Easter Sunday 4/12/2020

Good Morning,

There is a fresh pot of Door County Blueberry Cobbler Coffee brewing in the kitchen. I was awake for some time now, waiting for the sunrise. I fed our dogs Gibbs and Leo and they ran around outside. And now they went back to sleep as I write and get ready to worship on this Easter Sunday. I pray that God blesses all of you on this resurrection Sunday.

Matthew 3:16-17 New King James Version (NKJV)
¹⁶ When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. ¹⁷ And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Have you ever wished you had been in a certain place at a certain time during the Earthly life of Jesus? I have several instances that I would have liked to be a witness to. The resurrection of Jesus being one. But one that I go back to as thinking it would have been neat to see, is the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. I often wonder what I would have done when the heavens opened and a dove descended and God spoke from Heaven.

I cannot attend or perform a baptism without thinking about this verse. What an example of obedience and humility for the Son of God to be immersed like everyone else, giving us the example of why He came.
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior and the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his or her faith in the final resurrection of the dead.
The word for baptize in Greek is baptizo, which means "to dip, plunge, submerge, or immerse."
Jesus submitted to John's baptism (Matt. 3:16) not to demote repentance but to authenticate John's ministry, to set an example for His followers, and to dedicate Himself publicly to His redemptive ministry. In so doing Jesus symbolized His death, burial, and resurrection.

I wonder why so many believers have not followed through as adults and been baptized by immersion and publicly identify with Christ?

If it was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me.

Have a great day!

Marty