John the Baptist(The Courageous Deeds of John the Baptist.)Setting: Sunday Worship MessageLength of Delivery: 40 minutes for each lessonName of Student: Charles (Noel) DearStudent ID: 1477100Class: NBST 521

Instructor’s Name:

Dr. Eric SpanoDate Submitted: 7/16/2011

(Outline #1)

The Courageous Deeds of John the Baptist: The Choice of Devotion

I. Introduction

A. John the Baptist’s life was characterized by three rare yet courageous deeds.

1. He chose a life of sacrifice and devotion.

2. He chose to minimize his importance in order to exalt Christ’s importance.

3. He chose to risk everything to tell the truth.B. In this first lesson, his choice of a life of sacrifice and devotion will be studied.1. We will learn his lifestyle choices as seen in the Gospels.2. We will learn the significance of the Nazarite vow in the Old Testament.C. The following Scripture passages will get us started in our study.1. Luke 1:13-15a) God called John the Baptist to a life of devotion even before his birth.b) This description would have likely been understood by Zacharias asreferring to the Nazarite vow, considering that John also did not cut hishair.

b) A distinction is made in God’s call that John the Baptist would be

greatin the sight of the Lord as opposed to necessarily great in the sight of theworld.2. Matthew 3:1-4

Darrell L. Bock,

Luke Volume 1: 1:1-9:50

, Baker exegetical commentary on the New Testament (GrandRapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1994), 85.

a) John the Baptist followed through with the commitment that he wascalled to in the beginning.b) The outward nature of the commitment can be seen in his dress and hisdiet.

Transition: Now let us begin to investigate further this courageous choice of devotion.

II. Body of LessonA. What is the nature of the Nazarite vow?1. It stood as an outward symbol of a consecrated life.

2. There were three parts of this outward symbol (Numbers 6:2-21).a) The Nazarite would abstain from drinking alcohol.b) The Nazarite would not cut his hair.c) The Nazarite would refrain from touching dead bodies.3. Some very notable people took the Nazarite vow or something like it.

a) Samson (Judges 13:4)b) Samuel (1 Samuel 1:11)c) Paul (Acts 18:18; Acts 21:23-36)B. What kind of lifestyle choices did John the Baptist make?1. John the Baptist made a number of lifestyle choices to give outward evidenceof his inward commitment of devotion to the Lord.2. In addition to those choices involving his Nazarite vow, other choices arefound in Matthew 3:1-4.a) He was clothed in camels hair and wore a leather belt.

Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel,

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible

(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker BookHouse, 1988), 1531.

M.G. Easton,

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996).