Book: Acts

What the New Testament calls for is intimate connection through deep commitment within a covenant community. One that blesses those inside, blesses those on the outside, puts the world on notice and causes the world to take notice. A people who inspire because they have been inspired.

If you are still standing against the fence, fingers clutching the metal rings, hoping against hope that today just maybe you might get picked, I’m here to tell you – you have been added. You’re on the team. You’re on the roll. You’ve been picked. The “less thans.” The “missing outs.” Welcome to the assembly of the wanted. The added. That includes you.

Baptism imitates the example of our Lord. It symbolizes our answer to the greatest commandment. It demonstrates the gospel. It is a uniting event. And it marks a crossing over, an exodus, out of slavery to self and into the freedom of God’s gracious kingdom of love. But like every story in scripture, it’s only significant because Jesus Christ meets us there. Follow him to the water. Call upon him in the water. Be buried with him in the water. And trust in his grace to rescue you from every troubled water.