Baptism

We think baptisms are a big deal. After all, we are a Baptist church. And we don't believe that baptism brings about one salvation.

We believe that the water signifies on the outside what has happened on the inside.

And it points us to Christ and his life, death, burial and resurrection and what has happened in the regenerate heart.

So one of the things that we want to do in our baptism is we want to have our baptismal candidates read their testimony.

And so Ella has worked hard on this. Her mom and I didn't fill in words.

We just asked her questions and she'd go back and work on it. And her spelling leaves some to be desired.

But I love the theology and I want you to hear and be encouraged by what

God has done in her life. I was reading a book about John Bunyan's daughter and how she was saved.

It made me realize that I was a wretched sinner and had disobeyed Christ in sin and needed to be saved.

So I asked God to save me and repented of my sins. And out of his mercy and grace, he did.

He took my sins on the cross and saved me from his wrath and rose again.

And now I am a Christian and want to honor and obey him. I want to read the

Bible and pay attention in church so I can learn more about him like he commands. And I will wait till he comes back and takes all his children with him.

Based on this testimony, the grace of God in your life, in our obedience to our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I now baptize you as my sister in the name of the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Glory.

Oh, how great a mystery by his grace alone.

I'm saying, Hallelujah, glory be to Christ for his sacrifice.