Baptism

Like wearing your favorite sports team’s jersey to a game, baptism is a way that we identify with a person and a team. When we take our next step in baptism, we’re letting the world know we believe in Jesus and are choosing to live life on his team. Jesus died publicly, rose publicly, and baptism is our opportunity to publicly declare our faith in Him.

Jesus said, “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” (Matthew 28:19). The first thing Jesus tells us to do after choosing to believe is to be baptized.

3,000 people were saved in the opening days of the early church, and the first thing they were instructed to do after salvation was to get baptized (Acts 2:38-41). This same pattern continues through the rest of the early church: they believed and were baptized. Baptism is an outward expression of the spiritual transformation that occurs when we decide to believe in and follow Jesus.

Through baptism, we remember how Jesus saved us (Romans 6:3-4). Being lowered in the water symbolizes how we were dead in our sins. Rising out of the water symbolizes how we can rise to a new life through faith in Christ.