All In - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. Come on, God is good, amen?

Yeah, this is Baptism Sunday. You can be as noisy

as you want on Baptism Sunday. Actually, you

can be as noisy as you want. any Sunday. It is

good to have you here. We're excited. We've been

excited all week. We love it. As a pastor, you

just get giddy about Baptism Sunday. It's just

a thing. But I want to open in prayer, so if

you would, just bow your heads and we'll pray.

Father, we thank you for this day. I thank you

for the opportunity to hear your word. God, I

pray right now, God, that you would just touch

our ears, our hearts, and our minds, that we

would receive your word. God, that it would settle

into our hearts, and God, it might bring glory

and honor to you. Lord, we celebrate with those

who are getting baptized today. and who are making

the bold declaration that Jesus is, in fact,

our Lord and Savior. And we just give you praise

in Jesus' name. And everybody said together?

Yeah, yeah. Well, listen, we couldn't think of

a better way to follow up with Resurrection Sunday

than water baptism. Last week, you heard the

stats, right? 25 people came to Jesus in the

last weekend, which is amazing, 14 today, who

are publicly going to declare that Jesus is Lord

and Savior. We rejoice, we celebrate, we thank

God, and we love everything that baptism represents

here at LHC. The meaning of baptism, the act

of obedience in following Jesus' example. And

I think one of the favorite parts for me with

water baptism is the whole idea of being all

in, all in, right? Baptism is about being all

in. It's about being submerged. It's about being

immersed, about being covered over, surrounded

completely. That happens when you get dunked.

Any of you ever get dunked in a pool? Come on,

right? It's going to happen this morning. When

you go in, it's all in. It's completely submerged.

In 2015, one of our vacation spots as a family

vacation was Cozumel, Mexico. And I remember

getting the opportunity to go off right off the

coast by a coral reef. And I got to go do some

snorkeling with my kids. And I remember going

in and diving down and being in the clearest

blue waters I've ever seen in my life. 20 to

30 feet down, 40 feet down, you could see everything.

And I remember being submerged in that and being

in the middle. a fish, just teeming fish, a multicolored

fish everywhere in the coral and the aquatic

life that was attached to the coral down below.

And it was amazing. It was a whole new environment.

It was a whole new thing. But as amazing as that

was, it is infinitesimal, right? I don't even

know if that's a word, but I made it up today,

right? It's small in comparison to being submerged

in God's presence. It really is. Submerged with

salvation through Jesus Christ. And there's nothing

like being all in with Jesus. The Bible speaks

about this. If you have your Bibles this morning,

you can turn to Romans chapter 6. And it talks

Romans 6 · chapter mention

about, the Bible talks about baptism in multiple

different ways, in multiple different lights.

And Romans 6 .1 says this. What shall we say

then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may

abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died

to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know

that as many as of us have been baptized into

Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore,

we were buried with him through baptism into

death, that just as Christ was raised from the

dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also

should walk in newness of life. One of the ways

baptism is talked about in Scripture is baptized

into Jesus Christ, saved, born again. We're baptized

into his death, his burial, and then his resurrection.

That's what water baptism is all about. We die

to sin. We come back up in new life. And it's

that old person of sin, that moment that we got

saved, and that old person of sin dies away.

And we come up new in Jesus. All in. All in.

Walking away from a life of sin and now walking

on a path with him. I remember. I remember it

was a long time ago, but I remember at age 12,

I remember sitting out where you were and I remember

a minister coming and preaching the gospel of

Jesus Christ that morning. And I remember repenting.

I remember sitting in a row and I always sat

on one side and I was about three rows back.

And I remember sitting there and I remember feeling

that weight of sin in my life. And when the opportunity

came to go forward, I went forward and I... I

prayed. I asked God to come into my life. I committed

my life to him right there and then. And I remember

how I felt inside. I probably didn't look very

emotional on the outside. You might not have

noticed any difference looking outside in. But

even at 12 years of age, something changed in

me. Something shifted in me. I knew I was different.

I knew that I was dead and now I was alive spiritually

in my spirit. I was saved. I was washed. I was

born again. All in. from that day forward. Now,

did I mess up? Plenty. I can tell you stories

afterwards if you want to hear them, because

they said I had to be brief over and over and

over this morning, multiple times. But I began

to understand what it is to be baptized in Jesus.

I also understood what it meant to be baptized

into the body of Christ. It's another way it's

talked about in Scripture. I grew up in the church,

and back when I was a kid, my parents went to

church three times a week. There was service

on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday

evening, and we went three times a week to church.

I knew what it was to be baptized into the body

of Christ. Now, that's one way we get together.

You're here this morning, right, in worship.

But that's not all that it means to be baptized

into the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12 says

this. For as the body is one and has many members,

but all the members of one body, being many,

are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit,

we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews

or Greeks, whether slaves or free, we have all

been made to drink from one spirit. For in fact,

the body is not one member, but many. If the

foot should say, because I am not a hand, am

I not of the body? Is it therefore not of the

body? And if the ear should say, because I'm

not an eye, am I not of the body? Is it therefore

not of the body? If the whole body were an eye,

where would be the hearing? If the whole body

were hearing, where would be the smelling? But

now God has set members, each one of them, in

the body just as he pleased. And if they were

all one member, where would the body be? Salvation

in Jesus Christ is salvation into the body of

Christ. It is the church. It is his family. It

is his people, Jesus' people. Amen? Amen. It's

true. And to many people today, I hear this all

the time. Well, you don't really need to go to

church, right? You don't really need to be a

part of the church. You know, as long as you

get saved, it's just Jesus and me. And I understand

that. I understand it is you and Jesus. But it

sounds super spiritual. It really does. Like,

you know, how many of you can make something

sound super spiritual, right? Just Jesus and

me. Tap your chest a little. Some of you can

get really godly and lower your voice. Just Jesus

and me. Come on, right? You can make it sound

spiritual, but the word of God says that you're

baptized into a body. It doesn't teach that you're

just out there all alone. Yes, Jesus is with

you, but there's a body around you. God's word

says that we are baptized into the body of Christ,

the church of Jesus Christ, the Jesus tribe,

I'll call it, all right? Saved by grace, called

saints by the grace of God and by the mercy of

God, brothers and sisters in the Lord, fighting

together against Satan and evil, joint heirs

with Jesus, talked about that all last week,

a group of people coming together on the regular

and worshiping God, Not forsaking coming together.

All in. All in. One body. Hands, feet, eyes,

ears, toes, nose, legs, and ankles are all here

this morning. Just look out the corner of your

eye right now. Don't look or stare. But you might

have a nose or an ankle sitting right beside

you this morning. Somebody in the body of Christ,

right? We're all different. One body. 1 Corinthians

12, 25 says, and there should be no schism in

the body, but that the members should have same

care for one another. And if one member suffers,

all the members suffer with it. Or if one member

is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

It's eye taking care of elbow and elbow taking

care of eye. It really is. One baptism. There's

a third baptism, right? Baptism into Jesus Christ,

baptism into the body of Christ. And there's

a third one called Holy Spirit baptism. It's

immersed in the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist

preaches about a water baptism, which we're about

to do here in a little bit, right? But John also

announced another baptism. In Matthew 3, 11,

he says, I baptize you, this is John speaking,

with water unto repentance, but he who is coming

after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm

not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with

the Holy Spirit and fire. Fire. Jesus followed

John the Baptist. John the Baptist said that

Jesus would come, and there would be a baptism

of salvation. There would be a baptism into the

body of Christ, and there can be a baptism of

the Holy Spirit in your life. Now understand

this. When you come to salvation, when you come

to Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into your life.

He comes to take up residence within your life

fully. At age 12, when I got saved, the Holy

Spirit came and took up. The indwelling of the

Spirit came. And the Holy Spirit comes and He

guides us and He leads us and He speaks to us

and He empowers us. He taps us on the shoulder

when we need counsel, we need to hear from God.

But the Bible talks about a separate experience,

which is called the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

It's in addition to the salvation. It's kind

of like an enhanced power by the Holy Spirit

to be witnesses for Jesus Christ. to a world

around us who does not know who Christ is. It's

an anointing. It's an empowerment. Acts 1 .8

says, In that verse, it's speaking to Christians.

It's actually speaking to the disciples. The

purpose of God baptizing us in the Spirit is

to further empower us. He indwells in us fully.

But there's an extra, I call it a supercharge.

He supercharges you, amen? Come on, some of you

car guys should be like, amen. Supercharges,

right? How many know horsepower is an amazing

thing, especially in a car? Yeah, there we go.

All right, got a couple of them, all right? It

is. Now, I'm going to go back to my western Pennsylvania

redneck roots right now. I used to go to tractor

pools back in the day when I was young. And if

you're not familiar with a tractor pull, here's

what they do at a tractor pull. They have a tractor

and they hook it up to a trailer. And on the

trailer, there's a bunch of weight on the back

of the trailer. And when that tractor, right,

it's got a revved up engine, it's got a lot of

horsepower to it. What happens is they'll say

go, right, with a flag or a horn or whatever.

And that tractor will take off in a straight

line. And the trailer, he's pulling a trailer

full of weights. And what happens with the weights

is the weights move forward closer to the tractor.

the further down the track it gets. And they

see who can pull the tractor that can pull the

weight the furthest. And they have to have a

ton of horsepower to move that weight. And the

further the weight gets up, the further they

get down the track, the more the weight advances

and the harder it gets to pull. And that's what

the baptism of the Holy Spirit is. When we're

moving forward to witness for Christ and we're

going down the track of life and it's getting

heavy, it's kind of a super shot of the Holy

Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit comes

in and he raises us up to become witnesses. It's

Holy Spirit baptism. It's more of the presence

of God who's already in your life. Amen? It's

true. Man, I'm preaching fast. You should be

amening, because if not, I'll have to back up.

I don't think you didn't get it. You know, I'll

have to do that point all over again. But the

last one today is water baptism, and that's what

we're talking about here this morning, is water

baptism, a baptism of repentance. Water baptism

is a personal declaration of faith in Jesus Christ.

I have decided to follow Jesus through life.

Jesus himself was baptized by John the Baptist

as an example for you and I. Matthew 3 .16 says

this, When he had been baptized, this is Jesus,

Jesus came up immediately from the water, and

behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he

saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove

and alighting on him. Water baptism is following

an example of Jesus. Water baptism is symbolic

of what Christ did for us. It's symbolic of the

death of Christ, the burial of Christ, being

put into the grave, and the resurrection, resurrection

to new life. It represents us. coming to faith

in Jesus Christ. It is the greatest visual example

you could have of the gospel of Jesus Christ

is water baptism. And today, I want you to hear

from each individual who are making, today they

are making, all 14 of them are coming out. They're

making a public declaration that they're all

in with Jesus Christ, that they went from death

to life. And these are stories of redemption

of those who follow Jesus. in to this message

from Lifehouse Church. We pray that you were

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