What is water baptism?
Is water baptism for today or is it an optional extra for believers in Jesus?
What does the bible say about baptism?
Well, praise The Lord He hasn't left us to try and figure everything out for ourselves, He has given us the Bible with the answers. We are so blessed to live in an age where the Bible is available in almost every language, and it's a great privilege to be able to sit with the scriptures, asking the Lord to teach us His ways. He is the best Teacher, so I invite you to do the study for yourself with a prayerful heart.
Of course, the two ultimate questions that we all need to realise the answer to is...
Do I believe the Bible is Gods word?
If I do......am I going to obey it?
My own testimony :)
What a lovely opportunity to share my own testimony (or at least a part of it) as it may be a great blessing to you, and it's good to encourage by telling what God has done.
Well, I'm going to fast forward to when I was just 21, and though I believed in Jesus, and accepted the Bible to be true, I still did not have a relationship with God (besides shooting up the occasional prayer) and I didn't understand the Bible even when I tried to read it. As a result, I did what many do, I came up with my own ideas of who God is, and what is right and wrong. I did desire truth though, and I knew that I had experienced enough of God in my life to know that He was real.
I wasn't a church goer, but God had been preparing me to receive Him without resistance, at the right time. You see, when I met Mark, my husband, he too believed in God, and had experienced Him at different points in his life, but had not come into a relationship with him. God had been preparing us to come to faith in Him at the same time, together, and that's what happened!
An encounter with a pair of Mormons in the street got the ball rolling for us (no, we're not Mormons......). They asked a valid question, "Do you want to spend eternity with your loved ones when you die?" Who is going to say no to that? We invited them to our house which led to us spending a few hours a week with them doing bible studies, which led to the scriptures on baptism. Much of what they taught us came from their own writings, and neither I or Mark agreed with them, but we enjoyed the readings they left us to do from the Bible, and we saw how Jesus had died on the cross for our sins, and rose again to conquer death, and that baptism was a pattern of this; death to self under the water, and being raised to life with Christ when you come up from the water.
We both wanted to get baptised! I knew Jesus was all that the Bible said He was, and I was seeing now that I was responsible to respond to His call to follow Him, as well as believe in Him. I didn't know I was supposed to do anything to be a Christian, except try and be a decent person. The Mormons were keen to help us with our desire for baptism, and explained their ceremony to us. We would be baptised into the Mormon church. Well, we'd been reading in the Bible that believers are to be baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We asked if we could have this baptism instead of theirs; our studies with them didn't go on any further.
During this time, Mark had been slowly losing blood when he went to the loo, and had been ignoring it. A climax seemed to creep up on us where a 'call out' Doctor advised an immediate ambulance to the hospital, but instead of waiting we drove............well, Mark drove. His testimony can be read here.
He was given six pints of blood that night and woke up feeling like a new man!! He had an ulcer in his stomach caused by too much aspirin. It all seemed like a nightmare at the time, but it was used by The Lord for His glory, and to be a launchpad for our new life with Him. This face to face encounter with death caused Mark to pray with sincere earnestness that God would save him and give him life. I too had a sleepless night, praying.
When Mark came out of hospital, by Gods grace he made a slow but steady recovery and gradually regained his strength, but the inner man was full of vitality! He knew that God had saved him physically, but more than that there was a newness in his spirit. Something had happened supernaturally. He had been bornagain, halleluyah, but really didn't know it, or even know what it meant to be 'bornagain!'
So what do we do now?
We want to get baptised and don't know where to go. Mark was brought up a Catholic, but had left this religion years ago seeing the hypocrisy. We called in the Jehovahs Witnesses. Their teachings didn't line up with the Bible either, compared to their own translation. What next? There are no surprises with God, and no mistakes. We were been drawn. We were now seeking after truth, and even praying together! We both said, "As long as Jesus is the centre and the focus, we can't go wrong." So we asked God to lead us to a church, the true church, where we could be baptised and learn more of Him.
It was not long before an advert in a local paper caught Marks eye. It said "If any one's searching for truth and wants to know what the Bible says, please ring this number......ex Jehovahs Witness." He rang. Fifteen minutes later we were driving to a Pastors house (we'd never heard of a 'Pastor' before) with great hopes! We were not disappointed. We had so many questions since spending time with the Mormons and the Jehovahs Witnesses. Things we'd never thought of before were now very important, and we needed the right answers. We spent the whole evening with the Pastor and his wife, as they went through the scriptures with us, clearing away the fog and revealing Jesus as the only Saviour of the world. It was such a special night, as this lovely couple told us many stories of their life with Jesus, things we'd never heard before.
We were hungry for more, and went to every meeting going at their little church for the next two weeks before it was settled in our hearts by the still small voice of the Lord. We both repented of sin, and knew that there was no going back. We couldn't just go on with our lives, knowing what we now knew, and not surrender to Jesus as Lord. Not just Jesus as Saviour, but Lord!! HE WAS the way, the truth and the life. On the last evening of those two weeks, I stood in the Sunday evening service as we sang the closing hymn, and sobbed as we sang "Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name, you are mine." God spoke right to me through the song, and my heart burned and burned. I had the sweetest of assurance, I belonged to Jesus, God just told me I did!
Not quite sure how to handle to situation (not exactly used to crying in public.....) I 'discreetly' made my way to the loos after the song had finished, and knelt down in the cubicle and praised God! Oh it was wonderful! It was such a relief to just let the words of thanksgiving and repentance just flow out in a big muddle of honesty; So spontaneous, and real, knowing that I was no longer praying formaly to an untouchable God, but was now talking to my Father God who I belonged to, and who had just talked to me!! I kept all of this excitement under wraps though. I was incredibly private, so I emerged from the toilets very cool and collected (or so I thought) but everyone knew I had just been born :) I was a child of God, and for the first time, I knew it.
After a chat with the Pastor, a baptism service was arranged, and the following Sunday both Mark and I, with great courage stood at the front of the church (I definitely couldn't have done that with God's help) and told our new brothers and sisters our testimony of faith in Jesus for salvation. We were then baptised, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit by full immersion in the little river outside our church.
We didn't want to wait, and the church saw no need to put off what The Lord Jesus had commanded. That was in 2001, and I'm so glad we didn't linger or postpone the baptism for any reason. There is no reason to wait.
I pray that where ever you are at with your own walk with God, that you will be encouraged to obey Him in all that He calls you to do, knowing that He will give the strength to do all that He asks.
I hope you enjoy the Bible study :)
Is water baptism for today or is it an optional extra for believers in Jesus?
What does the bible say about baptism?
 |
| Baptisms at Jordan Israel A practice well taught in the New Testament, full water immersion is as important in a believer's life now as it was when the church had just started over 2000 years ago. |
Well, praise The Lord He hasn't left us to try and figure everything out for ourselves, He has given us the Bible with the answers. We are so blessed to live in an age where the Bible is available in almost every language, and it's a great privilege to be able to sit with the scriptures, asking the Lord to teach us His ways. He is the best Teacher, so I invite you to do the study for yourself with a prayerful heart.
Of course, the two ultimate questions that we all need to realise the answer to is...
Do I believe the Bible is Gods word?
If I do......am I going to obey it?
My own testimony :)
What a lovely opportunity to share my own testimony (or at least a part of it) as it may be a great blessing to you, and it's good to encourage by telling what God has done.
Well, I'm going to fast forward to when I was just 21, and though I believed in Jesus, and accepted the Bible to be true, I still did not have a relationship with God (besides shooting up the occasional prayer) and I didn't understand the Bible even when I tried to read it. As a result, I did what many do, I came up with my own ideas of who God is, and what is right and wrong. I did desire truth though, and I knew that I had experienced enough of God in my life to know that He was real.
I wasn't a church goer, but God had been preparing me to receive Him without resistance, at the right time. You see, when I met Mark, my husband, he too believed in God, and had experienced Him at different points in his life, but had not come into a relationship with him. God had been preparing us to come to faith in Him at the same time, together, and that's what happened!
An encounter with a pair of Mormons in the street got the ball rolling for us (no, we're not Mormons......). They asked a valid question, "Do you want to spend eternity with your loved ones when you die?" Who is going to say no to that? We invited them to our house which led to us spending a few hours a week with them doing bible studies, which led to the scriptures on baptism. Much of what they taught us came from their own writings, and neither I or Mark agreed with them, but we enjoyed the readings they left us to do from the Bible, and we saw how Jesus had died on the cross for our sins, and rose again to conquer death, and that baptism was a pattern of this; death to self under the water, and being raised to life with Christ when you come up from the water.
We both wanted to get baptised! I knew Jesus was all that the Bible said He was, and I was seeing now that I was responsible to respond to His call to follow Him, as well as believe in Him. I didn't know I was supposed to do anything to be a Christian, except try and be a decent person. The Mormons were keen to help us with our desire for baptism, and explained their ceremony to us. We would be baptised into the Mormon church. Well, we'd been reading in the Bible that believers are to be baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We asked if we could have this baptism instead of theirs; our studies with them didn't go on any further.
During this time, Mark had been slowly losing blood when he went to the loo, and had been ignoring it. A climax seemed to creep up on us where a 'call out' Doctor advised an immediate ambulance to the hospital, but instead of waiting we drove............well, Mark drove. His testimony can be read here.
He was given six pints of blood that night and woke up feeling like a new man!! He had an ulcer in his stomach caused by too much aspirin. It all seemed like a nightmare at the time, but it was used by The Lord for His glory, and to be a launchpad for our new life with Him. This face to face encounter with death caused Mark to pray with sincere earnestness that God would save him and give him life. I too had a sleepless night, praying.
When Mark came out of hospital, by Gods grace he made a slow but steady recovery and gradually regained his strength, but the inner man was full of vitality! He knew that God had saved him physically, but more than that there was a newness in his spirit. Something had happened supernaturally. He had been bornagain, halleluyah, but really didn't know it, or even know what it meant to be 'bornagain!'
So what do we do now?
We want to get baptised and don't know where to go. Mark was brought up a Catholic, but had left this religion years ago seeing the hypocrisy. We called in the Jehovahs Witnesses. Their teachings didn't line up with the Bible either, compared to their own translation. What next? There are no surprises with God, and no mistakes. We were been drawn. We were now seeking after truth, and even praying together! We both said, "As long as Jesus is the centre and the focus, we can't go wrong." So we asked God to lead us to a church, the true church, where we could be baptised and learn more of Him.
It was not long before an advert in a local paper caught Marks eye. It said "If any one's searching for truth and wants to know what the Bible says, please ring this number......ex Jehovahs Witness." He rang. Fifteen minutes later we were driving to a Pastors house (we'd never heard of a 'Pastor' before) with great hopes! We were not disappointed. We had so many questions since spending time with the Mormons and the Jehovahs Witnesses. Things we'd never thought of before were now very important, and we needed the right answers. We spent the whole evening with the Pastor and his wife, as they went through the scriptures with us, clearing away the fog and revealing Jesus as the only Saviour of the world. It was such a special night, as this lovely couple told us many stories of their life with Jesus, things we'd never heard before.
We were hungry for more, and went to every meeting going at their little church for the next two weeks before it was settled in our hearts by the still small voice of the Lord. We both repented of sin, and knew that there was no going back. We couldn't just go on with our lives, knowing what we now knew, and not surrender to Jesus as Lord. Not just Jesus as Saviour, but Lord!! HE WAS the way, the truth and the life. On the last evening of those two weeks, I stood in the Sunday evening service as we sang the closing hymn, and sobbed as we sang "Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name, you are mine." God spoke right to me through the song, and my heart burned and burned. I had the sweetest of assurance, I belonged to Jesus, God just told me I did!
Not quite sure how to handle to situation (not exactly used to crying in public.....) I 'discreetly' made my way to the loos after the song had finished, and knelt down in the cubicle and praised God! Oh it was wonderful! It was such a relief to just let the words of thanksgiving and repentance just flow out in a big muddle of honesty; So spontaneous, and real, knowing that I was no longer praying formaly to an untouchable God, but was now talking to my Father God who I belonged to, and who had just talked to me!! I kept all of this excitement under wraps though. I was incredibly private, so I emerged from the toilets very cool and collected (or so I thought) but everyone knew I had just been born :) I was a child of God, and for the first time, I knew it.
After a chat with the Pastor, a baptism service was arranged, and the following Sunday both Mark and I, with great courage stood at the front of the church (I definitely couldn't have done that with God's help) and told our new brothers and sisters our testimony of faith in Jesus for salvation. We were then baptised, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit by full immersion in the little river outside our church.
We didn't want to wait, and the church saw no need to put off what The Lord Jesus had commanded. That was in 2001, and I'm so glad we didn't linger or postpone the baptism for any reason. There is no reason to wait.
I pray that where ever you are at with your own walk with God, that you will be encouraged to obey Him in all that He calls you to do, knowing that He will give the strength to do all that He asks.
I hope you enjoy the Bible study :)
STUDY: GOD’S PLAN FOR SALVATION
PART 4: WATER BAPTISM
This is part 4 of this series, that has so far looked at our need for a Saviour and what that provision is, then why faith is God’s chosen way for us to receive salvation, and why repentance is vital, and now what the Bible says about water baptism.
BLESSED IS HE WHO SHALL NOT BE OFFENDED IN ME
The Promise
John 11:25
What is Gods' plan for us?
Romans 8:28
What is Jesus’ command?
Matthew 28:19
What did Jesus say here about the Kingdom of God?
John 3:5
How is Jesus’ obedience honoured here?
Matthew 3:16-17
How can we be saved?
Matthew 16:16
How did Jesus fulfil the scriptures?
1 Corinthians 15:3
What does full water baptism signify?
Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12, Galatians 3:27
What transition should be recognised during full water baptism?
Romans 6:6, Romans 6:11
Once you have believed in Jesus, how long do you need to wait before you are baptised?
Acts 22:16, Acts 8:36
READ ACTS 16:12-34,
Acts 16:29-33
What did Phillip do in Samaria?
Acts 8:5
How did the Samaritans respond?
Acts 8:12
READ ACTS 8:26-38
What was the Eunuchs’ response?
Acts 8:35-38
A believer’s proclamation
Galatians 2:20
If you would like the PDF file with answer spaces, please click here.
If you would like the other PDF's that go in this series, then please click here.
