Built with Community

Heat. Heat. Well, good morning, Cross Church Phoenix. How are you? Good, good. If you would open your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 3. I am DJ, the pastor here at Cross Church Phoenix. And uh if I haven't met you yet, come find me afterwards. I'd love to meet you and say hello. Um, and uh, if you don't have a Bible, we have them in the seat back in front of you. Uh, you can feel free to utilize you, put that one to use and keep it. That is our gift to you. You can have it and we'll gladly replace it. Uh, but Nehemiah chapter 3. And as you turn to Nehemiah 3, um, I want to give a few more, um, pieces of information slash announcements. when you sat in your chair, perhaps uh you saw a card, a voting card, um if you were a member before um October 14th, cuz this is when the email went out, but an email was sent out. It had a link to the budget and some other things. And um today we are we are voting on those things. Um the names on that elder um list are are two gentlemen who serve in Surprise. Um Josh Meyers is the gentleman who runs the men's ministry and um and Larry Moer I met at uh the ESBs, but he is um they're both elder qualified gentlemen. Uh and so if you want to participate in that, you can fill out that, put your name on there, fill it out. You could drop it in the giving box. Um but uh that is there for you. Um, also I had a text message from Josh regarding Thanksgiving that he wanted me to share with you. So, we are having Thanksgiving, of course, as uh Brian said, on Thanksgiving Day from noon to 2. But Josh will be here um at the early morning hour of 8:00 a.m. And if you are bringing if you're participating in that, awesome. But if you're bringing a cold dish, um he you can bring it anytime after 8:00, he'll be ready for you. If we're bringing something hot, he's asking if you would bring it at 11:30. Uh so if you're participating in that, again, it's completely optional like you said, which is for any all are invited, but of course, um especially if you have, you know, no one to spend Thanksgiving with, we are here and want to spend that time with you. So I'll be here at the church. Um and last but certainly not least, I want to say thank you to everyone who came and helped with the garden day yesterday. We made some progress and we've got some more to go. It'll be a few garden days to really get that thing under control, but we made a lot of good progress. Thank you for those who came. And with that, let's uh pray and uh prepare our hearts for this morning. Father, we thank you for for today, another day that the Lord God has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. And there can be a lot in this world um that is weighing heavily on us and makes it difficult to rejoice and be glad in today. God, I think of just the many people that come into our doors. Some people had great weeks. Some had really, really difficult weeks. And God, you know the hearts of your people. You know the stories of each who's come in here. God, we pray that this would be a time to reflect on your word, to be uh built up. And God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would speak your word to your people this morning, God. Help help me keep me out of the way, God. And I pray that you would um give ears to hear uh to your people what the spirit has to say to the church here at Cross Church. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. I want to uh start this morning with a story that was written some years ago by an unknown person. I had trouble finding who it originated with, but it's not me, but it's called this. Yes, I'm tired. Yes, I'm tired. For several years, I've been blaming it on middleage, iron, poor blood, lack of vitamins, air pollution, water pollution, dieting, and a dozen other maladies. But now I know the real reason. I'm tired because I'm overworked. The population of this country is over 200 million. 84 million are retired. That leaves 116 million people to do the work. There are 75 million enrolled in school, which leaves 41 million to do the work. Of this, there are 19 million employed by state and local governments. This leaves 22 million people to do the work. 4 million are in the armed forces which leaves 18 million to do the work. Take from that total the 17,800,000 people who work in hospitals. So that leaves 200,000 to do the work. And then there are 199,998 people in prison. That leaves just two people to do the work. You and me. and you're just sitting there reading this, so no wonder I'm so tired. I thought that was good. Maybe you can relate to that. But Nehemiah didn't have that problem, at least in chapter 3. Here in this chapter, we'll see how Nehemiah and the Israelites begin repairing the walls and gates of Jerusalem. And it was an all hands on deck kind of thing. God didn't send Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem by himself. He's not some lone wolf. God's people were meant to do God's work in community with each other. God doesn't save people and call them to a life of loneliness, isolation, and spiritual independent contractor work, right? Where it's just you and him and no one else. He calls us to do the Lord's work, his own work, God's work in community as we serve each other in our neighborhood as the body of Christ. And in our text today, I want us to see how we can glean guidelines for healthy church community from Old Testament Israel. Sometimes we can read the chapters like this and say, "What on earth does this have to do with me?" But we'll see definitely some really good principles from it that do apply to us. Now, I know what you're wondering, right? Is DJ really going to read all this the whole chapter? Yes, I am for two reasons. One, because most pastors probably wouldn't. So, why not, right? Be different. And number two, more seriously, I don't believe that God wastess ink. I don't believe that at all. Every scripture, the Bible says, is breathed out by God and then is what he, Paul says to Timothy, is profitable. And so, if we truly believe that Nehemiah chapter 3 is profitable, then let's read it. Now, before I read it, I'm going to put up a a If you were here last week, I put up a map. I picked I found a different one, but I don't know if you'll be able to see it any better, but it at least will give you a little bit of a visual. So, here it is. All right. Um, raise your hand if you can read the bottom right. No, I'm just kidding. Um, see, do an eye test. Yeah. But ultimately, here's what I want you guys to be thinking through as you read along with me or if you w look visibly. Okay. The bottom line is this. What Nehemiah is doing is on the top right, and you can I can send you this so you can come look later. The top right is the sheep gate. That's where it's going to begin. The top right corner of the sheep gate. All Nehemiah is going to do in his description of the work around Jerusalem is go counterclockwise around Jerusalem. So, as I read this, you can kind of follow along if you can read it. If not, it's there. Trust me. Um, but you'll see all of these names, these different gates, so and so's house, all these people, and it comes down to the bottom, and then it's just going to go right up the right side and circle. And it will begin and end. This is important. Kind of put this in the back of your mind. It begins and ends with the sheep gate. All right. So, let's read Nehemiah 3:1. high priests or the high priest Elias and his fellow priests began rebuilding the sheep gate. They dedicated it and installed its doors. After building the wall to the tower of the hund and the tower of Hannel, they dedicated it. The men of Jericho built next to Elishab and next to them Zakur son of Emry built. The sons of Hassanea built the fish gate. They built it with beams and installed its doors, bolts, and bars. Next to them, Marramoth, son of Uriah, son of Hakaz, made repairs. Beside them, Mishulam, son of Barakayiah, son of Mishabel, made repairs. Next to them, Zadok, son of Bayana, made repairs. Beside them, the Techites made repairs. But make note of this, their nobles did not lift a finger to help their supervisors. Other translations might say that they wouldn't come under their burden or put their shoulders under, put their neck under the yoke. So the techite lay people are serving their leaders are not. And uh if you're looking for future names of children, you have a whole list here of them to choose from. Okay. Verse six. Joyeda son of Pacia and Messulum son of Besia repaired the old gate. They built it with beams and installed its doors, bolts, and bars. Next to them, the repairs were done by Melatia the Gibeonite, Jaden the Marinathite, and the men of Gibian and Mispa, who were under the authority of the governor of the region west of the Euphrates River. Verse 8, after him, Usiel son of Herahaya the goldsmith made repairs, and next to him, Haniah, son of the perfumer, made repairs. They restored Jerusalem as far as the broad wall. Next to them, Rafia son of her, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. After them, Jadiah son of Harumaf, uh, made repairs across from his house. Next to him, Hatush, the son of Hashabia, made repairs. Malijah, son of Harim, and Hashub, son of Path, Moab, made repairs to another section, as well as to the tower of the ovens. beside him. Take note of this. Shalom, son of Halohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters. Take note. Verse 13. I practiced this, by the way, so I'm trying here. Hanoon and the inhabitants of Zenoa repaired the valley gate. They rebuilt it and installed its doors, bolts, and bars, and repaired 500 yards of the wall to the dung gate. And yes, the dung gate is used for what you think it's probably used for. Malca, son of Rahab, uh, ruler of the district of Beth Hakar, repaired the dung gate. He rebuilt it and installed its doors, bolts, and bars. Verse 15, Shaloon, son of Kolose, ruler of the district of Mispa, repaired the fountain gate. He rebuilt it and roofed it. Then he installed its doors, bolts, and bars. He made he also made repairs to the wall of the pool of Sheila near the king's garden as far as the stairs that descend from the city of David. After him Nehemiah verse 16, this is a different Nehemiah, not our Nehemiah, son of Asbuk, ruler of half the district of Bethzur, made repairs up to a point opposite the tombs of David. as far as the artificial pool in the house of the warriors. Next to him, the Levites made repairs under Rahom, son of Bani. Beside him, Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keela, made repairs for his district. After him, their fellow Levites made repairs under Benui, son of Hanad, ruler of half the district of Keela. Next to him, Ezer, son of Yeshua, ruler of Mispa, made repairs to another section opposite the ascent to the armory of at the angle. Verse 20. After him, Baroo, son of Zabi, diligently repaired another section. From the angle to the door of the house of the high priest Eliaship. Beside him, Marramoth, son of Uriah, son of Hakos, made repairs to another section. From the door of Eliaship's house to the end of his house. And next to him, the priests from the surrounding area made repairs. Take note of these people who do it by their house. Verse 23. After them, Benjamin and Hashe made repairs opposite their house. Beside them, Azeriah, son of Manassia, son of Ananiah, made repairs beside his house. After him, Benuai son of Henad made repairs to another section from the house of Azeriah to the angle at the corner. Palal, son of Usuzi, made repairs opposite the angle and tower that juts out from the king's upper palace by the courtyard of the guard. Beside him, Padia, son of uh Perash, and the temple servants living in Oul made repairs opposite the Watergate toward the east and the tower that juts out. Next to him, the Techawites, there they are again, made repairs to another section from a point opposite the great tower that juts out as far as the wall of Oul. Verse 28, each of the priests made repairs above the horse gate, uh, each opposite his own house. After them, Zadok, son of Immer, made repairs opposite his house. And beside him, Shemiah, son of Sheaniah, guard of the east gate, made repairs. Next to him, Haniah, son of Shelmayiah and Hanoon, the sixth son of Zaf, made repairs to another section. After them, Mashulum, son of Barakia, made repairs opposite his room. Next to him, Malca, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs to the house of the temple servants and the merchants opposite the inspection gate and as far as the upstairs room in the corner. And now we've come full circle, but make note of this. Verse 32, the goldsmiths and merchants made repairs between the upstairs room on the corner and the sheep gate and a partridge and a pear tree. I'm just kidding. The first guideline for healthy church community is is this. Recognize that everyone's work for God is important and valuable. Throughout this chapter, right, we've just heard it. You see Israelites working on gates and walls. Gates and walls. As the people come together and rebuild Jerusalem, there are certain sections that would be far more highly visible than others. For example, that sheep gate would be far more visible and highly trafficked because it was the gate primarily used for bringing sacrificial sheep and lambs into the city into to the temple for sacrificial worship. So, if you were rebuilding um a section of the wall 500 ft from, let's say, the sheep gate, it might not be as well trafficked. It might not be seen as often. And it might be a temptation for someone building a section of the wall that won't be as highly visible to think that their work is less valuable from those working on the gates. And yet what we see here is that everyone's work is important, right? We um and I confess my own struggle with attention span, right? But like some of us might get bored reading that, but remember that Nehemiah took the time to painstakingly document this. And so it's very important and he is showing us the community that the Israelites had in coming together. Doesn't matter if you're at the sheep gate by the temple or down at the dung gate. The work was important and valuable. Whether you work on the prominent sheep gate that gets dedicated, remember this thing gets dedicated and there's goldmiths that work on it. or you work down at the done gate where the garbage gets taken out. The work is valuable. And also, you might think, well, you know, if I didn't work on the really cool gates, you know, these would be nice things. Um, I'm just working on this, you know, side of the wall. But understand this, that without walls, the gates would be pointless, right? or far less effective because not only does this talk is this speaking of Israel's renewal of spiritual worship but the gates and walls also spoke of security right from opposition around you. We've read in the first few chapters of Nehemiah that Israel is the laughingstock of the nations. Why? Because they don't have walls and gates. They're not protected. And so if somebody um you know 500 yards south of the gate um decides I'm not rebuilding this. You can have all the gates you want. If there's a whole section of the wall missing, you're vulnerable, right? You're vulnerable to attack. You're no you're not really safe. If the wall's not up as well as the gates. So if a section of the wall is missing, the purpose of the gate is way less effective. What I'm trying to say is this. The highly visible work relies upon the less visible work. When was the last time you looked at the foundation underneath your house or your apartment? Maybe you have recently. I'm not going to say wholesale. Nobody has, but maybe you have. Probably not. I would guess that uh chances are you haven't checked out your foundation recently, but it's as vital as the roof over your head that keeps you dry from the rain that you see every day. The roof relies upon the foundation of the house. Both are important and valuable and the same principle is true in the church. There are more visible ministries in the church, right? me standing here preaching is one of them or our music team is visible ministry. But if we have, let's say, great music but gross, disgusting bathrooms, what would that communicate? What would that say? Right? We care about what happens up here but not anywhere else. We don't care about the little things. We don't care about that. But we do, right? Those who clean might be less visible. You might not even know who cleaned the church this morning, but God does. And it's a much needed and appreciated ministry. I was on the music team today, for example. If I miss a beat, which I did like multiple times, right? And oftentimes, like I know what I missed, and maybe you don't. Um, but I know what I messed up. How detrimental really was it? Not not much, right? But let's say we uh refuse to clean the church. That's going to have a negative effect on the ministry real quick, right? Perhaps for some of us, our main ministry is prayer, right? Prayer warriors who intercede for the church daily, right? Thank you. We need you. We need that. And I might I don't know if you woke up this morning and prayed for the church, but I praise God for those if you did. Thank you. Like we need that. Thank God God sees that though. It's not a a highly visible ministry, but it's our less visible, less public, sometimes thankless ministries that make all of the impact in our church. And I want all of us to know that whatever you're doing, whether you are seen or not, thanked or not, God sees it. Your work is unto the Lord and your reward is in heaven. Keep that in mind. It's not all about the what happens on a stage. It's about what we do as unto the Lord, whether it's seen or not. So first we recognize that everyone's work for the Lord whatever it is is important. Second uh healthy church community a guideline don't be discouraged by those who refuse to participate. If you look at verse uh five right go back to verse 5. Not everyone participated. The techite lay people did but not their leaders. Their leaders refused to participate. Now, there's an old, maybe you've heard of this before, but there's an old um uh rule you could call it, and it's true apparently in the church and in other professions, but it's called the 8020 rule. You guys ever heard of the 8020 rule? Basically, it says this, that 80% of the work is done by about 20% of the people. The last place that that should be true is in the church. The 8020 rule should not describe the church. And if it does, we should take steps to change that, right? The 8020 rule won't describe our church if we're functioning and healthy community. Remember, we can't all do everything, right? The whole church didn't show up to garden day. I don't expect that, right? That's okay. But where has God put you? And what else can you be doing to serve and be part of the body of Christ? Healthy church community happens when everyone's participating in serving. What would it look like if everyone served? Different capacities, different ways, I don't know. But if everyone served, can you imagine 100% involvement across the board? the impact that we could make, the difference that we could make. Imagine if every one of us here fervently prayed for our church. Or imagine if we had 100% of the church giving financially. Yes, I'll go there because it's biblical, right? That the it's between you and the Lord what you give, but giving is an act of obedience and worship to the Lord. But imagine if we had 100% participation in these things, for example, right? And if you're here and you say, "Well, I haven't gotten involved yet." That's like, "All right, how can like I love come find me. We'd love to get you involved in ministry and in uh support of of the church and the body of Christ, right? We'd h be happy to plug you in. But the church is not supposed to be a spectator sport, right? You can go home and watch football on the sideline, right? But don't come to church and stay on the sideline. Get active. Be involved. Remember what Paul said. It's been a while since we've been in Corinthians, but 1 Corinthians 12:12. Paul says, "For just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ." Remember, we are one body, many members. We function together, but we are one. We are unified in Christ. So, don't be the finger refusing to be lifted, right? In other words, don't be a Techite noble. I was telling people like if that if that's a takeaway for the sermon, like, I'm not going to be a Techite noble today. Um, hey, that's great. Be the Techite late people, they're awesome. They did all kinds of work, but their nobles didn't. Our third guideline for healthy church community is do what you can where God has placed you. Did you notice as we are reading how some families just built the portion of the wall by their house. Uh verse 23 after them Benjamin and Hashe repaired opposite their house. And after them Aariah the son of Manasse son of Ananiah repaired where? Beside his own house. And so for some of us, it's just like, hey, for some of them, the Israelites, like, hey, I live across from this thing. I'm going to wake up in the morning and see it every day. I might as well be active in rebuilding it and making it look nice. They built in the place where they lived, where God had them. They were working right where God had them at that moment. Where does God have you? Where has God placed you? Because oftentimes we worry about where God doesn't have us so much that we don't do anything where God does have us. Don't try to be somewhere you're not. We're better off doing what God has called us to do than trying to force ourselves into what we think is better than what God has for us. Oftenimes we get just caught up in like, well, I'm here, but like just wait till I'm there and I'll do this and this and this and this. When God really puts me in this place and it's all like later on I'll do this, later on I'll do that and then later never comes. For some of us, our house is where we need to focus our ministry, right? Don't go running to fix the sheep gate when the wall in front of your house is in ruin. How many of us are running to other ministries while neglecting our primary ministry to those in our own home? Right? Yes, we are called to serve at church, but not to the neglect of our own homes. Are there spiritual repairs that need to be made in your own home before you take on that big ministry in the church? Right? I'm going to do this big old thing for the church. I can't wait while the family is in shambles. And I will say this that pastors are notorious for sacrificing their family on the altar of ministry. Maybe you've heard that saying before. It's a common thing for pastors and we myself, I, us, others, other church leaders must lead by example by not idolizing ministry and making sure that our family is in order, not neglecting our family for the sake of ministry. Yes, there'll be times where something comes up in the church and like got to be there and I got to leave my house. Okay, but I better be making other time to be with my kids and my wife and disciple them. It's not all about being heard on a Sunday morning by however many people. It's about also for me what I do in my home and it's about all of us, right? Keep our houses in order as well. And this leads me to my final uh guiding principle for healthy church community. train and teach our children as we serve together. One of my favorite verses in this whole chapter is verse 12 where it says, you know, next to him, Shalom, the the son of Halohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem. What does that mean? He's has a prominent position. He has some authority. And what does it say? He repaired he and his daughters. Shalom. This guy took his daughters with him and made repairs. He didn't leave them home, tell them that they'll be in the way, and go off and do his own thing because, hey, the kids will just be in the way of everything. It's not the attitude. Now, I will say, I don't know if they're adult daughters or not, but like it doesn't say that they're not children. They could be 12 years old or they could be 20. I don't know. But he the point is what he took them with him on to work on the project. Our church is wrong if we keep our kids out of everything. Yes, there are times when they can't do certain things or be part of certain conversations. I get that. But the tendency of churches today can be complete segregation from adults and kids and sometimes even youth, right? Just keep all the students, everybody do everyone separate. Everyone's separate all the time. And yes, we have a kids ministry. But one thing I do tell everyone and if I haven't told you, I'm telling you now. But our kids ministry is optional, right? You can uh bring them there or you can worship with them in here next to you. Either one is fine with us. We also have two services. So you can go to kids ministry one hour and uh and come bring them in with you the second hour, right? You can do that. We got a bunch of kids rolling in right now. It's great. Love it. uh cuz we're going to get ready for baptism. So, it's wonderful. But whatever we do, bringing our kids along is important. We must be about training and teaching our children, right? This is a perfect example of us doing it right now. I love it. It was like great timing. They're probably planning this. They're plotting. But bringing our children in as we serve in our church and in our community. And and understand this, some of the greatest teaching moments can come from kids watching either their parents or other godly adults do godly things in front of them. Do you realize that you don't have to be the kid's biological parent or not? Just do godly things in front of children. Just be a godly man or a godly woman in front of them because they're watching a lot more than we realize, right? But just be godly in front of kids. Our closing thought is doing God's work requires an all hands-on deck mindset, right? As we serve and grow together in healthy church community, right? In order to do God's work, God's project, it takes everyone. We have to work together. We have to. Now, maybe you noticed, but this chapter is bookended by the sheep gate, right? Uh verse one. And Elisha the high priest rose up with his brothers and priests and they built what? The sheep gate. And they consecrated it or they they dedicated it and set its doors. Uh they consecrated it as far as the tower of the hundred and as far as tower of Hannel. That's verse one. Look at verse 32. And between the upper chamber of the corner and the sheep gate, uh, the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired, right? It begins and ends with the sheep gate. Don't miss this, okay? It's named the sheep gate for its function. It's the entry point through which sheep were brought into the city for sacrificial purposes in the temple. It's actually mentioned in the New Testament in John 5, which we're not going to get into, but in John 5:2, it says, "Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roof colonades." And there's a story there that we won't get into, but this still existed in Jesus day. And the narrative in Nehemiah 3 is bookended by what? It is bookended by the importance of the sacrificial system. Okay. There's a reason Nehemiah begins and ends with the sheep gate. He could have started with the dung gate. I'm going to start with the dung gate, wrap myself around, and come back to the dung gate. No, no, no. He doesn't do that, right? It's the sheep gate. Circle sheep gate. Why is the sheep gate so important? It represents the spiritual renewal of worship centered on the sacrificial system. So, building the temple, right? Because Ezra is involved in this too. Ezra, Nehemiah, building the temple, the gates and walls. It displays Israel's spiritual renewal just as much as its physical renewal. And it all, please don't miss miss this, it all points to Jesus Christ who is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. What did Jesus say in John chapter 10? He says, "I am the gate." Some will say door. It's in Greek. Okay, pick pick which one. It's the entryway for the sheep, for his sheep. He says, "I'm the gate of the sheep." You only come to God through Jesus Christ, the lamb of God who gave his life as a sacrifice for us. He is the good shepherd who what? lays down his life for the sheep. And so the rest of the gates and walls are important. Yes, we talked about that. But the sheep gate being built, we miss some of the importance of this because we like live a few thousand years later, right? But this is like a big deal. The sheep gates going up. The sheep gates going up. What does this mean? As the temple goes up and the sheep gate goes up, what does that mean? Worship, right? Worship, obedience to God is about to start back up again. It's exciting because it hasn't been going for for very long. The Babylonians destroyed the temple. So they can't worship God and do spirit and do sacrifices and then they've come and if you remember they've been there for about a hundred years and they still haven't done it yet. Why is this such an abomination? Because they they're not worshiping God, right? Because they haven't built the temple or the gates in the in the walls. So all of this represents renewed spiritual vigor to honor God by worshiping him rightly. That's the point. And if you if you you might forget all the in between, but the sheep gate, the reason that it's prominent is because it means that right worship of God is about to start happening again. And for us, right worship of God can only happen through the gate of the sheep of us, Jesus Christ. Do you understand that? Jesus said, "No one, not like most, but if you, you know, do this, this, this, and this, you can come to the father." Um, no. He said, "No one comes to the father except through me. He's the way, the truth, and the life. He is the gate of the sheep. He's the door of the sheep. He's the whatever word you want to use of the sheep of us. That's him. It's Jesus Christ." And so, we're going to go um into a time of of celebrating um new life in Christ in uh baptism. And as we move into to baptism, I want to invite uh Stephen and Arya if you're going to help um down front here. Um and invite the worship team to come up and be ready. But I I'll meet you down here. Um but if you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, today's the day. And I I was telling the nine o'clock service like I don't know how many times uh Billy Graham preached Nehemiah chapter 3 at a revival. I bet you it's not one of his go-to texts for um his evangelism tours. But what a great day to come to the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior at a sermon on Nehemiah 3. But the point is this that it's all about Jesus Christ. And so as we um as we come to celebrate baptism um it's it's a great segue. So this is Stephen. Stephen. Everyone say hi Stephen. Hi Stephen. Um and his wife Arya. Uh they've recently married. Um so this is great and wonderful. Um but as we were talking I was I was talking with Stephen and um we we uh found out like as he's a believer in Jesus Christ. his personal Lord and Savior, but he had never been baptized biblically. Um, Steven was baptized into the Mormon church around the age of five. Um, and he has come out of that has come to know Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Um, which we rejoice in, right? Um, and then it was kind of like, well, have you been biblically baptized? We baptized disciples of Jesus Christ. He's like, no, never. I was like, let's do it. Um, and he was all for it. So, if you want to hop in, um, climb on in. The water's fine. I made sure it was nice and warm, dude. Is it It is nice, huh? He's not going to want to get out. So, if you want to have a seat and then Arya, if you want to come on my right side. Um, and then if you want to scooch down this way to make room. All right. So, scooch. Yeah, scooch down. All right. If you want to come over here, Aria. All right. You want to cross your arms? All right. Stephen, is Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior? Yes, he is. Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins personally and that he rose again on the third day, showing his power over sin and death, and that he has authority over your life? Yes. All right. Well, then is my privilege to baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. For we are buried with him by baptism unto death. We can baptize all the way down. and raised to walk in newness of life. Yeah. Let's get you wh Let's get you some