End Times Witnessing: Be Baptized while there is Today!

The watchman was led to require all to say the sinners’ prayer again. He obeyed. Someone just died. He repented just in time. A lot more have not even been baptized. No one really know whether they have accepted Christ Jesus as their Savior and Lord or not. The come to church at least once weekly or fortnightly. They say they are Christians. But a number of times he noted that whenever the sermon were going to be evangelical or when the Gospel of Christ was due to be preached they happened to be absent. Yet they take Holy Communion and desire the filling and power of the Holy Spirit and all the signs and wonders and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

On one occasion he asked the Lord about such a person, he was led to read Acts 8 on the account of a sorcerer named Simon who was fascinated by the signs and great miracles Apostle Philip performed. He even offered money so he could have the power to lay hands on people so they would receive the Holy Spirit through him!

He asked the Lord what to do and he was asked to pray for their salvation. So he did for awhile. Then last night he was led to ask all to repeat the sinners’ prayer after him. After that he urged all to receive baptism as a mark of submission to the Lord Jesus who Himself went through water baptism too. he wondered if they would listen.

Today he looked up verses in the New Testament about baptism. He prayed that those who do not think they want to baptize because they do not want to commit their lives to a corporate body of Christ think twice. Baptism is for unity in the One body of Christ (See Ephesians 4 below). When taking Holy Communion you have also included yourself in the One body of Christ. How can you want to take Holy Communion and yet do not want to be baptized? (If you are not taking the Holy Communion in One Spirit and One Body of Christ with the other believers in Christ Jesus you are wasting your time here!)

His advice to those who do not want to commit to this church yet is ”go today and find your church and be truly a part of the Body of Christ. There may not be tomorrow for you and/or your loved ones. Seek and you shall find!” (Hebrews 3:15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”)

Baptism verses from the Bible_________
Matt. 28:19
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (The Lord Jesus commanded baptism for those who are saved )

Mark 16:16
16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
(When you believe you need to show your faith by baptism)

John 3:5
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
(It is a requirement for entrance into the kingdom of God)

John 3:22
John Testifies Again About Jesus
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.
(Jesus Himself and His disciples practiced baptism)

John 4:1
Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman
1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John—

Acts 1:22
22 beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

Romans 6:4
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
(Baptism is identification with Jesus’ death and resurrection)

Ephesians 4:5
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
(Baptism is an act of unity with the Body of Christ)

Colossians 2:12
having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
(Baptism identified with Christ’ burial and resurrection)

1 Peter 3:21
and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
(Baptism saves you!)

Ephesians 4

Unity in the Body

1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. 4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.

day 84: You shall see

Most of us like to see ourselves in the future, more blessed, richer, more healthy, younger looking, slimmer and fitter, marrying to a kinder/more loving wife, having smarter and more obedient children, living in bigger houses, driving a newer car etc. When we worship God we tend not to see God/Jesus as He is, but see the things He can give us. We try to declare our love for God, whilst our eyes are on things and not on God.
The things that we want are not really bad. Blessing, feeling, healing, gifts etc. – God has promised to give them to us freely anyway. We also tend to display the obvious symptoms of worldly worries and unbelief: painful trying, ceaseless holding, constant drifting, busy planning, and anxious caring, constant asking, wanting, using God, giving glory to and laboring for self.

Why do Christians behave this way? Oswald Chambers said this, “The danger with us is that we want to water down the things that Jesus says and make them mean something in accordance with commonsense. If it was only commonsense, it was not worthwhile for Him to say it!”

Christians read the Bible without reading. Prophet Isaiah predicted this. People are not deaf but they cannot hear. People are not blind but they cannot see. Something great and supernatural will happen if they indeed hear or see!

In my earlier records on living Biblically, I omitted a number of passages because I found them too hard to meditate upon. I had no idea how to apply them. But God in His mercy and patience led me back to those passages bit by bit. I have been dreaming of reading the Bible and talking to and discussing with the invisible what those passages meant and whether I need to ponder more. By the time I woke up I forgot the passages although they were so clear in the dreams. Once in a while I woke with a clear word stuck to me and today I had this word “Baptism” stuck to me as I woke. I recalled the passage that I had skipped previously.

I have recently encountered violent and irrational objections and fears (panic and hysteria) from adult un-believer men that their family members, e.g. elderly parents, become baptized into Christ. They even go to the extent that they rather their parents die than becoming a Christian. At first I thought they were just superstitious as they thought baptism is some thing like brainwashing used by the totalitarian government.

During the last few days I had some passing thoughts of the event of baptism and knew in my spirit that it could mean more than just a ritual or tradition or a practice of witnessing. There is a supernatural meaning, I thought. Something happens in heaven (where God lives) when a person is baptized into Christ. Like the Holy Sprit it is another identity or warranty card. However I did not proceed with that thought and soon forgot.

Reading the Bible again about baptism and what Jesus says, I realize now that baptism is not as simple and ordinary as a lot of Christians think. Definitely it is not a matter of commonsense.

When Jesus was baptized, something supernatural was revealed. “When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.” (Matthew 3:16)

“And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

1. The heavens (pleural) were opened to Jesus. Many layers of heavens all opened instantly, all the way up to ‘the heaven’ where God lives.

2. God’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit) came down (from ‘the heaven’) and alighted upon Jesus.

3. God spoke from heaven (‘the heaven’ where He lives).

4. God expressed His special love and favor for Jesus.

Remember that the devil and his gang were up there in heavens (the layers between earth and ‘the heaven’ where God lives). They could not interfere at all. They were powerless to block the pathway to heaven and for heaven to come down! They probably fled from the bright light of God’s presence.

When Jesus told His newly acquired (reluctant) disciple, Nathanael, Jesus ‘saw’ him (transcending space and distance limitation), he was convinced and immediately believed that Jesus was the Son of God. But Jesus said, “You will see greater things than this. Most assuredly I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” (Matthew 1:50-51)

The disciples became eye witnesses of Jesus in all the great things that Jesus did later. Yes, heaven opened. Great supernatural things happened.

After Jesus resurrected from the dead, before He ascended into heaven, He gave a command to His disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28: 18-20)

I sum up what Jesus says as follows:

1. Jesus now has the supreme authority over heaven and earth.

2. He commanded the disciples to make disciples of all the nations.

3. The physical responsibilities of making disciples include: baptizing them, teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded them.

4. Being baptized in the name of God the Father, the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit, means being included in the trinity God’s exclusive kingdom. Those baptized are officially the citizens of that kingdom. They enjoy all the rights and privileges of that kingdom.

5. One exclusive privilege is that Jesus will come and stay with those who have accepted the inclusion by the trinity God in this way, forever.

Wow! No wonder the devil and his minions panic and go into hysteria when they hear of someone likely to be baptized into Christ! A baptized person has died to the world (no longer under the devil’s rule) and now lives to God. One more defeat to the devil.

My application: carry on reading God’s words with my heart opened to the Spirit so I would not omit what Jesus says. My advice to those who have believed but have not yet baptized is that you do not have much time. Just do it now! Get your children to be baptized too. You will not regret it. Believe me.

AAA Jack

May 25 2009