“John answered them all, “‘I baptize you with water. But one more powerful that I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
~ Luke 3:16
Hi James and Ellen,
What are you hoping to do when you reach your thirtieth birthday? If you lived around 2000 years ago and if you were a guy whose dad and ma were from the Levi tribal clan, you would begin your public ministry around your thirtieth birthday. Do you know a guy who lived about 2000 years ago who began His public ministry not long after his thirtieth birthday? Jesus probably began His public ministry around His thirtieth birthday. A guy 2000 years ago was not thought to be mature until he was thirty years old. Luke – a doctor, historian and a very good friend of Paul, sent a letter to a good friend – Theophilus, about the life and ministry of Jesus while He was on planet Earth. This letter that Paul sent to Theophilus is the Luke Book in the Bible. Luke – in Luke 3, traces Jesus’ genealogy through seventy-four generations on His ma’s side of His family back to Adam. Jesus probably spent the first thirty years of His incarnated life on planet Earth living with His family and helping His dad Joseph in what Joseph did for a living. Your grandpaa believes that Jesus’ dad was a stonemason who built walls out of rocks that were heavy and that he had to chip to fit together. Jesus had a cousin – John the Baptist, who knew Who Jesus really was. John the Baptist called home a desolate, uninhabited area near the Jordon River. John the Baptist would preach a message of hope and he would baptize guys and gals as a sign of their repentance and of having been forgiven of their sins. Some guys and gals believed that John the Baptist was the promised Messiah Who they had been waiting for. Luke recounted in verse 16 what John the Baptist’s response was to these guys and gals, “John answered them all, “‘I baptize you with water. But one more powerful that I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” When Jesus’ reason for coming to planet Earth came to a dramatic end after being cruelly nailed to a crude cross where He died for your sins, Jesus ascended into heaven where He is now sitting at God the Father’s right hand. Before God the Spirit – as the Holy Spirit, could come down to planet Earth to enter into the lives of guys, gals and kids who make a decision of faith to believe in what Jesus did for him or her when He suffered and died on a cross, Jesus had to first ascend into heaven. When the Holy Spirit first came to planet Earth, the Holy Spirit, came as tongues of fire. The Holy Spirit as fire is a sign of testing and a sign of judgment. When John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, God the Father sent God the Spirit as a dove as a sign of the peace that He was establishing between His specially elected guys, gals and kids with His Son.
Do you like history? Do you like to know what happened years and years ago? Luke must have liked history. Luke was very careful to include in his letter to Theolphilus who the Roman leaders were when Jesus was born. Luke did not just write about Jesus; Luke also wrote about the forerunner of Jesus – John the Baptist. Luke wrote some about the life and about the imprisonment of John the Baptist. John the Baptist ended up being imprisoned after he reproved Herod Antipas for divorcing his wife – who was the daughter of Aretas IV of Arabia, and for then marrying a niece – Herodias, who was already married to his bro – Herod Philip. Herod Antipas was probably who put John the Baptist in the prison that was located in Machaerus. John the Baptist was already in a prison when Jesus began His public ministry on planet Earth. Luke mostly wrote about Jesus and the mission that Jesus acomplished while He was on planet Earth – which was to seek and save the guys, gals and kids who were lost. What Luke wrote in the two letters that he sent to Theophilus, Luke expected Theolphilus to reprint and to pass on to other guys.
Your grandpaa on his thirtieth birthday was not thinking about being a missionary. On his thirtieth birthday, your grandpaa was living with your grandmaa and dad in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Your grandmaa and grandpaa when they lived in Sioux Falls attended the Christian Reformed Church that was in Sioux Falls. Your Aunt Lynn was not born until after your grandpaa was thirty years old. Your grandmaa and grandpaa really enjoyed living in Sioux Falls but . . . it was God’s will that Beneficial Finance – which was were your grandpaa was working, would ask your grandpaa to relocate to another town – Aberdeen, South Dakota. Over the past thirty years since your grandpaa was called by God to be a missionary, your grandpaa has sensed God’s continual blessing on his life. Your grandpaa sensed God directing him to study at Moody Bible Institute before He would allow your grandmaa and grandpaa the privilege of going to another country to minister cross-culturally. While your grandpaa was a student at Moody Bible Institute, your grandpaa was required to attend Moody Bible Institute’s fall missions conference’s scheduled sessions. While in one of the sessions, your grandpaa was impressed by one of the guys who were leading the session. Bob Anderson – who was the guy who your grandpaa was impressed with during the session, was a South American Mission Vice President. After meeting Bob Anderson, your grandmaa and grandpaa decided to pursue being missionaries with South American Mission. After being in Colombia on South America Mission’s summer team in 1976, your grandmaa and grandpaa decided that they wanted to go as missionaries to Colombia with South America Mission. When your grandmaa and grandpaa were told that it was difficult to get a visa to live in Colombia, your grandmaa and grandpaa decided that they would go to Peru as missionaries. After your grandmaa and grandpaa heard that there were a limited number of visas for Peru . . . your grandmaa and grandpaa are hoping and praying that on your thirtieth birthdays that you will be sensing how God has been clearly directing your lives.
Luke 3 (312)