More of the book of Matthew on Monday!

Do you struggle to make changes in your life? Christ has come to enable our repentance and give us the Holy Spirit. He washes our hearts and enables genuine change.

Chapter 3 Outline

*Two main sections*

I. Ministry of John the Baptist v.1-12

- Preaching \*Repent for the KOG is at hand.

- Repent - turn around, change your mind.

- reason - KOG is at hand.

- Coming of the place where God reigns and rules as King.

- The King is coming!

- Isaiah 40:3 - ***John's role was to prepare the way for the King through calling for repentance - turning away from our sins and turning back to God, confessing and being baptized.***

- garments - camel's hair and leather belt - recalls an OT prophet Elijah who also called people to turn away from sin and back to God.

- Pharisees - religious leaders, separatists, emphasized scripture, but had an inclination towards pride and hypocrisy.

- Sadducees - political leaders of Israel and thinkers, didn't believe in the resurrection or angels.

- Bear fruit in keeping with repentance! - If you say that you are turning to God, show it by your actions! Do it from the heart!

- The one who comes after - the Mightier One

- Baptize in the Holy Spirit

- And Fire - 2 main beliefs

- Empowerment - image of pentecost where the HS comes on Jesus' disciples with POWER, fire showed on each of their heads...

- Judgment - hell-fire

- I'm inclined to this because of the next verse - Winnowing fork

II. Baptism of Jesus v.13-17

- Baptized by John - not because he needs cleansing for forgiveness of sins, but "to fulfill all righteousness" - this is right.

- v.16 - Spirit descending like a dove -

- Acts 10:38 - God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power!

- Hear voice of God, "This is my son, in whom I am well-pleased"

- Picture: the three person of the Trinity in Christian Doctrine - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. These three are one.

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Truth: Christ is the Son of God, who baptizes in the Holy Spirit and Fire.

And because Christ is the King with the winnowing fork, we need to genuinely repent - turning to God and turning to Christ. "Come Clean"

When we turn to Christ, he enables our repentance by giving us the Holy Spirit. Christ's Spirit helping us and moving in us enables us to bear fruit in keeping with Repentance.

"Wise men still seek Him"

In Matthew Chapter 1 - we can experience God's presence with us through Jesus. Salvation doesn't come from us, but from God.

The book of Matthew is the first of the four New Testament gospels. It's essentially a biography of Jesus life, and Matthew was an eyewitness. Think of it as a how-to manual on following Jesus.

The New Testament is a great starting place for followers of Jesus. Here's a basic introduction.

The Reading Scripture Podcast seeks to encourage you to abide in God's Word and abide in Christ.

Spending time regularly in God's word can be challenging in our high paced chaotic culture. The Bible itself can be overwhelming. We want to help you develop a simple habit of being in scripture and coming to Christ through scripture.

This podcast is a great starting place for a basic introduction to the Bible and basic introduction to following Jesus Christ. It will be a short and simple 10 to 15 minutes a day, five days a week… Something that can be listened to on a commute to work.

Welcome to the reading scripture podcast, where we seek to encourage you to abide in God's Word and abide in Christ. We are reading through the New Testament chapter by chapter, thinking over it, and living it out.