Title: True Christianity is Always the Activity of God 
Meta: In 1 John 5:1 it teaches us that the believer believes because they've first been born of God. This shows us that the new birth is responsible for faith; not faith being responsible for the new birth. True Christianity is always the activity of God and our faith is a reaction to God's initial call. Why does this matter so much? It is because we want a church that is God's work and not something manufactured by man.
Tags: 1 John 5:2,Sovereignty,God,Born,Salvation,Christianity (Religion)

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I only want to deal this morning

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with the first half, of the first verse; of First John Chapter five.

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I am reading right now from the English Standard Version.

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That's important for me to tell you, because if you have a different version.

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You may find that the verb, the main verb in the first half of this first verse. 1st John 5.

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Is going to sound different to you.

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I want to talk about that a little bit, before we get into full motion here with this sermon.

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1st John 5:1 in the English Standard Version reads this way, first half of the verse.

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Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.

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Now I'm going to read to you next from the New King James.

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If you have the Old King James, or you have the New American Standard.

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You will see something that bares resemblance to this as well.

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The New King James Version reads this way.

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1st John 5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God.

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You will notice

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the main difference between these two translations is apparently the verb tense, and that's critical.

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Let's look at this again.

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ESV reads this way: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, has been born of God.

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Sounds like past tense.

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Where as New King James reads this way:

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Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God.

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Sounds like present tense.

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Let me try to show you what's going on here.

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In the Greek,

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the main verb; To be born or to beget, or to father.

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It can mean all those things, all those things are basically synonymous.

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To birth, to father, to beget, that is the main verb.

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It is in the perfect tense.

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You say "So what."

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Well listen. A perfect tense verb indicates an action that previously took place.

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But, that has some present on going results. So here's what I want you to see.

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What the ESV translators chose to focus their attention on,

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was the completed past action of this birthing, or this begetting, or this fathering.

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While the New King James translators chose to focus the present ongoing state of that past action.

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The whole point is this.

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Neither translation is wrong.

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The translators of one chose to focus on the past completed action.

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The translators of the others chose to focus on the present reality.

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They both are accurate, they both are right.

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They just both capture a different aspect of the perfect tense verb.

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Here's the thing.

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Regardless of what translation you have in your hand.

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What John is communicating to us, by using this perfect tense verb, is this; You need to get this.

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This is critical.

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This is critical to my whole message today.

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What he is emphasizing, the reason he is using a perfect tense verb is because believers;

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Those who believe that Jesus is the Christ.

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Believers...

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Believers believe because they have been born of God.

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That's what this is saying. Believers believe because of something done in the past,

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which has present realities.

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But it was done and completed in the past. What was that?

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You were Born Again, in the past, that's why you believe now.

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You are still born again now.

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That is true of you now.

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But it is the result of something that has happened in the past.

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You believe now because God implanted life in you then.

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What John is saying; catch this.

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The new birth is responsible for faith. Not that faith is responsible for the new birth.

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Another thing I want to stress here is this.

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Being born of God.

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It is in the perfect tense, but it is also a passive verb. Do you know what passive is?

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Passive means that; The one that this is being done to is passive in the action.

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It is being done to them.

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We don't do it ourselves. God does it for us.

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A very literal reading of this, is like this.

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Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, out of God has been born.

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You see; out of God has been born.

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It's as though John is doubly stressing here the source.

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He stressing to us the source of the believers birth.

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Both by a passive verb, and by saying; out of God we are born.

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That's the source. Out of God, passive verb, it's done to us.

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It's not something you do to yourself.

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Which is very consistent with the fact.

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That God causes us to be born again, that's why we believe.

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It's an action that He does, It's an action that He initiates with us.

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That idea that John is stressing here;

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Is that for us to believe in Christ,

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you must have been acted upon in a dynamic transformative manner by God.

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Make no mistake about it.

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Whoever confesses faith in Christ. We need to get this.

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Whoever confesses faith in Christ.

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They do so because they have first been visited by God in regeneration.

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The truth about man, this is essential.

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The truth about man, is not that man has the capacity in and of himself to believe.

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Now look, we need to charge men to believe.

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We need to insist men believe.

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We need to tell men that if they don't believe they will perish.

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We need to tell men what the gospel is.

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We need to appeal to their will.

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We need to appeal the their best interest.

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We need to reason with them.

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We need to apply ourselves to their logic.

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This is what scripture does. We need to tell men that God commands them to believe.

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We need to tell men that God implores them to believe.

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We need to tell them that we are ambassadors of Christ. We implore them to believe.

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We press men to believe.

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It is essential to their souls that they believe.

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But I'll tell you this.

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If men believe.

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It is not because they reached down deep within themselves,

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and found something innately in their natural self.

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Whereby they were able to produce this faith.

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What John is teaching us by this passive verb; Out of God, out of God. We are born by Him.

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And that is what is true of everybody who believes.

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You find somebody who presently believes, you can always mark this down.

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They have been birthed by God. Out of God, they were born.

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Out of God they were begotten. Out of God they were fathered.

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And He did it to them, it's passive. He did it to them.

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We don't do it to ourselves.

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Make no mistake about it, at all.

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Out of God, all true believers have been begotten.

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Now, my sermon title is this:

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True Christianity is always the activity of God.

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I was coming home,

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I believe on Thursday.

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Driving up AT&T Parkway, and I was listening to KDRY.

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And I heard a local Pastor on there.

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He was inviting people to listen to his the radio program, that they air on KDRY,

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on Sunday afternoon's.

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But he also invited people to come to his Church,

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and his appeal was that, "Our prayer is that when you enter the doors into our worship center.

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That you will have an overwhelming experience of God,

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unlike anything that you've have ever experienced before."

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I thought about him making that appeal on the radio.

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It caused me to lift up own heart to the Lord.

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Lord, I want that.

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I want your presence here in our building.

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Lord I want you to come.

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But I recognize this.

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I know that I don't have any control over it.

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Brethren, we deal with a God that has to initiate.

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We deal with a God that has to move at first.

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We deal with a God, that if he does not act on your behalf you are undone.

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You have no hope.

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That is the kind of God that we serve.

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We serve the kind of God;

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That all through history. You think all the way through, there would be no creation, but God acts.

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There would be nobody who is walking with the Lord, unless God acts.

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There's no people of God unless God acts.

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Unless He brings them to Him.

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There's no people set aside.

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There's no Abraham called out of Ur of Chaldees, unless God says Abraham come out.

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There is no Nation of Israel, unless God builds this covenant people.

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They are not going to be delivered from Egypt, unless God steps in and says come out of there,

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and He brings those plagues.

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Listen brethren, two thousand years ago. The Church did not start by man's innovations.

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It did not start that way.

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God sent down fire from heaven.

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The Spirit came down, the heavens were open.

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God had to act.

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God told his Church, through His Son Jesus Christ.

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That you stay there till you are clothed with power from on high.

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Guess what, another passive verb.

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In fact if we could accumulate all the passive verbs from scripture, about what God does for us.

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Folks I'll tell you, man does not get this down first.

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Man does not start.

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God does not react to what we do.

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God comes first, God initiates.

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God says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega."

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That means He comes along first. People don't get saved unless God acts first.

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Churches don't spring up unless God acts first.

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What is the explanation for all these churches springing up in the book of Acts?

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All around through Asia and Europe.

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It's God! God came, God's spirit came down, "set aside for me men." This is how it happens.

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This is the kind of thing that we see here.

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True Christianity is always a result of the activity of God.

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It always is.

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It never starts with us. It never starts with our intentions, and our inventions; Ever.

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It never starts with our revival meetings.

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Brethren I'll tell you this.

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Prayer meetings, they're great.

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We need to have them, we need to lay hold on the arm the Lord.

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But you know why we lay hold on the arm of the Lord?

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Because we can't do anything unless God comes and helps us.

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It does not initiate with that, and I'll tell you what.

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We will find out when we're in glory, that that prayer meeting that we all got together, and we prayed,

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and God came, and God heard, because we laid hold upon the Lord, and God.

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What we're going to find out, is God stirred us to pray.

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God put that burden upon us. God gave us that unity to come together, God did that.

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He started.

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Oh Lord, we laid hold upon you and you answered our prayer.

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Yeah, I put that desire in you to pray in the first place.

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And even before that,

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I'm the one who caused you to be born again, to give you any desire whatsoever for my Kingdom at all!

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That's the kind of thing that we see.

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Brethren, it does not start, none of this starts.

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And we can fall into this just as well. We can think, You know what?

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The key to success is; "We need to be Calvinist."

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The key to success; "We got to have the right preacher."

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You know there's a real expectation. Well if that guy's preaching, something's going to happen.

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But brethren you have to remember, if God doesn't come nothing is going to happen.

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Now I'll grant you God does own some people, and God owns some places,

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and God decides to move in some churches, and at certain times and through certain prayer meetings.

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There's undoubtedly no question about that.

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But brethren I'll tell you, even our faith.

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We can say, "Faith moves mountains." You better believe it does.

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But what we're finding out here is, nobody has faith, nobody has that faith in Jesus Christ.

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Nobody has a saving faith, nobody believes that Jesus is the Christ.

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Nobody believes the God is, nobody that God is a rewarder.

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Nobody has faith unless they are born again.

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Unless they're born of God.

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Unless; Out of God they have been born.

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Man in his cleverness. Brethren do you remember how; this Old Testament picture in Genesis.

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It's just such a picture, of so much of what we're surrounded and inundated by today.

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What is it? The tower of Babel, you remember how they said,

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"Come let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens,

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and let us make a name for ourselves." Do you see that?

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We have to beware of this among ourselves.

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Man has a natural bent to building towers of Babel.

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Oh we love to do that.

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Our own innovations. We love to construct our own tower that will reach God.

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We want to do that.

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We want to make...

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Man is constructing his traditions, man constructs a form of Christianity.

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He's constantly constructing churches and religion, all these traditions.

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We end up...

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Man constructs his own kind of faith.

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But we're looking for the true work of God. That's what John is talking about here.

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Brethren,

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Brethren, if were ever going to have anything that's real.

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If we're ever going to have a real church.

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I cannot make the presence of God happen.

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I cannot get on the radio, and advertise. "You come here; Presence of God."

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I cannot tell you that. Why?

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Because, I don't have reigns around God's neck.

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His reigns are around us.

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If we're going to have the power of God, if we're going to have the presence of God.

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If we're going to have true converts. If we're going to have anything that's real.

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If we're going to have true churches.

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It all starts with God.

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True Christianity is always an activity of God,

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and this is precisely the truth that John is driving home

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in the passage that we're looking in 1st John this morning.

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John says; show me faith...

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You find real faith...

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Show me reality, show me a believer. Someone who truly believes that Jesus is the Christ.

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I'm going to show you where God is at work.

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Brethren this matters, this matters.

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You know David (Butterbaugh) has been doing, "Ordo Salutis" - The Sequence; The Order of Salvation.

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I tell you what, we can get done today, and you could just argue.

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Which comes first justification or adoption?

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I'm talking legal adoption.

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Which comes first?

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And you can argue, and you can wrestle.

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And maybe somebody will say, "Well I think it's simultaneous." and somebody will say,

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"Well I think this one comes first." and we can banter that about. But you know what?

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In the end it doesn't really matter.

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But I'll tell you this; It matters whether faith comes before, or after we're born again.

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That matters.

251
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You know why it matters?

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Because "believing" in 1st John 5:1, is not a passive verb.

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It is something you do.

254
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Being born of God is passive, it's something He does.

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And listen; Are we going to put faith before new birth, or new birth before faith?

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Faith is what we do.

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New birth is what God does.

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If we say faith: I believe, and then as a result I'm born again.

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What we're saying is; What I do comes first.

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What God does is a result of what I do.

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But that's not what John is saying.

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John is saying; Show me faith, I'll show you somebody who has been, in the past.

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And continuing to today.

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They "have", in perfect tense.

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Have been, and are still; Born of God.

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It matters.

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It matters who comes first.

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God must come to us. God must save us.

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God must help us.

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God must act, or we are hopelessly undone.

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You see brethren, the question we need to ask ourselves this.

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How do we explain Christianity?

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Somebody says,"Well I explain it this way."

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"I saw religion as something that I didn't really care about,

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and then the day came along, where I saw;

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Well it was probably to my greater advantage, that I get involved with the Church."

277
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"Maybe there was a girl there, or a guy there that I was interested in."

278
00:19:49,035 --> 00:19:55,005
"Maybe I was curious about the intellectual challenges of the doctrines that I heard about,

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from the people that went to this church."

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There's a lot of reasons why people come. They come for social activity.

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They come for the intellectual challenges of the doctrine.

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They come because there is a social environment here, and you know;

283
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Quite honestly, a lot of times churches attract social misfits.

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People come, they want to be accepted somewhere in society.

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Maybe they don't have much family, or they're not accepted in their family,

286
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or they don't have many friends, whatever.

287
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There's different reasons why people are attracted into Churches.

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Sometimes people are attracted; Scripture says, because their God is their belly.

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They think that there's money to be made. They think that there's earthly possessions.

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Some people come because they want power.

291
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They want to preach, they want to lead, they want some ministry.

292
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People come to churches for those reasons.

293
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You have all manor of things.

294
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And what happens is; People start coming to the church, and what do they say?

295
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"Well I'm a Christian."

296
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"Why are you a Christian?" "I'm coming to the Church." They associate that.

297
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They're building their towers of Babel. "How am I going to get to God?"

298
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"Well, I decide that I want to. I decide that I want to go to Church."

299
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"I decide I want to pay my tithes."

300
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"I decide that I'm going to call myself a Christian."

301
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"I say, I believe;

302
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I believe that Jesus is the Christ. I've always believed that, never doubted it.

303
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My grandmother taught me that when I was five years old. I've never questioned that."

304
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See, this is all just building our own towers. It's building this.

305
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We have to ask ourselves: How do we explain Christianity?

306
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How do we explain faith?

307
00:21:24,753 --> 00:21:27,563
How do we explain when God...

308
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Have you ever been in a meeting when God showed up in the preaching?

309
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You ever been in a meeting when God showed up in the prayer meeting?

310
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You ever been in a meeting when God showed up in the singing?

311
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Brethren, how do we explain such things?

312
00:21:38,363 --> 00:21:41,950
How do we explain the Holy Spirit falling on that early church?

313
00:21:41,950 --> 00:21:45,869
How do we explain those churches that did pop-up in the book of Acts?

314
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When there was absolutely nothing there before.

315
00:21:48,666 --> 00:21:51,831
You know... People are sometimes...

316
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How do you explain a church in the inner city?

317
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Sometimes people are really surprised that this church is here.

318
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"Wow, there's a church here in the inner city, and this ethnic diversity;

319
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And there's so many young people in the church."

320
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How do you explain that?

321
00:22:04,176 --> 00:22:06,672
Well brethren, how do you explain it?

322
00:22:06,672 --> 00:22:08,977
Was it the building?

323
00:22:08,977 --> 00:22:12,230
Did we get this really nice building, that's very attractive,

324
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and people can't help but come here because of that.

325
00:22:14,424 --> 00:22:22,036
You know what? When you get the church filled because of the nicety of the building;

326
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That is a Tower of Babel.

327
00:22:24,673 --> 00:22:29,870
That is precisely what that is. When you're attracting people from human (means).

328
00:22:29,870 --> 00:22:32,779
How do we get to God? Well, we're just going to build this thing, and we're gonna do it.

329
00:22:32,779 --> 00:22:35,385
We're gonna initiate it, we're gonna invent it, we're gonna design it.

330
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We're gonna make it happen.

331
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Brethren, how do you explain a church?

332
00:22:44,293 --> 00:22:45,846
How do you explain true believers?

333
00:22:45,846 --> 00:22:49,295
Is that a Tower of Babel? Or is that a work of the living God?

334
00:22:49,295 --> 00:22:55,707
True Christianity is always the activity of God. God is not a bystander.

335
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God is not over there watching, wringing his hands, like.

336
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"Ahh, I'd just wish that they would do, what I want them to do."

337
00:23:01,694 --> 00:23:05,158
God is the Alpha, and Omega. He is the first, and the last.

338
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He is the initiator. He is the starter.

339
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We do not serve a God who is a responder.

340
00:23:12,457 --> 00:23:15,791
We serve the God who has the plan.

341
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He predestined it. It's according to the purpose of His will.

342
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Is that not what we read in scripture? He is the designer, He is the master crafter.

343
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He is not simply an observer,

344
00:23:30,292 --> 00:23:33,976
hoping somebody's going to do what he wants them to do.

345
00:23:33,976 --> 00:23:37,733
Why are you a Christian? (If you are)

346
00:23:37,733 --> 00:23:40,568
If you are a Christian, why are you one? That is the question to ask yourself.

347
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Listen, if you start by saying; "Well, I..."
What? You did what?

348
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What did you do? Yes you believed. Yes you did that, but here's John.

349
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John is going to come right along and say,

350
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Yes you did believe, but if you have it's because God was at work before, in your life.

351
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God was transforming you. God changed you. God birthed you. God gave you life.

352
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That's why you're believing.

353
00:24:09,733 --> 00:24:15,190
Now look. We don't tell people, "Sit still, do nothing, don't believe until God comes along."

354
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That's not the message of Scripture. We press men to believe.

355
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But as we press men to believe we know this;

356
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That if there is any true faith that comes forth, we can thank God.

357
00:24:24,700 --> 00:24:25,964
Why would we thank God, that God saved them?

358
00:24:25,964 --> 00:24:29,412
Well because He saved them. Salvation is of the Lord. He's the one that did it.

359
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Out of God they were born, God did it.

360
00:24:32,790 --> 00:24:34,416
We have to get rid of any backward idea.

361
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That what makes us Christian is anything that I originally produce,

362
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or I ultimately am responsible for.

363
00:24:40,091 --> 00:24:48,852
Listen to John: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.

364
00:24:48,852 --> 00:24:52,601
John says that what makes anyone a Christian, at all.

365
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Is that something has been done to us by God.

366
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We believe, but it's secondary, it's responsive. What God does comes first.

367
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Our faith is a reaction to Gods initial call.

368
00:25:09,745 --> 00:25:14,123
Why am I stressing this? Brethren,

369
00:25:14,123 --> 00:25:18,377
we want a Church that is a work of God.

370
00:25:18,377 --> 00:25:21,747
We want...

371
00:25:21,747 --> 00:25:28,329
Brethren we can not manufacture the presence of God, or the Salvation of God.

372
00:25:28,329 --> 00:25:32,745
Or the church of God. We cannot manufacture it in our own strength.

373
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We are desperately dependent upon Him.

374
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He must do this.

375
00:25:37,310 --> 00:25:43,817
We serve a God who is kind, and who does do this.

376
00:25:43,817 --> 00:25:46,949
We serve a God who does reveal himself.

377
00:25:46,949 --> 00:25:51,579
We serve a God who has been pleased so often to show up.

378
00:25:51,579 --> 00:25:57,792
We can no more persuade men and women to believe; Oh we try!

379
00:25:57,792 --> 00:26:01,995
We seek to do it, and some will believe. But it's not because we've been innovative.

380
00:26:01,995 --> 00:26:07,508
I'll tell you this. Paul could come along and say look, I don't need eloquence. Why?

381
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Because in the end brethren.

382
00:26:09,390 --> 00:26:16,185
It is not our mechanisms, and machinery, and inventions that save people.

383
00:26:16,185 --> 00:26:18,587
Why can Paul put away the eloquence?

384
00:26:18,587 --> 00:26:27,618
Why can he put away all that which is so worldly; Impressive in oration, in eloquence?

385
00:26:27,618 --> 00:26:29,416
Why can he just set that aside?

386
00:26:29,416 --> 00:26:34,124
Because God has determined to save men and women.

387
00:26:34,124 --> 00:26:41,878
He's determined to impart life, by way of the simplicity of the gospel being preached.

388
00:26:41,878 --> 00:26:47,668
We don't have to be real eloquent, and innovative here.

389
00:26:47,668 --> 00:26:52,250
Brethren, we are but men. We need to remember that.

390
00:26:52,250 --> 00:26:56,666
We need to remember that we are but men.

391
00:26:56,666 --> 00:27:03,583
The psalmist said, "Oh Lord let the nations know that they are but men."

392
00:27:03,583 --> 00:27:05,364
May God remind us of that.

393
00:27:05,364 --> 00:27:10,916
We cannot save our children. We cannot make this happen. We cannot build the church.

394
00:27:10,916 --> 00:27:14,456
Now we need to be striving to be obedient to what the Lord calls us to do.

395
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And yes, we need to be fishers of men.

396
00:27:16,250 --> 00:27:21,459
And yes, we need to be trusting that God is indeed going to birth these people into the kingdom,

397
00:27:21,459 --> 00:27:25,634
as we proclaim the gospel; Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

398
00:27:25,634 --> 00:27:27,584
We know this, we strive to do this.

399
00:27:27,584 --> 00:27:31,499
But our dependency is wholly and entirely on Him.

400
00:27:31,499 --> 00:27:36,669
Brethren, we must believe that the church is a miracle of God.

401
00:27:36,669 --> 00:27:42,272
We must believe that true Christianity is a miracle of God. This is what scripture tells us.

402
00:27:42,272 --> 00:27:45,943
It is a miracle; Salvation is of the Lord.

403
00:27:45,943 --> 00:27:49,156
How does scripture put it? It put's it like this.

404
00:27:49,156 --> 00:27:54,456
What were we like? Dead in trespasses and sins, which you once walked.

405
00:27:54,456 --> 00:27:57,587
What were you doing? Following the course of the world, that's not a good course.

406
00:27:57,587 --> 00:28:01,107
That's a course that takes you to hell. That is a course that is worldly.

407
00:28:01,107 --> 00:28:10,049
The world is...To be a lover of the world is to be at enmity with God.

408
00:28:10,049 --> 00:28:12,550
You were following the course of this world.

409
00:28:12,550 --> 00:28:15,157
You were following the prince of the power of the air. Who are we talking about here?

410
00:28:15,157 --> 00:28:18,931
The Spirit does not work in the sons of disobedience; Who's that? That's the Devil.

411
00:28:18,931 --> 00:28:20,311
We were following him, yeah.

412
00:28:20,311 --> 00:28:27,273
It's not just Van Halen talks about running with the Devil, you were doing it.

413
00:28:27,273 --> 00:28:29,406
We were running with him.

414
00:28:29,406 --> 00:28:30,777
And what?

415
00:28:30,777 --> 00:28:33,908
Carrying out the desires of the body, and the mind.

416
00:28:33,908 --> 00:28:36,615
We were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of man kind.

417
00:28:36,615 --> 00:28:39,786
That's how we were, that's how you are as a lost person.

418
00:28:39,786 --> 00:28:43,120
And what happened? But God; He steps in. And what does He do?

419
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:47,627
Because of His mercy, because of His love; What happens?

420
00:28:47,627 --> 00:28:51,131
Even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins; We were dead, and what does He do?

421
00:28:51,131 --> 00:28:55,135
Alive! He makes us alive with Christ. It's by grace.

422
00:28:55,135 --> 00:28:57,406
And what? He raises us up with Christ.

423
00:28:57,406 --> 00:29:00,765
This is God, this is a miracle, this is him doing this.

424
00:29:00,765 --> 00:29:06,323
How do you view Christianity? So many in our day talk about what they did, and what they do.

425
00:29:06,323 --> 00:29:15,578
Paul says, all we did is follow the devil. We have all these props and gimmicks today.

426
00:29:15,578 --> 00:29:19,698
Machinery of men; we live in a world today where faith is mass produced.

427
00:29:19,698 --> 00:29:25,780
Are any of you here; anybody sitting here. That's what your faith is?

428
00:29:25,780 --> 00:29:30,785
Your faith is just something mass produced by men. You know how it's mass produced?

429
00:29:30,785 --> 00:29:33,115
Say this prayer.

430
00:29:33,115 --> 00:29:35,695
Say this prayer.

431
00:29:36,602 --> 00:29:40,094
Justin Trevino was just asking, he wants to put together a tract.

432
00:29:40,094 --> 00:29:43,923
He was saying, What's such a common response that we hear.

433
00:29:43,923 --> 00:29:48,424
If I just go quickly through my mind, and I think about different doors that I show up.

434
00:29:48,424 --> 00:29:52,923
I remember one time in encountering a girl. "Are you a Christian?" - "I sing in the choir."

435
00:29:52,923 --> 00:29:56,426
I remember going down to a door down in Stockdale. "Are you a Christian?"

436
00:29:56,426 --> 00:30:01,756
- "I'm a deacon." You see that's not what I'm asking. I'm not asking rather they're in the choir.

437
00:30:01,756 --> 00:30:05,817
What do they do? They associate being a Christian with being a deacon.

438
00:30:05,817 --> 00:30:09,425
That's something you can do, you can become a deacon. We can do that in your own strength.

439
00:30:09,425 --> 00:30:12,195
You can get on the choir; you can do that in your own strength.

440
00:30:12,195 --> 00:30:15,452
You can say a prayer; you can do that in your own strength.

441
00:30:15,452 --> 00:30:18,339
But you cannot change your heart.

442
00:30:18,339 --> 00:30:22,414
You can no more do it, than a leopard can change it's spots. You cannot do that.

443
00:30:22,414 --> 00:30:24,924
You cannot reach your heart.

444
00:30:24,924 --> 00:30:29,423
Our hope is in the regeneration of our God.

445
00:30:29,423 --> 00:30:32,841
Regeneration - New birth, being born again, being born of God.

446
00:30:32,841 --> 00:30:37,400
Those are all synonymous terms. That's got to happen.

447
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:40,926
You say, "Well, I believe." Have you been born again?

448
00:30:40,926 --> 00:30:45,310
Is your faith a product of the new birth? Is that what we're talking about here?

449
00:30:45,310 --> 00:30:49,675
The notion that Christianity is mainly the result of something that we do,

450
00:30:49,675 --> 00:30:55,780
is always completely and fatally wrong. It is wrong.

451
00:30:55,780 --> 00:30:59,328
Yes we press men to do something.

452
00:30:59,328 --> 00:31:07,460
Listen, unless God steps in and breaths life into them. Transforming life.

453
00:31:07,460 --> 00:31:13,921
Powerful, life-changing life.

454
00:31:13,921 --> 00:31:17,769
Then what ever faith is there, is a faith that will take a man to hell.

455
00:31:17,769 --> 00:31:25,197
John is looking at this. He's saying; Show me faith, I'll show you somebody that's been born again.

456
00:31:25,197 --> 00:31:29,701
The Church has always been birthed out of the fire of God that has come down.

457
00:31:29,701 --> 00:31:33,912
We have to reject all the notions of Christianity that is a result of actions.

458
00:31:35,204 --> 00:31:37,585
This is how I thought it was.

459
00:31:37,585 --> 00:31:41,500
People go to church; Why? Because they decide to. That's what I thought.

460
00:31:41,500 --> 00:31:43,762
I thought; I can become a christian. I can become a church goer.

461
00:31:43,762 --> 00:31:47,269
I can get things right with God when I decide to.

462
00:31:47,269 --> 00:31:49,486
And I had it all figured out when I got older.

463
00:31:49,486 --> 00:31:52,487
Who was it that was saying just the other day, they were thinking. Oh Jason.

464
00:31:52,487 --> 00:31:54,987
When he was giving his testimony on Wednesday.

465
00:31:54,987 --> 00:31:59,611
Saying you know, he figured he'd get his act together later. That's how I always was.

466
00:31:59,611 --> 00:32:02,989
I'll get my act together later.

467
00:32:02,989 --> 00:32:07,287
You see, but when God gave me life it did not have to do with my timeline.

468
00:32:07,287 --> 00:32:10,823
He stepped in and totally messed up my timeline.

469
00:32:10,823 --> 00:32:14,404
My timeline was live it up now, get it right at the end.

470
00:32:14,404 --> 00:32:20,466
Right, isn't that how the world thinks? Enjoy my sin now, avoid hell at the end.

471
00:32:20,466 --> 00:32:23,736
Is wasn't so much that you want heaven, you just don't want hell.

472
00:32:23,736 --> 00:32:27,486
I mean, the God of scripture is not highly appealing.

473
00:32:27,486 --> 00:32:34,922
Yeah, paradise sounds good, but the paradise of a lost man is not the paradise described in scripture.

474
00:32:34,922 --> 00:32:40,276
And so... That's how it was.

475
00:32:40,276 --> 00:32:47,198
Reasoning Faculties: How many people can logically think. "Yeah I see this.

476
00:32:47,198 --> 00:32:51,228
I can believe that Jesus was a historical figure, and I can believe he went to the cross.

477
00:32:51,228 --> 00:32:53,866
And I can believe that he died in the place (of me)."

478
00:32:53,866 --> 00:32:57,247
And so they got this intellectual knowledge, but there's no transformation of life.

479
00:32:57,247 --> 00:33:01,667
So they walk around thinking all is well because they believe some of these facts.

480
00:33:01,667 --> 00:33:06,564
They've logically and intellectually sorted this out, even said a prayer.

481
00:33:06,564 --> 00:33:10,725
"Lord please forgive me for all my sins." And then somebody's right there to tell them,

482
00:33:10,725 --> 00:33:14,269
Don't worry about it, Don't worry about it, you're okay, you've said the prayer.

483
00:33:14,269 --> 00:33:17,850
Any doubts, any of that stuff it's all of the devil.

484
00:33:17,850 --> 00:33:23,397
Listen Brethren! You cannot fit anything like that into the book of Acts.

485
00:33:23,397 --> 00:33:25,728
It's not there.

486
00:33:25,728 --> 00:33:28,758
What do you find in the book of Acts?

487
00:33:28,758 --> 00:33:35,832
Oh brethren, "Suddenly there came from heaven a sound of a mighty rushing wind." What was that?

488
00:33:35,832 --> 00:33:40,794
That was God coming from the outside; coming down, coming in.

489
00:33:40,794 --> 00:33:44,416
And what happens to God's people? They react.

490
00:33:44,416 --> 00:33:48,251
They react to what God does, that's true Christianity.

491
00:33:48,251 --> 00:33:51,083
True Christianity has always been that way.

492
00:33:51,083 --> 00:33:58,166
True Christianity has been; "Abraham come out of Ur of the Chaldees." It has always been that way.

493
00:33:58,166 --> 00:34:03,440
"Moses take your shoes off." It's always been that.

494
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:07,997
Moses, lead my people out.

495
00:34:07,997 --> 00:34:11,820
Joshua, take my people in.

496
00:34:11,820 --> 00:34:12,700
It's always been that.

497
00:34:12,700 --> 00:34:19,457
Have you ever read that God said to Israel, that He gave them the land of Canaan.

498
00:34:19,457 --> 00:34:21,250
They went in and fought.

499
00:34:21,250 --> 00:34:24,714
Didn't they get it by their own power, by their own sword, by their own strength?

500
00:34:24,714 --> 00:34:28,166
No! God says, I gave it to you. That's the way.

501
00:34:28,166 --> 00:34:34,173
We say, "Hey, didn't we get this by my own saying of the prayer, by my own faith?"

502
00:34:34,173 --> 00:34:35,502
Yes we did those things.

503
00:34:35,502 --> 00:34:42,570
Just like the troops of Israel marched in with spear, and sword, and shield.

504
00:34:42,570 --> 00:34:45,116
And they fought.

505
00:34:45,116 --> 00:34:49,906
But ultimately it is God; It is God that carries us, it is the God who acts.

506
00:34:49,906 --> 00:34:54,202
It is the God who is Alpha. It is the God who is first.

507
00:34:54,202 --> 00:34:59,032
Divine power is first and foremost, in our transformation.

508
00:34:59,032 --> 00:35:05,034
Brethren, Christianity is not some dead powerless thing.

509
00:35:05,034 --> 00:35:07,050
We cannot think that it is.

510
00:35:07,050 --> 00:35:10,615
This is not the picture of salvation in scripture.

511
00:35:10,615 --> 00:35:13,114
The problem with so much, of the so called religion of the world today,

512
00:35:13,114 --> 00:35:15,753
is they just simply don't believe in this God.

513
00:35:15,753 --> 00:35:17,983
They don't believe in the God who acts.

514
00:35:17,983 --> 00:35:23,137
They believe in a God who is a spectator. It is a form of just modern deism.

515
00:35:23,137 --> 00:35:26,433
God kind of sits there, he waits for us to act.

516
00:35:27,755 --> 00:35:31,064
Deism is this idea, if you wound everything up,

517
00:35:31,064 --> 00:35:35,151
and now you just let it go, and God stands back and he's not involved.

518
00:35:35,151 --> 00:35:38,936
But you know what? Practically that's exactly what we have in the religious sense today.

519
00:35:38,936 --> 00:35:42,908
God wound up this thing of salvation. and He stands back now.

520
00:35:42,908 --> 00:35:45,579
And He stands back now, and He gives everybody just the freedom to believe, or not to believe.

521
00:35:45,579 --> 00:35:49,106
It's dependent on your will, ultimately.

522
00:35:49,106 --> 00:35:57,711
Listen. It is dependent on our will! If you... whosoever will, you drink, drink!

523
00:35:57,711 --> 00:36:02,022
But what do we find? It's God who causes us to will, and to do.

524
00:36:02,022 --> 00:36:05,892
It is God who is in control, it's not some powerless dead thing.

525
00:36:05,892 --> 00:36:09,622
Oh Brethren, people don't believe in the God of scripture.

526
00:36:09,622 --> 00:36:13,330
They don't believe in the God who's the first, and the last.

527
00:36:13,330 --> 00:36:16,203
Man fights to put himself first.

528
00:36:16,203 --> 00:36:19,205
Man is proud, that's why he wants to be first.

529
00:36:19,205 --> 00:36:22,246
He wants to be top dog. He doesn't want a God that rules him.

530
00:36:22,246 --> 00:36:24,797
A God that rules him, scares him.

531
00:36:24,797 --> 00:36:29,080
A God that saves him, scares him.

532
00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:33,828
Salvation that is "of God", scares man.

533
00:36:33,828 --> 00:36:37,688
Because you know why? It makes man recognize, I'm not in control.

534
00:36:37,688 --> 00:36:42,345
Man does not like, to not be in control. He wants to be in control.

535
00:36:42,345 --> 00:36:45,929
This truth terrifies men.

536
00:36:45,929 --> 00:36:49,434
Of course the world out there is not interested...

537
00:36:49,434 --> 00:36:54,210
Brethren, the world out there constructs its religions.

538
00:36:54,210 --> 00:36:57,981
But you know what? You know what they're finding now?

539
00:36:57,981 --> 00:37:02,960
I'm hearing the statistics.

540
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:05,204
You know how many people are not going to church?

541
00:37:05,204 --> 00:37:09,687
You know how many people are not even identifying themselves with any kind of religious body,

542
00:37:09,687 --> 00:37:13,537
or denomination any more?

543
00:37:13,537 --> 00:37:17,920
It is increasing vastly.

544
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,673
But you know what, if your lost out there;

545
00:37:21,673 --> 00:37:24,801
If your lost out there in the world,

546
00:37:24,801 --> 00:37:29,737
are you surprised?

547
00:37:29,737 --> 00:37:32,175
Are we surprised?

548
00:37:32,175 --> 00:37:38,514
That the world out there is not interested in most of the churches.

549
00:37:38,514 --> 00:37:46,769
Now they might be interested, if there's a place of power, position, money.

550
00:37:46,769 --> 00:37:48,570
If there is something to be gained.

551
00:37:48,570 --> 00:37:50,441
You see the world has certain things that they want,

552
00:37:50,441 --> 00:37:56,320
and if they perceive that they can gain them in a certain church environment, then they're there.

553
00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:03,822
Brethren, God isn't in it. There's no power in it. There's no truth in it. There's no true joy.

554
00:38:03,822 --> 00:38:08,153
There's no miracles happening.

555
00:38:08,153 --> 00:38:12,508
Brethren, you know what? If our churches resemble the churches in the the book of Acts.

556
00:38:12,508 --> 00:38:15,322
That interests people. That scares people!

557
00:38:15,322 --> 00:38:17,633
That causes people to respect.

558
00:38:17,633 --> 00:38:22,514
You know what; Ananias and Sapphira die in your midst, and God did that, God was acting.

559
00:38:22,514 --> 00:38:26,684
No human stuck a sword in them, God killed them.

560
00:38:26,684 --> 00:38:31,440
The people feared. The people were highly respected. Many were being added.

561
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:37,827
You know what? It's attractive to come were the truth is, and it's powerful.

562
00:38:37,827 --> 00:38:42,830
And It's changing lives, and God is moving, and God does things.

563
00:38:42,830 --> 00:38:44,920
Isn't that attractive?

564
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:51,477
Is it any surprise; I mean do you want to go in places where you just feel like...

565
00:38:51,477 --> 00:38:55,812
You feel like when you walk in it's just Death is in the air.

566
00:38:55,812 --> 00:38:57,062
Who wants to go there?

567
00:38:57,062 --> 00:39:02,144
Is it any surprise to us that people aren't more attracted to that kind of thing?

568
00:39:02,144 --> 00:39:08,112
Or they step into the churches, and they can tell right away. The guy in the pulpit is just greedy.

569
00:39:08,112 --> 00:39:10,194
All he does is talk about money.

570
00:39:10,194 --> 00:39:18,202
I can't come to this church, or they stick a basket in front of my face ten times in a day.

571
00:39:18,202 --> 00:39:21,396
They don't believe in the God who is able to provide all of our needs.

572
00:39:21,396 --> 00:39:23,126
They think they got to do it.

573
00:39:23,126 --> 00:39:28,034
They got to get the money, they got to talk about tithing all the time; They got to do this.

574
00:39:28,034 --> 00:39:30,671
Who wants that? Are you just going to empty your pockets;

575
00:39:30,671 --> 00:39:32,383
Again I told this story;

576
00:39:32,383 --> 00:39:36,970
You know Carlos talks about his dad going to a church where they locked the doors, and they said;

577
00:39:36,970 --> 00:39:40,171
We're going to fill up this five gallon bucket, or we're going to get so much money.

578
00:39:40,171 --> 00:39:44,671
Mark Outing told me about in his church;

579
00:39:44,671 --> 00:39:48,815
I think they would lock the doors there too, and they would pass the basket a second time.

580
00:39:48,815 --> 00:39:54,918
They would count up what was in the basket, and say, "Not enough, pass it again, nobody's leaving."

581
00:39:54,918 --> 00:39:56,485
What's that?

582
00:39:56,485 --> 00:39:58,983
You want to go the church there?

583
00:39:58,983 --> 00:40:02,220
Where you come in, they're just going to extort money and twist your arm.

584
00:40:02,220 --> 00:40:05,137
I want to come to a church where God is mighty,

585
00:40:05,137 --> 00:40:10,765
and He moves upon the hearts of people to give to the kind of things that He wants the church to do.

586
00:40:10,765 --> 00:40:12,144
Where there is no coercion.

587
00:40:12,144 --> 00:40:15,737
I want a church where God does miracles, where He comes down.

588
00:40:15,737 --> 00:40:20,849
Not where His presence is a sales pitch for the radio.

589
00:40:20,849 --> 00:40:25,617
But where God comes down, like you read about in the days of Lloyd-Jones.

590
00:40:25,617 --> 00:40:30,501
When people walked in there. They sensed the presence of God is in this place.

591
00:40:30,501 --> 00:40:34,950
They didn't have an announcement on the radio, the people felt it.

592
00:40:34,950 --> 00:40:36,928
You ever heard about Spurgeon preaching the first time?

593
00:40:36,928 --> 00:40:41,679
He preached the first time in New Park Street (chapel) in that pulpit.

594
00:40:41,679 --> 00:40:45,135
He preached in the morning to about what, twenty people?

595
00:40:45,135 --> 00:40:50,371
And by the evening service of the same day the place was packed.

596
00:40:50,371 --> 00:40:54,972
Why? - Because God had come. Not because Spurgeon had come.

597
00:40:54,972 --> 00:41:04,557
But because God came, and attested to, and confirmed His gospel through his mouthpiece of Spurgeon.

598
00:41:04,557 --> 00:41:08,941
He laid his hand on there. Spurgeon could have been nothing aside from God.

599
00:41:08,941 --> 00:41:12,117
We can receive nothing except it's given to us from heaven.

600
00:41:12,117 --> 00:41:17,624
Without Christ he would have just as incapable of preaching, as a lost man.

601
00:41:17,624 --> 00:41:22,036
What happened? God showed up in the place, not Charles Spurgeon.

602
00:41:22,036 --> 00:41:25,258
God showed up, and the people sensed it immediately.

603
00:41:25,258 --> 00:41:27,594
And it's attractive.

604
00:41:27,594 --> 00:41:34,216
That kind of Christianity is attractive. Oh! it scares the natural man.

605
00:41:34,216 --> 00:41:39,758
But it is attractive. There is a power, there is help, there is hope.

606
00:41:39,758 --> 00:41:45,360
The God who acts is our hope. We don't have any other hope brethren, than that.

607
00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:49,750
How do we view Christianity? How do we view it?

608
00:41:49,750 --> 00:41:51,197
Oh brethren.

609
00:41:51,197 --> 00:41:55,720
We live in a world with this artificial kind of faith.

610
00:41:55,720 --> 00:42:01,214
This, just intellectual believing; It's just massed produced.

611
00:42:01,214 --> 00:42:07,597
But we need the faith that saves. The faith that grows in the soil of the new birth.

612
00:42:07,597 --> 00:42:09,600
Have you ever read what Peter said?

613
00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:17,891
Peter said, "We are as true believers, we are partakers of the Divine nature."

614
00:42:17,891 --> 00:42:20,838
Have you ever read what Peter said, about how that happens?

615
00:42:20,838 --> 00:42:29,340
His (Gods) divine power Has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

616
00:42:29,340 --> 00:42:37,121
And then he goes on to tell us how we're partakers of the divine nature. "Out of God you were begotten."

617
00:42:37,121 --> 00:42:44,838
You were born from Him, and you bear the divine, and it happened by the power of God.

618
00:42:44,838 --> 00:42:47,839
The New Testament idea of what makes us a Christian,

619
00:42:47,839 --> 00:42:55,178
is not first and foremost our devices and decisions.

620
00:42:55,178 --> 00:42:57,853
Brethren,

621
00:42:57,853 --> 00:43:01,649
think about this.

622
00:43:01,649 --> 00:43:06,879
Paul says,

623
00:43:06,879 --> 00:43:14,863
that if you are in Christ, you are a new creation.

624
00:43:14,863 --> 00:43:17,663
New Creation;

625
00:43:17,663 --> 00:43:19,663
Old has passed away.

626
00:43:19,663 --> 00:43:22,246
Behold, Behold!

627
00:43:22,246 --> 00:43:26,165
You can see it. He's saying look, look, look!

628
00:43:26,165 --> 00:43:29,412
It's new, it's new.

629
00:43:29,412 --> 00:43:35,384
If you have a faith that is truly of God,

630
00:43:35,384 --> 00:43:39,723
it is because you are a new creation.

631
00:43:39,723 --> 00:43:45,694
And if you are a new creation, you have sensed a transformation in you.

632
00:43:45,694 --> 00:43:49,031
Old things pass away, all things become new.

633
00:43:49,031 --> 00:43:53,994
That's what is taught. And what does Paul say next?

634
00:43:53,994 --> 00:44:00,152
All this is from God.

635
00:44:00,152 --> 00:44:02,823
You don't recreate yourself.

636
00:44:02,823 --> 00:44:06,905
You do not make the new creation happen.

637
00:44:06,905 --> 00:44:09,707
Brethren according to the New Testament, when we become a Christian.

638
00:44:09,707 --> 00:44:18,385
We are totally unlike anything that we were before we were converted.

639
00:44:18,385 --> 00:44:20,383
That's what he's teaching.

640
00:44:20,383 --> 00:44:21,907
Altogether new.

641
00:44:21,907 --> 00:44:25,014
True Christianity is the action of God upon us.

642
00:44:25,014 --> 00:44:31,981
I become something essentially different than what I was.

643
00:44:31,981 --> 00:44:37,627
If you're a believer? If you truly believe that Jesus is the Christ?

644
00:44:37,627 --> 00:44:42,557
This is a result of far more than a decision that you made.

645
00:44:42,557 --> 00:44:47,392
You're going to become aware of a great difference within yourself. Is that not true?

646
00:44:47,392 --> 00:44:50,115
That's what Paul teaches. I can say that.

647
00:44:50,115 --> 00:44:55,827
My experience, and my testimony is not the starting point.

648
00:44:55,827 --> 00:44:59,244
But I can say, that when I look at what scripture says;

649
00:44:59,244 --> 00:45:03,166
I say wow, twenty-five years ago that's what happened to me.

650
00:45:03,166 --> 00:45:05,674
I suddenly became something that I was not before.

651
00:45:05,674 --> 00:45:10,219
A great newness had come into my life, something that was not there before.

652
00:45:10,219 --> 00:45:16,807
You feel within yourself such changes as declare you to be a new creation.

653
00:45:16,807 --> 00:45:21,894
And when this happens, the result is ALWAYS this.

654
00:45:21,894 --> 00:45:24,899
You see...

655
00:45:24,899 --> 00:45:26,483
You say, what do you mean I see?

656
00:45:26,483 --> 00:45:35,836
Suddenly you can behold; just as God in the beginning says; "Let there be light."

657
00:45:35,836 --> 00:45:40,120
Remember, He said that, He initiated that.

658
00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:45,542
Paul says; Second Corinthians chapter four. Just like that happened;

659
00:45:45,542 --> 00:45:51,968
So God says, behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

660
00:45:51,968 --> 00:45:55,136
And you can see, That's Faith!

661
00:45:55,136 --> 00:45:58,558
One of the glories you behold is that Jesus is the Christ.

662
00:45:58,558 --> 00:46:03,320
How does it happen? Because you're a new creation.

663
00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:08,216
And God did that, God is responsible for that.

664
00:46:08,216 --> 00:46:10,235
We read in scripture;

665
00:46:10,235 --> 00:46:15,785
God opens the eyes of the blind. How is it that we come to see that Jesus is the Christ?

666
00:46:15,785 --> 00:46:18,235
Because God has opened our eyes.

667
00:46:18,235 --> 00:46:23,071
Isaiah 42:16 I will turn the darkness before them into light.

668
00:46:23,071 --> 00:46:26,902
All things become new, God makes them new. The blind no longer blind.

669
00:46:26,902 --> 00:46:31,540
The main object that the New Testament declares,

670
00:46:31,540 --> 00:46:34,523
that is going to be perceived by those who are a new creation,

671
00:46:34,523 --> 00:46:40,220
is this beauty and glory in Christ, the truth about Christ.

672
00:46:40,220 --> 00:46:48,117
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, has been born of God.

673
00:46:48,117 --> 00:46:53,970
Let me ask you this; What does it mean to believe, that Jesus is the Christ?

674
00:46:53,970 --> 00:47:04,319
Because see; When somebody becomes a new creation, by the "Out of God" Birthing.

675
00:47:04,319 --> 00:47:07,100
Their faith...

676
00:47:07,100 --> 00:47:17,959
They just don't believe that Jesus was historically a true person like Ghandi,

677
00:47:17,959 --> 00:47:21,858
or Hitler.

678
00:47:21,858 --> 00:47:25,613
They believe that Jesus is the Christ.

679
00:47:25,613 --> 00:47:27,975
So what is that?

680
00:47:27,975 --> 00:47:30,478
Well, just follow the links.

681
00:47:30,478 --> 00:47:40,213
We know that in John 1, when Andrew brings Peter he says, We found him, the Messiah.

682
00:47:40,213 --> 00:47:44,724
Which is translated, Christ.

683
00:47:44,724 --> 00:47:47,057
That's what it says there.

684
00:47:47,057 --> 00:47:49,222
John 1:41

685
00:47:49,222 --> 00:47:58,724
We have the Messiah, which means Christ. But what does Messiah mean? The Anointed.

686
00:47:58,724 --> 00:48:02,394
I want you to think about something.

687
00:48:02,394 --> 00:48:08,641
Scour the Old Testament. You pull out your commentary.

688
00:48:08,641 --> 00:48:15,202
You search on every form of the word "Anoint".

689
00:48:15,202 --> 00:48:24,129
Two, I mean; It doesn't even come close.

690
00:48:24,129 --> 00:48:33,056
Two individuals are shown to be The Anointed ones.

691
00:48:33,056 --> 00:48:36,935
Way beyond anybody else in script, do you know what they are?

692
00:48:36,935 --> 00:48:41,735
Do you know the two individuals I am talking about?

693
00:48:41,735 --> 00:48:47,603
The first one, is the High Priest.

694
00:48:47,603 --> 00:48:54,767
The High Priest is talked about being anointed by the anointing oil; over and over, and over again.

695
00:48:54,767 --> 00:48:56,959
Do you know who the second one is?

696
00:48:56,959 --> 00:48:59,519
The King of Israel.

697
00:48:59,519 --> 00:49:05,715
Those two individuals are the anointed ones of scripture.

698
00:49:05,715 --> 00:49:10,056
The High Priest, and the King of Israel.

699
00:49:10,056 --> 00:49:19,816
And when John says, That if you've born of God, you believe that Jesus is the Christ.

700
00:49:19,816 --> 00:49:25,354
He is saying, You believe He is the anointed one of God.

701
00:49:25,354 --> 00:49:31,744
And this points us right to these realities.

702
00:49:31,744 --> 00:49:35,624
Exodus 30:30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons,

703
00:49:35,624 --> 00:49:39,917
and consecrate them, that they may serve me as Priests.

704
00:49:39,917 --> 00:49:44,631
2 Samuel 12:7 Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel to David;

705
00:49:44,631 --> 00:49:54,356
"I anointed you King over Israel." I'm just giving you a little samples here of a weight of verses.

706
00:49:54,356 --> 00:49:57,607
Think about this brethren. To believe that Jesus is the Christ,

707
00:49:57,607 --> 00:50:01,277
is to believe that Jesus is the anointed of God.

708
00:50:01,277 --> 00:50:06,699
It is the High Priest, and The King of Israel who are anointed.

709
00:50:06,699 --> 00:50:09,246
Let me ask you this.

710
00:50:09,246 --> 00:50:18,754
Where do we find somebody in scripture who is both King, and Priest?

711
00:50:18,754 --> 00:50:34,103
Scour the scriptures. Where do you find somebody who captures both of anointings in one person?

712
00:50:34,103 --> 00:50:40,313
Who is the King-Priest in scripture?

713
00:50:40,313 --> 00:50:46,947
Melchizedek.

714
00:50:46,947 --> 00:50:49,563
He is.

715
00:50:49,563 --> 00:50:57,166
He is King of Righteousness, and King of Peace, and the Living God says to Jesus,

716
00:50:57,166 --> 00:51:01,985
"You are a Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."

717
00:51:01,985 --> 00:51:06,815
He's called King of Peace, King of Righteousness.

718
00:51:06,815 --> 00:51:14,930
And God says, of Jesus, "You are a Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."

719
00:51:14,930 --> 00:51:16,814
I thought he was a King? He is.

720
00:51:16,814 --> 00:51:18,564
And He is a Priest.

721
00:51:18,564 --> 00:51:30,147
This is why Melchizedek so captures; He is so much the foreshadowing of Christ.

722
00:51:30,147 --> 00:51:40,314
Christ is of the order of Melchizedek. He is the King, He is the Priest.

723
00:51:40,314 --> 00:51:45,046
Listen; Psalm 45 (this is said of Christ)

724
00:51:45,046 --> 00:51:47,338
"Your throne oh God, is forever and ever.

725
00:51:47,338 --> 00:51:50,972
The scepter of your Kingdom, is a scepter of uprightness.

726
00:51:50,972 --> 00:51:54,171
You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness.

727
00:51:54,171 --> 00:51:58,727
Therefore God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness."

728
00:51:58,727 --> 00:52:02,943
There he is; Anointed, "anointed you with the oil."

729
00:52:02,943 --> 00:52:14,204
Not the oil that that they used upon Aaron, but the oil of gladness.

730
00:52:14,204 --> 00:52:15,505
He is the anointed.

731
00:52:15,505 --> 00:52:18,876
He has a throne, He has a scepter, He has a kingdom,

732
00:52:18,876 --> 00:52:22,878
He is a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.

733
00:52:22,878 --> 00:52:29,473
This says, "Your throne, oh God is forever and ever."

734
00:52:29,473 --> 00:52:35,072
He is the anointed, He is the God King, He is the King Priest.

735
00:52:35,072 --> 00:52:38,073
This is the idea behind anointing.

736
00:52:38,073 --> 00:52:44,593
You know, of course listen; Of course, many say, many say:

737
00:52:44,593 --> 00:52:53,709
"Well I believe Jesus is the Christ." Many who have never been born again.

738
00:52:53,709 --> 00:53:01,955
But it is not a true faith. People can say that, people can articulate it. People can say the words.

739
00:53:01,955 --> 00:53:04,315
People can say, "I believe in Jesus."

740
00:53:04,315 --> 00:53:09,130
People can say, "Lord, Lord." And He says in the end, "I never knew you."

741
00:53:09,130 --> 00:53:20,619
But whoever, brethren; Whoever believes in their heart, and receives Jesus as the anointed of God.

742
00:53:20,619 --> 00:53:23,878
As scripture sets him forth.

743
00:53:23,878 --> 00:53:27,672
That man, that woman, is a regenerate man.

744
00:53:27,672 --> 00:53:29,710
Here's what you ask yourself.

745
00:53:29,710 --> 00:53:35,743
Look, I'm not asking, and I don't expect anybody when they first believe can articulate all the doctrine.

746
00:53:35,743 --> 00:53:40,329
And articulate all the meaning found in the Book of Hebrews.

747
00:53:40,329 --> 00:53:43,633
About Him being a Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek;

748
00:53:43,633 --> 00:53:47,133
And what it means to be a High Priest, and the fact that He's King of Righteousness,

749
00:53:47,133 --> 00:53:50,005
and King of Peace. Not all that.

750
00:53:50,005 --> 00:53:58,116
But the truth is, that Jesus is the Anointed High Priest, and what is it that Priests do?

751
00:53:58,116 --> 00:54:06,955
They offer sacrifices on behalf of the people, in order to make us acceptable to God.

752
00:54:06,955 --> 00:54:09,691
My question is this.

753
00:54:09,691 --> 00:54:18,118
Do you see Christ making one sacrifice, one offering of Himself to God?

754
00:54:18,118 --> 00:54:21,744
By which you are to be saved to the uttermost.

755
00:54:21,744 --> 00:54:22,718
Do you believe -

756
00:54:22,718 --> 00:54:26,583
that there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved?

757
00:54:26,583 --> 00:54:34,809
That in Him, and in Him alone, is the only offering by which God might be satisfied for your sin.

758
00:54:34,809 --> 00:54:36,809
That's what a Priest does.

759
00:54:36,809 --> 00:54:42,640
That is who He is. He is the High Priest, because He makes an offering for His people.

760
00:54:42,640 --> 00:54:46,563
I don't ask you whether you can articulate all the doctrines about the High Priest.

761
00:54:46,563 --> 00:54:54,227
But do you trust that, that one sacrifice made by Christ; You've trusted your soul to it.

762
00:54:54,227 --> 00:55:00,142
You have earnestly, honestly; Your faith is there.

763
00:55:00,142 --> 00:55:02,785
It is not in what you do, it is not in your tithing.

764
00:55:02,785 --> 00:55:06,582
It is not in the fact that you believe. It is not in the fact that you repent.

765
00:55:06,582 --> 00:55:12,311
It is not in the fact that you said a prayer one time. Your faith is in Him.

766
00:55:12,311 --> 00:55:17,248
It is in what He did there. And...

767
00:55:17,248 --> 00:55:23,028
He is a King, He is your King.

768
00:55:23,028 --> 00:55:31,258
Is Jesus, who is now seated there at the right hand of the Majesty on High;

769
00:55:31,258 --> 00:55:34,306
Is He your King?

770
00:55:34,306 --> 00:55:43,816
The one who once bled on that Cross. Is He King to you? Is His law your law?

771
00:55:43,816 --> 00:55:49,238
If you say you know Him, and you don't keep His commandments your a liar.

772
00:55:49,238 --> 00:55:56,743
You see the true faith that springs forth from being born of God,

773
00:55:56,743 --> 00:56:05,749
is a faith that rests in what this High Priest did; In this once for all offering, on that bloody cross.

774
00:56:05,749 --> 00:56:09,363
And it is in Him as King.

775
00:56:09,363 --> 00:56:15,860
You're surrendered to His will. Unless you forsake all that you have you cannot be His disciple.

776
00:56:15,860 --> 00:56:17,679
It's that kind of faith.

777
00:56:17,679 --> 00:56:23,441
It is the kind of faith where you rest in His leadership.

778
00:56:23,441 --> 00:56:30,191
Are you a loyal subject to Him? You desire to see His kingdom advance, and to see His will be done.

779
00:56:30,191 --> 00:56:32,153
Is that what you desire?

780
00:56:32,153 --> 00:56:44,118
Listen, if you can earnestly say that, you can honestly say that; You are one of His; You believe.

781
00:56:44,118 --> 00:56:53,138
If you can say that you believe that Jesus is the Christ in that sense.

782
00:56:53,138 --> 00:56:58,482
I do trust Him as the anointed of God, in that way.

783
00:56:58,482 --> 00:57:02,817
Then you have the faith of one who is born of God.

784
00:57:02,817 --> 00:57:14,867
Because, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.

785
00:57:14,867 --> 00:57:19,702
That's what scripture says.

786
00:57:19,702 --> 00:57:29,115
Father, I

787
00:57:29,115 --> 00:57:35,024
I pray that you would arise and move.

788
00:57:35,024 --> 00:57:41,816
Lord I pray, I pray

789
00:57:41,816 --> 00:57:50,738
that you would encourage this church with the fires from above that lit up that early church.

790
00:57:50,738 --> 00:57:57,158
I pray Lord that you would motive this church to pray like you did there is Acts 4.

791
00:57:57,158 --> 00:58:02,341
I pray Lord that you would motivate these people like we find in the Apostle Paul;

792
00:58:02,341 --> 00:58:07,095
Who could wish himself accursed and cutoff from Christ for the sake of his brethren, according to the flesh.

793
00:58:07,095 --> 00:58:15,936
I pray Lord that you would infuse such soul winning life, such hunger for souls, such compassion.

794
00:58:15,936 --> 00:58:21,153
Such a desire to see others saved. A pity upon the lost in this place.

795
00:58:21,153 --> 00:58:24,113
Lord raise up an army of soul winners here.

796
00:58:24,113 --> 00:58:26,868
I pray Father that you would bring real salvation.

797
00:58:26,868 --> 00:58:28,487
I pray that you would quicken the dead.

798
00:58:28,487 --> 00:58:33,320
I pray Lord that you would arouse the false convert, the deceived.

799
00:58:33,320 --> 00:58:36,405
I pray Lord that you would breathe more life,

800
00:58:36,405 --> 00:58:40,486
more degrees of glory, more sanctification, more holiness.

801
00:58:40,486 --> 00:58:47,987
Lord more of the fruit of the Spirit, and more growth, more faith into the life of your people.

802
00:58:47,987 --> 00:58:53,391
I pray Father that there would be that up-building, that there would be that increase in love,

803
00:58:53,391 --> 00:58:58,023
that increase in humility, that destruction of pride, destruction of the deeds of the flesh.

804
00:58:58,023 --> 00:59:07,151
I pray Father that you would so ... so steer our minds that they be absorbed on the things above,

805
00:59:07,151 --> 00:59:08,944
the things of Christ.

806
00:59:08,944 --> 00:59:14,240
Lord we pray that the image of Christ, the aroma of Christ, the realities of Christ,

807
00:59:14,240 --> 00:59:16,590
the doctrine of Christ, the love of Christ.

808
00:59:16,590 --> 00:59:22,377
Lord may it constrain us, and motivate us, and move us more and more.

809
00:59:22,377 --> 00:59:24,797
We pray for the activity of the Spirit,

810
00:59:24,797 --> 00:59:30,425
the activity of the Son, the activity of the Triune God, activity of God the Father.

811
00:59:30,425 --> 00:59:32,605
Lord, move in our midst.

812
00:59:32,605 --> 00:59:39,397
We pray that you would call aside men and women like you have in ages past, for the mission field.

813
00:59:39,397 --> 00:59:43,021
We pray that you would so equip men and women for ministries;

814
00:59:43,021 --> 00:59:48,231
That they might go forth into this dark world, and be light and be salt.

815
00:59:48,231 --> 00:59:51,661
Lord we pray for the power of God to be among your people.

816
00:59:51,661 --> 00:59:56,410
We pray Lord that you would empower us, encourage us Lord, encourage us.

817
00:59:56,410 --> 01:00:02,539
Father, we sought to pray over one of our brothers on Wednesday,

818
01:00:02,539 --> 01:00:08,294
and just thinking Lord about how often we prayed over those who have been sick or ill, or something Lord.

819
01:00:08,294 --> 01:00:13,706
We pray that you would move, we pray Father that we would see folks healed,

820
01:00:13,706 --> 01:00:14,931
when we pray like that.

821
01:00:14,931 --> 01:00:19,122
We pray Father for more answers to the prayers of the brethren here.

822
01:00:19,122 --> 01:00:23,208
More souls Lord, give us more souls.

823
01:00:23,208 --> 01:00:28,057
Lord, we want to be faithful. We want to, as we heard in the first hour, we want to walk worthy of Christ.

824
01:00:28,057 --> 01:00:30,054
Walk worthy of the gospel.

825
01:00:30,054 --> 01:00:34,868
We want to strive, we want to be of one mind. We want to be of that one spirit.

826
01:00:34,868 --> 01:00:38,450
We want to strive, stretching forth, leaning forth.

827
01:00:38,450 --> 01:00:45,796
Reaching for that prize, that is out there. Shoulder to shoulder for the faith of the gospel.

828
01:00:45,796 --> 01:00:51,595
We want to press on, upward, onward, with our eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

829
01:00:51,595 --> 01:00:54,014
Running this race, fighting the good fight of faith.

830
01:00:54,014 --> 01:01:01,380
Lord we pray for the grace of God. Great grace was upon those people in the beginning.

831
01:01:01,380 --> 01:01:09,403
Great grace, the great grace of God. Oh Lord, we want it to be upon us in our day.

832
01:01:09,403 --> 01:01:14,363
Lord makes this all real, make it alive. We don't want dead religion.

833
01:01:14,363 --> 01:01:19,708
We want the life that comes from you, we want the kind of church where God is active.

834
01:01:19,708 --> 01:01:24,083
Where you are the Alpha, you are the beginning, you are the the first,

835
01:01:24,083 --> 01:01:26,128
and your moving all the time; First.

836
01:01:26,128 --> 01:01:31,298
If we love, it's because you first loved us. Lord we want that God who initiates.

837
01:01:31,298 --> 01:01:36,680
We want that God who is, that God who has always been the initiator, not the observer,

838
01:01:36,680 --> 01:01:41,881
not the bystander. But the God who is active in the lives and in the churches.

839
01:01:41,881 --> 01:01:48,273
Lord that's what we want, that's what we pray for. Would you please grant us this, the real thing.

840
01:01:48,273 --> 01:01:52,235
Lord we want the life of the book of Acts to be real here.

841
01:01:52,235 --> 01:01:56,514
Lord don't forsake us, don't leave us, come close, draw near.

842
01:01:56,514 --> 01:02:01,332
We want the fellowship of God to be real in our midst.

843
01:02:02,592 --> 01:02:06,068
In Christ's Name I pray. Amen.