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SECTION 2: WHY BAPTIZE?

In beginning to discuss this very important topic, I should first recognize that there are several different views, held by good and godly Christians, regarding baptism, infant baptism, covenant baptism, etc. I will be teaching from the position practiced by Reston Bible Church, that is, that baptism is a symbolic sacrament to be participated in once by a professing believer in Christ. We commonly refer to this as believers baptism.

Thankfully there are many aspects of baptism on which most bible believing Christians can agree. For one, we all agree that believing Christians should be baptized. There is also general agreement about what baptism portrays. Let’s focus there.

LESSON 3: MAY YOUR “LIFE SONG” RING TRUE

A couple of weeks ago we looked at what makes a good witness. One of those attributes was consistency. In a court of law the jury and judge will look at the witness and ask, “is this person credible?”, “does the life of this witness match their testimony, lend credibility, or not?”

To make matters worse, it is common for the opposing lawyer to pick apart the witness and undermine their testimony by trying to show that they are in fact unreliable and inconsistent. The opposing lawyer in our case is Satan himself. The accuser. Praise God that ultimately we stand on His promises and on His righteousness. Not our own. However, the accuser will seek to limit our effectiveness as witnesses to the gospel by magnifying the inconsistencies between our words and the lives we lead. The message is simple – “walk the talk!” Or as James 1:22 puts it, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

LESSON 2: CHRISTIAN WITNESSING – SHARE SIMPLY, AS A CHILD

This week we will be helping the kids understand what it means to witness in word. We’ll talk about the simple gospel message and we’ll talk about testifying to Christ in our lives. This is the kind of spiritual maturity we should all be praying for in our Quest kids.

Christian witnessing is merely sharing our heartfelt faith in Christ – what He’s personally done to change our individual lives! We’re not called to argue or debate anyone into heaven. We’re merely called to share! As in the courtroom, we’re called to be a witness for the Gospel, not the lawyer, judge or jury… Leave that up to God! – Author unknown

LESSON 1: CAN I GET A WITNESS?

What makes for an effective witness in a court of law? Honesty, consistency, clarity, genuineness and the power to convince. Before you testify to what the Lord has done for all who would believe and for you personally, ask yourself the following questions:

Am I honest about what my condition was before Christ and the struggles with sin and trials that I still experience? Is there a consistency between my words and the testimony of my life? Do I speak the truth of Christ clearly, not with fancy words but as one who has first hand knowledge of the gospel? Do I speak the truth like a real person would or am I stilted and canned like I’m reading from a tract? If you answered yes to these questions you may think you’ve got everything it takes to be an effective witness. Think again!

UNIT 3 INTRODUCTION: THE GREAT CLAIM BEFORE THE GREAT COMMANDMENT

The Command: “Hello, my name is Private Joe Smith, US Army. I am commanding you all to risk your families, your reputations, and your very life by carrying out this mission I’ve thought up.”

The Response: “Say what?! Who do you think you are? How do I know this mission has even been authorized? I wouldn’t risk my pocket change following a command like that.”

At least that’s how I would respond. How about you? How can you follow someone with no authority to lead in the first place? Now let’s go to the risen Jesus and the disciples on that mountain in Galilee.

LESSON 3: “I WENT THE EXTRA MILE”

Several years ago I ran in the annual Army 10-Miler in DC. I signed up for 10 miles and I trained for 10 miles. What happened instead was a race diversion, because of a bomb scare, and I, along with 20,000 other runners, ended up going 11.5 miles. When asked to run 10 we ran 11.5 instead. Ok. That’s not exactly what Jesus was talking about in His most famous sermon (Matt 5). So what was He getting at? Love your enemies, do good to those who persecute you, if someone forces you to go a mile, go with him two miles. Say what? This is crazy talk, Jesus. That’s just not feasible. He clearly hasn’t kept up with the latest personal assertiveness seminars. Get ahead by standing up for yourself. That’s the American way.

We started out this section looking at how we can love our neighbors in the family, and in the church. Most recently, as we discussed our neighbor in the world, we first looked at the sinner and then the defenseless. So far so good.

LESSON 2: THE WEIGHTIER MATTERS OF THE LAW

“You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” – Jesus the Christ

Think back to your days on the school yard. What was the law of the jungle? The weak kid, the overweight kid, the kid dressed poorly, the different kid, was ignored at best and in many cases the object of abuse. If you’re like me you might be feeling some shame right now as you think back on those times. Good. Now let’s help our children be “other than” when it comes to their treatment of the defenseless and needy.

LESSON 1: BEING DOCTORS WHO MAKE HOUSE CALLS

What if Jesus had stayed in the temple courts or the synagogue teaching? What if He never ventured out into the community, never called old Zach down from the tree, never ate with tax collectors and sinners, never touched the sick and hurting? Why don’t doctors make house calls these days? I’m not sure, but wouldn’t it be interesting if suddenly people stopped going to a doctors office or hospital when they were ill?

What if they thought that was the last place to go to be healed? How long would it take for the docs to begin making house calls again? Not long I suspect. Is the church today, the body of Christ the great Physician, staying in the hospital building waiting for the sick to show up? Or, worse yet, staying in the hospital talking about the remedy but secretly hoping that the sick stay away?

LESSON 3: ENCOURAGE AND SHARE YOUR BLESSINGS

The Bible mentions “one another” or “each other” some fifty times to give the body of believers instruction on how to live together. Contrary to what many of us have always thought, these passages are not directed at how we relate to the world but rather how we should relate with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Just like God gave the nation of Israel the law in order to make them stand out as “other than” in the world, He has given the church the “one anothers” as a means to bring Himself glory in the world through us.

Today we’ll look at two of these: encourage one another and share with one another.

LESSON 2: FORGIVENESS AND PRAYER – A LIFE-GIVING COMBINATION

The church is made up of people, and as people being transformed into the image of Christ we are by definition not finished products. This leaves us open to mistakes or offenses committed against one another. The question is not whether we offend one another but rather when it happens how do we respond in a way that is not of this world? Forgiveness and prayer.

This is the model we have in Christ.