A Glimpse Into The Kingdom
Today I was baptized and I saw a glimpse of God's Kingdom. Let me just start by saying that River City Church really knows how to throw a party. From the music to the sermon to the prayer ministry everything was awesome. You could literally feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in the room.
The service started like it does every Sunday. We always start by worshipping together. The room was packed to the point that a lot of people didn't even have seats. The worship band was amazing as always and everyone was singing and praising God with such a passion that you couldn't help but get excited about how an eternity in Heaven will be.
After worship came the baby dedications. There were about twelve babies up there getting dedicated. Their parents made a vow to raise them to know who Jesus is and what He did for them so they might choose to follow Him and be baptized one day. It was truly awesome to see all of those babies up there with parents who are committed to do their best to introduce them to Our Savior.
Next came a break. At RCC, we don't just turn around and shake the hand of the person behind us and say "the peace of The Lord be with you". Nope, we gotta get a latte and use our debit cards to make our offering (I never said this church wasn't a little hipster).
After the break, it was time for the talk before the baptisms. All of the children from 1st to 5th grade were kept out of kid's church today. They were all sitting on the stage at the front of the church and Antley (our pastor/church leader/CrossFit enthusiast) pretty much directed his sermon to them, explaining baptism and a person's choice to follow Jesus. Since I'm basically a child in a 34 year old body, I was totally engrossed in this talk. Then he went into reading some of the testimonies from the baptism candidates. The congregation cheered louder with each one he read.
When the time came for the baptisms, the twelve of us who were being baptized were called up to the front. This was where the party started getting crazy. We stated our beliefs and our desire to follow Jesus, and it was time to get dunked. One by one we climbed into the baptismal pool (possibly a hot tub) and Antley baptized us in the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. The congregation went wild as each person came out of the water rising to a new life in Christ washed clean of our old selves and old ways. It was a picture of how Heaven rejoices every time a believer gives his or her life to Christ.
As soon as the last candidate was dunked, the worship music started up and the entire place erupted into dancing and singing and worship. All of the baptismal candidates were brought to the middle of the room and the congregation was invited up to lay hands on us and pray for us. It was pretty amazing. More worship followed and everybody reluctantly made their way out. For close to an hour after the service the building and the parking lot stayed packed. Family members, friends and complete strangers were hugging and congratulating all of the baptism candidates. The love and excitement was incredible.
As exciting and heartwarming as this morning was, it was just a glimpse into the party going on in Heaven. Nothing on this broken earth will ever compare to an eternity with Our Savior, not even the best baptism party ever (which happened this morning by the way). All we can do with our time here is try to get as many people as we possibly can to come to know the radical, scandalous, furious love and grace of Jesus and hopefully throw as many more parties like the one at RCC this morning as we can. My prayer is that God uses me here in the States and while I'm on the World Race to advance His kingdom and spread His love and healing. As always, thank you for taking the time to read my Blog. Love Y'all!!!
