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Taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:8

There are things you just have to try in order to like them. We want to challenge you to Try Baptism.

Baptism is extremely important for several reason. Obedience, Remission of sin, and the fulfillment of the Great Commission… just to name a few.

Have you been baptized? We challenge you to try it. We think you will like it.

“But I’ve already been baptized… Why should I listen to this sermon.” Well did you know that Re-Baptism is scriptural? It happens in Acts 19 and it could be something you might want to do.

We understand that Baptism is Bizarre. You get all wet, people are watching you, it could feel embarrassing… But powerful things happen in Baptism. Try it and you’ll see for your self.

Try it You’ll Like it 4 – Try Baptism from Redemption Church on Vimeo.

• Baptism isn’t just symbolic
• Baptism is Baptizo – A permanent Change & Burial
• Re-Baptism is scriptural

baptism buried

Try it You’ll Like It 4 – Baptism

Sermon notes by Chris Fluitt

**Bumper Video –
Try it you’ll like it
You can’t say you like it until you’ve tried it.
Welcome to Redemption Church. My name is Chris Fluitt. I serve as Lead Pastor and I believe God has something for us today.
 
Are you afraid of trying new things? Many people are.
Trying new things is Life recommended
Trying new things is recommended in life.
If you are lacking creativity… Try something new. Go for a walk in a new location…
If you your health workouts results are stagnant… Try something new. Change up your workout.
If your finances are suffering… Try something new. It’s time to change your financial focus and spending habits.
If your relationship is on it’s way to an early grave… Try something new! What you’ve been doing isn’t working. We need to do something new.
If you don’t like your life or anything about your life… you need to try something new.
 
You have probably heard this Albert Einstein quote. INSANITY
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
There is a place where doing the same things becomes insane.  There are some habits you shouldn’t go back to… it would be insane to go back to them and expect different results.
It would be insane to say…

• I want a better life… but I will go back to that unhealthy relationship.
• I want to do better in school… But I will go back to my same old habits.
• I want to grow close to God… But I will resist the New ideas Pastor is preaching from the Word…

We need to make up our minds today to Try some new things. Redemption Church! Let’s not be the same old church. Let’s try some of the New Things God has for us…
Over the last weeks we have challenged you to Try Faith, Try Prayer, & to Try Worship.
Today we want you to Try Baptism, You’ll like it
 
Baptism is a touchy subject in Christianity. There is a large divide over baptism… Is baptism necessary.. is it important… how should baptism be done… who can be baptized…?  Baptism is a major player in the denominational divide. And that is real silly because Baptism ought to unify us… not divide us.
Paul writes in Ephesians 4 about the Unity of 1.
Ephesians 4:3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.(NIV)
Ephesians 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit– just as you were called to one hope when you were called–(NIV)
Ephesians 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;(NIV)
Ephesians 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.(NIV)
There is ONE BAPTISM.  Baptism should unify us just like believing and receiving the One Lord, One faith, One Spirit… DO you agree?
 
This sermon isn’t meant to further divide or bash other denominations/church bodies.  At Redemption Church we don’t get our doctrine from a denomination or tradition.  We do our best to get our doctrine from the Word of God. That being said we believe according the Word of God that Baptism should be by Immersion, in the name of Jesus, and for the remission of sins.
Text Line
If you have any questions about this… if you feel like we are in error with this view… or have any questions about baptism text us at 214 856 0550.
 
There is a phrase often used to describe baptism in Christianity… Here is the phrase…
Outward sign of Inward work?
…Baptism is an outward sign of an inward work.  Baptism is an outward sign, we can all see that.  And there is no reason to get baptized except that an Inward faith has taken hold of your life. I think we can all agree with that…  However the phrase Baptism is an outward sign of an inward work suggests that Baptism is ONLY an outward sign… that Baptism is only a ceremonial sacrament… that baptism is symbolic only.
Now Baptism is symbolic…
Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.(NIV)
Romans 6:5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.(NIV)
Baptism is symbolic of the burial of a crucified Christ. In baptism we are buried into His death… But we don’t physically die… THANKFULLY!  In this sense baptism is symbolic of the burial of Christ…
In fact the Greek word for baptism is Baptizo.  It means to immerse, to cover, to overwhelm, and to bury.
But is baptism symbolic only?
Romans 6:5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.(NIV)
Although being planted into the LIKENESS of His death burial is physically symbolic… don’t think for a moment that the likeness of His resurrection is physically symbolic only.  You really walk into a new life in baptism. In Christ you really do become a New Creature. And the hope of the Resurrection is not symbolic only… Jesus Christ is literally going to return to earth and there will be a resurrection of the Dead.  The Dead in Christ will rise again…
Baptism is the promise of a literal resurrection.  You are buried with Jesus… and if there is anyone you want to be buried with, it is Jesus. Jesus is the only one we know that doesn’t stay buried!
That hope isn’t symbolic only.

baptism buried

 
Let me talk a little more about the Greek word Baptizo… and can I talk to you about a pickle recipe?   (confused yet?)  There are 2 very similar words in the greek… Bapto & Baptizo…
The clearest example that shows the meaning of bapto & baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making pickles and is helpful because it uses both words, Bapto & Baptizo. Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be ‘dipped’ (baptô) into boiling water and then ‘baptised’ (baptizô) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. Bapto is a temporary dipping… you dip the cucumber and then pull it out.  The second, Baptizo, the act of baptising the vegetable, produces a permanent change. In fact you don’t pull the pickle out of the pickle juice… it stays within the pickle juice until you serve it.
Get this! This is important.  Don’t think of Baptism like bapto… a temporary dip into water… It is Baptizo… You don’t come out of this water… you stay in this water… a new creation comes out of this water. A permanent change happens… BAPTIZO Happens!
 
My Aunt Zelda, a missionary to Japan for many years told me this recent story.  A young eligible single man was desirable for marriage. A mother who was Buddhist was inquiring about the young man for her daughter.  She was told… “I don’t think this marriage will work out… the young man doesn’t follow Buddha, He follows Jesus Christ.”  The mother said “that doesn’t matter… we can talk him out of Christianity and into the ways of Buddha…”
They came back at her… “you don’t understand… He goes to Church every Sunday…”  Buddhist mother says… “no big deal….”   “But he works with the youth group..” “It’s still negotiable.” Says the Buddhist mother…
This goes on until the Buddhist mother asks “Has he been baptized?”  They answered “yes of course.” The Buddhist mother immediately stopped and said “oh… I see… He IS a Christian” and stopped pursuing the man.
The Buddhist mother had a revelation on baptism that we as Christians don’t get.  She understood that a permanent change happens in baptism… that a burial takes place and that there is no undoing something like that.  She didn’t think baptism was symbolic only…
Real quickly about how baptism isn’t symbolic only…

• Jesus is Baptized in Matthew 3. He travels approximately 70 miles, from Galilee to the Jordan river, to be baptized by John the Baptist. John refuses to baptize Jesus… says Jesus you should baptize me, but Jesus says… Matthew 3:15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.(NIV)
  • Walks 70 miles and declares baptism must happen to fulfill all righteousness… Not symbolic only
• Jesus gives us the great commission and all believers are supposed to fulfill this command. Baptism is a part of this great commission.
  • Obedience isn’t symbolic only.  Baptism is necessary in being obedient to Christ and fulfillimg the Great Commision.
• In Acts 2 Peter preaches Jesus to a crowd of people. They were convicted in their hearts and asked… What can we do?  What did Peter say?  Let’s look at Acts 2:38

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.(NIV)
o             Baptism is for the REMISSION of sins… Remits means to Erase to remove. The Remission and erasing of sins doesn’t sound symbolic to me. It sounds like a benefit of baptism.

• Check out what Peter says in 1 Peter 3 about baptism..

1 Peter 3:20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,(NIV)
1 Peter 3:21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also–not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,(NIV)
Now this is interesting… It uses the word SYMBOLIZES… but it uses it in reverse.  It doesn’t say Baptism symbolizes the water of Noah’s flood… It does the reverse. Peter says the Water of the flood that saved us symbolizes… points us to… underlines the utter importance of baptism that now also saves us.
How does it save us…? Peter tells us…
1 Peter 3:21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also–not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,(NIV)

• The works of a clear conscience toward God isn’t symbolic only.

 
Baptism isn’t symbolic only… It fulfills the great commission, it buries us in Christ, it gives us a clear conscience toward God, it is for the remission of sins, it is obedience to God’s Word.
You should Try Baptism! You’ll like it!
But Baptism is bizarre
I can understand how someone could think this.  Think about it…  someone comes and gets in a tank filled with water, a crowd of people look on, a minister comes and says some words, the person is plunged into the water and comes up soaking wet, the crowd goes from quite to clapping their hands and celebrating..
There really is no experience like it… we can understand why it might seem strange… But we think if you try it You’ll like it.
The Bible says that something super natural happens in baptism. That sins are washed away and you receive a clear conscience toward God…  Wouldn’t you like that?  You need to try Baptism.
You can’t like it until you have tried it.
 
Now maybe you have never been baptized and you are wondering what the baptism experience is like… We would like to demonstrate  how we baptize…
BAPTISM DEMONSTRATION
 
 
We LOVE to baptize people. Have you been baptized? We want to baptize you.  Please text us so that we can talk to you about baptism.
We have a Baptism Sunday coming up on July 20^th.  You can sign up by texting BAPTIZE to this number… 254 717 6844. Do it.  You need to try baptism. You need to take the next step in faith.
Now you may have sat through this entire sermon saying… “But I’ve been baptized. Why do I need to hear this?”
Let me speak to that. #1 Baptizing people fulfills the Great Commission. You are called to fulfill the great commission! You are called to baptize people. Have you ever thought of that? As cool as it is for the pastor of Redemption Church to baptize.. how awesome would it be for the members of this Church to be bring their friends, impacting their lives for Jesus, and then they ask YOU to baptize them.  That would pump up your pastoral staff!!
But here is one more reason you need to listen up.. re-baptism
Re-baptized?   Some people are re-baptized.
In fact people in scripture where rebaptized.
Acts 19:1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples(NIV)
Acts 19:2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”(NIV)
Acts 19:3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied.(NIV)
Acts 19:4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”(NIV)
Acts 19:5 On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.(NIV)
Acts 19:6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.(NIV)
These men had been baptized yet had not received the Holy Spirit… Time out – Do you know if you have received the Holy Spirit? That is what we are talking about NEXT WEEK… Time in… They hadn’t heard of the Holy Spirit much less received it… so Paul asks them about baptism…
Paul must have thought baptism held a more important meaning than an outward sign…
They had been baptized unto John’s message of repentance but not baptized unto Jesus as Christ and messiah… Paul tells them to be re-baptized and then they receive the Holy Spirit.
It is biblical to be re-baptized. It may be something you should consider..
Our Care Pastor Marshal Blessing can talk to you about his re-baptism experience.
MARSHAL
 
MUSICIAN
If while we were talking about baptism today you felt God dealing with you… you need to do something. You need to take the next step.
If while we were talking about baptism you thought… “I didn’t know this about baptism… I didn’t feel this close personal life changing encounter with Christ…”  You ought to try it.
Maybe you even need to be re-baptized in the name of Jesus just like they were in Acts 19.
 
We do 3 things every time we come to Redemption Church. We have worshipped, we have received the Word, now it’s time for you to talk to God.  Don’t let this moment pass you by…

 
baptism buried