Ron Moore
Maria Stockman
Brad Rine
Question:
When did the practice of baptizing start, and why did they do it? I know that we use it as symbolism for dying like Christ and rising. John the Baptist was baptizing and even baptized Jesus. Was it going on through the Old Testament times as well?
• Mosaic Law, God talks about a ritual cleansing … Exodus 29
• the Jewish people took this idea and made it part of the process of becoming part of the nation of Israel
• Dead Sea scrolls - that community held to these rituals as well
• John the Baptist may have had a connection to this community
• In the OT it was something you did yourself, but John the Baptist did it and it was tied into a heart issue and sin. It wasn’t just ceremonial.
• Jesus is coming, repent from your sins, and prepare
• Jesus identifies with man and shows us the example with his demonstration
• Why be baptized today?
• Outward demonstration of an inward decision
• Putting a stake in the ground
• Baptism does not make you a Christian
• It doesn’t make you more of a Christian
• It doesn’t complete your faith journey
• TBC links for baptism http://www.biblechapel.org/next-steps/baptism--child-dedications/
Question:
Why don’t we talk about fasting more? Jesus talked about not if but when we fast. When should we fast? How long? How often? How common was it back before Jesus, and afterwards?
• Jesus does say When not If
• Matthew 6:16
• Pharisees used it as a point of pride and misused it
• Can be easily misunderstood or misapplied
• Almost always tied to prayer
• There is a spiritual purpose to fasting
• “Giants of the Faith” in the OT mention fasting and it’s linked to a time of prayer
• It doesn’t sprinkle magic dust on our prayers. It’s personal and between you and God.
• It helps you draw closer to the Lord.
• It’s convicting
• Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline
• Depriving yourself of food to remind yourself to focus on prayer
• There are physical reasons not to fast
• Recovering from illness, pregnancy, diabetic, etc
• Fasting could be a period of time or for a specific prayer
• fasting could be from other things besides food
• There is freedom in fasting because there aren’t set rules
• Fasting is still drinking water, it’s a break from food.
• It’s about focusing your time with the Lord
• Using the hunger as a reminder to keep praying
