[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so a couple of things, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So last week was Easter.
[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you are here for your Easter celebration?
[SPEAKER_00]: Or you went to a church for Easter service there?
[SPEAKER_00]: Big week, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, like it's statistically speaking, Easter is the biggest Sunday of the year.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to get everybody's out there, right, your friends, your family, your neighbors, all that stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you were here last week, you know, we had like, I don't know, an extra double of the seats what we have here today.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of a packed sanctuary.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's awesome feel.
[SPEAKER_00]: though the room's full right, the worship's loud, messages good right, and then there's this stirring.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know if you feel it, sometimes Sam mentioned it last week that sometimes we grow.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what the word is, but like, we just, we hear the same message all the time, and it's just kind of like, okay, yeah, I know.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we don't really think and consider it, and we stop though on Easter Sunday to consider the death, burial, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as we consider it,
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe last week, or hopefully even today, that God will stir something inside of you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you've felt God stir up your heart, maybe for some of you last Sunday, it was the first time in a long time that God stirred something up in you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're like, man, I feel like God's, he's working in my life again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe for some of you, it's the first time ever that you felt like, man, I think God does love me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he has a plan for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you heard these things.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then though after the Sunday happens, Monday comes,
[SPEAKER_00]: and you go back to work or whatever your normal Monday might look like and you go to your routine and the problems and stresses of life coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: It kind of drowns out that stirring of God's spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you've experienced this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've experienced this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll just be honest and vulnerable with you guys, but you're not alone if you've experienced this, but then life happens.
[SPEAKER_00]: But here's the thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: God starts to stir something up in you and I think many of us, we might not vocalize this question out loud like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when we hear the gospel message, we're like, okay, I believe
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe that Jesus is God, that He became a man, that He came down to live a life that I couldn't live and He died from my sins on the cross and that He's buried in the grave in three days later.
[SPEAKER_00]: He rose from the grave just as He said, I believe that in some of you, you hear that you receive that, but then the question comes, well, now what?
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's my message titled today, it's kind of a sequel from last week and it's going to be kind of our on-ramp for where we're going next.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to go to the book of Acts, starting next Sunday, verse by verse chapter by chapter.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to look at the early church, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the question is, again, I believe in Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe he loves me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe he died for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now what do I do?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know if you've had that question or you've ever thought that deeply, but sometimes it's like, what's the next step?
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're like, okay, maybe it's go to church and that's part of it for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: But today we're going to look at what we do next.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now what?
[SPEAKER_00]: But before we get to the now what, I just want to make sure we're all on the same page and we're going to talk about the gospel message.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Many of you have heard the gospel your whole life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody grow up in church?
[SPEAKER_00]: I grew up in church.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so when I was 10 years old, I could tell you the gospel message.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't know all of what it meant or how it would apply to my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: For anyone else's life, I'm like, okay, Jesus is God and He died for my sins and He rose on a third day.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if anyone believes in Him, they'll be saved.
[SPEAKER_00]: We get kind of drowned out by life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes as we grow in life too, the gospel message gets watered down by some of our thoughts, our feelings, some of the things other people say to us and we're like, and then we get this watered down, half baked gospel message.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so before we get to the, I believe, now what?
[SPEAKER_00]: I just wanna make sure we understand it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So number one, if you take notes today, I wanna tell you, is like, you were made for the gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what I mean by this is you're made for a relationship with God.
[SPEAKER_00]: His name is Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: He loves you and He died for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: This might seem super simple and today You're like Nick I know this man like I got it, but this is something we can't look past You were made for this right before there was sin you got understand before there was sin before the cross before the resurrection
[SPEAKER_00]: There was perfect unity between God and man in the garden.
[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you know this story, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: We're talking Genesis 1, 2, and 3, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: There was perfect relationship there.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was in that garden God did something.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when he created everything, if you know the creation account, he speaks, says, let there be light and there was light.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he says, hey, let there be stars in the moon and all these things and let the earth give forth vegetation, but when he got to mankind, he did something different.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we pass over this.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't notice this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm studying this right now in schools called the theology of humanity, just a fancy way of the relationship between God and man.
[SPEAKER_00]: But God did something special.
[SPEAKER_00]: When he made man, when he made Adam, it says that he formed him out of the dust of the ground.
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't just speak life and Adam poof came out of nowhere, like everything else.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, he formed him intentionally, and then it says that he breathe the breath of life into Adam.
[SPEAKER_00]: He brought him to life.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a special
[SPEAKER_00]: A special attribute, if you will, to humanity, that no other part of creation has.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what this is called, like, theologically speaking, it's that God made man in his image, and it's called, a Mago Day.
[SPEAKER_00]: Have anyone heard that word before?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's Latin for the image of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a big thing in the theology world, but it's like, well, I've got to use such big words.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't would just say image of God, you know,
[SPEAKER_00]: That's besides the point, but Genesis 1, 27 tells us that God created man in his own image in the image of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: He created them male and female.
[SPEAKER_00]: He created them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, this is the emagoday, the image of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we got to understand it.
[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't just a cool phrase or just some cool thing to think about.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the truth of who we are.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Who you are?
[SPEAKER_00]: You are the image of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Scripture says that you are the crowning glory of all creation.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's something different about humanity than say animals, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: You love your dogs and cats and I get that, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, but there's something different.
[SPEAKER_00]: about humanity.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's intentional.
[SPEAKER_00]: God created that way.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't want us to just get past this because you got to understand you and me, anyone, you are not an accident.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Your parents are like, oh, you were surprised.
[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't plan you and you're like, well, and what's my purpose?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you might think these things, but God didn't mess up when he made you.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not a random collection of atoms and different things that just happened to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: God designed you intentionally, and he designed you in the image of himself and to reflect him, to have a relationship with him, and that's what we're going to look at here just for a few moments.
[SPEAKER_00]: In Genesis chapter 2, we won't look at it super deep, but there's a glimpse of what this looked like before sin entered the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we see what it looked like before everything went wrong, Adam and Eve, they did what they shouldn't do, but God and humanity, Adam and Eve, they're walking together with God in the garden.
[SPEAKER_00]: Things were good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, God even said things are very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, and just imagine if we could go back to that, we're like, man, if we could just have that.
[SPEAKER_00]: How many of you wake up in the morning?
[SPEAKER_00]: You look at the world, the state of the world, in your life, and things are very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, we're so much like, oh, man, like the Lord come quick, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes that's how we feel, but back then, like, went before sin, there was no distance between God and man.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was no hiding from God, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just full, open, unbroken, unashamed, relationship between God, the Creator, and humanity, who has made in his image.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is what you and I were made for.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just to have a good life, or try to be a decent person, writer, or trying to make it to heaven when we die.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, obviously, we want to go there.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you and I, most importantly,
[SPEAKER_00]: a relationship with our Creator.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the whole thing there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then something happened, you guys know what it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's sin entered the picture.
[SPEAKER_00]: Something went wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: And sin is just, it's bigger than bad behavior.
[SPEAKER_00]: I were like, oh man, you've been bad at him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Go sit in the corner, time out, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And you might think something like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But sin is much bigger than that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Genesis chapter three, Satan comes on the scene.
[SPEAKER_00]: He deceives Eve, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, God just does, he's holding out on you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So just have the fruit.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not going to die.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he says you're going to die.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Eve takes the fruit, gives to her husband.
[SPEAKER_00]: He eats of the fruit.
[SPEAKER_00]: They do what they should not do and sin enters into the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what we need to note to important for our context is after sin enters the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: God comes walking in the garden, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: You can just think of it as like it's the next day.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, hey, they have their God and man, have their little dinner together.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what it might look like, but walking together and God comes in and he's looking for Adam and Eve.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for the first time in human history, we see humanity hiding from their creator.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're hiding in the bushes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the picture of sin, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's severed the relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: All of a sudden, we feel shame.
[SPEAKER_00]: All of a sudden, we want to hide ourselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, all of a sudden, we don't want to approach God, because we know that He's holy.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then there's this break in the relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: And sin, severes that relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we see that in Genesis chapter 3, and they start to hide from God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is what we've been,
[SPEAKER_00]: Living in ever sense, maybe some of you can relate.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, I don't want to go to church because I mean, God's gonna meet me there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard a lot of people, one of my friends, him and his girlfriend, they came last week, but he told me once, it was just school, it made my day, that was my highlight of Easter Sunday, it was my friends came, they don't necessarily believe in God and Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: But they said if I go into church like I'm gonna basically I'm gonna burn up or I'm gonna die Right because I'm such a bad person right if you ever heard anyone say that or if you said that yourself Right some people like they want to hide cuz I don't want to go to church I'm gonna feel convicted cuz I know God's gonna meet me there And he's gonna stir something in my heart, but that's the fact is that we're we're sinners And because we're sinners we want to try to keep a distance between us and God But I want to tell you that's not how it should be
[SPEAKER_00]: But Scripture tells us about sin, Romans 3, 23 says, all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Romans 6, 23 tells us the wages of sin is death, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just physical death, but it's spiritual death, and maybe we could even more importantly, it's relational death between the relationship between us and our Creator, between that relationship that we were made to walk in.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, as you go in life, right, if you feel like a void, a restlessness, and you're just striving after things, and now I don't feel fulfilled, and nothing's working, nothing satisfying.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll remind you of what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, because he tried it all, and he said it's what?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all vanity, meaningless, the chasing after the wind, like, well, it's surely more money would satisfy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Solomon's like, no, I have way more money than you will ever have in its vanity.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, surely another relationship with Sass.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if I just find the right person in Solomon's, like I had 900 relationships.
[SPEAKER_00]: not the thing, at the end of He says, hey, fear God and keep His commandments.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the thing, the relationship with God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so again, we're created for this relationship, but sin comes in, breaks that relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the bad news.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know if you look at it like I do, but like it's pretty bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, man, what we were created for, we cannot attain because there's a gap.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's sin in the way, but thanks be to God where we talked about last week and the week before Jesus came in.
[SPEAKER_00]: to do what we couldn't do, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus comes in and this isn't about a religion or any of that, but this is about, it's a rescue mission, really is what Jesus was on.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, when we talk about the gospel, we need to be clear, and I think one way to make it clear is talk about what the gospel is not.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: With the gospel is not, it's not try harder.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you, you've tried it, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Now try to be a good person.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to do the right things, but I just can't do it or I keep failing, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: The gospel is not try harder to be a better person.
[SPEAKER_00]: The gospel is not clean yourself up first, then maybe God will accept you.
[SPEAKER_00]: You got to understand so many people will stand far off and they're like, well, I got so much mess in my life and once I clean myself up, then I'll come to church, then I'll start to serve and I'll start to live for God.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not the gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: The gospel is come as you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: The gospel is not doing enough good things to outweigh the bad things.
[SPEAKER_00]: And hopefully, in the end, that it works out in your favor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's religion.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's legalism.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's the thing, religion, legalism never saved anybody and it never will.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Only Jesus can save.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what the gospel is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is the gospel is that God looked at our broken relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: between himself and humanity.
[SPEAKER_00]: Man, I made these people in my image to bear my name, to be a representative to rule and all the stuff of the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: It gives them, says Dominion, overall of the creatures and creation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I made them in my image.
[SPEAKER_00]: but it's a broken relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he comes in, Jesus, fully God, fully man, comes into the world, does what Adam couldn't do.
[SPEAKER_00]: He lived the perfect life and perfect obedience.
[SPEAKER_00]: He faced scripture tells us, he faced every temptation and you and I face, because you're like, well, that's easy for him, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's God and you surely wasn't tempted.
[SPEAKER_00]: He priced stacked the odds in his favor.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, scripture says he was tempted just like us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yet, he was without sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Jesus does what we couldn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: He stands where Adam failed.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Romans 5 Paul literally says that Jesus is the second Adam.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the one who comes to undo what the first Adam broke.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus, he just like Adam in the garden at the end before Jesus crucified Jesus in the garden.
[SPEAKER_00]: restoring things, restoring our God-given, God-made purpose that we could, again, be created in His image.
[SPEAKER_00]: That we could have a relationship with God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Jesus takes our sin upon the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, the wages of sin is death.
[SPEAKER_00]: That means there's a bill to be paid.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a tab, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus is like, if we receive him, we believe in him, Jesus, like, all right, they're bills, I got it.
[SPEAKER_00]: put it on my tab, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you don't believe in Jesus, well, and that's yours to pay.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, the wages of sin is death, but thanks be to God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus did it for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: He absorbed our sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: He took our sin upon the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: He bore our shame, he humiliated all that and he died in our place.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as we saw last week though, he died, but he didn't stay dead.
[SPEAKER_00]: Three days later, just like he said, he came out of the out of the grave and the resurrection.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the proof that the payment was not only made, but the payment accepted.
[SPEAKER_00]: rights like your debt has been paid and now he's alive again, it's like, okay, we're forgiven and now we have a promise of not just eternal life, but now we have a promise of like we can have a relationship with our creator again, and that's the beauty of this, and it was all done by Jesus blood on the cross, by his death on the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: John 3, 16, probably the most simple gospel verse that you could memorize here, but for God so love the world that he gave his only son.
[SPEAKER_00]: that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life, everlasting life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just want to make sure we understand that and hear that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you've never heard the gospel.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you weren't here last week or the week before tuning in online.
[SPEAKER_00]: But understand, God made you for a relationship with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that is your number one purpose.
[SPEAKER_00]: But sin has made it, so our relationship is severed.
[SPEAKER_00]: And many of us were like Adam and Eve hiding in the bushes and we don't want to be seen and we don't want people to know what we've done and we surely don't want to approach God because I mean he knows everything and I've sinned against him but the good news is that Jesus has come to make that relationship whole by what he's done.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, you might hear these, this and you understand it intellectually, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I hear it, I get what you're saying, and you're like, okay, I believe a bit, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But then there's also
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe some of you've been there and I've been here too, where you believe, but you still have some doubts.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have some questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I've heard some things, Nick.
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw on TikTok something about, you know, I mean, the TikTok theology is not necessarily good theology, by the way.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not that there's not good people out there.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're out there now, and this is hopefully good theology.
[SPEAKER_00]: But anyways.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you might have some doubts in your mind, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe, but I got questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got some doubts.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to be sure, but I'm not fully sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: And let me tell you something, is that if that's where you're at right now, it's like being honest with like, hey, I believe, but I don't, I just, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that's honestly more honest than most people.
[SPEAKER_00]: Most people come into church.
[SPEAKER_00]: They put on a front, like, I got it all together.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got all the answers, but I want you to know that it's okay to say, well, I just, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I believe, but I want to believe more.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now there's a story that goes with this Mark chapter 9.
[SPEAKER_00]: We won't go through it all, verse by verse.
[SPEAKER_00]: But for Homer, check it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mark chapter 9.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a father who he has a son and his son has been tormented and maybe demon possessed right his whole life and the demons pressing him and messing up and up and the father's done just about everything he can.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's gone to everyone right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey can you help me?
[SPEAKER_00]: I heard maybe this person can help and cast out the demon.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he took him to the disciples.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you could help.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that's the father who the disciples come and they couldn't cast the demon out and we see that when Jesus comes down from the mountain.
[SPEAKER_00]: But anyways, the Father tries everything he can and you can almost get this feeling that He's exhausted.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just, I want my son to be okay and he comes before Jesus and he basically wants his son to be healed and Jesus says anything is possible for those who believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anything is possible for those who believe, but man, the Father says something that I think is, we probably resonate with more than you even know, but He says this, He says,
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, Jesus, I believe you can do it, but at the same time I'm a little bit skeptical if you will, have you ever felt that?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I've felt that I'm like God's God.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can do whatever he wants.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe he could do this, but I also read the Bible and I know he could do a lot of other things or allow a lot of other things.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe help my unbelief.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe, yet I also, like, I kind of don't, I'm wrestling with my belief and they both can be true at the same time and here's what Jesus does in that section there.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't lecture the guy, make him feel bad and say, well come back when you got your theology and order.
[SPEAKER_00]: Come back when you got the right doctrinal beliefs, and then we can talk about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't disqualify him or anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: He heals his son right then and there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's the thing I want you to know today.
[SPEAKER_00]: His faith is not the absence of doubt, but faith is moving forward, taking steps of obedience, even when you have doubts.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, if like, if we never meet my wife,
[SPEAKER_00]: If we would have listened to every doubt that we've had in planting this church, if you don't know, if some of our store, we planted this church a little over six years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 2020, we moved from Tucson, Arizona, and we were just going on faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: And let me tell you, it was like, Lord, I believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was full of faith and day one were coming out here and then like COVID happened, smacked me in the face kind of thing and everything was shut down and it's like, but help my unbelief, Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe, right, it's like, you got doubts, but it's like faith is like, okay, I have doubts, but I'm gonna still move forward in what I do know.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so this brings us back to kind of this question again.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe, well, now what do I do?
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe Jesus lived, died and resurrected, now what?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I got three answers for you today, specifically, and if you want to jot them down, they're real simple, but we're gonna look at a number one,
[SPEAKER_00]: is that I believe now what when number one is you repent.
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... you turn from your old life right you you turn around and act chapter two verse thirty eight uh... peter gives this sermon this after jesus died he resurrected and he ascended into heaven and then peter one of the disciples he gives this sermon right it's probably like i mean it's definitely the best sermon like after jesus has ascended and gone away like uh... i'd say almost bar none right three thousand people
[SPEAKER_00]: Come to Jesus, come to believe in Jesus that day.
[SPEAKER_00]: They hear Peter's message, they hear the gospel, and then they say this, it says that they're cut to the heart, and then they say, well, what do we do now?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's almost like they're saying, I believe Peter, but now what?
[SPEAKER_00]: He says repent.
[SPEAKER_00]: Repent, and some of you, you get a bad taste in your mouth, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Repent, repent, you think of the guy on the corner saying, you're going to hell, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: With the street sign or something of that nature, but repent, it literally means it's a word metanoia, which means to change your mind, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, okay, I was living for myself, pursue my own pleasure, my own desires, trying to build a career, or whatever it may be, and I was all focused on me, me, me, me, doing what I wanna do.
[SPEAKER_00]: hiding from God or ignoring God, maybe.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now that I've heard, now that I believe what I do, I want to repent, and so I'm going to turn from this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to change my mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought living for myself was a good plan until I heard about Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I want to change my mind and I'm going to turn the other way.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what repent means is you're going to change your mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is something you've got to know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that repentance is continual, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's John the Baptist who says, keep in, bearing the fruit of repentance.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like you're going to fall down and you're going to stumble sometimes.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's when you just, you repent.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I made a mistake.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not who I am anymore and I'm gonna get back up and I'm gonna keep going and that's repentance and so we want to repent and repent is not just feeling bad, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people feel bad, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I just feel bad about that, but they don't actually repent, they don't change their ways.
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't turn from their old ways, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel bad about, um,
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever, you could put in an example.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then the next day you go and do it again.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, that's not repentance.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, you feel remorse.
[SPEAKER_00]: But repentance is a change of direction.
[SPEAKER_00]: Second Corinthians 5, 17 tells us that if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, okay, you had your old ways, but now you have some new ways of living.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says, your new creation, the old has passed away and behold, the new has come, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's a picture of okay, our old life is behind us because we've turned from it to follow Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the question isn't, well, are you perfect?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have it all together?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, the question is, do you believe?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, well, then what's next?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, then repent of your sins.
[SPEAKER_00]: The things that you know you're doing that you shouldn't be doing, the lifestyle you used to live and you repent and understand that you're going to mess up sometimes along the way and have some grace for yourself because God has abundant grace for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to mean by that as like when you fall it's like God's not.
[SPEAKER_00]: condemning you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said, I come to condemn the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: I came to save the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you fall down and we get this image of this father who's disappointed in us and wants to condemn us to hell or something, that's not the truth.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't come to condemn me, came to save you, get back up, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Any loving father, your kid falls down and they're learning to walk.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like, man, you idiot, what are you doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, it's like, no, let me help you back up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you okay?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you got this and we reassure and we encourage them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, let's keep walking, let's keep working on this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And God is, I believe, much the same way.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so repentance, it's not just a one-time event, but it's a part of our life.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe now what, well, part of it is repent.
[SPEAKER_00]: Number two, I believe, now what?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we've repented of our sins.
[SPEAKER_00]: The next one is we want to go public with our faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is where baptism comes into the picture.
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter says in that same instance, he preaches the message and they say, well, what should we do?
[SPEAKER_00]: He says, repent and be baptized.
[SPEAKER_00]: be baptized.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is where baptism comes in right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Baptism is not a magic ritual.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some people think like they got to do it or be baptized a hundred times and all different kind of stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: But here's the thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Baptism is not a means to salvation.
[SPEAKER_00]: What I mean by that is, you're not earning your salvation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I'm baptized now that I finally been baptized
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I'm safe, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't believe that that's true, and we can look at a lot of scriptures, and I know there's baptism.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're Baptist in the room, welcome, we're glad to have you here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I grew up in a Baptist church, though, and I know like all about that, but what I believe and what I could argue from scripture is that baptism is not a means to salvation.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is a response to salvation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've repented.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm turning.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm changing my mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now what do I do?
[SPEAKER_00]: Now that I believe I've been saved, I've received salvation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, now I want to be baptized.
[SPEAKER_00]: You've got to understand what baptism is, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Baptism, Roman 6 verse 4 tells us that we're buried there for with them, that's Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: By baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too might walk in newness of life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so baptism is a picture.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a symbol, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, what do I do?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I repent, and now I want to go public with my faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to be baptized, and you go under the water, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know people argue theologically about, well, what do you do?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it like a full submerge in or a sprinkling?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's besides the point.
[SPEAKER_00]: The point is that you need to go public with your faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, when Peter preached that message in Acts chapter 2, and we're going to be in that chapter in a couple of weeks here, it's a powerful chapter.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It was not a cool thing to be a Christian.
[SPEAKER_00]: understand that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus was just crucified, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: You got Rome trying to cover up the fact that Jesus has just resurrected.
[SPEAKER_00]: What are we going to do?
[SPEAKER_00]: We got to cover it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: We got to get rid of the details, the facts.
[SPEAKER_00]: We got to put out false stories and narratives to try to get people to stop following Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Peter, again, gives that message on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes down.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's preaching the Word.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then people were so cut to the heart to like, I believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: What do I do?
[SPEAKER_00]: Peter says, Repent and
[SPEAKER_00]: And that day says 3,000, maybe more people came to believe in Jesus to repent of their sins and be baptized, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: If you were a Roman soldier or something like a Gentile looking in, you'd be like, man, these guys are going to get killed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I quit, or they do, or you go tell the Caesar, there's 3,000 Christians down there proclaiming Jesus name, what we're going to do about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You would have the threat of death.
[SPEAKER_00]: You could be crucified in many of the early disciples.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were crucified and killed, martyred for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it wasn't a cool thing, but what it was, it was a public thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like Jesus died for me publicly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe in Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've received Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've repented of my sins and I want to, I want to proclaim His name and so you go public within.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is like the easiest step if you ask me in our Christian life, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: When people are like, okay, I've given my life to Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe now what will be baptized.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a step of obedience, and I just love that God's like, so he puts it on the bottom shelf, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not like, oh, and you just explain a Mago Day to me, to be safe, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he's theological terms.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, he's like, be baptized.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could question for you if you haven't been baptized, like you're like, well, what's next?
[SPEAKER_00]: Can you be baptized?
[SPEAKER_00]: Can you, can you do that?
[SPEAKER_00]: I get so simple, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it complex, anybody?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like anyone wanna argue like, man, it's so hard though.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, no, it's not.
[SPEAKER_00]: You gotta just get over your fear.
[SPEAKER_00]: Get over that, like, oh man, people are gonna be watching, like, yeah, they are.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the point.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can say, hey, I love Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe in Jesus and so you be baptized and it's a symbol of I've received Jesus and I proclaim Jesus and I'm not ashamed anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's this declaration of like, hey, the relationship that was broken because of sin, it's now being restored.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now I'm telling everybody about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not hiding from Jesus anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not hiding my faith in Jesus anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want people to know, I love Jesus, Jesus saved my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to live my life for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what baptism is in a way there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we get baptized, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's number two.
[SPEAKER_00]: Number three, what do we do?
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe in how what?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, now you gotta walk it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: You repent.
[SPEAKER_00]: Be baptized, and I start walking it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, what is walking it out?
[SPEAKER_00]: Look like, what does that mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10, Paul tells us that you and I, humanity, image bears our guy, says that you are God's workmanship.
[SPEAKER_00]: that word there in Greek is poema where we get our word poem and it might sound cheesy or something but it's like it's saying like you and I were God's poem like where his masterpiece
[SPEAKER_00]: is what it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works, means like God has a plan for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, you were not a mistake, you are not a mistake.
[SPEAKER_00]: You might have made some mistakes, but you know, it's like your life is intentional.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're created on purpose for a purpose and says that for good works that God prepared beforehand, before you are ever here.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, right, before you were conceived in your mother's womb, God had a plan for you and he had things laid out.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is my desire for you as you be the image bearer of me in creation, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like this is my plan.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then it takes some time to like figure out, okay, well, what is it?
[SPEAKER_00]: What is your plan?
[SPEAKER_00]: Where do you want me to go?
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you want me to do?
[SPEAKER_00]: But you weren't just saved so that you can go to heaven when you die.
[SPEAKER_00]: You were saved to live a different life right here right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was thinking about it last Sunday just because we're talking about the resurrection is like my life would not look anything like it does today if Jesus had not resurrected from the grave.
[SPEAKER_00]: I literally everything would be there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't have met my wife because I wouldn't have been going to church because this church probably wouldn't even exist if Jesus didn't rise from the grave.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I met my wife, we wouldn't have our kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wouldn't be living in Texas for sure because we wouldn't have planted a church.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't know any of you guys who I now call a lot of my friends, best friends, family, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: My life would look totally different how Jesus not risen from the grave there, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, and that's the thing is like, when Jesus
[SPEAKER_00]: calls you you believe now what will repent to be baptized and start to walk it out live these things out what does he have for your life and I want to be clear is that it's not a again it becomes it almost the danger is it feels like you've got to perform to keep his love and that's not the truth
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's like, because he loves me, I want to live for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because he loves me, I want to obey, because he's done everything for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to do whatever I can, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, to me, I wasted a lot of years of my life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody, like, you don't have to be brave old and brave, but yeah, okay, a couple, thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not alone.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, but I wasted some time, so like, now that I've given my life to Jesus, I'm like, I want to spend as much time building his church proclaiming his gospel as I possibly can.
[SPEAKER_00]: because he's done everything for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't deserve a single thing, but I want to live it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to walk in the plan that he has for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: My heart is a pastor for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I want you to walk in the plan that he has for you, the works that he's created before hand, to see you guys live in that out, walking it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now a couple of things, this is practical, because you're like, well, how do I walk it out?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll give you a few things of what that could look like.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, number one is you're in the word.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're reading your Bible.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, that's part of walking it out, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just think of it, right, mean my wife, we have a relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if we never talked, would that relationship be very good?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think of your friends, or if you're married, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, if you didn't have communication, there wouldn't be much relationship there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when we're like, okay, I believe now what I repented, I've been baptized, and I want to walk it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you need to start reading God's Word, because the truth of the matter is that it's so simple, but let me just say this, it's not always easy, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe not convenient.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I just don't have time today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I don't want you to make it a religious ritual, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, well, I need just, you know, five.
[SPEAKER_00]: chapters every single day.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if I don't, then I just feel totally messed up, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, but just having communication with God, and you can read through the Bible, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't need a seminary degree to read the Bible.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know like church history would say different.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's different religion or different, sorry, denominations that would say, only the priest or the pastor can read God's word, but that's not true.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, Jesus died, the veil was torn so that you and I and anyone who would want to come could come in and read His Word and get a relationship with Him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so one way to walk it out is read God's Word.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe like, okay, I want to do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But where do I start?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do I start in Genesis?
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's not a bad place to start.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do I start in Revelation?
[SPEAKER_00]: Probably don't do that right off the bat if you're new.
[SPEAKER_00]: But maybe, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: What about Leviticus?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, maybe, you know, maybe that's a little bit later.
[SPEAKER_00]: But here's a couple of ones I'll give you, though.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would encourage any new believer, some of who wants to get into reading God's Word for the first time, read the Gospel of John.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Gospel of John, his whole heart is he wants you to believe and know Jesus, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't talk a whole lot about having to like, what to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: He just talks about Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because here's the thing, the more you get to know Jesus, the more you're going to know what you need to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, okay, all right, I know who he is.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I know more who I am and what I'm to do and that's John's heart read through the Gospel of John.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another one that's powerful, packs a punch, the book of James.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's five chapters.
[SPEAKER_00]: You could read through it in probably 15 minutes, but I would encourage you to take your time.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's very practical, packs a punch.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another one that you could read through is the Book of Proverbs.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've heard it said a proverb a day keeps the devil away.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone heard that one before just growing up and church like you hear that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's like you could just read a proverb, but it's just wisdom.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, well, what do I need to do?
[SPEAKER_00]: How should I live?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, read Proverbs, it's full of wisdom and advice of how you should live your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are a few things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, just start reading because the word when you're reading God's word, that's how God speaks to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd say primarily.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how he will speak to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course he can speak to you through his spirit and through visions and different things and through people even.
[SPEAKER_00]: Primarily, he's going to speak to you through his word.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't make time to read his word, you're not going to know him, and you're not going to know what you're supposed to do next.
[SPEAKER_00]: So start spending time in God's word.
[SPEAKER_00]: Second thing, how do you walk it out?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the other end of the conversation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Reading God's word, that's God speaking to us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Prayer is us speaking to God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, prayer is not a performance.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some people, like, they don't want to pray because it's like, well, I just don't know what to say.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, as you come into God, I got, even say that God here I am, I don't know what to say.
[SPEAKER_00]: That'd be a fantastic prayer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you starting off?
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you having a prayer with God?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not about fancy words or a formula.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just about talking to him, being honest with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: God, man, I had a rough day, Lord, help me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I encourage me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I need some encouragement, or man, I'm just tired, give me some rest, or maybe it's when you wake up in the morning, you're getting ready to go to work.
[SPEAKER_00]: God, I don't want to go to work today, but I know that I have to go to work today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you give me the power to get through it and to represent you well, to bear your image well at work, that people would see that there's something different about me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe you pray God opened doors that I could share something about you, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And you start to see how God works.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as we talk a few weeks ago, like you got to be watchful when you pray for things, God is moving.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is answering all the time, but we're often, we pray things, and we just totally forget.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, oh, I forgot I said that, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: God would come down and remind us of all of our prayers and say, see, this is with my answer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember when you prayed that, yeah, I answered it right here, and we're like, oh, man, I didn't even, I didn't remember that.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be in watchful in our prayers, but we should read God's word, be in prayer, talking with God, even just how that father and Mark chapter 9, his prayer was, I believe, but help my unbelief.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're there today just wrestling, man, like I believe, but I got a lot of questions, a lot of doubts.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a fantastic prayer, God, here I am, but help me, build my faith, help me to understand.
[SPEAKER_00]: A third thing, how do you walk it out, getting involved in community?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't do life alone in this might seem cliche.
[SPEAKER_00]: But here's the truth of the matter, scripture tells us that Satan, he's like a roaring lion, probably in around seeking whom he made devour.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, any of you guys ever watched any type of animal documentary?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's that one?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like blue planet or something, you know what I'm talking about?
[SPEAKER_00]: That might not be what it's called, but I know it's pretty sweet, but anyways, you see all these animals right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think Sam said this in an example before too, but if you just think of lions right when they're hunting right they go in like a pack There's a few of them and they don't go necessarily well early will go like after a herd But they go after the herd so that they get one that branches off and then they go after the one who's alone right if you've seen this You at least understand what I'm saying
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I believe Satan will want to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll come in and he'll try to attack you, chase you out, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to discourage you, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to go to church.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's going to remind you that you are a sinner and you have blown it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you don't deserve anything that you have.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you'll feel worthless.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to feel ashamed.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're going to feel like Adam and Eve.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then what you'll end up doing is you hide in the bushes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to I don't want to come near God right and then that's when Satan's trying to start attack you because he's isolated you need to know that we are made for community especially as Christians like we need one another you need to be encouraged by one another and one of the odd things but it is true.
[SPEAKER_00]: about the church is like when you are struggling, oftentimes you feel like you're the only one.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you've ever experienced this, you share it, or someone else shares their struggles, all of a sudden, every, not maybe not everyone, but someone else is encouraged because they're like, wait a second, you're going through that too.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been struggling with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been wrestling with that, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And you find this encouragement and strength from community.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you need community there, Acts chapter 2 again, and it shows us that the early disciples, the apostles there, they devoted themselves to meeting together with one another.
[SPEAKER_00]: The scripture says, they devoted themselves to the teaching of God's Word, to the breaking of bread that had meals together, even communion there, they devoted themselves to prayer, talking with God, but they devoted themselves to community.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you and I, we need one another.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that it's probably like,
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, it's like cool nowadays, like to have a lot of friends who believe in God, but they don't believe that they need church.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I understand their argument for, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't need to go to church to have a relationship with God.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can read the Bible at my house and I can pray at my house.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is true, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like your relationship with God is your relationship with God, but you do need community.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't see anywhere in Scripture where it says,
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't get involved with other believers if anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the exact opposite like we need each other Because we need encouragement for each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to help when you're falling down right or you've made some poor choices It's like you have accountability like hey, then you get back up.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's okay Let's keep going.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've all dealt with something like that people who will pray for you Right, that's one thing when you isolate yourself like I can handle it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me just say no you can't
[SPEAKER_00]: saying is much greater than you.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's smarter than you as far as you may think you are.
[SPEAKER_00]: Smarter than you right and he will try to tear you down.
[SPEAKER_00]: But with community, we can pray for one.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you're struggling, let me pray for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can check in on each other, we can challenge each other even, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I had friends, and I've said this story before, when I was living for myself at friends, one specific one in particular who challenged me and said, Nick, why are you doing those things, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I was living for myself doing things I shouldn't be doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was hiding from God.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to go to church and why are you doing those things?
[SPEAKER_00]: People who would challenge you.
[SPEAKER_00]: People who will remind you of the truth when you forget.
[SPEAKER_00]: People who've seen you at your worst and they're still showing up for you and still encouraging you to keep walking.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what church is supposed to be.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're not a perfect group of individuals but we do serve a perfect God and we come together and again there's strength
[SPEAKER_00]: So don't do life alone.
[SPEAKER_00]: A fourth thing, how do you walk it out?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, share your faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: This one takes time to be sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as you're starting to live it out, you start looking for opportunities.
[SPEAKER_00]: How can I share it?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because here's the thing, God didn't give you salvation.
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't give you new life so that you could just have it and keep it to yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think most people understand that, but practically when we live it out, we keep the gospel message close.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of times we still struggle with sin and all that so we don't preach or tell people we're a Christian at work because what are they going to think about me?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like the gospel message, our new life with Jesus is meant to be shared.
[SPEAKER_00]: and that can look a number of ways, but Jesus tells us that you're the light of the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you're not to go put a cover over this light, you're out there to, you got to let it shine bright.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you got to understand like that your, you have a gift and a story that's unique to you, unlike anybody else.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it might be similarities because you're like, well, what do I share?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you share your story.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you talk about theology and beliefs and the Bible and stuff, we can people argue with you that kind of stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what they cannot argue about with you is your testimony, your story, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And just I would encourage you when you go to work or out in the world, just be aware, I think most times like for me, I've noticed like I'm aware of people,
[SPEAKER_00]: who are similar to me, like who had similar struggles or that, you can tell that their discurses or whatever, and just speaking, I'm like, and you can see it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in those moments, that's where you can come in and give them a little bit of hope, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's gonna be okay, like Jesus died for your sins.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, I know that's a complex conversation, but be aware of these things and start to share your story to give others hope and direct them to Jesus because you have a story, and there is power in it because Jesus, he, uh,
[SPEAKER_00]: There's power in it, because Jesus was, say, the word of the lamb and the blood of the testimony.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, I messed that up.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's in Revelation, but there's power in the story of what Jesus has done in your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in the last thing, all right, how do you live it out?
[SPEAKER_00]: You share your faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I would say that you start serving.
[SPEAKER_00]: We look at Jesus and read through John and look at what Jesus did.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus was a servant of all.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the creator of the universe.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't owe us anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: He came down like the CEO of Heaven and Earth came down to be the janitor.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to come clean up our mess.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to come serve us our needs, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what Jesus did.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so as we look at what Jesus do, and we're called to be followers of Him, what should I do while we want to be like Jesus?
[SPEAKER_00]: And we should look for opportunities to serve.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that, of course, could look like serving here at the fervent church, can plug in here, could look like serving in your neighborhood, whatever that may be, look like, just serving people, having a heart of service.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's some of the things of, okay, I believe,
[SPEAKER_00]: what now, so to bring it all together and close this hopefully a little bit quickly, you and I were made in the image of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: But sin came in, it broke that relationship, and every one of us we've experienced this whether we realize it or not, but there's a distance, a gap between us and God because of our sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Typically, naturally we want to hide from God, we want to isolate ourselves from God and from community.
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, Jesus came in to do what we couldn't do.
[SPEAKER_00]: He fixed what Adam broke.
[SPEAKER_00]: He lived the life we couldn't live, took the death that we deserve, rose from the grave and again that anyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I love that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whoever believes can be saved.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone who comes to Jesus, if you would just receive and believe in Jesus, you could be saved, you could have new life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's nothing you have to do to earn it, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not about, oh, be a good, a good Christian, and then you'll earn enough things to eventually get salvation.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, Jesus has already done it.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the cross, He says, to tell us that it is finished.
[SPEAKER_00]: The work, your sins are atone for all you need to do is believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, and believe is not an intellectual acknowledgment.
[SPEAKER_00]: It starts there for sure, but belief implies action.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, I believe, now what?
[SPEAKER_00]: Now what do I do?
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, today's like, well, it repent of your sins.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you've done that, well, be baptized.
[SPEAKER_00]: And today, we'll have opportunity to do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you haven't been baptized, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: After you've repented of your sins, you've been baptized.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, now you want to start to walk it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Read God's Word.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here, what he has to say for you and start to see who he is.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I really believe the more you study, God's Word, the more you'll fall in love with God's Word.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for some of you, this is a daunting task.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, I know I'm supposed to, but man, I hate reading.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I used to be the same way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before I came back to Jesus,
[SPEAKER_00]: Before I feel like I was actually on fire for Jesus, I didn't read my Bible ever, I didn't want to.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's just something like my mom and dad and grandma and grandpa do, maybe one day I will, but I'm not interested in it, but when God changed my life radically dramatically, and I feel like I was full of the Holy Spirit for the first time, I wanted to know, truly know for myself, God's Word, and I started reading.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the books I started reading was Proverbs.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, well, what do you got to say?
[SPEAKER_00]: How should I live my life?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like 15 years old, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I feel like nowadays, you don't see a whole lot of 15-year-olds, like I always want to read God's Word.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was a little bit weird in that sense, and that's okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: But read God's Word, fall in love with His Word, pray.
[SPEAKER_00]: have a conversation with God there and then as you start to walk those things out right you want to start serving looking for opportunity to serve share your faith but again if you believe well now what well take whatever step it is for you that you need to take today.
[SPEAKER_00]: and just do it in obedience.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a means of salvation, but a response to salvation.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to close here in prayer, and we're actually going to not do the last closing song and community.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to...
[SPEAKER_00]: dismiss and I'll have you guys parents get your kids and we're going to meet out by the baptismal pool on this side of the building about five minutes there and we're going to close service out there with baptisms and prayer and those things.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to pray and we'll dismiss
[SPEAKER_00]: like we're not dismissed, go home and have lunch, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not over yet, but anyway, so father, we just thank you for this time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that we can go over some of the essentials, Lord, just the basics of faith that we believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so what's the next step for us, God?
[SPEAKER_00]: And I pray that you've revealed something to each and every one of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know many of us we have repented.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have been baptized.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've been.
[SPEAKER_00]: walking it out Lord, but I pray that you give us even more specific guidance and clarity into what it is you want us to do, where you want us to go, what you want us to stay Lord, each and every day Lord guide us and direct us Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: I pray that you would give us vision and understanding of what it is you have for us Lord that we can start pursuing it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just today, but like have a direction forward of what it looks like to live for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I pray for those who
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe struggling to get into your word and reading is difficult.
[SPEAKER_00]: I pray, Lord, that you would fill them with your Holy Spirit, and that you would help them to fall and love with your word, Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: And just start to dive deep into it, Lord, and that there gets to know you, Lord, and that they fall deep in love with you, most importantly, Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so just strengthen our faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know many of us we do believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I know that many of us, we wrestle with doubt and we wrestle with things.
[SPEAKER_00]: So God, we believe, help our unbelief, strengthen our faith today, Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as we go to this time of baptisms, what I pray that if anyone needs to be baptized that they would take that next step and just thank, thankful for this community.
[SPEAKER_00]: I pray that in Jesus name, amen.