We need to start with the absolute basics here to make sure we are all on the same page. The Gospel that was preached by Jesus, the Apostles, and the early church is different than the one preached in most modern churches today. So this might sound unfamiliar to you. But don’t fear, we will go through scripture together.
This part of the Gospel I am sure you are very familiar with:
Mankind was created for a relationship with God but mankind sinned and became separated from a holy God. God sent his son Jesus into the world to reconcile the world back to God. Although Jesus never sinned, Jesus took the penalty of our sin by dying on the cross. After He died, He was buried and rose again 3 days later. This means we can become reconciled back to God and can walk in right relationship with God.
This is the very basics of the Gospel: Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. However, the Bible tells us we must OBEY the gospel. How do we obey Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection?
We must die with Christ and be buried and rise again to new life. How do we do this?
We do this by:
Repenting: This is part of the death of our old selves. In order for the old us to truly die, we must choose to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow after Jesus. We turn away from all of our past sins and choose to put our complete faith and trust in Jesus to save us. We cannot save ourselves. Everything in us must be willing to lay on the altar and be given to God- our time, our money, our efforts. We cry out to God for forgiveness and mercy and we confess our sins.
Baptism: Many people have wrongly called baptism just a symbol. But baptism is not a symbol in scripture or the early church! The Bible says it is a BURIAL of our old selves with Jesus! Baptism was so important in the Bible that they would get baptized right away, even in the middle of the night if need be. If done in faith, baptism is a powerful washing away of your past sin and a complete burial of your old life. The Bible tells us that because the old sinful self is buried in baptism, we will truly be FREE from sin. The old sin nature is gone and we are a new creation.
The Holy Spirit: When we truly surrender our life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes and regenerates our spirit and we become joined with Christ in new life. The evidence of this regeneration and reborn process is NEW LIFE. will hate sin and love righteousness! It is a beautiful thing. You an pray and God will BAPTIZE you in the Holy Spirit, the baptism in the Holy Spirit will endue you with power from heaven to be a supernatural witness for Jesus. This baptism usually has an outward sign such as speaking in tongues.