Down with the Old, Up with the New

On July 23rd we had one of the best services that we have had since I've been at St. Matthew's. We had a gospel band, "The Barkers" lead us in worship. I did not think I liked old school gospel but I connected with God through their music. It was awesome. My sermon was on Baptism as we were going to a have an adult baptism after the service. I talked about 3 dimensions of Baptism. First we have to die to self, second we have to bury our selves, and third we then experience new life. What helped me the most during preparation was how often I don't bury my sins. If you don't bury something, the stench is going to get you. I put my sins away but i will put them in a place where i know if i need them, or want them, or desire them, i can get to them. This is dangerous. What we need to do to experience the new life, and abundant life Christ offers us is with the help of the Holy Spirit is to bury our selves and our sins, not just put them away. Because if you just put them away they will eventually get you. At least that has been true in my life. After the sermon we had a remembering your baptism service and at both services many people came forward.

After the service we drove over to a church members' house who has a lake in their backyard and we had the baptism there. I was my first time doing an immersion baptism and it was cool. We hope to do this again. I hope to post some pictures of Serena's baptism in the upcoming days. Serena gave a testimony before she was baptised. She read Proverbs 3:5-6 which says, "trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." I thought what i perfect baptism verse. When we die to our selves we have to put our trust in Jesus and trust not our understanding. If not we won't get to experience what he has in store for us.