The Word in the Wilderness

Good morning again everyone. Uh happy new year once more. How many y'all are glad to get back to a rhythm like this? It feels like I don't know what day it is, what time it is. If it's dark out the way that it happens like 5:00, you feel like you're exhausted by 7 and you want to just go to bed. And having a rhythm of life of being in in school and and going to work like just it I'm I'm ready. I'm ready for I'm ready for a rhythm. And uh I'm excited for the series that we're in. Uh but before I start talking about the passage, um I have to share something because you all know like this this season in the sports world is is a pretty intense season. Do we have any sports fans, football fans in the room? So depending on how your team's doing, uh you might be more intentional to watch the games. You might get if you're Kansas City fan, you gave it up a long time ago, but everybody else like you might be focused. So we had like the the college playoffs and then we had like the playoffs are getting ready to start with football. Well, all that's really important, but none of it none of it as is as intense as the fourth grade boys basketball team that I have the privilege of coaching and got to uh be a part of yesterday. Um don't awe about it. I basically have a pulse and I can breathe. So, they're like, "You look like you'd be a good coach." Um but we had a game yesterday and it was it got intense. Like they're in a tournament. My son plays. First game we won't talk about. Second game though, like we were ahead and and going into the final minute of the game, we were up by three. And if you're used to playing in in kids sports, like being up by three, you might as well be up by 20 cuz it's really hard to score. And and so I'm like, we're good. We're going to win this game. And then this kid on the other team like literally just throws it up. Does not look at the basket. He just throws it up. And if if you all remember uh 2019 Kawhi Leonard bounce bounce bounce drop. Anybody know what I'm talking about sports? You know that's what it did. It's bounce b. I like it's not going. No no no. Yep. Yep. Went in. So here we are tie game tied up. Very end of the game. Like we have less than a minute left. We take the ball down the court. We shoot it. We miss it. We don't get it. The other team has the ball. Six seconds left. You feel the tension? You feel it? like that's where we tied up. So the other team passes it in. Our boy steals it. He goes and shoots a three and he gets fouled in the process. And so he goes to the free throw line and just like I said, there's not a lot of points scored in elementary. So I'm like, who knows what's going to happen. We're probably going into overtime. We'll see what double overtime. They don't score all. No, he hits one, hits two, and then we end up being up by two going in. 6 seconds left. The kid tries the launch. Does not make it. We win the game. I was like, "Let's go." [applause] It's a big day yesterday. You're like, "What does that have to do with anything here? Here's what I want to talk to you about is that we're in a series talking about the book of Luke." And then we're going to later on look at the book of of Acts telling the story of Jesus and the early church. And today's passage is found in Luke 3. And it's talking about John. And I'll get into who John is here in just a moment. But John lived with intentionality. And what I realized in this moment that is of of just spending time with these boys is those last six seconds were the most intense of the entire game. Like you would have thought they were playing for the NBA finals like let's go. I'm in it. Like they they were intense. And then they went like everybody is on the edge of their seats. They jump up. Like I mean it's storming the court. It was awesome because they live with intentionality with the last six seconds. What does that have to do? It's like what if what if you and I 2026 like we live with intentionality not in a way that draw like pushes people back but we're like listen I don't know how much time I got I don't know when the Lord's returning I don't know what I got going but I want to live with intentionality and intensity in a way that goes I got something on the line I got something to live for I got something that's important see that's what John does John the Baptist know or John known as the baptizer like we get to pick up in his story. We've been learning about him the last couple weeks and hearing about the prophecy that was spoken over him about his about his birth about who he was going to be. And now we're picking up in this story where John is an adult and he begins to live out this call or we see him living out this call that God has on his life. So if you got your Bibles as Carrie's mentioned, go ahead and get those out. Luke 3 is where we're going to spend our time at today. We're going to start with verse one, go through the verse 20. So, if you would stand to your feet, we often will honor will stand to honor God's word. Luke 3 1-20. In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius, Caesar with Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea. Herod the tetrarch of Galilee. His brother Philip tetrarch of Utaria and Trachonitis, Lysanius, tetrarch of Abalene. During the high priesthood of Annis and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it was written in the book of the words of the Isaiah prophet, a voice of one calling in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth, and all the people will see God's salvation. John said to the crowds, "Coming out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers who warns you to flee from the coming wrath. produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children of Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." "What then should we do?" the crowd asked. John answered, "Anyone who has two shirts should share with one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same. Even tax collectors came to be baptized. Teacher, they asked, what should we do? Don't collect any more than you are required to do, he told. And then some soldiers asked him, what should we do? He replied, don't extort money. Don't accuse people of falsely by be content with your pay. And the people were waiting expectantly, and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. John answered them all, "I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I will come. The straps 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 and to gather the wheat into the barn, but I will but will burn or he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." And with many other words, John extorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them. But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch, because of his marriage to Herodiius, his brother's wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all. He locked up John in prison. Let's pray. God, we love you. I thank you for your word. God, I thank you that that it's living and it's active and it's powerful and as applicable as it was when it was written, God, the same for us that there are things that you're teaching us through your word. I pray we walk out of here knowing you more, seeing your faithfulness and your love and God that we would take steps into that faithfulness in Jesus name. Amen. You can have a seat. What I think is so important for us to understand is that the Bible is real. Like it's real. Like it's it it's real. real people, real places, real times. And we see that in the book of Luke because what Luke does, he begins from the beginning. His first words that he writes down, he's like, a lot of people, this is not exact words, a lot of people have set out to write about what's going on. He's like, I did my due diligence. You'll see what I'm writing. It's detailed and it's important so that you can put your faith in Jesus. It's what he explains. And so we see this diligence in his words of what he wrote about talking about where John was and what John was doing. See if you notice it gives us this like picture of who's in power during this time. The Roman government was in charge. They ruled. They were the strongest, the biggest, the most powerful rulers in the ancient world. And so it says this guy Tiberius was he was the he was the emperor. Now, he took over after Caesar Augustus that we learned about in the story of of of Christmas that that he was the one who sent the census. This is Tiberius takes a takes charge after Caesar Augustus. And you go next level down and he's like in the area that we're talking about, Pontius Pilate. He's the governor of that space. And if you've been in church, you may be familiar with that name. He's most well known for his encounter and and lack of courage is in in his interaction in Jesus with Jesus because he feared people. He sent Jesus to the cross. And so he's most well known for for that moment in time. And you go a little bit, you go a next level down, you go to these three guys, these three rulers who were sons of Herod the Great. It says tetrarchs, but that means four, even though it's not four. It's these three people. So that if you're wondering what does the word tetrarch mean? It means for but it's basically they're over these regions. See these three brothers that still weren't great guys. We see that with what's written at the end of this passage where it says that that Herod had married his his brother's wife and he puts John in prison because John says that's not a good thing. Shouldn't be doing that. So you go next level down. So then so then we see within the within the the religious community you have this guy named Annis and Caiaphas and Annis was was not the high priest of the temple but he had enough influence that his name is mentioned. See Caiaphas was the the current the person in position to be the high priest of the temple in Jerusalem. But he was the son-in-law of Annis. So it just shows you like this guy Annis had a lot of influence. He's mentioned a couple times again in the Bible most well known for when Jesus is brought to trial. So we see his name come up later. And then if you if you're looking if we're looking we'll see it at the end. It tells us this is an important part of the passage that I think if we're not careful we can bypass. It says this in verse two. It says, "During the high priesthood of these two guys, the word of God came to John, son of Zachchariah, in the wilderness. We've got the emperor. We have the governor. We have those that are in rule over the Israelite community, the tetrarchs, and then we have the people that are in charge of the temple." And guess what? It's very clear. God's word does not go to them. It goes to John who was in the wilderness. John who was faithful that we had seen words spoken about him from an early age that that he was called to be set apart from everybody else. And it's like the word of God did not go to these high places of power that the world would look to to be the ones of influence. No, God to the wilderness and speaks to a man named John. How does this apply for you and I today? Like we can get worked up and worried about all the things that are going on out here. We can see on social media. We can watch the news. We can get worried about what's going on in the government and the political powers around us. But what our job is is to get into the word and trust God's word and say, "God, what are you calling me to?" There's things that are out of our control, but what we have control over is to get into the word, to trust the word, to seek God through the process. The word didn't go to the people in power. The word went to the wilderness. What do we do, you and I? What are we supposed to do? We're supposed to today in our time trust that God's word will come to us because we have God's word and it's living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword and it speaks. He speaks to us through his word. So, what we have control over is to go to God's word. So, how can you begin 2026? The best way possible is being in God's word, spending time in God's presence, slowing down enough to make it a priority. Life is busy. We can have every reason to go this direction and that direction. And it's not easy to keep disciplines. It's why most people give up their resolutions by the beginning of February. As determined as we are on the 1 of January, by the time we get to February, we've pretty much given up. What if this year we said, "Hey, I'm going to be the one thing the one thing I have control over is I'm going to stay disciplined and I'm going to be in God's word." Because I I believe this is true. If you're taking notes, you can write this down. Like what we can do is we can get a word from the word. Like what what if we said we're going to get a word from the word. You spend time enough and go, "No, I'm I'm going to stay in this place. I'm going to read a passage of scripture." Because it's fascinating where you can read one scripture and God can can just create revelation in you. Has anybody ever experienced that before? That's something that maybe you read over a hundred times and you go back to you're like, I had no idea that was there. That's my life as a pastor. I'm like, I should probably have recognized that a while back, but today it came alive to me. I can't believe I'd read it this many times and I had never noticed that part of scripture. It's because God speaks us through his word. But we have to make it a priority. Make it a priority in 2026. So, how different would our life be? We don't know. But what if we gave it a shot and said, "God, I'm going to I'm going to get a word from the word. I'm going be determined to get a word from the word this year. And starting with verse three, it tells us what John does. So the word of God came to him in the wilderness. And this is what he this is his action. He says went into all the country around the Jordan. That's a Jordan River. Preaching a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. As it was written in the book of the words of the of Isaiah the prophet, a voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight the path for him. Every valley shall be filled in. Every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight. The rough ways smooth. And all people will see God's salvation. So what's he doing? He's like, I got a word from the word. It didn't just stay in me. I went and was I'm I moved because God prompted me to move. And it was so alive in him that if you notice, it says he went all around the Jordan. What did I mention before is that you have these three rulers who were over regions. The tetrarchs were over these different places. And John paid no regard to it. He's like, I don't care where I'm going. God has called me to it. This message is for everybody. And so, I'm going to pass by these boundaries. I'm going to preach the good news. I'm going to tell people what they need to hear, what God has told me they need to hear. This is where I'm at. I'm not worried about the political atmosphere. I'm being obedient to what God has called me to. That's what he does. as he goes all around the Jordan, he's beginning to he preaches a message and and it tells us this like he's fulfilling what was spoken over him, not just in his in in his birth or over his birth, but but hundreds of years before in the Old Testament, we read the book of Isaiah and this passage of scripture, I'll read it to you again. It says, "A voice of one calling in the wild wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth, and all people will see God's salvation. This is what was was written [clears throat] by the prophet Isaia. He's like, "This is what's going to happen. Somebody's going to come before the Messiah, and they're going to declare what he's going to do. They're going to make a smooth path. They're going to they're going to let people know that he's coming." And this is John fulfilling it. But this is the beautiful thing about scripture is it's in context. And so, if we go back to Isaiah 40 and we read that passage, Isaiah is like this. If you ever read Isaiah, like it's like don't do this, don't do that. You're like, but then you get to the part of what in in this part of Isaiah in Zia Isaiah 40, it tells like it's like title is like God's comfort. Like it's powerful. The scripture says this this chapter, God's comfort, and it says things in life will change. People will be in power and they won't be in power. They'll get worked up, but God's still in charge. And then if you've grown up in church, you may have have read this before. This is actually one of my favorite verses in Isaiah 40:30 and 31. It's the last part of this chapter. This is how it's how it ends. It says, "Even youths grow tired and weary, probably because they stayed up too late." That's not what it says. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint. So what's written, the prophet Isaiah writes, he's like, "This is what you can expect. Put your hope in God. You're you can't do it on your own. You need a savior. This is what he's going to do. Put your hope in God. He's going to renew your strength. You'll mount up with wings like eels. You'll walk and not faint." It's a promise that's being fulfilled. Like John is paving the way for this. But how does he teach a message? What does he tell people? It tells us in the scripture. It says he preaches a message of repentance. It's like a four-letter word. Like nobody likes to talk about repentance. Maybe you do. You're like, "Pastor, I love to talk about repentance. I actually stand on the street corner in my neighborhood and I yell to people,"Repent, rep." No. No. But what John reminds us is repentance is a beautiful thing. It's an invitation that God gives to us to say, "You can't do it on your own. You've made mistakes. You've sinned against what my plan is for your life. And what you need to do is you need to turn back to God." If you're taking notes, you can write this down. Repentance brings realignment with God's plan for my life. Like that's what it that's what it does. When we repent, it brings realignment for God's plan for our life. John preaches this message. He's teaching. He's like, "Repent." And he's very direct. You'll see that in just a moment. Like he's super direct in what he says. But people were drawn to him. And it wasn't because of the way that he looked. Because if you read in the book of Mark that tells us about John the Baptist, you may be familiar with this. Like John's fit that he would have like what he would get dressed up in the morning like he would wear camels fur. Probably not the latest trend in 2026. And it says that his diet that he would eat, it was locust and honey. You don't see a little a lot of people on the diet of locust and honey. In fact, we're about ready to start our our 21 days of prayer and fasting next weekend beginning on the 11th. I encourage you to be a part of it as a church. We've got prayer meetings planned. We're going to be praying and fasting together. Fasting is giving up something, typically food, so that you can focus more on God. And there's a lot of popular fasting plans out there. There's people who love doing like the like liquid only fasts. They'll do the Daniel fast. I have never heard of a person anywhere going, "You know what fast I'm going to do? John the Baptist fast. You know what I want to eat? I want to eat locust and honey. It's a lot of fiber and it it just takes care of all my allergies cuz it says local honey." Did you notice that? If you know, you know. It takes care of it. Nobody's like he's not a normal person, but people came from everywhere to hear from him because he had the power of God and he had a message that was so urgent. He's like, I'm not going to mince words. I'm not going to waste time. I got this message that God has put in me. My time is limited. I'm making all these people in power mad. So, I got to make sure I'm telling you what you need to hear. So, this is what he does. He tells the crowds coming out to be baptized. Listen to this. you brood of vipers. Could you imagine go like signing up to go hear from somebody? You're leaving your house and you're like, you know where I'm going to go? I'm going to go to that conference where John's speaking. I'm so excited to hear this message. And then his opening words are, you brood of vipers. You are terrible. Is anybody signing up for that? No. Like I'm not going please please tell me how bad I stink. Like just that's not it doesn't make sense. But people came from everywhere all walks of life to hear him because the message that he had was a message that pointed to Jesus and it was all encompassing if you got to read it and see it because what he does is he does not he doesn't say a specific group of people that are messed up. He's like everybody he's me too. Like the way that you're living you're trying to do it on your own. your secret motivations, the things that only you know about that nobody else knows, your thought process, what you wish you had said, what you wish you hadn't said, like all the things that going he's like deep down like you're not good. You sin. He calls it out because he knew he didn't have time to waste. He had to be direct. People were drawn to it. So he explains, you brood a vipers who warned you to flee from the coming wrath. It's like produce fruit in keeping with repentance. You're messed up. You got to create good fruit. Don't begin to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children of Abraham. The axe has already come at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." So, he's like, "Listen, you guys, you can't do it on your own. and you know that. So you got to you got to make sure you take some action steps and you need to produce the right fruit because what you do in life produces some kind of fruit and if you don't there's judgment coming. It's urgent. He doesn't waste time. He's like I got to tell you. Tells him to repent. because he's called to re to repair the way of the Lord. Tells him to repent. He wants to make sure people know they need salvation. The reason it matters so much to him to tell people is that if you don't recognize that you need if you don't recognize that you need to be saved, then you won't be looking for the savior when he comes. It's like you can't do this on your own. See, the book of Isaiah points to it points to John. It says, "Prepare the way of the Lord. Make the pathway straight." What's he doing to make the pathway straight? Is he's calling a spade a spade. He's being direct and saying, "I know where your hearts are because my heart's there, too." Like, we we don't get it on our own. I'm making the pathway straight. Because what's beautiful, if you go back and read the book in that passage of Isaiah, what he's telling us is it's describing what the Messiah will do. He explains it. He says what the Messiah is going to do is he's going to come and he's going to he's going to fill the valleys. What does that mean? On a macro, on a great scale, he's going to make wrong things right. He's going to fill the valleys. is going to bring people up. But for you and I on a personal level, what does he do is he fills the emptiness that's in our life. That emptiness that we feel, God can fill it. The insecurity that we have, he'll help he'll help us know like the Messiah will make us know that we're known by God. We're loved by him. We don't have to experience shame and guilt the way we did before. It tells us that the mountains will be lowered. It means that that pride will be brought down. That those who think they're empowered, they'll be humbled. that those who rely on themselves will recognize they need a savior. It says the crooked paths will be straightened. What does that mean? It means that the wrong things will be made right. Those that are compromising and doing it for their own agenda, for their own good, looking out only for themselves. He's like, "We're going to make this pathway straight. To bring justice where there's hypocrisy. The rough ways made smooth. It means that the wounds will be healed. the unresolved zin unresolved sin will be given hope in the future like this is what he's pointing this is why it was so important for John he's like I got to make sure they know is he direct absolutely but he does it he's not bringing shame on people he's creating a new frame you like that I made a rhyme not bringing shame he's he's creating a new frame he's like yep on your own all jacked up good news though the savior we need him, he'll bring salvation. And I'm pointing you to him. It's important. So he he reminds them of the importance of how they live their life and what they're doing and and what they do with their day-to-day and how they live. And then they ask this question that I would ask the question if I'm in their shoes, too, because he's like, "This is what's going to happen." It's it's super clear. They say, "What should we do?" They asked the question, "What should we do?" Because you're like, "You're telling me all the problems, all the things I I'm not doing right. What What's my next step?" It's a choice. What should we do? First, it starts with trusting Jesus. See in the passage he reminds us he says you know you can't just base your salvation on somebody else within the Jewish in within this community they were built up knowing that their their ancestry went back to Abraham who was a faithful man and so they say hey I'm not they take pride in going hey this is Abraham I'm a son of Abraham and John reminds me he's like you know what that that doesn't matter like your faith is not inherited it's a beautiful story but it does not impact your life and your salvation He's like, "It's not about how faithful Abraham. It's about how faithful It's not about how faithful Abraham was. It's about how faithful God is." He says, "Even God can even use these rocks if he wants to. It's not about It's not about what they're doing. It's about who God is. It's personal." When you and I when we choose to follow Jesus, it's personal. Can't be based on somebody else's faith. It's based on your faith. One of my favorite things as a pastor, I love talking to people. I love meeting people. And oftentimes when I'm not in the context of church, I'll meet somebody and have a conversation and I won't tell them what I do right off. I'll just be talking to them about all of their life and what's what's happening. And then we'll get in the conversation and a few minutes in they'll typically ask me, "Well, what do you do for a living?" And it's always interesting because when I say, "Hey, I'm a pastor." Something changes. they they they they just it just is different. And then if they're not believers, what they'll tell me is like, "Well, my grandmama's um brother's sister's nephew, uh they went to church and they were really religious. World's connected. This is that's great, but it's not great for you because it's a personal relationship with Jesus. It's what he's personally inviting us into. That's what John says like the way you live your life right now matters and ultimately what you have to know is that on your own we're all messed up but in Jesus we can experience a hope that is beyond any hope that we could ever dream of but it means out of this hope that we have salvation received from God like it means we're going to live differently and it means that every day we should live differently I love what St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote he says it's this question it's practical because the people say hey what should we do this is what you should do ask yourself the question what have I done with what have I done for Christ what am I doing for Christ what will I do for Christ like that's a great way to start your day what did I what what have I done it's great to be reminded of of what God's done in your life and and then prompted you to do in obedience but I don't want to live off of a testimony that happened 20 years ago I want to know presently like what what am I doing for God? How is my focused life on him? And then what's my plan to do this tomorrow? I'm going to live for Jesus, too. What have I done? What am I doing? What will I do for Christ? And then he tells them, "What should we do? This is practical. John answered, "Anyone who has two shirts should share with one who has none. Anyone who has food should do the same." Even tax collectors came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" "Don't collect any more than you're required to," he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money. Don't accuse people falsely. Be content with your pay. What should we do? We should actually live out what we believe to be true. Live differently than the world around us. If you notice, what he doesn't tell the tax collector and the soldier to do is uproot out of their occupation. Remove themselves from what they were doing at their job and go somewhere completely separate from that. He doesn't say, "You know what? Make sure that you become you go into full-time ministry. make sure that you move across the world and start a mission field to to reach unreached people. Maybe that's the case for some, but that's not like in everyday life. What he is saying, he's like, right where you are, would you live differently enough to to make people see a difference in you? He's like, don't be like everybody else. Across this room, we have all kinds of occupations. Some in the medical field, some in the government, some in the school system, some in the business world, some in school. You ask that question, what are you what are you asking me to do? It means that be Jesus. Reflect Jesus. Reflect Jesus to the community that God has called you to right now. And when everybody else is doing questionable things, what you choose to do is the right thing. When someone reacts in anger, you respond in love. When someone has a course ward against you, you don't jump on them, but you you pray and you respond in a way that shows them who Jesus is. When people are cutting corners in their workplace, you go, "No, that's not the right thing. I'm not going to do that." When people are avoiding their family because it's easier to be at work than it is to be at home, what if we said, "No, my family's a priority. I'm going to be with them." When kids are cheating on tests, you're like, "That's not what I do. I'm different." And it's not a works-based religion. It's not a worksbased faith. It's a a production of what God does. It's what he produces in you and I when we put our trust in him. When we obey God, he does a work in us. And it's a way to show other people who Jesus is. It's how we live. It's different. So in the process, he's like just let the fruit be produced [music] in your life. And then in 15 and 16 it tells us people are hearing him and they're hearing his wisdom and his knowledge and they begin to wonder. It doesn't even tell us that he uses word that they use words to say to ask him the question are you the Messiah? No. In 1516 it says the people were waiting expectantly. We were all wondering in their hearts [music] if John might possibly [snorts] be the Messiah. And so what they wondered John responded to. He said, "I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I will come." And his his shoes like it uses this phrase, "The straps of whose sandals I'm not worthy untie." He's basically the lowest level of servant to him. I I'm not even worthy to serve in that way. Like he's so much greater. Like I'm playing te-ball and he's in the major leagues hitting a thousand. I'm not even close to him. Like he's coming and he's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit [music] and fire. what I bring is a as a level of repentance through a water p. But he's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. [music] What he's saying, he's like, "It's only going to get better." When you see him, when you hear him teach, when you see how much he loves you, like when he gets changes everything. I'm only doing this little thing, but what he brings is the Holy Spirit. See, you and I, we have the privilege of reading this book, and we get to see how the story plays [music] out. And we get to see when Jesus shows up and the way he he leveled he lived out Isaiah. He leveled the playing field, bringing the mountains low and the valleys high and making a smooth path like he's doing this. And we see it lived out in scripture. And he goes to the cross sinless, never des never did anything wrong. Followed God's followed the plan for his life. Fully God, fully man. here on earth became flesh, loved us as much. Like this is Jesus. He showed people what love really looked like. He went to the cross and he died for our sins and then he rose again defeating death, ascended to heaven, coming [music] back someday. But in the meantime, he gives us the Holy Spirit. John didn't get to the Bible tells us that he was filled with the Holy Spirit, [music] but that wasn't available to everybody for you and I like we live in a world where the where God says, "I'm sending my spirit. [music] You don't have to do life alone." Like he's your comforter and your guide [music] and your counselor. He'll show you what to do. He'll give you wisdom. But we settle so much for so much less. Can I just encourage you this year? What if 2026 [music] you relied on yourself less and relied on the Holy Spirit more? Write this down. [music] It's five words. It's true for every person in this room. I need the Holy Spirit. John baptized with water. [music] Jesus came baptized with the Holy Spirit. We read all throughout the book of Acts in which we see the power of God transforming [music] communities because people were alive and through the power of the Holy Spirit. They were they were changing the atmosphere. The church grew and it's available for you and I. Will it look different today? Absolutely. But he's the same Holy Spirit and still wants to move in our life and that same power and that same [music] peace and that same self-control like it's available to us. We need the Holy Spirit. John poses this question and he says, [music] "What do what fruit will you produce?" And I'm so grateful that because we live in a New Testament and new in Christian community that we can know the Holy Spirit leads and guides us and directs us that that we can have the opportunity to produce [music] this kind of fruit in our lives. Galatians 5 22 and 23 tells us what fruit is being produced when we're obedient to God. We're trusting him, being led by the Lord. [music] Fruit of the spirit. It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. What kind of fruit gets it? It means that we don't have to react in situations, but we have the opportunity to respond. If you put that back up there again for me, if you don't mind, but like every one of those is a response. Man, somebody came at me today. Guess what? I can still respond [music] with gentleness. Man, I have all these thoughts like, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, but I can still have self-control. And if you got to look, you got to see it. Like the last thing, semicolon. Against such things there is no law. It means [music] the fruit of the spirit is always the right response in our life. So what can be produced through God, Holy Spirit in us? Those things because [music] it's always the right response. So, as we pray and look forward to what God's going to do in 2026, what if we say, "God, I just want to produce the fruit from you to see my life be different because I'm trusting you more. God, I want to love more. I want to have more peace. I want to have more joy. I want to have more patience. I want to be more kind. I want to be more gentle. I want to have more self-control." It's produced. It's what God wants to produce. [music] It's the Holy Spirit. We can live differently. But you know what the gateway is to experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit? What did John say from the beginning? What was the message that he preached [music] from the very beginning when he goes out to people all around the Jordan? What does he say? He says repent. I said it from the beginning that repent can sometimes feel like a four-letter word, but it it is the most beautiful word when we recognize the power of repentance. God, I messed up, but I'm so grateful that my past no longer defines [music] me and my future has a great potential because you're in it. But it requires us to recognize that we can't do it on our own. So what if 2026 you and I were content to say, "I'm going to repent." I did not mean for that to rhyme, but it did. What if what what would it look like? Because repentance is the gateway opening the path for us to walk into God's calling for our life. And I guarantee this room has people in it who are struggling to go, God, I'm just holding on to this thing. This this cloud, this guilt is it's shame. It's so heavy. And all he asks you and I to do is begin with repentance. What if 2026 we said, "I'm going to repent." >> Stand to [music] your feet if you would. talk is cheap action. So, I'm in we're going to worship. Team's going to come up. We're going to worship. And if if you're like, I'm I'm ready. I want to repent today. Then I'm inviting you to come to the front. You're not we're not, you know, having a conversation with somebody else. It's an it's an action [music] step for you to go, "No, God, I recognize there's things in my life I need to repent for." But here's the truth. All of us need [music] it. It's not one person who's done this crazy thing in our eyes. It's like, "Whoa, they've done God's like, you need to repent. You need to repent. You need to repent." He invites [music] us to repent. recognizing those areas of our life that he continually wants to to [music] shape and mold that he's trying to to form us as people that he created in his image that we get rid of our persona and the false [music] person that we try and create and we become the person he created us to be. But that happens through repentance. [music] So, I'm going to pray for us. I just encourage you just this morning if you're like, "No, I'm taking action. I'm I'm repenting today." Would [music] you come to the front and and just say, "Yeah, that's me." Let me pray first and then when we start worshiping, you can [music] move. God, I thank you for repentance. God, I thank you that your love is deep. Your grace is wide. Your mercy is beyond understanding. God, I thank you [music] that repentance is a beautiful word. And I pray that as we're here, community of believers, maybe those who just come to church to check it out in this new year, God, that you invite us to repent. God, would we not we not feel like we have something to prove [music] to somebody else, but this is a moment that we can have an encounter with you, and it's acknowledging that we need you. So God, for each one of us, we just pray, God, that [music] we would take that step, whatever you're calling us to, you would take a step of faith and trust you. Holy Spirit, lead, guide, direct. We need more of [music] you, less of us and more of you. Can we be people of faith this year? We thank you [music] for what you're doing in Jesus