19 This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

20 He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, “I am not the Christ.”

21 They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

22 They said therefore to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’as Isaiah the prophet said.”

24 The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

26 John answered them, “I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.”28 These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

John 1:19-28 - World English Bible

In John's gospel, religious leaders engaged the Baptist in a dialogue about his identity and his mission. He answered them emphatically in the negative; no, he was neither the Christ nor any of the prophetic figures the people expected. Instead he was the enigmatic image of the desert town crier found in Isaiah 40:3; he prepared the people for the coming Christ; that was his mission and the reason he baptized. And he was not worthy to even serve the Messiah as a house slave.

John the Baptist came as a prophet, to change lives and witness to the definitive act of God on earth.

How do you act like John? How do you encourage others to change their ways and point them to Jesus?