This morning, we’re continuing our message series, “Align.” Throughout this series, we’re learning how to position ourselves to get back into alignment with God. This enables us to live our lives to their fullest potential and not to miss out on anything that God has for us.
So far, we learned about the first two steps required, which begins with humility. Humility: it’s all God, not me. We begin by positioning ourselves in surrender to God wholly and fully.
We then must allow Jesus, the Great Physician, to replace our calloused, hardened heart with a new, soft one and position it into alignment with His. After all, our hearts are the source from which our attitudes, thoughts, and actions flow.
Today, we continue the adventure that follows that we call obedience. This is where each of us discern and fulfill our unique purpose in life one day and one decision at a time.
It is where every day, we receive and live by the new love and grace and mercy that God gives us for that day. Where every day, we are inwardly renewed and transformed more and more into the person God created us to be. Every day is a fresh start and full of new opportunities to encounter God’s Presence in a new way!
Every trouble, which Jesus said we would have, is a promise waiting to be fulfilled by the miracle-working power of Holy Spirit within us! It’s a testimony in the making!
Last week, we ended on a reminder of the need for us to be patient as we trust God’s process one step at a time. We were challenged to have the same mindset and attitude as Jesus did in our relationships with one another from Philippians 2. Jesus obeyed the will of the Heavenly Father over His own and was promoted and exalted at just the right time. His suffering and shame was only a season that lead to an eternal glory.
2 Corinthians 4:13-18
13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Inward renewal that transforms us from the inside-out giving us the faith that we need to stand on and declare out God’s truth despite what our circumstances say otherwise! We believe, therefore we speak! We believe, therefore we do not lose heart! We’re moving forward from glory to ever-increasing glory!
The space between where we are now and the goodness of God that is coming our way is the season of preparation.
The scriptures reveal to us very little about Jesus between the time that He was twelve years old and about thirty when He started His public ministry.
At twelve, He was about His Heavenly Father’s business amazing the teachers as He sat among them both asking as well as answering questions. They were astounded by the depth of His understanding.
At thirty, He was water baptized by John the Baptist and began preaching to repent because the Kingdom of God is here!
What is recorded during this time? A preparation was taking place.
God’s people were intently searching out the scriptures and growing impatient as Roman persecution was increasing in the arrival of God’s Messiah. Jesus’ disciples were wondering about this as well.
After the transfiguration where Peter, James, and John met Moses and Elijah, they asked:
Matthew 17:10-13
10 “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”
Well, before we get to Jesus’ response, let’s turn to the scripture that the teachers of the law were referring to. Before they sought out their savior, they were seeking out Elijah as a sign that He was soon coming.
Malachi 4
1 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. 3 Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Elijah absolutely would come before the day of the Lord would come and he would do a work to turn the HEARTS of people back to right relationship; children to their parents and parents to their children. This prophecy is absolutely true. However, Jesus responded:
11 “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. 12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.
Before Jesus rose from the grave, before the cross, before He began His public ministry, even before He was born, God planned to send a forerunner to prepare the people to receive their Messiah. One who would go before the savior in the spirit and the power of Elijah just as it was prophesied.
Luke 1:8-17
8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
John the Baptist was Spirit-filled and ministering even before he was born. Just after Mary learned about her own pregnancy with Jesus, she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was pregnant with John.
Luke 1:39-45
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
During those thirty years that Jesus was waiting for the right time, John the Baptist was publicly ministering and preparing the hearts of the people to receive their savior.
Matthew 3:1-6;11-17
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Jesus emphasized the importance of John’s ministry and the necessity of this preparation season. Even John was wondering and wanted to be sure that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah.
Matthew 11:2-15
2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
7 As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written:
“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. 15 Whoever has ears, let them hear.
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
That preparation season was just that; a season. John discerned that the season that he worked to prepare the people to receive Jesus was coming to an end and he worked to direct people to Jesus.
John 3:26-30
26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.”
Like John the Baptist, we must decrease and Jesus must increase in our lives.
Preparing the way of the Lord isn’t easy work. Anyone can rejoice and celebrate when someone is saved. Like Jesus said:
Luke 15:10
I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
However, what doesn’t often get celebrated was the work done that prepared that sinner to repent.
We all love the harvest season when we can’t keep up with everything ripening all at the same time and the overabundance that exists!
However, that harvest would not have been as fruitful as it was had it not been for the far longer season of preparation. The planning and plowing and planting and fertilizing and watering and weeding and chasing the critters away and more. All of this hard work done in faith and at great risk was done to prepare the way for a harvest.
So it is in the Kingdom of God. We, like John the Baptist, persevere and do good to those around us planning and plowing and planting and fertilizing and watering and weeding and chasing the enemy away all to prepare the way to lead them to Jesus and His great salvation!
1 Corinthians 3:5-9
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field
Do not grow weary and do not lose heart! All of your diligent work preparing the way for the Lord will be blessed and the harvest is on its way! We do it all in obedience and by faith, but the harvest is coming!
Talk about coming into alignment! That’s what the preparation season is all about!
Isaiah 40:3-5
3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Let’s continue working on alignment in our lives as well as in the lives of those around us! Preparation is tough work, but it is critical and incredibly valuable! It will be blessed!
Let’s align everything as to prepare a highway for the Lord! Raise up the valleys, lower the mountains and hills, smooth the rough places, and destroy every work of the enemy to try and keep them from Jesus!