Teach baptize and teach
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
The spiritual principle of teaching deals completely with allowing the power of the Holy Spirit to govern the process teaching. TEACH: in the beginning we are all taught enough for us to make a decision about wanting Christ in our lives, but the Christian experience only begins there. This kind of teaching is like information to a small child. It is soaked up quickly and is used to allow us to crawl and then walk. It allows us to learn the basics of what it means to be a child of God. We can call it the milk of the word, and there are a majority of followers of Christ who are still on that milk. Those who are still on the milk of the word are still learning the principles of faith, and developing their own place in the body.
It is important that we each one go through this phase of our Christian experience with a glad heart. We can do that by knowing that for most of us it is a time when we are planting seeds of faith and other people around us. This kind of teaching is built upon others seeing a change take place in our lives. We have the opportunity to witness by the actual doing of God's word in our lives. It is not the knowledge of Scripture that matters the most but the sharing of the gospel that is given us a new life. It might be better described as LIVE, because it is by our living proof of the changing power of God's Spirit in our lives that we persuade others to look into the word for themselves.
BAPTIZE: this spiritual principle of instruction is never really understood, as it should be because it requires a life-changing commitment to take place. It is a second type step in this adoption process that comes with understanding God's call to us.(Has been called an outward act of an inward faith, and while that is true it does not stop there. Baptism is a form of death, burial, and resurrection with Christ. I don't think it should be taken as lightly as it is today in our churches. In truth this thing called baptism is taking place with all of us most of our lives. The symbol of death to this world alone is something that most people can never get past. By dying to this world it means that we love this world less than we love God. We therefore want to be with God more so than we want to live in this world. That is something that most men and women never get to in their walk with God. What does that say to you?
The concept of baptism also shows us that after death we are then buried with Christ. It means that we have put our old life behind us and we remember it no more. We have effectively put our former life in the same place that Christ placed his former life as a man. That place is in a tomb. The great thing is that our existence does not stop there because with Christ we are resurrected to walk in a new life. The spiritual principle is then that we have gone through a process of hearing the milk of the word and in experiencing what it is like to experience Christ by living as best we can for him even before we come into an even greater decision to die to this world and be buried with him. Spiritually it is just another part of the adoption process, and a part of working out our salvation on a daily basis. Piece by piece we are giving ourselves over to the father to become his children who are tried and tested and true to him completely. It is not a physical baptism that changes us into a new creature, and it isn't an instant decision to give our lives over to Christ that changes us. God knows us by the fruits that we bear in Christ. In part the spiritual principles go before us in teaching others. The word tells us"if Christ be lifted up people draw all men unto him". It isn't our knowledge that draws people, but rather Christ lifted up that draws people to him. We have covered only two thirds of the spiritual principle of teaching, and I want to deal with the last phase in the next blog. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
YHE UNWORTHY SERVANT.
The spiritual principle of teaching deals completely with allowing the power of the Holy Spirit to govern the process teaching. TEACH: in the beginning we are all taught enough for us to make a decision about wanting Christ in our lives, but the Christian experience only begins there. This kind of teaching is like information to a small child. It is soaked up quickly and is used to allow us to crawl and then walk. It allows us to learn the basics of what it means to be a child of God. We can call it the milk of the word, and there are a majority of followers of Christ who are still on that milk. Those who are still on the milk of the word are still learning the principles of faith, and developing their own place in the body.
It is important that we each one go through this phase of our Christian experience with a glad heart. We can do that by knowing that for most of us it is a time when we are planting seeds of faith and other people around us. This kind of teaching is built upon others seeing a change take place in our lives. We have the opportunity to witness by the actual doing of God's word in our lives. It is not the knowledge of Scripture that matters the most but the sharing of the gospel that is given us a new life. It might be better described as LIVE, because it is by our living proof of the changing power of God's Spirit in our lives that we persuade others to look into the word for themselves.
BAPTIZE: this spiritual principle of instruction is never really understood, as it should be because it requires a life-changing commitment to take place. It is a second type step in this adoption process that comes with understanding God's call to us.(Has been called an outward act of an inward faith, and while that is true it does not stop there. Baptism is a form of death, burial, and resurrection with Christ. I don't think it should be taken as lightly as it is today in our churches. In truth this thing called baptism is taking place with all of us most of our lives. The symbol of death to this world alone is something that most people can never get past. By dying to this world it means that we love this world less than we love God. We therefore want to be with God more so than we want to live in this world. That is something that most men and women never get to in their walk with God. What does that say to you?
The concept of baptism also shows us that after death we are then buried with Christ. It means that we have put our old life behind us and we remember it no more. We have effectively put our former life in the same place that Christ placed his former life as a man. That place is in a tomb. The great thing is that our existence does not stop there because with Christ we are resurrected to walk in a new life. The spiritual principle is then that we have gone through a process of hearing the milk of the word and in experiencing what it is like to experience Christ by living as best we can for him even before we come into an even greater decision to die to this world and be buried with him. Spiritually it is just another part of the adoption process, and a part of working out our salvation on a daily basis. Piece by piece we are giving ourselves over to the father to become his children who are tried and tested and true to him completely. It is not a physical baptism that changes us into a new creature, and it isn't an instant decision to give our lives over to Christ that changes us. God knows us by the fruits that we bear in Christ. In part the spiritual principles go before us in teaching others. The word tells us"if Christ be lifted up people draw all men unto him". It isn't our knowledge that draws people, but rather Christ lifted up that draws people to him. We have covered only two thirds of the spiritual principle of teaching, and I want to deal with the last phase in the next blog. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
YHE UNWORTHY SERVANT.
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