PREPARE YOUR HEARTS TO PREPARE THE WAY

Mark 1:1-11(NKJV)

11 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples.

, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here

. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it

, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?”

 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.

 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it

. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields

.9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,

“Hosanna![a]”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[b]

10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

John the baptizer was no doubt one of the key aspects to Jesus Ministries

He was sent by God to prepare the way of the Lord

Malachi 3:1 

3 “Behold, I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

 Matthew 3:7-10 

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 

8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,

 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones

. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Before he was born the angel of the lord went to his father a Levite the High Priest Zaharias that he was the one prophesied of Elijah to be great in the eyes of the God 

(Luke 1)

I want to Backtrack just a little John the Baptist was a levite his father was the high priest.

He was meant to be great and most likely meant to be the next high priest he was supposed to make the priesthood money the good money but that’s not what God had in store.

 and I fully believe John the Baptist had to forsake all of that so that he could fulfill his full destiny, to prepare the way of the Lord.

Now John the Baptist was raised on the nazarite vow He couldn’t cut his hair he couldn’t drink hard drink none of these he could do he was set apart.

A lot of people called him weird I mean he ate Locust and honey he was an oddball.

His Ministry took place in the wilderness and in a lot of ways he resembled the Prophet Elijah 

Not only did he dress like him but if you will have that same bold demeanor about him.

I mean look how he called out Herod and his wife on how he stole his brother’s wife.

And yes, that is what led him to being killed.

But that didn’t stop John’s ministry no his ministry was fulfilled when he baptized Jesus. 

Remember what the scripture said when john was talking to his disciples concerning Jesus saying, i must decrease so he must increase. 

 i like this idea Pastor has that every time John would baptize someone, he looked up for the heavens to be opened.

But there was nothing until Jesus Came

When Jesus got baptized the people there knew it was Jesus who was meant to be messiah

The heavens were opened that dove descended onto Jesus and then God said THIS IS MY SON ON WHOM IM WELL PLEASED

WE NEED JOHN’S TO ARISE

John was bold

Nothing would stop John from preparing the way.

His whole life was created to prepare the way of the lord to make his path straight.

We need people that have it built into them. 

God what you do i wanna do

 what you say i wanna say 

what you pray i wanna pray

We need people to be bold to holding up the gospel not to fold into the things of the world.

Not to fold into homosexuality or depression or the lgbtq i don’t care. 

No longer are you going to be confused in your identity because church your identity is found in christ.

Stop listening to lies of the enemy over your life.

God made you in his perfect image and what you are is what you are supposed to be.

Oh come on we need people that will say i wanna be a watchman for the kingdom i wanna be on watch for the attack of the enemy.

That’s what’s wrong with the church today we let go of our watch who is behind our pulpits look at those preaching to us thank God for such great pastors.

Who cares about there sheep I say this with full love 

But we need watchmen To arise. 

Our watchmen can’t just be our pastors or a preacher.

We need Johns to arise that say no matter the cost I’m paving the way of the lord.

We need people like the women with the issue of blood that will fight to get to Jesus. 

YOUR WILDERNESS CRY

Church it’s time that we let out our wilderness cry.

It’s time we go back all the way to how it was in the days of John start going in the streets repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

But we need to change it to repent for Jesus is coming back you don’t want to miss Him.

If you miss him what’s gonna come is much worse than what you’re facing now

I don’t want to miss Jesus. I don’t want to miss his call. I don’t wanna miss anything that he has for me

Church, I don’t have to wait until I’m 20 to start evangelism to start prophesying to start preaching.

I don’t need credentials to let out my wilderness cry all I need is Jesus.

Do you need Jesus do you need Jesus?

If you need Jesus, he’s right here and will always be there ready for you to give him your hand.

You say I want God I don’t wanna miss you I need you God I don’t want you to leave me.

WILL YOU PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD?

Will you face your mountain?

Will you face near death experiences?

Will you face your fear?

Will you face the government?

To say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, Jesus coming back sooner than later.

Don’t miss your opportunity church.

Don’t let the door close.

If you aren’t saved

If you don’t have the Holy Spirit

Won’t you come let us pray for you?

If your facing addiction 

If you’re facing trials

If you want your family to be saved

If you want to step in for somebody

If you don’t know what your called to do come pray

Amen!

WILL YOU LET IT GO

I’ve come to ask you tonight will you let it go and give God your everything but not just your everything will you sacrifice yourself to be a servant of the most high God.

2000 years ago a king was born through a virgin birth

2000 years ago a king died on a wooden cross carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

3 days later this king rose out of the grave defeating the adversary and saving the world from hell and the grave.

Jesus gave us life and light he gave us a choice to choose whether it is the Heaven or if it is Hell.

We have a choice to make are you gonna let go of that sin or those many of burdens are you going to give it to God.

For the next few minutes as i end this message i want to speak about a key element of preparing you.

Let’s be Honest in this place Life is a stressful day to day walk, its hard and you have so many things going through your mind and stressing you out.

It can get so overwhelming.

And this isn’t just an adult thing, but everyone deals with this.

For instance, let’s see what a kid stresses about on a day to day.

KID

We can start off with something small let’s start with

GRADES

Every kid in school is gonna stress somewhat about grades,

Due to the fact It can set your future for college grades are in important thing.

Disappointing a friend

In life a friend is a very important part of childhood

you have friends that you’ve been friends with

since kindergarten

A lot of times they know almost everything about you.

Your highs and lows

Friends are very important, and it is a stressful and worrisome thing to think about disappointing or hurting them.

Because you love them, and they love you so that is a stress.

Not being good at something you love

Let’s use sports as an example.

Personally, myself, I love basketball to me. It is a fun and inventive way to exercise.

Now, let me tell you this when I play basketball With people who are good at basketball, I rarely make any points.

I usually miss a lay up more than once.

I am not good at basketball

But again, I love it so that’s considered a stress.

Being bullied for what I believe

this is true school is a scary place and people are very mean a lot of people try in fit in but like John we need to be set apart.

worried about being a true Christian or not.

This is a very stressful thing God am i doing this right do i need to be corrected am i enough.

What about teens?

Teens

Something small would probably be MONEY.

A lot of teenagers including this guy has a spending problem.

Social Life

A lot of people like being social and going out with friends

How people see me

Do i wear the best clothes 

Does my hair always look right 

Did i pick the right out fit to day

Can i get past my struggle and temptation?

My depression and anxiety gets the best of me.

And Adults

ADULTS

How everyone sees me 

My job situation 

finances 

Are my kids and loved ones right with God

Am i doing enough in life and with christ