Volume 51   Number 4                                                         						April 2009

Mark’s Gospel records: “... Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15,16).

Luke writes: “Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46,47).

Keeping these three passages in mind, we can derive several steps that are used to bring someone into Christ’s church. “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32).

1. The devout Jews on Pentecost Acts 2:
   We find the account of Peter teaching the gospel of Christ to a group of Jews on the day of Pentecost. Being moved by the teaching, the group of Jews sought to join with Jesus: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’ And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’ Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.” (Acts 2:37-41).

   Remembering the steps we have already listed, we can see that the Gospel message was first taught by Peter. The phrase in verse 37 clearly states that the hearers were “cut to the heart” signifying true belief. They ask in verse 37, “What shall we do?”. Peter tells them to repent and be baptized, which about 3000 souls received his word and obeyed. In this example, we see all but the explicit confession of Christ recorded as Jesus had commanded.



2. The Samaritans (Acts 8:5-13):
   The next conversion that we read about Acts 8. We find the evangelist Philip teaching the Gospel to the Samaritans. Read verses 5-6, then 12-13, and we see here a little less detailed account of conversion, yet we can take several important details from this account for our list. Verse 5 clearly speaks of the preaching of Christ to the Samaritans. Verses 6 and 12 speak of the belief in the Gospel message by the Samaritans. Finally, verse 12 speaks of the baptism of the believers. While the specifics of repentance and confession are not mentioned here, due possibly to the brief nature of this account, it can be inferred from the conviction of these believers that they carried out these steps in their coming to Christ.



3. Simon (Acts 8:9-13):
   Additionally, we read of a specific man, Simon, a sorcerer, being converted by Philip. We can see in this account that Simon heeded the same teachings of Philip that the rest of the Samaritans did. We can also see the true power of the blood of Christ over sin, as this man, with such great sin in his past, was able to repent of that sin and be made new in Christ. Even though we see Simon led astray later in the chapter, there is no reason to think that his conversion here was not according to Christ’s commands, or that Simon didn’t truly believe in Christ at this time.



4. The Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40):
   We find in later in Acts 8 perhaps the most famous conversion in Acts. Philip is called by God to go to the Ethiopian eunuch who is studying the book of Isaiah, searching for answers to Isaiah’s prophecies of the coming Messiah. This example shows us the greatest example of the confession of Christ as part of the conversion process, probably due to the deeply individual nature of this account. It shows the wonderful manifestation of a believer’s faith when the confession of Christ is given! Remember the words of Jesus in
Matthew 10:32.


5. Saul (Acts chapters 9, 22, 26):
   The next example is another very well known and deeply personal conversion, the conversion of Saul, who became the Apostle Paul. Paul’s conversion is cited several places in Acts, the first of which is in Acts 9 and repeated in Acts 22. Saul was expected to obey the same commandments that were given by Jesus, with no preferential treatment.



6. Cornelius (Acts 10):
   The next conversion that we read about in Acts is very significant because it involves the first Gentile conversion recorded. Notice especially v. 33 where Cornelius expresses the godly desire of the sincere soul: “So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God.” When we have the same heart as Cornelius, we will obey from the heart the doctrine that comes from Jesus and the Apostles.



7. Lydia (Acts 16:13-15.):
   Even with the briefness of this account, we see the steps of teaching (Lydia heard us), belief (the Lord opened her heart), and baptism (she and her household were baptized).



8. The Jailor (Acts 16:25-34):
   The steps of teaching (they spoke the word), belief (having believed in God), repentance (washed their stripes), and baptism (he and his family were baptized) are all evident in this account. Notice that the “rejoicing” takes place after baptism, just as it did in previous conversions. The final three conversion accounts, without comment, are:



9. The Athenians (Acts 17:16-34.)



10. The Corinthians (Acts 18:1-8.)



11. The Ephesians (Acts 19:1-7.)