No savior’s better than another. No religious figure stands out. But as followers of Jesus, we understand Jesus is unique. There’s nobody like him. Only Jesus is the God, the God man who came from heaven.

Only Jesus is the God who bore our sins on the cross. Only Jesus is the God who rose from the dead, defeated death for all who put their faith in him. And only Jesus came to bring a kingdom and come as a king. So Jesus is unique, and we’re going to look at that from a couple different angles. First of all, God anointing him with his Holy Spirit, marking him out as the chosen one, but also we’re going to see that he came in this long line of a genealogy.

Now, when you get to the genealogies in the Bible, as modern Americans, what we tend to do is our our eyes glaze over and we start to think, okay, what is this long list of hard to pronounce names mean for me? How does this affect my life? I I don’t even know who these people are. But I want you to see that Luke did his homework. As a good historian, he wanted us to see that Jesus fulfills every promise and he’s connected to all these people throughout history.

And you know, it’s it’s significant because Matthew traces Jesus’s ancestry back through David. He’s a son of David and to Abraham. He’s the the seed of Abraham. But beyond that, Matthew [clears throat] stops right there. And and part of that is because Luke has a different focus.

Luke wants to show us that Jesus is connected to all humanity. His line goes all the way back to the beginning to Adam. Adam, a real man in history. Jesus is a descendant from him. So, as we read this whole section, and yes, I am going to read the entire genealogy.

So, brace yourself, buckle in. Here we go. But what you’re going to see, I want you to appreciate this because this means Jesus really is a man of history. He really did come from that first man. And that means he’s connected to the whole human race.

Jesus is a blood relative of every single person. And that matters. Here’s the big idea this morning. If you want to make a difference in the world, you need to think and live differently from the world. We’re going to see that that was true of John the Baptist and that was true of many others who stood for Christ.

They stood out because they thought differently. They didn’t just go with the flow. So, if you would please stand if you’re able for the reading of God’s holy and perfect word from Luke chapter 3, beginning in verse 15 here. As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with an unquenchable fire. So with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodiius, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven.

You are my beloved son. With you I am well pleased. Jesus when he began his ministry was about 30 years of age being the son as was supposed of Joseph the son of Heli the son of Mthot the son of Levi the son of Mali the son of Jani the son of Joseph the son of Matathias the son of Amos the son of Nahm the son of Esleie the son of Negi the son of Math the son of Matathias the son of Saman the son of Joseph the son of Jodah the son of Joanam the son of Raa the son of Zerubbabel the son of Shiial. Got to take a breath here. The son of Ni, the son of Melki, the son of Adi, the son of Kosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, the son of Joshua, the son of Eleazar, the son of Jorim, the son of Mthhat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonah, the son of Eliakim, the son of Mala, the son of Ma, the son of Mata Matatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Oed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salah, the son of Nashan, the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arie, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terara, the son of Nahor, the son of Sug, the son of Ru, the son of Pale, the son of Abber, the son of Shayla, the son of Canaan, the son of Arfaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, oldest man ever to live.

The son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahaliel, the son of Canaan, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. We made it. Thank you. You may be seated. Now, part of the reason that I wanted us to go through that and read every single name is because in God’s perspective, every generation matters.

Every person matters. Every person in that long line that I just listed, every single one of them had a role. God put them on this earth for a time. They had an appointed number of days. They They couldn’t exceed the number that God appointed.

Couldn’t have less than what God appointed. They were there for a time to fulfill their life’s purpose and they mattered. And each one of us, as we’re going to see, are were put on this earth for a generation, for a time, a certain number of days, and we’re given every opportunity to love God, love others, and make a difference. That’s what Jesus calls all of us to do. And in the same way, we see John the Baptist had his moment to fulfill his life’s purpose.

He was here for a reason. And you know, all four gospels call attention to John as the forerunner of the Messiah because he had a specific role, a very important role. And they wanted to call attention to that. This was the greatest moment in history. For 33 years in all of history, for 33 years, God walked among us on this earth as one of us.

He lived. He died. He rose again. And so, it only makes sense that someone would announce his arrival. Now, what I love about John is not only is he bold and courageous.

John said a lot of hard truths that people had a hard time to hear, but he also had incredible humility. He was always pointing away from himself to Jesus. He wanted his life to be all about Christ, not about himself. He wasn’t lifting himself up. He was lifting up Jesus.

And that’s where God calls us to plant our flags, too. In your notes, a Christian’s convictions are grounded in the truth that Jesus Christ and his word are the supreme authority for all of life. Now, keep in mind at this time in Israel, there was this messianic expectation that was at a fever pitch. People were eager. They had seen all the prophecies.

They knew that the Roman Empire was oppressing them. Every time a new squad of soldiers arrived, they were freshly reminded how much they needed a savior, someone to to rescue them, to deliver them from their troubles. Everyone was ready. It says they were the people were in expectation. They were ready for a king and a kingdom that would topple all other kingdoms.

And they wondered kind of collectively. They see John. He’s he’s out there preaching along the Jordan. He’s calling people to repentance. He looks like he could be the guy.

Everyone was wondering, “Is this him? Is he the guy we’ve been waiting for?” In many ways, John did fit the profile of the Messiah. He spoke boldly. He called all people to repentance, including the Gentiles, Roman soldiers, and he announced God’s judgment.

And I think everybody saw John’s ministry, and they recognized there’s a supernatural work going on in this man’s life. He He’s not like all of us. He was on fire with a passion for God. So, they thought, maybe it’s John. Maybe he’s the Messiah.

But then, a curious thing happens. When John’s popularity is at an all-time high, crowds are streaming to him. People are are coming to be baptized. They’re saying, “We’re ready to follow you, John. You’re our guy.”

An amazing thing happens. Instead of saying, “I am your guy. Look at me.” He says, “I’m not your guy.” And he points to somebody else and he says, “There is a higher authority than me.”

And he does this in this really self-deprecating way that’s quite astonishing. He says, ‘Look, I baptize with water, but there is one coming mightier than me, and he is one who I’m not even worthy of untying his sandal strap. That’s an interesting statement because, you know, here’s John. He’s got everybody’s attention. By the way, at this point, hardly anybody knows who Jesus is.

Everybody knows who John is. He could have told them almost anything and they would have rushed right to it. But he says this as a way of saying, “You’re looking for a savior. You’re looking for a hero. Aren’t we all looking for a hero?

We’re looking for someone to save us.” And he’s telling these people, “Look, I’m not your guy. In fact, I am just here not with some magic here. I am just here to be the messenger boy. I’m announcing somebody who’s going to arrive after me.”

And he says this thing about the sandal strap, which is interesting because there’s an ancient rabbi that has this statement that a disciple ought to be willing to do anything for his teacher. That’s how they viewed it. They respected their rabbis and their teachers so much except this is the one exception except to untie his sandal strap. That’s reserved for the lowest slave. It’s very interesting.

And then John calls attention to this. He says, “I’m not even worthy.” In other words, I’m not worthy to be his lowest slave. Just imagine how the crowds would have taken this in. Here is John, this great and mighty man.

He’s full of the Holy Spirit. People are drawn in by his words. And he says, “I’m not worthy to be this man’s lowest slave. I don’t belong on that chart. I’m not worthy of that.”

So great and mighty was Jesus that even though he said John was the greatest man to ever live, the greatest man to ever live, was not worthy of being Jesus’s lowest slave. I want to have that same attitude as John. I want to always be in awe of the grace that God has shown me. I never want to forget about it. I never want to take it for granted.

I always want to be impressed with the fact that God looked at me and he said, “I’m going to show you grace that you don’t deserve. I don’t want to take for granted the fact that I get to stand up here and preach God’s word. It’s an awesome privilege. I know I’m not worthy of this pulpit. Not in a million years.

Going to seminary or whatever, that is not what qualifies me or anyone to preach God’s word. It’s by God’s grace and only by God’s grace. So, I know that I’m I’m here by God’s grace. And I’m grateful to be your pastor. And sometimes I just shake my head because growing up, I I never would have pegged myself as a future pastor.

Honestly, I I was so sure I was going into another career. I went to business school. I had this whole idea of how my my life was going to go. And basically, God just sovereignly picked me up and said, “Nope, you’re going in this direction.” And you know, I’m so glad he did.

But it amazes me because I know only God could have changed my mind. But what never changes is that Jesus Christ is our supreme authority in life and all things. And John understood that people of conviction understand that they answer to someone higher than themselves. Whoever is up here or whoever is out there, all of us are fallible. There’s only one who is infallible and that’s King Jesus.

So God calls each of us to be people of conviction. And we can follow him faithfully by the power of the Holy Spirit. In your notes, true spiritual power for life comes from being baptized in the Holy Spirit. This is John’s point. He says, “I have been baptizing you guys with water, but he will baptize you with the spirit and with fire.

Though he doesn’t yet mention him by name, he’s talking about Jesus. So what does it mean to be baptized by the Holy Spirit? Christians have had different views on this. Some from a more Pentecostal background would say baptism in the spirit. They will often say things like that is a a second blessing.

That’s that’s something that happens to a Christian later in life after he’s already been converted. And often that’s marked by speaking in tongues or other such manifestations like that. Others would say baptism in the spirit or baptism by the spirit happens at conversion. And it’s actually what it means is it’s when you’re born again. And that’s the view I hold.

One primary reason is that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer at conversion. Ephesians 1 talks about how it’s upon faith in the gospel that we’re sealed with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:14 says, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.” So the [snorts] Holy Spirit isn’t just for a select few like the spiritual elite. He is the seal of every believer.

He is the guarantee of our inheritance for every disciple. But the Holy Spirit not only seals us in Christ, he empowers us for ministry. We could not do any ministry. We couldn’t do anything to contribute to the kingdom of God if it were not for the Holy Spirit. And the central passage on this is 1 Corinthians 12 that says, “For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body.

Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, all were made to drink of one spirit.” So far from being something that divides Christians into different categories or sets, baptism in the spirit is what unites every believer into one body so that we can serve the Lord and carry out his kingdom purposes. It’s by the spirit. It’s baptism in the spirit that we can do that. And John said Jesus would baptize us with the spirit and with fire.

Now, later on, John is going to talk about the judgment, the fire of judgment here. That’s not what he’s talking about because fire here is often a symbol of the Lord’s presence. Also, think about the time at Pentecost when the tongues of fire came down or in the Old Testament, you could think of the burning bush or the the pillar of fire that led the people of Israel in the desert. Fire was often a way of showing God is with you. He is guiding you.

He is setting your course. So here’s the picture. When you and I surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, we are baptized in the spirit and and our souls it’s like a fire comes within and that fire of the Holy Spirit begins to start burning away those sinful desires that were there. And more and more we’re ignited with a passion to live for Jesus. A passion that was not there before we were baptized in the spirit.

When we were in the flesh, we didn’t really care about what Jesus thought. We didn’t care about following him as the supreme authority. We thought of him as a nice guy with some nice things to say. But once you’re baptized in the spirit, you understand Jesus is everything. I live for him.

All of my life is about him. I owe him everything. That’s what it means to be baptized in the spirit. That’s why we say so and so is on fire for the Lord. That expression actually has a biblical root.

Or even in sports, people say, you know, so and so is hot. If he if he’s hitting every shot, we say he’s on fire. And that’s the idea that he’s been reinvigorated to do great things. And John in the spiritual realm was on fire. He was on fire from the time he was in his mommy’s womb.

He was filled with the Holy Spirit. He was passionate to make his life all about Jesus. Now, many of us know what that’s like. You could probably think of a time in your life where it hit you for the first time. Maybe you were at a camp or on a mission trip.

Maybe were you in a church. Maybe you were at home reading your Bible singing praise songs. Whatever it might be, but God’s power and presence suddenly felt so real like you’d never experienced before. And you knew God is here and he is at work in my life and I want to live for him. That’s what it means to experience that fire that John is talking about.

Now, a question for you is, are you still on fire for Jesus or are you spiritually smoldering? The key to being ignited for Jesus once again according to the book of Revelation is to return to your first love. Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, “reepent and do the works you did at first.” In other words, go back to doing those things you did when you were on fire for the Lord. Commit to study scripture.

This year, 2026, make it a year that you will commit to know not only the word of God, but the God of the word. Ask God to fill you with his spirit. Invite Jesus to reign in every part of your life. Worship Jesus. Collectively as a body and worship by yourself when you’re alone.

Live as if heaven is your audience and cheering you on. And as you do these kinds of things, you will catch fire. Your soul will catch fire for the Lord. John was a flame with love for Jesus. That’s why John would say things like, “He must increase.

I must decrease.” He had all this popularity and yet he said things that that astonish us. You know, even the historian Josephus took note of John. He said that the religious leaders were afraid of John because he had so much influence and they didn’t know what he would do with it. But John was ready to be completely emptied of himself and full of Christ.

And that’s where we’re called to live as well with a burning love for Jesus at the core of your life. And when you have that, you’ll have the courage to say things that need to be said. In your notes, convictions are beliefs that are that you are so convinced are true, you’re willing to stand for them despite the consequences. John the Baptist was a man of conviction. We know that because he didn’t allow the fear of man to silence him.

You know, there’s a lot of times where we know what that’s like to have the fear of man creep up in our hearts and and we know we’re supposed to say something and but we’d rather not say something because we don’t want to offend or we don’t want to upset or be misunderstood. But John said the things that needed to be said. He said things like, “You need to repent.” Everyone expected the Messiah to be a warrior king to come and rescue them and and slaughter all the Romans and and make Israel that great nation. But John said, ‘You know what?

Beginning with Israel, Jesus is coming as your judge. Not just your your savior, he’s coming as your judge. Verse 17, his winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. This is a picture of the end of the age. At harvest time, a farmer will need to go and separate the wheat from the chaff.

The chaff is that casing around the grain of wheat. And they would go to the threshing floor and they would they would toss that wheat in the air and the grain would fall to the floor and and the chaff they would do it into the wind so that the chaff would be blown to one side and they would later burn that pile. And John says, “The Messiah will one day do this with the human race. He will sift all of us and he will put everybody in a category. Either you are chaff or you are wheat.

Either you are baptized in the Holy Spirit or you’re not. Now, hell is not a popular subject. But John says, “You need to know. You need to know there is a day of judgment coming. It’s coming and and it’s going to be here before you know it.

You need to be ready for that. Are you among the wheat? And John says, ‘The chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire. Jesus, by the way, will repeat this same message. This isn’t just John.

Jesus talked more about hell than anybody else. And he’s the most loving man to ever live. But he said, “You must repent if you want to escape the fire of God’s judgment.” Because as you come to Christ, you’re finding forgiveness of sin and you’re finding that shield of protection. Because Jesus, when he went to the cross, he bore the full weight, the full penalty of our sins in our places, our substitute, so that we could be spared from God’s wrath.

Now, here’s what struck me. Verse 18 says that in saying all this, John was preaching good news to the people. And I I read that and I thought that’s interesting. He’s talking about an unquenchable fire. And he says that’s that’s good news that he was preaching.

I look at it this way. In the grand scheme of things, is it better to have a God who shrugs at evil or judges evil? Do we want to have a God who judges sin, purifies his creation, and makes all things new? Is that good news? Now, I’m happy to admit that the wrath of God is not something any of us are are going to say is a popular idea.

It’s not. But here’s where people are a bit inconsistent. Because what happens is when evil runs rampant in the world today, you know what people often say? Where was God? Why didn’t he do anything?

But then when God promises, I will deal with evil, people say, how could a loving God judge evil? Right? You can’t have it both ways. The fact is our sense of justice demands that evil be punished. That those who do wrong must be held accountable.

We we sense that within us because we’re made in God’s image. Do we want God to judge Satan? Yes and amen. Do we want God to judge murderers, racists, and evil dictators? Yes, we do.

Do we want God to judge thieves, adulterers, liars? Do we want God to judge us? Well, suddenly we’re not sure hell is such a good idea when we start talking about ourselves, right? We think, you know, we’re pretty decent folk. We’re not like those other guys, those those evil guys out there.

But God says that every one of us, every one of us will be held accountable. And the only way the only way to escape that judgment is to be found in Christ. But let’s say that you’re like me and you tend to think of yourself as a pretty safe driver, okay? And and let’s say on a rare moment, you you flip up and you get pulled over for speeding. And so you’re in court and you’re standing before the judge and the judge says, “You know, you’re in here for speeding, but what you didn’t know is that we have this new technology and it actually allows us to see every single driving infraction you’ve ever committed.”

and today you’re going to be held accountable for all of it. And then he starts reading off this long list. You know, speeding, illegal parking, improper lane changes, speeding, failure to stop at a stop sign, texting while driving, and suddenly you you’re no longer thinking of yourself as a great driver. Well, the Bible says that God can see not only every driving infraction, but every moral infraction we’ve ever committed. And if we were to be held accountable for everything we’ve done, we would be dead meat.

We would all be chaff. There would be no wheat. And this is what makes grace so amazing. See, Jesus saw that long list of infractions that all of us, we’ve piled it all up really high. He took it on to himself.

And the Bible says that God canled the record of debt that stood against us. It was condemning us. It was pointing the finger at us, saying, “You need to be judged for this.” Jesus took it on himself and he nailed it to the cross. John was willing to tell people the hard truth about hell because he cared about souls.

He cared about where people spend eternity. He didn’t skip over the hard stuff because he’s saying, “If you want to escape this judgment, you can. You can. You can be among the wheat, but you have to come to this one who is mightier than me. Like many today, Herod didn’t like hearing about sin and judgment.

But since he was on the throne and he had the scepter and the crown, he was able to throw John in prison because he didn’t like what he had to say. And John held him accountable. He said, you know, on on your long list of infractions, you have committed adultery with your brother’s wife, and you will be held accountable, King Herod. Now, just imagine this guy has all power. He can do whatever he wants with you.

And John is standing up to him and saying, “You are going to be judged by God.” Well, John would be thrown in prison for that and eventually he would have the king would have John beheaded. But John stands as an example for us. He was a man of conviction. He lived out what he believed and he said the hard things that needed to be said.

Now, not all of us are called to be another John the Baptist. We all have our role in advancing the kingdom of God. And God has gifted us and and empowered us for specific purposes. It’s in all of us, it’s unique. But what we all need, no matter what God has us do, is we all need courage.

Because we live in a culture that has largely decided it doesn’t need God. And so to be a faithful Christian today, you have to have courageous conviction no matter where you’re at. And that leads us to what we see next in your notes. The basis for a Christian’s courage and identity is knowing God as father. Something surprising happens as John is preaching about this repentance needed and he’s calling people to come be baptized and get ready for the Messiah.

Suddenly Jesus shows up and and at first nobody notices him. He’s just walking among the crowd. He doesn’t look like any other he doesn’t look different or unique from any other Jew. He’s there though and he as he comes he says he’s ready to be baptized. And this startled John.

Matthew tells us that John hesitates like Jesus what are you saying? I I’ve been calling people to repent of their sins. I’ve been calling people to come down and be baptized for the forgiveness of sin. But you don’t have any sin, Jesus. So why are you needing to be baptized?

Jesus was showing us that he came to identify with sinners. He came though he was sinless, he came to stand in our place and whatever he calls you to do, Jesus is willing to do. He was going to identify with sinners and he did that to fulfill all righteousness. It says, “So by getting baptized, Jesus showed that he was willing to take our place to be our substitute.” Baptism is that step of saying, “I’m with Jesus.

I belong to him.” But know that before you took that step, Jesus said to us, “I’m with those people. I belong to them.” And at his baptism, Luke describes this trinitarian scene where all three members of the eternal godhead show up. You have Jesus who’s praying and the Holy Spirit descends like a dove and then the father speaks over him.

It mattered, by the way, that the Holy Spirit would come down in this visible form because God wanted everyone to know publicly this was the moment that I’m identifying my spiritanointed Messiah. I’m not going to identify anybody else in this unique role. It’s only Jesus. He is that only savior we need. He’s the chosen one.

He would be set apart to save the world that was headed for destruction. The world that was ins snared in sin and by Satan. And by the way, in his first test, we’ll see next week Jesus will face Satan as the spirit anointed Messiah. And Luke will call attention to this over and over. Jesus did this filled with the Holy Spirit.

He did all of his ministry filled with the Holy Spirit. So, it wasn’t just because he was God. He was acting as the perfect man filled with the Holy Spirit. And as he’s doing these miracles, he’s feeding thousands. He’s casting out demons and he’s healing people.

He was doing that in the power of the Holy Spirit. What I love most about this passage is what the father says to Jesus. Verse 22, you are my beloved son. With you I am well pleased. This is a statement of both affection and delight.

The father who has loved the son from all eternity is looking at him and he’s saying that I love you. I love you. And he’s announcing this not just for Jesus to hear but for everybody here, all of us and for everybody that was present at that time. He wants us to know, I love my son and I delight in him. I could not be more pleased.

This is a reminder for us fathers that we are called to bless our children. So often people will project on to God their relationship with their earthly father. They start to see God as almost like a reflection of who their earthly father was. But here is the perfect father and he’s showing us what he is really like. And a good question for dads to ask is, “Do my kids know that I delight in them?”

Not just that I love them. I can tell them that, but that I’m so pleased that it it actually delights me to be your father. That’s how God is speaking to his son here. And Jesus is just standing under the waterfall of God’s fatherly blessing. This is where we all want to be.

We all want to be feeling and and enjoying and and experiencing the father’s blessing. And the Bible says that we can have it just like Jesus had because through faith in Jesus, we are united to Jesus. And the blessing that is poured out on Jesus the son is poured out on all of us. And he is our father just as he is Jesus’s father. We’re united to Jesus by faith.

We’re told that the heavens were opened when this happened. And whenever you see that in the Bible, that the heavens were opened, the the clouds part, the idea is that God is going to reveal something new about himself or he’s going to reveal something that wasn’t there before. And here we see that he’s revealing himself as this perfect father who loves his son completely. And I really believe that if this view of God sank in, people have a lot of images, mental images of what God is like. But if this view really gripped us, that God is our father, that we are adopted into his family.

And we can say things like, I am a son or a daughter of the king of the universe, and nothing can happen to me except if my father allows it. Do you know what kind of courageous conviction that gives us to know the the one who made the galaxies who rules everything delights in me. You know he made all those incredible the the nebula all the galaxies the the stars everything and yet he delights primarily in us. That should astonish us and that gives us courage to know that. So in 2026 again make it a commitment to know God more and more as father to relate to him as your perfect father.

Not just to to take your image of your earthly father and transpose that onto God but to see God as he really is and let that define fatherhood for you. The genealogy ends by calling Adam the son of God since he had no human father. This reminds us that Jesus is the only true son of God. But he has become the head of a new redeemed race where we are now adopted in to become sons and daughters of God. He took Adam’s place.

Adam was the head of the whole human race. We inherited our sin nature from Adam. He fell and so we all fell in Adam. But now because Jesus has come as the son of God, those who put their faith in him have a new head. And by charting Jesus’s ancestry back to Adam, we see that Jesus again is related to every one of us.

He came not just for Jews, but for Gentiles. He came for every single person. And lastly, John’s courageous conviction reminds us in your notes, you have only one life to live. Only one life. That that thought should press in on us when we forget and we get caught up in the busyiness of life.

We need to remember there’s only one one and then it’s eternity. On April 20th, 1999, 16-year-old Cassie Bernal of Coline High School handed a note to her friend Amanda Meyer that said, “Honestly, I totally want to live my life completely for God. It’s hard and scary, but totally worth it.” And later that day, she was shot to death. Multiple witnesses saw Dylan Clebold and Eric Harris point guns at her and asked, “Do you believe in God?”

And she answered, “Yes.” Rachel Scott was also among those killed. Earlier that year, Rachel wrote in her diary, “I am not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus. I am not going to hide the light God has put in me. If I have to sacrifice everything, I will.

And she did. You know, like these two young ladies, John the Baptist was willing to put everything on the line, sacrifice everything, and to make his life all about Jesus. That’s where courageous conviction comes. When you recognize there’s only one life that God has given me. I don’t want to miss his purpose for my life.

I want to spend all of it, every waking moment in his presence for his glory. And because I get to see him one day soon, I want to hear his words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” This leads me to ask myself first and also you the question, what are you doing to make your life count for eternity? What are you doing? Think about how you spend your time, how you spend your days.

Are you doing it in light of what is coming? That’s what John the Baptist called people to consider. And that’s what Jesus would have us do as well. Let’s pray. Awesome.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God who saw us in our need. You loved us. You chose us. You adopted us. And Lord, it’s amazing to me to think that all of this is by grace.

You didn’t have to do any bit of it. You didn’t have to send Jesus. You didn’t have to give us this opportunity to fulfill our life’s purpose. But we know that in Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, when we are baptized in the spirit, we can live our life’s purpose for your glory. I pray that this truth would sink into our hearts and we would be reinvigorated to do just that.

We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Would you stand as we close this morning?

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 6,516 words.