Acts 1:6-11, The Mission Acts

Sep 13, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Waiting in Jerusalem: The Discipline of Holy Anticipation

Jesus commanded His disciples to wait in Jerusalem despite their eagerness to act. This waiting was not passive but a surrender to divine timing, a posture of trust in God’s promise over human urgency. Just as the disciples lingered for the Spirit’s arrival, believers today are called to discern when to pause rather than rush. True readiness often looks like stillness, creating space for God’s power to precede our efforts. The kingdom advances not through hurried plans but through Spirit-filled obedience. [29:24]

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
(Acts 1:4-5, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you feel tempted to act before seeking God’s timing? How might waiting deepen your dependence on the Spirit’s work rather than your own?

Day 2: John’s Baptism: Preparing Crooked Paths for the King

John’s baptism of repentance exposed the futility of ritual without heart change. He called Israel to clear the debris of empty tradition, making straight paths for the Messiah. Like ancient Jews obsessing over outward washings, we often mistake religious activity for true cleansing. John’s cry still echoes: repentance is not about perfection but preparing room for Christ to reign. The wilderness of our pride must become a highway for the King. [34:36]

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
(Mark 1:4, ESV)

Reflection: What “crooked paths” in your life need straightening—habits, attitudes, or excuses that hinder full surrender to Christ?

Day 3: From Dirge to Dance: Sorrow’s Role in Gospel Joy

Jesus compared His generation to children rejecting both funeral dirges and wedding dances. The gospel requires holding grief over sin and joy over salvation in tension. We cannot celebrate resurrection without first mourning the tomb. John’s sober call to repentance makes Christ’s grace shine brighter. True faith dances in freedom while remembering the cost of our redemption. [49:35]

“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.”
(Matthew 11:17, ESV)

Reflection: When have you minimized either the weight of your sin or the wonder of grace? How does embracing both deepen your worship?

Day 4: Temples of the Spirit: The Miracle of God Within

The Holy Spirit’s baptism fulfills Ezekiel’s promise: God exchanges hearts of stone for living temples. Unlike John’s symbolic washing, the Spirit’s indwelling radically transforms believers from within. This is no mere ritual—it’s the Creator inhabiting His creation. Every Christian becomes a walking sanctuary, carrying God’s presence into broken places. [01:01:33]

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20, ESV)

Reflection: How would your choices change today if you fully believed God dwells within you? What “idols” compete for His space in your temple?

Day 5: Waters of Witness: Baptism as First Obedience

Water baptism declares the invisible work of the Spirit. Just as Pentecost believers were baptized immediately after conversion, this act seals our testimony before others. It’s not a finish line but a starting block—the first public step of lifelong discipleship. Delaying baptism risks privatizing faith when Jesus demands communal confession. [01:07:28]

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
(Acts 2:41, ESV)

Reflection: If you’re baptized, how does remembering your baptism renew your mission? If unbaptized, what hesitations hold you back from this act of obedience?

Sermon Summary

Acts 1:5 slows everything down around one question: what kind of baptism is Jesus talking about? The text puts John’s baptism with water beside Christ’s baptism with the Holy Spirit, and that contrast matters because Scripture speaks of more than one baptism. The baptism of John was not the same as the church’s ordinance of water baptism, and it was not the saving baptism of the Holy Spirit.

John’s baptism grew out of Israel’s need for cleansing, yet it exposed the failure of outward washing to deal with inward sin. The Pharisees washed cups, pots, couches, and themselves, but Christ said the real problem was inside the pot. The rituals had become crooked, twisted paths toward God, as though physical cleanliness and religious effort could make a sinner pure. John came crying in the wilderness to make the way straight: repentance was necessary because the heart needed cleansing.

The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John prepared people to see their desperate need for a Savior, to grieve their sin, and to stop trusting lineage, rituals, or religious performance. The sorrow of repentance and the joy of salvation go hand in hand. John’s funeral song called people to mourn their sin, while Christ’s wedding song declared the joy of forgiveness; that generation refused to be moved by either.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the actual washing of regeneration and renewal that comes through Christ. Christ first makes sinners pure by His blood, once and for all, and then the Spirit comes to dwell within them. The temple imagery becomes personal: the body becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s baptism is not a second level of Christianity earned after salvation, because everyone who belongs to Christ has the Spirit, and all believers are baptized into one body.

Water baptism is the church’s commanded symbol of that saving reality. Baptism does not save, because salvation is by grace through faith and not by works. Yet water baptism is not “just a symbol” in the sense of being unimportant; Christ gave it as a reverent command, alongside the Lord’s Supper. Acts repeatedly joins a profession of faith with immediate baptism, calling the church to let Scripture shape its instincts about obedience, assurance, and the public confession of Christ.

Key Takeaways

1. Repentance clears the crooked path John’s baptism confronted the lie that religious activity can wash away sin. The heart does not become clean through inherited faith, church attendance, or outward rituals. Repentance begins when sin is seen as the real defilement and Christ is seen as the only Savior who can cleanse it. [46:25]
2. Sorrow and joy belong together John’s call to mourn and Christ’s announcement of forgiveness are not competing notes. The weight of sin makes the joy of salvation real, not shallow. A person will not run to a Savior while believing there is nothing serious to be saved from. [49:35]
3. Christ makes His people His temple The blood of Christ does what outward washings never could: it makes sinners truly pure. The Holy Spirit then dwells within those whom Christ has purchased. Salvation is not merely forgiveness from a distance, but God making His home in His people. [61:16]
4. The Spirit belongs to every believer The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a prize for Christians who have reached a higher spiritual level. Scripture joins belonging to Christ with possessing His Spirit. This guards the church from works-based striving, spiritual hierarchy, and uncertainty about whether Christ has truly given what His people need. [63:51]
5. Water baptism deserves reverent obedience Water baptism does not save, but Christ commands it as the visible confession of union with Him in death and resurrection. Acts presents baptism as closely joined to a new believer’s profession of faith. The church should not empty this ordinance of its weight by treating Christ’s command as optional or distant.

## [66:54]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[28:12] - Acts 1 and the Question of Baptism
[30:43] - Three Types of Baptism
[33:28] - John’s Baptism in Mark 1
[38:35] - Where Baptism Came From
[40:47] - Outward Washing Cannot Cleanse the Heart
[44:32] - John Makes the Way Straight
[47:45] - Repentance and Gospel Joy
[52:40] - John’s Water and Christ’s Spirit
[57:14] - Acts 19 Explains the Three Baptisms
[59:02] - Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Regeneration
[60:39] - Made Pure for the Spirit’s Dwelling
[62:37] - The Spirit Is Not a Second Blessing
[65:02] - Water Baptism as Christ’s Ordinance
[67:13] - Immediate Baptism in Acts

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Acts 1:5
“For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” [30:43]

Mark 1:4-5
“John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” [34:34]

Mark 1:7-8
“And he preached, saying, ‘After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’” [52:43]

Acts 19:1-6
“And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ And they said, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ And he said, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ They said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ And Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.’ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.” [57:35]

Observation questions

In Acts 1:5 and Mark 1:7-8, what contrast does John make between his baptism with water and Christ’s baptism with the Holy Spirit? [52:56]
According to Mark 1:4-5, what were the people doing as they came to John for baptism, and what does that show about the purpose of John’s baptism? [51:46]
In Acts 19:1-6, what questions does Paul ask the disciples in Ephesus, and how do their answers reveal that they had received John’s baptism but did not yet understand the gospel fully? [57:47]
What outward washings had become important to the Pharisees, and what did Jesus identify as the deeper problem that washing could not fix? [41:23]

Interpretation questions

John’s baptism called people to repent and confess sin while looking ahead to Jesus. Why is it important that repentance does not mean merely feeling bad, but turning from trusting religious effort and looking to Christ? [54:22]
Acts 19 distinguishes John’s baptism, baptism in the name of Jesus, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. How does this passage help a believer avoid treating every use of the word “baptism” as though it means exactly the same thing? [58:05]
Christ’s blood makes His people pure, and the Holy Spirit dwells within them. How does this truth change the way a believer understands salvation as more than forgiveness from a distance? [01:00:29]
Scripture teaches that every person who belongs to Christ has His Spirit. Why can the idea of needing to earn a later “second blessing” lead to fear, spiritual comparison, or works-based striving? [01:03:32]

Application questions

What “crooked paths” toward God are most tempting for you—church attendance, family background, good behavior, serving, or something else? How can you remind yourself this week that only Christ can cleanse the heart? [46:08]
Is there a sin that you have been minimizing, excusing, or keeping hidden? What would honest repentance and confession before God look like in that area? [46:36]
The sorrow of sin and the joy of forgiveness belong together. When you think about your salvation, are you more likely to forget the seriousness of sin or the joy of Christ’s mercy? What would help restore that balance? [49:43]
Every believer is made a temple of the Holy Spirit and was bought with a price. How might that truth shape one specific choice you make with your body, time, words, or private life this week? [01:01:25]
If you belong to Christ, His Spirit dwells within you. Where have you been living as though you must earn God’s presence or prove that you are spiritual enough for Him to help you? [01:04:02]
Water baptism does not save, but Christ gave it as a meaningful command and public confession of union with Him. If you have trusted Christ but have not been baptized, what questions, fears, or practical obstacles should be brought into the open? If you have been baptized, how can you better remember what it declares? [01:06:42]
Acts repeatedly connects a profession of faith with prompt baptism. How can the group encourage new believers toward joyful, reverent obedience without making baptism into a work that earns salvation? [01:07:28]

Sermon Clips

60s

#WashedBeforeFilled

“We still have the pattern and principle of John's baptism. In order to come to Christ, the glorious good news of the gospel, you must first understand your desperate need for repentance. You must be stricken by your sorrow of your sin. You must see that you are dead in your trespasses. You must be made new. You're never gonna run to a savior unless you understand your need for salvation, your need for repentance. The natural man does not like this. That's why the gospel is so offensive to many. But you must understand this to come to Christ. It is critical, critical to be washed and emptied before being filled by the Holy Spirit.”

50s

#RepentAndBearFruit

“This is why when the Pharisees came and asked him about himself, he said, you brood of vipers, do not presume to yourself, to say to yourself that we have Abraham as our father, thinking that your lineage can make you pure. He said, bear fruit in keeping with repentance. That is what he proclaimed. He said the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The savior is here, but in order to be saved, you need to know what you need to be saved from. You must understand the sorrow and grief of your sin to then celebrate salvation.”

55s

#BaptismAndCommunion

“This is the ordinance that we perform in the church, right here in the baptismal. Water baptism is a symbol of our salvation. It's a symbol of our salvation, which means it's a symbol of our baptism of the Holy Spirit. We as the church, we were given two ordinances by Christ. was the Lord's Supper, the other was baptism. Both are symbols to remember what has happened, what is true. The Lord's Supper is a symbol to remember Christ's death. Baptism is a symbol to remember our death with Christ, united with him, and then being raised to new life as new creations.”

39s

#RepentanceNotReligion

“have this crooked in our day and age too, don't we? This is so misunderstood in our culture. If you just work your way, you try to earn it, if you go to church on Sunday, if you do all of these things, how crooked is that? No, we need to repent. We need to understand our need for repentance. And that is what John the Baptist was preaching, to prepare the way for the savior who would come and wash us clean.”

38s

#ScriptureRevealsSalvation

“I just want to close with this. Imagine trying to understand all of this without scripture. Imagine trying to understand the concept of baptism of the Holy Spirit that God would make us pure, that we needed to repent of our sins, that he would dwell within us. Praise God that he has made a way for us. And not only made a way for us to be purified by his son, but also revealed it to us in scripture. Amen? Don't we serve a great God?”

41s

#FromRitualsToHeart

“All the crookedness of the law, all the crookedness and twisting of the law, and all these rituals to perform that the Pharisees had set up, these traditions. John the Baptist was to come and make it straight and prepare the way of the Lord to help people see that their true need, their true need was not physical cleansing, but spiritual cleansing. He set the foundation for understanding that their heart was not right before the Lord.”

49s

#BaptismOfRepentance

“And so this prepared the way for John's baptism with water. This is how they understood, in a sense, what the symbol of John's baptism with water meant, but John's baptism was not about physical washing. Unlike what they were used to, it was not about physical washing. John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. Repentance, we've seen it right here in Mark. A baptism for repentance. A need for spiritual washing. A washing of the heart. A washing of the real problem.”

36s

#BaptismMatters

“I struggle when people say that baptism is merely a symbol or it's just a symbol. You see sometimes we swing the pendulum way too far when we think about water baptism, Where we go, it's just a symbol, it's not that big of a deal. No, it's a huge deal. It was the commandment to the church. Matthew 28, go therefore and make disciples baptizing them. It's the first commandment to the church. It is a reverent command.”

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Providence Bible Church | Meridian, Idaho This sermon · AI assistant

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