Scripture – NIV
Acts 2:38 –
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 18:3 –
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Romans 6:2 –
By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Bob’s thoughts:
We always jump at the chance to see our grandchildren, and since this past week was VBS, we knew they would get to show off what they learned.
The pastor’s message wove around the baptism scheduled for this morning. In the intro he talked about being at the airport with an elevated airline status and how that got them smoothly through the check-ins. It reminded me how, on a recent trip, the TSA agent pulled me and my entire family out of line leaving me wondering what I had done now. He explained that, as a former Sailor, he could not have a Marine wait in line and sent us on our way ahead of everybody.
The essence of baptism is dying to your former sinful life to be raised again in Christ; the big question is, are we that committed to Christ?
My baptism was as a child, but when Christ claimed me late in life, all my friends left. I thought how sad, till I realized the friendships were one-sided. The pastor related how in some other countries, in coming to Christ, your sacrifice is real, giving up family or job, being beaten or killed. Not so bad to lose a few you only thought were friends.
Jan’s thoughts:
It’s always a blessing to attend this church, to see family and friends, and to meet new friends. Each time we come here I meet another new person and make one more friend.
Last week was kidzXP (Vacation Bible School) and some of our grandkids are old enough to be leaders, although I’m not sure when this happened. They all had a fantastic time along with 152 other youth from the surrounding area, so naturally grandparents were invited (yay!!) to the closing musical presentation during worship. And God bless the 77 volunteers who worked tirelessly to bring to fruition the chance to teach these youngsters about the love of Christ.
This was a special day for another reason as well: it was Baptism Sunday, and we were blessed to witness an adult who reaffirmed his baptism, though it had all the earmarks of an adult baptism.
The stand-alone message, entitled A Change For The Better, examined the purpose of baptism. In our country, there is small risk of repercussion when someone chooses to identify themselves with Christ through this sacrament, but those in other countries often risk their very lives to do so. The pastor outlined the traditional baptismal vows taken in the Methodist baptism in the United States and contrasted them with those asked in some other countries. Those questions from other countries included:
1 – Are you willing to leave home and lose the blessing of your father?
2 – Are you willing to lose your job?
3 – Are you willing to go to the village and those who persecute you, forgive them, and share the love of Christ with them?
4 – Are you willing to give an offering to the Lord?
5 – Are you willing to be beaten rather than deny your faith?
6 – Are you willing to go to prison?
7 – Are you willing to die for Jesus?
We all hope we would respond affirmatively to these questions and then have the courage to follow through if circumstances demanded. What would happen if we in this country asked these questions of baptismal candidates?
Our prayer for this church:
Heavenly Father, we pray for continued blessing on Your church, that they would stay on track and continue to follow Your desires for their future. Amen.
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