1. We pray because we love God. We spend time with God in prayer and communion because we love Him. Just as a man and woman in love desire to be together and communicate, so we – if we love God – will desire to be with Him and to fellowship with Him in proportion to our love for Him.
2. We pray because we depend on God. God is our source. He is our life (Colossians 3:4). Through prayer we receive the comfort, the strength and all the other resources that we need in life – both naturally and spiritually. Prayer – relationship to God – is as necessary to the spiritual life as air to the natural life.
3.  We need to pray in order to resist temptation. “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” (Mt. 26:41). Much sin is the result of the sin of prayerlessness. Through lack of prayer, we are weak, others are weaker and Satan gains the advantage in our lives.
4. We need to pray because it is necessary for men to invite God to act in salvation. God gave the earth to Adam and his descendants. We must invite God to work here. If no-one invites God to work here, Satan (the god of this world through man’s universal rebellion – 2 Corinthians 4:4) will dominate the affairs of men and eventually the judgment of God will come. By inviting God often and specifically, multitudes can be saved that would otherwise be lost.
5.  We need to pray because God commands us to pray. “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 4:2). “Then he [Jesus] spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not lose heart.” (Luke 18:1). The need to pray is as great as the authority of God which commands us: “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer is so vital to all that God wants to do on the earth, and so essential to us, that God commands us to do it all the time. We should even deny ourselves sleep and food at times in order to pray more and with greater power. (Matthew 6:16; Luke 6:12; Luke 21:36; Colossians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 11:27).

• When Should I Get Water Baptized?

You should get water baptized at your first opportunity after you have received Christ as Lord and Savior (Acts 8:35-39; 16:30-34; 18:8). Also, if you’ve recently prayed to receive Christ, I encourage you to find a church home that will help you grow spiritually and allow you to use and develop your gifts as you serve Jesus by serving others.

1. What is the Purpose of Water Baptism? Through water baptism we identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. It’s like saying to the Lord Jesus, “Your death is my death…I no longer have to die for my sins. Your life if my life…I now have your eternal life, and I will not die for my sins” (Romans 3:23; 6:23). As you are immersed under water, you bury your old sinful nature. When you come up out of the water, you experience the new life and resurrection that belong to you through Jesus.
2. What is the Significance of Water Baptism? Baptism is a symbol of a covenant and commitment, much like a wedding ring. When a couple marries, they give each other a wedding ring. This ring does not make them married; the promise and covenant they made to each other make them married. The ring is a symbol to others of that promise and covenant they made in their hearts to each other. Like the wedding ring, baptism is a symbol which testifies before God and man of the promise and covenant a person has made in his heart to Jesus. 

•  We consider Him as less than omnipotent (having unlimited power).
•  We doubt His constant willingness to bless.
• We do “not remember His power ... His miraculous signs ... His wonders.”
• We forget: “I am the Lord; I change not!” (Malachi 3:6, KJV)

• Psalms 33:8-9: Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
• Jeremiah 32:27: Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?At his command a storm arose and covered the sea. (Psalm 107:25)He is forever the same all-powerful God who delights in blessing His people. 

• Ps 78:40-43- 40 How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland! 41 Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed (LIMITED) the Holy One of Israel. 42 They did not remember his power — the day he redeemed them from the oppressor, 43 the day he displayed his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan. NIV The word “limited”, is rendered differently in various translations. However, the verses surrounding verse 41 certainly make a good case for the use of “limited” in this context. Israel diminished their expectations of our unlimited God. [42f] “They did not remember His power... [43] His miraculous signs in Egypt, His wonders...” In effect, they put their own limits on God’s intervention in their lives by failing to remember His historically demonstrated power, signs, and wonders. Like Israel of old, we too often “limit [God]”.  

Because the story of Jesus is so impressive…God among us! God speaking a language we can understand! God acting in ways that heal and help and save us! There is a danger that we will be impressed, but only impressed. As the spectacular dimensions of this story slowly (or suddenly) dawn upon us, we could easily become enthusiastic spectators, and then let it go at that. We just become admirers of Jesus, generous with our “oohs and ahs”, and in our better moments inspired to imitate him.

It is Luke’s task to prevent that. To prevent us from becoming mere spectators to Jesus, fans of the Message. Of the original quarter of writers on Jesus, Luke alone continues to tell the story as the apostles and disciples live it into the next generation. The remarkable thing is that it continues to be essentially the same story for us today in our generation of 2012!

As you read the book of Luke (vol. 1) and then read the book of Acts (vol.2), you’ll wonder…are these the same guys in the book of Acts that were in the book of Luke?

You know…

The ones who doubted in Galilee? The ones who argued in Capernaum? The ones who ran for their lives in Gethsemane?

As you read you’ll wonder…are these the same men? The answer is NO!

It is not the same men. They are different. They have stood face-to-face with God. They have sat at the feet of the resurrected King. They are different.

Within these men and women dwells a fire not found on earth. Christ has taught them. The Father has forgiven them. The Spirit indwells them.

THEY ARE NOT THE SAME!!!

And because they are different, so is the world!!!

We are going to read about their adventures in 2012. We are going to be encouraged. We are going to listen to the Holy Spirit for our own lives.

And what God did to them…he longs to do for you!!!

These people in Acts have not formed the “Jesus Fan Club.” They are not impressed with what He has done or said to the point of ooh and aahh.

They are not spectators…they are participators!!

Notice it is called “Acts,” not “Reacts.”

It is about the initiative and action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the followers (disciples) who were once cowardly, unsure, and ignorant. Those men, who had learned to follow Jesus for three years, were now learning to lead!

In this sequel to his Gospel, Luke reports that those early disciples mobilized the church so effectively that they reached entire cities and saturated whole countries with the gospel (19:10).

The action described in this book shows God empowering men and women who decide to stand for God with the Holy Spirit. They determine to be influencers. Despite their lack of human qualifications, they begin to penetrate their society.

God accomplished this primarily through ordinary people with little in the way of education, political clout or prestige.

Next…Truth #3

When you look at the book of Acts there are three truths that are evident. These are not just observations, but truths that are obvious in all 28 chapters. As you read  Acts these three truths must be kept in the forefront of your mind and heart. If you neglect to see the book of Acts in the context of these three truths then Acts becomes just a book of history and some stories about people who lived in the first century.

Truth #1 – STORY OF JESUS DOESN’T END WITH JESUS

The Book of Acts is more properly a continuation of the Gospel of Luke and could be considered volume 2 of that gospel. It has been said that as the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) presents Jesus going about preaching the gospel and calling people to repent, so the Book of Acts presents Jesus continuing his preaching ministry through his witnesses whom he sent out into the world.

Believers empowered and anointed by the Holy Spirit became the continuing vehicle (literally the physical body) through which the message of redemption and restoration travelled. In other words, what began as God’s role…incarnated and extended in Jesus Christ…now is being transmitted through his church.

The Book of Acts reports how the gospel of Jesus through his witnesses was spread in ever widening circles to Jews and Gentiles alike. Acts is a sequel to the life of Christ in the Gospels and it records the spread if the Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome.

The story of Jesus doesn’t end with Jesus. It continues in the lives of those who believe in Him. The supernatural does not stop with Jesus.

Luke makes it clear that these Christians he wrote about were no more spectators of Jesus than Jesus was a spectator of God. They are in on the action of God, God acting in them, God living in them. This also means, of course, in us…today!