It’s amazing how differently “Baptism” is viewed by the many Christian religions of our world. In our KJ Bible, the word "baptism" is translated from the original Greek word "baptizo" which means, "to dip, immerse, or submerge." Nowhere else in scripture is another word used for baptism. The words which mean to "pour" or "sprinkle" are never found in association with term baptism anywhere in the original texts either! So, the term “baptism” symbolically must illustrate a complete submersion under water. In (Rom. 6:3-6) we are taught that "baptism" is a symbol of our Lord's death, burial, and resurrection. In other words, it’s a picture of being buried together with Christ in his death, and then being raised again a new in the likeness of his resurrection. This symbolic picture is at the very heart of the gospel message even though baptism itself has no part in the salvation process. According to the scriptures, baptism symbolically demonstrates a message of an expected change in the new believer's life (after) salvation. So just as Christ was buried, we too are submerged under the water (picturing a total death to our old way of life), and just as Christ was raised again a new, we symbolically are to come out differently also (ready to live for Christ)!
( Gen 41:41-43) “And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt... A nd he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.” When Joseph was introduced to us in chp.37, he was a young inexperienced 17 year old boy, and yet 13 years later God raised him up to rule the nation of Egypt. So, what made him different ? The Answer : “ Time,” and his faith in God ! You see time is a wonderful teacher; 1) Time strengthens endurance . Endurance and faith can only be strengthened over time. Like exercise, we start out not able to do much but over time we find that we can do more. You see, God allows us to go through the ups and downs of life, to help us gain not only spiritual maturity, but also spiritual abilities. Spiritual endurance therefore enables us to handle life’s trials better. 2) Time strengthens patience . Although Joseph, ...
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