In Acts chapter two, verse 36. Acts two, verse 36. Really picking up from last Sunday's message when we talked about the day of Pentecost and what happened. So Acts two, verse 36. Would you stand as we read God's word? Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, every one of you for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are for off, even as many the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort saying, save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls. Let's pray. Father again, we thank you for the day you've given to us the opportunity to be in your house to worship you in spirit and in truth. We thank you for the country that you have given to us With all of its faults, Father, we still are grateful for the freedoms, the ability that we have today to come to worship you in any way that we choose. I do pray for our leaders, I pray for our nation, that, Father, you would touch their hearts, they might respond to you, and once again, they might understand the Christian foundations of this nation. We pray, Father, now for this service. We commit it to you. Hide me behind the cross, speak through me the words that need to be spoken, May your Holy Spirit take it to the hearts and lives of individuals. May I be a clean vessel in your sight, remove anything from my life that ought not to be there, Father. And I just pray again that the message might be clear and that you might do what you need to do in this service today. Again, be with those who are traveling. Bless your churches and wherever the word is preached today, Father. Guide and direct in Jesus' name we pray, amen. You may be seated. This past Tuesday, July the 4th, was the 247th anniversary of our nation, something that was celebrated by a lot of people in many ways. What you may not have thought of was on May the 28th of this year was about the 1986th anniversary of the church. Depending on how you look at the calendar and the dating of the calendar and Jesus' age and so forth, it was close to 2,000 years ago that the church began at Pentecost. There wasn't a lot of fanfare this year about that. There wasn't a lot of talk about that, but in the word of God, there is a lot of fanfare. On the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the resurrection, The church was born as Peter preached the gospel. Those present had proclaimed the works of God, the marvelous works of God, in every language of the people there. The people heard, they were impressed, and it was an exciting day. Now it would have been easy to have got caught up in the emotion of that day. I don't have a problem with emotion. Emotion can be good. There's nothing wrong with emotion in church, as long as it's in the right way. Some people criticize the Baptist church and say we're too stoic, that we don't have any emotion, that we don't act out at all. Some others say that, you know, we do too much or whatever. The reality of it is, worship is a worship experience that was meant to glorify and honor God and to learn the things that God has for us. So the day of Pentecost entered with excitement. As the Holy Spirit fell and spoke to the believers who were there, everybody in the tongues of other people began to talk about the marvelous works of God. It was a testimony, and it wasn't a preaching in the Word, but it was a testimony of the marvelous works of God and what was going on. Everybody kind of got caught up in that because the Bible tells us people came in from ways away. They came in, they listened, they heard it, they understood these people speaking in their own language and some of them marveled and said, this is a great thing. But there were some other people that were there that listened and said, these men are drunk. This is not a good thing. They've gotten carried away and they are drunk and they're doing all kinds of language that nobody can understand or realize and this is a fiasco. Now, it would have been easy for the church to have just said, you know what? Let's just stay here and keep speaking in tongues. Let's just stay here and keep having our emotions. And I'm not preaching against tongues this morning, okay? There's a biblical application of that. But what I'm saying is, they could have said, let's just stay here and have all of our emotion and have all of our testimony and do all the things that we're gonna do and everybody have a great time. But Peter stood up and Peter said, we need to understand what this is all about. And so Peter, as I said to you last week, basically said, let's have a Bible study. Let's not have an emotional experience here. Let's not just have a time of talking about the good works of God, although that's important. Let's not get carried away with jumping up and down or whatever we're doing, but here's what we need to do. Understand that this is predicted in the word of God. And then he went back and told them the prophet Joel said this day was coming. He prophesied it, he told us about it, and he said what was gonna happen. But Peter also said something very interesting that I spoke to you about last week, and that was the day of Pentecost did not culminate everything, it just began everything. And so as he talked about the day of Pentecost, he talked about the signs that were gonna happen. The maidens would see visions and prophesy and the young men would too. But then he started talking about the sky would be darkened and the sun would darken and the moon would be turned to blood and all the things. Those things there is no record of happening on the day of Pentecost. And so what Peter was saying was, this is just the beginning. Now remember what Jesus had said when the disciples, as he was telling them, I'm going to go in, you're gonna go, and you're gonna wait for the Holy Spirit. I'm gonna go away to the Father. When you receive the Holy Spirit, you're gonna go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and all those kind of places and give the gospel out, if you would, but wait for the Holy Spirit. They ask, is the kingdom going to be set up at that time? And Jesus said, it is not for you to know those times. but go you and preach the gospel. Now, Peter is kind of saying the same thing again. Don't get caught up with these signs and what's happening on this day, but understand and realize that signs are being displayed today of a start of the birthing of the Holy Spirit of the church, basically, and it's gonna continue on until Jesus comes back and sets up his kingdom. We don't know when that's going to be. We don't know the day or the hour. The sun does not know the day or the hour, but we have the job to preach the gospel is what we're supposed to do. So, Peter stood up and boldly preached, and you can read it in the scripture, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And as he preached, he said, the Father God has made Jesus of Nazareth the one who was the carpenter, if you would. He has allowed him to be crucified. It was his plan. and he made him Lord and Christ. He made him Adonai. He made him also the Messiah. He is God in the flesh, the Messiah who is to come. This is what Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost. So let's not get caught up with signs and wonders. Let's not get caught up with just testimonies. Let's not get up with all the trappings of what's happening around here, but let's get back to the word of God. And that's exactly what Peter did. He took them back to what had been said in the Old Testament so that they would know and understand. So then, if you would, look at the scripture, verse 36. The Bible says, therefore, this is what Peter said, therefore, because of what I've told you, he talked about David, he talked about the kingdom that was set up, therefore, because of all this, let all the house of Israel know, who's the house of Israel? The Jews, because they were God's people in the Old Testament, and so this message was sent so they can understand prophecy was fulfilled. Let them know that God hath made that same Jesus. Where have we heard that before? When they looked up into heaven, the angel said, why stand gazing? This same Jesus is coming back. So that same Jesus who died on the cross, that same Jesus was buried and rose again. That same Jesus has been made Lord and Christ. You crucified him, and as I said last week, there were three main Jewish festivals that they came through each year. This was one, and probably some of these same folks had been there for Passover. They may have been some of the same folks who called for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And now they are here, and Peter is saying unto them, that this same Jesus whom you have crucified, God has made Lord in Christ. Verse 37, when they heard this, there was conviction. There was conviction. They were pricked in their heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Look at verse 37. The result, as I said, was conviction. They were pricked in the heart. What shall we do? And what did Peter do? He literally explained to them, but he also gave an invitation. That's literally what he did. He told them, this is what you need to do. You need to repent and be baptized. It's hard to understand why in so many churches today, we've taken the invitation out. The whole purpose of the worship service, of fellowship and everything else, is the preaching of the Word that leads to conviction, that leads to the action of the people. So if we're bringing them to conviction, if we're bringing them to action, why would we not give them an opportunity to take that action? I don't understand that. It is not clear to me. But that's what's happening in our day. So in looking at this, notice that it says they were pricked in the heart. Do you know what preaching is supposed to do? It is supposed to bring conviction. We are told in our day and age that it's supposed to make you feel good. that preaching is supposed to make you feel good and you leave the church and you say, what a good boy am I? Preaching is supposed to bring conviction if there's anything in your life that you need to be convicted about. That is the purpose. The word of God convicts. You see that throughout the word of God. So they were pricked in their heart. It was like a knife was plunged into their heart. And what they realized was we are sinners in the eyes of a holy and a just God. Now, I want you to notice something. I told you earlier, the last two weeks, I've told you about the fact that you can get in the flesh and you can get in the spirit. I believe they got in the flesh on the first day that they were in the upper room and elected the wrong apostle. That's my opinion. You can disagree with me if you want to. I believe there were other times that decisions were made. But I want you to look here at what happened in Peter's life. When Peter was in the flesh, what did he do? When they were in the garden of Gethsemane and Jesus was being betrayed, what did Peter do? He took out a sword and he cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Now it's a good thing Jesus wasn't using him for protection because he was aiming for the guy's head. And what he got was his ear. But that's in the flesh what Peter could do. What happens on the day of Pentecost? On the day of Pentecost, when Peter is in the spirit, he is now wielding not a physical sword, but the sword of the spirit, the word of God, which is the double-edged sword. And what happens in the spirit when he uses the sword? He doesn't cut off the guy's ear or his head, they're pricked in the heart. A vast difference, isn't there? In the flesh, we cut off people's ears. In the Spirit, the Holy Spirit convicts and brings people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. 3,000 people were saved. Can you imagine in one service, at one time, 3,000 people? So now you've got the 120 who were in the upper room, you've got 3,000 converts, you've got at least 3,120 people. We need to act in the spirit. Now the question is, what are we supposed to do? Verse 38. He said, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the Holy Ghost. Repent. What is repentance? It is to say I am sorry and mean it. It is easy to say I'm sorry. Kids will say I'm sorry and they don't mean it. They turn around and do it all over again. to say, I'm sorry, but also to act it out. You change direction. I am sorry for my sin. I am so sorry and guilty of my sin that I'm gonna turn away from it and walk in the other direction. And then he said, be baptized for the remission of sins. Whenever you look at the word of God, and you look at the translations and the translators, sometimes as the translation comes through, you look at it and you say, well, okay, it's saying here you have to be baptized to be saved, that that's a part of the salvation experience. That's not what it's saying, but it's saying that if you're saved, you will be baptized. One of the things you have to do when you read the Word of God and understand the Word of God, as I've told you before, is you have to interpret the Bible in light of itself. What do I mean by that? You can't just go pick one little verse out of the Bible and prove anything you want to. You can, but it doesn't work that way. You have to prove the Bible in light of itself. Does the New Testament teach that salvation comes by baptism? No, it doesn't. So then what do we see here? If you go back and look at the language that is used, and if you look at the original language, repent, turn from your sin, walk in the other direction, and be baptized, not for salvation, but with a view to salvation, with a view to the remission of sins. It is publicly standing up and affiliating with the kingdom of God and affiliating with the church. Now we need to understand a little bit about baptism in the New Testament. Baptism was usually only performed on Gentile proselytes. You normally did not baptize a Jew. This was a major step for a Jew, to say to the Jews, you need to confess your sin, you need to change your direction, and now you need to stand up and be baptized. They were literally, if they were going to stand up and be baptized, were saying, we are no better than a Gentile. It was gonna take quite a step. Why was that demanded? because it was demanded to show that they meant business, that they were serious with what they're doing. Notice that they were to be baptized. Notice as he said that, again, this was a major step. And if you look at the word of God, obedience to this command is the first command that is given by Jesus Christ. The very first thing that we're to do when we are saved is to be baptized. As we've returned and repented from our sin, we are to make a public declaration and stand up and say, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. But it also says, Jesus is Lord. He is my Lord of my life. I have given myself to him. I am not just a follower, but I am a disciple, and therefore I am following him completely. Notice what else it says. They would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. If you are repentant, if you turn from your sin, If you stand up and are publicly baptized so that people see the statement you have made, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It comes at salvation, if you would. Notice verse 39. This promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are aforeoff, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. What does that say? Anybody can be saved. Your children, you, your parents, your grandparents, your family, whoever trusts in Jesus can be saved. And then he said to even those who are afore off. What did he mean by that? Those afore off were not just those who lived miles away. It's you and I today. We were afore off from that day almost 2000 years. And if we repent, following baptism, showing that we mean business for what we're doing. Baptism does not save us, but to show that we're making a stand. I preached a sermon before. The baptism is for inspiration and identification. We wear the uniform of Christ and we follow his command that he gave to us. Notice verse 40. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from this untoward generation. Peter spoke strongly, strongly encouraging them. He gave an invitation, if you would, and he was saying to them, save yourselves from this untoward generation. What did he mean by that? This is the generation that crucified the Savior. Can you get more of an untoward generation than that or a more sinful generation than that is what he's saying? Save yourself from this sinful generation. Don't continue to crucify Christ. Don't continue to agree with the crucifixion of Christ. Don't continue to say he is not Lord. Repent of your sin. change direction, be baptized as a sign that you are a follower of the one who is now the Messiah, who is Lord and Christ. Verse 41, they that gladly receive the word. You know, I don't believe that the Bible makes a mistake. I don't believe that God makes a mistake when he makes statements. I believe he has a reason for wording it the way he does. They that gladly receive the word. They that gladly receive the word. If I went to an organization, I was a member of the Lions Club many years ago. I liked what they were doing. I liked the community events they did. They did a lot for our community. I went and became a member of the Lions Club, paid my dues, attended the meetings. I agreed with what they stood for. Can you would imagine what would have happened if I'd have walked up to the Lions Club and said, you know what, I like you guys, and I like what you're doing. I want to be a member. And they say, well, this is what you have to do. And I say, don't like that. I'm not going to do it. But you have to. No, I don't like that. But you have to. Can you imagine going to any organization and saying, I want to be a part of you, but I don't want to do what you believe in. I'm not understanding how we can come to Christ and say, I want to be saved, I want to follow you, I want to be a part of your kingdom, but I will not do the very first command you gave me. I will not be baptized. And there are a lot of reasons that people give for that. And I know some people say baptism is not necessary to salvation. And I would agree that baptism is not necessary to save you. But yet I believe if you're going to be saved, you're going to want to be baptized. How can Jesus be Lord of our lives if we don't do the very first command he tells us to do. And if you look at the New Testament, there are people that wanna say, well, baptism is important, it isn't necessary. Do you realize that salvation without baptism is a foreign concept in the New Testament? Salvation without baptism is a foreign concept in the New Testament because what happens in the New Testament? When people get saved, what do they do? They get baptized. The Philippian jailer got baptized. The guy from Ethiopia got baptized. It is a concept that runs throughout the New Testament. So they that gladly receive the word, The church was formed, and I know you don't find the word church here. It is the assembly, it is the called out ones, but there is no question that this is the beginning of the church and the birth of the church. They that gladly received the word were baptized. Gladly, happily received the word, and 3,000 were added. Notice verse 42, in verse 42, And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers. Now that's a description of a church, whether it says it or not. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. You say, well, wait a minute, you're supposed to follow the word of God. Yeah, you are. But do you also realize the New Testament was not written yet? The New Testament was being lived out and was still to be written. All the apostles had was the Old Testament. The Old Testament did not record the death, the burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It recorded the prediction, but it was not written after. And so therefore, what you had was the apostles' doctrine. So the apostles were teaching, thus is what God said to us. I've said to you today, don't ever go out of the church and say, this is what the pastor said, or this is what Dana said, without checking it out to make sure it's in the word of God. I can say to you today, thus saith the scripture. I can say to you today, thus saith the Lord, as recorded in scripture. Those guys had the direct hand of God upon them because they did not have the Bible to refer back to. And so they continued in the apostles doctrine. What does that mean? That means they kept going to church. They kept going to Bible study. They kept going to the fellowship. Why? Because somebody had to teach them. They did not have a Bible to go home and study through and work through. Somebody had to teach them. So they stayed together. In the apostles' doctrine, as the apostles taught them, here's what God says comes out of your life. They continued in fellowship. The Greek word is koinonia, says two men and a ship, if you would. Fellowship, what is that? That is people loving each other, working together with each other, in the same accord with one another. They were working together, so they continued. They did not get saved and go running off someplace and leave. They formed a physical church, if you would, and we eventually have the church at Jerusalem, and they were teaching the word of God, they were fellowshipping, and they were breaking bread. I believe that that means a plurality. I believe that they were breaking bread, in that they were eating each other's houses, they were sharing their food, they were helping each other, but it also, I believe, understand that it means that they shared the Lord's Supper together. The Lord's Supper was not being shared in the temple. These were new Christians following a new doctrine, if you would. It's interesting to me the things that we come up with in our life whenever we try not to follow the word of God. And I think that sometimes we think that we're following the word of God when we say things that we believe that are in the word of God, but somebody else has taught us. Several years ago, I went to a meeting, I don't know what meeting it was now, it was some kind of a meeting for church groups and so forth, and they were promoting something, whatever it was, and there was a banquet. Sandy and I were there with another couple or two, and of course there were lots of other people there, The people that I sat with at my table, I didn't know who they were. They didn't know who I was. I sat down and, you know, pretty quickly you say what church you came from and what you're doing. And I told them that I was a Baptist preacher. And I could tell right off that hit a sour note. You know, Baptist preachers are lower than dirt, you know, and Baptists are lower than dirt. I could tell that. So I talked a little bit about them. Well, what about your church? And they told me, well, they were kind of a, and I don't know how they described it now, but a fellowship, a community. They were not, you know, with any denomination. They did not have any ties. And I hear people say that all the time. We're not part of a denomination. I really know very few churches that are single out there by themselves. They may not be tied to a known denomination, but they're tied to a group of churches, whatever it might be. But anyway, they made this very interesting statement to me. We belong to this non-denominational community or whatever it is. We don't have any doctrines. Think about that for a moment. It wasn't the time or place for me to talk to them. If you don't have any doctrines, you know what you are? You don't believe anything. The doctrines are what you believe. Now they may not be the same doctrines as somebody else, but if you actually have no doctrines in your fellowship, that means you believe nothing. I don't know if they meant that or not. But we need to be careful about what we say. These folks had to be taught. Somebody had to teach them. What had they been all their lives? Jews. They didn't know how to be Christians. They didn't even know what the Bible said because it hadn't been written yet. And so the apostles were telling them what it was, and so they met together, they had fellowship, they broke bread, they had all things common, if you would, and God blessed them. And then notice verse 43, if you would. Fear came upon every soul. That's reverential fear. That's the fear of God is what it's talking about. Fear came upon them because they realized what they had done, they realized now that they had repented, and they realized what an awesome responsibility it was to live out this new Christian life. You see, I think we've lost that reverential fear. I think it's real easy for us to say, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, I'm a Christian, I've been saved, I've been baptized, I've joined the church or whatever, and we forget that we have a big responsibility on our shoulders. If we're a child of God, there's a lot he expects of us. There was a reverential fear and many signs and wonders, read it in verse three, were done by the apostles. Now, we have a lot of talk about signs and wonders, and I'm not gonna get into all that today, but we want signs and wonders in the church today. Who did the signs and wonders? The apostles. Many signs and wonders, look at it in verse three, were done by the apostles. It didn't say the 3,000 did. I'm not saying it was never done by other than the apostles, but on the day of Pentecost, it was the apostles, and why? It was for an authentication of what they had preached, what they had just said, and what they'd experienced. How do you authenticate yourself? I don't know how I can authenticate myself to you today other than to preach the word of God. I can tell you I'm ordained, what does that mean to you? I can tell you I'm licensed, so what? I can tell you I follow Jesus Christ as my savior and was baptized, so what? I can tell you God called me to the ministry, so what, what does that mean? Where does my authentication come from? What happens when I stand in this pulpit? And what happens when I live my life? Do I live out what the Bible says, and do I preach what the Bible says? The apostles' authentication came from God as he performed miracles and wonders, and that was the way to confirm. Notice in verse 44, that all of them that believed were together, and had all things common. The Bible is not teaching communal living here. It is not saying you have to do that. It says that those early followers lived out a communal way of life. They had everything common. Verse 45, sold possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need. They continued daily in the temple. They still went to the temple, although they were Christians, because the only official worship service going on was in the temple. So they would go to the temple and be with the Jews, and then they would go to their homes and apparently have Bible study, fellowship, Lord's Supper, and all the other things that they had to have. They ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Verse 47, they praised God, they had favor with the people, and the Lord added to the church daily, those who were being saved. Should be saved, it says. If you look at the translation from the original language, he added those who were being saved. So if you look at that, what is happening? It said they had respect of the people, and the people liked them and accepted them, and everything went well. But if you read your Bible, that didn't last long. Persecution came against the church at Jerusalem. Why was it that they ate together and they fellowshiped together and they seemed to live together and parted their goods to each other? Does God want us to live a communal way of life? I don't see that from the scripture. You remember who was in town? All these men who had come there for the Feast of Pentecost. They were from out of town, from many other countries and areas, and many of them chose not to go back home. They got saved. They became a part of the church at Jerusalem. They didn't have jobs. They didn't have a place to live. They needed help. And the church dealt with each person as they had a need. The other thing I think you need to realize is here that probably the tide turned pretty quickly. So that all of a sudden, Christians weren't able to buy in the store anymore. Christians probably had a hard time getting a job. Christians probably had a hard time doing many things. And so we read from the scripture that the church at Jerusalem was a poor church that eventually needed help from the churches at Antioch. They gathered together out of necessity and need, if you would, because what was going on? I'm gonna conclude pretty quickly here, but you know, I've heard throughout my ministry, I still hear it today, people saying, There's no need to be baptized. There's no reason why a person has to be baptized. And I don't know how anybody can read the Bible and disagree with that. I had someone talk to me recently and say to me that baptism isn't something that you need to do. And they cited the Apostle Paul because the Apostle Paul said that he didn't baptize anyone. And as I told that person, the apostle did baptize some people. He named a few. But he was glad, Paul said, that he didn't baptize very many people. And here's why. In 1 Corinthians 1, and you can read it at home, verses 10 to 17, he said there were contentions among them. And he said, one saith, I am of Paul, another I am of Apollos, another I am of Cephas, or Peter, and I am of Christ. Paul said, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name, and I baptized also the household of Stephanos. Besides, I know not whether I baptized any other, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be none effect. And I said, you have to interpret in light of the scripture. He said, God did not send him to baptize only. He sent him to preach the gospel. Okay, if he didn't baptize, who did baptize? Guys who were with him. There were elders appointed in the church. There were pastors who were appointed. There were evangelists, there were prophets. There were different people. Do you realize in most large churches today the pastor does not baptize? Staff baptizes. Staff baptizes. Paul did not baptize and he said why? I don't want people to say I'm a Paulite or I'm a Pauline. He didn't want denomination to start on a man. He said, Peter, and Paul, and myself, and others, and people start choosing sides. And what did they say? Paul baptized me, I'm better than you. Peter baptized me, I'm better than you. Jesus never baptized that we have any record of. And I believe there's a good reason for it. Can you imagine the saint we would have made out of the person that he baptized? Can you imagine today if somebody was alive who could say that? And you got a group of people together, let's say these people, this is fictitious, of course, but supposedly they could. One guy would say, man, I'm somebody because Paul baptized me. And another one would say, oh, but Peter baptized me. And another one says, oh, yeah, but Billy Graham baptized me. And another one says, I got you all because Jesus baptized me. It wasn't about notches on the belt. It wasn't who baptized, but it was people getting saved and putting on the uniform. And Paul said, I don't want people following me. I want people to follow Jesus. Denominations did not exist in the New Testament. I don't like the idea of denominations today, and they're there, and I'll talk about it later, but I'm a member of a Southern Baptist church because I believe that's the closest thing to the New Testament church that exists today. That's my personal opinion. If it ever stops being that, I will join the church that I believe is the closest to the New Testament church. What denomination would the church have been? If it had a denomination, what do you think it would have been? I think it would have been apostolic Baptist. You know why? They followed the apostle's doctrine and they baptized. Doesn't that make sense? That's what you're supposed to do. Follow the doctrine of the Lord and baptize. Our musicians are going to come. We're going to have a verse invitation. If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, the first step you need to do is to trust Him, to confess your sin, know I'm a sinner, I know Jesus died for me and was buried and rose again. I ask Him to come into my heart and life and save me and I'm repulsed by my sin. I turn from my sin, I don't ever want to do it again, I want to walk away from it and I want to follow Jesus Christ. But I'm gonna stand up publicly and say, I'm a follower of Jesus, I'm a disciple, I've confessed my sin, and I'm gonna show the world that by public baptism. Do you realize that private baptism or no baptism or whatever gives no witness at all? A person can accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior in their home, but if they never publicly proclaim it, who have they told it to? So many churches don't baptize in worship services anymore. I miss that. I love those days, and we do it here when we have them to baptize. I love those days when you come in, and the first thing you do is you look at the baptismal fount, and it's got water in it, and we start the service baptizing somebody. And everybody sees it, and they realize somebody's taking a stand for Jesus. and it's a testimony to others who are in the church. If you don't know Jesus, I would invite you to trust him, follow him with baptism, be a part of his kingdom. Would you stand as we sing? This is your time, the altar's open. ♪ Without him I could do nothing ♪ like a ship without a sail Jesus, oh Jesus, do you know him today? Oh Jesus, without Him I'm lost. Without Him, I'd be enslaved Without Him, life would be hopeless But with Jesus, thank God I'm saved Oh, Jesus, do you know him today? Do not turn him away. Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus. Without him, how lost I would be. Thank you for being here this morning. God bless you. Have a good week. If you need to talk to me about anything, if you're not sure of salvation, you'd like to talk to me about it or baptism or whatever, I'd be glad to do that. Remember tonight our Bible study five o'clock, or six o'clock, five o'clock is the church council meeting. Five o'clock church council, six o'clock Bible study. And remember those times if you would. Let's be dismissed in prayer. Will Ulibarri, would you dismiss us please? like a ship without a sail Jesus, oh Jesus, do you know him today? Do not turn your Oh Jesus, oh Jesus, without Him I'm lost.