What Is Baptism Sermon Guide

Download the sermon guide to print here.

In this sermon, Pastor Vincent unpacked the powerful tool of baptism and the biblical truth that freedom is found when we surrender our lives fully to Jesus. Using powerful stories like Sonya’s transformed life, he showed us how dying to our own plans makes room for God to move in and through us. Go deeper in study with discussion questions and a week of devotionals to allow God to move through you and truly surrender, or die to yourself, for His name’s sake.

This sermon emphasizes:

• Baptism is a public celebration of surrendering our lives to Jesus.
• Surrendering to Jesus means letting go of our own desires and embracing the changes He wants to bring – in our mindset, our surroundings and even the people we spend time with.
• God invites us to surrender to Him, not because He wants to punish us, but because He has an incredible purpose for our lives that goes far beyond what we could ever imagine for ourselves.
• True freedom and spiritual wholeness come when we obediently hand over the reins of control over our lives to Christ.
• The powerful testimonies we heard (like Sonya’s story) show us the amazing life transformations that can happen when we surrender to Jesus!

Listen or Watch the Message:

Watch on YouTube here

Listen as a podcast here

Key Scriptures:

“He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39 (NASB1995)

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”Romans 6:1-7 (NASB1995)

Table Questions:

These are questions based on the scripture and sermon to help you put the teaching into practice. They can be used in discipleship, Lifegroup, as a family or with whoever is around your table this summer:

1. In your own words, what do you think it means to “die to self”? Can you share an example of how you’ve experienced this in your life?
2. Why is it so important to surrender fully to Christ? How have you seen the benefits of this in your own walk with Him?
3. Baptism is such a powerful symbol of our surrender to Jesus! How did you feel during your own baptism?
4. God may call us to change our mindsets, locations, or even the people we spend time with as part of our surrender. Can you think of any of these areas you can surrender more to Jesus?
5. Tell a story about a time when you chose obedience to God, even when it was difficult, and how He blessed you through that decision.
6. It can be so tempting to cling tightly to our own dreams and ambitions. How can we cultivate a mindset of handing over our plans to God’s greater purposes?
7. What fears or doubts tend to come up when we consider fully surrendering areas of our lives to Christ? How can we overcome these?
8. How can you better support and encourage someone in your life that is on a journey of surrendering to Jesus?
9. Our church family plays an important role in helping us grow spiritually. In what ways has being part of this community aided your own process of surrender?
10. Stories like Sonya’s are so inspiring! How can we share testimonies like hers to inspire others to take that step of surrendering to Christ?