Baptism

So, I was just reading Matthew 3, and a lot of what I read in it, makes a whole lot of sense to me. Verses 1 and 2 are simply saying to repent all of your sins to Lord Jesus Christ, when you do this, your life has to be fully dedicated to him, so that you all can live the way that he wants you to live your lives instead of being selfish and greedy and whatnot. We all must live fully for God and not for ourselves. Today, Jesus reigns in the hearts of all his believers, but the kingdom of heaven will not be fully realized until all evil in this world is judged and immediately removed. First, Christ came to earth as a suffering servant; he will come again as a King and judge to rule victoriously all over this world. Those of you who do not know Jesus yet must be fully prepared to meet him. However, we can prepare them by explaining to them their need for forgiveness, demonstrating all of Christ's teachings by our conduct, and telling them how Christ can give all of their lives meaning. We can "make his paths straight" by correcting misconceptions that could be hindering them from coming to Christ. In verses 4-6 it's basically saying that to those who are curious about your christian lifestyle and values, is an open opportunity for you to bring them to God and to show them how Christ has drastically changed your life, and he can do the same for them if they'd just come to God with an open mind and an open heart. That's what happened to me, I came to God fully with an open heart and open mind. At first, it was quite difficult for me, to accept him fully into my life, but when I finally did, it was totally worth it. I was thinking to myself "why the heck did I wait so long for this to happen?" Then I had no answer, I just thought that it was absolutely amazing about what God made happen in my life and I hope that he continues to do so. Praise the Lord! After I gave my life to God, I got rebaptized about a year ago on September 6 and since then, my life turned around in a complete 180, and I hope that my life continues to get better, as well as everybody elses. In verse 9, it's saying that we need to completely change our actions in order for things to start really changing in your life. You need to make all of your actions match your words. You can't just do one thing and then do another. You must practice what you preach in order to pull more people closer to God. God looks beyond all of our words and religious activities to see if our conduct backs up our words, and he judges our words by the actions that accompany them. Do your actions match your words? I sure hope so, because if not, then I strongly suggest that you start working on it, right here, right now. Lets all take a moment and say these few words " Dear Lord, please forgive for I have sinned against you with my own words, thoughts, deeds, and heart's desires. Lord, I want you to take total and complete control of my life, for I can't do any of this without you, apart from you, I am nothing. Thank you, lord. I love you, amen!" In verse 10, it's saying that just like a fruit tree is expected to bear fruit, all of God's people must produce a large crop of many good deeds, with hopes that others will follow. The Lord has no use for those who call themselves christians, but choose to live differently than God wants you to. We have no value, if we are christians by name only. If the others can't see our faith in the way we treat them, we may not be God's people at all. God calls us to be active in our obedience. To be productive for God, we must always obey his teachings, resist temptations, actively serve and help others, and finally, share all of our faith with others. How productive are you for God? Baptism is an outward sign of our commitment to the Lord. In order to be effective, it has to be accompanied by an inward change of attitude which leads to a changed life- the work of the Holy Spirit. One day, everybody will be baptized- either now by God's holy spirit, or later by the fire of his judgement. In verse 12, it's saying that those who refuse to be repentant will be judged and discarded because they are totally worthless in God's work; However, those who will repent and believe in the Lord will definitely be saved and used fully by God. Does anyone know why Jesus asked to be baptized? If no, then I have the answer right here for you: The answer is that 1.) he was personally confessing the sin of the nation, as Nehemiah, Ezra, Moses, and Daniel had done; 2.) he was showing support for what John was doing; 3.) he was inaugurating his public ministry; 4.) he was identifying with the penitent people of God, not with the critical pharisees who were only watching. Jesus, the perfect man, didn't need baptism for sin, but he accepted it in obedient service to the father, and God showed his approval. So, what do you say? Do you think that your ready to put all of your egos and profitable work aside in order to point others in the direction of Jesus? I sure am. Are you willing to lose some of your status so that everyone can benefit from it? I sure hope so. To conclude this blog entry, I would like for you all to say another prayer with me. Are you ready? " Dear God, I love you and I need you, please come into my life and into my heart and please protect and bless the homes we're living in, the people in them, please protect and bless all of the jobs and finances that we do have, please protect and bless all of our families and friends, please protect and bless all of the cars that we have, please protect and bless all of the churches that we're members of, but most importantly please protect and bless all of the animals in this world whether their homeless, abused, whatever, please protect and bless them all and help them all to find places to live in, food to eat, and the families that love them. God Bless America now and Forever, Thank you Lord, we love you, Amen and Amen!" Well goodnight and God bless everyone :)