Tiger Woods – infidelity, adultery, sex addiction

Alexander McQueen, the famous English fashion designer who killed himself last week – relationship-dependent on his mother who died seven days before he committed suicide

Joseph Stack, who set fire to his own home and crashed his airplane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas this week – suicide, grudges, anger

Every day we see stories like these. People who lost their heads, and with it, their reputation, money, family, and in some cases their own lives. Notice, however, what motivates these people to such senseless acts. Unbridled lust, lack of self-control, absence of spiritual fortitude to deal with the temptations and setbacks of life. Works of the flesh, as explained in the Scriptures.

But we don’t really need to watch the news for these stories. All around us we can find similar cases in our circle of friends, family, and colleagues — and perhaps even in our own lives.

Please remember this: human nature is weak. It is unable to face and overcome the challenges of life. My Lord Jesus said that the solution to that problem is dying to the self and being reborn. When we choose to die to our ego, we allow Him to form us into a new creation, one that is made in His image and bears His nature — therefore able to overcome anything.

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.” 1 John 5.4

To do away with the old nature, there is water baptism. However, the reason why many people get baptized but are not reborn is that they did not die to their self before baptism.

Get this:

The ceremony of baptism is like a person’s burial. When you go to someone’s funeral, the person is no longer there. Only his body is. He died days before. Now, it’s just his body being buried.

Similarly, when a person is baptized for real, the baptismal ceremony is just the confirmation of what has already happened before he entered the waters — the death of the self. First you die, then comes your burial. First you decide to die to yourself, then comes baptism in water.

If you:

• Recognize that you’re weaker than your uncontrollable lusts
• Don’t have self-control when you need it most
• Have grudges and hard feelings you can’t let go of
• Keep on falling into selfish mistakes and feeling remorseful but not enough to stop it
• Recognize that you have not yet become a new person
• Decide now to die to your old self

Then, go to your nearest church and ask about being baptized in water for a new beginning. But make sure that you have decided to die to yourself first. Being buried alive cannot be a good experience…

Read this message in portuguese