Jack confesses faith in Jesus through Baptism

Why am I being baptized?

Why now, at 72 years old, which means that you are never too old to accept Christ, and to walk in his footsteps with the love of God.

At this moment, I am inviting Jesus into my life.  I am stepping through the doorway to leave my old life behind and opening my eyes for eternal life and repentance for my sins. 

I have come to realize that I am a sinner. 

For the past 72 years, I have been breaking the first and most important commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart and with all your mind”. I have loved many things, like my family and success,  but I have not loved God. I have only been thinking of myself. 

But here is the good news for sinners like me:

The one and only God, who is holy, made man into his image, but we sinned and cut ourselves from him. In his great love for man, he sent us Jesus Christ >> who lived a perfect life and died on the cross for all our sins. 

Then he rose from the dead showing that God accepted his sacrifice and that God’s wrath against us had been exhausted. God now calls us to repent of our sins and trust Christ alone. And, with this calling we are born again into a new life, an eternal life with God. 

I want to confess that I have been a sinner all my life walking in a crooked line, but now I want to follow Jesus. How can I not do this and miss all this beauty he has to offer me. 

I have come to understand the gospel, partly as a result of my son becoming a Christian. His enthusiasm and 100% belief in the Lord helped me. He was the one who found Winchester Baptist Church. As my thinking goes: my son brought me to church > where I began to learn > and with everything that I learned, I keep moving closer and closer to making this wonderful decision > and now, I am about to be baptized.

Baptism is the picture of the Gospel.

Jesus was nailed to the cross. I can’t even come close to imagining the absolute mortal pain and suffering he had to go through to wash away my sins two thousand years ago.

Then Jesus rose from the dead — and I will come up out of the water with my eyes wide open to receive the Lord with a passion I have never had before. I will be able to obey the first and greatest commandment “You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart and with all your mind.” Followed by the second greatest commandant “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This will help me with any kind of hatred I have had with anyone. Wow! What kind of words are these that can only be described by the King of our Heavens.

Once I come out of the water I will have made the most important decision I have ever made in my life. Now, I’m wondering why I waited so long for this day to come. But the Lord had the path for me in his own mind. He wanted me to reverently feel this way to be baptized.

I want to thank all of you for being here on a special day for me.

Especially my son Justin and my daughter Jennifer. I could not have asked for anything better than the incredible two young adults my beautiful wife and I raised to be here today.

Also a dear friend of mine, Bryan Brooks and his lovely wife Suzie. Bryan and I met about 20 years ago. On February 2, 2007, Bryan pulled out the Bible and read me a few of his favorite verses and followed with a very sincere prayer for me to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. There was a great feeling of sincerity, but I did not fully comprehend what he had introduced to me at that time. But, finally the day has arrived for my baptism, and with a much better understanding of what he introduced to me. What a blessing he was!

I can’t say how much I thank the Lord from the bottom of my heart for all this that is happening to me and being in the spotlight for this blink of an eye in time with you all. Thank you my friends, Jesus Christ the Lord, and the Holy Spirit. Amen