Okay, we're about to have some folks come up, and the folks that are going to be baptized today, come up and give their testimony of how they came to know Christ. If you have a prior engagement, you've got to be somewhere. Don't feel awkward about it if you've got to roll out. But they're about to come up and do that now, and they'll tell us their testimony, and then we're going to go over there and baptize these folks. So, who's going first? Forgot to organize that before we got started. Stephanie got elected. Where's John and Rachel anymore? Stephanie, would you like to go ahead and start it off? Yeah, you can be seated, by the way. You don't have to stand there. I didn't bring a paper, so y'all bear with me. I'm Steph, for those of y'all that do not know me. I will just say I am beyond pumped because I have not been baptized as a believer. I have been baptized in the past and it was out of self-righteousness, thinking it was good work. Like, oh, this represents me to be saved and that's just false. So I am glad that I get to rejoice in my brothers and sisters in Christ and just a great representation. So for my testimony, just to share, I grew up as a child. I grew up as a child. But I grew up in a family. I don't know my biological father and just grew up with lots of divorce and different stories behind that. Kind of always a loner. Praise God, though, through all that, he sought me out continually and always placed someone in my life to continually try to share the gospel with me, and I was just hard-hearted. So when I was younger, I was adopted by my mom's third husband, and we moved to Texas because it was military, and there I met the first family to ever truly share the gospel according to the word with me and my need for Christ and just showing me my sin. I met their daughter when I was in school, and I went to their house. So then I invited my family, and I was like, we need to go to church, we need to go to church. So we started going, and there was a huge difference. When I went to their house, I saw how their father led them. and her and they would spend time in the word together and they worshiped the lord together and he would always talk about how great christ was and i still i have vague remembrance of it but i still talk to that family and they're always praising the lord on their lips but then when my family went home it was completely opposite it was chaotic and hatred and so Because I was doing good things though, and I was a good kid, I grew up just thinking that I was saved, and obviously that's not according to the Word, because we see that there is no unrighteous, no not one, and I was far and off from the Lord. And so later on, military again, we moved, and so I separated from the one family that I had. truth from, and I did not know how to say the word. I didn't even have a Bible when I was a kid, but in high school, no, in middle school, I moved to Mississippi, and a friend of mine at school invited me to church again, and I was like, what is with these people? the south and so I went to a church there and just started got plugged in again but never really put my faith in Christ because I was just like okay this is good like I get this as understanding it was all knowledge based and nothing about faith and so I did not have any idea about my sin and then continued on but then my ninth grade year my parents got divorced and it just kind of got crazy in my house and my mom became really abusive and People would always tell me, like the people who were part of my church that I had gone to and stuff were like, it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. God's a good father. Because I didn't have like an idea of a good father. I was like, whatever. I did not believe that God was good, and I did not believe that He was a Father at all. So instead of putting my faith in Him, I kind of rejected it. And I got annoyed, and I hated believers. And so I looked back at it, and I was like, the whole time I thought that I was saved. And you see how a believer loves each other. That's just a commitment that we see from God for us to love. one another and obviously I was separated because I did not love other people. And I hated seeing the light of Christ Jesus. So finally, my senior year, and that whole time I just really did, I thought, I was deceived in thinking because I was good, that I was okay. And then my senior year, after just being separated for such a long time, I went to this youth event. Another thing in the South that you guys do. Yeah, so I went to this youth event and I'll just share just a couple of scriptures. I'm going to speak in English. A couple of scriptures. The first one, when we went, he was talking about the Kingdom of Heaven and so the parable of Matthew 13. It says, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. And when he was speaking on it, I was like, I don't find the treasure. I don't find the kingdom of God. I don't find anything about scripture. or the Lord treasurable. I don't think it. And the reason is because I did not find a need in myself. Like I was self-righteous and I thought I was okay and so I did not see a need for him whatsoever. But the next thing I started studying was in Ephesians 2 and this is when I started realizing like maybe I'm really not safe. And so Ephesians 2, and I love this verse. It's so great for me to see. It says, And you are dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. So I was a child of wrath. I did not realize because in my self-righteousness I was like, okay, I'm all sweet, I'm a great girl, la-da-da, like the Lord's never going to punish me. And then in that I see, what? I'm falling after Satan? Oh my gosh. And it really started settling in. It made me uncomfortable when I was around believers. Really uncomfortable, but just kept up this pride. continue like going to church and things like that, but it says, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead and our trespasses made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved and raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show his immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace ye have been saved through faith, and this is not on your own doing, for it is the gift of God, not a result of works that no one may boast. So I was boasting this whole time in myself and I did not even realize that God was being gracious to me. I was so stubborn for all that time and just turning against and never ever seeing my sin. I thought that I was a good person and then I realized I'm a child of God. I'm not a child of God. I'm not adopted into His heir. This verse just continually kept going through my head for maybe about I don't know like it wasn't a certain time but over about two months I would study little things like this when I had gatherings of people but I started to realize okay I'm not good at all I'm sinful but I still didn't realize what God had done for me like I didn't understand that Sin was punishable by death. Then I started seeing through Romans, for the wages of sin is death. I was like, okay, this is a lot more serious than what I think it is. At church one day somebody were talking about because I didn't know how to study the word and someone told me to start going through John and this is when I realized like I'm not really a believer at all is between that Ephesians 2 and John 1 but this is just a main verse that stuck out to me and it says He was in the world, it's talking about Jesus Christ. It says, the true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him, and I did not receive Christ. It says, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. I desired so much to be a child of God. I saw my friends who were believers and their joy and peace and satisfaction. After I read Ephesians, I was just tore up. I was messed up. I was like, I am not that at all. I am black. I lack a peace. And it's here, just a promise for me. God loved me so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for my sins. I have been against Him. I've been alienated from Him for this whole time and separated. And then He sent His Son. and that now I might not know my biological father, I might not have a good father here on earth, but I have a heavenly father who has adopted me as his daughter, and that is such a sweet promise for me. And so, that was after my senior year, and just since then, I struggled for a long time trying to learn the word, because I didn't know how to study it. But praise God, like He makes way, wise the simple. He makes a simple life. And so, Even though I didn't understand for a while, He put a yearning in my heart to understand and know His Word. And so I'm realizing like He's making me into the completion that I need to be. But also, I mean, I'm still weak and I realize how much I need Him every day, and I do. I'm trying to grow as much as I can, but it takes a daily dying to my flesh, it does. So I'm just glad I can be here and celebrate that I've been adopted by Christ as His daughter. I'm a little nervous right now. So whenever I'm nervous, my English gets messed up. I hope you understand me. Well, my name is John. I'm from Peru. I grew up in a family where we always talk about Christ, about Jesus. So my mom always took me to church. Every time I was a bad kid, she was like, you need to go to church. You're coming with me to church because you've been bad. So she would take me to church for that. But I never really enjoyed it because I was always fighting at church and stuff like that. I was getting in trouble. So I never really liked it. But anyways, I grew up always hearing about Jesus, but not knowing anything about him. I knew facts, but I never knew him. So, and then I grew up just like that, and then, I'm gonna try to make my story really short, because I got a lot of stuff to say, but I only have five minutes or seven, I think. So anyways, then I was just living like that, thinking that just because I'm going to church, I'm going to be safe. Like my mom always told me, you need to go to church every morning and confess your sin every time, and you are going to be safe. Or you need to tithe, because that's what God says. If you don't do it, you're not going to have help. So I thought that I was good, right? Like going to church every morning, Sunday morning, and giving my tithe. And I always thought that I was safe, you know, but I never followed Christ. I never knew him. I was doing my own desires. So, and then I moved here to the States and I've been here for two years and a half. But two years, I never went, when I came here, I never went to church and I didn't have fellowship, you know, fellowship, you know, like friends and church and stuff. So, and then I went to Peru and I met my dear friend Joe and, uh, Stephanie, Dana, and other guys. I met them in Peru. He was at my sister's wedding. He was a grooseman, so I met him there. I met Stephanie and all them. And I was helping them to share the gospel. Joe was sharing with another guy down there in Peru, so I was translating for him. And every time he would speak, I was like, he knows. And then I remember the guy that he was talking to, and I was translating. He's like, that guy knows a lot, huh? And I was like, yeah, he knows. But I knew that he knew, but I never cared about it. Like, I don't want to know. I don't care. I'm safe already, you know? So and then they invite me to live in the States. So I was living in Arizona. And I went to Arizona. I put all my stuff in the car, and I drove from Arizona to here. because they invited me to live here, and I said, I'm going to Mississippi. So I came to Mississippi, and oh my gosh, y'all don't even realize how beautiful this place is. I love it. Like, I was driving through, you know, Arizona, and then New Mexico, and it's horrible space, I don't like it. And then I was getting in Louisiana, and Louisiana's all green, and then I was getting in Mississippi, and oh my God, this is beautiful, like green and all this stuff, you know, like it's beautiful. And then it was rain, I love rain, I love like thunders, you know, so it's crazy. And I love it, and I was like, I'm gonna live here, you know, like as long as the Lord want me to be here. So when I got here, Oh man, like, praise the Lord that I'm here because He saved me. Well, anyways, before I go there, I was meeting with Joe, and he was sharing with me, right, about the law and about stuff in the Bible. And I remember he was teaching me about righteousness. And that's when the Lord, like, hit my heart and just made me see different. Like, I remember he telling me about righteousness, right, and I was like, Oh yeah, that's good. God made me righteous. That's great. But then I went home and I was studying everything. And I was just crying. I'm a sinner. I never obeyed Him, but He made me righteous just by faith. And since then, everything changed. My mind just changed. The way that I saw the Lord was just different. He made me righteous. I'm a sinner. I'm horrible before His eyes, but He made me righteous, so praise the Lord for that. But still, I wasn't getting there. I knew the knowledge, but I didn't believe yet, right? And then I remember we keep meeting and meeting, and then I met Joel. And every one of you have planted a seed on me. It's growing and it's just exciting the Lord. Every time any of you were sharing something with me, you have no idea how helpful that was on me. You were planting stuff on me that I never saw before. And then I was like, why do these people love the Lord the way that I don't? Why do they know about Him and I don't? So I think that I already knew. I already know because in Psalm 19.10 it says that The Word of God is sweeter than honey. And once you try it, you cannot leave it. And the Lord put His honey on my lips, and now I want it, and I desire it every time. And it's just beautiful. And then, on 2 Corinthians 13 for Isis, examine yourself. I was seeing my life, and man, I was horrible. I was never safe, so God took me from the place where I was safe because I did this and this and that, to a place where I saved you. You didn't do anything, it was me. So, I don't know, since then, It's everything different now, and He saved me from that. Galatians 2 says that I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer who I live, but Christ lives in me. And he lives in me. Praise the Lord for that. He died for me. I just want to read something on Tyrus. I got a lot of stuff to say, but since I'm nervous, I'm kind of like forgetting everything. So I just want to... I was reading Tyrus. And Tyrus 3 says, on 3, says, For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures. Passing our days in malice, envy, I don't know how to pronounce that word. hated by others and hating one another. So that was us, right? All these bad things that we were doing, following by passions and hating one another, that was us, right? That was me, that was us, church. And then on Forces Bad, it's like, oh, there is a hope. There is a hope for us, right? We are all of these, but I don't want to go to hell. I want to live with Christ. And then in Forces Bad, when the goodness and love and kindness of God, our Savior appears. His love, kindness, His grace appeared to us. And then what is this on 5? He saved us. You see what I'm saying? He saved us from where we were. He saved us not because of words, but done by us in righteousness, by according to His grace. Praise the Lord that His grace was shown to us, right? And man, it's just grace that didn't do anything. Now, when I never thought that old John, I see myself like pushing the gates of hell, trying to get out of there. But then God says, just have faith, because faith is the key that's going to open the gates. So He gave me faith, and now I believe that He's my Savior. Mark 16, 16 says, where he lives and gets baptized, he's safe. So, praise the Lord for His grace, and that He save us. Amen. And that will be the shortest testimony ever. My journey starts young, about six, when I first felt that I was being drawn by the Lord. We were Methodist, at the time anyway. We later became Presbyterians. On Wednesday nights I attended a program at the Baptist Church and I went to a Catholic school. And I say all that to say that did not make me righteous. There are unclear journeys in my story that I don't understand fully, but something that helps me here is that those journeys involve many of you. We may have been neighbors, or on the dance team together, or peers at school, or you invited me into your home when we didn't even know each other, or into your home to live when we had barely known each other. And that, I'm just truly, truly grateful from the bottom of my heart that each of you play such a big role. In my journey, I didn't realize the true depth of my sin until sometime in college. But here's the deal. I was dead, born into sin from the moment my mother conceived me. And Jesus saved me out of that. How can I know that? And I know that because this is huge and something that I struggle with greatly. That how can I know that I know that I know? Because I did nothing, and I can take myself out of that. Jesus did it all. And according to John 5 24, it says, Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death into life. 1 John 5.13 says, I write these things to you who believe in my name, of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. And the biggest one for me was John 10.28. It says, My Father which has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. Verse 30 says this, I and my Father are one, You are double-gripped in the hand of Christ, and no one can take that away. I'm going to say just a few words about baptism. This won't take long at all, and then we'll all make our way over here and be witnesses to this baptism. Just real quickly, what we're about to do is an obedience to Jesus. This is not an invention of man or a product of church history. We are about to obey Christ, specifically in Matthew 28, part of the Great Commission. Jesus has commanded the church. to baptize believers in the Trinitarian name of God, in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit. We are to immerse people in the name of God as a symbol to what has already happened to them in Jesus. Okay, so I want you to think about baptism like this. It is a powerful symbol to something that's already happened to believers. Think about a wedding ring. A wedding ring does not make someone married, but it lets every... Sorry bro. That's my heresy filter. Okay, think about baptism like a wedding ring. Okay? It's a symbol. Wedding rings don't make you married, but they're a symbol that you are. They're evidence, they're a symbol. Okay? Baptism is a powerful symbol. And it's powerful because it's been ordained by Christ. And it's a symbol because baptism adds nothing to your salvation. We are righteous through faith in Christ. And the moment that we believe the Gospel, God the Judge rocks forward on the bench and He declares, we're righteous in Jesus. Nothing can go against it, nothing can ever change it. So, according to the testimonies you just heard, Righteous ones are about to be immersed in the name of God. And what that means is before their feet ever touch the water, they're righteous in Christ. Okay? This is a symbol. Baptism does not make us more righteous. However, it's a powerful symbol. Ordained by Jesus. Okay? This powerful symbol points to something that's already happened to the believer. This is why in Colossians 2, let me just say this, we don't go around baptizing lost people. Why? Because it does nothing. Colossians 2 talks about us being baptized, but raised through faith in Christ. And that's a good picture of what's happening. That we're about to immerse someone in the name of God in water, but they're raised, not because we pull them up out of the water, they're raised through faith in Jesus. This has already happened. This is a symbol that points to the finished work of Christ. It's a powerful symbol. Alright, if you have your Bible, let's read two verses in Romans chapter 6. This powerful symbol. This won't take long. Now this is gonna be to everybody, but I want the folks that are about to be baptized, Stephanie, John, and Rachel, I want y'all to pay special attention to this with the understanding of, I wanna inform everybody on this as well. Romans chapter six, verse three through five, I'm gonna read this, all right? It says, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. So I want you to think about this powerful symbol that Jesus has given us. This is really a two for one picture, okay? This symbol points to two things in one act. What are the two things? The burial of the believer with Jesus. And then the resurrection, the raising of the believer with Christ. And so as we view this, we're about to see a funeral and a birth happen in a moment, in a flash, in a moment. And it's death to the old man, life to the new. This has already happened and this symbol points us to what's already been done. This is a powerful symbol done one time for the believer. We take the Lord's Supper a lot. It reminds us of our communion with Christ. Baptism is a once-for-all picture for the rest of your life to remind you that you have been grafted in, united to, joined to Jesus by faith, never to be separated again. This is a picture of your union with Christ. This is a direct word to you who are about to be baptized. Romans chapter 6. Verse 11 says this, so you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. And what I want to say to you is let this picture that we're about to obey Jesus in a minute, let this picture go with you for the rest of your life, that there has been a powerful break in your life from sin, never to return again. You are to consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God and Jesus, and let this symbol serve you in that way as a visual picture of that reality. Now, last word to the church. This is a really popular story in the Gospels. But there's this guy named Lazarus, and he dies in the Gospels. And in the Gospel of John, you can go read this. And Jesus goes to that funeral of the guy named Lazarus. And many of you know what happens, okay? Jesus is at the funeral, the tomb's closed, Lazarus has been dead for a couple of days, and the Son of God, in all His exalted authority, the God-man in the flesh, He opens His mouth and He says, Lazarus, come forth. And a dead man was raised to life. Now I want you to think about what you'd have done if you'd have saw that that day. If you'd have been standing there. You would have been praised to the king. He has all authority. Praised to his holy name. And I want to encourage you that as we witness this at a church, this is a spiritual picture of that reality. that this is evidence and witness and a symbol that points to our God raises the dead to life and gives us new life and salvation in Jesus. So praise to His name. You're about to have an opportunity to exalt Him. So we're about to make our way over there. Let me pray for us. And then let's all head that direction. Lord, we love you. God, thank you for this picture. God, thank you that you save. Lord, and we ask that you would meet us, Lord. As we seek to obey you, Lord, we ask that you would meet us. We ask, Lord, that you would bless this time in Jesus' name. Amen. I'd like to show you guys how to do it.