Well, I'm going to do what I promised that I'd do last week,
and we're going to do just a very, very short review, like
1/2 a page. That's it.
And we're talking about legal entry and Kingdom citizenship.
And I think it's going to be important for us to take a look
at several scriptures that help you understand how we are
supposed to get in and what we're supposed to do once we get
in because there's a lot of different thoughts out there.
Last week that I did talk about the fact that most people, they
go to church, if any type of evangelical church or a, a
denominational church, you know, everybody has their own altar
calls. We're hoping to get people in
the Kingdom. We don't you know, back in those
days I didn't know what the Kingdom was, but I knew that I
wanted to be saved because they painted some really wild
pictures of the hereafter and one of those was hotspot and I
didn't want to go to the hotspot.
And so when we take a look at you know, what does the Bible
say not traditions of men. How many times have we been over
with Apostle Earl? He said, you know, you have made
the word of God have no effect with your tradition.
And so we want to make sure that we clearly know tonight how we
enter into the Kingdom of God so that we can tell people how to
do it correctly and back it up by Scripture, not by the
opinions of men or the teachings of men.
We want to know. So in review, just quickly, we
need to remember that Adam and Eve fell and ushered in mankind
to sin and separation from God. Everybody remember that that's
that's basically the mess we got into, said the father.
Let us know though, in Galatians chapter 3 verse 15, that he's
got a he's got a plan to fix it. And in that plan he told, he
told Satan, all right, when they had fallen.
He told him, he said, I'll put an enmity between you and the
woman and between thy seed and her seed.
It shall bruise thy head. You shall bruise his heel and
we've got into detail and talking about that as far as how
long does it take to get over a heel hurt versus a head hurt,
right and that Satan won't recover.
Just to let you know and and you know from what Jesus put on him.
But we're going to we're going to go in tonight, you know,
talking about the entry into the Kingdom.
I want you to end your Bible and jot this down.
Isaiah chapter 40. This is where I want to start
because this is, you know, several, several, several
hundreds of years after God spoke that in the garden to Eve
and Adam, all right, and, and, and the cursings that went on
there. But when he spoke to that time
that he, he pronounced all the curses and the different things
that went with that. Several, several 100 years
later, we have Isaiah the prophet.
Speak something and listen to what he said in verse 3.
The voice of him that cry in the wilderness, prepare ye the way
of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God. All right, Now, scholars tell us
that between the last prophet, I don't know if the books are in
chronological order. When we talk about the major
prophets, you got Isaiah, Ezekiel, you, Daniel.
Those are the major prophets. They call them.
And then you get to Amos and you get to Hosea and you get to
these guys and they're called minor prophets.
Now, I'm not real sure which prophet, you know, if they did
it chronologically, but let's just say Malachi being he's the
last book. He was the last guy right
between Malachi and this prophecy all right, that Isaiah
gave that someone is coming to make a preparation for what the
Lord is sending in that remember the seed of the woman all right,
was 400 years, 400 years. There was no word in Israel.
There was no prophet that spoke for the Lord.
We have no record for 400 years of God saying anything, and all
of a sudden, you know that a man shows up on the scene and
Matthew has the first account. And we're going to go over it
just briefly, but I want to let you know something, just a
little nugget. When we look at the four
gospels, and the four gospels have a record of several of the
things that we're going to talk about tonight.
But you need to note this about Matthew.
When Matthew writes, he places his emphasis as Jesus the King.
How he writes and how he describes Jesus is basically
telling us that Jesus is a king. Well, how do we know that?
Well, the second chapter we have the Magi from the East coming
and looking for who the king. So we get to see Jesus through
that lens of being a king. Mark, on the other hand, he
comes in and he shows us Jesus as a servant.
Luke shows us Jesus as a man. How is that?
Well, basically he gives the account all right, that he was
born in a Manger, you know, born in a cave and in a Manger put
and the angels and everything we're singing and gives that
whole account of the Christmas story in in that book.
And then the last book is John writing and putting emphasis in
getting us to understand that Jesus was God.
First verse in the beginning was the word and the word was with
God and word was God all right, so he's telling us he's letting
us know this is coming to pass now Isaiah that what we just
read in 40 verse 3 was fulfilled in Matthew chapter 3 verse one.
It says in those days, John the Baptist preaching in the
wilderness of Judea saying repent for the Kingdom of heaven
is at hand. And this is that what was spoken
by the prophet Isaiah saying a voice crying in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight.
So we know that Isaiah was talking about John the Baptist,
that John the Baptist is going to come as a forerunner to let
us know. Now think about, we haven't had
a word for over 400 years and you read the account of John the
Baptist, you're going to find out that he looked a little
wild, ate a little crazy stuff. But when he came and said
everybody was drawn to him and that he began, you know, and he
tells us in the, in the the 11th verse, in chapter 3 of Matthew,
indeed, I baptize you with water under repentance, but he that
comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to
bear. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will
thoroughly purge his floor and gather the weed into the garner,
but he will burn up the chaff with an unquenchable fire.
And they said, Then came Jesus unto John, to be baptized of
him. Now, I love this account because
I spent a lot of time not only studying it, but talking to the
Lord about Jesus baptism. And I'm going to share some of
those things with you. We're not.
I'm going to share with you what the the word says here, but
you'll see in a minute why it's so important for a believer, a
new citizen in the Kingdom of God, that they get baptized.
OK, but notice what he said. He said, but John forbade him.
In other words, Jesus came to be baptized, gets out there in the
water. John says, Nope, I shouldn't be
baptizing you, you, why are you coming to me?
In verse 14? He said, and Jesus answered and
said, and I want you to note this, listen to this very
carefully. Permit it to be so now, for thus
it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness.
Then he permitted him. That's what the word suffered
means in the King James. All right in 16.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, he went straight up out of the
water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him, or
landing on him. Verse 17 And lo, a voice from
heaven saying, This is my beloved Son and whom I'm well
pleased. Now all four gospels record a
version of this. We're only going to look at one
more because there's something significant that I want us to
see in that. But Jesus, when he came, you
know, to earth, it says when he turned 30 years old, he was
ready to enter his ministry. If you look up, you'll find out
that 30 years of age is when the Levitical pride, the Levitical
tribe enrolled or put to work their young men.
So Jesus came at 30 years old and he's ready.
He's, he's, he's ready to start his father's business.
And it says the first act of obedience was water baptism.
And it says when he and he, he said, I need you to baptize me.
For thus it becomes us, or it is pleasing, pleasing for us to
feel all righteousness. I had to ask a question one
time. I said Jesus had to fulfill all
righteousness. I mean, wouldn't he like the guy
on the planet that was the only one righteous?
And yet he's telling John that this little act of baptism is
basically what we have to do to fulfill all righteousness.
And so I said, well, what was it that he, what was so significant
about that water baptism? And what I found out was if you
understand water baptism and at the close of the, the, the
message tonight, I'll, I'll give you what Jesus said about that.
But basically what it was saying was this, that when I go under
that water, I'm dying to myself. When I come up out of that
water, I am a person that is now going to be influenced and
controlled by someone else. So what he was telling the
father, he's telling his father, I'm not coming down here to do
my own thing. I came down here because you
sent me. And for me to show you, I want
to show you that I am taking the ritual of baptism and I am dying
to myself. And when I come up out of this
water, I'm going to be totally sold out to your will and
whatever you want from me. Now, I think that's interesting
because when he goes down to verse 17, he said, after you
come up out of the water, he said, a voice from heaven was
heard saying, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.
And I thought that was kind of funny because what had he done?
He hadn't healed anybody yet, hadn't done any miracles, but
yet that simple act of water baptism, the Father said, I am
well pleased. OK, so put that on pause and
let's move on. All right, just hang on to it
for a little bit. Now in Malachi chapter 3 and in
verse one, there's another message about John the Baptist.
Listen to this. Behold, I will send my
messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.
And the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple,
even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in,
Behold, he shall come, says the Lord of hosts.
So he says, a messenger. Now this is fulfilled in Mark's
Gospel chapter 1 verses one through 5.
Notice what it says in the beginning of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets.
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, and he shall
prepare thy way before thee. That was that.
That's Malachi's version of it. And he said, then the boys, one
crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his pastry. That was also what the very
first scripture we looked at in the 40th chapter of Isaiah.
So both of them are basically given here and fulfilled here.
OK, he said John did baptize in the wilderness, and he preached
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sin.
And there went out unto him all the land of Judea and they of
Jerusalem, and they were all baptized of him in the river
Jordan confessing their sins. Now you understand this is pre
salvation. Jesus had not died on the cross,
had not risen from the dead yet. So John is preaching a message
where he goes in there and tells them in Luke chapter 3.
All right, jot it down. Luke chapter 3, verse three.
It said he came into all the country about Jordan preaching
the baptism of repentance and the remission of sin.
All right, he's he's he's saying prepare the way of the Lord, he
said, and he lets him know repent for the Kingdom of heaven
is at hand. He started that particular
message and he's saying, listen, you need to you need to repent
and you need to change the way that you're thinking.
And he's letting them know that the 1 is coming, that you all
been waiting for. It is the Messiah now.
They didn't know that the Messiah was going to come as a
little baby in Bethlehem in a Manger.
They had no idea. They thought he was coming as a
conquering king. That's all they hoped for.
That's all they wanted because they were under Roman rule and
jurisdiction. They thought that Jesus, or
whoever the Messiah was, was going to come and get them free
from that. That's all they thought about.
But Jesus had a different plan because of the Father.
The Father let him know. This is what you have to do to
be able to change the fallen state of man.
OK. Now in Luke 3, we have John the
Baptist. When he said that, he said he
was preaching baptism of repentance and the remission of
sin. Remember last week toward the
end, I talked to you about the word remission.
All right, And but I want to talk about repentance because
sometimes people get mixed up the difference between repenting
and feeling sorry. Repentance in the original
language, metatoneo in the Greek, that particular word
metanoeo is it's to think differently or to change the
mind. So what was John the Baptist
saying? He said, listen, the Kingdom of
heaven and you need to start thinking differently.
He was giving them an advance warning.
You're expecting the king, but he's not going to be a king.
He's going to live among you and he's going to perform miracles.
He's going to take care of you. All right.
Now when we look at the word, remission is same Greek word.
Last week we talked about freedom, pardon and deliverance.
But here's the the definition. It is a forgiveness or pardon of
sins, letting them go as if they'd never been committed
before. So he said remission of sin is
the key. All right, we want to be
forgiven and God says because of the fall of man being forgiven
is one of the things that God has designed into this program
that he created. But it's interesting if you go
to the the fourth verse in what we were talking about from the
3rd chapter of Luke, he said as is written in the book and the
words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice crying in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight.
Every valley shall be filled, every mountain and heel shall be
brought low. The cricket shall be made
straight in the rough ways shall be made smooth.
And notice verse 6 says, and all flesh shall see the salvation of
God. So he's letting them know Jesus
is coming to save you. Now they must have known what
they were going to get saved from, as we discussed last week,
because it said that they came to him confessing their sins.
So they must have known that there was something that
separated them. And it's kind of like, you know,
if people really believe that Jesus was coming back soon, I
think that we would see a uptick of people getting their self
straight if they really believed it.
OK, Now when when we take a look at salvation, I want you to get
this word because, you know, as I'd mentioned last week when I
was a kid, you know that the question was, hey, if you want
to be saved, you know, come down, confess all your sins as
Jesus, come into your heart and you'll be saved.
If we don't know the definition of the word saved, we
immediately are trained to believe that saved is escaping
hell. That is not what the word means.
You'll find it in the Greek as the word soteria, and it means
to rescue, to save, to deliver, to have health, preservation and
safety. Let me read them again.
So Tyria means to rescue, to save, to deliver, to have
health, preservation and safety. That doesn't sound like a free
ticket out of hell. That sounds more like I think
I'm going to need all of that stuff now, not in the future.
All right, now when we move on down to you know, John's account
in John chapter 1, remember he's talking to him about talking to
the people about him being the one that is coming.
And in John one, this is what he said.
The next day John sees Jesus coming unto him and said,
behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
Now what is that referring to? That is referring to the
Passover lamb, the lamb that covers because that's what the
Passover was all about. Remember, they were in Egypt and
they're getting ready to be delivered.
And God said, listen, you take a lamb without spot or blemish,
you take its blood, you put it on the doorpost and the head
head header, the header, hey, and, and put it on the other
side of the doorpost. And when the destroyer comes, he
will pass over you. So the Lamb's blood was what was
necessary to continue living. Good point.
So when when we see that, he said, when we see, behold the
Lamb of God. And then he said in verse 30, he
said, as it as is he of whom I said, After me comes a man which
will be performed before preferred before me.
For he was before me and I knew him not, but that he should make
manifest to Israel. Therefore I am come baptizing in
water. He was preparing the people all
right to get an understanding of this Messiah that was coming.
That's why he was the forerunner, all right.
That's why he was so important in the in, in, in everything,
because he was the prophet that let them know your Messiah is
coming. God's going to take care of the
problem Adam and Eve brought on us.
All right, now we get to and you know, and, and it's very
interesting. I like that.
The second chapter of John, there's a story of John the
Baptist and he's standing there with two of his disciples.
So there were men that wanted to follow John the Baptist because
he had a word from the Lord. So they wanted to hang with him.
And two of them were John and Andrew, Peter's brother.
And when he said, behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the
sin of the world, they left John.
And they were following Jesus a little ways behind.
Jesus turned around and looked at him and said, what are you
looking for? And they go, Rabbi, where do you
live? And Jesus, believe it or not,
said come and see. And he said they abode with him
all that night. And he said he went to he and,
and several times, you know, a lot of people have different
opinions on this. I, I believe that Jesus had his
own house, OK, Because many a times the scripture talks about
the house. The house was full.
They went to the house, to the house.
Some scholars tell us that he lived with Peter.
I think that's kind of funny because when he got to the house
with Andrew Peters brother, wouldn't he have said, oh, I
didn't know you were living with my brother?
It's kind of made sense to me. I'm thinking, you know, he would
have known that so Jesus had him over.
But Can you imagine being with Jesus for an overnight stay and
and begin to ask him questions? What was John talking about?
And Jesus, you know, giving reward.
Well, those two guys made it to the top 12.
And then, you know, I said Andrew went to Peter and said we
found the Messiah. So they must have been talking
about Messiah stuff that night. And he said we found the Messiah
and he goes, oh really? And then you know the course of
him choosing the 12 all right and do it.
But as they were traveling about the country and and he was Jesus
was ministering and training them and showing them what the
Kingdom of God is about. We have the only account in
Scripture in John chapter 3 that tells us about being born again.
Let's read the account and let me define some things for you
because this is Jesus apostle said it dozens and dozens of
times. He said sometime around two or
three in the morning, a ruler of the Jews came to Jesus by night,
not as to be seen with him and ask him questions.
Now listen to this. He said there was a man verse
one at verse verse three said there was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we
know that you are a teacher, come from God, for no man can do
these miracles that you were doing except God be with him.
That was one of the smartest guys in the whole ruler of the
Jews group. Think at what he just said.
No man can do the things that you're doing except God be with
you. Now notice what Jesus didn't
say. Thank you very much.
I'm finally glad somebody noticed he didn't say that.
Jesus right quick, all right, says Jesus answered and sent in
him. Verily, verily I say unto you,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
So there was no time for compliments.
Jesus didn't take 1, he just knew what the guy was after and
he began to tell him you cannot enter the government nor the
Kingdom of God without being what is termed in Scripture born
again. All right, the word born in the
original language, it means to procreate with the emphasis.
Check this out, emphasis on the father.
Look it up. He said he's got to be born of
the Father, the father side and it and it goes on in parentheses
with with a small interest or reckoning of the woman.
But it said it's the procreation that a father is capable of.
The word again in the Greek, the word anthem, it means from above
something anew from the beginning.
So God is saying I got to get my people back to where they were
from the beginning. Remember, Adam did not fall from
heaven, he fell from dominion. So he's telling Nicodemus,
listen, you are going to have to understand what I'm saying about
this being born again. It is not something of the
earth, it is something in the spirit from heaven.
All right. Now Nicodemus, he immediately
goes into the natural and he said, how can a man be born
again when he's old? Can he enter the second time in
his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answers again and says,
verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water in
the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
Now how many times have we heard the apostle tell us we can't be
smuggled in? Have we heard that?
So the legal way of entry into the Kingdom of God is this
little process called born again.
Now there's two thoughts to the scripture that I just read.
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the Kingdom of God. 2 lines of thought.
One of them, water symbolizes OK, natural birth.
OK, we all know what is it called an amniotic fluid.
And and you know, when woman's getting ready to give birth,
the, the, the big thing we're waking on is the water breaking,
right? And then doctors tell us within
is it 72 hours, something like that.
Within 72 hours that baby's coming all right.
So when take a look at the fact that it could mean that.
But the the thing that I probably go with a second
thought a little easier because it's obvious that if you were
born into the earth, all right that you would if you let's put
it this way, if you were not born into the earth, you don't
have to worry about being born of the spirit.
So the fact we're all here let's us know OK, if we were born in
water and it is natural birth. And I can tell you where they
get that because in verse 6 verse he said what is flesh is
flesh and what is spirit is spirit.
But the second thought though is this is that the water is
symbolizing the word of God. Now I've got 3 references to the
word of God being symbolized by water.
The first one is John chapter 4 verse 14.
Jot it down. But whatsoever drink.
But whosoever drinketh of this water that I give, shall never
thirst, but the water that I give him will be in him as a
well of water springing up unto everlasting life.
The second verse is James chapter one verse 18.
It says of his own will he begat he begat he us with a word of
truth. In other words, the Father and
the Son birthed into us by the word of truth that we should be
a a kind of firstfruits of his creatures and first Peter 123
says being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. So those two thoughts, but
here's the thing Jesus said is by the water and by the Spirit
is this new birth and Jesus told Nicodemus in verse 7.
Do not marvel because I tell you, you must be born again.
Now, again, this is the only place that we have a record of
Jesus using the words born again in talking to anybody.
And we've also learned that when Jesus initiated a conversation
with anybody or any group or any multitude on the planet, he
always talked about the Kingdom of God.
Now, the Kingdom of God is mentioned over 90 times in the
New Testament, letting us know that there was an emphasis that
Jesus wanted us to know concerning the government versus
a religion. He didn't come to give us a
religion. What is a religion?
We've heard the definition before is man's attempt to reach
God. That's a religion.
God is letting us know His Kingdom is here so that we can
be reached by Him. He wants to reach us.
He came to give Jesus for us. All right, so let me explain in
as much detail as I can on how this new birth Jesus talked
about happens because you cannot get in to the Kingdom.
That's what he told Nicodemus. You must be born again.
If you're not born again, you don't get in.
But we need to really know what born again is and how it is
accomplished through Scripture. So what I give you from this
point on is going to be worthy of your meditation and
memorization because sometimes you may be talking to somebody.
And if you got it on your phone now, that's good, but you still
need to know where it's at. OK Romans chapter 10.
Verses 9 and 10 listen, you've heard these scriptures dozens
and dozens and dozens of time, He said.
If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe
in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you
shall be saved. So let's talk for a minute
because do you remember the two things that I said constitute a
covenant? Anybody I know some of you look
in the last week's notes. Hey, hey, number one, blessing
#2 cursing are part of a covenant.
They are done with your mouth. You're not thinking about
blessing, You're not thinking about cursing.
You are speaking blessing and cursing with your mouth.
You remember that, OK, When we look at the word confess in the
New Testament and we look at it here, it is the Greek word homo
logeo. Listen to the definition.
To speak the same thing that has already been spoken.
It's not coming up with something to say.
It is referring to what has already been said.
And when you speak that a better translation in there, it says
you know if you confess you should, that if you will confess
Jesus as Lord is a better translation than confess with
your mouth the Lord Jesus. You confess you with your mouth.
Jesus is Lord. The Greek word for the word Lord
is the word kurios. KURIOS listen to the definition
Supreme in control, master. And whenever this word was
spoken, it always denoted ownership.
So when you come to God and you know how it happens, sometimes
pastor or Apostle Earl will get up here and give a great
message. And and I know that somebody's
probably being touched. They're reflecting on their own
lives. They're wondering, man, I just,
you know, I don't even really know what he's talking about,
but it's moving me to think there's something more about God
than I really know. For for believers that are not
walking very close to God, every message ought to be a convictor.
You know you're not as close as you need to be, but when he says
in here that you will speak the same thing as what Jesus has
been declared Lord, you find that in Philippians chapter 2.
All right, verses 9 through 11 said God has given him a name
which is above every name. At the name of Jesus, every knee
will bow, every tongue will confess he is Lord.
There'll be two times it happens, one right now while
you're still alive, being deceived that you're alive
because you're breathing and your hearts are beaten.
And another time will be at the White Throne Judgment where you
will bow before him and you say you are Lord.
It's a good idea to take the first opportunity, right?
But when he says that you're making Jesus Lord, you confess
him. You speak the same thing as been
declared, You are Lord. But here's where it comes to the
new birth part. You are my Lord.
And when you say that you are creating because how does God
create with his words? We are made in his image and his
likeness. So the things that you speak out
of your mouth also create. So when we say Jesus, you are my
Lord, I'm coming into agreement with the entire universe of who
Jesus is. You are my Lord.
You have just spoken the new creation into your life.
Now it's interesting because he goes on to say, and you shall
believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead,
all right? And he and he said, and you will
be saved as we end up that verse, the word, the word
believe is is great word. It is the Greek word pistuo.
It comes from pistus, which means faith.
But pistuo is the verb of faith, all right.
It means to be persuaded of, to be convicted of and put total
trust in the person that's talking to you.
So we know that once we come into alignment with Jesus as
Lord and the problem that we have in America is that we say
nobody owns us, but cover to cover, you're going to find out
that the Bible is full of the master servant relationship.
Now he goes on to call us kids, but you know, there's something
about my kids, grown kids and then the not so grown kids that
I have more of than I had kids. It's 8 versus 2.
And when you think about those little people and they, you
know, come into your presence and you need to have help done
in something and they volunteer to help.
There are their sons and daughters.
But don't we love it when they want to help us with something?
See, that's the relationship that we want with the father is
that we don't serve him because he's a taskmaster.
And yes, he is called our owner. He is our owner.
Why? By right of creation he invented
us, so we are his by right of creation and all he's looking
for us is to come into agreement and get that new birth in
operation in our life and come and serve with Him.
Jesus let us know, he said. Listen, in the 20 chapter, verse
28, I believe in Matthew, he talks to the disciples.
They were arguing with each other who's going to be the
greatest? And he said a little child in
front of him and one, one account and said, you know, you
got to be like this little child and think about kids.
If they if, if they've been raised properly and they've had
a good environment and you know, they haven't been talked down to
their whole life, they will help you do anything.
Melanie tells a story about a little boy that came in and, you
know, he in a little class in, in Sunday morning and he had, he
had a one in a biker wallet with a chain on it.
And he's five years old, right. And you know, I don't know, you
know, what did you say his hair was like, do you have bandana on
or something? He had tattoos on.
They weren't real, you know, and he was just, you know, he was
just real bad. He's five years old and he is
really bad. And one day, you know, we were
trying to figure out what to do with him because he's a little
bit of troublemaker. And he was from, you know, a
part of our town that we bust children in to share the love of
Jesus. And the thing that changed his
life was not only asked him when he got there one day if he'd
help her. And it was like, yeah, And he
would help her set up the chairs and help her get out the snacks
and help her get all the different things going.
And he just came every week just willing and wanting to serve.
Think about that. You know, I know some adults
hadn't figured it out. Jesus said that if you're going
to get in, you're going to have to come as a little child.
Why is it little children believe everything you say?
There isn't no questioning. And then when, you know, we ask
them, hey, can you help us do this?
Oh, yeah. You know, the grandkids,
different things. This week's been an interesting
week. There's not a pastor closer than
about 1500 miles to this church. They're on a retreat this week,
which they deserve. And so we get the honor and the
privilege to watch four of our grandchildren.
Now I know why I loved homeschooling so much.
You know, you can do homeschooling in pajamas.
I'm not kidding. I, I changed in just two days.
Get them to school yesterday. We get a phone call.
They're texting people in Colorado.
Andy's come in with the wrong shoes on.
She's seven years old. You mean to tell me she's got
shoes on the wrong feet still? I mean, we got a 5050 chance of
getting this right. They go, no, it it's the wrong
color. She's wearing some white
something rather. And I, I just, I let kids go,
man, get them in the car. Let's get going this morning.
Now I said if I get a call today that somebody's missing a belt,
if I get a call today and somebody ain't got the right
color socks on, you're going to get a beaten.
Somebody in this family is going to get a beaten now.
They thought it was hilarious. OK, I was serious.
So we have a problem in America today that we don't believe like
we should. I can tell them kids anything
every morning. You know, I don't want to get up
either. But we kind of this time around
decided to do a system. You know, it's like you're
putting your clothes out before you go to bed.
All right, we're packing your lunches.
We're getting everything ready to go.
All you have to do is grab and go.
I'll be waiting for you in the car.
But you know, before we get out, I, we do a devotion and I'm
telling the Bible story and they're sitting there listening
just, and you know what? They believe every word I say.
I can make up a fairy tale and they believe he's in the Bible
if I said so. That's why we got to be
cautious, make sure we know what our Bible stories are.
You know, they like the cartoons.
I don't like a lot of cartoons because they do weird stuff on
them. Cartoons that ain't quite
biblical, right? But we want to make sure that
we're people. I want to make sure that we
under understand how important it is to believe.
Now the reason I said pistuo is a verb, it's continual and that
we've got to continue to hear, believe and obey.
Now in verse 10 of Romans 10/9 and 10 it says for with the
heart man believes unto righteousness and mouth
confession, same word is made unto salvation.
So what kind of salvation are we trying to get?
The same one I described just a minute ago.
So Tyria in the Greek, OK, it's based about health and safety,
everything we need here, not to keep us out of hell there or to
get us to heaven here up here. OK.
Now, one of the saddest things that we have to deal with is
that when somebody comes down front and don't we always have,
we have two counselors here, 2 counselors here.
When people come down to them, all right, we try to instruct
them when they, when, when they let us know what they're there
for, OK, if baptism, Holy Spirit, rededication or I just
need to be born again, All right.
When they come, we're trying to let them know how the Kingdom
works, that it is not a conversion experience as much as
an enrollment experience. One thing I just hate is that
when somebody comes down, they heard a great message.
We've had a great message, we've had great worship, we've had an
experience with God and they come down, they want to make
that decision and we never see them again.
Man, that that can't be. I visited with, you know,
different counselors. I oversaw the counseling
ministry in Oklahoma is part of the ministry of helps and I, I
challenge the people in the next service.
I said, I will meet you at the door where the greeters are and
then tell them what time I'll be there and what time you need to
be here. And I will take them to a class
because we're enrolling them. And this is, you know, the thing
we, we really need to understand.
And let's go to Matthew 28 because when Jesus talked to us
about being born again and that conversion experience and we
speak it into existence, into our lives, we have a brand new
spirit alive unto God. It's not a rebuilt spirit.
It is a brand new spirit. There's one translator that said
a species of being that has never before existed.
We are brand new. We're not patched up.
You know, we're not our, you know what they call a
remanufactured all right, We are totally a brand new.
We speak into existence that brand new spirit on the inside,
but in Matthew chapter 28 in verse 19, he says go therefore
and teach all nations. The word teaching the Greek is
the word Matthew 2O and it means to enroll pupils or students.
It's not make converts, converts or conversions of all nations.
He said, You going to make students or pupils of mine of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost. If you'll remember when you go
under the water and you come up out of that water, you are
telling the Father that I am no longer here to live my own will.
I'm only here to say and to do whatever you tell me to say and
to do. That was Jesus life.
He gave us the perfect example of what a person that is born
again should look like. He didn't have to get born again
because He was perfect, but He made himself a sacrifice for us
that He could bring us into that same realm that He's in, and
that is one that is totally obedient to the Father.
And so he lets us know, He said in the name of the Father, the
Son, the Holy Ghost. Verse 20, teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I'm
with you always, even to the end of the world.
Amen. Well, notice what he said.
He said teaching them to observe.
That's a totally different word in the Greek.
It is the word did ask a loss. Did ask a loss.
It's spelled just like it sound DIDASKLOS and I one time in a
class that I was teaching and I brought I wrote it up on the
board and I erased the S and put AT there.
I said, because if you want to be a teacher of the word of God,
you had better be somebody that did ask a lot of questions.
True. So when we talk about how
important understanding what it is we are to enroll students and
I love and I don't have it in my notes.
Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17 he lets us know that
everyone in Christ that has come into Christ is a new creation, a
new creature, old things are passed away.
Behold, all things are new, next verse says, and all those new
things are of God who has reconciled himself to us and let
us know, hey, listen, we have a new life that we can live in
him, but it's got to be totally surrendered.
All right, so I was looking today online and and it's
amazing. They knew I was wrapping up.
You guys are phenom. I looked up today US citizenship
eligibility requirements. There was only four of them.
You want to know what the first one was?
Residency. You must have a permanent
resident or a green card for at least five years if you're going
to be a citizen or be eligible to become a citizen.
And I just changed that from residency.
Residency to find a church. Know what the next one is
Physical presence. You must have lived within the
United States for at least half of the five years or three years
if your spouse is AUS citizen immediately prior to your filing
citizenship, citizenship application.
And I put up there under physical presence.
I put show up and participate in your church #3 good moral
character. Wow.
I put up there next to it. Get in His Word and find out
what lifestyle pleases the Lord. Guess where you're not going to
find that out at the bar. Had somebody the other day say,
you know, well, I heard that speaking in tongues is of the
devil. And I said, you know what's
funny about that? My former pastor said, you know
what? When I was living for the devil,
I was living for the devil. And he said, and I went to a lot
of bars and I never heard one person speaking tongues in that
bar. And I knew there was a lot of
people of the devil in there, and not one of them ever spoken
to him. I said that was good man.
I'll never forget that as long as I live, all right.
But I thought it was funny because under this particular 1.
He said you must be a person of a good moral character.
During the five years or three years.
If you're a spouse to AUS citizen proceeding your
citizenship application. If you're concerned about your
criminal record potentially impacting your eligibility for
US citizenship, it's recommended to seek advice of a licensed
immigration attorney. A criminal record can have a
significant effect on your ability to obtain citizenship.
You know just it's the world man.
But here's #4 it's a good one. Oath of allegiance.
When you confess Jesus as Lord, you are making a verbal
covenant. You are performing an oath of
allegiance to another government called the Kingdom of God.
You no longer have a right to live the way you want.
You have to live by the governing authority of the
Kingdom of God. Believe me, the book is full of
right and wrong ways to handle situations.
Just listen to Jesus, He'll guide you.
You get filled with the Holy Spirit, He'll guide you based
upon what he hears Jesus tell you, all right?
He'll guide you because he hears Jesus and he's going to tell
you, all right. But I think if the oath to the
allegiance to the United States, renouncing any prior allegiances
to foreign states, when you confess Jesus is Lord, you are
now making a verbal covenant and an oath to the Lord Jesus and
you're turning your back on every other lifestyle you've
ever come in contact with. Does that make sense?
Anybody get anything out of that?
Amen. All right, let's, let's, let's
find out if anybody needs to respond tonight.
Father, I thank you and praise you for your word.
Your word's so clear. It gives us such good
illustration of understanding. You know, you may be here
tonight and you'd say, Reverend Randy, I, I've, I have never,
you know, committed my life to Christ.
I have never made him Lord. I've never confessed him as
Lord. I'm not even ever been baptized.
Those are steps that you'll need to take.
But you want to make sure that you've done what is needed to be
done by the confession of your mouth as Jesus is Lord and come
to the place where he is put his name here to be able to
understand how and what is required of you to live that new
life. Is there anybody that'd say
Randy need to be born again? Anybody.
I'm looking. I don't.
I don't really beg people. I just said it.
You know, we talked about the exit ramp last week, right?
Everybody's on the same Rd. They're headed for the same
destination. It's total separation from God
forever. You shouldn't have to beg people
to get off that road. Take the exit.
The blood of Jesus. Amen.