Revival Ready - The Book of Nehemiah: Bold Moves

All right, good morning Crossgates family. Let's stand together. We have so many reasons to praise the name of Jesus this morning. We have so many reasons to praise the name of Jesus this morning. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord of my soul. Praise the Lord of my soul. I'm praised when I'm breathing. I'm praised when I talk. I'm praised because I know you're still in control. I'm praised in the weather. It's more than a sound. I'm praised in the shout. That brings terrible doubt. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord of my soul. Praise the Lord of my soul. I won't get quiet. My God is alive. So how can I keep it inside? I've got to praise the Lord of my soul. Oh, praise the Lord of my soul. I'm praised because you're soft. I'm praised because you reign. I'm praised because you're open and beating away. I'm praised because you're faithful. I'm praised because you're true. I'm praised because there's nobody greater than you. Oh, I'm praised because you're soft. I'm praised because you reign. I'm praised because you're open and beating away. I'm praised because you're faithful.

I'm praised because you're true. I'm praised because there's nobody greater than you. Praise the Lord of my soul. Praise the Lord of my soul. Praise the Lord of my soul. Praise the Lord of my soul. I won't be quiet. And I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How could I keep it inside? I won't be quiet. My God is alive. So how could I keep it inside? I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How could I keep it inside? I've got to praise the Lord of my soul. Praise the Lord of my soul. I am an instrument of exaltation I was born to lift your name above all names You hear the melody of all creation But there's a song of praise that only I can bring Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, it's only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, it's only you Jesus You are the angel, God of the angels Yet you chose to make my heart a dwelling place You healed my brokenness, showed me your glory So I have songs of thanks, not even angels sing Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, it's only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, it's only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy?

There is no one, it's only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, it's only you Jesus There is no one, it's only you Jesus You are the Lamb of God, Almighty One Who was and is and is to come You're seated on the throne above Holy, holy The righteous one who shed his blood He proved to us the Father's love O Jesus Christ, we lift it up Holy, holy The Lamb of God, Almighty One Who was and is and is to come You're seated on the throne above Holy, holy The righteous one who shed his blood He proved to us the Father's love O Jesus Christ, we lift it up Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, it's only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, it's only you Jesus There is no one, it's only you Jesus There is no one, it's only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, it's only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, it's only you Jesus There is no one, it's only you Jesus There is no one Let's take a minute church. Bless the name of Jesus. Let's exalt him. Let's magnify his name. Sing hallelujah to the king of kings, to the lord of lords. Lord, we bless, we exalt, we praise the name that is above every other name. The name by which we are saved and set free and have life eternally. Lord God, we bless you. We thank you that we get to meet with you this morning, Lord, as the people of God, as your family, as your sons and daughters. Lord, would you continue to meet with us? Lord, would you move in power as we hear the testimonies of

life change, Lord, of those that have found hope in you today as they come through the waters of baptism and declare that they have been set free. So Lord, we love you. We bless your holy name, Jesus. Continue to glorify your name as we meet with you this morning. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Would y'all please have a seat. Today is raised to life Sunday, y'all. Oh, y'all can do better than that. Today is raised to life Sunday. Yes. So we get to party with those that are stepping through the waters of baptism, celebrating with heaven as those that are taking their next right step after they have found hope in Jesus Christ, come to the waters of baptism. So let's celebrate with those as they step in and as they, as we get to hear their testimonies of life change this morning, as they share. Good morning, church family. We are so excited about what God is doing. We have 22 people coming to get baptized today. Amen. If you are friends and family of Hatley, you are welcome to stand. This is Hatley. A few years ago, Hatley began asking her parents to take her to church. And she was very persistent about it. And eventually her mom and dad was like, okay, let's take her to church. She's wanting to go to church. And they started to come to cross gates. And through that, her dad came to know Jesus. And her mom told me as well that she began to just build a stronger relationship with the Lord. Even at eight years old, Hatley continues to encourage her family spiritually. Her mom told me a story like someone was sick and they were like, oh, we just, we're not going to go to church today. And Hatley's like, why? Why are we not going to church? Can we just, can someone just stay? Can we just all go to church? So she is just so encouraging to her family and brings their attention back to God when life gets difficult. At VBS in June, she started asking questions and started talking to some of our leaders about her decision to give her whole heart to God. And now Hatley has made her own decision to give her heart to Jesus and get baptized. Her parents are incredibly proud of her because they know that this faith has come from her from the beginning. The scripture Joshua 24, 15 reigns so true in her and her family story. But as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. Amen. Amen. Hatley, man, it's been an honor on the outside, just watching the restoration process of your whole family through you. What an amazing testimony, what an amazing God we serve. Scripture tells us, Hatley, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. What is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. It is my honor to baptize you, my sister, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All right. Good morning, everybody. This is my buddy Emmett Purvis. So friends, family of Emmett,

if you want to stand and just in honor of him, it's so cool to have these rare moments where you get to baptize brothers. And if you don't know them, he has a twin that's literally right there. Behind me. But there's something special about brothers kind of coming to know the Lord, kind of in the same time frame, you know, just thinking about their journey. I remember in John, Andrew seeing Jesus and then immediately taking his brother Peter and then running to the Messiah. And they know no doubt that this is the man that God sent. You know, even church family, you've heard testimonies of Kyle and his brother Zach being on that same, that same journey with the Lord, crying out to the Lord. And, um, and so we have Emmett and what makes this so genuine is just the fact that it's nothing extravagant. It just started with a conversation and, you know, a conversation leads to another conversation. It leads to another conversation. Um, had one with my son the other night. He was like, if God sees everything, is he? two eyes?" I was like, yeah, he does. He has two eyes and he can still see everything. But it starts with a conversation and it just continues to build. And his dad gave me a heads up that says, I think we're really close. And we were, and he came to my office and we talked about what it means to know Jesus, what it means to be sold out to the kingdom, and how this is a starting line, it ain't a finish line. And Emmett was just like, sign me up. And so we are here to baptize Emmett into the family of God. And so Emmett, proud of you, buddy. The Bible says in Romans 10, nine, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So what is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. Amen. Well, upon your profession of faith, Emmett, it is my honor to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Married with Christ in his death, raised to walk in newness and life. Church family, if you are friends and family of Carmelo, you can stand at this time. Carmelo, his mom was explaining his story to me and told me that he has always had a curiosity for God's Word. Even at the age of six, he started getting up and reading his Bible with his dad. And so he just loves God's Word and wants to draw closer to the Lord. As he's grown older, those questions have developed into wanting to understand salvation. And during VBS this year, he started talking to one of our pastors. And about that time, he gave his life to the Lord at VBS. And so Carmelo made the personal decision to give his life to Jesus. Amen. Son, this is my honor. Cross case. Thank you all for this opportunity.

Well, the Bible says in Romans 10, 9, and 8, that if thou shalt confess the Lord Jesus with thy mouth, thou shalt be saved. Amen. And we're going to ask that, do you believe that Jesus is your Lord? Jesus is my Lord. Amen. Well, now I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, which is none other than Jesus Christ. Amen. Now you're ready to walk. All right, guys, this is Elliott Purvis. You're not having a deja vu moment. This is his brother, I promise. Elliott, being able to talk to him and getting to know his journey, his eyes were opened up at VBS in the missions moment, talking with Grayson about missions and what it means to know Jesus and what the gospel is all about. And was able to bring him into my office and just ask questions about what it means to know Jesus. And it is something special to listen to a child explain who Jesus is and what Jesus did for him. And I just think it exemplifies what scripture says about how Jesus feels about children. And so Elliott, this is a big day for you. And I'm super proud to be the one baptizing you. And so in Romans 10, 9, the Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, that you'll be saved. So, Elliott, what is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. Amen. Well, upon your profession of faith, it's my honor to baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, buried with Christ in his death and raised to walk in newness and life. All right, ready? This is Mama. This is Tawatha Hampton. Such a sweet family. And she said she was saved at a very young age and didn't really know what she was doing. But in 2015, she asked the Lord to save her and become Lord of her life. And she has been growing ever since. And the Lord's really been dealing with her and says, there's more, I have more for you. And she said the Lord's been working on her and said that she's got to get her baptism in order. So this is what she's doing. She's being obedient to the Lord and taking her next right step and being fully surrendered to the Lord. And today's a special day because it's her birthday and she's getting baptized. And so we're so excited to have you. Amen. Here I am again. I have the honor to baptize my wife. It's such a privilege, amen, to do these things as a father. Amen. But Romans 10 and 9 says, if thou shalt confess without your mouth, the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in your heart, you shall be raised from the dead. Amen. We're going to ask you today, Tawatha, what is your confession? That Jesus is my Lord. Amen.

Well, here we have to walk to Him and we baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, which is none other than Jesus Christ. Amen. And you shall be redeemed from your guilt. All right, this is my buddy, Logan Ellis. I remember the day that I met Logan. It wasn't good. The first day that I met him was over some marriage counseling and marriage was really struggling on the rocks, just with a lot of different variables. But I'm gonna be honest, I've really been looking forward to baptizing Logan because this is an example of what fighting for your marriage looks like. And I know that there are marriages. And I know that there are marriages in the house that just need to see this, okay? Because fixing your marriage starts with giving your life to Jesus, okay? Now, it's not easy all the time, but it's worth it because Jesus changes circumstances. And that's why Logan is here, to change circumstances. And their marriage is doing great today, by the way. And so, Logan, listen, buddy, I'm proud of you. And this journey has been, it was funny, he called me at like 9.30 in the middle of the week,

saying, man, I need to be baptized. So, that was a great conversation. But Logan, the Bible says in Romans 10, nine, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And so, what is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. Amen. Well, upon your profession, Logan, it's my honor to baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Buried with Christ in his death, raised to walk in newness, alive. Good morning. My name is Lauren Gray. This is my husband, Joel, and our baby girl, Blake, is being baptized this morning. On May 3rd, we were sitting here in the service, and we got all the way through it. And usually, she goes to kids' worship, but she was in here with us that day. And like Kyle does, at the end of the service, he asked for everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes and nobody look around. And who needs for Jesus to save them? And she raised her hand. We've raised her in the church, and she's heard the gospel clearly for all of her life and has had questions about what all of that meant.

And I think that she understood that this is the truth. God's Word is what's true, but she's been through a lot in her life, and she's been through a lot in her life, and she's been through a lot in her life, and she's been through a lot in her life, and she's been through a lot in her life, but like the personal realization that she was wrecked with sin and was desperate to be saved by Jesus wasn't something that had dawned on her yet. And so that morning, we went out onto the porch and talked through kind of what her thought process was and what she heard the Lord say in the service. And then she prayed on her own, and she just told the Lord, I know that you've called my name and I need you to save me. And it was so sweet, obviously. I'm super emotional about it. So since then, she just wants to know God and she searches His word to find Him there and she's praying all the time and I find her walking on her and she's praying and I'm like, who are you talking to? And she's like, I'm talking to the Lord, Mom. So anyway, just watching her learn to walk with Jesus and have a hunger to know Him has been so sweet over the last few months. And she's here today to tell everybody

that He's her Lord, so. Well, Blakey, baby girl. Everybody told her mama's story about you, about your testimony about how Jesus saved you. Blakey, Romans 10, nine says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised you from the dead, you will be saved. Blake, what is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. Thank you. Awesome, baby girl. Blake, it's upon that confession that I baptize you, my baby girl, and my sister now in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Raised to walk in newness of life. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. All right, church, this is my buddy, Cooper Odom. So if you know Cooper and his family, you can stand up just to honor him. All you boys are on the front row, dude. That's pretty awesome. Cooper was saved at 56 Camp this summer, and it was a cool moment because, if I remember right, you went to camp with a pretty gross ear infection, right? And he pushed through like any trooper does.

And just being able to be there, he met Jesus for the first time. And let me tell you something, I've known Cooper, I've known Ryan and Samantha for about 13, 14 years now, and so I've seen him from birth to today. And when he was in my office talking to me about the moment where Jesus made his way to that moment of decision, it's rare to see a kid get misty-eyed recounting the moment that he met Jesus at a camp, and Cooper did. And it was just the most genuine thing for me to just sit across from him and watch him describe to me where he was at when Jesus met him. Cooper, it's like I told you in my office, all right? This is not a finish line. This is the start of a brand new race, and I'm super proud of you. So in Romans 10, nine, the Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. And so what is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Well, upon that confession, I baptize you, Cooper, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Buried with Christ in his death, raised to walk in newness of life. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Church family, this is Lily Hust, our middle child. She's seven years old, and today she comes to follow in Believer's Baptism. This summer during VBS, she was in the sanctuary, and Mikayla was going through a Bible teaching, and she had a visual for the kids to view. And she put a table up on the stage, and she had three lamps. And she had one lamp that was on the table, plugged up, shining light, just like it's supposed to. She had another lamp in the middle that was plugged up and covered up, not able to shine the light like it was supposed to. And then she had a third lamp on the table that was on the table, not plugged up, didn't have any power, was not shining any light. And so Lily comes home, and she talks to Elizabeth, and she talks to me later on,

and the first thing she tells us, she says, "'Hey, Mama, Daddy, I understand now that I'm a sinner, "'and I understand that I need a Savior.'" And the second thing that she said, this is harder than I thought it was gonna be. The second thing that she said was, "'I think I'm the lamp that's not plugged up.'" And I was honest with her, and I said, "'Sweetheart, that's true. "'You have not been made alive by the Holy Spirit. "'Your spirit has not been quickened. "'You are spiritually dead.'" And so after a few weeks, we talked with her. We had many conversations. We prayed with her. She prayed herself. She prayed to God and called out to God. And I'm here to report to you today that Lily has been made alive, that she has been quickened. Thank you. Our genuine prayer for all of our kids is that they are sent genuine faith, that the Holy Spirit genuinely calls them and genuinely sends power through God and the revelation of the gospel. And we've seen a change in her life. She has such a sweet spirit, and we are super excited about walking this out with her, raising her up, teaching her the scriptures. And Lily, we are super proud of you.

So proud of you. Romans 10, nine says, "'If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord "'and you believe in your heart "'that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.'" Lily, what is your confession today? Jesus is my Lord. Woo! It is with that confession, it is my honor to baptize you, your dad, and now your brother in Christ in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Buried in the lightness of death, raised to walk in newness of life. Woo! If you are friends and family of Elijah, You're welcome to stand. This is Elijah Francis. One evening while his mom was helping the other kiddos go to bed, Elijah was sitting in a kitchen just listening to worship music so quietly and his mom said that she felt the Holy Spirit in their home and as she walked in the kitchen and she asked Elijah, she said, are you okay? And he was like, yes, I just gave my life to the Lord. And with that, his mom of course was weeping and crying and he said, I wanna go get a white box. He knew exactly his next step and that's what he did.

And they started to begin reading scripture and mom tells me the first scripture that he wrote down as he was writing his story was Matthew 7, 7 and 8. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and everyone who seeks finds. And so he just wants to draw closer to the Lord. I think about Amy and her story and I think about Psalms 126. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. And I have watched this mom so faithfully bring her children. And so today we are shouting with joy. Hey buddy, I'm super proud of you. And you know, this is just the beginning. I believe that you're destined for great things for the kingdom of God, Elijah. So the Bible says in Romans 10, 9 that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So what is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. Amen. Well, upon that confession, I baptize you Elijah in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Buried with Christ in his death, raised to walk in newness alive.

And with your life you will be transformed. So in year 21 we baptize you. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If you are friends and family of Lay, you are welcome to stand. Over the past few months, Lay began asking questions about becoming a Christian. She asked her mom one day, why can't I be a Christian? And her mom and her had a great conversation as to why she could be a Christian. She was able to see the difference Jesus had made in her older sister's life. On August the fourth, Lay told her mom that she understood that she was a sinner who needs a savior. She explained to her mom that she went into her closet and she sang the prayer to herself. And her mom and dad was explaining her story to me and that just matched her personality so beautifully. She prayed and asked Jesus to forgive her and made the decision to follow him. Her family says that they've already seen the joy and the change in her life, as we know, is eternal. Lay, in Romans 10 9, it says that if you believe in your heart that Jesus rose from the dead and you confess him as your Lord, that you will be saved. What is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. With that confession, it is my honor to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Church family, I've got Thad Caro here and his story is one of, early on in his life, he was in church and around the Lord and all these things, but it was very religious, very, God was a distant God and felt very much like a checkbox, just something to do, something to be done in order to appease him. There was nothing personal about it, not loving at all, like the heart of our Father, which grew him to kind of turn away later on in his life, turn away and run from the Lord and push him away because of some of these things. And he got married and him and his wife

started coming here, going to church, and he said it was right around that season that the Lord began to soften his heart again towards him. And it was not too long ago when Pastor David was preaching about the love of the Father and how it washes over us. And he said that his heart was so compelled in that, that it just really sparked something in him to give his life to the Lord. He said that day he felt a prompting to get a box and he kinda said no and got in the car and they get in the parking lot and he didn't get very far, but he ended up throwing the car in park and he was getting out of the truck and his wife said, where are you going? He said, I gotta go get one of those boxes, I just got saved. And so he is here today professing that. And so he is here today professing that. So Thad, the Bible says in Romans 10 that if you confess the Lord Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead that you will be saved. What is your confession today? Jesus is my Lord. As upon that confession, I baptize you my brother in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, buried with Christ in death, raised to walk in newness and life.

Amen. Church family, before I introduce Abby here, I was looking over the list and I just need you to understand something. It's really kinda cool for our church and that is in the baptisms that are going on today, there are six fathers who love the Lord who are baptizing their children and one son who got to baptize his father. And these are people who are following after the Lord so rejoice in that. This is Abby Acey. I met Abby probably about a year and a half ago in my office and like all of us, we get to those places in our lives where there's just some difficult things going on in our life. And so as we talked and walked through those, she got saved at an early age, she was baptized. And so as we talked, I just encouraged her again. I said, you know, are you having a quiet time? And she, well, yeah, I'm trying. And so I encouraged her to make that much more intentional. And as she stepped into that, just to be able to watch as she has come back to my office over the last year and a half, just the change in her countenance and got to a point where it became evident because she said, I'd like to get baptized again because something new is happening inside of me. So though she had been saved and baptized before,

she recognized it by being in the word every day, by putting her faith and trust in the Lord every day and in everything. The situation that was difficult got turned around and within her heart that changed and it came out in her countenance. So Abby, today, the Bible tells us that in Romans 10 and 9 that if you will confess with your mouth, Lord Jesus, believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, that you would be saved. So what is your confession today? Jesus is my Lord. Jesus is Lord indeed. Upon your public confession that Jesus Christ is Lord, I baptize you, my sister, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, buried in the likeness of his death, raised to walk in newness of life. Church family, this is Keith Peacock, a dear friend of mine. Ooh, look at that legacy sitting over there, son. That's all right. Keith, like a lot of us, gave his life to Christ many, many years ago, but wandered around the mountain a little bit. In these last couple of years, the Lord has pursued him and he's pursued the Lord and he caught him and he's ready to get all this lined up and the catalyst to go on and push him to get his baptism in order is the young man that just got baptized, Thad.

That's his son-in-law. God is so, so good how he puts a plan together. I love you. I love you, too. Keith, Jesus said, if you confess me before men, I will confess you before my Father who is in heaven. What is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. Jesus is my Lord. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. It's my honor to baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Buried in the likeness of his death, raised from the dead. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! She confessed that she was always bound in religion and never had a relationship with Jesus. She and her husband started coming to church here not too long ago. In that time. she also had her first daughter. And so it was through this time of becoming a mother and through the the season of postpartum that we all go through as mothers that she just began praying over her daughter. And it was one afternoon in her nursery when she was putting her down for a nap that she just got on her face and was praying to the Lord that that her daughter would follow him one day and that he would just bless her life and protect her. And it was in that moment that she realized her need for a Savior. And she said she looked up from praying and she saw Jesus sitting in front of her. And he was sitting there just being with her. And so it was in that moment that she surrendered her life fully to Jesus, sitting in her daughter's nursery. And so after that moment, she began praying for her husband. And she said in a way that she had never never done before. And so as she prayed for him, his life was transformed. And he followed the Lord in believers baptism and is now leading their family. And to continue that legacy of faith, she is now expecting her second daughter in just a few short weeks. And so this is truly a life that has been transformed not only just by the Word of God and by the gospel, but by the presence of God. And so she is just coming today saying that she has surrendered her life fully to Christ. And this is, we were talking back here, this is the beginning of a legacy in their family. And they will continue this with their daughters and their daughters' children.

What a beautiful testimony, isn't it? If you could be where I am, you're seeing these tears. I'm seeing these tears coming down her face because it's changed her life. So Darby, Romans 10 and 9 says that if you will confess with your mouth, Lord Jesus, believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you would be saved. What is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. Upon your public confession that Jesus Christ is Lord, I baptize you, my sister, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, buried in the likeness of His death, raised to walk in newness of life. Okay, church family, we have Madden Patrick. I want to tell you a little story. So back in 2016, me and Miss Lindsey there, we heard from the Lord that we were going to adopt out of the foster system. And so we readied ourselves. And then on December the 22nd, at 2.22, I woke up with the same urgency that I had experienced when the Lord would wake me up at 3.33, like Jeremiah 33.3 says, that you can call on me and I'll show you great and mighty things that you don't know. And so many times at 3.33, the Lord would show me things that I didn't know beforehand. And then, so I woke up at 2.22 with that same urgency. So I got up and I went to the scripture and I came across Daniel 2.22 that says that there are things in the darkness that are coming to the light. And then I told my wife that morning, I said, I think there's something significant about it being 12.22. And she called me on the way home from work. She said, Hey, it's Job 12.22, where it says that there are things in the darkness that are coming to light. And I called my friend that hears from the Lord and I said, Hey, I think God's trying to tell us something. And he said, well, the Lord's been waking me up this week at 4.22, where it says that nothing is secret or in the darkness that doesn't come to light. I said, okay, so yes, the Lord is saying something. So we knew that something was in darkness that was going to come to light. There was something that we didn't know yet that God was trying to reveal. So, so much so it got crazy. We saw 2.22 everywhere, but then on February the 22nd, I got a phone call and a social worker says, is this Mr. Patrick? And I said, yes, ma'am. She said, we have a placement for two twin two-year-olds.

Do you need to talk to your wife? And I said, I probably don't, but I'm pretty, I'm pretty sure that this is of the Lord. So on 2.22, the Lord brought these two twin two-year-olds into our home and he had brought them out of darkness and into the light. into light. And for two years, we fostered, they never left our home. And then when we realized that we were gonna have the opportunity to adopt our boys, we did just like we had always done, we asked the Lord, because we believe Jeremiah 1.5 is true for all of us, that he knows us before we were ever formed in our mother's womb. And so he already knew us. And so when we asked the Lord to name our other three older boys, he gave us a name for them. And so we asked the Lord to name our boys. And so on our way back from signing the adoption papers, Lindsey and I were talking, and I said, I feel like I've heard from the Lord on what Madden's name is. And she said, I have too. And so we did something cool. I said, well, I'm gonna write it on a piece of paper and you write it on a piece of paper and we'll flip it over at the same time and let's see if we heard from the Lord. And we both turned over the name James. So the Lord always knew that this was James. He knew him before he was formed in his mother's womb, but this is James Madden, James Madden.

And when the Lord told me his name, he told me James is one who clutches the heel. He said, he will walk so close with the Lord that it's like he's gonna hold his heel. He'll be in full step with him. And this past summer at summer camp, he surrendered his life to the Lord, grab and hold. So you guys are gonna get to witness James Madden being baptized, one who gave his life to the Lord. And Madden, the Bible says in Romans that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and that you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, that you will be saved. What is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. So it's upon that confession, I get to baptize you, my son and my brother in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Church family, this is Meredith Craft. Meredith is one of our fifth grade girls. And Meredith has been reading the scripture with her mom since she was about six years old. She's now 10. So for the last four years, the scripture has just been poured into her life over and over again. And it was through this experience

and the power of God's word that she began to see who Jesus was and how he saved people and how he invited them to be a part of his family. And it was through that that she realized, she said, I wanna be a part of God's family. I want to be a part with Jesus. And so at Easter time, this past spring at one of our services, she responded to the call. And she came down and she prayed with one of our ministers to give her life fully to Jesus and full surrender. And she is just so full of joy that she is so happy to just be a part of God's family and know that she is saved and wants others to come to know him and be a part of his family. And so we just celebrate with her today in making that decision and just encourage and just a testimony of the power of God's word. And so that it never returns void. And so we're just celebrating with her in that today. Amen, amen. Well, Meredith, I want you to know how much the Lord loves you and he is so proud to call you his daughter. You know, the Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, I believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. Meredith, what's your confession?

Jesus is my Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, Meredith, upon your profession of faith, I wanna baptize you my sister in Christ in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, buried in blindness and his death, raised to walk in a brand new life. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Marcus Patrick. And he was part of the crew that showed up on 222. And a couple of years, like it passed through the, after fostering and I was riding down the road on a Saturday morning and I knew that, we knew the boys were gonna be ours. And I was just talking to Jesus and I said these words out loud. I said, Jesus, am I gonna name him Marcus Moses Patrick or Moses Marcus Patrick?

And I said these words to him. And I said, I don't even know why I said that, Lord. You're gonna have to actually confirm. But I feel like in my spirit, you're saying his name is Moses. That night I went to church on a Saturday night. We had some guest speakers. And before the guy spoke, he said. He said, hey, I'm gonna introduce you to my wife. And she got up and she said, I'm from the foster system. And she said, I'm here to tell you in this day that the Lord is raising up Moses's out of the foster system. She said, God is raising Moses's delivering them so that they will be a deliverer. And so you're seeing Marcus Moses Patrick, who's delivered to be a deliverer. And on June the 7th, he came in my bedroom crying. Cause the Lord's been working on both of their hearts for years now. But he came in on a Sunday night and he said, dad, I need to give my life to Christ. And so we did that. It was cool at the end of it. I said, we gotta remember what today is. So we won't ever forget. And it was June 7th, it was six, seven. So we redeemed everything all right there. He was so happy.

So Marcus, the Bible says in Romans that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. What is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. So with that confession, Marcus, my son, I get to baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Please kneel down. Let us pray with all our hearts. Lord, I pray that what you today did will live forevermore with our lives. I ask that by your holy name, God will bless you and bless you. I ask that by your holy name, the next generation of your children fromsels not fear that they come toously to you and to your house. I ask that by your holy name, God will bless you and bless you. I ask that by your holy name, the next generation of your children fromsels not fear that they come toously to you and bless you. I ask that by your holy name, God will bless you and bless you. I ask that by your holy name, the next generation of your children fromsels not fear that they come tooously

to your house. I ask that by your holy name, God will bless you I your house. I ask by your holy name, God will bless you I your house. I ask by your holy name, God will bless you I your house. I ask that by your holy name, God will bless you I your house. Church family, this is Patrick Helms. If you are a friend or family member, you can feel free to stand up. This has been my guy here for a long time. We have a lot of memories, a lot of stories together. I got to talk with him a little bit this past week. He just began to share with me how when he was 12, he thought that he had a relationship with Jesus and he thought that he was saved. But his last year of middle school and all throughout high school and even early on into college, he just kept falling back into the same cycle of sin and trying to do better and trying to do better and always failing. And so he knew something was missing. He even said, I knew I was trying to fill this hole that I could not fill. And so that was his whole high school career.

And so his senior year, he goes to his last ever high school camp and he even says, man, I'm gonna be honest with you. I wasn't really expecting much to happen. I was just going. It was a senior year last year. He said, I just thought that's what I was supposed to do. So he wasn't expecting much. And he said, immediately the Lord began to work in me and calling me to lay down some sins in my life. And he began to do that. And he really just thought that's all that the Lord was doing in him that week was just calling some sin out of his life. And little did he know on the last night of camp, they sat around as a small group together and one of his leaders asked him the question, asked the group the question, hey, on a scale of one to 10, how confident are you that you're going to heaven? And Patrick knew immediately that he would not end up in heaven. And so he knew that he needed to give his life to the Lord that night. And he felt strongly that the Lord was calling him to go speak to Daniel Bailey, who was our intern this summer. And so they talked for a long time. And coming out of that conversation,

Patrick gave his life to the Lord. And I remember. I remember Daniel coming up to me as we're packing up for camp, it's pouring rain, and Daniel's like, Christian, Patrick's gotta talk to you. And I was like, I'll go talk to him in a minute. And he came back, he's like, hey, Patrick really needs to talk to you. I'm like, I will go get it in a minute, I'm trying to pack up. And finally I find Patrick, he's like, hey man, I got saved. And I was like, I feel like the worst person ever. But I'm so proud of Patrick in this moment. I followed up with him, I think a week after camp, and I was like, hey man, how's it going? And he just said, he said, man, my life and my walk with Jesus has never been better. I've never felt more free in my life. So Patrick is here this morning to celebrate what the Lord has done in his life. So Patrick, we're so proud of you, man. Romans 10, nine says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So what is your confession? Jesus is my Lord. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, Patrick, it's my honor to baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Buried in the likeness of his death, raised to walk in the name of the Father. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Church family, would you pray with me? Lord, we love you. We thank you, Father. We just thank you for this morning and all the testimonies of those who have, Lord, gotten baptized. Father, I pray that even now that you would continue to draw some to your name, Lord, and that you would come sit with us in these next moments. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you stand and worship with us? There's nothing else left to say

with the name of Jesus in this house. Come on. Shout Jesus from the mountains, Jesus in the streets. Jesus in the darkness over every enemy. Jesus, for my family, I speak the Holy Name. Jesus. Shout Jesus from the mountains, Jesus in the streets. Jesus in the darkness over every enemy. Jesus, for my family, I speak the Holy Name. Jesus. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Your name is life. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. Burn like a fire. Your name is power. Your name is healing. Your name is life. Your name is life. Break every stronghold. Shine through the shadows. Burn like a fire. Come on, come on. Hey, listen, let's give Him our best praise this morning. Our best praise. Hallelujah.

So let me tell you what the Bible says about moments just like this. I lost count. We're 36, 37 something people that have taken the next right step through biblical baptism. The Bible says that the enemy is defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. So Jesus just defeated the enemy on behalf of a whole generational line. Come on. In every story. So what I wanna do is I'm gonna ask you to just sit down for a second. Give me 10 minutes, 10 minutes, all right? The best sermonette I got, all right, on Nehemiah chapter, just to give those that were just baptized time to be ready so that when we pray the blessing over them in a moment, we can do that. Man, if you wanna listen to the message, you're gonna have to go back and listen to the recording of the nine o'clock service because I preached for about 20 minutes in there and I got about 10 right here because I wanna honor your time. But I do want your eyes for a second. Hey, some are here today and you came for whatever reason you came. Maybe you don't even know sovereignly God.

Ms. Laurie, you can just go ahead and stay with me and play that piano the whole time. That's like that walkout music. You know, if you keep it playing, I know I ain't got much time, all right? But I say that because I just want the spirit of what I think God's doing. doing here to be right here's when we say to you if you're here today and you have never put faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ today is the day of salvation it is look at me for a second the Lord has pursued you every second of your life to set up a moment that he might look you in the eyes through the testimony of many to say he lived a life you couldn't live he died the death that you deserve he's been after you and every moment of your life every bad decision like the worst moments he saw you saw you pursued you in the biggest mess up and the mistakes Jesus came to literally take your sin take your wrath on himself that you might be made alive on the inside not that you could have a religion but that you could go from dead to alive the beauty of the gospel is not that good people get a little bit better it's that dead people finally come alive and what we saw through this is a bunch of people that arrive at the same state that every person has ever arrived in need of a Savior and that at some point that we looked upon Jesus and we believed for ourself if it was good enough for them he's got to be good enough for me and the story of our faith is that this has been handed down from generation to generation and we got generational life change stories that I want to say that again that we got like seven kids baptized by six dads today right come on we got a son a God-called son that we're discipling right now that's gonna be a future pastor that baptized his dad today come on right and we got moms sharing stories and moments they're seeing into the life of their child the work of God and I just want to say if you're 80 years old or 8 in this room the good news of Jesus Christ is coming after you it's coming after you it's the

story of God throughout redemptive history we were in Nehemiah 2 this morning I'm not even gonna open it up okay I'm gonna tell you if you met you missed a great 20-minute sermon at I go back and watch it online this week because God's Word is awesome but I don't want to miss this moment right here because this is what I sense somebody here needs to come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior right now watch the work of God all week long man all week long got the preacher revival and first Baptist Church flora this last week Sunday Monday Tuesday night before our Wednesday night service all that means is I'm real tired and and they had a service on Wednesday night where they had 12 people that took the next right step and were biblically baptized and so here's what I'm saying Jesus is saving people from every nation tribe and tongue so you might have just fail fail into the room today but the truth is that Jesus found you and he wants to save you this morning so before we pray over those that were just baptized I wonder if you'd do me a favor for a second you heard this testimony several times several times and the first service in this service that somebody came to a moment just like this and they realized they needed a Savior just like you do and they responded to a moment just like this and said I need him and I wonder if it's you today would you be bold enough to do that in just a second so just bow your head for a moment nobody else looking around the gospel one more time is this is that Jesus lived a life nobody could live died the death that all of us deserve defeated death through his resurrection so that he might extend to you today the finished work of the cross in an empty tomb and resurrection and that the Spirit of God's worked overtime to get you here right now so that you might by faith reach out and receive the gift of salvation so nobody else looking around hearing the testimony of so many others if you're here today and you need Jesus to save you to make you a part of his forever family I'm asked to be bold for a second I will not embarrass you but I'm gonna ask you to be bold enough to do this very thing would you look at me and just raise your hand say Kyle that's me this morning I need that come on

hallelujah dude hallelujah anybody else hallelujah others in the room I got you others in the room just look at me be bold enough to raise your hand for a second I love you. All right, you can put your hands down and look at me. Those that are needing Jesus to save you, nobody else is looking. I'm asking you to keep eyes on me for a second. I want to explain this one more time. The simplicity of the good news of Jesus is this. He's been after you. After you, bro. And you've been found today. And all you gotta do is right now is reach out by faith, turn from your sin, trust in His work, and He'll make you alive. He'll make you alive. So those that are looking to me right now, more of you are looking to me now than even were a second ago. I want to help you look to Him. Right now, I want to help you look to Him because you can't pray to me or to no man, but the God man. And He wants to hear from you right now. So if you want to, you can close your eyes if that'll help you. And I want you to think about Jesus. I want you to think about the Son of God, the Lamb of God,

the one that lived and died and defeated death for you. And would you just say to Him right now, Jesus, I am turning from my sin. I'm putting trust in Your work on my behalf. Save me. I want to follow You. Now, when nobody else looking around, I'm gonna ask you, I'm gonna give you another chance to be bold with that. When nobody else looking around, if you just did that, if you just prayed and asked Jesus to save you to be a part of His family, would you just look at me again and raise your hand, say, hey, that was me. Got it, got it, got it. Hey, church family, can we welcome several people into the family of God real quick? Come on. Woo! Come on, come on, come on. Hallelujah. Well, I think we had church. What do you think? It don't get much better than that, okay? I want us to do something. Let's stand together. Those that were baptized, would you come in to the front? And I do mean this. I would encourage you this week,

because we're on a journey through the book of Nehemiah. If you get a chance this week, for those of y'all in the 1030 service, we end up baptizing more people during this service, go back and listen to the message so it'll help you understand what God's saying to our church. Would y'all do that this week? All right, do that. Encourage you to come back Wednesday night, man. God is gonna meet with us powerfully this Wednesday night. Y'all just keep scootin' down if you can. Keep scootin' down. Come meet with us this Wednesday night. The Lord's moving. Don't miss next Sunday. God has some special things in store. I don't know if you can tell this, the Lord's on the move. He's on the move. And that's a privilege to be a part of. If you need a church family, we'd love to be a part of that. If you're here visiting today for the first time, this is not necessarily what our normal Sunday mornings look like, but we'll take it in Jesus' name, right? We'll take it. I want us to do this to not just be spectators. To those that prayed to receive Christ today

or to those that still got questions about that, here's your bold next step. You gotta do it. When you walk out of this room at the Next Step Center, I say this every week and people take this step every week, there's some people that are standing there that we have these little boxes, nothing special about the box, except that it gives us a chance to get into a conversation, put a Bible in your hand and say, let us help you walk with Jesus now. If you walk out of this room today, if you got questions or if you just made a decision, stop at that desk. All you gotta say, I need a box. We'll take it from there. We'll take it from there, okay? Hey, let's do this. Let's stretch our hands out toward our faith family that was just baptized. And don't just listen to the preacher pray. I want you to pray for them. Everybody out loud, go for it. Start praying for them. Father, I come in the name and the authority of Jesus Christ. I thank you for our faith family. I thank you for their boldness to take the next right step, God, today. And like you did every baptism in the Bible, I pray that you would mark this moment

with your presence, with your power. I pray that you would establish their faith in every season of their life, God. Let the oil of God, let the anointing of God roll over their lives, God. Let them know how proud you are of them and what they have done now. Lord, I pray that you'd raise up a generation out of these. that will faithfully follow you all the days of their life. God bless them, keep them, let your face shine upon them. God be gracious unto them, lift up your countenance upon them and give them peace. God, we thank you for your work here today. We thank you for your faithfulness, oh God. We thank you for your activity. We thank you for this faith family. And God, I ask glorify your name to the fullest measure possible this week. God, I pray, Lord, that we would hear the call to seek you like we've never sought you before. God, to know you in ways we've never known you. God, would you open your word to us this week and let us feast on you, Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords. And thank you for defeating the enemy today, Lord. Thank you for doing works and whole family lines, God. And so Lord, find us a people that will continue to seek you. And I pray for our new found brothers and sisters in the room right now. Give them the courage to keep taking steps. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let's give him praise one more time. Come on. Awesome. We love you. You are dismissed.