You are invited to step out in faith today, trusting that God is ready to heal and save just as He did in the stories shared. Take a moment to surrender your past and embrace the new life Jesus offers through communion. Let this be the start of your own mission to share His love with those around you.
I always wanna share the testimony of what God's doing in and through our church in Belong. Because Belong is a specific ministry God's given us to disciple new believers, and to train our church, and equip you guys for prayer, evangelism, and discipleship, the great commission. Like, you realize 2 weeks ago on Tuesday, we had 13 people give their life to Jesus on a on Halloween. It was awesome. So this last Tuesday night, we went out, and I'll I'll just share during the day, me and Jerry and Bart and a and a friend of Bart's named Royce.
He's a pastor. He was a pastor out in Seattle, came down to hang out with us. So me and Royce, after praying, because prayer precedes movement, we we went walking out around Pennsylvania Avenue in in that area, and I decided to go and see a friend that I had talked to before. You know, I just kinda felt led by the Lord. So we went and we talked with this this, almost 90 year old man, amazing man who, you know, been in that area for a long time, and he's sitting under the little awning thing that they have where a bunch of bunch of those guys hang out there.
And I'm I'm sitting with him and talking with him about his testimony, and there's this woman there that's probably in her sixties, I would guess, and she's sitting and listening. And I'm just encouraging him because he's a mighty man of God who has been praying for that area, and a lot of the fruit, I believe, that we've been having in that area is the product of that man's prayers. Your prayers matter. And so, as we're we're talking about that, I get this pain in the upper right part of my back. And I just don't immediately think, well, that's my back hurting.
That's my pain. I think, man, God, who who is that? Who who are you wanting to minister to? And so, I risk it. Faith requires risk.
The supernatural is on the other side of obedience. So I say, excuse me, ma'am. I know this might sound weird to you, but I'm a Christian, which means I hear God's voice, and I'm learning to hear his voice more clearly. And I I I I think Do do you have any pain in the upper right part of your back? I believe Jesus wants to heal it.
And she looks at me, she says, oh, baby. I got pain all over my back. All over my body. I I I would gotten a wreck, and, you know, I mean, she just had an amazing accent, which was really cool. If you didn't know, I like to mimic accents, if you haven't been here before.
I get to travel the world, and anyway. So so I say, well, ma'am, I believe God at least wants to heal the upper right part of your back, but we'll pray for your whole body. She's like, yes, my knees, everything. You know? So okay.
So she came over and sat down where we were, and I said I said these words. I said, look, about 50% of the time when I pray for people, they sense heat, or cold, or they sense like electricity, or tingles, or something, and that's just the Holy Spirit, a manifestation of the Holy Spirit showing you that God's moving in your body, and increasing your faith, because he's really moving, and he does that. 50% of the time, about nothing happens. They don't feel anything, but God still heals. And then sometimes, people are not healed instantly.
They are healed in 3 or 4 days or 7 days. And sometimes, we just praise the Lord and trust him. Don't know why it didn't happen, but we're gonna continue moving forward with what scripture says. Yeah. Amen.
Amen. Yeah? So I told her all that, and she says, okay, baby. I'm ready. I said, I don't want you to pray with me.
I want you actually to focus on what's happening in your body as I pray. And just be real. K? I'm not a fake it till you make it guy. I'm not just trying to hype you up, so you I I I just want you to be very honest with me.
Can you do that? And she said, yeah. So I grabbed her hands, and I said, Lord, I just thank you for who you are, very simply. Thank you that you are the healer. Lord God, that you love this young woman.
And, father, I just pray in the name of Jesus that her body is completely healed. All trauma because it came from an accident. All trauma, I just rebuke it. Leave. Right now, everything that's that was attached to that accident, go.
And I just thank you, Lord, that you're the healer. Very simple. I didn't yell, I didn't shout, didn't make it a a big spectacle. Just very real. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you're the healer.
In Jesus' name. Amen. Now, the the here comes the risky part for believers, asking if anything happened. So I say, excuse me, ma'am. So just be real honest.
Like, as I was praying, did did anything happen? She goes, oh, yeah, baby. I started feeling heat. I'm like hot in my body. What's going on?
And she's standing up. She's like, there's heat here, and there's heat here. I'm like, "Jesus is touching you". He loves you. He cares.
He's healing you. I feel so much better. I said, okay. Do you know why He did that? And she says, why?
Because he loves you, and he wants a relationship with you. Have you ever have you ever get been born again? Have you ever given your life to Jesus? I've been baptized. No.
No. Water baptized is good, but there's a lot of people that got water baptized and were just dumped. They they've never been born again. And I explained to her the gospel right there because she just saw a demonstration of the love of God, and right there, she gave her life to Jesus. Amen.
Now, just to encourage you, that didn't happen because I'm super special, like, super pastor or anything like that. The that that the Bible says, these signs will follow those who believe. Right? Right? So we need to challenge our areas of unbelief so we can begin to live like believers and experience the fruit of belief in our life because what we receive, a relationship with Jesus, we're supposed to freely give out.
I got off the phone with a guy yesterday. He called me. He's 1 of you. He he comes to this church. He serves on our teams.
I'll let him share, because I didn't ask permission to share this story, so I'll let him share it with you. But he said he said, pastor Dave, you'll never believe what happened to me just now. I said, what? He said, my I was at this wedding, and and my back was in just this radical like, you didn't say radical. That's my word.
My back was in bad pain, and and, you know, I it just wouldn't go away. I didn't know why, and I I said, well, I'm a try it. You know? So, Lord, in the name of Jesus, I I just back pain leave, and he said, and instantly left. He was really excited.
I said, dude, that's awesome. Praise the Lord. Now now now, give it out. Go pray for other people too, you know. And he says, well, that's not it.
I was fishing before the wedding, and I was fishing with my buddies, and I started to talk to them about Jesus, and they were interested, and we prayed, and he gave his life to Jesus. I'm like, what? He's like, pastor David, you don't understand. I feel like a "kid that just opened Christmas presents". Like, this is awesome.
I said, you're experiencing what you were created to experience. You're began living on mission, and you began doing what God commissioned you to do through Jesus Jesus commissioned you to do in Matthew-28. So when you begin to live out your purpose because you believe that's who you are, you experience the joy of living out your purpose. And when we suppress the purpose that God created us to live out, we experienced suppressed joy as well in every era we've suppressed it. Because we're making excuses for who we're not when God says it's really who we are.
Amen? Amen. So in that, that's a a shameless plug for you to come to belong. Because this past Tuesday night, 10 people gave their life to Jesus. Come on.
So 1, if you have solid foundations in your faith, you need to come on Tuesday. You've been following Jesus for a while, and at least once every 6 weeks, come on Tuesday, and and pray with us, and go out, and learn to share the gospel. It'll be uncomfortable because you're not used to it. But once you get used to it, it won't be uncomfortable anymore. Amen?
Because it's who you were created to be. We're all created to be able to share our faith. It's not just for the evangelists. Evangelists are called to equip you to be able to share your faith in your daily life. Amen?
Amen. Okay. Now, second, if if you're a new believer, nobody's ever shared the basics of the faith with you, you need to come to belong and be discipled. 12 We have a 12 week thing that we do, and we want every single 1 that just gave their life to Jesus, or has never been shown the basics of the faith biblically, come to belong on Tuesday nights from 7 till 08:15 to be discipled. So, if you take out your phone Where's my phone?
I think it's over here. I'm a show you how to sign up for Belong. It's this important. I want you to go to Safari, if you have an iPhone or whatever non iPhone users use. Realchurch.us, www.realchurch.us, click go.
The little hamburger at the top, there's just 3 little lines, whatever you wanna call it. My wife picks on me for calling it a hamburger. It's called
a hamburger.
Thank you. See? Click connect. When you click connect, you get to see everything that's going on at Real Church and sign up for it. And there's something called establish that's down there, and belong.
And click here to sign up for belong. And whether you're coming, we'll contact you. Whether you're coming to come learn how to share the gospel and see it happen, or you're coming to be discipled, everyone needs to be a part of this in some degree to "shake you out of not sharing" the gospel, so that in your daily life, it will become normal. And everybody said? Amen.
And everybody said? Amen. You know, amen means let it be. Right?
Okay.
Well, that was a lot of announcements and testimonies and all kinds of great stuff. Now, got a message to preach to you. Don't worry. I'm not gonna preach for 45 minutes. Probably.
No.
No. Heidi, I wasn't here to to limit her time. So No. She did amazing. I'm so happy.
I And I I do need to say that too, like this is a gentle rebuke. Okay? Not for all of you, but for some of you. If you only come here when I speak, you're missing out.
Yeah. Yeah.
Too many people only come when the senior pastor of a church speaks, and really they're making it all about them, and what they hear, and what they get fed, and it's selfishness, and it's not how the church is supposed to be. You have to understand the mission of our body is not to promote me into the spotlight. The mission of our body includes empowering the ready to live their God given purpose. So you need to shift that mindset. If you come in with a critical heart, whenever I'm not speaking, you need to shift that mindset, or learn to shift that mindset.
Because we have many amazing, mighty men and women of God who God have called to speak, and I get the joy of "laying my life down" to serve them and help bring out that speaking gift, and it's an honor to get to do so. And you have You see people who are mature in that process like Daniel Mannix, who's an amazing teacher, or Heidi, who's an amazing prophetic teacher, or Jerry Hunter, or my wife Courtney, or Moriah, Gabe Mullens. We have an amazing team of people, and when they speak, they speak from a different angle than I would, and it hits your soul and hits your spirit differently, and you learn from them just as much if you're willing to or maybe even more. Some of them are better at preaching what they're preaching than I would be. But here's the thing.
A lot of people don't know how to honor people. So they if they don't see what they want, then they dishonor them in their heart. Well, it's not the pastor. Anyway, so what you dishonor, you can't receive from. So it might be a better message than I would have ever preached, but because you've dishonored them in the heart, you've put a wall up from preventing you from hearing what God wants to say to you.
But what you honor, you're able to receive from, and what you honor, it multiplies in you. So honor them in their gift, and maybe God will promote you in yours. Amen? Alright. Let's dive in.
Do you
guys remember that Corinthians series? Yeah. FYI, we started Corinthians-10/18/2022, and we're in 1 Corinthians-6. We did take a break for a little bit and did another series in between. We do have some other speakers and stuff that have preached on other things, But God's led me right back to the Corinthians series.
Praise the Lord. I'm excited about today. We're getting 1 Corinthians-6. And if you've missed any of it, which many of you have because you're new, I would encourage you, go back to our podcast, scroll back to 10/18/2022, look at that where it says first Corinthians, and start listening because it's a deep dive into the book of Corinthians, which is so relevant for a church in American culture right now. Amen?
Amen. So, there you go. Are you ready? Yeah. Are you sure?
Uh-huh. I don't think so. I need to preface this message. I'm not being mean. Okay?
**Truth without love** is mean. Love without truth is meaningless. For a lot of people that wanna love but not give truth, and it's not real love. And it leaves people hurting and broken because it's only truth that will set people free. But truth without love will prevent them from receiving the truth.
And Jesus is truth, and we have to preach the whole gospel. And we're a church that's gonna preach the whole gospel. Yeah. The message I'm about to preach, a lot of churches in American culture would say, don't you wanna grow your church? Don't preach that thing.
But I love you enough because I'm Yes. I want every person in Pinellas County in a healthy church and growing. But more than that, I I don't wanna shave off the truth of the gospel in order to try to manipulate that to make it happen. I wanna I wanna create. I wanna make healthy disciples who are making "healthy disciples" who multiply the goodness of God throughout our community.
In order to do that, I need to speak the the *truth* to you. What I'm about to say is going to challenge, maybe, your thinking in some different areas and different ways. I'm okay with it because I'm biblically backed. If it challenges your thinking, and there's scripture behind it, change your thinking.
Yeah.
That's what repentance is. It's changing the way you think and changing your life to line up with the truth. So I wanna be humble enough to let scripture challenge the way that I think so that my life can be transformed because he's renewing my mind to follow him. Amen? So just say this.
Say, Holy Spirit Holy help me to hear And receive. And to receive. If this rebukes me And if help me to receive it Help me to it. As discipline As discipline discipline from a loving father. Because I don't wanna be a fool
I don't wanna be a
that rejects discipline. Rejects discipline. Everybody said Amen. Amen. Some of you guys are sweating.
*1 Corinthians-6:9 says this, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not "inherit the kingdom"* of God? Those are identity statements because inherit talks about sonship. And there's the implication that the unrighteous are not sons because they will not inherit the kingdom of God. So the question is, what is the kingdom of God? Now, I've talked about the kingdom of God.
I'm just gonna catch all of you up. Right? The kingdom of God, the bible says in Romans-14:17, is *righteousness*, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So then, the kingdom of God is righteousness in the Holy Spirit, peace in the Holy Spirit, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So therefore, the kingdom of God is in the Holy Spirit.
*Holy Spirit*. And we know this. I say it almost every Sunday. Some of you are annoyed that I say it every Sunday, and that's a good thing. That means you remember it.
Jesus said in John-3, no 1 can see the kingdom of God unless they've been born again. Once you've been "born again", you have the capacity to see the movement and the working of the Holy Spirit in your daily life, which and to hear his voice consistently because a Christian hears the voice of the Father. And we hear the voice of the Father by the speaking of the Holy Spirit. Amen? Amen.
And that is our *inheritance* as sons of God. A son has an inheritance from his father. And the implication here is that the unrighteous are not sons of God. Let's talk about it. Don't worry.
Don't get mad and walk out when about what I'm about to say because I'm gonna bring it around to the gospel. Okay? But that would imply if that they're not sons of God, then they're sons of someone. And every son has an inheritance. Now listen, because God loves you.
*John-8:38*. Watch this. Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, the scribes, and the Jews who believed in him. Hold on to that. To the Jews that believed in him.
He says in verse 38, I speak of what I have seen with my father. Jesus is talking about a father. And you do what you have heard from your father, which would mean Jesus' father and their father are not the same thing. See, American culture, and western culture, and many places around the world say, oh, we're all God's children. I'm sorry.
That's not true. Not according to scripture. You either believe the Bible, or you believe what you thought, or you heard, or what you feel. And the bible does not say that we're all God's children. That's a lie.
And when you believe a lie, you empower the liar in your life. They answered him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, we're in verse 39, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.
Woah. They said to him, we're not born of sexual immorality. We have 1 father, even God. Here's the crazy part. Those that he just said God was not their father, they thought God was their father.
We're all God's children. That's not biblical. And I love you enough to tell you. Jesus said to them, verse 42, if God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God, and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
Why do you not understand what I say? It's because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the You are of your father, the You are of your father, the devil. Devil. And will do and your will is to do what your father desires.
He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the "father of lies". But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me, which 1 of you convicts me of sin? If I tell you the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God.
The reason why you do not hear them is because you are not of God. A Christian knows God's voice because he's been born again, and he has an inheritance. Right? A son receives the inheritance of his father. And so we've been sealed by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance, a witness to the fact that we are sons.
And so, by us being born again, born of God, children of God that happened by grace through faith, we have a new nature, the nature of our Father. In 2 Peter-1:4, it says that that by knowing him and growing in the knowledge of God, we get to participate in the divine nature, the nature of our heavenly Father through the precious promises that he give us he gave us. So as I grow in my knowledge of the precious promises that he's spoken over me, and he's spoken to me, I get to reflect the character and nature of my heavenly Father in my daily life. And the more that I know about what he says about who he is, the more I'm called into a higher standard of reflecting who he is because he's my father, and I'm commanded, in Ephesians-5 verse 1, to be an imitator of my father as a dearly loved child. Come on.
Because it's it's my father's nature, and a son has the *inheritance* of his father and is called to reflect his father in his daily life. You who are in here, hopefully, all of you, but most of you more likely, are children of God, and some are children of the devil. And the reality is is whoever is your father, you will receive the inheritance of your father. And you know what an inheritance is? That means you get what your father deserves.
Hell was not created for people. It was created for the devil and his angels. The Lake Of Fire was not created for people. But people who follow the devil by believing his lies instead of following Jesus will end up getting what their father deserves in eternity. Truth.
Everybody said? See, in first John I mean, 1 Corinthians-6, it says, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? It doesn't say earn the kingdom of God. You cannot earn the kingdom of God by trying to be more righteous. That's called self righteousness.
And every religion has tries to get people to be more self righteous, to do more good in order to make it. But Jesus said, you can never do that. You can't earn the kingdom of God. You can only inherit it. You can't earn it by coming to church every Sunday, doing a bunch of good things, reading your bible, and You can't earn it.
You just can't. And Jesus said this to the Jews who believed in him, which means you can believe in Jesus, but still not believe Jesus. There's a lot of people that go to church and believe in Jesus, but don't believe Jesus. Let me explain the difference. My wife and I watched Survivor.
We were looking for a show that wasn't just complete trash. She likes to watch TV, and so I spend time with her by watching TV with her a little bit most nights before we go to sleep. So we found Survivor. It's something that she grew up on, you know, it's like the 40 second I don't know how many seasons there are. There's a lot.
But she grew up on it, so when we started watching it a couple, like a month ago or so, it's very nostalgic, and and it's awesome. And I'm getting into it. It's great. I believe in Survivor, meaning, it's fun, and I'll devote a few hours of my week to Survivor, sitting down and watching with my wife. It's entertaining to me.
It's beautiful. You know, it's funny, and the challenges and other things, and, you know, people are just get really aggravated for no reason on it. Yeah. But I I I root for the Christians, and I hope that they bear fruit on the show, and sometimes they don't, and you're like, well, you give them grace. So I believe in survivor, but I don't believe survivor.
If I were to believe survivor, then I would I would reorient my life like survivor is real. And I would drive on the highway like I'm trying to finish a challenge and get my immunity idle. I would talk with people in order to gain an advantage so that I can, you know, not be voted out at the next thing. I would I would be insane because I'm living I believe survivor like it's real, and living my life as if it is my reality. You guys get it?
So a lot of people that believe in Jesus and are willing to give him a few hours of their week, maybe even a few hour a few minutes of their morning. But narrow is the way, and few find it that actually believe Jesus and reorient their whole life as if what he says is real and live from heaven to earth as ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven. Those are the sons of God. Those are the ones who have been born again, have the inheritance of the Holy Spirit put inside of them, and they're living from heaven because we are those who are children of our heavenly father, and we have an inheritance. Amen?
Amen. Don't walk out yet, please, because I I I got a couple more things just to show you. Please don't walk out yet. You'd be missing out on the best part, But you're gonna wanna walk out after this if this is hitting you hard. Watch this.
*1 Corinthians-6:9*. It says, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Now, wait a second. Hold on. I gotta say this.
No 1 who is unrighteous will inherit the kingdom of God. When you're born again, *2 Corinthians-5:21* happens. *Romans-4:8*, he says, blessed is the man whose sin is never counted against him. Why? Because your sin was forever counted against Jesus.
You received that gift, and he washed you clean, past, present, and future. 2 Corinthians-5:21 says, he who knew no sin, that's Jesus, became sin for us. He became he died as your sin, so that in him, are you in Jesus? You might become the righteousness of God. Jesus credited his righteousness to your account, so when he looks at you, those who are children of God, you have the inheritance of your father, you get what your father deserves, and so you are credited as righteous and holy in his sight, because that's what your father is, and that's your new nature in him.
Amen. Amen. Come on. That is your *inheritance* in him, part of it. And it's The invitation is for the children of the devil who are already condemned.
It's not like you're standing in between condemnation and this, and I gotta choose. No. You're *born* that way, and you need to be born again. Jesus came to save you from condemnation, of which you're already on that way. Now, just stay with me.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, those that wanna fight that, the original Greek word refers to both passive and active partners and consensual homosexual acts, Nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers. Revilers are those that, like, consistently down others and are are, like, contemptuous towards people. Nor nor those who are swindlers, that the people that deceive others to get their possessions or their money. None of them will inherit the kingdom of God.
Why? Because they're unrighteous. Those are not statements about what people do. Those are statements about who people are. It's identity statements.
Do you understand that? That would mean Stay with me here. That would mean that those who are sexually immoral, that who they are is having sex outside of marriage, they're children of the devil. Idolaters, people who are constantly putting things up as as higher than God in other areas of of their life, this is an identity statement, they're children of the devil. Adulterers, men who practice homosexuality, children of the devil.
Thieves, children of the devil. Greedy, children of the devil. Drunkards, children of the devil. Revilers, Children of the devil. Swindlers?
Children of the devil who will not inherit the kingdom of God and cannot earn it. But pastor, you're being mean. No. I'm loving you because I'm telling you the truth. But pastor, I was born this way.
I'm not gonna argue with you.
As a
matter of fact, biblically, I can't argue with you. Because the bible says sin was passed down from generation to generation. So, the sin of your father, or grandfather, or great grandfather, or great grandmother was passed down to you, and you were born with a proclivity or a leaning to sin in a certain way? I'm sorry, man. That really stinks.
But I don't care how you were born, you can be born again. Amen. Yeah. I don't care how you were born. God loves you so much that he sent his 1 and only son that he wants to save you from how you were born.
And he wants to make you his son. And he wants to completely cut off your past as if it never happened. Justify you just as if you'd never done it. Wash you clean by the blood of It it says it right here. Watch this.
Verse 11. And such were some of you, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the spirit of our God. That's the beauty of Christianity, is it tells you the truth about who you are and doesn't try to push it under the rug.
But it calls you into the truth of who he is, and invites you to be transformed by him. It's only the truth that will set you free, not ignoring it, excusing it, or accepting it. Surrendering to Jesus as truth in who he is. Like, he's calling you he's calling all of us to understand our identity, which is like, when Paul talked about it, it was Roman adoption. In Romans-8, he says, Verse 14.
For all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. Now, women, don't get mad at me by saying that. Right? Because the bible calls me part of the bride of Christ. And so, if I can be part of the bride of Christ, then you can be called a son of God.
Amen? Good? I got a thumbs up. So I'm good. Alright.
Praise the Lord. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, "Abba, Father". The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, and heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. So we receive an inheritance that is Jesus' inheritance, and so we're co heirs with him. Now, when Paul is saying this, he's talking about Roman adoption.
Roman adoption. This is the the analogy he's using. You have to understand how Roman adoption worked. Let me let me just read it to you, from my my research here. See, a Roman *father* was absolutely in control of his family until he died.
100%. It just worked that way. You couldn't change that except by Roman adoption. There were 4 main consequences of Roman adoption. The adopted person lost all rights to his old family and gained all rights of a fully legitimate son in a new family.
In the most literal sense, and in the most legally binding way, he got a new father. It followed that he became heir to his new father's estate, even if other sons were born after that, who were real blood relations. It did not affect his rights. He was inalienably a co heir with them. In law, the old life of the adopted person was completely wiped out.
For instance, legally, all debts were canceled. They were wiped out as though they had never been. The adopted person was regarded as a new person entering into a new life with which the past had nothing to do. Their whole history was wiped off of the books, and it was as if they were never the son of anyone else. It's not like American adoption where you adopt them, and then 20 years later, you gotta go you try to go find your your other family.
No. That other family never existed in Roman adoption. You wouldn't even think about doing that. That's what happens. We're when we're born again, we become sons of God with the nature of our father and wiped out as if we were never ever a child of the devil.
All of those debts completely washed away. The Bible literally says a new, completely "new creation" in Christ Jesus, his *righteousness* credited to your account as if that is who you are. So you better start believing it instead of believing you're still that same old dude. See, I just gave you 2 things. Right?
Children of God and children of the devil, and I I I want all of you to become children of God. The the problem is, you can be a child of God and still think like the devil. I'll Yeah. Say that again. You can be a child of God and still think like the devil, and miss out on experiencing some of the promises that he wants you to walk in.
People say, well, you know, I I don't I don't know all of those things. Well, you better start looking and seeking to find out. Like, it's it's American culture, Western culture that says what you don't know won't hurt you. The bible says what you don't know will destroy you. I wanna seek to know my Father, so I can reflect him in every single way, because that's my inheritance.
And if God gave you a command to do something, then that would mean that he put it in your new nature. He put in your new nature the ability to carry out that command. All you gotta do is believe it, and begin to obey it. If he gave you a command to do something, not only did he put it in your new nature, which is the nature of your father, but he also gave you the Holy Spirit to empower you to live out that command. All you gotta do is believe it and obey it, despite what your flesh says.
But pastor, won't I be a hypocrite if I don't feel like doing something, but I do it anyway? Like, but pastor, I don't feel like rejoicing. Won't I be a hypocrite if I rejoice anyway? Won't I be play acting? No.
You are a hypocrite if you only do what you feel. Because you're making your feelings Lord, instead of what he says. He says rejoice in all circumstances. When I know that word, that means in my nature, my new nature that I as of my father, he's rejoicing in all circumstances, and I'm supposed to be an imitator of him as a dearly loved child. Well, therefore, I'm supposed to rejoice whether I feel like it or not.
My feelings will follow my faith. Yeah. Just to to prove to you that I'm talking biblically, because I love you, *Matthew-16*. Watch this. Pretty cool.
Jesus asked his disciples the second most important question. Or he he asked sorry. He asked them disciples an important question. Who do people say that I am? And they said, you know, people say that you're a prophet or you're a teacher or some other thing.
And then Jesus said, but who do you say that I am? The most important question you can ever be asked. And Peter gets it right. He declares Jesus as Christ, the Messiah, the Lord, you know. And and Jesus responds, and I tell you, verse 18, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the "gates of hell" shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the "keys of the kingdom" of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth, Greek says, shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. The original text says that. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no 1 that he was the Christ. So Peter got it right. Peter's follower of Jesus.
He confessed Jesus as Lord, which is pretty cool. He's a disciple of Jesus. Verse 21, from that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day raised. And what did Peter do? And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke Jesus.
I would never do that. But we do that a lot in our lives because of our stinking thinking. Saying, far be it from you, Lord. This shall never happen to you. But Jesus turned and said to Peter, "get behind me", Satan.
You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind on things of not on the things of God, but on the things of man. So when we think the way that men think, and not the way that God thinks, Jesus called it satanic thinking. Thinking according to the way of the world. Remember, there's a kingdom of God and a kingdom of the devil. There's a kingdom of heaven and a kingdom of this world, and we are either operating in 1 or the other.
Now, when you gave your life to Jesus, you became a became a child of God and a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. But you have to renew your mind to begin to begin to think that way on this earth. And if you're not careful, the enemy will cause you to believe lies and empower his lies in your life and prevent you from living out his promises so that you can participate in the divine nature of your father. So we need to renew our mind from stinking thinking and quit believing lies that are not in line with the truth. Because those lies, what what did they do to Jesus?
They were a hindrance to the plan of Jesus. And Jesus told Peter, get behind me, Satan. When you start thinking in ways that are in line with your old father, the devil, you start thinking in ways that are in line with the culture of the world and not of the culture of the kingdom of heaven, your thinking will result in words and actions that are a hindrance to the plan of Jesus. Yeah. Will prevent God's God's will from working in your life, and will be a hindrance to the people around you from living out their calling.
*1 Corinthians-6, these identity statements it says, that's not who you are. You're not a swindler anymore. You're not a homosexual anymore. You're not a drunkard anymore. That was at 1 time, but you were born again*.
You were washed. You have a new inheritance. You you are now who Jesus says that you are once you've given your life to Jesus. What he says is absolute *truth* about you, and now you need to line your life up, and live as if what he says is real, because it is. And your feelings, and your Everything else will follow what he says, as you take steps of faith and obedience.
The problem is, we still say all these things that are not in line with him. I'm just an anxious person. That's an identity statement that is not of God. You're speaking as if you're still a child of the devil, in in line with stress. Stop.
You got stinking thinking that's in line with the devil. The Bible says, the truth says, God has not given you the spirit of fear, but of love, of power, and a sound mind. And anxiety is just a cousin of fear. So repent from saying that. You can say, I struggle sometimes with anxiety, but God has delivered me, and is delivering me in that in that area.
Lord, help me. Go to a brother. Hey, I'm struggling with anxiety, and I know it's not who I am anymore. I'm just a I'm just a timid person. That's not the personality of Jesus.
And so, it's not you anymore. You might have always been timid because of some things that you believed about yourself as a kid or other things. You might be quiet, but that doesn't mean you're timid. The Bible says God has not given you the spirit of timidity. That's a spirit that's trying to hold you back from the plan of God that he has for your life.
And Jesus says to you, when you're operating in that spirit, get behind me, Satan. I got stuff I wanna do in your life. Stop thinking like that, and begin thinking how I say that you are. You're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You're loved.
You're the head and not the tail. You I've given you the spirit of boldness, not timidity. Start stepping into your calling because you believe who your father says that you are. Bible says, those who believe will heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons. Oh, I could never do that.
That's way too crazy. No. The bible says that's your identity and part of your inheritance. Your stinking thinking is making excuses so you can stay comfortable instead of following and walking in the purposes God has for you. Repent of your stinking thinking and begin to learn to live and imitate your heavenly father.
Because as you do, those around you will see the goodness of God. I'm just not 1 that shares the gospel or or shares Jesus with people. You know, it's it's just not my gifting. That's a lie from the pit of hell. How dare you say that?
You're speaking like the devil. Jesus says to you, get behind me, Satan. You're preventing my plan and purpose from impacting the people I wanna impact are you. Change your stinking thinking. If God commissioned you, Jesus commissioned you to go and make disciples of all nations, then in your new nature, the nature of your heavenly father, he's put it in you to do that.
All you gotta do is believe it enough to step out of what you feel and into obedience to what he says, and the Holy Spirit will empower you in the middle of that to do that. And you gotta continue to do it until it becomes a habit and becomes normal for you. Amen. Good word, God. Good word.
I love you enough. I'm not mad at you. I'm not mad at you. I love you enough to challenge you forward. Because what Marcus told me on the phone yesterday is the calling of God for every single 1 of you.
And as you step into your purpose, you'll feel like "little kids on Christmas", experiencing every gift, good gift that he has for you as you're willing to walk in obedience. And, man, it's so fun. But in any area, you stay stagnant and disobedient because you believe lies about yourself, you're empowering the liar, and you're preventing yourself from experiencing the gifts of God that he has for you. And you're preventing others from experiencing that through you. See, you are created in his image.
*Sin* tainted that. But when you gave your life to Jesus, he restored you to your created value and put his presence inside of you to empower that. That word for image in the Hebrew is the word for idol. You know what an idol is? It's a reflection of whatever God it was made after.
That means you were created as God's idol, meaning you were created to reflect God to the world around you, to be a representation of him. How cool is that? Filled by his spirit, so that when people get around you, they look at you and think of God, and think, man, I need to know the same God you know. They look at you and have a desire for a relationship with the heavenly father. How does that happen?
By believing what he says about you. And if you don't know, don't don't just sit in your ignorance. Seek to know him. Get in his word. Get around people that know God more than you and listen to them.
Be encouraged by them. And when they correct you, receive it humbly, not offended. Serve. Love. God cares for you.
The world needs you. It needs the Jesus inside of you. Amen. Amen. Let's do this.
I'm not gonna ask anybody to come forward today because when you really believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, your life follows, and you'll get involved. It's not just a 1 time decision. It's a life change. I'm a ask everyone to stand. We're almost done.
And I'm a ask everybody to close your eyes, and just begin praying under your breath, thanking God for who he is. If as I'm speaking today, you realize that you have never encountered a real heavenly father, maybe you've been a, like, a sinner, and as I said in 1 of these, or you've been a sinner by being self righteous and not really knowing God. You know, like, God is drawing you into a relationship with him today. You sense it, and I just want to tell you that Jesus loves you, and he wants to be your father. He wants you to be born again and walk into relationship with the heavenly father.
He wants to take away the pain, he wants to take away the shame, and he wants to give you joy and peace, and he wants to lead you toward the purposes he created you for. But that requires something of you. It requires you not just believing in Jesus, it requires you believing Jesus. Taking him at his word and saying, I'm gonna live for you instead of for myself. When you do that, in that moment, what's gonna happen, you're gonna feel the guilt and shame fall off your shoulder like weights.
And you're gonna sense the presence of the living God come to live inside of you. You're gonna be like a baby, "spiritual baby", a spiritual infant, that now can recognize the presence of the heavenly father, and it's gonna start a journey for you, so that you learn to hear the father's voice. So as I'm saying that, if you know right now that you don't have a relationship with God, and you're ready to say Jesus, you're my Lord, I'm gonna follow you instead of myself, for the You're ready to do that. You're ready to be born again. If that's you, I want you to raise your hand high.
1, 2. I'm a just count so I can know. Raise your hand high. 1, 2, 3, 4. Anybody else?
5. Okay. I want you to put both hands up. Everybody, put both hands up as a sign of surrender. Now, I'm not singling you out today because you're making a decision that's gonna affect the rest of your life.
So that means you're gonna you're going to to share the testimony with others. So I just want you to say this only if you mean it. Say it You believe in your heart, so it comes out of your mouth. So it requires you believing this in your heart. So only say this if you mean it.
Say, Jesus Jesus. I've been living for me.
I've been for me.
I ask you to forgive me of my sin. I ask you to forgive sin. Right now. Right now. I choose to live for you.
I choose to follow you. Thank you for dying for my sin. For Thank rising again. Right now, I give you all of my sin.
I give you all of my sin.
And I receive your life.
And I receive your life.
Just take a deep breath. And say this, say, thank you Jesus for forgiving me. Thank you for making me new. Me pray for you. Lord, I pray for these new believers.
Lord, that they would sense your presence right now, that you would give them a big old spiritual hug, that they would know that they're precious to you, that you don't count their past against them. As a matter of fact, you right now don't even remember who they were. You only know who they are, and you have an amazing future for them. Lord, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for what you've done, and what you're gonna do.
In Jesus name. Amen. Now, we're about to take communion together, all of you. The new believers, you get to take communion, and it matters. And we're gonna take this Some of you, it's an act of repentance.
It's an act of I've been having some stinking thinking in different areas of my life, and thank you Jesus, Holy Spirit, for pointing it out today. I give you those areas. And and, watch this, he's gonna do that the rest of your life. So when he brings something to the surface, don't be condemned by it. Just confess.
Oh, God. That was that was not of not of you, what I just said there, what I did. And repent. I turn in that area to you. Teach me how to think the way that you want me to think, and keep walking.
And I gotta say this too. Every thought that you have was not from you, so don't be condemned just because you have a thought. You understand? Take that thought captive by putting your mind on what he says about you instead of what that thought that stupid, weird, whatever it was. Just that that was if you hated the thought, it wasn't from you.
You understand? Alright. Everybody hold up the bread. This represents the body of Christ, and and we do this in remembrance, remembering that what Jesus did 2000 years ago matters for us today. Some of you, as we take this in an act of faith, will be physically healed.
How many of you got pain in your body right now? You got pain in your body? Okay. I just say this to build your faith. Look.
Jesus, his body was broken so that yours could be whole. He paid the price for your healing. As we do this, it matters for you today. I want you to know Jesus paid the price for your healing, and he's your healer. And some of you are gonna be healed as we do this.
Just let your faith build. And just as as you're taking this, know that this matters for that area, whether it's a left hip or a lower back, whatever it is. Okay? But Lord God, thank you, Jesus, that your body was broken for my healing. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that because of your brokenness, I can be whole physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Thank you that it's personal for me, but also, it's public and corporate for our body. Lord God, thank you, and I praise you, and I wanna remember it, and honor it, and value you, and what you did so much, Lord God, that I experience that reality in my life now, but I share the testimony of it. I'm willing to overflow with the testimony of what you've done to others. Let everything that I receive from you, I value it so much that I can't help but share it with others. Lord God, thank you.
We take this remembering your brokenness for our wholeness right now, in Jesus' name. Let's take the bread together. Be careful when you open the juice, otherwise, it'll spill over. If you did, don't worry. You're not condemned.
You're forgiven. Lord Jesus, thank you that this represents your blood that was shed so I could be washed clean completely and totally, not only of my sins of my past, but you you could wash me clean every day of a new so I can have a "fresh and clear" and clean conscience. So I can lay on the bed at night, joyful and light and happy because I'm in right standing and right relationship with my father because of what you did. We this matters. All of my sin this represents all of my sin being counted against you on that cross so that I could be clean in you, and that's what I am right now.
I remember what you did. I remember that it matters. So Lord God, I dedicate myself to living like that matters for the rest of my life. Thank you, Jesus, for forgiveness. I'm completely forgiven, and Lord, let it matter so much to me that it can't help but come out of my mouth, because it's valuable, and impact the world around me.
In Jesus' name, we remember you. Man, God's good.