John the Baptist

Poverty was part of Elijah's calling.

Poverty was part of John the Baptist's calling.

For such people, they don't even see it as poverty.

It's you that are making socioeconomic categories that can see it as poverty.

You show up in sandals, a robe.

You know, John the Baptist head on a platter.

You know, just a fake head.

I honestly have no

You must be one with Jesus and be bound up in the bundle of life with him if you would bring others into that life.

Peter had repented under the preaching of John the Baptist.

had forsaken all to follow jesus and had waited with prayer and unquenchable desire until he had received the baptism of the holy ghost and a fire and had been anointed with power from on high before he became the fearless mighty preacher who won three thousand converts in a day paul was mightily converted on the road to damascus and heard the voice of jesus tell him what to do and was baptized with the holy ghost under the teaching of ananias before he became the apostle of quenchless zeal who turned the world upside down luther was definitely converted and justified by faith on the stairway of st peter's at rome before he became the invincible reformer who could stand before popes and emperors and set captive nations free george fox wesley finney whitfield jonathan edwards william taylor james covey moody and general booth each and all had a definite personal experience that made them apostles of fire prophets of god and saviors of men they did not guess that they were saved nor hope so but they knew whom they believed and that they had passed from darkness to light and from the power of satan unto god this experience was not evolution but a revolution no evolutionist ever has been or ever will be a great soul-winner it is not by growth that men become such but by revelation it is not until god bursts through the veil and reveals himself in their hearts through faith in his dear son and gives a consciousness of personal acceptance with him and sheds abroad his love in the heart destroying unbelief burning away sin consuming selfishness and filling the soul with a passion that filled the heart of jesus that men become soul-winners the experience that makes a man a soul-winner is twofold first he must know his sins forgiven he must have recognized himself a sinner out of friendly relation with god and careless of god's claim heedless of god's feelings selfishly seeking his own way in spite of divine love and compassion and heedless of the awful consequences of separating himself from god and this must have led to repentance toward god by which i mean a sorrow for and an utter turning away from sin followed by a confiding trust in jesus christ as his savior he must have so believed for christ's sake his sins have been forgiven and that he has been adopted into god's family and made one of his dear children this consciousness results from what paul calls the witness of the spirit and enables the soul to cry out in deep filial confidence and affection abba father Second, he must be sanctified.

He must know that his heart is cleansed, that pride in self-will and carnal ambition and strife and sensitiveness and suspicion and unbelief in every unholy temper are destroyed by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, a personal Pentecost, and the incoming of a great love for and loyalty to Jesus Christ before he can be largely used to win souls.

Spiritual power is the outcome of spiritual life, and all life, from that of the moss and lichen on the wall to that of the archangel before the throne, is from God.

Therefore let those who aspire to this leadership pay the price and seek it from God.

Who made Elijah and John the Baptist, hairy, uncouth men of the wilderness and desert, prophets who awed kings and swayed nations? God.

Who took Moses from the universities of Egypt and the palaces of Pharaoh and after drilling him among flocks of sheep on the backside of the desert for forty years made him the meek but unconquerable leader of two millions of slaves and the lawgiver and fountainhead of jurisprudence for all time? God.

It was begun twenty or twenty-one BC.

John chapter two, verse twenty.

Matthew chapter twenty-four, verses one and two.

Matthew chapter thirteen, verses one and two.

Fifth, Christ's relation to the Mosaic covenant.

A, was under it, Galatians chapter 4 verse 4, Matthew chapter 3 verse 13, etc.

B, kept it, John chapter 8 verse 46, chapter 15 verse 10.

C, bore its curse for sinners, Galatians chapter 3 verse 10 to 13, chapter 4 verse 45, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, etc.

science, arts, and civilization, thinking thus to exclude them from the rank of errors.

But Christ warns us against them all without excluding any toga, Not only Christ's words, but those of all Hebrew prophets, of John the Baptist, and of all the truly wise men who have ever lived, have referred to this same church, this same government, culture, civilization, etc., calling them evils and the causes of man's perdition.

For instance, suppose an architect were to say to the owner of a house, "'Your house is in a bad state.

It must be wholly rebuilt,' and were then to go on giving all the necessary details about the kind of beams that would be required, how they were to be cut, and where placed.

He tells us that the whole written law may be reduced to this sole expression of the eternal law.

And by these his words he annuls the written law.

When he says in Luke 16 verse 16, the law and the prophets until John the Baptist, he refers to the written law and by these words asserts that it is no longer obligatory.

When he says in John 7 19, didn't Moses give you the law? and yet none of you keeps the law or john 8 17 isn't it said in your law or again john 15 25 the word that is written in their law he refers to the written law the law that he rejects the law by which he was soon after sentenced to death john 19 verse 7 the jews answered him we have a law and by our law he ought to die It is obvious that this law of the Hebrews, by which Christ himself was sentenced to death, was not the law that he taught.

And there's a chapter in the book specifically on that where I deal with it.

But it's like, well, when he says his... plan is to restore all things in heaven and on earth um what does all things include i mean that's a pretty inclusive statement and even if you recognize as as i do that yes there are passages where it uses the the same term and uh all uh jerusalem came out to hear john the baptist preach okay so do we recognize that there is such a thing as uh the effect of you know, exaggeration for the purposes, but still being inspired.

Does that literally mean every single person came out to hear John the Baptist preach? No, it's the same way where we say, well, um, all the people in, um, Seattle, we're excited about Seahawks, though not this week.

But, you know, and they all follow.

No, it's not everybody, of course.

That was suffering at a high level.

As I read this, I thought of John the Baptist.

You know, called to the highest service of God and for that killed.

I mean, it is hard for us to take.

so that no evil may come to us twelve for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory and there shall be order and strength and reason in that large third part from which this work is condensed the gospel according to the four evangelists is

presented in full but in the rendering now given all passages are admitted which treat of the following matters namely john the baptist's conception and birth his imprisonment and death

christ's birth and his genealogy his mother's flight with him into egypt his miracles at cana and capernaum the casting out of devils the walking on the sea the cursing of the fig tree the healing of the sick and the raising of dead people the resurrection of christ himself and finally the reference to prophecies fulfilled in his life These passages are admitted in this abridgment, because, containing nothing of the teaching, and describing only events which passed before, during, or after the period in which Jesus taught, they complicate the exposition.

However one takes them, under any circumstance, they bring to the teachings of Jesus neither contradiction nor confirmation of its truth.

This must be about three leagues from the place where John baptized in the Jordan, and about seven leagues from Bethlehem.

This is the house where thirty years after Jesus passed the night, the eleventh of October, the eve of the day on which for the first time after his baptism, he passed before John the Baptist.

near this house was a separate barn where they kept their tools and such things as the shepherds made use of in the court was a fountain surrounded with baths which received the water of this fountain through pipes the master of this house must have had a large property there was there an extensive cultivation of land i saw a number of servants come and go who there took their meals the master of the house received the travellers in a very friendly manner and showed himself very obliging he took them into a comfortable room and took care of the ass a servant washed the feet of st joseph at the fountain and gave him other clothes whilst he cleaned his own which were covered in dust a female servant rendered the same assistance to the blessed virgin they took their repasts in this house and slept here the mistress of the house was a very frivolous character and she remained shut up in her room she looked at the travellers without being seen and as she was young and vain the beauty of the blessed virgin displeased her she feared also that mary would speak to her desire to stay in her house and be confined there so she had the want of politeness not to show herself and took measures that the traveller should depart on the following day this was the woman whom thirty years after jesus found in this house blind and bent double and whom he cured after having given her some advice on her want of hospitality and her vanity There were also some children in the house.

The holy family passed the night there.