Gertrude Baines was born when Grover Cleveland was in office. She married while a young lady, or more precisely an older girl. Gertrude lived in the deep south where her life was hard and tested. She couldn t go many places other young women went, or eat in the same restaurants, or drink from the same water fountains. Yes, Gertrude s skin color was black. She had only one child, but her daughter died when only eighteen. Gertrude divorced and worked as a maid for the remainder of her working years. None of this gave her the recent fame she received. Here public notice came because she was the oldest living human being on the globe. You heard me right; I said ‌was.‍ You see, Gertrude died last week. Most people remember her during the election race for our forty-forth president. She had no qualms about revealing her vote: she said Obama was ‌for the colored‍ so he got her vote. Gertrude said she had only voted one other time in her life and that vote went for John Kennedy. When Gertrude Baines was asked by reporters her secret for living a long life, she would reply "Ask God."
Just how long can a person live? In Gertrude s case she lived to be 115 years old. However, the real answer is that a person can live forever. Mrs. Baines knew the answer to long life   GOD. He is also the answer to life eternal. The concept that is difficult for us is that we must die to live. Just think of it: we must die in this life before we can expect to live in the next. Of course I am speaking in spiritual terms. Paul reveals this process in our text for today: Romans 6:1-13. He says that at baptism we die and at the same time we begin to live   then daily from that point on we manifest death and life in our Christian walk. If someone came up to you today and asked your secret to living an eternal life, what answer would give?