The Word: Matthew 3: 4 – 6(KJV)
4 And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
Dig Deeper:
11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Think about it
NEW BIRTH & BAPTISM
We were going to go into details of the new birth and baptism. So we will start the process today. We already said Man is a spirit being, with a soul and living in a body.
– So man is able to contact the spiritual realm with his spirit,
– He is able to contact the psychological, intellectual, emotional realm through his soul and
– He is able relate to the earthly realm: touch, feel, sense, smell, see with his body.
We also said when Adam sinned, his body was still alive for many years, his soul was still functioning but his spirit became detached or died to God (if we can use the word death, bcos spirits don’t die). But basically, Adam was no longer able to connect with God spiritually like before. He couldn’t get revelations like before or download from God’s Spirit. Eternal life is inside our spirit. That eternal life is called: ZOE. It means: God’s kind of life. God is the only wise, He is all knowing, God can’t be sick, God can’t be in bondage, That kind of life was what Adam enjoyed. And because of the power and unction emanating from the spirit of Adam, his body was always rejuvenated. If Adam accidentally cut himself, the body will automatically heal because of the life of God emanating from his spirit. Adam’s body was never meant to die. His body kept being quickened by his spirit. However after he sinned, he became disconnected from Divine spiritual source. After a while his body became vulnerable to weakness, tiredness, sickness….. He eventually died. Adam lived for close to 1000 yrs, but gradually people after him started living for shorter years. By the time of Abraham, they were only living for about 120 – 150 yrs.
So when Jesus came and spoke to Nicodemus in John 3:3. He was saying: Man’s spirit needs to be given birth to again before man can be reconnected back to God. So at Repentance Man gets a new recreated / brand new spirit (2 Corinthians 5: 17)
Baptism
Now let’s talk briefly about Baptism today, We’ll take it forward tomorrow.
The word baptism means: To immerse
It came from the Greek word Baptizo which is To dip. So baptism definition in an uncomplicated way means: To immerse or To Dip
Why will there be a need to immerse or dip something?
For instance we sometimes immerse our clothes in stain removing liquid to get stubborn stain removed. The main reason why something is immersed is to get it soaked in that liquid. So another word or synonym for immerse is: To Soak
So when we talk of baptism or immersion, the reason why God wants it, is so that we can be soaked. The baptism of the Holy Spirit for instance is so that we can be soaked in his power, anointing, presence, grace and his Spirit
Nuggets:
God wants me soaked in him……
Our memory verse for Jebruary 2018
John 3: 3
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Let’s take a few moment to learn our memory verse for this month by heart. It can be memorised in 2 lines:
Line 1: Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Line 2: Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Once you say it a few times it will stick.
Prayer focus: Our prayers for the next level project:
Today we pray against sicknesses and diseases…
On Grace:
Masterlife Workbook: The Church is embarking on weeks of discipleship workbook study: Masterlife now on the 2nd workbook: The Disciple’s personality
