Diedra's Baptism

Here in Detroit, making cars is a huge industry. Just think, in one city, there are three major auto makers and many parts makers and pattern makers and shops that support all kinds of manufacturing. All this started at the turn of the century. All this started with people coming together, bringing the parts they were contracted to make, bringing them together to the assembly plant where, they were put together. They produced what we call the automobile. From those humble beginnings, great industrial giants grew. These corporations dominated the market for many years. Today, cars and trucks are being made everywhere, and Detroit, though still the Motor City, loses a piece of the market year by year.

The church is a lot like an assembly plant. People from all walks of life, touched by God, come together to worship and to serve. When a person is born-again, the Spirit of God takes hold of that believer and sets him on a new road of life. 2 Cor. 5:17 "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things pass away, behold, all things are become new." It is a joy and an honor to baptize Diedra here today. To see God is still in the parts business, the assembly business, the born-again, believing business. God brings people to Him, and if they are willing, he’s going to build the church around these people. They will go out and begin a work, in their homes, with their families, with their friends, with the people they meet. Why? Because they are baptized into Christ and baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ. They are then commissioned and set apart, to do His work and to do His will.

Now, let’s look at the text before us. The Bible speaks here in I Corinthians, that there are different gifts but the same Spirit. We see that God has picked out Diedra today to be a gifted one for Him. God made her special. She’s the latest model you know. We’ve got World War II vets, Korean vets, we’ve got Baby Boomers and Gen Xers. Diedra is Generation Y. She’s the first of that younger group around here. The wild bunch of the church, that kick and scream and cry. But she grew up, and when she did, she heard those messages from the back. She read that Bible in Sunday School, in the services and in her bed. She is fun-loving, playing and laughing, but she has grown into a young lady who has trusted in Jesus for the rest of her life. She’s going to allow God to use her. She’s going to lead a lot of that younger bunch to do the same things she does. Following Christ in new and interesting ways. Why? Because she has the Spirit and the same Lord who is over all. So she comes this morning with her testimony of her trust in Christ and her baptism to step out for Him. It’s an exciting time, and exciting day. This isn’t just for Diedra, it’s for you and you and you!

Verse six says that there are different workings or diversities of operations, but its all of God. So as Diedra goes out and as you and I go out, in our different ways and our different makeup and different gifts, God will work out His will in her life and in your life and my life. We are in an energy crisis of sorts. What’s the cost of fuel these days? Who would believe: $3.00 a gallon. In the church, there is also a fuel crisis. We need Spirit-filled, baptized believers who trust God to give them power and strength. "There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Would you be free from your burden of sin? There’s power in the blood of the Lamb."

Verse seven says that the power of God, the Spirit works it all out, manifesting it, to a gain to a profit. We don’t always see that gain, we don’t always see that increase, we don’t always see that profit, but we do know that it’s a good thing. She’s gonna touch someone’s life hopefully and that’s what the Bible says you and I are supposed to do. we’re baptized into his service and then we go out and do what God calls us to do. Being baptized is a license of sort. It’s saying to everyone: I belong to God. I am His, and He is mine. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phil. 4:13

Verses eight to ten show some of the ways God brings out the different gifts in different people. We need more wise Christians, we need more knowledgable Christians, we need more faithful Christians in this church. We need people who can help, we need people who can heal and help in healing ministries. To work out miracles in lives, to work out discernment of what’s going on and to speak out for God, to prophesy for Him, to understand what God says and what God wants done. Continue to support the hurricane relief fund to assist the victims of Katrina. Through our missions offerings, teams of workers using their gifts of love and service, diversities of operations, heal and help those victims and their needs.