This is the greatest hour to follow Jesus. Holy Spirit, burn your word into the depths of our hearts this morning and renew our minds

and lead us to Jesus.

I pray for full-blown encounters with you while I preach your word.

Oh Lord, we give you full permission to touch us, even during the teaching.

You define what teaching looks like, not us.

So light us on fire as your word goes forth in power.

In Jesus' name.

So last week I discussed with you in Matthew 5 that this is the Lord declaring.

Remember, he goes up the mountain and declares a higher law, the law of the kingdom.

And the, oh, it is like the fulfillment of the allegory of Moses going up, Mount Sinai, remember, Moshe means drawn from the water

as a type and shadow or allegorical figure of the one who would be drawn from the water in baptism,

and the only one who releases the water of the word and the spirit upon us.

Moses was obviously a picture of the Lord Jesus, who delivers us from our Egypt, who leads us

through the Red Sea, that's baptism. Notice it's in the Red Sea that the enemies of Israel are drowned and destroyed.

And that's why we see so often when we baptize people in water, those Leviathans in life are

slain and destroyed.

The early church used to say it's in the waters of baptism, the dragons die.

And this is all foreseen, or I should say foreshadowed,

in the Israelites going through the Red Sea following the cloud,

and then the cloud hits reverse and goes through them.

That speaks of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

And they walk on dry land, speaking of the Lord's capability

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