Water Baptism

Laura Susan and I had such a great weekend as she mentioned in the previous post. It was capped off by an incredible baptism service at our church. Our church has a baptism service about twice a year. The first one we experienced was last fall. CrossPointe doesn't do infant baptism, but believer baptism. (I know there is a lot of debate about this, but we won't really get into that.) God's word says repent and be baptized.

Acts 2:38 “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.’”

Laura Susan and I were both baptized when we were infants, and we are honored that our parents did this. When we first started thinking about being baptized again, I was a little hesitant. Mainly because I knew I had already been baptized. The more I prayed, read, and thought about it, I decided I did want to be baptized. When I was a baby, I didn't have the choice to be baptized and didn't know what I was doing. But now being a believer and studying God's word, I knew that baptism is something God wants us to do to be able to identify with Jesus.

Romans 6:4 says, "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

We knew that being baptized was a great way for us to proclaim the gospel. But we also knew that being baptized is not something we have to do to be saved. It is by faith through grace that we are saved, no works including baptism can make Jesus love us anymore. Jesus did tell us to be baptized though in the Great Commission.

Matthew 29:19 "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."

So all this to say that Laura Susan and I were baptized on Sunday. First I was baptized by our pastor, and then I had the honor to baptize Laura Susan. Our church also believes that baptism is not just a priestly function. I am the spiritual leader of our house, so I baptized my wife. It was such an incredible time; we could really feel God moving. A couple more folks got baptized after us. A father got in to baptize his son, but as he was standing there talking, he decided that he needed to be baptized by our pastor before he baptized his son. (I was in the bathroom changing so I didn't get to actually see this.) It was such a powerful moment that it inspired a few folks in the congregation who weren't planning on being baptized to come up and be baptized. It was such an incredible service. Afterwards we had some great yard bird (chicken) out on the front lawn. We love being part of the CrossPointe tribe.

We feel like God is doing so much in us through this church. Another great thing we have coming up this summer is a mission trip to Belize. We are so excited about this. For the past couple of years we have felt God put a desire for missions on our heart. But we haven't had an opportunity to go on a mission trip until now. Please be praying for this trip and the support-raising.