Water Baptism

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.  — Exodus 14:26-28

I think I have seriously underestimated the power of being baptized.  Looking back, I got baptized a few years after I got saved.  I remember Preacher Vaughn baptizing me in the pool at Salem Baptist Church.  To this day, I remember how bright the lights seemed right after I came up.  I also remember hearing God in my spirit, He said “this is my son in whom I’m well pleased.”  For the rest of the day, it felt like I was seeing the world for the first time.

I believe that the Israelites crossing the Red Sea is a picture of water baptism.  There, the Israelites were passing through a massive wall of water.  When the Israelites came out on the other side, the enemy was following them in hot pursuit.  Egypt was quite possibly the most well-trained, well-equipped military power in the world.  The Israelites were the complete opposite…except for the fact that they had God.  The enemy tried to pass through the water without God’s permission.  They simply drowned.  All Israel could do was watch in amazement as God completely destroyed the tools of bondage that enslaved them.

There I was being “dunked,”  the old person that I was being slain…being drowned.    I didn’t realize that my old ways were trying to pursue me as well.  But, as I came out of the water and that water closed up, my enemies were slain as well.  I still tried to party a little bit, but I had this new nature in me that refused to be happy in it.  My language didn’t yet honor God, but every time one of those words slipped out of my mouth, I felt a little bit nauseous.  My spirit man would say “we don’t talk like that anymore.“  I may have still been lazy in a lot of things and taken the easy way out, but something in me desired to honor God in all that I did.  God not only saved me, but He gave me this new nature that led me to right here right now.  I have to say, there is no place that I’d rather be.  I’m not saying I don’t have problems, I do.  But I am saying that He is absolutely keeping His promise to never leave me nor forsake me.  He is with me.

If you do not know Jesus…get to know Him.  If you have not been baptized…get baptized.  Don’t do it because someone says “it’s the next step,”  but because you hate the sinfulness that still lives in you enough that you no longer want to manage it, you want to drown it.

If you will, please pray for me as well as the students and teachers at Code Academy.  Put us on any list that regularly receives prayer.  Never in my life have I seen sin destroy so many lives right before my very eyes.  I get a front row seat to the destruction every day that I go to work.  Fortunately, there are teachers that seek to honor The Lord that realize that we have been placed by Him.  We realize that in no way are we there by accident.  I realize that it may not happen while I’m there, but my prayer is that every single one of those kids give their lives to Christ before it is too late.  One day, I pray that they get to see their past drown in that water as they emerge brand new….just as He did for me and countless others.

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.  — Isaiah 1:18

Later

Adam