~~ ONCE A PERSON ACCEPTS JESUS AS THEIR LORD AND SAVIOR, BAPTISM SHOULD FOLLOW~~
[IMMERSED INTO WATER, IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON JESUS, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT~~

**BAPTISM** / symbolic-washing (immersion). -- bible
1) A spiritual change by which a believer is placed into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit as the agent or means (1 Corinthians 12:13).

2) A religious ceremony consisting of immersing someone in water. In the NT, the ceremony was first performed or presided over by John the Baptist as a sign of repentance, and later by the apostles in the name of Jesus for new converts. The ceremony symbolizes spiritual cleansing, or rescue from divine judgment (1 Peter 3:20-21).

Many view immersion specifically as a symbol of identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection based on Romans 6:3-5.

3) A symbolic reference to suffering (Mark 10:38).~~
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----MORE THAN WATER~~

--"All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."
---(Galatians 3:27) -- angelwing

--One of my earliest childhood memories of church was a pastor walking down the aisle, challenging us to “remember the waters of our baptism.” Remember the waters? I asked myself. How can you remember water? He then proceeded to splash everyone with water, which as a young child both delighted and confused me.

Why should we think about baptism? When a person is baptized, there’s so much more to it than water. Baptism symbolizes how through faith in Jesus, we’ve become “clothed” with Him (Galatians 3:27). Or in other words, it’s celebrating that we belong to Him and that He lives in and through us.

As if that weren’t significant enough, the passage tells us that if we’ve been clothed with Christ our identity is found in Him. We’re the very children of God (v. 26). As such, we’ve been made right with God by faith—not by following Old Testament law (vv. 23-25). We’re not divided against one another by gender, culture, and status. We’re set free and brought into unity through Christ and are now His own (v. 29).

So there are very good reasons to remember baptism and all it represents. We aren’t simply focusing on the act itself but that we belong to Jesus and have become children of God. Our identity, future, and spiritual freedom are found in Him.

"Heavenly Father, help me to never forget that through Jesus I am a child of God! Because of Jesus's death on the Cross, He paid my sin-debt in full, and now I am clothed with Christ. Help me, Lord to never be ashamed of You. I praise You, and bless Your Holy Name, JEHOVAH YAHWEH, YHWH, our loving, covenant-keeping LORD and SAVIOR. ~~

--ODB/PC~--ALISON KRAUSS/ "DOWN TO THE RIVER TO PRAY" <https://youtu.be/nXFL6PBdo5Y>
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Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." [John 14:6]