I'm Baptized, Now What? | Acts 9:17-26 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Can you please pray with me before we open God's Word?

Lord, we thank you for this time, for these testimonies, for

the the freedom to be able to gather in a place like this, to

worship You without fear, and to hear from your voice.

And we pray now, Lord, with all that we've already heard and

experienced, there can be an excitement and even a reflection

that might cause us to be distracted from what You want to

say at this time. We pray that you still our

hearts and tune our ears to hear what you have to declare to us.

We love you and we honor You, and we believe that you will say

something now in Jesus name, Amen.

It is an undeniable pattern in the Scriptures that when a

person professes their faith in Jesus Christ, their next

priority is to be baptized. And regardless of what

traditions may suggest, the Bible clearly indicates that

baptism follows belief. We heard it from Brother John

who boldly said it. Baptism follows belief.

And as much as water baptism is important, it is not the

entirety of what it means to follow Jesus Christ.

I've personally seen over the years that when people learn the

importance of what we just observed, they rightly pursue

it, and they sometimes pay a high price for it.

But then they find themselves without direction afterward.

What's next? What now?

And I've personally seen over the years that when some people

get baptized, they virtually disappear after they don't get

connected to the local church, a local church.

There's no observable growth. And unfortunately, sometimes you

even see people revert and go back to their old ways.

And this is not an uncommon trend.

I'd like to explain baptism in this way.

It's similar to a wedding ceremony.

The wedding ceremony is a time where you in a celebratory

fashion, invite others to witness a covenant that you are

making with someone else. But like a wedding ceremony,

baptism is just one event. What follows a wedding ceremony

marriage, and it is no different with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then when you and I put our faith in Him, and then we

declare that faith saying I am unified, I am one.

My heart belongs to this Lord, the only Lord and the only

Savior. You are now committed to a

daily, lifelong relationship with Him.

And I'm persuaded that for churches who teach on the

importance of baptism, they must also instruct believers what

their lives should look like after that initial step of

obedience. And that is what I want to

convey to you today from the word of God.

And this is not just for those who stood before us this

afternoon. This is going to be a reminder

for every genuine follower of Christ in this place so that you

can, by hearing these directions, reflect on your own

life and say, is my life consistent with the model that

is presented to me in the Bible of what my life should look

like? And the way we're going to

accomplish this is looking particularly at one, one of the

most influential and exemplary disciples of Jesus, the Apostle

Paul. You know, what's interesting is

that when you read the Bible, you will not find a record of

the baptisms of the original 12 disciples.

But the Holy Spirit has preserved for us the conversion

story, the baptism, and the first steps of Paul's movements

after his baptism. And that's what I want us to

look at together, to gather in a brief amount of time, 4 things,

four things that every genuine Christian should expect and

pursue after putting their faith in Christ and publicly declaring

their allegiance to Him. Mimi in your Bibles in Acts

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Chapter 9, beginning in verse 17.

And let's read a few verses together and listen, Christian

believer, this is also, I hope going to be a means for you to

equip yourself so that you can help and guide other people in

the infancy of their faith when they want my ask you what does

my life look like now you can offer these points, among other

things, Acts Chapter 9 beginning here in verse 17.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Here's what we read. So Ananias departed and entered

the house, and laying his hands on him, He said, Brother Saul,

the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you

came, has sent me, so that you may regain your sight and be

filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately something like

scales felt from his eyes, and he regained his sight.

Then he rose and was baptized, and taking food he was

strengthened. For some days he was with the

disciples at Damascus. Four things, four things that

should follow your public declaration of profession of

faith. Notice here that after Paul and

his personal transformation and public profession met with some

disciples, that's what you read at the end of verse 19, right?

For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.

The the point is so clear. It's undeniable that when a

person brings their heart to Christ, when a person links

themselves to the truth, their fellowship changes.

You have to understand that when Paul first arrived at the

Damascus, he hated the disciples of Jesus Christ.

He was there to persecute them, arrest them, harass them, and

even have some of them executed. And the very object of his

hatred now became his delight. Listen, this is an undeniable

mark of a person who has truly been transformed by the gospel.

You will desire to be with Christians now.

If somebody were to ask you, I'm speaking to the Christians.

If somebody were to ask you, doubting their own salvation,

how can I know that I am truly a follower of Christ?

How can I know that Christ really transformed my life?

What answers would you give them?

What truths would you encourage them to reflect on?

John the Apostle gives US1 trait that I believe is oftentimes

overlooked. It's not taken into account.

He says this in first John 314 And we know that we have passed

out of death into life because we love the brothers.

If we do not love, we abide in death.

So notice what he's saying here, that one of the marks that you

have went from death, spiritual death, to life is that you have

a new found affection for fellow Christians, That you have a

longing to be in their company, that you have an ambition to

serve them and be served by them.

Those are inseparable signs of a person who has and possesses

saving faith, and to be void of this kind of love warrants a

legitimate examination of the authenticity of your salvation.

That's not my claim. That's not my standard.

That's what John says. Notice what he says at the end

of the verse. Whoever does not love abides in

death, and he qualifies. What kind of love?

He's talking about love for the brothers.

Whoever doesn't have this kind of love, this kind of care and

commitment to a group of Christians as well as the

Universal Church, that person has every right to think about

whether or not they are truly followers of Jesus.

And this is such an important point to the Holy Spirit to God

himself who authored this book that he repeats that

qualification more than once in the book of first John.

If you don't believe me, look at first John 51 at another time

that those who've been born of God will love those who have

also been born of him. So then, if one of the

indications that I have been changed this the seal of God's

salvation has been placed on my heart, being love for others,

how do I know if I'd love others?

How do I measure that my love for the brethren is legitimate?

And you don't have to guess, he explains.

Look at verse 16 of first John 3.

By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us and we

ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

There it is. The way that you know that this

love from God has changed you is that you are willing to lay down

your life for your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Now what does that mean exactly? Does that mean that if the

opportunity arises that I should actually die in the stead of

another? Perhaps in some instances that

is the case, but I don't think that's the main point that John

is trying to get across. To lay down my life is not

necessarily a one time event, a one time great act of sacrifice.

It's a lifestyle, it's a way of living.

And that's what he says in the very next verse.

I mean, the Bible explains itself.

Look at verse 17 first, John 317.

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in

need, yet closes his heart against them, how does God's

love abide in him? So the thread is there, if you

have been changed by God, you're going to love the brothers.

And the way you can know that you love the brothers is that

you're willing to lay your life down for them.

And the way you know that you've laid your life down for them is

in practical ways. If you see a brother in need and

you close your heart against them, how does God's love abide

in you? This is not theoretical or

sentimental. It has action behind it.

And so let's let's consider the implications of this.

If I've been saved, I'm going to love the brothers.

But the way in which I love the brothers requires listen very

carefully, requires me to be intentional and committed to

brothers and sisters. In other words, I'm going to

pursue something greater than a superficial, shallow interaction

with other Christians. I'm going to be acquainted with

other Christians and know them well enough where I am aware of

their needs. And then based on that, the

wisdom that I've been given and the resources, maybe at times I,

I tried to meet that need. So here's a question for all of

us in here. Do you have that heart for the

church? Do you have that kind of love

for fellow Christians? Do you pray for them?

Do you bless them by your presence?

You know how much it blesses people when we come to the House

of God. Do you do you seek to discover

your gifts so that you can share those gifts with others?

Do you even beyond the service times, Are you associated with

Christians enough where you can assist them if they need

assistance. And one of the things that

blessed me so much about this church, this local body is the

organic fellowship that God has created in this place.

And, and sometimes I learn of things myself that we're not

necessarily a part of a program or an effort from the leadership

that when somebody in this place has to go through surgery or or

become sick, there's an initiative that people in this

church take. They go on rotation to cook

meals and maybe to visit or to offer something beyond just you

being here for a service. That's the work of the Holy

Spirit of God. That's the mark that his love

has been embedded on our hearts. And notice here that as I'm

about to present these points, this is not here's what you got

to do to show that you really belong to God.

That's that you're putting the cart before the horse.

What I'm about to explain, what I've been explaining is here's

what you will do because you've been born of God, this will be

the natural spring and overflow of what God has done in your

soul. Do you love the brothers?

It is a oxymoron. It is a contradiction to say I'm

a Christian. I love God, but I'm not sure if

I love people who claim to love God.

That's foreign to the Bible. That does not make sense.

What you have here is Paul, after he has his own experience

with Christ, meeting with the disciples.

Let's go back to Acts 9 and look at a second point.

So we read for some days that he was with the disciples at

Damascus. Look at verse 20 of Acts 9.

And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue, saying

he is the Son of God. And all who heard him were

amazed and said, is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem

of those who called upon his name?

And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them

bound before the chief priests? So when you experience Christ,

he saves your soul. Not only is your relationship

with the believing community different, your engagement with

the lost, with the unbelieving, is also marvelously altered.

Notice what Paul does after he meets with the disciples to

recuperate and to be strengthened.

He immediately finds the nearest synagogue to preach Christ.

I love that word immediately. It's something that a genuine

Christian in this place can attest to, that when you have

had your eyes open to the goodness of God, you have in you

this deposited urgency and zeal to share what happened to you.

Is that not true? It's this level of excitement

that almost makes that ambition effortless.

I remember first become a Christian and I missed a lot of

appointments because when I would go to the grocery store,

whenever I had to pick up food or whatever the case may be,

there would be so many of these conversations that would come

up. And I've seen that with other

believers as well. They just consumes you

everything orients around. How can I share what Christ has

done in me to others? And that's precisely what you

see in Paul's life here. It doesn't mean here that he was

immediately placed in office of leadership or of of being

trusted with some kind of responsibility in the church.

You know, the Bible warns against new believers taking on

such roles, but it doesn't mean that we can't go out there and

share and tell others. And Paul's life proves to us

that that desire, that that goal to make Christ known doesn't die

off with time. At least it shouldn't.

You see here throughout his life in the Scriptures that it was

something that remained consistent.

And at the same time, the trajectory of Paul's life proves

that when you truly experience Christ, you will have this

desire to share Him, and it will remain with you through all your

days, even though you might have to battle fear and maybe

spiritual lethargy. That's all real.

That's all common. We can't be.

We can't be unrealistic with those temptations.

Paul's example teaches that Christians do not disassociate

with the unbelieving world in a cult like manner.

When you come to faith in Christ, what happens is that now

those relationships with those that you might have once sinned

with and and we're unbelieving with, there is now a redemptive

purpose in your interactions with them through wisdom and

prayer and dependence on God. You, you want to show them who

Jesus is. And I want to tell you that it

doesn't just happen through communication.

He did preach Christ in the synagogue.

But I want you to look at verse 21 again.

Look at what the people said when they learned that this was

Paul telling others about Christ and all who heard him were

amazed and said, is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem?

I mean, they already knew he was causing chaos in the Christian

community. He was the number one persecutor

against the church. They learned it all the way up

to Damascus. This Paul now that was causing a

tornado, and Jerusalem has now come here to do the same.

But they realize, what has he not come here to do this for

this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priest?

So in other words, this audience, they weren't just

amazed at what Paul was saying, they were astonished by what he

was no longer doing. He was preaching Christ.

But they knew who this Paul was before.

He has come to persecute Christians, but he's not

persecuting Christians anymore. What's the lesson?

This man's message was consistent with the man.

He did not just verbalize his change.

His life was a living advertisement of it.

And so the second point here is that when you have truly

experienced Christ, when you make that public declaration of

faith as some did today, your life leaving this place is going

to look different. The only thing about you being

change in baptism, If it's only getting wet, then you got it

wrong. It's about an internal

transformation that others will be able to recognize over time.

You're not the same person. Not just based on what you're

saying, but I can see it. And that was the case with this

amazing man of God. Is there anything else in this

man's example that shows us what should become of a person who

follows Jesus Christ wholeheartedly?

Absolutely. Let's come back to our text in

Acts 9, verse 22. But Saul increased all the more

Acts 9:22

in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus.

By proving that Jesus was the Christ, He increased all the

more. And what kind of strength does

the Holy Spirit referring to here?

Spiritual strength. You see, when the gospel becomes

real to us and we respond to it in faith, we want to grow in our

knowledge of the One who saved us and our conformity to who He

is. Something that was absolutely

irrelevant to you and you were disinterested in that you were

indifferent to, now becomes this burning passion.

I want to know the one who saved me, and I want to buy his power,

Live like him. That's not optional.

That is something that is definite with somebody who has

encountered the power of the cross.

You know what's amazing? This is not the only reference

to growing and strength in this chapter.

We read it earlier when Paul after he encountered Christ on

the road to Damascus, he was so moved by he was so impacted that

he fasted for three days. We read that in Acts Chapter 9

Acts 9 · chapter mention

and after Ananias comes commissioned by Christ to open

his eyes and to be baptized, what do we read back in verse 19

and taking food, he was strengthened.

In that case we're talking about a physical refreshing and

recovery. But back in verse 22 is

spiritual. So this is the point that I'm

trying to wake the the way in which Paul was strengthened

physically parallels the way you and I will be strengthened

spiritually. What did he do?

He ate what happens to a person who is really saved really

transformed that that what they did and their public declaration

was was authentic. You're going to have a new

appetite for the word of God. You're going to hunger for it,

you're saying. Is that really what that's

talking about? We'll look back at verse 22.

The connection of increasing in all more strength is related to

confounding the Jews who live in Damascus and proving that Jesus

was the Christ. So we're talking about an

increase of strength and effectiveness in the knowledge

of what he believed in. So here's the point.

This is what you and I have to understand, that when somebody

is saved, they will become more aware and they will acknowledge.

That through the proclamation of the faith, the explanation of

the faith, the defending of the faith, that they have invested

time to study the faith, meditate on the faith, and grow

in the knowledge of the faith. Now, Paul here is not saying

that all of us are going to become preachers, but what he is

showing is that his appetite for the truth is reflective on all

of us who will truly follow Jesus Christ.

He was able to now be more efficient and able to confound

and to prove how. Where did that come from?

Because he was diligent, because something in him now needed to

rewire everything that he learned about the world, about

God, and Christ honored that and help them to grow in true

spiritual strength. Do you have an appetite for the

things of God? I'm not saying do you have an

uninterrupted discipline of reading.

I'm just saying down deep inside, can you say I really

want to know God more? Does it bother you when you hear

maybe a sermon like this that I'm not familiar with?

That used to bother me when I first got saved that I would

come into meetings like this, conferences, brand new baby in

Christ. The preacher would get up there

and name books of the Bible. I don't know where they were.

I would just go and have people around me saying no, no, it's on

the right side, not the left side.

And that irked me. If I really believe that Jesus

said, and this is the means by which this is the the database

of who he is, then I got to know him.

I want to know I'm not so I can win debates and arguments, so

that I can know who saved me. That will become true of you if

you really experience the gospel.

That was true of this man Paul, and that's why the end of second

Peter, the very last verse of second Peter, Peter the apostle

says, but grow, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord

Jesus Christ. Grow.

Are you growing or has nothing changed even after you got

baptized? Then what does it mean?

What does it mean? It's like getting married,

spending all that money for that ceremony, and days and weeks and

months and years go by and you don't know anything about your

wife more than you did that day. See, when we put it in real

practical terms, we're like, that sounds silly, but we

tolerate it in the church when it comes to our faith.

Does it make sense? No desire to know Christ, No

desire to pick up this word and read it.

I'm not saying that every single day you're going to have that

ambition. I'm just saying, is it even

present? Is it even there?

Are you convicted about not having it now Paul shows us here

that you'll have it. Yes, it'll be challenged.

That's why there's commands like in Second Peter 318 grow because

we need to be stirred. We need to be reminded.

But if it's not evident, it's nowhere to be found.

If a message like this doesn't move you, oh, you, you have, you

have every right to step back and ask some questions.

There's one more thing. We talked about how Paul met

with the disciples after his transformation.

You, you will want to be with Christians.

You, you will want to be with the church.

We saw that he testified of Christ, not just in Word, but

also in deed. You, you want to, you want to

live in a way where people know that you're associated with

Christ. And yes, there might be

hesitations and yes, you might have to battle with some things,

but you want to, you want to. Thirdly, you're going to grow in

spiritual strength. You're going to want to eat

because like a baby that comes out of the womb after a

delivery, that baby naturally is inclined to eat, give me food.

It's no different with a spiritual birth.

If there's no appetite after a spiritual birth, that would be

concerning, just as it would be concerning for a newborn baby to

not have an appetite. There's one more thing.

Let's come back to Acts 9, verse 23.

Acts 9:23

When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but

their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates by

day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him

by night and let him down through an opening in the wall,

luring him in a basket. One thing that you can expect

following Jesus eventually, it's not just that love for people,

not just a wanting to tell people about Christ, not just a

love for the word of God and growing and strengthened in your

spirit, You will also experience at some point in some way

suffering at the hands of others, suffering at the hands

of others. And we see here that in verse

23. And when many days had passed,

what happened? The Jews plotted to kill him.

Why? Because nothing disturbs Satan

more than a robust, consistent, steadfast, serious Christian who

takes their calling seriously, who, yes, grows, but also from

that growth spills over, serves God's people, and even serves

this unbelieving world. Satan, as powerful as he is,

he's finite. He is limited.

He has limited resources. And so he has to be strategic

and he reserves his efforts for those who are actually walking

wholeheartedly with his enemy, the Lord Jesus Christ, your

friend and your Lord. And that's what we see with

Paul. Paul now was growing on Satan's

most wanted list and he wasn't going to waste any time to try

to stifle, derail or maybe even destroy him.

He saw where this man was going and we wanted to put an early

end to it. And So what happens?

What we learn here that one of the ways in which Satan tries to

hinder holy men and holy woman by of God is by causing people

from outside and within to be an obstacle.

Pay attention to what I said from outside and from within.

From outside, I mean people who do not believe in Jesus, and

they're not just neutral about it, they actually hate what you

believe in. They might believe contrary,

they might not claim to believe anything at all, but they

despise what you adhere to. And that was true with these

unbelieving Jews. They saw Paul as a threat and so

they came against them to the point of wanting to kill him

because he was sharing this soul saving message with others and

it was making an impact. Now I'm aware that what I'm just

sharing with you right now about Paul being actually targeted

unto death does not resonate with probably all of us in this

place because we don't pay such a price for what we believe in

here in the West. But can I remind you that the

Christian experience in America is a minority?

The majority, statistically speaking, the majority of

Christians, when they are contemplating following Jesus,

you know what they have to ruminate over?

Am I willing to go to jail for many, many years?

Am I willing to have my family taken from me?

Am I willing to endure torture? Am I willing to meet execution?

That's what Christians and other parts of the world are thinking

about. So I was thinking about this

last night. I thought if I was speaking to a

room filled with people who lived under a communist regime

or in a culture that advocates killing your own family,

dishonouring you publicly, I would want to point point to

Paul's example here and show them that as much as you will

face hostility and and even threats on your life, when you

follow Jesus Christ, you win God's protective favor.

Because notice what happens when many days had passed, the Jews

plot to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul.

How how it was made known, we're not exactly told, but you see

this, this, this consistent thing in Paul's life, in the

book of Acts, that God often intervened in his life

providentially, that he invisibly maneuvered things to

make sure that Paul understood ahead of time of what was coming

his way. And why I bring that up is

because there is a day coming and it did come where Paul would

be imprisoned and he wasn't going to get out.

Paul would be imprisoned and what historians believed to be

in his 60s and he would have his head locked off for his faith.

But until then, nothing or anyone could pry him out of

God's hand as long as it was placed on Him.

And the promise is no different for you and I God will not allow

anything to happen to you as a follower of His Son that does

not align with His perfect will, and He will protect you and

provide for you until your testimony on the earth is

complete and you're ready to graduate into glory.

And this, this truth only becomes more powerful when you

realize how Paul reflects on this point.

You don't have to turn there. But as he's speaking to the

Corinthian believers, he reflects on his resume of his

suffering for Christ. And he touches on this moment,

but he gives even more insight of what happened.

Let me read this to you. It's in 2nd Corinthians 1132 and

33. He says at Damascus, the

governor under King Eritas was guarding the city of Damascus in

order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a

window in the wall and escaped his hands.

That detail is not mentioned in the narrative acts.

He mentions it later on. Paul does.

And notice what he says here, that the Jews were not the only

ones playing to kill him. The Jews had the government

hired to find, arrest and kill Paul.

And so that's why you find 24 hour surveillance in Paul's

whereabouts. And here's the point, the extent

of God's protection that despite spies, armies, secret government

agents, nothing could thwart God's protection over Paul's

life. One with God is majority doesn't

matter who stands before you or around you.

And what was true for Paul is true for you and I.

You will and you will endure. Listen, we celebrated today, we

cry today. There's an atmosphere of peace

and joy and acceptance here. But let me speak to those who

just got baptized and they remind those who've been

following Christ. When you walk out of those

doors, not everybody's going to celebrate your faith when people

might find your testimony online, that might give a more

reason to hate you, despise you, do anything to try to harass

you. But I also mentioned that

there's even hindrance, potential hindrance from within.

And what I mean by within is the intentional and unintentional

offense that might come from the Christian community.

Notice I said intentional because there are professing

Christians who are capable of hurting, and unintentional that

sometimes Christians can do things accidentally due to their

own fallen nature. Not maliciously, but that be

enough for Satan to give you a reason to not be full, fully

committed to the cause of Christ.

Where am I getting that from? In our final passage of Acts 9,

Look at what happens in verse 26.

And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join

the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, for they did not

believe that he was a disciple. So you have to understand what's

going on here. Paul left Jerusalem as one of

the greatest Pharisees and Jewish religious leaders of his

time. He has permission to go into

Damascus and to arrest Christians.

He goes and Jesus arrests him, opens his eyes, reveals them

that he's sinned against God and that there's forgiveness.

He receives that forgiveness and now he has a whole new call.

Now he's preaching Christ in Damascus and at some point here,

according to Galatians, he goes away into the Arabian wilderness

and he receives personal tutor and learning from Christ.

And then he is now ready to go back to Jerusalem for the first

time since he left there as an unbeliever in Christ.

And you have to remember that Jerusalem was the main hub of

the church at this time. And what do we learn when he

goes back to Jerusalem and they learn that this is the same Saul

of Tarsus who hurt and destroyed so many of our community is a

believer. They didn't believe him.

Nice try, Paul or Saul. We know who you are, and we know

that this is some elaborate scheme to really, you're a spy.

We're not having it. And they shut the door in his

face. Now, we don't blame these

Christians in Jerusalem, do we? No, we understand where we might

be. If we understood that a

terrorist who was killing Christians by the droves that

was ravaging the church one day shows up here and we just heard

some things, we would be on guard.

At the same time, you can imagine the potential hurt that

Paul felt because remember now we read earlier when many days

had passed. Paul was consistent since his

conversion. Paul was preaching Jesus Christ

and Paul on a daily basis risked his life because of his

allegiance to the truth. And because of that, he lost the

fellowship and the love and the affirmation of those that he

wants stood with and the people that he desperately needed.

Now, as a Christian stiff armed him, where is he going to go?

I've met too many Christians who've allowed offense from

other Christians, deter them and derail them to the degree that

they are never the same as they once were.

They live in isolation, there is an open wound, and they never

move on to know the full potential that God has for them

as an ambassador. I've seen it so many times.

Can I tell you something in my own history, in my own walk with

the Lord? I've been walking with the Lord

for about 12 years now. I've been more attacked by

professing Christians and unbelievers, but I've also read

my Bible enough to know that disappointment from supposed or

even genuine disciples is to be expected.

Paul knew it at the beginning of his faith, and Paul was followed

by that internal tension at times till his last moments on

the earth. Can you imagine if Paul came to

the church in Jerusalem and they treat him that way and he goes,

You know what? If this is what it means to be a

Christian, forget about it. I also believe in Christ.

I won't deny him, but I'm just going to do this thing solo.

What would become of the church? What would become of the Bible?

And yet you have so many today, even today, perhaps you drug

your feet together. You did not want to be here

because the church has turned you off and you're just here out

of reluctance. But you're going to go back into

your old ways. You're not going to know what it

means to love the brethren, to be loved by the brethren, to

know what God has in store for you and your content.

And I'm here to tell you, did you miss the memo that following

Jesus Christ is a promise of enduring some kind of suffering,

whether that suffering is persecution from outside or

Christian stepping on your toes from time to time from inside.

Shake it off, Christian, shake it off by the power of the Holy

Spirit. Let Christ heal you.

Keep your eyes on Him and just commit to the cause no matter

what, no matter what. You know when Paul would go and

preach at a certain city and I'm ending it here, and he would see

Christians come together and the church would be established in

the infancy of their belief, he would preach a similar message.

He had a simple model, and I want to quote it to you from

Acts 1422. He would go back and he would go

on a cycle, right? He would go on this tour to

these churches to strengthen the souls of the disciples,

encouraging them to continue in the faith and reminding them

that through many tribulations they must enter the Kingdom of

God. Not some tribulations, many,

many from outside, many from within.

The government might turn on you, Christian.

Your boss might find out that you got baptized and you became

public and you're a bigot now, so you're going to lose your job

and even maybe even from inside a leader, spiritual leader,

might disappoint you. Christians who are not mature or

have the love of Christ developed yet in their hearts

might mistreat you. What are you going to do?

Turn your back on Christ? Diminish your devotion to Him.

Allow yourself to remain deflated.

That's not God's will for you. And He told us ahead of time

what many people are unwilling to say to Christians, even when

they first became Christians. Christians, you're going to face

many tribulations. But let me also say this, It

will be worth it because He is worth it.

Our Lord and our Savior experienced many tribulations.

For what? Because He's committed to saving

you, redeeming you, restoring you.

So may He receive our unwavering commitment as well.

Four things. Four things that a person who

places their faith in Jesus and professes it from the place of

baptism should expect and pursue.

You have love for the brethren. You're going to live as a

testimony who Christ is and what his gospel is all about.

You're going to want to grow in strength, and you're going to

expect to endure some suffering. And all along the way, the same

Jesus who saved you will shepherd you, He will guide you,

He will empower you, He will forgive you when you stumble.

If you do stumble along that path, even if you for a season

do not honor those directions. He is even now today ready to

say, would you come back to my complete will for your life?

So I'm ending it by I want to just address two types of people

here. For the person who is not a

Christian, I want to let you know that you can become who you

were created to be, but it is only through Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ was sent to die for sinners, to die on the cross, to

shed his blood so that He can cover every sin and wrong that

you have committed. Every and anything that you have

done can be wiped clean once and for all.

If you acknowledge that you have sinned and that He is the

Savior, that there's no other way to be pleasing to God but

accept that payment, You repent and you trust, and in that

moment you will know that you are saved.

Have you done that? Now let me ask you this because

you might be turned off by this message.

Why are you turned off? What about what I just said is

so offensive to you? What about what I just said to

you cause you to recoil? Whatever.

Think about it. Don't let your emotions take

over. Think about it, the implications

of it, God loving you and paying the price for you so that you

can have eternal life. Do you love your sin that much?

Has your sin, Has your sin really saved you for anything or

saved you for something? No, it's only disappointing you

and it's only going to set you up for more disappointment, hurt

because you weren't created for sin.

You were created to know your Savior.

Accepting today, I plead with you that you would put your

faith in this Jesus for the person who has confessed Christ.

You even made your your faith go public.

Are you walking with Him with a heart that's committed to Him?

Do you remember what it was like when you stood before 10 or 20,

maybe thousands, and you said I will follow them all the days of

my life? Is that true of you today?

Or has money now become your master?

Have you idolized your family? Are you more ambitious and

excited about your job, your body, your health, your

experiences, your travels? Whereas at one point you had a

brimming longing that no matter where you went, what you had,

you have all you need in Jesus. And it was so real to you.

It wasn't a duty. It wasn't twisting your arm to

make Him known by way of word and example.

I want to tell you today that this Jesus is so compassionate

that though you might be cold today, He can warm your heart.

He can melt your heart, and He could bring you exactly where

you need to be. Let's pray if the priest team

can join me so that once we finish praying, we can sing to

the Lord. I want to just ask you and give

you a little bit of time to reflect on the things that were

shared, not just from the world, but throughout this time, and

ask the Lord to help you and wherever you need help.

Lord, we ask in absolute humility that you would make

yourself real to us again, and perhaps for the first time to

those who who who don't know you.

Lord, we have testified of your gospel.

We've sung about your gospel. We've preached from your word

about the gospel. But now we're praying that by

your Spirit you make this gospel real to us.

Lord, we thank you for saving us.

Help us live for you from that place of gratitude to honor you.

Lord, where we need to repent, help us repent where we fallen

short. Lord, strengthen us.

Thank you for the simplicity. Thank you for the confirmation

of your word of what it means to be a disciple of your son.

Lord, we, we sing about your power now.

We sing about what you're able to do, what you have done, and

Lord, what you can do through us for other people.

We give you glory. We give you all the thanks and

the honor in Jesus name, Amen. Amen.