Baptism…Why and what is the purpose?

I grew up in church and was Baptized as a very young child.  As a found again Christian, I ask this question.  Am I saved because of this?  Do I need to be Baptized again?  My kiddo says, Do I get Baptized and again every time we sin?   All very valid questions. 

 Scripturally, baptism follows in this pattern by representing new life in the Gospel before the Lord and before the church. It does so in two ways. First, baptism identifies one with the Lord both in his death and in his resurrection (Romans 6:2-4, Colossians 2:12). Notice the identity shift here. The old self, the sinful self, dies before the cross and the new self is resurrected to new life in Christ.

Second, the waters of baptism represent a cleansing of sin (Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthia.ns 6:11) One cannot be both sinful and holy. Sin must be removed for holiness to be imparted. The washing of the water symbolizes the washing away of sin. In this, the Christ-follower is not what she was before, but is a new, clean creation before the Lord.

A believers baptism holds that one is only baptized upon profession of faith in Jesus.  This is drawn for the New Testament examples where believers, including Jesus, were baptized in bodies of water such as the Jordan River (Matthew 3:13, Mark 1:5)

Baptism is an incredibly exciting time in the Church. In baptism, we celebrate that we who were once dead in our sin have new life in Christ. We celebrate publicly and amongst fellow believers, because faith, while a personal confession, is not meant to be lived out in isolation. We declare that we believe Jesus is who he said he is. We believe it was our sin that died with him and we believe his resurrection has become our own. We commit to living out our new life such that Christ is made known in us.

To answer the questions from above, Baptism is a public declaration of you giving yourself to Jesus.  Only you can make the choice to be Baptized or Baptized again.  Baptism is not what defines you as being saved. Giving yourself to the Lord fully and completely is what is being Saved. No, you do not need to be Baptized again because you sinned.  If you have sinned you simply need to atone for the sins to our Lord. Know your heart as he does, and give yourself to him. 

Simply put, we follow in baptism because we desire to follow our Lord.