The Rite of Water Baptisim

As Christians, one of the first rites I believe every born-again believer should observe, either at the moment of being saved in the Lord or sometime shortly thereafter, is to be baptized with water. You can either be baptized with water at the moment you are receiving your gift of eternal salvation from the Lord or you can be baptized with water at a later date. Jesus is definitely telling us that He wants water baptism to be included as a part of the salvation experience with Him. However, I do not believe that water baptism is an actual "essential" for a true salvation experience to occur with the Lord. In other words, it is not an actual requirement for salvation.
 If you are saved at a Billy Graham crusade, but do not go through an actual water baptism at the crusade, you will still go straight to heaven if you should die on the way home before you could have gone through an actual water baptism at a later date. As you will see in one of the verses listed below, we are saved by grace through our faith in Jesus - not by any type of water baptism. Water baptism is still a rite of "works," and the verse I will give you below will definitely tell us that we are not saved by any type of works, but only by grace through our faith in Jesus.
There are some who believe in what is called "baptismal regeneration." This is a belief that we cannot be saved and regenerated by the Holy Spirit unless we go through an actual water baptism. However, when you look very closely at the verses I will list below, and exactly what water baptism is really signifying and symbolizing with the Lord, I believe these verses are telling us that water baptism should be included as an actual "part" of the salvation experience with the Lord, but that it is not an actual "essential" or necessary requirement of it.
As you all know, people can receive the Lord's free gift of salvation anywhere and at anytime. If you can be baptized with water at the time you are receiving your salvation in the Lord, that is great and you should always do that if at all possible. However, there will be other times that there will be no water or any means to actually baptize someone with water when someone is being saved in the Lord.
If that should happen, then the person who has just been saved should be baptized with water as soon as he reasonably can at a later date. But if by chance he would die before he could have been baptized with water, he would still go straight to heaven. The fact that he could not be baptized with water will have no bearing or influence on him being able to enter into heaven if he should die before he could have been baptized with water. If we are only saved by grace through our personal faith in Jesus and not by any type of works we can do, which will include any type of water baptism, then why is Jesus telling us that He still wants us to include water baptism as part of the actual salvation experience with Him? I believe there are five main reasons as to why Jesus wants us to include water baptism as part of our salvation experience with Him.
1. To Symbolize the Washing Away of Our Sins When you are being saved through your faith in Jesus, all of your past, present and future sins are now being fully forgiven. As you will see in the verses below, all of your sins are actually "washed away" by the blood of Jesus. When you are being fully immersed during the rite of water baptism, you are going through a symbolic act of having all of your personal sins completely washed away by the blood of Jesus. The rite of water baptism perfectly symbolizes the purification and cleansing that we are receiving from the Lord during the salvation experience with Him.
 2. To Identify With the Death and Resurrection of Jesus As you will see in the verses below, water baptism is also identifying and testifying to the death and resurrection of Jesus. When we are being fully immersed into the water, we are identifying with Jesus' physical death on the cross and His body going fully into the grave. When the pastor raises us up out of the full immersion, this is identifying with the full resurrection of Jesus from that grave. The rite of water baptism by way of a full immersion is thus a perfect outward symbol act of both the death and resurrection of Jesus.
3. To Symbolize the Death of Our Old Life and Old Man, the Inward Regeneration of the Holy Spirit, and the Resurrection Into a New Life The Bible tells us that once we are saved, that we have now become new creations in Christ, that our human spirits have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and that our old life and our old man have now died and been done away with. Being fully immersed in water symbolizes the death of our old life and old man and the inward regeneration of the Holy Spirit - and the pastor raising us up out of the water represents the resurrecting into a brand new life in the Lord.
4. Signifying Our New Inner Union With the Lord When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we immediately receive the Holy Spirit on the inside of our human spirits. As a result of receiving the Holy Spirit on the inside of us, we now have a new direct spiritual union with both God and Jesus on the inside of our beings since the Holy Spirit is the One who divinely connects us to both God and Jesus in heaven. As you will see in one of the verses below, the Bible tells us that we have been "united together" with the Lord when we accept Him as our personal Savior. This uniting together with the Lord now forms an actual spiritual union with Him. We are now all part of the same one Spirit, and that one Spirit is the Holy Spirit Himself. Being fully immersed into the water during the rite of water baptism perfectly symbolizes our new inner union with the Lord since water is one of the main symbols of the Holy Spirit in the Bible.
5. Initiation Into the Body of Christ I believe that going through a proper water baptism is also an actual initiation rite with the Lord. Not only are we being directly joined to the Lord through the Holy Spirit as a result of being saved, but we now also get to become an actual member of the Body of Christ, which is the Church itself.
 Definitions The word "baptism" means "to dip, to immerse." Here are some of the basic definitions from some of the different Bible Dictionaries and Commentaries on what the rite of water baptism is all about and why the Lord wants us to include this as a part our personal salvation experience with Him: To dip, to immerse, to submerge Signifying union with Christ Initiation into the Christian community Ritual commanded by Christ to be practiced in the church Identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ A rite signifying one's cleansing from sin through Christ's sacrifice Outward sign of inward regeneration by the Holy Spirit The immersion or dipping of a believer in water symbolizing the complete renewal and change in the believer's life and testifying to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the way of salvation Though we do not need the rite of water baptism to actually receive the gift of eternal salvation from the Lord, this rite is still very powerful before the Lord and before the world in general, as we are making a public profession of our faith to the Lord by being willing to be fully submerged in a pool of water. As such, every Christian should make it their top priority to be baptized with water as soon as they can after receiving their salvation from the Lord.

Is God Good?

Why do Christians say, "God is good"? Because He is. Why do people believe God is a bad God? Due to famines, wars, shootings and violence that take place every day in this world, many assume that God must be bad. They think He is allowing these events as punishment. They believe we anger Him so He sends down tornadoes, hurricanes and every bad thing to strike us. People have gotten this impression from the Old Testament. There we see God sending a flood to wipe out the evil people of Noah's time. Though He did save those who He deemed righteous (Genesis 7). Let's see why this took place: In the Garden of Eden, God made a man, Adam, and woman, Eve (Genesis 1-2). He told Adam not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The serpent (Satan in disguise) beguiled Eve into eating of the fruit, then she gave it to Adam, who could have refused the fruit but didn't. That day they sinned. Through that act of disobedience, sin entered into this world (Genesis 3). God is a God of justice. Just as a judge has to prosecute a criminal act, God has to prosecute sin.. However, He, also being Love, hated to see His creations suffer, so He sent His only Begotten Son, Jesus, to Earth to be born of a virgin. Mary gave birth to Jesus (Genesis 2:1).
While on Earth, He grew up and went to the Cross for us(Matthew 27). Only a sinless person could die for the sins of every human being--past, present and future. After being beaten and bruised, the Roman soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross. God judged Jesus, who had never sinned, for our transgressions. He put every curse of the law and all the effects of the curse, including poverty, every kind of sickness and disease, infidelity, strife and so much more on Jesus. Jesus paid the price we should have paid. He died for us (Matthew 27). God didn't leave Him dead (Matthew 28. No, God raised Jesus from the dead, so that we might enjoy our lives to the full, until they overflow. That is how much God loves us. He did this for you, me and everyone else in this world, yet people still call Him a bad God. Why is that? People feel that God causes people to starve in Africa, that He causes car crashes that take children's parents, that He causes tsunamis.
However sin entered this world through the act of disobedience on one man's part. When Adam sinned, he essentially handed the earth over to Satan and said, "It's yours now. Do with it as you please." At that point, Satan became the ruler of the earth and the air. It wasn't until Jesus died that Jesus took back that authority and gave it to us (Luke 10:19). Most of us do not know that we have that authority. We allow Satan to reek havoc on this earth even though he has no legal right to do so. It's like a person being left an inheritance of one million dollars and then living poor, struggling in life, because he didn't know what he had inherited. Most Christians are like that. We know Jesus died for us, but we think that's all in which we are entitled.
When we accept Christ, we are entitled to so much more than merely being saved from going to hell. We have authority over this world because of Jesus' death and resurrection. We have authority to do greater works than Jesus (John 14:12), but we don't. We do the same works as Jesus. Most of the time, we do less. Jesus raised the dead (John 11:43-44). He healed the sick (Luke 4:40). He opened blind eyes (Matthew 9:27-30) and deaf ears (Mark 9:25-27). Why don't we? We don't know that we can speak to the weather patterns, like Jesus did, and command them to stop. We don't speak to those mountains in our lives (Mark 11:23), and the lives of others, because we believe those problems will laugh at us. However we have the authority over them.
We need to start acting like who we are--children of the Most High God--endued with the power to cast out demons, speak with new tongues, lay hands on the sick and see them recover and raise the dead (Mark 16:17-18). We blame God for what we have authority to control. The only thing God is guilty of is giving us the authority on this Earth. When we read the Bible, we learn what it is that we have authority over and how to take that authority. The Bible and the Holy Spirit are the only weapons we need against this world and the devil. Even though things look bad, our circumstances are subject to change to the Truth, the Word of God. Adam and Eve sinned, and God still blessed them with children (Genesis 4:1-2, 25).
Abraham slept with a woman besides his wife to make a baby (Genesis 16:11). Still God gave Abraham and his wife, Sarah, their promised son, Isaac (Genesis 17:19). The children of Israel turned away from God so many times by worshipping false gods, yet God delivered them every time. God is faithful even when we are not. He is good to us when we don't deserve it. He is preparing a place for us in Heaven (John 14:2-3) when we die, if we accept Jesus. He is a good God. Its the humans who He gave authority of this world to that messed it up. We blame God for being a bad God when we are the ones in charge of this earth. The devil is defeated, so instead of fighting for the victory, we need to fight from the victory ground. We are not trying to get healed. We are healed by Jesus stripes (I Peter 2:24). We are not trying to get rich. We are rich in Christ (2 Corinthians 8:9). Stand up and take your authority today.

Does Jesus' Baptism Condemn You?

Does baptism matter? Most Americans have come to the conclusion that it does not, a person can be saved and go to heaven baptized or not. It is such a settled conviction with most that they are not willing to give the study of the topic the time of day. It is ridiculous to even consider it as they see it. Only the spiritually blinded, only the cult faction, could think otherwise from their point of view. It seems to me this is taking the same attitude the Pharisees took back in the first century.
They had their settled law and there was no point in thinking there was any possibility that they might be in error. When Jesus came along and started questioning some of their beliefs and practices there was nothing to do but crucify him for there was no possibility in their mind that they could be wrong in their religion. What he had to say had to be heresy. A man ought to be cautious in reaching conclusions in spiritual matters for once this life is over and the next one has begun there is no going back a second time and getting it right. There are no second chances and eternity is a long, long time.
I would like to look at baptism and want to start with an account that is often overlooked - the baptism of Jesus when John baptized him. It is certainly true that the baptism of John differs from that which the Lord commanded in the great commission as given in Matthew 28 and Mark 16. If I was to be baptized with the baptism of John today it would not do me an ounce of good for its time has long since come and gone. Nevertheless, that was not the case when Jesus came to John to be baptized approximately 2,000 years ago. Mark tells us (Mark 1:4 NKJV), John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.We know that Jesus never sinned and when Jesus comes to John to be baptized John is hesitant.
In Matthew 3:14 we are told that, John tried to prevent Him, saying, I have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me? Now note carefully how Jesus responds.But Jesus answered and said to him, Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he allowed Him.(Matt. 3:15 NKJV) Why was Jesus baptized? To fulfill all righteousness for that is what he says. What did he mean by that? The answer is found in Psalms 119:172,My tongue shall speak of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness. Jesus was baptized because it was the righteous thing to do for God had commanded it and all of God's commandments are righteousness.
In Matt. 21 Jesus is being confronted by the chief priests and the elders who want to know by what authority he is doing the things he is doing. The Bible says, (Matt. 21:24-26 NKJV), Jesus answered and said to them, I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men? And they reasoned among themselves, saying,If we say, From heaven, He will say to us Why then did you not believe him? But if we say,From men, we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.
Jesus is saying John's baptism has to be either from God or from man, which was it? Jesus believed (knew) it was from God and was baptized. The Pharisees did not believe it was from God and thus were not baptized. In Jesus case belief led to obedience, in the Pharisee's case disbelief led to disobedience. In Luke 7 Jesus has been talking about John the Baptist and the Bible says, beginning in verse 29,And when all the people heard Him (Jesus DS), even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John.
But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.(NKJV) This provides further proof that John's baptism was from or of God. The counsel of God was that men receive John's message and be baptized. John's message was that men repent and be baptized, a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. The Good News Bible translates Mark 1:4 as follows: So John appeared in the desert, baptizing and preaching.Turn away from your sins and be baptized, he told the people, and God will forgive your sins." This was the message of God for the people that was rejected by the Pharisees, lawyers, chief priests, and elders.
But, the Bible says even the tax collectors justified God, have been baptized with the baptism of John. (Luke 7:29 NKJV) What does it mean justified God, how is that done? The New American Standard translation of this verse clarifies it a lot. It reads,And when all the people and the tax-gatherers heard this, they acknowledged God's justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John. Part of John's message was that there was to be wrath to come and the way of escape was to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. When men obeyed John's preaching they were in affect saying by their actions that God was just in bringing this wrath upon them unless they did repent and obey and that it was just of him to demand their repentance and baptism.
Now what does all of this have to do with you and me today, with men and women in general? There is a direct application and an argument I think no one can reject save at their own peril. Jesus asked the question where did John's baptism come from, from God or man. Here is the question for you and me today, where did the baptism Jesus commanded come from, from God or man? Why would it be wrong to reject John's baptism in its time but right to reject Jesus baptism in our time? Jesus made it clear that to reject John's baptism in its time was to reject the counsel of God against themselves. Are we not doing the same thing today, rejecting God's counsel against ourselves, when we refuse to be baptized with Jesus baptism, the baptism of the great commission.
If not why not? One cannot reason his way out of this dilemma but it gets even worse for those who want to reject baptism. Please note it was a salvation issue with Jesus concerning John's baptism. Are you going to say it is not a salvation issue today with Jesus baptism? How much difference is there in the meaning of the words, a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4 NKJV) spoken concerning John's baptism and the words repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins(Acts 2:38 NKJV) spoken concerning the baptism Jesus requires in our own time? The words sound very similar to me.
 Am I saying that both baptisms were identical? No, but the difference lay not in the end to be achieved. John's baptism ultimately would have done no good had Jesus not died on the cross. In that sense it looked forward and was a promise. We have this in our everyday lives all of the time. If I do this then I am promised that even though that may be down the road a ways. Paychecks are like that. We work trusting by faith the promise that we will be paid. This was John's baptism. Does this mean their actual forgiveness lay down the road somewhere in the future and was not immediate? No, for it was a certainty, not just a promise, that Jesus would die on the cross. The deed was as good as done the day it was first prophesied.
When Moses and Elijah met Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus had not yet died on the cross. Was their salvation hanging in the balance until he did die? To ask is to answer. So it was with those who obeyed John's teaching. Their sins were forgiven then and there or else John misled them for he said it was for the forgiveness of sins. The baptism Jesus gave man by way of the great commission was based on the fact that Jesus had already died and shed his blood for the remission of sins and the salvation of man. Man has to believe the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:1-4).
In short, for a man to receive the baptism of Jesus he must believe in the historical Jesus, the Savior of the world. If a man today refuses to obey the command to be baptized he refuses to do what Jesus said he was doing when he said,it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. (Matt. 3:15 NKJV) It has already been pointed out that all God's commands are righteousness (Psalms 119:172). If we have a command to be baptized today, as far as I know all agree we do, should we not obey it and fulfill all righteousness? Why is it wrong to follow Jesus example? Does Jesus' baptism condemn you? It well could for when all is said and done you will either make camp with the Pharisees and other unbelievers who could not take God's word at face value, believe and obey it, or you will camp with those who did believe and did obey. You will either reject the counsel of God against yourself refusing to be baptized or else you will accept it, believe and obey it. Make no mistake about it, for there are way too many passages that teach it, God has commanded baptism for you and me today thus it becomes a matter of either we will or we won't. We will either accept his counsel or we will reject it.
I am sometimes taken aback by how people can just blow off baptism as being an insignificant thing unworthy of time or trouble. It is a reflection on God. Really is that not what Jesus was saying way back when you don't believe God? So many want to be saved by faith today apart from baptism and cannot see, as though blinded, that baptism is a part of faith, a part of the faith that saves.
You are either going to believe God or you are not going to believe him when he speaks of baptism in his word. Why is it we can see this when Jesus addresses the subject of John's baptism but cannot see the direct application to our own response in our time to Jesus baptism? I doubt any of us can fully grasp the power that tradition exerts on us when it comes to how we see things and how we think. Add to that the influence of friends and family and the desire for it to be the way we want it to be often because of family. All that be as it may God's word stands and so what are we going to do about it becomes the question. Many have answered I am not going to believe it as did the Pharisees. They did not believe it because they did not want to believe it. We pretty much end up believing what we want to believe instead of what we ought to believe. I close this now just adding one final thought. The decision is yours.

Living By Faith & Not By Sight

Your ability to live by faith has nothing to do with: Who you are, where you were born, or where you live. The amount of money you presently have in your bank account, billfold or purse or don't presently have in your bank account, billfold or purse. Amount of time you have or don't have. (Faith has no time, it is always now Faith. Faith is always present tense. I have _____ now. I can do _____ now. I am _____ now.) How much something costs. Has nothing to do with your ability or inability. (Remember: Faith is God's ability working on your behalf.
If you could do it yourself, you wouldn't have to use your faith.) If you have planned well financially or if there has been lack of financial planning. Job or no job. Paycheck or no paycheck or income or no income. The number of educational degrees you have or a lack of education. (The fishermen who walked with Jesus were men of faith and yet they were just fishermen and not highly educated men; but yet they told Jesus when He sent them out to minister on their own that their every need was met.) Your five physical senses (They only relate to the physical realm and will only tell you what is going on in the physical realm, but faith is of the spirit, a higher realm.
 You're actually living in a higher realm, not subject to the natural realm when you live by faith.) Natural limitations. (Faith is supernatural ability and there are no limitations with faith. If there were limitations then we could say God is limited, but that will never be.) A person's intelligence or lack of it. (Actually intelligence can get in the way of faith by trying to figure out how it is going to happen. Faith is working when your heart and not your head is fixed, established, trusting in the Lord.) Your ability in any matter. (Faith is God's ability working on your behalf.) What is faith? Faith is substance of things hoped for needed and desired, evidence of what cannot be seen by your physical eyes, your assurance, your confirmation, your title deed of things, proof of things not seen, conviction of their reality, perception as real fact what is not revealed to senses, leaning of your entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. KJV Hebrews 11:1 NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. AMP Hebrews 6:12 In order that you may not grow disinterested and become [spiritual] sluggards, but imitators, behaving as do those who through faith ( by their leaning of the entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) and by practice of patient endurance and waiting are [now] inheriting the promises. AMP Faith is always now, present tense.
You talk like it is done. Faith is a law, spiritual law: Romans 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. KJV Faith and patience are power twins: Hebrews 6:12 .faith ( by their leaning of the entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) and by practice of patient endurance and waiting are [now] inheriting the promises. AMP James 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. KJV Acting in faith, you just believe and act accordingly; staying Holy Spirit connected and He will guide you through the whole process. How easy is that? We make spirit things complicated and really we are more spiritual then we are human or carnal since God lives in us and we are now born again of the Spirit and have the ability to operate out of our spirit rather than be limited and controlled any more by our intellect or what the five physical senses tell us. How do we receive faith? We received the faith of God when we got born again.
Faith is a gift from God. (Romans 12:3) We have the faith of Christ Jesus. (Galatians 2:20) Faith also comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17 So hear and hear again the Word concerning what you need; healing, prosperity, etc.) Building up your faith by praying in the Holy Ghost. (Jude 20) To remain in faith or as the Word of God calls it,established heart,we have to guard the gates to our heart (our believing), which are our eyes gates and ear gates. Don't keep looking at, paying attention to or listening to what is the opposite of what you want by faith. Faith is not what we see or hear. Faith is not having faith in you and faith in your faith. Faith is having faith in God, His Word and the faith He has given to you which always does its work in any and every situation. The Word of God is the written and spoken Word of God to us. The Word of God, itself, has enough power in it to bring things to pass; the Word just needs to be spoken out of your mouth for your situation.
The Word needs you to be the receiver as well. So you are the spokesperson and the receiving person for faith. So don't get so afraid you are going to fail in your faith for it is God's faith He has given to you as a gift, just use it. And you are not the person to make it happen or you would be already doing it with your natural ability. You are just the believing person enough so that you speak it and act like it is done, finished. You receive it with speaking it is already reality. Speaking only the Word of God and speaking words that mean,I received it. Then acting like,Okay, there it is. I m glad that's over with. Its done, finished, over with. When we speak in line with the Word of God we are not lying although in the natural we look like we are. Can we be lying when we speak what God has spoken about us.
We are healed by the stripes of Jesus. No, that is not a lie, it is the truth about us. And we are not speaking it to make people believe we are healed. We speak it because we know it is the truth about us or our situation. Abraham became fully persuaded in his faith to become a father when it was humanly impossible when He started speaking the name God gave to him, Abraham, which means Father of nations. When he spoke his name,Abraham, he was saying he was the father of nations. He never got fully persuaded in his faith he would become a father until God changed his name and he started speaking it and hearing it over and over by his family, servants, etc. Stealers of Faith: Being around natural, carnal thinking people and natural, carnal speaking people will steal your faith.
They are always speaking what is, what they can see, hear, smell, taste or touch. So stay clear of them and seek to be around people who think in line with the Word of God, speak in line with the Word of God and act on their faith in the Word of God. (A good example of this is Abraham. When he was still named Abram, God told him to leave family and all that was familiar to him. If he had not done this, then he would not be known as our Father of faith, Abraham.) Another stealer of faith is always looking, hearing, meditating, considering and speaking what is going on in the natural circumstances in your life. (If you want change, you have to change what you look at, listen to, meditate on, consider and speak.
If you don't, then you will only perpetuate the problem. What you focus on will expand.) A good thing to remember in faith is to establish your heart in the Word of God about a particular thing you want to receive from God and then when the Word of God gets bigger on the inside of you through meditation then the problem or thing needing changed or brought to pass; that is the best time to speak it. That is when it is easy to speak the Word in spite of every thing and everyone that says, That's impossible. Meditation plus speaking your faith brings possession. Faith's actions can sometimes mean just speaking the Word of God or words of having received it or It is done. Then there are promptings of the Holy Spirit to do a certain thing. Acted upon will bring results no matter how ridiculous it may seem.
Some good examples of faith we can meditate to help establish our heart in faith are: Read about Abraham, the Father of our faith, Romans 4. The Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. And to see the New Testament Church with faith in action read the book of Acts. To make faith simple: Faith is trust or confidence in Jesus and His finished work. How simple is that? Jesus has said, It is finished. Now He has seated Himself on the right hand of the Father not because He is tired from all His work. No, He is telling us He has done all that He needs to do for us to receive all that we need and all He has promised us. And we know Jesus would not lie to us.
So we can say, By the stripes of Jesus I am healed and made whole.(1 Peter 2:24)Jesus became so very poor in order that I could be enriched, abundantly supplied. I am rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9) I have been made righteous by Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:21) I have listed on my website scriptures and confessions for you to speak in faith over your life.In Christ,your prosperity, Father God's love for you and your health and for healing. Let's make this confession of faith: God has given me the gift of faith. I actually have the faith of Jesus. Faith is the substance of things I hope for, need and desire. It is the evidence of what I cannot see by my physical eyes.
Faith is my assurance it is mine. Faith is the only confirmation I need to know that it is mine. Faith is the title deed to the possession of it. Faith is proof to me this is all done and taken care of. Faith is the conviction of the reality of this thing. With faith I perceive it is real fact in my life no matter what the senses tell me. With my faith I lean my entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in Father God, Daddy's power, wisdom and His goodness to me. I live by faith and not by sight.

Why Jesus didn't pray like you or I

Have you ever wondered what made the difference in Jesus prayer life? Other than he is the second person of the trinity, and thus has connections that you don't. Well...if we are honest with ourselves, we are so grateful that he didn't pray as we do. THE ANSWER MAY SHOCK YOU The answer can be found in the story of Jesus healing of Jairus daughter. So let's turn to Luke 8:41-56. There we read that Jairus begged Jesus to come to his house in order to lay hands on his dying daughter in order to heal her. Jesus agreed to do that and they were on the way to Jairus house. After they received news that it was too late because the daughter had died, Jesus gave the key information in verse 50. He said; Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. Those words that Jesus said were not his own, they were the Fathers (John 14:24). Those words clearly went across reality and psychological normalcy. Jairus clearly believed that Jesus could heal his daughter while she was alive. But how about now that she was dead? Jairus initially chose Jesus (God) when he made his plea. Now Jairus had to choose to believe Jesus (God) again. GOAL PLANNING BY JAIRUS
* Jairus had to believe Jesus (God) [Choose whom you will serve today]
* Jairus had to choose not to fear (worry or be anxious), and instead only believe. He did this constantly on the way to his home.
* He had to ACT as if when he and Jesus got home, Jesus would raise his daughter to life. He did this on the way to his home.
* He had to THINK about all the good times he was going to have watching his daughter grow up. He did this on the way to his home.
* By doing this insane Acting, Thinking, and Believing, Jairus was walking by faith, not by sight. Walking to his home to get his miracle (Walking by sight). Refusing to acknowledge, dwell on, accept the reality that his daughter was dead (Not by sight). JESUS UNFAIR, UNBIBLICAL ADVANTAGE Jesus didn't really have an unfair nor unbiblical advantage, but I have met a number of people who think he did. Jesus advantage was that he had a dialogue with God the Father. Jesus didn't talk at God only. No; he listened and heard God speaking to him. I m sure it was just as intimate and close as when Moses was alive. At that time, the Bible tells us God spoke to Moses like a man speaks face-to-face with another man.
The Bible tells us (John 14:24) that These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. At John 17 Jesus often tells the Father that he faithfully told his disciples whatever the Father told him to say. Because Jesus chose to have such an intimate relationship with God the Father, he was able to say the right things and do the right things that we needed him to do in order save us from our sins, and set the example for us all to follow. JESUS OTHER PRAYER SECRETS Jesus, as a man, chose never to sin. Which means that he was working on the old being righteous angle as well. Perhaps we should too, huh? Jesus gave the Lord's Prayer in response to his disciples request that he teach them how to pray. Yet, I am sure you have noticed that in all the recorded prayers of Jesus, he never once prayed the Lord's Prayer. He didn't need to as he went beyond that model. So why do we stop at reciting the prayer? Next, Jesus never prayed Scripture at or to God the Father in the sense of reminding the Father of something, or as leverage to get his prayers answered affirmatively.
Jesus used Scripture because either the Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit did or said something. Or an actual event took place or will take place. In other words, Scripture was real and very much a part of him. When faced with news of Jairus daughter's death, Jesus never prayed, thought, or believed that she could now receive a true and complete healing in her death. Nope he just listened to what his Father would say to him in prayer (a dialogue), and then do and obey what the Father told him to do or say. When faced with news of Jairus daughter's sickness, Jesus never prayed that the doctor s and nurses at the local Children's Hospital would be blessed and directed in their treatment of her. That way people could say that she was healed.
HOW WE PRAY FOR THINGS Most of us when we pray are only praying at God. Okay...to him. But we never listen for his response. If we do, it is usually for a minute or less. And don't even think about hearing God speak to us. Most Christians don't hear God speak to them often in prayer. And this is all due to their choice. They have chosen to believe that God can't or won't speak. That it is against the Bible to speak to his children during the New Testament era. The only time that God is allowed to speak to his children is either in heaven awaiting the Second Coming of Christ, or after the Second Coming. Of course, too many of us also do the opposite of the positive things listed above that Jesus did. Additionally, the following beliefs or practices, among others, are also practiced by us today:
● We have not allowed ourselves to be transformed into the image of Christ, so we are not very righteous. So our prayer is not going to accomplish a lot as per James 5:16.
● We recite Scripture at or to God in the sense of saying, Well, it worked for him or her, so I want you to do it for me too. Yet, we often don't consider the context of the Scripture in question. Nor do we take the reality and significance of Scripture nearly as seriously as did Jesus.
● We will only pray for holy things, such as salvation for others, money and resources for our church and pastor, blessing church related events, and so forth.
● We will only pray for things if it is God's will and we know it to be so, we know that we will receive it, and we know this all in advance of our praying for it.
● And we don't really believe that God can or will do for us whatever it is we are seeking or needing. THE TIME HAS COME, THE WALRUS SAID... The time has come to be challenged by God's Word. To make our choice as to what kind of a relationship we want with God. To help you make that choice, let me review with you the benefits of hearing God speak to you. They are:
* Brings healing to people like Jairus daughter
* Makes others grow in faith as it did for Jairus and his daughter
* Results in praise and thanksgiving to God
* Creates a closer friendship between the saint and God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
* Creates a testimonial for you as it did for Jairus and his daughter
* Is an example for others to aspire to in their life
* Brings abundant life to others such as Jairus and his daughter
THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER God has taught his saints in the Bible, and through experience, how to become a closer friend of His. To be able to hear his voice and do mighty things for him. If this is what you want for your life, then pick up a copy of my book How To Hear And Discern The Voice Of God. It will move you into Jesus arms and help you get your prayers answered affirmatively more often. RUN NOW TO: http://www.kingofprayer.com

Christian Spiritual Counseling

Christian Spiritual Counseling is different from regular counseling. Regular counseling gives you a solution (the act, method, or process of solving a problem or the answer to a problem) to the problem, but spiritual counseling gives you the antidote (anything that works against an evil or unwanted condition) to the problem. It fixes the problem once and for all. The scripture says that If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. I Chronicles 7:14 The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Psalms 33:11 God's counsel never changes it is for all generations the past, present and future. God's word never changes, we as people change. God is no respect of person what he does for one He will do for another. Life my get you down at times but the counsel of God will lift you up. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: Proverbs 1:5. You are wise if you are a good listener and eager to learn your knowledge will increase for your good. Someone with good understanding will seek out wise counsel. A wise Counselor is someone who the Lord's spirit shall rest upon, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; Christian Counselors should attain these attributes in order to give effective counseling. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: Ephesians 1:11 The Lord has a plan for all of us. It is in Him that we learn who we really are and what we are living for. He is working in you so that you can live up to your full potential that He placed in you. Christian counseling can help you with the plans God has for your life. Plans to make you succeed not fail to give you a more enjoyable and abundant life. Christian counseling is based on the word of God not some theory. His word has been counseling people for over 2000 years and it will never change it will always stay the same. Just look around you today the world is in utter chaos our forefathers must have known something when they put In God We Trust on American money. We started trusting man instead of God and things got chaotic. And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. Judge 18:5 Years ago people use to seek out God for all the answers to their questions. Don't get me wrong many still do today myself included. People would seek counsel from someone with a close relationship with God like a priest to ask question to see if their plans would be successful. Proverbs 11:14 says Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of Counselors there is safety. When people don't seek right counsel there is great confusion amongst them; but with wise counseling your life will be secure. Christian Spiritual Counseling to encourage and give hope through scripture and wisdom from above. We counsel the spirit, body and soul through God's word. Spiritual Counseling that will set you free from bondage through the scripture.

Life Lessons from the Bible: New Insights on Joseph

This week I was reading in the Bible, the story of Joseph of Egypt-a story I've read many times, but I had some new insights this week. Most everyone knows the basics...his father Jacob loved Joseph so much that his brothers were jealous of him. So they sold him to some travelers and told their father he had been killed by a wild beast. Now, the only thing Joseph ever really did to bring his fate upon himself was to be so well trusted and beloved. But at a tender age he was taken from his family to become basically a slave. But what I realized is that the Lord had a greater plan for Joseph. Here he had these terrible things happen to him through no fault of his own that were the Lord's means of bringing about his greater purposes. Joseph ended up in Egypt as a servant to Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's guard. There he became trusted and loved as well.
Potiphar made Joseph overseer of his household. He was given access to every thing that Potiphar had except one, his wife. Well, Potiphar's wife ended up with her eye on Joseph. But, Joseph, being true and faithful as he was, wasn't about to be seduced. But the wife of Potiphar took this personally and accused him of trying to seduce her. Here is another of life's lessons in this. One thing I've learned is that frequently those who scream the loudest about things tend to be guilty of exactly those things themselves. So Joseph ended up in prison for this. But it was as a result of his time in prison that Joseph ended up being Pharaoh's right hand man. Through interpreting the dreams of others in the prison, he was sent for when the Pharaoh had a dream that no one else could interpret. So how crappy would that be, to be sold to strangers as a young man, then get thrown in prison for doing what's right! But its important to see that these were God's steps to put Joseph in the right place at the right time.
So here's lesson #1 I took from this reading: When we have adversity in our lives, look to God to see how He is blessing our lives instead of feel like he must be punishing us or is not mindful of us. How many times in life have you seen someone lose a job, which feels devastating, but that ending up being the road to a better job that either pays better or they enjoy more, or it moves them to a new location that ends up being just the right place for them? There are a lot more examples of this. If you look for them in your life you will see them.
Lesson #2 has to do with the dreams Joseph interpreted for Pharaoh. The first was that seven healthy and fat kine (cattle) were devoured by seven ill favored and lean-fleshed kine. In the second, seven thin and wind blasted ears of corn devoured seven full and good ears. Joseph interpreted this as seven years of plenty followed by seven years of drought. So during the seven years of plenty Egypt, under Joseph's direction, gathered and stored food. Then during the seven years of want, those in Egypt had enough to eat and also had enough to sell it to those in surrounding areas. So what lesson is there for us in this? Well, how different would the economy be if during the recent time of plenty our country would have built more savings and bought less fancy stuff? People borrowed from the future and the future fell through on them.
My religious leaders have given the counsel throughout my entire life to spend less than we make and to save for a rainy day. Unfortunately, most people have not heeded that counsel and I believe the Lord finally said,Enough! The good news is that God is a loving father who does not wish to punish his children but he also can't save us from the consequences of our choices. Now, I m not by any means saying that everyone who is suffering financially deserves it. But this is an opportunity for us to learn to save more and spend less. And the true test will be when the economy picks up and is booming again. Will we still spend less and save more? Or will we begin to borrow from the future again? And I'll just touch on the last lesson Joseph has to offer us. This ones more obvious and wasn't new to me this week but its important. Take a look at how quickly he forgave his brothers when they came to Egypt to buy grain to keep their family from starving. Let's all try to forgive a little more and be less likely to harbor resentment. I realized I had a lot to learn from Joseph of old.
I can look more for the blessings in my adversity and see it as an opportunity for growth and change. I can save for a rainy day instead of borrowing from an uncertain future. And I can forgive more and resent less. God blessed and prospered Joseph and I m certain that he had a peace in his life and in his heart that few experience. I believe that God will bless and prosper us and give us more peace in our hearts as we follow his example.

Skilled Worship

Many have misunderstood worship to be nothing more than an emotional expression. Culture has given us the idea that showing emotion is a sign of weakness. Men are led to believe that emotional outbursts are some how feminine and that expressions of feelings shows a lack of courage and resolve. I believe such ideas come from Satan. The devil truly fears when men worship and will do what he can to keep men from worshiping the Lord. Worship brings God into situations. Worship puts God on the side of the worshipers and let's God's power flow. Many times in the Bible God instructed kings and leaders to have the worshipers lead the way into battles that seemed impossible to win. Then before and confrontation could take place, the Lord would send a heavenly ambush against the enemy. In Act 16, when Paul and Silas were in the Phillipian jail, they sang songs in the night and the Lord sent an earthquake that opened the prison doors and broke their bondages.

When David played his harp the evil spirit that was troubling king Saul was silenced. Psalm 8: 2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When Jesus quoted this scripture... Matthew 21:16. And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? When the children of Israel shouted with a great shout the walls of Jericho fell down flat. Psalm 47:1. O Clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. Worship is not wimpy. Worship is a tool of spiritual warfare and the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God. (2 Corinthians 10:4) Worship is battle.

David was a man skilled in worship. His skill was more than just musical ability. He worshiped the Lord exuberantly. 1 Samuel 16:18. Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him. 1 Chronicles 15:27-29 And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also had upon him an ephod of linen. Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps. And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, that Michal, the daughter of Saul looking out at a window saw king David dancing and playing: and she despised him in her heart.

When David chose the worshipers for the tabernacle he chose those who were skilled at worship. He wrote in the Psalms, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, play skillfully and loud. (see Psalm 33:1-4) Think about this men. We become skilled at our jobs. We become skilled at fixing things. We become skilled at construction and at mechanics, and on computers, and in sports. We want to do a good job on the things we do. As Christian soldiers and prayer warriors, for the sake of our families and our churches and our very souls, we must become skilled worshipers. We must learn to worship the way David did. We must ...

1. Know our God. Just because we cannot see Him does not mean He is intangible.

2. We must know the Word. The Bible is our sword in spiritual warfare. We must become excellent marksmen.

3. We must pray the Word. It is the written words of our Commander and Chief. When we worship God with hearts of faith and consecration, mighty things happen. Spiritual and even physical battles are won. Demons are silenced. Impossible victories are won. It's time to take a new attitude toward worship. When you worship you are not showing weakness; you are demonstrating the strength and power of God.

Three Kinds of Love

In the New Testament, Christ says to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?" There are, of course, many kinds of love. There is the love between parents and children, there is the love between neighbors, friends, and lovers, and of course the love between a human being and God, to name but a few. Here, Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the love between people, which he says ought to be modeled on the way God loves us -- God loves the righteous and the unrighteous alike. He will later say that this commandment, to love our neighbor, coupled with the commandment to love God, is the entire essence of the law. Christ begins by telling his disciples that they must love their enemies and pray for their persecutors. The concept of our 'enemy', of course, is by no means limited to those people who wish to literally kill or maim or ruin us.

Our 'enemy' can also include that person who, at the moment, happens to be aggravating us. As Jesus goes on to point out, there is nothing especially admirable or praiseworthy about loving someone who we know loves us - this is so simple that even tax collectors can do it! The disciples are told that their love has to be much more than this. They will have to love their neighbor even when their love is not returned, even when the neighbor is annoying or cruel and loving is difficult. We all like to wax sentimental about loving, yet a little authentic self-observation makes it abundantly clear that we rarely if ever can do it.

Our lack of success is evident everywhere we look -- from wars between nations, to violence in the streets, to broken homes and families, to all hatred that we hide within our hearts. Real loving is an arduous task. It requires a great deal of effort, a great deal of patience, and a great deal of Grace. Yet, for the most part, we are stunningly misled into believing that we have nothing more to learn about love than what we already figured out by about the age of fourteen. To the contrary, however, the subject of love ought to be the subject of a lifetime of contemplation. A human being is composed of a Body, Heart, and Mind, and each of these components has its own special kind of 'love'.

 (1) The love that has to do with the Body is all about chemical attraction. This is that desperate and dazzling sensation of sexual need and hunger that overtakes us in the presence of certain people, that focuses all our attention on the desire for union with their body and the release of overwhelming physical tension. Pure physical love can be profoundly enjoyable, and as such it is good for the soul and good for a relationship. Human beings have the right to enjoy their sexuality. (Jewish tradition even requires married couples to have sexual relations on the Sabbath). Once the union of bodies and the release of tension have been achieved, however, the 'hunger' disappears, at least temporarily and perhaps forever. So by itself, this kind of love does not sustain a meaningful relationship for very long. And, tragically, the vulgarity that pervades so much of modern culture tends to associate the sex act with filth, while relentlessly insisting that this is all the love we should ever expect or aspire to achieve. Sadly, then, this kind of love is all that some people will ever know.

 (2) But most of us will eventually go on to seek the kind of love that has to do with the Heart. This is the kind of love in which we feel a burning need to be utterly fulfilled by the Beloved after our heart has been struck by Cupid's Arrow and we find ourselves hopelessly 'in love'. This is the kind of love that is venerated in much of our literature and art, the exquisite experience of passion, desire, and romance, that we all hope we will find and remain immersed in forever. But unless great care is taken, the erotic force of these wonderful emotions will also eventually begin to dissipate, and ultimately degenerate into something negative. If we focus our attention inward and look honestly at these swirling emotions, we see that they are passive emotions. Rather than actually actively loving the Beloved, we find a desperate emotional need for the Beloved to love us. That is, after the initial exhilaration of falling 'in love', the situation soon deteriorates into a passive/aggressive demand to be loved. This, of course, eventually evokes resentment on the part of the Beloved, and we see this over and over again in the romantic tragedies of our lives, as couples get together, break up, get together in new pairs, break these up too, finally pair up in marriage, and then spend years tied together in misery and loneliness, or get divorced and continue the same old process all over again. This hopeless floundering between ecstasy and despair is all that most of us will ever know of love.

 (3) But there is a third kind of love which has to do with the Mind. This is the love that Jesus is talking about with his disciples, a conscious love that requires the Mind to be active - and this requires genuine maturity, so that we are no longer at the mercy of vulgar fashion trends or emotional selfishness. The disciples must learn to consciously and actively love, regardless of whether they receive love in return. They must love the enemies who hate them, they must love the persecutors who torture them, they must love the righteous and the unrighteous alike. This will require a Herculean effort of Will. Considering how filled with rage and malice we become when someone merely cuts us off in traffic, we really must see that, as we are, we would in no way be capable of loving an enemy who was literally trying to kill us. But if we recall that the term 'enemy' can symbolically refer to the friend or husband or wife who at the moment happens to be annoying us, we can bring this idea down to a level where we might be able to make use of it. Even tax collectors can feel lovingly toward people when all is going well and people are behaving lovingly toward them. When things are not going well, when life is difficult, when our 'Beloved' is being moody and exasperating - this is when real effort is required to give love, and this is when love really means something.


When we can honestly wish for the happiness and well-being of another human soul, regardless of their behavior, with no thought to any results for ourselves, this is when love really means something. In the case of a deep and nourishing friendship, the efforts of conscious love are necessary to sustain the relationship throughout the years. A marriage, however, requires even more. A marriage requires all three kinds of love. But it is only the Mind's conscious effort to steadfastly love even our 'enemies', to will ourselves to love the Beloved even in the most trying of moments, that can fan the fires of our physical hunger and emotional passion and keep them burning year after year.

 Our ancestors, at least in theory, understood this idea far better than we do. They arranged the marriages of their children, and then taught them (or perhaps just forced them by trial and error to learn for themselves) how to create an active and long lasting love. It did not always succeed, but many of these marriages were filled with contentment and joy as two strangers learned how to love one another.

Today, we base our marriages on emotionally 'falling in love', which certainly seems more fair and more romantic. But no one ever teaches us how to love our partners actively and consciously so that love can continue to blossom and to grow, rather than to passively deteriorate. Without this knowledge and ability, most marriages are doomed to fail, since a solely emotional 'love' (which is really just a demand to be loved) eventually evokes its opposite: that is, it evokes resentment in return. As Christ realized, it is only conscious love, a selfless love that does not demand anything in return, that paradoxically evokes love in return.

Best Study Bible - Secrets To Learning the Word Of God

The best study Bible can help you unlock many secrets in the Word of God. Many people know how important it is the study the word of the Lord, but they are not diligent in their walk with Christ. People who live in civilized cultures today have many distractions that keep us from spending time in the Word. We are too busy seeing checking our friend's Facebook walls to spend 20 minutes in the Word every day. I think you know exactly what I mean! I am guilty of doing this too.
The average person doesn't spend much time in the Word, and that makes it difficult for us to talk to others about Christ. It is for this reason that Christians should invest in the best study Bible to help us get interested in studying the Scriptures again. There are many reasons why Christians don't read the word of God. Some people just get bored with reading the Scriptures. If your relationship is not right with the Lord, it is easy to get distracted with other things.
There are a few secrets to learning the Word of God and embracing the Scriptures.
Buy the Best Study Bible You Can Find
Most people will spend thousands of dollars on iPads, fantastic vacations, and big screen televisions, but they won't invest in a great Bible. This kind of attitude has to change! You need to buy a great Bible that has many notations and footnotes that will help you understand the Scriptures from a scholars perspective.
If you have never owned a Bible with a concordance, you do not realize what you are missing! A concordance is great because you can find information on any topic in the Scriptures in just a couple minutes. With a study Bible, you will see different perspectives on the Word.
Study The Word of the Lord with other Christians
It will help you tremendously if you study the Scriptures with other Christians. The Lord did not design people to be lone ranger Christians. The Lord wants Christians to fellowship together, pray together, and study the Word of the Lord together. When you study with other people, it helps you to stay motivated to study the Scriptures.
Many people get bored with reading the Scriptures because they don't understand what the Scriptures are saying. Owning the best study Bible will help you see how the Scriptures relate to your life today.

You can find the best study Bible here.

Peace And Purity In The Churches

All Christians need to seek the peace and purity of the church. This is no small task because sin has set peace and purity at odds with one another. Those who seek doctrinal unity or purity, those for whom truth is the primary category of faithfulness are often charged with disturbing the peace of the church because they meet with opposition when they teach or assert various unpopular doctrines. And those who seek peace, those for whom fellowship is the primary category of faithfulness are often charged with disturbing the purity of the church because they want to maintain fellowship and camaraderie at the expense of truth. The one trumps fellowship with truth and the other trumps truth with fellowship. Scripture, however, insists on both peace (or fellowship among the saints) and purity (or doctrinal unity among the saints). Paul addresses this issue in its fullness in his letters to the Corinthians. Note Paul's first defense of the gospel here in chapter one of First Corinthians. His first attempt at telling the saints what they need in order to manifest both purity and peace in the church is very interesting. He spoke of baptism because that was the issue of presentation. People had been dividing themselves into groups based upon their baptisms. They separated themselves based upon who baptized them, upon whom they had been baptized into. It makes a kind of sense. Baptism is a mark of entry into the church. It is a common belief that how a person got into the church suggests his or her position in the church. The Reformed camp certainly understands this. They argue that people are brought into the church by the power of the Holy Spirit through regeneration, and not under their own power or by their own decisions to join or to be baptized. That's why they baptize infants as well as confessing adults. In other words, if you haven't been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit -- which is a function of baptism broadly defined and not tied to the time of baptism, you are not really a church member, no matter what you or anyone else may think. Yet, as much as people hold fast to this understanding of church membership, Paul brushes the issue of baptism aside, suggesting that the act of baptism is not in and of itself a sufficient indicator of church membership. Baptism is not a magic action that opens the doors of heaven. Rather, it is a symbolic ceremony. The symbolism is important, but not so important that it should disturb the peace and purity of the church. So, Paul's first defense of the gospel is not baptism. "For Christ did not send me," said Paul, "to baptize but to preach the gospel" (1 Corinthians 1:17). Paul will go on to say that the gospel is sufficient to defend itself, "for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). Paul's first defense of the gospel is this, "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power" (1 Corinthians 1:17). Paul tells us that worldly wisdom is not sufficient to make any judgments about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is saying that those who are wise in the eyes of the world are not able to think correctly about the gospel. And who are the wise in the eyes of the world? Professors, intellectuals, scientists, think-tank scholars, university scholars, news anchors, etc. There's nothing wrong with being a professor or an intellectual or a scientists or a scholar or a news anchor, and there is great need for Christians to occupy these fields of endeavor. The problem is that the tools of these professions, inasmuch as they are committed to the wisdom of the world -- that is to say wisdom without God, or wisdom apart from the light of Scripture -- will always fail to understand even the most basic things about God or Jesus Christ. They will always and consistently get Christianity wrong. Oh, they may stumble over a true thing now and then, but they will themselves fail to understand the fullness of any truth they come upon apart from Jesus Christ. Paul says it better, "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). He means that Christianity will always look stupid to the world, to those who do not begin their thinking with the reality of God. How could it be otherwise? Those who acknowledge God and those who deny God have completely different understandings of the facts.