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“Mayday : Part 1 : Repentize”

May 19, 2019

By Ed Young

Good morning, everybody. I want to thank you for showing up on this day in May. Wow, you look great! I want to say hi to all of our campuses, our prison campuses, let’s give them a round of applause. Also, our other campuses, whether they be in Florida, Oklahoma, in beautiful Texas, or online, thank you so much for being a part.

You know, May is a busy time, isn’t it? People are moving and grooving, rocking and rolling during May. I can’t believe you’re here. I can’t believe I’m here, really. But I am going to be here in this series that we’re doing called Mayday. Mayday, mayday, mayday, that’s the international distress call. It was invented, I read, in 1923. And it was fully adopted in 1927. In fact, it replaced SOS. Mayday, mayday, mayday.

My father was in a mayday situation years ago. He was on a very expensive private plane with some pastors, because he pastors a church in Houston, and the plane had problems. Serious problems, they crashed in a field right in front of this airport. They all walked away. It was a mayday situation.

One of the planes in 9/11 that tragically crashed, if you read and hear and listen to what the pilot said, “Mayday, mayday, mayday.” There’s no telling how many times that phrase has been used in different theaters of battle. You’re on the sea, maybe you’re walking on a land, especially in the air. Mayday, mayday, mayday.

Maybe you’re in a mayday. Maybe you’re in a mayday situation right now. I’m sure in a crowd this size, we have some people, you’d be like, I’m in a marital mayday. I’m in a mayday in the marketplace. I’m in a moral dilemma, a moral mayday. Mayday, mayday, mayday. We need help, we need rescuing.

When you become a follower of Christ, you have to say, pretty much, “Mayday, mayday, mayday! I need help! I’m crashing, I’m going to burn. Mayday, mayday, mayday.” It’s interesting how we have to say that, we have to face the bad news before we hear the good news. Mayday, mayday, mayday.

Maybe today in May is your day, and it’s your mayday. Maybe today is your mayday moment. Maybe today is your time, maybe it’s your now.

I’m going to go through and talk a little bit about mayday. I’m going to argue God’s case, I’m going to tell you why today should be your mayday. Because all of us will face death. All of us have a mayday, mayday, mayday moment when it comes to our mortality. We’re going to face God one day. And some will say, “Mayday, mayday, mayday!” It will be too late. Others though, because we’ve said, “Mayday, mayday, mayday,” on the right side of the dirt, because we’ve been rescued by the Lord, we’re not going to say that when our ticket is punched and we face the Lord. So you’re in either one of two groups.

The book of Acts, Acts 2 tells us the history of the church. Have you ever wondered, I mean, why do we have a church anyway? Why churches? Well, the church is the body of Christ. The church began in Jerusalem. It began after Jesus died on the cross for our sins, which happened during the Feast of Passover. When he rose again, which happened during the Feast of First Fruits, and I’m just giving you some background of Leviticus 23, which talks about the feasts on the Jewish calendar.

Then we have Pentecost, which is the formation of the church, that feast, and the giving of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, though, had to die, he had to rise again, he had ascend for the Holy Spirit come.

So, the model is, for the church, Jesus went up, the Holy Spirit came down, the church went out, and people came in. That’s just a basic simple, not shallow, detailed look, the Wikipedia look, at the church.

Well, let’s get specific and look at the church. Don’t you love this new technology? Well, it’s not really new, this piece of technology is about ten years old, but I want you to watch me, Mr. Technology, as we go through this. Now, thankfully, our team can override my mistakes up here. So I won’t make too many, but watch this. Watch, index finger, you ready for this? Look, look, look, boom! Say that with me. Boom!

Boom! Technology.

This talks about, remember, the church. It talks about a bunch of people, thousands saying, “Mayday, mayday, mayday.” Simon Peter preached a sermon. If you were here at Easter, how many of you guys were here at Easter? Lift your hand. If you missed it, some of you weren’t here, go back online and watch the Easter message. It will give you backdrop of what I’m talking about today. Simon Peter was one of the disciples of Jesus and he went on record and said, “Jesus, I’ll never dis you, I’ll never leave you, I’ll never forsake you.” And Jesus said, “Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, yeah you will.” And he did. He cursed, he totally turned his back on Jesus, he betrayed Jesus.

Then after Jesus rose again, he reinstated him, and Simon Peter became one of the leaders of the early church. So he’s just preached this message during the feast of Pentecost. And Pentecost to the Jews, back in Leviticus 23, celebrated when the law was given. Of course now, those of us who are believers, it’s a celebration of the church, and a celebration of the Holy Spirit that’s been given.

So, Simon Peter has preached this message, this courageous message. And check out what the people did, (Acts 2:37-38)“When the people heard this they were cut to the heart. What’s the heart? Well the heart is the seat of self, it’s the essence of who you are and who I am. “And they said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” They were pretty much saying, “Mayday, mayday, mayday! What should we do?” Look at that. Right here.

“Peter replied,” watch this, this is going to get crazy, one, two, three, what’s the word? “Repent”. Oh my goodness! Somebody slap somebody! No, don’t do that. But say, “I love technology!” Just tell your neighbor that. I love technology

“Repent.” That’s the first thing he said! And then, and “be Baptized”. Right now, as far as technology, I am on fire.

Repent. What does repent mean? Because you don’t hear a lot of talk about repentance these days. It’s not really popular, even from pastors. It’s like, “Oh, your miracle is coming. You’ve got to have enough faith. God just wants to bless your life and he wants to give you this breakthrough.” Rarely do we talk, we talk about it here, but I’m talking about Christianity at large, about repentance. I mean, that’s not fun, it’s not easy.

Repentance? It means a change of mind, a change of direction. It’s like we have this reception of sin and a rejection of Jesus. Then we repent and we have a reception of Jesus and a rejection of sin. Does that make sense? That’s repentance. I change my mind, I change my direction. I say, “I’m not living that way any more. I make an about face, I repent.”

Repent, it has to do with reception and rejection. Repentance. Have you repented? I mean, have you repented? Because in the New Testament, when someone repented, when they turned from their sin, baboom! They were baptized. You repented, then you were, baboom! Baptized.

So I made this word up, I made it up today, you ready for this? Do you want to learn a new word? I made it up, re, I’m a terrible speller, Repentize. Repentize. Okay? And that’s theologically true. You repent, baboom! You’re baptized. It wasn’t like, “Well, I’m going to wait till next month when Grandma Eva can be here and Uncle John and all my cousins.” I mean, that’s okay, cool. But back in the New Testament, Repentize. You repented, you became a follower of Christ, then you were baptized.

Baptism is preaching a sermon. Baptism shows that you are a follower of Christ. Have you, I’ve just got to ask you, have you repented? Have you become a follower of Christ? Have you made that decision?

At our North Port campus, this is some tragic news, but several weeks ago a family of three were in a Jeep and the Jeep hit the median, it turned over several times killing the mom and the dad, throwing the three kids out of the vehicle. They pretty much were unscathed. Yet, the mom and dad repented at Fellowship Church, they became followers of Christ and baptism happened. You never know. I mean, you have no idea. I have no idea when my ticket will be punched. When my death day will occur. We have no idea.

So I want to argue God’s case, as I said, about repentance. And I’ll get back to baptism in a second. But very quickly, reasons to make this day your mayday. God wants this day to be your mayday. God wants you to say, “Mayday, mayday, mayday!” Okay, what are the reasons? The urgency of repentance. That’s it! Repentance. It’s Jesus plus nothing equals salvation. Repent. What do you mean Ed? Are you telling me, all I’ve got to do is change the direction, is to say; You know what? I’m not going to embrace sin anymore. I’m not going to be this person who has this reception of sin and rejection of Jesus. No, no, no. I am going to have this reception of Jesus. And, the rejection of sin, I’m going to turn away from that.

That’s right. That’s right. It’s that simple. It’s not shallow. And, the reason it’s so simple is, can you imagine if this was hard? I mean, it would eliminate a lot of us. The billionaire and the person on welfare both come to Christ the same way. The urgency of repentance, (2 Corinthians 6:2) “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor. Now is the Day of salvation.” Now. What’s wrong with now? What’s wrong with now? Another reason, the certainty of death. I just kind of said that already. We’re going to die. Because we’re going to die, you know, we need to repent. Do you think those people that died, from Fellowship Church on Saturday evening the night before Easter, thought it would be their last day? Young. Vibrant. Riding in a jeep in Florida. Wind in their face. Sun setting.

Really? I don’t know. (Luke 12:20) “This very night, your life will be demanded from you.” You know who said that? Jesus. He was telling a story about a guy who wasn’t prepared for death. He stacked up all this stuff. Squillions and squillions of dollars, yet, he wasn’t ready. So, often we’re cursed by being blessed, not from God’s blessings, I’ll talk about that in a second. But, from man’s blessings.

If you say; You know what? I’m going to do what I’m going to do. If you thumb your nose in God’s face, shake your puny fist at God, He’ll say; You know what? You want to make money? I’ll give you money. Here. Well, hold that. I know people who have all this money. You probably know some. We receive these people, some of them. Billions of billions. Yeah, on one perspective, they’re blessed. As far as men’s perspective, I think God lets them chase that.

They know, though, the emptiness of it down deep. They’re in a may-day, may-day, may-day situation. Other people say; Well, God, I’m going to do what I’m going to do. I’m going to chase pleasure. And, God let you chase pleasure. Sleep with this person, that person, this high, this buzz. Oh yeah, go for it. Go for it! You’ll be like the porn star that we interviewed a while back, right here, making all this money, having all this sex, having all this acclaim. One of the most broken, one of the emptiest people I’ve ever met in my life.

So, hey, go for it. God will let you go for it. Do it! But I’m telling you. I don’t care how much money, how much sex, how much pleasure you have. One day; May-day, may-day, may-day! Popularity, likes, clicks, followers, same thing. Oh, go for it! God will say; Do it! Do what you want to do! Go for it! You’re a big boy. You’re a big girl. I mean, I have the best in store for you, but you do what you want to do.

We have that freedom of choice. May-day, may-day, may-day. There’s some other reasons too. The emergency of termination. Now, this is really scary, because Jesus told the story about a wedding. And, the point of the story is that, you can’t become a follower of Christ any time you want. One day, God will stop pursuing you. Now, you’re not going to hear that talked about a lot. That’s not going to be on coffee mugs or T-shirts.

You’re not going to hear worship songs about that, but it’s Bible. (Luke 13:25 (NASB))“Once the head of the house gets up…” Who do you think that is? … “and, shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door saying; ‘Lord, open up to us!’” And, check out what He’s going to say; “I do not know where you are from.” We can come to a point, friends, where our hearts become so hardened with sin, we’re past the point. We’re at no return.

I don’t know when that time is for you. I have no idea. I’m just sharing with you what Jesus said. There is a point though. You remember back in the Old Testament, for example, when Moses asked Pharaoh; Pharaoh. Moses said, “Let my people go.” He said; No, no. And, God sent more and more stuff, more and more plagues, more and more devastation. And finally, the Bible says, his heart was hardened. If we continue to reject the love and the grace of God, our heart becomes callused, and we reach a point where we’re done.

Again, that’s why I would beg you to make this day your may-day. How about this? The currency of blessings. I mean, I want these blessings. You’re going; What do you mean, blessings? Well, most people don’t have this list that I’m going to share with you. I’m talking about the blessings of God here. Have you ever thought about this? A clear conscience (Romans 8:1), purpose (Romans 8:28), power and strength (Philippians 4:13), life and peace (Romans 8:6), help with weakness (Romans 8:26), confidence (Romans 8:31), fulfillment (Philippians 4:19), security (Romans 8:39), freedom (John 8:32,36). Most people don’t have those.

Now, they try to find them away from God, but, most people don’t have them. God has them in store for you and me if we repent. (Jeremiah 5:25 (CEB)) “Your wrongdoing has turned these blessings away. Your sin has robbed you.” Wow! Robbed you. Robbed you of good. Have you repented? Let me ask you again. Have you said, may-day, may-day, may-day? Have you repented? I want to give you the opportunity to repent right now. I want to give you the same opportunity that Simon Peter gave thousands of people that afternoon in Jerusalem when the church began.

And, if you want to do this, I can’t make you do it, just say these words after me. All of us. I want all of us here, and on all of our campuses to say these words, because they will give everyone the confidence to say it if you’ve never said it. But, just say these words after me.

God…

… I’m a sinner.

I need you.

I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins.

I believe he rose again.

Right now…

… I repent.

I turn from my sin.

I change my mind…

… my direction.

I receive you, Christ, into my life.

I receive you Christ, into my life.

I give you everything I am…

… and everything I’ll ever be.

Thank you for forgiving me…

… for cleansing me…

… for changing me…

… for adopting me…

… for giving me a home in Heaven…

… a clear conscience…

… power in the midst of weakness…

… purpose…

… love…

… and grace.

In Jesus’ name.

Amen.

I believe that many of you repented. The Bible says, If we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, he will save us. Repent! Repent! Repent! That’s it. You did that. But, Repentize.

How about this baptism thing? Now, whenever I talk about baptism, you know, Baptism Questions arise. I was sprinkled. Well, my wife was sprinkled as a Lutheran. We have a lot of people at Fellowship Church who were sprinkled as infants. If you were sprinkled as an infant, put your hand up. Sure. A lot of people. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Good for you.

I’m not saying at all your baptism didn’t take. I’m just going to argue God’s position on baptism. (Acts 2:40) “With many other words, He warned them, and He pleaded with them; Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Obviously, it was a may-day, may-day situation. Those who, here we go, look at this, accepted, that’s the first thing. (Acts 2:41) “Those who accepted his message,” the message of repentance. The message of forgiveness. The message of the Gospel. What happened?

They “were baptized,” That’s second. Every time, in scripture, you have someone being baptized, first, first, they said; Jesus take control of my life. First, they received Christ. Baptismal questions, you’ve got them. I used to have them too. The first one is the bassinet question. The bassinet question; Should we baptize babies? Great question. Or, should we baptize those who are old enough to make a faith decision?

Well, let me see. You know, I began to search, years ago, for infant baptism in the Bible. Surely it’s here. I know it’s here. Do you… I’m… surely, there… It’s not here! I went to Seminary, and had done doctrinal studies. And, I’ve talked to really bright theologians, and no babies were baptized in the Bible. So, when we have a question, we don’t say; What does Ed say? Definitely not. We say; What does the Bible say?

And, that’s why we baptize after someone is old enough to make a faith decision. So, once again, awesome that you were baptized as an infant. Cool. That was for your parents to just celebration that, you’re going to be brought up in a Christian home, etc… However, I’m challenging you to be baptized the way Jesus tells us to be baptized after you’ve made a faith decision, which is being immersed under water. So many people that we’ve baptized over the years have been sprinkled before. So, it was adding to, not erasing, what happened. So, the bassinet question. You heard that question before?

Well really the bassinet question happened, just to go off on a little sidebar, because of two false doctrines. These are not in the Bible, these doctrines. The first doctrine was the Doctrine of Original Guilt, Original Guilt. Original guilt says, and again, this is not in scripture, that when a child is born, not only are they born a sinner, which everybody’s born a sinner. No one taught me how to sin. I just know how to sin. I was born that way. I have a sinetic condition, right? Well this false doctrine said that not only are little babies sinners, but if a baby was to die, God will hold him guilty, thus they would go to hell. That’s not in the Bible. Only God knows the age of accountability, that age when someone has been exposed to the Gospel, if someone either receives it or not, only God knows. When infants pass, they go straight into the arms of Jesus.

Another false doctrine on the heels of this, again let me say, false doctrine, baptismal regeneration. People started going, “Well, the babies are guilty, so we better baptize them, we better baptize them, and in baptism we’ll save them.” They began to immerse infants. A lot of infants were dying because they were being immersed. Then there was a shortage of water. Certain parts of the world, they began to sprinkle on the head. You’ve probably read church history with Constantine and people like that doing that. That’s how the whole thing began.

However, is this a fun history lesson, during the first 1200 years of Christianity, immersion was the universally accepted mode of baptism. Baptism is important. Don’t think, “Well, it’s just baptism.” No, no, no, it’s huge. It’s the first test of faith that Jesus gives us once we become a believer.

All right, the second one, the tide question. Can the waters just clean my sin? No, you can get baptized a million times a day and still bust hell wide open. The lawyer question, I love this. You know lawyers love to argue, and I have great friends who are lawyers. They’re always arguing. I mean you can argue about anything. You know what’s so funny, I sometimes try to ask lawyers direct questions, like a yes or no question, they won’t give you a yes or no. “Theoretically, generally speaking, allegedly, I could argue that really I could argue this is not technology, I can argue that.” Anyway …

Can you be a believer and go to heaven without being baptized? Technically yes, yes. You remember the criminal on the cross who became a believer? Jesus didn’t say, “Hey, jump down from the cross and then get baptized,” no. Read Hebrews Chapter 11, all the men and women of faith, they weren’t baptized, so yeah, technically if you’re a lawyer, yes. It’s Jesus plus nothing. It’s not Jesus plus baptism. However, if you’re able, get baptized. We’ve had people over the years, some of them paralyzed, who have entered the waters of believer’s baptism. Is that cool? It’s unbelievable.

The mechanic question. I wish I was mechanical, but I’m not. How should I get baptized? Well, we’ll talk about that in a little while, but by immersion. When we have a question we say, “What does the Bible, that’s the book for me, say?” We say, “Immersion.” If you’ve been sprinkled, spritzed, poured, cool. The way you get baptized is what the Bible says and that’s by immersion.

Number five, the dunking donut. That’s right, that’s how we baptize. The word baptizo

in the Bible means to dunk, not LeBron James or Zion Williamson dunk, no, no. I’m talking about dunk under the water, because it best illustrates a death, burial, and resurrection. When you’re under the water, that’s your whole life. You’re identifying with the death, burial of Jesus, and his resurrection. The water symbolizes the cleansing, the forgiveness of all of our sins. It’s a powerful illustration, public illustration, of a private decision. Oh, we’re moving now, aren’t we? With this index finger right here …

Why, Jesus was baptized that way.

How many people went to Israel with us, anybody here went to Israel? Okay, gosh go … I know it’s not cheap to go to Israel, but it’s worth the trip. We’re going again in December. I think I baptized over a hundred and some odd people in the Jordan River. Now, that is powerful. One day I’ll show you the message, because I did a little sermon on baptism and I’m right there, standing in the Jordan River, which is cool. I almost showed it today, but it would have made the service too long, and I didn’t.

Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, and scholars tell us that Jesus went 27 miles out of the way. Walked 27 miles out of the way just to be baptized by immersion. There was a shortage of water in certain areas, so I mean he was baptized that way, it’s pretty important.

Here’s another one, boom. Every baptism in the Bible was by immersion, every one. It best symbolizes a burial and resurrection. I love those, man I love these powder sugar donuts, and my favorite brand … God bless my mother, she went to be with Jesus two years ago, but she used to buy me Sweet Sixteen donuts. It almost makes me teary to even tell you this, and she would pour me … My mother did so much stuff for me, Lisa said, “Probably too much,” making the bed and the clothes, it was just too much. Lisa’s retrained me. My mother though would pour a big glass of milk for me, and I would dunk those white donuts, totally submerge them. Wouldn’t sprinkle, wouldn’t just spritz it, no, no, dunk it in Vitamin D, full fat milk. I could eat an entire bag. When you’re baptized, you’re going to go all the way under the water. Oh that’s the end. I knew it, if I kept on doing that you would just say, “You’re done Ed. You’re done.” I might start using this more and more. Didn’t you enjoy that? It was fun.

Wow. Well, I’ll give you an opportunity right now to get baptized. Behind me, we went to Walmart, have you seen what’s behind me? You wouldn’t believe it. Look at what’s behind me. Can we … Yeah, we went to Walmart, and I mean does Walmart have it all or what? Let’s just be straight. Let’s just be straight. There is none other than Dr. John Cross in the waters of baptism. How are you doing Dr. John Cross?

Fantastic.

Fantastic, I am too. He’s going to show us, before you do this, how to baptize, because people were like, “Oh my gosh you mean I can get baptized today?” Yes, May Day, May Day, today needs to be your day. Don’t put it off. Today, today … Well, I don’t know what to wear. We have changing rooms. We’ll give you a full baptismal uniform. We have cool shorts, Sue, don’t we? You have the shorts down there? Yeah, okay the shirts, is that cool? Outward expression of an inward decision. Now the shorts, okay, thank you. These are cool shorts. I mean I wear these shorts too. They’re cool shorts. Everything else you need, hair dryers, we have make up artists. The best hair stylists in Dallas, Fort Worth. No, I’m joking about that, but we do. Towels, car mats, whatever, isn’t that great? We’ll dress you up. Men’s area, women’s area, dress you up, and then I’m going to jump in the Walmart pool. I will baptize as my boy, YJC, it’s his nickname, Young Johnny Cross, and John Cross is going to show us what happens because we’ve never lost anybody in the history of Fellowship Church, during baptism. There’s no sharks in there, no snakes, so YJC show us, and this is … She’s getting baptized!

Yeah, all right. Wow, wow, wow, so right now, while we’re standing here, and in all of our locations, if you want to get baptized, if you’ve repented come forward right now. Don’t delay, come forward right now, come on.