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The Bible Breakdown: Daily Bible Reading
Welcome to "The Bible Breakdown," where we break down God’s Word so we can know God better. I'm your host, Brandon Cannon, and I'm here to guide you through the pages of the Bible, one day at a time.
Each day, we'll read through a section of the Bible and explore key themes, motifs, and teachings. Whether you're new to the Bible or a seasoned veteran, I guarantee you'll find something insightful or inspiring. My hope is to encourage you to dive deeper and deeper.
So grab your Bible, your journal, your coffee, and join me on this journey of faith and discovery. And don't forget to hit that subscribe button to stay up-to-date with our daily readings and breakdowns.
Remember, as we journey through the pages of the Bible together, we're not just reading a book, we're unlocking the secrets to eternal life. The more we dig, the more we find! Let's get started!
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The Bible Breakdown: Daily Bible Reading
Matthew 03: The King’s Hype Man
Have you ever wondered about the purpose behind John the Baptist's peculiar wilderness ministry? What could this locust-eating, camel-hair wearing prophet teach us about our relationship with God today?
Matthew chapter 3 introduces us to John the Baptist—affectionately dubbed "Johnny B" by Pastor Brandon—who serves as the perfect hype man for Jesus's arrival. Much like the enthusiastic opener at a concert who builds excitement before the headliner appears, John prepares the hearts of the people for the coming Messiah.
The backstory is fascinating. Likely orphaned young and possibly raised among the Essenes (a separatist Jewish sect focused on end-times prophecy), John emerges from the Judean wilderness with a powerful message: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!" His distinctive appearance—camel-hair clothing and leather belt—deliberately echoes the prophet Elijah, fulfilling prophecies about who would prepare the way for the Messiah.
What's most striking, though, isn't just John's baptism ministry or his bold confrontations with religious leaders. It's what happens when Jesus himself appears for baptism. Despite having no sin to repent of, Jesus insists on being baptized "to fulfill all righteousness." As he emerges from the water, heaven opens, the Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father's voice declares: "This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy."
The profound truth? God expresses complete love and delight in Jesus before he performs a single miracle. This revelation transforms our understanding of God's love—He doesn't love us because of what we do, but because of who we are: His children. As Pastor Brandon beautifully puts it, "We don't live for the favor of God; we live from the favor of God."
Have you been baptized since placing your faith in Christ? If not, consider following Jesus's example in this significant step of obedience. More importantly, embrace the liberating truth that God's love for you isn't earned—it's already yours.
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, matthew, chapter 3. Today's title is the King's Hype man. The King's Hype man. I don't know if you've ever done this before, but have you ever been to a concert? And before the main guy comes on, there's somebody who comes up and they just say all these glowing things about this guest and they are the main person and they'll just like these glowing things about this guest and they, they would, or the the main person and they'll just like, like, almost get in tears, like, like they have a just a almost a crush on this person. You know what I mean. And the idea is to build this person up before they come on stage. And I love all that. But at the same time I get it, it's like, hey, listen, I'm already a fan, so like out of the way. But for the people who don't know that person, it gives them some kind of context. So when that main person comes up, it's like a hype man. They're there to get everybody excited.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to talk about one of my favorite people in the Bible, john the Baptist, or as I affectionately like to call him, johnny B, and we're going to hear about how he is preparing the way for Jesus. He's got a great backstory I can't wait to tell you about. So you want to get your Bibles out. Open up with me to Matthew, chapter three. While you're doing that, as always, make sure you take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job and, as always, the more we dig, the more we find.
Speaker 1:Well, if you've been with us for the past few days, we've been jumping into the Gospel of Matthew. If you remember, the overall goal of Matthew is to talk about how Jesus is the King, and he started it off in chapter one just really bringing receipts and he's saying I can prove that, at the very least, jesus is the rightful heir to the physical throne of Israel. But then he spends chapter two through 28 saying he is so much more than an earthly king. He is the Messiah. And so then chapter two is the origin story of Jesus and how he talks about you know how he got here, and then the Magi, and then all of this interesting little kind of twisting journey that ended Jesus from Bethlehem to Nazareth, and we talked about how what may seem like chaos to us is actually very much the plan of God many times. And now we're going to talk about a guy named John the Baptist. Now I'm going to give you a little bit of background about John the Baptist. If you read Luke, chapter one, you hear that John the Baptist was actually born of the priesthood and he was born of this wonderful family who didn't think they were going to have any kids, and then they did. Well, we don't really know what happened to John after he was born until chapter three today. But there's a lot of scholars who've kind of done a lot of digging and they've got some guesses as to what happened to John. So I'm going to give you a little bit of the guesses. Okay, once again, we don't know this for sure, it's just guesses, okay?
Speaker 1:So during the time, there were three major religious groups that all claimed to worship Yahweh. You had the Sadducees, which we've heard about them. They were more your aristocrats. They really sided with Rome. They barely believed in the five books of Moses. I mean just very secular Jewish people. You had the Pharisees, who were about as far the other direction as you can get, very legalistic, they loved the law of God and they were really trying to bring people back to. If we can just get this right, god will come and bring the Messiah. So their heart was in the right place for most of them. But they were doing it all wrong.
Speaker 1:Well, you had this other group called the Essenes. The Essenes didn't like anybody. They knew the Sadducees were wrong. They also thought that the Pharisees were wrong because they were too legalistic and so they really had just separated themselves from society, lived out in the desert areas, and they were very interested in eschatology, very interested in the coming of the Messiah, and eschatology means the end times, study the end times. They were very interested in the end of things, the coming of the Messiah.
Speaker 1:So their message was, oddly enough, repent, prepare, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, which happens to be the very message that John the Baptist preached. So a lot of people think that because John the Baptist's parents were very old when he was born, he was likely orphaned at an early age and he would have found himself out in the desert with the Essenes, and we have learned from them the message of the Messiah. And then, anointed of the Holy Spirit, he started preaching. The message of the Essenes, which is, the Messiah, is on his way, and what was amazing, though, is that it was time for the king to come, and so he was getting the people ready, bringing an air of repentance back to the nation that prepared the way for the kingdom. And so, with that background, let's read chapter three. Here we go. Verse one says this In those days, john the Baptist, johnny the Bee, came from the Judean wilderness and began preaching, and this was his message Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is near.
Speaker 1:The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said he is a voice shouting in the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord's coming. Clear the road for him. John's clothes were woven from coarse camel hair and he wore a leather belt around his waist. The food he ate was locusts and wild honey. Now pause, now, what's up with all that? Well, many people think that John wore camel's hair and a leather belt, because some people think that is kind of what Elijah would have wore. So it's possible that he wore that, symbolizing that I am coming as Elijah, because it was said that Elijah would come to proclaim the coming of the Lord. So he was using that as symbology, but then also eating locust and wild honey because, number one, there's not a lot of stuff to eat out in the wilderness and, number two, these would have been considered clean as far as in kosher, clean and unclean. And so, since he had very limited options, he was also living a clean lifestyle, holy lifestyle, and this would have been all that was available to him. So here we go, let's keep going.
Speaker 1:Verse 5, people from Jerusalem and from all Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to hear John, and when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. You, brood of snakes, he exclaimed. Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented and turned to God. Don't just say to each other we're safe, for we are descendants of Abraham. That means nothing, for I tell you, god can create children of Abraham from these very stones.
Speaker 1:Even now, the ax of God's judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire. I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God, but someone is coming soon who is greater than I, am so much greater. I am not worthy to even be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing floor, gathering the wheat into his barns, but burning the chaff with never-ending fire. And so what he's saying is you fools, better get ready. The king is coming. And what would happen back during the time is when someone wanted to repent of their sins. That it was a symbol, especially if you wanted to enter into the Jewish faith. It was a symbol that you would be baptized, because it was a symbol of leaving your past life, entering your new life. So that's where the baptism of repentance that's what he is saying is. I'm baptizing these people to repentance, but when the Messiah comes, he's gonna baptize you into the kingdom of God, the Holy Spirit and with fire. And then here comes the king, verse 13,.
Speaker 1:Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John, but John tried to talk him out of it. I am the one who needs to be baptized by you. Why are you coming to me? But Jesus said it should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires. So John agreed to baptize him. After this baptism, jesus came up out of the water and the heavens were open, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him, and the voice from heaven said this is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy, wow. Well, two things I want to share with you today, and then we'll be done.
Speaker 1:First of all, notice that Jesus did not have to get baptized because of sin. The Bible tells us in many places, one of them being the book of Hebrews, that Jesus had a body just like ours. He was fully human, yet fully God, but without sin. Therefore, jesus did not go to John to be baptized for repentance of sin, but so that he could fulfill the righteous requirements, because that's what Jesus was doing, is he was filling the righteous requirements that we couldn't fulfill, and so, therefore, we follow Jesus in water baptism, and so we've had people say before well, why should I get baptized? Well, there's reasons where the Bible talks about baptism being a public declaration of your faith and you should definitely do that. But the second one is is we follow the Lord and all that he did, and so if Jesus was baptized, why should you not be baptized? We should definitely be baptized when we follow the Lord in baptism. So I want to encourage you today that if you have received Jesus and you're a follower of Christ, but you've not been water baptized since you have believed, I would encourage you to contact your church, contact your pastor, and ask for more information about being water baptized.
Speaker 1:Now some people have asked me before should I get baptized again if I was baptized by a child? Well, first of all, there's nothing holy about the water. It's about the commitment. So if you're worried about somehow undoing baptism, that's not how this works. Right, it's a symbol of what God's done on the inside. So what I tell people is there's nothing wrong with being baptized as a child, because we have many children at our church who they know the gospel, they've received Jesus, and we baptize them in water declaration of their faith. But many times what happens is people will walk away, their relationship with God will get cold and then, when they come back to their relationship with God, they want to kind of almost like renew their vows. Well, just like there's nothing wrong with renewing your vows in a marriage relationship, there's nothing wrong with being baptized Again.
Speaker 1:I have this story when I got baptized as a teenager. I was honored and my dad baptized me, and while myself and a couple of other guys were being baptized, there was a gentleman who he might've been 70, 80 years old His name was brother Lambert. I never knew his first name and while we were being baptized, he uh got so excited that he just just started just shouting like praise the Lord, hallelujah. And we were like, yeah, praise the Lord, brother Lambert. I mean, we're pretty excited, but you're really excited. He got so excited that my dad used to always have this thing he would do and he would say does anybody else want to get baptized? And he'd have this dad joke that we dads have. He's like the water's wet. Who wants to get baptized? Well, he shouldn't have said that that night, because a bunch of us young teenagers were getting baptized.
Speaker 1:Teenagers that got were getting baptized, and brother lambert was so excited that he said it's my turn, brother, pastor, you know, and he gets up and and my memory a long time ago, so I don't remember if this is exactly accurate or not, but to the best of my memory he gets in there and he basically baptizes himself. He puts his hand over his nose and just boom, he just splashes underwater, comes back up. He's soaking wet. My dad's soaking wet. Everybody's just like what in the. And I'll never forget the gist of what he said afterward.
Speaker 1:When someone asked him why did you do that? He's like, he's like guys. He said I've been saved for over 50 years. And he said I love Jesus today as much as the day I first met him and I just wanted to remind the world that he's still my king. And you want to talk about everybody else going? Well, I believe I'll go next. You know what I mean. It was awesome. It was awesome just seeing somebody so excited about the things of God. So I want to encourage you if you've not been water baptized, take the step of faith and watch what God does.
Speaker 1:The second thing is I want to remind you of something before we pray, and that is this Do you notice the last verse. When Jesus comes up out of the water, the Heavenly Father speaks to the Son and he says this is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. You know why I love that verse so much. The Father was ratifying his love for his Son before Jesus had ever done one miracle. Jesus had not raised anybody from the dead, he had not fed 5,000. He had not died on the cross. He had not done anything For the first 30 years of his life. Jesus was anonymous, other than this one time when he's a teenager but we'll get to that later. He was anonymous. It wasn't what Jesus did that caused the father to love him. It was because of who he was. Can I tell you that's the same thing for you today.
Speaker 1:God does not love you because of what you can do for him.
Speaker 1:Think about it for a moment.
Speaker 1:God is God.
Speaker 1:His throne in heaven is surrounded by angels who worship him day and night. He has the most beautiful voices in all of creation, not just in your neighborhood, but in creation. Literally. The most prized medal in our world is gold, and that is what paves the streets of where he is. There's nothing that we can give him. I mean he does not love us because of what we can do for him. He loves us because of who we are, and that is that we are his. So don't ever feel like you have to earn the love of God. We don't live for the favor of God, we live from the favor of God. And so before you do anything, before you get anything right, you know what he says to you. He says you are my dearly loved child and I'm so proud of you. You bring me so much great joy. I know you don't get it right all the time. I don't love you because you get it right all the time. I love you because you're mine.
Speaker 1:Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, for the opportunity to be baptized. Thank you for the opportunity to be called yours. I pray today, god, that you will help us to realize that we're already loved when we have you. I celebrate that today In Jesus' name. We pray amen and amen. What God's word says in Matthew 28, verse 19,. He says all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Matthew, chapter four.
