Tuesday 12th January

Luke 3:21 – 4:13

Jesus’ Baptism

Welcome back to 2021 and the start of the calendar year. We hope everyone has experienced blessing and hope over Christmas and the New Year despite all that’s going on around us. At the start of the year there is a huge amount to praise God for, and to start off we looked together at Jesus’ own baptism and what are called His ‘temptations in the wilderness.’

Before you start into the study, catch up with each other and how you’ve been.

Then read the passage together.

The passage falls into 3 parts:

Jesus’ baptism (Luke 3:21-24)

Jesus’ genealogy (family tree) (Luke 3:25-37)

Jesus in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13)

What are your first impressions and thoughts about the passage?

What is true for Jesus in his baptism is true for us in ours.

We see three things:

1) Affirmed by the Father

Before Jesus did any teachings, healing etc. he was affirmed by his heavenly Father "You are my Son whom I love, with you I am well pleased".

What does this tell us about God and the way he sees us?

What makes this verse so extraordinary and unique to the Christian worldview?

2) Affirmation through relationships

In this passage, we see right into the heart of the Trinity who constantly pour love onto each other.

What does this mean for us?

Matthew sets this passage in the context of the Family of God (hence the long list of names!)

We are baptised into the church family. How should these relationships affirm us and bring life?

3) Affirmation through God's Word

In Luke 4:1-11 Jesus is being tempted by the devil.

The devil's strategy for undermining Jesus' identity is to say "IF you are the Son of God..."

The devil is undermining Jesus' identity that has just been spoken over him.

In what ways does this happen to us today?

Jesus' strategy for overcoming these lies was to use scripture "It is written" (v 4, 8, 12).

What can we learn from Jesus in this?

What promises from God's word do you need to remind yourself of today?

In the live chat, James Brown, our new Student Minister, asked a question about how we can make sure we are listening to the truth of God's word over anything else.

How can we encourage each other to be doing that this week?

Pray together.