John was killed for doing what he was born to do, to call people to repent and follow God. Why didn't God protect John? What does this passage teach us about repentance and setting the course of our lives towards God?

Why does God not heal His people when they call on His name? This is surely the question in John's mind when he he asks Jesus "Are You The One?" And why wouldn't Jesus deliver John of all people? Instead John remains in prison and dies a horrible death. These are the hardest of questions but we can begin to unravel the "why" in Matthew 11.

In Luke 3, John speaks for the first time in the Gospel of Luke and in his first words he calls the crowd a "brood of vipers.” How is John preparing the way for the Lord with this language? His call to repentance awakens a sleepy people of God and he moves them towards being ready for the coming of the Lord. Are you ready for his coming and how does John teach us what that actually means?

In this story Zechariah goes from fearful silence to joyful song. What does Zachariah the priest learn from this silence? He learns faith. What would you do to gain faith? This passage show us that God meets us in our silence and builds our faith!

Two mothers begin a conversation and one of the babies "leapt for joy." This was a supernatural moment. One of these babies was John the Baptist and the other was Christ himself. So tiny in His mother's womb, maybe just an inch long. But these women, filled with the Spirit, knew exactly what was happening, and the significance of these two children not yet born. We pray you'll be encouraged by this sermon from Luke 1:39-45.

God breaks His 400 year silence with, of all things, a birth announcement? This, however, is no ordinary baby. He was born to prepare the way for the Lord as the prophet Isaiah foretold. But this story is actually about Zachariah, his father. We find an incredibly encouraging message 2000 years later buried just under the surface of this story!