32 “Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.  -- Matthew 10:32

Public Service Announcement (Matthew 10:32)

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This week, Mike Continued our GAME CHANGERS series, where we investigated the importance and role of baptism as the way to "put on the uniform of faith." Here is our working definition of baptism:

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). In obedience to Christ, baptism publicly proclaims that a person is united to Christ by faith in His death, burial, and resurrection(Romans 6:3-4), and is a member of His body, the church (1 Corinthians 12:13). Essentially, baptism visualizes what God has accomplished in us through the gospel.

Baptism is a concrete way for believers to demonstrate their obedience to Jesus’s command to profess faith in Him publicly! Our scripture for today, Matthew 10:32, describes Jesus' desire for us to acknowledge Christ before others and his subsequent acknowledgment of us before our Father in heaven! When we are baptized, we are declaring to our family, friends, and community that Jesus Christ is Lord. We are acknowledging Jesus Christ as the savior of the world before others.

Further, Baptism is a proclamation and illustration of the gospel to non-believers, as well as an invitation for them to come to faith in Christ. As we witness a baptism, we are watching the story of salvation be played out before our eyes. The death and burial of sin, evil, and selfishness and the resurrection of new life by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

In a sense, our baptism is a public service announcement that Jesus is Christ is alive and well, that he is still transforming lives, and that anyone is invited to experience his mercy and love that changes everything.

I hope that you have enjoyed our deep-dive into baptism this week and that it prompts you to:

1) Be baptized or

2) Remember your baptism and rejoice

3) Truly celebrate and worship when others are baptized