It Was Time to Publicly Identify

well good morning everyone welcome glad you're all here i want to welcome any of you that are watching home at home on on our online uh live stream we're glad to have you with us um if you're a new watcher on live stream and you wonder who the heck i am i am mike nelson i'm one of the pastors here at victory and i've been away for a few months on a sabbatical and i want to start out by thanking everybody for that by the way thank you so much to the congregation for letting me do that allowing me to do that thank you to the elders for allowing me to do that and it was really a blessing we didn't get to travel around as much as we wanted to visit other churches we visited i guess three is all but we were really blessed by all of the messages we heard here we were gone you know it's always fun for me when people ask me about our sabbatical the first question usually is well who preaches when you're gone and i just chuckle and say you can't imagine we have so many people that are so good at sharing the word of god and it was really a blessing to to be at home listening to them when we were there and some of you may not know but we sneaked in at least two sundays but way back there and we sneaked out sort of early too so we were here so it's great to be back i'll be sharing i'm sure more as we go along with that but we do have a number of announcements that we need to remember as we go into this week and next the awana program starts this coming wednesday at 6 30. hopefully you're registering online if not it's never too late but we sure would appreciate your registering online for the iwana program that's for all of our children and youth we would encourage you to participate in that and for our ladies the annual women's retreat is coming up quickly september 17th and 18th again we'd like to encourage you to register on the victory website for the ladies retreat it's always an extraordinary event the ladies come back so fired up and blessed and it's just an amazing time also fellowship when we come from so many different communities it's sometimes challenging to get to visit with other people even in the church so we want to encourage you to register and make your plans to attend that the 17th and 18th next sunday is our outdoor celebration as usual always in good old southern minnesota you can be praying for the weather that's always the big risk when you do these things but we want to encourage you there too we're going to be doing a baptism and we'll be talking a little bit about that today later on about baptism but we'll be doing a baptism we would love to know if you want to be baptized have not been baptized since you've become a believer we're also going to be dedicating a couple children that i'm aware of maybe more so we'll be celebrating baptism and child dedication as well as worshiping the lord and just fellowshipping together there will be just a free will offering for the lunch that will be available for everybody that day and for the children and small adults there's a bouncy house going to be put up out there very small adults and cotton candy now that says for kids too however that's open for debate and we encourage you to bring your lawn chairs for that uh next next sunday and that will be at 10 o'clock not 9 30 that will start at 10 o'clock and then also i want to really encourage our victory first class brian elder bryan is going to be teaching that class at the normal time for our adult bible school our adult bible class so at nine o'clock the next five sundays not starting next week with the week following our victory first class now the victory first class is something i want to encourage everybody to take if you can a number of you might have already taken it during the academy classes i wouldn't discourage you at all from taking it again it's really about discovering a healthy life of a disciple in christ it's kind of our first step in our discipleship program here at the church and we want to see everybody attend and go through that at one time or another it's going to talk about the values that we should have as a disciple the application of those values in our daily walk as disciples of christ and healthy habits how to develop a lifestyle that truly represents christ hopefully we all understand that we are called to be his disciples called to be his ambassadors meaning we're called to represent christ and the holy spirit does the work but there are some things we can do to cooperate so i want to encourage you to again go online and register for that victory first class and let's see i've got so many announcements and look at this there's sort of a bulletin again for those of you that have been asking for a bulletin [Applause] i apologize because i kept saying we don't want one of those so all of you that have to forgive me i feel like i'm new at this what am i forgetting nothing that's hard to believe okay i'll share i'll be sharing some things there's some things that i really want to share with you from my sabbatical from my time away uh but they won't all come at once i i told a couple people i feel a little bit like back when i was in elementary school any of you come back from summer vacation and the teacher went around the classroom and says why don't you share with us what you did on your summer vacation that's kind of how i feel at that time it was really nothing i was on the farm i did chores every day and build lots of hay this one wasn't quite like that okay well if you would let's stand together and pray really allow the holy spirit to to check our hearts out as we come to worship god in our own lives in the world we live in the days we live in you know as we were in prayer this morning one of the phrases that coming came come to me personally was are you are you really desperate for me really are you desperate for me are you just comfortable we need to be desperate for god we need to be desperate for him when we look in the scripture in the new testament the gospels when we see people were desperate from god for god it struck that heart of compassion of his and he moved in mighty mighty ways so lord i pray this morning by your holy spirit you will move amongst us move in our hearts each one of us individually god we are desperate for you god we may act at times like we're in control we know what's going on but lord we need you we need your wisdom we need your heart god that we would be a people hungry and desperate for you god what a privilege it is to gather with brothers and sisters in christ to worship together to lift up the name of jesus declare your praises father this morning as we are gathered here i pray your holy spirit would just move amongst us that there would be a sense of being in one accord that would be a sense of such unity that would bring great joy to your heart lord we thank you that you are a god of compassion you are god of mercy your god of grace and god that you love us in spite of us you'll love us so lord we thank you this morning for your goodness your mercy your love and i pray god as we worship you and you sense the desperation of our hearts you would meet each one of us in that place that only you can minister we thank you father for that such a privilege in jesus name amen [Music] wonderful so wonderful [Music] know oh how glorious how beautiful you are beautiful i [Music] [Music] fills the skies [Music] your mighty worst displayed for all to see oh your beauty the beauty of your majesty awakes [Music] beautiful [Applause] my soul my soul my sing my soul my soul my sing beautiful word my soul my soul my soul must sing beautiful [Music] beautiful my soul must sing [Music] [Applause] you open my eyes you open my eyes to your wonders and new you captioned my heart with this love cause nothing on earth is as beautiful as you oh you open my eyes to you wonders anew you captioned my heart with this love and nothing on earth is as beautiful as you oh you opened is [Applause] [Laughter] beautiful i love your beautiful [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Music] god we are so thankful for you god we we just thank you that you are righteous you are faithful in all of your ways god and we stand here as your church we stand here as your bride we stand here in agreement that you are the truth that you are the life lord that you have called us to a life of righteousness through christ lord we just thank you that we have the opportunity to worship here in freedom as we do this morning [Music] all of creation and all of creation and all of the earth makes straight a highway a path for the lord jesus is coming soon isn't that good news we call back the sinner wake up the saint and let every nation shout of your faith [Music] jesus is coming soon like a bride [Music] like a bride waiting for her groom we'll be at church we're ready for you every heart longing for our king we sing even so come lord jesus come and even so come lord jesus come there will be justice there will be justice and all will be new and your name forever faithful and true jesus is coming soon like a bride like a bride waiting for her groom we'll be at church we're ready for you every heart [Music] [Music] lord jesus comes and even so come lord jesus come and we wait for you so we wait we wait for you [Music] god we wait you're coming soon [Music] so we wait we wait for you god we wait coming soon so we wait we wait for you god we wait you're coming soon so we wait for you yes so we wait wait for you god we wait you're coming sir ready for you every heart longing for our king we sing even so come lord jesus come even so come lord jesus come there will be justice there will be justice and all will be new your name forever is faithful and true jesus is coming soon there will be justice there will be justice and all will be new and your name forever is faithful and true jesus is [Music] ready for you every heart longing for our king we sing even so come lord jesus come [Applause] and even so come lord jesus comes so we wait for you so we wait we wait for you god we wait you're coming soon so we wait we wait for you [Music] god we wait you're coming soon [Music] so we wait we wait for you god we wait you'll come me soon so we wait for you we wait for you so we wait we wait for you god we wait you're coming sir [Music] ready for you every heart longing for our king we sing even so come lord jesus comes even so come lord jesus come and even so come lord jesus come and even so come lord jesus comes [Music] lord the word i hear so loud in this song is justice [Music] [Music] lord it seems that we live in an unjust world [Music] god would you speak to us this morning would you speak to us in your justice god we want to be close to you you are the only just thing in the facts that we know through the word through the scripture [Music] lord that you are truth you are life you are just and even though we're surrounded by what seems like injustice god through your justice all things are made new through your son jesus who lived here walked this earth just as we do and lived fully man experiencing all that we experience and fully god knowing all of who he is through you [Music] that is justice jesus is justice god and we want to be close to your justice [Music] i just i just do really believe everyone that god wants to speak to justice and injustice in a way that's real and fresh in our lives if you feel like you've been ripped off god wants to hear it this morning just be transparent be open be honest if you even feel like you need to come up and receive a word or some prayer from leadership here it's god that's going to be speaking make no make no mistake about that but god wants to restore justice here in jesus name as we continue to sing just continue to cry out in your spirit [Music] [Music] [Music] i wanna be close close to your side so heaven is real and death is a lie i wanna hear voices of angels above singing as one hallelujah holy holy god almighty you're the great i am who is worthy none beside thee god almighty the great i am i wanna be near near to your heart loving the world dry bones living again singing as wine hallelujah holy holy god almighty you're the great i who am worthy none beside thee god almighty you're the great i am [Music] mount shake the mountain before you the demons run and flee at the mention of your name king of majesty there is no power in hell or any who can stand before the power and the presence of the great i am the great i am the great i am the great i am the great i am hallelujah holy holy god almighty you're the great i [Music] you're the great i am [Music] the mountains the mountains shake before you the demons run and flee at the mansion of your name king of majesty there is no power in hell [Music] i am the great i am the great i am the great i am the great i am [Music] who [Music] you're the great i am [Applause] [Music] [Music] and hallelujah holy holy god almighty [Music] you're the great [Music] you're the great i am you are worthy it's worthy none beside thee god almighty the great let's sing one more time who is worthy who is worthy none beside thee god almighty the great i am you're the great i am [Music] you may be seated for a few minutes here i didn't miss an announcement we want to invite you to receive communion with us this morning if you're at home and you're thinking i wish you'd have told me go ahead and go get something as an element some bread some water some juice if you're here and you have not got the elements go ahead and raise your hand and we'll have somebody run it to you quickly some of our greeters i see we've got a few here that have not got it one of the things cindy and i had hoped to do more of we we were able to visit three different churches this summer in the midst of so many other things we had going on and we went to two weeks ago i believe it was to mankato to a church and where a number of the people from abundant life now go so we got to see a lot of friends but one of the things that struck me was something they did before enduring communion and most of us that grew up in a mainline church were very familiar with the liturgies in particular the creeds in particular the apostles creed [Music] now i think i don't know that i've said the apostles creed here in 26 years as the pastor because i wanted to get away from all that tradition the reality is the apostles creed was written in about the third century when the church was going through all kinds of challenges and struggles with what do we really believe there was false teaching within the churches outside the churches gnosticism which i won't explain but was prevalent so one of the things that the early fathers did was wrote what can we agree to what do we really believe what do we believe the scripture says you do not have to be a member of this church to receive communion with us we leave it up to parents to determine whether your children receive communion with us but we do ask and encourage you to understand what it means to say i believe in jesus as my lord and savior have you accepted him your lord and savior so this morning i'm going to do something different for us here and i want to encourage you to stand with me if you would and before we reach the receive communion we're going to declare what we believe now some of you that aren't familiar with it may get thrown aback a little bit by that word catholic church towards the end it has nothing to do with the catholic church as you and i think of it we could have put in the word which the christian church or the worldwide church but this is how they wrote it so i think we'll leave it that way so repeat it with me if you would i believe in god the father almighty creator of heaven and earth i believe in jesus christ his only son our lord he was conceived by the power of the holy spirit and born of the virgin mary he suffered under pontius pilate was crucified died and was buried he descended to the dead on the third day he rose again he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father he will come again to judge the living and the dead i believe in the holy spirit the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting that's what we as christians declare that we believe god what a privilege it is to be invited to the table to participate and receive communion with brothers and sisters in christ [Music] lord it should remind us of that night with your disciples when you gathered with them that you were going to ultimately be betrayed [Music] and when you were finished with the meal you took a piece of bread and you broke it and you told your disciples take eat of this bread it is my body that has been broken for you [Music] to them he was speaking about what was about to happen for us we remember what happened if you haven't opened your elements please do that and take the bread and we'll prepare to eat of the bread together others we hold this simple element in our hand we are reminded of what you endured in your physical body for us justice had to be met and it could only be met at the cross father we thank you that you allowed your son jesus and he willingly obeyed and he took that beating he took that scourging he took the humiliation and the mocking for us and we remember let's eat of the bread together [Music] after they had eaten the bread jesus took the cup [Music] and he declared to his disciples this is my blood shed for you they didn't understand [Music] but us looking backwards do that there is blood that had to be shed for the forgiveness of sins and it had to be pure holy blood and there was nothing nothing or no one whose blood could be shed that met those qualifications except jesus the blood of jesus was shed for us to wash away our sins to pay a price we could never pay to give us a new life in christ [Music] rather even as you told your disciples to take take and drink we participate and drink of this symbolic drink this juice in jesus name [Music] father we we know from scripture that the disciples didn't get it fully understand god and we probably don't fully understand what all was taken care of through the death burial and resurrection of our savior but lord we acknowledge that without his blood being shed without his death without his burial and without his resurrection from the dead there was no way we could call you father no way that we could embrace the fullness of your love shall we rejoice and remember for your glory let us sing together [Music] jesus [Music] all the saints and angels [Music] before [Music] you are worthy [Music] you deserve the glory sing all singing [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] for your throne [Music] oh [Music] from you are all [Music] [Music] you deserve the glory [Music] day and night day and night night and daylight and since our eyes day and night night and day let incense rise day and night night and day then since is [Music] day [Music] day and night [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] and you you are all things you deserve day and night night and days day and night night and dayless sincerity day and night night and daylight since is [Music] [Music] you deserve the glory you're worthy you aren't worthy of it all you are worthier at all [Music] you deserve the glory [Music] you're worthy you are worthy [Music] [Music] things and to you are all things you deserve the glory one more time let's lift our hands you aren't worthy of it all worthy of all of our lives for from you or all things and to you are all things you deserve the glory [Music] glory is yours jesus glory is yours amen amen amen you may be seated before the kids and everybody volunteers leave i did miss one thing in the announcements i know uh for the uh victory first class that will be sunday mornings at nine o'clock starting two weeks from today there will be nursery available so some of you that have kids wondering what are we going to do with them there will be nursery available for that and then one other thought came to me some of us in here might be singing that last song and wonder what in the heck are they talking about let incense arise night and day when incense arise and sometimes we sing these things and and some of us know exactly what it means that others may not know what it means at all in the temple of god the incense was part of their worship at the temple and that incense needed to be continually going up night and day night and day so as we're singing that song for those that may not have known any of that that's what our worship supposed to be like we are continually to have an attitude of worship day and night night and day i think it's important sometimes we know what in the world we're singing amen amen all right the kids can go ahead and head to their classes well before we go any further i just want to invite us all to pray together a couple of things obviously unless we live under a rock you know the world's a mess middle east in particular but we also have uh you prayed for jody and dylan and elizabeth last week as they were preparing to head to iraq you may have gotten the prayer chain update this morning but you may not have that they were asking for prayer jody was asking for prayer for a couple of the team members that were asians they were not going to allow them into iraq and even as we're gathering here now my understanding is adam they're probably or maybe they've landed by now but they were flying from dubai into iraq are this morning for us so just continue to pray things you know any mission trip things go wrong but and over there right now you know the enemy is alive and well evil is abounding but god's light shines brighter in the darkness so just continue to pray for their safety their protection and the health of all of them as they continue to go let's pray together heavenly father we are so blessed to know that when the world is in chaos you are not a god of chaos that's not of you father we pray for your spirit to hover over over that land over that ministry team over jody and and dylan and elizabeth god father god that your truth would be able to flow out of them without them even speaking a word that the love of christ would be demonstrated god we pray for their protection and their health we pray for the asian team members that we're not going to be allowed into iraq to be allowed to come in father you have a plan you know what's going to happen and what's going to unfold in the days that come father we just ask as their friends their church family that you would watch over them protect them keep them safe father in that you would thwart every arrow that the enemy would try to shoot at this team to hinder your plants from coming forth and father we do continue to pray for all of the people of afghanistan that are such victims of the taliban and the other forces that are there god we continue to pray for your church your church our brothers and sisters in that country that are risking their very lives many have been already been killed for their faith god we pray that not only would you bless them keep them guard their hearts but god that your glory would shine and father that it would stir in us that we would not become or be complacent or comfortable that we would be on the watch and on the alert and we would do those things that are necessary that our faith could remain strong in the midst of persecution that we can't even imagine father i pray for these military men and women that are coming home father for some of us that are old enough we remember what happened on vietnam and how our veterans came home and they weren't even welcomed father i pray that that sense of failure or rejection could not hinder any of these young men and women who are returning either we pray for those that are making decisions that they would make decisions god led by your holy spirit whether they know that or not so god we put our faith our hope and trust in you and we remember and thank you for our brothers and sisters in christ around the world who are facing such persecution in jesus name amen well wow cindy and i missed you guys it's really strange some of you you know you may not even realize this but you i don't think some of the elders i didn't see since june 1st they did leave me alone sometimes too much it was kind of interesting we'd run in we ran into bob and lynette down at a renewable vows for robert and kelly and it was like gee hi it's been a long time how are you guys doing you live a whole mile from us but it's great to be back it's great to see your faces it's great to be back home we're blessed to have been able to watch online but it's just not the same and frankly we sneaked in and sat back there a couple weeks and no offense anybody but it's not the same as it is up here that's up to you but just want you to know that it's not the same praise god it seemed like there was something else i was going to say before i started my message but i'm going to be looking at the gospel of mark for a number of weeks probably it's one of the things that i really dove into spent a lot of mornings on our deck drank a whole lot of coffee and went through the book of mark a number of times and i was just so blessed the way the lord revealed new things i mean it's amazing isn't it when we when we look through it hi anna how are you yeah i haven't seen you for ages how god reveals things to you i won't do that anymore i promise but i'm going to be looking at the gospel of mark and one of the things that it struck me as i was reading it uh over and over was you know i sometimes forget that these were just people like us they were human beings like us we read their story and we talk about them as characters in the bible and we we forget that they're people they're human beings and they think like we think and they were living in a culture and a time different from ours but it had their own dresses their own things that they had to deal with so this morning i want us to start out by talking a little bit about who just who mark was and you know you can find some tidbits about mark when you read through the gospels you know when you just open it up like okay guy this guy named mark wrote this i know he wasn't one of the 12. i wonder who he really was maybe some of you thought he was one of the twelve in surprise he wasn't he was born in approximately 10 a.d so he was born about 10 years give or take after jesus was born so when jesus was crucified we believed to be at the age of 33 he would have been a 23 year old young man that's who he was and he grew up in jerusalem we know that because we know he had a mother named mary and we know that mary had a house in jerusalem and the reason we know that is so interesting when you start looking through the gospels in acts chapter 12 starting in verse 11 it said this and this is peter peter talking and i don't have time to go into all these backgrounds but peter had been arrested and he was in jail and one night in jail an angel came and it sounds like the angel kicked him in the side and says get up get dressed or out of here and exactly that happened he got up the doors opened he let him out of the jail out of the prison all of the friends of peter the early church one of their church body members their family was in jail james it didn't go so well he got killed they're all wondering what's going to happen to peter and here's what happens after he walks out the door it says then peter came to himself and said now i know without a doubt that the lord sent his angel and rescued me from herod's clutches and everything the jewish people were anticipating when this had dawned on him he went to the house of mary the mother of john mark mark where many people had gathered and were praying his mother's mary's house had become a gathering point for the early church and as we look in some other scriptures we we see that mark was the cousin of barnabas they were related in colossians four it says my fellow uh prisoner aristocr aristocrats and sends you his greetings as does mark the cousin of barnabas then there's a couple of really interesting things that aren't absolutely crystal clear but the early historians and most theologians think these things are true that i'm going to share with you and i just think they're really cool so i hope they're true remember when jesus was going to have the last passover meal and he told his disciples you know obviously they didn't have a place they didn't have a house they didn't have a place to go so he sent a couple of his disciples into jerusalem and says you're going to see a man carrying a pitcher of water and you follow him to the house that he goes to and then you talk to the owner of the house and just say where is your guest room that we may take the passover most historians and theologians think that young man carrying the picture of water was named mark and that the house they went to was his mother mary's and it makes sense when you look at the way the early church operated there's another scripture that i've read so many times and i just kind of went right by me and it has to do with when jesus was in the garden and they were coming to arrest him and in mark's gospel he writes it this way in mark chapter 14 i believe it is it starts out everyone deserted jesus and fled but a young man who shall remain nameless it doesn't say that but who shall remain nameless he was wearing nothing but a linen garment and he was following jesus and when they seized him he fled and left his garment behind it appears that and the early historians think that was young mark and it's be like john wrote in his gospel who and referred to himself in the kind of the third person the disciple whom jesus loved i mean here mark's saying to the whole world that naked guy was me again you can't prove it beyond the doubt but it makes sense the way it's written and what the early church historians believed not only was he related to barnabas as a young man a number of years had passed and he actually goes with paul and barnabas on the first missionary journey this young man mark and of course if you know the story he abandoned paul and barnabas along the way which caused some hard feelings especially between paul and barnabas but paul and mark he didn't like it much that he abandoned him it caused a separation which god used for his glory because now two teams went out paul and silas and barnabas and mark and paul's attitude toward mark changed dramatically by the end of his life together number of scriptures and philemon verse 23 he says epaphras my fellow prisoner in christ jesus sends you greetings and so do mark and demas and luke marcus his friend his fellow worker and in second timothy it says only luke is with me but go get mark and bring him with you because he is so helpful to my ministry mark led an exciting life at a very very difficult time in the church it appears pretty clear in scripture that he was mentored by somebody was probably pretty good named peter peter matter of fact many people think a lot of what mark wrote he was writing as peter was talking to him and telling what was going on matter of fact peter refers to mark in first peter chapter 5 as his son his spiritual son hal what a privilege what an interesting life and then mark ultimately is chosen by god to write one of the four gospels that we have and his gospel as you read it and go through it you're going to discover if you read all four of them his is a little bit different this is a little bit different actually it's quite a bit different he writes in such a way that you can tell that his audience was probably different than matthews and luke's and john he was writing it to a different group of people his target audience it appears was the roman christians in particular gentile christians now think about that for a second if you are writing a book matthew john or luke and your primary audience is a jewish people you're going to write it in such a way that it really connects clicks with the jewish mindset things like his genealogy is all laid out you and i might read then go so what well so would the gentiles of that day his the birth of jesus isn't even mentioned the virgin mary doesn't even get mentioned it wouldn't have made a bit of difference to a gentile in rome but if you are a jew and you read the genealogy you would have clicked the prophecies are being fulfilled the virgin mary the virgin birth prophecies being fulfilled all of these things would have made much more sense so when you read through mark and being we're kind of were gentiles in a way maybe still are maybe it ministers to us much better because what he focuses on mark is a supernatural jesus supernatural jesus super power jesus i mean him to make the marvel comic characters look ridiculous he's so good and this is what mark focuses on it's as if he uses miracles and the things that jesus did to prove his divinity to the gentile world and if you go through it and and some of us could say gee he kind of left out some things that matthew and and luke and john talked about and the answer is yeah he did if you go through it you won't see any of these long preachings or teachings of jesus even the sermon on the mount you would never know there was a sermon on the mount if you read the gospel of mark but it's like an action movie he uses the word immediately almost 40 times in the bible it's like scene one immediately scene two immediately jesus raises the dead immediately he heals the leper immediately we give sight to the blind immediately all through the book i mean this guy was focused on the excitement more so than the teaching now don't get me wrong how do you not pay attention to the teaching but he was writing to an audience that needed to be impressed and their attention gathered and he was doing it by saying this man jesus is supernatural he's not a normal man he's superhuman he's god's son the gospel of mark doesn't ignore jesus teachings obviously what he does instead is just gives brief excerpts of it if you would major teachings i mean i'd call it the reader's digest version but they weren't even necessarily that long he just gave the powerful point and then here's what jesus did another powerful point or a parable and here's what jesus did so as you read it i i want to give you that background first of all mark is just a human being like us going through a lot of stressors i mean can you imagine you were traveling on a mission trip with paul and barnabas and you said hey paul i think i want to go home that would take some courage paul still had a reputation even after a number of years and the things he was involved with in the early church if he was the one in the garden when jesus was arrested so many things getting to to be a witness of some sort to the last passover meal amazing stuff and he writes this gospel for us so we're going to start in mark chapter one which is a very good place to start and it says this starting in verse 1 the beginning of the gospel about jesus christ the son of god and i'm going to try to stay on track because i know i got way too much it is written in isaiah the prophet i will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way a voice of one calling in the desert prepare the way for the lord make straight paths for him and so john came baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins the whole judean countryside and all the people of jerusalem went out to see him confessing their sins they were baptized by him in the jordan river john wore clothing made of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist and he ate locusts and wild honey and this was his message after me will come one more powerful than me the thongs of who sandals i am not worthy to stoop down and untie i baptize you with water but he will baptize you with the holy spirit at that time jesus came from nazareth in galilee and was baptized by john in the jordan as jesus was coming out of the water he saw heaven being torn open and the spirit descending upon him like a dove and a voice came from heaven you are my son whom i love with you i am well pleased just a brief thing on john john the baptist john was a relative of jesus he was birth was a miracle birth his birth was prophesied by the by an angel you may still know the story of zacharias and elizabeth he was set aside in the womb for his ministry his calling his purpose and he fulfilled his purpose until they cut his head off but he never backed down and he went in the desert and he was wearing these very uncomfortable very practical clothes and he was preaching this message and if you notice it talks about the jews coming out the jews were coming out and they were confessing their sin let me tell you jews would not confess their sin they were god's chosen people for goodness sakes they might do some sacrifice using at the temple and rem and do all of the religious things they were supposed to too but for a jew to stand in a public place and confess sin uh-uh but they did it and then they were baptized and they wouldn't have done that either we're not sure of the history of it but there is evidence that when gentiles would convert to judaism there was a baptism that took place and it was by submersion and all of that we know historically there was a lot of washing that was in the temples and in their in their worship kind of for the cleanliness the purity of all of that stuff but he has come with a message and what's his message most of us would say his primary message was repent it's not the primary message primary message the kingdom of god is coming the one who i'm not even worthy to untie his sandals is coming in other words the messiah is coming therefore repent and prepare the way of the lord repentance and then be baptized john was quite a character and we sometimes can almost laugh at john this crazy man how many of you see him with really wild hair out in the wilderness looking ridiculous throwing grasshoppers in his mouth but you know jesus had something to say about him do you remember that here's what jesus had to say about this crazy guy in matthew 11 11. i tell you the truth among those that have been born of women there has not been risen anyone greater than john the baptist isn't that amazing what made him so great he was relative so he got a little bit of extra favor from jesus i don't think so he had a calling on his life he fulfilled his calling his purpose jesus knew what was coming he knew what happened to him he knew how faithful he was i don't know what in jesus mind made him the greatest person ever born of a woman but that was what jesus thought of him in the desert and the preparing the way is kind of a word picture in the jewish culture in ancient far east when monarchs would travel what they would do is they would travel but first they would send out servants to prepare the way to remove any obstacles that would be in the way of them traveling safely level out the ground remove the boulders that are in the way prepare the way because the monarch the king is coming if we miss that word picture you can almost miss how that is a good picture for us with the human heart the way has to be prepared for us to read jesus receive jesus christ as our personal lord and savior we sometimes underestimate i think the importance of the preparation the preparing i tell you this so we can maybe be encouraged even with our sharing the good news of the gospel with people who seem to reject it maybe just consider yourself an ambassador of the jesus christ the king of kings and lord of lords and you're preparing the way for him to enter into a human heart sometime we just don't know when but john the baptist that was his message there's a messiah coming repent for the kingdom of god is his hand it was a kind of a two-fold message that he had but primarily his mission i'm supposed to prepare the way for the lord more so than calling people to repent he didn't come to deal with people's sin he came to deal with people to prepare their hearts for the messiah and it's interesting as i said these jewish people first of all would not confess publicly they wouldn't be thinking this this whole baptism thing is for them if history is true and when you change from a gentile to a jew you had to go through this whole process and be baptized in submersion for them to think that they needed to be baptized after repenting publicly would be vera jude they say what jesus we're really no better than the gentiles wait a minute we're way better than the gentiles we're god's chosen people but that's what they were doing and notice they were coming from every direction even the religious leaders were coming to see john their baptism was to identify with the coming messiah and the expectation of the coming messiah you know the title of my message i hope you caused you at least to think it was it's it's something like it's time for to publicly identify nowadays boy does that stir up a bunch of goofy thoughts huh jesus came out he came out as what the son of god think about when when he came up out of that water i love the way the translation reads i think it was the niv that said heaven was torn it was ripped open it wasn't just like a cloud came or the sun came out it heaven was torn open it was rent open just like the veil was rent from top to bottom and here comes something like a dove it makes it sound like it was a dove in in one of the gospels it also adds the words and it remained on him the holy spirit comes upon jesus and then the father speaks when he spoke those words from heaven this is my beloved son i mean it doesn't get a whole lot clearer than that does it a public thing jewish people all around him sounds like there were probably religious leaders that had come out into the desert and heaven speaks god the father speaks this is my son and he's perfect in whom i am well pleased and then jesus was ready after a little detour to the desert for 40 days to start his ministry jesus was baptized now if we don't think about baptism if we get locked into a certain way of thinking that gee john's baptism was for repentance jesus didn't need to get baptized he didn't need to repent of anything but his baptism again was a baptism i believe of a form of identification identification with with a couple of things one he identified with human people he hung on the cross he identified with humanity a picture of him identifying with people and also being identified as the son of god so i believe we see in baptism when the people that came to john they were getting baptized after confessing sin then they were baptized and it was to identify that they were believing that the messiah the kingdom of god is coming jesus identified as the son of god and identified with mankind seems to be some identification that takes place with baptism so when we look at baptism which we're going to be doing next week i want to answer four questions quite quickly and i'm going to skip a lot of scripture but what is baptism who should be baptized how should we be baptized and why should we be baptized it's the start first of all with what is baptism we are not saved by baptism the people that came to john they didn't get their sins forgiven because they got baptized they confessed their sins and then they could get baptized we need to remember that first and foremost salvation is by faith alone it's because of what christ did it's because of his shed blood it's death burial and resurrection it's the atonement that's how we get saved has nothing to do with baptism in terms of salvation unless you would say because i have been saved by the blood of jesus i will therefore get baptized and that's why we refer to it as believers baptism we don't baptize children infants next week we're going to dedicate some children to the lord and i believe we will cover biblical reasons for doing that and then we're going to have a baptism why would we baptize somebody why would an adult get baptized for goodness sakes because they got saved and they want to identify with something unbelievably important baptism is a figure or a type of identifying with jesus christ his death burial and resurrection we stand in the waters of baptism we stand in the lake we stand in a river we stand in the tank wherever we stand as we stand there we're identifying with the death of christ being hung on a cross we go under the water we are identifying with his burial in the tomb and we come up out of the water and we identify with his resurrection the scripture is clear bob shared this in the video this last week if you watch it if you didn't watch it you should if you did you heard him read from romans where we identify with the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ we become a new creation in christ symbolically through with that baptism we're in the new creation in christ the moment we got saved but now we are publicly demonstrating and identifying with the death burial and resurrection of jesus the death burial and resurrection of jesus it's in romans 6 if you well let's let's go ahead i think i made a slide so let's go ahead and look at romans 6 quick bob shared this do you not know that all of us have been baptized into christ jesus have been baptized into his death therefore we have been baptized with him through buried with him through baptism into death in the order as christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father so we too might walk in newness of life for if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death certainly we shall be also united with him in the likeness of his resurrection it is an outward testimony of an inward work when we get publicly baptized too many scriptures who should be baptized every believer should be baptized every believer should be baptized once we accept jesus christ as our personal lord and savior we should be baptized every believer we can go through so many scriptures that show that they believe before they were baptized after peter's first sermon they believed got baptized one of my favorites is when philip with the ethiopian eunuch he comes across the ethiopian eunuch sitting in his chariot reading the word and he's going geez i don't get this philip walks down and says need some help yes oh yeah i forget sorry i need some help i need some help and he tells him what the bible is saying what he's reading is it means and and he looks at him and says what must i do to be baptized how clear is it get philip says believe with all your heart that jesus christ he's the son of god believers baptism we need to be baptized if we're a believer a lot of us maybe would say things like well i know i was baptized by my parents when i was a child is that good enough i would say i don't think there's a thing wrong with your parents baptizing you as a child unless you believe that that got you saved then there's a problem and you aren't a believer get saved you got saved since then get baptized get baptized how should we do it we believe the biblical pattern is by immersion now if i was with you somewhere and we didn't have any lake around or water around all i had was my bottle of water that would suffice but i don't believe it's the biblical pattern the biblical pattern seems to be immersion jesus went into the water the people that john the baptist baptized went down into the water the ethiopian eunuch got off his chariot and went down into the water when jesus was through being baptized it says he came up out of the water and there's other scriptures that we could look at that demonstrate immersion seems to be the best way and it for sure seems to be the best way to identify with the death standing in the water the burial going under the water and the resurrection coming up out of the water it clearly gives such a wonderful picture of dedication publicly announcing but why do it if there's anybody in here that's not been baptized since becoming a believer i want to encourage you let us know and get baptized next sunday get baptized why well first and foremost jesus says to do it okay is that if that i'll give you another reason but that should be good enough right there i want to do it as an act of obedience that's why i want to get baptized but also it's clear that there is an identification publicly those jewish people that listen to that crazy john in the wilderness and walk down into that river to be baptized man alive that was weird to any jewish person watching why would you do that but they did it anyway to be identified with the coming messiah jesus certainly didn't need to be baptized because he was a sinless human being but he did need to be baptized to fulfill the will of the father and obedience and he identified with that obedience and the father's will as also as well as identifying with us as human beings for us it's going and making a public demonstration a public announcement that i am identifying with the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ i am publicly acknowledging that i am a follower of jesus christ that i am a disciple of jesus christ i bet those jews took some ridicule i don't think jesus had to take any but some of us might why would you do that it's not to hurt anybody's feelings especially our parents who maybe baptize us as infants it's it's not to to make a show that's something prideful it is an act of humility and obedience to the lord so i want to encourage any and all of us that have not been baptized we'll baptize until the hamburgers or hot dogs are overcooked but i want to encourage you seriously let us know that if you desire to be baptized and if you desire to be baptized what we have you do out here you'll step in a tank of water and we'll ask you to share just a minute or something or less sometimes more of your conversion little tiny bit of your testimony doesn't have to be much but there's power in your testimony there's power in it so we're going to be spending some time in the gospel of mark i hope that it's at least stimulated your interest and you'll go and read the gospel of mark one of the things when everybody comes to me and says what is the lord showed you and you're three months away don't i look like moses coming off the mountain not quite right [Laughter] but one of the things was the word of god the word if you don't have the word in you you will not stand when true tribulation comes the word of god you want to walk in power that the holy spirit indwells on us gives us notice when jesus moved he moved by speaking the word we need to know the word and we are too lazy to read the word i don't have time shoot you'll watch a movie that lasts three hours a football game that lasts 18 hours i watch golf for 10 hours you know how sick i am i even listen to it on the radio my point is the word of god it is a living entity and not only is it a living entity the bible is clear it's what brings you peace it's what gives you hope it's what sets you free and i could go on and on and on and every time jesus did a miracle guess what he spoke and jesus is the living word okay that's a mini sermon sorry but let's close in prayer and the worship team why don't you come on up i think we will go a few minutes extra and sing one more song father i thank you so much for your goodness and love towards us i pray father as we continue to look into your word and respond to your holy spirit that it builds faith in us that can remove mountains builds faith in us that helps us to resist the enemy father we need to be a desperate people and we need to be desperate for your word father your word transforms us so many of us wear ourselves out trying to become a different or better person but what you want us to become is the image of christ so lord i pray that we would be a people that would submit your holy spirit's promptings that you would give us a hunger that we can't satisfy for the word of god and that we truly would become ambassadors for jesus that revealed jesus to the world please stand if you're able and let's just close with this song [Music] live for you [Music] [Music] you give life you are love you give light to the darkness you give hope you restore every heart that is [Music] [Music] you restore every heart that is broken great are you lord it's your brain it's your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise and pour out our praises your breath in our lungs [Music] [Music] our praises [Music] [Music] you give life [Music] you give life you are love you bring light to the darkness you give hope you restore every heart that is broken great are [Music] so we pour out our praise we pour out our praise it's your [Music] [Music] so we put our praise to you [Music] [Applause] [Music] our hearts will [Laughter] we'll shout your praise and our hearts will cry these bones [Applause] our hearts will cry we pour out [Music] [Music] i won't let the rocks cry out i won't let the rocks cry i'll pour out my parades i'll pour out my parades i won't let the rocks cry out i won't let the rocks cry and i'll pour out my parades i'll pour out my praise i won't let the rocks cry out i won't let the rocks is [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] i amen amen amen amen amen amen well have a wonderful week be safe this weekend i just want to remind you to keep jody and dylan and elizabeth in your prayers as well as the rest of their team as they're over there ministering in that part of the world that most of us can hardly imagine doing what they're doing so praise god have a great week you

Channel: Victory Christian Church

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Id: tRc6Wr9T_60

Length: 98min 55sec (5935 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021