The podcast focuses on the significance of baptism within the Christian faith, emphasizing its role as an essential act of obedience following salvation. Speaker A articulates the Great Commission found in Matthew 28, which commands believers to evangelize, baptize, and disciple. Throughout the discussion, they address common misconceptions regarding baptism, including the erroneous belief that it is necessary for salvation. He stresses that baptism should only be performed on those who have consciously accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, highlighting that it is a public declaration of faith rather than a means of grace. The episode serves as a reminder of the biblical foundations of baptism, encouraging listeners to understand its true meaning and importance in the life of a believer.

Takeaways:

• The Great Commission emphasizes the importance of evangelizing, baptizing, and discipling as a unified mandate for the church.
• Baptism is an act of obedience that symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it is reserved for believers only.
• Confusion surrounding baptism often arises from misconceptions about its necessity for salvation, which is not supported by biblical teachings.
• The authority to baptize lies with the church, not individuals, reinforcing the communal aspect of this ordinance as prescribed in the New Testament.

Goody, Amen.

If you in your Bibles tonight turn to Matthew 28 to the great Commission, most of you are familiar with the passage.

At least every other year we take the time to teach and preach on the subject of baptism.

And I want to do that tonight.

I'm looking forward to baptizing tonight.

I was reminded again in the last couple of weeks questions I had concerning baptism and meeting some of our visitors and then talking to them about church membership.

And as you talk to them about church membership, you get into, are you saved?

Do you know Jesus as your Savior?

It's one of the first questions I ask when I go into a home and for the first time I want to know, certainly never leave a home without asking.

And I want to encourage our outreach people, those of you who do participate in our outreach, that when you are making a visit, man, just why did you go to the home in the first place?

You know, don't leave without asking if they know Jesus as their Savior and the most important thing.

And then as we talk to them about church membership and yes, I'm saved.

Well, are you baptized?

Have you been baptized?

And going into that conversation many times you get into some weeds, you get into some areas that people have misconceptions as far as what baptism is or why we're baptized.

And it's always good to be able to walk through the biblical, what biblical baptism is.

And so it's good to do this and it's a good repeat.

Some of you will say, I've heard this a hundred times, but review is the best teacher.

And so tonight will be more of a lesson.

I'm jet lagged.

So this is what we're going to do, right?

And it is helpful, it is good, and it's like the subject of eternal security.

Every other year we pull those messages out and preach on eternity and security.

It's one of those things that we need to be reminded over and over again some of these great doctrines and put them on repeat.

And because these great doctrines are the ones that are most under attack, I mean, it's unbelievable to me, even on your social media feed, the emphasis placed upon baptism rather than salvation.

And there are again many denominations, churches that teach that you have to be baptized in order to go to heaven.

The Bible nowhere teaches that, nowhere.

And so let's look at this tonight.

Let's look at the Great Commission.

I want to point one thing out to you.

Verse 18.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

So here's Jesus giving the commission to the church.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost.

So tonight you'll see that as I baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness of his death, raised in the likeness of the resurrection to walk in newness of life.

Verse 20.

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you.

And lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world.

And we recently talked about laboring together.

And that, lo, I am with you.

I'm so thankful that as I do go into the home and talk to our visitors and I do present the gospel that he is with me.

We are laborers together with God, that he is laboring with us, working with us.

And so thankful that I am not alone.

I still get nervous.

Do you, man?

I knock on a door and meet a couple that has visited our church.

And I may not have got to meet them yet.

I'm still nervous.

I'm thankful when I go into that home, I know I am not alone.

And usually my wife's with me.

That's not what I'm talking about, though.

I'm thankful she's there.

Thankful the Lord is with me and he encourages me, strengthens me, gives me the words I need to say.

And what a blessing that is.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for your love for us.

And Lord, we do pray that you would continue to give us fruit.

Lord, it's been so good to see so many saved recently and see them follow through in baptism.

And Lord, may we see again the importance of this wonderful doctrine.

In Jesus name, amen.

So again, most of you know this scripture and it's the Great Commission.

Jesus gave the church its purpose.

We have a purpose as a church.

And that is again, to evangelize.

To give the gospel.

That is our main purpose.

It is the purpose of every church.

A church that calls themselves a church.

That that is not the main purpose, is not a church.

It's a social club or whatever it is.

And so we're to evangelize, we're to baptize, we're commissioned.

We are commanded to spread the gospel.

And we are commanded to baptize those who accept him as Savior.

Those who receive the gospel.

We are commanded to do so.

It's not.

It's not a.

You know, there's no wiggle room here.

You can't disobey the Lord.

You know, and so the Great Commission to evangelize, baptize, and then to disciple, to stabilize, to bring them to an understanding of Jesus Christ, a greater understanding of Jesus Christ, to bring them to a greater understanding of the Bible.

That is the commission.

It's a threefold commission.

It's not just evangelizing, it's not just baptizing, it's not just discipling.

It's all three.

And it has been popular in the past, and I think not so much in the day and age which we live.

There were churches around the country who would preach and would evangelize and send buses out.

And I remember, I actually do remember one time seeing on a sign, 200, accepting Christ as Savior, and I promise, as they put this on their billboard, 13 baptized.

I'm thankful some made professions of faith, 200 and then 13 got baptized.

But it should have said 200 accepted Christ as their savior and 200 got baptized.

Because again, I'm thankful those got saved.

But that church did not fulfill the Great Commission to its entirety because the commission is threefold.

And so when you win somebody to Jesus and somebody gets saved, and you don't follow through with baptism and you don't follow up and see them come and stir the waters of the Baptister, you have not fulfilled the Great Commission.

When you don't encourage them and disciple them, you haven't fulfilled the Great Commission.

So I want to make that clear, that our church's philosophy of ministry is a threefold commission.

We believe in all three.

And that is to again, evangelize, baptize and stabilize baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost.

You can't baptize your kid in your tub at home.

This is proven here as Jesus is talking to the church there in Jerusalem.

The commission was not given to individuals.

It was given to the church.

The ordinance of baptism, the ordinance of the Lord's Supper.

You have no right to go into the rest home and take your grape juice and your unleavened bread and go in and perform the Lord's Supper in the rest home.

I know that sounds good, and you're being kind to those individuals, but you don't have the authority to do that.

The church has the authority to baptize.

The church has the authority to disperse the Lord's Supper.

You can't baptize your kid in your tub at home.

It's not a real baptism.

What are necessary requirements, and why is there so much confusion concerning baptism?

Well, I want to tell you that the devil doesn't like, doesn't like the gospel.

And so he's in the confusing business.

And so he has added to.

He wants you to believe that you got to be saved and whatever that and is and you got to do good works and you got to be baptized.

And there are so many churches, so called churches around the world that teach salvation plus something.

Baptism more than anything teaches and has been the subject of controversy throughout the ages.

There are three primary changes to take place in baptism throughout the ages.

Number one was the mode was changed from immersion to sprinkling or pouring.

And this is found especially in the Catholic Church.

The sprinkling and the pouring that the Catholic Church allowed, which was not biblical, was adopted by many of the Protestants and is still practiced by most Protestant denominations.

Baptism, they changed the mode.

The design and picture of the death, burial and resurrection was changed to a means of grace.

In other words, baptismal regeneration.

It was changed to this is a picture of the deathbed and resurrection to this is a verbiage of grace.

This is a way in which we receive grace.

And whether that's through receiving a wafer by a priest whom you walk by and you're receiving, you're receiving grace or you're being sprinkled or pour on and you're receiving grace.

No, no, no, no.

Baptism is a picture of the death, burial and resurrection.

In no way do you receive salvation through a piece of bread.

No way do you receive salvation by getting wet in the baptistry.

And then.

But that's very prevalent.

We're sheltered as Baptists, we're sheltered.

But it's very prevalent out there still to this day, which just boggles my mind again, since the mode and design were changed, the subject was changed and instead of believers of accountable age, infants were being baptized.

Infants can't be baptized because they can't accept Christ as Savior.

They can't make that choice.

Believer's baptism is the only mode, the only subject, the only design found in the New Testament.

Nowhere in the New Testament can you find anybody being sprinkled.

Nowhere in the New Testament can you find anyone being poured on.

Nowhere in the New Testament can you find anyone except someone who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ receiving baptism.

Nowhere in the New Testament.

And yet this has been added onto.

And you would think at some point somebody just read the New Testament and go, hey, why isn't this found in.

Why is our church practicing this?

But it's not found in the Bible?

But that's not the approach.

They're putting man's word as equal with God's word.

Tradition.

Equal with God's word.

Thankful I'm not saved by tradition.

I'm not saved by silver or gold or the tradition of man, but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

And so, again, we live in a sheltered environment I have, especially being grown, having grown up in a Baptist church.

But I'm telling you, I hear this over and over and over again when I am out there amongst those who have visited us, as well as amongst others that ask me lots of questions.

Who should be baptized?

Well, a believer, we're not baptized in order to be saved.

I know this is elementary for some of you, but we get baptized because we are saved.

Amen.

We get baptized in obedience to the command of Jesus Christ because He told us to be baptized.

Acts 2:41.

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized.

Those who received the message that Peter preached.

I still.

I was talking with.

This is Brother Belkin.

I'm telling you, it still amazes me.

Here is Peter.

Fifty days after he denied Jesus Christ three times in Acts 2:41, stands up and preaches to thousands.

He calls them murderers.

He said, you have killed.

You murdered the Messiah.

He gives them the proof that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, that he was the.

He was the.

You know the prophecies of Joel.

And he.

He goes through that.

And then it says, after he finished preaching, then they that gladly received his word, those who received the message, those who believed the message that Peter preached were baptized.

They had to receive it first.

They had to believe it first.

They had to believe what?

They had to believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.

That he was indeed.

That he lived, died, and rose again for their salvation.

Then they were saved, received the word, and then they were baptized.

And then they were added unto the church.

And again, I know I am a broken record.

The church did not begin in Acts 2.

It began in the Gospels.

Jesus Christ founded the church.

And the gates of hell shall not prevail upon this rock.

He said, I will build my church.

And the church was not founded by Peter.

It was founded by Jesus Christ.

And here we see the First Baptist Church of Jerusalem.

He said, was it called that?

No, but I'm just going to go ahead and say it was.

But the church that Jesus Christ started, that 3,000 members were added.

3,000 people were added to the membership after they were saved and after they were baptized, then they were added to the church.

And so they received the message.

In Acts, chapter eight, we have the story of the Ethiopian eunuch.

And we won't turn there tonight.

Most of you know the story.

You can go read it.

Acts 8, 29, 40.

The Ethiopian Eunuch had come up to Jerusalem.

And I heard a message recently on this by brother Tyler Gillet, the pastor of Worth Baptist Church.

If you can go online and find the message.

It is tremendous being reminded that he came to Jerusalem to worship.

And a eunuch, being a eunuch, he wouldn't have been allowed in the temple.

I have no doubt as he walked away, that the information he wanted, he did not get.

The teachings he was wanting, he did not get.

And as he's returning to Ethiopia, God sends.

God sends a messenger.

God sends a soul winner.

Maybe you'll be that person that God sends.

And God sent him.

He was in a chariot reading Isaiah 53.

I'm going to turn over there.

Acts, chapter 8.

Somewhere in the New Testament, it's Philip.

And it says there in verse 29, I'll give you a second here, or let's look at verse 28.

So Acts, chapter 8, verse 28.

He was returning and sitting in his chariot.

He was reading Isaiah, the Prophet, verse 29 says.

Then the Spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to the.

To his chariot.

I'm not going to do what brother Tyler Gillet did.

He ran.

Tyler Gillet at this point in his message runs for like 10 minutes in place.

The message overrides the funniness of brother Gillett and what he did.

But anyway, you got to see it.

Philip ran to the chariot.

Then the Spirit said unto Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot.

And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and said, understandest thou what thou readest?

And he said, how can I except some man should guide me?

And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

He runs after the chariot.

The place of the scripture which he read was this.

This is Isaiah 53.

He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearers.

So he opened he not his mouth.

In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away.

And who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth?

And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this?

Of himself or of some other man?

Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the Same scripture and preached unto him.

Who?

Jesus.

And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water.

And the eunuch said, see, here is water.

And what doth hinder me to be baptized?

And Philip said, if thou want to get saved.

No, it said, if thou believest.

Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.

And he answered and said, listen, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

By the way, then when he used the title Christ, that means Messiah.

I believe Jesus, that means Savior is the Savior, who is the Messiah and is the Son of God.

And he commanded the chariot to stand still.

And they went down.

What?

Both into the water.

Both Philip and the eunuch.

And he baptized him both into the water.

There was no sprinkling or pouring.

But he said, that thou believest.

Believing, receiving the message of the death, burial and resurrection is how we get saved.

Baptism happens after Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, persecuted the church and God met him there.

Why Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

And Saul was gloriously saved.

If you go read it again.

I'm not going to do that tonight.

Acts 9, 18, he goes to Ananias house and there's.

He gets saved.

And there he gets baptized after salvation and again over and over in the New Testament.

I know I'm preaching to the choir tonight, but it's good to be reminded of this believers baptism.

Only believers should be baptized.

By the way, we preached just here a few months ago that only believers should join the church.

We believe in a believer church membership.

Every instance of the New Testament, only believers were baptized.

Infants have no need to be baptized because they can't make the choice.

Though I will remind you, they can't be saved, but they are safe.

You say, how do I know that that baby is going to see.

I'm going to see my baby in heaven that I lost, that died.

I said, well, the Bible tells you King David, who committed adultery with Bathsheba, the baby that was born of that adulterous relationship and died, David said he would see the baby in heaven.

That's good enough for me.

Amen.

And there's other places, too.

We believe in the age of accountability, which means the Bible teaches through principle that a child is safe until the time in which they can understand what sin is right and wrong and have the ability to intellectually reason that out.

If that makes sense.

The age of accountability.

Say, what age is that?

I don't know.

Is it 4, 5, 6, 7, sometimes 8, sometimes 9?

What about those who are mentally handicapped, if they can't reason out, then we're going to see all of them in heaven.

I'm thankful for the grace and mercy of God, aren't you?

Amen.

Amen.

To baptize an unbeliever, it just means they got wet.

They didn't get baptized.

Nowhere in the Bible do you find nonbelievers being baptized.

Are infants being baptized.

You guys are quiet.

I know.

This is more like a Sunday school lesson.

Number two.

The mode of baptism immersion, again, sprinkling and pouring is not found in the New Testament anywhere.

And the word baptism means to plunge or bury or cover up.

I mean, the word itself.

Our examples are found.

I already read one of them.

The Ethiopian eunuch, Jesus Christ himself was baptized and they went straight way.

The Bible says they came straight way out of the water again, all the baptisms of the New Testament by immersion.

I will stop there.

Number three, the meaning of baptism.

The meaning of baptism is paramount.

If you get baptized, you don't know the meaning.

All you did was a ritual, a meaningless ritual to you because you didn't know even why you were doing it.

Now, the why is, of course, in obedience.

But the picture is the most important thing.

As someone enters the Baptist, they're entering into a grave.

The picture is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The picture is not washing away sins.

And that's something that was inferred as even to myself growing up.

And that is something not found in the New Testament.

Nowhere in the New Testament does it say that the picture is.

That baptism pictures are washing away of sins.

It's not there.

It's not a reconfiguration of some Old Testament washing, though.

I reminded our baptismal candidate tonight that the Old Testament priest, yes, he came to the outside the court of the tabernacle, and he came to the brazen laver, and he was told to wash himself.

And if he went into the temple without washing the dirt off himself, the Bible says God would kill him.

I think I would really pay attention to make sure I was good and clean.

But that's nowhere in the New Testament.

It tells us that that is some kind of reconfiguration of that Old Testament washing.

And there were other washings in the Old Testament, but nothing to do with New Testament baptism.

In fact, John the Baptist was asked why he baptized.

And he said it came from the Father.

He didn't say it came from the Old Testament, came from the Lord.

Many denominations teach baptism is necessary for salvation.

The Catholics.

The Catholics teach that.

So we say this a lot.

In fact, I just said it the other day.

I believe when we get to heaven there's not just going to be Baptists there, but there is a reason why we as Baptists sometimes we kind of get in that mood that we're the only ones going to be there.

And there is a sect of Baptists called Baptist Brighters who believe there's.

Anyway, we won't go through it.

But the reason why we believe that is because there's so many false teachings out there.

And so many of these other denominations, because they're not preaching the gospel and because they're not preaching the gospel, their congregation doesn't have the truth.

They believe most of teachings that baptism saves you.

There is the Church of Christ.

The Church of Christ for years and they backed off of this.

Some of the bigger Church of Christ now no longer sing a cappella.

They got instruments and they also do not teach this.

But when I was a kid growing up, I still have in my office the pamphlet that I received in the mail that says if you are not baptized in a church of Christ Church, you're not going to heaven.

You have to be baptized in their church.

And again, a lot of them don't practice that as much anymore.

Catholics, you got to be baptized in the Catholic Church to go to heaven or some kind of in between state.

Right.

I'm just being honest tonight and just say it like it is.

But you say, well then if most other churches teach works for salvation, then I guess we could justify saying that Baptist is the only one's going to be there.

That's not the case.

I'm thankful.

I have met many others who though their priests may teach otherwise, they believe Jesus Christ was indeed the son of God.

They believe like the Ethiopian eunuch.

I remember Dr. Barber telling me years ago that he had a doctor friend.

And the doctor, actually it was one of his doctors.

And he said he was staunch Catholic.

But as he talked to him, this doctor believed in salvation by grace through faith.

And Dr. Barber said, I believe I'm going to see my doctor in heaven.

And though he's still a practicing Catholic, listen, salvation's simple.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ?

Do you believe he lived, died and rose again?

Do you believe you're a sinner?

Have you repented of your sins?

Do you realize that my sin, our sins put Jesus on the cross?

And those who do repent, and those who do believe, and those who do, put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, his life, his death and his resurrection, the Bible says they're saved, they've been rescued.

Amen.

Doesn't matter whether it's sitting in the Catholic church or a Baptist church.

I think they should reason it out and you know, get right and join a church of preaching the gospel.

Amen.

Amen.

All right.

Baptism is an act of obedience, but not essential to the gospel, not essential to salvation.

It's a picture of the death, burial and resurrection.

Romans, chapter 6.

Most of you know the verses and my dad made me memorize this chapter when I was a kid.

I just like to point that out every once in a while.

My dad was cruel.

Oh, he's in here tonight.

I'm sorry.

Look at if you want to turn there.

Romans chapter 6, verse 1 says, what shall we say then?

Shall we continue in sin that grace should abound?

God forbid.

How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein.

That's two verses that we could spend some time on.

Being saved by grace through faith does not give you a license to live however you want to live.

I don't want to.

Yeah.

Verse 3.

Know you not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized in his death.

Can you literally do that?

No, he's giving you the picture here.

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ.

If I have an HCA student that I'm baptizing, I always like to ask him, did you learn similes in English?

And most I don't know anyway that like as Christ comparison was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.

Even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we've been planted together in the likeness of death, we shall also be found be also in the likeness of his resurrection and on and on.

But again verse four, the comparison, the death, burial and resurrection.

That's what we're picturing tonight.

That's what we're going to see tonight.

The death, burial and resurrection.

The gospel displayed.

The gospel reenacted if you would for all to see.

Jesus Christ lived, died and rose again.

The gospel being realized first.

Peter says that being baptized as a Christian, as a born again believer is an answer of a good conscience towards God.

I've seen this too over the years.

I've seen, I've had one individual especially one time came to me and said preacher, I've been saved for 15 years, haven't been baptized and it's bothered me for 15 years.

God just the Holy Spirit just kept knocking at his door, kept knocking on his heart, felt the conviction answer of a good conscience towards God.

Again, the water pictures a grave.

The water pictures the wrath of God upon sin.

Just as in Noah's flood.

Peter gives that same analogy and the same picture of baptism and the flood.

Again, the comparison.

When God sent the rain and the flood, what was that?

That was God's judgment upon sin.

God's judgment upon sin.

When you walk down into the baptister, you're walking down into the judgment of God.

The waters picture the judgment of God.

When the candidate is placed into the water, it's placing him going into the judgment of God or her going into the judgment of God.

But because you're saved, you escape the judgment of God, escape death.

Hallelujah.

I'm glad I know I'm saved.

Aren't you?

I'm glad I don't have to fear death.

I don't fear dying.

I fear how I'm going to die.

But I don't fear dying.

I don't.

Not at all, said preacher.

I wish I had that kind of peace.

Well, pray as a believer, I truly have that.

I do not fear death.

I know where I'm going.

I know when I close my eyes in death, I will be in the presence of Jesus.

I just know that I believe it without a shadow of a doubt.

I'm thankful.

I know I'll see Charlene again someday.

I'm so thankful for that hope.

Aren't you so thankful?

By the way, no one else is allowed to die in our church this year.

No one this year or next year.

As I get older, I'm finding myself a little more.

Yeah, it affects me a little more.

Is it because I'm getting older, Brother Jerry?

Or is it, yeah, guys are going to kill me, but I'm so thankful.

I know I'm so thankful.

There are three primary verses.

There's actually five that they use.

Some of them are just so silly, I don't want to cover them.

For instance, they'll use the one where Jesus is with the woman at the well, and he says to her, you must be born again.

You must be born of the water and the spirit.

And they'll say that water's baptism.

That is ridiculous.

There's nothing in that scripture that even closely says that.

And yet a mainline denomination teaches that.

It's ridiculous.

It's not even close to what it's saying.

I'm sorry.

I'm feel the blood rushing to my head because it doesn't even make sense.

He's comparing being born of the spirit to a water birth.

That's the comparison.

It's 100% plain and simple.

Until you try to take a doctrine that's not found in the Bible and make it fit.

And then you have to.

You have to twist scripture in order to make what you believe fit the Scripture.

That's what they do to the point of nonsense.

Good.

I feel better.

I'll move on.

But there are some verses, in fact, the Bible says this.

There are some verses that are hard to be understood.

And we gotta take those into consideration.

And again, we're not gonna turn there, but I just wanna briefly say the emphasis is on belief, not baptism.

Acts 2:38.

It says for the remission of sins.

If you look up the word for in any dictionary, the very first word or synonym or defining deal will be because of or representative of.

So just be careful.

Some of these verses that are hard to be understood, some of them is.

Just look it up in a dictionary.

It'll sure help you.

And then in Acts 22, verse 16, again, we have this issue with Paul on the road to Damascus.

And when he's.

I'm just.

I'm looking at one person.

And in Acts 22, the emphasis again is on the belief, not the baptism.

And then I'll just.

I'll just say this and we're done.

If you're going to take three or four or five verses and twist them to make them fit what you believe.

5 verses out of 100 that teach salvation by grace through faith, it doesn't make sense to me.

I'm going to put my trust and my faith in the hundred.

And I'm not exaggerating.

Over 100 verses, over 100 examples that we could give of salvation by grace through faith plus nothing, minus nothing.

It's believing, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, his life, his death, and his resurrection.

Getting wet doesn't get you to heaven.

Getting wet just because a priest did it doesn't get you to heaven.

I think the Bible says we're all priests.

We're all to be ministers of the grace of God.

In fact, get technical.

We're all supposed to be preachers preaching the gospel, teaching the gospel.

In order to be baptized, a person must be a believer.

In order to be scripturally baptized, one must be immersed.

Again, in order for one to be baptized, one must understand the reason they're being baptized.

In other words, don't we got to be careful?

This has happened in the past too, where baptism was nothing more than just a ritual.

Just rush people through the Baptistry.

Get them wet and go on.

No, you should know what you believe and why.

And baptism only really becomes real to you if you know why you're being baptized and it should be real to you.

You should understand why you're being baptized.

And it's so very important.

And then a reminder that the scriptural authority to be baptized is found in the churches and not in individuals.

You can baptize your kid in the bathtub all you want, but you don't have the authority to baptize.

And let me clarify, too, and I've said this over the years, many times.

I don't have the authority to baptize.

I don't.

I can't go home and baptize my kid in the bathtub either.

No, the church has the authority to baptize.

We could vote.

And because I've been the pastor of the church here and ordained and all those things, of course I have the authority with this church to baptize here.

I don't have the authority to baptize at Antioch Baptist Church in Rome.

That church would have to vote for me to baptize there.

By the way, we could vote for any man to baptize here if we wanted to.

And we've done that a couple of times years ago.

Those are exceptions, by the way.

I'm not going to vote anybody to baptize.

But, yeah, you as a church.

We as a church have the authority to baptize.

Isn't that amazing?

Aren't you glad God put it that way?

Anybody and their brother could be out there baptizing.

No, it's.

The church has the authority to do so.

All right, let's all stand, have a verse invitation.

I know it's more.