Woke up at 3am...

Greetings Jazzed Up family!

Today is a big day for Noah and Leah. They are getting baptized at La Jolla Shores this evening with the Maranatha Chapel gang. So excited for these 2 teens! Big step.

I woke up this morning at 3am and the Lord gave me some thoughts about baptism.How do I know it was the Lord? Well, I mulled over it about 30 minutes before I got up to write things down and this is what I came up with.

I used BAPTISM as an acronym and 2 passages of scripture for each main point. I formatted it into an Excel spreadsheet, and took the time to make it look good. It had to be the Lord for me to do all of that in such a little time - 3 hours in all.

This will serve as a nice tool to explain the significance of Baptism. But water baptism is just the external expression of the inner decision that one received Christ, which is the 'spiritual baptism' that really matters. Even John the Baptist, when he was on the Repentance Road and baptizing people in the Jordan, said that spiritual baptism trumped water baptism any day. He said, "The one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit" (John 1:33).

See what Peter wrote, "In it (Noah's Ark) only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 3:20-21). Saved spiritually.

Here are a few of the points. I will finish the acronym in my next blog post.

Introductory Verse:

Mark 16:15-16 NLT

Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.

B = Buried with Him

Col 2:12 NLT

For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.

Rom 6:4 NIV

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

A = Alive Again

Eph 2:4

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Gal 2:20 NIV

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

P = Predestined & Chosen

Eph 1:6, 11-12 NIV

In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will... In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.