Baptism

One of the greatest events that I enjoy as a pastor is baptism. I was privileged to baptize three individuals today after this morning services. Usually we go down to the Medina River and have the baptism service which I REALLY love to do. But this time one of the candidates for baptism is an elderly woman. Her name is Lola. She is sooo precious! I just love her to pieces. Because of her fragililty, we baptized her in the "portable" baptistry that I borrowed from a pastor friend. She was so moved and touched after she was baptized that she just kind of sat there on the pre-formed bench in the baptistry crying. I began to tear up as well as many others in the congregation. It was really a touching moment. Thank God for his love and mercy beyond compare! Not only does God love us, he knows us better than we know ourselves and STILL loves us! He is awesome. Tonight after church I baptized a brother and sister....Phillip and Brandy. They are 7 and 9 years old. They are two precious kids!

I think I enjoy baptism so much because of what it represents. It's an inward change evidenced by and outward declaration. When one has accepted God's gift of salvation and then is baptized they are in essence telling the whole world that they are following Jesus now. They are no longer the same person. Symbolically the old person is buried when under water and the new person is raised when coming out of the water. Just as Christ had risen from the dead we are raised to newness of life!
What a wonderful privilege to be part of something so special in the lives of all who follow the command of Jesus to be baptized!