Just Believe Don't Perform - Creflo Dollar
Transcript
00:00:00 Would this another opportunity to minister to these, your precious sheep?
00:00:04 Thank you, Lord, that revelation of knowledge will flow freely, uninterrupted
00:00:09 and unhindered by any satanic or demonic force.
00:00:13 And Father, I pray that you will speak through my vocal cords and think
00:00:17 through my mind.
00:00:19 None of me and all of you, it's in Jesus' name we pray.
00:00:25 And everybody said, amen.
00:00:29 You may be seated.
00:00:32 If you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of Saint John,
00:00:35 chapter 6, verse 28 through 29.
00:00:40 We began a series last week, we were...we call last week's teaching
00:00:45 "Only Believe," trying to bring the believer to a point where he can begin
00:00:50 to amplify and magnify belief so that there's not this thing going on in his
00:00:58 head that I have to perform in order to see the manifestations of God's promise
00:01:03 show up in my life, that I got to do something to deserve it or do something
00:01:07 to, in a sense, activate it.
00:01:10 Well, this morning I want to continue with that, but I want to call today's
00:01:13 teaching "Just Believe, Don't Perform."
00:01:18 A few years ago, I began to teach this.
00:01:23 I was never able to really finish it and just believe and don't perform.
00:01:29 Now, holy living is still the objective of grace.
00:01:38 Grace is not in any way trying to say God doesn't care about how you live.
00:01:45 Of course He does.
00:01:47 There's just a different way of achieving it under the new covenant of grace
00:01:51 versus just doing the law.
00:01:54 If you obey the law, you'll be blessed.
00:01:56 If you don't obey the law, you'll be cursed.
00:02:00 And I think we just have to just--we're going to have to really trust God and the
00:02:05 fact that He knows what He's doing.
00:02:08 The righteousness of God is a gift.
00:02:13 It's a gift that must be received.
00:02:18 Righteousness is a gift that must be received, but it must be believed if it is
00:02:24 going to be received.
00:02:32 Now, I want to take some time to deal with those two words because, you know,
00:02:38 what's the difference between when you believe something versus when you receive
00:02:42 something, and how does that work?
00:02:45 Because what we do sometimes as Christians, we kind of play with words,
00:02:49 and we don't really see the significance in those words.
00:02:52 So I want to see if I can draw a picture so you can see it.
00:02:57 Well, let's look at it, first of all.
00:02:58 To believe something or believe Jesus--that's what we're talking about--it
00:03:03 means taking Jesus into your heart and into your life.
00:03:08 You believe Him.
00:03:11 You believe that He is and that He exists.
00:03:14 To receive is to receive something from Him.
00:03:22 So, in essence, your believing affects your receiving.
00:03:32 Your believing affects your receiving.
00:03:35 Believing in Christ is simply recognizing who He is.
00:03:42 I recognize that that's Jesus, and I believe He's the Son of God clothed
00:03:50 with an enormous amount of power.
00:03:53 But receiving Him is personally accepting Him and what He has done for us
00:04:03 through the cross.
00:04:04 I'm accepting what He has done for me through the life,
00:04:07 so through the cross.
00:04:08 So, believing and receiving Christ--see, I believe and I receive Christ,
00:04:15 or I'll refuse and reject Christ.
00:04:19 I believe Him, who He is, and I receive what He has done and has
00:04:28 to offer to me.
00:04:31 Or you refuse Him.
00:04:33 I don't believe that's the Son of God.
00:04:35 I don't believe that He is.
00:04:38 And then you reject anything that you heard He has.
00:04:44 And that small little issue right there is responsible for a lot of people.
00:04:49 You know, healing's available, but I don't receive it 'cause I don't
00:04:52 believe Him.
00:04:54 Well, salvation is available.
00:04:55 Yeah, yeah, yeah, but, you know, I don't really believe that He's,
00:04:59 you know, He's come from God.
00:05:02 So, let me demonstrate something here right quick.
00:05:07 So, you got a really gang concept of what He's trying to show us and what He's
00:05:13 trying to say to us.
00:05:16 Mike, come here for a minute and help me out.
00:05:18 No, no, Mike, you got a job.
00:05:19 Is that your daughter?
00:05:21 Let her come.
00:05:23 Let her come.
00:05:25 Okay.
00:05:26 We're going to do a little something here now.
00:05:30 All right, I'm going to say to you, "I am Creflo Dollar."
00:05:38 All right?
00:05:39 Do you believe that?
00:05:40 'Cause some people don't.
00:05:41 They say, "I'm Mike Smith."
00:05:46 So, you believe I'm Creflo Dollar.
00:05:48 All right.
00:05:50 So, the first part of it is she believes that I am who I say I am.
00:05:56 But I also came equipped with some stuff that now that she believes that I am who
00:06:02 I say I am, she can receive what I have.
00:06:09 You know, Jesus tells us we're righteous.
00:06:11 He tells us that we're redeemed.
00:06:13 And I'm telling you that I have $300.
00:06:17 So, she already believes who I am.
00:06:31 But now she's got to believe that she can receive what I have.
00:06:38 Do y'all hear what I'm saying?
00:06:40 Do you receive what I have?
00:06:46 Let's see.
00:06:47 Oh, Lord, I hope I…
00:06:54 You believe who I am?
00:06:57 You believe you can receive what I have.
00:07:00 So, watch this.
00:07:01 Somebody says, "Well, then, she don't.
00:07:02 I sure do."
00:07:09 So, Jesus makes it plain to us what he has for us.
00:07:15 It's not like you don't know.
00:07:16 It's not like she can't see these $300 right now.
00:07:22 Now, here's the big part.
00:07:25 Will she receive it?
00:07:31 Well, why am I still holding it?
00:07:35 Okay.
00:07:38 She receives it.
00:07:41 Now, she just did something that just comes automatically
00:07:48 when you receive.
00:07:50 She said, "Thank you so much."
00:07:54 Y'all better come on here right now.
00:08:00 Because when you receive salvation, when you receive
00:08:05 righteousness, when you receive healing, you can't help.
00:08:08 Ain't nobody got to tell you.
00:08:10 Ain't nobody got to command you.
00:08:11 You will say, "Thank you, Lord, so much."
00:08:19 That simple illustration kind of hopefully can clear up why we
00:08:32 don't need to perform.
00:08:38 We keep trying to perform to get it.
00:08:41 She didn't have to do a tap dance.
00:08:43 She didn't have to do no cartwheel.
00:08:48 She didn't have to say a speech or write a quick poem.
00:08:51 All she had to do is receive it.
00:08:55 And part of receiving it is take it.
00:09:00 Turn to your neighbor and say, "Take it."
00:09:09 Now, go to Romans chapter 1 and verse 16.
00:09:15 Romans chapter 1 and verse 16.
00:09:19 The word "believe" here, he says, "For I am not ashamed,"
00:09:21 Paul is talking, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ
00:09:26 or the gospel of grace," according to the book of Acts.
00:09:28 The gospel of Christ or the gospel of grace.
00:09:33 I'm not ashamed of it. Why?
00:09:35 For this gospel is the power of God that brings you
00:09:42 unto salvation.
00:09:43 This gospel has the ability to bring you unto salvation,
00:09:47 and it is available to everyone that believeth,
00:09:54 and the more accurate term here is receiveth,
00:09:58 to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.
00:10:00 But I thought it was interesting to look at this word "believe"
00:10:03 and see what is translated in this meaning.
00:10:05 It means to--now, this is so interesting.
00:10:07 He says, "When you believe, you rely on."
00:10:12 Oh, my goodness.
00:10:15 I want to authenticate my belief.
00:10:18 I don't want it to just be something I'm saying,
00:10:20 "I believe."
00:10:22 You know how people--we get real quick and we start saying stuff
00:10:24 and acting religious, but when I really believe--no,
00:10:28 this has--yeah, this is believing.
00:10:30 When I really believe I'm leaning on,
00:10:34 when I really believe that the chair can support me,
00:10:36 I sit down.
00:10:39 See, I never--I won't receive the support until I believe
00:10:43 its ability.
00:10:44 Glory to God.
00:10:47 It means to rely on.
00:10:48 It means to be persuaded by.
00:10:51 It means to put your confidence and your trust in His
00:10:57 righteousness, and I'm going to bring up a familiar term that
00:11:00 we've used for the last two years.
00:11:03 It means you can depend on it.
00:11:07 You can depend on it.
00:11:10 Now, let's look at John chapter 6, 28 in the NLT and 29.
00:11:16 It means you can depend on it.
00:11:18 Now, they just finished looking at this miracle of the
00:11:21 multiplication of the bread, and these group of guys,
00:11:26 they replied.
00:11:27 They said, "We want to perform God's works too.
00:11:32 We want God to use us for miracles as well."
00:11:36 And they asked the question, "What should we do?"
00:11:40 See, that's the--did you hear that?
00:11:42 The question was, "What should we do?"
00:11:45 And church people are still asking, "What should we do?"
00:11:50 Some ask, "What do I have to do to do the works that God
00:11:58 requires of me?"
00:12:00 And the answer that we give, and we've been doing it in church
00:12:06 when they say, "What do I have to do?"
00:12:08 And we say, "Well, you got to do this.
00:12:11 You got to do that, and maybe God will be pleased with your
00:12:14 effort."
00:12:17 That's not the correct response.
00:12:19 "What should I do?"
00:12:20 "Well, you got to do this."
00:12:21 And that's--I remember asking this question.
00:12:23 I remember getting born again, and I said, "Well, what do I
00:12:26 need to do in order to be anointed?"
00:12:29 And they-- "Well, you got to fast.
00:12:31 You got to pray."
00:12:32 And then while I was doing that, the Lord interrupted me one day.
00:12:34 He says, "When I called you, I anointed you, and you are trying
00:12:41 to do something to get what I already gave you."
00:12:46 Wow.
00:12:49 And so, that's not the correct answer.
00:12:53 And then verse 29, he says, "Jesus told them, 'This is the
00:12:59 only work.'"
00:13:01 Because we're work-based minded.
00:13:06 This is the only work God wants from you.
00:13:10 "Believe in the one he has sent."
00:13:15 And that continues to be a struggle in the lives of a lot
00:13:19 of Christians because somehow we just don't feel like that's
00:13:22 adequate, that that's enough, that what you mean just--just
00:13:26 believe--only believe, is that it?
00:13:28 Well, he said that, "Only believe."
00:13:30 We talked about that last--last week.
00:13:31 But we just can't gather in our heads because in our mind,
00:13:35 in the world's--there's always the doing stuff in order to get
00:13:40 this thing done, and this works so contrary against it.
00:13:43 He's saying, "Believe first, and out of your believing
00:13:46 comes the doing."
00:13:49 Believe first, and then when you believe, then you can receive
00:13:53 not what you labored to harvest, but you believe first, and you
00:13:59 can receive what Jesus has for you to receive.
00:14:04 Oh, my goodness.
00:14:05 And that may be wisdom to know to do something.
00:14:09 That may be directions to know to go somewhere.
00:14:13 See, this is gonna require a personal relationship with him,
00:14:16 and church people still want, "Give me some more laws."
00:14:20 It's easier if you just give me the laws to do it, and that's
00:14:24 why you ask, "Does God mind if you drink wine?"
00:14:27 Because if you really knew him, you would be--you would know
00:14:30 that answer already because you have him, but you want a law.
00:14:33 "Give us a law.
00:14:34 Give us a law and some Scriptures to back up the law,"
00:14:37 and you still go drink after I give you the law.
00:14:39 Are you listening to me?
00:14:44 Oh, brother, dollars is the Holy Spirit mind if we smoke weed
00:14:48 because it is from the earth, and it's herbs.
00:14:52 Can we--and it's--I don't know what it is that they--it used to
00:14:55 be from the earth.
00:14:56 I don't know where it is.
00:14:57 I think they took from the earth and they took it in a
00:14:59 manufacturing center in a lab and added some other stuff.
00:15:02 Now, it smell like a skunk.
00:15:03 It don't even--let me stop.
00:15:04 I'm talking about weed and--my point is, is we're hungry to be
00:15:12 led by the law that we won't even be successful in keeping,
00:15:19 hungry to be led by a law.
00:15:21 We want a law of tithing instead of going to God and say,
00:15:26 "What do you want me to give?"
00:15:27 And so, it's easier for you to keep up with your tenth, that
00:15:32 you hate giving, and that's proven by percentages that less
00:15:37 than 8% of the people in people's church even tithe.
00:15:41 Why?
00:15:46 Because we're convinced we need to perform.
00:15:49 We need to perform.
00:15:51 We think that your tithing is a badge of courage, some badge of
00:15:55 privilege.
00:15:57 "Well, you know, God, I tithe."
00:15:59 He said, "So did the Pharisees."
00:16:06 We don't--we're not getting this thing.
00:16:08 And then some people even think that the word "tithe" is an
00:16:11 all-inclusive word concerning giving.
00:16:14 When I taught on tithing, people thought, "Well, he said,
00:16:18 'Don't give no more.'"
00:16:19 No, no, no, no, no.
00:16:21 Tithe means tenth.
00:16:23 When you--I don't have you in.
00:16:25 Your giving should be out of a cheerful heart, giving
00:16:28 generously unto the Lord as he leads you to give out of your
00:16:33 love for him and not out of an obligation and fear that you're
00:16:39 going to be cursed if you don't give that percentage.
00:16:42 And some people, they stopped giving.
00:16:47 Pastor Dahl said, "You ain't got to give no more."
00:16:50 And they related tithe to the whole giving.
00:16:53 You know, tithing is a part of giving, but giving is not
00:17:00 necessarily a tithe.
00:17:03 Does everybody understand that?
00:17:05 Yo, tithe is a part of--is 10% of giving, but giving doesn't
00:17:10 equate to a tithe.
00:17:12 Does that make sense to everybody?
00:17:13 And so, we went around for help and said, "What do I have to do
00:17:16 to be prospered?"
00:17:17 "Well, you got to tithe first."
00:17:19 Whoa, "Well, you got to do that first."
00:17:22 You know, God wants from you what you want to give him 'cause
00:17:26 you want to give him, not just in money, but he wants you to
00:17:30 spend time with him because he wants you to do it 'cause you
00:17:33 want to do it.
00:17:33 He wants you to pray 'cause he wants you to pray 'cause you
00:17:36 want to pray.
00:17:36 He wants you to come and learn the Word 'cause you want to
00:17:39 learn the Word.
00:17:40 God has delivered us from this got to to get to.
00:17:46 I don't got to pray, I get to pray.
00:17:49 I look forward to pray.
00:17:51 I don't got to live right, I want to live right.
00:17:54 I don't got to.
00:17:57 Let's get delivered from the got to and let's get to the want to
00:18:01 and God wants you because you want him and God wants you to
00:18:05 want him.
00:18:07 Does that make sense to everybody?
00:18:10 Well, we're still coming and looking for a you got to,
00:18:14 you got to.
00:18:16 And God's like, "I'm looking for those who want to, want to.
00:18:22 They want to love me.
00:18:23 They want to give to me.
00:18:25 They want to walk with me.
00:18:27 They want to pray with me.
00:18:29 They want to tell me they love me.
00:18:32 They want to sing before me.
00:18:34 They want to lift their hands."
00:18:36 You know, it just irritates me when I go to a prayer service
00:18:38 and somebody says, "Lift your hands."
00:18:40 I'm like, "You don't know me.
00:18:41 Don't be telling me to lift my hands up.
00:18:42 I ain't ready to lift my hands up.
00:18:43 You lift your hands up."
00:18:48 In the world that calls that being insensitive to your
00:18:50 audience, do stuff impulsively 'cause you're moved to.
00:19:00 There's no better if I got up and say, "You got to cry."
00:19:03 Somebody say, "I don't feel like crying.
00:19:06 I don't want to cry."
00:19:07 Let me go back to the hug.
00:19:08 "You got to give me my hug.
00:19:10 You don't own my hug.
00:19:12 I don't want to hug you unless I want to hug you."
00:19:14 It'd be interesting if I could just be a fly on the wall to see
00:19:19 the hugs after we dismiss it.
00:19:20 Remember what Pastor said?
00:19:23 "That's $2, ain't it?"
00:19:27 You know?
00:19:29 This is so important.
00:19:34 Then he goes to verse--he says, "The only thing I want from you,
00:19:38 the only work I want from you is to believe in the one that I
00:19:44 said."
00:19:48 How are you going to deal with this when you leave your body
00:19:51 and you come up with a million excuses of why you couldn't walk
00:19:55 in that and why you didn't walk in that?
00:19:57 Why?
00:19:58 He said, "I only ask you to believe my Son, Jesus.
00:20:04 Believe and accept him into your heart, and then be prepared to
00:20:10 receive what he has for you to receive."
00:20:15 That's all he requires, and religion has made that
00:20:23 difficult.
00:20:25 Let me say this, and you might want to jot this down, but
00:20:29 nothing in true Christianity is earned.
00:20:32 Nothing in true Christianity is earned.
00:20:41 How do we get to the place where we think everything in
00:20:44 Christianity has to be earned?
00:20:49 And we keep coming and doing the things we do 'cause we're trying
00:20:52 to earn something from God.
00:20:56 "Oh, if I can pray three hours, I'll earn his power."
00:20:59 Glory to God.
00:21:01 "Oh, if I can just go out and win souls," and I'm telling you
00:21:07 nothing wrong with winning souls, but it's dead works.
00:21:11 Why is it dead works?
00:21:12 Dead works is you trying to qualify or deserve God's
00:21:18 goodness.
00:21:19 And God said, "You can't earn my goodness.
00:21:23 I have already given it to you."
00:21:25 God is not good because you're good.
00:21:27 God's good 'cause God's good, and you're trying to earn what
00:21:30 is already gifted.
00:21:33 Your whole life as a Christian is a gift, and you're still
00:21:38 working to earn.
00:21:39 So, nothing in true Christianity can--nothing in true
00:21:42 Christianity is earned.
00:21:45 That's a shock to religious thinking.
00:21:49 That's a shock to religious people who all of our lives were
00:21:53 trained in do right, get right.
00:21:58 Do wrong, get wrong.
00:22:01 That the getting is left up to the doing and not that the
00:22:05 getting is left up to the receiving because Jesus is the
00:22:10 doer, and he did it all.
00:22:15 Amen?
00:22:18 Everything is accessed through simple faith in the finished
00:22:26 work of the cross of Jesus Christ.
00:22:29 It's accessed by faith.
00:22:31 My propitiation, the fact that Jesus became my compensation and
00:22:36 he became my--the sin offering.
00:22:40 He became the ransom that was paid, and I received that
00:22:46 ransom that was paid.
00:22:47 Therefore, I don't go around struggling with whether or not
00:22:50 my sins are forgiven.
00:22:52 Jesus is my propitiation, and I receive forgiveness from him.
00:22:57 He is my redemption, and I receive that I have
00:23:01 been redeemed.
00:23:02 He is my reconciler, and I receive reconciliation
00:23:07 between he and I.
00:23:10 It's receiving.
00:23:11 What could you have done to get people's--all their sins--oh,
00:23:16 my goodness.
00:23:18 Jesus became sin at the cross apart from any sinful action.
00:23:25 Think about that now.
00:23:26 He became sin apart from any sinful action.
00:23:30 He never sinned.
00:23:35 He's the only man to ever walk the earth.
00:23:42 He never committed sin.
00:23:45 So, how did he become a sinner and never did anything to become
00:23:53 a sinner?
00:23:58 He became sin at the cross apart from sinful actions.
00:24:03 And when we receive the free gift of righteousness,
00:24:08 we become righteous apart from anything good that we have done
00:24:16 to make us righteous.
00:24:17 I am righteous apart from my righteous acts.
00:24:20 Jesus was sin apart from any sinful action.
00:24:28 Glory to God.
00:24:30 Well, how did he who had never sinned become sin?
00:24:35 He received our sin so that one day we might receive
00:24:42 his righteousness.
00:24:44 I know, I know.
00:24:48 I was sitting there one day when this was reaching me,
00:24:50 and I thought, "That's crazy," because I was trained and
00:24:55 inundated with this mindset of, "In Christianity,
00:25:00 you got to earn it all."
00:25:03 And I beat myself up when I could not achieve it because
00:25:09 I realized that something was bigger than achieving,
00:25:12 it's called receiving.
00:25:15 And Jesus set up how to do that.
00:25:16 How else can you become sin unless you receive sin?
00:25:19 So, he took…
00:25:21 See, there's that, there you go.
00:25:22 Receive, took.
00:25:23 I want you to remember that.
00:25:24 You're sick, and he said, "I got healing."
00:25:26 Take your healing.
00:25:28 Don't sit back and see if you were there to be healed.
00:25:32 He already told you, "I have given you healing.
00:25:34 Will you receive it?"
00:25:35 "Yeah, Lord, I receive it, I receive it."
00:25:37 Well, take it then.
00:25:38 There ought to be something to rise up in you on the next
00:25:40 couple of months that says, "I am so fed up with walking
00:25:44 around like some spiritual sissy.
00:25:46 I'm about to take everything that Jesus has made
00:25:49 available to me.
00:25:50 I receive everything that the blood has made
00:25:53 available to me."
00:25:55 You say, "Devil, you watch out.
00:25:56 I ain't coming no week and no more.
00:25:58 I'm getting ready to rise up in the authority and in the power
00:26:01 of what Jesus has done."
00:26:02 And the devil wants you to think, "No, no, no, you can't
00:26:05 do that because you have not done the necessary performance
00:26:10 to have it."
00:26:12 And I'm saying, "Just believe, don't perform, because you don't
00:26:15 need that performance."
00:26:18 Jesus didn't have to go perform to be made sin.
00:26:21 You don't see no way in the Bible that said Jesus cussed
00:26:23 them out, cussed them out, told them where they can go,
00:26:27 did that to them, shot all kinds of birds and folk,
00:26:31 and had some weed before he went to the cross.
00:26:35 That's why it didn't hurt.
00:26:36 He was high, he couldn't feel none, and he did all of that
00:26:39 so he could be made sin.
00:26:41 No.
00:26:43 But we ain't got no problem going around saying, "Well,
00:26:45 you know what?
00:26:45 She's just so righteous.
00:26:46 Look at her.
00:26:47 She feeds the poor, and she pray for 9,000 hours a year,
00:26:51 and oh, she ain't missed church since she was a toddler."
00:26:55 And then, blah, blah, blah.
00:26:57 "Oh, that's why she righteous."
00:26:58 Why do we do it?
00:27:01 Why do we do it?
00:27:02 And the problem with that, if you think that performance is
00:27:07 what can earn things, then you're gonna judge other people
00:27:11 who don't have it because maybe they didn't perform up to par
00:27:15 to get it like you got it.
00:27:17 I know some of y'all are like, "Mm."
00:27:23 He took our sins, and we took his righteousness.
00:27:28 Lord, thank you, Jesus.
00:27:39 He took our sins, and we took his righteousness.
00:27:46 He took our trip to hell, and we gonna take his trip to heaven.
00:27:51 He never committed a single sin, and we never did anything
00:27:56 righteous that was worthy to qualify us to be made
00:28:06 the righteousness of God.
00:28:07 Now, in your mind somewhere, the enemy's kind of playing
00:28:10 with you, saying, "Well, if that's the case, then,
00:28:13 I might as well just go ahead and just sin."
00:28:18 Oh, you don't wanna do that.
00:28:20 You don't wanna do that because sin in this earth carries
00:28:24 consequences, and you can hurt yourself.
00:28:30 Yeah, you could.
00:28:31 You can hurt yourself.
00:28:33 Some of y'all believe me.
00:28:34 Some of y'all gonna go hurt yourself.
00:28:37 And then when you go out and do that, then you're gonna open
00:28:40 the door for the enemy to come in and take you all the way back
00:28:44 to where you came from, and shame, and guilt,
00:28:47 and condemnation gonna come because of what you did,
00:28:50 because you can't get over the fact that, all right,
00:28:52 what you did doesn't make you righteous, but now you're
00:28:55 feeling all of those emotional things that's making it harder
00:28:59 and harder for you to believe so you can receive what he has,
00:29:03 and he's trying to rob you of the gift that comes without
00:29:08 your performance, and then every sin tells you you got
00:29:13 to perform so you can feel free of it.
00:29:15 You know, you wanna suffer and beat yourself up so you can feel
00:29:19 like you right again instead of getting up and just
00:29:25 keep it moving.
00:29:27 You were rude at the restaurant.
00:29:31 You couldn't find a person you was rude at.
00:29:33 You felt bad.
00:29:34 First thing you need to say, "I'm the righteousness of God,"
00:29:37 and keep it moving.
00:29:39 Okay, well, what about being rude?
00:29:42 "Lord, help me."
00:29:43 I realize that is not how to be, and he already working on you.
00:29:47 Now, you know you shouldn't have said that.
00:29:49 See, you gotta depend on this person's relationship
00:29:51 with Jesus.
00:29:52 He already talking to you.
00:29:54 That's why some of us Holy Ghost police need to resign from the
00:29:57 police force because he knows how to convince you that that's
00:30:04 not the best way.
00:30:08 If you have a relationship with him, and Christianity requires a
00:30:11 relationship, it's not a set of rules that you have.
00:30:14 It's not some Christian club.
00:30:15 It's a relationship with Jesus, and Jesus can talk you through
00:30:20 mess-ups, but you cannot give up the gift for a mess-up.
00:30:28 Y'all ain't hear what I'm saying.
00:30:30 You can't give up the gift for a mess-up.
00:30:32 And I know it's tough in your mind and your emotions,
00:30:36 but somehow that's the time you've got to say,
00:30:38 "I'm the righteousness of God," and all of hell is unleashed
00:30:42 against you.
00:30:43 You cannot look at what you just did.
00:30:45 Somehow you gotta say, "Devil, I am not righteous 'cause of what
00:30:49 I just did.
00:30:50 I am righteous because of what Jesus did 2,000 years ago,
00:30:54 and as long as I believe that, then I'm gonna get better in
00:30:59 what I do, praise God."
00:31:01 Let's look at some Scriptures real quick.
00:31:10 First Peter chapter 222, 2 Corinthians 5:21,
00:31:16 and 1 John 3 and 5.
00:31:18 First Peter 222, he said, "Who did no sin?"
00:31:23 He's talking to Jesus that he did no sin,
00:31:26 and I'm just giving a Scriptural evidence of what I just said.
00:31:29 He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.
00:31:34 He's trying to show you that the guile and the deception and the
00:31:37 slander that's found in your mouth is sin.
00:31:41 See, we think it's what we do, but sometimes it's what you say.
00:31:44 I started to say, "Turn to your neighbor and say, 'Shut up,'"
00:31:49 but I--we don't wanna do that.
00:31:51 Some people ain't that saved yet.
00:31:53 "Bro, I'm from College Park.
00:31:57 I don't know who you think you're turning your head
00:31:59 telling me to shut up."
00:32:00 All right, so it confirms he did no sin.
00:32:05 Jesus became a curse for us because he received our sin.
00:32:09 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 21, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and 21,
00:32:15 "For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin,
00:32:20 that we might be made the righteousness of God in him
00:32:27 who knew no righteousness."
00:32:29 And then look at 1 John 3 and 5, 1 John 3 and 5, he said,
00:32:39 "And you know that he was manifested to take away our
00:32:46 sins, and in him is no sin."
00:32:51 So, out of the mouth of two or three witnesses,
00:32:56 let this thing be established.
00:32:58 If Jesus took away our sin, this is so cool.
00:33:02 I believe Jesus took away our sins.
00:33:05 How many of you believe Jesus took away our sin?
00:33:07 Yeah, I believe that.
00:33:08 He took away our sins.
00:33:09 Now, if he took away our sins, here's my question,
00:33:13 where did it go?
00:33:15 If Jesus took away our sins, where did it go?
00:33:20 Well, it was transferred to him.
00:33:24 He took our sins, it was transferred to him.
00:33:27 So, Jesus went into the grave with our sins,
00:33:34 and he rose again without it.
00:33:38 Y'all don't understand what I just said.
00:33:40 When Jesus died, he took our sins past, present, and future.
00:33:48 What? Future?
00:33:49 Yeah, when he gave us a sin, it was in our future, for real.
00:33:54 We weren't in 2000 years ago, he has given us of all of our
00:33:57 sins past, present, and future.
00:33:59 Somebody says, "How you gonna forgive the sin in the future?"
00:34:01 He's already done it.
00:34:02 It was in your sin.
00:34:03 Your sin was forgiven back then, 2000 years ago,
00:34:06 which was your future.
00:34:07 It was somebody else's past, somebody else's present,
00:34:10 and somebody else's future.
00:34:12 So, he went ahead and took care of every generation that would
00:34:18 receive him.
00:34:19 He went ahead and took care of it.
00:34:21 He took care of it.
00:34:22 So, he died, he took all of our sins past, present, and future
00:34:26 on his body, died in the grave, then got up three days later
00:34:33 without it.
00:34:35 Got to be more careful.
00:34:38 Jesus was the carrier, the FedEx, the UPS,
00:34:43 the U.S. Postal Service, and he took all your sin to hell
00:34:52 and left it where it belonged.
00:34:55 Satan bought sin from hell and deposited it in the
00:35:01 Garden of Eden.
00:35:03 Jesus, later on, took all the sin of hell back to hell and got
00:35:10 up with nobody's sin left.
00:35:14 He got up the righteousness of God, and if you believe and
00:35:19 receive him, you are righteous.
00:35:24 Man, this is awesome.
00:35:26 Yeah, but I still sin.
00:35:35 Why?
00:35:38 Why?
00:35:39 Why?
00:35:40 Like a little baby crying out, "Why?
00:35:42 Why am I still sinning?"
00:35:43 Okay, here it is, here it is, here it is.
00:35:45 Took me a long time to get this answer.
00:35:47 I'm going to get it.
00:35:48 Why are you still sinning?
00:35:49 Here it goes.
00:35:50 You ready?
00:35:55 'Cause you want to.
00:35:57 No deep answer.
00:36:09 You want to 'cause you're a free moral agent, and you're
00:36:15 delivered from the sin nature, but you're not renewing your
00:36:19 mind to get a new software.
00:36:24 Your spirit's perfect.
00:36:26 Your mind still need to be renewed, and you have a choice
00:36:29 up here to do or not to do, and you keep bringing the devil
00:36:34 into this issue.
00:36:36 You sin 'cause you want to.
00:36:39 I don't know why I cussed out.
00:36:40 'Cause you wanted to.
00:36:41 You've been wanting to cuss out.
00:36:43 You were dreaming about how you were going to cuss out.
00:36:45 In fact, you practiced in the mirror how you were going
00:36:50 to cuss out.
00:36:53 You want to.
00:36:55 Let's get real.
00:36:56 You want to.
00:36:58 I don't know why I keep sleeping with Nathaniel.
00:37:05 'Cause you want to.
00:37:13 You're hungry for me to give you a law that you're violating
00:37:19 that causes you to get in that situation.
00:37:21 Yes, an unrenewed mind helps push your flesh that way.
00:37:26 Focusing on the flesh more than you focus on the spirit helps
00:37:33 push you that way.
00:37:35 Not renewing your mind and letting the old software dictate
00:37:39 to your flesh, yes, it pushes you that way.
00:37:42 But at the end of the day, you're doing all of what you
00:37:47 want to do because the Bible in Moses said, "Sin has pleasure."
00:37:53 Here's the key, "for a season."
00:37:55 And seasons come and seasons go.
00:38:04 And we don't get that.
00:38:05 We playin' around with this grace thing.
00:38:09 Well, I'm under grace, I'm still righteous.
00:38:13 True, but grace will teach you how to live a godly life.
00:38:20 And grace will help you to say no.
00:38:22 That's when you really believe him.
00:38:26 "Lord, Lord, you gotta help me.
00:38:30 You got to help me, Lord, 'cause she just talked about my mama.
00:38:33 You sure enough got to help me."
00:38:36 Now, you believing him during those times is like, "Okay, now
00:38:38 I'm leaning on him.
00:38:40 I'm depending on him to help me.
00:38:43 I'm depending on him to help me."
00:38:45 Can I share the story, Ken, that y'all went through with your
00:38:48 grandbaby?
00:38:50 Something you probably have gone through this where you've gone
00:38:53 in the ocean and that undercurrent hit and it kind of
00:38:56 take you out there real quick.
00:38:59 Well, anyway, his grandbaby, he looked up and grandbaby had
00:39:02 already gone all the way out there.
00:39:05 So, Ken had to put on his Superman cape.
00:39:09 At 62 years old, he had to put on his Superman cape.
00:39:13 I mean, what else you gonna do?
00:39:15 Wasn't nobody else running, so he got to go get his grandbaby.
00:39:18 So, he coming out there, he's swimming, he's doing everything,
00:39:22 praying to Jesus.
00:39:23 There's nobody to depend on.
00:39:26 The lifeguard went, "Now, I got to--I need to depend on Jesus,"
00:39:30 talking to Jesus.
00:39:32 He reaches his grandson.
00:39:34 He says, "Okay," after he calmed him down, he said, "Now, you
00:39:38 need to pray to Jesus that we get back."
00:39:41 'Cause I'm 62, I put everything in to come and out and get you.
00:39:48 I put everything out and come in to get you.
00:39:51 But we're not talking about a normal man, we're talking about
00:39:53 Ken Terry.
00:39:55 He said that grandbaby, "Oh, Jesus, Jesus, blah, blah, blah,
00:40:03 blah, blah."
00:40:04 He didn't even know he could pray like that.
00:40:06 "Jesus, Jesus," by the way.
00:40:07 "Ah, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus."
00:40:09 But I tell you what, you can laugh, but they made it back.
00:40:13 They made it back.
00:40:19 And I'm gonna tell you, each one of you are gonna have a time in
00:40:22 your life where you're gonna have to call on Jesus.
00:40:25 You're gonna have a situation where there's no way out, but
00:40:28 you got to depend on Jesus.
00:40:31 You may not think you need Jesus until you need Jesus, but when
00:40:34 you get in a place where you need him, if you call on him,
00:40:38 he'll show up in the midnight hour.
00:40:41 God will be your rescuer.
00:40:44 He will be your lifeguard.
00:40:46 Hallelujah, somebody.
00:40:50 It's living with him every day.
00:41:00 Jesus.
00:41:03 Demons tremble at the name of Jesus.
00:41:09 Sickness has got to go at the name of Jesus.
00:41:15 Demons have got to turn stuff loose at the name of Jesus.
00:41:21 There is still power in the name of Jesus.
00:41:27 And sometimes when you don't know what to do, sometimes when
00:41:30 you don't know how you're gonna make it, sometimes when you're
00:41:33 just being moved by what you know to do, Jesus will be there
00:41:37 to be your strength.
00:41:39 For when I am weak, he is strong.
00:41:44 But you got to believe it.
00:41:46 All right.
00:41:50 Jesus is the plumb line.
00:41:56 You remember that phrase?
00:42:08 He's the plumb line of our lives.
00:42:14 In other words, it's like what happens to him goes down and it
00:42:20 is true for who he connected to, the plumb line.
00:42:26 Ask yourself in situations, "Does this apply to Jesus?"
00:42:31 And if the answer is yes, then it applies to you.
00:42:38 But if the answer is no, then, you know, it doesn't apply to
00:42:46 Jesus.
00:42:49 It doesn't apply to Jesus.
00:42:50 That's the whole issue.
00:42:51 But if the answer is no, then it doesn't apply to you.
00:42:54 If it doesn't apply to Jesus, it doesn't apply to you.
00:42:56 If it applies to Jesus, it applies to you.
00:43:01 That's the plumb line.
00:43:03 Jesus, are you righteous?
00:43:05 Yes.
00:43:06 Then you righteous.
00:43:08 Jesus, are you no longer righteous anymore?
00:43:14 Yeah, I'm still righteous.
00:43:15 Well, you still righteous.
00:43:17 So, he's the plumb line to our lives.
00:43:20 Check with him.
00:43:21 Whatever's true with Jesus is true with us.
00:43:26 Glory be to God.
00:43:28 But in our heads, we want to do something to be righteous.
00:43:36 And what we are really saying is, "God, thank you so much for
00:43:46 dying for me on the cross, but it's not enough."
00:43:50 It's not enough.
00:43:56 Thank you, Lord, but it's not enough.
00:43:58 Then it becomes your cross plus my fasting.
00:44:06 Ain't nothing wrong with fasting.
00:44:09 But it becomes, Jesus, your cross plus my Bible reading.
00:44:13 It becomes your cross, Jesus, plus my prayer meetings,
00:44:17 plus my eating right, plus my 10%,
00:44:20 plus my behaving perfectly.
00:44:21 No.
00:44:22 Jesus said, "It is finished."
00:44:27 Look at what he said in Hebrews chapter 4 and 10 in the King
00:44:34 James, Hebrews 4 and 10.
00:44:35 Look at what he said here.
00:44:37 Look at these Scriptures.
00:44:38 Let's pick up what he's saying here.
00:44:42 "For he that is entered into his rest,
00:44:46 he also has ceased from his own works."
00:44:50 The guy that enters into his rest has ceased from his work,
00:44:54 as God did from his.
00:44:58 Staying out of works by staying in rest.
00:45:03 I'm just going to rest in him.
00:45:04 He's enough.
00:45:07 Look at Genesis 15 and 6.
00:45:08 Check this out.
00:45:11 Genesis 15 and verse 6, "And he believed in the Lord."
00:45:17 Look what happened to Abram just 'cause he believed in the Lord.
00:45:22 "And he counted it to him for righteousness."
00:45:27 How?
00:45:28 He believed in the Lord, and heaven said,
00:45:31 "You're righteous."
00:45:33 It was enough.
00:45:36 Genesis 20 and verse 1.
00:45:38 I want to show you something here.
00:45:40 I want to show you something here.
00:45:43 Genesis 20 and verse 1.
00:45:46 This is powerful.
00:45:50 See how much time I got.
00:45:52 Yeah, I got time.
00:45:53 All right, now watch this.
00:45:55 Abraham.
00:45:57 Ooh, boy.
00:45:59 This is a shadow of the grace that was to come.
00:46:03 Abraham in verse 20, chapter 20, is a shadow of what I'm talking
00:46:09 about right now.
00:46:11 Watch carefully.
00:46:12 "And Abraham journeyed from thence towards the south country
00:46:17 and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur,
00:46:20 and so journeyed into Jerar.
00:46:23 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife,
00:46:27 because they were being confronted,
00:46:31 when they asked, he said, 'She is my sister.'"
00:46:37 And we know that they were half sisters and brothers according
00:46:41 to, you know, certain theologians, and it's true.
00:46:46 But that's not what he was saying.
00:46:48 He was saying, "She is my sister by relation," when actually it
00:46:53 was his wife by relation.
00:46:56 "She is my sister, and Ambimelech,
00:46:58 the king of Jerar, sent and took Sarah because it was
00:47:04 his sister."
00:47:06 So, you could safely say in verse 2 that Abraham moved
00:47:11 in deception.
00:47:13 "But God came to Ambimelech in a dream by night and said to him,
00:47:22 'Behold, thou art but a dead man,
00:47:25 for the woman which thou hast taken,
00:47:27 for she is a man's wife.'
00:47:30 And Ambimelech said, 'Had I,'" he said,
00:47:32 "'had I had not come near her,' and he said,
00:47:35 'Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?'
00:47:38 And said he unto me, 'She's my sister.'"
00:47:42 In other words, Ambimelech said, "Listen, you know,
00:47:44 I didn't do this on purpose.
00:47:46 He said it was his sister."
00:47:48 And then God said unto him, "I know that thou didst in the
00:47:54 integrity of your heart."
00:47:55 That's why I'm talking to you right now,
00:47:58 'cause you about to die.
00:48:00 "Now, therefore, restore the man his wife."
00:48:07 Now, watch what he said about Abraham.
00:48:10 Even though he had just operated in deception,
00:48:12 he says, "He is a prophet."
00:48:16 Did the deception change that?
00:48:19 He is a prophet.
00:48:20 Let's go on down.
00:48:21 Watch him in fear.
00:48:22 Verse 11, "Abraham said, 'Because I thought,
00:48:25 surely the fear of the Lord of God is not in this place,
00:48:29 and they will slay me for my wife's sake.'"
00:48:32 That's why I did it.
00:48:33 Couple of things here.
00:48:34 He's given an excuse, and he's operating in fear.
00:48:38 But I wonder, did that change his status as a prophet?
00:48:42 He goes on and he says, "And it came to pass,
00:48:44 when God caused me to wander from my father's house,
00:48:47 that I said unto her, 'This is thy kindness,
00:48:52 which thou shalt show unto me at every place,
00:48:55 whether we shall come.
00:48:57 Say of me, 'Say, he is your brother.'"
00:49:00 Now, he's acting like a coward.
00:49:04 14, "And Ambimelech took," now, watch this,
00:49:07 "after deception, after fear, and after acting like a coward."
00:49:13 After deception, fear, and acting like a coward.
00:49:17 Now, this is not saying, "Do stupid things,
00:49:20 and God will still bless you."
00:49:21 This is showing--this is a shadow of this grace
00:49:24 that is to come.
00:49:26 So, look what happened.
00:49:28 "And Ambimelech took sheep and oxen, men's servants,
00:49:31 women's servants, gave them unto Abraham,
00:49:34 and restored him Sarah his wife.
00:49:38 And Ambimelech said, 'Behold, my land is before thee.
00:49:41 Dwell where it pleases thee.'"
00:49:44 Favor.
00:49:45 "And unto Sarah he said, 'Behold, I have given thy
00:49:48 brother a thousand pieces of silver.'"
00:49:53 So, now he's getting increased with his deceptive,
00:49:57 fearful, cowardice self.
00:50:02 In verse 17, "So Abraham prayed unto God."
00:50:05 So, God hearing his deceptive, cowardice, fearful self.
00:50:11 And then look what God did.
00:50:13 "And God healed Ambimelech and his wife and his maidservants,
00:50:18 and they bare children."
00:50:20 So, God, through Abraham, healed them and restored their house.
00:50:27 He wasn't perfect, and you're not going to be either.
00:50:37 But he believed God.
00:50:42 And you see his growth in his life,
00:50:50 because there's a journey.
00:50:52 He believed God.
00:50:55 And you need to stop allowing what you do or don't do to
00:51:00 impact your faith in Jesus.
00:51:03 That's what happened over the years.
00:51:05 How do you go from 40,000 members to what we have here
00:51:09 except people stop believing God?
00:51:11 "And felt like, 'I am not enough.'"
00:51:18 Deceptive, and God heard his prayer and healed
00:51:24 the whole household.
00:51:26 Fearful, and he got increase of cattle,
00:51:29 increase of silver, and increase of gold.
00:51:32 Nothing in Christianity is earned.
00:51:39 He certainly didn't do anything to earn this.
00:51:43 He believed God.
00:51:45 Grace is simply the unmerited favor of God.
00:51:57 Grace is not the ability to do good.
00:52:00 If believing grace is the ability,
00:52:05 then we would fall under condemnation and say,
00:52:07 "Well, what's wrong with me?"
00:52:09 If we believe that grace is the ability to do good,
00:52:12 but then I look at my life and I say, "I'm under grace,"
00:52:14 then what's wrong with me?
00:52:16 If we believe that grace is the thing that makes a good or bad
00:52:19 or blessed or not blessed or prosperous or not prosperous,
00:52:23 then when it doesn't happen for one person and it happens for
00:52:26 the other, then there's this question of,
00:52:28 "Well, what's wrong with me?"
00:52:30 Maybe I, watch this, need to perform better so it'll happen
00:52:34 to me.
00:52:36 Grace and works are opposite of each other.
00:52:39 We either work for God's blessings and earn it,
00:52:43 or we simply receive his unmerited favor,
00:52:47 one or the other.
00:52:49 The Bible has some great instructions,
00:52:51 but if we think the purpose of the Bible is to tell us how to
00:52:55 be better Christians and what will happen to us if we don't
00:53:01 follow these instructions, we put ourselves in bondage again
00:53:05 to the legalistic system of religion where we exalt the law
00:53:10 greater than the relationship with God.
00:53:12 Let me say that again because it shocks some of you.
00:53:16 The Bible has amazing instructions,
00:53:22 but the Bible, the purpose of the Bible is not to tell us how
00:53:28 to be better Christians and what will happen to us if we don't
00:53:32 follow these instructions.
00:53:34 Because we take the Bible and turn it into a law book,
00:53:40 and we think that the purpose of the Bible is read it,
00:53:44 and it's gonna make us better Christians.
00:53:47 Well, the purpose of the Bible is so you can get to understand
00:53:50 who your Jesus is.
00:53:52 And the purpose of the law was to show you the need of a Savior,
00:53:57 and without the law, you would've never saw a need
00:54:00 for the Savior.
00:54:02 And the purpose of the Bible is so you can see Jesus and come
00:54:06 out of darkness into the marvelous light.
00:54:10 Oh, yeah, and by the way, like I said at the beginning,
00:54:12 it has some great instructions.
00:54:15 And if you follow some of those instructions,
00:54:17 it will be amazing, but you follow them not to corner God
00:54:22 into, "Well, I got to do this in order for you to do that,"
00:54:27 and now you think that your behavior is greater than God's
00:54:32 grace and that God somehow needs you to behave well in order for
00:54:37 his power to be strong.
00:54:40 All wrong, and we've been duped.
00:54:45 The entire--every religion in the world requires you to do
00:54:51 something to get something from God except for Christianity when
00:54:55 it's taught right.
00:54:57 There's a religion that says if you go and you kill a bunch
00:55:01 of people, you'll be greeted with a bunch of virgins and all
00:55:04 this other kind of stuff.
00:55:05 It's always this or that.
00:55:07 That's mammon, which has taken over this world.
00:55:12 It's mammon.
00:55:15 And so, this--these are strong statements because for a long
00:55:21 time--well, you--let me just let you look at it.
00:55:23 You look at the Bible and you read the Bible,
00:55:25 and the Bible says to do this, and then you go do that because
00:55:28 you read the Bible and it said to go do this.
00:55:31 What's the difference between doing it that way versus doing
00:55:34 it when they had the law?
00:55:36 It's the same thing.
00:55:37 When you read the Bible and you follow those instructions,
00:55:39 you say, "God, I see this in the Word.
00:55:41 Help me to do this.
00:55:43 I'm depending on you to do--I'm depending on you to walk through
00:55:46 with this."
00:55:47 So, the Bible's just showing you,
00:55:49 "Here's how I want you to live.
00:55:51 Here's how I want you to carry yourself."
00:55:53 But then we go over to the New Testament.
00:55:55 You know what this Bible is talking about?
00:55:57 Everything that Jesus has already done,
00:55:59 and could you just believe me?
00:56:01 No, we're confusing the Old Testament law with what you got
00:56:07 to do in order to be blessed with what Jesus has already
00:56:12 done, and if you receive it, you're blessed.
00:56:16 If we rightly divide the Word of truth,
00:56:18 one requires your obedience in order to be blessed,
00:56:23 and the other one requires your belief in order to be blessed.
00:56:29 We're blessed because of Jesus, not because of what we do.
00:56:32 But the shocker here--I mean, I caught it when I said that,
00:56:36 and y'all like, "The shocker here is,
00:56:39 well, what else is the Bible for?"
00:56:41 The Word wrapped up in flesh to bring to you grace and truth,
00:56:51 because he was the only one that existed that could deliver such
00:56:58 a gift to mankind.
00:57:00 And the Bible says we should esteem the law.
00:57:05 What does that mean?
00:57:10 Because without the law, without living that way,
00:57:14 we'd have never known how much we need a Savior.
00:57:18 So, the law should be esteemed.
00:57:20 The law's not evil, it's good, but it was too good for people
00:57:24 who were fallen and people who were not perfect,
00:57:29 like the law was perfect.
00:57:32 This is big stuff, but if you can get a hold of it,
00:57:36 it'll change your life.
00:57:38 It'll change the results in your life,
00:57:40 and you'll begin to see in a much better way.
00:57:44 We wear ourselves out, okay, and we miss the whole point
00:57:48 of the Bible.
00:57:51 Religion says, "Do."
00:57:55 Christianity says, "Done."
00:58:00 The old covenant says, "Do this."
00:58:04 Christianity, under this new covenant,
00:58:07 says, "Jesus has already done that."
00:58:11 So, God's Word is the revelation of three things.
00:58:17 Number one, amazing grace of Jesus Christ.
00:58:23 Number two, the love of our heavenly Father.
00:58:29 And number three, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit.
00:58:33 [congregation applauding]
00:58:37 I'm gonna say that one more time.
00:58:38 That's what this New Testament is about,
00:58:40 the amazing grace of Jesus Christ, number one,
00:58:44 the love of our heavenly Father, number two,
00:58:47 and the intimate relationship of the Holy Ghost.
00:58:49 All right, I got one more thing.
00:58:55 "What about behaving right, Pastor Dollar?
00:58:57 You just can't be preaching that to people.
00:58:58 They gonna go crazy."
00:58:59 No, they gonna go crazy.
00:59:00 They've already gone crazy.
00:59:01 If I don't preach this, they won't stop going crazy.
00:59:04 What about behaving right?
00:59:06 Don't we need the law to show us how to behave?
00:59:12 Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 56.
00:59:14 Don't we need the law to show us how to behave?
00:59:17 Don't we need the law to be our moral--what is that?
00:59:20 Compass?
00:59:26 Verse 56 says, "The sting of death is sin,
00:59:31 and the strength of sin is the law."
00:59:37 The law strengthens sin.
00:59:39 Well, what's our moral compass?
00:59:46 You don't need a compass.
00:59:47 You have a guide.
00:59:49 His name is the Holy Ghost, and he will lead and guide you.
00:59:54 Enter all the truth.
00:59:57 All right, you listen to me.
01:00:00 The strength of sin is the law.
01:00:07 The strength of holy living is grace.
01:00:12 What strengthens your holy living?
01:00:14 What strengthens your right behavior?
01:00:16 The grace of God.
01:00:17 Grace is what's gonna change how you behave,
01:00:21 and the discipline of grace is gonna change how you walk
01:00:24 and what you do.
01:00:26 I close with Titus chapter 2, verse 11 and 12.
01:00:30 Now, you're gonna have to get this message and listen to it
01:00:32 over and over again, or you'll continue to come to church or
01:00:36 get upset today and go to another church,
01:00:38 and you will continue to waste your years in bondage.
01:00:45 What is it, Romans 6 and 14?
01:00:47 He says, "We are not under the law," but we're what?
01:00:52 Under grace.
01:00:54 Under the law, nobody was born again.
01:00:56 Under the grace of God, men can get born again and filled with
01:01:00 the Holy Spirit.
01:01:02 "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared
01:01:08 to all men."
01:01:10 It's available to the whole world.
01:01:12 "But only those who receive him," he says,
01:01:16 "he teaches us to deny ungodliness."
01:01:22 Teaches us, he'll show us to deny worldly lusts and will
01:01:27 teach us that we should live soberly and righteously and
01:01:32 godly in this world.
01:01:36 Verse 13, so God, the Holy Spirit will teach you how to do
01:01:41 that.
01:01:42 He says, "What should we be doing?
01:01:44 Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the
01:01:46 great God in our Savior, Jesus Christ."
01:01:48 So, what are we doing right now?
01:01:50 We're looking for the--our redemption draweth near.
01:01:52 We're looking for the return of Jesus, praise God.
01:01:55 He knows how to teach and train you, but a lot of times people
01:02:00 don't believe who Jesus is, and then they're not ready to
01:02:04 receive what he has for us to receive, and they keep
01:02:09 struggling in this Christian life, creating more drama with
01:02:16 God than the world because we don't rightly divide the Word of
01:02:23 Truth between performance-based living under the law and
01:02:28 believing you've received what Jesus has done under the
01:02:31 covenant of grace.
01:02:33 Huge message, huge teaching.
01:02:37 It will do enormous things in your life if you live by it,
01:02:42 study it out, understand it more, and your whole life will
01:02:47 never be the same again.
01:02:50 You get anything out of this this morning?
01:02:52 Real quick, every head bowed, every eye closed, no walking.
01:02:59 Please, if you can help yourself or if you can.
01:03:02 Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to hear the Word and
01:03:05 that faith has come because of what we've heard.
01:03:08 We thank you for the opportunity to know that we can get out of
01:03:12 the earning mode and get into the receiving mode.
01:03:16 We thank you that we can never be the same again because of
01:03:19 this amazing gift of grace that you have given us through the
01:03:22 blood of Jesus Christ.
01:03:25 Now, Lord, I pray an invasion in every household that is
01:03:28 represented here, an invasion of the Spirit of truth and the
01:03:33 Spirit of God, that God will invade every relationship,
01:03:37 invade every home, invade all of our children's lives,
01:03:42 and that as we see the wonderful works of the Spirit of God,
01:03:48 that we lift our hands up with gratitude and thanksgiving
01:03:52 because of the works of your mighty hands.
01:03:58 We love you so much.
01:04:00 We acknowledge today that we need you every day.
01:04:04 May the gospel of grace be preached throughout the entire
01:04:07 world, and then you said the end will come.
01:04:13 You know, every life that's represented here today,
01:04:16 every life that's represented in our e-churches,
01:04:19 every life that's represented in World Changes Nation,
01:04:23 do something so amazing to them.
01:04:26 Give proof of this Word that I preached,
01:04:31 and may we have a desire to serve you,
01:04:34 a desire to want to do what's right,
01:04:36 a desire to live right, a desire to live with your help above
01:04:41 the temptations of the flesh.
01:04:46 We praise you for it now.
01:04:49 And Father, we thank you for the opportunity to not be afraid to
01:04:56 be givers financially in our ministry.
01:05:00 You said, "Bring unto the Lord, give unto the Lord,
01:05:03 glory due unto your name."
01:05:05 Bring an offering and worship you in the beauty
01:05:09 of your holiness.
01:05:12 Let us never again be afraid to give because we have trust that
01:05:17 you take care of us, and because we know you take care of us,
01:05:22 then we can give with joy and cheer because we not only
01:05:27 believe, we receive.
01:05:31 We thank you for it right now.
01:05:34 Speak to every heart.
01:05:37 Show them that by the Holy Spirit you can lead and guide
01:05:41 them even in this.
01:05:43 And we receive from you today, Lord,
01:05:48 wisdom and instruction.
01:05:51 Let today be the beginning of us serving you out of our hearts,
01:05:56 and not as a duty or an obligation,
01:06:01 but because we cherish you, because we want to.
01:06:06 We acknowledge that you are the greatest,
01:06:11 and may we respond in reverence and respect for he that sits
01:06:18 on the throne, Jesus Christ.