Baptismal Witnesses

I had the privilege today of seeing five believers’ baptisms.  I love to sit and listen to the testimonies of how God revealed Himself to each one.  The stories are all different but all result in saving faith.  They will spend eternity in heaven because they have placed their faith in Jesus Christ and His death for their sin.  Baptism is a public proclamation of this faith.  These five people are committed to following Jesus and responded in obedience to His command to be baptized.

 

In the Sunday School class that followed the baptisms there was joy and enthusiasm about what we had just witnessed.  To hear people tell the history of how God led each one of them to see their own sin and need for a Savior reminds us of what a powerful change faith brings. The Bible in Ephesians 2:8 says that faith is a gift, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

 

The Sunday School class was on 1 Samuel.  As we studied chapter 3, when God called Samuel into His service, it struck me just how personally God has always dealt with His people.  God called to Samuel three times and each time Samuel thought it was Eli who was in a room nearby.  Eli could not hear God calling Samuel but he was close enough that Samuel could speak and get to him easily. (1 Samuel 3:4 – 6, 8).  In verse 7 we learn that Samuel did not recognize God’s voice because he did not yet know Him.  “The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to Him.”  Then in verse 8 Eli understands that Samuel is hearing God and tells him how to respond. 

 

God deals with each of His children individually.  He knows our hearts, what makes us tick, and how to get our attention.  He had to show me how sinful I was – which I believe He does with everyone who comes to faith.  (Most just aren’t as averse to the concept as I was.)  But I know that for others He has shown them how faithful and good He is.  In this morning’s testimonies one man came out of the church as a child and became an atheist.  It was a providential meeting with a Pastor who was willing to speak the truth to him about what he was doing with his life that drove him back to looking at Jesus.  God used a bold man of God to open the eyes of this man.

 

As with Samuel, God did not give up on this man because he didn’t hear God.  God patiently called and called until he responded, “Speak, for your servant hears.”  Once Samuel knew it was the Lord’s voice he was hearing he was able to respond.  I wonder how many times God had to call me before I knew it was Him and responded ready to serve Him. 

 

As we think in this season about the birth of Christ as our Savior I would urge each one of us to be listening for how God is speaking to us.  It is rare that we hear about Him speaking to someone in an audible voice.  Biblically, we cannot say that He does not do this – He did with Samuel.  Other times God has spoken to people through His Word, through another Christian, and He can use any method He chooses to convey a message to us…..He IS God!  

 

In the testimonies at the baptism this morning one lady said that she had a pressure on her – that she understood was from God – to change churches to one that taught the Bible.  His Spirit spoke directly to her spirit.  One of the younger men said that after years of godly influence from family members it was an invitation to a Youth function written on his calendar by a Christian friend that brought him back to church and to the teaching of salvation that he had been hearing since he was a child.  God used another Christian to draw him to the place he would hear truth. 

One other young man was wooed in through a baseball team.  God used the fellowship on a ball field to share the gospel and the development of Christian friendships to draw this man to Himself.  He saw the gospel lived and heard it spoken of in ways that penetrated his athletic interests straight to his heart. 

 

God knows what we need to see and hear, the truths we need to understand in order to fall so in love with Him that we will follow Him wholeheartedly.  Is He speaking to you through someone or some book or some set of circumstances?  Is He calling you to faith in Jesus Christ?  Or, is He calling you to follow in obedience to the faith you already profess?   

 

It is gracious of God that He speaks to us at all.  Even in the name of His Son He sends an important message.  God spoke to Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in a dream.  He said, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21  Truths like this are all over the Bible.  It is one of the surest ways that God speaks to us – through the inerrant Word that He has gifted to us. 

 

Here’s my main point:  You and I can be the ones God uses to speak to others.  Are we willing to speak the truth of the scriptures?  Are we listening to what God has for us to do and who He has for us to speak to?  Willing servants will be used by God – just as those willing to stand before the church and speak of what God has done in their lives to change their hearts spoke to me and many others this morning.