Credimus Or Cogito | Sunday, June 8, 2025

Well, in addition to mission trips happening, many of our students here at Cross Connection Church are now officially out of school. All my kids are out of school for the summer, which means that we are in a new season. For us here at Cross Connection Church, it has become a bit of our custom that during the summer season, we pause what we have normally been doing.

We've been studying through the Gospel of Luke, starting that at the beginning of the year. We will return to the Gospel of Luke in the fall, but through the summer, we tend to focus our attention on a different passage of Scripture. Last summer, we studied through the book of Hosea. Prior to that, we did the book of Daniel, and then we were in the book of Nehemiah a few summers ago, and Esther before that.

As I was thinking about what we ought to go through this summer, I considered something in the minor prophets, something in the Old Testament. However, this year, 2025, happens to be a significant anniversary for the church—not just our church, but the global church in general. In the 4th century AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity.

There are historians and scholars who object and say that it wasn't a true conversion and that he only converted because he could see the climate in the empire. There were a lot of people, and Christianity was really gaining converts in a huge way. Some people argue that he did it for political reasons, which, in reality, is somewhat beside the point. Whether it was real or not, his conversion radically changed the position of Christianity in the world, especially in the Roman Empire and in the Western world.

In 313 AD, because of his conversion, he brought forth what was called the Edict of Milan, which effectively made it no longer illegal for people to be Christians within the Roman Empire. Prior to that, especially in the 3rd century AD, Christianity was severely persecuted. Christians were severely persecuted, so most of their faith was underground, as it is in some places in the world today. I just had a friend who was on a short-term trip north of Iran, and he was ministering to a group of Christians from Iran, and it's all completely underground in Iran and in many other places in the world.

But it was like that in the Roman Empire, especially through the 3rd century AD. Constantine became a Christian in the 4th century, and in 313 AD, the Edict of Milan changed everything.

The Edict of Milan made it no longer illegal to be a Christian. As a result, Christians were no longer persecuted; they were more than just tolerated. They began to have an increasingly dominant position in the Roman Empire and in the Western world after that point. We can see throughout history how significant this was. Since they were no longer underground and no longer living in fear for their lives, conflicts within the church began to emerge, particularly regarding issues of doctrine. What was it that the church believed, and what was it that the church taught? These doctrinal issues started to come to the surface after the Edict of Milan.

The major issue had to do with the nature of Christ. Who is Jesus? The biggest controversy surrounding the nature of Jesus was connected to a pastor who lived outside of Alexandria, Egypt, during that time. His name was Arius. Arius taught his followers that Jesus was not divine; he was just a man. As a result of this teaching, there was a break within the church. Constantine decided that the best way to address this issue was to gather all the leaders of the church, the bishops, for a council.

Thus, the first council of the church was convened by Constantine in what we know today as northern Turkey, in a city called Nicaea. In the summer of 325 AD, 1,700 years ago this summer, the bishops of the church gathered together in the city of Nicaea for that entire summer. At the end of the Nicaea council, they produced what is called the Nicene Creed. If you grew up in a more traditional church, you might be familiar with this creed. CrossConnection Church would be considered a low church by those in the high church tradition, which is much more liturgical and traditional.

If you grew up in a Roman Catholic church or attended an Orthodox church, the Nicene Creed might be something you remember and may have even quoted. However, in a church like ours, it's not something that you generally hear. Nevertheless, it puts forward the foundational teachings and beliefs of the Christian church established in 325 AD. This year marks the 1,700th anniversary of that council and of that creed, which seems like a milestone worth considering. This summer, we are going to be going through the Scriptures, using the Nicene Creed as a guide.

Almost like a table of contents, the Nicene Creed serves as a guide for us to look at what the church and the Christian faith have believed for the last 2,000 years. Even though the Nicene Council and Creed were established 1,700 years ago, they only formally codified what the church already believed. When you read through the Nicene Creed, if you are familiar with the New Testament, you will clearly see connections to various passages. It takes what is already present in the Scriptures and produces it in a formal statement. This is what we believe about God, about Christ, about the Holy Spirit, and about His church. That is what this statement conveys.

As we begin this series through the summer, we will stand and read the creed together, which could be a challenge for us. I realize that the second service has this all mapped out, so they won't have a problem with it. The third service, however, is the one we are more concerned about; they might have some difficulty. But before we read it, I think there are two important points worth noting.

First, as I mentioned, the creed serves as a formal statement of the church's teachings that come directly from the Scriptures. This is not saying something that is not in the Bible. Today also marks not just the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Council and Nicene Creed, but it is an important holiday within our faith. Today is the celebration of Pentecost, which is a Jewish holiday but has significant Christian connections as well.

The Jewish holiday of Pentecost celebrates two main things. First, it marks the first harvest after the springtime planting, which occurs around the time of Passover. The first harvest comes at Pentecost. More importantly for the Jewish faith, Pentecost commemorates the receiving of the law, as it is the day when the Jewish people remember that Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai to the people.

For Christians, however, Pentecost is considered the birthday of the church. In Acts chapter 2, which we will look at in a few minutes, the gospel was preached to the gathered pilgrims who were in Jerusalem for Pentecost. On that day, a large multitude of people became believers.

The church was started on that day, and we have made it part of our annual tradition here at Cross Connection Church to celebrate Pentecost with a birthday celebration because it marks the birth of the church. The church is almost 2,000 years old as of this day, the day of Pentecost. We also have a barbecue. Since we're Gentiles, we're having pulled pork for our barbecue, so don't get too upset at us. It's not kosher at all because we're Gentiles.

You probably smelled it when you came in; the smokers have been going all night long, and Pastor Jason and Pastor Nick have been working on that. After our third service, we're going to have a barbecue to celebrate the birth of the church. More importantly, we will have a baptism today, which we will discuss as well.

This statement that we have in the Nicene Creed comes right out of the Scriptures, specifically from the New Testament. By the time the Nicene Council convened in 325 AD and the creed was put forth in August of that year, the corpus of text, if you will, the canon of the New Testament, was firmly established.

I bring this up because of a fictional book called the Da Vinci Code. How many of you have heard of the Da Vinci Code? It was written by Dan Brown about 20 or 25 years ago. Because of that book, many people in our culture have a misunderstanding about the Nicene Council, the Nicene Creed, and about Constantine. You might have encountered this before. I've had conversations with some people who are skeptical about the Christian faith, and they will say something like, "Well, don't you know that Emperor Constantine selected the books of the Bible at the Nicene Council in 325 AD?" That is totally not true; that's not what the council was about at all.

In fact, one of the most critical historians and scholars of Scripture is a man named Bart Ehrman. He is a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and he wrote a book against that view presented in the Da Vinci Code because he is an actual historian, though he is not a Christian. Bart Ehrman stated that the Da Vinci Code is wrong about just about everything it says regarding the Arian controversy, Emperor Constantine, and the Council of Nicaea. He goes on to say that while it is a fictional, fun read for a summertime beach book, it is not history at all.

So, when you meet someone who claims that Constantine...

The books of the Bible were selected at the Nyine Council in 325 AD. This claim, however, is based on a fictional narrative that is not true, as the Nyine Council and Creed have nothing to do with that.

With that out of the way, I’m going to ask you all to stand. We will put the words of the Nyine Creed up on the wall here, and we will try to read through this together. The only reason we stumbled in the first service is that I made a mistake. But I believe you all will do great. So, if we can, let’s try to do this together.

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father. Through Him, all things were made. For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven. By the power of the Holy Spirit, He became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake, He was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He suffered death and was buried. On the third day, He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son, He is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

God, I pray that as we spoke those words together this morning, they would be somewhat familiar in the sense that they speak of what is revealed in Your Word. You have chosen to reveal Yourself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and You have made us one Church, one people. A people who were not a people, You have made us into a people. Those who had not obtained mercy have now obtained mercy.

Set us apart as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, your own special or peculiar people, that we would proclaim the praises of You who called us out of darkness and into Your marvelous light. I pray that this would be a part of who we are; that we would be those who, by our lives—the way we live—and also by our words—what we share—would be proclaiming the goodness of who You are.

I ask that our lives, to an increasingly greater extent, would produce fruit: the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. If there is anything in my life or the lives of my brothers and sisters here today that needs to be pruned or removed so that we can bear greater fruit, would You do that in our lives? Lord, transform us by the renewing of our minds so that we show forth to all those we interact with—co-workers, family members, friends—Your good will. For we ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

I was talking with someone after the first service who grew up in the Roman Catholic Church. She said that immediately when that went on the screen and we started saying it, she remembered it verbatim and could say it because, in many Roman Catholic churches and in many Orthodox churches, that is quoted regularly. In fact, in an Orthodox church, that is pretty much quoted every single week after the reading of the Gospel; they will quote the Nicene Creed.

Now, in a Protestant church like ours, it's not something that you come across too frequently, but it is worth recognizing and noting that it is an impressive thing. There are about two billion people on earth today who believe the core teachings of what we just quoted from the Nicene Council or Creed, which means that a quarter of the world's population believes those things.

We may divide on all kinds of other issues; we have different views about various aspects of the faith and the Bible. But those core beliefs are things that we agree on with people who are Roman Catholic or who are Orthodox. There are many other things that we disagree on. Listen, we are Reformed Christians. We came out of the Reformation. We have issues like Martin Luther did with the 95 Theses and all that sort of stuff. But on these points, we believe, and we say...

We believe in God, God the Father, one God. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit. Now, I know some of you probably got tripped up on "we believe in one holy Catholic Church," but that word "Catholic" just means universal and doesn't necessarily need to mean Roman Catholic. At that point in time, there was no such thing as the Roman Catholic Church in 325 AD.

We believe in one Church that, in Christ Jesus, we are brought together as one in Him. A significant portion of the world's population finds its identity in these beliefs. It not only finds its identity but establishes truth based upon these beliefs and receives guidance for daily practice. So, those three things—identity, truth, and practice—are seated in these things that we believe from the Scriptures.

When you become a Christian, you find your identity, a new identity in Christ Jesus and in His Church. When you become a Christian, you discover truth as God has revealed it to us, and it radically transforms the way that you live.

Now, the fascinating thing to me is that the world we live in here in 2025, in the Western world, really finds its foundation in these beliefs. However, in 2025, the world has come to a point where it grounds truth, identity, and practice in other things than these truths. These things from the Scriptures that are affirmed in the Nicene Creed have established truth, identity, and practice for centuries in the Western world.

But there has been a shift that has taken place in our culture. There is an increasing number of people who do not seat truth, identity, and practice in the teachings of Scripture, in the beliefs that we hold together from the Bible. Instead, there is, if you will, a new creed, a new set of beliefs. This new set of beliefs or new creed governs a lot of the way that Western people in 2025 think.

It's not new in the sense that it came up in the last couple of decades. Although I know it's kind of the thing to want to blame it on millennials, it's not them. It started far before that. There was a reordering in the way that people in our culture think about truth.

Identity and practice really started to be seen in a great way in the 17th century. One of the thinkers that helped push this new sort of framing forward was a French philosopher by the name of René Descartes. That name may not mean a whole lot to you, but one small phrase from his book, "Discourse on Method," published in 1637, has, in some ways, completely changed the way that Westerners think about truth, identity, and practice. René Descartes is recognized as one of the most influential philosophers of Western culture and philosophy, and his thinking is right at the beginning of what we now call the Enlightenment.

There was a significant shift from René Descartes, and for the next several hundred years, the way that Westerners think about themselves and the world changed. It moved from being theocentric, that is, God-centered or even Christocentric, to anthropocentric, or man-centered. This shift is monumental. When we corporately say we believe in one God and one Lord, we are expressing a Christocentric and theocentric worldview that affects how we see ourselves, how we perceive this world, and how we understand truth and reality.

However, when we shift from a God-centered belief to this new kind of thinking that is anthropocentric and me-centered, many things shift and change. I would suggest that you probably see this if you look around the world you live in here in San Diego County in 2025. You may have noticed that we live in a culture that is rather me-centered and individually focused. Where did that come from? Where did that shift originate?

I want to suggest to you that it has to do with just two Latin words. I don't know Latin, and you probably don't either, but I know some small words in Latin. There are two small Latin words that radically changed the way that Westerners see themselves, see the world, and understand how they live in this world. Point number one, if you're taking notes, is a groundbreaking shift in...

Western culture resulted from the move from "credus" to "kito." These are two Latin words that may mean nothing to you, but let me explain what they mean. The opening words "we believe" translate to the Latin word "credus." We believe. However, René Descartes, in his book "Discourse on Method" published in 1637, put forth a new idea: "Cogito, ergo sum," which means "I think, therefore I am." How many of you have heard that statement before? That came from René Descartes. "I think." This shift from "we believe" to "I think" is a significant change.

This transition from a theocentric and Christocentric worldview shapes the way we think about truth, identity, and practice, centering it upon the individual. How many of you have ever interacted with someone who says, "Well, my truth is..."? We've all experienced that, especially in the last several years. Or how many of you have seen people who are having a real hard time understanding their identity? They call themselves "identity confused." You might think that's new and that it just happened in the last 10 or 15 years. No, this has been happening for a very long time.

This shift goes all the way back to the reentering of truth, identity, and practice in the individual. You get to be the one who decides for yourself and your world who you are, what is true, and how you ought to live. That is a radical shift away from finding truth and identity in God to determining truth and identity by yourself.

Now, Descartes doesn't exactly force or trigger this shift; he signals the move when he says, "Cogito, I think, therefore I am." He indicates what has already been happening. He becomes like the first big rock in an avalanche that has continued ever since that point.

So, have any of you in the last, say, 10 years, been in any way shocked by the individualistic, selfish, self-centered, identity-confused culture of 2025? Has anybody been confused by that? Somewhat? A little?

That’s not new. It didn't just happen all of a sudden. This is an avalanche that has been continuing, and it started with this shift away from a God-centered, Christ-centered worldview that finds truth, identity, and purpose in God and from God as He defines it.

It radically changes the way you see yourself in the world. If you are the commander, the master of your own destiny, the captain of your own ship, or if you say, "God made me for a purpose, and He has a purpose He would like me to fulfill," that totally changes the way you see yourself in this world. It affects culture over time in a huge way.

It may seem like a small shift from believing that truth and identity are found in God to thinking that you are the one who determines truth and identity for yourself, but it is a significant move. The effects of it are huge. It all started with René Descartes' radical doubt. He doubted everything—he doubted the table and the cup. He doubted every possible thing.

As he engaged in this whole process of radical doubt, he came to this conclusion: if I am doubting and I am thinking, the only thing I can be certain of is that I, the doubting, thinking one, exist. That is the only thing I can be certain of. Everything else, I’m not sure exists, but I know that I think. So, I know that I exist. I get to be the one who frames all reality because I am the thinking, doubting one.

This changes so much. We can see the effects of it hundreds of years on, where we live in a world where truth is subjective, identity is your choosing, and you can do what you want, however you want, whenever you want, wherever you want. Nobody gets to say anything because you choose for you.

Now, we see that in our culture today. We see the confusion of it, and we see the effects of it. We wonder, I don't think this is the best way to live, but how can it be fixed? How can we find ourselves back on solid ground with a solid footing and a level path that leads to a coherent reality?

Point number two: we must find truth and identity in Christ by faith. That’s the only way. At its core, the Nine.

The creed is all about this. It is an affirmation and an acknowledgment of who Jesus is. He is God, and He is the one who has made us. We actually find in the creed that He is the one who establishes the ground of truth and defines who we are, as well as our value, dignity, worth, and purpose in this world. It is an acknowledgment of all that, and we see it in that statement four times: We believe. We believe that there is one God. We believe that there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit. We are talking about the triune nature of God. We believe something about God and the world that He made, and we believe that we are His people, His church, united together as one.

Now, going all the way back to the opening book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 3, it is demonstrated that when man moves his focus from God as the center to himself as the center, the results are not good. In the fall, there is a statement that you can become like God, which means you get to define reality and identity. That's what the whole tree of the knowledge of good and evil was all about. The serpent said to the woman, "When you eat of it, in the day that you eat of it, your eyes shall be opened, and you shall see that you are like God and know good from evil." You get to define for yourself what is true, good, and real. That's what happened in Genesis chapter 3. There was a shift in focus from God at the center to man at the center.

What came from that? I suggest to you that the result was anguish, brokenness, chaos, and death. That rebellion, that sin, brought about anguish and brokenness, chaos and death. But then the gospel says that Jesus came. God became a man, as the creed itself says. What did He come to do? He came to reorient our focus through the gospel back to God, resulting in a radical transformation by God's grace. We see this cycle, the same cycle that started in Genesis chapter 3, moving our focus back to God.

Focus from God and worshiping Him establishes Him as valuable and worthy of our devotion and our life. It is a removal of that focus from God to ourselves that happened in Genesis chapter 3. We see this happen throughout all of human history. The Enlightenment is a picture of that because it shifted man's focus once again from God to ourselves, and the effects have not been wholly good.

Now, there are a lot of great things that you can point to from the Enlightenment and the scientific revolution. You can say, "Well, these are good things." Yes, okay, maybe. But the philosophy behind them leads to anguish, brokenness, confusion, and death. This is what we see in our culture today; we see it all around us in the confusion of our time.

So the question is, what can we possibly do in light of all the chaos in this world? What is the answer? I want to suggest to you that the answer is not newer and better technology. It is not that if we just had newer and better legislation or if we just had newer and better politicians and policies, everything would be fixed. You see, that's the temptation. We think that if we just came up with these newer and better things, that would solve the problem. But I don't think that's what fixes it.

As I said in point number two, we must find truth and identity in Christ by faith. So what then is the answer? I suggest to you that the answer is found in part in what happened on the day of Pentecost some 2,000 years ago in Acts chapter 2. If you have your Bible, open it to the book of Acts, which comes right after the Gospels. If you turn to the last 30 pages of the Bible, you will find Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and then Acts.

In Acts chapter 2, we have the story of 120 of Jesus's early followers, gathered ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven. Acts chapter 1 begins with Jesus's ascension. Before He ascends, He says to His disciples, "Wait here in Jerusalem until you receive the promise from the Father. The Holy Spirit is going to come upon you."

Then, ten days later, on a Sunday morning, the early church, 120 of them, is gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them in a miraculous and powerful way. The result is that the Bible says they begin to speak with other tongues. That is, they are speaking...

In languages that they themselves do not know and have not been trained in, it is chaotic and kind of crazy. A whole bunch of people gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost on that day. They hear the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and then they see these 120 people speaking in other languages. They go, "Man, these people are nuts. They're drunk."

One of the 120, Simon Peter, who was introduced to us last week, stands up. He was the fisherman in the story in Luke chapter 5, where Jesus said, "Launch out into the deep for a catch." After this miraculous catch, Jesus said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Now, here is fisherman Simon Peter fishing for men. He says in Acts chapter 2, "These people are not drunk as you suppose, because it's only 9 in the morning. But this is that which the prophet Joel spoke about. The Holy Spirit has been poured out upon them."

Then he begins to preach the gospel to the gathered group of people in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. Look at verse 22. Acts 2:22 says, "Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. Him being delivered up by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, and you have crucified him and put him to death."

"Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it." Skip down to verse 32. "This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses, the gathered 120 that were with him. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says of himself, 'The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.'"

Therefore, in verse 36, let all those of the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. When the gathered group of people at the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem heard these words, they were all cut to the heart. Verse 37 says they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

The promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off. Who are all those who are far off? Well, there are many of you this morning who are here and who believe these words, as well as many of them whom the Lord God will call.

Point number three: the gospel is and will always be the answer for a broken and chaotic world. This is so important for Christians to hear and affirm. Unfortunately, there are seasons in the church where we forget this. I think that we, the American church, have been through a season recently where we've forgotten this. We have been seduced or tempted into thinking that the fix is political, legislative, technological, or economic. However, let me tell you, it will not be any of those things. The problems of our culture—the confusion, the anguish, the brokenness—will only continue. Why? Because we live in a broken world, and we see the effects of that brokenness in our culture.

The only answer is the gospel. We need to remind ourselves of that because we are tempted to think, just like every other neighbor of yours, that the answer is political or that if we just did this, it would fix it. No, the answer to the problem is the gospel because the problem is not political, economic, or technological. The problem is sin, and the gospel is the only answer for that.

Simon Peter got up and declared these words to the gathered multitude. This is the same Simon Peter who Jesus said, "Launch out into the deep for a catch." This is the same Simon Peter who, just about seven weeks before he preached this message, denied that he knew Jesus three times. This is radical transformation.

What happened as he preached this message? In Acts 2:40, we read, "And with many other words he testified and exhorted them." He gave a longer gospel message than what we have recorded here, but the core message was this: "Be saved from this perverse generation." What possibly can rescue us in this broken, chaotic, perverse culture? Only the salvation of Jesus.

Christ, only the gospel can save from this perverse generation. Those who gladly received His word were baptized, and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. Three thousand souls added. That's an interesting number because, as I mentioned earlier in this message, Pentecost was a celebration of the law coming down from Sinai to the people.

It's interesting because if you read in the book of Exodus, when the law came down, the people received the law, and Moses went back up on Mount Sinai. He was gone for 40 days as he received more instruction from God. While he was on the mountaintop, after he had given the law, what happened down in the valley? The people gathered to Moses's brother Aaron and said, "Listen, we don't know what happened to this Moses. We're out here in the middle of nowhere. We no longer have a leader, and we no longer have God, so we need you to make a god for us that we can worship."

Aaron replied, "Well, give me your gold." He took their gold and turned it into a golden calf. A whole bunch of them began to scandalously worship this in a very sensual and horrible way. When Moses came down, God's judgment came upon those people who worshiped the golden calf. That day, 3,000 individuals died because of the punishment of the law.

I don't think it's a coincidence that at the giving of the law, 3,000 people died because of the weight of the punishment of the law. But at the giving of the Holy Spirit, 3,000 people were radically transformed and saved. That day, 3,000 were baptized. This same gospel message that brought salvation to those people at Pentecost has continued to be preached billions of times since.

This same gospel has brought salvation to countless billions over the last nearly 2,000 years. It has added to the church daily. I believe people have believed and received the gospel of Jesus Christ every single day since it was first preached on that Pentecost morning by Peter. It has been continuously preached ever since then. Every single day, the Lord has added to His church those who are being saved, and He will continue to do so because this same gospel message will be preached until Christ returns.

Those who responded to the gospel were added to and gladly received baptism. Now, what is baptism? I have a couple of minutes to wrap this up because, as I said, after our...

In the third service, you're all going to come back because we're going to have a barbecue, but we're also going to have a baptism. What is baptism and why do we do it? Well, baptism is a public demonstration of an individual's faith and their commitment to Christ. It does not save you; the baptism does not save you. But the faith that it proclaims does. When a person trusts in Jesus, that he is Christ, that he is God, and that his work on the cross is that which saves them from their sin, when they trust in him and commit themselves to him, then baptism is just a public proclamation to other people that they've done that.

So why do we do it? Here at Cross Connection Church, there are three reasons why we baptize.

Number one, we baptize in obedience to Jesus's command. Jesus said to his disciples just before he ascended into heaven, "All authority is given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." That's in Matthew 28:19-20. So Jesus commanded, "Go preach the gospel and baptize those who believe." Therefore, we baptize in obedience to his command.

Number two, we baptize in identification with him. When we are baptized, we are declaring to other people that we identify with him. In Matthew chapter 3, he was baptized, so we are identifying ourselves with Jesus, that we are his followers and publicly declaring it through baptism.

Third, we baptize in association with his death, burial, and resurrection. In Romans chapter 6, Paul says we are buried with him in baptism, and we rise with him when we come up out of the water so that we rise to walk in newness of life. Those who are baptized obey his command, identify with him as his followers, and associate with his death, burial, and resurrection. In that, they look forward to a future resurrection when he will return again.

This brings us to the question: what exactly do you do in baptism, and how do we do this whole thing? The idea of baptism is simply in what the word means. The word "baptizo" in Greek just means to...

Immerse in water. So, how do we do it? Churches divide over this, but we immerse people in water because the word "baptizo" means to dip or immerse. That’s what we do. We have this little baptismal outside, and if you've never been baptized, today is the day you should be immersed in water.

This brings us to the last question I will wrap up with: When should a person be baptized? Again, churches divide over this issue, but we believe that the Book of Acts, chapter 8, gives us a perfect answer. In Acts chapter 8, we are introduced to an evangelist named Philip. God, through His Spirit, tells Philip to go down along the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is still in the news today.

As he is on that road, he comes upon an Ethiopian man who is riding in a chariot. As he rides in this chariot, he is reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He happens to be reading the passage in Isaiah chapter 53, where it talks about the one who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Philip comes up next to this chariot as the man is moving along and asks him, "Do you understand what you're reading?" The man replies, "How could I understand unless someone explains it to me?" This is like a perfect softball pitch.

Philip then says, "Pick me. Pick me." He didn’t really say that, but he jumped up in the chariot with him and explained the gospel from Isaiah 53. As they are going, they pass some water along the way. The Ethiopian man asks, "What is keeping me or hindering me from being baptized?" Philip responds, "If you believe, you may." The man says, "I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." They stop the chariot, go down into the water, and Philip baptizes him there.

So, when should a person be baptized? When they believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. If you believe that and have not received baptism, in obedience to His command and identification with Him as His follower, in association with His death, burial, and resurrection, you ought to be baptized.

Baptism is a public proclamation that you trust, obey, identify with, and associate with Jesus. When one believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, they ought to be baptized. It is believed by many scholars that Jesus's crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension...

Happened somewhere between 29 and 33 AD. Let's just, for an easy number, pick 30 AD. That means that today, the feast of Pentecost is the 1,995th birthday of the church. For 1,995 years, the church has been preaching the gospel and calling those who believe to be baptized. We are going to do the same thing today. We will have a barbecue to rejoice in what this day represents, and we even bought birthday cake to celebrate the birthday of the church.

But we are also going to have a baptism. I will close in just a minute and invite Anthony and the worship team to close us with a song. After we close, I ask you to come back here at about noon because the third service gets out at 12:15. If you have already been baptized, great! Come have some barbecue with us and some birthday cake, and rejoice with those who will be baptized.

If you have not been baptized, the last time I looked about an hour ago, there were about a dozen people on our website who had already signed up. You do not have to sign up to be baptized; you can just show up. However, I encourage you to do so in obedience to the Lord's command, in identification with Him as His follower, and in association with His death, burial, and resurrection. Walk in the newness of life that Jesus gives as you have trusted in Him.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer?

God, thank You for Your Word. Holy Spirit, we thank You that You show up just as You did 2,000 years ago there in Jerusalem on Pentecost. You show up when the gospel goes out, the message is heard and received, and it inspires faith, repentance, and obedience. You are involved in all of that. We thank You, Lord, for the way that You work in our lives, and we pray that You would continue to do this work in us. May Your work be demonstrated in us every single day as we follow You by faith.

I pray for those today who are wrestling with the decision to go into the waters of baptism. Lord, would You help them to overcome the hurdle of fear, embarrassment, or questioning—whatever it may be—to fully trust You, knowing that it is not the waters of baptism that save us. You are the one.

Who has saved us as we trust in You. But, Lord, it is an obedient step to declare publicly that we trust in and follow You. So, would You just move hearts today? We pray. We thank You for Your goodness and Your grace. It's in Your name we pray. Amen.