The Declaration of a New Beginning-Levi Baer

Good morning to each one of you. Greetings in the precious name of Jesus.

This morning, I was just sitting there thinking a little bit as Dan

and sharing that we have a lot to be thankful for as His people.

You know, across the landscape of America this morning, North America and the

world really people are gathered in the name of the same God that we're serving

here today, and he's showing himself powerful, just like he That's what his

desire is, that we allow him to show himself powerful and to understand that

we're finite beings that do not understand the overall arch plan of what He has

for each of our lives. But we're here this morning, especially as we

think of these two young people here in front of us. We're here to

celebrate a decision that they have made to follow God, that decision that says

no to one thing and yes to another. And we're thankful for that.

And we you know, we're in the what we call the holiday season today,

but we're here thinking about something that's just as important as the birth of

Jesus. Although that's what made it possible, but that is the ongoing part

of the Christian life and salvation and what all that means in believing and being

baptized. That's what we're here to witness. The title I have here for

the messages the declaration of a new beginning, the declaration of a new beginning.

I appreciated what Dan shared there. I am planning to finish up a

little bit on the message in Roman six, and he gave a little prelude

to that, but thinking about new life in Christ with that in mind,

So to declare something, what does that mean? These two young people are

declaring something that has already taken place in their life, in their heart.

Webster says it like this, to make known clearly informal terms. That's declaring

or making a declaration of something, to announce officially and to state emphatically.

I thought that was interesting. How many times do we think of baptism as

stating something emphatically. I think that's really what it should be. That's really

how we should feel about it. It's not something we take lightly or I

think it is very important. This ordinance of baptism a command of Jesus.

What is an ordinance is something that it is a command of Jesus that is

to be practiced continue in the continually in the life of believers. That's what

an ordinance is in the lives of his followers. It's it's more than a

church tradition. It's a symbolic ritual of showing forth to the congregation here and

whoever is part of it, that declares something that already has happened in our

hearts. And I trust that is what we're witnessing here this morning. It's

more than church membership, though we feel like that is an important part,

and we'll get to some of that. More so, first of all,

we have the commandment of baptism here in Matthew twenty eight nineteen and twenty,

Jesus last words before his ascension, as far as we know, he says,

go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name

of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy ghosts, teaching them

to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, And lo I am with

you always, even unto the end of the world. There's a promise given

from God's only son, and he says that, go you therefore and teach.

How does that play out in each and every one of our lives,

and he also commands us to baptize them in the name of the Trinity.

We call it believers baptism. And the reason for that is, like I

mentioned earlier, it's because these two young people, brent Ali, they're making

a declaration of belief in Jesus Christ. If you want to turn to Acts

chapter eight, what I would like to do here, For most of the

messages work our way through Acts. Here where a lot of this started in

relation to the early Church, as far as baptism into the Church. And

I would like to look at a story first of all, in Acts chapter

eight. This story here of the Ethiopian Eunuch has always, for some reason,

has stood out to me as a story so full of I'm not sure

how to explain it. It was so spontaneous, so real in the life

of this Ethiopian eunuch. So here the setting. We'll begin reading in verse

twenty five of chapter eight. First, but here we have Philip, one

of the apostles. Just prior to this, they were spreading the Gospel to

Samaria. And I'm not going to go into a lot of that, but

we understand that that was quite an undertaking and taking on a lot of risk

to go spread the Gospel in Samaria. So that is where they were just

prior to this. And as Philip came back to Jerusalem, I don't know

for sure why, but maybe to be refreshed again, maybe to worship in

a mailor place he gets back from there. I'm not sure what all the

time frame was. And here the Lord ask him to leave Jerusalem and embark

on this little journey verse twenty five. And they, when they had testified

and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem and preached the Gospel,

and many villages of the Samaritans. And the Angel of the Lord spaken

to Philip, saying, arise and go toward the south, unto the way

that goes down from Jerusalem, unto Gaza, which is desert. And he

arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopian Ethiopia, a eunuch of great

authority under Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all

her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning and

sitting in his chariot, read Issayus the Prophet, in other words, Isaiah.

Then the Spirit said, unto Philip, go near, and join thyself

to his chariot. And Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the

prophet essay Us, and said, understandest thou what thou readest? And he

said, how can I accept some man should guide me? And he desired

Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the

scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the

slaughter, and like a a lamb dumb before his shear, so openeth he

not his mouth in his humiliation, his judgment was taken away? And who

shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth. And

the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee of whom speak at the

prophet this of himself or of some other man. Then Philip opened his mouth

and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And as they

went down their way, they came into a certain water, and the eunuch

said, see here's water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And

Philip said, if thou'll believe us with all thine heart, thou may us.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son

of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went

down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

And when they were come up out of the water, the spirit of

the Lord caught away Philip that the eunuchs saw him no more, and he

went on his way rejoicing. So here we have the Bible calls a eunuch.

A eunuch was someone who was set aside for a special purpose. There

was a special place for them to fill. Many times it was someone that

was trusted in overseeing the king's matters, in this case the Queen Candace.

Whether it was a unit by choice or a eunuch from birth, we don't

know the case here. Many times it was by choice. In those days

it was someone that was unmarried and was not able to father children. But

here we have this. Well, first of all, let's just think about

here some of the things that this story contains that are important to the ritual

of baptism. I'm wondering if you from the audience can give me four different

things that you read in this story that we just read that must be part

of baptism. Does anybody cared to share? Maybe the children even know what's

something in this story that we have here today and that we need to fulfill

this ordinance? I believe belief that's right. That's a very important and first

step in baptism is belief in Christ. What was that teaching? How do

we know if we're not willing to teach and willing to share, how will

people know what is asked of them? Anything else? That's right? Obviously

we need water to baptize. Anything else. A couple things that are maybe

not real obvious here, but are obviously important to baptism, And it kind

of ties in with what Ernest said there. With belief, it takes disciples

that believe that want to be baptized, and it also takes a disciple of

Christ to baptize the believers. So it takes two at least two disciples of

Christ to perform a baptism. It also takes a desire to be baptized,

which there again some of these tie together. If we have belief in Christ,

we're going to desire to be baptized. One other thing that I believe

in acts here that it would teach in the early church is that a church

is part of baptism, and we'll get to more of that later here as

we go through some different people baptisms, through acts where the church was part

of of these people that were baptized, and what they went on to how

they went on to serve God in that way, I'd like to notice notice

here a couple other things, five different things about this story that stood out

to me as far as maybe ways that I could improve, as far as

looking at Philip here an apostle of the Lord. First thing I'd like to

notice in that in verse twenty six and twenty seven, it says the Angel

of the Lord spaken to Philip told him to get up and go and leave

Jerusalem and towards Gaza. Today that would be known as a Gaza strip.

And I'm not quite sure on if I'm one hundred percent correct on this.

I believe in a straight line from Jerusalem it might have been about forty forty

eight or forty seven miles, but as far as walking distance, it would

obviously been a lot further than that. I'm not sure what all obstacles were

in between, but it was a long trip that this Ethiopian eunuch was going

on. So he was in Jerusalem to worship and was heading back, and

the spirit spoke is to Philip and said go And for me, that's sometimes

we like to see what's on the other side of going. Why is God

asking this? But noticing twenty seven, it says, and he arose and

went. He arose and went. And I'm not sure how long he traveled

until he overtook a chariot, I assume. And I'm not sure if Philip

was walking or in a chariot. I'm not sure how he would overtake a

chariot if he was walking. But here it does say that when he saw

the charity, ran to the chariot. I'm not sure how that came to

be. It doesn't have a lot of details on that, but I'm assuming

that the chariot was moving along. And as he was traveling, this eunuch

was reading the scriptures found in Isaiah. We could many people call these scriptures

the Gospel of the Old Testament. And he was reading this and the Spirit

spoke to Philip and told him to go, and he says he ran thither.

And here we have some lessons from the Ethiopian that we could take,

and that was that he was interested in learning the scripture obviously before this happening,

Before this time, there was some interest in who God was, and

most likely he believed in God already before this, because it says he was

worshiping in Jerusalem, so he desired to know more about God. It takes

a desire to know to get wisdom, like we heard about earlier today,

and in verse twenty eight we notice says he was returning and sitting in his

chariot reading Isaiah the Prophet, and as Philip came up to him, he

felt the spirit of the Lord lead him to this man. I don't know

if you've ever how many times you've experienced that feeling that you should go and

talk to someone and you know it's the last thing you want to do.

It doesn't make sense lots of many times. But we also know the blessing

that can come from obeying the spirit. I'm sure we could, or at

least I know I could be much more in tune with that voice. So

here we have the eunuch reading these scriptures and Philip asks him this question,

do you understand what you're reading? And as I thought about that in relation

to our Christian lives? Do we help people understand? Do we have a

desire to help people understand? Do I do my part in helping young people

understand? As we think of these two young people here that are sitting here,

do they understand? Probably if they don't understand all the way, it's

probably more my fault than their own fault. Do you understand what you're reading?

And the eunuch answers in this way, how would I understand except some

man explain it to me? And so what did Philip do? Says he

opened his mouth and began to teach him. He opened his mouth, and

then, as the story goes on, I don't know how long this interaction

took place, So I don't know how long it lasted the conversation, but

more than likely Philip branched out from reading in Isaiah to onto other scriptures,

although they wouldn't have had the whole scripture like we do now, but taught

him the good things of the Lord and taught him about Obviously somewhere in there

it was told to him about being believing and being baptized, because soon after

the conversation, that's what the eunuch asked of him, what keeps me from

being baptized. This was a man of high rank, a high ranking officer

under the queen. But you notice the humility that was showing from his life

here. And I believe, like I said earlier, much this was probably

from a prior relationship with God. But now he wants to know about Jesus

Christ and being baptized in salvation. And then the rest of the story we

know. They come, it says, to a certain water. I don't

know that we have any way of knowing where that was, but the desire

of the Ethiopian eunuch was to be baptized. And as it went down into

the water, says and he baptized him. I want to notice the fifth

thing that happened after the baptism, something that I think is important. It

says that he went on his way rejoicing. There in verse thirty nine.

He went on his way rejoicing. And sometimes I wonder if it gives us

the joy that it should. Does it give me great joy in seeing young

people that make the decision to follow Christ be baptized and walk in the way.

It's another soldier added to the army, to the Lord's army, another

saint in the body of Christ, another soul that said no to the world

and yes to the things of God. It's something to rejoice over. So

if you back up in the same chapter, chapter eight, I would just

like to touch a few different people here that were baptized. Acts eight,

verse nine. Here we have Simeon. Simon says, but there was a

certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery and

bewitch the people of Samaria, giving out that he himself was some great one.

So here we have this little picture of a man that needed Jesus Christ

in his life. It says, But when they believe Philip preaching the things

concerning the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized,

both men and women. And here among these men and women was Simon

himself. Says. Then Simon himself believed also, And when he was baptized,

he continued with Philip and wondered beholding the miracles and signs which were done.

Now as we know the story of Simon here. How not long after

his baptism, humanity reared up its head, just like it does in so

many of us. So many times. And I would just use this as

maybe an encouragement to you young people that you know, the water doesn't being

baptized, and being baptized with water does not make us immune from failure.

And we'll find that out sooner rather than later. But here's Simon. He

sees these miracles that Philip and the other apostles did and you know, just

like maybe me or you would have done without thinking twice, he offered money

to be able to perform a miracle like this. And we know how he

was rebuked fairly sternly here. But I believe that Simon came through in this

in this instance here, I believe that I believe that he found his way

through and was repentant. Again. We're also thankful for that avenue, the

grace of God in our life when we do fail. That was Simon.

Now, if you want to turn to Acts chapter nine, we have another

story here that is a very exciting story of the choices that a man can

make, the same man that in chapter nine. In the beginning here it

says in Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the

Lord went unto the High priest, and his tired of him letters to Damascus

to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they

were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. So think

there again of the shape of this man, Saul. And now we'll just

fast forward to verse fifteen. It says, but the Lord said, unto

him, go thy way, for he is he is a chosen vessel,

unto me to bear my name before the gentiles and the kings and the children

of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for

my name's sake. And Anonias went his way and entered into the house,

and putting his hands on him, said, brother, Saul, the Lord

even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as al chemists, hath sent

me that thou mightast received thy sight and be filled with the holy ghosts.

And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scaled, and he

received sight forthwith and arose and was baptized. And when he had received meat,

he was strengthened. Then was saw certain days with the disciples which were

at Damascus, and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues that he is the

son of God. So we have this story of a man that was converted,

a great conversion. All conversions are great, but in this case not

many of us could claim to have laid on people what this man did,

the great way that he afflicted the people. And I mentioned earlier about baptism

being synonymous with the church and being part of a church. Notice here that

it says in verse twenty and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues that he

is the son of God. You know, we talk about novices this morning,

and I don't know how much time passed here, but it has the

idea that if there ever was a novice, this was one. But we'll

leave that there. What we do know is that Saul saw the need to

go into the synagogues and share the gospel of Christ and what had taken place

in his life. It was real to him and he wanted to share it.

We have another person in at sixteen if you'd like to turn to that.

This is a lady called Lydia. In verse fourteen of chapter sixteen,

it says an a certain woman named Lydia, a cellar of purple of the

city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us heard this preaching whose heart

the Lord open opened? That she attended unto the things which were spoken of

Paul. You notice that it says whose heart the Lord opened. Now,

if you think about is that the way that it works, or our hearts

opened by the Lord? I would say that there was a work that was

taking place in the heart of Lydia before this moment. She had a heart

that was soft to the things of God. And it says that she had

attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And remember we just talked

about this. Paul was the very man's soul that was going around in the

synagogues and preaching to God gospel. So if you think about how that transpires,

one wicked man that was converted, and it comes around to preaching the

saving grace of Jesus to others and them in turn responding to that. In

verse fifteen, it says, and when she was baptized and her household,

she besought us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to

the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us

along with her and her house. Being baptized, she realized the importance of

showing hospitality. Maybe she just was a hospitable woman before, we don't know,

But in true fashion of a disciple of Jesus Christ, she showed hospitality

the last one in Act sixteen, again further down the chapter. Here we

have the very familiar story of Paul and Silas that were beaten and put in

prison. I'll just read it here briefly, verse twenty. I'll break in

and brought them to the magistrates, saying, these men, being Jews,

to exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to

receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together

against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them.

And when they had laid many stripes upon him, they cast them into

prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such

a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in

the stalks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God,

and the prisoners heard them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake,

so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors

were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison,

awakening out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew

out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been

fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, do thyself no

harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light and

sprang in and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and

brought them out and said, serves, what must I do to be saved?

And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt

be saved, and thy house, and they spake unto him the word of

the Lord into all that were in his house. And he took them the

same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized. He and

all his straightway. And here again, if you keep reading it, he

likes he wants to the jailor wants to show hospitality to these men, Paul

and Silas. But once again we have a story where someone couldn't help but

believe in the power that was brought forth. And here again we have Paul,

that same soul that was wreaking havoc. It says in the churches here

he is showing something to this jailor that the jailer knew had to be something

supernatural. And it says here in verse thirty, sirs, what must I

do to be saved? And they said, believe Jesus Christ. Believe on

the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says he and all his house were baptized.

I assume in the middle of the night, says that same night.

I believe it says that somewhere, yes, verse thirty three, and he

took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized,

he and all his straightway, which means immediately I just think it's such

a wonderful story. How saw the persecutor of Christians? In turn, what

the Lord can do with a man that is willing to follow him, to

follow the spirit. I said I would get to the part in relation to

the church, and so I'll touch on that here a little bit, and

closing back to Acts chapter two. As far as we know, besides some

of John the Baptist baptisms, of course, we have the baptism of Jesus

Christ himself by John. Here we have the baptism of the Holy Spirit that

has come upon these people. Here in Acts chapter two, where it says

that there was three thousand people that were baptized and added to the church was

added to them. Of course, we all know this story well, and

I'm just gonna summarize it briefly. We have the powerful sermon of Peter,

and there was a great multitude that we're listening to this sermon. How they

got three thousand people together or more. I'm sure not everyone was converted,

but somehow all these people in one place to hear the gospel preached powerful sermon

here at the beginning of the early Church verse thirty eight. I want to

notice something there. It says, then Peter said unto them, Well,

first of all the people, says in verse thirty seven. Now when they

heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said, unto Peter and

to the rest of the apostles, man and brethren, what shall we do?

Verse thirty eight. Then Peter said, unto them, repent and be

baptize every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission

of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I

want to notice that word remission there. Briefly, Remission means that sin was

stopped. Sin was stopped. It's hold on their life had no place anymore,

the remission of sin. It's a word that we would use to describe

today as someone that had a medical help with cancer, and we say they're

in remission, they're declared free from cancer. And as I thought about that,

you know, I don't think that's commonly used everywhere when people ask what

must I do to be saved? Where Peter shares that here repent and be

baptize every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of

sins. And I think it's significant that it means that when we really believe

in Jesus, there will be remission of sins. It's important to keep that

in mind. So there was a lot of things going on here in this

chapter, a lot of things. I don't know the timeframe of it all,

but you know, during this this feast of the past pass over here

and all these people gathered together, the spirit of God was obviously working in

a great way, and you know, here, it says in verse forty

one, then they that gladly received his word were baptized in the same day

they were added unto them about three thousand souls. And notice in verse forty

two it says, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship in

breaking of bread and in prayers. I think that's also something noteworthy there,

that they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine. Now, obviously the important thing

here is what was the apostle's doctrine. Here the people believed that it was

the word of God, and that it was true, and that it was

sound. And it says in fear came upon every soul, and many wonders

and signs were done by the apostles. And then it goes on here to

talk about how they went there went their ways. And it seems to me

that the church was established here. Towards the end of this chapter verse forty

seven, it says, praising God and having favor with all people, and

the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. And so

as we think of the church here the setting, we can't add to something

that doesn't exist. And so I believe that we feel that it's important that

when people are baptized, repent, baptized belief in Christ first of all,

that they're going to want to They're going to want to go on steadfastly in

the doctrine of the Body of Christ and what all that represents. Notice I

talked about rejoicing over this earlier, rejoicing over baptism, and you know,

I believe that here at the end of this chapter as well, it says

praising God and having favor with all people. I think that's important to notice

that the people were praising God and that were rejoicing once again. That would

be my desire for us, for you, you two young people this morning,

as you you've already made that choice, but to understand that the devil

is watching closely as well, and he would like to see us not rejoice,

but to be overwhelmed by maybe what we feel are just the works of

men, but understanding that God is in it, and that is his desire

for each of us to step forward in faith. Baptism is a is a

very much a biblical is a is a biblical command from Jesus himself. So

as you move forward in this this walk of life that you've chosen. I

just would encourage you to remember that you're making a declar of a new beginning,

a new beginning and understanding. Like Roman Sick says, that we don't

abuse the grace of God, but realize that we no longer are a slave

to sin, and only by His power can that be made to work in

our life. May God bless you as you live your lives for him.

I'll turn the time over to Leland