By My New Way of Life

Reverend Sarchet was a Pastor in Chicago.

A 10 year-old boy in her congregation named Cameron, walked into her office and said (P) he needed to talk to her.

Fresh from soccer practice, and wearing his Cincinnati Reds baseball cap, he had a request for her.

�I�d like to be baptized,� he said.

�We were learning about Jesus� baptism in Sunday School.

The teacher asked the class who was baptized, and all the other kids raised their hands.

I want to be baptized too.�

Using her best pastoral tone of voice, she said, �Cameron, do you really want to be baptized just because everyone else is?�

His freckles winked up at her and he replied, �No. I want to be baptized because it means I belong to God.�

She was touched by his understanding.

�Well, then,� she said, �How about next Sunday?�

His smile turned to concern and he asked, �Do I have to be baptized in front of all those people in the church?

Can�t I just have a friend baptize me in the river?�

She asked where he came up with that idea.

�Well, Jesus was baptized by his cousin John in a river, wasn�t he?�

Caught off guard, she conceded, �You have a point.

But, if a friend baptized you in the river, how would the church recognize it?�

Realizing this was a teachable moment, she climbed up on her foot stool to reach for her Book of Orders that was located on the highest shelf.

But before she placed her hand on the book, he responded.

�By my new way of life,�. (Pause)

She nearly fell off the foot stool and left the Book of Orders on the shelf. (Pause)

Cameron�s understanding was far from childish. (Slow) It was profound.

Beloved (P) Baptism calls us to a new way of life. A new way of living.

In our passage from Acts today, Paul was on his third missionary journey.

He had promised the Ephesians that he would return (P) if it is God�s will.

He left Aquila and Priscilla there to build the church while he was away.

The Scriptures tell us: While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples�

Ephesus was the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire.

The population was around 250,000.

It is no surprise then that they had not met Aquila, Priscilla or any members of the Church in Ephesus.

The fact that Paul calls them disciples does not imply that they are redeemed believers.

The Greek word Mathetes (Math-ay-tes�)simply means �learner� or �follower�.

The New Testament mentions Mathetes (Math-ay-tes�) (P) disciples of Pharisees and disciples of John the Baptist.

The term does not necessarily imply these men were Christians.

Paul may have come across this group while they were gathered for worship.

And as is usually the case in the New Testament, only the men are counted.

This was probably a group of 12 families, 30 to 40 people altogether.

Our Text from Acts goes on to say: �and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

Paul wanted to gauge where they were (P) in their faith.

From the letters Paul wrote to the churches, (P) we know that the Apostle Paul recognized that if you were a believer in Jesus (P) If you had passed from