January 22, 2025 • 48 mins
What if your next big leap in faith could ignite a spiritual awakening within yourself and your community? Join us as we uncover the extraordinary work unfolding at First Baptist Church in Powder Springs. From the overwhelming success of our kids' ministry's Big Game Show to the heartwarming welcome of the Henry family, our new student pastor, we explore how these milestones are shaping our church community. Discover how the D-NOW weekend and the national draw of our women's conference highlight the power of faith and fellowship, while also setting the stage for a transformative 2025.
We turn our focus to the profound blessing and significance of baptism, exploring its transformative role in deepening one's connection with God. Reflect on Jesus’ journey to the Jordan River for baptism, and the ripple effect his actions have on believers today. Hear stories of our church community's spiritual growth, as seen in the surge of baptisms and membership, all testifying to God's extraordinary work among us. Emphasizing the importance of a missional mindset, we share insights into the heart of salvation, reminding listeners that it is a divine gift, not a reward for righteousness.
Embrace the importance of spirit baptism as we discuss its symbolic meaning and its vital role in a believer's life. We shed light on how engaging in worship, Bible studies, and community groups can rejuvenate our spiritual journey, encouraging participation in church activities and membership as part of ongoing growth. As we prepare for Baptism Sunday, we address concerns and offer support to ensure this significant step of faith is accessible to all. We conclude with an invitation to connect deeply with God, urging those ready to embrace their spiritual journey to reach out for guidance and celebrate the promise of salvation and eternal life in Jesus Christ.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
at First Baptist, powder Springs.
God is so good and he isworking among us so powerfully,
so, personally, we are sothankful for that.
Thank you, drew, appreciate you, my man.
I just wanna just share withyou just some things that God is
doing.
First of all, we just had thebig game show for our kids'
ministry this past Wednesdaynight.
We had over 200 show up.
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Eight people indicated thatthey did not have a church home.
So if you're back, welcome home.
You have a church now and twopeople let us know that they
want to be baptized.
So we're just so thankful forwhat God did through the big
game show.
I want you to know that ourstudent ministry we're gearing
up for a D-NOW, d-now weekend,february 7 through 9.
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And we want you to be a part ofthat.
Our new student pastor and hisfamily are now in town in Powder
Springs.
So put your hands together forthe Henry family.
We're so thankful for them.
The moving truck is at theirhouse as we speak, so they're
skipping their first Sunday, canyou believe it?
But they're getting all theirstuff moved in.
They're gonna be here thisWednesday night, so we wanna
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invite all of our teenagers.
Maybe you're a teenager onlinewatching or a parent of a
teenager.
We want to encourage you to behere this Wednesday night.
Give him a big welcome, andthey will be here the following
Sundays and Wednesdays and allof that.
So make sure that you're readyfor D now.
As Pastor James just talkedabout our women's conference
this Saturday, did you know thatlast year we were praying for
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50 women to come and 240 came?
It was just an absolute miracle.
And so far this year there are243 registered.
Put your hands together forwhat God is doing.
God is so good.
He's from all around ourcommunity.
Women are coming.
We've got three coming from thestate of Alabama, three from
Missouri, two from Virginia, onefrom South Carolina and one
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from Florida, who is my mother.
So we're just super excited foreveryone who is coming.
Let's pray, heavenly Father.
God, you're just so good.
We just celebrate all that youare doing in our lives, in our
families, in our church, in ourcommunity, and God around the
world.
And God, as we're about to hearyour word this morning, father,
we just pray that your spiritwould speak to our hearts.
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God, when you're speaking, itdon't matter who's preaching,
and so, father, we just praythat you would move within us
personally, you would movewithin our church and God, that
we would truly hear what yourvoice has to say and that we
would be able to do what youcall us to do.
We love you in Jesus' name, andall God's people said amen.
You can open up to Matthew,chapter three this morning as
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we're going through this seriesyour Best Year, yet.
I believe you want 2025 to beyour best year yet.
I believe you want 2025 to bethe best year for your family,
yet I believe that God wants2025 to be your best year.
Yet.
In order to have your best yeardoes not mean an absence of
difficulties.
It means the presence of God.
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The presence of God more andmore in your life, and one of
the things that I want to talkto you about this morning that
God has laid this word on myheart for my life and for your
life is that one of the numberone ways for you to experience
your best year yet is by simplycontinuing to take your next
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step in your walk with Jesus,that you just continue to take
your next step in your walk withJesus, and I can't think of a
better way to illustrate that,to explain that, than just to
talk about the first two stepsthat everybody is called to take
, because when we take thesefirst two steps, it's like
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buttoning up a shirt.
We talked about it a coupleSundays ago.
It's like buttoning up a shirtIf you miss the first button,
the whole shirt's jacked up forthe rest of the day.
It's like buttoning up a shirtIf you miss the first button,
the whole shirt's jacked up forthe rest of the day.
And so we want to make surethat we take those first two
steps correctly in followingJesus.
Then the rest of our life willfollow.
So what I want to talk to youabout this morning is the
blessing of baptism.
Everybody say blessing, theblessing of baptism.
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Baptism is not some religiousritual or rite that you must go
through in order for God to loveyou.
Baptism isn't even first orforemost, even just a step of
obedience in your life.
Do you know that baptism, firstand foremost, is a blessing
that God has for you in order toexperience in him?
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I want you to know this morningthat, even if you've already
been saved and baptized, I praythat this morning I believe that
God's going to speak to you andI believe that he's going to
bring even more meaning of yoursalvation, even more meaning of
your baptism in your life.
But maybe you're here, or maybeyou're watching online and maybe
you've been saved but youhaven't yet been baptized.
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After online, and maybe you'vebeen saved but you haven't yet
been baptized after yoursalvation Maybe you've been
baptized but you haven't beensaved, which means you really
hadn't just gotten baptized.
You really just got wet, right,you got to get saved in order
to get baptized.
Maybe you're here and youhaven't yet been saved or
baptized.
I just want you to know that wedo not throw guilt at anyone,
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we don't throw shame at anyone,we don't manipulate, we don't
force, we don't rush.
We want God to do the work inevery single person's life.
If you believe that, say amen.
But here's what we want to seethis morning we want to see the
baptism of Jesus.
We want to take a look atJesus' baptism.
Everybody say Jesus.
We wanna take a look at Jesus'baptism.
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Everybody say Jesus, jesus'baptism.
We're gonna look at that fromMatthew, chapter three, verses
13 through 16.
Then we'll look at verse 17,.
Talk about a couple otherthings.
You can go home and you can eat.
Here we go.
Matthew, chapter three, verse13, says this.
It says then Jesus came fromGalilee to the Jordan, that's
the Jordan River, to John to bebaptized by him.
So this is when Jesus.
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He just turned 30 years old.
This is the beginning of Jesus'ministry.
The Bible said that he wasliving in Nazareth, which was a
small town in the larger regionof Galilee.
The Bible says that he went outto the Jordan River where John
the Baptist was baptizing.
Did you know that Jesusprobably traveled somewhere
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between 60 to 70 miles by footin order to go to that spot of
the Jordan River where John theBaptist was baptizing?
It probably took Jesussomewhere three to four days to
even travel to get to that spot.
Did you know that Mark, chapterone, verse five, says that all
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of the country of Judea, all ofJerusalem, they were all going
out to John the Baptist to bebaptized by him in the Jordan
River because people wanted toconfess their sins?
If you were going fromJerusalem to that spot in the
Jordan River, it would probablytake you about 25 miles.
It would take you between twoand three days to get there.
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If you were coming from Judea,it would take you somewhere
between 20 to 50 miles.
It could be anywhere betweentwo and five day trip to get
there.
In other words, how long did ittake you to get to church this
morning?
How far was your walk from theparking lot here into the CLC
right?
How long did it take you to gethere?
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Well, in Mark, chapter one,verse six, it says that they
were going out to be baptized byJohn the Baptist.
Who is John the Baptist?
John the Baptist was actuallyJesus' cousin.
John the Baptist was known as aman who was out in the
wilderness.
He was out in the woods.
The Bible describes him as Mark1, 6.
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John was clothed with camel'shair, he wore a leather belt
which was around his waist andhe ate locusts with honey.
In other words, john theBaptist is a good old redneck.
Can I get an amen?
He's a good old redneck, he'sliving out in the woods.
So my question is is I'mreading this and understanding
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the lay of the land and peopleare walking by foot, traveling,
staying overnight.
Who knows where?
Some three, four, five nights,some 50 miles of walking by foot
, traveling, staying overnight?
Who knows where?
Some three, four, five nights?
Some 50 miles of walking byfoot?
Why in the world are theyleaving Galilee?
Why in the world.
Are they leaving Judea?
Why are they leaving Jerusalemto go to where John the Baptist
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is baptizing?
Here's why Because word ofmouth started to spread about
what God was doing and how hewas changing people's lives.
Can I get an amen?
We are so thankful for what Godis, even what he does in every
church, what he's doing aroundthe world.
We're so thankful for what he'sdoing in our church that last
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year we had an increase in 2024,some 244% increase in baptisms
from the year before.
We're so thankful that 120 ofyou last year decided to join
our church and become a part ofour family and the move of God
here.
We're so thankful that we gotto see an increase in our
worship services, an increase inall of our groups, an increase
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in our children's ministry anincrease across the board.
We an increase in ourchildren's ministry, an increase
across the board.
We're so thankful for all thatGod's doing, but I need you to
hear me say we are not a churchthat's all about the numbers.
See, we can share numbers andnot be a church about the
numbers.
What does a church aboutnumbers mean?
A church about numbers is achurch that's just excited
because the church is growing.
We're not trying to become amega church.
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We want to be a missionalchurch.
Why do we share numbers?
Because we believe that everynumber has a name and every name
has a life and every life hasan eternity.
We're so thankful for what Godis doing.
In fact, did you know?
Every Monday afternoon when wehave staff meeting, we start
with one question.
The question is what is it thatyou see that God is doing in
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the life of our church?
And over the past few Mondayswe were amazed.
We were amazed with the pastfew Mondays because we started
sharing and comparing notes andwe've had all these first-time
guests coming in and maybe someof those are you that have been
coming for your first time todayor maybe for the past few
Sundays and first first timeguests.
And we've asked how did Godbring you here?
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And the number one answer thatwe've heard this year so far is
I don't know.
I was just driving by and Godtold me to come in.
I was just driving by and Godtold me to come in.
In other words, god is doing awork that we could never do.
We don't want people to comeand see what we're doing here.
We want people to come and seewhat God is doing here.
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Can I get an amen?
Because what is happening isall about the Lord.
Also, in Mark 1, it says thatJohn the Baptist is a
fulfillment of Isaiah, chapter40, verse 3, which says the
voice of one crying in thewilderness prepare the way of
the Lord, make his path straight.
What was John doing?
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He was just a voice.
John was just a voice used byGod that God was bringing people
to him so that God could makepaths straight, in other words,
that John could help them intheir way of coming to Jesus.
And that's all that God iscalling you to do.
God is just calling you to be avoice.
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God is just calling you to makeit smooth, to straighten the
paths in order to come to Jesus.
Every time that you servesomebody, every time that you
pray for someone, every time youpray with someone, every time
that you encourage someone,every time that you share your
story, every time you share yourtestimony, every time you
invite them to church, everytime you share the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the story of Jesus, in their life, what are you
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doing?
God is just using you as avoice in their life to make it
easier for Jesus in order tomake that connection with them.
In order to make thatconnection with them, god is
using you in the lives of others, and here's what we see in
Matthew 3, 14.
In Matthew 3, 14, john saidJohn said John would have
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prevented Jesus, saying I needto be baptized by you.
John is like I don't wannabaptize you, I need to be
baptized by you In Jesus.
You come to me.
I can't blame John.
In fact, that word prevented itactually means that he refused
in that moment to baptize Jesus.
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You know, when Jesus came onthe scene, all these people are
getting baptized, all thesepeople from Judea, all these
people from Jerusalem we'retalking probably hundreds, if
not thousands of people walkingall of these miles in order to
be baptized.
And out of this crowd, this seaof people in comes walking
Jesus.
The Bible says, when Jesus comeson the scene, that John stops
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what he's doing and he looks athim and he says behold the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin ofthe world.
The Bible says that John wasJesus' cousin.
Now, I've never had a cousinsay that to me whenever I come
on the scene.
Right, behold the Lamb of God,the Son of God, god the Son.
My cousins would never say thatabout me because they know my
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sin, and I sure would never saythat about them because we know
each other.
But the Bible even says thatthere was a time that John, as
the cousin of Jesus, did notrecognize him.
It doesn't mean that Johndidn't know who Jesus was as his
family.
It meant that John didn't knowwho Jesus is as the Messiah.
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And there had to come a moment,even in the life of John the
Baptist, where he had to believein his own cousin, jesus of
Nazareth, as the son of God inorder to be saved.
And the same is true for youand the same is true for me.
And John had it right.
John said in John 1, 27,.
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He said I am, I'm not evenworthy to untie his Jesus'
sandals.
That is what the servants woulddo when you walk into
somebody's house they woulduntie the sandal and take them
off for the person.
And John says I'm not evenworthy to be a servant of Jesus.
He goes on to say in John 1.30,.
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He says that Jesus ranks beforeme.
In other words, what John wassaying was I am nothing.
Jesus is everything.
This is the heart of salvationwhen our life is not about what
we can do for Jesus, but ourheart, ultimately, first and
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foremost, about what Jesus cando for us, what Jesus can do in
you, realizing that Jesus isabsolutely everything and we are
absolutely nothing without him.
Does your heart cry out, jesus,you rank before me.
You are everything.
I am nothing, jesus.
I am unworthy of you.
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Jesus, I believe in you.
Jesus, you are the lamb of Godwho takes away the sin of the
world.
Does your heart cry out forJesus?
I can remember being in PigeonForge with my family several
years ago and my nephew, jaden,who's in his 20s now, in his
early 20s.
He was probably about eightyears old at the time and we
went into the Miracle Theater,which is a theater in Pigeon
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Forge, where they would do allthese Bible stories, dramas,
plays, all this kind of stuffReally good.
It was great stuff.
I don't even know if it's stillthere, but we would go in and I
remember Jaden eight years oldand they were going through the
life of Jesus and it was thepart of Jesus' life where they
wanted to stone the adulterouswoman right for all of her sin,
but Jesus stopped the stoningand Jesus saved her and I still
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remember that scene there inthat drama, in that play,
because out walks this woman,this adulterous woman, onto the
stage and they had her dressedlike an adulterous woman.
And I remember the theater wasjust quiet at the time,
everybody was watching the dramaand my little eight-year-old
nephew did not have an insidevoice, he only had an outside
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voice.
And she walks on the stage andlittle eight-year-old nephew did
not have an inside voice, heonly had an outside voice.
And she walks on the stage andmy eight-year-old nephew says
mommy, I like that woman, that'sa beautiful woman.
Mommy, I like that woman.
Wow, she's pretty.
Mommy.
I look at my sister like whatkind of son are you raising here
in this house, goodnessgracious, what is wrong with
y'all?
And the play goes on and itcomes to the part of the play
where they're crucifying Jesus.
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And I remember my littleeight-year-old nephew, jaden,
and he screams out in the middleof the crucifixion Mommy, why
are they hurting him, mommy?
Why are they killing him, mommy?
Why is he dying?
He didn't do anything wrong, hedidn't even sin.
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That is the heart of salvation.
I just want to be clear and veryplain for the next few moments,
for those who are here, forthose who are watching online,
what is salvation?
In other words, why did Jesusget baptized?
You know, jesus did not getbaptized because he was a sinner
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.
John was doing baptism forpeople confessing and repenting
of their sin.
Jesus had no sin to repent ofor to confess.
There were five reasons thatJesus got baptized.
You ever thought about this?
Reason number one Jesus gotbaptized because his father, god
the Father, called him to.
Number two, because the HolySpirit led him to.
Number three he wanted toidentify with all the Old
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Testament people who have comebefore him.
In other words, they were inthe Jordan River, the same exact
river that God parted as theywere coming out of the Exodus,
out of the wilderness and intothe promised land.
And Jesus steps into the sameriver.
The Bible says that the OldTestament people of God were
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baptized into the sea.
So Jesus is identifying withthe Old Testament people and
Jesus is identifying Luke,chapter 12, verse 50,.
Jesus says there's a baptismthat I must undergo, and he was
speaking of his crucifixion andhis death and his resurrection.
Jesus was identifying what hewas about to do for the people.
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And also Jesus was identifyingwith you, because Jesus calls
each and every one of us to besaved and to be baptized and to
be baptized.
And what Jesus does for you, hedoes it for you so that you can
do it for him.
In other words, your heavenlyfather calls you to be saved and
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baptized.
The Holy Spirit calls you to besaved and baptized.
You can identify with all thepeople of the past.
You can identify with Jesus inhis death and resurrection
through baptism.
Jesus says that he fulfilled allrighteousness.
What is the gospel?
What is salvation?
It is not how good you can getor how good you can be for God.
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It is not you being sorighteous that then God will
love you, then God will acceptyou, then God will forgive you,
then God will save you.
It is not you doing anythingfor God.
It is everything that God doesfor you through his son, jesus
Christ.
Can I get an amen?
The Bible says that Jesus neversinned.
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The Bible says that everythingJesus did was to fulfill all
righteousness, to fulfill thelaw of God.
Why did Jesus have to do that?
Because Jesus had to go to thecross on your behalf and to take
on my sin and to take on yoursin.
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The Bible says that he not onlybore our sin.
The Bible says that heliterally became our sin and he
had to go to the cross as aperfect, acceptable, appropriate
sacrifice, so that he could payfor your sin, my sin, the sin
of the whole world, so that theheavenly Father would accept us.
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He would save us through theblood of Jesus Christ.
In other words, 2 Corinthians5.21 says for our sake, god made
Jesus to be sin Jesus who knewno sin, so that in Jesus we
might become the righteousnessof God.
In other words, the only thingwe bring to our salvation is our
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sin, and what he brings to usfrom our salvation is his
righteousness.
In other words, god desperatelyloves you and because God
desperately loves you, he senthis son, whom he loves, his
beloved son, to the cross to diefor your sin.
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And Jesus rose from the dead sothat when you believe in him,
when you place your faith uponhim, the Bible says you will be
saved.
I don't do this ever, but Iwanna stop right now, mid-sermon
.
I believe that God is workingin someone's heart.
Can we just bow our heads andclose our eyes for a moment?
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I don't wanna go any furtherwithout giving you an
opportunity to give your life toJesus.
Maybe you're here right now andyou've never been biblically
saved, that you've never fullytrusted in Jesus for your
salvation, that you alwaysthought maybe it was all on you
or a little of you and a littleof him.
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It's none of you and it's allof him.
And so I want to pray right nowand give you an opportunity.
I can't save you, I can't praythis prayer for you, but you can
say it in your own words, fromyour own heart to God, and you
can say something like thisright here God, I believe in you
and I need Jesus.
God, I believe in you and Ineed Jesus.
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And I believe that Jesus diedon the cross for my sin and I
ask you to forgive me of all mysin.
And I believe that Jesus rosefrom the dead and I wanna turn
from my sin and I wanna turn andfollow him because he's alive
and he's real.
And the Bible says in Romans 10, nine that if you confess with
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your mouth that Jesus is Lordand believe with your heart that
God raised him from the dead,you will be saved.
So call on Jesus right now.
Jesus, be my Lord, be my God,be my savior, and the Bible
promises that he will save youand you will always be saved and
you can't lose your salvationand you will have a relationship
with him on earth and you willhave a home with him in heaven.
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We believe that and we praythat in Jesus' name.
And all God's people said putyour hands together for anybody
that just gave their life toJesus.
We just want to say welcome tothe family.
Nothing is more important inthis moment than your salvation.
But don't get it wrong, thesermon's not over.
Here we go.
So we want you to know, we wantyou to know here that in
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Matthew 3, 16, it says and whenJesus was baptized, immediately
he went up from the water.
All throughout scripture.
When people get saved by Jesus,they get baptized right
immediately, right away.
In other words, here's what wesee.
Baptism is our first step ofobedience after our salvation.
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You might wonder, well, butPastor Chip, I've been saved for
a long time.
Well then, I would justencourage you be faithful, be
obedient and get baptized.
We see the word baptize.
Actually, the Greek word isbaptizo.
It means immerse or to submerge.
It means to go under the water.
Why is it that we go under thewater for our baptism.
When you go under the water,you are signifying, you're
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making a public profession thatI believe that Jesus died for my
sin.
When you come out of the water,then you're saying that I
believe that Jesus rose from thedead.
You are giving a publicprofession of faith with your
faith in the gospel.
So as a pastor, I've had so manypeople ask me these questions
when should I get baptized?
I want to encourage you to getbaptized, not to be saved, but
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because you are saved.
In other words, baptism doesn'tsave you.
We get baptized because of oursalvation, as a public
profession that we've been saved.
Another way to say it is I wantto encourage you to not get
baptized before you're saved,but after you're saved.
Some people think the Bibleteaches that you get baptized
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before you're saved because itkind of washes away your sin so
you can be saved later.
That is not what the Bibleteaches.
Every time someone gets savedin the Bible, they're getting
saved.
They're getting baptized excuseme after their salvation.
Why?
Because baptism is your publicprofession of faith.
How should I be baptized?
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So many people have asked me.
I would encourage you that theBible says the Bible never talks
about sprinkling for yourbaptism Not one time.
If I'm wrong, show me.
But the Bible never talks aboutsprinkling for your baptism.
Not one time.
If I'm wrong, show me.
But the Bible never talks aboutsprinkling for your baptism.
The Bible talks about baptizoto be submerged, to be immersed.
Why?
Because baptism is a picture ofJesus's death and resurrection.
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So my question for you today ishave you been baptized not for
your salvation, but because ofyour salvation?
Have you been baptized notbefore your salvation, but
biblically baptized after yoursalvation?
Have you been biblicallybaptized by immersion, by going
under the water and coming backup?
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Because that's the way that Godcalls us to get baptized.
I've heard it explained baptismis like a wedding ring.
Just because you wear a weddingring doesn't mean that you're
married.
Just because I wear my weddingring doesn't mean that this ring
helps me to love my wife more.
This ring helps me to be morefaithful to her.
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This ring does anything magicalor loving whatsoever.
No, this ring is just a sign toeverybody that I am married to.
Michelle Marie Dean.
I heard a pastor say it this waythe reason I wear a wedding
ring is for you to know youcan't have this right.
The reason you wear thatwedding ring is because no one
else can have you beside yourspouse.
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In the same way, when you getbaptized, you're saying devil,
you can't have me, world youcan't have me, sin you can't
have me.
I belong to Jesus and ourbaptism doesn't make us saved.
Our baptism is a sign that wehave been saved, but here's what
we see next, what happens inJesus' baptism story.
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This is the last two verses.
Here we see spirit baptism.
Everybody say spirit, spirit.
This is the Holy Spirit, spiritbaptism, matthew 3, the last
part of 16.
And behold, the heavens wereopened to Jesus.
Could you imagine being there?
The heavens were opened,meaning God, the Father himself,
opened the heavens so thateveryone standing there, from
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Judea, from Jerusalem, wouldhave a glimpse, a vision into
heaven.
Did you know that when you getsaved, god gives you a spiritual
glimpse, a spiritual vision ofheaven, that you desire to live
for eternal life and not justfor your earthly life, that you
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don't treasure the things onearth, you treasure the things
that await you in heaven andthat you see the rest of your
life as your opportunity to seemore people saved because of
your life, because that you arelonging for and you are awaiting
heaven.
That's how God opens theheavens to us spiritually, but
here, physically.
The heavens were open to himand he saw the spirit of God,
(27:26):
the Holy Spirit, descending likea dove and coming down to rest
upon him.
You ever wondered why a doveCould have said a lot of things,
right?
Could have been an eagle andthey could have been singing
Sweet Home, alabama while theeagle came down, or whatever,
right?
There could have been so manydifferent things that have
happened.
(27:47):
But in Genesis, chapter eight,verse 11, it was a dove you ever
thought about this that broughtback the olive branch to the
ark, signifying the judgment ofGod is over, the salvation of
God is here, new humanity hasbegun.
In other words, when we getsaved in Jesus, we're saying
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that God's judgment is no longerupon our life, that now we have
the peace of God in our life,peace with God in our life,
peace with God in our life, andwe are a new creation.
The Bible says, in other words,1 Corinthians 12, verse 13.
You ever notice this?
It says for in one spirit wewere all baptized into one body,
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jews or Greeks, slaves or free,and all were made to drink of
one spirit.
In other words, when you getsaved.
The Bible says this that you,in the moment, the instant that
you give your life to Jesus, youmake him the Lord of your life.
In that instant you arebaptized with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit fills you, theHoly Spirit dwells in you, the
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Holy Spirit rests upon you.
Why does the Holy Spirit do that?
Because the Holy Spirit is thepower of Jesus in you.
When you get the Holy Spirit,he fills you, he guides you, he
convicts you, he seals you, hesanctifies you, he empowers you,
he teaches you, he reminds you,he counsels you, he comforts
you and he assures you.
(29:16):
Put your hands together for allthe Holy Spirit does in you and
in your life.
So when you get saved, you getindwelled with the Holy Spirit.
But the Bible says that youneed to continually be filled.
Why?
Because you leak, because Ileak, because when we sin, we're
leaking the Holy Spirit, we'regetting filled with sin and we
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need to constantly be filledwith the Holy Spirit.
How do you get filled?
Constantly?
Continue with the Holy Spirit bythe word of God, by worshiping
Jesus with your church, bygetting together in groups and
communities, like these Biblestudies, these groups, these
Sunday schools that we.
Do you ever been to a group anddo a Sunday school?
And you didn.
These Bible studies, thesegroups, these Sunday schools
that we do you ever been to agroup and do a Sunday school and
you didn't wanna go?
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But when you left you didn'twant it to end.
Why?
Because the Holy Spirit isfilling you.
You ever not wanted to serve inyour church and use the gifts
that God has given you, but whenyou do, you wondered why you
never did it before.
Why?
Because the Holy Spirit isfilling you.
You ever not wanted to shareyour faith with someone, but
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when you do, because the Lord,god, calls you to, and you feel
so good after you wanna findsomebody and do it again.
Why?
Because the Holy Spirit isfilling you.
See, the more that you subjectyourself to God, the more he
fills you with his spirit.
It's kinda like when you getfilled with protein, you get
muscle.
When you get filled with carbs,you get energy.
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When you get filled with fat,you get fat.
When you get filled with beans,you get gas.
But when you get filled, butwhen you get filled with the
Holy Spirit, you get filled withJesus, and Jesus does a work in
your life that no one can undo.
I want you to see this when weget saved, we get baptized with
the Holy Spirit, and that's whywe get baptized with water later
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, because we're saying I've nowbeen baptized with the Spirit, I
believe that Jesus has died formy sin.
I believe that Jesus risen fromthe dead.
He said we were baptized intoone body, the body of Christ,
and that's why the Bible teachesthat you should be a member of
a church, that you should jointhe church that you're a part of
.
Why?
Because you're already made apart of the body of Christ, and
(31:27):
so God calls us to becomemembers of a body of Christ, a
member of the church.
And that's why we do thingslike our Next Step Lunches.
On February, the 2nd, we've gota Next Step Lunch at noon,
right behind this wall, in ourfellowship hall.
It's a free lunch with freechildcare.
It only lasts for an hour andyou'll be able to learn what all
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God is doing here and all theopportunities that God has for
you.
And maybe God is calling you tobecome a part of our church.
Maybe God is calling you tojoin, to be a part of one of our
groups, to serve, or whateverit might be.
But here's what I need you tohear me say as your pastor, I
want you to do what the HolySpirit is leading you to do.
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When the Holy Spirit is leadingyou to do it, I do not want you
to feel any pressure.
I do not want you to feelrushed.
I never want you to feel forced.
I never want you to feelmanipulated.
I never want you to feel shamedinto anything, because I know
that there are many of you herethat are coming out of church
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hurt and I need you to hear mesay I believe that God is
calling First Baptist PowderSprings to be a place of healing
.
I believe that God is callingFirst Baptist Church, powder
Springs to be a place wherepeople can come and you can rest
in Christ and you don't feelthe pressure to serve in that
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season.
You don't feel the pressure todo anything in that season
besides God healing you and hewill let you know when it's time
.
He will let you know when it'shis time in your life to do what
he is calling you to do.
Because this is what we see whenJesus is baptized the heavens
are open, the spirit rests onhim like a dove.
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The Bible says and behold, canyou imagine being there?
Behold, a voice from heavensaid this is my beloved son, in
whom I'm well pleased.
In other words, god shows hislove for Jesus.
And if you are in Jesus, thenGod loves you too.
That Jesus is God's son, andwhen you give your life to Jesus
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, you become a son and youbecome a daughter of God too.
That God is pleased in Jesus.
And when you give your life toJesus, no matter what you've
done, no matter what you do,that God is pleased in you
because you are in Jesus Christ.
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Here, in the baptism of Jesus,we see the Trinity.
In the Trinity, we see the aweof God, because we could never
fully understand God and so,therefore, we just can't help
but worship God.
In the Trinity, we seesalvation and all that took for
the Trinity in order to save us.
And we see, in the baptism ofJesus, the Trinity.
In the Trinity, we seecommunity and we see love,
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father, son and Holy Spirit.
God himself is the community.
They love one another inperfect community together, and
they are one God as the triuneGod.
In the same way he created youand I to need and to grow in
community, to grow in love withone another.
We see in the Trinity.
We see unity in diversity.
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The Father's not the Son, theSon's not the Spirit, the
Spirit's not the Father.
We see this diversity withinthe Godhead, diversity of role
and even of function, but yetthey're all perfectly unified as
God.
In other words, god is mostglorified when his church is
diversified in finding theirunity in Jesus.
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We don't find our unity in me.
It's okay that you disagreewith me.
I don't agree with me all thetime, it's okay.
We don't find our unity in oneanother.
We don't find our unity in ourlove in one another.
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We don't find our unity in ourlove.
We find our unity in Jesus.
We all agree upon Jesus, we allagree upon his love, and that's
why God is glorified when thereare different ethnicities that
are coming together to worshiphim, just like it says in
Revelation, chapter seven, thatevery tribe, every tongue, every
language, every nation will bewrapped around the throne
worshiping Jesus.
And we don't have to wait toexperience that until we get
there.
We get to experience that here,now, today.
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Can I get an amen?
We see the holiness of God inthe obedience, the perfect
obedience, of Jesus, and theseare all signs of the evidence
that the spirit of God is withinyou.
I love someone who asked thequestion what would it take in
order for the devil to get to meand take my salvation from me?
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The best I've heard itexplained what it would take is
first of all, you need to knowthat you've been dipped in the
blood of Jesus.
The Bible says that you've beendipped in his blood.
The Bible says that the hand ofthe Holy Father is around you
and holds you.
The Bible says that you are.
Then the hand of the heavenlyFather is sealed with the Holy
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Spirit.
The Spirit of God is wrappedaround him.
In other words, in order forthe devil to get you to take
your salvation, he would have tounwrap the Holy Spirit from the
hand of the Father.
And if he could unwrap the HolySpirit from the hand of the
Father, he would have to pryopen, be able to pry open the
hand of the Father, finger byfinger, just to get to you.
And then, even if the devil wasable to open up the hand of the
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Father, the devil would have todip into the blood of Jesus
just to get to you, just to getto you.
And if the devil ever dove inthe blood of Jesus, he'd be a
saved devil.
In other words, you're saved.
If you are truly saved, you aresaved for all of eternity.
And God has baptized you withhis spirit so that you can live
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your life for Jesus.
And lastly, and I'm done, wetalked about Jesus' baptism and
spirit baptism.
I wanna talk about your baptism.
Everybody say your, yourbaptism.
We see very quickly differentbaptisms in the Bible.
The Ethiopian eunuch he was ahigh-ranking official who was
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searching for truth because hehad such success in his life,
but yet he was still so empty.
A man by the name of Philip,filled with the Holy Spirit,
came to the Ethiopian eunuch,shared the gospel with him and
he was saved.
And he immediately right there.
They saw water and he gotbaptized.
Saul Saul was a man you knowthat saw water and he got
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baptized.
Saul Saul was a man, you know,that persecuted the church.
He hurt the church.
And when Peter came to him andshared the gospel with him and
Saul got saved, he went fromhurting the church to helping
the church.
Cornelius Cornelius was a Romancenturion, a high-ranking
official of the military.
He was known as a religious manwho believed in God, but he
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didn't yet believe in Jesus.
Peter went to Cornelius,showing us that, no matter what
our background or what ourstatus is, god loves us and he
wants to save us.
The Holy Spirit spoke toCornelius and to his family and
they all he and his family gotsaved and baptized.
Lydia, she, was a successfulbusinesswoman.
She was known as a worshiper ofGod but did not yet believe in
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Jesus.
The story of Lydia shows usthat we can be successful and we
can be spiritual, but that doesnot mean that we're saved.
God opened up Lydia's heart.
She believed in Jesus and herwhole family ended up in Jesus
and her whole family ended upbelieving and her whole family
ended up getting baptized.
But maybe my favorite was thePhilippian jailer.
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The Philippian jailer, the manwho guarded Paul and Silas in
prison as they would sing theseworship songs, as they were
incarcerated and shackled andleft for dead.
God sends an earthquake and itopens up all the cells, but Paul
(39:25):
and Silas know that if theyleave, the Philippian jailer is
killed.
Out of love for the jailer,they stay, and he was so
impacted by their love for himthat he gave his life to Jesus,
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who they were singing about allalong, and the Bible says that
he got saved, his familybelieved and they all get saved.
In other words, your decisionmay not just be your decision.
Your decision will impact andwill influence others in their
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decision for Jesus, just likeyour decision for Jesus.
Next Sunday we're having BaptismSunday and in Baptism Sunday,
next Sunday it is for anybodythat has been saved that needs
to get baptized.
You might be thinking well,pastor Chip, I can't get
baptized.
(40:30):
I have a disability.
I baptized my four-year-olddaughter with cerebral palsy
just this past year.
We have people that can helpyou and we can do it together.
Maybe you're online or you knowsomeone that is homebound.
You're thinking I can't getbaptized because I can't get to
church.
I'll never forget the day I gotto go to a 94-year-old lady's
house who was bedridden.
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Four of us picked her up by thecorners of her sheet, walked
her over to her garden tub,dipped her down, put her back on
her bed, all because she hadnever been baptized.
She had been saved and shewanted to follow the Lord Jesus
in baptism.
We've had so many dads getbaptized over this past year and
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turn around right then, rightthere, and baptize their kids
who had gotten saved.
We had a grandma get baptizedin our church this past year and
she had five generations of herfamily that came to watch her
get baptized here at FirstBaptist.
In all my years of preaching andpastoring, I've heard a lot of
different excuses of why not toget baptized.
I've heard, well, I've heardpeople say I don't think it's
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important.
If it's important for Jesus toget baptized, it's important for
you to get baptized.
Some people have said well, I'mscared of water.
Our church is 183 years old andwe've not drowned one person,
not one.
You're gonna be okay.
I've heard people say well, myfamily doesn't go to that church
, it will be online.
We'll you hand us your cellphone, we'll record it for you
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and text it to them so they canexperience it as well.
You might think to yourself well, I don't have a change of
clothes and I had a bag up here,but it's oh, here it is, it's
behind me.
You might think to yourselfwell, I don't have a change.
We're gonna supply everybodywith a t-shirt.
I want you to know that.
We're gonna supply everybodywith some shorts and we're gonna
have sizes that will fiteverybody, and nobody's business
is gonna.
We even got some underwear foryou and nobody's business ever
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been in this underwear righthere, ladies, you might be
thinking I just got my hair done.
Well, guess what?
We got some hair caps foreverybody right there.
Okay, so you can make sure andwear your hair cap, because we
wanna make sure that everybodyhas an opportunity to be
baptized in order to obey theLord Jesus.
You might be thinking toyourself well, what will people
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think?
I'll tell you what.
People think that you love Godand you wanna follow him.
You might be thinking toyourself well, I want the water
to be clean.
Jesus got baptized in the muddyJordan River for you.
You might be thinking well,I'll ride with somebody.
They'll wait for you, and ifthey don't wait for you, they
need to be saved and baptized.
You might be thinking I wantsomeone to come with me.
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Well, you make sure and bring afriend, bring a family member,
bring your whole row with you,and we are with you in your
decision for Jesus.
You might be thinking well, Iwas baptized as a baby.
Do you know?
There are 27 baptisms in thebook of Acts and every single
one of them happened after theperson got saved.
You might be thinking I don'twant to shame my parents, they
(43:23):
won't be ashamed of you, they'llbe proud of you.
You might be thinking well,I'll be embarrassed to be wet in
front of everybody.
Jesus got baptized in front ofa massive crowd, for your sake.
You might be thinking toyourself I've not prayed about
it.
The things that God hascommanded you don't have to pray
about you, just do it.
You might be thinking I'm athome, we'll come to your home,
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or you can come here next Sundayand we would love the honor to
be able to baptize you in yourwalk with Jesus.
But you might be thinking thelast one, I can't be baptized
because I haven't been saved.
And maybe you held off in thatlast opportunity to be saved.
But you matter so much to usbecause you matter so much to
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God.
There is nothing more importantin this moment than your
salvation, your relationshipwith God, your eternity with him
, with every head bowed andevery eye closed.
If that's you this morning andyou have not fully and finally
(44:35):
and forever given your life toGod, he wants you to know that
today can be the day of yoursalvation.
Right here, right now, you canpray to him in your own words.
You can just say God, I loveyou, I need you.
I believe in you.
From your own heart and yourown words you can say God, I
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believe in your son, jesusChrist.
I believe that he died for mysin.
So, god, I ask you to forgiveme of all of my sin.
I believe that Jesus rose fromthe dead.
And, god, I turn away from mysin and I turn and I give my
life to Jesus.
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The Bible says in Romans 10,nine that if you confess with
your mouth that Jesus Lord,believe with your heart that God
raised him from the dead, youwill be saved.
Call on Jesus right now.
Jesus, be the Lord of my life,be my God, be my Savior, be my
everything.
God, we believe that.
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We thank you for that promise,we thank you for that truth and
we thank you for every singleperson that prayed that this
morning.
We praise you, we pray thesethings in Jesus' name and all
God's people said one more timelet's put our hands together for
anybody that gave their life toJesus, the most important thing
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that could ever happen on aSunday or any day.
And if that's you, I just wantyou to know.
We've got a next step card therein front of your chair.
If you, if God is moving inyour heart, in your life, online
or here present, and you wannabe baptized.
God is leading you to getbaptized next Sunday.
I want you to take a next stepcard.
I want you to put yourinformation on it.
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I want you to come and bring itto me, bring it to Pastor James
, take it to our next stepstation, or you call the church
office this week, or maybe youemail us.
You just reach out to us in anyway and we will be ready for
you, and I can't wait to see allthat God is gonna do in your
life.
In an hour church, let's standtogether.
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We're gonna sing, we're gonnaworship him.
I wanna pray one more time andwe'll worship the Lord Jesus
once more.
Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, and we'll worship the Lord
Jesus once more.
Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, god, I just pray that your
spirit would move, your wordwould speak to us and, god, that
you would have our way, that wewould take our next step in our
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walk and journey with Jesus.
God, we love you and we worshipyou and we pray these things in
Jesus' name.
And all God's people said
at First Baptist, powder Springs.
God is so good and he isworking among us so powerfully,
so, personally, we are sothankful for that.
Thank you, drew, appreciate you, my man.
I just wanna just share withyou just some things that God is
doing.
First of all, we just had thebig game show for our kids'
ministry this past Wednesdaynight.
We had over 200 show up.
(00:20):
Eight people indicated thatthey did not have a church home.
So if you're back, welcome home.
You have a church now and twopeople let us know that they
want to be baptized.
So we're just so thankful forwhat God did through the big
game show.
I want you to know that ourstudent ministry we're gearing
up for a D-NOW, d-now weekend,february 7 through 9.
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And we want you to be a part ofthat.
Our new student pastor and hisfamily are now in town in Powder
Springs.
So put your hands together forthe Henry family.
We're so thankful for them.
The moving truck is at theirhouse as we speak, so they're
skipping their first Sunday, canyou believe it?
But they're getting all theirstuff moved in.
They're gonna be here thisWednesday night, so we wanna
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invite all of our teenagers.
Maybe you're a teenager onlinewatching or a parent of a
teenager.
We want to encourage you to behere this Wednesday night.
Give him a big welcome, andthey will be here the following
Sundays and Wednesdays and allof that.
So make sure that you're readyfor D now.
As Pastor James just talkedabout our women's conference
this Saturday, did you know thatlast year we were praying for
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50 women to come and 240 came?
It was just an absolute miracle.
And so far this year there are243 registered.
Put your hands together forwhat God is doing.
God is so good.
He's from all around ourcommunity.
Women are coming.
We've got three coming from thestate of Alabama, three from
Missouri, two from Virginia, onefrom South Carolina and one
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from Florida, who is my mother.
So we're just super excited foreveryone who is coming.
Let's pray, heavenly Father.
God, you're just so good.
We just celebrate all that youare doing in our lives, in our
families, in our church, in ourcommunity, and God around the
world.
And God, as we're about to hearyour word this morning, father,
we just pray that your spiritwould speak to our hearts.
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God, when you're speaking, itdon't matter who's preaching,
and so, father, we just praythat you would move within us
personally, you would movewithin our church and God, that
we would truly hear what yourvoice has to say and that we
would be able to do what youcall us to do.
We love you in Jesus' name, andall God's people said amen.
You can open up to Matthew,chapter three this morning as
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we're going through this seriesyour Best Year, yet.
I believe you want 2025 to beyour best year yet.
I believe you want 2025 to bethe best year for your family,
yet I believe that God wants2025 to be your best year.
Yet.
In order to have your best yeardoes not mean an absence of
difficulties.
It means the presence of God.
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The presence of God more andmore in your life, and one of
the things that I want to talkto you about this morning that
God has laid this word on myheart for my life and for your
life is that one of the numberone ways for you to experience
your best year yet is by simplycontinuing to take your next
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step in your walk with Jesus,that you just continue to take
your next step in your walk withJesus, and I can't think of a
better way to illustrate that,to explain that, than just to
talk about the first two stepsthat everybody is called to take
, because when we take thesefirst two steps, it's like
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buttoning up a shirt.
We talked about it a coupleSundays ago.
It's like buttoning up a shirtIf you miss the first button,
the whole shirt's jacked up forthe rest of the day.
It's like buttoning up a shirtIf you miss the first button,
the whole shirt's jacked up forthe rest of the day.
And so we want to make surethat we take those first two
steps correctly in followingJesus.
Then the rest of our life willfollow.
So what I want to talk to youabout this morning is the
blessing of baptism.
Everybody say blessing, theblessing of baptism.
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Baptism is not some religiousritual or rite that you must go
through in order for God to loveyou.
Baptism isn't even first orforemost, even just a step of
obedience in your life.
Do you know that baptism, firstand foremost, is a blessing
that God has for you in order toexperience in him?
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I want you to know this morningthat, even if you've already
been saved and baptized, I praythat this morning I believe that
God's going to speak to you andI believe that he's going to
bring even more meaning of yoursalvation, even more meaning of
your baptism in your life.
But maybe you're here, or maybeyou're watching online and maybe
you've been saved but youhaven't yet been baptized.
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After online, and maybe you'vebeen saved but you haven't yet
been baptized after yoursalvation Maybe you've been
baptized but you haven't beensaved, which means you really
hadn't just gotten baptized.
You really just got wet, right,you got to get saved in order
to get baptized.
Maybe you're here and youhaven't yet been saved or
baptized.
I just want you to know that wedo not throw guilt at anyone,
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we don't throw shame at anyone,we don't manipulate, we don't
force, we don't rush.
We want God to do the work inevery single person's life.
If you believe that, say amen.
But here's what we want to seethis morning we want to see the
baptism of Jesus.
We want to take a look atJesus' baptism.
Everybody say Jesus.
We wanna take a look at Jesus'baptism.
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Everybody say Jesus, jesus'baptism.
We're gonna look at that fromMatthew, chapter three, verses
13 through 16.
Then we'll look at verse 17,.
Talk about a couple otherthings.
You can go home and you can eat.
Here we go.
Matthew, chapter three, verse13, says this.
It says then Jesus came fromGalilee to the Jordan, that's
the Jordan River, to John to bebaptized by him.
So this is when Jesus.
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He just turned 30 years old.
This is the beginning of Jesus'ministry.
The Bible said that he wasliving in Nazareth, which was a
small town in the larger regionof Galilee.
The Bible says that he went outto the Jordan River where John
the Baptist was baptizing.
Did you know that Jesusprobably traveled somewhere
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between 60 to 70 miles by footin order to go to that spot of
the Jordan River where John theBaptist was baptizing?
It probably took Jesussomewhere three to four days to
even travel to get to that spot.
Did you know that Mark, chapterone, verse five, says that all
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of the country of Judea, all ofJerusalem, they were all going
out to John the Baptist to bebaptized by him in the Jordan
River because people wanted toconfess their sins?
If you were going fromJerusalem to that spot in the
Jordan River, it would probablytake you about 25 miles.
It would take you between twoand three days to get there.
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If you were coming from Judea,it would take you somewhere
between 20 to 50 miles.
It could be anywhere betweentwo and five day trip to get
there.
In other words, how long did ittake you to get to church this
morning?
How far was your walk from theparking lot here into the CLC
right?
How long did it take you to gethere?
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Well, in Mark, chapter one,verse six, it says that they
were going out to be baptized byJohn the Baptist.
Who is John the Baptist?
John the Baptist was actuallyJesus' cousin.
John the Baptist was known as aman who was out in the
wilderness.
He was out in the woods.
The Bible describes him as Mark1, 6.
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John was clothed with camel'shair, he wore a leather belt
which was around his waist andhe ate locusts with honey.
In other words, john theBaptist is a good old redneck.
Can I get an amen?
He's a good old redneck, he'sliving out in the woods.
So my question is is I'mreading this and understanding
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the lay of the land and peopleare walking by foot, traveling,
staying overnight.
Who knows where?
Some three, four, five nights,some 50 miles of walking by foot
, traveling, staying overnight?
Who knows where?
Some three, four, five nights?
Some 50 miles of walking byfoot?
Why in the world are theyleaving Galilee?
Why in the world.
Are they leaving Judea?
Why are they leaving Jerusalemto go to where John the Baptist
(08:20):
is baptizing?
Here's why Because word ofmouth started to spread about
what God was doing and how hewas changing people's lives.
Can I get an amen?
We are so thankful for what Godis, even what he does in every
church, what he's doing aroundthe world.
We're so thankful for what he'sdoing in our church that last
(08:42):
year we had an increase in 2024,some 244% increase in baptisms
from the year before.
We're so thankful that 120 ofyou last year decided to join
our church and become a part ofour family and the move of God
here.
We're so thankful that we gotto see an increase in our
worship services, an increase inall of our groups, an increase
(09:02):
in our children's ministry anincrease across the board.
We an increase in ourchildren's ministry, an increase
across the board.
We're so thankful for all thatGod's doing, but I need you to
hear me say we are not a churchthat's all about the numbers.
See, we can share numbers andnot be a church about the
numbers.
What does a church aboutnumbers mean?
A church about numbers is achurch that's just excited
because the church is growing.
We're not trying to become amega church.
(09:24):
We want to be a missionalchurch.
Why do we share numbers?
Because we believe that everynumber has a name and every name
has a life and every life hasan eternity.
We're so thankful for what Godis doing.
In fact, did you know?
Every Monday afternoon when wehave staff meeting, we start
with one question.
The question is what is it thatyou see that God is doing in
(09:44):
the life of our church?
And over the past few Mondayswe were amazed.
We were amazed with the pastfew Mondays because we started
sharing and comparing notes andwe've had all these first-time
guests coming in and maybe someof those are you that have been
coming for your first time todayor maybe for the past few
Sundays and first first timeguests.
And we've asked how did Godbring you here?
(10:07):
And the number one answer thatwe've heard this year so far is
I don't know.
I was just driving by and Godtold me to come in.
I was just driving by and Godtold me to come in.
In other words, god is doing awork that we could never do.
We don't want people to comeand see what we're doing here.
We want people to come and seewhat God is doing here.
(10:28):
Can I get an amen?
Because what is happening isall about the Lord.
Also, in Mark 1, it says thatJohn the Baptist is a
fulfillment of Isaiah, chapter40, verse 3, which says the
voice of one crying in thewilderness prepare the way of
the Lord, make his path straight.
What was John doing?
(10:49):
He was just a voice.
John was just a voice used byGod that God was bringing people
to him so that God could makepaths straight, in other words,
that John could help them intheir way of coming to Jesus.
And that's all that God iscalling you to do.
God is just calling you to be avoice.
(11:10):
God is just calling you to makeit smooth, to straighten the
paths in order to come to Jesus.
Every time that you servesomebody, every time that you
pray for someone, every time youpray with someone, every time
that you encourage someone,every time that you share your
story, every time you share yourtestimony, every time you
invite them to church, everytime you share the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the story of Jesus, in their life, what are you
(11:33):
doing?
God is just using you as avoice in their life to make it
easier for Jesus in order tomake that connection with them.
In order to make thatconnection with them, god is
using you in the lives of others, and here's what we see in
Matthew 3, 14.
In Matthew 3, 14, john saidJohn said John would have
(11:53):
prevented Jesus, saying I needto be baptized by you.
John is like I don't wannabaptize you, I need to be
baptized by you In Jesus.
You come to me.
I can't blame John.
In fact, that word prevented itactually means that he refused
in that moment to baptize Jesus.
(12:14):
You know, when Jesus came onthe scene, all these people are
getting baptized, all thesepeople from Judea, all these
people from Jerusalem we'retalking probably hundreds, if
not thousands of people walkingall of these miles in order to
be baptized.
And out of this crowd, this seaof people in comes walking
Jesus.
The Bible says, when Jesus comeson the scene, that John stops
(12:35):
what he's doing and he looks athim and he says behold the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin ofthe world.
The Bible says that John wasJesus' cousin.
Now, I've never had a cousinsay that to me whenever I come
on the scene.
Right, behold the Lamb of God,the Son of God, god the Son.
My cousins would never say thatabout me because they know my
(12:56):
sin, and I sure would never saythat about them because we know
each other.
But the Bible even says thatthere was a time that John, as
the cousin of Jesus, did notrecognize him.
It doesn't mean that Johndidn't know who Jesus was as his
family.
It meant that John didn't knowwho Jesus is as the Messiah.
(13:18):
And there had to come a moment,even in the life of John the
Baptist, where he had to believein his own cousin, jesus of
Nazareth, as the son of God inorder to be saved.
And the same is true for youand the same is true for me.
And John had it right.
John said in John 1, 27,.
(13:39):
He said I am, I'm not evenworthy to untie his Jesus'
sandals.
That is what the servants woulddo when you walk into
somebody's house they woulduntie the sandal and take them
off for the person.
And John says I'm not evenworthy to be a servant of Jesus.
He goes on to say in John 1.30,.
(14:00):
He says that Jesus ranks beforeme.
In other words, what John wassaying was I am nothing.
Jesus is everything.
This is the heart of salvationwhen our life is not about what
we can do for Jesus, but ourheart, ultimately, first and
(14:21):
foremost, about what Jesus cando for us, what Jesus can do in
you, realizing that Jesus isabsolutely everything and we are
absolutely nothing without him.
Does your heart cry out, jesus,you rank before me.
You are everything.
I am nothing, jesus.
I am unworthy of you.
(14:42):
Jesus, I believe in you.
Jesus, you are the lamb of Godwho takes away the sin of the
world.
Does your heart cry out forJesus?
I can remember being in PigeonForge with my family several
years ago and my nephew, jaden,who's in his 20s now, in his
early 20s.
He was probably about eightyears old at the time and we
went into the Miracle Theater,which is a theater in Pigeon
(15:05):
Forge, where they would do allthese Bible stories, dramas,
plays, all this kind of stuffReally good.
It was great stuff.
I don't even know if it's stillthere, but we would go in and I
remember Jaden eight years oldand they were going through the
life of Jesus and it was thepart of Jesus' life where they
wanted to stone the adulterouswoman right for all of her sin,
but Jesus stopped the stoningand Jesus saved her and I still
(15:25):
remember that scene there inthat drama, in that play,
because out walks this woman,this adulterous woman, onto the
stage and they had her dressedlike an adulterous woman.
And I remember the theater wasjust quiet at the time,
everybody was watching the dramaand my little eight-year-old
nephew did not have an insidevoice, he only had an outside
(15:45):
voice.
And she walks on the stage andlittle eight-year-old nephew did
not have an inside voice, heonly had an outside voice.
And she walks on the stage andmy eight-year-old nephew says
mommy, I like that woman, that'sa beautiful woman.
Mommy, I like that woman.
Wow, she's pretty.
Mommy.
I look at my sister like whatkind of son are you raising here
in this house, goodnessgracious, what is wrong with
y'all?
And the play goes on and itcomes to the part of the play
where they're crucifying Jesus.
(16:06):
And I remember my littleeight-year-old nephew, jaden,
and he screams out in the middleof the crucifixion Mommy, why
are they hurting him, mommy?
Why are they killing him, mommy?
Why is he dying?
He didn't do anything wrong, hedidn't even sin.
(16:29):
That is the heart of salvation.
I just want to be clear and veryplain for the next few moments,
for those who are here, forthose who are watching online,
what is salvation?
In other words, why did Jesusget baptized?
You know, jesus did not getbaptized because he was a sinner
(16:49):
.
John was doing baptism forpeople confessing and repenting
of their sin.
Jesus had no sin to repent ofor to confess.
There were five reasons thatJesus got baptized.
You ever thought about this?
Reason number one Jesus gotbaptized because his father, god
the Father, called him to.
Number two, because the HolySpirit led him to.
Number three he wanted toidentify with all the Old
(17:09):
Testament people who have comebefore him.
In other words, they were inthe Jordan River, the same exact
river that God parted as theywere coming out of the Exodus,
out of the wilderness and intothe promised land.
And Jesus steps into the sameriver.
The Bible says that the OldTestament people of God were
(17:29):
baptized into the sea.
So Jesus is identifying withthe Old Testament people and
Jesus is identifying Luke,chapter 12, verse 50,.
Jesus says there's a baptismthat I must undergo, and he was
speaking of his crucifixion andhis death and his resurrection.
Jesus was identifying what hewas about to do for the people.
(17:50):
And also Jesus was identifyingwith you, because Jesus calls
each and every one of us to besaved and to be baptized and to
be baptized.
And what Jesus does for you, hedoes it for you so that you can
do it for him.
In other words, your heavenlyfather calls you to be saved and
(18:20):
baptized.
The Holy Spirit calls you to besaved and baptized.
You can identify with all thepeople of the past.
You can identify with Jesus inhis death and resurrection
through baptism.
Jesus says that he fulfilled allrighteousness.
What is the gospel?
What is salvation?
It is not how good you can getor how good you can be for God.
(18:43):
It is not you being sorighteous that then God will
love you, then God will acceptyou, then God will forgive you,
then God will save you.
It is not you doing anythingfor God.
It is everything that God doesfor you through his son, jesus
Christ.
Can I get an amen?
The Bible says that Jesus neversinned.
(19:04):
The Bible says that everythingJesus did was to fulfill all
righteousness, to fulfill thelaw of God.
Why did Jesus have to do that?
Because Jesus had to go to thecross on your behalf and to take
on my sin and to take on yoursin.
(19:25):
The Bible says that he not onlybore our sin.
The Bible says that heliterally became our sin and he
had to go to the cross as aperfect, acceptable, appropriate
sacrifice, so that he could payfor your sin, my sin, the sin
of the whole world, so that theheavenly Father would accept us.
(19:48):
He would save us through theblood of Jesus Christ.
In other words, 2 Corinthians5.21 says for our sake, god made
Jesus to be sin Jesus who knewno sin, so that in Jesus we
might become the righteousnessof God.
In other words, the only thingwe bring to our salvation is our
(20:11):
sin, and what he brings to usfrom our salvation is his
righteousness.
In other words, god desperatelyloves you and because God
desperately loves you, he senthis son, whom he loves, his
beloved son, to the cross to diefor your sin.
(20:33):
And Jesus rose from the dead sothat when you believe in him,
when you place your faith uponhim, the Bible says you will be
saved.
I don't do this ever, but Iwanna stop right now, mid-sermon
.
I believe that God is workingin someone's heart.
Can we just bow our heads andclose our eyes for a moment?
(20:55):
I don't wanna go any furtherwithout giving you an
opportunity to give your life toJesus.
Maybe you're here right now andyou've never been biblically
saved, that you've never fullytrusted in Jesus for your
salvation, that you alwaysthought maybe it was all on you
or a little of you and a littleof him.
(21:16):
It's none of you and it's allof him.
And so I want to pray right nowand give you an opportunity.
I can't save you, I can't praythis prayer for you, but you can
say it in your own words, fromyour own heart to God, and you
can say something like thisright here God, I believe in you
and I need Jesus.
God, I believe in you and Ineed Jesus.
(21:38):
And I believe that Jesus diedon the cross for my sin and I
ask you to forgive me of all mysin.
And I believe that Jesus rosefrom the dead and I wanna turn
from my sin and I wanna turn andfollow him because he's alive
and he's real.
And the Bible says in Romans 10, nine that if you confess with
(21:58):
your mouth that Jesus is Lordand believe with your heart that
God raised him from the dead,you will be saved.
So call on Jesus right now.
Jesus, be my Lord, be my God,be my savior, and the Bible
promises that he will save youand you will always be saved and
you can't lose your salvationand you will have a relationship
with him on earth and you willhave a home with him in heaven.
(22:20):
We believe that and we praythat in Jesus' name.
And all God's people said putyour hands together for anybody
that just gave their life toJesus.
We just want to say welcome tothe family.
Nothing is more important inthis moment than your salvation.
But don't get it wrong, thesermon's not over.
Here we go.
So we want you to know, we wantyou to know here that in
(22:41):
Matthew 3, 16, it says and whenJesus was baptized, immediately
he went up from the water.
All throughout scripture.
When people get saved by Jesus,they get baptized right
immediately, right away.
In other words, here's what wesee.
Baptism is our first step ofobedience after our salvation.
(23:03):
You might wonder, well, butPastor Chip, I've been saved for
a long time.
Well then, I would justencourage you be faithful, be
obedient and get baptized.
We see the word baptize.
Actually, the Greek word isbaptizo.
It means immerse or to submerge.
It means to go under the water.
Why is it that we go under thewater for our baptism.
When you go under the water,you are signifying, you're
(23:24):
making a public profession thatI believe that Jesus died for my
sin.
When you come out of the water,then you're saying that I
believe that Jesus rose from thedead.
You are giving a publicprofession of faith with your
faith in the gospel.
So as a pastor, I've had so manypeople ask me these questions
when should I get baptized?
I want to encourage you to getbaptized, not to be saved, but
(23:47):
because you are saved.
In other words, baptism doesn'tsave you.
We get baptized because of oursalvation, as a public
profession that we've been saved.
Another way to say it is I wantto encourage you to not get
baptized before you're saved,but after you're saved.
Some people think the Bibleteaches that you get baptized
(24:08):
before you're saved because itkind of washes away your sin so
you can be saved later.
That is not what the Bibleteaches.
Every time someone gets savedin the Bible, they're getting
saved.
They're getting baptized excuseme after their salvation.
Why?
Because baptism is your publicprofession of faith.
How should I be baptized?
(24:28):
So many people have asked me.
I would encourage you that theBible says the Bible never talks
about sprinkling for yourbaptism Not one time.
If I'm wrong, show me.
But the Bible never talks aboutsprinkling for your baptism.
Not one time.
If I'm wrong, show me.
But the Bible never talks aboutsprinkling for your baptism.
The Bible talks about baptizoto be submerged, to be immersed.
Why?
Because baptism is a picture ofJesus's death and resurrection.
(24:50):
So my question for you today ishave you been baptized not for
your salvation, but because ofyour salvation?
Have you been baptized notbefore your salvation, but
biblically baptized after yoursalvation?
Have you been biblicallybaptized by immersion, by going
under the water and coming backup?
(25:12):
Because that's the way that Godcalls us to get baptized.
I've heard it explained baptismis like a wedding ring.
Just because you wear a weddingring doesn't mean that you're
married.
Just because I wear my weddingring doesn't mean that this ring
helps me to love my wife more.
This ring helps me to be morefaithful to her.
(25:33):
This ring does anything magicalor loving whatsoever.
No, this ring is just a sign toeverybody that I am married to.
Michelle Marie Dean.
I heard a pastor say it this waythe reason I wear a wedding
ring is for you to know youcan't have this right.
The reason you wear thatwedding ring is because no one
else can have you beside yourspouse.
(25:55):
In the same way, when you getbaptized, you're saying devil,
you can't have me, world youcan't have me, sin you can't
have me.
I belong to Jesus and ourbaptism doesn't make us saved.
Our baptism is a sign that wehave been saved, but here's what
we see next, what happens inJesus' baptism story.
(26:18):
This is the last two verses.
Here we see spirit baptism.
Everybody say spirit, spirit.
This is the Holy Spirit, spiritbaptism, matthew 3, the last
part of 16.
And behold, the heavens wereopened to Jesus.
Could you imagine being there?
The heavens were opened,meaning God, the Father himself,
opened the heavens so thateveryone standing there, from
(26:40):
Judea, from Jerusalem, wouldhave a glimpse, a vision into
heaven.
Did you know that when you getsaved, god gives you a spiritual
glimpse, a spiritual vision ofheaven, that you desire to live
for eternal life and not justfor your earthly life, that you
(27:02):
don't treasure the things onearth, you treasure the things
that await you in heaven andthat you see the rest of your
life as your opportunity to seemore people saved because of
your life, because that you arelonging for and you are awaiting
heaven.
That's how God opens theheavens to us spiritually, but
here, physically.
The heavens were open to himand he saw the spirit of God,
(27:26):
the Holy Spirit, descending likea dove and coming down to rest
upon him.
You ever wondered why a doveCould have said a lot of things,
right?
Could have been an eagle andthey could have been singing
Sweet Home, alabama while theeagle came down, or whatever,
right?
There could have been so manydifferent things that have
happened.
(27:47):
But in Genesis, chapter eight,verse 11, it was a dove you ever
thought about this that broughtback the olive branch to the
ark, signifying the judgment ofGod is over, the salvation of
God is here, new humanity hasbegun.
In other words, when we getsaved in Jesus, we're saying
(28:09):
that God's judgment is no longerupon our life, that now we have
the peace of God in our life,peace with God in our life,
peace with God in our life, andwe are a new creation.
The Bible says, in other words,1 Corinthians 12, verse 13.
You ever notice this?
It says for in one spirit wewere all baptized into one body,
(28:32):
jews or Greeks, slaves or free,and all were made to drink of
one spirit.
In other words, when you getsaved.
The Bible says this that you,in the moment, the instant that
you give your life to Jesus, youmake him the Lord of your life.
In that instant you arebaptized with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit fills you, theHoly Spirit dwells in you, the
(28:56):
Holy Spirit rests upon you.
Why does the Holy Spirit do that?
Because the Holy Spirit is thepower of Jesus in you.
When you get the Holy Spirit,he fills you, he guides you, he
convicts you, he seals you, hesanctifies you, he empowers you,
he teaches you, he reminds you,he counsels you, he comforts
you and he assures you.
(29:16):
Put your hands together for allthe Holy Spirit does in you and
in your life.
So when you get saved, you getindwelled with the Holy Spirit.
But the Bible says that youneed to continually be filled.
Why?
Because you leak, because Ileak, because when we sin, we're
leaking the Holy Spirit, we'regetting filled with sin and we
(29:38):
need to constantly be filledwith the Holy Spirit.
How do you get filled?
Constantly?
Continue with the Holy Spirit bythe word of God, by worshiping
Jesus with your church, bygetting together in groups and
communities, like these Biblestudies, these groups, these
Sunday schools that we.
Do you ever been to a group anddo a Sunday school?
And you didn.
These Bible studies, thesegroups, these Sunday schools
that we do you ever been to agroup and do a Sunday school and
you didn't wanna go?
(30:00):
But when you left you didn'twant it to end.
Why?
Because the Holy Spirit isfilling you.
You ever not wanted to serve inyour church and use the gifts
that God has given you, but whenyou do, you wondered why you
never did it before.
Why?
Because the Holy Spirit isfilling you.
You ever not wanted to shareyour faith with someone, but
(30:21):
when you do, because the Lord,god, calls you to, and you feel
so good after you wanna findsomebody and do it again.
Why?
Because the Holy Spirit isfilling you.
See, the more that you subjectyourself to God, the more he
fills you with his spirit.
It's kinda like when you getfilled with protein, you get
muscle.
When you get filled with carbs,you get energy.
(30:41):
When you get filled with fat,you get fat.
When you get filled with beans,you get gas.
But when you get filled, butwhen you get filled with the
Holy Spirit, you get filled withJesus, and Jesus does a work in
your life that no one can undo.
I want you to see this when weget saved, we get baptized with
the Holy Spirit, and that's whywe get baptized with water later
(31:05):
, because we're saying I've nowbeen baptized with the Spirit, I
believe that Jesus has died formy sin.
I believe that Jesus risen fromthe dead.
He said we were baptized intoone body, the body of Christ,
and that's why the Bible teachesthat you should be a member of
a church, that you should jointhe church that you're a part of
.
Why?
Because you're already made apart of the body of Christ, and
(31:27):
so God calls us to becomemembers of a body of Christ, a
member of the church.
And that's why we do thingslike our Next Step Lunches.
On February, the 2nd, we've gota Next Step Lunch at noon,
right behind this wall, in ourfellowship hall.
It's a free lunch with freechildcare.
It only lasts for an hour andyou'll be able to learn what all
(31:47):
God is doing here and all theopportunities that God has for
you.
And maybe God is calling you tobecome a part of our church.
Maybe God is calling you tojoin, to be a part of one of our
groups, to serve, or whateverit might be.
But here's what I need you tohear me say as your pastor, I
want you to do what the HolySpirit is leading you to do.
(32:09):
When the Holy Spirit is leadingyou to do it, I do not want you
to feel any pressure.
I do not want you to feelrushed.
I never want you to feel forced.
I never want you to feelmanipulated.
I never want you to feel shamedinto anything, because I know
that there are many of you herethat are coming out of church
(32:31):
hurt and I need you to hear mesay I believe that God is
calling First Baptist PowderSprings to be a place of healing
.
I believe that God is callingFirst Baptist Church, powder
Springs to be a place wherepeople can come and you can rest
in Christ and you don't feelthe pressure to serve in that
(32:53):
season.
You don't feel the pressure todo anything in that season
besides God healing you and hewill let you know when it's time
.
He will let you know when it'shis time in your life to do what
he is calling you to do.
Because this is what we see whenJesus is baptized the heavens
are open, the spirit rests onhim like a dove.
(33:15):
The Bible says and behold, canyou imagine being there?
Behold, a voice from heavensaid this is my beloved son, in
whom I'm well pleased.
In other words, god shows hislove for Jesus.
And if you are in Jesus, thenGod loves you too.
That Jesus is God's son, andwhen you give your life to Jesus
(33:37):
, you become a son and youbecome a daughter of God too.
That God is pleased in Jesus.
And when you give your life toJesus, no matter what you've
done, no matter what you do,that God is pleased in you
because you are in Jesus Christ.
(33:59):
Here, in the baptism of Jesus,we see the Trinity.
In the Trinity, we see the aweof God, because we could never
fully understand God and so,therefore, we just can't help
but worship God.
In the Trinity, we seesalvation and all that took for
the Trinity in order to save us.
And we see, in the baptism ofJesus, the Trinity.
In the Trinity, we seecommunity and we see love,
(34:20):
father, son and Holy Spirit.
God himself is the community.
They love one another inperfect community together, and
they are one God as the triuneGod.
In the same way he created youand I to need and to grow in
community, to grow in love withone another.
We see in the Trinity.
We see unity in diversity.
(34:40):
The Father's not the Son, theSon's not the Spirit, the
Spirit's not the Father.
We see this diversity withinthe Godhead, diversity of role
and even of function, but yetthey're all perfectly unified as
God.
In other words, god is mostglorified when his church is
diversified in finding theirunity in Jesus.
(35:01):
We don't find our unity in me.
It's okay that you disagreewith me.
I don't agree with me all thetime, it's okay.
We don't find our unity in oneanother.
We don't find our unity in ourlove in one another.
(35:22):
We don't find our unity in ourlove.
We find our unity in Jesus.
We all agree upon Jesus, we allagree upon his love, and that's
why God is glorified when thereare different ethnicities that
are coming together to worshiphim, just like it says in
Revelation, chapter seven, thatevery tribe, every tongue, every
language, every nation will bewrapped around the throne
worshiping Jesus.
And we don't have to wait toexperience that until we get
there.
We get to experience that here,now, today.
(35:44):
Can I get an amen?
We see the holiness of God inthe obedience, the perfect
obedience, of Jesus, and theseare all signs of the evidence
that the spirit of God is withinyou.
I love someone who asked thequestion what would it take in
order for the devil to get to meand take my salvation from me?
(36:05):
The best I've heard itexplained what it would take is
first of all, you need to knowthat you've been dipped in the
blood of Jesus.
The Bible says that you've beendipped in his blood.
The Bible says that the hand ofthe Holy Father is around you
and holds you.
The Bible says that you are.
Then the hand of the heavenlyFather is sealed with the Holy
(36:28):
Spirit.
The Spirit of God is wrappedaround him.
In other words, in order forthe devil to get you to take
your salvation, he would have tounwrap the Holy Spirit from the
hand of the Father.
And if he could unwrap the HolySpirit from the hand of the
Father, he would have to pryopen, be able to pry open the
hand of the Father, finger byfinger, just to get to you.
And then, even if the devil wasable to open up the hand of the
(36:49):
Father, the devil would have todip into the blood of Jesus
just to get to you, just to getto you.
And if the devil ever dove inthe blood of Jesus, he'd be a
saved devil.
In other words, you're saved.
If you are truly saved, you aresaved for all of eternity.
And God has baptized you withhis spirit so that you can live
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your life for Jesus.
And lastly, and I'm done, wetalked about Jesus' baptism and
spirit baptism.
I wanna talk about your baptism.
Everybody say your, yourbaptism.
We see very quickly differentbaptisms in the Bible.
The Ethiopian eunuch he was ahigh-ranking official who was
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searching for truth because hehad such success in his life,
but yet he was still so empty.
A man by the name of Philip,filled with the Holy Spirit,
came to the Ethiopian eunuch,shared the gospel with him and
he was saved.
And he immediately right there.
They saw water and he gotbaptized.
Saul Saul was a man you knowthat saw water and he got
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baptized.
Saul Saul was a man, you know,that persecuted the church.
He hurt the church.
And when Peter came to him andshared the gospel with him and
Saul got saved, he went fromhurting the church to helping
the church.
Cornelius Cornelius was a Romancenturion, a high-ranking
official of the military.
He was known as a religious manwho believed in God, but he
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didn't yet believe in Jesus.
Peter went to Cornelius,showing us that, no matter what
our background or what ourstatus is, god loves us and he
wants to save us.
The Holy Spirit spoke toCornelius and to his family and
they all he and his family gotsaved and baptized.
Lydia, she, was a successfulbusinesswoman.
She was known as a worshiper ofGod but did not yet believe in
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Jesus.
The story of Lydia shows usthat we can be successful and we
can be spiritual, but that doesnot mean that we're saved.
God opened up Lydia's heart.
She believed in Jesus and herwhole family ended up in Jesus
and her whole family ended upbelieving and her whole family
ended up getting baptized.
But maybe my favorite was thePhilippian jailer.
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The Philippian jailer, the manwho guarded Paul and Silas in
prison as they would sing theseworship songs, as they were
incarcerated and shackled andleft for dead.
God sends an earthquake and itopens up all the cells, but Paul
(39:25):
and Silas know that if theyleave, the Philippian jailer is
killed.
Out of love for the jailer,they stay, and he was so
impacted by their love for himthat he gave his life to Jesus,
(39:49):
who they were singing about allalong, and the Bible says that
he got saved, his familybelieved and they all get saved.
In other words, your decisionmay not just be your decision.
Your decision will impact andwill influence others in their
(40:10):
decision for Jesus, just likeyour decision for Jesus.
Next Sunday we're having BaptismSunday and in Baptism Sunday,
next Sunday it is for anybodythat has been saved that needs
to get baptized.
You might be thinking well,pastor Chip, I can't get
baptized.
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I have a disability.
I baptized my four-year-olddaughter with cerebral palsy
just this past year.
We have people that can helpyou and we can do it together.
Maybe you're online or you knowsomeone that is homebound.
You're thinking I can't getbaptized because I can't get to
church.
I'll never forget the day I gotto go to a 94-year-old lady's
house who was bedridden.
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Four of us picked her up by thecorners of her sheet, walked
her over to her garden tub,dipped her down, put her back on
her bed, all because she hadnever been baptized.
She had been saved and shewanted to follow the Lord Jesus
in baptism.
We've had so many dads getbaptized over this past year and
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turn around right then, rightthere, and baptize their kids
who had gotten saved.
We had a grandma get baptizedin our church this past year and
she had five generations of herfamily that came to watch her
get baptized here at FirstBaptist.
In all my years of preaching andpastoring, I've heard a lot of
different excuses of why not toget baptized.
I've heard, well, I've heardpeople say I don't think it's
(41:33):
important.
If it's important for Jesus toget baptized, it's important for
you to get baptized.
Some people have said well, I'mscared of water.
Our church is 183 years old andwe've not drowned one person,
not one.
You're gonna be okay.
I've heard people say well, myfamily doesn't go to that church
, it will be online.
We'll you hand us your cellphone, we'll record it for you
(41:56):
and text it to them so they canexperience it as well.
You might think to yourself well, I don't have a change of
clothes and I had a bag up here,but it's oh, here it is, it's
behind me.
You might think to yourselfwell, I don't have a change.
We're gonna supply everybodywith a t-shirt.
I want you to know that.
We're gonna supply everybodywith some shorts and we're gonna
have sizes that will fiteverybody, and nobody's business
is gonna.
We even got some underwear foryou and nobody's business ever
(42:19):
been in this underwear righthere, ladies, you might be
thinking I just got my hair done.
Well, guess what?
We got some hair caps foreverybody right there.
Okay, so you can make sure andwear your hair cap, because we
wanna make sure that everybodyhas an opportunity to be
baptized in order to obey theLord Jesus.
You might be thinking toyourself well, what will people
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think?
I'll tell you what.
People think that you love Godand you wanna follow him.
You might be thinking toyourself well, I want the water
to be clean.
Jesus got baptized in the muddyJordan River for you.
You might be thinking well,I'll ride with somebody.
They'll wait for you, and ifthey don't wait for you, they
need to be saved and baptized.
You might be thinking I wantsomeone to come with me.
(43:02):
Well, you make sure and bring afriend, bring a family member,
bring your whole row with you,and we are with you in your
decision for Jesus.
You might be thinking well, Iwas baptized as a baby.
Do you know?
There are 27 baptisms in thebook of Acts and every single
one of them happened after theperson got saved.
You might be thinking I don'twant to shame my parents, they
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won't be ashamed of you, they'llbe proud of you.
You might be thinking well,I'll be embarrassed to be wet in
front of everybody.
Jesus got baptized in front ofa massive crowd, for your sake.
You might be thinking toyourself I've not prayed about
it.
The things that God hascommanded you don't have to pray
about you, just do it.
You might be thinking I'm athome, we'll come to your home,
(43:49):
or you can come here next Sundayand we would love the honor to
be able to baptize you in yourwalk with Jesus.
But you might be thinking thelast one, I can't be baptized
because I haven't been saved.
And maybe you held off in thatlast opportunity to be saved.
But you matter so much to usbecause you matter so much to
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God.
There is nothing more importantin this moment than your
salvation, your relationshipwith God, your eternity with him
, with every head bowed andevery eye closed.
If that's you this morning andyou have not fully and finally
(44:35):
and forever given your life toGod, he wants you to know that
today can be the day of yoursalvation.
Right here, right now, you canpray to him in your own words.
You can just say God, I loveyou, I need you.
I believe in you.
From your own heart and yourown words you can say God, I
(45:00):
believe in your son, jesusChrist.
I believe that he died for mysin.
So, god, I ask you to forgiveme of all of my sin.
I believe that Jesus rose fromthe dead.
And, god, I turn away from mysin and I turn and I give my
life to Jesus.
(45:21):
The Bible says in Romans 10,nine that if you confess with
your mouth that Jesus Lord,believe with your heart that God
raised him from the dead, youwill be saved.
Call on Jesus right now.
Jesus, be the Lord of my life,be my God, be my Savior, be my
everything.
God, we believe that.
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We thank you for that promise,we thank you for that truth and
we thank you for every singleperson that prayed that this
morning.
We praise you, we pray thesethings in Jesus' name and all
God's people said one more timelet's put our hands together for
anybody that gave their life toJesus, the most important thing
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that could ever happen on aSunday or any day.
And if that's you, I just wantyou to know.
We've got a next step card therein front of your chair.
If you, if God is moving inyour heart, in your life, online
or here present, and you wannabe baptized.
God is leading you to getbaptized next Sunday.
I want you to take a next stepcard.
I want you to put yourinformation on it.
(46:23):
I want you to come and bring itto me, bring it to Pastor James
, take it to our next stepstation, or you call the church
office this week, or maybe youemail us.
You just reach out to us in anyway and we will be ready for
you, and I can't wait to see allthat God is gonna do in your
life.
In an hour church, let's standtogether.
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We're gonna sing, we're gonnaworship him.
I wanna pray one more time andwe'll worship the Lord Jesus
once more.
Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, and we'll worship the Lord
Jesus once more.
Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, god, I just pray that your
spirit would move, your wordwould speak to us and, god, that
you would have our way, that wewould take our next step in our
(47:05):
walk and journey with Jesus.
God, we love you and we worshipyou and we pray these things in
Jesus' name.
And all God's people said
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