God Is Still Speaking

God is Still Speaking Luke 3:1-6

1. God no longer spoke to the people the prophets don’t exist anymore!

• At the beginning of the first century, the people of Israel believed that the prophets were extinct.

• Elijah and Elisha had roamed the land about 900 years earlier.

• Then came Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

• The last was Malachi, about 400 years before the birth of Christ. They seemed to be gone forever

2. Finally, at last the people hear from God. People assumed God was silent

• But then, in “the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee,

• the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness” (Luke 3:1-2).

3. God spoke through John the Baptist

• John “wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4). He probably looked a bit wild

• Luke tells us that John “went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the words of the prophet Isaiah,

• The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God”’” (Luke 3:3-6).

4. Hundreds of years earlier: God had spoke

• God spoke the very same words that John said, “Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Isaiah 40:3-5)

• John Spoke and told that Jesus is “the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6).

• John was inspired by “the word of God” (v. 2), a word that has had life-giving power throughout human history. Isaiah himself said, “The grass withers; the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. Get you up to a high mountain … lift up your voice with strength … say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’” (Isaiah 40:8-9).

5. God speaks to us like he spoke to the prophets

• God spoke through words of Moses, “remember the sabbath day and keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8); Keeping the Sabbath gives us time for rest and renewal,

• God spoke through the counsel of Isaiah, “seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17); caring for the poor makes our community a better place

• God spoke through Jesus, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). loving our enemies breaks the cycle of violence and revenge.

6. God is Speaking today through John The Baptist

• John’s call to repent and turn around (Luke 3:3). He Preached a baptism of repentance

• John Spoke about a voice calling (IN the wilderness)

• The voice speaks about Prepare the way of the Lord

• The voice talks about making ones path straight.

• The voice talks about all will see Gods Salvation

• “the one who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation“All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God is with us’” (Matthew 1:22-23).Yes, God is with us, in every time and place.