{"id":36563,"date":"2022-09-13T13:01:13","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T18:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/during-a-church-service-a-woman-confessed-jesus-christ-as-her-lord-and-savior-and-was-admitted-into-the-baptismal-class-soon-the-church-discovered-that-she-was-not-married-but-was-living-with-a-man\/"},"modified":"2022-09-13T13:01:13","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T18:01:13","slug":"during-a-church-service-a-woman-confessed-jesus-christ-as-her-lord-and-savior-and-was-admitted-into-the-baptismal-class-soon-the-church-discovered-that-she-was-not-married-but-was-living-with-a-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/during-a-church-service-a-woman-confessed-jesus-christ-as-her-lord-and-savior-and-was-admitted-into-the-baptismal-class-soon-the-church-discovered-that-she-was-not-married-but-was-living-with-a-man\/","title":{"rendered":"During a Church service a woman confessed Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, and was admitted into the baptismal class. Soon, the Church discovered that she was not married but was living with a man (cohabiting). Should the Church stop her from being baptized and becoming a member of the local Church until she is either married or separated from the man?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Apostle Peter said, "Repent <\/strong>therefore and be converted<\/strong>, that your sins may be blotted out…" Acts 3:19. To repent and convert means to turn your life around and stop sinning<\/strong>. If a person is living in sin, that person has not yet fully repented. <\/strong>People should be ashamed of their sins and desire to live by God's righteous standards. Just as Jesus "loved righteousness and <\/em>hated iniquity (sin)," we are to feel great grief and disgust over our sins. (Hebrews 1:9) <\/em>We clean up our lives because we<\/strong> actually hate living in sin<\/strong>! It is only after true repentance and conversion that baptism becomes appropriate. Peter said, "Repent<\/strong>, and let every one of you be baptized<\/strong> in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins<\/strong>; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit," Acts 2:38.  \u200b<\/p>\n

Repentance is always good for everyone. However, to become a Christian<\/strong> requires another step. Jesus said, "If any will follow me, let him deny himself<\/strong>, take up his cross<\/strong> and follow me<\/strong>," Matthew 16:24. When a repentant person chooses to sacrifice his will and his life <\/strong>in the service of God by following Jesus, that dear one may be baptized. Romans 12:1,2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice<\/strong>, holy, acceptable to God, which is<\/em> your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind<\/strong>, that you may prove what is<\/em> that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."<\/strong><\/p>\n

Water baptism is the outward testimony of the inward relationship between that person and God. If a person is not obeying God's will, then his baptism is hypocritical<\/strong>. Specifically, the woman in your question is saying one thing but living in sin. She should not be baptized.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Apostle Peter said, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out…" Acts 3:19. To repent and convert means to turn your life around and stop sinning. If a person is living in sin, that person has not yet fully repented. People should be ashamed of their sins and desire to … Continue reading “During a Church service a woman confessed Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, and was admitted into the baptismal class. Soon, the Church discovered that she was not married but was living with a man (cohabiting). Should the Church stop her from being baptized and becoming a member of the local Church until she is either married or separated from the man?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}