Mikvah - Baptism Sunday [Notes]

May 19th, 2024

We baptize because Jesus commanded His disciples to be baptized.

Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 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 everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
– Matthew 28:18-20 (HCSB)

“Discipleship meant much more than just the transfer of information . . . it referred to imitating the teacher’s life, inculcating his values, and reproducing his teachings.”
– Greg Herrick

We baptize as a confession of the cleansing we have received through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jewish law requires that one immerse in a mikveh as part of the process of conversion to Judaism. It also requires women to immerse before getting married and when observing the laws of niddah (menstrual purity).
– MyJewishLearning.com

As of 2011, there have been over 850 mikva’ot discovered in Israel, with most dating from the mid-second century BC to the first century AD.
– B. Snyder

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
– Romans 10:9 (HCSB)

In its simplest form baptism is a public identification with Jesus the Christ. As such it pictures the death of Jesus for the sins of the world, His subsequent burial, and His triumphant resurrection.
– P. Patterson

We baptize because Jesus commanded His disciples to be baptized.
We baptize as a confession of the cleansing we have received through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We baptize to make a commitment to Christ and His church.

For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. So the body is not one part but many
– 1 Corinthians 12:13-14 (HCSB)

So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers.
– Acts 2:41-42 (HCSB)

“Baptism is a church’s act of affirming and portraying a believer’s union with Christ by immersing him or her in water, and a believer’s act of publicly committing him or herself to Christ and his people, thereby uniting a believer to the church and marking off him or her from the world."
– FBCVA

We baptize because Jesus commanded His disciples to be baptized.
We baptize as a confession of the cleansing we have received through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We baptize to make a commitment to Christ and His church.

Discussion Questions //

When you were growing up, did you attend a church that baptized people? If so, how did they do it: by sprinkling or by emersion? Was it for children or adults? What do you think the significance of the baptism was?
Read Matthew 28:18-20. Why do you think Jesus wanted people to be baptized? What do you think baptism symbolizes? According to these verses, who is allowed to baptize another person?
Read Acts 16:25-34. Based on these verses, what must we do to “be saved?” Why do you think Paul and Silas baptized the jailor and his family immediately after they believed? What can we learn from this example?
Many churches teach that a person has to be baptized in order to go to heaven. How would you challenge that belief? How do the following verses address this issue: John 1:12, John 3:16; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Corinthians 1:14-17, and 1 Corinthians 15:1-6?
How would you encourage someone to consider baptism as a step of obedience?

Worship Setlist //

House of the Lord // Same God // I Won't Forget // Graves Into Gardens

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Posted in baptism, mikvah, faith, Jesus, baptism sunday