Resurrection Day
April 5, 2026
57:55
Cross Church Phoenix
Summary
What does it truly mean to celebrate Resurrection Day? Are you living in the city of destruction or on the path to the celestial city? Discover how knowing Christ transforms our lives and shapes our destinies. Let's dive in together!
Cross Church, Phoenix. How are you?
>> Good morning. Welcome in. Happy
Resurrection Sunday.
Amen. He is risen.
And he is risen indeed. Amen.
Christ has triumphed over email. Uh over
email. Uh Christ has triumphed over
evil. It was finished upon that cross.
Good morning and happy resurrection
Sunday. I'm Pastor DJ. I'm the pastor
here at Cross Church Phoenix. So, if
you're new here, welcome. Um it is a
joyous time and uh I just I love to see
what God is doing. And so, um I just
man, it is amazing to not only reflect
on what he has done, but to see what he
is actively doing in the lives of his
people as we celebrate. We have four
baptisms this service. We had one at
9:00 a.m. We have four more today. So,
uh praise God.
At this time, I invite you to open your
Bibles to Philippians chapter 3. And if
you need a Bible, there should be one in
the seat back in front of you. And if
you don't have a Bible, that is your
Bible, then you can keep it. That is our
gift to you. You can mark it, you can
highlight it, you can make notes,
whatever you want. It's your Bible.
We'll gladly replace it. And I think I'm
actually at the point where I need to
order more. Anyway, I also want to
extend uh as Brian said, my personal
thanks and gratitude to everyone
involved in putting on our sunrise
service and breakfast. It was wonderful.
Praise the Lord. And you know who you
are, but thank you for putting that on.
The book of Philippians
is known as the epistle or the letter of
joy.
Paul is writing
Philippians. He's writing to the church
at Philippi from prison.
And it is known as the epistle of joy
because it's so joyful. And it is,
but it's also very confrontational.
And that can be the hard part
because
he will say some difficult things in our
text this morning.
Aside from the Bible,
one of the books I personally believe
should be mandatory reading for every
Christian is Pilgrim's Progress by John
Bunan.
Bunan wrote Pilgrim's Progress while in
prison himself for preaching the gospel
and it was published in 1678.
It's an almost 400year-old book and it's
amazing and it's actually never
alongside the Bible. It has never been
out of print.
Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory of the
Christian life. It tells the story of
Christian, who's the main character, uh
how he gets saved and how he continues
to live the Christian life as he
navigates the temptations and the trials
of life. I highly recommend reading it.
But for our purposes this morning, I
want to share with you the beginning of
the story.
It begins with Christian, that's his
name. It begins with Christian who lives
in the city of destruction.
He lives in the city of destruction. And
because this is an allegory, as an
allegory, everything is representative.
So the city of destruction
represents the world. The world.
While living in the city of destruction,
Christian begins reading a book. It's
representative of the Bible. And he
becomes aware of a heavy burden he is
bearing.
His
burden is his sin
and his burden grows on his back and it
becomes heavier and heavier and bigger
and bigger. You can watch movie
adaptations of this or interpretations
of it if you want. But this burden of
sin is permanently attached to him. It's
almost pictured like a backpack that is
fixed to you. You can't get rid of it.
Christian, no matter what he does, he
can't get rid of it himself. It is fixed
to him. And he cannot, no matter how
hard he tries, break free of it. And it
grows and it gets heavier and it weighs
him down more and more and is breaking
him.
While Christian is in the city of
destruction pondering his burden of sin
and reading his book, he ends up crying
out, "What shall I do to be saved?"
He wants out of the city of destruction.
He wants freedom from his burden but
doesn't know where to go or how to do it
until he meets a man named Evangelist.
He meets a man named Evangelist who
comes and asks him why are you crying?
Why are you crying?
Christian explains his burden of sin and
his fear of being destroyed in the city
of destruction and that he doesn't know
what to do.
And so what evangelist does is he gives
him what Bunan describes, remember this
is the 1600s, a parchment roll. Now some
people think it's representative of the
Bible or it could be a tract, you know,
like a gospel tract. Either way, it's
truth. He gives them a parchment roll
that reads, "Flee the wrath to come."
That's what it says. "Flee the wrath to
come." And what he does is he points
Christian to the wicked gate. He says,
"Do you see the wicked gate over
yonder?" And Christian's like, "I can't
quite see it." He says, "You see the
bright light shining?" He says, "Yes, I
see the light." in and evangelist says
flee the city of destruction and run to
the wicked gate. Now the wicked gate is
a small gate that represents Christ
being the narrow way that leads to
eternal life and John Bunan's term for
eternal life is the celestial city.
So the story is about Christian's
pilgrimage, leaving the city of
destruction and journeying on the narrow
path that leads to the celestial city.
I say all of that to say this. One of
the great things Bunan does is show the
difference
between those who are headed for the
celestial city
and those
in the city of destruction.
There is a difference.
Those who are heading for destruction
are one way and those heading for the
celestial city are another way and
there's a difference.
That's what Paul's saying here in
Philippians chapter 3.
This is the message of Paul from God in
Philippians chapter 3.
if you have a handout this morning. If
you don't, we have little uh handouts
that have the outline of the sermon,
some fill-in- thelanks, some notes if
you would like. And if you don't, that's
okay. But in my attempt to be creative,
which usually doesn't go very well, um
but you'll see the two main heading
sections. How to know if you're headed
to the celestial city and then how to
know if you're still in the city of
destruction.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you
for the shed blood of Jesus Christ who
washes away our sin
and bids us come
to him for life
because we don't have it on our own.
God, I pray that you would give us ears
to hear what the spirit would say to the
church at Cross Church Phoenix, this
congregation this morning in Jesus name.
Amen. I'm going to ask you if you're
able to stand with me as we read
Philippians 3 10-21.
I know the outline might say 12. We're
going to actually start in verse 10.
And if you can't stand with us or that's
diff that's fine. Stand with us in
spirit.
But Paul says in Philippians 3 backing
in verse up to verse 10 in in the CSB.
The translations some some are different
here. Um but I am reading from the CSB.
He says this. My goal is to know him in
the power of his resurrection and the
fellowship of his sufferings being
conformed to his death assuming that I
will somehow reach the resurrection from
among the dead. Not that I have already
reached the goal or imperfect, but I
make every effort to take hold of it
because I have all I have also been
taken hold of by Christ
by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I
do not consider myself to have taken
hold of it. But one thing I do,
forgetting what is behind and reaching
forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my
goal the prize promised by God's
heavenly call in Christ Jesus.
Therefore,
let all of us who are mature think this
way. And if you think differently about
anything, God will reveal this also to
you. In any case, we should live up to
whatever truth we have attained. Join in
imitating me, brothers and sisters, and
pay careful attention to those who live
according to the example you have in us.
For I have often told you, and now say
again with tears that many,
many live
as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their end is destruction. Their god is
their stomach. Their glory is in their
shame. They are focused on earthly
things. But our citizenship is in
heaven. And we eagerly wait for a savior
from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. He
will transform the body of our humble
condition into the likeness of his
glorious body by the power that enables
him to subject everything to himself.
Amen. And you can be seated.
In verse 12, Paul says, "Not that I have
already reached the goal or am already
perfect, but I make every effort to take
hold of it." What's the it?
The it is the goal, right?
He's saying he hasn't reached the goal,
but he makes every effort to because
here's why he makes every effort to
reach that goal. Because he's been taken
hold of by Christ.
So the question is then what goal is he
talking about? What is this goal or what
is this thing that he is pursuing
striving toward?
And verse 10 is the answer.
As a Christian, as a believer in Jesus,
Paul's goal is to know him
and to know the power of his
resurrection and to know the fellowship
of his sufferings being conformed to his
death. That's the goal.
verse 12-4
are describing Paul's pursuit of those
goals. Okay. So he uses words like make
every effort uh forgetting what lies
behind and reaching or straining forward
toward straining striving toward what's
ahead. Uh he says pursuing the goal uses
words like pressing on toward the prize
promised by God's heavenly call in
Christ Jesus. What is he saying? He is
describing his passionate pursuit
of knowing Christ more, knowing
the power of his resurrection more, and
knowing the fellowship of his sufferings
more.
And in verse 15, Paul says, what mature
Christians think this way? Think what
way? They share the goal of knowing
Christ more, knowing the power of his
resurrection more, knowing the
fellowship of his sufferings more. And
then he even says, um, if you think
differently, okay, God will reveal this
also to you, right? In time, he will
reveal this to you. Maybe someone's not
mature in their walk yet, and he's
saying, God will show this to you. In
any case, live up to, he says, the truth
you've attained. What does that mean?
He's saying live what you do know to be
truth
and God in his time will reveal more to
you is what he's saying.
Then he says in verse 17 which is the
exhortation. Verse 17 contains the two
commands of the passage or the two
imperatives of the passage. Join in
imitating me is a command. He's telling
the Philippians, "Imitate me.
This mindset that I have, this drive
that I have in pursuit of the goal of
knowing Christ more." And when he says,
"And pay careful attention to those who
live according to the example you have
in us. Pay careful attention is a
command." He's saying not only to join
in imitating him, but follow the example
of anyone who shares that
goal. Paul is saying Philippian
believers live like me not in a proud
self-righteous sense but he's saying my
goal my focus my aim is to pursue what
he said in verse 10 and he's saying
follow that
and here's the kicker
if you look down at verse 20 and we'll
address 18 and 19 the hard part of the
chapter
Look down at verse 20. What does he say?
For our
citizenship is in heaven.
Our
citizenship,
the ones whose goal is to know Christ
and know his resurrection and know his
sufferings, those ones are citizens of
heaven. They're the ones who eagerly
wait for their savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And verse 21 is what we look
forward to him doing. We want to know
Christ more. And then we look forward to
what he's going to do in and through us,
transforming our humble bodies into the
likeness of his glorious body by his
power.
The same power that he has to subject
everything under himself
is the same power that will change you
into glory.
So our first main heading is this. How
to know if you're headed to the
celestial city. Or if you want to use
Paul's words, how to know if you're a
citizen of heaven.
The first way to know is this. Your goal
is to know Christ more.
Is your goal to know Christ more?
Do you long to know Christ more today
than yesterday?
Do you hunger and thirst to get to know
your savior more? to study his word and
to see Christ more vividly, more
clearly, and grow in your love for him.
That's characteristic of one who's
headed to the celestial city or one
whose citizenship is in heaven.
That's what Paul is communicating
because the fact of the matter is some
Christians know more statistics of their
favorite sports teams than they do about
Christ.
Right
>> now, there's nothing wrong with knowing
sports stats in of in and of themselves,
but do you pursue knowledge of that,
just as an example, more than Christ?
Knowing Christ is more important than
sports, politics, movies, social media,
whatever you're into, consider it
nothing compared to knowing Jesus
Christ. In the full context of the
passage, if you were to read the whole
chapter, you would come across verse
seven, which Paul says, I consider
everything. Not some things, everything
loss compared to the surpassing value of
knowing Christ. He's saying that knowing
Christ is of such great value, he's
placing such great weight on it that
everything else pales in comparison to
that
everything
is loss
for the surpassing worth of knowing
Christ. Do you long to know more of
Christ in that way?
If so, that's ed that's evidence your
citizenship is in heaven. Point number
two, surprise surprise, it's just the
passage, right? Our second point is your
goal is to know the power of his
resurrection.
Now, you say, how do we grow in our
knowledge of the power of his
resurrection?
This is a desire married up with knowing
Christ. He says,"I want to know Christ
more. I want to know him more. And then
also, I want to know the power of his
resurrection." Meaning, I want to know
how to live for him more. That's what
he's saying.
This is a desire to not only just know
Christ, but to know how to live for him
better. That's knowing the power of his
resurrection. knowing how to live for
him better as a result of knowing him.
How can I better live the new life I
have in Christ because of his
resurrection
led by the Holy Spirit? How can I walk
how Christ wants me to walk?
In Colossians chapter 1, Paul writes in
verse 9, "We haven't stopped praying for
you."
And here's the contents of those
prayers. He says, "We are asking
that you, church at Colasse, that you
may be filled with the knowledge of his
will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding so that that's a purpose
statement. I want you to be filled with
the knowledge of Christ and his will so
that you may walk worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in
every good work, and growing in the
knowledge of God, being strengthened
with all power
according to his glorious might.
In Romans 8, Paul says that the spirit,
get this, the spirit of him who raised
Jesus from the dead is living in you.
Do you understand that? The same spirit
that raised Jesus Christ from the dead
is the same one who lives in you. If
you're a believer in Jesus Christ, he
indwells you and leads you and guides
you in righteousness. The same one.
>> The same one.
This is not spirit 2.0. This is not B
team Holy Spirit. It's the same one.
Do we have a hunger and thirst for
righteousness?
You know, after Paul says that in Romans
8, the spirit of him who raised Jesus
from the dead is living in you. He says,
"Therefore, we don't live according to
the flesh, but according to the spirit."
This is a call to live differently
because you know Christ.
Do you have a longing to pursue and live
a holy life by the power of the Holy
Spirit? If so,
if so,
it's evidence you're a citizen of
heaven.
Third, surprise, surprise, your goal is
to know the fellowship of his
sufferings.
Now, this is the part we kind of want to
skip, right?
Yeah, I want to know Christ and I want
to know how to live him for a fellowship
of his sufferings. I don't know about
that, right?
You may want to know Christ more. You
may want to know the power of his
resurrection more. Can you say you want
to know the fellowship of his
sufferings?
Living a holy life, loving Christ, being
saturated by scripture and living by its
truths will come with opposition from
this hostile world.
Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy
chapter 3. This is the last letter um
that we have from Paul. This is before
his martyrdom. He's going to be beheaded
shortly thereafter. After he writes this
letter, he's going to be killed for the
sake of Christ in the gospel. And what
does he tell Timothy? Indeed. Right? We
say on Easter, he is risen. He is risen
indeed. Paul says indeed. All, count it,
all not some. All who desire to live a
godly life in Christ Jesus will be
persecuted. It doesn't say might be. Um
it doesn't say could be. It says will be
because the Bible is countercultural to
our world. And if we proclaim it and
live by it, we will be hated. You say
hated is a strong word, DJ. It's the
words of Jesus. What did he tell his
disciples? If the world hates you, know
this.
It has hated me first.
There is no disciple of Christ who's
been hated before Christ. Christ was
hated first before any disciple of his
ever was.
This isn't to say Christians go looking
for suffering or looking for
persecution. But when it comes, can you
count it a joy to know his sufferings?
If you live a godly life in Christ, no
matter what the world throws at you,
it's evidence you're a citizen of
heaven. Or if we want to use our
Pilgrim's Progress analogy, you're on
the road to the celestial city.
Here comes the hard part.
As I studied this passage, I was like,
"Yep, this one's going to be hard." It's
not your typical Easter message.
There is
another group of people
in this text.
There's
a different kind of people Paul
introduces in verse 18 and 19.
And they are those who live as enemies
of the cross of Christ.
Enemies of the cross of Christ.
Notice the change from Paul
uh for you English folks from the first
person to the third person. But for um
for people like me who was like what? Um
I had to figure that one out. Um talking
Paul talking about the eyes's and the
uses's and the we and switching then to
the they and the theirs.
Let me give you a couple examples. You
know we see in verse 12 right not that I
have already reached the goal or 13 I
don't consider myself to have taken hold
of it. One thing I do uh verse 14 I
pursue this goal. Therefore, verse 15,
let all of us think this way. Um, in any
case, verse 16, we should live up to
whatever truth we have attained.
Join in imitating me. Pay careful
attention to those living to the example
according to the example you have in us.
And then if you jump down to verse 20,
the great contrast, but our citizenship
is in heaven. But if you look at verse
18, he says, I have often told you and
now say again with tears that many, not
not a little, many live as enemies of
the cross of Christ. And he instantly
goes to there and his destruction. There
God is their stomach. There glory is
their shame. They are focused on earthly
things. But our see the contrast. But
our citizenship is in heaven. And we
look eagerly wait for a savior Jesus,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
transform our humble condition
into the likeness of his glorious body.
The first thing Paul says
is their end is destruction. Verse 19,
their end is destruction.
Who's that? Those who walk as enemies of
the cross of Christ, their end is
destruction. And so that's our second
main heading. If you again, if you have
a handout or a notetaker, how to know if
you're still in the city of destruction.
And again, this is where I don't get
creative. I'm just going to use the
Bible passages. The first way to know is
your God is your stomach.
What does that mean? What does it mean
to have your stomach be your God?
What that means
is living to fulfill your sinful
appetites.
That's what that means. To be focused on
pleasing yourself as your own God.
The word here for stomach is a broader
Bible way of saying it's a broader
reference to say sensual indulges in
general meaning you live to please you
because you're your own god do you to
put it in modern terms to have your god
be your stomach is what you do you
very Gary
in Greek uh the same word translated
stomach here is translated as heart uh
in John 7:38 where Jesus says whoever
believes in me as the scripture has said
out of his heart will flow rivers of
living water.
Jesus is saying if you believe in him
out of your innermost being, from the
very essence of who you are, rivers of
living water will flow. He's not saying
that your actual heart that's beating in
your chest will explode with water cuz
you die, right? You wouldn't be here if
that were the case. He's talking about
your innermost being. And Paul uses the
same word here for stomach, being your
innermost being. He's saying that to
walk as an enemy of the cross of Christ
is to have your heart set on you being
your own God instead of Christ. Instead
of living to please God, you live to
please yourself. Maybe you live um for
more money, more sex, more pornography,
more influence on social media, more of
whatever it takes to fulfill your
lustful desires, you live for that.
That means your God is your stomach. If
you live for those things and not
Christ, Paul's saying that's evidence
that your end is destruction. Living in
that way is opposition to the cross of
Christ because Christ died to save you
from those things. If you live for those
things, obviously you have not had an
encounter with the cross of Christ is
what he's saying.
My wife made me a shirt one time from a
quote from one of my preachers and it
said this. It says, "We should not be
entertained by the sins for which Christ
died."
Interesting. And I love that because it
helps you re-evaluate what you watch
right on TV. We should not be
entertained by the sins for which Christ
died. Are you entertained by lust? Are
you entertained by sex outside of
marriage? Are you entertained by filthy
talk? Things like that?
Are you entertained by sin?
If you live for those things, Paul says
your end is destruction. It is saying
you're still in the city of destruction.
Number two, our second way. Surprise,
surprise, your glory is your shame.
Your glory is your shame.
At a fundamental level, this means
living to show off things for which you
ought to be ashamed.
It means enjoying and celebrating what
God opposes.
It's being for what God is against.
It's being pro- sin.
That's what that means.
It means glorying in sin. Maybe it's
sexual sin, any kind of sin. It means
having pride.
Pride
in what God says is an abomination in
sin.
We live not only in a world that
celebrates sin, but also in a time when
some churches celebrate sin.
The whole month of June is dedicated to
what? Gay pride month.
Think through
what does God say in Romans 1? It is sin
and gay pride month is glorying in what
God says ought to be shame and calls it,
Paul calls it men committing shameful
acts with men and women committing
shameful acts with women. And what is he
talking about? Let's get real. It's not
cultural. It's biblical.
It is an example of glorying in what God
says is sin. And people can glory in
their shame in other ways. For example,
um men celebrating how many women
they've been with. Uh people celebrating
how drunk or high they can get. Being
proud of stealing, robbing, cheating,
murdering. All of it is glorying in
shame. And according to God's word, it's
evidence your end is destruction.
Third, finally,
the last way to know you're still in the
city of destruction is your focus is on
earthly things. Your focus is on earthly
things. As one person, as one pastor put
it, these are people who prefer their
Xbox and social media over God in his
word. I like that. That was good. Not
that you can't play video games or be on
Facebook, but it means that your focus,
if that's your focus, if that consumes
you, you're wrong.
Instead of your God being yourself, your
stomach, this is saying your god is
whatever else in the world you worship
other than Christ. That's what this is
saying.
The same pastor uh Tony Merida who said
the thing about the Xbox also said this
quote don't think you will become like
Jesus by watching reality TV or
listening to talk radio constantly.
I like that. Thought that was good. Not
that you can't uh watch TV or listen to
talk radio. What he's saying is don't
expect to become more like Christ if
that's all you do all day every day.
While the Bible collects dust on the
shelf, you're up to date on the latest
reality TV show.
Your focus then is on earthly things.
That's what is being communicated here.
What Paul is basically getting at is
living for earthly things. Getting
caught up in earthly things and letting
earthly things consume you is not
characteristic of a citizen of heaven.
Is that you?
Are you focused on the things of this
world?
Are you captured by the things of this
earth rather than being captured by
Christ? Remember he said, "I have been
taken hold of Christ, so I pursue
Christ."
Are you here? And have you been taken
hold of by the world? And so you pursue
more of the world.
What you've been taken hold of, you'll
pursue.
Have you been taken hold of Christ?
If so, if you if you've been taken hold
of and pursue the world and focus on
earthly things, Paul is saying that is
evidence that your end is destruction.
The bottom line is this.
Are you headed for the celestial city
or are you still in the city of
destruction?
That's the question this morning.
Or if we want to use Paul's words, okay,
are you a citizen of heaven
or is your end destruction?
That's what he's communicating.
There's only two options. There's not a
third option. You can't be like, "Yeah,
Pastor DJ, I would like door number
three." Um, you know, or some people
say, "Well, I'm on the fence." You don't
want to be on the fence. Could I tell
you two things? Number one, there is no
fence. There is God and Christ and there
is Satan, death, sin, and hell. Um,
there is no fence. But if you want to
say for the sake of argument, there is a
fence. Satan owns the fence.
If you must have the fence, fine. Satan
owns the fence. Do you want to be on it?
No.
There is no fence. There's no third
option. A citizen of heaven end is
destruction. There's not like an in
between. Well, his end is half
destruction, half citizen of heaven.
We'll kind of give him a 50%. He'll be
like half miserable for eternity, half
happy for eternity, and we'll call it
good. That doesn't exist. That's not
It's Christ
in heaven forever in the glory of God,
eternal separation from God in hell.
Those are the options.
And if you're here and you're a
Christian, this is an exhortation. the
commands to imitate Paul be an example
of what following Christ should look
like.
Would you want someone following Christ
the way you do is a good question to
reflect on. Not that you're perfect,
Paul says. Not that I I haven't achieved
perfection, but one thing I do is I
pursue these things.
We should be too. If you call Christ
your personal Lord and Savior, that
should be you should be taken hold of by
that and pursue that then and pursue
knowledge of Christ and live as an
example.
If you're here and God is calling you
out from the city of destruction,
respond today.
Don't delay. If you're being called out
from the city of destruction and into
the celestial city or if you're being
called out from your end being
destruction to be a citizen of heaven,
don't delay. Come to Christ now.
Resurrection Sunday. Every day is a good
day to come to Christ. But why not
today?
The Bible says today is the day of
salvation. You don't know what tomorrow
will bring. Of course not.
If that's you, please come find me. And
I plead with you with as much as I could
plead, so to speak. If I can just plead
with you to flee the city of destruction
like evangelist told Christian, "Run to
Christ and come to him for forgiveness
of sin." When he tells Christian to run
to the wicked gate and knock on it, he
says, "Go knock." And when Christian
arrives, he's knocking incessantly
knocking. And that's the picture here.
Seek him. Come in. And the door is open
to Christian.
That's the picture.
I'll leave you with the words of Jesus
Christ himself.
Matthew 7:3. You say, "DJ, this sounds a
little harsh." Well, wait till you hear
Jesus.
Okay. Jesus says, "Enter by the narrow
gate, for the gate is wide, and the way
is easy that leads to destruction,
and those who enter by it are many,
many people are on the wide road to
destruction."
But Matthew 7:14, Jesus says, "For the
gate is narrow and the way is hard that
leads to life. And those who find it are
few." What is he saying? There's more
people on the road to destruction than
there are on the road to life is what
he's saying.
Don't be one of them on the wide road
that leads to destruction. Don't be it.
You've been warned. If Easter is the
only time you come to church, God is
telling you this. This is not Pastor
DJ's opinion or life story that I'm
giving you. I'm telling you what God
says about your state. What Jesus says
that apart from him,
apart from him, he says, "Well, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one,
count it, no one comes to the father
except through me." if you're trying to
go on a wide road that's really easy.
Um, I'll just do my thing. Me and Jesus,
we're homeboys. I hang out with him like
once or twice a year. Otherwise, I have
nothing to do with him. It's It is a
little humorous, but also very sobering.
You have been warned.
>> All right. Could I just say that as
lovingly as possible? You have been
warned. Christ is the only way to the
narrow way that leads to life.
And we have a wonderful celebration of
those who have entered the narrow gate.
And as we celebrate baptism, I want to
invite um Alana Vasquez, Erica Wide,
Isaiah Fry, and Carlos Fieros uh down
here. Amen.
And if the worship team will come on
down to be ready to close us in our last
song of worship.
All right, we're going to have ladies
first. Alana, you want to go first?
She's like, "No, no." Erica, you want to
go first? She's like, "I don't know."
All right, we're going to Ro Shambo.
No, I'm just kidding. All right. Um
Erica. Yeah. If you want to get in
facing this way with your feet over
here. Everyone, this is Erica. Everyone
say hi Erica.
>> Hi Erica. Um this is Erica Wide.
>> And um
she just came to Christ a few weeks ago.
>> Yeah, that's what's up.
Her and Joe have been coming to church.
Joe started coming first and it took a
little bit of time for Erica to come and
uh Erica came and God has just been
working on Erica. So it's not about it's
not about what do we do? We plant and
water but God gives the growth and he
just gave the growth and God has been
working had been and still is working on
Erica for a while and she wanted to meet
with uh Becky and I and just talk about
salvation. We went through the whole
gospel and she prayed a wonderful prayer
committing her life to Christ and and we
just prayed after her and it was a
joyous time and uh now we're ready to
baptize her. She is following the Lord
Lord's command to be baptized. So Erica
is Jesus Christ your personal Lord and
Savior. Do you believe that he 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.
>> Well, upon your profession of faith, it
is my honor and privilege to 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.
Can you get it?
All right. You ready, Alana?
>> All right. You can you can hop in right
here if you'd like. Facing there that
way.
>> This is Alana. Everyone say hi Alana.
>> Hi.
>> Hi Alana. Um, if you want to put your
feet out here. There you go. Um, Alana
also got saved recently a couple weeks
ago. Uh, right in the Bible study room
over there with Becky and I. Um, she God
has been working on her too. And she
came in, she said, "DJ, I want to talk
about getting baptized." Said, "Okay."
We set a time. We'll meet. And Becky and
I met with her and I said, "Why do you
want to be baptized?" And with tears
flowing, she said, "I just want to be
free from my sin."
>> And that was a great open door for me
cuz I said, "Does baptism save you?" And
she, "No, no, it doesn't. Who saves
you?" Jesus Christ does.
>> And we are baptized in obedience to him,
but Christ saves you. So, we walked
through the gospel and she prayed to
receive Christ as well and now we get to
baptize her. Alana, 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, showing his
power over sin and death, and that he
has authority over your life? Well, upon
your profession of faith, it's my honor
and privilege to 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. A
towel
on to the guys. Carlos, you ready?
>> Yes, sir.
>> All right, everyone. This is Carlos.
Everyone say hi, Carlos. Hi, Carlos.
Hey, you want to sit down? This is um
Carlos Fieros.
>> Yeah, I can say it right. I've been
working on that. Um and uh we we got to
meet and talk too about his walk with
the Lord and um
came to Christ um as well and just God
has been again same story on repeat. God
was working on you. You showed up at the
church how long been coming here? Maybe
like two months. and and God has
impressed upon your heart your need for
him as your savior and your need to get
baptized. And so we met and talked and
here we are.
Carlos, 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 showing his
power over sin and death and that he has
authority over your life?
>> Yes. Well, upon your profession of
faith, my brother, it is my honor and
privilege to baptize you 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.
There you go.
And we have Isaiah. What's up, Isaiah?
>> Yeah, you can you can find Isaiah most
the time in the back helping us run tech
and run lyrics and stuff like that. Um,
I give everyone an opportunity to share,
but not everyone wants to talk in front
of people, but Isaiah does. Um, so here,
how about we just do this? How would I
put this?
>> You could just talk right into it like
that.
>> All right. Hello, I'm Isaiah. Um,
God's led Good morning. God's led me to
this this church and I can say that he's
transformed my life in
this past year amazing and truly. Um, I
can say that I grew up going to church
at a young age. I grew up going to CCV.
Um, I actually got baptized and um, I
can only out here and say that I got
baptized not knowing the truth, not
knowing who Jesus Christ really was. Um,
and that laid a conviction on me really,
really hard. I can say that I was living
a lukewarm faith. Um, and one verse as I
spent time with God in his word was in
Matthew 7:22 and 23. He said, "Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did
we not prophesied in your name? In your
name have cast out devils and in your
name done many wonderful works." And
then I will profess unto them, "I never
knew you. Depart from me, you who work
iniquity." Where
that struck cuz in Hebrews 9:27, it
said, "It is appointed unto men once to
die, but after this the judgment."
The fear placed in my heart. I was I
didn't want to die not knowing who Jesus
Christ was in my sin because faith and
not with if my faith is not in Christ
I'm I'm dead. I'm going to be separated
from God eternally forever and I don't
set upon any single person nor on me.
Um,
this past year I studied uh I got
introduced to the way of the master
evangelism a biblical evangelism program
and I recommend every single one of you
guys to to do it. It is amazing. Um, and
I can just say he's been amazing and I
baptized again knowing that Jesus Christ
is my Lord and Savior and then I profess
it truthfully with my whole heart. Amen.
Get in feet. Yep.
>> And you're going to have to scoot down,
bro. You're too tall, bro.
You just bend your kn. There you go.
That's good. Isaiah, is Jesus Christ
your personal Lord and Savior?
>> Yes, he is. Do you believe that he 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, I do.
>> Well, upon your profession of faith, it
is my honor and 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
and raised to walk in newness of life.
Amen. Let's stand as we sing our last
song.
All sufficient
merit
shine like the sun.
Fortune I inherit it. By no work I have
done.
righteousness
I forfeit
at my Savior's cross
where all sufficient in Mary
did what I could not
in love he condescended
eternal eternal now in time.
A life without a blemish.
The maker made to die.
The law could never save us. Alllessness
had one
until the pure and
Where have I finally come?
Heat. Heat.
I lay down my garments
and empty foes.
Good works now all corrupted
by the sinful host.
Dress in my Lord Jesus.
Praise
God.
Heat. Heat.
Yeah.
Heat.
Yeah.
Heat.
Home sufficient
Mary
firm in life and death.
The joy of my salvation
shall be my final breath.
And when I stand accept
it for a throne of God,
I'll gaze upon my Jesus.
Take him for the cross.
Yes.
Heat.
Heat. Heat. Heat.
Yeah.
Heat.
Yeah.
Heat.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Lord heavenly father, we just take time
to say you are worthy of it all, Lord
Jesus. And we can just say here. Go
ahead and raise your hands. Lord,
heavenly father, we just praise your
name. We thank you for your sacrifice.
We thank you as a father. You sent your
only begotten son, Lord God, to pay the
debt that we couldn't pay. The weight
was too much. It was far too great a
burden for us, Lord God. So you sent the
one and only who could do it, Lord
Jesus. And we thank you for it. It's in
your precious, holy name we give you all
the praise, honor, and glory. Let us go
remembering this Jesus's name. Amen. Be
blessed as you go.
I accept.
>> I know.
Part of Series
Winning
View all episodes
Winning
Resurrection Day
April 8, 2026
57 minutes