Year 3 Day 171

Wednesday, February 24

Read Luke 3

Think About It:

1. John’s baptism of repentance identified a person with their need to get right with God and be cleansed. While there was nothing strange in the ceremony of baptism itself. The strange thing was that Jews submitted to baptism. Baptism was a common ritual for Gentiles who wanted to become Jews. But, for a Jew to submit to baptism was to say, “I’m as bad as a heathen Gentile.” Comparing themselves to a heathen Gentile was an extremely derogatory statement for a Jew to make. In that light, this was a true mark of humble repentance, a radical re-dedication to the Lord. Fill in the blank to represent your view of yourself when you realized your need to get right with God. “I’m as bad as a ________________________.”
2. Verse 21 tells us that when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized. Why did Jesus submit to baptism when He had no sin to be cleansed from?
3. Jesus began His earthly ministry with the blessing of the Father and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus, we can have the same things. In Jesus, we can hear the Father say to us, this is My beloved child. In Jesus, the Holy Spirit can come upon us for empowering and blessing. If Jesus began His earthly ministry with the Father’s blessing and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, don’t we need it in our ministry as well? Do you see yourself as God’s beloved child? Have you asked and been empowered in your ministry by the Holy Spirit, or are you working in your own power?

Family Time:

1. Who did John say was coming? What did John do?
2. Who sent Jesus to the earth?
3. Who can make a dirty heart clean?
4. Who did Jesus come to save?