Dear Baptized Ones,

     We will gather together in our 11:30 service this Sunday to participate in John Arthur (Artie) Maphet’s baptism. Our in-person participation will be to bear witness to the fruits of Christ’s death and resurrection in our lives and to encourage the Maphet and Arasmith families to do the same in Artie’s life. As the whole-but-presently-scattered church, we participate through regular prayer for the eternal fruit of Artie’s baptism in Christ alone by faith alone through God’s grace alone. One of the highest responsibilities of the church is to get to pray for the next generation. What a gift to be able to plead for the Holy Spirit to use their baptisms to effectually draw these little ones to Jesus! In our sermon text for Sunday from Luke 19:28-48, Jesus reminds us of this responsibility to serve as a house of prayer in verses 45-46:

“And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”   

Jesus’s quote comes from Isaiah 56:6-8 where the Lord declares that He will answer our prayers for salvation in present and coming generations. Consider the joys that result from participating in God’s redemptive work through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit! Oh what a gift it will be to see those baptized respond in faith to Jesus’s redeeming love and live out their newness of life!

     Pray for the Holy Spirit to use Artie’s baptism as part of revealing the Father’s love for him in Jesus. Ask the Spirit to show you how you can participate in various ways to help Artie and his family live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Seek to mature further into the image of Christ as you remember your own baptism. Join us in praying for the Lord to entrust new disciples to us for our joy and His glory!

In Christ,
Cameron