Confess Jesus, Repent Of Sins, Be Baptized

“Have you ever wondered if faith is meant to be so complicated, or is it really just about following Jesus?”

There some people who just make something that is so easy… look incredibly complicated? You know what I’m talking about?

Do you remember when the Garmin GPS’s first came out in the mid 90’s?

They were great… when they were right! But how many of you had one of those and ended up in a place that you didn’t really want to go.

It happened to me on a few occasions. It’s like you’re driving in a big city, and you feel lost, but you won’t admit that you’re lost… right? Men??? Am I preaching to you right now?

But suppose you are driving in a big city that you kind of know, and your Garmin starts talking to you with this Brittish or Australian accent. (Play the sound efx now) “recalculating, recalculating”

In your mind, you know where you need to go… but this thing is talking to you in this annoying voice, saying (Play the sound efx now) “recalculating route, recalculating route”

Twenty minutes later, you’ve gone in three circles, passed the same gas station twice, and the GPS lady sounds like she’s about to quit her job. She’s saying, “(Play the sound efx now) “recalculating route, recalculating route”

Now… I would never hit a girl… but… there have been times when the old gps has gotten under my skin a little bit.

But here’s the good news. God has not made it difficult to come to Him. When Jesus first started calling people, He just said, “Follow me”. That simple!

He was basically saying… Don’t go all the way around the block when God is saying… this is the route.

And those original disciples were all in. And then before Jesus died, He started telling His disciples things like this in Matthew 28

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,[b] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Earlier in the book of Matthew, Jesus said to Peter in Chapter 16…

18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’),[f] and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell[g] will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid[h] on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit[i] on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

Now… this does not mean Peter controls who goes to heaven… I don’t believe that Peter is standing at the gate up in heaven… like every single joke about heaven suggests…

but rather that he was the first to proclaim the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles, "opening the door" to the Church for them.

Jesus gave Peter the responsibility to announce the terms for entering the Church… And so what happened after Jesus died, three days later was resurrected, and then ascended into heaven.

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and gave the first gospel message to the group that was gathered in Jerusalem

And this is what He said… beginning in Acts 2 verse 36…

“So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”

37 Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

38 Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away[h]—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” 40 Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.

That sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? But what have we done over the past 2,000 years, we’ve muddied it up. We’ve made it complicated.

We’ve thrown in creeds and other additions. We’ve also subtracted some things through the years… We’ve tried to make our route into the Kingdom, something other than what God intended…

and I can’t help but think God is sitting up there going… (Play the sound efx now) “recalculating route, recalculating route”

It’s really not that hard. One of our core values that we are talking about today in our series, “At the Core” is “Confess Jesus, Repent of Sins, Be Baptized.”