12/11/11 at The Gathering
Blake Coffee and Tony Diamond each taught from Matthew 3 on Sunday, December 11. The videos and listening guides from both those lessons, followed by the scripture, are below.
Core Lesson (Tony Diamond)
The Baptizers
Matthew 3
Core Listening Guide
A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Isaiah 40:3
A heavenly ministry on earth
John’s ministry was supernatural from the beginning. God was clearly involved. His passion and commitment was unmistakable. His words were direct and purposeful. He forsake all trappings of man do deliver on his mission from God. He was quite obviously “preparing the way for the Lord.”
How is John’s like our ministry on Earth? How is it different?
God’s love for all
“This is my Son, whom I love.” “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.” These are so much more than words or thoughts. They are the foundation of our faith. That God loves us as he loves his son. But “us” doesn’t just refer to you; it refers to everyone.
What is our responsibility to God to share His love with others?
Pleasing God
When God “opened heaven” and said, “With him I am well pleased,” he was not just referring to the moment of Baptism. Christ had spent 29 years as a human, conducting himself in a way pleasing to God. The act of Baptism was a continuation of faithfulness and a final submission to the deity of the Father.
How should our lives reflect a faithfulness that would make the God of all say, “I am well pleased.”
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Venture Lesson (Blake Coffee)
The First Steps of Discipleship
Matthew 3
Venture Listening Guide
Ironically, the first two steps to following Christ (repentance and baptism) were introduced by a man whose ministry preceded Christ’s.
Baptism is nether mystical nor magical. It is an act of obedience, i.e., an outward symbol of the “cleansing” or “newness of life” which comes with repentance.
You cannot inherit a saving relationship with God. You must choose it, through repentance and following Christ.
Jesus Himself demonstrated that believer’s baptism is the great equalizer. Every one of us, no matter our age, demographic, or position in life, begin our walk zitherist with the same “baptismal” testimony: that we love Him and intend to follow Him all of our lives.
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Matthew 3
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
The Baptism of Jesus
13 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.”
