Baptism

Find a sermon associated with this topic below.

In his Mother's Day sermon, Pastor Ryan honors mothers and emphasizes the importance of community while exploring the Gospel of Mark. He highlights how Jesus's baptism and subsequent time in the wilderness reveal that God is a loving figure who seeks us out and invites us to a transformative relationship, assuring us that through faith, we are seen as His beloved children.

The sermon explores Jesus's redefinition of family from the cross, emphasizing a new spiritual family, "Family 2.0," that transcends cultural and biological ties, rooted in Jesus's words and forgiveness. It invites believers to embrace this new family identity, free from guilt and shame, and to welcome others into the body of Christ through baptism.

This sermon teaches that while we may feel enslaved by our past and old habits, Christ has already set us free from the mastery of sin. It encourages believers to live out of their new identity, rejecting shame and boldly declaring that Christ's resurrection has granted them the power to live in freedom.

This sermon celebrates baptism as an act of discipleship and a public testimony of Christ's finished work, not a means of earning salvation. It explains that baptism beautifully illustrates the gospel—Jesus's death and resurrection—and that our obedience to this command is not about adding to our own "good list," but is a joyful response to the perfect righteousness that Jesus has already fulfilled and credited to us.

 

This sermon presents baptism as a spontaneous and urgent act of faith, mirroring the early church's practice of publicly declaring commitment to Jesus. The message urges listeners to move past excuses and a convenient redefinition of Jesus, stressing that true baptism is a profound symbol of dying to oneself, surrendering to Christ's lordship, and confessing him as the sole Savior.