Jesus' Authority Revealed

How about now? >> All right, I found Yeah, it's in a different spot. I was like, where's the button? Uh, good morning. I'm Pastor DJ. I'm the pastor here at Cross Church Phoenix. And if you're new with us, welcome in. Come find me afterwards. I'd love to chat with you and get to uh know you more and talk about Jesus. Um but till then, open your Bibles to Matthew chap 17. Matthew chapter 17. If you don't have a Bible, there's one in the seat back either in front of you or near you. There should be. And uh that is our gift to you. If you don't have a Bible, feel free to use it. Highlight it, underline it, mark it up, make notes, make it your Bible. We will gladly uh replace it. And as you're turning there, I want to uh thank everyone from the bottom of my heart uh who has put in all the blood, sweat, and tears. Yes, even some blood for VBS. Um uh but uh everyone's been working really hard and I was thanking someone this week and she's like, you know, I do it for the Lord, not for recognition. And I said amen to that. And I know that that is the heart of this church. And so, but you know who you are. Those of you who have uh helped get our VBS set up and we will have um some lunchy snack stuff too as well for those who want to stay and help us finish preparing what we have. There's a few things left to do after service. And I'm very excited to see what God does with uh this year's VBS. Well, this is our last sermon in our Miracles of Jesus series. Our text this morning is often called or referred to as the transfiguration. The transfiguration. So, no one will be healed. No demons will be cast out. No children raised from the dead. No storm ceasing. However, what Peter, James, and John are about to experience will leave them completely terrified. They will be scared out of their minds. The transfiguration isn't so much a miracle of Jesus as it is a a miraculous revelation of who Jesus is. And it's an invitation to behold the glory of Christ. And so that's our main heading this morning. beholding the glory of Christ. And if you have an outline, that's what you'll see there at the top. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. I thank you for your word. And I pray now like Peter, James, and John that we would just see you. That we would see Christ exalted in this place, the name above every name. God, help us to see the cross. Help us to see the centrality of the cross. Even in a text like the transfiguration, the cross take center stage. We thank you for it. Pray that you'd give us ears to hear what your spirit has to say to the church here at Cross Church Phoenix in Jesus name. Amen. Well, let's stand as we read Matthew 17:es 1-13. And if you're unable to stand, no worries. Uh just stand with us in in heart and spirit as we simply honor and show our honor to God's word this morning. Matthew 17 beginning in verse one. After 6 days, Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John and led them up a high on a high mountain by themselves. He was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun. His clothes became as white as the light. suddenly or behold Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him. And then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it's good for us to be here. Um, I will set up three shelters here. One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud covered them. And a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell face down and were terrified. Jesus came up, touched them, and said, "Get up. Don't be afraid." When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, "Don't tell anyone about the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead." So the disciples asked him, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" "Elijah is coming and will restore everything," he replied. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they didn't recognize him. On the contrary, they did whatever they pleased to him in the same way the son of man is going to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist. Thanks. You can be seated. Amen. Well, at this point in Matthew, walking with Jesus is getting more serious for the disciples. It's been fun seeing the miracles and schooling the Pharisees and the Sadducees and experiencing the blessings that come with, I don't know, hanging out with God incarnate. But in chapter 16, there is a little bit of a change in tone. And while we're not going through the entire Gospel of Matthew, which I want to so bad, um I want you to know and see some of the the context leading up to the transfiguration. And in chapter 16, Peter confesses Jesus is the Messiah. He is the Christ, the son of the living God. And it is after that confession that Jesus starts to point out a sobering truth. And if you look uh up or back in your Bible at Matthew 16 verse 21, it says this. From then on, Jesus began to point out or to show to his disciples that it was what? necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the chief or from the elders, chief priests and scribes, be killed and be raised the third day. Well, Peter didn't like what he was hearing. Lord, that sounds a little bit like kind of that's like a big giant bummer. Um Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, I don't like hearing that. I don't like hearing that. That doesn't sound right that you would suffer and die. So Peter rebukes Jesus. He just called him the Messiah, the Christ, right? The son of the living God. It's not like Peter's oblivious. He knows who he is. And yes, he had the audacity to rebuke the son of the living God. Jesus corrects Peter, of course he does, and goes into a solemn discourse. in summary saying this. Look, if you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me, and be willing to give up your life. Things are starting to get serious. What I love about Jesus is that he matches the sobering reality of suffering and death with the joyous reality of future glory. So he doesn't leave them on a low note. Jesus balances the truth of suffering in this life with also the truth of coming kingdom glory. And so if you look back at Matthew 16:28, Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see what? The son of man coming in his kingdom." And what do you read? Chapter 17 verse one. Knowing and remembering that chapter divisions are not in the original. They're added for help, but they're connected still. The end of 16 is connected with 17 after six days. Right? A week later, we find ourselves in chapter 17. And what's happening? Some of them, Peter, James, and John to be exact, will see Jesus in his glory. So, yes, I believe that the transfiguration is a fulfillment of what Jesus just said about a week ago. And so the first thing we see I want to point I want us to see three different things here in the text verses 1-4. The first point first thing the glory of Christ revealed. The glory of Christ is revealed. Now Luke tells us Jesus took Peter, James, and John. And Luke gives us the reason to go up the mountain to pray. That's what they're going to do. And Luke also adds that he Jesus was transfigured while he was praying. Fascinating. Also, what we learn is the disciples, as they often did, fell asleep. The disciples fell asleep. And before we judge them too harshly, we probably would too, right? Jesus would pray for hours and hours. I don't know, maybe you do, but you probably fall asleep, too. So would I. And according to Luke, the disciples woke up to Jesus being transfigured. So as Jesus' face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light, it's probably difficult to stay asleep. It's getting bright around here. I couldn't even sleep under these lights. And that's like nothing, right? Compared to the glory of Christ. And so it wakes them up. And I like what Mark says. So I'm sprinkling in just so we have the full picture. But in Mark 9:3, his Mark's transfiguration account, he says this about the clothes of Jesus. He says, "And his clothes became dazzling, extremely white, as no launderer on earth could whiten them." Meaning, no amount of bleach in anyone's laundry could make clothes this white and bright. That's what Mark says. And so, this is a glimpse into the majestic glory of Christ. And what we need to remember is that this Jesus is no less real than the Jesus they've been walking around with. But this is him revealing just a a glimpse of his glory. And suddenly right or behold Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus having a conversation with him. Now there are various interpretations as to why Moses and Elijah, right? Why Moses and Elijah? Of all the Old Testament folks, it could have been so and so or so and why Moses and Elijah and we don't have uh time to cover every reason. I believe that there it's multiaceted. We could preach for like six, seven weeks on different aspects of the transfiguration, right? But I do want to go over a few. And for one, Moses represents the Old Testament law. In fact, the Old Testament law that God gave Moses was often called simply the law of Moses. Kind of sum summarizing Genesis to Deuteronomy would be referred to mostly as simply the law of Moses. The penetuk, those first five books of the Bible. Elijah would represent the Old Testament prophetic ministry. those who have gone before Christ came, ending with John the Baptist, but those like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and of course Elijah, Elisha, and others, representing that prophetic ministry, those who prophesied the Messiah's coming. And now, as we know in the New Testament, what we know about Christ is that Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets perfectly, right? He kept the law perfect. He never fell short of the standards that God set. He didn't break one of the ten commandments like we do basically every day. But not one. Even if you and I could keep nine. What does the scripture say? If you broken one, you might as well have broken them all. the the expectation, the requirement is perfection. And you and I don't have it. Jesus does. And he fulfills perfectly the law. He also fulfilled the prophecies concerning him perfectly. No prophecy goes unfulfilled in Christ. Now, there are still things to come. Yes, the new heavens and the new earth and future glory that we all look forward to. But no prophecy concerning Jesus Christ goes unfulfilled. We see him fulfilling law and the prophets. We also see Jesus as the greater than Moses and Elijah. If you remember when G uh when Moses went up Mount Si to receive the law, he would come down. You remember this? With his face glowing. You remember that? With his face glowing. And what was it? Moses was reflecting the glory of God having been in God's presence for a period of time. This Matthew 17 is different. Jesus isn't reflecting any glory. He is this is his own intrinsic glory shining forth. He's not reflecting the whatever glory that Moses or Elijah might have. I This is Jesus revealing his own intrinsic glory. And then Peter opens his mouth, right? He says, "Lord, this is pretty awesome. It's pretty amazing. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to set up three shelters for you guys. One for you, Jesus. One for Moses, and one for Elijah." Now, Mark kind of gives us a little bit of insight into Peter, right? Mark says, "Peter spoke because he didn't know what to say." The guy's like, "I don't know what to say, but I got to say something. Oh, Lord, here's what I'm going to do. Build three houses." What's the implication? Well, we'll get to that. But Peter is taken back by the whole thing and he doesn't know what to say and he just blurts something out and he's immediately silenced by the father from heaven. And that's our second point here. The glory of Christ. We see the glory of Christ confirmed. Confirmed. Now I love verse five. While he was still speaking, God doesn't wait for Peter to finish what he has to say. Suddenly, a bright cloud covers them and the voice says, "This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased." Sound familiar? The father said that at Jesus' baptism when we have the father speaking from heaven. We have the spirit descending on him like on Jesus like a dove. And we have the son being baptized by John the Baptist. And here we have the father speaks from heaven again. The sun is being transfigured in the Holy Spirit there in the cloud I believe represents quite possibly the spirit being there. But we know that the spirit testifies the same and they fall face down terrified. And this whole scene has many parallels to Exodus. Um, and I just want to give us a few so that we can see the bigger picture. When Moses received the law from God at Mount Si, it says this. Exodus 24:16, the glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Si, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day, he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Verse one here, it says, "After six days, what? Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain. Mount Si was covered with a cloud." Here in verse five of our text, a bright cloud covers them. The Lord Yahweh called out to Moses. Hear the Father speaks, "This is my beloved son." The disciples are terrified of the glory and majesty of Christ and the declaration of the father. In Exodus 34:30, we read what Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were what? Afraid to come near him. The Israelites were afraid of the reflected glory of Moses just like the disciples are terrified probably even more so by the intrinsic glory of Christ. There are other parallels we could make to Moses and Elijah. Both of their ministries, both of their God-given ministries experienced rejection and suffering. Elijah, as you know, raised a widow's son from the dead. Jesus raised the dead, too. There's there's all kinds of parallels, but here's what I want you to see. The father then says something specifically about Jesus. Listen to him. This is a direct fulfillment of Deuteronomy 18:15 when Moses himself says this, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers." And then what does Moses say? It is to him you shall what? Listen. The father specifically saying that I believe I am convinced of to show and to bring that out. He is the greater than Moses prophet that we need to listen to. Muhammad was about 600 years too late. Islam, right? Muhammad claims to be what? the great the prophet spoken of here in Deuteronomy 18:15. That's what Muhammad claims to be and what Islam claims him to be. Problem is the father already declared that's Christ and so did Peter um in the book of Acts confirms that as well. It's the prophet who was spoken of. Unfortunately, Muhammad was about 600 years too late to the party. This was already fulfilled 600 years before Muhammad was even a thought in anyone's mind. Christ is the greater than Moses, greater than Elijah, prophet. And so it's all coming together here. Christ is the greater than Moses, greater than Elijah, prophet, priest, and king. And we must listen to him. This is not a suggestion. This is actually a command. This is an imperative. When God when the father says listen to him, that is an imperative command. Listen to Jesus Christ. And did you know that the gospel itself, the good news of Jesus Christ is actually a command to be obeyed. Did you know the gospel is actually a command? The gospel is not a suggestion. It is a command a it's not a suggestion to consider. It's a command to believe. Did you know that Paul teaches this in 2 Corinthians 1:8? And in 2 Corinthians 1, basically Paul is describing the future return of Jesus Christ. And he says he's going to come and he's going to righteously judge. Let me describe it for you in his terms. 2 Thessalonians 1:8. He's going to come in what? Flaming fire. In flaming fire. Inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ is not like rejecting vanilla ice cream in favor of chocolate ice cream. like it's some neutral choice, like this is an even playing field, like it has no other ramifications. Okay, you prefer this over this. No, no, no, no. Rejecting the gospel is an overt act of disobedience to God, to the command to believe the gospel. And here in our text, the father is commanding listening to Jesus. And at the father's voice, they are completely terrified. Rightfully so. And God in his grace relieves them of his of their terror when Jesus come. And as he does with many who have fallen down terrified, he does this with John in Revelation 2, just comes, touches them, says, "Get up. Don't be afraid." They look up and everyone's gone except Jesus. Why? It's all about him. This is not about being infatuated with Moses or Elijah. It's about centering all of the attention on Jesus Christ. And now it's time to come down the mountain. Right. Let's go down the mountain. Verses 9 through13. Our final point. The glory of Christ's cross. The glory of Christ's cross. I don't want you and I to miss this. Please don't miss this. You realize our lives depend on verse 9, Jesus coming down that mountain. Though Jesus revealed his great glory, his purity, his majesty, he will come down that mountain to go to the cross. Because remember back in chapter 16 21 when Jesus was pointing this out to the disciples, he said it is necessary, not optional. The cross is not seen as optional in the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all agree the cross is necessary. It is necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and be raised. And so when Peter pulls him aside, aside and says, "Oh, no, no, no, no, Lord. This will never happen to you." What is Peter saying? He's saying, "You're the Messiah. You're the Christ. You're the son of the living God. You don't need to die on a cross. You don't need to do that. That's completely unnecessary. You can have the crown without the cross. And while that's true that Jesus is too good, too pure, too holy for a cross, too perfect to die such a horrible death, the scriptures declare it's necessary because it is his mission. His mission from the get-go, from eternity past, read Ephesians, is to go to the cross for you and for me. And so Jesus tells Peter those strong words, right? Get behind me, Satan. Right? You're like, man, that's strong words, Jesus, right? Like, get behind me, Satan. Man, you just called Peter Satan. Gesh. No, no. He says he get behind me, Satan. Why, Peter? Why? Because you're not thinking about God's concerns. but human concerns. In other words, back in chapter 16, Peter is focused on merely human concerns, which would be what? Anything you and I would be concerned about. Um, avoiding a painful and excruciating death if we don't have to, right? Or if we think we don't have to. But God, that's Peter's concern, right? Avoid Lord, like you don't need to go through that. God's concern was what? the salvation of his people which requires Christ's death on the cross. The reason Jesus rebukes Peter so strongly is because of the nec the necessity of the cross is that important to God's agenda. And so when we come here, Peter speaks up again right at the transfiguration. And here he is talking again and he says, "Let me build you, Moses, and Elijah three shelters or three tabernacles." God interrupts Peter again. Stop, Peter. Stop. Listen to him. Listen to him. And he's about to tell him going down the mountain, I got to suffer and die again. Listen to Jesus. Why? Because Jesus ultimate mission wasn't to come show off his glory on a mountain and go back to heaven without going to the cross. Peter's like, "Man, it's good to be here. Let's build little houses and what? What would be the implication? What point is Peter missing? Let's build houses and what? Stay up here." That's what you'd do if you built a little tabernacle up there. The implication is that you'd stay up there for a little while. And that wasn't the point. The point was never to stay on the mountain in glory. It was to come down to the cross. When you read the other gospel accounts, Luke especially, please don't miss this. Turn over to Luke 9. Um, so we'll be out of Matthew 17. I need you to see something yourself in Luke 9. So, Matthew, Mark, Luke, you'll go through Mark and Luke 9, beginning at verse 28. Here's what I want you to see. I'll give you a second. The cross has been center stage in the transfiguration all along. Luke 9 beginning at verse 28 about 8 days after this is Luke's way of saying about a week later. It's not a contradiction. Well, they said 6 days after this. No, this happened on the seventh day, but he's saying about 8 days after this conversation. Luke is saying about a week later. He took alone Peter, James, and John went up on the mountain to pray. And he was I'm sorry. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly, two men were talking with him. Moses and Elijah, don't miss verse 31. They appeared in glory and were what? speaking of his departure which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. When Moses and Elijah appear talking with Jesus, what's the topic of conversation? The cross is the cross is the conversation. They're talking about his departure which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem which would be his death on the cross in Jerusalem and his resurrection. The Greek word for uh departure there is the Greek word exodos. Exodos. What does it sound like? Exodus, right? They're talking about the exodus Jesus is about to accomplish at Jerusalem, which refers to his death. One of the major themes in the gospels, especially in Matthew, especially in Matthew, who gives some of the most obscure Old Testament references to explain himself. And it does kind of puzzle people. But you have to understand this major motif or theme that Jesus Christ is king and leading a second exodus from this world into glory for those who are in Christ. Moses led the first exodus out of Egypt into uh the promised land and he gets them close and Joshua takes over and all that. Yes. But Moses leads that first exodus from Egypt to to Canaan literally physically. Jesus is leading the second spiritual exodus from this world to glory. That is a major motif that you have to understand. And so he's speaking, they're speaking about his exodus. And and Peter uses this exact same word in second Peter 1:15 when he's writing. He's saying, you know, I want to remind you of the truth so you'll be established in the truth because I'm about to die. And what does Peter say about his own death? Second Peter 1:15, he says, "And I will make every effort so that after my departure or after my exodus when he dies to go and goes to be with the Lord, after my exodus, you will be you may be able at any time to recall these things." He cares about the people, knowing the word, loving the Lord, and growing in their maturity when he's gone. So he's writing to them saying after my exodus I want you guys to know all this stuff. Of all the things Jesus, Moses, and Elijah could have talked about, it was the cross. Moses could have been like, "Hey Jesus, remember when you parted the Red Sea? That was awesome." Or Elijah, remember when you allowed me to raise that widow's son or or call down fire from heaven on Mount Carmel? That was cool, huh? Yes, it was. But none of those compare to the cross. And here Moses and Elijah are not talking about the past. They are talking about the future. The departure Jesus is about to accomplish. This is about to happen. It's coming. And it's all Moses and Elijah could talk about. And it's all we ought to be able to talk about. We cross church Phoenix, may we be about preaching Christ and him crucified. It's about knowing Christ. And Christ reiterates the centrality of the cross as they come down the mountain. Right? The disciples ask about Elijah, right? Why do they say Elijah's supposed to come? Yes, it's a great question because that is on the prophetic calendar. It's legit prophecy. And Jesus says, "Yeah, that's absolutely true." And you know what? Elijah has come. It was John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Elijah. And look what they did to him. Jesus immediately takes it back to and look what they did. You remember what they did? They beheaded John the Baptist. That's what just happened a little while ago a few chapters back. John the Baptist lost his life because some king was having a party. Liked how this woman danced and said, "What do you want? I'll give you anything you you want." And she says, "John the Baptist head on a platter and he's got to do it because he's a man of his word, right?" And so John gives up his life for seemingly the most ridiculous thing ever. And Jesus says, "You know how they treated him? They imprisoned him, chopped off his head, suffered many things from the other people. Guess what's going to happen to me? I'm going to suffer the same and die. Right? They kill John the Baptist. Guess what's going to happen to me? I'm going to suffer and be killed at their hands. Just like John, the glory, the the glory of Christ's cross is center stage from beginning to end in the transfiguration. The cross is the greatest act of humility in the history of the universe because it's Christ in all his glory steps down to suffer and die on a cross made for sinners like you and I. We should be there. The step Christ took down from glory to becoming a man of flesh, Emanuel, God with us. The step down is eternally greater than if you became a slug to save slugs. It would be we can't even comprehend the step down. And Paul says right that this is an act of humility. Have this mind in you which was in Christ Jesus because he was humble and he took on the form of a a servant. He became man, fully God, fully man and was obedient to death, even death on a cross. The cross is the focus of Moses, the focus of Elijah, Peter, James, John, all the rest, all the discip Matthew, Mark, name the rest of them. It's the focus of all of them. Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets and he accomplishes what? Their salvation, too. Christ had to die for Moses and Elijah's sins, too. The cross is the focus of the Trinity, the Father and Holy Spirit confirming Christ the Son. The cross is the central focus of Moses and Elijah. Is it yours? Is the cross your focus or are you distracted by eternally lesser things like lunch, something just Nothing wrong with going. I know we're all hungry, right? But I'm trying to say, what I'm trying to say is, does anything, does anything, anything take away from the cross in your life? Anything. Because if Christ's and him crucified is not central in your life, whatever else is is an unworthy idol. Can I just put it to you that way? It's an unworthy idol. Get rid of it. The old King James, right? It says, "Mortify it, right? Kill it. Mortify it. Take care of it. I don't care what's in the way. If sports is in the way of the cross in your life, get rid of it. Get rid of it. You think it's worth it? No, it's not. There is no no sports or game more important, right? Come February, churches, I don't know. We'll see what happens, right? The Super Bowl becomes more important than God. There's no sports game more important. There's no accomplishment more vital. There's no life goal more worthy than knowing Jesus Christ. I just put it that way. Yes, we have hobbies and we go to work and we have to do things. I'm not I what I'm saying is is the cross of Christ central in your life in your daily walk with Jesus or does it take a backseat Monday through Saturday and oh yeah Jesus on Sunday my challenge for our church is that the c it's in our name cross church right it's in the name are we are all of us about the cross. We're about to have like 65 kids in VBS if they all come and it's going to be fun. We'll do cool things, but we must give them Christ and we must show him the cross. Show them the cross and what he did for them on the cross. Because if we don't, it's all for nothing. It's a complete our VBS would be a complete waste of time if we don't show them Christ and him crucified. You say, "Even at a young age, my 5-year-old's coming, they know need to know about Jesus excruciating death on the cross." Yes. Yes. As I was working on this this week, I confess that I really struggle with application of it. I was like, "How do we apply this text?" Like really, the whole point is just the majesty and glory of Christ. I was like, well then that's going to be the application. Will you not just on Sunday but every day behold the glory of Christ in your own life when you wake up in the morning Christ and him crucified. That's what I want to know more about. When you go to work, how can I learn? How can I just be more like Christ today? When you go play, do stuff, whatever, hang out with friends and family. How can I be like Christ? How can I just I don't know consume more of God, learn more and grow closer to him. Don't let anything get in the way. May the cross of Christ be central in all our lives this morning. And we have um another celebration this morning of baptism. So, I want to invite Mona to come on down and we're going to uh baptize her. And I also want to invite the worship team to come on up so we're ready for the last song. Um but uh here let me meet you down here. All right. Oops. Don't get close to there. All right. Come here, Mona. All right, everyone. This is Mona. Everyone say hi, Mona. Hi, Mona. What's up? Yeah. So, she came up to me. Um, actually, we talked last week and you basically were like, "We need to talk about baptism, too." And I said, "All right, let's meet and talk about it." And you had um you've come to Christ as well, but have never been baptized as a disciple of Jesus Christ. And so, we met. We talked through the gospel. She's like, "That's me. I love the Lord. I've come to him, but I want to obey him in uh baptism. So, we're here to do that, right? We're here to obey God and do what he says. >> All right. Publicly proclaim you love Jesus. >> All right. Well, if you want to step in, it's freezing cold. I forgot. I'm just kidding. It's not I do that every time to see. No, I'm just kidding. No, you're good. You can step on it. >> Yeah. Facing this way. And then if we'll come down here. All right. All right, Mona. Is Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior? >> Yes. >> Do you believe that he died on the cross for your sins personally and that he rose again on the third day to show his power and authority over sin and death and that he has authority over your life? >> Yes. >> Well, upon your profession of faith, it is my privilege to baptize you. You can cross your arms if you like. Um, baptize you, my sister, 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. and raised to walk in newness of life. >> All right, there's a towel for you. All right, let's stand and sing our last song.