Thank you for listening to this message from
Lifehouse Church. Good morning, good morning.
Turn to somebody beside you, give them a high
five. Tell them, good to see you at Lifehouse
on Baptism Sunday. Come on, it's good to see
you. Thank you for being here today. We love
Baptism Sunday. We love, this is kind of one
of our favorite Sundays of all time throughout
the year. I say that just about every Sunday,
but we do really do mean it. It's a great time
to come to celebrate new life in Jesus. Amen?
That's true. And before I get into the message
part of this, they told me I had to be short.
I didn't know what that meant, so I'm just going
to preach. But I want to pray over God's word.
And when I pray over God's word, I'm really praying
over your ears. Because God's word is already
blessed. It's just what it does in our ears,
amen, in our hearts and minds. If you just bow
your heads. Lord, we just come before you grateful,
thankful for this day. God, I thank you for your
word, God, that is so mighty and powerful. I
thank you for the Holy Spirit, Lord, who empowers
us in your word. I thank you for your son, Jesus.
And, Father, I thank you as Lord and creator.
Lord, as we dive into your word. word this morning
i pray that you would move upon our hearts and
our ears and lord as we get ready to celebrate
jesus what you've done in so many lives we just
thank you we give you praise we give you glory
we lift up our hearts and hands god they've already
done that in worship and song and lord we just
give you all the glory in jesus name and everybody
said together Amen, amen. Well, listen, we couldn't
think of a better way to follow up Easter Resurrection
Sunday than having Baptism Sunday and celebrating
new life in Jesus. And as you heard earlier,
there are nine individuals who are going to come
and really declare their faith in front of everybody
that they are, in fact, followers of Jesus. And
it is a declaration of what God's done. It's
about being born again. It's what the scripture
calls it. It's about coming to new life, right?
And baptism really tells... the story. Water
baptism tells a story. It tells the story of
Jesus. It's really a perfect illustration. As
a person goes into the water, represents death,
right? Jesus died on the cross. He went down
into the grave and came back up to life. It's
a picture of that. And it's also a picture of
what an individual experiences in their own life
in Christ. It's that old person of sin dying
away and coming up out of the water, washed.
Clean, new, renewed, and alive in Jesus. And
really, baptism is all about the testimony. It's
the testimony about being immersed in Jesus Christ,
covered over, and surrounded by all things Jesus.
It means being soaked and submerged. Say submerged
this morning. Come on, it's about being submerged
in Jesus. Water baptism symbolizes the change
that happens in me when I am submerged in Jesus
Christ. And it's, you know, I know this about
being submerged, right? It changes things in
our lives. Being submerged in water changes some
things in your life. You know, as I thought about
this message this morning and being submerged,
and I didn't do it. I thought about doing it.
But how many of you have ever seen, especially
summertime's coming? I saw this the other day.
Some kid was running through the yard. with a
super soaker how many know what a super soaker
is it's an enormous water gun okay i don't know
where they got this thing they could barely carry
it it was so big and they were firing up what
i'm assuming was her brother all right it was
a girl she was right if i had that this morning
i i would be here and i would submerge all of
you Okay? I would hydrate you in Jesus' name
this morning. Come on, across the field. How
many know when I got done hydrating you with
a super soaker, everybody might look just a little
bit different, right? How many know when you
go into the water, you don't look the same way
when you come out? It changes how you look. You
don't look the same. And for those of you...
that have hair in the house this morning. Some
of us don't, right? When you come out of the
water, I mean, your hair is just a little bit
different, right? You spent two hours this morning
getting your hair ready, and you go into the
water, and you come up, and it looks completely
different. You wouldn't feel the same. When you
come out of the water, you might feel cool because
of the water on your skin, or you might feel
hot because I just shot you with a super soaker,
right? You're going to feel different. Ladies,
if you don't have waterproof makeup on, how many
know there's going to be a change that takes
place, right? It's going to happen. And what
I'm saying is that once you're submerged, once
you're under, once you're submerged in Jesus
in particular, things change. Once I submerge
myself in him. Once Jesus surrounds me on every
side, above, below, on the sides, and underneath,
water is a picture. Water baptism is a big picture
of big change when I'm surrounded and submerged
in Jesus. I'm going to say it again. Water baptism
is a picture of big change when I am submerged
in Jesus. It looks different in our lives on
every side, and it should. 2 Corinthians 5, 17
says this. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation. Old things have passed
away. Behold, all things become new. Not some
things. All things become new. All things get
hydrated. I'm going to use water analogies all
morning, so just get used to it. All things get
hydrated in Jesus, right? Some things get washed
and cleaned in my mind. Something shifts and
waves begin to hit my soul and my spirit. I begin
to come alive. Things become new in my body.
What happened on the inside even begins to show
up on the outside, in the exterior. And I don't
think the same. I don't move the same. I don't
live the same. I don't believe the same. I don't
do the same things I used to do. I've become
a new creation in Christ. Something has changed
when I get submerged by Jesus. And I love talking
with those who have recently been changed by
Jesus Christ. I get the opportunity sometimes
when somebody's brand new in the faith, they've
never come to faith before, they've never put
their faith and trust in Christ, and they get
wet, man. They get submerged in Jesus, and it's
an awesome thing to come and talk with them and
to listen to their story. And you can see and
you can sense the change that begins in them.
You can see something new starting to take place.
There's a new creation. There's a sense of newness
that's all around. They don't even know what
to do with it sometimes. And the Holy Spirit
begins to renovate from the inside out because
that's what happens in salvation. Holy Spirit
comes in and he begins to change. He recreates,
right? It's a new thing. And new things start
pouring out of their spirit, starts pouring out
of their mouth, right? Some things that used
to fill their mouth no longer fill their mouth.
The vulgar, right? And the vile disappear. And
all of a sudden you start to hear virtuous words.
come out. Gossip goes away and the gospel starts
to come out. I was in a coffee shop this week
at the Cracked Pot. Yes, I'm going to do a shameless
plug here. If you haven't gone to the Cracked
Pot in Carlisle, you need to. Stop in there.
Not only will you get coffee and something good
to eat, but you also get an opportunity to support
a ministry that does amazing things. All right,
commercial's over, but please stop in. All right.
But I was there this week and I was spending
a little bit of time preparing for this message.
And sometimes I just go to a coffee shop to get
away and study and read. And I was there and
I know some of you do this because some of you
are going to laugh. But I was kind of eavesdropping
on the conversation. It was about five feet away
from me. There was two people, individuals talking.
It was this young man that walked in and he was
talking to a woman who was probably, I'm going
to guess, roughly 20 years older than he was.
And they clearly knew each other. And I started
listening to this young man. And I didn't have
to ask him anything. I wanted to jump into conversation.
I'm not going to lie. I wanted to get into conversation.
Because he just started talking about Jesus.
He started talking about what Jesus did in his
life. And he's just telling this lady, he's going
on and she's just so excited. And he's telling
her. And then he starts talking about God's word
and how it changes everybody. And his speech,
his mannerisms, it was just spewing out of him.
And I'm just leaning, right? I'm leaning in and
grabbing ahold of everything I can hear. And
you can see it in everything he does. Somewhere
along the way, he got submerged in Jesus. I don't
know where it happened. I don't know when it
happened. I didn't get the chance to ask him.
I don't even know who he was pre -Jesus. I'm
sure it looked a lot different. But I know one
thing. I know what I saw post -Jesus. I saw a
young man who was submerged in Jesus Christ.
And it changed who he was. And it reminded me
of what we read in Acts chapter 4. Verse 13,
and this is talking about Peter and John. Peter
and John were preaching the gospel, and they
got arrested, and they got brought in before
a bunch of leaders of that day. And it said this,
now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and
John and perceived that they were uneducated
and untrained men, okay, they realized these
guys aren't educated, but they marveled. And
they realized that they had been with Jesus.
These guys are standing in front of a council
group of people. They know they're not educated.
But everything about them says that these two
guys have been with Jesus. And all the leadership
saw it and knew it, right? When we submerge ourselves
in Jesus, everything becomes new at any age.
Even if you come to Christ in your old age, like
you're 40 or something, right? That was a little
joke, all right? You can get submerged, even
if you're very young. and you get submerged,
it'll start to show up in who you are. Even if
you're ancient like I am, because I passed 40
up a long time ago, right? If you get submerged
in Jesus Christ, it'll start to come out. Even
if you get re -submerged, we should get re -submerged
all the time in Jesus. Sometimes, how many know,
when you serve God for a long time, you just
kind of get dry and dusty, and you need Jesus
to come along with a super soaker, right? And
surround you again. And all of a sudden, people
start to see Jesus coming out of you. The joy
starts to come out, right? The joy of the Lord
is your strength. It's your strength because
it's what other people see in you. It really
is. And if we take a little closer to that first
verse I started with, which you hear quoted so
often, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If you start to look
at the verses before and a couple after. this
morning, we're just going to look at the ones
before. You start to understand, you start to
see what takes place when you get submerged in
Jesus. So if you got your Bibles, you can go
ahead, skip on back to second Corinthians five,
chapter one, or chapter five, verse one. And
I'm going to pick up and we're going to read
right on down to 17. It says this, for we know
that if the tent, now I got to stop right here
for a second. All right. I know I didn't get
very far, but when it says tent there, it's not
talking about your tent that you go camping in.
All right? Your tent is your body. Point to your
body right now. That's your tent. Look at the
person beside you. Point at them. Tell them that's
your tent right there, your tent. Don't laugh
when you say it. That's your tent. Okay? That's
your tent. So for this particular portion of
Scripture, know that. For we know that if the
tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we
have a building from God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent,
this body, We groan, longing to put on our heavenly
dwelling, an immortal body, really, if indeed
by putting it on we may not be found naked. And
it's talking in a spiritual sense. For while
we are still in this tent, in this body, we groan,
being burdened, not that we may be unclothed,
but that we would be further clothed, so that
what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Paul
is saying if I'm submerged in Jesus, if I'm in
this tent, if I'm in this tent now, in this body,
it's all good. It's all Jesus. It's all life.
And if one day when I die and I go to the other
side and I'm in Jesus, it's all good and it's
all life. I used to have a gentleman who attended
this church. He's passed on and went on to the
Lord. He always thought he'd come in every Sunday.
Pastor, it's a win -win. Man, if I live and I'm
here, and if next week I'm not here, it's a win
-win. He had a lot of heart troubles. He had
a lot of difficulties. And he died of COVID.
But it was a win -win for him. And that's kind
of what was being said here. Verse 5 says this.
He who was prepared for us for this very thing
is God, who has given us a spirit, this spirit
as a guarantee. That's the Holy Spirit. So we
are always of good courage. We know that all
the while we are at home in the body, we are
away from the Lord. For if we walk by faith,
not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage and
we would rather be away from the body and at
home with the Lord. So whether we are at home
or away, we make it our aim to please him. We
all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ
so that each one may receive what is due for
what he has done in the body, whether good or
evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord,
we persuade others. But what we are is known
to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.
We are not condemning ourselves to you again
or commending ourselves to you again, but giving
you cause to boast about us so that you may be
able to answer those who boast about our appearance
and not about what is in the heart. For if we
are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are
in our right mind, it is for you. Now, the first
11 chapters is all Paul writing. And Paul hits
a lot of things really quick. But if I had to
summarize it, first of all, he was saying it's
all good in Jesus. Right? If you're submerged
in Jesus, it's good. It's good in life. It's
good in death. It's all good for a Christian.
And then he goes on and says the Father has sent
a guarantee in Jesus, and that's the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit comes to live and dwell
with you in salvation, that is God's seal. That
is God's guarantee that you are surrounded by
him. And he says it is our aim then to experience,
right, and to please the Lord. And knowing all
this, he said we're going to give an account
one day. We're going to stand before the judgment.
Now, when he's talking about the judgment there,
he's not talking about a judgment that has to
do with either getting in. It's not a heaven
or hell judgment. It's not a condemnation judgment.
When we go before Jesus as followers and believers
of Jesus, right, we go before the judgment seat
of Christ. He's just determining how much reward
you're going to get. He said, by the works that
you do. Now, I don't know if you know that. You
can study that out in God's Word. But it's talking
about reward for the works that you've done as
a believer and follower. And all this leads up
to verse 14. He sets the tone, right? That's
how Paul does. He says this, for the love of
Christ controls us, because we have concluded
this, that one has died for all, therefore all
have died. And he died for all, and those who
live no longer live for themselves, but for him,
for their sakes. died and was raised. What's
Paul saying? What's he kind of concluding? He's
concluding this. If we're submerged in Jesus,
it changes my primary function in life. If I'm
submerged in Jesus, it changes my primary function
in life. Verse 15 says, and those who might live
no longer live for themselves, but for him, who
for their sake died and was raised. I no longer
live for me. I no longer live for myself in Christ.
When I'm submerged in Jesus, my primary function
changes. When I get baptized in water, I symbolically
go down and I die to myself. right? My previous
primary function disappears, right? It's salvation.
And when I come up, that function is different.
The old is gone and the new comes. Galatians
2 .20 says, I've been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives
in me. And the life I now live in the flesh,
I live by faith in the son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. My old primary function
is deceased. It has died. It is dead. I'm from
Western Pennsylvania. They would say it croaked.
How many ever heard that before? Yeah, come on.
It croaked. It's gone, right? The primary function
is gone. And everything changes. Everything changes
when the primary function changes. Now, you're
sitting in a building right now, and this building
has a primary function. It actually has two primary
functions. One, it's a church, right? You're
sitting inside a sanctuary. You're sitting inside
a church. But this is also, the rest of this
building is used on a daily basis during the
week for a Christian school. So the primary function
for this building is that it is a church and
it is a Christian school. It is a place where
people come to learn about Christ. It's where
Christian education takes place, right? But what
if that primary function in this building changed?
What if we decided one day, you know what? We're
going to make this Lifehouse Restaurant instead
of Lifehouse Church. How many know that would
change everything in the building? Right? Everything
would begin to look different. Everything would
change in its function. Everything would shift.
What was happening in the building? Who was in
the building, right? What kind of equipment were
used in the building? What things we do in the
building? Every purpose related to this building
and the structure starts to become new. It would
look, feel, smell, and seem completely like something
different because it would be. It changes it.
When we come to Christ, when we get saved, when
we get submerged, our primary function changes.
And along with that, so does everything else.
Now, listen, I know there's remnants of what
you looked like pre -Jesus, right? You've been
saved for a long time. You didn't change your
physical appearance, but everything else should
change. Galatians 2 .20, right? I've been crucified
with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but
Christ who lives in me. And oh yeah, you might
function as a mom, a dad, a husband, a wife,
a daughter, a son, a friend. Your career might
be exactly what it was before you got saved and
met Jesus. You may have the same hobbies and
interests. You may see the same face looking
back in the mirror every morning when you get
up and you go into the bathroom at your home.
But my primary function in Jesus will change
every aspect of the secondary functions that
I just mentioned. If your primary function is
in Jesus and you're submerged in him, your parenting
will begin to look different in Jesus. It really
will. My marriage will be different. My marriage
to Dixie should look different because I learned
how to love Dixie because I learned how to love
from Jesus, right? And not just trying to guess
or do it my own way. It will change how I function
as a son or as a daughter or as a friend. My
hobbies and interests might take a different
tone of priority in my life. If Jesus is primary.
If he's the primary function in me. He will change
every aspect of my secondary functions in life.
He truly will. Worship team, if you'd come. John
14, 6 says this. Jesus said to him, I am the
way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me. When my
primary function is submerged. in all things
in Jesus Christ, it is my secondary functions
that begin to shift as well. And all of a sudden,
say all of a sudden, all of a sudden, my way
of life, right? Jesus is the way. My way of life
changes. It starts to look different in him.
It starts to look different when I'm submerged.
My truth changes. It's no longer about what my
truth is. It's about what's true because he said
it. My truth changes. My life changes. My life
starts to look more like his life. Starts to
take on more attributes, right? And I die to
me. And I gauge into all kind of things that
are Christ. His way, the truth, and life. And
the strange thing is, is that when I die to me,
and it's not until I die to me, Did I really
begin to live at all? See, things in Christ are
completely opposite of what you see out in the
world. It's completely counter -cultural to how
the world functions. You know, the enemy, Satan,
and really the word will tell us, you know, you
just got to live a little more for yourself,
right? If you indulge just a little bit more.
Sooner or later, you're going to hit the utopia
of a full life, right? It's just going to be
on the other side of this, whatever it is. How
am I going to know it never is, right? At the
most, when we indulge in those things, sometimes
it just becomes a cheap forfeit that is momentary
in nature. And we'll experience that happiness
for a moment. And we'll run back to it again.
And we keep trying to find it. And Jesus said,
it's the opposite. You keep looking for life
and thinking if you just live for you, you're
going to keep finding it. And he said, no, you
die. You die to you. And then you begin to live.
And it's true. The moment we begin to start letting
God surround us, Jesus surround us, and we die
to ourselves, we begin a brand new life in Jesus.
That's when he's submerging us, right? It's true.
I'm asked to be standing this morning. We're
going to get to baptism in just a little bit,
but I want to give you an opportunity. And if
you would right now, I just want you to bow your
head and close your eyes, and they're going to
begin to play some music softly. And today we're
going to celebrate nine people that have said,
I've given my life to Christ. I'm submerged.
Now, I know that's a process in life. I'm still
surrendering parts of my life in a weekly and
daily time frame. But it's somebody saying, I'm
going to start giving this all over to Jesus.
I realize I can't do this on my own. I realize
I can't fix my sin problem. I realize that I
keep chasing things that I think are going to
bring me life. And I think there's this utopia
right around the corner and I never get to it.
And it might be that you're following something
that's completely opposite of what God designed.
Because Jesus said, if you die to you, if you
let go of it all, you turn it all over to him,
and you commit to follow him, he said, you'll
really start to live. And it's true. There are
many, many in this house that would testify to
that. So with every head bowed and every eye
closed, if you're in this house this morning,
and you know that you're far from God, You know
that you've been chasing after life yourself.
You've been looking for it on your own. You think
it's around the next corner with the next thing.
I'm here to tell you, it's about surrendering
to Jesus. It's about realizing that you're lost
and you're in sin and you're far away from God
and that Jesus made a way. He came and died on
a cross. We celebrated it last week. He came
and died on a cross. He went into a grave and
he rose out of that grave to pay for your freedom.
He died so that you could live. So baptism's
all about he died so you could live. And the
word of God says that if you believe in your
heart and you confess with your mouth and you
commit in your spirit and you say, God, I don't
know what this is all gonna look like. Jesus,
I'm not sure how this is all gonna flesh out
in my life, but I want surrounded by you right
now. I want you to surround me. I want you in
every part of my life. I'm turning it over to
you. I'm gonna start doing things your way. I'm
gonna start looking at you. If that's you this
morning, And it could be for the very first time
or it could be a recommitment. I'm going to give
this over to you. All I'm going to ask you to
do, I'm not going to pull you up front. I'm not
going to make you go anywhere or do anything.
I'm just going to say this. If that's you, raise
your hand up right now. Put it up in the air
just as a way of acknowledging it. And then put
it right back down. Thank you for the honesty.
Thank you. Father, we come to you. In the name
of your son, Jesus, I thank you for each one
in the house. Lord, we want submerged. Lord,
for those, God, who raised their hand, God, I
pray that you just pour upon them this morning.
God, that you pour into their spirits. God, that
you pour into their lives. And Lord, God, as
they commit to you, Lord, as they call out to
you and say, I want you just in everything, Jesus,
just surround me. Fill me up. Fill me over. Lord,
I pray that you will. God, for those of us who've
been following you for maybe years or decades,
God, I pray, God, that we jump back in. Lord,
to the pools of baptism. And Lord, we just want
to be submerged. We want to be in all things
Christ. And Lord God, we don't hold any area
back. We don't try to chase anything. Lord, that's
out beyond you. And we just look to you. We just
give you praise. I thank you, Lord. If that's
you, just praise him. Just pray to him. Just
ask him right now in your own words. Lord, just
cover me over. Fill me up. Immerse me in Jesus'
name. In Jesus' name. Isn't he good? Thank you
for those who raised your hands. Appreciate the
honesty. I want to read some verse all the time.
I got reminded myself this week. Amen? Amen.
It's about baptism. It's about baptism. Thank
you for tuning in to this message from Lifehouse
Church. We pray that you were impacted powerfully
by this message. If you have been personally
affected by our ministry and you would like to
partner with us as we love God, love people every
day, visit our website at www .lifehousecog .com.