Okay, amen. We are in Acts chapter 14 and verse 21, look down in
your Bibles at verse 21, it says, And when they had preached the gospel to that
city and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and
Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue
in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom
of God. And what I want to preach on this morning is the subject of things new
Christians should always do, things that new Christians should always do. And a
couple weeks ago, maybe about a month ago or so, I preached a sermon called Things
New Christians Should Never Do, right, and it's just the no-nos of the new
Christians, but this morning I want to talk about things that they should
always do. And obviously I'm referring to the fact that, you know, when you become
a Christian, you should obviously try to strive for success. You want to prosper
in your Christian life, you want to get the most out of the Christian life
that's being offered to you, you want to make sure that you place yourself in a
position where you succeed spiritually, that you're not a shipwreck, you're not
falling by the wayside, you're not backsliding, you're not just kind of
reverting back to old habits and old ways. And this morning I just want to
explain a couple just basic principles that you should do as a new
Christian that I think it's gonna it's gonna help you a lot. Now go to Hebrew
chapter number 10 if you would. We're in Acts chapter 14, we started off in Acts
chapter 14, and here of course we see that Paul, Barnabas, they're getting a
bunch of people saved in different cities, and as they're going through
these cities, they're returning back to some of the cities where
they had won these souls to Christ, and what were they doing? They were confirming
the souls of the disciples, they're exhorting them to continue in the faith.
And really the sum of everything I'm gonna tell you today is simply this,
continue in the faith, okay? We as Christians should have this attitude
that we want to constantly continue to go forward. In spite of what setbacks you
might experience, in spite of discouragement, disillusionment, or
whatever reason would cause you to get out of church or get out of the will of
God or get out of your Bible, you know we should have this attitude we want to
continue in the faith, keep going forward, and recognize that we must do much
tribulation to enter into the kingdom of God. And obviously in context what we're
seeing here is that Paul's telling them, hey you're gonna suffer some pretty
bad times, the Christian life is not a bed of roses, you're gonna go through
difficulties, you're gonna experience trials and tribulations, and this is just
part of the Christian life, okay? You know, don't listen to the preachers out there
that tell you that once you get saved you're gonna become a millionaire, you're
gonna win every lottery ticket, I mean everything is just gonna be hunky-dory,
everything's gonna be great as soon as you become a Christian. No, actually
sometimes it just gets worse, okay? You know, sometimes especially when you start
believing the right type of doctrine, you start standing for the truth, you
start, you know, living a godly life, you have a godly marriage, you know, things
actually sometimes get worse. Not to say they're not gonna get better, but I'm
just telling you, sometimes it just gets worse, okay? You know, sometimes you do
suffer persecution, you do go through tribulation, and sometimes it's not at
the hands of the enemies of God, sometimes it's just life in general, you
know? Sometimes it's health issues that you experience, financial woes, you know,
mental anguish for whatever reason, just things of life to come upon you that can
cause tribulation in your life, and all of these elements can easily knock
you out of the Christian life if you're not careful, okay? They can easily get you
out of the race. So what's the answer? Continue in the faith. Continue in the
faith, remain steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
but I'm gonna give you some practical tips this morning as to what you can do
and what you need to do if you are a new Christian. Now, what do I mean by new
Christian? Well, a new Christian is like someone who just got saved today. It's
also a Christian who just got saved like a year ago, or how about this? A new
Christian, I would consider a new Christian to be someone who maybe got
saved a couple years ago, yay, maybe even a decade ago, but they haven't been in
church, you know, they haven't grown in their faith, they haven't really read the
Bible, so they're still kind of new to these things, okay? Yeah, they've been
born again for quite some time and, you know, they're saved, they've been saved for
about a decade or two decades, but they haven't really grown in the faith, they
don't really know what the Bible says about, you know, just doctrine and
Christian values and the practical aspects of the Christian life. So that's
what I would consider to be a new Christian, okay? But here's the thing, we
could all apply this all across the board. I mean, as I'm writing this
sermon, I'm like, man, you know, I need to make sure I take care of, I need to make
sure I stay in church, you know, although obviously it's easier for me because, you
know, I have to preach the Bible, so even if I don't want to come to church, you
know, I kind of have to because I got to come preach the Bible, so that kind of
helps, you know, I'm kidding, sort of. All right, let me read to you from Luke
chapter 8, you're in Hebrews chapter 10, Luke chapter 8 verse 11 says, Now the
parable is this, the seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are they that
hear, then covet the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest
they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they which, when they hear,
receive the word with joy, and these have no root, which for a while believe
and in time of temptation fall away. So I would liken this person into the
individual that they receive the word of God, they receive it with joy, it's like
wow, salvation is great, and even thereafter they hear some preaching
they're like, hey, this preaching is great, but they're not really rooted in the
word of God, they're not really rooted in the Christian life, you know, they're
kind of just enjoying the excitement of the Christian life, you know. Oh, this
preaching is exciting, you know, getting saved is great, and you know, coming to
church is great, but they're not really rooted and grounded in love, the love of
Christ, okay. So what happens is that they believe for a while, you know, they come
to church, they're doing the Christian thing, and everything's going hunky-dory,
but in a time of temptation, they fall away. So in other words, this individual
doesn't really have substance to his Christianity, okay. It doesn't mean
they're a bad person, it just means that he might have missed the window of time
necessary that he had to take, or she, to get rooted in the word of God so when
the evil day came, they wouldn't fall away, you understand, and so what we're
looking at here is the individual who basically missed that window of time, and
let me just say this is that every single individual here has a window of
time, especially if you're a new Christian, you know, you have a window of
time between getting saved and you're coming to church, there's like a
window of time when it's time for you to get serious about the things of God.
It's time for you to read the Bible, it's time for you to start winning souls to
Christ, it's time for you to start cleaning up your life, why, because the
window of time is about to close, and once it's closed, the evil day comes upon
you, temptation will come, and then you're gonna fall away, and you know what, when
you're newly saved, you don't want to fall away, you don't want to forsake
the Lord, you don't want to forsake, you love these things, you love the Lord, you
love the Bible, and so when you're in your right mind, you're like, well I don't
want to revert back to old ways, well then you need to take advantage of this
window of time to strengthen yourself in your faith, to continue in the faith, to
get grounded, so that when the time of temptation comes, you're not falling away.
He says in verse 14, and that which fell among thorns are they which when they
hear, when they have heard, go forth, they're going forward, and are choked
with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to
perfection. So this is an individual who kind of leaves the other individual
behind, he's like, well I'm getting rooted, you know, I'm getting grounded in the
Word of God, I'm getting plugged in to the Christian life as brother Maury
preached a little bit ago, you know, he's, they're getting into it, but what's the
next step for them? To bring forth fruit into perfection. The problem is they go
forth, and then the cares of this life, covetousness enters in, the lust of other
things come into the heart, and it chokes the Word. So then that person becomes
unfruitful. So yeah, they're sitting in the pews, they're listening to the
preaching of God's Word, but unfortunately because their heart is
entangled with the things of this life, they become unfruitful. They're not
really thinking about the things of God, they're not really thinking about souls,
they're not really thinking about the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
they're thinking about the cares, the riches, and the lust of other things
entering in. So these are the kind of like the different levels Satan can get
you at. Obviously if he can't, you know, pull the seed out of your heart so you can
get saved, you get saved, you know, then he's gonna try to cause you to not get
grounded in the Word so you can become offended when the temptation comes. Or
after that, he's gonna send cares and temptations, the riches of this life, to
try to get you distracted from that which is truly important, okay. And
then verse 15 says, But that on good ground are they which in an honest and
good heart, having heard the Word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
With patience. What does that mean? That means this person just keeps plugging
away, they're continuing in the faith, and they bring forth fruit this week? Not
necessarily just bring forth fruit with patience. They're just kind of waiting,
you know what I mean? Like they're not really ready to preach the gospel yet,
you know, they got half of the Romans road memorized, they got their
introduction in maybe, but they're not discouraged about it because they're
gonna bring forth fruit with what? With patience, you understand? So they're just
kind of enduring maybe the mundane of the Christian life, they're enduring
reading their Bibles in the morning when they don't really feel like it since
they never read a book in their life. It's just like, man, I never read a book in my
life, now I gotta read this entire thing, you know, and they're just kind of
reading through it, they're reading through Leviticus, they're reading through
Numbers and Deuteronomy, they're reading through 1st and 2nd Chronicles, they're
just kind of just reading and kind of going along, just trying to just trying
to bring forth fruit with patience, you understand? And so, but this is a good
thing because we want to be in the Christian life for the long haul. We
don't want, this is not a sprint, this is a marathon, okay? And you know, we need to
make sure that we treat the Christian life as thus and recognize not every
sermon has to be a home run hitter, not every sermon I have to just make this
radical decision, not every time I open up the Bible it's just powerful and just
like, oh man, this is so life-changing and I'm just being lifted off my feet here
and all these things, you know, sometimes it's just normal stuff, okay? Don't have
this emotional response to the Christian life. Obviously we're to love God with
all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but folks, let's just be honest, sometimes
whether with marriage, our relationship with God, or relationship with others,
there's highs and there's lows, right? There's times when it's really exciting
and time when it's not so much exciting, but we should still do it anyways because
it's right, you understand? And if you are willing to continue in the faith, you'll
learn to appreciate the highs more as well as the lows more as well, okay?
You'll be able to just kind of have a balanced Christian life where you
recognize the ebb and flow of the Christian life, okay? Now what are some
things, what are things that new Christian, what are some things that
Christian, new Christian, excuse me, should always do? And these are very basic.
Number one, as soon as you get saved or as soon as you learn about the truth, you
need to get into church. It's important. Get into, and let me just rephrase that,
I'm wrong, I'm sorry. That was really, I'm really sorry. I made a big mistake. Get
into a Bible believing church, okay? You get into a church where they're actually
preaching the Bible, okay? And here's the thing is that, you know, a lot of people
are like, well, I don't have a church in my area. They didn't drive two hours away
to go to a church if that's the case. There's plenty of people in our church
that do that, you know, it's sometimes worth, not sometimes, it's very worth,
it's always worth going to a church if it's far away if you're gonna get the
truth, amen? If you're gonna grow and learn, but get into a Bible believing
church. Look at Hebrews chapter number 10. It says here in verse 22, let us draw
near with the true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful to
promise. And let us consider one another to provoke and to love and to good works.
Now let me ask you, if a Christian does not have a church, how are they gonna
fulfill that verse there, right? Because a church is a assembly of call, assembly
of baptized believers, you understand? So it's made up of a group of Christians
assembling together in unity over a common cause with common doctrine, right?
But verse 24 won't apply to the person who doesn't believe in going to church.
How can they consider one another to provoke and to love and to good works?
Who are they provoking? Who's gonna provoke them if they're not in church?
It's obviously not gonna be from their friends. Hey, I know you don't really go
to church, but you might, let's provoke each other to doing something that we're
not doing. You know what I mean? Not going to church. Something that we just don't
believe in doing, like going to church, let's provoke each other to just like
continue not going to church or something, you know? You need to be in a
church in order to provoke each other unto good works, you understand? And it
says in verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is. Wow, that's interesting. That means 2,000 years ago
there are believers and Christians who were kind of being a little lazy, right?
And didn't want to come to church. He says, it's almost like a joke, right?
He's like, as the manner of some is. It's like you kind of wonder if it's like if
the people he was talking about were like right there or something. That's like
the manner of some is. I'm not gonna point any elbows or something, you know?
He's just kind of like, he says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the
more as you see the day approaching. Now one of the most cringiest representations
of Christianity is on TikTok and Instagram, okay? It's so cringy, it's just
like so gay actually. You guys are gay. You know, it's like why you guys got to represent Christianity like this?
They got the weird music and then you know the soft-soak just way of
talking and everything and of course when you have that gay form, you know,
you're gonna hear a lot of false doctrine. You know, I saw this one guy
and he's just like, you don't need to go to church. He's like, you know, there's no
commandment in the Bible to go to church. You'll never find a commandment in the
Bible that you have to go to church. You know, if you're saved, you know, you're
once saved, always saved. He believes in once saved, always saved apparently. He's
like, if you're saved, you're always saved. There's no commandment. You know, in
context, Hebrews 10 is talking about the temple. Well, first of all, the temple in
the New Testament, buddy, are our bodies, which you have of God and you are not
your own. This is not a church. So don't compare the church to a temple. Yeah, the
temple in the Old Testament was made up of people who worship the Lord, but guess
what? That transition took place at the time of the Reformation where now the
temple is our body, right? Which we have of God and we are not our own, you know,
the Holy Ghost is the one that dwells within this temple. The church, on
the other hand, requires an assembly of baptized believers to make it a church.
And he's obviously criticizing buildings and all this stuff. He's just like, what do you
want us to meet? You know, obviously we understand that a building is not a
church. This is a church right here. Well, folks, can we just move beyond that and
recognize that a local assembly requires a centralized location to meet in? You
know, we're not living 2,000 years ago where, you know, maybe you could have met
in a field or something like that. You know, we need buildings here, okay? And
it's necessary to have a building, okay? It is necessary to have a building like
this, right? I mean, we need a roof, we need walls, you know, we need AC,
amen? Bless God, you know, we need all these things. And folks, there needs to be
a centralized location where you take care of things such as church discipline.
How do you do church discipline when you don't have church? You call your neighbor
up, you can't hang out with me anymore or something, you know, you're involved in
fornication or something. You know, we just, let me just three-way call the
other believer that we know and and execute church discipline or something
like that. No, you need a centralized location to do that in, according to the
Bible. And so, yeah, no, this is a commandment to be in church, folks. And look, not
every commandment in the Bible has to say, has to say, thou shalt. Okay, you
expand your vocabulary a little bit, expand the phrases that you use a little
bit and recognize when it says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together as the manner of some is, that's a commandment. You know, Paul's not just
like, he's not like from 1st Corinthians 7 where he's just like, this is just, you
know, my opinion, you know, I speak by permission. He didn't say that here. He's
speaking inspired by the Holy Ghost. Okay, he's speaking inspired by the Holy Ghost,
this is what God, and look folks, why would people, Christians, so-called,
minimize the importance of coming to church if the church is something that
Jesus Christ shed his blood for. He bought it, right? You know, he's the head
of the church. He bought it, you know, he talks about the church over and over and
over again. He addresses the churches in Revelation chapter 2 and 3. Obviously,
it's important to the Lord, it should be important to us as well. Okay, and so new
people, don't let people, these watered-down Christians, these TikTok, you
know, Instagram Christians tell you, oh you don't have to go to church. Tell them,
yes I do. What are you talking about? Hebrews 10 says, I need to be in church.
You're the manner of some is, apparently. This part is talking about you, the
manner of some is, they're talking about you, because your manner is not to be in
church. Your manner is to forsake the assembly of ourselves together as the
manner of some is. And then it says there's so much to more, so there's my
proof text for coming Sunday morning, Sunday night, Thursday. Right? It's like,
well I only want to make it to one service. Well here it says so
much to more. That means as much as you can, as you see the day approaching. So
notice he doesn't say, by the way, the day is approaching faster today than it was
yesterday, or last week, right? So that means we need to be in church as much as
possible. Why? Because the church is the pillar and ground of truth. It's where
you're gonna get the truth. There's so much nonsense out there, there's so much
garbage out in the world being pumped through social media and the news and
you're getting it, and if you're not careful you're gonna get your brain all
screwed up by this world. So you need to come to church three times a week to
kind of get that scrubbed off. I mean I literally, before I came into the
building, a guy drove up in his truck and he says, is this your church?
I said, that's my church. And he's like, I might come one day. I'm like, cool, you
know, right on. And he's just like, this world is messed up, man. I know. He's like,
it's getting messed up and it's making me want to look for the truth. So I might
join you. Like, yup, this world is screwed up, I told him. Bye. It's just like, you
know, it was just like, but he told me, he was kind of rushing anyways, but he was
just like, even he recognizes like, this world is messed up. So we need somewhat
like an oasis, somewhere where we can retreat and have our minds renewed by
the Word of God and be taught what the Bible says and come back to God's
standard of thinking and not the world, you understand? So new Christians need a
church because, you know what, they have their brain washed by the world. They
come in with certain ideologies and teachings and customs and manner of
living that is contrary to God's Word. And so when you come to church, we teach
you what the Bible actually says. We don't force you to live that way, we just
teach you what the Bible says, okay? So let me just say this, is that the reason
church is important, aside from the fact that you're getting preaching, is that
it's, you know, you surround yourself with people that will provoke you. Let me say
this, it's hard to do the Christian thing by yourself. It's hard, you know
what I mean? Because we have the old man with us who's just like, why do that, you
know? Let's do something else. This is too hard. Let's get a little wind souls, like
that's kind of scary, man. Are you sure you want to do it? You're gonna embarrass yourself, you know?
You have the flesh constantly fighting against you, so what you need is a church
where believers who are on fire for God, zealous of good works, are provoking you.
Hey, I'm for peer pressure. Peer pressure works, you know? And some of you
already know that, because maybe your team leader peer pressured you into
going soul winning with you, or with them, you know, and doing good works, and
that's a good thing. The Bible says to provoke unto good works. Hey, are you going soul
winning today? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I don't really know what I'm doing. It's like,
it's cool, don't worry about it. You're gonna be a silent partner? It's gonna be great. And so
you're provoked. You see, when you go to different churches, they don't like
provoking people. They don't like provoking people because they feel
they're gonna get offended, and you know, you want to make them feel uncomfortable,
but folks, the only way you're gonna grow is by being uncomfortable. Growth comes
through discomfort, right? But a lot of these like liberal churches, for example,
you know, they don't make you do anything. I mean, I'm surprised they don't just
bring you in like the the paralytic guy through the roof to just hear the
preaching or something, because you just gotta like go and just sit there and not
really do anything, right? You just listen to a 15-30 minute sermonette with the
most shallowest doctrine ever, you know, and then you basically, you
appease your conscience. Oh, I went to church or something. Yeah, but what did
you get out of it, though? Because church is supposed to edify you, it's supposed
to perfect you, you know, it's supposed to teach you, provoke you into good works,
provoke you to clean up your life, provoke you to change the way you live,
provoke you to transform your conversation, provoke you to go soul
winning, provoke you to stand for the truth, and it's a lot easier to do it
when you have other people who are doing it. I'll tell you why. Because we're like
high school kids sometimes. You understand what I mean? Like we only do something if
everyone else is doing it. Maybe some of you are now, maybe some of you are like
the leaders or whatever and you're the one provoking everyone else, but you know
I'm sure for the vast majority of us, you know, we just we're kind of like looking
to see if everyone else is gonna do it. Like well if they do it, I'm gonna do it
too. Well that's just the natural tendency of people, of humans, and it works
to our advantage in the Christian life. Because when you're in a church where
everyone's going soul winning, you're in a church where everyone believes the
same, and you know, you know those weird radical beliefs that we have or
something, you know, you believe them, you know, under your breath, but when you're
around people who boldly proclaim it like all the time, and they talk about it
like it's normal, then it becomes normal to you too. And you're just like, you know, I'm not ashamed of this
doctrine. Actually this is really good, you know. What's going on? You're being
provoked unto good works, okay. Whereas if you're a new Christian and you don't
have a church to go to, you know, you don't really have this ability to be
provoked, okay. And so you struggle, you don't really want to share your faith, or
you're not, if you do share your faith, you're not really doing it appropriately
because you don't have anybody correcting you on how to do it, etc. Okay.
And so things new Christians should always do, get into a Bible believing
church. 1 Corinthians 14 22 says, Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to
them that believe, but to them that believe not. But prophesying serveth not
for them that believe not, but for them which believe. Prophesying, of course,
referring to preaching. It's gonna profit you. And so, you know, you come to church
to get provoked into good works, you know, how about this, you know, parents, bring
your children to church, bring your teenagers to church. Why? So they can be
provoked to stop being teenagers of this world, to stop being the worldly
teenagers of this world. They'll be provoked, but you got to be consistent
with bringing them so they can be provoked. You know, provoking here and
there is not gonna do much, it's just gonna irritate them probably. But when
you bring them consistently, they're constantly around this environment, you
know what they begin to do? Embrace biblical doctrine, embrace biblical
values, embrace the mind of Christ, okay. And so prophesying, preaching, serves
those who believe. It helps us to grow and it peer pressures us into doing that
which is right. We all need a good peer pressure every once in a while. And look,
I peer pressure people into getting baptized all the time. In fact, this is
my second point, things new Christians need to do, get baptized, okay. We're
getting the baptism today, you know, new person in our church, she's getting
baptized today, why? Because we were peer pressured her on Thursday. Well, you're
getting baptized, right? You're not gonna say no to the pastor, right? No, I'm just kidding.
No, but we tell them like, hey, now you got to get baptized. You see, a lot of
churches, they're actually kind of like a little scared to like ask people like,
so you're supposed to get baptized after you get saved? But it's totally cool
if you don't want to though. No, it's not totally cool if they don't want to. The
heck? That's a command. Why are we ashamed of God's Commandments? Hey, aren't we
Baptists? That's what we do, we baptize people after they get saved, okay. So I
teach people, hey, as soon as you get someone saved, you let them know, all
right, well, now it's time to get baptized. So we have the freezer right there, we
got the robes. It's not a freezer right now. It was a freezer in times past, if
you guys remember. We buried them in the likeness of his death and they just
stayed in the likeness of his death. But you know, I tell people right away, hey, as soon as you get
saved, you should get baptized. And in fact, isn't that the biblical model that
we see? They that gladly received this word were baptized. Go to Acts chapter 2, if
you would. Acts chapter 2. So what's the second thing that new Christians should
always do? Get baptized. Get baptized. We obviously understand that baptism has
nothing to do with your salvation. It doesn't affect that at all. This is an
outward expression of that which has taken place internally, you understand?
It's an outward profession of our faith, basically letting everyone know, I
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a public profession so
that you're not, you know, ashamed. You're basically showing you're not ashamed of
the fact that you believed on Jesus Christ. You want to identify with this
death, burial, and resurrection, okay? Look at Acts 2 verse 40, it says, And with many
other words that he testified and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward
generation, then they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the
same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls. So as soon as they
received that word, they're like, let's get baptized. Let's identify with the Lord,
let's identify with Christ. Now, there's a lot of weird teaching out there about
baptism, isn't there? You know, people teach that baptism saves you and all
these nonsensical things. And some people would even say that's when
you really get filled with the Spirit. Well actually you really get filled with
the Spirit once you get saved because you get indwelt by the Holy Spirit of
God, okay? Now obviously there's a doctrine of being filled with the
Spirit, you know, where the Spirit enables you, gives you power to have
boldness, to fulfill your role, to basically walk in the Spirit. But you
know what? There is something special that kind of takes place when you get
baptized. It's not a supernatural thing. I would say it's kind of like a mental
thing. It's almost as if you're kind of making a decision, you know, because
you're getting baptized, you're identifying with Christ. But let me say
this, you're also identifying yourself with this church. That's different, okay?
Because you're getting baptized at First Works Baptist Church if you get baptized
here and you're basically saying, I agree with the terms and services of First
Works Baptist Church. You're like, I agree with what's being stated here, you
understand? I agree with the pastor, I agree with the church, you know, I agree
with Baptist doctrine, I agree with the Bible, okay? And so it's good to get
baptized as soon as you get saved for a brand new Christian because it really,
it's part of that, it's what we would refer to as the first step of
obedience. And it's that which gets you kind of settled. It's like, I got baptized,
you know, I got baptized at this church. Man, I'm really taking steps forward into
my Christian life because that is the first commandment that God gives to you
after salvation. And don't think, well, you know, I'm gonna put it off until like
next month or something like that. Where's the next month verse? What is that?
Month Abib or something? Are you going to like, according to like a Hebrew
calendar or something? You know, there is no putting off baptism in
the Bible, folks. The biblical model is as soon as you get saved, you get baptized.
Now I understand, you know, for example, when I first got saved, I didn't know I
was supposed to get baptized thereafter and they told me, they're like, hey,
you got to get baptized. I'm like, okay, cool, let's do it. And then I went home and
I told my mom, I said, mom, I'm getting baptized at this church, I just got saved.
And she's like, well, you can't do that. I'm like, why? She's like, because we all
need to be there to come watch you get baptized. I'm like, what for? I'm just
going in the water, coming out. You know, but she comes from like a Catholic
background and, you know, the Catholics, they have this this thing where it's
just like everyone has to be there at your baptism and stuff like that, you
know. And so, you know, I said, well, look, I'm gonna get baptized next week. If you
come, you come. If you don't, I'm still getting baptized because I need to do
this. I didn't really know why I felt that, like, urge, but I was just like, I
just need, this needs to happen, okay. And so they came, you know, I had friends come
or whatever, all hungover, okay. I had my family there and they weren't even in
agreement and it's just like, I got baptized. It was more special for me than
them because to them it's just like, well, that's it. I'm like, yeah, but just going
in the water, out of the water. Like, I don't know if you wanted music to come
on or something like that or take my breath away coming out through the
speakers and just like, you know. Like, what kind of scene do you want? It's
baptism, you know. That's all it is. Acts 8 12 says, and when they believe Philip
preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus
Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. And look, if you think to yourself,
because, you know, we've had folks come and say, well, I want to get, I want to
wait till my family comes, okay. But let me just say this, you know what's actually
far more impactful for your family is what you do after you get baptized.
That's actually far more impactful than your baptism. It's what you do with your
life. It's how you clean up your life. It's how you continue in the faith. It's
what you do in the Christian life thereafter that's gonna make a
greater impact in the life of your family than your baptism. Because here's
the thing, what if you get baptized and you just never go back to church? They're gonna
be like, oh, that was a phase, you know, and once he goes to another church he's
gonna get baptized there and they're gonna, he's gonna go over here and get
baptized there and that, and it's not really real. What's real is what you do
afterwards. That which is of substance is that what you actually do with your life
thereafter, okay. Acts 18 verse 8 says, and Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue,
believed on the Lord with all his house and many of the Corinthians hearing
believed and were baptized. Go to John chapter 17 if you would, John chapter 17.
John chapter 17. So what are some things that new Christians should do? Well, number
one, get into a Bible believing church and more specifically get into our
church, you know. Obviously if you're in a different part of the world, different
part, if you're in the north, you know, you got Verity up there and if you're in
central California you got Holdfast there, if you're in Vancouver you got
Pastor Thompson over there, if you are in Arizona you got Pastor Anderson, I mean
those are the places you need to go to but if you're here in Southern
California, First Works is where you should come, okay. Well, why don't you
start a church right over here? We already started a church, it's right here,
come over here. I'd go if the church was like, like, you know, 20 minutes closer
well, you know, it's everything's 20 minutes closer depending upon how you
look at it. So drive for about 20 minutes and we're not that far. It's all
about perspective, folks. So what should you do? Get into church, what should you
do? Get baptized, okay. What should you do? Get fellowship. Fellowship is so
important. It's almost as important as doctrine. Like what? Yeah, it's almost just
as important as doctrine and in fact doctrine teaches that you should have
fellowship, okay. Now when we, when people think of fellowship, when we think of
fellowship, we think of just like hanging out but it goes a lot deeper than that.
It's hanging out with people who are like-minded. You see, you try to have
fellowship with people who are not Christians or Christians that are just
watered down and you know you feel out of place. Like I can't really like let it
fly here as I used, I can't really let my hair down here like in front of these
people like with my church. Why? Because they're not like-minded. Fellowship is
like when you're in unity with people and you're like, you know, you're both,
you got a black guy here, you got a white guy here, you got a Mexican here, you got
a Japanese guy, me and Glen, you know, Glen's Japanese, but you know what? We
have fellowship one with another. Why? Because of your skin color? No. Why?
Because, you know, what's the reason why? I'll tell you why, because we believe the
same things. So we get along great and fellowship is necessary. Look what, look
what John 17, by the way, can two walk together except they be agreed? It's hard
to even fellowship with other Christians, is it not? You know, and so I don't know
what's going on over there. Tell me later though. Look at verse, look at
verse 15. I'm always down for a good joke. Verse 15 says Jesus, of course, he's
praying for his disciples and he says, I pray not that thou shouldest take them
out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. That's a good
verse for the Amish, by the way, right? They need to take heed to that. They are
not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth
thy word is truth as thou has sent me into the world even so I have I also
sent them into the world and for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also
might be sanctified through the truth neither pray I for these alone but for
them also which shall believe on me through their word that's us amen that
they all may be what one as thou father art in me and I in thee that they also
may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me now this
isn't teaching like as soon as a Don and I start fellowshipping we just we just
amalgamate together and we just become like one person that's what the one is
people want to say right but what does that mean when he says one is we are one
he's saying that they're in unity together there's unity there is no
discrepancy amongst the godhead they are in complete agreement with one another
separate entities in complete agreement with one another so in like manner we
should be the same thing fellowship is when we have unity with one another and
there really isn't any discrepancy and I'm not saying we we just fall in line
with every single little thing but the most important things we agree on you
know what's great about a church sometimes it's not just the most
important things sometimes we even agree on secondary issues as well which makes
it so much better sometimes even third issues right we
agree on those things and so that helps and that's what fellowship is actually
that's what makes hanging out a little sweeter that's what makes hanging out
with each other that much nicer why because we know this is my brother who I
fellowship with we believe the same we can talk about the Bible I don't have to
be like you know kind of watching walking on eggshells talking about the
Bible with my brother he's not gonna judge me you know I mean for trying to
be spiritual like people would say like oh man why are you talking about the
Bible you trying to be like spiritual or something yes I'm can you help me can
you be spiritual okay you know we're not gonna do that here we talk about the
Bible someone brings up a biblical topic and everyone's not gonna be like anyways
so what would you see in the game last night or something you know everyone's
gonna address whatever is being spoken of and put their two cents in and feed
off of each other that's what fellowship really is you understand go to
Philippians chapter 2 if you would Philippians chapter number 2 what I'm
referring to is unity okay we need unity and as a new Christian you need to come
to church and make friends at church now look sometimes new Christians you know
because they're shy they're not extroverts like myself you know they're
they're just you just don't really like to like talk to people they just like
coming into church and then as soon as church is like out like as soon as
everyone's praying they're like man all right there's the door I'm just gonna
pivot here and just like I don't want to talk to anybody you know because they
just kind of like that who's kind of like that
raise your hand if that's you all right look around people make sure they don't
get out of the building you know it's normal but here's the thing folks as a
new Christian you need friendship church is not just for you to come listen to
doctrine and you're preaching you know it's also for you to establish good
friendships and relationships in the church hang out for a little bit I have
to say this like every quarter hang out for a little bit and we have a lot of
people to hang out but I'm saying make friends get to know one another ask
people's names you know ask them what their favorite color is or so you know
if they like long walks on the beaches I don't know just kind of just get to know
people you like well you know it's just people are kind of weird here though you
know it's just kind of strange here actually you're the weird one actually
okay that's what it is what we have here is just biblical Christianity and it's
foreign to you because you're used to all the weirdos out there and it takes
a while you know sometimes it takes a while to be away from the world to see
how weird the world really is because then you look back and you're like oh
man it is crazy out there I do not agree what's going on out there that people
are nuts out there look at Philippians 2 1 it says if there be any consolation in
Christ if any comfort of love of any fellowship in the Spirit if any bowels
and mercies fulfill you my joy that you be like-minded having the same love
being of one accord of one mind the Bible says so what is the Bible telling
us here that we need to make sure that we are unified and you know what for us
here it's just like well yeah we have that here yeah but I promise you it's
not that way in a lot of churches a lot of churches is not that way at all I'm
talking about the congregation is against the pastor the pastor hates some
of the people in the congregation there's like clicks like if you know
this is one click this is the second one this is the third one then you have like
the pastor's wives kind of getting together talking trash about the deacons
wives it's all I can complete this unity no one likes each other it's all for
show for some reason you know and if we were to walk into a church like that
we're like what this isn't even a church this is like a social club or something
like that is this high school and so don't take this for granted folks
fellowship is needed you need friends and and so you know when church ends
don't just bolt out of here get to know some folks you know ask for some names
and just chat with them and develop some friendships he that hath friends must
show himself friendly okay go to 1st Peter chapter 2 we're almost done things
that new Christians should always do next one number four implement the
principle of replacement implement the principle replacement I'm trying to set
you up for success as a new Christian okay and you need to do all these things
if you really want to succeed all right but this one is extremely important
they're all important but this is very important because here's the thing is
when you begin to get rid of certain things in your life it kind of leaves a
vacuum you understand and if you don't fill it with something else eventually
you'll go back to that old thing look what the Bible says in 1st Peter chapter
2 and verse number 1 it says here wherefore laying aside all malice and all
guile and hypocrisies and envies and evil and all evil speakings as newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the word the email girl thereby if so be they
have tasted that the Lord is gracious so I want you to notice he said hey
first lay aside these things what does that mean get rid of these things to
desire the sincere milk of the word he didn't say just lay aside these things
and just you know all right you're good to go he said no now you got to replace
that okay and this is obviously a great principle for us as far as like the the
new man and the old man is concerned putting off the old man putting on the
new man but you can apply this all across the board for everything and it
kind of goes along with the previous point which is hey get rid of those bad
friends you have the company of fools that you have and get some get yourself
some godly friends okay put away the ungodly music and put on the godly
music okay put away old desires and work on having new desires put away old
habits and add some new habits to your life you understand it's very important
you said well I'm just gonna stop doing these things but I'm not gonna go all
into church either well then you're gonna fail because you have to replace
that which you have that which is has been removed out of your life if not
there will be a vacuum if not you will revert back if not you will fail you
will not succeed you have to replace things in your life last last verse here
go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 things new Christians should always do number
five take advantage listen to this take advantage of good momentum take
advantage of good momentum okay when you first get saved especially if the
conditions are right you know what I mean like the Sun is shining and got
that nice song going on the handy song and everything is just perfect you know
you kind of feel like this is exciting I like what I'm doing I like I like being
here and then you kind of have that push like you know what I'm gonna I'm in this
for the long haul okay so you're kind of like in the right frame of mind you
understand well at that point you're kind of setting yourself up for good
momentum momentum is basically you know when you got a good when you got a good
pace going understand if I fall down a hill for example you know and I'm just
rolling down the hill depending on how long the hill don't picture it I'm just
depending on how long the hill is let's say it's really long I'm gonna gain some
really fast momentum okay because of obviously okay I'm just gonna be like
first is just gonna like this and this is gonna snowball I'm just gonna speed
up speed up and I'm gonna hit something at a very high velocity than what I
originally started with okay because I gained momentum when the Christian life
sometimes the conditions are just right and you start going forward and you have
good momentum so actually you could actually go a little further in your
Christian life by taking advantage of that momentum then what you originally
would have the link you originally would have gone to if you had no momentum at
all some Christians take five years to reach a certain point whereas one
Christian because they have good momentum can reach it in one some
Christians take ten years to reach a certain point because they never had
good momentum they're just kind of in and out they're just kind of letting
life happen to them whereas other Christians because they have good
momentum reach that destination in five years momentum actually helps you a lot
and let me say this recognize if you have good momentum in other words you
like well I want to go to church if you have the desire and you say and it's
Sunday morning I want to go to church go to church build more momentum if this
sermon inspires you to read your Bible go read your Bible take advantage of
that momentum if the sermon inspires you to get baptized then do it if it inspires
you to be provoked into good works then do it why because that's going to give
you the good momentum that you need to go further in your Christian life okay
look what the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 8 verse 10 and here and I
give my advice for this is expedient for you who have begun before not only
to do but also to be forward a year ago now therefore perform the doing of it
that as there was a readiness to will so there may be a performance also out of
that which he hath for if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according
to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not hey when you have that
ready mind that willing mind you're like I want to do it perform it I want to do
this perform it then do it do it right now why because that'll give you the
proper momentum to keep going forward and I promise you when you look back 365
days after you're gonna say man I made it pretty far yeah because you had a
good momentum okay clean up your life now if you're inspired to I mean you
should anyways but if you're inspired to do so do it why because it'll give you
good momentum you know raise your children now the nursery in the
admonition of the Lord why because you're inspired to do so gain that
momentum use that momentum I'm actually inspired to like submit to my husband
do it now because that might change at 12 do it now I'm inspired to love my
wife as Christ also loved the church then do it now perform it if there's a
readiness in your mind if there's a willingness in your mind then you need
to perform that what you're willing to do now in order to give you that
momentum to go further in your Christian life it's unfortunate you think of like
you guys ever seen those videos of like the turtles it's actually pretty funny
to me but you know those turtles they're like on the beach and they're all
trying to make it they're like you guys know what I'm talking about people root
for the turtles I don't root for this I'm like get that thing it's right there
there's so many of them you know the birds are flying they're like picking
them off and stuff you know it's a circle of life folks it's the way things
need to be but you know they fight so hard they get out of their eggs and then
they burrow out and then they're just like cuz they got those flaps and
they're just like they're running you know one guy is like I hope they get
they get the guy next to me not me you know and birds are coming they're just
picking them off and then but you always have like that one that makes it you
know and it's because they're picking off every single one and you know as
soon as that turtle hits the water is like I'm almost there and as soon as he
gets there then a shark comes and just eats him or something maybe that's a bad
illustration but what I'm saying is this is like that's kind of like the way
Christians are new Christians it's like these little turtles because they're
newborn babes and here's the thing is like obviously turtles can't really run
that fast but think about this like you know if you're trying to just make it to
that line right there a little momentum goes a long way you understand I
guarantee you all of them are running with all their might I mean yeah they're
running with all their might I'm sure none of them are trying to drag their
feet because if they drag their feet they're probably not gonna make it it's
the one who's just persisting to go for persisting to go forward and then you
reach that finish line type of a thing well you know Christians can be likened
unto the same thing okay gain that momentum use that momentum to go forward
don't look back take advantage of the perfect conditions that you find
yourself in in order to grow spiritually amen things that new Christians should
always do let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and Lord thank you
so much for so many new people that have gotten saved and people are getting
baptized and just starting to serve you Lord I pray God that you'd be with them
and may they continue in the faith may we confirm their souls Lord and help
them to continue in the grace of God help them to get grounded and rooted in
your word and prepare them for that evil day prepare them for that day of
temptation I pray God that you bless them Lord bless our church and may all
things be done for your honor for your glory in Jesus name amen