Baptism (part 1)

Today at my church, Grace Church Louisville, we had a beautiful service. It was very exciting, humbling, and wonderful. It was similar to almost every service there I’ve witnessed except for one major thing: We had two baptisms today.

Two men, John and David, made public confessions of faith in Jesus Christ as their LORD and Savior by participating in believer’s baptism.

One of the last things Jesus Christ told His disciples before returning to heaven to reign at the right hand of God the Father was “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18b – 20 ESV

David is a man who lives at the Salvation Army Shelter in Louisville. A few of the guys at Grace Church go to the Salvation Army every week to preach the Gospel and David got to know them there. They invited him to church one week and he’s been coming ever since. He’s been faithfully attending Grace Church for quite a while now.

He was raised in the church and was baptized when he was young but now admits that he had no idea what he was doing. He began asking about salvation and baptism and his walk with the Lord, and he and Pastor Mark reasoned from Scripture that he wasn’t truly baptized before, so he got baptized today.

John is a man who just recently started coming to Grace. He actually overheard Pastor Mark talking with someone in a coffee shop. Pastor Mark noticed that he was paying attention to the conversation so he approached him. John soon started attending Grace Church regularly. He grew up attending Catholic school and when his parents separated, he lived with his father. Soon after the separation, he began to get involved with drugs and alcohol. At this point in his life, he was an atheist. He admittedly had contempt for God and anyone who believed in Him.

After his life was getting more & more deeply involved with drugs, he sought help through a rehabilitation facility. He quickly learned that depending on himself was not going to work. His resentment toward God soon turned to openness which soon turned to trust. Recently John was at The Abbey of Gethsemane, a local monastery, where he saw a statue that represented Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane before His crucifixion. He thought to himself “Jesus, what can I do to make my life right? What can I give you to make up for everything I’ve done?” It was at this point that it dawned on him that he had absolutely nothing to bring. He was completely undone and dependent on the grace of Jesus Christ to save him.

It is so wonderful to welcome these two brothers into the family of God; into the body of Christ. Luke 15:10b says “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (NASB) How joyous a day it was today that two publicly proclaimed their utter dependence on the grace of God! We all rejoice when another soul is brought into the body! All glory and honor and praise to His name! Amen.

Grace & Peace
CRH

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" 1 Peter 1: 3 NASB