back to index2021-1-17 Jessica Yang Baptism Testimony
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Hi, my name is Jessica and I recently got married to John Yang and started coming out 00:00:09.880 |
to Bury Inn last year and this is my testimony of why I would like to get baptized today. 00:00:15.440 |
I grew up as the only child in a Christian family with a God-fearing father who served 00:00:21.040 |
the church as an elder and a very sacrificial mother who was a great helper to my dad in 00:00:26.240 |
both the church as a deacon and the home as a wife. 00:00:29.560 |
Until this day, two of God's greatest blessings in my life are giving me such godly parents 00:00:34.240 |
who are able to show me every single day what it means to truly live a life honoring Christ. 00:00:39.440 |
As a result of growing up in a Christian family, I was baptized as an infant and then confirmed 00:00:45.240 |
However, it wasn't until I completed the session on baptism through BCC membership 00:00:50.120 |
I started really considering the importance of a believer's baptism as compared to an 00:00:57.000 |
Although I was baptized as an infant, I was not at an age where I could profess with my 00:01:00.960 |
mouth that Jesus is Lord and make the conscious decision to offer my life up to him. 00:01:05.960 |
Looking back, it's hard for me to pinpoint the exact moment that it came to faith, but 00:01:10.040 |
it most likely did not happen before I was infant baptized. 00:01:13.520 |
From an early age, I remember learning about who Jesus is, that he died on the cross for 00:01:17.360 |
my sins, then rose again three days later, and with a very childlike faith, I took that 00:01:24.520 |
So although I did not have a defining moment that I can call out as the exact instance 00:01:28.800 |
I accepted Christ, I do have several milestones in my life that I would define as pivotal 00:01:34.080 |
moments where I consciously made the decision to repent of my sins, take up the cross, and 00:01:40.040 |
And one of those moments happened during the summer of my sophomore year of college when 00:01:43.920 |
I decided to go overseas on a short-term missions trip to India. 00:01:48.200 |
To be honest, I think a huge reason I went on missions was simply because it just seemed 00:01:54.000 |
I've always grown up trying to do the right thing, whether that was in school, at church, 00:01:58.400 |
relationally, or even thinking towards a career. 00:02:00.960 |
Now reflecting back, I very much based my salvation on my works and had a lot of pride 00:02:05.800 |
in the fact that I grew up living my life as a pretty good Christian. 00:02:09.600 |
But once I went to India, God opened my eyes and humbled me to see for what felt like the 00:02:14.000 |
first time the true depths of my own sins and my desperate need of a savior. 00:02:19.600 |
In India, God gave our team opportunity after opportunity to evangelize and even teach the 00:02:26.440 |
Bible to students of all ages during our English camps. 00:02:29.960 |
It was during this time that I really dove into reading scripture and praying because 00:02:33.400 |
I realized that I could not love, let alone teach, about a God that my mind did not know. 00:02:38.720 |
And in order for my mind to know Christ, I needed to diligently and consistently be studying 00:02:43.320 |
God's Word, something I had previously never done because I did not have as high of a view 00:02:49.880 |
I began to realize that although I had grown up as a Christian my whole life, there were 00:02:53.400 |
so many areas in my life that were lacking and in desperate need of repentance. 00:02:58.400 |
I never really considered how prideful I was in highlighting all the good works in my life 00:03:02.400 |
and just how comfortably I'd been living my life, always straying away from the difficult 00:03:09.560 |
I thought about all the times I served in church or in my campus ministry for my own 00:03:13.720 |
glory and recognition rather than for God's glory because I truly wanted to give Him all 00:03:19.080 |
India was the first time I genuinely learned to repent to God because I understood the 00:03:26.040 |
Since India, I have tried to the best of my abilities to walk in a manner worthy of the 00:03:30.800 |
Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the 00:03:39.320 |
But after completing my membership sessions at Berean, I started to think about the definition 00:03:43.660 |
of baptism and how it is a believer's act of publicly committing him or herself to Christ 00:03:49.480 |
and His people, thereby uniting a believer to the church and setting themselves apart 00:03:55.760 |
Because I was infant baptized, I never had the chance to publicly commit myself to Christ 00:03:59.960 |
and profess my faith and submission to Christ on my own accord. 00:04:04.160 |
This led me to do more research on what Scripture had to say about baptism and the validity 00:04:10.680 |
So based off my readings, I came to believe that baptism truly is only reserved for those 00:04:15.260 |
who are known to be disciples of Christ, as taught in Matthew 28 in the book of Acts and 00:04:20.580 |
assumed in Romans 6, where it talks about our old self being crucified with Christ so 00:04:24.700 |
that we would no longer be slaves to sin and become obedient from the heart and become 00:04:30.940 |
As an infant, I did not make the conscious decision to follow Christ or be baptized and 00:04:35.040 |
live consistently with an earnest confession of sin and repentance. 00:04:39.340 |
But today, as an adult, I have a greater grasp as to what baptism is. 00:04:43.060 |
As stated in Romans 6, it is a ceremony that symbolically unites us with Christ in His 00:04:48.180 |
death and resurrection and also signifies rebirth. 00:04:51.300 |
I understand that baptism in and of itself does not save me, but my genuine profession 00:04:56.100 |
of faith has led me to making the conscious decision of getting baptized today, which 00:05:00.020 |
will testify that I have received a new self, have been renewed, am spirit and dwelt, and 00:05:05.220 |
have received complete forgiveness of sins, and I'm united to Christ in His death and