All tagged Salvation

Baptism

Baptism

Dan Samms
Trust

CELEBRATING BAPTISM

At our church, we place a high value on proclaiming your trust in Jesus by following Him in Baptism.  When we baptize, we celebrate.  It is a pretty special time.  We high-five, eat food, tell stories, and remember how good God is to us.  We have a baptism service coming up soon, so I thought I would write a little bit about it.

WHAT IS BAPTISM?

Baptism is an outward proclamation of an inward decision to follow Christ.  

WHY DO WE BAPTIZE? 

In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus talks about baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  In the first century, baptism was used to show that you were following the teaching of a particular rabbi.  Today, we do the same thing.  Baptism is an outward proclamation of a personal decision to follow Jesus.  After you tell Jesus, "I'm in," you tell the world through baptism.  

WHAT DOES BAPTISM DO? 

Baptism doesn’t do anything to save you (Ephesians 2:8).  It simply is a way of telling the church and the world that you are following Jesus.  Think of it like putting on a team uniform.  You can be on the team and not wear the jersey, but the jersey is pretty important. It is a symbol for everyone to see that indicates my trust in Jesus.  Baptism is a biblical way of telling everyone you are on Jesus’ team.  

New

New

All Things New

Recently I saw a picture on Facebook of a table someone refurbished. It was amazing what a little vision, paint, and elbow grease could produce. A magical transformation was made from old to new. On the very same day I saw another sequence of pictures documenting the process of an older, smaller house being torn down and built up again to become something stronger and bigger. It really inspires me to watch what can be done when someone is able to see the potential in a broken thing whether it's a rundown home or a piece of furniture on the side of the road. One man's trash becomes another man's treasure in the hands of the right creator. 

The name of this church is Restoration. It's founded on the vision that God desires, through Jesus, to restore our lives, homes, community, and world. Just like the person who posted a picture of the freshly restored table and a newly renovated, more stable home, Jesus loves and longs to find that which is broken and make it whole again. He is the ultimate restorer. He is the right creator. Into His hands we commit our broken lives...

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