Are Water Baptism and Communion Really That Important

- Jesus came, so lost people could be saved. This church is not a cruise ship. We'll be laid by the pool. This is a battleship. And for 23 years, we've been on mission for Jesus. For 23 years, we've been worshiping Jesus, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, reaching lost people, baptizing people, helping people know God and growing God. Discover purpose and make a difference. We've been on the mission of Jesus. (dramatic music) And for one reason, to see more changed lives. - Welcome to people's church families. So excited to have each of you here today with us. Come on, when you stand here, feed with us to our sisters at Mabel Bastock. Welcome, ladies. Come on church, then, we come on hands together. Let's come down, come on. (dramatic music) ♪ I have felt the hands that bear the stars ♪ ♪ Reach down and rescue me ♪ ♪ I have known the love of the Father's heart ♪ ♪ Try to go now ♪ ♪ From where I was ♪ ♪ To where I'm now ♪ ♪ But so will me ♪ ♪ But more and more ♪ ♪ I see the moon all around me ♪

♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to ♪ ♪ Pray to love ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but leave to ♪ ♪ Shout to joy ♪ ♪ When I think of how could you be ♪ ♪ Faithful now to the end ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to ♪ ♪ Pray to love ♪ ♪ For the blood ♪ ♪ You speak of the state of my life ♪ ♪ That day I cannot be paid ♪ ♪ For the cross ♪ ♪ You grow with open arms ♪ ♪ Salvation that call my name ♪ ♪ From where I was ♪ ♪ To where I'm now ♪ ♪ So will me, yeah ♪ ♪ But more and more ♪ ♪ I see the moon all around me ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to ♪ ♪ Pray to love ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but leave to ♪ ♪ Shout to joy ♪ ♪ When I think of how could you be ♪ ♪ Faithful now to the end ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to ♪ ♪ Pray to love ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray ♪ ♪ Just 'cause I'm free ♪ ♪ Got no chains on me ♪

♪ I'm here to every deep ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but ♪ ♪ Call on the name ♪ ♪ That very much it ♪ ♪ No open my breath ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray ♪ ♪ Just 'cause I'm free ♪ ♪ Got no chains on me ♪ ♪ I'm here to every deep ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but ♪ ♪ Call on the name ♪ ♪ That very much it ♪ ♪ No open my breath ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to ♪ ♪ Pray to love ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to ♪ ♪ Shout to joy ♪ ♪ When I think of how could you be ♪ ♪ Faithful now to the end ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to you ♪ ♪ Pray to love ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to you ♪ ♪ Pray to love ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to you ♪ ♪ Pray to love ♪ ♪ I don't know yet ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to you ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to you ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to you ♪ ♪ Pray to love ♪

♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to you ♪ ♪ Pray to love ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to you ♪ ♪ Pray to love ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to you ♪ ♪ Pray to love ♪ ♪ Oh, I can't help but pray to you ♪ ♪ There's an average ♪ ♪ There's an average ♪ ♪ You're free ♪ ♪ When you know what you can rescue from ♪ ♪ Worship is your loss ♪ ♪ It's the sound of the tea ♪ ♪ Lift your heads if you've been forgiven ♪ ♪ You're running to the land of the leader ♪ ♪ There is freedom in this house ♪ ♪ Lift your hearts if you've been grateful ♪ ♪ Shabbi, tell him you're grateful ♪ ♪ There is freedom in this house ♪ ♪ There's a grave where we used to be ♪ ♪ You were raised to share the pain ♪ ♪ If you know that you've been born again ♪ ♪ Come on, say hey then ♪ ♪ There's a sound of the tea ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Lift your heads if you've been forgiven ♪ ♪ You're running to the land of the leader ♪ ♪ There is freedom in this house ♪ ♪ Lift your heads if you've been grateful ♪ ♪ Shabbi, tell him you're grateful ♪

♪ There is freedom in this house ♪ ♪ Lift your chest on the floor ♪ ♪ There is a dust, open wide ♪ ♪ All I hope is reserved ♪ ♪ One was able, back to life ♪ ♪ See the chains on the floor ♪ ♪ There is a dust, open wide ♪ ♪ All I hope is reserved ♪ ♪ One was able, back to life ♪ ♪ Lift your heads if you've been forgiven ♪ ♪ Run into the land of the leader ♪ ♪ There is freedom in this house ♪ ♪ So much greater ♪ ♪ So if peace and thankful ♪ ♪ Shabbi, tell him you're grateful ♪ ♪ There is freedom in this house ♪ ♪ I'm letting you know ♪ ♪ I'm letting you know ♪ ♪ I'm letting you know ♪ ♪ I'm letting you know ♪ ♪ There is freedom in this house ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ ♪ That's good ♪ - What we thank you for freedom? God, we're so glad for the freedom that we found in you. ♪ You're the center of it all, Father ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪

♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ You're the center of it all ♪ ♪ To teach us to discern the moment ♪ ♪ With you, sir ♪ ♪ And when you sit here at your feet ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Oh, with you, I'll be standing till your head holds, my heart belongs to you, my Savior all in home. You're the one I hold on to, for the give me of your name, my soul will live to stay. Jesus, I love you, oh, for you are the center of your own, my heart belongs to you, my Savior all in home. You're the one I hold on to, for the give me of your name, my soul will live to stay.

Jesus, I love you, oh, I love you. Oh, I love you, Jesus, I love you, oh, I love you. Oh, I love you, Jesus, I love you, my heart belongs to you, my heart belongs to you. For you are the everything, for the honor of your name. And Jesus, my state, tell the story that it be, of your everything, for the honor of your name. And Jesus, my state, tell the story that it be, of your everything, for the honor of your name. And Jesus, my heart belongs to you, my heart belongs to you, my heart belongs to you, my heart belongs to you. And Jesus, my state, tell the story that it be, of your everything, for the honor of your name. ♪ Oh, how I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, how I love you ♪ ♪ Oh, love you, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, how I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ In my heart I say ♪ ♪ My whole life ♪ ♪ All you do all you do now ♪ ♪ All you do all you do ♪ ♪ Every day ♪ ♪ All the honor of your name ♪ ♪ When years of my day ♪ ♪ Tell us all about it ♪ ♪ I'm young ♪ ♪ Every day ♪ ♪ All the honor of your Savior ♪ ♪ My whole life ♪ ♪ All the love in my heart ♪ ♪ All the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Every day ♪ ♪ All the honor of your name ♪

♪ And this my day ♪ ♪ Tell us all about it ♪ ♪ Every day ♪ ♪ All the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Every day ♪ ♪ All the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Oh hey ♪ ♪ Say oh how I love you ♪ ♪ Sing to him and say ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus I love ♪ ♪ Come on just tell me ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you ♪ ♪ Oh did anything move ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ Say oh how I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus I love you ♪ Oh, we're left to love you So I throw up my hands And praise you again and again 'Cause all that I have is a hallelujah Hallelujah And I know it's not much I love it yet, it's before a king Except for hearts In the heart of the Lamb Hallelujah Hallelujah I've got one response I've got just one rule

With my arm stretched wide I will worship you, Lord So I throw up my hands And praise you again and again 'Cause all that I have is a hallelujah Hallelujah And I know it's not much I love it yet, it's before a king Except for hearts in the heart Hallelujah Hallelujah Oh, God, you're worthy of a hallelujah Oh, come on, Master Oh, don't you get shy of me Tell me your song You got a lie in it, it's one of those songs You get a good praise to love Hallelujah Oh, come on, Master Come on, Master Oh, don't you get shy Come on, Master Come on, watch your face You got a lie in it Tell me your song Come on, Master Oh, don't you get shy of me Tell me your song You got a lie in it, it's one of those songs You get a better praise to love

Hallelujah Hallelujah Oh, we sing, oh Lord We'll sing, oh Lord We'll sing a praise to love We'll sing a praise to love We'll sing a praise to love Hallelujah Oh, come on, Master Oh, come on, Master Oh, I throw up my hands And praise you again and again Oh, that I have in your heart Hallelujah Hallelujah We praise you, Lord We honor you today We give you all of our praise All of the honor, all of the glory You're so worthy of it all, Lord We honor you today Lord, would you move in this place Father, we thank you for your presence We thank you, God, for what you want to do in this place today Would you touch your hearts, Lord, change us In your presence, we pray in Jesus' name Amen, and amen Come on, give them praise one more time Amen My church family, before you're seated

Let's take the next few moments I want you to greet two or three people Learn their name, shake some hands Let's connect church (music) - All right, well, welcome to People's Church. Everybody, hey, my name is Rob Champion. I am the campus pastor here at the Oklahoma City Campus. Whether you're joining us online or in the house, all right, we are family. We're so glad to have you with us today. I wanna take a moment just to welcome all of our guests today. Come on, People's Church, family, show 'em some love. Welcome to People's Church. We're so glad to have you here. Well, People's Church, I want you to know that your generosity is making a huge difference all around the world. And through the ministries that you support, you're providing clean water, food for those who are in need, you're providing medical care, education, and so much more. And one of those ministries is called Vapor Ministries. I want you to take a look at this video to see the difference that your generosity is making. Check this out. - People's Church, family, one of the incredible blessing it is to partner with you in your amazing pastors, Herbert and Tiffany Cooper. Together, we are caring for the least

while proclaiming the highest, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children across East Africa, West Africa, and Haiti are experiencing Christ's kindness every week. - You're providing clean water, critical food, vital health services, childhood education, and daily discipleship to those who need it most. The gospel is expanding heaven and transforming earth. Together, we're serving more souls than ever before. We can't wait to share the total impact on the backside of this year. - We are grateful for your faithful help, sustaining service in the communities we are touching today. But your giving is also advancing the light of his gospel. You are creating a brighter tomorrow as we expand into new regions. Thank you for joining us on mission. Thank you for meeting needs, feeding souls, and elevating God. - Amen, yeah. - Church, thank you so much for tithing and giving above your time so that we can meet needs all around the world. You know, your giving is helping to provide clean water, it's helping to feed people's children, and it's helping people to actually grow in daily discipleship so that they can learn more about Jesus and continue to grow in their faith. Lord, we thank you for vapor ministries

and all that they're doing to provide for needs all around the world. Lord, we just pray that you bless them. Lord, as they not only meet the physical needs of people, but Lord, as they meet the spiritual needs of people, help people find Christ and grow in their faith. Bless this ministry, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. (upbeat music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) - Welcome morning, people's church. Are you glad to be in God's house today? Come on, thank the Lord for our church. So great to see you. Welcome to all of our campuses and those who are watching online. My name is Scotty Gibbons. I'm the lead pastor here at People's Church. I'm honored to be serving alongside our senior pastor, Pastor Herbert Cooper and Pastor Herbert's preaching in Dallas today at Earl McClellan's church. So that McClellan's are friends of this house. And so we're glad that Pastor Herbert is there preaching. They so pray for him that God would use him just to encourage that church family. I know that he will. Hey, if you've missed any of the messages

you can jump on the People's Church YouTube page and catch up on them. But today we're gonna continue on this series as we're looking today at what is referred to as the two ordinances of the church. We're talking about water baptism and holy communion. And if you've been a part of this series, you know that we're not just talking about dry, boring doctrine. This is a series on beliefs. What Christians believe and why that's important? And the truth is all of these doctrines that we're looking at, And we're not supposed to just do stuff because somebody told us to, but we say this is what the Word of God teaches us. I understand why it's significant and I'm gonna make it a priority in my life. It's been an incredible series. And so today we're gonna jump in looking at water baptism and communion. I think it'd be important to say right out of the gate that these two doctrines are really symbols or pictures that carry significant meaning, represent profound truth. But they're just symbolic and their pictures meant to tell a story. Maybe if someone is in battle and they wave a white flag, we would know that they're communicating what? Surrender, I give up, right?

Or if you see somebody just in life, you still want somebody. And they've got their hands lifted towards heaven. What does it mean? What are they doing? Some of y'all said praying, some of y'all said worshiping, some of y'all said they're going to jail. So I guess we got all kinds of camps represented at people's church, that could mean a lot of things. But baptism, communion, or pictures that the Bible gives us to represent something that's deeply profound and teaches us about our faith. Let's break them down and look at them for a few minutes together today. First, number one, water baptism. Simply stated, water baptism is a public declaration about a personal decision. It's a public declaration of a personal decision. This is important to note because a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that while their relationship with the Lord is deeply personal, they cross the line and think that it's supposed to stay private. You ever met anybody like that before? You're just talking about the things of God. Tell them about how much you love your church or you ask them what church they go to. You ever had anybody say something? That's private.

That's my business. That's between me and God. And you can respond. That ain't in the Bible, you know. That's not what the Bible teaches us. Personal, yes, private, no. It's meant to be public. And so when somebody gets baptized in water, it's a public declaration of a personal decision. You can say it this way. It's an outward expression of the inward transformation. It's a picture, but it's a very important picture. So matter of fact, it's so important that we need to study it. We need to understand it. And we wanna answer this question today if we're saying it's so significant, why? Why is water baptism so important? If you take notes, you can write these down. Under water baptism, the first thought is this. It's so important because God's word highlights the importance of water baptism. So the reason we say it's important is not because some man made ritual or routine or because some denomination said it. We say it's important because God says that it's important. A few examples, one would be that scripture teaches us that Jesus himself was baptized. How many of you know, when you're with me today, if it was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me. Anybody else else kind of think like that?

Like when you see something in scripture and you feel like Jesus did, he probably needed it. I'm grown. You know, you don't think like that. You look at it go, man, if he modeled it, why was he modeling it? When he was walking on this earth, he was showing for us, he was communicating to us the importance of water baptism by himself being baptized. Matthew chapter three, verse 13, is where we see this recorded in scripture. It says, then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. But John tried to talk him out of it. I'm the one who needs to be baptized by you, he said. So why are you coming to me? I think that's a good question if I'm shooting straight. Because if I'm Jesus, I'd probably be like, you know, you're right, I am Jesus. I don't need to be baptized. But he doesn't respond that way to John, but Jesus said it should be done for, we must carry out all, somebody say all of it. We must carry all that, carry out all that God requires. So John agreed to baptize him. Jesus didn't need to be baptized. He was modeling for you and for me, something that was very, very powerful. If it wasn't important, he would not have done it.

If it was just an accessory or not truly essential, he wouldn't have done it, but he did do it because it was so significant, it was so important. Matter of fact, it was so important that Jesus being baptized was recorded in all four gospels in the New Testament. Jesus was baptized, and Matthew talked about it. Jesus' baptism, Mark told us about it. John told us about it. If you've ever been reading through the New Testament, you're just reading through Scripture and you're like, there's that again. Hey, there's that again. Hey, there's that again. Hey, you think that God might be trying to tell us this is a big deal? All four gospels recording it, but we're still asking why? Why would it such a big deal? Because Jesus gave us a picture of something that was so significant that it would mark and identify anyone and everyone who ever made that personal decision to love and follow God. He says, this is going to mark you publicly. And when Jesus did it, we know from Scripture that it honored the Father. That's the second thing that we learn from Scripture. Scripture teaches us that water baptism honors God. Matthew chapter three, verse 16, it says,

after his baptism, Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were open and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and setting on him. So this is a picture of God's pleasure and favor. Verse 17, and a voice from heaven said, "This is my dearly loved son who brings me great joy." Baptism is one of the first and boldest actions you will ever take as a believer, as a new believer in Christ. That is one of the boldest, one of the earliest steps of worship that you will take to honor God and show that you love him. A lot of people describe it in a few different ways that when they prioritize water baptism, they just say, I just felt obedient. I feel like I was honoring God. And yet I wanna shoot straight with you just 'cause we just read this in Scripture. If you think when you be, you're baptized, you start looking around for a dove to come and land on you or some of you are like, hey, you know what? I got baptized, I didn't feel any goosebumps. Some people say when they come up out of the water, they just felt wet. Okay, so that's sometimes all the feeling that you get. But it's not about a feeling. It's about you putting feet to your faith. And yes, some people, if you talk to people who have been baptized, they'll tell you things like, man, it was just a spiritual experience for me.

People say things like that. They'll say, when I came up out of the water, you've heard that on some of our testimony videos. They'll say, it's like this weight just fell off. Oh, it's one of the ways that we worship the Lord. It's not about what we feel or how our emotions or how we just want to love God and honor God and obey Him by being baptized. Let me give you another thought. And it's really not only that it would be honoring to the Lord and pleasing to Him, but Scripture teaches us that the early church preached and practiced water baptism. In other words, this again is not an institutional or denominational thought after the fact. It's something that was established in what we refer to in the book of Acts as the early church. It was the launching of the church as we know it today. So how we do and how we understand church today must come back to Scripture. How did God birth the church? How did He start it? Jesus, before He left earth, after being arrested, crucified and rising from the dead, before ascending back to heaven. He got His disciples together and He gave them an assignment. He was about to leave. He said, here's what I want you to go and do. We call it the Great Commission. And His wording is very important for us to pay attention to.

Look at it, Matthew chapter 28, verse 19. He says, therefore go, somebody say go, come on, shout, go. Therefore go and make disciples, what does that mean? Talking about being a follower of Jesus, a disciple's a follower of Jesus. So He's telling His followers, go and make other followers of all the nations, baptizing them. What do you want to do? Go make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. He's saying, following Jesus and being baptized, go hand in hand. He says, teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I've given you. So that's what Jesus said and that's what His followers did. When you read through the book of Acts, you see the practice of water, baptism being emphasized and carried out. Again, they were launching the church and they did what Jesus told them to do. And the message was teach them to be followers of Jesus. So turn from their sin and then be baptized, a public identification with Him. So from the very beginning, water baptism was a part of the early message. As a matter of fact, when you see the very first sermon recorded in the book of Acts, Peter was telling the people how to become followers of Jesus. Look at what he says in Acts chapter two, verse 38, Peter replied to them, each of you must

That means turn from your sins, turn to God. Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. To repent, I'm no longer following the way of this world. I'm now following God, that's repentance. Be baptized, begin now to identify with God. He says, "Repent and be baptized." Repent and be baptized. That's important 'cause a lot of people just wanna pray a prayer or say, "I believe in God and just move right along "and there's never any change." There's never any desire to say, "What does the Bible tell me to do next?" And that's what I'm going to do. How's the Bible tell me how to handle this life? Then that's what I'm going to do. Listen, repeating after me, saying some simple prayer, just believing in God, that's not what the Bible teaches of salvation, it's saying repent, turn from sin and now begin to walk out that salvation in a life of obedience. And so we see repentance and baptism going hand in hand. It's identification. It's a beautiful statement saying, "I no longer live for me. "I now live for God." Why is it so important to make a statement like that? Number two, it's a powerful picture of what happens when

we surrender our lives to Christ. We get water baptism, water baptized because we're using this picture, this demonstration to make a statement about the surrender, that personal decision that we may look at in Romans chapter six, verses three and four. This is where we get just these word pictures and this theological understanding, Romans six, three. Or don't you know that all of us who are baptized in the Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him, buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Do you see the pictures? Do you see the symbolism? It's our association with death, burial and resurrection. Just like Jesus died, he was buried, he rose again. When we're being baptized, we're saying, "I'm no longer living for me. "I am dead to Scotty being in control and in charge. "I surrender to Christ." That old me, that old sin nature is being buried and then I come alive to God in Christ Jesus. Aren't you thankful that you don't live for you anymore? It's not about you, your life now belongs to him. And we baptize in the way that we see modeled in scripture. We would call this baptism by immersion. In other words, we're going down into the water. This is symbolic of being buried with Christ.

And we come up and out of the water, alive to God in Christ Jesus. I don't know about you, but I thought, man, I did so much, they might need to keep me down for a few minutes. I don't know what you thought, but the old me was gone and the new me had come up. Now, it's important to understand that baptism does not save you. It's simply a picture declaring that you are saved. See, some people would say that you can't be saved without being baptized. We do not believe that about baptism. The reason we do not believe that, there are several things in scripture, but one of the most obvious one would be the story of the thief on the cross. Do you remember when Jesus was on the cross? There was a thief on either side of him. One of the thieves rejected his love. And his final moment still didn't surrender, still rejecting Jesus, but it says, the other one looked at him and recognized, man, I'm getting what I deserve. I recognized that I should have been following you. And so he has this conversation with Jesus and Jesus responds to him and says, today you will be with me in paradise. Now, the thief on the cross didn't get baptized. He surrendered his life to Jesus

as Jesus didn't say to him. Man, I hear what you're saying, but bummer for you, we're not having another baptismal service and you're about to die. So bummer, you just missed it. He said, today you'll be with me in paradise. And while we don't believe that a person must be baptized in order to be saved, So at the very least, I would be someone who's following Jesus or claiming to follow Jesus but living in disobedience. We're not taking that step that Scripture tells us to repent and be baptized. We haven't taken that statement, that step to make a statement saying, "I'm no longer living for me. I'm living for him. I follow his word now. I do whatever it says for me to do and I'm being baptized because I want the whole world to know about it. I'm getting baptized because I'm saved." Not so I can get saved. When I put my wedding ring on my finger, that did not cause me to become married. I put this on my finger to declare to everybody else, "I am married." That's a good thing, y'all, because I didn't -- you know all the ladies be hitting on me all the time. Listen, it's a good thing I got this ring on. I have to keep it on y'all to just walk around. You just don't even know how hard it gets. Everybody's laughing except for my wife and she's going to help that man, Lord, help him, help him. But I put it on to say, "I'm committed." I put it on to say, "I'm hers and she's mine."

And a person when they're immersed in water symbolizing dead and buried with their old life and sinful nature, when they come up new life in Jesus Christ, it's a statement about a decision they've already made, which is why we don't, as some other church beliefs or other denominations, some do, they would call it baptizing infants. They would do that by sprinkling. And we have not taken that approach from our understanding of Scripture because we believe that water baptism follows salvation. Now if you were sprinkled as a baby, you had that infant baptism, you say, "I've already got that taken care of." My question would be, "Did you get a vote?" Like did you just say, "I just want to go ahead and do that. I want the world to know. I've decided to follow Jesus." Now what we do is that we have baby dedications and really it's family dedications because the whole family is dedicating themselves to raising up this child in the ways of the Lord. So we believe in like a family, dedicating themselves to the Lord. But we believe that water baptism follows, somebody say follows, it follows salvation. So that's why we do it the way we read it in Scripture. And I'll just say this before we move on. If you believe in God, if you love the Lord, if you consider yourself a disciple, a follower of Jesus, but you haven't yet been baptized, I just want to encourage you to do the Bible thing. Follow the plan of God. Follow the word of God for your life. Some of you even earlier, when people were being baptized, there was something in you that thought, "Man, I know I ought to. I feel like I should," but you just for whatever reason haven't been able to take that step and do it. I would so encourage you, when you walk in obedience, you will experience the blessing

of God in your life. When you follow God's way, you get God's blessing. When you submit yourself to God's Word, that's what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus. You're going to get a strong amen right there. If you haven't been baptized, there's still opportunities for you today. You can be baptized today and you can leave this place known. You're already living out the message, so make sure that you do that. Secondly, number two, let's look for just a few minutes at the subject of communion. Why is holy communion so important? Once again, we're going to look to Scripture to answer that, because these are not man-made things that we're saying are our doctrines or our beliefs. We're going to base it on the Word of God. Jesus, on the night before, he would be handed over and crucified in what's referred to as the Last Supper. He got together with his closest disciples, the Twelve. When he got them together, he gave them a picture. He gave them a symbolic visual of what was about to happen to him, because he never wanted them to forget it. You'll see that. He's telling them, "I want you to remember this." Matthew chapter 26, verse 26, "While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and he gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take and eat. This is my body.'" So if you've ever taken communion... we understand what it means. It's meant to represent the body of Jesus. It reminds us of what Jesus' body experienced. It reminds us of the sacrifice that He made for us. And in verse 27 says, "Then He took a cup, and we need to give and thanks. He gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you.'" This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins. So the cup represents the blood that Jesus shed for you and me. Verse 29, "I tell you, I will not drink from the fruit of the vine from now on until that day

when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." So remember, He's trying to teach us something. This is really important. And in summary is this, communion helps us to commemorate what Jesus did. Don't forget it. Helps us to celebrate what we now have and enjoy because of the blood that was shed. And it helps us to anticipate what we can look forward to and that He's coming again for us. Let's just break down those three thoughts and then we're wrapping up. Number one, it reminds us of what Jesus did for us. I want you to see how Luke says it in Luke 22, 19, it says, "And He took bread, gave thanks, and He broke it. And He gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you.'" Do this in remembrance of me. He's saying, "Don't forget this." He's saying, "This is important." And He's giving them this moment in these pictures because He's saying to them and He says, "Life is going to get crazy. You're going to get busy. You're going to get preoccupied. You've heard about my sacrifice. You've heard the story over and over about Jesus out on the cross from my says, "You heard about all that, but it's so important that you don't forget it. I want you to pause and think about it. When you're holding that wafer, when you're holding that cracker, when you're holding that bread, I want you to pause and remember my body that was broken for you." That's what communion does for us. It reminds us of what Jesus did. There's a second thing that helps us to celebrate the forgiveness that we have because of the cross. Matthew 26, 27, then He took a cup. And when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant," which is poured out for many. For, look at what it says, the forgiveness of sins. And He shed His blood on the cross. It was to wash away your sin in mine. If you've been with us in this series, you remember there was a message on sin and atonement, looking at the doctrine of sin and atonement. And we even looked at how, in the Old Testament, how there had to be sacrificial lambs to try and cover our sins. But what the cross teaches us, what communion reminds us about is that Jesus doesn't just temporarily cover our sins, but it says in 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 18, "He paid for our sins and washed them away once and for all." Here's what communion helps us to celebrate no matter where you've been, no matter what you've done, no matter how dirty, how dark, how perverted, how stained your heart may feel because of sin, because of the blood of Jesus Christ, because of the work on the cross. He has washed us and made us white as snow. Aren't you thankful for the blood of Jesus today? Come on, let's just thank Him and praise Him for the blood that was shed. He paid a debt. And He didn't know because I owe the debt I could never pay. He shed His blood for me because I needed His forgiveness.

That's what communion celebrates. It's not just some boring doctrine, some religious formality. It's not just a church ritual. It's a reminder because of the blood of Jesus. We're forgiven. We're clean. Third and finally, communion gives us hope for the future. Matthew 26, verse 29, He said, "I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom." and he wants to make sure that we remember that there was a better life, better than this life, that is to come. That when times get hard, they could know that soon and very soon, they were gonna be with their king. And when you and I take communion, we're not only remembering his body broken, we're not only celebrating his blood that washes away our sin, but we were anticipating the day that our earthly struggles will be over once and for all. No more battling with the pain and the brokenness of this wicked world. When you eat the bread and drink the cup, you're reminded that your hurts and your heartaches have an expiration date. That depression and anxiety won't last forever. That grief and sadness won't last forever. Cancer does not get the last word. Come on, who's thankful for the communion that we celebrate all that we have? Oh, because of what Jesus did on the cross. And there are some of us, we've heard it so many times, over and over.

We've celebrated communion. It comes, we hold it, we hold, we wait. We just take it, it can lose some of his freshness. And that's why I'm thankful for a modern date parable that I heard. Back in the day, it kind of gave me a fresh look and a reminder of this isn't some outdated, antiquated Bible story. And there's just this contemporized version of a parable and it's the story of a young boy who lost his mom and dad. And at a young age, he went to live with his grandmother. She brought him in. She was raising this young boy and doing the best that she could to take care of him and teach him right from wrong. But when he would do something bad, he'd make a mistake, she'd bring him in and she'd have to teach him. She'd sit him down at the kitchen table. She'd make him his favorite batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies. She'd give him to him, she'd sit down with him and say, "Now listen, you're better than this. "I want you to know your grandmother loves you. "You have purpose in your life. "You can make the right decisions." And yeah, the boy being who he was and doing what he did and going to get in trouble at school and maybe get sent home early,

come home and grandmother sit him down. She'd make him a batch of his favorite chocolate chip cookies. She'd sit him down and say, "Son, you're better than this. "I want you to know I love you. "Even though you made those mistakes, you did what you did. "I still love you. "I want you to know you're better. "You don't have to stay like this." As time went on, he grew older in his life of making poor decisions continue, got in life a crime in and out of jail and every time he'd get out, she'd be there for him. Till one day, all of his crimes caught up and had crossed such a line to where he is going to have to pay for it with his own life and on the day of his execution, the guard came to the cell, he opened the door. The man stood up and the guard looked at him and said, "You're free to go." I said, "What are you talking about on freedom?" So she executed today, and the guy said, "Now your debt's been paid, your free to go." I said, "What are you talking about, my debt's been paid?" "Who paid my debt?" He said, "Well, the debt was death because of your crime, "but somebody died in your place "so that you don't have to die." The guy said, "Whoever, who would ever do that for me?" The guard said, "All I can tell you is "they left you and played the cookies."

And that boy, no in that moment, his grandmother paid that price for him and I just got acknowledged to you that that story doesn't come close to the real story of the cross, I get it. I get it, it's just a contemporized, terrible, but maybe today it just gives somebody a fresh look at the fact that we're not talking about some outdated Bible story. We're talking about Jesus looking at you, knowing that you deserve to die because of your life of sin. And Jesus said, "I'll pay it for you." Every time we take that bread, every time we hold that cup, we're just stopping in the busyness and all of the rat race of life to say, "Jesus, I remember. "I remember and I thank you for your body that was broken. "I thank you for your blood that was shed "and I remember you're coming back for me soon. "And until you come, I will keep on "keeping on loving you, worshiping you, serving you, "and looking forward to that day." So I'm gonna pray and in just a minute, we're gonna all take communion together. that you can take communion as a Christian. This will be the first time that you go, I know what this means. For some of you today, this will be the first time you hold it and go, Jesus, this was actually for me. 'Cause I'm gonna lead you in a prayer

and this is gonna give you a chance to surrender your life to Christ. And after you do that, you're gonna have a chance to take communion today and lead this place knowing that is real in my heart and in my life. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? I just want you to know that the reason we celebrate this is not dry, boring doctrine, is to remember. And this story can be true of your story. Hear me today, friends, I don't care where you've been. I don't care what you've done, doesn't matter how many mistakes you've made. I don't even know what you think the circumstances are that brought you here today, a friend brought you. Your mom brought you. Your husband brought you, your wife, right? I don't know what you think. Sir, I'm telling you, God brought you here today. He brought you here because he loves you. He wanted you to be hearing for the first time or a reminder of the fact that Jesus paid a price for you so that you could have relationship with him. He destroyed the barrier of sin between you and him. All you have to do is turn and fall into his arms of love and forgiveness. It's true and it's for you. Jesus' blood can make the vilest sinner clean. If you just say, God, I need that and I want that. So I'm gonna pray. And if you say, Scotty, I'm not right with God.

Maybe you've never prayed a prayer in your life or maybe even today it's a matter of recommitting your life to Christ, but you say, I need to surrender my life to Jesus. Scotty, include me in that final prayer. If that you just shoot your hand up, come on all over the room, just shoot up and say, yeah, that's me. That's it. Just watch your own line. Just slip up your hand and say, yep, that's me. Hands going up in every single section. Anybody else before we pray, you wanna commit or recommit your life to Christ. You want your sins forgiven. Anybody else, just slip it up. Awesome. Awesome. Let's all pray this prayer together today. Say, dear God, thank you for your grace and your mercy. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for your body that was broken. Thank you for your blood that was shed. Today I ask you to come into my heart and be Lord of my life. From this moment on, I've decided I will follow Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said, amen. Can we thank God today for saving souls? Praise the Lord.

I turn it over to the host. Praise the Lord. Church, just like Pastor Scotty said, we're gonna participate in, we're gonna pause, we're gonna remember, we're gonna celebrate this thing called communion. And so if you're joining us at home, this is a great time, go ahead to your pantry, grab some bread, crackers, some juice. We want you to join us as well. And so on your seat church family, you receive the communion elements. If you wanna go ahead and peel back that plastic layer at this time, would you just grab the bread and hold on to it? Would you hold it up, let's pray together. Let's thank God for the broken body of Jesus. Father, we thank you today, for your son, for Jesus, who you sent to die on a cross to have his body broken so that we can be made whole, so that we can be made right with you. Father, we thank you, we remember Jesus' body that was whipped, that was beaten, in our place. Thank you for your love, Lord. We thank you for the broken body of Christ, let's partake of the bread together. You can go ahead and peel back the foil layer on the communion element there. (gentle music)

Would you've done that? Would you just hold it up and let's thank God for the blood of Jesus. The Bible says that washes away our sin today. Father, we thank you for the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross at Calvary, for the forgiveness of sins, for the forgiveness of our sin. So Lord, we thank you today. That our sins are forgiven, not because of anything that we've done, but because of the blood of Jesus that was shed on our behalf. Today we thank you for the blood of Jesus. It's partake of the cup together. Church, I'm going to ask if you would stand up all over this room. We're going to take some time just to worship him today. So would you lift your hands high to heaven? Come on, if you're comfortable, let's worship him together today. Go walk through my head and praise you again, again. It's all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. Come on, Church, would you give up your best praise today? Come on, would you honor him today? I've nothing else before keep. Step for a heart-seated hallelujah, hallelujah. So I'll show up my head and praise you again, again. It's all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. I know it's not much, I've nothing else before keep. Step for a heart-seated hallelujah, hallelujah. Oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy of me,

lift up your song, you gotta lie in each other those months. Get up and praise the Lord. Oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy of me, lift up your song, you gotta lie in each other those months. Get up and praise the Lord. Oh come on my soul, oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy of me, lift up your song, you gotta lie in each other those months. Get up and praise the Lord. So I'll show up my head and praise you again, and again. It's all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. And I know it's not much, I've nothing else before keep. Step for a heart-seated hallelujah, hallelujah. Church, in just a moment I want us to sing that one more time. And I'm going to ask you to sing it from the bottom of your heart to the King of Kings, to the Lord of Lords, if you're grateful for all that Jesus has done for you, I want you to worship Him, give Him all your worship today. In this place would you lift your hands and sing it one more time? So I throw up my hands. You want to sing it too? And I know it's not much, I've nothing else before keep. Step for a heart-seated hallelujah, hallelujah. We love you, Lord. We honor you, God. We love you. We love you today. How many are thankful for Jesus today? I'm thankful for Jesus today, man. We're family here at People's Church. Come on, shadow with me on three. One, two, three.

We're family. God bless you, Church. ♪ Yeah, it's all that I have is all ♪