God's Watermark of Approval

Whenever we baptize someone the pastor always marks the sign of the cross on the person’s forehead and says, “Child of God, you’ve been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”
This is God's watermark of approval.

In your baptism he named you and claimed you and made you his own forever. This mark mean he has forgiven all of your sins and opened up heaven to you.

A Father's Love

How did we become sons and daughters of God?
The short answer is because God said so.

Just like in creation God said, “Let there be light” and there was light, so it was in the waters of our baptism that God said, “You are my beloved child,” and sure enough we were made his beloved daughter or son.

It was nothing we did.  And so the ability we have to call God, Father, is a pure gift; the gracious work of God.

Celebrating Freedom & Independence

Our forefathers may have declared us free from the Britain and every other foreign power, but their Declaration of Independence could not free us from our most dangerous and oppressive enemy: Sin.

Our Declaration of Independence may guarantee us the right to life, but it does not guarantee us freedom from sin and death.  Only Jesus Christ can do that.  And he has done it for us.

By his death and resurrection h declared his independence from sin, death, and the power of the grave.  And in our baptism he shared that independence with us.

• Isaiah 66:10-14 
•   • 
 
•  Psalm 66:1-9  • 
 
• Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16  • 
• Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

What Evil Fears Most

We’re not the Gerasene demoniac, but without Christ we’re like him.

Without the power of Christ in our lives, our natural tendency is to give into the self-destructive temptations of the world, the devil and our own sinful selves.

Apart from Christ, whether quick or slow, our lives devolve into a living hell.  But there is hope.

• 1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a  •
•   Psalm 42 and 43   • 
 
• Galatians 3:23-29   •
   
• Luke 8:26-39