Not by 'My' Might or Power — Shane Idleman

The Holy Spirit’s Power Rather Than Human Strength

The title of the message is not by my might or my power. Now, many of you know the scripture, right? He talked, one of the prophets, Zechariah, I believe it was, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.

So I wanna first put that in context before I get into the book of Acts. Jesus is, as we're going through the book of Acts, Jesus has been resurrected. He's gone to be at the Father. Now the church is operating through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If you take anything away from this series, I hope it's this, that we cannot do anything without the power, the anointing, the unction, the fire of the Holy Spirit. So the title, not by my might or my power, means that we have to remember that.

I'm not going to have enough strength or power to get through life. I have to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. So that famous verse in Zechariah, where he's talking about not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord, the context is interesting.

Jerusalem was taken, captive. They've been in exile. They're not in the homeland. A king by the name of Cyrus, who was not a Christian, or can be a Christian back then, was not a follower of God, of Yahweh, but he released some of the people to go back and build the temple, if you can believe that.

So Zerubbabel, yeah, it's an interesting name, I know, he was actually commissioned to go and rebuild the temple. And he's probably no doubt thinking, how in the world am I going to do this? This is impossible, that the land is in disarray.

I've got enemies on every side. And God said, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. This mountain, this huge mountain that is in your way will become a plain, and you will walk simply through.

So that's a wonderful parallel for us today. It's not by my might nor by my power, but by God's spirit. And it begs the question, what is your mountain today? What is your mountain today? There's many times that we come to church with these huge, insurmountable mountains, and we forget that God is the one who levels that out to a plain where we can walk through.

But what does Shane do? Shane says, by my might, by my power, I'll take care of this because I'm not seeing anything. And remember, what we see naturally often does not resemble what's going on in the spiritual realm, that God is working, but we don't see it, so we move in our might, our power, our strength, and it fails.

That's why, God, it's interesting, Moses or Joshua, all the different leaders of the Old Testament, many times God would say, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Having done all, just stand, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

It's through his might, his power, that this is accomplished. So with that as the foundation, we'll get into the book of Acts, Acts 3. If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Acts 3, verse 1. This is where a lame man is healed.

Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. Interesting, I had this all together, I had three or four verses together before I was gonna stop, but the first day I started working on this sermon, I just couldn't get past this first point.

Unity as the Setting for the Spirit’s Power

Now Peter and John went up together, because I'm talking about God's power, not by my might nor my power, but by God's spirit. God's spirit, God's power works through unity. We forget that, they went up together.

There's power in being united in the cause. That's why the enemy will go after certain things and he'll bring division, because when I'm divided, I'm not united, and when I'm divided, there's no power.

There's often frustration and failure, and it's this kind of stuff, where God says walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. But on this note, remember that unity must be fought for. You have to fight for unity, because it does not come naturally.

It comes supernaturally. Who wants unity in the flesh? In the flesh, nobody does. It doesn't, you have to fight for unity. The little things have got to be put aside. My old motto was Leona Valley's not that far, right?

Here's my new motto, let's not let the little things divide us. That has to be the motto of the church, let's not let these little things divide us. Is it essential, essential to salvation? Because if you get a church united, going in the same direction, removing anything, strongholds or bitterness or resentment, removing these things and united, walking together, the Spirit flows through that unity.

When there's no unity, there's no flow of the Spirit. That's why he's gonna go after us and make us very disgruntled, very angry, very upset. I'm preaching to myself, I could just tell you to move over and if I could sit right there adjacent next to you, because I'm preaching to myself right now.

That's how he'll work. If you have a united church, you have a powerful church. But if he can come in and bring disunity, it has to be fought for. Because in my rights, and I was this, yeah, me too. I can totally understand, I can totally relate.

I have never been more hurt in all of my life than since I planted a church. And I probably have hurt more people than most people after planting a church. See how that works? And the enemy will use that and he'll come in and bring division.

So there's no unity, there's no power. We bicker, we complain. God says, go out and make a difference for the love of God. Go out and make a difference. So that's why unity is so important. And this theme really just hit me this week.

Peter and John went up together. Together, and there is a price to pay. There is a price to pay for unity. And this is why it's hard for me and it's hard for most people. When you're fighting for unity, you have to release pride.

I'm right, well, it doesn't matter, I want unity. Well, yeah, but this, it doesn't matter, I want unity. I have to release my pride, I have to release my ego, I can't get the last word in. And I'm not talking about Christians becoming a doormat, right?

You understand that. We're not to just roll over and become a doormat. We are to boldly speak the truth and be bold. But unity has to be fought for. I'm not gonna get the last word in. I might, even though I think I'm right, I might not have been right.

And I say, all that aside, I'm gonna strive for unity. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider robbery to be equal with God. But he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, death on the cross.

But this principle is very powerful that we have to put our egos aside and our pride aside. Yes, we got hurt. Yes, we got damaged. But there is a price to pay in unity. Once you become united, then you're filled with the Spirit.

Then you're so glad you let that stuff go. Because now I'm filled with God's Spirit. And that's how the enemy comes in and he steals joy. He's stolen a lot of joy from our lives. I'm sure he's stolen a lot of joy from your lives through this area of disunity.

So I stopped here this week. Peter and John up together. Keep that in mind. The power, if we want, I'm sure I'm not speaking to every single person in this room, but most of us want God's power operating in our lives, don't we?

We want to know what to do. We want discernment. I want the Bible to be alive and powerful. I want worship to be resonating in my heart. I want God to speak through me and to me. I want God to use me.

But he's not going to do that if we're disunited, if we're split apart. He can't work. He works through, no, not a perfect church. See, you can have disunity and say, you know what? I was wrong. We were wrong.

This shouldn't happen. I'm not going to let the enemy come in here. I'm going to fight for this. And we're going to walk forward in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's unity. That's how we will see God's power and Spirit move in our lives.

Meditating on the Lame Man’s Condition

And then verse two. And a certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms from those who enter the temple.

And sometimes we made the mistake of just reading through scripture and getting to the next verse and getting to the next verse. That's why the Bible talks meditating on the word of God. Psalm 1 -1 is a good example.

Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and he does meditate on it.

He meditates on it day and night. And when I started to meditate on this, and just putting myself, here's where you, one way you get, and I'm going to talk about this in a minute, one way you get more compassionate.

If you want to be a Spirit-filled believer, you need to be compassionate. I need to be compassionate. You look at life through the lens of this person. A certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried.

Think about this for a minute. From being a little child, a little baby, couldn't walk, couldn't move. As this man gets older, young boy, then a young adult, high school, young adult, and then people actually have to carry him and leave him by this gate all day.

Cockroaches, mice, whatever, you know, you can't really just get up and leave. You are here. And back then, they didn't have a lot of assistance like we have today. There was, if your family didn't provide for you, or somebody didn't provide for you, you died.

And you see the scene that this man is in every day. Can you imagine week after week and year after year being carried by people and laid at this gate, and you have to sit and look at people who might spit on you, who might disdain you, all the, this is a bad situation.

He's just laying there every single day, not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit through compassion, through compassion. I wanna just hang my hat here for a minute too. In preparing for messages, I like to either read books or do something that helps get my heart in the right direction.

I took half a day yesterday, and I visited four of our hospital homes. One was closed, and I went to one this morning as well. And it really changes how you view things, to see people in this type of condition.

Some won't be getting out. There's one lady going to hospice care soon. She has about four months left. And seeing these, and it really, it breaks your heart. It breaks your heart, and the power of compassion.

Compassion, Controversy, and the Church’s Moral Responsibility

Why don't we have compassion? Because it has to be encouraged. It has to be fueled. You won't just wake up today as a compassionate person. It has to be, something has to motivate that compassion, so you go and you see these things.

I believe our nation, our national landscape and our view about abortion, for example, would change if they could see what actually occurs at a partial birth abortion. It's so graphic, I don't wanna describe it right now.

But that would give you compassion for certain things. So that's why we don't have compassion in the church. It has to be encouraged. I remember when the church wept. Joy is a sign of a believer, but so is tears.

I remember when the church would weep and they would travail and they would call down heaven. We've lost that note of passion. Last, this Wednesday or Thursday, I believe it was, I spoke in Santa Clarita at a pastor's conference to this group of pastors speaking about why are we silent on this issue of abortion or gay marriage and all these things.

All these things that, did you know that over 50 of the church doesn't talk about anything controversial? They don't want to alarm, they don't want to upset, they don't want to offend. So it's either because of being a coward or self-preservation that they are avoiding difficult truths.

So I'm not sure how well that message was received, but it was a challenge to get a heart of compassion, see what your people are experiencing, see what it looks like to abort a child, see what it looks like to walk away from God and give you a heart of compassion.

I told them straight up, it's because you're not in the prayer closet and you're not seeking the face of God to get the heart of God. That's where compassion comes from, seeking the heart of God because we are not seeking the heart of God.

Gerhard Du Toit said, what will it cost me for God to break my heart? It will cost you absolutely everything. See, self-focus must die, unforgiveness must be crushed, and comfort can no longer be your master.

Church, it's wonderful to be excited, but it's also, there's a time to weep. There's a time for joy, there's a time for sorrow, there's a time for a weep, and what weeping does, it changes the way you live.

It changes the way you live, you have compassion. Now you say, I've got to do something. I've got to do something. For example, are you aware of what happens in Los Angeles County in the sex slave trade industry?

I can't even believe I live in a culture that allows this. 10-year-old, 11-year-old, 12-year-old girls being pulled in by certain people and caught in the, where's the compassion, where's the heart, where's the, I gotta make a difference.

Little toddlers being abused. Where is this, the abortion, I talked about that. Look, where's this heart of compassion because out of that heart of compassion, that's how we make a difference, that's how we make a difference.

But Shane, I can't do anything. Nobody knows me, I can't do a thing. Right, now you got the point of the sermon. Not by might nor by power but by my spirit, saith the Lord. He just takes one broken, humble person.

He takes one broken, humble person and says, God, I must do something through you and for you. And then through that compassion, you make a difference. We get too full on the word of God, including myself.

We've got enough theology to last us a lifetime. We've got Bible on apps, we've got this, I've got tons of commentaries from John Calvin to D .L. Moody to Spurgeon. I don't know if D .L. Moody wrote a commentary but it sounded like he might have.

Sometimes when it flows, it just flows. But you know what, this needs to come with a warning label. In a good way, warning, your heart will be crushed. Warning, there is a need to have the compassionate heart of God.

Warning label, this is convicting. Yes, and I love joy and I love all the truth. But when it doesn't move us to action, there's something wrong in the heart. That's not Christianity. Christianity is not to just get full on the word of God and be able to win arguments.

Christianity is to go out and actually do something. Shane, you're disrupting my whole morning right now. Good, I wanna disrupt your whole week so we become a church again that prays and fast and get a heart right before God.

The Healing at the Beautiful Gate

This man laid at the gate daily for years until two spirit-filled believers in unity came across his path and woke him up out of that death of being physically impaired. That's what God will do. He'll grab your heart and then you'll make a difference.

The man laid by the beautiful gate for all of his life, all of his life. We don't know how old he was, but it took these two spirit-filled believers to make a difference. In autonomy, there's no power in dead religion.

That's why this man, this man stayed at the gate of a temple, the temple of God, years and years and years. And it wasn't until two men filled with the spirit were able to heal him. Because by that time, that temple was full of deadness.

It was dead. They were going through the motions. They had religion and not a relationship. The prophets spoke of this all the time. Wake up, my people, you stiff-necked people. You are misled. You want people to come in and tell you what you want to hear.

I have left you many, many years ago. Like Samson, they knew not that the spirit of the Lord had departed, so you have this man laying here at the temple of God. It'd be like a man out front in the concrete.

They just keep bringing him in, year in and year out. Nobody does anything. And dead religion is powerless. And then verse three, who's seeing people? Well, let's read it in context. Back to verse one.

Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple.

Who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms, and fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, look at us. So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

Then Peter said, silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Boy, there's power in that name. But the first point I wanna talk about on this section is the power of intercession through the Holy Spirit.

Intercession and Spiritual Warfare

Again, not by my power, but when God calls us to intercede. I don't think this man was thinking he was going to be healed. Did he ask to be healed? What did he ask for? Obviously, silver and gold I do not have.

So this is interesting. This man, so there goes that belief out the window that if you don't have enough faith, you won't be healed. This guy didn't have any faith to be healed. He wasn't expecting to be healed.

He didn't ask to be healed. He wanted silver and gold. Peter looked right at him with John and said, I do not have any of that, but in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. They interceded and they pulled that man up.

The power of intercession. What you're doing is you're interceding for on the behalf of people. So don't give up on that prodigal son. Don't give up on that wayward daughter. Don't give up on those things you're praying for because you are an intercessor.

And God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. How? By intercessing and being the feet of Christ and being the hands of Christ. We have been given that. Look at the Old Testament. I've quoted it before.

Ezekiel, where God actually said, he was before he destroyed his people. And I wanna make it clear here that God is a loving God. That's the last thing he wants to do. But when he says, you've gotta do this, you've gotta do this, I'm warning, I'm giving you wake up calls, I'm giving you messengers, I'm giving you conviction.

Hey people, be careful here. I'm warning and I can't keep warning. And at some point, the judgment hand of God is going to fall. He told Ezekiel, I sought for a man from among the people who would stand in the gap.

You've heard things on that, stand in the gap. That's where it comes from. To stand in the gap, to build a wall on behalf of my people that I might not destroy them. But I found no one. So God is looking for intercession.

That's why that room should be as crowded as it was last Sunday. That side room for prayer. That's where you, well, I don't see anything. It doesn't matter. Your eyes, you're not gonna see what's going on in the spiritual realm.

Strongholds are being pulled down. That's why Paul said that the weapons of our war fell. They're not carnal. You're not gonna win this argument. You're not gonna make somebody do something. Your weapon in your warfare is through God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down arguments, and everything, everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity through the obedience of Christ.

So the weapons of our warfare, actually, it's not right here. Think about that. The weapons of our, we're not doing battle necessarily right here. We are being motivated and encouraged and filled with the Spirit to then go and do battle and pray and make a difference.

That's why I often say, people just come in here, and they look, oh, that was interesting. That guy gets a little loud, but it made sense. Oh, good, let's stop at Jack's place. What was that about? Did really anything happen?

You might as well just watch the NFL and watch him continue not to stand up for the national anthem, then come to church, because that's the power of God's work, and word in our lives should motivate us to make a difference.

And that's what was the power of intercession. How many of us are truly, truly praying for our kids? Do you have any prodigal sons out there, wayward daughters, the people, family members not walking with the Lord?

Don't give up. Instead, look up. Say, God, I'm gonna hold on to heaven. I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna beseech you. That's what they used to say, beseech you. And in travail, it was this emotion of, God, you've got to answer.

It wasn't this, oh, well, just do something in their life next week. I'm too busy to sit and pray. They would take time, and they would say, Lord, bring conviction. Let the hound of heaven loose. They used to call the Holy Spirit the hound of heaven.

Let him loose, because when he is loose and that conviction comes in, a person can't run very far. Where can they go to hide from God's presence? Where? If I go into heaven, David said, you are there.

Behold, if I make my bed in hell, even you are there. If I get the wings in the morning and go to the uttermost parts of the entire world, even you are there. You are there to hold me and guide me and direct me.

I cannot flee your presence, and that's what you do when you unleash the power of intercession. The conviction of God goes and goes, and it finds that person. That's okay, I'm not looking for claps this morning.

I'm looking for changed hearts and a pin drop, because when you can hear a pin drop, you know that God's Spirit is speaking through us, wanting us to change. This whole area of compassion has been on me all week, and usually if it's burning in me, it's time to burn it in you.

That's how it works. I'm on fire, it's time to get it out there. Let's get this going and be making a difference. But in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. There is no other name that saves, that heals, that sets free.

The Authority of Jesus’ Name

And I was just, I got here early in the morning, I put on worship music, and I just, I could not get off this point. Because we just read, oh, that's interesting, but think about this. There is no other name that saves, that heals, or sets free, and I found a marker and a piece of white paper at six this morning.

What a powerful name it is. The devil flees, demons tremble, nations recognize his authorities, entire cities repented, no man ever spoke like him, the religious leaders were silenced, the waves in the sea obey him, the foundation of earth was set by him, a little child feels safety and comfort, and a hardened sinner is loved by this God.

Blind, but now I see a future and a hope. My kids have this hope because of Christ. Every wrong will be done right when God judges the thoughts and the intents of all mankind. That's a powerful name, in case you didn't catch it.

That's the only name that saves. And there's nothing wrong with getting excited about that. I mean, if we think about how powerful that name is, and just, you need to meditate on that name more than Trump and Hillary.

Oh, you want me to go down that row again? I mean, emails all the time, oh, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this. I'm like, I don't wanna look at this anymore. I wanna look at God and who he is.

He's still on the throne, he's still sovereign, he is still the only name that saves. No matter who's elected, they still have to bow to the name of Jesus Christ. Iran can't do anything unless Christ says so.

China can't do anything unless Christ says so. Our economy, our nation, the direction can't do anything unless the sovereignty of God and God says so. But when you look at his word, and you look at the direction, and you go, oh, no, uh-oh.

I sent messengers to my people, warning them, convicting them, turn back to me. Jesus wept when he saw the destruction of Jerusalem, and this is one of the pastors at that conference asked me, well, should we never worry, should we always be joyful?

And you have to find that balance, because on one hand, we're joyful God's on the throne, but we're sorrowful by the direction we see we are going. Nehemiah, Nehemiah was a cupbearer, he was sent to rebuild, Zerubbabel rebuilt the temple, Nehemiah rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem.

And the king said, why are you so downcast? And he said, why should I not be sad when the place of my father's tombs lies in waste? And Jesus, looking out over this great city of Jerusalem, began to weep over the condition.

That's why I agree 100 with A .W. Tozer, I love Jesus because he is my Lord, but I fear him because he is my judge. That's a very healthy balance. We love him because he is our Lord, and he's my savior, he saved me, but I fear him because I will be judged someday, the nation will be judged someday.

Rulers will be God, help the rulers. You should be praying for our Supreme Court. The Bible says it, we should be praying for whoever gets nominated. Whoever gets nominated, you should pray. Miley Cyrus said she's moving to Canada if Trump gets elected.

So there's some serious stuff going on here, right? So, and all the comments this long, go, go now, go now. But it's sad because praying for those leaders, but also praying for her. Praying for her, and what's her father thinking of what has happened?

On Disneyland, this wonderful Christian home now has turned to this Katy Perry, raising a Christian home. You see where this, Wynton said the church, even though I'd like to put down Hollywood, you know, and bring it into the sermon, we wanna pray for those people.

They need Christ, they need to be, where is the heart of compassion to see that little girl, Katy Perry, I can imagine my own kids at five, six, seven, eight, or Miley, five, six, playing dolls and Barbie, and then they get into this, and Hollywood destroys them.

You should have compassion about that, that's not good. Then from that compassion, I can have a heart of prayer and calling down things before they even happen. Devil, you can't have my children. I know you want them, I know you want to destroy my family, but you can't have them.

We're going to pray, and we're going to fast, and we're going to contend. I know that's your agenda, but it's not mine, and that's how you approach us, but with compassion. See, if you're not moved by compassion, you're not moved.

You're not moved at all, and I have people that are praying for their kids. Their kids are in terrible spots, addicted to heroin, to crystal meth. Oxycontin, they're just, they're destroying their lives.

They're destroying their lives, and I ask the parents, you got to take a sick day off of work. Do something, have you ever fasted, have you ever prayed? Nine times out of 10, they say, Shane, I don't got time for that.

Can you just say a quick little prayer? No. No. See, we've lost our heart for compassion. Oh, goodness. I was hoping I didn't remember this, but God brought it to my attention, because I wanted to talk about it, and I took it out of my notes, and I put it back, and I took it out of my notes.

And that can go either way, so we'll see where this goes. But right before the churches, this person's no longer here, so it's okay. Right before the churches came together, I was able to give a few sermons, and it still hurts today to remember this, but one of the people, in my sermon, I was talking about something like this, and I talked about a 22-year-old girl we lost to a heroin overdose in Lancaster a few years ago, and spilled, just poured my heart out, and preached my heart out, and showed the same area.

She actually went to people and said, I don't wanna hear about heroin. I did that in the 60s. I need to hear straight from God's word, and actually, actually was offended by what I talked about, and rebuked that type of message.

And I'm like, no wonder there's no heart of compassion. No wonder, that sounds like a Pharisee to me. That's exactly what a Pharisee would say. Just give me the word. Give me the word and do what? Do what?

Go out and be something. Go out and be the hands and feet of Christ, because if you have the word but no compassion, you are a borderline Pharisee. If you have the word but you're not walking the power of the Holy Spirit, you are a dead Christian.

You've gotta be revived by that heart of passion, not by your might, your power, but by God's Spirit, sayeth the Lord. In verse seven, I'm gonna get off that one, because it's not gonna be good. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

So obviously, this man was hurt in his feet. So they took him up, they lifted him up, immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

I bet he was. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat, begging alms at the beautiful gate of the temple. And they were all filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened.

Spiritual Healing, Baptism, and Obedient Action

And I thought of this, too. If a person praises God for physical healing, how much more should we praise him for spiritual healing? If you are a believer in this room, not to be too graphic, but before Christ, you were on the way to hell.

The Bible says damnation. It's not trying to avoid it, it's trying to tell you and me what direction we were going. God, in his sovereignty, somehow reached down, saved us. Repentance took place. I was on the broad road to destruction, narrow on the narrow road.

I was on my way to hell. ACDC sings, I'm on my highway to hell, and they don't know how literal that is. But I was on that highway, and then I was moved to the highway of heaven. I went from darkness to light.

You did, too. Why doesn't that motivate more prayer and worship? Many times it's because we don't have the heart of God through compassion, through brokenness, through humility. Because see, the more he humbles you, the more you have to praise him.

Humble, broken people praise the Lord. And I actually wasn't, I took off a page of the sermon because we have 12 baptisms today. So I wanted to, and the list is growing. So now we've got some scheduled for November and different things.

But I said all that to say this. If you've never been baptized, you're a believer, you've never been baptized, I'll do what I did last month, I wanna encourage you to take that step today. And that's one reason I wear this in there.

Is it doesn't matter if you didn't bring anything, neither did I. We're just gonna go in, it's an act of obedience, believe and be baptized. It doesn't say believe and then three years later, believe and 30 years later, believe and two years later.

And I told the story about when I was 30, 31, I think it was 2000, was baptized and I was embarrassed, I didn't want people to think anything and they didn't think anything, it didn't even matter. So I wanna encourage you as we're doing baptisms today, you can just come in your clothes, we've got extra towels, there's no excuses.

If you wanna make that, you're a believer, Jesus is your Lord and Savior and you say, I wanna get baptized, it's been, I was a little baby, I was an infant, I didn't know what I was doing, I've never done it.

This is a wonderful opportunity because I believe it's tied into obedience. Believe and be baptized. So if we believe and we're not baptized and we know it, there's a disconnect there. It's very natural to believe and be baptized.