Baptism

I was baptized 2 Sundays ago by Nate. This might seem strange because I'm 24 but if you keep reading, I explain it all :) A lot of people came to show their support and it was great to see how many relationships I have built here in just a year. Nate spoke about what baptism is and why we do it and then I shared my testimony. After that we went outside to the hot tub which is the video below. I know most of you won't read this but for the few who do-This is quickly what baptism is and how I came to follow after Christ.

From Nate:
In the book of Acts when we encounter the early church, we read of people repenting of their sin and placing their faith in Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. The next step to follow in their life is baptism. Peter says in Acts 2:38 ~ “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”

At the end of the gospel of Matthew we come to a passage that is very common to many of us ~ “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Because Shalane has become a disciple of Jesus Christ she wants to submit to the authority of Scripture and obey Christ’s commandment.

So what is baptism? Baptism is a ceremony in which a person who has believed in the gospel in return is immersed into water. There is no saving element of the water, and the ceremony itself has no saving power. There is nothing special about this water. God in his grace has already granted Shalane faith that leads to salvation.

Is there more to baptism than the act of immersion? Baptism is a physical analogy of a great spiritual truth. The act of immersion symbolizes one dying with Christ, being buried with Christ, being raised with Christ, and being made alive with Christ all by God’s power. Today’s baptism symbolizes Shalane dying to her old self and being made alive in Christ to walk in newness of life. Here are two passages from the bible that explains this wonderful spiritual truth.
Roman 6:3-8 & Col. 2:11-14

My testimony:
When I was 14, a friend invited me to church and youth group. My sister and I both started attending, made new friends, sang worship songs, and went through a confirmation class. At the end of the class I was baptized and confirmed in front of the church. I was very excited to learn about God but I was left on my own after the class. I continued to go to youth group and church on Sundays but by my senior year of high school church had lost priority to sport practice or games. I didn't know what baptism really was, I just knew it was part of the class.

Although my presence at church decreased, my desire to actually know God did not. During my freshman year of college, I quickly found a college ministry to attend. I would go to worship, pray, listen to a pastor speak every Wednesday night, along with 300 other college students. I wanted to become more involved so I tried church a few times but I used the “this church is too large for me” excuse. My heart sank as I heard a message about being ‘lukewarm’ because I knew that I was lukewarm. I lived a morally 'good' life, stayed out of trouble, worked hard in school, and thought that I probably only dishonored God in some 'gray' areas yet, I knew one thing, I was not reading my Bible or praying. Therefore, I brought my Bible to college and intended to read it. Immediately I realized that I had no idea what I was doing with this book and had no idea where to start. Still lost in the attempt of Christianity and not knowing who to ask for help, the Bible went to the side only reappearing on Wednesday night. And this routine continued until my senior year of college.

My sister invited me to a BBQ by the Navigators the week we returned to school for my senior year. In the first few meetings I met people who remembered my name and would not stop asking me questions. It was clear that they really wanted to get to know me and were not going to stop talking to me until they did! They continued to invite me to game nights, dinner, pickup games, and Bible study. I quickly joined a girl's Bible study, attended the group night, started attending a church with a few of the other students and soon after I started meeting with a leader for discipleship.

For the first time, I was learning how to pray by listening to the leaders and other students talk to God, studying the Bible more than once a week, enjoying true fellowship and finally met people who could answer my questions. This was not the first time I had heard of Christ but this was the first time that I understood what it meant to follow Him. I never wanted to be lukewarm and apart from God; now God was providing me the tools to learn about my sin, my relationship with Christ and how to lead a life pleasing to Him.

I don’t remember a date that I prayed a prayer or committed my life in some other way but I can look back and see that my life was changing. During a fall conference with the Navigators, we split into groups for different workshops. I remember very specifically a moment that took place during the workshop I attended. At the end, we were handed a booklet that listed pages of emotions and scripture that related to these emotions. We were asked to pick an emotion we felt now, read the verses, pray and then explain to the group why we chose this/how the scripture encouraged us. I stopped on the word 'joy'. As I opened my mouth to talk with the group an unexpected rush of emotion came forward. I explained that for the first time I was experiencing joy and I couldn't describe it perfectly but it was different than happiness. The leader, Deb, asked me what the difference was. I responded that happiness was temporary, the way you feel after passing an exam, it comes and goes but joy did not. The joy of being in a relationship with Christ was now part of me and it didn't matter what was going on around me. I knew this joy was permanent.

This proved to be true over the coming months in which I experienced several events that would have taken my joy without Christ. Instead, I clung to every promise I was learning and my desire to learn increased as I spent more and more time in the Word. Regardless of my lack of Biblical knowledge, there was one thing I knew for sure-the gospel. Christ came here and died for my sins, which were more numerous than I thought, so that I could have a relationship with God now and in Heaven. I wanted and still want to live my life saying thank you for His grace which even now I can’t comprehend. Although living as a follower of Christ is not necessarily easier, it certainly is better. I am continually growing in humility, awareness of sin, knowledge of God's goodness and my love for people.

If you've made it to this point, then you should be able to see that although I was baptized at 14, I didn't know the meaning of it and I was not actually living my life for Christ. As I began to read and study the Bible, I realized that Christ commands a person to believe (not just knowing who he is but being willing to make a commitment to follow Him) and THEN be baptized. At this point I have made that commitment and now I've also been obedient to Christ's command in baptism.