The Creed - One Father, One Baptism

Let the church say amen. Amen. Come on, say amen again. Touch a person next to you and tell them, "He's good, He's good." You might not have gotten the right person, go on the other side and say, "He's good." Yeah, He's good, He's good, He's good all right. Even when I'm not good, He's good. Amen. Well, hey, it's been said multiple times, I want to repeat it again: Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. I'm going to do something I might later regret, but I just want to tell a couple dad jokes to get us started. Is that all right? Maybe the kids will find this humor humorous. What did the baby corn say to the mama corn? "Where's popcorn?" Number two, what is a groundbreaking gift to give your dad for Father's Day? A shovel. There we go, a shovel. Last one to round it up, what did the grape say to his father on Father's Day? "Thanks for raising me right." Thank you.

I hope I preach better than I tell jokes, y'all pray for me. But hey, I want to say something that Pastor Dana alluded to: it is a day of celebration. We want to celebrate our dads, but I also recognize it's a tough day for some people. It's tough for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons is maybe you lost your father, and you're still grieving. Maybe you're someone who has a tough relationship with your dad, and today brings back a lot of those memories. For others, maybe you've tried to have children, and as a father, as a man, you've been unsuccessful with miscarriages or some other form of disappointment. For all those reasons and many others, we know that today is a tough day. Sometimes your father's still alive, and it's still a tough day. Most of you know my dad's dealing with dementia and health issues, so it's a hard day to navigate some of those realities. It's not easy. The truth of the matter is, as a church, we believe two things can be true at the same time: at one level, there can be a lot of celebration and honoring of fathers, while on the other side, there could be a lot of grief, a lot of pain, a lot of disappointment. We want to hold in tension both of those things. Amen. The celebration, because we should celebrate and honor, but also the grief, the disappointment, and the struggle as well.

So I just want to say a prayer over that as we prepare to dive in. Father, thank you for the realities of a church family that are very diverse. For some of us, today is a day to celebrate, to honor, to say thank you to those fathers and father figures who have been pillars. God, we want to do that well. But Father, we also recognize that for many reasons, today is a tough day because of loss, grief, disappointment, or hurt. Many of us struggle on days like today. So God, we pray for both experiences. We don't want anyone to be fake and feel like they can't show up in their whole, real selves today. Father, if there's joy in their heart and celebration, we honor that, we celebrate that. But if there's pain and grief, we also want to say we see you, we recognize that this is a tough day as well. So whatever that may be, Father, we allow this space to be a safe place in Jesus' name. Let all God's people say, "Amen."

I also want to share with you that next week we start a brand new sermon series called Parables: God's Everyday Wisdom. Throughout the summer, from next week all the way through August, we're going to be unpacking a parable every single week. We pray that God will reveal to us the things He wants us to understand about not just what's happening in the parable but what could be happening in our lives today. It's going to be good. Amen. We encourage you to invite some friends, some family to join us. Also, today, somebody shout, "Today!" Today is the first day of camp. We have middle school camp this week, high school camp next week, and a bunch of elementary camps in late July into August. There are about 400 folks going to be at Victory Mountain Camp today, and about 350 or so will be there next week. It's full, the camp is sold out. So I want you to be praying for students, middle school students this week, high school students next week. Adam and Luke will be there, hanging out. I'll be there tonight, promoting some of the things that we're doing for our students. Our students are also going to a camp in August at Victory Mountain Camp, and we'll give you more information about that in the days ahead.

But with that in mind, if you've been with us the last several weeks, you know we've been in a series focused on the Nicene Creed. Our theme has been, "The Creed We Believe." Everybody say that with me: "The Creed We Believe." We've been highlighting different aspects of our faith found in this thing called the Nicene Creed. This is the 1700th anniversary of when many came to the Council of Nicaea to try to whittle down into a short summary: what do we believe as Christians, what do we believe as followers of Jesus? We've talked about one faith, one God, one Lord, one church, one hope. Last week, Pastor Zach did an incredible job as we celebrated Pentecost Sunday, talking to us about one Spirit. Amen. Today, we want to close out the series, focusing on the book of Ephesians, chapter 4. If y'all stand, if you don't mind, all over the building, Ephesians 4:4-6, and we'll be reading from the NIV. Let's read together: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." Amen. You may be seated.

I'd like to direct our attention to where we see our focus in the Nicene Creed today. I'm going to take out a small portion of the Nicene Creed that illuminates some of what we just read. It says, "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible." And you slide down to the latter portion of the Nicene Creed, and it says, "I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come." Amen. Now, there's a lot of doctrine, a lot of stuff in these few verses, in these sentences. Those are things that we can hang our faith on, if you will. We acknowledge both one Almighty Father but also one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. When I began to prepare for this message, the passage of scripture that seemed to jump off the page was one found in Matthew, chapter 3. I'll be reading from verses 11 to 17. What's leading up to this passage, you'll find that John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus, also referred to as the forerunner of Jesus, has been preaching a message of repentance, baptizing people in different places. We find that Jesus, who is his younger cousin, has now come on the scene, and He is about to be baptized by John the Baptist.

Watch what it says in verse 11: "I baptize with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Verse 13 says, "Then Jesus," somebody shout, "Jesus," "came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John." But John tried to deter Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. It says in verse 16, 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 and alighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased." So, for a little while, I want to talk to you from the thought or subject: one Father, one baptism.

Let's pray. Father, we know the flower fades, the grass withers, but Your word stands forever. Speak into this moment, move me to the background, may You be at the forefront. The words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Speak now, give us all the courage to respond in obedience. I pray this in the matchless name of Jesus. Somebody shout, "Amen." Amen. Now, there's a lot we could say about this passage. It is one of the few times in scripture where you actually find the Trinity, where God is mentioned explicitly in three persons in the same place at the same time. We see the Father speaking, we see the Son submitting to the will of the Father as He fulfills scripture by being baptized, and then the Spirit descending on the Son like a dove. Notice it says, "and alighting on Him." It was a beautiful moment. Many refer to this as the beginning, the start of Jesus's earthly ministry.

You may be wondering, why do Christians refer to God as Father? Have you noticed that most other religions don't do that? They don't refer to God as Father. What is it about the Father's role here in Jesus's baptism, and why should any of us ever consider being baptized at all? I just want to say to you, next week we're going to open up the pool, and we're going to have some baptisms. Come on, somebody say amen. Several weeks ago, when I preached about one hope, we had almost 70 people respond. We had 15 give recommitments, and we had three who said they wanted to be baptized. We have since learned of a few more, so we're going to open the pool, we're going to be out front, we're going to have some baptisms. There are just a few things that I want to explore about this idea of one Father.

Let me tell a story. There's a story of a warship that was coming home to harbor. As it was coming home, it felt like it got off course just a little bit. It was trying to recalibrate and find its way back. These were the days when there weren't cell phones, and they had these Morse code-type things, just tapping. The captain of the ship is getting this Morse code, and it's saying, "You need to turn right by so many degrees." He's like, "You don't know who I am." He's typing back, "You don't know who I am. I'm the warship that's coming home to harbor. Do you know I'm Captain so-and-so?" Then the message comes back, "You need to turn to your right by so many degrees." He's like, "Tell them to move, I'm not moving, we're going to harbor." Then the message comes back, "I know exactly who you are, I know the ship you're in. I'm the lighthouse. If you keep coming this way, you're going to crash."

I think there are times when we are convinced that what we see and what we know and what we have is all that matters. Sometimes we think what we experience is the only experience. What I want to suggest to you is that we must be very careful in how we enter our text and this topic today because, no matter what the captain thought he was capable of, the truth of the matter is the lighthouse was not moving. Don't allow your imperfect fatherly relationship to cause you to miss the truth we're going to tell you today. God is a good Father. As a matter of fact, He is a great Father. Don't see this through the lens of a tainted relationship with your father. I want you to see this through the lens of scripture. Are you with me? Because sometimes, when we start having a conversation about one Father, we're so consumed about what our fatherly relationship was like that we miss the truth about what God's relationship with us should be like. Oh, it's quiet. Somebody ought to say, "Amen." Amen, amen. So, don't be like that captain trying to tell other things to move when God is saying, "No, I'm not moving, you have to move to see this the way I want you to see it." That doesn't mean you don't have trauma, disappointment, pain, or hurt. But we want to see this through the lens of scripture, not through our pain. Our pain can sometimes prevent us from seeing and experiencing truth. Can I get an amen?

Watch what it says here in John 1:12 to get us started in this conversation about one Father. It says, "Yet to all who receive Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." For many of us, addressing God as Father may seem pretty normal. Most of us were taught to pray this when we were children, even if our families weren't very religious. This was not true in Jesus's day or before Jesus. The most revered leaders of the Old Testament never addressed their prayers to God as Father. The patriarchs, from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph, never referred to God as Father. Moses led the people out of Egypt, into the desert, across the Red Sea, and he even talked to God face to face, the scripture says, but he never called Him Father. David spoke about God in the book of Psalms over and over as his Lord and his God, but he never called Him Father. Daniel was a great man of prayer, but he never called Him Father. Even Mary, the mother of Jesus, never refers to Him as Father; she simply calls Him Son or Lord.

It's not until the New Testament that Jesus introduces this new way of thinking about God. When He's teaching the disciples what we call the Lord's Prayer, what some refer to as the Disciples' Prayer, He introduces this strange concept, this new way of thinking about God. He says, when you pray, you should pray like this: "Our Father." Can you imagine the disciples and the onlookers and the people who are hearing Jesus say this, thinking to themselves, "What in the world? We have never—Abraham didn't, Moses didn't, Esther didn't, Daniel didn't, Jeremiah didn't, Ezekiel didn't—nobody has ever called Him Father." In the Jewish tradition, you wouldn't even pronounce the name of God; it was so sacred, so important. Then Jesus says, "No, no, in My economy, I'm going to teach you to do something that has never been done. You can refer to our God as our Father."

I'll never forget my son Josiah. He's 17, he just graduated from Ragsdale High School on Wednesday. We just had a house full of people yesterday; some of my family's here. What's up, y'all? Family's in the house, Tiffany and Thurman. We were celebrating all week. My week was just crazy, celebrating. We had a wedding on Thursday; it was just wow. When Josiah was a little baby, I'll never forget, he comes up to the couch with his little cup. He had just come out of bottles, and he had his little sippy cup. There on the screen was something with animals, I can't remember if it was National Geographic or something. I'm describing to him, because he's asking, "What's that?" I'm describing to him that this is actually a family, and you can see that this one animal is going this way, and that's the mama of the family, and this is the papa of the family. Then he crawls up into my lap, looks at me, taps me on the chest, and says, "Josiah's daddy." That brother could have asked me for anything in that moment. I would have pulled out my wallet and paid. You ever had that cry where it shocks you so bad that your lower lip starts to quiver? I had one of those cries, like, "Oh boy."

Jesus knew the need for a caring, nurturing Father who is foundational to anyone's emotional and spiritual development. I see this clearly now as both a father and a grandfather. A young child with the same needs still lives inside of us. I don't care if you're two or 92, you need God to show up as your Father. The truth is that our need for a dad can never fully be met by a human father. It can be modeled, it can be attempted by an earthly father, and we have some good, great, and amazing fathers out there. But your earthly father will always show up with imperfections and will sometimes disappoint you because they can only attempt to do what only God can do. We were created to relate to God as our heavenly Father. Knowing God as one Father is an important part of our creed, it's an important part of what we believe. Seeing God as a Father has tremendous benefits and should give us confidence as His children.

Our good Father does things worth noting. Can I share a few of them with you? Our good Father, who we call Abba—Abba Father means daddy—He is present. He is available. Are y'all with me? He is present, He is available, He cares, He nurtures, He protects, He provides, He listens, He empowers. Is anybody getting this? Our good Father, He is present, available, cares, nurtures, protects, provides, listens, empowers. If you're a father in the room or thinking about being a father, you can make a note that you should embody these characteristics as a father. Now, let me say, you will mess up sometimes. You won't get it right all the time. God is not expecting perfection; He is expecting faithfulness that says, if I mess up, I'm going to keep trying and trying again. Come on, somebody say amen.

I did an independent study my senior year in college, focusing on the issues of homelessness in the Triad area for about a year. I spent time at Pathways Family Shelter, Greensboro Urban Ministry. Some of you know I started cutting hair; that was my first stint in ministry, just sitting and listening to people and cutting their hair. I spent time in High Point at Open Door Ministry. I held a sign for about a week and experienced what it was like to be a panhandler. I went and lived in a tent camp to experience what that was like. I even invited a few guys to live with me—that was a bit naive, come on, somebody say amen. I won't tell y'all what happened while they were there, but I learned a lot about what to do and what not to do. The reason I mention this is something Steve said a few weeks ago when we had our info session around the Hope Center. I began to see people who had names, people who had stories. I began to see that they were more than the sign they were holding. They were more than my idea of why they were there. They were sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers. They mattered to God, and they needed to matter to me. Things have now come full circle where I get a chance now to cut hair on Tuesdays, like I did almost 30 years ago starting in ministry. The reason I tell you that story is because seeing something different changes everything. Seeing people differently changes everything. How you see this passage and how you see God as your good, great, amazing one Father—it should change everything. Somebody shout, "Everything."

I hope that's helpful for you. So, I want to transition from this idea of one Father to turn our attention to this idea of one baptism. When we refer to one baptism as Christians, let me start off by saying we're generally talking about two things. Somebody say, "Two things." I'm not going to talk about both of them today because we don't have time, and because Pastor Zach did a great job last week talking about one Spirit, so I don't need to unpack all of that. There's the baptism by water and the baptism by Spirit. Are y'all with me? So, when we talk about baptism as Christians, we're generally talking about one of those two things: baptism by water—somebody shout, "Water"—and baptism by Spirit—somebody shout, "Spirit." I'm going to spend the bulk of my time talking about water. The danger, though, in understanding what baptism is for and why we do it is that sometimes it can be driven by ritual, tradition, or coercion, and those things usually lead to confusion. Amen.

Let me say it again: the danger of talking about this is, if you don't understand what it's for and why we do it, it often can be driven by a ritual, tradition, or coercion. How many of y'all ever had a grandma, mama, auntie, uncle, or daddy get you by the ear and say, "I'm taking you down to the altar," because of something you did at school? They bring you to the pastor, like, "Pastor, get them right." What am I supposed to do? I remember those days, right? I felt like I got saved every week. Come on, somebody. But what I want to express to you is that can be a problem if we don't really understand the why. Maybe you're somebody who was baptized as an infant or coerced by family members, and you didn't really know what you were doing. I run into adults all the time who share this part of their story. So, I want to lift up a few things. I want to talk to you about the wrong reasons to be baptized: fear, obligation, other people are being baptized, so I'm just going to be baptized too, it looks like fun, I'm old enough, or I'm worried about my future—in other words, I need some fire insurance. Come on, somebody say amen. Don't send me to hell, Lord. Wrong reason. Everybody say, "Wrong reason."

Baptism is something we should prayerfully consider, and it is reserved for people who have made a personal commitment to Jesus. When we fail to trust God with our kids or with our faith, we sometimes tend to try to take control and get in control of the process ourselves. We always want God to lead this. Amen. Sometimes when I'm in a room and talking to a parent who's like, "They want to be baptized," I'm like, "Okay, I need to sit with them and you." We sit in my office, and I'm like, "It seems like you want them to be baptized, but they have no idea why they're in this room." I have to explain, you can't force this. Now, I'm going to talk a little bit in a minute about the difference between a baby dedication and a baptism. There is a difference, right? But we always want God to be in control of this. Being baptized by water is not something we should do multiple times, not when you understand the meaning and its purpose.

So, let me explain a little bit further about what baptism does not do and what baptism is. Is that all right? Baptism does not save. Touch your neighbor, say, "Baptism does not save." Baptism doesn't get you into heaven. It does not. This is going to mess some people up because sometimes how we talk about baptism, people begin to believe this: baptism does not wash your sins away. It does not. The blood of Jesus does. Baptism does not, but the blood of Jesus does. Are you with me? There's a difference. So, that's what baptism doesn't do. Now, let's talk about what baptism is. Baptism is a symbol. It is an outward sign of an inward change. Another way of thinking about it is this: I got married in 2003 here in Greensboro, Genesis Baptist Church, April 5th. My wife gave me this ring on our wedding day. This is not my marriage. It is a symbol of my marriage. Y'all caught that? It's not my marriage, but it is a symbol of my marriage. So, when I have this on my finger and somebody's being a little frisky, I just kind of throw hands like this. Taken, I'm good. Are you with me? So, it's not my marriage; it's a symbol of my marriage, a symbol of my commitment to my wife.

In like ways, baptism is not your salvation. It is not your relationship with Jesus. It is a symbol of your relationship with Jesus. Y'all caught that? So, it is an outward sign of an inward change. We can't see when your heart is made new. We cannot see when your heart is made alive. Now, we should see some evidence by your actions, but we can't see what God does on the inside. Your baptism is a way to communicate that you have made a commitment that is forever. Y'all caught that? So, baptism is a symbol. It is also a testimony to others. It communicates to others what you have decided. Baptism is an example given to us by Jesus. Jesus allows Himself to be baptized, He says, to fulfill all righteousness. In other words, He models it for us so that we will follow His example. He was without sin; He didn't need to be baptized. He chose to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. Are y'all with me? And then, baptism is an act of obedience. As Jesus obeyed and allowed Himself to be baptized, followers of Jesus who make commitments to follow Him should be baptized early on in their walk with Jesus. Are y'all with me?

Although very different in our Western context, being baptized in the name of Jesus is drawing a line in the sand. In most other cultures, being baptized in Jesus's name makes it very difficult to turn back. In other parts of the world, it is not meant to be a secret; it is designed to make a statement. Let me say that again: it is not meant to be in secret; it is designed to make a statement. Anybody catch this? We see this where Jesus allows Himself to be baptized. It is designed so that, in our day, baptism is pretty usual. In Jesus's day, it was pretty usual too; people got baptized all the time. But what you have to understand is, in the olden days and before Jesus and in Jesus's day, they would get baptized in the name of other things. That's why, when we baptize, if you have noticed, the pastor or whoever's baptizing the person says, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit," and I'll throw in at the end, "in Jesus' name." Are you with me? Because you have to understand, baptism is not an unusual thing; people are getting baptized all the time, but they're getting baptized in other things' names. When they're baptized in the name of Jesus, that's a different name. That's what made it unusual. Nobody was being baptized in the name of Jesus back then; they were being baptized in the name of other stuff. Then, all of a sudden, Jesus comes on the scene and says, "Be baptized in My name." Are you with me?

So, if you're wondering, should I or should they, meaning a family member, a child, be baptized, here's some criteria I want you to wrestle with: Have you seen a change in your life or your child's life that is evidence of belief and conversion? Come on, say amen. You should be able to see something. Now, they ain't going to be perfect because we're all still under construction. Come on, somebody say amen. I've been pastoring for a minute now, and I still mess up and say the wrong thing sometimes. But have you seen a change in them, in life, that's evidence? Second thing: Can you or your child articulate that a change or desire to live for Jesus? They don't need to be able to quote a bunch of scripture yet; that's not what I'm talking about. But can they identify that there's something that God is doing, that there's something that has changed, that there's something that I've experienced? They should be able to at least say, "I felt like something happened, there was something in me, I can't explain it." Those are the kind of things you look for, right? And then, have others close to you seen the evidence or change? It's not just you; other people need to be able to see it too. That's evidence that there's something happening.

Now, let me talk about the difference between baby dedications and baptism. Here at CWC, we believe in baby dedications. We had one several weeks ago where a parent, guardian, or family member makes a vow, as well as the church family. In a real baby dedication, the family makes a vow, but then the church makes a vow too. The pastor comes up, says something to the family, tells them some things, and they repeat, "We vow to commit to raising this child up in a God-honoring way." When you make that vow, you need to stick to that vow. It's not for show, it's not to get a certificate, it's not to have pictures for a nice white outfit. Come on, somebody say amen. That's not why we do baby dedications. We do baby dedications because we want to make a statement to the family, and the family is making a statement, even though the child does not understand it: we are going to raise you up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. That is our vow, that is our commitment. If you can't commit to that, don't do a baby dedication. Amen.

Then, when we make that plea to the church, the church then says, "We are going to support you in your vow. Your vow's first as a parent or guardian; we're going to commit to you and your child to help you raise them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord." So, for you, if you can't make that commitment, don't say anything, don't stand up, don't extend your hand. Amen, real talk. Because sometimes we just start raising our hands, standing up, "Oh yeah, yeah." No, you are making a vow before God and before people. Same thing with marriage: if you ain't going to commit to it, don't. So, baby dedication is when the parent says to the child, to the family, to the congregation, "I make that commitment." Got it? And then they leave it to the child to decide to make their personal commitment later. We're not baptizing them because baptism is when they make their personal commitment. Dedication is when the parent makes a commitment; baptism is when they make their own commitment. See the difference? So, what we're talking about with one baptism is that when you or your child makes their own commitment, not yours. A lot of times, I'm sitting in a room with a parent, and I'm like, "What you really want is a baby dedication or a child dedication, not a baptism." I have to sometimes say that, like, it sounds like you want to dedicate, not because you don't want your child to be confused about why we're doing this. Does that make sense? Confusion is not what we want; we want clarity. Clarity says, in this situation, it's a baby dedication.

There are a variety of ways we see baptism play out in the New Testament; there doesn't seem to be uniformity. We see John the Baptist offer baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, where people confess their sins, are baptized, and receive forgiveness in that moment. It's a lot like what you see at church revival sometimes, with an altar call, even today, where people pray that they would be saved, that they would receive salvation and enter into the discipleship journey. Peter repeated this on the day of Pentecost, adding the promise of the Holy Spirit. Yet, did you notice that Jesus forgave people sometimes without baptizing them, and some converts received the Holy Spirit before being baptized? Did you notice that? So, there's not uniformity in how it's all done. In all these cases, we know, though, that these scenarios involved adults. Paul is found in a few situations where there's a whole household of people who are baptized. We don't know if this includes infants or not. But the reason I tell you that is, I grew up in a situation where people said there's only one way to be baptized. I was in a Baptist church, y'all know what that was, right? If you had even a little bit of your shirt sticking out the water, that pastor would be like, total immersion, ain't no nothing. You go down, you come back up. But what we find in scripture and historically is that there was sprinkling and pouring. You know why they did that sometimes? Because there were famines and water scarcity, and sometimes they did not immerse people because that would be tone-deaf to what's going on in society, or there was no water anyway. So, they sprinkled and poured, and that became the tradition of a lot of different denominations, not because that's the only way to do it, but because they were trying to honor the culture and times they were living in. There's no one mandate in scripture of how to baptize; it's just that you are to be baptized.

Y'all catch that? So, if somebody comes to church on a Sunday, and we don't have a tank full, and they express to be baptized, like what happened on Easter—someone came to us and said, "I want to be baptized," and Pastor Ken went and got a big old bucket because we didn't have time to fill the tank. Are you with me? Many of you gathered around him on the steps, prayed over him, and baptized him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and they dumped that whole bucket of water on that brother. That's baptism too. Why? Because there's no uniformity. People can be baptized in different ways. The issue is not how they're being baptized; the issue is the condition of their heart and their request to be baptized. Are you with me?

Our Wesleyan view of conversion sees this as a critical thing, and there are a lot of different points of dispute. I'm not going to go into all of them; I just want to give you a few things, and then I'm going to close out. Is that all right? We've been using these terms all throughout this series, so I'm bringing some of them back to close out: what we're doing, why we're doing it, and this idea of the order or the way of salvation. If you understand John Wesley, you know that John Wesley had this thing called the order or the way of salvation. It talks about our salvation being a journey; it's not just one thing, it is a process, not just simply one milestone. This is taken from Jerome Van Kuiken's The Creed We Believe. Here are a few things I want to lift up in closing. The first one is this idea of predestination. Predestination is a big word, probably an SAT word, but God has designed and built a highway of salvation. Think about it as a highway, setting up in advance the pre-destination and establishing the rules of the road. God did this without my input, without your input. We call that predestination: there's something He has set up for us to experience. He does not make you decide to follow Him, but He sets up the rules of the road. Y'all caught that?

Second thing: there's this thing called prevenient grace. This is an on-ramp. As you think about a road, there's a road with rules, and then there are different on-ramps, different ways to get off or on the road. Prevenient grace is like an on-ramp to the highway of salvation. God is constantly at work in everybody's life—He's at work in your life, He's at work in my life, He's at work in that person you think is far from Him, that person who's messing up, doing crazy stuff. He's at work in their life too. We call that prevenient grace, enabling them, enabling me, enabling you to recognize and desire what is good and true, convicting them and us of sin, and drawing them towards Christ to be saved. God is doing that even in the lives of people who have never heard this gospel preached this way. He is showing up in their lives too. He may show up in dreams, in visions, in other ways. That's called prevenient grace.

Then there's this thing called conversion. Everybody say, "Conversion." This is the merging lane. God grants those convicted of sin the grace of repentance, where we turn from our sins and turn to Christ as Savior in response. Several things happen at once: one, God forgives our sins, amen; two, God justifies them by faith, where He declares them to be right in relationship with God; and three, He regenerates them or causes them to be born again spiritually. Are y'all with me? New believers, new converts know all this is happening because the Holy Spirit gives them a sense of inner assurance. That's why you have to talk to people who say they are ready to be baptized, because God will give them an inner assurance about something that has happened. Are you with me? The Holy Spirit does that. You don't just teach them what to say; you let the Holy Spirit do that. Amen. Even small children can tell you the truth. Come on, amen. The Holy Spirit can do that.

We call this the witness of the Spirit, where the Holy Spirit does the work, and then the people respond. Sanctification—we've talked about this over and over again. What you need to know is John Wesley believed God can bring repentant believers into a condition of entire sanctification, in which the pure love of God and neighbor fully directs one's life. It is like driving in the fast lane. The journey is far from over; driver error and breakdowns are possible, but there's a freedom from being slowed down by lesser loves and distractions, like selfishness. Are you with me? That's sanctification. Last one, we've talked about this before too: glorification. This is the destination we have driven toward and dreamed of since the beginning, and it lies across the state line, if you will, of our earthly life. Christ will grant His faithful people immortal, perfected life in His presence forever. We will fully reflect the image of our sinless, glorious, and resurrected Lord. That is the way or the order of salvation. Are y'all with me?

In closing, notice what is connected to baptism in the Nicene Creed. Did you notice what's connected there? Forgiveness. Forgiveness is not just for conversion; forgiveness is also a part of the process of sanctification. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus is intentional about including the practice of forgiveness, both being forgiven as well as forgiving others. Jesus says, if we're not willing to forgive others, then it is impossible for us to be forgiven. Y'all catch that? If we are not willing to forgive others, then it is impossible for us to be forgiven. Thus, forgiveness becomes a spiritual discipline that does not come easy. Do you know why some people don't come to church on Father's Day? They're wrestling with forgiveness. Some, not all, and church just becomes that reminder: I know I'm supposed to, but I don't want to. I know I'm supposed to, but I don't know if I can. Are you with me? Forgiveness becomes a tension, a struggle. I'll admit, man, I've wrestled with unforgiveness too. But it is part of the way of salvation, part of the order of salvation.

I love this quote: "If our greatest need had been information, God would have given us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have given us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have given us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have given us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior." Worship team, if you'll join me. Maybe for someone, the message for you today is a message of forgiveness. As we close out this series on the Creed We Believe, maybe for you, knowing that you can be forgiven is your message for today. That God is capable of forgiving you. Maybe you don't know my story, but man, I think about all the stuff I did, all the stuff I still do, and He chooses to forgive me. It's overwhelming. But God is a God who forgives. So, this idea of baptism is connected to forgiveness. It's important to note that for the forgiveness of sins. In other words, He's saying, "When you admit that you need Me, when you call on Me as both Savior and Lord, I am able to forgive, and I'm able to make all things new." And then you're able to be baptized because you're communicating that you understand that truth at some level. Are you with me? At some level.

Maybe for you, it's forgiveness. We're going to open up the altar as we sing together. Please stand all over the building. We're going to open up the altar. Maybe for you, it's the act of faith, the act of surrender, and just saying, "Lord, would You forgive me? Would You make me right with You?" Maybe you want to come forward and say, "You know what, I want to do business with God. I want to give everything to Him." Or maybe for you, like I mentioned, today is a struggle. Maybe you're watching online, and today is a struggle, this whole idea of Father's Day. Maybe there's some secret things going on that you haven't fully talked about or unpacked, but you know it's there, and you want to lay that at the feet of Jesus and say, "God, will You take this from me? I don't need to carry it anymore." So, no matter what it may be, maybe just in general, you want to come forward and say, "Hey, I know my walk with Jesus is not what it should be, and I'm just coming as a declaration that I want Him to transform my life." There is one Father, there's one Lord, there's one Spirit, there's one hope, there's one body, there's one baptism.

So, whatever that looks like for you, we're going to open the altar and allow it to be a place where you can do business with God. I want you to really think and sit in the words of this next song. I want them to wash over you. If you're not at the altar, I want them to wash over you, and I want you to make note that these are not just songs we sing, but they are cries from believers' hearts about commitments they've made and things that they've experienced, and they're just sharing them with you. As we sing this song, let's come in agreement with the writers of this song, let's come in agreement with other people in the room that our God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we could ask or imagine. So, don't worry about who's sitting next to you, don't worry about who walks down and makes their own commitment, just encourage them and celebrate what God might be up to.

Let's pray. Father, thank You for this word, Your time with us today. Thank You that Your word does not return void, but it will accomplish the thing whereunto it has been sent. So, Father, as we make decisions, as we step out in faith, as we live in the tension of struggles that we may have inwardly and outwardly, would You meet us right where we are? For those who've never made a commitment to You that decide to do so today, Father, I pray that You'd work in their heart. I pray that You would allow them to experience You. I pray for those, God, who've already made commitments, but they sense a new season of life. You meet them too. God, no matter where we are, we offer ourselves to You, we surrender to You. Have Your way, do what only You can do, and we trust You with the results. Pray it in Jesus' name. All God's people said, "Amen."