This Day Is That Day | Pastor Daniel Floyd

♪ Oh, yeah, I will love you. ♪ ♪ I've got the joy of the Lord deep down inside of my soul ♪ ♪ And I can't hide it no more, I'm gonna praise Him. ♪ ♪ I've got the joy of the Lord deep down inside of my soul ♪ ♪ And I can't hide it no more, I gotta praise the One who ♪ ♪ Broke my chains and bought my freedom. ♪ ♪ What else can I say but thank you, Jesus. ♪ ♪ Cause you're just that good, just that faithful. ♪ ♪ And you're just that kind, I'm so grateful. ♪ ♪ That you saved my life like you said you would. ♪ ♪ So with my hands up high, heart abandoned. ♪ ♪ And a faith on fire, singing and dancing. ♪ ♪ Cause you saved my life like you said you would. ♪ ♪ Cause you're just, cause you're just that good. ♪ ♪ You put a song in my heart, I sing with all that I got. ♪ ♪ And tell the world who you are, I'm gonna praise you. ♪ ♪ You put a song in my heart, I sing with all that I got. ♪ ♪ And tell the world who you are, I'm gonna praise the One who ♪ ♪ Broke my chains and bought my freedom. ♪ ♪ What else can I say but thank you Jesus. ♪ ♪ Cause you're just that good, just that faithful. ♪ ♪ And you're just that kind, I'm so grateful. ♪ ♪ That you saved my life like you said you would. Yes. ♪ ♪ Yes, so with my hands up high, I'll open and obey the fire. ♪ ♪ Yes, you saved my life like you said you would. ♪ ♪ Cause you're just, cause you're just that good. ♪ ♪ Just that good. ♪ ♪ Praise the one who broke my chains and bought my freedom. ♪ ♪ What else can I say but thank you, Jesus. ♪ ♪ You're the one who broke my chains, bought my freedom. ♪

♪ What else can I say but thank you, Jesus. ♪ ♪ Cause you're just that good, just that faithful. ♪ ♪ And you're just that kind, I'm so grateful. ♪ ♪ That you saved my life like you said you would. ♪ ♪ So with my hands up high, I'll open and obey the fire. ♪ ♪ Cause you saved my life like you said you would. ♪ ♪ Cause you're just, cause you're just that good. ♪ ♪ Oh, you're just that good. ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, cause you're just that good. ♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord. ♪ And so we praise you, God. As we praise your name, Jesus. We thank you for your faithfulness, for your goodness. God, we honor you today. Yes, Jesus. Come we sing. ♪ The Lord is my shepherd, my refuge and my shelter. ♪ ♪ Though enemies surround, He's my defender. ♪ ♪ He's faithful and patient, He's loving and He's gracious. ♪ ♪ From age to age, His goodness never changes. ♪ We sing. So I will sing praise, I will sing praise. ♪ For the Lord is good always. ♪ ♪ All of my days, I'm held by His grace. ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good, the Lord is good always. ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. ♪ ♪ Always, always ♪ ♪ My prize and my treasure ♪ ♪ He's good beyond all measure ♪ ♪ I've tasted and I've seen there's nothing better ♪

♪ So forever I will sing praise, I will sing praise ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ All of my days I'm held by his grace ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good, yes you are Lord ♪ ♪ I will sing praise, I will sing praise ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ All of my days I'm held by his grace ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good, the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ Always, always, yes you are Lord ♪ ♪ The Lord is good always, always, always ♪ ♪ Always, always, the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ So I'm standing on the rock, the rock of ages ♪ ♪ Holding to the hope that's never failing ♪ ♪ I've got all I need, cause I've got you ♪ Can we sing it out? ♪ Never failing, I've got all I need, cause I've got you ♪ ♪ So I will sing praise, I will sing praise ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ All of my days I'm held by his grace ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good, yes you are Lord ♪ ♪ I will sing praise, I will sing praise ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ All of my days I'm held by his grace ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good, the Lord is good always ♪ ♪ Always, always, always, we believe the Lord is good ♪ ♪ Always, always, no one like you Lord, yeah ♪ Come on we sing. ♪ Oh I'm standing on the rock, the rock of ages ♪ ♪ Hold it to the hope that's never failing ♪ ♪ I've got all I need, cause I've got you, it's all about you ♪

♪ Oh, and I'm standing on the rock, the rock of ages ♪ ♪ Hold it to the hope that's never failing ♪ ♪ I've got all I need, cause I've got you, only you Lord, oh ♪ ♪ And I've got all I need, cause I've got you ♪ ♪ So I will sing praise, I will sing praise ♪ ♪ For the Lord is good always, all of my days I'm held by his grace ♪ ♪ I'm held by his grace for the Lord is good ♪ ♪ The Lord is good always, always, always ♪ ♪ The Lord is good always, always, always ♪ Come on let's sing that again. ♪ The Lord is good always, always, always, always ♪ ♪ Always, always, always, always, always ♪ ♪ The Lord is good always ♪ ♪ Always, always, always, always, always, always ♪ ♪ The Lord is good always ♪ Yeah, come on, let's just declare His goodness today. We say that You are good. Lord, You're faithful. Lord, no matter the season, You're faithful. ♪ Yes, we believe that You're good, Lord ♪ ♪ Yes, we know that You're good ♪ ♪ There is no one like You, Lord ♪ ♪ There is no one like You, Lord ♪ Come on, let's just remember His goodness in our lives. Let's take a moment and just think of a time where God's faithfulness was just so obvious that He brought you out of a season, He brought you through a circumstance. And let's just begin to fill our mouths, fill our heads, fill our hearts with gratitude

for the Lord and His faithfulness and His goodness. We're not done yet, declaring His goodness today. Lord, we say that You're good. Yes, we know that You are good. We believe that You are good. Yes, we believe that You are good. Yes, we believe that You are good. ♪ You're a good, good Father ♪ ♪ It's who You are, it's who You are, it's who You are ♪ ♪ And I'm loved by You, it's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am ♪ ♪ It's who I am, it's who I am, You're my good, good Father ♪ ♪ It's who You are, it's who You are, it's who You are ♪ ♪ And I'm loved by You, it's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am ♪ ♪ It's who I am, it's who I am, You say that You're good ♪ Come on, let's sing that one more time. You're a good, good Father. ♪ You're a good, good Father ♪ ♪ It's who You are, it's who You are, it's who You are ♪ ♪ And I'm loved by You, it's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am ♪ ♪ You're a good, good Father ♪ ♪ It's who You are, it's who You are, it's who You are ♪ Thank You for Your love, Lord. ♪ It's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am ♪ Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord. Yes. Yes, Jesus. There's no one like You, Jesus. ♪ You chose to grace the world that You so loved ♪

♪ The hands that turned the universe, surrendered to the cross ♪ ♪ Despite the sin that separated us ♪ ♪ You took the fall and sent for all, salvations in Your blood ♪ ♪ What a worthy name, Jesus, Son of God ♪ ♪ High and lifted up, You deserve the praise ♪ ♪ What a worthy name, Jesus, Son of God ♪ ♪ Jesus, Son of God, You're high and lifted up ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise ♪ ♪ What a holy name, what a holy name, name of Jesus ♪ ♪ We hope and long to come to resurrect ♪ ♪ You breathed the grave as You were raised ♪ ♪ The firstborn from the dead ♪ ♪ In everything You have, pre-eminence ♪ ♪ The first, the last, the great I Am ♪ ♪ Beginning and the end ♪ ♪ What a worthy name, Jesus, Son of God, You're high and lifted up ♪ ♪ High and lifted up, You deserve the praise ♪ ♪ What a worthy name, Jesus, Son of God, You're high and lifted up ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, yes You do ♪ Come on, He deserved the praise. Yes, You do, Jesus. Yes, You do. ♪ On Your head, the victors crowned ♪ ♪ Hell retreats and heaven shouts the name, the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Risen King of righteousness, knees will bow and tongues confess at the name, the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ On this rock, the church will stand, songs of joy will rise again, at the name, the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Christ will reign forevermore, all the saints and angels will roar, at the name, the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ What a worthy name, Jesus, Son of God, You're high and lifted up ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, what a worthy name, Jesus, Son of God, He's high and lifted up ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, what a worthy name, Jesus, Son of God, He's high and lifted up ♪

♪ You deserve the praise, what a worthy name, Jesus, Son of God, He's high and lifted up ♪ ♪ On Your head, the victors crowned, hell retreats and heaven shouts at the name, the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ On Your head, the victors crowned, hell retreats and heaven shouts at the name, the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ On this rock the church will stand, songs of joy will rise again, at the name, the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Christ will reign forevermore, all the saints and angels roar, at the name, the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ At the name, the name of Jesus, at the name, the name of Jesus, holy is Your name ♪ ♪ 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 ♪ ♪ Shout Jesus from the mountains, Jesus in the streets, Jesus in the darkness over every enemy ♪ Jesus for your countenance, Jesus in the streets, Jesus in the darkest of grave, Jesus for your faith, I sing the Holy Name, Jesus Let's shout the Name of Jesus, can we just lift up the Name of Jesus Christ, the Name that is above every other name, we praise you Jesus, we honor you Jesus, we celebrate you Jesus, come on one more time, let's shout Jesus, He's the King of Peace, the Lord of Lords, praise you Jesus You know I love that we can speak the Name of Jesus and I also love that Jesus speaks over us I was reminded this week in Matthew Chapter 8 where Jesus talks to the disciples and He says, hey let's jump in the boat, let's go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee And as they are on their way to the other side of the Sea, the Bible says there's a storm And what's interesting is that in this storm, the disciples are in full panic mode, they're freaking out, they think they're gonna die And yet the Bible describes Jesus and it says that Jesus was asleep in the stern So what was wearing the disciples out actually rocked Jesus to sleep Now why is that? Because when the peace on the inside is bigger than the pressure on the outside, then you can rest anywhere, amen Let me say that again, when the peace on the inside is bigger than the pressure on the outside, you can rest anywhere And so the Bible says that Jesus gets up and then He speaks to the wind and the waves and He says, peace be still And He calms the storm, here's why I tell you that today Because some of us have come into this place and we're in a storm We're experiencing pressure and chaos, it is the chaos of the summer where schedules have been uprooted It's the chaos and the pressure on the job, it's the chaos in the relationship But I wanna encourage you, Jesus is the Prince of Peace And He came that we might have peace that transcends all understanding And what He says is I can give you peace that's bigger on the inside than the pressure on the outside, amen And so here's what I wanna do today

Some of us, we need peace And I don't wanna embarrass you but I wanna pray for you So here's what I wanna ask you to do, I just wanna ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes Just to give you a private moment here But if you'd say, Jelani, that's me, I need the peace of God Would you just raise your hand, I just wanna pray for you I need the peace, also online, I need peace right now Father, you see the hands that are up all over this auditorium and those that are joining us online And we simply declare right now, peace be still We speak peace over them now And you said not to worry about anything but pray about everything And the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard our hearts and our minds And so we declare peace in the name of Jesus, amen Amen, come on, can we give Him praise one more time, amen Well listen, it was so great worshiping with you today And Pastor Daniel has an incredible message coming up as we continue our series But before we turn our attention to him, why don't you turn to two or three people Greet them and welcome them to Gateway Church Thank you Thank you Thank you Hey, welcome to church everybody Come on, let's put our hands together for Jesus one more time You can do better than that, come on on every campus. He's worthy. So glad that you're in church. As you saw, YouthCon is coming up. And so parents, students, you don't wanna miss that. You know, you'll invest in a whole lot of different things

this summer in the life of your child, if you're a parent like Tammy and I. But what gives you an eternal return on your investment is when you get them in the word of God, in the presence of God, around God's people. And so make sure you're getting registered for that. In week two of a brand new series called Road Trip, if you're new to church and you're like, what is this series? Simply a collection of talks around a common theme. And so we've been talking about how the journey of faith is kind of like a road trip. And there's mile markers along the way. And there's important stops along the way that you wanna make. Last week, we started out talking about how we need the Holy Spirit in our life to be our guide. He just doesn't wanna give us guidance, but wants to be the guide of our life. And today we're talking about really the big ideas, the idea of obedience. We're gonna talk about it in one specific way. But how many of you know that a journey of faith is a journey of obeying? It's a journey of a step of obedience after steps of obedience to God. And so the verse we're gonna work from today is Acts chapter two. If you have a copy of the scriptures with you, if you're not, it'll be on the TV here.

Acts chapter two. And so what the context of what's happening here is Jesus has died, he's been buried, he's rose back from the grave and he's ascended to the father. And he said, hey, I want you to wait in Jerusalem and I'm gonna send the promise, the gift of the Holy Spirit to you. The Holy Spirit comes, all these people are in Jerusalem, the apostles are getting up and the disciples are getting up, speaking the word of the Lord. And then Peter says this in Acts chapter two, he says, therefore, let all of Israel be assured of this, that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah. How many of you know that Jesus is still Lord, still Messiah? And when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And so then Peter replies, you need to repent. And repent simply means a turning or a change of mind. Repenting isn't a 360, because then you're just back where you started. Y'all don't know math, okay. It's a 180. It means I was moving this way, I was thinking about life this way,

I am turning and moving in God's way. And then he says, and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And the promise is for you and your children and for us, all those who are far off, that's you and me, for all whom the Lord our God will call. With many other words, he warned them and he pleaded with them to save themselves from this corrupt generation. And those who accepted this message were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. Yeah, that's worth clapping for, the word of God's always good. If you're the note-taking type, I want you to write this title down. If not, go ahead and write it down anyways. This day is that day. It says that day, about 3,000 were added to the church because they were baptized. This day is that day for many of you. I believe that many of you today, as has already happened this morning at all of our campuses, you are going to take the step, the first step of obedience, water baptism, and get baptized today. And you're thinking, I didn't come prepared and I didn't sign up for it and I didn't plan on it. That doesn't matter to me.

Today's gonna be your day. You're gonna get baptized today, all right? Hey, let's pray together. Father, our hearts and minds are open to you. I pray that you speak to every person that has never taken this first step of obedience across our church family and would they obey today? Simple obedience, profound result in their life. We pray this in Jesus' name. Everybody said, amen. Amen. Have you ever noticed that defining moments in your life don't always seem defining in the moment? Some of the biggest defining moments in your life, I would imagine you look back in hindsight and you see they were defining, but in the moment, it was just felt like maybe the right next thing to do or just maybe even felt like a coincidence, but you look back and go, wow, that was a defining moment in my life, but I didn't know it in the moment. I was thinking about one of these in my own life. I was living in East Tennessee, Upper East Tennessee, a place called Kingsport where I grew up most of my life where we speak hillbilly. Had to go to college to get that out of me, but I was in between. I had to take a year off of school because I needed to- pay back some student loans.

And so I worked a couple of jobs for a year so that I could do that and prepare to go back and finish my bachelor's degree. Well, while I was there, a friend of mine invited me to an event at a church. And I said, sure, I don't have anything else going on tonight. I'll go to this event. Well, at this event, I met a guy named Eddie. Eddie ended up becoming the best man in my wedding. Very, very good friend of mine. And actually ended up helping him plant a church in Virginia Beach area, Virginia, which is thriving today. And so that one decision affected a friendship that I had that's become a lifelong friendship. And then because of Eddie, because he had graduated from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, as his influence, and I was in between schools, I decided to go to Liberty University. And then at Liberty University, I was standing in the hangar, which was the food court at the time. And here comes walking in, a beautiful girl named Tammy Lynch with her boyfriend. It's another story for another day. Looked like I won. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying.

But how many of you know, going to the event at the church, the year I was taken off of school, was a defining moment. I didn't necessarily know it in the moment. It just seemed like the next right thing to do. I gotta tell you, for some of you, coming to church today was the next right thing to do. And you getting water baptized is the next right thing to do. And it's gonna be a defining moment in your life. And it may just feel like a right step of obedience in the moment, but I think you'll look back and go, man, this was a defining moment in my life. And so I wanna explain what it is. And then I wanna address some objections. And then we wanna give you the opportunity today, not sign up for baptism, but today to get into the waters of baptism and take the first step. The Bible calls it, or we call it the first step of obedience because it's the first thing Jesus tells you to do after you place your faith in him. If you're with me, say amen. All right, I wanna go to one of my favorite passages on water baptism. And there are so many all through the book of Acts and that we read in the New Testament church. But this one I think is one of my favorites

and it's about Philip and an Ethiopian eunuch. And so what is happening in the context is there's a eunuch who is in charge of a whole lot of things and he's in a chariot and he's reading the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, the book of Isaiah in our Old Testament. He's reading that book. God sends Philip to him and Philip comes running up beside the chariot. He hears him reading this. And this is where we come into the story. And the scripture says this, then Philip ran up to the chariot and he heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. And Philip's gonna ask him this, do you understand what you're reading? And the man replies to him, how can I unless someone explains it to me? So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. So now Philip's in the chariot with him. And this is the passage of scripture the eunuch was reading. So what we're about to read is an excerpt of the Old Testament book. And this is what the man was reading when Philip came up and it's talking about Jesus. It's a prophecy of the Messiah. Says he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before its shears is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation, he was deprived of justice.

Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth. And the eunuch asked Philip, please tell me who's he talking about? Himself or someone else? And then Philip began with that very passage of scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. And as they traveled along the road, they came to some water and said, the eunuch said, look, here's water. What can stand in the way of me being baptized? And Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And the eunuch answered, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Now that scripture is in brackets, verse 37. Because some manuscripts hold it, some do not have it. Scholars debate about it. So that's debatable. But what is not debatable is that he heard the gospel and he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and Philip baptized him. So this is what I'm praying for you today. Is that if you have believed on Jesus, but you've never taken the step of water baptism, that today would be the day that you do it.

And so the first step for all of us is first to believe. Amen, everybody. And that's what Philip was explaining to him. He took the passage of the prophecy about Jesus. And then he explained the good news. Well, what is the good news? The good news is this, is that you and I, all of humanity, we have a problem that none of us can solve. And you're like, well, that sounds like bad news. Well, I'm getting there. You got to know the bad news before the good news is good. And the problem that we all have is that we are born with sin. And I always say, if you don't believe you're born with sin, you've never had a toddler. You don't have to train them to roll their eyes. You don't have to teach them to have an attitude. Why? Because it's born within us. It's innate within us. Some people are like, well, now I'm just, I just make mistakes. No, we're not mistakers that make mistakes because some of us plan our mistakes. They're no longer mistakes. Some of us premeditated the sin. Wait till I see them again. I'm going to give them a piece of... Are y'all tracking with me? And so we're sinners.

And so sin separates us from a holy God. And so what did God do? Because he never wanted that. Before the foundation of the earth, he put into a plan in place whereby he would send his only son, his one and only son, to come and live the life you and I could never live. Jesus lived a perfect life, not just an action, but a motive and thought in every way possible. He'd lived the perfect life, though he was tempted in every way that we are tempted. And so he lived this perfect life, making him the only one that could die on the cross and shed his blood, making atonement, or making right the sins of all humanity. Then he was buried in the grave. Three days later, he rose from the grave, proving that he was who he claimed to be, the son of God with the power to take away the sin of the world. And the way that we receive this forgiveness of sins is 100% by faith alone in Christ alone. If you're with me so far, say amen. The Bible says it this way, that it's not of works so that we don't get the credit. The King James says so that we can't boast about it. So there's nothing in us that can go, look what I did to earn my salvation.

Look what I did to be in right standing with God. And so it's not about your works, meaning it's not whether or not you have church attendance. If your name's on a membership roll at 10 different churches, if you have perfect Sunday school attendance growing up, if you've been confirmed, if you've taken first communion, it's not about your works. Our salvation is simply by faith alone, grace alone from Jesus alone. Come on, can I get a better amen in God's house today? That is it. So if you're depending on anything else to give you right standing with God, you are on shaky ground. If you're depending on your mom and dad's faith, faith is not inherited. If you're depending on what they did, well, they were good people, so hopefully I can slip in. If you're hoping that there's a scale in heaven and that your good will outweigh your bad, can I just tell you, you're on the losing side of that scale. The Bible says that our best days are as filthy rags in the sight of God. And so salvation, the good news is this, is you can't earn it, you didn't deserve it, but he gave it to you anyways. That's the good news of the gospel. You could do nothing to cleanse your own sin. You could do nothing to give you right standing with God.

You could do nothing to enter into relationship with him. You could do nothing to pay the debt of your sin, but in the courtroom of heaven, you are about to be sentenced to death. And Jesus stepped in and said, let me take it on their behalf. And he hung on a cross and he died so that you and I could have forgiveness. That is the good news. And that's the good news that Philip shared with the eunuch. And as soon as he believed the good news, he said, here's water, why shouldn't I be baptized? And so I ask you at every location today, we have water. Why shouldn't you be baptized? And so for all the years of preaching this and teaching and leading in the church, there's been common objections or questions. And so I just want to go through those. And then at the end of the service, as we dismiss, I'm going to invite you to go to your campus. There's a check-in booth. You can go over and say, I need to get baptized today. And there's already been so many people get baptized this morning. We have over 200 that have signed up, but it's looking like from reports that every campus is about doubling that. And here I was at Southlake. I was meeting some of the people getting baptized and I met a family, a mom and two children.

And they said, we were watching online at nine o'clock and God spoke to us. So we got in our car, we drove over. So maybe you're online. You need to find a campus near you and just start driving there now. And I'm going to invite you to go to your campus today. And I'm going to invite you to go to your campus today. Now, we'll take care of you. And I'm going to invite you to go to your campus today. Number one, I've heard people say this, And I'm going to invite you to go to your campus today. it doesn't make sense. And I understand that. If you're new to faith, it's like, all right, I've said yes to Jesus, but why do I gotta go change clothes and get in water and get under the water? And so let's talk about that. It's a good question. Acts chapter 16, the Bible says this. It says, he then brought them out and asked them, sirs, what must I do to be saved? This is the jailer in the book of Acts. What do I gotta do to be saved? And they replied, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. So that's what you do for salvation. You believe in the Lord Jesus, you and your household. And then they spoke the word of the Lord to them

and to all the others in the household. And at that hour of the night, the jailer took them, Peter, and they washed, I'm sorry, Paul and Silas, they took them and they bandaged their wounds. And it said immediately, he and his whole household were, everybody say it together, were baptized. And so anytime you see the word baptized in the scriptures, you're seeing this Greek word, baptizo, baptizo. And here's what it means. It means to immerse or to submerge. So why do we believe in baptism, what people would call baptism by immersion? Because it's what the word means, everybody. You can't make it mean something else. It means to be baptized. But it also has a deeper meaning than that, to be immersed, but it has a deeper meaning than that. It also is a picture of what happens to you the moment you accept Christ. It's a picture of you dying with Christ and being raised to new life in Christ. In other words, the moment that you accept Jesus, there is a dying to your old self, but there's being raised to a new life. The Bible says it this way, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, if anybody be in Christ, they're a new creation. Everything passes away and everything becomes new in their life. And so this is the picture. Your old life is being buried

and your new life is coming as you are raised. It's a symbol. It's, let me say it this way. It is a public declaration of an inward transformation. If you have been transformed by Jesus on the inside, it is the public way that you declare that to everyone around you. And you may be thinking, well, I thought it was when you walked an aisle. Walking an aisle has not always been a part of our church history. I'm not talking about Gateway Church. I'm talking about the Big C Church. Are you following me? It's only about 150 or 200 years old. No, the public declaration from the very early church was, if I've said yes to Jesus, I get in the waters of baptism and I publicly declare my faith to everybody else around me, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I like to relate it like this, that baptism is the wedding band of salvation. This Friday, 22 years ago, Tammy and I stood before family, friends, and her grandfather, who was officiating our wedding, and we gave vows to each other. And then as a sign of that vow, we exchanged wedding rings, right? And we said, you know, I know it ended this way. All that I have and all that I am, I give to you for Christ's sake.

This is my symbol. It lets everybody know I'm off the market. But it does not make me married. The covenant I made with her makes me married before God and each other, but it does that everybody else. Now, how would you, or what would you think of me if when I traveled out of town and it was just me, that I was like, I'll leave the wedding band in the car. Or certain places I went to, went to the gym, I was like, I'm not gonna wear the wedding band. I don't necessarily want everybody to know in those environments. You wouldn't think a whole lot of me or my integrity, would you? Let me ask you this. Do you just want the benefits of Jesus and the relationship of Jesus on your own terms, but you don't want everybody to really know you're all in with Jesus? Because it's kind of the same thing. Baptism is the public decoration. Hey, I'm all in with Jesus. I've given my life to him. I've surrendered to him and I want everybody else to know about it. Another one I've heard is this, is I don't need it. I've had people tell me. Oh, me and Jesus, we got our own thing worked out. I don't really need to go do that.

I don't really need to do it in front of everybody. Like me and Jesus, we got our own thing figured out. And I would just say, if these two prominent characters in the scriptures needed baptism, maybe we need it. Then Ananias went to the house and entered it, placing his hands on Saul. He said, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately something like scales came off of Saul's eyes. This is the Apostle Paul. He got up and the Apostle Paul was what everybody say it together. He was, he was baptized. If Paul needs it, maybe you need it. At that time, Jesus came from Nazareth and Galilee and was, if Jesus needs it, maybe you need it. Usually what stands in the way in this roadblock, honestly, isn't it just pride? Isn't it wanting to come to Jesus on your own terms still? Can I tell you something? When you come to Jesus, it is total surrender. Kings, they don't take direction from who they are. They are leading. Who is following takes a direction from the King. And if King Jesus is King of your life, and he has said, after you believe, you need to get baptized,

then our only response is obedience. It's our only response. So I don't need it. Let me give you a few more. Some people said this, I've done this. I've been baptized. And I want to address a couple of things in this, in this rebuttal, this, this. For some of you, you were baptized as an infant, and that was an incredibly meaningful moment for your parents. And what was happening in that moment was a, a sense of a dedicating you to the Lord, that as you were older, that that commitment they had would come full circle in your life personally. And so being baptized as an adult is not disgrading or discounting what your parents did. It is actually a fulfillment of what their desire and prayer was for you. And the other thing is they, is you cannot find any time in the New Testament when someone was baptized before they could personally make a decision to follow Jesus. Now, I'm confident that you as an infant had an unbelievable intellect, and that you were wise beyond your years and your capacity to embrace deep theological, doctrinal issues as an infant were probably vast

and superior to most of your peers in the nursery. But I doubt you'd had a revelation of your sinfulness and your need for the atonement and the redeeming work of Jesus in your own life personally. You get what I'm saying? And so baptism always follows a personal decision to follow Jesus. And so if you've placed your faith in Jesus, or if you've never had, and you're going to today, then your next step is to get water baptized today at every location. Here's water, why shouldn't I get baptized is what the eunuch says. And so I ask you again, we have water. Why shouldn't you get baptized? Let me give you a few more that I've heard over the years. I need to pray about it. I need to pray about it. Sounds spiritual, but something seems fishy. I need to pray about it. Let me tell you this, the right time to obey God, it's always right now. And you don't ever have to pray about obeying God. If God said it, you obey it. You don't have to pray about it. It would be like this in my house. When we lived in Virginia, we had a driveway is about 150 foot long. It was a long driveway. And so Owen and Faith, their job was to always take the trash

to the end of the driveways, whenever trash pickup was. And every Sunday night be like, hey guys, get the trash out. Never once did they look at me and go, dad. We're going to pray about that. That'd have been a different conversation in the Floyd household that evening. Can I get a better amen from the parents in the house? Right? Why? Because you don't pray about obeying what God says, right? You don't need to pray about it. Some of you may be thinking, I didn't come prepared and I'm glad you're thinking that because we did, everybody. So we have everything that you need. We have shirts, we have shorts, we have things that go under those things. Just want to be appropriate. We've thought of it all and we have everything that you need. Some of you may be thinking, well, I really would like my family here. I'm just saying I understand the sentiment, but I can't find a time in Scripture. I didn't see the unit go. Hey, I need to get some of my friends over. We're going to plan a lunch afterwards. We really want to set this up, right? We're going to have some balloons at the house. All that is wonderful, but it's not a requirement. Obedience is.

And how many of you know, like my dad used to tell me, Daniel, delayed obedience is disobedience. So today is the day for you to take the step and get baptized. One more. And I understand this. Some of you may be thinking, well, I'm afraid. I'm afraid what people will think. Afraid of getting into the water. I'm afraid. How long are they going to hold me down? It depends on how sinful your past is. I'm kidding. I'm joking. It's just a joke. Some of you just got to wash you a little longer. Kidding with you. Some of you like, I don't know if I want to join this church. I don't know if I want you to join this church. But I do want you to obey God. Do you want you to take the next step? And there's nothing to be afraid of. What are people going to think? They're going to celebrate you. They're going to think you're making the greatest decision you can make. It's a defining moment. And no one's going to hold you down. And today is going to be one of those moments where it's like, I know it's the right thing to do. And you're going to look back and go, it was a defining moment.

It was a moment that really changed things in my life. It was a stake in the ground. It was a moment of clarity in my relationship with Jesus. And here's what I want you to be encouraged by. First Timothy says this, for the spirit God gave us does not make us timid. Some translations say it this way, for God has not given us a spirit of fear. But here's what he has given us, but of power and of love and of self-discipline. So there's nothing for you to fear because perfect love drives out fear. And so if you're feeling afraid, that's not from the Lord. If you're feeling anxious, that is not from the Lord. If you're feeling anxious, that is not from the Lord. And here's what I have found, is that some of the greatest blessings in my life from the Lord were just on the other side of some of the greatest moments of fear. Some of the greatest moments of I don't know if I can do this. Can I be real honest? You're one of the greatest blessings in our life, but it was on the other side of a whole lot of fear, a whole lot of, God, are you in this? God, do you want this? And if we'd have let fear stop this, we'd have missed out on you. So I don't want you to miss what God wants to do in your life, because maybe you let fear get in the way. Let faith win today. It'll be a defining moment in your life.

Baptism is the first step of the believer. If you've never placed your faith in Jesus, in just a moment, I'm gonna give you the opportunity to do that. And today is the day for you to get water baptized. You may have been walking with Jesus for a long time and think, man, everybody thinks I'm bad. Who cares what everybody thinks? But I lead in here. Who cares? Obey God. There's nothing more important today than you obeying God. That's the most important thing today. You know what your church family is going to do? We're going to celebrate. You know what heaven is gonna do? They're going to be celebrating because of the step that you take. So, just a little bit, whenever we ask you at every location to stand and the prayer team to stand and the prayer team, remember, team comes down front. And we usually say, if you wanna pray with someone, you've made a decision for Jesus today, come find a prayer team member. We're gonna say the opposite. Don't come down, go out. Head out of the room that you're in. Go meet a member of our team and say,

I wanna get baptized today. And we have everything taken care of from there. All we're waiting on is your obedience. Will you pray with me? Come on, every head bowed, every eye closed at every location. Maybe you're joining online and you need to jump in the car right now and get to a campus near you. God's speaking to you. Today is that day. It's that day for you. The day that you say yes to Jesus, the day that you fully obey what he's asking of you. Maybe you're here today and you say, pastor, I've never believed. I've never taken the step of fully surrendering my life to Jesus. I've never made that move. Maybe you're here today and you've done church and you've done religion, but you've never entered into a relationship with him. There's a big difference. And so I'm gonna invite you to take that step. In just a moment, we're gonna pray together. And there's nothing special about the words I say. It's just me helping you communicate to God that you realize that you're a sinner in need of a savior. And today you're making him the Lord of your life, asking him to forgive you of all your sin. And so before we pray,

I just wanna know who I'm praying with. No one's gonna come to you or point you out. This is between you and God. Baptism is your public expression to your church family. And so today, if that's you, with no one looking around except myself or the pastor at your location, if you say that's me, I need to take that step. When I count to three, I just want you to shoot your hand up high enough and long enough for me or the pastor at your location to see so we know who we're praying with. If you say that's me, God's speaking to me, I need to surrender my life to Jesus or maybe you need to return to the faith. Then you shoot your hand up on three. One, two, three. You just shoot your hand up high. God bless you. Keep it up. Keep it up all over the room. God bless you. I see in the very, very back. God bless you. It's incredible. Just keep it up. Awesome. You can put it down. Church, will you pray this out loud with me for the benefit of those who just slipped their hand up?

Say, Jesus, I need you. I ask you to forgive me of all my sin. I believe you died for me. I believe God raised you from the dead. Today, I make you my Lord and savior. Thank you for a brand new beginning in Jesus' name. Everybody said a big amen. Come on, let's celebrate those who made that decision. Incredible. Thank you. If you just raised your hand at any of our locations and you said yes to Jesus, your next step is to go get water baptized today. And for some of you, you've sat through this message and God is speaking to you and you know it. And you know it. You're trying to think of every way to get out of it. Today's the day to obey. So in just a moment, we're gonna stand. And normally we stand and we say, come down front if you need prayer. And if you need prayer, then do that. But if God is speaking to you about baptism, you do the opposite. You head out the doors. And there's a sign up booth over to the left by the cafe. Just go over there and say, I wanna get baptized today. And you take your next step. All right, everybody. And then we're gonna ask you,

if you're not getting baptized and you can, stay and celebrate with those that are making the decision. What a great day to be in the house of God, to see people take their first step of obedience. All right, so let's stand together. We'll ask our prayer team, if they would, to make their way to the front as well as up in the balcony. And if you need prayer for anything, we would love to join our faith together and carry burdens with you. But if God is speaking to you about water baptism, then you just slip out right now and you can head out the door and our team will take it from there. Come on, let's worship together. ♪ Oh what a Savior ♪ ♪ Isn't He wonderful ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen ♪ ♪ Bow down before Him, for He is Lord of all ♪ ♪ For He is Lord of all, sing hallelujah, Christ is risen ♪ ♪ Sing oh what a Savior, oh what a Savior, oh what a Savior ♪ ♪ Isn't He wonderful ♪ ♪ Sing hallelujah, Christ is risen ♪ ♪ Bow down before Him, for He is Lord of all ♪ ♪ For He is Lord of all, sing hallelujah, Christ is risen ♪ Amen, amen. Wasn't that such a great word on water baptism? Come on, can we just put our hands together, thank the Lord for that message.

So challenging, so clear, but so amazing. Hey, and I'm gonna share just a couple of announcements, but I wanna reiterate. We've got prayer leaders here at the front, those that are there in the balcony area as well, and we would love the opportunity to pray with you. And so if you came in today and you're going through a difficulty, maybe you need a breakthrough in your marriage, maybe you need wisdom for a decision, maybe you just need peace this summer, whatever it is, I wanna invite you to come forward. Even as I share, we would love the opportunity to pray with you. Just a couple of reminders. Pastor Daniel mentioned this already, but there are some people today that made a decision to give their lives to Christ. Can we just put our hands together one more time, honor all of those. So proud of you, you just made the best decision ever, and that is not the end, that's the beginning. We would love to walk with you. Your first step is to go out and be water baptized, but also church, there are some that made a decision today that are gonna get water baptized and their biological family is not here, but guess what, their church family is. And so I encourage you to come out, hang out in the lobby. We have hot dogs, chips, all these things,

just so that we can celebrate with those that are making this big decision. So I encourage you to stay and hang out in the lobby. Let me speak a blessing over you out of the book of Numbers chapter six. And let me also just remind you, if you're new here, we love the opportunity to connect with you. There's an area called Connect Central out in the lobby. I'll be there along with some of our leaders. If you have a moment, please stop by, we'd love to meet you, answer any questions that you have, get to know you a little bit, or you can just text the word connect to 71010. And if you're joining us online, just text connect to 71010, and we'll follow up with you that way as well. So let me speak this blessing. This is Numbers chapter six, which is also called the Aaronic Blessing. Just want to declare this over you as we close out our time together. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. God bless you, and we'll see you out in the lobby.