Here Is Water, What Hinders You

January 1, 2023 · Harmony of the Gospel

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Series · Harmony of the Gospel · Week 4 of 5

Scripture referenced 9 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Acts 6 Greek widows overlooked in food distribution, apostles appointing deacons

1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service.
2 The twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not appropriate for us to forsake the word of God and serve tables.
3 Therefore select from among you, brothers, seven men of good report, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
4 But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.”
5 These words pleased the whole multitude. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch;
6 whom they set before the apostles. When they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
7 The word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
8 Stephen, full of faith and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.
9 But some of those who were of the synagogue called “The Libertines”, and of the Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and of those of Cilicia and Asia arose, disputing with Stephen.
10 They weren’t able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.
11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
12 They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and came against him and seized him, and brought him in to the council,
13 and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.
14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us.”
15 All who sat in the council, fastening their eyes on him, saw his face like it was the face of an angel.

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Acts 7

Stephen stoned for living out his call

1 The high priest said, “Are these things so?”

2 He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

3 and said to him, ‘Get out of your land, and from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.’

4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living.

5 He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, when he still had no child.

6 God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

7 ‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that will they come out, and serve me in this place.’

8 He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

9 “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him,

10 and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

11 Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.

12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.

13 On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s race was revealed to Pharaoh.

14 Joseph sent, and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

15 Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, himself and our fathers,

16 and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

17 “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

18 until there arose a different king, who didn’t know Joseph.

19 The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive.

20 At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father’s house.

21 When he was thrown out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son.

22 Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.

23 But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

24 Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.

25 He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.

26 “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’

27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

28 Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

29 Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

30 “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him,

32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled, and dared not look.

33 The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’

35 “This Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

36 This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

37 This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’

38 This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,

39 to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’

41 They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

42 But God turned, and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

43 You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

45 which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David,

46 who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

47 But Solomon built him a house.

48 However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with…

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Acts 8

Philip in Samaria, scattering of believers after Stephen's stoning

1 Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles.

2 Devout men buried Stephen, and lamented greatly over him.

3 But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house, and dragged both men and women off to prison.

4 Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word.

5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ.

6 The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip, when they heard and saw the signs which he did.

7 For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.

8 There was great joy in that city.

9 But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city, and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one,

10 to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that great power of God.”

11 They listened to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries.

12 But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning God’s Kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

13 Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed.

14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them,

15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit;

16 for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus.

17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

18 Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

19 saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before God.

22 Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

23 For I see that you are in the poison of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”

24 Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.”

25 They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Good News to many villages of the Samaritans.

26 But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert.”

27 He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship.

28 He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”

30 Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

31 He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him.

32 Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he doesn’t open his mouth.

33 In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. Who will declare His generation? For his life is taken from the earth.”

34 The eunuch answered Philip, “Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?”

35 Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him about Jesus.

36 As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”

38 He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing.

40 But Philip was found at Azotus. Passing through, he preached the Good News to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.

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Isaiah 56:3-5

God's promise to foreigners and eunuchs who keep His covenant

3 Let no foreigner, who has joined himself to Yahweh, speak, saying, “Yahweh will surely separate me from his people.” Do not let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

4 For Yahweh says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant:

5 I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name, that will not be cut off.

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Isaiah 53:7-8

the passage the Ethiopian eunuch was reading when Philip ran alongside

7 He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth.

8 He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?

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Acts 8:36

the eunuch asks what hinders him from being baptized

36 As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”

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Acts 8:37

Philip's condition for baptism and the eunuch's confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God

Read Acts 8:37

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Acts 8:38

the chariot stops, both go into the water, Philip baptizes the eunuch

38 He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

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Colossians 3

benediction, the putting off and putting on passage, let the message of Christ dwell richly

1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.

2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.

3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4 When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.

5 Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;

6 for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.

7 You also once walked in those, when you lived in them;

8 but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.

9 Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,

10 and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,

11 where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.

12 Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;

13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.

14 Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.

15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.

18 Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

19 Husbands, love your wives, and don’t be bitter against them.

20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.

21 Fathers, don’t provoke your children, so that they won’t be discouraged.

22 Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.

23 And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men,

24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

25 But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

Pastor Mark opened the new year by walking through Acts 8 and the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, using it as the frame for a baptism Sunday. Noah Radek was baptized in the first service, and the Lord's Supper was shared at the close of the second. The through-line was a simple question drawn from the text: "Here is water, what hinders you?"

What was said

Before getting to the text, Pastor Mark took the congregation through a brief tour of how baptism has been practiced across church history, from the catacombs to the Didache to Eastern Orthodox infant immersion to outdoor river baptisms in Wyoming. The point was not to settle every argument but to explain why First B Jackson practices believers baptism by immersion: the Greek word baptize means to dip or to plunge, and the symbolism of burial and resurrection calls for it.

The story of Philip in Acts 8 begins with a lot of context that matters. The church had clumped up in Jerusalem, Jesus had said witnesses would go to Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts, and it took the stoning of Stephen to scatter believers outward. Philip was in the middle of a genuine revival in Samaria when the Spirit pulled him away to a desert road headed toward Gaza. Pastor Mark noted that the text does not linger on Philip's feelings about leaving fruitful ground. It simply says an angel told him to go, and he got ready and went.

On that desert road, Philip ran alongside the chariot of a high-ranking Ethiopian official, the treasurer of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had traveled a very long way to worship in Jerusalem, which put him in tension with Levitical prohibitions against eunuchs entering the assembly. But Pastor Mark pointed to Isaiah 56, where God tells eunuchs who keep His Sabbaths and hold fast His covenant that He will give them, within His walls, a name better than sons and daughters, an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. The man reading Isaiah had more hope waiting in that scroll than he may have known.

The passage the eunuch was reading when Philip caught up to him was Isaiah 53, part of the suffering servant section. Pastor Mark noted that in Jerusalem at the time, those passages were generally understood to describe Israel as a nation, not a coming Messiah. No one was expecting a humble, silent, suffering figure. The eunuch asked plainly whether the prophet was speaking of himself or someone else, and Philip, fresh from preaching a revival, opened his mouth and preached Jesus to him beginning from that very scripture.

When they came to water along the road, the eunuch asked what was stopping him from being baptized. Pastor Mark acknowledged that verse 37, Philip's answer and the eunuch's confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, appears in the King James tradition but is absent from other manuscript families. He was straightforward about the textual situation without trying to manufacture doubt, pointing out that the eunuch's belief was already clear from everything that led to the moment. They went down into the water together, the eunuch was baptized, and the Spirit took Philip away to Azotus. The eunuch went on his way rejoicing, and Philip just kept preaching through every city until he reached Caesarea.

Pastor Mark closed by connecting the story to his uncle Kenneth, who came to faith later in life in a small Southern town, was baptized not long after, and spent the rest of his life as a missionary in Guyana before dying just days before this sermon. The pattern is the same across every story, the ground gets tilled, the right passage comes up, someone asks the question, and God has already arranged everything needed for the answer.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

The pastor showed pictures of baptism practiced many different ways across church history. How did you grow up thinking about baptism, and how has your understanding of it changed over time?
When the angel told Philip to leave a thriving revival in Samaria and head down a desert road, he simply got up and went. Can you think of a time when God directed you away from something that seemed to be going well toward something that made no obvious sense?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. How are you all? Happy New Year. I'll move the whole shooting match in here. Welcome.

Glad that you're here. And would you stand up with me? We're going to sing some good old hymns. Blessed assurance. Jesus is mine.

Amen.

Speaker 2Blessed assurance. Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood. This is my story.

This is my song. Praising my savior all the day long. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my savior all the day long perfect submission perfect delight visions of rupture now burst on my side angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy whispers of love this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long perfect submission all is at rest I and my savior am happy and blessed watching and waiting looking above filled with his goodness, lost in his love.

This is my story. This is my song, praising my savior all the day long. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my savior all the day long.

Speaker 1Amen. We're sing another one.

Speaker 2How about that? Redeemed how I love

Speaker 1to proclaim, hymn number three fifty six. Here it is. Whatever comes up on the wall.

Speaker 2Redeemed how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the lamb redeemed through his infinite mercy his child and forever I am redeemed redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed redeemed his child and forever I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus. No language my rapture can tell.

I know that the light of his presence with me doth continually dwell. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed, redeemed his child and forever I am I think of my blessed redeemer I think of him all the day long I sing for I cannot be silent His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed. Redeemed.

Redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Redeemed. Redeemed his child and forever I am. I know I shall see in his beauty, the king in his mighty light, who lovingly God is my footsteps and giveth me songs in the night. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

Redeemed. Redeemed. Child and forever I am. Amen. Y'all can have a seat.

I have

Speaker 1a few announcements this morning. One of them I did not mention in the first service. It's called the Word Retreat. There's the Word Retreat, it's coming up. Hey, look at there, Men's Retreat.

It's $200 but there are scholarships available. It will be February 23 through the '26. It ends up on a Sunday morning. It will end up right here in this place, in this fellowship, but it's over in Idaho. It's a good thing.

Matt Lutzelman has been involved with these retreats for some time now, and it's going to be a good thing. If you'd like to go or be a part of it, let us know, firstbjackson dot org. If you have any questions, you can get in touch with Matt or you can get in touch with me and I'll put you in touch with Matt, either way. But the word retreat, that's coming up soon. We have a men's snowmobile retreat that is January 22.

That weekend, it's happening. Hey, look at there, January twenty through twenty two. Old Faithful Christian Ranch is $100 for adults, 75 for kids. It's usually men and boys that go, that's the plan. Men's snowmobile retreat, January twenty three to twenty two.

That is a fun time. I can testify to that one myself. I don't have the little clickity clicker up here. There it is. Excuse me.

Monday nights at First Be are happening. So January two, Monday night at First Be. It will be meal, music and a message. Carl will be bringing the message from the book of Mark, and the meal will be Mexican food made by Felix Guadalupe. It's a good time.

This is a good one to get in on first part of the year here. Monday nights at first be happening tomorrow at six. Awana is back on also tomorrow night. If you would like to help out by preparing a meal for Monday night or if you'd like to prepare the connect hour for between services, you can let us know and we'll get you signed up for that. There is a congregational meeting that's coming up, January 29.

We bumped it backwards because of the snowmobile retreat that was double booked. So congregational meeting, January 29, between the services and the sanctuary. So that's happening. That's the one that we do every year. We'll approve their budget, copies of the budget in the back.

We hope to approve the budget and slate of elders and Board of Trustees members for the next year. And I think that that's it. Did I forget anything? Or is there anybody who wants to proclaim anything else right now during the announcements? Okay.

Being none, would you stand and rise, Will? We will sing His Name is Wonderful. What a beautiful name.

Speaker 2His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful. Jesus, my lord. He is the mighty king, master of everything.

His name is wonderful. Jesus, my lord. He's the great shepherd, the rock of all ages, almighty God is bow down before him adore him His name is wonderful. Jesus, my lord.

Speaker 1Let's sing that one again.

Speaker 2His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful Jesus my lord he is the mighty king master of everything his name is wonderful Jesus my lord he's the great shepherd the rock of all ages rock almighty God bow down before him adore him His name is wonderful. Jesus, my lord.

Speaker 1Amen. And how

Speaker 2about lamb of God? Do you all

Speaker 1know this song? I I don't think I knew this song as a child. I do know this song now. I love it. Really appreciate it.

There's a change in the last verse, in the chorus of the last verse that I think is interesting. Jesus Christ is the lamb of God, but he is calling us to be a Lamb of God. It's an interesting thing. He is the, capital l, Lamb of God, but we can, following after him, be lambs of God. That's a that's a great thing.

The turn, I I really appreciate. So let's sing Lamb of God.

Speaker 2Your only son, no sin to hide, But you have sent him from your side to walk upon this guilty son and to become the lamb of God. Oh, lamb of God, sweet lamb of God. I love the holy lamb of God. Oh, wash me his precious blood my Jesus Christ the lamb your gift of love they crucify they laughed and scorned him as he died the humble king they named a frog and sacrificed the lamb of God Oh, lamb of God, sweet lamb of God. I love the holy lamb of God.

Oh, wash me in his precious blood. My Jesus Christ, the lamb of God. I was so lost, I should have died. But you have brought me to your side to be led by your staff and rod, and to be called a lamb of God. His precious blood till I am just a lamb of God.

Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. I'll pray, and I'll ask the ushers to come forward too for the the operatory prayer, worship through giving. Lord God almighty, we thank you that we can be here this morning, gathered in your name, to worship you, to sing your praises, lord, but we pray that those praises would ring out beyond just this building, that the way that we walk in our daily lives and the way that we use our words, Lord, that we'll be led by your Spirit, that your Spirit would flow, that it would illumine the Word for us, and as we speak it, that it would be illumined for those in this community. Lord, not just this community, but around here and spreading to the very uttermost parts of the world. In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask that you'd bless your people to do your will in your way.

I pray, Lord, that you would take all that is given this morning, Lord, this week, this coming year, that you'd take it all, Lord, that you would bless it and multiply it, and that it would be effective for the advance of the gospel. We know that nothing done for the Lord is ever in vain. Lord, would you use us the way you would have us be used. Amen. Amen.

Thank you, Judy. Oh, boy. Well, for Christmas, I've I've stepped away from our Harmony of the Gospel study, and I plan on getting back to that. But this morning, in the first service, we had Noah Radek come forward to be baptized. He I've known for some time that he was willing and he was ready and I knew it, but they were looking for a good time, right?

And so he said on Christmas Eve, he said, How about tomorrow or maybe better next week? So better next week. That's what we filled the pool up here. So there's a baptistry full of water right here. And I thought, Well, I'm going to do a topical sermon on baptism.

And you all seen the Princess Bride? You all seen that? There is too much. Let me sum up. That's there was just so much about baptism.

Old Testament, New Testament, there's so much in there, and I was thinking, I can't really reduce that down. You know when you come into a church and it's First Baptist Church, there's that's a part of what we do. We practice two ordinances here. We're going to do we did one of them this morning, baptism, and we're going do the Lord's Supper here before we leave. So those are the two ordinances that we typically do.

Not we don't count them as sacraments so much. But I am not one to arm wrestle over practice so much. And I thought this I often say when we've done a baptism that morning, I often say, here is water, what hinders you from being baptized? And so it sounds a little antiquated, the language, what hinders you? But I get that from this story and I thought this is what we're going to do, go through a text and look at that text.

But before we do that, I want to look at a couple of pictures. So throughout the history of the church, it has been practiced a lot of different kinds of ways. This is from the catacombs. It's a picture of a naked participant in baptism. Peter, you can't see him because he's kind of been scratched through over to the right over here, but Peter is actually baptizing this guy in the picture.

And he's doing it by taking a shell of water and pouring it over the guy's head. If you look in a different place in the catacombs, both of these folks are standing in water and there's a splashing going on of a bringing up of that. But this one's a little later too, like third century or so. The other one's about third century too. Throughout the history of the church, it's been practiced a lot of ways.

I had a professor when I was in seminary. His name was Bill Larkin, William Larkin. And he's an interesting guy. He was built like Barney Fife, but he had the comportment of Mr. Rogers, like Fred Rogers, which makes sense.

Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian minister. This guy is a Presbyterian minister. And he would greet someone in the hall and they'd say, Doctor. Larkin, I'm struggling. I'm doing a study on baptism and I just I don't know where to go from here.

Can you help me? And he'd go, when considering baptism, you must consider at least seven ways that it's been practiced. Effusion, aspersion, immersion, submersion, all these different things. And he would give a fairly exhaustive thing. When I started to do that this week, I thought, I'm gonna mention a few.

In the Old Testament, baptism, when it's mentioned in the Septuagint, is typically baptismas. It is certain way that is about a purification ritual. This is a mikvah, a mikvah from the time of Herod the Great. This is one of the purification pools. I think that one's at Masada, I'm not positive, but it's one of those purification pools.

It is a ceremonial tub for washing ceremonial rite that happens again and again in order to prepare oneself for to be clean, to worship properly. But that's not the way we practice baptism. In the New Testament, when baptism is used, it's not exclusively always for an initiatory rite, but most of the time it is. This is another one of Peter baptizing the neophytes. This is from the 1550s.

And Peter is pouring out of a shell over the head of someone who is kneeling in a creek. Most of these you've noticed the people are nearly or all the way naked. I'm going to call for people who want to be baptized later. I'm not asking you to come up naked,

Speaker 2all right? Because we haven't done that in many, many years.

Speaker 1That's been a long time. For modesty stake, it used to be that women would baptize women in a lot of cases and men baptize men. It's been practiced a lot of different ways. You might have been to one of these sort of baptisms. If you have been to an Episcopal church or a Catholic church where the baby is brought forward by a family and then a priest dips into the water, sprinkles a little bit on the baby's head.

That's infant baptism. We do not practice infant baptism here. I will occasionally have somebody from a Lutheran background or from a Catholic background or Episcopal background who have come into our fellowship here and they say, we want you to baptize our baby. I said, well, that's not really what we do. But we will do baby dedication, which is a dry baptism as I've experienced it, seen it.

It's not the washing away so much as a promise between congregation and family that we are going to do the best we can to help. And that's what most infant baptism ceremonies lean towards these days. There has been in the history of church a lot of superstition. And at times, it was very uncommon for anybody to get baptized until right before they died. That's interesting.

It's kind of hard to dunk somebody who's just about to die. You're finishing them off is what that feels like. So that was traditional for a while. And then others are as they're born, it's right away. It's almost like circumcision.

It's a sign of the covenant between our family and this baby. We're going to raise them as best we can and we're going to baptize them right now because of original sin, we don't want them to die with that. We're washing that away. So that's in practice, there have been a lot of different ways. In history, the Anabaptists came along and they had the audacity to take infants who had been baptized by perhaps the Catholic Church usually, Catholic Church.

And the Anabaptists had the audacity to baptize them again. Ana means over again or once again. So the Anabaptists would do that. So this is probably Episcopal, looks like Catholic baptism. This is Eastern Orthodox.

Check that out. That's a deeper well there. They dunk their babies.

Speaker 2They're babies, clunk,

Speaker 1and bring them back up. I think that would really surprise me. I know it surprises the baby. But it's been practiced a lot of different ways. And I'm not going to arm wrestle you over which way is proper.

Proper. I will explain the reason that we do it the way that we do it is because baptize actually means to dip or to plunge. The Neste plunge, yes, that's baptism, all the way in, right? So that's the reason we do baptism by immersion or submersion here and for believers. This is from early in the actually, it's probably the nineteenth century or early twentieth century of a baptism in North Carolina.

And these are people who have trusted in Christ, Come on into the water. Come on into the water. I mentioned that baptism sometimes in the past had been practiced nude. It is a taking off of the things of the world and a being baptized, buried with Christ, raised to walk in newness of life, and given a clean robe on the other side. That's a great symbol.

These white robes are like that. So that's Pascal and I are sitting on the baptistry in Florence. This is the steps of the baptistry in the Great Duomo in Florence, 2017 for Tanya and I have our twenty fifth anniversary. We were able to go there. And this is one of my favorite baptisms ever in Jackson Lake.

That's Judy Wales right there with Moran in the background. It's pretty awesome. This one was just before the snow flew this year, Salt River Access in Grover, Wyoming. Two of the Larson boys, Robin Lindy Larson's boys were baptized down there with grandma and granddad and an aunt there with us. It was pretty fun.

That's Ross. I mean, that's Slade Ross getting baptized just below Swinging Bridge after the snow flew this year. Freezing cold. Wyatt and Reagan and Slade were all baptized right there in the river. There are lots of different writings in the history of the church of how this should go in the Didache.

The Didache was one of the earliest church documents, And it was basically not exactly policies and procedures, but kind of like that. And the Didache said that you ought to use running water if you can. It needs to be cold. I don't know why. You can use stagnant water if you have to.

If the person is not able to go under, then you can dip them you can sprinkle them. It's funny that all the way throughout the history of church, there have been multiple ways to do this. We practice believers baptism by immersion. And there we go. That's a terrible face I'm making.

That's actually in the Jordan River. When we went and took a trip to Israel, there was a girl on the trip that had never been baptized before. A couple who already had Anna baptized them, but this one was Inger Hanson. And then the last not the last time I was in Georgia, but the last time I was home for a weekend, a dear friend from high school called and she said, what do you think about folks that are believers but aren't able to express it? And I said, well, you're his mother.

This is a 25 year old nonverbal autistic boy named Ryan. Wonderful soul. And Amy Turner called, my best friend's widow, called, and her sister Patty is in the pool there with me and with Ryan. And she said, What do you think about that? And I said, What do you think about baptism for him?

And I said, Where are you right now? And she said, We're about fifteen minutes from Amy's house. I said, Well, I'll see y'all at the pool in thirty minutes. Because here's water. What hinders him?

He's a believer in Jesus. I asked him if he believed, and he says almost no things, but he said, Jesus is Lord. One of my favorites. So sweet. Hard to get him to go down though.

I will say that. He believed in Jesus, but he didn't want me to put him under. I had to sweep the leg. His mama helped. It was fun.

I mentioned baby dedications already. Summary of Acts eight so far. Actually, want to go back to Acts six. In Acts six, we see people coming forward and the church is growing like crazy at this point. Acts is just beautiful.

It's wonderful. I want to go through Acts again. So Acts six, the gospel is spreading and spreading and spreading, and mainly it's in Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem, all apostles are gathered and the people God's adding to their number daily after Pentecost, you know, those who are being saved. And then comes a complaint.

And it's a complaint from the Greek widows are being overlooked in the distribution of food. And the Greek widows are being overlooked. Well, most of these apostles, they're mostly Jewish boys, right? These guys didn't intentionally, I'm sure, but there was a complaint that arose. And Peter and the other apostles got together and said, Who?

Should we be waiting tables? Or should we be ministering the word? And they made a decision to minister the word and also that you choose from among you seven people that you trust that will do a good job kicking up dust, deacons that will get this done. And it's an interesting thing that the apostles appointed whoever they would choose, and all of those names were Greek names. Philip was among them.

Stephen was among them. So Stephen, in Acts seven, simply for doing, for living out his call, living out his reasonable service to God, he was stoned. Philip, in Acts eight earlier than this, because of the stoning of Stephen in Jerusalem, Jesus had said, you're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, the uttermost parts. They had not been spreading out. They've been clumping up in Jerusalem.

But after the stoning of Stephen, it said they began to move forward into Judea and Samaria. And Philip particularly was seeing a pretty mighty revival going on in Samaria. So the scattering of believers from Jerusalem after Stephen's stoning is context for chapter eight. Actually, the beginning of it says, and Saul was approving of his stoning. That's the way it starts off this chapter.

So the believers are scattered after his stoning, and there's a great move of the Holy Spirit in Samaria. We know Jesus had spent three days there after he ministered to the woman at the well. We know that there had been other occasions where they went through Samaria, the cities of Samaria, that people were accepting the message of the Lord, that Christ had done miracles there, and he was planting seeds that would sprout up during this time. The great move of spirit in Samaria, things were going great for the advance of the gospel in chapter eight, and then we see this verse. So when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back towards Jerusalem, and they were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

It was a mission trip that was just an ongoing mission trip, but as they had saturated the place and they're going back, they're hitting more villages and spreading the word, but some pretty strong disjunctive there, but an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip. Now Philip is ministering and things are going really well. He's kicking up dust and seeing a lot of people come to Jesus, and then all of a sudden, the spirit of the Lord says, get ready and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza. It's a desert road. Well, wait a second.

I've got fertile ground right here, and they're all accepting the word. This is good stuff and but I like that this is what it says. But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, get ready and go south. And the next verse says, so he got ready and went. Ain't that great?

To take the word of the Lord, whatever the message is he has for you, and when he says, get up and go, you got up and went, that's a wonderful testimony of your faithfulness. And that's what Philip did. He got ready and he went. And there was an Ethiopian eunuch. Ethiopia was bigger then than it is now.

It's from Aswan to Khartoum. It's a big section of Africa. It's a long ways away. And if you think about Ethiopia, and this sounds in any way familiar, all the way back nine fifty years BC, the Queen of Sheba had heard of the wisdom of Solomon and came up for a visit from Ethiopia, Queen of Sheba, queen of the Ethiopians. Candace is actually means queen.

It is their female ruler monarch type person, queen mother, queen of the Ethiopians. And this eunuch was in charge of all of her treasure, and it's a very rich area. And he had come to Jerusalem to worship. So this guy was a eunuch and had come to Jerusalem to worship. If you know much about the Old Testament and you know much about the Levitical law, that might seem to be at odds with each other because he was a eunuch and he had come to worship.

In Leviticus, there is a prohibition for eunuchs from public worship, partly because of self mutilation was often performed for heathen gods, but also because a maimed creature of any sort was not deemed fit for service of Yahweh. And so the tradition had grown up around that too that they weren't really welcome. They're kind of excluded. Certainly wouldn't be allowed into the assembly, into the place for the male Jews, these eunuchs. And actually, I think the next slide just says eunuch.

I'm gonna give you a definition straight out of the book, okay? This one can be touchy. The English form of the Greek word which means bed keeper. In the strict and proper sense, they were the persons who had charge over bed chambers and palaces and larger houses, in some cases over harems. But as the jealous and dissolute temperament of the East required this charge to be in the hands of persons who had been deprived of their virility.

The word unit came naturally to denote persons in that condition, emasculated males. But as some of these rose to be confidential advisors of their royal master or mistress, the word was occasionally employed just to denote persons in such a position without indicating anything of their proper manhood. That's the quote. Emasculated male. It was a high ranking official, had the funds to get from Ethiopia to Jerusalem.

It says specifically that he went there to worship. So we'd probably put him in the category of God fearer, but not allowed into the main worship among the Jews. And he was returning, and he was sitting in his chariot, and he was reading Isaiah the prophet. It's interesting he'd be reading Isaiah too. In the Levitical stuff, like I said, there were prohibitions against his entry into the fellowship.

But in Isaiah, there's an interesting passage. Let me get to it. So Philip ran up and heard Let me just skip onto that interesting passage. Here it is. We'll see later what passage he was on when Philip got near him, but this is an interesting one from Isaiah 56, three to five.

Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord. So there's a lot of history in the Old Testament of don't mistreat the stranger or the foreigner among you. Right? And this says, don't let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord, a God fearer, don't let them speak saying the Lord has utterly separated me from his people. I'm a part if if you're part of the Lord's family, you're part of the Lord's family.

Nor let the eunuch say, here I am just a dry tree. For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and choose what pleases me and hold fast my covenant. Even to them, I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters, and I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Isn't that good? It's good hope for this guy who's come a thousand miles probably to see and worship God.

And then he's reading Isaiah's scroll. It says right here, then the spirit said to Philip. Now when the spirit said, get up and get ready and go, he got ready and went. And now the spirit says to Philip, go up and join this chariot. And Philip ran up.

He ran alongside the chariot. Can you see that? And he heard Philip heard the guy in the chariot, the eunuch, reading Isaiah. It's common at the time to read out loud. I almost have never mind.

We used to say that an intellectual in Alabama is somebody. They can read without their lips moving. Sorry, that

Speaker 2one snuck up on me.

Speaker 1I didn't see that one coming. It was common at the time to read out loud. So Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah, the prophet, and said, Do you understand what it is that you're reading? It's actually a pun in Greek. It says, Do you get what you're getting up there?

Are you understanding? Are taking in all that you're seeing? Do you understand what it is you're reading? Obviously, I can hear what you're saying, but do you get it? Now, that's a couple of chapters later, but this is a humble response from the very powerful, wealthy minister of Candace of the Ethiopians.

And he said, Well, how could I? How could I? Have you all read Isaiah? How could I? Unless someone guides me.

And he invited Philip to come on up and sit right here with me. Stop running alongside. Jump up here with me. How could I unless someone guides me? He invited him up, and now this was the passage which he was reading at the time.

And he was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb that is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In humiliation, his justice was taken away. Who will describe his generation for his life is taken away from the earth? Now, if you've been a Christian for longer, if you've read through the Bible before, are several suffering servant passages in the book of Isaiah. And those in Jerusalem that were gathered for whatever worship, whatever this celebration was, they really didn't know what to do with the suffering servant passages of Isaiah.

If they encountered them at all or spoke about them at all, they spoke of them in a national sense that Israel was the suffering servant of God. That Israel as a nation, as a people were the suffering servant of God. But they really didn't know what to do for that. And there's really not any historical evidence that any that anyone had seen it as Messiah would be this. They were expecting a conquering king, not a humble suffering servant.

But it's Isaiah 53, part of seven and part of eight, and this is seven and eight. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, and yet he did not open his mouth. Think about Jesus there. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away.

And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off from the land of the living for the wrongdoing of my people, Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Right? That's last week. During Christmas, we saw that several times. For the wrongdoing of my people to whom the blow was due, he stepped in and by his stripes were healed.

That's the same passage. That's the passage that he just so happened to be reading. Just so happened when Philip is having this amazing revival in Samaria and all of a sudden he's taken up to South Of Jerusalem headed towards Gosse, a desert road, desolate situation. And this is the passage when he runs alongside, he's invited up to start from. And it says, the eunuch answered Philip and said, please tell me.

Please tell me. Of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of someone else? I'm sure that Philip, who's just been preaching this mighty revival, was glad that he asked. Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this scripture, he preached Jesus to him. Isn't that great?

Do you think God had divinely ordained this appointment? He had. He knew where he needed he knew where he needed Philip, and he took him there. He gave him actually, kind of a softball. Really?

Speaker 2This is the passage?

Speaker 1Yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. It's beautiful. There it is.

Philip opened his mouth, beginning from this very scripture, he preached Jesus to him. He told him the good news. And as they went along the road, they came to some water. It's a desert road. We know that.

It's kind of rare that you'd hit water on a desert road. But as they went along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, look, water. What prevents me from being baptized? Now that's verse 36. If you go forward in your New American Standard, which is the translation I'd usually use here, it'll skip right to verse 38.

There's no 37. It just skips right to 38. So it goes from, Here's water. What hinders me or what prevents me from being baptized? And he ordered the chariot stop, and they both went down into the water, and Philip as well as the eunuch and he baptized him.

And that's good. That's he he knew. He preached Jesus. The guy accepted it, and immediately, it was a step of obedience and he was baptized. And that's kind of what I said.

That's the way I am. Now if you go in your King James version or your new King James or your ASV, those three, we talked about this last week, go with the Textus Receptus tradition of manuscript, and you'll see this verse. Eight thirty seven says this, and then Philip said, if you believe in with all your heart, you may. So what hinders me from being baptized? You got to believe it.

And Ethiopian eunuch answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. And so they went down into the water and he baptized him. So this is a sticky situation. I don't ever want to erode confidence in the word of God. But Nick came in the other day when he was printing up the bulletin and he said, Hey, what happened to verse 37?

Well, we have a lot of manuscripts from various times from the 200s all the way forward to the 800s, 900s that have hardly any disagreement with them whatsoever. But occasionally, there's a verse. There's 16 of them in the New Testament, 16 times in the New Testament where there's a verse that in the Textus Receptus will be in there and it'll be in the King James, New King James ASV. And it won't be in the other ones because they believe, we believe that these other manuscripts were earlier. This one, we don't know.

This one's attested all the way back to Tertullian and Irenaeus in 180, so it probably was there, but we can't say it with great certainty. Like I said, I don't like to inject doubt. We know what the guy believed because he preached Jesus and he asked to be baptized, right? So we got that. But this one is from the New King James.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Before Noah got in the water this morning, I said, Noah, is there anything you want to say before you get in this water? Now getting in the water is making the statement. I believe in Jesus. But is there anything you want to say?

He said, I am blessed to know that Jesus is my savior and I want to follow him. I was like, man, that's good. So yes, let's dunk this kid. Here we go. He ordered that the chariot stop and they went down into the water and Philip as well as the eunuch and he baptized him.

And when they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. Divine appointment. He took him there and he took him away from there. And the eunuch no longer saw him, but he went on his way rejoicing. Isn't that beautiful?

I got a word yesterday from day before yesterday from my mom that an uncle had passed. And I remember this uncle, I remember him fondly. I always liked him. But when I was younger, I remember him being a wild man, pretty out there. And then through a series of events, he came to be living in the same town where I grew up as kind of a Mayberry type town.

I mentioned Barney Fife and now Mayberry, I didn't mean to do that. But we grew up in this little greenhouse for Christian people. It was great. And my uncle Kenneth came into that community, and I remember him coming into church, he would would wrath. He would sit there and just wiggle.

He didn't want to he was kind of uncomfortable in a lot of ways. And I remember singing, why do you wait dear brother? If you all are Southern Baptist, you've heard this one. Why do you wait dear brother? What do you hope dear brother to gain by your further delay?

There's no one to save you but Jesus. There's no other way but his way. Why not? Why not? Why not come to him now?

And I remember after seven verses probably, I don't know. I remember uncle Kenneth surrendering to the spirit of God. And he came forward and not long after was baptized. And not long after that, he was a missionary in Guyana, and he served the Lord for the rest of his life. And so he died the day before yesterday.

At just the right time, right, in the fullness of time, God did what was necessary to get Philip to this Ethiopian eunuch. He did what was necessary to have the ground tilled up and ready. He he lobbed the the Isaiah 53 passage. Right? Can you tell me what this is all about?

I can't. And then he just took him away. He no longer saw him. He went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, a completely different city, different place.

And as he passed through, he just kept on preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea. It's pretty amazing that God has us here right now for this time. And he is continually making the way ready. But if if the way is ready right now, I'm not gonna sing seven verses of why do you wait, dear brother. But if if the if the time is right for you and the right now, you believe in Jesus and you wanna be baptized, here is water.

What hinders you? That's a sincere invitation. We're gonna go to communion next. I won't belabor the point, but if anybody wants to be baptized, come forward. All right.

Well, like I said, I'm not going to sing seven verses. I've gave you your shot. If you want to and you see from the pictures, I've had all different manners of baptism, and I love to be a part of it. So if you would, let me know. I'd be glad to help you out with that step of obedience to be where it is that God wants for you to be.

So I'm going to invite the ushers to come forward now. And Judy, if you come play something pretty. Florine surprised me this morning and asked me to come over and just sing a couple of songs during, but I'm not you got something pretty over there, right? No, no, I don't want to sing. Very that this would be a very real real experience.

Experience. It's symbolic, and we practice it as a symbol, as an ordinance, not a sacrament. This is, Lord, a statement about your grace, that you have given your body and your blood, that you have taken the stripes, Lord, for our healing, for our correction, for our atonement. So Lord God Almighty, as we distribute this bread, I pray a blessing over it and over everyone who would receive it, But also, Lord, over those who must let it pass just because it's not what they believe. It's not what they've come to put their faith or trust in.

Lord, I pray that the body of Christ in this place or wherever they live carry themselves in such a way as to draw them into relationship with you, our God. In Jesus' name, ask for your blessing on this bread. Amen. On the same night that Jesus was betrayed he's so faithful. He's so faithful.

On the same night that he was betrayed, he took bread after supper, and he said to his disciples who were there with him, this is my body which is given for you. Take this and eat, and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Lord Jesus, when I think of this, I think of your body living out in time and space, though you created the world's very agent of creation. You came born as a baby, grew in wisdom and in stature, Lord, and you lived it out in that body, Lord. You walked out perfect submission to the Spirit.

And so, Lord, I pray that we would be, by that same Spirit, able to walk it out, walk out, following after your good example, the steps that you have established in advance for us, that we'd be sensitive to the spirit, that when you say, Get ready and go, we'd get ready and go. Lord God Almighty, I also thank you for this representation of your blood, this cup, little plastic cup of grape juice. Lord, that we are celebrating the sacrificial atoning blood that was shed voluntarily in Jesus' blood, Lord. There's remission of sin. So God, I pray that you would attend right now, that you would attend with everyone who partakes of this cup, Lord, and again, for those who must let it pass.

Lord, that you would be actively pursuing perceptive, that they would perceive it. In Jesus' name, we ask your blessing on this cup. Amen. Manner that he had taken the bread, he also took the cup after supper and said to his disciples there, This is the new covenant in my blood. Now, those good Jewish boys there listening out knew what the old covenant was all about, and they've been longing for what Jeremiah had spoken of, this new covenant.

Jesus said, This is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink, and take me in. Take this in. As often as you will, do it in remembrance of me. Amen.

Paul says that as often as we do that, we proclaim the left the the Lord's death until he comes again. The Lord's death is forgiveness and an end to sin. Even the the ordinance of baptism when we buried with Christ and raised to walk in newness of life. Remember, the life, the death, burial, resurrection, the ascension. And actually, like the good old concept of the session.

God is Jesus is seated at the right hand of the father and interceding for us. Would you stand with me? And we're gonna sing, have thine own way, Lord.

Speaker 2Have thine own way, lord, have thine own way, thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will while I am waiting yielded and still. Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Search me and try me.

Master today, whiter than snow lord wash me just now as in thy presence humbly I bow have thine own way lord have thine own way wounded and weary help me I pray divine have thine own way lord have thine own way hold over my absolute sway

Speaker 1Amen. And we've got a benediction today from Colossians three. The putting off and the putting on passage there. It says, and let the message of Christ dwell among you richly. Whatever it is that you do, whether it's in word or deed, be doing it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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Acts 8 Baptism Believers Baptism Ethiopian Eunuch Lord'S Supper Obedience To God

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