Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY018031A
|
00:02 I want to spend my life
00:08 Mending broken people 00:13 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:35 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people. 01:10 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn, 01:11 and we welcome you once again to 3ABN Today. 01:14 This particular program is a biblical topic program, 01:19 or Bible topical program, 01:21 however we want to say it. 01:23 Let me tease to the topic, 01:25 I was buried alive three times, 01:29 and then I had a white funeral, 01:31 and you'll understand that before we finish the topic. 01:34 We will talk today about baptism, 01:37 and even if you're sitting there thinking, 01:39 "I know everything there is to know about baptism." 01:42 I encourage you to take notes to stay tuned 01:46 because you need to be able to explain it 01:49 to somebody else. 01:50 Let me introduce our special guests, 01:53 family members, my brothers in Christ, 01:56 first is my pastor, Pastor John Lomacang. 02:00 Good to be here with you, Shelley. 02:02 It's wonderful to have you for a pastor, you know, 02:04 this is something that God has given you a great... 02:08 You're very articulate, 02:09 but He has given you a great love 02:11 for the scriptures, 02:12 and I appreciate that so much about you. 02:14 And then my other brother in Christ, Pastor CA Murray. 02:18 Good to be here. 02:19 Pastor Murray. Indeed. 02:21 You know, the thing I love about being family 02:25 is we don't run around calling each other by titles, do we? 02:26 Exactly. No, no. 02:28 All right, what I'd like us to do 02:31 is let's begin by giving 02:34 what our definition of baptism is, 02:37 then we're going to the scriptures to prove it. 02:39 Many people have different ideas on baptism. 02:43 What we want to see is what the Bible has to say, 02:46 but, CA, I'm going to start with you. 02:49 Give us a summation of what you think baptism is? 02:53 What the scriptures say baptism is 02:55 then we go back and check it out? 02:59 Since we're going to dive into the scriptures, 03:00 let me use a medical analogy. 03:02 Okay. 03:04 And then we will explain this in just a little bit. 03:06 Baptism is the diagnosis of a preexisting condition. 03:10 There you go. 03:12 We have an ailment, we are born in sin, 03:16 we are shaped in iniquity. 03:18 Romans 8:1 says, 03:20 "There's no condemnation in Jesus." 03:21 So when we come to Jesus, 03:23 the public declaration 03:28 of what has already happened in our lives 03:31 is seen in our obeying of Christ command 03:36 to be baptized. 03:37 So baptism is the diagnosis of something 03:42 that has already happened in our lives. 03:44 We've already repented it, been converted, 03:46 given our hearts to Jesus, 03:48 and then we tell the world 03:49 we got a new best friend and His name is Christ, 03:52 and we do that through baptism. 03:54 Amen. Pastor? 03:56 In a nutshell, baptism 03:58 is a public expression of our faith 04:01 in the atoning blood of Christ. 04:03 If you did not believe that Jesus 04:05 is the answer for the preexisting condition, 04:08 as Pastor CA says, 04:10 the preexisting condition in all of our lives, 04:12 Romans 3:23, 04:13 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." 04:15 Yes. 04:17 I'll use an example in the Bible 04:18 where baptism was never even talked about, 04:20 but I know the life was changed, 04:22 the woman that met Jesus at the well... 04:24 Yes. 04:25 Her life was so transformed 04:27 that immediately her actions changed, 04:30 she left her water pot 04:32 and immediately began to testify about the Christ 04:34 that has changed her, 04:36 and the whole town came to see a man, 04:39 and they accepted Christ through her testimony. 04:41 Bible never said she got baptized, 04:43 but she accepted Him, 04:45 she believed that He was a Messiah, 04:46 she went and told that 04:48 because of her faith, the people came, 04:50 met Him, and they were converted. 04:52 So that expression of 04:53 "I believe this is the Messiah", 04:55 "I met a man" 04:56 and for the kind of life she lived, 04:58 they probably said, "Okay, what's His name? 05:00 How many..." "Which one is this?" 05:03 She said, "No, no, no, no, 05:04 I met a man that told me everything I had ever done," 05:08 in her expression, 05:09 so I believe that baptism is a public expression. 05:11 She publicly expressed Him, 05:14 but maybe somewhere along the way, 05:15 she got baptized but the Bible never said that. 05:17 Well, you know, the Bible has such short accounts, 05:20 we never really know all the details. 05:21 We don't see the rest of the story. 05:22 Yeah. That's Right. 05:24 Like Nicodemus, when the Lord came... 05:25 He came to the Lord by night, he said, 05:26 "Unless you're born of the water and the Spirit, 05:28 you cannot enter or cannot see the kingdom of God." 05:30 And then so, 05:32 He communicated that to Nicodemus the need for that. 05:34 But it is, in fact, a ceremony 05:37 or as we would say, an ordinance. 05:38 An ordinance. 05:39 That expresses publicly 05:41 that I have accepted Christ as my Savior and by His blood, 05:44 I shall be made whole and cleansed, 05:47 and I'm letting you all know through this ceremony 05:49 that I have accepted Jesus as my Savior. 05:51 Amen. 05:52 Let me add another point to that, 05:53 if you don't accept Jesus as your Savior, 05:55 baptism cannot save you. 05:57 Absolutely right. 05:58 Baptism in and of itself has no power 06:00 to save anybody 06:01 in the same way the water had no power to cleanse Naaman, 06:05 but if he stopped at one dip less, 06:09 his disobedience would have proven 06:11 no resolve to his former life. 06:12 Yeah, proven by the fact that at dip six, 06:14 he hadn't changed. 06:16 Yeah. Nothing to change. 06:17 So the Lord says, "Dip," 06:18 and your dipping 06:20 is your public expression of the fact 06:22 that I have ordained this, like we do anointing, 06:24 we have said to people how many times, 06:26 you know, "Well, now I want you to know, sister, 06:28 there's no power in my prayer, 06:30 and although this oil was brought from Jerusalem, 06:33 there's no power in the oil." 06:35 The power is in the promise of God 06:37 to follow His ordinance, 06:38 and by following His ordinance, 06:40 we accept by faith that He honors our obedience 06:43 and imputes to us His righteousness. 06:45 Shelley, let me just put this... 06:46 And we're coming back to you and forgive me, 06:48 just stepping back one little bit that 06:51 when you come to Jesus, coming to Christ moves you, 06:55 you're never the same. 06:58 And baptism is just 07:00 one of the emblems of that moving. 07:01 When we come to Jesus, 07:04 the love of Christ constrains us. 07:06 Now constrain is not restrain. 07:08 Constrain means appropriate movement. 07:11 If you need to be held back, constrain will hold you back. 07:14 If you need to be pushed forward, 07:15 constrain will push you forward. 07:17 It's appropriate movement. 07:19 So when we come to Jesus, 07:21 we begin to do those things 07:22 which are appropriate to a relationship 07:25 with Jesus Christ. 07:26 Some things we let go, 07:27 we stay back from, other things, we move towards. 07:29 The thing about coming to Christ 07:31 is you never stay still, you never stay the same. 07:33 So once we realize what Christ asks of us, 07:37 we are constrained to do that. 07:39 Yeah. Amen. Amen. 07:41 For me, what I was saying earlier when I said, 07:44 "I was buried alive three times," 07:47 I grew up in a church that taught 07:50 you had to be baptized just right to be saved. 07:52 I was baptized at 12 years old, again at 18, 07:55 because I was worried 07:57 that my heart wasn't right at 12. 08:00 A third time, I was baptized because I joined, 08:02 and I went down front to join a non-denominational church 08:06 that had been a Baptist church, and when you join the church, 08:10 they dunk you before you knew what happened 08:11 because in their scripture, 08:13 it talks about this is how 08:15 we are added to the church, right? 08:17 But it wasn't until I studied Romans 6, 08:21 and we'll get into that in a little bit, 08:22 but that I realized what baptism is. 08:27 Baptism is symbolic of Christ's burial 08:32 and His resurrection. 08:34 So when you're baptized, 08:36 it is symbolic that you are laying down, 08:38 you're burying your past, you're burying that old life, 08:42 you are identifying with the death of Christ, 08:46 and when you come up out of the waters 08:49 that you are to be walking in newness of life. 08:54 So, to me, as I studied that, and I realized that baptism, 09:00 Christ did instituted only one of two ordinances. 09:03 There is communion that is the ordinance for His death 09:07 and then baptism, 09:09 which is His burial and resurrection. 09:11 It is a commandment 09:13 that we are to go into all the nations, 09:15 teaching them to observe, 09:17 but to baptize in the name of 09:19 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 09:21 So baptism is as important as teaching, and to me, 09:27 I believe that baptism 09:29 is the sign of the New Covenant. 09:32 In the Old Covenant, 09:33 their sign was outward circumcision, 09:36 but God said, "I'm going to give you a new heart, 09:39 I'm going to circumcise your heart." 09:41 Let me read you this thought 09:44 in Colossians 2:11, 09:48 he says, Paul's writing to the Colossians, 09:51 he says, "In Him," in Christ, 09:54 "you were also circumcised 09:57 with the circumcision made without hands." 09:59 That's that New Covenant promise 10:02 that we find in Ezekiel 10:03 that God's going to give us a new heart 10:06 and put His Spirit within us. 10:08 He said, "By putting off the body 10:10 of the sins of the flesh 10:13 by the circumcision of Christ 10:16 buried with Him in baptism 10:19 in which you were also raised with Him 10:23 through faith in the working of God 10:25 who raised Him from the dead." 10:29 So as we come into this New Covenant, 10:33 this is the sign, the identifying sign, symbolic, 10:37 as you said, of what God has done in us already, 10:41 and it is a public confession, and it is, 10:44 we'll see in scripture, 10:46 it was how people were added to the church 10:50 was through baptism. 10:51 Let's just go back a little 10:54 and lay some biblical foundation. 10:57 In the New Testament, we talk about... 11:01 There's John's baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, 11:04 the Believer's baptism. 11:06 And you both have been in Israel, 11:11 baptism is something that is not new, 11:14 the Jews had a practice that foreshadowed that. 11:18 You were at the temple when we went to... 11:23 In Jerusalem, in Qumran, Masada, 11:26 do you remember those deep pools 11:28 that we saw there? 11:29 These were called mikvehs, 11:32 and the mikveh was filled with living water, 11:36 and it was deep enough that you could go down 11:38 for a full body immersion. 11:40 Before someone could go up to the temple mount, 11:44 before someone... 11:46 And not just on the days of Pentecost or atonement or what, 11:51 but especially on those days, 11:52 all the travelers would come in, 11:54 they would take off their traveling clothes, 11:57 they would go down and immerse themselves completely under, 12:01 head and all, completely under the water, 12:03 come up, and put on a new white linen, 12:07 and that was an ablution, 12:11 if you will, for sacredness. 12:15 Okay. 12:17 They also had to do this, the priests 12:20 before they enter the priesthood. 12:22 They went and immerse themselves 12:24 in the mikveh. 12:25 So this, to me, the idea of the living water, 12:28 that's water that came from a spring or a river 12:31 had to be flowing water. 12:33 Flowing water, right. Flowing water. 12:34 And, to me, that shows us 12:37 that it foreshadowed the New Testament baptism 12:42 because it was not just as being baptized in water 12:46 but being baptized by the spirit. 12:48 Could you read for us, one of you, 12:51 whoever would like to, let's look at John and... 12:55 Excuse me, John's story, John the Baptist in Matthew 3, 12:59 and let's begin with verse 11. 13:02 You know, Shelley, I'm in someplace else, 13:03 and forgive me, I just want to, 13:04 because you mentioned something, 13:06 and I want to establish this, 13:07 this idea that God has always had a sign 13:10 between Himself and His people, a visible sign, 13:13 so I'm in Genesis 17, 13:15 I just want to read this because you mentioned, 13:17 I just want to give some scriptural back up for it, 13:19 17:9, and God said to Abraham, 13:22 "As for you, you shall keep my covenant, 13:25 you and your descendants 13:26 after you throughout your generations. 13:29 This is my covenant which you shall keep 13:31 between me and you and your descendants after you, 13:34 every male child among you shall be circumcised." 13:37 So the sign of the covenant 13:39 in the Old Testament was circumcision. 13:40 Only stopped for a short time while they were... 13:43 It was a short time, 13:44 while they were in the wilderness, 13:46 and then picked back up again 13:47 once they cross over into Canaan. 13:48 So there was this sign from Abraham's time 13:51 up until they came into the Promised Land. 13:54 Now, of course, 13:55 this New Testament sign is baptism, 13:56 so we're just following the continuity 13:58 that God has always had a sign 14:00 between He and His people that certified 14:03 that they were His people, and it was a visible sign, 14:06 you know, and I just wanted to put that in there. 14:09 When we study at the temple, 14:11 there were Gentiles who believed in God, 14:15 but they refused to be circumcised. 14:18 So they had the Court of the Gentiles over there, 14:19 these were the uncircumcised Gentiles. 14:22 We know that they really, of course, 14:25 I'm not approving of this, 14:27 but the Jews would not even associate with them 14:30 as far as going into their home or eating, 14:32 but if someone was circumcised 14:36 which was a sign of the covenant, 14:38 they were accepted as a Jewish proselyte, 14:42 and then they could be 14:43 in the other part of the temple. 14:46 And, to me, that's something that that kind of foreshadows 14:50 the idea that this is how we come into the church. 14:53 We're coming into the New Covenant, 14:55 we're showing by public confession 14:57 that God has done a work in our heart, 14:59 and we receive Him. 15:01 Let me add a point to that 15:02 'cause I think that both of you made a really good point 15:03 about the Old Testament sign circumcision 15:07 and pointing out the New Testament equivalent 15:09 was circumcision of the heart, a changed heart. 15:14 One of the ones that I want to point out 15:15 because I know we're not talking about 15:17 circumcision being necessary, 15:19 because sometimes the Jews, well, not sometimes, 15:22 the Jews always believe 15:23 that circumcision was a prerequisite 15:26 to keeping the laws, the ceremonial laws. 15:29 But I like when Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:19, 15:32 "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, 15:37 but the keeping of the commandments of God 15:39 is what matters." 15:41 1 Corinthians 7:19, 15:42 so, if you're looking at the program, 15:44 I want to make sure that you know 15:45 that we're not talking about... 15:47 And I know that Shelley didn't communicated this, 15:48 neither Pastor CA 15:49 that would talk about the support of circumcision, 15:52 but in the New Covenant, it's the heart change. 15:53 Yes. 15:55 It's the circumcision of the heart. 15:56 But you can't do it. 15:57 If you try to do it, you cut your heart out. 15:59 That's right. 16:00 And there's no need to do that, but the... 16:05 "Changing of the life is the removal 16:09 of that old nature, that circumcision, 16:13 that old nature that needs to die." 16:16 And if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation, 16:20 so baptism is that in Christ motif, 16:23 a new creation. 16:25 And circumcision, one way or the other, 16:27 doesn't remove our call 16:30 to keep the commandments of God 16:32 'cause some people think that, 16:33 "Ah, I got my text now, 16:35 we don't have to keep the commandments of God." 16:37 But that didn't negate you either way. 16:39 If you were circumcised or not, 16:40 the commandments of God needed to be kept. 16:41 Good point. 16:43 These are all symbols of something 16:44 because in circumcision, 16:45 there was something that was being cut away. 16:47 Some part that was being cut away of the body, 16:50 and the circumcision of the heart 16:52 is the idea that there is something, 16:54 practice-wise, that has to be cut away. 16:57 And the way Paul expressed it to the Colossians 17:00 is by putting off the body of the sins flesh. 17:04 That's right. It's that old life. 17:08 This is why I call baptism a white funeral. 17:12 It's like you have, you're burying your past, 17:16 you are being relieved of that, 17:18 but you're being released from that 17:20 because we know that Jesus said 17:22 that He came to destroy the works of the devil, 17:26 He came to save us from our sins. 17:29 So if you were like me, 17:32 the first few times I was baptized, it really... 17:36 You know, it was kind of like, "Oh, I've been baptized." 17:38 But it didn't make a difference in my life until I understood, 17:43 and the fourth time it took because I understood, 17:47 "Hey, I am burying this old way of life. 17:53 I'm going to be resurrected to live 17:55 by the power of the Holy Spirit in newness of life," 17:59 and it is a command of God, Christ commanded it. 18:05 He also submitted to baptism, and let's just kind of go back 18:09 'cause I think people sometimes get John's baptism and Christ, 18:13 the Believer's baptism confused. 18:15 So somebody, if you would, please let's read 18:19 Mark 3:11. 18:25 You mean, Matthew 3? 18:27 Matthew, I'm sorry chapter 3 verses 11 through... 18:33 Just 11 and 12. Okay. 18:35 You got it, Pastor. 18:37 I have it right here. 18:39 Okay, and Matthew 3:11-12 reads as follows... 18:47 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, 18:50 but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, 18:54 whose sandal I am not worthy to carry. 18:57 He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 19:02 His winnowing fan is in His hand, 19:04 and He will thoroughly purchase threshing floor 19:06 and gather His wheat into the barn, 19:09 but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 19:13 Right. Who is talking here? 19:16 Right here, that is John speaking here. 19:19 John, the Baptist. What was his ministry? 19:22 To preach repentance, to prepare the way for Christ, 19:24 who is to come. 19:25 He... It was a preparatory work, wasn't it? 19:27 It really was. 19:29 Now, interestingly, 19:31 Jesus repeated these words before He ascended 19:34 that it won't be long before you are baptized. 19:38 He said, "John truly baptized with water, 19:40 but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit 19:43 not many days from now." 19:46 So here's my question, 19:49 Jesus came to John at the Jordan to be baptized, 19:54 what was John's reaction? 19:57 And that goes on in verse 13. Right. 19:59 I should be... It should be other way around. 20:01 He was very humble, wasn't he? Yeah, very much so. 20:04 So why do you believe then when Jesus is... 20:09 I mean, here He had said, "Here comes the Lamb of God." 20:12 Now John is being asked by Jesus, 20:15 and I'm sure it startled him, and he responded humbly saying, 20:20 "I shouldn't be baptizing You, You should be baptizing me," 20:23 because his was a baptism unto repentance, 20:26 Christ didn't need to repent, so why didn't Jesus submit, 20:30 because John then goes ahead and baptizes Him 20:33 in Matthew 3:16, it said, 20:36 "When He had been baptized, 20:38 Jesus came up immediately from the water. 20:40 The heavens were opened, 20:42 and He saw the spirit descending 20:43 like a dove and alighting on Him saying, 20:46 'This is My Son in whom I'm well pleased.'" 20:48 Why did Jesus allow John to baptize Him? 20:52 Jesus understood and John understood two things. 20:55 One, John took the message 20:57 as far as he was commissioned to do 21:00 and as far as he could. 21:01 We know that he knew who he was dealing with 21:03 because he said, "Behold the Lamb of God," 21:05 So he had a full understanding of who Christ was. 21:09 But Christ ministry had yet to begin, 21:12 so he couldn't really baptize them 21:15 into something that they knew nothing about. 21:17 Christ had not established His own work, 21:20 so that means that this service 21:22 must have had some other kind of secondary meaning, 21:25 well, maybe not secondary, 21:26 but there was another agenda there for this, 21:30 and the agenda was the example 21:32 for those of us who must come after. 21:34 Christ certainly did not need to be baptized 21:37 for omission of sin 21:38 because He had no sin, there was nothing to repent of. 21:41 So the idea of this particular baptism 21:44 was an example for those of us who are to follow. 21:48 Do you think that any possibility that it also... 21:52 I mean, I agree Christ was submitting to it 21:54 to show He approved of it. 21:57 Do you think also that possibly 21:59 when He said to fulfill all righteousness 22:01 that it had to do with the fact 22:02 that He was about to begin His ministry 22:05 and as the priest had to be immersed 22:09 in the mikveh 22:11 that this was part of 22:12 His fulfilling all righteousness? 22:13 It could have been an acknowledgment 22:15 that what He had established long before 22:16 He was willing to follow Himself. 22:18 You know, He established many things, 22:20 He didn't say, "Behold the Messiah 22:22 that taketh away the sin of the world." 22:23 Because long ago, 22:25 He established the whole purpose of the lamb. 22:27 He thought, "Well, they've been doing this 22:28 for a couple thousand years, 22:29 they should recognize what this means." 22:32 So now in the same way in baptism, 22:33 "While they've been using the mikveh, 22:35 they should recognize what this means," 22:36 and they could have said, 22:38 "Wait a minute, why is He going down the water? 22:40 We've been doing that for a long time. 22:41 Could He be the priest? Is it possible?" 22:44 He gave them every symbol, every outward sign to connect 22:49 what they have been doing to who He is, 22:51 and they forgot it. 22:52 Yeah, well said, well said. So the lamb, lamb. 22:55 And following up... What's the meaning of lamb? 22:56 I'm sorry. 22:57 And then He is now in the water, what is that? 22:59 The laver, wait a minute, this is connectings, 23:01 what's this meaning? 23:02 And everything He gave them to evidentially conclude, 23:07 "Am I doing this coincidentally? 23:10 I'm the Messiah." 23:12 And that's why in John 5:39, He made this statement to them, 23:15 they were so versed in the scripture, the Torah, 23:18 the Pentateuch, He said, 23:19 "You searched for the scriptures, 23:21 for in them, you think you find eternal life, 23:25 but these are they that testify..." 23:26 Of me. I'm right here. 23:28 Yeah. 23:29 And they couldn't get it, 23:31 so He did that to fulfill all righteousness 23:32 because John's baptism 23:34 couldn't fulfill all righteousness 23:35 because John himself is not righteous. 23:38 And he can't communicate what he doesn't have, 23:40 so here comes the righteous one 23:42 that taketh away the sin of the world, 23:45 that broken relationship, 23:46 that thing that every one of us has, 23:49 and that's why in adding one component to that, 23:51 we all know John 3:16, 23:53 but the point that I want to add here 23:55 was the reason why Jesus came was not to condemn the world 23:58 but that the world, through Him might be saved. 24:00 'Cause they were all, 24:01 every one of us is in a lost condition, 24:03 every one of us, without Christ, 24:05 so I would add to this, you know, baptism is not... 24:09 We're not standing on the sideline to say, 24:13 "Do I want to be saved? 24:14 Do I want to be lost? 24:15 Do I want to be lost? Do I want to be saved?" 24:18 When we baptize or not baptized?" 24:20 We're not choosing our destiny. 24:21 One of our destinies is fixed, 24:23 Jesus came to give us a different destiny. 24:25 Yes. 24:27 And so that's why baptism... 24:28 Coming with that beautiful outward symbol 24:30 of our inward acceptance of Christ, Peter says, 24:35 "Repent and be converted." 24:37 Yes. What do I need to do? 24:39 You know repent 24:40 and let every one of you baptized, 24:42 but let that baptism lead to repentance and conversion, 24:46 or else you just got baptized. 24:48 So what you're saying is that as with me the first two times, 24:51 if you go down into the water a sinner, 24:56 you're coming up a sinner, 24:57 you're just a wet sinner at that point. 24:58 Unless you repent, you are not converted. 25:00 Unless you're repenting and converted. 25:02 You have something that you used in illustration 25:06 about marriage. 25:09 Let me hold that till we read the commandment 25:10 because we are commanded by Christ, as believers, 25:16 we become disciples of the Lord. 25:18 We're commanded to be baptized. 25:20 This isn't an optional path, it is a commandment. 25:24 And in Matthew 28, I'll begin with verse 19, 25:27 well, no, let me begin with verse 18. 25:29 Yeah. 25:30 "Jesus came and spoke to them saying, 25:32 'All authority has been given to Me 25:35 in heaven and on earth. 25:36 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations 25:41 baptizing them in the name of the Father 25:44 and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.'" 25:48 So He said, "Go make disciples," 25:50 What do we do? 25:51 We baptize those disciples, 25:53 "Teaching them to observe all things 25:57 that I have commanded and lo, I am with you always." 26:00 So I would say that the commission to baptize 26:04 is equally as important as the commission to go and teach 26:09 and make disciples. 26:10 I mean, you cannot separate this. 26:13 It is something... 26:16 And I believe that it's more than a formulaic phrase 26:19 when He said it 26:20 in the name of the Father and the Son. 26:22 This is something that it is showing that... 26:28 First of all, 26:29 it is required of all believers, 26:31 but it is our commitment to God. 26:35 You've got a thought? Yeah. 26:37 Great, I see your point. 26:39 Yeah, I'm chiming in because both of you touched on 26:41 something that just occurred to me, 26:44 how that the priest had to ritually immerse himself 26:48 in the mikveh 26:49 prior to his entry into ministry in the temple. 26:55 We can see then a parallel in Christ being baptized 27:00 prior to His entry into ministry for mankind. 27:04 And it is interesting that He is baptized 27:06 not in the Sea of Galilee, 27:08 which is relatively still body of water, 27:10 He got baptized in the Jordan 27:11 which is a moving body of water, 27:13 which makes it ceremonially acceptable 27:16 according to Numbers, 27:17 because moving water cannot be defiled. 27:19 So He's following a pattern there. 27:21 And then a co-region of that pattern for us is 27:26 once we come to the Lord, 27:28 we are part of the priesthood of all believers. 27:30 So our entrance into ministry 27:32 has to be preceded by that same mikveh washing 27:37 of our bodies, 27:39 which is a sign also that we are on Christ's team. 27:41 We're feeling the righteousness. 27:43 Yeah, we're feeling righteousness 27:45 but it's also requisite to us entering into our ministry. 27:50 You know, the ministry that God has given each of us 27:51 to perform in our lives 27:53 and just kind of conflating what both of you said, 27:54 it just kind of popped in my mind 27:56 that there is direct parallel in those three. 27:58 I don't often do this, 28:00 but that was an anointed phrase. 28:01 That was an anointed saying 28:03 because this is what I was talking about 28:04 when Jesus said, 28:05 "He who believes and is baptized..." 28:08 Jesus knew His mission. 28:09 Yes. 28:11 He accepted the mission, the Father, 28:12 And He had co-authored, 28:17 but He condescended, He submitted to it. 28:19 Yes. 28:21 And then He made it clear, 28:23 "These are the steps, now go, 28:27 the authority is given, 28:29 the disciples, 28:30 these are the steps, the authority is given," 28:32 and for us to have any authority, 28:33 we can't break the examples of Christ, 28:36 you know, there are a number of things we do 28:38 that are exemplified by Christ, 28:41 communion, washing of the feet. 28:43 Some people don't do that, 28:44 but it says, "If, I, your Lord and your teacher, do this..." 28:46 Yes. Yeah. 28:48 Yeah. What your problem? 28:50 What's wrong with you, right? Right. 28:51 I'm the King of the universe, I'm doing this. 28:53 I left you an example. 28:55 Blessed are you or happy are you 28:56 if you do these things. 28:58 So the blessing comes, and I love that word, you know, 29:01 the King James says "all power," 29:04 New Kings, "all authority," 29:06 what the disciples got on the Day of Pentecost 29:10 was all authority, all power, 29:14 what Jesus came forth was all authority, all power, 29:19 and what He says, "You're going to have..." 29:21 All authority. 29:22 When you are... 29:23 You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, 29:27 all authority, all power. 29:29 And the Holy Spirit himself just the sidebar, 29:32 doesn't speak on his own authority, 29:35 but he speaks on the authority of the Son. 29:37 So any authority we get is not ours. 29:39 Not ours. 29:40 It's passing through us, through Jesus, 29:42 so then how can you take a shortcut and skip baptism 29:45 and think that you're walking in the full authority 29:47 of Jesus Christ. 29:48 You know, it's interesting to me 29:49 if we looked at the house of Cornelius 29:53 that they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit first. 29:57 Cornelius was a Roman centurion, 30:01 and he was a devout and godly man. 30:05 The Holy Spirit was working in his life 30:08 way before Peter arrived, 30:10 but what happened is he was praying... 30:13 The Bible says he prayed to God constantly, 30:16 and he gave alms to the poor. 30:19 He was a man who was walking in obedience 30:22 and the interesting thing is he is praying earnestly. 30:28 God sends an angel to him and says, 30:30 "Hey! Send for Peter over in Joppa." 30:32 So Peter gets this vision 30:35 or he understands 30:36 that God is saying that, 30:42 "No man's unclean." 30:43 This is the first mission by an apostle 30:48 to an uncircumcised Gentile. 30:51 So he understands, he goes, 30:53 and I'm looking for the scripture 30:55 which is in... 30:56 Acts 10. Acts 10. 30:58 Acts 10. 30:59 So in Acts 10, Cornelius then is... 31:03 I'm trying to find it here on my... 31:05 Here it is. 31:06 Acts 10, find it. 31:08 Somebody read this because it says... 31:09 What verse do you want? 31:10 I'm in 10. Yeah, I have it right here. 31:12 Go ahead. 31:13 We're talking about verse... 31:15 Here it is, right here about receiving the Holy Spirit, 31:17 verse 46 and down to 48. 31:20 Yes. 31:23 Speaking... 31:24 Above verse 44 starts actually, 31:26 "While Peter was still speaking upon the words, 31:28 the Holy Spirit fell upon those who heard the Word 31:31 and those of the circumcision who believed were astonished. 31:36 As many came with Peter 31:37 because the gift of the Holy Spirit 31:40 had been poured out on the Gentiles also 31:43 for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. 31:46 Then Peter answered, 31:48 "Can anyone forbid water 31:49 that these should not be baptized 31:52 who have received the Holy Spirit 31:54 just as we have," 31:55 and he commanded them to be baptized 31:57 in the name of the Lord, 31:59 then they asked him to stay a few days." 32:02 So, you know, it's interesting to me, 32:03 there's times in the New Testament, 32:06 I believe that Saul 32:08 when he was converted, he received, 32:11 when Ananias came to him and the scales fell off, 32:15 I think the Holy Spirit was on Saul then, 32:17 but then immediately, Ananias says to him, 32:21 "Why do you wait? 32:22 Let's just arise and be baptized." 32:24 When you think of the Philippian jailer 32:26 in Acts 16:29, 32:29 let me see, I'll begin with verse 29. 32:35 He says... 32:37 There's been this earthquake, Paul and Silas are imprisoned. 32:40 There's this earthquake, 32:42 and all of their chains fall off, 32:44 and those who are guarding them... 32:45 I mean, all of the doors opened in the prison. 32:49 So the Philippian jailer's getting ready to kill himself 32:52 because he's going to commit harakiri, 32:54 where he is getting ready to draw his sword 32:56 because if he didn't kill himself, 32:57 the Romans would have killed him. 32:59 Well, he thought, "I'm dead anyhow." 33:01 But Paul and Silas holler out to him, 33:03 "Wait a minute, we're all here," 33:05 and it says in Acts 16:29, 33:08 "Then he called for a light, ran in, 33:09 and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas, 33:12 and he brought them out, and he said..." 33:14 He's seen the hand of God move. 33:16 "He said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 33:21 So they said, 33:23 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 33:25 and you will be saved, you and your household.'" 33:28 And it's not that everybody is coming in by osmosis, 33:31 he's saying, 33:33 "All of you if you believe, you will be saved. 33:35 And they spoke the word of the Lord 33:38 to him and all who were in his house, 33:40 and he took them the same hour of the night, 33:43 he washed their stripes..." 33:44 And what is the next verse? 33:46 "And, immediately, 33:47 he and all his family were baptized. 33:49 Immediately. Immediately. 33:52 Which is what follows belief. 33:54 Exactly. 33:55 Which is what follow... 33:56 You have to believe before you are baptized. 33:58 Absolutely. 33:59 Stephen and Philip did the same thing 34:00 with the Ethiopian eunuch. 34:03 He said, "Do you understand what you..." 34:04 "But how can I understand 34:05 except when somebody explained it to me." 34:07 After explaining, 34:08 what hinders me from being baptized, 34:10 and that's a very good point you brought out, Shelley, 34:12 because anytime, a person... 34:14 Whenever you're baptized, you've got to believe, 34:17 you cannot just say, "Well, I want to be baptized." 34:22 "Be baptized for what reason?" 34:24 "I just want to be baptized." 34:25 The symbol itself can't do a thing for you. 34:27 You can wash your car, 34:29 but if the interior is dirty, it's not going to do anything, 34:30 you hear what I just said? Yeah. 34:32 Drive to the car wash... There you go. That's great. 34:34 But don't throw anything out on the inside. 34:35 That's good. That's good. You know. 34:37 But, you know, you think of the thief on the cross. 34:39 He believed and Jesus said, "I'm telling you today, 34:43 you got it, you will be with Me." 34:45 You think of somebody in a foxhole, 34:47 maybe that is in a war. 34:48 Or a plane going down. 34:50 Or a plane going down, who accepts Lord, 34:51 maybe they've heard it, 34:53 but they accept it, and they will be saved 34:56 'cause it says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 34:59 and you will be saved." 35:00 But the most important critical act of obedience 35:05 when we believe everywhere we see 35:08 when people believed, what happened? 35:11 They were baptized. 35:13 You know what, Shelley, 35:15 all of the exigencies are covered here. 35:16 Cornelius, obviously, had been under the influence 35:18 of the Holy Spirit for a long time. 35:20 He's giving alms, he's doing all kinds of things. 35:22 You can then... 35:23 The culmination of that is this public acceptance of God, 35:28 then you've got this jailer. 35:29 This is as we say in New York bada boom, bada bing. 35:31 This is like boom, boom, boom. 35:33 You know, he sees the part of the Lord working, 35:35 he stopped from taking his own life, 35:38 he is convicted at that point, 35:40 and the next thing he does, he's in a pool, 35:41 he's ready to go, you know, 35:43 so you've got some who've been taking a little while, 35:46 you've got some who it's instantaneous, 35:48 and then, of course, you've got the thief on the cross 35:50 who never does get a chance to get baptized. 35:52 He is countenanced also. 35:54 So what this is saying is no matter what road you're on, 35:57 your ultimate destination is baptism. 35:59 And if you're delaying it or putting it off 36:01 or walking away from it, 36:03 then something's wrong with your connection 36:04 with the Lord. 36:06 There's something incomplete 36:07 because if you're in Christ, 36:09 if you've repented of your sins, 36:10 if you are converted person, 36:11 you want to follow the commands of Jesus, 36:13 but more than that, 36:15 you want to make a public declaration 36:16 to the world 36:18 that I'm on a new team now, I want my new jersey, 36:20 because I'm on the new team, 36:21 and I want to do what Christ has asked me to do. 36:23 Now the marriage example fits right here. 36:25 There you go. That is perfect. 36:27 There are some people 36:29 that look for common law relationships with Christ. 36:32 They just want to hang around, they want to be in church, 36:34 they want to be at the potlucks, 36:35 they want to clean the way they... 36:37 Just clean up their eating habits, 36:38 clean up their smoking habits, 36:39 they want to get everything in order, 36:41 and that's not what the Bible talks about. 36:43 The one who comes into your life... 36:46 2 Corinthians 5:17, 36:48 "If anyone is in Christ, 36:51 he's a new creation, a new creature. 36:53 Old things are passed away, 36:55 behold, all things are become new." 36:56 Some people try to give it the old things 36:58 without being in Christ. 36:59 No, you can't do that. 37:01 It's like... 37:02 Well, it's works, salvation by works. 37:05 But even, not even salvation, but works with no end result. 37:09 So for people that are just, 37:11 you know, "I love you, I really do, 37:13 how long we've been living together?" 37:14 "22 years." 37:16 "We're still not married," 37:18 because you have made no public declaration 37:21 through the ceremony that God ordained 37:23 in the Garden of Eden. 37:25 He ordained it, He didn't say, 37:26 "Ignore marriage, and you'll be married anyhow." 37:29 He gave the man to the woman, and the woman to the man, 37:31 He said, "Leave your mother and father, 37:32 cleave to your wife." 37:33 And so we don't want you to be living together with Christ. 37:39 We want you to be living in Christ. 37:41 Don't be content to be in the vicinity, 37:46 you need to be in the Man, Christ Jesus. 37:48 And, you know, if people only understood covenant better 37:51 'cause in the Old Testament under the Old Covenant 37:54 which was a special and temporary covenant 37:57 for the nation of Israel, 37:59 the rabbis thought of that as the marriage of the people 38:04 to God. 38:06 Under the New Covenant, what are we? 38:08 We are the bride of Christ, 38:10 and I love what you said 38:12 because it is like if you are in church, 38:16 and you believe with all of your heart, 38:19 but you refuse to obey Christ's command 38:23 to be baptized, 38:25 then it's kind of like you're refusing 38:28 to enter into that covenant relationship, 38:31 not kind of, you are. You are. 38:32 I mean, because the covenant side of it, 38:36 you know, interestingly, in the Greek, 38:42 the Hebrew scholars 38:43 who translated the Old Testament into Greek, 38:47 the Septuagint. The Septuagint. 38:50 They always translated, 38:52 there's two words for covenant, 38:53 syntheke, which means a two-party covenant, 38:57 in like a contract or something, 38:58 or diatheke, which means 39:01 there's only one person making the promises. 39:03 All of God's covenants, 39:05 He's the only one making the promises, 39:07 but what we do... 39:09 And this is what we always say is salvation is by grace, 39:12 not by works that any man should boast, 39:15 but yet, if we are saved, 39:20 obedience, when you walk into covenant relationship 39:24 with the Lord, 39:25 obedience is by grace, 39:28 He works in you to will and to do His good pleasure. 39:32 And obedience is the expression of our love. 39:37 It is the expression of our covenant loyalty, 39:41 is it not? 39:42 So it's interesting in Acts 2:41, it says, 39:47 this is talking about the early church, 39:50 "Those who gladly received His Word 39:53 were baptized." 39:55 It's not like they sat back and said, 39:57 "Oh, yeah, we believe in Christ." 39:58 Even the demons believe and tremble. 40:01 They were baptized, and then in verse 47, it says, 40:05 "The Lord added to the church daily 40:09 those who are being saved." 40:10 How do they know who were being saved? 40:12 Because when you're saved, you want to obey Christ, 40:15 and so they went in and were baptized, 40:16 they made their public confession, 40:18 and they came into the church. That's right. 40:20 What does the word baptizo mean? 40:22 To immerse, to get under. Fully immersed. 40:24 Fully immersed. Well said. 40:26 Is it not true, 40:28 everywhere we see, 40:29 whether it's Philip taking the eunuch down in the water, 40:32 Jesus going down in the water, 40:34 we've got to get to Romans, we're running out of time. 40:36 While you're turning there, 40:38 at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, a lot of people... 40:40 Which is in Italy, the Leaning Tower, 40:43 inside there is a baptismal pool, 40:46 not a basin, 40:48 but a place where full-bodied person 40:51 could be fully immersed. 40:52 This whole idea of sprinkling was something that evolved 40:56 like the theory of evolution, no biblical support. 40:59 It was something that the church of the Dark Ages 41:01 decided to implement, 41:02 but it was not given any command in the Bible. 41:04 The only sprinkling I see in the Bible 41:06 is a sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, right? 41:08 And that's a covenant thing again. 41:09 And so the whole thing is Luke 6:46, like you both said, 41:13 and I want to capitalize as you transition. 41:15 Yes, when you follow the Lord, you got to do what He commands. 41:17 "Why call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?" 41:20 So when you enter the relationship with Christ, 41:22 that covenant means, 41:23 "Well, 'cause there's something I must do, 41:24 or you call me Lord, Lord, 41:26 why not do the things that I say." 41:27 There you go. 41:29 And he's baptized, and so you enter into that covenant, 41:31 thank you for the word covenant, 41:32 because there's got to be some agreement 41:34 to this relationship. 41:35 If you have no covenant, 41:36 and everything we do, cars, houses, credit cards, 41:41 there's a covenant. 41:42 If you don't think so, stop paying your bills, 41:44 and the person who you made that covenant with, 41:46 will come collecting. Yeah, will come collecting. 41:48 My point is when you make a covenant with God, 41:51 the wise man Solomon says, 41:53 "It's better not to vow, than to vow and not to pay." 41:57 Don't allow your mouth to cause your flesh to sin. 42:00 Don't say I believe with my mouth 42:02 and don't follow through what the Lord commands us to do. 42:05 Amen. Amen. 42:06 Okay, here was the scripture 42:08 that as I was studying the Bible one day, 42:12 this was life changing for me. 42:15 Romans 6:3-6. That's right. 42:19 Paul writes, and he says, 42:21 "Do you not know that as many of us 42:25 as were baptized into Christ Jesus 42:29 were baptized into His death. 42:33 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism." 42:37 That's the immersion, 42:39 "Buried with Him into death 42:42 that just as Christ was raised from the dead 42:45 by the glory of the Father, 42:47 even so we also should walk in newness of life." 42:51 Now let me pause right there. 42:54 Even though I had been baptized by immersion, 42:56 as we said there's no scriptural evidence 42:59 for sprinkling, 43:00 I had not realized... 43:02 Yes, I knew Christ died for me, 43:04 that He was buried and resurrected, 43:06 but I didn't see this ordinance of baptism. 43:10 I didn't know that it meant, 43:12 "Okay, I'm about to identify with His death, 43:15 I'm going to lay down my old way of life, 43:19 bury the past, 43:20 and I'm going to come up a new creation in Christ 43:23 to walk in newness of life." 43:25 He says, "For if we have been united together 43:29 in the likeness of His death." 43:32 I like that. 43:33 I'd be there if you've done that, 43:34 "Certainly we also shall be in the likeness 43:37 of His resurrection, 43:38 knowing this that our old man was crucified with Him, 43:42 that the body of sin might be done away with 43:46 that we should no longer be slaves of sin." 43:51 So what happened was when I read this, 43:54 I realized I had gone forward to make a public confession 44:00 by my baptisms prayer, 44:04 but I didn't know what I was even entering into. 44:08 So I realized that my baptism had been... 44:11 My instruction was inadequate, so my baptism was inadequate. 44:15 I'd never really laid down that old way of life 44:19 because I hadn't been taught that. 44:21 And it reminds me of when Paul went to Ephesus, 44:25 and he asks these people, 44:27 "Hey, what about the Holy Spirit?" 44:29 "Oh, we've not even heard that there was, 44:31 you know, a Holy Spirit." 44:33 And he say to them in Acts 19, 44:36 "Then what baptism did you receive?" 44:39 "Well, John's baptism, the baptism of repentance." 44:42 And he explains it further to them what happens. 44:46 They were re-baptized. 44:49 If you haven't been baptized, 44:53 understanding the truth, 44:55 I just want to encourage you to consider re-baptism, 44:59 to consider being buried 45:02 and resurrected with being buried with Christ, 45:06 burying your past, and being resurrected 45:08 because that was where God changed my life. 45:11 I'd call myself a Christian until that time, 45:15 but I hadn't really known what it was all about. 45:19 One thing I want to ask you, 45:22 everywhere I read in the New Testament 45:25 about baptism, 45:26 they're all professing believers, 45:27 are they not? Yeah. 45:29 They understand, they believe in Christ Jesus, 45:33 they understand 45:35 and, you know, if you confess with your mouth, 45:37 if you believe in your heart, confess with your mouth, 45:39 you shall be saved, 45:41 so what about infant baptism? 45:46 Go ahead. 45:47 It goes against what we understand 45:51 in the great commission to teach them to observe. 45:54 If you buy a Volkswagen, you got to sign a contract 45:58 and also have you read all the fine print. 45:59 Do you know what you're getting into? 46:01 Because you're going to be paying for this 46:03 for 96 months, 46:04 or however long you want to do it. 46:05 So, as a Christian, who is giving your life to God, 46:09 who is basing your eternity on this God who you cannot see, 46:13 but who you have extreme faith in, 46:16 you need to know what you're signing onto. 46:19 That's right. 46:20 So a child cannot do that, 46:22 a child cannot make a commitment. 46:23 You got to be 18 years old to buy a gun in this country. 46:25 You know, so if you are going to put your life 46:28 in the hands of this mysterious, wonderful God, 46:30 He wants you to know what you're doing, 46:32 what sacrifice you have to make in order to do that. 46:35 Amen. 46:36 So in the New Testament, 46:38 there is not one place where you can find infant baptism. 46:44 What did they do with infants? 46:46 What did they do with Jesus at the temple? 46:48 Dedicated, dedicated. 46:49 Yeah, they brought their children to Jesus 46:51 that He may bless them, so you dedicate them. 46:53 How many baby dedications have you done, Pastor? 46:56 Quite a few, and I tell you, they never talk to me. 46:59 They never say anything, they never say, "I like you," 47:01 matter of fact sometimes they cry, 47:03 and they look at me like, "Why were you holding me for?" 47:06 Dedication is to be done to a child, 47:09 and, in fact, even at that time, 47:11 you're dedicating the child to the guidance from the parents. 47:15 You see, if these parents don't know the Lord, 47:17 this child is not going to know either. 47:19 But in baptism, 47:21 the child now at a point of a conscious age, 47:24 and Jesus was 12 47:25 when He started speaking about the clarity 47:29 that He knew His Father had sent Him, 47:30 given Him a mission, 47:32 and there are various children 47:33 of various stages of their lives 47:34 based on their understanding who can grasp it. 47:36 I think the youngest baptism I've ever did 47:38 was a seven-year-old. 47:40 And I was very, very hesitant, 47:41 but I do know that when she gets to be 27, 47:44 she'll look back and say, "I'm so glad I accepted Christ, 47:46 but my knowledge has so much increased." 47:48 But little Abby, 47:50 I went to her home and did Bible studies with her 47:52 and sat her down, 47:53 and I said, "Tell me what baptism is." 47:55 I just sat there like, 47:57 you know, like a dog was like going off. 47:59 She understood what she meant. 48:00 She said, "I want to give my life to Jesus. 48:02 I love Him as my Savior, I want to give Him my life. 48:04 I want to follow Him as my Lord and Savior." 48:06 And I said, "What did hinder thee". 48:08 I didn't say it that way, 48:10 but she knew and understood at that stage. 48:13 And she's growing up to be 48:14 a wonderful, young, Christian girl. 48:16 But infant baptism is not supported by scripture. 48:18 So we know... 48:20 Infant baptism is not supported by scripture, 48:22 sprinkling is not supported by scripture, 48:25 we see everyone who believed was baptized. 48:29 It is a critical act of obedience, 48:32 of course, other than the thief on the cross. 48:35 And you know what, if he had lived through that, 48:37 if they'd taken him down from the cross before he died, 48:41 if he had walked away 48:43 and not followed the command of Jesus, 48:46 I don't think he would have been saved. 48:48 You know, I believe that he understood Jesus, 48:51 and so that if he had lived, 48:52 I think he would have gone out and got baptized. 48:55 But here is my question to you, gentlemen, 48:58 I've said that I've been re-baptized, 49:00 have either of you been re-baptized? 49:02 Yeah, when I was 19. 49:04 How old were you the first time? 49:05 About 11 or 12. Okay. 49:07 I was wonderfully, and I think Pastor CA might know this, 49:10 the same church that he was a youth pastor 49:11 when I was a young man. 49:13 We're not very far apart in age, 49:15 but I was adequately taught. 49:19 They didn't rush us through the baptism, 49:21 but I lost my anchor at about 13 years old, 49:23 12 years old, 49:25 I lost a lady who was really my guiding light. 49:27 And I left and went out into the world, 49:28 so I needed to be re-baptized. 49:30 I just dove into the world 49:31 and all of its accoutrements 49:33 that can happen in New York City 49:34 which was just a large plate of accoutrements, 49:37 if you could say it that way. 49:38 And I just lost my connection with Christ. 49:39 So I knew there needed to be a recommitment, 49:43 but added to that, 49:44 I found Him for myself this time. 49:46 Amen. Amen. 49:47 I wasn't just told what the church teaches, 49:49 what the Bible teaches which were all valid, 49:50 but I accepted Him 49:51 and knew that I needed this for my own commitment, 49:55 and it has been a blessed journey. 49:58 Praise God. 49:59 But I must add this too, Shelley, very quickly, 50:00 I entered into a saving relationship, 50:03 but at any point that I wanted to, 50:04 I could get out of that relationship. 50:06 We don't believe in once saved, always saved, 50:07 I want to make that point very clear. 50:09 At any point, you decide, 50:10 "I am going to walk away from God, 50:11 "He's not going to say, "Wait a minute." 50:13 He's not going to let you go, but you could let Him go, 50:16 did you hear what I said? 50:17 The Lord doesn't let us go, He doesn't throw us away. 50:19 "I'll never leave you nor forsake you," 50:21 but He doesn't say, "You can't leave Me 50:22 and forsake Me." 50:23 But when we enter into that covenant relationship, 50:26 He promises to do everything that He can do 50:29 that we can never do. 50:30 Amen. Amen. 50:31 CA, were you? 50:33 Baptized at nine, 50:34 and then I had, what I call, wilderness years, you know. 50:37 At age nine, I knew what I was getting into, 50:40 they kept you in the baptismal class 50:41 long time back in the day. 50:43 But then college basketball came, 50:46 and other things came, and free education, 50:48 so I broke my ankle playing basketball twice 50:50 on Friday night. 50:51 Re-baptized at age 22 50:55 at Oakwood College, 50:58 Preparatory to Ministry. 51:00 I appreciate the patience of the Lord, 51:05 you know, the pastor told me, 51:06 "The Lord let you break your ankle 51:08 to keep you from breaking your neck." 51:09 I got the message, you know. 51:11 Well, the reason I wanted to ask you about that 51:13 is because I know that 51:14 there's probably someone who's watching and thinking, 51:17 "Well, I was baptized, 51:18 and maybe we've even understood what it meant," 51:20 but you have had a wanderness experience, 51:23 a wilderness experience, wandering in the wilderness. 51:27 And you may think, 51:29 "Can God really accept me again?" 51:31 I believe it's important 51:33 if you are to do away with that old life, 51:38 He's a big savior, 51:40 He's a much bigger savior than you are as a sinner. 51:44 And when you come back to Him, 51:47 I think it is very important 51:49 as a public confession 51:51 of who He is and what He's done for you 51:54 and where you're headed to be re-baptized and saying, 51:57 "Nope, I'm going to bury the past, 52:00 I'm burying that old life, 52:01 I'm going to identify with Jesus, 52:04 and I am going to let Him circumcised my heart 52:07 and be raised to walk in newness of life." 52:10 Boy, it is time to do a newsbreak, 52:12 and we're going to come back with the closing thought 52:14 in just a second. |
Revised 2018-05-09