Believing and Being Baptized

 Some things about the Bible and Christianity are hard to understand. There are times when I tell people that we will just have to wait until we get to the "Heavenly Bible Class," to ask the Lord about those things. However, God has made most of the things in the Bible very clear for us, so that even a child can understand many of them. We all need to focus on the basics and not be distracted by the things that are not as clear.

When Philip went to Samaria, a great revival or an awakening broke out in that city. (Acts 8:12) When the people believed, as Philip was preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were being baptized. Those were pagan people hearing the gospel for the first time and coming to salvation by believing in Jesus.

Faith is the foundation of a relationship with Jesus. First, we hear the truth from God's Word. We hear that God is the Creator and Ruler over all things, and Jesus is Lord who came to be our Savior, dying and rising for the forgiveness of our sins. When we put our faith in Jesus to save us, God changes our heart, and we become new creatures in Christ.

Then, we have to decide to follow Jesus every day the rest of our life. The way we confess that to others is to be baptized by being immersed in water. That shows that we have died to the old life, and we have a new life by the power of God saving us. We are identifying with Jesus as Lord of our life.  Being baptized is one the first things we do after we get saved to begin our life of obedience to our Lord Jesus.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Acts 9-11.