The Church of Eleven22 - Because He Lives - Worship is War: Wk 1

Episode Date: September 14, 2025

This isn’t a concert. It’s not a show. This is war. Worship is a weapon God has placed in the hands of His people to push back the darkness and declare victory in Jesus. In this message, Pastor Joby unpacks how worship crushes fear, silences the enemy, and reminds us that because Jesus lives, we fight from victory, not for it. What battle do you need to fight through worship today? Episode Mentions: Scripture Passage: Luke 10:17-20, Ezekiel 28:11-19, Isaiah 14:12-15, Luke 24:1-12 • Preacher: Pastor Joby Martin Saturated 2025 Hymns Album Supplemental Resources From This Week: This is War! - Worship is War Series Opener Hope, Fear & the Power of Worship - Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin S23E1 Worship is War Sermon Series About The Church of Eleven22 The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://coe22.com/donate 

Let's go, let's go. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Hey, if you're standing or don't have a seat and want to sit on the stairwells, feel free. I prayed about it. It's okay. And if it's not with the fire marshal, then it'll be okay. I promise. Hey, if you got your Bibles, I'm going to get to Luke chapter 24 in about 20 minutes or so.

My intention is to preach short today. But we don't have another service after this until 422. Okay, so we'll see. But the reason why is because we're going to close this. service with baptism. That's what we're going to do. And so, um, and some of you are going to get baptized and you don't even know it yet. And I'm praying for you and I'm coming after you. It's a buckle up buttercup. Here we go. This series is called This is War. Worship is War. You got that? Here's what I do need you to know, though. I plan these things out like a year in advance.

And I've never had less time to prepare for a message. We did a church leaders conference Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, then we did this little thing called Saturated Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and right now. And though I've never had less time to prepare, I've never had a clear word from God on what we're supposed to do as a church. That worship is war. Now, when you hear that, let me explain a couple things, okay? Our battle is not against flesh and blood. Our battle is not against people.

People get used by the enemy, but people are not the enemy. And also, we fight differently. Second Corinthians 10-4 says, the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments in every lofty opinion, raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

And when we worship, we go to war. So the idea behind this series is this, okay? This is the year we're calling men to stand firm and act like men. And Paul tells Timothy, this is an older man trying to train up a younger man on what it means to be a godly man. And he tells Timothy that men lift holy hands in the sanctuary. Now listen, 1122, as compared to most, you do a good job. But men, I just want to make sure they work. Can you lift all of your hands, everybody with hands?

lift them Kyle Thompson. You ever notice in the Bible where people, like Paul just calls out a dude, like specifically? It's a dangerous thing for me to know your first and last name in here, okay? So that's what the series is about, okay? Is that we're at war, and when we worship, it's war, I'll describe it for a bunch of weeks in a row. And so then I thought this would be a good idea, okay? I think most of my ideas are good ideas. That's why I do them.

But I thought, what if we'd study some songs and hymns that have served the church well for years and years and years and years and years. And this is why our worship team came along and released a hymns album to just support what we're doing. And a year ago, listen, I go into the woods on Mondays and I just open up God's Word and I can't read it yet because it's dark. And I can't turn my phone on because the deer can see my phone. And I don't need them to see me based on the alternative thing I'm also doing. and I pray, Lord, I do it every single week, man. Lord, they're your sheep, they're not my sheep. You're the chief shepherd.

You're the senior pastor of our church. I work for you. I'm just an under shepherd. What do you want to say to your people? And I believe that he gives me these sermons. It gives me these ideas. And I thought, all right, the very first song that we're going to study is because he lives. It's not even a hymn.

It's written by the Gators. How many of you have ever been to a Gators? through it. Please raise them high. All right. These are the most southern of our Southern Baptist right there. You did it. And you're not real young. That's just true. But you're awesome. So what we're going to do is we're going to be just digging into these songs, okay? And the reason is because we're at war. And just because our warfare is spiritual, you've heard the phrase spiritual warfare. Just because our warfare is spiritual doesn't mean it's not actual. This isn't just philosophy. This isn't just ideologies. We have an actual enemy. And just because you may not

see him physically doesn't mean that he doesn't actually exist. And he's a thief. That means he wants to take something that's not his. And he comes only to steal, kill, kill, and destroy. This is who he is. and sometimes people be like, you mean to tell me in 2025 you believe in the devil? Uh-huh. Do you know why primarily I believe in the devil? Because Jesus did. And I'm with him. Whatever he says, that's what I'm for. Listen. Luke chapter 10, verse 17, the Bible says this. The 72 returned with joy. Jesus had sent them out on mission. They're coming back to give testimony. And they're pumped. Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. You see this? we fight from victory, we're not fighting for victory.

Verse 18. And Jesus said to them, I saw Satan fall light lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. So what if you can cast out a demon, but you hadn't let you? somebody to Christ, do you understand? He's saying the reason that we fight the spiritual warfare

is for the salvation of human beings of image bearers of God. And so what does Jesus mean when he says he saw Satan fall like lightning? I've told you this a thousand times. We always use the Bible as commentary unto itself. So if you back up to Ezekiel 28, and I know you're really familiar with this, you probably read Ezekiel for your quiet time this morning, didn't you? That's a feel-good hit of the morning in it, Ezekiel? In Ezekiel 28, God is talking about the devil, Satan, Lucifer. This is who he's talking about. If you're picking up in the back half of verse 12, it says this,

you were the signet of perfection. You see, Satan began as an angel in heaven. You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect beauty. You were in Eden, the Garden of God. Well, who, come on, you know this. Even if you didn't grow up in Sunday school, you know this one. Who was in Eden? Well, it was Adam.

It was not talking about him. Eve, not talking about her. God was there. He's not talking about himself. This is the only other one. Satan. The trickster was there. You were in Eden, the Garden of God.

And then he's going to describe either what the devil was wearing or maybe what he was made of. Every precious stone was your covering. Sardis, Topaz, and Diamond, barrel, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle. That sounds beautiful. Maybe you want some carbuncle earrings. We'll look into that, okay? And crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. Now, the New King James translate that engraving part,

the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes. In other words, this angelic being is in heaven, and he is either wearing or made of all of these different emeralds and jasper and sapphire. and he has no light in and of himself, but what his job is, is his job is to lead worship. And because he's not the source of light, the book of Revelation says that in heaven you don't even need the sun

because Jesus is the source of life. And his appendages were musical instruments. And according to Job 38, 7, his job was to lead the angels in worship. The idea is that God would provide the light and this angelic being would refract and reflect the light of God and all the angels would give glory to God. This is who he is. And it says, and on the day that you were created, they were prepared.

You were an anointed guardian cherub, and I placed you on the holy mountain of God in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. Something began to shift. In the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned. So I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O'Guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty. This is why C.S. Lewis says that pride is the grand deity of all sins, because it got the devil kicked out of heaven.

It says your heart was proud because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I exposed you before kings to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities and the unrighteousness of your trade, you profane your sanctuary. So I brought fire out from your midst. It consumed you. And I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you.

All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever. Are you beginning to see why worship is war? because the morning star, the devil, this enemy, he got tired of being looked through and he wanted to be looked to, and he wanted God's creation to worship him instead of the creator.

Isaiah 14 says this. He says, How you are falling from heaven, oh, Daystar. Daystar is the English translation of a Hebrew word that when translated into Latin, Lucifer. So if you've ever heard Satan's name is Lucifer, this is where we get it. He says, how you are falling from heaven, O Lucifer, O son of dawn, how you were cut down to the

ground, you who laid the nations low. Lucifer, you said in your heart, he makes five eye statements based on his pride, based on I'm sick of being looked through and I want to be looked too. I want some attention on me, please. This is what he's doing. And he says this, I will ascend to heaven above the stars. I will set my thrones on high. I will sit on the mountain of assembly in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, and I will make myself like the most high. God doesn't play well with idols. He doesn't snuggle up to him. He doesn't make room for him. He smashes them. And so here's what he said. But you were brought down to shield. That's a Hebrew word for hell to the far reaches of the pit. And from that day,

when he was cast out of him from that day to this day, he hates God and he hates you, and the only thing he wants to do is steal, kill, and destroy. And do you know why the devil hates you? First and foremost, it's because he hates God, and God loves you. So he hates anything that God loves. Secondly, do you know why God hates you so much? Because guess what the Bible says?

The Bible says, for all who are in Christ, okay? for all who are children of God, which, by the way, let me clean up your theology. Every person is not a child of God. Every person is a image bearer of God, no doubt. But the children of God of those who have been adopted into his family by the blood of Jesus Christ. All right? So every child of God, guess what we inherit when we put our faith in Jesus Christ? The Bible says that we are seated with Christ at the right hand of God of the Father.

Well, guess who wanted to sit in that seat? The devil of hell. And he is ticked off that we get, by the blood of Jesus, we get access to the throne that he wanted to sit in. And he hates you for it. And he wants to steal and kill and destroy. And so he hates you. And he wants to kill you. And evil is all over the place.

Amen? And we have seen some evil this week. You know, for the last eight weeks, as we've been studying the life of Elijah in the previous series, I've said it over and over and over. It's the same demons. It's just new days. It's the same demons, and it's just new days. And we live in an evil world.

One of the things that I find interesting is I've read people's comments this week are the amount of people that are saying, you know what, I might not be an atheist. Because I'm seeing with my own eyes actual evil, and if there is evil, then there must be good God also. We've seen all kind of evil this week, okay? Like that poor Ukrainian girl on that train and that dude would stab her. And you know what's also evil? The other men on that train that don't stand up and act like men, but they just watch it. It's evil. Or the school shootings. There's been multiple this week. And let me tell you the problem. with like, you know, when I try to keep up with current events. Can I just be honest? I can't even

keep up. Because there's probably something that I miss. You get me here? And then the one that's the front of mine for all of us right now, Charlie Kirk is assassinated. And that's the word. You get it? That's the word. A lot of people die. He was assassinated. He was assassinated because you love Jesus. He was assassinated because he loved his family, man. You hear his for a wife. And he loved his country. And he was just trying to live out John 2.5.

He was just trying to do what he thought God told him to do for the sake of his family and his country. And all of us aren't called to live like that. But he was killed for sharing ideas that he got from the Bible. And something demonic and evil killed him. And something that bothers me, not just as bad, but it bothers me. Let me tell you what else is evil. Any person that celebrates that man's death or anybody that has anything to say other than we are utterly heartbroken over this, it's evil.

It's evil. Listen, name the figure, name the politician. The people, whoever it is on the planet that is the exact opposite of what I believe in and disagree with. Anytime an image bearer of God is mistreated or killed for whatever reason, that is evil and there's no excuse for it ever. And the people of God go, no way, that's evil. God is good and that is evil. And that's just what we stand on. And listen, man, I'm not a politician.

I'm not a political combinator. I'm a Bible teacher. But if you want to hear about half hour, 45 minutes of us, my friend Kyle Thompson, they better lift his hands and worship at the end of this service. There it is. There it is. He runs the largest podcast for Christian men called Undaunted Life. We spent about 30 or 45 minutes just unpacking this.

So if you want to hear not a sermon, but just some ideas and some things, listen to that. But here's what I also know. The valley of the shadow of death isn't just out there somewhere for a bunch of you. I mean, some of you are walking through it right now. It could be a medical thing, a financial thing, a relational thing, man. Societyal thing, right? I mean, you were walking through a really, really, really tough time.

And I've got good news, but Jesus came to save sinners, to conquer sin, to put death to death. Do you realize that? That he came to make all things new? And one of the best things about being a Christian and a big part of what we do when we join our voices together to worship is we declare we win. We win. I mean, I'll tell you about this in a second, but one of the lines that we're going to sing and because he lives is this, he holds the future. I've told you this.

The difference between fear and faith is when you look into the future, who do you think so? charge. If you think circumstances are in charge, if you think people are in charge, of course you're going to be gripped in fear. But when you look into the future and you realize that the God of the universe still has the whole world in his hands, then you can be filled with faith. Why? Because we win. You know what I did last night after saturated? After Lisa Turkhurst, just preached the pain off the wall. You know what I did? I went home. And I was here worshiping Jesus, so I didn't get to see the Georgia Tennessee game. So I went home and rewatched the Georgia Tennessee game.

Because as soon as we got done, my little girl comes running up to me, man. She's incredible. I think she's worshiping at St. John's right now. Is that where she is, man? She's at St. John's right now. So Reagan, I love you, baby. And the Bible says, blessed or the beautiful or the feet of those who bring good news. And the moment we got done, she ran up to me and she said, Georgia won in overtime.

Bless it. Okay. So I go home last night and I sit on my couch and I fast forward through the commercials and I watch the game again. And listen, man, so it's tight at 38, 38. There's seven seconds left. And when Tennessee lines up to kick the field goal to win, how nervous do you think I am? Not nervous. Why?

Because I know we win. Listen, man. Some of you haven't made it to Revelation. yet that's okay, I'm a professional. I went all the way I read to the end of the book. I got some really good news. We went. And you may say, and I get it, you might be like, well, it doesn't look like we're winning right now.

I get it because when you get to like Revelation 13 and 17 and a few places, there is still this dragon, this demon, this devil, the same one we'll be talking about, Lucifer, the guy kicked out of heaven. But I got good news. The Bible says that when Jesus pushed up on his Dale Peer's feet and he says, to tell us I, it is finished. curbstonped him right in the head and he's got a mortal flesh wound in his head and one day soon when Jesus returns he's going to cast him back into the hell of fire forever and ever and ever and now he's flailing around a little bit but he is nothing but a lackey on a chain we win and so a big part of why worship is war is because that's what we are declaring when we worship we are we are declaring we're on the winning team listen

We're going to celebrate baptisms here in a minute. Okay? And a big part of what a baptism is, that water does not save you. If you're here at San Pablo, you know where that water comes from? J.E.A. Do you think that's holy?

Mm-mm. Here's what a baptism is, man. A baptism is a dividing line in the sand, and when you declare Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, listen, we're going to ask you this. We're going to say, are you ready to renounce the sins of your past, the ways of this world, anything darker demonic that you've ever been connected to, and pledge your allegiance to Christ and Christ alone? And you say, yeah. And then we say, who is Jesus? And you say, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. Then you are identifying yourself with the winning team forever and ever and ever. That's what baptism is. So when we worship, and you're like, what does singing have to do with that? I'm about to tell you. Singing is not the only way to worship, but it is included in it. Okay? When the church of God gathers together, the people of God and the name of God get together to make much of God.

Something happens, man. The Spirit of God shows up where He is wanted, and he is wanted in this place. And the first thing, worship is the antidote to pride. Because you know the first thing you're doing when we worship God? We're saying, this is all about you. You're the only one worthy to be worshipped. not my stuff, not my career, not my status, not the things of this word. You and you alone are the only one worthy of our praise.

You know what also you're saying? It's not about me. You're automatically saying, we're not singing to me. This is why I know you don't do this anymore. But you're like, well, I don't really like that song. Well, that's adorable cupcake. We're not singing to you. Well, I don't feel that raising my hands.

Neat. except the God of the universe says men raise holy hands in the sanctuary so you just do it you're saying you are the only one worthy of worship I'm not you know what else you say you say devil you can go to hell with all your whispers and your lies and you're trying to steal and kill and destroy you belong in a lake of fire so get out of my mind and get out of my world and get out of my house get out of my family I am here to stand on the truth together with my brothers and sisters all over the world and declare that Christ is king. That's what we do. It's war.

And then this week especially, listen. And when we worship, we're declaring this world does not get the last word. Evil people and the media and this world doesn't get to define the future. Only Jesus does. So why this song? Anybody still got their journal? Who brought their journal? Lift up your journal.

We're not saved by works, but it ain't no doubt you're all going to heaven. God told me. I mean, we've printed these things, what, a year ago? When you look up today's date, and here's the song that the Lord laid on my heart a year ago. Hey, why don't we just start with a gather tune? ain't a lot of modern churches with all the cool kids up here with their skinny jeans and their super big shirts doing Gator tunes around the country right now, all right? I don't care.

I just like to sing true things to the Lord. So Bill and Gloria Gator, they probably peaked in what, like the 70s kind of thing? They wrote this song in 1971. And here's what happened. Gloria finds out she's pregnant and that mom panic begin to sit in you know what I'm talking about moms

you know exactly what I'm talking about that thing that makes you a great mom also can there's a shadow to it too right you're kind of worried about everything and she's looking at the culture in which she lives and she's thinking how in the world can I be

bring a baby into this, the life that we're living in in 1971. You know what was going on? Obviously, you know about the late 60s. Here's what she's worried about. She's worried about political upheaval. There's serious racial unrest. There's rioting and looting and marching and demonstrations. There's a sexual liberation that actually was alive because the people that went down

that road were just busted and locked up. and there had been multiple public assassinations of key figures in our country. And she looks down as a baby growing in her belly, and she's like, I'm terrified. Sound familiar? Same demons, new days. I got to tell you, too, these babies helping me preach right now, I love it so much. I like I really do. This doesn't have anything to do with the sermon, except there is a line in here about babies.

Let me tell you, the mama's with the babies. Keep them in here, please. Now, if they go all light, if their head spins around and they spit pee soup on somebody. But just normal baby noises. You know who loves normal baby noises? Parents and grandparents and pastors? Because it just means the future is really, really, really bright. Okay?

So the only people that get bothered are young people, but they're dumb, so they don't know better yet. Okay, that's fine. It's all right. You'll learn. And so she goes to her, Gail Gatherer, goes to her prayer closet. And in a sense of terror, praise God. to get me through this. What am I going to do? And the Spirit of God gives her these words. God sent his son. They call him Jesus. He came to love, heal, and forgive. He lived and died

to buy my pardon. An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. So everything she's going to write is founded on the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's just a better, more rhymy way to say, if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. That's what she's saying. And then she pens these words, because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. All of us have had kind of a different sense of fear this week, right?

Even if it's not fear for yourself, fear for somebody that you love. And what she's saying is, listen, man, perfect love drives out fear. So because he lives, all fear is gone. and because I know he holds the future, life is worth the living just because he lives. She looks into the future and she sees that the sovereign king of the universe still has the whole world in his hands. And because of that, life is worth the living just because he lives. And then there's this verse, if you've ever sung this song in church, and if you don't know the context of it, it just kind of seems like a little bit of a curveball.

How sweet to hold a newborn baby. Because if you don't know, she's pregnant and she's, wrestling through the fact of how am I going to raise a kid in this culture. Because, you know, in and of itself, is it sweet to hold a new more rabies? I mean, I get it. I remember when we first held hours. I was like, it weighs eight pounds. How is it so heavy? I feel like I'm cramping. You know what I mean? But man, there is no love like kid love, right? And so when she is rooted in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, when she has her eyes fixed, not on the things of this world,

but fix on Jesus, the author and the perfector of her faith. Then she is not ruled by fear because she knows what Paul told Timothy is true. God has not given you a spirit of fear. And so she says, so how sweet to hold a newborn baby and to feel the pride and joy he brings, but greater still, the calm assurance

this child can face uncertain days because he lives. And then, like a lot of hymn writers do and a bunch of old school songwriters do, is they'll kind of quit talking about right here and right now, and they'll talk about forever and ever. And a lot of times what you've got to do when you find yourself in a world filled with evil is you've got to get your eyes up off of your surroundings

and get them up over the horizon. The writer of Hebrews is going to say, you've got to fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher or perfector of our faith. And she just says, and then one day I'll cross the river. I'll fight life's final war with pain. And then as death gives way to victory, I see the lights of glory.

And I know he lives. Man, we fix our eyes on Jesus and then believers every once in all, you glance at the clouds. Listening for that trumpet, praise God. And somebody may ask, well, how do you know he lives? I know he lives. I talked to him this morning. I saw him at work this morning. And quite honestly, and you don't even have to base it on my own personal testimony.

I got some really good news, man. Our faith is not based on faith. Our faith that Jesus is who he says he is, is based on an actual historical event that is verifiable. That Jesus, a guy attested to by so many people inside the Bible and outside of the Bible, claim these audacious claims like he is the way the truth of the life no one comes to the father except through him many times in front of people he said this he said to see me is to see the father and there is coming a day soon where i'm going to be arrested i'm going to be tried i'm going to be

convicted i'm going to die on a cross not just for you but instead of you and three days later I'm going to be resurrected from the grave. And when I walk out of the grave for anybody who would believe in me one day, you can walk out of the grave too. That's what he said. And then he actually pulled it off. An account of this is in Luke chapter 24. Luke says this, but on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb.

The they here is a bunch of women in the first century. You know why the women went to the tomb to clean up? Ladies, you ever clean up after the clean up? Do you know what I'm talking about? Like fellas, you're like, baby, I cleaned that up. And you're like, appreciate you. However, I'm going to go actually clean up. You know what I'm saying?

This isn't it right here in the Bible, man. Because the Bible says Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus prepared the body. And Mary and Martha, they're like, that's adorable boys, but here, we'll get the spices and we'll go take care of things. So they show up on the scene. First day at early dawn,

they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared, and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. But when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus, and while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men, these are actually angels, messengers from heaven, stood by them in dazzling apparel, and as they, the women were frightened and bowed down their faces to the ground. Here's what the angels said to them, why do you seek the living among the death? Do you know how many of us constantly do this? why are you looking for life in a graveyard? You see, we look for life in the things of this world, and they just can't give it to you.

Stuff and status and success and sex and relationships and money and a new car, enough likes, a blue check. None of those things even have the ability to give us what we're looking for, and what you're actually looking for is life. and life comes through the one who laid down his life for you that you and I could have the abundant life in him. Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you. And then for many, many more chapters in the Bible, there is empirical evidence of the resurrected

Christ appearing to over 500 people. The couple of guys are going to this place called Amas. is seven miles from Jerusalem. And the resurrected Jesus shows up. And he's like, hey, boys, y'all look sad. Why are you so sad? And they're like, where are you from, man? You haven't heard?

The one that is called the Christ has been crucified. He's like, really? And this is the resurrected Jesus, seven miles away. Now, here's what historians have had to do. For a little while in American history, people would just say, well, we don't have any. evidence that Jesus actually existed. Although we have had the Bible for 2,000 years, but they were like, we can't believe that. And then what happened? All the evidence came out that there was actually a guy

from Nazareth hung around Galilee, hung around Jerusalem, and we have a bunch of people, even outside of the Bible, claim that he did make these claims. And so these historians have to come up with some idea to explain, how do you go from this carpenter son that taught some stories, died, and then tons of people claim that they saw the resurrected Christ, and these little group of guys, there was only 11 of them at that point, that were afraid of everything. Now, all of a sudden, they're like these warriors proclaiming the good news of the gospel, and it spreads all over the world, so now there are over 2 billion of us that claim Jesus Christ's Lord. What happened?

And here's the idea they came up with, because you've got to admit that Jesus was actually a real person, and there is testimony that he was walking around post-crucifixion. here's the best they could come up with. They said, all right, so, all right, yeah, there was a guy named Jesus. He did go to the cross. And the Romans did crucify him. And although they were experts at it,

they didn't quite get it done all the way on him. I mean, I know they beat him until his ribs were exposed, and they put a crown of thorns, and they nailed nails at his hands and feet, and they did take a spear and jab it in his heart. But he just looked dead. He just seemed dead, but he wasn't really dead. And so he wrapped him up at about 150.

pounds of burial cloth and they put him in this cold, damp tomb, and then they rolled this stone in front of him. It's more than two tons. And then there's a garrison of Roman soldiers to guard it. But here's what I think happened. After three days with no medical care wrapped up in that cold, wet tomb, he woke up and he felt like he'd stayed in the holiday Inn Express. And he Jackie Chan's the stone, and he ninses his way.

by all the guards, and then he jogs seven miles to Emmaus to have a conversation. Now, I'm just going to tell you, I'm 52 years old. And if I don't sleep exactly right on my, my pillow, I got a drink of Advil smoothie to come preach to you in the morning. You understand what I'm saying? That's ludicrous. Let me tell you what actually happened. Jesus Christ resurrected from the grave.

Jesus Christ resurrected from the grave. And so then what he does with the boys on the road to Emmaus, he doesn't even go, ta-da, here I am. Here's what he does, man. He does Bible study. He walks through the old covenant, and he shows them how he shows up on every single page of the Bible, and that everything that has happened in the law and the prophets were pointing to him. And then they're like, man, we're hungry.

Let's get some food. And they sit down together, and it is not until Jesus breaks the bread and blesses the food. And their eyes are open. and then he just says, poop, pieces out. And then they say this, did not our hearts burn within us? So here's the question I have for you. Have you met the resurrected Savior? Because quite honestly, I could do this for a long time.

I could give you biblical evidence, sociological evidence, physical evidence. I could point to philosophical truths that could lead you to at least the possibility that Jesus is who he says. he is, but none of that will save you. It comes down to you. Has your heart ever burnt within you? And you realize, oh my goodness, I believe that when Christ died on the cross, somehow it counted for me. Listen, I'm going to put this thing on the bottom shelf, okay? I'm going to explain it this way. Becoming a Christian, it is not easy to be a Christian. It might get you killed these days, but it is simple to understand what Christ is asking you to sign home for. It's as simple as ABC.

Everybody can remember the ABCs. It's as simple as A. I admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. Like, I'm not a bad person that needs to do better. I need somebody to do for me what I can't do for me. I admit it, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior.

B, I believe or I trust that somehow when Jesus down on the cross, that counted for me. even if you can't explain penal substitutionary atonement, no problem. Neither could do disciples. But you just believe or trust or put your faith in. When Jesus says it is finished, somehow that counted for me. And then see, the Bible says for all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. There's a prayer in the Bible that Jesus promises gets answered 100% of the time. Anybody who calls on the name of Lord, anybody that says, Lord, will you save me?

I believe in you. Jesus, every time goes, yes, because it is by grace that you were saved, not by works. So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to give you the opportunity to do that. And I want everybody's head up looking around. It's just a different week. It's just a different day. And if you were ready for the very first time with all these people looking,

No wimpy Christians today. You got it? And your heart burns within you because you know for the very first time you're ready to put your faith in Christ. And you were ready to believe that when he died on the cross somehow, that counted for you? Then I want you to call on the name of the Lord for your salvation. And the way I want you to do it with every, we're all going to look at you.

From the top to the bottom and watch it online wherever you are. If you were ready to call on the name of the Lord for the very first time for your salvation, I want you to lift your hand as high as you can right where you are. And I want to praise God, man. God, praise God, praise God, praise God, let's go, keep them up. Praise God, Froggy. You were the guys talking about it in the beginning. Let's go.

Praise God. Praise God. There's no magic words to say. You've already done it. You said it, Lord, save me, and he will. So here's what we're going to do next. Jesus says you go public with that. Just like Jesus died, was buried, and was resurrected from the grave.

When you get in this water and you professed Jesus, Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. You're telling the whole world, listen, you're already saved before you get in the water. You're saved when you call on the name of the Lord. But we need to do this publicly. And we're going to celebrate because worship is war. And we're going to ask you, are you ready to renounce the sins of your past, the ways of this world, anything darker, demonic that you've ever been connected to and pledged your allegiance to Christ and Christ alone? You're going to say yes.

And then we're going to say, who is Jesus? And you are going to confess him as your Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. And then we are just showing the world what Christ has already done in and through you. You're going to die to yourself. Your sins are washed away, and you're going to be resurrected to a brand new life. That's what we're about to celebrate. So I want to invite everybody to stand up.

If you already know that you're getting baptized. Some of you got the shirts on, you went to the class. Praise God for you, people. We love you. You can go ahead and start making your way that way. I'm going to pray, and then the band's going to come. Come on out, band. You don't even have to be sneaky this time.

and we're going to sing because he lives. And we're going to sing it like our lives depend on it because they do. And then after we sing about a third of the song, we're going to start dunking people. Let me pray for us. Our good and gracious heavenly, Father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. God, we thank you for salvation in Christ alone because of fate that you have given us through grace that we don't deserve. And God, we thank you that in Christ we have the victory. God, that life is worth the living because you live.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's sing. Let's go for it.