"Meditate on these things, give yourself wholly to them, that your profiting may apprear to all"

Scripture:
Mark 1:2-8
It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way" -- 3. "a voice of one calling in the desert, `Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" 4. And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6. John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7. And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

He was a ragged ruffian, a misfit with flaring nostrils, beady eyes, matted hair, and dirty unkempt garments. He dressed like a pauper in 'road kill" hides of camel hair and a simple leather strap for a belt. He smelled foul and looked "foul-er" with the drool of grasshopper juice running down his face, and a honey matted beard with flies all over it. He was a fearsome sight. He ate grasshoppers and drank honey. He had no money, no credentials, no education, no family, no job and no place to live.

He was everything we abhor, loath, and warn our children about. He is everything you don't want your kids to grow up to be. He is loser, a total washout, and a failure in the eyes of men. He is the opposite of our normal expectations. He has no grace, no tact, no gentle voice, no sophistication, and no credentials to admire. He was a misfit, a stranger, a mad man gone Pentecostal. He was rude, crude, dude from the wrong side of the tracks (desert).

He had the unpleasant guttural, almost illiterate, speech of a recluse. His preaching was loud, blunt, forceful, intimidating, in-your-face with bad smelling Bill Cower spittle splattering all over the first thirty miles. (like a locker-room coach at half-time.)

He pulled no punches, softened no blows, minced no words, and pandered to no politicians, and made it easy on no one, including himself. He preached hell fire and brimstone and made not apologies. He preached to kids and Kings, princes and paupers, drunks and debutants. He was harangued the down and out, and harassed the up and out. He told it like it is; called it for what it was. He played to no piper and marched to the beat of a different drum.

He smashed the sophisticated, pelted the politicians, and crushed the complacent. In our day he would have blasted the Baptist, mashed the Methodists, plastered the Presbyterians, panicked the Pentecostals, and stood in defiance of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

He judged, jeered, jabbed, and jostled until they had no leg to stand on and all cried out for mercy in hot tears of repentance and holy hearts of penance.

No one escaped his preaching without bruised egos and bleeding hearts. But people responded. They came by the hundreds and thousands. They traveled 60 miles on foot to hear him preach. They were ready, willing, and wanting to be touched by the Savior. Their hearts were ready for revival. The way was prepared. He was a flaming fire, red-hot for Jesus.

How is your passion for Jesus?
John stands as an example of a man after the heart of God, not on the outside appearance, but on the inside where it really counts.