Romans 6 | Jerry Harris

Well, good morning, Crossing Church.

How are you doing this? Fine day.

That sounds great. It's good to see you.

It's good to be in the House of the Lord and with the people of

the Lord. And I want to welcome everyone

that's joining at all of our locations all around this

region. And if you're inside or online,

we're so thankful for you as well.

And you know, this is a, the Crossings kind of a big

operation, a lot of moving parts, a lot of people working.

Staff, volunteers, just so many people all the time, just just

giving their their time, their talent, their treasure, their

ability to keep everything working and running.

And you know, this morning we all came in and we were we do a

rehearsal and then after that rehearsal basically everything

in this room, everything that was public address PA.

Just quit. Just broke.

And so these guys are running around and they basically

hotwired this thing. OK, So what you're experiencing

right now is just the effort, the this incredible effort of

people that are that go unnoticed, that are in the back.

And I just want you to take a moment, look back there and

thank those guys for all the work that they do.

Just absolutely incredible and so thankful that God places

those people in our path. And you know, God has a place

for you to serve in this body as well.

So three weeks ago we touched on the spiritual line that we cross

when we come to accept Christ. And you know, I was preaching

that weekend and Paul uses these two really powerful words.

In Romans to describe this because the first part of

chapter 3 is really negative, because it just it just tells

you the truth about sin and what sin does to you.

And I mean it's very discouraging.

And then you get to this middle part and this middle part has

these two little words and these two little words are but now and

if it wasn't for those two little words, where would we be?

But now, this is what Christ has done.

This is what Jesus has done in our lives, and we have this new

reality that we live in because of that.

Two weeks ago we discussed that it wasn't about how much faith

you have, but who your faith is in.

And the power of faith is in its object.

You put that faith in yourself, you're going to be disappointed.

But you put that faith in God. You put that faith in his Son,

Jesus Christ. You will not be disappointed

because he is faithful even when we're not.

We learned about the inconsistency of Abraham, but he

was still credited as a righteous through God, through

Jesus Christ, because he had faith in him.

And that's what God is expecting from us today.

Last week, Clayton discussed about peace.

And about hope that we can have in Jesus, and that's a wonderful

thing to know and be reminded of from Romans 5, that God

demonstrates his love for us and that while we were still

sinners, Christ died for us. What a thing to have peace over

what what hope we can have in that.

But isn't it true that a lot of times we just don't feel that

way? I would imagine that there's

many of you that are watching or that are here in this room.

And you would, if you were being honest, you would say, I really

don't feel that peaceful. I really don't feel that joyful.

I I don't have that hope that I need to have in Christ.

Not today, because circumstances are closing in.

They're they're encroaching me and they're robbing me of that.

When I think about that, I think about.

An event that happened in my life back when I was in Indiana.

There was a knock at my door one evening and Alice and I answered

the door and it was a a friend, Julie Adams, who attended our

church and had accepted Christ maybe a year before now.

Julie Adams was a chain smoker and she was in her early 30s and

and and she's just weeping. She's just crying as we invite

her in to sit down. And what she shares with us is

that after she accepted Christ and she knew that when she did

that, that the Holy Spirit came to live within her.

And and she was saying, you know, so I prayed to God to take

away this addiction I have to tobacco.

I didn't want to smoke anymore. And I just keep going back to

it. Like I'll, I'll try to stop and

I can't and I'll try to stop again.

And I can't. I just keep going back.

And I. And she had convinced herself

that she was not a Christian, that if she had truly accepted

Jesus Christ, if the Holy Spirit was really in her life, then she

would be able to have victory over that God would take it away

from her. And yet that hadn't happened.

And so whatever little voice in her head was saying was that

you're really never, never were a believer.

And I remember seeing that pain of anguish on her face.

And I go, yes, Julie, sometimes, Sometimes when we come to

Christ, he just removes things. You could use the word he

delivers you from things. Sometimes that happens, but most

time it doesn't happen. Most of the time he doesn't just

take it away from you. And there's a reason for that,

because it's in the struggle. Where you daily turn over that

addiction, that circumstance, that challenge, you turn that

over to the Lord, and you keep turning it over to the Lord.

In the process of that, slowly but surely you start.

God gives you mastery over it, but in the process, you're

drawing closer and closer to God, and you're relying on God

and don't sell God short. Sometimes things happen quickly,

sometimes it takes a long time five years later.

She was no longer smoking. And I remember talking to her

and she said, she said, you know, I, yeah, I'm not, I'm not

smoking anymore. She didn't even, you know, come

to declare anything. She just, I just noticed it.

I asked this is what she said. And I asked her this question.

Do you feel that the process of relying daily on Jesus Christ,

as you went three steps forward and two steps back and as you

struggled this, do you think it brought you closer?

And she says there is no doubt. There's no doubt that that's

what happened in her life. Now what I I tell you that story

because we are all inconsistent and we are all hypocritical.

But God is and has always been faithful, and sometimes we feel

that that inconsistency it it disqualifies our faith in some

way or our hypocrisy does that. And I want this time that we

spend together to reinforce the truth that God is faithful.

And we're going to do that in Roman 6, because Roman 6 takes

us to the actual mechanics of crossing that line, what it

looks like, what is spiritually happening in that moment?

And I believe that in the by discussing that moment, we have

the opportunity to dig down deep into this physical, tangible

expressions of this reality of crossing this line.

Now we understand crossing lines, right, because if you

ever put your signature on a mortgage, you did that.

You know when you're where you're in the in the bank office

and they bring you like 160 pages that you have to sign.

And you just keep putting your signature on all of those.

When you walk out of that office, you cross the line, you

cross the line. And you did that through your

signature, right. When you repeat vows at a

wedding and you started saying this is what I will do, this is

what I promised to do, you are crossing a line right when you

if if you're in trouble with the law and the judge pronounces

sentence. You're crossing a line.

I I've been in a in a courtroom before.

I've testified in court before and I remember in one situation

where the judge actually repeated this, that understand

that if you plead guilty, you're waiving your constitutional

rights. That's powerful when you hear

that you're what you're waving your constitutional, you are

crossing a line because you're going to lose your freedom,

right? I know that when I have

officiated a funeral and we go from the church or the Funeral

Home procession to the cemetery, we get to the cemetery and

there's a thing that is done at cemeteries called the committal.

One of the things I say there is our hearts still cling to this

body because we cannot disassociate it from the beloved

one that dwelted and animated it.

But it is only a worn out garment that this person is cast

aside. Hence, while referencing it

because of all the tender memories that gather about it,

we can sign it now to its original element, looking to the

fashioning of that immortal body which is in Christ Jesus.

And then after people spend a little bit more time there, they

get back in their cars without that person.

And they go home. They've crossed the line.

A relational line. It's true, isn't it?

And what does it mean? It means that we're

understanding that everything is going to be different now.

Now, before we go into Paul's words in Roman Six, I want us to

look backward. Into the Old Testament because

this idea of crossing the line wasn't a new or a novel idea.

In the book of Exodus, Moses draws a line in the wilderness,

Sand and Exodus 32 versus 25 and 26.

We read this. Moses saw that the people were

running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and

so become a laughingstock to their enemies.

He stood at the entrance to the camp and said.

Whoever is for the Lord, come to me, and all the Levi's rallied

to him. This is when they made the

golden calf and did all of that stuff.

And there you can see this line that's strong, that's crossing

the line in the book of Joshua. Joshua said these words in

Joshua 2414 and 15. He said, now fear the Lord and

serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods.

Your ancestors worship beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt

and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems

undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you

will serve, whether the gods your ancestors serve beyond the

Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are

living. But As for me and my household,

we will serve the Lord. He's drawing a line in the sand

and he's stepping over it. When Elijah will face the

prophets of bail on Mount Carmel.

In First Kings chapter 18, verse 21, it says this Elijah went

1 Kings 18:21

before the people and said how long will you waver between two

opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him.

If bail is God, follow him. But the people said nothing.

And I think that might be a little bit of a commentary on

our lives. Sometimes we don't want to be

perceived as stepping over a line or taking a side.

We just want to stay quiet. We want to be diplomatic.

We want to be friends with everybody.

But there comes a time when you have to quit straddling the

fence. And it doesn't mean that you're

going to be consistent. It doesn't mean that you're not

going to be hypocritical. But it does mean that you are

declaring a side. And when you declare a side,

you're saying I'm not going to be living that way anymore.

I'm going to be living in a new reality, under a new set of

rules. With that in mind, what I want

us to do is look at what Paul writes to us in Romans chapter

Romans 6 · chapter mention

6. And I'm going to start in verse

one. What shall we say then?

Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

By no means we are those who have died to sin.

How can we live in it any longer?

Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ

Jesus were baptized into his death?

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.

Now, Paul isn't drawing a line in the sand, he's drawing a line

in the water. Because if it talks about dying

with Christ, you know what? Are we actually dying with

Christ? Or are we doing an illustration

of the death of Christ? Think about this for a second.

There's a contrast between these two realities that the apostle

Paul's talking about death and life.

They couldn't be any. Any starker.

And he says what you're doing is you're crossing from death into

life, and baptism is a perfect illustration of that crossing.

So what happens? So a person has this new reality

that that comes into their heart, right?

They hear the message of Jesus. And when you hear that message,

it affects you and you decide. You make a decision in your

heart that you want to lean into that truth that you you want to

believe that. And you want to move in this new

direction of your life, right? And then and you realize that

that's that's different from the the life that you've been

leading. That's called repentance.

You're moving, you're changing, You're turning.

And then when you get in that water, you confess.

Christ, someone actually leads you through that, right?

So there's these words you say where you're saying, I'm not

going to trust in myself. I'm trusting in him.

I want him to be my savior and my Lord.

Right. And then this person baptizes

you. Now what is that actually

happening there? Well, you start going down into

the water, right? And as you're going down into

the water, it's symbolic of dying.

Like you're dying like Jesus died when he was crucified on

the cross. And in this metaphorical sense,

you're showing that to everybody else.

I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me, and you're kind of

dying with him. In this this picture of his

death now when you're under the water, it's a picture of burial

like you've been buried, like Jesus was buried and hopefully

you don't have someone baptizing you that just believes in the

death and the burial. Hopefully you have someone that

also believes in the resurrection.

I've seen some where people, you know, they feel like there's a

lot of sin there. I'm going to have to hold them

down a little while. I've seen people like, even

agitate them a little bit, you know, kind of like let's see if

we can get everything out of the folds of their clothes, You

know, You know, I've heard, I've actually heard pastors say hold

them under till they bubble. I don't know.

But anyway, death and then burial and then out you come,

raised with Christ, death, burial and resurrection.

People aren't usually smiling or happy.

I don't know if you noticed this, that when they go down

into the water, they have more of a sober look on their face

when they come up out of the water.

There's incredible joy, very, very different realities

actually happening in that moment.

So this is what we're illustrating in the waters of

baptism. So Paul has already made it

clear that belief for faith is our heart response.

To this declaration of the cross, what Jesus did through

the cross, but associated with that is this tangible symbol of

that belief, right? You're actually seeing a picture

in like a physical picture of what is actually happening from

a spiritual standpoint, right? And I think we need that.

Human beings need something tangible, something they can

hold on to something. That that affects them in that

way and it's it's like a signature on a mortgage.

It's like the rings you exchange in a wedding.

There's something tangible, physical associated with this

new reality and you're saying I am stepping over the line.

So how important in this movement of stepping over the

line is baptism? Now I could, I could talk about

this a long time. And it's something that people

tend to argue about, right? Like, well, do do do I become a

Christian? Like, like when I I kind of

realized the kind of that I need to follow Jesus.

And I I believe that in my heart of my Christian At that moment,

am I a Christian? When I share that, am I?

Do I become a Christian when I confess that?

Do I become a Christian when I'm going down in the water Baptist?

Do I become a Do I not become a Christian until I come up out of

the water? Like you know and and people

think about this. I'll tell you what the only

people that argue about this are already saved.

It's true. Because people who want Jesus to

be their Lord and Savior, they're just saying, would you

just tell me what I need to do because I just want Jesus in my

heart. I just want Jesus to be my

savior. It's it's everybody else that

tries to you know, be be all theological.

I'm going, hey, it says it, do it.

You want to argue about it, Argue with Jesus someday?

Okay. Don't argue with me.

So I'm not going to go into that in great detail, but I will go

one verse with you. Okay, one verse.

And that is verse five right after the ones I just spoke to

you about. It says for if we have been

united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be

united with him in a resurrection like his.

Well, none of us actually died the way Jesus died, right?

None of us were crucified on a wooden cross.

And so we know that what Paul's talking about is the symbol of

baptism, right? And none of us were transported

back to Jerusalem to walk out of a tomb.

That's what Jesus did. But symbolically, that's what's

happening when we're coming up out of the water being raised

with Jesus. What I want you to see is how

this synthesis constructed. This is an if, then if we've

done this, then this is what will happen.

Do you see that? It uses the words if, then.

If you've been united with a death like his, you'll certainly

be united with him in a resurrection like him.

Do do you know what that's called?

It's called a promise. It's a promise like if you do

this, then he'll do this. And you can stand on that.

I see. That's what we do, He stand on

promises, right? They become a firm foundation

for us to stand. And I really love the idea that

I get to stand on that promise because I've united with him in

this picture of death, burial and resurrection.

Now while some people want to argue with that, that's fine.

I'm going to stand on that promise because that's what it

says in the fifth verse. How many of you?

Are relying on the mercy of God. I want to see that by a show of

hands. How many of you are relying on

the mercy of God? Some of you did like, aren't you

just like. No, I'm not.

It's like come bring it. God judge me.

Come on. Bad idea.

I'm telling you I'm relying on the mercy of God like about

everything. Because I'm so inconsistent.

Because I'm such a hypocrite. I need the mercy of God.

I need the mercy of God all the time.

But if I get a chance to stand on a promise, I'm doing it.

I'm not going to mess around with that.

I'm going to take that opportunity and stand on that

promise. And what a promise, because

we're all going to have to depend on God's mercy.

But there comes a time when we get to stand on a promise.

Do it. And I want everyone to be able

to stand on that same promise. Now there's a there's a shift in

Roman six at this point. When we get past the fifth

verse, we we get into the sixth verse and things start to

change. He actually shifts to a new

illustration in verse six. It says four.

We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the

body ruled by sin might be done away with.

That we should no longer be. Here's the word everybody say.

That word slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been set

free from sin. Now, anytime we hear this word

in American culture, we understand it through the lens

of that culture, right? Because that's our culture.

We understand about enslavement, we understand.

About what the Civil War was fought over.

We understand all of these different things in our own

context, but what we have to also understand is that we are

not reading a book from the 1840s, fifties and 60s.

We're reading a book that is 2000 years old.

And we have to understand it in the context that the Apostle

Paul wrote it in. Because.

Because the idea of slavery was a very different concept in his

time. And I want you to remember the

three words that Clayton taught us early on in this series on

Romans. And that is this context is

king. So if you're you're taking notes

and you're writing, you have to understand this idea of context.

And we can have trouble with scripture when we try to

Americanize it, we try to push it into our own.

Context or culture? Paul actually takes this a step

further. He makes it very clear in verse

19 where he says this. I am using an example from

everyday life. This was everyday life in the

Apostle Paul's time. This idea of of Middle Eastern

slavery at that time because of your human limitations.

Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity

and to ever increasing wickedness, so now offer

yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to

holiness. So when he says these things,

and he uses other words, uses the word mastery in verse nine,

he uses the word rain in verse 12, and to get a better

understanding or deeper understanding of the intention

of the author. We need to understand that he is

talking about whatever controls you or what you allow to control

you. And so this is an illustration

that Paul's using for that. Now we sing songs about it,

don't we? Like I'm no longer a slave to

fear. I am a child of God.

When you get to the bridge of that song, it says I am

surrounded by the arms of the Father.

I am surrounded by songs of deliverance.

We've been liberated from our bondage.

We're the sons and the daughters.

Let us sing our freedom. Sounds like the writer of that

song was reading Roman 6. Now, when the Israelites were

delivered from slavery in Egypt and Moses led him through the

wilderness, they were free. I I mean, think about what

happened here. Okay.

That God sent Moses to deliver the people right?

And there were these 10 plagues that happened.

The final plague was the death of the first born, and it made

the Egyptians increasingly miserable.

And Moses was saying, let my people go, and he wouldn't let

him go. But when he got to that 10th

plague that broke the back of the Egyptians and they opened up

the gate, they didn't just open up the gates of Egypt, They

allowed Israel to plunder their treasure.

And Israel actually took their treasure out in the wilderness.

They they made the Ark of the Covenant up from the gold of

Egypt, and they were free. They walked out 2,000,000 and

their their flocks and their herds all went out 2,000,000 for

they were free. They were no longer slaves and

they had and they start to journey to the Red Sea and they

they go to the shore of the Red Sea.

And they can see that the Egyptians have changed their

mind. Maybe it's not that they want to

enslave them again. Maybe it's they just they just

want revenge for what happened and and they want to kill them.

Either way, here comes the army and what does God do?

He opens the Red Sea and the Israelites cross the Red Sea on

dry land. And the Egyptians pursue them

even into the depths of the Red Sea.

But after the Israelites were on the other side, what did God do?

He closed the Red Sea over them and drowned.

The Egyptians drowned the army. And when the Israelites were on

the other bank and they looked down, all that was left were

bodies of those who had pursued them.

And what does it mean? It meant there was no one

pursuing them anymore. They were no longer slaves.

They were free. They were free when they were

released out of Egypt, and they were free when no one else was

pursuing them. But what you need to understand

is that they were not free inside.

They were free outside, but not inside.

And the reason for that is that's all they ever knew.

That was all their parents, knew all their grandparents, knew all

their great grandparents and their great, great grandparents

for over 400 years. They had been enslaved.

No one knew how to be free, and so they were still enslaved in

their hearts. Now we should understand that

because of our inconsistency. So when you accept Jesus Christ

into your heart and life, you confess him, you go down to the

waters of baptisms, you come back up out of the water, You've

been resurrected with Christ. You have your Your sins are

gone. Your sins are paid for.

They've been washed away, is what it says in the book of

Acts. But are you free in here?

The truth is, you're free. But you don't feel that way, do

you? You know why?

Because you were born into this life of sinfulness.

Your parents are sinners. Your grandparents are sinners.

Your great grandparents are sinners.

Your great, great grandparents are as far back as you can go,

all sinners. This is our native habitat, sin.

And so even though we've been set free and even though we've

crossed that line, there is still this feeling, this this

reality that we're still not free.

And so it's a battle, right? It's a battle because I still

have appetites and. I still have fears, and the

lower story keeps creeping in. And I have this battle with

myself that I face every day. You know, there's a lot of

churches. They only have communion, like

once a month or once every six months or once a year.

You're right. You know what I'm talking about.

And we have communion every week.

And some of you might go, Why do they do that every single week?

Well, I'll tell you why. When I when I accepted Jesus and

I was baptized into Christ, I I came into contact with the death

of Christ, the blood of Christ. It washed away my sins.

It was a beautiful thing, right? But just because I've done that,

just because I've crossed the line, does that mean that I

don't sin anymore? Does that mean that I'm totally

consistent? I'm not a hypocrite, that I

don't do anything wrong? No.

I I've probably done stuff, stuff today.

Things that are not in keeping with honoring God today.

And do I just have to say, well, that I took care of that back

then when I was 8 years old at Westwood Country Club when I was

baptized in their pool? No.

I need a place where I connect with what saved me.

And you hold those emblems in your hand.

You hold this piece of bread that reminds you of the.

Body of Jesus that was broken for you, and you hold that cup

which reminds you of the of a covenant paid in His blood for

the remission of your sins. And when I take those emblems, I

have an opportunity, even as a believer, to come in contact

with what washes me and cleanses me and makes me new.

I need those physical, tangible things to remind me that I have

crossed the line. The key verse in this chapter is

in the 23rd. It's the 23rd verse familiar

verse to many, and it says for the wages of sin is death, but

the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It couldn't be any starker. That this is what we deserve.

The wages of sin, what you earn, right?

But the gift that I could never earn, never deserve, never live

up to today or any day. The gift of God is eternal life

through Jesus Christ, my Lord. You see, I'm in a battle with

life and death. So are you.

And that's why I'm so glad there's a cross in the story.

Because Jesus death brought me life.

And when I die with him, I am raised with him.

Living a life, Living the life that he's expecting me to live

though, is another thing. It's really hard.

You see, I have a new desire and a new life that I aspire to.

Isn't that true about you? You, if you've accepted Christ,

you have this new life that you want.

That you that you want to live up to, that you want to aspire

to, that you want to be consistent in.

You don't want other people to view you and label you as a

hypocrite. None of us want that.

But we have a hard time doing that because we can't earn our

salvation. It's a gift given to us, but we

can declare our intention. We can declare our hearts desire

when we step over the line. That's what we're doing.

We're saying this is the desire of my heart.

This is the intention of my heart.

There's a poem. It's an old poem called The

Fellowship of the Unashamed. Now, the story and its

authorship are unclear. We don't know the actual name of

the person who wrote it. What we do know, however.

Is that Louise Robinson? Chapman, who was a veteran

missionary in Africa from 1920 to 1940, wrote that this poem

was found among the papers of a young pastor in Zimbabwe after

he was martyred for his faith in Christ.

And I want you to hear the declaration of his intention, he

wrote this. I'm part of the fellowship of

the unashamed. The die has been cast.

I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made.

I'm a disciple of his, and I won't look back, let up, slow

down, or back away, or be still. My past is redeemed.

My present makes sense. My future is secure.

And I'm done with and finished with low living, site walking,

small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions,

mundane talking, cheap living and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position,

promotions, plaudits, or popularity.

I don't have to be right or first, or tops, or recognized,

or praised or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on his

presence, walk by patients, lift by prayer and labor by Holy

Spirit power. My face is set, my gate is fast,

my goal is heaven. My Rd. may be narrow, my way

rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission

is clear. I will not be bought,

compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or

delayed. I will not flinch in the face of

sacrifice, or hesitate in the presence of the deluded or

delayed I. I I will not flinch in the face

of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of my adversary.

I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at

the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of

mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, let

up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed, up, paid up,

and preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus, and I must give until I drop, preach

until all know, and work until he comes, and when he does, come

for his. No, he'll have no problems

recognizing me. My colors will be clear.

Now that is a statement of intention, and some of you are

saying that is not who I am, but it can be who you want to be,

what you strive to be. You're over the line, and you

are not alone. Because he is with you and we

are with you. We're moving to a time of

decision. I take that for granted that I

say that every time I preach that.

Everybody that's on our stage says that when they conclude

their sermon, we're moving to a time of decision.

Because if you go to a lot of churches, what's going to happen

is they'll sing some songs, a personal preach, they'll have a

prayer, that they may sing a closing song and have a prayer

and it's time to go home. But the most important person

participating in a service of worship isn't me or the band.

It's you. And there has to be a moment

where you're confronted. There has to be a moment where a

line is drawn in the sand. There has to be a moment where

you hear the words of Moses saying who is on the Lord's

side. A moment where you say, I don't

know what you're going to do in your home, but As for me in my

house, we're going to serve the Lord.

A moment where you hear the words of Elijah saying how much

longer you going to. Sit between two opinions.

It's time to quit straddling the fence.

And that's what this moment is about, because you need a

tangible way to say I have stepped over the line.

I'm not going to accept Christ in a cowardly fashion.

I'm going to accept him in a bold fashion.

And it's bold, let me tell you. It's bold to step out from a

crowd where you're anonymous, where you're invisible and you

suddenly become visible. It's bold when you declare with

your mouth, I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the

living God, And I want him as my Lord and my Savior.

And people hear you say it. It's bold.

When you put place yourself in the hands of someone, someone

who might have shared that with you, and you allow yourself to

be immersed in water, buried with Christ, and raised to walk

in newness of life, it's bold. But there comes a time when we

can't just sit there anymore. There comes a time when we have

to declare. The desires and the intentions

of our heart. And we can't keep using the

excuse that we won't be consistent Or I don't want to be

a hypocrite because you are anyway and you will be tomorrow

anyway. But at least you can put a

marker down and you can say I'm not going to live that way

anymore. I'm going to live this way.

Because of the way he died for me, if you've never made that

decision for Christ, and you want to do that today, there's

going to be somebody right up there by that baptistry would

love nothing more than to be able to share those moments with

you and rejoice with you. And the angels in heaven will

sing, and they'll shake the foundations of heaven when they

sing over the joy of your decision.

And there's many of you here today that have made a decision

for Jesus Christ. You've accepted him into your

life, but that doesn't mean that you don't get stuck down in that

lower story. It doesn't mean that you start

thinking about how you can fix things rather than turning them

over to Jesus. And just like I need communion

even though I was baptized, you need a moment where the computer

gets turned off and back on, where you reboot.

And realize I am his and he is mine.

Regardless of what I've done, regardless of what's been

happening in my life, I just want to get back to that right

place. And when people come up here and

they get down on their knees and they cry out to God, that's

what's happening. And God takes their burdens.

And when they get up off their knees, they're lighter than they

were before and they leave victorious.

And today, whatever it is, that's on your heart.

Here is an opportunity to put a step, a physical, tangible

expression of what is really happening.

Would you stand with me in Jesus name?

Heavenly Father, I pray you'll take advantage, full advantage

of this moment. I pray that you and we would

cooperate to open the doors of our hearts and.

Some of those doors, they have rusty hinges and they have

broken locks. And maybe they don't just open.

Maybe they need to be pried open.

Maybe they need to be almost forced open.

But Father, that's something that you have the strength and

power to do. So help us in this moment to be

more like you and less like ourselves.

In Jesus name, Amen.