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A lady stopped me after church Sunday to talk about baptism.  She enjoys our church, wanted to join, but grew up in another tradition where she was sprinkled, not immersed.  She told me she was scared of going under the water and that was big obstacle.

I used to make light of such fears.  I have heard others - people hate to get up in front of a crowd, people don’t want to speak in front of people (we ask people to declare out loud, “Jesus is Lord” before baptism).  But I have fears too.  Not of water or speaking in front of others, but a fear of gettng stuck in a confined space and a major fear of heights. 

This is what I have learned - one of the reasons God asks us to be baptized is so we prove to ourselves that our desire to obey Him is stronger that our fears.  Once you do this, following Jesus is a positive reaffirmation of the your decision to be baptized.

I walked this lady through the mechanics of baptism — and when she found out she could hold her nose, she was okay.  And she can share in the joy of obedience.

Usually this time of year churches start to ask people to invite their friends and family to an Easter worship service.  We have done that.  We do it for the best of reasons – because we know that people are unusually sensitive to the Holy Spirit during this season and will feel a tug toward church. 
But I’m not asking you to invite people to church this Easter.  Instead, I am asking you to love people this Easter: 

• Love people enough to be so joyful that they notice something is different.  When they ask what’s going on, tell them, “It’s the season to remember what Jesus did for me!”
• Love people enough to tell them in a sentence or two about your story of following Jesus– risk a little discomfort in the conversation.
• Love people enough to park in the back.
• Love people enough to postpone a family trip for spring break so you can sit with them in worship.
• Love people enough to talk to them on Easter Sunday.
• Love people enough to slide toward the middle of the row.
• Love people enough to pray for people you know need God.  Ask the Holy Spirit to work in their lives. 
• Love people enough to be okay with it if God leads them to another church on Easter Sunday and they find Jesus.
• Love people enough to help a family with three kids in uncomfortable clothes find the right group where their children will be loved.
• Love people enough to not say, “I can’t believe you are in church today!  You of all people!  It’s a wonder the walls don’t’ all down!”
• Love people enough to accept them if they dress up or down.
• Love people enough to help them know they are not a number.
• Love people enough that you pray during the response time that someone will take the step of accepting Jesus as their Savior.
• Love people enough to be hopeful that the best is yet to come.

Jesus loved people so much, he came back.  He came back after they betrayed him, hurt him, and debased him.  Love people like Jesus for Easter.

We talk at ADBC a lot about taking your next step.  Recently the question was posed to me:  “How does a person know what their next step is?”  With that in mind, here is a simple quiz to help you get started:
1.       Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior?  Yes, go to 2.  No – then ask God to forgive you, and invite Him into your life, and surrender control to Him.
2.       Have you been baptized after you accepted Jesus?  Yes, go to 3.  No – then contact the church office and ask for information about being baptized.
3.       Have you joined a church family?  Yes, go to 4.  No – then find a church that feeds you and where you can serve, and join.  If that is ADBC, attend the next Starting Point, February 17^th.
4.       Have you joined a group?  Yes, go to 5.  No – then look at the group guide on the website (http://www.adbc.org/survey.php), or call the office and ask for suggestions.  Then try groups until you find the one that’s right for you.
5.       Are practicing basic spiritual disciplines?  Yes, go to 6.  No – start by reading the Bible.  Pray.  Give something if you have been giving nothing. 
6.       Are you behaving as a Christian?  Yes, go to 7.  No – start.  Identify something you can change today and for the next thirty days, pray about making the change every day.
7.       Are you serving?  Yes, go to 8.  No – Call the church office and ask “where are volunteers needed?”  Try something.  If that doesn’t work, try something else.
8.       Are you sharing your story?  Yes, go to 9.  No – Invite a friend to come to church with you.  Talk about your faith.  Volunteer to go to Africa.
9.       Are you done?  No  - if you have completed all these steps, then ask God to make your relationship with Him closer, your relationships with others deeper, your character stronger, and your purpose clearer. 
We all have a next step.  Find yours?

There are some people out there who are thinking this today:

Had some time off during the holidays and got to thinking about my life.  I need something.  So, this Sunday, I’m going to go church.  I’ll probably go first to the one that someone invited me to or the one I’ve heard of the most.  When I show up, this is what I want to know:

• Is anybody here like me?  Do they understand my world?  Are there cars in the parking lot like mine?  Or will my mini-van stand out in parking lot full of Mercedes and BMWs?
• Will anyone speak to me?  I don’t want to be mobbed by fake friendliness - just a word or two to let me know you care is enough?
• Will anybody help me?  Will anybody recognize I have a pre-schooler and I don’t know where to go?
• Will I stay awake?  Or will the music drag?
• Will the preacher help me or just yell at me?
• Does anybody recognize how scary this is for me?

With thanks to David Foster for this inspiration, I want to be ready for the folks who will be trying out church in the New Year!

Things I learned growing up in the middle of an orange grove:

1. You need a good stiff wind ever so often to blow out the dead leaves and the dead branches.  That dead stuff attracts bugs and disease.
2. An orange tree has a deep tap root and lots of shallow roots.  If the tree is shaken, it disturbs the soil and allows the roots to go deeper.
3. Every two years, you need to cut the branches back.  This is called hedging and topping.  It causes the tree to flush with new growth and bear more fruit.

What does our church need:

1. We need a fresh wind from God.  We need the Holy Spirit to blow through us and remove the deadness in our lives and in our church.
2. Our roots need to go deeper.  God has called this church to be big and strong so we can provide shade and shelter for hurting people who need God’s grace to change.
3. We need to be pruned spiritually.  We need flush with new growth spiritually.  We need to bear more fruit for our God.

Our One Day Revival is this Sunday.  James Walker and Roosevelt Morris will be speaking to us.  Ask God to speak powerfully to our hearts and to our church.  Be here!  Your presence will make a difference for yourself and for someone else.

Perhaps you’ve heard the controversty about Mother Teresa’s letters that express her doubts.  (See Time http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1655415-6,00.html)

Mother Teresa’ doubt were profound, and plagued her.  They were not the doubts of a day or a month, but a decades long sense of God’s absence.

Doubt dances with faith.  The journey toward God is not a straight line - we zig and zag.  For some, the zig are short, but frequent.  For others, like Mother Teresa, the zag is long - a lifetime.

One thing I do understand:  It is not unusual for those who commit to ministry to struggle with doubt and depression.  The people who wrote the Psalms cried out to God and asked where He was.  Jeremiah wondered why God gave him such a hard message.  Moses, Jesus, and Paul all spent time in the desert. 

We can’t answer completely why Mother Teresa felt God’s absence.  We can still admire her faithfulness in living her calling.  We learn to never get so lost in our calling that we lose our love.

Check out this post from Dave Foster:

Hello, I’m High Expectation Guy, And I’m Coming to Your Church Tomorrow

Check out davidfoster.tv and

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