{"id":643,"date":"2017-03-31T09:15:11","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T14:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/becourageousbebold.com\/?p=643"},"modified":"2017-03-31T09:26:16","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T14:26:16","slug":"do-you-recognize-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/becourageousbebold.com\/index.php\/2017\/03\/31\/do-you-recognize-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Recognize Him"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/h6>\n
Bethany, east of the Jordan River<\/span><\/h6>\n
A man was questioned, \u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/span><\/h6>\n
\u201cI am not the Messiah!<\/span><\/h6>\n
I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness\u2026<\/span><\/h6>\n
My name is John, I baptize with water, but right here<\/span><\/h6>\n
In the crowd is someone you do not recognize.\u201d (Matthew 3:26)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n
Can you imagine being in a crowded place when all of a sudden,<\/span><\/h6>\n
A celebrity is noticed, someone everyone recognizes like, let\u2019s say, Morgan Freeman.<\/span><\/h6>\n
He\u2019s a pretty huge star. But on this day, no one recognized him. If people had known he was there in their midst they would have gone wild. They\u2019d have wanted his autograph, and everyone would have rushed around him to get a picture with him. Excitement and cheers would have gone up because this famous man was in the crowd. But the son of God, no one recognized him in the crowd that day, because they didn\u2019t know who he was. John came to announce that someone greater than himself was in the crowd, whose sandals he wasn\u2019t worthy to unloose. Someone they\u2019ve read about and talked about for centuries but when He came no one knew him\u2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n
Jesus was in the crowd that day and he came to John to be baptized. John didn\u2019t know he was the Messiah until he saw the spirit of God, like a dove, descend and rest upon him. God had told John that\u2019s how he would know Jesus. John said, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. (John 1:32-33) NLT<\/em><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n
John baptized Jesus and when he came up out of the water, he heard a voice from heaven saying, \u201cThis is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:17)<\/em><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n
Are you in the crowd today listening, watching but you don\u2019t recognize the Savior? He\u2019s standing in the crowd right beside you. Compassion on his face, there\u2019s a longing in his heart just for you. He\u2019s holding out his hand to take yours. He wants to talk to you and walk with you and tell you how very much he loves you. Do you recognize him? Don\u2019t you have questions you want answers for? John is still speaking today and he\u2019s saying, \u201cPrepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.\u201d (Matthew 3:3)<\/em><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n
Even today people don\u2019t recognize him, but he\u2019s there\u2026in the crowd.<\/span><\/h6>\n
He\u2019s in the face of his children\u2026when we speak a kind word or lend a hand to help our neighbor\u2026he\u2019s there at the bedside of a loved one dying\u2026he\u2019s there when a new-born baby takes his first breath. He\u2019s there when you are crying in the night because you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re going to do. He\u2019s there when you are sick and he\u2019s there when you are well\u2026He is always here. But if you don\u2019t recognize him\u2026you won\u2019t know he\u2019s here.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n
There\u2019s a way for you to recognize him\u2026it\u2019s simple and easy\u2026and no all your trials won\u2019t go away because you accept him. But I promise you, He has said he will be with you through all of them. He has given his peace in the midst of the trial. He has given His joy in the center of your pain. He will give you the Holy Spirit to help you, if you will simply open your heart and recognize who he is. God said, \u201cThis is my beloved son, in who I am well pleased.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n
The crowd is pressing in, the noise of the day is stifling\u2026Do you see Him? There he is, there\u2019s a woman at his feet\u2026she knows him\u2026and she knows that if she can just touch the hem of his robe she will be healed (Matthew 9:21)\u2026She recognized him in the crowd, he is, THE SON OF GOD!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n
–Marla Shaw O\u2019Neill March 31, 2017<\/span><\/h6>\n
John 1:19-34<\/strong> <\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n
The Testimony of John the Baptist<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n

This was John\u2019s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, \u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0He came right out and said, \u201cI am not the Messiah.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWell then, who are you?\u201d they asked. \u201cAre you Elijah?\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he replied.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAre you the Prophet we are expecting?\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThen who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah: <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI am a voice shouting in the wilderness,<\/span><\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u2018Clear the way for the Lord<\/span>\u2019s coming!\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Then the Pharisees who had been sent<\/span> asked him, \u201cIf you aren\u2019t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

John told them, \u201cI baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize.<\/strong><\/span> Though his ministry follows mine, I\u2019m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

This encounter took place in Bethany, an area east of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Jesus, the Lamb of God<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, \u201cLook! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!<\/span> He is the one I was talking about when I said, \u2018A man is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.\u2019<\/span> I did not recognize him as the Messiah, but I have been baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Then John testified, \u201cI saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him.<\/span> I didn\u2019t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, \u2018The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.\u2019<\/span> I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Chosen One of God.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bethany, east of the Jordan River A man was questioned, \u201cWho are you?\u201d \u201cI am not the Messiah! I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness\u2026 My name is John, I baptize with water, but right here In the crowd is someone you do not recognize.\u201d (Matthew 3:26)\u00a0 Can you imagine being in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8aPxH-an","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/becourageousbebold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/becourageousbebold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/becourageousbebold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becourageousbebold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becourageousbebold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/becourageousbebold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651,"href":"https:\/\/becourageousbebold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643\/revisions\/651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/becourageousbebold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becourageousbebold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becourageousbebold.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}