The Gospel calls us to a life above labels Don’t allow your labels to become your limits Luke 3:1-2 - In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. John had a unique mission and a unique message Luke 3:3-5 – And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.’” John’s mission was “Prepare the way” Matthew 3:11; 13-15a – “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry…then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” John 3:30 – He must increase, but I must decrease Matthew 14:3-4 – For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” John’s message was “Change your way” The Gospel makes us bold and humble at the same time Romans 8:31b – “If God for us, who can be against us?”