Sermon Tone Analysis

​The New International Version Chapter 5

Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”z

I want to be straight up with you tonight

These angels also give a message to the apostles to go back into the temple where they were speaking and tell others about this new life.

I want to see you become followers of Jesus

Question - What was this new life that the angels talked about?What is this new life?

PAUSE

I long to see a generation of youth who have made the decision to live radical lifestyles for Jesus.

This new life involved a transformation

This new life is the resurrection power of Jesus that lives on this inside of us when we accept the message about Christ

This new life involves a lifestyle transformation

This new life is more than just praying a prayer and accepting Jesus it involves Jesus transforming your lifestyle.

Jesus wants to literally change the way we live and the day in and day out things that we do so it reflects his lifestyle

Jesus wants us to live a new life of following him

And this new life is a life that is foreverWhat is this new life is a loaded question?

Does this new life interest you at all?

Like, are you at all interested in learning about the new life Jesus has for you?

Or are you ok just to live life the way you want?

​The New International Version Chapter 5

You have heard me talk a lot this morning about lifestyle.

Back to the text - so they begin to teach about this new life

What would it look like if we all made the decision that we were going to live our lifestyle differently and live a life of following Jesus?

What kind of impact could that have?

God wants to start a movement of Christ -followers.

There are some really practical steps we can take to follow Jesus.

Some of you have already made those steps this weekend.

Some of you have accepted Jesus into your life and have made the decision that you want to follow him.

Some of you have made the decision to be called out of a friendship, relationship, habit or something that has been holding you back.

Some of you have said you want Jesus to do work in your heart and change you or to give you gifts and abilities.

Our faith in Jesus needs to be public.

The Bible says

So we have to proclaim with our mouth.

That is a very public exercise.

There is a tension when we go public with our faith.

When you put it out there that you are something there is this tension that you need to be authentic.

One of the things I love about you guys is you can really tell if someone is being authentic or not and you hate when people are not being real, genuine, authentic people.

It’s like if someone says they are something and they aren’t.

Like if someone says they are a doctor and someone comes to them and their sick and they don’t have a clue what they are doing.

Or if someone says they are a professional hockey player but can’t skate or shoot the puck.

There is just something that doesn’t line up quite right.

The challenge with being public with our faith is that how we live our life has to line up with who we say we are.

If we say we are Christian well our lives should reflect that right?

You have heard it say it’s easy to talk the talk but can you walk the walk?

Fallen Condition Focus

In the age of social media it is so easy to give an appearance you are something.

Like how many times did we re-take that picture so we could make it our profile picture.

And in our walk with Jesus we can try and make it appear that we are following Jesus with our lifestyle but if people were to take a real serious look at our lifestyle behind the scenes we would see that we aren’t being authentic.

Being public about our faith in Jesus is not so we can get so many likes and comments on instagram.

We don’t go public about our faith because being a Christian is cool.

We go public about our faith because God calls us to be authentic about our faith.

One of the practical steps we take about going public in our faith is baptism.

Jesus commanded his disciples to do something.

Back to the text - so they begin to teach about this new life

So basically what I am doing here tonight, they are explaining to these people how to get this new life through Jesus and then how to live it out

Matthew 28:19-20 says Go and make disciples of every

​The New International Version Chapter 28

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,f baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,g 20 and teachingh them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with youi always, to the very end of the age.”j

Mark

So Jesus commanded the disciples before he left to go and make disciples and to baptize them and to teach them all Jesus commanded them.

Disciples are people who choose to live their lifestyles after the one teaching them.

Then Jesus gives this command to be baptized.

Then Jesus gives this command to be baptized.

If you want to experience the new life Jesus has for you baptism is one of those steps

One of the commandments Jesus gave was to be baptized

If you want to experience the new life Jesus has for you baptism is one of those steps

Now some of you are planning to get baptized next Friday right?

Does anybody here know what baptism means?

Baptism is loaded with meaning

Baptism means death

Baptism means new life

Baptism means grace

Baptism means going public

Baptism is an outward sign of something God has already done in your heart

You know when we first come to Jesus maybe we pray and ask Jesus to come into our hearts but maybe we haven’t really gone public with our faith

You know there is that process of us wrestling through and start reading the Bible and praying

But we come to the moment in our lifestyle where we are like man, I need to let the world know where I stand with God

We come to that point where we don’t want to just say I am Christian but want to make a public statement to the world that I want to live my lifestyle for Jesus

Do you see the difference?

Being a believer in Jesus is a one time decision - being a follower of Jesus is a decision we make everyday

Usually when someone accepts Jesus we ask people to close their eyes and bow their heads and tend to do it more privately - there is nothing private about baptism

Like when we get baptized we ought to have a profile picture of our baptism or post something on instagram because that is essentially what our act is proclaiming

Baptism means that you are proclaiming to the world that you have decided to follow Jesus not just in word but with your lifestyle

So Baptism is public

Baptism is also death - gulp

Baptism is a symbol to you and to the world that the old life you use to live has been nailed to the cross of Jesus

Baptism symbolizes our death to our old self and our rising again from the dead with Jesus in freedom and power.

“I’ve got the power.”

The reason I am so excited about baptism and sharing with you tonight about this new life is because baptism is a tangible physical act or a step that you take that is physical

Baptism represents a step that you take

Baptism solidifies a decision you have already made

Baptism also represents new life

You rise again from the dead

This is crazy guys, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you

So baptism symbolized that the old life is nailed to the cross but when you come up out of that water you rise like Jesus rose from the dead with resurrection power - does that make sense?

So baptism symbolizes that amazing transformation that has happened in your life or that new life you have in Jesus.

God uses baptism to minister his grace to you.

When you make a decision to be baptized you follow the command of Jesus and he uses baptism to minister his grace to you.

To me, baptism solidifies a decision you have made in your heart and when the tough times come, and they will come, you can always look back to that moment and instead of giving up you say, no I have made the decision to follow Jesus.

Baptism is a big deal and not a decision to take lightly.