Okay, as we begin to worship God this afternoon, let us begin by singing a prayer or singing a song to the Lord. So if you would, please stand with me and turn to hymn 271. We will be singing, How Sweet and Awful is the Place. 271. Please stand with me. is the place with Christ within the doors. While everlasting love displays the choices of her stores. While all our hearts and all our songs join to thee admires the feast. Each of us cry with thankfulness, Lord, Why was I a guest? Why was I made to hear thy voice and enter while there's room for when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come. T'was the same love that spread the feast that sweet else we had still refused to taste. and perished in our sin. Pity the nations, O our God. Constrain the earth to come. Send thy victorious word abroad and bring the strangers home. We long to see Thy church is full, and all the chosen race may with one voice and heart and soul Sing thy redeeming grace. Amen. You may be seated. We are blessed this afternoon to be having a membership and baptismal service. Normally, we don't have a special service for those coming into membership, but since one of those coming into membership this afternoon is also going to be baptized, we decided to have everyone be a part of this service. Normally, if the individuals have been scripturally baptized, we simply have them give their testimony and then welcome them into this local church. But again, this afternoon, we are having a baptism, which is always such a blessing to have. It is a blessing to have new members added to our congregation in itself, but also to have baptism as an extra added blessing. So with this idea of members being added to our congregation, our brief message this afternoon is titled, and the Lord was adding to their number. And it is taken from Acts chapter 2. So if you would, please turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 2. We will be reading verses 37 through 47, and then making some brief comments concerning church membership and baptism. So Acts chapter 2, verses 37 through 47. Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? Peter said to them, repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself. And with many other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, be saved from this perverse generation. So then those who had received his word were baptized, and that day there were added about 3,000 souls. they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe, and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common. And they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house. They were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. In this short narrative, we see the beginnings and the growth of the New Testament church. And in this narrative, we see a pattern that is laid out about church growth, church membership, and baptism. First, regarding church growth and membership. We see this in several details in this narrative. 3,000 souls were added, but added to what? The people are not simply attending a church service. They were being added to something. That something is the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, the church. But it was not simply being added to the universal church. The adding to the church is described in the language of the local congregation. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, and to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. This is something that was ongoing. Verse 46 says, day by day continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house. This is concluded again with a statement of the people being added to the church. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Church membership is not just a good idea, but it is necessary. It is God's design. What God is doing specifically with his people, he is doing it within the context of the local church. As I have said before, the universal and invisible church is made visible in the local church. Your membership into the one and universal body of Christ is made visible in your membership to a local body of Christ. It is not an option whether believers are to be members of a local church or not. This does not mean that membership looks exactly the same way. There are various ways that churches throughout history have done church membership. But the point is commitment by the believer to join with a local body, to serve that body, to use the gifts that God has given that individual to serve, to build up and edify the body of Christ, to stir one another to good works. But this implies something that the passage in our text teaches. There are a couple of things that are necessary for church membership. So what is necessary then to join a church? First, if the local church is the visible manifestation of the universal church, and the universal church is the whole number of those that are being saved, I'm sorry. of the elect, then it follows that those who are members of the local church are those that have believed. Look at verse 40. It says, and with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them saying, be saved from this perverse generation. Who are those 3,000 that are being added to the church? It is those that received Peter's word about repenting, about believing in verse 38, and about being saved from this perverse generation. It is those who have believed and have been saved from this perverse generation that were added to the church. Also, when Peter says, the promise is to you and to your children, he is speaking to unbelievers, and he is telling them that the promise is to them and their children. This phrase, to you and your children, was a common phrase to refer to the Jews across generations. It was a promise to the Jewish people. This makes sense because Peter goes on to say, and to those who are far off. This phrase, those who are far off, is a clear reference to non-Jews, to Gentiles. We see this in Isaiah and other places in the Old Testament, and we even see it in Paul in Ephesians chapter two. But the key phrase is how Peter concludes this statement about the promise. He says, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself. So from the Jews, from the Gentiles, as many as the Lord will call to himself. Being saved, being added to the number of the local congregation is then a calling by God. It is a work of God in the individual. Now, we can't ever know with 100% certainty who is and who is not a true believer. We are to use wisdom in discerning God's work in individuals. We are to use a credible profession of faith, not perfection, because none of us will ever be perfect in this lifetime. But we seek to discern that people are truly trusting in Christ, that in their struggles, In their trials, they are looking to Christ. They are trusting in him for their righteousness. And so Peter exhorts them, be saved from this perverse generation. And then we are told that those who had received his word were baptized. Baptism was a last step in being added to the church. They had to believe and then be baptized. And so Peter says, after mentioning those who had been baptized, and that day were added about 3,000 souls. Why is it necessary, and what is baptism? A concise definition can be found in our Confession of Faith. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him in his death and resurrection, of his being engrafted into him, of remission of sins, and of giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life. Baptism is a sign of what God has done in this individual, but it is also an oath both on the part of God, of what He has done and what He does to us, but also a pledge on the part of the one being baptized to follow, to walk in newness of life. Paul, in Romans 6, says, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in ewness of life. So the sign of baptism is so connected to the reality of Christ saving that individual that Paul can say, when you were baptized, you were baptized into his death. Baptism signifies that the person's fellowship with him is engrafting into him of the remission of sins to live and walk in newness of life. That is what it signifies. It does not represent a general work of God or something we hope will happen one day. It signifies to the one being baptized that wonderful and gracious and merciful work that God has done in that individual. It is the internal work of God in the party baptized being proclaimed in a visible form, and this is why baptism is necessary. It is proclaiming what God has done in that individual, and it is a commitment to walk in newness of life together with God's people in the local church. As we see in Acts 2, and as our confession also states, The Lord added 3,000 souls to the church that day in Jerusalem. This day, the Lord will have added four new members to our congregation this day. Joshua, Erica Liz, Mark, and Sabrina. You have obeyed the call of your shepherd to join yourselves to this local church, but remember that it is the Lord first and ultimately who has added you to his church. And Sabrina, this is a special day for you as well as the others, but not only because you are joining this church, but because you are obeying the call of your Lord to be baptized. I want you to remember this day because baptism is not only efficacious to us as a means of grace only on the day that we are baptized, but throughout our life. We can look back to our baptism and be encouraged and strengthened in our faith as we remember our baptism and are reminded of the work, the good work that God has done in you. In this baptism, not only are you pledging to walk in newness of life and under the care and authority of this local church, but God is also pledging that the work that he has begun in you, he will complete it. He is pledging his love to you and his care. Remembering our baptism is something that we as Baptists can actually do. Lutherans and other traditions speak of remembering your baptism. But if you were baptized as an infant, as I was, You can't. I don't. But I can remember, after being saved, the day that I was baptized scripturally in a gospel-preaching Protestant church. So remember this day. Remember the importance of this ordinance of baptism and what it signifies. in what is being pledged by you and by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And as you witness this baptism, you can also remember your baptism and remember the wonderful work that God has done in you through Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank you. Thank you so much for this great work that you have done in adding to your church, in gathering your people, in our Lord Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd, the True Shepherd, who is gathering his people. Thank you for the great work that you have done in these individuals that will be joining our church and baptized. And thank you for the work that you've done in us already. We pray that you would continue to do it, Lord God, and that you would, in adding to your church, to this church, that you would increase our love, our unity among us. Lord, please, we thank you and we praise you and we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. At this point we are going to ask the members that are going to be joining our church to come one by one and then they will be giving a brief testimony of the work that God has done in their life. So we will begin with Joshua Emerson. So if you would come up brother. Good morning, church. My name is Joshua Emerson. I was born in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, an island off the coast of Australia. I grew up in a Catholic home in Australia and in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. At my Catholic primary school, there was a mass on site. I became an altar boy. I remember being drawn to know God, yet unsure what that really looked like. I went to Catholic private schools off and on until the age of 16. Later that year, I walked away from the Catholic Church, confused and bewildered by the hypocrisy of priests in my town and the ritualistic works that no longer made any sense to me. My grandfather on my mother's side was a Christian, and when he would often come visit with us, he would bring me a Bible and pray with me and my siblings. At 17, I was invited by a friend to visit a Christian camp on an island where the gospel had been presented on many nights. I was convicted of my sin and need for Christ, yet was not converted. However, looking back, I do see how God, the Holy Spirit, was beginning the work of drawing me to himself. In 2001, I watched the Twin Towers go down in flames on national TV and chose to enlist to the United States Marines with my best friend. Later that year, my dreams and aspirations of what I thought my future held were They were all gone and I injured my shoulder and severely so and had to be honorably discharged. Over the next year, Christ had sovereignly brought me to a place of brokenness in my personal life. I was seeking fulfillment in the world and only ended up feeling further empty and broken over my sins. Looking back, I'd see Jesus had been sovereignly wooing me and drawing me to himself through preparing my heart to surrender all. In the cold winter evening of 2002 in East Hampton, Massachusetts, he sovereignly arrested my soul. I was brought to my knees and he opened the eyes of my heart to see my desperate state of sin, my inability to be free from it, and that only he could set me free. He opened my eyes to see how selfish I had been. and how I had pushed away His grace and His kindness up to that point. I cried out to the Lord throughout that night to save my soul. That evening, He gave me the grace to put trust in Christ to set me free. He opened my eyes to see what He had done on the cross, that He shed His blood for me. that only faith in Christ and His work could save me. No priest, no pope, but through Christ in Him alone. Joy filled my heart that late evening into the next morning and the days and weeks that followed. Christ Jesus gave me the power over my sin. the strength to turn from my sins, to repent and seek him. He gave me the grace and power within to turn from the things I once loved and cherished. He filled my heart with joy of being cleansed of my sins, giving me peace formerly unknown. that I now was right with God. He gave me a clean conscience, and oh, how sweet it was. All I could do was praise him. He filled my heart with an overwhelming passion to know him more. I longed to know him. As Moses knew him, as I read face to face, He also placed in me an overwhelming passion to see others to come to know him, to hear his wonderful good news of the gospel of God. I remember when I would arrive at home from work in construction that whole year, working in concrete, all I longed to do when I arrived at home at the end of the day was shut myself in my room and read his words of life late into the evening and the next day, and pray how to be faithful witness at my work, and pray how to best share with everyone I could about him. In the fall of 2003, I was baptized by Pastor Art Warner, who had been discipling me at the church I attended. Christ led me to jail ministry, where I helped lead a Bible study along with my elders with inmates in our local prison in Greenfield, Massachusetts. I later joined a reformed evangelism school where I was trained to preach Christ biblically, and I started street preaching in Northampton, Massachusetts. Preaching Christ and Him crucified was an overwhelming passion He placed in me. His gospel consumed my new life in Christ. I had the privilege of being a part of God's plan to sing one of my sister's mother, And one of my brothers put their faith in Christ over the following years as Christ radically changed and saved them also and brought them to repentance. I thank God for his grace in many men and mentors and elders over the years, some of which who have passed away to be with the Lord now. who Jesus blessed me with as dear friends, mentors, I thank God who poured their life in me. I would not be the man I am today if it was not for Christ's grace in them towards me. Our great and triune God has been faithfully leading me the past 21 years, and I thank God he granted me favor and gave me my dear wife, Erica Liz Emerson, who I praise him for, that we are now celebrating this month 12 years of marriage. I praise him for my four children given by his hands. I thank God for his local church where we have been longstanding members of the Reformed churches in Southern California. In moving to Texas in December of 2020, we thank God for leading us to the Texas Reformed Baptist Association. We were members of two years at a church association in Waco. after which we moved to our parent church here, ERBC in Georgetown, as I had a desire to pursue an opportunity for ministry and finish my master's in divinity. After a year at ERBC and praying for the Belton plant, Partaking in its first services and seeing answered prayer in God's providence, providing the calling of another elder here at Redeemer, we after much prayer decided as a family to move to Redeemer Reformed Baptist Church. Myself and my family are personally so grateful to God to be able to pursue membership here now and to unite with his local body here at Redeemer. Thanks be to God. Thank you, brother. Now we'll have his wife, Erica Liz, come up and give her testimony. Can you hear me okay? Yes, okay. Hello, I'm Erica Liz Emerson. I was just thinking. Collecting myself. I was raised in a Catholic church. and was required to participate in religious practices, both at home and in church, and even attended private Catholic all-girls high school. God mercifully and graciously led me to meet a Filipino friend, outside of all that, that invited me to his small Christian church. I was enlightened by the idea that Filipinos can be Christians too, being raised in the Catholic bubble all my life. Though that enlightenment led me to curiosity, it also sparked the love of Christ through his church to draw me into a journey to seek and know him and to walk away from the Catholic church by faith. This first step broke my dad to tears and led my mother disappointed and angry. Abruptly, only after several months, my parents decided to move our family to a far city from my childhood home. I no longer was connected with this Christian church and surrounded myself with living a life void of truth, temporary pleasures, and a cycle of broken, empty relationships. It came to a point in my life where I often would find myself staring at the stars late at night. Asking God to reveal himself to me. God mercifully continued to help me see my brokenness and longing to know him. At the age of 20, I attended a Christian university, and it was in their empty school chapel. Late evening on my knees, I begged, cried, and sought God to reveal himself to me again, as I realized I could not change myself. He opened my eyes to see only he could save me. He gave me the grace to put my faith and trust in his love for me and his finished work on the cross. From a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, the Lord opened my eyes and gave me the courage to make a choice to let go and repent and turn from my sin. And of the voice that once filled my heart to receive his forgiveness and allow him to fill my heart with his love and peace in Christ. It was the most difficult and heart-wrenching choice, yet the most biggest, unexplainable, peaceful assurance I ever felt in my lifetime at that point, so when he saved my soul, the Lord then led me to a ladies' Bible study. that challenged me to grow in ways to fully surrender my life to God. I was deeply involved. Through Him changing my heart and giving me the willingness to grow in Him, the Lord helped me acknowledge my deeper need for Him in my life, not only in head knowledge, but in doing His work through me. I yet again went through another difficult and most peaceful season of Christ, sanctifying me to wholly surrender. Over the years, with God's help, I have met some wonderful, faithful Christian friends, mentor moms, a special older mentor couple who's dear to my heart, who had such great love for the Lord that led me to believe a life so messy could become so beautiful. And through my church family, the Lord has been faithful to carry me through this life, through hardships, persecutions, and difficulties in life. By the grace of God, I am married to my beloved and best friend Joshua of 12 years, and having children of my own now, my overall journey in this life is similarly pictured as a wounded and broken ceramic mended with gold, progressively growing in the grace and knowledge of God. Today I'm here by the grace of God and I am who I am because of the work he has done in me and who promises to complete the work for his glory. I no longer am not bonded by the fleeting assurance of what this world has to offer, the bondage of sin and weight of this world. But I'm gratefully, humbly, divinely captivated by the love of Christ who continues to immersively rescue me from my sins to completion. Thank you. Thank you, sister. Our next membership or membership candidate is Brother Mark Samson. So please come up and tell us how God has worked in your life. Just one page. Former Catholic, so that makes three. Okay. There were a couple of times when I rejected God because the world was more satisfying to my flesh. But in those times, I knew there was something greater than my life of sin. And I felt that something was what I needed. As a Catholic, prior to confessing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I served as a staunch Catholic altar boy, thinking then my committed service to God. I was good to go, but I wasn't. As they said, the third time is a charm. I was reborn, water baptized in September 1977. That was a long time ago. But today, I know God is still involved in my life. In word study, intimate prayer fellowship, and more importantly or equally important, with my lovely wife and family, I am truly blessed. As most Christians would say, they have a certain Bible verses that cling to their soul and perhaps keep them on course with their spiritual walk in Christ. I'd like to share a verse that's personal to me. It comes from the book of Proverbs, chapter three, verses five and eight. It says that, trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding, but acknowledge him, and he will direct your path. Be not wise in your eyes, but fear the Lord, and turn away from evil, because of its health to your body, and refreshment to your bones. I genuinely understand trusting God will keep me on course He laid out for my life. In doing so, my physical life benefits from God's promise. Also, this verse promised a refreshment deep within my inner soul. Indeed, this verse provides comfort and assurance that God chose me to be his in September 1977. I am eternally grateful that he did. Amen. Thank you, brother. You will now hear from Sabrina. So please come on up. Sabrina doesn't think that she could read it and keep her emotions under control. I don't know if I can. So I'm going to read it for her. My name is Sabrina Stark. My troubles started early in life, foster care, teen pregnancy, no parents, no support system, I was always angry, and my favorite lines were, why me, God, or you must really hate me. I thought I loved God, but I didn't understand the way God loved me or how to show him that I loved him. After my sister died on September 25, 2023, I cried out to God more than ever. I wanted answers that I now know. My life was characterized by sin of almost every kind that controlled my life. I started attending church, completed a Bible study, and discovered I was a helpless sinner and separated from God, a slave to my sinful nature. God gave me new desires and a new heart that wanted to stop sinning and to live for him. I understand that is what Jesus means by being born again. He gave me faith in Jesus Christ. I am not perfect, but God has changed my life in big ways. I was able to stop using drugs. I've been able to refrain from sexual immorality. I've experienced God actually answering prayers. I am able to witness at times and desire to tell people about Christ. I am very passionate about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's such a blessing to hear the testimonies of what God has done in various individuals. Because although we can see the similarities, yet each one is so unique. Their lives, their upbringings, so unique, but yet here they are. The Lord has brought them, has gathered them. his sheep, and it's just a wonderful blessing to hear God's work in these individuals, and we're thankful for them. We will now be singing a hymn while our sister Sabrina gets ready for baptism. We will be singing a hymn, Blessed be the tie that binds, which speaks of the unity that exists among the brethren So please stand with me and join with me as we sing this song to our Lord. And while Sabrina goes to the bathroom and gets ready, we will sing this song. It's a 285. Let's be the tie that binds. Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above. Before our Father's throne, we pour our ardent prayers. Our fears, our hopes, our aims, our want, our comforts, and our cares. burdens bear, and often for each other flows the sympathizing tear. When we It gives us inward pain, but we shall still be joined in heart and hope to meet again. ♪ This glorious hope revives ♪ ♪ Our courage by the way ♪ ♪ While each in expectation lives ♪ ♪ And longs to see ♪ From sorrow, toil, and pain and sin we shall be free. And perfect love and friendship reign. Amen. Okay, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna go out. I'm sure you guys saw the baptistry outside. We're gonna walk out there and stand in front on the pavement. Once we conclude the baptism, while she dries off, we will, in the bathroom, we will all come back in here, sing a couple songs, and then we will proceed, okay? So let's make our way out to the outside. you I don't know. I don't know. Thank you. Thank you. Right here? Thank you. Okay. Let's praise the Lord for this. Let's turn if you would turn to your in your trinity in your hymnal to hymn 188. There is a fountain filled with blood. Please stand with me as we sing. 188 There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Emmanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that blood Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And there have I, as vile as he, washed all my sins away. Washed all my sins away Washed all my sins away And there have I, as vile as he Washed all my sins away E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream, Thy flowing wounds supply. Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my theme. And shall be till I die. Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood Never lose its power Till all the ransomed Church of God Be saved to sin no more Be saved to sin no more Be saved to sin no more Till all the ransomed Church of God Be saved to sin no more Amen. 268 will be the last hymn that we sing. 268, we would turn there. Christ is made the sure foundation. Christ is made the sure foundation, Christ the head and cornerstone. Chosen of the Lord and precious, binding all the church in one. Holy Zion's held forever. and her confidence alone. All that dedicated city, dearly loved of God on high. In exultant jubilation pours perpetual God the one in three, adoring in glad hymns eternally. To this temple where we call Thee Come, O Lord, upload today With Thy wanted lovingkindness Hear Thy people as they pray And Thy fullest benediction shed within its walls away. Here vouchsafe to all thy servants what they ask of thee to gain. what they gained from thee forever with the blessed to retain and hereafter in thy glory evermore with thee to reign. Land and honor to the Father. Lord and honor to the Son. Lord and honor to the Father. ♪ To the spirit ever three and ever one ♪ ♪ One in might and one in glory ♪ ♪ While unending ages run ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ You may be seated. We will now have the members come up and they will be signing the church covenant. So if you all would please come up to the front here. I see my home and I see my home town. I see my home and I see my home town. I see my home and I see my home town. I see my home and I see my home town. I see my home and I see my home town. I love you. I love you. Oh. Okay, well, we thank the Lord for you all, Joshua, Ericka Liz, Mark, and Serena. Thank you, and we thank the Lord for what he's done in your life. We would now ask you to please come up, as you are now members of the New American Orthodox Church. Come up, and for those that are here members, please give them a welcome into our congregation.