THE TEN MARKS

Baptism

I have been baptized in water

OVERVIEW – BAPTISM

DEFINITION OF A DISCIPLE – A disciple unconditionally trusts and obeys Jesus to BECOME like him, BELONG to his family, and BUILD his kingdom by multiplying disciples.

BAPTISM DEFINITION – I have been baptized in water.

LIFESTYLE – I know the gospel story and tell my life’s story through it.

REFLECTION QUESTION – What old identities am I seeing and leaving behind and what new biblical identities am I embracing?

 

WHEN YOU’RE DONE WITH THIS LESSON…

\\  You’ll explore what water baptism means and why it matters by reading an overview and answering follow up questions. When you’re done, you’ll understand what water baptism means and why it matters. Also, you’ll be able to explain it to others.

\\  You’ll integrate new practices to equip you to walk in the power of water baptism. These practices include the Word, prayer, and journaling. When you’re done, you’ll know how to use the Word, prayer, and journaling to walk in the power of water baptism.

\\  You’ll discover more of your story and get water baptized. When you’re done, you’ll know how to share your new identity as part of your story.

STEP 1: NEW LEARNING

WATER BAPTISM

Read the Lesson

QUESTIONS FROM THE READING

\\   In your own words, summarize the big ideas about water baptism.

 

\\   What are your key take-aways from the reading?

 

\\   Read Ephesians 4:17-32. What are the old identities that you used to walk in? What are the new identities that you now walk in because of Christ?

 

\\   Based on Romans 6:1-7, what does God say about you? What’s available to you? If you lived with complete faith what God says is true, what might your life look like? What’s stopping you from doing so?

 

\\  What promises does Colossians 2:11-14 give to you? Write out all you can find.

 

\\   Based on what you’ve discovered, how does Jesus want you to obey this week?

WATCH THE FOLLOWING VIDEO

STEP 2: NEW PRACTICES

BIBLE – PRAYER – JOURNALING

In this step, you’ll integrate three new practices: listen to Jesus in the Bible, talk to Jesus through prayer, and journal. It’s best to spend most of your time in the Bible and in prayer (about 80%) and then follow up with journaling. If you spend the bulk of your time in the Bible and prayer, you’ll experience the biggest impact toward growth.

 

To incorporate these new practices, you’ll need to make some decisions: when, where, how much, and how long. In other words, when you know WHEN you’ll do these practices, WHERE you’ll do them, and HOW long you’ll do them, you have a much better chance of integrating these practices into your lifestyle.

The important part is this: make a commitment and keep it. When we make and keep our commitments, we increase our ability to hear and obey Jesus.

Here are two questions to help you decide.

\ Where will I fit these practices into my weekly schedule/routine?

Consider working your way up to four times each week.

\ How long will I spend each day doing all three practices?

Any amount of time is good to start with but consider working up to thirty minutes at a time.

LISTENING TO JESUS IN THE BIBLE

Each week, you’ll learn to listen to Jesus through the Bible. To do this, you’ll read, think about, and answer questions about a passage. For this lesson, you’ll spend multiple days in EACH of the following texts.

Romans 6:1-14

Romans 6:15-23

Colossians 2:11-15

QUESTIONS

As you spend multiple days in each passage, journal the following questions.

\  Who is God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)?

\  What is God doing?

\  Who are God’s people? Who am I as a result?

\  What is God inviting me to do today?

QUESTIONS, PRAYER AND JOURNALING

PRAYER

Each week, you’ll learn to talk to Jesus in prayer. To do this, you’ll learn to pray using the forms of prayer Jesus gave to his followers in Matthew 6:9-13: We call this The Disciple’s Prayer. Each week, we explore one aspect of The Disciple’s Prayer.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,”

In this lesson, you’ll explore the second prayer form called The Prayer of Worship. Use Prayer of Worship in The Disciple’s Prayer Guide in the link above.

JOURNAL

As you read and pray, it’s helpful to journal your thoughts, feelings, and insights. Consider journaling to one or two of the following prompts.

\  What I learned today was…

\  What I discovered about Jesus was…

\  What I discovered about myself was…

\  What I sense I need to do is…

\  What doesn’t make sense is…

STEP 3: NEW COMMITMENTS

STORY: PART 2 AND WATER BAPTISM

In this lesson, you were introduced to the second mark of a planted disciple: water baptism. Water baptism is an ancient ritual Jesus instructed followers to obey. Not only does it identify us with his resurrection life, impart a new identity, and identify us with his people, it opens the door into a new way to share the story of the gospel with the lost.

Your story will expand and deepen through the power of water baptism. Since water baptism is the impartation of a new identity, you will discover new ways to understand and share your story with those in your circle of influence. The power of your story depends on the new life you receive in water baptism.

Use the following worksheets to continue to explore your story and prepare for baptism.

STORY: PART 2 AND WATER BAPTISM

Discovering My Story: Part 2

WATER BAPTISM

HOW DOES WATER BAPTISM WORK? 

Water baptism is a simple but powerful ritual that’s been part of God’s people for over two thousand years. Though it’s been done in various ways throughout the ages, here are the essential components of biblical water baptism.

 

\\   Baptism means “immersion”. So, followers of Jesus are fully immersed in water. This represents being buried and resurrected with Jesus.

\\   The type or location of the water doesn’t matter. It can be a river, hot tub, lake, or swimming pool. There just needs to be enough water to be fully immersed.

\\   When you get in the water, an elder or Life Group leader will be with you. In our church, the elder or Life Group leader will ask you to share with others witnessing the baptism why you want to be baptized. When you’re done, the elder or Life Group leader will then pray and/or share some meaningful things about your life.

\\   Finally, the elder or Life Group leader will then immerse you in water. Depending on where the baptism is done, you may be lowered backwards into the water. Or, you might be on your knees and be lowered forward into the water.

\\   After the baptism, our church will take time to lay hands on you and pray for you to receive the Holy Spirit (more about this in Lesson Three).

\\   Water baptism is an event to share with all God’s people. When we do them, our entire church is invited to watch and witness your commitment to following Jesus.

 

HOW CAN I GET WATER BAPTIZED?

\\   Complete the first three steps of this lesson.

\\   Talk to your Life Group leader and share what you learned about water baptism in this lesson. Likely, he or she will have some questions for you.

\\   You’ll need to sign up for water baptism. You can sign up for water baptism with your Life Group leader or do it through our website.

 

WHEN CAN I GET WATER BAPTIZED? 

Find out from your Life Group leader when the next water baptism will take place. Usually, we do water baptisms in the early spring, late spring, and early fall.

 

WHO WILL BAPTIZE ME?

An elder or your Life Group leader will baptize you.

 

RESPONDING

\\   Write down a date when you will talk to your life group leader about baptism.

\\   Write down the date you plan to get baptized.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Download The Whole Lesson

Overview of the 10 Marks