back to index2020-10-25 Baptism Peter Lee
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My name is Peter, and I've been part of the family ministry here at Beroean for the last 00:00:17.840 |
I'm married to my wonderful wife, Kelly, and we have three kids, Noel, Trevor, and Carter. 00:00:23.240 |
I have the privilege this morning of briefly sharing my testimony with you and to partake 00:00:30.240 |
When I look back on my life, I see the gods and Indian faithfulness and care over my life. 00:00:34.760 |
At the age of seven, I moved to the US to live with my grandmother. 00:00:38.160 |
And not having my parents around throughout my childhood and teenage years, I was forced 00:00:42.920 |
I learned to be independent, to make decisions on my own, both good and bad. 00:00:47.520 |
Looking back, it's only by God's grace and protection that I stayed away from trouble. 00:00:52.360 |
In high school, I hung out with the good kids, you know, the ones that didn't care much about 00:00:56.360 |
girls or popularity as much as AP classes and GPAs. 00:01:00.280 |
And one good kid, Conrad, who would eventually become my closest friend, would always drag 00:01:07.800 |
But Christianity was new to me, and this John 14.6 idea that Jesus is the only way to God 00:01:13.560 |
ran counterintuitive to my Taiwanese culture of idol and ancestor worship and the common 00:01:21.520 |
But slowly, God opened my eyes, exposing me more and more to his great love, to his church 00:01:27.160 |
and its people, and ultimately to the good news of Jesus Christ. 00:01:31.000 |
Eventually, in 1999, as a junior in high school, I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. 00:01:37.360 |
It was during one of those harvest crusades at Angel Stadium. 00:01:40.400 |
I still remember Pastor Greg Laurie saying, "If you feel Jesus tugging at your heart, 00:01:45.200 |
I invite you to come down to the field to respond in faith and to make a commitment 00:01:49.760 |
In that moment, it was definitely the work of the Spirit drawing me, and before I knew 00:01:54.080 |
it, I was down in the field with hundreds of others, praying to receive Jesus as my 00:02:02.520 |
In the formative years of college, I attended an on-campus fellowship called AACF, where 00:02:07.320 |
I found much-needed fellowship with other believers. 00:02:10.080 |
I found the prayer support I needed to navigate the ups and downs of college life. 00:02:16.500 |
But in all seriousness, God truly sustained and deepened my faith and knowledge of him 00:02:21.240 |
He opened my eyes even more to the truth of the gospel, to his holiness and my sinfulness, 00:02:26.880 |
to his amazing love and my desperate need for him. 00:02:30.240 |
It was during these crucial years that my theology shifted from a man-centered gospel 00:02:38.120 |
It was about God and glorifying him and enjoying making much of him forever. 00:02:43.480 |
I learned that I was not the center of his redeeming work. 00:02:46.360 |
The magnifying of Christ in my life was the center of his redeeming work. 00:02:49.920 |
And if I could narrow my college years down to one singular event that God used to change 00:02:55.640 |
and shape me for the years to come, it would be hearing Pastor John Piper preach on God's 00:03:04.120 |
Based on the Isaiah 6 vision of the incomparable holiness of God, his sermon hit me like a 00:03:09.920 |
Piper preached, "God's holiness is his infinite value as the absolutely unique, morally perfect, 00:03:16.920 |
permanent person that he is and who by grace has made himself accessible." 00:03:21.320 |
It would be foolish of me to not pursue this God of infinite value, like in Philippians 00:03:27.720 |
3.8 when Paul says, "I count all things as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing 00:03:33.320 |
In 2005, during my senior year of college, I was baptized at my old church, EFC Irvine, 00:03:42.000 |
I believed it to be sufficient, not questioning how it was performed. 00:03:45.880 |
In 2008, Kelly and I got married and we started coming to Bremen. 00:03:51.520 |
If I could quickly, though unfairly, sum up the many lessons I've learned from the faithful 00:03:55.880 |
preaching and study of God's word here, it's this, that there is nothing more valuable, 00:04:01.440 |
more worthwhile than to pursue Christ above all things for my joy and for his glory. 00:04:06.440 |
To abide in Christ and his word where there is true life and to be anchored in Christ 00:04:10.680 |
in order to stand firm in the midst of life's many storms and trials, all the while remaining 00:04:18.920 |
I thank God for always, always for how our pastors and elders set a good example of this 00:04:25.880 |
They have impacted my life more than they know and more than they want to take credit 00:04:32.840 |
Well, it's quite simple, to do what the Bible says in the way it says it. 00:04:37.520 |
In recent years, I thought more about the mode of baptism and it became clear to me 00:04:41.200 |
that immersion was the expression of salvation shown in scripture. 00:04:45.640 |
But my own pride prevented any further consideration or action. 00:04:49.280 |
I still held on to thinking that so long as my intentions were good, mode didn't matter. 00:04:54.920 |
But I'm thankful to our leaders who in this past year have really encouraged us to look 00:04:58.480 |
at and study the scriptures and what it says regarding baptism and how it was practiced. 00:05:03.760 |
Thus, after much study, meditation, and prayer, I want to respond in obedience. 00:05:08.560 |
To be clear, it is by grace that I have been united to Christ through faith and justified 00:05:14.160 |
But if baptism is to signify this great union with Christ, especially in his death and resurrection, 00:05:20.200 |
then I want to honor him by doing so in the way that he has prescribed in his word.