from the pastors at nvcf

i had the privilege of baptizing a few of our youth sunday in our service. talk about an exciting sunday morning!

i shared a few thoughts before we began the dunking, i thought might be appropriate for this particular space in the world wide web.

there is a magical story in the book of acts chapter 8 about a very jewish man, and a very un-jewish eunuch from ethopia. after much discussion and consideration, the eunuch announces “look… water. let’s get me baptized!” (i slightly altered the original text here)

it’s that simple! many times, we are hesitant to step out and obey God because we think we’re not ready for whatever ludicrous reasons we have gathered in our mind. but in fact, the bible is very clear that Jesus was not looking for well-to-do jewish citizens to continue his works, but in fact he left those types and aimed for the less desirable, less knowledgeable people. people without 4 years of bible college, people who have never been to church, people who cuss, people who smoke, people who drink, people who look at dirty magazines, people who need… well him.

in looking into the concept of baptism, we find its not different. the bible describes baptism as the first act of obedience we can do after we choose to follow Jesus with our lives, as opposed to many years after we decide to become a Christ follower, contrary to what many think.

out with the old, in with the new.

romans says we are not only baptized in his (Jesus’) death, but into his life. the book of john chapter 10 says jesus came to bring life and life to the fullest. one can deduce that when we are baptized, something amazing happens inside of us. maybe we were on rocky, uneasy, shaken or broken ground before, but when we declare to our extended family, the church, that we are, in fact following Jesus with all our lives, something powerful and crazy and wonderful and beautiful happens. and not just inside of us, but within the whole body of Christ!

please take some time and consider the implications of your decisions or non decisions and see what jesus has in store for you. it could be fantastic!

-A