welcome to real Christianity a weekly show designed to help Christians know their Bible defend their faith and truly understand what it means to follow Jesus the premise is simple the culture is getting louder the church is getting flash ear but few pastors are teaching on how to live a Biblical life my name is Dale Partridge along with my incredible wife Veronica join us as we start an important conversation about what it really means to be a Christian
 welcome to real Christianity today we are talking about baptism biblical view of baptism Port episode that many people have requested from us a question that we often get is does somebody need to be baptized in order to be Christian or what if they were baptized as an infant do they need to be baptized again and how is baptism properly carried out is it sprinkling or is it submersion does it have to be done by a pastor or can be done by any Christian so we're going to answer a lot of these questions in this week's episode The Listener welcome if your regular listener would you guys be so kind to leave a review you just go to iTunes you just tap the Stars you don't even need to write anything but if you write something I will read it and I've listened to some of the critical reviews and heard the thousands of great reviews to thank you guys so much for that I also want to remind you guys of two things I'm going to do this for the next several shows so sorry if you listen to it weekly here
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 for like real Christianity get it okay so yeah over the years
 I've heard and learned that baptism is, not reality that church it's there's lots of baptizing on Christians and there's lots of non baptized Christians in the church and what weather that's again from into baptism is Veronica said early baptism or inauthentic baptism that's another conversation but an unbaptized church or a church that doesn't Place baptism in the same position that the Bible does causes a really big problem and I want to talk about that problem so so listen up to this statement because it's really important I think that a church that doesn't really put a super good local focus on baptism or as much focus of the Bible does causes cause of this problem we we get churches to start accumulating and accumulating believers who never actually pay the price of a public profession of their faith and they never really have a chance to be held accountable
 to the identity that they taken on in Christ and that's a big deal to not do that and what what it really does is kind of lack of baptism in the churches or just kind of delay to baptismal talk about his kind of blurred the visual lines in the Church of who's in Christ and who is not who can I hold accountable to the scriptures and who I can't hold accountable to the scriptures in the Bible is not indifferent about the idea of baptism as we're going to learn here in this episode why do we do it and this may seem like a basic question too many questions but a lot of Christians don't have a firm understanding on baptism so we're going to go to just start there and then next is going to talk about his salvation and baptism are connected in any way which is also another question then he'll ask us about and then he's going to talk about he's going to look into how the active baptism identifies us
 unifies us with the church is a really important question that again is Ronica said he would like what is baptismal why do we do it it's like why are we really talking about that it seems like a basic question but there's people in the church that have been here for ten fifteen years haven't been baptized that they have been baptized and I still don't have an answer for this and so baptism I think it if shortest definition is really just a symbolic event representing the death resurrection of Jesus Christ that's that's what I ever be logical answer I think you've heard many people say it's an outward sign of a great source of a confession right that's kind of people I guess say the church pretty often but practically speaking the scripture show it as an act which a person is declared to be a member of the body of Christ that's that's really what's Happening Here is it's a proclamation a declaration publicly be become a member of the body or member of the Church of Jesus Christ and its simplest terms really as an initiation to the church
 that's how its beauty and scripture no not that point as a public active accountable participating member of the church when you get baptized that's how you are to be known the word baptizes interesting it's not a English word it's actually a Greek word that we we we actually say the Greek word in English we've adjusted a little bit it's like baptizo I think it's the actual Greek but it's a Greek word that actually does mean submerged it in the reason the original Greek you why we don't just save submerge why we didn't translate that word to go submerged people or or you can go in versus people we just kept it baptism is because when they were translating in the King James version of the Bible in 1611 they was big debates in arguments going on of like what that actually mad was it sprinkling was its immersion like how it's supposed to be done so they just left a word
 hey I think it's all a transliteration when they don't actually change the word from from the Greek to to the English and so that's that's why the word is there and you know historically like Greek literature if you look like old farming literature from Yuna biblical eras you might see like a man baptized his goats in the river and he's not spiritually baptizing but he liked us physically baptizes them needs it he dumps them in the river I'll tell you what he probably didn't take river water and sprinkle it on them that's probably not what he meant he probably kept a record that I'm cleaning my sheep are my goats in the river and so I think we we see this idea of immersion in Jesus's baptism pretty evident in clear run cuz that's going to read the passage of scripture that talks about that Matthew chapter 3 verses 13 through 17 it says then Jesus Came From Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized
 and John tried to prevent him saying I need to be baptized by you and are you coming to me but Jesus answered and said to him permit it to be so now for this it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness then he allowed him when he had been baptized Jesus came up immediately from the water and behold the heavens are open to him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and a lighting upon him and suddenly a voice Came From Heaven saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased so you know your Bible you know that this is the initiation moment of Jesus's Ministry and it's a beautiful presentation of the Trinity and the father God is well pleased the spirit is coming upon him like a dove and the Sun is being baptized in the water coming up out of the water right so it's like it's not a sprinkling here describe it to be and again I love that just the tree
 he look at that just what a beautiful moment to just see all three attending right there in a physical presence
 a deal Partridge here we hope this podcast has been a blessing to your walk with God for those that don't know real Christianity is an audio ministry under our nonprofit relearn church.org I'm telling you this because we're listener-supported podcast it takes a small team a serious amount of equipment and several hours per week to keep the show going I share this because Veronica and I want to grow the reach of the show so that it might help even more Christians mature and their understanding of God's word so if you're a regular listener to this podcast would you consider supporting us in this ministry effort we're not asking for much maybe $10 or $20 or $25 per month I promise you that your support will help us continue to get God's truth out to strengthen the body of Christ and a further the gospel if you feel led to make a donation at simply go to relearn Church. Org forward slash donate again that's relearn Church. Org forward slash donate thank you so much for your consideration
 Abba in the New Testament baptism is not just an example seeing it's also a command to observe so it's more than just Jesus did it and we should do it too it's actually a command also and so we need to look at that as well so Matthew 28 18 through 30 reads
 at this is really important hostages scripture we should all have it memorized it's called the Great Commission this is the mission of the church here and I'm going to just read it to you again it's 28 18 through and Jesus came and spoke to them saying all authority has been given to me and heaven and heaven and on Earth go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things that I've committed to you and lo I Am With You Always even at the End of the Age amen so if this was the only place in Scripture that commanded baptism it would be enough so just know that like the fact that Jesus is giving a commission to the church to baptize folks that are being disabled and go to sleep and I would say that's your sharing the gospel baptizing them is what you would see in the book of Acts will talk about it would be sufficient all four gospels talk about baptism
 acts the book of Acts 3,000 people receive the Gospel 3,000 people are baptized and so you see that pattern in the book of Acts 1st Corinthians mentions it Galatians Ephesians mentions baptism Colossians Hebrews and 1st Peter all a mention or directly command the idea of baptism so it's really I would be logically impossible to ignore the command to baptize and and and also we have lots to learn from just how it was done in the biblical account
 all right so moving on to the next question lots of people send us messages online asking if baptism is connected to your salvation so in other words do you need to be baptized in order to be saved what does the bible tell us about this that's a good question I think a lot of people I'm going to read you I would say thus one of the central passages of the New Testament that talk about salvation there's many this is just one of them it's Romans 10 9 through 10 Paul writes that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved
 first time for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation is really this two-part element it's confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus that I believe in your heart that God raised from the dead and it's not just confession it's also known as Lord of your life so there's a lot of depth there however there's no mention of baptism in there that's for sure so if you read 1st Corinthians and me give you another example why baptism is not necessarily connected to Salvation 1st Corinthians 14 chapter 1:14 through 17 Paul tells us and I quote I thank God that I baptize none of you except Christmas and gas lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name yes I also baptized the house I was tough on us besides I do not know whether I baptize any other for Christ did not send me to baptized but the priest the gospel
 so if baptism saved Paul would have been baptizing every single person that he shared the gospel with and Paul doesn't do that actually says the opposite like 7 to go baptized this is this is part of the work at the church it's not necessarily the part of the Apostle to do and it is not directly connected to Salvation doctors and does not save you it does not make you more holy or make you more secure your faith it does not do those things that the thief on the cross is is I'd say it's one example is probably the most common example that Jesus promises this thief on the cross next to him paradise and he didn't get baptized and so again that's just one one example but this does not reduce the critical responsibilities of baptism know so just because it's not connected your salvation doesn't mean that we don't have to observe this command
 yeah okay so then why is baptism so important I think a lot of people need help here because if we don't need it for salvation then what's the point this is probably why so many people in the church they haven't been baptized so can you share about the spiritual proclamation of baptism just give me whatever the Necessities are and as I said earlier as a form of public confession regarding a spiritual conviction that's really what it is it strictly speaking baptism is an immediate public response and testimony to the saving work of Jesus Christ in your life it's an immediate public response for looking at scripture it is not one of these things that some people did like months later or even weeks later it's the gospel and like let's go dump this person you know like that that's what happened scripturally
 it doesn't mean it has to happen like that all the way that always that is the description of what happened it's not the prescription of what to do and but it is what happened and something alright you know it's something that people did just as a reaction to the reception of of conversion and if they weren't willing to do that I'd actually imagine that people would be less confident that there was true repentance and actually acceptance of Jesus Christ as their lord if they were going to hesitant for baptism and if you were authentically converted then I don't think you had any problem getting baptized even in a hostile and persecuted culture where your baptismal even talk to your life people are willing to confess Jesus Christ openly and publicly which is a big deal when were talking about baptism
 yeah Jesus makes a public confession a major responsibility in scripture so let's go and take a look at Matthew 10:30 to 2:33 or he says therefore whoever confesses me before men him I will also confess before my father who is in heaven but whoever denies me before men him I will also deny before my father who is in heaven and you know guys like we're talking about baptism in the developed world I mean most of us are like I got to go get baptized in the hot tub you know it's who we you know it's not a it's not a hard thing to do especially you know in most parts of the world it's something that we should do so this is idea of public proclamation in and really identifying yourself as Christ publicly you know we might be more comfortable comfortable I should say with baptism kind of you know baptism free Christianity where you just
 I don't need to do it or baptism is like a private matter where you kind of just really want anybody to see it just kind of afraid to get in front of people to like let everybody know that you're baptized but it's not intended to be private it is actually a Public Act it's your active identifying with the Lord before others so they can hold you accountable, like a wedding you know you don't help the purpose of a wedding is that everybody knows you're married so they can hold you accountable to what it means to be married to be embarrassed about being baptized I have a friend has his name but he he is a church planter and some of the craziest places in the world Gana stand Rack in South America and and he shared some stories with me about people in these persecuted countries that are that just want to be baptized today except the Lord
 and they will do just about anything to be baptized there's one Village that's in Afghanistan and they would they would dig down on the creek that I just a little bit of water like a tiny little stream and it would take maybe an hour and a half to fill up enough that it would maybe be about 6 in deep and you have to dig around to build a small little Dan and get it all built up and they were just barely get themselves under water and baptize people another group that would it take the twin beds out of their mattress frames and and staple gun rubber around the inside of the mattress frames and fill it up with water and make a baptismal inside of a house that no one could see there was one story that that at the very top of a mountain in Iraq that that they had no water that all I have is a well up there and they didn't have much water to drink and I couldn't they couldn't use the water for baptism in that capacity so they take
 got a bunch of towels and they soaked up water and they laid people down and covered them with wet towels and the right thing to do I'm just saying that that is the heart behind that to go mad I just want to get baptized I just want identify with Christ so different from our hot tub baptisms that were like maybe I'll do it when I have time here in America and so lastly guys baptism is a form of the unity the really important form of unity Ephesians 4:4 through 6 as there's one body and one Spirit just as you were called in one hope of your calling one Lord One Faith one baptism one God one father of all who is above all and through all and in you all and so I guess just wrap up what we're saying here is I'll give you just kind of a four-point structure of what we talked about today
 we are to follow our Lord and his example of baptism so he got baptized we should do what he did number two we should we are to follow our Lord in his command and baptism which he gives to us in the Great Commission number 3 we are to show our confession of our faith in baptism we are to be willing to identify with him publicly and confessing before men and then fourth we are to show our Unity with his church in baptism because there's one baptism and one Lord above all who was up through all and inositol and so it's it's an important basic understanding of baptism Short episode of day I know Veronica is going to close this out with the cool
 yes so it was written in the 1700s so I'd like to go out and share that with you just like a cool confession of so I don't know if you know it back throughout your history they had what's called like and you like sign a document that said something or you to write your own document and this is from one of those and I thought what a passionate thing right I'm that we would just probably not do in the modern era
 all right here it says I hereby confess in my willing submission to this divinely appointed ordinance my glad obedience to the command of my Lord and Savior in this manner I show forth my identification with the one who bore my sins took my place died in my stead was buried and rose again for my justification as Christ went through the Dreadful reality of suffering and death to secure my salvation so my immersion in water and emergence there from I publicly declare my identification with my Lord in his death burial and Resurrection on my behalf with the intention from here on to walk with him in newness of New Life
 signed on this date by your name blankety-blank black right so this is it's a cool thing that you just go wow we've lost so much richness in our church today I love the beauty of just you know just really understanding what you're doing and baptism today so on that note last thing I would remind you guys if you guys appreciate of the show review would really be helpful to reduce actually really do help the exposure the show the podcast is continuing to grow more and more people I think are looking for biblical truth and that's our goal here is to help you guys understand the Bible so that you can apply the principles to your life and have a Biblical real Christian relationship with Scott on that note we will see you guys next Wednesday for the next episode of real Christianity
 hey Dale Partridge here I think Christians underestimate the influence the culture can have on us I think without even noticing many of us have traded this incredible life that God wants for us for an empty counterfeit if you haven't realized the church has become comfortable with things we shouldn't be comfortable with weave normalize things in our work our marriage has our families in our finances that are not normal for the question I have for you is this what does the Bible say about what's normal what kind of life should Christians be chasing what if I told you that what's popular isn't Superior what if I told you that what seems smart isn't actually right what if I told you that the worldview of sick is actually God's definition of failure
 the Bible says that the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God so what if we're doing it wrong what if the lives of those who followed Jesus look more like the culture than like Christ what is the life we're so desperate to have isn't something to seek after but actually to be saved from I answer these questions in my latest thank you for joining us on this episode of a real God can you learn church.org hardback podcast video church.org you can also connect with both Veronica and I on Instagram Facebook and Twitter for daily lessons and Bible teaching thank you for being with us today we hope to see you next Wednesday for another
 of real Christianity