Contracts & Signatures | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

The Lord is in this room right now. The Lord is in this room right now. Choir, as you're making your way back, I want us to pray this morning. Church family, I want you to join me in prayer for Mother Zender today who has taken a fall. She is in rehab right now ex experiencing excruciating pain about round the clock. But in the name, help me pray. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ right now as this is going into that rehab room as it's going into that room in the name of Jesus Christ remove the pain from mother Zender. >> >> Lord, touch Mother Zinder right now in her body, in her spirit, in her mind, right now in the name of Jesus. If you have a need in this house, raise your hands up to God. The spirit of the Lord is here. Jesus is here walking the aisles right now. Call on him right now. Call on him right now. Lord, touch God. Lord, Sister Callaway this morning. God, move up on Sister Callaway today. God, touch Sister Tharp today and Brother Bill Burkett. Oh God, I pray for these Lord that are unable to be with us today. God, I pray for healing. God, I pray for cancers to be healed right now. Lord, I pray for the impossible to become possible right now. Lord, I pray that the Red Sea would divide right now. I pray that the Jericho walls would come down right now. I pray that Jordan would roll back right now. I pray that the leper will be cleansed right now. I pray that the dead will be brought to life right now. I pray right now, God, that you would do your work, Lord. And most importantly, God, take your word this morning and draw us closer to you today. Draw us closer to you today through the preaching. God, draw us closer to you through communion today. God, as we partake of communion, Lord, as we take of the bread and of the fruit of the vine, and Lord, we do this in remembrance of what you've done. But we also do this in great anticipation that you're going to come again and we're going to have a great communion service God in your name. Come on in Jesus name. Give him a shout right now. Oh, give him a shout right now. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. can make your way back to your pew at this time. And I want to invite your attention to the word of the Lord. Genesis chapter 8 and verse, excuse me, Genesis chapter 9. Genesis chapter 9 and verse number eight. While you're looking for that, I want to say greetings in Jesus' name. And I want to say to first apostolic Espanol, I want to say greetings to you this morning, brother Sodto and the wonderful saints. Somos familiar. Amen. >> And we are we are we are family. We are family today. Well, I want you to know that a week ago I stood here and I preached and I want you to know that it feels 1 million times 1 million times better right now. >> Amen. than it did last week. >> There's nothing like getting together with God's people. >> There's nothing like the climate that it produces >> when we come together and we worship God. Please don't forget, I've got it written down. Please don't forget I think the u the weather and understandably the weather's kind of knocked us off of a prayer here. The church is open Monday through Friday 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. for prayer for prayer. And you don't want to you don't want to miss that. Come by. We've got a kiosk for you to sign into. And it's just wonderful at the end of the week to see how many hundreds of people are coming in and they are praying and I thank God for that. Are you ready for the word this morning? >> Genesis 9 and verse number eight. And God spake unto Noah and to his sons and with him, saying, "And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you, from all that go out of the ark to every beast of the earth." and I will establish my covenant with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut off anymore by the waters of a flood, neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, "This is the token of the covenant or the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, "This is the token of the covenant which I established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth." For a few moments today, I want to before we take communion, I want to minister to you on the subject of contracts and signatures. Contracts and signatures. You would pray with me right now that you would receive the word of God. Father, we know that the preaching of your word brings life. We know God that this is not a lecture. This is not some kind of history lesson today. We know God that the word is alive. that the word is alive. It's full of your breath. It's full of you, Lord Jesus. Today, for the next few moments, would you anoint my lips of clay that I may feed your sheep that are here that I may touch every prodal in the house and those watching online, Lord, every person, God, that has never seen the light of revelation, God, that their eyes would be illuminated today. Father, I'll give you praise and honor and glory. I ask it in the ma matchless, mighty name of Jesus. Amen. And amen. And amen. You may be seated today. Go ahead. Yes. Go ahead and give the Lord a hand of praise as you're being seated. Contracts and signatures. You are familiar. If you've ever got a home loan or a medical waiver that you're signing or a tax return, you are very familiar that you sign and sign and sign and sign. You're signing a contract. There is a contract there that is telling you what they will cover and won't cover. And believe you me, the contract is written in their best interest. That's free today. All right? So, you need to read it. But you sign that. You sign that. And that signature, that signature becomes evidence that you agree to the contract. That signature becomes evidence. It will hold up in a court of law. In the court of law, many that have broken a contract have an attorney wave a contract and say, "Is this your signature?" And when you give the affirmative, it is that you signed this that you you agreed you agreed to this. The horrible sights and the sounds of the flood in the days of Noah must have been devastating. 40 days and 40 nights it rained. It was the wrath of God against sin was visible. The wrath, the wrath of God, the anger of God. I could take you quickly to Deuteronomy 4:21 where Moses says, "Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me for your sakes." No, Moses talks about a time that he didn't fully obey God's word. He smoked a rock when he ought to spoke to the rock. The Bible says that God was angry. God was angry with him. you know, uh, we we we we sang that song and the Holy Ghost moved so beautifully. You know, he loves us. Oh, how he loves us. And I don't know about you, but it moved me. It it moved. There's something inside of me that rejoiced. But I wonder today if we could repent, we could repent and be fearful. If we wrote a song that's talking about God being angry with us, if it could move us, because God, just as sure as God loves us, God can get angry with us. He got angry with Moses in Deuteronomy 4:21 First Kings 11:9. The Bible said, "And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel. He had God and appeared to him twice. Psalm 7:11, God judges the righteous and God is angry with the wicked. How long? >> How much? Every every day. Oh, the horrible sights and sounds of the flood. 40 days and 40 nights it rained. The wrath of God was visible in the clouds and the thunder and the lightning, the downpour, the continual for a month and 10 days. But yet, it wasn't only it wasn't only that the flood was coming. The flood was coming from the sky. The Bible says in Genesis 7:11 that that the fountains of the deep opened up. In other words, the springs of the deep begin to burst forth. There was water gushing out of the earth. Here on our church property, we have two wells that have been that have been dug and they are they are for the irrigation here. You see these irrigations and you see you see all of the the the water and being the irrigation. Well, they went to drilling and you can't see it, but when they went to drilling just a few feet under the ground, 100 feet or so under the ground, guess what? They struck water. There's a water table under the ground. And we get several gallons of water per minute from these two wells that are pumped and pumps water, irrigation all over our property, our property here. So you understand what they're facing there in that day. They don't only have a month and 10 days of continual downpour, but the fountains of the deep are shooting up the water. The ark until the Bible will tell us that the highest mountain was covered with 20 feet of water. The highest mountain was covered. Can't you imagine to hear the sounds of people crying out to Noah? They had laughed at him. They had mocked at him. They had scoffed at him. But when the rain came then, no doubt, I have no doubt. Although the Bible doesn't say it, I have no doubt in my mind that Noah and his family on the inside of that ark heard the cries of people. Let me in, Noah. Open up Noah, please. Noah, please. But you see, you got to understand that Noah didn't shut the door. The Bible said God shut the door. And when God shuts a door, no man can open it. >> It's a truth, isn't it? >> Can't you imagine with me? I don't think I'm stretching this, brother. I don't think I'm out on a limb right now. I believe there's people crying out, "Open up, Noah. Please, please, no open. I can see fathers trees holding babies up. I can see them climbing mountains. But you can't escape the wrath of Almighty God. You can't escape that wrath. That's hard for us to imagine today being a generation that's inundated, baptized, soaked with the mercy of God. But God was angry not with the people, but he was angry with their decisions. He was angry with the God that they served. And the judgment rested upon them because they yielded themselves. But it ended. I'm glad to report to you today in Isaiah chapter 54:7. I'm glad to read verses like this. Isaiah 54:7. If you don't have your Bibles, look, glue your eyes to the screen behind me. God says, "For a small moment I have forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee, for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, sayaeth the Lord thy redeemer." For this, look at verse nine. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. I'm here to tell you today, God does get angry, but his mercy seems to keep anger for just a moment. What a merciful God. Don't we want to serve him today? Who wouldn't want to serve him today? He's a He's a merciful He's a merciful God. God's mercy for just a moment. God was angry. God turns his face back to the earth and sees Noah and his family and they get off the ark. And they're the only people, they're the only families alive on the earth. and they get off the ark and Noah builds an altar, sacrifices to God. The Bible says that God smelt a sweet savor. God was pleased with what he smelt. God was pleased with what he saw. But God knew that man could have the anxiety and fear. Aren't you thankful today that our God doesn't want us living in fear and anxiety? >> Come on, church. I said, I'm glad today that God doesn't want us living God doesn't want us to live in fear and God doesn't want us to live in anxiety. God doesn't want us but but imagine this. Is it going to rain again? Sure it is. needful for growth. But don't you know the tendency of man had God not stepped in and entered a covenant or contract with man? Can you imagine when it would start to rain and it would rain a little harder and a little harder and a little longer? Can't you see farmers and people grasp grasping their hands and wondering with anxiety? Is he angry again? Is he Is he going to do it again? Are we are we done again? God enters this contract. It's God that that initiates the contract. It's God that speaks out and says to Noah, "Noah, I will never again destroy the whole earth with a flood." Now, please, to those that want to find inconsistencies in the Bible, they'll say, "Well, Bill Carpenter, it says God will never again destroy the earth with a flood." And and there's flooding. You're you're exactly right. And it's it's localized flooding. There has not been since the days of Noah a flood that has destroyed all of humanity, but a family. >> All right? Yes, there has been flooding, but not a worldwide flood that God is referring to here. He says, Noah, he says, I am going to enter into a covenant with you. I promise you, Noah, that the earth will never again be destroyed by a flood. I promise you, Noah, that when it rains, you don't have to be filled with fear and anxiety that I'm going to bring a flood upon this earth. I give you my word, Noah. I give you my covenant, Noah. I give you my contract. My word is my contract. I give it to you, Noah. Not only that, I'm going to give my signature. I'm going to give my signature to you, Noah. I'm going to put, he just simply says, bow. And we know it as rainbow. He says, "I'm going to put my bow or my rainbow, you're going to see it in the cloud." And when you see it in the cloud, doesn't matter how long it's been raining, doesn't matter how dark the clouds are, how loud the thunder, and how bright the lightning. When you see the bow, Noah, you're going to know that there's comfort in seeing the bow. I will no longer destroy the earth with the flood. You will see. You will see the bow. As a matter of fact, there is not only a visible bow on the earth. There's not only a a visible bow, a rainbow of the covenant of God upon the earth. But there's also one in heaven. For I found in Revelation 4 and verse number two. Look at this with me. In Revelation 4 and verse number two, and immediately I was in the spirit, and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone. And look at this now. And there was a rainbow round about the throne in the sight like unto emerald. Can I tell you that there's not only a visible sign on this earth that God will have a contract and will sign it, but in heaven, there is a visible sign of his word in heaven. As in heaven, so in the earth, earth, so in heaven. God's got that visible sign in heaven. As if he needs to be reminded, but it's there for him to remember his word. It's amazing that rainbow represents the covenant of our God. I sent a picture in. I sent it late and if they don't have it, I certainly understand it. Sister Angela Patterson sent me this here a while back. Look at that right there. Two beautiful things right there. Our church and God's rainbow. Aren't you thankful to be living under God's word? >> So, aren't you thankful to be living under God's word? I'm glad God keeps his word. Aren't you? Doesn't matter what man says about God's word. I'm glad God keeps his word. I was in Sister Carpenter and I were in Alabama Wednesday night preaching for both Shane Britt doing a family first Wednesday night for them. And uh there's two men came up. I recognized one of the men. I've been there before. Recognized one of the men, but the other man I didn't recognize. He brought this man up to me and he said, "I gave this man a track about the baptism of the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues and he said, "This man," he's pointing at the man he brought with him. He said, "This man took this track, believed this track, went back to his denominal pastor, Sister Harris." He went to his denominal pastor and he said, "I want you to lay your hands on me that I may receive the Holy Ghost and speak in tongues." And his denominal pastor said, "We don't do that around here." He said, "You don't do that around here." He said, 'Well, you need to read your Bible. Pastor said, ' Right here it is.' He said, 'Well, we don't do that around here. He said, 'Th That's all right.' He said, 'I just went I went to come to church here a while back with this man here. And he said, I got baptized. He pointed to the baptistry. He said, I got baptized in the baptistry and said, when I came out of the baptistry, I was speaking in other tongues as the spirit of God gave me utterance. Here's what I'm going to tell you today. It doesn't matter what man says about God's word. God's word is forever settled in heaven. >> Now, before I move on, before I move on, let me tell you something. Man has always tried to tamper with God's word, just like man has always tried to tamper. Would you put that picture back for a minute? Man, if we don't preach this, if we don't have this in our Sunday school classes, Brother Nolan, if we don't have this in our youth classes, we got a generation that'll come up and when they see that rainbow, they will think of a godless, >> perverted. >> Hey, you stole God's signature. That's not a sign of your perversion. That's a sign of God's Oh, I wish you'd hear I wish you'd hear me right now. How dare them, brother Magna? How dare them take God's signature and sign it to perversion? How dare them take God's signature? >> All the >> >> But if we don't teach it, >> the enemy will take this boy right here >> and when he thinks about the rainbow, he'll think about a godless, perverted group that identify themselves by a rainbow. >> Say you you you better watch it, Brother Carp. You're going to stir people up. I I'm I'm in the business of stirring people up. I said, "I'm in the business of stirring people up. I'm not going to back up, shut up, sit down. I'm going to lift up my voice and tell you if you're glad God has a rainbow covenant, would you lift up your hands right now and give him praise? How dare you? You better be careful. So you going to Yeah. It's just like the devil wants >> devil wants to dumb down the pull pit >> so he can turn up their rainbow. >> He wants to turn down. The prophet wanted to describe preachers who had dumbed down their voice. And he said, "My prophets have become as dumb dogs that cannot bark. You do realize the best security system you'll have at your house is a barking dog. He said, "My my men Oh, God. God, I don't ever want it to be said that my servant in Marville is a dumb dog that can't bark." >> And I I want God to say, "That man I've got down there in Marble, he's a dumb dog. He used to bark, but he can't bark anymore." Yeah. I I guess I I guess what you call them men that are dumb dogs that can't bark, I guess you call them hush puppies. >> I get tickled to myself. I'm sorry. >> I don't want to be a hush puppy. >> I don't want to be a dumb dog. >> I want to be a barking dog. covenants. Covenants, covenants and signatures. Let's go to Genesis 17, verse number 10. Now, God wants to enter a covenant with Abraham, the Jewish people. He'll be the father of the Hebrews. He'll be the father of the Jewish people. But God says in Genesis 17:10, "This is my covenant which you you shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee. Every manchild among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. It shall be for a token sign of the covenant betw twinks me and you. He that is 8 days old shall be circumcised among you, every manchild in your generations. He that is born in the house and or bought with money of any stranger which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house and he that is bought with thy money must needs be circumcised. My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised manchild whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised. That soul shall be cut off from his people. He hath broken my covenant. God says I want you to enter into circumcision. Abraham, I want you to circumcise yourself. I want you to circumcise all the the people in your house. I want you to circumcise Ishmael. If you bought anybody with money, all of them will be circumcised. The four skin you you will you will circumcise them there. And this is a sign. It will become a sign of the covenant between me and you. I'm so serious about this sign that if you would decide not to go through the pain of having this circumcision that it is that you have cut off your soul from people. You have no promises. You have no provision. You have broken my covenant. Now let let's understand something today. We don't h we are not called to understand God. We are called to obey God. >> Too many people want it to happen this way. I want to understand God then I'll obey him. It doesn't work that way. But if you will obey him, I'm telling you, you will understand him. >> But you don't do it. If I'd understand it, I'd do. No, you got to obey him. And then you'll understand. So here, this this sign, this contract, and this signature of circumcision is done. This is what I'm telling you, Abram. And then in Genesis 17 verse number 22 of the same chapter and God left off talking with him and God went up from Abram. So God's done. He's put the papers on the He's put the papers on the desk. He's told Abraham what he's to do and he's put the pen in Abraham's hand and he says, "Now Abraham, it's going to be you that signs the contract. It's going to be you that performs the circumcision." Verse 23. And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcise the flesh of their fores in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. Can I tell you something? There's a message in that right there. in the selfsame day. When you know God's word and you don't obey God's word, the longer that you delay, the more that you find excuses why not to do it. He didn't wait. He did it the selfsame. He did it the self-same day as God had said unto him. Verse 24, Abram was 90 years old and nine when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. Ishmael his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. Verse 26 again I think God's trying to say something. In the self-same day was Abraham circumcised and Ishmael his son and all the men of his house born in the house bought with money of the stranger were circumcised with him. Can I tell you something? Abraham knew this is God's word and the sooner I sign the contract the sooner the blessings of the contract come. And so they did that that self same day. How serious is God about circumcision? How serious is God about his word? Well, let's just roll the clock up a few hundred years. God has showed Moses a burning bush. God has told Moses to go down to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let my people go. Moses gets his wife and his son and off to Egypt they go. In Exodus 4 verse number 23, God's ending the conversation here from the burning bush. God's ending the conver conversation. Moses is about to go to Egypt. And I say unto thee, this is God now. I say unto thee, you go down and you tell them, "Let my son go that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn." So he said, "Here, here's the last thing you tell Pharaoh. If you don't let Israel, my son, go, I'll slay your son. I'll slay your son." Then Moses, here he goes. He's on his way. Verse number 24. Everybody say, he's on his way. >> Verse 24, he's on his way. And it came to pass by the way in the end that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Oh, wait a minute. And I promise you, just study this out. Write me notes. Share with me your thoughts. Because here God is telling Moses, "Go down and tell Pharaoh, let my people go." And then Moses gets a few miles down the road. And God meets him and sought to kill him. Then Sapora took a stone, a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at at his feet, and said, "Surely a bloody husband thou art to me." Would you look at this? It it's intriguing that God would say, "Moses, do this, do this, do this." But when Moses is wiping his son start down to Egypt, God was going to kill him. Why was God going to kill him? Cuz he hadn't circumcised his son. So evidently, this circumcision, this God of the circumcision, he means business. He doesn't change his mind. He didn't write a contract. Then it a few years later, nah, we really don't do that anymore. God meant what he said. Jesus Christ was circumcised. Luke chapter 2 verse number 21. Look at this. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. So Jesus Christ submitted, was brought to circumcision. But the grace dispensation entered, the gospel dispensation entered. He dies on a cross. Few days later, the winds of Pentecost blow. Man is born again of water and of spirit. The gospel begins to be preached. Repent. Believe. Repent. Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the removal of your sins. You shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And millions millions were being converted. Millions were being converted. But something reared its ugly head. Acts 15 verse number one. And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, "Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved." When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about the question. They had to have their first. This is recorded as the first Jerusalem council when they all came together and they said, "We got to hammer this out. We got to work this out because we got one group preaching. Believe, repent, baptism, spirit baptism, salvation, and we got another group saying, "Believe, repent, baptism, water, spirit baptism, uh, and circumcision." So, we got to we we we we got to find out what are we what are we going to preach. They had this counsel. They had this counsel. And in Acts 15:10, here's what they came up with. James says, "Now therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear, trying to take them back under the law of circumcision." Somebody with some good Holy Ghost common sense stepped up and said, "Why are we trying to take these new converts and put a yoke on them that we couldn't even live up to? Why are we trying to do this?" And the James gave the counsel in Acts 15:29. Here's what he said to the new converts. He said that you abstain from meats offered to idols. Now, this has more about atmosphere than it does meat because the meat offered to idols was close to idol temples where all kinds of perversion, sexual perversion lay in their open courtyards of all kinds of sexual acts. But over on the side was the meat that they had put for the market. So here he's more telling them stay in the right atmosphere and from blood and from things strangled. This is more of a health issue here. And I don't have time to elaborate. It's more than a health health issue here. And from fornication from which if you keep yourselves you shall do well fair ye well. That's what they told them. So circumcision was not a part of salvation. The Old Testament circumcision today is not a part of salvation. But they did recognize a circumcision. In Colossians chapter 2 verse number eight it says beware lest any man spoil you take away through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. For in him I wish everybody say Jesus. >> Say it again. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily and ye are complete in him. Say Jesus. >> Jesus >> which is the head of all principality and power. In whom everybody say Jesus. >> Jesus. in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. In putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, Old Testament circumcision, they pulled flesh, cut flesh, cast it away. That was the sign of Old Testament circumcision. But in the New Testament, he said there is a circumcision that is made without hands in putting off of the body of sin. What is the circumcision? Verse 12, buried with him in baptism, where also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation whom God hath raised from the dead. Ladies and gentlemen, today we are spiritual Jews. We have a sign in our body that we belong to him when we were baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of our sins. We have become a new creature. As a matter of fact, Chad, I believe I see you back there today. Are you still on for being baptized today? Would you wave your hand? We're going to see that happen today. ACA security guard here is going to get baptized in Jesus. Lord, let me let me let me rush on. Let me rush on. Verse 12 again. buried with him in baptism, when also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. Acts 2:38. Then Peter said unto them, repent, be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of joining the church. Did I hear the crowd say something today? Okay, let's read it again. Repent. Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ because Jesus was baptized. We should be baptized too. Repent in the name of Jesus. Unless Carpenter is rebuking me today. Repent. Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ to show on the outward >> what's happened on the end. H you you see I hope we get just as loud and stirred up against that group of people that took that rainbow. >> Who are you to tamper with God's signature? >> Who are you to say that baptism which you the the Greek scholars will laugh at this which means to plunge to dip to submerge. where you get off saying you can put your hand in a cup of water and pour it over their head. >> I'm still on the rainbow people today. Who are they that you you see? It seems to me that the enemy wants to take God's sign of his covenant and cause it to mean something else. >> Repent. be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Do you know the Greek word for remission means to send away means to send away. It means to bid going away. It means to depart. It means to bid to go away. It means to depart. When a man was circumcised, part of his flesh was cut off and threw away. And when we are baptized in Jesus' name, the sinful part of us is cut off in the water and is remitted and is departed in the water in the name of Jesus Christ. I'm glad for a new start. I'm glad God is into giving us a new start. I'm glad that God is into giving us a new start. Listen to Paul, writer of over half of the New Testament Bible. Listen to Paul in Acts 22:16, give his testimony. He's given his testimony. When the preacher came to him in Acts 22:16, he said, "And now," this is the preacher preaching to Paul. And now why terest thou? What are you waiting on? Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord. Baptism in Jesus name, which you'll witness today, is a covenant in the New Testament that God says, "If you'll obey my word and be baptized in my name, I'll take your sins away from you." It'll be as if you never committed those sins. If you're thankful for that in your life today, would you raise your hands and your voices with me right now? >> Come on. If you're thankful that God gave you a new start today, Come on. If you're thankful, God gave you a new start today. >> Oh, God. Let me tell you today as I quickly go to communion, if you are battling with things you did in your past, you're battling with things, there's a couple of questions you need to ask yourself. Well, I I just can't forgive myself. I just can't get over this. I got to ask you, have you been baptized in Jesus name? Because here's the miracle. I may still remember my past sins, but guess what? I don't have to go with it. The guilt >> and the condemnation. >> Oh yes, I remember. And you remember, too, sins that were before your baptism. But I'm so glad that I don't have the guilt that goes with it. I don't have the shame that goes with it. So I would say to you today, have you been baptized in Jesus name? Later in 1 Peter 3 and 20, Peter is preaching about the forgiveness of God, the longsuffering of God. And he stumbles upon this. He says, "Which sometime were disobedient when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, look at that, please. Where in few that is eight souls were saved." How were eight souls saved? By water, the like figure where unto even baptism doth also now save us. Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I'm going to tell you, it was the light figure. Noah was saved by water. How did the water save Noah? Anything outside of the ark was corruption. Inside of the ark was salvation. So, the water serves a two-fold purpose. It washes away corruption, but it preserves the believer that believes this and gives them. That's why Jesus Christ himself said, "You must be born again." Are you with me? You must be born again of the >> water and the spirit. They took the rainbow and sad to say, man-made religion has taken baptism and reduced it down and will emphatically will emphatically say water baptism has nothing to do with your salvation, you are horribly mistaken. according to God. Water baptism is a part of salvation according to God. Just like the rainbow, when I see the rainbow, I don't think of perversion. I think of the covenant keeping of God. Would you raise your hands with me right now? >> Come on. Would you thank him right now? What a wonderful change has come into my life when I went down in that name of Jesus Christ for the remission of my sins. It's God's covenant. It's God's signature. Luke 22:15 Jesus said unto them with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. He took the cup and gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come." and he took bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave unto them saying, "This is my body which is given for you." Let's read the rest of it out loud as a congregation. Please, everybody read this with me out loud as a congregation. This >> do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for you." Now let's go back to abuse to abuse because man got in this and man literally teaches one of the world's largest religions teach that when you take that wafer that unleavened wafer that you'll be given today and you take that little bit of the fruit of the vine and you put it in your mouth that that wafer literally becomes the body of Jesus Christ and the blood becomes or the vine becomes the blood. That's false. That's not right. That does not happen. That does not happen. um there is abuse because it has come from this large religion that we shouldn't do it because communion came from the Catholics. Once again, you are mistaken. It was the Catholic. And if any here today, I don't mean to in offend you as much as I want to inform you. They changed it just like they changed baptism. Just like the symbol of the rainbow has been changed, trying to change it. But here's what convinces me. Congregation, hear me. If I've ever been convinced about the importance of communion, let me share with you. Paul was not there that night in that upper room. Brother Harris, Paul was not there. It would be a few years later. Paul was a Christian killer. Paul was not there, brother Lawless, when Jesus said, "Take this cup. Drink it. This is my blood which is shed for you. Take this, take this bread. This is my body that's been broken for you. Paul was not there when he said this, do in remembrance. He wasn't there. It'd be years later he would come into the church. This is what convinces me of the importance of communion. 1 Corinthians 11 verse number 20. As a matter of fact, 1 Corinthians 11 is a wonderful chapter of symbols that God uses visible s symbols that represent spiritual principles. It's in the 11th chapter that God that Paul speaks about hair of a woman and hair of a man. And then he comes to verse 20. He says, "When you come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's body, the Lord's supper. This is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating, every one of you taketh before another his own supper. One is hungry and another is drunken. What have you not houses to eat and drink in? Or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. And here's where I became a strong believer in communion. Verse 23. For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. Somewhere in God's teaching Paul revelation, God be to teach Paul about communion. If it was important, if it wasn't that important, why did God speak to Paul and rehearse with Paul about communion? For I have received of the Lord that which I've delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "Take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me." After the same manner also he took the cup, and when he had sucked, saying, "This cup is the new testament in my blood. This do ye as of as you drink of it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. Now, let me show you what what I mean. Nobody ought to feel worthy today. If you feel worthy, you're rotten. If you feel worthy, you're prideful. You're not ripe, you're rotten. If you feel worthy, well, I'm worthy to stand here. I'm worthy to be in the choir. I'm worthy to have this title. Can I tell you, none of us are worthy. We are all helldeserving sinners, lost without a hope. But a loving God from heaven would come to this earth and robe himself in flesh and give. Come on, praise him with me right now. Praise him with me right now. Here's the unworthy part. Here's the unworthy part. Verse 29 or verse 28. But let a man examine himself. And so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinkketh unworthily eateth and drinkketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chasened to the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, tear one for another. If any man hunger, let him eat at home, that you come not together unto condemnation, and the rest I will set in order when I come. You know what was happening? The abuse. They had taken a thimble full of the fruit of the vine and a little piece of bread. They had taken these two things and they had they had got to where they were bringing supper in. They were f folding up tables. They were having tables and the rich were making sure they got in the line first and the poor were pushed to the back and what should have been intended to be a memorial service to remember what Jesus did for us and to remember that we're headed to a place called heaven. There's no better directions to look at what he did for us and we're headed to heaven. But he said, "You have disrespected this. You're you're you're you're doing this in a disrespectful, flippant manner, and that's what is unworthy." I want you to stand with me right now. We're going to take a moment. We're just going to have prayer. I want our ushers to come to the front and we're preparing to pass out this and we're going to take just a moment. I want to have prayer over this congregation. Lord Jesus, today we come before you. Lord, we come before you, God, to partake of a memorial meal of unleavened bread, sinless bread, the fruit of the vine which represents your blood. Father, you who knew no sin became sin that we may become the righteousness of God. Oh God, today I thank you Lord for your salvation. I thank you Lord for your salvation. God Lord I ask you to search my heart and search my mind. Lord as I do every day I want to I want you to create in me a clean heart and I want you to renew in me the right spirit. Oh God Lord I thank you that you died on that cross for me. I thank you God. Not one sin you had, you became sin. Oh God, every sin, God, that I have ever committed and every sin, God, that I'll ever commit, your blood gives the atoning, forgiving power. Oh God, I praise you right now. Come on, congregation all over. There should be a hum of prayer going up right now. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory, glory, glory. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. >> >> Oh, I feel the presence of God right now in this place. God, that night you took that bread and you said, "My body's going to be broken for you." The cat of nine tails. The whipping. The laceration of your back that stripped the meat. The spasms that you went through, the shock, the spittle, the plucking of the beard, the crown of thorns that pierced your brow, the nails that rip through your arms and hands, the nails that rip through your feet and ankles. Yes. Yes. I feel you, Lord. I want you this morning. I want you this morning. I'll lead you in this, but we're going to the our our communion cups are in the boxes that the ushers have. And let's do like we do for offering. Let's exit. You're going to take communion, exit your aisle, and you'll come down, get the container, and go back to your pew, go back to your pew, and then the the the pew in front of you, and the pew in front of you, and the pew in front. If you're going to take communion, you're going to take communion, we should sing that song, How He Loves Me. Oh, how He loves me today. Oh, how He loves me today. Go back to your pew after you've come and got your communion today. He loves me. Oh, how he loves me today. Oh, how he loves me today. Oh, how he loves me today. Oh, how he loves me today. How he loves me today. Oh, how he loves me today. God, you took that beating at Calvary because you love me. Oh, you took that beating because you love me. >> God, you went through the anguish and the and the stress >> because you love me. God, you let them pluck your beard. You let them blindfold you. And they hit you in the face. And they bruised your cheeks. Oh, they bruised your face. They spit on you. They took a reed. They smoked you in the head. They took a cattle. They took the the the the throne, the crown of thorns. And they smoke you in the head. They took you to the whipping post. They stretched you high. They whipped your back. They cut. They bruised. They lacerated. They sliced. They cut your back. Blood ran down your legs. Blood ran down your feet. Blood ran down pain. They laid the cross beam on your back. >> You struggled. Your knees buckled. You fell to the ground. Simon the Sirene came, carried it to the hill. They laid you on that beam. They took a steak. They nailed it through your hands and through your feet. They hung you. Your body weight pushed against the nails. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. >> >> There you are. There you are on that cross. >> I hear you say, "Father, forgive." >> I hear you say, "Lay not this sin to their charge." >> I hear you say, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Heat. Heat. Oh yeah. >> >> I believe there's healing in this house today. I believe there's healing right now in this house today. I believe there's healing right now in this house today. I believe there's healing right now. I believe there's healing right now. I believe there's healing, healing, healing, healing, healing. I believe there's healing. I believe there's healing. I believe there's healing. I believe there's healing. I believe there's healing. I believe there's healing right now. Somebody that's sick right now, lift your hands. Claim your healing. Claim your healing right now. Claim your healing. Claim your healing. >> >> Touch Roy Nash. Touch Roy Nash for the healing of Roy Nash. God touch God. There's miracles. God, there's miracles in this house right now. Lord, you are prompting me to say there's miracles in this house right now. God, you are prompting me to say there's miracles in this house right now. There's miracles right now in this house. We are your people. We are the covenant people of your name. We are a covenant people of your name. There's miracles in this house right now. Come on. If you need a miracle, it's not time to be bashful. It's not time. It's time. You are a covenant keeper. You are a covenant keeper right now. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. There's miracles in this house right now. I said, there's miracles in this house right now. There's healing. When I got to talking about the stripes on his back, it's as if God began to say, "I'm healing. I'm healing. I'm healing. I'm touching. I'm healing right now. Please, you don't have to understand it. You just have to believe it and obey it. But you're here in here today and you need healing. You need to lift your hands right now. healing. God complete healing for for Chloe. God complete healing for Chloe right now in the name of Jesus based on the stripes that were upon your back. Complete healing for complete healing for Mother's Yender. Complete healing right now. Complete healing right now. Complete healing right now. Complete healing right now. You know who you are. You know who you are right now. Complete healing right now. Thank you, Lord. He came to what was called Passover. Passover was a memorial meal that celebrated bondage, freedom from the bondage of Egypt. Brought out of Egypt by the blood of the lamb on a doorpost. brought out of Egypt by a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud. Once a year they ate unleaven bread, which represented sinlessness. Once a year they parttook of the lamb. They partake in the Old Testament of the lamb. We have something more valuable, brother Hinter. We have the blood of the lamb. >> We have the blood. He said, "I will not have this Passover with you again. This has been the Passover I have desired to have. I've had a few Passovers with you, but oh, this was the one I've desired to get to because this is my last one I'll have with you." until I do this again a new with you in my father's kingdom. But until then, this do in remembrance of me. This do, if you would remove the small unleaven wafer, and when you have it removed, would you hold it up? Would you hold it up? Jesus, thank you for your sinlessness. My righteousness will never be found in me, but my righteousness is in you. Thank you, Lord, for your sinlessness. Thank you for the sinless sacrifice. Let's take the way for now. Let's eat, church. Thank you, Lord. >> >> Oh Jesus. After they had eaten, he gave them the cup. If you would go ahead and remove the the lid off this little thimble full, I'm telling you, church, we're going to eat it again a new in the kingdom. when you have Would you hold it up? He said, "This is my blood that was shed for you for the remission of your sins." And I want you to know that his blood not only remitted my sins at baptism, but his blood remmits my sins on a daily basis. >> He said, "Drink you all of it." Let's drink, church.