Baptism… let me be up front… we don’t fully understand baptism. I know most pastors claim to but I don’t buy into that kind of spiritual arrogance.  Baptism  is mysterious.  It is special.  It is very different.  It is something we do…something we participate in but it is still shrouded in mystery.  I believe God likes it that way.  Baptism is more than many denominations make of it and less than others do make of it.   I don’t believe He has completely filled us in on the importance of baptism… He has only given us a peek at the depth of this mystery.  I have come to understand that on this side of eternity I will not fully understand baptism but He has let us know all He wants us to know for now.  For all the things we don’t understand about baptism… we can know this for sure:

*Jesus was baptized

*He commands us to be baptized too (really… aren’t these two reasons enough for us to get baptized? …but wait… there is even more we can see in baptism… read on)

*The Bible assumes that all true believers will be baptized

*Baptism always happened after a person made Jesus the boss of their life and not before

*Within the act of baptism is a beautiful picture of the spiritual things taking place in our lives as we make Jesus the boss of our lives… the old self is dead and a new self under the leadership of God is emerging… our failures have been washed away… we identify with Jesus as He died on the cross to pay the price for our failures, was buried and beat death by coming back.

When you are ready to head out duck hunting you would not leave home without your camo.   You need it… it is part of duck hunting.  But not just duck hunting because in Stuttgart it is also fashion.  We wear camo because it represents who we are… the duck hunting capital of the world.  We are proud of it.  We show it… we wear it.

For the Christ-follower, baptism is like that… it is something you are proud of… something you put on like a uniform.  After we make Jesus the boss of our lives we are then commanded to put on the uniform… your Christ-following camo which is baptism.

If you have not been baptized since you made Jesus the boss of your life then why wait any longer… we are ready to celebrate with you through baptism!