Dear Baptized Ones,

    This coming Sunday we have the privilege to celebrate God’s fatherly care for children through the baptism of Sadie Foster. Cody and Maria Foster desire for Sadie to grow up knowing God’s specific care and love for her as initially expressed by being born to believing parents seeking to grow in covenant community. The sacrament of baptism represents God’s unmerited redeeming favor based solely upon His mercy and grace which grants Sadie’s parents amazing grace and peace as neither their or her actions—good or bad—will dictate her salvation. Baptism does not guarantee salvation, but it evidences the commitment of God, the Fosters, and the Church to present Sadie with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This allows us all to pray with a confident hope in the day when in God’s grace Sadie will confess faith in Christ alone as her Lord and Savior.

    As with the Lord’s Table, we should take time to prepare for the sacrament of baptism. Charles Simeon’s application of Luke 1:26-45 in Horae Homileticae: Mark-Luke deserves our consideration as we prepare to improve upon on our own baptisms:

"Amongst the many promises which God has given us, there is one “exceeding great and precious,” not unlike to that which has been the subject of our present consideration; namely, that “Christ shall be formed in our hearts; that being so formed, he “shall dwell in us;” and that so dwelling in us, he shall be to us “the hope of glory.” This promise is even greater than that which was fulfilled to the blessed Virgin, inasmuch as a spiritual union with the Lord exceeds that which is merely carnal. And how should we receive this promise? I answer, precisely as the blessed Virgin did. We should not stagger at it through unbelief: we should not account it too good for his love to grant, or too great, for his power to execute. We should be alike unmoved by either the difficulties that may obstruct its accomplishment, or the dangers that may follow it. Our reputation, our interests, our life, we should commit to the hands of a faithful Creator, equally ready to suffer for him, or to be more illustrious monuments of his paternal care. O happy should we be, if in this manner we could embrace every promise he has given us, and in full expectation of its accomplishment say, “Behold the servant of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word.”

    Take time this week to thank God for the babe conceived through miraculous circumstances for the salvation of His people. Praise God for the miracle of resurrection unfolding in your life through sanctification in the Holy Spirit. Meditate on the precious promises of God that have been faithfully displayed in and through your story. Seek to improve in your ability to commit yourself humbly into the hands of the faithful Creator as His servant under all circumstances.
Share what the Lord is doing in your life so as to bless others!

In Christ,
Cameron