12/12/2017 — Water baptism is a critical step in our development as Christians. Unfortunately many churches neglect it. Baptism is both an outward sign announcing our inward transformation, and a supernatural cleansing of our souls.

We are to both repent and be baptized. Our baptism separates us from the world, and forever identifies us as followers of Christ. It is not an initiation ceremony into the Church; it is the fulfillment of our promise to be made holy, which we initiated when we repented of our sins. Believer, be baptized today!

EDUCATION

Romans 6:1–10
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may increase? God forbid! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Do you not know that we who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

“For if we have been united with Him in the likeness of His death, so shall we also be united with Him in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him, so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we should no longer be slaves to sin. For the one who has died is freed from sin.

“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death has no further dominion over Him. For the death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God ” (MEV).

APPLICATION

• Baptism serves multiple purposes in the life of the believer. It is far more than the outward acknowledgement of the inward transformation God has worked in our hearts.
• Baptism cleanses the new believer's conscience from dead works. It separates you from the world, as an announcement that you no longer have an allegiance to any king but Jesus. You no longer have allegiance to your flesh; you can stand in holiness and power and reject your prior allegiance to the culture.
• Second, baptism replaces our heart of stone with a tender heart that longs to serve others in Jesus's name. It is a public declaration of the truth of 2 Corinthians 5:17 — you are a new creation in Christ Jesus, not a new–and–improved version of the man or woman you once were!
• The more separated you are the holier you are and the more power you have. The next time your temper wants to go off, something bigger in you will rise up and calm you down. You not only become clean, you receive the power to stay clean so that you can lift up holy hands without wrath or doubting.
• Believers in the Church stay clean by staying accountable to each other. You need someone in your life who is to you as Barnabas was to Paul — someone who loves you but is not impressed by you, who can call you out on your nonsense and tell you want you need to hear instead of what you want to hear.

IMPARTATION

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for the gift of baptism! It is an incredible privilege to be called out from the world and into Your Kingdom. Order my steps, that I may walk in the ways of the Kingdom, with a heart to serve and not to be served.

Make me a crucible in which Your love and power are multiplied and distributed in my circles of influence. And send men and women to keep me accountable to follow Your precepts. Make me daily into the believer You need me to be.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ — Jehovah Joshua Messiah — I pray. Amen!




WHC FAMILY PRAYER REQUESTS

In Matthew 18, Jesus said “Truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” Let’s stand in agreement with the following members of our church family who have requested prayer:
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Send in your prayer request on this online form so we can agree with you in prayer!

Send in your testimony or praise report here when God moves in your life, so we can give Him glory with you!!