“Water Baptism—It’s Time to Advertise!” by Jelani Lewis

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

If you have your Bible, I want you to go to the book of Matthew, chapter 3, and we're gonna start at verse 6.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

The book of Matthew, chapter 3, we're gonna start at verse 6.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

As you are making your way there, I have to tell you something that happened last Saturday morning.

Okay.

I decided, I woke up Saturday morning and I decided I wanted to take my entire family to our neighborhood swimming pool.

And so we go out to the swimming pool that morning, and I realize about an hour into it that my tan is perfect.

I don't need to stay here any longer.

And so I said, listen, I'm gonna go home, and I took my two daughters with me, but I left my two sons with my beautiful wife, Erin.

And so what I found out is that after I left, apparently my four-year-old son, his name is Justice, and he is basically potty trained, but every now and again he has an accident, you know what I'm saying?

And so what I found out is that Justice, uh, in the middle of the pool, surrounded by kids and adults, he squats down, and then out of nowhere, he just yells out, Mommy, I'm going potty.

And apparently everybody ran out of the pool like it was Jaws, it was a mess in there.

But it's so funny because kids say the most fascinating things sometimes, right?

And and recently I heard a pastor talk about this little kid coming up to him and saying, he meant to say, Pastor, I want to be baptized.

But instead of saying, Pastor, when can I be baptized?

He says, Pastor, when can I be advertised?

It's funny, but I want to give some credit to the kid because he's on to something.

See, the reality is that the Bible tells us that when we are water baptized, we actually advertise.

We actually advertise Jesus, amen.

And so today we're going to talk about uh one of the pillars of our faith, and it is water baptize or water baptism.

And the title of the message is Water Baptism, it's time to advertise.

Water baptism, it's time to advertise.

Why don't you look at your neighbor at every campus?

Just look them in the eye right now and just say, it's time to advertise.

It's time to advertise.

Why don't you look at your other neighbor who is your second choice that you don't like as much and just tell them you need to advertise too?

You need you need to advertise too.

When it comes to the subject of water baptism, there are often a lot of questions surrounding it.

And and what I want to do today is really just explore three questions around water baptism.

And the first one is, what is water baptism?

What is water baptism?

In the Old Testament, there were ritual cleansing ceremonies, but the first time that the word baptize or baptism is actually used is found in Matthew chapter 3, verse 6.

Matthew 3:6

And the context is with a guy by the name of John the Baptist.

Now, how many of you have heard of John the Baptist before, okay?

John the Baptist, the that that Baptist title behind his name is not a denomination, it's actually an indication of what he does.

And so he would baptize people, and initially what he would do is he was preaching and calling people to repentance and to have their sins washed away.

And so they would gather at the Jordan River.

And here's the first mention of the word baptism.

Here's what it says in Matthew chapter 3, verse 6.

Matthew 3:6

It says, and when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

The word there that's translated baptize is the Greek word baptizo.

And baptizo originally wasn't a religious word.

In fact, it was a secular Greek word that simply means to immerse or to submerge or literally to dip under.

It carries with it this connotation of being overwhelmed or fully wet.

It's kind of like the way I like my Oreo cookies, okay?

I don't know how many of you out there like Oreo cookies.

Can I see your hands every canvas if you like Oreo cookies?

Look at the real Christians in the house, okay?

So we don't typically have Oreo cookies in my home, and the reason is because when we get them, I take them out of the package, I put them on a plate, I preach the gospel to them, and then I take them one by one and I baptize them in milk.

I make sure that they are saturated in soap, and then I enjoy the fruit of my labor.

But but the idea is just immersion, it's to dip under.

So when we talk about water baptism, we're talking about immersing or dipping under water.

And this is what you see in scripture.

We actually see this when Jesus is baptized.

This is Matthew chapter 3, verse 16.

Matthew 3:16

It says, After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were open, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, settling on him.

The phrase there, up out of water, communicates the idea that Jesus was actually under the water.

He was immersed.

We see the same thing in the book of Acts, chapter 8, when Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Now, if you don't know what a eunuch is, the person sitting next to you would love to tell you about that after service.

You can ask them.

But when Philip baptizes the Ethiopian eunuch, the scripture says this in Acts chapter 8, verse 38.

Acts 8:38

It says, He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

He went down into the water.

Why?

Because he was immersed.

I remember one of my pre professors at uh TKU, shout out to the King's University.

Two people, great, praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord for that.

Um, but one of my professors at the King's University, he was talking about how he would water baptize people, and he said, Listen, when when I would dunk them or dip them under water, he said, I wouldn't harm them, but I would hold them there long enough so they would come up happy.

He's talking about immersion.

And I remember thinking about that, and I was reminded of an experience that I had just last year when I was able to baptize my two oldest kids.

And uh, I'm gonna show you the video, and I'm gonna forewarn you that my wife decided to go Steven Spielberg on us, and she added music to it and all this stuff, right?

But but I want you to watch this video, and I specifically want you to watch my uh sec the second baptism, which is with my oldest daughter, and watch how she responds when she comes out of the water.

So let's turn our attention to the screen.

I praise when I'm short.

I praise when I'm number.

So she came out and she was so excited, right?

Now, now the question is, why was she so excited?

Well, it's because she understood what baptism means.

And that actually leads us to the second question, and that is, why is water baptism important?

Why is water baptism important?

If you uh look up the word baptizo in the Greek and look how many times it's found in the New Testament, it's actually found about 81 times.

In the book of Acts, it's over 21 times.

And remember, the book of Acts is really about the early church and the move of the Holy Spirit there.

And so this tells us something about how important this particular word is and water baptism is.

And what I want to do is I just want to give you two reasons.

This is not a comprehensive list, but I want to give you two reasons why water baptism is so important.

And here's the first one Water baptism is a declaration.

Water baptism is a declaration.

When we talk about a declaration, declaration simply means to make known or to announce publicly.

It is what I experienced with my four-year-old son that I told you about earlier.

Uh, at the beginning of this year, he decided to make a declaration in our home.

So I started coming home from work, and listen, I'm the first to admit I have a dad bod, okay?

I'm starting to work out a little bit.

I'm trying to get myself together.

But when I came home early in the year, I would come home from work, and my little four-year-old son would run up to me and he would put both of his hands on my belly and he would jiggle it.

He would just start jiggling it.

And it was so frustrating, right?

He'd just jiggle it every time I came home.

And then one day he moved past just jiggling my belly, and he said, I'm gonna make an announcement.

So literally, he jiggles my belly, and then in front of the whole house, he says, Dad, you have a big head and a chunky belly.

And it's actually not that funny, church.

That was that was hurtful.

I was very hurtful.

I felt so disrespected by my little four-year-old child.

I was so upset that that night that I decided I'm gonna do some crunches before I baptize my Oreos this time just because I was so hurt.

But what did he do?

He just makes this public announcement.

Dad, you've got a big head and a chunky belly.

It's a declaration.

Now, I want to remind you about something, church.

That in the Bible, there is no place that ever says that our faith is private.

Our faith is personal, but it never says our faith is private.

In fact, the Bible actually says the opposite.

In Psalm 107, verse 2, the psalmist says, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

Psalms 107:2

In fact, I love how the New Living Translation says it.

It says, Has the Lord redeemed you?

Then speak out.

Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.

Now, let me pause for a moment and let me just remind you that you have been redeemed.

You have been rescued, you have been bought with the price that through the blood of Jesus Christ you are redeemed.

And that's a good place to say thank you, Lord.

Amen.

Listen, we do not need to be silent about that.

We should be proud and we should speak it out.

We are the redeemed.

Jesus even echoes this when he says in Matthew chapter 10, verses 32 and 33, he says, Everyone who acknowledges me where?

Matthew 10:32

Just say it out loud.

Publicly.

Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my father in heaven.

But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my father in heaven.

Look, look, this is personal, but it's not private to Jesus either.

And guess what?

One of the ways that we actually say so, one of the ways that we speak out, one of the ways that we go public is actually through water baptism.

You see, in water baptism, we are declaring that I've decided to follow Jesus.

Water baptism is an outward expression of an inward transformation.

Water baptism is an advertisement that I was once lost, but I'm now found because of Jesus Christ.

And so when we talk about making a declaration, that is what water baptism is.

It's a declaration that I've decided to follow Jesus.

We see this in Acts chapter 8, verse 12.

Acts 8:12

Going back to Philip, Philip is actually preaching in Samaria right here, and he says, But now the people believed Philip's message of good news concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.

As a result, many men and women were baptized.

Now I want you to notice something first.

It says that Philip preached and many believed.

It says they believed first.

In fact, whenever you find belief and baptism in the same sentence, belief always precedes baptism.

This is why we believe in believers' baptism.

That people that have made a decision to follow Christ.

And the scripture says that they believed.

And what did they believe?

They believed the good news.

Now, I want to remind you of what the good news is.

The good news actually starts off as bad news.

Because the bad news is that the Bible says that we've all sinned, we've all fallen short of the glory of God.

We've all done things that are wrong.

And sin separates us from God.

But God loves us so much, and here's the good news that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to come to the earth to live a perfect life and to die, be buried and resurrected so that we could be forgiven, so that we could have a relationship with him, and so that we could spend forever with him in eternity and expand his kingdom on the earth.

And listen, that is good news.

And all we have to do is to receive that is to place our trust in him.

I remember when this happened for me as a teenager.

I grew up in church, but how many of you know you can grow up in church and not have a relationship with God?

And that was me.

I'd grown up in church, but then something happened when I was in high school.

The quarterback of my high school football team got radically saved.

Because he had also grown up in church, but but he was really living a double life, and one night he has a dream, and in this dream he sees this long line of people.

And this long line of people were actually going to hell.

And and he realized that that long line of people they were going to hell, and these were people that he was supposed to lead to Jesus.

And so when he woke up the next morning, he said, I am no longer playing games, I am surrendering my life to Christ.

And God turned his life right side up, and he was the first young person I'd ever seen live for Jesus.

And listen, I didn't have all the answers, but when I saw his life, I said, Lord, if he can do it, I can do it.

And I said yes to Jesus.

And I surrendered my life to Christ.

But that's the good news.

And he says, so they believe, they believe the good news, and then listen, the scripture goes on to say, and as a result, many were baptized.

In other words, their response to receiving salvation was to immediately go and get water baptized.

They were declaring that I have decided to follow Jesus.

This is why many theologians refer to water baptism as the wedding band of Christianity.

I've got my wedding band on here.

I actually have three wedding bands, all right?

And it's not because I have three wives, I just have one amazing wife who's sitting right here.

I love you.

But but the reason why I have three wedding bands is because when we first got married, uh, I would wash the dishes and I would take off my wedding band, or uh, I didn't like sleeping in my wedding band, and so I would leave it and then get on the road and realize the next day like I've forgotten it.

And so I decided, listen, I'm gonna buy one and keep it in my drawer, I'm gonna hold one with me, and I'm gonna always have one in my car, okay?

And I do all this work, but here's what I know: this wedding band doesn't make me married.

It doesn't.

It's the commitment or the covenant I made with this beautiful woman right here back in 2011 on December 30th that makes me married.

We made a covenant before God.

It doesn't make me married.

However, this wedding band lets everybody else know that I'm married.

This wedding band lets everybody else know that I belong to Aaron.

And guess what?

Likewise, water baptism doesn't make you saved.

In fact, Paul is very clear about that in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 9, verses 8 and 9.

Ephesians 2:9

It says, For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not by works.

So there's nothing that we can do so that no one could boast.

So baptism doesn't make us saved, but what baptism does is it lets everyone else know that I'm saved.

It lets everybody else know that I've decided to follow Jesus, it lets everyone else know that I belong to Jesus.

So water baptism is a declaration, it's declaring I've decided to follow Jesus.

Here's the second thing that why water baptism is important.

Water baptism is identification.

Water baptism is identification.

Now, someone once said that confession is good for the soul, but bad for the reputation.

So at the risk of my reputation, I'm gonna confess something to you.

Uh, this just happened a couple of weeks ago.

I dropped my daughter off at gymnastics practice, and uh I was on my way back towards the house, and I was driving, I came over a hill, and going down the hill, I noticed that there was a police officer right there.

He looks at me, I look at him, he turns the lights on, and he just does his head like this to go, you know.

And so I pull over, and of course, the first thing that he wants is identification, right?

So I give him my license, and then and then he says to me, Do you know why I pulled you over?

And I said, I don't know.

And he said, You were going 15 miles over the speed limit.

I said, Really?

Me?

Shocked, right?

I was like, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.

And then he asked me a question.

No one, no, anytime I've ever been pulled over by a police, they've never asked me this question.

But he asked me this question.

He says, He's looking at my uh driver's license, and he says, What do you do?

And I'm thinking, okay, I went 15 miles over the speed limit.

That's not good for a pastor.

I'm gonna tell him I'm a life coach.

I'm a life coach, that's what I do.

But I said, I said, Well, I'm a pastor.

And he said, Oh, really?

And then and then he said, and what church?

And I said, Gateway church.

And he said, I've heard of that church.

And then he said, You know what?

I'm gonna make a deal with you.

He said, I'm gonna let you off with a warning if you promise to pray for me.

I said, sir, I pinky promise to pray for you.

I put my hand out the window, I laid hands on him right there.

I started praying in the spirit, I pushed him down.

I didn't do all that, I didn't do all that, but I just started praying for him, right?

And I've been praying for him ever since.

I'm like, thank you, God.

But the reality is that the first thing he wanted was identification.

Now I tell you that because you may or may not realize this, but when you look in the New Testament, often when people receive salvation, the first thing they did was get water baptized.

Why?

Partly because water baptism is connected to identification with Jesus.

Let me show you this in the scriptures.

This is Romans chapter 6, verses 3 through 4.

Romans 6:3–4

It says, Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ in baptism, we join him in his death.

For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism.

And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also live new lives.

Colossians chapter 2 says it like this in verse 12 for we were buried with Christ, or you were buried with Christ when you were baptized, and with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God who raised Christ from the dead.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

You were dead because of your sins, and because of your sinful nature was not yet cut away.

Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all your sins, he canceled the record of the charges against us, and he took it away by nailing it to the cross.

Come on, you can thank God for that right there.

Because water baptism illustrates a believer's identification with Christ, death, burial, and resurrection.

You see, going into the water, it is burying the old man, our old self, and coming up out of the water, we are resurrected in the new life that Christ has for us.

Listen, this is great news.

This is why we can celebrate 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone be in Christ, guess what?

He is a new creation.

The old is gone, the new has come.

This is why we can celebrate Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, because it talks about how I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

Galatians 2:20

When we are water baptized, we are burying the old man.

And we are being raised up to new life in Christ.

We identify with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

I love how the great preacher Charles Spurgeon talks about water baptism.

He he said this I thought I could have leaped from earth to heaven at one spring when I first saw my sins drowned in the Redeemer's blood.

I want to show you something powerful about our identification with Christ in water baptism.

Look at this.

This is Luke chapter 3.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

We're continuing that story.

Verse 21.

It says, One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized.

As he was praying, the heavens were open, and the Holy Spirit in bodily form descended on him like a dove.

And a voice from heaven said, You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.

Now, this is Jesus being baptized.

And he's being baptized by John the Baptist.

And so what we have to understand is that John's baptism was actually a baptism of repentance of sins.

The problem with that is that Jesus never sinned.

So why would Jesus be water baptized?

Well, there's there's several reasons for this.

One of them is that Jesus is actually modeling for us.

Another reason is that this created a moment for God to confirm Jesus' Messiahship.

But here's the other reason.

I believe that one of the reasons why Jesus was water baptized is because he wanted to identify with us.

He wanted to connect to our humanity.

And guess what?

When we are water baptized, we identify with Jesus.

So now think about this.

We just talked about how we are in Christ when we receive salvation, and that we identify with Christ in water baptism.

What did God speak over Jesus when he was water baptized?

You are my dearly loved Son, you bring me great joy.

Now, this is very interesting because what had Jesus done up until that point that really communicated he was the Messiah or the Savior?

Nothing.

He hadn't preached a sermon, he hadn't done a miracle, he hadn't cast out a demon, and he hadn't gone to the cross.

Jesus had done nothing other than come to the earth and be water baptized.

And God says, I'm speaking over you.

You are my beloved son.

You bring me great joy.

But wait a minute, Jelani.

Aren't we in Christ?

Wait a minute, Gelani.

Didn't you say that that when we're water baptized, we identify with Christ?

Do you know what God speaks over you?

You are my dearly loved son.

You are my dearly loved daughter.

You are my dearly loved child, and you bring me great joy.

Water baptism is identification.

And this leads us to the third and final question.

And that is, what stands in my way?

What stands in my way?

Now, this is actually not a question that's original to me.

This is actually a question that the Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip right after he received salvation.

Here's what it says in Acts chapter 8, verse 36.

Acts 8:36

It says, As they traveled along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, Look, here is water.

What can stand in the way of my being baptized?

Let me ask you today, what stands in your way?

What stands in your way?

For some of us, we may just say, Well, listen, I I didn't come prepared this weekend.

I didn't come prepared.

I'm not ready for this.

Here's the great thing.

We came prepared.

We actually have everything that you need.

We've got a change of clothes.

Everyone that gets water baptized, you'll get to uh receive a shirt like this that simply says made new.

We've got shorts for you, we've got hair products for those that need it.

I'm good, but if you need it, we've got hygiene kits, we have everything that you need.

So even if you feel like I didn't come prepared, guess what?

We prepared for you.

Don't let that stop you from being water baptized.

Maybe some of you uh today you would say, Well, I was I was baptized when I was an infant.

Maybe you were sprinkled or or had water poured on you.

Can I just tell you, first of all, we honor your parents for doing that.

Because what they were doing is they were actually dedicating you to the Lord.

They were committing to raise you in the way and the word of the Lord.

And so we honor them for that.

But you know whose choice that was?

That was theirs.

That wasn't your choice, that was their choice.

Now listen, Jesus, he was dedicated at eight days old.

But at 30 years old, he made a decision to get water baptized.

Can I just tell you that even if you were baptized as an infant and you have now made a decision to follow Christ, you getting water baptized today doesn't disrespect or dishonor what your parents did.

It actually honors them because it's the fruition of what they had always hoped for.

You following Jesus.

See, I was actually baptized three times.

That's because I clearly have serious issues, right?

Um but I was baptized once when I was a kid.

Uh I was baptized just a few years ago in Israel.

We were at the Jordan River, and I'm like, I just have to get baptized like Jesus, right?

But then when I was a young adult, I kind of came to a place in my life where I really felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me, and there was a real sense of Jelani, it's time to re-up, to recommit.

And when I did that, I went to a pastor who was over the campus ministry that I was involved in, and his name is Matt, and I asked Matt, I said, would you water baptize me?

And so about nine o'clock at night, one night, with a bunch of other people involved in the campus ministry, we drove out to a lake, and he baptized me as I re-upped in following Christ.

And maybe, maybe you've been water baptized before, maybe you were baptized as a kid, but if you sense the Holy Spirit speaking to you today, I want to encourage you, don't wait, don't hesitate, get water baptized.

Maybe, maybe you're here and you're you're saying, well, what stands in my way is I've never placed my faith in Christ.

I've never received salvation.

When a moment, I'm gonna lead us in a prayer.

And I'm gonna give you an opportunity to do that because here's the reality water baptism is actually a command.

I don't know if you know that.

I want to read you what Jesus said.

This is Matthew chapter 28, verse 18, verses 18 through 20.

Matthew 28:18

It says, Jesus came and told his disciples, I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you, and be sure of this.

I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

What's Jesus saying?

He's saying, if you're gonna be a disciple, you're gonna get dunked.

Disciples get dunked.

You need to be water baptized.

Listen, water baptism is not a courtesy, water baptism is a command.

I want to encourage you today to get water baptized.

In fact, I want to tell you one last story about a young lady who decided to obey the command of Jesus and get water baptized.

I heard this from the gentleman that I just told you about, Matt.

I connected with him just a couple years ago.

He was in Dallas speaking at a conference, and I heard him share this story there.

And he talked about this young lady who was actually born blind.

And she went off to college.

She ended up at one of the colleges that he was ministering at.

And she got around some Christian friends and they invited her to come to a retreat.

And at the retreat, some students gathered around her and they began to pray that God would heal her.

And as they're praying for her, something miraculous happened.

All of a sudden, she began to see spots of light.

And she had never seen spots of light before.

All she had ever seen was blackness, and so she begins to see spots of light.

Well, after that happens, she decides I'm gonna commit my life to Christ.

And then she feels led to take the next step and get water baptized.

And so they baptize her a couple days later.

And as they're getting ready to baptize her, they begin to pray that the Lord would continue the work that he began.

And so my friend says that they baptized her, and when they brought her up out of the water, he had noticed that when they went to immerse her, every part of her body went under the water except for this, right around her eyes.

And at first he said, I was just gonna leave it alone, but I felt like the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, No, I'm doing something here.

And so he said, Hey, listen, I feel like we need to baptize her again, so let's do this.

And this time they fully immersed her and brought her up.

And all of a sudden, when they bring her up, she starts to rub on her ears and she starts to wipe her eyes and she says, Wait a minute, wait a minute.

I see faces.

I see faces.

No, she didn't see color at the time.

She just went, I see faces.

And it was so powerful because when she got in the car with her friends going home, she saw trees and she she would point out, are those trees, are those trees?

They would say, Yes, those trees.

She had never seen trees before.

Is that a building?

Yes, that's a building.

And they realized that her brain had never processed visual stimuli.

She gets to school and she's like, I'm done with this cane.

And so she starts walking the class without her cane, and her and her classmates and uh professors are asking her, What's going on?

And she starts telling them about the healing power of Jesus.

And here's what's amazing, church is that later on, my pastor friend Matt finds out that her mother had had a prophetic vision and began to speak this over her.

And she actually said, Listen, you're gonna go to college.

And when you go to college, you're gonna get around some believers and they're gonna start to pray that the Lord would heal your eyes.

And not only that, you're gonna be baptized, and you're actually gonna be baptized twice.

And God is going to heal you progressively because He's going to continue to heal you as you declare his goodness and his healing power.

And listen, here's why I tell you that story today.

I tell you that story not to say that everyone who gets water baptized today is going to be healed.

I tell you that story not to say that the power is in the water, but I tell you that story because I want to remind you that the power is in the God that we serve, that He still works miracles, He still heals, He still opens blinded eyes.

And if we will do our part in the natural and obey, I believe we will see God's supernatural.

And so here's my question for you today.

Are you ready to advertise?

Are you ready to publicly declare your faith?

Are you ready to identify with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection?

Are you ready to be water baptized?

I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes.

And I ask you to do that just so you have a private moment with God.

We're gonna do two things.

Some of you are here, first of all, and you would say the the thing that stands in my way is as I do, I need I need to receive salvation.

Or maybe you'd say, I need to recommit my life to Christ.

In a moment, I'm gonna lead you in a prayer to do just that.

It's a simple prayer of surrender and inviting Jesus to be your Lord.

But I want to ask you a question with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, if you would say, at every campus, Jelani, today, I want to receive salvation.

Today, I want life and purpose.

Today, I'm ready to surrender my life to Jesus.

I'm not asking if you go to church, I'm not asking you if you're a good person, I'm asking you about a relationship with God.

If you would say, today I want to do that, or if you'd say, I made that decision a long time ago, but today I want to recommit my life to Christ.

Every campus, I just want you to raise your hand right now because I want to include you in a prayer.

You don't need to be embarrassed.

I want to give my life to Jesus.

Amen.

I see you.

Just raise your hand up high.

I'm I'm today, I'm giving my life to Jesus.

Today I'm surrendering my life to Christ.

Today I'm saying yes.

Amen.

Amen.

You should be proud.

You don't need to be embarrassed.

It's the best decision you'll ever make.

I'm I'm doing this today.

You can put your hand down, and I'm gonna lead us all in a prayer.

In fact, even if you didn't raise your hand, I want you to say this out loud.

But those of you that raised your hand especially, we're just gonna pray this prayer of surrender and receive salvation.

Would you just say this with me out loud?

Just say, God, thank you for sending Jesus to die for my sins and raising him on the third day, so that I could be forgiven, so that I could have a relationship with him, so that I could spend forever with you in eternity.

I surrender, I give you my life.

Have your way in me in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Now listen, listen, I want you to keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed just for one more moment.

Because I want to ask one more thing.

There's some of us today that as I'm sharing, you know I need to be water baptized.

Maybe you just made a decision to commit your life to Christ.

Okay, we're gonna do that.

Or maybe you were baptized as a kid.

But you know today is the day.

You don't need to delay.

Don't let pride, don't let insecurity get in your way.

You need to be proud.

This is the best thing ever.

If you would say, Gelani, at every single campus, I know I need to be water baptized.

And today I'm gonna do that.

Would you just raise your hand up high?

Every campus, raise it up high.

Amen.

Amen.

Raise it up high.

You know I need to be water baptized.

Amen.

Amen.

Love it.

Listen, I'm gonna pray.

And as I pray, then we're gonna turn it over to the pastors at the campuses.

But Lord, I just thank you, first of all, for so many people saying yes to you for salvation.

But secondly, for touching the hearts of men and women that know today I need to be water baptized.

Give them the courage to publicly proclaim and advertise.

I've decided to follow you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.