Acts 1

In July we will be going on a missions trip to the Philippines and the team leader wants us to read through the Book of Acts before the trip. Seems like a perfect place to get started on my journal!
For the first entry however, I am going to cheat a little. Acts really is my favorite book of the Bible, I just love reading about how the church got started! I think there are so many clues there for us on how church should be for us. This is after all, how the people who knew Christ carried on his traditions immediately after he left! So the cheating explained, I actually did a paper on this last semester. Not my best work but I did one thing that I really liked and wanted to revisit for this blog: comparing the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Acts 1 to the water baptisms of John the Baptist in Luke 3. I think this is key to understanding how the Holy Spirit affects us.
In Acts 1:5 Jesus says "For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." They are similar events, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is just much more powerful. Luke’s account of baptism by John is in chapter 3. He does not however, actually describe what occurs during baptism. The focus is on what must occur within someone before one can truly be baptized. In the Gospel of Luke, John first preached of repentance. Then he spoke on God’s promise, this time from Isaiah “and all flesh will see the salvation of God.” (Luke 3:6) The promise that John focuses on parallels the promise Jesus spoke of in Acts 1:4. John chastised the crowds who came to him for baptism “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Luke 3:7) Why does he do this? Because, judging by what he says next, “Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance…” (Luke 3:8) he wants them to repent before they come to him. Obviously repentance has great significance to baptism. Why would one want to be baptized if they have not repented? Judging by John’s response to the questions, their thinking is of their own well being first. They are looking to be saved out of fear for themselves instead of love for others. John instructs people to share with others (verse 11), tax collectors not to take excessive amounts from others (verse 13), and soldiers not to take advantage of others (verse 14). So if the focus on baptism by water is repentance of sins and showing love to your neighbor, is baptism by the Holy Spirit the same? Is it one’s state of mind before baptism the point Luke make? It seems that one must be focused on the wellbeing of others before they are prepared to be baptized by water.

Discipline

Yes, it's been a while. I feel like I have been so swamped etc with school and a bunch of other excuses that I haven't touched this in a while. But last night during Bible Study we were discussing the Sabbath and I was thinking about how much I have been lacking in my disciplines. And it is time to get back on track. I'm posting on Facebook because I spend a lot time on there (let's face it, I'm addicted to the games...) so it will give me a reminder to blog it out!