(#408) Romans 12 - God Turns Your Spiritual Gift Into a Much Needed Ministry

Class Outline:

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Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference worldwide courtesy of the internet…Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference locally in the Gilbert, Mesa, and Chandler, AZ communities.  My name is Pastor Rory Clark.  At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we teach the Word of God from God’s perspective, not from man’s perspective. 

 

Thanks to all of you for the birthday wishes and for the presents and for the birthday celebration.  Much appreciated.  I certainly won’t be getting that birthday song out of my head anytime soon.  I only wish the celebration was in a quieter and more intimate setting so we could have talked more.  We’ll work that out for next time.  There were several touching birthday sentiments expressed this year…here was one of my favorites…

 

BIRTHDAY WISHES FOR PASTOR RORY

May God continue to bless and keep you, especially for those of us who rely solely on the spiritual food that comes from the Barah Ministries pulpit.  Age gracefully, Sir.

 

It’s a pleasure to worship Jesus Christ…to teach about Jesus Christ…to talk about Jesus Christ…to think about Jesus Christ…and to serve Jesus Christ.  Paul’s letter to the Colossians does such a great job of describing our amazing God, especially in Chapter 1 at Verse 16…

 

COLOSSIANS 1:16

For by the Lord Jesus Christ all things were created…both in the heavens and on earth…both visible and invisible…whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

 

Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities indicate a hierarchy in the invisible, angelic realm…and the Lord Jesus Christ controls angelic history, He controls human history, and He controls all creatures…Hebrews, Chapter 1, Verse 3…

 

HEBREWS 1:3

And the Lord Jesus Christ is the radiance of God the Father’s glory and the Lord Jesus Christ is the exact representation of God the Father’s nature, and the Lord Jesus Christ upholds all things by the word of His power. When the Lord Jesus Christ had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty, God the Father, on high…

 

Welcome to the study of the bible, the Lord Jesus Christ’s exact thinking, which we call the Word of God.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Turns Your Spiritual Gift Into a Much Needed Ministry

 

God has given each of His believers in Christ a supernatural spiritual gift, and He designed each gift to have a supernatural affect on the people He brings to us, so believers in Christ can provide the benefits of His gift to those in need.  God calls each of His believers to a ministry that provides His Light, through us, to a lost and dying world…an illuminated path out of the snare of Satan’s kingdom of death and darkness to those who are victims of it.  In today’s lesson, we’ll begin looking at the connection of your spiritual gift to a ministry. 

 

Now First John, Chapter 1, Verse 7 says…

 

FIRST JOHN 1:7

…but if (3) we walk in the Light as God the Father Himself is in the Light (maybe you will and maybe you won’t…you have a choice…but if our choice is to walk in the light)…we have fellowship with one another…and the blood of Jesus…God the Father’s Son…cleanses us from all sin.

 

The Light is a fundamental reality shared in common between the Creator, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and those creatures that choose a relationship with Him.  Here’s a beautiful song by June Murphy that describes the wonder of our God and His illumination of the Universe…

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

WALK IN THE LIGHT

June Murphy

 

…a song is called WALK IN THE LIGHT.

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

Almighty God and Father…so often we look at our lives through the pain…we only see our faults and failures…the failed relationships…the missed opportunities…the defects of character…in fact, there are religions in this world who still have your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, hanging from a Cross as if He is not resurrected from the dead…they weep over His pain at the Cross as if it was not voluntary and intentional…thank you for not seeing us as we see ourselves…

 

Truly, Father, the sins in our lives always lead to death…yet Your Son paid for every sin we would ever commit past, present, and future…we are forgiven…it was never His intent for us to be concerned about our sins because He considered our sins to be His responsibility…teach us to view ourselves as You see us…let us not only learn the Word of God from Your perspective, but also help us learn to view ourselves from Your perspective… comfort us in the midst of our soul unrest…help us to reject the perversion of Your intents and the distortions in our lives caused by Your enemy and ours… Satan, the bullet-less wonder…show us how to live the heavenly resurrection life here on earth and show us how to reflect the hope of your resurrection life to everyone we meet, one person at a time…

 

…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s

name...Amen.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Turns Your Spiritual Gift Into a Much Needed Ministry

 

Every believer in Christ has from God an allotment of faith…in other words a supernatural spiritual gift.  God expects us to use this gift when we interact with the other members of the body of Christ and when we interact with the world…the unbelievers on this planet…so that our Light makes a difference in this lost, dark and dying world.  Frankly, the reason believers in Christ don’t find and use their spiritual gift isn’t because they don’t know what the gift is…it isn’t ignorance, and we’ll see why later in the lesson.  Most believers in Christ DO know their spiritual gift, or at least they have an idea of what it is.  What’s truer is that most believers in Christ fear the greatness associated with their spiritual gift.  Poet Marianne Williamson tells us about this fear…

 

OUR DEEPEST FEAR

Marianne Williamson

 

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our Light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

OUR DEEPEST FEAR

Marianne Williamson

 

We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant…

Gorgeous, talented, fabulous?”

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God!

 

OUR DEEPEST FEAR

Marianne Williamson

 

YOUR PLAYING SMALL DOES NOT SERVE THE WORLD.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking…

So that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

 

OUR DEEPEST FEAR

Marianne Williamson

 

We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us…it’s possible in everyone.

OUR DEEPEST FEAR

Marianne Williamson

 

And as we let our own light shine…

We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

 

OUR DEEPEST FEAR

Marianne Williamson

 

As we are liberated from our own fear…

Our presence automatically liberates others.

 

I am ALWAYS looking for opportunities to use my spiritual gift.  Recently, I was sitting in the American Airlines Admiral’s Club Lounge waiting for a flight.  A well-dressed gentleman sat down next to me.  I pulled out my social skills and started a conversation.  As it turns out, it was a divine appointment orchestrated by our God.

He was the CEO of a large and powerful international company.  We were on the same flight.  Our flight was delayed, and after a couple of glasses of wine, he began to tell me portions of his life story.

 

To look at this man, you’d think he had it all together.  Listening to him quickly confirmed that he had it all together.  But no one looking at him would ever suspect he was “addicted,” as he described it, to pornography.  To hear him tell it, he felt completely powerless to pornography’s allure.  At a point in his life, he thought it was because he was single and lonely.  Yet he is married now, and he said the “addiction” became louder once he got married.  He thought getting married would suppress the urges…yet they increased.  He was on his way to a weeklong workshop that would help him address his “addiction” issues…to, as he put it, look the “addiction” squarely in the eye…it sounded like an intervention.

 

On another flight, I sat next to a woman.  I don’t really like talking to people on flights, so generally speaking I get my Bose headset on as fast as possible.  Flights are a chance for some uninterrupted peaceful time…to sleep…to read…to daydream…not the time to be interrupted by deep conversations.  Yet she needed to talk, and I was willing to listen.  Darn it!

 

When she was a child…we’ll call her Jane…her Mom and Dad experienced turmoil in their marriage.  Dad was cheating with Mom’s best friend, and the situation ended badly…a divorce.  To get back at Dad, Mom married Dad’s brother.  Dad’s brother raped Jane.  She was just coming back from an intervention, where she had gotten the perspective she needed to move on from the experience years after it happened…years which took a toll on her psyche and robbed her of serenity and valuable relationships with men.

 

On a third flight, I was sitting next to a teen-ager.  No intervention involved this time.  Teen-agers are intriguing to me, and I love knowing what they think.  She was sixteen, and one of my favorite questions for teen-agers is, “So what are sixteen year olds thinking about these days?”  We connected immediately, because she knew all the words to the Broadway musical Hamilton, so we impressed each other by singing parts of songs to each other.  She was impressed that an “old guy,” as she put it, could keep up with the speed of the rap in the song My Shot.

 

After listening her interests, she began telling me her story.  She goes to an 

impressive high school…she is on track for a top tier college…she blew out her ACT and SAT exams…she has the kind of approach to life we wish all young people would follow.  So I asked her, “With all of the successes in your life, what keeps you up at night?”  She didn’t know what I meant.  “I asked, “What concerns do you have about your life?”  She said, “I’m bored.  That concerns me.  I’m always bored.  I pick up things so fast, that life doesn’t really feel challenging to me.   I look for things to feed my mind, and most of it is just boring.  Most of my friends are boring.  I’m just bored.”  So I asked, “What affect does that have on you…I mean…being bored?”  She said, “After a while, all I want to do is “veg” … I don’t want to do anything.  So I smoke pot.”  Ouch!

 

The sinner…the victim…and the brilliant pothead.  These are the people I am around all the time.  These are the people you are around all the time.  We pass them every day on the street.  We may be sitting next to them right now. 

 

If we’re being judgmental from the cocoon lives that we construct for ourselves, it would easy to look at the lives of these people and to say, “Ain’t it awful for them?”  Yet each of these people is experiencing the brokenness that is typical of real human beings…brokenness…a condition of surrender to circumstances.  As Christians, we know that circumstances don’t break us even though they can be harsh.  Environment doesn’t break us even though it can be rough.  Our choices break us.  Our mindset breaks us…and our mindset…the way we think…is a choice.  That’s why God is always looking to transform our thinking.  (Romans 12:2)

 

These three people had something in common.  They were unbelievers.  They did not have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  As a Pastor, I know that having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ would be beneficial to all three of them.  Yet giving them the gospel message was not my first concern in talking to them.  THEY were my first concern.  My ministry to them was a primary concern.  I have a spiritual gift, and God gave me these divine appointments to allow me to use my spiritual gift.  God turns your spiritual gift into a much needed ministry.  What is a ministry? 

 

MINISTRY

It is a service…provided to mankind through the members of the Godhead…that you as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ are CALLED by God to perform using your spiritual gift.  The Godhead brings the people to you…and they give you the supernatural, enabling power to provide spiritual healing for hurting souls through the use of your gift.  Spiritual healing includes the gospel message and the Word of God.

 

The passage that is the subject of our study is the third passage in Romans, Chapter 12, and it extends from Verses 3 to 8…let’s review it together…

 

ROMANS 12:3

For through the grace given to me by God the Father (the grace gift of being an apostle…Paul’s spiritual gift), I (Paul) say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think…but to think so as to have sound judgment…the thinking that’s in line with the measure of faith given to you by God (your spiritual gift).

 

ROMANS 12:4

For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function…

 

ROMANS 12:5

…so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.

 

ROMANS 12:6

Since we each have a gift (charisma) that is different according to the grace (charis) given to us, each of us is to use the gift accordingly…if he has the gift prophecy (preaching the Word of God), exercise it according to the proportion of his faith…

 

ROMANS 12:7

…if he has the gift of service, in his serving…or he who teaches, in his teaching…

 

ROMANS 12:8

…or he who exhorts, in his exhortation…he who gives, with liberality…he who leads, with diligence…he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

 

The charisma of your spiritual gift can be used in the difficult situations I just told you about…or, the charisma of your spiritual gift can be used in easier situations.  But the point is God turns your spiritual gift into a much needed ministry if you let Him.  All He needs is your permission.  Let’s take a music break…when you run into unbelievers, are you prepared to give them the healing of the gospel message?  Here’s June Murphy to sing one of her beautiful songs…it’s called BORN AGAIN.  Remember what the Lord told Nicodemus in John, Chapter 3, Verse 3?

 

JOHN 3:3

“Truly, truly, I (the Lord Jesus Christ) say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

 

Here’s June...

 

MUSIC BREAK

BORN AGAIN

June Murphy

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Turns Your Spiritual Gift Into a Much Needed Ministry

 

Giving is both a spiritual gift and a function of our ambassadorship.  When it is a spiritual gift it is supernatural.  People with the supernatural spiritual gift of giving do so with an insane generosity.  Those who give as a function of their ambassadorship give based on ability. 

 

Several things should guide your giving.  First and foremost…just give.  Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 8 tells us…

 

ROMANS 12:8

…he who gives should do so with liberality…

 

In other words, your giving should be done with the individual freedom you have from God to do as you please.  Giving should not be done grudgingly or under compulsion, and should not be unduly influenced by regret. 

 

When you give to this ministry you relieve us of needs.  We need to cover our bills and we need resources for our ministries.  Genuinely, we appreciate everything you do to keep this ministry afloat.

 

Let’s welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with today’s offering message.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

LUKE 12:39-40

“But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. //You too, be ready…for the Son of Man (the Lord Jesus Christ) is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”

 

OFFERING

FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE

Dave McClure, Instrumental

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Turns Your Spiritual Gift Into a Much Needed Ministry

Welcome back!  We know from the situations we heard about earlier that using our spiritual gift on unbelievers is important.  What about the use of our spiritual gift for believers in Christ?  Romans, Chapter 5, Verses 20 and 21…and then continuing into Romans, Chapter 6, Verses 1 to 6 provide the set up for this part of the lesson…

 

ROMANS 5:20

The Mosaic Law came in so that the transgression would increase…but where sin increased…God’s grace abounded all the more…

 

The law resulted in the abounding of personal sinning…a trespass against God…an injury against His generosity…

 

ROMANS 5:21

…so that…as sin reigned, resulting in death…even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life (the resurrection life) through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

ROMANS 6:1

What shall we believers in Christ say then (face-to-face with these things)? Are we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

 

Should we sin to get more grace?

 

ROMANS 6:2

May it never be (ABSOLUTELY NOT)! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

 

ROMANS 6:3

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into union with Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

 

ROMANS 6:4

Therefore we have been buried with Christ through baptism into death…so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of God the Father…so we too might walk in newness of life.

 

ROMANS 6:5

For if (1) we have become united with Christ in the likeness of His death, and we have, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection…

 

ROMANS 6:6

…knowing this…that our old man was crucified with Christ…in order that our body of sin might be done away with…so that we would no longer be slaves to sin…

 

This passage arouses a passion in me.  I just love it.  What a great God we have to do this for us.  So as believers in Christ, we know our God has cared for the sin problem.  Or has it been cared for?  Hey…I’m not questioning God in this matter…I’m questioning you.  Have you allowed the sin problem to be cared for?  Let me tell you what I mean.

 

As believers in Christ, we keep sinning after salvation.  Here’s what we know about sin…Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 23…

 

ROMANS 6:23

For the wages of sin is death…

It is clear to Christians that sin leads to death.  Death for believers in Christ means something vastly different than it means for unbelievers.  For unbelievers, death is spiritual death, the death that takes you to the Lake of Fire.  That death is separation from God.

 

For believers in Christ, death is separation from sin’s power…it is NOT the extinction of sin and its horrible effect.  As believers in Christ, we continue to sin after salvation.  When believers sin, the outcome is not good….we know that.  God does not let us sin successfully.    

 

If Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 23 were being put into a GPS system…the beginning address would be sin…and the destination address would be death.  We believers in Christ know that.  We also know that God does not allow us to be hurled headlong.  But have you ever considered the route from sin to death for believers in Christ…what happens along the way between sin and death?  This week, the Holy Spirit prompted me to think about the route between sin and death.  I asked a few of you on Friday night, what’s between sin and death?  I was intrigued by your answers.  I’d like to share the Holy Spirit’s thoughts.

 

When believers sin, it’s a self-betrayal.  We know the right thing to do, but we do the opposite.  The next step on the path between sin and death is self-justification.  We tell yourselves it’s absolutely okay for us to betray ourselves.  We believe our own story, mainly because we don’t check the story at KGOD.  When we justify our sinning long enough, it becomes self-deception.  In fact, we become expert at deceiving ourselves, and we really only like others who are willing to deceive us about ourselves, too.  We only want to hear what is consistent with our own self-deception.  If we deceive ourselves long enough, it turns to self-absorption, a morbid preoccupation with our own situation, our own thoughts, our own feelings, and our own interests.  As believers in Christ, we know these things.  We have heard these things.  But here’s the kicker.  Why is Satan interested in taking believers down the sin road when he absolutely knows their sins has been forgiven at the Cross?  The Holy Spirit made it crystal clear to me this week what Satan is doing.

 

What’s the next step on the road between sin and death?  Hopelessness.  Satan wants believers in Christ to sin, because when we sin, it robs us of hope.  Do you know any believers in Christ who are locked into hopelessness…people who don’t really think they can do anything different than they are doing?  I do.  In fact, I spent forty-three years of my life dedicated to a believer in Christ who spent most of her adult life in that condition.  My mother.

 

Sin.  Self-betrayal.  Self-justification.  Self-deception.  Self-absorption.  Hopelessness.  That’s why Paul warns us believers in Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 11 to 13…

 

EPHESIANS 2:11

Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision” … a circumcision that is performed in the flesh by human hands—

 

EPHESIANS 2:12

…remember that you were at that time separate (of unbelief) from Christ…excluded from the commonwealth of Israel…and strangers to the covenants of promise…HAVING NO HOPE AND WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD.

 

EPHESIANS 2:13

But now…in union with Christ Jesus…you believers in Christ who formerly were far off…have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ.

 

The blood of Christ is a cure for hopelessness, but not if you won’t let it be.  To be sure, there are a lot of unbelievers walking around the world with no hope.  I gave you three such examples to start the lesson.  But I guarantee there are many more believers in Christ, who have had their spiritual lives derailed by continued sinning that leads down on a journey to hopelessness on the way to death.

 

This death isn’t a loss of salvation.  No.  Much worse!  It is forfeiting of the resurrection life that we have been given to live right here on earth… forfeiting the heavenly life…right here on earth.  Many believers are so sucked in by Satan’s schemes they want nothing to do with their own resurrection life.

 

Satan’s objective with believers in Christ is to get us to quit on God.  He wants us to abandon our spiritual life, thus abandoning the victory we believers in Christ have through the Cross.  John, Chapter 10, Verse 10…

 

JOHN 10:10

The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy (the sheep…believers in Christ)…I (the Lord Jesus Christ) came that believers in Christ may have the resurrection life, and have it abundantly.|

 

The Lord is our hope.  Romans, Chapter 15, Verse 13…

 

ROMANS 15:13

Now may the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and all peace in believing, so that you will ABOUND IN HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

When believers sin they forfeit the power that is available through God the Holy Spirit.  That sinning robs us of hope.  It darkens our understanding.  It persuades us to count on self instead of counting on God.

 

God turns your spiritual gift into a much needed ministry.  God not only gives you a supernatural gift, He gives you a supernatural desire to use it.  That’s why you are without excuse in the matter of knowing your spiritual gift.  Second Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verse 1…

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 4:1

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart…

 

Satan wants you to quit on God, to quit on yourself, and to quit on others…thus not discovering and using your supernatural spiritual gift.  Are you going to let him steal your victory?  A poem is in order…

 

DON’T QUIT

 

When things go wrong…as they sometimes will

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill

When the funds are low and the debts are high

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh…

 

DON’T QUIT

 

When care is pressing you down a bit

Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns

As every one of us sometimes learns…

 

DON’T QUIT

 

And many people turn about

When they might have won had they stuck it out!

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow

You may succeed with another blow.

 

DON’T QUIT

 

Often the goal is nearer than

It seems to a faint and faltering man…

Often the struggler has given up

When he might have captured the victor’s cup

 

DON’T QUIT

 

And he learned too late when the night came down

How close he was to the golden crown

Success is failure turned inside out

The silver tint in the clouds of doubt

 

DON’T QUIT

 

And you never can tell how close you are

Victory might be near when it seems far

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit

It’s when things seem toughest that you must not quit.

 

Here’s hoping you let the Word of God fill the void in your life so you don’t let Satan take your victory away from you.

 

Every Barah Ministries lesson has a predictable beginning and a predictable ending.  As the lesson begins, you’re going to learn something about the Lord Jesus Christ.  As the lesson ends, you’re going to hear the gospel message…the good news…concerning what the Lord Jesus Christ did to bail all mankind out of an awful predicament.  What I wonder is if those of you who regularly listen to lessons from Barah Ministries ever actually use the beginning and ending messages to tell people about the God you worship and about His offer of salvation.  I challenge you to tell someone about your God this week, and I challenge you to bring them to church to hear the truth.

God challenges you as well…in fact, He commands you…in Matthew, Chapter 28, Verse 19…

 

MATTHEW 28:19

Go therefore and keep on discipling all the nations, baptizing them in the name of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit…

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

The closing moments of our study are for the benefit of anyone who does not have a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We want you to know that GOD WANTS YOU. 

 

If you closed your eyes in this life right this moment…and found yourself standing before the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, at the “pearly gates” of heaven…and the Lord asked you, “Why should I let you into heaven?” … what would you say?

 

Many would talk about their good works…all the things they have done which make them deserve entrance into heaven.  But Romans, Chapter 4, Verse 4 warns them…

 

ROMANS 4:4

Now to the one who works (for salvation), his wage (for his work) is not credited (to his account) as a favor (from the grace of God), but (his wage is credited) as what is due for the work.

 

Well I have some bad news for you.  That work done in self-righteousness isn’t good enough to get you into heaven.  In fact, you were born with a problem.  From the moment of your physical birth, God considered you a sinner.  Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 10 says…

 

 ROMANS 3:10

…as it is written “There is no creature who is righteous, not even one…”

 

Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 23…

 

ROMANS 3:23

…for all creatures have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…

 

Once we sin we no longer meet God’s standard, because God requires perfection to get into heaven.  By the way, it’s not your fault that you’re a sinner from physical birth, but it is your circumstance.  You’re a sinner and you need a Savior.  That’s bad news!  Why is that bad news?  Unfortunately sin has a penalty.  Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 23…

 

ROMANS 6:23

For the wages of sin (the payment earned by sinning) is death (both spiritual death and physical death)…

 

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself passed along this bad news to the Pharisee, Nicodemus, in John, Chapter 3, Verse 3…

 

JOHN 3:3

Jesus answered and said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless

one is born again (the spiritual birth) he cannot see the kingdom of God the Father (heaven).”

 

The gospel message is the good news concerning what God the Father did to fix the problem of sin.  Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 8…

 

ROMANS 5:8

But God the Father demonstrates His own unconditional love toward all mankind, in that while we were yet sinners (as ungodly, unrighteous unbelievers), Christ died (a substitutionary sacrificial death) for us.

 

As a result…eternal life…the resurrection life…is free of charge.  Romans, Chapter 10, Verses 9 to 11…

 

ROMANS 10:9

…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord (that He is God)…and if you believe in your heart that God the Father raised Him from the dead (in resurrection)… you will be saved…

 

ROMANS 10:10

…for with the heart a person believes…resulting in the imputation of absolute righteousness (your admission ticket to heaven)…and with the mouth a person confesses (admitting faith in Christ alone)…resulting in salvation.

 

ROMANS 10:11

For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will not be disappointed.”

 

If you closed your eyes in this life right this moment…and found yourself standing before the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, at the “pearly gates” of heaven…and the Lord asked you, “Why should I let you into heaven?” … what would you say?  It’s easy… Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

 

ACTS 16:31

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

All you have to say is, “I believe in You Lord.  That’s all it takes to get to heaven.”  And you’d be right!  At that moment, absolute righteousness, perfection would be placed in your account, and you’d be good enough to get into heaven.  But you need to di it before you get to the “pearly gates!”  Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 21…

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:21

God the Father made Jesus Christ who knew no sin to be (a sacrificial) sin (substitute) on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God the Father in union with Christ.

 

It is suggested you heed the warning in John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…

 

JOHN 3:36

“He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment… but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life…instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”

 

There is a hell…and it is described this way in the bible…Matthew, Chapter 13, Verses 41 to 43…

 

MATTHEW 13:41

The Son of Man (the Lord Jesus Christ) will send forth His (elect) angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks (unbelievers), and those who commit lawlessness (unbelievers)…

 

MATTHEW 13:42

…and (the elect angels) will throw unbelievers into the furnace of fire (the Lake of Fire)…in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

 

MATTHEW 13:43

Then the righteous (believers in Christ) will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father…

 

For those without a relationship with Christ, He’ll just ask them to step to the left to the “HELLIVATOR” … just press down.  Don’t let that be you!

 

A faithful God doesn’t want any of His creatures anywhere near the Lake of Fire!  Here’s June Murphy to sing her song…God is Faithful.

 

CLOSING SONG

GOD IS FAITHFUL

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

          THANKS - INTERCESSION - PETITION

 

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