INTRODUCTION
Good evening brethren, we have a task before us today to study briefly the life and ministry of John the Baptist and to adapt some lessons that I believe will have a deep impact on our personal life and ministry.
This lesson will be divided into three basic parts as follows:
1. Prophecies and childhood of John the Baptist
2. The life and Ministry of John the Baptist
3. How is this applicable to us?
Prophecies and the Childhood of John the Baptist
John the Baptist was a man ordained to usher in the forth coming and the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ (Isaiah 40:3, Malachi 3:1, Matt 3:3, 11:10, John 1:23). The prophecy is clear from all these scriptures read and we can all agree “John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for Jehovah. Isaiah 40:3 says that John is to clear the way for YHWH (Jehovah). In Mal. 3:1, it is God who says, "he will clear the way before me." Yet we see that the fulfillment of these verses is found in the arrival of Jesus”
These prophecies though prophesied at around 1000 years before the appearance of John the Baptist and Jesus, it still came to pass and John also fulfilled the purpose of his birth, which is basically to announce and prepare the way for the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must identity that his parental faith might – Zacharias and Elizabeth whom the Bible identify as devoted Christians both believed and served the Lord faithfully until they were blessed with their only child – John, through the divine encounter between Angel Gabriel and Zechariah, it is amazing how God revealed the kind of a child he would later become during his christening when his father prophesied under the influenced of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:5-25).
The hallmark of John’s ministry is to be a witness to the mi...
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The Gospel of John, the last of the four gospels in the Bible, is a radical departure from the simple style of the synoptic gospels. It is the only one that does not use parables as a way of showing how Jesus taught, and is the only account of several events, including the raising of Lazarus and Jesus turning water into wine. While essentially the gospel is written anonymously, many scholars believe that it was written by the apostle John sometime between the years 85 and 95 CE in Ephesus. The basic story is that of a testimonial of one of the Apostles and his version of Jesus' ministry. It begins by telling of the divine origins of the birth of Jesus, then goes on to prove that He is the Son of God because of the miracles he performs and finally describes Jesus' death and resurrection.
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The Gospel of John begins by stating that God sent John the Baptist to identify Jesus Christ as the true Light and Savior. First Christ became a human being and lived here on earth among us and was full of loving forgiveness and truth(John 975). One day while John was baptizing in the Jordan River, Jesus approached to be baptized. Once He was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended from Heaven in the form of a dove and rested on Jesus. This sign told John that Jesus is the Son of God(John 977).
Robinson, B. A. (2008, March 30). Books of the Hebrew Scripture . Retrieved May 7, 2011, from Religious Tolerance: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_otb3.htm
The New Testament teaches about who Jesus is and what he did on the earth. John wrote the last of the four gospels which recount Jesus’ life and what is to come. The gospel of John is somewhat different from the other three gospels, in that it is more symbolic and less concrete. For example, John expresses Jesus as the Passover Lamb when Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not. This gospel is showing that Christianity is moving away from the long-practiced Jewish traditions. John’s gospel can be laid out into four parts: the prologue or the incarnate word, signs of the Messiah with teachings about life in him, the farewell teaching and the passion narrative, and the epilogue or the roles of Peter and of the disciple whom Jesus loved. The Gospel of John is arguably the most
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...Today as a Christ follower, we will never be satisfied if our life is not bearing lasting fruit because we are not fulfilling the purpose for which we were “grafted “into the Vine. Let’s examine the “fruit” of our lives. Is it the kind of fruit that reveals the character of Christ? Let’s not settle for fruitless Christianity. God will do the work of making us fruitful – we must only abide, surrendering our lives to His mission of making disciples of all nations through us. The whole notion of mission is to stretch out to work the work of evangelism not through hierarchy, sovereignty, rather through humbleness, hospitality, affection love for the others. That is what Jesus who portrayed as the one who we do not deserve to untie His sandals straps in the first Chapter of John, later become feet washer, intimate with humanity leaving His equality with God.
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