Acts 10:44-48
Power. Raw Power. As a boy I stood on the banks of Roaring River fishing for trout. It was severely cold. I watched the beautiful rainbow trout as they tried to determine if they wanted to strike my line. As I looked into the crystal clear water I had no idea the river came from a powerful source. Far upstream is a natural spring from which surges 22 million gallons of water every day. Does the weather matter? Does it have to be warm to have that kind of result? No. The water bubbles up out of the spring unhampered by what is going on all around. We could say that a very similar occurrence can be expected when the Holy Spirit settles in on a group of holy people seeking to be stirred in their spirit. He comes in power. Jesus promised this to us when he said, ABut ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.@ (Acts 1:8a) This can be ours if we but determine to avail ourselves. Do you want revival for someone else? Do you want revival for your church? Until you hunger and thirst after a revival of spiritual intimacy with the Savior in your own life you will not experience the possibility of His power.
Dr. Gayle Woods
Rom 6:1-4 (4)
All Christians have their baptismal stories. Let me tell you mine. I had been saved for some time and was endeavoring to live for the Lord. I wished, however, to give a symbolic public testimony to the fact that I had made a commitment to follow Jesus all of my life. Therefore, when pastor Robert Thompson, Sr. of the Mt. Zion Church of God (Holiness) congregation announced a baptismal service I asked to be a candidate.
We had no baptismal tank and so we did it the old fashioned way. In mid-November the congregation boarded the school’s bus and headed toward a beautiful creek in the Ozarks south of Mt. Zion Bible School. It was a cold and windy day. When it came my turn I waded out into the water where Bro. Thompson affirmed my testimony of the saving grace of Jesus and then plunged me neath the freezing flood! The cold water shocked my sensibilities. For a symbolic moment I crossed the line into another world. Then I was raised quickly and triumphantly to the symbolic challenges of the Christ-like life. Shivering but warm in my soul I made my way out of the water of testimony into an unfriendly world to stand for my Lord.
It was through this experience that I came to realize that in Romans 6 Paul was trying to equate burial with our separation from a sinful life. In addition, Paul was trying to equate resurrection with the consistent holy life of the Christian.
Dr. Gayle Woods
