This is my pre-worship exhortation from a recent Sunday:

“Christ must reign, till Satan has not an inch of territory.” — William Carey

This law, moreover, demands instant and absolute obedience, not only from all classes of Christians, but also in every sphere of human life equally.

This kingdom is to endure for ever, gradually to embrace all the inhabitants of the earth, and finally the entire moral government of God in heaven and on earth. The little stone which breaks the image will become a great mountain and fill the whole earth (Dan. 2:35). This gospel of the kingdom is to be preached to all nations. Then all the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. And in the dispensation of the fullness of times all things, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, are to be gathered together in one in Christ; who is set at the right hand of God in heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and all things are put under his feet, He only being excepted that did put all things under him (Eph. 1:10, 20, 21; 1 Cor. 15:27).

"If Christ is really king, exercising original and immediate jurisdiction over the state as really as He does over the Church, it follows necessarily that the general denial or neglect of His rightful lordship, any prevalent refusal to obey that Bible which is the law-book of His kingdom, must be followed by political and social as well as moral and religious ruin. If professing Christians are unfaithful to the authority of their Lord in their capacity as citizens of the state, they cannot expect to be blessed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in their capacity as members of the Church. The kingdom of Christ is one and cannot be divided in life or in death. If the Church languishes, the state cannot be in health, and if the state rebels against its Lord and King, the Church cannot enjoy His favor. If the Holy Spirit is withdrawn from the Church He is not present in the state, and if He, the only "Lord and Giver of Life," be absent, then all order is impossible and the elements of society lapse backward to primeval night and chaos.

In baptism, water is poured or sprinkled over a person in the Triune name. Why does baptism use water? To grasp the full meaning of baptism, we need to grasp the meaning of water in the Scripture. Water was chosen for a reason, having to do with both its symbolism and its practical uses. Water is a fitting instrument for God’s purpose.