Sunday Mornings | Baptism Sunday

Thank you for listening to the Kelowna Christian Center Podcast.

Our desire is that today's message will be fresh and encouraging to you.

For more information on Case TC and how to connect, visit us at case.net.

This is our Palm Sunday.

We're excited to be in church this morning.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for this morning.

We give you thanks today, Lord, that you are for us, not against us.

And Lord, you've given us life, and if you've exchanged our death, our sin for eternal life, forgiveness, grace, mercy, we thank you, Lord, for a fresh start and a new beginning.

And everyone said, Amen.

You may be seated.

Well, we know that Easter is coming.

Easter is coming.

Despite what it looks like outside.

Easter is here.

I was kind of thinking about the kids doing next week.

They're having an Easter egg hunt.

And I was thinking it's going to be that much harder when it's like two feet of snow outside, right?

Hiding those Easter eggs.

But the scripture says that this baptism is a form of our worship.

It's a form of expression to God and to others that are around us that there's been an internal change.

And it's being made and expressed outwardly to the world, to neighbors, to friends, to family, that there's been a decision made to follow Christ.

And we celebrate this baptism, the baptisms of people today, because we believe that we're given something new.

Would you turn to your neighbor and just say new?

We've got something new.

We all like new.

We all like new.

New in the world, we is hard to come by.

Natalie and I, when we first got married, uh 12 years ago, we had a new house.

We had new paint.

But over time, that newness just evolved eroded away.

And so this week, uh I had the privilege of painting our bathroom.

It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon, you know, in the bathroom, painting, getting cutting around all the sides and the and the um all the edges, and and uh I I I realized that after time, you know, paint cracks, paint fades, things in life deteriorate.

But when the scripture says that you have something new, you have something new that becomes an eternal newness.

God has planted in us something that's new that will not fade, that will not crack, that will not deteriorate.

And this new that we have is new for eternity.

So we get this new, it's exciting to have this new life in Christ.

So according to some uh recent uh just research from some of the uh American uh statistics societies, there are a lot of people who actually identify as Christians.

Over 80% of Americans will call themselves a follower or a Christian.

And being a Christian is being in Christ and Christ being in you.

It's more than just a label.

Anyone can call themselves anything, but for us today, for those who are entering into the water of baptism, they're saying, I just want it to be more than just a label.

I want it to be more than just the name.

Some being baptized today, they've been uh following Christ for a lot of years, but they didn't make this decision.

They want to make it public, they want to create a moment and a milestone in their life that says, from this point on, I want you to know that I am a new person.

The old is passed away and the new has come.

Amen.

So we get this scripture, we get this idea of the new.

In fact, even in scripture, people who are baptized left with a new name.

They were given a new identity, a new beginning, a new start.

How many are grateful for that new, that new start, that new beginning?

And we believe that we've been blessed to demonstrate that today.

There's a lot of pictures in baptism, but we believe baptism is a part of our culture, it needs to be a part of our practice.

Number one, because the believers responded to the message in baptism.

They believed that in order to there needed to be some response to the message.

That if I believed this, I needed to do something about it.

I needed to demonstrate it in some way, form, or fashion.

Number two, Jesus himself was baptized.

He was baptized by John the Baptist, and he set an example for us to follow.

He set a model for us to follow, and so if he's done it, we too need to do it.

Number three, baptism is a way that we associate with Christ.

The scripture says, as many of you as been baptized into Christ, you literally put on Christ.

When I get up in the morning, I put on Christ, I put on his attitude.

I put on his legs.

Amen.

Thank you, Jesus.

I know some of you are jealous right now.

Put on Christ.

I know that when you get it, you put on his mind, you put on his thoughts, you put on his tongue, you put on Christ, you put on his heart, his compassion, his mercy, his empathy.

You put on Christ.

Number four, by being baptized, we associate with Christ.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

By associating with Christ, we associate not with the death, we associate with the life.

So this is a new beginning today for seven uh or six people.

Um I'd like you just to give a hand for Ben Galancy, Jeremy Brown, Janelia Brown, Aaron Anthony, Olivia Howard, and Jonah Spence.

So let's give them a hand, that's right.

Now, the way this is gonna work this morning is uh we've got uh the each of these can't each of these uh people who are wanting to be who've wanted to be baptized have actually spent some time doing a quick video.

Um and then we're gonna bring them into the tub or into the uh tub baptismal tank.

Uh we're gonna bring them into the baptism here and uh baptize them.

So the first one today is Ben Galency.

Ben, you can just sit while we watch your video.

I'm Ben Galency, and I got saved when I was probably about eight years old.

Um, but then I worked with YWAM for a couple of years, and in 2010 I did my discipleship training school with them, and that's probably the moment when my knowledge of God turned into an actual relationship with him.

When I was working with YWAM, um that was really the first time that I I felt like I encountered God in a personal way, where it shifted from me knowing about God and feeling like I was trying to reach for him, and finally my relationship became something where I was I was operating from relationship with God instead of operating for relationship with God.

Um it really changed my entire perspective on life.

Um I I found myself filled with hope.

Um for the first time in my life I felt like I knew who I was.

Uh probably one of my favorite verses in scripture is Zephaniah 3:17.

Zephaniah 3:17

Uh it says, The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save, He will quiet you with His love and rejoice over you with singing.

And um, again, during my time with Wywam, that was a verse that really stood out to me.

And for the first time, I I had this image of God actually delighting in me, and that was something that was a totally new concept to me.

I really think that one of the most important things for me looking forward is just that I get to continue to live from that place of response to what God is already doing.

That He's He's got an invitation for each one of us, and for me, I'm just excited to continue pressing into His heart and discovering what is that invitation.

And so I was baptized as an infant, and really that's basically more like child dedication.

It doesn't really, there's there's no part of that that was me making a decision to publicly profess my faith.

And I remember after um after really encountering God in 2010, I uh I knew that something had shifted, but I never did anything to act on that.

I never I never pursued baptism.

And um just over the years I've been, you know, every time that I read through the gospels or every time that I read through Acts and I come to these passages about baptism, something inside me just kind of leaps and just makes me go, oh, this is something that I haven't done yet.

And you know, when you grow up in a Christian environment, you uh sometimes you just think like, well, I guess I missed that because I'm here now and I'm already a leader and all this kind of stuff.

But um, yeah, I'm just I'm really excited to be able to take this step and to um just publicly share with everyone just the testimony of the fact that I am dead to myself and now raised in Christ.

So let's uh invite Malachi and Ben into the water.

He's back.

Chuck, check.

So Ben, by the confession of your faith, we stand here as representatives of Jesus Christ.

Thank you.

And we baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to be uh buried with him in the likeness of his death, and to be raised and to be oh, sorry, I gotta baptize me.

And to be raised to new life.

Let's give a hand for Jeremy Brown.

Come on in, Jeremy.

I'm just gonna get you just to um Jeremy.

Can you do that for a moment?

It's called yes.

We want you to feel the death of baptism.

Uh why don't you uh just uh it's okay, yeah, you can come on in again.

That's great.

Um so why don't you just share a little bit about uh the time that you came to uh find Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?

Well, good morning, church.

Um yeah, I'm still a little bit jet logging, tired, but I'm here.

Um, I just want to say first that um God's timing is on point.

Um jet logged, but I'm here today, and I think I'm at the right point, right place, right time.

Um growing up, I've been in a family of believers, and um pretty much everyone has been uh baptized except me.

Um so I'm pretty much like the follower, and everyone asks, uh, why am I not baptized?

And I was like, um I'm not just not feeling it, I don't know you know what everybody is seeing.

And I've been in Kelowna about four years and um been in many churches, and I think it's about three years ago I've been to KCC, and I think it was Pastor Ed that was preaching, and there was just something he was talking about family, and um just the way he was conveying and you know the way you carry yourself for God and stuff, it just kind of connected with me at that point, and pretty much ever since then I've been here.

Um and you know, again, my family structure, and um there's a verse.

There's a I think it's Exodus 2012.

Um I don't know it by heart.

I'm good, I'm not that good.

Umor your father.

Yes, that's a good one.

Um so you know that kind of resonated with me for a while.

Um growing up, I have always tried to ensure my earthly father is proud of me and um, you know, stuff like that.

So um pretty much at this point I want to ensure my heavenly father is also proud of me.

Um so that is why I'm here today to ensure that is the path I'm taking.

Amen.

That's awesome, Jeremy.

Based on the confession of your faith, Amalachi and I stand today as representatives of Jesus Christ.

If Jesus was here today, he would be baptizing you.

And so today, we baptize you into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to be buried with him in the likeness of his death, be risen into new life in Christ.

Amen.

Now, Jeremy has a special uh opportunity here to be actually be baptizing his daughter.

So come on up in here.

Jamelia.

So do we we have a video for you?

Do we?

Let's watch.

My name is Janelia, and I gave my life to God and asked Jesus to be my savior and friend when I was five years old.

It was one night when we were having our devotion, and I realized the great sacrifice that Jesus made dying on the cross for our sins so we didn't have to die for them.

Psalm 23, the shepherd's song, the Lord is my shepherd, he gives me everything I need.

He lets me lie down and feels a green grass.

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He gives me new strength.

His shepherds rod and staff comfort me.

He repairs a feast for me right in front of my enemies.

He pours oil on my head, my cup runs over.

I am sure that my that his goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

I can show my dreams about the Bible, and I can tell them about the scriptures and Jesus.

That that was really great.

Let's give her another hand.

Alright, so you you're a little deeper down there, aren't you?

Can everyone see her?

We got a good picture in the camera.

Good.

So I'm gonna get you to close hug your nose a little bit.

That's right.

So, based on the confession of your faith, your dad and I stand here today to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, to be buried with him in the likeness of his death.

Be risen into newness of life.

Now we have a veteran here in the faith, uh, Mr.

Aaron Anthony.

Come on in.

We'll play the video for him.

My name is Aaron, I've been saved for 10 years.

So I was uh raised in church uh my whole life, didn't really fully know what I believed and why I believed it, and uh didn't live it either, um, especially in my late teens and early 20s.

Ten years ago, when I got saved, I was hanging out with my wife for the first time, and uh she was just radiant with the love of God, and I just I wanted that, and immediately I went home and repented and basically rededicated my life to the Lord and fully committed with my whole heart.

I was able to break free of a lot of things that I had been holding on to using to fill that void where Jesus wasn't in my life and where I wasn't actively pursuing him.

I guess to me, um there's multiple examples of this in the Bible, but uh I've always just loved how God uses the least of us to do great things.

He uses um murderers, he uses liars, he uses a donkey if he has to to do his work and to get his point across, and that's always inspired me.

For me, um the thing that I really feel that God has called me towards and that I'm excited for is uh to be a family man and to be um a father whose kids know that uh their dad loves the Lord and to just set that example for my family and for others.

So I've I've wanted to get baptized for probably five years now.

Um it just hasn't really worked out timing-wise, and uh for some reason it's just it's working out great now.

So yeah.

So anyone who knows Aaron knows he's a real public speaker and loves being in front of people in these times, but I just want to say, Aaron, before people, that the the the when the Father, when Jesus was baptized, it says the Father looked down from heaven, he says, This is my son in whom I'm well pleased.

And we just want to just speak that over your life today, that this is your you're the son, and the father is pleased in you.

And so, Father, today we baptize Aaron based on the confession of his faith.

Father, that's so rich and deep.

We thank you, Father, that you love him so much.

We baptize him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to be buried with him in the likeness of his death.

So next we have Olivia Howard.

Hi, my name is Olivia.

I became a Christian four years ago.

I got saved at their regen conference in Chilliwack, and I felt overwhelmed by God's love, and I felt safe in his presence.

After regen, I started to be more kind with my sisters.

Um, I started to do more things through him and I became more friendly with people and started understanding them and reading my Bible more.

My favorite scripture is 1 Corinthians 13, where it talks about love is patient and love is kind, it does not envy and it does not boast.

It just talks about God's love and how it's never gone and it's always there with me.

In the future, I see myself serving God by doing missions, trips, and becoming more into youth and with the church.

I'm starting small right now being on a worship team, and I hope to grow with God and with the church.

I want to get baptized because with I've gone farther with my faith with God and I've asked him into my heart, and I feel like baptism is the Next step, and I feel like God was whispering in my ear to get baptized.

So I just felt like now is the time.

So Olivia is a part of our youth group here at KCC, and uh when she asked me to baptize her, I started crying.

I was like, I've never had that happen before.

Um and so it's just an honor for me to stand here with her, and uh, as most of you know, and even in the video, just to see how much joy she has as a at such a young age that she, you know, one thing I felt for her is like that she's gonna be a world changer just with the joy that she brings into places, and so we're so excited for you to take this step and be here with you.

So, Olivia, um based on the confession of your faith, Brody and I stand here as a represent representation of Jesus Christ, and we baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit to be buried with him in the likeness of his death and raised to new life.

Alright, Jonah, you're up.

Hi, I'm Jonah, and I probably I've been I've been a Christian all my life, but mainly just like half a year ago I got kind of got really saved.

Uh when I truly met him, um it wasn't so much I seen him, I heard him, but I felt his presence around me.

So my favorite verse is Romans 8, 37 to 39 in the King James Version.

Um I just like it because of how it says that there's nothing in this world, no one in this world that can take away the love of Jesus from me.

So I'm excited to serve him and take a message to the next generation or the current generation, whatever.

I just want to serve him by helping others trying to find him and love him and know that there's someone out there who is caring and loving and I will always believe in you when they come, when someone comes from a place of a tough family or a tough just a tough life in general.

The reason I want to get baptized is because I just want to live that life.

And under him in his loving arms.

I I wish I could have done it long ago, but face has kind of pulled me different directions many times and made me say no no and then finally many months ago I decided this is something I wanna do, and I'm just gonna do it.

I'm so proud of Jonah.

He's uh him and Ben have been also part of our youth team, so I've had the opportunity to you know get to know Jonah.

I haven't known him for that long, but he's an awesome guy, and I'm I'm pumped to be here with him, and as I'm sure Brody is too.

So Jonah, uh, by the confession of your faith, um Brody and I stand here as representatives of Jesus Christ, and we now baptize you in the name of the Father, with the Son, with the Holy Spirit, to be buried with him in the likeness of his death.

To be raised to life.

Let's give a heaven to everyone that got baptized.

Love it.

I was getting so emotional on the front row.

It's so awesome.

I was looking around even during worship, and I was like, man, I love seeing all the family, all the friends that have come to support wherever you came from.

It's so awesome to see family joining family to say, we're gonna stand with these people, we're gonna love these people, we're gonna support these people, and in Jesus' name, we're gonna see these people do great things.

Amen.

Just give them one more hand.

I love it.

And if you're new to this experience, maybe you just came to watch someone get baptized and you don't even know what you're doing here or what they're doing.

Baptism as birdie was sharing is just a simple way that we're saying we believe in Jesus, that we're coming to the point where we're celebrating Easter, that we actually get to take part in that, that just as Jesus died for our sins, we are dying to all of our sin, we're dying to everything we did wrong, and by the grace of Jesus, we're alive in Him now forevermore.

We're covered by His grace, we're covered by the cross, and that is something to celebrate.

Let me tell ya.

So if you are new here or you're new to this experience, I would encourage you.

We really want to get to know you.

If you have questions, we'd love to answer them.

Don't leave today just thinking that's cool that somebody got wet in a tub because it's so much more powerful than that.

And I want to encourage you to talk to someone that did it, talk to someone and ask why.

What's this all about?

What's this faith about?

If you're new to this church, like I said, we want to get to know you.

And we have this really cool system here at our church where if you're new and it's your first time, we buy you a coffee.

So I want you to make the coffee bar team work harder than they've ever worked today.

Go out there, there's gonna be someone at the connection center, they would love to meet you, get to know you, and then they're gonna take you to buy a coffee.

So I want to go out and see all y'all getting coffees so that we can get to know you and you can get caffeinated, alright?

Alright, it's also Mission Sunday at our church.

We have a lot going on, but our church is a church that also really strongly believes in missions.

So we're gonna watch a quick missions video update and see what's been going on.

Hey KCC, it's uh Mission Sunday, and uh this church was really built on the scripture in Isaiah 61 where we're the Spirit of the Lord is upon us and he's anointed us to preach good news, to heal the brokenhearted, to uh set prisoners free, and uh rebuild wasted cities and wastelands.

And one of the ways that we do that here at KCC is through our missions program.

And uh Building Beyond Borders is our KCC missions program.

Annually, we have about a$211,000 budget.

50% of that,$107,000 of our budget is raised outside the church.

And the other 50%, about$104,000, comes from our Sunday morning offerings.

Those Sunday morning offerings have huge impact in the world when you give.

And so uh, if you actually took about 200 people giving, it would only be$43 a month to accomplish our budget.

And so that's not a lot.

Some people can give$10, some people can give$80.

But I say this to just give us a perspective of what uh our missions entail.

This month coming up, we've got some exciting things going on.

We're raising$6,000 for our GCP program going to Mexico.

42 of our kids are gonna be in Mexico for six weeks.

We're raising$100 for our Gideon's Bible.

We're raising about$7,000 this month is going towards our ministries in Israel, and that's feeding the poor, that's clothing them, that's also paying for rent in a persecuted church.

We're raising about$6,000 towards our ministry in Africa.

And uh, so Carl and Kathy are going to be going away next month to Germany and to Spain, and so here are some of the initiatives that we have coming up right away.

And our challenge to you is to say, hey, what can you do to help?

Ask the Lord, Holy Spirit, what would you have me do with the finances that I have to help make a difference in the church and in the world?

And so uh God bless you, consider what you're gonna give, and uh your reward will be in heaven, but you're gonna hear great testimonies here on earth of what's happening.

Thank you.

Awesome.

So we're gonna give you guys an opportunity to sew into that today, to sew into what we're doing in missions, to sew into the people that are out representing us and representing Jesus in all different parts of the world.

I think it's so exciting that we actually get to be partners in Kelowna.

We can stand here and make a difference in all these different things that we're doing.

Amen.

So we're gonna invite the ushers up at this time.

If you would like prayer after the service, there's gonna be people at the front around the tank.

You don't have to get in it, but you can come and get prayer from someone, talk to someone.

We really just want you to know that like this represents something so much deeper and so much greater.

And what these people have done is so exciting because they're just letting you know you get to be witnesses to one of the greatest stories on earth that Jesus saved a wretch like them, he can save a wretch like us, that his mercy is never ending, and there's a great story that we don't want you to leave here without feeling like you're a part of it.

So please find one of us, grab one of us, come up around the front, because we'd love to pray for you.

All right, let's pray.

Father God, I thank you for everything you've done in and through us today.

God, I thank you for every single person that made us stand to get baptized, to rededicate their life to you, to let the world know that they love you, that they're called by you, God.

We thank you for them.

I pray you would bless them.

God, I pray that they would see even the change in their life, in their spirit, in their heart, that they'd know without a shadow of a doubt that you're with them, that you're working in them, that you have grace upon grace for them.

God, we just bless them in Jesus' name.

God, I thank you for every seed that's being sown here today.

I pray that you would bless it.

You would multiply it, God, you would put it to good work in the missions and the people that are doing the missions for us, God.

We pray that you would strengthen them, even as we're sowing into them, that they would feel your strength for them in Jesus' name.

Everybody said, Amen.

All right, we're gonna watch some video announcements.

If you are a lady in the house, we have ladies' retreat coming up.

You're gonna see an announcement for it.

It's really awesome.

But we want you to sign up so we can make sure we have numbers.

So you're gonna find Savina, Dania, Natalie, everybody is gonna be in the back.

You can sign up, it's gonna be awesome.

We're gonna have a great time, and now we're gonna watch a video announcement.

What's up, KCC?

I'm here with my boy Brian.

Hey, and we're here to talk about the upcoming youth event, Camp Oasy.

So when's this happening, Brian?

In my pamphlet, it says this is happening from June 8th to 10th.

And how much does it cost?

Again, in my pamphlet that I have, it says it costs$90 before May 15th and$100 afterwards.

And how do I sign up for this awesome camp?

Well, you can contact Malikai, which he has his information in the back of his pamphlet, or you can pick up a pamphlet from the front desk.

Alright, Brian, so I heard there's a way to get into the camp cheaper.

That's right, it doesn't stay in the pamphlet, but on May the 5th, we're doing a Car Watch fundraiser at Canadian Time.

Alright, so you can sign up for that fundraiser through myself or one of our life peer leaders.

That's all we have for you today.

But don't forget, you can get a pamphlet because you get a pamphlet, you get a pamphlet, and you and you and you.

Hello, ladies.

Just another reminder to register for our women's weekend coming up April 13th to the 15th.

Pastor Diana Tripkee from Victory Life will be speaking, and some of our very own ladies will be leading us into worship.

If you're not yet connected here at KCC, I would encourage you to come out to our treat and meet some of our women as well as other amazing women in the city.

All the information as well as how to register can be found on the events page of our KCC website or our app.

Early bird registration at March 24th, which may seem like a long time, but it will go by very fast.

Don't wait until the end.

Bring someone with you, plus one.

Amen.

Turn to them, say may the Lord bless you.

May the Lord keep you, may his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you, and give you peace.

Have a great week.