Called Organized And Set Apart to Support

CALLED TO TRUTH — PREPARED IN THE WILDERNESS

Book of Yoḥanan 1:1–39

Called to Verity. Set Apart to Serve.

OPENING

Shalom, and halaluyah.

Today I want to bring a serious word about calling, organization, obedience, and service. The passage before us is about Yoḥanan of the Wilderness—a man whose assignment was spoken before he was even born.

He was not raised for an ordinary life.

He was called to organize a people.

He was called to teach.

He was called to shift hearts back toward the Torah.

He was called to proclaim repentance.

And he was called to prepare the way for the coming Deliverer. Nevertheless before Yoḥanan ever stood before the people, he had to be supported in the wilderness. And that is where this word becomes personal.

Because some of us are asking:

“Why am I in this season?”

“Why have I been separated?”

“Why does my journey look different?”

“Why did ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 allow me to go through this?”

And perhaps the answer is not that you have been forgotten. Perhaps you are being positioned.

SCRIPTURE FOUNDATION

Book of Yoḥanan 1:4 says that Yoḥanan would become a great teacher, filled with the power of the Ruaḥ Ha’Qodesh, and would herald the coming of an Enlightener who would turn people from wrongful ways and make them upright and strong in ruaḥ. Then verse 6 tells us that he would lead people away from ignorance and back toward the knowledge of the Torah.

And verse 11 says that his message included:

“the remission of their misdeeds through repentance and reparation.”📜

This was not a message designed to make people comfortable. It was a message designed to change people.

YOUR CALLING CAN EXIST BEFORE YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Yoḥanan's calling was announced before he could understand it.

His parents did not know everything that his life would contain.

They only knew that ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 had entrusted them with something significant.

That teaches us something:

You may be carrying something you do not yet understand. You may have gifts you have not developed. You may have experiences you do not comprehend.

You may have gone through seasons that seemed unnecessary. Nonetheless sometimes the meaning of a season becomes clear only after you reach the place it was preparing you for. Do not judge your entire life by what you understand right now. There may be purpose in what you have not fully come to know.

SOMETIMES THE WILDERNESS IS THE TRAINING GROUND

Yoḥanan was taken into the wilderness.

He did not grow up surrounded by comfort and public recognition. He was separated. He was raised away from the environment where people might have expected him to become somebody important. However that wilderness became part of his organization.

And I want somebody to hear this:

The wilderness is not always punishment. Sometimes the wilderness is positioning. Sometimes ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 removes distractions because He is developing your focus. Sometimes people leave because your next season requires you to stop depending on them. Sometimes doors close because you are being re-established. Sometimes you have to become quiet enough to hear what you could not hear while everything around you was loud.

Do not despise your wilderness. The wilderness can develop what the crowd never could. It can develop endurance.

It can develop understanding.

It can develop faithfulness.

It can develop meekness. And it can teach you to depend on ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

Yoḥanan was prepared in the wilderness before he was heard in public.

RIGHTEOUSNESS REQUIRES REPENTANCE AND REPARATION

Yoḥanan's message was not simply:

“A Deliverer is coming.”

His message required the people to organize themselves. That organization included repentance and reparation. And this is where we need to become sincere.

Repentance is not just saying:

“I apologize”

Repentance means transforming

It means changing guidance.

It means allowing righteousness to correct you. And reparation means that when something can be made right, you make it right. We cannot say we love understanding while refusing to allow understanding to correct us. We cannot ask ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 to transform our lives while holding tightly to the things He is telling us to release. Verity should change the person who receives it.

If the truth never challenges you, you may only be listening to information.

Still, when righteousness enters the heart, it demands a response.

Renew.

Repent.

Amend.

Recover to the way of ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

BEING SET APART DOES NOT MEAN BEING ABOVE PEOPLE

This part of the passage is extremely important. Yoḥanan was raised among people who lived separately from others. Nevertheless Yoḥanan eventually rejected their exclusiveness because he understood that the message was supposed to reach the common people. And there is a lesson here for us. Being set apart does not mean thinking you are better than somebody else. It does not mean hiding from people. It does not mean becoming so separated that you have no compassion for those who are still searching. Set apart means available for service. You are not set apart to look down on people.

You are set apart to help people.

You are not given righteousness so you can build your ego. You are given righteousness so you can become a servant.

That is why our declaration is:

CALLED TO VERITY.

SET APART TO SERVE.

THE WARNING — DO NOT MISS ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 BECAUSE OF RELIGION

There is another serious warning in this passage. Hĕrodĕs and the religious leadership were concerned about the possibility of the coming Mashiaḥ.

They had expectations.

They had positions.

They had their understanding of how things should happen. Though 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 was moving outside of what they expected. And we have to be careful.

Because it is possible to become so attached to religion, tradition, titles, systems, and human expectations that we fail to recognize what ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 is actually doing. Do not become so committed to what you have always been told that you cannot examine what you have been told.

Ask ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 for discernment.

Ask for wisdom.

Ask for understanding.

Ask the Ruaḥ Ha’Qodesh to expose error. And when righteousness is revealed, have the courage to follow it

ZEḴARYAH — THE COST OF STANDING FOR VERITY

Now we cannot overlook Zeḵaryah.

He knew that protecting Yoḥanan could cost him his life. He was threatened.

He was pressured.

He was given an opportunity to protect himself by revealing information. still he refused.

He said:

“If my blood be shed, ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Himself will bear witness to the deed, and innocent blood never cries out to Him in vain.”📜

That is Steadfastness. And sometimes our greatest test is not whether we know righteousness. It is whether we will stand by that understanding when standing becomes costly. Anybody can stand when everybody agrees with them. But what happens when standing makes you unpopular?

What happens when people misunderstand you?

What happens when obedience costs you relationships?

What happens when doing what is right requires sacrifice?

Will you still stand?

PROPHETIC APPLICATION

Now let me bring this word forward.

Some of you are in a wilderness season right now. And you have been asking why.

Nevertheless hear this:

Your wilderness may be organizing your voice. The things you survived may become part of the knowledge you use to help somebody else. The seasons when you had to depend on ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 may become the testimony that strengthens somebody else's faith. The separation you did not understand may have been protection. The closed door may have been redirection. The delay may have been development. The hidden season may have been preparation. Nonetheless preparation has a purpose.

You cannot stay in preparation forever.

There comes a time when the voice has to speak. There comes a time when the disciple has to support. There comes a time when what was developed behind the scenes must be used Outwardly.

THE HEART CHECK

So today, I want you to ask yourself:

What has ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 entrusted to me?

Am I protecting it?

Am I obeying it?

Am I allowing my wilderness to teach me?

What needs to change in me?

Where do I need repentance?

Where do I need to make something right? Have I become so focused on being set apart that I have forgotten to support? Am I pointing people toward ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, or am I pointing them toward myself? Those are not easy questions.

However sometimes the righteousness has to make us uncomfortable before it can make us better.

THE FINAL CHARGE

Yoḥanan was a voice. He was not the goal. He was sent to organize people to recognize the One who was coming. And that is where meekness must enter our ministry. If ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 gives you a platform, use it to support.

If He gives you knowledge, teach.

If He gives you testimony, encourage.

If He gives you righteousness, walk in it.

If He gives you a ministry, do not build it around yourself. Point everything back to the Most High Elohim. You are not called merely to know authenticity.

You are called to live it. You are not set apart merely to be different. You are set apart to support. You are not organized in the wilderness so you can remain hidden. You are organized so that when the time comes, you can answer the invite. So do not despise the wilderness.

Do not despise the hidden season.

Do not despise the preparation.

Yet when ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 says it is time to come forth— come forth with fortitude.

Come forth with servanthood.

Come forth with repentance.

Come forth with righteousness.

Come forth ready to support.

Because your calling is not about becoming important. Your calling is about becoming useful in the hands of ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

CLOSING PRAYER 🙏🏼

🙌🏼✝️📿🌍🛐🤲🏼

Most High ‎𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, Give us the knowledge to understand our seasons.

When we are in the wilderness, teach us instead of allowing us to become bitter. When we are separated, help us recognize what You are developing within us. Give us the steadfastness of Zeḵaryah to stand for what is right, even when it becomes difficult.

Give us the teachability of Yoḥanan to realize that our assignment is not about ourselves. Teach us true repentance.

Teach us to make things right where we can. Purify our hearts. Strengthen our ruaḥ. Keep us from becoming so religious that we cannot comprehend Your movement. And when You call us forward, give us the courage to answer.

Make us people who do not merely speak about righteousness, but walk in righteousness. Make us people who grasp that being set apart is a duty.

Called to Verity.

Set Apart to Serve.

May everything we do point back to You.

Halaluyah.