the first words of mark the evangelist are the beginning of the gospel of jesus christ and mark begins his story about jesus telling us of his baptism in the jordan river and the descent of the holy spirit upon the sun the heavens are torn apart the holy spirit descends as a dove and god the father declares this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased but not only does mark begin his gospel with baptism and the descent of the holy spirit mark ends his gospel with the baptism of believers and the descent of the holy spirit upon believers he writes in mark 16 go preach the gospel to all creation he who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved and then he says these signs will accompany those who have believed those who have been baptized in my name they will cast out demons they will speak with new tongues they will pick up serpents and if they drink any deadly poison it will not hurt them they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover mark begins and ends his gospel narrative with the baptism of jesus the baptism of the believers and in both accounts the descent of the holy spirit in the gospel of mark water baptism signifies a charismatic event a charismatic endowment with signs following believers throughout the new testament water baptism signifies new birth jesus said unless one is born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of god when jesus utters these words he is thinking back to the tradition of the prophets god speaking through the prophet ezekiel declared i will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean i will cleanse you i will give you a new heart i will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes the apostle paul builds upon that tradition he declares that god has saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing by the holy spirit water baptism signifies being in christ and it is the covenant sign of the people of god paul wrote in galatians chapter 3 for you all were baptized in christ and clothed yourselves with christ therefore there is neither june or greek there is neither slave nor free there is neither male nor female for you are all one in christ jesus and if you belong to christ then you were abraham's descendants heirs according to the promise water baptism signifies the seal and pledge of the holy spirit and anticipates baptism in the holy spirit the apostle peter declared on the day of pentecost repent and each of you be baptized in the name of jesus christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit just as in the gospel of mark water baptism is associated with the gift of holy spirit the apostle paul declared that the holy spirit is the seal and pledge of our redemption he says you have believed you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise who was given as a pledge of our inheritance but then in ephesians chapter 3 the apostle paul prays that all believers will be filled up to all of the fullness of god so for the apostle paul the giving of the holy spirit is the seal and pledge of regeneration but is fulfilled in the baptism of the holy spirit water baptism signifies the presence of the spirit with the church as the church engages in the mission of jesus christ jesus commissioned the church go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit teaching them to observe all i have commanded you and lo i am with you always even until the end of the age a few years ago i examined the minister's records of our denomination and discovered that in one particular year we recorded about 350 000 conversions to jesus christ in north america but in that same year we only recorded 33 000 water baptisms it appears that for many pentecostals and many protestants that water baptism has become a meaningless sign but that is not the teaching of the new testament water baptism is the sign and seal of new birth it anticipates baptism of the holy spirit it signifies a charismatic endowment of miracles and gifts of the holy spirit and it is associated with the teaching and discipling ministry of the church so let's go into all the world let's preach the gospel and let's baptize in the name of the father of the son and of the holy spirit you