Baptism Sunday 2026

Good morning, I'm glad that you are here today and you have picked a great day to be in the house. If you're joining on a screen somewhere else, we're glad to have you as well lean in to what God is doing in this service. How y'all feeling today? All right, good, good. Some of you that was like clapped by faith, I could tell you're like, I'm not feeling good, but I'm gonna put my hands together anyway. No, I'm glad you're here, it's gonna be an awesome day. It's Baptism Sunday, and if you didn't know that coming in, trust me, you're here on the right day. You're gonna, we're gonna celebrate with some people here, some great testimonies. I also got a word from the Lord. We're doing it a little earlier in the service and we got some stuff coming up after this, but man, are you ready for the word? I got a word from the Lord. Go to Acts chapter two, Acts chapter two, and we're gonna pick up this narrative in Acts chapter two where it's this God has done this amazing outpouring of his Spirit and all these people in Jerusalem have seen it, they've come from all over the place and they're seeing this incredible work of God and they're trying to figure out what's going on. And so Peter is kind of preaching this sermon or giving this response to what God is doing. We're gonna pick up kind of halfway through his response.

So let's start in verse 32. And Peter is saying, God raised Jesus from the dead and we're all witnesses of this. I just wonder if there's anybody here that knows that Jesus is alive and that Jesus is alive in you. Anybody here? Okay, I thought I had the right room. So he starts, Jesus is risen from the dead, we're witnesses of this. And then he says, now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven at God's right hand. And the Father, as he has promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out on us just as you see in here today. For David himself never ascended to heaven, yet David said, the Lord said to my Lord, sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet. All right, let's really hone in now on verse 36 and 37. So he says, so let everyone in Israel know for certain, I'll just add this. Let everyone in Orlando know for certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified to be both Lord and Messiah. And that language is intentional, to be talking to a Jewish crowd and say, Jesus is both Lord and Messiah. And look at verse 37.

I love this. Peter's words pierced their hearts. And they said to him and to the other apostles, brothers, what should we do? This moment of this question representing this pivotal turn for them. Brothers, what should we do? This happened because Peter's words pierced their hearts. Can I pray real quick that today, God's word would pierce our hearts. Father, in Jesus' name, let your word pierce our hearts today. In Jesus' name, amen. I'm just gonna preach kind of on that thought of like, what should we do when we are pierced in our heart? And I was reading that passage this week. And I was remembering a couple of months back, I was doing a little home repair and I was trying to replace this screen. And I was trying to get the old screen out. And there was a place where the rubber spline was still in there. And I was prying that old piece out. And I had a Phillips head screwdriver and I was prying it. And I was trying really hard. I had my left hand here and I had my right hand here. And I was just trying to get it out. And I know some of you are already jumping ahead in the story and you know what's gonna happen. And some of you are thinking

you're supposed to cut away, pastor. I know you're supposed to cut away, but I didn't have a knife. I had a screwdriver, okay? So if I had been cutting, I would be cutting away. If I had a utility knife, I would be cutting away. But it wasn't a knife, it was a screwdriver. And so therefore I wasn't thinking about that. And so I was going just towards my hand. And yes, thank you. Before I even get there, some of you are already feeling my pain. And it slipped. And I stabbed right here in the soft in between my thumb. I stabbed about an inch. If you're queasy, I'm sorry. But close your ears. I stabbed about an inch deep with that screwdriver into my hand. And of course I do it and I pull out. And the first thing I do, I don't know if you're like me, the first thing I did is I just put my hand over my hand. And you know that moment where you're like, I don't wanna look. Maybe if I just stay like this for a couple of days, it'll just go away. I don't know, but I don't wanna look. And it's like that moment. I'll tell you what I didn't do. I didn't just go back to work.

I didn't just go back to the screen. No, that piercing, that stabbing, if you would, it provoked me to action. I'm sitting there holding my hand and the one thing I did know is that I had to do something. So what did you do, pastor? I ran into my wife and I said, honey, we have to do something. problems help? And so we did some research and I got a And I ran into my wife and I said, honey, we have to do something. tetanus shot and we figured out and I live to tell the tale my And I said, honey, we have to do something. bravery. Thank you for that. All right. But no, a piercing will do that to you. It'll force you into action. And it's the same kind of moment. Of course, it's not a physical piercing that goes on here. No, it is a spiritual piercing that happens to these men, and their hearts are pierced in such a way that they realize we can't just keep going on like we've been going on. Man, if what you're saying about Jesus is true, and I pray that if you've never had that moment, where God's Word pierces your heart to the point that you go, okay, I have to do something about the claims of Christ on my life. I pray that today would be that day for you. So that's what happens to them. And so what do they do? What represents this turn where they want to be on the right side of the move of God? What do they say? They say, brothers, what should we do? And let's look at Peter's answer to that question of brothers, what should we do? Peter's answer is in verse 38. And this is his answer. He says, each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God. And be baptized in

the name of Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. Let me read Peter's answer one more time. 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. Then you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Can we just break that down for just a moment? The first part of Peter's response to them is that there would be a moment of repentance. He says, you need to repent. Now to repent, perhaps we've heard that word, and maybe we haven't really fully grasped maybe what it means. Repent means more than to feel bad. Sometimes we think that repent means that moment when maybe you're presented with some truth that you see your life doesn't kind of fit maybe in God's Word or in the way God would have you live. And you feel kind of bad about it. You feel this conviction of the Holy Spirit. That's not repentance. To feel bad is not repentance. No, repentance happens when I feel bad enough to change my mind and to turn from my sin and turn towards God. It's that moment of clarity that happens when I know the direction I'm heading. I'm going my direction. I'm satisfying my flesh and my desires. And then I'm pierced to the heart like these men were. And I'm pierced to the heart in such a way that I realize I can't keep going the way I'm going. And so to repent is to turn away from the direction I was going and to turn towards God. Last week, a couple of my kids had this incredible opportunity to go to one of the World Cup games. And I've been watching that with a lot of you as some of the games. Some of them have been exciting. I've had some fun with soccer in the past. So I'm saying I'm kind of into it a little bit. All right. It's been fun. So they got to go. Kind of just random blessing and got to go for free. My wife and I, we were dropping them

off. And man, it was hard to get into the stadium. So much traffic. And so it took us a long time to drop off. And then it came time to pick up. And so we were trying to pick them up at the same place we dropped them up. But it was hard to even get back to that spot because they had all these lanes closed and all the streets were all going the wrong way. Like they wanted everybody. They had created all the lanes to exit the stadium and not very many lanes going in because nobody wanted to go in except I wanted to go in to pick up our kids. And so we finally got in this traffic, this three or four lanes that we're going in. And it was just, I mean, thousands of cars and it was just stand still. They finally walk out and get in the car with us. But the problem is I'm still in the lane that's going into the stadium. I've got who I wanted to get. I want to go home now. But we're in the lanes that are going towards the stadium and they've got it all barricaded off where you can't do a U-turn. And so I'm like, man, what are we going to do now? And so we just go. We're just crawling little by little, little by little. And then I see a spot in the barricades because there was a rope going across and I see a spot where someone has cut the rope or broke the rope or something. They weren't supposed to, but I'm glad they did. They had a little moment of rebellion and I was thankful for their rebellion because now, now I got an opening. Now I got a place where I can do a U-turn and I got to that spot and I did my U-turn and we got out of there and it was relatively painless and I was glad for an opening in the way where I could get the U-turn. Here's the thing. There weren't that many of those. And when I got the opportunity to make the U-turn, I had to take advantage of it. Can I tell you in your life that you don't have

a limitless number of opportunities to repent and to have a U-turn? There are moments when God opens a door for you. Listen, we go, but pastor, repentance is my decision. What do you mean? I can't do that all that you, you can repent all the time, but every time you have opportunity. opportunity to repent. Watch this. It is still a gift of God. It is still a gift of His mercy giving it to you. It's still Him, His Holy Spirit bringing conviction. It's still His Holy Spirit piercing your heart so that you even have the desire to repent. So it's always a gift from God. Here is the problem, is that if I ignore those moments, time after time, if I say no enough, what happens? There is a hardening of my heart. Well, what happens when my heart is hardened? It's more difficult to pierce. If you feel this moment of what am I to do with the claims of Christ on my life, can I tell you? Take advantage of that. Repent is the necessary step in that. He answers them. They said, what should we do? He says, repent, and then He says this, and be baptized. Every one of you, in the name of Jesus, be baptized. So He's saying, you've had this moment of inward faith where you believe on Jesus and you've repented and you've turned. Now, let there come an external sign. That's what baptism is. It's a public declaration of a personal allegiance change in your life. It is a public moment that's representing a private commitment and dedication and allegiance in your heart. It would be like this. If I'm wearing a wedding ring today, and if one of you single guys came up here and you put on a wedding ring, the moment that some single guy from the room puts on a wedding ring, that doesn't make him married. We understand that. So wearing a wedding ring does not make you married. No, wearing this wedding ring is more of a sign to everybody else that I have made that commitment, that I am living for somebody else. It lets all you ladies know I am off the market. Thank you very much. So the wedding ring is not what makes me married. It's a sign thereof. And so much is the same. It's not exact, but much is the same of a baptism is that someone could walk out of a seat and into a tank, and if they've not repented in their heart, well, they could go up and down out of the water 10 times. It doesn't mean they're saved. But once I repent and once I've made Jesus my Lord, this is not just a suggestion. This is not just a good idea. No, this is a command that there's this public declaration of my

commitment to Christ, and I'm telling you, something happens in your journey with Christ when you're going to see that today. You're going to see God move on people's lives because they've obeyed Christ not only in their heart, come on, but they've obeyed Christ out in the real world in a tank of water. And what it really represents is really, I mean, really a grave. It is that I'm going down. It's a funeral service for the man I used to be, and I'm coming up out of the water, resurrected to new life in Christ. That's really what water baptism represents. And if you've never been baptized in water and you are a follower of Christ, I just encourage you because, I mean, I encourage you to do it today. You're like, today, pastor? Yes. When those 3,000, so this little sermon we're picking up on that Peter's preaching, over 3,000 people decide, okay, yes, I want Jesus. I want to serve Jesus. And immediately, they were baptized. And so it wasn't even like we like to schedule baptisms, and we believe in scheduling baptisms, and that's all good. But I'm just telling you, for them, it was immediate. They made a decision to serve Christ, and then right there, they didn't, it wasn't inside of a church. It wasn't inside of a little baptismal thing. It wasn't heated pools and whatever. No, they decided right there in public in front of everybody, I'm believing this so much that I'm willing to follow the Lord in the waters of baptism right here in front of everybody. And so they did. So I want to tell you this, that if you need to be baptized in water and you never have, you can today. But maybe more important question for some of you would be this, and I need you to look at me right now. Have you had that moment of a pierced heart? Have you had that moment where you've decided, okay, I was going this direction, but God is calling me to turn to Him? And if you have maybe never made that decision, or maybe you did, but life kind of turned you back around into the world, I just want you to know, man, I've been praying for you, and I believe that today can be a day of radical transformation for you.