Baptism

This week at the Marion Campus is the baptism service. I am jacked up about this because there are five teens getting baptized!

So what is baptism really all about? Baptism is not about being saved. Yes...you should be saved before you get baptized. However, it does not have to do with you "getting" saved. Baptism is saying to your family and church that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is more than lip service - anyone can do that. To get into the tank, lake, river or pool before your friends and family and be plunged underwater and brought back up again is a symbol of your commitment to Christ. In so doing, you are identifying with Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.

• Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist - Mark 1:9, 10
• The Great Commission Jesus left us with tells us to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - Matthew 28:19

Come and celebrate what the LORD is doing in the lives of your peers.

Is evil actually (gulp) good?

WELP! (As my good friend Josh Rishell would say)
I guess I now have something to say ...

I fear that what is sin is no longer viewed as SIN, but instead it is viewed as "just the way we are." Which I know is true...we are ALL born with it and it is still present with us Christians as the Apostle Paul tells us many times over (Romans 7:18, Romans 8:3, Romans 8:8, Galatians 5:17, etc...).

The real issue I am having right now is that while I know I sin...I do not like my sin - I hate it! I hate that I do it - even though some of it is FUN. ALL of it is really WRONG!

Will someone PLEEEEEEEEASE tell me when I am sinning? That is the Body of Christ! Pray that I hear those people who will have the "set" enough to just TELL me! Pray that I hear them and ask God to help me make a change in my life. That is called accountability!

Sin is Sin and it is NOT okay and it is not good and we need one another to help us be sharp (Proverbs 27:17).

2 Timothy 3:1-5

(1) But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. (2) For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, (3) heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, (4) treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (5) having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. [ESV]

HOW ABOUT IT...?

Doing More Harm than Good

I think that a blog should be used for more than simply saying something. I believe that a blog, just like a book or a sermon or a speech should come out of the person having something to say!

I have read too many blogs that are people simply saying stuff...when they really didn't have anything to say.

Don't shoot off your mouth, or speak before you think.
Don't be too quick to tell God what you think he wants to hear.
God's in charge, not you—the less you speak, the better.
Eccl 5:2 (MSG)

I'll write when I have something to say!

Peace!