Obedient to Baptism

Content library Obedient to Baptism
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Southeast Christian Church

Apr 12, 2022

Through baptism, you are saying goodbye to your old passions, desires, beliefs, and perspectives. In Romans 6, Paul says you were buried with Jesus through baptism and just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life through our baptism. When we identify ourselves with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in baptism, it is not just the celebration of what was done for us. It becomes something we are a part of. We're not just remembering something that happened, it's happening to us. We're not just thinking about his death and his resurrection, we are identifying with it as we are entering into.

It can cause a lot of heartache and misery to live in a way where you want to follow Jesus, but aren’t willing to die to yourself. You want to follow Jesus close enough to get the benefits, but not so close that it requires sacrifice. It was never meant to work that way. When you become a follower of Jesus, the old is gone and the new comes.

If you've already been baptized, an examination of baptism and its purpose can deepen your devotion and strengthen your commitment as a follower of Jesus. We want it to reignite the devotion that you felt when you first got baptized, and remind you of the commitment that you previously made and who you are in Jesus. Baptism is a covenant that you are a part of and hopefully, have grown in it. By remembering what you decided, it should inspire you now to live your life for Christ.

DISCUSSION/REFLECTION QUESTION: If you have been baptized, what was a desire, passion, or belief from your previous life that was difficult for you to sacrifice? If you haven’t been baptized, what do you imagine will be the most difficult for you to let go of?

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