HOW TO GROW IN THE LORD STUDY GUIDE

LESSON 2   

Baptism

Our first step of obedience to God after we are saved is for every believer to follow Christ in Baptism. Baptism is the first step of obedience for the new believer in Christ. This step identifies you to the world that you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ and His teachings. Our lesson will teach you the importance of baptism. The Greek word for baptism is "baptismo" which means to dunk or submerse.

Memory Verse (Mat 28:19 KJV) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

HERE IS WHY WE SHOULD BE BAPTIZED:
"O B E D I E N C E"

1.    In this lesson we will learn why we should be baptized. It is our love in action to do what ever God asks us to do. God commands us to "go" and do three things in Matthew 28:18-20.  
Take time now to list those things below:

1.
2.
3.

HERE IS WHY WE SHOULD BE BAPTIZED:
"LOVE"

2.    If we love the Lord we will want to do what He says.
Memorize:  (John 14:15 KJV) If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Baptism shows others our love in action for God.

HERE IS WHY WE SHOULD BE BAPTIZED:
"J O Y"

3.   As you read the story in Acts 8:26-40 of the Ethiopian eunuch's salvation and baptism. You will see how the event of him getting baptized brought rejoicing to his heart.
        (a.)     One thing was necessary before the eunuch could be baptized
(Acts 8:37 KJV) And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

(b.)   We see in our text that salvation must come before baptism. After he was baptized "..and he went on his way rejoicing."
(Acts 8:39 KJV) And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

Let's review the three reasons why we should all get Baptized:
(1) Love     (2) Obedience      (3) Joy

Baptism can only be performed in one scriptural way. In the Bible no one was ever baptized except by immersion of the body under water. The very word "baptism" means to dip, to plunge, to submerged or to immerse. Nowhere in the Bible is sprinkling of babies or adults taught.

1.    (Matthew 3:13) tells us how Jesus taught us by example to be baptized:
:(Mat 3:13 KJV) Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

2.    In Matthew 3:16 it says,"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:" (Christ could not have come up out of the water until first He was under it.)
You can not come up or out of a sprinkling. You dont sprinkle the dead with dirt, you bury them under the ground.

3.    In John 3:23 it says why they were baptizing in Aenon, (John 3:23 KJV) And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salem, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.

4.     In Acts 8:38 it says, "And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him."

This Is The Meaning of Baptism:

1.    Baptism shows our death, burial and resurrection with Christ. Baptism pictures the death of the old man ( the old sinful nature of man ) before we were saved. Burial of the old life, (our old sinful life styles that we lived in - total disregard for God and the ways of God) and the resurrection of a new life to be lived for the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 6:3-5 shows us how God speaks of baptism.
(Rom 6:3 KJV) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
(Rom 6:4 KJV) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
(Rom 6:5 KJV) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

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