Tag: baptism

Why We Celebrate Baptism as a Church Family

August 29, 2025 / / 0 Comments

At Living Word, we celebrate every time someone is baptized. Some people wonder, “Why make such a big deal about it? Isn’t Baptism just a personal, private moment between me and God?”

Simple answer: Baptism is never just private. It’s always communal. It’s always family.

This is why I rarely, if ever, will do a private baptism service. I’ve been asked on a number of occasions to perform a baptism in private because the person is shy or doesn’t want a big deal made of it. That’s like having a family reunion and not inviting your family. We just don’t do that. We want to celebrate and welcome you as part of our faith family!

Baptism brings us into God’s family

When you’re baptized, you’re not only united with Jesus. You’re united with His people. The Church isn’t a random collection of strangers who happen to sit in the same building on Sundays. It’s a family of believers marked by the same promise: “You are mine. I have called you by name. You are washed clean.”

That’s why Baptism is one of the most powerful reminders of what the Church really is. It’s not a club. It’s not a hobby. It’s not just a Sunday gathering. It’s a family born of water and the Spirit.

How Baptism reflects our values

When we celebrate Baptism, we are living out the very values that shape us as a church:

  • Life works best with Jesus. Baptism is where life in Christ begins. It’s the starting point of grace and a future anchored in Him.
  • We bring families and kids closer to Jesus. Baptism isn’t just for adults; it’s God’s promise for every generation. It reminds us that kids don’t have to “earn” God’s love by a faithful decision. They’re included from the start.
  • Jesus turns strangers into family here. A person walks into the water as one, and comes out belonging to many. In Baptism, God weaves us together.
  • We share Jesus’ love in our neighborhoods. Baptism isn’t the finish line. It’s the launchpad. We’re sent into the world as living witnesses of what Jesus has done.

A celebration for everyone

This is why the whole church gathers around the font. When a child is baptized, parents and sponsors are reminded that they’re not raising this child in faith alone. They have a whole community walking alongside them. When an adult is baptized, the entire church family celebrates with tears, applause, and joy, because we all know: this is a miracle of God’s grace.

And here’s the best part: every Baptism we witness is a reminder of our own. We get to rehearse the promises spoken over us: “I forgive you. I claim you. I call you my child.”

Looking ahead

This Sunday we’ll continue in our Washed series and dive into more of the deep truths of God’s grace poured out for us in the waters of baptism. We’ll see what it means to be “buried with Christ and raised to walk in newness of life.” Baptism isn’t just a splash of water on your past. It’s a whole new future.

Don’t miss it. Bring someone with you. Let’s celebrate together.

Baptism isn’t just a moment in your life. It’s the beginning of a family that lasts forever.

How Baptism Makes Us Holy

August 27, 2025 / / 0 Comments

If you’ve ever tried to read through Leviticus, you know it’s not exactly beach reading. It’s full of laws, sacrifices, and instructions that make our head spin. But buried in all of that detail is something powerful that points straight to waters of Baptism.

The priests of Israel had one job above all others: bring God’s people into His presence. But before they could even step foot in the temple, they had to wash themselves with water. Not because they were sweaty. Not because they tracked mud in from the desert. No, it was because a holy God can’t be approached by unholy people. Washing was about holiness.

Fast forward to Jesus

Now flip forward a few centuries. Jesus shows up and says something radical: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). People thought He was crazy. But John tells us Jesus wasn’t talking about bricks and stone. He was talking about His body. Jesus Himself is the new temple. The meeting place of God and man.

And then Paul drops another truth bomb in my confirmation verse. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Did you catch that?

  • First, priests had to wash before they could enter the temple.
  • Then, Jesus says He is the temple.
  • Now, through Jesus, we are temples of the Holy Spirit.

So what about the washing?

This is where Baptism comes in. Just like those priests couldn’t walk into God’s presence without being cleansed, neither can we. But here’s the good news: you don’t have to scrub yourself clean with rituals or rules. God has already washed you.

Titus 3:5 says it like this: “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”

That’s Baptism. God takes you, broken and unclean, and He washes you with living water connected to His Word. He makes you holy. He marks you as His temple. He fills you with His Spirit. It’s all about what He does for you! How cool is that!

Let’s be honest: some days we don’t feel very holy. You feel messy. You feel like your past defines you. You feel like God couldn’t possibly want to live in someone like you.

That’s when you go back to Baptism. Not to re-do it, but to re-claim it. You’ve been washed. You’ve been made holy. You are God’s temple. His Spirit lives in you.

Take this truth with you

Next time you doubt your worth, remember this:
Baptism is God’s declaration that you are clean, holy, and His dwelling place.

The priests had to wash before they entered God’s presence. You’ve already been washed, which means you live in God’s presence every single day.

Washed Clean: Why Baptism Matters

August 25, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Yesterday at Living Word we opened our new series Washed, and we started with a simple but courageous truth: Baptism is not about what we do for God. It’s about what God does for us.

That’s bold, and it cuts against the grain of how we usually think. We live in a world that says “prove yourself, earn it, make it happen.” But Baptism tells a different story. Baptism says, “You are not defined by what you do, you are defined by what Jesus has done for you.”

God does the washing

Think about the priests in the book of Leviticus. Before they could walk into the temple and stand before a holy God, they had to wash. It wasn’t optional. It wasn’t about scrubbing dirt , it was about being made holy.

Fast forward to Jesus. He calls Himself the new Temple (John 2:19–21). Paul later reminds us that we are now temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Here’s the question: how does God make us holy temples? The answer is Baptism. In those waters, God Himself does the washing.

Baptism unites us with Jesus

Paul says in Romans 6:4: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

That means when you were baptized, your old self was drowned. Your guilt, your shame, your sin all nailed to the cross and buried in the tomb. And when Jesus walked out of the grave, He pulled you up with Him. You’re not just forgiven. You are alive.

Baptism gives you a family

Here’s the part I love most. Baptism doesn’t just give you a new identity, it gives you a new family. The Church isn’t a group of strangers who happen to sit in the same building on Sunday. It’s a family of people marked by the same promise: “You are mine. I have called you by name. You are washed clean.”

At Living Word, this is why we cheer, clap, and celebrate every Baptism. Because it’s not just their story. It’s a reminder of our story too.

Carry this truth with you

This week, I want you to hold onto one simple line:

Baptism is not just water. It’s water connected to God’s Word that makes us new.

When you feel unworthy, remember: you’ve been washed.
When shame creeps in, remember: you’ve been claimed.
When you wonder if you belong, remember: you’ve been given a family.

That’s why Baptism matters. And that’s why we’ll keep returning to the water again and again not because we need to be re-baptized, but because we need to be re-anchored in the promise of what God has already done for us in Jesus.

Photobomb

March 8, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Remember the last time you tried to get that perfect picture? Maybe it was a beautiful landscape shot. Perhaps it was a picture of your kids who just never seem to stand still. Maybe it was a picture of you and your significant other. Who or what the subject is really doesn’t matter. The point is the picture is about to be ruined! Someone #photobombs the picture.

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Where Did We Go Wrong?

September 21, 2016 / / 0 Comments

despair

There seems to be an epidemic in the world today. It’s almost like the exodus event is happening in modern times just not with the same intended result. In the Old Testament, the people of God fled the oppression of their captors. But in our society it seems that our children’ are fleeing the loving and open arms of their savior. This fact is leaving many moms and dads confused, concerned and consumed by feelings of guilt. Where did we go wrong? What could we have done differently? Continue reading

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