Berea Update for September 25, 2026
Throughout two thousand years of church history, few Christian practices have been as central, cherished, or carefully preserved as baptism. Beginning at the riverbanks of Israel and continuing in local congregations today, washing with water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit has served as the formal mark of entrance into the visible Christian faith.
In Scripture and church history, baptism holds profound importance for several reasons:
1. It is an explicit command of Jesus Christ. Before ascending to heaven, Jesus instructed His followers to go into all the world, make disciples, and baptize them. Participating in baptism is not an optional suggestion or a human tradition, but a direct act of initial obedience to the Lord.
2. It serves as a formal line of demarcation. While baptism does not save a person, it serves as the public boundary line where an individual steps out of hidden belief and openly aligns themselves with the kingdom of God.
3. It "visible-izes" our corporate unity. When a believer is baptized, they are publicly welcomed into the visible fellowship of the local church family, declaring that they now share a common identity, faith, and purpose with the body of Christ.
In the first century, stepping into baptismal waters carried significant personal cost. Within the hostile culture of the Roman Empire, a person’s public baptism represented a total break with pagan religion and social norms. It was the public platform where a believer formally swore allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord, rejecting the emperor worship demanded by the state. Historical documents from that time, such as the late-first-century Didache, document that the earliest churches prioritized immersion in living, running water as the primary pattern handed down by the apostles. As Christianity gained political power and became the state religion of the Roman Empire during the fourth and fifth centuries, church practices began to change. Over the course of the Middle Ages, the biblical sequence of personal faith followed by baptism was gradually altered across Western Europe. Infant baptism replaced believer’s baptism as the standard cultural norm. Rather than serving as an individual's conscious confession of saving faith, baptism came to be viewed by church institutions as a sacramental mechanism designed to cleanse original sin at birth. Over time, full immersion in rivers or large baptisteries gave way to sprinkling water over infants at church fonts.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Protestant Reformation sparked a widespread return to the primary authority of Scripture. Scholars and pastors re-examined the original Greek text of the New Testament, noting that the word baptizo explicitly means to submerge, immerse, or plunge underwater. Furthermore, the biblical narrative consistently demonstrates a set order: explicit repentance and belief in Jesus Christ always precede the act of baptism. Early English Baptists and reformers rejected state-mandated infant baptism and restored the practice of believer’s baptism by immersion. Many of these Christians faced fines, imprisonment, and severe persecution for insisting that baptism belongs solely to those who make a personal, conscious profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
This Sunday at Berea, our congregation will participate directly in this historic biblical tradition as eight young people step forward to be publicly baptized. Every single one of these candidates has personally heard the gospel, trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation, and made the conscious choice to stand before our church family in joyful obedience to His command.
To help our church family prepare for this event without duplicating our Sunday sermon text, a 7-day devotional is provided below. This week’s readings explore complementary Old and New Testament passages that illustrate how God has cleansed, redeemed, and marked His covenant people across Scripture. Read through these daily devotionals, examine your own heart, and prepare to gather with us this Sunday morning at Berea to celebrate God's work in the lives of these eight young believers. See you Sunday!
Keep pressing on!
Upcoming Events
1. Today is our annual church family golf and game outing at Locust Hills Golf Course! If you plan to golf as a part of the four-man scramble, tee-time is at 3:00 PM. If you don't plan to golf, plan to arrive between 5:00-6:00 PM. There will be many other games and activities available! We'll eat together at 6:00 PM and play some whole group games after we eat! The address is 5575 N. River Rd. Springfield, OH 45502.
2. This Sunday, we will continue on in our series called: "Blueprint: God's Vision for the Church." This week's message is called "Baptism: The Visible Gospel" We'll be in Romans 6:3-5 and other various portions of Scripture. The service in the Family Life Center will be much shorter than usual this week. After a shortened time of singing, and a shorter sermon, we'll leave the Family Life Center and gather in the Resurrection Garden to watch eight young people be baptized! There will only be a few chairs available on Sunday at Resurrection Garden, as most will just stand and gather around the baptistry.
3. There will be a quarterly business meeting held on Sunday, October 4 immediately following the morning worship service. An agenda for that meeting was sent last week, but will be resent during the week the meeting will take place.
4. Our ROCK directory needs updating! Continuing through the month of September, we'll be asking that each of you confirm the information we have on file for you, and get a new photograph taken for our online ROCK directory. Pictures will be taken each Sunday after the morning worship service, in the front right room off the Family Life Center. This is for ALL Berea members, attendees, college students, and children. Please plan accordingly to have your picture taken one of the weeks during the month! As you get your picture taken, we'll also verify that your contact information is up to date in ROCK.
5.
AWANA Registration is now live! If you plan to have your kids (ages 3 through 6th grade) participate in AWANA this fall, you may now register them online here:
Berea AWANA Registration 2026 When registering, if your family regularly attends Berea, please use the discount code "Attend" to save on registration dues. AWANA meets each Wednesday night from 6:30-8:00 PM. We are looking forward to a great year ahead!
6. There will be a baby shower for MaryAisha Yutzy next Sunday, October 4 at 5:00 PM at the Gainer house (4223 Springfield Xenia Rd. Springfield). Ladies, please come for a relaxed evening together outside with a bonfire, cookout, and a time of fellowship and prayer over MaryAisha. Please RSVP to Lara by text at (937)926-0663 or through email at laragainer@gmail.com
7. Church Workday--October 17 from 9:00 AM- Noon. We'll have many tasks for all ages that morning! Most tasks will be indoors, although we'll have a few outdoor things to do as well! More specific details to come!
Ways You Can Pray This Week
1. Pray for the eight individuals who are being baptized on Sunday!
***Please know that there are many individuals who need prayer this week due to health concerns and other events going on in their lives. Out of sensitivity to each individual's situation, these requests may not appear in this weekly blog. We have a "Prayer Team" at the church who receives more detailed information, and commits to praying for individuals in our church family.
This Week's Devotions
Day 1: Saved Through the Waters of Judgment
1 Peter 3:20–21 (ESV) — "...when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ..."
In Noah’s day, the floodwaters were God's judgment on a sinful world. But for Noah and his family inside the ark, those same waters carried them into a clean, new beginning. Peter tells us that baptism is like a picture of this story. The physical water doesn't wash away moral dirt, but it shows our heart's appeal to God, made possible because Jesus rose from the dead to bring us safely through judgment.
Reflection Question: How does Noah’s ark help you see Jesus as your safe shelter from sin and judgment?
Day 2: Passed Through the Sea to Belong to the Lord
1 Corinthians 10:1–2 (ESV) — "For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea..."
When God rescued Israel from Egypt, He parted the Red Sea so they could walk through on dry land. Crossing those waters meant leaving their old life of slavery behind forever. Paul says passing through the sea was like a baptism that united the people under Moses' leadership. On the other side of the water, they stood as a free people who belonged to the Lord.
Reflection Question: What old habit or bad way of thinking do you need to leave behind to walk in God's freedom today?
Day 3: Clean Water and a New Heart
Ezekiel 36:25–26 (ESV) — "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you."
Long ago, God promised through Ezekiel that a day was coming when He would fix our sin problem from the inside out. He didn't promise just an external religious ritual, but a spiritual washing that removes our hard, stubborn hearts and gives us soft, responsive hearts. The water in baptism always points to this wonderful, invisible work of the Holy Spirit inside us.
Reflection Question: Is there any area of your heart where you need to ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse you and make you soft toward God today?
Day 4: Bound Together in One Body
1 Corinthians 12:12–13 (ESV) — "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit."
In the ancient world, people were separated by strict social, economic, and cultural walls. But Paul writes that when we are brought into Christ, those walls fall down, bringing believers together into one family. When someone trusts Jesus and is baptized, they are joined not only to Him, but also to every brother and sister in the local church.
Reflection Question: How can you show love and encouragement to someone in your church family who is different from you this week?
Day 5: The Washing of Regeneration
Titus 3:4–5 (ESV) — "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit..."
Paul reminds Titus that God saved us because of His incredible kindness and mercy, not because we earned it by being good. We didn't save ourselves through good deeds or religious ceremonies. Instead, God made us brand new on the inside through the Holy Spirit—a total spiritual rebirth that changes our lives forever.
Reflection Question: How does knowing that your salvation rests on God’s mercy—not your own performance—give you peace today?
Day 6: Clothed with Christ
Galatians 3:26–27 (ESV) — "for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."
In ancient Rome, when a child grew up, they traded their simple childhood clothes for an adult toga to show they were now full heirs of the family. Paul uses this picture to explain salvation: through faith, we "put on Christ" like a royal robe. When God looks at us, He no longer sees our messy past; He sees the perfect goodness of His Son.
Reflection Question: How does knowing that you are covered in Christ’s perfection help you when you feel guilty or weak?
Day 7: Called to an Unwavering Witness
Acts 22:15–16 (ESV) — "for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name."
When Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, God sent a believer named Ananias to tell him what to do next. Ananias told Paul not to wait or hesitate, but to step forward, be baptized, and start sharing what God had done for him. Following Jesus naturally leads to an active, unashamed life of telling others the good news.
Reflection Question: Who in your life needs to hear about Jesus, and how can you pray for a chance to share your faith with them this week?
Kids (and Kids at Heart) Korner
Memory Verse of the Week: Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV) — "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you."
Big Idea: Water Signs in the Bible!
Have you ever seen a road sign with a picture of a knife and fork? That sign isn't an actual meal you can eat—it's a sign pointing you to a place where you can get food! All throughout the Bible, God used water to make big "signs" that point to Jesus! Water in the Bible is God's way of showing us how He cleanses our hearts on the inside when we trust in Jesus. It reminds us that God is powerful, He keeps His promises, and He loves to save His people!
1. Noah's Ark: God brought Noah and his family safely through the floodwaters inside the ark. The ark points to Jesus, who keeps us safe from sin!
2. The Red Sea: God parted the big sea so Moses and the Israelites could walk through on dry land, leaving their old lives in Egypt behind!
3. Clean Water Promises: In the Old Testament, God promised that one day He would wash away our sins and give us brand-new hearts that love Him!
Ask Your Family This Week: Why did God use the Red Sea and Noah's Ark to show His power? What is the difference between washing dirt off your hands with water and God giving you a new heart on the inside?
Fun Family Activity: The Water & Sponge Lesson
Take a dry, hard sponge and try to bend it—it’s tough and stiff! Put it under flowing water from the sink and watch it instantly become soft and flexible. Talk about how our hearts can be hard toward God, but when God cleanses us and puts His Spirit inside us, He makes our hearts soft and ready to love and obey Him!
Have a great weekend! See you Sunday!
Mark