If A Believer Doesn't Speak In Tongues, Does That Mean, The Holy Spirit Is Not in Him/Her?
Question: If a believing person doesn't speak in tongue, does that mean, that person do not have the Holy Spirit in him?
Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!
It is a simple misunderstanding about the person, ministry and work of the Holy Spirit that gives us a confusion regarding whether He is with a believer or in a believer who speaks in tongues or not.
To tell you the truth, I was a much confused Christian when I did not go deep in to the Scripture to know these intricate differences which are very important and cannot be neglected. But I thank God for the revelation of the Word through which the Holy Spirit of God began to quicken me and revealed it all to me by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us fully understand it in the following exposition:
HOLY SPIRIT IN US [For Guidance]
When a believer gets born again after hearing and believing the word of truth which is the gospel of our salvation (John 3:3), Paul the apostle reveals that, at that moment of our belief God actually seals us with the Holy Spirit of promise in which He comes to dwell in us with a indwelling Presence as a guarantee of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession which is our body which will be raised supernaturally without sin nature during the rapture of the Church, and the succeeding reward judgment for believers for whatever done with the body on earth, for the Lord in our service will be rewarded eternally, for the praise of the Glory of God (Eph 1:13-14; 1 Cor 6:20; 2 Cor 5:10; Heb 6:10-12). This is the reason every believer has the anointing of the Holy Spirit in them according to the Scripture, and that no one had to teach them as the Holy Spirit Himself becomes the teacher for all the believers (1 John 2:20-27). This phenomenon of the Holy Spirit being in a believer as a guide and teacher is the privilege of all New Testament believers, that even the Old Testament saints never had in their lives (John 14:17). So the Holy Spirit is in all the believers who are saved.
HOLY SPIRIT WITH US [For Protection]
To the apostles, the Holy Spirit was with them when they were with Jesus to reveal Him spiritually to them and protect them from the world, Satan and their own fleshly misguidance (2 Chron 15:2; 1 Chron 28:9). Jesus said that the Father's Sovereign Presence was with Him all the time, even when the disciples will run away seeing the hardship of the Cross that is going to come to Him personally to carry (John 16:32; 8:29). In the same way, Jesus has promised to be with all the believers in His Sovereign Presence and authority, when they obey his word and go in to all the nations and people groups to baptize and teach them the Word of God which He has taught them, and guide them to become disciples (Matt 28:18-20). When a believer receives the faith that God's sovereign Hand of His Presence is always with Him as a child of God, the Holy Spirit begins to be with them and has promised never to leave them, nor forsake them for any reason or any time till they die and go on to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven forever (Heb 13:5). O what a promise! Here we see that the Holy Spirit being with the believer, as they continue to seek the will of God for their lives and continue to trust the promises of God and pursue God's holiness in their lives is something possible based on what Jesus has done for them personally through the sinless life of His lived on earth for them all. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was with people based on their obedience, but in the New Testament, because of what Jesus has achieved already for each and every believer, the Holy Spirit will unconditionally stay even with the least of the believer in the Kingdom of God (Matt 11:11; Luk 7:28; Heb 10:10, 12, 14-18). O praise the Lord! So the Holy Spirit stays unconditionally with all the believers in the New Testament in His protective Sovereign Presence!
HOLY SPIRIT UPON US [For Empowerment]
Finally, the Holy Spirit comes upon a believer in His Empowering Presence, when the believer hungers and thirst for more of God. In the New Testament this phenomenon of the Holy Spirit coming upon a believer, comes with the evidence of speaking with others tongues (Acts 10:44-48). The only evidence that the Holy Spirit has come upon the believer in His empowering Presence is known externally to others only with the external evidence of speaking with other tongues, with which only even Peter the apostle was able to identify those new Gentile believers in the house of Cornelius that they have come to receive the same gift of the Holy Spirit just like they had received on the day of Pentecost, which was altogether in a different circumstances, I mean it was more of a Bible knowing crowd of Jews and Jewish coverts who were called proselytes (Acts 11:15-18). Jesus Himself has told the believer to ask the Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit sincerely, and He has promised to give it exactly as He has given to the apostles, disciples and believers of the first century without any change (Luk 11:9-13). Now that the Pentecost has already come to the Church (Luk 24:49; Acts 1:8, 14), we do not have to wait in a tarrying meeting for the Holy Spirit as He has been already sent by God to fill all those who are thirsty for Him (John 7:37-39), so ask the Lord Jesus Christ with faith and then start to be filled with the Holy Spirit directly without waiting for anything supernatural to happen (Acts 2:1-4). With faith let us all look to Jesus to fill us with the Holy Spirit and the tongues of fire just as He has promised (Matt 3:11). To receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit as a gift is the privilege of all the Gentiles also who have become the children of God now by believing in Jesus (John 1:12), they are entitled to receive the same blessing of Abraham as per the entitlement that God has made for them, so now the key to receive it is in the releasing of our faith and receiving the Holy Spirit as a gift with the external evidence of speaking in tongues that makes the deal effective and alive forever (Gal 3:13-14).
Therefore, all believers are entitled to, and should ardently expect and earnestly seek, the promise of the Father, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, according to the command of Jesus Christ. With this comes the endowment of power for life and service, the bestowment of gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry. This experience is distinct from and subsequent to the experience of the new birth but can occur at the same moment a person is reborn (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-8; 2:38-39; 10:44-46; 11:14-16; 15:7-9; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31).
So all the believer who seek the Lord with a thirst to get filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit will eventually get it as God Himself wants to bless them with it. Hallelujah!
Therefore we should not mix these three different realms of the Holy Spirit in to one and get confused in our pursuit of God.
Much Blessings...
Should We Use Only Grape Juice For Holy Communion?
Question: For holy communion, should only grapes juice be given?
Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!
The most important and the only two Biblical sacraments of the Church are Baptism and Holy Communion.
We learn about the Holy Communion from the last supper in the upper room which Jesus took along with His disciples, in which He instructed them to likewise continue in the tradition of the Passover in remembrance of Him and did not give any timeline to have it which means we can do it as often as possible to release our faith in the blood of Jesus which forgives our sins and the sacrificial body of Jesus which was broken for our healing of our spirit, soul and body.
Luke the first hand and the first historian of the Church says in his Gospel beautifully, " 7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. 8 And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” 9 So they said to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare?” 10 And He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. 11 Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ 12 Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready.” 13 So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. 14 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." (Luke 22:7-20).
Thus we come to know from the above Scriptures that Jesus Instituted the Lord’s Holy Supper in the upper room with His twelve apostolic disciples among whom one was the betrayer which was Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus for meager money of 30 pieces of silver, and got himself self-condemned by the voice of Satan speaking within him to hang himself and die for having betrayed innocent blood (Matt 27:3-5).
What do the Passover tradition which was instituted by God through Moses when he went to Egypt and delivered the nation of Israel from the clutches of the bondage of slavery reveal, let us see first? In Exodus 12:1-51, we see the instruction God had given Moses and Aaron on which the whole festival of Passover is totally based upon, on the Gregorian calendar [the one you might have on your wall] the year was 1528 BC. Thus Jews celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation by God from slavery in ancient Egypt and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses. It commemorates the story of the Exodus as described in the Hebrew Bible, especially in the Book of Exodus, in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.
The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a slaughtered spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord knew to pass over the first-born in these homes (Exo 12:11-13). However once the first Passover was over in Egypt, and once Israel was in the wilderness and the tabernacle was in operation, a change was made in those two original requirements (Deut 16:2–6). Passover lambs were to be sacrificed at the door of the tabernacle and no longer in the homes of the Jews. No longer, therefore, could blood be smeared on doorways.
When the Pharaoh freed the Israelites, it is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread dough to rise [leaven]. In commemoration, for the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten, for which reason Passover was called the feast of unleavened bread in the Torah or Old Testament. Thus matzo [flat unleavened bread] is eaten during Passover and it is a tradition of the festival holiday.
The biblical commandments concerning the Passover [and the Feast of Unleavened Bread] stress the importance of remembering:
(i) And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt; and thou shalt observe and do these statutes (Deut 16:12).
(ii) Exo 12:14 commands, in reference to God's sparing of the firstborn from the Tenth Plague: And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
(iii) Exodus 13:3 repeats the command to remember: Remember this day, in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength the hand of the LORD brought you out from this place.
Coming to the New Testament fulfillment of the Old Testament Passover, Paul the apostle instructs us to keep the Passover spiritually by saying, "Remove the old yeast [of sin that tries to influence and nullify the power of new man in Christ Jesus] so that you may be a new batch of dough, since you don't actually have the yeast [of sin nature within the new nature of Christ which directs you in your new man since you were born again]. Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." (1 Cor 5:7).
So we come to understand that the word New Covenant was first used in the whole of Bible on the day when Jesus fulfilled the Biblical Passover by partaking in it in the upper room, and from then onward He Himself became the fulfillment of it in reality through the death and resurrection of his own life on earth. With great desire the Lord Jesus wanted to partake in the last Passover of the entire Bible before it could get fulfilled through His very own life. "With the precious blood of Christ," God considered Jesus the Christ "as a lamb without blemish or spot" and sacrificed him on the day of the real Passover which was the day Christ died on Calvary tree (1 Peter 1:19). Jesus is the one and only person qualified in human history to be called One “without blemish” because His life was completely free from sin (Hebrews 4:15). In the Scriptural Book of Revelation, John the apostle who saw Jesus Christ as beloved friend and elder Brother in real life of flesh when he was with Him on earth, now sees Jesus as “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). Hence Jesus was crucified during the time that the Passover was observed because He was the real passover Lamb who was prepared before the foundation of the world by God for this purpose (Mark 14:12; John 12:27–36; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 5:12; Revelation 13:8; Isaiah 53:7; Eph 1:4).
The Bible reveals that when believers get born again by believing the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior of their life, the sacrificial blood of Christ gets applied supernaturally to their hearts and they thus escape eternal death (Hebrews 9:12, 14), just as the Passover lamb’s applied blood caused the “destroyer” to pass over each household, Christ’s applied blood causes God’s judgment to pass over sinners and gives life to believers (Romans 6:23).
Therefore the death of Christ marks our release from the slavery of sin (Romans 8:2). As the first Passover was to be held in remembrance as an annual feast, so Christians are to memorialize and commemorate the Lord’s death in communion until He returns (1 Corinthians 11:26). The main communion elements used in the celebration of Holy Communion is the bread and the wine.
Jesus spoke about the "fruit of the vine" which He distributed among his disciples symbolically representing the blood of Jesus which will be shed for the forgiveness of all their sins, and a "piece of bread" dipped in wine symbolically representing the broken body of Jesus (John 13:26-27, 30).
To answer your specific question, 'For holy communion, should only grapes juice be given?,' we should again ask ourselves the question, What did Jesus use when he instituted the communion at the Passover? As to the nature of the fruit of the vine, employed during the Passover supper, the New Testament (Matthew 26:26-29, etc.) itself is not explicit in its definition of the expression.
We know that, many Israelites used to drink that for all festivals (Ps 104:15; Eccl 10:19; Deut 14:26). If drinking alcoholic beverages is a sin, God could not have authorized the Israelites to drink and be merry before the Lord by using it (Deut 14:24-26). If God did not want man to get merry he would not have created wine to have a fermentation effect which produces certain percentage of alcohol in it (Eccl 9:7). So it is not wrong to drink fermented drinks or wine, but it is absolutely wrong to get drunk with wine and get out of control (Pro 31:4-7; Eccl 10:17).
Jesus made the best quality wine which was his first miraculous ministry sign in the marriage of Cana of Galilee just from plain water (John 2:1-12). In fact in John 2:9-10 it is called ‘wine’ (oinos) and ‘good wine’ (kalon oinon). These are the same words used for fermented wine elsewhere in the New Testament. It is a poor argument to say that Jesus created wine without fermentation when the Scripture suggests otherwise, even God gave wisdom to create a knife for the benefit of man, but some people use the same knife to kill others and shed their blood. Was God involved in sin by giving wisdom to man in creating the knife. By no means, the God who has given wisdom for man to create knife has also given him a conscience which clearly speaks within him, not to kill a fellow human being who are all created in the image of God just like himself (Gen 9:6; Rom 2:14-16). Who is to be blamed for killing another man? The murderer who killed another human, God has nothing to do with the killing of a human whom he actually loves and have set a law not to kill. So when a person gets drunk with the same wine Jesus created for man's good, who is to blame? The person who gets drunk without control by using the wine Jesus created is the one who should be blamed for it. Because of human free choice that God has given to choose the good or the bad, to do the right or the wrong, to love or hate, etc are all choices humans make, the one who makes the good choice will reap the good fruit in his life, the one who makes the wrong choices will reap the bad fruit of evil consequences in his life and living.
As for proof, in John 2 the Bible says wine, not juice. The primary dictionary definition of wine is “the fermented juice of grapes, made in many varieties, such as red, white, sweet, dry, still, and sparkling, for use as a beverage, in cooking, in religious rites, etc., and usually having an alcoholic content of 14 percent or less.” The Greek word John used appears 32 times in the New Testament and is translated wine every time. For example Paul the apostle wrote the command, "Be not drunk with wine [oinos]," (Ephesians 5:18) obviously refers to alcoholic wine. On the two occasions when the Bible refers to wine that hasn’t had time to ferment, it always adds the prefix “new”.
So according to the Word of God, to drink wine is not wrong and sin, but to get drunk and be out of one's own control is absolutely wrong and sinful (Pro 23:29-35). In the New Testament, God gives a better alternative than the natural wine to drink, it is the spiritual wine of being filled with the Holy Spirit within our body so that the effect of His joy unspeakable and peace unfathomable, continues to linger literally over our spirit, soul, mind and body, that it continues to linger on and on to never dissipate as long as we continue to pray, sing and tune in to His Spirit utterances of divine direction and order from heaven. Even the "new wine" when drunk in excess must have had the effect of being drunk rip-roaring, as we see the people who did not understand the phenomenon of being filled with the Holy Spirit said of the apostles and disciples who were loudly speaking in tongues (Acts 2:5-6, 13).
We also come to know of the bad effects of being drunk, where a great man of God like Noah who became a farmer and cultivated vine, lost control of taking in the limited amount of wine to become rip roaring drunk, thus the first mention of wine in Scripture is connected with drunkenness, sin, shame, and a curse (Gen 9:29-25), then after this the intoxicating wine was a factor in the incest that led to the pregnancies of Lots' daughters (Gen 19:31-38), all who succumbed to strong drink in the Bible, had a hell on earth to pay for because of lack of self-control over it. Thus the Scripture warns of the negative effect of being drunk in many places of the Bible, to discourage people from inviting sorrow and curses in to their lives and families (Num 6:3; Pro 23:29-30; Isa 5:22; Rom 13:13; Jud 13:4, AMP). Remember, even in the Apostolic Bible Church days in the first century where some were hungry and others were drunk as each one irreverently took the Lord's Supper for the worse and not for the better life that Jesus promised (1 Cor 11:17-22, 30; John 10:10), these were judged by God and rebuked by apostle Paul that such things should not happen within the Church premises. If they really want to eat and drink and make merry, let them do it in their own homes where none will restrain them, but when it comes to the Church, the divine apostolic and Biblical order of the Word and the Spirit should be maintained within.
It is not a sin to use wine for a communion serving as it has been used in the Passover serving of the Israelites for centuries together even until Christ came to fulfill the Passover in reality. If both grape juice and wine are available, grape juice, I think, would be the wiser choice for the communion. It would avoid the appearance of evil (1 Thess 5:22), perhaps be less offensive [for an occasion of stumbling], and not be an avenue to temptation in some [(i.e.) who might have a weakness for strong drink] (Rom 14:21, 22-23). So the question, 'Should We Use Only Grape Juice For Holy Communion?,' can be answered clearly by saying, there is no law to say that only Grape juice should be used in Holy Communion, but rather we apply the law of love to answer that it would be better to use grape juice, when both wine and grape juice are available to serve communion. At the same time if you go to a home where they serve you wine and bread, it would be better to take it reverently and remember the blood and broken body of Jesus which makes us possible to live in liberty and victory over sin, sickness and death (1 Cor 11:23-26, 27-34), and thankfully with all praise take part in the communion that is served to us. It is the law of love that wins in the end in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, and it does have the last laugh always without fail (Gal 5:14; Rom 13:8-9, 10; 14:21).
Much Blessings...
Why Lent Days Are Not Biblical?
Question: Why lent days are not Biblical?
Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!
Lent is a period of fasting, moderation, and self-denial traditionally observed by Catholics and some Protestant denominations. It begins with Ash Wednesday and ends with Easter Sunday. The length of the Lenten fast was established in the 4th century as 46 days (40 days, not counting Sundays). During Lent, participants eat sparingly or give up a particular food or habit. It’s not uncommon for people to give up smoking during Lent, or to swear off watching television or eating candy or telling lies. It’s six weeks of self-discipline.
Taking the example of the Old Testament the Catholics instituted Lenten season as a austere season of repentance in sackcloth and ashes with fasting to consecrate themselves to the Lord and to walk in His way and will by self-denial (Esther 4:1-3; Jeremiah 6:26; Daniel 9:3).
But over a period of time, slowly the tradition of lent has become a sacramental season where people have falsely come to think that they 'lend' something to the Lord in order to attract or earn His blessings in their life, this is where the whole tradition of lent has gone wrong in their doctrine and belief. The Bible expresses the fact that God is no man's debtor, no one has first given God anything or was present first before Him in existence, that He should repay back to Him. God needs no resources from anyone because He is sufficient in Himself (Rom 11:35; Job 41:11). David said rightly when he and his people gave for the extension of the Kingdom of God, "But who am I, and who are my people, That we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, And of Your own we have given You." (1 Chron 29:14). In other words, whatever we give, we actually give to God out of what He has already given to us. That is why in reality, we cannot out-give God, because He is the one who provides everything for us in our life first and foremost. No one first gave God anything, so He is under no obligation to settle up with anyone. No one deserves anything from God, thus no one can expect payment from God for what he/she does.
Many Christians have come to believe that giving something up for Lent is a way to attain God’s blessing. But the Bible teaches that grace cannot be earned; grace is “the gift of righteousness” (Romans 5:17). Paul clearly reveals further that when a person works for earning the blessings of God, the wages are not counted as grace but rather as a debt that God has to repay (Rom 4:4). No man is justified by works or blessed by it, to boast about it before God (Rom 4:2), so such a person comes under self-condemnation (Matt 27:3-5; Titus 3:10-11; Rev 12:10-11), curse of the law and under the law of sin and death which condemns them rather than keep them under the blessing hand of God (Gal 3:10; Rom 2:12; 8:1-2). God is no man's debtor which actually means that no human can manipulate God by works of fasting or pleading to twist the arms of God to receive blessings for their own selfish gain and twisted motives. The real fasting that God expects from his children is to fast and pray to him in secret, not to twist the arms of God, but rather to afflict one's soul and humble oneself before God to know the spiritual poverty that they find in themselves and come to ask God for His light to shine and guide one self in the path of God and to receive the guidance of the Lord (Matt 6:6, 3-4, 16, 17-18), only such pursuit of God will bring satisfaction in one's soul, strength in our bones to be like a watered garden whose spring of water will never fail, this is the true blessing for which honest believers must seek in their lives (Isa 58:5, 6-11). When we seek the Kingdom of God and His righteous way of living, all the things that we need in our day to day lives, God has promised to provide it all automatically in our lives, so that we do not even have to fast for it when we are walking right with God (Matt 6:32-33, 34). In short, fasting can be a good thing, and God is pleased when we repent of sinful habits and it is not for just 46 days of Lent season but in every day of our lives. Have you ever come to realize that it is not just the sin of the world in general that crucified Jesus on the Cross, but rather it is your every personal sin of the past, present and future that caused Jesus to be crucified on the Cross? If you haven't yet come to that place of realization, your must seek the face of God to break more of your stony heart and give you more and more of a softened heart of flesh filled with the love of God (Ezek 36:26; Matt 13:22, 23; Rom 5:5).
So we must clearly know that it is not a Biblical thing to keep Lent but rather it is a tradition of the Church which had led many in to wrong belief and doctrines, which had further led them in to religiosity rather than a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ which actually unties the blessings of God over our lives. If we really want to observe Lent, then it should be done to repent of sins and consecrate our lives for the service of God. Thus fasting should lead us to humbleness before God, not boasting about what we have done or do for God, which is nothing but religious pride that comes in to us because of our works we do rather than walk in His grace which we receive by faith as a free gift which pleases God (Eph 2:8-9; Jam 4:8-9, 10; Tit 3:15; Philemon 1:25). When we truly learn the love of God and live by it, we cannot boast about our love for God because it is God who loved us first without which we could never have had the chance to love Him at all (1 John 4:19). Never ever forget, we love Him now because He unconditionally loved us first when we were enemies of God living in sin, thus giving us a chance to love Him back by allowing us to be drawn towards Him by our Heavenly Father and thus saving us from sin and death, to make us live a abundant life (John 10:10).
May lent be a season to lend our gifts and services to others in the name of Jesus (Col 3:17), so that "God is not unjust to forget our work and the love that we have shown toward His name, having ministered to the saints, and still ministering." (Heb 6:10, BLB Generalized). God in His right time will shower His wonderful heavenly and earthly blessings upon blessings for the works we have done for Him in the name of Jesus, so that we and our family will come under the intense favor of the Lord now and forever (Gal 6:9-10). Praise the Lord!
Much Blessings...
Do We Need To Take Immersion Baptism in Adulthood, If We Have Already Taken A Baptism In Our Infanthood?
Question: Is it important to take dip and immerse baptism in adulthood even if the person has already been baptised in his/her infanthood?
Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!
How did Jesus get Baptised? What did Jesus say about taking Baptism? Both these questions should be considered fully before looking in to the answer for your question?
Here is what the Scripture reveals regarding the question, "How did Jesus get Baptised?'
Matthew 3:13-17 reveals, "13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” 15 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. 16 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. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”" Here in the above verse we see a key thing, Jesus was a adult around 30 years of age at the time of His baptism. Jesus is the role model for all believers. Even in taking baptism, I do not say that we have to wait till 30 years of age, like Jesus, because the age of getting in to priesthood to do temple ministry was around 30 (Num 4:3). Jesus waited, but old and young partook in the Baptism of John repenting of their sins (Matt 3:5-6, 8; Luke 3:3, 7-9), which shows that when someone comes to realize that they are sinners in need of the Savior Jesus Christ, that is the time they must be allowed to take Baptism.
So infant Baptism is a false doctrine that has come inside the Church to make people believe that by being born in the Church, they have the right to enter heaven. What did Jesus say? No one whether born inside the Church premises or brought up within it can "see the Kingdom of God... unless one is born again" (John 3:3). Just like a person born in a garage cannot make him a automobile, born physically in a Christian family or in a Church atmosphere of a place cannot make that person a Christian. God has no grand children but only children, irrespective of the age of a person whether a small child or a adult or a old person (John 1:12).
A infant cannot understand that she or he is a sinner, and that is why we see when God was judging a generation for its sin and prevented them from entering Canaans land, he was telling that message of judgment for sin only to those within the age of accountability, that is, from twenty years old and above in their generation (Num 14:29-30), others were actually called by God as little ones who had no knowledge of good and evil, they were allowed to go and enter Canaan along with Joshua and Caleb who walked in faith (Deut 1:36, 38-39). This shows that only when a person comes to a place where they become accountable for what they do or don't do, then they have the ability to realize their mistake and seek God for forgiveness of their sins and be saved eternally.
So three and half or four years and above can be the right age for the children to learn about the God of the Bible, and the precepts of faith and salvation from sin in their Sunday schools and homes, just like we take the children to join in Lower Kinder Garten to educate them in their secular ways of this world after the age of three and half or four years of age. But Baptism should not be denied to children above the age of four, when they come to realize that they are sinners in need of the Savior Jesus Christ, as Christ Himself has said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matt 19:14, NIV). In other words, Jesus is telling the adults who think that little ones are of little value when it comes to spiritual things and their decisions to follow Christ, that they should reconsider their thinking, because Jesus says that the children's have the ability to easily believe their faults and sins, and also have the ability to repent and cling on to the words of Jesus Christ and become the children of God. So it is easy for the children to enter the Kingdom of God as it already belongs to them as they have the tendency to believe God easily and follow Him unlike the adults who struggle to believe the truth of Jesus Christ. So Children can be given baptism if they show a voluntary willingness to profess Christ and take responsibility of their faith to live by it through a public confession before the gathering of saints in the Church. In fact it is wrong to deny them Baptism, if they really have faith within them.
The KEY WORD in the Baptism of Jesus is, "When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him" (Matt 3:16), we see a Baptism in the river Jordan in which Jesus was immersed in the water and came up from the water, once he was done up taking baptism in the right way, God recognized it and opened up the heavens to Him. So the right Biblical way to take water Baptism is not sprinkling water before God and men, but rather be immersed in water to declare our faith that the Old nature has died when we have gone in to water and the New nature of Christ has come up out of us to rule us in our new way of living by faith when we come out of water (Rom 6:3-14). God recognizes the faith behind the immersion water baptism more important, and also sees that we follow the pattern that Jesus has set before us.
To the second question, 'What did Jesus say about taking Baptism?', we see in Matt 28:18-20, "18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 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, 20 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.” Amen.". In other words, Jesus gave authority to all mature believers to take authority in His name, and go in to all the nations or people groups to make disciples, then give baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them all to observe all things that they as believers are commanded to keep by Jesus, as Jesus Himself is with them all in His Presence even to the end of the age.
Children can safely be given immersion Baptism as like a adult is given when they are given a raised platform to stand on. Then they should be continually be taught the teaching of Jesus to keep them and live them practically in their lives through various methods like Home Family Prayer and Devotional Time, Sunday school, Vacation Bible School, Children camps and other way of educating them in faith to guide them more and more in the way of the Lord.
So my clear message is that there should not be any baptism given on infanthood (i.e.) Infant (1-12 monts) and Toddlers (1-3 years), if in case a child around the age of four as a Preschooler (3-5 years) or School-Age (6-12 years) or Adolescent Teenagers (13 teen and above) have come to voluntary profess and accept the faith from their heart, they should be given a change to get Baptised if they voluntarily come forward to confess it before the assembly of saints which is the Church of Jesus Christ.
So, is it important to take dip and immersion baptism in adulthood even if the person has already been baptized in his/her childhood (4-12+ years)? No, if a child has confessed the faith from his/her heart the first time it has done it, God has recorded it in heaven and therefore he seals them with His heavenly seal of the Holy Spirit and also the gift of the Holy Spirit at other instances, and they become God's children forever and ever (John 1:12; Eph 1:13-14; Acts 2:38-39; 10:47; 19:5-6), so there is no need to insist to take the Baptism again if the first one is taken with faith before the assembly of saints or even privately.
If the first Baptism has been sprinkled or done without a personal faith on the part of those who have taken it, it would be better to get immersed and baptized again in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.
Baptism in water is a declaration to the world that a believer has died with Christ and they have been raised with Him to walk in the newness of life (Matthew 28:19; Acts 10:47-48; Romans 6:4).
Thus we should understand that Baptism in itself is of no spiritual value if faith is not present in the Lord Jesus, where He must be believed in the heart and confessed with the mouth in order for them to get saved and be aligned on to the way of obedience to the words of Jesus Christ which leads to the heavenly Kingdom of God (Rom 10:9-10, 13). Thus Baptism in water is not to get saved but it is for those who know that they are saved by faith. Thus taking water baptism is a obedience to the command of Jesus to become a disciple if we already are a believer. There are tremendous spiritual blessings of deliverance and victorious living that gets released in us when we come to take baptism by faith in Christ Jesus.
Much Blessings...
Do You Learn Bible Verses?
Question: Do you learn Bible verses?
Answer: Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name!
I was born in CSI [(i.e.) Church Of South India, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India] Christian Hospital, and then brought up in a Evangelical Church named as 'Layman's Evangelical Fellowship' as I grew up as a Pastor's kid. Here is my Testimony of what God did, that brought me in to the ministry of teaching the Word of God: 'I Have Found My Purpose, Have you?'
But to reply to this above question, I can say, my mother and many other aunties who helped us and took care of us while growing up, taught us in the Sunday school, church service, children's camp, retreats, etc...I learned Scriptures according to the tradition of the denomination I grew up with. I mean these people emphasized, asking God for forgiveness of sins and emphasizing mainly in confession of sins to people, then get a promise from the Bible by praying first to God sincerely, and then open the Bible expecting God to speak to us through the Word of God which they believed can only assure us of our salvation. Always this denomination which was raised by God to disciple people through the founder N. Daniel and his son Joshua Daniel, always concentrated on the basics of salvation and a changed life for all to see. So even though I was raised learning all the Scripture, I was wearing this glass of Bible basics through which I interpreted the whole Bible unknowingly and tried to keep the law of the Lord, but sadly I failed to see the grace that God gives abundantly. So even though I was saved at 7 years of age (i.e. around 1985), I got the assurance of salvation much later only when God started to open my eyes and show from the Bible the promises of God and His unchanging love through a big trial of Hyperthyroidism that came devastatingly in to my life right at the end of my engineering days (i.e. around 2001 to 2006). Knowing the Scripture which God revealed to me page by page from the whole Bible was like a pure stream of water to a dying soul which gave life and hope to live for me during the worst ordeal of my life until then (Isa 44:3; 58:11; Jer 15:16; Ezek 2:10-11).
When the fire of God burned within me and it still burns, I have nearly read the Bible systematically at least 4 or 5 times from the first to the last page, after this I started reading a lot and lot of books which my father had in his small library, and I became a ardent reader to know the doctrines of the Bible. I nearly consumed all the books he had and began to ask questions about all the things which I was finding newly from the Bible, it nearly caused a great unrest in my father who had been a godly example to follow, but generally believed concretely only the evangelical part of whatever he has been taught from the Word in the Bible training center in which they only encouraged to see through the spectacle of the denomination he was part of, and that which He has experienced up to what he has believed.
So I began to venture in to uncharted territory of knowing the deep doctrines of the Bible, like eternal security of the believer, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, great faith, the end time, the glorious future of a believer, etc...every time I had doubt, I placed my hand on the verses I read and said Lord I believe, teach me more. Faithfully the Lord not only revealed the Word and taught the mysteries from the Bible, but made me experience what ever I have learned through the Bible. I sincerely thank God for his revelation to me from the Word of God, today I can say that it is not my ability through which I teach the Scripture, though I have put in my hard labor and effort whole heartedly in to it, it is a pure gift of God which I began to nuture it to maturity (1 Cor 15:10). Yes I would love to meditate on the Word of God anytime, and many times hear what other men of God speak through the cell phone for the past decade daily, though I must tell you honestly I have read less from the Bible. But would love to read from the Bible, like I did when the whole phenomenon started way back around 2001. After that I joined in a Bible college which God directed me to join, named as All Peoples Church Bible College and Ministry Training Center, Bangalore from August 2005 - May 2007, where I finished my Diploma in Ministry and Theology. As I obeyed the Lord to join this unknown Bible college of which I was the first set to be educated out of it, a lot of maturity and revelation came to me those days. God miraculously provided all the fees I needed to finish it. I found true joy and peace as I obeyed the voice of God. Praise the Lord!
Ever since I have ministering to saints in the Household of Faith Church in Bangalore and locally in few Churches around India, and also to saints of the whole world I am reaching out through the online ministry that God has given me to do through the website of www.apostolicrevelation.info. What began as a passion to minister the Word of God, has become a blessing to many many people locally and around the world.
As we begin to meditate on the Word of God, it may not have to be alone sitting in seclusion like a monk, whatever we have read in the morning, may be a word on the calendar, personal Bible reading or on the Facebook, we should begin to think about that word of God deeply, and repeat it over and over in our mind, then speak it with a low voice through our mouth and begin to think and ponder over its meaning time and time again over the whole day until we go to bed. This will keep our mind engaged in God. We do not necessarily need to learn by heart, but rather the Holy Spirit will engage our thought process as we take effort to keep ourselves in the power of the Word of God, this is the school of the Spirit that every disciple of Jesus need to get enrolled to become a true and mature disciple of blessing to many others (John 14:17-18; 15:26-27; 16:7-11, 13-14).
Memorizing a Scripture from one's early childhood time is a good way to train a child in the way of the Lord (Prov 22:6), and the promise from God is, when that child grows to be old enough, He or she will never depart from the way of the Lord. O what a inheritance God has promised if we take the pains to train a child that God has given us in the way of the Lord.
When we become a mature disciple of Jesus Christ, being full of the Word of God, whatever we may ask, the Father in heaven will give answers to us because we will be living in the center of the will of God which is what is needed in all prayers that are answered by God, thus it will us live a joyful supernatural life of victory in Jesus for the Glory of God (John 16:24; 15:7-8; Rom 8:26-27). The Word of God makes us live supernaturally under the direct oversight of heaven even for meeting the daily day to day needs of our lives (Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4). Do we eat the Word of God like Jeremiah did when it came to Him supernaturally (Jer 15:16)? The Lord is looking from heaven searching all over the earth, to those who are seeking to understand His Word and walk in His ways (Psa 14:2; 53:2; 33:13-15; Isa 66:2), will you be one of them that the Lord finds with His Word in your heart and have pleasure in finding you?
There are times when people search for the Word of God, and they find none like what prophet Amos says, "People will stagger from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, but they will not find it." (Amos 8:12; 1 Sam 3:1). But thank God our Father in heaven who has given us the whole word of God, Jesus Christ as a gift for eternity to the Church (John 1:1; Rev 19:13). The Bible is the revealed word of God which speaks all about the person of Jesus Christ who is the personification of the Word of God (John 17:17; 14:6; Luke 24:25-27, 44-45). May God help us hunger and thirst for the Word of God, and satisfy our spiritual need for now and for eternity!
Eat the Word of God, Sleep the Word of God, Wake up in the Word of God, Play with the Word of God, Drink the Word of God, Breathe the Word of God, Fly in the Word of God, Meditate in the Word of God, Dream the Word of God, Love the Word of God, Live the Word of God, and finally let the Light of the Word of God shine through you to others by obeying it when you hear it through the Holy Spirit, and as a result of it, you will never ever be in want of knowing the will of God for your life and others around you in Jesus mighty name. Amen!
Much Blessings....
