Baptism takes center stage in this heartfelt episode, where hosts Savannah and Jeremiah candidly share their diverse experiences and insights. Savannah opens up about her challenging spiritual past, marked by encounters with demonic influences, which she overcame through a transformative baptism. She recounts the moment she emerged from the water feeling liberated, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. This pivotal experience led her to a deeper understanding of faith, but she also acknowledges the struggles that followed, including periods of lukewarm belief and a false sense of security that baptism alone could grant her salvation. Her story serves as a poignant reminder that true faith requires ongoing commitment and an authentic relationship with God.

Jeremiah's narrative contrasts with Savannah's, as he describes a more traditional journey towards baptism rooted in community and accountability. He reflects on how his faith matured over the years, culminating in a baptism that felt like a sacred commitment to God, akin to a wedding ceremony. Jeremiah emphasizes the importance of having a supportive community, which he believes fosters genuine growth in faith. His baptism was not just a personal milestone but a public declaration of his love for God, reinforcing the idea that baptism is a communal celebration as much as an individual act.

As their discussion unfolds, Savannah and Jeremiah explore the theological implications of baptism, challenging listeners to examine their own beliefs and experiences. They stress that baptism should not be viewed as a mere ritual but as a profound expression of faith that ideally reflects a sincere heart transformation. The episode encourages listeners to engage in conversations about their own baptism stories and the role of the church in supporting their spiritual journeys. Ultimately, Savannah and Jeremiah invite their audience to embrace their individual paths of faith, reminding them that God’s love transcends their past and empowers them to live authentically in their commitment to Christ.

Takeaways:

• Baptism serves as a public declaration of faith and commitment to God.
• There are various experiences of baptism; understanding individual significance is vital.
• The importance of accountability and community support in one's spiritual journey cannot be overstated.
• Baptism does not guarantee perfection, but it symbolizes a desire for growth in faith.
• Both Jeremiah and Savannah share contrasting baptism experiences, highlighting diverse faith journeys.
• The role of discernment in choosing the right church and understanding baptism is essential.

Links referenced in this episode:

• gotquestions.org

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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Casting Seeds.

I'm Savannah, your holistic health practitioner and.

Host, and Jeremiah, your co host, and.

You'Re listening to the only holistic health podcast that uses God's singular truth to give you individualized discernment.

We had a really fun weekend.

I hope everyone else had a blessed weekend.

And you have to spend time with family and, you know, let us know how your Thanksgiving went and just let us know how we could pray for your family and friends and stuff.

Like, if there's anything out there, let us know.

Yeah, we did get a few people messaging us too, about how thankful they were for last week's episode, which was so sweet to hear.

We love hearing back from you guys and we love getting your support.

And knowing that you're praying for us and knowing that we can pray for people individually is a huge blessing.

That's why we have this holiest community on here on Casting Seeds.

And that's also why Jeremiah and I love being able to talk to you guys through social media platforms as well, which I wanted to note.

Jeremiah got baptized on Sunday.

Yeah.

And definitely did.

It was fantastic.

And Wednesday morning, which is today for you guys at 6am, which is the same time that this airs.

Jeremiah's baptism is going to be on my Instagram.

Okay.

He doesn't even know.

And it's going to also be shared to my Facebook.

So whether you're on my Instagram or my Facebook, you'll be able to watch it in either place.

It's also so that his family and my family near and far, and our church family will be able to watch it as well.

But yeah, it's a sweet three minute little testimony.

And then Jeremiah gets dippity dunked and comes out with a dove.

A dove?

Yeah, the Holy Spirit ascending on him like a dove.

Well, that was only visible with Jesus.

That's what I saw it.

I don't like that today we're going to do something a little different.

We're not going to necessarily share our testimonies because you guys can watch Jeremiah's on my Instagram if you want to hear mine.

Write to us and let us know.

And then maybe we can both share our testimonies.

A little brief version, but we wanted to dive into more about baptism, specifically how different our baptism experiences were and how even even though they were both completely different, they were both still biblical.

And how to look for a proper believer's baptism versus a non believer's baptism, if that makes sense.

We wanted to give, like, holistic advice on how to, or I should say holistic advice on how to have proper judgment in those circumstances and how there also are exceptions obviously to some rules and.

Yeah.

Just how, how to navigate when it's time for baptism.

And maybe you can learn from some of, from our stories especially.

I know that there are things in mind that I wish that I had done differently, but God still used it in a beautiful way.

Yeah.

I do want to preface that this is catered to Christianity.

We believe in the New Testament and baptism to us is baptism of water.

And that's when we confess our love and we get submerged completely in water.

Yeah.

And there's also two different types of baptism.

There's baptism of the heart, which is a circumcision of the heart, which is the most important thing.

Yeah.

If you have circumcision of the heart, that is when you are truly saved.

You don't have to be baptized to be saved.

That is not what we're saying here today.

But we do know that there is something beautiful and special about baptism.

I mean, when Jesus got baptized, literally the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove.

Um, I know significant things happened after my baptism, which we'll talk about and you just, sometimes you just feel different afterwards.

There is, it's like a wedding day.

It's hard to explain, but it's an out outward expression of what's already happened internally.

And actually at our last church, there's something that I really loved that our pastor used to say at every baptism he would say, does baptism save you?

And then you could tell who didn't go to that church because they would say no.

Or even worse, they'd say yes.

But if what the church congregates, what we would all say is which one?

And then that's when he would explain that the circumcision of the heart was the most important part.

And all of the people being baptized already had that circumcision heart experience.

Yeah.

It doesn't mean that after you get baptized you're going to be perfect.

You're going to live by the wayward side if you're not being guided or loved on properly.

And that's kind of what happened to me.

So yeah, I think there, there was a lot of controversy at a few different churches as to whether or not my baptism counted.

So a lot of places told me that I should get re baptized, but I have sat down and said nope.

I, yeah, I'll explain it.

But we wanted to talk about our baptism experiences because of that, so you guys could get kind of opposite extremes of baptism.

And who knows?

Maybe you guys will agree with my old churches.

Maybe you'll agree with me.

Maybe you'll be like, Jeremiah's Savannah, you gotta get re baptized.

Jeremiah's was legit.

Time for you to get re Dunkey dunkey.

Who knows?

Jeremiah's looking at me like I'm crazy.

But yeah, we're just going to use that as, like, a general base.

And we just wanted to share our baptism stories.

And we'd love to hear your guys'too or if you have.

Yeah, if you have really awesome testimonies and baptisms that you'd like to share with us, maybe I can even interview you.

That'd be fun.

Open it up.

Open up the mic.

Especially an open mic night.

Yeah, especially to our brothers and sisters all around the world.

That'd be kind of fun.

But anyway, I'm gonna let Jeremiah lead because he is the hubby here, so I'll let him share his experience first.

And also because it's fresh in his mind.

But I wanted to interview him and say love, when did you realize that it was time for you to get baptized?

I would say last year, November, around the men's retreat that I went on.

I was pretty.

One of the reasons I waited so long to get baptized.

I've been a Christian since I was 30, so about five years now.

I waited so long because I've witnessed a lot of people get baptized and re baptized.

And I've heard testimonies, and I just never agreed to it.

Like what they were saying and how they were confessing their love for God and then getting re baptized.

It didn't make sense.

And it didn't.

I don't know.

You were wise.

Yeah.

And waiting.

I think the Holy Spirit really protected me in that sense.

And so me waiting to the point where I felt like I had the right group of men behind me to hold me accountable in my life.

And I was like, okay, I think I'm.

I'm ready.

Okay.

Yeah.

So.

So almost like a wedding.

Yeah.

Like you felt like you had.

Yeah, Literally.

I woke up on Sunday morning and it felt like our wedding.

I was like, wow, today's really peaceful.

And I was like, I could just go do anything and nothing would faze me.

And then literally walking up the steps to the.

To the water, I was like, okay, here we go.

And that's literally how it felt.

Didn't you say that God was speaking to you about specific things too, leading up to your baptism?

You know, it's really difficult to talk about that.

Because I know there's a lot of Christians that would say, like, you got to be careful where you get your thoughts from.

And you got to pray about.

You got to make sure it's valid.

You got to make sure it's according to God's word and that it's aligned with his.

His plan.

While praying for like, that whole week before, the day before, like the week leading up to.

The week leading up to my baptism.

Yeah.

Like, I kept on at the end of my prayer, like, just the word blindness keep.

Kept coming into my head.

And, you know, I haven't.

I haven't prayed about it, like, since the baptism because I'm, like, a little worried about it.

You never know, you know, Like, I literally, the Friday night I was praying and I was like, oh, man, what if I actually go blind physically?

Like, that's kind of scary.

He didn't tell me about this too, until literally we were like five minutes before driving up to service at church.

Yeah.

Not nighttime service where he was going to be baptized, but the morning service.

He said that blindness kept coming up.

And I was like, well, every time blindness is mentioned throughout the Bible, it's God opening up the eyes of the blind.

And I was like, maybe God is saying to you that you're going to be opened up in a different way after this.

And that's why I think it's silly that you have let us all hold you accountable for next week.

That next week you can tell everybody that what you.

When you prayed now post dipped.

Yeah.

Dip, dip, chocolate chip.

What God was saying to you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It could be a multitude of things.

Things.

I'm really.

I'm excited and I just.

I'm so thankful for how many people showed up.

And then also just all the people that have helped me grown closer to the Lord in the past five years.

It's insane how much a person's life can change when God touches them.

Yeah.

Doing life together is a significant part of Christianity.

And that's all part of Jeremiah's testimony, too.

Like, I.

When I first talked to you about the Lord, you asked me to show you things, and I told you, nope, you gotta be around men.

Your heart is for men.

Men have to lead you.

I can't.

I'm a single woman.

It's weird, but I'm praying for you.

Bye.

And that's actually the part of my baptism that I wish I had.

That I.

I wasn't taught that I needed that by any means, by that church, but my heart, I still loved Jesus with all My heart, I just didn't know that.

I literally was like, I was blind even after, but.

Okay, love.

So a lot of people get kind of nervous standing up in front of a crowd, let alone the brothers and sisters in Christ who they have to face again.

It's not, like, just randos.

How did you feel?

Because I know you get nervous public speaking, let alone reading in front of people.

How did you feel reading your testimony in front of people and then also sharing a really intimate moment, like getting baptized?

Because I know you said you had the urge to cry after.

Did it feel uncomfortable?

Was it scary?

No, not at all.

As soon as I got in the water and I was greeted and welcomed by everybody, I looked at the audience briefly.

I saw where the pastors were, and I saw where my family was, and then that was kind of the last thing I saw.

I looked down and I started reading.

And when I got dunked and came up, I didn't.

I was completely fine.

I was like, this is awesome.

I'm excited.

Did you feel different after?

When I started walking back and I.

Our baptism pools has, like, the staircase that goes up and then down, and I got.

I got up, and I, like, realized, like, I'm baptized.

And it was like, literally that same moment, like, I'm married, and then I reached for my talent, it hit me like, oh, man.

Like, this is.

It felt different than just accepting God into my heart in the sense that I confessed my love outwardly for him, and then at the same time, like, I feel.

But what's the word?

I think I can't really describe it.

I felt honored to be there in that moment where God wanted me to be, and now I get to follow his legacy.

Yeah.

Covenant makes it feel different.

The same way that after, like, when we get married, when we say our vows out loud in front of everybody and we're held accountable to those vows.

Yeah.

It's different afterwards.

Yeah.

Like, when we got married, it didn't hit me, really, until we got into the car afterwards.

Like, whoa, we're alone now.

Like, this is different.

And we're, like, driving to our new home together, and I'm like, I'm married.

Yeah.

Well.

And that's for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are single and haven't been married but have been baptized.

They can understand that feeling.

It feel.

You just feel different afterwards.

There's a different sense of accountability and responsibility.

There's a different sense of completion.

Yeah.

It feels like a task has been followed through.

Yeah.

That's why, for me, in my Baptism, it was the exact opposite of yours.

I.

I was brought up, but also kind of.

How do I say this?

I was around a lot of demonic activity from, like, a young age.

And there were a lot of things that I saw and was trained to do and was around up until I was a young teen.

And then when I met.

Met my friend in high school who happened to be a pastor's daughter, she found out about all that and was like, why don't you come to church with me?

And I was like, what?

So then I started going to church, and when I read the Bible, it totally made sense in a different way, where I was like, whoa, this God that I would worship is in control of the things that I used to worship before.

And that's why those things and those powers, quote, unquote, powers that I had were so limited.

And so when I finally, after a year of reading the Bible and going to this church, the church made it very clear to me, like, you are not fully saved until you're baptized.

So it's the opposite of what is biblically true.

But I believed it because it was my first church I went to and.

And I wanted that, like, fire insurance from hell.

I felt like if I got dipped in the water, I would be okay.

And what was interesting, too, is I did believe that Jesus Christ was my Lord and Savior with all my heart, but I still had a lot of demonic activity and things happening around me for a long time.

And what was interesting, and I think the only reason why I know that my baptism was valid was because that day, when I got baptized, it was 10-31-2, of all things, which is interesting that I was, like, doing demonic things.

And then I got baptized on the.

Day of, like, you know, demonic days.

Of the year, the most demonic day.

So it kind of felt like full completion in that way.

But I got baptized, and I literally, when I came out of that water, I felt like a weight came off of my shoulders.

And to boot.

You're Canadian now.

To boot.

I literally.

Those things that I could do beforehand, I no longer could do anymore.

And the things that I saw, I didn't see anymore.

So once that was done, I was like, oh, my gosh.

There is something so beautiful and magical about baptism that I just couldn't.

I.

I couldn't comprehend.

But here's the part where a lot of churches and Christians would be like, well, were you actually saved?

Because after that, that church was kind of like, yeah, and, well, now you're baptized, you're good.

Now you can kind of do whatever you want and live whatever life you want as long as you claim to love Jesus.

And yeah, I was.

So then I did, I was like, cool, I have fire insurance from hell.

I can do whatever I want now.

So then I lost my virginity to my boyfriend.

I did all the things that a Christian shouldn't do.

I went to parties, I drank, and I was in high school.

Not all the things, but a majority of them, you know, So I definitely, I abused God's grace because I didn't know that that's, that was a bad thing.

That's what that church was all about.

So I really do think that I was bamboozled by that first church.

And it breaks my heart.

I do hope that they've changed since then.

But I will say that I did know that there was something wrong.

And then at 19 years old, I had a true like, what is this?

I.

I thought I was a Christian, like, God, don't you love me?

Why is my life in shambles moment?

And in that moment I realized that I thought, I thought I knew God's love, but I didn't.

And if it weren't for that heart posture moment where I was like, oh my gosh, I not, I don't just need God like for my salvation.

I need him in my day to day life.

I need more of a relationship with Him.

I wouldn't be the woman that I am today.

So coming with that, a lot of Christians would say, well then Savannah, I think that you need to get re baptized.

And the reason why I'd say I don't feel the need to get rebaptized is because I really did love Jesus at that time.

But my love for him was limited.

And even after reading the Bible, I had false teachers telling me and recorrecting the words that I was reading.

And I believed and entrusted into these teachers that were leading me astray.

So, and, and literally things did change after that baptism and I've never felt convicted.

In fact, I feel weird thinking about getting re baptized and my life does now bear fruit.

So I don't consider it to be a false baptism in that way.

But do I wish that I held out like Jeremiah did and had a baptism later where my life actually was changed and different?

Yeah, absolutely.

Because I'm sure it was confusing for my family and friends seeing me claim Christ and then get baptized and then not live a life for Christ at all for four years.

But at the end of the day, that's also a part of my sanctification and my walk I lived like a lukewarm baby Christian for four years.

And during that time, that's.

That's scary that I didn't.

I don't know if I was saved during that time.

It doesn't mean that I didn't have a beautiful moment, though, during my baptism.

But if something happened to me during that time, I can't tell you whether or not I would have gone to heaven or hell just on, you know, the faith that I loved Christ because in James chapter two, it talks about, like, a person who's truly saved also has fruit bearing from their life.

So that's that, like, area where no Christian fully knows.

But my.

I do think that mine's slightly different.

And Jeremiah has confirmed that he agrees with me.

Yeah.

And I guess that's all that matters at the end of the day is the conviction that I have from my husband and the Lord.

I've watched you bring three of your clients to Christ.

Has really been that many.

Yeah.

And then I know of people off of the Internet.

I know you've helped several people get Bibles and we've sent Bibles out.

Yeah.

And a few of them are Christians now, too.

They go to church.

Yeah, I do.

And then there's just.

There are more people that are just your friends and family members.

And.

Yeah.

I've definitely.

God put in my life to be a seed planter, which is what we talked about last week, to plant seeds.

And I'm so thankful that for so many of those people, I've been able to not necessarily shepherd, but also see the outcome of that, and that's been a huge blessing.

Anyone that I've dated, at least one or two people in their family started coming to church with us.

Okay, calm down.

Calm down.

No, I'm just saying Jeremiah used to make fun of me because I would have, like, exes that I dated.

I would have one or two family members that would always come and say hi and give us hugs at church.

Yeah.

Not necessarily that they're saved, but I would tell them, like, this is a seed that I planted and they'll always be in my life because I'll always love on them.

Yeah.

And that was kind of hard for him at first, but now I've seen the same thing with Jeremiah where I've seen him plant seeds, but in a.

In a different way.

I see Jeremiah's strength, where he actually lifts up already established believers and tends to challenge a lot of what people think of the norm and challenge how, like, their comfortability with Christ.

And I just.

I really Respect that.

Because I get kind of nervous, challenging already like an established believer.

And I feel like I have to like, prepare and get all this stuff and say the right thing.

And Jeremiah just comes with an open and honest and gentle heart.

And he's just.

He talks to people about where he's at and then asks them where they're at.

And it's something that I really.

I've seen people grow immensely from my husband.

Really?

Yeah, absolutely.

I don't really.

I don't really pay attention all that much to when I'm doing that.

So having your eyes to witness it and then tell me is awesome.

Yeah.

It's also.

It feels weird saying these things.

But here's the thing.

If we didn't have this evidence, right, we wouldn't then know that our faith is established and our baptism was solid and it's the internal circumcision that happened that was genuine.

So with that, it's more.

It's kind of an extension of last week's episode.

But we want to make sure that whether your guys testimony is a little more like mine.

You got baptized too early and it was clear that you were a baby Christian for way too long and you took advantage of God's grace.

And by God's grace, you are still alive today.

Where we don't have to question whether or not you truly went to the kingdom, there is still an opportunity to mend that at any time right now you can decide that you're going to start reading more, praying more, and fellowshiping more and start living out God's Word more in your life.

Yeah.

You don't have to wait till tomorrow.

You could decide that right this second to start loving on people and just ask God, what is your will for me?

Or if your testimony is more like Jeremiah's, the classic and tried and true, you know, testimony and baptism where you fell in love with Christ and then you're like, okay, God.

From like Saul DePaul.

He was alone with God for two years and then he came out and was like, I'm a Christian.

And people were like, what?

But that's a tried and true testimony where people can see the night and day difference of who you are then and who you are now.

And then when you get baptized, it's like, well, yeah, this person's clearly different from before, which should be the norm, by the way.

But either way, we want to validate you in the fact that if you have that discernment not just from the Lord, but from your friends and family around you, that it's clear that your baptism was tried and true because of the circumcision of your heart, then you're ready to love on people at any stage, whether you're a newer believer or you've been doing this for 30, 40, 80 years.

Yeah.

And no sin is greater than God.

So it doesn't matter what you've been through, what hurts, what pains.

Yeah.

No sin, nothing can separate you from the Lord.

All you have to do is give it to him.

You can limit your relationship with him here, though.

And that's what I experienced for a very long time.

And I do pray for that church often.

And that their teaching has changed because God warns about teachers giving false word.

Yeah.

And leading people astray in revelation.

It's a dangerous place to be.

How did you know you should get baptized?

Okay.

That's a good question.

I guess I asked you that, huh?

Kind of, yeah.

So during that time when I had, like, a lot of demonic stuff happening, at that time, I.

Well, I was told that I should.

I didn't even know that was.

My wife told me I should.

I just, Like, I think it's time.

Have you.

Anyway, yeah, she kept on.

She.

She brought it up since we got married for a good two years now, and I just.

I knew there was gonna be the right timing.

Yeah.

Well, for me, I.

I think my friend was, like, genuinely worried because she knew that I still had a lot of demonic things happening in my life.

And I told her, I was like, well, so I'm gonna get dunked underwater, and then all of a sudden, this is all gonna go away.

I literally said that.

I.

Okay, I said that sarcastically and jokingly, like me.

And I don't know if that's necessarily true for everybody.

I'm not gonna say you're gonna get dunked underwater, and then demonic things will go away.

That's not what I'm saying at all.

But I'm going to tell you, I knew that there was a difference, so.

And you know what, too?

Anytime I brought up baptism, I felt like demonically, I got attacked a lot more, and things just felt worse and more horrible.

And then, yeah, I got.

I was like, I'm just gonna.

I'm going to be baptized.

And I knew that day, I knew the moment, too, where I really, truly loved the Lord.

I remembered I was standing at a youth convention, and I was just blown away that all of these people that were my age were singing and worshiping God, and I wasn't.

I couldn't believe that I wanted to cry so hard because I knew I was missing out on like an all loving God.

And Sierra, my friend at that time was holding my hand and the youth pastor prayed over me and he said things that I never had told anyone.

And he prayed when he prayed over me and I couldn't believe it.

And I was like, this is a real God.

Whoever this is, I need to get to know him and I want, I want him in my life, whatever, whatever I have to do.

And that's why I started reading the Bible.

But I didn't know how to practically apply the word into my life and how to use it.

I just thought you like, you read it and then you get baptized and c'est la vie because that's what I was taught.

So it's good to remember that whoever you are taught by, you need to even double check the things that your own church says.

So if you go to a sermon and your pastor says something, you're like, you know what, I just kind of want to, I want to hear what other pastors have to say about that.

Do it, check into it, especially when you're looking at a new church.

So that's the wisdom and discernment we wanted to bestow onto you guys, to feel encouraged and feel loved and to not ever feel ashamed by your individual story.

I think because for quite a few years at my last church I did, I was kind of felt ashamed.

Like they didn't agree with the fact that my baptism, they kind of canceled it, like, no.

And at my new church and this, this isn't just because they agree with me, but at my new church they sat me down and they really asked me about it because in order to become members, we have to be baptized.

And if they didn't agree with my baptism, I was just like, you know what?

If a second or if a third church is going to say it, at this point, I will just get re baptized and kind of admit that I was wrong in this and just do it for the Lord because that's all that matters at the end of the day.

And we sat down and I shared my testimony with an elder and he looked at me and he was like, no, you left the Lord.

And he was like, you were like, you said you were led astray.

That was on the church and you lived like a baby Christian.

And when you realized that your heart felt convicted and he was like, you weren't saved that day when you were 19, but your heart like changed.

Yeah, your heart fully changed because you realized you had to live out the word and it just Felt so nice hearing multiple people say that over and over again and be like, yeah, I mean, certain churches have different views, but here at this church you don't have to get baptized again.

So I've had other friends tell me that even at my old church, but it was different hearing like elders and leaders and teachers say that.

But I don't want you guys to ever feel unloved or dismayed like I did for quite some time with my love story with God, because it's very different.

It's not normal for first world, I guess story because you don't hear about demonic things very often.

But that's mine.

And I don't talk about it very often because it feels weird sometimes.

So, yeah, I think it's really difficult to, in the American church to have conversations about demonic stuff and about baptism.

There's a lot of opinions and not a lot of truth and there's a lot of fear that's led behind a lot of it as well.

Yeah.

A lot of theologies.

Yeah.

And I think, I think it's hard, you know, to put trust in a bunch of different people.

So we really have to stick to the Word and always cross reference our pastors.

And you know, like while you're sitting there in that sermon, they're being cross referenced right there and then by their other teachers.

At least a good church will be doing that.

Yeah.

And talking to them after the sermon.

Yeah.

They'll have a meeting and say what went well and what didn't.

And you know, we have to do that to ourselves spiritually.

We have to build our biblical filter in our own lives and then also what we receive into our life.

We can't take everything by face value.

And even when we think we get a word from the Lord, we always have to cross reference the Bible and check that it's with God's, God's commands and what he wants.

Yeah.

That's why next week we'll be able to do that with Jeremiah when he prays about the blindness thing.

Okay.

But yeah, I think getting baptized, choosing God over yourself is not only a blessing, but a gift that we get to partake in and to share with everybody that's loving on us at that time.

We are not promised wives, we're not promised children.

We're not promised anything in this world.

But you're promised God's love.

And stop putting that behind you and start putting that in front of you.

Yeah.

Wear it like a badge of honor and be excited to shout the Lord from the rooftops.

I think it's weird when you meet a Christian and they make it clear that they love Jesus, but they've never wanted to take that last step.

It's like somebody.

When.

When you hear that people have dated for eight years and they never want to get married, there's something off about that.

Yeah.

Especially if you're a Christian.

Like, it doesn't make sense.

I'm not even going to jump in there.

I have a lot to say.

Yeah.

So we want to say and encourage you guys to make that full commitment and big step and to not do it alone in a private place.

Do it in a public place around people who are going to lift you up and hold you accountable, not around a bunch of strangers around your community.

And invite as many people as you can because they are supposed to hold you accountable.

The same way that Jeremiah and I wanted a private wedding, we wanted a small wedding.

We wanted to make it as small as possible and to save as much money as possible.

And our last pastor told us, like, hey, that's not fair for all the people who get to pour into you and into your marriage and into your relationship.

None of those people get to celebrate with you.

None of those people get to hear your vows or to love on you and, like, celebrate that day with you.

Yeah, it's unkind.

It's unloving.

And how are we supposed to hold you accountable if we weren't there on that day?

And what he said.

Yeah, 100%, I didn't want to agree with him, but he was correct.

I really didn't want to.

And I was very humbled in that.

And that's why we ended up doing a much bigger wedding than we would have ever wanted or even felt comfortable with.

But we did it because a wedding day truly isn't about Jeremiah and I.

It's about us coming together for the Lord.

And my baptism is not about us and God.

It's about God's testimony towards us.

Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely.

So with that, we just wanted to kind of sprinkle that on from last week.

If your family or friends or community around you is really struggling with the way that you're approaching them and you have not made that big commitment towards the Lord, maybe it's time for you to consider that.

And it's good if your church sits down, sits down with you and challenges you, like, what is your actual testimony?

When is the day that you remember that your heart changed for the Lord?

I know that a lot of people are like, well, you know, what happened over time?

Some people's Testimonies are like that.

And, yes, I do think that that can happen.

But there are significant moments.

Like, there should be the same way that, like, I still remember the day I fell in love with Jeremiah.

Like, I knew that I wanted to marry him.

Yeah.

What day was it?

March.

No, I knew a day I wanted to marry you.

Okay.

My day for when I wanted to marry you was.

It was around December.

So we had been dating already for about six months.

Okay.

And we were Christmas shopping, and we were trying to figure out what would be good for the Christmas drawing, like, for each person that we had.

Okay.

And you were so thoughtful for my family member that you had in the Christmas drawing.

And then you looked.

You just looked up at me out of nowhere, and you were like, you know, I really love doing this with you.

I can't wait to do this with you.

Is that why you don't let me wander off and look at Christmas gifts for people by myself?

I don't know.

That makes sense now.

But he looked at me, and it's like, I could tell he already made lifelong plans to do this forever.

Yeah.

And I was like, man, I want to do that with you, too, forever.

And it just kind of melted my heart.

And I knew right then there, I was like, let's just go get married.

Was that chapel song.

I don't know.

Anyway, but, yeah, it.

I remember I wanted to marry.

Like, I knew I was going to marry you on that first day on the beach.

I just knew the first day you met me in prison, like, I was.

Already praying about you and about marrying a woman like you months before I even met you in person.

I love you.

And so Jeremiah basically knew.

He saw me skip away.

And she makes fun of it now.

She thought it was so cute.

But I think that was my brain and my body mentally making that connection.

It's like, I think I met the one.

He literally skipped to his car after we hung out.

It was so cute.

But anyway, with that, we just wanted to encourage you guys to be challenged.

Be uncomfortable in your faith.

Allow the people around you to question you a little bit and challenge you why you aren't baptized or the baptism that you have had, whether or not it's legitimate.

Bring this question up with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and that includes your spouses, because they're your first and foremost brothers and sisters in Christ.

I was about to say in spouse.

Yeah.

I'd go to the word first.

One of the one thing that happens in my head, like, a word will stand out to me.

And so this past week was baptism.

And so I went to the index of the Bible and I looked up baptism and baptized in every single version of baptize and I went through every single chapter and I read every verse that had it and it's just, it's a really great experience.

And then you also understand then what the Bible says about baptism.

Yeah.

The Bible Project is also a really good.

Oh yeah.

Reference for you to go to if you want to look at videos, if you're more of a visual learner.

And gotquestions.org is also wonderful.

I love using that one.

Sorry.

3, 2.

They have all sorts of references and they give biblical explanations for everything.

There are some things I've been kind of like, yeah, you know, I, I'm like 90 in agreement with that theologically, but I mean they are pretty spot on and very general and non biased in their answers even with their theological background.

And they do a lot of research and they back it up with Bible verses non stop.

Yeah.

So also gotquestions.org we can write these down and put them in the show notes as well.

But we love you guys and we're so honored that you have enjoyed more of our personal life and personal updates.

We know that it's not normal for us to talk about more theology, like just theology in our episodes.

We kind of tend to talk about holistic health more, which we'll get back into next week.

Yeah, we were messing around with our Scoby and it's so much fun, I.

Don'T even want to get started.

And then oh yeah, we have something.

We've been doing so much.

But anyway, we just wanted to make it very clear that we love the Lord and it's Advent season and right now is a time and a season to dwell with the Lord and big things are happening in our lives and we want to share that with you.

So with that we love you guys.

Don't forget to like share, follow and subscribe.

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And yeah, as always, God bless and keep casting seeds.

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