Why Do Christians Take Communion and Get Baptized? | Mark 14:12-25 | Kevin Queen

Good morning, everyone, welcome to Crosspoint, so glad that you are here. Hey, if we haven't met, my name is Darren, I have the honor of serving as campus pastor here in Nashville, and I cannot wait to celebrate with you, 11 o'clock. Hey, if you're watching online, so glad that you are here as well. Wherever you're joining us from, it means a ton if you've chosen to join us. And I want to welcome anyone who is new to Crosspoint in the room. Listen, maybe you're here as a friend or a family member with someone being baptized today. We are so glad that you're here. We want to connect with you, help you take next steps here at Crosspoint, so at any point today, you can pull out your phone, you can text the word new to 615615. That's going to help our team be able to connect with you, what you've gathered on such a special day. We get to celebrate Baptism Sunday, a day of life transformation, and God has big plans for this service. You are in for such a treat today. Hey, we also get to partake, receive communion together, so I want to make sure that you received communion elements on your way in today. Hey, if you're in this place, and you did not receive these elements, you can raise your hand, and our guest experience team would love to bring those to you, get you into your hands. Let's go, Nashville. If you're out in the lobby, come on in and find a seat. Let's praise Jesus together. Come on, church. Come on. Yes, we praise His name. Lift up your hand. Lift up your hand, you blood-bought saints. Swing wide the doors and bless His name.

We are His house, His people. This church belongs to Jesus. Yes, it does. We build our lives on Christ alone. He is our rock, our cornerstone. Here and now, we pray. Here and now, we pray His will be done. Here and now. Here and now, His kingdom reigns in us. Lift up your hand, you blood-bought saints. Swing wide the doors and bless His name. We are His house, His people. This church belongs to Jesus. Hallelujah. This church belongs to Jesus. All glory to Him. All glory and all honor. All power and all authority. All wisdom and dominion forever to our Lord and King. All glory and all honor. All power and all authority. All wisdom and dominion forever to our Lord and King. Your spirit, Your presence here with us. You are all we need in our Savior, our Shepherd. King Jesus, You have everything. We sing, lift up your hands. Lift up your hands, you blood-bought saints. Swing wide the doors and bless His name. We are His house, His people. This church belongs to Jesus.

Lift up your hands, you blood-bought saints. Swing wide the doors and bless His name. We are His house, His people. This church belongs to Jesus. ♪ This church belongs to Jesus ♪ ♪ This church belongs to Jesus ♪ Do you believe that He is your living hope, church? That He's our savior, He's our father, and He's a good father. We're gonna sing this song and give honor and praise to the only one who's holy, the only one who's worthy. Let's give Him our praise today. ♪ Oh-oh-ohh-ohhh oh-oh-ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh ♪ ♪ How great the chasm that lay between us ♪ ♪ How high the mountain I could not climb ♪ ♪ In desperation I turned to heaven ♪ ♪ And spoke your name into the night ♪ ♪ Then through the darkness your loving kindness ♪ ♪ Tore through the shadows of my soul ♪ ♪ The work is finished, the end is written ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Yes you are, you are ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh-ohh ♪ ♪ Who could imagine so great a mercy ♪ ♪ One heart could fathom such boundless grace ♪ ♪ The God of ages stepped down from glory ♪ ♪ To end my sin and bear my shame ♪ Thank you, Lord. ♪ The cross I've spoken and I am forgiven ♪ ♪ The King of kings calls me his own ♪

♪ Beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Then came the morning that set me free ♪ ♪ Then came the morning that sealed the promise ♪ ♪ Your buried body began to breathe ♪ ♪ And out of the silence the roaring lion ♪ ♪ Declared the grave has no claim on me, amen ♪ Come on, sing it again. ♪ Then came the morning that sealed the promise ♪ ♪ Your buried body began to breathe ♪ ♪ And out of the silence the roaring lion ♪ ♪ Declared the grave has no claim on me, no, no ♪ ♪ Because Jesus yours is the victory, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, to the past my refuge will I bring ♪ ♪ And you have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪

♪ Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ And you have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus Christ, you're my living hope ♪ ♪ We believe it, we believe it, you're living hope ♪ ♪ You're my living hope ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ You're my living hope ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus Christ, you're my living hope ♪ ♪ You're my living hope ♪ ♪ Jesus, what can make me whole again? ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow ♪ ♪ That makes me white as snow ♪ ♪ No other fount I know ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ This is all my hope and peace ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ This is all my righteousness ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow ♪ ♪ That makes me white as snow ♪ ♪ No other fount I know ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Praise God ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing but the name of the Father ♪

♪ The name I sing, make me whole again ♪ ♪ Nothing can wash away my sin ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ What can make me whole again ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. You may be seated as we continue to worship. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. Have you ever forgotten what you were going to say? Anybody ever, that ever happened to you? It happens to, I got you. I got you. It happens to us all the time. In fact, I think you could say we have two memory problems, and the two memory problems are this. We forget things that we need to remember, and we remember things we need to forget. We forget things that we need to remember, and we remember things that we need to forget. Have you ever had a moment, I mean, remembering is powerful. You had a moment where you thought of somebody or remembered somebody that you hadn't thought of in a long time? I was sitting on a flight, and I had my phone, and I was just kind of scrolling through my contacts. I don't remember the last time. I just scrolled through my contacts. I was going through my contacts, and I saw the name Nana, and it just stopped me. My grandmother, she passed away 10 years ago, and that moment when I saw her name, it just like this flood of emotion just flooded my heart, just grief and sadness and love. Y'all, she loved me unconditionally. I think she knew I was a knucklehead.

I just never knew that she knew I was a knucklehead, you know? So when I think about unconditional love, I think about Nana, and it was like in that moment, I saw her name, and then I clicked on her name, and I was thinking, I was like, I wonder if she had a cell phone. I couldn't remember. Did she ever have a cell phone? Because in my heart, I was like, do I have a list of text messages? Do I have text? Do I have a thread of conversation with Nana, just hoping that maybe I'd be able to read some words that she wrote to me, and I clicked her name, and it was a landline. I was just like disappointed. I was like, I don't have the words. I don't have the conversation. I don't have the record, and then I just sat, and I just began to think back on just the way that she loved. I thought about Sunday lunches, and fried okra, and banana pudding, sweet tea. She had the best sweet tea. Nobody can match her, so I thought about tomatoes from the garden, and walking in the garden with her, and it was just like, poof. To remember is powerful, and God knows that we have memory problems. He knows that we remember things that we want to forget, and we forget the things that we need to remember. It's why he has given us two symbols. It's why he gave us the symbol of communion. It's why he gave us the symbol of baptism. In fact, Jesus said, there are two things that I want you to do, church, and for 2,000 years, the church has done these two things that we're talking about today. Turn with me to Mark chapter 14. If you've got a Bible, Mark chapter 14. We're going through the gospel of Mark verse by verse.

Been in it for the past year, and today, we're going to pick up in verse 12. God knows about our memory problems. It's why he gave festivals to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. It's why they have Passover, and the festival of unleavened bread. These moments in the calendar of his people to remember the faithfulness of God, and that's where we pick up in Mark chapter 14, verse 12. It says, on the first day of the festival of unleavened bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover? Now, remember from last week, the Passover was an annual celebration where the people of God, where they would commemorate, where they would remember God's faithfulness, when they were slaves in Egypt for 400 years. God set them free, and every year, during the springtime, every year, they would share in this meal together to remember that God had set them free. And it was this meal to remind them, you're not slaves anymore. You're not slaves to Egypt anymore. That you are a free people. That Pharaoh is not in charge anymore. That Pharaoh is not your master. That Pharaoh is not your protector. That Pharaoh is not your provider. So God gave them a meal to restore their identity. He gave them a meal so that they could remember that they were the people of God, because God knows that we can forget. And so he gave them this commemorative meal every single day, this memorial meal,

every single year, that they shared to remember, you're not slaves. You are sons and daughters of the living God. And so the disciples know that they're celebrating Passover, they just don't know where. In verse 13 it says, so he, being Jesus, sent two of his disciples. Have you ever noticed how Jesus all the time is sending two disciples? He doesn't send them out in solo missions. He sends them out in twos, why? Because he knows that one of the primary strategies of the evil one is isolation. See, when we're isolated, that's when we're most vulnerable to become discouraged. When we're isolated, it's when we're most vulnerable to become distracted. When we're isolated, that's when we're most vulnerable to lose our way in life. And so Jesus sends them out in twos, and he says, I want you to go together. I'm sending you on a mission. And so he goes and he sends them to go help prepare. He's telling them, go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Now, what's interesting is that it was uncommon, highly uncommon for a man to carry a jar of water in that time. And so that would have gotten their attention.

That's the sign. That's the drop. This is the place. And so Jesus says, look for that. And he says, when you find him, follow him. And say to the owner of the house he enters, the teacher asks, where is my guest room where I may meet my Passover with my disciples? Eat the Passover with my disciples. He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready, make preparations for us there. And the disciples left, went into the city, and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. Now, what's going on? Well, in order to eat the Passover, remember, there was a quarter of a million people who would converge on Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. And so when they got, they had to eat the Passover in the city limits. They had to be in the city of Jerusalem. And so all these people have come there. And so it was really hard to find a place to partake in the meal, to share the meal together. But Jesus had prepared a place. Well, why didn't he just give them the address? Well, remember, the religious authorities, they wanted to kill Jesus. And Judas had already set in his heart to betray him.

And so Jesus, he's just like, hey, look for the guy. Jesus has already prepared for them to share. He's protecting this time with the disciples. And so he said that they made the preparations for me. You want me to show you something cool? Okay, you do. All right, MJ, thank you. I'll just come over here and I'll share it with you. Look at this verse, this verse up on the screen. We have this verse, this is in Acts chapter 12. This is just us, MJ. Everybody else just kind of listen to it. Acts chapter 12, verse 12, it says, He went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. Here's something cool. John Mark, the author of the gospel of Mark, his mom was wealthy. She owned a house with a really big upper room. Light should be going off on the dashboard. Upper room, Jesus and his disciples. It is likely that this is the place where Jesus shared the last supper with the disciples. It's also most likely that this is the upper room where Jesus told the disciples, I want you to go there and wait, Acts chapter two, the Holy Spirit descends upon them. So John Mark's mom, like he's got a front row, John Mark has a front row seat for what's going on.

It could be that John Mark, he was around 13 or 14 at the time. It could be that he was the one carrying the water jar. We're gonna see in two weeks that he likes to write himself into the story. Mark makes a cameo appearance a little later on. And so this is what's going on. They're preparing for the Passover. MJ, was that pretty cool? Okay, very good. All right, so they're preparing for Passover, and part of that preparation is they would have a roasted lamb, they would have unleavened bread, they would have bitter herbs, they would have these four cups of wine, they would say the Hillel, they would sing these psalms, 113 through 118, and as part of the dinner, the youngest in the house would ask the oldest in the house, usually the father, would ask the question, why is this night different than all the other nights? Why is this night different than all the other nights? And the oldest in the house, or the father, would tell them, would tell the story, would go back and tell the story. Dads have a responsibility as a spiritual, to tell the story of what's going on. And so Jesus, he told the story. He was the oldest in the house.

The disciple, John, was probably the youngest who would have asked the question. And Jesus is the leader of this spiritual family. He tells them, verse 17, it says, when evening came, Jesus arrived with the 12, and while they were reclining at the table eating, you wanna hear something, wow? Anybody else other than MJ wanna hear something cool? Okay, so if you've got a Bible, underline reclined, reclining. This is one of the only meals that they would eat reclining at the table. All the other meals, they would eat standing, or they would eat sitting, but they would share the Passover meal. It was required that they would recline. You know why? Because slaves don't recline at the table. And so because they're free people. See, your posture is a reflection of your identity. Like, what you do with your body is a reflection of who you are. And so he's saying, with your body, recline at the table and be reminded as you eat that you have been set free, church. You have been set free. And then he said, truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me, and they were saddened. And one by one, they said to him,

surely you don't mean me. It is one of the 12, he replied, one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go, just as it is written about him, but woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man. It would be better for him if he had not been born. So there was a common bowl that they would dip their bread in, kind of like chips and salsa at Chili's, right? And so they would dip, and you didn't double dip, like, you don't double dip, right? I mean, back in that day, like, I don't know, but I'm just, I would like to think they don't. But you don't, okay? We're just, can we just make a general agreement in the room, no double dip? Okay. And so, not being legalistic about it, but please. And so they would take their bread, and they shared this common bowl, and they would dip it in there. And so Jesus is sharing this meal, and he's saying that the one who dips in the bowl with me, and so all the disciples are asking the question, is it me, is it me, is it me? And Judas, who knows that it's him, asks the question, is it me? And what blows my mind is that Jesus fed Judas anyway, knowing that he would betray him, that Jesus fed Judas anyway. And I think the reason that he says this

is a stark warning. I think what Jesus is saying is, Judas, you can still, you can still change your mind. Judas, you can still, you can still turn. But Judas was pretending, and even in his pretending, Jesus loved Judas. And so then Jesus tells him why this night is different than all the other nights. Verse 22, it says, while they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, take it, this is my body. And they took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many, he said to them. Truly, I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And Jesus takes these familiar elements that they had known their entire life, that for 1,500 years, they had celebrated this meal, and Jesus takes it, and he pulls back the curtain, and he reveals to them, it's been me the whole time. This whole meal was about me. The whole meal points to me. It points that I am the Passover lamb that's come to take away the sin of the world. I am the one who's come to bring you from slavery to sin

and bring you into freedom. I am the one who's come to deliver you into the promised land and to give you new life. Jesus is teaching them, he's showing them, the meal is about me. It's been about me all along, that Jesus is the message of the meal. And for 2,000 years, as a church, we have practiced the Lord's Supper, why? To remember, because we forget the things that we need to remember, and we forget that we've been forgiven. We forget that we've been set free. We forget that he is Lord. Man, with everything that's going on in the world, we forget that we can trust him. We can forget that we are in his hands. Forget that he who paid his own life for us, will he not care for the details of our lives? That God did not spare his own son. He will care for you. We forget that our lives, that our value is not measured by what we make or what we drive or where we live or what we wear. That our worth doesn't come from our possessions, our worth comes from the one who we belong to. Our worth comes from him. Man, we forget that we're not slaves to sin. And we can think, well, this is just being how I always am. And I'm always gonna struggle with that thing.

No, we forget that Jesus laid down his life to set us free and that we can walk in the newness of life. We forget that our destiny is heaven. We forget that we'll be with him forever. We forget that we have a hope that is sure and secure. Man, we can forget. And Jesus knew that, that's why he gave us a meal so that we would remember. And every week as you walk in, you walk through the doors, there's communion. The elements are there where you can partake in that every single week. Be our invitation to you. Every week before we get up here and preach, I gather with a group of friends and we pray before the service. And I do that to remind myself that I'm not standing up here on my own righteousness. If I'm standing up here on my own righteousness, we're in trouble. Because even our good deeds are like filthy rags. But the only way that I stand up here and proclaim this word is through his righteousness. It's through his body that was given. It's through his blood that was shed. And I need to be reminded. And Jesus knows that, that's why he's given us a meal. And so when you partake on a Sunday and when you have those elements, let me just kind of coach you through

that you just take your time, that you don't rush through it. And that you thank him for what he's done. Maybe gather some family or gather some friends or gather a friend and give thanks and repent of any known sin. Ask God to search your heart. And if there's anybody that you haven't forgiven, it helps when you remember how much Jesus has forgiven you. And when you remember how much he has forgiven, the mercy you've received, well, that's where we find the grace to forgive others as well. It's powerful to remember. First Corinthians warns against receiving it in a unworthy manner. What's an unworthy manner? One way it's an unworthy manner is when we receive communion and we think, I don't know what that was that I just did. It was kind of a strut. But when we think, you know what, I have earned this. Communion is not a reward for good behavior. It's by grace. It's by grace through faith that we receive. It's to help our memory problem. We have two memory problems. Do you remember what the two memory problems are? What were they? We forget things that we need to remember

and what we remember things that we wish we could forget. Anybody got any of those? If you don't, I got something I can help you with. Because I've got places, people, things, conversations, things I've done, things in the past that man, the enemy loves to bring those things up. And Jesus has given us a symbol to help us with that memory problem and it's baptism. In fact, when you go through and you read the Gospels, you see that baptism is at the bookends, the bookends of the Gospel, that the first thing that Jesus does in his ministry is he's baptized. It's how he starts his ministry. Has anybody ever had a boss that wasn't willing to do the thing that they asked you to do? Okay, somebody just shot up their hands, right? And I want you to know Jesus is not like that, that Jesus doesn't ask you to do anything that he hasn't done. And so Jesus is baptized to fulfill all righteousness and he calls for us to be baptized and that's the beginning of our ministry. That's the beginning of giving ourselves away. That's the beginning of following him. It's the initiation, right, to begin as a follower of Jesus. And then the last thing we see in the Gospels is this commission by Jesus where Jesus says,

I want you to go and baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I want you to make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So make disciples and be baptized. So on the bookend of the Gospel is this commission to go baptize. And then we've got like the Habakkuk, which is the story of the church. So Peter is full of the Holy Spirit, has this boldness, and he gives his first message, thousands of people, he gives a first message, presents the truth that Jesus was crucified, buried, rose again for the forgiveness of sins. And the people are asking the question, they're like, well, what do we do? It says they were cut to the heart. And look at what Peter says. Peter says, repent 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. Repent and be baptized. What does that mean to repent? It means a change of mind, it means a change of heart, it means a change of direction. Man, if you were going to Columbia, Tennessee, and you saw signs for Bowling Green, whew, whew, whew, I was trying to whistle, couldn't whistle. I went, you turn around.

Like, you're gonna need to make a U-turn to get where you're trying to go. And to repent is when we realize, you know what, I'm heading the wrong direction. And that God has a plan and purpose for my life, and I'm gonna come back home. To repent means to come back home to who you were made to be. Come back home to the Father who loves you unconditionally. Come back home to who he has made you to be. To repent is to come back home. And to be baptized is a declaration of that commitment. Baptism is the initiation rite of the Christian faith. It's one thing to say in your own heart, in your own home, I'm a follower of Jesus. It's another to say in a room full of people, my life is committed to follow Christ. This is the primary commitment in my life. It's powerful. And baptism is what separates the spectators from the people who are in the game. The people who are watching from the people who are actually in the game. And Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness, and then he calls for us to be baptized as well. And so the question often here, in fact, somebody called this week and asked the question, well, what if I was baptized as an infant? What if I was baptized as an infant? And that's a great question.

I think when someone's baptized as an infant, it's an expression of their parent's faith, and their parent's desire for them to grow in the faith. And at Crosspoint, we have something we call child dedication, where parents have an opportunity to make that commitment. To raise their children and point them to Jesus. Their parents can make that choice. But baptism is reserved for once someone can make that decision on their own. Because an infant can't repent. But once you get to the point where you realize that you can repent, that you can return, once you realize that I have sinned against a holy God, and the only way that I'm made righteous is through Jesus, and so I repent, I turn to God, and I receive forgiveness from Christ. And I want to follow him as making a decision. I want to follow him with my entire life. And in the New Testament, there's not a clear reference to infant baptism. But there are many references to baptism of adults. Now, based on everything I've seen and read in Scripture, it's my belief that if you've made a faith commitment in Christ, you need to be baptized, even if you were baptized as an infant. Now, is baptism needed for salvation? I'm talking about baptism. It's not baptized for salvation.

It's baptized for obedience to Christ. And there's a difference. It's not mechanical in that when you get in the water, God saves you. Because I know there have been people who have been baptized who have not made a decision to follow Christ. And if that's you, if you were baptized and you had not made a decision to follow Christ, you just took a bath. Like, you just got wet. Because it's making the commitment to follow Jesus, and baptism is a public demonstration of that commitment. And so here, don't take my word for it. Search the Scriptures for yourself. Search it out for yourself. See what God's word says. Because as far as, sometimes people ask the question, they'll say, can I be saved and not be baptized? The answer is yes. The thief on the cross was never baptized. The thief on the cross said, remember me, when you get, puts his faith in Jesus on the cross. So some people are like, well, do I have to be baptized to be saved? Not based on that story. Jesus said, you'll be with me in paradise, but kind of shows you. He was on the cross. He was hanging on a cross. He didn't have a choice.

Some people say, well, what about the thief on the cross? Yes, he was with him. But I would like to think that if he could get down off that cross, he'd be baptized. He'd go, I'm identified with Jesus. I'm following Jesus. I'm with the one who saved me. So technically, you do not have to be baptized to be saved. But let me ask you a question. Do you really want to base your faith on technicalities and loopholes? And here's the thing. If you're feeling pressure from me, I don't want you to feel any pressure from me. I don't get commissions on baptisms. So this is not, here's a, my prayer is that you'd feel no pressure from me. But if you sense the press of God, that you would obey him. Pray about it. Talk to him and do what he says. It's just my responsibility to say, this is what best, this is what I believe that the book says. That we would do our homework and that we'd follow him in that way. But if you say you're following Jesus, if you say you're following him and you balk at the first thing he asked you to do, like that's just not a great way to, and I'll tell you what I've seen.

I've seen so many people who have resisted baptism and then they get to a certain place where they go, okay, I'm in. And they go forward and they take that step of obedience and they sense this spiritual momentum, they sense this spiritual momentum, this renewal in their spirit. They experience just the power of the Holy Spirit in their life. And God was present before. The Holy Spirit was present before. But something happens with that obedience that just ushers in the next level of God's move in their life. Because when we obey him, God blesses it. God always blesses obedience. And when you step into these waters, it's like a water grave. Second Corinthians five says, if anyone's in Christ, they're a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. And Psalm 103 says that he takes our sin as far as the east is from the west. Micah seven says, he cast our sin to the bottom of the ocean. When we have a moment like this, it's embedded in our memory. Because really, really what we need to do is we need to be reminded of something that is more powerful than those other memories. Something that is more true.

Because when the enemy brings up something from the past, you draw back on your baptism. You go draw back on that moment. And you're like, no, I have surrendered my life to Jesus. Some of us are wrestling with the fear of death. Some of us are wrestling with the doubt of our salvation. That's the power of baptism. That we can go back to that moment and say, no, I put my faith in Jesus. I know I was dry, and then I got wet. My hair was looking good, and then I was not. But it didn't matter. Because the enemy is gonna put stuff in your mailbox from your past. Hey, remember this time? Remember that thing? Remember that? Sometimes I go to the mailbox, and I get stuff for people who live there, like three or four people before I did. I look at that, I'm like, that's not my mail. You need to know when the enemy puts something in your mailbox that's not your mail, you need to return that to sender. You need to send that back to hell. Because that's not your identity. You're not a slave to sin. You've been set free. And so baptism, when we recline, we're reminded we're free.

It's a water grave. We get up and walk in the nearness of life. Now, I just want you to imagine, I'm sitting on that plane, I'm looking at my phone, I'm going back down through there, and I see my grandmother's name, I see Nana. And what if, when I push that, what if it pulled up a text thread conversation to my surprise? And what if I saw this? Kevin, I have a gift for you. It's underneath the muscadine vine. Next to the tomatoes. I buried it in the ground for you. Man, I'd have got off that plane so fast. I'd have driven back to Georgia. I'd have started digging. I don't even know who owns the house. I bet I might've gone to jail, but I would have dug in there because those were her last words to me. Can you imagine? And here we have Jesus' final words before he ascends. I want you to go, I want you to make disciples. If you're a disciple, be baptized in obedience to Christ. I want you to walk with me with your whole life and follow me. And everything that I ask you to do and it is always for our good So he's given us two things to help with our memory problem Baptism and communion one that we do frequently and often and the other that we do to say I belong to him

And if you need to make that decision today Today can be your day. I'd love to pray for you. Can we pray together? Father we thank you for your word We thank you for truth We thank you for how you orient our lives when we can be so disoriented in our world You bring us back to what is true and what's eternal And thank you that you are our eternal hope and so today if you've never trusted Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin if you've never Repented come back home. I Just want to invite you just to make a prayer like this your own you can just pray something like this Father thank you for loving me. Just whisper it after me. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for me. I Repent from my sin I come back home to you Give me a new heart Want to walk with you here on earth It's been forever with you in heaven Thank you for saving me father. I pray for those that made that their prayer today Lord Would you give them courage? Would you give them boldness to tell somebody today or to tell everybody through baptism? Hey God, I pray that today as the church That when we watch a baptism that we would remember our own and that you return us that you restore us to first love Put you first in our lives and then God would we join in the celebration? How you? celebrate in heaven over each person who repents And finds a new life in Christ Send Jesus name. We pray