Jesus told Nicodemus in the gospel of John (the 3rd chapter) that he “must be born again”. Nothing so depicts that new birth than when someone is baptized into the name of Jesus Christ. I hear so many people today explaining away the importance or necessity of being baptized, while you see just the opposite in scripture. Scriptures are full of accounts of church leaders trying to explain the importance of baptism. I don’t see Peter trying to explain away the importance of it in Acts 2:38. I don’t see Philip trying to explain how it’s not very important in Acts 8:35-39. I don’t hear Paul saying anything contrary in Romans 6:3-5. We have become so afraid that someone is going to teach that the ‘water’ itself is what saves. I don’t know anyone who teaches that water saves. We are all in agreement that JESUS SAVES. But even Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20 commanded the disciples to baptize EVERYONE in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let’s read what the church leaders in the New Testament taught about baptism and then shout a HEARTY AMEN! Don’t explain it away… Explain it EXACTLY how the Bible explains!
The picture above was painted by Christina Ramos and is available at our church bookstore. It’s her son baptizing her daughter! It’s beautiful and I have a copy in my office. May every believer in Jesus Christ be baptized in HIS PRECIOUS NAME!
A friend named Mike Ackerman and his wife our doing missionary work in Japan and he recently sent out an update explaining that they had their FIRST BAPTISM. My heart rejoices with Mike and his desire to serve in Japan. He is such a talented young man and could easily work any where in the world, but God has burdened his heart for the people of Japan. Please read his post and pray for him and his work and consider sending him prayer and financial support if God so leads you.
Keep up the Great work Mike. Praying for you today.
His letter….
Dear Friends,It has been an exciting and busy start to 2010. We have begun holding our weekly church services. There is more I wish I could tell you than I have room here to do, but it has been a great start! We have had a number of people consistently coming, and I think there have been new people every week.
The most exciting part of this past month came just this past Sunday. A woman named Kyoko made a decision to follow Christ and was baptized. She has come to every service except our first event in December. Part of what is neat about her story is that none of us knew her a month ago. She was invited to church by an acquaintance I invited a couple months ago.
It is clear that she had been searching for something, and the neutral ground of our sports bar church provided the context for her to learn about the love and grace of God.
There are literally millions of people in our city who haven’t been to a church and heard the Gospel. We thank God that Kyoko was able to make her way to our church and hear!My friend Reo who plays drums in our worship band sounds like he is really considering taking the step to put his faith in Jesus. He has been at every service, and him and I continue to meet up every once and a while one-on-one.
A couple weeks ago he told me that coming to church, along with having relationships with our team, has really impacted him. He said he is trying to find his way in life and wants to learn more about God. Him and I will begin going through a short book together that introduces Christianity.
Please be praying that those times serve to help him find a relationship with Jesus Christ.I wish I could share more of what is happening, but I hope you are encouraged that the prayers and financial support are helping the Kingdom advance here in Japan.
This coming year looks to be a challenging year for us financially, so please pray for God’s provision. Lord willing, there will be many more people like Kyoko who are able to hear the Gospel at Mustard Seed Christian Church and respond in faith!
What a phenomenal day we had yesterday at our Third Annual Beach Baptism! The numbers are still coming in, but as of our preliminary count, we had about 300 people come out to get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ!!! I want to thank all of our volunteers, staff, and pastors who came out to make this one of the highlights in 2008 for our church! Here are some photos I wanted to share with you:
Week after week…it’s keeps getting better… A BIG THANKS to the staff and all the volunteer leaders who make this campus a shining lighthouse on the westside.
Opening Worship and Message Me and the “Rocket”… Jerry and Amy Miner’s girl Another person being buried with Christ in baptism by Team Orange 6’9″ Josh and 6’5″ Dudley… making sure the big waves don’t hit this little guy Not so lucky with this girl…..
Joe the Pizza Man being baptized Dudley and Joshua Merrill baptizing in the big Waves… Worship by the Shepherd Team
Yesterday was a day of all days. We had close to 250 people baptized into the name of Jesus. The waves were big…. the crowds were big…. and the Lord showed up in a BIG way.
Words are difficult to come by as I think about the first day of the Church in Acts 2 where some 3,000 people were baptized at one time… I actually felt like it was the day of Pentecost yesterday as I saw so many tears and so many decisions for Jesus Christ. People were stepping out to proclaim their faith and to walk in obedience. We were there to testify that we believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We had people from both the Porter Ranch Campus as well as the West L.A. campus be baptized. We even had someone who walked up and started asking questions and one of our staff members led this individual into making a decision for Jesus Christ and was baptized that very moment.
I shared the story of a woman who had been a Jehovah’s Witness for 35 years and was there to be baptized, knowing that her family was going to disown her for becoming a Christian, and yet she was soooooooooooo blessed to see so many other people giving their lives to Jesus, too.
You see, God is at work in our lives and in our church. Check back to the blog soon, and we hope to post a video from this day. For now I will post a few pictures…..
