Hearing Jesus: Daily Bible Study and Christian Affirmations

John says the Messiah is coming with a winnowing fork in His hand. Most of us read that as a threat. But a farmer doesn't go out to the threshing floor to destroy things. He goes out because he wants the grain.

Today we're in Luke 3, talking about the different kinds of baptism, what the winnowing fork actually did, and why the chaff is not what most of us assume it is.

Join me on an immersive Bible Study Experience. Learn more at BibleStudyLive.org

Have a question about the series or a prayer request? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

What does the word baptism actually mean?

The Greek is baptizo, and it means to dip, immerse, or plunge something fully into something else. Outside the Bible it was used for dyeing cloth and for sinking ships.

So the picture we get is total immersion. I'm not saying anything bad about your baptism if you had a sprinkle. I'm saying the biblical image is immersion, and that matters for understanding what follows.

Every baptism in Scripture answers two questions. Who is doing the dipping, and what are you being dipped into?

Was baptism a new idea?

Not at all. For the Jewish people, ritual washing was ordinary. They had stone pools for ceremonial cleansing, and archaeologists have found dozens of them around the temple. Remember the water jars Jesus turned into wine? Those were ceremonial cleansing jars.

When a Gentile converted to Judaism, immersion was part of that conversion.

Paul even looks back at the Exodus and calls it a baptism. In 1 Corinthians he says Israel was baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They went down into the water and came out a free people.

That's a beautiful picture, because John is standing in the Jordan, the same river Israel crossed to enter the promised land. That water was always telling a baptism story.

Why did John tell Jewish people to get in the water?

This is the part that would have stung. These weren't Gentile outsiders converting. These were Jewish people, including religious leaders, the ones who had just been talking about being descendants of Abraham.

And John is telling them to go into the water just like the converts do.

That's why he says a few verses earlier not to begin saying they have Abraham for their father. Your family line won't save you. You need to get in the water for yourself.

What could John's baptism not do?

John could get people wet. He could call them to repent. But he could not forgive their sins and he could not put the Spirit of God inside anyone.

He was calling them to repent because he was preparing the way for Jesus. That's why he says someone mightier is coming, and that he isn't worthy to untie His sandal strap, which was the job of the lowest servant in a household.

So water baptism is something a person can do for you. Baptism of the Spirit is something only Jesus can do in you.

What does baptism with fire mean?

Fire runs two directions in Scripture, and both are present here.

One is purifying. Malachi said the coming Lord would be like a refiner's fire, burning the dross out of gold and silver. At Pentecost in Acts 2, Luke tells us there appeared tongues of fire. Fire burns off what doesn't belong and sets people on fire for God.

The other is judgment, and look at the context. Right before this, fruitless trees get thrown into the fire. Right after, the chaff burns with unquenchable fire.

How did harvesting actually work?

Everyone in that crowd knew this process, because they'd watched it every harvest.

First the cutting. Workers cut the stalks and hauled them to the threshing floor, a flat piece of packed hard ground, usually on a hilltop or exposed ridge, because they needed the wind.

Then the threshing. They drove oxen over the grain, sometimes dragging a heavy wooden sledge, to break the stalks apart and loosen the kernel from the dry husk around it. Now you have a pile of mixed material: good grain, broken husks, dust, straw.

Then the winnowing. A wooden fork or broad shovel scooped up the pile and threw it into the air, usually in late afternoon when the breeze picked up. The kernels are heavier so they fall back down. The chaff is light and papery, so the wind carries it off the ridge. They repeated that until nothing was left but clean grain. The grain went into the barn. The chaff was swept up and burned.

Why does it matter that it's chaff and not weeds?

Here's the detail most of us miss. The chaff isn't a weed from another field. The chaff is the husk that grew around the kernel. They came up on the same stalk, out of the same soil.

So the winnowing fork isn't separating one crop from a different crop. This isn't even the wheat and the tares. He's separating what's useless from what's valuable inside the very same harvest.

John is standing in front of a crowd of Jewish people who all technically share Abraham as their father, saying the Messiah is going to sort out what's real from what only looks like it belongs.

What does the wind have to do with the Spirit?

The winnowing doesn't work without wind. You can toss grain in the air all day, and without wind nothing separates.

In both Hebrew and Greek, the word for wind is the same word for spirit. Ruach. Pneuma.

Now look at where this sits. Verse 16 says He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Verse 17 says His winnowing fork is in His hand. The same Spirit who fills and empowers is also the wind that separates. That's why John puts these two images side by side.

That imagery is everywhere. Psalm 1 says the wicked are like chaff the wind drives away. In Jeremiah, God says He will winnow them with a winnowing fork. Hosea compares faithless Israel to chaff on the threshing floor. Malachi, the last prophet before the four hundred years of silence, says the day is coming burning like a furnace and the arrogant will be chaff.

So when John picks up this language, he's finishing a sentence the prophets of Israel started four hundred years earlier.

Two more things worth noticing. Boaz was winnowing barley at the threshing floor in Bethlehem the night Ruth came to him. And in 2 Samuel, David bought a threshing floor, and that very spot later became the site of the temple. Where grain gets separated from chaff is often where Israel meets God.

Is this happening now or later?

Now. He says His winnowing fork is in His hand. Present tense. Harvest time is here.

So John is telling this crowd that their family heritage and their religious activity won't survive the wind.

But notice why the farmer is out there. He isn't on that floor to destroy things. He's there to get the grain. All the tossing and the wind and eventually the fire has one purpose, and that's wheat in the barn. Winnowing is what you do because you want the crop.

So when the wind blows through our lives, when things get stripped away and we feel tossed around, often that isn't Him discarding us. It's Him holding on to us. Sometimes He's separating us from chaff we've let grow up around us, the things that desensitize us and distract us and keep us from producing the fruit He wants.

That process isn't always pleasant. And we always have a choice. I've stubbornly held on to things I knew the Lord was asking me to give up, and there was a cost, sometimes financial and sometimes relational.

Why was Jesus baptized if He had no sin?

This is where we see clearly that not all baptisms are the same.

John's was a baptism of repentance. Jesus had nothing to repent of. So His baptism was something different. While He was praying, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice said you are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.

That dove was a sign God gave so people would recognize that Jesus was the one John had been announcing.

We'll keep having this conversation as we move through Luke and into Acts. For now, I'd just ask you to loosen your grip on the idea that there's only one kind of baptism. This isn't the sprinkle versus dunk conversation. This is water baptism, the baptism of repentance, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and our baptism into Christ. You don't have to have it figured out today.

Timestamps

00:00 The baptism conversation we usually have

00:53 What the word baptizo means

01:50 Two questions every baptism answers

02:00 Reading Luke 3:3-22

04:11 Prayer

05:37 Ritual washing was already normal

06:33 Paul calls the Exodus a baptism

06:59 Why John told Jewish people to get in

07:55 What John's baptism could not do

08:50 Fire as refining

09:46 Fire as judgment

10:13 How harvesting actually worked

11:17 The winnowing fork

12:16 The chaff grew on the same stalk

13:19 Winnowing doesn't work without wind

13:51 Ruach and pneuma

14:20 Chaff imagery across the prophets

15:20 Threshing floors where Israel met God

16:02 His fork is in His hand right now

16:53 The farmer wants the grain

17:39 What He's separating us from

19:46 Why Jesus was baptized

20:23 The dove, and what it signaled

22:15 Loosening our grip on one kind of baptism

Frequently asked questions

What does baptizo mean?
To dip, immerse, or plunge fully into something. It was used outside Scripture for dyeing cloth and for sinking ships.

What is a winnowing fork?
A wooden fork or broad shovel used to toss threshed grain into the air so the wind could separate the light chaff from the heavier kernels.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wednesday Daily Affirmations: I Will Not Be Anxious, I Will Pray and Trust God (Philippians 4:6-7)
Midweek is when the noise gets loudest. These Scripture-based Christian affirmations are a short, steady way to trade anxiety for peace and remember that God is still in control of what you can't see yet. Today's affirmations are about surrendering worry, resting in His presence, and trusting His timing even when the picture isn't clear. God's peace isn't just a feeling. It's a promise.

I'll say each statement, then pause so you can repeat it after me, and
then I'll share the Scripture it comes from.

Links

AD-FREE Daily Affirmations are on my Patreon: Patreon

Join me on an immersive Bible Study Experience. Learn more at BibleStudyLive.org

Have a question? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

Before we begin

Breathe in God's peace, and exhale your worries. This day is a gift, and
no matter what's ahead, you can trust that God is in control. His love is
steady. His plans for you are good. His presence goes before you. Let these
affirmations remind you to trust Him today.

Wednesday affirmations and Scripture

I am ruled by God's peace today.
Isaiah 26:3

I cast all my worries onto Jesus. He carries them for me.
1 Peter 5:7

I will not be anxious. I will pray and trust God.
Philippians 4:6-7

God's plans for me are good, and I trust Him.
Jeremiah 29:11

I do not need to worry about tomorrow.
Matthew 6:34

I will rest in God's presence today.
Exodus 33:14

God is my refuge and strength.
Psalm 46:1

I will not let my heart be troubled. I trust in God.
John 14:27

The Lord directs my steps.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Even when I don't understand, I trust in God's wisdom.
Romans 11:33

I do not have to be afraid because God is with me.
Deuteronomy 31:8

God is fighting for me.
Exodus 14:14

I am not alone. God walks with me.
Isaiah 41:13

God is my rock and salvation. I will not be shaken.
Psalm 62:6

I find rest in God alone.
Psalm 62:1

God's love never fails me.
Lamentations 3:22-23

I have peace because I am in Christ.
John 16:33

I wait on the Lord and He renews my strength.
Isaiah 40:31

I will trust in God, even when I don't see the whole picture.
2 Corinthians 5:7

God is working all things for my good.
Romans 8:28

God's peace rules in my heart today.
Colossians 3:15

I give my burdens to the Lord and He sustains me.
Psalm 55:22

I will be still and know that He is God.
Psalm 46:10

I trust God's timing and His ways.
Ecclesiastes 3:11

I will rejoice in the Lord always.
Philippians 4:4

Closing prayer

Father, I surrender my worries to You. I choose to rest in Your peace
today, trusting that You are in control. Fill my heart with faith instead of
fear, and let Your peace guard my mind. In Jesus' name, amen.

I hope these affirmations spoke to your heart today. If you want to go
deeper, just keep listening. Your full Bible study episode is coming up next.

Listen daily and start your morning with God's truth so you can walk in
faith, clarity, and confidence.


Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I had a grape recently that was so good I dug through the flesh to save the seeds. Then on a walk down our road I tried some wild grapes growing by the side, and I spit them straight out. Same size. Same color. Vines that looked almost identical.

That's the difference John is pressing on in Luke 3. He calls a crowd that walked miles into the desert a brood of vipers, and then tells them to bear fruit worthy of repentance. Today we're looking at what good fruit actually is, and why John switched metaphors from snakes to trees on purpose.

Join me on an immersive Bible Study Experience. Learn more at BibleStudyLive.org

Have a question about the series or a prayer request? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

What does "brood of vipers" actually mean?

It literally means offspring of vipers, and in that region they would have pictured a very poisonous snake like the echidna.

In Matthew, this line is aimed at the Sadducees and Pharisees. In Luke, John says it to the crowds. That matters, because these were people who had walked miles into the desert to be baptized. Some religious leaders were there, but so were ordinary people. Luke shows John addressing the whole mixed audience at once, because he doesn't want anyone in that group feeling like the scolding was for somebody else.

And he's attacking something specific. Their confidence rested on bloodline. Don't begin to say to yourselves that you have Abraham as your father. By claiming that, they were saying they were inside the covenant and not like the pagans or the Gentiles. John pushes back on the whole family identity argument. You want to talk about your father? Look at your family resemblance. You don't look like Abraham's children, because Abraham's children didn't act like this. You look like snakes.

Jesus uses the same approach later in John 8 when He tells the religious leaders they are of their father, the devil.

This is a long thread in Scripture. The first time we meet a serpent is in the garden. So when John says brood of vipers, he's linking their sin all the way back to original sin.

Why does he ask who warned them to flee?

Because they were an agrarian society, and they knew exactly what that picture meant. When farmers burned off a field, the snakes would come pouring out ahead of the flames, running for safety.

Read it again. You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. He's watching a crowd stream out into the desert to get in the water, and he's describing them as snakes scrambling out of a burning field.

That fire imagery is everywhere in this passage. Two verses later he's talking about the axe at the root of the tree. By verse 17 it's the chaff burning.

So there's an edge to his question. He isn't impressed that they showed up. He's asking whether they came to be changed or just to escape. Sometimes people call it fire insurance. Getting saved because you want out of the consequences, not because you want a relationship with God. Those aren't the same thing.

Snakes running from a fire aren't repenting. They're relocating. They'll be the same snakes in a different field later.

Why does he switch from snakes to trees?

Because snakes don't produce fruit. They just produce more snakes.

That's the point. Think about the snakes in your life. Are they producing fruit? No. They produce more chaos and more snakes. So John switches metaphors to point people in a different direction, and then he gets specific. Share your coat. Share your food. Stop overcharging. Stop extorting people. Stop accusing people falsely.

Notice what every one of those has in common. They're all about how you treat other people, and three of them involve money. In Luke 3, good fruit is measured by what it does for your neighbor and whether you stopped using your position to take advantage of people.

That's the contrast with the vipers. The problem with a snake is what it does to the people around it. It poisons them. Fruit does the opposite. Fruit feeds people.

What does "worthy of repentance" mean?

The Greek word is axios, and it has to do with weighing and balancing scales. Some translations say in keeping with repentance, others say worthy of repentance. Worthy is a little more accurate, because the idea is balance.

The word for repentance is metanoia, from meta, meaning big change, and nous, meaning mind. A changed mind. Turn around and walk the other direction.

So John is saying we're called to produce a life that weighs the same as the turn we claim to have made. If your mind really changed, something visible should balance out on the scale of your life.

Isn't this harsh?

John is intense, yes. But biblical prophets often used shocking language because comfortable language wasn't getting through.

You may have heard the phrase tickling their ears. A lot of preaching comforts people instead of challenging them. That's not what people operating in the prophetic do. When you're talking to people claiming family legacy as their right to the kingdom, you have to make them face themselves and look at the fruit they're actually producing.

What makes fruit good fruit?

There's something in the Greek here worth catching. In verse nine the word for good is kalos. There's another word, agathos, which means morally good or useful. But kalos carries the sense of fine quality, beautiful, the kind of fruit you'd actually want to eat. The kind you'd save the seeds from.

A tree can produce something that still isn't good fruit. Have you ever had a crab apple? Tiny, sour, and you'll get sick eating a handful. We have an old pear tree out back and every pear on it is small and wormy and useless. It's technically fruit. It's still useless.

This calls back to Isaiah 5, where God describes planting a vineyard. He clears the stones, plants the best vines, builds a tower and a winepress. He expected good grapes and it produced worthless ones. The Hebrew word there means stinking or rotten, like the ones I spit out. Then God asks what more He could have done for His vineyard.

That vineyard wasn't barren. It grew grapes. They just weren't the grapes He planted it for.

That's exactly what John is confronting. They had some fruit. It wasn't good fruit.

Is fruit the cause or the evidence?

The evidence. You can't staple good fruit onto a dead tree. Fruit grows out of whatever the root is drawing from.

So John isn't saying produce better behavior and you'll be fine. He's saying the fruit reveals what's happening at the root. The fruit doesn't make the tree. It shows you what the tree is.

Those grapes on my road tasted bad because nobody had ever tended those plants. They're wild, doing their own thing. The ones I wanted to save the seeds from came from vines that had been cultivated with intention.

A lot of us have fruit. We go to church, we listen to podcasts, we know what the Bible says, we might even post the verse. And what's coming out of us is still gross fruit.

That crowd had activity. Walking into the desert and getting in that river took real effort. John looked at all of it and said it doesn't count. Show me something that weighs as much as what you say happened to you.

Timestamps

00:00 Two kinds of grapes on the same road

01:54 Where we are in Luke 3

02:23 Reading Luke 3:7-17

04:15 Prayer

04:43 What brood of vipers means

05:43 Why Matthew and Luke aim it differently

06:52 The bloodline argument

09:41 A thread that runs back to the garden

10:13 Snakes fleeing a burning field

11:45 Did they come to change or to escape?

12:23 Repenting versus relocating

12:52 Why he switches to trees

13:21 What he tells them to actually do

14:12 Axios, and the balancing scales

14:39 Metanoia, a changed mind

16:40 Why prophets speak so bluntly

18:06 Kalos, and what good fruit means

19:47 Isaiah 5 and the vineyard

21:11 Good fruit is measured by your neighbor

22:26 Fruit is evidence, not cause

23:26 Having activity without good fruit

Frequently asked questions

What does axios mean?
It's the Greek word behind worthy or in keeping with, carrying the idea of weighing and balancing scales.

What's the difference between kalos and agathos?
Both are translated good. Agathos leans toward morally good or useful. Kalos carries the sense of fine quality or beautiful.

What's coming next?
Tomorrow we're talking about the different kinds of baptism, and no, not sprinkle versus dunk.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tuesday Daily Affirmations: I Can Do All Things Through Christ
(Philippians 4:13)

Step into your week with boldness,
peace, and purpose. These Scripture-based Christian affirmations are a short but powerful way to trade your own strength for God's before the day gets away from you. As the world demands more, God invites you to lean on Him. Today's affirmations are a reminder that you are never alone, never powerless, and never without purpose.

I'll read each phrase, you repeat it, and then I'll tell you the Scripture it comes from.

Links

AD-FREE Daily Affirmations are on my Patreon: ⁠Patreon⁠

Join me on an immersive Bible Study Experience. Learn more at ⁠BibleStudyLive.org⁠

Have a question? Leave me a voicemail: ⁠SpeakPipe⁠

Before we begin

Today's affirmations are for
strength and confidence for the week ahead. Whatever this week holds, you are not facing it alone. God is with you, strengthening you, guiding you, and
fighting for you. No matter what challenges you encounter, you can walk in
faith knowing that God has already prepared the way for you.

Tuesday affirmations and Scripture

I am strong and courageous in
Christ. Joshua 1:9

I do not fear because God is with
me. Isaiah 41:10

I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me. Philippians
4:13

I am victorious through Jesus. 1
Corinthians 15:57

I have the power of God working
within me. Ephesians 3:20

I will not be shaken because God
is my refuge. Psalm
62:6

I walk by faith, not by sight. 2
Corinthians 5:7

No weapon formed against me shall
prosper. Isaiah 54:17

God fights my battles and I need
only to be still. Exodus
14:14

I am not afraid because God has
overcome the world. John
16:33

I have authority in Christ over
every attack of the enemy. Luke
10:19

I am rooted and established in
God's love. Ephesians 3:17

I have divine wisdom and strength
for today. James 1:5

I am resilient and I will
persevere through trials. Romans
5:3-4

I am filled with the power of the
Holy Spirit. Acts
1:8

I will not grow weary in doing
good. Galatians 6:9

God's grace is sufficient for me. 2
Corinthians 12:9

I have peace that surpasses
understanding. Philippians
4:7

I am never alone. God is always
near. Deuteronomy 31:8

I am protected under the shadow of
the Almighty. Psalm
91:1

God's Word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path. Psalm
119:105

I stand firm in faith and do not
waver. James 1:6

I am free from fear because God's
perfect love casts it out. 1
John 4:18

I have a spirit of power, love,
and sound mind. 2
Timothy 1:7

God is working all things for my
good today. Romans 8:28

Closing prayer

Lord, I surrender my fear to You. Fill me with boldness,
courage, and confidence in You. No matter what today holds, I trust in Your
strength. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Listen daily and start your morning with God's truth so
you can walk in faith, clarity, and confidence.


Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most of us carry questions we've never said out loud. Does God see me in this. Did I hear Him wrong. Is something different about me?

In Luke 3, the people were wondering in their hearts about John, and Luke tells us John answered them. Nobody asked anything out loud. Today we're talking about what prophecy actually is, how to tell a real word from a counterfeit, and what it means that God answers what we never say.

Join me on an immersive Bible Study Experience. Learn more at BibleStudyLive.org

Have a question about the series or a prayer request? Leave me a voicemail: SpeakPipe

What does prophecy actually mean?

Most of us hear prophecy and think of foretelling. That's a piece of it, but a small one. In Scripture, most prophecy is reminding people of what God has already said.

The Hebrew word is navi, meaning spokesman. We see it in Exodus 7, where God tells Moses that Aaron will be his prophet, meaning Aaron will say out loud what Moses gives him. The Greek word is prophetes, from pro, meaning forth or on behalf of, and phemi, to speak. A prophet speaks forth words that aren't his own.

I say all the time that God's voice will never contradict God's word. The inverse is also true. Often God's word is God's voice. When the Holy Spirit brings a verse to mind, that's the same thing, and sometimes He asks you to share it.

What did prophets actually do?

They called people back to the covenant. Most Old Testament prophets weren't announcing new information. They reminded Israel of what God said at Sinai and showed them where they had drifted.

They told the truth to powerful people. Nathan confronted David. Elijah confronted Ahab. John confronts Herod Antipas over his marriage, which is what lands him in prison.

I'll be honest about that part. This gift is not always well received. I've lost relationships over it, lost business deals, left organizations because there was hidden sin I didn't want to be part of. I'm not talking about being hurtful. I mean speaking the truth in love. But people don't want to be confronted with their own sin, and neither do systems.

And sometimes prophets acted out their message. Isaiah walked barefoot. Jeremiah wore a yoke. Ezekiel laid on his side for months. Hosea's whole marriage became the sermon. That's the callback to John. The camel hair and the wilderness weren't details that happened because he was an oddball. They were the message.

How do you know if a word is really from God?

The enemy has a counterfeit for everything. People go to tarot readings and psychics because it's often accurate. That knowledge comes from demons, and demons often know true things.

So the test is not accuracy. A prophet from God will lead you to God. Even if a word is true, if it leads you somewhere other than God, it's a false prophet.

Faithfulness to God is the standard. Earlier this year there was a news cycle about a charismatic preacher data farming on Facebook to gather information for his prophetic words. The words were true, because he lifted them off people's profiles. But they led people into pain and chaos, and God is not the author of chaos. He was accurate. Accuracy wasn't the standard.

What do I do if I think I've received a word?

Ask the Lord what to do with it. That's the step I hold as most sacred.

If He gives you a word to share and you don't, you miss what He had for you and the person He was reaching misses it too. But if the word was insight for you to pray, or He wanted you to hold it until the right time, and you blurt it out, you can do real damage.

All of us are capable of this. It's a spiritual gift, but every believer has the Spirit of God in them. Until the Lord tells me I can share, I don't. Sometimes it takes the confirmation of another believer. Sometimes it takes separate time in prayer.

Why is John more than a prophet?

Jesus says in Luke 7 that among those born of women there is no one greater than John. Every prophet before him pointed to a day that was coming. John pointed at a person standing in front of him. He's the only one who got to say, behold, the Lamb of God is here.

That doesn't mean prophecy ended. In Acts, Peter says the Spirit was poured out so sons and daughters will prophesy. Anna called out who Jesus was. Philip had four daughters who prophesied. Paul says believers should desire this gift because it edifies. After Jesus, the shape changes. It becomes the gift that builds up the church.

What is John doing with Isaiah?

Exactly what we described. Reminding people of what God already said.

He quotes Isaiah 40, which opens a section written to comfort people in exile. It begins with comfort, O comfort my people, words first given to a defeated nation far from home, with the promise that God Himself was coming to lead them back.

In the ancient world, when a king announced a visit, crews went ahead to prepare the road. They filled washed-out ditches, cut back brush, cleared rocks, straightened switchbacks. A royal visit required a royal highway. Everyone listening understood that image.

But this road isn't made of dirt. Verse three already told us what the construction work is: a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Repentance is the road work. The highway runs straight through their hearts. The King is coming, and not to the vicinity. Through your heart.

Every ravine filled means the low places lifted, which meant something to people buried under Roman oppression. Every mountain brought low means pride, self-sufficiency, and family pedigree get leveled. The crooked made straight uses the Greek word skolios, where we get scoliosis. It means bent or twisted.

Then the tax collectors ask what they should do. So do the soldiers. And John gives them practical answers.

One line I don't want us to miss: all flesh will see the salvation of God. Matthew and Mark quote Isaiah here too, but they stop after the first line. Luke keeps going, because he's writing so people outside Israel, including you and me, would know this story is for them too.

What does God know that you haven't said?

Look at verse 15. The people were wondering in their hearts about John. And then John answered them all.

Nobody said anything out loud. That's a callback to Simeon's prophecy in Luke 2, and it's a pattern you'll see all through this gospel. Jesus answers what nobody says out loud. John does it once here. Jesus does it continually.

A lot of us carry questions we never say. Does God actually see me. Is this ever going to change. Did I hear Him wrong. Am I somehow different, and that's why He doesn't talk to me.

God knows those thoughts. He knew them before you formed them, when they were still just feelings. There is not one thing you've thought or felt that God didn't know about. The things you're afraid to say out loud, He knows. The objections you think you shouldn't have, He knows.

So be honest with Him. Tell Him how you feel. He already knows, and He wants to speak to the fear and the pain and the raw spot, so that He can heal it.

That's part of making the rough way smooth.

Timestamps

00:00 A woman at church, and a word she'd been trying to track down

01:25 Foretelling is the smallest piece of it

02:54 God's voice never contradicts God's word

04:17 Navi, and Aaron speaking for Moses

06:59 Reading Luke 3:3-16

10:48 Public word versus private word

12:40 Prophets called people back to the covenant

13:40 What telling the truth has cost me

17:26 When prophets acted out the message

19:51 Accuracy is not the standard

20:46 Why John is more than a prophet

24:05 John quoting Isaiah 40

26:48 Repentance is the road work

29:06 Why Luke quotes past where Matthew and Mark stop

30:37 They were wondering in their hearts

32:15 The questions we never say out loud

34:49 Prayer

Frequently asked questions

What does the word prophet mean?
The Hebrew is navi, meaning spokesman. The Greek is prophetes, from words meaning to speak forth on behalf of someone.

Is the gift of prophecy still for today?
Yes. In Acts, Peter says the Spirit was poured out so sons and daughters would prophesy, and Paul encourages believers to desire the gift.

Where can I get the free Bible Study 101 download?
On the resources page of my website, including the color method chart.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices