Loud Proclamation DONE WITH THE WORLD!!!

Lesson Transcript

You cannot do it on your own. Let me tell you this morning, you can't do it because you cannot be the whole body. You cannot be. By being baptized, you have—you are making a—you made a loud proclamation to all of these witnesses that you are done with the world and all of its values and have opened yourself up to the overwhelming presence of Jesus. Well, good morning. And greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus. How many of you like to see miracles happen? Or maybe you don't believe they happen anymore.

Yes, they do. And we are going to see—we already—maybe it's already happened, but we are also maybe going to witness the greatest miracle that ever happens, and that of being born again, as Braden and Melita have experienced. About a month ago, I shared at my granddaughter's wedding, and I talked about the miracle of marriage. And I said there that this isn't the greatest one. It's a wonderful miracle. As you all know, those of you who are married, it's a tremendous miracle to be able to bring two into one.

Because what is one plus one? Huh? Two. So why does the Scripture tell us that a man and woman become one? How is that possible? You see, it takes a miracle that only God can perform to bring two into one. And it takes a greater miracle to take a person and completely change their life from a life of sin to a life of joy and peace and comfort. It's interesting that these Melita and Braden are my grandchildren.

And what's so wonderful about this thing of becoming a part of God's kingdom is, what do they become to me? A brother and a sister. So I can call them a brother and a sister as well in the Lord. That's amazing. It's amazing. It's a real blessing to me. I'm probably one of the oldest ones here today other than David. David is just a little bit older. I think so. But anyway, according to Jason, I probably maybe only have 30 seconds to live. You know? And that is very humbling and very astounding. Yes. Astounding.

Well, I'd like to—this is going to be geared toward Melita and Braden. Allowing Christ to overwhelm you. To overwhelm you. Believe it or not, that's what baptism means. Baptism means to make overwhelmed or fully wet. And I'm not going to get into a mode here. I'm just going to share. It also means to cover wholly with a fluid, but also to moisten a part of one's person. Sounds as though they are going to get fully wet today. I mean, totally.

But I think that you can also be totally fully wet with other types of baptism as well. And so that's really not the key here this morning as to the mode, but it has to do with what you are saying whenever you allow yourself to be baptized. What are you saying? You know, by being baptized, you are making a—you made a loud proclamation to all of these witnesses that you are done with the world and all of its values and have opened yourself up to the overwhelming presence of Jesus.

Now, that prefix over in front of whelm, when something comes over you, what does it do? Totally covers you, doesn't it? You're totally under this thing. So the word whelm then has the idea of just, again, a total coverage. And so unless, Braden and Melita, you are totally covered and overwhelmed with Christ, I question your commitment. I want to be practical here today. I want to do that. You know, it would seem to me that water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit go hand in hand.

And the question is, why wouldn't that be the case? Why wouldn't it be? By proclaiming that I am emptying myself of the world, don't you think God then will fill you with His Holy Spirit to fill the void immediately? That's how wonderful our God is. That's how wonderful Christ is. When He sees a life that is willing to forsake the world and let it completely behind them, He is right there to fill that void immediately. And I'm really blessed with that.

But we'll get into a little bit of a practical thing here, how to maintain that overwhelming presence of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1. Just want to read some verses here about this. The very first chapter of Acts 1:5-8. This is Jesus speaking. "For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, 'Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' And he said to them, 'It is not for you to know the times or seasons which your Father has put in his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the end of the earth.'" Turn to Acts 11. 12-18.

Now, this is Peter's defense to the elders at Jerusalem of his going to the Gentiles and sharing the Holy Spirit with them. The Jews didn't appreciate that too much. They didn't like that very well. But Peter is, in his boldness, willing to go back to Jerusalem and share with them what had taken place. Verse 12 of chapter 11. "Then the Spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man's house.

And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house who said to him, 'Send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved.' And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

If therefore God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?' When they heard these things, they became silent, and they glorified God, saying, 'Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.'" I want you to understand that it makes you aware of the fact that you have to be totally empty of the world before the Holy Spirit will take up a residence in your life. They can't dwell together.

They cannot dwell together, and they won't dwell together. The Holy Spirit will not dwell where there's something else in its place there. Now, getting a little bit more practical. Galatians 3. I'd like to read verses 26 to 28. "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." The two words "put on" is the key here. "Put on." Put on means to dress oneself in, yeah, to dress oneself in or to make part of one's appearance or behavior. Now, you can see what I put on this morning to come here. Put this shirt on, these pair of pants, and these shoes, and I can see what you put on. I can tell what you put on. You can see it. I can see it. You can see what everybody else has put on. You have put it on.

What I put on can tell what I value. Keep that in mind, Braden and Melita. We're going to look at a little bit more there, but in a practical way, what I put on can tell what I value. It will tell me what I—I'm sorry. It will tell what I think of modesty. It will tell you how much I will spend to put something on. It's not hard to see what someone has on.

And if you know all the brands out there, you know full well what they paid for it too, unless you go to the thrift stores and happen to find one or something like that that has one of these big brand names on it. But what's your value? What do you value? What do you put on? So I encourage you, Melita and Braden, to clothe yourself with Christ. Now, that's strange, isn't it? How do you do that? How do you do that? Put him on yourself. Be completely overwhelmed with Jesus. Completely overwhelmed with him.

And Colossians chapter 3 will tell us what those things are that we need to put on. But first of all, he says, "Put off." Because we come into this world with a lot of things that aren't good. And so they need to be taken off. They need to be done away with. Put off. And then that gives you room. Now, it's kind of hard to put double clothing on, isn't it? Yeah. All right. Colossians 3:1-17. "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth, for you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon you, the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

But now you yourselves are to put off." Listen carefully. Put off. "All these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian sentient slave nor free. But Christ is all and in all. Therefore—" Now, here it is.

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching you and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." I want to inspire you, Melita and Braden, to allow Christ to overwhelm you with these beautiful attributes of himself. I really do. Now, will you fail? Yes.

But what's so wonderful is that Christ has made a way to take care of those failures, which is, again, is a miracle, and it's a beautiful thing. It's called repentance. It's called repentance. So when you fail, be quick to repent and ask forgiveness so the Holy Spirit can once again be in complete control of your life. And I want you aware, yes, as a 70-year-old person, I still fail at times.

But praise the Lord for that wonderful thing of forgiveness and repentance that he offers to us so that we can continue to put on those beautiful attributes. And I mean, those verses there are several messages, so we're not going to get into that. We don't have time for that on that. Well, just some quick practical ways for you to allow Christ to overwhelm you. Be obedient to your parents and honor them. They are the authority in your life at this point. The main authority.

Of course, Christ obviously is also authority, but you will show your authority to Christ by your obedience to your parents and honoring them. So keep that in mind as a younger person. As a younger person. So help them with work around the house. Just get busy. Don't wait for them to say, "Braden, get over here and do this. Melita, I want you to do this." Go ahead and do it. Honor them. Be obedient to them. You know what they want a lot of times without them even telling you. You have some brothers and sisters.

Be good to them. Love them. Work with them. Help them. Yeah. That can get a little close sometimes. How I treat my brothers and sisters. But these are ways that you can allow Christ to just totally overwhelm you and fill you with himself. Find time every day to read the Bible and allow the Spirit to speak to you through his word. That is crucial in your lives. That is very crucial. And also, along with that, find yourself praying a lot. Not just a little bit, but a lot.

In fact, I think we should be praying all the time. Now, you might say, "How in the world do you do that?" Be praying all the time. I'm not on the road as much as I used to be going and fixing appliances. But I tried to purpose in my life that just going down the road, praying to God, talking to him. I did try to keep my eyes open, but yeah. Talk to God as you would a friend. Just talk to God. Tell him what you're thinking. Let him know what issues you are having in your life.

If there's something causing you a problem, tell him about it like you would tell a friend. So pray anywhere, anytime. Anytime. Yeah. But find yourself praying a lot. Obviously, again, in your young lives, you might be going to your parents a little more often, but take it to God as well. Take it to God as well. Talk to him. And that's how we talk to him is through prayer. And you can do it, and I don't care what you're doing. You can talk to God while you're working, whatever you're doing.

Let's be practical with it. Also, be a servant. Be a servant. In your case, mainly to your family and friends. Be a servant. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. Be a servant. In fact, as Christ said, "That's what you're going to be." Okay. Another thing is be where God's people are. Be where God's people are. Try to be at church services and Bible studies. Become a part of the body of believers so that you have a sense of belonging. You have a sense of belonging.

Do not, I beg of you, do not just sit there without becoming a part of a body of believers. Just talked to a lady yesterday that was into this thing of membership and anyhow. It was sort of a sad situation. You cannot do it on your own. Let me tell you this morning, you can't do it because you cannot be the whole body. You cannot be. And so I'm encouraging you to, and it sounded like that was your desire, to be a part of a body of believers.

I know at Shippensburg, they probably think I'm a broken record, but I say that over and over again. To be a part of a body of believers. And the last thing I have here is choose your friends very, very, very carefully. And I was thinking when I was studying it, I don't know how many times I could put the word very in there because that is so crucial, again, in your young lives. Peer pressure is extremely strong. It is really strong. Let me tell you, it is. It is extremely strong. And so please take your time.

If someone out there that is not living the way they should be living tries to become close to you, don't be afraid to put on the brakes. So be with young people that love the Lord. And if need be, stand alone. Stand alone on that thing because it is amazing how quickly I've seen young people stray off the path because of a friendship that was formed on that. So choose your friends very carefully this morning.

While your walk with Christ will not be without its trials and temptations, I want you aware of that as well. Jesus is going to test you. He's going to test you to make sure your commitment is real. But again, don't despair when that happens. Don't despair whenever you are faced with a trial or a temptation. And this is a lifelong process. Don't get me wrong. You just have one trial and then you're done. No, no. Doesn't work that way. But you know what Job said? And we all know Job's story.

He said, "But he knows the way that I take. When he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold." That's Job 23:10. And I want you to be aware of that. In the middle of your trials, it is God only trying to make you a stronger person. What does gold have to go through in order to become pure? Extreme fire. Not just a little blowtorch or something like that. No. It has to go through an extreme heat and fire to become pure. And so in a sense, it's good. Then the gold is worth something. And that's what God wants.

He wants you to be worth something. So he tests you and takes you through trials to make you a strong, pure person. Never forget that. And also, always remember that Satan is a defeated foe and the father of lies. And our brother read those verses this morning about Satan as a liar and the father of lies. When you're attempted to do something wrong, remember that he is lying to you. Yes, he is. He's lying to you. He's telling you a lie. It may sound good. It sounded good to Eve, didn't it?

What he said to Eve, "It don't sound too bad." But he was lying because that's what he's made up of. Excuse me. That's what he's made up of. My encouragement to you, Melita and Braden, is allow Christ to make you fully wet, yes, or fully overwhelmed with himself, only him, and he alone on that one there. I don't know if you'll be singing a song here yet, but if we do, I would like to sing song number 890. Take the world. You can have it if you want it, but give me Jesus.