9.10 Devotional - Theo's, Simon's, and Cooper's Stories

0:00Today is Thursday, September 10th. For our devotional today, we will hear the baptism testimonies of Theo Cook, Simon Bar, and Cooper Bar. Hello, my name is Theo, and I'm going to tell you about my story of faith. When I was 10, I was wondering what happened after death and was not sure my future had been. I was confused because I had not yet found God in my life. I had a lot of blank spots. Then when I asked my own dad, they told me about a verse in the Bible. Specifically, Matthew 6, 34, it says, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. That told me to stop worrying about the future. I believe the Lord is the way of the truth and the light. Since I am in His Word, I have no need to worry. I am grateful to decide to follow the Lord. Hi, my name is Simon Bar.

1:02I believe that Jesus died for me and saved me. It doesn't mean I'm perfect, but now I have the Holy Spirit to help me. I want to get baptized so I can show the world that Jesus is my Savior and that I want to be a part of God's plan, so I can tell others the gospel story. It finally struck me who Jesus was in my life when I was 8 or 9 and I wanted to get baptized knowing the peace it gave me that God, creator of the universe, loves me, a sinner. Hello, my name is Cooper and since I'm that kind of guy, before I explain why I wanted to be baptized, I'm going to tell you what it is. Baptism isn't mandatory for your faith journey. We do it to publicly announce our faith in Jesus. Baptism is that next step, a leap of faith, literally. Jesus gives us an example of how to live our lives. Baptism is one of them. Jesus also gives us the Holy Spirit to give us knowledge and power and with great power

2:02comes great responsibility. I know, I know, I'm quoting Spider-Man. Let's get back on track. Now that I got it all in there, I'm going to summarize it. If you want to do it, it's like when you finally get the milkshake you've been waiting for. If you are new to this, it's like you have twins, a double whammy. You get peace for knowing you've already accepted Jesus and not showing it and now everyone knows. Now you get to hear my story. As a majority of you know, I grew up in a Christian home community and even street and I thought I had a strong faith. Once I got to be about nine or ten, I realized that anyone can follow Jesus. If they haven't been following him or if the church they go to isn't the greatest, they have the choice to follow Jesus and give everything to them. We're going to make a jump here. I was saved in Yellowstone at six years old and I 100% recommend going to Yellowstone for a vacation. Here I am telling people where to go for a vacation and I've mapped it some ceremony. At that time, it was just words.

3:03I didn't know what it meant. Now I do. I said the prayer. Then before you know what Simon said it, Riley asked me how I'll per se. I did. I think Liam is still working on it. He's also five. Now I know all of you guys are waiting for the actual baptizing but let's all give a round of applause for the people who have accepted Christ. See you in heaven, guys. Now skip forward more than half a decade. Crazy, right? Talking with Pastor John and he's asking me all these questions and I'm thinking about him. But in my head, I'm saying, hit me with your past chat. Now I'm here and we got through the big parts of my faith journey. I know this moment won't be the last. You're all sitting there like get home with it already and I will. Thank you. That's all folks.