Baptized to Belong

Transcript

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[0:00] And now our sermon, our sermon text this morning is from Isaiah chapter 43 verses 1 through 7. A few words of introduction and just a warning, this is kind of a long introduction, so don't be asking yourself too much, when's the other shoe going to drop? It's a little bit longer because we have a lot to set up before we get to our reading. So I'll start off by saying that now we're in the season of Epiphany, it's the season after Christmas in our liturgical calendar. The story of Jesus, the story of God's work through Jesus starts in Advent, even when we're talking about the anticipation of Jesus coming, both at the beginning of time, in the middle of time, and at the end of time. And now the story is continuing and so we kind of fast forward past Jesus' youth, about which there isn't much written, a little bit, but not much, and we go straight to the beginning of Jesus' ministry when he is baptized. And it begins, Epiphany this season will last until Lent, and then the season changes again. So now we're telling the story of the beginning of Jesus's ministry. And before we get into that, we need to reckon with an important person that showed up in our second reading this morning, and that's John the Baptist. You may remember that he and Jesus are cousins, according to Luke,

[1:18] and also that John may have been a member of a community called the Essenes. They lived down by the Dead Sea. They practiced a ritual washing, in fact they would wash themselves quite often, that looked a lot like baptism. And they followed a very simple lifestyle with not a lot of possessions, not a lot of luxuries. They devoted themselves to reading and writing, and they made copies of a lot of manuscripts which survive today. And they were very, very good at that. And they spent the rest of their time meeting the needs of the community, working together to make the place run. So it was sort of an isolated community, but a very spiritually rich community. They tended to see the world in terms of darkness and light, kind of a binary view of the world, and they were looking forward to the day when, as their writings put it, the children of light would rise up and defeat the children of darkness. And they were looking forward to the day when the children of light would prevail over the children of darkness. Now John seemingly had left that community, if indeed he was part of that community. We don't know that for sure, but it's a pretty good bet that he was. He left that community and he began to preach, not too far from there though,

[2:34] down by the Jordan River. And people started flocking to him because what he was saying was really resonating with them. It was sort of a revival, a call to return, a call to repent. So John himself was quite popular. One of the questions the gospels need to deal with is how is John, who is kind of like a rock star already, going to face it when another even bigger rock star comes on the stage. And that of course is Jesus. He happens to be his cousin too. How is he going to handle it? Is he going to compete with Jesus? Is he going to ignore Jesus and act like he doesn't exist? right? Or is he going to follow Jesus? And as you saw from what he said in our second reading and from other places, to his credit, and I think it's because he took his own religious views very seriously. He wasn't really in it for the fame. He was in it out of obedience. He knew when the time had come for his own star to set. He knew, not everybody knows this, but he knew when his 15 minutes of fame had expired. There's so many people who can't quite figure out when that is, you know. I'm not going to name names. I'm just so tempted to, but I'm not going to name names.

[3:55] But, you know, at the New Year's Eve thing, when the ball drops, there's one musician who's like been there for the last 10 years. And I'm just dying for somebody new, but that's just me. Okay, so you got to figure out when your 15 minutes of fame is up. To his credit, John the Baptist could tell when that 15 minutes of fame had expired. So, you know, he was in it out of obedience. He knew when the time had expired. So, you know, he was in it out of obedience. He knew when the time was up. So, he tells everybody, I'm going to sort of diminish, and Jesus is on the rise. I'm not even fit to follow him. You should all follow Jesus. And so, John really passes the mantle on to Jesus. And then Jesus himself is baptized by John in the Jordan River. And as we read, the Spirit came and descended upon him in a bodily form like a dove. It's very dramatic. God tells him how pleased he is with him. And Jesus then just hits the ground running. His ministry begins that day, really. Although you could say his ministry had been all his life, but his public ministry begins on that day. Now, the other question that we have to deal with, and it's the title of the sermon, and you may be asking yourselves, and I'm going to ask

[5:06] Caleb to bring up the chat screen real quick now, is, why did Jesus need to be baptized? Why did Jesus need to be baptized? And usually the question is framed like this. John's baptism was a baptism of repentance and forgiveness, of turning away from your sin. So, why would Jesus, who did not need to repent, nor did he need forgiveness for anything, why did Jesus undergo John's baptism? And I want you to be thinking about that. And I want you to be thinking about that. And I want you to be thinking about that. And even put your answers, now is the time, I said we would do this, put your answer in the chat log, if you have one. Or just put in there, I'm not sure, I'd like to know. So, we're kind of interacting a little bit today, since we're not all here together. Put it in the chat log right now, why you think Jesus got baptized. I'm not going to, maybe salt the mine a little bit here, maybe say maybe it meant something different when Jesus did it. You could put anything you want in there, because I think it'll be fun. Okay, so there we have Divya. Divya wrote to receive the Holy Spirit. Thank you for writing that. And that actually happened. Interesting. So, that's in line with the text. So, as those answers come in, I'll kind of refer back to the

[6:30] log, okay? And next, even before we get to our reading, we need to talk about what baptism means. And this is actually a topic, that is divided amongst Christians. Christians have different views about what baptism means. And the great thing about our denomination, the Covenant Church, if you didn't know this, is that we decided long ago, having seen many other denominations actually split up their communal bodies over the question of what baptism means and how properly to perform a baptism.

[7:08] And which maybe were amicable at times, and other times weren't so amicable. So, our denomination in this wisdom decided, we're not going to fight over this. We're going to allow everybody to have their own opinion about it. And one thing that pastors have to do, and I had to do this, is I had to sign a pledge that I would perform baptisms in any way that anyone asked me to do. So, if a family came to me with an infant, I would baptize their infant. And I wouldn't put that down. And if somebody came to me and said, I can only be baptized as an adult, because that's my understanding of baptism, I would baptize them that way. And I would either sprinkle somebody, I can even sprinkle an adult, if you want. I can dunk a baby. I can dunk an adult. I can do it. There's four choices there on that grid, if you want. It can all be done. It's fine. And I can't be too dogmatic or too set in my own ways about what I think baptism means, because we've decided not to divide over it. The scriptures speak about it in multiple ways. And so, it's not worth dividing over. All we say is that, to be a member of the church, you need to be baptized. That's a sign that you are following what the scriptures say. You're being obedient to the call of Christ. Okay, here we go. I'm seeing

[8:22] some very good. So, Brian wrote, to meet the requirements of the law. Pam wrote, to identify with the rest of us. Craig said, to fulfill prophecy. Good. Adam says, why not? Oh, I like that written. Thank you, Adam. Craig says, for the Father to express his favor. These are all really good. You know, see, this is the thing is the wisdom of crowds. It's really good. We can get pretty far. Michael, I'm not sure if anyone didn't need a baptism. It would be Jesus, I'd have thought. Yep, exactly. To receive an anointing and make public God's favor on him. From Renee. Thank you. Keep them coming. Maybe they've stopped coming in. Have they stopped coming in, Caleb? They slowed down a bit. Okay. But we still, you know, if you still have thoughts, please keep sending those in. And actually, I'll say so far, just to sort of get a spoiler alert. A lot of these, are pretty right on. Okay. You're going to, and I'm going to give you an answer at the end. And in keeping with our understanding of baptism, even, you'll have to say, well, that's one view. And other views may come. So, and we can't be too dogmatic about it. But I think there's something beautiful happening in this moment when Jesus goes and is baptized. And it's an identification,

[9:34] not with just us as humanity, but with the whole story of God's redeeming and redemptive work in the world. And so we'll get into that. It's pretty exciting. So, getting back to what does baptism mean for some people, baptism is a symbol of obedience to God. It's the rite of passage and becoming a Christian. Others believe you can be a Christian, but not undergo baptism, or you could undergo baptism, but not have the Spirit. As our first reading says, you see that Peter and John were sent to Samaria because some people had been baptized, but they hadn't received the Holy Spirit yet. Why? We don't know. They laid their hands on them, and at that moment they received the Holy Spirit. So, it seems that God, and that reading is there just kind of in a way to say that God seems to have a variety of ways of reaching people with the Spirit, with baptism. Others believe, and this would be like Lutherans, this is the tradition I grew up in, others that the Spirit accompanies baptism so that you do receive the Spirit, just as Jesus, it seems, the Spirit descends upon him at his baptism.

[10:40] Even for an infant, and that's, tough even, especially for Americans who are kind of individualistic and say, oh, we come to God, I believed on this day, I got baptized on this day, and then the Spirit comes. Well, the Spirit may come first, the Spirit may come when you're baptized, but can the Spirit come to an infant?

[10:59] Well, the Lutherans say so, and they have some thoughts about it. So, we're not all going to agree on this, and that's okay. But now I want you to put a note in the chat log about when you were baptized and how you were baptized. Were you immersed? Were you sprinkled? Were you, well, I don't know what other ways there are, but were you baptized in the ocean? I know a few people in our church who were baptized in the Jordan River, super exciting. So, where you were, when you were baptized, how you were baptized, and I closed my computer, but I think I can open it quickly enough, and I can put my own story in the chat log real quick. That way you can see what I'm doing. Let's see. I wonder, and it's reconnecting to the internet.

[11:52] Okay. Oops, my caps lock is all. Forgive my weird caps lock. Wait a second. Okay. So, I'm doing my part. So, what do we have? Let's see. Okay. Now, we have some more. Oh, good. Thank you. I better hurry up. Zach says to express my solidarity with you. Oh, I just lost it. Okay.

[12:39] Thank you. Yeah, scroll back, Caleb. Thank you. Zach is answering the question. To express solidarity with humanity and serve as an example of submission to the Father for others to follow. I like that. Brian Smith wrote, I wonder what people actually saw when the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus. Could have been a total unexpected shock for the crowd. Okay. Brian was immersed at age seven. So, I assume that's when you could consent to it, Brian. That's good. Blake was, oh, go back up. Blake was. As an infant, sprinkled. Renee in junior high, full immersion. Jenny immersed at age seven. See, we got a whole sort of range of things. Hans Eric, I was baptized as an infant, sprinkled. My godparents are still alive and living in Moorhead, Minnesota. Sometimes they watch.

[13:26] Renee Andres right before college, full immersion. Zach, as a baby by sprinkling. A young adult by oil anointing. And as an adult in a Baptist denomination that required full immersion. So some churches say your old baptism doesn't cut it. We have to kind of redo it. But we don't say that. The Covenant Church generally does not re-baptize people, even if they want it. That's a different topic. Jenny, Kelly and Blythe, immersed a few years ago in the swimming pool right over there. I remember it well. Ellen, I was sprinkled as an infant in the Lutheran Church, immersed as an adult in order to join a Baptist church. Similar story. Craig, immersed in the Mission Springs pool. Karen, immersed in the Baldwinson's pool.

[14:03] Barbara, Tom, I was baptized at Word of Life camp in New York when I was a teenager. Praise God. Georgia, fully immersed at age two on the island of Teno. Greece, love it. Katja was baptized by Hans-Erik in a swimming pool. Annika was baptized in the Jordan River. I remember that. Let's see. Pam, I was baptized at 19 in a baptismal tank in Indianapolis. It was hard to decide when to be baptized because it felt from the very young age I had the Spirit of God with me. There you go.

[14:34] Barbara says, my pastor was not happy about this. You'll have to tell us why, Barbara. What's wrong with it? Oh, because it was at the camp? Well. You'll have to put another note in there. Michael, full immersion, age six. Daniel, baptized by Hans-Erik by immersion in a pool over at Ruth's house. Natalie, with brothers and mom at age four. Sprinkled, divya by immersion. Have we scrolled to the bottom there? Okay. Good. And we're just waiting for Barbara to give us the reason her grouchy pastor didn't like that she was baptized. You've got to be happy. I would be happy if anyone got baptized. I don't know what that's about. All right. More will come in. We're excited about this. So, I don't need those. Let's see. All right.

[15:24] So, okay, here we go. Michael says, I also fell down the stairs into the tub. Well, that's good. That's good. You know, we should all fall headlong into God's grace, shouldn't we? It would be a good thing. You know, Martin Luther said, all my life I was afraid of falling. I was afraid of falling until I fell into the arms of God. So, maybe that's going on there. So, today, instead of deciding who's right and who's wrong, and clearly even in our own church, we have a whole range of experiences of baptism, sprinkling, immersion, different ages.

[15:58] We're not going to decide who's right and who's wrong. I want us to look at one scriptural picture of baptism from the Old Testament. This is from Isaiah 43. That will also help answer the question of why Jesus was baptized.

[16:12] And it harkens back to the Exodus story, where God saved his people by having them pass through the waters of the Red Sea and protected them with a pillar of fire. Now, before we go to the text, we're going to see. Barbara said, the camp was many miles and states away from my home. The church experience with my family present could not happen. Yeah, that sometimes happens. Brian says, immersed by accident. Okay, yes, good. Okay, we're going to hide the chat log for now, but we will come back to it.

[16:40] And we're going to ask. Yes, Isaiah 43. Here's our reading, Isaiah 43, 1 through 7. Walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you, because you are precious in my sight and honored, and I love you. I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bring your. I will bring your offspring from the east and from the west. I will gather you. I will say to the north, give them up. And to the south, do not withhold. Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth.

[17:55] Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this word. And we ask that you would add your blessing to it. In Jesus' name. Amen.

[18:13] Well, a little bit of context about this passage. And you can leave it off for now, Caleb. That's fine. This follows on. Chapter 43 obviously follows on from the tail end of chapter 42, which is almost in its setting is almost like a heavenly court where God is making a case against his people. He's sort of listing all of their crimes, in essence, all of their failures. And he's pretty anxious. He's angry at them. He's angry at his people. And he tells them things like, you've not listened to me and you've not been able to see what I've done. So your senses are impaired. Your hearing and your sight are impaired. And so he says, I'm going to, I have sent other countries to come and capture you and destroy your cities and loot your cities and take all your stuff and carry you away. And so this is retelling, in essence, the story of Israel's captivity. And. And bondage in Babylon.

[19:14] And it's with great sadness that the Lord says all these things. But that's not the end of the story. And that's what we see over and over and over again in Isaiah is that God, yes, God does say all these things have happened. But always there's this hope. There's this hope that God is going to send the people back. He's going to redeem them. He's going to save them. And so chapter 43, there's a sudden change in tone, as you saw in our reading. And I want you to listen. To really right away. I'm going to kind of condense them here. All the words and phrases that run counter to the judgment of the chapter before. Whereas he had said, you haven't listened to me. You haven't seen me. I've sent people to destroy you. I've taken you. I've let people take you captive. Now he says things like this. I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. I will be with you. You are precious in my sight. And you are honored now. Whereas before you were living in shame. And I love you. And I will give nations in exchange for you. And you were created for my glory. It's so beautiful what God is promising here in chapter 43. And that's a place if you're feeling at a distance from God. If you're feeling spiritually dry.

[20:34] If you're feeling depressed. Turn to Isaiah 43 and just read seven verses. Not that it's like a book. Like a panacea. Like it'll fix everything. But it will remind you of who God is. And how he feels about you. Now and I'm gonna say this because it really is about you. You personally. Now you may remember Pastor Victoria spoke about Jeremiah 29 verse 11. This is famous verse 11 that says, I know the plans that I have for you. Plans to prosper you and so on, right?

[21:08] And that's a great verse. It's made Christian bookstores. Like millions of dollars in plaques and t-shirts and doodads that go on your desk and things like that. But the word there for you is plural. And often when people quote that passage, they're saying, oh, God has these plans for me. But really, if we wanted to say it, the only way we can actually use a plural, second person plural pronoun in English is to say it in Texan.

[21:37] Because they're the only ones who have an English second person plural. That's distinct from the second person singular. So actually what it would say in Jeremiah 29 is, I know the plans that I have for you all. You all. That's how you say more than one person, you. Whereas in non-Texan English, it's just you. You for both. So in Jeremiah 29, it's a message for the whole people. And sometimes we use it, of course, in an individualistic way. Now, this is the interesting thing about Isaiah 43. When God speaks to you. When God speaks to Israel, he addresses Israel. He addresses Jacob. He addresses, right? He, this is the nation. But very strange when he addresses the whole nation, he uses the second person singular. So it really is you, not you all. This is actually a very intimate, personal, one to one pronouncement from God, right? He loves you. This is this real consoling, comforting, saving. Redeeming God. And this is, and also that, that when God says, you know, I know your name, I've called you by name. Names are those things that actually are very individual. They help us distinguish ourselves from other you alls, other people. So God is doing something different here in Isaiah 43 than he's doing in, in Jeremiah

[23:05] 29. He is speaking to the nation. Yes, he is speaking to everybody. Because when he says he's speaking to Israel. And Jacob, he's by extension speaking to all the people who are descended, right? But in another way, because of these pronouns, which are a bit unique in this, in this passage, there is a sense in which he is speaking directly to you. And he's saying, I love you. I redeem you.

[23:30] I call you by name. You, you are mine. You alone are mine. You're the one sheep out of 99 that I will go looking for. You see where this is going? This is really powerful. So this is, this is, and this is this one image now of what baptism means, because while baptism is, kind of has a communal aspect to it, very much it has an individualistic aspect. A person is often named when they're baptized, right? In many cultures, the baptismal record and the birth record and the birth certificate, they were all pretty much the same document. They're not anymore, of course, in our country, but in other countries, they definitely were. They were very similar, or they were the same document.

[24:15] So this is, this is an image of, of baptism. We're going to develop this a little bit. Now, I want to say something about that word redeemed. God says, I've redeemed you, and that, that word redeemed is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to describe what a family member will do for you. If you're captured and sort of kidnapped by somebody else, some other tribe, some other family, or if you're, if you're in debt or if you're in trouble, then that family member will come and pay some price to set you free. That's that redeeming thing. That's, so that's what God is offering here in Isaiah 43. I have redeemed you. I will redeem you. They're in captivity in Babylon, but I, I want you to hear it as God will say it, as God saying it to you and to me individually. God redeems us from our bondage to sin and death and the devil. God redeems us from our bondage to sin and death and the devil. God redeems us from our brokenness, from the debt of our guilt, and he frees us and gives us a new life.

[25:16] So, I mentioned Exodus, and I want to go back to some of that symbolism that, that we talked about in Exodus, because Isaiah is really hearkening back to Exodus. God's people, if you remember, were languishing in captivity in Egypt. They were in slavery, and God redeemed them. There's that word. He redeemed them from slavery. He came and he paid a price. He also, exacted a price, ten plagues. I guess we have nine to go. You know, I'm not sure what's next. Probably, well, I guess the murder hornets have been here, so maybe eight left. I don't know. Maybe earthquakes and fires a few. We'll see. But, but God paid a price to get the people out of Egypt. And there's this movement that Isaiah talks about, movement through the water. It's a symbol of the people. In essence, they're dying to their old life, and they're going down into the depths and emerging on the other side as a new people, as reborn and renewed people who live in a covenant with God. And that really is what happens when you think about the Exodus. The, the Red Sea parts, the people escape from Pharaoh's army. They go way down in the depths. They emerge on the other side, and the ocean destroys that which is seeking to kill them. And so they, here the Egyptian army sort of stands in as the forces of evil in this world. And when they emerge on the

[26:38] other side, they're a new people. They go right away then, almost right away, to Mount Sinai and receive covenant with God. And they are made, made anew into a new people of God. And so that's a good way of looking at baptism, right? We sprinkle people, we immerse people, it's their choice. But I think the symbolism of full immersion is more powerful. Now, I'll sprinkle or immerse, it's up to you, whatever you like. But if somebody is immersed, it's a symbol. It symbolizes that a person is ready to set aside the old life. And then they go under the water. And there they die. They, this is like they go to the netherworld. Almost. Like they die to the old self. And they emerge again as a new person. And this isn't, you know. This is how Paul talks about it in Romans chapter 6. You can look at verses 3 and 4. It reads like this. This is what Paul writes. Or don't you know that all of us who are baptized in the Paul says that. We go under the water. We identify with Christ Jesus in his death. And thus, when we come out of the water of baptism again, we identify with the new life of the resurrection.

[28:13] And the people of Israel, the same. When they went through the Red Sea, they didn't die. Somebody else died. But their old self, their old life of slavery died. And their new life as free people began. Because what was pursuing them could no longer pursue them. It could no longer harm them. Now, they had all sorts of problems after that, which are quite fascinating. But nonetheless, they were God's people and they had started a new life at that point. So now, this is a big topic that may get some more treatment later, but we have to wrap it up. Let's show the chat log real quick and see if anything else has come in. And then we're going to conclude.

[28:49] Let's see. Yes. My understanding of Texan is that the second person is y'all. And the second person plural is all y'all. That's probably right. I like that, Pam. Thank you. Yes, the Jersey version is use. That's good. So there are other parts of English that has a second person plural that you can identify.

[29:14] Second person is y'all. And the second person plural is all y'all. Yeah, I think that's right, Pam. That's good. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if there's actually a grammar book out there that lays all this out. Like, these are actual languages. Like, there's sub-dialects of English, right? So we may talk about baptism more later, but we have to wrap up. We want to see this. That baptism, which is prefigured in our reading of Isaiah. I mean, this passage in Isaiah is not just about baptism. It's about how God, when he's done sort of yelling at his people, he's ready to console them. And he says, the best is yet to come.

[29:52] But in Isaiah, we see that there's this tremendous and intimate work of God to save us, to name us, to claim us as his own, to deliver us from evil. And that it contains the idea of dying to the old self. And being raised into a new life and a new identity in God. Now, back to the question, why did Jesus need to do it, right? And all of your answers, I thought, were really good. I thought they were all very good. Now, we can say for certain that Jesus did not need to be redeemed. He didn't need to repent. And he didn't need any forgiveness in John's baptism. So we can set that aside because we're pretty sure that he didn't need it. So the question then is, what did happen? Or why did he do it? The best we can say is that in the incarnation, Jesus shares all that it means to be human. All the temptations, all the vulnerabilities. It's what makes the resurrection matter. It's what makes his death on the cross efficacious. That means effective for us.

[30:56] And so on one level, he is baptized to identify with the fallen humanity. With us. Without being fallen himself. And we saw some of those answers in the chat log. And those were right. In another way, this is the beginning of what we would call a book ending of his ministry, right? It begins with a symbolic death and new life. Jesus goes under the water. And his pre-public ministry is over. And his public ministry has begun.

[31:24] And a new stage, really, of him being Jesus. He's ready now to come out and preach and teach. After his baptism. And the other end of the book ending is the actual incarnational death and resurrection. And that's a new stage of life where he sends the spirit in his place to guide and accompany us. And so we see these book ends, I guess you could call them, on Jesus' ministry. One is in his baptism and the other is in his death and resurrection. And they resemble each other. In fact, one kind of points towards the other. I can do it this way for you guys who are at home. Because it's kind of like in this direction. Left to right.

[32:02] So he himself is prefiguring what his death will look like by being baptized. And he is embodying all that God wants to do in the world through baptism. In the world through his ministry to his people. The people of Israel. Both in the exodus. Both in their return from exile. And for us who are beset by sin. To free us and redeem us and give us new life. I said a few weeks ago. That everything Jesus asks us to do. He is willing to do himself. And this is the other part of it. Right? He allows himself to be inconvenienced. He takes the lowest place. And he humbles himself. He goes to the cross to die for his friends. These are all things he tells us to do.

[32:48] And since he tells us to get baptized. And he commands the disciples to baptize everyone that they meet. He himself gets baptized. He's willing to do everything that he asks us to do. And he does. He does that as a sign of his identification with sinful humanity. And he embodies in himself what new life and resurrection look like. So that's not the only answer. But that gets towards answering the question of why did Jesus get baptized by John's baptism. One last thing.

[33:22] Well two last things. One. Remember Isaiah 43. Memorize parts of it if you can. Memorize Romans chapter 6 verses 3 and 4. If you can. If you need spiritual comfort. Look at Isaiah 43. It's amazing. And then the next thing is if you have not been baptized. Reach out to one of your pastors. We can help you. I think we can find a freezing pond somewhere around here to immerse you in. It would be fun. No I'm kidding. We can actually do it in a hot tub. It does not. We've learned anything. It doesn't matter how much water. What the shape or the temperature of the water is. If you meet somebody who says. You're only truly baptized if you're baptized in a frigid cold river that's flowing with a certain number of cubic feet per minute. You know they're getting a little too. It's just a little too specific. The Bible doesn't support any of that. But we can baptize you in a hot tub. We can sprinkle you whatever you like. But it may be having heard all this today. That you've decided no matter what your age. If you haven't been baptized. Now is the time. Now is the time to take that next step. Now is the time to identify. With Jesus. Now is that time to die to the old self. And rise again to the new life. Before the next new life.

[34:37] All this is open to you. Just reach out and we'll help you. It's not the size of the water. The temperature of the water. The amount of the water. It's water and the word of God. And the power of God that is at work in that moment. So let's pray. Father thank you again for your word. Thank you for the ministry of Jesus. Thank you for Isaiah. Penning. And for the people who have given this beautiful. This beautiful and comforting word to us. And Lord thank you for the gift of baptism. That you've given each of us in such wonderful ways. And Lord if anyone wants baptism. Wants the gift of baptism.

[35:14] Put it on their hearts to reach out. All this we ask in Jesus name. Amen.