ment one believes in Jesus Christ as his own personal Saviour. There’s no biblical record of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. All the references to it in the Gos pels are in the future tense. They weren’t in operation during Christ’s earthly ministry. In Acts 1:5 the Spirit’s baptism was still future. Af ter reading Acts 11:15,16 however, it’s clear that the baptism of the Spirit of God had already taken place. This is why we need to know our Bible. The basis for membership in the church is one’s personal acceptance of Jesus Christ as Saviour. If you have been bom again you are a member of the New Testament body of Christ. As far as the church vis ible is concerned we have different denominations. The Bible must al ways be the single authority in mat ters of faith and practice for the local church. The first step of obedience after conversion to Jesus Christ is ex pressed in Acts 2:41, “Then they that gladly received his word were bap tized.” But there’s also another kind of baptism mentioned in Scripture. Baptism by water is a symbol of our death, burial and our resurrection in Jesus Chist. It’s not the mode that’s important. The symbol of your conversion is this outward act of baptism. Christ put his approval on baptism by His example in the Jor dan river (Matt. 3:15-17). In Mat thew 28:18-20, the great commission is universal and requires preaching and baptizing. Baptism doesn’t drown the devil but simply signifies outwardly what happened to one in wardly when he accepts Jesus Christ as Saviour. In Acts 2:42 the Scripture says that this early New Testament church, after the day of Pentecost, continued in doctrine, fellowship, and breaking of bread and in pray ers. Page 29
These are days when it seems very opular to downgrade everything that as been established. The church has come in for its share of criticism as well. I refer not so much to what the Bible describes as the body of Christ but rather the local visible congregation. As an institution the church has a tremendous God-given ministry. One pastor has told about gather ing up all of the used bulletins after the morning service. How interesting are the messages written all over them that havenothing to do with the sermon. We should remember that the Word of God ministers to people of all ages with different problems. It takes your pastor many hours to prepare his sermons. Cer tainly he deserves the prayers and respect of the people who sit in the pews. One way to keep from day dreaming is to take notes on the message. Looking them over later on you’ll see what an added blessing you can receive. The beginning of the church vis ible is spoken of in Matthew 16:18. Here Christ isn’t speaking of some particular denomination or religious hierarchy. The New Testament church was founded in fulfillment of the promise of our Lord. The foun dation for the church is not Peter but the Saviour Himself. There is a play on words in the original Greek. Jesus was saying, “You are Peter, a little fragment of a rock, but upon this massive Rock, myself, I will build the New Testament Church.” This was the prophecy, the fulfill ment of which came on the church’s birthday (Acts 2:1-4). The church was referred to as a mystery to the Old Testament believers (Rom. 16: 25-26). The Church is also spoken of in Colossians 1:24 as the body of Christ. Entrance into this Body comes by means of baptism by the Holy Spirit ( I Cor. 12:13). This isn’t a second work of grace. It takes place the mo
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