How can I support your work?<\/a><\/p>\nIn regards to the sin you are facing, James tells us, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much<\/em>” (James 5:16). It helps to have someone else know what you are going through and also to have someone help you analyze the problems for solutions. “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ<\/em>” (Galatians 6:1-2). But most of all it helps to know that someone cares and is praying to God on your behalf. If I can help, I’m willing to listen.<\/p>\nIn regards to baptism, you cannot baptize yourself. It is always described as being baptized; that is, someone does it to you. You do need to have someone able to baptize as God commanded in Matthew 28:18-20. Christians exist in most places in the world.<\/p>\n
Witnesses are needed, not for the baptism, but for another element of salvation. “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation<\/em>” (Romans 10:8-10). That confession has to be done before men. “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven<\/em>” (Matthew 10:32).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: Hi, Thanks for a good website I have learned a lot from reading questions and answers! Is it possible to support your website financially? I want to ask if you would pray for me so I can get out of my sin. As a person, I used to be confident, but I’m not that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,51],"class_list":["post-41471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-confession"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23714,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-many-times-does-a-person-need-to-be-immersed-during-a-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":41471,"position":0},"title":"How many times does a person need to be immersed during a baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to know if it is necessary to say \"I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit\" during a baptism? And is immersion valid if it is done once in the name of the Father, once in the name of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32998,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/weve-gone-back-to-church-but-find-some-things-to-be-not-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":41471,"position":1},"title":"We’ve gone back to church, but find some things to be not right","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have joined a Southern Baptist church and this is the first church we have ever attended since we were small children, so it's all new to us. I know now how important church is now and we want to be in one, they even agreed to baptize us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":81524,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-i-am-afraid-to-be-under-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":41471,"position":2},"title":"What if I am afraid to be under water?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have a question. I am talking with someone who has not been baptized but has a fear or phobia of being underwater. How could I biblically answer this? Thanks! Answer: I know several people who fear being underwater, including my own mother. I'm not minimizing the fear,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46869,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/would-you-baptize-someone-you-think-is-living-in-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":41471,"position":3},"title":"Would you baptize someone you think is living in sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hey Brother, Would you baptize an individual who you\u00a0think\u00a0is still living in sin or is setting a bad example? For instance, if the individual is living with a girlfriend but claims that they do not have sex and sleep in different rooms. Answer: \"Let no one despise your youth,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68549,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-baptism-is-a-burial-shouldnt-everything-be-under-simultaneously\/","url_meta":{"origin":41471,"position":4},"title":"Since baptism is a burial, shouldn’t everything be under simultaneously?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Minister, I was recently baptized. The water was not very deep, but the baptizer said it was deep enough. It was deep enough to be immersed in, but still shallow enough to be risky to have part of the body not fully immersed at the same time. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68100,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-qualifications-for-who-performs-baptisms\/","url_meta":{"origin":41471,"position":5},"title":"Are there qualifications for who performs baptisms?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Minister, May I ask for further clarification? You stated, \"There is nothing in the Scriptures listing out a requirement on those doing the baptism\" in the article \"What is successionist baptism?\" My query is, when Matthew 28:19 says, \"Go and make disciples,... baptizing them..\" doesn't it imply that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}