Matthew 3:1-6

1 – In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

2 – And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

3 – For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

4 – And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

5 – Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,

6 – And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

 Matthew 3:13-17

13 – Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

14 – But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

15 – And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

16 – And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

17 – And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

The baptism of Jesus Christ marked a turning point in His earthly life, for on that day He began the most blessed and effective ministry the world has ever known. In a mere three years of preaching and teaching the Gospel, He set in place the foundation of and wrote the guidebook for our Christian lives and faith. Oh, and He also created a roadmap to heaven for a world of unworthy sinners!

Jesus’ ministry began with His baptism by John the Baptist in the river Jordan, an amazing event witnessed by many, all of whom no doubt remembered it and excitedly told others about it for the rest of their lives. But as magnificent as the beginning of His ministry was, it was the end of it that truly changed the world and gave each and every one of us hope and redemption…

Our Saviour willingly took His place upon the cross at Calvary and shed His precious blood so that we could have our sins washed away, making us worthy through his grace and sacrifice of spending eternity with Him and His Father up in heaven instead of a fiery hell. Since He was God, it was easily within His power to simply walk away from His executioners. But He loved us so much that He allowed them to torture him for hours on end, then put him to death in one of the most excruciatingly painful ways ever devised.

When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan that day, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him “like a dove”, but a mere three years later he allowed Himself to be nailed to an old rugged cross where he took on the massive weight and shame of the sins of the world. He hung there between heaven and earth, bleeding and suffering for six excruciating hours before finally saying “It is finished”.

To make a way for us to be forgiven of our sins, our dear Saviour died an unjust and miserable death, but three days later He rose from the grave, triumphant and in all His amazing glory.

The start of His ministry was a sight to behold, His preaching and teachings formed the foundation and structure of our beloved Christian faith, and the end of His earthly life saved all who choose to believe from an eternity in hell. All in all, I would say it was a pretty successful “career”, wouldn’t you?

Matthew 4:1-11

1 – Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

2 – And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

3 – And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

4 – But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

5 – Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

6 – And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7 – Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

8 – Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

9 – And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

10 – Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

11 – Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Satan’s hatred for God and His creations has him on a never-ending mission to seek out and destroy the lives and testimonies of those who love the Lord, and he saw what he thought was a golden opportunity to bring down all of mankind in one fell swoop by tempting Jesus out in the desert. Satan knew that if he could entice the Saviour to sin against His Heavenly Father, it would doom each and every one of us, including Jesus Himself, to an eternity in a fiery hell.

But try as he might, satan failed in his attempt to get Jesus to sin. He thought he had a good shot at it because, like you and me, the earthly Jesus was a human being, and satan knew that we humans are susceptible to temptation. But what he failed to take into account was the fact that Jesus was much more than just an ordinary man – He was also fully God, and as such He was – and is – literally incapable of committing a sinful act. The devil could have tempted Jesus until the proverbial cows came home, but He would never have succumbed to his enticements no matter how grand they might have been.

After all, since Jesus was God, he already “owned” everything anyway. There was nothing in heaven or on earth that Satan could offer Jesus that He didn’t already possess. And even if there had been, Jesus would never have accepted it anyway because He was God, perfect and upright, literally incapable of doing anything whatsoever that wasn’t within the will of His Heavenly Father.

Satan’s devious plan to tempt our beloved Saviour was a miserable failure, and Jesus’ blood remained pure and worthy of being shed upon the cross at Calvary as atonement for our sins. What a wonderful, loving and powerful God we serve!

John 10:11 – I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Yes, Jesus is indeed the Good Shepherd. In fact, He loved His sheep (us!) so much that He left the ultimate comfort of heaven in order to come down to earth for the sole purpose of dying a miserable death on the cross so that we unworthy sinners might be saved. His boundless love for you, me, and all of mankind was so great that He willingly took the sins of the entire world upon His shoulders – a process that temporarily separated Him from His Heavenly Father.

As miserable as His human pain and suffering was, it was that separation from God that hurt Jesus the most. You see, once Jesus became saddled with that mighty load of sin, God could no longer look upon His precious Son. Jesus no doubt felt abandoned by the most loving Being that ever existed, and even though He knew the state of separation would soon end it was still a tremendous burden for Him to bear.

Jesus knew all along that His earthly life would be both short and difficult. He also knew that He would eventually suffer an extremely painful and miserable death while bearing a load of sin the likes of which no other man could carry. His mission here on earth was to bear a load of sin He didn’t commit and suffer untold pain and anguish that He didn’t deserve, all so that we, the guilty parties, could be pardoned from the sentence of death that we all deserved.

Although our Saviour had no obligation to offer Himself up as the perfect sacrifice for the remission of our sins, He did it anyway. After all, He was, and still is…the Good Shepherd.

Matthew 6:9-13

9 – After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 – Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 – Give us this day our daily bread.

12 – And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 – And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

When I was in elementary school back in the late 1960′s, each and every morning our teacher would lead us in reciting two of the most important and memorable recitations I know of: the Pledge to the Flag and The Lord’s Prayer. Back then our nation’s schools taught us kids a lot more than just the three R’s. They also taught us why we should love our country and how to demonstrate our love and allegiance to it. They taught us how to be patriots.

What’s more, they taught us the importance of getting along with one another while respecting and honoring our Creator. Unlike the liberals would have us believe, we weren’t force-fed a steady diet of “religious propaganda” in the classroom. We were simply taught that there is a God up in Heaven – the Creator of all things – and that we should take a few moments out of each day to ask Him for the things we need and to thank Him for the many blessings that He has given us. The recitation of the Lord’s Prayer took just a few seconds at the beginning of each day, then the rest of the day was spent learning about our nation’s rich history along with the fundamentals of math, science, and English.

As any honest person who is old enough to remember the 60′s and 70′s will tell you, most of the serious problems that dog our nation today began to grow and fester soon after the ban on prayer in school was put in place. The only moral guidance many of our nation’s youngsters ever received came from their teachers, and when the teachers were told they could no longer provide it, it left a huge void in our society that grows larger and larger with each passing day. Nowadays, instead of starting the school day by reciting The Lord’s Prayer, many kids are starting it with bloodshot eyes or guns in their pockets.

Despite what the liberals say, the correlation between the ban on school prayer and the rise of crime and violence in our nation is both very real and very easy to see when looking back at recent history through unbiased eyes. When it comes to the levels of patriotism and morality in the United States of America, there really was a period we can accurately describe as “the good old days”, and unfortunately I’m afraid they are gone forever.