What A Great Sunday

We had an amazing Sunday. We had decided to set up a pool in the auditorium for baptisms. There were a number of people who wanted to be baptized so we set it up for the whole day. I decided to preach on the subject and in the prayer meeting on Friday morning I sensed a strong urge from the Spirit to preach about the rolling away of reproach. I didn't see how it was connected to baptism but when I looked at the references in Colossians 2 it was all there. It clearly says in that chapter that we have been "circumcised" by Christ and that the covenant sign is being buried with him in baptism.

Its a little strange that the covenant theology of people who baptize infants talks about being buried when they usually sprinkle a bit of water on a baby's forehead. But never mind all of that. When I looked at the circumcision event at Gilgal in Joshua 5 I was amazed to be reminded that God said, "This day (i.e. the day they took upon them the sign of the covenant) I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you."

So I preached my heart out. Little did I know that Benjamin, my son had come into the church. He wasn't going to be there because he was working at a job. When he heard the preaching he felt God speaking to him about being baptized and some of the words I spoke about the reproach being taken away were strong in him. Jimena was there so when he said to her that he felt he should be baptized she encouraged him and he went and talked with Daryl James. The first thing I knew was that he was standing there next to the pool waiting to be baptized. I lost it at that point. How amazing.

I had been using the famous words Martin Luther King Jr. quoted in his Capitol steps speech, from an old negro spiritual: "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty I'm free at last." After his baptism (and the others as well) we all shouted those words. It was true for everyone of course. But it was even more amazing for Ben. When he came up from the water everyone just cheered and clapped like mad.

In the evening about 13 young people (well, all except two were young people) were baptized. It started out the same. About five or six had said they wanted to be baptized but when they extended the invitation thirteen ended up in the water. Some great testimonies and a powerful time.

The only thing that was sad was that Nola wasn't there to see it. She had gone to work because of the overloaded situation at her workplace and when I tried to call her on her mobile, she had left it at home. I didn't know where she was and it wasn't until the afternoon that I figured out which number was her work number and gave her a call.

What a great day