MY HERO.

Last night my wife and I went to see one of my all-time heroes in concert. He's a man called Roger Hodgson who was the lead singer of Supertramp. Now the guys in Third Day give me a lot of stick for being a Supertramp fan, Brad especially always reminds me lightheartedly of my devotion! The concert was awesome- with just Roger Hodgson and a multi-instrumentalist playing with him. Old songs like Take The Long Way Home, Breakfast in America, and It's Raining Again, were brought to life by Hodgson on guitar or keyboards and his accomplice on saxophone.
Yet I've been reading lately about someone who's rapidly becoming an even bigger hero. The first research paper for my Master's degree has been on John the Baptist and was inspired by a throwaway phrase from my lecturer when he said- 'of course, we are all modern day John the Baptists.'
In the Message translation we read this:
Luke 3:15 The interest of the people by now was building. They were all beginning to wonder, “Could this John be the Messiah?”
Luke 3:16 But John intervened: “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out.
Luke 3:17 He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

These verses were an inspiration to me years ago when I had the vision for the Ignite ministry, and I've been revisiting them recently to seek further insight into John the Baptist and his message.
I'm not going to preach the sermon to you here, but consider what John means by these phrases (with thanks to Eugene Peterson!):

The main character
This drama
A mere stagehand
Ignite the kingdom life
A clean sweep of you lives
Everything true in its proper place before God

Let me know what you come up with!

By the way- I got an 'A' grade for my research paper, and I've booked my flights to join Third Day on their Christmas tour so I may see some of you on the road. Before then, I'll be in India on a mission trip for 10 days and I'll post the latest news about the Come Together Compound and the Ignite churches funded by Third Day's UK tour.

Comments

[Joan Young/Godgrl Gomer]

Hmmm you have given me something to think about...thanks Nigel!
You know I am praying :)

[Joan Young/Godgrl Gomer]

Hmmm you have given me something to think about...thanks Nigel!
You know I am praying :)