1. 16
God’s Tools
Holy Baptism - A Work of God

2. INTRODUCTION
What is the most important thing
that has happened to you since we
last met? Why was that so
important? God says that the
most important thing that has
happened to each of us is when
we were baptized. Let’s see why
God would say that.

3. THE MEANS OF GRACE
The Gospel in WORD and
SACRAMENTS (Baptism and Lord’s
Supper).
Latin: Sacramentum—something a soldier
left behind that was sacred as a pledge or
oath of loyalty or commitment to return.
This sacred thing was left behind as his
honor of His word.

4. What is a sacrament?
A Sacrament is a Sacred Act:
1.) started by Jesus
2.) God’s Words are connected to
something you can see or taste
3.) by which God offers forgiveness,
new life and salvation

5. STUDYING GOD’S WORD
What is Baptism?

6. Mark 7:3-4
3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not
eat unless they give their hands a
ceremonial washing, holding to the
tradition of the elders. 4 When they come
from the marketplace they do not eat
unless they wash. And they observe
many other traditions, such as the
washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

7. The Greek Word “baptize” means to use
water in various ways: pour, immerse,
sprinkle. A sponge bath, regular bath or a
shower all get you clean. Some, such as
Baptists, insist on only immersing, that is
dunking. But according to God's Word we
can immerse, pour or sprinkle.

8. Matthew 28:19
Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit,

9. God’s command is that we baptize in the
name of the Triune God. Baptism without
the word is like a check without a signature.
God has to validate it and make sure that
what is promised God can cover.

10. Ephesians 5:26
to make her holy, cleansing her by the
washing with water through the word,

11. Baptism is water used together with
God’s Word. Try washing a greasy pot
with cold water and no dishwashing
soap. It will take you longer and the pan
may never get fully clean. Using water
without God’s Word will get nothing
accomplished. No sins are washed
away and the sinner is never made
squeaky clean. No word means faith is
not being created or strengthened.

12. Baptism is the applying of water by
God’s command, water that is
connected with God’s Word.

13. GOD’S WORD IN MY LIFE
Agree or Disagree and why? Water
that has been used in Baptism should not
be poured down the drain because it is
special water.
Evaluate the situation: Meg, a
teenager, wanted to be baptized standing
in a river instead of standing by a
baptismal font in front of church.

14. STUDYING GOD’S WORD
What really happens when
we are baptized?

15. Titus 3:5
he saved us, not because of righteous
things we had done, but because of
his mercy. He saved us through the
washing of rebirth and renewal by the
Holy Spirit,

16. The Holy Spirit is at work in Baptism. A
poor uncle of yours whom you know has
no money and says he will give you
$100,000. You know he can’t do it
because he doesn’t have that much
money. Then a rich uncle tells you that
he will give you the same. You know that
he can do it and will do it because he has
millions. The Holy Spirit is like the rich
uncle. The Holy Spirit is God and since
he is at work in baptism he can deliver.

17. Ephesians 5:25-26
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as
Christ loved the church and gave himself
up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing
her by the washing with water through the
word,

18. The Holy Spirit works through the Word of
God connected to the water. Naaman
was cleansed of leprosy in the Jordan
river and not because it was such special
water since in reality it was very dirty
water. He was cleansed solely because
of God’s promise that Naaman would be
healed.

19. What really happens is that the Holy
Spirit is at work in our hearts through
the Word of God connected with the
water used in baptism.

20. GOD’S WORD IN MY LIFE
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Why do you write
your name inside the front cover of a new
book? Explain why God does the same
thing to you when he writes his name on
your head with water and the Word in
baptism.
Agree or Disagree and why? Other than
fulfilling Jesus’ command to apply water, the
water in baptism doesn’t really serve a
useful purpose.

21. STUDYING GOD’S WORD
What gifts did the Holy Spirit offer
and give me when I was
baptized?

22. Acts 2:38-39
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized,
every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And
you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39
The promise is for you and your children
and for all who are far off—for all whom the
Lord our God will call.”

23. God offers me the forgiveness of sins
for Jesus’ sake. Imagine a shirt has
been soiled with many different food
stains. Not only is it washed completely
clean, but it is treated with Scotchguard
to keep it from being stained again.

24. 1 Peter 3:20-21
20 who disobeyed long ago when God
waited patiently in the days of Noah while
the ark was being built. In it only a few
people, eight in all, were saved through
water, 21 and this water symbolizes
baptism that now saves you also—not the
removal of dirt from the body but the pledge
of a good conscience toward God. It saves
you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

25. God offered and gave me
deliverance from death and certain
destruction. Imagine being inside
the ark, hearing the cries outside of
people drowning and the
tremendous crash of water, yet
inside you are safe and under God’s
protection and promise.

26. Zechariah 3:1-5
1 Then he showed me Joshua the high
priest standing before the angel of the
LORD, and Satan standing at his right side
to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan,
“The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The
LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke
you! Is not this man a burning stick
snatched from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua
was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood
before the angel.

27. Zechariah 3:1-5
4 The angel said to those who were
standing before him, “Take off his filthy
clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I
have taken away your sin, and I will put
rich garments on you.” 5 Then I said, “Put
a clean turban on his head.” So they put a
clean turban on his head and clothed him,
while the angel of the LORD stood by.

28. God gives me deliverance from the
devil and his accusations. When the
devil reminds us of the bad things we’ve
done, he tries to put us on trial and
make us despair. Jesus is our defense
lawyer and our baptism is the wonderful
evidence that we don’t have to fear
God’s punishment.

29. Mark 16:16
Whoever believes and is baptized will be
saved, but whoever does not believe will
be condemned.
God offered and gave me eternal life with
him in heaven. Martin Luther once said that
when his last hour on earth came he
intended to be clothed in the little garment
he wore when he was baptized as an infant.

30. God gave me forgiveness of sin,
deliverance from death and the
devil and eternal life.

31. CHRISTIAN VOCABULARY
Institute: to begin or start something
Sacrament: a sacred act started by Jesus
through which the Holy Spirit creates or
strengthens faith
Means: a way by which something is done
or carried (eg. Means of Grace - the way
the blessings of God are carried to us by
the Holy Spirit.)

32. GOD’S WORD IN MY LIFE
Evaluate this statement - Didn’t we
receive forgiveness when Jesus died on the
cross? Why do we say that we receive it at
baptism too?
Evaluate: Which is better to say, that God
forgives our sins in baptism, or that in
baptism God assures us that our sins are
forgiven? Why did you make that choice?

33. STUDYING GOD’S WORD
Who are we to baptize?

34. Matthew 28:19
Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
God’s command is that we baptize all
nations. If I said, “All the kids in this room
had no more homework for the rest of the
year. ” Who is left out? So it is when Jesus
said, “all nations.” NO one is left out.

35. Acts 2:38
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized,
every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And
you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Peter tells the people in the crowd, who
were mostly adults, to be baptized.
Describe a recent or memorable adult
baptism. Explain why the person was not
baptized as a child.

36. Acts 2:39
The promise is for you and your children
and for all who are far off—for all whom
the Lord our God will call.”

37. Peter tells the people that the gift they
would receive through baptism is also for
their children. There are usually two
types of invitations to parties. One with
kids and one without kids. The kid
friendly one means that the kids will have
just as much fun as the adults. People
that say children are not to be invited to
be baptized are changing God’s invitation.
God also wants to give blessing to
children.

38. God commands us to baptize “all
nations” including both adults
and children.

39. GOD’S WORD IN MY LIFE
Agree or disagree and why? Since
babies can’t talk or understand words they
can’t believe and it is useless to baptize
them.
Agree or Disagree and why? Children
should have a choice of whether or not they
want to be baptized and so parents should
wait until their children are old enough to
decide rather than forcing them to be
baptized as babies.

40. HYMNOLOGY Hymn 297 Baptized in Water
ASSIGNMENT FOR NEXT TIME
REVIEWING THE LESSON
1. Review your notes; be sure you understand them. Be prepared for a written or oral
quiz. Don’t forget about the vocabulary words!
2. The Bible passages are included in the parts of Baptism to be learned.
PREPARING FOR THE NEXT LESSON
Ask your parents to help you with the following activity:
1. Complete the Bible History Worksheet.
Learn the Confession of our Faith
Sacrament of Holy Baptism (Page 9 in your Catechism)
Institution of Baptism—What is Baptism?
The Blessings of Baptism—What does Baptism do for us?

41. 17
God’s Tools
Holy Baptism Changes My Life

42. INTRODUCTION
What is a Baptismal Certificate? While they
are not necessary, why are they good idea?
In this lesson, we will again see why it is so
important to remember our baptisms on a
daily basis.

43. STUDYING GOD’S WORD
What two main things does the
Holy Spirit do through the Word in
Baptism?

44. Acts 2:38-39
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized,
every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And
you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39
The promise is for you and your children
and for all who are far off—for all whom the
Lord our God will call.”

45. The Holy Spirit promises blessings that
Jesus won for us. When a baby has a
fever and the doctor gives the parents
medicine which he assures will get rid of
the fever, the parents would be fools not to
use the medicine. In baptism, God
assures us that he gives the baby
blessings. How foolish the parents are
that don't baptize their children and in
effect lose those blessings that God offers
to them for free.

46. Colossians 2:12
having been buried with him in baptism
and raised with him through your faith in
the power of God, who raised him from
the dead.
The Holy Spirit gives faith in those
promises. When someone sincerely says,
"I love you," that statement does more than
inform us. It convinces us that we are
loved. The Holy Spirit not only uses God's
Word in baptism to tell us about God's love,
but also to convince us of that love.

47. Through the Word of God in baptism, the
Holy Spirit promises spiritual blessings
to us and also gives us faith to trust
that promise.

48. GOD’S WORD IN MY LIFE
Evaluate: At Mormon churches people are
baptized in place of other people that are
already dead. Do those dead people
receive eternal life or any spiritual benefits
that way? Why or why not?

49. Evaluate: Melinda says to you, “You
just had a “water” baptism not a “spirit'
baptism”. When you get baptized by
the spirit, you feel light all over and
you are sometimes brought to tears
as you are filled with love for Jesus. It
happened to me one day in church
when the preacher was preaching
from God’s Word. It just swept over
me.” How would you respond to her?

50. STUDYING GOD’S WORD
What new attitude did God work in
me when I was baptized?

51. Romans 6:2-5, 10-11
2 By no means! We died to sin;
how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or
don’t you know that all of us who
were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? 4 We were
therefore buried with him through
baptism into death in order that, just as
Christ was raised from the dead through
the glory of the Father, we too may live a
new life.

52. Romans 6:2-5, 10-11
5 If we have been united with him like
this in his death, we will certainly also be
united with him in his resurrection.
10 The death he died, he died to sin
once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to
God. 11 In the same way, count
yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in
Christ Jesus.

53. Romans verses in Bold:
When I was baptized, I died and was buried
with Christ to sin. When Jesus was on the
cross, he took all our sins on himself, but he
did that only once. After that he never was
stained by taking sin on himself ever again.
In baptism, God washed our sins away and
at the same time God did a second thing.
God gave us this same attitude of Jesus,
namely never wanting to have anything to
do with sin again.

54. Romans verses underlined:
When I was baptized I was also raised
with Christ. The radical change in Jesus
and in us is somewhat like the "before"
and "after" pictures of someone who has
undergone a physical transformation.

55. In baptism, I have died and been raised
with Christ, that is, God gave me the
desire do away with sinful thoughts and
actions and to live a new life.

56. GOD’S WORD IN MY LIFE
Food for thought: It may not seem
that a huge change took place when you
were baptized. You may not feel anything
at all. You may not even remember your
baptism as a child. But we need to look at
it from God’s perspective. Remember that
God now sees you through Christ, we are
connected with Jesus in His death and
resurrection.

57. How would you respond? Brenda said
to you, “ I hardly ever think about my
baptism, but it doesn’t matter. I still live
a good Christian life.”

58. STUDYING GOD’S WORD
What, then, does my baptism remind
me to do every day?

59. Ephesians 4:22-24
22 You were taught, with regard to your
former way of life, to put off your old self,
which is being corrupted by its deceitful
desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude
of your minds; 24 and to put on the new
self, created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness.

60. It reminds me to put off the old self
and to put on the new self each day
When we wear old clothes, we feel
dirty and we don’t mind getting dirty.
When we take off the old clothes and
put on the new ones we think and
act differently.

61. Romans 6:2,12-13a
2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we
live in it any longer? 12 Therefore do not let
sin reign in your mortal body so that you
obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the
parts of your body to sin, as instruments of
wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to
God, as those who have been brought from
death to life;

62. Putting off the old self means not letting
sin rule in our hearts but getting rid of
sinful desires and actions. When you’re
a slave, you have to do what the master
tells. You have no choice. Baptism has
freed us from slavery to sin. God urges
us to not let sin rule us.

63. Romans 6:13b-14
and offer the parts of your body to him as
instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin
shall not be your master, because you are
not under law, but under grace.

64. Putting on the new self means offering
myself to God and living to serve him.
Jesus and Paul both describe the new
life as “fruit”. No one forces a tree to
grow fruit. It does it because that is
what trees do by nature. God doesn’t
force us to do good works, but it is now
just what we do because we are
empowered by baptism.

65. My Baptism reminds me to put off the
old sinful way of living and to put on
the new holy way of living.

66. CHRISTIAN VOCABULARY
Old Self - (sinful flesh, Old Adam) the part
of us that is passed on to us at conception
and makes us sinners through and through.
The sole purpose of the Old Self is to rebel
against God and all he commands.
New Self - (new person in Christ) the part
of us that was created in you at baptism
through the faith that the Holy Spirit worked.
It longs to do what is right empowered by
God’s love and the message of Jesus.

67. CHRISTIAN VOCABULARY
Contrition - fear and sorrow that are
caused by a knowledge of one's sins
Repentance - trusting that God forgives all
my sins in Jesus (this is only worked by the
Holy Spirit through faith)

68. GOD’S WORD IN MY LIFE
Evaluate: A pastor once suggested
that each of us could take a bar of soap
and draw a cross on our mirror when we
first get up in the morning. That way we
could see ourselves as crucified with
Christ. Do you think that is a good idea?
Why or why not?

69. GOD’S WORD IN MY LIFE
Agree or disagree and why: It would
be better to be baptized as an adult than as
a child. That way it would be easier to
remember one’s baptism.

70. STUDYING GOD’S WORD
How do I put off the Old Self and
put on the New Self every day?

71. Psalm 51:4,17
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and
done what is evil in your sight, so that you
are proved right when you speak and
justified when you judge. 17 The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit; a broken and
contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

72. By being sorry for my sins (contrition).
When an athlete cheats (such as taking
performance enhancing drugs) and gets
caught, they are often sorry only that they
got caught. Being contrite is being sorry
for what you actually did - that it hurt
others and ultimately God.

73. Psalm 32:5,10
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and
did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will
confess my transgressions to the
LORD”— and you forgave the guilt of my
sin. Selah 10 Many are the woes of the
wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love
surrounds the man who trusts in him.

74. By trusting that God forgive all my sins
(Repentance). Peter was sorry for His
sins when he denied Jesus three times
(was contrite) and also trusted that Jesus
forgave Him (was repentant). Judas was
only contrite when he threw the money in
the temple, he was not repentant which
lead to despair and suicide.

75. Romans 6:17-18
17 But thanks be to God that, though you
used to be slaves to sin, you
wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching
to which you were entrusted. 18 You have
been set free from sin and have become
slaves to righteousness.

76. Upon receiving all these blessings in
Baptism, I put on the new self out of
thanks to God. There are stories of
slaves who were auctioned off during the
Civil War era. They were bought and then
freed by their new master. They were so
grateful and thankful in their freedom that
they offered to serve their new master any
way. We have been freed from sin by
God. We show our thanks by serving
Him.

77. I put off the Old Self daily by
contrition and repentance, and
I put on the New Self out of
thanks to God.

78. ASSIGNMENT FOR NEXT TIME
REVIEWING THE LESSON
1. Review your notes; be sure you understand them. Be prepared for a written or oral
quiz. Don’t forget about the vocabulary words!
2. The Bible passages are included in the parts of Baptism to be learned.
PREPARING FOR THE NEXT LESSON
Ask your parents to help you with the following activity:
1. Complete the Bible History Worksheet.
Learn the Confession of our Faith
Sacrament of Holy Baptism (Page 9-10 in your Catechism)
The Power of Baptism—How can water do such great things?
The Meaning of Baptism for our Daily Life—What does Baptism with water mean?