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The Preacher Who Lost His Congregation Msg 7 12 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: The late Scottish pastor and New Testament scholar William Barkley
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  Speaker 1: captured the essence of genuine humility with this story. It's
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  Speaker 1: about a headmaster at a British school named Principal Cairns.
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  Speaker 1: Barkley writes the humility of Principal Cairns was phenomenal, so
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  Speaker 1: well known in the educational world. He would never enter
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  Speaker 1: a room first. He would always step back and say, no,
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  Speaker 1: here you go and I'll follow. Though he was so
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  Speaker 1: well known and respected by the public. On one particular occasion,
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  Speaker 1: as he stepped up to climb the steps to go
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  Speaker 1: to one of the seats on the platform, the public
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  Speaker 1: noticed who he was and immediately burst into applause. Shocked,
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  Speaker 1: he turned and looked and step back and had the
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  Speaker 1: man behind him go ahead, and he applauded the man
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  Speaker 1: who had walked up behind him, thinking the applause was
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  Speaker 1: for him.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: That isn't phony humility, that's true humility. It never dawned
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  Speaker 1: on Principal Cairns that the public would applaud him. The
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  Speaker 1: same could be said of the one we're studying today,
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  Speaker 1: John the Baptizer. Though he burst onto the religious scene
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  Speaker 1: as a spiritual juggernaut He never thought that the public
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  Speaker 1: would offer him applause. Little did he know the one
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  Speaker 1: who would do the applauding was none other than God's son,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. It was from his lips that one of
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  Speaker 1: the most remarkable epitaphs written for man was ever uttered.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus said, I tell you you, of all who have
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  Speaker 1: ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet, as we
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  Speaker 1: shall soon see, John's greatness was in his unwavering resolve
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  Speaker 1: to decrease so that Christ, whom he boldly proclaimed, could increase.
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  Speaker 1: We need to examine this enigmatic prophet today to discover
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  Speaker 1: the stuff that made him great in the eyes of
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  Speaker 1: the only one who matters, Jesus. It might surprise you. So,
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  Speaker 1: with your bibles open, please join me as I read
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  Speaker 1: John chapter three, verses twenty two through thirty six. I'll
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  Speaker 1: be reading from the New Living Translation. Now I'll begin
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  Speaker 1: reading at John three, starting at verse twenty two. Then
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  Speaker 1: Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and went into the
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  Speaker 1: Judean countryside. Jesus spent some time with him there baptizing people.
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  Speaker 1: At this time, John the Baptist was baptizing at Anon
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  Speaker 1: near Salem. Because there was plenty of water there, and
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  Speaker 1: people kept coming to him for baptism. This was before
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  Speaker 1: John was thrown into prison. A debate broke out between
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  Speaker 1: John's disciples and a certain Jew over ceremonial cleansing. So
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  Speaker 1: John's disciples came to him and said, Rabbi, the man
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  Speaker 1: you met on the other side of the Jordan River,
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  Speaker 1: the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people,
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  Speaker 1: and everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.
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  Speaker 1: John replied, no one can receive anything unless God gives
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  Speaker 1: it from heaven. You yourselves know how plainly I told
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  Speaker 1: you I'm not the Mistah. I'm only here to prepare
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  Speaker 1: the way for him. It is the bridegroom who marries
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  Speaker 1: the bride, and the bridegroom's friend is simply gled to
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  Speaker 1: stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I'm filled
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  Speaker 1: with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater,
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  Speaker 1: and I've ust become less and less. He has come
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  Speaker 1: from above and is greater than anyone else. We are
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  Speaker 1: of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but
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  Speaker 1: he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else.
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  Speaker 1: He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but
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  Speaker 1: how few believe what he tells them. Anyone who accepts
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  Speaker 1: his testimony can affirm that God is true, for he
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  Speaker 1: is sent by God. He speaks God's words, for God
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  Speaker 1: gives him the spirit without limit. The Father loves his
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  Speaker 1: son and has put everything into his hands, and anyone
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  Speaker 1: who believes in God's son has eternal life. Anyone who
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  Speaker 1: doesn't obey the Son will never experience eternal life, but
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  Speaker 1: remains under God's angry judgment.
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  Speaker 2: I want to begin the message this morning, not with
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  Speaker 2: a declaration, but with a question. I want to ask
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  Speaker 2: you a question that can be answered in one word,
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  Speaker 2: and I like to see if you know the answer.
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  Speaker 2: Let's say we're giving you a quiz. Let's say if
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  Speaker 2: you can fill in the blank of whom was Jesus
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  Speaker 2: speaking when he said this? Truly, I say to you,
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  Speaker 2: among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone
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  Speaker 2: greater than Well. When I hear that question, if I
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  Speaker 2: didn't know the answer, I'd be tempted to say, Moses,
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  Speaker 2: there has not arisen anyone greater than Moses, because after all,
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  Speaker 2: he was this appointed instrument God chose to deliver the
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  Speaker 2: Israelites from Egypt. He battled Pharaoh, and he stood alone
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  Speaker 2: with the thousands of Jews for over a generation in
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  Speaker 2: the wilderness. Sounds like Moses. Or perhaps you thought David,
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  Speaker 2: the rugged and humble shepherd of the sheep, whom God
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  Speaker 2: chose to shepherd his people Israel, who became the killer
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  Speaker 2: of the job and the greatest monarch in the history
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  Speaker 2: of the nation as far as kings are concerned. Or
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  Speaker 2: maybe Daniel. I call Daniel the Winston Churchill of the Jews.
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  Speaker 2: He was the prime minister during the darkest era in
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  Speaker 2: the Jews history, during the time of captivity in Babylon.
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  Speaker 2: Or perhaps you think Isaiah, the Prince of the Prophet,
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  Speaker 2: who wrote of the Principiece, the man to whom God
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  Speaker 2: gave perhaps the most sweeping of all the prophetic truth
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  Speaker 2: given to a major prophetic writer. But it wasn't Moses,
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  Speaker 2: and it wasn't David. It wasn't even Daniel or Isaiah,
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  Speaker 2: nor was it Noah or Joseph or Jacob or any
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  Speaker 2: of the disciples. Would you believe it was John the Baptist.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus never said about anyone else what he said about John.
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  Speaker 2: There has not arisen anyone born of woman greater than
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  Speaker 2: John the Baptist. Now, why would I give it that
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  Speaker 2: inflection in my voice? Why would I answer like that?
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  Speaker 2: The reason is that John did not have the public appealed.
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  Speaker 2: You would think one would need to have to rate
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  Speaker 2: that high in Jesus' list. If you've been with us
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  Speaker 2: in the study of the Fourth Gospel, you know that John,
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  Speaker 2: for example, wore funny looking clothes for the people of
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  Speaker 2: his day. He did his ministry weird. He was a
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  Speaker 2: desert dweller. The adjectives we could use accurately to describe
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  Speaker 2: John would be austere, aesthetic, strange. He was a loner.
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  Speaker 2: He didn't come to you. If you wanted to hear
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  Speaker 2: him preach, you had to go to him. Let's put
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  Speaker 2: it down in everyday language. Men, you are that engaged
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  Speaker 2: at you who are engaged in sales, You would never
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  Speaker 2: hire John the Baptist to be one of your salesmen.
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  Speaker 2: If you're running for office, you would never pick John
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  Speaker 2: the Baptist to be your campaign manager. If you were
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  Speaker 2: in school with him, you'd never elect him to be cheerleader.
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  Speaker 2: You wouldn't want him on your faculty. I'd venture to say,
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  Speaker 2: there's not a church in America that had called him
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  Speaker 2: to be the pastor. We'd never commissioned him as one
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  Speaker 2: of the summer missionary interns for the church, nor would
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  Speaker 2: most boards even give him a second hearing. Why because
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  Speaker 2: John didn't fit the mode. Yet that's the man Jesus said,
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  Speaker 2: There's not Risen anyone any greater. Why did Jesus say that.
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  Speaker 2: You know what I think is the answer, and it
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  Speaker 2: may sound like an oversimplified answer, but I really believe
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  Speaker 2: it's true. Is because John did his job better than
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  Speaker 2: anybody around could have done it, and as a matter
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  Speaker 2: of fact, he did it with delight. Why does so
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  Speaker 2: significant because the Forerunner had three basic jobs, The last
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  Speaker 2: of the three was the most difficult, and he did
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  Speaker 2: it with such finesse. The Forerunner had to clear the way. Now.
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  Speaker 2: To clear the way means he had to remove the
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  Speaker 2: obstacles in the minds of people regarding the Messiah. We
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  Speaker 2: don't live in the first century, and if we had
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  Speaker 2: lived then, we would have looked for a hero on
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  Speaker 2: a white horse, brandishing a sword, screaming great zealous words
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  Speaker 2: of national zeal overthrow Rome. Follow me. I've got the kingdom,
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  Speaker 2: We'll take over, We'll overcome. But it didn't come like that.
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  Speaker 2: He was born through the womb of a teenage Jewish
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  Speaker 2: girl who became pregnant before she was married. He came
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  Speaker 2: born in a little manger in Bethlehem, not even in Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 2: And he didn't say the things they expected him to say.
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  Speaker 2: He didn't even sound religious. Now, for one like that,
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  Speaker 2: he needs a different kind of forerunner to clear the way. Second,
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  Speaker 2: the forerunner prepares the way. Now, once he's removed the obstacles,
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  Speaker 2: he has to convince his audience you need to repent,
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  Speaker 2: change your mind, turn around, and as a matter of fact,
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  Speaker 2: you need to go into water to declare that to
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  Speaker 2: the world around you, namely baptism. And so his baptism
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  Speaker 2: of repentance prepared the way. But let me tell you
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  Speaker 2: the third. He needed to get out of the way.
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  Speaker 2: That's what separates the men from the boys in the
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  Speaker 2: ranks of Christians. Down through the centuries, we've seen John
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  Speaker 2: preparing and clearing the way. But today we're going to
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  Speaker 2: see him getting out of the way. And believe me,
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  Speaker 2: the way he does it removes all question in my
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  Speaker 2: mind as to why Jesus would say none greater than
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  Speaker 2: he ever was born of a woman. Most every other
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  Speaker 2: forerunner would have wanted to be a part of the way.
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  Speaker 2: Not John. Once he did his job, he was gone.
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  Speaker 2: Now look for me and look with me into John
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  Speaker 2: chapter three, verse twenty two. We've got a number of
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  Speaker 2: verses before us, and we will not be able to
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  Speaker 2: spend time on the latter half of this passage because
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  Speaker 2: it is so much like last Sunday on John three
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  Speaker 2: through twenty one. Will leave that for your own Perusalem study.
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  Speaker 2: I want to capitalize on the first few verses twenty
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  Speaker 2: two through thirty today to begin with I want you
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  Speaker 2: to notice in this situation that is brought to our
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  Speaker 2: attention that the location where Jesus and John were provided
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  Speaker 2: a perfect basis for conflict, which never arose because there
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  Speaker 2: was no competition between the two. Look at verse twenty two.
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  Speaker 2: After these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the
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  Speaker 2: land of Judea. Wait a minute, that's John's country, That's
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  Speaker 2: John's territory. John, you remember from chapter one, had been
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  Speaker 2: baptizing in Bethany. His ministry was Judea. Jesus was of Galilee.
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  Speaker 2: Why didn't he go back up to Galilee? Why didn't
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  Speaker 2: he carry his ministry elsewhere, he moved into John's congregation,
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  Speaker 2: if you please. As a matter of fact, the disciples
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  Speaker 2: of John interpreted it just exactly like that. Jesus is
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  Speaker 2: warning in on our territory. And you notice in verse
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  Speaker 2: twenty two he was doing two things with his disciples,
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  Speaker 2: spending time with them and baptizing. That's John's ministry. You
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  Speaker 2: get the point. The word spending time in the Greek
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  Speaker 2: means to rub or to rub through. It conveys the
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  Speaker 2: idea of spending time by rubbing life with life so
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  Speaker 2: as to get into the lives of his men. It's
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  Speaker 2: the first time in the Gospel we find such a reference.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus rubbed his life so close with them that they
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  Speaker 2: got to know each other, and that takes time. Any
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  Speaker 2: of you that are engaged in discipleship know that you
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  Speaker 2: cannot get into a life overnight. You need to rub
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  Speaker 2: your life with the disciples life or a period of time.
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  Speaker 2: That's what Jesus was doing. Furthermore, he was baptizing. Now
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  Speaker 2: that's John Sporte. John was the baptizer. But here comes
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  Speaker 2: Jesus with his group, discipling and baptizing. Look at verse
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  Speaker 2: twenty three. You'll see why I say it has the
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  Speaker 2: makings of a conflict. Now, John also was baptizing and
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  Speaker 2: Anon near Salem, because there was much water there, and
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  Speaker 2: they were coming and were being baptized. You see the similarity.
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  Speaker 2: We've got two having the same kind of ministry, but
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  Speaker 2: one is established John and the other one is coming
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  Speaker 2: in encroaching on the other's ministry. From a human point
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  Speaker 2: of view, Now this so disturbed the disciples that verse
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  Speaker 2: twenty five tells us of the conflict there arose. Therefore,
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  Speaker 2: see that Therefore it tells you it's tied in with
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  Speaker 2: twenty two through twenty four because the two were ministering
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  Speaker 2: so close together. Therefore there arose a discussion. There arose
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  Speaker 2: a heated discussion, we could say, regarding purification. And the
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  Speaker 2: discussion was between a Jew who is unnamed and John's disciples.
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  Speaker 2: I suggest that it is only an opinion that this
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  Speaker 2: Jew came from Jesus camp into John's group and they
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  Speaker 2: carried on a conversation. You know, that sort of thing
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  Speaker 2: is not that unusual. Take a fellow from one seminary
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  Speaker 2: and put him in a seminary of a different theological
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  Speaker 2: persuasion long enough, and he will raise some discussion from
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  Speaker 2: his convictions related to their convictions, and it was a
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  Speaker 2: theological discussion related to the whole matter of purification. And
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  Speaker 2: it was of course regarding baptism. Now, as a result
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  Speaker 2: of this discussion, verse twenty six comes to pass because
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  Speaker 2: they couldn't settle it. They came to John and they
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  Speaker 2: said to John, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond
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  Speaker 2: the Jordan, to whom you have born, witness, Behold, he
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  Speaker 2: is baptizing, and all are coming to him. Now keep
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  Speaker 2: your thinking caps on for a moment, and put yourself
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  Speaker 2: in their shoes. This isn't just a biblical narrative to
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  Speaker 2: be read and passed over. It has all the practical
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  Speaker 2: makings of competition. Can't you see it here? Notice what
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  Speaker 2: they said to him in verse twenty six. They said,
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  Speaker 2: he is baptizing. That's your job, John, and everybody's going
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  Speaker 2: over there. That's unfair John. You see, there was just
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  Speaker 2: enough needling to bait John. Get the point. Sometime the
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  Speaker 2: followers of a leader can work against him. This happened
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  Speaker 2: centuries before John three, and I'm going to show it
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  Speaker 2: to you. Maybe you've never seen it. Numbers Chapter eleven.
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  Speaker 2: Turn over there to the Old Testament to the Fourth
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  Speaker 2: Book in the Old chapter eleven, verse twenty six. I
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  Speaker 2: want you to see how this similar situation arose in
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  Speaker 2: Moses' day numbers eleven twenty six. But two men had
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  Speaker 2: remained in the camp. We won't take the time to
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  Speaker 2: give you the background, but it had been suggested that
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  Speaker 2: all of them leave the camp and they be involved
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  Speaker 2: under the delegated ministry of leadership. Well, two did not leave.
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  Speaker 2: They stayed. They were the Mavericks. The name of one
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  Speaker 2: was el Dad. The name of the other me Dad.
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  Speaker 2: Not like twins, doesn't it el Dad and me Dad?
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  Speaker 2: And the spirit, it says, rested upon them. That's important.
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  Speaker 2: Even though they weren't like everybody else, the spirit of
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  Speaker 2: God was in their midst. Now they were among those
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  Speaker 2: who had been registered but had not gone out of
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  Speaker 2: the camp out to the tent. They prophesied in the camp.
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  Speaker 2: So a young man ran and told Moses and said,
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  Speaker 2: Eldad and me Dad are prophesying in the camp. Get
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  Speaker 2: the thought, yeah, and tattling on the guys that weren't
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  Speaker 2: going in the camp. Hey, they're not doing it the
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  Speaker 2: way you said it ought to be done, Joshua, here's
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  Speaker 2: the guy who wrote the book Joshua. He was the
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  Speaker 2: attendant of Moses from his youth. He answered and said, Moses,
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  Speaker 2: my Lord restrained them. Now these are good guys, friends,
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  Speaker 2: followers of Moses, saying they ought not do that. Oh,
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  Speaker 2: but Moses wasn't baited. He said to them, are you
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  Speaker 2: jealous for my sake? In other words, on everything to prove.
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  Speaker 3: Fellas I love this would that all the Lord's people
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  Speaker 3: were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them.
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  Speaker 2: Listen, that's a big leader. Oh look, God's got another
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  Speaker 2: plan for them. Let them go. Who says they've all
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  Speaker 2: got to fall in my kind of line? And furthermore,
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  Speaker 2: Moses didn't even roll up his sleeves and try to
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  Speaker 2: fight him. He said, oh, that their tribe might increase
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  Speaker 2: just like ours. Now back to John chapter three. That's
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  Speaker 2: John's response. Wow, the Bible is sometimes so practical, you
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  Speaker 2: just you know, you can't believe it when you get
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  Speaker 2: into it. And here's a case in point. They came
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  Speaker 2: to John and they said everybody is coming to him.
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  Speaker 2: Before I go any further, let me say that one
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  Speaker 2: of the unfortunate experiences in local churches, and I am
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  Speaker 2: ashamed to add among the ministers of many local churches
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  Speaker 2: is this very problem people who love to traffic in
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  Speaker 2: exaggerated tales. Some people get their kicks out of raising
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  Speaker 2: up one leader against another, one church against another, one
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  Speaker 2: style of ministry against another. It is just as common
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  Speaker 2: as it can be. One of our traps is the
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  Speaker 2: trap of comparison. They do this, they're copying us. Why
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  Speaker 2: I think that's the greatest compliment in the world to
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  Speaker 2: be copied. What a tremendous thing that someone would see
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  Speaker 2: the value in your plan and do it, in fact,
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  Speaker 2: even do it better. Now, John did not yield to
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  Speaker 2: what they wanted him to say. And here I want
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  Speaker 2: to say, from this point on twenty seven through thirty
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  Speaker 2: is the reason Jesus said, not among those born of
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  Speaker 2: women has there been any greater than John. Notice how
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  Speaker 2: he got out of the way. Four reactions that you
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  Speaker 2: just can't miss Verse twenty seven. John answered and said
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  Speaker 2: to them, a man can receive nothing unless it has
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  Speaker 2: been given him from Heaven. Reaction number one. God is
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  Speaker 2: in charge, not man. John said, in effect, Look, that's
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  Speaker 2: not the result of manipulation. The Lord is working in
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  Speaker 2: those lives, just like in my life. Furthermore, that's my ministry,
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  Speaker 2: not to be on top, but to be in second place,
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  Speaker 2: or if necessary, no place. John said he could be
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  Speaker 2: receiving nothing if it weren't granted him from heaven. There's
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  Speaker 2: no place for rivalry, only support. I have a feeling
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  Speaker 2: there are some of you who have not experienced promotion.
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  Speaker 2: You have perhaps even been overlooked, and it seems unfairly so.
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  Speaker 2: There are some of you who have been jobless and
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  Speaker 2: now are just as it were, starting all over again.
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  Speaker 2: Some once enjoyed a tremendous business, but it has taken
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  Speaker 2: its toll on you, and you no longer are enjoying
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  Speaker 2: such And what makes it harder is those around you are.
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  Speaker 2: Will you take a moment and look at a Psalm
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  Speaker 2: with me? Two verses it's written for you in that case,
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  Speaker 2: Psalm number seventy five. And there are just two verses
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  Speaker 2: that I want you to circle, Verses six and seven,
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  Speaker 2: because they teach God is in charge. Psalm seventy five,
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  Speaker 2: six and seven. For not from the east, nor from
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  Speaker 2: the west, nor from the desert comes exaltation. But God
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  Speaker 2: is the judge. He puts down one and exalts another.
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  Speaker 2: You want to know how to handle a promotion men,
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  Speaker 2: career women, young people, you want to know how to
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  Speaker 2: handle it when you are elected into office in your
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  Speaker 2: school or in your church, are in your business. You
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  Speaker 2: want to know how to handle prosperity cement on your
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: mind Versus six and seven of Psalm seventy five. And
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: never forget it. Oh can't he do it quickly? Every
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: time I pass through the ghost towns of Nevada, I'm
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: reminded he puts down one and exalts another. Every time
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: I think of the Kennedy family, I think of that
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: at one time in the sixties and the heyday of
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: their lives, and where are they? He puts down one
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: and exalts. It's remarkable how that takes place in business.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: And John says in chapter three, Oh, man, won't you
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: learn that it is God who lifts up one and
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: puts down another. He's in charge, not man. Let's look
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: at the second reaction, verse twenty eight. He reminds them
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: of something they've already heard by you yourselves. Bear me
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: witness that I said I am not the Christ, but
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: I have been sent before him. Reaction number two. All
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: work is significant, but one is pre eminent. All work
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: is significant, but one is pre eminent. Will you notice
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: that John does not say I am not the Christ,
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: and therefore I am nothing. He says, I'm not the Christ,
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: but I still have a job to do. I still
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: have a work. There is a strange concept about humility
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: that flutters its way around Christian circles. It's the idea
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: that the person who is humble is insignificant. I can't
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: find justification for that in scripture that to success is suspect,
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: that promotion is to be rejected. As a matter of fact,
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: there's no virtue in unpopularity. Humility says I'm not pre eminent,
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: but neither am I insignificant. Humility does not say I
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: need first place, but neither does it say I have
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: no place. I want you to remember that John, the
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: most humble man in the Gospels, says I'm not the Christ.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: I don't deserve that. But let me add I have
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: a job to do. I'm not pre eminent, but neither
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: am I insignificant. George Whitfield was perhaps the greatest voice
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: in his day for the Gospel, the great eighteenth century
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: evangelist theologian. Many of you may not have read of
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: his life and I just would add that Whitfield didn't
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: lived to see the age of sixty. In the height
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: of his career, he had compiled a hymn book and
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: begun an orphanage. But most important, he was the voice
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: of Christ as it were in England and Ireland and
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: on seven occasions across America. At the height of his
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: career he preached an average of forty hours a week.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: Don't feel sorry for me in the fall that I
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: have the joy of preaching four or five hours. Whitfield
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: beat me forty five hours a week, frankly, and he
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: did it without a microphone. Think of that, in the
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: height of his success, he couldn't go anywhere where he
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: wasn't known. He couldn't have a quiet meal in a
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: restaurant without being asked for an autograph or advice or
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: counsel or question about something. He said on one occasion
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: that he it's seen enough of popularity to be sick
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: of it. Then he was criticized by a friend who
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: warned him about success, and he answered, I thank you heartily,
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: my friend. May God reward you for watching over my soul.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: And as to what my enemies say against me, ah,
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: I know worse things of myself than they will ever
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: say about me. Oh that's fantastic. You want to criticize
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: a leader, you want to criticize a great man or
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: a great woman. Don't worry. Those great people know worse
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: things about themselves. It would be scandalous if the truth
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: ever got released. That's John. Yeah, he has a ministry
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: that will surpass any ministry on earth, and I'm delighted
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: to see it become pre eminent. We had prayer with
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: these summer missionary interns that stood before you a few
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: moments ago, and the pervading constant reminder to them in
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: prayer that came to my heart from their lips was, Lord,
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: help me to have a servant's attitude. Help me to
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: go as a learner, not as a teacher. Help me
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: to go to discover what God has for me. Not
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: to answer all of the ills and act as though
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: I am the authority. That's John the Baptist Council. I'm
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: a servant, but I am not insignificant. Third verse twenty nine.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: I love this verse. And when you read the verse,
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: you think, what in the world is there to get
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: excited about. He who has the bride is the bridegroom.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him,
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And so this
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: joy of mine has been made full. Isn't that fantastic?
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Why is it fantastic? Well, let me tell you why.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: In those days they handled weddings different than they do today.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: They didn't have a best man, but they had a
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: friend of the groom who sent out the invitations. He
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: took care of the details of serving at the feast.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: He was the closest friend. He was the laison between
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: the groom and the public, and often the groom and
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: the bride. But that wasn't his most important role. His
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: most important role took place the night of the ceremony.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: You see, in those days, the bride and groom, after
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: the ceremony were all involved in the feast time, and
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: they secretly slipped away, and the bride slipped into the
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: bridal chamber, and then later the groom did. It was
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: all by appointment, all by planning, and the feasting was
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: going on, and all of a sudden people realized, hey,
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: they're gone, they're beginning their life together. Well, in those days,
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: pranks weren't played on the chariot. You know. They didn't
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: decorate the chariot. They decorated and made They did tricks
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: with the chamber, and they hid sometime in the chamber,
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: and it was the job of the the groom's friend
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: to guard the chamber. Didn't that neat the groom's friend
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: the chamber so they wouldn't let anybody else in. Okay,
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: He'd be standing there and the bride would slip through
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: and she'd get in the chamber and everything was safe,
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: you know. And then his excitement came when he heard sustenes.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: It's aid, ah, that's the group, come on in. He
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: heard the voice of the groom and he locked the door.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: They were saved. That was his job. You know, when
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: I tell you that story, I'm gonna have to tell
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: you something that crazy that happened to my wife and
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: me on our honeymoon. This is so nutty, you know,
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: I can hardly believe I'm gonna tell you, but I
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: think I will. We were married in Houston, right in
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: the middle of the summer, and it was so hot
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: and humid that I went over to the bridle chambers.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: It were little motel room and I turned on the
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: air conditioner and I put it on, you know, coldest,
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: because I figured it had a little governor in it
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: that would, you know, set it right and it would
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: be just perfect. And so we had our wedding, and
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: we had a dinner party after our wedding, and then
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: we walked in this room and my glass is fogg over.
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: It was so cold. I couldn't believe it. So we
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: pull up all the winders, opened the door. Well, you
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: know what I needed. I needed a friend, a groom's friend,
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: to guard the bridal chamber for me. That's exactly what
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: John was. John says, Wow, is it exciting to know that,
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: having done my job, I hear the voice of the groom.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: Third reaction, joy comes from being obedient, not getting the glory.
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: That's the right reaction to being in second place. Joy
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: comes not from getting the glory, but from being obedient.
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: And John says, oh, that's the most exciting thing. I'm
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: like the friend. When I've done my task, I just
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: get out of the way. The best examples I know
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: of for that living today are the men that work
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: on our staff with me. My respect heightens, not lessons,
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: as time passes, as I realize there's not a competitive
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: one in the bunch. Their work approaches excellence, but they
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: seldom get the glory. If ever, they get the joy
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: out of being obedient not getting the glory. So does
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: every happy Christian today.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: You know the final response verse thirty. He must increase,
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: but I must decree ease. I love the balance.
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: Fourth response. Humility calls attention to Christ, not self. You say, well, certainly,
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: but that's not the way it always is. You ask
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: some people how humble they are, they'll tell you are.
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: You stick around long enough, they'll let you know how
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: humble they are. F. B. Meyer put it the best.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: The only hope of a decreasing self is an increasing Christ.
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: Remember that. Don't try to decrease yourself. Increase Christ. Put
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: it all on him. Let him get all the glory,
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: and humility is the byproduct. But you try to dig
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: a hole and get yourself looking really humble and acting
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: humble and sounding humble, you'll be the proudest one in
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: the church. But you exalt Him and just get out
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: of the way. That's all you gotta do. Don't take
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: the glory, give it, share it, release it, refuse it.
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: Charles Hadden Spurgeon was perhaps the greatest voice of his day.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: You know, when he was twenty years old, without any
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: formal theological training, he was packing out that great new
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: Park Street tabernacle in London. They had to build him
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: a new tabernacle when he was twenty seven, six thousand
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: seats packed. From the age twenty seven to the end
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: of his life, that great Calvinistic Baptist declared the gospel
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: from beginning to the ending of his ministry. He said,
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: on one occasion, success can go to my head, and
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: it will. Yes, of course, I remember that it is
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: God who accomplishes the work, and that he can continue
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: to do so without Spurgeon, and that he will. He
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: will be able to make out with any other means
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: whenever he cuts me down to size. Isn't that good? Now?
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: Let me level you with a couple of very real
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: traps that will come every time you're tempted to take
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: the glory. First is the trap of envy, and second
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: is the trap of jealousy. They're not the same. Envy
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: has empty hands and wants them full. Jealousy has full
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: hands and never wants them empty. Remember that envy languishes
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: because it doesn't have what somebody else does. Jealousy is
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: enraged because it has to release something it wants to
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: hold on to. You know the trap of envy. It's
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: what I call the promotion of your peers. For example,
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: you're an older person and someone younger than you is
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: promoted over you. Envy strikes. You're a new faculty member
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: and you're promoted over an older faculty member. You live
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: with envy on the faculty. You're in business. Your store
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: has been there longer than any others, but you wane
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: while the store flourishes across the way. That's all hardly
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: gone into business. Envy strikes. You're sitting on the bench
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: as a senior and a sophomores on the starting lineup.
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: Envy strikes or jealousy jealousy is what I call the
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: problem of the lessening of loyalty. You once knew the
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: joy of the lights, and now it's gone. You once
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: had an impact no longer. You were once capable and gifted,
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: but now, through affliction or a series of events, it's gone.
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: You once held a high position. May I put it
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: another way, You once were deeply in love with this person,
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: and the romance was budding, But now he's gone or
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: she's gone for someone else. Jealousy strikes the servant, like
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: John the Baptist, who wants to be among those born
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: of women unsurpassed. Says God, I accept that from you.
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: I may I share with you two applications that are
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: related regarding making Christ pre eminent. One, when Christ is
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: in first place, you're happy in second place. You have
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: great delight in coming in second as long as He
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: and his will are first. Second, when Christ is in
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: first place, you're willing to surrender any place, any place.
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: I often wonder why God leads in certain passages at
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: a certain Sunday along a certain line. You know why
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: I think he does because I think there are people
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: that are in that particular congregation who need that particular
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: message that day. That's the beauty of exposition. You just
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: go from one section to the next, and it just
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: seems to wrap itself around you. I'm convinced there are
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: some of you that are struggling with envy and or
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: jealousy because of some of the things I've mentioned, or
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: perhaps have not even had the time to mention. And
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: God is saying to you, Oh, you want to be
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: among those that are rare among men and women. Release
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: first place to me in my will. I wish I
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: had the time to share with you this letter. It
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: comes from a lovely young woman. She and her husband
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: were engaged in professional music work. Her husband was a
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: gifted singer and she a musician accompanised, and for a
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: period of time they were in the lights. They were
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: growing toward what seemed to be national prominence. Then suddenly
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: his voice was taken from him. He had, in her words,
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: the voice of an eighty year old man, cracked and
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: broke on him, and he could no longer sing. And
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: for six years they were sidelined through a process of
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: trial and error, trial and error. For more years to come,
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: they continued to learn the heartache of as she put it,
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: boot camp at Carrith, where they were set aside by
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: the brook, waiting upon God for the ravens and the water.
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: And she says, the joy of it all is that
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: in the midst of the loss of everything, we have
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: come to realize a richness in Christ we never knew before.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: I don't know what you've lost, but sometime in the
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: losing of those things, Christ becomes more precious.
• 48:16
  Speaker 3: And real than he ever would have been maybe a
• 48:22
  Speaker 3: bow together this morning.
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: Please, If you've never met the Lord Jesus Christ, then
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: today is a perfect opportunity for you to come to
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: know him. He's been at work in your life even
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: though you've run from him. You're no stranger to him.
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: You're not in his family, but he knows you. There
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: are some Christians here today who are walking in the flesh.
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: Your spirit and attitude are wrong. Your work is such
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: that you have been gone to be hurt and you're chafing.
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: Your competitive nature has caused you to just be so
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: pushed out of shape that you honestly have to say
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: your walk with Christ has been afflicted and hurt. The
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: crippling experiences of life are designed to bring you on
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: your face to the cross. If you've never met Christ,
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: to ask him to come into your life and to
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: give you a balance and a stability and a patience
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: you could not otherwise have. If you're born again, it
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: means coming to the cross, giving up yourself, taking no
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: place if that's his calling, and being pleased to rest
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: in that condition. I invite you to make that decision.
• 50:02
  Speaker 3: Right now, Loving Father, we come today admitting to you
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: our frailty, admitting to you that we are in our flesh.
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: Insignificant, having no good thing. But in Christ, our Father,
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: we have come to realize there is a purpose and
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: a reason for living. Some of us have run.
• 50:38
  Speaker 3: Too far, too fast, and now, in the misty flats
• 50:45
  Speaker 3: of pride and loss, we've driven our chariot to a
• 50:53
  Speaker 3: stopping place, a dead end street.
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: We're willing to step out right now, Father and say
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: to you, in.
• 51:05
  Speaker 3: The crushing and bruising of this experience, we want your
• 51:11
  Speaker 3: son to be in first place. We surrender to him
• 51:19
  Speaker 3: summer far from your family. We pray you to work
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: on their hearts. Father, It make it clear to them
• 51:30
  Speaker 3: the decision there to make, and the carrying through that decision.
• 51:38
  Speaker 3: I ask it in the name of Jesus himself.
• 51:42
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 51:44
  Speaker 3: The preceding message, The Preacher who Lost His Congregation was
• 51:49
  Speaker 3: copyrighted in nineteen seventy five, nineteen eighty seven, two thousand
• 51:53
  Speaker 3: and twenty eighteen, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: twenty eighteen by Charles rswhen doll Ink.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.