Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 On our fourth anniversary and I want to welcome you here. Uh, thank you, Brian, for doing the slide show for us. You made me cry, but not too much. Otherwise this would be a mess right here right now. Um, but it's good to see you all here this morning. My name is Craig Jarvis. I'm the lead pastor here at village church East. And I got to tell you, you are here for an amazing day today. This is our fourth anniversary. The Lord has blessed us through these years and allowed us to make a difference in Carol stream and make a difference in many lives of individuals in our church as well. I'm going to stand here cause I think the light's better here. All right. Just FYI for all those wonderful people in the back that are putting this online and welcome to all of you that are online.
Speaker 1 00:00:41 Good to see you here this morning as well. Some of you haven't seen in like a year, it feels like a year I haven't seen yet. That's supposed to be a joke. Some of you, it has been a year and uh, it's been good to, uh, be good to plan this this morning so we can use this as a big re gathering together again. Uh, we have some baptisms coming up, which is very cool. I want to tell you about one other thing that we're rolling out starting this week. And that is every Sunday. I feel like there are probably some questions after I give a message that are kind of left hanging out there. And so, uh, pastor Michael over at Bartlett church, Alex, uh, is, is, uh, ABC church. Uh, I forget what that stands for, but anyway, we get together on, uh, Mondays and do our sermon prep.
Speaker 1 00:01:25 We get the messages together. We deliver them on different campuses. You probably know we already do that. If you don't, there's something new for you. And on Monday after the Sunday, we deliver the messages. Now we are going to be doing a live, wow, sorry. We're going to be doing a video stream, a Q and a. So we're going to take the top three questions and we're going to deal with those questions as we come out of each one of these messages. So my hope is that that rolls out this week. We've been doing quite a few of them already just trying to get them to look right. And I think you're going to really enjoy them. Those are going to be right on VC, east.org. You can link on there. They're only about 30 minutes, long, 20 to 30 minutes long. Uh, so you can listen to them as you're driving or you can watch them on your free time.
Speaker 1 00:02:04 Uh, but these are going to be hopefully, uh, ways that we can dig a little deeper into some of the messages that we do on Sunday. Cause I realized we don't get to touch on every single aspect that I would like to, uh, in each of the messages. This gives us a chance to kind of do that after the message is finished. So watch VCE east.org should roll out on Wednesday of this week. I'm crossing my fingers, hoping that's the case. Uh, and if you'd like to check that out, it's a video, uh, it's a video, uh, that you can watch or you can just listen to the audio that will be available as well. I want to take you back in time to 1998 just seems like yesterday, doesn't it. So my new thing is I'm watching Magnum now, Magnum PI, and I liked the music dot, dot, dot dot. You know that music right there again, and I'm actually playing it in the car now and Rebecca's gone. I've never heard that song before. And I'm just like, Oh, I failed as a father. I failed
Speaker 2 00:03:00 1998. There was one
Speaker 1 00:03:02 Wonderful year. It was the year that we started discovering these wonderful things called cell phones. These were becoming such a popular thing in these days. And I found a message that I did in 1998. This is not that message, but I'm using an illustration from it because cell phones were a fairly new thing. This one is one of the first ones. It's a Makia, uh, five one, one zero. How many had the cell phone? Do you recognize this one? I had this one and this one, interestingly enough, you want to take a guess at how much this was when you bought it for a stand straight out of the store.
Speaker 2 00:03:34 $990 for this cell phone when it first came out. I know.
Speaker 1 00:03:39 Oh, I know if actually, if you have one of these, uh, just FYI, I did do some research on it. They are worth about $400. If you've got one in Utah.
Speaker 2 00:03:48 Well, if you'd like to sell it, all right, so that's just for me to you just give me a little check in the mail as a thank you. All right.
Speaker 1 00:03:55 We were amazed that we would go from car phones to these phones that we could carry around with us. We had personal phone numbers. All of us were thinking to ourselves, what do I do with the phone book? Am I need the gonna need this for you? Remember the phone books I hung around from nine until August. I figured myself, Nope, it's coming back. Everybody's going to be used with me.
Speaker 2 00:04:10 Amazing.
Speaker 1 00:04:12 Two 98, these are fairly new. And they were finding glitches in them. And one of the glitches, do you remember this that they found is you could listen in on other people's phone
Speaker 2 00:04:19 Calls. This was one
Speaker 1 00:04:21 Of the new things that they were discovering, and they're trying to shut down the audio wave so that people couldn't pick up other people's phone calls because you never know
Speaker 2 00:04:29 Who was listening. It's a great illustration for you never know. Who's listening reminds me of story of Paul and Silas. And as we prepare
Speaker 1 00:04:39 Baptism today, this is a story that kind of strikes at my heart this morning. This story actually is found in acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas are on a missionary journey together. This is Paul, the apostle second missionary journey. He's going across Europe. One of the first converts. In fact, the first convert in Europe was a woman. Her name was Lydia.
Speaker 2 00:04:57 She was amazing. She
Speaker 1 00:05:00 Was one of the, I think she was a very first convert in Europe. And uh, and then from her it was like Domino's. So it was just like the, the word of God started taking over the, the culture at the time, churches began to be established. The church began beyond fire. When this happened, people who sold stuff or who were making a living other ways that were similar to, depending on God ways
Speaker 2 00:05:24 Began to lose money.
Speaker 1 00:05:26 Because with all these people of faith, they started scaring those other people that you sings like fortune
Speaker 2 00:05:32 Tellers. And so one
Speaker 1 00:05:34 Guy in Philippi had a slave who was a fortune teller and he made Buku money
Speaker 2 00:05:40 Off of the slave.
Speaker 1 00:05:42 Paul and Silas met up with a slave, this little girl that could tell this the people's fortunes. They met up with her and she, she started looking at them going, you're different. You're your missionaries? You're your messengers of the son of God. And they told her to stop talking because she was basically, she was causing a disruption in their ministry and they, they did not want the testimony of God coming from a demon possessed person. And you know, if anybody knows who Jesus is, it's the demons. And so Paul and Silas stopped right there. And then they cast the demon out of this girl, the demon that could tell them
Speaker 2 00:06:15 Future. And then the owners found out and they got mad.
Speaker 1 00:06:21 They got so mad. They lie lied about Paul and Silas. You can read about all of this in scripture, they lied about them. They said that they were causing a disruption, which they were causing actually. And they had the magistrates throw them into prison. They were thrown into prison. They were bound by their hands and their feet. They were lied about, they were beaten with rods and they were thrown into, into prison, into jail, into a dungeon. This is where we pick up the story in acts 16, verse 23, when they inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely having received this order. You put them into the inner prison, prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. Listen, they were just trying to help out a slave girl. And now they're bound hands and feet. I want to tell you if there's anyone who has reason to feel a little bit, let down by God, it would have been these guys they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. They're carrying out their mission. They're giving up their lives. They're reaching other people for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And how are they thanked? They're thrown into prison, into a dungeon there.
Speaker 2 00:07:19 And they're left there
Speaker 1 00:07:22 Reason to feel discouraged. Real reason, to feel betrayed by God reason, to feel like let's reassess at this point, our lives and figure out if we want to do this for a living. Cause it doesn't look good going forward
Speaker 2 00:07:34 From here. But in the now
Speaker 1 00:07:37 Next verse in 25 were told what they were doing. And it's none of that. Instead in verse 25, we're told that Paul and Silas were, what were they doing? Church. They were praying and singing hymns
Speaker 2 00:07:48 To God. Now I understand
Speaker 1 00:07:51 The praying, God get me out of this. Right? You understand the praying,
Speaker 2 00:07:56 But the singing praying I understand.
Speaker 1 00:08:02 And my guess is if they were seeing they weren't praying, God get me out of this. In fact, I would guess that they were doing a whole lot of different things because the next phrase in verse 25 says this and the prisoners were listening
Speaker 2 00:08:16 To them. That blows me away.
Speaker 1 00:08:22 The prisoners were listening to them. It's not so much about the amazing attitude of the missionaries, as incredible as that is to be in jail, to pray to God, to sing to God after you've been beaten and left to die. You're singing to God. As amazing as that is.
Speaker 2 00:08:43 The
Speaker 1 00:08:43 Incredible thing is as they were singing, the prisoners were listening to them.
Speaker 2 00:08:51 There's no need to eavesdrop on a cell phone. You don't have to dial a certain number in and try and listen in incognito. These guys are filling the cell with the praises of God. Even though most of us would feel betrayed by God. At this point, it was loud and it was out there. And the praise of Jesus went a long way. Here's why I know that verse 26 says this suddenly there was a great earthquake. Oh, I love this. So that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds. How many bonds were unfastened everyone's verse 27. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. Supposing the prisoners had escaped. The jailer was distraught because Rome owned him. They owned his family.
Speaker 2 00:09:46 And it's one thing. If he gets caught dropping the ball, what do you, what do you mean? All the prisoners escaped? Did you not catch any of them on the way out? What kind of an idiot are you? Like? We put you in charge down. You let them all go. They're all gone. Take off his head. That would have been normal. Like Rome would get rid of this guy, but you have to know they would go after his family next, they would wipe his DNA from the earth and they would do it in the most horrific ways because they would make an example out of this Jayla that did not live up to his job for Rome. And my guess is he was ready to take his life. Not because he was thinking to himself. Yeah, it's not worth living, but because he didn't want to lose his family. If he took his own knife, maybe he could disguise it and it would look like he'd get killed by one of the prisoners on the way out. See he's thinking to himself, how do I get myself out of this?
Speaker 2 00:10:42 The jailer was desperate. The prisoners were free and the free man became a prisoner verse 28. Uh, Paul cried with a loud voice. Do not harm yourself for, we are all here. Are you blown away by that? We are all still here. And the jailer called for the lights. There's no, this for the lights, you understand like, like get the BIC. We got to light up the lights, the jailer called for the lights. And he rushed in and trembling with fear. He fell down before Paul and Silas and he brought them out and said to them, SIRS, what must I do to be saved the power of the witness of Paul and Silas? The prisoners didn't leave. Can you explain to me why the prisoners didn't leave? Like any, any suggestion at all? My guess is Paul and Silas had such an amazing testimony in that prison that night, that not only did they affect the jailer, but they also affected every prisoner in their cells.
Speaker 2 00:11:45 Why? Because the prisoners were listening, listening for anything. Any hope, how low do you have to get to be in a dungeon, beaten and left to die? That's about as low as you can go. And they're sitting there listening for any sign of hope. And when these two strangers came in with a weird dialect and they get thrown into prison and all they can do is pray out loud to God and sing praises to God. You better caught the prisoner's attention. They were listening and the jailer threw himself down and realizes his life has been saved. These guys were not just praying and singing. Listen. They were filling the prison with the gospel. The question asked by many, a searching soul was asked by this jailer who knew he has been saved by these people. He had just beaten. And he said to them, the people he had beaten, please tell me what must I do to be saved. Verse 31. I love this. They say
Speaker 1 00:12:53 The jailer, believe in the Lord, Jesus. And you will be saved you and your household. They spoke the word of God to him and to all who were in his, what church,
Speaker 2 00:13:03 The jailer took the prisoners home. How many jailers take their prisoners home this year,
Speaker 1 00:13:13 Taylor has been impacted by the gospel of Jesus Christ and Paul and Paul and Silas. After, after they shared the gospel with a jailer, the jailer said, this thing, this, this message of the gospel has impacted my life so much. I have to take it to the people that I love the most. And he said, please come home with me. And Paul and Silas, I go, sure. Do what come do you think the other person has went to? I, I don't know. I wonder like everybody party at my house,
Speaker 2 00:13:43 Something has moved.
Speaker 1 00:13:46 Dad has gotten saved. Dad has gotten changed and dad goes home and tells his family. I've met these guys. They have shared the gospel of the living. God with me, I know about Jesus Christ. The one who has died for my sins. I know I have salvation through Jesus Christ. These guys know it, share with my family and the whole family received
Speaker 2 00:14:05 Jesus as their savior. He had to share it with the people most important for me because they were listening for his witness. Children, let him listen for the witnesses,
Speaker 1 00:14:15 Their parents, you know this because they count all of your rooms,
Speaker 2 00:14:18 Right? And they see all of the rights. They see what God is doing in your life. The rest of this family, didn't automate.
Speaker 1 00:14:27 They get saved. They didn't, they believe because of the test,
Speaker 2 00:14:30 The money of their dad. They believe because of what God has done in the life of their father. We're about to baptize a dad in his daughter today. This dad has gotten
Speaker 1 00:14:43 Serious about his faith. Like few people I've ever known. God has answered the prayer of this family. His life has been changed. So, you know, the first thing he did, he goes back to his family. He says, I'm changed. I say, prove it. And he's been proving it this whole time. It's amazing how God has used Chris. This guy that you're going to see in a few minutes now works with us on a setup team on Sunday morning. He's one of the reasons those of you that are home. Get to hear what you hear at home.
Speaker 2 00:15:09 He's part of our team. And because of it,
Speaker 1 00:15:12 Of his testimony, I visited with the family and Mia, his oldest daughter, who you will meet in just a moment has said, you know, I'd like to get baptized too. I'd like to get serious about
Speaker 2 00:15:21 My faith. You see
Speaker 1 00:15:23 There's something about the gospel that changes lives so that the people around us from small circles to large circles, listen to us. They watch us. They see what God is,
Speaker 2 00:15:33 Is doing
Speaker 1 00:15:36 This. Father's encapsulated as home. The prayers of a mother has been answered the prayers of a friend who is here with us today. His name is John flew in today because he's been planting seeds in Chris's life and planting seeds and Chris's life. And now he's about to see that tree break out of the soil.
Speaker 2 00:15:53 Both father
Speaker 1 00:15:53 And daughter had to make a decision themselves to make their lives right with the Lord to decide to follow him. And both of them have responded to the gospel and both of them will go through the waters of baptism out of obedience to Jesus Christ, declaring they're no longer their own, but they belong to Jesus.
Speaker 2 00:16:08 Now that's what
Speaker 1 00:16:10 Baptism is all about. It's about listening to the witnesses and watching the chains break.
Speaker 2 00:16:18 Look what happens after this verse 33. And he took them
Speaker 1 00:16:21 Same hour of the night and washed their wounds. And he was baptized at once. He and all his family. And he brought them up to the house and set food before them and rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God, the hands that afflicted the inflicted, the wounds now dress them
Speaker 2 00:16:37 Moons. Why? Because Jesus makes that much difference.
Speaker 1 00:16:43 Jesus just makes that much difference. Testimony of somebody that accepted the Lord and now wants to show it through baptism. And all of his family followed his example
Speaker 2 00:16:55 Because people are
Speaker 1 00:16:56 Listening. People are listening for the witness of what God can do.
Speaker 2 00:17:02 Church people
Speaker 1 00:17:03 Still are listening for the witness of what God can
Speaker 2 00:17:05 Do. Oh, we
Speaker 1 00:17:07 Live in a world that desperately needs to hear some good news. The word gospel
Speaker 2 00:17:11 Is good news. People are listening for the witness of what our God can do.
Speaker 1 00:17:21 Why do we baptize at village church East? We baptize a village or geeze. Cause we just continue. What they're doing in the new Testament. Baptism is all about belonging. When I asked Beth to be my wife on our wedding day, we had a ceremony. I got in front of a bunch of people and it's like, I was screaming to everybody. I have chosen this woman to be my wife for the rest of my life. You remember the till death do us part bit, right? Is that too long ago for your river sickness? And then how richer for poor? Oh,
Speaker 2 00:17:50 What a ride deathless prior. Right? I am declaring to everybody that I am no longer a single man. I belong to my wife until death do us part. And just in case, I forget, I get a ring. This is my reminder. And your reminder, I belong to someone else baptism. And it's about belonging. It's a moment of formal moment of time when, after we believe Jesus Christ is our savior. When after we say, Lord Jesus, I give my life to you. Rescue me from the sins that I've committed. My entire life. Baptism is a formal moment where we declare it publicly. Is it a public declaration of a private decision? Matthew 28. Jesus tells us to do this in verse 19. He says to the church to us, go there for and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son of the Holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that.
Speaker 2 00:18:45 I've commanded you and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age, you can't baptize someone in Jesus until they are a disciple of Jesus in the Bible. It's always in this order. It's always believe baptize added to the church. It's always in that order. And that's why when we baptize, we do so after somebody responds to the what must I do to be saved, you must accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. After that moment, there comes a time for a public declaration of that private decision. It is a verbal identification. That's why when you, when we do this today, you'll see we have people share their stories. This is what God has done in my life. This is how he's changed, where you'll get to hear that it's a verbal declaration, just like you would see at a wedding, same deal.
Speaker 2 00:19:34 It is a visible identification. We typically use the water as our visible identification. And typically we're in a place where we can dunk them right under the water, this sign where we have to do it in this room. And we'll talk about that more in a minute. But the visible picture is that you go under the water, you die with Jesus. You stay under the water, not very long, but that's being buried with Jesus. And you come up out of the water and that's a symbol of what rising with Jesus. You are verbally identifying with Jesus. You are visibly identifying with Jesus and you are virtually identifying with Jesus. The word baptism, actually extra critical extracurricular literature outside of the Bible means submerge. It means that in the Bible too, but they use it outside of the Bible. When they dunk their dishes in the water and wash them off, or when a ship sinks in the Greek, they say the ship was baptized.
Speaker 2 00:20:29 It's completely underwater. And in scripture, when you see any baptism taking place, if there's any details given about it, it's always, there was a body of water there. Jesus got baptized in the Jordan river. There's always a body of water. Why? Because you go down and you come up out of the water. And that's why we dunk here at village church East that's external, but internally, this is the line you draw in the sand. You're declaring that your life is no longer your own. You are bought with a price and you wish to glorify God in your body. Baptism is identifying with a message that Jesus preached. You're saying not only do I agree with Jesus' message, but I am on board with all of it. You're saying I'm drawing a line in the sand. No turning back, no turning back. You are no longer your own, but your life belongs to Jesus Christ. That's why we celebrate baptism so much because it is, it is such an amazing formal internal declaration and external picture of being one with Jesus Christ. Now, listen, what baptism does not do? Number one, it does not make us more. Holy. You could get baptized a hundred times and you'll just get more wet.
Speaker 2 00:21:58 It does not make you more Holy. When you accept Christ as your savior, you are filled with the spirit of God. If you get hit by a bus and you're not baptized, you still go to heaven. Why? Because God makes you Holy through the blood of Jesus Christ and scripture. You're spiritually baptized in his blood. So going through the waters of baptism is a formal visual, verbal declaration, but it does not make you more Holy you are. If you know Christ as your savior, you are a Saint of God already. You are Holy Jesus does that. We don't do that. Number two, it does not make God love you more.
Speaker 2 00:22:36 God couldn't love you more than he already does. God. Couldn't love you more than he already does church for God. So loved the world. He gave his only son that happened 2000 years ago and he knew all about you back then. God couldn't love you any more than he already does. There's nothing you can do to get more love from God. There's nothing you can do to make him more pleased with you. Number three, it does not give you a one way ticket to heaven. Baptism does not guarantee you a ticket into heaven. Otherwise, when the jailer would have come before Paul and thrown himself in front of Paul and said, what must I do to be saved? Paul would have said, let's get you baptized Jim. But he didn't. What did he say? The most important thing is believe on the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 00:23:38 And you will be saved. You have to believe, believe always comes before baptism. That's why we don't infants here. They can not believe they can not make that decision on their own. You have to come to face to face point an eyeball eyeball point with Jesus Christ where you say I'm either in or I'm out. That is your decision to make just like this jailer's family. Each one made their own decision, but the father influenced them. You have been influenced by Jesus Christ. He has pursued you every day of your life. And you must make a decision whether or not you're going to follow him or not. That's the most important decision you make. Baptism is only a declaration of a private decision. Belief comes first. It's change of mind. It's change of heart today. We can't dunk. I'm disappointed about that, But we are going to do the next best thing. We're going to dunk the living daylights out of them. When they get in this pool down
Speaker 0 00:24:35 Here,
Speaker 2 00:24:38 It's not the method that has the magic. It's the message of the gospel that you're about to see when you hear these powerful testimonies and then you see this visible, powerful demonstration of lives that are sacrificed to Jesus Christ, who are sacrificing their futures to serve and to love Jesus, the witnesses. The thing we are the prisoners in the cells, listening to the voice of two beaten missionaries seguing in the dark listen church. You never know who's listening. People are listening to more things today than I've ever heard thought of before. I never thought it was possible. The internet as as much of a blessing as it is, is just as much of a curse. People are listening to any thing. Forget trying to dial into a cell phone number and listening to what your neighbors saying. You can literally listen to anything anyone's saying online at any time. And everybody wants to be
Speaker 2 00:25:43 It's about time. We listened to the truth. It's about time. We had some, some good food to feast on. We're not giving you something juicy this morning. We're giving you something real. This is the whole reason for baptism. People are listening. Prisoners are listening, listening to the witness, and today is about listening to the truth. That's why we're putting it online. That's why we're archiving this. That's why we're doing it in this room so that we can, we can encapsulate this moment of change and we can give the truth to anyone who will listen straight from the mouths of those. Who've been changed by God's grace. Are you ready to listen for the witness of what God has done? I am ready. All right, come on up guys. I want to introduce to you a couple of different people here this morning.
Speaker 0 00:26:33 Yes.
Speaker 2 00:26:35 Uh, it'll come where we'll get it up here. You got us here.
Speaker 0 00:26:40 All right.
Speaker 1 00:26:45 This is Chris McHugh. Uh, and Chris is going to be go first. This is Mia, his oldest daughter, and this is John, a long friend of the family who has been like Johnny Appleseed, planting seeds and planting seeds, and, uh, has been very influential in their lives. I'm so glad you can be with us here this morning, John. All right. All right. You ready? I'm ready. Chris is going to share with us what God has done in his life and how God has changed his life. And Chris, you go first.
Speaker 0 00:27:12 Yep. Kick these off.
Speaker 3 00:27:15 So this is what it feels like prices, right? Coming down here,
Speaker 3 00:27:20 Actually it feels like if I were to win a lottery, that's more akin to, it literally feels like all kidding aside. I'm going to do my best to get through this. We've all endured probably the worst year that any of us could have, could have imagined about a year ago. And I feel I'm hesitant to say that this has been without a doubt, the best year of my life. So many things happening. So many things, so many good blessings, like it's almost that I'm not worthy, but I do feel worthy. Uh, coming here being a part of this is beyond any, any dreams I could have possibly imagined a quick story of how I got here, uh, born and raised Catholic, no slight on anybody. That's Catholic. It's all because of that, that I'm here today. But I spent most of my life looking, probably unknowingly looking for a relationship with Christ, but it was always fleeting looking back.
Speaker 3 00:28:14 I probably spent more times trying to disprove it that I didn't have to take the jump of faith or have to believe it. Uh, most of the time, I wasn't aware that I'm searching. I was searching for purpose and feeling, but it was oblivious that I was mostly a participant. I was not a participant. I was an observer in my life, almost in third person, drugs, alcohol, any departures behavior. Uh, these things works of the flesh that were trying to fill the void. Uh, wish I would have regulations five at the time had these fruits of the spirit at my disposal. It didn't come to later for me, but we got there eventually another crazy thing, the infinite number of things that had to happen, just so for me to be here today, going back, you know, because of Craig that I'm here. Only reason I met Craig is because of my neighbor net through Y that are her daughter met his daughter. The only reason why that she's at wa is because when we moved into the neighborhood, we just assumed we were going to go to St. Francis. Our neighbor said, Oh, you should check out why Wheaton Academy. And then when we got to Wheaton Academy, we said in that, Oh, and that you should do this too. And the, the number of ripple effects goes back infinite. So that in itself is just one little proof of the miracle that why I'm here, that we're all here.
Speaker 3 00:29:32 And when I start to look back for the truth, when I'm looking for the truth, instead of trying to find ways to disprove it, that's when the magic started to happen. At first, when I met Craig, things clicked slowly. Uh, I didn't know if I believed him, uh, seemed very charismatic, engaging, uh, wanted to hear what he had to say. But in the back of my mind, there was a skeptic, uh, too good to be true once your money he's really got this thing down. God and I flat out told you to your face in my, in my living room, in my kitchen. I said, uh, I haven't finished my background, check on you. I said, but, but, but it should come soon. And I say that kiddingly, but it literally happened like that. And I think there's so many different things, but if I could pinpoint one thing where everything clicked, like just the biggest lightening telling my story to Craig.
Speaker 3 00:30:25 Yeah. It's sad at the onset, but it started to feel good about all of the trials and tribulations, the disappointments, even though most were self-induced, uh, there's stories of, like I said, drugs, alcohol being in jail. It's like awful things. His eyes welled up with tears, as I'm saying this, but I'm laughing, not laughing because it's funny, but laughing because I've learned from that, it was it's in the past. And the words that are ingrained in me, my mind forever, he said, bro, I've been doing this a long time and rarely do I find somebody that Christ pursued so relentlessly as he has you. And that, I mean, it's just like everything, everything came and made sense. It's like the curtain was lifted up. I looked back and prior to that, all these scattered dots. Yeah. Some good fortune, some good things, but they didn't make sense.
Speaker 3 00:31:17 And slowly but surely the veil is lifted in all these dots are imperfect line and they make complete that's the whole time where everything was right in front of me, that it was letting go and getting over fear, fear, and anxiety, been a constant in my life. As the saying goes that fears, the belief that God is a liar, a couple of passages, Philippians four verse six, don't be anxious about anything. And recently in Matthew six it's, it's played a big role in my life. And the, the story is so relatable to so many parts. Therefore I tell you do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body. What you'll put into it is life. Not more than food. And is the body not more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air.
Speaker 3 00:32:04 They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet heavenly father feeds them are, you know, of no more value than they are. It's John. All the time. I am, may not be better than any bird, but they are not better than me. I'm just as, uh, it's not been just the fear and face stuff, uh, trying to focus on it's being the man that Christ wants me to be monster me to be in all areas of my life. I know that if I continue to put my care of my everything in his care and protection, a hundred percent, it'll all be good. Uh, not a Bible passage, but a story that John's told me for one of my favorite stories about God being the quilt maker, God is the quilt maker, the master plan. He lines it up the lines, the colors, the pattern, how big it is, what it's going to be.
Speaker 3 00:32:48 Our job is only to put the next stitching. That's it not to take a look back, offer advice? Oh, it should be this color go this way. Or we should do that. Nope has nothing to do with that. My only job is to do the next right thing, but the next stitch in and put my complete trust in his care and production without keeps touching. I want to get wet. All right, John, jump in there for a second. I'd like for you to, uh, tell us, can you grab the microphone? Sorry, John. Uh, would you introduce yourself and just tell us your relationship to Chris?
Speaker 4 00:33:26 Sure. I'm John McMahan and Chris used to work at Walgreens and I was, uh, a drug seller, a drug pedal, huh?
Speaker 3 00:33:35 Uh, legal drug dealer today.
Speaker 4 00:33:37 I like to say. Um, and we had this, this, it started from the first time we really met. And uh, I went in and uh, called on him, didn't know him. And, uh, uh, had, had seen the movie fireproof and that movie just had an impact on me. And we were in there talking and I didn't know if he love, God knew, God, I didn't really care. Um, and I talked to him about it and I said, yeah, man, it's about a guy who's getting his life together. And his famous kind of falling apart and God kind of comes in. And I remember later on in life, or you fast forward, about nine months, he said, man, I thought you were like he said about him. And when those smooth talking South guys kind of, yeah. Talking about God, trying to use it as sales pitch.
Speaker 4 00:34:21 Uh, but come to find out that was the start of a really cool thing that got us here today. It really got us here today. And I, the one thing I've said to Chris over and over, uh, it seems like today people want to be loved, comforted and understood what God asks is to love people, comfort people, and understand people. And that's really the message today. That's what Chris has done time and time again. And we've had some, you know, some great times together and now he's making this huge decision and I get to be here and be a part of it with his daughter too. So it's really cool. And if I don't get to say anything about me, uh, I told her I was going to say this probably about seven, eight years ago. I came and stayed with them at the house and stuff. Our friendship had to grow or was growing and so forth. And I remember before they went to bed, we all got on our knees and prayed that night. And it was just a super cool thing for me to get to pray with another family. And the kids were all for it. They were all for it. And uh, and now to see her get baptized, it's really, really super blessing. So, um, I'm proud of you, man. Let's get wet.
Speaker 3 00:35:36 Thank you.
Speaker 1 00:35:38 All right. Yeah. Mean down. All right. This is our first time doing this so I don't get to dunk. Yeah. But we're going to do the next best thing. All right, Chris, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and your savior? Do you want to follow him for the rest of your life? Do you pledge to give your life to him no matter what happens in the future. All right. Then based upon your testimony of faith in Jesus Christ and in accordance with his plan, me and John baptize you in the name of the father and the son and the Holy spirit.
Speaker 1 00:36:23 All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Mia. Where are you? Come on over Mia.
Speaker 0 00:36:30 Okay.
Speaker 5 00:36:41 Um, hi, I'm Mia. Um, w so like my dad said before, born and raised Catholic, nothing, not a slight to there. Um, going through private school, ups and downs just came to the end in seventh grade, just like questioned. Like, is there even a God? Is he there? Like, what even is it like I was questioning it? And so I can now looking back how my dad said, like the scattered points all lining up. Um, not in my, my parents made the decision to transfer my sister and I to our public, um, grade schools and best decision ever, because that's how I further learned about Wheaton Academy, because I first knew of my neighbor when we first moved in that like, Oh, their sons went there just, and then think twice about it. And then now I'm thinking back, like got to meet more people going there and just, it was like, Oh, wow, this is going to be great.
Speaker 5 00:37:39 And then just keep, just like, if like, like my dad said, scattered points all lining up just really awesome. And when I first heard that he was going to be baptized, I'm like, Oh, like I, I thought about it in the shower, all places where I do a lot of thinking. So I'm just like, okay, let's, I've thought about it. So I texted my best friend and I asked him like, Hey, what, what, what would it be like if I were baptized and his theme, when he responded, he's like, yes, do it. And so did a lot of thinking. Um, I remember I was looking up youth, something with youth group on the church's website, and I came across the baptism thing and I filled it out. And the next day at service, uh, pastor Craig goes, Oh, am I going to see you at class?
Speaker 5 00:38:26 Like the info class? And my parents were like, what? And so I'm just like, yeah, it was just something I was thinking about just, yeah. And with Wheaton Academy, I'm a dancer. And I later learned that dance is an amazing form of worship and freshman year making the dance team. And just me and the coaches name is Mrs. Wolfville my sophomore year, we did a dance to the song called the breakup song and going back to the whole fear and anxiety and Philippians four seven, the song talked about how fear you don't own me. You have no been my story. And just knowing that God has it all in control. Like just, he will take it from here. No matter what I think is going to happen. I don't know. I just gotta just let go and let God. And there was this one movie that my family had recently watched was God's not dead. And we happened to watch the third one. And the one thing that the two characters said it was a pastor in his friend from some part of Africa. And he goes, God is good. All the ways and all the ways God is good. So I'm completely ready to just hand it all over to God and just let him take control.
Speaker 0 00:39:47 <inaudible> are you ready?
Speaker 1 00:39:57 All right. Mia, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior? Do you know that you heart belongs to him and you want to follow him for the rest of your life?
Speaker 0 00:40:09 Yes.
Speaker 1 00:40:11 Then based upon your profession of faith and in obedience to his word, I baptize you my sister in the name of the father and the son and of the Holy spirit.
Speaker 0 00:40:19 <inaudible> well,
Speaker 1 00:40:38 All right, give me the camera. There it is. All right. I've never done that before. I am so pleased that you guys are good to go. Nice. Nice job. Um, you'll get to see them. They're going to go get changed. Uh, they'll come back so you can get to spend some time with them and just tell them how proud you are of them. I can't think of another better way to celebrate our four year anniversary than to see God use our church in the lives of these new believers and for them to give testimony of their desire to follow him for the rest of their lives, through believers, baptism. That is a good day. Let's sing. Well, praise the Lord together. And then, uh, I've got some closing thoughts for you. Let's uh, let's worship the Lord together. As a band comes up. Would you stand as we sing, please?
