Baptism Sunday I Robert Madu I Social Dallas

Hebrews CH 12 is verses 28 and 29 come on let's read it together as one big family you ready do you see what we've got an unshakable Kingdom and do you see how thankful we must be not only thankful but brimming with worship deeply reverent before God for God Is Not An indifferent bystander he is actively cleaning house torching all that needs to burn and he won't quit until it's all cleansed God himself is fire woo I like that you sound good social you sound good you can be seated you can be seated don't get too comfortable we're going to start the baptism service real soon just before we start this moment where we baptize some close to 300 people which is pretty incredible if you're getting baptized would you wave at us you're getting baptized today wow come on let's practice for what's going to happen later can you make some noise for all those who are being baptized yeah keep that same energy the whole baptism service is going to be awesome but I felt that it would be appropriate as your pastor as your leader to really give some clarity as to why we're doing this today why are we doing something that has been happening for thousands of years people being baptized I think it's important to know why we're doing what we're doing and why baptism matters it's interesting when it comes to baptism I've seen people go to two different extremities I've seen people go to the extremity of ah baptism is not a big deal you don't have to get baptized I mean if you want to you can but it's not a big deal and that's one extremity and to say that baptism is not a big deal is to minimize something that Jesus emphasized and then I see people who go to the other extremity and they're like if you ain't been baptized you ain't even saved how can you call yourself a Christian and you ain't been baptized if you ain't gone under then you going under you need to get yourself together and get baptized and that's that's dangerous too because baptism is not a prerequisite for salvation how many of you thankful today that all you need to do to be saved is to put your faith in Jesus to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God raised him from the dead so baptism is not a prerequisite for salvation and baptism doesn't bring you Salvation let's just be very clear you don't go into the water to get saved how many know if you going into water to get saved that's not the way it works you just going to go down a dry Center and wake up a soak Center baptism hear me is about obedience it's obeying the command of Jesus and it is a sign that you have put your faith in him when you're getting baptized today you're saying Lord I'm being obedient to that which you have commanded I love the Apostle Paul what he wrote in Romans chapter 6 and I love the message translation because Paul brings so much clarity as to why we have tanks out there filled with water look at what Paul says in Romans chapter 6 verse number three he says that is what happened in baptism when we went under the water we left the old country of sin behind and when we came up out of the water we entered into the new country of Grace a new life and a new land that's what baptism into the life of Jesus means when we were lowered into the water it is like the burial of Jesus when we are raised up out of the water it is like the resurrection of Jesus each of us is raised into a light filled World by our father so that we can see where we're going in our new Grace sovereign country come on somebody that's the power of what we're doing today you need to understand number one when you are getting baptized you are proclaiming that you believe in the death the burial and the resurrection of Jesus if you don't believe in the death the burial and the resurrection of Jesus and you're getting baptized something is wrong because as Paul just so clearly stated whenever you get baptized you are declaring that I believe that Jesus came from heaven Heaven to Earth lived the life that I was supposed to live died the death that I was supposed to die but the grave could not hold him because three days later he got up out of that grave with resurrection power so today how many thankful that right here in the city of Dallas we are loudly and boldly proclaiming that Jesus did live that Jesus did die and that Jesus got up out of the Grave that don't make you shout something wrong with you so we're proclaiming the death the burial and the resurrection of Jesus but not only that when you are getting baptized you are declaring your own personal death and Resurrection That's The Power of going down in the water you see those tanks all those tanks right there that ain't nothing but like a water grave because when we dunk you today the old you is going down and the new you is coming up saying God I'm going to continue to walk in this Faith filled life that you procured for me by your death and your Resurrection so this is the power of you declaring today I've put my faith in Jesus and hear me you're not ashamed of it you're not ashamed of it I've been married for 12 years now to the finest woman on the planet she was on stage with me she's right there Pastor Taylor mue and we got married at Majestic I appreciate those three claps 12 years that's real it's double digits we got married at the Majestic Theater on August 24th 2012 is 7:26 p.m. now never forget it greatest day of my life I said I do and like every married man you don't even know what you're saying I do too would you just say I do she said I do we got married we exchanged vows and we exchanged Rings how many you know whether I wear this ring or not I'm still married this this ring doesn't make me married but it is a public sign and symbol of the Covenant that I have with that woman how many you know that's what we're doing today baptism does not make you saved you are saying I'm not ashamed to identify with Jesus and I'm proclaiming today that I've put my faith in him this is the power of what we're doing can you imagine if I proposed to her and said girl I love you you got my heart but hey let's let's keep this marriage on on the download I man I love you I love you with all that I got but I I don't want anybody to know that were married how ridiculous would that be when you are in love you're not ashamed of that love and you want to scream it from the rooftop today we have over 300 people who are screaming from the rooftop I have put my faith in Jesus I am a believer I'm saved so you're proclaiming that you believe in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus you are proclaiming that you are a believer that you're old life is gone the new you is coming up out of the water and watch this today you are following Jesus example Jesus got baptized I want you to see it because some of you don't believe me Mark chapter 1 look at what it says this is Jesus in Mark chapter 1 it says at that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan just as Jesus was coming up out of the water he saw heaven being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove and a voice Came From Heaven you are my son whom I love with you I'm well pleased can I just tell you I'm so thankful that in many ways we're doing just like Jesus did he did not get baptized indoors he got baptized outside how many of you thankful today for an open heaven today I am believing for the same confirmation of identity over every single one of you baptism people today that you are going to feel the love of your father but look at Jesus who set an example for us much is made about the cross it was his humiliation but when he got baptized to me it was the epitome of humility cuz how many you know if anybody could have skipped a baptism Jesus could have skipped I mean can you imagine being in line that day getting baptized like literally that day in the line and in front of you is Jesus Yeshua but you don't know it you're like hey bro what you doing he's like I'm I'm getting baptized oh really what's your name Yeshua cool uh where you from well kind of complicated complicated yeah well I was born in Bethlehem uh raised in Nazareth but I'm from you from what I'm from I'm just getting baptized can you imagine that convers can you imagine when the dude's talking to him in the baptism line saying woo I heard this water is cold and Jesus is like I know like wait a minute have you been baptized before no I just I just had something to do with that very water I I I spoke it into two exist can you imagine the humility of our savior to get in line with Sinners and still get baptized why was he doing it to give us an example of what we're doing here today by being baptized you are following the example of your savior who knew then would be here at stra Square today being baptized and I love it cuz he went all the way under shout out to all y'all that got baptized as babies and got the little sprinkle but we don't do sprinkle here we do dedicate babies that's great if you got sprinkle but there's something different about you making a conscious decision to say Lord I've put my faith in you and I'm going public with my faith today that's what's about to happen and I can't wait to hear the stories that are going to come out of this moment but right now I want you to hear a powerful story via video of somebody who's being baptized right here today watch [Music] this hi my name is Jeff y'all don't know me but this is my social story on Memorial Day my mom passed away in a tragic car crash her death brought me to drugs alcohol and and uh I continued this life of crime and from 2001 till here recently about a month ago I was I've been doing prison time my life in prison really consisted of the same things I I did in the world only behind bars I was in a gang there was a riot that happened and I was involed D in a riot it led me to being enclosed in in segregation which is pretty much isolation I was lost very very dark spot and uh I was just ready to end it all and it was that Memorial Day weekend I I got on my knees and I just asked God I was like you're going to have to show me you're real you're going to have to show me cuz I'm done how am I going to do this how am I going to end my life and I had everything ready I was going to hang myself I was going to kill myself and there was a knock on my door I thought it was an officer and it was a field Minister and he told me that man uh God told me to stop by this by this sale and tell you he loves you he's and he's not done with you and I broke I Dr Dr to my knees I felt the power of God come into that cell into my body and I just started asking for forgiveness the pain the hurt that i' I've caused I know in my heart that I can be forgiven I found myself on the tablet one one one weekend and uh I seen a an icon it said social Dallas and I clicked on it this is the love of our savior God loves prisoners so much that you can go from being a prisoner to being in Paradise if you would just put your faith in him he is faithful to forgive you I watched their baptisms at straw Square in prison and I was like man I want to get baptized I got out of April 9th 20124 I was accepted at forgiven felons everything fits and compresses into this my mom died Memorial Day 2001 it's going to be a year to the day that I was going to kill myself that weekend and uh here I am about to give my life and dedication is a public announcement saying even in prison that this this life is possible but it's only possible with Jesus Christ we're so somebody would give God some praise for the power of a testimony here's the good news Jeff where you at I know you're here he's right here in the front Jeff could you stand [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] up Jeff thank you for your story I'm glad you didn't kill yourself cuz you wouldn't be here today and I'm glad that God knew then that this day would happen and that you would be here and you stand as a testimony of just one of the many stories today come on that lets us know that God is not far he is close that your life matters that he loves you so much that's why you can't give up that's why you can't commit suicide because you don't know what the future holds somebody is waiting on your story somebody's waiting on your testimony Jeff didn't have a clue a year ago today that he would be standing in front of thousands of people and you don't have a clue what God will do in you and through you so Jeff we thank you for what your story means and The Best Is Yet To Come You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet that is just the beginning of what God is going to do he is going to make you a mouthpiece of his goodness of his grace of his faithfulness [Music] the same God that did it for Jeff hear me is willing and able to do it for anybody in here today so hear me just before we begin this baptism service I'm going to ask everybody to stand everybody that can would you stand to your feet I'm going to ask every head be bowed I'm going to ask all eyes be closed simply to honor this moment Jeff was in his cell and all of a sudden there was a knock at the door a knock that changed his life here's what I believe right here at stra Square although we have hundreds who have already put their faith in Jesus and are being baptized I believe that there's somebody here today who has yet to do that and right now God is knocking on your heart even while you were watching just story there was something on the inside of you they said Lord if you can do it for him maybe you can do it for me too and I came to tell you he can and he will you do not have to get yourself together to come to Jesus hear me you can't get yourself together his name means savior this is what he does he saves us all you have to do is surrender all that you are for all that he is so with heads bowed this open heaven right here Strauss Square I want to give somebody an opportunity today say I want to make the decision that Jeff made in the cell I love God because he can reach you wherever you are there's some of you who you're not in a physical prison but you are in another type of prison a prison of Shame prison of guilt prison of depression a prison of doubt and even right now God is reaching through your doubts you sense his presence and he's letting you know that he is real and so with heads bowed and eyes closed I don't care if it's just one person you would be worth it I want to give you an opportunity today to join so many others who said you know what I'm not perfect but I fix my eyes on the perfect one his name is Jesus and I'm surrendering my life to him so if that's you and you like to say hey Pastor Robert today on this baptism Sunday would you give me this opportunity I want to give my life to Jesus come on you know when he's speaking to your heart if that's you today with heads bowed and eyes closed would you just lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I can see it if you're saying today I'm giving him my life if that's you thank you Jesus anybody else whether you're right here on the floor at the top I don't care if you just stumbled here today you didn't even know what this was was you just saw a group of people and you stopped here and you're wondering why you sense something that is the love of a savior who has been pursuing you and chasing you who knows you by name I don't care what somebody else told you God loves you so much he's not mad at you he is in love with you and all he wants is for you to surrender all that you are to him is there anybody else says today today I want to give my life to him just lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I can see it thank you I see those hands see those hands anybody else anybody else thank you Jesus thank you Lord here's what I want us to do I want us to pray this prayer we're all going to say it as one big family but especially those of you who responded can you say this from your heart I'm going to give you the words but you say it from your heart say this say Jesus I Need You Lord I know you're knocking on my heart and today I choose to respond Jesus I believe that you lived the life that I was supposed to live you died the death that I was supposed to die you took my place so Jesus today I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that you are the son of God you died for me you got up from the grave for me and you're coming back for me forgive me of my sin wash me clean all that I am is yours in Jesus name amen amen amen come on I wish somebody would give Jesus the best hand clap of Praise that you got oh come on you could do better than that I just saw some people cross over from Death to life I just saw some people who said my old life is gone I'm ready to step in the newness of what Jesus has done for me come on social let's tear the open roof off and give God some praise [Music] today it's a big deal hear me if you prayed that prayer for the first time here's what I'm going to ask you to do after this service after we start the baptism I'm going to ask you to go to the connect tent we want to follow up with you we want to give you a Bible but here's another opportunity that we have for you today the next step after salvation remember baptism I don't get baptized because I'm going into the baptism for salvation baptism is me proclaiming I put my faith in Jesus guess what you ain't got to wait till the next baptism we got you right now you can get baptized today today I thought more than eight people would be excited about that but it's cool it's cool it's cool if you pray that prayer you can literally go to the connect tent right now and register and today you can get baptized and join everybody else that's getting baptized today I want to give you that opportunity to do that hear me there's some of you you've put your faith in Jesus you've been walking with him for a long time but you've not been obedient to follow in baptism and you're like oh I don't know I I ain't got time I don't bring nothing to wear and I just can I tell you if you only do things out of convenience you will never grow in your faith you will never grow in your F there are some things I believe God wants it to be inconvenient for you but this is about obedience to him not about convenience so if you've put your faith in Jesus but you've never obeyed the command of baptism hear me you can go straight to that connect in and you can get baptized today we got you we got you but I ain't got no shirt we got you I ain't got nothing to change it to we got you you can go over there you can get baptized today and hear me we are going to celebrate every single person that gets baptized this the last thing I'm going to tell you before we start lining up did I tell you I ran a marathon can I tell you watch this can I tell you when I was coming in on that last Mile and my knees were like homie you 40 you about to die and my hamstrings was having a heart attack and I couldn't make it and I was about to give up and I was about to say this is ridiculous do you know what got me to the Finish Line I had a crew of people who were at the Finish Line shouting come on PR let's go PR you got it you got it and it was something about those cheers it was something about the celebration that gave me everything that I needed to keep going and then watch how our church rolls we stood there for a long time we didn't just cheer for our people there were people who didn't have anybody to cheer for them we started cheering for everybody that came across the Finish Line we're like yo I don't know your name but you got it you got it let's go y'all if we could cheer for people just crossing a Finish Line how much more for people who are saying I'm going public with my faith this service is not over you have a responsibility I want you to lift up your voice and cheer for for every single person that gets baptized today if they don't have no family that came to see them get baptized guess what you're their family today to lift up your voice and celebrate with him amen so here's what we're going to do I'm going to pray and then if you are getting baptized you're going to go ahead and get in the line to get baptized if you're going to get baptized now and you just made that decision you're going to head to the connect tent right now and we'll start the baptism service shortly but not until we pray would you bow your heads with me father thank you for today thank you for the privilege of going public with our faith Lord we're not ashamed of you we will lift up your name and proudly Proclaim that you are ours and we are yours father I pray that your presence and your spirit will continue to linger all over stra Square today God I pray that the family of God today would show what community looks like as we celebrate those who are declaring the old me is gone and the new me is raised to life in Jesus mighty name amen amen amen amen

Channel: Social Dallas

Views: 9,910

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Id: 67Rci4HAcgQ

Length: 25min 15sec (1515 seconds)

Published: Sun May 26 2024