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God in Unexpected Places

Meeting God When You Least Expect

Luke 1:57-66

#1 in series of 4

“After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John:  ‘What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?  If not, what did you go out to see?  A man dressed in fine clothes?  No, those who wear expensive clothes indulge in luxury are in palaces.  But what did you go out to see? A prophet” Yes, I tell you, and more that a prophet.”

Luke 7:25-26

“I tell you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John.”

Luke 7:28

“He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. ⁵ All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.”

Mark 1:4-5

John the Baptist’s message consisted of 3 primary elements:

Confession

Repentance

Baptism

To confess means to admit the truth about yourself.  It means to stop offering justifications, rationalizations, and excuses for your attitude and your behavior.

Repentance means to change your direction.  It literally means to do “an about face” and travel in the opposite direction.  It means turning away from sin (the attitude of self-centeredness) and turning to Jesus Christ.

Conversion begins with confession climaxes with baptism and results in righteousness (or fruit producing).

To be baptized means to be identified with Christ and it requires a change of direction, behavior and priorities.

The essence of sin is the attitude that I am the Messiah.  I am number one.  I am in charge.

“It is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on his. When he tells us to love our enemies, he gives, along with the command, the love itself.” Corrie Ten Boom