3 Ways to Live: Gospel Message

This is a way that we have found helpful to explain the gospel.

We as a community of believers must differentiate the gospel from religion just as Jesus did.

Jesus did not come for the dead religious but the sinners, whom he would redeem and send out on mission.

Many other churches with our acts29 network have benefited from Tim Keller's work.

Celebrating Believer's Baptism

The community of Imago Dei will be gathering for a special service to celebrate new believer's baptism. This is a time to celebrate the salvation of God's people.

We will meet at 6pm at Kineo Church an Acts29 church plant, who is meeting at Living Water Fellowship. There will be plenty of room so you can invite your friends to hear the gospel and witness testimonies of those being baptized.


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1.            The Meaning of Baptism

• The word from the Greek word, “Baptizo,” meaning “to dip,” and/or “to immerse”

• Water baptism - for a believer to identify with the death and resurrection of Christ and publicly declare that they are His disciple.

2.            The Message of Baptism

The very moment we trust Christ as Savior, we are identified with Him, and that identification is related specifically to three events in our Lord’s experience:  We are identified with Him in . . .

• WE ARE IDENTIFIED WITH JESUS IN HIS DEATH (Romans 6:3, 5)

   When you stand in the water, it symbolizes that the old, “sinful man”  has died, having been crucified with Christ (II Corinthians 5:17).

• WE ARE IDENTIFIED WITH JESUS IN HIS BURIAL  (Romans 6:4)

  

When you are led under the water, it symbolizes that the “old man” has been laid to rest, having been buried with Christ (Romans 6:4). “The old self is gone”

• WE ARE IDENTIFIED W/ JESUS IN HIS RESURRECTION  (Romans 6:4-5, 8)

  

When you are raised up out of the water, it symbolizes that the “new man” is now alive in you, and that you now live for and with Christ  (Galatians 2:20).

3.            The Method of Baptism

We believe that immersion visually captures the message of baptism.

•             It accurately depicts the meaning of "baptizo."

•             It follows the practice of both Jewish baptism and John's baptism.

•             It pictures the symbolism of death, resurrection, and cleansing.

•             It was the method of the early church.

4.            The Motive for Baptism

•To confess our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord (Acts 18:8). 

It is a public acknowledgment and declaration that you personally believe and have trusted in God for your life and salvation.  Thus, the only requirement for baptism is that you have knowingly and of your own free will surrendered your heart and life to Jesus Christ.  That is, through prayer, you have invited Him to “save” you from your sins, to take full control of your life, and to one day receive you into His kingdom, into eternal life.

•To comply with the commandment of Jesus.  (Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:38) 

In Jesus’ last instructions to His disciples, He commanded them to go into all the world, and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  In this way, true believers would be unmistakably identified, both with Christ and with the family of God, by their obeying this command.

Since baptism is a personal and public expression of one’s own faith, we believe that the decision to be baptized must be made by each individual in accordance with their faith. (Parents should teach their children soon after their child has professed Jesus as Lord).

Family Worship: advent.incarnation.celebration

Each December my wife and I bring out an old advent calender and rehearse the story of Christ's coming by reviewing particular prophetic passages pointing to Christ's birth. We start on the first evening of December.

The kids gather anxiously after dinner on the couch to hear the scriptures and see the pictures that tell the true meaning of Christmas! After the second night, Leslie makes review questions each evening. She writes them on a piece of paper and cuts them into strips and quizzes the kids on the details of each nights' lesson.

It becomes a fun family Christmas celebration and learning opportunity to teach about Christ's coming, His advent and incarnation. It's the best time to worship as a family in our home. We read scriptures, answer the kids questions and sing old Christmas hymns. 

The word "Advent" in Latin means "Coming". In many Christian churches throughout the world this is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of Christ's 1st coming. Churches throughout history celebrate the incarnation, that is... Jesus, the son of God taking on human flesh and becoming man (Phil 2: 6b- 11).

He in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

To aid in the instruction for these christian truths of the incarnation I have continually found the Westminster Confession of Faith extremely helpful:

Q. 22. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man? 

A. Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul,(Phil 2:7) (Heb 2:14,17) being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, and born of her,(Lk 1:27,31,35) yet  without sin. (2 Cor 5:21, Heb 4:15, 7:26, 1 Jn 3:5).

Christmas is about Christ. His birth and His coming. Let us celebrate the incarnation of our Lord. Let us  prepare our hearts and rejoice that a savior has been born, Christ the Lord.

Resources:
Desiring God, John Piper Blog: Advent and Incarnation
Westminster Confession 
Bible Gateway

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