In the Ancient Near East, fishermen were low on the socioeconomic totem pole. They weren’t particularly educated, and they didn’t make a lot of money. Yet the first disciples Jesus called were fishermen. That was kind of a pattern for Jesus. He chose really ordinary people to be His disciples – and, through them, He changed the entire course of human history.

It's easy to imagine that Jesus never struggled with temptation the way we struggle with temptation. He was and is, after all, God! But the Bible tells us that He was tempted in every way we are tempted – but He never succumbed to it. I know this might sound crazy – but we don’t have to succumb to it either. God promises that there will always be a way out when we’re tempted to rebel against what He says is best for our lives.

Baptism, on the surface, seems kind of like a strange act. But it’s actually a really incredible picture. When we go down into the waters of baptism, we’re symbolically burying our old life and coming up as a new creation. But it’s more than that. It’s a picture of what Jesus did for us. He literally died and was buried for us and then rose again to give us new life. This weekend we’re talking about the time Jesus was baptized and the amazing sacrifice He made to rescue us.