Baptism
If you’re a new believer, your next step is to get water baptized!
Water Baptism is an outward display of your inward decision to make Jesus your Lord and Savior. When you accept Jesus, you are putting your old life to death and being born again - not of the sinful flesh, but of the Holy Spirit. When you’re baptized, the water that you get baptized in represents the grave. When you go under the water, that represents you putting your old life without Jesus to death, and when you come up, that represents you being born in the Spirit!
Baptism is an important step in your faith, just like a wedding ring is important in marriage. When you get married, you put on a wedding ring. The ring isn’t what makes you married, but it’s a symbol. When someone sees it, they know you’re married. Likewise, baptism doesn’t save you; you can be saved without baptism! But just like putting on your wedding ring shows the world “I’m married,” so baptism shows the world “I have decided to make Jesus my Lord and Savior.”
In the book of Acts, we see Peter lead over 3000 people to Christ, and all of them get baptized immediately afterwards! Acts 2:41 (NLT) says, “Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.”
And so, we should follow the example set in the Bible. If you’ve put your faith in Jesus, your next step is to be baptized as a way of making your faith public!
This leads to a big question: “If I was baptized as a baby, should I be baptized again when I give my life to Jesus?”
The answer to this question is “yes”. When you were baptized as a baby, it’s likely that your parents were making a commitment to raise you in the ways of the Lord. And this is a great and biblical commitment! In the book of 1 Samuel, we see Hannah make the same commitment to the Lord relating to her son, Samuel. However, baptism is intended to be a public declaration of faith. And so, believers should be baptized after they put their faith in Jesus to make this declaration personally!
