The Gospel of Luke: Finding the Kingdom in the Wilderness - Audio

City Light Church Sermons

Sermon Date: 11/3/2024 Speaker: Brian Crawford Luke 3: 1-22 . Check us out at: https://citylightvicksburg.org/ Or check us out here: https://www.facebook.com/citylightvicksburg . Sermon notes Luke 3: 1-22 Here's a snapshot of the politics surrounding John and his proclaiming of the Christ to come: Tiberius is the emperor of Rome. He ruled during the ministry of John and the ministry of Jesus. He was able to get Rome out of its debt over this time. But his time in rulership is filled with incredible scandal and rumor. Pilot was appointed a local ruler over the Jews. Pilot and the Jews had several conflicts. Herod is the ruler of Galile. John confronted Herod over his marriage. He was eventually imprisoned and killed during this time. There are all kinds of politics at play. But during this chaos and power plays, “the world of God came to John the Baptist in the wilderness.” The word of God showed up not to an emperor, but to a man in the woods eating locusts and honey. While all the word was fighting over the land, all of their stories would be overshadowed by a man they didn’t even know existed. All of the politics were happening, but people were going to woods to hear from God. John's message was not about doing work in any physical place - but our hearts. John's message was a call to repentance and his message also contains the context of violent radical change in our hearts. Repentance is an act of faith; we change because we trust the Lord. We submit our will to Jesus. What does repentance look like? You use your resources to help and serve those without. Tax collectors - collect no more than you were authorized to do. Soldiers - don’t extort others or be dishonest. Be content with wages. But both are to view other humans as image bearers and help others, serve others. Repentance is a radical alteration of course. His message was of radical submission to Jesus, and radical service to neighbor. When Jesus comes into your presence he will baptize you in spirit and fire. The spirit is our retainer, it keeps us. And the fire is the burning away of stuff that is not like Jesus. But for some of us; those who will not repent, that fire looks like judgement. So the hope that you and I have; when we repent, we don’t have to say it alone - the Lord gives us the spirit.