The Bible tells us we have to grow in knowledge of God. Once you get saved - that is just beginning. From there, God expects you to grow in knowledge of Him, His Son Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit and all of Their ways. As I mentioned in article I did titled "The Power of Word of God" - number one way that you grow in spiritual knowledge on this earth is by reading and studying Bible for yourself. There is no other way.

God has arranged to have all of spiritual knowledge that we will ever need about Him, His Son and His Spirit to all be contained in this one Book. You also grow in knowledge of God through your own personal adventures that you have with Him in your own daily walk, along with learning from other Christians - especially those who are anointed and gifted to teach from His Word.

Once again, God uses some very intense language in these verses. You can really tell that He is trying to let all of us know extreme importance of growing in this knowledge. The reason for this is that God's ultimate aim for us is our sanctification and transformation. He wants us to become more holy like Himself.

However, before God will allow this sanctification process to really kick into full gear through Holy Spirit - He wants you to fully understand exactly what He is doing and why He is doing it. In other words - you have to have knowledge as to what God is doing and exactly why He is doing it.

Even small children will pick up on this principle very quickly. Tell a child that he is not to do something - and what is first thing he will do? He will ask you why he can't do that particular thing. And then if child is old enough to understand what that reason is - you then proceed to tell him why it is not in his best interest to do that particular thing. In other words - you are giving your child knowledge that he needs to have so he knows why he should or should not do something specific.

It's exact same way with God Father. God loves to transmit knowledge to His children across board on anything that they may need His knowledge on in this life - but what prevents many of His children from receiving this knowledge directly from Him is that they have never been taught how to hear from Him when He does start to try and communicate with them or they do not press in and enter into a seeking mode with Him to get Him to release this knowledge to them.

If there is one major secret I have learned from Lord on getting Him to release more of His knowledge to you - is that you have to go into a seeking mode with Him. God will not spoon-feed you forever. The Bible says to ask - and then you will receive. Seek - and then you will find. Knock - and then door will open be open to you. Notice in all three of those conditions that you have to be one to initiate it. You have to be one to ask, to seek and to knock. If you do - then God will answer you, open doors for you and let you find answers to your questions and problems.

King David tells us that we have to meditate on word of God. To meditate does not mean to blank your mind out waiting for God to talk to you. Meditate means to think about, to chew on, to try and figure out what specific Scripture verses mean and how they specifically apply to your life.

What I have personally found out is that Holy Spirit will literally guide your thoughts into revelation that you are seeking after as you are trying to figure out what answers are. In other words - you will find knowledge you are needing as you are seeking after it. The Holy Spirit can either guide your thoughts into what correct answers are by you just using some of your brain power to try and figure things out or He will guide you as to where those answers are located at.

You can literally learn how to "pull" knowledge directly from God by going into these seeking modes with Him! As you will see in some of Scripture verses I will list below - it is job of Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us things in this life. In other words - Holy Spirit is our personal guide and personal teacher in this life. The Holy Spirit can and will communicate to you if you are open to receiving this kind of supernatural communication from Him.

I will be doing a much more in-depth article in near future on wide variety of ways that Holy Spirit will communicate to you - especially in area of receiving knowledge from Him. But for this article - I just want to give you main foundational verses from Bible to let you know that God does want to transmit His knowledge to you across board on anything that you will need His knowledge on in this life. Not only can God give you all spiritual knowledge that you will seek after - but He can also give you His knowledge across board on anything else that you may need His knowledge on in this life.

Terry Dashner……………...Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013

Why would I, a former Southern Baptist minister, advocate infant baptism? As I grow older in Lord, some topics that I once labeled—“errant-church doctrines”—now have come under closer scrutiny. One doctrine I have reviewed and renewed my thoughts to is infant baptism. Why?

I do this for several reasons. For one, Holy Spirit has been directing me this way. The Holy Spirit has impressed upon me that there is more to baptism than argument of immersion verses sprinkling. He has shown me that there is more to scope of baptism than simply baptizing a new (adult) convert in water.

What I’m about to share with you does not include ontological, metaphysical, or philosophical import of Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation in Jesus Christ). Although I concur that these precepts are very important to doctrine of baptisms—for sake of time and space—I’m going to keep this very simple. I also stipulate fact that we are called unto salvation from beginning. Also, I stipulate fact that salvation is a work of God’s grace—totally.

Granted. There is an awareness that people grow into with age that prompts them to call upon Lord for salvation; however, awareness and faith to believe unto salvation does not nullify grace. God provides everything for my salvation. I don’t add anything, not even faith to believe. God called me even before I was in my mother’s womb. God convicts me of need for His salvation in His timing. God provides grace and faith to receive His salvation (Eph. 2:8-10). Grace always comes before faith.

With that said, let me return to baptism. The argument against infant baptism is this. An infant is not capable of confessing his sin and calling upon name of Jesus for salvation; therefore, no infant should be baptized because baptism always follows conversion of person who has reached age of accountability. May I ask you this: What is age of accountability? Is that term found in New Testament? No, it isn’t. As a matter of fact, it is a term coined by some of radical groups of Reformation, such as Anabaptists (re-baptize). The Anabaptists believed that infant baptism was wrong and re-baptized all their adult converts who had been baptized as infants.

Here is an important point. Infant baptism is older than Reformation. It was practiced by early church, then Roman Catholic Church as well as Greek Orthodox Church and was undisputed until 16th century. To Roman Catholic, infant baptism is a “sacramental theology” issue and not a “church ordinance” issue as upheld by many Protestant groups. The Roman Catholic believes that baptism of an infant washes away original sin of infant. The Bible declares that ALL are born into Adam’s sin. I agree, but for me issue is neither “sacramental theology” nor a “church ordinance” issue. I believe that baptism of an infant has more to do with “covenant relationship” than washing away infant’s sins.

Allow me to explain, please. In I Corinthians 16:1 Paul writes, “Now I did baptize household of Stephanas…” The word “household” is key word. In Greek New Testament word oikos is translated, “household” and means entire family—men, women, and children (infants too). There is no evidence of this word being used either in secular Greek, Biblical Greek, or in writing of Hellenistic Judaism in a way which would restrict its meaning only to adults.