Take the Plunge
🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Tom Van Kempen
In this week's sermon, Pastor Tom shared the incredible story of water baptism and its deep significance in our faith. From funny old tales about spontaneous baptisms to heartfelt testimonies of life-changing experiences, the message centered on the purpose and joy of baptism. Pastor Tom reminded us that Jesus commanded us to be baptized as part of the Great Commission, making it a core practice in our faith to outwardly express an inward transformation. Baptism symbolizes the end of a life of darkness and the start of one filled with purpose through Jesus. The central takeaway is that water baptism is more than just a ritual; it’s a declaration of faith and a commitment to a new life in Christ.
Additional Info
The info below was generated by an AI from the audio recording of the sermon.
The Importance of Water Baptism
Water baptism holds a special significance in the Christian faith. It is a profound act of obedience, as it was commanded and modeled by Jesus Christ himself. In the Great Commission, recorded in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus directed His followers to go into all the world, make disciples, and baptize them. This command underscores the important role baptism plays in the mission of the Church.
Water Baptism as a Representation of Faith
Water baptism serves as an outward and visible sign of an inward spiritual experience. It does not confer salvation but is a public declaration that a person has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This act symbolizes the believer's commitment to their new identity in Christ and their adoption into the family of God. It signals the end of one journey and the beginning of another—a journey filled with meaning, purpose, and significance through the teachings of Jesus.
Biblical Examples of Water Baptism
The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 illustrates the significance of baptism. Philip encountered the eunuch reading from the book of Isaiah, and upon explaining the scripture, the eunuch expressed a desire to be baptized. This encounter emphasizes that God goes to great lengths to reach seekers who are searching for Him. It demonstrates how God orchestrates divine appointments between those who need the gospel and those who are willing to share it.
The Process and Meaning Behind Baptism
In water baptism, believers are immersed in water, symbolizing the death of their old self and the rising to new life in Christ. This ritual reflects a transformation, resembling a re-dyeing of fabric where each fiber is completely changed. This profound action symbolizes a believer’s complete commitment to their faith, much like a marriage vows signify commitment in a wedding.
Your Next Steps in the Journey of Faith
If you have never been baptized, consider this opportunity as a step in your walk with Christ. Many believers find great joy and meaning in this act, as it publicly demonstrates their faith. It’s a celebration of new life, inviting friends and family to witness one’s commitment to following Jesus.
Conclusion
In conclusion, water baptism is a rich and transformative experience. It invites every believer to take the plunge into their new faith and identity in Christ. Each baptism is not merely a ritual, but a celebration, an announcement of commitment, and a mingling of community as the Church rejoices together in the grace of God. Collectively, these experiences remind believers of the beauty and depth of their faith journey, encouraging ongoing growth and engagement in the community of believers.
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Use the questions listed below as a launching point to discuss the sermon points together as a family. These are great for dinner table discussions and small groups.
Reflect on Baptism’s Purpose
What does baptism mean to you personally?
How do you feel about public declarations of faith, like baptism?
Connect Through Experience
Can someone share a memorable baptism experience, either your own or someone else’s?
How have you seen God work in your life before and after baptism?
Apply to Daily Life
What steps can we take to share the message of baptism with others?
Why is baptism an essential part of the Christian journey, and how can it inspire us daily?
Prayer and Support
Take time to pray for those considering baptism and for shared courage in public witness.
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What is Water Baptism?
Water Baptism is a special ceremony that shows everyone that you have decided to follow Jesus! It's like a big announcement that you are part of God's family!
Why is it Important?
Jesus Commanded It: Jesus told everyone that they should be baptized. This means it is really important to Him!
A Sign of Faith: When someone gets baptized, it's like putting on a badge that says, "I believe in Jesus!" It shows everyone that you are part of His family.
Exciting Moment: It is a happy celebration! Just like when we celebrate birthdays or holidays, baptism is a special moment where we can cheer for our friends!
A Fun Story from Pastor Tom
Pastor Tom shared a funny story about a man at a baptism in a lake. The preacher kept dunking the man under the water, and the pastor asked him if he saw Jesus. Each time he said, "No!" Until at last, he joked, "Are you sure this is where He fell in?" This reminds us that sometimes we can be silly, but baptism is serious because it's about showing our love for Jesus!
How Does It Happen?
When someone decides to get baptized, they go under the water, and then come back up! This shows that they are leaving their old, not-so-good life behind and coming up to start fresh with Jesus! It’s like being a superhero who gets a new power!
What to Remember
Your Decision: You can choose to follow Jesus and get baptized when you are ready! It's all about your choice.
Be Happy: When someone gets baptized, we cheer and celebrate, just like a party!
Ask Questions: If you want to know more about Jesus or baptism, always feel free to ask your parents or teachers. They will love to help you understand!
Closing Thought
Everyone can be part of God's family, and baptism is one way to show that we belong with Jesus. So if you're thinking about it, talk to someone you trust, and learn more about how awesome it is to follow Jesus!
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As we were finding that video this week, I was reminded of an old story I heard about a man who had stayed out a little too late on a Saturday night and probably was doing things he shouldn't be doing. And he showed up at a lake service that a church was having. And so after the service, the pastor started water baptizing people in the lake. And he got a little excited about what was going on and he kind of stepped, stepped out into the water himself.
And the pastor noticed him and without missing a beat, he grabs the guy and dunks him under the water. And then he pulls the guy up and he goes, did you see Jesus? And the man said, no. And the pastor dunks him a second time and he pulls him up and he goes, did you see Jesus? And the man said, no.
So he dunks him a third time, and this time there's a ten count. One, two, three, up to ten. He pulls him up and he goes, did you finally see Jesus? And the man said, no. But before you dunk me again, are you sure this is where he fell in?
Today we're going to have a water baptism at the end of the service. And it is literally one of my favorite things to do as a pastor. It's one of my favorite things to witness, I can tell you, experiences that I've had that just thrill my soul. I remember just a couple of years ago, Robin and I were pastoring in Mississippi, and a couple came up to us after the service and said, there's a lake that we really love. We love fish in there.
Would you be willing to baptize us and our children in the lake? And so we said, sure. And so we put a date on the calendar. And the day we picked happened to be a day where it was raining with thunder and lightning and everything. And we're underneath this covering.
And I said, are you sure you wanna go out there? You know? And so we decided we'd just wait and pray a little bit. And sure enough, probably 15 minutes later, the clouds parted and there was about a 20 minute time where we got to go out there and baptize the husband, the wife, the boys. It was A very, very exciting thing for me to experience.
And then there was a big celebration. They had family, they had friends, they had probably 20 some people there. We had lunch. It was just a glorious time on a Saturday afternoon. It wasn't even a Sunday.
My own kids, when they were young, they wanted to get water baptized. And we had a church in Las Vegas at the time, and we had no baptismal tank, none. There was no upper area, there was no lower area. So we didn't know what to do. So we decided to go buy a horse trough.
And we filled up the horse trough with water and we couldn't warm it up at all. It was freezing in there. We put it out on the porch. And you know, in Las Vegas, at least in the summer, if the sun hits it, it might get it boiling a little bit up there. And after the service, we'd all go out there.
The entire congregation would walk out after each service and we'd water baptize people in this horse trough. And I got the privilege of water baptizing a couple of my children. I've baptized people in swimming pools before. You might say, pastor, is that appropriate? Well, one person was so embarrassed about being water baptized because of their girth that they said they didn't think they could even fit in the baptismal round that we had.
And they asked if it would be appropriate. And I said it's more than appropriate. God doesn't want to embarrass anybody through water baptism. So we will do whatever it takes. We'll go to a swimming pool, we'll go to a lake, we'll go to a river.
All we need is enough water to dunk you who can say amen? And so I've baptized a 94 year old woman before. She was at a nursing center and my mom and dad were actually doing a Sunday school there every day. And this older lady, 94, she gave her life to Jesus Christ and she said, could you have your son come and water baptize me? And I went to that swimming pool and baptized someone who's 94 who can say amen.
I mean, it was, it was glorious. It really was. I've taken three different groups to Israel, and while we were at Israel, we baptized men and women in the Jordan River. Now, we don't know if it's the exact location where Jesus was baptized, but it was very, very close if it wasn't. And one time it was about 10 or 12 people, one time it was about 15 or 20 people, and one time it was over 30 people.
And we're baptizing people in the Jordan River. It just kind of boggles the mind. And twice I preached a sermon just like this. And after the service, I said, you know what? If you want to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and get water baptized, just come on down.
And Both times, over 50 people responded. And we speak hours after the service, dunking them and bringing them up and dunking them and bringing them up and going to the emergency room afterwards because of my shoulder. I'm kidding about that last part, of course. So why does this ceremony mean so much to Christians? What is water baptism?
Is it a spiritual experience? Is it simply a physical experience? Well, let me give you a couple of ideas that you find in the scripture. Number one, is this. A water baptism is something that Jesus commanded.
So because of that, we, as an assembly of God church, we have made it. And communion are two ordinances. An ordinance is a law or a statute. It is something that we believe is very, very important and we need to follow. Because Jesus commanded it.
Not only did he command it, he modeled it. He actually got water baptized himself, even though he probably didn't need to. John the Baptist definitely didn't want to water baptize him, but Jesus knew that he would be setting such a great example and such a great standard that nobody could say, I shouldn't do this because Jesus himself did it. We also should do it now. When I say he commanded it, he commanded it in something called the Great Commission.
And so every time that someone gets water baptizing or gets water baptized, it's a sign that we as a church are fulfilling the mission of the church. So what is the great commission? Matthew 28:19, go, say go. Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So when we baptize somebody, we are declaring to the world, we're listening to Jesus.
We're actively engaged in the Great Commission. We're doing what our Savior, what our Master, what our Lord has told us to do. And together you are a part of this. Who can say, amen? Amen.
Number three. It's an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual experience. So we don't believe water baptism saves you. Okay? We believe that you get saved and then you get water baptized because you're signaling.
You are announcing to the world that I'm a Christian, that I'm a part of a new family, that I've been adopted into this fellowship. And the local one here is called Oxford assembly of God. But it's the fellowship of God, it's the family of God. But listen, it's a little bit more than just a sign. Listen, when you urgently obey God's direction, God's favor is released in your life.
So if you've never been water baptized, I want you to seriously consider the opportunity that lies beside you or in front of you. My goal is to have someone water baptized every month who can say Amen. Every month someone's gonna get water baptized. I'm taking this service so seriously that even if you didn't bring your clothes, we're gonna baptize people on Wednesday night. So you can come back again on Wednesday night.
Alright, we have one person that we know for sure is getting water baptized today. And I want you to think, if you've never been, maybe I should be the next person. And finally, water baptism is the end of one journey and it's the beginning of another journey. It's the end of our journey out of darkness, out of lostness, out of the questioning aspect of life. Because you have found Jesus who's the answer, right?
Jesus is the answer. And it's the beginning of a new life of significance and meaning and purpose. Because Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. Amen. So if you've got your Bibles, you can turn to Acts chapter 8, verse 26.
And I want to paint a picture for you by reading this story that is found in Acts chapter 8, beginning in verse 26. And it's a simple water baptism story. It's about one man finding another man and leading him to an understanding of who Jesus Christ is. And I believe it's an example for all of us. I think in this story we can see ourselves leading people to Jesus Christ.
I think we can find some strategies, some ideas of what God thinks is important. And we will also understand that God goes to great lengths to get our attention. Who can say Amen? He'll do just about anything just to get a hold of you. Acts 8:26 says this.
Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, arise and go toward the south, along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is desert. So he arose and he went. You are about to witness in this story, God orchestrating a divine appointment. What I love about this, and you see the map is labeled here, Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.
If you're not familiar, this is a part of of Israel. And some of these places are still here today. The Dead Sea. Actually it doesn't have this middle part any longer. If you see any satellite pictures, the Dead Sea is starting to dry up.
It's starting to disappear. But back in Jesus day, it was a complete sea right there. You had the Sea of Galilee up in this particular area right here. And Philip and all the church has been birthed right in the city of Jerusalem. There are now thousands.
Some theologians believe there could have been up to 100,000 people who'd given their life to Jesus Christ over the first couple years of the infant Church. But if you remember, God asked the disciples and the followers of him to go into all the world, but they weren't going into all the world. And so at the beginning of Acts chapter eight, what happens is a persecution. It's the church. And during this persecution, literally their property is being confiscated, their homes are being taken out from under them.
They're being thrown in jail. All kinds of bad things are happening. And discomfort causes us to move to a different area. And so people started leaving. I mean, people started heading in this direction.
They started heading in this direction. They started following this path, this red path right here. They started running to the coast over here. And Philip actually ran on up to Samaria. And if you read the beginning of chapter eight, a revival breaks out.
Now, remember, in chapter one, Jesus says, I want you to go to Jerusalem, Judea, and to Samaria. Philip literally takes Jesus at his word, goes to Samaria, Revival breaks out. Miracles are starting to happen. All kinds of crazy things are happening. And now here in 2016, it appears like he's come back to Jerusalem.
We don't know if he's recuperating. We don't know if he went back home to get something, if he had forgotten something. But he's now back to where he started in Jerusalem. And the angel comes to him and whispers in his ear. And the angel says, hey, I want you to take that desert road down to Gaza.
Now, if you've heard of Gaza in the news lately, it is the exact same same Gaza that you see in the news. Back then it was a city. Today, it's called the Gaza Strip. It is occupied Israel territory that is being disputed about. But back then, it was just a part of the land at that time, all right?
And so that's where he's going. That's where he's instructed. The angel reiterates the Great Commission, and he says, go, Say go. Jesus says, go. The angel says, go.
Your pastor is saying, go. Not right now. All right? Stay right now. Okay?
But God is speaking to our hearts. He's telling us there is no time in the history of the world to take it easier to take a break from evangelism. I'm not talking about Sabbath. That's an appropriate thing to do. But the church is always, always to be about evangelism.
We're always about going into our communities, into our workplaces, into our schools, into our neighborhoods, around our geographic area and outside of our geographic area. We're always looking to bring people into the kingdom. So the question I have for you today is, where are you going with the gospel? Where are you going? It's not pastor's job to do this.
I'm already doing it. As a matter of fact, I'm doing it over at Steak N Shake right now. Oh, you guys doubt me, don't you? So I walked on into Steak N Shake this week, and I brought my dad. And we're sitting there down, and one of the ladies comes out from behind the counter and goes, who'd you bring with you today?
And I go, this is my father. And the woman says, well, Papa, this is our favorite customer. Your son is our favorite customer. Now, why did that happen? Let me give you a couple reasons.
Number one, I go there too much.
I love hamburgers. That's all I can tell you. I could eat a hamburger twice a day, probably, and be completely. Amen. Thank you.
Very spiritual over here. All right. Number two, I leave tips. Number three, I don't complain when something goes bad. And I have to bring up things that go bad because they go bad every time, right?
So sometimes the soda machine doesn't work. And I go on in the back and I go, hey, your soda machine's not working? And they start panicking, and I go, oh, no problem. I'm a patient man. And they look at me like, who's this crazy guy out here?
You know? No one ever says something like, even if I'm in a hurry, I'm not gonna let them know I'm in a hurry because I'm on mission. I'm there to do something. I wanna show people that Christians are truly transformed people. In Jesus name, Amen.
We all can do this. So Gaza was the common road, but it was also the desert road. So it was a little hard, but. But Philip got up immediately and he went, here's the second thing about these first couple of verses. God calls complete outsiders.
Maybe you're here and you're, like, looking around going, wow, why am I in this church today? There's a bunch of people who know each other, and I'm a complete stranger. I don't belong here. Yes, you do. Come on.
I want you to know that your attendance here today is not an accident. God ordained it in the name of Jesus Christ, and he wants you to know that you can become a part of this family, no matter how outside the family you feel. The guy that is ministered to here, look at this. In Acts, chapter 8, verse 27 and 28. And behold, a man of Ethiopia.
I mean, we're talking about an outsider. He's not Jewish. He's not even a Samaritan. He was born and raised in a different continent, and yet God wants him to feel like he's a part of the family. The scripture says he's a eunuch.
That means his ability to create children has been taken from him. But he has been given great authority under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians. And he's been given charge of all of the finances and all of the money in an entire nation. And here's what we finally find out about him. He has just come to Jerusalem to worship.
Here is a man that is looking for the answers we just talked about. Here is a man who his home religions, his family religions, brought no answers, no comfort, no meaning to his life. So he's trying out Judaism. He's going to Jerusalem, and he's looking. Are there some answers here?
Does the Jewish God solve my problems, answer my questions, help me in my time of need? And he walks away or drives away in his chariot, still with none of those questions answered. And he's sitting in his chariot, and he's reading the book of Isaiah, the prophet. He's seeking. And I know what the Bible says about seekers.
If you seek, you shall, you shall find. So if you're new here today and you've been seeking, God's here today. And he wants you to find him. He wants you to connect with him. Because God connects seekers of God with seekers of the lost.
If we will faithfully look, if we will faithfully act, if we will faithfully obey, he will faithfully bring people into the kingdom on a regular and consistent basis. That's who God is. Acts 8:29,31 says, Then the Spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, do you understand what you're reading? And he said, how can I unless someone guides me?
And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. I love both Philip and the eunuch. Both of them are after something. Neither of them settles for less Than best. The eunuch is chasing God, going all the way to Jerusalem.
Philip is chasing God by obeying enthusiastically everything he says. He doesn't just go up to the chariot, he runs to the chariot. He's in a hurry to do what it is that God wants him to do. And what is the Ethiopian doing? He's reading the Bible.
Guys, it doesn't get set up any better than that, just so you know. I mean, there are some challenging situations that we have when we're trying to evangelize. Maybe it's the next door neighbor who is making a messy yard or something. Maybe it's someone at work who's loud and obnoxious and boisterous. This is perfectly set up.
God has literally set the T ball on the tee so that Philip can get a home run. And he wants us to have the same kind of success in Jesus name. So what does God do? He reveals himself through his Word. And God usually uses people in the process.
Ordinary people like you and me, ordinary people like Philip. At this time he was a deacon. Yeah, but he was a new deacon. He'd only been in the church for less than a couple of years. He was a relatively newbie to the Christian faith, and yet he's going around preaching revivals and causing miracles to take place by faith.
And. And now he's witnessing to this guy in a chariot. So this encounter with the written word comes specifically from Isaiah. So let's take a look at this scripture here. Let's see.
Do I have to clean anything?
Acts 8, 32, 33, say this. The place in the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, his justice was taken away.
And who will declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth? Now that sounds to me somewhat complicated. I'm just being honest that if I'm not a Christian and I've never heard the story of Jesus before, that might be a challenging scripture. And so this Ethiopian eunuch is a perfect example of people that we might come in contact with on a regular basis. And the Bible tells us that Philip shows up and sits in the seat and starts explaining things to him based upon where he is.
He's in Isaiah. So he begins with Isaiah. He probably had to tell him, hey, do you understand that in the Jewish faith we know that Isaiah wrote this 700 years ago. For us, that means it was written 2,700 and some years ago. The actual Quote in Acts comes from the middle of a prophecy that begins in Isaiah 52 and continues all the way through Isaiah 53.
Now that that first verse is probably the key to the whole thing. 5212 says this. Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. And so the first thing that we understand is this entire prophecy is all about a servant.
Now, we don't know yet if it's someone from that time or if it's someone from the future. But what we learn later on is this is a scripture about someone called the suffering servant. Jesus is known as the suffering servant. He willingly serves his father out of love, out of admiration, out of appreciation, and he will eventually serve, be exalted. But first, the prophecy continues in verse 13, and then into chapter 53, it turns really, really ugly.
Look at this. The place in the scripture Rucci read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. What? He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.
You understand how sheep were slaughtered, right? They would go on in, they would lift up their head, they would take this knife, and they just slit their throats. And the blood would pour and pour and pour. This is an image of what either happened to a man in the Old Testament, or as Philip is communicating to the sea, the open, it's the person of Jesus Christ himself. In verse 14 of Isaiah 52, this is what the scripture says.
But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was set, disfigured. He seemed hardly human. And from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man. Did anybody see the movie the Passion of the Christ?
Listen, Listen. It's the only depiction of the crucifixion that even comes close to what the scripture says. All of the other movies have been sanitized because we can't handle what they really did to Jesus. We can't really understand the brutality with which he was savaged. It's hard for us to understand that they hit him so many times and punched him in the face and whipped him with whips that literally had rock and metal and glass embedded in the tips.
So that when those whips hit him in the back, it would literally rip the pieces of flesh off, exposing blood vessels and nerve endings. The pain that he experienced was beyond what anybody should ever have to bear in their entire life. And yet the scripture says, throughout this whole thing, he was silent.
He didn't complain, he didn't yell. He didn't do anything except allow it to take place. When I read that, he was silent like a lamb, I get the lamb. Lambs don't know what's going to happen to them. But Jesus knew exactly what was going to take place.
Jesus knew how hard it was going to be, the brutality that he was going to experience and was experiencing. And Isaiah declares this to be a complete and total injustice. It was as if he was a sacrificial lamb, the same way that in the Old Testament, lambs were sacrificed for the people's sin on a regular and consistent basis. And that gives us a hint as to who this Jesus is. He is literally the lamb that was slain.
Who can say Amen. So the reason he was silent is because he had a plan, he had a purpose. He knew exactly what he was doing. When you continue reading, In Isaiah, chapter 53, it says that he did it for our griefs and our sorrows. He did it for our weaknesses and our sicknesses.
He did it for our sins and our diseases. He did it for our shame and our brokenness and our lostness and our inability to do anything without him.
The next couple of verses go on and say this. So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or some other man? And then Philip opened his mouth. And beginning at this Scripture, he preached Jesus to him.
An encounter with the written word inevitably will lead to an encounter with the living Word. When you read the scripture enough, if you look into it enough, Jesus always say, always. He always shows up. He always appears. He always makes himself known.
The scripture says that he began in Isaiah, chapter 53. He probably started by saying this. Jesus, my rabbi, my Master, my Lord, who they just killed. He's the one who fulfilled all of these prophecies. He's the one who taught with authority.
He's the one who lived perfectly. He's the one that was beaten without mercy. He's the one that offered Himself completely. He's the one who died on Calvary. And he's the one who rose again victoriously.
Who can say Amen.
Hallelujah. And before Philip had even finished, the man said this as they approached some water. See, here's some water. What hinders me from being baptized. And then Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may.
And he answered. And he said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Do you see this? I believe that Jesus Christ is I, the Son of God. That's what he communicated.
And they got down off the chariot and they went through a water Baptism service, How did that take place? The written word leads to a revelation of the living word, leads to an encounter with the Holy Spirit where he starts working on a sinner's heart. Do you remember Acts, chapter two? All of these people, thousands are. Are listening to Peter and he preaches this beautiful message.
And they finally, they say they were pierced in the heart, the scripture says. And they yell out, what must we do to be saved? That's what the Holy Spirit does. He so works on you in a gentle but convicting manner that you want to get saved. You want to change.
You want to meet this Jesus Christ. And this is what Peter says. You must repent and be baptized, every one of you. Now, not because the baptism saves you, but because you're showing the world that I have repented. I have become a follower of Jesus Christ.
So how does that happen? We're going to do the A, B, Cs and Ds of salvation here real quick, okay? A is admit, admit the truth of Romans, chapter 3, verse 23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Who can say Amen?
Well, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you. Because most people really don't want to admit that they're sinners. It takes an enormous amount of humility to say, I'm a sinner and I need a savior. It takes an enormous amount of humility to acknowledge the wrong that you've done.
It takes an enormous amount of humility to be the financial leader of a nation and to bow your heart to a savior that he had never even met himself personally, and yet he was so convicted in his heart and knew so assuredly that Jesus was exactly who Philip was explaining him to be, that he bowed his knee in submission. Paul Harvey, you might remember Paul Harvey, he got baptized later in life. And this is what he said. When you get water baptized, your dignity gets as drenched as your body. I mean, he was famous.
That's the rest of the story. Famous. That's the rest of the story. That's right. He's famous.
And yet he still got water baptized. One of the greatest examples of this humility I ever saw was after a message similar to this. Probably 25 years ago, one of our deacons came up to me and said, pastor, I need to get water baptized. And I go, what? I go, david, explain.
Because when you become a deacon at our church, you actually sign a card that says, I've been water baptized. And he says, well, I had been water baptized as a baby and he said, but after hearing the message, I don't believe that that type of demonstration is sufficient, that I need to show the world. And if it embarrasses me, it doesn't matter. Just because I'm a, it doesn't matter. I'm going to follow Jesus example and I'm going to get water baptized.
Who can say Amen? So that's what he did. Verse 37 says, I believe that Jesus is the son of God. So how old do we have to be? Is there a magic number?
And the answer is no, there are no magic numbers. I know we don't baptize babies. I heard the story of a four year old girl who, she wanted to get water baptized. And she's sitting at the dinner table with her mom and dad and her parents say, no, you're not ready. And she goes, I am ready.
And they said, well, explain salvation to us. And the girl couldn't do it. She was stumbling over it and was like, well, I know Jesus. And so I wanna be water baptized. And the parents said, let's just wait, let's just learn a little bit more and try and get to that place.
And so the girl stormed off and went up to her room and the parents were discussing, did we do the right thing? Should we let her get water baptized? What should we do? And. And about 15 minutes later, she comes back on downstairs and she's soaking wet and her parents go, what in the world, Jennifer, what did you do?
And she said, I told Jesus I loved him and I baptized myself.
Okay, well, the Catholics have a belief that salvation grace is actually bestowed at water baptism. So that's why they baptize babies. The Lutherans have a similar understanding that something literally supernatural happens at water baptism. We as Protestants believe that it is a symbolic act, that it does not help in the salvation process in any way, shape or form. That you have to first repent, you have to first believe, and then you get water baptized and you go, what's the appropriate age?
Well, Protestant theologians have come up with what is called the age of accountability. Has anybody heard of this before? Okay, so the age of accountability. So in order for me to explain this, I have to go back to Adam and Eve, because Adam and Eve were not accountable for sin until they understood they had sinned. Does that make sense?
And so the Bible tells us that in Genesis 2, 9, the Lord God made all sorts of trees grew up from the ground, trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now listen, they already had full knowledge of good. So this knowledge of good, this intimacy with good, this relationship with God, they already possessed. What they didn't have was intimacy or knowledge of evil.
And God never wanted them to have this intimacy. But the moment they believed the devil and fell prey to his temptation, they became intimidated intimate with evil for the first time in their lives. And so the age of accountability can be best expressed as when a child, whatever that age is, it can be between the ages of 5 and probably 12 or 14 or 15. Somewhere in that age span when they truly understand the difference between right and wrong and the consequences of the decisions that are made, they are ready to be water baptized. I have joyfully water baptized five year olds.
Five year olds that I knew understood what they were doing. 5 year olds who could express their faith better than some adults that I knew. And then at 10 and 11 and 12, I've recommended to parents, I don't think your son or your daughter's ready. I think they need to spend some more time in Sunday school, some more time in children's church, some more time reading their Bibles until they actually come to that understanding. Now, I'm not the judge, and so if parents push it, we will probably still water baptize them.
Okay? But this is why many kids who are baptized before the age of 10 oftentimes get re baptized in as an adult because they don't feel like they actually did the real thing the first time around. Does everyone understand? So then the Ethiopian, he just responds urgently, hey, there's some water. Can I get water baptized?
Can you picture this? I mean, they're in a chariot, it's desert time, and maybe they've made it to the coast. I don't know if it's the coast, I don't know if it's a spring, I don't know what it is. But they're in a very hot place. And he just stops the chariot and says, philip, there's some water right over there.
What's stopping me from being water baptized? So obviously this conversation, which is very short in the scriptures, much more has taken place. This guy has gotten to the place where he's probably heard about the message that Peter preached and how 3,000 got saved and water baptized in the first day. And he's asking what's stopping me from being water baptized. Need my pen.
There it is. So we'll clean this screen off here. Move to this last verse. So he commanded the chariot to stand still and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water. I love this.
Both. Both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and he baptized him in whatever pond that was, whatever was taking place. Here's some concluding ideas. Water baptism is surprisingly simple once everyone understands what's going on. Did you know you don't need a pastor, you don't need a church building.
You do need a bunch of water. Okay? That's the primary thing. You need a willing heart. You need a repentant heart.
You need a mentor of some kind who will lead you into that water and take responsibility for saying, we baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Greek word baptize is baptizo, and it means to fully immerse, it means to submerge, it means to plunge. And that's why we name today's message. Take the plunge, number one. Number one, it's your choice, your decision.
And number two, you get totally wet. Who can say amen? And it's because you're symbolically doing something. The event is a symbolic picture that has significant meaning. So I think we've got somebody coming up here right now.
His name's Brandon. I'm going to move this out of the way a little bit. Maybe I'm not. I'm just going to turn it off.
I think I'm going to turn it off. Clear.
There we go.
So you doing all right, Brandon? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So Brandon has willingly allowed himself to be a little example here. And.
And I just wanted you to come out because I want to personally let you know that you're doing something pretty significant. And I. Yeah, and I appreciate that you're willing to be kind of an object lesson for us today, but it's way more than that. Okay. Because the event that you're about to participate in is a picture of death and resurrection.
So when he goes down into the water, the scripture tells us in Colossians that it's the same as dying with Jesus Christ. And Paul does a big theological discourse on this in Romans chapter 6, 7 and 8, and how that when you go under that water, that all your sins die with you symbolically. Remember, this is something he's already done in his heart. This is a decision that he's already made. I've accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and now I'm announcing to the world this through water baptism.
But symbolically, he's dying. And when he comes out of the water, the scripture says it's like he's rising with Jesus Christ in new life, new potential, new opportunities, new directions for his life. So that tank is kind of like a coffin, actually. And then you're being raised, released from that coffin later on. The ordinance is also an image of complete transformation.
In the first century, the word baptizo was also used for dyeing cloth. So if you had some white cotton, you would dye it. Let's say you wanted a red garment, you would dye it red. And the dyeing process was complete. And what I mean by that is every fiber of that cotton was totally, say totally and completely transformed from white to red.
It was dunked in this dye and it was not allowed to come out until the dye had thoroughly and completely transformed the color. That's the picture of what Brandon is going through right now. He is being dunked in the cleansing waters of baptism and he's going to rise with a brand new life. That doesn't mean he's perfect now. It doesn't mean he's not going to have challenges any longer.
We all know that those continue. But positionally, he stands in a new place with God and his Savior. Positionally, God sees him as soaked in the blood of Jesus Christ, totally perfect. In Jesus name, who can say Amen?
And he doesn't have to worry about death. He doesn't have to worry about the judgment. All of his sins were already judged at the cross. And so I heard this story of back in Henry Ford's day. So a hundred years ago, he was putting out those Model Ts and a manager came to him and said, one of my employees, employees just brought in a bunch of stolen equipment.
What should I do with them? And Henry Ford says, what are you talking about? And he said, well, thousands of dollars of equipment he's returned. And he said he became one of those born again guys. And the guy goes, born again?
What does that mean? He goes, I don't know. It just means that he got water baptized and now he's changed his life and he's bringing all this stuff back. Should we fire him? And Henry Ford said, no, let's dam up the Detroit river and baptize the whole city.
Think about it. That's the transformation that's supposed to take place. That we're so different that even titans of industry want to see everybody water baptized. And finally, the ceremony should remind you of a wedding and a wedding reception first. Because of the commitment that Brandon has made, it takes a lot of guts to stand up in front of a congregation and get water baptized.
So commitment number one, the change in identity that's announced traditionally, the wife changes her name, right? And they are announced at the reception as Mr. And Mrs. Van Tempen, Mr. And Mrs.
Stevenson, whatever your name is. And it signifies this new identity in marriage. Well, this signifies a new identity in Christ Jesus. He's a new creation. He's getting a new life.
He's getting new opportunities. And finally, it's a celebration that should be attended. So I want you, when Scott's going to go through this ceremony here, when Brandon comes out of the water, I'm hoping that you will applaud him, that you will cheer him, that you will applaud our God and cheer our God and maybe even give a standing ovation.
