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In Acts 2:38, Peter said, 'Repent and be baptized....' This tells us that when we recognize that we are sinners headed for the lake of fire, and we decide we want salvation and are ready and willing to turn from a sin-driven, self-driven life, we are ready to be baptzed. This is what it means to repent. But in addition to turning from sin we must also believe. Acts 18:8 says, 'And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.' This verse tells us that we must hear and believe before being baptized. In Mark 16:15 Jesus told his apostles to preach the gospel to every creature. This is what we must hear. He then told them to baptize those who believe. Once we hear the gospel we must believe it. Then we can be baptized. Paul summed it up in Acts 16:31 when he was asked. 'What must I do to be saved?' His answer was, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved....' But believing is more than just an acceptance of Jesus Christ. In Acts 8:36-37, when the Ethiopian eunuch said, 'See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?' Philip answered,'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' No one is ready for baptism until he can say that he truly believes with all his heart. One final point: in Acts 10:47-48, after Cornelius and his family received the gift of the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues, Peter asked, 'Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?' The Bible then says, 'And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.' This leads us to conclude that a person should immediately be baptzed upon receiving the gift of the Spirit, provided he recieves it in exactly the same way the apostles did (i.e, speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance).
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