A New Life - Made New (Week 5)

Hi.

My name is Andrew.

If I haven't met you, and what a privilege it is to be here today, I know many of you in here quite well.

Some of you maybe are new to Mid-Cities over the last uh few years.

And if I haven't had the chance to meet you yet, my wife and I, and along with an incredible team back in 2017, had the opportunity to get to launch the Neely Campus here.

And we were so graciously gifted this building.

Can you believe it?

A$2 million building.

A church was in transition and gifted us this building.

And now I walk in here and I see so much joy and so much of what God is doing in this place.

And so it is super fun for us to be back here today.

Allie will be here in second service.

And I'm just am so honored to see what uh Pastor Mike and Christy, uh, Pastor Dustin and Kara and the amazing team that is here doing God's work uh and how God's partnering with you uh to reach this community.

And so super fun uh for me to be back here today.

If you have your Bible, we're gonna be in Romans chapter six today.

Um I wanna tell you a little bit, uh, a little bit about my story today, uh, because when we launched the Neely Campus back in 2018, on March 25th, 2018, it was actually seven days later, was one of the most significant days in my life.

And I'm gonna tell you uh the story of that.

Some of you will remember this day, uh and and it ties into what our message is today.

You see, I'm so grateful for the spiritual heritage that I grew up in.

I grew up in a family of faith.

And um, my family uh went to a Lutheran church in South Dallas in DeSoto, Texas.

And uh I grew up uh with a family that took me to church all of the time.

Every time the doors were open, I went to church on Christmas and on Easter and on Sunday and on Wednesday and all the times.

And um and and I want to tell you a little bit about my story because I was baptized uh as a baby and I went to confirmation and I uh I was involved in our youth group and I got plugged in, even when I went off to college, I got plugged into a um to a Christian organization.

Uh, but today I want to tell you a little bit more of my story as we're gonna continue on in the series that we have been in.

And the series that we are in right now, it's right up here, uh, is called Made New.

And here's what we discovered in this series so far is that uh when we are uh when we uh have our ears and our eyes open and our hearts are open to the gospel, God makes us new.

Is that not good news today?

Y'all can talk back to me.

Come on.

Is that not good news today?

It's good news that God makes us new.

And as we've discovered in this series, that then uh we we have a new king.

We have a uh a new Lord.

He is in charge of us, and then our life begins to change and we go in a new direction.

This is what repentance is.

And today we're gonna discover that he gives us a new life.

That's the title of today's message.

We're gonna be spending some time talking about baptism.

And as I mentioned, our text is from uh the uh the letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the Roman church.

Uh, and so if you are able, if you would stand with me today for the reading of God's word, this is Romans chapter six, verse one.

It says this what shall we say then?

Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase?

By no means.

We are those who have died to sin.

How can we live in it any longer?

Or do you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of his father, we too may have may live, say it with me, a new life.

For if we have been united with him in death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

For we know that our old self was crucified with him, so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

Verse 7 Because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

This is the word of the Lord.

You may be seated.

Well, I'm just gonna jump right in today.

Um, sometimes I tell a story to illustrate.

We don't have time for that today.

Uh, we've got a lot to cover.

Our text for today is found in one of uh the Apostle Paul's most theologically rich texts.

If you want to get into some meat, man, read through the book of Romans.

And Romans chapter 5 uh is full of lots of one-liners.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

It's the Apostle Paul telling us what Jesus has done for us, how he brings us peace through God.

It outlines how Adam's death brought death into the world.

Adam's sin brought death into the world.

But Jesus, the second Adam, as he's called, uh he is the one who brings grace and peace and hope into the world.

And when sin increased all the more, God's grace increased all the more.

And because of that, we can be called righteous.

Somebody say amen today.

We can be called justified.

And as we flip the page in this letter, that's what the the the book as we call it, it's actually a letter from the Apostle Paul to this church.

As we flip it over to Romans chapter 6, uh, we see this information.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

He starts out by asking a question.

He says, uh, should we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

Everybody say no.

He says, No way.

That's like your mom giving you the credit card when you're a kid, and you're like, I think I'm gonna max this puppy out.

No, of course not.

We all know how that'll go.

No, we don't live that way anymore.

In fact, quite the opposite.

See, all of us who have been baptized into this life have also been baptized into his death.

Speaking of Jesus' death, meaning uh metaphorically, symbolically, this is what happens in baptism when we're put down into that water, we are our sins are metamorically buried in that water.

They stay in that water.

It is baptism, really.

This is kind of a new way for you to think about it for a minute.

It's a watery grave.

It's a watery grave.

We're baptized into his death.

But what happens after that?

Here's what it says in verse 4 just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may have a new life.

When we come out of the water, we're united with Christ in his resurrection.

Somebody say amen.

And Jesus gives us a new identity.

Jesus gives us a new identity.

This is what Paul is describing baptism as in the scripture here in Romans.

You're given a new life.

However, my guess is in a room this size, uh, there are some different church traditions that some of us grew up in.

I mean, if we were to just take some time today and go around and ask everybody, you know, there's some of us who grew up in a high church type situation, like you grew up in maybe a uh a Lutheran or a Presbyterian or a Methodist church, and they call it a high church because if you look up, like it's kind of high, right?

Some of us, maybe we grew up in um a church of Christ or uh uh a Baptist church.

Maybe some of us grew up in um a non-denominate, non-denominational, charismatic Pentecostal church.

Maybe some of us grew up in the heathen church.

Maybe some of us uh you know, we're kind of like spiritual mutts, like we were sort of Baptostals.

Whatever the case may be, um, as you look back over the course of church history, uh water baptism has been somewhat of a uh controversial topic in the church over the years.

And I believe that it is a secondary issue, that it is uh not a salvific issue.

Uh it is not uh based salvation is not based on it, but I want to discuss this just for a moment because uh maybe some of you grew up in a tradition that said this or this or this.

And I just want to tell you where I stand, I want to tell you my story, and I want to tell you a little bit about what Mid-Cities believes about baptism.

There are certain church traditions that believe in what is called paido baptism, it just simply means to baptize an infant.

Uh and um they will also baptize adults uh who come to faith later in life, but those traditions, and actually this church that you're standing in right now or sitting in, uh, believed this for a very long time.

It was called our Savior's Lutheran Church.

And there was a little uh baptismal.

It was what they would do is they would sprinkle babies with water uh as a sign.

Here's why they do that.

And by the way, today's gonna be more of a teaching as opposed to a preaching.

I know Pastor Mike, he's a preacher, right?

I'm more of a teacher.

Uh and so what what they believe, and here's why they believe this, uh, they believe and they continue to baptize in this way because they believe that God is a covenant God.

They would not argue that baptism is uh brings salvation, but instead they would say it's a sacrament that is simply a continuation of the covenant found between God and Abraham in the book of Genesis.

This is what paido baptism is, and this is why they baptize babies.

Okay?

All right.

Now you you heard me say that earlier, that I that was what I was born into.

I was baptized as a baby.

There are other church traditions that would say that baptisms happens after conversion.

This is called credo baptism, like a creed, right?

Uh this uh means that you profess with your own mouth and you believe in your own heart.

It's an act of obedience, is what we see in scriptures, uh, in scripture, and it does not bring salvation, but it definitely has to do with confessing and professing that Jesus is Lord.

And this is uh the order that we see in scripture, and this is what Mid-Cities believes.

Finally, there are some traditions that would say baptism happens when salvation happens.

They would say it is for the remission of your sins.

I know some of you guys are like, we're nerding out here today.

Yes, we are.

Okay, here we go.

In other words, at the moment of baptism, your sins are washed away.

In that moment, you are saved, meaning that all other baptisms are null and void.

Why does this matter?

I did mention from the beginning, I believe that this is a secondary issue in the church, but let me tell you what I see in scripture, and let me tell you what my story is.

Generally, here are the steps that we see in the Bible.

Specifically, we're gonna go a lot to the book of Acts today.

Go read the book of Acts yourself.

I would encourage you.

Here's what we see uh the order that we traditionally see uh in the book of Acts in Scripture when it comes to baptism.

Number one, the gospel is proclaimed.

You just heard this a few weeks ago in Acts chapter two.

Peter stands up, he begins to explain what is happening.

He the gospel is proclaimed.

He says that Jesus, whom you crucified, he is both Lord and King.

The gospel is proclaimed.

Number two that we see is typically this is the order that happens, people receive the good news and repent of the life that they have been living, and they turn from their sins.

You remember this?

Acts chapter 2, Peter proclaims the gospel.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

The people are cut to the heart.

That's what the scripture says, and then it says, and they say, What are we gonna do?

What should we do?

And he says, repent.

Everybody say, Repent.

Repent simply means to turn from your sins and go in a different direction.

And they're cut to the heart.

Number three, we see they get water baptized.

They get water baptized.

Now you can go read, there's numerous uh examples of this throughout the book of Acts.

Philip comes upon an Ethiopian.

The Ethiopian uh doesn't know, he's reading the book of Isaiah, and he doesn't know the story, and Philip explains to him who this was.

It was Jesus who had come, and he says, Why shouldn't I be baptized?

And Philip's like, I don't know, it sounds like a good idea.

Let's go find some water, and they baptize him.

This is the order that we traditionally see throughout scriptures, and this is what usually happens.

But let me ask you a question.

How many of you know that people are complicated?

Don't like elbow your neighbor right now.

People are complicated, and God is so unbelievably gracious with us.

Let me just tell you that.

Whatever amount of grace that you think he has for you, he's got more.

So much more.

He works in the mess with people, he redeems the mess of people.

And here's um my story.

Uh, my story is that I was born into uh a faith, and I was raised in a faith that believed in paydo-baptism.

And so I never had that choice.

I was baptized as a kid, um, and you know, that's what I experienced.

But here's what we see in scripture.

This word that Paul uses, it's the word baptizo.

Go ahead and put that up there for me.

Baptizo, it means immersion or submersion.

That's what the word literally means in the original language.

And and I I think that uh baptism means to be submerged in water.

Is it special water?

No, Pastor Dessin and I have filled up the baptismal here many times.

It's just regular old midland water.

Do it that way you will.

You can be baptized uh in a pool.

You can be baptized uh, you know, in the bathtub.

You you if you're so brave, you can go down to our you know half full duck pond and be baptized in that right now.

I can't guarantee you'll come out the same.

Uh I've heard testimonies of our Chinese brothers and sisters who come to faith and like they don't have a tub, so they get baptized in the shower.

You're like, but that's sprinkling.

I don't think God's worried about that.

Like, I think what he's really they're doing their best to get submerged, right?

You know, to be immersed in the water.

Do I think baptism comes after conversion?

Yes, I do.

Do I think it is it is a symbol?

Yes, I do.

Um, why do I agree with some traditions that would say, you know, the third category that I threw out earlier that it's for the remission of sins?

Jesus was baptized.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.

Um I'm gonna get an argument over it with you, probably not.

Uh because I think that what we see in Scripture is that um baptism is something that happens after faith, and I think it um should happen in some sort of immersion.

So my story.

Uh I um wrestled with this for years.

Uh I wanted to honor my parents.

They had raised me in a faith uh that pointed me to Jesus.

I came to uh to came to faith when I was 15 years old.

I had heard the gospel who knows how many times, I couldn't even count.

I didn't have enough fingers and toes to hear, to tell you how many times I had um heard the gospel.

But when it was when I was 15 years old, my sister shared the gospel with me, and it was like a light clicked on.

And um for the next 20 or so years, um, there was something inside me that would read the scriptures and would go, I should get baptized.

But I felt the tension of trying to please man and please God.

I served in the ministry, I served here at Mid-Cities uh for 14 years, 13 years, and wrestled with this.

Uh, because I knew what I saw in scripture, but I but I just I it was just one of those obedience things for me.

Um on April 1st, 2018, I woke up so convicted, really.

It was like a conviction, like the Holy Spirit was like, You can't you can't live this way anymore.

And and I I was like, but I'm a pastor.

And God's like, I don't care, I'm not impressed with you.

And and I knew that this was an obedience opportunity, we call it.

Uh, and so I I got baptized that day on Easter Sunday uh 2018.

Pastor Dustin remembers this.

Um and I I would just encourage you.

I I believe, I've told you what I believe, but I I know this.

Some of you need to hear this today.

Discipleship is not always linear.

I showed you what what we see in scripture most often.

But I was just talking to a guy the other day.

He was telling me his story, and he was like, Man, since I moved out to Midland, he's like, I didn't want to move out to Midland.

It's flat and dry and there's no water here.

He's like, but it's been the most incredible uh five years of my life.

He's like, I didn't, I had never walked with Jesus, I didn't know what that meant.

I grew up in a tradition where it was kind of just, you know, like my faith wasn't really that big a deal.

I didn't really even have a whole lot of faith.

And so he's like, but then somebody began to disciple me, and and I heard the gospel and I began to walk in it, and he's like, and then I got baptized, and then he's like, then the next year was the worst year of my life.

Like, kind of like scrambles your categories about God.

Discipleship is not always linear.

Some of you have walked through incredible tragedy and it sets you back.

Some of you have walked through some some really, really difficult things in your life.

Some of you had a season in your life, and you go, Man, I I I wasn't a disciple then.

Yes, you were.

You just it's not always linear.

He's always working on us.

Somebody say amen today.

So here's what I'd say.

If you haven't been water baptized since conversion, since you professed with your own mouth and believed in your own heart, I believe that's what scripture says to do.

He's gracious with you.

But I'd encourage you to take that step.

But I don't want to get in front of people.

I think you need some witnesses.

It doesn't have to be the whole church.

I think it's good to do that.

But I would encourage you to take that step.

So, how do you do that?

You already heard Trey talk about it here at the beginning of uh our our time today during the service host moment.

Grab this card and just check this little box.

Some of you go, hey, I need to talk to somebody more about this.

Okay, cool.

Pastor Mike would love to talk to you about it.

Pastor Dust would love Trey, I mean, any of these guys would love to talk to you more about it.

So I would encourage you to take that step.

But did you know that baptism, water baptism, is not the only baptism that we see in Scripture?

There's a second baptism that we see all throughout the New Testament.

You see, here's what scripture shows us that Jesus gives me a new power.

Baptism with the Holy Spirit.

Now I know those of us who grew up in a high church, we start talking about Holy Spirit.

Some of us get a little, it's about to get a little uncomfortable in here.

But I believe this is what we see in John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

No, Matthew chapter 3.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

John the Baptist is speaking here.

He says, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he is coming after me, he who's coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Now I mentioned this.

I grew up in a high church tradition.

I grew up in a Lutheran family.

We talked about the Holy Spirit like once a year on Pentecost Sunday.

And even that would make people a little bit uncomfortable.

But I believe that the Holy Spirit is a gift of God.

I would assume that some of you in here have been around a church tradition that spoke a lot about the Holy Spirit.

Some of us grew up in a church tradition where we were very leery of the Holy Spirit because we associate the Holy Spirit with the people who handle snakes and people who are strange, waving flags in the back of the room, banners in the back of the room.

We're afraid that when the Holy Spirit is spoken about, somebody's going to start speaking in tongues and stuff's about to get weird in here today.

But I hope that I can use your mind today.

That the Holy Spirit is a gift to us.

I probably shouldn't tell this story because it doesn't super relate, but I'm going to tell it anyway.

Because I believe that the Holy Spirit gives us power.

Last night I went out on a run.

It was a beautiful night.

You guys enjoying fall?

Yeah, come on.

I went out on a run.

It was just a gorgeous night.

And I was I was just feeling good.

As I get older, like sometimes I don't feel good when I go work out, but I was just feeling good.

So I uh I went out on a run and I was just feeling good.

I put my AirPods in.

I didn't even like, I wouldn't even listen to anything.

Uh I just had them in.

I was just kind of praying and uh thinking about people.

Some of you guys came to mind, began to pray for you.

And um I'm on this run when all of a sudden I'm about two miles in and I I look I like look over and there's this kid and like two of his friends, and I this kid's like kind of I can see that he's I think he's like talking to me.

And then I realize he's like talking trash to me.

I'm just running down the road, and this kid starts, and I I finally I'm like, I go about another 10 yards and I'm like, this kid's like, he's like making fun of me.

Like, what in the world?

He's and then I I realize he's like talking, he's like, look at you all jiggly, you know, your body's jiggling.

I'm like, what's happening?

But I was feeling good, you know, it was a good night.

So I didn't really know what to do.

I got about another 10 yards, I took my headphones out, and I was like, what am I gonna do with this?

So I probably should have just kept going.

But I I stopped.

And I was like, you're not gonna believe this.

Y'all are about to judge me.

I literally, I literally I was like, what am I gonna do?

Uh you know, I'm not gonna go like beat him up.

Look, you know, that'd be bad.

You ready for this?

I go, hey, you want to race?

And and I was like, I was like, I'm an old, what am I doing?

I'm a 46-year-old man challenging this 13-year-old kid to a race.

He was like, okay.

So I was like, come on, let's go, let's go.

How far do you want to go?

I was like, to that truck down there.

I was like, I'm literally thinking in my head, what am I doing?

Why am I doing this?

Talking trash to a kid.

So then anyway, so so he's like, okay, let's go.

So we uh we, you know, it's like a probably a hundred yards.

I've already, and I'm I'm like kind of feeling good.

I'm like, yeah.

And so I say, Are you get set?

Go.

And I'm gonna just take him off.

And then he stops after five yards.

He stops after five yards, but then his friend comes and picks him up.

He's like, he's running after me, and we race, and I won.

Man, I felt like I had some power that night.

I like and I was like in my head talking all kinds of trash.

Like, I already ran two miles.

Come on.

You know, I'm a 46-year-old man, I'm dusting this 13-year-old kid.

I felt like I had the power.

And this is what the Holy Spirit brings.

How am I gonna pivot this?

Here we go.

Okay.

This is I just wanted to tell that story.

So the Holy Spirit gives us a new power.

This is what John chapter 16 says.

John 16 · chapter mention

Jesus is coming to the end of his life.

He's speaking about the Holy Spirit.

He says, Very true, very truly, I tell you, it is for your good that I'm going away.

He says, Unless I go away, the advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

When he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you.

This is good news for us in all truth.

He will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he'll tell you what is yet to come.

When the Holy Comp, the Holy Spirit comes and immerses people, baptizes people with the Holy Spirit, they are given a new power.

A new power.

And this can make us a little bit uncomfortable at times.

Because when the Holy Spirit comes in power, sometimes strange things, at least to us, begin to happen.

Sometimes people begin to speak in new tongues.

Sometimes people people begin to prophesy.

Sometimes unspeakable joy comes upon people.

And yes, listen to this 100% there have been over exaggerations in the church over the years.

There have 100% been manipulations, there have been courtesy falls, right?

Some of you guys have seen that.

There's been misuse of the gifts.

But I just want to encourage you, if if this part of our faith makes you uncomfortable, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Because what we see in Scripture is true, and people will miss it in their zeal.

I promise you.

People will miss it in their sin, people will miss it in their attempts at power.

But what I see in Scripture is that we are given at our conversion the deposit of the Holy Spirit, and then there are subsequent infillings.

Peter stands up to preach the gospel and he is what?

Full of the Spirit.

Stephen I just read it this week.

Stephen stands up to share the gospel, to proclaim the gospel, and he is what?

Full of the Spirit.

There are times where there are a fresh infilling for our faith.

And this is what we see in Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

It says this, but you will receive power, everybody say power.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

This word power in the original language, it's the word dynamis.

It's where we get our word dynamite.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

So how do we receive that power that we ask?

That's it.

God is a good Father.

He loves to give good gifts.

If we who are evil can give good gifts to our kids, how much more will our Heavenly Father give us good gifts?

God loves to give us good gifts.

And when we're baptized with the Holy Spirit, we receive a new power, but it's not just for our own good.

No, Jesus gives me a new mission to be a witness, a disciple who makes disciples.

See, we're called to be witnesses.

I was looking this word up uh in the Greek earlier this week, and it is a word that you probably have heard before.

It is the word martyr.

It's actually a judicial term uh for somebody who saw what really happened.

Now, when you hear the word martyr, what do you think of?

Somebody who what?

Yeah.

In a sense, if we think back to the very first uh point that I was talking about today, uh we we when we're water baptized, we die.

And we're given a new life.

God gives us a new power, and he gives us a new mission.

Some of us today um need to take a step of obedience and get water baptized.

If that's you, may I tell you, don't hesitate.

Some of us today need a fresh infilling.

Maybe we've never received this infilling of the Holy Spirit and the power that comes with it to go and be a witness in your office or to your son or daughter's soccer team, uh, to your family.

You go, man, I'm surrounded by a bunch of heathens.

Well, guess what?

Those are just people waiting to become a disciple.

Somebody say amen today.

We're called to be a church of disciples who make disciples.

So as we uh prepare to conclude today, I want to just ask you to stand with me.

And today I want to uh just pray for us.

For those of you who say, maybe I've I've never been baptized with the Spirit.

Maybe some of you say, I need a fresh infilling today of the Holy Spirit to empower me to go and do what I am called to do to be a disciple who makes disciple.

So that's you today.

I'm not gonna make you raise your hand.

God can see your heart.

And so I want to just ask you to bow your head with me today.

I want to pray for us as we conclude our time.

God, I thank you for these amazing people.

God, thank you for this beautiful church.

God, the the work that you're doing here.

Uh, Father, we thank you that you modeled water baptism for us.

God, thank you that uh that you call us to do that in obedience.

Father, for those of us today who say, I need a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit.

I need to be baptized with the Spirit of God today.

I pray that you would do that right now in the name of Jesus.

Just ask Him right now if that's you.

God, would you give that to me?

Father, we thank you for uh your goodness of what you're doing in each of our lives.

God, that you walk with us, whether today's a good day or whether today's a really hard day.

God, we say thank you.

We say yes and amen to what you're doing in our life.

We love you, we honor you, and we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus, and all God's people said.

Amen, amen.