Matthew 3:1-17

Understanding the Affirmation, Illumination, and Gift of Baptism

1 - You have been reconciled through the baptism into peace, purity, holiness, and innocence. To not believe you walk in these things is to miss the symbolism of the dove's descent onto Jesus. It is life in the Holy Spirit that brings about peace, purity, holiness, and innocence; man has never and will never be able to produce these things with pure effort. The dove descending from heaven is a reminder of the gift that we will ascend to it one day, and can live in its power every day.

2 - The life lived from baptism is fastened and attached to my pursuit of the knowledge of illumination that can only be found in Jesus' example and the Word of God. In baptism we are made aware of the Spirit and the light, and in our choices and lifesty ...