9 - Baptism of Jesus - Genesis 1 1-5 Mark 1 4-11

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Genesis 1:1-5, Mark 1:4-11

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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

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Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

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And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

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God saw that the light was good, and he separated the lightfrom the darkness.

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God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and therewas morning—the first day.

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And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

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The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

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John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, andhe ate locusts and wild honey.

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And this was his message: "After me comes the one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

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I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with theHoly Spirit."

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At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

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Just as Jesus wascoming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

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And a voicecame from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

Brothers and sisters in Christ,One of the books that has made it on to a lot of shelves is GaryChapman’s “The 5 Love Languages”. It’s an interesting read, if you haven’t picked it up – I recommend it.It’s got this interesting idea – that everyone has one of five primarylove languages...and by that he means that there are 5 differentways that people communicate love.

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The first love language is words of affirmation. People showlove by giving compliments and support.

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The second is gifts: "A gift is a tangible object that says, 'Iwas thinking about you. I wanted you to have this. I loveyou.'

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Number three is acts of service. You show your love by doingthings for other people.

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The fourth is time and quality time. For some people love isexpressed by the time that they spend with you.

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Finally there’s touch – some people express their love primarily with hugs and touch.

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Now Chapman doesn’t say that you just have one of theselanguages – it’s one of those combination things – but he does saythat everyone has a primary language. One language thatdominates how they speak and how they hear love.Which can sometimes become a source of conflict within arelationship. Let’s say you have a spouse who has a primary lovelanguage of gift giving – and let’s say yours is acts of service.And one day you mention how difficult it is for you keeping thingstidy and you’re expecting a little extra help straightening up andthe very next day your spouse buys you a new shop vac.Suddenly there’s conflict – because husband and wife are bothspeaking about love – but neither one seems to understand whatthe other is saying – they’re speaking in different languages. For one love is “help me out.” And for the other love is “Shop Vac”.Chapman’s point is a good one: In any relationship – one of thekeys to success is the ability to communicate and to understandone another…because when we are understood we don’t feelalone. It’s a wonderful point of connection and it is true even andespecially in our relationship with God.What we want to know is that God hears us and understands us – because if God knows what it is we’re going through then we don’tfeel alone in the universe anymore.This is the problem that some people have with God. This morningthe question that we have is: “Does God understand us?” in thatway that draws us close – and some people don’t think so. Theymay acknowledge His existence – they may feel like God is – butGod really doesn’t connect with them because…

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I. He’s way out there…

This is the first picture that we get of God when we look to our Bibles. All the way back at the very beginning of the book of Genesis we’re introduced to this all-powerful creator of theuniverse.And the Earth was formless and empty – this is right after it wascreated– it was this blank canvas just waiting to be painted on – and it was dark and there was only water. That’s the original picture of the world. The Scriptures tell us that the Spirit of Godwas hovering over the deep.That’s the phrase that I want to focus on – God was hovering over the deep. This very first picture of God has him looking down over everything. That he is way up there and creation – the world – ultimately us – we’re way down here…That’s our first introduction to God and that’s the image that prevails throughout the Old Testament. God is way up there – inheaven – above – looking down. For Moses he has to go up intothe mountain – mount Sinai – to reach him. For Jerusalem – for David – God is up on Zion that’s the highest point where peoplecan get close.The image is that God is far above us and that we’re here below…and this is the image that prevails for us.Ask any child where God lives and they’ll tell you that God is inheaven. If you ask people who are generally non-religious – they’lltell you the same thing.God is somewhere else.God is above looking down.God is in a place that’s not here.

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