Kingdom of Heaven Comes Beloved & Approved The Kingdom of Heaven Comes Close Matthew 3:13-17

Foundational Questions Of The Heart What About: Approved Of ? Am I Loved ? Tim-

The Jordan River Jesus’s Baptism Lisa: The Main Thing: Identity and Identification The Set Up…. Tim: The Characters John Jesus The Last Time We Saw Both of Them Lisa:Cultural Context - Baptism Not The Norm For Jews Them Stepping up To Be Baptized Shows That Those That Were Responding To That Call To Repent, Identifying With Need and Lack, Desiring God

Matthew 3:13-17 ESV “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."” ‭ Tim:

John Had An Expectation For The Messiah Someone Who Baptizes In The Holy Spirit and With Fire Someone with Fork in hand, Cleaning House, The Good Gathered In and The Bad Burned Up John Had An Expectation For The Messiah “"I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."” Matthew‬ ‭3:11-12 Lisa:

Why Did Jesus Need To Be Baptized? It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness To fulfill all righteousness IE Right -Ness The “Setting Right” of All thing. which leads US to look at how Jesus went about fulfilling. And wHAT IS THE MODEL FOR US. THAT HE IS LAYING DOWN 1 He chose to submit himself and in doing that he identified himself with us. (Son of Man) 2 Empowered 3 Confirmed identity (Son of God)

Submitted: To The Process… of righteousness being fulfilled. The process of right-ness being restored. To Identifying himself with humanity that is broken… but doesn't want to stay broken. To paying for The Brokenness To Identify Himself as The “Son of Man” TIm: What was He Submitted to? Jesus humbled himself to be like us, so He could be with us! Lisa: He is submitting himself to pain…. For the ransom of many

Empowered: Authority or power to do something Lisa: empowered give (someone) the authority or power to do something. synonyms: authorize, entitle, permit, allow, license, sanction, warrant, commission, delegate, qualify, enable, equip "the act empowered police to arrest dissenters" make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights. synonyms: emancipate, unshackle, set free, liberate To Announce Demonstrate and Explain the Kingdom Of The Heaven

“This is my beloved Son… with whom I am well pleased” Confirmed Identity Beloved & Approved Tim:

When We Say Yes To Jesus… This Becomes Our Experience As Well In Him identifying with us and us being identified in him . The Cross And Resurrection. Paul “For if We have died with him… then we will surely live with him”… That means we can live with the surety that the same words the Father spoke over Jesus he now speaks over us. Beloved… Well Pleased By Him Identifying with us we can identify with him and We are brought into the sonship and daughtership of God The kingdom of heaven comes close through the process of submission to the father and empowerment And We have a model of How To Grow Up, Further up and Deeper into His Kingdom, His Reality Submit- Jesus is our Model, how we submit to him is different than how he submitted himself because we are broken he was not.. Submit... to what he wants his interaction with us to look like and what he wants to do in our lives… not hold him to what we want him to look like and do. Empowered By Holy Spirit Confirmed Identity

So What Now? How Are You Going To Experience This As Your Reality? Empowered Loved Approved So What Now? Respond! We begin, and we begin again, by submitting… To Jesus. To Process. To Formation Some Practical Ideas -Say Yes To Him For The First Time! -Spend The Week, 10-15 Minutes a Day meditating on the Cross and Resurrection Read The Snippet of the Account and then Allow The Holy Spirit to Bring it to Life! -Memorize a Promise Text -Practice Experiencing the Presence of HS