This Time, It's Different - Part 6

I like that it was a mighty shout, but the the clap was a

little subdued. And I thank you for that.

We are replacing the carpets later this year.

But I mean, we don't need to speed up the process, right?

Let me just say something before I read from the Scripture while

we're holding this communion together and we're we're ready

to do this communion is something I took for granted for

most of my life. I grew up in a church

denomination that it was something you did every Sunday

and you were just told this is what you do.

And so I did it and I'm still glad I did it, Don't get me

wrong. But I don't want to move past

this moment that is so holy and so special.

And to take it together is a family act.

And the reason I know that is because all throughout the New

Testament when they were talking about taking the Lord's Supper,

I'm about to read to you from First Corinthians, it happened

at the family table and it happened amongst families, and

then it happened amongst people that called each other familial

terms. So they would bring people over,

basking in the teachings of Jesus who said things like who

are my mother and my brother and my sisters?

Anybody who does the will of my father is my mother and my

brother and my sister. And they would sit there

together and they would break this bread and they would

remember that Jesus was broken and they would drink the wine

together and they would remember that every drop of his blood was

poured out so that every single shred of your sin could be

forgiven. And it was special.

And it wasn't a religious thing that they did.

It was something they did to remember because we forget.

And so today I want you to just look around and maybe maybe not

everybody in here, somebody you would have chosen for your

family. But don't get me started on your

blood family either, right? OK.

This is God's family. I mean, before anything else,

can we just be grateful? Can we just give him praise for

for making a family? Come on, listen, listen out in

the world, there are so many different paths to know whatever

the gods are that other people worship or however to send your

good vibes to the universe or whatever people say.

Let me tell you something. This is so much more than just

picking the best out of all the options out there.

This is not your ticket to heaven.

This is your ticket to the Father who dwells in heaven, but

it's your ticket into a right relationship with him.

And so as you look at these elements today, the bread and

the juice, think about it. As I read this, the words of

Paul, he says, I pass on to you what I received from the Lord

himself on the night when he was betrayed.

The Lord Jesus took some bread and he gave thanks to God for

it. And then he broke it in pieces.

And he said, this is my body which is given for you.

He said, do this in remembrance of me.

Any punishment that you've earned due to sin, there may

still be consequences, but any eternal punishment that you've

earned was taken on the cross that day.

And that's what this bread symbolizes.

Remember that as you take the bread this morning.

Let's do that. Thank you.

It says in the same way he took the

cup of wine after supper, saying this cup is the new covenant

between God and his people, an agreement confirmed with my

blood. Do this in remembrance of me as

often as you drink it. So remember this as we drink the

juice today. You are God's people.

You may not feel like you deserve it, but you are.

Remember that as you take the juice today.

And it says after that every time you eat this bread and

drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death

until he comes again. And as we've been talking about

change, when you announce the death of our Lord, you announce

the death of the old you. But then again, after Jesus

died, something else happened, right?

There was a resurrection. So you are also proclaiming his

resurrection, and by extension, you're also proclaiming your

chance to be made new. And it's not about you and it's

not about me. It's all about Him and the

saving work that he continues to do in our lives.

But that's what you and I just proclaimed this morning.

Is that a beautiful way to start this morning or what?

Come on. Thank you, Jesus.

I am. I'm going to ask you all to go

ahead and and be seated this morning.

This is a family Sunday. If there has ever been a family

Sunday. Man, brothers and sisters in the

Lord, we've got a lot going on and I could not be more thrilled

just the way that everything lined up.

So, Pastor Anna, don't go far because I'll need you soon.

I'll need you soon. You heard it.

I, I, I need Pastor Anna in a moment.

But before that, I want to go ahead and bring in new members.

So last weekend we had a next steps class and next steps.

Honestly, this is just a chance for us to be able to, to talk

about it. I want to address this because I

just saw some videos this weekend on social media, some

people complaining about harmful practices that happen with

churches and how sometimes it feels exclusive when there's

members and, and how they get manipulated based on it.

Here's what membership means here.

It means you understand what we believe and where we're going

and you're willing to be a part of it and help us.

Sometimes we'll get a message from somebody saying, Hey, can

you send a letter of membership for fill in the blank who is now

attending our church? And we always say we don't have

a letter to send you, but they're awesome.

So treat them well. Like I, I mean, we don't, it's

not exclusive. When you're a member of liberty,

you, you don't belong to us, but as a believer, we do belong to

each other, right? And so this is just so we can

talk about the core beliefs, answer questions that you have

and get to know each each other a little bit better.

And it was a great time. Not everybody who went through

the class was able to be here today.

But if if you're here this morning, I'll call out your name

coming up here. We'll give you the certificate.

Sarah's got them right here. And we'll just have you stand

right here in front and we're going to pray you into

membership together. So first of all, Anthony Garcia

Lopez, Bruce Coolbeth, Junior. We got Bryce Fisher.

I'll tell you what, Bryce. I'll see you at the end of

service. Bryce has got a busy Sunday

here. Yeah, we've got Ivan and

Michelle Cruz. Jen McMichael, who I think might

be out of town as well. But Jen McMichael, let's cheer

for her like she's here. Shelly Herbert, you'll see how

efficient we are. It's her first Sunday in the

membership, and we got her on the care team, So come on.

Yes. And then Joe and Sue fought.

Let's see if I can do this without sending off feedback

with a speaker. Let me tell you, the biggest

thing that I think is a benefit when it comes to church

membership is because culture today is so non committal.

If you don't believe me, have a Facebook event and expect

everybody to RSVP it, right? It's so hard to say yes, I'm all

in because we don't know other people's motives.

We don't know if we're making the wrong decision.

We don't know if we're biting off more than we can chew.

But man, I'm just telling you, we could do so much more

together. And so if you all would just

lift your hands towards this crew here.

Father, we just thank you so much for the membership in this

class today. We thank you so much for every

individual, every couple, every family represented here.

We speak blessings over them and over their children.

As their church family, we commit to supporting them,

helping them find their fit, put their gifts to use, and help

them take every single thing that you speak to them and bring

it into fruition. As the lead pastor here, Father,

I commit and promise to always preach something or lead and

teach something that is fresh. That is something you've spoken

to me, not something that's been taken from somewhere else or

canned or rehearsed. This will be straight from you

to them. And Father, we commit ourselves

in integrity to finding the best ways that we can help them

become a part of the family here.

And we thank you so much for everything that's ahead and

everything you've already done in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Amen. Although Joe, you, you may want

to hang out for just a second because at this point, I'm going

to go ahead and ask for the Albania team to come up now.

Come on now. Tomorrow, 15 of us are going to

be leaving for Albania in the morning.

We're going to drive up to Raleigh, fly out from there, and

we'll be gone Monday to Monday. And so next Sunday.

I'm really thrilled. I'm excited about this.

Jared. Jared and Beatrice lead Elevate

Student Ministries. Jared's going to be bringing a

word for you guys. And so y'all support him.

Yeah. And harass him a little bit.

I don't think he's in here. Is he in here today?

There he is, yes. So Jared said he's hoping that

as confirmation that he did what the Lord wants him to next week,

that he could receive 2 hugs from every person who's in

attendance next week. So I so this is our team that is

going down to Albania. And you know, we've been there

the last couple years represented as a church.

This is our first time, this is historic for Liberty Church.

First time that we're taking a full team to Albania to minister

to the youth and the adults there in a Muslim nation that

welcomes us. And so we're going to walk in

and we're going to share the love of Jesus with them.

And I have asked Pastor Anna if she would speak a blessing over

us. I should have been more

specific. It's like people saying pray for

the food and you're like grace. Anyways, so back to the food

though. All right, ready.

You're prepared. OK, Pastor Blake is included in

this because he's going. So raise your hands up.

Let's pray for our team to send them out to the people.

Or do we just thank you right now in the name of Jesus?

I just thank you, Father, that they are going for a purpose.

And I think that thank you that you're showing them that

purpose. And Lord, I thank you for every

single person here that they're unified in your name.

And Lord, I just thank you that you're going to give them power

to speak and you're going to give them words that they will

be in your will and they will be walking on your path, Father.

So I thank you right now, in the name of Jesus, that they will be

led by your spirit. And I thank you, Father, where

they go, you go, and that the people experience your love and

they experience being seen in the proper way that they need.

And I thank you, Father, that sometimes we may not know what

to say, we may not know what to pray over people.

But I just pray that they, they feel connection to you and that

they feel seen by each and every person that they interact

because sometimes that connection is just all we need

to be able to see the love of Jesus.

So what I thank you for blessing them.

I thank you for being with them. And as we all stand here

together, sit here together and we pray with there's definitely

2 more than two people praying over you.

I just thank you that the blood of Jesus is over every single

one of you. And that not only are you

blessing others, but that you get blessed as well.

And that the Lord's speaking through you and that you

experience things that you've never experienced before and

that you know it's from the Holy Spirit in Jesus name, Amen.

Amen. Well, Tom-tom, Tom.

Hey, hey, Tom, and live behinds, why don't you all come up on the

stage for a second? I know every time you think I'm

about to do the sermon. But wait, there's more.

You know, I'm not going to do this quite the same way that

Pastor Tom messed with me a few years ago as he had somebody

drag me into the bathroom and slap a cap and gown on me and

make me walk out to pomp and circumstance.

I'll give you some context in a moment, but I want you to know

that Tom, who is an elder here at this church, has earned his

master's degree in biblical theology.

This is through Christian Life School of Theology Global.

It's the college that our Bible college is, is under the

umbrella of. So if you ever hear about Bible

college interns like Michael Fletcher doing the announcements

today, C plus. But I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding. A+ man, you did a great job.

But here's the thing, these are for people that are looking to

expand what they're doing and grow in their knowledge, and

they don't all have the same end goal.

Some are trying to pursue a career where they end up as a

pastor. Some want to understand more

about the heart of the church. Some want to just understand the

heart of the gospel better. Whatever the reason is, it is my

distinct honor and pleasure to present you with this, because

you earned it. Now, let me just say, if you're

interested in the Bible College in any form, it can be done on

your own time. It can also be done with an

internship at the church. There's many different ways you

could ask me or a staff member, but I'd also encourage,

encourage you to ask somebody who's gone through the program.

They can tell you more personally and more

specifically. And Tom, you're a great

candidate to ask about it. We're proud of you.

Thank you for being a part of our church.

Well, Are you ready for the sermon?

You can't because there's one more thing, OK, with the care

team come forward. But this is celebratory.

Everything today is celebratory. This is a great Family Day.

And let me just tell you, I am. I often say this, I'm so

grateful that this is a generous church and that y'all take care

of your own. Told you that we were going to

have to replace the roof, right? So I normally don't throw

numbers up here. I don't like to throw numbers

because what happens when you compare them to other numbers,

It's not the goal of things. I don't like that when you talk

about numbers of people baptized or when you're talking about

monetary numbers, any of that. But I want you to know that as

we started to look through and see what it would cost to

replace this roof, most of the estimates that we had were

around $100,000. Most of them through looking

through places and finding some that are a little more

sympathetic to the cause and finding some that are willing to

provide discounts and, and things like that and much, much

prayer. We found a place that is

replacing the roof here for $64,000.

Seriously. I mean, that's, it's, it's huge.

But, but what I want you to know is we've already paid them half

as the deposit. You'll probably see it get

replaced in about a month. We'll pay them the rest then.

And so I'm not asking you for the money for the roof.

We have it, OK, because we've been wise and we've been waiting

and praying and planning for the future.

But what I am asking you to do is to keep being who you've been

all along, OK? Because I mean, y'all pay your

bills at home, so you know how that goes.

Thank you for taking care of your home and taking care of

God's Kingdom. That's all I really have for you

today. Thank you Father, we give this

time of giving back to you. Thank you for your generosity

and for enabling us to be able to take care of the home front

while also taking care of your gospel in places like Albania

and Guatemala and just the outside surrounding areas

outside of our walls here at Liberty Church.

We are not the only church in town.

We're just a piece of your family, and we're so grateful

that you use us in the name of Jesus.

Amen. I'm so sorry for what I'm about

to say to you. I probably have a shorter

message for you today. The reason I say I'm sorry about

that is because every time I sat out there and heard my pastor

say it was going to be a shorter message.

But the reason it's a little bit shorter is because of so much

that we have been celebrating here at the beginning.

If this is your first time at Liberty Church, let me just tell

you that is not the way that the beginning of service normally

happens. But we had so much to celebrate

today, but also because we're ending with water baptisms and

we don't want to rush through water baptisms.

These are people making a public profession of repentance that

something has changed, that something is brand new, and we

want to give that the due respect that it deserves.

The Lord is doing incredible things in the lives of his

people. But for the word today, if you

would go ahead and grab your Bible, you can turn with me to

Philippians chapter 1. We've been walking through this

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

whole series on being changed. Told the staff on Monday, I

don't really know what I'm preaching when I come back from

Albania. So we'll see.

But I guess we're going to go into a little bit of spiritual

warfare. So the Lord's been speaking to

me this week and we're going to talk a little bit about how to

come against the schemes of the enemy and very specific demonic

attacks that are laid out throughout the Bible.

So you can buckle up for that when I come back.

But we've been talking about how change starts in the mind.

I shouldn't be surprised that we're going to go into an area

where we talk about how to push back against the enemy.

Because as soon as you start changing for the Lord, he's not

the only one that takes notice. As my pastor used to say, when

the Spirit of God moves, all spirits move, right?

It's like throwing a rock into a pond.

There's ripples, right? But there's also things beneath

the surface that start swimming around and moving as well.

And so we talked about how it starts in the mind, and then we

moved on from there. We talked about things like when

God prunes you and it feels like he's cutting away something and

it's not comfortable, but it's necessary for your growth.

It's not meant as a punishment, even if it feels that way.

We discussed our identity and how to really find who we are in

Jesus. And there will be more talk on

that in the months to come because it's so crucial.

And there's a lot of people who have solid belief in the Lord,

but they still don't really know who they are in the Lord.

And so we are committed to making sure that every believer

who attends here will know that in due time.

And then we talked about making sure that as we are embracing

the change that the Lord brings to us, that we're not trying to

force the same change in the same methods on everybody else.

But it doesn't mean you just live and let live.

You still have to speak the truth, but you have to do it in

a way that is kind and also firm.

And so last week was probably the most challenging one out of

the sermons to preach today is celebratory.

But after all of this, I know that I'm not the only one here

that can say this. All too often I have gotten

inspired by the Lord. I've had a fresh word from God.

Maybe I felt like that Sunday was just for me or I've had

something happen in a night of worship.

I mean, we did the baptism of the Holy Spirit and it boiled

over. It wasn't just a Sunday a couple

Sundays ago. It boiled over into Wednesday

night after service. We had more baptisms in the Holy

Spirit. And I've been inspired and said

I'll never be the same again. And then 30 days goes by, I'm

being generous, you know, a couple days go by, maybe a week

or less will go by and all of a sudden things haven't lasted.

And that in and of itself is not something that anybody should

feel shame over because these things do happen.

But what do we pick up after that?

We pick up this thought that says, I've tried that before, I

tried changing, what's the point in trying again?

It doesn't make a difference. That's a real place to be.

And if you've ever felt that you were not alone, I want you to

know that failure has a way of whispering that this is who

you'll always be. But I'm also here today to tell

you that's not true. William Wilberforce is one of

those historical names that a lot of people like to drop, but

he is so inspirational when it comes to staying the course

about what the Lord has told you to do.

Even if you feel like you failed time and time again, if you do

know him, you probably know the, the, the highlight there, which

is he's a man who helped end slavery in the British Empire.

But what most people don't know, or if they did know, they forget

it, is how many times he failed. He became a Christian in his mid

20s and he felt the Holy Spirit nudge him immediately and and he

felt like God was telling him his political career wasn't just

an average one, there was something to do.

And so he felt like he had a divine purpose.

He actually wrote in his journal that God had given him 2 great

objectives. This is what he said. 2 great

objects, the abolition of the slave trade and the Reformation

of manners. And by that he meant morality,

although manners would not be a bad thing to revisit.

So in 1789 he stood up in parliament and he gave his first

major speech against the slave trade.

He poured out evidence, he poured out heart, he poured out

scripture, he poured out passion.

And he failed. The bill was rejected.

And he didn't quit. The next year, he presented it

again. And he did this year after year,

for almost 2 full decades, William Wilberforce put forward

bill after bill only to watch him get voted down.

And he was ridiculed and he was opposed.

He was even threatened. His life was threatened at one

point. And So what did he do?

And lean deeper into his faith. Now, a lot of us let's, let's be

really honest, put ourselves in there.

How many years in a row do you try to initiate change?

Before you say I misheard God, I thought this is something God

had for me. But if it was something you had

for me, it would have happened by now.

And if you don't think it, somebody else thinks it.

And then at some point somebody's got the guts enough

to say to you, hey, look, I know you really feel like God put

this on your heart, but it's been three years.

Don't you think it would have happened by now?

Aren't you grateful for friends? Only you know what the Lord is

saying to you. OK, People who mean well,

Christians, brothers and sisters in the Lord who mean the best

and want the best for you. They also get protective second

hand offense and second hand protection.

They're fierce. So we take the things that

people say to us, but we always run them through the filter of

what the Lord is saying to us, both through Scripture and

through His Spirit. So finally in 18 O 720 years

after that first speech, the Slave Trade Act was passed.

It's a massive breakthrough and still didn't dismantle it.

So he kept working and kept pressing in and trusting God to

finish that work. So that was in 18 O 7.

But in 1833, three days before his death, Wilberforce received

word that Parliament had voted to abolish slavery throughout

the whole British Empire. So my question before I read the

scripture to you is, could you stick to a task that God gave

you even if it meant you wouldn't see it fulfilled until

three days before your death? Because that's what he did.

For decades He looked like a failure in the eyes of the

world, and in his own eyes, probably.

But in the eyes of the Kingdom, he was made of something

different than most of us. In God's hands, those failures

were only part of a process, and we're going to talk about this

process in a few minutes. He never stopped believing that

God would finish the work that he started in him and that's the

encouragement that Philippians one gives us.

If you want to read along, we'll start in verse 3.

Paul says this. He says every time I think of

you, I give thanks to my God whenever I pray, I make my

requests for all of you with joy.

For you have been partners in spreading the good news about

Christ from the time you first heard about it until now.

And I'm certain that God, here it is who began the good work

within you, will continue his work until it is finally

finished. On the day when Christ Jesus

returns, Paul says So it is right that I should feel as I do

about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart.

You share with me the special favor of God, both in my

imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the

good news. Favor looks a little different

to Paul than favor looks to me. God knows how much I love you

and long for you with tender compassion of Christ Jesus, he

says, I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that

you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding, for

I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may

live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ's

return. Verse 11, He says May you always

be filled with the fruit of your salvation, the righteous

character produced in your life by Jesus Christ, for this will

bring much glory and praise to God.

Do you know why He says he hopes that they'll show the fruit of

their salvation? Because it's possible to be

saved and not have any fruit. That's not popular to say, but

it is possible. You can be saved, you can be

heaven bound, you punched your ticket, you know where you're

going and still not be showing fruit on this earth.

But how can he rejoice with them except that he knows that

there's a work in them that God started, and because of that, he

knows God will finish it? Here's why this matters.

How often when we pray for people, especially when they're

in a tough place, do we throw gratitude in there for those

people as well? When you're praying for people,

thank God for what he's doing in them.

And you may say, I can't see God doing anything in them.

Well, good thing that's not your job.

Quality control inspector for heaven, right?

Thank God for what He is doing in the lives of other people

because if He's doing something in their lives, that means He

started it. And if He started it, what will

he do? He'll finish it.

This is not just about what God is doing in my life or your

life. It's about what He's doing in

the lives of the people around us, even the ones that irk us.

The ones that I were taught are represented by three letters.

EGR. It means extra grace required.

God is doing something in them, and you might not know what it

is, but if it's of God, it's good.

So think about some of the greatest breakthroughs in

history. Some of these you've probably

heard since grade school, many of which have been used to

encourage us throughout the years.

Thomas Edison failed over 1000 times before he finally got the

light bulb to work. Had to lean on some other

people's education to do that. But how about Walt Disney?

We know Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper.

Do you know why he was fired from a newspaper?

They told him he lacked imagination.

OK, Michael Jordan got cut from his high school basketball team

over and over again. We can look at people that we

consider great in our eyes, and we can see that they were once

people that fell flat on their faces.

Why not you? Why not me?

Why not us? What is God trying to accomplish

there that's maybe a little bit greater than a basketball

dynasty or cartoon mouse or even the light bulb?

Spiritually, the truth that we're talking about today is

even greater because real change is not about a fresh start every

time you stumble. It's about trusting the One who

promised to finish what He started.

Romans 828 says that He causes all things to work together for

the good of those that love Him. So if you are sold out to Him,

you are trying to accomplish His purposes and you fail or

stumble, He'll use that in His ultimate purpose as well, if

you're willing to release it and give it to Him.

I don't know about you. That's a huge relief to me.

So maybe instead of thinking I'm not just cut out for this,

instead of thinking maybe this is as far as I'll ever go, maybe

instead of thinking maybe I've just hit the ceiling, I've just

hit the plateau. Maybe it's the opposite.

Just like we read. Maybe we're just waiting for God

to finish it, but we've been the ones trying to finish it.

The first thing I want you to know, before we ever talk about

the future for you as a believer, I want to talk about

your past. Yes, that's right, I know all

about it. I don't and that's OK.

I don't have the capacity for it.

The first thing I want you to know though is your past does

not define your process. It doesn't disqualify your

process. Now listen, normally when you

hear something like this taught, you'll hear your past does not

define your future. You'll hear something like that

also true cool sermon for another day.

There's a process that the Lord is taking you through and your

past does not disqualify it. And you may say, well, why not?

I would have disqualified me for it.

You ain't God, but your past doesn't disqualify the process.

We're going to be in Isaiah 43 in a moment.

Sometimes we wonder why God has not finished something in our

lives and we get frustrated and impatient.

We start to question His faithfulness.

But allow me to be the one to remind you that His Word says

He'll be faithful to finish everything He starts.

He is not held to the standard of finishing everything that you

and I start. Even if you say I'm going to do

this for the Lord. I mean, you can go to Niagara

Falls and say I'm gonna walk on water for the Lord.

I'll see you when I hit eternity.

I mean, you know, God is not beholden to what you decide

you're going to do, even if you slap His name on it.

But He will finish everything that He starts.

Now, He is faithful. But I want you to know This is

why your past does not disqualify the process.

If God began to work in you, even your own failure, even your

own stupidity, even your own bad judgement calls can't cancel

what He's doing now. You can miss opportunities, but

you can't miss the ultimate purpose that God has for your

life if you are willing to submit your failures to Him.

Let's read together from Isaiah 43.

We'll start in verse 14. This is what the Lord says, your

Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, for your sakes, I will

send an army against Babylon, forcing the Babylonians to flee

in those ships they're so proud of.

He says, I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel's creator and

king. He says, I am the Lord who

opened away through the waters, making a dry path through the

sea. Of course, we know that for

Jewish people, that story of the Exodus, it's central to their

belief. It's sacred to them, right?

And this is what is being recounted through the prophet

Isaiah. Verse 17, I called forth the

mighty army of Egypt with all its Chariots and horses.

I drew them beneath the waves, and they drown, their lives

snuffed out like a smoldering candle Wick.

It's very descriptive. And then verse 18, Ephesus mine,

God says, and forget all that. Listen, it's nothing compared to

what I'm going to do, for I'm about to do something new.

See, I've already begun. Do you not see it?

I will make a pathway through the wilderness.

I'll create rivers in the dry wasteland.

Do you understand that? He just recounted something that

they were well aware of. He just said I created dry land

through the water. And he just followed that up

with, forget about that. I'll put some water where it's

dry. And maybe you're in a

wilderness. Maybe you're in a place where

you're like, I wish I had a drop of water.

He can do it. Maybe you're in a place where it

feels like there's a sea in front of you.

You have no way to go forward. And worse than that, it feels

like there is something bearing down on you from the other side.

He can do it. It's going to be something new.

Maybe Israel was so focused on what God had done, it hadn't

even dawned on them that he could create a river through the

wasteland as well. Verse 20, he says the wild

animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and the owls

too, for giving them water in the desert.

Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland so my chosen

people can be refreshed. I've made Israel for myself, and

they will someday honor me before the whole world.

Why is it that the owls and the jackals are going to say thank

you, but he's having to make sure that we pay attention to

it? Because all of nature operates

in accordance with what it was created to do except for one

part, and that part was given free will.

I'll just leave that there. Do you hear the shift there?

He says, forget all of that. It's nothing compared to what

I'm going to do. That is his way of saying don't

let the past set the feeling of the ceiling for your future.

Israel had already seen God move in dramatic ways.

It wasn't just the Exodus. They'd also seen that he crushed

Babylon. He's in the process of doing

this. And so these are their highlight

reels. But God says, that's not the end

of my story with you. I'm still doing something new.

Sometimes we've got a really cool story about something that

the Lord has accomplished in our life.

Or maybe we just live off of a story that somebody else has

told us about what God has accomplished in their life.

And so we hold on to that and say God do it again.

In fact, we sing a song sometimes it's a worship song

called Do It Again. What if He wants to do something

different, but we can't even see what He's doing because we're so

focused on waiting for it to happen again.

But there's something new coming.

The owls and the jackals out there, they'll see it.

But you and I, we have to have the eyes to see.

And I want you to understand this.

And Jewish thought, this section of scripture that we talked

about has been tied to the theme of what they call teshuva.

Teshuva, it actually means return.

The rabbi's taught that even when Israel failed, even when

they rebelled and walked away, God's mercy made a way for them

to return. Now here we've got our own form

of a shame culture. They used to have honor shame

culture. What we've done is we've we've

now brought that and we have shifted it into 2025 and we've

gotten rid of the honor part and we've replaced the word shame

with cancel. Because when we don't like

somebody, we bring down the hammer and we want them snuffed

into the dirt never to be seen again.

And I'm not even talking about political things or celebrities.

I'm talking about this is what we do with people.

We have to be very careful because what they had a concept

of is something we don't. Somebody falls, somebody fails.

Done with you for God, for the people that came up memorizing

his scripture, this concept of teshuva, the return was huge.

And this was not saying do what you want because God's going to

take you back anyway. This was walking through life

unafraid to make mistakes, honest mistakes, because you

know the character of your God. Many of us know the holiness of

God, or we know the angryness of preachers, but we don't always

know His character. And His character is merciful.

It's rich in grace. That's why God is saying, forget

the former things. It's not because they don't

matter. He's just saying Israel has

failures, but they also had victories, and you can't put

your hope in any of it. That happened in the past.

What's next? Leadership writer John Maxwell

has a really great book. It's been a while since I've

given you a book recommendation, so there it is.

It's called Failing Forward. It's a really, really good one.

Some people will tell you every book by John Maxwell is is worth

jumping into, and that's not true.

But most of them, most of them are.

And this book, I've got a quote for you.

Listen. He says the difference between

average people and achieving people is their perception of

and response to failure. I'm gonna say that one more

time. The difference between average

people and achieving people is their perception of and response

to failure. Is that really it?

Is it possible that that could really be the only difference?

I mean, we just talked about people that failed in

significant ways, but also achieved in significant ways.

Failure is not the end for a Christian.

It's a tool that God uses to prepare us for what's next.

And the other quote is shorter from him.

He says this. Here's your encouragement for

the day. I want to hear this on K love

one day. Fail early, fail often.

But always fail forward. Always fail forward.

You're going to fail. This is something I say to my

kids. Hey, I don't expect you to be

perfect. I know there are going to be

things that you get wrong. I want you to be honest about

it. And every time I say it to them,

it's like, yeah, yeah, God, I know I'm your kid.

I I get it too. He's like, I know you're not

going to be. I know God.

He expects me to be honest about it.

This is the heartbeat about what we're talking about today.

Your past does not disqualify his process.

Now, maybe there are programs here in the world that if you do

something, you get kicked out of the program.

You don't get kicked out of the program of your faith in the

Lord because you made an honest mistake.

I'm talking about honest mistakes.

I'm not talking about frustrating the grace of God.

That's something we'll talk about in due time.

But I want you to understand that it is important that you

cannot accidentally fall out of His Kingdom.

That being said, it's a little heavy.

So let's talk about Colonel Sanders.

It's a military community. So show some respect for the

Colonel. All right?

I don't think he actually served in the military, but he is the

founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

This is not in my nose. This is just one of the weirdest

things. Couple years ago, the staff went

to Asbury Bible College in tennis or in Kentucky to to see

the revival that was happening. And we had a guy that drove us

and I'm making small talk with him.

I mean, the rest of the staff is like, shut it, don't talk to the

stranger. And I'm like, this is just a

friend I haven't met yet. So I'm talking to him and I'm

trying to like, I'm trying to break the ice.

And I'm saying to him, like, well, I'm glad we're in

Kentucky. What else do we need to try?

I'm sure there's better fried chicken here than you get in

KFC, right? And he was like, no, not really.

And at that point, I had the rest of the staff's attention.

I said, what? And he goes, no, they're,

they're fried chicken's pretty good.

And he just, the rest of the drive talked about how much he

loved KFC living in Kentucky. So there's people out there who

need prayer. How old do you think Colonel

Sanders was when he started KFC? 72, That's ridiculous.

Only 65, 65 years old. Not only was he 65, that's not

the take away, just that he did it later in life, although that

would be enough. He had a string of failures

before that, and not everybody knows that he failed in multiple

careers. I've got a short list for you.

He failed as a farmer, as a streetcar conductor, as a

railroad fireman, and even as a lawyer.

Could you imagine that guy representing you in court?

It's funny now because the iconic white suit with the, you

know, none of that lasted. He also tried running a gas

station and a restaurant and both of them he failed.

So he was living off of his Social Security check,

struggling to make ends meet. And at that age, most people

would have considered it a failed life.

And he refused to quit. So what did he do?

He packed up. He brought his patented fried

chicken recipe. He got in his old car and he

started driving around the country and he went restaurant

by restaurant to see who would be willing to adopt his his his

recipe and they would give him a small Commission moving forward.

Eventually he landed on one that actually became a restaurant,

became a chain. He became the spokesperson or

mascot, whatever you want to say.

But that being said, all of this happened at the age of 65 and no

less than at least 7 failed careers.

So don't tell me that just because something didn't work

doesn't mean that there's not a path forward for you.

Now I remember this because there's multiple times God told

me to go into ministry and I didn't do it because I know

there'll be some people that remember this.

In the words of my pastor, Pastor Tom, to me, it just

seemed like it was too. There we go.

It just seemed too hard. That's Pastor Tommy used to

lovingly mock us with that and say, why won't you do what the

Lord says? Is it because it's too hard,

right For me, I felt called into ministry and couldn't figure out

how to get there. So I went to my pastor of a

certain denomination when I was growing up and I asked him about

it and I kind of thought he was going to tell me I wasn't called

to it. He told me I was called and then

gave me brochures on seminaries that I didn't know how to afford

or move to. So I threw it away.

And then I got into Top 40 radio.

And then when I got in there, I kept feeling this nudge, like I

needed to do it. And it wasn't until I got fired

and had a public failure that I actually gave him my attention

in the way that I should have. Now, a lot of times when a

preacher shares their story, they make it sound like, and if

you hear from God, you'll go into ministry too.

It's not the take away. Don't do it unless God tells you

to do it. But go into whatever he tells

you to go into. This leads into something that I

think we all wrestle with the difference between guilt and

shame. And I want to make this really

clear. Talking to a good friend about

this this week. Please don't leave without

catching a hold of this, OK? Guilt says I did something

wrong. Shame says I am something wrong.

Do you see the difference when you look back at your past and

you're wondering if it disqualifies you from this

process that God is running you through?

The difference is knowing that you did something or believing

that you are that thing that you did.

The gospel tells us the truth. It's honestly one of the freeing

scriptures for me at this point. Romans 323.

We've all failed. We have all sinned.

We've all fallen short of God's glorious standard.

That's guilt in the courtroom of heaven.

We're guilty, but because of Jesus, we don't have to carry it

as an identity. This is something we struggle

with. When you catch somebody in a

lie, and it can be one lie, do we not normally say they're a

liar? Please come on up here if you've

never told one lie in your entire life, right?

We're all liars, right? This is this is just the truth.

This is the gospel. We're guilty.

But would that be the best descriptor of you?

I don't think it would be and I don't think you'd want it to be.

So here's your other book recommendation.

I had two for you today. Christian psychiatrist and

author Kurt Thompson says it like this in a book called The

Soul of Shame. He says shame is the emotional

weapon that evil uses to do 2 things #1 to corrupt our

relationships with God and each other and #2 disintegrate any

and all gifts of the vocational vision and creativity that we've

been given. In other words, to ruin your

path forward and to ruin your relationships.

That's what shame is used for. Something we probably all

achieved in the Bible reading plan at some point back in

Genesis. Adam and Eve, they ate from that

tree and when the Lord started walking through the garden, he

said, where are you? He was hiding because he was

naked and he felt shame. He felt shame.

He adopted it as his identity. I did the one thing I mean, for

all the joking we have today, Adam, you had one job.

See these things, don't eat them, and he adopted it as his

identity. You can be guilty of things in

the past. You can be guilty of hard things

in the past. Shame says that's who you are,

but that's not what God says. This is why shame can be so

devastating, because the Scripture reminds us that shame

doesn't get the last word. But all too often we don't run

to the Scripture to help combat it when we feel shame.

We talked about this last week. You remember John 21, where you

don't have to turn there, but where Jesus is speaking to Peter

and he says, do you love me? Peter said, yeah.

He said, then feed my sheep. And you remember we said this.

He did this three times. It balanced out the three times

that Peter had denied him. He's speaking to a resurrected

Jesus who walks up to the sky, who failed, who denied him.

And three times he says, you have a job to do.

Do you love me? Well, yeah, You know I love you.

Then feed my sheep. I wonder if Peter was actively

feeding the sheep at that point or if he was just glad he hadn't

been banished since. There's three denials and three

affirmations. I figured we can round it out

with three quotes from Doctor Kurt Thompson from his book The

Soul of Shame. Here you go.

Shame is not just a consequence of something we've done wrong.

It's the very mechanism evil uses to keep us from being

known. What you feel shame over is the

last thing you want to reveal to anybody.

That's the way that that goes. If you don't believe me, talk to

any of the gentlemen who have gone through the Conquer

program. As long as you hold the things

that you have shame over and you never share them, you never air

them out, you never bring them into the light, they'll still

have a hold on you #2 Doctor Thompson says.

Shame convinces us that we are not enough and isolates us from

others who could remind us of the truth.

Let me give you some freedom. You are not enough.

Thank you for coming to Liberty next week 930.

No, you're not enough by yourself, but with the Lord you

have everything that you need. Everything you need to function

in this life is bound up in the resurrected Savior.

And if you have people around you that love him too, they'll

remind you of that. And finally, he says healing

begins when shame is exposed in the light of love and when we

allow God and others to see us as we are, not as we pretend to

be. You can pretend that whatever

happened didn't happen, but it did.

But also, it's not you. You want to overcome shame.

Here's the things you're going to have to do.

I'll tell you to name things often.

And there's a reason if you never name the things you're

battling against, you won't win the war.

Could you imagine going to war and you don't even know the

country you're fighting? Spin the globe, We'll go there.

Name the shame. What is it that you're

struggling with? And then get in a prayer closet,

speak it out loud, admit it to the Lord.

He's not going to be shocked. He knows.

And then get to brothers and sisters who really love you and

want the best for you and want to see you overcome because they

will also help you #2 bring it into that trusted community that

I was just talking about. Because shame will always thrive

in secrecy. Remember James 516, it says

confess your sins to one another and pray for each other so that

you may be anybody healed. Isn't that interesting?

Where's God in that? Let me read that again.

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that

you may be healed. I mean, I guess we pray to them,

but is it, is it saying that there's power when we actually

confess and speak it to one another?

Making sure, making sure we got the same Bible.

I didn't want to get like a misprint.

And the last thing, this is where we really do struggle.

Turn that shame into testimony. Shame wants to silence you, but

God redeems you even in the midst of what you've done.

I'll be honest with you. There are some things I'll just

say here. There are some things that I

used to be afraid to preach on. There's some things I used to be

afraid to say. When I was a youth pastor, I

used to fill in for my pastor when he was out of town or

whatever, and I was so afraid that people would know some of

the more shameful things about how I was fired out of radio or

went through a divorce early on in my adulthood.

These things I was so afraid of catching judgement from people

and feeling the shame. And the reality is it mattered

so much more to me than it did to the people that were

listening to me share my story, except for when I would share

the things I went through. It started shocking me how many

people were like, I can really relate.

That's painful. I get it.

And So what I'm telling you is the very thing that the enemy

wants you to adopt as your identity and to silence you now

becomes a weapon in the hands of the Lord.

We talked about this week 1, You've got to renew your mind if

you want change. And you know why?

Because renewed minds get renewed purpose.

Maybe you say, well, I had a purpose, but I gave it away, but

your renewed mind will get you a renewed purpose every time.

If shame is what holds you back, purpose is what pulls you

forward always. Now Philippians 3, we move just

a couple chapters ahead and Philippians chapter 3, I'm going

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

to read from verse 12. I want you to know that God is

not just interested in erasing your yesterday.

He is calling you into a tomorrow that is bigger than

anything you could have imagined.

Here's what He says in Philippians 3, starting in verse

12, Paul says, I don't mean to say that I've already achieved

these things or that I've already reached perfection, but

I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ

Jesus first possessed me. Dear brothers and sisters, I

have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing,

forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.

He says. I press on to reach the end of

the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God

through Christ Jesus is calling us.

And then he says, man, Paul was so blunt.

He says, let all who are spiritually mature agree on

these things. If you disagree on some point, I

believe God will make it plain to you, but we must hold on to

the progress we've already made. And then he says this.

He says, dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives

after mine and learn from those who follow our example.

For I've told you often before, and I say it again with tears in

my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are

really enemies of the cross of Christ.

What shows that they're an enemy of the cross of Christ?

It's their conduct. So here's that fruit talk again,

right? He says they're headed for

destruction. Their God is their appetite.

This is not talking about what y'all are about to do at lunch

after this. OK, Listen, he said they brag

about shameful things and they think about this life.

They only think about this life here on earth.

That's the appetite. It's an appetite for the world,

for the things that this world has to offer.

Everything is about I'm going to get this car, I'm going to get

the skull, I'm going to have this money, he says.

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ

lives, and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our

Savior. He will take our weak and mortal

bodies, and he'll change them into glorious bodies like his

own, using the same power with which he will bring everything

under his control. Let's analyze this real quick.

Paul says he has not arrived, he has not achieved all of this

yet, so he's not there saying man, I've I'm at this place of

enlightenment, that's why you should follow me.

He says I haven't even achieved what God has laid out for me

yet, but you should follow me because I'm on my way.

That's how a Christian is supposed to live.

Most of us say let me fix this problem, let me get it cleaned

up, let me fix my potty mouth. Good luck Marines.

He says, let me fix all of these things so that I can then be a

proper witness to people. Meanwhile, Paul is like, oh, I'm

screwed up, but God has done great things in my life.

You want to see the next great things, follow me.

That's how we're supposed to live.

Some of us, we're just waiting to seem like we got a better

reputation before we invite somebody to church.

But I just want you to know that after the Lord got a hold of

Paul, he wasn't setting aside his old life for a new goal.

He was setting aside his old life for Christ.

He said, I press on not towards a new goal.

I press forward to grab a hold of Christ.

So when you pursue Jesus, that's the one thing that really

matters. So here's the truth.

God doesn't just save you from something, He saves you to

something. I'm going to just give you an

abbreviated version of an illustration that I found.

This person's name was Nikki. Nikki actually ended up becoming

a a gang leader, born in Puerto Rico, moved to New York and fell

in with a gang that was called the Mau Maus.

I don't know if anybody's ever heard of those of that gang, but

it was pretty vicious in the in the 70s and and all that.

But he ended up coming up. He was feared.

He was known as ruthless and unpredictable.

And in his own words, he said this.

I was lonely. I was lost.

I was like a dog in the street. And I want you to know this.

That's what Shame does. Shame says this is where you

found yourself, so make the most of it.

So he's a gang leader now. Well, this is where he's found

himself. Maybe he wishes he didn't become

a gang leader, but how do you get out of that?

Well, God sent a preacher to him by the name of David Wilkerson,

who walked into gang territory, walked up to Nikki and said,

face to face, Jesus loves you, Nikki.

That's pretty bold. And Nikki spat in his face.

He cursed him out, threatened to kill him if he kept showing up.

So what did David Wilkerson do? He kept showing up.

He kept telling him, look, I understand you're saying that

Jesus has a purpose for my life. But if you keep showing up in

this territory, somebody's going to kill you.

You know what David Wilkerson said?

He said you can cut me into 1000 pieces and every piece will

still cry out that Jesus loves you.

All those words broke through. And at a revival meeting not

long after that, Nikki gave his life to Christ.

And what he now does after that era is he now ministers to

people who are trapped in the drug trade gang life.

He now takes what he walked through because he understands

it in a way that maybe you and I don't.

And he uses it to minister to the very people that are trapped

in the same way he was. And that's what Second

Corinthians chapter one is talking about.

That'll be the last really big scripture that I share with you.

When you get a renewed purpose, it doesn't just clean your

slate. You're not just starting from

nothing. Your past still exists.

That's not what forgetting your past means.

It means all these things that used to be weights that would

drag you down. Now they're tools to be used for

the Kingdom. And so in, in, in, in second

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 1, it says this in verse 3.

All praise to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is our merciful Father and source of all comfort.

Paul says he comforts us in all our troubles so that we can

comfort others. He says when they're troubled,

we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower

us with his comfort through Christ, even when we are weighed

down with troubles. It is for your comfort and

salvation, for when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly

comfort you. Then you can patiently endure

the same things we suffer. And listen what he says here in

verse 7. We're confident that as you

share in our suffering, you will also share in the comfort God

gives us. 12 years in the youth group, 12 years with teenagers

that my wife and I spent working with teens, and I was very proud

that I knew how to relate to boys and girls.

I could speak to both of them fairly well.

Three times in those 12 years did a young lady start to become

a young woman on a youth trip. At which point I said I got

nothing. Cassie.

Now that's a silly example, but let me just bring it to you this

way. Has anybody ever come to you and

word vomited a problem that it is hard for you to help them

with, But do you know somebody who can relate to them?

Can you point them to a better source?

Can you get them in touch with somebody who can help?

A lot of times we're just a connective tissue.

That's what it means to be open and to be the body, but also be

ready for the time that somebody comes to you and they can relate

to the things that you've gone through.

Here's the biggest problem. Your shame will keep you silent,

and if it keeps you silent, nobody will ever know if you're

approachable for what you struggled with.

There's somebody out there that is hurting that can relate to

something you've gone through, and God's seen you through it

and he's been good and he's been faithful.

And you could pour courage into them, which is literally what

encourage means. You could pour courage into

them, but they don't know that you're even an option.

Now, when you're first struggling, it's hard to do

that, but eventually you're going to have to make it into a

testimony. If you want it to be used as a

comfort, to comfort others, to get that renewed mindset, I

would just challenge you to do this.

I challenge you to do this today.

Don't say like, yeah, Sunday's busy.

I'll do it on Monday. Do it today, OK?

I mean, I'm going to check your notebook or give you a grade.

So write down one place that God has comforted you.

I'm a help walk you into this in case you're afraid to do it.

Take one step towards your race. Here's what that means.

If you feel called to serve, serve somewhere, whether it's

here or out in the community. If your race is leading your

family with more integrity, take a step today.

Plan one time this week that you're going to pray together,

take communion together, read scripture together at the table.

If you need to be a better friend, I would just tell you,

send the text today. Don't think about the race.

The race is going to seem exhausting when you look at it.

Just run a lab today, OK? Choose perseverance over

perfection. Have you been a bad friend

before? Have you failed when it comes to

your family? Have you failed when it comes to

something else or serving or or being more outwardly motivated?

Take those failures, make them part of the testimony.

I just want to encourage you, let me say this.

If you're getting baptized today, if you've already signed

up or if today is for you and you're just going to go home

wet, is that what we said earlier?

Go ahead and head out there to the to the foyer.

Good. We're going to give you some

instructions and we're about to do the baptisms, but I want to

read just a couple verses from Hebrews.

I want you to remember this before I get to Hebrews.

Philippians one promised us something very big.

He who began a good work and you will carry it through to

completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

You're not even going to hit a moment that is completed and say

OK, well now I'm done. He'll bring it through to

completion until the day of Jesus.

In other words, until the very end.

So whatever it is you've been hoping to change, as we've gone

through this last month and a half of these series, I want you

to understand it's completely possible.

It is completely possible. And if God's initiating the

change in you, He'll be the one to finish it.

None of it would be possible without what Jesus did on the

cross. Listen, Hebrews 12 says it like

this. And since we are surrounded by

such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us

strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the

sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance

the race that God has set before us.

And how do we do that? He says we do this by keeping

our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our

faith. Because of the joy awaiting him,

He endured the cross, disregarding it's shame, and now

He is seated at the place of honor beside God's throne.

Can you see here that coming to Jesus was never the finishing

line? Coming to Jesus was always the

starting line. He initiates your faith, He

perfects your faith. He's the author and He's the

finisher. And so the invitation today is

that this time it's not about trying harder, it's about

trusting Him deeper. Maybe baptism is not your step

today, but I hope everybody feels challenged to initiate

some changes. This time when you try to

initiate change, it's different because this time he's the one

doing it. If you have been trying to do

changes on your own, it's time to lay it down.

It's exhausting, isn't it? If you need prayer, we will have

people for prayer at the end of service.

If you need to talk to somebody, find one of us.

We'll make sure you get somebody to talk to.

We'll get you in touch with somebody who's been comforted in

the way that you need to be comforted.

If you're for baptized, being baptized today, then I encourage

you to get up and go get wet. But if none of those apply to

you, I'm not waiting for you to save your applause until the end

of baptism. I want to hear you all rejoice

and cheer for every single person as they come up out of

that water today. And then this is a family

celebration of people that desperately want change, and God

will be faithful to give it to them.

Amen. And the last thing I just want

to share is something that we have all been told to do.

The Great Commission. Matthew 28 says this.

The 11 disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain

where Jesus had told them to go. Verse 17 should encourage some

people today. It says when they saw him, they

worshipped him, but some of them doubted.

Jesus came and told his disciples, I've been given all

authority in heaven and on earth.

Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing

them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

and teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I've given

you. And be sure of this.

I'm with you always. Even to the end of the age, He's

called you to be baptized and He's called you to baptize

people. He's called you to be a disciple

and to make disciples. He's called you to learn His

commands, and He's called you to teach His commands to others.

This is something we all have, and if you've ever tried to do

it on your own and ended up exhausted and burnt out, I'm so

sorry. But I want to encourage you that

this time it's different because this time He's the one doing it.

Amen. We're just going to stand and

sing one more song before the people get dumped for the.

Lord. Spirit of God, I play over my

heart and mind. I'm healed by your strive to

blood. Declare, say I am free.

Sing it out in the mighty name of Jesus.

I may call it on the power of living.

I prove aim every weapon formed against me.

It must rain in the mighty name of Jesus.

I draw a permanent boundary line.

The enemy has no right to come near my family.

No see could ever undo God's please, no matter the

circumstance across I seal by destiny.

In the mighty name of Jesus I pray coming on the power of

heaven. I pray everywhere but wonder

they seem in must pray in the mighty name of Jesus.

In the mighty name of Jesus I know all the power of fear and

darkness. It must go.

Every key to everything Green power in the mighty days of

Jesus. There will not fear.

There will not fear that the enemy comes here on the door

frame of my life is the blood of Jesus Christ.

There will not fear. There will not fear.

There's a northern angels here. I protected on all sides by the

blood of Jesus Christ. Sing it one more time with me

and then we'll go. Mighty name of Jesus happy

calling on the power of heaven I proclaim everywhere been formed

against me must be in the mighty name of.

Jesus, Amen. Hey, man, all right, we're going

to throw it on back to Pastor Blake and you can, I think,

watch the screens as people get dunked for Jesus.

Dunked for Jesus. What a what a great name for it.

Are we? Is it up on the screen as well,

or is it just OK, awesome. So yeah, you'll have some

options on how you're going to see it.

And let me just explain this because this is my favorite way.

If you've heard it 1000 times, Congrats, it's 2001.

I love this because your decision to be one with Jesus

to, to give your life to him, it is personal.

It's like the engagement, right? But here we are at the wedding

reception where we get to celebrate that decision with

people, right? It's beautiful.

And, and the last thing I'll just say is in Israel, when this

would happen, you would have this fresh, clean snow on the

top of Mount Hermon and all of that snow would melt and it

would drip down the mountain into the Jordan River.

And the Jordan River is where Jesus was also baptized.

The Jordan River flows into a place that you've probably heard

of called the Dead Sea, where nothing else lives.

And it was symbolic. And they knew this because when

you would submerge dead man, dead woman down, new creation is

up. But the old you washed all the

way into a place that it can immediately resurrect you.

Isn't that a beautiful image? So that being said, let's start

with Mr. Bob Adelsberger. It can be a little slick.

You want the glass? I got you.

All right. You want them all facing this

way. Correct.

Facing this way. OK.

Come around here and here and here.

Bob, this is exciting. Exciting.

Yeah. This is exciting for me.

Yeah. Yeah.

Because we talked about this. And so I've been waiting for

this day. And it's.

It's a beautiful day for it. Bob, is there anything you'd

like to share today? Yeah, I did this. 21 years.

Just this. This.

This. Yeah, till two weeks ago.

Oh, I love it. Holy Spirit.

He's so good. He guides us into all truth.

So Jesus is your fraud and Savior.

Savior, right? It is my honor.

Bottom. Bottom.

Well, we'll see. Pixie slipped me a $20 bill

before this. So.

We'll we'll see. No, go ahead and grab your nose.

It is my honor to baptize you in the name of the Father and the

Son and the Holy Spirit. Yes, yes.

There you go. You're welcome.

Right back out the way you came. Oh, you don't want to go out

that way. All the girls are over there.

It's weird. Speaking of those girls,

Savannah Towner sit the same way that he did right here.

Savannah, man, it's it's cool. You've been kind of like on a

spiritual fast track. You've just been grabbing a hold

of whatever God's got for you. Anything that you'd like to

share today? No, Jesus, your Lord and Savior.

This is really a special honor for me.

All right, Savannah, because of your profession of faith, it is

my honor to baptize you as you go ahead and grab in the name of

the Father, your son, the Holy Spirit.

All right, Mr. Clint. Hood.

Clint, you came. Ready.

Those are trunks. I think I have a pair of trunks

like that. Come on.

Right around here. And you'll just sit here, hear

you back this way. All right, great.

You know the deal. Is there anything you'd like to

share this morning? Yeah.

I would like to thank God for a son.

Holy Spirit. Forgiveness, second chances.

Absolutely. And cleansing.

Because to me, this is a cleansing and a new beginning.

I just want to say thank you. Yeah.

I'll tell you, it's not just us here at Liberty Church that hear

you today. He hears you, too.

And he honors your decision. Go ahead and grab your nose

right there. It's my honor to baptize you in

the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Yeah. Thank you.

Gee, second chances. He gets the glory.

All right. Shannon Hughes.

You're welcome. It can be a little slick.

There we go. All right, Shannon, is there

anything you'd like to share today?

Today. No.

OK. Jesus, your Lord and Savior.

OK, Shannon, it's my honor to baptize you in the name of the

Father and the Son, Holy Spirit. All right.

Nathaniel Williams. Do I have Nathaniel today?

Oh, there we go. He's over here.

That's the close one. That's good.

All right, there we go. Go, go, go.

Well, something tells me you got something to share today.

All right, let's start with this is Jesus your Lord and Savior.

Yes, he is all. Right.

What would you like to share? I believe in God, Creator of the

universe, earth and heaven, heaven, heaven.

I believe in His Son Jesus Christ, who is conceived of the

Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary of Bethlehem.

He walked the earth for 31 years and suffered under Pontius

Pilate and was crucified. He died and was buried and

descended into hell, and on the third day he rose from the tomb

and descended into heaven to heaven and was seated at the

right hand of God the Father. I believe Jesus will one day

come again and judge the living and the dead dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in the Saints and the

apostles, but I do not worship them.

I believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the

body, and life everlasting. My Lord, may we'll be done.

Amen. Amen.

It's absolutely my honor to baptize you in the name of the

Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

She's got your book right there. All right, Mr. Bryce Fisher.

Bryce. Bryce.

Bryce, Bryce. That's all right.

Almost doesn't count. Sorry.

Jesus, your Lord and Savior. Anything you'd like to share?

Yeah, yeah. They like be confusing and you

know what I got to do for that wisdom?

Let let let God, you know, point you in the right direction and

then, you know, just got to do that thing.

Hey, thankfully, hey, Jesus, Jesus made made that way for us

to get get back to me, even when we stumble from our face and I'm

always thankful for that. Absolutely.

I always am encouraged to remember that the Lord is not

the author of confusion, right? So he is ordered, not chaos.

Well, go ahead. It's it's my honor to baptize

you in the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Jonathan Jones. I'm excited for this.

Just in case you slip. I got you.

All right. Come on around.

Are you are you done growing? OK.

OK. Man.

Every time I see you, is Jesus your Lord and Savior?

Yes, he is. Anything you'd like to share?

Feel. Like I've waited that moment

already. Just want to get it over with

now, yeah? Hey, I appreciate your honesty.

It's it's cool. You know, even Jesus said, you

know, that it fulfilled all righteousness.

John didn't even want to baptize him.

He's like, no, it's the right thing to do.

And so when you become convicted of that, proud of you for taking

that guy, go ahead and grab your nose because of your profession

of faith. It's my honor to baptize you in

the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Right? Let me make sure I pronounce

this right. Right.

Right. Right.

Mr. Tom Hines, you take your time.

We've got some rubber skids in there, but it still can be slit.

All right. Now, don't be offended when I

ask you this, all right? I have to.

Is Jesus your Lord and Savior? Amen.

Brother, what would you like to share today?

I just, I had a few words and I wrote them down because I knew I

would be emotional. While my first baptism at age 16

was a moment of youthful commitment, the second one, at

age 70 is a conscious declaration of my faith and

understanding of God's grace. It's my acknowledgement that a

relationship with God is a continuous journey, not a one

time event. Thank you Lord Jesus, I'm

casting off my great friends. Oh, I love it.

Old man down, new man up. Go ahead and grab your nose.

Tom, it is a sincere honor and privilege for me to baptize you

in the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

All right, we got Brent Powell. All right, Brent, Brent got you.

Come right around this way, if you don't mind.

That way the capture team doesn't get mad at me.

Hey, it is. It's been cool watching your

spiritual journey since you've been here.

We've had some cool chats since you first got here.

Jesus, your Lord and Savior. Yes, Sir.

Anything you'd like to share? This is just me submitting to

this body, submitting to my brothers and sisters, to my

pastors, and leaving about 40 years to junk on the bottom of

this stuff. Oh, I love it.

Go down the drain, never come back.

All right, right. It's my honor for it to baptize

you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

There you go. All right, we get to wrap this

up today, as best I understand it, with a bit of a family

affair here. So Victoria Ochoa, come on.

You're ready for it. This is such a cool family, you

guys. If you don't know him, you

should. Victoria is Jesus, your Lord and

Savior. Oh yes, Oh yes.

Anything you'd like to share? I remember, I you know, I

forgot. Sometimes God tells you to do

silly things and you don't understand it.

Just do it. There's a reason, and he reveals

it to you in due time. Obedience.

Yeah. Yeah, sometimes you gotta obey

even though you don't understand.

Absolutely. Hey, before we do this, Daniel,

you want to just come, just come maybe mid down the steps here.

Just be in here right about there.

That'd be good. We'll do this just so you can be

a part of it. Ready.

This is my honor, Victoria, to baptize you in the name of the

Father, Father, Son, the Holy Spirit.

Hey, and instead of you going all the way out, you want to

hang out for a second here for the Ocho Is this is Daniel.

Hey, you got a good name? Hey is Jesus your Lord and

Savior? He is.

Anything you'd like to share today?

Yeah, so the first time I was baptized, I've got baptized when

I was a teenager, partly because I really believe, partly because

of Victoria. I wanted to stick around church.

Yeah. But I've gone through, made a

lot of mistakes in my life, in my marriage and like Peter,

entered my crisis and fell into the water and he pulled, he's

pulling me out. He's pulled me out thanks to the

conquerors, thanks to my wife never leaving me and Jesus never

forsake you, me, me. And I wanted to lead the way for

my family and my sons. Who said they wanted to get bats

eyes? So here we are.

Well, I believe like Peter. I believe just like Peter, he's

commissioning you into some new things too.

Remember, he always saves you to something.

All right, if you go ahead and grab your nose, it is my honor

down there to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, the

Holy Spirit. Now, if you want to hang out

over here, we'll bring down your boys.

I'm going to hand this over to Pastor Kerry all.

Right, Mr. Solomon, Are you ready?

Samson? Samson going to go first.

Not Solomon. No.

All right, Samson. Let's go, Big Brother, first.

You're excited. Go ahead and have a seat.

There you go. You're good.

Good, good. All right.

We're all a little nervous today, aren't we?

But it's good. This is a good step that you're

taking. Samson.

Are you? Are you?

Do you have Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

Yes. Do.

You have anything you want to say to everybody?

Buddy, buddy, buddy. No.

All right. This is an honor and privilege

for me. This is this is a great family.

And so we're going to get Samson here first.

All right, Solomon. There you go.

All right, Solomon, Are you ready?

Yeah. Do you have Jesus as your Lord,

your Savior? Do you have any right?

What a privilege it is for these parents to be able to see their

boys baptized today. All right.

Last call. Anybody else?

We've got an opportunity. The water's nice and warm going

once, going twice. Sold.