Monday – Gospels

Reading – Matthew 3-4

Highlight Verse:

“But Jesus said, “It should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to baptize him. After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭3‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

During this week in 1977, I attended confirmation camp.

It was life changing.

That week I realized that God was real and gave His life that I could live eternally.

The change to my life was phenomenal.

And I celebrated a year later in my confirmation ceremony.

It was anticlimactic to say the least.

But at least I wasn’t one of those crazy evangelicals who got dunked under water.

Then I started reading and studying the Bible.

I began to understand that baptism was supposed to be a radical act that publicly confessed the serious change in my life.

Eventually, I took that radical step and on a cool autumn evening in Santa Cruz at a big church party, I was baptized by immersion in an unheated hot tub.

Did the heavens open and a dove descend? Of course not.

Did I come out of the water feeling different? Well, I was cold.

More importantly, I had the satisfaction of being obedient to what God made clear in his Word.

I certainly don’t think that my salvation depended upon my being baptized.

But I do think that it is important to be baptized after coming to faith in Jesus.

If even Jesus felt like it was right for Him to be baptized, how could I do less?

Our church is performing baptisms this coming Sunday (Sept 17, 2025). If you are local to the Denver, Colorado area and want to get baptized, message me and I’ll let you know the details.

If you are elsewhere and you have trusted Jesus for salvation but have not yet been baptized, I encourage you to find a local church that baptizes by immersion and make your faith public.

For those who have been baptized, what has it meant for you?
If you trust Jesus and haven’t been baptized, what’s holding you back?