This past Lord’s Day, our church witnessed God work in our congregation by bringing many to repentance. We did not have an altar call. We did not have many make professions of faith. A total of 20 people repented from their sin of being disobedient to Jesus in baptism. They had professed faith in the Lord, but they had not taken the first step of obedience by declaring to world that they are identified with Him and His body. It was so encouraging for church to witness this. We will probably be baptizing for the next several weeks to baptize those who yet need to obey in this area.

When reading through the book of Acts, one striking component of the early church was the immediacy of baptism after conversion. Peter called the people to repent and be baptized. It was so attached together. In fact, one of the more fascinating passages to me is in Acts 8, where the Lord sends Philip to visit the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip asks him if he understands what he is reading and he says, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” Philip climbs up into the chariot and starts explaining Isaiah and telling him the good news about Jesus. Then the next verse says, “And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”

The text does not skip a beat. It goes from Philip sharing the gospel to the eunuch wanting to be baptized. We would ask, “Where’s the conversion?” But we do not need that because it tells us about the baptism. His baptism gives undeniable proof that he professed faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. When writing this passage, Luke assumed the conversion and emphasized the baptism, so often we can turn that around.

People are not regularly changed by experiences as much as they are by people. If you want to influence someone’s life, don’t give him experiences give him a person.

The disciples did not turn out the way that they did because they had some amazing experiences, but because they experienced all those things with Jesus. The difference was the man, not the circumstances, other people, or surroundings.

Give me a person over an experience any day. People can challenge me, laugh with me, confront me, encourage me, teach me, train me, disciple me, and mold me. Experiences cannot do these things.

Often times, we can walk away from hearing the Word of God preached and think that we have applied it to our hearts. But what we have only walked away with is principles. The sermon ends and we walk out the door with only some good sounding principles that people should live by, rather than specific application to one’s heart.

I know I am guilty of this often. I ask the question: “How should people live?” or “What is a good suggestion to improve my spiritual life.” Rather than the question: “What do I need to change?” It is so easy to step out of a message and think that you heard a good message because there were some good things said, but never actually apply anything to your life.

Today, I found a paper that I wrote in college talking about worship in everyday life. We had to choose three common things that we found in our daily life that point our attention to the grace of God in our lives. I chose to write on coffee as one of those things. I found it kind of funny.

Coffee has become a very gracious gift of the Lord in my life to enjoy. Not only do I really enjoy the taste of this product of the earth, but it has been a great assistance in my study of the Word. I love the mornings. If I had the choice, I’d be in bed at 10:30 and up at 5:30, but college life doesn’t lend itself to that lifestyle. Thus, I am many times compelled to stay up late in order to fulfill my responsibility for my classes and at the same time, I have a higher responsibility before God to obey Him. If I want to get up early and commune with God through the study of the Word and prayer, then I need something to help me in the morning when the alarm goes off. The Lord gave me coffee and now, not only do I get to enjoy a great tasting beverage, but it also gives me the spark that I need to get my mind and heart working towards godliness. I am very thankful for the part that coffee has played in my spiritual growth in the morning, not to mention all of the times I have been confronted, encouraged, and discipled over a cup of Starbucks. I believe that coffee helps me to follow the example of many people in Scripture who rose early in the morning in order to seek the face of God (Abraham – Gen. 19:27; Moses – Ex. 24:4; Joshua – Josh.8:10; Jesus – Mk. 1:35). I also believe that I can use coffee to glorify the Lord as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:31.

A generous giver does not ask, “How much should I give?”, but “How much can I give?” – Dr. Daniel Block