Why Get Baptized?

I've got to set up a prop.

These are the waters of baptism.

Calm down the days to it.

Here's the question.

What would it take for you to reschedule something on that day?

At that time?

What would it take?

And I'm guessing it would take something important and likely something good.

We've got a baptism coming up in just over a month.

It's Sunday, March 29th, 4 p.m.

Please, please get it on your calendar.

And I'm going to make a case.

If you've got something planned today for that date, you should reschedule.

It also occurred to me that not everyone in the room may know what the New Testament says about baptism

and why get baptism.

Why is baptism so important and good that you'd reschedule your lives around it?

You might be saying, I'm not even a Christian.

Why would I even get baptized?

If you were to become a Christian, soon thereafter, you would need to be baptized.

So just kind of some truth in advertising.

Or maybe you're here and you're like, I'm a Christian.

I even remember when I was baptized.

It still means so much to me.

I remember that.

And you're like, do I really need to listen now?

Yes, you do.

Because you need to be able to give some reasons to people you love, to other Christians for

why they should get baptized.

Whether that is a friend or a co-worker or a child or a grandchild.

Now here's another little bit delicate one.

I'm a Christian.

But when I was baptized, I don't think I was a Christian.

I was an infant.

I was a child.

I was a young adult.

And the church that we were part of at that time, or my parents, were really insistent on that.

They meant well for me.

But when I reflect back on those days and where I'm at right now, I wasn't a Christian.

I didn't put my faith in Christ.

I hadn't turned from my sin and turned to Christ.

So you're asking, well, do I need to be baptized again?

Do I need to be re-baptized?

And here's the case I'm going to make.

You don't need to be re-baptized.

You need to be baptized.

I was baptized soon after I believed in Jesus.

This is another situation.

But I walked away from the faith for years.

Should I get baptized again to rededicate my life?

Nope.

You don't need to do that either.

I fall into that camp.

And the baptism with which you were baptized, that still stands.

You know, baptism is important and good, but it raises some questions, doesn't it?

So what's going to follow, I'm going to give you four biblical reasons of why I get baptized.

And as we go through those reasons, I'm going to kind of address some of the questions that I've raised along the way.

Our problem as an evangelical church in the States is not that we take baptism too seriously.

Our problem is that we don't take baptism serious enough.

So here's reason number one of why get baptized.

The pattern of baptism.

If you would open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 3.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

In your pew Bible, it's on page 961.

The question I want to answer right now, is there a normal pattern in the New Testament of people being baptized?

And the answer is yes.

And it starts with Jesus.

So in Matthew chapter 3, Jesus himself is baptized.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

John the Baptist is baptizing with a baptism of repentance.

And Jesus goes out to him to be baptized.

Listen to what Matthew writes.

This is 3.13 through 17.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him.

John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you and you come to me.

But Jesus answered him, let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

Then John the Baptist consented.

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water.

And behold, the heavens were opened to him.

And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.

And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.

This is Jesus' public start of his ministry.

Jesus is going public with his teaching ministry at this point.

But it also provides us a model, an example to follow.

Now you might, those people who are pretty sharp in the room, you might be thinking, wait, time out.

Why is Jesus getting baptized for a baptism of repentance?

Because we know Jesus never sinned.

Why would he need to do that?

Well, I'm not sure what all it means, but Jesus says to fulfill all righteousness.

And so I take that to mean as at least setting an example for anyone who would call on him as Savior and Lord and follow him.

What we see here is the beginning of a pattern with Jesus himself being baptized.

So if you become a Christian and you want to follow Jesus, you will begin by following him in baptism.

Now there's more of a pattern we see in the book of Acts.

A-C-T-S.

Acts follows the gospel of John and it's the authorized history of how the early church started and expanded.

In Acts 1-8, Jesus tells his disciples in Jerusalem that they need to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses in Jerusalem.

And then out to Judea and then further out to Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And so the book of Acts follows that pattern from Acts 1 to Acts 28.

And so as we see as the book of Acts unfolds, various people are hearing the gospel preached and they're responding in repentance and faith.

And then soon after they are baptized.

And so we see this being applied to men and women, boys and girls, rich and poor, ethnicities of all sorts, Jews, Samaritans, Gentiles, and then all sorts of different Gentiles.

People with different education levels, different positions of influence.

As the gospel is proclaimed, as it's going out to the ends of the earth, the gospel is proclaimed, people respond in repentance and faith.

And then they are baptized.

They're not baptized first and then they become Christians.

No, they become Christians first in repentance and faith and then are baptized.

It's a normalized sequence.

Gospel proclaimed, gospel heard, gospel responded to in repentance and faith, and then they're baptized.

Which we'll come to find out, it's a little picture of the gospel.

We see this in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Peter preaches this sermon.

Over 3,000 people hear the gospel.

They respond.

And they're like, what do we do?

We're caught to the heart.

And he says, repent and believe.

And that day, 3,000 people were baptized.

Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Philip is in Samaria.

And he preaches the gospel.

Men and women respond.

And they're immediately baptized.

Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.

Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Paul and Silas, they're having this worship service.

In jail.

There's this huge earthquake.

The jailer runs out.

The Philippian jailer runs out thinking that all of these prisoners are gone and he's going to die.

And Paul and Silas is like, don't, don't, we're still here.

And then he, they lead him to Christ.

He believes in the Lord Jesus and he's saved.

It turns out that Paul and Silas go to the jailer's home.

They clean him up and his whole household believes.

And all of them are baptized on that very day.

Baptized at once.

Acts 18.

Corinth.

Crispus.

Hears the gospel and is immediately baptized.

So all I want to show you here is there is a pattern.

In the New Testament, especially in Acts, starting with Jesus.

There's a pattern of baptism in the New Testament.

And it goes gospel proclaimed, gospel heard, gospel responded to repentance and faith.

And then baptism.

Which now brings us to the second reason.

The first reason, there's a pattern.

The second reason, the command of baptism.

If you would open up, turn to Matthew chapter 28, 18 through 19.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

It's in the back.

It's the very last chapter of Matthew.

Matthew.

It's on page 993 of your pew Bible.

So Jesus has been raised from the dead.

He's gathered his disciples in Galilee.

And he commissions them.

He starts by saying, all authority in heaven and earth have been given to me.

That's a claim to him being king of kings and lord of lords.

And then he tells them, go therefore, make disciples of all nations.

Take the gospel to all people.

Proclaim the gospel of what I have done.

My death and resurrection to all.

And as they're going and proclaiming, they are to baptize.

Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you.

And so they are to be baptizing and teaching those who respond in repentance and faith.

Now, let me ask you this.

Is Jesus giving his disciples an option?

If you guys feel like it, go.

And if you go and you've got time, would you consider baptizing people who respond?

And those people who may respond, if you've got time to go,

would you consider maybe teaching them all that I commanded?

This is not an option.

This is commission.

This is command.

This is what the church should be doing as we proclaim Christ.

And people respond.

We baptize them.

We teach them.

Baptism is when a new believer goes public with their faith in Jesus Christ.

Let me just clarify something.

So we're not, I don't want anybody mishearing me.

Baptism isn't a command we obey in order to become a Christian, to be saved.

That's flipped.

When we get saved.

When we get saved.

When we believe in what Jesus has done for us.

Then we get baptized out of obedience.

It is the sign of our salvation.

It's the pattern in Acts.

So the church is to baptize anyone who, upon hearing the gospel,

repents and believes.

And believes.

So in Acts 2, Peter preaches this phenomenal sermon, one of the best sermons ever preached.

It's all about Jesus Christ.

And then thousands of Jews who are in Jerusalem at that moment say,

what do we do?

How do we respond?

Verse 31 and verse 38, Peter says, repent and be baptized every one of you.

And in your ear, you're like, why did he leave out believe?

Why didn't he say, repent and believe and be baptized?

Baptized.

Well, think about that repent as just shorthand for conversion.

Just shorthand.

He's just saying, turn from your sin, turn to Christ, and then be baptized.

And that is further kind of confirmed in verse 41, where Luke says,

and those who received his word were baptized, all 3,000.

Could you imagine that?

March 29th, 2026, we have 3,000 people signed up to be baptized.

That would be crazy.

That would be crazy just to try to baptize 3,000 people with all sorts of space and water available.

Could you imagine that?

What I just want you to see here is,

Peter doesn't make baptism optional for those 3,000 who believe.

It's a step of obedience.

It's a necessary step for those who believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Our problem is that we don't take baptism.

We don't take baptism too seriously.

Did I just say that right?

We don't take it seriously enough.

If you're a non-Christian in the room,

you need to be converted before you're baptized.

You need to become a Christian.

And then after you become a Christian,

you're baptized.

So it's what's coming.

It's good.

This raises a rather delicate issue.

Here's the question.

Were you genuinely saved when you were baptized?

Maybe you were an infant.

Maybe you were a child,

a young adult.

And you've come to realize that you were not a Christian when that happened.

Do you know what you call it when a non-Christian is baptized?

Do you know what you call that?

A false baptism.

That's not a baptism.

If a non-Christian is baptized,

that is not an actual baptism.

And I'm going to spell that out for the next point a little bit.

But for now,

we just need to say it's a false baptism.

However well intended,

it did not actually reflect

what was actually going on spiritually within that person.

It wasn't a baptism.

And so if you were not a Christian when you were baptized,

you don't need to be re-baptized.

You need to be truly baptized.

That's your next step.

That's going to require some humility.

But that's okay.

You're going to obey the command.

You're going to live in reality.

It's going to,

reality will then reflect,

your baptism will reflect what the reality is.

And if this is where you're at,

you've got an opportunity coming up

at the end of next month.

So this is the second reason,

the command of baptism.

It's commanded.

The third reason

is the symbol of baptism.

And this is going to help you understand

why we need to avoid false baptisms.

Because a baptism is incredibly significant

in what it symbolizes,

what it points to.

So the symbol of baptism,

and I'd like you to turn to the book of Romans,

chapter six, one through five.

It's on page 1120 of your pew Bible.

But let me just start by saying,

baptism is a little parable.

Better yet, baptism,

someone's baptism,

is a lived parable.

A lived parable of what happens

the moment of your conversion.

And what happens at the moment of your conversion

is something supernatural.

When you believed in Jesus Christ,

at that moment you believed,

the scriptures tell us,

and we're going to see it right here,

you were united to Christ

in his death and his resurrection,

and it changes everything.

So looking at Romans chapter six,

one through four,

and then verse five

is where you start hearing union language.

What shall we say then?

Are we to continue in sin

that grace may abound?

By no means.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

What is he talking about?

We who died to sin.

Do you not know that all of us

who've been baptized into Christ Jesus

were baptized into his death?

What does he mean by baptism?

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death

in order that,

just as Christ was raised from the dead

by the glory of the Father,

we too might walk in newness of life.

Verse five is the explainer.

For if we have been united with him

in a death like his,

that's what baptism points to,

we shall certainly be united with him

in a resurrection like his.

That's what baptism points to.

Baptism is a lived parable.

It's an act.

It's acting out publicly

what has taken place within you spiritually.

And this is where I'm coming down to the prop.

The waters of baptism.

Let's say we're,

it's March 29th.

It's not,

we baptize indoors in a horse trough.

FYI.

But it's gonna have full of water.

And so at that point,

I'm gonna ask one of the baptism,

baptism candidates,

someone who wants to be baptized,

hey, come on out.

So they come out

and I ask them two questions.

I ask them,

have you put your faith in Jesus Christ alone

for the forgiveness of your sins

and the promise of eternal life?

Yes,

they say,

from their toes.

And then I ask them,

is it your intent

to follow Jesus all of your life,

no matter what,

for the rest of your days?

And they say,

yes.

And then what I say is,

well,

based upon your public profession of faith,

I mean,

it takes guts

to say that in front of a room full of people.

Based upon your public profession of faith,

I baptized you

in the name of the Father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

right from Matthew 28.

And then you'll hear me say this.

I'll be holding them

and I'll say this.

As they're going down,

I'll say,

united with Christ in his death,

splash.

They're under the water.

Did you hear what just happened?

So they're already united with Christ

in his death and resurrection.

That happened at their conversion.

But when I'm putting them in the water,

that's what I'm saying

because that's what it symbolizes.

So united with Christ in his death,

splash.

The joke is five minutes later,

I pull them out of the water

and when they're coming out of the water,

you'll hear me say,

they'll hear me say,

and raised with Christ

to newness of life.

So what baptism symbolizes

is our union with Christ.

They are going public

with saying,

I've been united with Christ

in his death and resurrection.

It's a little gospel proclamation

lived out in them.

Is that pretty cool?

Well, that's pretty cool.

And that's why

we've got to be very careful

and thoughtful

in whom we baptize.

What they're saying is,

I was once in the domain of darkness,

but now I've been transferred

into the kingdom of the beloved son

because I've been united with Christ

in his death,

in his resurrection.

And so that's what each person

is saying,

will be saying,

think about it like this.

Think of our baptism service

at the end of March

and then the baptism service,

Lord willing,

if you should tarry,

we do in the future.

They're a series of one act plays.

Again and again,

people saying,

lived parables,

I've been united with Christ

in his death and resurrection.

That's how I've been saved.

It's incredibly meaningful.

And if you're the person

being baptized,

you'll never forget it.

Here's what this means for us.

Our problem

is not

that we take baptism too seriously.

Our problem is that

we don't take baptism

serious enough.

And have you ever wondered,

well,

why is that?

I think

there's this fear

among Protestants

of confusing

a salvation by faith

with a salvation by works.

And so we're a little reluctant

to talk about baptism

as a command

and as extremely important.

And the way we resolve that

is not to stop talking

about baptism,

but it's actually

to talk about the sequence

to make clear,

no,

you're,

you're,

you're,

you're saved first,

then you're baptized.

We don't diminish

the importance

of these things.

Are you starting

to feel the weight,

the theological weight

of the symbol

of baptism?

This is a lived out

parable

and it's making,

making a huge claim.

There's,

people are saying,

apart from Christ,

I was dead to God

and alive to sin,

but now that I've been

united to Christ,

I'm dead to sin

and alive to God,

all by his grace.

Now,

when you see someone

then baptized,

baptized,

there's a very

appropriate expectation.

It's a New Testament

expectation.

It's not being judgy.

It's just following

where the New Testament

goes.

Because if someone

is truly united

with Christ

in his death

and his resurrection,

one would then

expect

that that person,

their desires for God

are going to increase.

their cravings

for God's word

and to obey

their God's word

is going to increase.

Their love

for God's people

and the lost

is going to increase.

Their commitment

to advance

the kingdom

is going to increase.

It's a very powerful moment.

When someone is baptized,

that's not the moment

they've been saved.

that's the moment

they've gone public.

And it's worth celebrating.

Now,

there's two mistakes

we must avoid.

And parents,

I'd really like you

to pay attention

carefully now.

Because,

because parents,

if you're raising children,

you are,

you are on the front lines.

God bless you.

And,

and if you have children

who are expressing

an interest

in,

in the things of God

and even being baptized,

it puts you in a position

where you need

to make some decisions.

You need to be

shepherding your children

very well.

And so,

there's two mistakes

we must avoid

and here they are.

Mistake number one,

we baptize people

too early,

too quickly.

We,

we,

we baptize people

with a false baptism

because they're not

genuinely saved.

Just because

someone wants

to be baptized

does not mean

that they should

be baptized.

What,

what we need

to be listening for

is what's called

a credible

profession

of faith.

Has this

person,

however old

they are,

have they

recognized

their sinfulness

and their

desperate need

in the one

and only

Savior,

Jesus Christ?

Are they able

to communicate

that at any level?

now,

for parents,

I've been there,

the challenge

is,

you're kind of like,

I don't quite

know.

Well,

the church

can really help

and the church

can help in two ways,

both informally

and formally,

informally

and formally.

Informally,

let's say that

you have a child

that's expressing,

they're 13 years old

and they're expressing

an interest

in being baptized.

that's good

that they're interested

in that.

Informally,

go to some

of your friends,

go to some

of your brothers

and sisters

in the Lord

who know you

and know your family.

They know your children

and you're like,

hey,

so-and-so

has expressed interest

in being baptized

and I can go

either way.

I want to err

on saying yes,

but I'm not sure.

What do you think?

Get their input.

Let's do it.

Let's do this together.

Now,

that's the informal

side of things.

The formal side

of things

is this.

Every person

who wants to be baptized

here at Christ the King Church,

they complete

a Bible study

on baptism

in which they

write their testimony.

They got to make

their conversion clear.

And then after

doing that,

they meet with

one of the pastors

who walks through

with them

to be listening

for a credible

profession of faith.

Now,

we're doing this

all together

in order to

avoid this

first mistake

of being

a premature

false baptism.

We don't want

to do that.

Do I have an amen?

We do want to do it.

We don't want

to do that.

But we also

don't want to make

the second mistake.

And the second mistake

is this.

We baptize people

too late.

We withhold

this good,

important,

and commanded

step.

And we

hold it back

because of some

kind of

unsubstantiated

fear.

And so,

if there are

sufficient grounds,

we want to be

able to

say yes.

So,

what this

means is this.

A lot of people,

a lot of Christians,

they're like,

tell me an age.

Give me an age.

Please just

say

that you have

to be 45

before you

can be

baptized.

Now,

the thing

about having

an age

is that

it can

be helpful

in some

degree,

but

it boils

down to

being not

really quite

helpful.

The harder

way is the

better way.

You know

what the

harder way

is?

You enter

into

conversations

with your

children.

You actually

explore

their desire

of whether

or not

they want

to,

that they're

actually

saved,

and why

they want

to be

baptized.

What we're

looking for

is the

Goldilocks

moment.

Remember

Goldilocks?

The bowls

of porridge.

First bowl

was too

cold,

and the

next bowl

was too

hot,

and then

the next

bowl,

the third

bowl,

was just

right.

We don't

want to

baptize

too early.

We don't

want to

baptize

too late.

We want

to baptize

just right.

When a

person,

when they

have a

credible

profession

of faith,

and they're

starting to

demonstrate

some things

that are

only attributed

to the

Spirit of

God,

that's the

sweet spot.

And that

doesn't mean

it's the

same age

for everybody.

You may

even have

seven children

in your

home,

and you

have an

array of

times when

your children

were baptized,

baptized,

because you've

been like

a good

parent,

paying attention

to each

one.

So these

two mistakes

we must

avoid,

and we're

going to

avoid them

by seeking

God's

word,

trusting in

kind of the

wisdom that

he can

provide,

and seeking

help in

that as

well.

It will

strengthen

our church,

and it will

help us to

avoid false

baptisms,

and help us

to celebrate

genuine

baptisms.

Remember,

this is a

symbol,

and it's

a symbol of

incredible

significance,

that we're

talking about

people being

united with

Christ,

and his

death,

and his

resurrection,

and we

want to

take the

right,

appropriate

steps to

that end,

but we're

not going to

be ruled by

fear.

We're going

to be

walking by

faith.

So that's

the third

reason of

why get

baptized,

the symbol

of baptism.

The fourth

reason is

the PSA

of baptism.

The PSA.

Do you

know what a

public service

announcement is?

A public

service announcement

will both

warn and

help.

Back in

the day,

before there

were streaming

services,

you would tune

into the

10 o'clock

news during

the summertime,

and one of

the anchors

would say,

it's 10

p.m.,

do you

know where

your children

are?

It's a

public service

announcement.

Because the

warning is,

warning of the

dangers that

befall unsupervised

kids during the

summertime late at

night.

Not that anyone in

the room was up

to no good in the

summertime when they

were a kid.

But it also

helps remind

parents to care

for their kids.

baptism is a

public service

announcement of

a different

kind.

Who's it

for?

It starts with

the one being

baptized.

How so?

Well, in

Matthew chapter

Matthew 10:32–33

10, verses

32 through

33, Jesus

says something

that is

incredibly

helpful.

in where

baptism becomes

a way to

apply it.

So Matthew

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10,

32 through

33, page

969 of

your pew

Bible.

Just as

Jesus speaking,

so everyone

who acknowledges

me before men,

I also will

acknowledge before

my Father who

is in heaven.

But whoever

denies me before

men, I also

will deny before

my Father in

heaven.

And what

baptism does,

among other

things, is it

helps a new

Christian, a new

believer, generally

speaking, to go

public with their

faith in Jesus

Christ, to

acknowledge him

before men.

Something that he

delights in.

And so on the

29th of next

month, you're

going to have

people being

baptized, and

what they're

essentially saying

is this,

hey, y'all,

not only have

been united

with Christ

in his death

and resurrection,

booyah, but

I delight in

my King and

fear him more

than anyone in

this room.

What he

thinks matters

most, and I

am glad to

acknowledge him

before men.

Booyah!

God, that

delights our

King.

And so this

PSA, man, it

is good for

those who are

being baptized,

and they'll

never forget

it.

I still remember

the day that I

was baptized as a

nine-year-old in

the backyard of a

church member of

Valley Community

Baptist Church in

Avon, Connecticut.

Never forget it.

the next group

of people that

benefits is the

church.

Christ the King

Church.

It's a PSA for

us.

Not only will it

remind us of our

being united with

Christ and Christ's

death and

resurrection, where

we're like, oh

yeah!

But there's this

other thing that

happens.

Have you heard of

acoustic resonance

before?

There's this thing

called Christocentric

resonance.

Acoustic resonance

is when you have

two grand pianos on

a stage like this,

and they're both

tuned, and on

one, you start

tapping center C or

middle C, ding,

ding, ding, ding,

ding, ding, ding,

ding, ding, ding,

ding, and the other

grand piano, center C

starts humming.

Hmm.

Because of the

acoustic resonance,

the frequency, the

sound frequencies

going between them.

That's what

Christocentric

resonance is during

a baptism service.

When someone goes

public for their

faith, they're like

tapping center

Jesus, ding, ding,

ding, ding, ding,

ding, ding.

I've been crucified

with Christ.

And for those of

us who are

genuinely born of

God in the

audience, we're

like, yes, yes!

It's Christocentric

resonance in the

room during a

baptism.

And that's why I

want to say,

schedule it.

Reschedule around

it.

Come and be

encouraged and

strengthened to

see what God is

doing in brothers

and sisters in

Christ.

You will be

encouraged.

You will hear

testimonies of

people coming to

Christ and you're

going to be like,

amen!

How glorious he

uses different

means!

But it's the same

Jesus being united

to his death and

resurrection.

Here's the other

benefit of it.

Think about this.

Members of Christ

the King Church.

Think about it like

this.

Let's say we see

someone baptized on

the 29th.

And then a couple

months later,

they're like, I

want to become a

member of Christ the

King Church.

Do you know what

you're going to be

able to do?

You're going to be

able to like, yes

and amen.

We did a little

Christocentric

resonance.

I heard their

testimony.

This is genuine.

Of course, let's

welcome them in.

It has this church

building commitment

effect.

And so we're going

to try to do some

more adjusting of

our practice so that

this happens more.

There's one more

group of people.

It's to non-Christians.

Let's say on the 29th,

those being baptized

bring non-Christians

into the sanctuary.

That's great.

But while they're

watching these people

baptized, they might

be saying, this is a

little strange.

This is a little

weird.

This is kind of

some kind of

spiritual right or

something like that.

But then they'll say

like, but I get what

they're saying.

I get that they're

saying this baptism

thing.

They're saying I'm

with Jesus now and

I'm with the people

of Jesus now.

But you know what

they're going to be

experiencing?

A lack of

Christocentric

resonance.

Like, I don't get

it.

What's up with

that?

But that is

exactly what we

want them

asking.

What does this

person know that I

don't?

Why would they do

this and go public

like this?

That Jesus, that's

real business to

them.

I wonder what that

means for me.

And so we have an

opportunity to start

proclaiming Christ in

these little lived

parables to non-Christians

and then following that

to tell these non-Christians

about the wrath of God

to come and how

Jesus alone is their

only hope in face of

that.

Baptisms are a public

service announcement.

They both warn and

help.

They are good.

So why get baptized?

I've given you four

reasons this morning.

Pattern, command,

symbol, public service

announcement.

Our problem is not

that we take baptism

too seriously.

Our problem is that we

don't take baptism

serious enough.

Think about this.

Baptisms reflect

our Lord Jesus Christ

building his church

one union at a time.

If you're not a Christian

your next step is not

baptism.

It's conversion.

And I'd be happy to talk

to you about that.

If you've recently become

a Christian or you've

realized that your

baptism when you were an

infant or a child was a

false baptism, don't

freak out.

Or you've been a

Christian for a long

time and you've never

gotten baptized, don't

flip.

It's time to get

baptized.

And so what you can do

is you can pick up a

Bible study on baptism.

It's out there at the

Connect Center.

You can grab it as you

go.

Sign up to be baptized

and then we'll set up an

appointment with one of

our pastors.

Christ the King Church.

Would you please get

this on your schedule?

We think, we trust that

this is going to be

good.

That this is going to be

Christocentric resonance

happening in the room at

four o'clock on the 29th.

You'll be encouraged.

And remember, our problem

is not that we take

baptism too seriously.

Our problem is that we

don't take it seriously

enough.

Let's pray together.

God in heaven, thank you

for giving us this

beautiful, beautiful

rite, this beautiful

symbol.

And we pray that God,

you would give us more

and more occasions to

baptize people who have

been united to Christ in

his death and

resurrection.

And we ask that God, you

would use your word now

to compel the brothers and

the sisters in the room

who need to take this

step.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.