Friday January 13, 2012 Jesus gets Baptized.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased."

Good Friday the 13th, my dear brothers and sisters. Folks, it is just another day for we who love Jesus, we don't worry about such things.

Friday is the day we pray for all those who work the fields of Harvest for our Lord Jesus. Today I would like to place Dan Stoner and his family, and I ask that you support them in prayer each day. More about this flying family in the days ahead.  Please pray for your pastors and their families. Now let's get moving on with that wild man, John, as we find out about him baptizing Jesus.

Matthew 3:13/17 - Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" 15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased." (NIV)

One day, Tim, the four year old son of Kevin, a Baptist Minister, was watching as his dad baptized some of the flock. Now this little one had watched one other time at a Methodist Church when people were baptized. So this little lad went home after church and decided it was time to baptize the three house cats. So he gathered them up and put them in the bathroom and shut and locked the door. Then He filled the bathtub with water. The young man took the first cat by the scruff of his neck and put him under water, and when he came up he stated, "I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Now the cat did not like it and as he shook off the water, the lad grabbed cat number two. This cat fought a good fight but in the end the lad won and the cat went under the water. When he pulled him up again he stated, "I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Now the lad went to cat number three and this cat was bigger and was not going to have anything to do with it. The cat's claws dug into the boys arms and his legs went across the tub so the lad could not get that cat under the water. After a big fight, the young man took his hand and cupped it and got a hand full of water and put it on the cat's head. Again he said, "I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." And then as the cat ran the lad also said, "Hey, if you want to be a United Methodist that is ok with me. --------- Moving on...

As John was telling all those he could that they should repent and turn from their sins, he would baptize them. John was really putting out the word, telling all that "The Kingdom of Heaven was near." Then his friend Jesus, our Lord and Savior, showed up and asked John to baptize Him. John would tell people as he baptized them that he was baptizing in water, and soon one would come that would baptize in the Spirit. As we look at the scripture about Jesus being baptized a few things jump out at me. One is that Jesus is again setting an example to us that it is important for us, as we fall in love with Jesus and we ask him into hearts, that we also should consider being baptized. If Jesus did not think this was important then I don't think He would have had it done. I know a lot of churches baptize babies and younger children, I like to dedicate babies to the Lord and baptize people as they know in their own hearts what they are doing and why they are doing it. John at first did not want to baptize Jesus, thinking he, John, was not worthy of doing this. But Jesus said this to John. "Let it be so now! It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness."

One time John had made this statement and this is recorded in the Gospel of Mark 1:7.  "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (NIV)

So John baptized Jesus and as Jesus came up and out of the water, the heavens opened up and a voice from Heaven said this. "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased." Brothers and sisters, as I close up for the day, I think that each day we should do all we can do to follow in the footsteps of Jesus so that at the end of each day, at the end of each day, our Lord Jesus might look upon each of us and say, "This is my child, whom I love and with him/her I am well pleased." Now brothers and sisters, we all know we are children of God, and we also know that Jesus loves us very, very much. Those things are a given, and now the rest is up to us, do we live each day to please Him, do we do all we can do to please our Lord and Savior, and at the end of the day of time on earth will He say I am well pleased, or will He say, I am sorry I don't even know this person? I pray that we will all act each day to please Him... Let's work at it, ok? Let's start now.  Not tomorrow, but right now.

Dear Father in Heaven, we want to live to please You and we want to start right now. We see the example of how our Father in Heaven was pleased with Jesus and we want You to be pleased with us also. We, however, will require a lot more work than Jesus, but we are willing and we want to walk it with Jesus, help us, Lord, and Lord, please be with those working the fields for You, including Dan Stoner and his family, bless those and keep us on the straight and narrow path leading toward heaven. In the name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen.

Now go forth walking in the light of Jesus, walking in His love and sharing His Love with others. Love ya,  Pastor Dan.