Baptism | Pastor Chris Kouba & Pastor Jerbin Romero

Well, good morning, United City.

How are we doing?

Happy New Year to you.

Welcome to 2025.

We're so grateful that you've come and joined with us in worship.

If you've got a Bible, grab it and open it up with me to Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 28 is where we're going to be in just a moment.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

I'm telling you, I hope that you are ready.

I hope that you are ready for an incredible worship service today.

God has already been moving big time in our uh 830 service, and we saw just an incredible response.

Uh, and we believe that's just what we do.

This we do this every year, beginning of every year.

We just try to pause for a moment and just kind of highlight uh some of the ministries of our of our church, and specifically one that the majority of you probably aren't thinking a whole lot about because you come to the 10 o'clock service and this happens at one o'clock in the afternoon.

But that is our United City Espanyol.

We've got an amazing ministry that we launched just a few years ago.

Last year was a very big year for us because we hired German Romero to be our Espanol pastor, who you're gonna hear from in just a moment.

We're gonna do a little team preaching today uh in two different languages because we are one church in two languages.

I actually read an article this past week that said in the last five years in Northeast Houston, the Spanish-speaking population has grown 20%.

20%.

And our mission statement at United City is everyone every day crossing every divide to live united in Christ.

And so a couple of years ago, we we decided that we didn't just want to sit in our English services and tell the Spanish-speaking people to cross the divides to come to us.

So instead, what we wanted to do is we wanted to mobilize and we started a service that allows us to cross every divide to go to them.

And God has been faithful and he has been meeting us, and you're gonna be able to hear a little bit about what God has done in the midst of our church, and it is one of the many things that we have the opportunity to celebrate in 2024.

Turn your attentions to the screen and let's just thank God for a second for all that He has done.

Take a look at this.

One of the things that we were really excited about, you may have noticed that on the video is the baptisms.

285 baptisms, which is a record from last year, which was a record from the year before, which was a record from the year before.

We make a big deal about baptism here at United City Church.

We prioritize it, we celebrate it, we highlight it, we make a big deal about it.

We think it is a significant thing for somebody to go and to do.

And what I want to consider the question today, though, is this why do we care so much about baptism?

Like, why do we care so much about baptism?

I mean, it is something, again, that just the amount of attention and things that we do, it's very clear it is a priority for us.

There are a number of different reasons.

I want to give you two of those, though, today.

And I want to show you where this comes from.

In Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20, this is known as the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:18–20

It says, And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

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

This is the mission of the church.

This is what we're supposed to be all about.

If we're making a highlight video of what we should celebrate, this is what should make the highlight video.

Notice the very first word of this commission is to go.

We had an incredible year of attendance at our church.

We had an incredible year of small group attendance at our church.

We've grown in every numerical capacity that you possibly can have.

But we don't just celebrate more people coming to the room.

We celebrate more people being sent into the community.

Because ultimately we know the goal is not just that we receive information, the goal is that we are transformed and can be able to go and ultimately to make disciples of all nations.

You notice the video, one of the things that we highlighted was how many people went on serve day, how many people went on mission trips, how many people have been mobilized in prison ministry, how many people have been able to experience the gospel of Jesus Christ, where they don't just come and get told a good story for them to go not make any changes in their life, but instead for them to be able to hear a story that can radically change their life, that can give them a new perspective on their neighbors, a new perspective on their family, a new perspective on their coworkers, a new perspective on their classmates.

Where they see the entire world differently, all because of this message of the gospel.

I want you to see that the point here is not that we just rally and celebrate, but that we rally and then we are sent.

This is why United City Church, we measure and celebrate growth.

We don't apologize for talking about numbers because we believe that a living, growing organism should be a growing organism, and thank God He is allowing us as a church to be able to see the opportunity for people to come into a relationship with Jesus and then ultimately to be able to express that through the testimony of baptism.

Baptism is in the list of the things that should be the highlight of the mission of the church.

Let's ask the question: what is baptism?

Here's how I would define it based upon the scriptures.

It is baptism is an outward expression of an inward change.

It's an outward expression of an inward change, it's a way of expressing publicly what is happening in your heart privately.

It's the coming out announcement of what you've already decided that you're gonna do internally.

This is the reason why we care so much about baptism.

Let me give you the first one, which is this it's the first act of obedience for the believer.

Here at United City Church, we say this everyone has a next step.

Everyone has a next step.

We believe that no one arrives spiritually.

You never get to the point where you've been at the church long enough, or you've served long enough, or you've walked with Jesus long enough, or you're like, you know, I'm kind of good.

But instead, we believe that there's always opportunities for growth.

There's always God working and moving and working in his Holy Spirit in your life, causing you to want to do some things differently so that you can grow closer in your relationship to the Lord.

And we believe the first step of obedience for the believer should be to be baptized.

Let me show you where I get this.

Acts chapter 2, verse 38.

Acts 2:38

This is one of many, many passages I could point to to show you the order, which is so important.

And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.

And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The order matters.

What I want you to see is that you repent and then you are baptized.

We believe the scripture teaches very clearly that baptism is an act of obedience after someone repents and turns from their sins and experiences a salvation that comes through Jesus Christ.

Maybe you grew up in a tradition where you were baptized as a baby, or maybe you maybe you went through uh baptized as a child, or you went through some sort of religious experience.

I actually totally can get how people can do that because the sentiment is so pure.

You want to be able to bring your child up in the things of the Lord.

However, the scriptural idea of baptism was never meant to be something that was done as a baby or as a child prior to one repenting first, and then as an act of obedience, they follow through and experience the testimony of baptism.

Honestly, what we want you to do is to let baptism be the very first yes of a lifetime of yeses that follow it.

If you really think about it, the idea of getting baptized is a little bit odd.

All right.

Basically, you're saying that I'm gonna get in my bathing suit and I'm gonna get a t-shirt and I'm gonna get in a bathtub or I'm gonna get in a pool, and no one else is gonna be in the pool with me except for one other person, but he's not gonna go all the way under.

I'm the only one that's gonna go all the way under, and you're gonna put it up on a screen like that.

That's a little bit of an odd thing for you to hear on the surface and to necessarily agree to do.

Please hear me.

Your entire walk with Jesus is gonna be filled with things that on the surface sound a little bit odd at first.

It's gonna be like, you know, I don't know if that is the best thing.

And here's another work we want to show you up front a lifestyle of saying yes, even if you don't fully understand it.

Simply because if Jesus says to do it, then I'm gonna say yes to doing it and I'm gonna follow after him.

And what you will find is when you have a lifetime of saying yes in obedience to him, you will have a life that is filled with no regrets.

In addition, the idea of baptism was modeled by Jesus Himself.

Matthew chapter 3 tells the story in verse 13.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him.

John would have prevented him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?

But Jesus answered him, Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

Then he consented.

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were open to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.

And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

Jesus himself was baptized, not because he needed to be, but as an example of what he would want his followers to also do.

German, would you come up here and share with us in Espanyol?

Thank you, Pastor Chris.

My first time in this is that the Spirit Santo and the passes that we have to take from Igless, if you want to say that for me, the passage is bautizing, or simply hoy is your day of salvation, and we have this fear and espera that your alma.

In second one, the bautismo is a form of expression what is succinct in your corazon in private.

The bautismo is the anunciation of what you has decided to have internally.

The desafiers in your corazón, caminar in obedience to hacer public, and enunciar como dice la palabra yo no me avergüenza del Evangelio.

For this bautizo, and the congregation, y por eso lo hago en público, porque es un decreto que Dios ha puesto para nosotros.

La razón que a nosotros nos importa tanto el bautismo es esto: es el primer acto de obediencia para el creyente.

Aquí en United City, nosotros tenemos muchos valores, y uno muy importante es que todos tenemos un próximo paso a dar.

Y como sabemos nosotros que el bautismo es lo que tenemos que hacer como creyentes, porque la palabra nos dice.

Mira lo que dice Hechos in el capítulo 2, versículo 38.

The palabra dice esto: arrepientanse y bautizese, cada uno de ustedes in the nombre de Jesucristo para perdonar.

There is an order for this.

When you send in a little, escucho the message of feel, escuch the Evangelio, there's a lot especially that success in our special that succeeds in my life, in my mente, in my spirit.

But simply it's an invitation.

If you don't have this passion and the first passion, the invitation that is, but we're going to respond.

I have to create in the mensage of fe and esperance, and despite conviction of the cielo, with my corazon, con manos puras and santas, you can party delante de una congregación y decidir andar el paso of the bautismo.

Eso es lo que significa.

The razor nos importa tanto el bautismo is because queremos que sea el primer acto de nuestra nueva vida en Cristo.

Cuando nosotros nos bautizamos, estamos dejando atrás una vida llena de culpa, de condenación, de vergüenza, andamos entrando in nuestra nueva vida, en nuestra nueva naturaleza que se llama ser hijo and sinceramente es muy difícil pensar que como nosotros le damos instrucciones, por ejemplo, a nuestros hijos, que sabemos que son instrucciones de bien y no de mal, que son para bien, y nosotros recibimos esta ordenanza de Jesús que nos dice, bauticense.

Es inconcebible pensar que nosotros podemos escuchar esta palabra y caminar en desobediencia.

Yo no sé tú, pero yo quiero tener un año maravilloso.

Yo quiero tener un año 2025 bendecido con el favor de Dios sobre mi vida.

Pero tengo que ser obediente a lo que me está hablando insta.

Mira lo que dice Mateo 3 acerca de cómo Jesus was bautizado.

But Juan trató de la hora you say that seriously bautized by you, and who objeto.

Hagamos como te digo, but Juan consintió.

Juan Jesus, Jesus, it's necessary that you sea bautized for dark ejemplo del bautismo.

Mira lo que sigue diciendo.

Tan pronto como Jesús fue bautizado, subió del agua.

En ese momento se abrió el cielo y vio al Espíritu de Dios bajar como una paloma y poseerse sobre él.

And una voz de cielo decía: Este es mi Hijo amado.

Estoy muy complacido con él.

Que Jesús dio un ejemplo de lo que es el bautismo, ando del agua, por eso el bautismo is for inmersion of a series in the air and the Scriptures.

But I am complacted with this, when I decide to camp in obedience to what bautizing in the day of hour, entregate your life to a group of being, unit to our iglesia, when you in obedience to complain with your life.

The objective of bautizing is simply to celebrate one, sino abrear this espace for comparison in my life con qui?

This is all right, but lo que la palabra nos está instalando is that if somebody, a glacia, a community, we have to celebrate this triunfo in front of those.

La semana pasada predicaba en el servicio español de Romanos 8.1 que nos dice los que están en Cristo no hay condenación.

Y ahí está la clave, los que están en Cristo.

Si tú hoy estás en Cristo, tu próximo paso es bautizarte si no lo has hecho.

Si tú todavía no estás en Cristo, hoy es el día de tu salvación.

El Espíritu Santo te está tocando.

Quiero entrar a tu vida, tu corazón.

Pero la pregunta es: ¿lo vas a dejar hacer su obra en ti?

El bautismo, como lo dije, cuenta historias.

Es impresionante ver lo que Dios ha hecho in nuestra vida como iglesia.

This año pudimos ver bautizar a una hermana que llegó Venezuela, and in Venezuela ella pudo aceptar Jesus, vino en su viaje and encontró nuestra iglesia.

And that's bautized.

Did you say Pastor, you got Jesus in my coronavirus, but my bautizing me.

But we compared this Señor 82 años, and we have to have a logistic to the air because he quería bautizar.

Because he said that it was the passenger that has created in the ignition.

These things are buying, it's buying intentions.

But when I go to the Scriptures and when you go to what the Play of God, and you learn and what I said, you say that the baptism is because you can, like my person, have a professional.

I always decided I'm going to get the model that Jesus has done.

I am part of this and this congregation, I bautized me as an act of obedience to what God said.

And finally, if you say, You Pastor, I bautized, I am member of this, because the oration that you do is part of a baptism that sucks here.

If you are general with your offerendas, because every person that you do in this is part of a baptism.

If you are a leader of the group of being, because you are part of the spiritual of our part of that baptism.

That is allowing us to be able to see God move in our midst.

It's just an incredible thing to behold.

Second reason why we at United City Church get so fired up and we celebrate baptism as much as we do.

Number two, because baptism tells a story.

Baptism tells a story.

I believe the Bible is super clear on when a person is supposed to be baptized after they've received Jesus.

I believe the Bible is super clear on how they are to be baptized, immersion.

We'll talk about that in just a moment.

I also, though, believe that baptism is very clear in the scriptures as to where it should happen.

I believe it's a community event seen and shared by as many people as possible.

Since the goal is to tell everyone outwardly what has happened inwardly, it isn't meant to be hidden or secretive, it's meant instead to be celebrated.

Baptism tells a story, first of all, of the personal life of the person that is being baptized.

In many ways, everybody that gets baptized has the same story.

They were going one way, they were following after their sin, they turned from that sin, they turned to Jesus, and Jesus provided the grace and the mercy to them to be able to turn to him, and he gave them eternal life and salvation from their sins.

And every single person that gets into the baptistry has the same story.

Here's what's so amazing.

Everybody that gets in the baptistry also has their own personal story that is so unique, that is so specific, that is so beyond just a number.

Some of the stories, though, were absolutely amazing and incredible.

We saw a 71-year-old woman and her daughter follow through in baptism, having put it off for many, many years and put it off for so long that honestly their delayed obedience had become disobedience.

And they kind of thought, you know, it's just sort of too late for me.

And then they found themselves responding, taking their next step, knowing that it was never too late to be obedient to what God wants them to do, and with a smile and joy on their face, they got the opportunity to be baptized together, taking that next step so they can begin a series of yeses to whatever God asked them to do.

It was incredible to see how many first-generation Christians we got to baptize this past year.

We saw folks who came to our youth ministry invited by a friend, or we saw someone invited to our next gen ministry, and they came to the church and then all of a sudden met Jesus and go home to parents who don't believe in him.

And then all of a sudden they talk about baptism, and the parents are like, I'm not really sure about this whole thing.

I'm not what sure what this is all about.

I'm not sure I want him to get him to do this.

And after months and months of praying and asking and begging to get permission to do this, not just permission to be baptized, but that their parents would agree to come.

I cannot tell you how many times we started as a staff team on a Sunday morning, and the conversation went like this.

So-and-so is getting baptized today, and their parents are going to come watch.

It's the first time they've ever set foot in a church.

God is so good.

We have the opportunity this past year in the midst of those 285 baptisms to see many people, men and women, who were literally incarcerated months prior, who found on the outside a place that they could go, oaks of righteousness in our community, and others like it, who can not only tell them how they could rehabilitate and get molded back into civilian life, but they also would have the opportunity to hear about the author of life.

They got saved.

They got baptized.

Folks, we also had the opportunity in that 285 to baptize so many kids who grew up in church, who've been going to church their entire lives, and who, by all accounts, have the most boring testimony in the world that we want to have so many more boring testimonies of people who know nothing more than Jesus loves them, their parents love them, and their church loves them, and they love everything about it.

Folks, we got to see those stories as well.

Every single one of these baptisms tells a story of an individual.

Jesus has changed their life.

Not only that, but baptism tells the story of the gospel.

Literally, the act of baptism, the way that we baptize by immersion is not only because the Greek language suggests it and multiple examples in scripture show it, although all of those things are true.

I believe the reason that we baptize by immersion is because it is a picture of the gospel.

Literally, what you see is someone go down underneath the water and then come up.

We say these words you are buried with Christ in baptism, and you are raised to walk in a newness of life.

Literally, it is a picture of you going down in death with Jesus.

He washes away all of your sins and he gives you the opportunity to experience new life with him.

Folks, every time you watch a baptism, you need to know this.

You're watching the story of Jesus.

You're watching the story of what he did for you.

You may not know that person, but here's the thing: not only do we get a chance to celebrate that person and that individual story, but we also get a joint party and we get to celebrate Jesus at the very same time.

Folks, finally we see that baptism is something that tells the story ultimately of United City Church.

See, the reason that we get all excited about this, and the reason that we celebrate this, and the reason that we get all fired up about baptism is because we know that baptism is meant to be done in the context of the community of a local church, not in somebody's pool in their backyard.

I'm not trying to say, look, I've had it, my kids are preacher's kids.

They've baptized each other in the pool, alright?

And it's great and it's fun and it's cool to see, but that's not ultimately what it's talking about.

Instead, it's meant to be done in the context of a local body of believers where you have people that know you and that are walking with you and people that don't know you at all.

But here's the thing they gave, and they got to be a part of your story.

They served, they got to be a part of your story.

They prayed, they got to be a part of your story.

And ultimately, the reason why we celebrate baptism is because we know it's the celebration of the fact that the church has been given the Great Commission as it's marching orders, we are doing what God has called us.

Take a look at the screen and hear a little bit more about some of these stories from last year.

So I think um just having something to hang on to was very important for me.

I want to get baptized because God came to my life.

When I were in the arrival, I wanted to get baptized so much.

I tell my parents tomorrow when I want to be baptized.

When my time comes, I'm not gonna go ahead and see it.

So you get baptized and she is not young como una respuesta como una respuesta primero ser batizado en nombre del Padre, Hijo y el Espíritu Santo en Cristo.

Este fuimos sepultados y resucitados en el en el agua.

Hay un baptismo de espíritu y agua, agua y espíritu.

Yo pienso que es un paso que se debe hacer porque uno pienso que uno de es como nacer de nuevo, uno tiene que pertenecer a él y lo pide, ¿no?

When you're when your father, you know what this, you're not guys, guys, so deal with with the I saw the change that the that God made in my life, saw the change that He made in my family's life, I saw the the power of of faith.

I feel like when I gave my life to Christ, I was just changed and different in every way, um, just for the better.

So I think me getting baptized is just a public show of faith, and I think that baptism just is a good way to just show the world that this is what God can do to your life as well.

What is your next step in 2025?

What is it that God is calling and asking you to do in response to Him?

You've already given your life to Jesus, but you've never followed through on that act of obedience.

Maybe you feel like the family's not there, you've given all the reasons why it won't work.

Franklin is somebody who was watching us online, his family goes to our church.

If today you know that you need to be baptized.

Meaning you can walk out of here dry and in your clothes that you came in on.

What is somebody gonna think?

Maybe you think that you know it's been so long that people are gonna judge you if you go forward to get baptized now, saying, Why haven't you done this before?

I can assure you of this, you will not be met with judgment, you'll be met with celebration because of your obedience to Jesus today.

We had five do it in the 8:30 service.

The 8:30 service is never even awake.

Three, three, two, those, one, stand, you come, come on.

Just step up and you come.

I know what some of you are thinking.

Where do they go?

We don't want anyone making an emotional decision.

But we also don't want to deny the Holy Spirit working through our emotions.

I know it's some of you engineers are thinking.

What does God want you to do in 2025?

What is your next step for you?

For so many of you, you know someone who needs to know Jesus.

They need to hear the gospel and they need to be baptized.

And we want you to invite them and they will hear the message of Jesus when they come to this church.

But would you commit and say, God, you want to use me to be the one that shares, I'll do it.

Let us be a church that leads the way in sharing our faith this year.

For some of you in your finances, maybe you need to do something different.

Instead of just doing what you did last year and the year before and the year before that.

What if you took a bold next step and decided to live the way that God's economy designed to operate?

What you will begin to see is that your heart follows after your obedience.

If you want to know more about what it means to be a member of United City, go to Growth Track.

Some of you, you just need to take that job.

Serve.

Let's pray together.

Father in heaven, we come before you and we thank you.

Thank you for the joy of obedience.

I pray God for these that have come forward that are going to be baptized.

As we celebrate what you're doing in their lives, Lord, I also pray for those that are here in this room.

For whatever next step you've pressed upon their hearts today, Señor, that as they sing and as they worship here together, Señor, que te van a adorar, Señor, y van a cantar juntos.

They would commit in their hearts to do what you've asked and called them to do.

Father, we thank you for the powerful name of Jesus.

It's in his name that we pray.

Amen.

Would you stand and let's sing together and worship as we wait for these to get back.