Video Transcript: The Christian Leader

You know, when I started Cornerstone Church down in Southern California, back in 1994, I  didn't really think about this, I didn't think about what God wanted in a body of believers, and  the way he wanted them to interact with each other, all I thought about was the preaching of  the Word of God, not backing down, and trying to get as many people to the church as  possible. At that point in my life, I didn't think seriously about what the Bible said about a  body, and how to live like a family and about how we're all an extension of each other. And,  and so so now to start looking at that, So Aaron, it would be like a, like, we're connected. And  so anything that hurts him should hurt me, you know, just like a finger or an arm or whatever  else and just start looking at the body that way that that, you know, if God had it his way,  that's the way we would act. And it's like, man, that's my brother, that's my sister any pain  she's going through, I'm connected to that any, any victory, she's gone through any joy, I  would feel that and, and we would sense that amongst one another, so that we just never, we would never ditch a part of our body and have a part of our body is sick, we do everything to,  to bring them you know, restore them back to health and to take that, that pain away. And,  and usually that pains caused by sin or whatever else and, and so we care for another, you  know, confront one another when necessary, encourage each other, just just everything all  the one another's in the Bible. And, and so what we're striving for is, is just that, is that, okay? How can we live this way. And the next eight weeks, we're going to focus on us as leaders and future leaders, because I believe everything rises and falls with leadership. I have to look at  my own life and go, man, how's my connection with God? Am I Am I walking closely with him? You know, is it evident that that man, that I'm not just up here in the flesh trying to do  something on my own Is it is it is obvious that God is with me, am I living that type of life and  is my my communion with Him that close? Because that's going to be passed on to other  people. It's just, it's just natural. Those of you that are parents know that, even if you don't try to pass on your character traits to your kids, it happens. And so I always look at the leaders  because I go, Okay, how I am, it's gonna, it's gonna pass on to the church. And so if I get busy doing a bunch of stuff, and I'm not communing with God, guess what our church is going to  start feeling like, okay, and you as leaders are going to start thinking because I'm going to be  imposing that upon you in some ways. And the same way in your life as you start leading  these other people. Man, your, your character is going to be passed on whether whether you  whether you want to or not. And so the next eight weeks aren't so much like, Okay, here's  what you do, here's what you do, here's where that's what we'll do during the second half of  the sessions. But what I'm really talking about is the character side, because it's my belief  that I would always rather have a godly leader than a good plan. Because you have a good  plan with an ungodly leader, it's going to fall apart. But if you got a godly leader, even if he  has a stupid plan, it just works still. I mean, that's, that's that's what Scripture is, right? I  mean, it's not about these great plans, like, Hey, let's go to the edge of the Red Sea. You  know, it's about a connection, you know, that leader has a godly connection, a relationship  with God, that even when he's in trouble, hey, just dip your staff in the water and watch what  happens. He just marched around the city seven times that'll work. You know, it's just why  because you know, God, just get on your knees and you'll be able to call fire down from  heaven. These aren't wise human plans. It's not like the disciples got together and said, I got  it when everyone comes from other countries. Let's just start talking different languages. It  wasn't this this brilliant plan was a bunch of people coming in the presence of God and go  man, let's just seek him was just seek him. Let's just try to become like him. Let's just follow  His commands as closely as possible. And then let's see what happens and suddenly it's like  man, fire falls down from heaven, right and they start speaking all these unknown languages  and people from other countries. are going, what happened and that's been my experience.  Man, that's been my experience in life all the greatest things that have happened I kind of  stumbled upon. And it wasn't from great plan. I'm not against planning, I plan I, it's just my  plans never really, really seemed to work. You know, so I just thought, you know what, day by  day, let me just walk in the Spirit. try my best, but it's about character. And that's why for the  next few weeks, it's about character, character character, because I actually believe that  what the Bible teaches is character guarantees success in ministry. And what I mean by this is in II Peter 1:5, he says, For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with 

virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self control and self control with  steadfastness, steadfastness, with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and  brotherly affection with love. And then verse 8, For if these qualities are yours, and are  increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord  Jesus Christ. I love that passage. I mean, study, say, II Peter 1 sometimes, you know, because  first he starts talking about how we have everything we need. You know, you know, earlier  that everything, verse 3 is divine powers granted to us all things that pertain to life and  godliness. So he's given us, I've got everything I need for life and godliness, you have  everything you need for life and godliness. He talks about how he makes us partakers of the  divine nature. And then he says, we'll make every effort to keep growing in these areas.  Because if we keep adding to your faith, virtue and virtue, knowledge, knowledge, self  control, brotherly love, love. It's like if you do this, he says, it guarantees you, it keeps you  from being ineffective or unfruitful in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. See, a lot of  times when we're not successful, we start planning and think, okay, maybe I should do this,  maybe I should do this, maybe I haven't set this. And again, I'm not against all of that. I'm just saying what Scripture says is the guarantee is through character. So if there's, like, if any of  you, if you really know God, deeply, and you're pursuing this life of holiness, as he's described in these areas, I don't really have to worry about you. There's going to be fruit, fruit is going  to happen. It's like a healthy apple tree. It's going to produce fruit, it's just going to happen.  Just Just get that tree healthy. You know, it's not like, make some fruit, you know, it's just, let's just get that thing healthy. And, I mean, you know, people like that. It's almost eerie. Like,  wherever they go, things just kind of happened. They're not even trying. Meanwhile, you  we've all tasted the other side, right? Where you fight and you fight and you fight, and  nothing happens. And that's why it's like, Okay, let me look at my life. Is, am I seeing this type of effectiveness for the Kingdom? And if not, it's not let me read a strategy book. Let me look  at my character for a little bit. Am I really growing in these areas? am I adding to my faith,  this type of virtuous lifestyle, and my adding to it, you know, the, the knowledge, self control,  steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. So again, it's like, let's, let's focus on  us, let's focus on our character, people are going to take on your characteristics. And so these are kind of the eight things that we've kind of, there were seven, and I went to China, learn  some from the underground church sound like, whoa, that's huge. So we added an eighth one. There might be nine by the time we get there, but these are just the things that go Gosh, this  seems predominant in scripture of what a leader has to be. And so we go with that because  it's gonna get passed on. And again, those with kids, man, isn't it crazy? How your  characteristics get passed on to your kids? And, and the times when your kids bugged you  you go, Oh, but I know why he's like that. That's, you know, like, like, it's no, it's no, it's, you  know, like, when my kids start acting a little arrogant. It's like, Ah, I know where they get that  from. Lisa, you know, it's just, it's so obvious these types of things. So kidding, of course. The  first week, this week, we're talking about the Christian leader. And I know that sounds almost  like like, dumb. Why would you even list that as a characteristic? And I would just say,  because I, I've been in ministry long enough to where I just, I'm not going to assume that  you're all Christians right here. Just because someone takes the title of pastor doesn't mean  they're saved. Doesn't mean they really know Jesus. And just because even if people lifted  you up as a church leader your whole life, and maybe you even do so much for the kingdom,  Jesus made it plain right? Many are gonna say in the last day, but Lord, didn't I do this and  didn't I do this? And he's going to say depart from me. I never knew you. Like, I don't know  you. Yeah, you were in the church. If you want to call that a church, you were there and you  attended these services every week? And yes, you help with childcare once a month, or  whatever was in Yes, your parents were this and that, or your wife or your kids, or whatever?  And yes, they made you a deacon or an elder or whatever they made you, but I never knew  you. And, and so I don't assume. Okay, and I think a lot of our problems in some of our  churches is that we assume the guy up front, because he's up front, he must be a godly man.  He must really know God. He must be a Christian. Otherwise, why would this be a Christian  church? And I think some of that, I got to say, too, is some of us grew up in a time or maybe  we heard the gospel from someone who says, Hey, pray this prayer, accept Jesus into your 

heart, and you're going to heaven. I mean, this is how it happened to me. Okay. I remember  going to an outreach. And I remember, they said, If anyone doesn't want to go to hell, come  forward. I remember going forward. And they paired me up with this little old lady, her name,  but I can still picture her. Little and old. And, and she said, Pray this prayer with me. I prayed  that prayer. And then I said, so that's it. I'm going to heaven. Yes. And I remember she read I  John 5:13. To me, I John 5:13, that says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Okay, she says that verse right  there tells you that God wants you to know that you have eternal life. Now, I'm not I'm not  making any statements as to whether or not I was saved at that moment or not. Okay, this is  not about that. I don't know. I don't know. I know, I believe in Him. Now. I know, I'm in love  with him. Now I know He's everything to me. Now. At that moment, though, what I'm  questioning is, is is the usage of this verse. First of all, I'm questioning the idea of, where's it  say in the Bible, to pray a prayer and accept Jesus into your heart, and then you get to go to  heaven. You know, I mean, they took John 1, verse 12, get those who received him, gave him  the right to become children of God, you know, those who believed in names gave him the  right to be called children of God. And so just so we receive Him and receive them through  prayer, and, and again, I'm not saying we can't receive Him through prayer, I'm not saying it's wrong, to just say, you know, come to a point, I encourage people, gosh, if you really believe  this, get alone, you know, just just come before God Himself and tell him, his God, I get it. I  sinned against you all. Man, there's just so much garbage in my life and, and I've rebelled  against you, I get it, I deserve your punishment. But I believe you sent your Son to die for me  on that cross, and that wipes away everything. And I'm going to trust in Him. I want him in my life. You know, I'm not saying that that's a bad thing to do. I encourage people to do it. But the proof of our salvation, isn't that we just said those words. In fact, if you look at I John chapter  5, and that verse she read, and you read it in context of the whole book of I John, those who  have read I John, I mean, what is I John doing all through this book? In chapter I, verse 6, it  says, If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not  practice the truth. Did you guys catch that? If we say we have fellowship with him while we  walk in darkness, we lie. So just because someone says they have fellowship with God, if their walk is still in darkness, he says, that person's a liar, verse, verse 8, if we say we have no sin,  we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So those who would say, No, I'm a good  person, I don't I don't have sin, that I need to be forgiven of he didn't tell you the truth, not in  you. Then chapter 2 verse 4, whoever says, I know him, Listen, whoever says I know him, but  does not keep his commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in him. So if someone says, oh, no, I know him, I know him. I know him, but does not keep his commandments. What does the Bible say about that? He's a liar. And the truth is not in him. This is all I John. Look at verse 9.  Whoever says he's in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. It goes on in verse 16, 15, 16, sorry, my eyes 15 and a half. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in  him. Verse 19, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that it might become plain that they are not  us. chapter 3, verse 6, no one who abides in Him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on  sinning has either seen him or knows him. Verse 8, whoever makes a practice of sinning is of  the devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. Verse 9, no one born of God  makes a practice of sinning for God's seed abides in Me cannot keep on sinning because he's  been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children  of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does  not love his brother. Verse 14, at the end of 14, Whoever does not love abides in death.  Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murder has eternal life  abiding in Him. Verse 17, but if anyone has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need,  yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? chapter 4 verse 6, we are  from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not  listen to us. Verse 8, anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. Verse 20. If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he's a liar. For he who does not love his  brother, whom he cannot, who has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And then  chapter 5, you get to verse 12, whoever has the Son has life, wherever does not have the Son

of God does not have life. Then you get to that verse 13, I write these things to you who  believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. Okay, so you get the context of that he shone Look, here's how you tell if you're a believer, look, if  you hate, if you don't love the people in this room, if you just continue on in your sin, I don't  care if you say, you know him, I have such sweet fellowship with Him. On and on and on. He  says that the liar, he's a liar. He's a liar. He's in darkness. He doesn't really know him. He  doesn't love. He doesn't really know him. And then at the end of the book, he has I wrote  these things so you could know. Okay, so it's not just this, Hey, He wants everyone to be sure  of their salvation. No, He wants everyone to look at their actions and go, Oh, man, I know, I'm  a normal believer, because look at what God's done in my life. I used to hate. I used to walk in darkness. I used to be these things. And then God changed me. And now I've got this deep  love for you guys. When I see people in need, it's like, Man, I just want to care for them. It's  like God changed something in my heart. And John says, Yes, see, I write these things. For  those of you who believe I want you to know, I want you to be confident of it. But the  confidence comes from all of everything he wrote. In I John so that you go, okay. Yes, I'm one  of his. And so that's where I go, man. I don't want to be one of these preachers who just wants to give you assurance, because you prayed a prayer. It doesn't seem like I see that in  Scripture. In fact, this week we were reading in Jeremiah right this we have been keeping up  with the reading and in Jeremiah 6. And in Jeremiah 8, God gets angry at the prophets who  keep saying peace, peace when there is no peace, right? Remember that? It's like, Man, why  are you telling them that they're good? Why are you telling them that? No destructions  coming their way. And then for those who did the reading this morning, in this morning's  reading, I thought it was interesting because we're in I Thessalonians chapter 5. And I don't  know if you caught that in I Thessalonians 5:3, it says, while people are saying there is peace,  and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a  pregnant woman, and they will not escape. It's like, boom, you could be sitting there, like we  could be sitting here. And then Liz could just start screaming. You know, like, labor pains could come upon you like, like, it's like, no, we're good. We're good. We're just having a little session right here. But you don't know. That would be crazy. Prophetic. Wow, would you be would be  born. So. But but it's, it's, it was crazy to me reading that passage. Oh, man. That's the same  thing that they were saying in Jeremiah's day. Peace, peace when there is no peace. And here  in I Thessalonians 5, people are going to be saying, Hey, don't don't worry about the  judgment of God. We're not like those. Fire hell and brimstone preacher. You guys, this is the  stuff that? I don't know. We hit me pretty hard reading Jeremiah this week. Because God was  telling Jeremiah, look, no one's willing to say this. But I'm telling you say it, throw it out there.  I love that we read through the Bible every year. And I know it's a lot of reading. But there's  something about reading the whole council of God's Word. And I've heard from some of you,  you know, every year when we get to, you know, the major prophets. It's like a judgment  judge, you know, when is it going to end? Give me some good news. And and you when you  read through the Bible every year, you see there's a lot of Judgment in this book. I mean, I  think it's majority judgment. Like there's more spoken about judgment than there is about the blessing. But if, let's say let's say only half of it is judgment, and half of it is, you know,  reward. Then why are 99% of sermons about forgiveness? Ever think about that? It's because  we don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it. I'd like to say peace, peace. You  know, hey, everything's good. I want to just talk about that good stuff. But do you understand  all through history? I mean, ever since the beginning, you know, God would make it very  clear. Look here, don't eat of that tree. If you eat of that tree, here's what's going to happen to you. There's a warning along with Hey, but here be fruitful multiply. Look, this is gonna be a  good thing. You know, follow me in this way. There's my blessing. In Deuteronomy 27. You  know what they used to do in Israel, they'd split up the tribes and it talks about in  Deuteronomy 27. They put half of the tribes on on Mount Ebal, and then they put the other six tribes on Mount Gerizim and, and they would, you know, on Mount Ebal, they would, they  would cry out the curses, like, curse it, are you if you do this, you know? And then from Mount Gerizim, those tribes would say, but blessed, are you if you do this, like it was equal time is  equal airtime? We're going to tell you, this is what every prophet did. They warned, here's 

what's going to happen if you don't obey. And here's the blessing. If you do obey, here's what  happened. If you don't obey, here's what happens. If you do, it's always both both. And then  Jesus, you know, Luke 6, gets on the mountain, you know, on Sermon on the Mount, and what  does he do, blessed are you know, blessed other poor in spirit that has Woe to you when all  men speak well of you? Because that's the way they treat the false prophets. But blessed, are you when they insult you and say all these terrible things about you? He's going back and  forth. Right? Blessed are you cursed, are you then you get to Matthew 25. Right. And Matthew 25 is a great white, you know, the great, great judgment where, where the Son of Man comes  in all of his glory, and all his angels, and he sits on his throne. And he says to the one side,  man to the sheep, man, I was hungry, you fed me, you know? And then he said to the other  side, no, I was hungry. You didn't feed me. And then these go into this eternal bliss and then  these go to this eternal torment. And then you read the book of Revelation and It's about  man, these extremes of God's cursing to God's blessing. So that's the way it always has been, always will be. And yet we live in a time when we're told. Let's not talk about judgment. And  people, even self righteously will go, Well, I'm not one of those preaching the judgment of  God, guys, I'm more on the love side. You know, and I go, but the apostles seem to be loving.  And they warned of God's judgment all the time. The prophets are you saying the prophets  weren't loving, and therefore they talked about destruction. Are you saying Jesus wasn't  loving, and therefore he, you know, that's why he would talk about, you know, being  tormented. And that's why he would talk about being cast into utter darkness and thrown into this. No, you gotta understand the prophets, the apostles, Jesus himself, because they love  they warned even more deeply, and more emphatically. So you could self righteously go well,  yeah, but I don't want to be one of those Hellfire brimstone. Guys, I want to be more loving  and not talk about that side. And I go, Okay, you might be right. But just know you're doing  the exact opposite of all the prophets, apostles, and Jesus. But you could be on to something,  you know, it's just, let's just face it. I don't want to talk about this. I don't want to talk about it. It's like, the last thing I want to talk about is the judgment side, because that's the world we  live in. But that's what he was telling. Jeremiah is like, Hey, tell those guys that are making  those idols, that it's stupid. Sorry, that just doesn't fly today. But the truth is, I bet you didn't  fly back then either. This is what we're called to talk about this is, this is nothing new. I think it started with the serpent in the garden saying, Did God really say you're gonna die? Eat of this, you know. And that same line has been working for 1000s of years, and our generation is  totally bought into it, to where it's like, hey, let's not talk about the negative consequences.  Let's get rid of Mount Ebal, let's get rid of Jesus's woes. Let's get rid of, you know, let's just  jump to Revelation 22. You know, let's just talk about the good part, or the part that we like.  And I just don't believe it's the most loving thing. And so that's why with salvation. I didn't  want to just come up here and say, Hey, as long as you call yourself a Christian, as long as  you prayed your prayer, at some point, as long as you went into water and made some sort of confession, we're good. Man, I want to look at you and go, Listen, you guys, people get into  ministry for all sorts of different reasons. And people end up in church gatherings for all sorts  of different reasons. But then there's those who know him. And really love him from within to  where we go, look, I don't care if all of you ditch God. Like I know him. I know him. Like, I  believe deep inside of me that Jesus really is a son of God, he really did die on that cross. I'm  ready to follow him that, you know, in Acts chapter 2, you know, I think we have a great  outline there, where when Peter preaches his first sermon, and it says that the people were  cut to the heart and say, what do we do? They're like, okay, okay, I get it, Peter, I get it, Peter, we want this. Now, what do we need to do? You know, they're in Acts 2:38 through 42. And he says, Repent, Repent, and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, and you'll receive the  gift of the Holy Spirit. But those three things, repent, be baptized, and you receive the gift of  the Holy Spirit. So there we have in that sermon, you know, stuff that's repeated all through  the New Testament, repent, baptized, received the gift of the Holy Spirit. And yet, when I was  growing up, when we presented the gospel, we didn't talk about repentance. We didn't talk  about baptism, and we did not talk about the Holy Spirit. Is that crazy? I mean, it's never hit  you like wait then who came? I don't know. I don't know who came up with it, but we just kind  of all bought into it. And I'm just gonna wait but repent is kind of a big deal. That's what John 

the Baptist as his first words You know, Jesus, that was the first thing that he was saying,  Repent the Kingdom of Heavens at hand. And then you know when then here's the first  sermon by Peter, what's repent? It's this turning. And then then you even you know, you get  to the last book of the Bible, even Revelation. You know, Revelation chapter 2 verse, verse 5.  Remember, therefore, where you have fallen, repent and do the work you did at first. If not, I  will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. And verse 16,  it says, Therefore, repent, if not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword  of my mouth. This whole idea of repentance means you turn right. Okay, it's a 180 you're  living for yourself. Repent means to turn. You know, it's I'm living. For me, everything I want,  here's my dreams. Here's my aspirations. I need Jesus. And it's like, no, I'm following you and  I'm walking the other direction. And then, you know, so so it's, it's, you can't just keep living  life the way you were living. You make a decision when you encounter Jesus, and trusting him  believing in him. It's about saying, No, I decided to follow Jesus. Okay. And that's why Jesus,  when He called His disciples like, follow me, it's a decision, I'm deciding to follow you. When  he called the disciples. He didn't just say, pray a prayer accept me in your heart, as some sort of big good thing. It was neck No, literally follow me. Are you ready to die to yourself and  follow me and that's what the picture of baptism was. Baptism, we will see a good explanation I Peter chapter 3, that the baptism we're talking about, I Peter 3. Starting in verse 21. It says,  baptism, which corresponds to this now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body, but  as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Okay, but if you go up a few verses, verse or just one verse, verse 20, because they formerly did not  obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in  which a few that his eight persons were brought safely through the water. Baptism, which  corresponds to this now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to  God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So what's he saying?  Baptism, he says, saves you. But it's not. It's not about this act of going into water and the  water somehow washing away your sin, but it's about the picture that it represents. And he  uses the example of Noah, you know how God's destruction was coming upon the world. And  yet who was saved from God's destruction, it was those eight people that climbed into the  ark. And at that same picture, now we saying, Okay, now, you know, just like that ark, took  them through the storm. In the same way, Jesus now, in a sense, is our Ark. And my baptism  is a baptism into Jesus. It's like me climbing into Christ, and saying, I'm one with Him. Now I'm safe now. Because I'm in Jesus, I'm in Christ, I climbed into the ark, and he does all of the  work. I'm in there. And it goes, That's the picture that's a baptism picture of you climbing in  becoming one with Christ. You know, Romans talks about you know, dying to yourself, and  coming alive in Christ. And then, Holy Spirit passage and I'll end with this in Romans 8.  Romans 8, verse 9. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if in fact, the Spirit of  God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But  if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of  righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who  raised Christ Jesus from the dead, will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit  who dwells in you. continues so then brothers were not debtors. not to the flesh to live  according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit  you put to death, the deeds of the body you will live, for all who are led by the Spirit of God  are sons of God, for you do not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have  received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father, the Spirit himself bears  witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs heirs of God,  and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him, in order that we also may be  glorified with Him. So you see, something happens when we repent, decide to climb into the  ark, which is Christ through baptism, and we receive the Holy Spirit. Suddenly, internally,  something happens where, and I still don't know how to describe this, where it says, in your  spirit, you cry out Abba father. It's like this security that you have, like my kids have with me,  where they just know that's my dad, I don't doubt that he's my dad, and I can climb up onto  wherever he is, I can go to dad that Abba father, and then this power that you have, to where  I don't have to live in my sin anymore. I can I can put it to death. I've got power over it. That's

why you know, when I John when he starts listing all of those things, he's like, man, you don't  get it. Like you can't know him. If you don't have if you just keep on sinning and it doesn't  bother you. Like if it's just a lifestyle of sinning, how can you say you know him, because once a spirit enters in you, He makes you a slave of righteousness. And, and you, you you, you  don't live according to the flesh anymore. And so, the reason why this is this is so huge is,  look, when a person becomes a believer, the Holy Spirit enters into it, the Spirit of Christ isn't  in you. Like that passage says, You don't belong to Christ. Okay, so there's none of this. Well,  I'm a Christian, I just don't have the Holy Spirit. I know. He says, No, if you don't have the Holy Spirit, then you don't belong to him. There's something about, that's the seal. That's the  proof. But when it enters into you, you change. Like, internally. That's why like, when I gave  my life to Jesus, and my youth pastor, I remember him telling us things that we needed to do  or change or whatever he'd read from the word. Like, he didn't have to beg me. Right? I  wanted it. I would pursue him like, dude, tell me more. You know, like, I want to know more  about God, I want this. Why? Cuz something happens inside this is so so big, because I think a lot of times don't you feel like you're forcing people to do something they don't want to do.  And those are the times where I go, man, we can waste a lot of time trying to force people to  do something that isn't inside of them. That they don't want. Man, those of you that I know  pretty well in this room. The reason why you're in this room, because I've seen that when I  present the Word of God to you or someone confront something in you, you actually want it.  It's not like we're pressuring you when you're like, No, no, no, all right, fine, I'll do No, it's this  desire. I'm not saying it's not difficult, but there's just your nature from the inside out. And I  think in churches all the time, we waste a lot of time, trying to get unbelievers to do Christian  things. versus you know, that that was the whole point of the parable of the soils. It's like,  why am I pouring all this fertilizer and water on the sidewalk? It's not taking root? Why am I  going over to the rocks and trying to create something and make something happen?  Something might, you know, let me focus on the good soil, because if I go to the good soil,  and I you know, cuz because Jesus, His sheep hear His voice, they know him, and they follow  Him. So if you present that life giving word to some people, they're going to soak it. We've all  had that experience, right? You can tell the same thing two different people. One person's  like, Oh, thank you. I needed that. And the other person, it just completely throws it off. Why?  It's about an internal change. This is not about a program where it'll work for anyone, you  know, because there's just enough rules attached to it. This is about a complete life change.  Where a person repents, baptized, the Holy Spirit and into them. And then you see it, you see  the difference? There's a result there. And so yes. Are we saved by the blood of Jesus?  Absolutely. Not by any works whatsoever. We're justified by, by grace through faith. Okay. Not  about works. But when we believe, for those of us who believe that the word believe carries  with the idea of trusting, it involves in action, it's not just some sort of, yeah, you know, if it  was our true false quiz, I would, I would put a T, or maybe I'll put a T with a little mark,  because I might pretend it was F, you know, it's not one of those. We've done that right. You  know, it's, it's not just this intellectually. Yeah, I think I know, it's this trust, like no. He died on  the cross for me. And now that I see what he's done, I'm walking away from my own life, and  I'm going to follow him. I'm going to follow Jesus. Now I trust him. I trust that his words are  good, I trusted, his laws are good. He's my father, he see this is this is it. It's a repentance. It's a man, I'm climbing into him for my salvation. I'm not trusting in any other name. I don't think there's any other name by which I can be saved. I'm climbing the ark, I believe this  destructions coming, but I'm safe through Christ. And he promised there in Acts2, that this  promise was for them for their children and those who are far off that we would receive the  Holy Spirit, and His Holy Spirit's, the one that's going to keep me on track, and keep me  moving in this way to where I can't walk away from him. I don't know about you guys, but I  can't leave Jesus. I just can't. Sometimes I'll even dabble in sin a little bit, and I'll get going  down the road. And it's like, it drives me nuts. I can't live this way. And it turns me back. Why? Because I'm a slave to what's right now. And so this is the starting point. For us. And I, I just, I  don't want to assume that you guys know God. I think you do. Because those of you who I  know I've seen repentance. And like I said, you're the ones that when you hear the word of  God, you're welcome it. And maybe you get mad right away. But then you sleep on it, like, oh,

no, it's, it's right. I know, I know. I know. And you keep coming back. You know, I've seen that  in you. But this is what we have to start doing with our people is out of a concern for them.  Go, hey, you know, I'm not trying to judge you or anything. I just get concerned because I  read these passages. And I'm like, I don't see that in your life. Like, it freaks me out. Because I do believe in a judgment. And I don't want that for you. I mean, you think I want to tell you  how to know if you're a Christian, I'm just telling you, I look at your life. And I read some of  these passages in Scripture. And it just scares me. I mean, I remember having that exact talk  with the guy that brought me to church. over 30 years ago, I gave my life to the Lord. And  then I look at him, I'm like, Dude, you're my best friend. You know, I love you. But I get  concerned because I read this book, and then I look at your life. And I'm like, Man, do you  know him? And, and he walked away from the church, you know, and walked away from me  30 years. And then a couple weeks ago, I baptized him, you know, like 30 years later. And so  now that I'm getting these texts, and these emails the last few weeks that I'm just man, it's  like the it's like a dream come true. The things that he's writing like, Man, my kids see it my  wife, we're all different. Now we're changing. We're, you know, I'm so in love with God, I'm in  His Word is everything. And I'm like, Are you kidding me? 30 years later, but, but that loving  talk where you, you know, like a doctor going man, I see all the signs, you know, of cancer or  AIDS or whatever. I'm not judging. I'm just really concerned for you. In the same way we're  looking at Scripture and going us. The first thing that known was God, it seems like, according to Scripture, its like they take on a new life. They weren't dead in their trespasses and sins.  You know, but I'm looking at your life and I'm not seeing that much of a difference. And I'm  just concerned because I love you. It's okay and even a good thing to say that to people. And  they may not take it at the moment. And it might be 30 years later, that they remember  something you said And remember a lifestyle that you lived. And you got to remember, the  Bible does say that there's a wide road that leads to destruction, and a narrow road that leads to life. And so that's why we don't want to be the types of people that refuse to talk about the  wide road, and are always just saying peace, peace, when there is no peace, and promising  peace and safety. And at every funeral saying, I know he's in a better place. I know she's in a  better place. How do you know that? Man, did you see it in their life? See, I was sharing that  with our church this morning. It's like, Man, I just don't want to do another funeral where I go  home, probably, you know, because I'm not gonna say it. If I don't know, if I didn't see the life. And there wasn't the confidence. I don't say it. I go, I don't know. Let's worry about you right  now. You know, and that's the way I do my funerals. I don't want to do that with you, you  know that the Bible says, look, a good tree is gonna produce good fruit, you're gonna be able  to tell by the fruit they bear. This is not stuff from me. I mean, show me, if I took any of this  out of context, I'm trying my best to read this in context and go, Look, I'm saved by the blood  of Jesus. And because I'm saved by the blood of Jesus, you'll see the result of that. Because I  repent, was baptized, the Holy Spirit came into me. And because of that, there's going to be  fruit, it's going to happen. And as I make every effort to be that man of character, you're  going to see more and more fruit, there's a guarantee that, that my salvation is there. And so  I would encourage you as you lead your churches, and as you lead your groups start with this, you got to start with salvation, I would encourage you to make sure you are one of your  leaders has heard everyone's testimony in your church. That's a great way to start, when you  have them explain to you their relationship with God, because I've heard some crazy things,  you know, of why people think they're Christian, whether the family they were raised in or  some sort of crazy theology, but they can't quote one passage of Scripture, you know. And so  sometimes it's just good to hear someone's story. And at the end of it, it may be that God's  calling you to go, Gosh, you put a lot of trust in your works. And I don't see that in Scripture.  I'm not hearing about how Christ saved you and the cross. Because maybe some people have  just been taught about works, and not about the cross. And there may be others who say, No,  I prayed this prayer. So I know I'm safe. I know I'm secure. Even though there's been no life  change, and no proof of repentance anywhere, it's like, gosh, a great opportunity to start  talking to them. Because if we don't start with being a Christian, then we're just trying to  force people, you know, that don't have the Spirit of God in them to do things that may be  nice, and they may even want to do some of these things. But what Christ has called us to do 

is to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him. And that's not something you're going  to pull off. Unless a spirit of God is with you. And so, man, if any of you have doubts about  your salvation, where you go, Gosh, I don't know if I really know him. And this is being in this  room. This is not the Ark ok. It's not I'm with these guys, so I'm safe. Now it's about this, you  know, you and Christ. And if you have questions, or whatever, man, call me, this is the one  group that I make myself available to is the pastors and, and our future pastors. I can't, you  know, people ask for my number everywhere. And I'm like, no, no, no, I don't have time to  disciple you. I don't have time to meet with you. But with this group, this is my priority right  now in life to work for me ago, man. I'm really struggling here, man, give me a call and I'll  make it happen. We'll get the time together because you're the future leaders of the church.  You are the leaders of the church right now. And let's get this stuff right. And then then we'll  move on with our people. So that's it for the lecture part of it.