When we like the metal of a sword are tempered God gives us new strength!Today's Scripture:
When we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared his death. So, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the father, we also can live a new life.
Romans 6:4
My fraternity ΣAE brother, college football teammate and friend Warrior Host and Special Forces Veteran Terry Schappert shared some wonderful examples of both weapons and men that were tempered by being put in the fire either literally or the fire of battle and those weapons as in ancient Greece, when the metal smith "baptized" hot iron by dipping it into water. This act tempered the metal, strengthening it and helping set the specific shape the smith had chosen for the iron to take. In some respects, that's what baptism does for those who believe in God. It tempers them. It helps strengthen how closely they identify with God and their new form of life in a public yet personal way.
The New Testament records many instances of baptism, including Jesus' own baptism in the Jordan River. That's what early Christians did.
Early Christians were immersed in water as an outward sign of the inward change God had brought into their lives.
Time and again in Scripture, one of the first things people did after choosing to believe in God was to ask to be baptized. They wanted to demonstrate to God and to those around them that they were serious about their new found faith. As you and I reflect on this thought today I must ask "Are you serious about your faith?" and "have you been to the water?" Today is yet another opportunity to do so and if you have already been "baptized" in whatever form do you remember what it was all about and are you living out what God has shaped you to be?
Baptism is a symbolic illustration of what Jesus went through to bring about your new spiritual life. Being lowered into the water symbolizes Jesus' death and burial in a tomb. Being raised from the water is a picture of Jesus rising from the dead and beginning a new kind of life, one that doesn't end in death. According to the Bible, baptism doesn't wash away your sins or gain you entrance into heaven. I remind each person young or old that I have opportunity to participate in this solemn act. What it does however is demonstrate your desire to fully live the life God created you to live.
Selah people' and friends different churches have different traditions about how and when people are baptized. Why you want to be baptized, and not the method in which your baptism takes place, is what matters to God. Our true baptism is in the spirit of an everlasting God.
"Join me today in rising up to be the instrument that God has created you to be and may we complete great things in His Holy name."
Your pastor,
Rev Patrick Muston ~ Mount Olive, NC
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