Welcome To The Ranch!

Welcome to The Ranch, a spiritual retreat center, right here on the Internet. This is a place where you can unwind, relax, and spend some time with God.

You can listen to music that will clear your mind, hear a story that will touch your heart, or watch a message that will stir your soul. And if you feel like talking, pull up a chair. We'd love to encourage you that God is still here, He's still alive, and He hasn't forgotten you.

I'm glad you came to The Ranch. I think you will be, too.

Eric Elder

First Time Here?

If this is your first time here, just click First Time Here? for a guided tour of The Ranch.

This Week At The Ranch: Faith Baptizes - July 20th, 2008

by Eric Elder

Of all the things Jesus could have said in His final words to His disciples, He included baptism as one of the top three. Jesus said:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20a).

Go and make disciples...baptizing them...and teaching them to obey My commands.

What is it about baptism that gives it such a priority?

I think John the Baptist may have said it best when He said: “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matthew 3:11).

There’s something empowering that happens when a person is baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It’s the empowerment of the Holy Spirit--the empowerment to carry out all of the rest of the things that Christ has called us to do.

When the Apostle Paul left Corinth and went to Ephesus, the Bible says:

“There he found some disciples and asked, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’

So Paul asked, ‘Then what baptism did you receive?’

‘John’s baptism,’ they replied.

Paul said, ‘John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.’ On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.” (Acts 19:1b-7).

When these Ephesian believers were baptized, God empowered them to do things that they weren’t able to do before--supernatural things that only the Holy Spirit could have done through them.

Christ calls us to be baptized, and yet there are many people who have never taken this step to be baptized. As a result, they’re missing out on many things, one of which is the supernatural ability to do things they could never have done on their own.

I know because I was one of those people. I had put my faith in Christ and repented of my sins, but I didn’t follow it up with the step of baptism. A friend asked me to consider it, so I studied the Scriptures and asked others who had been baptized about their experiences. But it took me another two years to finally get around to it.

One day I was asking Christ to do more in me and through me when I felt Him asking me if I had been obedient to the things He had already asked me to do. I had to answer, “No,” and baptism was at the top of the list.

I knew that if I wanted to ask God to do more in my life, I needed to be obedient to the things He had already asked me to do. So I was baptized. The next day, God empowered me to do supernatural things that I could never have done on my own.

Faith baptizes. Throughout the book of Acts, when people put their faith in Christ, they got baptized as well, whether it was the 3,000 who believed on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:37-41), the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:34-38), the Apostle Paul (Acts 9:18-19), Cornelius and his friends and relatives (Acts 10:44-48), the jailer and his family (Acts 16:29-34), the many who believed in Corinth (Acts 18:8), or the dozen who are mentioned in today’s passage (Acts 19:1-7).

If you feel God prompting you to be baptized, I want to encourage you to do it. It’s not only part of being a Christian, it’s also part of receiving the empowerment of God to do all He wants you to do in you and through you.

Let’s pray...

Father, thank You for Your Holy Spirit and for the empowerment that comes through Him. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

(To read more from this series, “Acts: Lessons in Faith,” click here.)