ABOUT WATER BAPTISM

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Water Baptism is a moment of power and is one of the three main sacraments instituted by God for the church, the other two being Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Communion. When God institutes something, as opposed to that instituted by man, it has His purpose attached to it, and, when done in faith, it releases His power to bring that purpose to pass. God’s purpose for us in Water Baptism is that we leave behind our old sin nature and come up out of the water empowered by Him to live His way. When we do this in faith, and not merely as a ritual, the power of the Holy Spirit comes to remove the aspects of the old nature including sins, addictions, emotional troubles such as depression and unwanted patterns of behavior.

 

WATER BAPTISM IS A STEP AFTER SALVATION

⁃ Baptism is not salvation itself.

⁃ Salvation is by grace through faith alone.

 

SALVATION IS BEING ‘BORN AGAIN’

Sin literally means to “miss the mark” – it is failure to live up to what God expects of us in action, thought and being and it separates us from God.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
—Romans 3:23

 

JESUS DIED IN OUR PLACE SO THAT WE COULD BE RESTORED TO RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD:

 

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” - 2 Corinthians 5:21

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When we ask Him into our life, we repent (turn away from) of all our sins, acknowledge that He died in our place for our sins and that He took our judgement, and we make a commitment to live for Him and follow Him in response to what He did for us.

 

When we do that we receive forgiveness for all of our sins and we are connected to God by the Holy Spirit coming into (sealed) our spirit.

Our spirit receives His life, His Spirit and this is what is known as being ‘born again’.

 

BAPTISM MEANS “TO IMMERSE, TO SUBMERSE AND TO EMERGE”. NOT A SPRINKLE OR A SPLASH, BUT A SOAKING.

 

BAPTISM IS:

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1) DYING TO THE OLD LIFE AND BEING RAISED TO LIVE A NEW ONE

“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
—Romans 6:3-4

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In baptism we are identifying with Jesus dying for our sins; our sins and old nature being buried with Him (as we go down into the water), and then being raised to live a new life in Him(as we come out of the water), just as He was raised from the dead. The identification may be symbolic but a power is released to set us free from the old way of life and release new life in us, just as if we had actually been in Christ when He died and rose again. This is one of God’s ordained moments of power!

 

2) OBEDIENCE TO JESUS

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”
—Matthew 28:19

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• These were some of the last words Jesus spoke before going to Heaven, and carry great significance.
• Jesus was baptized and is our example in everything we do in life.

 

3) PUBLIC DECLARATION OF YOUR FAITH IN JESUS

“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” - Matthew 10:32-33

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• Baptism is an outward sign of a decision we made in our heart to follow Jesus.