We sometimes let Satan talk us into feeling like a big failure. You say, I made mistakes. We all make mistakes. We ought to try to do what we can to allow Christ to live his life through us. Jesus intercedes for us. What a great God. What a great Savior we have. Luke chapter number one this morning, I want to preach a message that I've entitled, Great in the Sight of the Lord. Great in the Sight of the Lord. I don't know about you, have you ever had someone to tell you they think you're great? If you've ever had children for the first year or two or maybe three, your children think you are great. They think you're like Superman. Give it to daddy or mommy, they can do it, they can solve this problem. Then they get a little older and they realize, well, maybe you can't solve every problem, Then they get a little older and they think, you can't solve any problem. They got the answers. And then they get a little older and realize, well, maybe mom and dad did have a little wisdom. A number of years ago in Concord, North Carolina at the Forest View Baptist Church, There was an elderly lady there, her daughter's name was Mrs. Petrie, and the mom's name was Mrs. Jones. And Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Petrie, let's see, the mom would have been Mrs. Petrie, right? She was probably in her 80s, and her daughter was in her 60s, I would say, at that time. I'm sure they're both in heaven right now. And this was Old Country Church, about two and a half hours from where I went to school. And we showed up, a friend of mine and I, Brother Monty and myself, showed up as college seniors we would have been, I guess, at that time. And we began to work at this church. And Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Petrie might have had other spiritual gifts, but I'm convinced that one of their spiritual gifts was encouragement. Every time I'd play the trumpet, Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Petrie would say, that is the best trumpet I've ever heard in my entire life. I've never heard a better trumpeter than that. And I would always think you are in the hills of North Carolina here and probably don't get out too much. I played in the trumpet choir at Bob Jones there, but I was like the last chair. You know, I was a music minor, and I played with a bunch of music majors, and so the good people were way at that end. And then the last chair was good old Mawson down here, trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. But you know, sometimes people look up to us. They admire us. They may say something. By the way, you ought to encourage other people. Mrs. Peter and Mrs. Jones had no idea what they did for two young college fellas right out of college, how they encouraged us along and helped us to think, hey, maybe God can use us. Maybe God can do something through us. I remember preaching a message in Indiana a number of years ago, preaching for a pastor that I respected and loved. And this fella was not free on the compliments at all. And so when he said what he said, I preached a message, and he said something very positive about it. And I remember how deep that went into my soul. You know, Mrs. Petrie and Jones were an encouragement, and I loved them, and I just kept telling them to pray for me. But it didn't go as far as somebody that knew what they were doing, somebody that had pastored a church for a number of years, and that knew preaching and knew the Bible to give you that kind of compliment. If we look at the word of God here in Luke chapter number 1, what God says about John the Baptist, a fellow here, is he's great in the sight of the Lord. Can you imagine getting that kind of compliment from God? God knows everything. God knows us inside and out. God knows the end from the beginning. And the Bible tells us here in Luke chapter number one, we read again, Jesus says in Matthew chapter 11, Jesus says something similar. God says this in Luke chapter number one, we're familiar with some of this. John, obviously, and the parents, Zachariah and Elizabeth, and they communicate to Zacharias concerning this child that they're gonna have. Verse 13, but the angel said unto him, fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife, Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth, for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord. This is where we get our message title. He shall be great in the sight of the Lord. Actually, the burden for this message didn't come from this verse. The burden from this message came from a verse we'll look at in a little bit, John 3 in verse 30, where John the Baptist said, he must increase and I must decrease. Wow! What a message! Wow! But the Bible says here that John would be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. When you think about this, what is it, I asked myself this question this week, what is it about John the Baptist that God would say he is great in my sight? I want to ask you to turn over, we're going to do a little study here this morning, turn over to the Gospel of John and chapter number one. John chapter number one. We'll be looking at the gospel of John. Actually, we'll look at all of them, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John this morning. Once you've found the gospel of John and chapter one, I want to have prayer and ask God to meet with us this morning. And I trust the Lord will use this truth in our lives to be what God wants us to be. Lord, we love you today. Thank you for your love for us. Thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you, Lord, for the privilege we have to be your children. Lord, we're asking you today to do what only you can do, and that is to meet with us. We ask, Lord, that you would take truth and meet needs. Lord, you know each one here this morning. I pray that you take your word and meet needs of all of us. Thank you, Lord, for the privilege we have to serve you. We cast our dependence upon you now in Jesus' name. Number one, I think as I look at John here and I look at his greatness, number one, I see a man that was called. A man that was called and the man that understood his call. Look in John chapter one and verse number six, the Bible says, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. Number one, as we look at his call, we see that he was sent, a man sent from God. Do you ever think about your life as it relates to that particular phrase? The Bible says, I am fearfully and I am wonderfully made. God created each one of us. He created each one of us special. But I think sometimes as we look at our creation, as we look at being here on this planet, I think sometimes we don't even think of ourselves in this same verse as we look at John who says he was a man sent from God. That God said, hey, John is going and he's going to do a job for me. John understood his call. So often we think about life as it relates to us and our comforts and our conveniences. We don't. Do we ever see ourselves as strangers and pilgrims in this world? He was a man that was sent. Verse number seven of John one, he was a man that was a witness. He wasn't the light, but he was to bear witness of the light. He was to prepare the way for Jesus. Luke chapter number one, the scripture tells us not only was he sent and was he a witness, he was a preparer. He was one that would prepare the way for the coming Messiah. Luke chapter number 1 and verse 13, we read that already. The Bible says that he shall, verse 17, he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias. The end of verse 17, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And then as we look in Matthew chapter number three, we see that Jesus, I mean, we see that John's call was one as a preacher. Matthew three, excuse me, in verse one. In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We look at John the Baptist and John the Baptist understood why he was here on this planet. Do you understand why you're here on this planet? Do you understand, do we understand why God saved us? Here you think about it, when you got saved, God didn't just call you right and bring you right, translate you if you would like Elijah, right to heaven. He left us here and he left us here for a purpose. He left us here, really, for a similar purpose than as John the Baptist, one that would let our light so shine. You know, a lot of people fight the call of God. A lot of people hear a message. I remember when I was in junior high and a preacher would stand up and they'd say, hey, you need to do what God's called you to do. God's called you and He's given you a specific task. And I think in my mind about that, huh? And we weigh things in our mind, and sometimes we think, if I do what God wants me to do, huh, I wonder what kind of life that's gonna give me. I wonder how that's, I'm gonna have to go to church every day, I'm not gonna be able to have any fun. Sometimes we fight the call of God, if we would, in our own lives. I know for me, even as a teenager, there was some resistance. I wanted to serve God, but I wanted to do what I wanna do. I'm gonna teach math, we're gonna Christian school, I'm gonna work at camps in the summer, and it's gonna be all good. And God said, no, it's not. God said, hey, this is what I want you to do. And sometimes we fight. You know what I have found? I have found that sometimes parents fight the call of God when it comes to their children. Children sit in a sermon like this, in a service like this, or go to camp, or sit in a revival meeting, and the Spirit of God will take truth of the Word of God and will speak to that child's heart, and that child will come forward and kneel down and say, hey, I believe God might want me to be a missionary. My parents say, you're not going to make any money as a missionary. I'm not sure you should be a missionary. You can be a missionary right here in the United States. You can become a lawyer and make a lot of money and pass out tracts to all your clients. Sometimes parents, I've seen this a numbers of times where parents will fight the call of God on their young person's life. I'm thankful by the way that my parents pushed me in the direction. My mom said, hey, you ought to get there and you ought to seek God and do what God wants you to do. And my dad said one time at a key point in my life, my dad looked at me and said this, I love you enough, I'm willing to let you go away to do what God has called you to do. You see, John the Baptist knew why he was sent. Do you know why you're sent? Do you know why you're here in 2016? Do you know why you're here on this planet? You say, yeah, I know I'm supposed to be a doctor or do this. And maybe God has called you to do that, and that's great, because not everybody can be a missionary or a pastor or a preacher, but God has called all of us to be witnesses, to bear witness of the light, the light of the world being Jesus. And it is amazing how many Christian people will go day after day after day and never pass out one gospel tract. We've lost the vision. We've lost the sense of why we're here. We've lost our purpose. John the Baptist was called and he embraced the call of God on his life. Number two, as we look at John the Baptist, God said, hey, this man was great in my sight. This man was great. Number two, not only was he called, he was conscious. Look at John chapter number one. The gospel of John in chapter number one. We're gonna make you work a little bit this morning because we're gonna have to look at all these gospels to kind of get a feel for this here, this fellow, John the Baptist and God's assessment of him. John chapter number one, And verse 23, when it comes to his consciousness, he was aware of who he was. He was aware of who Jesus was. And when he recognized that he was the voice, I mean, he was the one preparing the way, he saw himself as just a voice. Look at verse number 23, John 1 and verse 23. He said, I, they said unto him, who are you, man? I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Why did he say I'm just a voice? Because in comparison with the Lord Jesus, in comparison with the one that he is preparing the way for, he recognizes, hey, I'm not even worthy to be recognized. I'm just a voice. He saw how unworthy he was compared to the Lord Jesus. In verse 27, he wasn't worthy enough to be recognized. In verse number 27, he wasn't worthy enough to unlatch his shoe. He it is, verse 27, John said, verse 26, I baptize as water, but there standeth one among you whom you know not. He it is who coming after me has preferred before me, whose shoes latch it, I am not worthy to unloose. Ah, this one that's coming. This Jesus is so great. This Jesus is the one that we'll see in a minute that has all the answers. When I look at myself in comparison to him, I'm not even worthy to stoop down and unlatch his shoelace or his shoe clip or whatever it is. He had the right view of himself. He was aware of his own weakness and who he was. In Matthew chapter number three, John the Baptist wasn't worthy enough to baptize Jesus. Jesus comes to him, and we know John was baptizing many, and we'll see that in a little bit. And Jesus, verse 13 of Matthew three, then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and thou comest to me. And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. And we know John baptized Jesus, but in his own assessment of himself. As he looked at Jesus, as he looked at the one that he was preparing the way for, he was conscious, he's everything, I'm nothing. John chapter 3, this is where we read that verse that I shared earlier. In John chapter 3, they asked about his ministry again. In verse number 27, John answered and said this, a man, John 3, 27, can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. In verse 30, he must increase. But I must decrease. It's amazing, verse number 29 running into verse 30. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. You see, John recognized that everything that he had, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. John was conscious of his own state. He was conscious of his own condition. He was conscious of who Jesus was. Sometimes we lose that. Sometimes we lose a sight of that. Matter of fact, let's turn over to 2 Chronicles 26. 2nd Chronicles chapter 26, and I want to just show you, remind you of a story that you're probably familiar with, an individual that lost consciousness of who God was. God lifted up to His own destruction in 2nd Chronicles chapter 26, verse number 16. As we look at the early part of verse number 26, the Bible says in verse 4, we're talking about King Uzziah, verse 4 of 2 Chronicles 26, he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Hamaziah did. Verse 5, as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. Verse number seven, and God helped him. Verse number nine, moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem. Verse 10, he built towers in the desert. Verse 11, Uzziah had a host of fighting men. Verse 12, we get the number of the chief fathers of the mighty men, 2,600. Verse 13, 300,000, 7,500. And we see in many respects as we look at Uzziah and we look at his kingdom and we look at what he had around him, We say, hey, this guy had it together, this guy was great. But he failed to realize, to remember, that a man can have nothing except to be given him from heaven. And we read in verse 16, when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God. Verse 18, and they withstood Uzziah the king and said unto him, don't burn incense. Verse 19, Uzziah was wroth and had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was wroth with the priest, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priest in his house of the Lord from beside the incense. And God smites him with leprosy. And the scripture tells us in this chapter that he has leprosy until the day of his death. What happened? Uzziah forgot. who God was. Isaiah forgot that Jesus, God was the one that gave him what he had. That God was the one that gave him the ability and the talent and that God was the one that prospered him as long as he sought God. And so often, even when it comes to ministry, so often we forget as we see success, as we see God's blessing, as we see things in our lives, so often we forget that what we have is because of the hand of God. So often we forget from what Jesus saved us from. But for the grace of God, the Apostle Paul said, I am what I am. He killed Christians. He persecuted the church. He was anti-God. And God in His grace, He shined the light there on the road to Damascus, and He trusted Christ as Savior. And he never forgot what God saved him from. He never forgotten what would have happened had God not done that work in his life. And so often we forget the goodness and the grace of God in delivering us, in delivering us from hell, but in delivering us from this world. Isn't there a struggle sometimes for us to have one foot in the world and one foot with the Lord? That's a struggle that's been. That's a struggle. Apostle Paul challenged a church at Rome. What did he say? Be not conformed. Stop being conformed to this world and be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Why? That you may prove what is a good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Hey, if you'll be aware of what God has done for you, his will, his call, it's good and it's acceptable and it's perfect, but we lose that consciousness for where we were. to where we are now. And sometimes we can get lifted up with pride. Sometimes we can judge individuals. Sometimes we can not have patience with individuals when others a few years ago had patience and love with us. It's interesting, the Bible says in Isaiah chapter number six, in the year that King Uzziah died. King Uzziah, Isaiah said, I saw the Lord lifted up. He saw the Lord lifted up, and what did he respond? Woe is me, for I'm undone. His look up forced a look in at himself. And it wasn't until he looked in at himself, then he had to look out, and God said, hey, here's the people that you need to minister to. Easily, we can get lifted up with pride in our own lives. John was called. John the Baptist was conscious. Number three, I want you to see John the Baptist was convinced. He absolutely was convinced. Actually, let me share this with you about this matter of being conscious. An actress named Billie Burke was enjoying a transatlantic ocean trip when she noticed a gentleman at the next table who was suffering from a bad cold. Uncomfortable, she asked sympathetically. The man nodded. She said, I'll tell you what to do for it, she offered. Go back to your state room and drink a lot of orange juice. Take five aspirin tablets. Cover yourself with the blankets you can find. This will sweat the cold out. She said, I know what I'm talking about. I'm Billy Burke of Hollywood. The man smiled warmly and said, thanks. I'm Dr. Mayo of the Mayo Clinic. Don't we get there sometimes? We think we know better, you know? We lose that consciousness. He must increase. I must decrease. Number three, he was convinced. I've got to show you a number of scriptures because what we have to do is look at the message of John. We have to look at the message of John and what it was that John was convinced about, what it was that drove John. You see, it's conviction, it's convincement that causes individuals to make changes in their action. If you want to know what someone really, truly believes, check what they do. You see, my actions really are indicative of my belief system. If I really believe something's going to happen, I told you the story about my younger brother in the shower there at Bob Jones when the fire alarm went off. Fire alarm. He's in the shower. I said, hey, what are you doing? It's a fire alarm. Here's what he said. I just put that shower out with this thing right here. I went down. He stayed in there and showered. He didn't believe there was a fire. If he had believed there was a fire, you can figure out the rest. He'd have come out, he'd have grabbed something and he'd have come out. And so it's important for us as we look at John the Baptist, John 1 and verse 34, there are some things that John says. John says in John 1 and 34, he said, I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. Luke 3 chapter 3 and verse 22, the same thing is said, John says this, the one that I am preparing the way for is the Son of God. In John chapter 3 and verse number 34, John says this, for he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. He was sent from God. Jesus, this one that I'm about to prepare the way for, the one that I'm trying to tell you about, is someone that is sent from God. He says in John chapter 3 and verse number 28, he says, Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ. I'm not the Christ, but the one that is coming is the Christ. In John 3 and verse number 28, he said, He, the Christ, the one is coming is to be preferred before me. Look at John chapter 1 and verse number 29. Look at what John the Baptist says about Jesus in John 1 and verse 29. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. Verse 36, And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, the Lamb of God. John the Baptist was convinced that when Jesus came, Jesus would be the one that would take away the sins of the whole world. This is the Lamb of God. In John 1 and verse 33, John the Baptist was convinced that Jesus would have the power of God upon him. He says there, He will baptize you with power. Turn to Matthew chapter 3. I'll give you a couple more. I'm not going to wear you out here this morning. I'm trying not to. In John 1 and 33, we're going to get to Matthew 3 in a minute. He was convinced that Jesus would have the power of God on him. In John chapter 1 and verse 7, he was convinced that Jesus was the one that was gonna bring light to this dark world. And in Matthew chapter number 3, he was convinced that Jesus is the one that would judge the world. Matthew 3 and verse 12, whose fan is in his hand. And he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his weed into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Hey, he's the one that will judge the world. Now think about this. I threw a whole bunch of stuff at you. John the Baptist has got some conviction. He is convinced. This one I'm telling you about, he's gonna take away the sins of the whole world. This one I'm telling you about, he's gonna bring light to this dark world. This one I'm telling you about, he's gonna judge the whole world. We think about what John's message was. That's really our message, isn't it? Sometimes I think first-generation Christians, I don't know if you're a first-generation Christian, your first one in your family, first-generation Christians, they have to wade through stuff. They have to say, oh, this was preached, and I gotta think through this, and I gotta come up with some convictions. I remember when I went to Bible college. I have nearly convictions that I have now. I went to college, sat there, and the Word of God be preached. And I'd be thinking, I'm a second generation Christian, I guess. I'd be thinking, huh. I never heard this before, huh? And I remember coming out of classes, class after class after class thinking, I got to figure out what I believe. I got to figure out what the word of God teaches. You know, when you get to be second or third generation Christian, what happens is your parents' convictions or standards or whatever just kind of become yours by osmosis. This is kind of why we do what we do. And a lot of second and third generation Christians jettison their standards because their standards haven't been their own. They were mom and dads. By the way, let me say this. This isn't in the notes, so maybe somebody needs it. Those of you young people that are in homes where your parents are Christians and they're trying to serve God, you are, my cup overflows and the saucer gets the blessing, you're the saucer there. You are reaping the benefits of the decisions that your parents have made. You're reaping the benefits of the decisions that they have made maybe as they have come to convictions and come to standards and come to things through hard knocks and have said, hey, these are my convictions. This is what I believe. This is what I'm convinced about. And often second and third generation Christians don't have any convictions. They just kind of fly with the wind and think, hi, I like you. You're a nice guy, so I guess I'll do what you do. The reality is we ought to do what we do because God says so, not because someone else does. And as we look at John the Baptist, this guy had some deep convictions about God, about Jesus, and that he was coming and what he was going to do for the people that he ministered to. That's why he was able to say, he's got to increase and I've got to decrease. It's about him. He has the answers. I don't have the answers. Jesus has the answers. And if we're convinced that Jesus is the light of the world, if we're convinced that the lamb of God, the Jesus that we preach from the truth of the word of God, he died on Calvary's cross 2000 years ago. If I'm convinced that Jesus can help people in my actions, I'll go tell him. If I'm convinced that Jesus is light for a dark world, I'm going to go do something about it. That aspect of convincement. And I'll tell you, God, was John the Baptist any more important than you or I? God created you. God wants you to bear witness of the light. God wants you to show people that they're gonna someday, think about this, if we really, if we got grip with the reality of the day that we're gonna stand before God, the Bible says, every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess. If we just wrap their minds a little bit around the fact that I'm going to stand before God, I'm going to answer to Him for what I do and what I don't do. If that became a conviction in my heart, I say, it don't matter what anybody else does, I've got to answer to God. I've got to say, God, You're the one in charge. You're the one on the throne. You're the one I'm going to kneel before. And I want to please you, and I want to hear from you. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. This aspect of convincement, conviction in our soul. John the Baptist was convinced. Number four, and we'll be finished. He was committed. I think he was committed because he was so convinced. Think about this. John, actually let's look at the verse and then we'll bring this together here. Matthew chapter, actually Matthew chapter three and verse four gives us a little bit of his commitment. The same John had a raiment of camel's hair and a leather girdle about his loins and his meat was locusts and wild honey. John was committed to what he was called to do, even at the expense of his own nice clothes, nice house, nice car, nice comforts, you know, nice meals. Locusts and wild honey. They say if you eat the honey in the local area from where you're from, it helps your allergies. Maybe John the Baptist had allergy issues. Any of you ever been to Petco or whatever that other pet store is and open up the bucket and see all the crickets in there? That's pretty gross, isn't it? Have you ever seen someone eat a bug? That's really gross. My daughter, she's adventurous. She's missing trips, and then she'll bring home these things about how to survive. I'm not interested in surviving in the Amazon jungle, all right? I'm sorry. She is. I'm not. Praise the Lord. And she'll bring home videos. She'll say, look at this guy. And I'll say, yes, and here's this bug. And you've got to pull off the legs. And I'm like, ooh. You know? Here's John the Baptist. Dip it in chocolate, yeah. Here's John the Baptist. But it wasn't just his own comforts. John the Baptist lost his crown. If you look at the scriptures here, the Bible tells us that they all went out to be baptized of John. They all went out. He had crowds galore. He had masses of crowds. And what did he do? He said, hey, Jesus is coming. He's the answer. And guess what? He lost his crowd. He lost the people that listened to him. Now they're listening to Jesus. You know what John said? I'm okay with that. Because my ministry is not about me. My ministry is about Jesus. You think about even the applications that we could make with our own ministry. Think about the applications we could make with our own reputation. What's more important, your reputation or God's reputation? We say God's reputation, but sometimes our actions show differently, don't they? The end of the story, again, we're out of time here, but the end of the story, John the Baptist is put in prison. Why is he put in prison? For telling the old king, hey, you're taking a wife that you shouldn't have, and it's wrong. For boldly taking a stand for what is right. and he goes to prison, he's beheaded, and goes to heaven. You think about John, and you think, oh, that's kind of sad. Why did Jesus let that happen? And some of these things we, in our own minds, have to say, God, you're God, you always do good, you always do right, and all. But sometimes we see death from a different perspective. right? You send someone out and you say, hey, I want you to go to the store, hopefully they come home, right? And here's your job to do and come on home, right? I remember when I went to college, I went to college, I got some college people back and go to college and then, hey, you're home for the summer. When our job is finished, the job that God has called us to do, God says, hey, come on home and be with me now. And I know it's hard for all of us because we love people and we don't want to see anybody leave us. But from God's perspective, it's so much different. John the Baptist was a man that was called of God. He knew that. God put me here for a purpose, and my purpose is to be a witness. John the Baptist in the desert didn't say, hey, what'd you pack for your lunch? Oh, you got Burger King. I got locusts and wild honey. I wish I could have Burger King. I know they didn't have Burger King then, but I'm just making this up. Oh, I wish I could have that. He said, that's fine for you, but this is what God's called me to do. Boy, you got some nice threads. Man, look at those clothes. Wow, in the desert, man. I got this camel's hair and stuff. You know, hey, I like that. Now, that's all right for you. That's what God's called me to do. You see, he had a call from God. He was sent from God. I'm convinced we are God's agents for today. He was called. He was conscious of this fact. He's great and I'm not. He's the answer, not me. I'm dependent on him. The Bible says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. If we are gonna effectively point people to Jesus, we're gonna have to be dependent upon him and see him as the answer, not me. Had some deep convictions, didn't he? Deep convictions about what Jesus would do for somebody. Any of you ever take vitamins, and every lady's convinced that the vitamin they're on is the answer, right? And they say, what do they try to do? They try to convince people, this is the answer. And when you feel like you have found the answer, everybody needs it, right? Oh, you need this, you need this, you just need this. If we're convinced the deepest crevices of our soul That Jesus is the answer it will affect our action and will tell people Yeah, you know you can do this or this but let me tell you something Jesus is Jesus. I'll help you He's a lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world He'll give you his power. He's the answer and And with that comes commitment, right? A commitment to say, I'm gonna serve God till the day he calls me home to heaven. The Apostle Paul said what? I fought a good fight. I finished the course. I've kept the faith. Henceforth, there's a crown of righteousness laid up for me. God says of John the Baptist, this guy here is great in my sight. What does God say about us? What does God think about us and our effectiveness in pointing people to Him? Lord, we love you this morning. Thank you for your love for us.