As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,'”
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
— Mark 1:2-4
And this is what preaching is, what pastoring is, really. From the pulpit and in private and all points in between. We are set before their faces, heralding not our ministries, not our gifts, not our talents, not our numbers, not ourselves (2 Cor. 4:5) but him whose sandals we are not fit to untie (Mark 1:7). So we are constantly pointing away in word and deed to the straight path of the Lord, calling all to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins in Christ.
We are not Jesus. Jesus is Jesus. We are like crazily rational people (2 Cor. 5:13) who won’t shut up about Jesus.
So we must be personal (before actual faces), passionate (crying out), and prophetic (preaching Christ).
He must increase, but I must decrease.
— John 3:30
