It has been a beautiful start to spring here in Oklahoma. We saw temperatures jump up into the 80's yesterday but now it's looking like a high of 60 today. God is good.
Some things have occured since I last posted in February. We have purchased a new church van (new to us) that is older than the one we have but has way less miles. I'm looking forward to working on the van route to get it back up and going.
We are also bringing in a summer intern. It will be exciting to see how God will work through that. We continue to see visitors at the church and are continuing to do the Lord's work.
Another subject I want to bring up is this thought that salvation includes baptism. There are churches that teach the need for baptism in salvation. We've even seen two Church of Christ churches here in town hitting it real hard in the local paper. Its sad to see a false doctrine like that built all around one verse (Acts 2:38). But when you look at all of God's Word you can plainly see that salvation only comes by putting your faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible says salvation is "Not of works" (Eph 3:9). That word "works" means a toil or action. Baptism is an action someone performs. Also Paul said Christ sent him "not to baptize but to preach the gospel." (I Cor 1:17) Now why wouldn't Christ send him to baptism if it was part of salvation. The fact that he was sent "not to baptize" shows that there is no need for baptism when it comes to salvation.
Praise God that He sent His Son to die on the cross so all that I have to do is repent of my sins and ask Him to save me! We at Grace Baptist will continue to serve Him and pray that He builds His church.
God Bless,
Pastor Richard Perkins
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