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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=82 BGCOLOR="#000099" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>First Christian Church</B></FONT><B>     |   </B><B>  </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="First Christian Church"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Worship Times"><U>Worship Times</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U>About Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Map"><U>Map</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Staff"><U>Staff</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Prayer List"><U>Prayer List</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Calendar"><U>Calendar</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photos"><U>Photos</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A>   |   <A 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BGCOLOR="#0000FF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Sermons <A NAME="top"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="731" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#000099 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="719"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="719" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP BGCOLOR=#000099 HEIGHT= 3078 WIDTH="719"><div> Baptism…A Script for Living</div> <div> Mark 1:1-11</div> <bR> <div>       While I was a student at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, there was a graduate student who was in great demand as a Religious Comedian at local churches.  Grady Nutt later became a regular on Hee Haw…telling funny stories of things that happen in churches.  Grady, was killed in a plane crash in Alabama, his home state.</div> <div>    Baptism is a very  serious sacrament…and yet baptism by emersion can cause some humorous things to happen.   (For example:  Linda fell in the baptistery the first time she baptized a young girl.)   She ended up with more water on her than on the young girl.</div> <div>    Grady Nutt became famous for telling the following story:  A little country church had three candidates to be baptized.  Mr. McLain, a 70 year old bitter old man who was the 'grinch' of the community was the first to be baptized, followed by a night club bouncer.  The final person to be baptized was the 60 year old Widow Brown who was know to dip snuff and chase after the men.  The baptistery was located in the floor behind the pulpit and the dressing room was located behind the baptistery with a bed sheet hung up on a wire to give privacy.  The floor of the dressing room was covered with linoleum.</div> <div>     On the night of the baptism, the entire community showed up because no one ever expected any of the three candidates would ever be baptized.  (The community felt It was truly a moving of the spirit.)</div> <div>     Mr. McLain, the 70 year old grinch was baptized and went behind the bed sheet room to change.  Then the  bouncer was baptized and he too joined the "grinch" in the dressing room to remove his wet clothes.  The bouncer had trouble getting his leg out of the wet pants.  He got one leg free and he gave a kick to free the other leg…and he slipped on the wet linoleum and slid out the dressing room and landed back in the baptistery where the Widow Brown was being baptized.  As he was sliding he desperately grabbed the bed sheet and took it in the baptistery…leaving Mr. McLain, (the grinch) in his birthday suit.  He quickly grabbed a chair and tried to hide behind it.  The lights had been turned low for the baptizing.  Somebody yelled, "Turn out the lights!"  An excited deacon did exactly the opposite.  He turned them on full power.  </div> <div> …For some reason, the three baptized people never showed up at the church again. </div> <div>  </div> <div> I wonder if John the Baptist had any memorable baptisms?  He certainly had one…the baptism of Jesus.  John the Baptist was a colorful individual…he dressed in animal fur…and he ate locust.  </div> <div> …No pulpit committee would ever consider calling him to serve as their pastor.</div> <div> -2-</div> <div> He called the church leaders, "You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?"  It takes guts to call your congregation "vipers" or "snakes."   Even so, John had a great impact on his community.  Crowds from Jerusalem and all of Judea went out in the wilderness to hear him preach.   Many confessed their sins and were baptized by John in the river Jordan.</div> <div>    In Matthew 3:5 Jesus said, "I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist." (That's about the best reference a preacher can get.)</div> <div>     John had humility.  He was not on an ego trip.  He was real.  He was not trying to advance his own agenda.   His message was never about him…but about the coming Messiah.  John was not looking for people to follow him, he was looking for people to follow Jesus.   Think about John  baptizing the very Son of God.  He baptized the one for whom he had been preaching about.   This was certainly the crowning event in John's life.</div> <div>     When Jesus showed up to be baptized, John's humility showed through when he said,  "Lord, I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me??"</div> <div> Jesus did need to be baptized, not because of sin, but as an example for us to follow.</div> <div>      Baptism is a powerful symbol for the Christian, more powerful than many church people know.  </div> <div> (thought)  WALTER BRUGGEMAN said, everybody had a script. (Somewhat like a script an actor reads.)  Each of us has a script in our brain and we live our lives both consciously and unconsciously guided by this script.  For some of us this may be as simple as, "My dad always said…"  …and we live by that.  </div> <div> (thought)  An eleven year old boy was fishing with his father.  Suddenly the boy's pole doubled over.  He knew something very big was on the other end. With much effort he reeled it in.  It was the largest bass he had ever seen.  His father watched proudly, but then looked at his  watch.  It was 10:00 p.m. ….two hours before the bass season opened.   The father said, "Son, you'll have to put him back."   The boy couldn't believe what his father was saying.  Why should he release this trophy fish?  No one will know.   That was 34 years ago.  Today, the boy is a successful architect in New York City.    He still lives by the ethic his father taught him that night.  This is part of the script.</div> <div>      Another part of our 'script'  comes from things like TV and advertising.  The average American is bombarded by up to 3,000 ads PER DAY!  Things like:  "You only go around once in life," or "Because I'm worth it!" or "Just do it."  (With enough repetition these messages become part of us.) ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPT…happiness comes in a bottle or in a product or in a service.  </div> <bR> <div> -3-</div> <div> According to the script, "there's a product or a treatment or a process to counteract every ache and pain and discomfort and trouble, so that life may be lived without inconvenience."</div> <div> HERE'S THE PROBLEM.  This script has failed.   It promised to make us safe and happy and fulfilled.  Yet, the truth is, it has instead produced new depths if insecurity and new waves of unhappiness.  We are wealthier than we've ever been…our houses are bigger…we have more income…we live better than any previous generation on earth…and yet we have never been unhappier and more uncertain about our future.  THE SCRIPT HAS FAILED.</div> <div>     (thought)  A family is setting up camp in the woods.  They brought with them their TV set, camera phones, video games, and a box full of other electronic devices.  One of the kids said, "It's a good thing we've got all this stuff, or we couldn't shut out the noise of that stream and the waterfall."</div> <div>    That's part of the 'script' that controls our lives!  Technology will make us happier.  We're only one new gadget away from ecstasy.  (Meanwhile, our families are in shambles.  Sales of antidepressants are soaring.  People are suffering from all kinds of emotional disorders.)  THE SCRIPT HAS FAILED.  (There's something wrong in our society.)</div> <div>     Next:  Our physical, mental, moral and spiritual health depends on giving up the failed script.   That makes sense, doesn't it?  If the script has failed us, we need to move away from it. (Easier said than done.)   How do we undo a lifetime of programming from our family, society, and all the influences that have been brought to us?  That is the task of the church and its ministry…to detach us from that powerful script.  That's suppose to be my job each week.  Not to entertain you with a piano selection or Jazz group…but to give you an alternative script that is rooted in the Bible.    </div> <div>    MAYBE WE NEED TO GET BACK TO "BAPTISM."</div> <div> (Thought) A family was in church while an infant baptism was taking place.  They sat on the very front row so that the children could properly witness the service.  A six year old girl in the family was focused on the scene of the pastor pouring water over the little one's head.  With a puzzled look on her face, the little girl turned to her father and asked, "Daddy, why is he brainwashing that little baby?"</div> <div>     My fundamental job is to point out that you and I have already been brainwashed in such a way that we may have missed God's purpose for our lives.  My job is to not to call you a snake or viper, but it is to suggest that you and I may be living our lives according to a failed SCRIP.   If you come to church to be reinforced with what you already know…WHAT PROFIT IS THERE IN THAT?</div> <div>    Here's the final script.  The entry point into this counter- script for our lives is BAPTISM.  </div> <div> -4-</div> <div> Baptism is a sign and seal that we desire a new script for our lives, a script written by Christ himself.  In baptism we claim a new script.</div> <div> Baptism sets us free from the script that has failed us.</div> <bR> <div> When you have this new script there's new possibilities.</div> <div> When someone tempts you, "Let's go to my place for a little nightcap."  You can say, "Oh, I couldn't do that."   "Why not?"   "I 'm baptized!"  'Ohhh…"</div> <div> Someone may ask, "Why do you keep dragging yourself to that church that looks like an onion?"   You say, "Baptized!"    "Ohhh…"</div> <bR> <div> Can you get your mind around this understanding of baptism and the understanding of the script we live by?</div> <bR> <div> We live by a script that has failed us.  The Gospel gives us a counter-script to live by.  Baptism is a sign that we have adopted this new script for our lives.  Baptism tell us who we are.  </div> <bR> <div> WE ARE CHRIST'S FOREVER.  WE ARE BAPTIZED!</div> <bR> <div>                                                                                         Amen.</div> <bR> <bR> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="719"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="719" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <I><B><IMG SRC="1633fc70.jpg" border=0 width="319" height="199" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="#top" TITLE="Sermons"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>