God of the Underdogs – Noah

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Well. Hey, everybody. How are we doing? All right. We’re doing good. Happy Memorial Day weekend. And we just want to, right off the top here, just thank all of those that have served in our military and for the great sacrifice as we remember our fallen heroes. Can we just do that right now? Can we thank them? Well, thanks for showing up today, making Community Church part of your Memorial Day weekend. If you’re new, maybe you’re in town visiting. Maybe you’re here on vacation, camping, or something. And I want to be the first to apologize for the cold and rainy weather. But, hey, we’re having fun in here, so we promise. Come on back. The sun will shine again. All right. But we have been in a new series around here. It’s been quite fun. We’re calling it God of the Underdogs. Are you guys enjoying the series? Come on, It’ll be good. And we have been talking about these underdogs, these unlikely people that are unknown and unlikely to succeed. And then they go on to do something amazing and blow us all away. In the first week, we talked about Esther. Wasn’t that a good story? Powerful story than last week. We talked about Nehemiah, and that was amazing as well. If you missed the first couple of or one of the two, the first in the series, you can just go to our Web site, my Community.Church.com, and you can watch those messages. They’re on demand. But today, we’ve got another really cool, powerful, amazing story to share with you. But before I dive into that, I want to share this picture here as a little picture of one of my favorite places to go every summer up in the Adirondack Mountains at Lake George. This is the first year that we went. Here’s my kids. Yeah, maybe bring up the next picture. You can see them in my daughter Kate here now. She’s 18, moving to Brooklyn. I’m going to go to school. My son David he’s bigger than her now. And then my two youngest boys, Henry and Wil. And that year, that first year, I believe, was the first year we went. Oh, my kids are happy because every time I mention them in a sermon, they each get ten bucks. So, I mean, it’s just they’re like, count that money here. And so, but the first year we were there, the Big Apple Circus was in town. And here we are inside in the big top. And my favorite part of the circus and we used to go to circuses, you know before we were all woke. And okay, a few more people laughed at that joke than the first service. So thank you for being a little sarcastic, but my favorite part of the circus really are the trapeze artist. How many? Just. It’s mesmerizing, isn’t it? These guys are swinging above the, you know, the crowd at the top of the big top and doing all these amazing aerial acrobatic moves. And, you know, just the scariest moment, right, is always when the one artist has to let go and reach out. And for that split second, I mean, they’re flying in midair with no safety harness, and they have to trust that their partner is going to be there to catch them. Now, today, the story I want to tell you is about a guy, just an ordinary guy. And you might not even be familiar with the story, but I bet you know his name. And his name is Noah. Noah. Now, here’s my question for you. What do you do? When God asks you to do something that makes no sense. What do you do when God asks you to do something that seems, at face value, completely crazy? That will force you to have to let go with no safety harness and just trust that God will be there to catch you. See Noah. He tells us how Noah tells us how to. Trust God to catch you, even when God asks you to do something that doesn’t make any sense. And I just want you to know right off the top here that I’ve been praying for you, in praying for entire families today to step out. In faith and trust God to catch you, to make a bold decision to do something here today that you didn’t even plan on doing when you walk through those doors to make a decision. To say yes to Jesus, Yes to His grace. Yes, to His forgiveness. Yes, to his salvation. And then to declare publicly that decision, to say yes to Jesus as your savior and your friend by being water baptized. Today I’m talking about you came here dry. You’re going to go home wet. I know. It’s crazy. I know it might not make sense. But just hear me out.

So Noah’s story. It’s told in the first book in the Bible and the Book of Genesis and Chapters six, seven, and eight. Earlier in the book, we learn how God created all creation. The crowning activist creation was mankind, our first parents, Adam and Eve, and he instilled within them, you know, this desire to walk with them, to be in relationship between the creator and the creation. But also he put inside of them in sight of humanity, his creation, this free will. That we can choose to either walk with God and accept his love. Or to reject God and walk away from God because love isn’t really love unless it’s a decision. Unless it’s a choice of your free will to love. It’s not really love. And so God puts that inside of us as his creation. And everything’s going great at first until Adam and Eve use their freedom, use their free will to walk away from God, and deliberately disobey God. That act initiated a freefall for humanity, and it’s led to all kinds of dark, destructive. Behavior that has absolutely broken the heart of God. By the time we get to Genesis Chapter six, archeologists believe that there was about a million people that were alive on the face of the earth. So Noah is literally one in a million, and he’s just like an ordinary, everyday, average guy. He’s one, though, in a million. And by the time we get to Genesis chapter six, it begins to. Tell and unfold this guy’s story. And it goes like this. The Lord observed that the extent of human wickedness on the earth. He saw that every thought. Everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. It was bad. So the Lord was sorry he had ever even made them and put them on the earth. And it broke his heart. and the Lord said I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Like a parent of a rebellious child. God looks at his creation as they walk away from him. They snub their nose, and they stiff-arm him. And they walk away. And it broke God’s heart. But the story goes on and says this. But Noah, in the next verse. We rehearsed this. But, Noah, you guys are doing great up there. I love you. But Noah found favor with the Lord. He found what he found to say it. Favor? You know, that word literally translates from Hebrew. It literally translates. Here’s what it means when an extraordinary person. Gives an ordinary person an underdog. Like you, me? A second chance. God was giving Noah and his family a second chance. A second chance to be saved from the destruction. Of the world and now, Noah. Noah. You know, he was just a guy in a long list of guys. Let me tell you a little bit about Noah and about his family. Noah, his father. His name was Lamech. His grandfather. You might have heard of this guy. He’s known as the oldest man that’s ever lived over a thousand years old. His name was Methuselah. Noah’s great-grandfather was named Enoch. And when the Bible describes his great-grandfather, it just simply describes him as a man who walked with God.

In fact, when the Bible describes Noah, go to the next verse. It describes Noah in a very similar way. And in the next verse. Come on, work with me. There we go. It says This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. And he walked faithfully with God. How cool would it be when God wants to describe you that he would say this? She walked faithfully with God. He walked faithfully. With God. What a great description of your life. If you had to summarize your life. And when it says he was blameless, it didn’t mean he was perfect because nobody’s perfect. You read a story. Sometimes he drank too much. It just meant. That he was doing the best that he could to walk with God. And as he walked with God, he found favor with God. And what do you do when God asks you to do something that just doesn’t seem to make any sense? Not only to others who are looking at you but even to yourself. What do you do when God asks you to do something that just seems so crazy, and it just doesn’t make any sense? Well. Noah kind of puts on a clinic here, and you do these three things. The first thing you do, number one is you obey God. Even when you don’t understand it you obey God even when you don’t understand it. Now, at the time that this story in Noah’s life takes place, I know this is going to be hard to believe, but the Bible says he was 500 years old. He’s probably going through a mid-life crisis, you know, And then God says to him in Genesis chapter six, Noah, I want you to build a boat. A really big boat for you and your family because it’s going to flood. Now, from a human perspective. This is just bananas. It makes no sense, Noah. The closest body of water to him was like 500 miles away was the Mediterranean Sea. Even if he could build a big boat, how could he ever get it? 500 miles from where he lived, which was in the middle of a desert to the water. And we don’t even have a record from the biblical account that Noah had ever even seen a boat. He didn’t even know what maybe one looked like. And Genesis two further indicates that at this time in the history of the world, it had never even rained. I mean, rain had never happened before. That’s why many scientists today believe that people lived much longer back then because it never rained before. And, you know, they also didn’t have monosodium glutamate as well. I mean, it was just maybe that was it. But the earth, the Bible says, was watered from a do in the morning that came up from the ground. So it never even rings with the entire ecosystem. The atmosphere was completely different to the rain that we’re experiencing today on Memorial Day weekend here in the Poconos. So God gives him specific instructions. To build this boat, this big boat. It was called the ark, which translates the palace, which I kind of think is funny. God gave him, you know, his material list. The boat was to be made from gopher wood. It was to be tarred inside and out. It was to have three levels a lower middle and an upper deck. It was to be 450 feet long. That’s a football field and a half long. It was to be 45 feet high. That’s a four-and-a-half-story building high. It was to be 75 feet wide. That’s the width of a six-lane super highway. If you do the math on this thing, it’s massive. They could have held up to 2500, I’m sorry, 522 railroad boxcars. I mean, it could have hauled 125,000 sheep. That is a lot of sheep doo-doo. I mean, it’s it’s a big boat. And God said I want you and your family to get on this boat and every to kind of every living animal. And I’m going to cleanse the world from all its corruption and violence and depravity and sin. I’m going to do all this with a flood. I’m going to start over, Noah. It’s going to be a clean slate, a new beginning. And all of this is just so stinking crazy. It makes no sense. In fact, in the New Testament, in the Book of Hebrews, it says this.

It was by faith. It was by what, let’s say, together. It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He, let’s say, together, obeyed God. What did he do? He obeyed God. Who warned him about the things that had never happened before? This is why it was so crazy because all this stuff had never happened before. They had no context of rain, of flooding. But notice it says by faith he obeyed. You see, faith and obedience go together like hand in glove. They go together, and just for a minute, would you just imagine, like, what if God showed up in your life this weekend? You wake up tomorrow morning. God says, Hey. I really don’t like how things are going in the world. This pandemic. You know, the crisis in the Middle East and all this other stuff, the injustice, the racism, the division, the sin. I’m tired of it all. So here’s what I want you to do, Steve. Mary, I want you to build, like, a big boat. Like a cruise ship. I want you to get you and your whole family on the boat. And then I’m going to bring two of every kind of living animal onto the boat. And I want to save you. And your entire family. Would you have the guts to believe God? I mean, how crazy would that be? I mean, it’s just nuts if you really think about it; that makes no sense. And what if God would come to you and say, you know, that person that hurt you, betrayed you, lied about you, slandered your name, caused you pain. Broke their promises. Yeah. I want you. To pray for them. I want you to love them. I want you to forgive them. That makes no sense. I mean, what if God would say to you, you know, all that stuff you worry about the job, the business, the money, how you’re going to make the next rent, the mortgage, the diagnosis that you got from the doctor. All that stuff that you worry about, your kids and your grandkids, all that kind of stuff that’s going on. I don’t want you to worry about that. Don’t worry about tomorrow because tomorrow has enough worries itself. But it still makes no sense. I mean, what if God would say to you, Hey, I don’t want you to marry her? I don’t want you to marry him because they don’t share your religious values and your convictions. And I want you to share the most important values of your life with the most important person in your life, and I want you to be on the same page. And you would say, But dang God, he’s so hot. She is so cute. Have you seen her profile? I mean, God, come on. Seriously. And it makes no sense. And when God says to you, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, and you decide to say yes to his grace and forgiveness in your life, to be your forgive her and your friend. And when God says to you, I want you to declare publicly your faith in Jesus Christ through water baptism at the first opportunity you have to do so. That makes no sense. But yet, Noah obeyed God, even though it didn’t make sense. And guess how long it took for him to build this boat? 120 years. That is a stinking long time to build this boat. 120 years.

Now, if I was Noah at about, you know, year 75, you know, I would have been like 575 years old at the time. I’d be like, God, Come on, seriously, I’ve been working on this. Argh, my knees hurt, my hands hurt, my back hurts. You know, there’s not a cloud in the sky, you know? You know what? You know. God, I think I just don’t want to build this stupid boat anymore. I think I’m done. I want to retire. You know, stick a fork in me. I’m done. I’m out of here. I’m sure that had to have gone through his mind at one moment or another. Have you ever noticed that your timing. And God’s timing are not always the same. Have you ever? Not because don’t we just want things now? I mean, after 24 years to Becca, when she says, I’ll be ready in 10 minutes, that means something completely different to her than it means to me. And if you really know us, you’d know the truth that it’s really the other way around. But Noah waited 120 years. I love this quote from Philip Yancey. Listen to this. Faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse. Now, let me read that again. Let me just kind of wash over your face means. Trusting in advance will only make sense. In reverse. Some of you are going through some stuff in your life right now. It makes no sense. I get it. It makes no sense, but faith. It’s trusting in advance. What will only make sense when you look back one day a year from now, five years from now, ten years from now, in those cases, 120 years from now.

And it will one day. Makes sense. So I’m sure going through this process, it wasn’t easy for Noah. I’m sure he had some sleepless nights. I’m sure he had to pop a few Tums. I’m sure it was a struggle, even when God warned him about the things that he just didn’t understand. That had never happened before. He obeyed God. Even when he didn’t understand it. Here’s the second thing he did. Listen to this. You ignore your detractors, and you just keep moving forward. When God asked you to step out in faith, I’m just telling you. You will be criticized. When God asks you to do things that don’t make sense to you or to other people around you, there will be haters. There will be people throwing shade and saying all kinds of nasty stuff about you. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, Wherever else you hang out in your digital space, they’re going to just say things. They are going to criticize you for 120 years. Noah was mocked. He was ridiculed. He was made fun of, you know, his hashtag Noah’s an idiot. It was all over. It went viral. Everybody knew about what was happening. This guy? Yeah. He’s building a boat. He said it’s going to rain, whatever that means. And it’s going to flood, whatever that means. And he said, You better come on board the boat, whatever that means. He’s lost his mind. Rain, what is he? We live in a desert. We have never seen a cloud. It was blue sky. Every single day it was sunshine. I mean, it was, you know, tank tops, suns out, guns out. Let’s go. Every single day it had never rained. And he was ridiculed, and he was made fun of. He was the laughingstock of the world. Friends, I’m just telling you whenever you step out in faith to trust God and obey the voice of God in your life, it’s not going to make sense to other people, and you will catch flak for it. In fact, I would tell you, if you are not catching flak for your version of Christianity, you got the wrong version of Christianity that we are to be called out, that we are to be different. We don’t swim in the stream of contemporary culture. No, we swim upstream. There should be something different and noticeable. I’m not talking about, you know, you’re not like a jerk. You’re not, like, condemning people. But I’m talking about there should be a joy inside of you when you’re going through hell, and your whole world is falling apart. When your heart has been broken. When there are times in your life that you think you will never recover from, but yet you have this abiding peace, you have this joy, and your friends look at you and like this makes no sense. There’s something about him. There’s something about her. When I watch them go through this, there is. I don’t know what it is, but we know what it is. Jesus, Come on. It’s Jesus. It’s Jesus. And it’s his spirit. And it’s his message. But there should be something about you when everybody else cheats on their sales reports, and they pad the numbers, and you refuse to play that game. Yes, that you choose to walk in character and integrity, and instead of going where everybody else goes and looks at what everybody else looks at and spends their money, and whatever else spends her money on that, there’s something different inside of you. And just what a sweet spirit. Like, not with like, I’m better than you. I’m holier than you. No, I’m just. I’m just trying to run the race that God has put before me. I’m not here to judge you. I’m here to love you because this is just a better way to live. This is a better way to go through life. And there’s going to be haters, and there’s going to be people that just don’t understand. I mean, there are a large number of people who are part of this church that give a very large percentage of their household income. To fund this local church that is pushing back the powers of darkness in the Poconos so that the power of Jesus and his name could be made known. And our accountants listen. Our accountants think we’re nuts. If your accountant has never looked at your tax return and seen how much money the percentage that you give away and never said, are you sure this is really what you want to do? If your accountant has never said that to you, I would go back and look at it. What you’re giving is. Because if you do it God’s way, it should make the accountant raise their little eyebrow and say, We hope nobody gives that much to charity. There must be something wrong.

There’s a large number of people in this church that give up a week of their vacation every year to go serve in an orphanage in Guatemala or in Haiti. These people that we support around the world, there’s there are large people that do that. And to our friends are like, wait, wait. You get two weeks of vacation, you’re going to use one of them. You’re going to pay for this out of your own money. You’re going to use your vacation time to go do this, and you’re going to sleep on the floor of some, you know, an orphanage in a third world. And that’s what you’re going to do with your week. Yeah, they think that’s nuts. There’s a large number of us that show up at this church every Sunday morning, even when it’s raining. Every Sunday morning when the rain is falling on, the sleet is falling when it’s so we’re like the mailman around here, man. We just show up, and we serve. We serve in the parking lot. We serve kids we serve in, you know, hospitality, first impressions. We serve and worship, and we just serve. And our friends think, wait, you get two days off a week, and you’re going to use one of those days to go to church on Sunday to serve, not just to sit around and have other people serve you so that you can serve other people and not get paid for it. You’re nuts. Listen, when you obey God, and you step out in faith, there are going to be people that are going to just criticize. And that’s okay. To me, that means you’re doing something right. Right. I mean, I think your neighbors know where you are today instead of, you know, trying to do a barbecue. They know they watched you pull out of your driveway this morning and go to church. And I just know there’s times I mean, Noah had three sons, Shyam, him, and Japheth, the three boys from which all cultures now. Have descended. It’s a really interesting study. You ought to do it sometime. They were all three different colors. One was white. One was black. And one was mulatto. And how did they have three different colored children? Because Mr. and Mrs. Noah was an interracial couple at how and all the races of the earth. Came from them. And I’m sure when these three boys are up there working on that boat, there had to become a time where they would whisper like, I think Dad’s lost it. He’s blowing our whole inheritance on this stinking boat. I think he’s got early signs of dementia. We should have him checked out. We need to have him look. I mean, I’m just telling you these words of detraction. They could come from everywhere. But if you’re going to be an underdog type of person and Noah type of person, you have to ignore the detractors and keep moving forward.

Have you ever heard the story about the grandfather and his grandson? They were going into town. He had a donkey, so he set his grandson on the donkey, and they started going into town not too long, and they ran to a group of people, and they started. Look at this kid. What a jerk. This kid is making this old man walk by. He rides on the back of a donkey. Well, they heard this. So the grandfather gets his grandson off the donkey, and he gets on the donkey. They walk on down the road a little further, and another group of people come. Look at this. Look at this old man. What kind of guy is he making his grandson walk? This little kid walks in the sun while he rides on top of the donkey. Well, they heard that criticism. So he got the off the donkey and. And they’re walking. Just together next to the donkey, and ran up to another group of people, and they looked at them and said, Look at these idiots. They got a perfectly good donkey there, and neither of them is riding on it. So then they both got on the donkey, and they come along down the road, and another group of us said, Look at these guys, how they’re abusing this poor donkey. Who do they think they are? Well, the last time that grandfather and this son we’re seen or ever heard of, they were carrying the donkey down the road. Hashtag dumb preacher joke. But the point is, no matter what you do, somebody is going to criticize you for it. And aren’t you glad? Hey, come on. We have not been called to live to please this world. We have been called to. Please. Ah. I care more about what God thinks than what they think. I care about more about what God says than what the haters say. I want to live to hear my father in heaven say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant who’s with me. Well done. So listen, you can expect some criticism. What do you do when God asks you to do something that looks crazy? Well, underdogs obey God even when you don’t understand it. Underdogs. You ignore detractors, and you keep moving forward. And third, and finally, you maximize opportunities while doors are open. You seize the day. You maximize the opportunity while the door. It’s still open. And after all the work, after all the doubt, after 100 years, 20 years of criticism.

Genesis 7:1 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

You know that word go in Hebrew literally translates. Come. When everything was ready, God said to Noah, He extends this gracious invitation. Come. Everything’s ready. Come. The door is open. Coming to a place of safety. The door is open. Coming to a place of security. The door is open. I provided a path for your salvation. Come. Everything is ready. And for 120 years, God extended this gracious invitation not only to Noah but to everyone for 120 years. God said come. I’ve made away. Come. I want to save you. Come. I love how it says and him and his entire family. They went into the book. I love that. You know, in the New Testament, we read about, you know, entire families coming to faith in Jesus Christ, making a decision to follow him. Chapter 16 The Philippians jailer, he believed, and he and his entire family were baptized together the moment they believed. Even though it was in the middle of the night. Often here, it’s not uncommon to see entire families be baptized together. And God says to Noah, Come, Noah, you and the entire family. While the door is still open, while there’s still opportunity come. You know, I once heard a sermon. It was entitled Come. It was based off this word, which actually is go in English. But Hebrews come. That word come is used over 1100 times in the Old Testament alone. That’s. That’s God. He’s just inviting. Made a way come. I love you. You know, Jesus said in the Book of Release Revelation. Anyone who is thirsty. Come. Now, that gracious invitation, it was extended to the entire world for 120 years, but no one responded. Not a single person other than Noah and his immediate family for 120 years. You know, I’ve often wondered what it would be like to preach for 20 years and have no one respond to an invitation. But then, miraculously, God brings all of the animals to by to onto the boat. And then Noah and his family, eight of them in all. Noah and his wife, his three boys, and their wives. Eight of them in all. They get onto the boat. And the door was shut behind them. You know what happened on the first day. Nothing. Didn’t rain a drop. Second day. No rain. Third day, no rain. They continued to ridicule them. Make fun of them. Post on Instagram with them on the board and the door being shut. I mean, they just continue the day for no rain, day five, rink, day six around evening. After no rain, all of a sudden, for the first time, they looked up to the sky, and they saw what they’d never seen before. Clouds began to gather, and the world became dark for the first time. The wind began to pick up and blow, and leaves were. Beginning to blow violently in this breeze they had not felt before. And then, around midnight, for the first time, they heard the thunder rolls. They saw the lightning shafts of light crackling, and the fear gripped their heart. And it began. To bring. Clamored at. The door. Open up. But, my friend, it was too late. The door. Shot by morning. It rained all night. The water was ankle high. By the next morning, it was waist-deep. By the next day, the flood waters, after 40 days of raining, lifted that boat up off the ground. The entire world went eerily silent. You know, if Noah could stand here and share this account from his, you know. First account. Experience, I think, when no one would talk about the. I think it would bring tears to his eyes because this was real. It was wrong. People died. His friends died. His extended family members died. Cousins, friends that we’ve known as all life, neighbors. This was wrong. This was real. A million people perished. I think Noah would say. How to maximize the opportunity for the door. It’s still open because the reality, my friend, is eventually for every single. One of us, that door will be shut.

In the New Testament, Jesus, He compares the story of Noah. This is Jesus. He compares the story of Noah to his second coming. And just so we’re clear, you’re hearing from a guy that believes in the literal second coming of Jesus Christ. He’s coming back just like he said he would. He will return. There will come a day when the skies above us will be split wide open. And the arc trumpet of the age of the Lord shall sound, and Jesus shall return just the way He left. And Jesus uses the story of Noah to explain this and to offer a warning to all who would hear it. And here’s what Jesus said. Jesus said this in.

Luke 17:26  “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. 27 In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Jesus is like, Gang, listen, I’m coming back. So make sure you seize the opportunity to walk through the open door while you still have the chance. God says to you, Come. He offers you an invitation. Are you weary? Are you heavy laden? Come. Are you tired of being in the spin cycle of sin, struggling with the same destructive cycles in your life? He says, Come. Are you thirsty? Come. Are you hungry? Come. Taste and see that the Lord. He is good. He extends to you an invitation. Today I believe God is looking for people right here, right now, in this room on the other side of that camera. They would put their faith in Jesus Christ and turn from their past mistakes and all of their pain, and even in their success, that has come with an emptiness because success. Never delivers on what it promises. And I believe God is looking for people today who would walk through that door of opportunity, walk through that door of grace while it’s still open. I believe that God is looking for people who will obey him even when it doesn’t make sense. He’ll keep moving forward, even despite the detractors in their way that God was looking for people who will maximize the opportunities while the doors are open. And for some of you, that opportunity today is to put your faith in Jesus Christ, to say yes to Jesus, to say yes to his grace, say yes to his love for you. He’s not against you. Say yes to his is peace in your life. And then you declare your faith by being water baptized today, you know. Peter, who followed Jesus, was the pillar of the New Testament church. He compared baptism, water, baptism to Noah’s story. Listen to what he says. He says this God waited patiently. 120 years in the days of Noah while the ark was being built in it. Only a few people, eight in all, were saved through the water. They were saved through. Listen through the water. How did they see through the water? This water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also, not the removal of dirt from your body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you the water, saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet your faith in Jesus Christ that he’s the son of God died in three days later. He rose from the dead. He resurrected from that. That’s what saves you. The very water that destroyed the earth was the very water that lifted the ark and saved all that was inside. This is a beautiful picture. It’s amazing how the Holy Spirit gave that to Peter. And he wrote it down to remind us the importance of baptism. So if you think about it. Jesus is offering you today an opportunity. To walk through the open door. The baptism. It symbolizes the death and burial of Jesus Christ as you’re lowered into the water. You’re saying I’m dead to my old life. I’m dead to old habits, dead to that nasty, messed up, destructive thought patterns. That has stolen so much joy from my life. What I think about myself and that old identity is that I’m worthless. Saying I’m dead to all that. And as you come up out of just like Jesus died and then she came up out of the grave, you come up out of that watery, symbolic grave putting you in Christ. The old is gone. Behold, all things become new. Because whoever finds Jesus finds life, and he offers you life today, offers you life today.

So before we close, I want to tell you a story about a couple of friends. I got their picture here. These are my friends London. And her brother. Lane. London kind of stumbled into this church back in 2016. Quite honestly, and she’d tell you her life was kind of a mess, just like so many of us when we stumbled through those doors. She became close friends with my wife, Becca. Started to encourage her and. Disciple her, told her about Jesus. And one day, London decided to accept Jesus as their savior, and I had the honor of baptizing her. Well, London finding this new freedom and this new love. It changed her life. She had to tell her brother Lane. About Jesus. So then Lane comes to church with her one day. This guy could light up a room. I mean, he is the center of the party. I mean, he’s wonderful. I mean, just the life and love in this guy. And he came, you know, kind of just full of questions, full of doubt. Full of just. He was not following Jesus wasn’t like a church guy. He got plugged into a small group here, and I was talking to the small group leader last night on the phone, and we were just talking about Lean and how he would just come every week with a list of questions. And they just loved and accepted Lane and all the questions he had, all the doubts, and all the fears. But one day. Lane found the answer, and he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He became a follower of Jesus. But that wasn’t enough for Lane. He started to tell all his friends. He started his family. Lane brought his mom, Tina, to church. She found faith. She committed to becoming a follower of Jesus. And I had the privilege of baptizing Lane and his mother on the same day. I want to show you that baptism.

 A few days ago. Lane was in a fatal car accident. He’s only 30 years old. And family called me and. Ask me to come and do the funeral. Of course, I said yes. And so two nights ago, Becca and I went down to the Bangor funeral home, and hundreds of people showed up. They love Lane. And lane loved them, and he celebrated his life together. Many of them are actually here today. Thank you for coming. We Love you. And we’ve been praying for you as a church and. That was a tough one. Life seems to be taken so short. Only 30 years old, but I take solace in this. That I was able to say with great assurance and confidence. Lane made the best decision of his life. And he walked through the door of opportunity. When he still had the chance. In fact, the family wrote me this beautiful little note, this said pastor dave, I. I don’t think that I can ever express how much it means to my family that you were with us on the hardest day of our lives. Lane was lost when he came to Community Church. He listened to you preach. You helped change his life. You helped bring him to faith. That is the only thing that can bring us comfort in our pain. Thank you for speaking today. It was incredibly special to us all. I want you to know, as followers of Jesus, it’s hard. Say goodbye, and we grieve. But we don’t grieve like the rest of the world has no hope. We have the hope of heaven. And we will see Lane again. And all of those that our friends and loved ones that I think of, my friend right here who lost his father this week. And we have the hope of heaven today. But you have to walk through the door of opportunity. If Lane could be here today. A 30-year-old guy lost his life tragically. He would say to you. Don’t wait. Don’t delay. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. Life is fragile. It’s here. One moment, it’s gone. The next. Say yes today. Today is the day of salvation. The Bible says Say yes today.

So what’s to prevent you from saying yes to Jesus today to walk through this door of opportunity to be water baptized? We’re set up. We have everything you need. And some of you still don’t believe me. I’m serious. I didn’t come prepared. It’s okay. It’s. We got clothes, we got towels, hair dryers, we got undergarments, we got flip flops, we got t-shirts, we got everything you stinkin’ need. We got you covered, baby. We got you covered. Well, I haven’t had a baptism class yet. And I would say. You just had one. This is your class right here, you would say. Well, I came with some friends today, and I don’t want to make them wait around. Listen. You came with friends day from community church that will wait around as long as you want. And they will celebrate their faces off for you. If you stand and make a decision to accept Christ or somebody, you’re thinking, what? Quite honestly, pastor, I’m having a really good hair day. You know, it’s just, you know, it’s kind of curly. All the moisture, it’s really good. I don’t want to mess it up. Well, come on. That’s just pride talking. Why was it planning on doing this today? Well, God had it circled on his calendar for you. He planned it. You might not have. What about COVID? Is it safe? Yes, it’s safe. There’s no science that suggests that you can get covid through water. Otherwise, Kalahari will be closed down or will be closed down. We’d have COVID all over the mountain. Meanwhile, they’re packed, so it’s safe. It’s sanitized. What about my kids? You know what? Listen? I checked with the team. They said you can come pick them up next week. It’s okay. And well, you know, you might say I’m just visiting today, and I’m not sure I want to become a member of this church. To which I would say, well, we’re not sure we want you to become a member of this church. Quite frankly. In all seriousness, we are not baptizing you into this church. We’re baptizing you into Jesus Christ. His resurrection and his family. You might say, Well, I really want my family to be here. To which I say, when you’re real family, your real family that’s going to last forever is your spiritual family. Your spiritual family will outlast your earthly family. So your real family’s here. But we’re going to have photographers back here. We’re going to capture this moment. You can share it with them a thousand times. And most importantly, your Heavenly father is here. And he’s going to be looking down over the balcony of heaven just as he looked down over his own son’s baptism. And he’s going to say, There’s my girl, there’s my son, there’s my boy in whom I am well pleased. Good job. Good job. So we’re all prepared today, and we got our little Jesus Jacuzzi. It’s all set up nice and warm. It’s clean right there in the lobby.

In just a moment, I’m going to count to three. And if you want to stand today in honor of the one who hung on the cross for. And then rose from the dead three days later. And declare your faith in him and be publicly water baptized today. I want to give you the opportunity to do that. Have your sins forgiven. There’s no reason you should leave this place today without hope. Because there’s hope in Jesus. There’s no reason you should leave this place today feeling defeated because Jesus rose from the dead, and he defeated hell in the grave. There’s no reason you should walk out of this place today without the assurance of your salvation. Because Jesus died. But three days later, he rose from the dead for you. And if you came here today already planning to be baptized. When I count to three, I want you to stand too. But if you didn’t come here today, planning to be baptized. I get it. This seems crazy. But if I’m going to be out of my mind, I want to be out of my mind for Jesus. And I know I’m asking you to do something that, on paper, it, makes no sense. But to your Heavenly Father, this day makes perfect sense. I’m looking for some men in here. Some men like Lane that would be willing to be just a little bit bold looking for some men in here. Grab their wife’s hand. Your son’s hand. A daughter’s hand. You know why? Rest for me and my house. We’re going to serve the Lord. God is looking for some women in here. That had been hurt, that’d been abandoned, been abused. And he just said, Come. I’ve got a whole family here. It’s going to love you and accept you. Hope you find healing and grace. Looking for some young people in here. What if people find out at school? I got baptized. Some of you think, what if people at work find out. I got baptized. So what? I know it’s not popular to follow Jesus today, but I’m not going to live my life to please people. I’m going to live my life to please my Heavenly father. So I’m going to count to three, and on three, I’m going to ask you if you want to stand today, declare your faith in Jesus, and be baptized. Pray that you take that step. It’s the most important step, the most important decision you ever make in your life. So one. To obey God. Oh, bless her heart. She’s just.

Oh. All right, Ready? We’re only on one. Even if you don’t understand it, you’re going to obey God. Two. You’re not going to care what anybody else thinks or says. And. Three. You’re going to maximize the opportunity. You’re going to walk through, come on, all right. Come on. Oh, come on. Look. All right. I wasn’t planning on baptizing personally today, but I got some work to do. So if you’re going to hang out, wait for me. Some of my best friends in the world just said yes to this, and some of my. He loved you so much. Can I just pray for you? And even if you didn’t stand yet, even when we pray to stand up. Come on, let’s do this. What are you waiting for? Come on. There you go. There you go. There you go. Come on. There you go. Come on. Keep standing. You want to do this? Let’s do this. Let’s get it done. Come on. Come on. There we go. Come on, bro. I see you. Come on. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Here we go. Dang. We’re going to have to push off the barbecue for a few minutes. All right, But let me pray. Here we go. Ready? Thank you, Jesus, for these people that are standing here today. They’ve expressed no like faith, and they’ve walked through this door of opportunity today. I know it seems crazy, but today they stand in honor of you that hung on the cross for them, in their sin and shame. And they stand, and they say yes to you, yes to your grace, yes to your forgiveness. Yes. To the hope of heaven. Yes. To see their loved ones who died. And faith in Christ again. Yes. To the strength that you’re going to give to them to walk through the rest of their life. We rejoice today. We celebrate with the angels in heaven today. We celebrate with them today. We now call them brothers and sisters in Christ. And we pray all these things in Jesus’s precious name. And for his sake, a man and a man. And a man. Come on, let’s celebrate them. What? Come on. Come on, George. We can do better than these two. Come on. Come on.

Angels in heaven rejoice when one that is lost. Is that found? Come on. This is amazing. All right. All right. All right. Okay. Okay. Here’s what we want to do. Everybody is not getting baptized sit down; everybody else stay standing here instead. We all saw you. We’re going to see you get wet here in a minute. Can we open the doors in the back? And as these guys go back, the team’s going to direct you. You know, what about my wallet, my stuff? It’s okay. We got security to carry guns. Your stuff is safe. They don’t carry guns. Your stuff will be safe. We got people that watch it. So as they walk out. Come on, Church. Let’s just celebrate our faces off one more time. Come on. Go ahead. Right out and walk out of the back. All of you. Come on. Come on. It’s a big day. It’s a big walk to pick up. Come on, Come on, come on. Keep it going for. Come on. It’s a big one. All of heaven rejoices today. All of the angels. Rejoice. Be. Come on. They’re still going. Say yes to Jesus. Come on, Keep it going for keep it going. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like over 50 people that just responded, Come on, can we one more time? Give him praise. Come on. He is good. All right, Here’s what I want you to do because I want you to do real quick. All right. All right. We’re going to bring it out. Here’s what I want you to do. I know you’ve got plans. I’m just saying, maybe just push them off for another 10 minutes because this is what we live for around here. This is what this is all about. And so people just made the biggest decision in their life. They’ve literally gone from death to life. When you walk through that door, it’s a walk from death to life. It’s going to seal the deal. They’re going to go to heaven. That’s amazing. So I want us all. We got cake, we got drinks, whatever. I want us to get ten deep around that tank. And I want you. If your friend came with. Just push your way up to the front, and you videotape them, and you take their picture. We got a photographer out there. And every time somebody comes up out of that water, I want you to scream your face off. I want you to clap. I want you to cheer. I want a little golf PGA clap. I want Brooklyn, Queens. Puerto Rican. African-American. Crazy white guy. Clap and scream and shout. And let’s celebrate our faces off. I cannot think of a better way to spend Memorial Day weekend than when we’re about ready to do. I got to go find some shorts. I got to go find a shirt because a bunch of my friends just got saved. I’ve been praying for years on this. This is a special moment. So I’ll see you out there. God bless you. Come back next week. I’ll see you next week.