I love baptism Sunday’s at NewPointe Community Church. Today we baptized 9 people. Each one shared their unique story of what God has been doing in their lives. To hear stories of life change, and to see people making a public commitment to Jesus Christ is very exciting. I get to hear the stories of each person when we video tape them telling a little bit of their story. I always am encouraged by how God is working in their lives.
Baptism is an outward expression of an inward change. It is a way of publicly identifying with Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ day people that wanted to become Jewish had to go through a long list of things before they could become Jewish. The last thing on that list was to do a washing or baptism. When they came up out of the water, they were considered Jewish. This tradition transferred to people that wanted to become Christian or Christ followers.
Jesus was baptized by John the baptist to align himself with what John was saying, that the Messiah is coming, repent and be baptized. That is why everyone that calls themselves a Christian should take this step of baptism. Jesus did it Himself, and He asked His disciples and now His church to go into the world and make new followers, baptize them and teach them His ways.
In the New Testament, when someone believed and decided to follow Jesus, they were immediately baptized. This should be done when you make that decision on your own. Many people that attend NewPointe have been re-baptized, because they did not fully understand baptism before or they were baptized as infants. Doing it after they understood what it means to be a Christian is an important step in their spiritual journey. It does not minimize their infant baptism, which was very meaningful to their parents. It just let’s the world know you are a follower of Jesus Christ. It also is an act of obedience and submission to Christ. It represents dying to your old self and being a new creation, a new person. Our faith is a very personal thing, but Jesus asked us to also make it a very public thing, and being baptized is an incredible way to witness to people by sharing your story.
Our next Baptism is scheduled for Sunday August 31st, I can’t wait.
Yesterday was exciting. One of the women from our small group was baptized, I was so proud of her! It was the same feeling when I watched our boys get baptized, like family.