1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:04,120 The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark, 2 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:11,840 the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God, as 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,160 it is written in Isaiah the prophet. 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,880 Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:23,880 prepare your way. The voice of one crying in the 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:27,440 wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord, 7 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:33,520 Make his paths straight. John appeared, baptizing in the 8 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:38,680 wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the 9 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:43,120 forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and 10 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:47,240 all Jerusalem, we are going out to him, and we are being 11 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:52,360 baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 12 00:00:53,160 --> 00:00:58,640 Now John was clothed with camel hair and wore a belt, a leather 13 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:03,000 belt around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. 14 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:09,520 And he preached, saying, After me comes he who is mightier than 15 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:15,000 I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and 16 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,520 anti. I have baptized you with water, 17 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:26,000 but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, the Gospel of the 18 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:31,520 Lord. Let's pray together, Lord, just 19 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:37,080 as John the Baptist prepared your way to only to see you come 20 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:42,360 as the king sent from God to do miracles, to heal the sick, and 21 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,960 ultimately to go to the cross to be the Lamb of God who takes 22 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:49,360 away the sin of the world. There was so much that you did 23 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:51,080 after John the Baptist prepared the way. 24 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,960 So we pray now, Lord, that Your Spirit would prepare the way 25 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:57,920 just in our midst so that we can, as we hear this gospel, 26 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:02,120 hear this good news. See you work in every single one 27 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:04,760 of our lives. See you work in our city, our 28 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:07,960 world, our circumstances. Lord, we pray that you would 29 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:10,919 lead, that you would be king. And we thank you, Lord, that 30 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:13,400 you're here in our midst. We pray this all in the name of 31 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:15,440 the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen. 32 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:20,480 Please be seated and turn to Mark chapter 1. 33 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:28,320 This is the beginning of a new series called simply Jesus, and 34 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,800 we're going to be just walking sequentially through the gospel 35 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:38,640 of Mark and hearing this good news afresh. 36 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,000 There's a character from Greek mythology that a lot of modern 37 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,760 people can relate with. His name was Atlas. 38 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:53,920 Anybody familiar here with Greek mythology the the the God Atlas. 39 00:02:54,600 --> 00:03:00,600 He was capable, he was strong, he was a leader among his fellow 40 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:06,160 gods, he was beloved by his family and had even daughters. 41 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:11,760 Along the way, Atlas found himself in a struggle for what 42 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:16,720 he felt was the right thing. He was fighting for the good in 43 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:24,840 the drama cycle of Greek gods and his side lost and it's 44 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:29,080 punishment. Atlas was given the unending 45 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:31,960 task of holding up the western sky. 46 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:36,400 That was his job. Atlas had to bear up under the 47 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,880 sky, the pressure of the sky to keep it from falling, and if he 48 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:44,880 were to shrug his responsibilities, the sky would 49 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:50,760 come crashing down and would cause chaos and pain and death 50 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,640 for his daughters and for the inhabitants of the world. 51 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:00,520 The myth of Atlas is, I would say, the default story for so 52 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:05,400 many of us. And the reason is that we love 53 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:11,160 our people. We love our city, we love our 54 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,960 church, we love people in our lives. 55 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:20,760 We've got strengths to offer and we care enough to get involved, 56 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:27,960 but the more involved we get in the events of this time, the 57 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:33,080 more we find ourselves holding up under the pressure, keeping 58 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:37,040 things together, holding back the chaos of what could go 59 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:40,240 wrong. Aware that if we let go of the 60 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:44,440 chaos, that pain would ensue, would rain down on people that 61 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,760 we care about and love. The hurting, the vulnerable, the 62 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,040 refugees, the children. And all we can do is hope. 63 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:55,680 Just hope that one day that pressure is going to ease, to 64 00:04:55,680 --> 00:05:00,080 release and that the chaos will abate and we will be relieved of 65 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,160 the burden. The myth of Atlas. 66 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,520 Have you ever felt like Atlas? Just under pressure? 67 00:05:07,280 --> 00:05:10,040 Under pressure to do what's right, Under pressure to 68 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:14,680 provide, under pressure to hold back what could hurt others? 69 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:21,600 That's the myth of Atlas, the myth that so many of us live by. 70 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,960 But what's the truth? What if there was a better 71 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:29,040 story? A story that wouldn't crush us, 72 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,400 but actually deliver us instead? A story that would relieve the 73 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,240 burden And that's the story that we're going to be looking at in 74 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:45,640 the Gospel of Mark, which begins with this epic packed heading in 75 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:50,840 verse 1 of chapter 1, which says this the beginning of the gospel 76 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:57,200 of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Friends, the the story of Atlas 77 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:02,040 is a dystopian myth that brings us down. 78 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:07,680 However you tell the myth, it's unsustainable to be in this 79 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:12,080 position forever. But the story of Jesus is a 80 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:15,520 gospel, which in the ancient world meant news that would 81 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,760 bring encouragement to people who heard it. 82 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,080 And that news concerned the arrival of of Jesus Christ. 83 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:24,480 That's how it's translated in our Bibles. 84 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:30,280 But really it means if you unpack what what Yeshua Messiah 85 00:06:30,280 --> 00:06:34,680 meant, that meant deliverer king, deliverer king who would 86 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:38,440 take every burden, who would take, who would take everything 87 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:43,400 bad and make it come untrue. He's the Son of God, Mark says. 88 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:49,080 He's own son and he's come to relieve our burden, to heal our 89 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:51,600 world and to do all of the heavy lifting. 90 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,560 We have a role to play though. And verse two and three talk 91 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:01,080 about it says as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, See, I am 92 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:02,880 sending my messenger ahead of you. 93 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:10,080 He will prepare your way. This is about John the Baptist. 94 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:12,840 We'll talk about John the Baptist in a moment. 95 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:17,240 What does John the Baptist do? Verse 3, a voice of one crying 96 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:19,840 out in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. 97 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:27,200 Make his paths straight. So John verse 2 is about John 98 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:30,160 the Baptist. Verse 3 is what he will say to 99 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:32,040 people. John the Baptist will be that 100 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,560 voice talking to people in the wilderness, talking to you and 101 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:37,960 me throughout the ages through the Holy Spirit. 102 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,280 Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. 103 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:48,600 Years ago we had a pest problem in our house and we called the 104 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:53,360 exterminator who said don't try to solve this problem yourself. 105 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,280 Don't do a DIY solution that's going to make it worse. 106 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:02,000 Let me take care of it with my more powerful tools. 107 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:07,480 All you have to do, He told us, is get your house ready, prepare 108 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:13,160 the way from top to bottom, do all of the adjustments necessary 109 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:16,840 so that I, the exterminator, can come and bring the heat and 110 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:20,840 solve the problem that you cannot do on your own in the 111 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:24,000 gospel of Jesus Christ. He does all the heavy lifting. 112 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,960 He brings the heat. We simply prepare the way. 113 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:33,559 But we have to ask, what does that mean exactly for us? 114 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:36,880 As we look at Mark chapter 1, we'll see that preparation means 115 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:40,760 three things. Three simple things, simple 116 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:47,200 obedience, simple repentance, and simple trust. 117 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:51,600 Simple obedience, simple repentance, and simple trust. 118 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,560 These are the top to bottom adjustments that we make so that 119 00:08:55,560 --> 00:08:57,640 the deliverer King can bring the heat. 120 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:03,080 Let's look at simple obedience. John the Baptist didn't save the 121 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:09,240 world, he just obeyed God's word and that meant giving 122 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:13,600 instructions to prepare the way. Verse 4 John came baptizing in 123 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:18,360 the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the 124 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:22,280 forgiveness of sins. John the Baptist had a very 125 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:26,480 simple job. Be the voice that calls people 126 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:30,480 to repent of their sins and then as a sign of their repentance, 127 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:34,320 immerse them in water as a new beginning. 128 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:37,640 Most people in that time, especially coming from Judea and 129 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:42,240 Jerusalem, would cleanse themselves and they would do it 130 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:44,160 frequently. It was part of the Jewish 131 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,560 purification rights. So what John is introducing here 132 00:09:47,560 --> 00:09:53,800 is an entirely new rite, RITE, which is to baptize you, immerse 133 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:57,360 you in water, and then as you are immersed in water, it 134 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:00,880 becomes a signpost that you are becoming a different person and 135 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:04,000 that you are preparing yourselves for a deliverer king 136 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:08,880 who would do everything else. Here's what John wasn't doing. 137 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:14,000 He's pretty and baptizing, but he was not healing people. 138 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:18,240 He was preparing them to be healed by Jesus. 139 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:23,120 He was not overthrowing Rome, but he was calling soldiers to 140 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:26,240 stop extorting people. He wasn't playing God. 141 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:30,480 John the Baptist wasn't playing God, but he was pointing to King 142 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:32,840 Jesus. He simply did what God asked him 143 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:34,560 to do. It was a simple act of 144 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:39,600 obedience. He lived a weird disruptive 145 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:44,240 life, right? He wore like animal skins. 146 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:48,160 He fed on locusts and honey, like he lived kind of a rough 147 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:52,840 existence to carry out this act of obedience. 148 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:55,800 But that was what God asked him to do. 149 00:10:55,800 --> 00:11:00,160 God asked him to be a prophet like the old prophets, like the 150 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,120 last of the old prophets, ushering in the new era and just 151 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:08,120 preach and just baptize and, and make the sacrifices necessary to 152 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:10,560 fulfill that call. And he did it. 153 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:15,840 And he pointed to Jesus. What has God asked you to do, 154 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:20,400 friends? What, what, what burden has he 155 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:22,720 asked you to carry? What light yoke has he said this 156 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:25,400 is for you? I'm asking you to walk this out. 157 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:29,880 There's probably some sacrifice, there's probably some faith 158 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:33,240 involved. There's probably some unknowns, 159 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:36,520 but there's something all of us can do to prepare the way for 160 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:39,280 Jesus. I love the way that the prophet 161 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:42,840 Micah answered the question of like, what are we supposed to 162 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:44,400 do? What does obedience look like? 163 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:48,840 The prophet Micah, years before John the Baptist says this. 164 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:53,440 He has told each of you what is good and what is the Lord 165 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:57,640 requires of you, What it is the Lord requires of you to act 166 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:03,560 justly, to love faithfulness, otherwise translated mercy, and 167 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:09,600 to walk humbly with your God. Act justly, love faithfulness, 168 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,320 and walk humbly with your God. At the end of the day, that's 169 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,360 all the Lord is asking of each one of us to prepare His way. 170 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:20,400 We give God what we have. We give him our simple 171 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:25,520 obedience, the right next step. We don't know the outcomes and 172 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:29,000 we can't control them, but we can walk humbly with our God in 173 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:31,560 the specific calling He's given to each one of us. 174 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:35,480 Some of you might look at John the Baptist and you're like, you 175 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:42,520 know what John the Baptist had at least he had clarity about 176 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:45,880 what he was supposed to do. I mean, there the prophet Isaiah 177 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:49,200 wrote about him directly. You, if you have like scriptural 178 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,320 prophecies written about you, you know, you have some clarity 179 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:56,840 about what God wants you to do. Not only that, John the Baptist 180 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:00,080 wasn't just, he didn't just have clarity, he had gifting. 181 00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:07,680 What about us? What about our clarity? 182 00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:09,560 What about Our Calling? What about our gifting? 183 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:17,440 All of those are Atlas questions with Atlas pressure behind them. 184 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:20,520 I've got to know what's clear. What's my calling? 185 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:23,200 What am I supposed to do? It's OK to ask some of those 186 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:27,040 questions, but if we we only have the clarity God is ready to 187 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:30,480 give us, we only have the next step that God is ready to give 188 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:32,280 us. And most of the time it's only 189 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:34,960 the next step that becomes clear. 190 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:37,480 As we take the step, God makes it clear. 191 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:40,640 We practice discernment and He follows us the rest of the way 192 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:42,840 through every single act of obedience. 193 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:50,480 One person asked this question. Look, if if the Lord led the 194 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:55,000 people of Israel through the desert into the promised land, 195 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:59,760 why would he not leave me? It was a great, you know, if the 196 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:06,120 Lord, if God sent his Son Jesus to lead a new exodus, why would 197 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:08,920 he not leave each one of us as we are seeking to do his will? 198 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:12,920 Lord, show me the next step of obedience. 199 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:14,680 That's a prayer he would love to answer. 200 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:17,720 And that is a way for us to prepare his way. 201 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:23,560 But he's got to prepare us in the process. 202 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:27,000 And that's why preparing the way doesn't just end with simple 203 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,160 obedience. It gives way to simple 204 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:31,400 repentance. Simple repentance. 205 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:35,360 Verse 5, the whole Judean countryside says the whole 206 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:38,720 Judean countryside, and all the people of Jerusalem were going 207 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:42,360 out to him, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan 208 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:45,880 River, confessing their sins. Now, this is a curious and 209 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:51,120 interesting surprise because most of the time people were 210 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:55,200 making pilgrimages to Judea, to Jerusalem. 211 00:14:55,400 --> 00:15:00,080 That's where the flow of God's people faithfully went year 212 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:05,640 after year into Jerusalem to find God and to meet him. 213 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:10,880 But now we see a reverse flow. It's like the Chicago River 214 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:12,440 getting reversed back in the day. 215 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:16,160 Now they're going, they're going out, they're leaving. 216 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:20,040 And why are they leaving? It's because all of the systems 217 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:24,960 of power politically and religious power was corrupt and 218 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:26,840 pressurizing. And these were the people 219 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:31,000 holding it up. And they were saying no more, 220 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:35,320 this is killing me. I'm making huge compromises to 221 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:37,600 do this. And so they're leaving behind. 222 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:41,400 They're shrugging the weight of the temple and shrugging the 223 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:45,240 weight of enforcing Rome's wishes. 224 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:50,160 And they're coming out to John and they're leaving all kinds of 225 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:52,120 things behind. They're leaving power behind. 226 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:54,920 They're leaving pride behind. They're leaving control behind. 227 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:57,920 And they're coming out to be relieved of their burden. 228 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,600 And they find John the Baptist standing in the Jordan River. 229 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,280 Come to the waters. We can hear him calling out. 230 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:10,080 Come and unload your burdens here, friends. 231 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:15,120 Come confess that guilt. Come, come, repent. 232 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,600 I know you feel unclean. Come get clean. 233 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:24,160 Starting today, you can be at peace if you come to the waters. 234 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:26,640 Starting today, you can be free of shame. 235 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:31,880 Starting today, you can be free of secrecy and condemnation and 236 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:35,640 dread. Starting today, you can be ready 237 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:40,680 for the coming of God's Son who's come to take away your sin 238 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,040 before he judges the world in righteousness and truth. 239 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:46,680 Come to the waters, we can hear him say. 240 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:51,720 And here comes that soldier taking off his armor, taking off 241 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:56,680 his sword that he's used to extort money from people coming 242 00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:59,280 to the water. Just a man, no longer a symbol, 243 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:05,800 being let down into the waters and coming out a cleansed new 244 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:11,440 birth son of God, ready, ready to follow a new king, a new 245 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,680 Lord. Here comes a tax collector who 246 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:19,040 works hand in hand with that soldier, and he takes off his 247 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:24,520 expensive outer garments and he takes off all of the shame as 248 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:27,880 well for betraying his people. And he goes into the waters too. 249 00:17:28,079 --> 00:17:31,600 And as he is immersed, all of his greed is washed away. 250 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:36,800 And he comes out and the weight of all of that greed comes off 251 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:43,840 of his soul and he's free and he's ready to to lay up 252 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:48,480 treasures in heaven. Simple, simple. 253 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:54,760 Repentance can be so hard. Here comes a Pharisee who takes 254 00:17:54,760 --> 00:18:00,600 off his religious garments, his religious garments that that 255 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,840 caused people to cower, make him into a symbol. 256 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,560 And he takes the, the symbolism, all of all that power. 257 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:11,480 And he says, I'm ready to no longer be a, you know, be 258 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:14,600 someone who like breaks the law over people's heads. 259 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:17,800 I'm ready to just cast off all of this judgement. 260 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:20,760 I'm ready to to be scorned by my colleagues. 261 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:23,160 And, and he is low down into the waters. 262 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,480 And now he comes, a true spiritual leader, truly ready to 263 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:31,280 love people, truly ready to do justice and love mercy and walk 264 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:36,000 humbly with his God, ready to be taught by the greatest teacher 265 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:40,640 of the Torah, the rabbi whom John the Baptist was preparing 266 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,640 the way for. Who else walked into the waters? 267 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:49,880 Friends, from then until now, there's such a relief that comes 268 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:54,720 when we confess. There's the wait of the world 269 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:56,960 that just seems to lift from our shoulders. 270 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:01,040 And really what this does is this, this prepares the way for 271 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:04,160 the Lord and and in one of the most significant ways possible. 272 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:07,800 In his classic allegory, the pilgrims progress, John Bunyan 273 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:12,920 tells the story of Christian. Christian is a is a man who he 274 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:18,480 carried a great burden on his back his whole life, and the 275 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:22,880 straps of that burden just wore his shoulders raw. 276 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:29,240 And so, like the pilgrims in verse 5, Christian set out on on 277 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,000 on a journey. He, he left his familiar home 278 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,240 behind to have his burden removed. 279 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:38,400 And, and actually, the more spiritually aware he became, the 280 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:43,000 heavier the burden got. It almost weighed him down. 281 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:47,120 In fact, he, he kind of like stumbled under the weight of it 282 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,840 and almost got stuck in his guilt, in the slew of despond. 283 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:58,120 It's like a murky swamp. But along the way, he caught 284 00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:02,480 sight of the cross. It was at the top of the hill. 285 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,360 He could see it. And so he pressed on and he 286 00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:08,040 passed through the wicket gate of repentance. 287 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:09,840 He passed through this gate of repentance. 288 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,520 And as he got closer and closer to the cross, all he could do 289 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:15,160 was stumble. Not like he did. 290 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:19,360 In the slew of despond despair, but to stumble with hope. 291 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:23,640 And as he did, the straps came loose on their own. 292 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,480 And the burden tumbled and tumbled, tumbled down until it 293 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:34,440 entered into a a tomb. Bunyan calls it a sepulchre, a 294 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:39,520 tomb representing death as well as resurrection. 295 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:46,520 And Christian was free. The burden was gone, the Guild 296 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:51,080 had been erased, and Bunyan captures the relief that he felt 297 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:54,800 when he says this. Then Christian was glad and 298 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:58,760 lights him, and said with a merry heart, He hath given me 299 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:02,400 rest by his sorrow, and life by his death. 300 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,320 We can't carry the weight of the world forever. 301 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:13,440 We can't carry the weight of sin and condemnation forever, but we 302 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:20,160 can prepare the way of the Lord, simply releasing it as we face 303 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:23,960 our darkness and experience the inside out healing that John the 304 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:29,200 Baptist is calling every single person to see John the Baptist, 305 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:34,240 he didn't try saving the world. He simply prepared the way of 306 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:37,280 the one who would. And it didn't end there. 307 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:40,800 And this is so crucial. John prepared the way of the 308 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,240 Lord There's simple, simple obedience and calling people the 309 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:46,720 simple repentance. He prepared the way of the Lord, 310 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:51,000 but then he got out of the way of the Lord and this leads us to 311 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,560 simple trust. Let's read about this in verse 312 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:58,320 7. He proclaimed John, one who is 313 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:00,920 more powerful than I am is coming after me. 314 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:06,000 I am not worthy to soup down and untie the strap of his sandals. 315 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:12,720 I baptize you with water, but he, Jesus will baptize you with 316 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:17,320 the Holy Spirit. We should know that John the 317 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:19,800 Baptist was the celebrity preacher of his day. 318 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:27,840 And we see it right here in the gospel record as throngs of 319 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,560 people flock to hear John the Baptist. 320 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:35,120 And these are these are the religious elite, and they're 321 00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:37,360 coming to him. He's not going to them. 322 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,120 This is cooperated by non biblical sources. 323 00:22:42,120 --> 00:22:46,080 In writing in 92AD, the historian Joseph noted that 324 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:50,040 John's quote, eloquence had so great an effect on the people 325 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:54,280 that they were quote, ready to do anything he should advise. 326 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:58,920 That's how much power he had, not just to draw people, but to 327 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:01,200 influence those people. And they did what he said. 328 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,400 So this doesn't happen unless you have extraordinary spiritual 329 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:10,600 gifting. And this is spiritual gifting 330 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:16,360 alarmed even Herod, Herod Antipus usually not paying 331 00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:19,960 attention, you know, to to desert preachers. 332 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:24,960 But Herod was so afraid of his power that he had him imprisoned 333 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,800 and killed. So but here's what John the 334 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:31,560 Baptist does with his significant spiritual 335 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,480 influences. He prepares the way and then he 336 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:40,160 gets out of the way. He lets Jesus take over the 337 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:44,120 project, the baby that he's worked on, that he's given his 338 00:23:44,120 --> 00:23:47,880 life to, that he's invested in. He says now Jesus, you take it 339 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:50,720 from here. I trust you, Jesus to take it 340 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:54,360 from here. He didn't worry about the 341 00:23:54,360 --> 00:23:55,960 direction that Jesus would take it. 342 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:00,240 He didn't worry about the outcomes that Jesus would lead. 343 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,120 He had no idea how all of this would unfold. 344 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,120 But he doesn't cling to it. He simply says Jesus is more 345 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:10,400 powerful, Jesus is more worthy. Jesus baptizes with the Holy 346 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:12,800 Spirit. Therefore, I won't stand in his 347 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:17,280 way. It's worth asking, why do we get 348 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:23,320 a savior complex? Why do we get an Atlas complex? 349 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,080 Why do we prepare the way for the Lord, but we don't get out 350 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:30,800 of the way of the Lord? Why don't we trust Jesus with 351 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:33,280 what we have built for him and with Him? 352 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:38,360 To be honest, I think for some of us it feels good to be in 353 00:24:38,360 --> 00:24:43,680 control and it feels scary to release control. 354 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:48,920 So after Jesus uses us to prepare the way, we get so 355 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:53,360 personally involved in the project that getting out of the 356 00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:58,840 way can feel like death itself. So we hang on long after we 357 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:02,920 should when the invitation is from Jesus. 358 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:07,760 Just trust me, I can do more with what you're giving me than 359 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:14,840 you can ask or imagine. Parents, fellow parents, have 360 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:18,640 you ever felt this tension for years? 361 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:20,160 You. You prepare the way for your 362 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:22,240 children. You invest your love into them 363 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:27,240 and life in them. There's like so much hope and 364 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:32,600 faith and love that you invest in your kids and, and we prepare 365 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:34,800 the way so that Jesus can lead them. 366 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:39,560 But before we know it, before we're ready, really, we find 367 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:45,760 ourselves standing in the way and trying to do what only Jesus 368 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:47,640 can do in the hearts and lives of our kids. 369 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:53,040 And sometimes the best thing that we can do is to stop 370 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:57,040 overdoing it and to give the Lord just some space to work in 371 00:25:57,040 --> 00:25:59,560 their lives. Well, let's broaden this out 372 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:03,080 beyond kids and parenting. Let's think about people we care 373 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,600 about, people we invest in. I heard one person put it like 374 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:10,280 this. When I disciple someone, that's 375 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:14,760 Christianese for when I invest myself into someone in such a 376 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,040 way that shapes them to look like Jesus. 377 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:20,840 When I really care about someone and invest in them, they don't 378 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,080 become mine. I don't use the personal 379 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:26,440 possessive pronoun to describe them. 380 00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:31,640 They're not my disciple, they're Jesus's disciple. 381 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,800 I was reminded this last week of my youth pastor back in the day, 382 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,760 Pastor Joel. You know, he really didn't do 383 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:43,160 flashy things for us as teenagers. 384 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:45,560 It was fun, it was engaging, it was interesting. 385 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:50,720 But what he did is he invested in US and he taught us how to 386 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:52,440 follow Jesus and how to be leaders. 387 00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:57,120 We pray that one day Emanuel can have a youth pastor of her own. 388 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:03,200 This is so important. But then, one by one, Pastor 389 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,080 Joel let us go. He released us into the world. 390 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:09,120 He prayed for us and he was there for us. 391 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:11,000 But he didn't stand in Jesus's way. 392 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:18,080 He let Jesus take it from there. As we go through the Gospel of 393 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:21,840 Mark, we're going to see Jesus take the baton from John the 394 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:26,720 Baptist and solve the world's biggest problems, lifting 395 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:30,160 burdens, healing diseases, forgiving sins, confronting the 396 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:33,480 bullies that everyone else is afraid to face, carrying the 397 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:39,800 cross, Atlas style, stumbling on his way up the hill. 398 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:44,280 We'll see him arms outstretched in this gospel, holding back the 399 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:50,440 chaos, holding back death, holding up his sons and 400 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,760 daughters who come to him, holding up even the thief next 401 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,760 to him that says, Remember Me when you come into your Kingdom. 402 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:00,920 He's holding back all of this evil and chaos. 403 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:05,240 So it doesn't crush us, friends. And we'll hear him calling us to 404 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,440 learn his way and to follow in the way that John the Baptist 405 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:12,000 had prepared. So friends, this morning let's 406 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,120 come to Him with our burden. Like Christian, we can find 407 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:19,320 ourselves under the outstretched arms of Jesus, the burden of our 408 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:24,040 sins released, the weight of the world heaved from our shoulders, 409 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:32,560 The Holy Spirit baptizing us in his love and power and calling 410 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:37,520 just enough strength for us to take the right next step. 411 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:41,320 Friends, just enough humility to repent. 412 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:48,800 Just enough vision to follow Jesus into his Kingdom. 413 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:54,280 Now I preached this message that I preached this passage Mark 414 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:57,840 chapter 1 starting in verse 1. You know, I preached at 12 years 415 00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:04,360 ago on October 6th, 2013 on Emanuel's first ever launched 416 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:07,920 Sunday. And I found an old e-mail that I 417 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:11,800 wrote the day previous, which was asking people to pray. 418 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:13,360 And here's what I said in my e-mail. 419 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:19,000 Tomorrow at 10 AM, Emmanuel celebrates its launch Sunday. 420 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,440 It's an intense time, a challenge, a battle, a 421 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:24,920 celebration. Our first Sunday inviting the 422 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:29,080 community, our first Sunday in our new space, our first morning 423 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,280 service. I am excited and also feeling 424 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:36,360 the weight of tomorrow. Feeling the weight. 425 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:39,120 Part of the reason I was feeling the way is because my sermon 426 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:44,280 wasn't yet done. But I think I was also feeling 427 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:48,000 the pressure from just all of the demands and the hopes that 428 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,560 comes with a new church. And I wanted the first Sunday to 429 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,480 be awesome. And it was awesome. 430 00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:57,960 Not because it was perfect, and not because all of our dreams 431 00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,360 and hopes came true. Most of them didn't. 432 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:06,160 It was awesome because Jesus was there and I remember like 433 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:09,680 walking out into the parking lot, which we had at the time, 434 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:14,400 and feeling the sense of lightness and hope and peace, 435 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:16,560 like God's light was shining on our church. 436 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:22,760 And every step along the way from that morning to this 437 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,440 morning, He's guided us through a lot. 438 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:31,160 I don't know what the next 12 years old friends, maybe you 439 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:33,560 feel like I did when I wrote that e-mail where you're just 440 00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:40,840 feeling the weight and holding the hopes then is now the Son of 441 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:46,120 God, Jesus the deliverer King. He's holding us friends. 442 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:52,800 He's holding our city, He's holding our nation, He's holding 443 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:56,800 Emmanuel. And our call is to join John the 444 00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:02,000 Baptist to be that spiritual beacon that points people to 445 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,360 Jesus Christ, calling attention to him. 446 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:11,640 Simply Jesus, simply Jesus, friends, and simply his Kingdom, 447 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:16,520 which will have no end. It's the best news in the world. 448 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:21,600 So, friends, I want to invite you to shrug off the myth of 449 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:26,920 Atlas and take up the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 450 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,880 and with the humble resources that we have, prepare the way of 451 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:33,880 the Lord in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 452 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:34,600 Amen.