The Ring That Says You Belong to Jesus

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” MATTHEW 28:19

 

PONDER THIS

Jesus commanded that we be baptized. Jesus began His public ministry with baptism. Jesus concluded His public ministry commanding baptism. (See Matthew 28:19.) Once a person is a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, that person is to be baptized by immersion, saying, “I belong to Jesus Christ. I’m not ashamed of Jesus Christ.”

You know why I wear a wedding ring? That ring shows that I belong to my wife. I’m a one-woman man. I belong to that girl, and I love her, and I’m not ashamed of her. When I go out of town, I don’t take the ring off. I belong to one lady.

In a similar way, baptism means you belong to Jesus Christ. You’re not ashamed of Jesus Christ. You want everybody to know. You are publicly buried in the likeness of His death and raised in the likeness of His resurrection.

If you are a follower of Jesus, have you been baptized?

If not, how is God calling you to respond today?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to reflect on your baptism (or to respond to God if you have not yet been baptized). Consider how your baptism provides a picture of your death and resurrection in Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Raised to Walk in New Life

PRAY OVER THIS

“In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” Colossians 2:11-12

 

PONDER THIS

When you come out of the waters of baptism, you’re saying, “I have come out of the grave of that old life. I have risen to walk with the Lord Jesus because I've been born again. I have a new life.”

Baptism speaks of your past—you’re buried. It speaks of your present—a new life. And it also speaks of your future. One of these days they are going to put each of us in the grave, but I want to tell you that the grave that could not hold the Lord Jesus will not be able to hold you down. And we will be in the likeness of His resurrection, and the God who raised up Jesus Christ from the grave is the God who’s going to raise up each of us. Therefore, we don’t need to fear death.

I want you to know, one of these days, we are all going to be caught up to meet the Lord Jesus in the air. We’d be foolish to be afraid of death in the same way a grubby, wormy caterpillar wouldn’t be afraid of being a butterfly.

How have you experienced the hope of the resurrection in daily life?

How does the hope of your future in Christ change your perspective on death?

PRACTICE THIS

Share with a friend your testimony in terms of the things that you have buried, the new life you have, and the future of your hope beyond the grave.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Why Should We Be Baptized?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.” Acts 8:37-39

 

PONDER THIS

Why should you be baptized? Baptism proclaims your commitment to Jesus. The Bible says, “We were buried with Him” (Romans 6:4). Baptism says, “Jesus, I’m identifying myself with You openly and publicly.” Someone may ask, “Does baptism make you a Christian?” No. But it does show you’re a Christian.

I have a wedding ring I wear. Do you know what that ring means? It means I love Joyce. It says I belong to Joyce. It doesn’t make me married, but it shows I’m married. And it shows I’m not ashamed to let everybody know I’m married. I belong to another person. I belong to my wife that I love with all my heart, and when you get baptized, you’re saying, “I belong to Jesus.” When Jesus was baptized, He identified Himself with us, and when we get baptized, we identify ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.

What are some things that change when you make a commitment to someone?

Have you ever had a difficult time proclaiming your commitment to Jesus? Why or why not?

PRACTICE THIS

Write out a few ways you demonstrate the commitment you have made to Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Are Buried Through Baptism

PRAY OVER THIS

“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:3-4

 

PONDER THIS

I visited our wonderful missionaries in Kenya, Jim and Peggy Hooten. Jim took me out in his Land Rover. We went on the hard road, then we got on the gravel road, then we got on no road. Then we kept going further and further out to the foot of Kilimanjaro, there in the Maasai country where those great tall magnificent Maasai warriors are. Jim Hooten had a tent out there. That was his church, and he was telling those warriors about the Lord Jesus. Then he said, “Come over here, I want to show you this.” He had dug a pit in the ground that looked so much like the graves that I have stood beside so many times when I preach funerals. He’d lined that pit with plastic, and he had brought water on his land Rover and filled the pit with water. He baptized the Maasai in that grave. It looked like a grave because indeed that’s what the baptistery is—it is a liquid tomb.

What connection is there between a grave and the practice of baptism?

Why is it important to recognize the death that takes place in our baptism?

PRACTICE THIS

Journal today about your experience of being baptized into the death of Jesus and how it has changed your life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Do You Have to Get Baptized?

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19

 

PONDER THIS

Jesus commanded that we be baptized. Jesus began His public ministry with baptism. Jesus concluded His public ministry commanding baptism. (See Matthew 28:19.) Once a person is a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, that person is to be baptized by immersion, saying, “I belong to Jesus Christ. I’m not ashamed of Jesus Christ.”

You know why I wear a wedding ring? That ring shows that I belong to my wife. I’m a one-woman man. I belong to that girl, and I love her, and I’m not ashamed of her. When I go out of town, I don’t take the ring off. I belong to one lady.

In a similar way, baptism means you belong to Jesus Christ. You’re not ashamed of Jesus Christ. You want everybody to know. You are publicly buried in the likeness of His death and raised in the likeness of His resurrection.

If you are a follower of Jesus, have you been baptized?

If not, how is God calling you to respond today?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to reflect on your baptism (or to respond to God if you have not yet been baptized). Consider how your baptism provides a picture of your death and resurrection in Jesus.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers