Bible Study Basics Series, Week 2: Table Top Bible Study, Part One
by Dan MacLeod
March 1, 2023 · New Life Terre Haute (New Life Fellowship)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Matthew 16:18-19, Acts 20:28, Romans 3:23, Psalm 51:5, Hebrews 11:6, John 3:16, James 2:19, Acts 6:7, Romans 6:17, Hebrews 5:9, Mark 1:15, Galatians 1:6-8, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:11-12, Genesis 17, Galatians 3:27, Acts 22:16, Mark 16:16, John 3:3-5, John 3:8, Romans 8:11, Luke 24:46-49, Acts 2:38-39, Acts 2:41, 1 Peter 3:21, Acts 8:12-16, Acts 10:44-48, Acts 16:31-33, Acts 19:1-6, Matthew 28:19-20

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/dan-macleod--bible-study-basics-series-week-2-table-top-bible-study-part-one
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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well, I must say if This is a competition or a contest in the interest of my safety. I respectfully withdraw now But then on the other hand in the interest of a new sanctuary and a bill to pay maybe we should let it go on But the Lord is good somebody say amen amen our intent tonight and next week is to Is to present this in a manner that each of us would be equipped To take what we're learning and what many of us have lived and maybe heard for many years and to teach it to others Amen But I fully understand while our objective is to equip the body. There may be some That are here tonight who you have not fully obeyed the commands of scripture in which you'll hear presented tonight And so at the onset of this lesson I must reiterate a statement I made last week that The burden of responsibility upon each of us tonight is to

both know And to obey the word of God And so this is not a classroom lecture in which we've just come to receive some form of academic instruction But we are going to teach the word of the Lord Yes to know but also with the expectation that everybody here would fully obey what the scripture has to say Amen Amen before I jump in I want to give honor tonight I'm privileged to have my cousin and his wife with us here in town the next few days Troy and Jeanette wicked their missionaries to Fiji and the Solomon Islands And as you can imagine, that's a great burden to bear Now why don't you put your hands together and welcome them to new life? They were on deputation in our district and had a little window And I said, well, you should just you ought to come to terror hote and spend a few days here I'm grateful. They're here this evening Amen jumping in

we're going to talk about the gospel of jesus christ Beginning in matthew chapter 16 verse number 18 This uh somewhat familiar passage of scripture for those who have been around church But this is a conversation between jesus and one of his followers by the name of peter And earlier in the dialogue jesus begins to ask him Who do men say that I am? This is what I would call Really the first level of revelation or most people's introduction to god Most people are introduced to the lord by what somebody else says And so jesus first question is who do men say that I am? But then there's another question peter who do you say that I am? It's not enough for you to reiterate what somebody else has told you about the lord It's not enough for you to live your life on the assumption or regurgitated information that you have Heard in a song on a youtube video read in a book

Who do you say that I am do you know me for yourself? Do you know what the scripture says for yourself? Now peter answers the lord He says thou art the son Thou art the christ the son of god the christ And with this declaration the lord looks at him and tells him that flesh and blood has not revealed this unto thee But my father which is in heaven He's telling him that this is spiritual knowledge. This is revelation from god And now we come to verse number 18 of matthew 16 The bible says and I say also unto thee thou art peter And upon this rock now he's not speaking of peter This rock is in reference to the revelation that he has just declared Upon this rock the revelation your understanding of who I am He says this rock I Will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it This is noteworthy to me that this

is jesus in his earthly ministry Speaking in the first person Telling us in the future tense I Will build my church Because when you come to acts chapter 20 You find reference to the church of god, which he hath purchased by his own blood And so we see that these are not two different churches and two different people But jesus is god as the scripture would say manifest in the flesh And this is his church That he is building on the revelation or the knowledge of who he is And so he tells peter in verse number 19 I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven Whatsoever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven I want you to Make note if you're taking notes or if you're underlining You don't already have this underlying in your bible. This would be a great place to make

a notation Is this phrase keys of the kingdom of heaven? We'll come back to this a little later But I want you to just notice it's in this exchange with peter and jesus That peter is given keys to the kingdom of heaven This is what we must understand tonight is the bible is the bread of life It's our bread our daily bread It's through the word of god that we discover the revelation of jesus christ who he is In order that we can make the same declaration that peter made That when i'm asked of the lord do you know who i am Who do you say that i am that i'm not just regurgitating the words of somebody else But i'm speaking from my own knowledge My own experience and my own obedience And so some things we're going to learn tonight and next week Is this what is the bible's definition of the gospel? Not the definition that that google gives you

because this is the thing about google you can find any answer To fit any opinion Not not the definition you're going to find on an amazon bestseller list Not what you're going to find on a facebook post or a video clip on social media. What does the bible say The gospel is And what do i have to do to be saved? What do we have to do to be saved? What does the bible say about things like salvation and baptism? Who is jesus according to this scripture? This infallible word of god And so tonight And next wednesday and truly every time you hear something from this pulpit. This is the origin of the thought This is the measuring stick of the thought All that we say and do is measured according to this And so well The teacher i may become passionate about what i share we must understand this that this is not my idea These are not my words in fact

paul told the church at thessalonica That they were blessed because they received his words as the word of god And so anything i say tonight It's going to come from this book And i challenge you to take what i say and measure it according to the words of this book When we speak of the gospel, this is what we must understand We're all born in sin I've heard it said before that at the foot of the cross. We're all on level ground It doesn't matter your family lineage Maybe you were born into prestige and blessing or maybe you were born with nothing It really matters not when it comes to spiritual things and salvation I've also heard it said that the lord has no spiritual grandchildren There's a responsibility upon each of us to be born again to know god for ourselves We see in the book of romans chapter number three in verse 23 paul writes for all Have sinned not some

Not a few But all have sinned and come short of the glory of god Psalms chapter 51 and verse 5 the psalmist says behold I was shaping in iniquity And in sin did my mother conceive me David is saying from the womb from from birth this nature was handed to me I couldn't escape it It's just who I was And so this is what we have to understand tonight Though you may have been born into a christian family You may have been raised in an environment of faith All of us were born in sin All of us were shaping in iniquity. We cannot escape this fact But as much as that would seem to be somewhat Heavy in in news of despair The good news is is that we have the hope of salvation Especially if you're sitting here tonight You're about to hear what the scripture says about being born again about knowing jesus for yourself But first we have to acknowledge

this reality. We have all come short of the glory of god We all need a savior We all need jesus christ We never graduate beyond that reality We need him tonight And so let's talk about salvation Let's ask the question what must I do to be saved? I acknowledge my need of a savior I acknowledge the fact that i've been born in sin That this nature was handed to to me By the disobedience of adam and eve in the garden it has been passed down to the entirety Of the human race through all of human history. Nobody is exempt from this reality Now we must ask the question. What must I do to be saved and I'm compelled to remind us here tonight that this is where we must find our answer I know sometimes we Especially in the 21st century. We are given to try to to expedite the search and it seems a quicker thing to type that question In google

than to flip the pages of your bible, but we're not asking google this question We're looking to the word of god And we're asking what must I do to be saved? Here's step number one You must believe or have faith I want you to say I have to have faith I have to believe We find this principle several places in the scripture If you notable mentions Hebrews 11 and verse 6 it says for without faith it is impossible to please him It's talking about god I I can't even come to god without faith It says for he that cometh to god must believe that he is I I come with the belief with the conviction with the faith that He is god And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him So I I don't know about you, but I came to church tonight with faith with the conviction That i'm coming to worship the only living god And that

when I lift him up when I study his word when I seek to know him he will reward me Now I know I know we think of reward in a very materialistic way in our culture But the greatest reward for following god is god himself That was the blessing to Abraham that that was the blessing to the to the Levites. He said I will be your portion So the reward of coming to god with faith Is in response to our faith. God reveals himself to us A scripture that Many of us are probably familiar with I'm sure you could find it in 50 different forms at hobby lobby But john chapter 3 verse 16 For god's so loved the world That he gave his only begotten son that whosoever Believe it than him should not perish But have everlasting life And so we see the emphasis on belief But it's noteworthy here and it's another good point to make a little notation in

your bible or a note Some more modern translations would lose the emphasis here, but if you've got a king james bible You would you'd find that kind of old english there the word believeth I know we don't talk like that But there is a tense in the greek That is being communicated in that old english that is sometimes lost in more modern translations Here's what john is saying He that believes and keeps on believing So when you when you see that eth that if on the end of a word in your your old king james bible It means to do and to keep on doing and so the The implication here is yes, there can be a moment of belief There's a moment of understanding There's a moment of confession But it's not simply a moment That moment produces a way of living a lifestyle if we could just say it like this a relationship I don't want to minimize the power of

a moment with god in your life But god gives you that moment to draw you into relationship with him So he that believes But keeps on believing When we look at the new testament i may mention to this last week We have what we call the synoptic gospels matthew mark luke and john these tell us The the birth of jesus christ we read of his life his ministry We read of his death his burial his resurrection Then we have all these epistles romans onward through the new testament where these are letters written to the church These are letters of maturity and instruction written to believers in the first century in the the decades that followed But the only place in the new testament where we actually find a historical record Of people experiencing salvation is in the book of acts It is the only history book of the new testament Romans and onward are what we would call epistles They are letters written

from a church leader to other church leaders Or a church leader to church bodies in certain cities and countries But the book of acts is the only history book of the new testament church I remind you of matthew chapter 16 Jesus spoke of the church in the future tense In romans onward we are reading letters written to the church meaning What was spoken of in the future tense in matthew 16 By the time you get to the book of romans it has come into existence Now that begs the question where did that church come from? How does somebody get to be a part of that church? These are questions which you cannot answer without a thorough study of the book of acts So step number one is yes, you must have faith. You must believe this speaks to us of our attitude towards god Our our inward disposition towards the scripture in the things of god, but the second thing you must have

is obedience And I understand that This this one is a little bit more challenging to us because it speaks to more than what we say But it addresses what we do It speaks to our actions or the the outward manifestations of of how we live James chapter 2 verse number 19 says thou believe us that there is one god Thou do us well The devils also believe and tremble It's as if jame is saying well you believe there's one god That's a good starting point But just know this Even the devil believes that So your belief is a good place to start because it's true But if you don't move on if you don't keep on believing if your belief or your faith does not produce obedience I hate to be the bearer of bad news tonight But you're just in company with the devil Because the devil has belief But he didn't have any humility that produced obedience And so while I

celebrate your belief Well, I do say our faith is necessary We must understand our obedience to the scripture is of equal importance Acts chapter 6 verse 7 makes mention of a great company of priests that became obedient to the faith They did not just acknowledge the faith They did not just confess the faith They were not just aware of the faith But luke said they were obedient to the faith Romans chapter 6 verse 17 Paul speaks of those who obeyed from the heart Not just the mind it wasn't a place of of academic or intellectual understanding But from the heart it was life transformation The form of doctrine which was delivered to you He didn't say you just confessed it. He did not say you understood it or had knowledge of it He said you obeyed it from the heart Hebrews 5 and 9 pastor mentioned this scripture on sunday That he speaking of Jesus became the author of eternal salvation unto all

of them that Obey him So we must understand this tonight. There is no escape From the necessity of obedience to the word of god In mark chapter 1 and verse 15 Jesus said this Repent ye and believe the gospel We have a responsibility to believe but we equally have a responsibility to obey Galatians Chapter 1 verses 6 through 8 the apostle paul is writing to the church of galatia Listen to this He says i'm marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of christ unto another gospel Which is not another But there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of christ This word pervert it literally means to turn around now To me this is a powerful principle here because here's What what i need you to understand if i could take you all the way back to the garden of eden When the lord came to walk with adam and eve The

bible said they heard the voice of the lord god walking in the garden in the cool of the day God came desiring relationship with them like he had so many times before But their disobedience brought sin And when the lord comes to have relationship with them, what do they do? They hide themselves in the bushes Now i want you to see this because If if if the lord is here And i'm facing god if i'm in relationship with jesus christ When he comes to me i'm looking at him i'm ready to walk with him i'm ready to talk to him But if god's coming to me And i'm trying to hide in the bushes. This is what it demands Demands i turn my back And i go the other direction So now now god's pursuing me, but i'm running the other way my back is towards the lord And to repent in the 16th century when the king james is translated the word

repent was a military term that literally means To turn around So when you repent here's what you're doing you're telling god i'm tired of running away from you I'm tired of hiding from you I'm gonna repent lord I believe that you died for me I believe that you want to save me I believe that you love me You're reaching for me. So I repent I turn back towards you So when paul is talking about those who perverted the gospel he's saying they turned again They brought a message that was not of the scripture that turned you away from god back to your former way of living And i want you to hear this this is not dan mccloud. This is not Some policy or some manual of new life fellowship. This is the scripture tonight He says but though we or an angel from heaven Preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you. Let him be accursed

I'm compelled to tell you tonight The gospel is the only way to be saved There is no other means of salvation this Going to sound a little bit controversial, but i'll explain it because i know Exclusivity is a cultural hot topic of the 21st century There is exclusivity in the kingdom of god I know our culture preaches and be inclusive be tolerant, but i want you to hear me This is exclusive Not to anybody But to any other way Anybody's welcome to come But the way is narrow It doesn't matter if you're rich or you're poor It doesn't matter what your background looks like. I in fact the the very good friends of ours We were just with on on the weekend His wife for several years now has preached in the oak mogie county jail and several years ago There was a lady who received the holy ghost in that oak mogie county jail and They wouldn't even let her out of

her plexiglass cell. They kept her in a plexiglass cell at the back of the room And she had just laid her hand on the glass and the lord filled that woman with the baptism of his spirit and when they were walking out The gentleman said Are you aware of who that is and what she has done? And you'd have to know no rain of it. She said I don't know and I don't care She said she is in here waiting her sentencing She's being charged for murder Because she stabbed her fiance 37 times now. I got to be honest with you That's that's hard for me and my flesh to get to get my head around But even the darkest of sin, I'm not saying you will be free from the consequence of your action in this world But I want you to hear me tonight It doesn't matter how dark you're past It doesn't matter how messed up you may feel or

be It doesn't matter how dark of a hole you may feel like you're in right now And I'm not just talking to the people that we're going to teach. I'm talking to somebody here tonight It doesn't matter how dark the sin may be There's hope for you, but the only hope I can give you is the gospel of jesus christ The exclusivity is not of anyone anyone can come who so ever will can come But there's only one way you can get there So what is the gospel? You're clear that it is the only means of salvation. Well, what is it first Corinthians 15? Paul tells us plainly He said I want to remind you of the gospel that I preached unto you which you received Because as we just read in galatians chapter one, he said any other gospel than this one anything else Let him be accursed Paul says i'm reminding you now of this gospel That christ died for us

according For our sins according to the scriptures That he christ was buried that he christ was raised on the third day according to the scriptures So the gospel is the death The burial and the resurrection of jesus christ This is what I would call the gospel declared But we must also consider the gospel applied Because the reality that the gospel that A historical event has happened that gives us the good news. That's what the gospel means the good news The announcement of the good news is not enough It demands obedience A faith a belief in the good news That produces obedience That applies the historical reality of jesus death burial and resurrection to my life And so as jesus died i must die to self this is repentance Repentance identifies us with christ in death There is no burial without a death We could see how silly this would seem in the natural world To try to conduct a burial ceremony if someone

had not yet died Well the same is true spiritually We can't consider The application of christ's burial If we've not first considered the application of his death And so just as jesus died I must die to self I must repent That means i'm looking this way. I'm not following the word of god I'm not following after the things of god But i die to self I acknowledge the reality of his death His burial and his resurrection for my salvation And i repent i turn from sin I turn from self and i look to jesus in faith As the author and the finisher of my salvation as the captain of my salvation I look to him as my deliverer and my healer That's repentance. It's saying i'm not going to live this way anymore. I can't do it by myself I need you jesus That greek word for repent metineo it literally means to have a change of mind But you know this Any

change of mind produces a change of action If you're a parent here you certainly know this I've learned in my 11 years of parenting i i can try to correct the behavior over and over and over But if i can somehow teach the principle and bring understanding if i can get them to understand it here It's a lot easier to influence what happens here And so repentance Yes, it is a change of life But it flows out of a change of mind Because now my mind is being governed it's being influenced by this right here And so as jesus died we die in repentance As jesus was buried we are buried in baptism A few scriptures to make note of tonight we will not take the time to turn to them and read them But romans chapter six verses three and four The apostles paul is writing here and he speaks of being buried with him In baptism he's talking about jesus christ

Notice he does not say Buried with them He says buried with him What he's doing is he's pointing them back To the historical fact that jesus christ was buried in a tomb In just as he was buried in a tomb When we are buried in water When we are submerged in water We are being buried with jesus christ in baptism Colossians chapter two conveys this same principle again Now in this passage paul is talking about A circumcision made without hands This is very very important Because if you go all the way back to the beginning of this story in genesis 17 i believe it is The lord establishes a covenant with a man named abraham and he tells abraham This is an everlasting covenant And whatever lasting means it mean it never ends It's going to go to the end of time But there's good news tonight when you came to church you didn't have to bring an animal sacrifice You know why?

Because jesus died on the cross was buried and rose again So the scripture teaches us he fulfilled that old testament that mosaic law And so many of the things that were done in the flesh or in the physical in the old testament Are now made spiritual in the new testament So paul is saying just as necessary As the circumcision was in the physical as a means of the covenant to the jewish people in the old testament paul is saying now to god's people in the new testament There is a circumcision that's made without hands It's not of the flesh, but it's of the spirit And this happens when you are buried with christ in baptism And so just as necessary as the circumcision was to the covenant I want you to see this because god made it very clear to abraham. There's no middle ground You're in the covenant or you're out of the covenant And so paul is telling us just as

god had done this in the old testament He has done it in the new testament, but it's not it's not with hands It's not of the flesh, but it is of the spirit and it happens when you are buried with christ in baptism Galatians chapter 3 conveys this again paul in verse 27 is speaking of of putting on christ in baptism So when we are baptized how we are baptized matters What is said matters because we are identifying with christ as he was buried We are buried in water to receive the work of what he did This is the gospel declared now becoming the gospel applied Acts 22 and 16 speaks of a rise Calling on the name of the lord in baptism that your sins could be washed away Mark 16 and 16 he that believeth Remember that's the starting point It would do no good for me to take somebody tonight and to push you in the water against your will

and to say the name of jesus Nothing would happen Because it must be an obedient act of your faith to god He that believeth and his baptize shall be saved Notice now jesus didn't say he that believeth is saved and should be baptized at a later time He said he that believe if he that believes and keeps on believing He whose belief is working out obedience in their life Is going to be baptized and that baptism is for salvation I got a hurry here john three This is a powerful powerful portion of scripture Jesus in conversation with the man named nick ademas He's a very influential man among the jews and he comes to jesus by night because he understands the the repercussion Of the hunger and the curiosity the interest and the faith in his life And he tells jesus i know that you are a teacher come from god for no man can do the miracles that you do except god

be with him He's got questions because there's a belief there's a faith in his life Something's working in his heart And jesus said verily verily i say unto thee Except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of god I want you to notice this there is a singular a singular phrase here Jesus said that except you're born again. You can't even see You can't know you can't find your way there You can't understand it unless you're born again Now you've got to understand this jewish frame of mind their their approach to god for thousands of years has been through this physical tabernacle and this physical temple everything is physical to them and nick ademas asked this this seemingly very silly question It says well, how can a man be born again? Do you mean to tell me that he could enter into his mother's womb a second time and be born again? He's trying to make sense of a spiritual

birth by this natural thing And jesus says well, let me let me help you with this And so he says verily verily i say unto thee Except a man be born of water and of the spirit I want you to notice this the first time he makes this statement. It's the singular phrase born again And it's the concept of being born again that nick ademas doesn't understand And so now jesus is expounding this concept He says to be born again Is to be born of water and born of the spirit But this time he doesn't just say To see the kingdom he says except a man be born of the water and of the spirit He cannot enter the kingdom of god I must reiterate to us tonight. There is an exclusivity. There's there's one way in There's one door jesus is saying Anybody can come. I want everybody to come But the only way you can enter the kingdom is to be

born of water and born of the spirit And so john chapter 3 there are two types of baptisms found in these verses. There is a water baptism And there is a spirit baptism Pastor will get on this a little bit next week But I peeked ahead into the notes and I didn't see this verse And so I got to take my liberty and insert it right here But john chapter 3 in verse 8 Jesus is talking about the wind And he's talking about those I remind you now Who are being born again? And he makes this statement He said that will hear us the sound Thereof So is everyone Who is born of the spirit John 3 and 8 That greek word sound Is phoney It's where we get the english word phonics Literally being translated language So what jesus is telling nicodemus is when somebody is born of the spirit You're going to hear a sound or a language So is everyone

who is born of the spirit Now I understand That what historically was Was relegated to those who would identify themselves as Pentecostal or spirit filled Is not so there are The spirit is being poured out on all flesh and there's many people of all Persuasions or identities and a face that have received this baptism of the spirit And I celebrate this because this is what we must understand This is a biblical experience for everybody who has faith in jesus christ This is not something reserved for those who say well, I go to a spirit filled church or I go to a Pentecostal church This is for everyone who would have faith to be born again Into the kingdom of god and so As jesus died we die in repentance as he was buried We are buried in baptism as he was resurrected when we received this spirit baptism. We are resurrected roman 6 and 4 Paul said we are buried with him by

baptism into death, but he continues He says that like as christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father Even so we also should walk in the newness of life Romans 8 and 11 But if the spirit of him that raised up jesus from the dead Dwell in you So we're saying the same spirit that raised that lifeless body Literally Dwells in you He that raised christ up from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies that word quicken. It means to make alive It brings spiritual life By his spirit that dwelleth in you To be born of the spirit means that the same spirit that raised christ from the dead Dwells in you Let's go back to the keys that we opened with tonight in matthew 16 I told you to make note of it now. Let's return there He's giving keys to the kingdom of heaven What do keys do? Keys unlock doors So there's there's several

notable things here It's peter peter that receives the keys peter was not the only follower of jesus, but he was the one who received the keys And luke 24 Jesus is talking with those disciples at bethany. He tells them you go to the city of jerusalem And you tarry there until you be in due with the promise of the father And he gives them some things to make note of he said there's going to be a a message of repentance And there's going to be a message about remission of sins in my name There's going to be people from all nations and All of these things come into agreement in ax chapter 2 on the day of penny cost And when the spirit is poured out and people begin to hear these men speaking in languages that they don't know It's supernatural It's of god and others can hear it and it spills into the streets A Real a real holy ghost outpouring

can't be contained It was just there's an overflow That starts spilling out into public places And it provokes this question What mean if this Now the bible said there were some who mocked There were some who wondered there were some who were amazed Hey, there's going to be some people who discredit this There's going to be some people who choose not to believe But I promise you there will be some who have a question. Please explain this to me And who stands up the man with the keys Peter He says I'll explain it to you But i've got to preach to you about jesus because that's the gospel And he starts preaching about jesus. He says this same jesus whom you have crucified Who was buried? I want you to know something. He's not still in the tomb But he's been raised up He's ascended into the heavens He's seen it at the right hand of the father He's poured out the promise

of the holy ghost which you now see and hear Hey, nicodemus you remember that thing I told you about in john chapter three That's what you're hearing. It's the language of the spirit to those who have been born again And when they hear the word of god because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god now they've got this question What should I do? I feel compelled to respond Yes, it's knowledge, but it's more than knowledge. There's this faith working obedience in my heart I feel compelled. I don't know what to do. I just know I need to do something Somebody please tell me what to do and peter says. Hey, I've been holding onto these keys for a little while Let me open the door for you. I'm going to tell you what you need to do. You're feeling god move on you Late early last year the lord spoke to me and he said my people don't know

how to handle cornelius's Hear me there might even be some cornelius is here tonight, but I promise you there's many in the city They love god with all their heart. They're living to the best of their knowledge. They do pray They are seeking god And I don't minimize what god is doing in anybody's life But I'm not I'm not judged by the emotion of my emotional experience with god I'm judged by the word of the lord. I I'm measured by my obedience to the scripture And while I celebrate everything god has done and is doing in all of our lives When peter answered that question. He said let me open the door You've got to repent And be baptized Every one of you I want you to see the the broad stroke the inclusivity of the language of scripture and john three jesus said So is everyone that's born of the spirit in acts too. He said be baptized Everyone of you in

the name of jesus christ not so you can join new life fellowship Not so you can please your family and friends, but it's for the remission of sins And ye shall it's god's promise to you to us this church this city Ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost The promise is unto you and your children and all that are afar off even as many as the lord our god shall call The gospel was declared, but when that faith produced the desire to obey they asked the question What do I do peter said here's what you've got to do The gospel declared only becomes the gospel applied when you repent of your sin You're baptized in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins And you receive the gift of the holy spirit. This is to be born of water and of the spirit Amen, I have got to hurry First peter three 21 the bible says the like figure

We're unto even baptism baptism doth also now save us Referencing the days of noah when it said some were disobedient But that ark Was was their means of safety and it says eight souls were saved by water And now peter reaches back to that old testament story and he says that just as noah was saved by water We are saved by water in baptism But you can't be baptized anyway. You want to be baptized You've got to be baptized the way the bible tells us to be baptized Our reference is already but acts 22 and 16 it said why terriest thou why are you waiting don't delay Don't wait another day arise and be baptized wash away thy sins calling on the name Of the lord a few scriptures here for you to make note of acts two. We've already read But in verse 41 it would say that that same day That same day 3000 souls were baptized and added to the

church in acts chapter 8 Verses 12 through 16 we find the account of philip And the bible says when they believed they were baptized Because you can't just stop at the confession of your understanding Real faith produces obedient action And how were they baptized the scripture says in the name of the lord jesus In acts chapter 10 verses 44 through 48 This is the account of the the spirit of god being poured out upon the Gentiles for the very first time And there's this profound statement that's made When when the followers of jesus see these Gentile People have been filled with the spirit and they're speaking in other tongues as the spirit gives them the ability That language that jesus talked about in john 3 When they witness this they say How can we? Forbid them to be baptized Seeing that god has filled them with the spirit just like he filled us And so the bible would say they're baptized in the

name of the lord, but i want you to catch something there How can we forbid them to be baptized? what they're saying the the message within the words Was that baptism was so significant to the early church That it was really a means of identification Are you with us or not? And when they saw that god filled them with his spirit they said we can't prohibit them from being baptized We've got to let them become one with us We've got to let them join the church and we know that happens They've received the spirit and so now we've got to let them be baptized in jesus name Acts chapter 16 Paul and sylas are delivered from that prison in the middle of the night They begin to minister to that Philippian jailer. They tell them please. No don't take your life no They begin to share the word of god with him and he asks the question. What must i do to be

saved? Because when you hear the word of god It produces this desire to obey And the bible would say the same hour of the night They baptized him I was always reading this this afternoon the lord arrested me right here and i have to tell you i i'm restrained to the holy ghost To compel each and every one of us who are in this room tonight If you are here and you have never been baptized in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins The biblical pattern is the same day even the same hour This is so important. There is urgency to it. It's not next service or next week or next month. No It's now you say well Maybe i've already been baptized And i would acknowledge today that there are there are people in places that Do get baptized out of a pure desire? But we must remember we are measured by the word of god And so if

we have not been baptized in the bible way What do we do? We do exactly what they did in acts chapter 19 When they came To the city of emphasis they found disciples And they began to ask them the question Well, have you received the holy ghost since you believed? They say we've not even heard if there be any holy ghost He says wait a minute If you've not even heard of the holy ghost and there's something else i have to talk to you about first Let me tell you about jesus Let me declare the gospel to you Let me tell you how jesus died and was buried and rose again And when he did The bible said That paul said john verily baptized him with the baptism of repentance But he said that they should believe on him which should come after him that is on christ jesus And when they heard this they were baptized in the name of the lord

jesus And when paul laid his hands on them the holy ghost came on them and they spake with tongues They were born of water and of spirit I have personally talked to many people Who came and said well i was baptized When i was a child i was just an infant my parents took me to a church and they had a priest Sprinkle water on me i was baptized as an infant But that wasn't your confession of faith That wasn't your obedience And to be baptized means to be submerged to be buried not to be sprinkled And there are some Who have come and said well i was baptized, but were you baptized according to the word of god? Were you baptized in the name of the lord jesus christ? Or as some would say Were you baptized in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost? And this is where we're going to land the plane

tonight I want to look at matthew chapter 28 verses 19 and 20 Jesus is speaking And after declaring he has all power in heaven and earth this is what he says Go ye therefore and teach all nations Baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I have commanded you in low. I am with you always Even until the end of the world amen There are some who have taken the words of jesus And they have simply repeated them in the act of baptism And so when they have baptized people They'll literally say i baptize you in the name of the father and of the son And of the holy ghost and put them under the water They are repeating what jesus said But they're not doing What jesus said jesus is speaking to these 12 disciples who have followed him for three and a half years Peter

being one of them And peter interprets the words of jesus By what we see in acts chapter 2 He baptizes them in the name Of jesus christ If you have your bible open and you don't have this underline or a notebook Here's a great point to make note of matthew 28 19 In the name The singular name This is why when you look at the baptisms of acts 2 Acts chapter 8 acts chapter 10 and acts chapter 19 Or you read any of the language surrounding baptism in the epistles whether it's roman 6 Colossians 2 Galatians 3 It's always speaking of him in the singular Christ in the singular jesus in the singular Because we're not buried with them. It's not three different persons or three different identities We're buried with him being christ These are simply titles that speak to us Of god's relationship with the world and all that is in it But the singular name he is speaking of is

the name of jesus christ No person anywhere in the bible was ever baptized in the titles father son and holy ghost in fact What we read of in the book of acts Had been going on for decades And the gospel of matthew was not even written for another 60 or 70 years So by the time the spirit of the lord moved upon matthew to write these words They had been baptizing in the name of jesus christ for several decades It's not Really about baptism as much as it is a statement of jesus identity This is why jesus said i am come in my father's name This is why he said in john chapter 14 and he my father will send another comforter, which is the holy spirit And he's going to send him in my name In the same way that i am a father of three boys And i'm a son of david mclow And my function in life is a minister

of the gospel of jesus christ You may identify me by any of those titles But that's not my name My name is daniel mclow And the singular name by which jesus were was referring to that has all power That we must be baptized into is the name of jesus christ So while i celebrate the faith of every cornelius and the desire to love god and pursue god We all stand on level ground at the foot of the cross And we are not measured by anything but this book And this book tells me in ax chapter 19 That there were people who were baptized in another way Other than the name of jesus christ And paul said that's okay All we've got to do now that you know Is to obey So let's baptize you again But this time when we bury you in the water We're going to say the name that has all power in heaven and earth We're going to say

the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins Would you stand to your feet? Would you just lift your hands and would you thank the lord right now? If you've been baptized in jesus name and you've received the gift of the holy ghost I think you ought to just thank god for a moment Jesus i thank you for such great salvation I thank you that i've heard the gospel of jesus christ I thank you that i've been born again of the water and of the spirit Praise be to god Praise be to god Woo hallelujah Yes, jesus for whosoever will for everyone that believes For the rich for the poor For the broken for the whole For the black the white for the english for the spanish for whosoever will Praise be to god Praise be to god Now i'm not just teaching tonight for knowledge I hope you've learned something i've tried to be slow and i've tried to be methodical.

I hope you've learned something But i hope beyond what you've heard and what you've learned and what you know I hope there's something working in your heart right now I hope there's something kind of turning on the inside of you that's making you ask the questions like they did on the day of Pentecost what is this what what do i feel at new life what is it i hear what why is this place different what's special about this place and What do i have to do now i i heard the teaching i've heard pastor preach it Why do i have to do now here's what you have to do You have to obey You have to i'm compelling you the same hour the same day Last wednesday there were four that were baptized. There's no reason there can't be some more tonight If you get home tonight, you get talking to somebody who can't be here and they need to be baptized tomorrow

I assure you if you call the church office somebody will be here to baptize you i'm compelling you You've got to obey Because you're not you're not going to be measured by me You ought to be met we're going to love you regardless There's a place here no matter where you are in your walk with god This church is going to love you every step of the way, but i'm telling you you are compelled by the word of god To obey the knowledge god just gave you to obey the faith that's turning in your heart And so if you're here and you have never been baptized in jesus name if you're watching online right now You call this church We'll baptize you tomorrow Comment on the facebook we'll make it happen Amen The same hour If you're here and you've never received the holy ghost and you want to receive the holy you can receive it tonight I close with this we were

teaching a bible study Years ago a very informal one was a lady who worked at christian bookstore and we had made friends with her We just began to tell her she knew we went to the penny costal church She went to another denomination that they didn't believe in the penny costal church They didn't believe this speaking in tongues thing was real they That's she'd been taught that her whole life Until she she met some people who started talking to her about their experience and my experience is compatible with the scripture She didn't quite have the courage to come to the penny costal service But in those little times of sharing and testimony Faith started working in her life And standing in front of her microwave one night Waiting for her food to get warmed up God filled her with the baptism of the holy ghost There's been a lot of talk about revival. So just so we're all on the same page. I

I know i'm in line with pastor here This is what revival looks like This is what growth and harvest looks like it looks like people becoming obedient to the scripture Being baptized in jesus name for the remission of sins and being filled with the gift of the holy ghost Speaking in other tongues as the spirit gives them the ability Who's it for it's for all of us? It's for all this city It's for all the county It's for all the state. It's for whosoever will And so if you're here tonight and you've never been baptized and you you want to be baptized You want to receive the holy ghost? You just make your way to the front and we're done and we'll make it happen God will pour out a spirit, but I think before we close we ought to just lift our hands one more time And we ought to pray Say lord, let your word not return void Lord, let it

not return void what you've sent it for to accomplish. Let it be accomplished Let your purpose be fulfilled. Let the waters be troubled. Let the spirit of god be poured out Lord, let that urgency get a hold of our hearts Lord, let us feel the urgency of the hour That same hour that same day Today is the day of salvation. Now is the time Hallelujah Praise be to god Praise be to god Yes, let's give the lord a hand clap of praise In jesus name Thank you for being a midweek We're knowing but we're also obeying And once we've obeyed let us go and share Amen, the lord bless you May you be dismissed in jesus name