As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him.Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him.And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway from the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him;
4 sermons cite this verse
… because you don't realize what happened to Jesus after he made this happen. The Bible says, look at it, Matthew chapter 3 verse 16. It says, as soon as Jesus was baptized, as soon as it happened, as soon as he identified and went down and came up a new car, as soon, he went up out of the water and at that moment, heaven opened. I'm telling you, I prophesy to you right now that some of you are about to make this decision for baptism and as soon as you go down and as soon as you come up, heaven is opening over your family. Heaven is opening over your situation. Heaven is opening over that issue that has been, oh, I feel the presence of God. Heaven, somebody say heaven open. It says heaven open. And he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove. and it came on him and the scripture says the father said this is my son that's my boy that's my girl they're marked and i'm well pleased what would happen if hundreds of us made a decision to go public today come alive in christ and allow God to open heaven over our lives and see his public display of approval. …
… In other words, he's perfectly fulfilling all of the righteous requirements because he knows that we can't. Then John consented, and as soon, verse 16, as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was open. At that moment, heaven was open, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice, a voice from heaven, the voice of the Father from heaven with the Holy Spirit alighting, a voice from heaven said, This, Jesus, this is my Son whom I love. With him I am well pleased. John heard it. John heard it in the Jordan. He heard the affirmation. You talk about confirmation, affirmation, knowing it's God. John heard a voice from heaven saying, this is the one. So how in Luke chapter 7, verse 18 and 19 is John calling his disciples. Remember, John sent his disciples away to follow Jesus. When he saw Jesus, he said, look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I'm not worthy to carry his sneakers. I can't carry his flip-flops. Follow him, and they did. Not only was John certain, but he was sacrificial. …
… He told him, if you're the Son of God, what do you mean if I'm the Son of God? Y'all never read Matthew 3, verse 16? Well, you're about to, because the Bible says that before Jesus was led into the wilderness, he went through the water. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and the lighting on him. He's here. And a voice from heaven. Ain't it crazy? One verse before he had to deal with the voice from hell, God gave him the voice from heaven. You need a fresh encounter with Jesus. You need a fresh revelation of Jesus. You need a fresh word from God, a meditation in your heart. If you don't meditate on his word, you're going to medicate on other stuff, and you are going to choke on stones because you don't have any bread. And a voice from heaven said, This is my son whom I love. …
This creed was birthed 1,700 years ago this month. And on its 1,700th anniversary, I thought it was appropriate for us to spend a couple of weeks trying to understand what does it teach and why does it matter. This is the most important distillation of the Christian faith that we have. So the Apostles' Creed comes earlier, doesn't go into nearly as much detail. The Nicene Creed has shaped Christianity since the 4th century. and has an opportunity to continue to shape our lives today. It is something that all branches of Christianity have stacked hands on, or nearly all. Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants, and most evangelical Protestants would say this summarizes and distills down what we believe. 90 seconds it takes to read the Nicene Creed. In 90 seconds, you can summarize our theological understanding of who God is and how God became flesh in Jesus and who the Holy Spirit is and what the church is meant to be and what our ultimate hope is. …