Ready to For baptism?

If you’ve made the faith decision to follow Jesus, then it’s time to go public with your faith through baptism. Sign up below, and we will get back with you with all the details on our next BAPTISM SUNDAY!

(Also, check below for details on NEW BELIEVERS CLASS, our class for those taking their first steps of faith.)

 
 

NEW BELIEVERS CLASS is for those taking that first step of faith in Jesus. You don’t have to take that step alone!

  • In NEW BELIEVERS CLASS, you will meet pastors and other believers who are ready to walk this journey of faith with you.

  • You will learn the basics of faith in Jesus, the power and necessity of baptism, and what it means to be filled with the Spirit.

  • You will be given practical tools for going deeper in your relationship with God the Father in Christ through the Spirit.

 
 

WHY SHOULD YOU BE BAPTIZED?

Many who take their first steps of faith to become followers of Jesus want to know more about baptism. If that’s you, take a few minutes to read through the brief study below on baptism.

* The content below and much more is covered in our NEW BELIEVERS CLASS. (Sign up above.)

INTRODUCTION TO BAPTISM

Let’s start with a few passages on water baptism.

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18–20)

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” (Acts 2:37–39)

16 And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’ (Acts 22:16)

21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him. (1 Peter 3:21–22)

Every believer is called to baptism. Baptism is much more than just a Christian rite or ritual—baptism is the official induction ceremony whereby believers pledge allegiance to King Jesus and are authorized to represent the King and his kingdom as kingly priests in their assigned area of influence and throughout the world.

Baptism is the legal, official ceremony of the church that declares to the whole world that you have become a disciple of Jesus. Baptism binds on earth what has already been bound in heaven.

Through baptism, we officially proclaim that God “rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). Through baptism, God transfers our citizenship from this world to heaven, which means that humans, through whom the evil powers wielded control over the nations of the world, are delivered from evil and brought into allegiance to King Jesus. Then, these redeemed humans are sent into the world by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the lordship of Jesus in every realm of life, recovering human dominion and displacing fallen, evil powers, the false gods of the nations.

This is why we often say at Freedom Life that “baptism is the greatest form of spiritual warfare.” (1 Peter 3:21-22) The power of the enemy is forever broken when we pledge our allegiance to Christ in baptism!

WHY BAPTISM MATTERS

Take a minute to read a few powerful truths about baptism and why it matters so much.

  1. Baptism is commanded for every believer. (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15, 16; Luke 24:47; Acts 2:38; 8:12; 10:48; 19:1-7) Baptism is not optional. We are saved by grace through faith in what Jesus already did at the cross, but baptism “actualizes” in time and space what Christ did for us and as us.

  2. Baptism is a cleansing of the conscience for every believer. Baptism internalizes and personalizes the forgiveness of sins that Christ already provided at the cross. (Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21) When we are baptized, our sins that were washed away by the shed blood of Jesus at the cross are washed away in our conscience, in our awareness by faith of what God has already done in Christ.

  3. Baptism is a confession. Baptism is a confession that we are forgiven (Mark 1:5) and that Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9). Baptism is a public confession of faith. When we confess that Jesus is Lord, we also renounce the works of the devil. We formally and publicly break any alliance we’ve had with false gods, with the idols of the world. As Dr. Michael Heisser put it, “Baptism is a loyalty oath.”*

  4. Baptism is done “calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 2:21, 38; 15:17; 22:16; Romans 10:13; James 2:7) When a believer is baptized, they publicly proclaim their faith in Christ by “confessing with their mouth” the first Christian creed: “Jesus is Lord!” This is what it means to be “baptized in the name of Jesus.”

  5. Baptism is circumcision. (Colossians 2:11, 12) The ancient Hebrew rite of physical circumcision foreshadowed the spiritual circumcision of the heart that happened in the circumcision of Christ at the cross. When we are baptized, Christ’s victory over sin and death at the cross becomes “subjectivized” in us and the power of sin and death are broken in us, cut away by the “cutting off” of Christ at the cross.

  6. Baptism is a covenant ceremony. (Hebrews 10:16) When we are baptized, we declare to heaven and earth that we are submerged by faith into the covenant that God made with Jesus, the divine and human Son of God. God’s covenant faithfulness in Christ is embodied within us through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit and we are made faithful by “the faith of Jesus Christ.”

  7. Baptism inducts us publicly into the church. “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13, NRSV). When we are baptized, the church recognizes and authorizes us officially in a sort of “swearing in ceremony” as members of Christ’s kingdom ekklesia. In baptism, we receive through the “laying on of hands” and spiritual impartation our first keys of the kingdom.

  8. Baptism is a certificate of citizenship. (Philippians 3:20) When we are baptized, we are “rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred…into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13–14, NRSV). Baptism transfers our citizenship from the fallen domain of Adam into the heavenly domain of Christ.

  9. Baptism is our consecration by the Holy Spirit as kingly priests. All believers are called to be kings and priests in the New Covenant ekklesia (church), and baptism is our official ordination as priests who minister to God and others. (1 Peter 2:4-10) Baptism is the first step toward “the ministry of the saints.”

  10. Baptism commissions us into the Army of the Lord and deploys us into our “metron” of kingdom authority where we enact dominion displacement of the fallen, evil powers. (1 Peter 3:21-22) As we noted above, baptism is the greatest form of spiritual warfare!

SPIRIT BAPTISM

When you hear and believe the gospel, repent and get baptized, then you will be “filled with the Spirit.” Now, we who believe receive the Spirit at the moment of faith. In fact, we who believe are empowered to believe by the Spirit—it is the Spirit that gives us faith, as noted above. (Ephesians 2:8) As Paul put it, we have “received the Spirit by the hearing of faith” (Galatians 3:2).

Believers receive the Spirit when Christ “breathes” on them. (John 20:22) That only happens once. However, once you have received the Spirit, you will be filled with the Spirit many times. This happens when the Spirit wells up within you and fills you up to overflowing.

Here’s how Paul put it:

18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20 giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:18–20)

The disciples in the Book of Acts were filled with the Spirit many times. When they were filled with the Spirit, the supernatural power of God came upon them. As Jesus said:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

According to Jesus, the inevitable sign of being filled with the Spirit is empowerment, Spirit empowered speech and action. When we are “filled with the Spirit,” divine power bursts out of our mouth and flows through our hands and feet. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, when people were “filled with the Spirit,” their infilling was described as “the Spirit of the Lord came upon them” as they said and did supernatural things. Being filled with the Spirit is always a matter of being empowered by the Holy Spirit for supernatural service.

In the Old Testament, being filled with the Spirit was temporary and limited to a few anointed people. In the New Testament, being filled with the Spirit is available to all who believe and is available to “remain” upon us.

Spirit-Empowered Speech

When we are filled with the Spirit, there are seven ways that the Spirit speaks through us:

  1. Personal witness: "You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you" to be witnesses. (Acts 1:8)

  2. Praise: "they were filled with the Holy Spirit and magnified God." (Acts 10:46)

  3. Prophecy: "they were filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied." (Acts 19:6) "Your sons and daughters shall prophesy" (Joel 2, Acts 2) All the people shall be a prophetic community.

  4. Prayer: "The Spirit himself makes intercession for us." (Romans 8:26)

  5. Psalms: "Do not be drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart." (Ephesians 5:18, 19) "I will sing praise with my spirit..." (1 Corinthians 14:15)

  6. Positive confession: "I have believed, therefore I have spoken." (2 Corinthians 4:13)

  7. Prayer language: "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:4; 1 Corinthians 14:2, 4, 14, 15, 18)

God fills us with the Holy Spirit So that he may empower us to change the world. This is God’s strategy! Salvation is coming to all nations through the river that is flowing out of you!

DECISION

Questions:

  1. Do you believe that you were saved from sin, death and the devil when Jesus died for you?

  2. Do you repent as your heart turns toward God’s truth and away from Satan’s lies?

  3. Are you ready to obey Christ’s command and be baptized?

  4. Are you ready to the filled with the Spirit?