RAP SHEET Luke 3:1-6

SERIES: The Chosen King

SERMON: Prepare the Way

SCRIPTURE: Luke 3:1–6

REVIEW

Luke 3 opens with John the Baptizer stepping into his God-given calling after 400 years of prophetic silence in Israel. Luke roots this moment in real history, naming emperors, governors, and high priests — showing us that this is not myth but fact.

John’s message was radical: Repent — change your mind. Israel was focused on Rome as the problem, clinging to ethnic pride and hollow religion. John proclaimed that the actual problem was sin. He called people out of the “guilt cycle” of trying to change behavior without changing their minds.

John’s baptism of repentance was the visible sign that people were ready to prepare for the coming of the Chosen King. Isaiah had foretold this moment centuries earlier: the valleys would be filled, mountains made low, crooked paths straightened, rough ways smoothed — so that everyone would see the salvation of God.

John’s ministry was both prophetic and practical: like heralds who prepared the road for an earthly king, he was preparing hearts for the arrival of the eternal King. His call is our call — to prepare the way for Jesus’s return by letting God transform us and by helping others see Him clearly.

APPLY

• Where are you living with a “valley” — a place of lack in faith, hope, or perspective — that needs to be filled by God?

• What “mountains” of pride or self-sufficiency need to be brought low in your life?

• Are there “crooked” ways — areas of compromise, hypocrisy, or corruption — that God is calling you to straighten?

• What “rough edges” of immaturity or selfishness need to be smoothed so that others can see Christ more clearly in you?

• In what ways can you be a herald — preparing people around you for Jesus’s return?

PRAY

• Thank God for sending John to prepare the way for Jesus and for giving us the same calling today.

• Ask the Spirit to reveal where your mind still needs to change — where you’re living for Rome, race, or religion instead of the Kingdom.

• Pray for humility to lower pride, for faith to fill your valleys, and for courage to straighten what is crooked in your life.

• Ask God to use your everyday life to prepare others to see the salvation of Jesus.

• Pray for boldness as a church family to stop “playing church” and live as voices crying out in the wilderness — preparing the way for the King who is coming again.