The First Step! (Final Sermon)

So nice to have you all in. We do guarantee an informal service. This is probably the only church on the south coast where the preacher finishes up with a suntan as a result because of the Ollie's overhead lamps which throw out quite a lot of heat.

So not only do we promise you an informal and happy service, it will get increasingly hot, but we hope not too uncomfortable. And if it is and the baptistry is empty at that point, then there's an obvious solution for those who are over-perspiring. This is the first time you've been to the TAB.

What kept you so long? We're glad to have your company. As you leave this evening, just by the doors is a magazine that we publish or better expressed as a paper called The Challenge. And a lot of the articles front and back page are given over to items that have to do with the TAB here and some of the folk who are part of our church family.

But if this is the first time that you've come, we're especially, especially glad to hear you. I was eavesdropping as the service was being introduced by Ruth and she made some comment that we're welcoming the Lord Jesus. That sounds a bit eerie, doesn't it? How on earth do you welcome someone who's dead 2,000 years ago? Well, the fact of the matter is though he died, he rose again and spiritually he's present this evening.

That's something that you can't really explain. It's like sight. If you're talking to a blind man, very difficult to explain that.

But once you can see, you know, once you feel his presence, you know we're going to commit this service again to him. Father, we thank you for an opportunity of being here. For some people, this is going to be fairly mind-blowing.

And we do ask that all that is put together may nonetheless be meaningful. We thank you for young people confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We praise you for the potential locked up in their lives.

But we thank you for this congregation of several hundred folk and the potential locked up here. And we ask that you'll cause us to rest and to relax before you. But there may be disturbers in terms of our own complacency and where we're at in life to ensure that we've made the right decisions and we're taking the right steps.

In the name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen. Watch your step.

I was told that once in South Africa. The guy who actually addressed the comment to me wasn't very happy with me. It was a ridiculous situation.

It goes back to the days of apartheid. And in this railway station where I was approaching, there were two tunnels. One tunnel was for the blacks.

The other tunnel was for the whites. And as it was quite dark, I couldn't see which was supposed to be my tunnel in any case. And I went down the black tunnel and the bloke said, watch your step.

You're not supposed to be here. So I said, why not? And we got into a bit of an argument, but he was a policeman. So I backed off from being too tough.

But there are times when you need to just watch your step to consider what you're doing and times when you should be taking significant steps in terms of decisions that you're making and thoughtful actions that you're going to be involved in. This evening, we've got eight young people who are taking a very significant step who are going to be baptised. That's a very solemn and yet a very happy occasion.

What I want to try and do just for a few moments before Pastor Nick comes up, because he really has charge of our young people in the fellowship and all these folk are going to be baptised this evening come from the young people's department. What I want to do is just to try to explain what's happening. You see here at the tab, what we do as far as the person's commitment to Jesus Christ is concerned is we don't dunk them when they're an infant because we're not too sure that an infant really fully understands what's happening.

If we splashed water on them, they'd probably yelp that not much more. So we wait until somebody gets to reasonable maturity and if by then they can convince us by the way they're living their lives and their understanding that they have of the Christian faith that this is really the way they want to go. Not because they're being coerced into it but because this is their own personal decision.

Now when you become a Christian something wonderful happens. All the sins of the past, all the things that you've ever done that were wrong are transferred to the cross of Jesus Christ and you enter into forgiveness. I'll talk to you about that later at more length.

But you receive that wonderful gift of salvation and what the Lord Jesus said was this, when that's happened to you, he wants you and people have been doing this for 2,000 years, he wants you to let other people know just what has taken place in your life and not only just by putting it into words but also by enacting it, a little parable. What happens when people go into this baptismal tank is this, they are in effect saying the water stands for the sort of life that I used to live and as they're baptized that's indicating that old way of life. As they're raised again it's a parabolic illustration of the fact that they've now decided to live for Jesus Christ.

So becoming a Christian is not by being baptized, you are baptized because you are a Christian. Jesus said I want you to publicly confess this by showing to others that your sins have been washed away that you're living a new life. You've taken this significant step and around the world and down the centuries millions of people have done that and to that vast number we're adding eight more this evening.

Now one of the things that we ask our candidates to do because they're so enthusiastic is to come and tell us a little bit about their own experience and what got them to this point. So I'm going to hand over to Nick right now to introduce four and then another batch of four. Thanks Nick.

Well very good evening to you. It's great to be here. These are one of the things that makes my work with young people in this town very much worth it.

Now if you've come tonight and you've come simply because you're a friend of one of these people here or the four more that are down here then you're very welcome. You're very brave in fact to come to church because I know church isn't an easy place to come and you may have a lot of misconceptions. I just ask that you come tonight with an open heart and we hope that you enjoy the service.

Now what you're about to hear are not textbook talks. They weren't taken from a book. They weren't written by myself.

They weren't written by mums or dads or by Pastor Tony. These are from the very hearts of young people. Now in all my time here, six, seven years now, there have never been eight young people in one go being baptised.

This is not peer pressure. This is not sort of some trendy thing to do. They all came to see me individually and for some of them it's something they've been wanting to do for a very long time.

So this is not some sort of trendy thing. This is not a phase they're going through. What you're about to hear are from their very hearts and we hope that you'll listen and you may not understand everything they say.

You may not understand the whole significance of baptism but just allow yourself to ask a few more questions. You can talk to me or anyone else or indeed any of those that have been baptised tonight to answer any of the questions that you may have. Now we're going to give a batting order now.

So we're going to listen here from Steve and then from Francis and then from Hannah and then lastly from Kevin. They're just going to follow one another. Okay Steve.

Hi. I'm here tonight to honour God through Jesus Christ. I want personally to take this step in my faith.

It is a decision I've made between God and myself to grow and obey his command. I've been brought up from day one in a Christian family with strong morals and faith. I've been coming to the tab since creche.

I've been through Sunday school, Pathfinders, Boys Club and now Manor. It was at the age of six that I felt I wanted to become a Christian. I accepted Jesus into my life.

The main reason for this was because I didn't want to go to hell as I knew the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. Being a Christian from such an early age was easy. It was when I became older that my faith and my own personality were really put to the test.

When I reached the age of 12 I decided to recommit myself to the Lord. It hasn't been an easy ride. There have been times when my faith has drifted.

I've needed to be pulled back on the rails. It is when that happens that Jesus always ends up pulling me back somehow some way. I'm 17 currently studying at Worthing St. Paul College.

I loved my schooling days especially secondary school. I had many friends who were non-Christians. They seemed to me a real challenge.

I was able to be myself and they seemed to respect me for it. I think because of my Christian attitude my friendships often grew stronger. Jesus has become so real to me and is such a good trusted friend that I don't need to change my character when I'm in different circles of society.

I recognize the conflicts of worldliness in my generation and my own life and I'm aware of how important it is to have a strong relationship with God. This grows by getting to know him through the reading of his word and prayer. I want to be baptized tonight in recognition of my faith because of the suffering Jesus took for my sin in dying on the cross.

He has offered me the gift of eternal life in his love and I'm thankful. If someone had told me a few years ago that I would be getting baptized I would never have believed them. Francis and baptism were something that I never thought would be connected.

I cannot say that it was at one moment in my life that God became real to me. I never not thought there wasn't a God. I consciously decided that he wasn't for me.

I come from a very loving home. I have a mother and a brother who care for me very much. For as long as I can remember I've had a strained relationship with my father.

When in the same room tension was high which made living in the same household quite a task. Each disagreement and cross word just further and further apart. Looking back through the various stages of my life I can now clearly see God's hand on my life but at the time I didn't even care who he was.

In the earlier part of my teens I struggled with life. I felt completely worthless and hated the reflection that I saw in the mirror. I did not like me and did not expect others to like me and yet strangely enough it was at this time of my life I was surrounded by many friends.

I started attending the tab with a school friend at the age of 14. We soon decided to join the youth group. It was then my social life really took off but over the years I became more and more unhappy.

During those years I felt totally alone. Many hours were spent in a dark room with tears rolling down my cheeks. I did not know how or who to share my feelings with.

I slowly distanced myself from the friends I had. I got to the point where I was convinced that not only that they wouldn't notice if I wasn't around anymore but that also they wouldn't care. My life became a performance.

Every morning as I faced the world I would take on a new character for that day. I've always been a confident person. During my school years I gave speeches to people.

I even enjoyed the challenge. It was something I could do without sharing anything of myself. A number of times during those years I felt I had accepted God but I never followed through.

I wanted him to take my pain away although I expected him to mend my broken toy without ever giving him the pieces. I can see that God never left even when I decided he wasn't for me. The feelings of dislike towards myself continued.

I had become a very fragile person. The simplest things reduced me to tears. Two years ago I moved to a new house with my mum and my brother.

It was at this time I began to change and became much more aware of God. Life didn't suddenly become perfect but as weeks passed there were no signs of tears. Last year a special friend of mine who was a Christian provided the opportunities for me to ask all the questions which were on my heart.

Spending a few weeks in Hungary on an English camp really brought home the fact how good God is. To ease me from such despair and depression never fails to overwhelm me. To know that I'm loved with an unconditional love is amazing.

Today with God's help I can live for each day and each moment because God is standing right next to me reminding me that I'm never alone. I can't say exactly when I began to have a personal relationship with Jesus. I've been brought up in a Christian home and for this I can never thank God enough.

As all my life I've been taught about Jesus. Sorry. Um I'll start.

I'll go from right. I've been brought up in a Christian home and for this I can never thank God enough. All my life I've been taught about Jesus and his love for me has been continuously shown from my parents brother and so many others around me.

Having said this life life isn't and never will be easy. There have been times in my life when I have felt and experienced much pain. However not once has God failed me even though I fail him every day.

As it's through the hard time as it's through the hard times that I felt God drawing me closer to him. I can honestly say I can't survive a day without him and whatever happens in my life I will always thank God with all my heart for his truly amazing grace and compassion. The reason I'm being baptized is because I believe in Jesus as he has rescued me from certain death and has given me life through dying for me.

It blows my mind to think of how Jesus bled and suffered for everything I have and through human weakness will do against him. I never have and never could do anything to deserve the love and strength that he has blessed me with as I know that anything good in me comes from God. I can't put into words all that God has done and is doing right now in my life but what I can say is that it's in him I place my hope and trust as only God knows what happened for me to happen to me tomorrow.

I just want to read you a verse it's from Romans 8 and it's really special to me because it just really shows me how much God is there for me always and it's from and it's verses 38 to 39 and it says yes I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor ruling spirits nothing now nothing in the future nor powers nothing above us nothing below us nor anything else in the whole world will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Being a Christian isn't an easy option but whatever I go through I know God is holding me and accepts me just how I am now as God loves me no less today than he did yesterday and no more today than he will tomorrow. Thank you.

Evening. Thank you. On the 26th of October 1979 I was born.

My mum Linda gave birth to me when she was just 17 and I never knew my father. At the age of five I was taken into care and went to a foster home in Shoreham. My new mum and dad called James and Ruth were Christians.

When I was eight I made a claim to be a Christian but never understood it fully. When I was just when I was just nine we went to Sri Lanka as a family for a year but when we came back James and Ruth went to live up north and left me behind. At this time I felt very rejected especially when they said they would never get rid of me.

On the 19th of August 1991 I came to a new foster home with Alan and Ann Jones and started coming to the tab with them. Just two years ago Alan left and it was quite a shock to all of our systems and that and that was a time when I needed God very much but never seemed to get any answers. The following September I started Northbrook College doing graphic design and I began to use drugs and go to the pub every day with friends I had made while I was there.

At the end of the educational year I gave up. It was a bad year for me when everything seemed to go wrong. I realised I had to change as it was having an effect on my family and as well as my life.

After I had left college I started work in a clothes shop. I had been working there for about six weeks when I collapsed with a stroke playing football. During the time of this happening I felt as though I was going to die but then a great peace came over me like God was looking after me and he knew exactly what was happening to me.

As a result of my stroke it took me a long time to recover and I was unable to work but a lot of people were praying for me and a very big thank you to everyone who prayed for me. During the recovery period it was a chance to renew my faith in God and seeing mum's faith get stronger every day and how God helped her cope with us leaving. God helped me in my times of need and looking through all of my life I believe that God had had his hand in everything even with mum's divorce.

I believe God has bigger and better things for me and us as a family. I want to be baptised tonight to tell the whole world that God loves me, he died for me, he forgave me and his love never ends. Thank you.

Amazing how many people have got completely wrong ideas as to what Christianity is. In fact very often the Christianity they deny I don't embrace either. Christianity is a living thing it's not a tick in a box as we heard earlier.

Christianity is not just a religion it's a way of life. You know there's a verse in the bible that says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. That's in the 37th psalm.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Watch your step. You know occasionally in fact quite frequently with the exception of these last four or five weeks when I've been otherwise engaged I generally go down to the aquarium for about half an hour.

There's a gym there and I do a workout and in the gym there's a piece of equipment that's a sort of stepometer. It's a good piece of equipment because 18 minutes of hard work you can get rid of 700 calories. It's equivalent to about 40 flights of steps and it's quite popular in terms of an exercise.

It's one of the most powerful ones. Running up the stairs really is a very good exercise for you. I mean try it in my backstairs if anyone's feeling a little tired or cold this evening.

The steps of a good man ordered by the Lord. The three businessmen they pitched up to their office in London. It was one of these skyscrapers and they happened to be on the 41st floor and the lift had broken down and so they, because they were mates and commuting together in one car, they made a deal.

One of them was good at telling jokes and so he was asked to keep them occupied for 20 flights with jokes. But the other was a singer and so he was asked to sing for the next 20 flights. Then for the remaining one, well the other guy was a bit of a pessimist so they asked him to tell them a sad story.

So 20 flights of mirth, 20 flights of melody, he got to the 41st flight. The guy who was a bit of a despondent, melancholic pessimist, it was his turn and he said I've got the saddest tale you have ever heard. I've left the keys for our office.

In the car. Steps. Steps that you take in life.

The steps of a good man ordered by the Lord. We have a lot to say about steps. We talk about stepping out, stepping up, stepping back, retracing your steps.

The first step on the ladder of promotion. What is a step? It's a measured stride. The Bible uses the word in a metaphorical sense.

That means to say in a spiritual way. Proverbs five times. The Psalms six times.

Talking in terms of your life. It's pilgrimage. Taking steps.

Not in a haphazard fashion. Hey this man who was referred to as affectionately by one of our youngsters, this guy Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, do you know what he did? He accosted a variety of people 2,000 years ago and he said in effect step out after me. Come.

Follow me. Be my disciple. And discipleship is actually just like the little child who follows his father when it's been snowing during the wintry months.

Maybe he's in the northern parts of Scotland and father puts his feet down and as a result of the weight that there is in his wellingtons he makes a track and the little lad follows putting his small foot into the footprint left by his dad. A wise procedure. The Bible says that sometimes you can learn by the examples of little children.

For discipleship, spiritually understood, is actually putting your step, putting your foot in the footprint left by Jesus Christ. Watch your step. Your step in life.

The steps of a good man, Psalm 37, 23 are ordered by the Lord. The first step that ever a man or a woman, a boy or a girl takes towards Jesus Christ is like that physical first step. It's faltering.

You ever seen a young child the first time coaxed by a proud dad starting to walk? Those chubby legs in a sort of bandy fashion make it. And it's as though there's been a sort of progression in the alleged evolutionary cycle as dad gets so excited and he projects 16 years on when the fame of Gaza will be eclipsed by someone far more athletic with far greater prowess. But the little lad will have a long way to go.

His steps to start with are faltering steps. And as you come to the Lord Jesus, he doesn't expect you to have the spiritual physique of a marathon runner. He does not expect you to have the experience of someone who's been a Christian for 20 years.

There will be a degree of immaturity. There will be a sense in which as a babe you come and he feeds you with milk and you start to grow. You'll not have all the answers.

In fact this side of life you'll never have all the answers. But you will grow not only spiritually but also intellectually in the knowledge of the Bible. In the steps of the master, faltering steps.

It's to those steps and that path that I would direct you this evening as you listen to the distilled wisdom of eight young people who far more eloquently and movingly than me have told you how simple and yet how profound is Christianity. The steps of a good man ordered by the Lord, faltering steps, significant steps. So do you remember Neil Armstrong, the first man to arrive on the moon? And they said to him in NASA headquarters, when you get there say something that is memorable.

And I wonder what options went through his mind as the spaceship eventually got towards the moon and as eventually he landed. But what he did gasp out was this as he was the first one to experience the moon. A small step for the first man.

A great leap forward for humanity. When you find that Jesus Christ has asked you, compelled you to put your feet in his footprints, that is a significant step. A small step but as far as you are concerned it is the beginning of something wonderful.

A journey which will last through life and on into eternity. The steps of a good man, the steps of a good woman ordered by the Lord, faltering steps, significant steps. And as the text indicates, directed steps.

And dad holds the hands of his young lad and together they go. And such is the relationship between dad and the lad that the boy wants to go where the father wishes him to go. And that is the interesting thing about being a Christian.

It is not a kill joy religion of dos and don'ts, a catalogue of prohibitions. When you have come to trust the Lord Jesus and love him, you want to do what he wants you to do. The direction that he drops on you becomes in a strange way a tremendous freedom as you discover that your will and his will converge and there is no tension.

You want to be what he wants you to be. And when you deviate and when you falter, there is such a sense of upset that you come back and you say I am sorry, I went astray. And he embraces you and takes you further down the road.

Such is Christianity. In his heart a man plans his course, says the book of Proverbs, but the Lord determines his steps. The book of Galatians in the New Testament says, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

There are three vital steps that I want you to have in your mind as we bring this service to its conclusion. Three vital steps which I have illustrated diagrammatically in terms of an A and a B and a C. And the first step is this, accept. Accept what? That you are in need of salvation.

That's the beginnings of entering into the Christian faith by accepting your need. Believe, B, believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary and the benefits of his life as he hung there are passed over to you. For his was a sinless life and his death was completely unnecessary in terms of paying for any fault that there might have been in him.

So, there is a bonus that the Lord Jesus has won for you and for me. And that bonus he credits to the account of all those who confess, who believe that he died to save them. And the C is confess.

Confess publicly as has been the case this evening that you have chosen the Lord Jesus as your Savior. The steps of a good man. Accept that you're in need.

Believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has come to meet that need. And confess having made your acceptance that you have trusted him as your Savior. Just switch off those overheads for a moment.

You know, down the years I've been privileged to conduct so many baptismal services in this place. And also, at the other end of the scale in terms of pastoral responsibilities, so many funerals. Very often at the funerals I've conducted, a large proportion of people have been unconverted.

And I've urged them, as I'm urging you, to make these simple steps towards Jesus Christ. And sometimes I tell them a story. It's a story of a comedian.

Not the sort of comedian that featured on television last night. The comedians of yesteryear in the Middle Ages. A man who was a jester.

A man who was the greatest in tomfoolery, serving a king that any monarch could ever have. And the story goes that the monarch, wanting to congratulate and honor the comic abilities of his jester, gave him a golden rod. And he said to the jester, I'm giving you that because you're the greatest fool that any monarch ever had.

And I charge you, pass that on to someone else. If you ever find someone a greater fool than yourself, otherwise it's yours. And the story goes that the years went by, and the circumstances changed, and the king is on his deathbed, and the jester is summoned in to see the monarch for the last time.

And the king says to the jester, I'm going on a long journey. And the jester says to the king, sir, where are you going? And the king says, I don't really know. And the jester says, sir, what preparations have you made for the journey? And the king says, preparations, jester, I've made no preparations.

And the jester put up a third question, sire, when are you coming back? And the king said, jester, I'm never coming back. The poignant part of the story is when the jester reaches from within his tunic and takes the golden rod and presents it back to the monarch. And he said, sir, if you're going on a journey, and you don't know where you're going, and you've made no preparation, and you're not coming back, take my rod.

It's yours. You are a greater fool than ever I have been. And you know, I have met many wise people in Worthing, wise like our youngsters this evening.

I've also met many a fool. You're a fool to go through life without measuring your steps. You're a fool never to consider what life is all about, and what awaits you at the end.

But the Christian faith, it beckons you away from your tomfoolery into the wisdom of those who acknowledge that Jesus Christ is God's son. Come into the world to ask you to put your feet in his footprints, to identify with him, and to enter into the benefits brought about by his life, and his death, and his mighty resurrection. Three vital steps.

A. Accept. Accept that you're in need. B. Believe.

Believe the Lord Jesus died to save you. C. Confess publicly your desire to serve him. Let's pray.

Here. Just a moment for you to respond to what you've heard in the testimonies. Christian does not indicate his faith by ticking a box.

He indicates his faith by saying yes to the Lord Jesus and asking for forgiveness for his sins. This is what you need to do. Say something like this in your mind.

Heavenly Father, I have made little preparation for the years of my life, and indeed for the end. I appreciate like President Clinton and Boris Yeltsin that there are things in my life for which I am ashamed. I cannot turn to the world leaders, so I turn to your son and I ask for his absolution and for the blessings of his life to be put to my account.

Lord, forgive me my sins. Fill me with your spirit and enable me to confess in mouth the Lord Jesus and in action by being baptized that I am stepping out with him. Amen.

Let's sing another song, Be Thou My Vision. And as this song is sung, some of our folk who are joining the fellowship of the tab will make their way to the front and we're just going to extend to them what we call the right hand of fellowship. That is bringing them publicly into the membership of our church.

There's about a dozen people and it'll take three or four minutes. Okay, we're going to sing, it's actually an ancient Irish song and we're going to do it in a style that is probably a bit more Irishy. So just beware, there's a slightly different rhythm.

We'll put more emphasis on the first beat of the bar. So what we'll do is we're going to hear it played through on the flute and it'll just give you time to just reflect on what's happened this evening as well. And then I'll sing the first verse through just to get the rhythm going.

Then we'll stand and repeat the first verse, sing the second verse and the fourth and the fifth verse. So I hope that's clear. Right, it's number 51 in the mission praise.

Be thou my vision, O Lord, for my heart. Not be all else to me, save that thou art. Thou my best thought, by day or by night.

Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. Please stand. First one again.

Be thou my vision, O Lord, of my heart. Not be all else to me, save that thou art. Thou my best thought, by day or by night.

Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. Be thou my wisdom, thou my thy true word. I ever will in thee, thou with me, Lord.

Thou my great Father, I thy true Son. Thou in me dwelling, and I in thee one. Verse four.

Bitches, I need not no man's empty praise. Thou my inheritance, now and always. Thou art thou only, first in my heart.

High King of heaven, my treasure thou art. High King of heaven, after victory won. May I reach heaven's joy, O bright heaven's sun.

Heart of my own heart, whate'er befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of all. Jesus Christ, I thank upon your sacrifice.

You became nothing, or else to death. Many times, I've wondered at your gift of life. I'm in that place once again.

I'm in that place once again. And once again I look upon the cross where you died. I'm humbled by your mercy, and I'm broken inside.

Once again, I thank you. Once again, I pour out my life. Now you are exalted to the highest place.

King of the heavens, where one day I'll bow. But for now, I marvel at his saving grace. And I'm filled of praise once again.

I'm filled of praise once again. And once again I look upon the cross where you died. I'm humbled by your mercy, and I'm broken inside.

Once again, I thank you. Once again, I pour out my life. And once again.

And once again I look upon the cross where you died. I'm humbled by your mercy, and I'm broken inside. Once again, I thank you.

Once again, I pour out my life.