Monday, July 20, 2009

PREPARING THE WAY

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JOHN THE BAPTIST

Read: Luke 3:1–20

     Finally they said, "Who are you? . . . "John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord."  John 1:22–23 NIV (Isaiah 40:3)

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    John the Baptist was the last prophet preceding the coming of Messiah. He knew from the time he was a child that God had special plans for his life. No doubt, his parents prepared him as they told him of Gabriel's message to Zechariah, "And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous-to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:17)
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     We, like John, have a special purpose for living. As believers, our primary purpose is to glorify God with our lives. John was a special called-out prophet, but we believers are also called to be conformed to the image of Christ. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son… (Romans 8:29 NKJV)
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     Lord, may our lives be more and more like Yours as we look into the mirror of Your Word.
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     John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose." Luke 3:16 NKJV

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