- Thank you. It is great to be back, appreciate that. It's great to be back at Highlands Fellowship, man, it's been a long time. This is a crazy world we live in now, with this COVID stuff, and it is great to be back at Highlands. Those of you that don't know me, my name is Ronnie. I have a wife named Jennifer, son named Jake. And we've been coming here forever, so Highlands Fellowship is like a second home to me, and y'all are family. So it is good to be back and be with you. I wanna thank everybody that's watching on a TV, and online, and all of our other campuses, how y'all doing? And, good to be here. And speaking of family though, my mom and my dad celebrated last weekend their 50th anniversary, 50 years. It's amazing. It blows my mind. And I was looking, you know, at their pictures online, on Facebook and Instagram and stuff, and it was weird because last weekend, I mean, there were a ton of people that got married the same weekend. Not 50 years ago, but like, I mean, there was 10 year anniversary, 12, 15, 20 year. And I'm like, man, what's the deal about the last weekend of July? I don't know what is going on with that, but I noticed when I was looking at all these different pictures of these wedding pictures, the bride always looked good. Not so much on the groom. I mean, now, 'cause here's the deal, the wedding thing, it's all about the bride. It's not about the groom. 'Cause I mean, there was some of those pictures, the groom, you know, pictures, his eyes are halfway closed, he's on a blink or something, you know, got one eye closed, one eye open. It didn't matter though. It didn't matter what the groom looked like, because it's about the bride. I mean, some of them like, would, you know, might even have leftover cake on their jacket or something. Nobody cares, 'cause the bride, she looked good in that picture, so they're taking it, they're keeping it, you know. But some of y'all thinking, no, it's a mutual thing, it's the bride and groom. No, it's not. This whole wedding thing, from the time the guy puts the ring on her finger, it's all about the bride, always has been. And for those of you ladies that are trying to disagree, no, just hang on. Hear me out. I've got, I can prove it. I can back it up, case in point. You think about this. When you get engaged, you start throwing all these parties and stuff, right? These showers or whatever. So, they say the presents are for the bride and groom, but they're not. 'Cause I mean, think about this, we don't want China. We don't care about China. You wanna give us some plates, give us 1,000 paper plates, so when it's our turn to do the dishes, we don't have to do 'em, we can just roll up, throw 'em away. That's what we want. You know, give us some power tools, but we don't get, with China, lace, stuff like that, we don't want that. I'll tell you another case in point, proves my point it's all about the bride. At the wedding, the wedding, bride's cake, seven foot tall, always, huge tiers, layers, and stuff like that. Not the guy's cake. Guy's cake stuck over in the corner somewhere, it's one layer, somebody picked it up at Food City on the way to thee. But it's always like that, and little Johnny's playing in it, digging in it. Nobody cares, it's cause it's the groom's cake. I tell you another case in point. Think about this, the big point, the big deal for the whole wedding, the ring, right? So guys, if we're gonna get our bride her ring, I don't know what the deal is now, it's like a two or three months salary, This is set, who set that by the way, I don't know who set, and it keeps like jacking up, I don't know, like, you know, two, three, four, I don't know. We gotta spend three months working, nonstop, to pay for this ring. Right? And if we, and if we don't get a good one, if it's not three months salary, you know, people looking at her ring, like, she could've done better, you know? But now, our ring? What, what, she can pick up a shift at Chick-fil-A to pay for our ring. My pleasure. Right? So, but it's like that all the time. So don't, you know, don't act like, oh no, it's for both, 'cause it's not. But now think about this. Ladies, your special day, at the altar, you flown in all your family from all over the country. They're here, this is your day. And so what if, at the wedding, at the altar, the pastor gets up there and he says, looks at the groom and says, "May I have the ring, please?" What if the groom said, "Pastor, skip that." "No, there's no time for a groom joke. "I, I need the ring. "I've gotta talk about unending, love, purity, "all that, give me the ring." "Pastor, "It's not about the ring. "It's about our love for each other." Ladies, how many of y'all would be honest enough to say, by a show of hands, that if your groom did that to you on your special day, that you have dreamed about since you were a little girl, how many of you would be honest enough to say, by a show of hands, that you would go Bridezilla all over his head, right there at the altar? Go ahead, raise it. If you're not raising your hand, you're a liar and you're going to hell, right? You know you would, you would. Men, let me ask you a question. What if you spent three months working for that ring, took her to a romantic place. You go down on your knee to ask her, "Will you marry me," what is she said this, "Mm, I like the ring, I'm gonna keep it. "It's pretty." It's pretty 'cause she picked it out. "It's pretty, but, I'm gonna keep dating other people too." Watch, ladies, y'all wanna see honesty, since y'all weren't honest enough in the first question? Men, how many of you, if your bride to be did that to you, would take that ring and chuck it in a lake? No, no, no, you would take it back, hawk it, get your money back. How many of you men? Raise your hand, men. Come on, raise it, you know. You know what I'm talking about. See ladies, that's honesty. That's what I'm talking about right there. See, that, but we would do that, right? Now, why would we, why would we feel that way? Why would we wanna do that? Because here's the deal. We feel like that they were embarrassed of us, or not proud of us, right? So, if you don't want anybody doing that to you, why do you feel like you can do that to Jesus? See, cause here's the deal. Baptism is the wedding ring of the Christian life. And just like we go in front of everybody and our friends and family and let everybody know who we're marrying, and then, and we put a ring on to say, "This is who I'm marrying, "I'm committing my life to this person "for the rest of my life." How much more should we let everybody know that we're a follower of Jesus Christ and put that wedding ring of the Christian life on by following through and being scripturally baptized to say, "I am a follower of Jesus Christ"? So here's what we're gonna do today. There's gonna be a ton of people, at all of our locations, all of our campuses, there's gonna be those of you who are watching TV, you're gonna get your family up, you're gonna come down here, and you're gonna follow through and be scripturally baptized today. Can I get a amen on that? All right. So here's what we're gonna do though. I know that we have a lotta people viewing from all over, you know, the area, different churches, different denominations, some of you have different backgrounds, and you say, "Well, how, I get confused "about what does this church believe, "well, this part of church says that." I don't care what denominations say, I don't care What other churches say. We're not talking about that today. I'm not talking about a denomination. We're talking about a relationship with Jesus Christ, and we're gonna base it on what the Bible says. So, I want you to get your Bible, turn with me to Romans 6:3, and we're gonna see what the Bible says. Now, there are gonna be a lot of people from different denominations, probably I'll end up hacking everybody up before this thing's over with, but we're gonna go with what the Bible says, and not what anybody's opinion is, mot what my opinion is, but what's the Bible say. I've based my whole life on what the Bible says, and God's always been faithful and true to me, and He'll do the same thing for you. So Romans 6:3, if you wanna stand on a reading of God's word, you can do that. The Bible says this, in Romans 6:3, the Bible says this. "Or don't you know that all of us who are baptized "into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death. "We were therefore buried with Him "through baptism into death "in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead "through the glory, through the glory of the Father, "we too may live a new life." Let's pray. Father, we ask that you bless and anoint your word today and you speak to hearts and change lives forever. Thank you God for saving us, loving us, dying on the cross for us, and we love you and celebrate you today. In Jesus's name we pray, amen. We're gonna be real simple on this thing, and we're gonna cut to the chase. So the first thing that we're gonna answer is, 'cause everybody's confused about this, is what is baptism? What's this thing all about? I mean, people talk about it, people do it at different times, different ages, and all that stuff, what is baptism? Well, Romans 6:3, when you see, where it says in verse three, don't you know that all of us who are baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death. Now, the Greek word for baptized there is baptizo. Now, that is the original language, baptizo. So what does that mean? The word literally means to immerse. So everybody in the Bible, in the New Testament that was baptized, they were immersed. You say, why were they baptized that way? What's wrong with sprinkling or splashing or whatever? What's the big deal about that? 'Cause here's what everybody in the new church, in the new Testament, understood, what it meant in the new church, here's what that meant. When you're baptized, when you go underwater, it's a symbol, your old person, your old nature, your sin, it's buried. Just like Jesus, when He died on the cross, they took Him down from the cross, they buried Him in a grave. So our old sin, nature, junk, buried. When we come up out of the water, it's a symbol we're a new person in Christ, just like Jesus when He rose from the dead. So that's what that whole symbol is. When we go underwater, we're symbolizing Jesus's death, our death. When we come up out of the water, it's a symbol we're a new person in Christ, just like Jesus rose from the dead. So, so here's the, here's the deal. Basically, baptism is an outward expression of an inward change. So we are getting baptized to identify with Jesus. So our old junk stuff, it's buried, we come up out of the water, we're a new person in Christ. That's what the symbolism meant, and that's what the New Testament Christians, why they were doing that, 'cause they understood, they were buried in water, it was an expression. Now, here's the deal. I wanna be very clear about this, okay? I don't want anybody to misunderstand this. The Bible does not teach that baptism saves you, okay? Just like when I was using the express, the illustration earlier about my wedding ring, and my wife, and getting married to her. This ring, when I put this ring on, it didn't make me magically love my wife at the altar. I already loved my wife, from the very beginning. That, it didn't make me love her. It was just a symbol, letting everybody else know that I've committed my life to her. That's the same when it's with baptism. Baptism doesn't save you, It just lets everybody know you've been saved. It's a symbol, letting everybody know that. 'Cause I'm gonna tell you something, if baptism will save you, I'll tell you what I'd do. Instead of us talking about this for 30 minutes, I can get a water hose out and just hose every one of y'all. Y'all people in the back, y'all be sprinkled, y'all be Methodist. I'd just make sure everybody's gonna go to heaven. But baptism doesn't save you. It's just a symbol letting everybody else know that you're a follower of Jesus Christ, just like a wedding ring is a symbol of your love and your commitment to your spouse. Now, so that's what baptism is. You say, "Okay, Ronnie, "I get that, what it is. "But Ronnie, I don't get it, why I should do it. "What's the big deal? "Why should I be baptized?" Well, let's look at three things real quick, why we should be baptized. First of all, Jesus was baptized as an example and to identify with us. Look with me in Matthew 3:13, the Bible says this. "Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan "to be baptized by John. "But John tried to deter him saying, "'Whoa, I don't need to be baptized by you, "'and do you come to me?' "Jesus replied, 'Let it be so now, "'for it is proper for us to do this "'to fulfill all righteousness.'" So then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, by the way, the Greek word, baptizo, Jesus was immersed. As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment, heaven was opened and He saw the spirit of God, descending like a dove on Him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love. "With Him, I am well pleased." Now let me ask you a question. Did Jesus need to get baptized to get forgiveness of sin? No, right, church? Jesus didn't need to get baptized to get forgiveness of sin. So why was Jesus baptized? Jesus was baptized to set the example for us and to identify with us, just like the prophets of old, like Daniel, and Nehemiah, and Moses, and Ezra. The nation of Israel had sinned and rebelled against God, and they confessed sin on behalf of the nation of Israel. Jesus had never sinned. Jesus was just sitting there identifying and setting the example for us on what we're to do. That's the first reason. Second reason we need to be baptized is because Jesus commands us to be baptized. In Matthew 28:18, the Bible says, "Then Jesus came to them and said, "'All authority in heaven on earth has been given to Me. "'Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, "'baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son "'and of the Holy Spirit.'" Jesus commands us to be baptized. But the third reason we need to be baptized is because the Bible commands us to be baptized. In Acts 2:37 and 38, "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart, "and they said to Peter and the other apostles, "'Brothers, what shall we do?' "Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized.'" By the way, once again, Greek word, baptizo, immerse, "'Repent and be baptized, "'every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ "'for the forgiveness of your sins, "'and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'" Do you want me to break it down for you? Just basic, simple, what baptism's all about? You know what it's about? It's just a matter of obedience. It's a matter of obedience. The Bible commands us, Jesus commands us, He set the example for us, and we're to follow through and be scripturally baptized. That's what the Bible teaches. It's just a matter of obedience. Let me ask you a question, though. Here's the deal. If you won't obey Jesus, in the very first step, once you give your life to Christ, you are to follow through, the next step is to follow through and be scripturally baptized. If you won't obey Him there, how are you gonna obey Him the rest of your Christian walk? How are you gonna be a faithful Sunday school teacher, deacon, worship leader? I can't tell you how many worship leaders I've seen follow through and be scripturally baptized, choir members, faithful Sunday school, deacon, I've seen all kinds. Now, it's a matter of obedience, and it starts right there with scriptural baptism. And so, cause here's the thing, there's a lot of you, that you're dealing with doubt on whether you're saved or not, and you're back and forth, because you never been scripturally baptized since you've been saved. And that's gonna continue, you're gonna continue that struggle in your life and your walk because you've never obeyed since you've given your life to Christ, you never followed through and been scripturally baptized. Settle that today, take care of that so you don't have to continue struggling with that. And I'mma tell you what, when you do, God will bless your obedience. You, I'm gonna show ya, I was preaching in California, and there was a lady, I'll never forget this, she was sitting on the second row, on my right-hand side. She was a counselor in the revival, and she had a counselor's badge on, her Bible, everything. We stood up, had the invitation. As soon as we had the invitation, she put her Bible down, took her badge off and set it in her seat. She walked right to the pastor. She said, "Pastor, my baptism is out of order." She said, "I was baptized first as a kid, "later on in life, I gave my life to Christ, "and since I've been saved, "I ain't been scripturally baptized, "and I need to follow through and obey God." As soon as she did that, her 16 year old son that she had been praying for for years to be saved followed right behind his mom, and he gave his life to Christ. God blessed that mother's obedience, and God will bless your obedience as well today when you obey Him. You say, "Okay, Ronnie, I get it. "I understand what it is. "I understand why I'm supposed to do it. "But Ronnie, what I'm totally confused about "is this thing about when, "what you just got through talking about. "I mean, you know, one church says we need to do it this, "when I'm a baby, another church says when you're, "a certain age, when I'm a teenager. "I don't understand, when do I'm, "am I supposed to be baptized?" Okay, two things about when you're baptized, and then we're gonna get on with being baptized, okay? Two things. All right, you ready? First of all, you're baptized after you give your life to Christ, not before. And some of you've got the cart before the horse. Some of you were baptized, like I said about that other lady, she was baptized first as a baby, or a kid, then later on in life, you gave your life to Christ, and since you've been saved, you haven't been scripturally baptized. You say, "Oh, no, I've been baptized before." No, you got wet at church before. You can not be scripturally baptized 'til you're saved to begin with. You say, "Well, prove that in the Bible." Okay, I told you, we gotta, I can prove a lotta things. What we're gonna do is, I'm just gonna hit a couple of scriptures, and then we're gonna keep on, but here's, you want two? Here's two real quick, Acts 8:13. "Simon believed, then he was baptized." It wasn't the other way around. He didn't get baptized then believe, he believed, then he was baptized. You want another one? Acts 10:47 and 48, Bible says this, "Surely no one could stand in the way "of their being baptized, with water. "They've received the Holy Spirit just as we have." So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. So they were, they believed, received the Holy Spirit, then they were baptized, not the other way around. And there's a lot of you who need to do that. Some, hey, my wife was the same way. My wife, when she was 10 years old, she was living in Florida. She woke up one morning, her mom says, "Honey, we need to go baptize you "and your baby brother today at church." She's like, "Okay." They went to church, baptized her baby brother, baptized her. She grew up her whole life thinking because she was a good girl, and because she was baptized, that was gonna get her to heaven. It wasn't 'til my wife was 26 years of age that she realized the only way her sins could be forgiven was because Jesus Christ died on the cross for her sins, was buried and rose again, and that she had to repent of her sins and believe in Jesus, and she could be saved. So at 26, she did that, her life was changed. As soon as she did that, she went, and she followed through and she was scripturally baptized. You're saying, "But wait, what? "Wasn't that a slam on her mom?" No, that was not a slam on her mom. I'm sure that that was special with her mom, and I'm sure that that was meaningful with her mom, but it was not scriptural. And my wife knew it was more important to obey what God's word says than to worry about what her mom or anybody else said. And she was baptized. Guess who came to her baptism? Her mom. Listen, it's after you give your life to Christ. It's not before. Second thing, about when you're baptized. And once again, folks, we're going off what the Bible says, not what anybody else, denomination, church. What does the Bible say? All right, this is gonna freak some of y'all out, so y'all need to take a deep breath. Just go ahead, wherever you're at. Take a deep breath and just chill, okay? Here it is, you ready? Especially some of you Baptists, y'all gonna really get freaked out about this one. Are you ready? Okay. Second thing on when you're baptized, it's immediate. Calm down, take a breath, I know. I know, just, it's immediate. We get in this habit, we think we gotta go six weeks, six months before somebody gets, you know, can get baptized, send 'em through college, get a buncha classes, and then, oh, now we can put a stamp of approval, okay, now then get baptized. No, that's not what the Bible says. In the Bible, every single instant, you can not show me one time where somebody who gave their life to Christ waited six months, six years, 10 years. No, they gave their life to Christ and they were immediately baptized, right then and there. You want me to show you? You wanna prove it? Okay, let's go. Acts 2:41, "Those who accepted his message were baptized. "About 3,000 were added to the number that day." They gave their life to Christ and was baptized that day. Not six weeks, not six months. That day. I know that freaks a buncha organizational people out, but that's the way it happened, okay? You say, "Well, Ronnie, that's the early church, "since first, you know, they started really, "I mean, so, you know, it's understandable." You wanna 'nother example? Okay, let's go to another example. Acts 8:36, here you got filthy evangelists, and God told him, "Hey, I want you to go stand "over there by that chariot." And so he goes to stand over by the chariot, the Ethiopian youth's reading outta the book of Isaiah. Here's what happens. He says, "You understand what you're reading?" He says, "How can I understand what I'm reading "unless somebody explains it to me?" "Get up in the chariot." So Phillip gets up in the chariot, to go down the road, ends up, dude gets saved. Here's what happens, verse 36, "As they travel on the road, they came to some water. "And the eunuch said, 'Hey, well, look, here's water. "'Why shouldn't I be baptized?' He gave orders to stop the chariot, then both Phillip and the eunuch went down to the water and Phillip baptized him on the spot, right then and there. Hey you Baptists, this is gonna freak y'all out. Y'all ready for this one? They didn't even vote on it. I know you like to vote. I know you get in your, y'all all about that. They didn't vote. Hey, this is really gonna freak you out. You ready for this one? The Ethiopian eunuch wasn't even from their church. Oh, I know, it's blowing your minds. You're going crazy, can't believe it. Dude was from Ethiopia, he was on his way back. He's thinking, "You know what? "I could die on my way back to Ethiopia. "I could get killed, I could get mugged, "something could happen to me. "You know what, God told me to do it, I need to do this." So he obeyed God, boom, was baptized. You want another one? He had no family with him. Zero. He just obeyed God. That's what he did. And that's what many of you need to do today. You say, "Well, Ronnie, "that was 'cause there was a crazy evangelist involved. "That's why they did it that way, y'all all crazy, "so that's what's going on." Okay, one more. I'm gonna give you one more example. And if you don't like this one, you're gonna have to tear out the majority of your Bible. Matter of fact, after you tear out, because this guy wrote the majority of the New Testament. And so what you're gonna end up having to do, just walk around with a little just flap, just like this, 'cause you're not gonna have no Bible. But this guy, here's what he said, you ready for this one? Acts 16:29, here it is. Paul and Silas are in jail for preaching the word of God. They're in jail, they're praising God, singing out to God, big old earthquake happens, busts the jail up, people run out, all the convicts escaping and stuff like this, head honcho, he's going like, "Man, if all these prisoners escape, "I'm gonna have to kill myself, 'cause if it don't, "my boss gonna kill me in the morning "for letting all these convicts go, so I gotta do this." And about that time Paul said, "Hey, hey," "Don't be killing yourself, listen, right, "we're in here, right here." So here's what happened, verse 29, "The jailer called for lights. "He rushed in. "He fell trembling before Paul and Silas. "He then brought them out and asked, "'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' "They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, "'and you'll be saved, you and your household.' "Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him "and all the others in his house." Verse 33, "At that hour of the night," now, it's probably about 2:00 AM, okay? That's probably when this went down. "At that hour of the night, "the jailer took them, washed their wounds, "then immediately," you might wanna underline that in your Bible, "immediately, he and all of his family were baptized." They didn't wait for church next Sunday. They didn't put it off two more weeks. At two o'clock in the morning, they get baptized. Then check this out, verse 34, "The jailer brought them into his house, "set a meal before them, and he was filled with joy "because he had come to believe in God, he and his whole family. Here's a bunch of you that are watching right now, bunch of you at our campuses. You don't have joy, and you can have it today. I'm talking about right now, right here. You could have joy. You can walk out, just like the jailer, you could walk out today with joy. If that's never happened to you before, I'm gonna give you an opportunity in just a minute. You say, "But Ronnie, man, I can't do that today, I can't. "Man, I got stuff going on, I got." No, they who gave their life to Christ were immediately baptized, today. Today is your day, and you need to do this. You've put it off, you struggle, you've had doubts. You need to do this today. And I'm gonna give you an opportunity in just a minute. You say, "But Ronnie, I don't know, I really, "I don't know if I can do this. "I, I, you know, I can't, "I can't get baptized today, "And, 'cause you know, my family's not here. "So my family's not here, I'd have to fly 'em in "and stuff like that, so, you know, "I need to wait and stuff." Now, I'm gonna tell you something. Ethiopian eunuch, how many people he have with him? How many family members? Zero, but I'll tell you what we're gonna do to help you out. Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna be taking pictures for you. And, you get baptized today, we will email your picture to you, and you can send that off to your family. Here's what you can do, I'll tell you what you can do. You can, you can send it, you know, you can send it to Walmart, and you know what Walmart will do? They'll print out hundreds of little photos of you being baptized, and then you can put 'em in little envelopes, mail 'em all over the country, send them out little invitations everywhere, letting everybody, "Hey, I got baptized, "sorry you missed it." You know what else you can do? They got this thing now called Fathead, for athletes. You can blow that sucker up as big as a fat head, plaster it on your wall at your house, get everybody to come over after church one Sunday, and say, "Hoo, there it is. "There's me getting baptized last, "y'all missed it, but there it is, right there," if your family is so big a deal. But I'm gonna tell you, the Ethiopian eunuch? Had nobody. It is a matter of obedience. That's what this is about, obeying God, not worrying about what anybody else thinks, says, whatever. You say, "Ronnie, man, I can't do that. "I'm not ready. "Ronnie, "what you see is what you get. "I didn't know we're talking about this today, "I just showed up, I didn't know it was baptism Sunday. "I don't, I don't have any clothes on, this is all I got." Hey, we got you covered. We have got you some drawers. We got drawers for you. We got big drawers, little drawers. We got stretchy drawers, all kinds of drawers. And here's the thing, nobody's business has been in these drawers. So you can get bapt, they're clean, brand new, we got drawers, we got shirts, we got towels. So we have everything for you. There is no excuse why you can't obey God today. And I'm gonna encourage you do that. But here's some of you sitting there, thinking, "Ronnie, I can't." There is one group of people out here, that you really can't, you really do have a legitimate excuse. And that's those of you that have never given your life to Christ. 'Cause see, here's the deal. This deal today, this baptism thing, it's not about getting wet. It's about a relationship. It's about walking with Christ. And if you've never done that before, you've been baptized before, but if you've never given your life to Christ, I'm gonna give you an opportunity right where you are, and you can invite Christ to come to your life to save you. If this COVID thing's got you scared to death, you're running around, "Man, what's gonna happen? "Am I gonna die? "People I know are dying." Hey, I wanna tell you this. You can know for sure that you have a relationship with Christ and you're gonna spend eternity in heaven. You don't have to wonder, guess, hope, think. You can know. You say, "How, how can I know that? "I'm not good enough for that. "I gotta quit doing this, quit sinning. "I gotta quit smoking, I gotta quit cussing "before I can do it." No, you come just as you are, and you come to Him, you admit that you've sinned. You ask for His forgiveness. You turn from here, your sin. Because see, Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins. Going to church, being baptized does not wash away your sin. Jesus died on the cross for you. That's what takes away sin. He took on your sin, He took on my sin, and not only did He take on our sin, He was buried in a grave and He rose from the dead. And because of that, that's how I know I'm gonna spend eternity in heaven. That's how you can know you're gonna spend eternity in heaven. And if that's never happened to you before and you want to, I'm gonna give you an opportunity, in just a minute. You say, "How?" If you're willing to just pray, the Bible says in Romans 10:13, "Whosoever," that means anybody, "that calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." You say, "How do I do that?" You just say, "Hey God, "I have messed up and I have sinned against you. "God, I wanna ask you to forgive me my sins. "God, I turn from my sins. "And I wanna invite You to come into my life "to be my boss, my Lord, my Savior." If you've never done that before, and you want to, in just a minute I'm gonna give you an opportunity, right where you're seated, right where you're sitting, whether at home, whether at one of our campuses, or online, you can pray that prayer with me and invite Christ to come into your life and He'll change your life forever. If you've never done that before, would you do me a favor? I'm gonna ask all of other campuses, locations, nobody get up, nobody move around. I'll ask every head bowed, every eye closed. If you're at home watching, just block out everything, block out the dog, block out all the other stuff. I just want you to focus right now. If you wanna commit your life to Christ, you say, "Yeah, I've never done that before, and I want to," then pray this prayer with me right now, right where you're seated. Pray this prayer. Dear God, I know I'm a sinner. And I know I've messed up. And I wanna ask you to forgive me my sins. And God, I turn from my sins, and I invite You into my life to be my boss, my Lord, and my Savior. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. And thank you for saving me, Lord Jesus. Now with heads bowed and eyes closed, no one's looking around, I'm not gonna come to you and embarrass you, or call you out or anything like that. At each one of our locations, there's a pastor down front, every one of our locations. And I just wanna ask you this, real quick. If you just prayed that prayer, with heads bowed, eyes closed, if you just prayed that prayer, would just those of you that prayed that prayer, would you just look up at me right now? Just look up at me right now, if you prayed that prayer, I just wanna pray for you, those of you who did that. If you're watching online, you can click 'I raised my hand' button, just click that button, just to let us know that you prayed that prayer with me right now, we just wanna pray for you. We're not gonna hound you, or hunt you down, nothing like that. Just look up, click that button. If you're watching on TV, we're gonna show you in just a minute how you can contact us, let us know that you did that, you made that decision. Okay, so those of you that prayed that prayer, just keep looking up, I wanna share something with you. According to what the Bible says, God has forgiven everything you've ever done. I don't care what sin, what you've done, how bad you think it is, God's forgiven you of everything you've ever done. And not only that, He's come to live in you, and He'll never leave you. The Bible says no one can snatch you out of His hand. You're His forever. And you're gonna spend eternity with Him forever. And not only that, He's promised to give you peace and purpose on this earth right now. So then, "Okay, so what am I supposed to do now?" You're supposed to take a stand, you're supposed to let everybody know you're a follower of Christ. Matthew 10:32 and 33, He said, "If you confess me before men, "I'll confess you before my Father who's in heaven." He says, "If you don't confess me before men, "I will not confess you before my Father who's in heaven." We're letting everybody know. It's like a wedding. You wouldn't want your spouse to be ashamed of you, you'd want them to let everybody know that y'all got married. Well, this is more important than that, because Jesus died on the cross for you. You say, "Okay, so how, how am I gonna do that?" In just a second we're gonna stand. When we stand, I'm gonna pray. When I say, "Amen," they're gonna sing. All of you that prayed that prayer, you just come to the pastors that are standing at the front. Those of you online, you can come down to one of our locations. Those of you watching on TV, you can come to one of our locations. And we'll let you know how to get hooked up and how to do that. But you need to let people know. You need to follow through and be scripturally baptized, today, to identify, saying, "Yes, I'm not ashamed. "I'm a follower of Jesus Christ." I'm excited for you, and I'm proud of you. We've got some material we wanna give you too. You can put your heads down now. There's one more group of people that I wanna talk to. And that's those of you that have never been scripturally baptized since you've been saved, and you know who you are. You've been watching the pastors online, maybe you've come to the pastors at the locations there, you've seen 'em in person, you've prayed the prayer, and you've invited Christ to come to your life. But since you've done that, you prayed the prayer in your seat, or whatever, maybe Easter, maybe, maybe online, maybe watching TV, but you have never followed through and been scripturally baptized. Maybe you're baptized like my wife. Maybe you were baptized when you were a kid, and later on in life you gave your life to Christ, and since you've been saved, you haven't been scripturally baptized, and you didn't know that it was a matter of obedience, that you've been living in disobedience, and that that's why you're doubting your salvation, are you saved, or are you not? You say, "Man, Ronnie, I've been struggling with this "and I will take care of this today." That's you, those of you that prayed that prayer, say, "Ronnie, would you pray for me, "that I'll have the courage to take care of that today "and not struggle with this anymore. "I'm tired of dealing with this. "Ronnie, would you pray for me that I'll do that?" If that's you, with heads bowed and eyes closed, and you will allow for me to pray for you that you have the courage, would you look up at me right now, let me catch your eyes. Just look up at me, there's a pastor at the front, just look up right there at him. Those of you online, just let us know. Just send us a message and we'll, we'll let you know how to follow through with that. Okay, just keep looking up. Hey, listen, I've been doing this a long time. I have never seen anybody, come forward and say, "Yes, I need to follow through "and be scripturally baptized," I've never seen anybody regret it. Every single person that I've seen baptized and follow through with this matter of obedience, I've seen joy on their face, tears of joy, excitement, relief. You could have that today. And if that's you, I'm gonna pray for you. And when we stand, I say, "Amen," you step out and come, we'll have the bags there, with shirts, and shorts, and towels, and all that stuff, show you where the place where you can privately change, take care of that, and you can, and do this today, and you won't have to carry that burden anymore, and you can walk out with peace. Let me pray for you right now. Can we all please stand now, with heads bowed and eyes closed? Heads bowed, eyes closed. As soon as I say, "Amen," the band's gonna be playing. As soon as I say, "Amen," you step out and come, and you obey God. We're gonna have pastors at the front, and you come to one of them, and they're gonna introduce you to an encourager, they're gonna take you to the side. They're gonna pray with you and show you where those bags are, show you also where you can privately change to follow through and be scripturally baptized and walk outta here with joy today. Can I get a amen on that? All right, let's pray. Father, thank you for all of those that trust their Lord and Savior. Thank you for those that gave their life to you. I pray God you give them courage and bones today. Father, I also thank you for those that said, "Yes, I need to follow through "and be scripturally baptized." God, give them the courage. I pray for them and their whole families, like the jailer, their whole families followed through and be saved and be baptized or get their baptism in order. Lord, I pray that you bless them for their obedience. Thank you, Father, for them. In Jesus's name we pray, amen. You come on, right now.