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Baptism is now done of the spirit. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit."
1 Corinthians 12:13 KJB "And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost."
Acts 11:15-16 KJB God Bless you. You can find me on Facebook with anymore questions.
You need to determine in your heart & mind to leave them behind at the Cross & trust God for doing this & accepting you. Do you have a real sense of the Holy Spirit in you working in some ways to confirm the holy transaction that has been done? Or is this teaching of the Spirit still a mystery & an absence in your experience? Are you prepared to stand on God's Word, believing in what it says to you, or rather wanting your mind to believe & dwell on things that are past, that which was forgiven & forgotten? Sometimes the memory of our past sins can remain with us, but they shouldn't cause us to doubt God anymore, thus losing our joy & peace.
One also needs to be conscious of the lion that prowls, Satan, the enemy of God & of your soul. He not only blinds & deceives the world to disbelieve in God, but more so, attacks God's children in many ways. And one way is to create doubt (as he did with Adam & Eve) & fear. It may be that he is reaching out to you in this way to keep you bound, restless, & removing the peace that you should be enjoying. At those times at night, call out to your Heavenly Father, claim His promises to you & command the spirit of fear to depart. In your waking hours, stay alert by attending to the Word of God & prayer - Satan hates it when we do that & the Spirit of God will minister to you.
I was already Baptized by the Holy Spirit, but I went to a church to be baptized in water to show the spirits that were bothering me; that I belonged to Jesus forevermore. I wasn't ever going "back to Egypt". (Sin). It's not mandatory; But I felt really free of the past me, after I did it.
Some families really make a celebration when a family member is water baptised. It's a moment of joy that lasts forever.
I don't think I believe in baptizing infants. They get told all their lives that their salvation is a done deal; but they suffer lives of sinfulness, drugs, and more. Believing that all is fine with what they are doing. Some even commit suicide.
Just like me, you have to learn what it means to be born again into Christ and experience the Baptism of the Holy Spirit: who instantly comes inside to indwell the Temple of God inside of us. It's up to us not to grieve Him or to quench His Presence.
Jesus said you can curse me or even my Father; but DO NOT BLASPHEME the Holy Spirit! Of whom you are Sealed, unto the day of redemption. People can wantonly sin away their day of Grace. The Holy Spirit tried to pull us out of the fires of hell, but people do what is in their hearts.
If you are sitting on the Throne of your own heart, and worshipping Yourself, without any regard for other people... you may be self-deceived.
As my friends in Church say: get your business straight with God!!
We KNOW things aren't right between us and God. So turn around, and walk back to Your Father and REDEDICATE your life to Him! Before it's too late. Google a prayer of rededication and mean it this time. Get on your knees and put him on the throne of your heart.
He's coming back any day now! Be ready. Time is SHORT. All the signs are appearing as Jesus said in Matthew 24.
Mishael
And Romans 8:3:"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh".
After His Resurrection, He still had a human body: "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."
And Acts 1:10,11: "And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he (Jesus) went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."
1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."
The more important aspect is that water baptism (Gk. baptizo) should be done as inferred by the Greek word, i.e. the person is to be dipped/submerged. Though for various reasons of age or infirmity, a symbolic sprinkling could be done I suppose. And it is preferable to be performed in public, at least most important in those early days, as it becomes both a personal witness ( 1 Peter 3:21) & a public witness, as the baptizee was then marked out as a Christian. Nowadays, it's common to perform it in the privacy & safety of a Church building, but in the early days, there were implications when one changed from one's religion to a new relationship with the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. ( James 4:8-10)
In 1 John 2:1, Jesus is our advocate, much like a defense attorney, defending us before the throne of God against the condemnation.
Read Psalm 51 to see that David was in a situation where his sin separated him from God. He could not bear it so he confessed and pleaded with the LORD to restore the joy of his salvation.
The prodigal son in Luke 15 deliberately departed from the way until his abject misery brought him to his senses. He was then welcomed back heartily by his loving father.
Satan the accuser would celebrate your being so overcome with despair that you become swallowed up in it and give it up.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. ( John 6:37)
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. ( Psalm 119:9)
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. ( 1 Corinthians 6:11)
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. ( 2 Corinthians 7:1)
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. ( James 4:7-10)
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:7-10)
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, ( Revelation 1:5)
Google, 'angels with wings'. Some do, but not all.
Such a blessing to me!
God bless each and everyone involved and responsible!
I'm not in opposition - you are by not wishing to expound John 1:1-14 as suggested. Therein lies a clear declaration of who Jesus is pre-incarnate & needs to be accepted as given. To deny the Word coming in the flesh as Jesus, is to deny the true God-head & brings to us that a clear warning that deception lies before us ( 1 John 4:1-3).
If someone asked me for a Statement of the Doctrine of Salvation & I gave him John 3:16 as an example, what does that verse actually tell the uninformed about Salvation? That God sent His Son & if one believes in Him, he would receive everlasting life. Does this properly describe the Doctrine? Of course not. This is a part of the whole. Or with Acts 4:12?
The Doctrine must also include Who this Son is, how did He come, what did He do, His qualifications to do the work, etc., etc. To rest on (or look for) a Statement to support a huge doctrine is being rather naive about the matter, but only serves to show us that in order to propagate your belief, you have to "strain out a gnat & swallow a camel". In other words, one can be so focused on the minute, that they miss out on the complete teaching of the subject. And the fact that Jesus is both God & Man is not a doctrine of men but a clear teaching from the Word, which you choose to reject or avoid.
If you still care to, I'm still waiting for your understanding of John 1:1-14.
We all know, or the ones this is pointed towards, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. "The firstborn among many brethren".
Just one question. You stated this "If you have a verse that proves Jesus Born in Bethlehem was in heaven before then you have a valid point." Is John 6:38-39 not enough? Which to me looks like the exact answer to the statement you made.
How's Revelations 19:13. That is supposed to be Christ at His second coming. Correct?
I'll state this. I believe it is quiet over simplified of people saying "Jesus and God are the same thing". I don't Believe that and don't agree with it. They most definitely are a part of one another. Jesus Christ even said in John 14:28 "I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I." Many other things I could quote that shows they are unique to each other. But as in 1 John 5:7 "these three are one." The Father, the Son(or Word), and the Holy Ghost are all a part of the Eternal Godhead.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God that was born from a virgin, on earth, in the flesh, in Bethlehem. What about John the baptizer stating in John 1:15 "John bare witness of him(Jesus), and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me."
May the Lord Bless us to all come together and have faith and trust in Him. I would never call myself smart. All Glory to the Father. Love one another my brothers and sisters. God Bless us all!
So, if you could give some exposition of say, John 1:1-14 for starters, we would have something to work on & discuss.
We would have to reject Scripture as our authority or at least find multiple flaws in them, to be persuaded that the Christ of the NT is simply a created Holy Being. Even the JWs are pressed to use another word in Colossians 1:15 for 'firstborn' = 'prototokos' to read 'first created' = 'protokitises' to support their belief as you subscribe to. So, we can do whatever we want with Scriptures if we're so inclined, yet the proofs are before us all.
Hebrews 7:3, speaking of Melchizedek, says: "but made Like unto the Son of God.."
John 1:1-5, 14 clearly shows that Jesus, the Word; was in the beginning with God.
Ephesians 1:4, 9-10
Proverbs 8:22-31
Psalms 33:6, Psalm 2:7
Colossians 1:16-19
Colossians 2:9
1 Corinthians 8:6
Note: the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, declared Jesus Begotten: NOT made.
But to find the words: 'Jesus born in Bethlehem was first with God in Heaven' isn't given except the Scriptures I've given earlier. So are you saying that the Jesus on Earth was never the Word of God in Heaven simply because there's no word-for-word depiction of this Truth? Or maybe, I've misunderstood you altogether.
The John 1:40, 41 shows that Andrew & Simon Peter were only introduced to Jesus. Andrew of course was one of John the Baptist's disciples who went after Jesus to find out where He was going to stay the night.
Then in John 1:43 ff, Philip & Nathaniel follow Jesus on the following day( Mt 4:18 & Jn 1:43), which could tie up with the day that the other men were called in Matthew chapter 4.
The other scriptures say they were in a boat and he called them and they immediately left the boat and followed him. How do these relate to aone another?
And what does it mean that those that have suffered in the flesh have ceased from sin Link
And of course 1 John 1:8 Link
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
This issue of sanctification is not so neat and to me for one to speak of ceasing from sin without delving into the aforementioned and the verses that speak to the security of the believer throughout John's Gospel do risk a myopic approach to the whole thing.
jhmo
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him:
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness."
We can just read through its sacred pages, but must do it carefully, quietly & seeking the Spirit's help in understanding & applying what we read to our lives. Or, for those who have more time & desire, to study the Scriptures in depth so that much more can be learned which will strengthen their faith & also help others in spiritual need.
God's Word is truly God speaking to us - it's alive, it's current, it's His speech to our hearts personally. When we read or study it, what we do is to allow God to communicate with our spirit & mind & direct our lives. So many believers languish for want of knowledge ( Hosea 4:6 says that "God's people are destroyed (or, in a spiritual desert of ignorance & defeat) for lack of knowledge"). Also, as we read the Bible, wicked spiritual forces are thwarted from interfering with us as they can't bear to be under the sound of God's Word.
We have no excuse today as the Bible is freely available in many translations but so many forsake it. In some countries in the past (& present) where Christianity & the Bible were forbidden, believers, able to find small discarded portions of the Bible, hung onto them, guarded them & read them over & over again, memorizing these few pieces from the Word & found spiritual sustenance from it.
2 Timothy 2:15, 16: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness." May the Lord help you & encourage you as you take time to read His Word.