Greetings: The act of baptism is an important milestone in ones Christian walk. My grandson, Jaeden Byrd will be baptized next Sunday morning. I can tell you that his Pops is beaming proud of this public declaration of his faith at age 9. The awesome significance of water baptism is that it symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and is our identification with Him in them. The baptismal waters represent a burial ground. When we’re buried with Christ in baptism, we are proclaiming to heaven, earth and hell that the old me no longer exists. Baptism is about heart, faith, total commitment, surrender, self-denial, death, resurrection, repentance, and seeking God’s mercy through Jesus Christ. As simple as it sounds there is probably no issue that has contributed to more confusion, fighting, and divisions among Christians than baptism. How can we cloud such a sacred act with so much confusion and human doctrine? Look at what the Bible says as the standard for what baptism is really all about. The Rev. Kenneth Copeland gives us some insight on baptism and its origin, when he says, “The word baptize is from the Greek verb baptidzo which means “to immerse.” The process of baptism consists of immersion, submersion and emergence. This process is used to describe John’s baptism and Christian baptism. Simply stated, to baptize is to totally immerse an object in another substance (water) and then bring it out again. Many denominational wars over the years concerning water baptism could have been avoided if we had just translated the Greek word for baptize properly—to immerse. When a person is baptized in water, his or her body is totally immersed in the water and brought out again.” Dr. Ray Pritchard, who serves as president of Keep Believing Ministries, says, “If the meaning of baptism could be boiled down to one word, that word would be identification. Baptism speaks primarily of a personal, public identification with Jesus Christ. It is your personal identification with the greatest act of human history — the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Let us mediate on what the Bible says in Matthew 3:11-17 (The Living Bible) about the baptism of Jesus himself. It reads: “With water I baptize those who repent of their sins; but someone else is coming, far greater than I am, so great that I am not worthy to carry his shoes! He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He will separate the chaff from the grain, burning the chaff with never-ending fire and storing away the grain. Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized there by John. John didn’t want to do it. “This isn’t proper,” he said. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you.” But Jesus said, “Please do it, for I must do all that is right.” So then John baptized him. After his baptism, as soon as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God coming down in the form of a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, and I am wonderfully pleased with him.” So speaking to my grandson, next Sunday Jaeden you are going to be the preacher. Your baptism is your public testimony that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe he died for your sins. You repent of your sins and on the third day you believe Jesus rose from the dead for the forgiveness of your sins. In your baptism Jaeden, you are preaching a sermon without using any words at all. And your sermon in your baptism will be more effective than any sermon the pastor preaches on Sunday morning. Its more effective because it comes directly from you. Let us rejoice with Jaeden and all who have made the same public declaration by their baptism. These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail, and Ill be happy to forward them to your in-box.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 11:03:12 +0000
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