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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Acts 1:4-7 Baptism of the Spirit as told by John the Baptist

 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

These verses have much to say about your theology and the expectations you have for your life.  Some denomination say that it is through the sacraments we are saved, that is through water baptism and through Holy Communion.  These are the means of grace for these Christians.  They define this as Jesus' chosen method of reaching out to the chosen.  Others hold that it is by faith we are saved by grace and not of ourselves, it is a gift of God, not from man, less no man may boast.  The latter teaching places its full hope in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and His role as a substitute for our sin.  When this faith is given, the Holy Spirit indwells the believer and the person is changed as the Spirit is the life giving Godhead.
My interpretation is the latter because before Jesus's resurrection, people were coming for water baptism, 
but after Jesus resurrection, men were "born again" by the life giving power of the Spirit and lives were changed.  Sacraments are  good and we are commanded to recognize them, but they are not the sole life giving agent of the Savior.

Daily Prayer:  Lord Jesus, if a meal and water baptism were enough, You would not have had to drink from the cup Your Father gave You.  But You did drink from the cup for our sake so that we could live and not die and so that we may spend eternity with you.  For where You are so shall I be also.  Amen and Amen.

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