The Great Reveal // How to Make a Difference in this World

We're going to be in John, chapter 1 this morning, john 1, and when you think about the history of the world, there's been all kinds of really, really cool inventions.

John 1 · chapter mention

Think about it.

I mean, you got football great invention.

You have electricity.

Can you imagine what the world would be like if there was no electricity?

Can you imagine what the world would be like if there was no electricity?

Can you imagine what the world would be like without an iPhone?

Come on, got all kinds of cool inventions and in 1999, there was an invention that a lot of you guys use when you text people.

Does anybody want to take a guess at something that you use when you text people?

That was invented in 1999?

Any guesses?

What's that?

Pager.

Oh yeah, pager did come out right around that time, but that's not it.

But yeah, it did come out right around the time.

Aol you got mail.

You guys remember that.

Here it is, here it is.

You ready?

You ready, it's the.

You guys can change it.

The emoji the emoji.

You know you got emojis.

You know I've learned recently that there's an entire like emoji language.

So, like some people, they just they just text emojis half the time and then they can communicate with people.

I don't know.

I don't necessarily know that language, but I do know that means happy and that means not happy.

You got all these different emojis.

There's another emoji that when some of you see this emoji, you think of animal.

In fact, let's show them what the emoji is.

It's a goat.

Others of you, what's that?

Others of you when you see that you think greatest of all time, how many of you when you see that you think greatest of all time, how many of you are lost by me saying that, right, the greatest of all time?

Now, if you're a sports fan, you know there's been countless debates over the years of who is the greatest of all time.

Walter Payton, wow, that's right.

Chicago Bears Well, simone Biles.

We're talking Olympics, now gymnastics.

You've got all these debates.

You've got Simone Biles and I don't know whoever else is the gymnast.

And Walter Payton, emmitt Smith, buster Posey how about this one?

The classic, the classic, the classic Joe Montana or Tom Brady?

We have a Steve Young.

Okay, for my NBA fans, for my NBA fans, we got Michael Jordan.

Or do we got LeBron James?

Oh, we have a Kobe.

Or do we have a Steph Curry?

I mean Bay Area, right Now, just look up, but after the service we're just going to like have a fight right here in the middle.

There's a time when Jesus was talking about somebody and he actually called somebody the goat, the greatest of all time.

He didn't use a goat emoji, though he didn't text it.

This might surprise some of you.

You're like, did Jesus really say that he actually did in Matthew 11.

That's what he said.

He says, I tell you, among these born of women, no one is what's that word?

No one is the John, no one, no one's greater than John.

Then if Jesus says he's the the goat, then I think we just have to agree he's the goat and I don't think we're gonna argue about that when Jesus said it.

So then that begs the question, like, what makes him the goat?

And I want to learn some more things about this guy.

His name is John the Baptist, john the Baptizer.

Here's what we know about John the Baptist one he was the cousin of Jesus, his parents were Zachariah Elizabeth, and he was born after a long season of waiting.

And John the Baptist was a really important character, because we're in this series right now called the Great Reveal, about Jesus being revealed, and John the Baptist had a very key role in this because he was the forerunner.

The forerunner Everybody say forerunner.

Ready when I said that somebody else out of the car he was the forerunner of Jesus.

So before Jesus was on earth doing his ministry, before he started his ministry, john the Baptist was a forerunner, pointing people to Jesus, telling people that he is going to come, people to Jesus, telling people that he is going to come.

And John the Baptist, needless to say, made an incredible difference in the world.

And here's what we're going to do today.

We're going to look at his life and we're going to see three characteristics that he had in his life that allowed him to make a difference.

And the reason why this matters so much is because if you will have these characteristics in your life, you will make a difference too.

No, pastor Nate, you don't understand.

You don't understand.

You don't understand.

You don't understand.

I'm like new to this whole church thing, this whole Jesus thing.

I can't make a difference for Christ because, like I mean, if you knew my family, let me just tell you my family tree a synonym for my family tree is dysfunction or toxic.

No, friend, I'm gonna tell you right now you can make a difference for Christ if you have the characteristics in your life that John the Baptist had, and if together, if we can do this together, then the impact on our families and our workplaces and our neighborhoods and our communities and, dare I say, the world, will be different, because you have the characteristics of somebody that made a difference.

So I want you to see it.

Today.

We're in John 1, verse 19.

John 1:19

If you're ready for it, would you say amen, amen, all right.

So verse 19 says this.

This was John's testimony.

He had just said some things about Christ when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who are you?

So let's talk about who these people are.

Who are you?

So let's talk about who these people are.

Levites they were responsible for the caretaking of the temple, of the place of worship and different parts of the temple, and Levites were people that came from the Old Testament tribe of Levi.

Now let me explain this.

There was a guy, his name was Jacob.

Everybody say Jacob Ready.

He was a patriarch of the nation of Israel.

Patriarch, explain this.

There was a guy, his name was Jacob.

Everybody say Jacob Ready.

He was a patriarch of the nation of Israel.

Patriarch, think this founding father, patriarch.

He had 12 sons.

One of his sons' names was Levi.

Levi had sons and all the sons and all the people that came not just sons but daughters that came from Levi.

They called those people the Levites, I know very creative and original.

So what Levite's job was to do was to take care of all the things that happened in the temple where the people came and worshiped.

Now, while all of the priests in the temple were Levites, not all of the Levites were priests.

So some of the Levites were involved in like cleaning this up over here and setting this up and opening up doors and all types of different things, but some of the Levites were priests.

So priests and Levites.

They came to John the Baptist.

They were sent and they were like who are you?

Verse 20, he didn't deny it, but he confessed I am not the Messiah.

What then?

They asked him are you Elijah?

I'm not.

Are you the prophet?

No, he answered Verse 22,.

Who are you?

Then they asked.

It's like guys, relax, it's not that big of a deal.

No, they need to know who are you.

Then we need to give an answer to those who sent us.

What can you tell us about yourself?

I look at this and I'm like what's the big deal here?

Here's the big deal.

Here.

John the Baptist is causing a stir.

John the Baptist is making a difference and people need to find out about his life.

So, verse 23, he described himself and it's really interesting how he described himself.

He said this.

He said I am a what's that word?

I am a of one crying out in the wilderness.

Now, john the Baptist at this point he had a following.

He had a bunch of people following him.

What he could have said when the Levites and priests came following, like he had a bunch of people following him.

What he could have said when the Levites and priests came, he could have said you all know who I am.

I am an influencer.

I have all these people following me.

If you want, I'll give you my TikTok and my Instagram.

He could have said I'm an influencer.

This time period, culture was so big.

He could have said I'm a Jew, like that's who I am.

I am a Jew, if you're wondering.

Or maybe he could have at least said his name, like if somebody asked me who are you If you come to me and you said, hey, who are you If you see me somewhere, I'd be like I'm just Nate.

That's it.

John the Baptist says I am a voice.

He said listen, it's not about me.

I am a voice.

He said listen, it's not about me, I'm crying out in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord, just as Isaiah the prophet had said.

John the Baptist is like hey, y'all, it ain't about me, all I'm doing is I'm trying to say the same thing that Isaiah the prophet said hundreds of years ago make straight the way of the Lord, prepare yourself because Jesus is coming.

The people in verse 24 that sent the Levites, they were the Pharisees.

It says these guys had been sent from the Pharisees.

So they asked him these guys, these Levites, are asking John, why do you baptize if you aren't the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet?

I baptize with water.

John answered Someone stands among you, but you don't know him.

He is the one coming after me, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to untie.

Anybody want to take a guess at who he was talking about?

Jesus.

All this happened in Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Now this is not Bethany right outside Jerusalem, where Lazarus was raised.

This was actually 25 miles away.

Now you think about this.

The Pharisees sent the Levites and the priests 25 miles to find out who John the Baptist is.

Now you think, oh, that's not a big deal, 25 miles.

Jump in the car, put on my GPS.

I'm going to Bethany.

There's no cars, there's no bus, there's no train.

If they're going to go 25 miles, they've got to walk their hind parts 25 miles, or jump on a donkey or something.

I don't know about you, but I've never walked 25 miles in my life.

I mean maybe total.

You know what I'm saying.

Not one time.

I've never ran a marathon.

I've got some crazy friends.

Some of you are in the room.

I got some crazy friends.

Some of you are in the room.

You ran marathons before.

I still love you.

You're kind of crazy, though.

They sent them 25 miles.

They're like 25 miles.

That's a long way.

Why?

Because there was something compelling about the life of John the Baptist.

There's something different about this dude.

There was something that caused people to say it is worth going 25 miles to find out about him.

After they came to him the next day, verse 29 tells us, is that John saw Jesus coming toward him and he said look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

It's kind of interesting that when he saw Jesus he didn't say hey, everybody, look, it's the healer, everybody.

Jesus is coming.

Look, it's the way maker, the miracle worker, the promise keeper.

That's who he is.

He didn't do it.

That's who he is.

He said the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

This is what John is doing.

He's reminding people of an Old Testament practice and pointing them to a New Testament reality.

Here's the Old Testament practice.

In the Old Testament, they would have to offer sheep and lambs for a sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sin, for a temporary restoration of their relationship with God.

They would have to do this yearly, now, when Jesus is going to come and he's going to die on the cross, because you realize, that's why Jesus came.

Like Jesus didn't come because he just wanted to hang out and had nothing better to do.

He came to die.

So now people didn't have to offer yearly sacrifices with the lamb.

Jesus was the lamb of God that died for our sin once and for all, for past, present and future.

So when Jesus was coming and he told those Jewish listeners, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, they were like oh, that's the guy that's prophesied about, that one day he's going to come and die on the cross for us.

This is what it says in 1 John 2, describing Jesus.

He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sin.

He's the substitution payment, and not only for ours but also for those of the whole world.

John the Baptist went on to talk more about Jesus.

He says not only is he the lamb of God, but verse 30, he's the one I told you about After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.

I think for a second.

John the Baptist was actually older than Jesus.

He was born before Jesus.

And for John the Baptist to say that Jesus existed before him, what he was pointing to is the fact that Jesus was God.

Here's the word the deity of Christ.

Everybody say the word deity Ready, the deity of Christ, the fact that Jesus was God.

Because if Jesus existed before him, but technically Jesus was born after John, then it shows that Jesus was God and Jesus existed before he was born here on this earth.

And this man, john the Baptist, is going around telling people this.

And this man, john the Baptist, is making a difference because he had some characteristics in his life.

Here's the first one.

This is a tough one.

John the Baptist realized that life was not all about him, and we got to realize that life is not all about you.

Now, when our kids grow up, that's what you teach them, right?

No matter what you think it's not about you.

Like you need to share with your brother.

You need to share with your brother, you need to share with your sister.

Let them use your bike, don't pull their hair.

But how often and how easy is it for us to make life about us?

Some of y'all are staring at me looking way too holy than we actually are.

You know what I mean.

It's easy to make life about us and, on top of this, what could happen is if we have hurts or traumas or major challenges in our past that haven't been healed or haven't been processed.

It even makes it harder to make things about others.

Let me explain why.

Let me explain All of us were born with very real needs in our life.

We have real needs.

All of us have physical needs.

There are physical needs that we have.

In fact, can somebody tell me what's a physical need that we have?

Sleep water, right, if you go without three days without water food?

Do I hear food?

Oh man, we can't talk about that too much.

It's 1115 service.

You know you got food.

We have these physical needs that we're really aware of Shelter.

We know this stuff.

Some of us aren't quite as aware.

Many of us are.

But we also have emotional and psychological needs too.

So, for example, we all need love.

This is not a faith thing, this is a human thing.

In fact, you probably can look back at your life where you made a decision that you're like what was I thinking?

And you did it because you wanted to get love.

That's a need that we have.

We all have the need of security.

I need to be secure.

We all have the need of self-worth.

We need a sense of self right.

This is why you hear people say or you said this, like I'm trying to find myself.

Well, it's a sense of self, it's a sense of self-worth.

We need fulfillment, we need belonging, we need community.

These are very real psychological, emotional things that we need.

It's not a faith thing, it's a human thing.

Now I want to illustrate this, and I think Josh Cope is in here.

He's going to come help me.

He's here somewhere, or he's not here.

Maybe there he is.

He's coming when we have.

You're good, take your time, brother.

Doesn't Josh do such a great job on worship?

Can we put our hands up for Josh?

I love it.

Josh was at Hume Lake this past week for our young adult retreat.

Josh has done this for three services in a row.

This guy's a trooper.

I just asked him to do it for the 845.

He was like I'll do it for the other two as well.

I'm like man, a saint of the Lord right there.

So when we have our emotional and psychological needs in our life met, when we are experiencing love and we have belonging, when we have self-esteem, when we have security, what happens is we live our lives from a place of fullness.

This is how God designed every human on earth to live from this place of fullness.

But what can happen in this world is, things can happen in this world and when we may have this place of fullness, but then we have a serious trial or a trauma or a sickness or a difficulty or a hurt and the fullness that we once had we don't have anymore, and the harder life gets and the more trauma and things that happen before we realize it.

We once were full, but now we're not and sometimes we know how to put words to this, to communicate this.

A lot of times we just don't.

But what we know and what we feel is that something isn't quite right.

We have these like needs in our life.

We have something that just kind of feels off a little bit.

Now, all of us again, this is a human thing, this is not a faith thing, it's all of us.

We do not want to feel empty because we have needs in our life.

That's okay.

You can say you have needs and you will look to something in your life to meet those needs.

What God has done is God has given himself and God has given the people of God to meet needs, very real, emotional, psychological, other needs in our life.

And when we look to God, god will fill us.

But sometimes, can we just be honest, because it's us here, we don't always look to God to meet those needs, do we?

Sometimes we look to other things.

In fact, sometimes what we think in life, we may, even we may look to sin.

That's a normal thing and we may think, oh, like, my problem is this sin over here, my problem is this struggle over here.

It may not be, in fact, I want to give you an example.

But before I give you this example, you got to promise me that you're not going to elbow anybody.

You got to promise me that you're not going to elbow anybody, that you're not going to look at somebody, that you're not going to pull out your phone and start FaceTiming somebody because you're like you need to hear this Promise.

Do you promise yes or no?

Have you ever met somebody that's controlling?

Don't look.

Some of y'all didn't listen to the directions you promised.

Maybe struggle with some control a little bit.

And then you know we try to control things.

We have a hard time trusting God and sometimes we'll be in situations and we always got to be the decision maker, we always got to have the last word.

And if those things don't happen, what we can do is we can kind of subtly try to put some control in there.

We give the silent treatment or we'd be a little passive-aggressive oh, I'm not doing anything.

Nah, you know what you're doing, bro Trying to control.

And in moments of self-awareness that most of us have from time to time, we think I don't want to be.

We realize what controlling is doing.

It's affecting this over here, it's causing us to have worry and anxiety.

We're like, ah, I got to stop being so controlling.

But it's possible that the challenge is not control.

It's possible that when you have this sense of control, it makes you feel like you're secure, which is a very real need that you have.

So you can say my problem is, I'm too controlling.

God, I want to trust you.

God, I want to trust you.

I'm too controlling.

That's not the issue.

The issue is that when you're in control, it gives you a sense of security.

So the challenge is finding this security somewhere.

And when we're not in the right place, we're finding security from the fact that we're in control, or we think we're in control you guys with me, and what God does is God says you need to know this that I am in control and I am all powerful.

And when I put you in my hand, nothing can take you from my hand.

Your identity is secure in me.

There's nothing you can do that will make me love you more.

Nothing we can do you can do that will make me love you less.

That, no matter what happens, the world can say you're a failure.

You are not a failure in my eyes.

You are secure in that reality.

And when we run to that for our sense of security, what happens is we start to fill back up.

And this is what we have to do, guys.

This is what we have to do.

We have to understand that sometimes the needs in our life, the fruit of those things, are what we think they're, the problem, but really the reality is the need.

And we got to address the root, because until we address the root, we won't have anything change when it comes to the fruit.

And what God says is God says listen, I can meet those needs in your heart.

Now let's circle back around and let's go back to John the Baptist.

John the Baptist was always focused on Christ.

He was always focused on Christ.

What did John the Baptist do?

He looked to Jesus to meet the needs of his heart.

John the Baptist wasn't like oh man, I find security in the fact that I'm an influencer and I got hundreds and hundreds of people.

And when the Levites come and talk to me and they're like who are you?

Well, let me just tell you, man, like I got you know, I'm kind of gifted.

I'm like a good preacher.

John was so secure in who he was, in Christ.

He's like all I am is a voice.

That's where I find my significance is in Christ.

And this is why this matters so much, because when you live your life from a place of fullness, what it allows you to do is make life about others and not all about you.

And why this matters is because when you live selflessly, you will be a joyful person, because the most joyful people are the most selfless people.

Sometimes we think that joy is found on the other side of the better house, the bigger this, the better job, the career change, whatever, and those things might be good for you to have.

But true joy is found in being selfless.

And the most miserable people in the world aren't the people that have the least amount of things, they're the people that make what they have all about them.

This is a characteristic of somebody that makes a difference is they realize that life is not all about them.

Characteristic number two you guys still with me Say amen.

If you are Characteristic number two is that they are willing to be different.

They are willing to be different.

The scripture describing John the Baptist in Matthew, chapter 3, it says this.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

It says now John had a camel hair garment with a leather belt around his waist.

Bro's fashion was camel hair.

Garments with a leather belt around his waist.

Bro's fashion was camel hair.

That was not in style of the day and his food was wait for it Simeon didn't wait for it Locusts and wild honey.

You guys remember the show Fear Factor back in the day?

That's like something you eat on Fear Factor.

I've never in my life I mean I might be weird, but I've never in my life been hungry and like man.

You know what I need right now?

Anybody got some locusts.

How do you like locusts for a DoorDash delivery or something?

You know what I mean?

I've never one time done that.

John the Baptist, this dude was.

He's a little different, and the reason why he is different is because he was so focused on his calling and his purpose and what God wanted him to be.

He wasn't worried about all these other things.

He wasn't worried about everything else that was happening in the world.

He was being who God wanted him to be, following the Lord.

And can I just remind us today that if we're going to make a difference, we're going to have to be a little different.

If we're going to make a difference, we're going to have to be a little different.

Some of us in the world, we're like man I want to make a difference for Christ.

Okay, no-transcript.

Some of us and I get it right we have some people-pleasing tendencies in us and it's like we don't wanna be rejected, like we wanna be accepted.

I get all that, but to some degree.

Until your life is gonna be a little different, you can never make a difference.

In your friend group, in your family, in your neighborhood, in the people around you.

Like, the way we talk should be different.

The way our priorities are should be different.

The priorities are should be different.

The way we see the world should be a little bit different.

Why?

Because you have to make to make a difference.

You have to be different.

Third characteristic and we're done as this is John used his resources, his resources to point people to Jesus.

Now, a lot of times, when we think resources, what we think about is we think about money.

Right, pastor says money.

Everybody gets quiet or he's a little uncomfortable.

In the text, if you look at it, it doesn't per se say that John used the resource of his money.

This is what he used.

The next day, john saw Jesus coming toward him and said think about this.

He had people around him.

So he's using his influence to resource that he had Toward him and said what's John using His voice?

He's using his voice.

Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

He's using his influence.

He's using his influence.

He's using his voice, he's using his energy to make Jesus known.

That's what he's doing.

There's a football player that you may have heard of that since we're just having fun with football today that you may have heard of that used a resource that he had to make a difference.

In fact, can we put him up on the screen?

You guys know who this guy is.

Somebody tell me who is this guy.

This guy is Tim Tebow, tim Tebow.

Tim Tebow, he was a great college football quarterback for the Florida Gators and he won Heisman Trophy and national championships and all these things.

And something that a lot of people don't know about him is he's a devout follower of Jesus and this is at one of his national championship games and before the game, he's thinking what can I do to make Jesus known?

What can I do to point people to Jesus?

He had this idea.

You may see what his idea was.

He had this idea.

You may see what his idea was.

His idea was on my eye block.

I'm going to write out John 3.16.

He's like I'm a quarterback Camera's on me, people are looking at me.

I'm just going to write this out and on that night, 90 million people Googled John 3.16.

90 million people Because one 20-year-old college football player said I'm going to use my resources.

I'm going to use my resources to make a difference.

I'm going to use my resources.

I'm going to use my resources to make a difference.

I'm going to use my resources to influence people for Jesus.

Sometimes, when it comes to this idea of our resources, again we think so much about like, oh, it's about my money, it's about this.

No, it's about everything that God's put in your hand, like.

You have time, you have energy, you have a house, you have a car, you have a cell phone.

You know what you can do with your cell phone.

When God puts somebody in your heart, somebody in the body or somebody outside of the body, you can pray for them.

You can bust out your phone and you can text them and say hey, just want you to know I prayed for you today.

I hope you have a great week.

God loves you.

You know what you when you're lying in a coffee shop to get a cup of coffee at Pete's not Starbucks, sorry, I digress and God puts something on your heart.

Like man, I need to pay for the person behind me.

That's what you can do.

Well, one you're going to hope that they don't have a big order, first of all, just keeping it real.

You could pay for that person behind you and then you could say hey, I just want you to know God loves you.

I hope you have a great week.

You know what you did Use your resource and what we have to do is we have to say Lord, like, what have you put in my hand?

I'm going to use this for you.

Some of us think, like serving God is so difficult.

It's not difficult.

It's God, what have you put in my hand?

As a church, we just crossed over a pretty significant threshold for us.

We now have, every month, we have 175 different people that serve somewhere at FCC every month 175, which is amazing.

This is what's happened.

Amazing people have said I have some time, I can serve twice a month, I'm willing to serve.

And now what's happening is more people are knowing Jesus and Jesus is being made known and all kinds of things are happening.

Why?

Because you say I'm going to use the resource of my time and my gifts to make Jesus known.

And what could happen in our community, what could happen in our families, in our workplaces, if we just said Lord, what have you put in my hand?

I'm going to use that resource to make you known, lord.

How can I use my social media to make you known?

How can I use my energy to make you known?

How can I use these different things to make you known?

And when we do this, guys, what can happen?

Yeah, you don't have the gifts that everybody else has, but you can influence somebody that nobody else can.

Some of you think, like God can't use you because you did this in your past.

Have you heard of the Apostle Paul, bro?

That dude was a killer.

That's what he was.

God is not limited by your limitations.

God is not limited by your past.

God is not limited by your family.

Tree God will work if people will just say here am I, I want to be used by you.

Tree God will work if people will just say here am II, want to be used by you.

And with God's calling comes God's enabling.

God might be putting some things on your heart that are big.

And can I say?

You might say I don't know how I can do this.

God does, because with the calling of God comes the enabling of God and, as that's been said many times before me, as God doesn't call the qualified, god qualifies the call.

I'll talk to a growth group leader this week and I'll be done.

I gotta be done, I'll try.

And it was so good, it was half this conversation.

She's gonna step into the role of being a growth group leader.

She's been in a group, she's been a group coordinator for a couple semesters, ready to step into being a leader.

She's gonna crush it.

I can't wait.

And she said right now I feel a little unsure.

She said I just she's like I know I'm supposed to do this, but I kind of lack confidence.

And she says but it's a really good thing Her words, not mine, because how I feel is causing me to trust God in deeper ways.

And I thought that is what it's all about Somebody saying I'm willing to take a step.

I feel God leading me.

I'm unsure about exactly how it's going to work because I've never done this before.

I'm kind of scared, but I'm going to do this and my confidence is in God.

Guys, how can you make a difference?

How can you do it?

This is what you do.

Realize life is not all about you.

Be okay with being different.

Be okay with being different, like if you follow Jesus, you're going to be a little different and use your resources to make him known, and when we do this, we can make a difference.

Let's bow our heads and close our eyes.

I just want to give you some time.