Baptize

1 Corinthians 1:17-18,22-24 - For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.


Acts 2:38 - And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:3-5,14 – And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God…The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Application:

· The promise of the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit has been given to me
· Unless the Holy Spirit works in my heart, the wisdom and eloquence of a preacher are ineffective
· Do I follow mere instincts? Am I dominated by the merely physical, worldly or natural life? Am I equipped to receive truth that comes from the Holy Spirit?
· Has God called me? Do I see Christ as the power that saves and the wisdom that transforms?

All Scripture verses taken from ESV