Christians are Baptized, Part 3

Chuckle: In a Veterinarian's waiting room, a sign read: "Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!"

Good Quote: "Baptism is not an option for believers. It is included in Christ's Great Commission." --Wade Armstrong.

BAPTISM DEMONSTRATES OUR FAITH:

Jesus said, "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." (Matthew 10:32 NIV).

This is the final message of my three-part series on baptism. We find in Acts 2:41 that “Those who accepted Peter’s message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” The new believers publicly demonstrated their faith by being baptized.

In the early church, and today, when a person is baptized, he/she is demonstrating his/her relationship to our risen Lord. By following our Lord in believer's baptism, you are saying to others, "I'm humbling myself and publicly displaying my faith no matter what others may say or do."

We're advertising our relationship to Christ when we experience believer's baptism. We are showing how God's love reached down from a bloody cross, how Christ arose from the dead that first Easter morning, and how God changed our lives by His grace through our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. After we have received Christ, we are baptized ". . . in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," as Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:19 NIV.

"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, 'I know him" but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in him'" (I John 2:3-4 NIV).

Baptism tells the story of our salvation. “It tells the story of death to an old way of life and resurrection to a new way of life. Baptism is our way of breaking with the old world and stepping forth into a new life-style under God." -- James T. Draper

What joy there is in obedience -- doing what God has commanded us. Have you experienced the joy of salvation by being born again spiritually, and have you obeyed His command by being baptized as a public expression/symbol of your faith? I pray you have and that you are experiencing His joy and His peace that transcends all understanding.

Love, Jerry & Dotse