Baptist Distinctives: The Significance of Baptism and the Lord's Supper

Man, I'm thankful for the blood of Jesus. Aren't you? And again,

what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Spurgeon's

favorite song was There is a fountain filled with blood drawn

from Immanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath the flood

Lose all their guilty stains. I'm thankful for the blood of Jesus.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Appreciate

that song tonight. If you put in your Bibles, turn to Romans, chapter

six. And we're back again in our study of the Baptist distinctives.

And we are getting close to the end. And some of you are saying,

man, that's good. I have had lots of questions through this series,

and I'm thankful for that. And if you do have a question, don't

hesitate to ask. There are a few more. I believe there's still

some back there, may be covered up now. So there's some stuff

there on the bookstore shelf back there of the 12 Baptist distinctives.

Again, I've adapted these from Brother Stewart's material and so

certainly want to give him credit where credit's due. But. And

sometimes if you was to look this up or Google it, Baptist distinctums,

a lot of times you'll come up with people will come up with 8 or

9 or 10. And so there are varying degrees of the list. And

so some of the list is combined in other lists. And so Brother

Stewart, as he would normally do, breaks it out. And I'm truly

thankful for the influence that Brother Stewart has had on my

theology. And that's because it's Bible theology. I'm thankful

for a man who has studied this out and loves to share it with others.

And so one of Brother Stewart's philosophy is, if I could

get into you what it took me 30 years to learn in a year or two,

man, you're way ahead. And I've always loved that philosophy,

Brother Stewart. So anyway, if you would again, Romans, chapter

Romans 6 · chapter mention

6. A little look at verse 3. Know you not that so many of us as

were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death.

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. That,

like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the

Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. For

if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,

we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing

this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body

of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve

sin. Tonight's Baptist distinctive is I'm going to combine

two of them is baptism and the Lord's Supper. And I know these two

will be pretty simple for most of you. And you know we've heard

teaching, preaching on this multiple times. But again, that Baptists

believe there are only two ordinances, and that is Baptism and

the Lord's Supper. You say. Well, there's others that believe

different from that. Well, there's a. There's a group that believe

in foot washing, that foot washing is an ordinance. Ew, just

not. Yeah, to each his own, I guess. But it's nowhere found in

the Bible. And again, there are some revisions, if you would,

or some twisting of even the two ordinances of baptism and the

Lord's Supper. We'll cover some of that as well. All right,

let's pray. Heavenly Father, again we pray the Lord that you bless

the reading of your word. Bless as we preach tonight. Give

wisdom. Help me to say exactly what you'd want me to say. May we

again see the importance. Baptism and the Lord's Supper, these

two wonderful ordinances that you have given to your church in

Jesus name. Amen. Again, there are only two ordinances, Baptism

and the Lord's Supper ordinance. What does that mean? Well,

it means an order or a rite. And so the Bible nowhere infers that

the two ordinances are in any way a sacrament, especially the Lord's

Supper, not a sacrament. And we'll distinguish that here in a

moment. Both are New Testament ordinances and not a reconfiguration

of some Old Testament washing or an Old Testament offering, food

offering or meal offering or whatever it may be, but came directly

to John the Baptist baptism and to the church, and came directly

from the Lord when it comes to the Lord's Supper. Of course we know

that they came, took the Lord's Supper in the upper room before

Christ was crucified the first time. I thought it was as I studied

this time on that Lord's Supper. We talk about again that

not taking the Lord's Supper unworthily. We're not gonna spend

a whole lot of time on the Lord's Supper tonight, but not taking

the Lord's Supper unworthily. The Bible makes it very clear that

you should be careful when you take the Lord's Supper, that you

are right with God. And if you go back and you read the portion

of Scripture there in John where they are in the upper room,

you have Jesus washing their feet. Many other stories, but the

actual breaking of bread, the Lord's Supper itself took place after

Judas left The room. And I just think again that I never really

thought of it. I guess I never gave it much thought that again that

Jesus Christ would partake or bless the bread and the juice after

the one whose heart wasn't right left the room. That was cool.

Anyway, that's for free. Baptism. Well, what is baptism? Well,

we know baptism primarily is a picture of the life, death, and resurrection

of Jesus Christ. And again, I use that outline. It's a passageway

into the church. Makes you a member of the church. It's a public

declaration of your faith. It's a picture. And then in First

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

Corinthians, chapter 11, we read the passage there about the

Lord's Supper. And let's go over and read it real quick. Look

at Second Corinthians. Go over a few chapters here or a few books.

First Corinthians. Make sure I get it right here. That would be

Second Corinthians. Nope, it is 1 Corinthians, chapter 11. I was

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

looking. My notes actually say the right thing. First Corinthians,

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11. And verse 20 says, and when you come together, therefore,

into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating,

every one taketh before other his own supper, and one is hungry

and another is drunken. In other words, he's correcting them.

They were taking the Lord's Supper. They were doing it as a drunken

feast, basically. And he's saying, if you're going to eat supper,

stay at home and eat supper before you come and partake of the

Lord's Supper. All right. Then he says, verse 22. What, have you

not houses to eat and to drink in? And despise ye the church of

God and shame them that have not. What shall I say to you? Shall

I praise you in this? I praise you not. For I have received of the

Lord that which I also delivered unto you. That the Lord

Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, okay,

when they were in the upper room there, before he was betrayed

by Judas in the Mount of Olives there. And when he had given

thanks, he brake it and said, take, eat. This is my body which

is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. And after the

same manner also he took the cup which he had supped, saying,

this cup is in the New Testament in my blood. This do ye

as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as oft as

ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death

till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall Eat this bread and

drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the

body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself,

and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For

he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation

to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause, many

are weak and sickly among you, many sleep. For if we would judge

ourselves, we would not be judged. For when we are judged, we

are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the

world. And goes on. So again, baptism. The Lord's Supper. The Lord's

Supper was. Is taken with unleavened bread. The Lord's Supper

is taken with grape juice. The unleavened bread again, picturing

the body of Jesus Christ. The grape juice, the blood of Jesus Christ.

They do not. The Lord's Supper is not a sacrament by that. It's

not perpetuating the death of Christ. It's not becoming the flesh

and blood of Jesus Christ. That's transubstantiation, all right,

Transubsption. That's what the Catholics believe. The Catholics

believe that the bread and the blood become the blood of Jesus and

the body of Jesus. It's called transubstantiation. They also believe

that the Lord's Supper is a sacrament and that it conveys grace,

that it conveys salvation. Everybody see that? So what we're

saying again is the Bible makes it very clear that salvation

is by grace, through faith and nothing else. And just kind of weird.

There's nowhere the Bible makes it that says that literally

becomes the body and the blood of Jesus. No, it's symbolic. We know

that. A like figure. Baptism is a like figure. The Bible says

so. Both are acts of obedience. Acts of obedience. Both

the Lord's Supper and baptism. Baptism. One of the things we don't

point out enough about baptism is baptism does convey to us that

there is more to this life than just. There's more than. Salvation

is more than just heaven. Salvation is more than just heaven.

And we just read that there in Romans, chapter six, that we have

been baptized. We have been resurrected with him to what? To

walk in newness. Verse 4 says, Even as we also should walk in newness

of life, we've been raised from the dead as Christ was raised

from the dead to walk in newness of life. God wants us to

go forward. God wants us to go forward in our Christian growth.

God wants us to go forward in our. Because we are Standing in Christ,

we now have all the tools we need, all the information we need

or the tools we need. The information we need, at least at

our disposal, to grow in the Lord Jesus Christ, to be that new

person, to have that new beginning. We've been born again.

Now we're to walk in newness of Life. Romans, chapter 6. Baptism

Romans 6 · chapter mention

does not wash away our sins, neither does it picture the washing

away of sins. And so that is a misnomer that has been taught in

many different denominations and churches that baptism pictures

the washing away of sins. It doesn't. Baptism pictures the death,

burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We know upon trusting

Christ that we are again walking in newness of life, that

we are to walk in him in Ephesians, walk in love, walk circumspectly,

walk in the light. We're to walk worthily, we're to walk in him.

Jesus Christ, the Lord, desires that we walk with him. How

can two walk together, lest they be agreed? Until you get saved,

you cannot walk with Jesus. And once you get saved and begin

that new life and receive that new nature, you have the opportunity

and delightful opportunity to have a relationship with God. Now

that Jesus Christ is your mediator, he desires that baptism

is a picture primarily, and then the Lord's Supper observed by

church members in good standing with God and with others.

So again, if you're going to take the Lord's Supper, as we just

read a moment ago, do not do so unworthily. You ought to make

sure. That's why we have an invitation. During the Lord's Supper,

it's important that you take time to make sure that you're walking

with God, to make sure the sin is out of your life, that you're

fellowshipping with him because he did say. He said some

are sick among you because you have taken of it unworthily. So we

are to be right with God and we're right with our fellow man as

we partake of the Lord's Supper. Every church member, how

often do we take the Lord's Supper? This question has come up

a few times as I visited some of our new visiting families. How

often do we take the Lord's Supper? Well, some. Some do different

things. There are some denominations that take it every

Sunday. There are some who, you know, choose to do it every fifth,

you know, fifth Sunday or some we have chosen. We do it a couple

of times a year, sometimes three times a year, usually around

Christmas and Easter. Because we just read it a moment ago there

in Corinthians, it says, as Oft as you do this, it doesn't give

you a specific time. And I would say to you that I think we

ought to be careful about how many times that we partake of the

Lord's Supper every year. Because too oftentimes it's practiced.

If it's practiced too much, it fosters familiarity. In fact, it

could even foster indifference. In other words, it

just becomes a habit, just becomes part of it. Then it could

also be the other way. It could be practiced, not practiced

enough so that it's a strange thing and you're, you know, especially

a kid or somebody who may forget. And so it needs to be often

enough to be a little bit familiar, but not often enough to

be indifferent. Familiarity is one of the curses of being a Christian.

A long, long time. Familiarity is one of the problems with being

in a church, any kind of church, a long, long time. We get

used to the songs and we get used to the preaching, and we get

used to those things. We get familiar with holy things, and they

don't. They don't impact us as much. It's kind of like if you were

to live in Colorado Springs, man, you drive. You drive up the

interstate there to Colorado Springs and coming out of Texas and

Mexico, and you drive in and all of a sudden you see those mountains.

And I am still blown away every time I drive up there. It's

just amazing, isn't it, to see the Rocky Mountains? Maybe some of

you have lived up that direction before, but it don't take

long. If you buy a house in Colorado Springs and you live there

for a few years, you'll find yourself just so familiar with the

mountains, so familiar with the pine trees, and it just won't

have the impact that it used to have. And that's sometimes what

happens in a church. So when it comes to the Lord's Supper, I

believe there needs to be a balance in that and being careful

that you don't do it too much. But also, it's not just one of those

rare things every few years that you do, but it is says as often

as you do this. So it can be whenever the pastor and church would

like to do that. The Lord's Supper and baptism, both are observed

to focus on Christ. Both are observed. The primary focus is Christ.

That's where the focus should be. When a person's being baptized

in the Baptistery, when they walk down into that baptismal. They're

walking down into a grave, they're walking into the waters,

the wrath of God, the flood waters of God's Wrath again. Peter

describes baptism as a like figure unto Noah's flood. So we really

have two different figures. They're like figures that are illustrations

for us. One is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus

Christ. The other is the ark and Noah coming into the ark and

his family being saved from the wrath of God. That rain was God's

wrath upon sin. But because Noah and his family got in the ark,

they came into the ark, they were safe from God's wrath. Because

I am in Christ, the ark is a picture of Christ. Because I accept

Christ as my Savior, I am placed in Christ, and therefore I

escape God's wrath upon sin. When I go into the Baptistry, I'm

walking into a grave. I'm walking into the flood waters of

God's wrath. And when myself or Brother Stone takes that person

and puts them under the water, it pictures them going into God's

wrath upon sin, the floodwaters of God's wrath, the grave.

And then when we bring them up, it pictures them escaping God's

wrath, escaping the grave. Why? Because they've been in Christ.

Because they have accepted Christ as their Savior. The focus

is Christ. The focus isn't the person. The focus is Christ. His

death is burial and his resurrection. That should be the

focus. When it comes to the Lord's Supper, again, there are some

denominations who really put a lot of ritual into the Lord's Supper.

Some even have smoke and just all sorts of things. You know, I'm

talking about not smoke as in the contemporary churches that do

smoke on the stage. I'm talking about the censor, you know,

smoke. And there's a lot of liturgy that goes into it. A lot

of pomp and circumstance, lot of other things. And if you're not

careful in those instances, you get caught up in the liturgy.

You get caught up in the hubbub of it. Instead of the person.

Instead of the person, we keep it simple. We keep it simple on purpose.

It's about Jesus. It's not about the pretty stuff or anything

that I say or anybody else says. It's not even about the music.

That night, we really even toned down. We don't do as much music.

It's about Jesus. The focus is to be on his body that was bruised,

beaten and battered. For us, the blood that he shed on Calvary,

the blood that is significant. And we know it's significant because

the Bible makes it significant. Without the shedding

of blood, there is no remission of sin. But the blood,

in addition to his death, proves that he really died. He died

he was dead. He died bodily. He didn't swoon, he didn't pass out.

He wasn't an apparition. He was a man in a physical body who

physically died, who the Roman soldier pierced his side, that all

of his blood and water would run out, proving he paid the ultimate

price for our sins, for our debt, that he took the wrath of God

for us. They took him off the cross, placed him in a tomb, and

we know the tomb couldn't hold him. Three days later, he rose again

from the dead, having paid for our sins in full. But the focus of

baptism is Christ. The focus of the Lord's Supper is Christ. It's

again to get us refocused. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full

on his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely

dim in the light of his glory and his grace. We sang that hymn

tonight. It's a great hymn, one of my favorites. Again, we think

about Peter walking on the water and what great faith it took

for him to step out of the boat, by the way. But as he got to

look at the storm, got his eyes off Jesus, began to sink, right?

I'm thankful when he said, lord, save me, God, you know, the

Lord saved him right away, but you got to keep your eyes on Jesus.

The Lord's Supper baptisms, one of its purposes, its primary

purpose is to show us the Gospel, to refocus our brains, our

thoughts on Jesus Christ, and to do it over and over and over again.

Sunday morning, we're going to have baptism again this Sunday morning.

I'm so thankful, man. Lots of baptisms last year, lots of baptisms

this year. But again, the focus is Jesus reminding us of the

Gospel. And then when we think about the Lord's Supper and baptism

and how many other denominations and others have taken

these two ordinances and has twisted them, whether it's the Catholic

Church who took the Lord's Supper and made it a sacrament, are

again just really twisting it and making it into something it wasn't

at all, biblically speaking, but also baptism as well. And we

have no license to change baptism. We have no license to change

the mode of baptism. We have no license to change the Lord's Supper

into a sacrament or, you know, into anything else. We should follow

the Bible. What does the Bible say? What does the Bible convey that

baptism is? And what does the Bible convey that the Lord's Supper

is? And we stick to that. Who gave man the right to change the

meaning and mode of the ordinances? We have no right to do

that. We follow The Bible, what does the Bible say? Well, the

Bible makes it very clear that the Lord's Supper, that the bread

is symbolic, that it's a picture, that it's an analogy of

the body and the blood of Jesus. The Bible makes it very clear

on baptism, that baptism is a picture of the death, burial and

resurrection of Jesus Christ. That in no way does it save you.

Baptism does not save you. Baptism doesn't get you any closer

to heaven than you were before you got wet. All you did is get wet.

We have no right to change it. We have no right to change the meaning.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are just big neon signs saying, remember

Jesus, Remember his death, burial and resurrection. Remember

the body that was broken. Remember the blood that was shed.

It's just a big neon sign every time we partake of the Lord's

Supper or you see the baptisms on Sunday and is to focus, focus,

focus, stay focused. I need that. I need to stay focused, focus

on Jesus. We have no right to change the mode and meanings of the

two ordinances. I'll give you our theme verse for this study that

I did not do earlier on purpose. But here's the theme verse.

We've quoted it every sermon so far. Second Timothy, chapter two

and verse two. Again, listen closely. Here is Paul. He's teaching

young Timothy, a young preacher, and he says to Timothy,

the things that thou hast heard of me, among many witnesses,

the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to

teach others also. If you do turn to this passage in second Timothy,

chapter two, verse two. There's two words you should circle.

You should circle the word thing and circle the word the same,

the same, the thing, the things that thou has heard of me.

The doctrines, the teachings that you have heard of me. Timothy,

that same teaching, those same doctrines, the same teach to others

also. Commit to faithful men who shall be able to teach others

also. Everybody see that, the importance of that, the wording of

that verse. I am to take the same things that I have learned,

the same things, the doctrines, the teachings of the Bible,

and I'm to commit those to faithful people, and they'll commit

that to faithful people who will commit that to faithful people.

But it should be the same doctrines because it comes from the

Bible and not from man. Very, very important that we see the importance.

Very, very important that we see the importance of staying with

the Bible. Not tradition of men, not tradition of men. The Lord's

Supper, the Lord's Supper again, remind you of the Lord's Supper,

its meanings We Think about the sinless sacrifice. When you think

about the Lord's Supper, we think about the grape juice and the

unleavened bread, the grape juice that has not been fermented

and the unleavened bread which has no leaven in it. A picture of

the sinless person of Jesus Christ, that he was indeed without

sin, without error, without worldliness. Again, pictures. The

body of Christ. And I've already mentioned this, we won't

cover this again. But just like ours, he had a body, and we

sin in this body. And sin must be paid for in a body. The blood

that he shed, he fully gave his life for us. He gave all. He

was the burnt offering, truly gave all for us. There are illustrations

of this in the Old Testament. But again, analogies, previews, foreshadows,

and that we see those in the sacrifices of Judaism. We see that

in the Day of Atonement when they sacrificed a bullock and they

took the blood of that bullock and the priest would go into the

holy of Holies one time a year and sprinkle the blood on the mercy

seat more than once, but sprinkle the blood. We think about

the Passover. Remember the story there in Egypt, God was going

to kill the firstborn. He said, take you a lamb, tie it up

to your house for three days, then sacrifice that lamb, put the

blood on the doorposts, and. And when I see the blood, what I

will pass over you. It's a great preview, a great picture, foreshadowing

of what Jesus Christ would do for us on the cross, how he would

shed his blood for us. But understand that was Old Testament.

That was Old Testament, an Old Testament ritual. And those Old Testament

rituals lost their meaning. The Old Testament rituals lost their

meaning. Therefore, they lost their message as the priests stopped

teaching what the ritual meant. As the priests stopped teaching

what the ritual pictured and what it previewed. The coming Messiah.

As they stopped doing that, they got caught up in the ritual

and not the meaning of the ritual. Everybody with me, again,

we use that analogy at Christmas they got so caught up in

the packaging of Judaism and, and they forgot the present. They

just like the, they liked the liturgy of it. They liked all the

pomp and circumstance instead of keeping focused on the Messiah

who was to come. So we think again about the ordinances can be

vulnerable to the same thing if we're not careful, right? Just

as the Old Testament right. Rituals became meaningless, they

just became rituals. So the ordinances can too. And that's why

we should protect them, make sure we declare over and over and

over and over again. And maybe you get tired of hearing it. Baptism

picture the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The

Lord's Supper pictures the body that was beaten and battered

and bruised for us and the blood that he shed on Calvary. And

that meaning is the most important thing. Jesus Christ is

the most important thing about the ordinances. I think about, again,

baptism, A like figure, a like figure of the death, burial and resurrection

of Jesus Christ. We know that does not convey grace, that it does

not save us because Christ submitted to it. Christ had no sins

of his own. Why would he submit to something that would wash

away his sins when he had none? We know baptism is by immersion

only. I'm going to conclude with this by the way, the belief

that baptism saves you is heresy. I just want to make that

very, very clear, publicly clear. Internet to our church, believing

that baptism saves you is heresy. It's not found in the Bible.

The ordinance of baptism, the Lord's Supper, help us to stay focused.

It helps us to remember as a church and as Christians individually,

to stay focused on the Lord Jesus. The two ordinances help us

to obey. We are commanded again, as oft as you would, but we

are commanded to partake of the Lord's Supper as Christians.

We are commanded as a church to provide that for our church membership

as we see fit. Because it says as often as you do, but it is an

act of obedience, just like baptism is an act of obedience. I

don't necessarily believe, like maybe some preachers taught

in the past about baptism being the first act of obedience,

but it is an act of obedience, a very, very important act of obedience.

Because Romans says that when you accept Christ as your Savior,

you're picturing the death, burial and resurrection. And that

picturing of the death, burial and resurrection is so that you can

walk in newness of life. Not just heaven, but walk in newness

of life here. What an abundant life it is. And how can you start

that abundant life and that new life in disobedience if you haven't

been baptized yet? I know around here we're careful with kids.

We're going to continue to be careful with kids. When we first

started Heritage, I had a few members because I was so picky with

kids. I got accused of. In fact, one of the phrases that was

used was preacher. You just think of a kid has to be a theologian

to get saved. I said, no, I do not believe that a kid has to be

a theologian to get saved. But I do believe they have to know. They

have to have Some information. We don't want them just to pray a

prayer, because prayer doesn't save you. Just praying something

out your mouth doesn't save you. It's the faith behind the prayer

that saves you. Amen. Prayer is the key to heaven, but faith unlocks

the door, man. So we're careful with. We are. We've always

been that way. And very early on, I was asked, well, my child got

saved when we're going to baptize him. And I always said to

the parent, and some of y' all know I've done this with you. I said,

that's entirely up to you as a parent. Whenever you want to see

your child baptized. Well, do I need to do it right away? I don't

believe that. I think you could wait if you would like to see

some fruit in that child's life, if he would like to. We did

that especially with our youngest one. We waited two years.

I'm not saying that's what everybody should do. I'm just saying

it's an act of obedience. Peter says that if you don't get

baptized after you get saved, that you will be bothered. Holy Spirit's

going to show up at your door and continue to knock at your door

and tell you you need to be baptized. You're going to be convicted

about it. Your conscience is going to bother you. Right. Because

why you're starting this new life. It's an act of obedience that

you've been commanded to do. I hope that you've been baptized. I

hope everybody in here has been saved and baptized. And then

lastly, the two ordinances foster unity in the church. Foster

unity in the church. How, preacher? By keeping us singular

focused. What is that? It's on Jesus Christ. His life, his death

and his resurrection. The gospel. The gospel. Singular focused.

Why are we here? Are we here to fellowship? Yes. Are we here to

be taught? Yes. Are we here to serve? Yes. And I could go on and

on and on. But primarily, why are we here? To share the gospel.

When we walk out the doors, what are we to do? Are we to serve?

Yes. We to do our very best to spend some time with our neighbor

and friends and family and fellowship with other Christians.

Yes. And I could go on through the list again. But I'm telling you,

when you walk out the doors of the church building, I remind you

that you are a missionary and you have a message. We're all preachers.

We're all to preach the message of Jesus Christ. To tell

others of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To

give them the good news of the gospel, life changing news that they

can have new beginning, that they can have their sins forgiven,

that they can have a home in heaven. What greater news could you

give than that? The good news of salvation. The two ordinances

keep us singular focused. It'll keep us from, you know, this.

It'll keep us from. Well, I don't like this and I don't like

that. And all those things could. Some of those things could

be justified. But if all of us are lined up as an army and we're

all singular focused and we know, we know what we're commanded

to do and we stay focused on giving the gospel, discipling and

baptizing, we won't have time to be disgruntled. Amen. Amen. God's

so good keeps us singular focused on. All right, let's all

stand. Have a verse invitation tonight. Love the hymn 161. You have

to find a hymn book if you don't know it. Softly and tenderly

Jesus calling After we pray Heavenly Father, we come to you Again

having a need to be singular focused, Lord, it's so easy to get

distracted by the world and the flesh and the devil. I pray God

that you would enable us by your spirit as a church to stay focused

on you and the gospel and your work. I pray Lord, that for someone

here tonight who may not know you as their savior, I pray they

trust you tonight. Maybe there's someone here tonight who's

never been baptized. Maybe they've accepted Christ but have

never followed through, never have taken that step of that act

of obedience. And Lord, may they do so and present themselves

tonight. And Lord, we thank you for all you've done in Jesus

name, Amen.