Your “YES!” & Baptisms
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
So we have, today there's a big piece of Pastor Shane and what's happened this past year, but more so kind of like what God is taking you on this journey this past year and where he's taken you and he's grown you and so many amazing things that God has done and we're gonna get to see some photos and to celebrate with you guys. But tell a little bit for kind of the newer crew here, who you are, where you come from, your life, your situation, and then kind of share a little bit of kind of where we're headed this morning.
Well, now I hail from Florida, so there's that. But I'm originally from here, actually was part of a church plant that came out of here called Hub Church. That is no longer an existing church, but have known a lot of you guys. And if I haven't met you before, it's awesome to be here. This is a phenomenal church. There's so many great God stories that come out of this place, mainly 'cause I get to hear it all from this guy. So a little background for me, I was not raised in the church. Anybody not raised in the church and now in the church? Okay, I like that. So that's kind of my story. My wife was actually raised in the church and so we have a cool mix and background of like church history versus no church history. And for me, a lot of my family's here today because my niece is getting baptized today. Woo, woo, that's awesome. So excited about that. So a little backstory. So I grew up in a non-Christian home, I would say. My mom actually is a cancer survivor. - Let's go. - Come on. My brother also has a heart condition. He wasn't supposed to live past five years old and he's currently old, I'm not gonna tell what he is. But he's got two of his own kids and two step kids, and I love it because his life is pretty awesome right now. And my dad was an alcoholic, he's actually gone home to be with Jesus. But I was this kid growing up that, I didn't have any problems. So I made my own up as I went along. And I did, I made a lot of my own problems up. And I'm gonna say it this way, I didn't know what I was doing, but I wanted attention. So has anybody ever done something for attention just out of curiosity, we should all raise our hands. It's something that we do often. And here's the thing is I kind of caused my own problems. I got into problems because I think I wanted some sort of attention. And I just wanted to be seen, valued, loved, heard. I wanted all these things, and I was seeking all the wrong places. I know I needed God, but I didn't want to admit it. And so through kind of being duped, I finally got invited to go to a church, actually one of our sister churches here. I got duped 'cause I was told that I was going a car show and the car show was happened to be actually at a church and he just kind of suckered me into it. But anyway so I fell in love with the people at the church. I got invited into this men's discipleship group and I was a young business owner and I was kind of an entrepreneur. Any entrepreneurs in the room? Anybody that actually likes to go out and make some money, have a job, you know, buy their own things, have nice things. Yeah, I was doing that at a young age and I was actually at the age of 13 I had my first job. At the age of 16 I I was managing the place and then at the age of 17 had the opportunity to buy it with my family and then went on to start another company and then went into business management. Really enjoyed all those parts of life but I was just kind of entrepreneurial. And have you ever been, and I'm just curious, have you ever been on the right path for the wrong reasons? Like you know that you're on the right path because it definitely fits your bill, it fits definitely who you are as a person but it's for the wrong reasons.
So here's the thing, for me, that's kind of my story. I was on the right path to entrepreneurship. I was on the, I think on the right path to make an impact, to do something, but it was for the wrong reason, it was for me. Like I wanted to go make money, I wanted to go make a name for myself. And when you wanna go make a name for yourself, sometimes God kind of blindsides you, or sometimes just blinds you. Really similar to a story that we see in scripture, actually in Acts, we see this conversion story of Paul. Right road, wrong reason. And that's kind of my story. And so we're gonna, I wanna share a little bit of scripture today, if that's cool. I think, you know, Pastor Chris and I talked about what we wanna talk about today. And today is not actually about shame, which is really good. It's actually about Jesus. And it's really important to hear that. And we're gonna end with baptisms, which is also more about Jesus in people's lives. But the reason I'm sharing the story with you is that there's kind of been a series of saying yes that I didn't realize I was saying yes to until I said yes to Jesus. I didn't know what that looked like. I just had no idea. So.
That's great. No, we're, and I don't want to share that story from Saul into Paul. And we're gonna start in Acts chapter 9 if you're gonna be following along with us today. Acts follows the story of Jesus here on earth and what we call the Gospels, the four books and records of the New Testament. And here we are in Acts and it says, "Meanwhile Paul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. So Paul here or Saul here at this moment is out trying to off Christians. He doesn't like the teaching of Jesus. He doesn't like what they stand for. He doesn't like that they have come following the leading of Jesus to shake up what was then the religion of the day. And they don't like what he is doing. So Paul here or Saul is actually out trying to right their wrongs. He sees them in a way that they're not doing what's right. And so the only way to do that is to kill them, is to get rid of them. And it says, "He went to the high priest," so the top religious dude of the day, "and he asked him for letters to the synagogues," the local church in that moment, "in Damascus. So there, if he found any of those who belong to the way, or Christians or followers of Jesus, disciples of Jesus, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners back to Jerusalem, ultimately to be killed. So as he neared Damascus on his way, the road there, it is journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground, he heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. Saul knew, who are you, Lord? "I am Jesus, who you are persecuting," he replied. "Now get up, go to the city, "and you will be told what you must do." The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the sound, but didn't see anybody. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he couldn't see nothing. So they led him by the hand into the city of Damascus.
Now, this is a pretty radical conversion, right? Like, does anybody have this? Like, they just got blindness and then, like, you know, Jesus spoke to them? Most likely not, like, but you've probably had a situation. Like, has life ever thrown you a curve ball? You're like, what is happening right now? What are you doing, God? Like, and even people that don't believe in God usually ask the same question over and over, which is, why God? And the reason I love this story, actually, and the conversion is that he's on his way to Damascus for a very like sold out reason. Like he's going there to persecute Christians. Like that's his mission. And he believes it's for the right reasons, you guys. He's not like questioning, like he's on his road, right on this path. And he's a pretty ambitious fellow. Like if you learn a little bit about Paul as you probably learn a little bit later, you're gonna see that Paul writes pretty much half the New Testament for us to understand and read. He's a pretty ambitious guy. And I'm gonna tell you this just like in a contrast, in that story, Saul is still getting up and going, led, like humbled, led by the hand into Damascus, was headed there to persecute Christians. All of a sudden Jesus shows up and is like, dude, that's not cool. Like this isn't my plan for you. And I'm telling you in a very similar story, I was on this road to entrepreneurship and God kind of blinded me. Anybody remember the financial crash of '08? Anybody lose anything? House, cars, status, anything? I lost everything. So, like to the point where I was literally living on, like, my best friend's couch for a while. And that wasn't a great feeling, to go from making a lot of money to, like, having nothing. It's really humbling. But when you realize that God didn't do that to me, but he was trying to get ahold of me, sometimes it's a humbling experience to understand why. And I'm gonna tell you, it came from a series of yeses. that actually those yeses weren't my yeses. And so I'm gonna tell you this, actually to me it's really important, even in this story, you'll see that he got up and was led by the hand. Led by the hand 'cause he was blind, right? And it took somebody's yes to say, listen, I just heard some voice talk to this dude that we've been following, we were about to go persecute some Christians, and they actually grab him by the hand and lead him back into Damascus for very different reasons.
Paul continues on in here in Acts and said, placing his hands on Saul, he said, oh, sorry, excuse me, "Lord," Ananias answered, "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people." So as Paul is in Damascus, Jesus actually goes and speaks to a guy named Ananias. And this guy is leading the local church. He's leading the Christians. He's making disciples. He's furthering the spread of the gospel in the area. And God comes to him and says, "Hey, you know this guy who's harming you? I need you to go to him." Like, I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you heard God audibly say something that you do not want to absolutely do. And you probably sit there okay, excuse me, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, I got water in my ear, I don't think I heard you right in what you said. And he says, no, he says, I want you to go and to this man. He has come here with authority from the chief priests, the religious leaders, to arrest all who call on your name. And I was just like, God, do you know why this dude's here? Do you know why He has traveled? Like, the word spread fast that, hey, heads up, the Jesus-following police are coming and they're going to arrest all of you. And then God says, "Oh, no, you need to go to Him." And I was just probably thinking, "There's no way. I need to protect myself. I need to protect my friends. I need to protect my brothers and sisters. I need to stay as far away from this dude because if I go there, he's gonna arrest me." But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." So then Ananias ignored God and went home and took a nap. That's the alternate. - That's the alternate ending? Yeah. No, it says, "Then Ananias said yes "and went to the house and entered it.”
I think the important part here is you're seeing somebody else's yes in the story of Paul. See, we know Paul, but we probably don't really pick apart who Ananias is very often. But God shows up to Ananias, and then Ananias gives God his yes. And it's really important because he's looking for obedience in all of his followers, not just one. It's not, the whole story is not about Paul. And I'm gonna, we're gonna continue on in this, but I just wanna peel back a couple layers here. I only know Jesus today because my grandparents prayed every single day for me. I'm telling you right now, I'm sold out and believe that. There's no way that I know Jesus without them. And then when I went into a church, through what I thought was actually gonna go back and prove them wrong, that they just wanted my money, and I was, seriously, that's the reason I went back to the church. And I went back and I found people that loved me for me and I didn't even realize why. And until someone said, "Well, it's not that I love you, "it's that Jesus loves you, "and he's called me to love you too." And I was like, "Your authority to love me is not yourself?" Like that's like the most selfless love I've ever heard in my life. And it was at that moment I was convinced, and I came back. And so I just want you to know that the series of yeses is not, it's not about Paul actually, but Paul gets to continue, and so we're gonna kind of continue on in this, but it's really awesome to hear that it started with someone else's yes.
Yeah, so Ananias goes, probably a little anxious, stressed out, worried, not knowing what's gonna happen when he goes to see this guy. And so Ananias goes to him, and then it says here in Acts, placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, "who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, "has sent me that you may see again, "and you may be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately, something like scales fell off of Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up, he was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Paul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus, and once again, he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God, And all those who heard him were astonished and asked, "Isn't this the man who raised havoc," I love that word right there, "raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on his name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?" Ananias goes to Paul and says, "Okay, God, if this is what you're calling me to do, I'm gonna do it." And he gets there and he prays over him. I don't even know what Ananias is thinking in his head. Like, to be a fly on the wall in that room in that moment. - I imagine he doesn't have a steady hand at that point. I think he's probably shaking a little bit. - He might have to change his robe a couple more times after that moment. But he prays over him, and he sees this radical transformation in Paul. And then he goes and he takes him to his other disciples. Probably the best April Fool's joke in the world to show up with Saul. Surprise. But then he starts talking and teaching and all these people are coming to Jesus and being saved and life transformation is happening because Ananias stepped out and said yes. And because of that, then Paul has a chance to say yes to Jesus through Ananias faith and his yes. And these yeses just begin to start to compound one after another, after another. And then it changed the city courts. It changes people there in Damascus, and it starts a movement in Damascus that continues to this day.
I mean, it's insane. I think to think about the series of yeses, like first of all, most of us don't make a decision to say yes to Jesus and then get baptized like the next minute. And then after you're baptized, start preaching in the temple courts. Like, I mean, it would be like in Spring Valley, but whatever, you know what I'm saying? Like most of us don't do that. And I'm here to tell you that the series of yeses, God's just waiting on you. He's just waiting on your yes. And after this yes, right, it takes a minute for a little conversion for Paul because Paul obviously was breathing out murderous threats. And so like maybe three days was just an ample time, but like lots of people go longer than three days with some trials. And he was just blinded and didn't eat for three days. So that's pretty, I mean, it's pretty phenomenal to see the kind of life transformation. But here's the thing that I love is after this series of yeses, we come into knowledge with a number of other people about in scripture. And some of these names, I'm just gonna throw some out. Like, does anybody know who John Mark is? How about Barnabas? How about Timothy? Right, how about some of these names that we see throughout the Bible? And then we learn about city names and locations. And you see how the gospel is growing and the way is taking off, all because of the one person who is out killing Christians and persecuting them, actually turns to him. Like clearly there must be something going on there. Like all the conspiracy theorists in the room, I'm gonna tell you right now, if you're a conspiracy theorist today, the time in that moment right there would have been, I mean, maybe just maybe there's some truth then, maybe about this whole God thing, because I mean, if they got a hold of Paul, maybe there's something real or tangible about this that I need to consider. And so where are my married people at really quick? 'Cause I just need to know where I'm talking to. Okay, so here's the thing about being married, all right? At some point in your relationship, you said yes, but did you know you were saying yes to snoring? How about dirty socks on the floor? - No. - Okay, how about-- - Mine or hers. - Yes, absolutely. How about the fact that you were saying yes to in-laws? Okay, hold on a second. Listen, oh, I might have struck a chord for a second. - Careful, careful, bring it back, bring it back. - Bring it back, okay. Here's the thing, like, I didn't know I was saying yes to picking up Starbucks so much. Like, there's lots of things I didn't realize I was saying yes to, But I still said yes. I still said yes. And you still said yes. I didn't know I was saying yes to three kids. I didn't know that those three kids were gonna talk back as much as they do. I had no idea. But I'm telling you that there's something important about your yes and you would still go back and do it again. And here's the reality. The reason I'm painting this picture is sometimes saying yes isn't about knowing the details. Saying yes isn't about knowing the details.
Sometimes we wanna have it all figured out before we can say yes. Sometimes we wanna have a full financial plan before we can say yes. We gotta have our careers fully dialed before I can say yes. I need to make sure that if I'm gonna say yes, I'm not committing to showing up to church every Sunday. Like there's lots of things, but it's like sometimes you just gotta commit. God's waiting on your yes, not your maybe, or I'll think about it to get back to you tomorrow. He's waiting on your yes now. And here's the reason I say that. See, when I got called into full-time ministry, I didn't know what I was saying yes to. I showed up to a church, right? And I kinda got saved and I got baptized and some things. I just kept on saying yes. I didn't know what I was saying yes to. I just thought I was going to a life change and I wanted eternity in heaven with Jesus. And then one day I walk into an Ash Wednesday service at Faith Legacy Church down in Sacramento, sister church of this church. And I said yes to a full-time call into ministry. And I was like, I don't even know what I'm saying yes to, but I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be having a career and making six figures and ministry doesn't do that. So where am I going here, God? Like, I'm pretty sure you made it clear that I'm called into this ambitious life and Jesus comes to me and says, "You're no longer gonna be ambitious for me," or, "No longer be ambitious for yourself, "but you're gonna be ambitious for me." See, I didn't know what that meant. I didn't realize that was gonna be a call into ministry. But see, God has given me kind of an ambitious personality. And I was on the right path for the wrong reasons. And so in the series of a number of yeses, I got called into this ministry position. So I kind of came in as like an assistant youth pastor, I was already volunteering as a youth leader. Any youth leaders in here? Youth pastors, anybody who worked in youth? Nobody? Okay, get into it. It's awesome. Andre needs your help. I didn't say that because he, yeah, anyway, I love you, Andrei.
So I wanna say this, that it's important, is that you step into something and you don't know the details of what you're saying yes to. So I said yes to youth pastor, then I said yes to some district youth president thing that I didn't even know what that meant, but I got to get to know a lot of people who became really good friends with Pastor Andre through that same exact cohort. I didn't know that, but that led into another series of yeses and saying yes into a senior pastor position at Hub Church. And then I said yes to selling our house, which was so dumb of an idea, but it was such a God call on our life. And we sold our house and went to a 400 square foot trailer. Like that sounds pretty dumb, like I'm not gonna lie, but yet it was just another series of yeses that I didn't realize was gonna happen. And so what I wanna share that like in this, the series of yeses, there was like a really big yes. And it's not my works, it was all God's. Like God was just interested in my yes. And so as you've probably heard me say the word yes a thousand more times today, I'm gonna ask you a question, begin to think about what God is asking you to say yes to. Ask the question, maybe it's big, maybe it's small, right? There are things that we're really, really like to hold on tight to, our time, our money, our hobbies, our identities. There's so many things that God is like trying to pull away from us saying, I've got a bigger identity and purpose for you. You're ambitious, but I need you to be ambitious for something bigger. It's not just you. And so in that, we bought this RV thinking we were just gonna get closer to the church we were pastoring at. And then we ended up falling in love with this community of people that I didn't know I was gonna say yes to. I'm not gonna lie. We just said yes to an RV. I didn't realize that it came with an entire community of people that we hadn't met yet. I'm telling you, I had no clue. And last year I shared some stats with you. I'm talking about just in the state of Arizona alone, there's a million RVers that show up for winter. That's just Arizona. It's unreal how many people live in RVs and vans and buses across the nation. And we started to ask a question, how are we going to plant a church? How are we going to build a church or build some sort of ministry in a community without a zip code? And it kind of began to kind of unfold. We had no idea what we were saying yes to, but this is what it looked like. And so if we're gonna plant this church, maybe we're not gonna use the word church, we're gonna just call it a ministry name. And instead of calling them like gatherings, we're gonna call them chapters. And we're gonna have extensions where we all work together, very similar to a church, but when you have no zip code and you basically sprawl across the entire United States, Canada and Mexico, you begin to have to think different. And God said, "See, remember those ambitions? "Right path, wrong reasons. "I sent you to figure this out. "And I need you to go out and do this. "There are people that don't know me "and they're living nomadically "and you're gonna go find them." I didn't know what that meant. I just was like, "Hey, this sounds like fun. "Let's try it. "Throw some things at a dartboard and see if it lands." I don't know. But God began to reveal some things. And so in this last year, I think it's really important to understand this. our ministry is called Gathering of Nomads, and that's really what we're doing. We're all about finding nomads and gathering together. And sometimes it just looks like hanging out.
But Hebrews 10:24 actually says, "And let us consider how we may spur on one another "toward love and good deeds, "not giving up, meeting together, "as some," and I'm gonna say in America, "a lot of people are in the habit of doing, "but encouraging one another and all the more "as you see the day approaching." And there's something to be said, like sometimes we show up to gather here on a Sunday morning and it's a check in the box, but I'm telling you, don't forsake the gathering. Like the fruit of the gathering, the purpose of why you're here, to break bread with one another, get to know other people's stories and actually dine and get close with one another. See, the easy thing to do when you're out in the middle of a campground and people don't have any community is they wanna join you for a fire. Or you wanna go, "Hey, we're just doing a potluck. You wanna come over on Tuesday?" And there's like an instant, "Yeah, we're not doing anything, why not? Come on over." And community becomes just to start falling into place. Things that we couldn't even, I couldn't even tell you that we don't even try that hard, but I'm gonna tell you that we just say yes and then God shows up. So it's not even about how hard you wanna try, it's about saying yes to it. And so in this last year, actually this last week, this number's a lie on my notes here. This last week we've had 13 people say yes to stepping into full-time ministry and being a chapter. 13 people. I'm telling, that's not me, that is just 100% Jesus, but it just came with a yes and then one invitation to say it. Do you wanna say yes? And this last one actually, I'm just kind of a sidebar rabbit hole. This last one who just said yes, they were so skeptical of the ministry. They were like, I don't know who you are, we're gonna wait till you show up and we show up, we spend three weeks with them, they see us pray for hundreds of different people and doing different types of things, and they go, "I just wanna do that. "That looks like simple ministry, and I'm in for that." And then they called me like a week after we left, and they said, "Hey, we wanna be a chapter. "We wanna do what that is. "Whatever that looks like, I'm in for that." And because they just didn't understand what they were saying yes to. So sometimes you need a glimpse of what you're saying yes to, and I get that. but that's the luring love of Jesus, not you. We've had 12 baptisms, we've had tons of reconciliations, and just in all this within 16 minutes, we've had hundreds of different families, we've paid people's groceries bills, we've repaired tires, replaced air conditioners, bought refrigerators. I couldn't tell you all those different stories the way we just help different people in different ways, but at this point, we are reaching well over 1,000 people every single week. And that is all because of Jesus and a simple yes. But I didn't realize that it came down to a hitch point of Shane's yes. And all these other people are beginning to say yes. And so I'm inviting you into this. I'm gonna show some pictures here, if you can, just for gatherings. I just want you guys to kind of see, like pictures-wise. Like, these are what our gatherings look like. You go, "Dude, you don't even have folding chairs?" Like, "No, they gotta bring their own." It's simple, I'm telling you. This is how it works. I mean, imagine if you had to bring your own chair to church. or your own chair to church. And so, yeah, so this is what some of them look like. I think there's a couple more here. These are just some of our meals. You know, this is actually Mother's Day. This is a year ago, exactly on the far right here, of us actually just doing Mother's Day with three families that we met in Tennessee. And you know what they wanted? Fellowship and someone to break bread with. You know, don't forsake the gathering, my friends. And then here, and this is what it looks like sometimes to gather when it's cold. We got inside of our little tent here, it's called a clam. We're not sponsored by them, but we should be, because we talk about the clams all the time. But then on the left-hand side there, I don't know why my son's wearing a Christmas beanie, but that was actually Thanksgiving in the Florida Keys. - He was ready. - He was ready for Christmas, apparently. - Make it happen. - But that's Thanksgiving in the Florida Keys, and we had a number of families that just didn't have a place to go. And it's just a small conversation, the next thing you know we're breaking bread together. And then the very following week, I think we got some pictures of a night gathering here. Oh, this is another, these are more gatherings.
They're just, I'll tell you, I can't tell you how many different gatherings. Sometimes it looks like just inviting people out to the beach so that way the very next day you can invite them over for Bible study. Like they just want to hang out and get to know one another. We had Easter Sunday inside of an office there. This top picture here, this is our very first French Canadian couple. I've never met a French Canadian couple. I don't even want to try their accent. I could try, but I would botch it up. Chris is better at his Hispanic accent. And so anyway, this couple, they actually gave us their spot because they were leaving in two days and their spot was bigger and fit our rig better. And so they were generous enough to give it to us. And then we prayed for them on their travel day. They had never prayed before. Never, like never in their life have prayed. And we prayed for them. And it was such a weird experience as we prayed for them. They're like, in Jesus' name, amen. And they're like, thank you, thank you. That was the first for us. It was like, okay, well, I guess, I'm glad it was first. And they follow us on social media. We've connected with them a couple times on there, which is awesome. But one of the things that we love to do on here, you can see, this is actually some of our chapters in us. We pray for people on their travel days. Like if you're ever telling like a 45-foot fifth wheel or 30-foot trailer behind you or driving like a 40,000-pound bus, it's kind of nerve-wracking on travel days, I'm not gonna lie. And one of the ways we wanna offer peace is not the peace of us, but the peace of Jesus. So we just offer to pray with people. I know it sounds simple you guys, but those are just the little yeses. And the reason I'm sharing these stories isn't, it has less to do with us and more to do with the fact that he's interested in looking at your yes. He's interested in you saying yes in your context. Like what does it look like for you just to go and pray with your neighbors? What does it look like for you to go and pray with people that are at the store? You can seriously see struggling. Maybe instead of saying, hey, here's five bucks out the window to the guy asking for change, looking at the guy at the grocery store and saying, hey, before I give you this money, I just wanna pray for you that God would do more with it than what I actually can give you. Like imagine if we just said yes to those uncomfortable moments, it's simple. I'm not saying it's easy, but I can tell you it's simple. And he's just looking for your yes.
And I wanna talk about this, Chris, I'm sorry, for, we'll make sure we have time here. Ephesians 2:10 is such an important part of this. In Ephesians 2 10, it says that you, you and me, but you are God's handiwork. You are God's handiwork. I'm gonna tell you right now, and actually in the Passion translation, it says you are God's poetry. Like you are such a unique component in creation that you are considered God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Are you ready for this one? This blows me away. Which God has prepared in advance for you to do. The work is there, He is just waiting on your yes. Holy buckets. Man, that takes a lot of pressure on us because like, I don't wanna say yes 'cause I don't know what I'm saying yes to. My friends, my family, I'm telling you it's important because you don't know what your yes is gonna translate to. Actually, what I love about this story is, and I'm gonna just kind of boast a little bit, and then we're gonna get into some really cool baptism pictures. I want you guys to know this on a Shane story. I see, this is my family right here in the center table. But listen to this, what I love about all this is that Jason Donald said yes to inviting me to some stupid car show that I got duped into going to, and then years later, my brother actually ends up marrying his sister, and that family, who actually led me to Jesus, is now my family. It's just a yes. I'm just gonna tell you because a yes is so important to understand that you don't know what it's gonna look like. And actually, if you did know what it's gonna look like, you wouldn't say yes. You wouldn't. So try to practice saying yes. And the series of saying yes is what I love about this is that baptisms happen. I didn't realize that baptisms were gonna happen. I thought I was just gonna go out and love people for Jesus. And in some way, some reason, people started really saying yes to Jesus and like, I wanna do it and I wanna self-proclaim it to the world and let everyone know that I'm gonna say yes to it. I wanna show you some pictures here really quick, 'cause you just don't know. See some of the baptisms that happened while we're on the road. Both of these are actually in Texas, very different locations. Texas is a huge state. And so the two bottom pictures here is a family, actually after getting to know them for like a week and a half, they invite me over to their trailer and we're talking, having late night conversations. And the dad goes, "You know, I've never been baptized. "My kids have definitely never been baptized, "but I know they know Jesus "and they wanna know him like forever." And so we had this long conversation over the course of the next couple of days. We basically unpacked what scripture says about them. And they said, "Yes, I want to accept Jesus." And then they proclaim it. I said, "Well, do you guys wanna get baptized like you thought about that?" And they're like, "Well, we're gonna get baptized then." I said, "Well, there's a lake, it's kinda stinky, but like we can go out in the lake and it was cold." And so we got out in the water, we just baptized them. And there was literally, it was just the family and one other family there to witness it. And it was so intimate, it was so awesome. And it was such a celebratory moment. This top picture here actually is, there's another picture in there somewhere, but there was two young ladies, part of a family who grew up in a Catholic church and stepped away from the church and have been trying to find and rediscover their faith on the road. And the parents actually said, "Well, we're thinking about doing like the, you know, the thing with the water and where they, you know, like they were like, you know, they're gonna like get like whatever that's called." I'm like, "Baptized?" They're like, "Yeah, baptized, that's the one." And they had no idea what they were talking about, but their kids have been talking about God for so long that they were finally introduced to Jesus, that God wasn't just a concept, but he was a reality and there's a relationship. And so two of the kids got baptized and then one of their kids actually got dedicated, which was super cool, Teddy. And so anyways, we'll go one more picture here. This is what it looks like sometimes to baptize people when there's just nothing but a spa 'cause there's no lakes around. So you just use whatever water's around you. Sometimes it's a horse trough and it's here, just so you guys know, the water's warm. But this is what it looks like, you guys.
This is just a series of people who said yes, and they had been waiting to get baptized because there was no one willing to say yes to baptize them. How crazy is that? And so I'm telling you guys all this now. What's important as you see baptism pictures is that you just don't know what you're gonna say yes to, but you need to say yes where you live, learn, work, and play. Like you have to say yes where you live, work, learn, and play. It's important for you to do that. And so no matter what, I know this, because of the yes I try to give God every day, there are people's lives who are greatly being impacted. And with your yes, you don't know how God may use you to actually reach the lives and families around you. And you don't know, like if God's called you to say yes to any capacity to supporting people, like for us, we're a fully like fundraised ministry. And so I just encourage you, like if God's calling you to partner with us on a financial level, like we wanna keep doing this. And we don't ask a lot of it because we're just a simple, you know, really low funded ministry and we're all good with it. We actually love that. And a lot of that money goes in and goes right back out and saying yes to helping people. So anyway, that's a lot of that. And really excited about baptisms here in a second. So if you need to say yes to some baptisms, like if you're curious, like today's the day 'cause the water's warm.
Absolutely. You're gonna hear the stories here in a moment of people who said yes, and people who said yes to Jesus. And they wanna share that yes with you today. And this is what this Sunday is about. I know some of you in here, I had the pleasure of baptizing recently. And I know a lot of you have been baptized in your life. And as we get to celebrate, I told the team this morning, as you get to watch these people celebrate their yes with you and you saying yes to them and encouraging them and being in life together as a family, remember the yes that you first chose. Remember the yes that you had the opportunity to say to God because somebody else said yes, 'cause you wouldn't be here unless somebody else shared it with you, right? And so I want to encourage you as we see these people get baptized and as the kids come in to witness this and we're just celebrate as a big family, that remember that yes that you had. And then to think about, as Pastor Shane said, who in your life do you need to say yes to, to then have the opportunity to share Jesus with them? And so Alicia, how you guys wanna come forward, we got a couple people. this morning that we're gonna be baptizing. And I'm gonna have, let's have Alicia go first real quick. And this is exciting, this has been, I would say, a couple years in the works to be able to have this with you. - 16 years in the works. - 16 years in the making. And for you, for them to understand, how are you guys connected? - This is my niece, I understand that she looks like she's taller than me, but that's because she's wearing boots. Oh wait, no, I'm wearing boots. I have no excuse, I'm just short. But yes, this is my niece. I've known her entire life, but if you can, can you give us just like a short little testimony?
Yeah. - So I went to camp for the first time two years ago, and at camp it was a very emotional experience, and I was able to start opening up and develop a relationship with God. And then last year it hit me hard. It was very perplexing and I just had a really rough time and I kind of lost my way, but going back to camp, I was able to reignite my relationship with God and completely commit to my faith and say yes to God.
Yeah, I'm just gonna tell you, I need to piggyback on that. You guys, I have known this girl obviously her entire life and I have seen her go from every stage of life that you could imagine, but lately, even just to the moment where she says she wants to call and pray with her friends. Like, are you kidding me? Those yeses are so profound. Like, her entire friend group is gonna change because of this yes. Like, the generations of family will change because of her yes. And so, I'm so proud of her, and so this is kind of an emotional moment for me, so I'm just gonna turn the mic off and stop talking. Love it. That was awesome. Congratulations, this is amazing.
Hao, Come on, buddy. Oh, man. So I'm gonna say, I got to meet this guy probably, what was it, last, the Christmas time, right? And you guys moved over in these condos, and you were looking for a church, and you looked across the street, and here we were. And you walked in one day, and we got to hear your story. And I know you want to share some of that today, but God is doing so many things in your life right now. And we got to-- Pastor Andra, I met with you this week. And we got to hear your heart and what God is calling you to as you lead your family with your wife and your kiddos here. But yeah, share a little bit, kind of your story, where you're at, and why today is your day you want to get baptized.
Hello, everyone. My name's Hao. I already used Steven because it's easier to remember. And then today I went to declare my faith in our Father God and in Lord Jesus Christ, and to fully surrender myself to God through baptism. So a little bit story about myself. So I spent the first 25 years of my life in China, which is a country with high surveillance and observed restrictions on religions. So I was never fully exposed to Christianity until 2021, which is pretty recent. So in October, 2021, my mentor and my best friend at work, whose name is Alex Kim, he left the firm, unfortunately, and he gave me a bilingual version of Gospel of John. And I don't know if any of you have ever had such a moment or a period of time, maybe, and when you feel just so useless and so aimless and powerless that no matter how hard you try, no matter what you do, you just cannot make it. Unfortunately, or fortunately in some sense, such a hard time hit me really hard in 2022. At that time I was a new father to two born infants who are standing there with their mommy. And then as young parents, as you can see, we are pretty young and we had very limited financial resources at the time. And then it was right at that time I become unemployed. And not because of anyone's fault, I was definitely above average employee and my boss wanted to keep me there, but the Army agency, the USAS, was simply overwhelmed and unable to grant me the work authorization timely, so I lost my job there. Well, I was more than devastated. I had my pride. I graduated from best university in China and I often regarded myself as the top 0.1% students in China and I was definitely the kind of person I fight really, really hard to gain control of my life. But I failed. I had never failed so hard. And the worst part of the failure was that I couldn't do anything to fix it. There's not anything inside my control to fix it. So it was right at that time I finally decided to open and read the gospel that Alex Kim, my friend, gifted me. And I had nothing to do anyways at the time because I was important, right? So I spent a lot of time and put a lot of efforts in reading, actually studying the Gospel of John. I made my notes, I made my marks, and wrote my questions, and asked a lot of questions to Alex Kim, my friend. And he was really nice and patient. He answered my questions. And we set a meeting, actually, and I could still vividly remember that Alex told me during the meeting that even if the Lord asked me to die right now, At this moment, at this time, I think I'm ready. So, you know, there at that time, that starts my journey of Christianity. As for over the past two years, with a lot of love and with a lot of help, I think I finally reached this point to say that I am ready too. And I'm ready to submit my life to God and to our Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to surrender myself to God and live the rest of my life to serve God. And I praise God that he has found me when I was lost, that he has shown me his great mercy and love and he has led me to faith and brought me to here to be baptized, to declare my faith. So thank you, Lord Jesus.
Amen, amen, thank you. So Hao, here in front of everybody, your friends, your family, you're telling us that Jesus is Lord and leader of your life. - Yes. - And you are telling us today that your proclamation of faith, for now, forevermore until you meet Jesus face to face in heaven that you're gonna follow Him every single day and every single moment.
Yes! How amazing is that? How amazing is God? Amen. So I wanna pray for us real quick and I'm gonna pray for lunch. I know you guys are hungry. Everybody's excited. We're excited for tacos. Grab these guys afterwards. Tell them congrats, give them a hug, tell them you love them, tell them you're praying for them. And because right now them making this decision that they just put a target on their back because Satan doesn't like what they just proclaimed. And so they're gonna be walking through some hard stuff and they know it, we've talked about this and we're encouraging them, but they're gonna need your prayers. They're gonna need your prayers every single day. So when you think about your week, think about them, lift them up in prayer, lift them up before Jesus. And as they keep walking forward, you see them next Sunday and the week after that, and the week of that, continue to encourage them, continue to give them the words that they need to keep walking on this faith, 'cause we all need it, right? We're all figuring this out. We're all trying to take it one day at a time, one step at a time. And their yes today has changed all of us, right? Amen, so let's live our yes out.
Jesus, we thank you for this morning, God. Thank you for so many people and generations before us that said yes to allow us to come to this point that we get to celebrate Alisha and How's yes before us. God, encourage us as we go out, give us the boldness to step out where we live, learn, work and play to say yes to God, whatever you want us to do. Whether that means you're praying for somebody, you're doing a random act of kindness, you need to call somebody, text them, just tell them you're thinking about them and you're praying for them. Reach out. God, you have people in our lives specifically that you have placed there for us to share Jesus with them. Not in a preachy, bang them over the head, in their face kind of a way, but just to show up in their life and give them the love that you have given us. Jesus, let us go with boldness and go with our yes. We love you, Jesus. We pray over lunch. Continue to help us. Have a great week and a great time together. We love you. And everybody said, Amen.