Submerged - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. Good morning, good morning.

Turn to somebody beside you, give them a high

five. Tell them, good to see you at Lifehouse

on Baptism Sunday. Come on, it's good to see

you. Thank you for being here today. We love

Baptism Sunday. We love, this is kind of one

of our favorite Sundays of all time throughout

the year. I say that just about every Sunday,

but we do really do mean it. It's a great time

to come to celebrate new life in Jesus. Amen?

That's true. And before I get into the message

part of this, they told me I had to be short.

I didn't know what that meant, so I'm just going

to preach. But I want to pray over God's word.

And when I pray over God's word, I'm really praying

over your ears. Because God's word is already

blessed. It's just what it does in our ears,

amen, in our hearts and minds. If you just bow

your heads. Lord, we just come before you grateful,

thankful for this day. God, I thank you for your

word, God, that is so mighty and powerful. I

thank you for the Holy Spirit, Lord, who empowers

us in your word. I thank you for your son, Jesus.

And, Father, I thank you as Lord and creator.

Lord, as we dive into your word. word this morning

i pray that you would move upon our hearts and

our ears and lord as we get ready to celebrate

jesus what you've done in so many lives we just

thank you we give you praise we give you glory

we lift up our hearts and hands god they've already

done that in worship and song and lord we just

give you all the glory in jesus name and everybody

said together Amen, amen. Well, listen, we couldn't

think of a better way to follow up Easter Resurrection

Sunday than having Baptism Sunday and celebrating

new life in Jesus. And as you heard earlier,

there are nine individuals who are going to come

and really declare their faith in front of everybody

that they are, in fact, followers of Jesus. And

it is a declaration of what God's done. It's

about being born again. It's what the scripture

calls it. It's about coming to new life, right?

And baptism really tells... the story. Water

baptism tells a story. It tells the story of

Jesus. It's really a perfect illustration. As

a person goes into the water, represents death,

right? Jesus died on the cross. He went down

into the grave and came back up to life. It's

a picture of that. And it's also a picture of

what an individual experiences in their own life

in Christ. It's that old person of sin dying

away and coming up out of the water, washed.

Clean, new, renewed, and alive in Jesus. And

really, baptism is all about the testimony. It's

the testimony about being immersed in Jesus Christ,

covered over, and surrounded by all things Jesus.

It means being soaked and submerged. Say submerged

this morning. Come on, it's about being submerged

in Jesus. Water baptism symbolizes the change

that happens in me when I am submerged in Jesus

Christ. And it's, you know, I know this about

being submerged, right? It changes things in

our lives. Being submerged in water changes some

things in your life. You know, as I thought about

this message this morning and being submerged,

and I didn't do it. I thought about doing it.

But how many of you have ever seen, especially

summertime's coming? I saw this the other day.

Some kid was running through the yard. with a

super soaker how many know what a super soaker

is it's an enormous water gun okay i don't know

where they got this thing they could barely carry

it it was so big and they were firing up what

i'm assuming was her brother all right it was

a girl she was right if i had that this morning

i i would be here and i would submerge all of

you Okay? I would hydrate you in Jesus' name

this morning. Come on, across the field. How

many know when I got done hydrating you with

a super soaker, everybody might look just a little

bit different, right? How many know when you

go into the water, you don't look the same way

when you come out? It changes how you look. You

don't look the same. And for those of you...

that have hair in the house this morning. Some

of us don't, right? When you come out of the

water, I mean, your hair is just a little bit

different, right? You spent two hours this morning

getting your hair ready, and you go into the

water, and you come up, and it looks completely

different. You wouldn't feel the same. When you

come out of the water, you might feel cool because

of the water on your skin, or you might feel

hot because I just shot you with a super soaker,

right? You're going to feel different. Ladies,

if you don't have waterproof makeup on, how many

know there's going to be a change that takes

place, right? It's going to happen. And what

I'm saying is that once you're submerged, once

you're under, once you're submerged in Jesus

in particular, things change. Once I submerge

myself in him. Once Jesus surrounds me on every

side, above, below, on the sides, and underneath,

water is a picture. Water baptism is a big picture

of big change when I'm surrounded and submerged

in Jesus. I'm going to say it again. Water baptism

is a picture of big change when I am submerged

in Jesus. It looks different in our lives on

every side, and it should. 2 Corinthians 5, 17

says this. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation. Old things have passed

away. Behold, all things become new. Not some

things. All things become new. All things get

hydrated. I'm going to use water analogies all

morning, so just get used to it. All things get

hydrated in Jesus, right? Some things get washed

and cleaned in my mind. Something shifts and

waves begin to hit my soul and my spirit. I begin

to come alive. Things become new in my body.

What happened on the inside even begins to show

up on the outside, in the exterior. And I don't

think the same. I don't move the same. I don't

live the same. I don't believe the same. I don't

do the same things I used to do. I've become

a new creation in Christ. Something has changed

when I get submerged by Jesus. And I love talking

with those who have recently been changed by

Jesus Christ. I get the opportunity sometimes

when somebody's brand new in the faith, they've

never come to faith before, they've never put

their faith and trust in Christ, and they get

wet, man. They get submerged in Jesus, and it's

an awesome thing to come and talk with them and

to listen to their story. And you can see and

you can sense the change that begins in them.

You can see something new starting to take place.

There's a new creation. There's a sense of newness

that's all around. They don't even know what

to do with it sometimes. And the Holy Spirit

begins to renovate from the inside out because

that's what happens in salvation. Holy Spirit

comes in and he begins to change. He recreates,

right? It's a new thing. And new things start

pouring out of their spirit, starts pouring out

of their mouth, right? Some things that used

to fill their mouth no longer fill their mouth.

The vulgar, right? And the vile disappear. And

all of a sudden you start to hear virtuous words.

come out. Gossip goes away and the gospel starts

to come out. I was in a coffee shop this week

at the Cracked Pot. Yes, I'm going to do a shameless

plug here. If you haven't gone to the Cracked

Pot in Carlisle, you need to. Stop in there.

Not only will you get coffee and something good

to eat, but you also get an opportunity to support

a ministry that does amazing things. All right,

commercial's over, but please stop in. All right.

But I was there this week and I was spending

a little bit of time preparing for this message.

And sometimes I just go to a coffee shop to get

away and study and read. And I was there and

I know some of you do this because some of you

are going to laugh. But I was kind of eavesdropping

on the conversation. It was about five feet away

from me. There was two people, individuals talking.

It was this young man that walked in and he was

talking to a woman who was probably, I'm going

to guess, roughly 20 years older than he was.

And they clearly knew each other. And I started

listening to this young man. And I didn't have

to ask him anything. I wanted to jump into conversation.

I'm not going to lie. I wanted to get into conversation.

Because he just started talking about Jesus.

He started talking about what Jesus did in his

life. And he's just telling this lady, he's going

on and she's just so excited. And he's telling

her. And then he starts talking about God's word

and how it changes everybody. And his speech,

his mannerisms, it was just spewing out of him.

And I'm just leaning, right? I'm leaning in and

grabbing ahold of everything I can hear. And

you can see it in everything he does. Somewhere

along the way, he got submerged in Jesus. I don't

know where it happened. I don't know when it

happened. I didn't get the chance to ask him.

I don't even know who he was pre -Jesus. I'm

sure it looked a lot different. But I know one

thing. I know what I saw post -Jesus. I saw a

young man who was submerged in Jesus Christ.

And it changed who he was. And it reminded me

of what we read in Acts chapter 4. Verse 13,

Acts 4 · chapter mention

and this is talking about Peter and John. Peter

and John were preaching the gospel, and they

got arrested, and they got brought in before

a bunch of leaders of that day. And it said this,

now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and

John and perceived that they were uneducated

and untrained men, okay, they realized these

guys aren't educated, but they marveled. And

they realized that they had been with Jesus.

These guys are standing in front of a council

group of people. They know they're not educated.

But everything about them says that these two

guys have been with Jesus. And all the leadership

saw it and knew it, right? When we submerge ourselves

in Jesus, everything becomes new at any age.

Even if you come to Christ in your old age, like

you're 40 or something, right? That was a little

joke, all right? You can get submerged, even

if you're very young. and you get submerged,

it'll start to show up in who you are. Even if

you're ancient like I am, because I passed 40

up a long time ago, right? If you get submerged

in Jesus Christ, it'll start to come out. Even

if you get re -submerged, we should get re -submerged

all the time in Jesus. Sometimes, how many know,

when you serve God for a long time, you just

kind of get dry and dusty, and you need Jesus

to come along with a super soaker, right? And

surround you again. And all of a sudden, people

start to see Jesus coming out of you. The joy

starts to come out, right? The joy of the Lord

is your strength. It's your strength because

it's what other people see in you. It really

is. And if we take a little closer to that first

verse I started with, which you hear quoted so

often, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If you start to look

at the verses before and a couple after. this

morning, we're just going to look at the ones

before. You start to understand, you start to

see what takes place when you get submerged in

Jesus. So if you got your Bibles, you can go

ahead, skip on back to second Corinthians five,

chapter one, or chapter five, verse one. And

I'm going to pick up and we're going to read

right on down to 17. It says this, for we know

that if the tent, now I got to stop right here

for a second. All right. I know I didn't get

very far, but when it says tent there, it's not

talking about your tent that you go camping in.

All right? Your tent is your body. Point to your

body right now. That's your tent. Look at the

person beside you. Point at them. Tell them that's

your tent right there, your tent. Don't laugh

when you say it. That's your tent. Okay? That's

your tent. So for this particular portion of

Scripture, know that. For we know that if the

tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we

have a building from God, a house not made with

hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent,

this body, We groan, longing to put on our heavenly

dwelling, an immortal body, really, if indeed

by putting it on we may not be found naked. And

it's talking in a spiritual sense. For while

we are still in this tent, in this body, we groan,

being burdened, not that we may be unclothed,

but that we would be further clothed, so that

what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Paul

is saying if I'm submerged in Jesus, if I'm in

this tent, if I'm in this tent now, in this body,

it's all good. It's all Jesus. It's all life.

And if one day when I die and I go to the other

side and I'm in Jesus, it's all good and it's

all life. I used to have a gentleman who attended

this church. He's passed on and went on to the

Lord. He always thought he'd come in every Sunday.

Pastor, it's a win -win. Man, if I live and I'm

here, and if next week I'm not here, it's a win

-win. He had a lot of heart troubles. He had

a lot of difficulties. And he died of COVID.

But it was a win -win for him. And that's kind

of what was being said here. Verse 5 says this.

He who was prepared for us for this very thing

is God, who has given us a spirit, this spirit

as a guarantee. That's the Holy Spirit. So we

are always of good courage. We know that all

the while we are at home in the body, we are

away from the Lord. For if we walk by faith,

not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage and

we would rather be away from the body and at

home with the Lord. So whether we are at home

or away, we make it our aim to please him. We

all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ

so that each one may receive what is due for

what he has done in the body, whether good or

evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord,

we persuade others. But what we are is known

to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

We are not condemning ourselves to you again

or commending ourselves to you again, but giving

you cause to boast about us so that you may be

able to answer those who boast about our appearance

and not about what is in the heart. For if we

are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are

in our right mind, it is for you. Now, the first

11 chapters is all Paul writing. And Paul hits

a lot of things really quick. But if I had to

summarize it, first of all, he was saying it's

all good in Jesus. Right? If you're submerged

in Jesus, it's good. It's good in life. It's

good in death. It's all good for a Christian.

And then he goes on and says the Father has sent

a guarantee in Jesus, and that's the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit comes to live and dwell

with you in salvation, that is God's seal. That

is God's guarantee that you are surrounded by

him. And he says it is our aim then to experience,

right, and to please the Lord. And knowing all

this, he said we're going to give an account

one day. We're going to stand before the judgment.

Now, when he's talking about the judgment there,

he's not talking about a judgment that has to

do with either getting in. It's not a heaven

or hell judgment. It's not a condemnation judgment.

When we go before Jesus as followers and believers

of Jesus, right, we go before the judgment seat

of Christ. He's just determining how much reward

you're going to get. He said, by the works that

you do. Now, I don't know if you know that. You

can study that out in God's Word. But it's talking

about reward for the works that you've done as

a believer and follower. And all this leads up

to verse 14. He sets the tone, right? That's

how Paul does. He says this, for the love of

Christ controls us, because we have concluded

this, that one has died for all, therefore all

have died. And he died for all, and those who

live no longer live for themselves, but for him,

for their sakes. died and was raised. What's

Paul saying? What's he kind of concluding? He's

concluding this. If we're submerged in Jesus,

it changes my primary function in life. If I'm

submerged in Jesus, it changes my primary function

in life. Verse 15 says, and those who might live

no longer live for themselves, but for him, who

for their sake died and was raised. I no longer

live for me. I no longer live for myself in Christ.

When I'm submerged in Jesus, my primary function

changes. When I get baptized in water, I symbolically

go down and I die to myself. right? My previous

primary function disappears, right? It's salvation.

And when I come up, that function is different.

The old is gone and the new comes. Galatians

2 .20 says, I've been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives

in me. And the life I now live in the flesh,

I live by faith in the son of God who loved me

and gave himself for me. My old primary function

is deceased. It has died. It is dead. I'm from

Western Pennsylvania. They would say it croaked.

How many ever heard that before? Yeah, come on.

It croaked. It's gone, right? The primary function

is gone. And everything changes. Everything changes

when the primary function changes. Now, you're

sitting in a building right now, and this building

has a primary function. It actually has two primary

functions. One, it's a church, right? You're

sitting inside a sanctuary. You're sitting inside

a church. But this is also, the rest of this

building is used on a daily basis during the

week for a Christian school. So the primary function

for this building is that it is a church and

it is a Christian school. It is a place where

people come to learn about Christ. It's where

Christian education takes place, right? But what

if that primary function in this building changed?

What if we decided one day, you know what? We're

going to make this Lifehouse Restaurant instead

of Lifehouse Church. How many know that would

change everything in the building? Right? Everything

would begin to look different. Everything would

change in its function. Everything would shift.

What was happening in the building? Who was in

the building, right? What kind of equipment were

used in the building? What things we do in the

building? Every purpose related to this building

and the structure starts to become new. It would

look, feel, smell, and seem completely like something

different because it would be. It changes it.

When we come to Christ, when we get saved, when

we get submerged, our primary function changes.

And along with that, so does everything else.

Now, listen, I know there's remnants of what

you looked like pre -Jesus, right? You've been

saved for a long time. You didn't change your

physical appearance, but everything else should

change. Galatians 2 .20, right? I've been crucified

with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but

Christ who lives in me. And oh yeah, you might

function as a mom, a dad, a husband, a wife,

a daughter, a son, a friend. Your career might

be exactly what it was before you got saved and

met Jesus. You may have the same hobbies and

interests. You may see the same face looking

back in the mirror every morning when you get

up and you go into the bathroom at your home.

But my primary function in Jesus will change

every aspect of the secondary functions that

I just mentioned. If your primary function is

in Jesus and you're submerged in him, your parenting

will begin to look different in Jesus. It really

will. My marriage will be different. My marriage

to Dixie should look different because I learned

how to love Dixie because I learned how to love

from Jesus, right? And not just trying to guess

or do it my own way. It will change how I function

as a son or as a daughter or as a friend. My

hobbies and interests might take a different

tone of priority in my life. If Jesus is primary.

If he's the primary function in me. He will change

every aspect of my secondary functions in life.

He truly will. Worship team, if you'd come. John

14, 6 says this. Jesus said to him, I am the

way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No one

comes to the Father except through me. When my

primary function is submerged. in all things

in Jesus Christ, it is my secondary functions

that begin to shift as well. And all of a sudden,

say all of a sudden, all of a sudden, my way

of life, right? Jesus is the way. My way of life

changes. It starts to look different in him.

It starts to look different when I'm submerged.

My truth changes. It's no longer about what my

truth is. It's about what's true because he said

it. My truth changes. My life changes. My life

starts to look more like his life. Starts to

take on more attributes, right? And I die to

me. And I gauge into all kind of things that

are Christ. His way, the truth, and life. And

the strange thing is, is that when I die to me,

and it's not until I die to me, Did I really

begin to live at all? See, things in Christ are

completely opposite of what you see out in the

world. It's completely counter -cultural to how

the world functions. You know, the enemy, Satan,

and really the word will tell us, you know, you

just got to live a little more for yourself,

right? If you indulge just a little bit more.

Sooner or later, you're going to hit the utopia

of a full life, right? It's just going to be

on the other side of this, whatever it is. How

am I going to know it never is, right? At the

most, when we indulge in those things, sometimes

it just becomes a cheap forfeit that is momentary

in nature. And we'll experience that happiness

for a moment. And we'll run back to it again.

And we keep trying to find it. And Jesus said,

it's the opposite. You keep looking for life

and thinking if you just live for you, you're

going to keep finding it. And he said, no, you

die. You die to you. And then you begin to live.

And it's true. The moment we begin to start letting

God surround us, Jesus surround us, and we die

to ourselves, we begin a brand new life in Jesus.

That's when he's submerging us, right? It's true.

I'm asked to be standing this morning. We're

going to get to baptism in just a little bit,

but I want to give you an opportunity. And if

you would right now, I just want you to bow your

head and close your eyes, and they're going to

begin to play some music softly. And today we're

going to celebrate nine people that have said,

I've given my life to Christ. I'm submerged.

Now, I know that's a process in life. I'm still

surrendering parts of my life in a weekly and

daily time frame. But it's somebody saying, I'm

going to start giving this all over to Jesus.

I realize I can't do this on my own. I realize

I can't fix my sin problem. I realize that I

keep chasing things that I think are going to

bring me life. And I think there's this utopia

right around the corner and I never get to it.

And it might be that you're following something

that's completely opposite of what God designed.

Because Jesus said, if you die to you, if you

let go of it all, you turn it all over to him,

and you commit to follow him, he said, you'll

really start to live. And it's true. There are

many, many in this house that would testify to

that. So with every head bowed and every eye

closed, if you're in this house this morning,

and you know that you're far from God, You know

that you've been chasing after life yourself.

You've been looking for it on your own. You think

it's around the next corner with the next thing.

I'm here to tell you, it's about surrendering

to Jesus. It's about realizing that you're lost

and you're in sin and you're far away from God

and that Jesus made a way. He came and died on

a cross. We celebrated it last week. He came

and died on a cross. He went into a grave and

he rose out of that grave to pay for your freedom.

He died so that you could live. So baptism's

all about he died so you could live. And the

word of God says that if you believe in your

heart and you confess with your mouth and you

commit in your spirit and you say, God, I don't

know what this is all gonna look like. Jesus,

I'm not sure how this is all gonna flesh out

in my life, but I want surrounded by you right

now. I want you to surround me. I want you in

every part of my life. I'm turning it over to

you. I'm gonna start doing things your way. I'm

gonna start looking at you. If that's you this

morning, And it could be for the very first time

or it could be a recommitment. I'm going to give

this over to you. All I'm going to ask you to

do, I'm not going to pull you up front. I'm not

going to make you go anywhere or do anything.

I'm just going to say this. If that's you, raise

your hand up right now. Put it up in the air

just as a way of acknowledging it. And then put

it right back down. Thank you for the honesty.

Thank you. Father, we come to you. In the name

of your son, Jesus, I thank you for each one

in the house. Lord, we want submerged. Lord,

for those, God, who raised their hand, God, I

pray that you just pour upon them this morning.

God, that you pour into their spirits. God, that

you pour into their lives. And Lord, God, as

they commit to you, Lord, as they call out to

you and say, I want you just in everything, Jesus,

just surround me. Fill me up. Fill me over. Lord,

I pray that you will. God, for those of us who've

been following you for maybe years or decades,

God, I pray, God, that we jump back in. Lord,

to the pools of baptism. And Lord, we just want

to be submerged. We want to be in all things

Christ. And Lord God, we don't hold any area

back. We don't try to chase anything. Lord, that's

out beyond you. And we just look to you. We just

give you praise. I thank you, Lord. If that's

you, just praise him. Just pray to him. Just

ask him right now in your own words. Lord, just

cover me over. Fill me up. Immerse me in Jesus'

name. In Jesus' name. Isn't he good? Thank you

for those who raised your hands. Appreciate the

honesty. I want to read some verse all the time.

I got reminded myself this week. Amen? Amen.

It's about baptism. It's about baptism. Thank

you for tuning in to this message from Lifehouse

Church. We pray that you were impacted powerfully

by this message. If you have been personally

affected by our ministry and you would like to

partner with us as we love God, love people every

day, visit our website at www .lifehousecog .com.