Introduction

To begin with this chapter, I want to share with you how to write a good article. First, the writer needs to know how to start and end well. Second, focus on the main points while eliminating unimportant and unnecessary details. Matthew had good writing skills. The birth of Christ Jesus is briefly introduced, and instead, he focused on what happened in the years when Jesus was preaching and described what Jesus taught, what Jesus did and how he was nailed to the cross and so on. Compared to the Book of Luke, Matthew just eliminated lots of details. In Chapter 3, Matthew didn't elaborate much about John the Baptist; what he mentioned for this part is all related to Jesus Christ.

Let's review the previous chapters. The main point of Chapter one is that God wants to be with us by sending his own son from glory to earth by the incarnation. Chapter two talks about Jesus Christ's amazing power and humility. For this chapter, the theme is that Jesus is the one fulfilling all righteousness. Today our Jesus Christ has opened a way for us and we need to follow and do what he did.

Repentance: the First Step in Following Jesus

In Chapter 3, John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea. His purpose was to prepare the way for the Lord and make straight paths for him, which actually is to baptise people for repentance.

Many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptising, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 3:7-10)

What John did is to prepare the way for Jesus Christ, which is the baptism of repentance. Brothers and sisters, please remember that Christians must start with repentance.

Let's continue to look at the verses:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. 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 alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (Matthew 3: 13-17)

What is this chapter talking about? The focus is that our Jesus Christ, though he is the son of God, yet he needs to fulfil all righteousness. In fact, Jesus didn't have to be baptised by John for repentance, but he still asked John to give him baptism, so how can we not be repentant? Repentance is necessary and important. Christians who don't repent to God are unlikely to experience grace from God.

Why do people come to church for healing? He didn't have any solutions, which also means he did't get things right. If the person has made things right, he doesn't need to to find Jesus. I have found that many people wanted everything but they never repented. If people insist their own way and choose not to repent, as it says in this chapter,

The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 3:10)

Those who have cancer, arthritis, kidney stone, and skin eczema, or feels stressed once they get more work, or feel depressed from time to time, they never get things right and they assume that people all think like them.

People who don't repent, don't think they are getting things wrongly are very hard to turn back to God. Brothers and sisters, you must know what is called "repentance". If you repent, that means you have realized you got things wrong and want to find the right solution and make some changes. A car going in the wrong direction should stop going ahead and needs to take a U turn, otherwise, it will be driving too far from the destination.

If you want to follow Jesus, you need to start with repentance. However, many Christians keep staying at the initial stage and then just repeating the vicious cycle of falling into sins and repenting. If we made mistakes when we explore new areas, repentance is acceptable, but some Christians don't even know what they did is wrong and not pleasing God, the repentance won't work.

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

If Christians only have the baptism of repentance, it won't be effective. They need to be baptissed with the holy spirit and fire. Jesus baptised. Some may think it would be enough after being baptised by John, but actually, it is only a beginning followed by the baptism of holy spirit and fire, and we need to produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

I have seen many people who don't have the heart of true repentance. Today they repent, tomorrow fall into sins, and then repent again and continue their sins, repeating a vicious and never-ending circle, like the dog which has gone back to the food it had put out and the pig which had been washed to its rolling in the dirty earth. Recently, I have been serving a sister who felt sad all the time.
She likes to be picky about lots of things. She always thought people mistreated her, spoke ill of her and looked down upon her. As a result, she often felt unhappy and bad.

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that God can raise children for Abraham out of these stones. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 3:8-10)

What kind of Christian are you? Do you want to a Christian who will be cut down by God or produce fruits? If you cannot be fruitful, you will feel hurt and aggrieved from time to time. You claimed yourself to be Christian but you don't have Abraham's faith. God doesn't need such kind of Christians even though you are Abraham's descendant. As we all know, Ishmael and Esau are Abraham's sons, but it doesn't mean anything. Only those who are like Issac and Jacob can live in the grace of God.

We need to know that we should repent when we get things wrong. How can we know if we did things wrong? When you feel bad, you must know that you didn't get things right. If we got cancer, pains or other diseases, you must know you need to repent and turn to God.

Every time when I lead prayer meetings, I strongly encourage and urge everyone to repent and turn to God and live for God. The heart of true repentance is essential and we need know what God is doing. It won't work if you just name yourself as Christians. You need to produce fruits.

God selects the treasure in the kingdom of heaven

God baptise with the holy spirit and fire because God don't want the chaff, and what God collect and select is wheat. God gather the good and cast the bad away.

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matthew 3:12)

"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. (Matthew 13:47-48)

Have you ever seen a person cast a net into the sea and then throw the good fish and collect the back in baskets? Impossible! But interestingly, lots of pastors who build churches don't understand this. They like to collect the bad and cast away the good ones. We need to know the desire of God. Those who have the heart of true repentance are good, while those who never repent are bad. After repenting, we need to produce the fruits. People who don't yield fruits should be cast away and those who can produce fruits can be kept. If you are a pastor and want to build a church, you can copy me to find good Christians. We should strive for excellence and overcome all challenges of testing.

The devil likes to collect trash but God doesn't like it. If you are trash, you will be taken by demons, but if you are a treasure, God will select and keep you.

Follow Jesus by fulfilling all righteousness

There are many ritual things in our life, such as Water Baptism. Some people choose not to follow; instead, they create many other ways just for convenience. But how did our Jesus Christ respond to baptism? He fulfilled all righteousness and didn't cancel the baptism by John though he is the son of God, the incarnation of Christ.

Jesus is fantastic and he set a good role model for us. We need to follow the rules and rituals of Water Baptism, the baptism of the holy spirit and the baptism of fire. After Jesus was baptised , the holy spirit fell on him. Some Christians think there is no need to have Water Baptism after they are baptised with the holy spirit, which is not a proper attitude because they don't fulfill the righteousness. Our Jesus Christ follow God's rules well.

I am a person who doesn't like cutting corners. Bible says that don't give up meeting together, so I never skip meetings even though I felt sick that day.
I follow the driving rules when I am driving and I obey to the rules for Christians. Following rules is the good habit. Though Jesus didn't have to be baptised by John, he still fulfilled all righteousness. We need to do what Jesus did and be like him. However, many Christians just omitted the procedures of Water Baptism. Nowadays, Water Baptism has lots of versions. A river has changed into a bathtub, and then replaced by a water tap and then a basin, a bowl and finally several drops of water. They are so creative and so good at cutting corners.

Some people even ignore the baptism of the holy spirit. After Jesus rose to heaven, on the day of Pentecost, the holy spirit fell down on Christians and they started to speak in other languages. But now, I often hear from many people say speaking tongues is not necessary; even being filled with the holy spirit can be omitted.

We must know there are some important rules we need to follow. First is repentance; Second, accept Jesus Christ as our saver; Last but not least, being baptised with water and the holy spirit.

Many people just assume the holy spirit will fill people automatically, which is not mentioned and found in the bible. They change the rules and requirements in the bible and eventually they even lose the power of the holy spirit. According to the Bible, when the holy spirit fell on Jesus, Jesus was filled with power, and God's power is the core of the gospel.

There were times when our church was very desolate. One Sunday afternoon, after the meeting, I told everyone that later there would be a prayer meeting.
Some stayed,but most of them preferred to leave. One sister took her bag and rushed out because she was afraid I asked her to stay back. After one month, she came to the church and cried, failing all the subjects. I ask her if she wanted to pray, and she agreed, and after that God let her pass all the subjects. Later on, she took initiative to stay back and attend the prayer meeting because she had experienced the blessings from God through praying. So, brothers and sisters, why do we cut corners of the things that actually benefit us. A long time ago, we never prayed, and every one encountered lots of problems. After that ,we follow the rules of God and make the church become a praying church and everyone spent time on praying, but nothing had been delayed and we had a blessing life because God is with us.

Build our character and be an excellent Christian.

Recently, a new round of God's power has manifested among us. We have had a better life, and many of us get a higher salary in your workplace. Please keep faith in God and don't cut corners and we can come through the test from God. God will definitely test us by fire to see if we can stand or not. If you are tested to be the grass and cut stems, you will be cast away. But if you are tested to be the gold, silver and precious stones, you will be treasure in God's eyes and collected in the God's Kingdom.

Brothers and sisters, do you want to be selected into God's Kingdom. If you want, build your character and to be an excellent Christian. You will find that nothing will be delayed. Follow and copy Jesus by fulfilling all righteousness; never give up meeting to show your faith in God. I hope every one of us is a person with good character. May God bless all of you!