Today we had a baptismal service at the church. First Pastor Gord preached another good sermon and because baptism can be somewhat controversial in our church (many have been baptised as infants) he was able to show how being baptised again as an adult is not disrespectful of our parents. That was an important point and he did a great job of it.
I also remembered my own baptism forty eight years ago in the Kamanistiqua River near Stanley, Ontario which is a few miles west of Thunder Bay. Pastor Harrison Weaver baptised me in that cold river water.
It wasn't baptism that the Israelites went through at Gilgal but rather circumcision. Being circumcised at that time showed that they trusted God not only with their future but their very lives. God wanted a people set aside for Himself and they needed to have the mark of ownership.
We declare the same thing when we are baptised. We declare to a watching world that we belong to Christ. Baptism is an act of faithful obedience. One lady that was baptised this morning said that before the baptism she looked around and saw some from her former church who knew that she had been baptised as an infant. For a moment doubt entered her mind but she knew that it was more important to be faithful to God than to look good in the eyes of her friends. I was blessed by her testimony. Baptisms are great moments in the life of a church.
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