An older man was recently asked, “What brought you to become a Christian?”
Through tears, the older man responded: “As a young man, I felt empty. I needed a change of life, but didn't know how to find it.
“One day, while watching a Sunday morning sunrise outside my office window, he questioned himself: Why am I here; why am I alive in this place, and at this time in history?”
A man in the neighboring office told that questioning man, “You need to read the book, The Power of Positive Thinking, and it will change your life.”
Finding the recommended book that same afternoon, he read, “Read this book and it will change your life.”
‘That’s what I need,’ he thought.
He then read, “God will do this for you, through Jesus.”The man angrily closed the book, returning it to the shelf.
He began walking away, grumbling, “I don’t need this!” In alcohol and/or drug-fueled conditions, he proclaimed, “There is no God!” (Psalm 14:1 and 53:1 both say, The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God”).
But the 23-year-old man DID need a change of life. He bought the book, planning to skip over the parts about God and Jesus. He was an atheist!
While reading, he realized that God IS real! Then, after finishing that book, he studied the Bible.
In a few years he was preaching FOR Jesus!
Jesus gave him a new life, as he was promised! Tears of gratitude filled his eyes as he retold
this story.
When God gave life to everything that you can see in our world, He used water to bring new life to all He’d made. Water!
When God rescued the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, He saved them from slavery through water, bringing them freedom, but destroying the pursuing Egyptians (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
The same Spirit used in creation is God’s gift to you! That is, “by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8).
Peter said, “Repent, and… be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
What’s the connection between the new life in Jesus and baptism?
This is God’s new life message! God’s call for your baptism is Biblical.
Noah’s family was saved BY the flood (1 Peter 3:20-21).
One man with leprosy was cleansed in water, as God instructed (2 Kings 5). God gave him new life!
By your faith, His grace saves you, in Jesus. What’s the connection? God knows! Now,so do you! What will you do?