a prophet. Now a prophet, looking in the dictionary, it says, is a person who speaks for God or a deity by divine inspiration. So if someone's speaking for God or speaking of God, what does the world say to be great? It's to be this shameless self-promoter. It's to always lift up yourself and talk about how great you are and go on TV and say, I'm the greatest. I know I'm the greatest. I'm going to win. Watch me defeat everybody. It's to just make all this shameless self-promotion of yourself, have all the TV ads, have the video game with your name on it, everybody wearing your shirt. John the Baptist's attitude, what was his? He must increase, but I must decrease. Bible says, let another man praise thee. Look at Luke chapter 1 verse 76, and thou child shall be called the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by their mission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the desert till the day of his showing unto Israel. So you see, he was called the prophet of the highest. John the Baptist was also considered one of the greatest prophets. That's what it says in one of the other gospels. But he was the prophet of the highest, and he says he was waxed strong in the spirit. We need to be filled with the spirit, and it says in Ephesians 5, and be not drunk with wine where in his excess, but be filled with the spirit. And you say, how? Well, according to that verse, it says, speaking yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all things unto God, and the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. So I believe John the Baptist must have been doing these things. If he's filled with the spirit, if he's waxed strong in the spirit, he must be going around singing praises to God. He must be singing and making melody in his heart unto the Lord. He must be giving thanks always for all things unto the Lord God. If we want to be great, we need to make sure that we're giving all of our glory and honor and praise unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Like I said earlier, you can only be great through the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be pointing to him. We need to be giving him the honor and the glory and the praise. We need to not be pointing to ourselves, pointing to, oh, look at all my fancy clothes, look how well I look, look how great I am. No, it's all about the Lord Jesus Christ. When you're wearing a leather suit, I mean, nobody's really caring what you're looking like, but when you're pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, they're just focused on that. You're taking the focus off the Lord Jesus Christ when you have to look all super fancy with the Italian suit and all the fancy clothes and the gold and the jewelry. Go to Acts chapter 19, if you would. Says in Acts chapter 6, it says, Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, who may appoint over this business. God wants to use those that are filled with the Spirit. So if you want to be greatly used by God, you need to be filled with the Spirit. Like the early deacons, like the early men of God that went out and were appointed over that business. Look at Acts chapter 19 verse 3, and he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said unto John's baptism. 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 an awe on Christ Jesus. So what does it mean to be a prophet? It's to preach the Lord Jesus Christ. Hopefully we have hundreds of prophets in this church, right? Going out daily, preaching the word of God, telling people to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What was John the Baptist preaching? He was preaching to believe on him that should come after him, the Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn't preaching repent of your sins, false gospel. He wasn't preaching some kind of works-based salvation. No, he was preaching, hey, this is the Lamb of God, the guy that's going to take away the sins of the world. Believe on him so that your sins can be forgiven, so your sins can be remitted, so that you can go to heaven. That's what we should do. If you want to be great, you've got to be winning people to Christ. You've got to be telling them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Go if you would to 2 Timothy chapter 2. John the Baptist though, if you notice, he wasn't a pastor. So in order to be great, you don't necessarily have to be a pastor. You don't even have to be a man necessarily. I mean, women can go out and be a prophet. They don't have to wear the fancy clothes. They can do all the same things, but you need to be able to preach the gospel. You need to point people to Christ, tell them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. The Bible says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that win his souls is wise. God's not going to think you're great if you're not wise, and the only way you're going to be wise is if you're preaching the gospel, if you're getting people saved. You say, oh, I'm a really great person, but I never win anybody to Christ. Wrong. No. The great person in the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ is a soul winner, is someone that goes out and preaches boldly the word of God. So my fourth point is that we need to be tough though. We've got to be tough. You know, in the world today, they have their form of toughness. They have their form of strength. What do they think? Physical strength. Oh, I've got to be super strong. I've got to be Mr. Universe. You know, I mean, you've got to be really buff and really strong. Now the Bible doesn't talk negatively about a man being strong, but it says it's not that important. It says bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. So it doesn't say bodily exercise is bad or wrong. As men, we should be strong. I think physically, but more importantly, we should be godly. That's way more important, not even close. It has promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. We need to be tough according to God. If you look at the word tough, it was interesting. I looked at the definition. It said strong enough to withstand adverse conditions or rough or careless handling involving considerable difficulty or hardship requiring great determination or effort. If you really want to be great, you have to be tough. Why? Because it's not always going to be easy. Not everything is just going to be handed to you. You're not going to just get your way all the time. If you truly want to be great, there's going to be resistance. There's going to be hardship. There's going to be struggle. There's going to be persecution. There's going to be affliction. And if you really want to be great, you have to endure that with toughness. Look at 2 Timothy 2 verse 3. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangled himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully. You know, those that go out and they want to win the Stanley Cup, they want to win the Masters, they want to win, you know, whatever it is, they have to work really hard. I mean, they have to endure hardness. They have to strive, you know, lawfully according to what the Bible just said, right? So if you want to do the same thing in spiritual ways, you have to also endure hardness. You have to put forth a lot of effort. The Bible says, therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Look at the end of verse 4, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. God has chosen everybody in the New Testament to be a soldier for the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's up to you if you want to be one that's pleasing unto him, if you're great, if you're doing the things that he commanded us to do. Go if you would to Philippians 4. The Bible says in Matthew chapter 11 verse 18, for John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say he hath a devil. So he said, look, he's not going to entangle himself with the affairs of this life. He's not just trying to fill the lusts of the flesh, the desires of the flesh. The Bible says, look, he's trying to please God. He's trying to do the things for God. We see with Herod, it says in Matthew 14, for Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and put him in prison for Herodias' sake. John the Baptist, he lived in the wilderness. You got to be tough if you're going to live in the wilderness. I mean, just going outside in this desert heat, I mean, sometimes it's hard to be out there for a couple of hours. Can you imagine living out in that kind of condition? I mean, this guy's living in the wilderness, he's eating locusts and wild honey. It kind of makes me think of that guy on TV called Bear Grylls. Anybody know what I'm talking about? This guy, I mean, you would say this guy's tough. I mean, this guy's out in the wilderness. He's kind of roughing it. I mean, that's what John the Baptist was doing. He wasn't living delicately. He wasn't living in the pleasure of this world. He wasn't living deliciously, as the Bible says, or in soft clothing. Not only that, he even went to jail. I mean, talk about not a comfortable place to be. You got to be tough to go to jail. A lot of people, that's going to break them. That's going to crush their spirit. That's going to stop them from wanting to do things. That's a big deterrent. But we see it's not going to deter someone that wants to be great. In John chapter 3, a famous verse in verse 36, it says, He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Now in that context, John the Baptist is preaching to the Pharisees. He's saying, look, guys, you don't believe on Jesus Christ. You have the wrath of God abiding on you. You have to be tough to stand to the religious leaders of your day, to all the rulers, and say, look, you've got the wrath of God upon you. That takes tough. That takes a hardness. That takes someone that's mentally tough that can not only just talk the talk, they can walk the walk. In 2 Timothy 3, it says, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If you want to be great, you're going to be preaching the gospel. And if you're preaching the gospel, if you're preaching God's words, if you're a fire and brimstone prophet, guess what? There's going to be persecution. There's going to be tribulation. And in order to get through that, you have to be tough. Look at Philippians 4 verse 12. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me. You say, how are you going to be tough? You've got to do it through Christ. That verse sometimes is taken so out of context. You see it by all these fake Christians. They don't have any persecution. They're not preaching the word of God. They're not being persecuted. They're actually saying, hey, I'm going to be this great athlete. I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me. Totally out of context. No. He's talking about persecution, tribulation, afflictions. He's talking about all the things that he had suffered, but he's like, you know what? You know how I get through it? You know how I'm tough? Not by me, through the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, it always points to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to be great, you've got to do it through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not through yourself. It's not, oh, I'm just really mentally tough. You're not going to make it. You've got to do it through the Lord Jesus Christ. You've got to do it through his word. It's not how strong you are physically. It's not how strong mentally you think you are. How much character do you have to get up and read your Bible every morning? How much character do you have to come to church every single week to pray, to get on your knees, to do the things that are in secret that no man seeth? Only your Father in heaven would see you. That's how you get the toughness. You get it through the Lord Jesus Christ through following his commandments. Go to Luke chapter 3. So I'll go to my fifth point. We need to be independent. You know, when I think about the world today, about being what they think is great, a lot of times today being great is being tolerant, it's being inclusive of other religions. It's preaching to the masses, making everybody happy. That's who the great people are. The Martin Luther King Juniors of the world bringing everybody together. The Billy Grahams bringing all the Christians together. The Pope uniting all these people together. They're lifted up as being great. Why? Because they're so inclusive. Oh, everybody can come in. I mean Billy Graham got on TV and said basically everybody was safe. I mean he was saying, you know, even unbelievers could go to heaven. What a fake. What a phony. How can you say he's preaching the Word of God? He's not great. He's a false prophet. He's going to burn in hell forever. There's nothing great about Billy Graham. Luke chapter 3 verse 7, then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him. Oh generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance and begin 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. Was John the Baptist inclusive of all other religions? Was he inclusive of the Sadducees religion, of the Pharisees religion? Was he just bringing everybody together? Now of course it does say that all Judea and Jerusalem and the region about came to see him, but he wasn't then preaching this ecumenical service. He wasn't preaching this inclusive message. No he's pointing to Jesus Christ and he's pointing out the frauds and the heretics and the other false religions and saying look you got to believe on Jesus Christ or you're damned or you're going to burn in hell. And if you look in this passage, look he's not a Zionist. He doesn't believe in being a son of Abraham. He says look he could raise up a stone and that could be his child. Oh race is really important. What race is a stone? That's ridiculous. He's not this Zionist. Jesus Christ said I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Jesus Christ is not inclusive. He's exclusive. It's only Jesus Christ. He's the only way, the only truth, and the only life. The only way to go to the Father is through Jesus Christ. And John the Baptist was preaching the same message. He wasn't preaching this all inclusive, let's not hurt anybody's feelings, oh there's a lot of Catholics here today, oh there's a lot of Methodists here today, let's not preach against them, let's not preach against the Sadducees and the Pharisees. No! He just preached the truth. He was independent of all their false religion. He didn't need to join part of their program. He didn't need to have confidence by being lifted up by the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Oh I'm only going to get recognition, I'm only going to be great if all these guys lift me up and they put me on a pedestal and they bring me to their conferences and put me in their podium and lift me up and put me in this chair. I'm forgetting the guy's name, there was this black Pentecostal preacher, they literally lifted this guy up in a chair for some service and they're like dancing around on the stage. I mean is that how you're great according to the Bible? Not at all. But that's what the preachers today want to do, these false prophets. When you see somebody lifting themselves up so much, they're a false prophet because they know in the next life they're not going to get any glory, anything from the Lord Jesus Christ, they're going to be burning in hell. So they've got to get it all now. They've got to have the fancy house, they've got to have the fancy car, the fancy clothes, all the recognition, they've got to lift up all the rulers today so they can be lifted up. It's like this trading program. It's like, hey, I'll talk about how you're great and you'll talk about how great I am and we'll just be buddies even though we hate each other. The preachers of the day fall all over themselves to praise the Jewish and religious leaders of today, don't they? But we see John the Baptist wasn't that way. John the Baptist would have been Baptist, he would have been part of all these ecumenical groups, he would have been independent. Go if you would to Acts chapter 19. Now being independent doesn't mean that you're just going to have just yourself. He wasn't just preaching to himself to a wall, it doesn't mean that you have to have a small crowd. It says in Matthew 3.5, then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan. So he had large groups of people coming to preach to him. What made him independent? He wasn't trying to unite them all in some ecumenical plan. He was just going to preach him the truth and the ones that wanted to hear the truth were going to stay around and listen. My sixth point is that we need to be steadfast. If you want to be great, you have to be steadfast. What does the world say today? They want us to change with the culture, don't they? They want us to be flexible. They want us to just love everybody and love every situation. Well, you know, the Old Testament, that's outdated. We don't need that. We need to get current with the times. We need to accept all this transgenderism and all this other junk that this world today wants to point at us, you know, throw at us, but that's not how you're going to be great is by changing with the times. We've already read this. I'm going to look at several verses again, but in a different context. Look at Acts chapter 19 verse 4. 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 isn't on Christ Jesus. The second way I want to look at this verse is the fact that Paul knew that John the Baptist's message never changed. He said, look, I know that John didn't give you a different message. He always preached Jesus Christ. He always preached to believe on him. He didn't start out hot and then burn away. No, he was always preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. He was steadfast in the faith. He was steadfast in what he believed. Go to John chapter 3 if you would. He was dedicated. He was faithful. He was committed to preparing the way of the Lord for his entire life. If you want to be great, it's not what you're going to do today and tomorrow. It's your life. Make Christ your life. We only get a few years on this planet, maybe 70, maybe 80. That's nothing. Serve Christ with your whole life, not just the, oh, I'm just going to get hot for Christ for a year or two years or five years. No, if you want to be great, you've got to be steadfast. Your whole life. The Bible says in Hebrews 13, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His message never changes. Aren't you so glad that this book hasn't changed for hundreds of years? You know, when I go out preaching the gospel and I'm talking to somebody, I usually use 1 John chapter 5, and I say, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. And I say, look, if you can accept what man says, you can accept this Bible so much more. It's never even changed. This Bible said the same thing it did before I was even born. Who's a greater witness? Me or it? Obviously, it. It's never changed. God's Word's never going to change. We don't need to change with the times. We need the times to get back on God's program, get back on the Bible. Look at John chapter 3, verse 25. Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. 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 at the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy, therefore, is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. We see John, he has to remind them, look, I already said this before. I'm not the Christ. He's the Christ. Why? He was steadfast in what he believed. He wasn't shaken up. He wasn't shaken up when Jesus Christ came along and then everybody started following him. And they left John. And John's now not having as many disciples, not having as many people come to him. Jesus Christ is getting more glory and more honor. But guess what? He's still steadfast in his message. He's still, hey, he must increase, but I must decrease. It wasn't about him. It wasn't about his program. It wasn't about how many disciples he could get. It was about how many disciples Christ could get, about how many people Christ could get saved, about pointing people to the Lord Jesus Christ, about preaching the same message over and over and over. Sounded like a broken record, but he's preaching Christ. My last point is that we need to have a good temperament. Go to 1 Corinthians Chapter 9. What do you mean by temperament? Well, in the world today, the world says, you know, I mean, I don't know if they say it explicitly, but it seems like today all these people that are considered great, they're so arrogant, they're so ruthless, they're cutting corners, they're cheating. They don't have any character today. When I think about temperament, it covers a lot of different areas. Covers our attitude, covers our character, covers our humility. I think this is probably the most important point. If you want to be great, you have to have the right temperament. You have to have the right attitude. You have to have character. You have to have humility. Otherwise, none of the other points even really matter. Says in Luke Chapter 14 Verse 11, for whosoever exalted themselves shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. You have to have humility if you want to be great in the sight of God, if you want to be great in his eyes. It's not about deciding how great you are and talking about how great you are, saying I'm going to do great works for God and I'm going to let the chips fall where they may. I'm just going to be humble about myself and I'm going to let him exalt me in due time. Look at 1 Corinthians Chapter 9 Verse 25, and every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. We must be temperate. We must have patience. We must be kind. We must point others to Christ. Go to John Chapter 1. Said in Matthew 3, this is John, I'll remind you, I indeed baptize you with water and repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. He's saying, look, it's not about me. The guy coming is so much greater than I am. I can't even, you know, unloose his shoe. I can't even untie his shoe. He's so much greater than I. That's humility. Even though we have all of Judea coming out to see him, they all reverenced him as a prophet. They're thinking he's this great guy. He's like, look, I'm nothing compared to the guy coming next. He's pointing to Jesus Christ. He's humble about himself. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13, and though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing, nothing. Meaning what? If you have all the other points down, you're bold and you think you have the apparel and you think you're a prophet and you think you're tough and you think you're independent and you think you're steadfast, but you have not charity, you're nothing. We got to be humble about ourselves. We got to give the glory unto the Lord Jesus Christ. We got to lift him up. The Bible says in Philippians 2, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other, better than themselves. I think that's one of the best ways to think about humility. humility is deciding, you know, it's not as important for me to succeed as it is the guy that I'm preaching to, as the guy that I'm discipling, as the guy that I just won to Christ, as my family members, and my children. You know what? My children could do way better things than me. I wasted so much of my life on vain junk, on all kinds of wicked sin that I wish I had never been partaken of. My children don't have to. They can start off doing the things right at a young age. They can do greater things than I. It's not as important for me to succeed. We're all on the same team. We need Christ to succeed, just like John the Baptist. He was pointing to Jesus Christ. You want to be great? Get a lot of people on his program, not on your program. It's not about lifting yourself up and getting all this vainglory. Think about that. Today's world, all these athletes, they want everybody on their team, on their side to wear their jersey, to have their number, to eat their cereal and play their video game and watch them on TV and then look at their poster when they go to bed at night. Just worship the person. You know what? If we want to be humble and we want to be great in the sight of God, we've got to get people on Jesus Christ's team. Look at John chapter 1 verse 15. John bare witness of him and cried saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Say, look, Christ is preferred before me. He's better than me. Get on his program. The great preacher is the one that preaches you to get on Christ's program, not his program. That's how you're going to be great. Go to verse Corinthians 9 and we'll finish there. So in conclusion, how do you want to be great? Baptist. We've got to be Baptist. I use the acronym on purpose so it'd be easy for us to remember all these points. So we could be bold, bold to preach the gospel as we ought to speak. We should be armored with the word of God, reading our Bible, praying, getting on our knees and begging God for wisdom and mercy and grace as we go out. We need to be a prophet. You've got to preach the gospel if you want to be great. No way to get around it. You say, well, I don't want anybody to Christ. You're not going to be great. You've got to be a soul winner if you want to be great. You have to be tough. Why? Because if you're not tough, you're going to fall away. We see in the Bible so many people fall away. We see so many parables about people falling away. Why? Because the persecution and affliction is real and it's hard. You've got to endure hardness. You've got to be independent. You can't be relying on others. You can't just go with the flow. You can't just go up the stream because why? Because broad is the way which leads to destruction. Most people aren't going the right way. You've got to swim upstream. You've got to decide to put all your chips on Christ. You've got to be steadfast even when those things happen, looking to Christ, saying through Christ I can do all things, and you've got to have the right temperament. Most important, you've got to be humble in yourself. You've got to have charity for others. You've got to really believe in your heart that other people are more important than you. I think that's hard. You've got to honestly believe that. Say it's more important for this guy to succeed. It's more important for this guy to do things. Christ gave himself a ransom for many. He laid down his life for others. He poured into the disciples all of his life. We see John the Baptist. He didn't live his life in luxury. He didn't live a famous life. He didn't have the fancy car and the fancy house and eat a steak dinner every night. He said my life's not that important. I'm just going to prepare the way of the Lord. I want to be great in the sight of God. I'm not going to steam myself better than others. I'm going to steam everybody else better, and I'm going to lift other people up. I don't want to appoint them to Christ. You know what? To be great, you can have a rap sheet. I mean, John the Baptist went to prison. You say, well, I want to be great. Well, he went to prison, and he was considered the greatest. Having a rap sheet doesn't make you someone that's bad. He was in prison, but he was humble enough to realize that he must increase, but I must decrease. It's about serving and being a servant and being humble. Isn't that what we read Christ said? If you want to be great, if you truly want to be great and you desire to be first, you've got to be a servant, a servant of all, not just the people you want to serve, everybody. The guy that you don't want to serve, you've got to serve him. I don't want to be like Mike. I want to be like John the Baptist. Look at 1 Corinthians 9.19. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more. Paul had this attitude. If you want to be great, you've got to be a servant unto all. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your Word. Thank you for giving us the power to be great through you, to be able to do great exploits through you, that we can give you all the honor and glory and praise, and that if we humbly serve you with our lives and esteem others better than ourselves, one day you will exalt us in due time. Thank you for this church and everyone in this room. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.