Baptism

Why Do I Feel Like I am Not Ready to Be Baptized?

Intro:

Welcome.

Next week is Baptisms and today I want to answer a question about baptism that I think is really important.

Before we get to the question for today though I want to let everyone know what baptisms are.

Football Story - Excessive celebration.

I got a little too excited I would say… But Hey that is okay, because I scored.

How many of you play sports?

Jersey Illustration.

A jersey represents a team, but does that mean you are on the team? No. In the same way baptism is a representation of a decision you made to follow Jesus, it can represent you are on the team, but to get on the team you have to follow Jesus first. It is not what saves you, but it is an obedient step that you SHOULD take if you decided to give your life to Jesus.

So the question I want to “tackle” today (Haha get it) is…

Colossians 2:12 “having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

Tension:

Why Do I Feel Like I am Not Ready to Be Baptized?

IF you are in this room and you are asking this question, or have asked this question this is a great place to be to wrestle with questions like this. There are two answers to this question I am going to give you, and you can choose which one fits you right now.

Truth:

If you haven’t decided to join the team, don’t wear the jersey.

Basically this means if you haven’t decided to make Jesus the Lord and savior of your life than don’t get baptized. Because it isn’t the water that changes you it is the spirit.

Maybe right now you are wrestling with this. Maybe you don’t know if you are a follow of Jesus. Well here are two scriptures that will help you see if you have really made that decision yet.

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”

1 John 5:13 “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Easy as that. If you believe in Jesus then you are saved.

If you believe in Jesus and you are on the team, but you haven’t been baptized, then the answer is simple. It’s time. Right now.

Why? Because baptism is a step of obedience, and obedience in your walk with Jesus is extremely important. In fact, before Jesus even began his ministry the first thing he did was get baptized. Because he knew how important it was for us to follow with this step of obedience.

So if you are saved and you believe then nothing should hold you back from being baptized. Of course that is easier said than done. Some of us are held back by fear, by anxiety, by what people would think, all kinds of things. Bit the reality is, if you won’t even obey the simplest command Jesus asks of you then how do you expect to live a life of obedience in other ways?

Imagine:

Imagine what your life would look like if you got baptized and started a life of obedience towards Jesus. If we wanna live the extraordinary life and grow closer to Jesus we gotta be obedient. So if you know you are saved and feel you’re not ready, then that is just you being held back from doing something incredible for God.

For those of you who have been baptized and believe in Jesus, imagine what your life would look like if you took a next step today too, by obeying Jesus.

Don’t forget about non believers too.

Why wouldn’t you wanna represent the winning team? Don’t let anything hold you back. Sign up today.