Mark Clark [00:00:00]:
Hey, everyone. Mark here. Welcome to the Mark Clark Podcast. Merry Christmas to you. And I have a special little Christmas gift for you. If you jump over to my Instagram account or my Facebook account, you can go in the comments right now and just type in the word book. And if you type in the word book, here's what's gonna happen. I'm gonna privately DM you a free preview of my upcoming book, the Problem of Life, for free.
Mark Clark [00:00:23]:
I'm gonna send it to you. You can download it and read the introduction to the whole book. And hopefully that's a gift to you. This. I'm super excited about that book coming out and hopefully you are, too. So go over to Instagram, type in book into the comments, and we will DM you. So super excited about that. Now, in this episode, we're talking about the birth of John the Baptist and the powerful lessons it holds for each one of us.
Mark Clark [00:00:46]:
From Zachariah's doubt to Elizabeth's humility and John's role as the one who points to Jesus, this story challenges us to reflect on our own faith, our own purpose, and how we respond to the pressures of life. So stick around. This is a conversation that should and can and reshape how you approach the Christmas season and beyond. Hopefully you enjoy it. Here's week three, the Prophet's hope. All right, that's what we're talking about today. And so if you got a Bible, Luke, chapter one. And we're going to pick up the story in verse 57, okay? And here's what it says.
Mark Clark [00:01:20]:
Now, the time came for Elizabeth to give birth. So Elizabeth, we were introduced to her a couple weeks ago, is Mary's cousin. All right, so they're related. Mary's the mother of Jesus, and this is now her cousin. So I have two cousins. I love them. They were my closest companions growing up. I remember we used to go to cottages and camp every summer.
Mark Clark [00:01:41]:
I slept with my cousin Keith. We were sleeping on the same bed one time, and I accidentally peed the bed and actually blamed it on him when we woke up. And he got grounded for a couple days. And I only ended up telling my family 15 years later, good times. That's my cousin. And that's. We have these intimate relationships that we have with our relatives. And Mary and Elizabeth actually know each other.
Mark Clark [00:02:02]:
And that's Elizabeth to Mary. All right, they grew up peeing on each other, whatever, however you want to put that. But. But the thing is, Elizabeth's way older than Mary, and so. So she's her older cousin. And Then her, her husband Zachariah, and he was a priest. So, so picture like a pastor, right? Zachariah was a pastor, he's running a church. And they couldn't have kids, which in that culture wasn't just a disappointment, it was a big shame.
Mark Clark [00:02:28]:
And, and so God shows up and he says, I'm gonna help you. And so this is like Abraham, this is like Sarah, right? Where remember in those Old Testament people where God showed up and they're like 90 years old and God says, I'm gonna give you a baby. I'm gonna make you pregnant. And so last week we talked about the idea that Mary walks in and the baby in Elizabeth's womb actually senses Jesus and starts leaping around. All right, this is magic, right? This is the magic of Christmas. This baby in, in Mary's womb is so powerful. It's like a Jedi. It's like it's the one that's going to come and bring balance to the force and save the world, all of it.
Mark Clark [00:03:04]:
And so there's this power is ripping through her belly. Crazy cool. Anyway, so there's this angel and he.
Mark Clark [00:03:10]:
Comes and he says, no, you're going.
Mark Clark [00:03:12]:
To have a kid and you're going to name this kid John.
Mark Clark [00:03:15]:
All right?
Mark Clark [00:03:15]:
This is what talking now to, to Elizabeth and Zachariah.
Mark Clark [00:03:19]:
You're going to name this kid John.
Mark Clark [00:03:20]:
So that's what they're about to do. So verse 57. So the time came and Elizabeth gives birth to this son and she bore a son, all right? So the time came, she bores the son. So remember that moment when you had your first kid. Those of you who've had kids. It's a crazy day, right? It's a crazy day. I reflect on my own experience. It's just like it's life changing in every way.
Mark Clark [00:03:43]:
Everything about it is scary. Remember that moment. Enter into this kind of magical moment for this couple. You're not really sure what's going to happen one minute to the next. You're 25, I was 25 year old kid. I don't think I was talking about this with my daughters the other day. We have friends who have a newborn baby and my daughters are always holding the baby and they're like, dad, you know, you're great with the baby. I was like, I didn't even touch a baby until I had my own.
Mark Clark [00:04:11]:
Like that's the thing. For many guys, that's the experience. Like the first kind of baby you really lean into and interact with is kind of your own baby. And so you're 25 years old, you're a kid, you show up to the hospital, the next minute they're handing you this child. And I had never, you know, had any experience with this. My wife actually got a C section, so. So she's sitting there and she has the baby, and then she's got to go away for, like, three or four hours by herself to heal. So I just.
Mark Clark [00:04:38]:
They just hand me the baby. It was insane because I've never held the baby before. So all of a sudden it's like, hey, dude, by the way, take care of this thing. And then they all left. And I was like, what do I do with it? All right. So it was, like, crying, and I'm sticking my finger in its mouth so it stops crying. And I'm like, here, take this candy. And I'm like, reading Lord of the Rings to these kids.
Mark Clark [00:04:56]:
I don't know what's going on. It was just crazy. So there's hours of me literally walking around the hospital reading to my kids, just praying for any ideas. That's what this situation was. I couldn't even shut her up. So those are crazy days, right? It's scary because they literally, after all those things, the nurses just. They just, hey, here's how to feed your baby. Here's how to change them.
Mark Clark [00:05:18]:
And they just. Here's how to hold the head up. And then they just hand you the baby. And you walk out the front door of the hospital, and you're like, I don't know what to do. And you're like. You go in to your car, and there's this chair, and you're like, I don't know. Is this even legit? I don't know. And you're driving, like 30 kilometers an hour, and everyone's zipping around you, trying to kill you.
Mark Clark [00:05:35]:
And it's like, why are demons driving all over the place trying to kill my kid? It's just crazy. It's weird. It's a weird time. Your first kid, and it's magical. So you got these old people. That's the scenario. They've never had a kid before. She gives birth to this child.
Mark Clark [00:05:51]:
She bore a son, it says. All right. So then verse 58 says this. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day, they came.
Mark Clark [00:06:04]:
To circumcise the child.
Mark Clark [00:06:06]:
That was cultural back then. On the eighth day, among the Jews, you would go and you'd circumcise the child. And they would have culture called Him Zachariah, after his dad. That's what the culture did. Because, you know, you had a father. I'm Mark. I have a son. I name him Mark.
Mark Clark [00:06:19]:
That was the Jewish culture back then. And they would have called him Zachariah after his father. The text says, but his mother answered verse 60 and says, no, he shall be called John. So remember, the angel came a couple weeks ago and said, you have to call this kid John. And they said, you know, these people around, they're like, none of your relatives are called by this name. And then the text says, and they made signs to his father, like, remember, Zachariah has been made mute. So the angel came, and he said, I want you to do this. I want you to do that.
Mark Clark [00:06:47]:
He gave him a little bit of sass. And so the angel was like, hey, don't talk to me like that. I'm gonna make you mute. You're not allowed to talk for nine months. And the wife was like, yeah, praise God. Great season. So the angel said this and gave me sass, and he shuts him up so he can't talk. So.
Mark Clark [00:07:01]:
So remember, he's a pastor, right? So for a guy like me, this. This concept of nine months without speaking is terrifying. Can you imagine? I can't talk for nine months. I remember a few years ago, I went through a season. I think I had maybe, like a week one time where I lost my voice. Like, I couldn't talk. And I went through this massive identity crisis because it's kind of like, what am I actually good for? All I can do is talk. And if I can't talk, you've eliminated my only skill.
Mark Clark [00:07:30]:
I'm only useful to anybody. If I can talk without my voice, I'm no good. I'm useless to everybody. I'll just go and, you know, live my life as a. I don't know. So huge identity crisis as a pastor to me. No. So.
Mark Clark [00:07:44]:
So no one's gonna want me to do any job. I'm just gonna have to fire myself. Crazy times, nine months. That's what it'd been like. So he's a pastor, and not even his relatives understand what's going on. They're like, why don't you call your son after you? And they made signs to him because he knows, and they know he can't talk. Inquiring what he wanted them to be called. And so the text said, and he asked for a writing tablet, and he wrote, his name is John.
Mark Clark [00:08:10]:
I love that. That's the iPad. That's the invention of the iPad actually was. The guy gets a tablet out and he writes his. So all these people are, you should call him Zachariah. You should go. And he goes, guys, his name is John. Boom.
Mark Clark [00:08:23]:
I love this confidence. It's just confidence. And that's the first thing we gotta draw out, even in the beautiful part.
Mark Clark [00:08:29]:
Of the story, for ourselves.
Mark Clark [00:08:31]:
You have this whole family and all these people coming around them, just like today, right? You can see, in ancient times, even back then, people love to try to control you. They love to try to control what you do with your family, with your kids, with your ideas, with your social media, with your job. They try to tell you how to raise your kids. You should spank, you shouldn't spank. You should let them cry. You shouldn't cry. You should call them this and not call them that. And, you know, I'm not saying any mother in laws come, you know, into play.
Mark Clark [00:08:58]:
I'm just saying this tends to be what happens. And there are times where actually it might be the case where people can.
Mark Clark [00:09:04]:
Come and speak into your life.
Mark Clark [00:09:05]:
And then there are other times where it's like, leave me alone. God has actually called me to do this particular thing with my family, and you're not actually supposed to get involved in it. God has called me to be a particular kind of person, have a particular kind of identity, have a particular kind of role in the world, and you're not allowed to speak into it. The confidence I get is God has already spoken to me. And so when the world around you is trying to influence you and tell you what to do, here's God going, this is what I want you to do. All right? So you have this whole community of people telling someone how to raise their kid, telling them what to do, and then you got to name your kid. And you've always been to me, you should name them. I remember when I, when we named our second daughter, named her Hayden.
Mark Clark [00:09:42]:
So, yeah, I called my grandfather. I'm like, he said, what's, what's her name? I'm like, oh, her name's Hayden.
Mark Clark [00:09:46]:
And he's like, her name's what?
Mark Clark [00:09:48]:
I'm like, hayden. He's like, I don't know Hayden. What does that mean? I'm a Hayden. He's like, I don't understand. He's like, well, we'll just love her anyway. I'm like, what? It's like this, this critical attitude toward even. These are the same people who are. During our wedding speech, we got up at the reception, you know, we're telling everybody and, and My wife and I get up, my wife looks at my grandparents.
Mark Clark [00:10:07]:
Hey, I love you. You're just like my own grandparents. And they yelled from their seats, are like, well, you should come visit us more often. I'm like, all right. So it's people just constantly trying to influence you. And the confidence of the parents say, they cut right through it.
Mark Clark [00:10:23]:
They go, his name is John.
Mark Clark [00:10:24]:
And here's the big takeaway for us. I'm good to listen to God versus listening to man. That's what he's working through right now. And this is a man who is saying, I'm so courageous, right? Like, part. There's this part in Galatians, which is a book in the Bible where everyone's criticizing the Apostle Paul. And in the book of Galatians, in chapter 1, verse 10, he says this. For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. See, in the end, we gotta make a call.
Mark Clark [00:11:00]:
God or the world, right? What am I doing? I'm so faithful that I'm going to choose God. That's what Zachariah is trying to deal with. God has made it very clear, and he's going, I'm not rethinking. And some of you, you're new Christians, and you need to hear this. You come into the Bible, you read the Bible, you take the parts that you like, and you leave the parts behind that you don't like. You don't like it when God has made something clear. Even when there's no debate, there's no need to rethink it. I can't tell you how many seminary conversations I had with guys where we're sitting around going, hey, did God really say this? Did God really say that? Did God say this about sexuality? Did God say this about marriage? Did God really say this about money? Listen.
Mark Clark [00:11:40]:
You know, the first person to say, did God really say it was Satan in the garden? Did God really say that? You're not supposed to eat of this fruit, right? He's. He's rethinking everything. When it's clear, when God speaks and says his name is this. You got to be obedient, and you submit yourself under it. You don't begin to question it. Well, maybe I should do this and maybe I should do that. You don't need to rethink when something is so clear, clear as day. Here's what I want you to do.
Mark Clark [00:12:07]:
Here's where I want you to go. And the pressure of family and friends. And sometimes the people who are closest to you can be the worst for you because they want to protect you from what God might be calling you to, right? Every mission trip I've ever been on has started with a phone call to the people that love me the most. And they all go, oh, my goodness, I can't believe you're going to Turkey. Don't they, you know, isn't it dangerous in Turkey? I can't believe you're going to San Francisco. Don't they hurt people in San Francisco? I can't believe you're going to Israel. Don't they like all these things that we've done, and it's like everyone chill because sometimes the people who are close to you, who love you the most are actually the people who hold you back from doing the things God calls you to do, from hearing the voice through the noise. So every time you got to go, like Paul, do I fear God or do I fear man? Do I listen to God? Do I listen to man? I'm born to please God and not please man.
Mark Clark [00:13:00]:
Now, here's the kind of. This is how it works out, right? His name is John and he's John the Baptist. So he's going to be a prophet. John the Baptist is going to be a prophet. And he. Sometimes this is my life, like every week, I have these decisions to make about what I say here to you, right? Like what I say publicly. Sometimes it comes down to the question of, do I want to fear God and say what he's put on my heart? And I think the Scriptures are teaching you or fear and not tell you and basically tell you what you want to hear. And those are tough decisions, constantly.
Mark Clark [00:13:34]:
That's the prophet's role in life, in society. And I tell you, like, I've made the decision 100 times, hopefully in the spirit of John the Baptist, who goes on to live this crazy preaching life, that I would rather say the kinds of things that God wanted me to say than have a big church. Times where I was scared to tell you what you really needed to do, what you really needed to hear. And so I fear God, and hopefully I do it every day. I don't fear you, which is why so often sometimes I say things where I know when I say them. I'm going to get emails, but this is how it kind of plays out. I know when I say this, I'm going to get an email, but God's birthed in me this heart to just say it anyway. And so I need to say.
Mark Clark [00:14:18]:
And I think that's what the scriptures teach. So I need to say also, there are times when I don't say certain things that you want me to say. You struggle with that. Why doesn't he stand up and say this or that for that reason? Or this? Because it's not clear to me in the scriptures that I'm supposed to do that. And I'm not gonna say either way. Whether I may believe it or not, I have to guard against having my little pet projects, my opinions, prepare, projecting them on you. And it's hard not to do because I have a microphone. Imagine every time I read a new article on Facebook, I just started spilling it out on you in the Sunday sermon.
Mark Clark [00:14:49]:
It'd be annoying and it'd be dumb, but it would also be wrong. Because it ain't my job to obey you and your niche ideas. It's my job to tell you what God says and let you figure out what you think about all the things that we're talking about right now. Masks and mandates, in fact, or what movies you're supposed to do and whether Harry Potter's from the devil. You figure it out. Don't ask me. You have a brain. These are discernment things that we do.
Mark Clark [00:15:18]:
And so there's over and over and over these. You have these cultural touch points. We want to hear it. And it's like, I got to obey what God has asked me to do. And so if you follow through those times and your heart allows you to receive it the way that I'm hoping and praying that you'd receive it, then maybe you're able to move down the road of discipleship rather than stopping with, I was offended. I can't believe this. I remember about a month ago I got an email from someone and they said, listen, we've grown up in a very traditional background, a church background. We came to your church for the first time and we were completely offended.
Mark Clark [00:15:58]:
And I was like, well, it's kind of par for the course. And they were like, yeah, well, I was offended. And the reason we were completely offended is because you called yourself in the sermon a moron. And I was like, okay, that's nothing new. And they said, you know, we left and we were frustrated as a family. We actually sat around as a family, around the lunch table, said, we can never go back to that church. We can never watch that church again. He called himself a moron.
Mark Clark [00:16:26]:
And then like, how self deprecating, how mean to himself. And then about. They said halfway through the week, we all started talking. Not that you called yourself a moron. Listen, but why you did. Why did he talk about himself like that? What was the point of it? Because originally we were like, he should never do that. He should never use that language in church. And they shouldn't say this kind of stuff in a church setting.
Mark Clark [00:16:51]:
And so we talked about it, and then. And then we said, well, maybe he called himself a moron because he's trying to kind of decrease himself and realize that he's a Gong show and realize that by the grace of God, God's doing things in his life and so on. And so. And it's not because of him, it's in spite of him. Okay, so that makes sense. And we all started talking about that. And then we came back a second time, and we're like, okay, let's just give it one more shot to come back and hear what he's talking about. And then we found ourselves coming back a third time and then a fourth time.
Mark Clark [00:17:20]:
And now they said, our family's being transformed and changed. And the woman was like, my husband, my kids, all of these different things are happening. And we want to get baptized. We've stopped doing this, these things, and we're now giving ourselves to the gospel. We're giving ourselves to Jesus, and we want to be baptized. See, because why? Why is that the case? Because sometimes the gospel is offensive. The gospel is going to blow your life up. If you're not offended, if there's not a heart stirring, then you're not listening to it.
Mark Clark [00:17:51]:
You're not letting it cut you. You're not really submitting yourself to the scriptures. Because if you find yourself never in a place where the scriptures are coming against you, then I'm not. Then you've just created God in your own image. If God is never against what you're doing, calling you to repentance, calling you to change, then you're choosing yourself over him.
Mark Clark [00:18:11]:
You're probably not hearing the scriptures the way they were written.
Mark Clark [00:18:13]:
You're probably adapting them through your own filter, because now you're creating man in your image, and you're creating God in your own image, where he's allowed to only tell you the kinds of things that affirm what you already are.
Mark Clark [00:18:25]:
That's not what Zachariah is doing. God pushes him, pushes on him. He presses his nerve a little bit and he says, hey, you used. You used to doubt me.
Mark Clark [00:18:36]:
Now I'm going to shut you up for a while.
Mark Clark [00:18:39]:
And in the season of quiet, you're going to learned. And so what happens is he comes out of this season of quiet. And then verse 64 says this. And immediately his mouth was open and his tongue loosed and he spoke, blessing God.
Mark Clark [00:18:56]:
So he goes to this really dark season of this.
Mark Clark [00:18:59]:
These silent months, these nine months where.
Mark Clark [00:19:02]:
He'S not allowed to talk. And then when he does talk, look what happens. It says, he blesses God. He doesn't curse God and say, I suffered. Now I doubt God. I'm skeptical. I'm disappointed with God because of my difficult season. I'm running the other way.
Mark Clark [00:19:19]:
I don't believe in God anymore because I had these months of difficulty. He blesses God, he praises God, he sings to God. He goes, this difficult season of my life produced something in me that God.
Mark Clark [00:19:31]:
Wants to produce in me. Listen, there's this line we've been talking in this series. We've been using CS Lewis and Screwtape letters and kind of the magic of.
Mark Clark [00:19:40]:
That story and the idea that there's these. This uncle demon writing to this younger.
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Demon that's been assigned to a new Christian.
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And at one point, the uncle demon.
Mark Clark [00:19:51]:
Writes these amazing words.
Mark Clark [00:19:53]:
He says, our cause, meaning the cause to destroy Christians faith is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending to do our enemy's will, God's will, looks around upon a universe from which every trace of him seems to have vanished and asks why he has been forsaken and still obeys. Think about this.
Mark Clark [00:20:24]:
That never does the demonic agenda get.
Mark Clark [00:20:28]:
More disrupted than when we, in our experience, look around our circumstances, our life, and we can't see God.
Mark Clark [00:20:37]:
We feel forsaken and we still obey.
Mark Clark [00:20:43]:
Think of it's Jesus on the cross. When you're going through, why have you forsaken me?
Mark Clark [00:20:48]:
And still obeys?
Mark Clark [00:20:50]:
You're going through a difficult season. You're going through what psychologists actually call years of silence. When you're going through the wilderness, when you're going through the dark night of the soul, as it's been called, when you get that diagnosis, when you're lonely, when things are difficult financially, when your kids are off the rails, whatever it is, recognize the other side of it. On the other side of it, God wants to create a man or a woman who comes out of it and blesses God and understands him on a deeper level than before, not less.
Mark Clark [00:21:23]:
And that's what's as we going to see in Zachariah's life. It's about to just lay out one of the most brilliant theological, deep, heavy, complex sermons or songs. He just throws out to the ceiling.
Mark Clark [00:21:34]:
It comes out of him out of the passion and the joy. So he says, blessed. He blessed the Lord after his painful season. And there's a kind of joy in it. That's a beautiful thing. Like. Like, listen. There is a difference because you read the prodigal son story of the older son who read his Bible every day, paid attention to everything the father had in his life, but he never goes in and joins the party.
Mark Clark [00:21:54]:
The younger son does, but the older son doesn't. Because here's the reality. He, the father had the son's obedience. And some of you are in this position right now, but he didn't have the son's joy. What God has looked at. Are you the kind of person who goes, this is more than just obedience. The Christian life. My obedience actually wells up to joy.
Mark Clark [00:22:16]:
Where I'm singing now I'm sermonizing, now I'm saying, blessed is God. I'm actually jacked about this thing. And that combination is the most powerful thing.
Mark Clark [00:22:25]:
Because that's when the world notices, right?
Mark Clark [00:22:27]:
That's the next thing in the story. Listen, it says, and fear came on all the neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea. And all who heard them laid up in their hearts saying, what then will this child be?
Mark Clark [00:22:44]:
For the hand of the Lord was with him.
Mark Clark [00:22:46]:
I love that phrase. What is this kid going to be? John the Baptist? Meaning this kid is going to be something special. No one in history almost has asked the question. Usually it's like, who is this child going to be? But what is this child going to be? This person is something different than anyone or anything ever encountered before. And of course, then that amps up one more. Because this person is just John the.
Mark Clark [00:23:12]:
Baptist pointing toward the real person, Jesus. And so we can't.
Mark Clark [00:23:17]:
We get this question of, like, John the Baptist, is.
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Is this. This kid?
Mark Clark [00:23:21]:
And he had this special purpose and meaning in the world. And so what comes out of this is. Is. Is a little bit of a parental thing. Just like Zachariah and Elizabeth, right? What will this child be? That's the question to them, this child will be probably more than your child. He's probably gonna be more than just your kid. All of us can identify with that. If you have a kid, it's like, what is this child gonna become? He's gonna become.
Mark Clark [00:23:48]:
That's kind of a scary thing. This child's gonna rise to something unbelievable. I can't believe it. Like, we want that for our kids, right? Something.
Mark Clark [00:23:58]:
Our oldest daughter, who's a musician, just great songwriter, great singer, has this angle.
Mark Clark [00:24:04]:
On just being able to articulate these things through poetry and song.
Mark Clark [00:24:08]:
It's amazing.
Mark Clark [00:24:09]:
She actually got a request from a church.
Mark Clark [00:24:12]:
She just went down a couple weeks ago and went to this church in Sacramento and they had this big women's conference, a couple thousand women. And she went down and they said.
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We want you to come and do.
Mark Clark [00:24:25]:
A 75 minute concert.
Mark Clark [00:24:26]:
So she went down piano, guitar, and just literally sang her own stuff for 75 minutes.
Mark Clark [00:24:34]:
And it's like there's this parental moment.
Mark Clark [00:24:36]:
Of joy and pride that we have.
Mark Clark [00:24:38]:
In our kids, right?
Mark Clark [00:24:39]:
We're like, man, you're serving Jesus. You're doing kingdom stuff. This is unbelievable. We all have that in our kids, right? All my kids. I'm so proud of them and what they do. And that's what's going on here. They're like, what is this kid going to accomplish in his life? And there's this reality check of what he's going to trumpet and Zachariah. And he says in verse 76, your child will be called the prophet of the most High.
Mark Clark [00:25:02]:
Think about that thing that this kid's going to accomplish. He's going to be the prophet, the one who points to Jesus. Now that's a step down from what the next baby is going to be.
Mark Clark [00:25:13]:
Meaning Jesus, who's actually the most high.
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But you're going to be the prophet. You're going to go before the Lord.
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To prepare his way.
Mark Clark [00:25:22]:
So here's your child, John. He's going to prepare the way for the Lord. You want to be the center of.
Mark Clark [00:25:30]:
The story in your life constantly. But your life is meant to prepare the way for Jesus to be the center of people's stories.
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Not you, your job. Just like John, John the Gospel of.
Mark Clark [00:25:41]:
John talks about this.
Mark Clark [00:25:42]:
John the Baptist, John goes, I'm just a voice, guys.
Mark Clark [00:25:46]:
You and I watching this right now.
Mark Clark [00:25:48]:
Your job in life is to point people away from yourself. Your story, you being the center, your arrogance, your pride, you being the center and point people to Jesus, this next baby that's going to come and be born, your job is to point people to him, to be just a voice. Is that what you do with your, with your social media account? Is that what you do when you're, when you're at work or when you're. Whatever your particular situation is? Are you pointing people to you or to him? That's. Here's John the Baptist in another gospel.
Mark Clark [00:26:24]:
He says these great words which I.
Mark Clark [00:26:26]:
Try to honestly every day try to.
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Live this stuff out.
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Even in a role of leadership and preach and teach and point people to.
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Jesus, he says this great line. I must decrease, he must increase. And the reason he says that is.
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Because what had happened over time is.
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John, this baby, his ministry, people started looking at him.
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He was the celebrity pastor of the ancient world. And instead of looking at the one that the pastor was pointing them to, that the prophet was pointing them to, they kept looking at him. And he began to go, guys, listen, this is dangerous. I'm the one who's supposed to be pointing you to the Lord. This is the danger of today. Right? Right. Fifteen years ago, in order to publish anything that anyone would see or read, any music, any ideas, someone would have to watch a video, whatever. You had to be accomplished, like a publisher had to agree to publish a book or promote you or.
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Or put a video camera on you at this huge TV station or get a movie deal. And then your ideas would be projected out into the world. You could publish. Now, anybody can, because you got your phone and anything, anywhere. Millions of views, millions of reads, millions of listens on Spotify. The world is now flat as the. The. The thinker Thomas Friedman once said.
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It's been equalized. And it's great in many ways. But there's this temptation that we publish. And in that we can end up pointing people to ourselves versus to Jesus, our ideas, our lives, and we celebrate us and listen to us and view my videos and listen to my words. And we could do it to point people to Jesus and bring them ultimate joy that actually transcends their circumstances in this world. And that's good.
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But it's a balancing act, whether it will stop with you. And John the Baptist says, no, no, no, I got a point away from me. That's what's good for you in the end, because you can't bear the weight of it. It's going to crush you to be anyone's hero. So here's the other thing we see with this.
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In this moment, they're very happy and.
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They'Re joyous because we have this story of these parents.
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Luke, at the beginning of this kid's life, he tells us that he's a baby.
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There's a joyous memory.
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He jumped for joy in the womb. He's got these old parents who've been waiting for a really long time. And finally this angel showed up and gives them the thing they've been desiring their whole life. And we're reading it, and it's like the magic of Christmas. It's like we're happy. It's beautiful. And this is the beginning of John's life. I want to read you, though the.
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End of John's life, which is a weird pivot, but it's important. Mark, chapter 6, verse 17. It was Herod who had sent for John and bound him for the sake of his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her. So, John, picture this now, this baby, this beautiful baby that we're all excited about, this beautiful baby who has given.
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These elderly people all this joy. Your child, what you want to see, grows up, all this parental pride. You want to see my kid point to Jesus. I want to see them grow up.
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I want to see them make an.
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Impact in the world. What did he get for pointing people to God? Wealth, fame, health, prosperity. Name it, claim it, come on.
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He goes to prison, and now he's in prison.
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And so the text says, an opportunity came when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. And when Herodias daughter came in, she pleased Herod and his guests. Picture them, they're all hammered. She starts coming in, she's stripping. And the king says to the girl, ask me for whatever you wish and I'll give it. And he vowed to her, he's in front of everybody, whatever you ask, I will give you up to half of my kingdom. And she goes out, she comes back and she says, I want the head of John the Baptist. This baby, guys, this baby that we've just been celebrating for the last bunch of moments.
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This child, this one that jumped in the womb, who had the elderly parents who are advanced in years, holding this baby in the hospital, reading to them, sticking their finger in his mouth, talking, tell them little stories, stories.
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This baby, I want his head cut off. That's how this kid's life is going to end. And it does. They cut off his head, they put it on a platter, and they bring it to Herod. See, always at Christmas, we talk about the crib of Jesus. But what's looming over the crib is constantly the cross.
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See, Jesus, life is gonna end in.
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A brutal way, too, but for the best reason. To save and to set free. We got two babies here. I know there's this story I read years ago about this missionary to China, Matteo Ricci, and he would bring paintings in order to tell people the story of the Gospel.
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And they. The people always loved and were attracted.
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To the paintings of the Virgin holding the baby. But when they got to the paintings of the crucifixion they all turned away from it and they didn't want to talk about it and they wanted to go back and look at the paintings of the baby. And that's what we do, too. But here's the reality. We don't get to decide how Jesus life ended. We don't get to decide how we died.
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We don't get to decide the age.
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At which we die.
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Some of you might go at 30 years old, like John the Baptist. And like Jesus, he died early, he died young. And we say that he died too young. But the reality is, the biblical story about the sovereignty of God is nobody dies too young and everyone's death has a purpose. That's what we even see in this story. But then we start to go, yeah, but if Jesus, if John the Baptist, if they could have lived to like, 80, think about the dent they would have made in the world. John the Baptist ministry probably lasted a few months, maybe six, seven, eight months. Scholars tell us, like, shouldn't you give him more time?
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And God's like, no, no, no, because here's the crazy part, and I know we all know this, but. But you got to hear it because. Because here's the reality.
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God doesn't need us.
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We're here to make a dent in the world in whatever time we've got. So let's go. I was talking to my friend who was dying in the process of dying a little bit ago, and. And I said to her on the phone, I said, like, we're all right behind you.
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Like, you're gonna pass away and go outside of time and you might be 35 seconds in heaven and then I'm beside you.
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See? Think about us, whether our lives, our family lives, or lives that point to Jesus. Imagine your kids. Do you hold them with an open hand? What if God calls them to Saudi Arabia to do ministry?
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What if God calls them to some.
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Jungle or some desert that's dangerous?
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John the Baptist parents fear came over all the neighbors, all who heard them laid up in their hearts the tag, well, what will this child be? He's going to be something. He's going to be something for the hand the Lord was on him. That's the point. If you become something successful or impactful, listen, it's not because of you, it's in spite of you. The power actually happens. Whatever help leaders get, pastors get, you're discipling people. Whatever help they give you, the power comes through them. It's not them.
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So Dallas Willard says God is looking for people.
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He can entrust his power to. That's the defining factor of our life, the character.
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So that's why we pursue character. That's why we pursue godliness in our life, right? John the Baptist lived a life. He went after it. He was like, I'm not going to cut my hair. I'm not going to drink. I'm not going to. He did all this. These things that culturally, he was saying, I want to go after godliness, and then God's going to use me.
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And then Zechariah, of course, in his.
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Song, says, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited.
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Listen to this and redeemed. Underline those two words. If you have a Bible or just understand. Those are the two.
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Those are the words that have to defy. Those are the explosive, scandalous, important words, the most that you'll hear in your life. Because they say two things, both centered on the magic of Christmas. He visited, right? God visited us. Every religion in the world says, that's absolutely nuts. Jesus comes along. He goes, listen, I'm not just a prophet. I'm not just telling you what God said.
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I'm God himself. It's me talking. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John says in John, Chapter one. So the skeptics around him went, see, here's the scandal. And some of you are investigating Christianity. Some of you are wondering about Christianity.
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Here's the crux of the scandal. The Gospel says, God visited us. That's what Zachariah just said, meaning Jesus was and is God. So here's what you got to do. You can't say that Jesus was just a good guy. You like his teachings. If you're not willing to say he was God himself, right? There's a lot of celebrities that go around, hey, I like Jesus. He's my homeboy.
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He's a good guy. Lots of Canadians are like that. Maybe you're like that. I like his teachings. He's a good revolutionary. He's a good thinker. I really like Jesus. I like his position on peace.
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I like his position on love. I like his position on loving your neighbor. Listen, you got to push, push a little bit and go, no, no, he's God.
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Do you like that? Because if you don't, you gotta figure out what you're gonna do with Jesus.
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Because there's only three options.
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He's either God, he's a lunatic, or he's a complete liar. Those are your only Options he twisted.
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It's either that he's God or he.
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Woke up twisting his mustache in the.
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Morning and walking around for years trying to get everybody to believe he was God. And he lied to everybody. He's a lunatic. He was just trying to get everybody off the scent of reality. Or he's God. And you got to answer that question.
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Because the people who hung out closest to him ended up dying, worshiping him. He must have been something, even his own family. There's no I like Jesus. Nobody liked Jesus. You either loved him and worshiped him, or you.
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You tried to throw him off a cliff. Read the Gospels. Those are the only two options. Still, Christmas season is either the most important thing thing ever, or it's the absolute dumbest idea. There's no middle. You all know this. I worked at Michael's arts and crafts store. And you know what happened? Every Christmas season, I'd have my little red apron on and my name, and they'd be playing these songs that started on November 1st.
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And I'd start putting up wreaths all the way to December 26th. And they were all these songs, all these people I was telling about Jesus constantly, week in and week out. They would say, christianity is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I can't believe what you're telling me. This is so dumb. This is so dumb. And then I'd be like, well, you got to. And then Christmas season would happen.
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And all of a sudden everyone's walking around singing the craziest things. God rest ye merry gentlemen Let nothing you dismay For Jesus Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day to save us from Satan's power. What are you. Buddy, two seconds ago you were telling me Jesus isn't real. Now you're putting wreaths together, singing the craziest theological concepts on the planet. Do you understand what you're singing right now? You can't live in that dichotomy. It's either true or it's not, so stop singing it.
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But here's Jesus. He is Lord. He's taken away sin. He's defeated Satan. This is the story. And all those crazy songs are saying truth. And when we. We either need to sing them and believe them or reject them altogether.
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That's the scandal of Christmas.
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He visited us.
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NT Wright, who's this theologian. In one of his sermons about Christmas years ago, he's a pastor in London, and he said these words, he said, how can you cope with the end of a world and the beginning of another one? How can you put an earthquake into a test tube or the sea into a bottle? How can you live with the terrifying thought that the hurricane has become human, that the fire has become flesh, that life itself came to life and walked in our midst? Christianity either means that or it means nothing.
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It is either the most devastating disclosure of the day, deepest reality in the.
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World, or it's a sham, a nonsense, a bit of deceitful play acting.
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Most of us, unable to cope with.
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Saying either of those things, condemn ourselves. To live in the shallow world in between, you gotta be challenged with that. Don't live in the shallow world in between.
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And then lastly, so he visited.
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And then we'll close with this point. The other thing Zachariah said is he not only visited, but he redeemed his people. He says in his song, he redeemed his people. He saved us. When you trust in Christ, he saves you from sin, from Satan, from fear, from hell, he saves you.
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But literally, the word redeemed, saved, redeemed is the word to buy back, right? So some of us might be like, what do you mean, buy back? What did he buy back? I've never even believed in him. I was never his. So what is there to buy back?
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Here's what it means. You were his in the first act of the play. God created all things, and he put man, he put woman in the garden, and he gave you a soul, and it was an eternal soul. It's an infinite soul.
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And why you?
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This is why you ask the big questions in life and why nothing in this world ever satisfies you. Because you were made for another world, right?
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It's not because you have a body, you have a soul. And it was a soul that connected in relationship with him. And the reason you have a soul and you know you have a soul is because on days and weeks, you're scrolling around Twitter and you see disasters and murders and divorce and corrupt politicians and diseases and abandoned children, and something wells up in your soul that this is not just. And you're more than just sad. You're angry. You're going, I want justice in the world. There's something about that, the universe, that seems fractured, it seems wrong, it seems disconnected. What is that? Do you ever stop long enough to ask yourself why you feel that?
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It's because you were made in the garden. You were made in this state of perfection, and it got fractured by sin and death. And all of a sudden, all of your lives went off tune.
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You were his. And when you think, man, the world.
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Should be different, what are you comparing that to?
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There's a way the world should be. That's nostalgia. You remember the garden. It's built into your soul. And so you walk. When you walked with him in the cool of the day, and then sin fractured it and it fell. Feels like your life went out of tune. So what Jesus did is he came and he lived a perfect life and he died on a cross.
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He absorbed your sin. He rose again from death to give you life, to redeem you, to put you back in that unfractured soul state.
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God came and suffered to grab us back the one thing he didn't have in the universe. Right? I remember a friend asking me one time, what do you get the man that has everything?
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What do you get God?
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Christmas is going, you give him the one thing he didn't have. Us. So the question becomes very confrontational and very scandalous. But it's all that matters. Are you willing to move, as Zachariah did, from doubt and sass and pushback to I believe and I praise him? Are you willing to go through the years of doubt, even in the midst of the pressures of the world, and come out the other end and go, I opened myself up to something and that changed me. That's honestly our prayer. And so, Father, we pray that we would all be confronted by the reality of this miracle. That we would be the kind of people who point people to Jesus in the spirit of John the Baptist.
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We would be the kind of people who understand that we, like Zachariah and John the Baptist, are going to go through pressure and the fires of life, but that those fires might produce character and faith in us versus crush us, that we might come out the other side and actually treasure you more than less. I pray that for everyone listening to this and that faith would well up in us and that we would respond to the beauty, beautiful gospel that is the center of Christmas, which is that you visited and redeemed. Let us hold on to both those realities and live in light of them. Confront us in our apathy, in our. In our in betweenness, in our. In our lack of courage to choose.
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Who you really are.
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Don't let us stay in the middle in our. In our faith and also in our life. Let us have the courage to choose a side, and may it be the side of faith in Jesus. Great name we pray. Amen.