Last Sunday was our Baptisms, and we had 8 people baptized! If you didn't make it, or missed reading the stories, this week's blog is simply a link to them. Please read them, be excited for them, and always stand amazed at the goodness of our great God.

 

It’s the oddest thing when I run into Christians, who claim to be followers of Jesus for years, and yet have never been baptized. Please don’t take that as a judgment against you if you haven’t, I am simply stating that it puzzles me because it is one of the concrete things, written in black and white, that Jesus specifically said to do (or at least told his disciples to be doing).
 
Matt 28:16-20 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
 
Baptism is more than just a show; it is more than an awkward few moments in front of people in pool, it is more than simply another step in the life of Christian. Baptism is a public acknowledgment, in front of a body of people (that you believe are family), that you publically identify with Jesus and his calling. It is a celebration of life and hope.
 
In the early church the identification with Christianity in Baptism could also get you killed, so it was a deeply moving event. As time progressed all sorts of extraneous beliefs got laid upon baptism, such as believing that baptism forgave sins. In the later second century, and for hundreds of years, people waited until they were near death to be baptized so they could get the most sins forgiven.
 
Theologically speaking, ALL of your sins were laid upon Jesus at the cross; baptism doesn’t make God forgive you more, like you more, or love you more. Baptism is symbolic in that you understand what it took for God to declare us righteous in His sight. Jesus’ death (symbolized in the burial as we are submerged under the water), and rising to walk in resurrected life (symbolized by us coming back out of the water) is what makes us righteous before a wholly holy, wholly good, and wholly loving God.
 
Baptism is also an event that is meant to be shared, so we invite all of you to come and celebrate with us this coming Sunday…and if you would like to be baptized its not too late to sign up, we would love to celebrate with you.

Join us September 1st at 1pm at 1371 Solomon Road. To learn more about baptism, click here. Baptisms are not magical, but they are a deeply spiritual event that reflects the work Jesus has done in our lives and for that we celebrate when we see life transformation within our church family!

We will then be having a BBQ afterwards in celebration. We are combining with Labor day. Kids are welcome to swim after baptisms!

What to Bring: Element is BBQing Tritip, making bread & beans, beverages. We ask you bring the following if your last name begins with:

• AL - Desserts - (Few dozen)
• MZ - Salad - or Side Dish

Other items to bring:

• Folding chairs
• Sunscreen
• EzPopup tents
• Lawn games
• Extra Cookies
• Pool Floaties
• Swimsuits/Towels

Did you miss the fun? Watch it here:

 

Last Sunday we talked about the Stupid Summer misconception that our Conscience Should Be Our Guide, I am so surprised only one person asked me what the Holy Spirit's role was in all this. I tried to keep the message simple, expecting more people to ask, but only one did (she is very astute). So, I will answer her question and hopefully help you along the way.
 
As we talked about during the message, our conscience, like all of us, has been contaminated by sin. It is why Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:3-4 says he doesn't trust his own clear conscience. When we are brought to life (spiritually speaking) by the grace of God, we are told that the "old self" (Romans 6:6; Ephesians 2:15, 4:22-24; Colossians 3:9-11) has been put to death with Christ, but not necessarily "the flesh." There is a difference because "the flesh" continues to wage war in us versus what God desires.
 
The conscience is something we have nurtured for years before being remade and renewed by the Spirit of God, which means there will be many times God's Spirit and our conscience are at war (not all times, but some times). Our conscience, because it has been with us from the beginning, will many times try to find ways to condone or excuse our actions when they are sinful. Essentially our consciences don't go away when we follow Jesus, but they are now subjected to the Spirit of God.
 
A good way to tell the difference many times between conscience and Holy Spirit is that the Spirit of God will NEVER contradict the WORD of God. Over time the Spirit of God will also renew and reshape our conscience as we WASH it in the word of God. This is why sometimes I believe people are torn in a decision because God's Spirit in us is pulling one way and our conscience the other.
 
Charles Stanley once wrote, "When you became a Christian, a change began to occur in your conscience. The basic moral code that everyone has at birth started to be overhauled. The Spirit of truth took up residency in your heart. Then, whether you were aware of it or not, He immediately set about to reprogram your conscience. Whereas before you had a general sense of right and wrong, the Holy Spirit began renewing your mind to more specific and complete truths (1 Corinthians 2:10–13)."
 
Something else I read while researching this message said that it is like the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in our hearts in the same way that Christ intercedes for us in heaven. The Holy Spirit is like the "Co-Regent" of the Conscience (John 16:7), He is a conscience renewer (Romans: 12:2) and He is a conscience washer and regenerator (Titus 3:5).

We must understand that our consciences are pliable but the Spirit of God does not change. The conscience can be an extraordinary gift, but it has no standard on its own. The Spirit of God, on the other hand, is God and as such has a standard of life and holiness; the Spirit's standard won't change, and when rightly listened to, can change the conscience. The Spirit is the external standard of holiness in the sinner as well as the saint.
 
The renewal process of our conscience takes place every time we read the Scriptures, attend a worship service, integrate into a Gospel Community, memorize a verse, or pray. The Holy Spirit uses all this input to change how our conscience evaluates every opportunity, thought, invitation, word, and deed.

I get some bizarre emails from some bizarre people (that would be you). People are always asking my opinions on things I really have no idea about (like stocks, cars, unladen weight of European swallows), but every once in a while I get a question about something I do know about (cookies, Jesus, or Spiderman). I was kind of happy this week when someone asked me this question, "I just saw a bumper sticker that said, 'Jesus was a liberal,' what do you think about that?" Now that is something I can answer because they asked, "what do you think about that," and if I know anything, it is that I have opinions about everything.
 
For a very long time people have been trying to attach Jesus to their cause to give it validity; these causes can be good, like the abolition of slavery or the civil rights movement, or they can be bad like burning people at a stake for opposing views or trying to justify slavery. Almost every cause has a "god" attached to it in one form or another to try to make it more valid. It seems as though most people can't hold their opinions strongly enough without dragging God into it.
 
So what do I think about the bumper sticker? I think that if you are liberal and you have to drag Jesus into it, maybe you don't have enough conviction in your cause to begin with. This is also true for conservatives who say the same things, so don't think I am only picking on one group of people…I am picking on everyone (it's fun).
 
The point of following Jesus means we follow Jesus, we don't make Him follow us. We do not get to say, "I like this set of beliefs, therefore Jesus must like this set of beliefs." Maybe Jesus sees the things you like as idolatry, maybe He is sickened by how many things we tolerate as healthy today that are destroying us, maybe Jesus is calling us to repent of ourselves and our causes and actually follow Him and the things plainly laid out in the Scriptures.
 
In 2014 we will be going through the Sermon on the Mount, and I am going to steal my own thunder by taking the wrap up to one of my messages…but in Joshua 5 God's people are entering into the promised land and we read  Joshua 5:13- When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” There's the question. War is coming and Joshua asks "whose side are you on?"
 
V14 And he said, “No;"  No is the word "neither." "Which side are you on, you have to choose side A or side B." And God says "I choose option C." V14-15 And he said, “No but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
 
Our impulse is to say, "whose side are you on," but Jesus is on His own side and we must understand His holiness because only that will give us the larger perspective that we all need. 

Watch our second promo video for our new series Stupid Summer which begins on July 21st.

Watch our second promo video for our new series Stupid Summer which begins on July 21st.

Watch our first promo video for our new series Stupid Summer which begins on July 21st.

Can you explain I Corinthians 15:29? It was used at a funeral service that I attended over the weekend and I'd never heard it before.

I have to wonder, were you at a Mormon funeral? Mormon's have a practice of baptizing themselves and others for those who have died. The Mormon Church has claimed this verse as the reason they do so (1 Corinthians 15:29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?).
 
In the practice people will go to their Mormon temple, appropriately dressed, and adopt the name of a person who has died and then be baptized for that person. There are numerous records of people having been baptized for Princess Diana, Barak Obama's mother, Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter), Elvis, Adolph Hitler, Gandhi, Anne Frank, and even Pope John Paul II. Mormon teenagers have been baptized for Shakespeare and Einstein as well. Mormons do this because they believe baptism is part of the requirements for salvation and now these people can enjoy extra spiritual benefits in the afterlife.
 
But, and you probably know this is coming, the Mormons are incorrect because that is not what this verse is stating. We must always be those who take the scriptures in context. 
 
In Verses 1-19 of 1 Corinthians 15 Paul is recounting the facts of the resurrection, the reality that it happened and the hope that it gives us. In verses 20-23 Paul speaks about the order of the resurrection:

• Christ was first, raised in a glorified body
• Next will be those who are His at His return

 
Verses 24-29 talk about Christ's return and His destruction of death.
 
Paul is making an argument about the resurrection and how essential it is for believers to understand and believe. North of the city of Corinth was a city named Eleusis where a pagan religion practiced baptism for dead people (though not with the same connotations as Christian baptisms, obviously) to guarantee a good afterlife. The Corinthians were always being swayed back and forth by other religions (much as people in America are today); they were in the center of an economic world power that a large mass of foreign people frequented. The Corinthians would have been fully aware, and possibly influenced by, the practices at Eleusis.
 
One the arguments that people made against Christianity (as they do today) is that Jesus didn't rise, and so our own personal hope of a resurrection in Him is worthless. So in one verse Paul not only calls the practice of being baptized for the dead useless, but says if the "dead are not raised why also are they immersed on behalf of them." (Literally the Greek text should be translated as THEY). He is NOT saying "we" are baptized for the dead, he is saying the detractors and those who oppose the message of the gospel are being baptized for the dead and it would be stupid to be baptized for the dead and not believe in a resurrection.
 
Read all of 1 Corinthians 15 in context (at least verses 1-29) and it will make a lot more sense. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…