Preparing Way For Jesus Christ Series

GOSPEL OF MARK: GOD’S SERVANT IN ACTION

PREPARING WAY FOR JESUS CHRIST

A. Mark 1:2-8 (READ)

1. As you are probably aware, President Trump was in Indianapolis on April 26th to speak at the NRA

Convention.

a. You might have been one of the thousands of motorists caught in the SLOW MOVING TRAFFIC

because of all the DETOURS resulting from the Interstates being closed entering DOWN TOWN.

b. This happens everywhere the PRESIDENT goes to VISIT.

2. I came across an interesting ARTICLE about how the Secret Service PREPARES WAY for the

President’s VISIT. Here are some of the many things they do:

a. The Secret Service scopes out the President’s destination months ahead of time.

COMMENT:

They meet with local LAW ENFORCEMENT agencies to work out the LOGISTICS of the trip. They request a MOTORCADE ROUTE through town. They also identify nearby TRAUMA HOSPITALS and SAFE LOCATIONS in the event that the President is ATTACKED or in case of other EMERGENCIES.

b. They identify people they need to watch.

COMMENT:

Specifically, they look for the most SERIOUS category of possible THREATS, especially from those whom have already THREATENED President in some way. Agents actually CONTACT these people, and WARN them that they are being WATCHED closely during the President’s VISIT.

c. They bring in bomb-sniffing dogs.

COMMENT:

Days before the President arrives, Secret Service agents bring in the dogs to check every STOP on the President’s ROUTE. They CLEAR nearby STREETS of all PARKED CARS, to ensure that no one PLANTS a CAR BOMB near the President’s location. And, of course, they thoroughly check out every VENUE where the PRESIDENT will be staying and speaking.

d. They CLEAR AIRSPACE at the AIRPORT during the President’s ARRIVAL.

COMMENT:

One interesting tidbit that I did not know is that even though the President flies in on Airforce One, there is also a second plane flown in kept at a secret location.

e. They never leave the President alone.

COMMENT:

An ARMED PROTECTIVE DETAIL accompanies the President wherever he GOES, including the RESTROOM, the DOCTOR’S OFFICE, or any other LOCATION.

f. There are DOZENS of Secret Service Agents and MULTIPLE law enforcement personnel involved in the PREPARATION and PROTECTION of the President when he goes on LOCATION.

B. Mark, quoting from the prophets Malachi and Isaiah, tells us that God used only ONE man to PREPARE

WAY for the Son of God.

1. Now, frankly, John the Baptizer was a very strange PUBLIC RELATIONS man.

ILLUSTRATION:

If a well-known PREACHER today was organizing a series of EVANGELISTIC campaigns in different cities across the country (much like the days of the Billy Graham Crusades) and sent someone AHEAD to PREPARE WAY for him, more than likely he would send a GOOD LOOKING, SMARTLY DRESSED, SMOOTH TALKING person who would in no way EMBARRASS him. He would want to make a good FIRST IMPRESSION.

2. God didn’t do it that way. Instead, He chose an unrefined HERMIT who lived in the WILDERNESS

to be Jesus’ FRONTRUNNER.

a. John wouldn’t have made the “BEST DRESSED” list: “He was clothed with Camel’s Hair and a

leather belt around his waist.”

b. He was committed to ORGANIC FOOD: “Dining on LOCUST and WILD HONEY” (try

finding that on the MENU at Red Lobster).

c. He was a RADICAL teacher: “Telling people that they should REPENT of their SINS. And if

they were BRAVE enough to respond, he would DUNK them in WATER.”

d. He wasn’t much a DIPLOMAT: Luke 3:7- “John said to the crowd coming out to be baptized by

him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?’” (RESPONDED)

COMMENT:

How TACTLESS can you be? What if, during the INVITATION SONG, someone came forward to be BAPTIZED and I said, “You SNAKE! Who WARNED you to FLEE from the PUNISHMENT of God?” (After witnessing that, people would just LINE UP to be BAPTIZED, wouldn’t they?)

3. Despite all that, Jesus would say of the ONE who came to PREPARE WAY for His MINISTRY:

“…among those born of women, there is no one greater than John the Baptist…”- Luke 7:28a.

MESSAGE:

I. JOHN THE BAPTIST: THE MAN

A. After quoting the PROPHETS about God sending His messenger to PREPARE WAY for the coming

of His Son, Mark simply writes “And so John came...”- v. 4. “HEEEERE’S JOHNNY!”

1. Although Mark was the first to record the GOSPEL of Jesus, we have to go to the other gospel writers to learn more specifics about this man named John who went around PREACHING and

BAPTIZING.

2. Luke’s gospel RECORDS the BIRTH of John.

a. We learn in Luke 1:9 that John’s father was “Zechariah, and he was a Priest.”

COMMENT:

While performing his priestly duties in the temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him that he and his wife Elizabeth would give birth to a SON in their OLD AGE-