Basics of the Faith

We need, like, we need, like, an MC out here. All right, guys, let's start the countdown. You pumped it? Yeah, everybody pumped up.

It does. It does.

It's like counting down the New Year's, isn't it?

All right, guys, good morning. It's good to see all you guys. Forgive my dumb humor up here. I want to invite you guys to go ahead and stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Father God, thank you for the day. Lord, I just thank you for how good you are to us and how much you love us. God, I just ask that you would just bless this time, Lord. Bless the word as it goes out, Lord, and just prepare our hearts to receive from you this morning, Lord. God, just help us to sit everything that's been going on in our lives, just to sit it all aside,

to focus on you, Lord, and just to hear what you would have us to hear this morning. We ask these things in your precious and holy name. Amen. Yes, Lord. And one day every knee. We'll bow and every tongue will confess, Lord, that you are Lord. Amen. You guys can go and have a seat if you like, and we'll continue on. Christy fills the street to say I'll be with you again.

Through doubt and fear return.

Beside the faith of a thousand generations. Seem worthy is the Lamb. Stand beside the heroes of the faith. A thousand generations. The Lord God, just thank you for how much you love us, Lord. Lord, we can't even begin to fathom how deep that love is, Lord. I know it's a deep kind of love because you wouldn't have sent your son to die to pay the price for our sins if you didn't.

How deep the Father's love for us. You're so good to us. Thank you, Lord Jesus.

His treasure.

Lord, thank you. Thank you that you have made us all wretches. We are all wretches. Thank you that you have made us your treasure. Lord, thank you, Jesus. Thank you for what you've done for us on the cross. Lord, help us to make you just that Lord of our lives. Not just our Savior, Lord, but just also the Lord of our lives. Lord, if we're going to profess that you are our Lord and Savior, Lord, we need to live it.

So, Lord, strengthen us. Encourage us. Lord, we need you. Lord, this morning as Rick comes to bring the word, Lord, I just pray that you would fill him with your Holy Spirit, Lord. Give him the words to speak. Lord, calm his spirit, Lord. And just prepare our hearts to receive from you this morning, Lord. God, we love you. We thank you, Lord. We praise you in your precious and holy name.

All God's people said. Amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning, everybody.

We're going to be in Psalms chapter 8 this morning for our reading. And we'll do the announcement second today. Psalms chapter 8. And we'll be reading from the New American Standard. And as soon as you come up with that psalm, just go ahead and stand up. And when everybody's ready, we'll go through it together.

Psalms 8. The Lord's glory and man's dignity. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who have displayed your splendor above the heavens. From the mouth of infants and nursing babes, you have established truth. Shrink because of your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which

you have ordained. What is man that you take thought of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than God, and you crowned him with glory and majesty. You make him rule over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet. All sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and

the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Lord, we just want to give you glory. We just want to lift up your name, and we want you to be the center of attention this morning. We just want to glorify you, and you be given all the praise. And we just ask that your presence.

Be here with us this morning, that we would not leave here not knowing that you've been here with us. In Jesus' name, amen. And you can be seated. Thank you, Randy.

God, not much in the way of announcements. A few things.

Everything on the left is the same. And if a lot of times I think when we come to church, we're here as a group, but a lot of times, even though you're in a group, you may feel like you're by yourself and you're just on your own still. And on the side over here. There's all kinds of small group ministries taking place, and it's an opportunity for you to get plugged in with a group of people where you can get to know somebody better.

And so if you get a chance, try to check out some of these things on this side and maybe get involved in some of them. This coming Saturday, the 21st, is men's breakfast here at the church. It'll be at 8 o'clock in the agape room in the back. So if any of you men are able to come, there's a big opportunity for you to come. Also, in your bulletin, there was another.

A little flyer there. This flyer is what we're going to be handing out at the outreaches that we're going to be doing this summer. And I'm going to be referring to this during the study today. But I want to share with you a little bit about the outreach because I don't know that some of you are aware of it.

Back in 2013, I had a desire to do an outreach to the small towns in Cali County, and a couple of years after that, a friend of mine that I work with, he lives in Burden, and Burden was one of the towns that was really on my heart. And he came up to me and told me that there's a Bible study taking place on Thursday night for men in Burden that's at this pizza place because you ought to come check it out. So I went to it, and at this Bible study, Mike Marker, the pastor of the Baptist Church, was leading it. And at this Bible study of men were men from a lot of the little towns in Cali County that was on my heart.

They were all there together in this Bible study. And I thought, well, Lord, is this what you're wanting to do? I'm supposed to be praying for what you've already started here in Burden? And so I'd just been praying for it, and then the pizza place shut down, and then the Bible study kind of moved from place to place. Now they're meeting in a house in Winfield.

But that desire to do an outreach throughout the small towns in Cali County has stayed with me. So I got with Ryan last summer, and I shared with him the desire that I had to do this outreach. And he said to go for it and see what happens with it. So I went over to Burden and talked to Mike Marker and shared with him the desire that I had. And he was excited about the idea.

So the Baptist Church in Burden and us here are partnering together in this outreach to these small towns in Cali County this summer. And I had been warned. Some people said, no, when you go to these little towns, the churches in those towns, they can be kind of territorial. They aren't too wild about people coming in from out of town and hitting on their turf.

But Christy and I went to... All these churches in all these little towns in Cali County, September, October, November, we visited each and every one of these churches, and they all welcomed us with open arms. And we sat there for the service. When the service was over, we went and introduced ourselves to the pastor. And I said, you know, my name's Rick Hawkins.

This is my wife, Christy. We have a fellowship at Calvert Chapel in Arc City. And we're wanting to do an outreach through the small towns in Cali County this year. And I compared it to a miniature Billy Graham crusade where we come through each town. One Saturday in a month. And just hit one town at a time. And what we would do is bring in special music, show a short Franklin Graham movie,

invite some of the local people to share their testimony of how they came to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and then bring a short message. And then anybody that accepted Christ, that local church would be responsible for doing the follow-up with them. And every single one of the churches were excited about the idea. They liked it. And so we're going to be doing an outreach starting in Burden in March.

We'll go to Cambridge. In April, we're also going to be hitting Silverdale, Maple City, Dexter, Rock, Atlanta, and Gouda Springs. Plus, we happen to hit a couple of two or three little country churches out in the middle of nowhere that they were also interested in. So it's going to be quite a step of faith because we've never done anything like this before.

But we're really excited about what opportunities there are for us to share Christ with people, both to see people who don't know Christ come to know Him, and at the same time be a blessing to these little churches in these small communities. Now, having said that, in a lot of these little towns where we've invited local people to share their testimonies, most people don't like to stand in front of a lot of people and talk. I'm one of them. But we'd like to have some people from this church that would be willing to share their testimony in case somebody's not in that town wants to share it.

So there's a sign-up sheet out in the hallway. You can put your name and your phone number on it. And there's a little slip. It looks like this out there. You can take one of these and kind of use it as a guideline to help you work on your testimony. And in February, I'll call you all together, and we'll try to figure out a time we can get together. And we'll practice sharing our testimonies in front of each other

so we can kind of get used to speaking in front of somebody and kind of get the kinks out of our testimonies as we're sharing kind of thing. And also, about a third of these churches in these small towns don't have any children at all. And so... But we're hoping through, as we do this outreach, that there might be some people that bring their kids with them.

And so if there's any of you that would be interested in helping out in either a nursery or doing child care with the kids during one of these events in one of these small towns, there's also a clipboard out there for you to sign. If you're interested in helping out in a nursery, just put underneath the N, put an X. If you're interested in helping out with child care, just put an X underneath the C. But it's an opportunity for you to be a part of this outreach.

It's an opportunity for you to be a part of this outreach throughout Cali County this year. And it's going to start in March. It'll go through October. And so I'd really appreciate all the prayers that you can give for it because Alan was sharing me with the Billy Graham Crusades. When they do a crusade in a town, they start praying for that thing three to five years before anything ever happens.

And a few of us, we've been praying since August about this thing. But we'd really appreciate your prayers on this. Also, at the end, after... When some... If somebody comes forward, we're going to give them a... I call it a welcome to the family packet. They'll get a Bible and some stuff to help them grow in Christ. But about three weeks after the event, we're going to mail them a copy of this book.

It's called Is It Real? by John MacArthur. And it goes through the first John. It has 11 lessons in it. You can look it up online. It's free online to read if you want to just look at it and read it online. But it goes through and just kind of talks about things to expect as you grow in Christ, what to expect as you come along. So it's a good... It's a good little booklet.

And having shared that, now I'm going to be in Ephesians chapter 2 today. If you have never heard me teach before, for one, you're blessed that you're in the second service because in the first service, I'm always very nervous and I talk super fast. And so they got the rushed version in the first deal. And I've had... Everybody said, slow down, Rick. So you guys are getting the slowed down version from this morning.

Plus, if you're not used to hearing me teach, I have one page of notes and three pages of scripture references. And you're not going to be able to turn as fast as I can read them because I've got them typed out in front of me. I've already got them and I'm just going to go to them. And I think the guys in the video thing, I think they might flip up the verses up there for you so you can kind of write them down if you want to catch them later or something.

But you won't be able to turn as fast as I start reading them. That's just the way it is. So let's go to the Lord in prayer and then we'll start in Ephesians chapter 2.

Lord, we just lift up this time in your word right now and just ask that you would cause your word to penetrate our hearts. Help us to know that our relationship with you is real and teach us the things that you want us to know as believers that we can just continue to grow in our relationship with you. Just may the words be clear, distinct, and may they penetrate our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen.

In Ephesians chapter 2, it starts out and says, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. The word trespass means to cross a line. The word sin means to miss a mark. Like if you're shooting an arrow and you miss the target, you miss the mark, you've sinned. So we've all crossed the line. We've all crossed the line that we weren't supposed to cross. We've all sinned.

We've all fallen short of God's glory. And it says that we are, we're dead in our trespasses and sin. The reason it says that is because when God created Adam, he created him a body, having a body, a soul, and a spirit. Our body helps us to function in this world. Our soul, which is made up of our intellect and our emotions and our senses, helps us to comprehend the world around us.

And our spirit is that part of us that allows us to commune with God. And the day that Adam and Eve sinned, God said, you will surely die. And when they sinned, something changed in the relationship with God. They didn't die physically. Their soul didn't die, but their spirit died. Not in the sense that it ceased to exist, but it died in the sense that it ceased to function like it was supposed to

because the spirit was the part of man where he was able to communion with God. But now because of sin, that fellowship, that relationship with God had been severed and they hid themselves from God because that, that, that relationship had been broken. And now all of us, because we're descendants from Adam and Eve, we're all born with our spirits dead. We're all born with the sin nature.

It says in verse two and three, it says, in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them, we too all formally lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature, children of wrath, even as the rest in verse two and verse three, it most emphasizes the word formally. Whenever I see something repeated like that, there's an emphasis there.

That's, that's supposed to be our past. We're supposed to be different after we've accepted Christ. There's supposed to be a change that takes place in Romans six. It says in verse one through 10, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin? The grace might increase. May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us,

who have been baptized into Christ? Jesus had been baptized into his death. Therefore you have been buried with him through baptism into death in order that as Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life for we have become United with him in the likeness of his death. Certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, that our body of sin might be done away with that.

We should no longer be slaves to sin for he who has died is freed. From saying now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead is never to die again. Death no longer is master over him for the death that he died. He died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God.

Now, when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, the Holy spirit comes into your spirit and regenerates your spirit. In other words, your spirit is born again for the purpose it was created for. You're able to have. Communion with God. Again, once you accept Christ in your life, the Holy spirit comes in and takes up residence in your spirit and you get to

commune with God again. Now there's a difference between what you were like before and afterward. It's like a dead fish that's floating down the current in a stream and it's going with the course of the way the world is. But when you're alive, the fish tends to swim against the current. If a dead person is laying inside of a coffin, he's comfortable laying in that coffin,

but you take a live person and lay him in that coffin. They, they want out of that coffin because they're not dead. They're alive. They want to be out. There's a difference in the way that we live in Galatians chapter five. It says for the flesh, that's his desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another.

So that you may not do the things that you please, but if you're led by the spirit, you're not under the law after you accept Christ, you still have that sin nature in you, but now you've got the Holy spirit dwelling inside your spirit and he wants to go. God to be first in your life, but your flesh is battling against that idea. And there's a war that takes place. You didn't have that war before you accepted Christ because you were just living the way Satan wanted you to live.

He was comfortable. He wasn't going to bother you. But now that you've accepted Christ in your life, Lord wants to be first in your life. And there's a spiritual battle that takes place in every believer's life as to following Christ. Am I going to give him to sin? In verse four and five, it says, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love, with which he loved us,

even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ by grace. You have been saved. Salvation is by God's grace alone. It says in Romans chapter five, verse six and 10 for why we were still helpless at the right time. Christ died for the ungodly for one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man, someone would dare to even die.

But God demonstrates his love towards us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. It says in verse six,

in verse five, it said he had made us alive together with Christ. In verse six, it says and raised us up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It's hard to understand. But we are alive with Christ. We are raised up with Christ. We are seated with him in heavenly places right now. It's hard to understand how that we're here. But yet we have a heavenly citizen.

It says in Philippians, we have a heavenly citizenship. We don't belong here. We belong where Christ is at in heaven. And in second Corinthians chapter five, it tells us that we are ambassadors. We are. This is not our home. This is not where we belong. It says in John chapter 17, I do not ask thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in thy truth. Thy word is true as thou did send me into the world. Also, I have sent them into the world. We we we are our home is in heaven and we represent Christ to the world. People look at us every day. If they know you're a believer, they're watching your life. There was one time when I was in in junior college as a believer,

I've been sharing with this guy and I didn't know. I didn't know that he'd even been paying attention and I'd stepped on a grasshopper and I killed and he goes, you just killed that grasshopper Christians are, but he'd been watching my life and I didn't realize he'd been watching me and you don't know if somebody knows you're a believer, you don't have no idea how many people are watching your life that are influenced by what you do now. It says that we are with Christ. There's two different words in the Greek for with one word in Matt is used in Matthew 2738.

It says at that time, two robbers were crucified with him. One on the right hand and one on the left. And that word with means beside is just one was on beside him on the side and one beside him on that side. But in Ephesians, the word that is used means united in union with him so that when we read it, it's we are made alive in union with Christ. We are raised in union with Christ.

We are seated in union with Christ. There is an intimacy that's involved. Your word is not beside him, but there's an intimacy in our relationship with Christ. In verse seven, chapter seven, it says in order that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Those of you have experienced God's grace in your life.

I am just in all of the grace that he shows me in my life every day and I cannot fathom what it's going to be like for all eternity as God pours out his grace anew throughout all eternity on us through me died for it just blows my mind away to think what he has in store for us. In Colossians chapter three it says if you have been raised with Christ keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above not on things that are on earth for you have died in your life is hidden with Christ in God when Christ who is our life is revealed then you also will be revealed it with him in glory. This life here is very temporary and I believe very strongly that Christ is coming back soon and.

I don't want to see people going to hell and I and I just it bothers me to think of how many people are going that that and I this is a little off script but there's been people there's been three females that the Lord has told me to share Christ with once I sang at a concert on New Year's Eve one night and after the concert was over the Lord told me to share Christ with this girl. And I didn't share with her. She went down into the sandbar that night and got drunk was walking back to town in a car hit her and killed her. There was another girl who the Lord told me to talk to and I didn't her boyfriend took her down to the river that night because they've been stealing from her folks to do their drugs

and she was going to turn them to turn me in and he didn't want to be turned in he took her down to the river. He went up and shot her in the back of the head with a shotgun this past summer. There is a girl in the hospital I went to go see her daughter was there and the Lord told me that the daughter had suicidal spirit and I didn't share with her and before that week was over that girl killed herself. She was a mother of two little boys.

We have to give account to God and the things we do in our life. It's important that you realize that eternity is a long time. It's a long time. It's a long time. It's a long time. It's a long time. It's a long time. It's a long time. It's a long time. It's a long time. It's a long time. It's a long time. It's a long time to spend and this life right here is very temporary.

Don't get so caught up in the temporary that you forget about things that are important.

In verse 8 through 10 it says, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not as a result of works that no one should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We are saved by grace and even the faith itself. It's not of our own.

It says in John chapter 6 verse 28, they said, therefore to him, what shall we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God that you believe in whom he has sent. That word believe means to rely on, to trust in, to cling to. It's not just saying a sinner's prayer and then walking away and forgetting all about him.

When you believe in Jesus, you're, you're trusting in him. You're relying in him. You're clinging to him. And in John chapter 6, 44, it says, no one could come to me unless the father draws him. Our free will as sinners is tainted by sin. We are naturally going to lean towards sin. It says in John chapter one, but as many as received him to them, he gave the right to

become the children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born, not a blood, nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God, you can only come to salvation in Christ as God draws you. And the problem is that even though our free will is tainted, he has that ability to draw us to him. But in your free will, if you continually, every time the Holy Spirit draws you to come to him and you reject that drawing power, you're hardening your heart and you're causing your heart to become calloused. And the more often you ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit in your life, the harder your heart is going to be and the more calloused you get to the point that you're not going to be able to be.

In Ephesians chapter four, it says, verse 17 through 24, this, I say, therefore, and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer as Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart. They haven't become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way. If indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him.

Just as truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness and truth. There is to be a change in your life when you come to know Christ. Verse eight and nine deals with our justification and verse 10 deals with our sanctification. Those are terms that we don't normally talk about.

And it's there. This is where I'm going to fall back on the sheet that I had in the bulletin. And there's a few of them out there. If you, when you leave, you didn't get a bulletin, if you'd like to have one of these, you can have one of these, but it starts out at the top and says, test yourselves to see if you're in the faith, examine yourselves, or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?

Unless indeed you fail the test. Second Corinthians chapter 13, verse five. There are three types of professing Christians, those who are saved and know it, those who are saved. Those that lack the assurance of their salvation and those who think they're saved and they're not. And part of the confusion comes from not understanding what happens to a person when they accept

Christ and what happens to a person after they accept Christ. When you accept Christ as your Lord and savior, you are justified. That means you have been declared righteous. It is by God's grace alone. You can't contribute to it, either you accept it or you reject it. That's all it comes down to. But your sanctification, your sanctification is being set apart.

Once you accept Christ as your Lord and savior, you are set apart unto God after that. And this involves your response to God's grace in your life. Either you yield to God's grace or you resist it. When I accepted Christ into my life, it's a one-time event at a one point in time deal. As soon as you pray to God and confess your sins and ask him as your savior, you're saved.

That's it. But you're... Once you become a believer, you're in a part of it. It's an ongoing process where God is molding you and shaping you. When I accepted Christ as my savior, I was saved from the penalty of sin. But now that I'm a believer, I'm being saved from the power of sin. A person's eternal destiny is changed when they accept Christ into their life.

But a saved person's present life is changed right now. When I accepted Christ into my life as my savior, there was a peace that took place between me and God. In other words, there was a hostility before, but now there's peace. But now as a believer, I get to accept Christ. I get to experience the peace of God in my life. Christ's work for me on the cross brought about my salvation, my justification.

But now, since Christ has risen from the dead, his work in me is because he's alive. We're declared righteous by faith in Christ. We are being made righteous by his grace. Christ died for me so that I can be justified, be declared righteous. And now that I am saved, I die to self daily so that Christ can live in me. The benefit of accepting Christ as your Lord is that you're saved.

You're saved. The benefit of accepting Christ as your Lord and savior is you get eternal life, the benefit of yielding your life to the grace of God is you get eternal rewards. When you accepted Christ in your life, your spirit is born again. Once you've accepted Christ he in dwells you and you're to be led by the Holy Spirit. When you accept Christ or say from the wrath of God and your discipline as a believer by

the love of God, we live in the spirit when we accept Christ. But as we walked with him, we learned to let him, we walk in the spirit, not just living in the spirit. There's four misconceptions, or three misconceptions about this justification and sanctification that I want to kind of touch on. One is, some people think they can live the Christian life without ever accepting Christ as their Savior.

They go to church, they read the Bible, they do all the right things, but at no point in their life have they ever confessed their sins to God and asked Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior. In John chapter 5, it says, You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. It is these that testify about me, and you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life. What a sad deal it would be to spend all your life growing up in a church and never taking the time to actually confess your sins and ask Jesus Christ to be the Lord and Savior of your life.

What a sad deal. The second misconception has to do with what I call fire insurance. Some people, nobody wants to go to hell. I mean, when I used to party, we used to talk about how much fun we were going to have when we got to hell. But nobody wants to go to hell, and they may say the sinner's prayer or whatever, but it's just because they want that fire insurance.

They don't want to go to hell. They're not sorry for the sin in their life, and there's no repentance, and they don't. They just seem to realize that you're not only getting saved from the wrath of God, you're getting saved unto Jesus Christ. It's not just an easy believism thing. In Jude chapter 1, it says, verse 3 and 4, Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about a common salvation,

I felt the necessity to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into lucidiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. That word lucidiousness means they're turning the grace of God into a license to sin. All they're wanting is fire insurance.

They just want to be able to live their lives and sin all they want to, as long as they're not going to hell. That's all they're concerned about. They're not concerned about being saved unto Jesus Christ. And something at the end here where it says, deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ, I learned something. It's in preparing the study that I'd never known.

Did you know that in the New Testament, the word Savior is only found 24 times? And part of those 24 times is in reference to the Father. So less than 20 times in the New Testament, Jesus is called Savior. He's not called Savior at all in the book of Matthew, in the gospel of Matthew, in the gospel of Mark, in the book of Romans and 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians.

He is never mentioned once as being a Savior. It's only mentioned 24 times at the most in the New Testament. You know how many times Jesus is referred to as Lord in the New Testament? Hundreds. Hundreds of times. He's only mentioned as Savior less than 24 times, but he's mentioned as Lord over hundreds of times. And that's because when you accept Christ in your life,

he wants you to step down off the throne of your life and let Christ be the one who sits on the throne of your life. He wants to be the Lord of your life. This isn't one of the scripture references that I had put in the deal, but in Luke chapter 14, he talks about how, when you're going to come to Christ, you have to count the cost. You have to pick up your cross daily and follow me.

You have to love yourself and everybody else around you less than you love Christ. He wants to be preeminent in your life. The Great Commission is about making disciples. A disciple is somebody that's a follower of Christ, not just somebody who's just saved, but somebody who's actually following Christ. That's where the scriptures are. They're emphasizing not just being your savior,

but he wants to be the Lord of your life. I've always referred to myself as just him as my savior. That's just Jesus is my savior. And that's the most common thing you hear today. I don't hardly hear anybody talking about Jesus being their Lord. And that's what he wants to be in our life. He wants to be the Lord of our lives. Now, another misconception that's out there has to do with,

uh, grace plus works. Everybody accepts justification that you're saved by grace, but then there's, it's like there's two sets of rules. You come to Jesus as you are, but then once you become a believer, you have to live by the law. You've got to do all these things in order to stay saved. Um, let's see how I can find this. I'm going to go by memory again, because I got Zach Williams has a song called,

uh, heart of God. And in it, he talks about, um, he says he's not up there shaking his head, writing you off, leaving you lost. He's not up there shaking his head. He went to that cross. He went to that cross. Christ proved his love for us on the cross that he loves us. And he knows we blow it. There's no way as you, as a believer are going to live a sinless life.

It's not possible. As long as we're in this place, we're going to sin. But as a believer, we will sin less. We're not going to be sinless, but we will sin less. Now let's take a look at what in Galatians chapter three, it says, are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now perfected in the flesh? Don't think that now that you're a believer, that you have to try to keep a whole set of rules to make it work,

because that's not where the focus is. The focus is on your relationship with Jesus Christ. I, I still, I've been a Christian now for almost 48 years and I still struggle with cussing. And if I try to focus on quitting cussing, you know, what's going to happen. I'm going to cuss more. Because I can't do it. But if I focus on my relationship with Jesus Christ and I'm growing in him

and I'm worshiping him and I'm focusing on him, you know, I'll go weeks and think, you know, realize I haven't said a cuss word in a long time, but it's not about doing a list of do's and don'ts. It's about growing in that relationship with Jesus as your savior and Lord. Now the way it's supposed to be is in Titus chapter two, verse 11 through 14 by grace. It's all by grace.

It says for the grace of God has appeared. Bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny and godliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly and righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deeds and purify himself of people for his own name, through his own possession, zillies for good deeds. Grace not only appears bringing salvation to men, but grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and live sensibly. It teaches us to look forward to Christ coming back for us.

Another verse that I wasn't planning on sharing, but I'm going to share it in verse chapter four, excuse me, chapter five. It says for you in verse eight, for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness and righteousness and truth. Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

The fruit of the light consists of all goodness and righteousness and truth. There's to be a difference. And once you've accepted Christ as your Lord, savior declared righteous. But once you've done that, you're now set apart into God and, and his grace will produce fruit in your life. If, if you are not experiencing the fruit of God's grace in your life, then you need to ask yourself this question.

Did I really accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior? Or did I just say some words or have an emotional experience that happens more often than you may realize? There was a time in my thirties where I backslid for like seven years really bad. And at the end of that seven years, I realized I needed to get my life right. And it was at that time that I met my wife,

Christie.

And anyway, I shared with her that I've been backslidden and I wanted to get my life right. And she shared with me that she had been backslidden too. But when she said that she'd been backslidden, she meant that, yeah, I've gotten away from going to church. But I was talking about my relationship with the Lord. I'd backslidden my relationship with the Lord.

I need to get it right. And so our first dates consisted of going around to different churches and trying to find a church we wanted to be a part of. And down the road, we got married. And I think it was a couple of years after we got married, we went to a Christian marriage retreat in Wichita. It was a weekend getaway things. And this one guy was there and he was talking about salvation.

He just kept going on and on and on about salvation. And I'm sitting there thinking, well, this is a Christian marriage. And he said, we're all believers here. Let's get on with it. You know, and when he got done sharing, my wife had tears running down her eyes. She just accepted Christ in her life. That point, she had never known a relationship. She had had emotional experience in a youth camp when she was a teenager and thought that was it.

But she had never had a relationship with Christ. She had an emotional experience, but that was it. No relationship. And it wasn't until two years after we were married that she finally accepted Christ in her life. And, you know, she realized it was all about a relationship.

Okay. Let's see.

Okay. Let's look at verse 11 through 18. It says, therefore, remember, therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, you are called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision, talking about the Jews, which is performed in the flesh by human hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants and promises having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you were formerly who were far off had been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his place the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in the orders that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both in one body to God. Through the cross by having put to death the enmity and he came and preached peace to you or far away and peace to those who were near for through him. We both have our excess in one spirit to the father. This enmity that he's talking about means hostility.

There is a hostility that existed between man and God because we can't keep the law. And there was a hostility that existed between the Jews and Gentiles because of the law. But in Romans 10 verse four, it says for Christ is at the end of the law. For, for righteousness to everyone who believes in Romans chapter 11, he says, for just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience.

Talk about the Jews. So these also, the Jews have been shown now have been disobedient in order that because of the mercy shown to you, you also may now be shown mercy for God has shut up all in disobedience that he might show mercy to all. The church is made up of Jews and Gentiles and Christ is the one who is the, the center of it all. He's the one that brought us our peace.

Yeah. Let's see where I'm at here. In Isaiah chapter 42, it says, I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will also hold you by the hand of watch over you. And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people as a light to the nations. God, the father is talking to Jesus and he says, he's, I'm going to point you as a covenant to the people. A covenant is a binding agreement between two parties.

We're at least one of the parties is making a solemn oath to keep a promise that affects the other party. It takes two parties to make a covenant and both parties are represented in Jesus Christ. He is 100% God. He's 100% man. And this new covenant is found in the person of Jesus Christ. So the only way that you could enter into the new covenant that God has established is by entering into a relationship with Jesus Christ,

because the new covenant is bound up in one person. Jesus Christ. That's the only way you can get into the covenant is by a relationship with him. There's no other way. Now, the church that God created was for us to be able to encourage each other and build each other up until he comes to take us home. In Hebrews 10, it says, verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promises faithful.

And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembly together as the habit of some, but encouraging one another. And all, all the more as you see the day approaching. We need each other. We need the encouragement of each other. It's like when you go to grill hamburgers and you got charcoal going, if you take one of those coals and you set it off by itself,

that coal is going to get cold faster than those coals that are all heaped together and burning together. They're going to stay warmer, better if they stay together. It's the same way with bananas. If you take one banana away from the bunch, you're going to get peeled. And it's better for us. To be hanging around with a bunch of bananas and not get separated and get ourselves peeled.

It says in verse 19 through 21. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household. Having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone and who the whole building being fit together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. And whom you also being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit.

Jesus Christ is the living word. And we have a relationship with him and it is the written word that testifies of him. It says in John 20, but these have been written for you who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, but that believing you may have life in his name. It says in, um, um, first John, um, chapter five, it says, these things are written that you might know that you have eternal life.

And, um, he's not just talking about the scriptures. Uh, he's not just talking about the whole there, but he's talking about in first John. If you read through first John, um, it talks about your relationship with him. There's on the back of that deal. There's a little, uh, side study that you can do and go through there and help you to understand where you're at in your relationship with him.

It says that, uh, in verse 20, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in second Peter, he says it a little bit different. He says in chapter three, this is now beloved. The second letter, I'm writing to you in which I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the word spoken before him by the Holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord and savior spoken by your apostles. Uh, in Ephesians, it makes it sound like the apostles and prophets are just new test of apostles and prophets.

But Peter refers back to the old Testament prophets as well as the commandments of the Lord spoken by the apostles. So what he's really talking about is God's word. So you have to have a relationship with Christ and you have to be grounded in his word. The body of Christ, it has to be have crisis, the head and the body of Christ has to be grounded in his word.

That's why we spend so much time just focusing on his word here. Um, it says that we are being built into a temple and the word temple means, uh, that part of the Jewish temple where the priests only were allowed to go and revelations chapter one. It tells us that, that Christ has made us a kingdom priests and to our God. And, and, uh, we now have access into the throne of God.

We have access as believers to go into his presence boldly before the throne of grace. And it's a privilege for us to go in there and we're to build up each other up as believers and first Christians chapter three, verse 10 through 15. It says, according to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation and another is building on it, but let each man be careful how he builds on it for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus. Jesus Christ.

Now, if a man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each man's work will become evident for the day. We'll show it because it is to be revealed with fire and then fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work, which he has built remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself will be saved yet as with fire.

The neat thing about this is because back in chapter one, chapter one, chapter two, it said in verse 10, but we are his workmanship that we're working with ship in the Greek is poema. That's where we get our word poem. We are his workmanship. We are, we are his poem. He is the one who is writing his poem in our lives and the works that we get just for the judgment seat of Christ.

It's not going to be a judgment of what all did I do for Christ? It's going to be a judgment of what all did I do? My life, my life as far as yielding my life to him and allowing him to work through me because when we get to heaven in revelations, it says that we're going to cast our throat grounds before him. The reason we're casting our crowds before him is because even though we did different things to serve the Lord, it is him that is doing the work in us and through us and all he's calling us to do is to yield ourselves to that grace and let him work through us.

That's all he's wanting us to do. That's what we're to do is to allow him to be Lord in our life and allow him to be the Lord in our life. Allow him to just to work through us and touch other people and most of the time when you touch other people, you don't even know it. If you're focusing on your relationship with Christ and that's what you're focusing on, God will use you to touch people's lives in a way that you don't never know.

You won't even know about till you get to the judgment seat of Christ and find out that your life had touched somebody without you even knowing it. And it's just because God used you to touch somebody without you even knowing it. We're to build each other up as the living stones. We're dwelling under him. And we're to reach people for Christ with the time that we have left that lasted about as long as it did this morning.

I think I just went about as fast, didn't I? All right. You guys want to come on up and I'm going to be hanging out up front up here after we're done. And if if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and would like to be prayed with, I would be more than happy to pray with you. Or if you have anything else that you'd like prayer for. I'm going to just be hanging out on here on this front row and we'll just pray together.

But let's let's just pray. And I'll let these guys do their thing. But I thank you that you called us out of darkness in the light. I thank you that we are saved by your grace and I thank you that we grow in Christ by your grace. That you love us, that you care about us, that you haven't written this off. And that your. And. That you haven't written this off and that you haven't written this off.

You just want to use us and to be glorified through our lives. I pray that you would just fill us with the joy of your presence and that we would learn to just enjoy you in our daily lives as we walk through our lives together. Be with us now, in Jesus' name, amen. Run to the urgent Father again. I just pray that if there's any here this morning, Lord, that doesn't know you,

I just pray that today would be that day. That they would run to you, Lord.

Realize their great need of you, Lord. And as we leave here today, Lord, let's pray that the Holy Spirit go with us. Continue to minister to us, Lord. Continue to work with us so much, Lord. We need you every hour.

I just thank you for this time that we've been able to spend in your word. God, I just thank you for all the work that you're doing. Thank you for who you are, for how much you love us, and how good you are to us. Father, I just pray as we leave here today, again, I just pray that your Holy Spirit go with us, Lord, and just continue your good work. In our lives.

We love you, Father. We thank you and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. If you guys need to talk to Rick, he's up here at the front. So just come on up and he'll be happy to talk with you. You guys have a wonderful week and God bless you.