Sermon from January 8, 2017 Baptism of our Lord Sunday,

Raul Garcia III

January 8, 2017

Baptism of our Lord Sunday

Let us Pray:

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you my Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.

We are going to talk about an event that is mentioned in all four Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John felt this event was so important and inspiring they all needed to write about it. The Baptism of Jesus. This event kicked off Jesus’ ministry.

Can you imagine being in John the Baptist’s shoes? Your work is going well, people are starting to take notice of you. People are saying hey you know this John the Baptist is the man. But you know in John's heart that the work he is doing is to prepare people’s hearts for someone else. For someone that's to come. To prepare for Jesus. John was starting to get lots of followers and here comes Jesus. John had to let go of his followers so that they can follow Jesus. John said, “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” Here is the question I want for us to think about. Like John, can we put our egos and hard work aside to point to Jesus?

In a world so focused on identities, baptism gives us an identity that can never be taken away. Money, achievement, and status can all be taken away in a second. Through baptism I am a called, claimed, child of God and nothing can change that.

Baptism is tangible evidence of what God has accomplished in us. God doesn't need baptism, we do.

Baptism lays down the foundation of our individual faith. Not many babies have moments remembering their baptism. Our faith life develops largely on who raises us.

All you confirmation students that are taking worship notes there is going to be a time when your affirmation of baptism is going to come. That is a time in which you decide that your faith is going to be your faith and you desire to make public affirmation of your faith. This whole time your parent’s have helped you along your faith journey. That confirmation day is about you. It's not about your parents faith it’s about your faith journey. It's about you on that day in the near future that you are going to stand up and say yes. But also, it's about everyone here at Family of God. I love this church because we all know that it takes a village to raise a child and we know how to do this at Family of God. We care about everyone here and we care about everyone’s faith journey. We are truly a Family of God.

What I want you to do now is on the count of three I want everyone to tell me your name. 1,2,3…

Now what I want you to do is on the count of three is tell me your favorite dessert. 1,2,3,...

Now what I want you to tell me who died for our sins on that cross. 1,2,3…

You see we are all different people, different races, different political views, we come from different places, different names, but the thing we all have in common is Jesus Christ. We are baptized into the death of Christ.

In the midst of difficult times, our baptism is a reminder of who we are and what God has done in our lives.

When Martin Luther was faced with some difficult struggles, he would often hold on to the truth that he had been baptized. Luther would remember what that meant and what God had done. God gave him the ability to persevere and conquer. It can do the same for us today.

I did this blessing this past Wednesday as a remembrance of our baptism. I want you to bless each other, your neighbor, your children in your pew and make a sign of the cross on their forehead and say, “You are a blessed child of God, loved beyond measure.”

Let's take a few moments to do this.

You are a blessed child of God, loved beyond measure.

Amen.