JANUARY 22

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES

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Matthew 11:11

“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

John 1:29

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

2 Chronicles 7:14

“ if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Jeremiah 1:10

“See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,

To root out and to pull down,

To destroy and to throw down,

To build and to plant.”

Matthew 7:16-20

“You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

John 10:40-42

“And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.  Then many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.”  And many believed in Him there.”

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This month we’re reading  the new devotional   “Becoming New”,  written by  Warren W. Wiersbe and compiled by his grandson.  Pastor Wiersbe was the President of Moody Bible Institute before the current President, Erwin Lutzer.  

JESUS’ TRANSFORMATION TOOLKIT

Read Matthew 3

“It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus,” wrote Robert Murray M’Cheyne to a missionary friend. “A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”

John the Baptist was indeed an awesome “weapon,” chosen by God to prepare the way for Jesus.  John was an instrument of transformation at a time when the people of Israel were under the heel of Caesar and had not heard the voice of a prophet for four hundred years.  The prophets predicted John’s ministry, and Jesus called him the greatest of the prophets.  John’s ministry reveals us the tools God gives to those who do His transformative work.

THE WORD OF GOD (MATTHEW 3:1-3).  Filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb.  John’s preaching was personal and powerful.  Not all of us are called to be preachers, but we are appointed to be witnesses, and John pointed the people to Jesus.  “Look!”  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” 

The Word of God magnifies the Son of God, which is why John said, “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less (John 3:30). We cannot transform people and circumstances, but Jesus can.  John didn’t talk ABOUT the Word of God:  He declared the Word and magnified Jesus Christ.

PRAYER (Luke 11:1)

For some reason, we don’t think of John the Baptist as a great man of prayer, but what he taught his own disciples must have impressed our Lord’s disciples.  During his years in the wilderness John must have spend many hours asking God to save the people of Israel and fulfill the promises of 2 Chronicles 7:14.  Without prayer, transformers can do nothing.

THE AXE (MATTHEW 3:10)

Sometimes we must tear down before we can build up (Jeremiah 1:10).  How easy it is for congregations, or even individual  believers, to be like the fig tree Jesus cursed, all foliage and no fruit (Matthew 21:18-19.) The tree dried up from the roots, so we must first apply the axe there.  John was a radical, a word that comes from the Latin “radix”, which means “root.”  True ministry gets to the root of the matter and doesn’t just trim the branches.  John applied his axe of truth to the roots of the false teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and so did Jesus.

THE WINNOWING FORK (MATTHEW 3:12).  On the high place outside the town, the farmers would use the winnowing fork to throw the grain into the air, and the wind would blow away the chaff, leaving just the grain.  How we need the wind of the Spirit to separate the useless chaff from people’s lives!  God wants the grain brought in and the chaff burned up.  Jesus comes seeking fruit, not chaff.  We are to let the Spirit and the Word separate the temporary from the eternal.  God often uses trials in our lives to blow the chaff away so our fruit might be seen for what it is, either good or bad (Matthew 7:16-20).

Even though we use the same tools, no two Christians are identical –nor should they be.  Jesus mingled with the people and welcomed the children, while John was a loner who preferred the wilderness.  Jesus ate and drank with all kinds of people and ministered to them at the table, but John was an ascetic in dress and diet (Matthew 11:16-19).  Jesus healed people and even raised the dead, but John never did one miracle, yet he led many to believe in Jesus (John 10:40-42.  It isn’t necessary for us to do “signs and wonders” in order to lead people to Jesus.  God hears our prayers, God blesses His word, and God convicts the human heart.  Use the tools, and trust Him with the results.

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