Sunday Re Cap (25th Oct 2009)

What REALLY Happened At Baptism? Part II

What is really Baptism? To which act of Jesus is it pointing to? These verses themselves are so pregnant with so much of truth concerning Jesus. Baptism points to the CROSS!

Rom 6:1-11

The parallel for this scripture is found in Ex 12-14

• Ex 12: The LORD instituted the Passover. The Passover is a shadow of the Holy Communion. Jesus on the same night that He was betrayed shared the Passover meal where He instituted the Holy Communion and spoke of the New Covenant. The Passover is celebrated by the Jewish people annually to this day. It is a continual reminder of the victory over Egypt. Ex 12:27. This is why we repeat the Holy Communion "as often as we partake of it".
  
• However what happened after that? The Crossover. What happened at the Red Sea? Ex 14:13-31. They crossed over the Red Sea. How many times? Once. Why? Because Jesus went only once to the cross! Heb 10:12-14
  
• As far as the children of Israel were concerned, they were no longer slaves to the Egyptians. The parallel is we are no longer slaves to SIN! Sin has lost its power over us. We are no longer slaves but we are sons The Baptism is a picture of Cross which is a picture of the Red Sea Crossing. We have crossed over!
  
• Now will sin still be there? Yes. The children of Israel had the Amalakites, Jebusites, etc…but we are no longer slaves to them but we have mastery of them! They went back to The LORD and found direction, strength and triumphed over their enemies (sin). We go back to the Holy Communion! Sin is still there but we don't face sin as slaves but we overcome it as sons!
  
• NOTE: Even in the NT Jesus celebrated the Passover before He went to the Cross (Over).
  

Let's read Rom 6:1-10 again. Do you see the parallel? Let's allow the Holy Spirit to unveil Christ! Let the truth set us FREE!

1. V3: What is baptism? It is a powerful picture of the cross shown to the world and the devil hates it! It reminds him of his failure and it is a reminder of our victory once and for all over sin. (v9-10).
   
2. V4: We were buried just as Christ was buried in a tomb. But the tomb could not hold him. A new life under the new covenant!
   
3. V5: Likeness of His death. Likeness of His resurrection. What does the baptism unveil of Christ? He is resurrected in a new body, glorious, healed, whole, complete! As He is so are we.
   
4. V6: Sin has no more body; virus needs a host to latch onto. However if there's no body, it cannot land! We are no longer sinners.
   
5. V7: God cannot punish sin again and again. When His Son took our place, it was as if we were there. And because Jesus paid the price in full, it is as if we have paid the price and punished. It is finished; God cannot punish it again! We are now FREE!
   
6. It is a reminder of the finished work of the cross. It does not need to be repeated. What is the significance of that? We don't need to repeat our sins again and again to God. It has been paid in full! That is why baptism is only once in a lifetime!
   
7. The more we bring ourselves under grace, Sin can no longer bully us into believing that we are under the law.
   
8. V11: Reckon yourself: The key to breaking the power of sin. Consider, (esteem, judge) yourself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our LORD.
   

Samuel Hari © GROW BM

Sunday Re Cap (18th Oct 2009)

What REALLY Happened At Baptism? Part 1

Text: Acts 2:38, Acts 8, Is 53-54

Definition of Baptism

The word baptism itself comes from the greek root word "Bapto" which means immerse, dip (Liddel and Scott Lexicon) as opposed to pour or sprinkle.

Thayer Definition:

1) to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge, to wash, to overwhelm

Act 2:38 Peter said to them, "Repent
(not just from sin BUT change your mind about the law (righteousness through works), about rejecting Jesus as the way to salvation, the Son of God), and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8: 13: Simon (spiritual senses sensitized, he was amazed)

Acts 8:26-39

• Philip preached beginning from that scripture (Is 53), Jesus (righteousness by faith, unveiling of Jesus).
  
• Condition for Baptism; "if you believe with all your heart you may"
  
• The water was a reminder from Is 54:9 (which is after Is 53) of God's covenant to Noah of peace and mercy upon a coming generation of people of the NEW COVENANT! We are that people. No wonder the eunuch wanted to get baptised so quickly!
  
• They went INTO the water and came up OUT of the water.
  
• The Eunuch went away rejoicing (a fresh consciousness of Jesus and righteousness by faith).
  

Where did Jesus die to sin? NOT AT BAPTISM. It was at the CROSS. That is why He gave us the baptism. It is a typology of the CROSS! Just like Holy Communion, it is not a new event every week but a reminder of one significant event that points to the FINISHED WORKS of JESUS on the CROSS!

It does not only mean death to our old life, it means death to the law, self consciousness, sin consciousness and its consequences; and alive to GRACE, Alive to Christ, Alive to RIGHTEOUSNESS!

Mat 3:15 But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he *permitted Him.

Gen 1:26: when God made man in His own image, He said, "Let US make man in our own image". Who is us? It's the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Notice that at the baptism, The Father, Son and Holy Spirit were present as a firstborn among many brethren. At baptism, man was restored to the original design; in the image of God! Clothed with glory and honour again, back at the 2^nd creation of man; man came back into a full cycle and relationship with God!

In Summary:

1. Is Baptism important? It was important to Jesus, to the early church and even to the devil. Matt 10:32
   
2. When do I get baptized? In general, when we have an awareness of our sinful condition, that we cannot overcome sin in our own strengths.
   
3. Is Baptism the guarantee of going to heaven? Am I a Christian only when I get water baptized? NO! It is the profession of faith that saves us. Rom 10 especially verses 9-10; John 5:24, 3:36
   
4. Do I need to get water baptized before I'm allowed to take Holy Communion? The Bible places no such restrictions. It is not in the heart of our heavenly Father to place restrictions on coming to Him. Everything He does, He does to remove barriers because His whole objective is to love us and to make himself known to us.
   
5. Do we need to get baptized often? It's up to our own personal convictions. Jesus never did it, neither did any of the disciples and unlike the Holy Communion, Jesus never used the phrase "do this often". Having said that, we can understand if anyone wants to get baptized again as it is such a beautiful sense of identification with our LORD JESUS. Declaring to the world, "I am a child of God".
   

Samuel Hari © GROW BM

Lord, I Cannot, But You Can!

Philippians 2:13
13for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Have you ever tried to break a bad habit on your own? You probably found that when you tried to stop it by sheer willpower, you saw improvement for a while, and then bounced back to square one. Worse, you found yourself binging on the very thing that you were trying not to do. And your condition is worse than before you started your "I'm going to quit" program!

The changes were temporary because it was you doing it.

A church member who had been a chain-smoker used to believe that with willpower, he could quit smoking. He would tell himself, "If there is a will, there is a way!" But he discovered that with willpower, he could stop smoking for a week or two, and then he would succumb to the pull of nicotine again.

When he turned his life over to God and learnt about God's grace, he told God, "I realize that I cannot stop smoking. I cannot, but You can break my habit, Lord." And every time he lit up, he would say, "Lord, I am trying to stop smoking, but I cannot. I am trusting You." He would even say, "I am still righteous because of Jesus' blood."

Well, in the very same year, all his cravings to smoke vanished! When asked how he succeeded, he would say, "It is entirely God and none of me! It is all by His grace." This man lost all the desire to smoke. That is true transformation.

When you receive the grace of God to do for you what you cannot do, you will experience effortless and permanent change on the inside, which in turn changes your actions on the outside. The Bible tells us that God works in us to give us both the will and ability to perform what He desires. It is God who removes the old want to's and gives us new ones. And He even gives us the power to carry them out!

Beloved, look to His grace to do what you cannot do. Say, "Lord, I cannot, but You can!" Then, what you experience will not merely be behaviour modification, but true and lasting inward transformation!

Pastor Joseph Prince @ New Creation Church, Singapore

Sunday Re Cap (27th September 2009)

The Year Of Great Favour

Is 60:1-4

Even though darkness is covering the earth and deep darkness the people, we are reminded to arise and shine for our light (Jesus) has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon us. We do not need to strive to shine; these verses declare that the Lord will arise upon us and His glory will be seen upon us. He WILL do it! There is no effort on our part that can increase that; we only need to receive. This speaks of God's great favour upon us as sons of the New Covenant. Only slaves need to strive for favour; sons simply receive!

What is this New Covenant? Was it spoken about in the Old Testament?

Heb 8:10-12 is actually quoting from Jer 31:33-34

The New Covenant was long prophesied in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is truth concealed and the New Testament is the truth revealed. The Old is the shadow and the New is the substance. So what is seen in the New Testament is nothing new but a revelation of what has already been foretold in the Old Testament.

How do we appropriate the New Covenant?

1. LET GO. Is 43:18-19
1. Let go of the former things and receive the new things. Let go of strive, self effort, worry, fear anxiety and receive God's rest and promises and provision for us.
2. Let go of the LAW mentality and receive the Grace mentality. The Law tries to make evil men good and fails miserably; but Grace makes dead men LIVE and succeeds wonderfully!
2. RECEIVE. 2 Cor 5:17
1. Receive the fact that we are no longer the old creation but a new creation.
2. Receive the atoning work of Christ on the cross and enjoy his blessings of healing, health, protection and provision.
3. PRACTICE. Ps103:1-5
1. Our Heavenly Father is eager to load us with benefits daily! As we receive, He is BLESSED!
2. Each time we take The Holy Communion, we are reminded that God has forgiven our sins and healed all our diseases through the atoning work of Christ on the cross. V3
3. We can then receive all the other benefits that are listed in V 4-5 which are:
1. Our life is redeemed from destruction. Jesus body was broken that ours might be made WHOLE.
2. We are crowned with lovingkindness and tender mercies. Jesus' was given the crown of thorns that we might have the crown of LIFE!
3. Our mouth is satisfied with good things. Jesus held back his words before the crucifixion that we could open it wide and receive "good things".
4. Our youth is renewed like the eagle's. Jesus' gave up His youth that we could have ours renewed.

LET GO, RECEIVE AND PRACTICE to enjoy the GREAT FAVOUR of GOD for 2009!

Samuel Hari © GROW BM