Welcome to West Towne Christian Church.
We're glad you found us on YouVersion.

This event and any notes you take will not be available after this week unless you hit the "Save Event" in the corner.

We are very excited to unpack 5 Things We Love, because they’re so visible in our Celebration Gatherings. Lean in to hear why we love these things and why we think you'll love them, too.

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

- Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music

Have you ever been around someone who seems to only tell you what they don’t like instead of what they like?

Have you ever asked someone where they want to eat and instead of telling you places they like, they tell you places they don’t want to eat…as if you were hoping to do some process of elimination activity?

Have you ever asked someone what they want to watch and received the list of what not to watch?

Sometimes we’re all better at recognizing what we don’t like rather than what we do like.

5 Things We Love
Unlike Julie Andrews’ song, this series isn’t entitled Our Favorite Things. We’re not talking about the 5 Things We Love Most, and these aren’t The Only 5 Things We Love. These are 5 Things We Love to include in our Celebration Gatherings here at West Towne.

Essential View of Baptism vs. Follow-up View of Baptism
Both sides use scripture to back up their view.
Here at West Towne, we simply love baptism.

Because of Jesus’ promise to the thief on the cross, I question the strict “essential” view that says God will absolutely not save someone who hasn’t been baptized.

But I also think the “follow-up” view is an overreaction to all of the “acts of righteousness” the church in the Middle Ages required for salvation. The pendulum swings too far the other way when baptism gets downplayed to an optional act of obedience.

Vivid illustrations in baptism:
- First, baptism illustrates a cleansing. We don’t carry our sins around on the outside of our body where they can easily be washed away like dirt, but baptism illustrates that our sins are being washed away by the mercy and grace of God. We are washed clean because of Jesus.
- Second, baptism illustrates a burial and resurrection. We allow our old life of sin to be buried, so we can rise to live a new life that is centered on Jesus and his ways. We don’t become perfect at it, but we live for it.
- Third, baptism illustrates a complete enveloping of ourselves into Jesus. If you immerse yourself into French culture, you fill your time and thoughts with French ways. If you are immersed into Jesus, you fill your time and thoughts with Jesus and his ways.

Why do we need to be baptized?
We already read Mark 16:16 where Jesus says, “Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved.”
At the end of his life on earth before ascending into heaven, Jesus told his disciples to…
Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
- Matthew 28:19
It sure looks like Jesus loves baptism and thinks it is important.
In fact, it was important enough that Jesus himself was baptized.

Do I have to get baptized?
If a young couple sat in my office for pre-marital counseling, and the groom-to-be said, “do I have to get married", I’d know there was a problem with his commitment.
If you are asking if you have to get baptized, I have to wonder how serious you are about taking up your cross and following Christ. You are wanting to make Jesus your savior without making him your lord. He doesn’t do one without the other.

How young is too young?
Baptism is a personal expression of faith, so a child needs to be old enough to understand that they are a sinner and need Christ’s forgiveness. They’ll learn more about the depths of Christ’s love and sacrifice after they are baptized and grow older, but they need to have at least a base-level understanding of their sinfulness and Christ’s free gift.
We want to make this decision on behalf of the people we love, but we can’t. They have to personally make the decision.
If your child is asking to be baptized and you aren’t sure if they are ready, talk with David Springer, our Children’s Minister. He’ll be glad to guide you through it and provide resources.
If you were sprinkled as a baby, being baptized now doesn’t negate what your parents did. It fulfills it. Your parents were setting you apart for a life with God and now that you are old enough to decide for yourself, you are confirming what your parents hoped and prayed for so long ago.

Why not sprinkle?
All 106 times the word baptism shows up in our English Bible, it is transliterated from the Greek word ‘baptizo’ which means to “dip, plunge, or immerse”.
The word was used to describe a person immersing a piece of cloth in a dye to color the cloth.
I love the idea that when we are immersed into Christ, we should come up looking like him.
I’ve never talked with a person who was sprinkled and then decided to be immersed who didn’t feel a sense of completion when they were immersed.
Immersion is a humble act of submission.
We want to stay true to the Scriptures, and we love the imagery.

Should we be rebaptized?
This question typically follows a time of rebellion against God or an increased understanding of God’s grace.
In general, I would say there is as much need for you to be rebaptized as there is for a married couple to have their wedding ceremony again after each argument.
If that were the case, we’d be exchanging vows all the time…but we’d have an endless supply of wedding cake!
If you have an argument with your spouse, you don’t need another wedding ceremony. You simply ask for forgiveness and reconcile. The same is true for your relationship with God.
On the flip side, I think there are times rebaptism makes sense.
In Acts 19, Paul meets some people who had been baptized by John the Baptist but didn’t know about Jesus. Paul explained the Gospel, and they were all rebaptized.

I was first baptized when I was 6 years old. We went to a church that didn’t have a baptistry and occasionally rented out the local indoor pool for baptisms. I wanted in the pool.
When I was 11, I started to understand what baptism was really all about and chose to be baptized for the right reasons.
I don’t really consider the first one a baptism. I just went swimming. But technically, I was rebaptized.

Is church membership tied to baptism?
You are not baptized into a church, you are baptized into Jesus.
Your 1st priority is to belong to Jesus, and your 2nd priority is to belong to a church. Don’t let the 2nd priority cloud the 1st.

Why do I need to be baptized?
I want to end on a personalized version of the question we started with. Why do you need to be baptized?
On the day of Pentecost, a crowd gathered and Peter shared the Gospel with them. Here’s how he wrapped it up…

Maybe Peter over-emphasized baptism, but I don’t think so. Because every account of someone accepting Christ in the book of Acts is accompanied with them being baptized right then.
Read the accounts in Acts 2, 8, 8, 9, 10, 16, 16, 18, 19.

No Excuses

Don’t let Satan keep you from obeying Christ in baptism.

Baptism need not be a debate…it just needs to be a decision

Jesus isn’t asking you to get your life together before you get baptized. He is asking you to come as you are.

Here’s what Jesus is saying to you that he said to Paul…