"THE WAIT IS OVER!"-(Acts 1:4).............(Matthew 3:13-4:11)-(Acts 1:1-5)
The "promise of the Father" takes us back to the Jordan river where tens of thousands of candidates for baptism were assembled....but only ONE PERSON would recieve the "PROMISE OF THE FATHER"!  Jesus told his disciples, "there will be a day when the wait will be over!...For EACH OF YOU THAT BELIEVE will recieve what I have to live in you forever!"....and that is the Spirit of God!!!   Some of them are still out there WAITING for something!!!????!!!!
Let's examine that phrase "TO FULFIL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS".  Some (in this very county) would have you to think that baptism puts the "icing on the cake"; as if salvation is not completed until the physical work of baptism!  Jesus cried from the cross in (John 19:30-"IT IS FINISHED"!)   You and I do not FINISH anything when we are baptised....because Christ completed payment for our sin debt on the cross!!!  Many have died without an opportunity to be immersed in the water....but were just as saved and bound for heaven as you and I.  The dying theif (to whom Jesus said "Today you will be with me in paradise"); died AFTER Jesus died....and he never even had a chance to go to church a single time!!!
So just what does Jesus mean when he tells us that baptism FULFILLS ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS???  The word RIGHTEOUSNESS refers to "what is RIGHT and proper in every way".   A good way to explain this statement is the fact that Jesus never sinned, and therefore never had a need to GAIN RIGHTEOUSNESS AT ALL!!!  So, he is not being baptised because HE NEEDS IT....but because there are bystanders who need to see an outward representation of an inward faith towards God!  WHAT GOD WANTS FROM US IS A FAITH THAT IS ALSO OUTWARD!!!----(outside baptisms/New River cold!)

(1)-INDWELLED BY BELIEVING-(not baptizing!)
The bible says in (James 2:23-"Abraham believed God, and IT was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.")  On Pentecost (a word meaning "50" days after passover), the spirit of God INDWELLED thousands of people the moment they believed!!!
(Romans 8:9-"But ye are not in the flesh ,but in the Spirit; if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.  Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.")   The INDWELLING of the Holy Spirit is the FIRST evidence that you are genuinely saved!  In (v.16) of our text, John was told that the one on whom the Spirit of God rested (or indwelled) was accepted of God as the Messiah......so if the Spirit indwells YOU then you are accepted just as much as Christ is in the eyes of the Father above!  Some denominations confuse believers into thinking that they must wait for some special GIFT OF TONGUES or PROPHESYING before the Spirit can enter their hearts!.......But Jesus said the WAITING was only ONCE for the believers in Jerusalem!

(2)-IDENTIFIED BY BAPTISM-(not SAVED by it!)
Talk is cheap!  People give all sorts of reasons for not being baptized!  "I don't like to get my hair wet....I'm afraid of the water....It will mess up my make-up......I don't want people to see me with my hair wet.......Since a person can go to heaven WITHOUT baptism, then I'll take my chances....(It's the same ideology about getting married to someone...The bible says that in the last days people would FORBID TO MARRY!  However, being baptized is like saying "I do" to a relationship.....It is saying to the world "my love for God is more than words..it's a lifelong commitment"!!!)
(Romans 6:4-"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.")
*WE IDENTIFY OURSELVES EVERY DAY IN VARIOUS WAYS:
I show up at work...................(I am an employee of the Town of Taylorsville)
I show up at college...............(I am a water treatment professional)
I show up at home.................(I am a husband, adult, and father figure)
I show up in the pulpit............(I am pastor of Mt. Nebo Church)
I showed up in the baptistry....(July of 1979...I am a wholehearted believer in the resurrection of Christ!)

(3)-INSPIRED BY THE BIBLE-(not discouraged by it!)
To resist temptation-(Matt.4)        To rest from our troubles       To recouperate from our trials
Tonight, we again recognize baptism as representing the core of what we believe; that Jesus went DOWN in the grave of death...but rose agian and is alive today to soon come again to earth with power and great glory!