Lately we’ve been discussing how we have a new identity in Christ. God makes us new! Jesus said in John 3:3 that “...no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (NIV). We are born of the Spirit! This is a great mystery, yet we know that something happens and we are changed. We turn to follow Jesus and his Holy Spirit lives in us and makes us brand new. The next step is to be baptized.

We read about Jesus being baptized in Matthew 3. He said, “...it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then later, after he had risen from the dead, Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19).

Paul describes baptism and how it relates to our new life in Christ. He says, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4).

We often say that baptism is “an outward expression of an inward change.” It’s a public declaration of what God has done in the Spirit-we agree that we have been ‘buried’ with Christ and have also been ‘raised’ to new life. This is part of what baptism is all about. At Crossroads we celebrate baptism by immersion in water (complete submersion), if physically able. We believe that this is the biblical example. Baptism represents the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the believer’s participation in that divine process.

We are having a BAPTISM SUNDAY on February 25th at Crossroads after the second service. Would you like to be baptized? Please put your name/phone# on a card or talk to one of our Pastors! We’d be excited to help you take this important step on your journey with Jesus!