Journey to Glory: And she went on her way Rejoicing!!!!!!

The Search was over.........Fully Surrendered to Christ :)

Baptism February 27, 2017

PRAISING GOD AND REJOICING!!!

In the book of ACTS we get a last glimpse of an Ethiopian Eunuch after he was baptized and the scripture shared

“he went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39)

I was reminded of these words as I was searching about the true meaning of Baptism. They really hit home with me, thus I asked Andrea to read at the start of this glorious celebration!!

This indeed is the experience of those who, as true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, intelligently obey His command to be baptized.

Are you a true believer in Him? If so, have you obeyed His Word in this matter?

Remember: “if you love me, keep my commandments.”

Your obedience will not only bring great pleasure to the heart of your Lord but it will also be a giant step forward in the pathway of genuine Christian happiness.

How soon that joy fades for many. Although the reason escapes them, it is only too apparent to others.

Baptism is a matter of the heart as well as an outward profession.

The truly baptized believer is the one whose life shows that the flesh, the old nature, has been put in the place of death.

This is accomplished by the enablement of the Holy Spirit alone, and results in the joy of the Lord.

“He went on his way rejoicing.”

It was not only because he had obeyed the Lord and publicly identified himself with His Lord. It was also because he had come to the end of a long search.

God had begun to work in his heart.

There came a desire to know God in a personal way.

The sense of guilt had grown.

There was a deep longing for peace of conscience and peace with God.

In the religions of Ethiopia he had found no answers.

Perhaps it was this that brought him to Jerusalem.

He had found no answer there either.

There was religion with its rituals.

But it was empty.

There was nothing to bring peace and forgiveness and salvation.

Still searching, he turned homeward.

Then it happened.

God directed him to a prophetic word in holy scripture penned hundreds of years earlier but fulfilled just months ago.

“He was led as a sheep to slaughter; And as a Lamb before its shearer is silent, So He does not open His mouth. In humiliation His judgment was taken away; Who shall relate His generation? For His life is removed from the earth.” And the eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself, or of someone else?” And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.

Acts 8:32-35

Here is the end of long and earnest search.

God brought to him the message of Jesus and His love.

The eunuch learned that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, who had come to earth to die. The inquirer was told that the death of Jesus Christ was a substitutionary death.

He bore the penalty for our sins.

His death satisfied the righteous demands of God.

He paid for our sin.

The earnest searcher also learned that on the basis of the death of Christ for his sins God offered forgiveness and salvation to all men.

In a simple but significant step of faith the traveler believed that Jesus was indeed the very Son of God who had died for him and he began at that moment to trust in Him and His atoning death for the forgiveness of his sin and God’s salvation.

The long search had ended.

Little did he realize that in reality all the while it was the Lord who had been seeking him.
Now the Shepherd had found His lost sheep.

Through trusting Jesus for his salvation the eunuch entered into peace with God.

God became his heavenly Father and he became a child of God.

Sin was forgiven and salvation was possessed.

Little wonder “he went on his way rejoicing.”

If you have a deep longing, a desire to know God personally as your heavenly Father, if you have a deep sense of guilt before God because of your sin, if you are earnestly seeking for forgiveness, peace and salvation. I assure you, my friend, it is because the Lord is seeking you.

This could be the end of a long and diligent search. It could be the first step toward going on your way rejoicing.

What must you do?

In quiet prayer simply confess to Him you are a sinner.

Thank Him for dying in your place, bearing the punishment you deserved.
Trust Him to be your Savior.

Trust His death to be sufficient payment for all your sin.
Trust His Word which then assures you eternal life.

And the witness is this. that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. in order that you may know that you have eternal life.

1 John 5:11-12

My Testimony

· I was like the Eunuch……..searching, searching for LOVE, Wisdom, Understanding in all the wrong places.

What I thought was "Love" was NOT what God had intended. It was jaded with lies, betrayal, conflict, confusion and foolishness

Though I did not know it at the time, God was filling me with HIS desires to know him. The sense of guilt for my actions was overwhelming.

God began a Process of chipping away……teaching me the difference between wisdom and foolishness. My life was filled with sin, so many behaviors that opened the door for further sin and kept me from the presence of our Loving God.

God “saved” me along the journey. He saved me from very harmful situations that could have jeopardized my life.

I surrendered to God 14 years ago, yet needed lots of cleaning up and transforming of my heart to “SEE” who God, Jesus Really was

Though I surrendered to God, I was not truly committed to separating myself from the worldly ways and following and serving Jesus. I played a balancing act of living in both worlds.

Nick asked me, why here? Why Mercy Ships and not at home…….God brought me here to Mercy Ships in 2013 after many losses, heartbreaks and changes in my life.
I was filled with LOVE on steroids.
What I missed out in LOVE for the past was made up in the 10 months that I was on the ship in Congo.

· I went back home, struggled with balancing the world and Living for God at the same time. The world did not want to let me go…….But God continued to work in my heart and show me HIS way!........Focused, Intentional…….to Live For Christ!!!

Thus, I am back on the ship living "Intentionally" Serving Christ :)

Psalm 51 Speaks to me…….Teaches me that the journey with God includes a period of Grace, Love and Mercy and a period of cleansing.
THEN……..in verse 13……”I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.

I am know filled with the LOVE from God and ready to fully commit to HIM!!

Cecily, Sandra and Lauren shared Wisdom from Scripture...........

Romans 6:3………..

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."

"in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Ephesians 4:22-24

The truly baptized believer is the one whose life shows that the flesh, the old nature, has been put in the place of death. This is accomplished by the enablement of the Holy Spirit alone, and results in the joy of the Lord.

“She went on her way rejoicing.”

"It was also because She had come to the end of a long search"

Nick led us in singing AMAZING GRACE

Baptism.........Off with the old, on with the NEW!!
Cleansed!!!

As I rose from the water.........Andrea led in Singing "Bless the Lord O My Soul"

Rianne Sang Blessings Over Me..........ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!

May God’s blessing surround you each day
As you trust Him and walk in His way
May His presence within guard and keep you from sin,
Go in peace, go in joy, go in love.

So sweet to have all these wonderful friends from all over the world. Rianne hosted me in her home in Holland this summer, and now here we are on the Ship sharing in my Baptism. :)