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And Now, The Announcements

December 12th, 2012

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John 1:19-34

John had two announcements to make.

Who likes announcements? I was in a service where they took nine minutes for announcements–the Mother-Daughter Banquet, church bowling night at 10-Pin Alley, the all-church rummage sale, and a missionary speaker was coming. The pastor even prayed the announcements, “Lord, help our people to remember the Christmas Fellowship Dinner . . .”

Announcements are hard to hear and harder to heed. But John had a truly important announcement. Pointing to Jesus he said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (v. 29).

Every believer must make that same announcement to those who are overwhelmed by life or weighed down by sin. Not everyone will listen. Many heard, and some heeded John the Baptist’s announcement. Some questioned him; some opposed him. Finally they killed him. But John had to make the announcement.

John had a second announcement. “Jesus is the Savior, but me? On my best day, I’m not even worthy to be his slave.” (That’s what v. 27 means.)

Christians like you and me must make both announcements. Just like John.

Author: Wesley Tracy

 

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2 Responses to “And Now, The Announcements”

  1. Marcela Says:

    December 12th, 2012 at 9:50 am

    John is a true testament of how our light in Jesus should shine. As Jesus himself stated on the mountainside, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14

    Let our prayer be to allow God to place in situations daily where we can announce the Gospel and soften the hearts of those around us. Praise God!

  2. Barbara Says:

    December 12th, 2012 at 8:20 pm

    “Who likes announcements?”

    If they don’t concern us, human nature is to “tune-out” what isn’t important to us. In certain situations, we feel uncomfortable for not giving our full attention to the speaker. However, there are many announcements of which we are glad to hear; i.e. the birth of a child or a wedding into the family, etc. Also, there are many announcements that we may not necessarily want to hear, but need to hear.

    John made announcements that the people didn’t want to hear, even though they were inquisitive for themselves and others. They appear to have wanted to hear that he was the Messiah, Elijah, or a Prophet. They had heard of the coming of these, but, evidentially, they had not heard of John the Baptist coming to pave the way for the Messiah.

    They were “confused” because he was baptizing; and according to the scripture reference, he didn’t explain why he was actually baptizing until the next day when he pointed to Jesus.

    (Good point, Marcela. John had the “faith” to “followi through” with what God had told him to do, even though he knew that this announcement would not be pleasing to their ears. In doing so, Jesus was revealed.)

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