 But today we're in Luke chapter 3. Let's begin reading together here in Luke chapter 3 at verse 19. I'll read verse 19 and 20, and we'll get into our study. Luke chapter 3, beginning at verse 19, reading to verse 20. Luke writes, but Herod the tetrarch being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison. Now, as we've been looking at the life of John the Baptist, John is an incredibly bold, very courageous man, a man of God. God had filled him with his spirit from his mother's womb, and God had a plan that he had for the life of John. According to Luke chapter 1, verse 17, he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready of people prepared for the Lord. And so he had been called by God, filled, well, still in his mother's womb with the spirit of God, and he had a plan, and that was to go forth and to proclaim a way of preparation to minister to people to be ready to meet the Messiah. And so we saw that he waited. He waited there in the wilderness for 30 years, and finally we saw that he had received his call to preach. And so he is filled with the spirit of God. He was armed with a message, and he went out, and he went out preaching righteousness. His message, as we have seen it, was fairly basic. He was saying, repent, turn to God, and if you do so, God will receive you. Now that's a general message you find in the New Testament. You see it through the old into the new, but that's repeated in various ways in various books of the Bible. Repent, turn to God, God will receive you. In 2 Corinthians, for example, chapter 6, verse 17, Paul said, come out from among them and be separate, sayeth the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. And so he had a basic message, a message that was for the nation, a nation that needed to hear that they needed to repent. And this message has been echoing. It's echoing from the wilderness all the way to a palace. Everyone is being called to repent. The Pharisees and the Sadducees, the scribe, the peasant, the priest, the king, all are being called to repentance. The message that was given at that time is a timeless message, because people today are still being called to the same thing, to repent and turn to the Lord. The church actually has been ordered to proclaim repentance, even when that message of repentance in our generation seems outdated. Yet as we've been studying the book of Ephesians in chapter five, verses 11 and 12, we have read how Paul had said to the church, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. And so our responsibility is like John's, to have courage and conviction, to walk in the spirit, and to be willing to speak an unpopular, sometimes even regarded outdated message, a message to a people, at least in our time, that would sometimes appear to not really care. As we look at the life of John, John was not a respecter of persons. And so ultimately, John went so far as to even confront a political leader by the name of Herod. Herod is spoken of here in verse 19 in Luke chapter three, and he's called Herod the tetrarch. Now this Herod that we're looking at is Herod Antipas, and he was the son of a man known as Herod the Great. He's referred to here as Herod the tetrarch. That word tetrarch is a general title for a political official. The word properly signifies a person who rules over a fourth part of a country. But it was used in a general sense also. It could be used by Jewish writers when they refer to a governor or even a king. You see, after the death of his father, who was Herod the Great, Rome divided Herod's kingdom among three of his sons, including Archelaus, who we see in Matthew chapter two, verse 22, and Philip, his half-brother, who is mentioned in this passage. And so we see here that he's referring to, in verse 19, Herod the tetrarch. But notice what he says here. Herod the tetrarch being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother, Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison. And so he was rebuked. Notice this, verse 19, Herod was rebuked. Herod the tetrarch being rebuked by him. That word rebuked means to be corrected or admonished. It speaks of revealing someone's fault. It even can be used in a way that would demand somebody to give an explanation. And so what we see here right from the beginning is that Herod had been rebuked or corrected, admonished. Herod had been admonished by John, corrected because of his sin. Now, I should hasten to add very briefly here that Herod could receive rebuk from John because John had a life that gave him the ability to give a rebuke. This is a man who is walking in the Spirit of God. This is a man who was completely committed and sold out. This is a man who was godly, who was a righteous man. And so because he had those qualifications, he also had the ability to rebuke somebody. I think it's very difficult when somebody is not walking in the ways of the Lord, when they take it upon themselves to rebuke and correct somebody else. You know, when they're not walking in the Spirit, when they're walking in the flesh. You know, it's kind of like a person who calls himself a Christian while they're drunk telling somebody they ought not to smoke pot. You know, and I've seen that happen. You know, when they're doing something wrong themselves, yet correcting somebody else, it just doesn't work, does it? Because people immediately look right past that and they say, what gives you the right to correct me when you've got so many things going on in your own life? Don't you have a savior named Jesus who one time said something like, if you're gonna remove a speck from somebody's eye, you might wanna take the beam out of your own. So before you run around correcting me, why don't you take a look at yourself? Why don't you look at your own life? And so John, John was able to do that. John was able to bring a word of correction because John was a spiritually mature person walking in the ways of the Lord. In the book of Romans, in chapter 15, verse 14, Paul said, I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another. You are good and you are knowledgeable of the things of the Lord, which qualifies you to be able to admonish, to rebuke, to correct, to bring somebody into line. So, if I'm gonna take it upon myself or I feel that I am inclined towards bringing a word of correction, it would probably be wise if I make sure that my life is okay too. And John's life lines up. John is able to bring this word of rebuke and it was out in the wilderness, echoing all the way into the government. Now, it's obvious that John had confronted Herod about his sins because that led to his being arrested and incarcerated. Notice verse 20, he shut John up in prison. So, it's obvious that he has been confronting him. Now, Mark tells us what was taking place. If you'd like, you can turn with me briefly to Mark's Gospel, chapter six. And let me show you something there found in verses 17 through 20. If you'd like to join me there. Mark chapter six, verses 17 through 20. Mark is the Gospel directly to your left. One over. Mark chapter six, verses 17 through 20. John obviously confronted Herod about his sin and this led to him being arrested and incarcerated. Mark six, 17 through 20 says, Herod himself had sinned and laid hold of John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her. For John had said to Herod, it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. Therefore, Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly. Now, I find it interesting to notice that it says in verse 20, when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly. In other words, he did many of the things that John spoke of, but he wasn't willing to fully commit himself. He listened gladly to what John had to say. He might have even appreciated some of the things that he was hearing. There are people who go to churches. Just like this. And there are many things that they hear from a pulpit just like this one here that they agree with. They'll listen carefully and they'll say, yeah, I agree with that. Yep, I agree with that. Herod was of that stripe. He would listen to him. He did many of the things. He would hear him gladly, but he might have done many of the things, but he wasn't willing to do all the things. And so, I'm certain that he appreciated much of what he was hearing, but that reminds me of something Ezekiel says in Ezekiel 33 verse 32 in the Old Testament where God speaking to a prophet by the name of Ezekiel said to him, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument. They hear your words, but they do not do them. And so, Herod was the kind of guy apparently would hear some of the things that John had to say and appreciate it. He agreed with those things. He said, that's right. That's what this nation really needs. We need these kinds of things. And this is a guy who says the things that they should be said. He's a courageous guy. He's a man's man. He's a person I can respect. And so, that's what's taking place. He's listening carefully. He's hearing him gladly. He'd even do many of the things that John spoke of, but he wasn't doing all the things that John spoke of. He wasn't willing to do so. Now, especially wasn't willing to do the things that he spoke of concerning marriage. You see, back in Luke chapter three, verse 19, I want you to notice something. I want you to notice that Luke refers to Herodias as his brother Philip's wife. Notice that. Herod the tetrarch being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. Notice how he put that. He calls him his brother Philip's wife because they were living in a state of adultery. History records that Herod had stolen Herodias from his brother Philip while he was on a visit to the city of Rome. And in order for him to marry her, he had to first divorce the woman he was presently married to. And as he got a divorce from the woman he had been presently married to, he divorced her for unbiblical reasons. And that divorce that he had was what would be called today a divorce of convenience. And a divorce of convenience having no biblical reference to or no permission given through scripture is the sin of adultery. It gets you into the sin of adultery. How do we know that? Well, if you take notes, Mark chapter 10, verses 11 and 12, Jesus speaking, whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. If a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. In other words, a man or a woman who lightly dismisses a marriage partner and remarries is committing adultery. God had commanded the nation of Israel in what is called the Seventh Commandment found in the book of Exodus chapter 20 verse 14 to not commit adultery. And yet Herod had done so. And John is repeatedly bringing this to his attention. He is saying to him, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. You have broken God's commandment. Now John is preaching and he's preaching with conviction. He's preaching with courage. He's preaching without a sense of respect of persons. And it didn't matter to him that Herod was offended. It didn't matter to him that Herodius was offended by him. This is a man whose greatest desire was to do the thing that was right in the sight of the Lord. If there's anything we need today, I would say we need to have believers who are willing to do what is right in the sight of the Lord. I believe very strongly that what God wants to do is that God wants to fill the pulpits of America with ministers who actually fear him and are actually willing to teach what is true. In second Chronicles 16 verse nine, the Bible says the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. And John had a heart like that. And God is looking for people like that. People who are willing to say my heart is loyal to you and I will do what you command me to do. It isn't easy to do that. It isn't easy to stand up and say this is true and that is not true. But when you say Lord, here am I, use me. Lord, fill me with your spirit. Father, I wanna have a hunger for righteousness. I'm willing to be counted for you. And you'll be surprised, you'll be amazed, you'll be astounded, you'll be so blessed to see what God will do with you. Why, because there are so few people today that I encounter who are sold out like that or are committed like that or are willing to stand up and be counted like that. When I first got saved, I started asking the Lord to give me a spine, give me a backbone. I wanna be willing to stand up for you and to speak for you. I want to have courage. I wanna have that confidence. I wanna have boldness. I wanna speak truth as if it is truth. I wanna hold fast to it and practice it and I wanna communicate it. And I can still remember coming from the background I came out of being a hippie and all. It was just kinda like, you know, you don't ever wanna ran on anybody's parade. Everything is cool, everything's fine. You don't wanna have strong opinions that are gonna cause other people to be uncomfortable. And so I actually had the opposite mindset than I have today. At that time I was an extreme, today I'd be referred to as just a liberal kind of person. I didn't really care as long as you didn't bother me. I don't care what you do with your life. And then I got saved. And as I began to read the Bible over the years I began to realize that God says certain things are true and some things are false. Some things are right and some things are wrong. And I can still remember at an early Christian age saying to the Lord, give me an ability, the Lord to speak the truth. And I went to Bible college for a year and then I took a year from Bible college and went to a secular university. And I can still remember being in classes where the professor had a certain opinion that I differed with and that I thought was biblically incorrect and asking the Lord, give me wisdom, give me an ability to speak, give me the courage to stand up and to say what is true regardless of how it makes me look and regardless of how people are gonna respond to me. And I began to pray like that. And I said, Lord, if I can't live my Christianity out in a classroom then I really can't live it out anywhere. Now can I? And so I asked him, please give me boldness and courage. Please help me to hold fast to what is true. And may I really believe that it is true and may I speak as if it is true and may I live as if it is true. And I can still remember that very well. I remember in one particular class that I was at that the professor had stated to us at the beginning of the school year that every one of us was gonna be assigned a word and that we were gonna have to give an impromptu speech using that word as our foundational concept and all. And several classes went by and I had yet to be called and it's not an easy thing to stand up in front of a classroom and to share. And I was in my mid-20s at that time, early 20s, probably about 23 years old, 24 at the oldest. And I can remember. And it finally got to my time and remember with me that I had been doing drugs since I was 15 and I was saved at the age of 20 and went in the military for two years, spent one year in Bible college and was just learning the Bible myself as I was learning to teach and give it out. I was also being equipped by the word of God and now I'm in a secular college and my professor has his earned degrees and students around there are probably brighter than I and I can still remember as he said, I'm gonna give you a word that I prayed. I said, Lord, well, whatever you have for me, just may I be courageous. And so it was my turn and he finally said, David, it's your turn. He said, come on up in front of the class and I came walking up in front of the class and some of you may know this but the number one fear most Americans deal with is the fear of speaking in public. And I can remember standing there and him saying to me the word that you are to share on is the word freedom. And so I was to give an impromptu speech of a few minutes and I still remember the basics of that because I said to them something like this, when you say the word freedom, I think of freedom that comes from God, a freedom that God gives to a man or a woman when they commit their heart to Jesus Christ and he sets them free from their sin. Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free and I've committed my heart to Jesus Christ and I've been set free and even as he said in his word, I am free indeed. And I began to preach to the class and I had asked the Lord, just give me the courage to do those kinds of things. Listen, it isn't easy to do that but you need to hold fast to what is true and you need to say, God, fill me with your spirit. I believe this word is true. I believe you set people free from their sin and I remember after sharing that with them the class was rather quiet because they weren't used to being preached to it at a secular college and the professor said, you know, you don't say very much but when you open your mouth, you say quite a bit and I took that as a compliment and I sat down and I have been doing that since before that but also ever since. My encouragement to you is to tell the Lord, I know that you are looking to and fro throughout this earth. You wanna show yourself strong on behalf of someone who's heart is completely loyal to you and Lord, I wanna be that person. I wanna be that one like Isaiah when he saw the Lord and he says and he was high and he was lifted up and his train filled the temple and the glory was just incredible and he said, as I was there and I saw this vision of God's holiness and the seraphim who were there who were saying, holy, holy, holy and then the question came out, who will go for me and Isaiah had stated, I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell amongst the people of unclean lips but one of the angels took some coal that was in an altar and pressed it against his lips and purified him and God then said to him, go. I told the Lord a long time ago I would like to be like an Isaiah. I realized that my words will never ever be as clear, as eloquent, as powerful, as God's word, as God is but Lord, I would ask that you would use me. I encourage you to do the same thing. I believe with all of my heart that there are people in this room that God wants to use in magnificent ways. He wants to use you to touch lives because you have an environment, you have a place that you can minister in that Billy Graham will never show up in, Greg Laurie will never show up in. Thank God, Raul Reese will never show up in. You have a workplace, you have a family, you have a school, you have a neighborhood that you have been placed strategically in to be used by Jesus Christ. So why not put your head on the pillow tonight and say, God, here am I, send me. Here am I, use me. I wanna be used by you, Lord. Why not? What a thrilling thing to be used by the Lord. And so he preached, he preached with conviction, he preached with courage, he didn't have a respect of persons. He said, it is not lawful for you to have your brother Philip's wife. You have committed adultery in that you have taken her, you have divorced your wife with no biblical reason, you have married her, and that is wrong. Not only is it adultery, but it was also incest. Herodias was the daughter of his half-brother, Aristobulus, and that made his wife his niece. And Leviticus 18, verse six, it says, no one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. And so sexual sin was being reproved, and it was being reproved consistently. And the conviction that was being experienced could have led Herod to repentance. Listen, there are times when you go through the Bible as we do and you try and find application, there are times that you may be in a Bible city here and something that is said may get you really upset. I'd be really surprised, but sometimes it happens. Sometimes people get so angry because they're so convicted. But instead of seeing it as the mercy of the Lord saying to you, this area needs to change in order that I might be able to bless you and you might be able to worship me in spirit and truth. Instead of doing that, a lot of people reject that. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 29, verse one, he who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. When the Lord speaks to you, allow God to have his way in your life. Don't argue with him, don't resist him, yield to him. Now you see, in the case of Herod, instead of repenting, he hardened his heart. And as a result, according to verse 20, he put John in prison. Now, in Matthew 14, verses three through five, Matthew says, Herod laid hold of John and bound him, put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because John had sent to him, it's not lawful for you to have her. Although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet. He listened to him gladly, and yet he also had a desire just to silence the one who was speaking out against him. There's a man by the name of Samuel Bregel. He was one of the early leaders of the Salvation Army. And he was writing concerning the way to spiritual leadership, and he said it this way. He said, it's not won by promotion, but by many prayers and tears. It is attained by confession of sin, and much heart searching and humbling before God. By self-surrender, a courageous sacrifice of every idol, a bold, deathless, uncompromising and uncomplaining embracing of the cross, and by an eternal, unfaltering looking into Jesus crucified. It is not gained by seeking great things for ourselves, but rather, like Paul, by counting those things that are gained to us as a loss for Christ. That is a great price. But it must be unflinchingly paid by him who would be not merely un nominal, but a real spiritual leader of men, a leader whose power is recognized and felt in heaven, on earth, and in hell. That was the kind of man that John was, a man who had unflinching courage. Now, as this is taking place, he's now shut up in prison, verse 21. Now, when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized, and while he prayed, the heaven was open. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, you are my beloved son, in you I am well pleased. Now, at this point, as we look at the baptism of Jesus, two questions immediately come to mind. One, how did John react when he had baptized Jesus? How did John react when he baptized Jesus? Because obviously, verse 21 comes prior to John being imprisoned. So how had he reacted? We'll look at that in a moment. And second, why did Jesus allow himself to be baptized in the first place? Well, Matthew supplies the answer for us. If you take notes, it's found in Matthew chapter three, verses 13 through 15. He says, Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John, but John tried to deter him saying, I need to be baptized by you. And do you come to me? Jesus replied, let it be so now. It is proper for us to do this, to fulfill all righteousness, and John consented. Now, John was used to baptizing, but he was baptizing sinners. The Bible tells us in Matthew chapter three, verse five, that all were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. But here comes Jesus, and this is a man with no sins to confess. And so what is John going to do? Well, initially, according to what we've read, he tries to deter Jesus from being baptized. In other words, when he sees Jesus coming to him, he responds with humility. He recognizes that Jesus is the one that should baptize John, not John baptizing Jesus. And so he says, listen, he says, I'm not worthy to do this. He had earlier stated, I can't even stoop down and unloose his sandal. Now, when he had said that, when he had pointed that out to us, and I believe he pointed that out here in chapter three, verse 16, I baptize you with water, but one mightier than I is coming whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to unloose. He was very humble. You need to know that Hebrew slaves were not allowed to remove a master's sandals. Only a son or a student would be permitted to do so. And so he was humble. He was saying, I'm not even able to do that. I'm not of that league. But Jesus made it clear, and I want to point out that his being baptized is going to fulfill all righteousness. Now, how does Jesus' being baptized fulfill all righteousness? How's that going to work? Well, one, when he receives baptism, it identified him. When Jesus received water baptism, it identified him as Messiah. John had said, there is one coming after me who is mightier than I. He didn't identify the one by name. He didn't say Jesus is coming and he's Messiah because initially he didn't even know that Jesus was Messiah. He says that in John 1.32 through 34, when he says, I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him, I would not have known him except the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, the man on whom you see the Spirit coming and remain on is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testified this is the Son of God. So one, he's being identified as Messiah through the baptism. Two, Jesus is placing a seal of approval on John's ministry because John was the one who was to go forth proclaiming a message that would draw people to Messiah. And so when he came to be baptized, he was actually authenticating him as a messenger of God. And then three, in receiving water baptism, Jesus identified himself with sinful man. That is something that I bless the Lord for. He identifies with me. Remember that John came preaching repentance and they would confess their sins as they were being water baptized. In other words, they were recognizing that they were cut off from God as strange from him by sin. And so the washing of the water was a demonstration of repentance as they were being prepared to receive Messiah who was to come. Jesus, in coming and receiving water baptism, is saying to us, I am being identified with you. Though I don't have sin as you do, yet I identify completely with you. And so as our high priest, his baptism is a demonstration of our sinfulness and need for a mediator. If you take notes, Hebrews chapter two, verses 14 and 15, since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Jesus Christ's incarnation intended to set us free. Jesus Christ came as our mediator in order that we might know that we have a God who fully understands us, a God who identifies with us, a God who suffers along with us if you will. And so that's why when you take your needs to the Lord and you say to him, God, nobody else understands, that's why you can go to Jesus Christ and he can say to you, I do. I understand. A fourth thing is Jesus's baptism was a symbol of his death and resurrection. Whenever we do water baptisms here, I quote out of Romans chapter six. And in Romans chapter six, verse four, Paul said we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. When Jesus Christ was baptized, it was symbolic of his death and his burial and his resurrection. Listen, when we go into the water here and we have water baptism and we do so through full immersion, I like to present to the people this, when you go into the water and go underneath, that's a picture of death and burial. But when you come out of the water, that's a picture of your resurrection. So you are crucified in Christ, nevertheless you live. What happens is you're identifying with his death, burial and resurrection. So it's symbolic of that for us. And so as this is taking place, the Holy Spirit now descended in bodily form like a dove upon him and a voice came from heaven which said you are my beloved son and you I am well pleased. And so the Holy Spirit descends. You see in the Old Testament, prophets, priests, kings were all anointed to consecrate them to service to God. And so as a man, he was anointed for service. His humanity required strength that only the Spirit could supply. The Bible in Isaiah 61 verse one says, the Spirit of the Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim freedom for the captives and a release from darkness for the prisoners. Jesus was anointed for service. In Acts 10, 37 and 38, you know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached. Now God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy Spirit in power and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him. And so when the Lord Jesus Christ received water baptism, that's an anointing for service. He's going forth in the power of the Spirit of God to do the work that God has called him to do. And then at that point, a voice from heaven cries out and speaks and it says to him you are my beloved son in you I am well pleased. God declares Jesus to be his unique son and that Jesus brings pleasure to him. My son David is going to school right now and I'm very proud of him. So I'll use him as an example. And he's in a class, that's a speech class in college and he's writing papers. And so he recently wrote a paper on creation versus evolution. And he asked me to read it and I did today. And as I was reading his paper and let me boast if I may, you know he's getting an A in the class and I'm very, very proud of him. And I was reading that but what really, really made me more proud in my son in whom I'm well pleased was that he was openly speaking about God created the heavens and the earth. There's no evidence that speaks otherwise. I've been taught to believe the word of God is the word of God and until somebody can prove that it's not, then I'm holding fast to it. And he's going to a secular college, he's not going to a Christian college. And I was proud of him and he came into the room and he said, well dad what did you think about the paper? And I said I want you to know some things and I want you to know I read it and I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you. And I am because it takes a certain amount of courage to be willing to stand up and say this is what I believe. This is what I've been taught. This is what God's word says. And as a father I look at my son and I can say this about all of my children to be honest with you, I can say this about them. I can say, you know, you're my beloved children and in you I am well pleased. I am so blessed by what God is doing in your life. But there's just something about seeing the relationship between Jesus and his father. That his father would speak from heaven and make it very evident that's my boy and I love him and I'm extremely pleased with him. Isaiah 42, one says, behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. Jesus said in John 829, he who sent me is with me, the father has not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. I wanna be the person and I am that person that pleases my father is what Jesus was saying. And so Jesus Christ is that lamb unblemished and spotless who is perfectly acceptable and is pleasing to the father. And so as I look at the Lord Jesus Christ, I can't help but apply this to myself and I say to him, Lord I want to be somebody that you are pleased with too. I wanna live a life that is evidenced that I have been bought with a price. I wanna glorify you with my body and my spirit which belong to you. I wanna hear one day the words well done, my good and my faithful servant. I wanna hear you say enter into the joy of the Lord that has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. I want him to speak those words over me and you know what fact is he can and he does because in the Lord Jesus Christ we have received the righteousness of God in him. We've also received the power of the Holy Spirit enabling us to obey him and he has given to us his word that he has etched onto the tablets of our heart. He gives us the ability to perform that which he desires and he also gives to us within our own heart a willingness to do those things. This all comes from him. The day that you got saved, the day that you opened your heart to Christ, the day that you said God be merciful to me, I'm a sinner, I need your help, is the day that God saved you and when he saved you he began at that point to infill and to work within you. And then you got to that point where you started saying things to the Lord like, God I just need more of you, I want more of you. Fill me with your spirit and he began to anoint you even greater and greater and you got to know his word. And then you began to say, Lord you have given me so many things I want to share with other people, I'm a little nervous, I'm a bit afraid, but the Lord gives you his word and he says open your mouth and I will fill it. Then you read the scripture where Jesus said it is the spirit of your father who speaks in you and I will give you words and I'll give you wisdom that none of your adversaries will gain, say nor resist and so you say, Lord in Jesus' name fill my mouth with good things. Lord I've been reading the scripture out of the abundance of my heart, may I speak forth those things that you have given to me. You have deposited, you have treasured your word within me, I have esteemed your word as being more necessary than my daily food, I have meditated on these things daily and I ask now that you would just use me to your glory that I might speak forth your word with conviction, power, with an honesty so that there's an integrity related to those things that I'm saying but Father in Jesus' name I know that I fail but in you I am more than a conqueror therefore I thank you for the forgiveness that you give to me, I ask that you use me for your glory and when you give me opportunity I will speak and if nobody else will Lord, I'm gonna be the one who is willing to do so even if I feel like a fool after doing that and you wanna know something? God gives you great opportunities and sometimes you'll walk away and you'll say where the Lord was present, man God moved in a neat way and other times you go and you say oh Lord boy am I stupid, I wish I wouldn't have said that. God can you teach me how to be a little less passionate and a little more thoughtful and you wanna know something over the years and God is just so pleased so pleased to work with you in that way oh I encourage you guys today, fall in love with the Lord, I encourage you today fall in love with his word, open your heart to his spirit be willing to speak, there's a generation going to hell in a hand basket but God has raised the church up in these last days to be a witness for him, be willing, be willing to be counted a fool for Christ and gain all things even though in this world you may be considered to be the off scouring, be willing, be willing to sometimes cause people to be a little bit uncomfortable because if you love him enough to tell him the truth at least I'll look to you later on and remember that there was a person who knew the truth who told me it and who knows but God might use that in their life someday to draw him to Jesus Christ. Just sow those seeds guys, be willing to do so stand up and be counted for Christ and watch what God will do in your life. Ask him to anoint you with his spirit, look at guys like John the Baptist and others, so many others in scripture that were willing to stand up and be counted and join the group and watch what the Lord will do with you and who knows five years from now, 10 years from now what God will have done such mighty things through you should the Lord tarry. My encouragement to you is walk in his spirit, be open, be anointed and be used by him.