Sermon Series: Windows in the Gospel: The Denominations of Christianity Sermon Title: The Baptist Churches: Baptism, Conversion & Scripture

Transcription

1 Sermon Series: Windows in the Gospel: The Denominations of Christianity Sermon Title: The Baptist Churches: Baptism, Conversion & Scripture John 3:16; Romans 6:23 For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Things I d like to remember from today s sermon: Meditation Moments This week we will continue in our practice of praying and reading the Psalms during three of the traditional offices of prayer Morning (laud), Mid-day (sext) and Bed-time (compline). This pattern comes from the Anglican rather than the Baptist tradition but Baptists would appreciate the emphasis on prayer and scripture reading! We ll read and pray through the longest Psalm in the Bible this week: Psalm 119; it contains 22 stanzas named for the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet; each is eight verses long. Its focus is on pursuing God s Word and commands an important theme to Baptists and to all. Enjoy Monday, September 17-Lauds (morning): Begin with a prayer of thanksgiving for the day, read Psalm 119:1-8 and lift up a prayer based upon them, asking God to help you today to walk in his ways throughout the day. Lift up your needs to the Lord, and then pray the Lord s Prayer. Sext (mid-day): Give thanks for your meal and for the morning that has passed. Read Psalm 119:9-16 aloud as a prayer. Compline (bed-time): Thank God for the day for the blessings. Pause to consider anything in (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 1)

2 the day you need God s forgiveness for, or help in order to learn from your experiences and live differently tomorrow. Read Psalm 119:17-32 aloud. Choose two verses to focus on and recite them once again in prayer. Tuesday, September 18- Lauds (morning): Begin with a prayer of thanksgiving for the day, then read Psalm 119:33-48 aloud. Focus on two verses and pray them once more as you commit our ways to the Lord today. Sext (mid-day): Give thanks for your meal and for the morning that has passed. Read Psalm 119:49-56 aloud. Note the Psalmists steadfastness even during times of trouble. Commit the remainder of the day to the Lord. Compline (bed-time): Thank God for the day for the blessings. Pause to consider anything in the day you need God s forgiveness for, or help in order to learn from your experiences and live differently tomorrow. Read Psalm 119:57-72 as a prayer. Choose two verses to focus on and use them in your prayer time. Lift up your concerns before the Lord. Wednesday, September 19 Lauds (morning): Begin with a prayer of thanksgiving for the day and for God s goodness, read Psalm 119:73-88 aloud. Lift up your concerns to God. Sext (mid-day): Give thanks for your meal and for the morning that has passed. Read Psalm 119:89-96 as a prayer. Invite God to lead you throughout the remainder of the day. Compline (bed-time): Thank God for the day for the blessings. Pause to consider anything in the day you need God s forgiveness for, or help in order to learn from your experiences and live differently tomorrow. Read Psalm 119: as a prayer. Commit to the Lord your concerns. Thursday, September 20 Lauds (morning): Begin with a prayer of thanksgiving for the day and for God s goodness, then read Psalm 119: Pray that you can live this way. Lift up your concerns to the Lord. Sext (mid-day): Give thanks for your meal and for the morning that has passed. Read Psalm 119: Invite God to guide you in his truth and to direct your path the rest of the day. Compline (bed-time): Thank God for the day for the blessings. Pause to consider anything in the day you need God s forgiveness for, or help in order to learn from your experiences and live differently tomorrow. Read Psalm 119: aloud. Friday, September 21 -Lauds (morning): Begin with a prayer of thanksgiving for the day and for God s goodness, then read Psalm 119: as a prayer. Lift up your concerns to the Lord ending with the Lord s Prayer. Sext (mid-day): Give thanks for your meal and for the morning that has passed. Read Psalm (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 2)

3 119: forming your prayer from the verses you ve read. Compline (bed-time): Thank God for the day for the blessings. Pause to consider anything in the day you need God s forgiveness for, or help in order to learn from your experiences and live differently tomorrow. Read Psalm 119: aloud. Which of these verses speaks most clearly to you tonight as you pray? Saturday, September 22 worth repeating last week s Lauds (morning): Begin with a prayer of thanksgiving and for the day and for God s goodness. Read Psalm 118: 1 and 24. What comes to your mind today as you think about God making this day? What is there for you to rejoice about in this moment? Focus your mind on that as you close in prayer, repeating verse 24 as you end. Sext (mid-day): Read Psalm 118: Give thanks for your meal and the morning that has passed. What is one way you can praise or exalt God this afternoon? Pray that you might do that as you end your time of prayer Compline (bed-time): Thank God for the day and for its blessings. Pause to consider anything in the day for which you need God s forgiveness or help in order to learn from your experiences and live differently tomorrow. Read Psalm 118: Read verse 29 again aloud and may that be your prayer as you fall asleep tonight. Theme: Windows in the Gospel The Denominations of Christianity The Baptist Churches: Baptism, Conversion and Scripture Sermon preached by Jeff Huber based on a sermon series by Adam Hamilton September 15-16, 2012 at First United Methodist Church, Durango John 3:16; Romans 6:23 For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. VIDEO Baptist Church Sermon Starter The Baptist Churches (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 3)

4 I invite you to take out of your bulletin your Message Notes and your Meditation Moments. You have our Scripture passages for the day at the top and a space for you to write things down that you want to remember from today's message. I promise that you will learn something new today that you didn't know before. You may hear God's voice prodding you and I hope you will write those things down so you can reflect upon them in the week ahead. Your Meditation Moments continue on the back side with a daily devotion urging you to practice what you hear in the message today. We are going to be looking at the simple gospel today and what is at the heart of following Jesus, and continuing this week in the tradition that we learned from the Anglicans and before that the Catholics on praying at different times during the day using the Psalms. I hope you will enjoy the chance to allow your prayers to be shaped by the Psalms and stop at midday as well as that morning and night to spend some time in prayer. This week you will study Psalm 119 which is the longest chapter in the entire Bible. We broke it down into several parts so you can spend all week looking at this text. Psalm 119 focuses on God's commandments and God decrees for our lives and you will have a chance to read and study that and reflect upon it since it is a major theme within the Baptist tradition. Today we continue in our series of sermons on the denominations of Christianity. We are trying to understand in this series more about our brothers and sisters in Christ in the various Christian faith traditions. Our aim has been to help us discover more about ourselves and where we have come from. We also are listening carefully for what each tradition might teach us about what it means to be an authentic followers of Jesus today. We are not trying to prove to you that United Methodists are better than any other faith tradition, but instead we are humbly listening and learning from those who are our friends in other faith traditions. We started this series by looking at the early church and understanding that in the beginning there were no denominations. People who followed Christ were simply called, "followers of the way." Followers of the Way Over the last few weeks we have learned that the church divided about 1000 years into its history and in 1054 the Orthodox Church split off from the Roman Catholic Church. We then learned about the Reformation which happened on mainland Europe and was begun by Martin Luther and then Calvin. Last week we went to England and we learned about the Reformation that happened on (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 4)

5 English soil. We learned that the Reformation in England was different than on the continent of Europe. There was an attempt by Queen Elizabeth in the 1500s to navigate between the Catholic tradition and the Protestants who were calling for reform. She tried to forge what was called the "via media" which was the middle way that brought together both Catholic and Protestant traditions. She melded them into the church which became the Church of England. English society was divided between Protestants and Catholics and no one was satisfied fully with her solution or settlement. Puritans or dissenters or nonconformists Over the next few hundred years of English history there continued to be struggle over religion, especially by those who were Puritans. They were a part of the Church of England but they wanted greater purity for the church. They wanted the church to look more protestant than Catholic and they wanted to set aside anything that even looked Roman Catholic. The name "Puritans" was derogative and it was meant to be a criticism of those who wanted greater purity. The Puritans were also known as "dissenters" or "nonconformists." They dissented from the established views of the Church of England in worship patterns and in theology, but they still remained within the Church of England. Those that finally became frustrated with the Church of England decided to leave the church, but were sometimes persecuted for their faith. They often would leave England and go to other places. One of those groups left England and they went to Holland where they were also persecuted. They ended up coming to America. Do you remember what they were called? Pilgrims Pilgrims were from the Church of England and they were dissenters who were Puritans but had decided to leave the church and leave their country altogether. This Puritan idea of setting aside all things Catholic became a part of early American settlements as they looked at a very simple way of worship and simple theology that was rooted and grounded in the Protestant Reformation from Europe. Others left the Church of England, not only wanting greater purity in the practices of the church and leaving behind anything that was Catholic, but ultimately they left over a disagreement over baptism. They left believing that followers of Christ should believe only what is said literally and specifically in the (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 5)

6 Bible. When it came to the Bible's teaching on baptism they never saw anywhere in the Scriptures where it says to baptize children. In fact, there were only a couple of hints that children were baptized in the New Testament. Acts chapter 16 talks about to entire families who were baptized and the Greek word that is used in those texts seem to be describing a family with children. Generally, in the New Testament baptism was talked about as adult conversions because of course the early church was made up of converts who were adults, being baptized in the faith. Reading the Scriptures in this way they said that one cannot be baptized until you're old enough to answer for yourself and until you are old enough to repent. They rejected infant baptism even though the Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, the Lutherans, the Presbyterians or Calvinists, the Anglicans and even the Puritans held on to infant baptism. These persons were considered radical reformers because they wanted to do away with infant baptism and it was over this but they split from the Church of England. There was no way they could continue to be Puritans or in the Church of England in any form and not accept the idea of infant baptism. They became known as Anabaptists. Anabaptists = "one who baptizes over again" (picture of John Smyth on the left.) They were named this by their enemies because the word literally means "one who baptizes over again." They rejected the idea of infant baptism and the first Baptist pastor that we know of was John Smith who came out of the Church of England in the early 17th century. He was a Puritan who separated from the Church over the issue of baptism and established his church in On the very first Sunday he re-baptized all of the adults who had been baptized as infants. One thing that I learned this week as I was studying John Smyth is that the very first Baptist baptized people by sprinkling and not by immersion. John Smyth told his friends that he re-baptized his entire congregation with one pail of water on that Sunday. Originally this is how Baptist baptized and it took several decades before they began to baptize by immersion, or putting people completely under the water and then bring them back out. There were two pastors walking down the street one day and one was a Baptist pastor and one was a Methodist pastor. As they began walking down the street it began to sprinkle outside. The Methodist pastor began to sing and to himself and really enjoy the light rain. He was savoring the opportunity to walk in (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 6)

7 the sprinkles. The Baptist pastor was hurrying along and he finally began to run into the building they were headed towards. The Methodist pastor continued to just enjoy the sprinkles and when he finally entered the building he asked his friend, "What's the deal with you? You are a Baptist and you are supposed to like water." on." The Baptist pastor responded, "Yeah, but I just don't like being sprinkled Baptists were more radical reformers and they wanted to do away with anything that looked Catholic in the church. They rejected everything from the liturgy to what clergy would wear during worship because they didn't see any of that in the New Testament. They went to very simple clothing without any robes. They got rid of the altar because that was a place where sacrifices were made and the Catholic mass focused on the sacrifice of Jesus and that didn't seem biblical to them so you will notice in most Baptist churches there are no altars. They did away with candles and anything that seemed symbolic or Catholic. Everything was simplified and even the Lord's Prayer was not repeated every week because that seemed to be vain repetition that Jesus warned against in the Scriptures. So in many Baptist traditions they do not say the Lord's Prayer every Sunday. This captures in some sense what a Baptist church might feel like which is why we have removed those things from worship today. If they had a communion table it would simply be put out on communion Sunday and not every weekend for worship. There was an attempt to radically reform the church of England and set aside anything that continued to look Catholic and so most symbols were removed from the worship spaces. Baptists were seen as radical reformers and they were persecuted by the Church of England and by Puritans. They were persecuted in Holland which is why they came to America and even in certain colonies in America they were persecuted. This is why Baptists had a strong appreciation for the separation of church and state, which is really interesting because some Baptist today have sort of forgotten that. Originally they emphasized the separation of church and state because they recognized that a state which took one particular Christian position, which wasn't theirs, and then persecuted all of those who were different, including those who were Baptists. They were clear that they wanted the state to be completely neutral so that it could not affect and promote one particular religious viewpoint and put those on the entire population. Each week I have been showing you different diagrams about how different (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 7)

8 churches have understood their history in relationship to the entire church and its history and where they fit theologically. Let's take a look at the one that we looked at last week, which was the Anglican or Episcopalian timeline. Episcopal Timeline In this diagram we see that for the first thousand years of church history it was the apostolic church and there were no divisions. It was thought by Protestants that the Orthodox church and the Catholic Church wandered from the path a bit and got off track from the original New Testament church. They were in need of reform and so first came Luther who parted from the Catholic Church and sought to reform it. John Calvin and the Presbyterian Church sought to reform the church even further, believing that Luther had not gone far enough. The Anglican Church came along and said that Luther and Calvin had gone too far and we needed to pursue a middle way. Here is how the Baptist church might view this timeline. Baptist Timeline The Baptists believe that Luther and Calvin had not gone far enough to return the church to its original roots. The church needed to be reformed even farther and they traced their roots directly back to the apostolic tradition which is what the dotted line represents. Baptists believe there is a dotted line connecting us all the way back to the very beginning of the New Testament church. This might be how Baptist would see church history. There are around 45 million Baptists around the world today and 33 million of them live in the United States. The Baptist church is in large part an American phenomenon. It is important at this point to recognize that there are lots of different types of Baptists. When you say "Baptist" you need to say what kind of Baptist that you are talking about. There are American Baptists which are very much like United Methodist. I went to seminary with some students who were from the American Baptist church and there have been United Methodist pastors who have gone to American Baptist seminaries because we share much in common. Southern Baptist are the largest group of Baptists and they are in some way very similar to Methodist and in other ways they are very different. They tend to be the most conservative of the Baptist groups and there are moderate southern Baptists which look a little bit more like Methodist and there are fundamentalist Southern Baptists and there is everything in between. (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 8)

9 Baptists don't form denominations. Instead, the economy of a given Baptist church is protected. Individual Baptist churches may choose to associate with other Baptist churches which are like-minded in order to pursue common goals and those like-minded associations are called conventions. There is the southern Baptist convention and the American Baptist convention and the northern Baptist convention. These are loose affiliations of different churches. The differences between Baptists are sometimes very profound. When I lived in the Denver area the church that was the most vocal about opposing homosexuality and civil unions was a large southern Baptist Church. One of the churches which is most well-known for performing civil unions for gay and lesbian persons is also a Baptist church. You can see that there is a wide range of Baptist traditions and theological stances within those churches. Across all of those there are some similarities and some differences. This last week I talked with Pastor Jeff Dobesh who is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church here in Durango down Third Avenue. Jeff and I have a lot in common in that we both used to be youth pastors before we begin leading a church. We also both have adopted children internationally and we had a great time getting to know each other over the years. I asked Jeff if he would talk to us a bit about the differences among Baptists. This is what he had to say. VIDEO Why are there different Baptists The Baptist Churches So it is important to recognize the wide variety of Baptist churches. There are Calvinist Baptists and there are free will Baptists. I have generally found that Baptists have been very gracious and deeply committed to Christ. They love the study the Scriptures and they have an amazing sense of mission and serving others. I have met a few Baptists who have not been very gracious and who seem to be very narrow-minded and not very pleasant to be around, but the reality is I have met some Methodist like that as well. In general I have found that most Baptists are kindred spirits and I have enjoyed our connection as brothers and sisters in Christ. One of the differences that I've noticed between some fundamental Baptist churches is how we read the Scriptures. Most of us as United Methodists and most mainline churches look at the Scriptures and we recognize that God spoke through people and God whispered into their hearts and inspired the Scriptures, yet their own humanity comes out in the Scriptures as well. Paul was writing in a specific time and place in history. God whispered into his heart and he spoke (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 9)

10 through Paul, but we also find in Paul's culture and time coming through in his writings and letters. God spoke the ideas and the principles into Paul's heart but Paul chose the words most of the time. We believe that God could have chosen each and every word but we understand that he used human to give us his message. Most of my more conservative Baptist friends believe that every single word in Scripture was chosen just as it is. They believe that the biblical authors thought they were writing their own thoughts but in reality God was choosing every single word. This means that when you read the Scriptures you might read it differently. In many Baptist churches you will find a pastor flipping back and forth between verses in Scripture looking at every single line in talking about what every single word means. That can be important and I preach that way from time to time, but generally we look at the principals which we find in the Scriptures and we are willing to dialogue with a text. We read a text and we say, "Paul lived in this time so how would he have said the same thing today in our time?" We recognize that the biblical authors had limited scientific knowledge and God didn't seem to think it was important to give them 21st-century scientific knowledge back in the first century. They write according to what they know scientifically and that is okay with us because we recognize the Bible was not meant to be a science textbook. We recognize that today the biblical authors would have other information and they might write about science differently. But for my friends who are more conservative Baptists they believe that since every word was chosen by God and God knows everything about science then God must be correct and so must the Bible, even if science looks at something differently today. One of the ways that this difference in reading the Scriptures is lived out is that in the Southern Baptist Convention women are not allowed to be pastors because Paul lived in a time in which women were not to lead men. They even were not allowed to speak to men in some places in the first century. Since God chose every single word, even though it was spoken during that time and place, that is a timeless Commandment. Women are to keep silent in the church. In United Methodist and other mainline churches, even American Baptist churches, we read the Scripture and we understand the time in which Paul lived was very patriarchal. We see throughout the Scriptures examples of women being in leadership and so we look at Paul's writings about women keeping silent in church and we keep it in context with the culture. We thank God that women are called into ministry today and we affirm women as pastors and as leaders in the church. (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 10)

11 We both value the Bible and we both believe that God inspired human beings to write the Scriptures. We both believe it is the Word of God and we both believe it is the primary basis for faith and practice. But we do read the Bible in somewhat different ways. When it comes to the belief of Baptists, there are a number of things which are important to them. The Nicene Creed and the Apostle s Creed are not typically used in Baptist Churches because those have traditionally been seen as Catholic in their orientation. There are statements of faith used in Baptist churches which contain the same ideas. Many of my Baptist friends have told me that they agree with everything in those two creeds because all of the churches that we have studied hold to those things as the essential core of the faith. I did ask Pastor Jeff Dobesh if he would share with us some of the emphases or focus of the Baptist church and here is what he had to say. VIDEO What are Baptist beliefs Baptist beliefs Several things that Jeff mentioned are very helpful when we look at Baptist churches and their basic beliefs. The Authority of the Bible Baptists look at the Bible as their primary authority for faith and practice. We Methodists do the same. The personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ Jeff also mentioned a major emphasis of the Baptist faith is having a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That is also an important emphasis within United Methodism. Justification by faith We are saved by faith and God's grace and not by our works. God is the one who initiates salvation and gives us that gift. We simply receive it. Methodists and Baptists would hold that common as well. The understanding of baptism One place that we would differ is in the understanding of baptism. We baptize infants in our tradition and Baptists do not practice this and so we don't see eye to eye on this aspect of faith for the reasons that we talked about in previous sermons. (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 11)

12 I don't want to dwell upon that difference but rather I would like to take the last portion of this sermon to talk about three things I think we can learn from our Baptist friends. These are three major emphases that we agree with as Methodists but I think it is important that we hear from them and that we contemplate today as we consider their faith and their traditions. The Baptist love a Bible study I appreciate the fact that Baptists love to study their Bible. When I go to a Baptist church one of the first things I notice is that everybody brings their Bible to church with them. Part of that is because the pastor is going to go back and forth in the Scriptures and you will need to have that in front of you to follow along. The way that the text is preached from is that the pastor will invite you to open up your Bible and go to five or six different places. That is not generally how we preach in the Methodist Church as we usually focus on one or two passages in Scripture and then we tease that out. We put the Scripture on your Message Notes and so you don't have to bring your Bible with you. But the truth is that I would love to see you bring your Bible. This is a roadmap for your lives, whether you were going to Sunday school or to Bible study or coming to worship. We hope you will bring not just your pocket New Testament that we handout but also your entire Bible because we will look at Old Testament passages as well. Many times I have wanted to ask you to turn in your Bible to a certain passage but I know that many of you don't bring them so I want to encourage you to bring your Bibles to church with you. I appreciate that not only do Baptist bring their Bible to church but they are serious about studying your Bible. We have a group of women who meet here every Thursday morning called Bible Study Fellowship and they use the sanctuary to study their Bible and then they fill up every room in our building for small groups to go even deeper. That study is actually out of the Baptist tradition and I appreciate that they feel like they can use our building for that and that a number of the women in our church attend that study. A few weeks ago I joked that it would be a Presbyterian thing to ask people to pull out their Message Notes and take notes during this sermon because they are very cerebral tradition like to think. But it is a very Baptist thing for us to tell you that on the backside of those Message Notes there are Meditation Moments that we encourage you to read and use each day of the week as you open up your Bible and read it every day for yourself. Reading the Bible and studying it are very important. (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 12)

13 You might be saying to yourself, "Why is that so important? Can I just come to church and listen to you preach a sermon about the Bible?" Hearing a sermon that uses Scripture should be powerful and wonderful but there is something about opening up the text for yourself. I use multiple resources to pull together your Meditation Moments each week and I read through them before they are printed for you to use. But even with that I used them this last week and several times when I opened up the Psalms around lunchtime somehow those Psalms spoke to me when I read them. They formed and shaped my prayer and made me think of people to pray for. One of those Psalms was very dark until you got to the very last line and that very last line brings a whole new meaning to that piece of Scripture, that even in the midst of the darkest moments God's light will shine. Maybe you don't understand the Bible when you read it. I know I have struggled with that at times in my life but I want to encourage you to keep reading. If you read one entire chapter of any book of the Bible I guarantee you that you will find at least one phrase that will speak to you. Focus on that one phrase and not all the things that maybe you don't understand. The longer you read and the more Bible study that you take, after a while it will begin to shape your heart and your soul. We just began this last week a 32 week introduction to the entire Bible called Disciple Bible Study on Wednesday nights. It's not too late for you to join and I want to encourage you to give it a try if you have always wanted to learn more about the Scriptures. The Bible can shape your life and can be most profound and how it does that. One of the persons who taught me to love Scripture were my campus ministers Doug and Alice McKee. When I was a college student we would gather at their home for breakfast and as part of breakfast Doug would read one of the Psalms from this version of the Psalms, "Psalms Now!" It's a contemporary version of the Psalms written by Leslie Brandt. When I moved to Durango 10 years ago Doug and Alice were serving Crossroads United Methodist Church in Grand Junction. Doug was diagnosed for the second time with prostrate cancer during my first year here and over the course of the next two years his body was ravaged by the disease. I went to visit Doug in his home in the last month of his life and he was still full of life even though he had a short time to live. I noticed this book, "Psalms Now" on his bedside table and I told him how much it meant to me that he had taught me to (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 13)

14 love the Psalms through this book. He then told me that one of the favorite parts of the day was sitting in his chair in their back sunroom watching the sun go down. He could no longer read and so Alice would read him a Psalm until he would fall asleep. Doug said it was the best time of the day as they read the Scriptures together and were reminded of the promises of God even in the Valley of the shadow of death. My hope for each one of you is that by the time you are 80 or 90 years old and somebody is reading the Bible to you that you know those words so well that they have saved your soul and they bring you peace even as you approach the shadow of your life. I pray it will be like drinking from a glass of cool water on a hot day and that it drenches your soul. That only happens when you open your Bible and you read it and you let the words touch your heart. This week you were going to read Psalm 119 and it is all about reflecting upon the word of God and letting it soak in your soul. Psalm 119:105 is one of those great passages of Scripture that we not only say but we sing. (Psalm background) Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. It will only be that for you if you open it. I also appreciate the Baptist emphasis on missions. The Baptist emphasis on missions and new churches. They understand and believe that people are lost without Jesus Christ. Many Baptist churches have a heartbeat for the lost and that the most important thing that a believer does is to share their faith with other people. Sometimes that means even leaving their church to start a new church. I have met families from Baptist churches who have moved hundreds of miles to help plant a new church in another city or another state or another country. These are not pastors who moved but they are people like you who go and find new jobs in new places because they believe a church needed to reach those who haven't yet heard about the hope in Jesus Christ. Would you do that? Would you actually move neighborhoods to help start a church in a place where there was no church to bring a word of hope? That is a pretty powerful statement. Baptist churches also have a focus on missionaries, people like you who feel a call of God on their life to leave their jobs here in America and to go to other parts of the world to be in mission and to serve. I want you to listen to Jeff as he shares about the importance of missions at his church. (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 14)

15 VIDEO Baptist Missionaries The Baptist emphasis on missions I love that idea of creating space in the pews by sending people out to serve in the world. In the next year we will finally have deeded to us new property in Grandview, just west of the emergency room at the hospital. We know that the center of our County is going to be Grandview and more and more homes will be built there and east of that area. I am hoping that some of you will say, "I love being at this campus on Aspen, but if it will help reach lost people for Jesus Christ and bring them hope then I'm willing to go out there." I wonder if that is some of you sitting here today. We have had several people leave from this church over the past few years and go to be missionaries both in the United States and in other parts the world. I think that's awesome and I hope you will listen for the voice of God calling you as well. The Baptist emphasis on making a decision for Christ I really appreciate that Baptist encourage the idea of a simple message which talks about the salvation offered through Jesus Christ. I don't think we have to preach that same message Sunday after Sunday and there are some Baptist churches that do that and there are many who don't. I do think remembering that simple salvation message is important. I want to remind you that there comes a point where you have to make a decision and claim the faith for yourself. Most of you are Americans because you were born here in America. You didn't choose to be but you were just here and so you are an American. Many of you are Christians because you were born into a Christian family. That is what you are and you wouldn't know anything else. Somewhere along the way, when it comes to the gospel, it's important for you to say, "I might've grown up as a Christian because of my parents, but I am choosing to follow Christ because of me and my heart. I have decided to follow Jesus." The most famous Baptist that if ever lived is probably Billy Graham and this is exactly what he did when he did his Crusades. He doesn't do them anymore but when he did he was known as the man who carried a newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other. The newspaper points to our need to what the Bible declares that the stories we see in the news and the stories in our own lives point to the fact that we need a Savior. We can't save ourselves. We need someone who will give us hope and life. We need someone who will change us (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 15)

16 from the inside out. We need someone who has called us to follow him and who loves us more than we can imagine or believe. We need someone who is going to wait for us on the other side of death's door and welcome us into his eternal home. He would say, "So if you want to come and receive Christ, why do you come on forward as we sing Just as I Am." And they would come by the thousands because somehow that simple gospel message still speaks to our hearts today. Sometimes we in the mainline churches have forgotten that. Sometimes we have believed that if people will just come to church they will just get it by osmosis. I think that can happen. If you come to church long enough you will get it and it will sink in your heart. But I still think there is a value at some point in saying, if you've never done before, "I'm taking this step and I accept this gift. I have chosen to follow Jesus Christ. I am not just sort of falling into it, but I am making a conscious decision to follow the Lord." Baptists sometimes point to the Roman Road of Salvation which is where we turn to the book of Romans to find this simple story of salvation that we find in Romans 3:23. (Romans background) For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God s glorious standard. I know some people are turned off by churches in the Christian faith because they think we talk about sin so much. We don't talk about it that much here but I will tell you that it is part of our daily lives. We struggle with being human. We enjoy gossiping about people when they're not around, don't we? We struggle with lustful thoughts. We tend to be materialistic and we have a hard time giving up what we have to help someone in need, unless we get noticed for it. We find it easy to be impatient with others. We sometimes say things we wish we hadn't said. We are a whole bundle of mixed motives and insecurities which drive everything we do. On an international and global scale we find that many of are practices as Americans which are in the best interest of American security, are sometimes in the worst interest of other people's security. It doesn't really matter because we are Americans and it is all about us. That's how we live personally and that's how we live as a nation sometimes. We are broken at many different levels and we are in need of the Savior. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Then they will skip to Romans 6:23, a passage we have before us today. (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 16)

17 The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Sin hurts us. It destroys our relationships with other people and it separates us from God. It destroys us eternally if we reject God and turn away from God because God does not force us into heaven. He waits for us to accept his invitation. We can turn away from God's eternal gift of life. The wages of sin are death, but there is good news. gift. The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Then they will move to Romans 10:9 10. This is how we appropriate that 9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. Here we find this simple gospel laid out from a Baptist perspective, taking the book of Romans. But we also might turn to John 3:16 which is a very simple passage of Scripture we also read today. For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. The fundamental orientation of God is that God loves. Sometimes we don't hear that when people begin quoting this passage of Scripture. Sometimes the people who quote this passage themselves seem to present God as harsh and full of judgment, but John 3: 16 says that God loves us. God loves us more than we can imagine or believe. It is hard to comprehend the depth and breath of God's love for us. Paul tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God, nothing. God loves us as a father loves his children. God so loved us that he sent Jesus to walk among us and show it what it means to be authentically human. He came to teach us what God's will is for our lives and to show us the heart of God. Finally, he came to die on the cross for the sins of the world. We don't completely understand that and there are different views of the atonement of Jesus Christ, the idea that Christ died for our sins. But the main message from God is that this is his solution for our brokenness, that he would sacrifice himself to show us what love looks like. (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 17)

18 Then Jesus was raised from the dead because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him would not perish but would have everlasting life. Jesus saves us from ourselves. He saves us from sin and brokenness. He saves us from guilt and shame. He saves us from fear. He saves us from hopelessness and despair. And he delivers us to eternal life. This is what Jesus does but we have to accept the gift that God is given to us. I think about my own life and that the best parts of my life have to do with my own decision to follow Jesus Christ. I met my wife because of it and I think I am a better husband because of it. I adopted my children because of it and I think I am a better father because of it. It changes how I am a husband and how I am a father and how I live my life everyday. My life purpose and how I look at the world has changed because of my decision to follow Jesus Christ. In the end, my perspective on this life and this world has changed because I recognize that this life is only temporary. I am just pilgrims passing through. I am an alien and strange land the Bible tells me. This life is just the preface to the great adventure that God has in store for me. However many years I live is just a blip compared to what is in store. That changes how you look at life, when you recognize that the worst thing in your life will never be the last thing in your life. All of this changes when you recognize that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. This last week in one of my devotionals I read about a member of one of our United Methodist churches named Ardene Sinkpeel. She was a young mother of two children and she contracted cancer that was non-operable. She knew she would be dying and when her pastor came to her she could no longer speak but she could motion to him and she motioned for him to sit and be quiet. Her husband smiled and explained to the pastor that every time a helicopter landed on the roof of the hospital his wife would stop whatever else she was doing and make everybody else stop what they were doing in the room so she could pray for the person and a helicopter. How amazing is that. This woman who was dying and she is still focused on ministering to other people. She can't even talk anymore but she knows that God can hear the thoughts in your heart and she stops and prays for those who are landing in a helicopter on the roof of the hospital for medical care. Do you know how you do that? Do you know how you become not self-centered but other centered? Do you know how you become fixated with hope and not despair in the face of death? You know that you have a Savior who has saved you from those things. Even in the midst of sorrow there is great joy (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 18)

19 and victory when you have Christ as your Savior. My question for you today is simple. Have you ever personally accepted Jesus Christ, or have you just taken it in by osmosis? Some of you did this last weekend when you got in the River and reaffirmed your baptism or were baptized for the first time. You'll see some video footage of that in a few minutes as part of the offering. Maybe you are here today for the very first time and you never even thought about going to church and accepting Christ. I want to give you that opportunity today. I want to give you the opportunity today to say, "Jesus Christ, I choose to follow you. I accept you as my Savior and my Lord, and I give my life to you." Here's how we are going to do that. I'm going to invite you to bow your head and close your eyes. I'm going to ask everyone in the room to do that, even if you are not a believer. Just bow your head right now me if you would. Please honor the process if you will. While your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed I'm looking around. I want to give you the opportunity today, if you are here and you have never personally accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and your Lord, I want you to imagine that Jesus is reaching his hand down towards you. I want to encourage you to simply reach up and take his hand as a way of expressing, "I want to follow Jesus Christ personally." I want to invite you to raise your hand right if you want to do that and you've never done it personally. I can see your hands and I want to invite you to keep them up while we pray. I'm going to say a prayer and I want to invite you to repeat these words quietly under your breath. Prayer Thank you God for loving me. I accept your love. Jesus, I accept you as my Savior, and I choose to follow you as my Lord. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Help me to honor and live for you. I give you my life in your holy name. You can put your hands down but keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed. I know there are many of you here who have accepted Christ in the past but perhaps you are ready to rededicate your life to God, to say, "Jesus, once more I want to commit my life to you." If that is you I want to invite you to join me in raising your hand. I am raising my hand because I want to recommit my life to following Christ. Keep your hand up if you would and I want to invite you to (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 19)

20 join me in this prayer, speaking quietly under your breath. Today Jesus, I rededicate my life to you. Once more, I accept the gift of salvation. Once more, I pledge to follow you. Forgive my sins. Help me to honor you and love you, to serve you and bring glory to your name. In your holy name, Amen. Go ahead and look up at me if you would. If you are one of those persons who raise your hand for the first time then you took that step today. At some point we all have to take that step and say, "This is who I have decided to be." If you don't have a church family, we would like to invite you to consider being part of this church family. You can't make that decision without seeking to grow in your faith and follow God with other Christians. If today you rededicate your life to Christ and you don't have a church I want you to consider this being your church. If this is not the church for you then please find one because each of us needs a church family to nurture our faith. At the end of the service today we will have Stephen Ministers down front who can pray with you if you would like that. (Sermon preached by Jeff Huber September 15-16, 2012 page 20)