Water, Fire and Power

So today is the day of Pentecost, and the day of Pentecost simply means 50 days.

Pente means 50. 50 days, and the 50 days is after the Passover or the death

and resurrection, the death, burial, and the resurrection of Jesus.

And the Pentecost, or the 50 days, is the birth of the New Testament church.

So today really is the birthday of the New Testament church.

And we find that out in Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2.

Acts 1 · chapter mention Acts 2 · chapter mention

And today I want to talk a little bit about baptism, the purpose of baptism,

why we get baptized, and what we can expect after baptism.

There are three types of baptisms, okay?

Three types of baptisms. The first one is the baptism of repentance.

Somebody say, the baptism of repentance. Repentance.

1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 13 says, for by one spirit,

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greek,

whether slaves or free, male or female, black or white, all have been made to drink into one spirit.

So the first baptism is a baptism of repentance where we give our life to Jesus

and we are baptized into the body of Christ.

So that is the first baptism. Doesn't matter what color you are.

Doesn't matter what shape, size

you are. You can receive Jesus and be baptized into the body of Christ.

The second baptism that we see in scripture is the baptism in water.

Water baptism. And we're going to participate in all three today.

Matter of fact, if you haven't given your life to Jesus today,

today is your day. If you have not been baptized or you want to be re-baptized, today is your day.

And so water baptism is the second baptism we see in Scripture.

And the third baptism we see in Scripture is the baptism in or with the Holy Spirit.

The baptism in or with the Holy Spirit. And we're going to give you an opportunity

today as well to be baptized in or with the Holy Spirit.

The word baptized means to submerge, to stain, to dip, and to dye.

Imagine a garment being dipped into some stain.

And when you dip that garment into some stain, let's say it's red,

you dip that white garment into red stain, you pull it out, and it becomes red.

Or in Easter, you got Easter eggs that my kids used to stain Easter eggs.

Maybe it's blue. They'll dip a white egg into a blue stain and it comes out blue.

When you're baptized, you are stained, producing a permanent change.

There's a permanent change that takes place when you are baptized.

And so there are three types of baptisms, and they're found in all four Gospels.

I want to give you a little background on all three types of baptisms.

We're going to look at Mark chapter 1 and go 4 through 8.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 1, 4 through 8.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

John the Baptist came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance.

That's number one. For the remission of sins.

Then all of the land of Judah and those from Jerusalem went out to him and were

all baptized by him in the Jordan River.

That's water baptism, confessing their sins.

Now, John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist,

and he ate locusts and wild honey.

And he preached saying, there comes one after me who is mightier than I,

whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. He's talking about Jesus.

I indeed baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

So we see the three baptisms there, baptism of repentance, water baptism,

and then baptism in or with the Holy Spirit.

In Luke chapter three, verse 16, John answered, saying to all of them,

saying to all, I indeed baptize you with water.

But one mightier than I is coming, talking about Jesus, whose sandals strap

I am not worthy to loose, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Somebody say fire.

Matthew 3, 11. John the Baptist says again here, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance.

There we see the first two. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I,

whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit

and fire. Somebody shout fire.

Fire. John chapter 1, 32 through 33.

John 1 · chapter mention

And John bore witness saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a

dove and he remained on him.

I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me,

upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining on him,

this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

And so we see the three different types of baptisms.

Repentance, give your life to

Jesus, then water baptism, and then you're baptized with the Holy Spirit.

There are three reasons for water baptisms.

Number one is public declaration. public declaration or an act of discipleship

public declaration or an act of discipleship we see here in Matthew chapter 3 13 through 17.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

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

And John tried to prevent him saying, I need to be baptized by you.

And are you coming to me?

But Jesus answered and said to him, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting

for us to fulfill all righteousness.

Then he allowed him. And when he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately

from the water. and behold, the heavens were open to him and he saw the spirit

of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him.

And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

I believe today the Lord is saying the same thing to you.

This is my beloved son. This is my beloved daughter.

And I believe he's saying it publicly to whom I am well pleased. Say this out to me.

The Lord is pleased with me.

Say it one more time. The Lord is pleased with me.

The number two reason for water baptism is identification with his death,

burial, and resurrection.

So we are identifying with Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection.

Take a look with me at Romans chapter 6, 3 through 4.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 6, 3 through 4. Or have you not forgotten that when we were joined

Romans 6 · chapter mention

with Christ Jesus in baptism, we join him in his death.

So when we are joined in baptism, we're joining with him in his death.

Verse 4, 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 may live new lives.

Notice we died with him, we were buried with him, and we are resurrected with him.

So what you'll see today is you'll see a soul in this pool, and they're sitting

in the pool, and when we lay them back, they are dying.

And when it goes fully submerged underwater, they are now buried,

and when we raise them up, they're raised to new life in Christ Jesus.

Come on, somebody say amen to that.

Number three, for baptism, water baptism, some of the reasons.

Number three, and I firmly believe this, and I want you to release your faith on this as well.

There's a cutting away of your sinful nature.

A cutting away of your sinful nature. Colossians chapter 2, 11 and 12 say it this way.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

When you came to Christ, you were circumcised, but not by a physical procedure.

Christ performed a spiritual circumcision, the cutting away of your sinful nature.

For 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.

Notice a cutting away, a spiritual procedure.

I believe that those of you that are getting maybe baptized for the first time

or even the second time, you know there's scripture evidence to be rebaptized.

You can be baptized as many times as you want. But I believe that as you get

in this water and you come up, there's a cutting away.

Like that sin that seems to always possess you, I believe when you come up,

that power of that sin is gone off of your life.

I believe that habit that you continue to suffer with when you come up out of

this water, I believe that habit is broken because of what baptism does for us.

It's the power of Jesus. We're identifying with him in his death,

burial, and resurrection.

When a believer is placed in the baptismal waters, it symbolizes being immersed

in one condition and coming out into a brand new condition.

I believe that you're going to come up out of this water brand new.

Fresh, original, new.

Now you might look the same, your hair, your color of your hair.

Hopefully it stays the same when you come up out of the water, but I'm joking.

It's going to stay the same, but you're going to come new and fresh and there's

going to be a fire on the inside of you because of this baptism.

I believe it. Are you believing with me?

I believe it that God is going to do a fresh new work in your life from this

day forth, May 24th, 2026.

God is starting something new on the inside of you. If you believe that, say amen.

Now, what we're also going to

do as well today is the third baptism is the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

And as Sterling and I are going to be water baptizing you, I've asked Jeannie

to stand over here in this corner.

If you want a fresh fire of the Holy Spirit.

If you want a touch from God, you want a prophetic word, you want hands laid

on you, and you want to start fresh with the Holy Spirit, you want to pray in tongues.

You're just like, man, I just, I desired this and I want to do that. It's Bible, by the way.

Jeannie's going to pray with you over here in the corner.

I want everybody, somebody, everybody

what i'm trying to say everybody should experience one

of the three baptisms today in jesus name don't leave here without giving your

life to jesus don't leave here without getting in this tank and don't leave

here without a fresh touch of the holy spirit in jesus name this is how you experience true life.