(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Remember him? I never even read it, to be honest. You know, I just put it away, didn't think anything of it, didn't see the importance of reading the Bible, so he gave it to me, I just thought, cool. Because at that point, I was taught in a Catholic church that you really can't understand the Bible, you need to praise, it's up to us to help you understand it. So I just took it as a gift and I just said, all right, cool, but I didn't think about reading it at all. And he didn't mention baptism whatsoever, but I didn't know really much about it. But when I was in Kuwait, waiting for the war to kick off, quote unquote, I started to see that people were going to services. There were the Protestant services, the Catholic services. I didn't go to any of them. I was fine, I was at peace with it. In fact, I was kind of trying to pick people's brains in regards to salvation to see if it was really a gift. So sure enough, I heard there was a Christian in our platoon and I went up to him, it was the last corporal, and I said, hey man, I got a question for you. What do you have to do to go to heaven? And he said, well, if you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, he's like, you're saved, you're going to heaven. I'm like, is that it? He's like, well, that's it. He's like, eternal life, is it a gift? He's like, yeah, it's a gift. I said, well, how do you get that gift? Well, you have to believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and that's how you get to heaven. I'm like, yeah, man, I believe that. I'm like, sweet, you know, kind of like excited about it. I'm like, oh, so it is true. Even though I believed it was true, it's cool to see that somebody else believed the same thing. But then I had the other corporal who was a Catholic, so I decided to pick his brain. So I walked up to him one day and I'm like, yeah, corporal, I got a question for you. He said, what do you have to do to go to heaven? Well, you have to believe in Jesus Christ and you need to repent and turn from your sins and I've never heard of that before. I'm like, repent, turn from your sins, what in the world? He said, do you believe the tribe is a gift? Yeah, it's a gift, but you still need repentance, you still need to repent, you have to pretty much just obey God, follow in his word. And I remember rejecting that. And I didn't realize that that actually was what I believed as well when I was Catholic. So when he said that, I just rejected it all the way. I'm like, well, I don't believe that and I just kind of walked away from him. So they would just invite us to their services and I'll be like, no, I'm good, I don't want to do it. For some reason, I just didn't want to go to Protestant services or the Catholic services. I was just waiting for the war to kick off. That's what I was focusing on. I was a sergeant, so I was always planning, always trying to check things over. So I just felt like, nah, I'm good. Me and God, we're good, because we actually were good. I was ready to say it when I ended up going over there. So I was confident, even when they told us, hey, we're going there for war, because they didn't tell us anything. What happened was, they had formation one day and there's these trucks that show up, filled with boxes. At this point, we didn't know what was going on in the world we were just training, they told us, hey, we may just train and go home. Trucks rolled up one day, boxes come out, and at the time, we all had green uniforms. That's what the standard issue was, because in case we went to fight in Vietnam or who knows what, but the green were for jungle terrain. But when these vehicles came up, boxes came out, opened the boxes, sure enough, they have khaki boots and khaki uniforms, and then at that point, we knew we were going somewhere. The war wasn't confirmed yet until we got on the plane. When we got on the plane, at that point, it was like, hey, this is your captain speaking, and it wasn't even the captain of the plane, it was the captain of our company. He said, hey, Marines, just to put you in the right mindset, hey, we're flying to Kuwait and we're going to war, bottom line. Everyone's like, what, oh man, I can't believe it. I was cool with it, because I'm like, hey, I don't care if I die, I'm ready. Before I wasn't, but now I am. But what happened is, during the time we were waiting, I saw kind of the surfaces, and most people were just dunking themselves. They were digging holes in the ground, baptizing. They were using stuff to just get people in and baptize. I'm like, what is that, what are they doing? Because I was really that clueless when it came to baptism, I knew nothing about it. I didn't realize that it was a commandment, so I didn't do anything, I just kind of thought, well, that's what they do, I guess. I didn't know anything about it. I wish the pastor that got me saved would at least mentioned it, it might have helped my spiritual growth, I don't know, but I just kind of left it what it was. Then eight months later, I got out, then I started going to church, I sought the church where I got saved, and I was lucky enough to find it. The pastor was still there after two years, and he remembered me, and sure enough, he started talking about soul winning, he taught the Bible, and then down the road, he talked about baptism, and he explained ages with God wants, but even though I heard it, I still didn't do it, because I'm just kind of like, okay, well, whatever, wasn't even worried about it at all. But it wasn't until somebody explained it to me more clearly, and they even brought out a verse like James 4.17, and then that's where I looked at that, and I'm like, okay, now I wanna get baptized, I don't wanna have sin in my life, and you can probably tell where I'm going now with this. So the whole purpose of this sermon is to help you to just bring it up every single time you get somebody saved. It's not hard, I'm just gonna show you a system that I learned, and I didn't learn it from somebody who doesn't go soul winning. There was this pastor named, he went by R.B. Olette, he's the pastor of the biggest, I think it's Independent Fundamental Church in Michigan, so he came by our church, and he preached on something totally different, but he has some CDs, you know, he has some CDs, and he was trying to help our church members grow. Same thing that I'm doing today, he's like, you know what, I'm here to just talk about like soul winning, you know, et cetera, et cetera, and he said, I got some CDs in the back, you know, that kind of shows you how I give the gospel, and also how I end up teaching people, and I end up, you know, convincing them to get baptized. You know, back there's a CD with those scriptures, I'm like, whoa, where, and I went and I got it, so I must have paid like five bucks for it or something, because you know, the old IAB, they sell everything. They sell everything. So I saw the CD and I grabbed it and listened to the sermon, I'm like, wow, this is actually some good stuff, you know, I liked it, and then I started to use it, and it was a good way to just convince people. You know, so I kind of want to show you what was on that CD, how Dr. R.B. Olette does it, I don't know what he's up to these days, this is like almost 10 plus years ago, when I came across that CD and I bought it, and like the Bible says, by the truth and son are not, so I'm just going to spread it to you guys, and I think it'll be a blessing, because I just came back from South Africa, and I went down to kind of help a pastor to learn how to soul win a little bit better, and also how to like, once he's done soul winning, how to just show people, hey, you know what, this is what God wants you to do now, you know, here's some verses, here's a way to explain it so that people can get convinced that hey, you know what, I need to get baptized, and they're more likely to do it if you explain it the right way. You know, because faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God, just like we give people safe, hey, just like anything else, if you show up on the scriptures and you do a good job, you can convince them and help them to be obedient to the word, because we're not just here to get people saved, let's face it, we're here to get them saved and get them what? Baptized, and then sometimes Pastor Shelley can preach about it from the pulpit, but you know what, people will start showing up, and you know what, it's a waste of time, but a lot of them, I think, they're probably not getting baptized, not because they don't want to, it's because it hasn't been explained to them clearly that hey, this is what the scripture teaches, and pretty much warning them at least, hey, here's the danger of not getting baptized, because like I said, there is a danger of not getting baptized. So what was the title of the sermon again? It's called Baptism, I'll explain that in a few minutes, but the sermon is about convincing people to get baptized. So the first thing that I do, if you have your Bibles, go ahead and go to Matthew 28, go to Matthew chapter number 28, go ahead and meet me right there in verse number 18. So this is after you get somebody saved, you just pray with them, and what I'm getting into having more and more of doing is as soon as you get them saved, ask them, oh, so if you die right now, where would you go? Oh, I'm going to heaven, 100% sure, and then you ask them, well, why? And if they say, yeah, because I believe, then that's great, then you know you did a good job, there's no reason to doubt them, then I say, well, look, now that you're saved, you know what God wants you to do? He wants you to get baptized. Well, if you're a Roman Catholic like myself, guess what's gonna come out of their mouth right away? I'm already baptized, that's what they're gonna say, because guess what I say when somebody told me, look, now that you're saved, brother, that's a girl, you've been coming to church, I've been seeing you around, you know what, God wants you to get baptized. Guess what I said, I'm already baptized. And guess what I was thinking about? My baby's sprinkling. That's what I was thinking about. You know, but I'm glad they showed me scriptures, and they didn't show me these exact scriptures, these I learned from Dr. R.B. Olette, this is what he shows people, to get them to understand what baptism is, and encouraging them to get baptized, and warn them, at least if they don't get baptized, you at least warn them, look, if you don't get baptized, this is gonna happen. You know, so if you're right there, Matthew 28, what I like to show people who say, hey, well, I'm already baptized, I tell them that's great, but you know what, here's the thing, when you were baptized, you weren't 100% sure you were going to heaven. You know, the reason I even spoke to you is because you're like, hey, I'm not 100% sure, I like to know, and I gave you the gospel, now that you're 100% sure, hey, now that you believe with all your heart, that's now the time you need to get baptized. You know, at first you believe, then you get baptized. It's like, you're a Roman Catholic, hey, when you got baptized, you know, did you know what was happening? No, you're a baby, right? You didn't believe, you didn't know what to believe. You know, so guess what, your baptism wasn't even one that's biblical, and I'm about to show it to you. So what I like to tell people is like, look, let me show you something about baptism really quick, so I'll go to Acts chapter 836, I know you're in Matthew, just stay there, and I'll just quickly show them this. I say, look, look what the Bible says right here. It says in the eunuch says, see, here is water, what does hinder me to be baptized? So I tell them, look, here's a guy asking one of Jesus Christ's apostles, you know, asking Philip, hey, here's water, hey, why can't I get baptized? What will stop me from getting baptized now? But look what Philip says, and Philip said, verse 37, if thou believeth with all thy heart thou mayest, and that's the only requirement, if you believe with all your heart. And what do you have to believe? And he said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. When you got baptized, Mr. Catholic, you didn't even know he existed. You got baptized as a baby, or as a little child, you had no idea who Jesus was, you just did it because that's what they did to you. They just forced it on you. Or if maybe there were a Baptist who thought you had to turn from sin or thought you could lose it, but you're able to convince him and get him saved, then of course it's gonna be a harder battle for them, who say, I'm already baptized. Yeah, but you know what, you didn't believe right. Now that you believe right, now it's time to get baptized. See, before you probably had doubts, but now that you believe with all your heart, now you're amazed to be baptized. Now it's time to get baptized. And I tell them, well, let me show you something about baptism really quick. For a Catholic, this is gonna be new. For somebody who was like a false convert in a Baptist church or any other church, but now they understand, oh, well, now I get it. Yeah, you know what, now I understand salvation. Oh yeah, you know what, you're right. I need to call upon the Lord and the end of getting saved. I still take him to these verses. So the first thing I do is show him Acts. Then after that, I go to Matthew 28. Matthew 28, 18, that's where I start out. And I just say, look, let me show you what the Bible teaches really quickly. It says, and Jesus came and spake, and I stop right there. And so what I tell people is this, who's talking? Jesus is talking. He says, Jesus came and spake, and look what he's talking. Look what he's saying. And I quickly explain, this is after he died on the cross, resurrected, he's getting ready to go back to heaven, he's talking to his apostles. These are the last thing that Jesus tells them before he takes off to heaven. And it says in Matthew 28, 18, and Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given up to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them. And I stop right there. And I tell them, so who's speaking here? Guess what they're going to say, Jesus is speaking. And look what he's saying, he's telling them, go, go and teach all nations. And I tell them, look, in another chapter it says, go and preach the gospel, so we know what Christ wants them to teach, the gospel. What I just showed you, the good news, how to get saved, how to have eternal life, which is what you did today. And I show up, but look what he says next, baptizing them. So what I show them is this, like look, when you get baptized, when a person gets baptized, they're not obeying their church. They're not obeying their family, or their mom, or their dad, or even their pastor. When a person gets baptized, they're obeying God. And the reason I say that is because it's going to impact them even more. When they see that this is coming from God, then it becomes more real. Because I thought that baptism was just something that people did. I thought it was just some tradition. I thought if you were a Christian, you baptize in the water, out of the water. I didn't even know that it was required. I didn't even know it came from God. I didn't even know where it came from. So as a Catholic, when I saw that, I'm like, wow, OK. Glad to know where it's coming from. He's like, I see what you're doing now. But then after I show him that, because I like going to Matthew 28, 18, it makes it easy for me to show him something else. And all I do is go to the next chapter. I go to Mark, which is the next chapter after Matthew 28. So if you have your Bible, go to Mark 1, 9. So then after I show them this, I'll show them, look, when somebody gets baptized, they're obeying God. The next thing I show them is Mark 1, Mark 1, 9. And then I'll show them a few things here. And I just start reading verse number 9. I tell them, hey, let me show you something else. I just show you that Jesus Christ is the one that started. He commands baptism. Then I go to Mark 1 and it says this. And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized of John and Jordan. So I tell them, this is talking about Jesus Christ's own baptism. Jesus Christ got baptized. He was our example. So I'm showing this to this person that I just converted, that I just got saved, whether he's a former Roman Catholic or whatever. I just show them, look, Jesus Christ himself got baptized. Because guess what? As a Catholic, I don't even know that. For some reason, I just never knew that. But what I do next is I show them verse 10. And it says, look what it says about Jesus' baptism. It's straightaway coming out of the water. And I stop right there. And I say, look, he came out of the water. So you cannot come out of the water unless you're underwater. So that's what I show this individual. It's like, look, you were Catholic, they sprinkled you. That's not a Bible baptism. That baptism doesn't exist in the Bible. If you read the Bible from beginning to end, you're not going to find that. But you will find baptisms. You're going to find out who's commanding it. And you just saw that it's God that's commanding it. It's Jesus Christ, the son of God. And they already agree with all that. And look what he did. He got baptized. But he came out of the water because he went underwater. So if you've never been dunked, you have not been baptized, Mr. Ex-Catholic. And even if you did get dunked, Mr. quote, unquote, Baptist saved individual Christian, now realize, oh, you know what? I wasn't saved. I was believing X, Y, and Z. It's like, now, you already know this. But let me show you what's going to happen if you get baptized, whether you're a former Catholic or you were like this Christian that thought he was saved but realized he wasn't, ended up getting saved. You ended up leading him to the Lord. I show him verse 11. It says this. And there came a voice from heaven. And I quickly show him who's talking here. It said there came a voice from heaven saved from thou or my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Notice what it says, well pleased. So I show him all these verses. And I kind of review really quickly. I tell him, look, when it comes to baptism, number one thing I want you to remember is that it's coming from God. When somebody gets baptized, it's coming from God. The second thing I want you to see, Mr. Ex-Catholic, is that a baptism is being done. There's no way you can come out of water unless you're underwater. And the last thing is, Mr. Ex-Catholic, if you get baptized, God's not just going to be happy with you. He's going to be well pleased with you. Because that's what it was when it came to Jesus Christ. It says thou and my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. So that'll motivate him to do it. That'll motivate him to get it done because, hey, everybody wants God to be pleased with them. But here's a way to have God to be well pleased with you. So I just kind of explain, look, if you get baptized, God's in heaven saying, that's my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. I'm happy with him. Don't you want to make God happy? Absolutely I do. And then I paint him into a corner, and this is what I do. So I say, hey, so baptism, is it a good thing or a bad thing? Guess what? 99% rounded off to 100 people say. It's a good thing. So now you see where I'm going with James 4.17? I'm going to wake them up a little bit. Because at this point, they say, oh, I see what you're talking about. But it doesn't mean they're going to do it just yet. And I'm going to tell you what got me to get baptized was fear, fear. It wasn't love. Sometimes I do things out of love, but this time it was a fear when I realized if I don't, I'm going to be in sin. And nobody wants to be in sin. And how can you prove that if you don't get baptized, you're in sin? Well, we just read it. To him that knoweth you do good, and doeth not, to him it is sin. So I told the individual, look, if you refuse to be baptized, you're committing sin, whether it's because you're embarrassed, you're too ashamed, or because you're too lazy. My problem wasn't that I was lazy. My problem was that I was too prideful, and I was too embarrassed to get baptized in front of people. That was my problem when I first got saved. It wasn't that I was lazy, because I was going to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday. It's that I didn't want to go up there in front of everybody right behind a pulpit. I didn't want to get dunked and brought right back out. I didn't want to do that. But this plus another verse that I'm going to show you, it's going to help them to do the right thing. So if you have your Bibles, and you can get there very quickly, go to Psalm 66, 18. Go to Psalm 66, 18. Why are you going to Psalms 66, 18? Let's just review really quickly. You've got the individual saved. You know, they confirm what you're already thinking, that they understand it's by faith alone. You know, you ask them, so if you're down right now, where are you going to go? Heaven, 100% sure about that, 100% sure about that. You know, why? Because I believe in Jesus. And can you ever do anything to send you to hell? No. Can you ever lose your salvation? Absolutely not. You know, you already covered all that. Then you just simply ask them, well, look, now that you're saved, you know what God wants you to do? They're probably thinking, go to church, read my Bible. God wants you to be baptized, already been baptized. Well, since you're a former Catholic, that didn't count. And then I show them those verses. I show them that, hey, it's of God. It's coming from Jesus Christ. I show them, look, baptism is in the water, getting dunked. And look, if you get baptized, God's going to be very happy with you. And then I ask them really quickly, so baptism, is it a good thing or a bad thing? And they always say it's a good thing. And I tell them, but let me warn you. Look, the Bible says to him to know to do good and to do not, to him it is sin. So once I show them that, I just explain to them really quickly, if you refuse to get baptized, if you don't get baptized, you have sin in your life. And here's the big danger about having sin in your life. If you're right there in Psalm 66, 17 or 66, 18, this is what I showed them. And this is something that's going to help you to just get them to get dunked. So Psalm 66, 18 says this, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. I point that out to them. It's like, look, if you refuse to be baptized, you say to yourself it's a good thing. You refuse to do it, hey, that's sin. Here's the danger of having sin in your life. And you know you have sin. This isn't stuff that you don't know. This is known sin. Iniquity is sin. If I have iniquity in my heart, it says the Lord will not hear you. So here's what I tell them. Look, life is hard, but it's harder without God. This is what I tell them. Look, I don't want to be the individual that's in trouble financially, physically, and I'm calling upon God, and he's not hearing me. I want God to hear me, especially if I'm in trouble. Especially if I'm in need. Especially if I'm sick. I want God to hear me. I want God's protection. I want God to take care of me. But you know what? If you refuse to be baptized, you're not getting baptized for whatever reason, embarrassed or lazy. He's not going to hear your prayers. You might as well not even pray. And that scares people. So you're trying to scare people into getting baptism? Yes, I am. This scared me because I want God to help me. You know, I want God to protect me from my bad bosses or whatever or wicked people or whatever. So I'll show them, look, if you refuse to be baptized, hey, don't even bother praying. Now, this isn't that, hey, you know what? This individual just got saved. He wants to get baptized, but he can't because obviously you got them saved at their house. It's not like you can dunk them in their back pool. You don't have the authority to do that. But somebody who can and refuses to do it, it applies to them. God's going to be in heaven like, hey, why should I listen to you if you're not listening to me? Get it done. Get it over with. This is what I show people because this is the truth. But then I try to convince them, look, this is the right thing to do. Being baptized is the right thing to do. Let me show you some baptisms in the Bible. So if you have your Bible, just go to Acts 2.41 really quickly. Acts 2.41. So this is how I was pretty much taught, you can say indirectly, just from listening to a CD. But I like the verses. I thought they were great. I'm like, you know what? I wish somebody showed this to me when I first started going to church. And it must have took me about three or four months after I first started going to church before I got baptized. And like I said, I saw people getting baptized over and over again. I heard the pastor say, hey, it's God's commandment. This is the great commission. I still didn't understand that. I was brand new. This is the Christian mission. We're supposed to win them and with them and whatever, et cetera, et cetera. But they never really taught us, hey, this is how you can do it. Here's a good method to show your friends, to show your converts, to show your co-workers, whatever the case. They never had something specific that I can show someone to convince them this is the right thing to do. So I listen to that CD. And I'm like, man, I'm going to write these down. These are great. I'm going to show everybody I can. And the Bible says in Acts 2 41, the day they gladly received this word were baptized. And I show the individual the same day, the same day. And I say, look, people received the word just like you did. And then they got baptized. That's the order, my friend. That's the order, Mr. Ex-Catholic. That's the order, Mr. False Convert. Now that you're saved, hey, it's time to get baptized. And look, in the Bible, people got baptized the same day. And they were added on to them about 3,000 souls. 3,000 people in the book of Acts got baptized the same day. I'm like, can you imagine 3,000 people? They all knew it was the right thing to do. They didn't hesitate. And they did it. Why? Because they wanted God to bless them. They want to be right with God. And that's what I show them, all these verses. And it doesn't take that long to show them all these verses. It takes about five minutes or a little less than five minutes. If you get somebody saved in 15 minutes, spend five minutes warning them at least. Like I said, what's the purpose of this sermon? Help you to warn your converts. Help you to warn those that you get saved. So at least they know about it. If they don't want to obey, that's not on you. At least you warned them. Because I want everybody who I get saved to get blessed by God. But I warned them. And a lot of them do end up getting saved. But why did I call it ice cold baptism? Why is the sermon starting out with that? Because there's this one guy who I always think of when it comes down to showing people how to get people saved, I always bring them up. And every time we baptize in the cold, I always think of him. Because this is what happened. About six and a half years ago, I was working at Fry's Electronics in Tempe. You know, I was a supervisor. And I'm just waiting to get off with my coworkers. And the manager's doing the final rounds, final walk throughs, counting their money, whatever the case. And we got off around 11 PM. So sure enough, the manager shows up, opens his door, we walk out, and we're getting ready to leave. My wife was waiting for me in the parking lot. And my friend, Jose, my coworker, he had his bike. So as we were exiting out, he's getting his bike. He's like, hey, boss, you know, do anything cool tomorrow? And I'm like, yeah, I'm going to church. So he's like, huh? He's like, you go to church anywhere? He's like, nah, boss, I don't go to church nowhere. He's like, well, it's more important than going to church. If you die right now, you're 100% sure you're going to heaven, Jose? He's like, nah, boss, I don't. He said, you know what? If you've got about 15 minutes, can I show you what the Bible says? And he's like, sure. So of course, my wife knew what I was doing. And I didn't have my Bible with me, but I had screenshots of the Bible. So I just took out my phone. He's like, well, let me show you. You know, so he gets off his bike, puts it to the side. And 35 minutes later, he gets saved. Well, it only took him about 15 minutes because he was very receptive, former ex-Catholic as well. And so right afterwards, I'm like, well, you know what? I barely talked to this guy. Let me just talk to him right now about baptism. Why not? So I already had these verses as well on my phone. So boom, I gave him the verses. And afterwards, I explained to him, you know, hey, this is the thing. If you don't want to get baptized, here's the danger. You know, don't pray to God. Don't waste your time, et cetera, et cetera. He's merciful, but when he sees that you're flat out being disobedient, he's going to chastise you. So I hit him hard, you could say. And this was around December time frame, back six and a half years ago. So then what happened is I invited him to church. He says, I'll come. So he showed up to church. And yeah, he stayed for the whole thing. He says he liked it. I'm like, hey, you know what? Baptism, you thought about it? He's like, I want to get baptized, but I can't do it right now. I got to meet my dad. So I had to go. He said, but I'll be back tonight. I'm like, you'll be back tonight? Play perfect. You got baptized at night? Of course you baptized at night, because we do. We have a heater. We got a big tub and we got a heater with propane and we heat it up. Sometimes we heat up that water a little too hot. Even in the wintertime, it's like, whoa, this is too hot. Put cold water in it. So now I have to spend five minutes cooling it down. Because sometimes we don't realize that we have it at 150 and it shoots out 150 degree water. So literally, even the lowest setting is at 110, 110. So that day, that's what it was. He shows up. He's like, man, he's got his little bag with towels. He's ready to get baptized. I guess it convinced him pretty well. And so I told him, you ready? He's like, yeah, man, I want to obey God. I'm ready to get baptized. It's kind of cold outside, but we got a heater. Oh man, that's great, you know, because it's cold. And then sure enough, you know, I told the guy that was in charge at the time, hey, my buddy wants to get baptized, no problem. Takes out the pool, grabs the heater. About 10 minutes later, comes back and says, hey, there's no propane. I was like, there's no propane? He's like, no, but we can baptize him next Sunday morning. I'm like, oh, okay, yeah, that makes sense. I don't want to kill him, you know, because it's cold outside. So I went up to him, I was like, hey man, bad news. You know, the propane is gone. He's like, sorry, buddy, you're gonna have to wait. He's like, no, man, I don't want to wait. He's like, I want to get baptized. He's like, well, I don't mind baptizing you, but it's really cold, and it was really, really cold. Like, I'm not joking around. I'm not just saying this just to say it, but I felt like, hey, this is like the coldest night. Like, I think I can remember. It's like, you sure you want to do this? I'm ready, boss, I'm ready to do this. And I'm like, man, and the thing is this. When people think about Tempe, they think about the heat. People are like, Tempe, man, you know, that must be nice not to have to deal with a cold winter and everything else. Look, it gets cold, it gets cold. Let me explain to you this. I Googled, what temperature does water freeze? And so I got this answer from the internet, and this is what it says. Well, the answer's far more complicated than it first appears, but water doesn't always turn to ice at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Translation, 32 degrees is gonna freeze water. It's gonna freeze water, you know? And I remember, too, in the wintertime since I've been here, you know, you always have those two weeks, yeah, it's only two weeks, but it is what it is, it does get cold. And I walk out, and my windshield's frozen, and I have to get cold water to get it out there. I gotta chisel the ice, and sure enough, you know, when there was like a mud puddle, now it's just hard ice, so it does freeze, you know? It does get cold. And I don't know how cold it was, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the 30s and the 40s. I would not be surprised at all. But he wanted to get baptized, I'm like, hey, let's do it, you know? So we filled up the tub, it was what it was, no heater whatsoever, and I even double-choked into my chair, he wanted to do this, man, because it was really cold outside. He's like, no, I want to obey God, you know, I want to get baptized, you know, so I'm like, okay. And then I figured, well, how cold could it have possibly been? Like, what's the record? So I Googled, what's the record in Phoenix for like the coldest night? And so it says that, you know, these temperatures of extreme coldness, it was recorded in our airport, Sky Harbor International Airport near downtown Phoenix, that's the airport that took the flight down here. It says back in 1948, the lowest temperature recorded during that period was 17 degrees Fahrenheit, 17. But think about it, 32 degrees will freeze water. It can get as cold as 17 degrees in Phoenix, so it can get pretty cold. So I was like, all right, no problem, pastor comes out and he's like, man, it's cold, you sure he wants to do it? I'm like, he wants to do it, I'm like, all right. So, and he did it with shorts, a t-shirt, and a artisanal gown. So sure enough, he comes out, he has no shoes, he has no pants, nothing, you know, we just had a guy recently on this past Wednesday, yesterday actually, got baptized, but it was cold. So the stuff that he came to church with, that's what he got baptized with. His t-shirt, everything, he just took his tie off, took his shoes, his socks, and he had his dress pants, because it was cold, we put a baptismal gown because it was cold, and we still heated it, he just wanted it all on, you know? So this guy wasn't like that. My little buddy was like, no, I want to get baptized, you know, I want to obey God, et cetera, I'm okay. So he gets in the water and right away, he's like, oh, like it took his breath away. He's like, oh, man, this is a bad idea. He's already in the water. So the pastor's like, okay, I need you to sit down. No problem, pastor. So he's literally like sitting down. Oh, man, this is a bad idea, but I'm already in, let's do it. So the pastor's like, okay, okay, I'll get you baptized, what's the possible? Okay, my brother Jose, I'm baptized, and then all of a sudden the Holy Ghost, you know, comes out, he's like, oh, give him some tiles, and he's grabbing, and he's like, oh, man, ah, this is a bad idea, you know, so he gets out. So I'll give it at least 40 degrees. If it wasn't 17 or 30 something, it was at least 40 degrees, and we put water in that thing, and at least for the next hour and a half, it's just getting colder. So that water's just getting colder. So that's why I named the sermon Ice Cold Baptism, because this stuff will help you to get people baptized, even in ice cold water, you know, but this isn't, he's not the only person that I've used this on. You know, I had this one guy who showed up, he's a good member of our church, you know, very faithful guy. You know, he shows up, and it was just a guy that I saw, and I went up to him, hey, how you doing? You know, great, my name is Jose, you know, or Juan. He's like, first time here? He's like, yeah, first time here. Oh, cool, man. He's just after the service, and we got a question down right now, and I'm sure he'll go in heaven? Ah, I'm not sure. He's thinking about 15 minutes, gonna show you what the Bible says? Sure, he ended up getting saved, and then I used his exact method on him. He got saved that same day. That same day he got saved. And there was this other guy, I don't know if you know this guy named Gnar, he goes to a lot of the soul-winning events. You know, Canadian guy, you met him yet? He's been here? I figured he's been here. So Gnar one day, when I first met Gnar, you know, he comes up to me, he's like, Professor Gura, how you doing? My name is Gnar from Canada. I'm like, sweet, man, good to meet you. He's like, yeah, I see you on YouTube. I'm like, oh, man, hopefully it's not bad. No, no, no, it's just you preaching, et cetera, et cetera. He's like, hey, man, I got a question. Can I go soul-winning with you? I'm like, sure. You know, it was only starting to get into the soul-winning, so this must have been about two years ago, maybe three years ago. So like, absolutely, you can go soul-winning with me. I have no problem. You know, soul-winning is at 130. He said, that's good, because I want to see how people go soul-winning around here, you know, because I don't really do it. I've never done it. I'm like, oh, I'll be happy to be the first guy to show you how to do it. And he's like, yeah, you know, it's like, can I get my Bible ready? Should I get my stuff ready or whatever? He's like, how do you get people saved? I'm like, what do you tell them? So I'm like, OK, I'll show you the verses. You know, we got time? Yeah. So I just went over the verses. You know, this is what I show people. And I told him, after I get him saved, you know what? I really, really try to talk about baptism. And he's like, well, this is what I do when I talk about baptism. So I went over the verses. And when I was done with him, he's like, that's how I do it. And I try to get him baptized. And some people, I got him baptized when I showed him those things. Got baptized the same day. And this is what he says, man, you just convinced me. I need to get baptized. That's what Nar says. It's all like, Pastor, Nar wants to get baptized. He's like, oh, I got to take off. Can we do it tonight, Nar? We can do it tonight, but I need to get baptized. Thanks for showing me that. That's what he says, thanks for showing me that. And I also had another coworker, her name was Ashley. Same thing happened to her that happened to Jose. We were just hanging around, whatever, and then showing up. I'm like, hey, you doing anything tomorrow? No, I'm going to church. Oh, you go to church? Yeah, I ended up getting her the gospel. And same thing, you know, we're in a parking lot. My wife is waiting on us, get her saved. And I explain to her, show her baptism. It's like, you should come. The church only like two minutes, two or three minutes from our work. He's like, really? He's like, yeah, I really want to come. You know, it's like, I just go to Catholic churches, never try the Christian one. So it will come tomorrow, you know? Just think about baptism, think about it all. So then she showed up the next day, and then I didn't think anything of it. I just said, hey, you know what? Yeah, you made it, yeah. So she sat down with my family, and afterwards, I was like, yeah, I got to go say whatever, baptism. He's like, yeah, you know what, I want to get baptized too. He's like, oh, sweet, you know, you want to get baptized? Sure, no problem. So she got baptized the next day. You know, but then I figured, might as well push it. So then I talked about soul winning. You know, so I figured, let me push it a little bit. Talked about soul winning. Look, hey, here's what he said, Matthew 28. And all of a sudden, he's going to teach the Bible. He said, what do you think about going soul winning? You know, he's like, well, when do you guys do soul winning? He said, well, they do it around 1.30, et cetera, et cetera. And she's like, yeah, I like to go soul winning. So she ended up going soul winning as well, just from showing a few verses, dealing with temple house to house, and she went with Pastor Anderson's wife, she went with Mrs. Anderson. You know, so I guess she got the best of all worlds, because then Mrs. Anderson texted me, saying, yeah, you know what, she's a really nice girl. She's not at all, she's not somebody to get saved, somebody screaming at us, cussing at us, telling me to get off my property, and she saw a lot of doors that nobody came to, you know? So that was pretty cool. But we also had this one, this one story, that I was with another guy, and we ended up running into these three teenagers. So we ran into these three teenagers, went into their house, got them saved, and this is on a Wednesday night, so it's already dark outside. And you know, this is during Wednesday night, so we only got about an hour to get people saved. So it was like on a Wednesday night, we give them the gospel, after that, we invite them to church, and we say, look, now that you're saved, guess what God wants you to do? Go to church? You guys are gonna be baptized. We're already baptized, because they're Catholic kids. So I went over the whole thing, and at that point, it's like, look, that's the danger of not getting baptized. He's like, so baptism's a good thing, bad thing, explain everything the same way I just showed you, and then straightened out what happens. We need to go get baptized. Let's go get baptized. Yeah, let's get baptized. It's like, we need a ride. He's like, we'll give you a ride. And sure enough, we give him a ride. And it was so funny, because before we even left the house, you know, one of the kids was like, I got a question for you. I'm like, sure, what's up? He's like, can you still get baptized if you're saved? I'm like, of course, you know, because I'm a little sick, and I want to get baptized, you know, and I was like, sure, yeah, because I want to obey God. I'm like, no problem, but make sure you go last, okay? So they ended up taking care of that. So they came to church, and they ended up getting baptized, you know? So I had the guy, Juan, he got baptized the same day. Nah, just from hearing this, he ended up getting baptized. And even in my old church, with my other coworkers, I would show them this stuff. They would come to church, and they'd come to churches and get baptized. And I remember one time, we had a guest preacher, and all these guys, it was just like maybe two or three of them that was up there, and they're like, yeah, where you from? Yeah, I'm Chris's coworker. I'm Chris's coworker with two individuals. And this guy's like, why are you telling people, you know, that they're just getting baptized like that? I was like, I'll just show them this, you know? So this is just something that I try to focus on, because I do fail at it more than I succeed, just because it's not in my head to do it, you know? But, you know, what I showed you may make you think that, hey, you know what, I don't know if I got time, I'll do it, but I think you have time to do it all, you know, because bottom line, if you do a good job, I'll show one in, and a person that's very receptive, you're gonna get him saved in about 10 minutes. That's just a fact. It's not gonna take that long. You know, in fact, the average conversation goes something like this, knock, knock, who's there? Hey, my name is Chris, I'm with Pure Words Baptist Church, just wanna invite you to church. Do you go to church anywhere? They're gonna say yes or no, you know? Well, you know what, more important than church, if you die right now, you're 100% sure you're going to heaven? You know what, I'm not. Well, you know what, if you got about five minutes, I'd like to show you what the Bible says. You got about five minutes, I can show you what the Bible says. Sure, no problem, okay, well, let me show you what the Bible says. Well, the Bible says right here in Romans 3.23, you know, that all have sinned. You know, none of us are perfect. I'm not perfect. Are you perfect? No, I'm not perfect. The reason I know none of us are perfect, it says all have sinned. Well, let me show you something. The Bible makes it very clear we're all sinners. Do you believe that? Yeah, I've broken God's law, you've broken God's laws. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, because that's what sin is, breaking God's commandments. Well, the Bible says here that the wage of the sin is that. You know, because of our sins, what we earn is death. That's what a wage is. So, of course, when you show them that, just go right into Revelation 21.8. It's like, hey, look, this is talking about hell. Look, Revelation 21.8, by the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and whoremongers and saucers and idolaters and all liars. You know, I've lied. Have you lied? I've lied. It says right here that all liars have their part in the lake that burned the fire and brimstone, which is the second death. You know, it's like, do you believe in hell? Do you believe hell is real? I do. You know, do you believe it's fire? Absolutely. Somebody goes to hell, can they ever get out? No, no, then you're done with that individual. You know, if you want to show them another verse on hell, you can, but I think they're good on that. If they're like, yeah, I believe it, and give you the right answer, just say, hey, look, but if God loves you, then he wants you to go to hell? No. You know what Jesus did so you don't have to go to hell? He crucified, he crucified. Yeah, he died on the cross, absolutely. Let me show you. It says right here in Romans 5.8, but God commanded his love towards us, and that while we were the sinners, Christ died for who? For us. Yeah, see, you know the story. Jesus, born through a virgin and married as a baby boy, aged 30, that's when he was baptized. And three years later, that's when they arrested him, spit in his face, that's when they scorched him, that's when they whipped him, then they nailed him on the cross, and they lifted him up on the cross, and he died on the cross. Took him hours to die, but he died, and they took his body off the cross, put it in the tomb, but three days later, what happened? He came back. Exactly, he resurrected, you know, and he showed his hands, and people knew it was him. Hundreds of people saw him, and then he went back to heaven, but before he went back into heaven, he wanted people to go tell others what you had to do to be safe from hell, what you had to do to go to heaven, and let me show you what you have to do in order to be safe. It says right here in Acts 16.31, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. So what does it say we have to do in order to be safe? Believe. Does it say you need to be baptized? No. Does it say you need to bring money? No. Does it say you need to be perfect? No, it doesn't say that. What does it say you have to do? Just believe, exactly right. Let me show you the most famous verse in the entire Bible, John 3.16. Flip the page. You know, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son to whosoever what? Believe it. Look what it says. Believeth in him shall not what? Perish. Perish means to die. But it's talking about dying in the lake of fire, having that second death. So what is it saying is that God sent Jesus, that anybody that believes in him will not die spiritually in hell, but have everlasting life. So what do you have to do in order to have everlasting life? What do you have to do right here according to this verse? Just believe, exactly right. Let me show you one more verse. Look what it says right here in John 3.36. He that believeth on the son has what? Everlasting life. But he that believeth not shall not see life, but what? The wrath of God. So you see the everlasting life or God's wrath. Look, if you believe on the son, he gives you everlasting life. But if you don't, you're gonna suffer God's wrath and that's hell and that's not God's fault because you have that choice to believe in him or not. So if God were to give you everlasting life, could he ever take it away? No way. Exactly, because it's everlasting life. And not just because everlasting life. Let me show you what the Bible says in Romans 6.23. It says for the wages of sin is death, but look at this, but the gift. Do you like gifts, Mr. Catholic? Oh, I love gifts. Yeah, I love them too because they're free. But look what it says. The gift of God is what? Eternal life. But who's the only person that can give it to you? It's through who? Jesus Christ. Exactly right. And that's what we believe. Do you believe the same thing or do you believe something different? I believe the same thing so I understand none of us are perfect, right? Absolutely. We're all sinners, every single one of us. You believe Jesus died for everyone or just certain people? Oh, he died for everyone. But is everyone going to heaven? Uh-uh, why? Because some don't believe. Exactly right. You know, but you believe? Absolutely. You believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for six, three days later he resurrected? Yeah. Eternal life. Is it a gift or a reward? It's a gift. Do you want that gift? I do. Let me show you this. Do you believe if you were to ask God right now for that gift, that he will give it to you? Yes, I would. Yeah, of course he will. Let me show you John 14, 14. Whatever you ask in my name, Jesus says, I will do it. He will for sure give it to you. And if he gives it to you, can you ever take it away? Uh, no. Exactly right. Well, what if you steal? No. Well, what if you kill somebody? What if God gives you eternal life and then you kill somebody and then you die? Well, if you repent, no. What if you don't? Uh, I don't know. No, you still go to heaven. Let me show you. It says right here, you know, in John 10, 27, my sheep are in my voice and I know them and I give unto them eternal life. And look, if God gives you eternal life, he says you'll never perish. Remember what perish means? What does it mean? Uh, it means that you're gonna go to hell. Exactly. So what this is saying is that God gives you eternal life, he'll never take it away. Because remember, it's a gift. You know, but don't go steal and don't go kill anyone because God can still punish you for that. You know, but even if you took your own life, God couldn't send you to hell if he gives you everlasting life because it's everlasting life. He has promised to give you everlasting life and he cannot break his promise. So even if you do something foolish, like take your own life, you will still go to heaven because eternal life is a gift and it's eternal. Do you believe that? I do. So is there anything you can do that God can take away your salvation? No. Well look, if that's what you believe, then before I go, I just wanna help you to pray and tell God this is what you believe. I wanna help you to tell him that this is what you believe and that you want eternal life. I'm just gonna help you pray right now so that way you can have salvation, that way you can be 100% sure that you're going to heaven. Can I help you do that? Sure. Okay, let's pray. Dear Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. Dear Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. I believe I deserve to go to hell. I believe I deserve to go to hell, but I believe you died for me and you rose and I'm asking you right now, I'm asking you right now to give me eternal life, give me eternal life and take me to heaven when I die. Trust in you, Jesus, amen. You meant that? Yep. So if you die right now, where are you going? I'm going to heaven. 100% sure? 100% sure. That's awesome. Why? Because I believe. Well, praise the Lord. But now that you believe, you know what God wants you to do? He wants you to get baptized. What, I'm already baptized. I know, but let me show you some stuff about baptism really quick. You know, it's not gonna take long. I promise you that this is something that you're gonna like. Look, the Bible says really quickly in Acts 836, it says in the eunuch said, see, here is water. What does it mean to be baptized? And look what Philip says. Philip's in one of Jesus' apostles. He said, if thou believeth what all thy heart thou mayest. See, now that you believe, now you can be baptized. See, first you were sprinkled, now it's time to get baptized, Mr. Ex-Catholic. And look, the Bible makes it very clear right here in Matthew 28, 18, it says in Jesus, right? Jesus spake, so who's talking? Jesus. Look what he says. All power is given out to me in heaven and earth. Go ye there, for unto each all nations, baptizing them. So who's asking people to be baptized? Who's commanding baptism? Jesus. So when a person gets baptized, they're not obeying their church, they're not obeying their pastor, they're obeying God. And that's a good thing. But let me show you something about baptism. Look at this first. It says right here in Mark 1, 9, and it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth to Galilee and was baptized. Did you know Jesus was baptized? Yeah. Well, look what it says right here. And straightway coming out of the water. Jesus came out of the water when he got baptized. You know what that's showing us? That he was underwater. So if you haven't been dunked, you haven't been baptized. But let me show you something about baptism. It says right here in verse 11, and there came a voice from heaven saying, thou are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. So what I wanna show you is three things. Number one, when somebody gets baptized, they're obeying God. Number two, if you're gonna get baptized, it has to be dunking, you have to go underwater. And number three, if you were to get baptized right now, God is not just gonna be happy with you, he's gonna be very happy with you. Don't you want God to be happy with you? Absolutely. Well, let me ask you this. Baptism is a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it's a good thing. But let me show you a verse. Here's where I'm going. James 4, 17 says this. Therefore, to him that knoweth to the good, and doeth to not, to him it is sin. You know what this is saying, Mr. Extephile? That if you refuse to be baptized because you're embarrassed or because you're lazy, the Bible says you're committing sin. And here's the danger of not getting baptized. Let me show you a verse. Psalm 66, 18 says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. See, we're all sinners, but you know what? If you're disobeying God and you're doing it on purpose, that's bad. That's where God's gonna say, you know what? Get it right. Or don't bother praying. That's what it says. If you have iniquity, if you have sin in your heart and you know it, i.e. you refuse to be baptized, don't waste your time praying because God's not gonna listen to you. You won't listen to him, he won't listen to you. So what I recommend is getting baptized as soon as possible because God is the one telling you to do it, not me. God is telling you to do it. And if you refuse, guess what? Don't even waste your time praying. He's not gonna help you. So when you need him, whether it's protection, whether it's him to provide, whether you're physically sick, and he's not gonna help you at all if you're in sin and you refuse to be baptized. But hey, come visit our church, we'll baptize you for free. And look, if you're wondering if it's the right thing to do, let me show you people in the Bible. Look what they did. Here in Acts 2, 41, it talks about baptism. It says this, then they that gladly received this word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls. So let me show you something about this verse. They first received God's word, then they got baptized. That's what you did today. You received God's word, now it's time to get baptized. And in the Bible, they got baptized the same day. Now I can't baptize you today, Mr. Ex-Catholic, you know? But if you come to our church, we can baptize you in the morning, in the evening, but you get it done as soon as possible because I want God to bless your life. And in this story, 3,000 people, that's 3,000, got baptized the same day that they received God's word. And we shall all do the same thing. I'm already baptized, recommend you get highly baptized yourself. You know, does this make sense? Absolutely. Well, you know what? You got our adage, you got our invitation. You know what? Let me give you a Bible. You know what? Hey, visit us if you can. You know, you think you'll visit us this Sunday? Ah, I think so. Well, you know what? How about before I go, I'll pray that the devil doesn't mess you up because he doesn't want you to come to church this Sunday. So before I go, let me just pray for us. Okay, no problem. Let's pray. Dear God, this man just got saved. Lord, helping to get baptized. I pray to you for thanks from the devil. The devil doesn't want him to go to church. The devil wants to ruin his life and he doesn't want him to hear your word there, Lord. So please help him to just come to church and tip the devil away and hopefully he can make it this Sunday. I ask you to help him in Jesus' present name. Do you think you'll visit us this Sunday? Yeah, all right. Well, thank you for your time. God bless you. Have a good day. 10 minutes and four seconds. Wow. 10 minutes and four seconds. Yeah. Now, of course, I went a little fast because I don't want to keep you guys here all night running 50 minutes into the sermon. You know, but I'll ask you the question. Taking about five minutes to show somebody the dangers of not getting baptized, is it a good thing or a bad thing? It's a good thing. So to end that note, to get into it, to not, you do whatever you want with that verse. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you for everything that you've done. Lord, I just ask you, Father, just help us to do a better job to fulfill the great commission. Lord, we know that you can do all things. And Father, we ask you to just help us to remember, help us to get something going. It doesn't have to be exactly how I said it, but I think it's good to mention baptism, or at least warn people about the dangers of not being baptized, and leave it in their hands, dear God, because that is what you want people to do, is to be baptized. But Father, we ask you to please just use us.