"First Things First" By Chris Ulrich January 17th,
2016
Thank you. Remain standing, please, those of you who are
standing. Those of you who are seated,
please stand. Aaron is going to lead us
in a word of prayer for the sermon this morning. Aaron: Bow your heads,
please. Lord Jesus, thank You for the
day. Thank You for bringing us here,
Lord. Bless us through this message; let
us get something out of it, Lord Jesus.
Speak through this message, Lord.
Deliver it through Chris, Lord.
Let us have a blessed day, as we leave here, throughout the day. Some of us go to work; let us have a blessed
time at work, Lord. Let us minister
through our work. In Jesus’ name, amen. Thanks, Aaron. You may be seated. Good seeing everybody this morning. And, as it’s been mentioned, and definitely
worth repeating is that our theme of the month this month is “Being Born
Again.” And our passage for the month is
from John 3:7. Let’s all read that
together. I know that some of you are
just getting seated and everything.
We’ve got it right here in the front.
Some of you may have memorized it; it’s a short verse, but a powerful
verse. So, let’s read together: John 3:7 Marvel not that I
said unto thee, Ye must be born again. People make New Year’s resolutions
all the time, and sometimes they keep them and sometimes they don’t, but being
born again isn’t a resolution. God wants
it to be for a lifetime but, ultimately that’s up to us. Parrish Lee preached a couple of weeks ago
and he talked about how he’d heard the term born-again, and that’s something I
can relate to, because I had heard it as a kid, and I imagine a lot of us did. Didn’t
understand it completely, but, when that time and place came to where we were
shared that, when we were given an understanding of what it meant, then the
choice is up to us. Then the ball’s in
our court, as we’ve heard. And he also
talked about, in the message, and he backed it up with Scriptures from John chapter
three, about how that according to Jesus there are only born-again Christians, there’s
no other type. There’s not a whole long laundry list of different options. We’re going to get into that a little bit
later on, as far as the denominations and different things like that. And, our brother, Jesse Rairdon,
he and his wife are sick with the flu today, and their daughter, but he gave
the sermon last week and he talked about how, in Christ, that we’re
family. And he talked about how God
wants to get us to a place where we want to learn His ways, not that we’re
resistant, but that we’re willing to accept what God has for us, because it is
the best life. And it’ not something
that can be forced upon anybody. It’s
something that we have to choose willingly, but we have to look at the end from
the beginning. God daily loads us with
benefits; that’s true, but, it’s something that we have to have that personal
relationship with God. And that comes
from, again, having that desire to understand what God’s ways are. And I also appreciate what he shared—I kind
of wish he was here, because, for those of you that weren’t here, I’m going to
do the best I can to reiterate what he had shared, but, he shared a personal
story about when he was a little boy. He
said that he was with his aunt, and recently—he’s probably in his
early-to-mid-forties by now—so, it was something that, he was visiting an aunt,
probably in the last few years, and she reminded him about this experience that
he had, and he said that this one particular day, he said, “I believe God spoke
to me,” and he said he just went outside.
He said he was only four years old, and I believe that. I believe that God can speak to us,
especially when we get to an age of understanding and knowing what’s going
on. We all need to learn this, that’s
true. But he said he went outside, and
his aunt came out and just kind of looked inquisitively at him, and just kind
of wondering what was that look on his face, and he looked up, and he said,
“Jesus told me He’s coming back, and I’m just coming out here to wait for
him.” And I look at that like, I
appreciate that. That’s something where,
it’s a personal experience. It’s
something where, you hold onto that for life.
And he said he hadn’t thought about that for many, many years, ‘til he
was visiting family recently. God will
speak to us, no matter how young or old, no matter rich or poor, no matter what
nationality, no matter where we’re from, but we just have to listen to that still,
small voice. There’s going to be three points to the
message this morning: • Being
born again gives us power to overcome the world • There
are no exceptions and no excuses • This
message will be fought against So, getting into the first point: • 1st Point – Being Born Again Gives Us Power to Overcome the
World We live in perilous times. The Bible talks about it. It talks about iniquity shall abound, the
love of many shall wax cold. And we really don’t have to look very far to see it. We don’t have to watch the news anymore, look
at the internet, or read the newspaper and someway, somehow it finds us. I guess it’s what we call the old “word of
mouth.” And it’s true that we can’t
always affect what happens around us or to us, but we can affect what we do
ourselves, what we do with our own life.
And we’re not going to be judged by what happens around us or to us, but
we will be judged by the deeds that are done in the body. We’re going to be judged by the things we say
and do. Ever hear someone say in your
life, and maybe it was even you who said it, “I just completely lost control. I
didn’t even know who I was anymore?” Has
anybody ever heard that expression? I
know I have. That’s a pretty scary place
to be. So how do we or they get over it? How do we or they get around it, or away from
it? How do we or they rehab, or dry-out,
or reform, or whatever else you want to call it? I know that in this past week there’s been a
lot of reporting about, there’s a drug kingpin from down in Mexico that had
spent a lot of years in a trafficking business, “El Chapo” is what he’s called;
his name is Hector Guzman. And, he was
recaptured, and, there’s been a lot of talk about some of the interviews that
he had. I’m not really going to get into
that, but I’m going to say this: I read
a book recently, and, this wasn’t something that I had this incredible interest
in learning about, but the book is based a true story, a true set of events—I’m
not saying every single detail in this book—and I’m not going to elaborate too
deeply on it. The book is called, “The
Power of the Dog.” It’s written by a guy
named Don Winslow, he’s a former drug enforcement agent, and he spent about
thirty years in the Southwest United States where that pipeline is severe, that
trafficking is severe, a major, major problem.
And, we’ve reached an epidemic in this country; I’d say it’s beyond an
epidemic. I’m not talking about cocaine,
or heroin, or methamphetamine, or whatever way, this is not just about
that. But, I will share something that
caught my attention as I was reading through just some of the brutality
that’s—it’s not for the squeamish of heart—and, I’m not recommending to run out
and buy it. I’d say read the Bible as
the first and foremost point of learning and understanding, but I think it’s
good to read. I think it’s good to get
an understanding of what’s going on around us, but, there was a passage that
kind of made me jump out of my seat, because I was reading through, and it talked
about how this kingpin had accumulated twenty-three commercial airliners of
drugs, nothing but drugs, as far as cargo, into the United States, landing at
different former airstrips across the Southwest part of the United States, and,
again, this isn’t just an indictment of that, because, here’s the point: In all of that, here’s the point: Without any demand, there wouldn’t be any
supply. If there wasn’t an insatiable
appetite, and I’m talking about people in this country, this is talking about
being able to overcome the things of the world.
This is talking about being born again and having the power of God. How do you cut it off? You have to have the power of God. There’s no way around it. This isn’t me sitting here trying to say no
to drugs or any of that stuff. This is about having a power that comes from
Him. I’m not just talking about sex,
drugs, rock n roll, rap, or whatever else is out there, and I know I’m talking
plain. I’m talking about not being
inundated with the nonsense, and the things of the world, and the temptations… The Bible talks about, we’re not ignorant of
Satan’s devices. We have to understand
the forces and the power of the things around us; things that vie for our soul. John 1:1-12 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. The
same was in the beginning with God. All
things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was
made. In Him was life; and the life was
the light of men. And the light shineth
in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was
John. The same came for a witness, to
bear witness of the Light, that all men through Him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear
witness of that Light. That was the true
Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made
by Him, and the world knew Him not. He
came unto his own, and his own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: So, being born-again isn’t just
about salvation, although that, alone, would be worthy enough. If we were just given the precept of being
born again, if God said, “Ye must be born again. Marvel not that I said unto ye, ye must be
born again,” and we had no power at all, it would still be worthy, because God
is promising us eternal life with that commandment, but then He said, “Not only
that, but I’m giving you power.” That power
is what’s going to keep us in this world. It’s about the power that God gives us to
overcome the trials, and temptations, depression, the tragedy of the
world. Oh, I’m not saying we’re exempt
from problems, and I’m not saying that there aren’t relapses that happen to
people. I’m not saying that at all, and
you look at the different programs that are in place, as far as different
anonymous groups, or whatever the case might be, but, ultimately, that power of
God, in Jesus’ name, it’s going to be what gets us over the hurdle. It’s going to be what keeps us. And it’s going to keep us from getting so overwhelmed
by the cares and riches and things of this world. This is a passage where the
disciples had asked Christ about, “What are the sings of the end times, or what
shall be the sign of Thy return?” And
this is one part where He talks about: Luke 21:34-36 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be
overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so
that day come upon you unawares. For as
a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole
earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray
always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall
come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. I’ve got to admit that, I’ve read
through this passage a lot of times, but I still had to look up the meaning of
the word, ‘surfeiting.’ It’s not a
common term; I would say it’s not an everyday usage type term. But, it just means an excessive amount of
something, and it makes sense in the context of this passage. The warning signs from God are there along
life’s journey—again, this is not always about fear. It’s not about always being in fear, or us
instilling fear, or—they say a fire and brimstone message; we’ve heard that
before. But Psalms 19:9 tells us that
the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; so it’s a part of what will
keep us on the straight and narrow path.
And being born-again is going to keep us, it’s going to give us the
power to sustain us in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, which is
what it’s become. And I’m not just
talking about this country; I love this country. I’m not just bad-mouthing here; there’s
problems all over the place. There’s no
doubt about it. I mean, this drug
epidemic that I talked about earlier, that’s not just isolated to the United
States, but I would say that it is a major, major epidemic. We’re going to get into the second
point: • 2nd Point – There Are No Exceptions and No Excuses I want to reference John 3:7 again,
for the sake of pointing out the simplicity, but the poignancy of this
verse. “Marvel
not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” These are the words
of Jesus Christ. It’s not complicated,
but time and false doctrine has a way of mucking that up. There’s no doubt about it. False doctrine and deception has a way of
polluting the pure words of God over time to the point where we end up with
multiple translations, multiple denominations, multiple disputings, multiple doubtings,
just on and on and on to where you get to point where it’s like, it’s almost as
though atheism, and absolute denial of God, is considered a religion. And, have we really gotten to that
point? Yes, we have. But, we have to look at it like, “Okay, I’m
not envious of where they’re at.” I just
look at it like I know—and we’re going to get into this a little bit, there’s a
passage in Proverbs, you don’t have to turn to it, it’s a very brief verse: Proverbs 21:2 Every way of a
man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. This is not designed to beat
everyone over the head or to try and force everyone else to convert. But we still need to point people in the
direction of Jesus who himself said, “If I be lifted
up, I will draw all men unto Me.” That
was, is, and will always be our goal. We
have to direct people to God and give glory to God. This isn’t about us. I mean, we have this life to live, and God’s
blessing our lives. But there isn’t a
matter of looking at it like, okay, being convinced ourselves that this is the
right way to go. And, yeah, we all
stumble and fall. The Bible says we have
all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But even like one verse that Jesse shared
last week, in Proverbs, it talks about a just man falls seven times, and rises
again. The wicked fall into
mischief. And, when we fall, it is a
matter of getting back up. And, like
what you mentioned, Sonia, in your testimony, we’re winners! That’s a matter of, in Christ. That’s not a matter of our own validation or
our own glorification, it’s just a matter of looking at it like, “Okay, I’m
going to win, if I’m an overcomer in Christ, but it’s only through that power
that we’re going to be able to get through it.”
We’re going to look at one more
verse: Romans 14:11-12 For it is
written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every
tongue shall confess to God. So then
every one of us shall give account of himself to God. We are going to give account to
God whether we like it or not, and ye must be born again means just that. We had a Bible study a couple of weeks ago,
Bob, up at the coffee shop in Zion, and talked about giving account. Whether we like it or not, it’s going to
happen. Whether we try to put it off, or
belabor it, or procrastinate it, that is going to come. Now, I’m talking about every single person. There are no excuses, and we’re talking about
anyone in their right mind and at an age of accountability. And, I have to say that again, there is not
going to be any excuse for anyone in their right mind and at an age of
accountability. I’m going to share
something that is personal to our family—I may have shared this before, but I
honestly can’t remember. I have a cousin
that’s mildly retarded. And, she’s a
little older than me, she lives on Long Island.
My uncle, and his side of the family, they live on the East end of Long
Island. I remember, growing up, and, it
would seem as though she was sometimes cognizant of her surroundings, and,
sometimes, you know, if you want to say it like that, I could put on over on
her. It’s like, that’s not the goal; I
mean, really, you have to understand here that there are going to be people that
don’t have an age of accountability.
That’s just the fact. And, even,
like, infants, that’s not an age of accountability. When a person comes to a realization and an
understanding, and, like it talks about in Titus chapter two, “The grace of God
that brings salvation hath appeared to all men.” So, there is a point in time—and that’s not
to let anybody off the hook, but that’s just to say that we have to understand
that there are people in life that are in that condition, that mental capacity. But, then you have people that will try to make
excuses: What about this group or that
group, or the aliens, or what about the dinosaurs, or what about this… What about the thief on the cross? Excuse after excuse after excuse, and it’s
like okay, you stick around long enough and you’ll hear every single one of
them. And they’re probably coming up
with a manual of new excuses at this point.
I mean, it just seems like this society keeps going, and it’s like you
wonder how much more could possibly come.
But, the truth of the matter is, whether we try to make excuses or not,
we have to refer back to Romans 14:12, “Every one of us shall give account of
himself to God.” This might even sound a
little mean, and that’s not my intention, but there’s no dumbing down the
message of being born-again. It’s pretty
blunt and it’s pretty to the point. I
like one thing, Mike, we had that prayer meeting at your house, your and
Linda’s house, Friday night, we were talking and fellowshipping afterwards, and
Mike just shared this, he said, “Yeah, you know, I just want to go to
Heaven!” And I appreciate that. It’s like one thing you said in Ecclesiastes
twelve, he said, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and
keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment,
with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” (Ecclesiastes
12:13-14) So, it is a matter of taking
those things personally, taking them seriously, and just going with it, and
living our lives according to that understanding. We’re going to go into the third
and last point, this morning, which—this will be a little bit lengthier; I’m
really going to develop this: • 3rd Point – This Message Will Be Fought Against I’ve heard it said that the
born-again message is the most powerful message in the world and I agree with
that. After all, what kind of a message
that pronounces spiritual judgment is as strong as it gets? Now, I’m sure that there’s a lot of people on
the outside of Christianity that would disagree with that, but then I’d have to
ask them, “Okay, what is or what are the other alternatives? What’s a more powerful message in any
capacity, in any genre?” Just think
about that for a minute. What’s a
stronger message? And it’s not just
because we’re saying it, or I’m saying it, or somebody in our church says
it. But, when you think about that
eternal judgment, it’s a matter of looking at it like, okay, I remember our
general pastor sharing one time, and he got pretty emotional about it; he said,
“The stakes couldn’t get any higher than this.”
And I appreciate that, because that was just one of those little
statements that was made ten or fifteen years ago that just kind of just, it
sinks in. And, anytime, maybe, we get a
little bit to the outskirts, or a little bit more on the edge, or a little more
of thinking, “Ah, what’s the big deal?
It doesn’t really matter. I can
just blow that off, or I can skip this.
You know? I don’t think God takes
it really that seriously.” And the words,
like, what he had shared: The stakes
couldn’t be any higher. What more
powerful message is there than that? But,
I know today that I’m standing in front of a group of people that have faith; I’m
not standing in front of people from work, or family who are not believers,
which is just about all of them, to be quite honest with you. But, like any great message, or movement,
or leader, the born-again message is not without its detractors. I get there’s a lot of people in the world
who claim to be Christians, but as soon as you mention being born-again that
gets dwindled down in a hurry. And, as
soon as you mention Acts 2:38 and Mark 16:16 about being baptized in Jesus’
name, and the importance of being baptized, that number dwindles down even
more. Because then it’s like, “Oh, no, I’m
not—that’s not for me.” And, it’s a
matter of, like, “Well, who’s it for?”
And, again, this isn’t about trying to jam anything down anybody’s
throat, but the truth is every excuse under the sun comes out of the woodwork,
and we have to look at it like, okay, that’s the previous point, making excuses. This is a little bit lengthier of
a passage; it’s the entire Book of Chronicles—no, no, I’m kidding. I had to prep you with that a little bit, so
it’s not the Book of Chronicles. It is
the Book of Revelation chapter twelve, though.
It is a little bit lengthy, and I am going to make comment, once we
finish reading. Revelation 12:1-17 And there
appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon
under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in
birth, and pained to be delivered. And
there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having
seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars
of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman
which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was
born. And she brought forth a man child,
who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up
unto God, and to his throne. And the
woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that
they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was war in Heaven: Michael and his
angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed
not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old
serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was
cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,
Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power
of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night. And they
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and
they loved not their lives unto the death.
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the
inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you,
having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto
the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a
great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she
is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the
serpent. And the serpent cast out of his
mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried
away of the flood. And the earth helped
the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the
dragon cast out of his mouth. And the
dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her
seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ. I know that’s a lot of reading,
and I know that—I’m just going to share this about, especially when you look at
the Book of Revelation, there are things in this passage that I don’t
understand. I just want to get that and
put that right out front. But, I will
share this much: There’s a Bible verse
in Deuteronomy 29:29, it says the secret things belong to God, but the things
that He’s revealed to us belong to us, that we may know and do all the words of
this Law. God gives us an understanding
of things to be able to do His will. But
there are hidden nuggets of gold; there are secret things, there are things in
here—now, we’re going to go over some things.
We’re going to talk about some of these points that pertain to this
message being fought against. I know
myself, and Parrish, and Jesse had met a few weeks ago, and one thing that
Parrish had shared, that I thought was very interesting, in verse fifteen,
where it talks about the serpent cast out of his mouth water, as a flood, after
the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood, and he
described it as just everything under the sun, as far as, every ungodly trend,
or way, or lifestyle, or false doctrine, or evil spirit, or violent crime… Everything that goes against the ways of God,
what God stands for, what Jesus Christ, the name of God, everything under the
sun is in that flood. The other two
verses I really want to highlight: Verse
seven: “And there was war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the
dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,” and then in verse 17, “And the
dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her
seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ.” There’s war! This is not a joke, I mean, this isn’t something
that’s just, like, fairy tales, or fiction, or something that just—this is
something we built our lives on. This is
something we build our faith on, and, even what you mentioned, Sonia, about
some of the songs that—I think during one of the songs you said, “Yeah, people
can make fun, or they can criticize.”
Well, we can criticize them back, and say, “Well, look, you know what? How
do you like having this affliction? Or,
how do you like being in this condition?”
But that’s not the way we need to be.
It’s a matter of taking the high road, I guess they call it, or just, I
guess taking the high road would be the best way of putting it, but, the truth
is, when Christ was being hung on the cross, He said that He could have brought
down twelve legions of angels to just completely annihilate every single one of
them. Okay, how do you like them apples,
as they say? I think they’d be like, “Well,
we don’t. We really don’t like them at
all.” So, it’s not a matter of looking
at it like, “Okay, you want to get into, like, a war of words, or you want to
get into, see who can argue better, or get into a debate?” I’m not going to debate them. I mean, we have to look at that like, okay, but,
what other battlefields are there, other than Heaven and earth, because that’s
what we’re talking about. I know there’s
some people saying, “Oh, well, they found another solar system, that there
might be life.” I don’t care if there is
or not. I’m here, and, again, going back
to every man and every woman shall give account to God. So, if they find, with this Hubble telescope,
or whatever they’ve got out there now, “Well, we found plants may be growing on
this planet, you know, 68,000 light years away.” Great!
It doesn’t offend me, it doesn’t scare me, it doesn’t bother me. Those are the kind of things that are going
to come up, but, again, that flood. That
flood of ungodliness. That flood of
epidemics. That flood of disease. That flood of hatred. That flood of crime. That flood of false doctrine, and everything
else under the sun, because the devil knows that he has but a short time. So, it’s like, it’s going to happen; it’s
here already. I don’t know how much
longer this world is going to last. No
man knows the day or the hour. That’s
the words of Christ. It could last
another day, it could last another couple of hundred years, it doesn’t really
matter. Because, chances are, if it does
last much, much longer, I’m not going to be here, and, probably, a lot of us
aren’t going to be here, either, but we still have to prepare, we still have to
get ready to face that judgment of God.
Which, if we are walking in the spirit, it’s going to be a great
judgment. It’s going to be something where
we’re hearing the words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” What else do you want to have? You get to win, that’s right. But, I’m going to read one last
verse before I make commentary. Revelation 21:6-7 And he
said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I
will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things;
and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. How many here remembers the
expression, I think, a lot we used to ask each other as kids, especially when
we were, like, challenging them, or they were challenging us, “You swear to
God?” How many remembers how much weight
that carried? I mean, you’d say something
stupid that you knew was, like, a fib, I’ll just put it like that. “Oh, yeah, yeah, I went out with that girl.” “You
swear to God?” “No, no, I mean…” “Oh, I scored 38 points in that game.” “You swear to God?” It’s like, “No, I give
up. I give up.” Or, it’s like, it was like a slap in the face
to hear that, like the “ice-bucket challenge” from a couple of years ago. Imagine having that on a day like today. I know that I would definitely not be smiling,
and I don’t think anybody else here would, either, but, being born-again is
just like that. It’s a foundational and a
landmark precept. It’s relevant to us
now, and that’s never going to change. I hope we’re getting the picture
that this isn’t a popular message, and not everyone is going to agree with it, and,
not everyone is going to want to follow along with it, and that’s by a long
shot. Well, that’s just fine with
me. But I know that the first time I
heard the plan of salvation, and I remember them sharing that passage from John
3:1-7; it was front and center. And, that’s
the title of the message today, “First things first.” I’m closing here shorty, but I just want to
share that I remember that first time, and hearing that study about being
born-again. I remember searching the
crevices of my mind, and trying to remember exactly whether I knew anything about
it, or whether—I mean, I wasn’t trying to put up a defense, but, it was a
matter of, “Yeah, I’ve heard that term.”
It was just, we weren’t really a church-going family, quite
truthfully. We did go, but it certainly
wasn’t a born-again church, I guess I’ll say it like that, and I know there’s
churches out there that don’t. They
really don’t emphasize it, and, after a while, it gets watered down, and it
gets washed out in the flood. I mean,
that’s just an honest-to-God fact. It’s
just completely eliminated, and then you’re left with a society of people where
it’s like, “Oh, yeah, I think I’ve heard about that at one time or another…” but
don’t know anything about it as far as being able to, like, stand on it
Biblically. But, when it was being
explained to me, I knew that my prayers were being answered, and that my
searching was being fulfilled, and my seeking was getting enlightenment. It wasn’t an accident, and it wasn’t a
coincidence; it was the scriptures coming to life, because that’s what it’s for. In Him we live and move and have our being. And, if you just look at it like, “Ah, that’s
just words in a book,” anything could be, if you take it that lightly. But, if you allow that Spirit of God to
thrive, and to come alive in your life, you will see that difference, you will feel
that difference, and you will know, without a shadow of a doubt, that it’s
real. And I also knew it was the first
step in my life in getting right with God.
I’m not saying God hadn’t been dealing with me. We have experiences with God, and I knew I
had an experience with God. But this was
the first message taught on that day, and it was the first message taught on the
day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, just after the death, burial, and
resurrection of Christ. It’s also the
first message we need to share with someone who wants to know, needs to know,
and maybe would even just like to know what it takes to be saved. First things first. God bless you.
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