Testimony, Baptism, Communion

Sunday Sermon Review December 30, 2012
( from my home church I attend regularly )

Acts 16:30-31  And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?   And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Today was a special day at church though there was no sermon. We heard the testimonies of 4 individuals and then they were baptized and then we joined together to celebrate Communion.
I didn't take a lot of notes this time but I will share a bit of the service.
Pastor Kellin lead the worship singing several favorites including "I'll Fly Away",  "The Solid Rock", and "Our God is Greater and Higher than Any Other" and Kellin stressed the excitement that testimonies bring - to hear and see how God is working today.

The first testimony was by a young man I will call Willie ( not his real name ). Though he grew up learning about Jesus, in his teenage years he became uninterested in the things of the Lord and went to a life of drinking and partying - spending his money trying to satisfy his unsatiable appetite for alcohol.  Wille has now decided to leave that all behind and live for Jesus. He now realizes how much God loves him.
The next testimony was from a couple who were recently married ( in early December ).  The young man who I will call Cam told how his choices led him down a bad path - choosing a life of alcohol and partying. He contributed his desire to change now to his wife and together they shared their desire to build a relationship with God.  Cam's wife shared next - She too chose the path of alcohol and partying which led to an unexpected pregnancy for her when she was 16. She shared the difficulties that come with being an unwed single teen Mom. After encouragement from her own mother, she decided she needed to change and do right for her young son's sake. Together with her new husband Cam, she wants to live for the Lord. Together they desire to raise her son for the Lord.

Lastly, we heard the testimony of a man whom I will call Steve, a man with many tattoos. Steve was a former inmate of an Alberta prison. He spent 20 years in prison. Steve shared how while in prison he got into a fight with another inmate, and seriously wounded the man. The man was paralyzed. Sometime later he got into another fight but this time Steve got the bad end of the fight and ended up in a coma for 14 days. While in this coma, he feels he experienced hell. He described the darkness, and the bottomless pit, and the aloneness that he experienced. He shared how in this hellish place he noticed he had no tattoos. After coming out of this coma, Steve knew it was time to change and get right with the Lord. He told how he got down on his knees and asked Jesus into his heart and asked the Lord to remove all his addictions. Jesus has gloriously saved Steve.
 Isaiah 50:10  Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.

Next were the baptisms - Cam and his wife were baptized by pouring while Willie and Steve were baptized by immersion.
Communion followed the baptisms.
Jesus is the final revelation.
The bread represents His body broken for us.
The wine represents His blood shed for us on the cross.

Note: For an indepth study on Holy Communion please check my Biblestudy blog - link here   http://livebyfaithonlinebiblestudies.blogspot.ca/2012/11/holy-communion-lord-supper.html

Thought for the week: New Years Resolution: "When you've done something wrong, admit it and be sorry. No one in history has ever choked to death from swallowing his pride".

Baptism

Baptism was an important step for me as a Christian. It is something that I wanted to do even though it was  somewhat nerve racking on many levels. It meant going public with my decision to become a Christian and live for Christ for the rest of my days. In the church that I attended with my parents and family, there were some steps that were followed in the process of preparing for the day of baptism. So the first thing I had to do was to ask my Dad to be my first witness and that he give my name to the clergy as a candidate. I also needed to get a second person to stand as a witness for me in my decision and so I asked  Mr Wieler to do that for me.  My church required that we study the Catechism to get a general picture of living as a person of faith. The church I attended with my family was very small so I decided to proceed with the process of preparing for baptism in a church of the same denomination as ours but was about an hour's drive away from our home church, where there were some thirty other persons also preparing to be baptized. So for several Sundays prior to Baptism Sunday we would go forward together as a group during the morning worship service and the preacher lead us through a study of the Catechism. The Catechism is a book of questions and answers based on the Bible. Finally the day of baptism arrived and it was June 1, 1980.
There were a few questions that were asked, basically allowing us to proclaim faith in Jesus as individuals there. One question that was asked that I remember in a significant way was from the story of Lazarus getting raised from the dead, based on John 11: 19 -28 ... ¹⁹And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
 ²⁰Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
 ²¹Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
 ²²But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
 ²³Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
 ²⁴Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
 ²⁵Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
 ²⁶And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
 ²⁷She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
  The Bishop quoted Jesus'  question to Martha from verses 25 and 26  where it says .. ²⁵Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
 ²⁶And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?  .......and he specifically asked the question -" Do you also believe this?  and to  which I was able to answer -Yes.  And so I was baptized on the confession of my faith ( that Jesus died for me and is my Savior ) with Bishop John A Friesen pouring water on me in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. 

Galatians 2:20  - I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.