The Church of Eleven22 - Saturated 2022 - Sunday: Pastor Joby Martin

Episode Date: September 18, 2022

"See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”

Amen and amen. Church, if you got your Bibles, we're going to be all over the place. So grab them and start in Matthew chapter 3 and then put a finger in Romans chapter 6, and then we're going to probably jump over to Romans 3 and Luke chapter 23 and Acts 8. So look up all those real quick. How many of you made every night of saturated?

Any of you? Oh, glory to God. Look at you. I wish you had a prize for you, but the prize is you were here to worship. So good. I have a goal today, a very singular goal. Well, really two goals.

One is if you are not a believer in Jesus, my hope and prayer is that today would be the day that you put your faith in Jesus. My second goal is, if you have never been baptized as a believer that you would get baptized today, you would declare Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you would get dunked.

And if you think, well, I'm not ready. Well, I'm not ready either. I still got 34 minutes and three seconds, and then you're going to be ready, all right? as you've heard we had 277 people signify a first time decision to follow Jesus praise God and so for all 277 of you and over 1,700 people this year that have put their faith in Christ and hadn't got baptized yet today is your day and if you're not planning on it if you weren't planning on it that's okay we were planning on it and the God of the universe is

planning on it, and so we've got it all figured out for you. You see, baptism is a really, really big deal, and what most people do is they just kind of adopt whatever you grew up with when it comes to baptism. And what I want to do is just look through the scriptures to see what the Bible says about what baptism is, why we should get baptized, and whether you should get baptized today. You see, when something significant happens to you, when something significant happens on the inside of you, you typically do something significant to signify the thing. Like way back in the 1900s, I was working out in the gym, feeling swole, had my tank top on, and then I look up in this little blonde, like real blonde ponytail sticking out of the back of a ball cap with some

little hot pants comes bebopping in and the spirit of God spoke to my heart. That girl looks lost. I should probably go share the gospel with her and so I just I didn't have a plan man I just rolled up on her got in her personal space which is about the size of the gym and she said can I help you and the first thing that came out of my mouth was this can I get a spot that's what I said can I get a spot. And so she spotted me. That's the first thing I ever said to Gretchen. Her maiden name was Nicely. Gretchen nicely. That led to a conversation. That led to a night at Chili's. Big baller, baby. Don't worry about it. Okay? That led to about a hundred million conversations, which led to one

day that led me to the jewelry store. Thank God my grandma gave me her diamond so I could just add my little stuff around it. And then I went to her, I got down on a knee. And that that significant thing that was going on inside of me led me to ask her to marry me and she said, yes, thank God. And then we threw a party. It wasn't a little private thing. We just go down. to the justice of the peace. I'm like, hey, do you mind, can I decide the paper? Legally, that's all it takes. But that's not what you do, man.

When something significant happens on the inside of you, you signify it publicly because you want the entire world to know. And so we stood in front of family and friends and a bunch of people we didn't even know. I don't know how they showed up to our wedding. And publicly declared our love and a vow to one another. It's kind of like what baptism is, man. Like it's a thing that is already happening on the inside of you, but you want to go public with it

because it's the most significant thing that's ever happened in your life. Like all you people that are having babies now, especially the first one, you've got gender reveals. I mean, I'm serious, right? You're like, all right, we're going to jump out of a plane and you pay attention to color in a parachute is the, you know, I mean, it's hit. And you got, you got parties, and you got these people that they put the things in. in your yard. I mean, you tell the world you're having a baby for about 11 months.

It's unbelievable. I don't know how you pull that off, but you do. That's not just like, I have it unspoken. Nah, man, because you're so excited, because this is such a significant moment in your life that you make that announcement. And the moment you surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ,

it is the most significant thing that has ever happened to you or will ever happen to you in all of eternity, And it deserves to be broadcast to the entire world. So baptism is an outward invisible symbol of an inward working grace. Every single time you see baptism in the scriptures, it comes after salvation, not before. In Matthew chapter 3, Jesus gets baptized. So one of the reasons, if you go, well, why should I get baptized? Because Jesus did it.

Pretty much whatever he did, if you do it, you're doing good. Okay, here's how this went down. Matthew 3, 13 to 17, and Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. First of all, how humble is Jesus that he would get baptized? So in the Old Testament, they would baptize anybody when they would like, they wanted to redirect their life, particularly people that were far from God that came to God. So then you're like, well, then why is Jesus getting baptized? He had no sin to wash away.

What is he doing? He is establishing that his earthly minister. is about to happen. He is just doing what the Father has told him to do. In the Gospel of John, when Jesus shows up, John the Baptist says, behold, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the entire world. And so if the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the sovereign God of the universe can humble himself to allow his cousin to dip, dunk, or submerge him in the Jordan, then surely you're not too proud to come and declare that Jesus Christ, is your Lord and Savior.

So Jesus comes to be baptized by John, and John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you. And do you come to me? But Jesus answered him, let it be so for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. What Jesus is saying is,

this is just a step of the obedience that the Father has instructed me in. If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, the next step of obedience for you is to go public with your faith because what you're saying is I'm not the boss of me, I'm not the Lord of me. And the moment I turn my life over to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, by definition I do what he says and what he says to do is you come and get baptized. And then he consented.

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water and behold, the heavens were open to him and he saw the spirit. of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, the voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And the Bible says, for whoever puts their faith in Christ, then Christ's righteousness is imputed unto us. And when God sees you, he sees the righteousness of his son. And I want every single one of you that have been baptized as a believer and are going to get baptized today. When you come out of the water, you may not hear it audibly because we're going to be singing and cheer it a little bit too loud, but the voice

of your Heavenly Father over you is going to say, behold, my son in whom I am well pleased. Now, pop quiz, how much ministry has Jesus done up to this point? Zero. He hadn't walked on water. He hadn't brought anybody back from the dead. He hasn't healed anybody. He hasn't taught any sermons. He hasn't done anything in ministry. And what we see here is a picture. of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that the verdict is going to come before the performance. Some of you that struggle with God's perception of you, you should probably write this verse on your mirror in every single day before you ever walk out of your house and do anything. Before you even brush your teeth or do anything, maybe you would hear God's opinion about you

if you were in Christ is this, behold my son in whom I am well pleased. Amen? Amen? So what is baptism? If Jesus set the example for us, then what is it? Flip over to Romans chapter 6. Versus 1 through 4 say this. It says, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in a newness of life. A part of what Paul is answering here is in Chapter 5, Paul is talking about the reality is that sin is an inherited disease and every single one of us are born sinners.

And he says, but where sin increases grace abounds, where sin increases grace abounds. Now how many of you know you can abuse that reality, right? I mean, I can remember being in high school, being freshly saved. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. So Jesus paid it all. Right. All right. Well, I wanted to get what he paid for. So I'd run that dud up as high as I could and then come back to camp every year and just get it all forgiven again. And in Romans chapter six, Paul's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's not how it works. You see, if you've been run over by the grace train of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you were not free to sin. You are free from sin. And then he uses the picture of baptism as a picture of what it looks like to walk in this newness of life.

And he says, don't you know, for everybody that has been baptized, that was a picture of what has already happened in your heart and in your soul. That we were buried with him. This is why, by the way, this is what it's going to look like, all right? You ever noticed that our baptism looks kind of look like coffins? That's on purpose. Because here's what happens, man. Now, it's actually already happened in your life. The moment, in your seat or in your home or wherever it was where you surrendered to Christ,

this has already happened. But now you are going to put what happened on the inside of you, you were going to act it out as a public display for the whole world to see. And you are going to die to yourself. That the person that baptizes you is going to ask you a question, who is Jesus Christ to you? and your answer determines everything. In fact, Romans 109 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord

and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That's why we ask you, so who is Jesus to you? And you're going to say, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. Those are not two things. There's just one thing. That if you know him as Savior, that means you have turned over. your life to Him as Lord, that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. And then the person that dunks you is going to say some version of,

upon your public profession of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I baptize you, my Christian brother or sister in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And we just got that language from the Great Commission. And then what they're going to do is they are going to put you in the grave. I want you to think about this. Every time 277 times at least today, I want you to think about this. What that person is saying is, the old me is dead, and we're going to bury you. And that's what we do.

And if you get baptized by Pastor Britt, this is the most exciting day of his life. I'm telling you, every year. He does the like WWF choke slam thing, so just be ready. You got like a neck issue or something. You want to pick like Vinky. He's real smooth. Britt, you can eat waiters on, but still. Well, what you're doing, man?

That's it. You're being buried like a watery grave. And all throughout the Bible, the water would be a picture of the Spirit of God washing away your sin. It's a picture of the blood of Christ being, you're being immersed in the blood of Christ, and what can wash away our sin? Nothing but the blood of the blood of Jesus. We ain't going to fill these things up with blood. That'd be weird, okay? That's not how they did it. And while you're there, man, it's a picture of what has already happened the moment you surrendered to Christ and your sins are washed away. Your past sins, your present struggles and sins, your future sins. God knows exactly what he's buying into when he purchased you at full price and he says, it is finished. That you are saved from the

penalty of your sin. You are being saved from the power of sin in your life, over your life, and one day you will be saved from the very presence of your life. And one day you will be saved from the very presence of sin, we call that glory. And all of that happens. I know it doesn't all go through your mind because you're just like, but you are crucified with Christ. It is no longer you who live, but Christ that lives in you. And so when you come up out of that water, it is a picture that you have died in Christ and just like Jesus is the Prototoko, the firstborn from among the dead, then you, like him, also are resurrected from the grave. And this is a picture, not only what has happened in your heart and in your soul, it is also a picture of what will happen when he comes to take us all home.

We will be resurrected in him, and when you come up out of that water, the old you is gone, man, the old you is washed away. The old you is dead and left in that grave, and the new you comes out, and you never live the same again. You see, you don't have to do the things you used to do because you're not the person that you used to be. The old you is dead, and the new you in the same. in Christ, empowered by Christ, walks in a newness of life.

Now, that doesn't mean you're perfect, but you are being perfectly sanctified. We call it progressive sanctification. And praise God for that word progressive. Because progressive sanctification is us admitting, I ain't there yet. Anybody with me? Got a long way to go? Anybody with me? Thought I'd be a little further along than I am right now?

Yeah, me too, all right? Well, praise God for His grace. And so when we baptize you, the word baptized is a transliteration of the Greek word baptizo. Baptizzo. And it literally in Greek just means to dip, dunk, submerge, or sink. That's what it means. So you can't dip, dunk, submerge, or sink with a little bit of, you know, get the clam and do the blu, the thing, right? Now, if that's what happened, you're no problem, man.

That's fine. Are there some situations where you wouldn't be able to do it? Like if you got saved in Antarctica, it'd be hard to get you it. You know, I don't know how you would get you down in the water. So you come up with whatever you've got to come up with. That's fine. But where there is enough water, then this is why we dip, dunk, submerge, sink. This is what it means.

In fact, before the Bible started using the word baptizo, Josephus wrote a cooking book, a recipe book. a recipe book, and in it is the word baptizo. And he says the way that you make a pickle is you take a cucumber and you baptizo it in vinegar for enough time until it turns into a pickle. See, it didn't mean that you take a little vinegar and go, whoa, and then the cucumber when it dies goes to heaven, that's not what it's talking about. It means you dip, don't submerge.

And that's what we were just trying to do what the book says. That's why we do it. And again, it is a picture of what it looks like when you are dead to yourself. and you were resurrected in Christ. And by the way, that baptism is to be a public declaration that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. And so we're going to do it right here in front of everybody. By the way, if you're watching online and you want to get baptized,

I need you to just click the buttons that you want to get baptized, and we will follow up with you and we are going to figure it out. Because 2, 1122 online, what we have just decided is, if you want us to disciple you, our answer is yes. So if we got churches all over the place, we can get you to, or I'll just send Britt out there and he can choke slam you in somebody's pool, all right? That's what we'll do. So then the question some people ask me is this. Well, does baptism save you?

The answer is no. No baptism doesn't save you. Water baptism is just a picture that you have already been saved. You see, Ephesus chapter 2, verses 8 and 9 say this, for by grace you have been saved three. faith and this is not your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. So your baptism does not save you. Your baptism just declares to the whole world that you have already been saved by grace through faith and this is a gift of God. It is just an act of obedience. How do we know this? If anybody in all of the scriptures made it to heaven, we know that we know

that we know that one of the thieves on the cross made it to heaven. And here's what I can assure you of. He didn't get baptized. He didn't get baptized. Jesus was crucified between two criminals. In the book of Luke chapter 23 describes it this way. One of the criminals who were hang railed at him saying, are you not the Christ save yourself and us? But the other criminal rebuked him saying, do you not fear God since you were under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. Somehow, on the cross, this one thief wasn't able to promise Jesus anything about his life.

I mean, he couldn't make a deal with Jesus in that moment. Jesus, if you'll just save me from now on, I promise I'll do better. He's that, brother, ain't no now on. There's just now. You ain't making it to dinner, all right? You can't go to church. You can't join a disciple group. You can't sponsor a kid.

You can't get baptized. How are we going to get that big old cross in that little baptistry? It ain't going to work, bro. You're going to die doing nothing good for the kingdom of God, ever, not even one thing. And yet somehow this brother on the cross realizes he had lost.

admits it. I deserve to be here. I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. And he somehow realizes, and I promise you he would fail a theology exam. But he realizes that this man on the middle cross, what he is doing somehow counts for him. And he makes one request. He throws this out there. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom and Jesus said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Today you will be with me in paradise. So God is not withholding salvation from you

to see if you get dunked or not. No, no, no, no. Listen, I'm just telling you, when you know him as your Lord and your Savior, then you want nothing else but to walk in obedience to what he has called you to do. when something amazing happens to you, you don't want to hold that in. You want to tell the entire world. And especially in this environment, all we're going to do is cheer you on and celebrate you

like the prodigal son who has come home and the father threw a party. This ain't like the first century when you declare your faith in Jesus. They throw you to the lions. Nah, man, you declare your faith in Jesus here. We're going to throw a party. That's the difference, all right? You see, in Romans chapter 3 says this, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law

comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. In other words, there is no good work that you can do to earn salvation. It is an alien righteousness, a gift that was manifested in the person of Jesus Christ, and whoever believes or trusts that when Christ died on the cross, somehow that counted for me, then you put your faith in Christ and you were saved. Well, then why get baptized

to tell the whole world? So on that day, in February 26, 2000, when Gretchen and I stood in an altar and we both said, I do, till death do his part, we put on rings, an outward and visible symbol of an inward relationship covenant that we have. Baptism is like a wedding ring. like when you see this ring you look at it and you think sorry ladies all taken right here all right that's it now if i don't have the ring on although it's probably a conversation at my house does that mean that i don't have a relationship with gretchen not man because this is just an outward symbol that points to an inward reality like baptism now if you put the ring on does that mean you have a relationship with Gretchen? You wish, but she's mine, sucker. Get your own, all right?

It is just a declaration to the world about a covenant that I and she have together. So, the question is, should you get baptized? If you've never been baptized and you've put your faith in Jesus Christ, the answer is yes. Which, by the way, how many of you just showed up to church today going, I'm getting baptized today. Anybody, let's live, oh man, praise God. Look at that, look at, look at, look at, look at. I love it. Some of you don't even know, you're about 10 minutes away, and you're going to do it, okay? All right, so if you've never been baptized as a believer, yes, you get baptized. Now, some of you're like, I did it last year, and it was so awesome, and I'm going to do it again. Stop. It's all good, man. If you've been baptized as a believer,

there is only one baptism, and I promise, regardless of how your year has gone, it took. It mattered, all right? And you're like, I got some more sin. We know, we've seen your Instagram. Okay. But we don't get baptized over and over and over and over and over again because you don't get resurrected from the grave over and over and over and over again, okay? So it took, I promise.

Now, if you're not sure you meant it, like maybe back in the day, like you're a kid and, and, And honestly, this happens like crazy. If you're a Southern Baptist kid that went to church camp and you just got in line because that's what everybody did at 12, and you honestly are like, I don't, I didn't know what I was doing. I'm not sure if I was a believer or not. I'm not even exactly sure when that day happened, but you know that you as a believer have never declared publicly Christ

as your Lord and Savior. The answer is yes and amen. In fact, you can go in the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul rolls up on a church and he's like, by what baptism have you guys been baptized in? And they were like, the baptism of John. And he goes, have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? And they're like, who's that?

They haven't even heard of the Holy Spirit. So he's all right, line up, get in the tubs, and he baptizes those guys again. So if you were young and didn't know, didn't mean it, that kind of thing. Now, one of the questions we get a lot is this, which is super legit. It's like, all right, well, I was sprinkled as a kid, like in a Catholic church or Presbyterian church

or Episcopalian church or a Lutheran church. I was sprinkled as a kid. And I'm afraid that if I do that, somehow it will be really offensive to my parents. Let me just tell you the difference of what's going on there. First and foremost, your parents in that tradition did a wonderful thing for you. Because what they were doing

is they were basically dedicating you to the Lord and dedicating your family to be in partnership with a church that you would be raised up in the gospel. And if you get baptized as a Bible, believer, you're not rejecting what they did on your behalf. You were ratifying what they did on your behalf. You just got to let them know. Hey, Mom, when you took me in there with the little robe and you had the little party, I don't remember any of it, but I've heard that it happened. The prayers that you were praying for me, the blessings that that priest prayed over me with the sprinkling of the

water on my head and people standing around me, I got really good news. It worked. It worked. You You were hoping I would know Jesus and now I want to confirm for you that it worked and I told the whole world because I went and on my own in response as an obedient step to the Lord Jesus Christ. I declared for myself by the grace of God that He is my Lord and Savior. So mama and daddy, thank you, thank you, thank you and call up Father West's his name and tell him thank you for praying those prayers over me because God has answered their prayers and it worked and so the answer is yes.

You should get in that water. You should get in that water. Last thing, I want you to go to Acts chapter 8, verse 26 to 39. This chapter right here fuels a whole lot of our church's ecclesiology about how we do baptism. I don't know if you notice.

We've got a few different ways to do it. We dunk people in the ocean. We've got these tubs here. If you pay attention, sometimes people get baptized in their pools. There's a whole, you know, we don't have like one sacred way to do it. because I don't know if you realize this,

but you think there's anything holy about this water? That's J-E-A water right there. You understand what I'm saying? Good luck. Good luck. In Acts chapter 8, verses 26 to 39, the Bible says this. It says, now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, rise and go towards the south, praise God.

You don't find a lot of verses in the Bible say go north. Most of them say go south. Jerusalem was in the southern part. of the kingdom anyway, to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert place, and he rose and he went, and there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure, and he had come to Jerusalem to worships. He's a God-fearing guy, and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was

reading the prophet Isaiah. He's just doing his quiet time in his chariot. And his Spirit said to Philip, go over and join this chariot. And so Philip ran to him, and he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, do you understand what you're reading? And he said, how can I, unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. By the way, I just want to warn you, if somebody invited you to church today, it's because they love you and they were praying for an opportunity to do what Philip's doing right now and just roll up next to you in near a chariot and say, can I just please tell you about the one that saved my life? That's what Philip's about to do.

Says, now the passage of scripture that he was reading was this, like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before it shear is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation, justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation for his life is taken away from the earth? And the eunuch said to Philip, about whom I asked, does the prophet say this? about himself or about someone else. And then Philip opened his mouth, which, by the way, is a requirement to share the gospel.

And beginning with the scriptures, he told him the good news about Jesus Christ. And he doesn't say specifically what scriptures, but I imagine he started in the beginning because that's the best place to start. And maybe he leaned over to the eunuch. He goes, hey, man, here's how it went down. In the beginning, one God in three persons.

God, the Father, God, the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, in a perfect love relationship with God's self, that love spilled out into creation, and he spoke everything into existence that is, and he looked about in all of his creation and found nothing that was like himself. And so for his own glory, he created image bearers to be like him, to love like him,

to be in community like him, and he gathered together the dust of the earth, the Arama of the earth, and he breathed the breath of life, the ruach of life, into the very first human being. And the very first man opens his eyes, and he is face to face with God, the Creator, and he knew him as a Heavenly Father.

And maybe he told him, and that's what we were all created for. And even though, brother, you were in charge of all of the treasures of Ethiopia, somehow it's still not enough to scratch that eternal itch that you have on the inside of you, because you were created for eternity, not just the stuff of this world. And maybe the unit is like, you have my attention. And he says, but, but sin enter the world.

Adam and Eve, stiff-armed God, they rejected the almighty loving God, who was about relationship, not a bunch of rules, but the one rule that he had established for their own flourishing, they rejected him and said, forget you, God, I got this. And when sin entered the world, it held the door open for pain and chaos and cancer and every bad thing you've ever experienced in your life.

And maybe he went through the scriptures and told him, so that temple that you were just leaving where you went to worship, the reason God set that thing up is so that we would all know without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. And I don't know what particular ritual

you were going through, but all of it pointed to one thing. Like on that day of atonement, when they shed the blood of lamb and they sprinkle the blood, of the Lamb on the Ark of the Covenant to cover over the sins of our people until next year. It happens again and again and again and again. Well, I've got good news. That was not the point. It pointed to the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the entire world and behold, his name is Jesus.

And maybe Philip says, and I know him, and I have spoken with him. And not only did I see him raise the dead and walk on water and teach us about who God was, but he went to the cross. and on that cross he pushed up on his nail-pierced feet and he said it is finished. And look here, Ethiopian eunuch. When he says it is finished, that means his blood perfectly took away the sin of anybody who would trust or believe that when he died on the cross, somehow it counted for me. And then he resurrected from the grave three days later.

He put death to death. And just like he overcame sin and death if you put your faith in him. then you too, your sins are washed away and you will be resurrected to a newness of life. Then he ascended to the right hand of God the Father. And he's just waiting and waiting and waiting. He's waiting for the moment where his father taps him on the shoulder and says,

all right, go and bring all my children home to me. What do you think? And apparently the Ethiopian eunuch puts his faith in Jesus Christ. let me ask you this have you ever put your faith in Jesus Christ not in your good works not in your Bible study not in from now on I promise I'll try harder have you ever found that moment where you like the thief on the cross where you simply ask the God of the universe for a favor that's what a prayer of salvation is God I need a favor I need you to do for me what I can't do for me Jesus would you remember me when you go before your father

Father in heaven. That's what it means to surrender your life to Jesus Christ. God, I admit it. I'm a sinner. I need a Savior. And I believe that somehow when you died on the cross, that counted for me. You ever have a prayer go unanswered? Yeah, man, we all have, except one.

There is one prayer that God answers 100% of the time. And that is the prayer of the surrendered life. God, will you save me? For all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. That's what happens in this dude's life. And then it doesn't stop there. And as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, see, here is water.

What prevents me from being baptized? Look, Philip was a religious dude, man. I bet he had a whole bunch of reasons in his mind. Well, I got to run this. There's got a committee, got to vote on it. Got to have classes. The answer is nothing, man. Nothing. So let me ask you this. Here's water. What prevents you from being baptized?

And don't be like, well, I didn't go to the class. You just sat through it. This is the class. Okay. Well, I didn't bring my clothes. We got clothes for you. One, you can just get baptized in your clothes unless it's going to get weird. And that's up to us, not you. And we got dark t-shirts and shorts. I got the whole thing, man, no problem. And if you're like, yeah, but I rode here with somebody else and I need a ride. is there anybody that would not wait on the person that you brought? Huh? Is there anybody? I mean, look at the person right. If you brought somebody, lean over and be like, I promise I'll wait. I promise.

And even if they leave you, Pastor Britt will give you a ride home. I promise. All right? Maybe you're like, well, I didn't check with my mama. I get that. You should text her right now and say, praise God, mama. It works. I'm getting baptized.

All right? You can tell her to tune in real quick online. She can see it. or maybe you're too proud, are you? Maybe you're scared? Well, I've got good news, man. God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

And so, like Pastor Clayton said, man, just, hey, embrace the scared and just walk up here and declare Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And then the last thing that happened is awesome. It says, and he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water. You see that dunk language there?

They went down into the... It does not say Philip stood by some water and like super soaked him. That's not how it went. They got in the water. Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. And the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. So we all participate in this thing together.

Some of us are going to be doing the dunking. Some of us are going to be getting dunk. And all of us are going to, every single time that person, comes up out of the water, we are going to rejoice. Like everything in this person's life is different because it is. So in just a second, I'm going to give you an opportunity to put your faith in Christ if you never have. And then when I get finished praying, if you're ready to get baptized, I'm going to ask you here at San Pablo to go to the side walls and begin to form lines.

And there are people that will give you instructions. if you are fifth grade and under, come on, man. Britt, how old were you when you get baptized? He was seven years old. See? And it worked, mostly. So just bring your parents with you. And then we're going to have some of our children's ministers in line to just have the conversations

because we just want to make sure, this is for you, man, to the glory of God. We just want to make sure that you know exactly what you're doing. And then the rest of us, don't leave because we are. we are going to lose our ever-loving mind every single time somebody declares that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior. Why? Because they were dead and now they're alive. They were lost and now they're found. They were blind and now they see and we have to, have to, have to throw a party for the things that heaven parties over. Amen? So let's start here. Bow your heads. Close your eyes. Be as simple and concise as I can.

If you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ and right now for the very first time, You believe that when Christ died on the cross, somehow it counted for you, and you are ready to confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Would you lift your hands as high as you can right here? You lifted as high as you can. Praise God. I see a bunch of hands right there in the middle. And you just say, Father, here I am. Save me.

Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Our good and gracious, Heavenly Father, God, I love you because you love us first. God, I thank you and I praise you. For the men and the women, the students in this very moment that are putting their faith in Jesus. Christ. And Lord, I pray for every person with their hand up, they would know it's not a hand in the air that saves them. It's your life, death, resurrection, and return that saves us. Praise God. And God,

I pray that you would give every single person with their hand up right now the courage to step forward and be faithful in water baptism for your glory. And God, I pray for every believer in the house, in every campus, and online. And if they've never gone forward with a public declaration that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior, that today would be the day. And Lord, I, I, pray that you fill your body, this church, with this angelic rejoicing so that we could join with the angels in heaven for every single person that declares you as Lord and Savior. We prayed in Jesus' name, amen. Church, I want to invite you to stand up. If you're getting baptized, you go ahead and start making your way over there. And then as soon as we can, we will just

start dunking people. The band is going to lead us in worship. The whole thing's going to be worship. If it feels a little chaotic, Pentecostals, you're going to love it. Baptist, relax. It's going to be awesome, okay? And we're just going to go and dunk until we run out of folks to dump. Let's respond.