Jentezen Franklin - Just Add Water
Thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate you joining us for this special telecast today. Recently I preached a message called "Just Add Water", and it's a reference to water baptism. After you've given your heart to Jesus Christ, we're commanded in the Bible to be baptized in water. I'm gonna share with you a simple teaching that can change your life. But then, we're gonna show you the power of water baptism by letting you see on this program, and hear, some of the most powerful testimonies. Watch this, and listen to this. This is God's Word to your life, just add water.
There's a story in Acts 8. I don't have time to read it, but it's the story of Philip, and it's the story of how that there was a revival in Samaria, and the Lord spoke to him and said go to the desert. Leave the revival where miracles were happening and go to the desert. And so this preacher, Philip the evangelist, is in the desert, and he doesn't understand why he's there, but he's waiting on something, and all of a sudden, he sees a chariot come in his direction in the middle of the desert... how in the world these two people intersect and find each other. It's a miraculous story in Acts 8, and there's a man who is over the treasury of the nation of Ethiopia, the Bible said. He was working directly under Queen Candace who was over the whole nation of Ethiopia. He was a very powerful man, and he just so happened to be allowing the horse to lead the chariot. I guess it was a trail. He couldn't have been using the reins.
It must've knew the way to go toward water, is all, and he happens to be reading, this man, he happens to be reading the Book of Isaiah in the 53rd chapter where it says that he will be led as a lamb before the slaughter, and it goes into the stripes that he'll take on his back and the whole story, the beautiful crucifixion Old Testament chapter of Isaiah 53. This man who is of another religion is reading the Book of Isaiah, and he does not understand what it's saying. All of a sudden, Philip the evangelist hears the spirit say that is the man I sent you to the desert for. Join yourself to him. He runs and while the horse is trotting along, here comes the preacher running right beside. Here's the chariot. The guy is sitting there reading the Book of Isaiah, and here comes this preacher running up beside him.
It's an amazing story, and he says, hi, how are you? What are you doing? Now, I'm gonna paraphrase it, but this is what happened. And he says, well, I'm reading this book, this Book of Isaiah about someone who will be wounded for my transgressions and bruised for my inequities, the chastisement of my peace will be upon Him, but I don't understand a thing that I'm reading, and Philip says in so many words I have a Ph.D. in Isaiah 53. Would you like for me to step on to your chariot and explain it to you? Come on. Come on aboard. He steps on to that chariot and by the time he gets through with him the Bible says, "and he preached Jesus unto him". I love that. He preached Jesus. He showed him that Jesus was the one who had gone to the cross for him. He did not preach politics unto him. He did not preach economics unto him. He preached Jesus unto him.
And the Bible said the man believed on Jesus Christ, so much so that he came upon a pond of water, probably the only oasis out in the desert, and he says what hinders me from being baptized right now? And he said do you believe on Jesus. He said yes. And notice they came unto certain water, and he said if you believe in your heart in Jesus Christ, this man had never heard the Gospel, and he just had it preached to him and instantly, the Bible said, they both go into the water, and he gets baptized right there on the spot. They went down both into the water. What a story! What a story! When it comes to baptism, we make two mistakes. There are those who say baptism in water isn't that big of a deal because your salvation does not depend upon it. I can be saved without being baptized in water, but you cannot be obedient to the commandment of Jesus Christ, and then there are those who go to the other extreme and say you cannot be saved unless you've been baptized in water, and neither one of them is the correct way to see it.
Jesus. The first thing that Jesus did in His earthly ministry was get baptized in water and when He came out of the water, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove came down upon Him, but the first thing that He did in His earthly ministry was model water baptism for you and I. The last thing that Jesus did after He died and rose from the dead, and He's going back on a cloudy elevator to intercede for you and me at the right hand of the Father, the last words was go into all the world, Matthew 28, and preach the Gospel to all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The last thing Jesus said was I want you to be baptized, immersed in water. I want you to go down and come up completely in water through baptism. We dare not minimize what Jesus so emphasized. But in Mark 1:9, this was the baptism of Jesus. When He came from Nazareth to Jordan, Jordan was a river, and it says in Verse 10 straightway He came up out of the water.
Now, if He came up out of the water, guess where He was? He was down in completely in and under the water. It was not convenient for Jesus to get baptized, and that's why people don't do it a lot of times. It's just inconvenient. It's inconvenient. It's a little bit awkward. It's kind of, I mean, Jesus traveled 60 miles from Nazareth to the Jordan River. 60 miles. It was not convenient, and He did it for one reason because He knew it was the will of the Father for Him to be baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. And it's not convenient if you just had your hair done, ladies, a $200 hairdo, and you've gotta get in here and mess it up. No thank you. I don't feel God speaking to me today about that. I get it. I get it, but I'm just telling you it will never be convenient.
Sometimes God doesn't want it to be convenient. He told Naaman the general who had leprosy get in the Jordan River and dip seven times, and he said there's gotta be an easier way. I don't wanna do it. God said you do it my way. You get my results. He came up, and he had skin like a baby's skin that was leprous before. And the point is many times God doesn't make it convenient to kill your pride. Baptism requires, biblical baptism requires a lot of water. It requires a lot of water, and the word baptism means to be submerged, to go under. All the early Christians were baptized. Even in the earliest cathedrals that they found that go back to the Second and Third and 14th Century Christians. They had baptistries built in them because they practiced what Jesus the role model showed them to do.
Now, let me give you this real quick, and then we're gonna do this. In Romans 6 this is what it says. It gives a biography of your future. It shows your past. It shows. This baptism tank shows your past, it shows your present, and it shows your future, and let me tell you what I'm talking about in that because he said in Verse 3 that we're baptized into Jesus Christ, and we die. Look at that. He says when we're baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into His death. So, when you go down into the water, you are baptized into His death. What this is a watery tomb, literally in God's eyes, and the old you is being buried under the water. The old you, we are about to have the funeral of about 20 plus people on this stage, and nobody will be crying except the devil. He'll have his handkerchief out. He's gonna grieve bad, and he's gonna say I lost another one. I lost another one. There the old goes. That drug addict. There he goes, and he's coming. Now, that's the past. And then he says in the next Verse, and we baptize them, and they come out.
Notice the last part, "in newness of life". That's the present. So, you go down, and your past, your shame, your guilt, the power of the enemy, the defeat. You go down in that. You come up in newness of life, and then he ends the story with the next verse by showing you your future when he says and just as we have all will one day be planted together in the likeness of His death, we're all gonna die, and they're gonna put us in the ground like they put Jesus in the tomb, but we shall also in the likeness of His resurrection, and he's all tying that to this baptism place, and he says what that is saying is not only is your past taken care of, not only have you come to newness of life in the present, but I've got your future, and one of these days if the Lord tarries, you die, and they put your body in the grave, the trumpet is going to sound, and you have resurrection power in you that not only will raise your spirit instantly goes to be with God, but your body will be raised on that day out of the ground and out of the grave. That's the miracle.
The last thing I wanna say to you about baptism and why it's so important is because it proclaims your identification with Jesus Christ publicly. It's like the wedding ring. This wedding ring says I belong to Cherise. It doesn't make me married. The ring doesn't make me married. I have a marriage certificate. We had a ceremony. We have 34 years of living together, and we did what we did before God. That's what made us married. But here's what it does. It doesn't make me married. It shows publicly that I am married. That's exactly what this is. This doesn't make you saved. You can go down a dry sinner and come up a wet sinner. There's nothing magical in this water that will make you saved, but it identifies with the fact that you belong to Jesus Christ. He is your Savior, and you're going public with it. You're going public with it. You belong to Him. That's what water baptism means.
I want you right now to just open up your heart, and let God speak to you through real life testimonies you're about to hear. As I mentioned at the opening of this telecast, we like to hear from people. We like to hear their stories. The Bible said we're overcomers by the blood of the Lamb, and the Word of our testimony. When we start telling people what Christ has done in our family, and in our life, it brings the power of God's grace to the forefront in our life like nothing else. If you need to know somebody cares about you, pick up that phone, dial the number on the screen, or send us and email. We will have a team that is praying for you. Now, let's go back into the service, and listen to these testimonies.
Jentezen Franklin: Give us your name, please.
Catherine O'Brien: Catherine O'Brien.
Jentezen Franklin: And how old are you, Catherine?
Catherine O'Brien: 20.
Jentezen Franklin: 20. Now, I heard a lot of ruckus out there in the congregation. Who is making all that noise?
Catherine O'Brien: My counselors from New Beginnings.
Jentezen Franklin: You're in New Beginnings?
Catherine O'Brien: Yeah, I graduated in 2020.
Jentezen Franklin: And so how long did you go into that program? If you don't know, New Beginnings is an amazing ministry that we support, and we opened up a home for teenagers there. This church built it.
Catherine O'Brien: I'm actually the dorm mom for the teen dorm.
Jentezen Franklin: Okay, so you came there addicted and broken, and now you work in the ministry.
Catherine O'Brien: I do. I do. I started working for the ministry two or three months ago, and you know, now it's just crazy because, you know, we have one teenager there right now, and you know, everything that I went through, you know, every night that I just sat there crying, every hurt that I went through, you know, like the Lord brought me out of that. He brought me through that, so I can pour into this girl and to give her the same hope of Jesus. You know? And it's...
Jentezen Franklin: You're so young. You're 20 years old. When did you start? When did you get into this darkness, this dark world?
Catherine O'Brien: Well, it started, it really took off at age 13. You know, I was just so angry. I was angry at the world. I was angry at God, and I didn't want any part to do with Him or the way He wanted me to live ‘cause I was raised in church. You know? My mom thought it was very important to have me in church, but you know, my parents had gotten divorced when I was five, and I blamed God for that, and I just was so angry. I was angry at everybody, and that just progressed. You know, I just blew hell wide open, really. You know, I started smoking weed when I was 13, but that just opened up the door to so...
Jentezen Franklin: It's gateway. You know, our crazy nation is legalizing it everywhere, but it's a gateway to hell.
Catherine O'Brien: Absolutely. You know, and then there was just other darkness. You know, I started slitting my wrists and trying to commit suicide. You know, I tried to hang myself when I was 13 years old, and the rope broke, you know, and that was right there was God's hand over me, you know, but even then, you know, like, I remember the day that I said that, well, if God won't let me kill myself, I'll just do it slowly, and that's when I started really resorting to drugs, and you know, I ended up on meth when I was 18, and it all led up to this one night where I really thought that I was gonna die. I thought that this man that I was with was gonna kill me, and I cried out to the Lord in that moment. I was like, God, if you will get me through this alive, I will change. I will give my life to you, and He did, and from that moment on, that moment on, He started moving everything out of the way, about a month later, He led me to New Beginnings, and I even tried to leave New Beginnings because part of me still didn't really want to surrender everything, but I did. I tried to leave New Beginnings, and He wouldn't let me leave from there, you know, and it was a week later that I got born again, and I've been living for Him ever since.
Jentezen Franklin: How long have you been clean?
Catherine O'Brien: About a year and a half.
Jentezen Franklin: That's a miracle. That's a miracle. Anything else you wanna say? My goodness. That's unbelievable.
Catherine O'Brien: That Jesus, that Jesus is the only way. He's the only one who is ever gonna be able to bring you through your problems. He's the only one who is gonna be able to heal that brokenness that's within you, and it's Jesus. It's only Jesus.
Jentezen Franklin: Praise the Lord. Lord, thank you for this miracle. I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Praise God. Praise God. Hallelujah.
Jentezen Franklin: What's your name?
Naomi: Naomi.
Jentezen Franklin: Naomi? And are you in New Beginnings?
Naomi: I'm a graduate from New Beginnings.
Jentezen Franklin: How long have you been graduated?
Naomi: Since September last year.
Jentezen Franklin: Tell us a summary of your story.
Naomi: Well, my dad brought me here, high, in 2018 and I sat in a service and the Spirit of God was just speaking straight through you, Pastor.
Jentezen Franklin: So your dad made you. Where's dad at? There he is. That's awesome. So your dad knew that you were high. Was it a Sunday morning?
Naomi: It was a Sunday morning, and I came in here wide-eyed and ready to go.
Jentezen Franklin: What kind of drugs?
Naomi: I was addicted to Meth and Heroin. And I was addicted for...
Jentezen Franklin: So this could be a real freak show on a Sunday morning when we're wide open, right? I mean...
Naomi: Absolutely, yes sir.
Jentezen Franklin: On drugs, you know what I mean. Did it freak you out or what?
Naomi: No, I came in here and it was like I couldn't even feel high anymore. And...
Jentezen Franklin: What do you mean you couldn't feel high?
Naomi: It was like complete clarity. Like you were preaching about being a child, and how when the Word gets in us as children that there is a heartstring in there that will reel you in, and it was just reeling me in. So, anyway, he brought me here and I came to a few services and we were just going into the fast and I decided to stick it out. I came high every time, but I still came.
Jentezen Franklin: Oh, I love that. You came high every time, your dad never gave up on you. And you just kept coming. Coming messed up, coming struggling, coming hurting, coming addicted, but you just kept coming.
Naomi: We went into the fast and you know, that was my first time learning about fasting, and you know...
Jentezen Franklin: So you still getting high, but you're gonna learn how to fast?
Naomi: I mean, you know, I don't know who's fasts the Lord honored, and I know he honored my father's. I feel like he may have honored mine. My fast was that I was just gonna watch Sermons. And I was just gonna let the Spirit come into me, even though I was high. And you preached a sermon about Ishmael and the cries of the lad that were heard, and during my fast, my baby was taken from me by Child Protective Services. And, you know...
Jentezen Franklin: So that's a sermon that's called Picking Up Dropped Dreams. And it's about Hagar having to lay the baby down under a bush and hearing it cry, knowing that she was being separated from it for it to die, but God had another plan.
Naomi: Yes, and I believe that the cries of my baby were heard. And within a month I applied to go to New Beginnings and he just reeled me in by that heartstring. and it was just incredible. And I've made it through, I came out on the other side. I wear this sticker with honor. This is for my son who is down in Kidpak, Little River. This is my badge of honor. Every time I come to church I'm so excited to put it on my shirt.
Jentezen Franklin: What a testimony. To God be the glory. Oh my goodness, do you want to say anything else?
Naomi: Yes I do. I want to say thank you to my dad for his obedience. I want to say thank you to all of the women and staff members at New Beginnings. And I want to say thank you to the people of this church for their support, and their prayers. I don't even know you, but I know that you prayed for me and I want to thank you and Cherise for being just, surrendered vessels and all of that.
Jentezen Franklin: Thank you. Praise the Lord. Oh, we love you, Jesus. We love you, Jesus. We worship you, Lord. Oh we thank you, we thank you, we thank you, we thank you, Lord Jesus. We praise you. I baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
I believe that what you've heard today was what God intended for you to hear. Something was said that touched your heart. And that's why you're still watching this program. And I want to give you an invite that God loves you. That God cares about you that Jesus Christ came and died a horrible death so that I could be forgiven, so that you could be forgiven. Say:
Jesus, Savior, healer, deliverer, I need you. I confess with my mouth and believe from my heart, you are the Son of God, you died and rose from the dead. You are King of kings and Lord of lords. And today, come into my life. In Jesus name, amen and amen.