Today's message might be a hard one for some of you, but I would just ask that you be open to the Holy Spirit's leading and let God's word speak truth to you (John 17:17 "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth").
On a personal note, this last week has been a long and tiring one for the Rudys. Jake has been sick most of the week, I have had 5th grade basketball tryouts/draft all week, and Kay has been running around supporting us just as she always does (and she helped organized running a concession stand at the high school football game Friday night). And then Saturday, our day of rest, was full from 9am - 9pm with school responsibilities and another church function that had all 3 of us on our feet for 6 hours. So Sunday morning, Kay took Jake to the doctor, and I decided to watch our church service online. I praise God for how he is using technology in positive ways, as I was really touched by the time the service ended and I just knew God was calling me to write a devotion on this topic.
The sermon yesterday was titled "Obey Today". In the previous week's sermon, we read in Genesis 16 how we need to heed the Lord's timing and sometimes continue to "Wait on the Lord". Well this week in Chapter 17, it is all about action. This week's message was that "delayed obedience is actually disobedience". The main points of the sermon were to Obey Today: 1) No matter how long it takes 2) no matter how hard it is 3) no matter how crazy it sounds. And one of the examples the pastor used was baptism. Every example of baptism in the New Testament has these 2 characteristics: 1) It was a believer being baptized 2) the baptism was done that same day the believer confessed his faith. Some examples of these baptisms are in: Acts 8:36; 9:17; 10:44,49; 16:14-5; 16:32. I won't go in to these examples, but please read for yourself from God's word and let His Truth wash over you.
For a demonstration of what Believer Baptism looks like, I have two videos for you. The first is from this week's service - the one I mentioned above. Go straight to the 1:10:45 mark in the following link (the baptisms only last about 3 1/2 minutes): http://livestream.com/PurcellvilleBaptistChurch/events/4423093/videos/102258855
And the second, hits a lot closer to home for most of us. The clip below is from last Sunday where our own Jake was baptized. Jake had been baptized with the rest of our family in our backyard pool many years ago when he was quite young. He had confessed and professed his faith at the time, but over the last year or so, Jake has really made his faith his own and recommitted himself to the Lord. And as an act of obedience to God and as a way to publicly demonstrate his faith, Jake got baptized again in front of the church and his whole family (the girls were home) last Sunday. It was a powerful sight to see and I am so proud of my son and the man of God that he is becoming.
http://livestream.com/PurcellvilleBaptistChurch/events/4409558/videos/101691836 (Jake is at 1:13:00; you can also hear Hannah lead a couple of worship songs at 3:20 and 10:10)
Now let me be clear about what believer baptism is and is not. Believer baptism is a testimony of our faith and a public declaration that we believe in and follow Jesus Christ. Baptism is NOT a requirement for salvation, as is clear in many scripture references such as Ephesians 2:8-9 and John 5:24. So, I challenge you to read all the scripture references in this devotion and let God speak to you through his word. Don't ever take my (and any other fallible human's) words as "gospel truth", but test what you hear against scripture just as Paul commended the Bereans for doing so (Acts 17:11). And finally our God is a patient and loving God, and it is never too late while we are still in this world, to be obedient to His will for our lives. So read, meditate, and pray about baptism, and then be bold for Christ and take action!
...and don't forget to love God with all your heart, love others as He does, and use every minute for His will and to His glory!
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