- Hey everybody andwelcome to this edition

of the Superbook Show.

- Wow, Joel, you seemreally excited today.

Did you have a good weekend?

- I had a great weekend.

- Really?

What did you do?

- I cleaned my church.

I swept the floors and I dusted the pews

and I scrubbed the bathroom till it shone.

(angelic music)

- Oh, that sounds like some hard work.

I hope the other church membersthanked you for doing that.

- Oh, no one thanked me,but I'm okay with that.

(funky music)

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's back up here.

You are telling me that you're okay

with not getting a singlethank you for the stuff

you did for your church?

- I mean, getting thankedby people is nice,

but that's not why I did it.

- Wait, if you didn't do it tobe recognized by the church,

then why did you do it?

- Well, I did it to pointpeople towards God, not myself.

- Oh, okay.

(clock ticking)

Nope, I still don't get it.

- Alitheia, do you rememberthat episode from Superbook

with John, the Baptist?

- Teacher, the man youmet on the other side

of the Jordan River,the one you identified

as the Messiah is also baptizing people.

- And everybody is going tohim instead of coming to us.

- You yourselves knowhow plainly I told you,

I am not the Messiah.

I'm only here to prepare the way for him.

Therefore, I'm filledwith joy in his success.

- But, teacher...

- He must increase and I must decrease.

- See he must increaseand I must decrease.

- That sounds really deep,but what does it mean?

- Well, you know how John,

when he first started his ministry,

he had a huge crowd of followers?

- Yeah, of course.

According to Matthew three,people from Jerusalem

and from all over the Jordan Valley,

went out to see and hear John.

- That's a lot of people.

- Exactly.

So what does this have to dowith you not getting thanked?

It seems to me like John wasgetting a lot of recognition

for the work he was doing.

- Well, that's how itstarted off for John.

But then Jesus started his ministry

and Jesus got a lot of followers.

In fact, some of John'sfollowers actually left

in order to follow Jesus instead.

- So John stopped gettingrecognition for the work he was

doing and he was okay with that?

- No, he was actuallymore than okay with it.

He was joyful about.

- He was joyful about hisfollowers abandoning him

for Jesus?

- Well, John the Baptist didn't preach

and baptize to be thanked and praised.

He was doing his mission,

which was to prepare the way for Jesus.

- Oh, so when John says he must increase

and I must decrease, he sayingthat he wants us preaching

to point people to Jesusinstead of on himself.

- Exactly.

John the Baptist was an amazing preacher,

but he couldn't saveanyone from their sins.

Only Jesus can do that.

So when John was losing followers...

- Decreasing.

- And Jesus was gaining followers...

- Increasing.

- John the Baptist wasaccomplishing the mission

he was called to do.

Not to hog the spotlight for himself,

but to point it towards Jesus.

- Awesome, but what doesJohn the Baptist preaching

and baptizing people have to do

with you cleaning your church?

- Well, when I clean my church,

I'm not doing it to get thanked.

I'm doing it so the congregationdoesn't get distracted

by the dust and the dirt and the smells.

And they can just focuson worshiping Jesus.

- So like John the Baptist,you were turning the spotlight

onto Jesus instead of on yourself.

- Exactly, and like I said,

it's great to be thankedby people, but true joy,

it comes from seeing God glorified

through the work that I've done.

(angelic music)

- His word is forever alive.

(upbeat music)

- Would you like to increaseyour knowledge of God

and his word?

- Then download the Superbook Bible app,

where you can watch fullepisodes of super book

and read the story of Johnthe Baptist for yourself.

- You can find the storyof John the Baptist

in all four gospels.

Matthew three, and the first chapters

of Mark, Luke and John.

Go ahead and get started.

- See you next time.

(upbeat music)