Matthew 28:19, Acts, Ephesians 4:5

•More churches abandoning baptism as essential for salvation.

•Led by Christian colleges, teaching baptism as a secondary rite.

Is baptism essential?

•Churches teach faith and grace without the need for baptism.

•Obedience and submission to the Lord are secondary to the faith experience.

What place should baptism hold in the plan

of salvation?

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit….”

Matthew 28:19

•Make disciples – teaching those who do not know Jesus to know Him and to surrender to His rule.

Many confuse becoming a disciple with salvation.

•Baptizing them into the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

•A transfer of ownership from self to God.

Greek: EIS TO ONOMAIt’s about ownership!

•Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded…

A lifelong process of growth

•…baptized by him in the Jordan River. (Mt. 3:6)

•John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized…. (John 3:23)

•John 3:22 -- After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing. • (c.f. vs. 26)

•Acts 2:38 --Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

•Ephesians 4:5 – (there is) one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

•Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

•Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

•Eunoch: Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized.

•Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

•Saul, after three days of visions and an encounter with the resurrected Lord, “got up and was baptized.”

•Ananias said to Paul: “Get up and be baptized and wash away your sins….

•“Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did…So (Peter) ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

•Those who can repent – Acts 2:38

•Those who can believe – Mark 16:16

•Those who can appeal to God – 1 Peter 3:21