0:00 [Music] I had a question for each one of you. When Noah built the ark and he had many planks in it, planks of wood in it, 0:17 which one of those pieces of wood was unimportant? Which piece of which plank was not useful? Which one? I I think I heard it. 0:39 All of them were useful. Every single plank needed to be there. If one plank was missing, the ark would not sail. It would not float. Everything depended on every single plank doing its part. And I'm very thankful here in the church, we have an 0:58 opportunity. Each one of us has a part to play like that plank. And I'm very thankful from the youngest to the oldest, each one is doing what they can, praying before the meeting starts, 1:16 saying your memory verse. Every person doing what they can. And so I just wanted to say that word of encouragement especially young people that who come up and say your verse at your age I could I did not know the Bible at that time 1:36 but I didn't also have the boldness to come and say God's word out loud but thankful for each one of you who come and share your word verses boldly. Today we have a we'll be having a baptism today and so I wanted to share 1:53 on something that uh we heard a couple of weeks ago on a Wednesday meeting and it was talking about Jesus also when he went to be baptized. If you turn with me to Matthew Matthew chapter 3 and if you have a Bible open up your 2:10 Bible so that you can get familiar with your Bible. John chapter 3:13, "Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him." Verse 14, "But John tried to prevent him, saying, I need to be 2:30 baptized by you, and you do, and do you come to me?" Verse 15, but Jesus answered to him, "Permit it at this time. For in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. And so when Jesus was coming to get 2:48 baptized, John the Baptist said, "No, no, no. You shouldn't go and get baptized." But Jesus said, "No, permit me or let me get baptized." And as we were hearing on that Wednesday 3:07 from brother Zach, what was Jesus asking or permitting John the Baptist to do? He was asking John the Baptist to put him in the water. Take him and put him in the water 3:25 knowing that one that he will be brought back up again. And in our life as well, there are going to be people that are going to push us under that water like they did for Jesus all through his 3:44 life. And the question for us is, are we going to say like Jesus did for it? Let them let them push me under the water because I know that the Lord will raise me up. And this is called the way of the cross. 4:01 the way where as others put us down death to us Jesus said anyone if anyone wants to follow me they must take up their cross and follow me and so this morning also I wanted to 4:19 speak on that but it doesn't start off with baptism it does it starts off first with repentance and faith in our life and I see that everything that we experience in the Christian life is to the measure of how much faith we have 4:37 too. If we went back in time and I was thinking about the 1600s and we went there and I was thinking of a person that we might all know and I was thinking of a man named John Bunan. John Bunan was a man who wrote a wrote 4:54 the book called Pilgrim's Progress. And if we went back in time, godly man, and you told him, "Guess what? Right now, how fast can you go?" And he would say, "You know what? On my horse, I can go as fast as 30 miles an hour on this 5:11 fast. On on this my my horse, I can get from one place to another." Would you think that's fast today? Today, you would say, "No, that's that's slow. I went faster than that to get to church this morning. Then he he drove on his 5:31 horse because God has given us something better today with technology. We have cars and planes, all of that. But back then, he didn't have it. And even though he was a godly man, he couldn't experience some of the things that we 5:47 can experience today. For him, it was a horse. That was the fastest he could go. But for us today, it's not a horse. We can go really fast. If you were in the 1600s and you got leprosy, 6:06 was there a cure in the 1600s? There wasn't. If you went near a person who had leprosy and you got it, there was no cure. And so you would be very scared to go near anybody who had leprosy. All the way from the time of creation to 6:24 the till the days uh only in the 1900s or so was the cure found for leprosy. If you got leprosy and there was very few people who ever got cured of leprosy and that was when 6:42 Jesus cured them. But today there's a cure for leprosy. If you have if you got leprosy and you got treated, you could be healed completely. And like that for each one of us in the Christian life, 7:02 what we experience is according to our faith. If you turn with me to Matthew 9, this is what Jesus asked the blind man. Verse 27, Matthew 9:27. As Jesus went on 7:20 from there, two blind men followed him, crying out, "Have mercy on us, son of David." Verse 29. When he entered the house, the blind men came up to him. And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this? Do you believe 7:39 that I'm able to do this?" And this was what they they said. They said to him, "Yes, Lord." Verse 29. Then he touched their eyes, saying, "It shall be done to you according to your faith." 7:56 You're going to be able to experience sight again because of your faith. Not how hard you tried. Because you believed that I can do this for you, you will now see. If they said, "No, I don't believe that you can heal me." What would have 8:13 happened? they would have remained blind and like that today as well. I am so thankful that God in his mercy use people to share his word with me. God's word came forth to me. Not one 8:30 time, multiple times came to me. But louder than any preacher was something that spoke to my heart, which was my conscience. When I heard God's word, my conscience started 8:47 pricking me, saying, "AJ, the words you're hearing are true. One day they're going to come to pass. Are you ready? And I don't know about you, when I see all of you on a Sunday morning with smiles. I don't know where you are, 9:06 but I'm thankful to the preachers that preached to me didn't look at my face, but they spoke to my heart because they knew what my need was. And I want to turn you to a a verse in 9:22 Ecclesiast Ecclesiastics comes before the Song of Solomon chapter 3. Ecclesiastics chapter 3 verse 11. He has made everything beautiful in his time. He has also set 9:42 eternity in their heart. He has set eternity in their heart. Meaning in every person's heart, there's something of eternity that God has placed in his in your heart that's telling you that there's more to this than this life 9:59 here on earth. One day is coming when we'll all have to stand before the Lord, young and old. Every single one of us will have an appointment there before the throne of God and give account of our lives before him. every single one of us. 10:19 And I heard that message and because eternity was in my heart, I knew that one day I'll also have to stand there. I was only a teenager when it happened. But the words that rang in my heart, a gay, the words you're hearing are true. 10:35 One day they're going to come to pass. Are you ready? And as a teenager, even then, I knew I didn't know how long I was going to live. There's no guarantee that we're all going to live to a ripe old age. I had already seen people had passed 10:53 away as a teenager. And so I knew the day is coming one day and Lord, I'm not ready. I'm hearing these words that I'm living in sin. My conscience is convicting me. I have a guilt. what can I do? What are my relatives going to think? 11:12 What are other people, my friends, family going to think? But on that day when we stand before the Lord and every single one of us, young and old will, God is not going to bring up our parents or relatives or teachers, anybody. 11:30 He's not going to ask the opinion of other people. There's only one person's opinion that's going to matter on that day. Do you know whose opinion is going to matter on that day? Only God's opinion of you is going to matter on that day. God's not going to 11:47 call a a number of people and ask them for their opinion of you. It's just going to be you and God. And even after the messages were over, I'd go back home and there was a fork in the road. You know what a fork in the road is? Where you have a choice to go 12:07 to the left or the right? To repent and turn to the Lord or be stubborn and not give in to the Lord. And that's what I was facing. Am I going to give into the Lord and submit to myself 12:24 and repent of my sins? Or am I going to keep saying, "Putting it off, putting it off." But I thank the Lord that he kept convicting me. He didn't let me go. Kept convicting me. Louder than any preacher is the voice of our conscience 12:43 saying, "AJ, your life is not right. Set matters right." And there came a day, if you turn with me to Luke chapter 18, and this must happen in every one of our lives, this must happen, 13:00 a day comes where you meet with God. And God's Holy Spirit convicts you in your heart. And it says here verse 12 uh verse 13 Luke 18:13 but the tax collector standing some distance away was unable 13:18 unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his chest saying God be merciful to me the sinner and that's what happened in my life too after the meeting was over it wasn't in a meeting I went to my room and All by 13:37 myself in the room, I told the Lord, "Lord, you know everything that's happened into my life. I'm ashamed and feeling guilty of all the things I've done, but this is what I've done. Lord, I confessed all the different things 13:52 that I did, ever did one by one." And I said, "Lord, please forgive me. be merciful to me this sinner. And on that day, I experienced something 14:11 that I've never experienced before where God took away the guilt of my past. I was like almost like a newborn baby. And that old person who used to live in this body was no longer there. He had died. There was an old AJ who used to love to 14:29 sin who used to live here who died. He was no longer there. And I was so happy and joyful because God had forgiven. I had no guilt of anything in the past. God had forgiven me. His blood had washed away all my sins. I was clothed 14:47 in his righteousness. There's a beautiful promise and I believe every single one of us, especially those of you who are young, how do you know that God has forgiven you? If you turn to me, turn with me to 15:04 First John. First John, how do you know that God has truly forgiven you? And some of you who may be older may be also, Lord, have you forgiven me? I said I I'm sorry. I apologize, but I how do I know that you forgave me? And 15:23 it says here verse 9, 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sins, 15:43 there's two parts to this promise. One is our part. If we confess our sins, that's our part. And if I do my part of the promise, do you believe God will do his part? 16:00 What do you think? I believe so. I believe if I keep my part and I confess my sins, I believe God will keep his part and forgive me. And I believe that God's word is true. And I believe everything he says is true. If I keep my word promise, he's 16:19 the one who wrote this. And he said he will forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. And so young person or old person, if you confess your sins today, remember if you've done your part, God will do his part of forgiving you. 16:38 And you can always go back. Lord, you said that if I confess my sins, you will forgive me. Lord, now I want to know that you've forgiven me. And even if I don't have feelings that I'm forgiven, I want to trust your word. 16:52 Our feelings can go up and down. Heavens can move. Heavens can pass away. But God's word will always remain. And our faith is not on our feelings. Our faith is on God's word which cannot be shaken. 17:11 And that's why our faith doesn't have to shake is because our faith is on God's word. But you might be like the man on the horse who came on the horse riding 30 mph. And that's all the faith you have for. 17:31 And if I was living in John Bunan's time, that's how I'd have got to the meetings. I'd have gone on a horse if I had one. I wouldn't have a car because I didn't have it. If I got leprosy, I'd have to stay with that leprosy. There would be 17:46 no healing or cure for me. But today, it's different. Today, there's a cure for leprosy. Today, there's a cure not for going fast, but you can travel faster. Why? Because there's something more for 18:06 us today. And like that before Jesus came, God had given them commandments, ten commandments to keep them from doing wrong. Today, God has not given us the commandments for keeping us. He writes 18:25 his law in our heart and in our mind, giving us a desire to do what is right and giving us the power And I remember that this is a wonderful promise that God has given us in these days. 18:45 God is writing in our heart. This is not something that they could have in the Old Testament. A desire that God could write in our hearts. He said, "I wrote in tablets of stone, but today I don't write in tablets of stone. I write 19:00 in your heart, giving you that desire, a desire for the things that God loves and to hate the things that he hates. And that's only possible because God can take away a stony heart and put a heart 19:18 of flesh, put a new desire, put his Holy Spirit within us. And for each one of us, this promise is true. He'll give us the desire, but not only that, he'll also give us the power. The two tablets of stone which Moses had was only on the 19:37 outside. It It was almost like you kept a pig tied up with 10 chains. Don't do anything bad. Don't do anything bad. What happens soon as you take off the chains? And there's mud and muck. What's the pig going to do? 19:56 Not a trick question. It's going to jump inside the muck. And if you're there today, maybe you had faith that God has forgiven me my sin. He doesn't remember my sins anymore. But I don't have faith 20:15 that God will set me free from all the sins that bind me. Maybe you're in fear of going back home. Maybe today in the church meeting, it's like those 10 chains keeping you from doing sin. You're not going to sin in the middle of the church, hopefully. 20:34 But once you go back home, what happened to the chains? Nobody's watching me. What's going to happen? And maybe you're like, "Oh, I don't have faith for that. I have faith that the horse can take me, but I don't have faith." If you told 20:53 John Bunnyan, do you believe that one day we're going to be able to fly in the air? We can go from one city to another in a few hours. What would John Bunan say? I don't know. But he would be so puzzled. How how could you fly? 21:12 But can you fly today? Yes, it's true. Today we can fly because we have the technology to fly. And like that if you go and tell somebody, do you believe that God can set you free from all these sins that you were bound by? 21:30 It's like asking John Bunan, can you fly? And some of you might say, no, I don't believe that it's possible. And you'll go back home saying, I don't believe it. Just like that blind man. Jesus said, do you believe that I can heal you? 21:50 If he said, "No, I don't believe it." He would have gone back home blind. That's how I feel that the Lord feels towards those. It's like going outside the leper colony and showing them, I have the cure. I have the cure. How many 22:07 people want the cure? And today, the church is crying out, echoing what the Lord is saying. I have come to set the truth shall set you free. Believe 22:25 my word. Believe my promises. Believe that you can be set free from your s sin. You don't have to go back home tied and bound by sin. God can set you free. That's the promise. If that promise was not true, there would be no good news. I 22:42 would not be able to go to the leper colony and say that there's a cure. I could not say that Jesus can set us free this morning as good news. But it is true. And it is. And for each one of us who is 23:01 sitting here, I believe that the Lord will put a faith in our hearts. Even if it hasn't been till today that God's going to do something in my days that even if it was told to me, you wouldn't believe. Habacook 15. But that's not the end. God doesn't want 23:24 us just to be set free from our sins. He wants us to each one of us to live a life pleasing to the Lord. And that's what the testimony was for Jesus on the day of his baptism. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased and for 23:40 each of us as well. That should be our ambition. Lord, can you say that for me? Can you say that to each one of us here in this church? Lord, you are pleased with me. You're happy with me. When you look at me, you see my life between 23:55 Sunday to Sunday. You see me at home, at my workplace. Can you see me who sees in secret everything? Can you say, "Lord, can you say to me that you're pleased with my life?" That should be the ambition for every single one of us. 24:15 I believe that the Lord who convicted me years ago is the still the same. He continues, it says, "The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment." And I believe that he who is greater than Jonah is in our midst. 24:33 And if it took eight words to bring 120,000 people to true repentance, I believe that he'll do the same today as well. But we've heard much week after week, we've heard much. I don't think we need to even hear more. 24:52 We can we can live off of the things that we heard all these years. But the thing I see is when Jesus spoke, if you read through the gospels, the thing that he kept on repeating, one of the things, there's many things he 25:09 repeated, but one thing that he kept repeating was this. It's not going to matter on that day how many meetings you went to, how many times you read your Bible, even how many times you prayed, how many times you helped others in the church. 25:26 None of that's going to matter. What is going to matter on that day is did you do what Jesus told you to do? Did you obey? Did you do all the things that you heard? And there's something that Jesus said. It's almost Jesus is asking chapter 6, Luke chapter 25:48 6 verse 46, why do you call me Lord, Lord? Would Jesus have to say that to me? AJ, 26:05 why are you calling me Lord, Lord? Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? You keep saying Lord, Lord. You come to the meetings, you do all these activities, but when I tell you to do something, you don't do it. I 26:24 told you to go and set that matter right, you don't do it. You go and do all these other things, but the one thing I told you to do, you didn't do it. I told you to repent of that thing that I put my finger on. No, I told you 26:38 to keep a clear conscience. Your conscience is bothering you. You don't have peace in your heart because of matter. Go set that matter right. Nope. I won't do it. Then why do you call me Lord? A few chapters later, that's in Luke 26:54 chapter 6, and he talks about the two men, the one who built on the on the rock and the one who built on sand. And this is going to happen one day. All of us will see it where the our lives are going to be tested by the rains and the fire and 27:12 all of that. And what is going to matter is not whether we heard God's word but whether we did what we heard. And I want to take that seriously for my own self because after hearing so much for so many years if I had not obeyed 27:31 anything that God is telling me what's the point it's all worthless everything is going to come crumble down just like that man who built his house on the sand everything everything of what he did his entire life will be coming crumbling 27:49 down on that day it's going to happen brothers Sister, God's word is true. It will happen exactly as he said. A few chapters later in Luke chapter 8, Luke 8 verse 21. 28:07 Luke 8:21. Verse 20. And it was reported to him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside wishing to see you." Verse 23. But he answered and said to them, "My mother and my brothers are who 28:24 are these who uh hear the word of God and do it." We all say that we want to be brothers and sisters of Jesus. This is who Jesus considers his brother and sister. 28:41 I am Jesus's brother if I do what Jesus tells me to do. If not, I am imagining that I'm a brother of Jesus when I'm not. When Jesus doesn't consider me to be his brother or sister. And so I say, "Lord, I want to do what 29:01 you say." Few more chapters. Chapter 10, verse 25. And a lawyer stood up and put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Verse 26. 29:20 He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" And he answered, verse 27, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and 29:34 your neighbor as yourself." What does Jesus answer? And he said to him, "You answered correctly. You know what to do now. Do this and you will live. You know that you have to love God. You know that you have to love your 29:54 neighbor. Now go do it." And listen to his response. Verse 29. But wishing to justify himself, he said, "And who is my neighbor?" Why do you think he said that? Why do we say that? There is somebody in his life that he 30:17 did not want to go and set a matter right with today. Is there anybody in your life that you haven't set a matter right with and God is asking you to go and do it? I say Lord I want to learn how to do not 30:35 many things Lord let me start with one thing from this entire meeting let me that what put one thing on my on my heart Lord that I need to go and do today and I want to go and do it wishing to justify himself he said to 30:54 Jesus and who is my neighbor are we asking that question who is my neighbor Lord I don't know who's this person I need to go and set matters Right. And the Lord's saying, "Yes, you do. You know who it is." And he goes and says 31:08 here in verse 27, uh, I'm sorry, verse 37. And he said, he asked him, verse verse 36, "Which of these do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers's hands?" Verse 37, he knew the 31:25 answer. And he said the one who showed mercy toward him. Then Jesus said to him, go and do the same. Go get go set that matter with that person. And today if you've hurt somebody, 31:45 then go immediately at the first opportunity, go and set that matter right. Go and apologize. Set that matter right. Or if somebody has wronged you, you have a complaint against somebody, forgive them. Forgive them. Have a clear 32:03 conscience. God has put eternity in our hearts, convicting us. Are you ready for eternity? And if it is if you're not ready for eternity and if if you're a young person and you're not ready for eternity but God is speaking to you this 32:20 even today go and speak to your parents or your Sunday school teachers and say Sunday school teacher or my parents mom dad I want to set matters right. God is speaking to my heart. Can God speak only to the adults? No. He can speak to each one of us. And 32:40 if God is speaking to you, ask your parents, ask your Sunday school teacher, "What must I do to be saved?" And then a few more chapters later, uh, Matthew 11 and when Jesus verse 27, Matthew 11:27, 33:01 when I'm sorry, Luke, sorry, Luke 11:27. While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women c raised her voice and said, "Blessed is the one who bore you and fed you." And Jesus said to her, "Rather, 33:19 on the other hand, on the contrary, verse 28, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it or do it." How many times Jesus over and over again? It's not about just hearing God's 33:38 word, but doing it. Doing it. And if Jesus is repeating it so many times, I see that that was his heart. That was his burden. There are going to be many people on that last day who are going to say, "Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, but didn't 33:54 do anything I told them to do." None of us should be in that number. Let's take it to heart. God is not asking us to do a big thing. Just a small thing. Go set that matter right. Just take one thing that God has spoken to you and do 34:13 that one thing and say Lord I don't want to be among that number who come to you on that day and say Lord Lord you say to me Lord why do you call me Lord Lord you didn't do anything I said starting today Lord even if it's a small 34:27 thing I want to take one thing Lord from the meetings go and do it and say Lord this is the one thing I'm going to do this week Lord a simple thing setting that one matter day by day obeying what he says. And when we think of Mary, 34:50 who Jesus said, "Blessed is the one who obeys me more than Mary," I think about Mary's life. She was a very godly woman. And if you see here, one thing about her, if you turn with me to Luke chapter 1, Luke chapter 1, 35:20 verse 28, this is God's opinion of Mary. And coming in, the angel said to her, "Greetings, favored one. The Lord is with you." That's how much God told her. You're favored by God. God is with you. And 35:40 then it goes on to say, this is one wonderful thing that I I want this for my life as well. It says verse 41, "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy 35:58 Spirit." I've never seen that anywhere else in scripture where when one person gave a greeting to another, they were filled with God's Holy Spirit. And I see that with Mary's life. There was something about Mary's life that 36:14 when she even gave a greeting, hello. Elizabeth. Elizabeth was filled with God's Holy Spirit and the baby within her leaped for joy. That was the impact of a godly woman like Mary. And growing up, she had four 36:31 sons in addition to Jesus, James, Jude, Joseph. And I get encouragement and I hope all of you mothers as well get encouragement from this that she brought up four young men that when she said we're going to church or 36:51 going to the synagogue, all these four adult sons would go to church with her. You see that in in Luke 8 when she went to meet Jesus. All the four adult sons were following her. And among them was one was James. And I believe James was a very very 37:10 strong personality. And people were kind of intimidated by James. And the reason I say that is if you turn with me to Galatians, Galatians chapter 2 verse 11. Galatians 2:1. When Peter came to Antioch, Paul opposed him to his face because he 37:29 stood condemned. Verse 12. Galatians 2:12. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to sit with the uh non-Jews. But when he came, he became to withdraw himself and hold him as 37:45 aloof, fearing the people that came from James. So this wasn't James. It was the companions of James who came and he was so afraid of James and what James is going to think that he started moving away from the non-Jews and sitting with the Jews. 38:05 And this is this is James, one of the sons of that Mary was raising. And James didn't believe in Jesus until Jesus's resurrection. and for her to keep him in check and make him come to the meetings. Tremendous grace God would have given 38:24 her. And that gives us hope for each one of us, especially for us who have children. If God could do that for Mary to bring up these children, all for the Lord. And James was a mighty pillar in the church later on. And a lot of the 38:40 credit goes to Mary who brought him up despite his personality and his from being one who didn't believe in Jesus to one who went on the day of Pentecost to be filled with the Holy Spirit and a mighty pillar in the church. 38:58 Mary was one of the ones who invested in James's life. If God could do that for Mary, how much more could he do it for each one of us in our lives? But we must have faith that God would do it for us. But it says, "Blessed are even more than 39:25 Mary. Blessed are those who hear God's word and do it. And if we've repented, if each one of us has repented of our sins, believe that 39:44 God has forgiven us, that we've decided to follow him, obey him in everything that he's told us. We can decide, Lord, I've decided to repent of my sins. I believe you've forgiven me. I believe that all man 40:03 inside of me who loved to sin is dead. Now the next thing is to take baptism. And as I see about Jesus when John the Baptist prevented him from taking baptism, he said, "No, permit it. I want to take it. I want you to push me 40:25 under those waters because when you push me under those waters, God is going to raise me up." And that was the testimony of his life that people would constantly push him out, but he would be raised again, pushed. And turn with me to Luke chapter 40:43 3. And we're going to be witnessing a baptism shortly. And for each of us, God has given us this example in Jesus's own baptism. Luke 3 21 Now when all the 41:01 people were baptized Jesus also was baptized and while he was praying the heavens were opened. While he was praying the heavens were opened. Verse 22. And the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a 41:20 dove and a voice came out of heaven. You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. As you go into the waters, Jesus, as John the Baptist is pushing you in these waters, you will be coming up and the 41:37 Holy Spirit will come upon you and anoint you. And if you read in Luke, I mean Acts chapter 10, turn with me to Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. Verse 42:00 38, Acts 10:38. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. For God was with him. This is what happened when 42:18 Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit. It says again, anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. And if we want God's Holy Spirit to 42:34 remain on us like it was on Jesus from his day of his baptism, we also must go this way. And Jesus never compelled anybody in Matthew 16. Does Jesus say, "You must follow me." Do you know how it starts off? Verse 24. Then Jesus said to his 42:58 disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." And so, you have a choice. Do you want to follow Jesus? He's not going to force you. But for those who decide to follow 43:15 Jesus, this is what I see of Jesus. If you turn with me to Mark chapter 3, Mark chapter 3, Mark 3 verse 20. And he came home and the crowd gathered again to such an extent that 43:33 they could not even eat a meal. And this is what his relatives did to him. Verse 20 21. When his own relatives heard of this, they went out to take custody of him, for they were saying, "He has lost his senses." This is what his relatives said to him. 43:52 He's lost his senses. He What were they doing? His relatives were taking him and pushing him again under that water, constantly being delivered unto death. And what did Jesus say? 44:09 Permitted at this time. Let them do that to me. Let them do that to me. God has permitted them to push me under to say that I've lost my senses. Let them do it to me. How is it applicable to each of us who decided to follow Jesus? 44:24 If we want the Holy Spirit's anointing to be on us every day like it was on Jesus, when others also push us under the water like that, push us down saying, "Oh, he's lost his senses. He's living for Jesus." They push us down. 44:40 What's our reaction going to be? Are we going to be like Jesus permited at this time? Let them do that to me. Let them say that about me. Are we going to say, "No, no. What is our response going to be when others do that? When others take us 44:59 under if we decided to follow Jesus, God will deliver us daily to death so that the life of Christ may be seen in us. You go on and see throughout his life, 45:18 verse uh Luke 8, if you turn with me to Luke 8, when Jesus said to them, verse 52, "Now they were all weeping and lamenting for the 12-year-old daughter of Gyrus." But he said to them, "Stop 45:35 weeping, for she has not died, but is only asleep." Verse 53. And they began laughing at him knowing that she had died. And so they made fun of him. They laughed at Jesus. 45:53 Young people, when people laugh at you, when when we're following Jesus and people are laughing at us or making fun of us, we have two choices at that time. One, the way Jesus went where they put him in the waters and he said, "Yes, 46:08 permitted at this time. or saying, "No, no, don't laugh at me. I have rights. I'm going to fight for my rights." Or say, "You know what, Lord? I'm going I decided to follow you." Yeah, they can say this. They can laugh at me. They can 46:24 mock me. Luke 22, if you turn with me again, this is our the way the Lord our Lord went. And if we say we're going to follow him, we're also going to be going this way. Verse 40 63. Luke 22:63. 46:41 Now the men who were beholding the were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him, beating him and then they blindfolded him and asking him saying, "Prophesy, who is the one who hit you?" Verse 65. And they were saying many 47:00 other things against him, blaspheing. And what did Jesus do when they pushed him under? Permit it at this time. Let them do that. The father has allowed them to push me under the waters. But the same father who has allowed them to push me under 47:18 the waters is also going to raise me up in newness of life. His holy spirit will always be upon me. His anointing will not leave me because as because I've chosen to go this way, the way of the cross. And so each of you 47:34 brothers and sisters and myself, God has called us, God is calling us to go this way. Constantly being delivered for death, constant letting others to immerse us in the waters of baptism. And for those who want to go this way, 47:48 Jesus is saying, "Do you want to follow me?" That's why we when we ask people who who want to get baptized, have you repented of your sins? Have you set matters right, do you have a clear conscience? Do you know that your sins have been 48:04 forgiven? Do you still want to live in sin? Or do you want to follow Jesus? Are you willing to let others push you into those waters so that the Lord will raise you up? And if you say 48:22 yes, then yes, we say we'll baptize you. And for those who follow this way, it says the promise of rivers of living water, rivers of living water will flow out of your innermost being. And I'll 48:39 close with this promise in Ezekiel 47. Ezekiel 47. What a wonderful thing if God can do this in each of our lives. Rivers of living water. There would be no measure 48:55 of what God can do in each of our lives and through this church. Ezekiel chapter 47 talking about these living waters. Verse 9. Verse 9. 49:15 The latter part of verse 9. So everything will live where the river goes. Everything will live where the river goes. Rivers will come out of the inner out of the innermost being and flow in every place and everywhere your these rivers 49:34 will go it'll bring life and I believe that's a promise for each one of us. Do you want life to come to every single person you meet? Then follow Jesus who went this way. And if you keep giving yourself over to 49:52 death and this life is the what's promised. And it says here in the end of verse 12 talking about the trees around this river, their leaves will never wither and their fruit will never fail. They'll always be fruitful and they will bear 50:11 fruit in every season because the water flows and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing. And so this is an invitation from the Lord to follow him. Everyone from the youngest to the oldest. And I believe that what I can't do, the 50:30 Lord can do through his Holy Spirit. Speaking to the hearts of each one, the same one who set eternity in each of your hearts will convict you and set you on a path to follow him. So that on that day when we stand before him, you will 50:44 have zero regret of the choice you made. Let us pray together. Heavenly Father, I pray you're the one who is greater than Jonah. The one who spoke eight words in 120,000 men and women and children came to genuine repentance. You're greater than 51:04 Jonah, Lord. And we believe that you're here in our midst, Lord. What man cannot do man with you said salvation is impossible with man but with God all things are possible Lord and even today as we see the testimony of what you do 51:22 in people's lives changing them taking people and giving granting repentance Lord and salvation Lord calling people to repentance and bringing in them to follow you Lord going this way of the way of the cross, 51:41 letting others immerse us in that water so that you'll raise us to life. I pray also, Lord, for the baptism right now, Lord, that we will learn from it, Lord, and we will follow you even more wholeheartedly. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. 51:58 [Music]
