Cornerstone Baptisms at Beach 2024 09 08

He addresses our God of Bailey Weed amidst the flood of mortal history,

Bailey For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe

His craft and power all drain, and armed with cruel aim

On earth is not his equal On streak and fire he stands

Say a prayer for us and we'll head over Yeah sure, Father God thank you so much for this beautiful day Thank you for saving all of us and saving those who got baptized and publicly identified in your

Son Jesus Christ We thank you and we pray a blessing on them now that you would keep the evil one away from them that they would live a life bearing fruit in your name

We pray, Amen Amen Do you understand what death is? Do we understand what being in Christ is?

What is sanctification? What is walking in the light? What does all those different pieces of those puzzles mean to each one of us?

And it instills a very interesting conversation with people because where they're at in their spiritual path in Christ they know bits and pieces of these things they may not know everything all at once and that's one of the big lessons that we learn in our path in sanctification is that the more you know, the least you know about following Jesus Christ because you're always learning, always growing until we see

Him face to face One of the verses that Jeff has spoken about well actually it was in Acts 2, 38 was repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the

Holy Spirit As Jeff had mentioned and I have spoken about and I know

John has too is that this is a public profession of faith it is not what we do to get salvation it is part of the fruit of the

Spirit and we had a spiritual conversation about fruits of the Spirit too I actually gave out a little paper to do your rating from 1 to 5 on each one of the fruits of the

Spirit of where you're at and I said do it in real time but it's interesting to see that when

Paul was discussing the fruit of the Spirit how those things of the works of Jesus Christ in our hearts should be exemplary but the most important thing is that when someone sees someone that's in Christ they should know just seeing them that they're in Christ that it doesn't have to exude all these different things that sets the light of Jesus Christ in their lives is the most important thing that takes place and so we're very proud to have people here who are willing to do this public profession

I have the privilege of having 5 people who will give their testimony before we start let me have a word of prayer with everybody

Father, thank you so much for what you do in our hearts and our lives for changing us Lord for changing us from the inside out

Lord we live in a world that's completely upside down Lord and it's really us and as Jeff had mentioned in his sermon today that we are soldiers out there in the field

Lord and we represent you Lord and I pray today Lord as people who are out there watching this baptism take place

Lord that they are convicted that they are inspired and that they see the light of Christ in us as we go and be obedient to you

I pray for each one of the people who are making this public profession today

Lord be with them put your arms around them guide them keep them safe give them the will to constantly seek you out in everything they do in everything we say we ask this

Lord in your name Jesus name Amen Amen Valerie you were on from your testimony

My name is Valerie I grew up as a Catholic in Vineland, New Jersey It was really important for my family for us to be

Catholic when I was a little girl my dad was the coach of the Catholic basketball team in Vineland, New Jersey he coached basketball and baseball so he was very involved at the age of 35 he passed away of cancer

I was 8 my brothers were 10 and 5 and that was Holy Week and I prayed that he would rise by Friday just like Jesus and so that was a big thing for me growing up when

I had children that I raised them Catholic because I wanted to make sure that I had the approval of my dad and my grandparents who instilled that in us as we were raising our children in the

Catholic church Scott and I felt that it wasn't for us but we did want to make sure that all of the kids had the sacraments just so as they got to be an adult they were allowed to be married in the

Catholic church fast forward later when my son met his now wife

Kyle and Amanda at freshman year in Morristown Friends School they started dating Amanda was brought up in Marleton Assembly of God as a

Christian and she started bringing Kyle to Friday Youth Group he grew very fond of a youth pastor and that helped him into his faith

Scott and I started to go to Marleton Assembly of God and one year Pastor John challenged the congregation to read the

Bible for the whole year that was the first year that I did read the Bible and it was at that time that I realized the real truth that I didn't know for my whole life we also that same year did the

Daniel Fast which was encouraged by the pastor and our whole family did it and by that sacrifice and by reading the

Bible I realized the truth that is in Jesus during COVID when we weren't supposed to go to church we held a

Sunday service in our family room all my family and we would debrief after and make a big family breakfast at this time was the first time

Kyle reminds me that he shared the gospel with our whole family I do realize that he is very very much like my dad

I want to say besides Kyle and Amanda helping us to the

Lord they are also reaching their sisters and my daughter Lisa Lisa is here to her now fiance who is a believer

AJ who is now going to Bible study and my other daughter Brett is in a wedding this weekend and she is also on her way starting to follow the

Lord when we were trying to find a church after COVID we did some research and we went to a few but the first time that I came into Cornerstone Jill was speaking on sponsoring prisoners and I had known

Jill for over 25 years she was a patient of mine as a dental hygienist way back when when she came in for one of her visits she brought me a

New Testament so even back then 28, 30 years ago Jill was trying to give me the word and I didn't really understand at that time

I am so grateful for her knowledge and everything that she teaches us and her dedication and I hope someday

I can be half as knowledgeable as Jill is in the Bible as our

Baphis family continues to grow we are so grateful for Cornerstone and so thankful for Pastor Jeff and our new family that we have found and love so many lovely people in this church we know that God is a maker of true miracles and I just want to say that we will be welcoming a new

Christian in our family Amanda and Kyle are going to have a baby in March we are so very glad so this is my testimony

I am so grateful for the love that I have in Jesus I am so grateful for the lamb and for the blood that he has given to take all of our sins away and for us to be able to see him in glory one day

John 10, 10 I have come to give life so that they may have life and live to the fullest

Thank you My name is so there is probably going to be a lot of duplication here from vows but my name is

Scott I grew up in a strict Roman Catholic household I went to church every Sunday I remember asking myself in church why am

I here and would pray that we would get to the part in the service about the lamb of God I knew after that line that communion was coming and the service would be over I met and married a

Catholic gal from Vine and we raised three kids in a Catholic faith making sure that they received all the sacraments so they could be married in a

Catholic church We went to church on Christmas and Easter We started feeling more and more distant from the

Catholic church and I felt spiritually empty I didn't know where to turn but I knew

I was in the wrong place Years went by Our son

Kyle started dating a gal Amanda who asked Kyle to attend Marlton Assembly of God when they were in high school he immediately gravitated to the church

It was time for Kyle to go back to college Val and I were again unsure where to continue our spiritual journey

Kyle noticed our situation and investigated three or four churches around us

Nothing seemed to fit until we went for the first time to Cornerstone Immediately Val felt connected partly because an old friend of hers

Jill was speaking that day and partly because of Pastor Jeff's sermons

So for the next six to twelve months every week we would go

I still felt reluctant and would not fully surrender my spiritual past but I kept going to church for Val and not to let

Kyle down On January 1st of this year

Kyle gave me a Bible 365 reading plan I committed to read the

Bible in one year as I started reading through the amazing stories and messages appeared

While reading the Old Testament and connecting it with the New Testament I came to finally understand who the

Lamb of God was I was disappointed and felt embarrassed that it took more than 50 years to realize this important significant message

I was supported through my Bible read by Kyle and daughter's I'm sorry my daughter

Lisa's new boyfriend AJ I remember saying to AJ I'm in Isaiah 50

He said wait until you get to 53 Why I said

He said you'll see What an incredible passage and defining moment for me

This month I completed my 365 read I'm not sure the exact moment over the past year but I felt myself finally surrender

The Holy Spirit came into my soul and flooded my body My process of sanctification began

It will continue to grow until I die and ultimate sanctification is achieved for me

Ivan you thought I wasn't paying attention An example of my continued growth happened yesterday when

Kyle and I were sitting outside having lunch at a little restaurant on Main Street We read aloud 40 verses from John 4

The woman at the well with Jesus I got goosebumps when

Jesus said to the woman I am He I am committed for the rest of my life to glorifying

God in every way I can I commit to spread the message of Jesus Christ and disciple the best

I can Thank you Lamb of God for coming into my life

I repent all my sins put my faith and trust in you alone for my salvation

Amen Anna Hello Hi Anna So I just want to start by giving thanks to our wonderful God for giving us the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ If it were not for His unfathomable mercy and love none of us would have been able to make the choice to walk the straight and narrow path that has led us here to our baptism a public profession of our faith and being washed clean by the blood

So my name is Anna Lenar I was born and raised Catholic I was baptized as a baby and I attended a private

Catholic school from kindergarten to eighth grade As far back as I can remember I've been on fire for the

Lord I believe I fully accepted the Lord into my heart at a young age although there were times in my early teens when

I felt very distant from the Lord I did grapple with God but He never left my side and it only made me stronger

I don't have a specific moment and in fact I can recall several times I did call out to Him to accept

Him as my Lord and Savior thinking that I had to feel a large change in myself for it to have been real but I couldn't have been more wrong

So while I was sharing recently with my friends that I was soon to be baptized I was given a few pieces of wisdom that I'm so grateful for I was feeling like my testimony was very underwhelming compared to others since I never experienced an epiphany moment or overcame any huge trials but God sure doesn't see it that way

One of my friends shared the sentiment that life is a God story not a God moment

I love that because up until our very last breath we still have room to grow in Jesus and God still has a plan for us

I'm beyond grateful to live in these beautiful United States of America and under the freedom of religion that we often take for granted make this profession of my faith today

I'm not sure what God has in store for my future but I've chosen to live according to my favorite Bible verse which is

Proverbs 3 5 -6 which is Trust in the Lord with all your heart

Do not depend on your own understanding Seek His will in all you do and He will show you which path to take

My name is Stanley John Schoenwald and everybody calls me John and the path to Jehovah is through being baptized

I ran the Bible because I can't hold it in anymore I'm not comfortable I was comfortable now letting it out

I mean Jesus has been in my life and I always said I want to learn the

Bible learn the Bible He's teaching me Him first He's teaching me Him I as a young guy

I went to Catholic church in Sunday school and you know what

I want to say that my head was going crazy so I don't want to tell you from my head

I want to tell you from my heart my heart is overwhelmed and I've been through some things in my life like my son there was two miscarriages before my son was born and that was tough and then my first wife was diagnosed with MS and trying to deal with that and I mean it was tough tough and I just so many people were on my side so many people came there for me and Jesus showed me how much

He's there for me and I I just overwhelmed these last three weeks when

I went to say I was going to be baptized I did my walking and praying and my head was going crazy it came from the heart my heart is spilling out

I you know and my wife Connie after my wife

Patty died of MS she was home she was on hospice she went in a nursing home for seven years lived in that nursing home and I'll tell you in some ways it was tough but other times it was beautiful because God showed me what heaven's like and heaven is amazing right here is amazing

I'm shaking and I love it I love it I can't hold it in anymore I was getting so uncomfortable by holding it in I got to let it out

I want to tell the girl I want to tell my wife and my son how much He's in my life and I am so overwhelmed and I love it and my wife she comes up with some questions like what's she doing to me because I can't answer them but you know what

I walk I learn and I'm glad when she asked me those questions Jesus has poured so much into me and I just I'm amazed and I know heaven is a beautiful place and all us

Christians are going to be there and I love it and I'm going to see you guys there and see everybody there and that's

I mean I have a lot more to say Typical musician

Yeah I'm Elliot I'm the guy that stands behind one of these at Cornerstone Church by the graciousness of Pastor Jeff and you all

I'm going to try to keep it simple I don't have a script but it's been a long time coming for me and there's a theme that went on in our group that we use a

Roman Catholic background so do I which laid a wonderful foundation if you take away all the stuff that's not biblical at least and I credit my mother and my grandparents particularly my grandfather who sowed the seed of like the word and scripture and the

Trinitarian nature of God you know Father, Holy Spirit so that was a wonderful upbringing as early as the age of six years old my earliest recollection of scripture was like Psalm 91 just the way it jumped out at me but it wouldn't be until like many years later until I watched

I'm going to try to keep this short Passion of the Christ just was a profound experience and that just the portrayal of Christ and the suffering and it was powerful and I was it was like a mixture of emotions

I was infuriated appalled and it kind of set me on a journey to discover like get answers as to what that was and I wasn't like so after shortly after that and that's when

I made a personal you know that's my conversion came shortly after that and then but it wouldn't be

I mean I went through a lot of ups and downs I was in a bad marriage which came to an end and then more ups and downs through it all you know

God was there working miracles and I have to give a shout out to I don't know if he's here

Tim McCormick or his wife he's here shout out to Tim we've been co -workers for many years and he was my fellowship all along my fellowship all along and invited me to this church actually invited me to the church before before this church and so I thank you praise

God for you and so that's how I discovered this church and the desire to get baptized was there all along but it just never happened

I never had a solid church home church just many things many trials ups and downs but anyway all led to this moment and praise

God that's all I have to say about it 30 things I think that's it praise God Pastor Tim and I also worked with four others to get ready for baptism so we have

Vanessa Andrew Elaine and Aaron still to give testimonies is there anybody we're missing besides those four?

I want to make sure we're not forgetting anybody alright because there's a lot alright so Vanessa you ready? alright so my name is

Vanessa and I'm excited to share with you my testimony so when I was younger specifically in fourth grade

I was what you would call a not so nice person I got my pleasure by hurting others

I would lie gossip just and just cause trouble for different people just as many of us have done before see at the time

I knew what I was doing I just didn't know how it would affect certain people but I would say I needed that time in my life to realize that what

I was doing was wrong my whole personality changed when I started believing in our Lord and Savior how it started was when

I was alone in my bedroom one night and my Nana had bought me a Bible and I hadn't looked at it in who knows how long and I just grabbed it and all of a sudden

I started reading Genesis it was then and there I would say I started to feel to believe I started to try and follow his ten commandments where he says in John 14 verse 15 if you love me you will keep my commandments

I believe that my personality changed through Christ and that I have Christ in me I remember one other point in my life when

I had done a good deed for someone and I thought to myself I am saved or I gained my entry to heaven but now

I know that's not the truth for Ephesians 2 verse 8 9 would explain to us that by grace you have been saved through faith and that this is not your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of works every day

I try to pray daily and make sure I read my Bible now sometimes I don't complete this every day but I will always try because God is my

Father and he loves me and you with all of him even if sometimes we do not I finally realized just how important baptism is and how it is the next step in my

Christian life and I just want to say I am so grateful that I am able to have a relationship with God Thank you

Hi, my name is Andrew and I am from a Jewish background and I was raised by more or less secular parents and they were very controlling of me and they never let me have my own life and I think

I feel like I should have been called from Jesus far sooner than I have because I didn't have any direction in my life from my own family and I don't have any family now my mother has excommunicated me my father is deceased and I don't have any contact with my brother either and I am just walking through this world alone and I am looking for answers and one day at work

I just found like Pastor Tim came into my life and he introduced me to the church and Jesus and now

I am glad that I found him and I have a lot of hope for myself and I hope to be accepted for who

I am and I know Jesus will always love me and he accepts me so Amen Thank you

My wife Elaine is asking I think she wants me to read for her is that what you want? Yeah so these are her words

After the loss of my father and brother I was very upset with God for a long time it was not until later in life when

I started learning the Bible and learned that Jesus had done for me he died on the cross for me for all of us

I was ashamed for being so upset with God and that is when that is when

I started to believe again my heart started to change I was not making decisions alone anymore

I could feel the Holy Spirit in me and I know God will always be there and my sins are forgiven and his love

Today I publicly profess my love for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior Thank you

Jesus And Aaron last but not least

Sorry Well hello everyone my name is

Aaron I took a few notes to try to keep me on track

Ok Well I grew up in a

Christian household attending a Dutch Reformed Church which in hindsight was legalistic

I was I felt like at this church

I was being taught that I needed some certain experience and like Anna had mentioned like very similar that I needed to hit some sort of threshold there had to be something special going on in order for me to be saved and I wasn't experiencing that and I was really heartbroken from all of that and I want to preface that I'm gonna be very honest and vulnerable but this is to bring out how far

God has brought me and pulled me back from not for to delve too much into it but grew up in a

Christian home went to Christian private school I knew about God I was pretty knowledgeable as well but I didn't have a personal relationship and Christ I felt like Christ wasn't really mentioned in my church

I knew I was a sinner that I could tell from going to that church that I was a sinner and I would try my my hardest to be a better person but that that wasn't enough

I stumbled into a pornography addiction and I was going further and further down this spiral where I didn't know what else to do and I didn't feel like I could reach out to anyone because I knew

I was wrong and I knew that I deserved punishment in hell for it but I didn't want to go

I was afraid and that led me to probably like middle school high school time frame that I'm I'm just searching

I'm doing a lot of searching at this point in time a family and a pastor nonetheless come to the school

I was going to and I see a difference in doctrine and I start asking questions and I have this also wonderful bible teacher and literature teacher who

I was able to come up with after class and ask a bunch of questions and I was just baffled by his knowledge and he was opening up his heart to me and that's where I ran into election now if you know the doctrine of election that God chose certain people to save and I was really struggling with that I was putting as my teacher would have said the cart before the horse

I wanted to know for certain that I was part of this elect group when

I didn't need to know I needed to believe and still struggling at this point in time

I started having suicidal thoughts and just really feeling hopeless again didn't reach out to anybody because I didn't

I was ashamed and afraid and I was also struggling what

I'm going to do with my life and also at the same time I felt like this hole in my heart that I was just searching for love and I was searching for it in the wrong things

I was obsessed with relationships and couldn't see how my life had meaning without one it wasn't until coming up on high school

I didn't know what I was going to do with my life but I knew a couple friends who had joined the

Marine Corps and I thought I was capable of it and that it was a good thing to do so I signed up my senior year was also when

COVID hit so I had a date set to leave for boot camp like mid summer after that and that's when

COVID hit and nobody was being sent to boot camp anymore and I was really frustrated

I was angry with God I was angry at myself all of these things that's when my friends invited me to a bible study they were having it at just in this church and they were reading through the book of John and I was just one night

I was just super honest with them about my struggle with election and like how can

I know I'm saved and one of my friends there told me to go read the books of John and so I did

I went home that night and I started reading read through John and read through Peter and I was searching and searching and it felt like it all hit me at once when

I read 2 Peter 3 verse 9 which I grew up reading and it was in that moment that I felt like God really loved me

I didn't need to see my name written in the book of life because I felt it I felt his love for me he didn't want me to die that he wanted me with him and to believe in him and from that moment onward

I did and it's been a struggle and an ever growing process but I'm freed from pornography and I'm freed from suicidal thoughts and I'm freed from depression and anxiety and I have hope and reason to live and that reason is

Christ Amen I heard even the baby saying amen

Bible says from the lips of infants I have ordained praise so amen we just heard a powerful set of testimonies we overcome the enemy by the blood of the lamb and the word of the testimony so this is powerful and maybe you've been listening to this and you realize wait a minute this

Jesus stuff is not just religion that's been passed down from generation to generation but Jesus is alive he's the real living savior and he offers that to you as well so I'd just like to take a moment let's all just bow our heads close our eyes and if there's anybody here that would like to accept

Jesus as your lord and savior all you have to do is repent of your sin turning away from sin put your faith in him and he will save you let's close your eyes and maybe pray something like this you don't even have to say it out loud just in your own heart in your own heart if you would just pray something like this

God I am a sinner I deserve hell but I believe in Jesus Christ son of God who died on the cross a lamb taken to the slaughter who was buried and who rose on the third day forgive me for my sins based on what

Jesus has done save me the sinner I repent and I believe in Jesus in Jesus name amen

John will you close us with the doxology if you don't know it it's the old praise God from whom all blessings flow you're doing good well

I'm just giving the lyrics you gotta sing it praise God from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures here below praise him above ye heavenly hosts praise father son and holy ghost amen so we had a special request that we do the baptisms at least for this person in the actual ocean with the waves and everything instead of going to the bay side what's that well maybe so I said yes to that and here's what we can do we will head that way to the ocean east not west we'll walk down that way if there's anybody that would prefer to be baptized in the bay we can still do that you just have to wait and then we'll walk back maybe not the whole group would be able to make it but we're fine there's no rush this is a beautiful thing so let's just take our time and enjoy it so what we're going to do whoever wants to get baptized in the ocean well once one person mentioned that like almost everybody said that they want to Tim so yeah you're right a lot of people want that we'll try to hold on tight so we're able to bring you back up out of the water buried with Christ but also raised watch for the undertow we're going to go where there are you know it's marked out where you're supposed to go in the water so just keep an eye on each other so that you can see where we're going but basically it's just straight out and we're looking for the best baptism spot there on the beach we'll start there and then we can if need be go back to the bayside over there for the for any others okay okay let me know too if you're wanting to do the bayside quite a caravan we got should have brought some tents you know made some booze yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that's good enough right it's a good depth a lanca are they wet hold that wanna go up in the water i want to go up closer i can't get a good zoom here i gotta stay in the water yeah it is beautiful We now baptize you in the name of the

Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That was good timing.

That was perfect. You want to put that on the chair?

You want to put that on the chair? I'm going to hand it to you when I go down there. Ah, that was good.

She got an easy one. She got a big wave. I'm going to go down and record him.

Oh. Alright.

Come on, Lane. You ready?

It's actually not even cold. It's really nice.

The water's awesome. Alright, can you swim, Lane? Okay. We got a cool view.

We now baptize you in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Ha ha ha.

You got it. Is Lane the last one here?

I don't know. Joe, there's one more, right? Joe, I need my foot. Thank you. Thank you.

You're welcome. All right. Nancy's going to go with the bay.

Oh, OK. And Vanessa also. So we're going to baptize two in the bay. So is there anybody else in the midst?

Anyone want to get baptized? All right. Hey, Tim, say a prayer for us, and we'll head over.

Yeah, sure. Father God, thank you so much for this beautiful day. Thank you for saving all of us and saving those who got baptized and publicly identified in your son,

Jesus Christ. We thank you, and we pray a blessing on them now that you would keep the evil one away from them, and they would live a life bearing fruit in your name, we pray.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Good job, Delmar. Shit. Oh, that's where they are.

That's good. You just got sand on your nails. Derek, grab the shells.

Yeah. Riding. Congratulations, you ladies.

It's such an exciting day. It really is. Can I carry anything? No, no, no. You got everything?

We're so glad we're here. So excited. You too. Thank you. It is. It is.

I passed the test by one point, he said. Bye. Bye. I got it.

I got it. Thank you very much. Thank you. I got it, Joe. I got it. I got it. You get the camera. You're good. Huh?

You're good. OK. Where's Olivia? I don't know. I'm taking pictures.

I'm going to go find my creative space there. What? What a great day.

This is awesome, man. It's perfect for this, right? Yes. Perfect day. Oh, it's got a lot of algae, actually.

Huh? There's a lot of algae. What is this? Yeah. I'm going to look like a sea monster when I come out. Maybe. Look at these guys go.

In they go. I'm going to ask you two questions.

We're not just a fish. You want me to ask a question? Oh, it looks like a fish. Yeah. How many times do I have to do this? As soon as I do the back flip.

So, yeah. You can do it. OK. So stand right here.

You can face the crowd. Yeah, let's face the crowd. Give a wave. All right. All right.

We've got two questions for Andrew. The first one is, Andrew, do you believe that Jesus is the

Christ, the son of the living God, that died on the cross and rose from the dead? Yes, I do. All right.

And have you personally repented of sin and trusted in Jesus Christ for eternal life and forgiveness of sin and salvation?

Yes, I do. All right. Based on this profession of faith, we baptize you in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. All right.

Vanessa, we've got two questions for you. Vanessa, do you believe that Jesus is the

Christ, the son of the living God, that died on the cross and rose from the dead?

Yes, I do. Amen. And have you personally repented of sin and trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation?

Yes, I do. All right. Based on this profession of faith, we baptize you in the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. You're welcome to just head home, but this right here will be the ending of the celebration of baptism.

So, let's give thanks to all those who were baptized, and go to the Lord now and pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we want to give you all the glory, all the praise for what we witness here today.

A picture of Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, and risen, and now us identifying with him.

We thank you, Father, for your beloved Son, the sacrifice for our sins. Thank you for the cross.

Thank you for the blood. Thank you for salvation. Now, we pray for those who were baptized, that you would guard them.

Go before them. Be their rear guard. Keep your hand upon them. Protect them from the evil one.

Lead them not into temptation. Lord, go with them and fill them with your precious

Holy Spirit. Empower them now to serve you for all the days of their lives.