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We are in Luke Chapter 3 and we come to verse 12. John has walked onto the scene at the Jordan River and crowds are flocking out to hear him and to sort out and clean up their lives.

When it comes to asking good searching questions our title is perhaps one of the most important. To discover the answers to our questions can give us assurance and reassurance and even lead us to salvation because there are many people who think they are all right spiritually when it comes to salvation, only to realise that they have never been 'born again'. Ask and you shall receive. Seek and go on seeking and you shall find. Continue to knock until the door it opened. As a significant sign of their sincerity in getting right with Almighty God, John took these dear people into the water and baptised them, immersing and plunging them. That is what the word BAPTIZO means and those who understand what was really happening there, and then later in the book of Acts, will come to realise the importance of this act of obedience. Jesus was baptised by John and Jesus says "Follow me". The basics can at times be radical and revolutionary and shake and challenge what others may have taught. This is why it is good to go back to the Gospels and check our spiritual foundations. Are we truly and fully 'born again'? In the book of Acts being baptised was an essential event whenever people came into the Church of Jesus Christ. Nowhere do we read of people coming into the Church of Jesus Christ without being baptised. We return to John. Another group of sinners come to john and they are tax collectors, who were well known for lining their pockets. Many were rogues and rascals, like Zacchaeus, and they wanted released and set free from this corruption and greed and sin. "Teacher, what should we do?" It is always good to ask good questions. Take no more than you are supposed to. That is radical challenging teaching. That would transform their whole lifestyle. That could even shake the community where they worked. Again, think of what happened when dear Zacchaeus came to faith in Jesus Christ. John is quite brief and short and to the point. This word preached and taught in the power of the Holy Spirit could transform the financial and banking world within a very brief time. The economy could be healed if sin could be dealt with, but man prefers to tinker with the branches. The Word of God goes to the root! Then some Roman soldiers came to John. "What should we do?" Notice that there is no 'altar call. Here. John does not call people to come forward to he cleaned up and have their lives sorted out. People come realising their profound and serious need following the preaching of the servant of God. That is totally different. John told the Roman soldiers quite straight. Do not extort money. Do not exercise your authority wrongly. It was so easy for those Roman soldiers to bully. Do not bully. Do not throw your weight around. Do not intimidate people. We hear so much about bullying, in schools, and in work places. Teaching this with the authority of God's anointing, and the problem will be addressed and resolved. Do not falsely accuse anyone, and be content with your pay. How often do we hear that today? There have to be changes, which are visible and seen. Did you notice that John never said anything about leaving the army? Neither did Jesus when He met the Centurion and neither did peter or Paul when they met the roman military. Sorry is not enough. Sorry is never enough. We have to amend our ways. There is something here in this brief passage which everybody can do, and we see clear similarities and parallels in the ministries of Peter and Paul, and we rob our people of the truth of Almighty God if we dilute and compromise and water down what is clearly taught in the Scriptures.

"'Winging It" from Stan Smith

Not Many Wise

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