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The interest of the people by now was building. They were all beginning to wonder, "Could this John be the Messiah?"
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But John intervened: "I'm baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I'm a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out.
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He's going to clean house - make a clean sweep of your lives. He'll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he'll put out with the trash to be burned."
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There was a lot more of this - words that gave strength to the people, words that put heart in them. The Message!
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But Herod, the ruler, stung by John's rebuke in the matter of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,
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capped his long string of evil deeds with this outrage: He put John in jail.
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After all the people were baptized, Jesus was baptized. As he was praying, the sky opened up
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and the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending, came down on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: "You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life." Son of Adam, Son of God
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When Jesus entered public life he was about thirty years old, the son (in public perception) of Joseph, who was - son of Heli,
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son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai,
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son of Joseph, son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai,