 The vision for each one of us individually. I just mentioned the vision of our church But the vision for you that Jesus has is to win souls and make disciples We are not a church of members. We are a church of disciples. We have membership But that's not our goal. Our goal is for people to be disciples And so one of the ways we have the process for that is we have this process for discipleship It's very simple most churches in the world have a different name for it But usually has four steps Rick Warren has it where he calls it Becoming a member then becoming mature then becoming someone who Ministers and then somebody who goes into missions g12 calls it win consolidate disciple and send We just lowered it to a very basic terminology where we believe a spiritual growth of a person has four steps First step is when you believe in Christ somebody say believe The second one is when you belong in the church somebody say belong and Then the third one is you get built somebody say build and the fourth one is when you become somebody say become And so what that simply looks like is when you believe in Jesus you become born again And then you belong part of that belonging process is you get connected to the church You get connected to the life group. We have these classes called life class Which will happen today the first one 1130 where you can get connected to the vision and start serving in the church And then we have freedom weekend which will happen this month the last weekend of the month where we pray for people for deliverance But it's different than deliverance services It's pretty much six hours of going through Person's past hurts hang ups inner healing baptism of the Holy Spirit And we only offer that to people who are in life groups and who've been through life class it's an in-depth ministry for people to belong and after that is When the next step is being built. What does that mean? It's when you get trained to be reigned in life You get trained to make disciples cast out demons and heal the sick It's a school when we're starting that school in July for people who are already passed through the life class life group and Freedom weekend become so you become someone who makes a difference in your world dear friends Many people have sit sat in churches too long and We don't want to build a church for a babysitting club This is not a spiritual nursery Now it's nothing wrong with coming as a baby, but staying as a baby Physically means there's something wrong with the person and Paul says in a writer of Hebrew says he says by this time You should have been that means that God wants us to grow and we know that we have this thing growing people change We don't want to change people. We want to create a process where we grow God does the changing we do the growing. Come on somebody. Amen. Come on. Let's give the Lord a clap offering And so I'm sharing this the process of this vision because today I'm gonna share a message on the first stage of everyone's spiritual growth If you see a graph behind me that it shows if we can show the first one the process of discipleship when you accept the Lord Then you go into the stage of believing or you go into a stage of being born again You join a life group you go to the life class you go to a freedom weekend That's a stage of belonging and then there's a stage of being built so that people can become now Do you have to go through these So that you can become a disciple maker? Of course not the same way you don't have to go to public school So you can learn how to write and read But we have these systems set up in the culture to help living beings Grow and these are tools for growth and same thing for us. They might change this might change But what will not change is the purpose of a believer which is to mature and to minister and reach the world Amen, and today I'm gonna touch a topic on The first stage the first base of your spiritual my spiritual growth, and that is called the birth in John chapter 3 verse 3 it says the following Jesus answered and said to him most assuredly I say to you Unless one is born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God Spiritual family is not something you join. It's something you're born into You can join the church, but you don't join God's kingdom. You have to be born into God's kingdom Church is one thing Membership in the church is one thing God's family God's kingdom is different God's kingdom is different than a gym or a club For example in order to join a gym you have to first agree to the rules and then you become a member correct in Order to join God's church. There is no rules. You agree to you have to be born first into it The rules come after the birth not before to qualify you for the birth My family didn't reach out to me and gave me ten things I need to agree with before my dad and mom decided to conceive and birth me I Was brought into the family not because I agreed to certain rules But because I was in the family my family had certain rules in the house Every family does for example in our family one of the rules is you take off your shoes Another rule that we had in our family is that when you have food on your plate You have to finish that plate and if you don't finish the plate our father Help to finish that plate. Our father was the one who always finished after everybody So we always brought it to our dad and put it onto his plate because he was the finisher the author and the finisher of our food that was in my family Another thing that we had in our family is that you never curse in the family or you speak loudly against your parents Because parents brought you in they could really take you out also out of this world. That was our rules now keeping these rules did not Qualify me to be in the family. I kept these rules because I was in the family Keeping these rules or breaking them did not cause me to lose my family, but I lost privileges See when you break rules in the club, you lose your membership when you break rules in the house You lose your privileges, but you don't lose your family Your family doesn't disown you because you forgot to take the garbage out Your mom and dad doesn't go to court and remove your last name because you broke the curfew so in the family the rules they don't Condition my relationship they confirm my relationship But in the gym everything is about rules. You have to keep them to get in and if you break them you get out Many people come into God's kingdom with a mentality of a club They feel like God has ten commandments and if you agree to them you become a member of God's family If you break any of them God this owns you and God throws you out of the family My friend I want to tell you you don't join God's family. You are born in God's family and There are rules, but these rules are house rules They're not to qualify your righteousness They are because God the Father wants things for your good and for your growth and breaking them Doesn't cause you to lose his family Breaking them may cause you to lose certain privileges. You may end up in jail Breaking them might cause you you might have a demonic attack or God's displeasure or grieve the Holy Spirit But you don't lose your family When you break the rules in the family when you think of salvation Only as a gym membership you will always live with fear of losing it and you will try to live Keeping it. I don't keep my place in the family. My place in the family keeps me. I Didn't earn the place in the family. I didn't work for it. I didn't qualify for it and it's that family that life there That keeps me and because I'm born in my family. I have brothers and sisters. I have a mom and dad When you are born into God's family, you automatically have brothers and sisters That's why people who think of church think of God as something you join They have a hard time relating to other people because to them it's only about God, but when you're in a family It's not just about your parents. It's about your siblings It's about others as well With that said New birth is not religion It's a relationship New birth is not morality. It's a miracle New birth is not Reformation meaning it's not behavior modification. You don't just change one or two things about your behavior new birth is Regeneration you are brand new made brand new from the inside new birth is not by works But it is by the word of God The Bible says we must be born again we must be born again and One of the things that many people struggle with is how do I know if I am born again? How would you know if you're born again? Dr. David Jeremiah Mentioned in the sermon and I'm just gonna copy it from him because he said it's so good He said five C's that will help you to know if you're born again. The first one is confession Have you confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? I didn't say have you confessed your sin? Because the Bible says we don't get saved by confessing our sin. We get saved by confessing our Savior Everybody confesses their sin people in court confess their sins what makes you a Christian is not that you are sorry for your sin Everyone is it's the fact that you confess Jesus as the Lord and the Savior of your life Have you done that number two is? change Has there been a change that happened on the inside because the Bible says when you become born again You have a new nature inside of you You don't necessarily get new behavior, but you get a new nature in here that wants to do good Has there been a change that happened in you that you don't want to sin? You want to serve God you want to read God's word you don't always get it right, but you want to your wants have changed number three is Compassion one of the signs of a person who's born again is Love for people they don't always get it right But they seek to love people because naturally you will have siblings Spiritual siblings like brothers and sisters in Christ when the Bible says if you hate other people You don't know God one of the signs that you are born again is you have a natural desire and Love and compassion toward people you will still do stupid You will still do bad you will still trip and trip up you will still have an argument You will still have a bad day, but you will feel horrible about it Why because deep inside of you your new nature wants to love people It's the heart of flesh it feels for people Whatever the races whatever their status and their gender Another see he says is conflict conflict is another sign that you have been born again conflict You now have a new nature and an old mindset that war a New nature and an old habits that are not disappearing just because you got saved. Yes, technically They are crucified on Christ in Christ But the Bible says that happens a conflict with the person who's not born again. There is no conflict There is no resistance to anything in the world. They're like a dead fish swim with the current There is no power to resist there is no desire, but a born-again Christian has a little bit of conflict inside It's a good thing. It's a healthy thing Because that means you no longer on the devil side now the devil is your enemy. He's not your boss Another sign of new birth is the change in your conduct your conduct begins to change and new born person Begins to develop different behaviors for example when the baby is born in the beginning it might not be different then When the baby wasn't born, but you will see in a few months the baby begins to discern When the father comes to the room and when a stranger comes into the room the baby begins to develop an appetite The baby cries It's a sign of life and the baby grows the baby begins to walk The baby begins to talk and the baby begins to learn certain things all of these qualities are placed within inside of the baby And it's time that pulls them out Time doesn't put them in there because time could never put those things in the dog or a tree But when you are a living being those things are there same thing with the Christian when a Christian is born again Give them two or three years Righteousness holiness purity give generosity all of this stuff will begin to be pulled out because it's already in the new nature Give it a proper family a right teaching and some good loving Christians and all of that stuff is gonna be pulled out Because it's already in the new nature The difference between a baby and my dog is this no matter how much nurture you give to my dog He'll never learn to speak No matter how much love you give to my dog He'll never learn to pick up after himself The nurture doesn't activate anything in him because he has no nature But give a born-again Christian proper nurture and the new nature will surface and the new nature will Explode and the new nature will grow and so that's why as a Christian your conduct changes Not because of the nurture but because of the nature But we still need the nurture to cause what's in the nature to explode Come off somebody Amen, if you're taking notes, I want to share with you a few thoughts concerning this new nature and new birth as a Christian as The first step of our spiritual growth new nature That a Christian has makes growth natural Growth for a Christian is natural if you're saying the growth is hard it Might be you're not born again Growth is slow, but it's not hard because you don't do anything to grow Growth is natural for a new nature Growth is hard for someone who's trying to earn their salvation Who's trying to get to heaven by joining a church and keeping rules and keeping commandments when your mindset is under religion growth is difficult When your mindset is I'm a child of God. I am born again by the spirit. I'm not trying to grow I'm just Growing is it hard? No, but it is slow Amen, the scripture says when you became a Christian Your spirit joined with Christ Like one in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 it says you became one so your spirit is like spirit of Christ Your new nature the spirit of Christ that joined with your spirit is Perfect in Hebrews 10 it says that we are perfect forever Meaning we are made perfect in our spirit, but new birth Gave us new spirit it did not give us new mind new soul new habits and new friends New birth gave you a new spirit it did not give you new soul and Many of us still don't see change in our life and not because we were not born again It's that we think when we're born again God gives us new spirit new soul and new body But it does not say that in the Bible what it says in the Bible is when you're born again God gives you only new spirit and then he tells you how to change your soul slowly through the renewing of your mind through remaining in him through resisting strongholds and old patterns and Habits that have been passed on from the old men and the old lifestyle That's why it's possible to be born again and not to see any change for a while because your spirit is made new Not your soul Your soul is a process the Bible says we are made perfect forever Those who are being sanctified meaning I am perfect, but I'm being perfected in my spirit I am new but in my soul. I'm being renewed in my spirit I am new in my soul. I'm being renewed and if I only receive the gift of New spirit and new nature, but I don't come to a church. I don't have a life group I don't desire the word of God. I don't feed myself with the word of God Then what would happen? I won't see change The same thing would happen with the baby if the baby is born in a hospital and you dump it in the hospital Instead of bringing it home giving it food attention wipe its diapers not the diapers, but the butt That diapers made the mess up and so clean the baby wash the baby be patient with the baby Then that new life will never become anything as a Christian We are born again. We get a new spirit, but we don't get a new soul It's important to understand that a behavior is learned, but not birth You can learn to speak English. You can never learn to be born Birth is a gift It's not a behavior trade It's not learning. You don't you can't go to college to learn to be born it's a gift and therefore I Agree with people who look at Christians and say if you guys are Christians Why is the behavior of some non-Christians is better than the behavior of believers? I'm not gonna go to church. The church has a lot of people who are hypocrites and bad people I'm gonna help you deal with that for a second If you ever been in a hospital where the baby is born the birth of the baby is bloody The funeral of a dead person is clean The birth of the baby is loud the dead person in the casket is always quiet The birth of the baby baby comes in naked all the stuff is exposed The funeral the dead person is always covered in a nice suit in the birth There is chaos In the funeral home. There is order. I would rather have a rowdy baby than a dead corpse So when somebody says some Christians are not behaving right, please understand we never Qualified we never said behavior is what makes a Christian birth is What makes a Christian I'll rather have a birth. That's rowdy loud bloody and messy Then a dead person in the casket That's clean quiet smells good and behaves but the one thing that that person lacks is life So my friend what we have as Christians when we're born again is not to suit the casket order and Cleanness and quietness what we have first is life Jesus says you must be born again Jesus is not interested in putting dead people into suits He's interested in making dead people come alive and if they get rowdy if they get loud if they get this order If they get messy sometimes God says that's my baby. That's my son. That's my daughter People say you know Christians aren't perfect. They're forgiven. No Christians are alive and When there is life there is mess when there is life There is chaos when there is life There's crayons on the wall and there is life. There is poop in the middle of the living room when there is life. There is mess Why because it's life. I wanted to be good see you're talking about dead religion. I'm talking about living relationship Christianity is a living relationship Which has chaos which has problems sometimes has issues because God doesn't look at that when the parent sees a new baby Oh my gosh, look at that thing came naked. Why did that thing came bloody? What is that thing screaming and yelling? Why is that thing? Why can't that thing learn to speak and behave every parent celebrates life? Because that's a miracle behavior can be learned, but birth can never be learned because birth is a miracle When the new believer gets saved and they make mistakes and they trip and they fall and they go the next day and Celebrate with their friends in the club their salvation. It's a baby You expect the baby to be rowdy and lay crazy and all of this stuff because what we celebrate is new life Behavior will catch up, but the birth is what starts everything Come on somebody Amen Number two new nature does not remove the presence of sin, but the present but the practice of sin When you become born again Not only you have new life new desires to love God But it sometimes might look like you're not perfect because you're not trying to become a dead corpse You're trying to become a living growing Person the second sign or the second feature. I see of new birth is being born again You don't lose your ability to sin, but you do lose your ability to enjoy sin How many of you after you get born again? You can never like the same thing that you liked before you will still do it You can still do it you can still fall into the Bible says righteous men fall seven times But the reason why he gets up is for the same reason the sheep does not play in the mud pigs do Because when you're born again, you don't lose your ability to sin you lose your ability to enjoy sin You will have repulse other people will do the same thing and get away from it not you You'll go to jail. You get demons. You'll get a lot of other stuff, but it will catch up with you And you like why is that because you're a God's child and the new nature doesn't stop you from sinning But it no longer gives you the pleasure of sin that you used to have that's why The Bible says everyone who practices righteousness is born of him new nature causes me I Still can sin, but I no longer practice sin What is the difference in practice? See there's a difference between practicing basketball when you practice basketball You intentionally go to the gym you throw the ball and you're trying to make this skill Better until you can become prolific in it That's practice and the Bible says and person born of God does not practice sin He practiced righteousness. It means he still can sin He still can fall into the same sin many times a difference between him He doesn't intentionally go to practice that sin into perfection because he has another thing that he's practicing It's called the righteousness of God He's constantly practicing righteousness because he is born of God Practice is performing an activity or exercise a skill repeatedly or regularly in order to improve or maintain once proficiency Those who have been born into God's family first John 3 9 do not make a practice of sinning Because God's life is in them So they can't keep on sinning because they are children of God What is the difference here a person who's born again doesn't practice sin, but they do sin They just don't practice it They trip they fall But they don't go to practice and sin the way a basketball player practices his three-point shots The way a piano player practices his piano to improve its skill to perfection What we perfect is the righteousness of Jesus. That's what we practice That's why in a scripture that is used a lot of times to discourage Christians who fall and practice who fall into sin and say that you lost your salvation God is no longer with you and I'm gonna look at this verse It says not everyone who says to me Lord and Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten saved from this verse when the preacher preached it When I was younger the preachers loved this verse Matthew chapter 7 get up Not everybody who says Lord Lord will go to heaven, but he who does the will of God I'm like man, that's me. I call Jesus Lord. I didn't do everything. God says man I need to get saved. I was getting saved every time this verse was mentioned and Then it says in Matthew chapter 7 in fact if you have a Bible I'm just gonna read this verse to you because this verse has a lot of truth and a lot of Blessing in it not everyone who calls me Lord and Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven But he who does the will of my father in heaven at first It seems like that Jesus is saying you can go to heaven by doing God's will Which contradicts the gospel because we don't go to heaven by doing we go to heaven by believing Men shall be saved by grace through faith. Can somebody say amen? Jesus is not contradicting. He is showing us people Who are not born again, and this is what it shows not everyone who calls me Lord and Lord for example Salvation is not profession. It's possession. You don't profess salvation you possess salvation for example If you are Smith you cannot profess yourself into being subchuck You can't walk around and say I am subchuck and thus becoming a subchuck The only way you can become subchuck is you have to be born into a subject family not confess subject family And so what Jesus is saying you don't become born again just because you say Lord Lord Demons believe that God exists and they don't become Christians because of that We don't become Christians just because of profession we are Christian because we possess our salvation and then he says the following is that Many will say to me in that day Lord have we not prophesied in your name Cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name And so this verse is used against anybody who prophesies heals the sick or casts out demons number one I want you to notice it says we not I That tells me these people didn't do it. They were in the group of people that did it Meaning they were never in Christ. They were just in the crowd where Christ was preached Very simple how many of you have been in the aeroplane in the airport and you missed the aeroplane. I've done raise two hands That's what they describes when you are in the airport you can still miss the aeroplane These were the people who were in the crowd of people where miracles happen where healings happen deliverances happen Because if you know anything about God's anointing it operates by association King Saul prophesied in a group of prophets even though he had a demon inside of him Many of you can heal the sick and you can even prophesy even if you're not believer Why because you prophesy in his name not in yours and Therefore healings and miracles are not a sign that you are born again And so we shouldn't use them as a sign What is the sign is what God says about us and our birth into God's family? But I want you to watch this he says that they will prophesy and heal in my name and then verse 23 then I will declare to them. I never Knew you this is the root cause of their problem. They never knew Christ Christ never knew them He didn't say I used to know you for five years, and then I stopped knowing you Never means we never had a relationship. You might have signed up for a class You might went to a church, but I never knew you. That's why they did not do the will of the father That's why they the Bible says you who practice lawlessness Because they were not born again. Guess what they practiced Lawlessness they looked for grace as an excuse to keep living in sin Instead of grace as the power to overcome sin because every born-again Christian looks to grace as the power to overcome sin They don't need an excuse to sin Why because the nature in them doesn't want to practice sin it wants to practice righteousness My friend I don't want you to be afraid that this verse applies to you because if you know Jesus and Jesus knows you You don't fall into that category what he will call you is he will say my son and my daughter I have known you from the beginning of the foundation of the earth. I have called you and you are mine Come on somebody Christians know Christ. They just don't just know about Christ as a Christian. We don't practice sin We struggle with sin in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 4 it says for you you have not yet resisted to bloodshed Striving against sin. You know what that means Christians struggle with sin. They don't practice it If you struggle with sin, it's not a sign that you're not a Christian It's actually a confirmation that you are one When you practice sin, that's when I have the authority on God's word to question the validity and a ethnicity of your new birth experience. I Have never met a born-again Christian who was looking for an excuse to sin and people who live in sin They don't need an excuse or a license. They do it anyway and Therefore we're not gonna be afraid to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in all its force because it will give power to a believer to overcome sin We're not afraid of the unbeliever who will take advantage of it because they don't need license to sin People will sin because they want to sin. Amen Can a Christian lose his salvation number three? Christians don't lose their salvation by struggling with sin As a Christian you don't lose your salvation when you sin you do lose the joy of your salvation when you sin Remember how David when he committed sin what did David says restore to me the joy of my salvation? David did not say restore to me my salvation Dr. Michael Brown a theologian and a doctor. He says you don't lose your salvation like you lose your keys a Passenger on the plane is guaranteed to reach its destination overseas Unless you choose to do something stupid and open the emergency door and jump Otherwise you will arrive at your destination safely Salvation is not like keys that you have to constantly keep in your Pocket I believe a Christian cannot lose their salvation, but they can forfeit their salvation By not walking with the Lord and by rejecting the grace of Jesus Christ Rejecting Jesus Christ. I don't believe that Christian once he becomes saved loses their free choice When I became part of my family, it's not a Colombian cartel that I cannot get out God's family is not a trap or a prison sentence God's family did not steal your right to choose Nowhere in the New Testament does it say when you get saved you lose your free will you lose your free choice You still can't choose to this on Christ In fact, there are verses and I'm gonna read them to you Verses like say for if we willfully sin after we receive the knowledge of truth There is no longer remain a sacrifice for sins you read this verse first You're like, oh my god, that's me because I commit sin But read a little bit deeper and then it says how much worse punishment do you suppose? Will he be thought worthy who trampled on the son of God under foot? Counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing and insulted the spirit of grace So a Christian his still has a chance at choice Trampol and Jesus on the blood and on the Holy Spirit turn their back on Christ and forfeit their salvation Otherwise verses in the Bible like it says I'll blood out your name from the book of life wouldn't exist as a branch on the vine Jesus doesn't cut you off when you don't bear fruit. He lifts you up in John chapter 15 verse 1 he says any branch in me that doesn't bear fruit the correct translation says he lifts up But then verses later. He says any branch that does not abide in me. I throw away So Jesus says if you reject me after you became a born villain I don't know how why anybody would do that, but people are capable of doing a lot of crazy stuff Even after they're born again They still have a choice to do what they want to do and Jesus says if you choose not to abide in me He says that branch will be thrown away into the fire But a branch in me meaning who lives in me who stays in me who relies on my grace But just doesn't get the behavior part right. He says I lift up Not punish, but prune encourage strengthen Empower give him grace. I give him life group. I give him deliverance. I give them anoint. I give him whatever I lift up but a branch that doesn't want to be in me. I don't punish them and pull them back in I give them free choice So there are two big school of thoughts when it comes to losing your salvation The first one is once saved always saved It's a school of thought that believes that no matter what after you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior You cannot lose your salvation Even if you deny the Lord Switch different religions and just completely walk away from Christ because it's eternal salvation Nothing can separate you from the love of God. You cannot lose your salvation But it has problems With verses that I just mentioned The second side is the perseverance of saints the perseverance of saints It's a school of thought that believes that it's if you lost your or forfeited your salvation. It's a sign You were never really saved Meaning you still can't lose it because if you walked away from Christ turn you back on the gospel It is simply a sign that you have never really been saved And then there's a third school of thought that believes that every time a Christian commits a sin He loses their salvation and when he repents he becomes born again And so it's kind of like you become born again every time you saved and you come back And they pretty much bases the whole salvation not on Jesus's works and you birth in the family But on your ability to keep your salvation Which really makes salvation almost not gift at all We're somewhere in the middle We believe I believe a team believes that our salvation is secure We believe that we don't worry about losing it because it's not keys that you lose I'm not ever in 30 years. I have I ever thought that I will lose my family or Will kick out of my family But we do believe that you have a choice as a Christian to forfeit your salvation If you choose to turn away from the grace turn away from Jesus Christ So the lesson for us is this You as a Christian I as a Christian never outgrow our need for God's grace God's grace is not something we need at salvation. We abide in God's grace as a branch abides in the vine We live out of that grace We constantly live out of that status that we have as children of God can somebody say amen And so I just want to encourage each one of you. Nobody can snatch you out of the father's hand But it doesn't say you can't leave it yourself Nobody can separate you from the father from the love of the father I want you to be secure and you do have the right to still open the door on the plane and jump out if you want to But don't do that. Why would you want to do that? So don't do it Stay on the vine Stay in the Holy Spirit stay in the grace of God stay in the precious Holy Spirit Let God continue to work in you and through you in Jesus name Can somebody say amen And I'm gonna finish this message with a question that plagued me and troubled me for a long time as a teenager And I know some people struggle with that as well and that is If a christian dies and he did not confess confess his sin, does he still go to heaven? for a lot of people this is What troubles them in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 it says that we are saved by grace not by confession I don't find it in the bible what the bible says confession of sin saves us It doesn't the bible says what saves us is the grace of god through faith The bible does say if we confess with our mouth what the jesus is lord not that we're sinners I believe in repentance of our sin. I believe in confessing our sin, but please understand what saves us is jesus not confession What saves us is jesus not sinners prayer My friend what saves us is not what about those people who cannot physically pronounce words We are saved by jesus. We have to come back to christ. We have to come back to the cross We are saved by that. We are not saved by confession. We are saved by christ And the bible says we repent meaning our mind is shifted about sin and christ We no longer see sin as a skill we practice to perfection We see sin as something that breaks the heart of god and separates us from the closest with god and we hate it That's what repentance does The bible says you may say but what about the bible says is that if we walk in him We confess our sins so he can cleanse us because our confession removes the consciousness of sin And removes the money grip over our life when we confess our sin James says when we confess our sin we will become healed Meaning god brings deliverance god brings sanctification and god brings cleansing I've been married for 10 years. It will be in august 21st I said one time I do That gave me the covenant. Do you know how many times I said I'm sorry? Do you know how many times I'm gonna still say I'm sorry? A lot Now every time I said I'm sorry. I didn't have to go and redo the wedding to say I'm do The I am sorry It brought me close But it wasn't to keep my covenant What started the covenant is I do What keeps us close in the covenant is I'm sorry So as a christian, please understand when you gave your life to christ that started a covenant with god And now when you say i'm sorry, it's not so you can go get the covenant back It's so that you can stay close to the one you are in covenant Come on somebody now. I can't break my covenant if I go to a different woman I can lose I can forfeit my covenant Not if I make a mistake not even if I choose not to say i'm sorry But if I go to a different woman This covenant is broken When you go to a different source for your salvation, whether be islam, buddhism, hinduism or religion You break the covenant with christ And for many of us it's not another religion that we cheat on christ. It's our good works Because we leave christ as the foundation of our life and we go to good works and rules And we cheat on jesus and that's why jesus says if you don't abide in me He didn't say if you don't abide in rules in me. I am your salvation Jesus is your salvation And so we have to stay in him but my friends as a christian our goal now is not to stay saved our call is to stay close Come on somebody Somebody is getting free in this house right now. You know this week we went to um a marriage Like counseling Every year, you know, we take a well starting this year We started to take a test and so we went to took a test three hard hundred questions And people who lead the marriage ministry invited us over and two and a half hours We went through our marriage and afterwards, you know, we said hey this thing we can improve We can and one of the things that our marriage test showed us is we have a weakness Slightly area of growth where we don't have a lot of fun Not like in the area of sex because some people already asked me like Is that mean you don't have sex that area is good. Don't worry if it's good But i'm talking about the area of of mutual fun. She has fun. I have fun, but together fun You know and we afterwards met and start talking say hey in which areas can we improve to first? I was like if my grandpa would hear that that was our problem in marriage He would slap that thing out of me. He's like what is wrong with you. You need to have children on fun and so but That's the area we are working on so we can get close In 10 years of our marriage we never talked about how can we stay married? We always talk about how can we get closer? Because our covenant is secure But our closeness is flexible It fluctuates Your covenant is fixed your closeness fluctuates and therefore when you confess It's to get closer. It's not to keep your covenant Why is that very important? because the idea of This this topic is a theology until somebody in your family takes their own life Or somebody in your family odys or had to have an assisted suicide in a hospital or Goes through something That this touches them for example this last week george floyd Whom went through a very tragic Murder when he was murdered at the moment of his death, you know people testified of his faith Facing christ, but we all know that at the moment of his death He broke a law He had a forged check And they found a topsy found drugs in his system But everybody said, you know, he's going to heaven nobody even thinks about the fact that he had a forged check at the moment Of his death and drugs in his system Because as christians we don't believe that our salvation is dependent on the last 30 seconds Before your death that everything is clean and pure now If you believe in that i'm going to tell you one thing you're the most miserable person on the earth Because your only safety is to have cancer so you can have three months to prepare Think about it Most of us will die without preparation Most of us some of us will die in an accident where you will be speeding one mile If you believe that that means you're going straight to hell because at the moment of your death you broke the law What if some sins you forgot to confess because you don't remember everything every thought every motive You're not capable even of doing that to live that is to live in condemnation not in salvation The bible says those who are in christ There is no condemnation. Does that mean it gives me a license to do whatever I want? Listen It's because I love my wife. I want to do everything I can so I can love her not so she doesn't divorce me It's so that I can have a good life with her and that's exactly how christ wants you to see him And he wants you to throw away the thought of living make sure that before I die. I don't do anything stupid It's a relationship. It's not certain rules that you and I keep And when you have that new nature you live different you grow in christ you overcome sin You're not looking for excuse to live in sin. You're looking for a reason to overcome it You know, I knew I knew a person who was born again believed in god struggled with drugs When I say struggled, I mean he sought every opportunity to be delivered every time that was prayer He was there went to every rehab. He could go and he finally beat it He finally overcome and two months later on the job He slid back and in a bathroom on his work. He OD'd and he died You know, we went to that funeral. I believe that this person went to heaven Because the difference between him falling back into drugs and you falling back into some kind of a sin That will happen to you before you die god doesn't great sin you and I do Please understand we are not saved because few minutes before our death everything was pure We are saved because on his death He was pure He was purified He purifies us by his blood and when we confess our sin It's not so we can get born again. It's so that we can get close again So we can have intimacy again so that we can be close to the holy spirit So we don't break the heart of god and so that we live in pure consciousness before god So I just want to encourage you because the bible says that we have a helmet of salvation Some of you you wear a hat of condemnation The devil keeps attacking your head the devil keeps hurting your head because it's time to put on a helmet You have salvation. It's time to wear it live with the consciousness. I am saved live with the consciousness Salvation is mine Come on somebody Amen, how many of you encouraged this morning? How many of you are glad you came to church this morning? It's time to throw away the hat of condemnation and to put on the helmet of salvation Live with the consciousness. I am saved. I'm not planning to lose my salvation It's not keys that I can lose god keeps me safe. I'm gonna abide in christ I'm gonna abide in the holy spirit and when I commit sin I'm gonna run to christ, but if something holds me back and I still struggle with it. I don't lose my covenant It just there will be a rift in my heart and I will know it and I will struggle with it But I will run to christ because I want to be close. My goal is not to not go to hell My goal is to not miss god's calling God's blessing on earth right now Amen, I want us to rise to our feet While this brought a lot of encouragement to many people I know there are people in this room and those that are watching who are not born again You might be a member of the church You might even be a member of a christian community Or you might consider yourself a good person You might even take pride of the fact that you're way better at behaving than other people I want to tell you that on the day of judgment That's not gonna save you. What will save you is jesus christ Judas Was around jesus I personally don't think Judas was born again Because jesus never called him a rock He called him son of perdition devil And I wish you would have never been born that doesn't qualify for salvation Judas was possessed by a demon Peter was oppressed Demon spoke through Peter Demon sifted Peter But they never entered into his spirit And then Judas when he made a mistake I want you to see what Judas did He quickly returned the money Hoping to find forgiveness And after that he found such a despair That he took his own life When Peter pursued Jesus He made a similar mistake But Peter was restored By Jesus Peter didn't try to clean up his life Because he knew he can't do it on his own There's nothing wrong with returning money Asking for forgiveness But it will never give you forgiveness Because forgiveness is only found in christ Judas' biggest mistake Is he was dying for his sin And not very far from him There was a man who was dying for his sin He didn't need to die Because Jesus already took his place Your good works will never be good enough To wipe away the bad ones Your trying will never be good enough To make you born again Birth is a miracle And only God can do that You need to come in full desperation And say God save me Jesus be my savior Forgive me of my sin You're never too young and you're never too old You've never done so much bad That God cannot forgive you And you don't need to wait until you do more bad So you can come and get forgiven by God You can come as you are right now But I can promise you God will do such a crazy miracle He'll never leave you the way you are Every head bowed and every eye closed If you are not born again If you are not saved We can't talk about spiritual growth Until first you're spiritually born And you're saying today I got convicted Today I realized I have religion I don't have Christ I don't even know Christ I want to know Christ I want to become saved today If you're here in this physical building I want you to raise your hand If you're saying I would like to pray today So that Jesus will come into my heart Just slip up your hand high I would like to pray with you If you'd like to be born again Slip up your hand high Thank you If you're watching us on livestream And you're saying I would like to be saved I want you to just simply comment below right now Say I would like to give my life to Jesus Let's pray together I want you to say this with me Say Lord Jesus Please forgive me Of all my sin And wash me with your precious blood I surrender My whole life to you I'm no longer mine I want to be yours Come and live in me Change me from the inside out Give me the miracle Of new heart And new nature In Jesus' name If you prayed that prayer If you're here in this facility We would love to see you in the VIP room Just to congratulate you If you're watching us online And you prayed that prayer for the first time Go to hungrygeneration.com Slash VIP We would love to celebrate and send some material And connect you to a live group Where you can be a part of