Intro to Matt. 11:7-15

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/29/2021 10:11 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  Intro to Matt. 11:7-17

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matt. 11:7-15

 

            Message of the verses:  “7 As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 “But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ palaces! 9 “But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. 10 “This is the one about whom it is written, ‘BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.’ 11 “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. 13 “For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 14 “And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. 15 “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

 

            We are going to look at a very short introduction to these verses and then we will begin to look more intently at them as we move through this section. 

 

            One of the things that we will be talking about from these verses is the greatness of John the Baptist. I think that we all know that the world has many standards by which it measures what greatness is.  Some of these things include intellectual achievement, political and military leadership, scientific and medical discoveries, wealth and power, and athletic, dramatic, literary, and also musical skill.

 

            What we will be looking at here is that Jesus in this section of verses about John the Baptist sets forth what God’s measure of greatness is.  First we will see the human, and then historical dimension as seen in the life and ministry of John the Baptist.  Then He will briefly contrast John’s greatness with the superior greatness of those kingdom citizens.

 

            MacArthur writes “From verses 7-`4 three marks of John’s greatness can be discerned:  his personal character, his privileged calling, and his powerful culmination.”  Now with that we come to an end of this introduction, and as I said it was short.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have listened to the sermon on these verses and was happy to see what God’s truth of greatness truly is and I look forward to going over this again.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:   I trust the Lord to give me the words that He wants me to teach in our next Sunday school lesson as I will be going over the one of the toughest passage in all of the Word of God, and I certainly need His wisdom as I work through this section of Hebrews 5:11-6:10.

 

11/29/2021 10:34 AM