Hi there my friends,
I sure appreciate the opportunity to send these emails to you each week. Thank you for inviting me in and for reading them. I pray they are a blessing to you.
It was great to be at the baptism service this last Sunday night. I was reminded again how beautiful and simple it is when a Christ-follower makes a public declaration of their faith. It was so powerful to hear the stories and to witness the life change. The magnificence of seeing someone go under the waters of baptism and rise again to new life is very moving.
I don’t know if you have been considering baptism. There are several reasons why a Christ-follower might not be baptized.
- It just keeps slipping their mind
- They don’t understand what baptism is or its importance
- They are too busy
- They think they have to get their Christian lives together first
- They think they have to know more about Jesus first
- They are embarrassed of their Christian faith
If you see yourself in any of these reasons, I would love to talk with you more.
The Bible is strong on teaching about baptism. Baptism is well-practiced in the New Testament. Jesus Himself was baptized.
Maybe the question to ask is not, “Should I get baptized?” but, “If I am a Christ-follower, why am I not baptized?”
We will have another baptism service later this summer and I would love to see you get baptized if you haven’t been already. There is great blessing and joy in publicly declaring your faith and I want you to experience all that God has for you.
This weekend will be a special one.
On Saturday, from 1:00-4:00pm we will be celebrating Jim at his retirement party. I hope you can be there. It will be a come and go event with a program at around 2:00pm. It will be at the community centre next to the skate park. Jim has served ACC so faithfully and I am looking forward to honoring him and Teresa on Saturday.
On Sunday, Paul and Chantelle McIver will be speaking in our services. I am so looking forward to hearing what God is doing in and through them as they represent Jesus in overseas ministry.
I hope you have a fantastic weekend, and we will see you on Sunday.
I love being your pastor.
Pastor Tim