John the Baptist is presented as a model of a man sent from God, emphasizing that true ministry comes from divine calling rather than personal ambition. The sermon highlights John's preparation in the wilderness, where he learned to listen to God's still small voice, and his humble self-identification as merely a "voice" to point to Christ. This humility is contrasted with self-promoting modern ministries, underscoring that the message, not the messenger, is paramount. The message concludes by urging believers to be "burning and shining lights" for God, removing obstacles that hinder their witness and allowing the Spirit within them to shine.
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that heaven's going to change it in my case. Because believe it or not, if you're a child of God, you're going to have to put up with me in heaven too. So, eleven o'clock tonight, brother Lynn, it's not going to be too late and too long, you see, because you're going to put up with me in heaven. And listen to this thing in that hymn number seventy-five that we sang. It says, "'Twill be my endless theme in glory with the angels I will sing.'" Now, can you imagine Glenn Lightfoot singing the angels? I can't imagine him singing anywhere but with his head in the bucket. And that's the way it is down here. But heaven's going to change that. It goes on to say, in fact, twill be a song with glorious harmony. Now my wife just really gets on me because when you go to singing a part in this ear and someone's singing a part in this ear, there's no telling what's going to come out here.
It won't be right. It absolutely will not be right. So she just cringes. When someone says, would y'all sing a little harmony with us, you know, because I'm not going to sing the harmony. I'm going to sing the main part, and that's all there is to it. You can go ahead and sing the harmony or whatever you want to sing because the harmony won't be in my part. That's for sure. I'll just sing and be glad I can sing. So you see, heaven's going to change things. Isn't that nice? It's lovely. It's wonderful that heaven's going to change some of those little irritating things like preachers going over time and and like singing with the angels. I'm putting on a little because we got some more folks coming in here. So I don't want to get to my message too quick. So you of little faith didn't believe they were coming, but I knew they were.
So I want to get up here and spend a little time before we got to the message because I wanted those folks to get in here and get the full blast of the thing here tonight. But it is a joy. Let me do say this. There really is someone coming. Let me say this. It thrills me. It does my heart good to see you folks come from the far north Atlantic and come down to be with us tonight. It's really encouraging and I appreciate that very, very much on my part. I need all the encouragement I can get and I deeply appreciate it. I appreciate, I appreciate, getting too fast, I appreciate everyone that's here tonight. Really, really do. So just let me say this. May the Lord bless you as you turn to John chapter one.
John in chapter one. We saved the best for last. And here they are. So it's good to see them. Everybody thought I was joking, brother. They didn't know you. I told them you were coming. Or I didn't use your name. I just said someone was coming. John chapter one. John in chapter one. Now, the last evenings we continued on. Well, we didn't Wednesday evening. I gave them a break. I gave the dear saints here a breather. I didn't go back on my conference. messages that I said I would. I gave them a breather Wednesday night, but last night we continued again with men sent from God. Men sent from God are God sent men.
And we spoke of Moses a little bit in review for this reason. And this will be review for some of you who couldn't make it last night. At the conference, I may have painted a picture too well. I may have painted a picture that made you think you had to be perfect in order to be a man sent from God or a woman sent from God. But we found out that God will use you even if you're not one hundred percent as it were. God wants you one hundred percent. Now I'm not talking about uncleanness or sin in your life, but I'm talking about, you know, you're just human. Teach yourself tonight when you go home, Brother Bruce, and you'll find out you're still human.
But don't teach the lady that's sitting beside you. Or you'll be out of this world. I tried that once too. Gotta get you awake. But anyway, nevertheless, you know, Moses we found out last night was truly human, but he was a God-sent man. God used him in a mighty way. But I just mentioned the fact that toward the end of that chapter, in chapter four, we found out that he said, oh Lord, I'm not an eloquent man. And the end result was God said, well, I'll give you a mouthpiece. That's my interpretation. I'll give you a mouthpiece. I'm going to give you Aaron. And how unfortunate that was that that Moses caused God to do that. Because you know what happened to Aaron down there when he fabricated the molten cast.
Then better had Moses gone on because the Lord had told Moses, I will teach thee what thou shalt say. And that's a promise to all Christians. Do you really want to serve God? You want to be out and out for the Lord? Let me tell you something. That don't mean you don't study. Teaching involves studying, doesn't it? God's the teacher. We're the students and we're the ones who have to do the studying. But God says, I will teach. And you don't go to school and it's not just pumped in, is it? Do they do that here in Iowa? Go to school and they pump it in. You don't have to study? Well, I wish it were that way, but it's not. And it's not that way in the Word of God. So we do have to study. I mentioned that just to give you some breathing room. to realize no excuse that we don't stretch ourselves out and reach for perfection, but you'll never be perfected or completely mature in this life.
Now some of you who are up in, my brother Johannes is probably twenty-four. So when you get to be as old as brother Johannes, then you think that you're mature, but not in spiritual things. He's a mature man, but in spiritual things we should be continuing to grow daily. And we'll go on growing till we get to heaven. Then we reach perfection, but not here. So it's to encourage you that I throw out that little morsel. Don't give up if you think that you're not absolutely perfect and that God won't let you serve him. He will. He will let you serve him. So I mentioned that. And then we went on to look into the life of a very great man, Elijah.
And we saw some beautiful things about Elijah. We found out that he liked Moses. And also like Isaiah, I mentioned him last night, Elijah went to God's school. And we found out in the case of Elijah, it was Brookside school. You remember that the Lord God told him to go down by the brook, Cherith, or Cherith, whichever way you want to pronounce it, it's all right with me. Told him to go down to that brook and to wait there, and the old dirty birds, the ravens, would come and feed him. every morning and every evening. They bring in bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening.
And, you know, God keeps His word. God will provide. God says, I will provide. Now, if you ask me, I'd like to have lunch, wouldn't you? And that's the way we are as Christians today. We say, oh, God, you forgot lunch. No, God didn't forget lunch. He says, I'll provide your needs. He didn't say my wants. My wants have gotten me ballooned out in the front now. And I've got a problem there. So you see, God knows more than I do. Isn't that marvelous? That the Lord gives us our needs. God, you know, as Christians, servants of God and every Christian should be, God doesn't promise to give you everything you want. But he says, I will supply your N-W-E-D-S, your needs, not your wants.
My want list is like this. My needs are probably like that. And God has promised to supply those. Now, he does do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think, but that's his prerogative. God is sovereign. God is merciful. And you leave that up to the Lord. Elijah did, and he got bread and flesh in the morning, bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank from the brook. But we found out the brook dried up, and we didn't go into it, but sometimes God has to kind of dry up the resources to make us step out for him. and to walk out for God and to do what He wants us to do. Told a good little story about the dog last night, and I'm not going to tell it again tonight.
That's to tantalize you. That's just to make you wish you'd have been here last night. Very marvelous, real, true story about a dog and some chicken. Well, that brings us up tonight to, I guess, the final character that I'll share with you. I'd hope to get to another character, the fifth character. But tonight, I want you to look again that a man sent from God. And finally I'm going to get to the verse I started with in the conference so many, many, many, many moons ago. And here it is, first John, or not first John, but John chapter one, verse six. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. I finally said it. I used this verse numerous times and I always put in Moses and Isaiah and Elijah, but now I'm going to read it just like it is here.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. Marvelous man, wonderful man. Some would call him a crusty old man, but he's a wonderful man. He's a tremendous man because he's a man sent from God. And let me just tap that note home to you again, Christian. God is in the business of sending. We should be in the business of going. I say that because Moses said, here am I. Then we found out that Isaiah went a step further.
He said, here am I, send me. So there's the presenting. And then there's the ones who are sent. And then in Elijah last night, we come to find out that Elijah stood before the Lord God. That's a pretty enviable position for every child of God is to stand before him, you know, to stand before God and then go forth, as Elijah did, for God. I want to mention once again, we'll look at John here and the first thing we're going to do, we're going to look at what school he went to.
Everybody is very interested in what school are you attending. What school did you attend? Well, I want you to go with me. I believe it's to Luke chapter three. I think I'm going to get this right. Some of these verses are a little fuzzy in my mind tonight, so you bear with me. But I believe it's in Luke chapter three that we'll find out the school that this great man of God, this John went to. Luke in chapter three. I'm going to begin reading with verse one, though, to set the scene and so forth of the time that John lived in.
It says, Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip, tetrarch of Aturia, and of the region of Triconius and Licinius, the tetrarch of Abilene, Anus and Caiaphas, being the high priest noticed now boy what a what a thing suddenly it says didn't doesn't say that the word of God came to any of these Ananias and Caiaphas and all the high priest it says the word of God came unto John now that should be an encouragement to us beloved God will speak to the plain old folks God is no respecter of persons you don't have to have a turned around collar You don't have to have the DDD or the PhD or anything else.
The thing of it is you have to have the open ear and the listening heart. And God will just put it right down eighteen inches from the old cranium. You'll put it down into the heart where it really gets in there and motivates the life. The head only motivates the body sometimes. But the heart motivates the life. So God's shooting at the heart, not the head. God hits us eighteen inches from where we usually aim. You know, I like to look around, boy, I say, I'm going to wow them tonight. I'll get them, their intellect tonight. I'll tickle their ears and tickle their fancy and show them how powerful a speaker I am. So I aim at your head. But, you know, that's terrible because the only way you'll be changed is if I hit your heart and then only by the Word of God, only as God speaks.
And that's the thing I like here. It says, or rather it says in verse two, The word of God came unto John. You know, if it came unto him, he had to be listening, didn't he? He didn't just bowl him over. God's not in the bowling over business. And again, in Elijah's case, how did he speak? In the earthquake, in the fire, in the still small voice. That's when God speaks. The other things were just to get the attention. But when he spoke to Elijah, it was in the still small voice. And, you know, you've got to listen for a still small voice.
Most people can hear me two blocks down the street. I'm like an empty drum sometimes, too. A lot of noise and nothing to me. But that's not the way it is with God. He speaks in the still small voice. And you know something? If you've got that ear attuned to the wavelength of heaven, God will speak wherever you are at. You don't have to be in church, so-called. You don't have to be You just have to be listening for the voice. And where was John in church? Or at least he was in formal school. Well, it says, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
You cannot escape God. God is everywhere. And if our ears are in tune, he's speaking in the wilderness. This old crusty John, the Baptist as we call him, his school was the school of the wilderness. And I mentioned Moses, but remember his was the desert and the backside of the desert. But here we have a man of God and his schooling has been in the wilderness. I know one time God put a certain Christian way up in the mountains, all alone practically. Very few people. Hardly any people. And he wondered, God, why have you put me up here?
I want to witness. I want to tell others about you. I want to await the Christians. So the time is short. I want to await the Christians to the fact that they need to be out and out for God. Why, Lord? Do you put me up here stuck away in the mountains and there's nobody to speak to but the trees? And they hear God all the time. They're part of His creation. They don't rebel. So the Christian wondered, God, why are you putting me up here? To hear the still small voice. The city's clamor, the trolleys, the buses, all that goes on in the hectic could not be heard by this Christian until God put Him in the mountains and all alone.
Then he heard the still small voice of God. And he learned a lot. Just between him and God. Just between him and God. The time was not misspent. It was well spent. He got every nickels worth. Because he heard God. And God moved him out of the mountains. and then he opened his mouth and it's like Moses and it's like all the others God could say to that one now go and tell now open up the springs of your heart in the quietness of the mountains let flow what God put into the reservoir of your heart and mind Let the fountains swell up.
Let the mouth open and let the heart speak. God speaks to the heart. And that's what you want to shoot for, Christian, is the heart, not the head. Let God take you to the wilderness. Let God take away the clamor. Let him isolate you and be happy he did John. John was out where I believe there weren't many people. The wilderness certainly, there's not many people.
But how much did he learn? Enough to come striding forth and to be what we'll see in a moment. If you'll turn back to John chapter one with me. John in chapter one again. I can't impress you enough, dear Saint of God. Time alone with God is never wasted. Never fret if God chooses to isolate you for a while. He has a purpose.
He wants to put the deep still quietness of a peace of God in your heart and get you used to listening, not so much talking, so that you can take in that still small voice and come forth as John in God's appointed time. God had an appointed time that he prophesied of seven hundred years before John the Baptist came striding out of the wilderness. John the Baptist, and I don't know of any other, was so honored of God that his birth was announced right along with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as the baby in Bethlehem.
God thought a lot of John and still does. Among women there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist. Oh, I'd like that to go on my tombstone. Let the Lord be not come. Wouldn't you? Among women there has not arisen a greater. Wouldn't you like to have your birth announced along with the Lord Jesus Christ by an angel? What a man of God John was. He was filled with a spirit from his birth. That just didn't happen in the Old Testament economy.
The spirit acted upon them. John was a mighty man. Have I built him up to you a little bit? Have I raised him in your eyes, your estimation? Have I got him where I want you to Picture him for a moment on a pedestal where we would put him. But where did he put himself? Hey, this is a characteristic of a God-sent man I want. Because look with me in verse twenty-three of chapter one. Now this is John speaking of himself.
Not what God is saying. But this is what John says about himself when he was asked questions. The fact is, I'm going to read a couple of these questions. Do you know he was mistaken for Christ? Man, he was mistaken for Christ. I'd like to be just mistaken for a Christian, only to be real. Well, what does it say in verse twenty-one? It says, and they asked him, What then, art thou Eliath? And he saith, I am not. Aren't thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Boy, if they say, Are you number one? Yes, sir, I'm number one.
Are you the big shot? Yes, I'm the big shot of all of Lyman. I'm the one at the Lyman Gospel Hall. I'm number one. I'm yet you're looking at him. I'm the greatest. Come in, Mother Girl. I'll just be seated and I'll wow you. You know, we like a claim. Look at verse twenty-two. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sin us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, And the voice. Hey, there's no self-aggrandizement in that. What's a voice?
Can you see a voice? Not really. I know we got these fancy syllographs, but you understand, can you see a voice? Not like the modern day John the Badge. It's not like the modern day preacher, because we spend so much time promoting ourselves and putting ourselves before the public. And we mentioned some names, and I don't want to, but you know some of the big electronic evangelist as they're called. They spend millions to get their face before the public. And the more their face is before the public where there's good publicity or bad, it seems like they like it.
Why? Because they're promoting themselves. When the messenger promotes himself, the message is not heard. And if a message is not heard, there's nothing done for God. I want to be a voice. Because we want the voice, the message is the important thing, not the messenger. The messenger is a bag of bones standing on two stilts up here. And he doesn't need to be seen. John the Baptist, the greatest among of men born a woman. And yet he says, I'm a voice when he asks, who are you?
You can't see a voice. There's not much to a voice, as man would say. We want to be seen. We often get up here, you know, in, I hope, real humbleness, and we say or we pray, Lord, hide the messenger behind the cross. Hide the preacher behind the cross. Hide me, Lord. behind the cross that they may see none save Jesus only. My friend, if you're a voice, they'll see Christ. If you're but a voice, they've got to see Christ. They can't see you.
So the old fellow comes striding out of the wilderness, died of locust and honey. I love the honey, but leave off the locust. And he comes striding out into view, and he has people who flock and follow after him. Who are you? Well, I'm just a voice. Not much to me. Just a voice. You know, our word to God, dear child of God, that we really could get to mean that. That we'd realize the messenger is absolutely nothing. But the message, the message is life.
Is life to the unsaved and joy and peace to the saved. Why do you think we get up and minister the Word of God? To save you when you're already saved? You know I'm one of these foolish people. I believe once you're saved, that's enough. You're always saved. Nothing can take you out of the hand of the great shepherd. But we do it in order. that you might be taught in order that you might be have a message to give yourself a life to live for him it's that simple and yet that complicated isn't it sometimes it is really well I find here let's read the rest of verse twenty three he said I am the voice of one you know that's pretty smart that's about as low a number as I can go I don't understand all these fractions.
Do you boys and girls? Pretty tough, aren't they? You can't fraction a person, can you? Not really. That's not legal. Paul sometimes, Johannes would like to fraction me with a great big knife and throw the pieces back to Texas, he said. But nevertheless, it's not legal, Paul. It's not legal. But you know what I'm saying? One. One. He says, I'm the voice of one. That don't seem like much does it. Doesn't seem like much. I'm just a little. I'm all alone. I'm just a voice. And here I am. I'm just one. I'll tell you something, Christian. With God now, not with people.
But with God, one is a majority. One is a majority. If you're for God, God's for you. And who can conquer God? I can do. I love that expression. Old drill sergeant said, you can do it, boy. You can do it. You've got to scare me to death and make me do it, too. Can do is our motto in this outfit. Can do. And that sounds real good. But I failed. I failed. Boy, did I fail and did I get it.
Duck walking on the sand in California. Did you ever duck walk on sand when you were in the service, holding an M-one over your head? Well, they took us to the beach one time and we hadn't been good boys. And the deep sand down around Monterey, California, Fort Ord, California is where I was taking this training. It took us down to the beach and it wasn't to swim, boys and girls. It was down there so that we squatted down like a bunch of ducks. You couldn't walk. You had to squat down with an M-one over your head and those things weigh nine pounds in something. And we duck walked.
You know what I'm talking about? I won't do it up here because that'd embarrass you and me both. But it squatted down and you're walking in that deep sand. It wasn't hard washed, but it was loose sand. And we duck walked in that because we hadn't been the right kind of people, the right kind of fellow. you know, can do, but I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Now it doesn't say I can do all things through Christ that I want to do. Do you ever think about that verse? That's not a blanket order that I can do everything to my brothers and sisters and get by with it or I can do anything I want to. So I can just call on God for anything like, no, it says I can do all things through Christ And then the Spirit of God qualifies it, which strengthens me.
You know, God knows what's the best for us and what's going to be the goodies for us, what's going to strengthen us in our spiritual lives, in our Christian walk. And that's what God wants, is the spiritual side of the ledger, not so much the carnal side of the ledger if you know what I mean. He'll provide your needs, but it may not be just exactly all you want. So it is that he says... Verse twenty-three said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Well, I'm going to make an application here that's true. Not an interpretation, this is an application of one crying in the wilderness.
You can have a million people around you and still be alone. You can still utterly, utterly, utterly lost alone. I remember I was a little boy. I think this was my first circus. And they had them in Texas, believe it or not. But barefooted with my old blue overalls, we went to the circus and I was holding on to Mama's hand. We went down in there and I never saw such things in all of my little four or five years. I was all eyes before, behind, around. I was taking in everything, holding on to Mama's hand. slipped a little bit and I reached back up and I got Mama's hand again.
It wasn't Mama. And there was a, I don't know, all kinds of people around me, but it wasn't Mama. And boy, I never felt so alone. I began to boo-hoo. You know, Texans never cry, but this one did. I began to bawl and squall and scream and holler, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama, you know. And there were people all around me. So you can find a wilderness sometimes, you know, in the very city in which you live there's people can be people all around and I'll tell you there needs to be a cry in the wilderness today there needs to be a cry of one in the wilderness today but it needs to be the cry of John the Baptist repent ye repent ye we need to hear the message of the gospel first and then we need to hear God's call after that I think it says he said I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness next straight the way of the Lord There again, I'm using this just to further bring home to you what I've said the last couple of nights.
We are not free. Now get this. We are not free to speak what we want to speak. If you do that, you'll be a poor servant of God. We are not free. I can't tell you the things I might like to tell you because, you see, I want you all to like me. So I could tell you the things you want to hear. Believe me, I could. I know what you want to hear, and I can tell you that. And sometimes that's what God wants me to tell you. But remember this, it's always next straight the ways of the Lord. We've got to tell it like it is. People want to say, tell it like it is. Well, then you've got to tell it God's way.
And it's from time of old. It says, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. Well, I've got about three minutes. You gave me too much time tonight, and I'm not going to wear you. No, I'm just kidding. You didn't give me too much time, but I do feel for you. I am going to be closing very shortly, but I want you to get another pointed to, and if you will, turn to John chapter five. John chapter five. Some of you, dear saints, that came from Atlantic, came a little early, and you've already been here your hour and almost fifteen minutes, so it's I'm going to try to hold as close as I can to make you get back home before it's too late.
All right, John chapter five, verse thirty-five. This is speaking again of John the Baptist. He was a burning and a shining light, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his life. Popularity is fickle. Popularity often is fast fading. When John was coming along, you know, striding out from the wilderness, and it seemed to be popular to hear his message, it doesn't mean you believed it, but it was popular to hear it and to come out and join the crowds. Everything was hunky-dory, but you know, when they put him in prison and they were about to lop off his head, how many friends did he have then? Where was his popularity then?
John the Baptist, oh, well, Yeah, it seems like, but I don't really know him. There might have been a fellow like John the Badges, but if they'd asked me, I'd have looked over there and saw those prison bars, and I'd have said, Oh, John the Badges? Well, I don't really think, that is, I don't really think I ever really knew him. And that's the way it is, you know, when the popularity fades, it's suddenly, I don't really know that name, that light foot. Is that a name? Or is that a town? Or what? No, I don't really believe I know light foot. So they rejoiced in His light for a season. But I want to tell you something. He was a light. And something about Him. He was a burning. And a shining.
What do you think the Spirit of God brings out? Burning and shining. Well, I don't know. But let me suggest something to you. Let me suggest something to you. To be burning, you've got to have inward power. You've got to have the oil of the Spirit of God. You've got to have that something within that would feed the flame to give the light to be that burning. and shining light. Now every Christian is burning. Got that? Every Christian has the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. All is there, brethren. The oil is there. The Spirit is there if you're a child of God.
So the burning is there. But are we shining? Or is our light our witness for God? And that's what John chapter one is talking a lot about, about John the Baptist. But anyway, we don't have time to go into that tonight. But you know, we all can, we can be burning, but I've had old smoked up chimneys on the, you don't understand, kerosene lamps up here, do you? Do you? Amazing. Amazing. Okay. So it can be burning, but if it's all, the old chimney is all smoked up, there's not much shining. I used to study by them, and I know because my job was to trim the wicks, keep the kerosene in them, and all that poor kind of stuff.
Keep the chimneys clean. So it is, Christian, sometimes with us. We're burning, but are we shining? Is there something obstructing our life for God, our shining for God? Is there something in our lives that we need to move, we need to wash up, we need to clean up, we need to get rid of? something that is obstructing the light of the Spirit of God within us from shining out that others may see Christ in me. It may be a wonderful thing tonight as we're closing. If someone could say he's a burning and a shining light.
All Christians are burning. But Glenn is not always shining. I tell you, God wants us to be lights in this world for him. And let me tell you something. If you'll just look around, it's getting darker. It really is. With all the so-called light, it's getting darker. The day is far spent.
The night is at hand. Are we shining? May God grant that the next time I come this way, I'll not only find you as you are tonight burning, and of course you're all shining, quote, aren't you, unquote. Will you continue to be burning, yes, but will we continue to be shining for God?
Brother, the oil is inexhaustible. There's no reason that we do not have the control over that we shouldn't be shining. We just need to clean up whatever in our lives, about our lives, that's hindering the light and shine for God. Shall we pray? Our loving Father, we thank thee so much that the power to live for thee is ever present within us. We don't have to go to the store and buy it. We don't have to wait, Father, for it to be shipped in. We don't have to pray for it.
We don't have to agonize for it. We just need to use it. We need to remove the obstacles to the shining of the Spirit of God through our lives and then be as many of these men of God were told to do. Go and tell. May it be so. For Christ's sake, in whose name we pray, amen.