Immersed in Christ: Repentance, Baptism, and New Life

Now, that's where people fight with you, right? Because don't not one of you in here wanna be called a saint, do you? Because we have a picture in our head of somebody in our life that was a saint in our minds that we thought of as a saint. And we thought, well, they were holy and righteous and good. They didn't sin at all. Here's the problem. They sinned and so do you. But here's the thing, saints sin. Where did we ever get the idea that saints didn't sin? If it was true, then there would be no saints but one because I only know of one who didn't sin. [00:44:40] (31 seconds)  #saintsStillSin

If you think of an ink pen as you and it's pointed this way, that's sin. That is your natural inclination. That is the direction that you're pointed to. Does that mean you can't do good? No. You put a little pressure on your life. You can turn to all kinds of good. You can even hold it that way, but you have to work at it. You have to push at it. And as soon as you stop trying, as soon as somebody stresses you out, says the wrong thing to you, boom, you just pop right back because that's your natural preset. [00:42:46] (29 seconds)  #defaultToSin

But I would ask the question, what are we to be immersed into if not water? Well, I never I I didn't actually mean to say not water at all. There's a picture of it there with water. Do you remember what analogy did Jesus use to describe who he was? He said he was the living water come down from heaven. Alright? He is the living water. Yeah. We need to be immersed in Jesus. We need to be dripping wet with Jesus. [00:47:53] (34 seconds)  #immersedInJesus

Was it important for his salvation? No. But still, we need it sometimes. We need a tangible experience of the presence of God so that we can recognize that something's changing and something's taking place. All of us agree in that or we wouldn't come forward and receive a little cup of grape juice and a little piece of bread. We would just sit back at our seat and we would remember Christ as at work in our lives. We need that tangible experience. That's what god it was sharing with us are tangible ways for us to remember what's going on in our lives and to recognize what's going on. [00:57:01] (42 seconds)  #tangibleFaith

But first, we start with the demonization of them in our minds. We start by changing the way we think about something. That's what repentance means. And so, for me, what that meant was, I had to decide that what god says about things really is right and that I'm gonna do that and then I'm gonna follow after that and here's the hard part. What I think about things, is almost always wrong. My best laid plans of this man always go astray. [00:38:01] (35 seconds)  #renewYourMind

Lord, we also thank you for our time to gather here today as we come. We we have an opportunity to lift up to you those burdens on our heart, And so we we lay those at your feet knowing that you care for them much more powerfully than we ever could. So we ask you to free us from the burden of thinking we are going to fix our friends and neighbors and relatives problems and instead recognize that you are all they need. [00:16:57] (28 seconds)  #letGodBeEnough

And it doesn't matter what you say when you're being baptized and what someone speaks over you. But what does that mean to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ? In scripture, the name does not just mean the label or the word. It means the nature. [00:49:38] (17 seconds)  #nameIsNature

He flips you completely. Now, your natural inclination is to do good. Do you always? No. You can you can change your mind. You can push yourself back the other way, but have a new nature. You no longer have a sin nature. So as soon as you stop trying to go running in that direction, it just pops right back. [00:43:30] (19 seconds)  #liveNewNature