Walking With JesusSample

### Baptism The Greek term for baptism is baptizo , which means “to dip” or “immerse”. The act of baptism is the outward sign of what has already happened in the spiritual realm in a believer’s life. Three things happened when we were born into God’s kingdom and were immersed into Jesus Christ: * We died with Christ * We were buried with Him * We rose to newness of life Baptism symbolises death, a burial and a resurrection. When we are immersed into Christ, we are immersed into His death. It’s an act of obedience as we are called to identify with the resurrection life of Jesus. Think about it like this: when you take a white cloth and place it in a green dye, the cloth comes out green, it is changed forever, and it will never be the same again. Baptism into water is deliverance from Satan’s kingdom. Let’s look at the Israelites who were enslaved in Egypt: Egypt can be compared to what the world looks like now and the Red Sea to the water the believer needs to go through. Baptism is as dramatic as moving out of one lifestyle into another. You do not get saved through baptism, but it is the next step in effectively following Christ as a disciple. Conditions for Baptism: * True repentance * Faith in Christ * An understanding of immersion Reflection questions (write your answers in a journal): * What happened after people believed the message of the Apostles? (see Acts 2:41; 8:12, 35,36)? Action: Using your Bible’s concordance, do a Scripture reference exercise on the word “baptism” and answer the following questions: 1. Who got baptised? 2. What age were they? 3. What was necessary for them to be baptised? Testimony: I grew up in a Christian home and was christened as an infant. I always believed that I was automatically a Christian if I went to church. After I was born again, I realised something when I was reading the Word: every example found in Scripture of people being baptised had one prerequisite for baptism -- they first believed and then got baptised. Infant christening had been a wonderful commitment on my parents’ part to consecrate me to God but could not fulfil all biblical requirements. (Jesus referred to it as "fulfilling all righteousness” when He was baptised.) I immediately decided to get baptised.