Today we celebrate! We celebrate those who have taken a step of faith and who are professing their belief in Jesus Christ. Today we will baptize thirteen people. Many of them are children and young people who are declaring and making public their faith in Christ to their family, their friends and the church.

While we do not believe that baptism saves you we do teach that it is an outward testimony to those around you that you are a follower of Christ. You have made a decision to follow Him and you will follow Him no matter what.

"Baptism points back to the work of God, and forward to the life of faith."

I want to define for you what it means to be a Christ follower. Let all of us who are professed followers of Christ remember our commitment. Let all of us in this room examine our lives in light of God’s word and respond by doing the right thing and following Him.

Today I am reading from Psalm 27.

“The one thing I ask of the LORD—the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.

For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock.

Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the LORD with music.”

Psalm 27:1-6 NLT

All of us are searching for something. Within all of us there are those things which we desire. We all have goals; we all have dreams. And we are all hopeful that those dreams may one day come true.

What are you searching for? Are the things you are searching for worth the effort? Some of the things we search for may not be in the Lord’s will for us. Some of those things may even hurt us were we to acquire them. So we must be careful to evaluate what we seek in light of the worthiness of that thing. We must also ask ourselves the question of why we are searching for those things.

All of us struggle and have problems. Everywhere people are hurting and are in need. What the world offers to meet those needs are only shallow substitutes of the real thing. It is the real thing that we should be searching for. It is the real thing that we should be investing our life in.

David was a man consumed with the affairs of life. He had enjoyed some measure of success in His life, yet that success was not without its problems. Not only did David have personal problems, he also had people problems. On more than one occasion there were people who were against him, even seeking to take his life. David knew what it was to struggle with the serious issues of life. But David also knew what it was important to search and desire for. And in this passage of Scripture, we see revealed for us life’s most important priorities.

The Focus of Our Search: Communion with God

What should be the focus of our search? It should be the same thing as David was seeking. That was communion with God. Above all else, David desired to be in the presence of God. He knew that he could find strength in His presence. He knew that "In His presence there is fullness of joy."

From the context of this passage of Scripture, we understand that David had been facing some difficult circumstances. There were those who were against him, who opposed him on every hand, who did not wish to see him in any position of rule in the kingdom. Consequently, they made war against him and fought him constantly. Some of his opposition was extremely powerful. It would be enough to cause person to be afraid. You might say David was under a good deal of stress. Yet in the midst of this, he knew where to turn. He knew that in God’s presence, he would find the strength and spiritual stamina he needed to face the trying situation in life.

We must also realize that it is only in God’s presence where we find the strength to face the affairs of life. The aim of our heart ought to be to desire to seek God’s presence in our lives. We must desire intimate, daily communion with Him because it is only in that life of communion that we will have our needs met.

At the end of Isaiah 40, it says, "They that wait on the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings as eagles, they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint."

In John chapter 15, Jesus emphasized over and over again the need for the believer to abide in Him. There we see the key to the Christian life is our abiding in His presence. As we commune with Jesus and enjoy fellowship with Him, all of our needs are met. Jesus likened it to the branch abiding in the vine. We, as branches, are tapped in to the source of our strength. And as we remain in that abiding relationship, we are privileged to draw upon His life-giving strength, His power, His resources. That is the key for the Christ follower— a life of abiding in unbroken fellowship with Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior, and our Friend.

There is nothing sweeter than communion with Jesus Christ. As we seek Him in prayer, through the reading of His Word, and through our daily walk with Him by faith, there comes a very real inner strength. It is an inner assurance that He loves us and that He is there for us. We come to understand the reality of His promise, that He would never leave us or forsake us. We come to know Him as our friend. There is nothing any sweeter than communion with our Lord.

The Fruit of Our Search: Communication with God

Just as communion is the focus of our search, so communication is the fruit of our search. By communion, we are brought into His presence. As we enter His presence, we enjoy His fellowship. And as we fellowship with Him, we enjoy a genuine divine-human communication.

This is very similar to the communication we enjoy as we share time with one another. As we relate to one another, we get to know one another better. Not all of the communication we share is verbal communication. Some things we come to know by simply being around one another. By observation and by interaction, we come to understand one another. The same is true for our relationship with Jesus Christ. As we spend time in His presence, in communion with Him, we place ourselves in the position for Him to share with us and for us to share with Him.

David said there were two goals for his seeking the Lord.

In the NLT they use this phrase: “delighting in the LORD’s perfections”

I prefer however the description of the NIV which says, “this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD”

A. To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.

David desired to enjoy the presence of God. He understood the value of taking time to enjoy his relationship with God.

Take time to enjoy the glory of the Lord. Consider His love for you. Take time to think about how patient He is with you. Look closely at His mercy. Analyze His compassion and tender care. We all need to spend time looking at Christ from every conceivable viewpoint. As we would take a diamond and hold it to the light, slowly turning it to enjoy all of its glory as the light passes through each facet, so we need to carefully consider Jesus. He is altogether lovely. We need to take time to enjoy Him, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. David’s second goal for his communication with the Lord was:

B. To meditate on God in His temple.

The word "meditate" here can be translated "inquire." David knew that God desired to communicate with him, and David’s desire was to hear the voice of the Lord. One of David’s goals was to inquire of the Lord, and to meditate upon His Word. David saw this as a very great need in his own life. He is the one who said,

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." He also said, "I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes, I shall not forget Your word."

For David, God’s Word was precious. It was more precious than gold. And God’s word ought to be precious to us.

Jesus said, "Learn of me..." Jesus desires to speak to us and His speaking brings faith and deliverance and healing and restoration and joy. Oh, how we need to hear the voice of the Lord. That’s something worth desiring. That’s something worth seeking after and searching for. Jesus said, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." God’s Word is necessary for us to live. We must not only have communion, but communication with the Lord.

The Form of Our Search: Commitment to God

Just as communion is the focus of our search, and communication is the fruit of our search, so commitment is the form of our search. We must be committed in our effort to search for the Lord. What we desire from God, we must seek earnestly. David said,

"The one thing I ask of the LORD...”

David had a goal and he sought it earnestly. He knew what He wanted. He had a single eye. He had ordered his priorities and knew what was important. He had an earnest commitment to follow through until his desire was attained.

But we must not only seek it earnestly, we must seek it determinately. He said,

"this is the thing I seek most...”

He exhibited the kind of determination that indicated he was not going to give up until he obtained the object of search. Like David, we must seek the Lord earnestly. We must seek Him with determination. There must be a commitment to seek His presence.

If we do seek Him earnestly, and with determination, then we will seek Him successfully. We will do so because we seek Him according to His will. Jesus Himself said, "Seek and you shall find." In the book of Jeremiah we read, in Jeremiah 29:13, "And you shall seek Me and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart.” Again, we read in Isaiah 55:6, "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near."

When we become serious about seeking the Lord, we are promised that we will find Him. But we must be serious. Someone said that God doesn’t answer prayer, He answers desperate prayer. We must remember that it is the fervent prayer of a righteous man which avails much. Therefore, in order to seek the Lord successfully, we must be committed to seek Him with all our hearts.

With all of life rushing in upon us, with the busyness of our schedules, with the pressures of our jobs, with the requirements of raising a family, of being a good husband or wife or father or mother, with the problems and difficulties which life brings, there is really only one thing we cannot do without, and that is a living, dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ. The one thing after which we must seek is the one thing which will give us strength to rise above difficult circumstances, the pressures and the stress, and become the man or woman God desires us to be.

Ivan the Great was the tsar of all of Russia during the Fifteenth Century. He brought together the warring tribes into one vast empire--the Soviet Union. As a fighting man he was courageous. As a general he was brilliant. He drove out the Tartars and established peace across the nation.

However, Ivan was so busy waging his campaigns that he did not have a family. His friends and advisers were quite concerned. They reminded him that there was no heir to the throne, and should anything happen to him the union would shatter into chaos. "You must take a wife who can bear you a son." The busy soldier statesman said to them that he did not have the time to search for a bride, but if they would find a suitable one, he would marry her.

The counselors and advisers searched the capitals of Europe to find an appropriate wife for the great tsar. And find her, they did. They reported to Ivan of the beautiful dark eyed daughter of the King of Greece. She was young, brilliant, and charming. He agreed to marry her sight unseen.

The King of Greece was delighted. It would align Greece in a favorable way with the emerging giant of the north. But there had to be one condition, "He cannot marry my daughter unless he becomes a member of the Greek Orthodox Church." Ivan’s response, "I will do it!"

So, a priest was dispatched to Moscow to instruct Ivan in Orthodox doctrine. Ivan was a quick student and learned the catechism in record time. Arrangements were concluded, and the tsar made his way to Athens accompanied by 500 of his crack troops--his personal palace guard.

He was to be baptized into the Orthodox church by immersion, as was the custom of the Eastern Church. His soldiers, ever loyal, asked to be baptized also. The Patriarch of the Church assigned 500 priests to give the soldiers a one-on-one catechism crash course. The soldiers, all 500 of them, were to be immersed in one mass baptism. Crowds gathered from all over Greece.

What a sight that must have been, 500 priests and 500 soldiers, a thousand people, walking into the blue Mediterranean. The priests were dressed in black robes and tall black hats, the official dress of the Orthodox Church. The soldiers wore their battle uniforms with of all their regalia--ribbons of valor, medals of courage. and their weapons of battle.

Suddenly, there was a problem. The Church prohibited professional soldiers from being members; they would have to give up their commitment to bloodshed. They could not be killers and church members too.

After a hasty round of diplomacy, the problem was solved quite simply. As the words were spoken and the priests began to baptize them, each soldier reached to his side and withdrew his sword. Lifting it high overhead, every soldier was totally immersed-everything baptized except his fighting arm and sword.

That is a true historical fact. The unbaptized arm. What a powerful picture of Christianity today. How many unbaptized arms are here this morning? How many unbaptized wills are here? How many unbaptized talents? Unbaptized check books? Unbaptized social activities? How many are there here this morning? Dr. Wayne Dehoney, Walnut Street Baptist Church, The Pulpit Today I am inviting you to accept Christ. I am asking you to join me in praying a prayer of repentance and forgiveness. "Heavenly Father, have mercy on me, a sinner. I believe in you and that your word is true. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that he died on the cross so that I may now have forgiveness for my sins and eternal life. I know that without you in my heart my life is meaningless.

I believe in my heart that you Lord God raised Him from the dead. Please Jesus forgive me, for every sin I have ever committed or done in my heart, please Lord Jesus forgive me and come into my life as my Lord and Savior today, I need you to be my Father and my friend.

I give you my life and ask you to take full control from this moment on; I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ." Amen.