Participants:
Series Code: AA
Program Code: AA190009A
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00:11 Hi, kids, you wanna hear an amazing fact?
00:14 For hundreds of years the kings and leaders in Europe 00:17 were looking for something that was called 00:19 the elusive Northwest Passage. 00:21 They were trying to find a boat route 00:24 so they could get from Europe, 00:25 across North America into the Pacific Ocean. 00:28 It was gonna save them millions of dollars 00:30 in traveling fees 'cause otherwise 00:32 they had to go all the way down 00:33 around South America and back up again. 00:36 Many explorers tried, 00:38 some lost their lives to find this passage 00:40 called the Northwest Passage. 00:43 But nobody ever found it 00:44 because they were blocked by ice. 00:45 That is until 1958 00:48 when the US built a special nuclear submarine 00:51 that did not go over the ocean, but it went underneath the ice. 00:57 The real challenge for the Nautilus submarine, 00:59 there's all kinds of magnetic interference 01:02 with a normal compass. 01:03 So the Navy needed to design 01:05 a very special internal magnetic gyro compass 01:09 that would guide them through the dark waters 01:11 and bring them safely into the light. 01:14 And they were successful in doing this. 01:16 You know, the Bible tells us that every believer makes 01:18 a trip through the waters also, just like God 01:21 brought the children of Israel through the sea, 01:23 we must go through the sea, and we need the special compass 01:26 of God's Spirit inside guiding us. 01:28 We're gonna learn about that journey. 01:30 We want you to get on board and join me now 01:32 for an amazing adventure. 01:52 Good morning, boys and girls. 01:53 Welcome again to Amazing Adventure. 01:56 I'd like to welcome all of those of you here 01:58 in Michigan, also, our friends 01:59 who are joining us online across the country 02:01 and around the world. 02:02 We've had a great adventure in discovery, 02:05 discovering Bible truth 02:06 over the past few meetings together. 02:08 Well, tonight we have another very important topic. 02:12 I'm glad you're all here. 02:13 Probably, one of the most important topics 02:15 that we can talk about is the one 02:17 we're gonna talk about right now. 02:18 So we're gonna invite Pastor Doug to come out, 02:21 and then we'll sing our theme song 02:22 "Life is an Adventure." 02:25 Good evening, Pastor Doug. 02:28 All right, all hands on deck for an amazing adventure 02:31 boys and girls. 02:32 We're very thankful that you're here. 02:34 Wanna welcome those who are watching on internet 02:37 or television, 02:38 those here might be watching on the future DVD program. 02:42 We're learning so much about taking that adventure 02:45 on our HMS. 02:46 You know what HMS stands for? 02:48 His Majesty Service Adventure. 02:51 And we're gonna sing our Amazing Adventure song now. 02:52 Okay, we'd like to invite our song leaders to come 02:54 and we have a number of volunteers 02:56 that have been helping us out each program 02:58 singing our theme song "Life is an Adventure." 03:01 Let's stand and we'll sing together 03:03 "Life is an Adventure." 03:09 Life is an adventure 03:11 Following the King 03:14 Every day with Jesus 03:17 Makes us want to sing 03:19 Walking in the spirit 03:22 He will lead the way 03:24 With his words to guide us 03:27 Glowing deep inside us 03:30 Nothing can divide us 03:32 Following the King 03:37 Life is an adventure 03:39 Following the King 03:42 Every day with Jesus 03:45 Makes us want to sing 03:47 Conquering with kindness 03:50 Everywhere we go 03:53 Voices we are raising 03:55 Jesus we are praising 03:58 Life is so amazing 04:01 Following the King 04:05 Life is so amazing 04:09 Following the King 04:14 Amen. 04:16 You can be seated. 04:17 All right. 04:18 Well, you know, it's been fun having Bible questions 04:21 coming in from children across our country in the US 04:24 and even different parts of the world 04:26 because it's just wide open forum. 04:29 We don't know exactly 04:30 what the questions are gonna be. 04:32 And we welcome any of your Bible questions. 04:34 Okay, so we're ready for our first video question. 04:37 Hi, Pastor Doug. 04:38 My name is Jonas Allen. 04:40 And my question is, if Jesus is all powerful, 04:43 why'd He have to die to save us? 04:44 Okay. 04:46 If Jesus is all powerful, which He is, 04:48 why did He have to die to save us? 04:50 Couldn't God just say, "Oh, you forgiven?" 04:53 Well, because God is a good king. 04:55 He's not only a loving Father, 04:57 He is a just King 04:58 and He cannot break His own law. 05:02 Heard a story years ago about a king, 05:05 and this is in one of those Eastern countries 05:07 where he had a harem, sometimes known as a harem, 05:10 with many wives. 05:12 And the law was nobody was ever to look 05:15 into the king's harem headquarters, 05:18 or they would have their eyes plucked out. 05:21 One day, the king's favorite oldest son, 05:24 if it get on the prince, it doesn't matter. 05:26 He walked into the harem. 05:29 And this word got back to the king 05:30 and the king thought, "Now what do I do? 05:34 I'm a loving father. 05:36 But I'm also a just king, and I've got to keep my law. 05:40 But I don't wanna lose my son." 05:42 So you know what the king decided to do. 05:45 He plucked out one of his son's eyes, 05:47 and he plucked out one of his own, 05:49 so they can both still see but he would keep the law. 05:52 And so God is a loving Father, but He's a just king. 05:55 He has a law and we broke His law 05:57 and there's a penalty, the penalty is death. 06:00 Yes, He's powerful enough to save us, 06:04 but He can't break His own law. 06:05 So He said, "Look, I love you so much, 06:08 I will die for you to fulfill the requirements of the law, 06:11 so that you don't have to die. 06:13 If you love Me and serve Me, you can be forgiven." 06:16 And that's how He is using His power. 06:20 All right, very good. 06:21 Our next question that we have. 06:23 Hi, my name is Adara. 06:26 I'm 10 years old. 06:27 And I'm from Chicago, Illinois. 06:29 And my Bible question is, 06:31 is the Holy Spirit a actual being 06:33 or is he a Spirit? 06:36 All right, is the Holy Spirit just a force 06:39 or is the Holy Spirit a being like the Father and the Son? 06:44 Well, there's a difference between the Father and the Son 06:47 and the Holy Spirit. 06:49 That's why Jesus made a difference when He said, 06:50 "Go baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, 06:53 and the Holy Spirit." 06:55 The Holy Spirit is probably the hardest person 06:57 of the Godhead for us to picture because sometimes 07:01 the Holy Spirit in the Bible is pictured as wind, 07:04 a mighty wind. 07:05 Jesus says, "The wind blows where it will 07:07 and you cannot tell where it came from 07:09 and where it goes." 07:10 So is the way that God's Spirit moves on us. 07:12 Sometimes the Holy Spirit is compared to water, 07:15 sometimes the Holy Spirit is compared to fire 07:18 in the Bible. 07:19 When Jesus was baptized, 07:20 the Holy Spirit came down like a dove. 07:24 So He's a Spirit. 07:27 And it's hard for us in our three dimensional world 07:29 to understand him, but he's very real. 07:32 He's here right now. 07:33 I feel and sense and see his guidance in my life 07:37 and the lives of others. 07:39 But he is a very real person. 07:40 Jesus said, when He, the Spirit of Truth is come, 07:43 He will guide you into all truth 07:46 for He will not speak of himself 07:48 but He will show you things that are to come. 07:51 Jesus says the Holy Spirit has feelings. 07:53 He can be grieved. 07:55 The Holy Spirit leads and you see the Holy Spirit 07:57 from Genesis where it says, 07:59 "The Spirit of God moved on the face of the water." 08:02 To the end of the Bible, Revelation, where it says, 08:05 "Even the spirit and the bride, say, 'Come!'" 08:08 And so Holy Spirit is all through the Bible, 08:10 a person, 08:11 but not with the physical body like ours. 08:14 Okay, I think 08:15 we have our final video question for today. 08:18 Hi, Pastor Doug. 08:19 My name is Aiden. 08:20 And my Bible question is, 08:22 do people that have a different faith 08:23 and they're living up to the light that they have, 08:25 do they still go to heaven? 08:27 Oh, all right. 08:29 So people that have a different faith, 08:30 maybe not even a Christian faith, 08:32 but they're living up to all the light, 08:34 that they might have the truth, they have, well, 08:36 what happens to them? 08:37 Do they get saved? 08:39 Well, you know, there will be some 08:40 and this is not the majority, but there are exceptions. 08:43 First of all, the Bible says, 08:45 nobody is going to heaven without Jesus. 08:48 There is no other name. 08:50 "No other name given among men," 08:52 Acts Chapter 4, 08:53 "whereby we must be saved." 08:55 It is only through Christ anyone will be in heaven. 08:58 So some people may be in heaven, 09:01 and they didn't realize it was the grace of God 09:03 and the sacrifice of Jesus that bought their ticket. 09:07 You've probably heard stories where someone's at a drive thru 09:09 Taco Bell or something. 09:11 And they wanna do something nice 09:12 for the person behind them. 09:14 So they say to the cashier, 09:16 "How much was their order behind me?" 09:18 Well, they've already made their order. 09:19 They're waiting for to be cooked 09:20 and they say their order is $5. 09:22 And he says, "I'll all pay for their order." 09:25 And they drive away. 09:26 It's called a random deed of kindness. 09:28 They come up to the window to pay for their meal, 09:30 and they say, "The person who just drove away 09:31 paid for your meal." 09:33 You say, "I didn't even know who it was." 09:35 So well, they just showed you mercy. 09:36 They just wanted to do something nice. 09:38 There'll be some people in heaven, 09:40 who lived up to the light they had. 09:42 God spoke to them through His Spirit, 09:44 He spoke to them through angels, 09:46 maybe they never heard of missionary pastor, 09:48 couldn't read a Bible. 09:49 But God knew their hearts and they were honest, 09:51 and they obeyed the law that they knew. 09:54 Romans Chapter 1 talks about even the barbarians, 09:56 people who are out there in the world 09:58 that don't know about God, as they live up to the God, 10:01 as they see it in the laws of nature, 10:05 God blesses them for that. 10:07 And so there may be some people around the world 10:10 who are living up to the light they have in, 10:12 they'll be in heaven. 10:14 Will Naaman the Syrian be in heaven? 10:17 Talking about him tonight Jesus said, "Yes." 10:20 There was a Syrophoenician woman, 10:23 Jesus healed her daughter. 10:26 She had her prayer answered by God. 10:28 And God hears prayers of people around the world, 10:31 even though they may not know 10:32 that He's the one answering their prayers. 10:34 Bible says, "God sends the rain and the sunshine 10:37 on the just and the unjust." 10:39 All right, well, that is it 10:40 for our Bible question for today. 10:42 And we'll take some more in our next program. 10:45 Right now, very important lesson. 10:46 Amen. 10:48 Thank you, Pastor Ross. 10:49 We do have a very good and important lesson. 10:52 Right now we're gonna be talking about 10:54 a journey through the sea. 10:57 We're on our ship here. 10:59 The Bible has a lot say about sea adventures. 11:03 Jonah had a sea adventure. 11:05 He had to walk the plank. 11:06 He got thrown overboard. 11:08 Noah had a sea adventure. 11:10 The Bible talks about, in the New Testament, 11:13 you've got Paul had a sea adventure. 11:15 You know, the Book of Acts 11:17 talks about a great storm at sea 11:18 where the boat was shipwrecked. 11:20 And Jesus and the apostles had a few sea adventures, 11:23 didn't they? 11:24 And so you can read where the children of Israel 11:28 were born through a sea adventure. 11:30 Now our memory verse again, "Jesus said, 'Most assuredly, 11:33 I say, unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, 11:37 he cannot enter the kingdom of God.'" 11:40 You know, one of the great adventures 11:43 by the sea in history 11:45 was the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940. 11:48 There were about 340,000 French and English troops 11:53 that were trapped on the shore of France. 11:56 And the Germans and Nazis were coming in on them 11:58 and they were just gonna completely destroy them. 12:00 They were trapped nowhere to go. 12:02 The British didn't have the navies to rescue them 12:04 and it looked like the French and the British were gonna lose 12:07 their army right there at the beginning 12:09 of World War II. 12:10 They needed a miracle. 12:12 Finally, Winston Churchill said, 12:13 "We need to rescue them. 12:15 Let's get some boats." 12:16 And they said, "Well, where we get them?" 12:18 He said, "We're English. 12:19 We got boats all over the country. 12:20 We got sailing boats, we got fishing boats 12:22 and to get everybody that's got a luxury boat, 12:26 a tour boat, any boat in the country, 12:28 every boat that can float, 12:30 get it over there and rescue those men." 12:33 And they did it. 12:35 It was one of the greatest maritime evacuations. 12:38 And they rescued 340,000 soldiers in a few days 12:42 as the German forces were coming in on them 12:44 to destroy them. 12:45 The Germans got there to wipe them out. 12:47 They were gone. 12:48 They'd made a journey across the sea. 12:50 Now, the whole thing took about a week 12:53 for them to evacuate everybody. 12:55 Do you know you can get from France right now 12:57 to England by going under the sea? 13:02 I'm not talking about under the water, 13:03 talking about under the sea itself. 13:05 They dug a tunnel called the Chunnel. 13:07 That's 'cause it's the English Channel Tunnel. 13:10 They dug a tunnel. 13:11 It was amazing how they did it. 13:13 They had these great big boring machines, 13:14 one came from France and one came from England. 13:16 They were digging a tunnel under the water in the earth. 13:20 And they were able to meet together 13:21 within a few millimeters. 13:24 It's amazing the technology how they did that. 13:26 Now you can ride the Chunnel, 35 minutes, 13:29 you can get underneath the sea. 13:31 Well, you know, the Bible talks about God bringing His people 13:34 not over the sea or under the sea 13:36 but through the sea. 13:39 During the Exodus, 13:40 a nation was born because they went 13:42 through the sea and if you are born again, 13:44 you must go through the sea too. 13:46 Bible tells us, "Jesus said, 13:48 'Unless you are born of the water and the Spirit, 13:51 you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.'" 13:54 We're gonna find out what that's talking about. 13:56 Children of Israel were born of the water. 13:58 You can read the 1 Corinthians 10, 14:00 when they went through the sea, 14:02 Moses baptized the whole nation in the sea. 14:06 And then God sent a pillar of fire, 14:08 and God baptized them with a pillar of light fire. 14:11 That's the Spirit. 14:12 So they were born of the water and born of the Spirit 14:14 and they became a new nation 14:16 that was saved from the slavery of Egypt. 14:19 God saves you from the slavery of the devil, 14:22 and you are born of the water and the Spirit. 14:24 Jesus said, it's very important. 14:26 So look at our first question. 14:28 We're gonna get into our lesson. 14:29 I think we'll have some fun as we learn along the way. 14:32 Number one, do we have a choice in being saved? 14:37 You know, some churches teach, "Well, you know, 14:39 this person's destined to be saved 14:41 and this person is not to be saved. 14:42 It's just not their fate." 14:44 And God is up in heaven. 14:45 And God is going, "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, I'll save you. 14:49 Eeny meeny..." 14:50 Is that how God does it? 14:52 Or does God give everybody a free choice? 14:55 And we get to decide whether we want to love Him 14:58 and follow Him or live for the world and the devil. 15:01 You get to choose. 15:02 The Bible says, "Choose for yourself this day, 15:06 "Joshua 24:15, "who you will serve, 15:10 but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 15:14 One of the last appeals in the Bible. 15:16 It says, "Whosoever will take the water of life," 15:19 whosoever, you get to choose, let them come. 15:23 Christ said, "Come unto me." 15:26 And He invites us to come, but we've got to choose 15:28 and you actually have freedom. 15:29 You know, it's kind of like, 15:31 you've probably seen these pictures before 15:32 where you've got, you know, a little temptation. 15:35 You got the devil on one shoulder 15:37 and you got angel on the other shoulder. 15:40 Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters." 15:42 There are two voices pulling. 15:44 The devil has voted against you. 15:46 Jesus has voted for you. 15:48 You have the tie breaking vote, you get to choose. 15:53 Furthermore, in the Bible, that's Matthew 6:24. 15:55 "For either he will hate the one and love the other 15:59 or he'll be loyal to one and despise the other. 16:01 No man can serve two masters." 16:04 So how do you deal with temptation? 16:08 All of us are tempted every day. 16:09 Is it a sin to be tempted? 16:12 Was Jesus tempted? 16:15 Bible says, "Jesus was tempted." 16:17 Did He sin? 16:18 Never sinned. 16:20 The Bible says, "He did no sin." 16:21 Jesus was sinless. 16:22 He was pure. 16:24 So I get tempted, you get tempted every day. 16:26 How do we get victory? 16:27 How do we succeed? 16:29 How do we defeat the devil when we're tempted? 16:31 Any ideas? 16:33 What do you do when you're tempted? 16:34 Claim God. 16:36 Claim God's promises, the Bible and prayer. 16:39 The Bible says, "Resist the devil, 16:41 and," what will he do? 16:42 "He will flee from you." 16:44 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. 16:47 So question number two. 16:50 What is it that God wants us to choose? 16:53 The Bible tells us, God says, 16:55 "I have set before you life and death, 16:58 blessing and cursing. 17:00 Therefore choose life that both you 17:04 and your descendants may live." 17:05 This is what Moses said, of course, 17:07 under the inspiration of Jesus. 17:09 Moses when he talked to the nation of Israel, 17:11 all of us have a choice of life or death. 17:15 Moses said, blessing or cursing, 17:17 life or death, good or evil, you get to choose. 17:20 Which one do you want? 17:21 Every day when you choose to listen to the devil, 17:23 and you think, "Oh, this is gonna make me happy." 17:26 He's a liar. 17:27 His temptations will end up hurting you. 17:30 So how do I show God that I wanna choose God's team 17:34 and live for Him forever? 17:36 The Bible says in Acts 2:38, 17:39 can you see what that says? 17:42 "Repent, and let every one of you be," what? 17:45 Baptized. 17:46 "Baptized in the name of Jesus Christ 17:49 for the remission of sin." 17:52 There is a sea that we go through 17:55 where we are washed 17:56 and it is a symbol of a new beginning. 17:58 Be baptized. 18:00 "'As I live,' says the Lord God, 18:01 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, 18:04 but that the wicked turn from his way and live.' 18:07 "This is what repent means. 18:08 Before you're baptized, the Bible says, 18:10 "Repent and be baptized." 18:12 Repentance means that you tell God 18:14 that you're sorry. 18:16 He says, "You turn, turn, turn from your evil way, 18:20 why will you die?" 18:22 The soul that sins will die. 18:23 So if you see that you're walking away 18:25 from God, you're not talking to God, 18:26 you're not thinking about God, 18:28 you're just living for your own selfish, 18:29 happiness. 18:30 And then Jesus gets your attention 18:32 where the Holy Spirit, you tell the Lord, 18:34 you're sorry, and you actually turned. 18:37 You change directions, and now you follow the Lord, 18:40 and you walk with Him. 18:41 And that's what repentance is. 18:43 It's a change of heart. 18:45 How important is it for me to be baptized? 18:48 Is this a minor thing? 18:50 Jesus says, listen to this in Mark 16:16, 18:55 "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. 19:00 He that does not believe will be condemned." 19:03 It is absolutely crucial that we follow through 19:07 and are baptized. 19:08 Now, are there gonna be some people in heaven 19:10 that were not baptized? 19:12 Sure. 19:13 Did. 19:14 Jesus talked to a thief on the cross before He died? 19:18 And He said, 19:19 "You will be with Me in paradise." 19:20 But he didn't have time to get baptized. 19:23 What about all the people before Christ, 19:24 in the Old Testament, 19:26 the faithful kings and patriarchs, 19:27 Abraham, David, Moses, doesn't say they were baptized. 19:31 But from the time of Christ, 19:32 baptism represents a washing away of sin, 19:36 a death, a new birth, a marriage. 19:38 It's the turning point in your life where you choose, 19:41 you publicly say, "I'm gonna follow Jesus." 19:44 The last words of Jesus when He ascended to heaven, 19:48 "Go ye therefore, teach all nations, 19:51 baptizing them in the name of the Father 19:54 and the Son and the Holy Spirit." 19:56 Do you know, the Bible begins with baptism? 19:58 The Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John 20:01 start out with John the Baptist baptizing. 20:04 The last thing in all four gospels is Jesus 20:07 sending people out telling them to teach and baptize. 20:10 Encourage people to make the decision 20:12 'cause when a person's baptized, 20:14 they're promised to receive 20:15 a special gift of the Holy Spirit. 20:17 How many of you know a story in 2 Kings Chapter 5 about, 20:22 he was a Syrian General named Naaman? 20:25 I just mentioned him to you a minute ago, Naaman. 20:28 Naaman, the Bible says 2 Kings Chapter 5 20:30 was a great general, a mighty man, a valiant man. 20:35 What is his problem? 20:36 He had leprosy. 20:38 He had money. 20:39 He was strong. 20:40 He was famous, but he was miserable 20:42 'cause he was dying from this disease. 20:44 The Bible compares leprosy to sin. 20:47 Well, it so happens, the Naaman as a general, 20:51 he had many servants in his house. 20:52 One of the servants was a little girl 20:55 who told Naaman, 20:57 she told her mistress who told Naaman, 21:00 "I was kidnapped from the land of Israel. 21:02 We have a prophet in Israel named Elisha, 21:05 everybody who comes to Elisha with a problem, 21:07 Elisha helps them. 21:09 If Naaman, my master was with the prophet Elisha 21:12 in Israel, he could heal him of his leprosy." 21:15 Well, Naaman was dying, he was desperate for anything. 21:18 So the king of Syria sent Naaman 21:21 with millions of dollars, and gold, and clothing, 21:23 and silver, and he sent a little entourage, 21:26 a group of soldiers with him. 21:28 And they went to the king of Israel, 21:30 and they brought a letter. 21:31 And the letter said, 21:34 "I sent this letter with Naaman, my servants 21:36 so that you can heal him of his leprosy." 21:38 And the king said, "Why did he send him to me? 21:40 He's trying to start a war. 21:41 I can't heal anybody of leprosy." 21:44 And soon Elisha heard what had happened. 21:45 And Naaman was then sent to Elisha's house. 21:48 And Elisha didn't even come out to him. 21:50 He sent a message to him and it said, 21:53 "Go wash in the Jordan River seven times, 21:57 and you will be cleaned. 21:58 Your flesh will be cleaned. 21:59 Your leprosy will be healed." 22:01 Well, the Jordan River is not a very big river. 22:03 I can throw a rock across the Jordan River. 22:05 The water sometimes the year is muddy, 22:09 full of mosquitoes and weeds and moss. 22:12 And they thought, "Why would you tell me 22:14 I've got to wash in the Jordan seven times? 22:17 Have you ever had to take a bath? 22:18 You got brothers and sisters and your mother fills the bath 22:21 and you take bath in turn, 22:22 you had to share the bath water?" 22:24 Oh, yeah, I said, "Me too." 22:27 Now it's not as bad. 22:28 But I was the youngest. 22:30 I was always the last one. 22:31 I had to take a bath 22:32 with my brothers' dirty bathwater. 22:34 I thought that's no fun. 22:36 Some of you come from a big family. 22:38 One of you, he has to take a bath 22:39 after two or three others have taken a bath. 22:41 And you go, man, you got a little ring 22:43 around the tub when you get in it. 22:46 If someone tells you take a bath, 22:47 what are they saying to you? 22:50 If you're dirty, what if they tell you, 22:52 you got to take a bath seven times? 22:54 You're real dirty. 22:55 What if they tell you, 22:57 you got to take a bath seven times in a muddy river? 22:59 You're really dirty. 23:01 So Naaman was mad. 23:02 "Is what does he think I am? 23:04 Go wash in that dirty river seven times, 23:06 you think I'm that bad?" 23:07 Naaman was marching off home angry, 23:11 and his servants came up to him and said, "Now Master, 23:13 you're just going home to die of leprosy. 23:15 You can't hug your wife or children, you're isolated. 23:19 Maybe you should try it. 23:20 What do you got to lose, 23:22 if there's a Jordan River right here?" 23:23 See, he had to ride by the Jordan River 23:25 to get back to Syria. 23:27 And he said "All right." 23:28 So he got off of his chariot and he took off his armor. 23:33 He listened to his servants. 23:35 He went down in the water and he dipped himself one time. 23:38 Did he get a blessing? 23:40 Two times, was he clean yet? 23:42 No. 23:43 Why not? 23:44 Water is water, right? 23:46 Three times, four times, was his leprosy still there? 23:49 Yes. 23:50 What difference does it make four times, five times? 23:54 'Cause it's obeying the Word of God brings the blessing. 23:57 When God says He blessed us the seventh day and you say, 23:59 "Well, I'm gonna keep the third day," 24:01 are you gonna get the blessing? 24:04 God means what He says. 24:05 When God says to Jericho, 24:07 "March around the city seven times on the seventh day, 24:09 and then you're gonna get the victory." 24:11 You can't say, "I'm gonna march around the city 24:12 two times in the third day," you're disobeying God. 24:15 God means what He says. 24:18 Naaman went down five times, six times, 24:19 and he looked at his friend said, 24:21 "This is humiliating. I'm getting out." 24:22 They said, "One more time." 24:24 He got down one more time. 24:26 He came back up and he felt something happened. 24:29 All of a sudden, 24:30 little missing fingers from his leprosy and sores. 24:33 He felt them begin to heal, 24:34 and the toes and fingers were popping back into place. 24:37 And the Bible says, "His flesh came to him again, 24:40 like the flesh of a little child, 24:43 and he was clean." 24:45 This is a symbol for baptism, because when you're baptized, 24:48 it's like being born again. 24:50 That's why... Can you imagine a general... 24:51 He is a general, big tough strong general, 24:53 says he got flesh like a baby. 24:55 Like imagine the soldiers saying, 24:56 "Praise the Lord! 24:58 Captain Naaman, you've been cleansed. 24:59 Can I pinch your cheek please? 25:00 It looks so soft." 25:03 I mean, you got this big soldier 25:04 with baby skin. 25:06 This is what a Christian is. 25:07 You are a soldier, but you're a child. 25:10 Jesus said, "Unless you become converted like a little child, 25:13 you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." 25:15 Now how does water wash away sin? 25:18 Now this is a mystery. 25:19 I need a couple of volunteers up here. 25:22 Let me see here. 25:25 You can come up, young lady. 25:26 And let me go back around here. 25:29 All right, you got some friends that are voting... 25:30 These are those, yeah, 25:32 your friends want to you to come up. 25:33 Yeah. 25:35 All right, come on up. 25:37 Now... 25:41 Got a couple things for you here. 25:46 All right. 25:52 Here we've got something that represents, 25:57 you wanna guess? 25:59 Red... Sin. 26:00 Well, that's the blood of Jesus. 26:01 This is sin. 26:03 This is our sins. 26:04 Do you wanna hold that? 26:06 Matter of fact, I'm gonna each give you, 26:08 one of them it says, they're on there but just... 26:12 It's a piece of paper, I wrote sins on it. 26:15 Find out what happens to our sins here. 26:18 Sometimes it helps tear straight 26:19 if you fold it both ways and then rip. 26:21 Let's see if that works. 26:23 Have you ever sinned? 26:25 Yeah. 26:26 What's your name? 26:27 Paige. 26:29 Peach? 26:30 Paige. Paige. 26:32 And? Jenna. 26:33 Jenna. Jenna. 26:34 Pastor Doug is a little deaf, 26:36 because I ran a chainsaw for several years. 26:37 You got to... 26:38 Okay, we're gonna share the sins evenly with you. 26:40 All right, there we go. 26:41 So you ever sung that song, 26:44 "What Can Wash Away My Sins?" 26:47 Yeah, you know, what's the answer? 26:49 The blood of Jesus. 26:51 Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 26:52 So if you take your sins, and you put them in there, 26:55 let's see what happens. 26:57 Steer them around a little bit. 26:59 You wanna make sure they're baptized. 27:00 It's slipping off. 27:02 Yeah, keep going. 27:04 Look at that. 27:06 What about you? 27:07 You're gonna put yours in there too and see what happens. 27:11 I know, you think, don't worry, it's not blood, 27:13 it's food coloring. 27:14 You're not gonna eat them, you would be okay. 27:17 Isn't that amazing? 27:19 It's gone. 27:20 What happened to it? 27:22 You got a few letters, particles of letters in there. 27:26 When you confess your sins to Jesus, 27:29 and you're baptized, where did the sins go? 27:32 They're not in your hand now. 27:34 Can you ever put those back together again 27:35 or they're gone now, huh? 27:37 No. 27:38 Once we are baptized, when we confess our sins, 27:41 He says He washes away our sins. 27:43 We are cleansed. 27:44 It tells us in Revelation, 27:46 "The righteous have washed the robes 27:47 and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." 27:49 How could something be made white in blood? 27:52 Well, we saw the other day, 27:53 you remember when you put some of that special chemical, 27:55 the red went away, and it turned white. 27:58 And so the Lord can do that through the blood of Jesus. 28:00 Thank you very much. 28:01 You can go back to your seats. 28:03 I don't think you wanna take that with you. 28:04 So Naaman came out of the water, 28:05 he could go back home and rejoice. 28:07 He could be with his wife. 28:09 He could talk to the people in the city. 28:11 He was so happy now. 28:12 You know what Naaman did 28:13 after he had his leprosy washed away? 28:16 He went back to Elisha the Prophet to thank him. 28:19 And he wanted to give him a gift. 28:20 He was so thankful that all of his leprosy 28:22 have been washed away. 28:24 And Jesus can wash away your sins 28:26 and give you eternal life. 28:28 Now does it matter how we are baptized? 28:32 There's a lot of different churches 28:34 baptize different ways. 28:35 Some baptize by sprinkling, 28:39 and some baptize by immersion, 28:42 and some baptize by pouring. 28:44 Some churches baptize by putting rose petals on you. 28:47 Some churches baptize by putting your head 28:49 in the water three times. 28:51 Sometimes it's your sprinkled with a shell of water 28:54 as a baby. 28:55 Some churches baptize by salt. 28:58 They pour salt on you. 29:00 Some just speak words over the phone. 29:02 That's what you call the dry cleaning method. 29:05 They got all these different churches 29:07 have these different methods 29:08 but how many different ways of baptizing are there? 29:11 What does the Bible say? 29:13 "There is one Lord," you say with me, 29:16 "one faith," you guys read that? 29:18 "One baptism." 29:20 There's one true biblical method 29:22 you can see through the Bible for how people were baptized. 29:26 "Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, 29:30 and immediately coming up out of the water." 29:33 Was Jesus sprinkled? 29:36 Or was He immersed? 29:37 Do you know what immerse means? 29:38 It means he went down and he came back up again. 29:41 And it says, "He saw the heavens parting 29:43 and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove." 29:46 You can read in John 3:23, 29:48 when John the Baptist was baptizing, 29:51 says, "John also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, 29:53 "Salim means peace 'cause it was a wide spot 29:56 in the river where the water was calm and peaceful, 29:59 "because there was much water there." 30:02 Now if the Bible method for baptism is sprinkling 30:05 or spraying or pouring, 30:08 why did John need a river? 30:11 See, the way that God tells us 30:13 to do something is very important. 30:15 The Greek word Baptizo, when you read the word Baptizo, 30:18 it simply means to dip, to immerse, 30:22 to plunge underwater, to submerge. 30:28 I heard about a pastor. 30:31 You all know what the Lord's supper 30:33 is, right? 30:34 When you have communion, 30:37 and what do we use for the symbols in communion? 30:41 The bread represents what? 30:44 The body of Jesus. 30:45 And the grape juice represents? 30:48 The blood of Jesus. 30:49 Is it real blood? 30:51 No. 30:52 Is it His real physical body? 30:53 No. 30:55 They're symbols. 30:56 Since they're just symbols, 30:58 is it okay instead of using grape juice, can I use 7Up? 31:03 No. 31:05 'Cause Jesus told us what to use. 31:08 You know, I heard about a pastor, he said, 31:10 "Well, we're gonna have a communion service 31:11 in our church. 31:13 And since we know that the bread 31:14 and the grape juice are just symbols, 31:16 instead of bread and grape juice, 31:18 we're gonna have Coca-Cola and hamburgers." 31:22 And we're gonna call that 31:24 that's what you call that sacrilegious. 31:26 We're gonna call that communion. 31:28 Is that appropriate? 31:31 So when God tells us to do something a certain way, 31:33 does He want us to follow 31:34 what the Bible truth is on those subjects? 31:37 What is the Bible method for baptism? 31:40 You know, sometimes a person gets baptized 31:42 and they just get sprinkled a little bit. 31:45 That's not baptism. 31:47 Or they sprinkle people that are babies, 31:48 and a baby is not really old enough to know 31:51 what is happening. 31:53 There's another example in the Bible. 31:55 Philip the evangelist was told by the Holy Spirit 31:58 to go down on the road towards Gaza out in the desert. 32:03 And while he was going down that road, 32:05 he ran into an Ethiopian treasurer, 32:08 who was the treasurer for Queen Candace, 32:11 who was riding along in his chariot, 32:13 and he was reading from the prophecies. 32:16 Philip was told go near the chariot. 32:17 He's the first hitchhiker in the Bible. 32:20 And he said to the man, 32:22 "Do you know what you're reading?" 32:24 He said, "Well, how can I know unless someone guide me? 32:26 Would you like to come up in my chariot with me?" 32:28 So they rode along. 32:29 He was reading a prophecy from Isaiah about Jesus. 32:32 Philip started to preach to him and say, 32:35 "This is talking about Jesus the Messiah. 32:37 He came, He died a few weeks ago. 32:40 And He's the one that we've been waiting for." 32:43 And the man said, "This is wonderful news. 32:45 And I accept it and I believe." 32:47 And he wanted to know, "Can I be baptized?" 32:50 Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart." 32:52 He said, "There's water here." 32:54 So he might have been pointing at the ocean 32:56 because they were driving down by the ocean 32:58 or it could have been an oasis. 33:00 So notice what it says in the Bible, 33:01 they went down into the water. 33:04 And when they had come up out of the water, 33:07 Philip suddenly disappeared and found himself walking down 33:10 the road towards Caesarea. 33:13 That's the first example of somebody being beamed 33:15 in the Bible from one place to another. 33:18 This Philip was brought to this man 33:20 just so he could hear the truth and be baptized 33:23 and as soon as he was baptized, 33:25 it was so important that he stay with him 33:26 until he was baptized. 33:28 He then took the gospel down 33:29 to the whole country of Ethiopia. 33:31 Then Philip disappeared. 33:32 He went preaching somewhere else. 33:34 But it says they went down into the water together, 33:37 they came up out of the water. 33:39 A lot of churches have lost the significance 33:41 of why this symbol and the type, 33:44 and the method of baptism is so important. 33:47 What other important symbol does baptism represent? 33:51 "He said, 'Why are you waiting? 33:53 Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, 33:57 calling on the name of the Lord.' 33:59 "I don't know about you but sometimes 34:01 when I'm working real hard especially, 34:03 I'm working on cars and I get a little dirty, 34:05 and sweaty, and greasy, 34:06 and it's so nice at the end of the day 34:08 to come in and take a shower to wash all the dust 34:11 and the dirt off of and feel clean. 34:14 Baptism gives you that feeling of being clean from your sins, 34:18 no matter what you've done. 34:20 When a person repents of their sins, 34:22 and they confess their sins, and they're baptized, 34:24 they can get a whole new beginning. 34:27 And you know what the promise is, 34:28 and when you are baptized, it says, 34:31 "You shall receive the gift of," what? 34:34 The Holy Spirit. 34:37 When did Jesus do His first miracle, 34:39 before His baptism or after? 34:43 After. 34:45 Jesus did no miracles that we know of, 34:48 before His baptism. 34:50 He started His ministry. 34:52 You know the Bible promise in Acts Chapter 2. 34:54 Peter said, listen, carefully, 34:56 "Repent and be baptized every one of you 34:59 for the remission of sins, 35:01 and you shall receive the gift..." 35:04 Does God wanna give you a gift? 35:06 "You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 35:09 For the promise is unto you and your children, 35:12 and as many as the Lord God shall call." 35:15 He not only wants to give you a gift, 35:17 He wants to give you gifts of the Spirit. 35:20 Okay, I need a volunteer. 35:22 We had a girl, this time 35:23 we're gonna get a boy this time. 35:25 Let me come over here and see. 35:28 All right, you here, come me over here. 35:33 Now, Pastor Doug has had a habit and a practice, 35:37 and I'll tell you the truth. 35:38 I'm not sure where we're gonna find this. 35:41 Here why don't we look in here together? 35:43 I want you to grab that box. 35:47 You got to get a good hold on it. 35:49 There we go. All right, we're good. 35:50 So I've had a practice for years 35:53 of collecting Swiss Army knives. 35:56 And this is, you know, 35:58 this is called the champion knife. 36:01 And for years I carried this with me. 36:03 Literally, years, I always have this on my belt, 36:06 but the problem is after 9/11 I lost several of them 36:09 because I forgot to take them off my belt 36:11 and when I went through airport security, 36:13 they said we got to take that from you. 36:15 And they took my knife. 36:16 So now I pack it in my bag. 36:18 But it's got pliers on it. 36:22 It's got two knives. 36:24 You know, it's really nifty. 36:26 It's got, of course, tweezers. 36:28 I use this to pull out splinters, 36:32 has a toothpick. 36:34 Actually, I use this. 36:35 You wanna try it? 36:37 No, okay. 36:39 And you can sign a million dollar check 36:42 with that pen that's on there. 36:44 It's got a pen on it. 36:46 You know what it has it most people 36:48 don't know about, 36:49 it also has a pin that is hidden, 36:51 a little needle down in here. 36:54 It's got just about everything. 36:56 So one day, you know, 36:57 I don't have too many collections. 36:58 Pastor Doug is, yeah, I try to be pretty thrifty but, 37:01 you know, I couldn't help myself, 37:02 and I bought myself a Christmas present. 37:04 Go and sit down here with me for a second. 37:06 What's your name? Drew. 37:07 Drew. 37:09 You're gonna be glad. You got cold. 37:12 What know what this is, this a Swiss Army knife. 37:17 But it is called the monster of all knives. 37:21 It's the big daddy of all Swiss Army knives. 37:27 It's not very practical to keep in your pocket. 37:30 But I mean, it's got a light on it. 37:35 It's got a compass. 37:37 It's got a clock. 37:38 I haven't activated it yet. 37:40 It's got all these tools, see that? 37:43 You can change your tools 37:44 and here's all the different fittings that go on the tools. 37:47 I got about four or five knives. 37:49 If you wanna start a fire, magnifying glass. 37:52 Or if you need to see that splitter 37:54 that you got to get out. 37:55 Pliers, wire cutters. 37:57 Ah, I like them so much. 37:59 These things are great. 38:01 It's got, of course, a toothpick. 38:02 Can you tell? 38:03 It's got a boring tool. 38:05 It's got just about anything you 38:06 can put on a Swiss Army Knife is on there. 38:08 When you come to the Lord, 38:11 He promises to give you gifts of the Spirit, 38:15 not just a gift, but gifts of the Spirit. 38:17 And there are all kinds of different things 38:20 that you can do, you don't even know. 38:21 But when He gives you the Holy Spirit, 38:23 you look at the list of the gifts of the Spirit 38:25 you find in 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, 38:27 and other places in the Bible. 38:29 And there's so many things that you have no idea 38:31 you could do. 38:32 I didn't know I could even play the guitar until 38:34 after I was baptized. 38:36 And I didn't know 38:37 I could get up in front of people and teach. 38:39 There's a lot of things I had no idea. 38:41 But God starts giving you gifts and as you use them, 38:44 you get more gifts. 38:46 If it's okay with your parents, I'll let you keep the baby. 38:48 Is that okay? 38:49 Let's give him a hand. 38:54 You know, the most important decision 38:56 a young person can make is that decision 38:58 to follow Jesus 38:59 and begin that amazing adventure to eternity. 39:02 That's why we're so excited to tell you about 39:04 the new Amazing Adventure programs that are available. 39:07 During these nearly 10 hours 39:09 of exciting high definition programs, 39:11 the young people will do science experiments, 39:13 learn about history, nature, encounter some wild animals, 39:17 and most of all, they'll learn about Jesus 39:19 from the Word of God. 39:21 There's a beautifully illustrated Bible Study Guide 39:23 to go along with each of the video presentations. 39:26 These beautiful illustrated study guides 39:28 are full of pictures, and puzzles, and Bible stories. 39:31 They'll lead your kids through 39:33 an incredible journey with Jesus. 39:35 And for me, the most exciting thing 39:36 is this new Amazing Adventure series goes along 39:39 with the Amazing Facts Adventure Bible. 39:41 The Bible, the study guides, 39:43 the DVDs are all designed to lead your young person 39:46 on a Journey for Life with Jesus. 39:49 Call the number on your screen or contact us 39:52 at afbookstore.com. 39:54 Not only do you get gifts of the Spirit, 39:57 the Bible says that it's like a marriage. 40:00 "Husbands, love your wives, 40:02 just as Christ also loved the church 40:05 and gave Himself for her." 40:08 The Bible says a church is like the bride of Christ. 40:11 In order for two people to be husband and wife, 40:15 what do they have to do? 40:18 Get married. 40:19 They call that what? 40:21 A wedding. 40:24 Baptism is as important to a Christian 40:26 as a wedding is to a marriage. 40:29 Wedding is a ceremony by which a man and woman 40:32 are united, they become one. 40:33 Baptism is like you're being married to Christ. 40:36 Now, is it something that you would do publicly? 40:40 Girls, I wanna ask you a question. 40:42 You had a boy, he was dating you, 40:43 now, of course, is when you get older. 40:46 And he said, "I love you, and I wanna marry you. 40:51 But I don't wanna tell anybody." 40:54 Would you wanna marry him? 40:55 No. 40:56 You think, "What? Is he was ashamed of me?" 40:58 Or if he said, "I love you. 41:00 I wanna marry you. 41:01 But let's do it secretly." 41:03 When you get baptized, 41:04 you notice baptisms are usually public. 41:07 Do you know when Jesus called people, He did it publicly. 41:10 In front of everybody Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, 41:13 John, Matthew. 41:15 He said, "Come follow Me. 41:16 Come follow Me." 41:18 If you're gonna choose to follow Jesus, 41:19 don't be ashamed of Him. 41:21 If a husband is ashamed of his wife, 41:22 she's not gonna wanna marry him. 41:24 And vice versa. 41:26 What else does baptism represent? 41:28 And why does it matter? 41:30 The Bible says that we are buried 41:33 with Him through baptism. 41:34 So when a person is baptized, 41:36 and they're put under the water just for a moment, 41:39 and then you bring them back up again, 41:41 it's like that they've been buried 41:42 and now they're being resurrected. 41:45 You probably seen... 41:47 Well, maybe you haven't seen it, 41:48 but you know when a baby's born, 41:50 before baby is born, it's inside of the mommy. 41:52 And it's floating around, it's swimming in water. 41:57 And when the water breaks it means the baby's coming. 42:01 Now baby comes out of the water, 42:03 takes its first breath. 42:04 You've probably seen stories where, you know, 42:06 baby is born, it comes out, it's not breathing. 42:09 So the doctor holds the baby up 42:10 and gives them a little swat on the posterior. 42:12 You'll know what the posterior is. 42:14 And then baby is... 42:17 And then everybody is so happy. 42:19 "Oh, the baby is crying!" 42:22 You know, when you're born again 42:23 and you repent of your sins, sometimes with a new birth, 42:26 there's a little bit of tears, 42:28 but that God and His angels smile. 42:31 Bible says, "Weep, humble yourself before the Lord 42:35 and He will lift you up." 42:37 Then you have the joy. 42:39 There might be weeping in the night 42:40 and joy comes in the morning. 42:42 So it's a burial. 42:44 Now if your parents tell you, "Look," you know, 42:46 you live on a ranch, sometimes they used to say, 42:48 "Take the trash out back and bury it." 42:51 They give you a bag. 42:53 They give you a bag of garbage, and you take it out back, 42:55 and you drop it on the ground, and you pick up some dirt, 42:58 and you sprinkle it on top and you come back. 42:59 And they say, "Did you bury the trash?" 43:01 "I buried it." 43:02 Next day the raccoons got into the trash, 43:04 it spread all over the farm, parents said, 43:07 "You said you buried it." 43:09 Then I say, "Well, I sprinkled some dirt on it. 43:10 Same thing." 43:12 They said, "You didn't bury it." 43:14 Some people say, "Well, 43:15 sprinkling is the same as person being immersed 43:18 is not the same thing." 43:20 Being immerse means you're plunged under, 43:21 you hold your breath for a moment. 43:24 It's like death, and you come out of the water. 43:26 It's like a baby being born. 43:27 It's a new birth. 43:29 I did a baptism for a man. 43:31 And I've seen other people do it too. 43:34 And he said, "Pastor Doug, when you baptized me, 43:38 I want you to hold me under for just a moment." 43:40 Usually, pastor just puts you under 43:41 and brings you right back up again. 43:43 And he doesn't don't have to hold on under long. 43:45 And, but one man said, "You know, while I'm under..." 43:48 Said, "I'm a some a good swimmer." 43:49 He said, "I'm gonna have a prayer. 43:53 So if you could just hold me under there 43:54 and I'll then squeeze your hand 43:56 when I'm ready to come back up." 43:58 I said, "You're sure?" "Sure. 44:00 I'll be fine don't worry about me." 44:01 It's very important occasion to me. 44:03 So when you put me under I'll hold you down. 44:07 Well, I did that it went fine but I heard about 44:09 another pastor he did that to a gentleman, 44:11 the Spanish gentleman in Northern California 44:13 is getting baptized in a lake and his family 44:15 was all gathered on the shore. 44:17 And, when they got out the water, he said, "Now, 44:18 hold me under until I squeeze your hand 44:20 and then bring me up again 'cause I wanna pray 44:22 while I'm under." 44:23 Pastor said, "Okay." 44:25 But the family didn't know. 44:28 So he took the man, he said, "In the name of the Father, 44:30 Son, Holy Spirit," and he put him under. 44:35 I just held him there. 44:37 And the man looked like he was okay. 44:40 And the family started, "Oh, he's trying to drown him!" 44:42 You know, they get ready to charge him. 44:44 He squeezed his hand, he brought him back up again. 44:46 But it represents you come and take, "Oh!" 44:49 You take that breath and it represents like 44:52 a baby being born. 44:54 It's a new life. 44:55 The Bible says that "Even so we should walk in," what? 44:58 "A newness of life." 45:00 Because we are resurrected with the Lord. 45:02 Heard an interesting story in history 45:04 about someone named Henry Box Brown. 45:07 He was a slave. 45:09 You know that story? Yeah. 45:10 And like, 1813 he was born, 33 years of age, 45:14 he was having a very rough time 45:15 working for a terrible taskmaster. 45:18 He had a wife and children. 45:20 And without even telling him, 45:21 his master sold his wife and children to someone else. 45:24 And he said, "Boy, enough is enough." 45:26 And he got a friend. 45:28 And he said, "I want you to build me a box, 45:30 two feet by two feet by three feet, 45:32 put a little water in it, a little bit of padding. 45:35 I'll drill a little hole for air. 45:37 And I'll take a couple biscuits with me. 45:40 And nail me in the box and ship me to Philadelphia 45:43 where there are some people 45:44 who are helping to rescue slave. 45:46 Ship me to this address." 45:48 So his friend did that. 45:49 And now he had marked on the box, this side up. 45:53 He didn't wanna get turned upside down. 45:54 This side up was put all over the box. 45:56 But he went in a wagon, he went in a train, 45:59 he went another wagon, he had bounced down the road. 46:02 And they ignored the sign. 46:03 At one point they put them upside down. 46:06 But he couldn't utter a word. 46:08 And it was hot and he could barely breathe 46:10 and it was painful, 27 hours he was in that box. 46:15 Finally, they delivered it to the Quakers 46:18 in Philadelphia, who set him free. 46:20 And he spent the rest of his life trying 46:22 to help other people get free. 46:24 When you have been baptized 46:26 and you've been delivered from sin, 46:28 you wanna help other people be free. 46:29 Amen? 46:31 Amen. 46:32 So do I need to join a church when I'm baptized? 46:35 Or can I just say, "I'm gonna get baptized 46:37 and I'm sort of gonna be a maverick Christian. 46:39 I'll just go out there on my own. 46:41 And just me and the Lord, I don't need anybody. 46:43 I don't wanna go to a church 46:44 'cause there are difficult people in church." 46:46 Is that how you're supposed to do it? 46:48 Bible says, "By one Spirit, we are baptized into one body." 46:53 Do you need to be part of that body? 46:55 Baptism is the ceremony 46:57 by which you become part of the body of Christ, 47:00 the church. 47:01 The Bible says, "He is the head of the body," Colossians 1:18, 47:05 "the church." 47:06 We are baptized into Christ. 47:08 So when someone says, "I'm a Christian, 47:10 but I don't go to church." 47:12 There is something wrong with that. 47:13 Now, if they're sick and they can't go, 47:15 if they're so far away, there's no church. 47:17 But if someone says, 47:18 "I'm just gonna be a finger out there by myself or near out 47:21 there by myself, "they will not last very long. 47:24 All the different parts of the body work together, 47:26 we need to be connected. 47:28 Amen? 47:29 Amen. 47:31 "The Lord added to the church daily, 47:33 those that were being saved." 47:35 God wants us to all be part of the church. 47:38 Who's been saved? 47:39 Those added to the body of Christ, 47:42 Christ body is His temple. 47:44 We all are different parts of the body. 47:46 Some of us are the mouth, some are the eyes, 47:48 some are the ears, some are the brain, 47:49 some are the feet, some are the hands, 47:51 but we all work together 47:52 with our different spiritual gifts. 47:54 When you're baptized, 47:55 God gives you some of those gifts. 47:58 Can you be too bad to be saved? 48:01 What do you think? 48:03 No, you're not a worst sinner than God is the Savior. 48:08 Did God save liars in the Bible? 48:11 Did God save thieves? 48:13 The thief on the cross. 48:14 Did God save murderers? 48:18 Moses killed somebody. 48:20 David murdered somebody. 48:22 People who committed adultery like David and others. 48:25 God is very merciful. 48:27 So don't think, "I'm too bad for God 48:29 that I've sinned too much." 48:31 You know, God is all powerful and He can forgive your sins. 48:35 How do we receive that forgiveness? 48:37 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful 48:40 and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from," 48:43 how much? 48:44 "All unrighteousness." 48:47 The Lord will cleanse you. 48:48 And the promise is, 48:49 "The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." 48:54 Will Jesus cast out anyone 48:56 who comes to Him for forgiveness? 48:59 Can you think of anybody in the Bible 49:00 that came to Jesus for forgiveness 49:02 and He sent them away? 49:05 Everybody who came. 49:07 Leper said, "Lord, I'm full of leprosy. 49:09 But if You want, You can make me clean." 49:11 Jesus said, "I want to." 49:13 He touched him and He cleansed him. 49:15 Blind man, "So Lord, 49:17 if You want to You can open my eyes." 49:18 He said, "I want to." 49:19 He touched him, opened his eyes. 49:22 The Lord unstopped deaf ears. 49:24 The Lord healed all kinds of things 49:26 when people came to Him, 49:27 because they had a need. 49:29 So how do I know when I'm ready to be baptized? 49:34 Well, is there a specific age? 49:36 How old was Jesus 49:38 when He went with Joseph to the temple, and Mary? 49:41 Twelve. Twelve. 49:43 You know, that doesn't mean someone could be ready sooner, 49:47 some or later, but as a general rule, 49:51 I like to say that if you're old enough 49:52 to be lost, you're probably old enough to be saved. 49:56 Actually, I'm quoting James White when I say that. 50:00 You know, if you have your own personal devotions, 50:04 and if you're spending time with the Lord, 50:06 if you understand the main teachings, 50:09 if you make a decision to follow Jesus, 50:11 do you love God? 50:13 Have you invited Jesus into your heart? 50:15 And now here's the big one. 50:17 Are you willing to give up your selfish ways 50:20 of the world and to follow Jesus 50:23 because you love Him? 50:25 That's one of the most important things. 50:27 All right. 50:28 I need... 50:32 Let me see here. 50:43 All right, you here. 50:44 I need a big boy. 50:46 That's all. Just one, sorry. 50:48 Okay. 50:54 All right. 50:56 Let me show you something here. 50:58 You know what that is? 50:59 It's a jar. It's a jar. 51:02 This is the devil. 51:07 Here we go. 51:09 That's the world. 51:10 Now, I can barely get my hand in here. 51:16 And I can get my head out. 51:18 But if I try to get a hold of the world... 51:20 You wanna take that off my hand? 51:28 I'm gonna file a workman's comp claim for that. 51:32 Can't come off. 51:33 If I'm trying to hang on to this, 51:35 let's see how it works with you. 51:39 All right, Pastor Ross, you wanna play your part here. 51:43 So you like some things in the world. 51:45 The Bible says, "Love not the world 51:46 or the things that are in the world, 51:48 if any man who loves the world..." 51:49 You know, put your hand in there. 51:51 Get a hold of that. 51:52 Make a fist. You got to make a fist. 51:54 All right. 51:55 Here we go. 51:56 So what you got here is you're saying 51:58 I want the world but the devil, 52:00 he uses the world to keep you from being free 52:04 because we don't let go. 52:06 Now let go of the world for a second. 52:08 Can you get your hand out now? 52:10 You be free, you know what they do in Africa, 52:12 Pastor Ross is from South Africa, 52:14 they catch monkeys. 52:16 By taking a coconut shell, they put a little hole in it, 52:19 they chain the coconut to the ground, 52:21 they put the monkey's favorite food inside, usually, 52:23 handful of nuts. 52:24 The monkeys look around, they run up. 52:26 They put their hand in there. 52:27 They grab them. 52:28 Go ahead, go in there, grab. 52:30 Grab the world there. 52:31 And then the trappers come 52:32 and the monkey tries to get away, 52:34 but the monkey is not smart enough to let go. 52:36 And so the trapper gets them and the monkey becomes a slave. 52:40 You're gonna go. 52:42 If you wanna get away, 52:43 I'm gonna give you a couple of worlds here anyway. 52:45 Okay, let's give them a hand. 52:46 What was your name? 52:48 Luke. Luke. 52:49 Good job, Luke. Here. 52:51 You can have one of those. 52:56 You've got to let go of the world. 52:58 If we love the world, and the things in the world, 53:01 the television, the games, the food, the clothes, 53:05 the devil tries to trap us 53:06 with the sinful things of the world. 53:07 We think, "Oh, but I've got to have it." 53:09 As long as he can keep you with that and you don't let go 53:11 of those things, Christ said, "If you're gonna come after Me, 53:15 you must deny yourself. 53:17 Take up your cross and follow Me." 53:20 But you'll be free. 53:23 If you're trying to have the things of the world 53:25 what would you rather have? 53:27 $100 now or a million dollars in a week? 53:31 Million dollars in a week. 53:33 If you're smart. 53:34 But you know sometimes little children you say, 53:36 "Do you want that one cookie now 53:38 or do you want 12 cookies tomorrow?" 53:40 They say, "I want the one cookie now," 53:42 right? 53:44 What would you rather have the pleasures of sin 53:46 for this one life, 53:48 knowing that you're gonna die and be lost, 53:50 you can't even enjoy it? 53:53 Or would you want eternal life? 53:56 Yeah, this is what the devil... 53:57 But so many people are saying, "I'm not sure, 53:59 If I'm gonna be saved, so 54:01 I wanna give up on eternal life 54:02 so I can have the pleasures of sin now." 54:05 If a man came to you and he said, 54:07 "I'm gonna give you a million dollars, 54:10 and a vacation for three months in Orlando, 54:15 and you can go to Epcot, and Disney World, 54:17 and Universal Studios, and it's the theme park city 54:20 of the world, you can just go one amusement park to another. 54:23 It'll be like Vanity Fair. 54:24 You could just have fun, and games, and rides, and play, 54:27 and toys and million dollars." 54:29 And you say, "Wow, that sounds great!" 54:31 And then he says, "Yeah. 54:32 And After the 90 days are over, 54:35 I'm tossing you in a lake of fire." 54:39 Would you enjoy it? 54:40 No. 54:42 All right, every time you went on the next ride, you'd say, 54:44 "Oh, 29 more days, 28 more days." 54:48 And you'd be thinking... 54:49 You couldn't enjoy anything knowing 54:51 that it wasn't gonna end well. 54:52 But if someone comes to you and they say, 54:56 "Look, you need to carry this load. 55:01 But at the end of the road when you're done, 55:03 you're gonna have eternal life." 55:06 That load would seem so light 55:07 because you think I've got Jesus 55:09 and eternal life in heaven. 55:11 And it's so much easier to be a Christian 55:13 than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin. 55:15 So how do you know you're ready to be baptized? 55:18 Daily devotions. 55:20 Do you pray and read your Bible every day? 55:23 Have you repented of your sins and confess them? 55:26 Are you learning to cheerfully do your work and chores 55:30 as though you're doing them for Jesus? 55:32 Do you understand 55:34 the main teachings of the Bible? 55:35 That would be in the baptismal vows. 55:37 There's about a dozen baptismal vows 55:39 where you understand the principle teachings. 55:43 The Bible tells us what happened to Jesus 55:45 when He was baptized is a symbol 55:48 for what we can expect. 55:50 Now, when Jesus was baptized, what happened? 55:53 Bible says that He came up out of the water, 55:58 "And behold, the heavens were opened to Him." 56:01 Was Jesus baptized for His sin? 56:04 Did Jesus ever sin? 56:06 No. 56:07 So why was Jesus baptized? 56:11 An example for us. 56:12 And you know, Jesus was also baptized 56:14 in behalf of those who cannot be. 56:17 Christ came up out of the water, 56:19 the heavens were open. 56:20 When you're baptized, the heavens are open 56:22 for you in a new way. 56:24 "He saw the Spirit descending," 56:26 God's Spirit comes into your life, 56:28 gives you special power. 56:30 It comes like what animal? 56:32 Dove. 56:33 Like a dove, 'cause it brings peace into your life. 56:36 And then He heard a voice. 56:38 You will hear God speak to you. 56:39 And what does that voice say? 56:41 "You are now my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." 56:45 When you're baptized, what does God say? 56:47 I am well pleased with you. 56:50 I am happy with you. 56:52 You are adopted into the family of God. 56:54 He calls you His son or His daughter. 56:56 Now you may make mistakes. 56:59 Any of you have a pet dog or cat? 57:03 And you pick them up as a puppy or kitty, you bring them home. 57:08 And you say, "All right, you're now part of the family." 57:12 Well, then the puppy makes, 57:13 he has a little digestive accident 57:15 in the living room. 57:17 And you say, "Oh, you stinking puppy. 57:20 I'm taking you back to the pet store." 57:22 Is that what you say? No. 57:23 No, it's part of the family. 57:25 You just cleaned it up and you try 57:26 and teach him better. 57:27 Or the cat gets on the curtains 57:29 and starts to tear up the curtains, and you say, 57:31 "You wicked little kitty. 57:33 I'm taking you back." 57:37 Or you'll say, "Oh, you're part of the family. 57:39 We're gonna try and trim your claws a little bit 57:41 and teach you not to do that." 57:44 And so when you're adopted, 57:46 God loves you more than 57:47 you love a puppy, or your kitty. 57:49 And you are His child. 57:51 And even if you make mistakes, 57:53 once you've given your life to Him and you said, 57:55 "I've been baptized Lord, I decided I wanna follow You, 57:58 I wanna be a Christian, He gives you His Holy Spirit." |
Revised 2020-01-08