Confessing The Faith, Acts 19:1-7 and Mark 1:4-11  Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen! Martin Luther’s words when he was challenged by the political authorities of his time to refute his beliefs.......and Martin showed resolve - showed faith - in fact he confessed his faith aloud. In what he did, the way he lived, he confessed the faith. (﷓Speech at the Diet of Worms, April 18, 1521) When we think of confessing, we often think of admitting to wrong. But that is only one part of what confessing means. Douglas Hall (p. 8 of Confessing the Faith) wrote: To confess is to own, avow, declare, reveal, or disclose what in the depths of the soul one considers truly to be the case.  What are we confessing as a people? What are our passions - what are the things we hold as most dear - most prized, of most importance? - what .........and is God in any of it? God should be ....right in the midst, undergirding what we have done, what we are doing and what we will do.  Not because we are supposed to do it...but to do otherwise is like looking at a beautiful scene through a window, knowing there is fresh air on the other side, instead of opening the window up and letting the fresh breeze fill our lungs and revitalize us.  We witness and can do no other....we witness to the power of Jesus Christ that revitalizes our soul and give us hope for our living...a hope we share as we witness. We celebrate baptism today, making claim upon that which God has done so already, accepted this child. And we baptize because we believe that God makes a difference....we share in this baptism because we witness that God has made a difference. And that faith we share in makes a difference in our daily confession. That we greet the day with joy and peace in believing that God is with us. In so doing, our witnessing has an unmistakable impact upon others....that they seeing you....or rather God in you, allowing to shine, says: I want God in my life too! D.L. Moody was known as a preacher who because of his witness, made others angry. One morning as he ascended the stairs to the pulpit, he found a note that read: FOOL. D.L. Moody picked up the note and said: Normally, I find such notes with just a message and no signature. Today, I have found a note with no message and just a signature. A fool. Psalm 14 says: The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. We call aloud to the very heights of our voices and with all our strength that there is a God and what is more, a God who loves you. Why do we do this?  Not because we need to defend the church. Not because we see so many going shopping on a Sunday and we worry that the Lord’s Day is being diminished and that is far different than when we were growing up. We do not even do it to defend our God. NO. We cry aloud - we confess Jesus as the Christ, we speak about the love of God because the world needs it....because the world can not do for itself ultimately - it, they, we , I - YOU....need the love of God. Can you break the bonds of death and sin? NO, of course not. That is why we share in baptism....because God is in it. That is why we share in communion...why we break the bread and pour the cup and do so in remembrance of Him., BECAUSE GOD IS IN IT....and as a people who are called to confess our faith.  We can enact the power of Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit when we recall the images of God and allowing such to inform our living and loving. But if we let compliancy rule us, then our religious and political aspirations become, at best, a wish list, whereas Jesus called out for his followers to change the world - to create justice by love made powerful. We can not throw up out hands in defeat - We can lift up our hands in praise and conviction that people in pain and suffering, even in great suffering, can be ministered with. But it takes us to confess our faith. It takes us to take up, to lift our resolve that God is with us. Our faith - shared, shouted out by more than mere voices, but with our hands, our hearts, our whole selves. Risking!!! As part of the People of God, let us confess our faith, knowing God is with us. FOR AS A PEOPLE SERVING GOD, WE CAN DO NO OTHER. GOD HELP US ALL. AND GOD WILL. AMEN Background Quote: Lewis Mudge (p 210, The Sense of a People: Toward a Church for the Human Future) wrote: It makes sense for Christian affirmations to have their truth tested in the public arena, for the Christian tradition affirms that God is at work in the world. It is there that the dramatic work of the triune God....takes place. The test of the truth of Christian doctrine is that it should order the community of faith to participate insightfully and energetically in the...fear and trembling through which this divine dynamism works itself out in the search for justice and peace and for the integrity of creation itself. Scripture Reading: Acts 19:1-7 WHILE APOLLOS was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said, "No, we have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They said, "Into John's baptism." And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve of them in all. And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, arguing and pleading about the kingdom of God.