Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
They are in awe and amazed at your glory and your power and your wonder and your majesty and that you are the king of heaven and earth. You are the creator of heaven and earth and everything and Lord, you are the mighty one. There is none other like unto you. You are the king of kings and the Lord of lords Jesus. You are the living word. You are God manifested in the flesh. You are the Messiah. Lord, you are the lamb of God. You You are Lord God the risen one, the resurrected one. You have the keys of hell and death. We praise your name Jesus, the name above every name. We praise the name of Jesus that that Lord at that name demons tremble. At that name Satan trembles. At that name Lord, people can be saved and delivered and healed. We thank you for the wonderful wonderful name of Jesus and we exalt you Lord this morning. We thank you. We declare your kingdom come and your will be done in this place in each of us in Jesus name. Lord, you have a a plan and a purpose for us individually Lord as a church. You have a plan for Fire and Grace Church. Lord, I pray for the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon us and fill us in greater measure that we may complete that work that we may be like Paul one day and say I have finished my course. I have fought a good fight. I have finished what God gave me to do. I finished it with glory and power. Father, I pray that this morning in Jesus name. Amen and amen. Praise God. Well, I do have a word. I want to I want to say this this morning. God still speaks even if folks don't show up to church. Oh. Amen. And I'll tell you one thing, if you um And this is all for those out there. If you have a If you have a pastor that tries to pray and hear the voice of God, well, I'm going to tell you what, you probably shouldn't miss those meetings. Amen. That's why I like to get around men of God that I know hear from God. And I'm not talking about just men of God, but women of God, too, that really hear from God. Not flakes, not weirdos, you know, not false prophets, but people of the word who hear the voice of God. Uh that's why I love David Copeland so much. That's why I love Gene May so much. I mean, they've they've proven track records of hearing from God and um So, anyway, you know, just don't take that lightly. You know, Sunday mornings is about us getting together and hear what God is saying. And it's not always going to be through me. There'll be times God gives you guys, different ones of you, prophetic words and things of that nature. And um but the the Sunday morning service, it's important. It really is. It's important to hear from God. It's important for your soul. It's important to be fed and strengthened for
the week. And um you know, you shouldn't miss it unless you absolutely have to. I'm just going to say that. And I And I I say that for anybody. It doesn't matter where you go. If you Wherever your church home may be, you know, and I say that cuz people listen to this podcast uh we're finding out from all over the world they listen to our podcast. So, you know, if you're you don't miss your home church for life things. Don't miss that service. Pray for your pastor. Uh you know, if he's struggling, not hearing from God, then pray for him. Right? God wants to speak to his people. Amen. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Now, the Lord did something this week that's unusual for me. Um Saturday morning, sometime early Saturday morning before uh the sun came up and before I got up, I had a dream. And uh And the dream, once I woke up, I knew the dream was exactly what I'm supposed to preach on. Um and I got up and I spent some time with the Lord before anybody else got up, and I just I know that God was speaking to me. What's interesting about what we're going to get into this morning is that I preached this message. Now, it's not going to be exactly the same, but 1 year ago to this weekend when I was at Iris's church. And what the Lord wanted me to talk to you about this morning is about what it what it means to be born again. Now, let me say this. I know that in here, I believe that everyone's born again. I mean, if you're not, you'll find out in a minute. But this is something in the dream what God was showing to me was that as believers, as Christians, and in our witness, um we need to be prepared to explain to people clearly what it means to be born again because there's a lot of confusion out there on this matter. There's a lot of confusion even within the church world. What does it mean to be born again? And and in this dream, I'll just share a little little bit before we get into the word, but in this dream, I was I was at some house that I didn't really recognize. I was kind of in it was kind of like a party or a get-together, and I'm not talking about, you know, drinking or anything like that. It was just kind of like a you know, somebody's birthday party or something was going on, but it was people that I didn't really recognize. But I was standing in the kitchen um with about eight to 10 people, and I could tell that they were 20-somethings. I could tell they were college age, most of them. There might have been one or two that was was older than that, but I could tell it was mainly college-age people, and I could see out the door of the kitchen into like another room, and there were other people in there. I mean, there could have been 30, 40 people in this house, you know, normal-size house, but it was again some kind of get-together. And I started sharing with these these young people a little bit about end-times things, and I don't know, I don't remember in the dream specifically what I was sharing with them about end times, but but they started listening, and then as I was talking to them, the Holy Spirit really came on me in the dream, and it's just like, you need to explain to them what it means to be born
again. And the moment the Lord laid that on me and it to explain that to them, I started explaining about, you know, Jesus said that unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And a couple of verses down in John 3, he said, if a man, if you're not born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. And that's why this subject is so important. But in the dream, the moment I started talking about being born again, it was like I even got their attention even more so. They got very intense and very intent upon what I was saying, and they were listening. And I remember it was so vivid as I went down through the scriptures and explained to them what it meant to be born again, to believe in the Jesus of the Bible, to understand there's a heaven and there's a hell, that you have sinned, that you have broken God's commandments, that all have sinned. I mean, just the the pure gospel message, you know, that you must repent, you must confess you're a sinner, that you need Jesus. Only Jesus can save you. He is the only Messiah, the only way. And I was going down through that with them, and then I remember getting into beginning to share my testimony with them before the meeting kind of broke up and there and people started having to go, but there was one person really hanging on to me the whole way. Now, I woke up and I just knew that we needed to get into that because I believe the Lord is saying to me that there are people uh maybe even tomorrow, maybe even this week, but in the in the days ahead of you that you need to be able to explain this clearly and biblically to people, and you need to focus on this because a lot of people out there we assume that they're born again. Just because they go to church, just because they say they believe in Jesus, we assume that they have had this supernatural born again experience. And they may even be good moral people. You know, I'm not talking about sinless cuz there is none sinless, but the bottom line is they may be good moral people. They may not be into alcohol or drugs or or sexual sin or things of that nature, but it doesn't mean that they're born again. It doesn't mean they're saved. You know, let me say this real clear. Good works do not save you. Being moral in your own strength, trying to be righteous in your own abilities does not save you. If if that could save anyone or make a person born again, then you don't need the blood of Jesus. You don't need the the savior. You don't need the Messiah. You can save yourself. And that really is what the world believes. The world believes that That's why they believe all religions lead to God and all religions have truth. All religions have virtue. You find your own way. It doesn't matter what way because they believe by by developing their their, you know, mental state or developing their spirituality through meditation and all these other things that they do, that they're finding their way to God. And they have their All of them have their own ideas of what is it acceptable, what is righteous, what is moral, what is not, what is evil. And
they got all these different ideas. But basically the same theme runs through all of those lies. And that is it's not You don't have to have Jesus. If that's the way you've chosen, that's great. But my Buddhism will get me there. My Hinduism will get me there. My morality, my goodness, because I give to charity, because I'm, you know, in the Big Brother program, or because, you know, I I do good things. I'm not a murderer. I don't, you know, I don't I don't hurt anybody. All these excuses, no? Jesus made it clear. We're going to look at these scriptures. Unless a man is born again, he will not see the kingdom of God. Unless a man or woman is born again, they will not enter into the kingdom of God. And let me just add this. I'll prove it in a second. But unless we believe the Bible, we will not see the kingdom of God. You're born again, you'll find out I'm going to show you in the scriptures. You're born again by the word of God. Let's go to John 3 real quick. I've quoted these verses a couple of time, but it's important that you see them and see them in their context because they're preached out of context. Now, let me let me say about like for instance, there are people out there like Gnostic Christian Have you ever heard of the Gnostic Christians? The Gnostic Christians and and {slash} New Agers that say they believe in Jesus. You have to define these terms because to to a New Ager or to a Gnostic Christian, they have had a spiritual experience through meditation, visualization, maybe through some type of guru laying hands on them or something, but they've had spiritual experiences that are counterfeits to the real. But if you ask them, "Have you been born again and had a supernatural experience with Jesus?" They will say, "Yes." Okay? But then if you ask them if they believe in the Jesus of the Bible, that Jesus Christ is the one true God manifested in the flesh, died on the cross for the sins of mankind, rose from the dead the third day, and is the only way to heaven, if they say no to that, they have not been born again by the spirit of God. It's impossible. Because if you don't believe the right things, you don't have the right faith, and the Holy Ghost is only going to witness to truth. Right? So, if you don't believe the scriptures, you are not saved. Now, did I say if you don't believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, if you don't believe in the mid-tribulation No, I'm not talking about doctrines that maybe, you know, we have differences upon, but on the essential issues, what constitutes being a Christian? And another reason I bring this up, there was an article this week in the Washington Times, I believe it was or the post, one of them, about Joel Osteen said that Mormons are Christians. Now, Joel Osteen pastors the
largest church in America. Now, I put this on my Facebook page, but I said either he is the most ignorant pastor in America or he is a universalist. One or the other, because Mormons do not believe in the same Jesus that true Christians believe in. They believe that Jesus is not God the creator manifested in the flesh, but a man who evolved into a god. It's clearly they believe it. They also believe that Lucifer and Jesus were spiritual brothers and that Jesus just came out with a better plan and Lucifer got angry and rebelled. And here's another one for about Mormons. You know, the Bible says in Galatians 1, Paul said if if anyone comes and preaches any other gospel unto you than what we have preached, let him be accursed. That means cut OFF FROM CHRIST. CUT OFF. OKAY? He says if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you. Well, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormons, said an angel named Moroni appeared to him and showed him these golden tablets and he wrote a book called The Book of Mormon, A Another Testament of Jesus Christ and it contradicts the Bible. I'm sorry, friends, Joseph Smith and Mormonism isn't accursed religion. It is a cult full of GOOD PEOPLE, BUT FULL OF PEOPLE who are not born again by the spirit of the living God. And it breaks my heart. But Jesus said there would be people come in his name and deceive many in the last days. Right? Mormonism comes in the name of Jesus, but it is not the Jesus of the Bible. Make it They try to make you think it is. Just like the Jehovah Witnesses. All right? And that one's free right there. I don't know where that came from. I just feel I feel on fire this morning about this. But let's read it. All right? John chapter 3, verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that you do except God be with him." And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said unto him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?" And Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit, the spirit, the Holy Spirit, is
spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you that you must be born again." So, Jesus tells him very clearly, you must be born again, or born of the spirit. Now, let me say this about Nicodemus. We know that Nicodemus was a righteous man. He was a Pharisee and he was also among the Pharisees. I'll have to say this, I believe he was one of the most humble. And I think he was very hungry and you see him, you know, really searching this thing out and he says, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher come from God. We know you're from God." And and he's saying, "I don't understand some things, but I know you're from God. So, this moral man is seeking after Jesus and what does Jesus tell him? Go be good? Go be better? Go be more religious? Go be more moral? He was already moral. What did he tell him? You must be born again. Now, let's go on down. Jesus gives a little clarity to this, all right? You know, this is the famous passage. Let's Let's skip down a little bit cuz he talks about him being crucified. Go to verse 16, most famous verse in the Bible. John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him, and that word believeth there means to rely on, to trust in, to cling to and to be constant in that profession. That's the definition of that Greek word there, believeth. It doesn't mean to just believe. How many of you know people say they believe in Jesus, but they're not saved? It's not what this is talking. It's not mental ascent. This is faith, trust, intimacy with the Lord. All right? He says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but had have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth not on him is not condemned or he that believeth on him rather is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. For everyone that doeth evil hates the light, neither comes to the light lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be manifest that they are wrought in God. So, I want to point this out here. When Jesus says here, "For everyone verse 20 that doeth evil hates the light." He's talking about practicing. The word doeth there is a present tense Greek verb which means he ever every If you if you practice evil, what is evil? Some people think, "Well, that just mean, you know, that's just somebody goes around killing people or something." No. Evil to It's It's what's evil to God.
What is evil to God? Breaking any of his commands, right? And he says this, "He that practices habitually evil hates the light." Okay? Now, let me let me make this clear here. Just because being moral does not save you and you have to be born again through faith in the blood of Jesus and who Jesus is as God in the flesh, just because morality doesn't save you does not mean that God wants you to practice evil. Right? God expects a Christian or a person who's saved to repent, turn from their sins, and start a new life. Amen? We're going to see that that's part of it. That's That's part of being born again, but I want to stress equally, you can quit drinking, quit smoking, quit sleeping around, quit, you know, lying, cheating, stealing, whatever. You can quit doing those things and not be saved. But if you get saved, God wants you to turn from those things. Amen? Can everybody agree on that? I believe Presbyterians and Baptists and Lutherans would agree with me on that. Amen? All right. So, Jesus went on to talk Sometimes we take things out of context, and that's why he was talking about being born again to a moral man, but then he said, "Hey, he that practices evil hates the light." Okay? So, let's let's make that clear. What's interesting is John teaches this further in his book in uh 1 John chapter 3. We we might get there in a second. Um I want you to turn with me now. I want you to turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. And this is so very important that we understand. Now, I've already said this, but I'm going to I'm going to give you the give you the scriptures to back this up. And I How many of you are wondering, what does it mean to be born by water and the spirit? Y'all wonder what that is? All right. Does that mean you got to be baptized in water to be saved? No, we're not Church of Christ around here. Right? Do you need to be baptized? Yes, you do. That's just obedience and is a blessing always in obedience. But when they stabbed Jesus, when he was on the cross and they put the the the soldier put the spear in his side, what does it say came out? Water and blood. Okay? Now, there's there's known that there's a there's water sometimes around the heart there. I don't know if that's when you're in congestive heart failure or if it's all the time. Is it Which one is it? All the time? Uh okay. Anyway, it says blood and water flowed. Well, I'll show you what the water is here in a second. But let's let's go to Did I say 1 Peter? 1 Peter 1. Let me get there. My mind gets going on different things. This is important. You If if you
um have never really looked at this or thought about it. I want you to underline these verses. As Peter talks about being redeemed or being bought by the blood of Jesus, being saved, entering into salvation, entering into the covenant that God's made through the sacrifice of Jesus. And let's let's read what he says here. I love it. Starting at verse 18, in chapter 1 verse 18. He says, "For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing you have purified your souls in what? Obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently. Look at this, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God which lives and abides forever. You all want to underline verse 23. For all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower thereof fades away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Everybody say this with me this morning. You cannot be saved, born again, without the word of God. You are born again according to Peter here. You are born again by the word of God. All right, you don't have to repeat me anymore. Do you see that? The word of God plays an important part in this. You are born again by the word of God. Amen? That's why the Bible says over in Corinthians that God has chosen the foolishness of preaching to save those that believe. It's amazing, but God has chosen this speaking his word. And when when God talks about his word here, let's let's look at what he back up a little bit. He doesn't just say his word cuz some people take the word of God out of context, twist it, use it to their own for their own devices and purposes. But what he says, you have purified your souls in verse 22 through what? Obeying obeying the truth through the spirit. Okay? So, it's the truth of God's word. So, write this down. If you're taking notes, write this down. You cannot be saved or born again unless you believe and obey the truth of
God's word. That's why Mormons cannot be saved until they leave Mormonism. That's why Jehovah Witness cannot be saved until they leave Jehovah Witnesses or or or until they believe the truth. Amen? Now, let's look at something the Bible calls the the water. It's also referred to sometimes the spirit is a symbol for the Holy Spirit, but it's also a symbol for the word. Let me show you this real quick so you understand what what flowed out of Jesus' side to redeem us. Go to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians 5. I want you to see it. Ephesians 5. Cuz this talks about Jesus, talks about the church. Well, let's look at this. This is good. Somebody say this is good. I heard that. Here we go. Ephesians 5. Are you with me? Let's go down to verse 25. And of course he's talking about Jesus uh or Paul here is talking about husbands and wives and and he starts off here and he says, verse 25, he says, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. We going to underline that. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing should it that it should be holy and without blemish." Okay? Here is the picture. You are cleansed from sin when you put faith in Jesus, when you confess your sins, when you turn from them, when you believe in the atoning work of Jesus on the cross, and you've made up your mind to give your life to the Lord, the Bible says you're cleansed by two things, the blood of Jesus and the washing of water by the word of God. Let me just let this let this sink in. The blood of Jesus and the word of God are together, and you can't separate them. The moment that you try to separate the word of God and create your own gospel or your own belief system that's separate from what Jesus taught in this Bible or his apostles or his prophets. Once you try to separate that out, you remove yourself from the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus and the word of God, and I'm talking about the Bible, Genesis to Malachi and Matthew to Revelation, that Bible that's inspired by God,
proven by prophecy, proven by archaeology, proven by every means possible, that word and the blood of Jesus are together. That's what flowed out of his side, blood and water. And that is what the church is washed and cleansed by. That's how we come into Christ, and that's how we stay in Christ. Everybody with me? Woo! You can't separate the blood of Jesus from the word of You can't say, "I'm a Christian, I'm saved, but I don't believe the Bible's true." You can't say, "Oh, I believe in Jesus, he's my savior, but I don't believe there's a hell." You can't say, "I believe I believe that Jesus was a good man. I believe he was a son of God, but I don't believe he's God." No, friend. And I'm going to prove that something. You'll see what Jesus himself said. Let's go to Luke 24. Woo! I'm fired up this morning. See, I don't even have to have a big crowd be fired up. I can just be fired up. I'm going to prove it to you. Look what Jesus did. Y'all want to see see Jesus lead some people into being born again? Y'all want to see it? All right. Pay Pay close attention here now. Cuz you need to be able to do this and explain this to people. Luke 24. Now, we're going to start reading at about verse 13. It's a lot to read, but it's important that we read it. All right. Stay with me. Please read along with me. I want you guys See, the purpose of this morning is not just so Pastor Dean can preach or explain it to you, but this this is so you can preach it and explain it to other people. That's what Christianity is about. It's not about the pastor doing everything cuz guess what? It's hard to get people to church, isn't it? But you're out there with them. So, you got to be the extension of the church out there. Right? All right. And let me tell you something. I don't care come or not. As long as you lead somebody to Jesus, that's more important than whether they come here to church or not. And that's what I want to see you do. I you know, yes, I want this church to grow. I believe it's going to grow. I want people to come to this church cuz I believe that we have the spirit of God and we have the truth and we preach the truth. I want this church to grow. I want people to be added, but I'm not in this for numbers. I'm not in it for numbers. I'm not in it for money. I want to see people born again by the spirit of God repenting, turning from their sin, becoming true Christians, true disciples on their way to heaven, and and and growing enough where they're able to share that faith and lead others to Jesus whether I ever see them or not. Amen. Luke 24, let's read it. Verse 13. He says, "And behold, two of them went the same day to a village." Now, this was the day Jesus rose from the dead. He says, "Behold, two of them went the same day to a village called Emmaus, which was
from Jerusalem about three score furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them." Well, you know, I read this story. I just have to pause here. I wonder how many times Jesus has walked up and walked with us and talked and we thought it was somebody else. We know you never know. Trust me. You never know. One day in eternity we will find out how many times it was actually him. Hopefully we didn't yell at him and cuss him out. All right, Jesus himself drew near and went with them, but look at verse 16. It says, "But their eyes were holding, or kept from being able to see, that they should know him." And he said unto them, "What manner of communications are these that you have one with another as you walk and are sad?" And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered and said unto him, "Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem as not known these things which are come to pass there in these days?" And he said unto them, "What things?" Don't you love Jesus is playing a game with them there? And they said unto him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed in word before God and all the people, and how the chief priest and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and they have crucified him." But we trusted that it had been he which which should have redeemed Israel. And besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. And yay, certain women also of our company made us astonished, which came early to the sepulchre. And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, that was Peter and John, and found it even so as the women had said, but they saw him not. Now, look what Jesus says right here. Boy, you ought to underline this. Because see, these men believe in Jesus, but they're not born again yet. They get born again in a minute. Oh, this is good. They get born again in a minute, but they're not born again yet. You have to remember something. I believe that people came into covenant with God before Jesus went to the cross. I believe the apostles were in covenant with him, but the New Testament in his blood was not fully activated. Okay? Until he died on the cross. That's why he said to Mary over in John 20, "Don't touch me." Mary Magdalene he "Don't touch me. I've got to send send to my father." But later, he says, "Come touch me, handle me." You know why they couldn't touch him? Cuz he had to go do his high priest duty in heaven. He took his blood and put it on the mercy seat in heaven. And as a high priest, he couldn't be touched. He couldn't be defiled. Until he had performed that duty, and then he could come back and they could touch him. Okay? So, he says, "Don't touch me." But then he comes he does this right here. Now, look what he says to these walking down this road to Emmaus. He said, first thing he says,
He said unto them, verse 25, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." Boy, that's a rebuke you don't want to get from Jesus. But I want to say this loud and clear. This is the rebuke that can be given to nearly the entire church. "O you fools out there who call yourselves Christians, who call yourselves pastors and preach, who pastor the biggest church in America, you fools, HOW SLOW OF HEART TO believe all that the prophets have spoken." This is a condition. Believing the entire Bible. All right, let's keep going. He says, "You fools, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?" And look at verse 27. "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." So, as they're walking and doubting, I mean, they're doubting whether Jesus was really the Messiah. We had hope that it was he that should have redeemed Israel. He was a prophet mighty indeed. They still didn't have the full revelation and understanding of who he was. They hoped it. Hope is not faith. Hope is something you're hoping for in the future. Faith is something you believe now. Amen. And he said, I I He said, We had hoped. And he said, You have to believe not just the parts of the prophets that said that Christ would set up a kingdom on earth. You have to believe the parts that said he would suffer and die like Isaiah 53, like Psalm 22, like Psalm 16 when it prophesied he'd raise be raised from the dead. You have to believe it all. Every bit of it. You have to believe Isaiah 9:6 that says the son who would be given would be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, and the prince of peace. The son IS ALSO THE MIGHTY FATHER AND THE MIGHTY GOD AND THE EVERLASTING FATHER. YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE he's God. You have TO BELIEVE HE'S BORN OF a virgin. Isaiah said he was born of a virgin. HE WOULD BE EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. RIGHT? You have to believe all that the prophets have spoken. And so Jesus starts at Moses. What does that mean? Genesis. Genesis 3, the first prophecy that the Messiah would be born of a woman and bruise the head of the serpent. He started at Genesis, went through Moses writings and all the prophets and explained. Can you imagine that day? And they still don't know it's Jesus. Wow. Isn't that amazing? So he's explaining the scriptures. Say this with me. Explaining
the scriptures. I didn't hear you. Explaining the scriptures. Moses and all the prophets. So he's explained. That's what the word expounded there means to explain thoroughly. That's the Greek definition, to explain thoroughly. Can you imagine? He talks about in in Deuteronomy when Moses said, here's a Moses said, "The Lord your God is going to raise up unto you a prophet like unto me." He said, "But if you don't hear him, you will be cut Whoever will not listen to him will be cut off from among the people." That was one of Moses' prophecies. I mean, they all prophesied of him. All right. We could We could spend a lot of time on that. But so he starts at Moses. Verse 27, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all scriptures. All the scriptures, do you see that? Here it is again, all the scriptures. The things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village where they went, and he made as though or he acted like he would go on further, but they constrained him and saying, "Oh, abide with us, for it is toward the evening and the day is far spent." And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it and broke and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. Now, look at verse 32. You ought to underline this one. And they said one to another, "Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" Oh. The word opened here, listen to this, means in in Hebrew, I mean in Greek, it means to open thoroughly, literally as the firstborn opens the womb. You hear that? Now, listen to me close here. As they understood the scriptures concerning Christ, as scriptures were explained to them. The presence of God came on that. He says, "And their hearts burned within them." And literally they began that was the moment they began to believe in the Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the Bible, and that burning of their hearts was the supernatural experience of being born again. But it came through the explaining and understanding of the scriptures of Moses and all the prophets
of who Jesus Christ really is. And what he has done on that cross, and that he rose from the dead, that he is God in the flesh. He's not a man who who realized his Godhood. HE IS GOD, THE CREATOR. AND HE became a man. HE WAS NOT THE son in eternity past. He was the living word. But he became the son to die on the cross. But when he rose from the dead, he is still now the eternal word. So he is God. Yes. He is the son of God. Yes. He is a prophet. Yes. He is the lamb of God. HE IS ALL. THAT'S WHY HE'S given the name above every name. That's why Acts 4:12, what did Peter say to the to the Sanhedrin? There is no other name whereby that is given among men whereby we must be saved. He is the only way. He's the only Messiah. HE'S THE ONLY GOD WHO SHED HIS BLOOD. ALLAH IS A DEMON. BUDDHA IS A DEMON. KRISHNA IS A DEMON. VISHNU IS A DEMON. The New Age Jesus is a demon. Mary the the Virgin Mary is a demon. BECAUSE THE MARY THAT WAS THE MOTHER OF Jesus was not a virgin anymore. She's a human being is now in heaven. That felt good. Truth, let's keep reading. Did y'all get that? See, folks, the word I got to the word of God. What does it say? Hebrews 4:12. The word of God is quick and powerful. Sharper than any two-edged sword. Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. The word of God This is why we've got to preach the word. We've got to teach the word. We've got to speak the word. And and for a lot of people, we have got to explain thoroughly some things. This is why you shouldn't miss church. This is why you should read your Bible. This is why you should study your Bible. This is why you should pray for understanding. You have got to understand so you can help others to understand. You've got to. What motivated me to study the Bible when I was a young man was not because I wanted to be a preacher. I didn't even know at first that I was called to be a preacher. But what motivated me was I wanted people to have the born-again experience, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the intimacy with Jesus, the knowing Jesus, of having him change my
life. I wanted them to have that. I wanted people to go to heaven more than anything else, and I still do, but I'm just saying, that's what motivated ME TO STUDY. THAT'S WHAT MOTIVATED ME TO MEMORIZE SCRIPTURES. That's what motivated ME TO LOOK UP words and study Greek dictionaries and Hebrew I wanted TO KNOW SO I COULD EXPLAIN. Let me tell you something. The heart of the righteous, it says in Proverbs, studies to answer. But I want to say this it it shows. You preparing yourself to share the gospel with others shows whether you love them or not. You want to know ask if you're walking in love, are you preparing yourself to share and explain the gospel of Jesus Christ? I want to say this, if not, if you're being lazy, you don't want to study the Bible, you don't want to prepare yourself, really all that says is loudly to God, you really don't love him more than anything else, and you really don't love your neighbor as yourself. Because if you want to go to heaven, you want to want them to go to heaven. But some of them are not going to get saved, they're not going to be born again unless you explain it to them. And you can't explain it to them if you won't study and learn it. You can't just say believe in Jesus. You can't just say Jesus loves you. You can't just say come to church. That is not explaining the gospel to them. All right? Are you with me? I love this about this because see, being born again is not just a Being born again is not just believing the right thing. That's the first step. But it's repenting and acting on it until there is a supernatural burning in your heart. I could preach I I I'm going to have to do it. I'm going to have to keep going. I want you to see this before I turn to verse. I'm going to show you how the power comes. You got to have the witness of the Holy Spirit to be to know you're saved, okay? And this is what you got to tell people. Let's keep reading though. Let's go back to I got to calm down. Hopefully I won't forget where I wanted to go here. All right. So Jesus appears to them in the room. And I want you to go over after Well, let's just start reading at verse 36. And the the the guys that were on the road to Emmaus go back to Jerusalem and get with the apostles. And so they're all hanging out and it says and as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said unto them, "Peace be unto you." But they were terrified and affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, "Why are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Handle me and see for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see me have." And when he had thus spoken, he
showed them his hands and his feet. And for and a while yet believed not for joy and wondered and he said unto them, "Have you not here any meat?" And they gave him something to eat. But look at verse 44. And he said unto them, "These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you. That all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me." So here again, Jesus is taking them back to what? Everything, all the scriptures, right? And it says look at verse this right here. Then opened he their understanding that they might He opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. Oh, just just mark that for a second. He opened their understanding that they might cuz we got to turn to John in just a second. But, look what he says. And he said unto them, "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem." So, here Jesus says, "You got to preach what? All things that are written." And he says what? "These things thus it is written and it behoved Christ to suffer, to rise from the dead, that repentance and remission of sins." Do you know what repentance means? It means to change your mind, the way you think, and then to change your actions, a reformation. Okay? So, he says, "You've got to preach this. They have to change their minds." Listen, first of all, what they believe. If they don't believe Jesus is God in the flesh, got to change your mind on that. If they don't believe there's a heaven and a hell and that there's an eternal punishment for those that are not walking with God and know God through Jesus Christ, if they don't believe there's an eternal hell of suffering and fire and worms that never die, then they got to change their mind about that. If they don't believe they're sinner and wicked no matter how righteous they've been, if they don't believe they need the blood of Jesus, then they got to change their mind on that. You see what I'm saying? Repentance is first changing your mind, thinking differently, thinking completely different, and then that causes you to what? Reform and change your actions. All right? All right. Now, let's go back to this fire burning in their hearts. All right? They had to be born again. So, Jesus came along and explained the scriptures to them and corrected their doubts, their wrong thinking, their wrong ideas. Well, there's a lot of Christians that think, "Hey, there's a lot of Christians that think that well, I believe in Jesus and I can live with my boyfriend or girlfriend and be in sexual sin. Not wrong. You have to change your thinking. God said fornicators will not enter the kingdom of God. You see what I'm saying? He says it. So, you got to change your thinking. Then you got to change your actions. All right? Now, look at what it says here about the power.
We're going to turn to two verse passages here. Go go to John, 1 John chapter 1. Talking about being saved, being born again. Gospel of John chapter 1. We may never get to 1 John. Y'all with me for Gospel of John chapter 1. I love this how he starts it out. What did he say? Let's just read verse 1. For those out there, here's one of those Jesus is God scriptures. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. So, Jesus was the creator, saying plainly, the word, right? Let's go on down. Verse 10. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. Look at verse 11. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. Look at this right here. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of man. And that blood he's talking about is just by genealogy, or not by human blood passed down. You weren't born by that. He said, "Nor of the will of man, of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." So, he talks about being born of God. And the word was made flesh, or God was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we be- beheld his glory as is only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So, this is all about Jesus being God here, but in the midst of this he says he came to his own, his own received him not, but as many as received him to them he gives power to become the sons of God, to be born not of human blood not of the will of man not just because you decide to be moral. He says, but by God, born of God. Born of God. See, this is this is the this is the pattern. You hear me? They've got to believe who he is. They've got to receive Jesus as he is and what and that means what he teaches and what he has taught in these scriptures. They've got to receive Jesus, they've got to believe that, right? Jesus said one of the first things he said, Mark chapter 1, what did he say? Repent and believe the gospel. Repent and believe the gospel. Right? To those who receive him as the word made flesh that receive him as God that receive him as the savior, the
Messiah, that believe who he is and believe God's word he will give the power to become. See, believing the right things comes first, being born again comes second. Right? But somebody in between that has got to explain the scriptures to them. That's why Joel Osteen's in trouble. Instead of sitting there and saying Hindus who are worshipping demon gods and idols when he said this on Larry King, Hindus who were worshipping God and crying before their idols. I know they love God. What? You're on crack, boy. I mean, really. Something's wrong. Don't don't Yeah, if that's what you want, don't be a Christian pastor. If that's what you want to be. Go go sell shoes. You know? Go become a Hindu. A Buddhist. Let everybody know that's what you are. A Baha'i faith. Whatever. Go be something else. Quit saying you're a Christian, anyway. That's just a pet peeve of mine. All right, go to go to Romans 8. I love the gospel, y'all. What's Romans 1:16 say? Somebody y'all know that one by heart. That's it. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation. The true gospel, listen, the true gospel of who Jesus is, what he has done, what he expects of us, what he wants us to change, what he wants us to believe. That's where the power comes. To change a heart. Romans 8. I love this right here. Let's start reading. Oh, I guess we'll read. He's talking to the Christians at Rome here. He says, "Verse 9, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken or make
alive your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you will die. But if you through the spirit do mortify or kill the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For we have not received the spirit of a uh of bondage again to fear, but we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, "Abba, Father." Thus he says, "Verse 16, the spirit itself or himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." Listen, being born again, if you truly believe the right things and surrender to the cross of Jesus and to the call of God and to the plan of God for your life, if you truly surrender and let yourself be led, the spirit of God will bear witness in your spirit that you're That's when you know you're born again. So, believing the scriptures is first. That they are true, that they are inspired by God, that Jesus is who he says he is and who the prophets say he is. Believing the scriptures and then what? The witness of the Holy Spirit. That's being born again. See, it's easy to find out if somebody's born again. Find out what they believe. Find out what they believe about Jesus, about the Bible. And then guess what? They might say, "Well, yeah, I believe Jesus is God. I believe the Bible is true. I believe it all." Then your next question is, "Have you been born again?" And what I ask them is, "Have you felt Did you have a day in your life that you believed Jesus was the only way to heaven, that you were a sinner on your way to hell, and you cried out to him to forgive your sins, and you made up your mind to turn from your sins and surrender your life, and then you felt the Holy Spirit come in you and bear witness that you had become a child of God? Did you ever feel your heart burn by the power of God after you believed the truth?" If they say, "No," then they they may have They may be halfway there, but they're not there yet. That's why we've got to explain. But but but but but are you born again? I love the story of John Wesley. It's one of my favorite stories, and y'all have Some of you've heard me tell it over the years because it's so important. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, he believed Christianity. Listen to me closely, y'all. He believed the Bible when he was a student at Oxford in England. He believed the Bible. He believed in Jesus. He believed that
you should be moral and holy. They even formed a club, him and his brother and and George Whitfield and some other formed a club called the Holy Club because they wanted to be holy people. So, they became moral. People made fun of them. But here's the thing. None of them were saved. None of them were born again. So, John Wesley is so dedicated John Wesley was more dedicated to the Lord as an unsaved person than most Christians are today. Okay? But not born again. Because John Wesley after being at Oxford, being at the Holy Club, decides to become a missionary to what? The American colonies. We're not even a nation yet. This is in the 1735-40, you know, time period. And so he decides to become a missionary and take that dangerous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean and come over here to evangelize American Indians in the Georgia region of Georgia. He comes over here and tries to He tries to lead people to Jesus and he's not even born again. Of course, because he doesn't have the anointing and the power of the spirit in him to preach this thing, he's a miserable failure. He gets back on a on the boat traveling back home, terrible storm, but there's some Moravian Christians on board who are truly born again, on fire, spirit-filled believers in Jesus. And the ship gets in a storm and it looks like they all may die. He's terrified, they're singing. He had to ask them. He goes, "How was it that you were not afraid?" And they just talked to him and so he was impressed with these people. So, when he got back to England, he goes to a Bible study, the famous Aldersgate Bible study where they were studying the book of Romans. And he finally realized that he could not earn his salvation by his good works, by his own righteousness, and fully trusted in the blood of Jesus and what Jesus had done on the cross, and that that's what saved him, and at that moment he said he felt his heart, and I quote, strangely warmed, and he knew he was born again. The spirit bore witness with his spirit, and then John Wesley became a dynamo. He stayed with the Moravians and studied how they established churches, and that is what birthed the entire Methodist movement that shook the world. Two kind He shook England and America. A man that got born again. He already understood holiness, but then he got born again. Let me say this, too. If you get born again, if you truly get born again, and the spirit of God's in you,
he's going to make you understand holiness. Amen. You don't throw holiness out the door because we're saved by faith in the blood of Jesus. Without holiness, no man will see the Lord. But self-righteousness, trying to do it in your own strength, and you've never been born again, you're not going to heaven. This is This is the sad thing. Now, listen to me close. This This is why this is so important. This is why I believe God gave me a dream about this. Because the sad thing is there're going to be a lot of people, sincere people with good intentions, who go to church, who sing in choirs, who think because they're doing the right things, they're going to go to heaven when they die. And they're lost because their preachers don't preach repentance. Their preachers don't explain what it means to be born again. Their preachers don't disciple them. The preachers don't talk about the supernatural witness of the Holy Spirit in your life. A changed life. They don't talk about that. Talk about hearing from God and walking with God and being led by the spirit of God. And so many people are going to be lost. They're going to They're going to stand at the judgment. They're going to stand there and they're going to go, "But God, I went to church. I I I Lord, I believed. I I believed that you died for my sins." And he's going to say, "I don't know you." Unless a man is born again, he will not enter the kingdom of God. That's why this is so important. A year ago, when I got ready to preach this, similar but not exactly, I preached it a lot different today. But when I was preaching this at Iris's church over in Lanett, um Iris and Obie over there, at wonderful folks. Before I went to preach there, the Lord was just he he gave me another dream. Which is weird. A year apart to the week. And he was speaking to me in the dream and telling me half the people that go to church are not born again. And he told me in the dream, "Never assume someone's born again just cuz they go to church or or name the name of Jesus. You ask them. You probe them. You explain. You get specific answers to questions. If you're having a real conversation with them, this is where the conversation's got to eventually get to." Amen. Jesus loves you is not enough.
Come to church is not enough. You know, there's a lot of people out there oh, you just need to do good. No, that's not enough. I mean, I I believe some Christians got in their mind well, if people start becoming churched that means they're saved. We're getting them saved. No, you're not. Seeker friendly churches you're you're not getting them saved if you're not explaining the word of God to them and the gospel and calling them to repentance and faith in Jesus and a completely surrendered life and then you're you're not doing anything but getting them you're you're actually making them worse. Because now they think they're okay. They they they got their little religious inoculation, a little bit of the disease. Now they're immune to somebody like me or you coming and tell THEM THE TRUTH. WELL, I GO TO CHURCH. I'D RATHER HAVE A WRETCHED person that didn't go to church. You can you can explain the gospel to them easier than some of these churched seeker friendly megachurch people. Amen. But we have got to explain this thoroughly. Y'all with me? Well, we could keep going on this. But I'm going to quit. We got to be born again. I love that Third Day song, born again. Praise God somebody's singing about it. I mean do y'all do do y'all feel if Jesus said no one's getting in unless they're born again, that's a pretty important issue. Right? Pretty serious. Now, listen to me young folks, you children here, listen to me. Listen close, Aliyah. All of you, John. Now, right now your children kind of under the age of of accountability except I think probably John's not now. But But here's the thing. You're not saved and going to heaven cuz you're I mean, y'all aren't taking you get older but once you get a little older you're not saved because your parents are saved. You hear me? You're not saved cuz your parents drag you to church. You hear me? One One day you're going to have to get with Jesus and make sure that you're born again and that Jesus has come into your heart so you know that. That may have already happened with you guys. I'm not saying it hadn't happened but when you hit that age of accountability when you get older there's a rededication, there's a reaffirming, there's a there's a relationship thing that you got to get you got to dig in with the Lord. You're not Your parents Your parents' faith that didn't save you. Okay? And it'll be up to you then, nobody else. And I can explain that a little more
later but when you reach that age of accountability something dies on the inside and it's got to be brought back to life again. That's that Romans 7 stuff. We'll get into that later. But I just wanted you to know that. And you know what? You can make sure of it. You can make sure of it now. But you know, you guys know enough to know that you need to seek after God on your own. You need to spend time with God. You need to cry out to him until you know you're filled with the Holy Spirit, the fire of God's in you and you know it beyond any shadow of doubt. You Not because mama tells you or daddy tells but you know it. Amen. All right. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for this day. Let this word, God, sink down into our hearts. And help us to explain to people around us, even church-going people, what it means to be born again, to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, to believe all the scriptures and all that the prophets have spoken, to believe in the true Jesus who is God in the flesh and not this new age watered-down cult version. Lord, your word says in 2 Corinthians, Lord, you said there would be people who would come along and preach another Jesus and another gospel and have another spirit. We don't want a different Jesus. We want the Bible Jesus. And help us present and preach that Jesus, the true Jesus Christ, to the people around us. Give us power to be a witness, God, boldness. And help us understand it so we can help others understand. And I pray this this morning in Jesus' name. Amen.