THE MESSENGER IN HIS MESSAGE

 The Messenger in His message.

Text : Isa 40:1-11

Looking at the book of Isaiah, it looks more like a miniature Bible.

The first 39 chapters ( like the 39 OT books) are filled with:

• judgement upon immoral and idolatrous men and nations.

Judah sinned, surrounding nations sinned, the whole earth too have sinned.

His judgment must come… for He can’t allow such blatant sins to go unpunished.

But the final 27 chapters ( like the 27 NT books) are filled with:

• the message of hope.
• Declaring that the messiah is coming as a Savior and Sovereign…
• To bear a Cross 
• To wear a Crown.

His ministry, spanning the reign of 4 kings of Judah, covered about 40yrs.

The message of hope started from chp 40.

• God spoke comfortably to His people by CRYING out to her….
• That her warfare is ended. ( at the cross)

The process of which started with a VOICE of one Crying in the wilderness..

• prepare the Way OF the Lord
• Make straight in the desert, a HIGHWAY FOR our God ( holiness) Isa 35.

Isa 35:8.

John the Baptist declared the same at the beginning of his ministry. Lk 3

Lk 3:1-3

God used him to prepare the people for the coming of the Lord Jesus.

He had a distinct VOICE, with a clear MESSAGE.

• God’s Word bypassed…. governors, tetrarchs, high priests..
• Governor ( those in authority)
• Tetrarch of Galilee ( circuits- those going in circles )
• Tetrarch of Ituraea ( those who has Past the limits….)
•  Abilene ( town square where people gather for trials & elections, place of public debate…. Politician)
• High Priests ( in the church )

• The WORD came to John….. in the wilderness ( because the time of his manifestation to Israel has come ( Lk 1:80) ….. 
• Now he (John) has GROWN and he is STRONG in Spirit…. 
• His assignment… is prophesied in  Lk 1 vs 76-79.
• His region of influence ( Lk 3 vs 4) was covered by him. He went there..
• John Preached Baptism of Repentance…. Message of the Cross.

Isa 40:6 says… the voice said CRY….. He said, WHAT shall I CRY.)

He got the distinct and clear message before he cried out.

Today, we don’t need a prophet to tell us that we are in the ENDTime.

We are that Voice that should CRY now, to prepare the Church for His second COMING. 

****PRAY…..( Make me your Voice…Oh Lord)

However, there are many Voices and Noise all around us that is NOT distinct or CLEAR…. 

Isa 66:6 says..

• The Sound of NOISE from the city 
• The VOICE from the temple… is the voice of the Lord… this is authentic.

Like The Holy Spirit said in Acts 13:2.

• separate me Paul & Barnabas… for the work to which I have called them.
• When the church had fasted & Prayed, they laid hands on them… and sent them forth..
• Genuine ministries flow FROM the Church.

Our time has come…. To be His Voice..

We need to TRAVAIL, press into Him to bring forth ( Isa 66:8). 

• We need to Grow in the Lord, 
• Persevere in the wilderness… till our fullness of time.
• and be Strong in Spirit ( there is stature for every message).

We need to allow the Lord to Work on our lives so that we can receive from Him our DISTINCT AND CLEAR message :

Isa 40:4-5 says 

• Every Valley, must be exalted  : this includes…( low self esteem, low impression of oneself, low self respect, low self worth, shyness (junior sister of Fear), timidity)…. We must Know our identity in Him. ( Col 2:10, Acts 17:28) and that we are complete in Him. NOTE : The Righteous shall be bold as a lion.

• Every Mountain and hills , must be brought low :  this includes….(high mindedness, pride, arrogance, ego, self glorification, self-trust,) God’s Word tells us to PUT ON humility, meekness. He asked us to humble ourselves, don’t let Him do it for you. (1pet 5:5)

• The Crooked places. , made Straight : this addresses ….( deception, not being straightforward, dishonest, devious, twisted,). God wants us to PUT ON the New Man ( Eph 4:21-24).

• Rough places. , Smoothened. By His grace, we are to overcome the “I”syndrome.. which includes…( I,me, my, myself syndrome) areas not submitted to the Lord, what we lay hold of etc. For example… my money, time, sleep, our no-go areas) We can Submit all to Him by yielding to the Holy Spirit. Lk 14:25-27… We should deny self & take up our cross and FOLLOW JESUS.
• I encourage you to read , study and meditate on Lk 12:13-21 . How many ‘I’ are in this portion of scripture? How does it apply to you?

His Glory shall be revealed, all flesh shall see IT (the Salvation of God- Lk 3:6) TOGETHER.

When this is being worked out by God in us, Then we can seek Him to CRY His Cry… vs 6.

*****Like Haggai… we will become His messenger IN His message Hag 1:13.

• A simply message of “I Am with You” brought great changes.

*****Pray:

Lord Bring us into YOUR MESSAGE!!

Looking at Rom 12, we all already have gifts within us… vs 3-8.

All that He has given us already are very needful. We need to know how to harness them together to get His message.

We should not be an ECHO of someone else….

• let us USE them..
• Prophecy…. In proportion of Faith 
• Ministering… in ministry, 
• Teaches…. In teaching 
• Exhorting…. In exhortation 
• Giving….. give with liberality 
• Leads, administrative skill…. With diligence 
• Mercy….. with cheerfulness.

Much love and blessings to you all.

Azuka Gbogboade.