The Wilderness - John the Baptist

Thank you guys for having me. Yeah, so I'm going

to start a timer so I don't talk too much. That's

the thing. So a while back, Greg had asked me,

this has been even a couple months ago, about

what we were going to be talking about and about

the journey in the wilderness. And so he said,

you know, we're going to focus on the different

people spending time in the wilderness and that

I would be talking about John the Baptist. So

I was excited about that. I think during this

time of me preparing the message, God's given

me some fun experiences. I didn't have to eat

any locusts, but I have eaten wild honey before.

And I thought, since last week Africa was wearing

a sweatshirt like this, I said, this is so appropriate

for John the Baptist, I have to have this for

today. So thank you, Africa, for hooking me up.

So I wanted to touch base with some of the messages

that we had in the previous weeks, because a

lot of that inspired me in my message. And so

we talked a little bit about Ishmael in Genesis

16. Greg had asked us to think about how we would

name God because of what happened in there. And

so I wrote down in my notes that day that you

are the God who uses my hands for your work.

So I don't know if anybody else remembers what

they thought about that day, but that was mine.

And then Jen talked a little bit about David

hiding in the wilderness, crying out to God in

his dark night of the soul. Another nugget I

got out of some other messages were that God

invites us to be part of the solution. He doesn't

just fix everything for us, but he wants to bring

us alongside of him to do the work with him.

I think that's really cool. Another thought that

stuck with me and was really prevalent in my

brain when I was writing this message is that

it's not always a straight line from oppression

to the promised land. There's usually a wilderness

in between. So I can really relate to this. I

want to pray real quick, though, before I get

into my message, just to make sure I don't screw

this up. Heavenly Father, just thank you so much

for this opportunity to share my experiences

today. I just ask that you use these words to

bless the minds and hearts of all those gathered

here and those who are watching online. God,

just teach us something. As you're teaching me,

I want to share the message with others to teach

them as well. Thank you. Amen. So let me tell

you a little bit about my story. So many years

ago. A month after our child Cal was born, I

lost my job. The timing was terrible. We all

had Isaac, our oldest, two and a half at the

time, and then Cal, a month old. Well, God gave

me a dream the night before I lost my job, so

he kind of prepared me a little bit because I

don't do the whole shock thing really well, so

I need time to prepare. God knows that. So literally

the night before I lost my job, which I got fired.

God gave me a dream. And in the dream, I recognized

that's what was going to happen. And so I was

kind of prepared. And so the guy that I carpooled

with in the morning, I would pick up one of,

I worked in automotive and repair before. And

I was a service manager. And I picked up one

of the salesmen on the carpool in. And I said,

you know, I had a dream last night that I'm going

to get fired today. So maybe you might need to

find another way home. And about 10 o 'clock

that morning, my boss called me into the office

and said, yep, I'm letting you go. I went and

told the salesman, I'm like, well, you're going

to find another right home. He was like. You're

serious? So anyway, so I have dreams like that.

And so I pay attention when God gives me dreams.

So yeah. So the loss of the job was a push that

I needed, though, because I was kind of stuck

in a rut. Unfortunately for my impatient self,

it was a push into the wilderness as well. But

this wilderness was a finding my career and my

purpose. The first thing I remember when I got

home was I just kind of wandered around outside.

Like literally, like I remember vividly being

in my backyard. And just kind of wandering. It's

cold. It was end of October, beginning of November,

because Cal was born October 1st. And so just

kind of wandering around outside, just like in

shock. It was the beginning of a long time of

reflection and hard work on myself. It began

a journey into this wilderness. The good news

was, though, I was not alone. Besides God being

ever present with me, he gifted me with a wonderful

life partner in Bree. Bree prayed for me, encouraged

me. She at that time kind of urged me to take

that time and opportunity that presented itself

to go back to college and get my degree. I'd

never finished my degree. But that was the message

that she gave to me, and I was pondering on that.

But then God's irony and gift of metaphor is

infinite. So while I was applying for every job

I could get my hands on, looking for a way to

get money to get by, he had another plan. He

started this phase of my life with a mission

trip. So my friend Matt, who went to my old church,

called me up and said, hey, I heard you have

a lot of free time on your hands right now. And

he said, we're putting together a team of guys

to go down to New Orleans and help rebuild houses

after Hurricane Katrina. So would you like to

go? I was like, well, that's crazy. So then I

asked Bree. Now, mind you, she has a two and

a half year old and a one month old baby. And

she said, go. So I think she was tired of watching

me mope around in my wilderness. So after I got

back from the trip, which was life -altering,

I started working on completing my education

and getting into the career of law enforcement,

which I had thought about many, many years before.

After several years of college classes, I was

taking care of the kids at home during the day

when Bree was at work, moonlighting as a mechanic

and a landlord for income at night. I did finally

reluctantly accept a job working at the county

jail. Now, I wanted to use this job as a stepping

stone to become a police officer. That was my

whole goal all along. Well, that didn't happen.

The four years plus I spent working in the jail

was the longest four years of my life. It seemed

like an eternity. I thought I would never escape.

I was grasping at straws. Any kind of opportunity

to present itself to get out of there, I was

looking at. Don't get me wrong. The pay was good.

The benefits were great. I also learned a lot

of life lessons that I could not learn any other

way. But it was most definitely a wilderness.

During this time, I questioned whether or not

I was on the right track or if I'd gotten off.

And then I had wasted years of my life going

and pursuing this education for something that

wasn't going to happen or this career at the

jail that was going to make me miserable. What

am I doing? This has got to be a huge mistake.

I constantly prayed for an instant fix. During

this time, God gave me another dream. In this

dream... I was being the hero. Now, mind you,

God has a crazy imagination, and this is what

my dream was. I'm carrying Bree, and I'm running

through downtown Rock Island to save. I'm going

to be the hero. So I stop at a place called Mellow

Blue Planet. It's a comic book shop downtown

Rock Island that I had spent a lot of time. Here's

the irony and the dream. A shop full of hero's

journeys. All the stories of Superman, Batman,

all that stuff, right? The owner of the place,

his name is Tim. He was the wise sage in my dream,

kind of like a Yoda or a Mr. Miyagi figure. And

so I get there, and I'm like, how do I get to

this path of being the hero and being a policeman

and doing what I'm supposed to be doing? And

he said, there's no shortcut to this destination.

You have to take the long way, but you will get

there. Now, get this. Last night, Brie and I

stopped at Aldi to get groceries for the elote

dip that she made. And who did I bump into but

Tim? God incidents. I have not seen Tim in forever.

So I told him, and he's like, well, I have a

wise thing to say once in a while. And I was

like, no, like. So many years later, now I'm

in my current career. I'm a probation officer.

More specifically, I work with people who deal

with addiction and mental health issues. I was

at a training event we do once a year. We were

at dinner afterwards, and the judge leans over

to me, and he says, Andy, I think you have found

your calling. In many ways, I feel like I am

in the promised land, at least with my career.

But what happened when I was in the wilderness?

I asked for a lot of prayer during that time.

I did a lot of research on career paths. I explored

a few options. I still continue to look for escapes

out. But God didn't put me there to simply escape

unchanged. Remember, this is a quote, not mine,

the wilderness is the place we are meant to meet

God. We learn to follow and reject our cultural

conditioning. We are all alone with God. It had

definitely been me. The way I looked at everything

had been influenced by toxic cultural conditioning

in my previous career. I'd battled some depression

at that time as well, and I'd only recently realized

that I was working on that when this job loss

happened. I knew I wanted out of that career,

but I had felt trapped. God had a bunch of different

things for me, though. I could not even imagine

what I would be doing today. Something else that

I stole from Greg's message before. We undervalue

just how much of finding ourselves is found in

learning how to stay where Jesus stays. Now,

many of you know that I'm a big reader. I've

been fascinated with storytelling for as long

as I've been able to read. In my early years

at community college, I was introduced to an

author named Joseph Campbell. This author is

known for his description of the hero's journey,

and he wrote a book called The Hero with a Thousand

Faces. Campbell has mapped this frequently reoccurring

theme in literature all out. He wrote a whole

book. He broke it all down. He has a circle with

a diagram and everything about the hero's journey.

It also seems to fit the scripture with God's

message over and over again about the journey

of his people. Now, most of you aren't familiar

with Joseph Campbell. I was really hoping Eric

was going to be here, but Eric, listen, if you

watch, listen to this later. Joseph Campbell

inspired this really nerdy guy who wrote a story.

His name is George Lucas. So many of you are

now familiar with the original Star Wars trilogy.

Luke Skywalker's journey to face himself and

his father and become the hero is the epitome

of Joseph Campbell's vision. I researched this

after I was writing the sermon, and I found out

that Joseph Campbell had not met George Lucas,

but right when he was releasing The Return of

the Jedi, their agents contacted each other.

And Joseph Campbell and his wife had dinner with

George Lucas and his wife, and they sat. And

he said, do you want to watch the movies? You

want to do like one a week or one a night? And

Joseph Campbell said, no, let's watch them all

at once. So they had breakfast. They watched

the first one. They had lunch. They watched the

second one. They had dinner. They watched the

third one. And afterwards, he said something.

I didn't put this in my notes. He said something

like, of all the famous artists in the world,

then we think that the art is dead. And he's

like, but it is very much alive today. So I'll

have to find that quote for you. But that's Joseph

Campbell in The Hero's Journey. And so we can

kind of relate to Star Wars. But Joseph Campbell

was not the first one to recognize this journey

in history over and over again told about the

people I'm gonna go down the rabbit hole a little

bit I know Jen likes this because I find something

and I dig down the rabbit hole So Campbell borrowed

his dark night of the soul and the hero's journey

from a 16th century Catholic poet Saint John

of the Cross He wrote this poem somewhere between

1577 and 1579. It's called the dark night of

the soul He wrote a poem, and then he also wrote

the commentary to go along with it. This inner

journey into the wilderness concept has also

been studied all the way up until today, obviously

with Joseph Campbell and George Lucas. But a

psychiatrist named Roberto Assigioli, who was

a contemporary of Maslow, you know, the hierarchy

of needs guy, he remarks that the dark night

of the soul comes just before revelation. When

everything is lost and all seems darkness, then

comes the new life and all that is needed. I

paused while writing this sermon, literally,

because I thought I was maybe getting off track,

and then all of a sudden it slapped me in the

face as I pasted the rest of his quote in. The

darkest nights are followed by the most radiant

dawns, and the soul, perfect at last, enters

into complete, constant, and inseparable communion

with the Spirit. so that it seems to be God himself

and has the same characteristics as him. How

does this tie into the scripture? God's chosen

people were in the dark. For 400 years, the prophets

were silent from the time of the Old Testament

to the time of the New Testament. This is also

like the 400 years God's people were in slavery

in Egypt. When everything is lost and all seems

darkness, then comes the new life and all that

is needed. Comfort, O comfort my people, says

your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry

to her that she has served her term and her penalty

is paid, that she has received from the Lord's

hand a double for all her sins. The voice cries

out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the

Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for

our God. Every valley shall be lifted up and

every mountain shall be made low. Uneven ground

shall become level and the rough places a plain.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.

and all flesh shall see it together, for the

mouth of the Lord has spoken. John the Baptist

introduces Jesus, God in the flesh. You don't

have to stand up, I'm just going to read, take

right from Isaiah into Mark, Mark 1 through 8.

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ

is written in the prophet Isaiah. See, I am sending

a messenger ahead of you who will prepare your

way, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.

Prepare the way of the Lord and make his path

straight. So John the baptizer appeared in the

wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance

for the forgiveness of sins, and the whole Judean

region and all the people of Jerusalem were going

out to him and were baptized by him in the river

Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed

with camel's hair, he wore a leather belt around

his waist, and he ate wild locusts and wild honey.

He proclaimed, the one who is more powerful than

I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop

down and untie the straps of his sandals. I have

baptized you with water, but he will baptize

you in the Holy Spirit. So who was this John

the Baptist guy, and why was he so weird? Hanging

out in the wilderness, eating locusts and wild

honey, dressed in camel's hair. What was he doing?

Why the wilderness? It sure seems like each time

God calls his people, they have been in the wilderness,

wandering and wondering. God loves metaphors,

and I love alliteration. Remember how again that

John the Baptist baptizes Jesus and then the

Holy Spirit descends on him like a dove? And

then what happens after that? Jesus goes into

the wilderness. What is this wilderness business?

Man, God is in the quiet, in the stillness. You

know what's not in the wilderness, in the quiet?

Distraction. Busyness. Facebook. Sensationalized

news. Clickbait. AI generated news, politics,

the Bears blowing the playoff game. Just for

fun, I asked the internet, AI, what is the wilderness

in the story of Elijah? And this is what AI said.

Similar to other biblical deserts, this region

symbolizes a place of testing, preparation, and

profound encounter with God. Ooh, gospel from

a robot. God calls us into the wilderness because

he is there. He asks us to remove all worldly

distractions and spend time listening to him.

He will use that time to prepare us for our next

chapter. Remember my friend Matt that I talked

about that took me on the mission trip? Matt

says the part of Route 84 that goes along the

river from East Moline and you drive up to Port

Byron, he calls that the place that God hangs

out. Eagles, deer, beautiful forest, it's just

quiet and peaceful. The word for that is bucolic.

We have our farmland. That's what I call bucolic.

We have acreage out in the country. We go and

spend time. We have a horse now. We have some

chickens. A lot of trees. The only thing you

hear out there is the sound of the wind. Occasionally

a rooster, but not usually. The only thing that

ruins it for me is if I happen to pull out my

phone and look at something. But usually, I just

pull out my phone and take pictures of something

that I'm going to enjoy later. That's why I ask

about your peaceful place that you go to reach

out, unplug, get away. What wilderness is God

calling you to? What quiet place can you go to

spend time with him? Maybe it's the corner of

the coffee shop. Maybe it's on the couch with

a cat on your lap. There's so much busyness and

overstimulation around us all the time. Maybe

you can't hear God's voice because everything

around you is blasting at an 11. Maybe your wilderness

is not a physical location to retreat to, but

maybe it's a period of dryness in your spiritual

life. Maybe you are impatient about a development

in a health issue, a career change, a relationship

that needs mending. Maybe we can't see the other

side of the wilderness that we're in right now.

But we today have something that the prophets

and the Old Testament people did not have. We

have the knowledge that Jesus did come to earth

and fulfilled what the prophets proclaimed. that

the people needed a sacrifice. We live in a time

after Jesus revealed his glory and fulfilled

at least some of his promises in history. We

know that our Redeemer lives. Abraham and Moses

didn't get to see the fulfillment of the promised

land. Elijah passed his job on to Elisha. Even

John the Baptist was killed before Jesus came

into his glory and fulfilled the promises that

John had been proclaiming about him. He never

got to see the fantastic reality of what he was

opening the door to. I'm not saying that this

means it's easy for us to be in our wilderness,

rather that we can have hope that God is in control.

So why didn't these fathers of our faith see

the fulfillment in God's promises? Maybe because

they sought accountability through the law and

politics, pushing too hard on the system rather

than pushing into the spirit. This is something,

as I was writing this, and immediately after

Greg asked me, that I felt like God was teaching

me right now in this very moment. I've been involved

in pushing for some justice in the community

and finding out that sometimes the politics or

the law isn't the way to go, and God's been telling

me to pull back and recharge my batteries with

him in the wilderness. Recently, over and over

again, we have seen on the news and in our own

city how when we seek restoration through politics,

we are doomed to disappointment. The system is

flawed. People are flawed. God's kingdom, though,

is perfect, and we can bring it with us everywhere

we go. We live in New Testament times. Jesus

said that the least of those who are baptized

into the kingdom of God are even greater than

John the Baptist. Maybe God is asking you to

not be looking for an escape from your current

wilderness. Maybe you need to find out what he

wants you to learn while you're there. Don't

waste an opportunity to grow because you're impatient.

After all, the caterpillar doesn't snap one of

his fingers and become a butterfly. There's always

a slow transformative process that has to do

its work first. Maybe you need to listen for

the still small voice so you can hear how God

wants to transform you. I don't know where you

put that book, Greg. Here we go. So you guys

can peek at this later if you want. But researchers

had recently published this book about the anxious

generation talking about kids and society today.

And you know what they said? Kids need to go

outside and play in nature, experiment with physics

and take chances. The world around them needs

to be discovered. They will learn how to adapt

and change, not zone out on their phones and

flood their brains with all the worries of the

world. If that's what researchers say science

is proving about kids, What does that do to us

as adults? Can't be great. I think there's a

name for that, right? Oh yeah, doom scrolling.

When we are in stillness, we can read scripture,

we can pray, we can write, we can draw, talk,

fellowship, listen, experience, worship, meditate,

center. We simply need to be present with God

in the wilderness. It doesn't have to be a faraway

place. John the Baptist was based right off the

main road to Jerusalem, where people could find

him if they were looking for him. It's kind of

like when Greg is hanging out at one of the local

Starbucks. So I just ask that you would join

me in embracing this time in your life if you're

dwelling in the wilderness. Don't let the wilderness

be wasted. Be present in the waiting, listening.

Then sometime you can share your story with us.