Newlife

New Life!

*Have teens being baptized sit on the front pews.

Intro

Tonight these teens are taking a very important step in their walk with Jesus Christ.  They are being baptized in water.  It is something that Jesus commanded us to do as followers of Him.  It takes courage and faith to do what they are doing tonight.  It shows a living faith…it is not some dead religious act that has no eternal meaning.  It does not guarantee an eternity with Jesus Christ.  It does not mean that they are joining the Assemblies of God.  It is simply an act of obedience made from a heart that wishes to follow Jesus in all areas of their life.  Baptism is perhaps the best symbol of freedom that a Christian has.  But make no mistake, it is not just a symbol, it is a spiritual experience.  It is freedom from our old life.  It is freedom from a life dominated by sin.  So tonight I want to talk a little bit about the freedom that we have as Christ-followers.

How to be free

Understanding God’s Word (The Bible) gives us freedom.  Before we made the choice to follow Jesus, before being born again, we were living under a death sentence because of our sin.  We were living our lives on death row, waiting for the day when the end would come.  We deserved our fate, we earned it.  But Jesus came and took the electric chair for us and we were set free.  We were forgiven for all that we had done, and all that we would ever do in the future, as long as we continued to walk in the forgiveness of Jesus. 

We can tear up our get out of jail free card if we want to and reject what Jesus did.  That is always an option. 

The way to freedom lies in understanding that we are set free not because we deserve it, but because we don’t deserve it and we never will.  There will never be a point in the future, no matter how close to Jesus you get, where you will deserve what Jesus did for you. 

It is that realization along with a thankful, humble heart that allows us freedom, true freedom.  Knowing that even if we blow it in the future and choose to sin, that God’s grace will be there waiting for us.

If one of our friends lived this way, that had children that did this, we would say that they were stupid.  He is allowing people to take advantage of Him.  But God isn’t stupid, he knows a person’s heart, and is a righteous judge.

Gala 6:7 (NKJV) Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

As long as we continue to turn to Him for forgiveness, even though we fail and reject Him each time we sin, He is there to forgive us and cleanse us.  It is too much!  It is the kind of love that is incomprehensible.

Galatians 5:1 (NIV) It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:13 (NIV) You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

2Cor 3:17 (NIV) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Obstacles to freedom

Trying to earn what has been freely given. 

          Even though we know that salvation was given to us not based on our merit, but based on His grace, sometimes we can begin to think that we can earn it.

*As we continue in our walk with Jesus and grow in knowledge and understanding it is very easy for a kind of pride to sneak into our hearts.  A kind of self-reliance that comes in like we no longer need as much of God’s grace as we once did.  We must understand that even on our best day, we are still rebellious sinners in need of God’s grace and forgiveness.  Of course this offends our pride.

The performance treadmill.

On the other end of the spectrum is the performance obstacle.  We are never truly content with realizing that God’s grace has covered us.  So we continually try to prove to God that we are good.   We are always in fear that one day we will blow it and be rejected by Him.  So we beat ourselves up

Tonight as you obey the Lord in baptism, and as participate spiritually in the Lord’s death and resurrection, proceed to the days ahead in freedom.  Don’t get tripped up by these obstacles.

*Have teens make their way to baptismal, have worship team play until ready.

Conclusion

Baptism a symbol of shedding the old life and emerging into the new!  It is also a public declaration of your faith commanded by Jesus.  Our faith…following Jesus is not meant to be a quiet hidden thing that only reveals itself at certain times (like church), but rather a loud declaration of DE-pendance!

*After have teens dry off quickly and proceed to the altar and face outward.  Play the song alive from POD and then close with upbeat praise.