Heart Songs: Psalm 66 — Shout, Deliverance, Baptism

Jesus is baptized and then boom, here comes another test. It came hard and it came fast. And here's what this means for every person who's being baptized today, has been baptized or will be. Baptism is powerful and precious, but it is a milestone and not the finish line. Come on. Because it's just when we start to feel like we're finished that we get blindsided by our temper or by our addictions or by some other hang up that we thought we were done with. [00:56:13] (34 seconds)  #BaptismIsAMilestone

You look back at the Red Sea. You look at the smoldering empty campfires outside of Jerusalem, and then you see an empty tomb in the same city, and then you rehearse that story again and again and again until faith comes back into your chest. Come and see what God has done. Come on and take a look. His awesome deeds for all mankind. Come and hear all you who fear the Lord, and let me tell you what he has done for me. Amen? [00:57:47] (35 seconds)  #RememberGodsDeeds

You know what that verse says? It says everything must be done decently and in good order. And, like, I agree, man. But decently and in good order does not mean quietly and with good manners. Praise is primal. Right? It's personal, and we should all worship outwardly in a way that reflects the awesome stuff God has done inwardly in each one of us and globally in the world around us. Amen? [00:48:57] (33 seconds)  #PraiseOutwardly

It's not a new story. It's the same one, and it's the same god. And he will carry you through as he has before. You've seen it done. Yes. He can. So, yes, he will. Yes. He did. So, yes, he can again. And in that moment, even when you haven't seen the finish line, you know to praise and worship because you remember back to what God has done. [00:57:14] (32 seconds)  #SameGodSameStory

This is the tone we are supposed to bring into worship with us. We are not just here fulfilling some sort of a weekly obligation. We need to be like Hezekiah on the rampart, staring out at a field of fallen Assyrian soldiers and come calling to the city. Come on, everybody. You've gotta see what god has done. Look at it. Celebrate. Fear is gone. The war is over. We've been saved. [00:46:58] (31 seconds)  #CelebrateSalvation

And he said, Opa, I do. I like them best when I'm in them. You're in God's story. He made you an heir not because of your righteous acts, entirely because of his kindness and love expressed through Jesus Christ. Remember that every day. No matter how you feel about yourself, God's got nothing but love and kindness for you. Baptism is about kind of this pouring out and washing over of us of grace. And now for seven people in a special moment, they're gonna take the news of how God has changed them public, and we all get to witness it. [01:08:12] (55 seconds)  #HeirsByGrace

In a few moments, we're gonna hear testimonies of people who will be baptized, and they've all been changed too. The psalmist says here, for you, God, tested us. We went through some stuff. You refined us like silver. We had to be purified. You brought us into prison. We had to be constrained in some ways. You put burdens on our backs. We had to grow stronger. We had people riding over our heads. We went through fire and water, but after it all, you brought us into a place of abundance. [00:49:44] (32 seconds)  #RefinedThroughTrials

What Psalm 66 gives us, church, is not a theology lecture with four points. It's a testimony forged in fire. And almost all good testimonies follow the same arc. I was in trouble. I bottomed out. God heard me. God lifted me. God set my feet on a rock, and now I gotta tell people about it. I can't keep it in. Joe Rigby's picture is perfect because it's about honesty. [00:52:02] (31 seconds)  #TestimonyForgedInFire