Louder Than Words - Testify Part 2

And let me give you a promise from scripture today for every one of us who sang that genuinely authentically from our hearts that we want to walk with Jesus. The promise of scripture is this, that you will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart. And that just means that Jesus today is not hard to find. That those who draw near to God, he draws near to us. His presence is here today. If you want to walk with him, guess what? He wants to walk with you today. He wants to be right there with you every step of the way. We're so glad. So glad today you're at church. It's a special, special Sunday to be here. And some of you are like, I know it's iced coffee Sunday. Let's go. Let's go. You look caffeinated. You look wide awake. Welcome to you here in Yorktown and Newport News in Virginia Beach, around the world online to the men at Indian Creek. And I'd love it today if you'd help me show some love and appreciation for the amazing men and women of our military, many of whom are in our services today. Many are deployed around the world. We love you. We pray for you and your families and we're grateful for you. Well I got work to do today. It is going to be an incredible, incredible experience. Why don't you take a seat? We're going to jump in because last week, last week we kicked off a series of messages. We're simply calling testify, testify.

And today is week two in that series. We're learning that you don't have to be an expert. You don't have to have all the answers. You don't have to have read all the books. You don't have to have studied all the courses. You don't have to have a deep theological responses to every objection that any person might bring your way about faith or the Bible or Jesus or the existence of God or the problem of evil in the world. None of that is necessary. All you have to do is open your mouth and share what Jesus has done in your life. That's how you testify everybody. And I'm challenging you in this series that if Jesus has saved you, if he's changed you, if he's shown up for you, if he's given peace to you, if he's provided for you, if he's ever come through for you, you've got a story to share. So you got to learn how to testify. That's what we're learning to do all series long. We've actually built this series off of one theme verse that's taken from a story in the New Testament in the book of John. It's a story of a man who was born blind and Jesus sees this man, heals this man. And the man can now see. And as soon as he's given sight, there's some objections, there's some opposition, there's some resistance. And the religious leaders of the day start to question this formerly blind man who can now see. They start to ask him all sorts of things. They end up asking him about Jesus who performed the miracle. They want to know by what means and who he is and what he thinks about him. And then they ask this question to him. They say, hey, do you think Jesus is a sinner? And I love this man's response because it is the perfect picture of what it means to

testify. The man replies and he says this, I don't know whether he's a sinner. The man replied, but I know this, I was blind and now I can see. And y'all, that's all you got to be able to say in order to testify. That word testimony or testify, we see all throughout the New Testament. It just means a firsthand account. It just means you telling your story of what Jesus has done for you. And today, today, I want to teach you around this topic. I've entitled today's message part two, louder than words, louder than words. I'm going to teach you today that it's possible to give a testimony that will require no words. Now for some of you who are introverts, that's really good news. That's really good news. In fact, last week we ended the message in a way I've never ended in 30 years of preaching. I've never ended a sermon like I ended last Sunday's sermon, but I actually gave you an to testify at the end of last Sunday's message. And you turned to your neighbor and for 30 seconds, you testified. And if you were an introvert, that was the longest 30 seconds of your life, right? And then your neighbor turned to you and for 30 seconds, and they testified. And I'll just tell you, I've never ended a sermon like that before, but it quickly became my favorite way to end the sermon. It was awesome last week. It was awesome. And I know there's a bunch of you right now, you're hesitant to clap, because you're like, if I clap, he might want to end the sermon like that again this week.

So let me just take the pressure off. I'm not ending the sermon like that again this week, but it was awesome last week, all right? It was awesome. It was, and something shifted in the atmosphere, and we'll talk a little bit more about why later on, but God shows up when we testify. His favor follows testimony. And today, we won't end the service like that, but we are gonna end the service with a call to action, because for all the English nerds in the room, testify is a verb. It is a action word. Yeah, I didn't expect any of the English nerds to make any noise right then, because you spent a lot of time in the library and it's very quiet there. But I'm telling you that the word testify, it demands movement. It demands an action. And today, today, in about, I don't know, in about 38 minutes, I'm gonna call you to take an action, and there will be a bunch of you, I believe, dozens, maybe, I don't know, in a room this size, maybe 100 or more who will actually testify with a testimony that's louder than words. You won't have to say anything. You won't have to do a mic check. You won't have to open your mouth.

This is a testimony that won't be spoken with your lips, but it'll be demonstrated with your body in the waters of baptism. Today is Spontaneous Baptism Sunday, everybody. If you're like, what does that mean? What does that mean? I'll tell you what it means. It means a bunch of people came to church dry, but they're going home wet. That's what it means. And if you came in, as the earlier service was dismissing, you saw a lot of wet heads, and you had to been wondering, what's going on? Was there a pipe leak? What's going on? Is it raining in the church? What's going on? No, no, no, no, no, none of that. It's just people got baptized today, and they weren't expecting it, just like you aren't, but their lives have been forever changed. I wish you could see. I wish you could see what I see right now. Big eyes, big eyes. What'd you bring me to? Ethel, I told you that Coastal Waters Church is crazy. That River's Edge Church, they're crazy down there. Well, it's Water's Edge Church, and yet we are a little crazy, because today we're gonna invite you to obey Jesus,

and we're gonna invite you to be baptized. It's a testimony louder than words. What do you mean, pastor? What is baptism? Well, baptism is just this. It's an outward sign of your inward change. That's what baptism is. It's an outward sign of your inward change. The Bible says that the moment you give your life to Jesus, like 88 of you did on Easter weekend, that's awesome, like 19 of you did last Sunday in one of our services. That's incredible. The moment you give your life to Jesus, you begin a relationship with Jesus, and there's an inward change that takes place. Now, the Bible describes that change like this. It says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, meaning you have a relationship with Christ, look at what happens inwardly. The new creation has come. The old is gone, but the new is here, and that happens inwardly the moment you begin a relationship with Jesus, but baptism is your opportunity to demonstrate outwardly that that inward change has taken place, and baptism is a beautiful picture of it, that as you go down under the water, you're demonstrating, you're symbolizing, you're showing that you have died to sin and to self.

As you are under the water, you're showing that all that old stuff, all that old you, all that old sin is being buried beneath the waters of baptism. As you come back up out of the water, you're demonstrating that you are now raised to walk in newness of life. Old me is gone. New me is here to stay. stay through the power of Jesus Christ. It's a beautiful picture and it's a testimony. And you don't even have to say anything. You don't even have to speak it. The image in and of itself speaks loudly as a beautiful testimony of what God's done in your heart and in your life. And today, many of you, I believe, many of you, you're gonna speak a testimony. It's your life that's louder than words. And listen, this isn't some weird week to be at church. You're like, oh my gosh, I haven't been at church in forever and this is what I'm gonna get the first time I come back. Or some of you are like, I invited my friend and the only way I got him to come was I offered him iced coffee. They came for iced coffee, Stu. And this is what they're getting. I know, this is not a weird week to be at church. It's actually the best week to be at church. Because every single week, we talk about life change.

I teach about life change. We celebrate life change. You hear about life change. But today, you get to be up close and personal. You get a front row seat to experience life change as people go through the waters of baptism. You picked the best Sunday ever to be at church. It's my favorite Sunday of the year. And I really, really am thrilled you're here. And I'm believing God's gonna do an amazing work. And here's what I'm praying, let me just tell you. I'm praying that over these next few moments, that as I open up God's word and teach you and preach to you, I pray that you'll hear a voice louder than mine. I pray that the voice you hear is the Holy Spirit speaking to you, drawing you to himself and calling you to take this ever important step of faith. Some of you today will believe for the very first time in Jesus Christ and you'll be baptized. And some of you have believed for a very long time, but you've never been baptized. And today is gonna be a really special day for you because you're about to experience what God has designed for you. And that is you're gonna testify through the waters of baptism. Now, let me teach you some about baptism. I just wanna walk you through

some examples of baptism in the Bible. I want you to see it straight from scripture. There's no better place to start than with the example of Jesus, Jesus who was baptized. That's important. Jesus was baptized. The Bible says this, at that time, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee. And look at this, Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan. So Jesus himself was baptized. And I wanna just stop, I just wanna stop right there. Cause I know, I know, the moment I started talking about baptism, there's some people who immediately disqualify themselves and you think, oh, that's good for everybody else, but not good for me. And I just wanna say, if it was good enough for Jesus, why wouldn't it be good enough for you? If Jesus needs to be baptized, why don't you need to be baptized? Jesus modeled the way, Jesus led the way in the waters of baptism. Jesus was baptized. And if you're a follower of Jesus, that means that you wanna follow in his footsteps. If Jesus is your Lord and savior,

it means you wanna do what he says to do and you wanna do what he did. So today, today you wanna be baptized cause Jesus was baptized. The word baptized in the original language of the Bible means this, it means to dip, to dunk, to immerse and to submerge. That's the actual meaning of that Greek word in the Bible, baptized. And so sometimes people will say, well, pastor, Stu, how do you baptize people in the waters of that church? How do y'all baptize here? And we are Bible people, all right? We always just go back to the Bible. And so I just always tell people, we baptize you the same way Jesus was baptized. We dip you, dunk you, immerse you and submerge you. All right, what I'm trying to say is this, if you get baptized today, your whole self fixing to get wet, all right? I just want you to know, that's how we baptize. You go all the way under, but don't worry. Some of y'all look stressed, don't worry. We have baptized thousands of people over 23 years. And while we take you down under the water in 23 years, we've always brought people right back up. We never left anybody under the water, never. I promise you, we are professional baptizers, all right? And listen, if you whisper to us

and tell us you got a lot of sin, we'll hold you down just a little extra, but we'll bring you right back up, don't worry. I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. Now look at what happens after Jesus is baptized. This is so powerful, y'all, it's so powerful. It says, just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open. The Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven. This is the Father's voice. You are my Son, whom I love. With you, I'm well pleased. So the baptism of Jesus, it pleased God the Father in heaven. And it invited the Spirit's presence to descend on Jesus' life. And it started something for Jesus. If you study the baptism of Jesus, it actually was the launching pad for his ministry, for his public ministry. And I believe the exact same thing is true for many of you today. Those of you who will be baptized today, your baptism will please the Father in heaven. Your baptism will invite God's Spirit to actively be at work in your life. And your baptism, I believe, will start something afresh and anew in your life.

In fact, if you were to grab two cups of that iced coffee and invite me to a table to sit down with you, one of the cups would be for me, by the way, everybody. All right, so. And we were to share coffee together. And you were to say to me, Pastor, I've believed in Jesus. I've placed my faith and trust in him. What's the next thing I should do to follow him? My answer 100% of the time will be this, be baptized, be baptized. If you were to say to me, Pastor, I've been following Jesus, or at least trying to for years, for years, but I just feel stagnant or stuck in my faith. I just feel like I'm not progressing in my faith. I just don't feel like I'm any closer to Jesus today than I was back then. Here's a question I would ask you. The first question I would ask you is this, have you been baptized? Because there is significance throughout the scriptures. Jesus modeled it, he commanded it. It's demonstrated all throughout the Bible. There is such significance all throughout the Bible to this testimony of being baptized. And today I believe, I believe God's calling many of you to follow him in the waters of baptism. But I know, I know it's gonna take a little time

to build up your courage. So I'm gonna give you a little more time and I'm gonna show you some more examples from the scriptures, just to give you a little more time to get ready. Let me show you just a few more. This is a fun story from the book of Acts in the Bible. Two of Jesus' followers named Paul and Silas are testifying about Jesus. They're out testifying of the good news that Jesus died, was buried and rose again, that God has a plan for your life, that you can receive Jesus Christ. That's the good news, by the way. We believe in good news. Some of you are like, man, this church, they clap a lot. They seem happy a lot. They sing real loud. What's going on? What's going on is this, we got good news to celebrate. And that's why we celebrate it, especially when we're together. Oh my goodness. So they're out preaching the good news and their message, it causes a stir in the town. And Paul and Silas who were testifying, they get arrested and they're thrown into prison. And I want you to see what happens with the jailer who's in charge of these two prisoners, Paul and Silas. The Bible says this, it says,

he then brought them out, that's the jailer. He brought out Paul and Silas and he asked them, sirs, he says, what must I do to be saved? So he's heard their testimony. He's witnessed their testimony. And now it is drawing curiosity in him. And he wants to know what do I need to do to have what you got? What do I need to do to be like you are? I wanna be saved. By the way, that's the power of a testimony. That's what this series is inspiring us all to do, to open our mouth and testify. Because it draws people to Jesus. So he says, what must I do to be saved? And they reply, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. Believe, believe, and you'll be saved. So the way to be saved, to start a relationship with Jesus is to believe in Jesus. Now let's clarify. by something, this is not like an intellectual belief that says, oh, I believe Jesus existed. I believe Jesus was a good man who lived on the earth and had some good teachings. That is not disbelief. This is a belief with your life. This is a place your faith and trust kind of belief in Jesus, in who he is and what he did for you. So believe in Jesus.

And that's how you're saved. You don't have to be baptized to be saved. There are a bunch of you today who have believed in Jesus. He's your Lord and savior. You're saved, but you've never been baptized. You're saved, but you've never been baptized. But I want you to see what Paul and Silas say to this man. After they say, believe and you'll be saved. Then it says, they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. And at that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds because they'd been beaten when they were arrested. And then, look at these words, then immediately, immediately it says, then immediately he and his household were baptized. So I want you to get the sequence. The jailer believed he was saved and immediately he was baptized. He believed, saved, and then immediately was baptized. Notice it doesn't say he believed and then studied and read books and took courses and ask questions and was baptized. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say he believed and then planned a party and invited his family and got everybody together and then was baptized. It doesn't say that. It says he believed and immediately was baptized. And that's gonna be some people's story today.

For some of you today, you're gonna believe. Woo, that's gonna be awesome. You'll be saved and immediately you're gonna be baptized. That's gonna be awesome. Now for others of you, you have believed already. Maybe it was last weekend. Maybe it was Easter weekend. Maybe it was three years ago. Maybe it was 10 years ago. You've believed already. You've believed already, but you never had it immediately. You never have it immediately. I've been baptized. You never had that part of the story. Today's gonna be that immediately for you. You believed a long time ago. Today is gonna be your delayed immediately. That's what it's gonna be today. Your delayed immediately. Trademark, I just made that up. Delayed immediately. And today you're gonna demonstrate your belief. You're gonna testify through the waters of baptism. Give you a couple more examples. By the way, baptism, it's all throughout the New Testament. You can't read your New Testament without seeing baptism. 27 different times. It's illustrated in the New Testament where someone believes and immediately is baptized. One day Peter's preaching right after Jesus' death,

burial, and resurrection. The Bible says this. Those who accepted his message were baptized. In another place, it says Peter who was preaching. Peter replied, repent and be baptized. Every one of you, all of you be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. And this one time, a guy named Philip was preaching. It says this, but when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news, there it is again, the good news of the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. And then this guy named Simon. Simon believed and he was baptized. This is the pattern of scripture. I could show it to you over and over and over again. You believe and then you get baptized. And today, if you've never believed, it's your day to believe and be baptized. And today, if you have believed, but never been baptized, it's your day. It's your day to be baptized. There's no reason, really, no reason to delay, no reason to put it off. There's no reason to hesitate. It's the loudest testimony you'll ever give. So you might as well give it today. You might as well give it today. I like to talk about baptism.

Kind of like, it's kind of like the wedding ring of your faith. I performed a wedding ceremony yesterday and one of the most meaningful, special parts of the ceremony, you know this, is when the bride and the groom exchanged their wedding rings. It is a powerful symbol of what's happening in that moment. When I put this wedding ring on, May 17th, 1997, come on somebody, woo! When I put this wedding ring on, I put it on as a symbol of a covenant I was making that day, a commitment to my wife that I am hers. That's what this wedding ring shows you. That I'm married, your boy's off the market, that's what the wedding ring says. That I belong to someone, I belong to Tabitha, my heart is hers, that's what this wedding ring symbolizes. Now if I took this wedding ring off, if I were skinnier and could take this wedding ring off, okay, if this wedding ring would come off, then I would still be married, but I wouldn't be symbolizing my marriage to anybody. What would you think? What would you think if your pastor was traveling without Tabitha? If I went traveling this week without Tabitha on a ministry trip and as I walked out the door, I slipped my wedding ring off and left it behind because I'm traveling without Tabitha,

you wouldn't think very much of me, would you? No, no, you want your pastor wearing this ring symbolizing my heart belongs to my wife. And I just want to tell you that's really what baptism is, it's a symbol that your heart belongs to Jesus, that you are his and he is yours. It's a declaration to the world, your boy's off the market, it's a message to the devil himself, your boy is off the market, I've been bought with a price, my heart belongs to my savior. And if you've never put this wedding ring on, today's the day to either enter into a covenant relationship with Jesus and be baptized, or if you've already entered that covenant relationship to show the world and be baptized, it's a testimony louder than words. I'll give you one more example, it's probably my favorite, you can read all about this in the book of Acts chapter 8. There's a prominent member of society, an important man. The Bible tells us he is in the office of the queen of Ethiopia, he's like the head treasurer for the queen. This is a dude of prominence, he's a dude of importance. And I'm telling you that because I'm afraid that sometimes we can convince ourselves we're too good to get baptized. Sometimes we can convince ourselves that we're too important to do something like baptism. Maybe you're struggling right now, because you're like, what will people think

if I get baptized? I mean, they've seen me here every Sunday, maybe you're a group leader and you're like, oh my gosh, but if my group sees me get baptized, they might think less of me. Or maybe you're like a usher and you see people every week and you're like, oh my gosh, these people who I've been telling where to sit every week, if they see me today get baptized, maybe they'll think I've been a phony, maybe they'll think I'll be a fake, I could never get baptized. You get held up on obeying Jesus because you're afraid of what somebody else might think, or you think maybe a little too highly of yourself. And that's the way it was for this man. He's a very prominent official in the court of the Queen of Ethiopia. And the Bible tells us the story, he's in his chariot, and he's reading scripture, but he doesn't understand what he's reading. And God in his mercy and his grace, this is so awesome, God sends to him a preacher to explain to him what he's reading. Let me just take a timeout, that's how much God loves you. Let me just make sure you understand today, God loves you so much, he sent you a preacher to explain what you're reading. He orchestrated a divine set of circumstances to get you here today,

to have you watching online right now in this moment, God orchestrated it all so that you could understand the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news that God loves you, that you got a sin problem, but Jesus came to solve that problem, he paid the price so you wouldn't have to. He died on the cross and paid the penalty of sin that you and I owed. And then he went to tomb where he defeated death, hell and the grave, and he rose again three days later so that you could have new life, so that you could be connected to God. God the Father, so that you could have meaning, purpose and significance in life, so that you don't have to take another step alone in your life, because his presence is with you. He did all that for you, he loves you so much. He sent a preacher for you to understand. And the preacher in the story explains to this prominent official, the good news, the gospel. And the man believes, the man has such a life changing, transformative moment that he looks out of his chariot and he sees some water, and this is what he asks. He says, look, here is water, why shouldn't I get baptized? And the chariot stops and the preacher and the man head down to the water and the man testifies in the waters of baptism and he never has to open his mouth. It's awesome, it's an awesome story.

And that same story is gonna be played out here in just a few moments, because we've got some water. So why shouldn't you be baptized? Now, maybe you got a few reasons, I don't know. Maybe you've come up with a few excuses along the way and I wanna just talk about a few of them for you. Maybe tear down that excuse so that nothing stands in your way today of following Jesus and doing what he says. Maybe you're thinking this, maybe you're thinking, well, pastor, I shouldn't be baptized because I've already been baptized. I've already been baptized. And my guess is that's probably a whole bunch of people in the room today, you've already been baptized. If that's you, you probably fit in one of three categories. Let me see if I'm right. The first category would be those of you who say, I've already been baptized. I was baptized as a baby. Yep, baptized as a baby. That's a lot of you, that's a lot of you. Your parents made a decision on your behalf. I believe in faith. I believe in faith. They had you baptized believing that one day you would believe for yourself, that their faith would become your faith one day. And so they had you baptized as a baby. Here's what I know about you.

You're probably a very smart baby. You probably watched baby Einstein. That's awesome. But as a baby, you didn't believe, your parents did. And that's why today would be a full circle moment because your parents believed, but today God's calling you to believe, for you to believe and be baptized. Because every baptism we see in the New Testament is a baptism that happens after someone believes. So if you're baptized as a baby, amazing, that's wonderful. Today, you're not dishonoring what your parents did. You're actually fulfilling what they prayed for on that day. You're actually believing now for yourself and being baptized. There's some of you might say, well, no, no, no, wait. I've already been baptized, but it really didn't mean much to me. Maybe you were baptized at age seven or eight. You didn't really understand it. Or maybe you were baptized as a teenager because everybody else was getting baptized. So you decided to get baptized. Or maybe somebody told you, you need to be baptized. So you were baptized, but you didn't understand it. It didn't mean anything to you. And you're like, I've already been baptized. Now, let me correct you. If you hadn't believed yet, if you hadn't believed yet, and then you were baptized, you didn't get baptized.

You just got wet. All right, everybody, you just got wet. Because baptism follows belief. And so really it's your opportunity today to look back over your life and say, had I believed before I was baptized? If the answer is no, even though you had gone into the waters, baptism today would be a significant step forward in your life and in your faith. Because now you have believed and you're being baptized. The third category of those of us who say, oh, we've already been baptized. We shouldn't be baptized today. Would be those of us who were baptized after we believed. So we believed, then we were baptized, but then we sinned. That would be all of us. That'd be all of us. Well, pastor, I sinned this week. Should I get rebaptized? We ain't got time for that today, y'all. Okay, okay, we'd all have to line up and we'd all have to go back in the waters of baptism if you have believed and then been baptized. You don't need to be rebaptized to forgive your sin. Jesus has already forgiven you of your sin. You just need to thank God for it, repent and move on. But I will say this. I will say this, today will be a very special day for all of those of us who have believed and been baptized, because not only will we witness the testimony

of many being baptized before our very eyes today, we will also have an opportunity to remember our own baptism. I believe something special will ignite on the inside of every single one of us who have believed and been baptized. As we watch others in the waters of baptism, we will be reminded that we ourselves were once baptized and it changed us, it marked us, and we have a testimony to share. I believe today will be an inspiring moment, a moment that inspires you to wanna share your testimony even louder. So if you're saying, hey, ha ha, I've already been baptized. No, no, today's probably your day to believe and be baptized. Here's the second excuse. A lot of people, maybe you've come up with this one. Well, I'm not prepared. I'm not prepared to be baptized today. And I would just say, that's everybody in the room, because nobody knew that today we were baptized and we kept it top secret. We didn't tell you people. You're like, why didn't you tell us, pastor, that today was gonna be Spontaneous Baptism Sunday? Because I didn't want anybody to have an excuse to talk themselves out of not coming to church today. I just wanted to make sure everybody was here so the Holy Spirit could speak clearly and no excuses.

So you didn't have to prepare because for months we've been preparing for you. We've been preparing for you. Can you bring out that basket? I wanna just show everybody what we have prepared for them so that everybody who believes and is baptized today knows we are ready for you. We have baptism shirts for you to put on and be baptized in. We got shorts for you to wear to be baptized in. We got towels, we got undergarments of all sizes, everybody, don't worry. Okay, we got hairbrushes, deodorant, makeup wipes, hair dryers, ties, lotion. If you got ashy legs, we got you covered. No problem whatsoever. I'm just trying to tell you, we got unmentionables. We got everything you might need today to be baptized. There's no reason to delay. We're ready for you. We're ready for you. We have security prepared to watch your belongings while you get baptized. We've got photographers, I know you didn't bring your family. You wanna tell them all about it, amazing. Tell them the testimony. And we got a photographer who's gonna take your picture and you can share with them the picture. It's gonna be incredible.

Now, if you're an elementary age child today in the room, this is not your day to be baptized. We actually have a full family experience designed for parents and their kids called the Big Splash. And it's a process that we ask our kids and families to go through so that all of our kids understand what a significant decision baptism really is. So we'll baptize you on another day. If you're a middle school or high school student, I would just say honor and respect your parents and follow their direction. But for all of us today, for all of us today, baptism is a special experience that allows you to testify louder than words. And if you've believed and never been baptized or you're ready to believe and be baptized, in just a moment, I'm gonna ask you to slip out of your seat, step into the aisle. Our ushers in just a moment will be at the front. They'll be directing you in the right way to go and you'll just follow their direction. You'll go right out back where we have private changing stations set up for you. You'll change. You'll come right back onto this stage where we'll all be gathered worshiping together waiting for you. We'll celebrate you as you get baptized. So you're not gonna miss a thing.

Then you'll head right back out and you'll change back into your clothes. And if there's time, you can join us back here or join us out in the lobby after the service. You're not gonna miss anything. Online, there's actually a link for you to sign up for a Zoom baptism. We're ready for you. Wherever you are, all you need is a little bit of water. Find a bathtub, jacuzzi, pool, beach, retention pond in your neighborhood. I don't care. Just find some water and we're gonna baptize you via Zoom today. There's a link over in the chat. If you're watching and you're close by, like an awesome couple I met earlier who was watching in the 9.30 service, they said, we gotta get baptized. They got in the car. They're here for the 11 o'clock service about to be baptized. It's awesome. It's awesome. Amazing. So come on, come on. We've prepared the way. We've prepared the way. All you have to do is testify. All you have to do is testify.

There's a third reason why shouldn't I be baptized? Maybe you've come up with this one on your own. Some people say, well, I just need to pray about it. No, you don't. No, you don't. You don't need to pray about it. I already prayed about it. God said to do it. When my kids were little and I asked one of them to take out the trash, imagine if one of them had said to me, oh, I need to pray about it, dad. Well, I need to pray about where you're sleeping tonight. You never, listen, this is a principle for life. You never have to pray about obeying God. You never have to. And nobody ever regrets obeying God. And so I've shown you from scripture today. I've taught you from his word. I've shown you the example and the model of Jesus. I've shown you that he's commanded us to be baptized. I've shown you the picture of what baptism looks like and what it can mean in your life. And for many of you today, it's the day for you to believe and be baptized, or if you've already believed, but you've never been baptized, it's your day. It's your day. It's gonna be awesome. And I should warn you.

I tried to tell you about this last week, that when testimonies rise, the spirit falls. That when we testify the goodness and grace and the mercy and love of our God, that his favor follows. And it's gonna happen again today in this service, I believe it. That just like last week, when you started sharing the atmosphere shifted today, when people get baptized, the atmosphere will shift. The spirit will feel right at home, moving in and among us, stirring in your heart, drawing you to himself, maybe in fresh, new and exciting ways. And if you're baptized today, listen, I'm not saying when you come up out of the water, everything becomes picture perfect. I'm not saying that all your problems go away. I'm not saying life gets immediately easier. I'm not saying anything about your circumstances changes. In fact, sometimes when you take a bold step of faith like this, you're met with resistance and opposition. So life might not change, but when you come up out of those waters, you will. You will, because you will have just testified. You will. You will. You will. You will. You will. You will.

You will. You will. You will. You will. You will. You will. You will. And I believe you already know who you are. Your heart's probably beating out of your chest right now. Your stomach's churning. I wanna just, I wanna just give you one final moment to consider the call of Jesus. And rather than me speaking, I wanna just let the Holy Spirit speak. And the loudest way the Holy Spirit ever speaks is through his word. So let me show you one final verse. We'll just let this settle in. This is one final verse about baptism that I believe will demonstrate for all of us. This is a moment that the Holy Spirit is leading us toward. The Bible says it like this. That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it's like the burial of Jesus. When we were raised up out of the water, it's like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us who are baptized,

each of us baptized is raised into a light-filled world by our Father. So that finally we can see where we're going in our new grace sovereign country. And that's gonna happen for a lot of people today. Don't let anything stand in your way. Get to Jesus today. Follow Jesus today. Come to Jesus today. Would you stand to your feet all over the room? I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna pray that you have courage to be baptized today. But first, I'm gonna pray for every person here who has never believed in Jesus Christ. You've never placed your faith and trust in Him. I'm gonna pray for you and with you to receive Jesus, and then you're gonna be baptized today immediately. Bow your heads, close your eyes. If you've never followed Jesus as your Lord and Savior, pray this prayer with me silently right where you are. Say, Jesus, I wanna know you. All my sin forgiven by you. I wanna live my life for you. I believe in you. Become my Lord and Savior. In Jesus name we pray, amen, amen, amen. You ready? I'm gonna ask our ushers to come forward. They're gonna direct you in the right path today. And in just a moment, I'm gonna count to three.

I'm just counting to three. So you got enough time to build up your confidence. And then I'm just gonna ask you to step out into the aisle, walk toward the ushers. They'll take you from there, point you in the right direction. People will get out of your way, don't worry. And we'll be celebrating as they already come. So you're ready, here we go. One, you know who you are. Two, make this your moment, your testimony moment. Every campus, here we go. Three, why don't you come and be baptized right now. Come on. Come on, this is your moment. Let's honor him today, let's worship church. Yeah. ♪ Praise in the valley and I praise on the mountain, yes. ♪ ♪ I praise when I'm sure and praise when I'm doubting, yes. ♪ ♪ I praise when I've known Him and praise what's around Him, yes God. ♪ Yes God. ♪ As praise is the water, my enemy's drowning. ♪ Come on, lift it up. ♪ As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to. ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul, yeah. ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul. ♪ ♪ I praise when I feel it and I praise when I don't, yeah. ♪ ♪ I praise because I know He's still in control. ♪ ♪ My praise is a weapon, it's more than a sound, more than a sound. ♪ ♪ And my praise is the sound that brings Jericho down. ♪

♪ That brings Jericho down, yes God. ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to. ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul, yeah. ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul. ♪ ♪ Oh I won't be quiet, my God is alive. ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside? ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul. ♪ Oh, I love this next part. We're gonna sing about a few of the things, a few of the reasons that we praise our great God. So let's get loud as we shout them out together. Come on, sing it with me now. ♪ I praise cause you're sovereign. ♪ ♪ Praise cause you reigned. ♪ ♪ Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave. ♪ ♪ I praise cause you're faithful. ♪ ♪ Praise cause you're true. ♪ ♪ Praise cause there's nobody greater than you. ♪ ♪ I praise cause you're sovereign. ♪ ♪ Praise cause you reigned. ♪ ♪ Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave. ♪ ♪ I praise cause you're faithful. ♪ ♪ Praise cause you're true. ♪ ♪ I praise cause there's nobody greater than you. ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul, yeah. ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul. ♪ ♪ Oh I'm gonna praise the Lord, oh my soul, yeah. ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul. ♪ ♪ Oh I won't be quiet, my God is alive. ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside? ♪

♪ No I won't be quiet, my God is alive. ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside? Oh I won't be quiet. ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet, my God is alive. ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside? ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul. ♪ Come on, keep those hands going. We're gonna shout praise the Lord one more time together. With all we got, right from our hearts to God's ears today. Y'all get ready to shout it out with us. Here we go. Praise the Lord, yes. Yes. Oh, God is good. Hey, there's still plenty of time today. You're feeling that tub. Come on down front, head out that door. Let's get you baptized today. Come on. ♪ This is my story, I'll testify ♪ ♪ The blessings on blessings you put on my life ♪ ♪ When I start remembering, how good you've been ♪ Yes. ♪ Fear turns to worship, tears turn to praise ♪ ♪ Chains of depression, broken by grace ♪ ♪ When I start remembering, how good you've been ♪ Come on, declare this. ♪ You've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me, yeah ♪ ♪ You've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me, yeah ♪ Come on. ♪ The enemy's weapons fall to the ground ♪

♪ Armies of heaven always surround ♪ ♪ When I start remembering, oh how you carried my cross ♪ ♪ You called me by name, loved me like I was ♪ ♪ But you didn't leave me that way ♪ ♪ We're staying now, I live, and that's what you did ♪ ♪ Oh, you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me ♪ ♪ Oh, you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me, yeah ♪ ♪ From morning to night, the lows and the highs ♪ ♪ I look back on my life and all that I see ♪ ♪ That you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me, yeah, oh yeah ♪ Yes. I love this part. When I say God is good, you say all the time. Let's get ready to declare it out together, church. With all we got today, yeah, yeah. ♪ When I say God is good, you say all the time ♪ ♪ When I say all the time, you say God is good ♪ ♪ When I say God is good, yeah, you say all the time ♪ ♪ When I say all the time, you say God is good ♪ ♪ When I say God is good, you say all the time ♪ ♪ When I say all the time, you say God is good ♪ ♪ When I say God is good, you say all the time ♪ ♪ When I say all the time, you say God is so, so, so, so, so good to me ♪ ♪ When I say all the time, you say God is so, so, so, so, so good to me ♪ ♪ Yeah, you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me, yeah ♪ ♪ From morning to night, the lows and the highs, I look back on my life and all that I see ♪ ♪ From morning to night, the lows and the highs, I look back on my life and all that I see ♪ ♪ That you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me, yeah ♪ Yes, Jesus. Yeah! Come on, y'all, let's sing it out together with all we got. Come on!

♪ Yeah, you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me, oh ♪ ♪ You've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good to me ♪ Yes! All right, we're gonna keep it going right now, church. Come on, let's keep those hands going. Let's keep cheering for these folks. Yes, God! Yes! ♪ I have felt the hands that bear the scars Reach down and rescue me ♪ ♪ I have known the love of the Father's heart A product will now redeem ♪ ♪ From where I was to where I'm now It's overwhelming ♪ The more and more I see you move all around me, I can't help but praise you, praise you Lord, I can't help but lift up shouts of joy. And when I think of how good you've been, faithful now until the end, oh I can't help but praise you, praise you Lord. For the blood you spilled to save my life, a debt I cannot repay. For the cross you bore with open arms, salvation that called my name. From where I was to where I'm now, it's overwhelming. The more and more I see you move all around me, oh I can't help but praise you, praise you Lord. Oh I can't help but lift up shouts of joy. And when I think of how good you've been, faithful now until the end, oh I can't help but praise you, praise you Lord. Oh I can't help but dance cause I'm free, got no chains on me, I'm healed and redeemed. Oh I can't help but call on that name that buried my shame, who opened my grave. Oh I can't help but praise you, praise you Lord. Oh I can't help but lift up shouts of joy. And when I think of how good you've been, faithful now until the end, oh I can't help but praise you, praise you Lord. Oh I can't help but praise you, praise you Lord. Oh I can't help but praise you, praise you Lord. Alright, we're gonna keep it going right now church. We still got more people waiting to get baptized. So come on, let's get excited about it right now. Let's thank our God for his goodness and the way he's moving today. Yeah, put those hands together. Alright, join us, sing it out loud today. Wandering into the night, wanting a place to hide this weary soul, this bag of bones. Yes, I tried with all my might, and I just can't win the fight. I'm slowly drifting, yeah, a bag of bones. Yes, Jesus. Just when I ran out of road, I met a man I didn't know, and he told me that I was not alone. He picked me up, he turned me around, he placed my feet on solid ground. I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, because he healed my heart. He changed my name, forever free, I'm not the same. I thank the Master, I thank the Savior, I thank God.

Yes, Jesus. Come on, keep on going. I cannot deny what I see, I've got no choice but to believe. My tops are burning, yeah, like ashes in the wind. Oh, no, no. So, so long to my old friends. Yeah, burning down, burning down, she can't just keep them moving. No, you ain't welcome here. Oh, no. ♪ Oh Lord, yeah ♪ ♪ From now till I'm on the streets of gold ♪ ♪ I sing of how you saved my soul ♪ ♪ This wayward son has found his way back home ♪ ♪ You picked me up, you carried me around ♪ ♪ You placed my feet on solid ground ♪ ♪ I thank the master, I thank the savior ♪ ♪ Because you healed my heart, you changed my name ♪ ♪ I'll never be, I'm not the same ♪ ♪ I thank the master, I thank the savior, I thank God ♪ Yeah! I believe this next part, every time somebody says yes to Jesus, hell loses them forever. Come on, let's sing this out as we celebrate today. So, it lost another one and I am free. Yes! I am free, I am free It lost another one and I am free I am free, now I am free It lost another one and I am free I am free, now I am free It lost another one and I am free I am free, now I am free It lost another one and I am free It lost another one and I am free

I am free It lost another one and I am free I know I am free It lost another one and I am free Oh yes I know I am free He picked me up and turned me around He placed my feet on the solid ground I thank the Master, I thank the Saviour Because He healed my heart He changed my name, forever free I am not the same I thank the Master, I thank the Saviour I thank God Yes! Yes! Man, we got so many people today We're gonna keep it going back to the top of the service Sing about the joy of our Jesus So put your hands together, come on This is the day we made it So I'll rejoice and be glad Rejoice and be glad in it This is where I believe That You are more than enough More than enough for me You are faithful to Your promise You are strong when I am weak When I'm standing in Your presence I have everything I need The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength Yeah!

The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength Yes Lord, oh my soul, bless His name All that is within me say The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength Jesus, come what may You are worthy of all, worthy of all my praise Yeah! You are faithful to Your promise You are strong when I am weak When I'm standing in Your presence I have everything I need The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength Oh the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength Oh my soul, bless His name All that is within me say The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. So let it rise up like a river overflowing Holy Spirit. Let it pour out with no limit. Overflowing Holy Spirit. Let it rise up like a river. Come on, y'all. Overflowing Holy Spirit. Yes. Let it pour out with no limit. Overflowing Holy Spirit. Oh, God is moving in big ways.

That was incredible. Let's put our hands together for the joy of our God today. He's here. Let's express our excitement, our gratitude for who He is, the joy that He brings. In just a second, we're going to sing it out as loud as we possibly can. Y'all get ready. I want to hear you shout it to the rooftops today. Come on, y'all. Let's do it. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. It's more than a feeling. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, my soul, bless His name. All that is within me say. Oh, my soul, bless His name. All that is within me say. Oh, my soul, bless His name. All that is within me say. The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. It's more than a feeling, yeah. We believe. We believe, God. He is my strength. Yes. What an incredible, incredible experience we've had together today.

I'm so glad you guys were here. Hadn't it been a great day? My goodness, I can't imagine being anywhere else today. Thank you so much. ♪♪