5/3/2026 Sunday morning service

5/3/2026 Sunday morning service and baptism 

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 2:36

Thank you so much. Let's put some hands together, church. Come on. There we go. I was very shame. Who could carry that kind of weight? It was my truth till I met you. Anybody know what that's like? I was breathing, but not alive. All my failures I tried to hide. And I ran out of that bird. Out of the dog now. You call my nerd. And I ran out of that breath. Out of the dog. Now your freedom is all that I know. Jesus with my call my death. And I ran out of the day. Out of the dog. Out of the darkness. I needed a rescue. My stem was healthy.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

The chains break at the weight of your glory. I'm a help. I was a girlfriend. Now you call me a citizen.

SPEAKER_05 7:48

When I was broken, you are my heel. Now your love is here that I'm breathing. I have a future open. I love the dog. Is he good this morning or what? All the time. That's right. That's right. Wrong key. How cool is it that when you're in the wrong key, you got a body of believers that are like, hey. That's not right. Fix that. Life begins and ends in the dust you form. Faith commanded And the mountains move. Fear is losing ground to our hope in you. Unstoppable God, I've let your glory go on it on. Impossible things bring your name, they'll be done. Unstoppable God, I've let your glory go on it on. Freedom conquered And our taste undone. Darkness was in night when the storm was gone. Nothing shall be impossible.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Nothing shall be impossible.

SPEAKER_05 12:56

We'll shall show praise for the boy! Jesus are God unstoppable! Unstoppable God, let your glory go for things, in your name, let's shall be done! Unstoppable God, let your glory go all and all Impossible things, in your name that shall be done. Unstoppable God, let your glory go on Impossible things in your name that shall be done. Aren't you glad he's an unstoppable God? Because I gave him some resistance. I don't know about y'all. Okay, but I wasn't always this uh perfect amazing Christian that you clearly see before you was uh I was pretty messed up. But God is good and he's unstoppable and he conquered me in my rebellion. Do you know what it's like to be conquered in your rebellion against God? Right? Anyone know what that's like at all? When you're conquered in your rebellion against a holy God who still sees you and still loves you despite all your filth and all your disgusting rebel rebel tendencies, right? He is worthy of worship, he is so worthy of worship, he's so worthy of worship that we do that every Sunday. We come together as believers and we worship a holy God. Right? So for this song, we're gonna slow it down a little bit. And for this song, despite all the stuff, will you worship God? Whether the music is what you want it to sound like, whether the message is what you want to hear, whether your week was good or it was bad, whether that person loves you or they don't, whether your job gave you the raise or they didn't, whether your boss is a jerk or not, will you worship the Lord? Right? And I I really do feel like the Holy Spirit has said that to me over and over and over and over again my whole life is that will you worship me despite this? Right? Is it gonna be all about you or is it gonna be all about me? And if it's all about me, I want to know that the desire of your heart is yes, I will, yes, I will worship you, yes, I will lift you high in the low valleys, yes, I will, yes, I will. I will break myself on the altar of your grace and your goodness. I will lift your name above all of the other stuff that tries to elevate itself above you. Because we cast down all this stuff, everything that elevates itself above the one name of God, and that is Jesus Christ. Amen. The same God who's never late is working all things out, you're working all things out. Yes I will lift you high in the lowest valley, yes I will bless your name. Oh yes I will sing for joy when my heart is heavy on my days. Yes, I will say the same God that never fails, will not fail me now. You won't fail me now, you know. The same God that's never late, is working all things out, you're working all things out Yes down, let you hide it. Yes, bless your name. Yes I will sing for joy when my heart is heavy on my taste. Yes well, yes I will lift you high in the lowest valley. Yes well, bless your name. When my heart is heavy on my days, yes well for all my days. Yes well, sing a church for all my days.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Good morning. How is everybody this morning? We're missing Don and Justin. Okay. Okay. All right. I just happened to miss them when I said that. Y'all gonna have to say it one more time and louder because they're not here. How is everybody this morning? Amen. Amen. All right. So we got a lot going on today. Um, first thing, if you have not been here before, or if you've been here before, but you've never filled out a card for me, those cards are in the seat in front of you, in the back of the seat. Someone hold one up so everyone will know what we're talking about. If you would please fill that out for me with uh what info you want me to have. I just like to stay connected with you, let you know you're a part of the Lifeline family. Um, also, if you will, get out your phones for a second. I know that sounds strange. A preacher saying, get out your phones, go to Facebook Carla Bragg and share this morning's service because it's gonna be a blessing to somebody, and that is doing your part to get that message out there. So we've been studying on Empowered. That is our weekly series that we've been doing is Empowered. And today we're gonna continue that. We're gonna talk about a promise that Jesus made to give us power for living. And before Jesus returned to heaven, he made a promise that we would never be left alone. It says in John 14, 16 and 17, and Hoko says, oops. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. All right. So Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit was going to live in and dwell in all people who call upon the name of Jesus. And here's another promise that's given in Romans 8 and 11. Bless you. It says, uh, the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give you life to your mortal bodies by this same spirit living within you. So think about that. That's a powerful statement. Jesus Christ was crucified and he died and was buried, and the power of the Spirit was able to raise him from the dead. And guys, that same power, when you accept Jesus Christ into your life, that same power is living inside of you. That same power comes to dwell in and to live inside of you. And sometimes we as Christians have a tendency to get lackadaisical. We get to the point where, oh, we're saved, that's enough. We've got our fire insurance, and we are only living on like 10% of what God has actually equipped us to live with. And today we're going to talk a little bit about that. Um, it's our hope that through this series you guys will be able to gain a deeper understanding of the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. Earlier in the series, we talked about the Trinity, and the Trinity is a hard concept to grasp, and actually, the word Trinity is never said in the Bible, but it's alluded to. And that's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. All right, and that's three in one. The Bible helps us to understand that the nature of God, through what we call the Trinity, is God present in three persons, okay? And while the Bible doesn't use a specific term, we can clearly see the concept. That's a hard concept to grasp. All right. So today, um, John mentions the three persons of the Trinity in John 14, 26. He says, But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, which is Jesus, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything that I, the Son of Jesus, have said to you. So there is all three persons listed in one scripture. And throughout this series, we're focusing on the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, there's a misconception that goes around in most of the church arena that the Holy Spirit, uh, because of past experiences that they might have had uh in some of the churches that they went to, they kind of look at the Holy Spirit as weird. Okay? They look at the Holy Spirit as something that they just don't want to touch because that power and what's there is just different and weird to them. But that's a misconception, guys, because the Holy Spirit's not weird. People are weird, but the Holy Spirit's not, okay? The Holy Spirit's not. One of Jesus' last statements on earth is promised, and he promises to send the Holy Spirit. Acts 1 and 8 tells us, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. So he's talking about the he's talking about the Holy Spirit when he comes upon the people. It's a promise that Jesus made and he made it for all believers. A promise that all of us would have power to be able to share the message of Jesus Christ and the changing influence in the world that is needed today. So the question is simply how do we receive the Holy Spirit? So before we go into the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we need to understand the difference between three types of baptism. All right, there's three different baptisms. The first baptism is this the Holy Spirit will baptize us into Jesus. That's salvation. All right. The first baptism is when you are saved. 1 Corinthians 12, 13 says, For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body. At the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior, and when we repent of our sins and tell him that we believe in him, we're baptized into the body of Christ. All right? By the Spirit, we all become one body. That's the first baptism. Now we have the second baptism, and that's what we're doing today. Matthew 28, 19. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. All right. This is immersion. This is complete immersion in water. That is the second baptizing. And it we're told in Scripture, it's not necessary for salvation, but it is your outward show of your inward change. All right. You die to self and you're raised to new life in Jesus Christ. It's kind of you saying, Look, I'm burying my sins, I'm burying my old ways, and when I come up out of the water, I am raised to a new life full of the power of the Holy Spirit, that I can live for Jesus Christ, that I can witness for Jesus Christ, that I can serve because of Jesus Christ. That is the second baptism. And then there's the third baptism, and that's when Jesus baptizes us with or in the Holy Spirit. And it's important to understand the difference between the first and the third baptism. The first is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, meaning we're baptized by one Spirit into Christ. But the Bible talks about a baptism in the Holy Spirit. Matthew 3.11. Matthew 3.11 tells us, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. So let's take a closer look at this scripture. Notice he, that is Jesus, will baptize you, that's y'all, with the Holy Spirit. So 1 Corinthians 12, 13, if you remember, said, for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Alright? That's the first baptism. But notice carefully in Matthew 3:11, he will baptize you with or in the Holy Spirit. Alright? You see the difference in the two? There's a difference in the two. And Matthew, Mark, and Luke, I'm going to get into some theology here, okay? Hang on. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They're what we call the Synoptic Gospels. All right? Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Synoptic. And that means they're similar. They're all from like the same viewpoint. All right. They only cover a third year of Jesus' ministry. And he had three. They only cover the third year. The Gospel of John, however, covered more. It included the first two years of Jesus' life. All right. That's why there's stories in John that you might not see in the other three Gospels because John covered everything. The other three Gospels basically covered the last year of Jesus' life. So baptism with the Holy Spirit, however, is in all four. Baptism with the Holy Spirit is in all four. And that's kind of there's not much that's recorded in all four. Very few things are recorded in all four. But the death, the burial, and the resurrection is one of them, and the baptism with the Holy Spirit is the other one. We read it already in 3.11 of Matthew. Mark 1 and 8. Mark 1-8 says, I indeed baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Luke 3.16. Luke 3.16, John answered, saying to all, I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to loose, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Then in John 1.33, it says, I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, Upon who you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire. All right. So there it is in all four Gospels, clearly recorded. Jesus' water baptism in the Gospels, we see that the Holy Spirit does clearly descend upon him. Luke 3 22 says, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven saying, You are my son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased. So here's a simple question. If Jesus needed the Holy Spirit descending upon him, and he was baptized with the Spirit, how much more do we need to be baptized? Salvation is the first, water's the second, spirit is the third. And I'm trying to rush, guys, because we got this baptism. Uh, so I'm gonna I'm gonna move on. The last words of Jesus before he ascends to heaven, Acts 1, verses 4 through 5. It says, and being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me. John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now. So here's what Jesus said in here. He told him to wait for the promise. To wait for the promise, okay? And you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, that promise actually comes to pass. Acts 2, 1 through 4. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound, like a blowing of a violent wind, came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. So immediately following this moment, Peter stands up and he begins to preach a message to the whole crowd. And this fulfills what's foretold in the prophet Joel when he prophesied that the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon all people. Now, at the end of Peter's message, we see the crowd's response. So we'll flip on down to Acts 2.37. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? What shall we do? Now watch for the three baptisms here. This is his answer. Acts 2 38. We're going on to the next verse. It says, Peter said to them, Repent. That's what the first salvation. And let every one of you be baptized, which is water, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, right? Notice all three baptisms are in there. The Holy Spirit is a gift. It's a gift. And it's given to everyone. But here's where people mess up a lot of the times. They often think that if you have the Holy Spirit, then what you do is speak in tongues. Okay? That's what everybody focuses on. That part. But guys, there's more to it than that. I don't know why everybody gets so focused and hung up on the tongues part. It's not just that. The gift of the Holy Spirit is all the gifts of the Spirit. You've got wisdom, there's knowledge, there's faith, there's healing, there's miracles, there's discernment, and there's more. There's all kinds of gifts of the Holy Spirit. All kinds of gifts of the Holy Spirit. Jesus clearly told his followers, wait for the promise. Here's what some people today say: the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was just for those 120 that were in Acts. Just for the 120 that was in the upper room in Acts. And they say that it's not for the people of today. The problem with that argument is here in the next verse, Acts 239. Moving on. For the promise is to you and your children and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord God will call. So that promise wasn't just for them back there on that day, those 120 that happened to be there. This is a promise that is continuing, and it's for each and every person. Now, the gift that you might get might be discernment. You might gain wisdom, right? You might gain knowledge. We've got to stop being so hung up on the gift of tongues because that truly, in my opinion, is what scares the people. Okay? That power, that gift right there, doesn't happen, you bet. It happens all the time. It happens all the time. But we need to move towards the fact that the Holy Spirit provides many gifts. The Holy Spirit provides many gifts. And it is for all. In fact, if you look at 1 Corinthians 14, 1 Corinthians 14. And I'm not sure what verse that is. I'm just going to read it, okay, as I have it. Paul says about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, I speak in tongues more than all of you. So Paul acknowledges he speaks in tongues and he speaks more than all of you. And he says, I want everyone, notice he says, everyone, I want everyone to speak in tongues. Verse 39, he says, Do not forbid speaking in tongues. Now, why would Paul say that he wanted everyone to if it wasn't for everyone? Right? But yet there are entire theological persuasions out there that disobey that scripture because they say that it doesn't happen for people today. And that's not true. That's not true. People who say speaking in tongues is from the devil, because I've heard that before, they're walking on dangerous ground. Because what they're doing is attributing a work of God to Satan. Blasphemy. And that is an unforgivable sin. The point is, it wasn't just for the apostles, it wasn't just for the few, it's for everyone. So look ahead to Acts 8, where Philip goes to Samaria and preaches Christ to them. And we'll see all three baptisms in action. In eight, Acts 8 and 12, it says, but when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, that is salvation, both men and women were baptized. That's water. All right. Going on to 14 and 15, verses 14 and 15. Now, when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Now, guys, in the salvation part, when you receive the Holy Spirit, the Spirit baptizes you into the name of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of you. Okay? At the moment you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of you. So my question is, if that is how it works, why did they have to send? Why did they have to send uh Philip and I forgot the other guy? I'm gonna find it. Peter and John. Where did I get Philip? They sent Peter and John to them. Why would they send Peter and John to lay hands on them so they could be baptized with the Spirit if they already had the Spirit? Right? Because if it comes on you at the point of salvation, they already had the Spirit living in them. The reason is because there's that third baptism, and that's the baptism of or with the Holy Spirit. That's why Peter and John went to pray for them. And in Acts 6 8 16 and 17, it says, For as yet he, the Holy Spirit, Had fallen had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. It's at that point that they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Now many believers have been saved and they've had water baptism, but they don't go on to that third baptism. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. We're gonna stop right there. And I'm gonna pick this up again next week. And we're gonna learn next week the baptism with the Holy Spirit. And here's my challenge for each and every person in here today. If you have been saved and you have been baptized with water, I encourage you to search your scriptures this week. Learn about the baptism with the Holy Spirit. And we're gonna talk about that. And we're gonna have a chance next Sunday to come forward and pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit to be baptized into every single one that wants it. We're gonna practice first. If you help and be if you'll get us ready, run is what we're doing. So before we go any further, in order to receive the second and the third baptism, you need to have accepted the first. And that's Jesus Christ as your personal savior. So right now I'm gonna give just a moment, and if everyone will close their eyes and bow their heads I'm gonna give a sh I'm gonna give a chance, because I don't know everybody in this room today. If you have never received Jesus Christ in your heart as your Lord and Savior, I'm gonna give you that opportunity this morning. If you would, and we don't have to make a big show, I'm not gonna call you out, I'm not gonna call you down, just raise your hand and put it right back down where you are. Okay. All right, now guys we're gonna pray a prayer. And I want everybody to pray it with me, all right? Including those of you that raise your hand. There were people in this room that raised their hand, and I am totally convinced you are now a child of God. Now, too many people rely upon feelings. If you don't feel any different, that's okay. Because that's where the faith part comes in. Some people just aren't emotional people and they don't feel like some of us do. Me, I slings not when I start getting in the spirit, okay? That's just me. It's what I do. But some people will go on and on, and I hear things like, but I pray and I don't feel like my prayers are getting through. I pray and I don't feel like he's answering me. Guys, that's where faith comes in because the Bible says he does hear you, and the Bible says he does forgive you, and the Bible says you are his and he'll never leave you. Exercise that faith and believe in it. I also have something else to tell you. Once you accept Jesus into your life, all of a sudden you've just put a big old target on your back, and that devil starts throwing darts at you because that's not what he wants to happen. He's lost another one, and he's gonna try to derail you any way he can. Keep pushing. Keep pushing, and I encourage you to get into a good Bible preaching a church that can walk beside you and help you each step of the way. Now, what we're gonna do is baptism. Alright. Everybody that's getting baptized, if you can make your way up here to the front. Make your way up here to the front. Hey, Tristan, you want to help me? I love this guy right here. Tristan is, we make examples of Tristan all the time, okay? Tristan is a good kid. All right. You want to go first today? All right, Tristan's gonna go first today. I've got everybody up here. Um now, I'm going to open this up. If you have received Jesus Christ in your life and you've never been baptized and you want to this morning, we'll take care of that for you. If you have, but you feel like you need to do it again because you're starting anew, you're newly recommitted, you can do that and we'll help you out this morning. Y'all got to give me a minute to get in here.

SPEAKER_05 50:06

Let's all us believers just uh praise and worship the Lord this morning for these new lives coming into the kingdom. How awesome is that!

SPEAKER_04 50:27

Amazing race.

SPEAKER_06 50:31

How sweet a sound that saves a wrench like me I once was always, but now I'm found, but now I see grace like rain falls down on me.

SPEAKER_03 51:22

Hallelunia, and all my staints are washed away. Hallelujah all must stay washed away the wash we have prayers, friends and Jesus and everyone.

unknown 53:15

I don't know, I mean very happy with you. I'm trying to sign up to that.