You may ask, why be baptized?
As we welcome new members to the Church of Jesus Christ this week,
I thought I would share about the importance of Baptism.
 |
| God sent His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, into the world so that all of God's children (us) would have the possibility of returning to live in His presence after they die. Only through the Savior's grace and mercy can we become clean from son so we can live with our Heavenly Father again.Becoming clean from sin is being healed spiritually. |
The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Having faith in Christ means we have a firm belief that He is the Only Begotten Son of God, and Savior and Redeemer for the world.
When we have faith in Christ, we accept and apply His atonement and His teachings in our lives.
Faith in Christ leads to action.
It leads to sincere and lasting repentance.
Faith leads us to have a desire to learn more about Christ and have a desire to become more like Him.
...and it means we try our hardest to do it.
None of us are perfect and will bail still make mistakes, but we show our love for Him by striving to keep His commandments and trying to avoid sin.
As we try to be like Him, we will feel godly sorrow for the things we have done wrong,
and stop doing them (this is called repentance).
Repentance has 4 steps:
1. Recognize our sins and feel remorse
2. Confess our sins to God (and if we have very serious sins, we confess to leaders with authority help us to repent.
3. We ask god in prayer to forgive us.
4. We do all we can to correct the problems our actions may have caused (restitution).
It is then that we are ready to participate the sacred ceremony, we call baptism.
This shows that we have entered into a covenant with God (a binding and solemn agreement between us and God).
When we are baptized, we follow the example of Jesus Christ
when he was baptized by John the Baptist.
Baptism is an essential ordinance of salvation.
No person can enter the kingdom of God without being baptized.
Baptism by immersion represents the end of our old life of sin and a commitment to live a new life as a disciple of Christ.
The Savior taught that baptism is a rebirth, baptism begins the process of being born again,
and become spiritual sons and daughters of Christ.
We welcome all to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
(pictures above include: Elder Oviatt and Elder Herde, with a beautiful family.
The Guadalupe Branch, Elder Rareba, Elder Mendez and Elder Heward with Hermana Carolina y Hermano Fernando.
Hermana Sara Lopez with Hermana Rosado and Hermana Thruston.
Members of the Buenos Aires, Trujillo Ward at Hermana Sara's baptism
Hermana Mazzei and Hermana Yujra with
The Los Robles Ward with Hermano Tony (Elders Manley and Elder Heward)
Hermana Yespica Efectualdo with Elder Salinas and Elder Paredes).
