Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Who are you?

Talking to children is fun.

Some kids ask a ton of questions.

Usually they want to ask how old are you?

My son asked me if I was bigger than mommy because I am older, I said, son I am always bigger than mommy.

Don’t ever ask that again.

They also want to know what you do, kids at the schools where we have done Bible Clubs always ask what I do.

I tell them I am a Pastor, and usually they will ask again, so what do you do?

Kids always want to know your name.

Some kids are inquisitive and will ask until you can’t hold back and other kids will just sit there until you finally tell them.

So the question is “Who are you?”

John the Baptist is out in the wilderness proclaiming truth in such a manner that he is asked, “Who are you?”

Who are you?

Who I am not!

John 1:19-23

Much like a children’s game, where the children pretend to be an animal that everyone has to guess, John is baiting them along until they must know.

Who I am!

John 1:22-2

In this day they had seen false messiah’s before.

If this man was another that was claiming to be the Messiah, they they needed to check it out.

Their position, status and liberty were riding on the lack of conflict.

John the Baptist did not exalt himself, but used his elevated status to point to Christ.

Are you faithful?

John was uninterested in the crowds, he was most interested in the Christ.

Here at KMBC, are we most interested in the crowd or mob mentality or are we interested in being faithful to the truth and the message the Lord has for us to proclaim?

What I am doing?

John 1:26-

John tells them in verse 26 that there is one “among” them.

That one that they know not is “preferred.”

So the messenger know his value and the messenger knows the value of the Christ he was sent to proclaim.

Do you know your value and do you live out the value of your message?

So in response to the question, John the Baptist points to the messiah and indicates that their real question should be, Who is He?

This is the real crux to all our conversations about Christ.

So often we feel that our conversation about Christ must be stiff and rigid.

It should simple and honest, from your heart.

Not emotional.

Christian, we cannot be controlled by emotion.

Who is He?

He can hardly wait to proclaim it.

He sees Christ coming and tells the world about it.

Our world today is obsessed with cleanliness and purifying everything.

Many of you probably carry a bottle of hand sanitizer with you.

The problem is we are consumed with clean eating, clean homes, clean hands, clean water but not clean lives.

There is no cleanliness in my life with out Christ.

The answer of why he is baptizing is here.

He is talking about the coming Christ and wanting people to dedicate themselves to Him before He arrives.

Now that the Christ is here. . .

John the Baptist says, He’s here, He’s here.

FOLLOW HIM!!!

John 1:29-

If some of Jesus’ first disciples had earlier followed John the Baptist, we must suppose that something encouraged them to abandon their old master at the peak of his influence, in order to follow a still unknown preacher from Galilee.

The best reason is the obvious one: they changed their allegiance precisely because it was the Baptist himself who pointed Jesus out as the one who was coming to fulfil the promises of Scripture.

In that case, the confessions of John 1 are not only plausible, but almost historically necessary.

John 1:32

That Jesus would baptize his people in the Holy Spirit is therefore simultaneously an attestation of who he is, and an announcement that the promised age is dawning.

Why does it matter?

JESUS IS GOD!