Dear children, you have expressed a heartfelt desire to enter into a bond with God and all believers.
In order to totally surrender your life to God and the Church, you need love towards God and His people. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. You shall love your neighbor as yourself Mark 12:30-31. This love is part of baptism, as is total surrender and divine obedience. The church needs loving, faithful and true members to help build and uphold. That takes dedication and love.
True surrender in baptism is not merely eating and drinking together, but requires dedication, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. One who surrenders himself to God and His body of followers is pleasing to God and held dear by the members of the church.
Children, one day the Colony will trust you with a responsibility. Then you will have to step up to help build and sustain the Church. That takes true dedication, submittance and obedience. What is obedience? Namely: letting go of one's free and own will. To let go of one's own will is like a child that is weaned from it's mother's breast. It's not easy or natural. The old Adam in his old ways will find it very hard if not impossible. But here again is where the new birth comes in, what was hard before is now easy. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:30
Now is the time to make a new start. Strive day and night to honour your vows, and let not sin cut you off and lead you from God.
How do we sin? But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. James 1:14-15 Sin is what is against the Ten Commandments. All vices are sin. All disobedience is sin. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. James 4:17
Sin separates us from God and His Kingdom as God bemoaned in Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
And sin brings punishment. v18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.
Our first parents lost the image of God through sin and disobedience. Through sin Cain lost the favour of God. Esau lost his birthright through sin. The first world was destroyed due to sin. Through sin the Kingdoms of Sodom and Gomorrah were burned with fire from heaven, of which Jesus later said: But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. Luke 10:12
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice 1 Samuel 15:22 Saul fell away from God through disobedience and sin. Shimei was killed because of sacrilege and sin. Hamon was hanged for the heinous sin he stirred up and wanted to commit against the Jews. Judas never came to repentance due to his sin of betrayal and malice. The rich young man didn't enter the Kingdom of God due to his sin of greed and disobedience.
John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So children, recognize and confess sin, we have seen that those who baptized, whose sin and sinful lives had touched their hearts so that they confessed them, unto these the Lord has given strength to guard against sin after baptism. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Till next week, God bless
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