When was the last time you saw baptism or took communion at church? If a non-Christian were to

ask you to explain why Christians do these things on a regular basis, what would you say? Why is being

dipped in water so foundational to what it means to be a Christian? And how does eating a small

cracker and drinking a bit of wine or grape

juice actually benefit us spiritually? We've all wrestled with these questions at some point

in our Christian lives. And even if you think you have a pretty good understanding of baptism

and communion, my guess is that you could still learn something from my guest today. Kevin Emmert

serves as an academic book editor at Crossway.

He earned a PhD from the London School of Theology

and is the author of a number of books, including The Water and the Blood,

How the Sacraments Shape Christian Identity.

In our conversation today, Kevin explains why the sacraments are so central to our lives

as believers.

What baptism and communion actually mean for us and do in us, and why their shaping power

is more relevant than ever in a world obsessed with identity and self-expression.

Let's get started. Well, Kevin, thank you so much for joining me today on the

Crossway podcast. Thanks for having me. This is great. So we're going to talk a lot today about the

sacraments, about baptism and the Lord's Supper, these really foundational, important things that we do as Christians,

but things that sometimes we don't fully feel like we understand, we have questions about,

we maybe even are suspicious of certain ways of thinking about these things. And we're going to

get into all of that in a bit. But one of the most interesting and helpful things that I think

you do in this new book that you've

...