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15th June 2025
SundayReflection
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'Jeff Stott'
Helping people experience God's truth
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Jesus: Worth Identifying With
Today we are going to take a look at some lessons from the baptism of Jesus.
We are simply going to walk through this event in the life of Jesus and see what God says to us.
9 One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. 10 As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice from heaven said, "You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy."
..... Mark 1:9-11, NLT
Verse 9 begins with the two words, "One day."
It's amazing how a normal day turns into an extraordinary day and often times we are not even aware of it.
There were a few thousand people standing around one day listening to John the Baptist preach and baptize people.
One day Jesus shows up and approaches John and this begins an incredible public ministry of Jesus.
It's amazing to me how important some of these "one days" are.
One day some relatives showed up to my house and my mom gave her life to Jesus.
One day my mum decided to start dragging me to church.
One day I was actually listening to what that old preacher was saying.
One day I gave my life to Jesus and decided to follow Him.
It's amazing to me how important some of these "one days" are.
Maybe today will be of those "one days" you talk about.
Well, Mark says, "One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee ...."
Let's stop there for a moment.
I know this sounds like a geography statement and it is, but it's also much more than that.
People from "Nazareth" and "Galilee" were looked down upon.
Among the religious leaders of that time anyone from there were seen as uneducated, a country-bumpkin, and not significant.
For various reasons they were held in contempt.
Let me show you something.
There was this guy named Philip who had a friend named Nathanael.
Philip told Nathanael about Jesus and commented that Jesus was "from Nazareth."
In John 1 we are given Nathanael's response where he says,
"Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?" (John 1:46, NLT).
God can do anything with anyone from anywhere.
One of the things that God is showing us through Jesus is that you don't have to come from the right side of town, or come from the right family, or have the right kind of background.
God often uses people from obscure places.
You may feel like you were raised on the wrong side of the tracks, you may feel like you are not smart enough, talented enough, good enough.
The devil may be whispering in your ear that nothing good comes out of from your family, nothing good will come from you.
I'm here to tell you that God can take an obscure person, from an obscure place, from a broken family and do something incredible.
"Can anything good come from Nazareth?"
Absolutely!
Can anything good come from your family? Absolutely!
Can anything good from you?
Absolutely!
Mark goes on to say, And a voice from heaven said ...
Listen carefully, there is a voice from heaven that talks to you every day if you will listen.
That voice from heaven talks through the Word of God.
The Word of God is the voice of God.
You can trust it. You rely on it.
You may not like everything it says or understand it all, but it is trustworthy.
It is divine.
It is inspired by God and is useful for every area of your life.
When God speaks, it is always significant.
Are you ready?
><(((°>
This is an edited version.
The full article and Bible references are avaiable on request
'Jeff Stott'
I became a follower of Jesus as a teenager.
I was not raised in a Christian home, but God used several factors to draw me to Himself.
Some of them included the following: grandparents who were believers and my mother getting saved at age thirty-two.
Even though my father was an alcoholic and I didn't care anything about Jesus or His people, God's Spirit still was able to reach down into my personal pit and rescue me from my sin.
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