I’m getting ready for this week’s service at ABC, but I can’t stop thinking about how amazing Jesus was at our service on the 30th street beach last week! Our theme this year has been: A Summer of 3:16. Each week we look at a passage in the Bible that is found in a 3rd chapter and the 16th verse. Last week’s message was from Genesis 3. I used this outline: Sin’s Cause, Sin’s Curse, Sin’s Cost and Sin’s Conquest. The sermon ended with the power of Jesus to crush the serpent’s head. Christ will totally reverse the curse!
After the service, a young man named Radell came up to me. He still had the number on his chest from running the Labor Day 5K race that morning in Avalon. Radell is from Jersey City and lives in Philly now. He came with a crew from the city to run in the race that morning. After the race, he and his friends came to the 30th street beach to see the ocean. When they got there, our service was in full swing. Radell listened to the message and when it was finished, he came to me and said: “I need to get my life right with Christ, and I need to be baptized. Would you be willing to do that?”
Would I be willing?!? I had the chance to talk with Radell about his commitment to Christ and explain the significance of Baptism. There were still some folks lingering on the beach after the service, so I let them know about Radell’s commitment and desire to be baptized. We all went down to the water and watched this young men make his faith in Christ public and receive new grace and power from Christ in baptism.
After the baptism, Steve, one of our faithful, took off the cross he always wears around his neck. It has Proverbs 4:23 inscribed on it: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Steve put it around Radell’s neck, hugged him and said: “Guard your heart!”
Can you believe that we get to do this with Jesus? I still get lost in the wonder of it all! Join us each Sunday through the end of September at 9am on the 30th street beach. Bring your beach chair, some Wawa coffee and a whole carload of family and friends.
THIS WEEK’S 3:16 IS FROM JOEL:
The Lord will roar from Zion
and thunder from Jerusalem;
the earth and the heavens will tremble.
But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.
Avalon Beach Church 