Through The Water

♪ Open these doors ♪ Show the world ♪ What You have done in us ♪ We won't hide this love ♪ We will shine for You ♪ In all that we do ♪ We desire to see Your kingdom come ♪ Lord, have Your way here ♪ Have Your way ♪ Have Your way here ♪ Have Your way Jesus, Jesus! Denis: All our hope has been fulfilled ♪ Death exchanged for life ♪ Perfect love has been revealed ♪ Our God is alive Won't you help me sing! ♪ All our hope has been fulfilled ♪ Death exchanged for life ♪ Perfect love has been revealed ♪ Our God is alive ♪ You are light in the darkness ♪ You are hope for the hopeless ♪ You are the God who never fails Pastor Pierre: We want to welcome our worldwide audience with us here today! From Rochester, New York, to your home. The sun is shining after five months! We are happy, happy, happy, happy, very, very, very, very, very, very happy that we are seeing the sun! You may not even understand that, but we get a lot of snow and cold days, really cold. But today we are in your home and we're so excited and feel so honored and privileged that you are sitting and joining us. And may the next 28 minutes change and transform your life! So today I want to tell you a couple of stories. I am going to paraphrase many of the scriptures here today, but the scriptures will come onto the screen. And the scriptures will come behind me. Have you ever time-traveled in your mind and wondered what it would be like at a certain point in time? I do it quite often. I think my mind is overactive. I have often thought what it would be like the moment when Jesus chose His disciples. Because I don't know about you, but I would be overbearing, obnoxious. I would be like, pick me, pick me, pick me, pick me!! You know what I mean? Because I know what's coming. I want to be part of what's coming. I would always think if I imagined that, that Jesus would have a long interview long. You know when you do an interview? A long line of applicants. And Jesus gets to the first guy and goes like, do you have faith? No. Okay, I don't know about you. Do you dream God dreams? No, you don't look like it. You know what I mean? Interview the best, the smartest, the wisest. Jesus picking the best of the best. But I have come to discover it is not the case. I have come to discover that the 12 that He chose were not His first pick, that there were many people to whom Jesus said, follow me. And they didn't. Can you imagine? Can you imagine?! I wish I could get to those people and go like, dude, like what's up with that?! Because there was a story where Jesus walked down the road and He pointed to a man, and He said, you, follow me. The guy says, first let me go bury my dead father. Then I will follow You, Jesus. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a good excuse to me. Do you know what Jesus said? Let the dead bury the dead. Your destiny is to preach the kingdom of God all over the earth. Another person overhearing that says, oh, I'll follow You, Jesus. Jesus says, come! He says first, let me go say good-bye to my family. I don't know about you, sounds like a good excuse to me. Jesus says this, anyone who lays his hand on the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. You never, ever read about those two people ever, ever again. And it is amazing. It is not like the Jesus we know. The Jesus I know gives like 17 chances! But somehow this Jesus didn't. And in that moment, I go like, oh, the most costly phrase in all of the Bible is, first let me. Because you see, somehow first let me means I'll do it, but first let me just do some other things here. And I have come to the realization that first let me and then I will You, is costing us more than we can ever imagine. Because I go like, Jesus, what did he, what was so bad about him wanting to bury his father?! Because I understand that the law of Moses requires that within 24 hours you've got to bury someone who is dead. So what this man is saying, before I follow You, Jesus, let me obey the law of Moses. How bad is that really? The other guy says, Jesus, I just want to go tell my family I'm gonna follow you. I don't want my picture to go up on the milk cartons in Jerusalem! You know what I mean, Jesus? They're gonna go like, hey, where did Ben go, where did Ben go?! Is that so bad? You see, what they wanted to do was not bad. It is the fact that they deemed it as a higher priority than obeying Jesus. That is where the problem is. Because you see, some of you, and I, need to understand that when God calls He wants us to obey Him and then work out the consequences of what we have made a decision for. But somehow we do not like it that way. Let me explain it to you this way. We are talking about being a follower of Jesus, a disciple of Jesus. Listen. Being a disciple of Jesus is not an offer I make God. It is my response to an offer He makes me. Because you cannot follow Him until He calls you. The Bible says no one can come to Christ unless drawn by His spirit. You can't go like, I'm gonna be a disciple! No, no. Only when He calls you can you say yes. It is His offer and your response. Here's the deal that you and I need to understand. His offer comes with His terms and His timing. Come on, shout with me. Terms and timing. Oh no, I want everybody to shout. Terms and timing. We don't like that. We like to dictate in our culture the terms and the timing. We go like, Jesus, I'll follow You if I fully understand what You want from me. Because You know, I ain't going no where if I don't understand what You want. Sweetheart, you'll never go anywhere. Because God doesn't owe you an explanation. You know what you've got to understand? He never shows you the future. He shows you the next step, maybe. He goes, see the next step? Gone. Can you trust Me? Can you trust Me? And about the timing, I don't know about you, but we always go like, God, this is terrible timing! Do you think God is going to go like, oh, I know?! Ut-uh. I want you to know that God probably picks the worst time. Because He knows it requires the most faith. And it is faith that pleases God. That is why when we throw tantrums and we go like, well, it's bad timing and I don't understand it and I ain't moving. Let me tell you something. God says, you're not fit to follow Me as a disciple. Because My disciples go on My terms and My timing. They follow Me. They will not say, let me first. Because it will rob them from obedience. Come on, shout obedience! Oh, I want you to shout it like you need it! Shout obedience! Let me tell you what obedience is. Obedience really is about trust. Trusting the words of Jesus. Trusting the words of Jesus. Let me ask you, can you trust God even if it's in a contradiction? You go like, what's a contradiction? Oh, the disciples are on the ocean, on the lake. I think it is a lake. And they're on a lake. And then Jesus came walking on the water. And they go like, ahhhh, it's a ghost! And Peter says, who are You?! He says, it's Jesus. He says, if it is You, Jesus, call me. Tell me to come to You. That's really stupid, between you and I. Jesus says, come to me. I'm not gonna come to you. That's a contradiction. He's God. He walks on water. We are people. We don't walk on water. Can you trust Him when your mind says, foolish? Crazy! What are you thinking? It's not gonna work! Because our God is a God that calls in contradiction. You know what Peter did? He says, I know I'm gonna sink. I'm going. Because if He calls me, He'll carry me. Can you trust Him and obey Him even if you do not fully understand? Because I am going to say this again. God never shows us the full picture. When you see the full picture you do not need faith. God is not asking you to agree with Him. God is asking, will you obey me even if you do not understand what I am saying in your life? And the last thing, can you trust Him when you realize you may lose the people you deem the most? What do you mean, Pierre? Do you understand if you truly become a follower of Jesus you may lose that high school friend that is hell-bent for you to get a divorce and get drunk with him every single night? Because he's lost his life to all of that. Now he wants your life there. Do you understand that being a follower of Jesus will have relational and social impact on your life? Listen. Because the Bible says light has got no hanging out. Light has got no fellowship with darkness. When you follow Jesus, He will lead you away from the thing that will bring death in your life. Do you understand? You say, but Pierre, that is freaking me out! Listen. Jesus came to be a disturbance to us. We have sanitized Jesus. You and I, we have made Jesus the Disney Jesus, the one day your prince will come Jesus. The everything is cool Jesus. The home boy Jesus. The He understands you, He'll wait for you, He's a patient Jesus. Don't worry about Him. It's okay, Jesus. Pretty Jesus. That's nice. Actually, that is not the Jesus in the Bible. Jesus says, I didn't come to bring peace, but I've come to bring conflict. You know what He said? Jesus said this, if you love your father and mother more than Me, you do not deserve to be My disciple. If you love a son and a daughter more than Me, you do not deserve to be My disciple. And He keeps going on and on and on. Whoever doesn't pick up his cross daily and follow me does not deserve to be my disciple. The one who wants to hold his life and preserve his life will lose his life. And the one who is ready to lay down your life and lose your life, I will give you life more abundantly, more than you can ever imagine. Jesus came to be a disturbance. Shake your world. Shake your world. Call you out. He says, will you follow Me? Will you follow Me? In that moment, will you be one of the people who says, I'll follow You? Or will you be one of the people who says, first let me, then I. So I ask the question, so Jesus, how did You get to choose Your disciples. And I read in the Book of Mark 2:14. And I am going to encourage us all to read it out loud. Do you know the guy in the Bible named Matthew? Come on now. He wrote a whole stinkin book. The whole first book of the New Testament, Matthew. That's the person. I go like, how did he get to write a book? Come on, read with me, Mark 2:`14. Everybody. In the amplified version. And as He was passing by, He saw Levi, his name is Matthew, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax office. Come on. And He said to him, let me hear your voice! Follow Me! Be joined to Me as a disciple. Side with my party. Come on. And he arose and joined Him as a disciple. I love that!! Matthew got up and said, I'll come. And then probably his humanity kicks in and he goes like, what am I doing? What am I doing?! Too late! I'm going! Somehow I believe those who responded with obedience became disciples of Christ. I believe the defining mark of a disciple is you believe then you work out the consequences. You act then you work out the consequences. You do what scripture says. Then you say, I don't fully understand it, but I am obeying. I will work it out. Because following Jesus and putting action to what I believe is critical as a follower of Jesus. Because God is honored by my faith and He honors those who honor Him by faith. So how is this implication? So let me tell you one more story. Come on. Fist pump your neighbor and say, actually two more. It is not one. He is confused. Two more. So there is this guy in the Bible. His name is Philip. In the Book of Acts, Chapter 8, we see an angel of the Lord came to Philip. And he said, Philip, I want you to go to the desert road in Gaza. Now I don't know about you, whenever God sends me to nice places, I know it is Him! But if He sends me to desert places, I go, get behind me, Satan! You know what I mean? He says go out of your place of comfort. Go to the desert road. What did Philip do? See what scripture says. Come on. What did Philip do? Come on. What did Philip do? Come on! What did Philip do?! Well, I don't know about that, Jesus. I don't know. If it is You, show me a dove, show me a dove. You know what I mean? All the stupid things we do. No, Philip went. So I guess Philip is on the desert road and goes like, I hope it's You. I hope it's You. I hope it's You! Because it's pretty crappy out here. I hope it's You. I hope it's You. The Bible says there was a chariot that came from Jerusalem and was on it's way back to Ethiopia. It is three months travel. Not three hours, three months travel! The guy that is on that chariot, they say, is the finance minister to Queen Candace of Ethiopia, a religious man that made pilgrimage to Jerusalem to come pray. He was on his way back home and he was holding the scroll of Isaiah reading. Now to have a scroll shows you his affluence. The fact that he can read it shows you his education. He is a highly influential man reading the scroll of Isaiah. Then the Spirit of the Lord said to Philip, catch up to the wagon! What did Philip do? See what scripture says. So, Philip, oh come on! What did Philip do? He ran! Oh, I've come to the realization if I want to see the hand of God move in my life and on my life, God needs obedience more than He needs conversation from me. God wants me to act. He wants me to get up and go! He wants me to run more than for me to go like, let's just talk about this. Ut-uh! If you want to be a disciple you obey and then you talk later about what just happened. If you want God to use you in a supernatural way, and I know you do, you need to begin to realize obedience must become a reflex. God, not an agreeable heart, but give me an obeying spirit! And the Bible says when Philip came to the chariot and he heard this guy read. And he was reading about Jesus from an Old Testament perspective. He was reading like a lamb to the slaughter. Like a sheep to the slaughter and the lamb dumb to the shearers. He never uttered a word or said anything. And Philip said to him, do you know what you're reading? He says, how can I know what I'm reading if someone doesn't explain to me? I love this. The Bible says Philip got up on the chariot. Watch, watch what it says. And he preached Jesus to him. I love that, I love that! You go like, what does that mean? Oh, I can preach Jesus to you right now! Man, I just need an organ and I can go! Let me preach Jesus to you. I've been preaching Jesus all my life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son! You and I, fallen away from God with natures that are sinful, we cannot help ourselves, save ourselves. All our righteous works are like filthy rags. But God loved us and saw us in darkness and sent His Son, Jesus. And on that old rugged cross Jesus took on the sins of the world. And the spotless lamb of God became our final sacrifice. And when He died He rose from the dead and got the keys of death out of the grave. When He said it's finished, those who are far can come now close through the blood of Jesus! We have been delivered through the blood of the Lamb! The law of the Spirit in life has set us free from the law of sin and death! I am no longer in darkness. His right, mighty hand has transformed me out of darkness and placed me in the kingdom of His dear Son. He's given me a brand new nature. I don't have a broken heart. I have become partaker of His divine nature. And He's baptized me in His Holy Spirit. He has set me apart for His glory. He calls me son! When I live, I live for Him. When I die, it doesn't matter, because in my Father's house are many mansions. If it wasn't...where's the organ, man?! Where's the organ? If it wasn't true I wouldn't tell you it was so. And I go like, I love the gospel of Jesus! It has changed me. But it is incomplete. Because somehow he preaches the gospel of Jesus and this very educated man says, oh look! There's water! What prevents me from being baptized? Philip says, if you believe in Jesus, you can be baptized. He says, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God! He got off the wagon. An educated man got off the wagon, climbed into a pond, was dunked under the water, climbed back on the chariot. The Bible says he was filled with joy more than you can ever imagine. Unending joy filled him as he went home. And I go like, time out, time out, time out! Where did baptism slip into salvation? Wait. Where?! Well, actually, it is our modern day church religion that has made the things of God optional. Because you see, somehow, no where in the New Testament do you see salvation disconnected from baptism. I am not talking about baptizing babies. I am talking about adults. Watch. Mark 16:6. And I want everybody to read it out loud. Here we go. Everybody. It goes like this: He who believes and is baptized. Oh, no, no, no. I want everybody. He who believes and is baptized. Oh, one more time. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Oh, wow. Wait a minute. I told you I'm here to be a holy disturbance, right? I told you I'm here to shake you a little bit. Because you see, somehow we have come to the conclusion everything is optional. Somehow we've become a church, a religious environment, where we go like, hey, do you want Jesus? (whispering) Just raise your hand a little bit. We don't want to embarrass you. You're in. (whispering) It's undercover but you're in. It's all good. (whispering) No. You know what Jesus says? If you're ashamed of me before men I will be ashamed of you one day before the Father. If you can't acknowledge Me before people, I will not acknowledge you before the Father. Oooh. Holy disturbance in that moment. Listen. He never said baptism was optional. He never said it. You say, oh, oh, it just freaks me out to get in the pool where other people have been. Oh, sweetheart! So you're going to have your freaking out stop you from what Jesus has done on the cross?! You're going to freak it out and I'm not gonna do that! Since when is that your decision? Or are you a follower of Jesus? Are you a "I'm freaking out; I'm not gonna do it". Or are you a believer? Because somehow, believing and being baptized goes together! Last story. Come on, turn to your neighbor and say, Bam! Last story! Paul and Silas are in prison. They are in prison because they've preached the gospel, baptized people, and done signs and wonders in the name of Jesus. Man! That's a bummer! They are sitting there in shackles. Their backs are whipped open. At 12:00. Say 12:00. Oh come on. Say 12:00. They got sick and tired of being sick and tired. And they started praising God out loud. I love that, I love that, I love that!! I don't know about you. Have you ever read that God dwells in the praises of His people? Whenever you begin to praise God, He goes like, oh, I love that song! Let me go see! I don't know about you, but some of you need the God who needs to go see. But all you do is complain all day stinkin long. No, no, no. God doesn't come to the groaning of His people. God comes to the praises of His people! And maybe you need to begin to lift your voice towards heaven and say God, I feel pretty crappy right now. But I'm gonna sing a song! I'm gonna praise You. I'm gonna say that You are good! I'm going to acknowledge You as the Almighty God over my life! And when you do, He'll come visit! And when He came and visited the prison He sent an angel who shook the prison, opened the shackles! And all of the sudden all the prisoners are free and the prison guard took his sword. Now he wants to kill himself. Because if you lose a prisoner, as a prison guard you pay with your life. Paul says, don't kill yourself! Don't! Don't! We're not going anywhere. Okay, wait a minute. This guy goes, first of all you sing really, really loud songs to Jesus and praising God. Now you are free and you're not going anywhere. One plus one. What must I do to be saved! Isn't that so true! Listen to what Paul and Silas said to him. This is so important that you read this out loud with me. I love this! I love this! And the Bible says, Acts 16. Let's read verse 30-33. Can you do that for me? Everybody out loud. Then he took Paul and Silas outside and asked, sirs, what do I have to do to be saved? They answered, believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your family will be saved. They spoke the Lord's word to the jailer and everyone in his home at, at what?! What time is it right now? 12:00 at night. And at that hour of the night the jailer washed Paul and Silas' wounds. The jailer and his entire family were baptized. When?! Immediately! Bam!! Immediately. Now do you realize what time this is? It's like 12:00 and I'm tired. No, no, no. Are you a follower of Jesus? Because on the day of Pentecost Peter came out and preached to 3000 people, a bigger group than 3000. For the first time they hear Jesus is the Son of God that died. Three thousand said, I believe! And the Bible says, and they were baptized immediately on that day. You see, I do not understand why God chooses water as an expression. I said to my daughter as we sat in the back, I said, Baby, the only way I can explain it, when babies are born they come out of water into life. The Spirit of God gives life to a baby. That's why we have to preserve life. Life is not given by man. Life is given by God. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever make it a political issue. It is an issue of life. God gives life. And the baby is born through water. The Bible says unless you are born of the water and the Spirit. Somehow God chose water. He says when you are baptized you are buried. The old life is buried and you are born out of that water into a new life. So you go like, oh, I believe that! Let me tell you how awesome this is. Watch this. In the last 18 weeks here in Rochester, New York, at The Father's House and all of our campuses, listen. Thirty-eight hundred people raised their hands and received Jesus as their Lord and Savior! Thirty-eight hundred people! I love that! And here's the moment. Now it is time for them to be baptized. Oh, oh, wait, wait, wait!! You go like, oh, I so agree! And I go like, look! There's water! What's prevents you from being baptized right now?! You go like, you are freaking out my head. I told you! I told you! I'm here to be a holy disturbance! You go like, wait, wait, wait. Let me first go home and talk it through with my wife. Since when has your wife got anything to do with obeying Jesus? Since when has your husband got anything to do with obeying Jesus? Jesus just told us obey Me, otherwise you're not worthy and fitting of my kingdom. You go like, well, Pierre, you are freaking me out! I didn't come prepared! I know that. That is why we prepared for you. We've got hundreds and hundreds of brand new t-shirts, all sizes. And hundreds and hundreds of trunks, all sizes. Hundreds and hundreds of towels, all sizes. We are ready for you today. And I know your heart is going like boom, bitty boom, boom, boom, boom! Boom, boom, boom! Boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom! Because the Spirit of God said, it's you, it's you, it's you, it's you! Right now, today, it's you. You go like, really?! Right now? Yes. Right now. Right now. Today. Today we have already baptized 168 people that said, it's me, it's me! God, it's me! Me! I have received You, Jesus, and I've not been baptized. I'm not waiting another moment. I have decided to follow Jesus. Get a whole new meaning. Will you obey or will you say, first let me understand it, work it out. No, no. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. And those who are joining us on TBN, I want to say this to you. You need to get to a church that baptizes believers. You've got to find a church. Because I can only connect you with the truth of God. But you need to take the next step that this church is going to take in this moment. Come on. Let's drop out the light and get the worship team. Okay, so here's the moment. Oh, come on. Turn to your neighbor and say, here's your moment. This is your moment. Now look at me, look at me, look at me. Look at me. This is the moment. I realize that your mind is freaking out right now. And I've come to discover this. You better put your body into motion before your mind puts you in the prison of indecision and doubt. You need to quickly act. You can't sit there and say, will I, will I, will I?!!! Oh, no, no, no. You're not fit for the kingdom if you play it that way. Because you see, Jesus is coming. Right now I'm giving articulation to His voice. If you believe and you are baptized you will be saved. Today is the day of salvation. This moment was planned before the foundation of the earth. God is looking at you right now. He says, you, you, you, you, you, you. Will you follow Me? Will you obey Me? You go like, uh, I just had my hair done. The perm is like $50. Really? Really?! Really?! You are scared of your do looking ugly?! Oh, people are going to see the way I really look. God has seen you from the beginning of time. And you are beautiful in His eyes! Today, today, this moment, is the moment of salvation. In about five seconds we're gonna do this. This is how it's gonna go down. We're gonna sing a song. Then when I say ready, you jump up before your mind talks you out of an obeying moment. You're going to go through the back doors. There's a whole bunch of volunteers with T-shirts and everything and a big ol' bag to put your stuff in. And security has got you. There's no problem with things going missing. We've got you. And I'm gonna go to the back and I'm gonna get changed. And I'm going to get into that baptismal. Today I'm gonna baptize you into a brand new life for Jesus! Come on! Are you ready?! Jesus, right now, I pray that you would quiet every heart. God, I know people are wrestling right now. Right now the enemy is trying to hold them back. Because he understands there is power in obedience. He understands if he can keep them away from an old being buried and a new life beginning. He's losing what he is controlling right now. Father, let them not even look around and ask permission with their eyes. Let them look You in the eye and say, I have decided. I am responding to the call of God in my life. All the way, all the way, all the way! All the way!! Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders today, oh God. In Jesus' name. At the count of three, you jump up and you go to the back. Do not, do not let your mind hold you prisoner right now. Are you ready? Are you ready? One, two, three! Come on! Get up on your feet! I'm gonna baptize you today!! (applause) ♪ Spirit lead me where my trust is ♪ Without borders Come on!!!! ♪ Let me walk upon the waters ♪ Wherever you would call me Come on!!!! Yeah!!!!! Nick: Thanks so much for joining us online today. I really hope that God's word spoke to your heart. And if it did, I hope you'll tell us all about it. We always want to capture the stories of those who are experiencing church online here at The Father's House. So send us an email: mystory@tfhny.org We'll take these stories and we'll share them with our staff and volunteers to encourage them and let them know that God is moving, He's active here at church online. In addition to that, if you've ever thought about giving financially to this ministry, I want to give you the opportunity to do so today. You can click on the Give icon located in the top right hand corner of your screen. You can give a one-time gift or maybe even a reoccurring gift of $5 or $10 or maybe even $100, maybe even $500. Whatever that you feel that it is that God would lead you to do so today, I want to encourage you in this moment to do so. And thanks again so much for joining us here at church online at tfhny.tv and we'll see you next week!