[SPEAKER_01]: All right, so you ready for the word this morning?
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, turn with me to ask, or see me, Exodus, Exodus chapter four, Exodus chapter four, Exodus chapter four.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we've been in a series, the past couple of weeks called doing it, God's way, amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody say doing it, God's way.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're learning about doing it God's way in every area of our lives and what that entails.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we'll be talking about a lot of different things over the course of the next few weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: And of course baptism, you know, really falls right into this whole theme of doing it God's way.
[SPEAKER_01]: We know that we get saved and we are saved by grace through faith, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's our acknowledgment and it's our declaration of welcoming Jesus into our lives and we honor Him in that way and we say Father come into my heart and make me a new person, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the next step after that is to have baptism.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are some denominations that will teach you that in order for you to go to heaven, you've got to be baptized, and I just tell you, that's not true, it's not biblical at all.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it is important that we do get baptized, and if you don't get baptized, it's okay, it doesn't mean that you're not going to heaven, but it's a great opportunity for you, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a great opportunity to publicly declare your faith, and to take that next step and
[SPEAKER_01]: new, different person, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we've been talking about doing it God's Way for a couple of weeks now.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first week I taught you that it's part of God's design.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we talked about that a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're talked about Moses and the special connection that he had with God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you remember in Genesis 33 that I preached out of that Sunday, and I also gave you a scripture in Psalms 103.
[SPEAKER_01]: We learned that the scripture taught us that Israel knew God's deeds, but it was Moses who knew God's ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: Israel knew God's deeds, but Moses knew God's ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know about you this morning, but I don't want to just know the things God can do, but I want to know the ways of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to know his heart, I want to know the direction that he is going because I want to be a part of that, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So may we never just know the deeds of God and the good things that God can do and all of that kind of stuff we want to know that, but may we just simply know the ways of God, the heart of the Father, amen, the heart of the Father.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then last week, if you remember, Jen preached a sermon for us, come on now.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's in the kids today, but we give it up for her.
[SPEAKER_01]: She did a great job last week, second time her ever preaching, and she did a phenomenal job, and the title her message last week was pour it out, pour it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we talked all about pouring out the things that shouldn't be in your life, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And replacing it with things that should be in your life, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's a part of doing it God's way.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is this powerful quote that Jen said last week and that it's been resonating with me all a week and it's a really simple quote, but it's something really so powerful.
[SPEAKER_01]: She said, let scripture sculpt your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, don't let anything else scope your life and create this and create that and tell you to do this and take because culture will try to scope you, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: All kinds of things will try to shape and form your life, but the only thing that should is scripture in it of itself, come on somebody amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we've got to allow the word of God to really scope how we do things, how we think, the decisions we make, and so on and so forth, and keeping the word at the core of all things, amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, so Exodus chapter 4, we're going to read verses 8 through 9.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to throw you off a little bit today.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to kind of talk a different angle of baptism that you've probably never heard before.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm not going to take too long doing it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Exodus chapter 4, we're going to start in verse 8.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll read verse 9.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, if they will not believe you, and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign,
[SPEAKER_01]: They made the evidence of the second sign.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if they don't even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground.
[SPEAKER_01]: The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a really interesting scripture, isn't it?
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, if you're taking notes this morning before we dive into this, the title of today's message is washed in the water and the blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: washed in the water and the blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word today.
[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you, God, that your word is changing us, shaping us, molding us.
[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you God for your Word that challenges us today, God, that provokes us father to live a certain way, God, that you would have for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, we receive your Word today, God, and we thank you for the truth and the revelation and the wisdom of your Word this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we partake in it together, Father, and we receive all that you would have to speak to us today.
[SPEAKER_01]: In Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, so here we have Moses again.
[SPEAKER_01]: I talked to you about Moses two weeks ago, and Moses is leading the people of God, but he's got a problem, and that problem is, he's got a pharaoh problem, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Pharaoh is not listening, so Moses is becoming kind of frustrated and his faith is beginning to shake a little bit, and Moses has this powerful encounter right before the scripture that we just read,
[SPEAKER_01]: You can go back and read it later, but he has this powerful encounter with the Lord and the form of a burning bush, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: You've all heard the story before.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to read just one or two verses, if you will, concerning that, going backwards a little bit to Exodus chapter three, reading in verses 11 and 12.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, but Moses asked God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, we see this and he's wondering, he's like, who am I that God that you would use me?
[SPEAKER_01]: I know you've told me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know you've said that you were gonna let these people go and I know you were gonna use me to lead the people but still up into the day, who am I that I should be the one that brings Israel lights out.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the answer you said, I will certainly be with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this will be the sign to you that I have sent you when you bring the people out of Egypt, you with all will worship God at this mountain.
[SPEAKER_01]: We see this encounter take place at the burning bush.
[SPEAKER_01]: Moses says, who am I that I can do this?
[SPEAKER_01]: And God says, when you see this sign, then we jump over to chapter four, the scripture that we just read a minute ago, and we see in that scripture in verses 8 through 9, we see that he says, if they don't respond to this first sign, then I'll give him a second sign.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if they don't believe those other two signs and I'm going to turn some water that you pour on the ground into blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: So God tells Moses, I'm going to show up for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all going to work out, but I'm going to give you a sign.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the question concerning this text would be, what is the sign?
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
[SPEAKER_01]: If God says to Moses, I'm going to give you this sign.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Moses says,
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he says later in the scripture, if they don't believe the first sign and if they don't believe the second sign, then I'm gonna turn water into blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it makes me ask, well, what sign are you talking about here?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, what are you concerned with here?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so you see at the beginning of Exodus 4,
[SPEAKER_01]: This is where the Lord begins to show Moses a sign.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he says, he says, I'm going to have you take your staff and throw it on the ground.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you do, it's going to turn into a snake.
[SPEAKER_01]: You remember that story, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: This happens right before this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then that didn't get his attention.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he says, OK, then I'm going to provide another sign.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we see another sign takes place.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so Moses, this is a crazy part of this story.
[SPEAKER_01]: But God tells Moses, put your hand in your garment or your cloak, your jacket.
[SPEAKER_01]: Put your hand in there and pull it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Moses was like, OK, Lord, put his hand in his jacket.
[SPEAKER_01]: it says in the Bible that his whole hand is diseased.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you can imagine Moses is like, God, what are you doing?
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you just told me to put my hand in there and now I've got this, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And God's like, hold on Moses, chill out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to show you a sign here.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, now put your hand back in your garment, Moses.
[SPEAKER_01]: Put it back in his garment.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, okay, now take it out.
[SPEAKER_01]: He takes it out and his hands perfectly clean and well, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: If they don't believe, the fact that the staff turned into the snake.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if they don't believe that your hand went in and it came out full of disease and it went back into your jacket and came out and it was totally healed, then what I'm going to do is I'm going to take some water and I'm going to turn it into blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now we know that the God that we serve today still performs miracles like he did in the past.
[SPEAKER_01]: How many you believe in?
[SPEAKER_01]: How many you know that he is a miracle working God?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we can all testify to the fact that the God we serve
[SPEAKER_01]: is a God of miracles, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: If the God has ever done a miracle for you, you ought to lift up your hand and wave it, come on and God is so good and he performs miracles.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, people say all the time, oh, God doesn't do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was the God of the Old Testament or that was the God of the Bible.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I believe in a God that the Bible says to the same, yes, today, today and forever, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if he was a healer, then he is certainly a healer now,
[SPEAKER_01]: And so God does miraculous things and some of the miracles that He does kind of beyond our imagination, if you will.
[SPEAKER_01]: They kind of challenge our intellect and challenge what we think might be normal, if you will.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's exactly what God did in the form of these signs that He provided for Moses.
[SPEAKER_01]: And at this point, when we picked up an Exodus chapter four verse eight, God says,
[SPEAKER_01]: that I'm going to turn water into blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not telling you this morning that if you want the blood of Jesus applied to you, you got to first get in the water.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm grateful this morning that we serve a God that knows how to turn water into blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it sounds crazy and you think, why would we be grateful for that?
[SPEAKER_01]: But I believe that it's symbolic for us this morning and it's an a powerful thing for us to understand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now when you get in the water, you get in the water of grace.
[SPEAKER_01]: When you get in the water, you get in the water of a washing away of your past.
[SPEAKER_01]: You get in the waters of healing.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, those waters that are out there, there's nothing special about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It came from the building through a water hose and into a tank.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing special about that water.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we serve a miracle working God, God can take the water and turn it into blood, come on somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know that that's not physically speaking that we don't see blood in the in the tank.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not getting dumped in blood today.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's that's crazy.
[SPEAKER_01]: But but you hear it's a symbolic thing that the Lord does.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord has a way of taking water and turning it into blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So so the waters of baptism because of his blood are forgiving waters.
[SPEAKER_01]: The waters of baptism because of his blood are cleansing waters.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're purifying waters.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're healing waters.
[SPEAKER_01]: Really anything that you are looking for.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have seen people go into a baptism tank that were sick or that were had some sort of physical element that couldn't, they couldn't walk or whatever it may be.
[SPEAKER_01]: They got an baptism tank and God supernaturally met them and that tank and they came up completely transformed and changed.
[SPEAKER_01]: why because it's not just water in that tank is the blood of Jesus Christ that has been applied to the water come on somebody and when his blood has been applied to something come on anything can change anything can transform hallelujah because of the power of his blood and if you remember we see that Moses this is not his first encounter with God doing stuff with blood
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
[SPEAKER_01]: The first plague that Moses announces to Pharaoh is that all the water in the land was going to turn into blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: We know later on Jesus is upon the earth and Jesus the first miracle he ever performs is turning water into wine.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you study scripture and you study the the meaning of that and you look deep into it wine actually represents the blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so Jesus' first miracle ever upon the earth was turning water into blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the very thing that Moses experienced when all hell was breaking loose because of the place that had to take place because it had to get the hell of Pharaoh's attention because he wasn't listening.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first thing is that really in a split second, a matter of a moment, every bit of water in the land turned into blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the scripture says that even water that was sitting like in jars turned into blood, like God didn't miss any drip of water and all of the text.
[SPEAKER_01]: All of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't miss any of it, like it all turned to blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so church, we know that when we get saved and then when we get baptized, we are not just washed in the waters of God, but we are also washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so when we think about Jesus, we know His blood was shed for us, but have you ever wondered how the blood of one individual can cover all of us and all of our sins?
[SPEAKER_01]: So a lot of people, fortunately, it's a lot of sin, the average human body contains 1.3 gallons of blood at the most, at one given time.
[SPEAKER_01]: And his blood was shed, 1.3 gallons worth was shed for all of humanity.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that even if you took just one drop of blood and applied it to all of us, it would
[SPEAKER_01]: So how can the blood of Jesus really cover all of us?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll tell you how.
[SPEAKER_01]: You call on the name of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: You declare Him as your savior.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then the Bible teaches that the next step is to get into the water and get baptized.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here's what happens when you get into the water.
[SPEAKER_01]: You go down one way.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then you're immersed.
[SPEAKER_01]: in the supernatural waters.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in that moment, the water is not only his water, but the water becomes his blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want to know how His blood covers all of us to this day?
[SPEAKER_01]: And how it still rings true for all of us and all of our mistakes, and all of the sins of all of humanity is by going into the waters that we are washed and we are cleansed and His blood is applied.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: Give the Lord a shout-up praise this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, God.
[SPEAKER_01]: How does that even happen?
[SPEAKER_01]: How does that even make sense?
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you, it's faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: Faith to believe in a God, enough that you can say, I'm going into some simple waters, poured into a tank via water hose, but I know it's not just simple waters.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know it's covered by the blood of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when I go down in that water and I come up, I'm gonna be a completely different person than the way that I once was.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on now.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love baptism because baptism doesn't just tell everybody that I'm a believer and I believe this way and it's not just a public declaration of faith but it's literally laying down your old man.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's leaving that old self that old junk, the old Jew in that water and coming up a whole new person the only only way that could ever work as if his blood was applied to the waters.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the only way, because the water in and of itself can do nothing for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or else you just go stand in the shower and I'm baptized.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, ho, in and of itself the water can't do nothing.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when God supernaturally puts His hand upon that water, man, I'm telling you that water turns into His blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as blood is applied, and all of the old Jew is left in that water, never to return, ever again, but you can come out new and fresh and clean and whole and well, hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's by the blood of the Lamb, come on somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, how many are grateful for the blood of Jesus Christ that has been applied to your life?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, where would you be if it wasn't for the blood of Jesus?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, the innocent blood that was shed of the Lamb of God, come on, who took on the weight and the sin of the world?
[SPEAKER_01]: And he said, it's worth it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's worth it for that one person.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's worth it for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, how many are grateful for the blood of Jesus today?
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah, come on, what can wash away my sin?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah, what could ever make me whole again?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling you, it's nothing but the blood of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when we get immersed in the water,
[SPEAKER_01]: We get immersed in His blood, we get immersed in His name, and we come up a new person.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we don't get baptized just so we can be soaking wet.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't get baptized just so we can say I went into the baptism tank.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't get baptized just because it's something to check off of our Christian duties list.
[SPEAKER_01]: We get baptized to declare what Jesus has done on our behalf.
[SPEAKER_01]: that Jesus has saved me and He's cleansed me, He's washed me, He's made me new again.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let me tell you this morning that when you have the faith to believe and God is in it, it doesn't matter which waters you're in.
[SPEAKER_01]: You could be in a lake.
[SPEAKER_01]: You could be like Jesus in the Jordan River.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't matter what kind of water you're in.
[SPEAKER_01]: You could be in the bathtub.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can be in the baptism tank outside.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when his blood is applied, that's all that matters.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all that matters.
[SPEAKER_01]: I told you, I don't know, last week or a couple of weeks ago, that when I was little, I got baptized several times.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got baptized several times, because I was young and I didn't understand and all the kids were getting baptized.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I thought, well, I got to get baptized too.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I just joined in with them, not knowing and truly understanding and grasping the reality and the revelation and the concept of baptism.
[SPEAKER_01]: When in the water and did absolutely nothing, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: Did it maybe one or two other times, just because everybody else was, and I thought, oh, last time I didn't know what I was doing but this time I do, no, I didn't.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was still a child and still immature and still didn't really understand what I was doing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember one time, my teenage years, we were doing baptisms, and I said, I'm going to get baptized.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I knew I had been baptized several times before, but this time was different for me because I actually understood the truth and the reality of baptism and what it meant and what it would mean for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when I went into that water, it was completely different than the times when I was little.
[SPEAKER_01]: The times that I was little, it was like, I just got soaking wet with the little boys, like in the girls, they're just, well, I'll just got wet, we got in the water, and that was it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this time, it was different.
[SPEAKER_01]: I went down in that water, and I came up somebody completely different.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I will never, ever forget it as long as I live
[SPEAKER_01]: My eyes were physically closed when I went down in that water, but it was as if literally, my eyes were wide open.
[SPEAKER_01]: And as I went down in that water with my eyes closed, I literally saw me, like, just go, like, just take off before I even came up out of that water.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was totally supernatural to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I remember, and I knew in that moment,
[SPEAKER_01]: the old me left me that was real that was genuine that was the kind of baptism that was supernatural that the Lord was really wanting to do all along and I finally got it so I encourage you this morning in the sense of those that are getting baptizes we don't get baptize just
[SPEAKER_01]: We get baptized because we understand the truth of the word of God and what it teaches us about baptism.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then when we go in that water, we come up completely different.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not the same anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll say it this way, you can't be the same anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to live differently, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: and God does a work and God does something powerful.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I want to just encourage all of us this morning and say this, that there is enough blood this morning for the nine people that are getting baptized.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on now.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's enough blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: And for anyone else, I'll just say this because it always happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: For anyone else that didn't plan to get baptized, that will end up in that baptism tank today, I'm telling you there's enough blood that's for you too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on now.
[SPEAKER_01]: One last scripture as we close, Matthew chapter 28, verse 19 through 20.
[SPEAKER_01]: We all know this scripture.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I say baptizing, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you and remember I am with you always to the end of the age.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, this is something that Jesus told us that we are to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are to baptize one another.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't get baptized in the name of Pastor Austin.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't get baptized in the name of church of the city or any other, but no, we don't, no, we get baptized in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, when we go down into that water and you go down into that tank, you're not the only one in the water.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you got the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, come on now.
[SPEAKER_01]: and you've got the blood of Jesus, hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to today's message.
[SPEAKER_00]: We pray you were inspired, challenged, and marked by the word you heard.
[SPEAKER_00]: If this message blessed you today, we encourage you to subscribe to the Church of the City podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: There you can find more faith-filled messages to uplift you and help you on your journey of faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: For more information about Church of the City, head on over to www.cotcdfw.com.
[SPEAKER_00]: And until next time, remember this, the best is yet to come.