How has John the Bapist impacted your Life?

Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show.

Stories of hopelessness turned into hope. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Welcome to Truth Talk Live, the Wednesday in the Word edition, and today we want to talk about the man who Jesus called the Goat of Prophets, the greatest of all time. Jesus said the Goat was John the Baptist. John the Baptist. When I say the name John the Baptist, I wonder what comes to your mind. Most likely, and I do hope that you just thought, when I said John the Baptist, you thought about the most famous introduction of all time, as he introduced Jesus to be the Lamb of God.

You remember that? John 1 29, the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, the one who introduced him.

I've said his name. Listeners, as you're now starting to think about John the Baptist, some of you may have just thought, you know, when I read about John the Baptist, I read about somebody a little weird. He was clothed with camel's hair, and he lived in the wilderness, and he had a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts, and he ate wild honey.

I don't know about you, but that's a little weird. And then I'm hoping you'll remember that what put John the Baptist really in our minds is how he preached and called people to repent. He was baptizing people in the Jordan, thus he gets the name John the Baptist. Most likely you're remembering he's the one who baptized Jesus, and what a special moment that was. John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets. What is coming to your mind as you think about him as we dive into as we dive into our show today about John the Baptist, we want to hear from you. How did John the Baptist impact your life?

Call us at 1-866-348-7884. 1-866-344-TRUTH. How has John the Baptist impacted your life? Today we're going to talk about his humility. You know, when they came and asked John who he was, are you the coming Messiah? He said, I am not. Boy, I've had to use that many times as Satan tempted me to say, you sure are someone.

Nope, I'm just one who is proclaiming the greatest one. Today we're going to talk a little bit about how John had a major moment of doubt. And maybe as you think about John the Baptist, you're recalling a time of doubt.

Maybe you're in a time of doubt. And John the Baptist, when he was arrested, put in jail, he had been preaching righteousness. He had called powerful people to repent. He started wondering after proclaiming that Jesus was the Lamb of God, he now sends a message to Jesus wanting to know, are you truly the one we've been waiting for? He had a moment of doubt.

It's possible some of you right now are going with that. Some of you've already had it and you have a story of being stronger like John the Baptist. It may be that thinking about John the Baptist, the way he's inspired you, and maybe it will be today he'll inspire you to be more bold and courageous for the Lord because John the Baptist, as he did not back down one bit from even the most powerful of his day to call and name their sin and call them to repent, he's an example to us of taking a stand for what's right. Well, with that introduction, I want to let you know I've got with me in the studio today Rick Powers. Rick and I attend Wednesday in the Word at Dario and Clemens, and we get to hear firsthand from Stu Epperson as he teaches Wednesday in the Word. And Rick, today's lesson came from Mark 6, verses 14 through 29. Rick, welcome to Truth Talk Live, Wednesday in the Word edition.

Thank you, Pastor Carson. Let's look at verse 14 through 20. We learned that John the Baptist is going to be in prison.

Let me read now Mark 6, 14 through 20, starting with verse 14. Now King Herod heard of him, for his name had become well known, and he said, John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him. Others said, Is it Elijah? And others said, It is the prophet, or like one of the prophets. But when Herod heard, he said, This is John, whom I beheaded.

He has been raised from the dead. For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him into prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her. For John had said to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.

Let's pay special attention to verse 18 here. For John had said to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man. Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly. Wow. John the Baptist has now has now called out this great leader in Jerusalem, and he is sad.

He has said, You are doing what is not lawful. I want to ask this question, and we do have a call of bucksmen. We're going to be coming to you right after the break, but here's my question as we go to the break. Who's your Herodias? Who hates you so much because you have a biblical standard, a biblical position, and you're pointing out what they're doing is wrong, is sinful, and you're calling them to repent? Who is your Herodias?

And then I would ask, have you acted like Herodias? We'll be back in just a moment. This is Truth Talk Live Wednesday in the Word edition, and we're looking at John the Baptist. How has he impacted your life? You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. I'm Duane Carson, and I have with me today Rick Powers. Rick, by the way, is the chairman of the board for the local Western Triad Fellowship of Christian Athletes, FCA, and of which I'm privileged to serve on the board as a board member.

And we just want to give a shout out to all the huddle leaders out there. Thank you for making a difference for the Lord. Rick, what stands out to you about John the Baptist? And just before you answer, we have Bucksman from Ohio who has called in, and I've got to believe that he has something to tell us. Bucksman, tell us about how John the Baptist has impacted your life. How are you doing today? I'm doing so well, Pastor Carson, and hello brother Rick from Ohio, sir. Hey, thank you.

Bless you. So here's what I love about John the Baptist. First, the fact that he left inside of his mom's womb, Elizabeth, when Elizabeth came near to visit her cousin, when her cousin Mary had Jesus inside of her womb.

I always thought that was really cool, but that's not what I was going to bring up to Truth Talk Live, brothers. The fact that John the Baptist was politically active. Yes, he sure was. He was politically active, Truth Talk Live.

Politically incorrect as well. He come out and said, Herodias, you got to stop having those relations with your brother Philip's wife, and he went up against the government, and he stood for righteousness sake, and what happened? Well, he ended up passing in prison, because when the girl come out and danced, and Herod was drunk, he said, I'll give you half my kingdom, whatever you want, and the girl's mom said, hey, tell the king that you want John the Baptist, the sworn man, the best, as you called him, Pastor Carson, the goat of all prophets. I want his head on a platter, young lady, and she delivered. She said, King, I want John the Baptist's head on a platter, and that's what happened, and I'm going to say this, I'm politically active.

I know my scriptures, and I know that what happened to my brother John might just happen to me in some way, shape, or form, but I don't care, because I do not fear any man on this planet or in this country, because yes, they can take my life, and even chop my head off, but they cannot cast my soul into hell. That's right. Praise God. That's right.

That's how I had tripped off life. Thank you guys for allowing me on again. I love you guys. Thank you.

Love you too. Thank you. Wow, Rick. Hey, callers, how has John the Baptist impacted your life?

Call us, 1-866-348-7884. That's 1-866-344-TRUTH. Rick, John the Baptist is in prison. What is it about John the Baptist that stands out to you? Well, Pastor Carson, what stands out to me about John the Baptist is that he was the forerunner of Jesus Christ. We read in the Bible that he said that he wasn't worthy to even tie the straps on Jesus' sandals, the one that was to come, and a lot of our young people today and being involved like you and I are with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, FCA, they think that the greatest dunk was by Jordan, Michael Jordan, but when we really think about it, the greatest dunk ever was done in the Jordan of Jesus Christ. That's good. By John the Baptist.

So the greatest duck is in the Jordan, not by Jordan. Well, that's good. That's good. So, Pastor Carson, what do you think about it? Well, you know, John the Baptist has to be a hero.

There's no question about this man. In the world, we do live for popularity, don't we? Yes, we do. And we want to be accepted. And I got told a long time ago when I was just getting started as a pastor, if you want to be popular, you want to be accepted, there is a way to do so. And this person said to me, you preach against sin, but don't preach against the sin that your people are committing.

And, you know, that challenged me. And I look at John the Baptist. Here's a man who preached and called people to repent, but he wasn't talking about somebody else in another country or in another town. He talked to the people right in front of him.

Yes. He saw people that were not doing right, religious leaders and political leaders. He saw Roman soldiers as well as priests and Levites. And he called them out. He didn't back down from calling out the sin that was right there in front. And because of that, being bold and courageous, he found himself in a lot of hot water.

He wasn't popular. And listeners, when we take a biblical position, especially a biblical position on morality, we're going to find ourselves being persecuted. We're going to find that people just don't want to have anything to do with us.

Matter of fact, they'll get angry with us. And that's one of the things that stood out with me about John the Baptist, how he was bold and courageous to preach against the sin that was in front of him. That is boldness. Pastor Carson, in our Bible study today with Stu Epperson, he asked us if we had enemies because of our biblical values. You told a few of us a story about a pastor. I believe his name was R.G. Lee.

Yes, sir. In a chapel service at the Criswell College, a man by the name of Dr. Adrian Rogers, and I think a lot of our listeners would know who that is, was preaching. And he said he heard Dr. R.G. Lee say, R.G. Lee, by the way, was a powerful preacher at Bellevue Baptist in Memphis, Tennessee. He said, one day, some old hoot owl is going to preach at my funeral, and they're going to get up there and say, here lies Dr. R.G.

Lee, who never had an enemy in the world. Dr. Rogers said, Dr. Lee then said, I pray that if that hoot owl says something like that, the Lord will allow me to kick the lead off the coffin and sit up and say, that's a lie, because a man is known by his enemies. And John the Baptist, because he preached truth and held firm to biblical convictions, had enemies. We're wondering, I mean, do you have biblical enemies? Do you have people who hate you? Not because of your meanness.

We don't do this out of meanness, out of love, but we speak the truth and we hold to the truth to the point where people say, listen, I don't want you around anymore. We have a caller from Raleigh, and we're going to go, Nick, if you'll bring on our caller from Raleigh. Good afternoon. Hi, can you hear me all right? I sure can.

We can. Fantastic. Good afternoon, brother.

Good afternoon. Yeah, I wasn't getting a call, but I do look who's been on to his radio 24-7, just about. If you would, yeah, I called because I took out my, I don't know, my 12th or my 13th grandfather back was Hans Landis, and he was the last Anabaptist minister.

Wow, you've got a great story, and I've got to go to a break, and if you'll hold on, we'll bring you right back after we have a few announcements. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Well, welcome back to Truth Talk Live. I'm Duane Carson with Date the Word Ministries, and I'm serving as your host today, and I'm with Rick Powers, chairman of the local Western Triad FCA. We're talking about John the Baptist, and we've got a caller from Winston-Salem, Jamal.

What does John the Baptist, how has he impacted your life? Well, thank you for taking my call, first of all, Dr. Carson. I appreciate what you do with Date the Word. I encourage everybody to get the app, check it out on Facebook.

You're very welcome. It's nice to have a scripture associated with people's birthdays, so check out Date the Word with Dr. Carson. With that being said, I didn't really have a deep knowledge about John the Baptist. I learned more back in the day during our, just in the word, Bible study, and he was willing to call sin, sin, and he didn't care who he talked to, like what you guys talked about, how he was political, and he was politically incorrect. Now, John the Baptist was willing to go to jail. He was willing to lose his head. Now, what are we willing to lose as modern-day Christians?

We get shook up and nervous when somebody defriends us, when nobody wants to invite us to the cookout anymore. John the Baptist lost his head. Now, what are we willing to lose? Are we willing to lose our soul to stay relevant in today's society?

I'd rather lose my head than to lose my soul. With that being said, call sin, sin, no matter who it is, whether it's at the job, whether it's in your family, whether it's politics, and we've gotten too timid here. Pastor Robbins, within the word, said we've gotten too comfortable with how things are. We need to speak out as church members. We speak out in general. So folks know what's wrong in the world. They'll see it. They'll hear it from us.

We are too afraid to speak out, to have it to be just regular conversation. When's the last time you brought up Jesus as Stu said today? If you're not talking about Jesus, what are you talking about?

Now, you've got to ram down somebody's throat all the time, but we need to talk about Jesus and make a more conversation and make it more normal than what we're doing right now. Jamal, excellent point. Excellent point. Thank you for that insight. Thank you. God bless you. Hey, thanks, Jamal.

Good to hear from you, brother. Pastor Carson, I've heard you say that good preaching creates conflict. What do you mean by that?

What do you mean by that? Well, going off of what Jamal said, and when I was going to school at Liberty, I had to take a preaching class. And it's academic. I had a professor named Dr. Paul Fink.

And those who are Liberty alumni listening, they know Dr. Paul Fink. He was one of the best at teaching homiletics there ever was. And we came into the class and he laid out some parameters. He said, I know this is a classroom you're going to be graded, but you cannot preach an academic message. I want you preaching from your heart as if you were preaching in a church, preaching to people. And quite frankly, what I want you to do is preach to change the old man's heart. He said, guys, I need to hear a word from God through you and preach to challenge me to live differently in this classroom.

And I'm thinking, my goodness. And he said, I want you to stir me up, challenge me. And I took from that, that he was teaching good preaching creates a conflict. When you have preached someone, many should have something in them that causes us to say, I'm not where I should be with the Lord.

What changes do I need to make? And that's part of not condemning people, but challenging people. I'm not who I need to be for Jesus. So when I'm sitting under a pastor and I go to different churches myself, I hear preaching. I want them to say something that says, you can be more for Jesus than you are.

That's what Jamal was saying. Call out the sin. Sometimes it's not this aggressive anger, sin, adultery. It's apathy.

And we need to be challenged to get out of apathy. Call the sin out that's going on in your people's lives, in my life, so that when there's good preaching, there's going to be conflict. John the Baptist had conflict. Herodias got angry, angry to the point of she wanted him put to death. And as we're looking at our Bible study today from Mark, chapter 6, 14 through 29, Rick, we need to look at verses 21 through 29 now to hear this story.

Buckman brought a little bit of it out. Herod's having a birthday party. It's a special day. It's a special day, but there's some things that are going to happen here that's going to have a tremendous impact on the life of John the Baptist.

Why don't you read for us verse 21 through 29. The word of our Lord says, Then an opportune day came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers and the chief men of Galilee. And when Herodias' daughter herself came in and danced and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you. He also swore to her, Whatever you ask me, I will give you up to half of my kingdom. So she went out and said to her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, Herodias, the head of John the Baptist.

Oh my. Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And the king was exceedingly sorry.

Yet because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in person, in prison, in prison, brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl gave it to her to her mother.

When his disciples heard of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in the tomb. What just happened? When I teach studying the Bible, one of the things I say is picture it.

This is a horrible picture to be picturing. But listeners, here's what happened. Herodias is so angry because John the Baptist has called out her immorality.

Yes. She now finds an opportune moment and she seizes on it to have John the Baptist executed. Rick, what do you think just happened here with Herodias? Pastor Carson, that's a great thought because it reminds me of what we talked about in Wednesday Word this morning. It's the old saying that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. What do you think of this statement?

Is it opportune time? Is the devil always looking for an opportunity or opening to destroy our testimony? Yes, he is. And this opportune time showed up with Herodias and as much as she so hated John the Baptist for his preaching, she then says, I want him executed. And here's Herod. This man who had been protecting John the Baptist in many ways, he liked him. He enjoyed listening to him, which is kind of strange. But now we find a man caught between two worlds. There's a little bit of Herod that knows what's right.

Yes. But he's got peer pressure and he's made an oath. I listened to you read this and it says that as he saw what this girl did, he was so pleased, he made an oath to her. Ask me whatever you want.

I'll give you up to half the kingdom. But now being asked for John the Baptist's head to have this man unjustly executed because he was taking a biblical stand, Herod is going to bow to the peer pressure. And folks, we got to ask ourselves a question.

Who are we going to please? Because sometimes to do what's right in the sight of God could very well mean losing all of our friends. I thought about this morning as as Steve was talking on this, how when Jesus is standing before Pilate and Pilate realizes he's not guilty. The religious leader said, hey, Pilate, you let him go. You're no friend of Caesar. Well, Pilate needed political clout and political cover.

He needed Caesar. And he now is going to let Jesus be crucified so he can keep his political power. And there are times when we'll give up our convictions so that we can have certain position. And here's Herod, who should have said, no, we're not going to do this to this holy and just man, but rather he bowed to peer pressure. And it's a warning to every one of us.

We've got to stand firm on our convictions. We'll be back in just a moment. We're going to talk more about John the Baptist and the impact he has on our lives. And we're going to take an overview of the life of John the Baptist.

Be back with you in just a moment. John the Baptist, the forerunner to Jesus. He's been our person of interest in this Truth Talk Live.

I'm Duane Carson, along with Rick Powers. This is the Wednesday in the Word edition. And we've been considering the last days, quite frankly, of John the Baptist and how Herod, because of his wickedness and the wickedness of his wife, Herodias, they would have this great man of God executed, beheaded.

So we've come to that place where, Rick, his life is over, but his life isn't over. His story has been written down for us, and we have a chance to reflect on John the Baptist. And as I think about John the Baptist, there's several moments in his life that I think help us tremendously.

And one, sometimes I think, kind of gets glazed over. John the Baptist had a moment where he doubted. And believers are afraid to admit they have doubts. And John the Baptist, here's this man who announced Jesus is the Lamb of God. Look at him.

That's him. He's the Messiah. But when he was going through a dark, difficult time in prison, he started wondering, is this really the Messiah that I'm proclaiming?

And I thought it might be helpful for some listeners who might be going through a season of doubt right now. Rick, if we would just go back for a moment into the life of John the Baptist, that's a little surprising, but also see how Jesus dealt with it. Matthew chapter 11 verses 1 through 6.

Why don't you read that for us? Sure will, Pastor Carson. Matthew 11, 1 through 6. Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding his 12 disciples, that he departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to him, Are you the coming one, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John the things which you hear and see. The blind see and the lame walk. The leopards are cleansed and the deaf hear.

The dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of me. You know, I heard you read those verses, and it is shocking to all of a sudden hear, Are you the coming one? But John, all of a sudden, because he's going through a scary time, ultimately, yes, he's going to lose his head because he has preached righteousness.

He's wondering. But Jesus did not condemn him for doubting. He didn't say to his disciples, Go back and tell him, You need to be stronger in your faith right now. Quit doubting me. No, he sent back scripture. He said, I'm going to make sure John knows I am the coming one, because I'm going to give him the scriptures that tell of me. And listeners, you may be going through a season of doubt.

It's okay. Our faith can be tested. And when you are, I don't know if this is real.

I don't know if I'm sure about this. Now, the answer is going to be found in the scriptures. Go to the Word of God.

Ask God. He's not going to get mad at you for doubting. Jesus didn't get mad at John the Baptist. He said, Here's what you need to know, John.

I am the one. And then John is willing now to be faithful unto death. I just want to say, John the Baptist is a tremendous example to us of a person who worked through doubt. And Jesus, the example of helping him work through doubts. And our faith should be grounded, which means we're going to ask tough questions.

Is this really true? And we can find the truth in the Word of God. Listen, if we still have time, if you want to make a call in to us, 1-866-348-7884. Tell us how John the Baptist has impacted your life. Rick, would you look at the life of Jesus, the life of John the Baptist?

Sorry. What were some of the great moments of his life for you? Well, Pastor Carson, obviously John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus Christ. And as you and I were talking about a little while ago during the break of, you know, now it's March Madness time here in North Carolina in ACC country.

And this is more of an earthly example. But when we look back, back in the early 70s, a lot of people here in the Carolinas thought that David Thompson was probably the greatest basketball player that ever played in ACC. You know, when I was a kid, I remember him, Rick. Yeah, they called him the original Skywalker. David Thompson, number 44.

Shout out to the NC State Wolfpack people out there. But everybody thought Thompson was great, a la John the Baptist. But then this guy from Wilmington, North Carolina came along named Michael Jordan, number 23.

And then obviously in a different era, but obviously a great player that, in fact, at the time, we can look at the parallel of Michael Jordan, I understand, was a fan of David Thompson. So we can say in a way, obviously, that Jesus admired and was a fan of John the Baptist because he knew he was the forerunner. As we talked about a while ago, that when John the Baptist dunked Jesus in the Jordan, and the heavens opened up and said, this is my son. And whom I am well pleased. Whom I am well pleased.

That was, besides his dying on the cross, and then raising from the tomb, one of the greatest events in history. And that's what we're trying to do also, too, with a shout out to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, FCA, that it's our goal to reach every coach and every athlete with the gospel. And trying to change lives. And when we think about it, FCA, along probably with Young Life, is one of the ministries that are still in our public schools. So it's a heck of an opportunity.

And I appreciate your involvement and the other board members here in the Triad. Well now, on David Thompson, did he ever make a comment about Michael Jordan? You know, that's a good question, Pastor Carson. I don't know that he did. But I can tell you, I know that Jordan admired David Thompson. But after David Thompson, there was a greater one. Right. Michael Jordan. Yes.

John the Baptist, after him, there was a greater one, Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay. I follow your analogy. A little basketball in March Madness. March Madness, and good luck to all the ACC schools.

Virginia's already let us down. That's another story. We're going to stick to John the Baptist. I got to tell you, as a new believer, I got challenged with John 3.30 that said, I must decrease, he must increase. And I always thought, how do you do that in life? Because the world says, just keep getting better.

Keep improving yourself. You want to be at the top, climb the ladder of success. And in Christianity, it's not about us. It's about him. And the more I want to be about me, John the Baptist comes along and says, what you want to be is about Jesus. You want it always to be about Jesus. We are just a proclaimer of the great one.

Amen. I don't have anything to give to people but Jesus. He's the one that died. He's the one that went to that cross, gave his life. He's the one that then rose again. He's the one that can give eternal life. It's not about me.

After everything is said and done, I just want to die. And the only thing people remember is Jesus. That's John the Baptist. What an example. As we get closer to wrapping up, one other quick thought here on Truth Talk Live. We try to proclaim the truth. And there is an example out of this story, Rick, how Herodias and Herod responded to correction, how they responded to rebuke. And I'm going to tell you, there is a lot of teaching in the book of Proverbs about the right way to respond to a rebuke and the wrong way to respond to a rebuke, to correction.

And John the Baptist has spoken into their lives to tell them, you're in sin, you need to get out of this sin. Well, in Proverbs chapter 9, we find how a wise person will respond and how a foolish person will respond. And I thought it might be helpful here as we move toward a close, Proverbs 9, 7 through 10. Would you read those verses to us?

Yes, I will. Proverbs 9, 7 through 10. He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Wow.

Right there, hold one second. He who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. You got to step into talking to a wicked man very carefully. Verse 8. Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you. Rebuke a wise man and he will love you.

Boy, there's an opposite right there, isn't it? Verse 9. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser. Teach a just man and he will increase in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. I think one of the lessons I want to take away for myself, as well as in part to our listeners today, Rick, is that we respond correctly to correction. And we respond correctly when we receive it rather than reject it. I would hope we would never be attacking those who have the true answer. Hey, this has been Truth Talk Live.

Thank you for being a part of today's show and listening. John the Baptist, what a great example. He, Jesus, must increase. I must decrease. The Lord bless you as you move forward this day. Truth Talk Live. Amen.