Dr Paul Allen

I want to share two things. First, I am hungry for more and don’t live in the past or dwell in the past, despite the great things I have seen the Lord do over the decades. So, rather than looking back, I am always looking ahead. Rather than getting nostalgic and, with longing, thinking about the good old days, I am anticipating the next thing God will do. As I understand His words: because I am hungry for more, I have a reason to live and to thrive. Something holy drives me and carries me. I do not want to stagnate. Instead, I want to thrive and continue to grow. This brings to mind the words of Paul, who wrote (concerning his ultimate spiritual vision), “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's  Isaiah talked about the coming of the Messiah , but that before the Messiah would arrive there would be a forerunner. One who would come and prepare the way for the Messiah. And John is that one who is anointed by God to be the one who's crying as a voice in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight His paths." And so in this preparatory mission to which John is sent, and for which he is consecrated by God, he's now calling the whole nation of Israel to be subjected to baptism. Why? What was his message? He comes on the scene and his message is simply this: "Repent..." Why? "...for the kingdom of God is at hand." The kingdom of God that the Jews looked forward to in the prophecies of the Old Testament was in the nebulous, distant, far-off future. No specific time frame had been given for their expectation of the coming of the kingdom and the coming of the Messiah. JOHN SHOUTING