Here's some water.

Welcome:

Welcome to our online service, I am so glad that you are joining us. As we deal navigate our way through these truly strange times, I want to encourage you this morning. This is all new to us, but God knew this day would be here before the creation of the world.

When I was a kid, and there were tough times, my mother would look at me with a peace in her eyes and tell me, this too shall pass. I was encouraged to know that the situation I was in would not last forever.

I hope you are encouraged to know that while God never promises to spare us from troubled times, as a matter of fact, he tells us that they will come, but he promises us that he will carry us through them.

This too shall pass.

By way of announcement, I will be here from 12:00 to 1:00 if you want to drop off your tithes and offerings.

Also, we have made the commitment, that even after all the restrictions, both government and self imposed, are over, we are going to continue broadcasting out Sunday morning service on Facebook live.

On a different note, I was turned on to a series called the Chosen. There is one season out that depicts Christ and his disciples at the beginning of Christ’s ministry. It is more than wholesome entertainment. It is the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John with fictional context added in. One of the coolest things I found is that Jesus is depicted interacting with his disciples in a very real way. It shows him as having feelings and a sense of humor. Besides, it’s better than a show about a Tiger King, it’s about the King of Kings.

Before we go any further, let me properly welcome you to Freedom Biker Church Arkansas.

Back to the Basics

Last week we started this series focused on the basics of our Christian Faith. You know God makes things simple, and then we get out hands in there and try to church it up and end up making things so much more complicated than they have to be.

We started with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the absolute foundation of our faith. I mentioned the series, the Chosen in my welcoming announcement. In a scene in that series, Moses is shown forming the bronze serpent after the Israelites were bitten by snakes and were getting sick and dying.

Jesus of Nazareth, the son of man, the lamb of God was lifted up and anyone that turns their eyes on Jesus and believes will live.

That is our foundation:

My son’s house, as I shared a couple weeks ago, was destroyed by the tornado that ripped through Jonesboro. The roof was ripped off, walls were collapsed, insulation was everywhere. But what was unharmed and intact was the foundation.

And so, as we continue this series, we will never stop leaning and building on our foundation of Christ.

Baptism

Acts 8:26–38 NASB95

26 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) 27 So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” 30 Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: “He was led as a sheep to slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, So He does not open His mouth. 33 “In humiliation His judgment was taken away; Who will relate His generation? For His life is removed from the earth.” 34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. 36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 37 And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.

Why water baptism?

Water carries some powerful meanings in OT culture.

Water represents God’s Judgement

The flood of Noah

The parting of the red sea.

Water purifies

Jewish ritual cleansing involved washing with water of the hands, feet, and immersion.

So when John the Baptist was baptising people in the Jordan river, they understood what it symbolized.

Does water baptism save you?

This is an argument that splits churches and people and it shouldn’t. Some of you right now have your finger on the x button ready to turn me off if I give an answer that you don’t like. Before you do that, let me say something.

I want to be obedient to the Word of God. I don’t want to deceive anyone, and I don’t have an agenda other than serving my God and his son Jesus.

Ephesians 2:8–9 NASB95

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Titus 3:4–5 NASB95

4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

Baptism is something we do. It is a deed we do in righteousness. It is a work that we accomplish.

and by definition of the gospel of Jesus Christ, our deeds and works do not save us.

Baptism doesn’t save you.

“A man who knows that he is saved by believing in Christ does not, when he is baptized, lift his baptism into a saving ordinance. In fact, he is the very best protester against that mistake, because he holds that he has no right to be baptized until he is saved.” – Charles Spurgeon

Before you tune me out...

I understand the argument:

Mark 16:16 NASB95

16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.

Acts 2:38 NASB95

38 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.

1 Peter 3:21 NASB95

21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Corresponding to Noah’s ark.... Stay with me because I have a statement that I think you can get behind.

Baptism is a symbol of what Christ did for us.

Romans 6:3–4 NASB95

3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 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 newness of life.

It is an act of obedience

Matthew 28:18–20 NASB95

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

John 10:27 NASB95

27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

John 14:15 NASB95

15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

Job interview: You are hired, they take you to HR, to finance, do all the paperwork. Show up for work tomorrow at 6:30 am.

Noah believe God. If got on the ARK because he believed God.

We aren’t saved because we are baptized, we are baptized because we are saved.

If a man believes and confesses Christ and says he wants to be baptized. He immediately goes to the baptistry, but as the person baptized before him walks out of the water and he walks by them, he slips on the water and hits his head and dies. If you believe that baptism saves you, you would have to say that that man will spend an eternity separated from God in hell.

Thief on the cross was promised to be in paradise with Jesus, even though he wasn’t baptized.

However: If a man confesses Christ as Lord, but then refuses to be baptized, I would say, that man never accepted Christ. That he didn’t love the Lord. He was not one of His sheep and that he will spend and an eternity separated from God.

God judges the heart.

So what do you need to do?

If you have confessed Christ as Lord and Savior, and have never followed Him in Baptism, You need to do that.

Next Week 12-1.

If you were like me, baptized as a kid, not really knowing and accepting the Gospel, you need to get your baptism on the right side of your salvation.

I had to do that.

If you don’t believe, you need to accept Christ first.

Message us.