John 1: You Are a Voice for the Kingdom

Introduction

“If you do not eat the Word of God, you have no message for the world.” Pastor Olayinka Ajiboye preaches at the Sunday evening service at Kensington Temple in London, at the end of a week of prayer on the theme “Heralds of the Kingdom.”

The text read that evening is John 1:1-37: John the Baptist, sent to bear witness to the light, calls himself “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” The preacher connects this passage to Matthew 5, on which Pastor Malcolm had preached that very morning.

He sketches the portrait of the heralds of the kingdom: believers who have received Jesus, who feed on the Word, who are clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit, and who know who they are. He ends with seven concrete steps out of spiritual dryness and with his own testimony.

Outline of the Message

1. Before You Speak, You Must Eat the Word

• To enjoy fully what redemption has won for us, we need a great appetite for the Word of God.
• Jeremiah lived it: “Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).
• Ezekiel is told to eat the scroll before going to speak to the house of Israel, and he finds it as sweet as honey (Ezekiel 3:1-4). John receives the same command: the little book is sweet in his mouth and bitter in his belly, and then he is told that he must prophesy again (Revelation 10:9-11).
• The Word is a two-edged sword. Part of it may hurt, but it wounds in order to heal and to make us better.
• The pastor compares the Word to a buffet: starter, main course, dessert, and you keep coming back until you are full. It should be the same with the Word in our lives.
• The vision of the Church is to reach the nations and proclaim the Word to them. This is impossible without a sufficient reserve of the Word within us.
• We cannot live in righteousness without Christ living in us. The Holy Spirit works with the Word you have received: the words of Jesus “are spirit and are life” (John 6:63).

2. A Greater Power Than John the Baptist’s

• John the Baptist came as a witness to the light in the midst of darkness, but many did not want it. By nature, we lean toward darkness: nobody needs to teach us to lie.
• The world did not know him, and his own people did not receive him. “But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name” (John 1:10-12).
• The heralds of the kingdom are those who have received Jesus and believed in him. Through this adoption, God gives us the power to live in righteousness.
• Jesus says that among those born of women there is no one greater than John the Baptist, and yet “he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he” (Matthew 11:11). John accomplished great things, but he had not received the power we have received.
• “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). The pastor speaks of a “spiritual promotion.”
• In Matthew 5:18-19, whoever relaxes one of the least commandments is called least in the kingdom, and whoever keeps and teaches them is called great. When we ignore the Word, we live at the minimum level of the power God has given us.
• “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). With this power, we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16), following Jesus, the light of the world (John 8:12).

3. “I Am the Voice”: The Question of Identity

• We cannot speak of the heralds of the kingdom without settling the question of identity. Questioned by the priests and the Levites, John states that he is not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet (John 1:19-21).
• Then he answers: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said” (John 1:23).
• John knew his identity without doubt or confusion. And you, if someone asks who you are in Christ, can you say: “I am a voice”?
• Jesus asked his disciples the same question in Matthew 16. For the preacher, only those who have settled the question of identity can exercise the keys of the kingdom (Matthew 16:15-19).
• Our identity is tied to what we do and to our mission on earth. The world wants to know who we are: at the office, at home, at school, do we speak as heralds of the kingdom?
• A voice of light where darkness reigns, of hope where there is despair, of victory where there is defeat, of provision where there is lack. “I am not the voice of nothing, I am the voice of the Most High.”
• We prepare the way of the Lord for his return, by verbal and non-verbal means.

4. A Voice That Leads to Jesus, With or Without Words

• When John points to the Lamb of God, his two disciples hear him and follow Jesus (John 1:35-37). Our words, too, must lead people to Christ.
• The non-verbal voice is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23): love instead of hatred, joy instead of sadness, peace instead of anxiety, patience instead of weariness, gentleness instead of arrogance.
• We are a voice of encouragement where discouragement reigns. God is looking for faithful voices that speak differently from the voices of the world.
• Matthew 25:31-46 shows how our voice answers the needs of the King: giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, covering the nakedness and the shame of others.
• Visiting the sick in hospital to pray for them and encourage them, visiting those in prison, whether a real prison or a spiritual one, and praying for their release: this too is speaking in the name of the King.

5. Speak of the Kingdom Wherever You Go

• A man asks Jesus if he can first go and bury his father. Jesus answers him: “Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but you go and announce the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:59-60).
• The pastor understands it this way: Jesus does not forbid him the funeral, he asks him not to be absorbed there by customs and traditions, but to speak of the kingdom.
• Every place becomes an opportunity, even a funeral or a meeting. As we leave church, each of us will have one.
• Paul writes: “For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about, for necessity is laid on me; but woe is me if I don’t preach the Good News” (1 Corinthians 9:16-17).
• Speaking in God’s name carries a reward, heavenly and earthly. “You shall serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you” (Exodus 23:25-26).

6. When You Feel Spiritually Dry

• You come to the meetings, you are moved during worship, but as soon as you leave, the temperature drops. The pastor offers seven steps.
• First step: be honest with God. Do not pretend, tell him you feel empty or far from him. Intimacy with God begins with honesty, and “Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart” (Psalm 34:19).
• Second step: go back to the Word, even when you do not feel like it, and increase the pace. God has no bottom: to go higher, you have to dig deeper. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
• No imaging machine can probe the soul. Only the Word is “piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit” (Hebrews 4:12). “A righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again” (Proverbs 24:16): God has given you what you need to get back up.
• Third step: stay in worship even when you feel nothing. The Father seeks worshippers in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). Put on a song, listen again to a recorded service: worship silences distractions and invites God’s presence.
• Fourth step: turn down the noise. God spoke to Elijah in “a still, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). Dryness often comes from too many distractions: cut back on television and social media, unless they serve the kingdom.

7. Surround Yourself, Return to Your First Love, Persevere

• Fifth step: surround yourself with believers on fire. “Iron sharpens iron”: draw close to those who can sharpen you, and move away from those who pull you down. Isolation deepens dryness, while community brings you back into alignment when you are weak (Proverbs 27:17).
• Sixth step: return to your first love (Revelation 2:4-5). What were you doing when your walk with God was alive: morning prayer, reading, fasting, prayer walks, praise? Go back to it.
• Seventh step: be patient in the process, but persistent in your search. Dryness does not always leave overnight, but the more you press in, the more the rivers return.
• The pastor tells his story. Struck by long Covid for eight months, hospitalized in December 2020 and still very ill when he came home, he hears the Lord tell him to meet him on the platform of his church. Starting on March 13, 2021, he prays there alone in tongues, evening after evening.
• From the third week, his health is completely restored. He continues until the seventieth day, then the Lord asks him to turn it into an online prayer platform, open to the rest of the world. Five years later, it continues.
• “Perseverance breaks resistance.” “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16), and Elijah sent his servant seven times to look toward the sea before the rain came (1 Kings 18:43-44).
• Persist in God’s calling on your life, at work as in ministry. The heralds of the kingdom embrace the whole Word and are clothed with the Spirit’s power to fulfill their calling.

Key Takeaways

• Before speaking for God, you must eat his Word: without it, we have no message for the world.
• The least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist, because we have received the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Like John, you can say: “I am the voice.” Your identity is tied to your mission.
• Your voice also speaks without words: through the fruit of the Spirit and through acts of kindness that meet the needs of the King.
• In spiritual dryness, be honest with God, return to the Word and to your first love, and persevere.

Personal Application

1. What place does the Word of God hold in your days: an occasional dessert or a real meal?
2. If someone asked you who you are in Christ, what would you answer? Can you say, like John: “I am a voice”?
3. In which place of your week (work, family, school, neighborhood) is God calling you to be a voice for his kingdom?
4. What concrete act of kindness can you do this week for someone who is sick, a stranger, or someone going through a trial?
5. If you feel dry, which of the seven steps will you put into practice starting today?

Verses Cited

• John 1
• Jeremiah 15:16
• Ezekiel 3:1-4
• Revelation 10:9-11
• John 6:63
• Matthew 11:11
• 1 John 4:4
• Matthew 5:13-19
• Acts 1:8
• John 8:12
• Matthew 16:15-19
• Galatians 5:22-23
• Matthew 25:31-46
• Luke 9:59-60
• 1 Corinthians 9:16-17
• Exodus 23:25-26
• Psalm 34:19
• Matthew 4:4
• Hebrews 4:12
• Proverbs 24:16
• John 4:23-24
• 1 Kings 19:12
• Proverbs 27:17
• Revelation 2:4-5
• James 5:16-18
• 1 Kings 18:43-44

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a herald of the kingdom according to John 1?

For Olayinka Ajiboye, heralds of the kingdom are those who have received Jesus and believed in his name (John 1:12). Like John the Baptist, they are a voice: they proclaim the King, prepare the way of the Lord, and lead others to follow him, by their words as well as by the way they live.

Why is the least in the kingdom greater than John the Baptist?

Jesus says so in Matthew 11:11. The preacher sees the difference in the power of the Holy Spirit, promised in Acts 1:8: the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4). This power is activated when we submit to the Word and put it into practice.

What can you do when you feel spiritually dry?

Olayinka Ajiboye suggests seven steps: be honest with God, return to the Word, stay in worship, turn down the noise, surround yourself with passionate believers, go back to your first love, and be patient in the process while persevering in your search for God.