Pointing the Way, Clearing the Path' — John 1:22-23

John let the questioners know that his identity was not the issue; the one about whom he spoke was the important issue. Yes, John's coming was an answer to prophecy. Yes, John's ministry was powerful and touched many people.

Yes, John's work changed an untold number of lives. Yes, John's presence was a signal about God's coming Kingdom. John, however, always kept his role in perspective: He effectively said, "I'm here to point the way to the Messiah.

My role is to clear the path for people to find the Lord." No matter what our gifts may be, no matter what talents God has given to us, each of us in our own way is called to follow John's example. We have been put into a circle of friends, family, and acquaintances to point the way to the Messiah and clear a path for those we know to find the Lord.

Disciples Tested

Matthew 8:18

When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake

Matthew 16:24

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Philippians 2:7-8

...but [Jesus] made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! —

Christianity is not for wimps or the faint of heart. Our example is described by words like... "made himself of no reputation" ..."servant" ..."humbled himself" ..."became obedient" ..."death on a cross!" That's tough stuff. And that is our example. The story of the Jesus may begin with a sweet child, but it also begins with him being placed where animals ate their food. While it may be powerful and precious, it is not saccharine and fake sentiment. It is about the price paid to redeem and the people who are different because they know their Redeemer.

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Saving God – To Free us –

Isaiah 25:9

In that day  they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted  in him, and he saved  us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him;  let us rejoice  and be glad in his salvation.”

Truth Keeping God – To Encourage us –

Psalm 46:6

Nations  are in uproar,  kingdoms  fall; he lifts his voice,  the earth melts.

Unchanging God – To Secure us –

Malachi 3:6

“I the Lord do not change.  So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Victorious God – To Overcome for us –

1 Corinthians 15:57

But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Wise God – To Enlighten us –

James 1:5

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God,  who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

Yearning God – To Look After us –

Isaiah 49:15-16   

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child  she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved  you on the palms of my hands; your walls  are ever before me.

Zealous God – To Keep us –

2 Peter 1:3

His divine power  has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him  who called us  by his own glory and goodness.

Reasons Why Satan Deceives

. That we may doubt God’s Word

Genesis 3:1

Now the serpent  was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? ”

. That we may believe Satan’s word

Genesis 3:4-5

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.    “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,  knowing good and evil.”

. That we may not believe in God’s Goodness

Genesis 3:5

“For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,  knowing good and evil.”

. That we may not obey God’s Word

Genesis 3:6

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable  for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,  who was with her, and he ate it

. That we  may be led astray from Christ

2 Corinthians 11:3

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning,  your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

. That we may not love the truth

2 Thessalonians 2:10-11

and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing.  They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.    For this reason God sends them  a powerful delusion  so that they will believe the lie

. Because God permits  deception

2  Chronicles 18:19-22

And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’

 “One suggested this, and another that.   Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’

 “‘By what means?’ the Lord asked.

    “‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit  in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.

 “‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’

    “So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours.  The Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

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Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government  will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor,  Mighty God, Everlasting  Father,  Prince of Peace.

Near God – To Sustain us –

Isaiah 50:8

He who vindicates  me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser?  Let him confront me!

Isaiah 55:6

Seek  the Lord while he may be found; call  on him while he is near.

   Omniscient God – Watch Over us –

Psalm 121:4-7

indeed, he who watches  over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over  you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun  will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm he will watch over your life;

Powerful God -To Strengthen us –

2 Timothy 4:17

But the Lord stood at my side  and gave me strength,  so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.  And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.

Quickening God – To Change us –

Ephesians 2:5

made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved.

Righteous God – To Justify us –

Psalm 7:9

Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure—

 you, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts.

Romans 5:19

For just as through the disobedience of the one man  the many were made sinners,  so also through the obedience  of the one man the many will be made righteous.

God’s Glory Restored

Exodus 40:34

Then the cloud  covered the tent of meeting, and the glory  of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

2 Chronicles 7:1

The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah,  Jashub and Shimron—four in all.

Ezekiel 10:18

Then the glory  of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.

Ezekiel 43:1-7

Then the man brought me to the gate facing east,    and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters,  and the land was radiant with his glory.    The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.   The glory  of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east.    Then the Spirit  lifted me up  and brought me into the inner court, and the glory  of the Lord filled the temple.

    While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple.   He said: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne  and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The people of Israel will never again defile  my holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings at their death.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Be joyful always, pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. —

Want to know something you can do that will please God? Rejoice in his grace. Pray for others. Give thanks for your blessings. It's simply something that he wants us to do.

Thought 

. Christ is not only a remedy for your weariness and trouble, but he will give you an abundance of the contrary: joy and delight. - Jonathan Edwards

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Gracious God – To Bless us –

Jonah 4:2

He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew  that you are a gracious  and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love,  a God who relents  from sending calamity.

Holy God – To Sanctify us –

Hosea 11:9

I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate  Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man — the Holy One  among you. I will not come against their cities.

Indwelling God – To Establish us –

Psalm 46:5

God is within her,  she will not fall; God will help  her at break of day.

Just God – To Clear us –

Isaiah 45:21

Declare what is to be, present it— let them take counsel together. Who foretold  this long ago, who declared it from the distant past?  Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God  and a Savior; there is none but me.

Kind God – To Supply us –

Psalm 103:4

who redeems your life  from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,

Loving God – To Cherish us –

Jeremiah 31:3

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved  you with an everlasting love; I have drawn  you with unfailing kindness.

Mighty God – To Deliver us –

Deuteronomy 4:37

Because he loved  your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,

Blasphemies

- Matthew 12:31

And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven

- Mark 7:19-21

For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods  clean.)

    He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.   For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder

- Romans 1:29-32

They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,    slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;    they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love,  no mercy.   Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,  they not only continue to do these very things but also approve  of those who practice them.

- 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived:  Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers  nor men who have sex with men    nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers  will inherit the kingdom of God.   And that is what some of you were.  But you were washed,  you were sanctified,  you were justified  in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

- Galatians 5:19-21

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality,  impurity and debauchery;   idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions   and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

- Colossians 3:5-10 

So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles  among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?    So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

    Understand, then, that those who have faith  are children of Abraham.    Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”    So those who rely on faith  are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

    For all who rely on the works of the law  are under a curse,  as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

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 Almighty God – To Bless us – 

Genesis 17:1

When Abram was ninety-nine years old,  the Lord appeared to him  and said, “I am God Almighty;  walk before me faithfully and be blameless

Blessed God – To Cheer us –

1 Timothy 1:11

that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

Compassionate God – To Bear with us –his

Deuteronomy 32:9-13

 For the Lord’s portion  is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.  In a desert  land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded  him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft. The Lord alone led  him; no foreign god was with him. He made him ride on the heights  of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields  He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil  from the flinty crag, 

Defending God – To Protect us –

Exodus  15:2-3

​“The Lord is my strength  and my defence; he has become my salvation. He is my God,  and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt  him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.

Eternal God – To Secure us –

Deuteronomy 33:27

The eternal  God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting  arms. He will drive out your enemies before you, saying, ‘Destroy them!’

Faithful God – To  Assure us –

Hebrew 11:11

And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age,  was enabled to bear children  because she considered him faithful  who had made the promise.