Andrew Murray
And God Created Woman
Difference between Anabaptists and Evangelicals
Kingdom
Mysteries
Part 1
Part 2
Anabaptist
Voice
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Sermons by Eli Hofer
03/14/01
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The Writings of Ulrich Stadler
Volume 1
Volume 2
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Volume 4
The Anabaptist Voice
05/27/2009
Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of
God: Love, Joy and Peace in Jesus.
Dear friends,
How are you? We pray you are
well under the grace of wonderful God our Father. We are all fine and
happy in the Lord. Our sons David and Jim arrived on Monday for a week’s visit
with us. We are blessed 
to
have them.
Last Thursday it rained! We do not remember when it rained last time.
It must be more than a couple months ago… It is so wonderful to see the rain
and hear the gentle sound of raindrops. This is a blessing from our God the
Father.
The flowers in our front yard are very beautiful. In the backyard we now
have two big rabbits and two baby rabbits visiting us. Can you see the four
wild bunnies in the photo below? Also this week quail came wi
th
babies to our backyard for the first time this year. The photo shows a mother
quail and several babies. We are blessed with the beauty that God creates, such
as the flowers, birds and animals. The saguaro cacti are in full bloom now.
Below is a photo of saguaro cacti near our house.
The month of May is almost gone. On Monday Naomi said, “May 25th
is gone forever, and we never can see it again.” It is so true. We need to
live today carefully according to the will of our Heavenly Father. He loves us
and takes good care of us.
Last Saturday evening, we were singing praise to God, using our new
songbook that Michi has been working on, when Don recognized a mistake in the
songbook. The song we were singing was a very familiar song to us so Michi was
not looking at the book. Her eyes were closed to praise the Lord. Don knows
the song by heart also but he was following the notes. God must have guided Don
so he could tell Michi about the mistake in her songbook.
Anyway, an amazing thing happened. Michi looked at it and there were a
few measures missing. Later she played it with the comput
er
program, Finale, that she is working with and she listened to the song but the
melody went well. Michi thought to herself, “I must keep my mind focused on it
more carefully.” And so she listened to the melody again. Still, the melody
went without any problem. However, the problem was still there. Obviously, on
the music sheet some measures were missing, so she tried to add them, and that
did not work, it just made a mess. After a while, she had it looking OK,
however found the next song was messed up. The two songs are in same file. How
could such things happen? It could not be possible! Then she realized that
Satan was trying to discourage her, so she told Satan to get out. S
he
asked the Lord to keep her in His care. He did it! She was able to find
and fix the problem!
It is hard to believe such things can happen. This was the first time
Michi experienced such a thing. Michi is glad that she belongs to our Heavenly
Father and she can ask Him to take care of her. She told Don, “I do not know
why I had this experience, but as long as I can be close to the Lord our God, I
will be OK.” Thank you, Lord, for loving us.
Our dear friend Krishta Brown graduated from Arizona State University
last week with a degree in Social Work.
The subject of the sermon at the Baptist church on Sunday morning was
obeying the commands of God and based on 1 John 2:4. That is very unusual to
hear from a church pulpit. Don asked the pastor afterwards if he thinks
obedience includes the Lord’s command not to swear an oath and he replied that
he would not swear an oath. Now to teach the people in the church not to swear
an oath might be a challenge, Don thinks.
Don has recently been on the Hutterite Social Network (www.hutteritenetwork.com
with 2,300 members) which has an interesting discussion going about baptism. Is
baptism necessary? What form of baptism? What does baptism do?
Two Baptisms
There are two baptisms mentioned a number of times in the Bible:
water baptism and Holy Spirit baptism. Let’s look at the difference
between the two baptisms and their purpose.
John the Baptist 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.” (Mt 3:11) The word baptism means immerse, to devote
oneself to repentance, to be immersed in the Spirit of God.
John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mk 1:4)
So we see that water baptism is a baptism of repentance, a desire to live
a holy life.
Jesus said, “John baptized with water, but in a few days you will
be baptized with the Holy Spirit… you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes on you" (Acts 1:5, 8)
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." (Acts
19:4)
Jesus said that a person must be born again, born from above, in order to
see the kingdom of God (to see its glory, to seek it) and a person must
be born of water and Spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God. (John
3:3, 5) Being born of the water means to repent and be washed clean of sin
which is symbolized in water baptism. To be born of the Spirit means to be
baptized in the Holy Spirit.
The Bible shows us that Holy Spirit baptism is usually a separate event
from water baptism and may occur prior to the water baptism (Acts 10:44-47) or
it may come after water baptism (Acts 8:12-17, 19:4-6). The only evidence of
the baptism in the Holy Spirit given in the Bible is the ability of the Holy
Spirit baptized person’s spirit to be able to pray to God, as the apostle Paul
teaches in 1 Cor 14:2.
When a person is baptized in the Holy Spirit, when he is immersed in the
Spirit of God, then he will be showing the fruits of that immersion.
Paul states, “The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control.” (Gal 5:22) Jesus said in the Parable of the Sower that some
people will bear more fruit than others. He also said that those who do not
produce fruit will be cast off and thrown into the fire. (John 15:1-8)
Water Baptism
There are a number of different views on
water baptism. The early church followed the teachings of Jesus that only
believers were baptized. (Mk 16:16) Several hundred years later when the
church became a harlot and joined in union with the world, infant baptism became
the rule.
By the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, water baptism was
generally believed to be a sacrament and that it had certain powers. Both
Catholics and Protestants baptized infants. Water baptism, according to Calvin,
a Protestant leader, was administered to infants to set them free of their sin
nature and become children of God. Calvin defined water baptism as "the sign of
the initiation by which we are received into the society of the church, in order
that, engrafted in Christ, we may be reckoned among God's children.”
Those who view water baptism as a sacrament usually believe that it has
to be done in a certain manner. Some will say the person has to be submersed in
water. Some will say that the person must be submersed three times. Some even
say that the person must be submersed three times backwards!
So those who believe that water baptism must be done in a certain manner,
such as by immersion, consider it to be a sacrament that has certain powers. If
it is not done correctly, it is not valid, they believe.
The Lord God restored the true meaning of water baptism in the 16th
century when He empowered certain men to seek the truth. One day when Conrad
Grebel, Felix Manz, Georg Blaurock, and others were meeting, fear came over them
and struck their hearts. They fell on their knees before the almighty God in
heaven and call upon Him who knows all hearts. They prayed that God grant it to
them to do His divine will and that He might have mercy on them. They were well
aware of what they would have to suffer for this, since believer's baptism was
illegal.
After the prayer, Georg Blaurock stood up and asked Conrad Grebel in the
name of God to baptize him with true Christian baptism on his faith and
recognition of the truth. With this request he knelt down, and Conrad baptized
him by pouring water on him while saying, "I baptize you in the name of God the
Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.” This happened on January 21,
1525, in Switzerland. They were called Anabaptists by their Protestant
opponents, meaning to be baptized again. (Two years later the Protestant
government in Switzerland executed Felix Manz by drowning and Georg Blaurock was
burned at the stake in 1529 by the Catholic government in Austria.)
Repentance from sin is the first step after being born again. This is
symbolized by water baptism, a baptism of repentance, with a vow to God to live
a holy life. (1 Peter 3:21) The Bible says that without holiness, no one will
see God. (Heb 12:14) The next step is to receive the Holy Spirit, the baptism
in the Holy Spirit, in order to have the power to live a holy life. (Acts 1:8)
Such people may then enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:3, 3:5)
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. (2 Cor
13:14)
Your brother and sisters in Christ,
Don, Michi & Naomi Murphy
Tucson, AZ, phone 520-297-1639
www.AnabaptistChurch.org
Jesus said, "People will know that you are my
disciples by your love for one another." (John 13:35)