I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you. John 16:26-27.

For He says, “At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is “the acceptable time”, behold, now is “the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2 NASB 1995.

And in our chapter, Luke 3, John begins his ministry of preparation. Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low; the crooked will become straight, and the rough roads smooth; and all flesh will see the salvation of God.’” (Isaiah 40:3, 4; Isaiah 52:10). So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” v. 1-9. Can you imagine hearing these words given to them? And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?” And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.” v. 10-14. A different way of doing things. Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ, John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people. v. 15-18. And later when John reprimanded Herod for his unlawful marriage to Herodias and for the wicked things he had done, Herod had John imprisoned, v. 19-20. Baptism was so important that Jesus the Son was baptized by John! And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.” v. 21-22. Why so important? Until we see how much we need Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, we live a stunted life doing what we think is right. Jesus always did what the Father desired and He desires that we always come to Him. When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli…Luke continues the genealogy of Joseph all the way back to the beginning; and included in the list of forefathers are Levi, Judah, Joseph, David, Boaz, Ram, Isaac, Abraham, Shem, Noah, Enoch, Seth, Adam – the son of God, v. 23-38. We are the sons of Creator God. Remember who your Father is. Return to Him. His ways are good and He loves you. He speaks to our hearts and our spirits longing for what is true. And as we experience more of the darkness of this broken world, as we listen to Him, He shows us a better way. John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins…a first needed step – and Creator God brings us all the way with His baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire.