Good morning everybody as You're watching this right now. You are sitting in your your homes warm while the snow is falling I asked you to get your coffee. It's fun to stay in your PJ's. We get your coffee get your Bible and let's get ready for the word I'm excited today.
I'm going to jump back into one of our words We've been in prosper for the past couple weeks and today I want to I want to jump back into the one that kind of started the year around Christmas. We started with behold And behold started as a what I thought was a Christmas command and it was going to be you know Just the word for that that time But I really felt like the Lord said this is going to be a word that we carry throughout the year and he added prosper into it and I want to I feel like it's a good time to step back into this word because it's important that we see Because we're not going to be able to prosper if we don't see the Father correctly And so today what I want to do I want to give you a quick update I want to jump back just so you remember when we talked about behold and the first time that that grabbed us It was the Christmas command. It was that silent night after centuries of waiting heaven finally broke the silence The first public announcement of the Messiah doesn't come to kings. It comes to shepherds Shepherds are overlooked people ordinary people and heaven starts to speak again after 400 years And I want you to catch something what we talked about was that the first instruction was do not fear and the first invitation was behold Do not fear Behold in other words what it was saying was open your eyes God's doing something that you cannot miss But here's what I love about that Behold just wasn't a Christmas command like I said That was the announcement, but we're gonna read today and John 1 That it this is gonna be the recognition Because after years of prophetic silence God's rate God raised up John the Baptist as the first prophetic voice to point to Jesus.
I don't care if you're in your home by yourself or with someone say amen John 1 Opens with people waiting they're hungry like I said it's been 400 years since the last prophet spoke and then John the Baptist shows up on the scene He starts to say get ready God is about to move and then the religious leaders They start asking questions like who are you and John says? I'm not the main point. I'm not the focus There's somebody else that's coming and then he drops this line and John 126 and he says among you stands Say stands One of you Do not know Among you stands one you do not know And what he's saying is hey, you're asking questions and the answer is already standing right in front of you Come on somebody and then the next day. We're gonna see the John sees Jesus coming toward him I just feel like Jesus is coming towards somebody today right there in your living room I don't care if you're sitting in your PJ's Jesus is coming right towards you So I want us to see this and I want you to picture this that Jesus is coming toward them and John shouts Behold behold Church, this isn't just a fun word.
This isn't just poetry. We're reading there is an urgency that John the Baptist the forerunner is saying He's saying don't miss the most important thing in the crowd He's saying behold behold Behold the lamb That's the title of the message today. Behold the lamb and I want us to to strap our seat belts in Fill up your coffee now Get ready because we're gonna jump into this so if you have your bibles with you I want you to turn to John chapter 1 and we're gonna pick up in verse 25 Because that's where I said that's that's where it leads up to the point that I want to really talk about and we're gonna Zone in on on one verse, but I want to make a few points throughout this chapter But I want to start in verse 25 and I'm reading the message translation So I hope you can stay with me it says now they had questions of their own if you are neither the Messiah nor Elijah nor the prophet Why do you baptize? A person you don't recognize has taken his stand in your midst He comes after me, but he is not in second place to me I'm not even worthy to hold his coat for him These conversations took place in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan where John was baptizing at the time The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out here.
He is behold God's Passover lamb He forgives some translations say takes away the sins of the world This is the man I've been talking about the one who comes after me, but is really ahead of me I knew nothing about who he was only this That my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as God the review Did you hear here what I just said? John the Baptist's task was to get everyone ready to see him as God See him as being revealed Jesus the Messiah the one the one that everyone's been waiting for Said he said I knew nothing about who he was only this that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize Him as the God revealer That is why I came here baptizing with water giving you a good bath and scrubbing your sins from your life So you can get a fresh start with God John clinched his witnesses with him with with this I watch the Spirit Like a dove flying down out of the sky making himself at home in him. I Repeat I know nothing about him except this the one who authorized me to baptize with water told me the one on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay this one will baptize with the Holy Spirit Can I get an amen if you're not excited yet? I don't know what's going to excite you on the snowy day trapped in your home with your favorite person or the person that gets On your nerves the most and fellas do not say amen But he says The one whom you see the Holy Spirit come down and stay this one Will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
That's exactly what I saw happen and I'm telling you there's no question about it This is the Son of God The next day John was back at his post with two disciples who were watching he looked up saw Jesus walk in nearby and said here He is God's Passover lamb the two disciples heard him and went after Jesus Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them What are you after? They said Rabbi which means teacher Where are you staying? He replied come along and see for yourself They came saw where he was living and ended up staying with him for the day It was late afternoon when this happened Andrew Simon Peter's brother was one of the two who heard John's witness and followed Jesus Father, I thank you for today. I thank you for your word.
I thank you that there was an announcement that came and Spoke about our Savior being born and I thank you father that it's gone further now to the first prophetic voice in 400 years that we're reading today Then points to the lamb Behold the lamb I thank you for allowing us to see him as the lamb I ask that this word would speak to us today that would grow us father and that we would leave different So I thank you for everything that you do for us in Jesus name Amen All right Just look at whoever's in the room with you and say don't miss him and then look at him again and say this could be your moment See we live in a generation that sees everything But strangely notices nothing We scroll past sunsets on our screens and we still miss the Savior We miss the Creator in the beauty of the things that he's created We live surrounded by sight and being able to see all these things But we're still starving for vision We stare we stress We look at everything and we still miss the one thing See church, this is why I believe the Lord gave us this word for this year behold not glance Not check in Not not at God on Sunday morning and then by Monday We forget we need to behold See behold says stop It's time to lock in you need to look again And here's what I believe the Lord wants us to feel today church The biggest tragedy is not that Jesus isn't near The biggest tragedy is that Jesus can be near and still go unnoticed. I hope you hear what I'm saying today We know I know a lot of people that think Jesus is distant That he's a far off that we got a we got to somehow convince him to come near to come close or that we're so bad that he doesn't want to be anywhere near us But the reality is is that he's here and he's among us and the craziest thing is is that we often miss him He's here and he goes unnoticed the greatest thing in this world the greatest relationship will ever have the only thing we ever need to fix our eyes on the most Somehow we go unnoticed and he goes unnoticed because we're not looking We're distracted by everything else So our main text for today is John 1 and verse 29 and it says this behold The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world See John doesn't start with a strategy. He starts with a Savior. I'm telling you church if we want to prosper this year It's going to start with how we see the Father behold The Lamb of God who takes away sins of the world There's three things I'm going to touch on this morning Revelation redemption and response First point is this John 1 John 1 26 among you stands one you do not know Jesus can be present and still unnoticed See this is shocking these people were waiting.
They were hungry. I believe they were spiritual and they were asking all the right questions And Jesus was already standing there see some people think their issue is that Jesus is far off I propose that's not the case at all here. He is near Like I said a minute ago. We will often miss him And that's that's not the danger is not the absence the danger is being unaware Like look at the person next to you and say he's closer than you think Among you stands one you do not know He's closer than you think church He was among them and they couldn't see see I'm understanding that proximity is not the same as perception You can be near Jesus and not notice him this year church.
I challenge us that we would slow down Long enough to recognize him. We talk all the time. I know that Jesus is here. I know what I know what the word says But I know I know I know but if we really knew that the Savior was standing amongst us If we really knew that then what's the challenge of us to fix our eyes on him and to know that he's here But see we want to know everything else and we want to allow everything else to distract us But we have to start to understand to be whole to see him for who he truly is the lamb behold the lamb He's standing right in front of us.
He's in our midst and we're missing him because we're distracted There's so many situations that we walk through daily as believers And could you imagine the outcome if we would be able to fix our eyes and be able to see that he's right in the middle of everything That somehow we can be so distracted that the most important thing The most important thing we can pick out the craziest things in the crowd, but we can't pick out the Savior We need to be whole church. We need to fix our eyes on the only one that matters most Will you slow down this year? Will you stop long enough to recognize him? He's right here Don't miss the Savior 0.2 Behold The lamb comes first John 1 29 A lot of this stuff is going to sound familiar church But I want us to grab the the thing that's being spoke about here.
That's the most important thing Behold The lamb of God I was studying this and I realized that John could have said a lot of things He could have said behold the teacher Behold the miracle worker Behold the king We have a lot of definitions for him And I I get it and I want to use him and I think you should use him because he is all of the things that we read about But when we first don't recognize him as the lamb and we don't behold him for who he truly is Will never see the other things Will never see the other things the way that we were purposed to see them through the lens of looking at the Savior as the lamb We'll always see him as something else and it's important that John says Behold the lamb of God And I thought it was interesting that this is the first prophetic voice In 400 years and these are the words That I believe the Lord put on his lips the lamb Why I think it's important that we understand that because Before Jesus can be your example He has to be your sacrifice Before he is your provider He has to be your redeemer Before he is your king He has to be your savior The lamb comes first You have to see him for who he is Then you will behold him as the lamb See I want to talk about the cross for a second He didn't he didn't come to cover sin He came to carry it See it says that he came that he will come behold the lamb who comes and takes away sin He takes it away And the reason I said it like that because I want you to understand something he didn't come just to cover He come to carry it He hung on a cross and took every sin past, present and future and he carries it He takes it away What should have been put on your account my account everyone's account It says that he takes it away that he comes and takes it And God pours all his wrath out on Jesus on the cross Some people are trying to carry what he already paid for We're trying to carry around what he paid for and he's carrying on our behalf We got to see the lamb We got to see what the lamb came to do He didn't come to men and shame He came to remove it Shame is not your life sentence Somebody needs to hear this this morning Somebody is carrying shame somebody is carrying guilt It's become your identity Guilt is not your identity Shame is not yours to carry The lamb takes it away He came to take it away to carry it Why are you trying to carry what only the lamb can? It says behold I need you to lock in and see him The lamb Who comes to take away the sin of the world The reason that you're still carrying these things is because you're not seeing the lamb You're seeing you're not seeing the savior You're seeing something else Actually, I don't think you're seeing him because it says he's standing in the midst And he's unnoticed Because they're looking for something else See If you behold the blessing But miss the lamb You miss the entire point I'm going to say it one more time if you behold The blessing If you lock in and get so fixated on and see and stare at the blessing And miss the lamb You miss the entire point What that does will keep you rehearsing what you did And you'll never behold what he did Stop rehearsing what you did The lamb Behold the lamb Who comes to take away the sin of the world You've got to focus on what he did You've got to see him for who he is And then point three The response Behold If you behold Hope you hear me this morning If you behold It will always lead to come and see See we're people that have questions And we want to know We have questions for the Lord and we want to know How we get those answers is I believe we got a scene for who he is And when we see him for who he is and we begin to follow We get our answer we get a response I'm going to read John 1 35 to 39 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples When he saw Jesus passing by he said Look the Lamb of God When the two disciples heard him say this they followed Jesus Turning around Jesus saw them following it as What do you want? Could you imagine you're following Jesus he turned around What do you want? They said Rabbi Teacher Where are you staying?
Come he replied And you will see Teacher Where are you staying? Come I think people were asking questions today I think you've been asking questions And the Lord is saying if you will come If you will follow me If you will be hold and see me for who I am Come And you will see Shoe we Come he replied And you will see So they went and saw where he was staying And they spent the day with him It was about four in the afternoon So verse 37 we have two disciples Follow Jesus Verse 38 Where are you seeking? Jesus says 39 Come and see I want you to just take a look at that flow there John points They behold They follow And what we see here I believe is that once we behold That beholding him And seeing him It's not the end It's actually the beginning Because Jesus asks them This first question What are you seeking? And I believe he asks that because everyone Is chasing something Everyone is chasing something Some people are chasing peace Some people are chasing purpose Some people are chasing freedom I don't know what you're chasing but you do This is what we do We always look for everything but him And I believe what Jesus is saying here Is he saying hey You're looking for something But I want to tell you You're looking for me You're coming and following me And based on the question that you're asking me Let's me know that you're following But you're looking for something And I want to tell you right now And I think Jesus is telling people hearts right now He's saying hey what you're actually searching for is me If you will behold me the lamb The Savior If you'll see me for who I am You'll find everything that you're looking for Because it's all encompassing And who I am Everything of who I am Everything of who the Father is The nature of the Father Everything that you're looking for It's all in that It's all in me That's why Jesus says I'm the way The truth In the life And everyone's looking for something He says come and see Come on Do you hear the Father this morning telling you hey Come and see He's a good God He wants you to see what he's about He wants you to see what he's doing He's saying hey Come on I'm not afraid of your questions But I want to let you know that if you'll see me correctly You can follow me and you can come and see And if you come and see Come and see If you see me If you will behold me You'll begin to see Properly See I don't know how we get things confused Somehow we see Come and see And people take it as come and perform Shoo we Some people here Come and prove yourself Come and clean yourself up But that's not what we see here We see a Savior inviting us The Lamb The payment The price for everything The one that says it's going to carry The sins of the world He knows what he's carrying And he invites you to come and see He doesn't invite you to come And get everything right or get yourself together He's going to do that for you It says he takes away the things that restrict you He's going to come and take away the sin That's holding you back That's going to keep you down That's going to keep you from coming to him Because he's the payment He wants you to come to him He says come and see Come close Do you notice that?
Come and see us Come close to me I want you near me I want you following me Because if you see me You'll follow me closely Come close The Savior's saying Come be with me Behold the Lamb I want you to notice something about What we were reading John saw Jesus coming toward him To be able to notice Jesus coming John saw him for who he was John knew his assignment That's why when they asked questions John said hey it's not at me It's not about me There's someone coming that's greater I'm just paving the way I'm just handing the ball off There's somebody else that's coming There's somebody else that's coming I don't know how you read this And you don't see that Jesus is coming It says as Jesus was coming toward him Some people think Jesus is walking away from him Some people get this idea That they can scare him off But it says as Jesus was coming toward him Meaning he wasn't running away There wasn't this Try to convince him to come this way It says as John saw Jesus coming toward him He was coming closer And I want you to realize why he was coming Behold the Lamb You got to see him coming He ain't coming and he ain't telling you to be whole because he's bringing information He is coming and he's bringing the ultimate invitation Because what I believe is that for you to be a believer in a follower and to be walking this Christian life out Christianity begins with seeing Jesus clearly Seeing for who he is Because if you do then you'll follow him closely And if you follow him closely You won't be distracted You'll begin to be able to transform Because it's following Jesus and who he is that brings us in to who we are That's why he says come close come see Because if you come see and you see me you'll begin to see you And if you see you you will walk the way you are intended to walk I don't know if you hear what I'm saying today Behold the Lamb Come and see Come and see John could have said a variety of things He could have said behold Here's the future He could have said I don't you can put in there whatever you want But here's what he said Behold the Lamb Behold Here is forgiveness standing right in our midst Here's the one Here's the one So church this morning We're starting this year with these two words Because if we will behold Will prosper And in prospering like I said in week one is that we are moving forward successfully with the Father In order to do that You have to be able to behold him And see him And if you see him then you're able to ask him And if you can ask him he will give you directions and he will say come and see We're out here trying to find our past and trying to find direction But we can't see him And the reason we can't hear him is because we can't see him because we can't ask him But we see here a picture that there's John the Baptist that he's declaring and he's pointing to he's the forerunner He sees and he's able to see Jesus and he's able to point to him He's able to say things like one that you don't recognize is standing in your midst And he's and he's able to continue to keep talking and explaining and preaching this gospel of this is what this is all about This is the one that I'm trying to tell you about he's able to see him and because he can see him He can point others to him. Come on. I don't know if you hear what I'm saying If you can't see him you'll never be able to point anyone to him Come on church If you can see him then you can follow him and if you can follow him and you can ask him things and he can tell you come and see Come on come and see and and if you can come and see where he stays and you can start to tell people where he stays That's why it says behold the lamb Because if you can come and see the lamb You can come and see the Savior then you can see everything else you'll ever need to see in your entire life But he first has to be seen as the lamb As the sacrifice you need to understand the language when it says the lamb there are sacrifices in the Old Testament That's how blood was said that's how things were done And so it was important that they saw him for the ultimate sacrifice the lamb the final payment That's who he is Behold Behold the lamb Behold We need to start this year with more vision church Clear vision The Lord wants to do great things in our lives in our church in our community and globally as we plant this church And if we will behold him And we'll see him Then we can ask him and he will tell us and we can respond He'll give us the invitation to respond and to release everything that he is in us and through us So we can make an impact in this world Behold the lamb Look again