Pursuing All God Has

My Church Is...

By John Youell, Jr., January 21, 2024

(Matthew 16:18 NIV) “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

(1 Corinthians 1:9-10 NIV) However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him— these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

My Church Is

(1 Corinthians 2:4-5 NIV) My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

(1 Corinthians 4:20 NLT) For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.

Three Baptisms Available to You

1. Baptism into the

(Galatians 3:26-27 NIV) So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

2. Baptism – of faith.

(Matthew 10:32-33 NIV) Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

3. Baptism in the living.

(Acts 8:5,12 NIV) Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there… But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

(Acts 8:14-17 NLT) When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Why Are Some Reluctant?

1. Some are

(Acts 19:1-2 NIV) While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

2. Some have become

(Romans 12:11 KJV) Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

3. Some have

(James 1:17 NIV) Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

CHOOSE TO PURSUE ALL GOD HAS FOR YOU

and change the of .

(Ezekiel 47:3-5 NLT) Measuring as he went, he took me along the stream for 1,750 feet and then led me across. The water was up to my ankles. He measured off another 1,750 feet and led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees. After another 1,750 feet, it was up to my waist. Then he measured another 1,750 feet, and the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through.

(Ezekiel 47:9 NLT) There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows