I was reading about a famous missionary in Ireland named Columba. Columba had a copy of the Book of Psalms. He loved that copy of the Book of Psalms. And one day a fellow missionary came up and said, brother, that's actually my copy of the Book of Psalms. And Columba said, Well, no, actually, brother, it's my copy. He said, No, it's my copy. And things escalated between these two missionaries arguing over the Book of Psalms. It went to the extent that ended with the Battle of Coldreveny in 561 AD with 3000 people killed.
And it all started with two missionaries arguing over the Book of Psalms. It's mine. No, it's mine. No, it's mine.
No, it's mine. And lo and behold, 3000 people are killed in a battle. It's amazing how we Christians can fight over the most insignificant things, isn't it? And one of the areas where there is division in the body of Christ, particularly in America, is over, now for some of you who may not be into theology, I'm going to give you some terms here. It's over something called Calvinism versus non-Calvinism or Arminianism. Raise your hand if you've heard of that debate, Calvinism, whatever. Calvinism and Arminianism. Now, I'm going to share with you today, because we've been going through the Book of Romans, we actually went through Romans 9 through 11, but I'm going to go back to chapter 9 again this week because it brings up a debate, a division that is in the body of Christ concerning Calvinism. You can disagree with brothers and sisters in Christ over this issue, and this is not something worth fighting Christians over. We will have a disagreement, but we don't need to fight over this. In fact, in our church, we've got Calvinists and non-Calvinists, Arminians in this church. Some of my favorite authors and preachers are Calvinists, even though I am not a Calvinist. So as we're going through this today, and this might sound a little bit boring, I don't know, theology, blah, blah, blah, I'll make it a little bit exciting.
I'll put some witty one-liners in and some off-colored stuff to make it exciting, okay? But this is not worth something dividing over. But if we're going to go through the Book of Romans, we've got to hit this because this is addressed in the Book of Romans. Now, what is Calvinism? John Calvin was a French theologian. Actually, he said a lot of things and wrote a lot of things, but his doctrine was not systematized in his lifetime.
His followers after him systematized his doctrine. But among other things that Calvin said was this. Some human beings are born chosen, predestined by God to go to heaven, and some human beings are born destined to go to hell. In other words, the God of the universe says, you go to heaven, you go to hell. You go to heaven, you go to hell.
You get to go to hell, you go to hell, you go to heaven. That's one form of Calvinism. John Calvin taught that. In fact, let me give you some quotes from John Calvin. Calvin says, quote, eternal life is foreordained for some, eternal damnation for others. Here's another quote from John Calvin. Individuals are born who are doomed from the womb by him, by their eternal destruction. They glorify God by going to hell. Now, modern, cool, I don't know if you know this, there's a cool, hit, trendy version of Calvinism that's big in the United States today, and what they'll say is this.
No, no. We believe the first part, that God destined some people to heaven. We don't believe the second part, that God destined some to go to hell. John Calvin himself addressed that when he says this, many professing to desire to defend the deity from an individual charge, sent the doctrine of election, but they deny that anyone is reprobated. That is, he's chosen some to go to hell.
They do this ignorantly and childishly, since there could be no election without its opposite reprobation. See what he's saying? You can't divide this thing up. I believe that God has destined you and you to go to heaven. I don't believe he's destined some to go to hell. Calvin says it's foolishness.
You can't have one without the other. So here's what Calvin said. Calvin said, God has designed salvation, where if you are the elect, you will go to heaven. Yeah, but what if I don't want to go to heaven? What if I don't want to get saved?
No, you will get saved, because he's going to give you irresistible grace. If he's chosen you to go to heaven, you are going to go to heaven. If you're one of those designed to go to hell, you're going to go to hell. Yeah, but what if I want to go to heaven? No, you're not going to want to go to heaven, because you're not destined by God to go to heaven.
You are destined by God to go to hell. That's Calvinism, born to go to hell. Now, its opposite is Arminianism. There's a theologian, a Dutch theologian, Jacob Arminius, who taught the opposite.
I don't really call myself an Arminian for several reasons. I call myself a non-Calvinist. I do not believe God says I have destined for the foundation of earth, for you to go to heaven and for you to go to hell. I don't believe that.
Now, so this is real clearly. Let me say, Romans 829 is what I believe. I believe God's foreknowledge. God knows from the foundation of the earth, he knew he was going to say yes. And God knew he was going to say no. And I believe that God's predestination is rooted in his foreknowledge. God's election is rooted in his foreknowledge. God knew from the foundation of the earth who would say yes or who would say no. Because don't y'all believe God knows everything?
But I don't believe God actively destined some to go to heaven and some to go to hell. Now, you need to understand this as well. Actually, how many of y'all, just out of curiosity, how many of y'all have ever kind of gotten into this Calvinism, Arminian debate before? Just raise your hand.
Okay. Here's what you need to understand. The Calvinists and the Arminians, the Calvinists and the non-Calvinists, they've had about 500 years to think this thing through. And so every Calvinist will have their Bible verses that they use to support Calvinism, and you'll hear those verses, you're like, well, they're right, until an Arminian scholar will come along and give his interpretation of those verses, and you're like, well, no, he's right. Or the Arminians will have their verses, and you read this, and you're like, well, obviously Calvinism is wrong. Then a Calvinist would come to those same verses and give their interpretation.
So here's my thing. Don't do dueling Bible verses, okay? Because the Calvinists know what they believe, the Arminians know what they believe, they know how to contradict each other. It's kind of a mess.
For example, here's one. John chapter 15, verse 16, Jesus says to the disciples, you didn't choose me, I chose you. Calvinists will say, well, there he is, God chose.
You didn't choose, God chose. But then you hear an Arminian give his interpretation, and well, that makes sense. Or an Arminian, a non-Calvinist would say, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever, not the elect, whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. That sounds like a good Arminian non-Calvinist verse, doesn't it? Until you hear that Calvinist comes and gives his interpretation. So the dueling Bible verse thing just, it doesn't really work here. Now, so we're going through this today.
And again, I'm not gonna get too far down in the weeds. But remember what I told you a few weeks ago as we're going through the book of Romans. I said Romans nine through 11 is about the nation of Israel. Romans nine, Paul talks about Israel's past.
Remember that? Romans 10 is Israel's present. What's God doing now in Israel? Chapter 11 is Israel's future. Remember I told you a few weeks ago, that's the focus, that's the context of Romans nine through 11.
It's about Israel. And so as we're going through this, Romans nine, turn there in your Bibles. Romans nine, 10 through 13 is a huge passage for Calvinists. And that's why we're addressing this, because we've been going through Romans.
Romans nine, 10 through 13, it is a huge passage for Calvinists. Romans nine, we have kids, and so her husband, Isaac, starts praying. God let me help my wife to get pregnant.
We want to have kids. And so she gets pregnant. And she has twins. And then after a short, while, there's a cage match going on in her womb between the two twins. They are going at each other. And Rebekah finallyprays to God. She says, God my womb is like the octagon. What is going on here and God says let me tell you what's going on in your room and this is Genesis 25 23 the sons in your womb will become two nations from the very beginning the two nations will be rivals one nation will be stronger than the other and your older son will serve your younger son and so sure enough she has two boys the older the one who comes out first is Esau technically he ought to be the child of promise he should be the one through whom the Messiah comes the younger is is a baby named Jacob technically he should not be the one through whom the Messiah comes but God says I have chosen Esau will not be the one from whom the Messiah comes it will come through the younger Jacob that's the background so look at the passage that Calvinists used to try to justify this idea that some people are born to go to hell it's Romans chapter 9 verse 10 and not only so but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man our forefather Isaac though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue not because of works but because of him who calls she Rebecca was told the older will serve the younger verse 13 I want you to look at verse 13 as it is written Jacob I loved but Esau I hate it see Calvinist will look at that so I told you God loves Jacob God predestined Jacob to go to heaven God hated Esau even before he was born God predestined Esau to go to hell Esau was born to go to hell says right there I love Jacob and I hate Esau now to understand this passage I gotta ask you three questions about this passage question number one is is this passage about a person or is it about a whole people group okay is it individual or collective is it about a person or is about a people group that's my first question my second question is this is this about preference or punishment I'll tell you what I mean by that in just a second is this passage about preference or punishment and the number three is this passage about salvation or service y'all notice how I alliterated that that's what they taught us to do in church school alliterate everything I'm very proud of myself litters is this about a person or people group is this about a preference or punishment is this about salvation or is about services look at this one is this passage about a person or a people group in Romans 9 10 through 13 two individuals are going at each other okay is Paul talking about two individual people or people groups because Jacob is the father of the Jewish people the Israel Israelis Esau is the father of the Edomites have you heard of that Edom or the Edomites that's that's his people group listen in ancient times you would often refer to a people group by their patriarch so sometimes instead of saying the Jews you'd say the people of Jacob instead of saying the Edomites you'd say the people of Esau and in fact in Genesis 25 23 God tells their mama Rebecca to nations not individuals two nations are fighting in the womb so here's the problem I have with Calvinists saying that this verse justifies people being born to go to hell this passage is not about individuals it's about whole nations okay I have a problem individualizing a passage that is talking about a collective group of people okay that's the first question second question is this is this about preference God prefers Esau over Jacob or is it about punishment God wants to let Jacob go to heaven and he wants Esau to go to hell is this really literally about literal hatred I hate Esau so much I want to send him to hell or is this about preference verse 13 it says God hates Esau verse 11 it says before he was born there there he was he's born to go to hell now listen to me hatred in this passage is an idiom do you know what an idiom is like I sometimes I'll say I have cold feet do I literally have cold feet no what is that an idiom of means I'm nervous idiom which I'm actually hot hey can we lower this temperature a little bit here I'm sweating like a crazy man here when I get riled up and preach I saw so look I know some of you ladies like dear God please don't make this any colder we got about a lot colder right here right now I want you to let you know that this is what it's gonna feel like when you go to hell it's gonna be hot like this and now we're gonna show you the cold in just a second all right so watch so this is an idiom hatred does not mean God literally hates Esau and I can prove that from the Bible Jesus says something in Luke 14 26 Jesus says if anyone comes to me and does not what hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters yes and even his own life he cannot be my disciple Jesus says right here you have to hate your family is that an idiom or seeming that literally it's got to be an idiom because in other places we are told to love our mother and father we're told to love our spouse if you think Jesus is talking literally if you're gonna follow me you got to hate your family try that next Thanksgiving dinner hey hey would you the whole family's gathered everybody's so excited hey would you pray for our meal absolutely before I do that I want you to know I hate every last one of you but let's pray and then it's an idiom hatred doesn't mean I hate it means in this context I prefer one over the other Jesus is saying if you're gonna follow me you got to prefer me over your family that's the idiom that's the expression and God is using the same thing here with Esau he's saying I have preferred Jacob over Esau and another reason why we know he's not literally talking about hatred is because if God literally hated Esau he is defined he is a contradicting his own word because in Exodus pardon me Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse 7 God says this Israel you do not hate and an Edomite you do not hate the people of Esau if God hates Esau he's just violated his own word because he told his people don't hate and Edomite does this make sense so he's not saying I love Jacob he's going to heaven I hate Esau he's going to hell so he's talking about he's saying I prefer Jacob and his people over Esau so let's go back over these questions number one is this passage about a person or a people group this is not about a person God's talking about a people group secondly is this passage about preference or is it about punishment this is not about punishing I hate Esau I'm gonna send them to hell it's no I have preferred Jacob over Esau and the third question is this is this about salvation or is it about service and it says right here in this passage the young the older will serve the younger this passage is not about individual salvation if you look at this in the entire context of Romans 9 through 11 what God is saying is this I needed to send my son into this world as a human being through a people group and of all the people groups in the world I could have chosen the Indians I could have chosen the Norse people I could have chosen people in Africa but I have chosen this people group called the people of Israel and I'm sending my son through him through the people of Israel not through the people of Esau you with me on that this is not about salvation who gets to go to heaven who gets to go to hell this is about God's saying of all the people on the earth I divinely chose not Esau now the older one to send my people my son through I decided to send my son through the younger through Jacob this is not about salvation this is about service I have chosen the people of God I have chosen the Israeli people to serve humanity by sending my son through the people of Israel this is not about individualistic salvation you will be honest so let me just say this as I was looking over this this past weekend praying about this and my mind started going to well honestly did God say you go to heaven you go to heaven hell hell hell heaven heaven is that how God operates no I do not believe this but I do believe this listen to me the entire world is lost without Jesus Christ church let's cut through Calvinism and Arminianism all forget about all that for just a second there's a lost and dying world going out there there's a world going to hell out there and there's only one way to salvation and his name is Jesus Christ and where I differ with the Calvinists is this whosoever will may come God wants the entire world to come to Jesus Christ any person can be saved God has not elected some and not elected others God has said my heart breaks over a lost and dying humanity and I gotta reach them I want them to come to me and we are the ones through whom God sends that message so let me get off a Calvinism and Arminianism for just a second and let me just say this I got two things I need to share with you based on this thing right now number one is this we need this church and this pastor needs to be smacked around a little bit by the Holy Spirit and wake us up a little bit and we need to have a passion to see people come to Jesus Christ we need to get our focus straight again that needs to be our focus look Calvinists non Calvinists let's all agree we just need to share the gospel and Jesus makes us very clear Luke 1910 Jesus says his watches he said the son of man who's that Jesus the son of man came listen to me to seek and to save the lost Jesus came to seek and to save the lost he said that's why I came then he says this in John 20 21 as the father sent me I'm now sending you listen to me if Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost and as the father sent him he's now sending us what do you think we are sent to do seek and save the lost and we've lost that focus I want us to start thinking once you start thinking through the whole world through through two lenses not Republican Democrat liberal conservative southerner Yankee and I want to do that I want us to start looking at the world through two lenses lost and saved lost and saved this whole Iran situation now if you're watching this on TV there's about a two week delay on TV so I don't know what happened in the next two weeks we may not be here we may be raptured and you may be watching with with the Church of Jesus Christ gone and it's too late you're gonna go through the tribulation but you can still get saved and go to heaven so yeah this Iran thing we've been wondering about bunker buster bombs we've been wondering about retaliation how many of us has wondered about how many Israelis and people from Iran are going to go to hell because they die without the Lord Jesus Christ in this conflict have we wondered about that see according to the folks who study this stuff Iran has the fifth harshest persecution of Christians in the entire world and yet it has the estimated one of the highest rates of the growth of Christianity in the world did you know that don't tell me Hollywood's gotta like us Hollywood's got to be on our side politicians gotta like us if the Gospels are gonna go out I don't say something the gospel seems to work best in climates of persecution and when 1979 when the whole Iranian regime started here there were 300 Christians in Iran 1992 there were 13,000 Christians in Iran by 2002 there were 60,000 Christians in Iran and today there's over 1 million Christians in Iran God is doing something in that country so if we stop worrying about are they born to go to hell born to get him if you forget about that and focus on what Jesus has called us to do he's not called us to try to figure out Calvinism and Arminianism and this and that he says I'm telling you the world is lost down and going to hell okay well either who they sat in Yemen they're still an active force okay see what we're thinking the world's way how the hooties gonna hurt us are gonna shut down the Strait of Hormuz did you know in northern Yemen or the hoodies are they have a population of 8 million almost the population of North Carolina and there are 30 known believers among those 8 million a question shouldn't be are they gonna shut down the Strait of Hormuz question I'll be why are we not getting the gospel to these people who gonna die and go to hell without the Lord Jesus Christ that needs to be our passion does this make sense I'm afraid we've lost it I'm gonna stop trying to figure out Calvinism and Arminianism I'm just gonna try to figure out how can I get the gospel to as many people as possible before I die or Jesus Christ comes back maybe that's what we ought to be figuring out and I look I met a man with that kind of focus at the gym I think it's a couple months last year is a couple months ago or last year we were we're at the gym and there's a tornado alert so the tornado thing went off look I always I shouldn't say this don't do what I do I just ignore those things if it's on my phone I turned down my phone or for the TV I turn it down I ignore it but that you can't do that at a gym I guess because the lawyers and so they made all of us stop working out and go to the locker rooms me and go your locker we had to go to the locker rooms and everybody's aggravated the fellas are sitting there it's quiet and one guy stood up and he said fellas I know we're gonna be okay I know we hate happy being here but can I just lead us in a word of prayer and ask God's protection over us and when I get through pray if you want to know how to have eternal life and go to heaven when you die if something were to happen and you were to be killed here today you can know that you have eternal life when I get through praying there's probably 40 guys in this he said come and talk to me and he let everybody in a prayer when he got through he sat down I'm gonna tell you something it was uncomfortable and it was awkward and afterward I went up and talked to the guy said man thank you so much for doing that as a follower of Jesus I think that's great here's the thing it was awkward here's my question Spirit of God asked you know how the Spirit of God I wish you would just go ahead and tell me what he wants to tell me but I sometimes get a little frustrated when he just asks me these questions Spirit of God said Chad what was worse his awkwardness or your silence so Chad he says awkward he's gonna he's gonna run all these people off well they lost already where's he gonna run them off to hell number one hell number two or hell number three they're already lost maybe I'll be a little bit more like that and have a focus on lost people because I'm gonna read you these verses from the mouth of Jesus himself and as I read these verses I want you to imagine Jeep this comes from the lips of Jesus I want you to imagine Jesus saying these things with tears running down his cheeks John 336 he who believes in the Sun has eternal life but he who does not obey the Sun will not see life but the wrath of God abides on him John 824 Jesus said if you do not believe in me you're gonna die in your sins John 14 6 no one comes to the Father but through me Chad the Calvinist right some people born to go to hell or the Armenians right non Calvinists anybody can give their life to the Lord Jesus Christ I don't care I just know this Jesus is going to all the world and you proclaim the gospel so I'm going to go into all the world and I want to proclaim the gospel that's my first point my second point is this not only do we need to have a passion to see souls come to Jesus Christ number two let's remember Pentecostals why don't we have the power of the Holy Spirit now for those of you who are not Pentecostals who are here you're just kind of coming to visiting and I'm a Baptist on methods whatever here's my frustration with Christians in America we are good with two-thirds of God we're good with the Father we're good with the Son but the Holy Spirit freaks us out so we're going kind of ignore him you can't divide God like that you you want them you got to take all of them Father Son and Holy Spirit and there's a very clear connection in the Bible and particularly the book of Acts watches there's a very clear connection between the Holy Spirit and his work and his empowerment and evangelism you can't divide those they are connected in the Bible in fact if you want to know how to do a church you don't know go buy a copy of purpose driven life and go to this expert and this church growth seminar you don't need to do that you just need the book of Acts because the book of Acts is God's blueprint on how to do church and in the book of Acts you see what I just talked about the passion to see people get saved you see that paired with the power of the Holy Spirit let me give you some examples Acts 1 8 Jesus says you're going to receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses there's an if then if you see the Holy Spirit then you're going to be my witnesses acts 431 after the church prayed the place where they were meeting was shaken and they're all filled with the Holy Spirit and what do they do they spoke the Word of God boldly do you see that empowerment of the Holy Spirit and evangelism sharing your faith with other people see we have separated the power of the Holy Spirit from the purpose of the Holy Spirit in the American Pentecostal Church and it doesn't work we content to sit around strum our banjos sing our songs fall out in the Holy Ghost and we don't see lost people getting saved and there's a disconnect there I know some churches that will tell you last year we have 14 people baptized in the Holy Spirit 23 cancers healed 17 demons cast out that's great how many people do you have to get saved none that's problematic because it didn't say you will receive power and the Holy Ghost comes upon you and you'll start flapping around and scaring everybody out of their minds that doesn't say that it says you'll be my witnesses we are seeing church listen to me I'm not being facetious when I say this something weird going on across the same good kind of weird that people from all over starting to hear about this and they're coming particularly on our Saturday prayer days we're seeing supernatural healing we are seeing demons being cast out we're seeing miracles praise God for that I don't see more of that but don't ever forget the purpose of the power of the Holy Spirit is to draw people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ pastor Jim who did our transition today he shared this in staff meeting last week only profound thing I've ever heard him say but my granny said one time even a blind pig finds an acorn every now and then so he said this last week he said if I got a toddler here and I say to this toddler this big window or something hey look at that little dog out there or there's a big window and I said a toddler look at that bird out there it'd be ridiculous for that toddler to stare at your finger look look no no don't look at my finger have you ever seen the top he's just staring drools coming out of the toddler's mouth he's staring at your finger no don't stare my finger I'm trying to point something out there and the kids not looking at the dog outside he's just staring at your finger the purpose is not for the toddler to stare at the finger the purpose is for the toddler to stare at the thing that the finger is pointing at and we're not supposed to focus on signs and wonders and miracles we are drooling over the finger no the finger of the Holy Spirit is pointing us to a person named Jesus Christ we need to look out the window and see who the Holy Spirit is pointing at because Jesus himself said John 15 26 when the Helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father the Spirit of truth he will bear witness about me people born to go to hell no I don't believe my Calvinist brothers and sisters on that but I do know this the Father does not want to see one person perish so the Bible says he wants everyone to come to repentance he didn't send an angel he doesn't sin do what God sent to point people to Jesus you and me through the power of the Holy Spirit that is God's plan and that's got to be our focus and so Chad do you want to see an outpouring of the Holy Ghost across assembly absolutely do you want to see signs and wonders across assembly absolutely but not so that we can have big goose bump come up on our neck and our hair kind of rises up in our arms wow did you feel that that's not the purpose I want people to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and I want them to see God is not dead his spirit is still moving his spirit is still working signs and wonders are pointing people to Jesus Christ listen to this and I gotta wind this thing down a few years ago fully theological seminary did a study as to why Muslims in closed countries got saved Islamic countries that are not open to the gospel and I've said before every country is open to the gospel you can't close Jesus out he'll go into whatever country he wants to go into but in closed countries where it's illegal to preach the gospel they asked Muslims they did a study of Muslims who gotten saved why did you get safe you one of the top reasons was this is from fuller theological seminary these Muslims said I didn't believe in this Christian God until I saw this miracle I saw this healing I saw this sign I saw this wonder and I said to myself that God must be real and they converted because of what we see in the book of Acts miracles being done y'all think that's just for the book of Acts you think that might be for today let's wind this thing down to Calvinists you don't know who is predestined and who's not so go share the gospel to the rest of us people are not born to go to hell and the father weeps over lost humanity and he's saying church go get him go get him I want that passion as a preacher that I don't always agree with like I wonder if I disagree with him more than I agree with him I don't know but his name is Rick Warren and look you can complain about Rick all you want but he is baptized and since thousands and thousands of people get saved so whatever but Rick was talking about his father who loved the Lord and he said the night before my father died my wife my niece and I were in his bedroom by his side dad had been in and out of it for weeks they said suddenly my dad became very agitated tried to get out of bed now this is a man who has served the Lord for years walk to the Lord for years shared his faith for years and Rick says now I have to watch this great man of God just losing his mind and and just struggling in bed he said of course he was too weak to get out of bed so we kept insisting that he lay back down but he kept persisting and trying to get out of bed finally we said in exasperation dad you cannot get up you're dying we will get you whatever you need why are you trying to get out of bed he said my dad replied I gotta save one more for Jesus I've gotta save one more for Jesus he kept repeating over and over again I gotta save one more for Jesus one more for Jesus and Rick said I watched this man who all of his life had lived to see people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ in his dying moments all he could say was one more for Jesus just one more for Jesus I read that I say I want that for me I want that for this entire church for us to be so in love with Jesus so passionate about Jesus that the passion of our lives now it's just for others to meet that same Jesus has changed our life let me just say this if you don't know Jesus Christ today if you're watching in one of the other campuses or you're watching online here's the good news of Jesus I give you the good news I gotta give you the bad news the bad news is we have all sinned the entire human race has rebelled against God the entire human race is separated from God because of our sin and if we die separated from God we'll spend eternity separated from God and that separation from God causes all kinds of problems in this life not just the next it causes anxiety it causes depression it costs so much at separation from God because of our sin but 2,000 years ago God sent his own son Jesus Christ when Jesus came into this world and he hung on that cross dying he took upon himself the punishment for your sin all the sin that was separate you from God that man took on himself and when he died he said his last words with this it is finished know that means I've paid the price you don't have to pay anymore I've paid the price for your sins it's finished he was buried he came back to life and now if you will simply turn from your sins and come to Jesus and say Lord I am a sinner but I believe you died for my sins I turn away from my sins and I turn to you Lord come in and save my life Lord come and take control of my life at that moment your sins are taken and thrown away and you are now reconciled with God you are now adopted as a child of God you get enjoy fellowship with God in this life and when you die you go to heaven to be with that God in heaven in a place more beautiful and wonderful than anything I could ever explain to you I want you to stand on me right now and if you're not certain that you have eternal life if you're not certain that when you die you're going to go to heaven I want you to just bow right now and I say this every time I share this I say the same thing repeating magical words doesn't save you Jesus saves you but bow with me right now and if you're willing to turn away from your sins and turn the control of your life over to Jesus I want you to forget about everybody else in this room or if you're at the computer forget about everybody else in your house I want you to say this to Jesus and I want you to mean this with all your heart Jesus I am a sinner I don't deserve to go to heaven but I believe you died for my sins say that to him say this I believe you paid the price for my sins now say this to Jesus I believe you were buried Lord I believe three days later you came back to life you're alive right now say this to him I turn away from my sins Jesus and I turn to you please forgive me of my sins come and take control of my life when I die take me to heaven Jesus name if you're here and and you just prayed that prayer and this sanctuary or Benson or North Raleigh I think this little just here's the thing you said why text because you've just made the most important decision of your life I want you to text this number because the Bible says you're now like a baby in Jesus and now you need to grow we're gonna send you some free information on how to grow in Jesus Christ and Jesus said if you get saved you can't keep this to yourself if you're ashamed to confess me before men I'll be ashamed to confess you before my father this is your first way of saying I belong to Jesus Christ I confess him if you're watching online there's something that says you said yes you just click that and the same thing that's gonna be your first way of saying I belong to Jesus I'm not keeping this to myself I'm confessing him and we're gonna send you some information church is getting crazy out there isn't it I don't know that you maybe I'm just psychotic the crazier it gets out there the more excited I get because I think it shows me we're gonna see Jesus soon Jesus is coming back this thing is winding down Jesus is coming back and Pentecostals I'm gonna say this again because I will be misunderstood I thank God for what he's doing it cross I love some people touch by the Holy Spirit I love seeing demons cast out bodies healed I love that but let me read this to you one more time Jesus says when the helper the Holy Spirit comes he will bear witness about me for the next few moments can we forget about signs wonders miracles again bunker buster bombs Iran Trump Israel Netanyahu can we just forget about that for just a few moments and lift our hands and lift our voices and praise the sovereign king of the universe Jesus Christ king of Kings Lord of Lords soon coming King can you just raise your hands and let's just praise the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh man I'm gonna say it one more time it's a messed up world out there crazy stuff going on out there but greater is he who's in you little devil who's out there making a mess in this world y'all believe that you ain't doing anybody any good to leave here biting your fingernails to the quick as scared as everybody else wondering what's gonna happen tomorrow our sleep for sale is going to erupt listen to me you're a warrior for the Lord Jesus Christ be bold be strong or as the Bible says how's that very much after I wrote there are hit he a mecha I don't I and a haircut behold a chef tell ah which is Hebrew for y'all be bold you be strong man y'all be afraid and you don't be terrified of anything why because the Holy Spirit of the Living God is gonna be with you everywhere you go in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit we pray amen and amen God bless you beloved let's go change this world for Jesus Christ
