A place where you can feel at home Bible teaching in the spiritual Zone it’s not perfect waiting for the Rapture a friendly church with a friendly Pastor welcoming you’re welcome you’re welcome you’re welcome welcome in this place bible Based Teaching spiritual reaching Souls will seek Him worshiping the Lord you’re welcome you’re
Welcome you’re welcome welcome in this place I Bas teaching spiritual reaching Souls will seeking Worship in the Lord welcome to Union Baptist church amen good evening good afternoon Union Baptist Church family so happy and delighted to have this 6:30 hour on this beautiful Wednesday afternoon Wednesday evening to come and share another
Exciting Bible study as we make ready to make a journey through the gospel of St Mark we also welcome those of you that normally come physically to the Wednesday morning Bible study we thought it would just be right to kind of uh let you stay home by the fire this morning
Ice could have been on the road uh it was not as per se windy as we had thought it was going to be uh we knew it was going to be pretty cold and we thought the wind was going to be up around gusting at 15 miles an hour and
That would have really put a cold chill so we just told those of you that uh that attend Wednesday morning to just join us now virtually and so we pray that uh whether you’ve uh been to work this this day or you’ve been home all
Day uh we just pray that you by safe fire and and you’re comfortable and you’re warm uh pray you didn’t have no pipes burst on you this morning uh I remember them days of old when the houses used to sit so high off the ground and Mom and Daddy used to have to
Kind of get up under the house and wrap all the pipes up uh so that they didn’t burst and freeze and then you wake up and be told you don’t have no hot water to take a bath with and you’re trying to make your way to school so I remember
Them cold days Amen on Fort Hill Street but hey uh we had some brutal heat uh May through September I’m not complaining I’m not complaining about the cold weather not one bit matter of fact just bring a little snow uh and that’ll just make me feel so much the
Better let’s go ahead and open up in a word of prayer and Lord have mercy we’ll get started uh on this beautiful day the gospel of St Mark chapter one will you pray with me Father God thank you now for this day thank you for your loving
Kindness and your Tender Mercies uh we just thank you for being our protector for being our keeper and even more so we thank you our father for the gift of Salvation that comes through the Precious Blood of your only begotten son Jesus Christ then we thank you for the
Holy Spirit who is our comforter and our keeper he’s not just somebody that be with us on Sunday morning to help us through worship but he’s with us seven days a week leading and guiding us according to your perfect will we lift up everyone before you now and certainly
In the midst of this cold weather all over the United States we are praying for the homeless and anyone else who might find them s stuck out doors we pray our father that some way somehow that they’ll find shelter that can keep them until this brutal Cold Move On by
This business bless us now as we move through this Wednesday afternoon Bible study in Christ’s name we pray amen do allow me to also acknowledge that this Bible study that you’re listening to now uh was pre-recorded uh this uh today uh right around 12 noon we went ahead and
Dropped it uh so that we would be free this afternoon as well the main thing is thank God for this technology uh uh it has its drawbacks it has its negative side uh but I see the glass half full uh and I appreciate the fact that now myself uh and spiritual
Leaders all over this world we can utilize this Tool uh to get God’s word out whether it’s on Sunday morning or whether it’s on Wednesday afternoon or any other time so we thank God uh for providing us with this uh modern day technology so I’m hoping here again that
You in the conference of your home uh let’s go to the gospel of St Mark uh we introduce the gospel of St Mark to you on last Wednesday we gave you some history about the gospel of St Mark uh we told you who wrote the Gospel of St
Mark when they wrote it the purpose of which they wrote it and then we made our way through a few verses and we talked about the humility of John the Baptist because uh the chapter one it introduces us to John the Baptist the cousin of Christ and we mention a few things about
John last week we talked about he lived a life of simplicity and we can learn from that we can learn from John as Christians in this modernday culture we can learn from John a life of Simplicity matter of fact I heard the Apostle Paul somewhere in the
Book of Philippians when he said I’ve learned therein to be content I know how to have much I know how to survive when I don’t have much and I think that’s something something that we could do a whole lot for ourselves if we would govern ourselves
By that motto so John the Baptist he had a life of Simplicity but not only that he had a life of humility he had a life of humility other words he did not think more of himself than he should hear me good saints of God listen to the old man
Tonight the Bible says God God does not take pleasure in arrogance now arrogance is different from just having confidence in yourself feeling good about yourself feeling strong about yourself there’s nothing wrong with that and even being pride of yourself when you know you’ve accomplished and fulfilled certain goals
Nothing wrong with that but when you get this Spirit of superiority when you come down with this spirit that you’re so much much elevated and better than other people and that for the most part people are less intelligent than you they are beneath you uh for those kinds of things that’s
When it becomes a sin against God and the Bible clearly says let no man think more of himself than he ought to and so what we learned from John the Baptist last week uh in St Mark chap chap 1: 1-7 we saw the humility in John the
Baptist he acknowledged that he came for a purpose he acknowledged I’m getting ready to go deep on you now that he came for a season and he recognized that when Christ came on the scene it was going to be time for him to move off the scene Come a Little Closer throughout our
Christian lives God give us a season to serve him uh to be about the Kingdom’s business uh to be blessed by him spiritually and to help the kingdom grow so don’t blow your season by being complacent lazy nonchalant jealous and worried about other folk just commit yourself to the
Gifts and talents that God has given you and use them to the best of your ability for the glory of God do your best to try to help the kingdom of God be better and stronger than what you find it because watch this you’re only going to have a
Season to get it right even Jesus said I must work while it is yet day because night time come and that simply means fail in health AE start catching up with you you’re not as strong as you used to be your mind not as sharp as it
Used to be you become forgetful and all the other negative things start taking place because age is weighing you down and so don’t blow your season of health and strength and sinness of mind that’s the time Amen to let God use you in a mighty way John the Baptist a life of
Simplicity a life of humility now let’s read some verses for tonight and see what we can pick up tonight that will help us on this Christian Journey let’s start at verse 8 and let’s read on through verse 11 I indeed have baptized you with water but
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized of John in Jordan and straight way coming up out of the water he saw the heavens open and the spirit like a dove
Descending upon him and there came a voice from Heaven saying Thou Art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased John’s Ministry see John John was a forerunner of Christ it was his job to introduce the world to Christ CHR baptize Christ and then move off the scene and that’s
What’s getting ready to happen uh the ministry of John is coming to a close the ministry of Christ is getting ready to take off now how long was John out there in the wilderness preaching and baptizing I know not John Mark does not tell us how long john was there before
Christ came he doesn’t tell us because that’s not of importance what’s important is that he was fulfilling his ministry as God called him meaning John and he even acknowledged that there’s one coming after me who shoes in verse seven that I’m not worthy to unloose so John understood he understood his role
And he had no problem with the fact that as Christ came on the scene his ministry was coming to a close and so now he’s making ready to baptize Christ and notice it says in verse n it says and Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee so it’s it’s
Identifying his home home is identifying his birthplace and do you know this do you know something unfortunately when Christ moved forward with his ministry his hometown pretty much rejected him in so much that Jesus said a prophet is without honor in his own country and sometimes that happens to you and I
Sometimes uh we can get more respect from people that we never grew up around than we can from the ones that we grew up with sometimes we can get more support from strangers than we can from those that we grew up around it just comes with the territory and so Jesus
Was pretty much once he started preaching he was pretty much rejected by those that knew his his family and knew him and you know sometimes even though Jesus was not a bad person growing up sometimes people will reject you who grew up with you because of your past
And the fact that they know a little bit about it and they don’t understand the transformation of God in so much that your past is your past and what matters is now God has saved you and delivered you from your past but people that have been knowing you ever since you was five
Six seven years old they always want to bring up your shortcomings in your past and never Turn You Loose so that you can reach your full potential now Jesus is getting ready to be baptized now Christ himself was not what we call a sinner matter of fact he was perfect in all
Things he was perfect from his birth to his death but he’s going to be baptized because he’s showing us the road map to Heaven he’s setting an example amen for future Christians and so he John John baptizes him and notice something as he came up verse 10 as he
Came up out of the water the Holy Spirit descended upon him as a dove and in verse 11 a voice thundered from Heaven saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased my my my my what an awesome what an awesome event that unfolded the baptism of Jesus and the
Baptism of Jesus is really supposed to be a ro Ro model for our baptism other words when we come up out of the water when we are baptized and we come up out of the water the same holy spirit that descended Upon Jesus is supposed to come
Upon us also and not only supposed it will come upon us if we are genuine and real so let’s do this right now let’s do this for about 25 more minutes let’s do a decent lesson on water baptism can we do that can we do a lesson on water
Baptism so let’s make ready get your pen ready so I can give you some information on water baptis that is two that two two baptis don’t confuse water baptism with the baptism of the Holy Ghost that’s two different things okay when we get baptized what it does
Is it initiates us it ushers us into the Christian faith water baptism is our spiritual initiation it identifies us with Jesus and it emphasizes ownership that’s why Jesus said write this down Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew chapter 28 vers 18 through 20 Jesus said to the disciples go ye
Therefore into all the world making disciples preaching the gospel and they that believe see Believe come first baptize them in the name of the father the Son and the Holy Spirit and that’s where we get the word in the Christian faith we get the word Trinity God three persons in one
Manifesting himself to us so that we’ll have a full and complete picture of who God is God the Father God the son God the Holy Spirit Jesus said in Matthew Matthew 28 when a person hears the gospel receives the gospel believe that Jesus is the son of God the savior of
The world repent from their sins Jesus says on those conditions By Word of Mouth baptize them initiate them into the faith in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit okay number two baptism water baptism is symbolic it represents the death burier and resurrection of Jesus Christ other words
When you see me and and and and Deacon Dennis Moore and previously Deacon Jerome Bia when we have baptism uh and we take those persons uh into the water and we take them under the water that’s representing the death and burial of Christ and then we bring them back up at
The water representing the resurrection and the newness of life we buried their sins in the water and we brought them up refreshed and clean in Jesus Christ and when a person is baptized and they have truly repented and accepted Jesus Christ as their lord and savior the same holy
Spirit that fell on Christ in verse 10 is the same holy spirit that will come upon that believer it’s an invisible thing you don’t see it but it happens all right so baptism represents ownership it identif identifies us with Jesus watch this no harm intended but a lot of times when people
Join organizations and Civics Civic organizations and political organizations and so forth and so on sororities and fraternities they have an initiation that they have to go through which identifies them with that particular group and to some degree represents ownership and so water baptism connects you and I to Jesus Christ he
Becomes our Lord and savior when we get baptized it’s an open act it’s not a secret act it ain’t something we do behind closed doors it ain’t something we do in the dark blindfolded we do it openly because baptism says to the demonic experience you lost I’m giving
My life to Christ baptism says to the angels the Heavenly Host I’m turning my life around I’ve repented from the sins of the world I’m ready now to walk in the newness of Jesus I’m on God’s side now I was on the devil team but I done
Change teams now and so baptism is something that God want us to do that’s why Jesus went through it so that we can let the demonic spirits as well as the Heavenly Host know we are on God’s side watch this baptism says I know I am a
Sinner I know I need my sins washed away I know I am in need of God’s forgiveness Grace and and mercy number four number four as parents teach stand I think I will as parents we should not rush our small children into baptism on the other hand
When they start talking to us about mama daddy I want to be baptized that’s a good time for you to do your parental Duty and explain to them what water baptism is all about don’t rush them into it but at the same time don’t snatch it away from them but here’s the
Main thing I want to say on that number don’t fear that if something happened to your child and they don’t wake up the next morning that they going to end up in hell because they didn’t get baptized at at the age of seven Jesus done already said suffer the little children
And forbid them not for such is the kingdom of heaven now what is the age of accountability for children I have no idea when I was growing up I heard folks said you become accountable for your sins at the age of 12 and we pick that
Up from Jesus being in the temple but that was something totally different I would never take that story where Jesus was in the temple at the age of 12 uh because Jesus was unique Jesus was a Son of God uh and said it every child every boy every girl black or white is
Accountable for their sins at the age of 12 do you know some children come up in a house where all they hear all day long all year long is cussing fussing and fighting they ain’t no Bible in the house ain’t no God in the house now when
You go to school you can’t talk about God they they might be 16 17 years old before they get a full understanding of who God is and you know what Christ came to do so I’m going to go on record by saying this as the pastor of Union Baptist the age of
Accountability for children varies some children are exposed to Jesus real early in life some don’t find Jesus or find out about Jesus until they get halfway grown and so the thing that we need to be cautious about is it’s one thing to have your baby
Blessed up from zero to to 12 months but don’t get scared and say I got to get my child baptized because if something happened to them I want them to go to heaven that’s that’s already a done deal okay so so don’t panic don’t rush your
Children to baptism but at the same time don’t take it away from them either if they start asking questions and saying to you Mama dad I want to get baptized that’s a good time for you to start talking about Jesus okay now let me get back to the grown
Folks whereas I’m going a little deep again I’m going a little deep now whereas all abl boded men and women in their right mind who accept Jesus Christ and the Christian faith as your way of serving God all of us should joyfully and happily be baptized all of us should look forward
Is you know baptism is like it’s like a birth certificate you know you have a birth certificate at home that indicates when you came into the world what day what month what year who your parents are well water baptism is a single it’s it’s it’s an identification of your spiritual birth
Certificate okay that’s what baptism is it’s spiritual it’s your spiritual birth certificate and you ought to look forward Amen to being baptized now here’s what I’m getting ready to say though but water baptism in and of itself by itself does not save you you suppos to do it because
It is a command and it is a Act of obedience but when you hear some preacher or some teacher who means well they mean well and if they say if if you don’t if you’re not baptized you can’t go to heaven that’s that’s not quite accurate and here’s what I’m
After here here’s what I’m at suppose a person comes down I just use Union Baptist suppose a person uh after I finish preaching uh this past Second Sunday a person comes down for the first time and say I want to give my life to Christ I want to become a member of this
Church and we take that person through the Plan of Salvation and and make sure that we DT our eyes and we cross our tees and then we tell that person uh here at our church we baptize every third or sometimes on the fourth Sunday and that person and now I’m
Telling this person on the on the second Sunday that I’m going to baptize them on the third Sunday but watch this something happens to them between those two Sundays are you trying to tell me that person is not going to heaven because I did not get a chance to get
Them in the water God forbid such a thing and watch this let’s go back to the days of old when most churches black and white did not have baptism pools and they would put off baptism until the summer months or the spring months because they had to go use the river or
They would go use a lake somewhere a pond and they would they would they would push baptism off they might have 10 or 15 people waiting to be baptized who join the church in the cold months of December and they said well we going to baptize you in April or May now what
Would happen to those persons if some of them did not make it to April or May they will still be saved what are we going to do with a person that’s on their sick bed in the hospital and on their sick bed they accept seriously they accept Jesus Christ as
Their lord and savior somebody explains the gospel to them the chaplain of the hospital uh know that they’re dying he comes in the sick room he explains the Plan of Salvation to them and asks them do you want to accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior and they say yes
Sir and he lead them to the plan of to the Prayer of Salvation that’s that’s that’s a done deal so whereas water baptism is once again something that all of us in good health and sinus of Mind should look forward to it in and of itself cannot save you look at verse 8
Look at St Mark chapter 1 verse 8 listen at what John says John said John the Baptist I indeed have baptize you with water but he he who he Christ when he comes he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost see now go with me to the book of
Ephesians go with me to the book of Ephesians let’s let’s all let’s all go to the book of Ephesians chapter 4 I’m going to give you a minute to get there that’s the New Testament uh once you get past the gospels you’ll see Romans 1 and 2 Corinthians then you’ll see Ephesians
Let’s go to Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 now let’s let’s begin at verse four hopefully you’re there Ephesians Ians CH 4 beginning at verse 4 Listen there is one body and one Spirit the Holy Spirit even as you are called in one hope of your calling now look at verse five one
Lord God one Faith one baptism verse six one God and Father of all all who is above all and through all and in you all go back to verse five one Lord One Faith one baptism and that’s not talking about water baptism that’s talking about the Holy Spirit John said
There’s one coming after me in verse eight of St Mark when he comes he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost so here it is it is possible for any person to go through the initiation of water baptism and not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit why because they were not
Sincere they were not real they just went through the motion as the old crowd said they went down a wet Center I mean a dry Center and they came came up a wet sinner that’s why when a person is baptized they should truly at that point they should truly be repenting from
Their sins asking God to save their soul and receiving Jesus Christ as their lord and savior hopefully both of them will coincide but it is possible that sometimes a person will get baptized but they really really don’t get saved until a later time that brings me to another
Controversy if that’s true if it’s true that sometimes people get baptized but something still lacks they’re still not as real and genuine as they ought to be should a person be re-baptized and I’ve gone through that quite a few times since I’ve been the pastor of Union Baptist 36 years I have re-baptized
Quite a few people and what they were saying to me was re when I got baptized at nine I don’t really remember it I was just pretty much doing it because my mom and dad see my mom and daddy said it was time for me to be baptized and and you
Know that I I couldn’t work in the church until I was baptized and so I just went on and got baptized because Mom and dadd said it was time but now that I’m 33 years old I really know God for myself now and I want to experience
Water baptism this time for real nothing wrong with a person if they want to do that but if they decide that they don’t want to do it they still all right salvation is predicated on what’s in the heart and not the water itself and certainly whereas it’s okay this is
Standing now whereas it’s okay for a person to say when I got baptized at 9 years old I just I don’t remember anything about it now that I’m 42 I really want to be baptized again that’s fine that’s genuine but don’t get baptized at 21 and then come back at 51 talking
About I’m really saved now and I really want to be baptized just go ahead and repent in in your heart and let God save you what we want to do with water baptism is respect it understand it appreciate what it represents but accept the same fact that it don’t bring
Salvation by itself there has to be a genuine repented heart a confession of faith and an acceptance of God uh and acceptance of Jesus Christ as God only begotten son so once again hopefully both of them will coincide but often times they do not here’s what we really
Want let’s go back to to the gospel of St Mark here’s what we really want to happen in the gospel of St Mark whether we are 10 20 or 50 we want verse 10 to be the model for baptism and it says again and straight way coming up out of
The water he saw the heavens open up and the spirit that’s the Holy Spirit like a dove descending upon him and that’s what we want we want water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit to both coincide one with another but unfortunately many times they don’t but
One thing I know about God God is longsuffering he’s compassionate and he’s merciful and he judges US based on our hearts because he knows the uttermost depths of our souls all right so with that said I’m GNA go ahead and amen I think yeah that takes care
Tonight I’m going go ahead and shut down this lesson for the night hopefully I have helped you uh understand and appreciate uh this Christian ordinance we call this one of the two we in the Baptist faith we said that there are two things Christ told us to do one was to
Be baptized when we come to truly believe in him and number two to observe the Lord’s Supper until he return when we come back next Wednesday and that uh service will be pre-recorded because we have an outside engagement but you’re going to get the information uh when we
Come back next Wednesday we’re going to deal with the Temptations of Jesus Christ we’re going to deal with uh how he uh went out amen Into the Wilderness and the devil came and tempted him so I’m happy we’re satisfied we gonna move we gonna take our time and make our way through the
Gospel amen of St Mark with that said let me make one or two more announcements and then we’ll be out of your way don’t forget every year we for our children and our youth we offer four wonderful Ministries that take place while Bible studies going on beautiful I
Am King I Am Gateway the woman who P passport to manhood those are four Ministry programs that we have every year they coincide with Bible study while I’m teaching Bible study other facilitators will have different age brackets of our children taking them through these programs in past years
They always started the last Wednesday in January where we decided after good collaboration of meeting and discussion we decided that we would wait until the first Wednesday in March we want to get through these cold dark months of January and February just like to day brutally cold and so we decided that we
Would wait until January and February pass away and once we get to March Daylight Saving Time kick back in it gets warm don’t start getting darked about 8 and 8:30 that’s when we’ll kick that up so to all of our parents just be patient with us uh those those four
Ministries are yet to come and then lastly unfortunately uh we do want to acknowledge sympathy goes out to our dear friend and brother uh Pastor Dominique Johnson who pastors down on shering Drive Kingdom’s life uh unfortunately uh he lost his his uh his beautiful and devoted wife uh a few days
Ago and we don’t have any funeral dates for that yet but we just want to keep uh Dominique Johnson lifted up uh the son of Walter and Linda Johnson just keep that entire family lifted up uh in the Lost of of his wife well with that said
Uh we’re signing off the Lord’s will we’ll see you Sunday at 7:45 I’ll take that service the then we’ll have Sunday school and then we’ll go to church again at 11:00 a.m. and Reverend James Han uh he’s on D to to bring the 11 a.m. message now finally
Hey stay warm have a blessed day have a gorgeous week it’s going to be cold on through on through Sunday so get your coat out and let’s just deal with it and give God the glory amen see you next Wednesday 11:00 a.m. in Building B 6:30 pre-recording
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