THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever seen someone be baptized? What happened?
READ TOGETHER.
Matthew 3:16-17. 16After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
God is a Trinity. A tri-unity. Three in one. He is one God, but also three separate persons: The Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Can you find each of these three persons in today’s verses?
What is God the Son doing? What is God the Father doing? What is the God Holy Spirit doing?
The Holy Spirit is doing what he has always done. He is coming upon a person so that they can do what God wants them to do. Hopefully you remember that the Holy Spirit came upon Joseph (Day 4), Samson (Day 5), David (Day 6), Ezekiel (Day 9), Zerubbabel (Day 12), the prophets who wrote the Bible (Day 13), and Mary (Day 14).
And now the Holy Spirit has come upon Jesus.
Does it seem strange that Jesus would need the Holy Spirit? Isn’t Jesus God? Yes! Then why does he need more of God?
Yes, Jesus is 100% God. He is one with the Holy Spirit. But he is also 100% human. And like every other human that God has used to do his will, Jesus needs the power of the Holy Spirit.
And so do we.
What is the power of the Holy Spirit? It is the power of God’s love. What did God the Father say to Jesus when he was baptized? This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. God said this to Jesus BEFORE he had done anything important. Jesus hasn’t done any miracles yet or preached any sermons. Jesus didn’t have to earn the Father’s love. The Father loved the Son simply because he was the Son. And God loves us the same way. When we trust in Jesus we are “baptized” into the Father’s love. The heavens open up and God says to YOU, “You are my dearly loved son/daughter, who brings me great joy.”
Did you know that God loves you simply because he loves you? He loves you because you are his, not because of what you’ve done. How do we know this? Because, like Jesus, the Holy Spirit has come to us too. The Holy Spirit has settled on us, bringing God’s everlasting love with him. And with that love Jesus will then do hard things, and so can we. We can love just like we are loved. We can love others simply because of who they are, not because of what they do.
Because of the Holy Spirit we have all of God’s love.
With the Holy Spirit we can love others like God loves us.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Has anyone in your family been baptized? Talk about your experience together. Remember, we are baptized into Jesus and his love, receiving the Holy Spirit when we have faith in him. Then, water baptism is a picture of that faith.
PRAY TOGETHER
Father, you love me because you love me. I am yours and you are mine. I know this because I have the Holy Spirit in me. Amen.
TLICfamily 