Heroes Part One: John the Baptist
Heroes Part One: John the Baptist
Speaker: Pastor Lee Cummings
Date: June 1, 2019
Heroes explores the lives, work, and ministries of men and women in the New Testament whose lives made an enormous impact on the world. This series will help broaden your perspective of the early Church, enlighten the eyes of your heart, and fascinate your imagination as we discover hidden truths behind some of the most important people in scripture.
In this sermon, Pastor Lee Cummings explores the life of John the Baptist and reveals the importance of reaching after the calling God has placed on our lives.
Focus Scripture
Mark 1:1-8
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Sermon Highlights
His identity was shaped in secret and revealed in public
More than ever in this generation, we are a people who are produced and crafted in the public arena more than we are in the secret place
John the Baptist was known as a wild one. But it wasn’t his appearance that made him wild, it was his internal defiance against a worldly system of complacency, apathy, and luke-warmness
His life message was convicting instead of conforming
Romans 12:1-2 (ESV) // I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable Radiant Church | Lee Cummings to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”
He laid down his life so his generation could encounter Jesus