3. Preparation

Acts 7:30-33

Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.'

Exodus 3:4-6

When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Luke 14:27

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

John 19:17

He went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.

Actually, the Greek here (ἱκανός) is typically rendered "sufficient," "enough," or "adequate." John is saying the task of cleaning the feet--the lowest task of the lowest servant in the house--is above his pay grade.

Exodus 4:10 (LXX)

Moses said to the LORD, "Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue."

Matthew 8:8

The centurion replied, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed."

1 Corinthians 15:9

I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

2 Corinthians 2:15-17

We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Acts 2:3-4

Divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:16-18

This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
"And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit,
and they shall prophesy."

"[Grain] was winnowed by tossing in the wind, which caused the chaff to blow away and the grain to fall back into the basket, and was then stored in great silos."

Gray, A. William , Ordish, . George , Fussell, . George Edwin , Rasmussen, . Wayne D. , Crawford, . Gary W. , Mellanby, . Kenneth and Nair, . Kusum. "origins of agriculture." Encyclopedia Britannica, February 4, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/topic/agriculture.

Jeremiah 23:26-29

How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD. Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

The Bible clearly teaches hell is eternal.

This also is tied to Acts 7:33, "Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.'"

John 1:33

I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'

Acts 1:4-5

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

Acts 11:15-17

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?

Acts 19:3-5

And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They said, "Into John's baptism." And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Acts 2:40-41

With many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Luke 16:16

The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.

Acts 10:36-37

"As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed...."

John 1:19

The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"

Baptism as birth or new creation was well recognized in the ancient near east, and it would have been known this meant a new start or a re-dedication to faith. If the language at 1:19 did not make this clear, we certainly see now that this delegation from the Pharisees see themselves as the authority in religion.

John 1:33

I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'

See the comments on the Jordan at Matthew 3:6.

While contrasting baptism of the Spirit to baptism in water, let's take the opportunity to define the term "baptize."

LSJ
βαπτίζω
dip, plunge

• in Passive, to be drowned
• of ships, sink or disable them
• flooded the city, metaphorically, of the crowds who flocked into Jerusalem at the time of the siege
• to be drenched
• soaked in wine
• over head and ears in debt
• seeing that he was getting into deep water
• draw wine by dipping the cup in the bowl

βαπτίζω is from the verb βάπτω:
LSJ
βάπτω
transitive, dip (so as to temper the red-hot steel)
[Remember, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire!"]

• Passive, iron in process of being tempered
• and of coral, become hard
• of slaughter in Tragedy
• also, dip in poison
• dye
• the sword dyed [the robe] red
• dye the beautiful cloths
• absolute in Middle Voice, dye the hair
• glaze earthen vessels
• of gilding and silvering
• draw water by dipping a vessel
• draw water by dipping the bucket
• having dipped it so as to draw water from the sea

intransitive, the ship dipped, sank