Sermons About Baptism
The Response to God's Word
Our text opens with a question that comes in response to Peter's message concerning Jesus Christ. The response [˜they were cut to the heart (v. 37)] is an anguished cry from people who just came to grips with their desperate need for salvation. Peter's response to their question came to his hearers as the best good news that they had ever heard far better than they deserved or could have hoped for!
0 Amens
Going On the Way You Came
“Because You're mine, I walk the line.†Those words of the familiar Johnny Cash hit could have been penned by the Apostle Paul nearly 2000 years ago. In the letter to the Colossians, Paul motivates us to follow Jesus wherever He takes us. He repeatedly points out the need for us to grasp the significance of our position in Christ and how our walk is transformed by His presence in our lives. In this short letter, Paul refers to Jesus by name more than 50 times. As we work our way through this letter over the next couple months, the significance of this will become evident. Paul’s objective is clear to point the Colossians to Jesus Christ and encourage their walk in Him. The equation that we will find in Colossians is Jesus + nothing = Life. This is not the equation that the world proposes to us, Jesus + our job, our family, our friends, our car, our hobbies, our (you fill in the blank). This isn’t even the question that the church has proposed for much of history, Jesus + works, Jesus + tradition, Jesus + experience, Jesus + ____ (you fill in the blank). With all these obstacles that are placed in our path it is no wonder that we have trouble walking the line. Fortunately for the Colossians and for us, Paul knows that in Christ we can walk the line.
0 Amens
Dead to Sin, Alive to God (Romans 6:5-11)
In this passage, Paul continues to answer the question raised in Romans 6:1 - "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?" Paul continues to provide reasons for why this should never be. In this passage, we discover the benefit in being united to Christ - both in His death and resurrection. Because we have been united to Christ in His death (which was a substitute for the punishment our sin required), sin's dominion over us, its former slaves, has been broken. In Christ, the dominion of death is also crushed. For all who place saving faith in Christ, the sting of death has been removed. Instead, we look forward to a day when we will be given glorified bodies in our resurrection from the dead. In that day, it will no longer be possible for us to sin. Yet, for this life, we are called to live as best we can like we will on that day - to live for Christ, in obedience to the commands of God. There is a life yet to come for the Christian, but may we not lose sight of the grace that is ours today to live for God as those in Christ!
0 Amens
Why Do We Baptize Infants? The Baptism of Andrew Saulsbury
The baptism of an infant is a joyous thing! But does it carry the same weight as an adult baptism? Does God through the Holy Spirit act the same? Isn't it better to be an adult? What about faith? God made a covenant to Abraham and to hsi children; the sign of being in the covenant was circumcision (for all males persons over 8 days old); the sign used by Jesus in the New Testament is baptism - for all person - male and female, young and old; infant or adult.
0 Amens
Our Union With Christ (Romans 6:1-5)
Paul asks -- and answers -- the question of whether the gospel of salvation by grace through faith leads to lawlessness. But his answer isn't to threaten us with the law once again and require our obedience. Instead, he points to who we are -- we are now in Christ, united to Christ. Christ's death becomes our own death to sin, so that we have been freed by this death from slavery to sin. And Christ's resurrection becomes our own life, so that we now live under the rule of grace and mercy. The gospel does not lead to lawlessness because the gospel frees us from the very power of sin!
0 Amens
Who Is The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity. He is part of God. He is God's Spirit. He is the Promise of the Father. He is the Comforter of the saints. He is the convictor of sin. He inspired the Scriptures. In Him and through Him we have the power to withstand any attack Satan can throw our way. In Him, we have the power to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without fear, without trepidation, without condemnation. In Him we can love, we can be kind, we can be truthful, we can have patience. In Him we can know the fullness of God. In Him we can live to the fullest potential that God has created us for.
0 Amens
