WHO IS JESUS?

He was a human being. He was the world’s greatest teacher. He was a miracle worker. He was a prophet. He is the Messiah. He is the Son of Man. He is “Immanuel,” God with us. He is and always will be the unique Son of God, Savior and Lord of all.

Jesus once posed a provocative question to his followers: “Who do you say I am?”

They quickly parroted a few of the popular conjectures circulating. Jesus pressed them. “And what about you? What’s your opinion?” After a pause, Peter, one of his most trusted followers, blurted out, “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.”

Jesus was pleased. Peter got it.

Jesus was a person, not a concept, and he desires you know him as he is.

A lot of people ask why baptism is a part of the Christian journey. There are a couple of clear answers for that question:

1) We take baptism as a second step in our faith walk with Jesus (the first being acceptance of God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ) because He was baptized prior to the start of His earthly ministry. It doesn’t save you, but we believe it’s a step of obedience since Christ set an example for us with it. Basically, to be more like Jesus, we do what Jesus did.

2) We believe it is a way to “confess” out loud what we “believe” in our hearts about Jesus, that He is Lord and that He was raised from the dead (see Romans 10:9-10). We practice baptism by immersion most often…this simply means that when someone is baptized, they are lowered completely below water to symbolize Christ’s death and our own death to an unbelieving life, and then raised back above water to symbolize Christ’s resurrection from death. This resurrection is promised to us as a result of our faith in Jesus as Lord.

3) Finally, it’s a way that the Church has celebrated and welcomed new members into God’s family, and we LOVE to celebrate!