01. The Struggle Is Real with Lo-Ammi Richardson - Love

hello and welcome to our series entitled the struggle is real i'm your speaker and evangelist luami richardson and what we're going to be unpacking in our time together is understanding the practical steps that are needed for us to be complete in jesus christ you see i don't know about you but when i first accepted jesus i always constantly heard fellow believers tell me that oh when you give your heart to jesus all your problems will go away but as soon as i realized as i accepted christ six months until my experience i realized that i was struggling even more than i did before and it's constantly time and time again i would fall and and not meet the expectations that i know that i should live up to and brothers and sisters my experience was one great struggle but we're gonna see that there's beauty in the struggle and we're gonna go through the seven practical steps that are necessary for us to be complete in jesus christ so before we begin let's bow our heads for a word of prayer and invite the holy spirit to guide us into our study in our time together let us pray father we just thank you so much for the awesome opportunity to be able to open up your word and lord i just pray that we may have a fresh revelation of your son jesus christ that we may understand that the struggle though it is difficult it is a beautiful struggle because we have a savior who cares for us so hide me behind the cross let your son jesus christ be seen for we ask this in jesus precious and holy name amen now our theme text throughout our time together is going to be found in philippians chapter 2 and verses 12 and 13. the bible states therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed so now not only as in my presence but much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling now i want to stop right here so often i've heard this verse misused because i would hear pastors elders evangelists even friends of mine say listen you must work out your own salvation and when you do so you must be doing so with a lot of fear and trembling and and so when i first gave my heart to christ as i was learning new truths and and and i saw the expectations that god had in my life i was doing so with a lot of fear and trembling because i was hoping not to fail but that's not what the verse is implying because the verse continues to say for it is god who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure so understand that god is going to first place the desire for you to do his will and then when we comply to do his will then the verses that he will work in you to do his good pleasure anything outside of that you better do so with a lot of fear and trembling there is nothing that you can do to work your way into heaven there is nothing that you can do to work and in favor for god or or or do anything to merit god's grace in your life god wills you he places that desire in your heart and then he empowers you when we make that decision i also want you to notice our our theme uh quote throughout our time together is found in ministry of healing page 487 it states those who decline the struggle those who climb the decline the what the struggle lose the strength and joy of victory so brothers and sisters understand that you and i are going to experience a struggle when we accept jesus christ into our lives but those who decline the struggle ultimately lose the strength but notice the joy and the victory in that struggle so if you are struggling in your christian experience praise god for that struggle because we ultimately are going to receive the joy in that struggle and see the victory but it continues we need not to keep our own record of trials and difficulties griefs and sorrows all these things are written in the books and heaven will take care of them oh brothers and sisters that brings me so much joy knowing that though i am struggling i should not decline the struggle because in the struggle i will receive the strength not only will i receive the strength i will receive the joy and the victory all of my difficulties all of my trials all of my griefs all of my shortcomings i don't need to be concerned about it i simply give it to god god takes care of that and all i have to do is continue to put my faith in him and so that's going to be the foundation that we're going to set as we continue to move forward in our series together that is nothing that i can do to merit god's grace there's nothing that i can do to work my way into heaven it is simply god placing that desire in my heart and then as he places it my job is to simply comply and then he empowers me to do that and so brother sisters if you are struggling in your christian experience if you're watching this if you're hearing this know and understand that there's joy and victory at the end of this struggle so what we're going to be uncovering today is step number one step number one is this is a vital and important step for us to understand and follow because without love we're not going to be able to understand the rest of the steps and understand that love is the foundation of every truth found in scripture jesus says i am the way the truth and the life jesus declared that he was the source of life in our lives but most importantly jesus is god and god is defined as love according to the bible and so as we continue our time together understand that love is going to be revealed in every step of this journey notice what it says in john chapter 12 and verse 32 the bible says jesus said i if i be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me you see jesus understood the power of the cross if we understand the cross the way that we it is our privilege to understand it once christ is uplifted the bible says that all men will be drawn unto him why because the cross reveals his ultimate love for you and so brother sisters notice what it says in evangelism page 264 the very first step the very what very first step and the most important thing to melt and subdue the soul is by presenting our lord jesus christ as a sin bearer the sin pardoning savior making the gospel as clear as possible brothers and sisters we as as fellow believers must understand the most important and first step to subdue our carnal hearts our hearts that naturally do not want anything to do with god in order for us to receive that love brother sisters we must present jesus christ as a sin bearer sin pardoning savior and brother sisters we must make the gospel the good news as clear as possible you see there's so many misunderstandings of what the gospel is and what the gospel is not but we're seeing that jesus is the gospel he is the good news knowing that in my in my current struggle in my current state i don't have to stay in this condition all i had to know is to see jesus and he's the one who pardons my sin and brother sisters we need to make the gospel as clear as possible and we must uplift christ in every teaching and every study that we have so often i hear ministers tell people what they ought to do but they negate uplifting christ the bible tells us that if christ is uplifted they will that the cross and jesus will draw all men to himself and so understand that the very first and most important thing to melt and subdue our hearts is to present jesus christ as a sin bearer and the sin partnering savior amen notice what it says in john chapter 3 verse 16 and 17 this one of the most famous passages in in all of scripture it says for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life now we know john 3 16 by heart and but brother sisters i believe that verse 17 is just as important as verse as verse 16. we see that god loves us and so because god loved us he gave his only son and his son when we believe in him we receive the gift of eternal life but verse 17 is just as important notice what it says in verse 17 for god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved god did not send his son to condemn you he understands that you need him hence the reason why he sent his son to die for us and so brother sisters verse 17 is just as important because we understand that god came to save he did not come to condemn and so if you're hearing anyone condemn you in your current condition your current state in your current struggle understand that is not of christ christ did not con he did not come to condemn he came to save but what did he came to say was from well the bible clearly states in matthew 1 21 and thou shalt call his name jesus for he shall save his people in their sins no the bible says from their sins jesus came to save us from ourselves jesus came to save us from our sin because sin is what separates us from god sin is what separates us from the love of christ and so because sin is separating us from the source of life and love and sin is separating us from that source of love jesus came to save people from the thing that is separating us from him and so don't ever think that you have come to a point where you have arrived don't ever think that you have come to a point where you don't need any saving because isaiah chapter 53 and verse 6 states all we like sheep have gone astray we've all have turned everyone to his own way and the lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all every single person under the sound of my voice every single person who is watching this myself included we have all gone astray we have all chosen our own way and not god's way and brothers and sisters we see that at the end of the day god does not condemn us for uh having us choose our own way he came to save he came to seek those who are lost and just as sheep we all have gone astray from jesus but praise the lord that he came to save us and he took the sin that was meant for us he took it upon himself and he died in our place selected messages volume 1 states that hating sin with a perfect hatred he gathered to his soul the sins of the whole world guiltless he bore the punishment of the guilty you see jesus hates sin so much because sin is what separates him from the people that he came to save and but most importantly the creation that he made with his own hands he hates sin with a perfect hatred and brother sisters though jesus was guiltless though he never committed a sin he took the punishment that was deserving to us and he bore that guilt it continues to say that innocent yet offering himself as a substitute for the transgressor the guilt of every sin press his weight upon the divine soul of the world's redeemer the evil thoughts the evil words the evil deeds of every son and daughter of adam called for retribution upon himself for he had become man's substitute though the guilt of sin was not his his spirit was torn and bruised by the transgression of men and he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of god in him oh i hope that you understand the great love that jesus has for you you see there are many people who have sinned against god who have committed mistakes in their lives who have bore that guilt in their lives and brothers and sisters ultimately because they did not know how to uh relieve that guilt how to surrender that guilt brothers this is many people have even committed suicide because of the great guilt that they bore i don't know about you but i've felt that guilt before times where i've made mistakes times where i know i should have done better and allowing the mistakes of my past to uh to to allow me to uh believe that i cannot be saved or that i cannot uh change my current condition and jesus though he never sinned received that guilt on him he put that guilt on himself understand that when jesus died jesus did not die of a fit of physical pain he died of a broken heart and so that one sin that caused mankind to uh that there's some individuals who allowed that one mistake that one sin to cause them to take their life imagine the weight of sin on the place of jesus as he had to take upon the guilt and the sin of every single person over the span of close to 7 000 years since the time adam was created to now imagine the weight of sin that was on the heart of jesus we see that he did this because he loved us and in return he gave us his righteousness so we don't have to experience the great pain that we are that we suffer when we commit sin second corinthians chapter 5 verse 21 says for he hath made him to become sin for us that who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of god in him so understand jesus never experiencing he doesn't know what sin caused but because he came to this earth to take away the sin of the world he placed the guilt on ourselves and in return he gave us his righteousness i want you to understand that what the decision that jesus was making was not an easy decision you see he was forever connected to that source of love that is his father he constantly commune with him since the very beginning there was never an uh a separation between the son and the father but brothers and sisters when jesus made that decision to come here on earth to take on the penalty and the guilt of sin and place it upon himself and to give humanity the opportunity to choose life and not death understand that jesus had a choice as well jesus was there in gethsemane there he realized the decision that he had to make and i want you to know what selected messages states as soon as christ entered the wilderness unto tension temptation his visions changed the weight of the sin of the world was pressing his soul understand that as he was realizing the decision that he was making he realized that this this this cross that he was about to bear the gethsemane experience that he was experiencing at that moment he did not want to go through it the world the sin of the world was pressing upon his soul and he realized the strength of indulged appetite and of unholy passion that controlled mankind brothers and sisters understand that he knew what sin would cause but notice what it says in patriarchs and prophets oh i love this it says could satan have indulged christ to you to a single temptation or could have led him um or could have led him to a single temptation because he had led him by one act or even thought to stain his perfect purity the prince of darkness would have triumphed over man's surety and would have gained the whole human family to himself understand from the time that jesus came to this earth understand that when uh uh that when jesus took on the form of flesh that satan was trying to cause jesus to slip up just one time you see if jesus would have looked out for himself if jesus would have just said listen i don't want to do my father's will i'm going to do my will instead if jesus would have sinned just one time understand that the prince of darkness would have taken over this world and he would have full control of this world and he would have claimed humanity to himself brothers and sisters but i love how this continues to stay estates but while satan can distress he could not contaminate though he could cause agony he did not defy he could not defile he made the life of christ one long scene of conflict and trial oh praise god for the victory in jesus christ understand what was at stake if jesus would have fallen into sin if jesus would have said my will and not god's will if he would have looked out for himself and not uh uh comply to the commands of his father understand that satan would have had full control of humanity and so but while satan could distress he could not contaminate hallelujah though he could cause agony he cannot cause defilement and so understand from the time that jesus was born to the time that he died to the time that he resurrected and rose again and went back to heaven every second every minute every hour every day every week every month every year every decade satan was causing nothing but stress and agony to jesus because he knew that if jesus all he had to do was slip up one time and brother sisters the plan of salvation would have been over you and i would have no hope for the future we would be stuck in our condition with never realizing the the beauty that god has created for us from this uh from from for us to experience the world that is to come isaiah chapter 53 and verse 7 states he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shares is dumb so he opened not his mouth isaiah 53 verse 7 simply states that jesus never complained not once about the decision that he was about to make he understood the the consequences of of of taking on humanity and taking on human flesh and coming to this earth to save save you and i just as a sheep that was oppressed as he was afflicted he never opened his mouth and he was brought like a lamb to the slaughter brother sisters he never opened his mouth mouth he never complained about the decision that he made to save you and me bible commentary volume page 1082 states in the closings in the closing hours while hanging upon the cross he experienced to the fullest extent what man must experience when striving against sin he realized how bad a man may become by yielding to sin he realized the terrible consequences of the transgression of god's law for the iniquity of the whole world was upon him you see what jesus never experienced he had to experience it for us and brother sisters he made that decision and the reason why he made that decision was motivation for love for you and for me first peter chapter 2 and verse 24 it states that he himself bore our sins in his body on a tree that we may do what die to sin but to live to righteousness understand that jesus went through what he went through in gethsemane jesus went through what he went through on the cross so we can ultimately come to a point where we stop doing the thing that put him on the cross in the first place he wants us to die to sin and we can live to righteousness but the only way we can do that brothers and sisters is by first seeing his love for us and the ultimate sacrifice that he was willing to endure and pay for you and for me oh have you been separated from god do you feel like there's no hope for you well brothers and sisters rest assured that there's hope even for the wayward child who has gone away from the father notice what it says in steps to christ page 54 while the sinner is yet far from the father's house wasting his substance in a strange country the father's heart is yearning over him and every longing awaken in the soul to return to god is but the tender pleading of his spirit wooing a treating drawing the wonder to his father's heart of love brother sisters even in the moments where i have separated myself from god you see i decided i didn't want to follow god's law anymore i didn't want to have a relationship with god i thought christianity and religion it was all fake it was all phony and so when i decided to go and and experience the world and what it had to offer it brought me joy but only for a moment because i realized that there was something that i was longing deep in my heart that the world could not fill and brother sisters while i was out drinking while i was out partying while i was out doing the things that the world would tells tells me to do in order for you to have fun understand that there was moments in my experience where i felt like i should pray there was moments in my experience while i felt like reading the bible there was moments where i was compelled to go to church and sit down and listen to the pastor preach in all of those moments that i understand now that it was a tender pleading of the spirit of god wooing and treating me back to himself oh god is not willing to give up on you and so if you feel like giving up hope if you feel like god can't forgive if god does not save understand that the fact that you're even listening to this message is an indication is an indicator that jesus loves you and the father loves you as well so how does he draw us to himself what jeremiah chapter 31 verse 3 tells us i have loved thee with what type of love an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness have i drawn thee it's only by love that love is awakened it's only by seeing the loving goodness and kindness and mercy of jesus that we are drawn to him it's by beholding the cross that we see his loving care for us and brothers and sisters so often i hear ministers come behind the pulpit preaching everything else except the love of christ and i understand there has been a there is a there's messages about god's love but it has been diluted just to make it feel like it's a good feeling but brother sisters we see that love has depth it has substance we see that he loved me with an everlasting love that even if i choose to never accept him into my life he will forever love me why because he created me he saved me and he's longing to give me that opportunity and so what he does is demonstrate his loving kindness and he's demonstrating it constantly time and time again so we can be drawn to himself brother sister thoughts of the amount of blessing tells us that the very first step the very first step in the process of being complete in jesus and approaching god is to know and believe the love that he has to us so understand that the only way that i can start this journey is by knowing that god loves me but it's not just simply knowing it's believing that he loves me and so brother sisters do you believe that he loves you does he do you believe that that there's nothing that you can do to make yourself right that he loves you just the way you are fallen broken with all of the mistakes that you have made the first step in approaching god is to say lord i know that you love me because your word says it and i believe it regardless of my current state this is the first step in approaching god it's knowing i know you love me but it's far more than just knowing i believe that you love me for it is through the drawing of his love that we are led to come to him nothing else will draw us to god it's not going to be doctrines it's not going to be the reward of heaven or even the condemnation of hell it's only by the love of jesus that we are drawn to him but we must first know and believe if we're going to start this journey with god desire of ages page 172 states by an agency as unseen as the wind question can you see the wind no but you can feel the effects of the wind can you not but it says by an engine see as an unseen as the wind christ is constantly working upon the heart notice little by little perhaps unconsciously to the receiver impressions are made that tend to draw the soul to christ these may be received by three ways through the meditating upon him through reading the scriptures or through hearing the word of the living preacher brother sisters little by little jesus is using his spirit to woo us back to himself and how are we drawn to christ is by meditating on his word is by reading his word is by hearing the word of a preacher so the fact that you're hearing this here and right now know that this is evidence of the spirit working in your heart and this is the experience that i had even though i was separated from god in those moments where i felt the prompting in my heart to just pray that moment where i felt the prompting to open up his word and read brother sisters that was an indicator that the spirit was working in me and then when i came to hear the preacher preach i was far more receptive to receive that word and though i may not have accepted it at that moment that seed was planted and god says listen i know that you haven't accepted me i know that you're not fully understanding what i'm doing but god is far more patient with us than we are with him and little by little he is drawing us to himself then notice suddenly as a spirit comes with more direct appeal the soul gladly surrenders itself to jesus by many this is called sudden conversion but is the result of a long wound of the spirit of god a patient protracted process it's amazing to me to see when we when we praise these preachers and evangelists of how great uh work that they do and how many souls they have brought to jesus and so when they make an appeal they said come accept jesus christ and we see dozens hundreds of people coming forward and giving their hearts to jesus and we think man look at the power of that speaker look at the appeal listen to the song but brother sisters little do they realize it was the holy spirit working on these individuals lives from long before little by little god is gathering his children back to himself and then when the preacher comes and makes a direct appeal understand that it's not a sudden conversion it was a spirit working in their hearts and now they're able to receive the goodness and love of god with more direct appeal and brothers sisters would know that jesus was patiently waiting that process out so often we cast people aside because they're not where they need to be and but we're seeing that god does everything in his power towards back to himself and so i know that that that any decision that people make to follow christ it is nothing that i have said there's nothing that i have done i know that the spirit was working in their hearts and now that they made a decision i just praise god that they made that decision he used me as a vessel to draw that individual back to himself so we see that there's a cooperation god is doing everything in his power to draw us to himself so what is our part our part is to not resist his drawing that is our part that is our role in the whole process god is doing everything in his power to woo us to himself our part is to not resist his drawing notice what it says in isaiah 55 and verse 3 incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live brothers and sisters we have to be so in tune with the spirit of god we must hear that still small voice that when we hear god speak to us and he tells us go left go right stop take you know take a step back move forward we must incline our ear to hear him and at the end of the day we need to do so in order for us to live brothers and sisters the desire of ages page 17 5 says that the light shining from the cross reveals the what the love of god this is why we established from the very beginning that love is a very first step in this process john 12 32 says that if i be lifted up will draw all men to myself why because the cross reveals the love of god and we see that it's the love of god that draws humanity to himself he says his love is drawing us to himself if we do not resist this drawing we shall be led to the foot of the cross and in repentance for the sins that have crucified the savior you see i remember in my early on in my experience i used to even say this myself that it's far more easier to be lost than to be saved but brother sisters when i truly understood what god was doing i realized that i was i had to apologize and say that's not neces that's not true at all it is far easier for us to be saved than to be lost you're thinking to yourself no it's not yeah well if god is constantly wooing us to himself then brother sisters and if we're constantly resisting what takes more energy let me give you an example i remember going to hawaii and i had the awesome privilege of spending some time down there and doing some meetings and and i had to do some work uh while i was down there as well and one of the things i wanted to do was was to ultimately go surfing and so i went and go surf now i'm a city boy and by nature i don't uh naturally naturally go to the beach and do all these uh extreme sports you can say but um i wanted to do surfing because the beaches were just beautiful and a buddy of mine told me hey listen um you you should come out and and and go surfing with us so i decided to go so brother sisters as i went i realized that i needed to stop resisting what the waves were throwing at me and ultimately let go and let god brother sisters it is far harder for me to continuously resist resist resist than to simply just let go and let god take me where he needs to take me brother sisters we need to stop resisting that love and what we resist it becomes far easier for god to do the work in our lives then it says then the spirit of god through faith produces a new life in the soul the thoughts and desires are brought into the obedience to the will of christ and the heart the mind are created anew in the image of him who works in us to subdue all things to himself and so brother sisters why is it that we have not entered into that experience with christ where review and herald gives us the answer the way have been made clear for all those who choose to hear repent and believe so understand that the first step is to know and believe that god loves you as we hear that the natural response as we see in the book of acts is to what shall we do god says i want you and i need you to repent which is simply turning away from that life of sin that old life and enter into a new life with christ and we're going to talk about repentance because repentance is so deep brothers and sisters repentance is not what we think it is it's actually a gift that god gives to you and to me but then notice the third step is to believe the gospel to believe that jesus loves me to believe that he can empower me to live this new life it continues to say that all heaven is waiting the sinner's cooperation so notice that we do have a part to play but we're simply cooperating with what god has already done and what he is doing and the only barrier that stands in his way is one which he alone can remove his own will we choose whether or not we want to be drawn to that love we just we decide whether or not we want to accept that love into our lives brother sisters god has made every provision for us to be drawn into his love but if we choose not to that is up to us we need to cooperate with god the only barrier between us and god is me is us is our own will it continues to say that we he must submit to the will of god and through repentance and faith come unto god for salvation we're going to dissect a little bit more what faith is and what repentance is but understand that we must through repentance and faith come unto god for salvation no one will be forced against his will christ draws but he never compels or in other words christ draws but he never forces and brothers it's so funny to me that i see certain parents dragging their children into church you you're going to go to church today listen you're going to come you're going to sit down you're going to listen to this message now i understand there's a balance in everything but what do you think is being created in that child's mind as they're being forced to do something that they don't want to do they're seeing god and seeing god in a way that they think they think that this is how god operates with his children no no no god never forces against our will if i decide not to be drawn and i constantly sit there and resist and resist and resist god says you have that choice and brother sister the only reason why we are resisting is because of pride but if we humble ourselves this is why the bible constantly states if you humble yourself before me we humble ourselves and say lord i cannot continue to resist this love i'm going to let go and let your love take me where it needs to take me then we see that ultimately god draws us to himself christ draws but he never forces us to do anything that we don't want to do and so we have to remember as we treat others how is it that god has treated me how would god handle this situation we have to present the goodness of god we have to show the blessings that we receive by accepting god and as people see that then we ask for the spirit to continue to work in their lives and we and allow the spirit to woo them so they can make that decision for christ amen hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3 says that how shall we neglect uh so great a salvation which at first began to be spoken by the lord and was confirmed confirmed to us by those who heard him brother sister we can't escape and neglect such great salvation we must accept it and so brothers and sisters we see that christ's object lessons page 159 says in one way only can true knowledge of self be obtained we must behold christ you see the reason why we don't see our need for jesus is because jesus is not being beheld in our lives jesus is not being uplifted we're not seeing his love we're not being drawn to his love because at the end of the day we think that we're truly okay the bible in revelation chapter 3 says that we are rich increase with good and no need of anything this is how we see ourselves but it's only by beholding christ that we truly have a knowledge of who we truly are it says it is ignorance of him that makes men so uplifted in their own righteousness now you can understand why there's so so many self-righteous people in the church it's because they have not beheld god themselves they think that they're okay they're rich they're increase of goods but brothers sisters once we behold christ we would truly see ourselves for who we really are it is ignorance of him that makes men so uplifted in their own righteousness when we contemplate his purity and excellence we shall see ourselves lost and hopeless clad in garments of self-righteousness like every other sinner we shall see that if we are ever saved it will not be through our own goodness but god's but through god's infinite grace brother sisters we need to stop looking at our badness and look at god's goodness amen we need to stop looking at ourselves we must behold christ and brother sisters i guarantee you that the closer you get to christ the more you're going to see yourself unworthy of his love but do not forget what the word says you must believe that god loves you every step of the way that he's not willing that anyone should perish and so that his desire is for you to be safe so brothers this is my question for you have you beheld them today have you beheld the beauty of god's love have you meditated and focused on the cross are you making the cross the center of your life are you making it a part of your everyday experience are you studying and reading and making it your your your your life work to know the love of christ through the cross oh brother sisters jesus wants to do something in our lives but the only way that we can truly be transformed into that image that is jesus christ is by beholding him brother says we need to stop looking and comparing ourselves to others we need to stop looking at it at the elder and the pastor the evangelist and our mom and our dad and and and whoever else that we uh spiritually look up to the standard has never been man god has always been the standard and once we reveal once christ is revealed in the way that he ought to be revealed and we are drawn to that image brother sisters we won't we be worrying about what other people are are doing or not doing we will see ourselves in need of a savior and as we behold christ then is an extension of how we treat others so we just established step number one step number one we see that god is constantly drawing us with his love and our job is to simply not resist that drawing and as i mentioned before when i went and i was surfing my friend told me listen you can't uh uh there's gonna be a tendency for you to get knocked off from the waves and when you see the waves you're gonna naturally panic and try to fight against the waves he says but at that very moment he says let go and let the waves take you to shore and so i did that for the first 10 seconds and then i quickly realized that i was fighting against the wind i was fighting against the waves and all i heard was a small voice from shore saying let go let the waves take you to shore and brother sisters when i got to shore oh i was exhausted and he had to remind me listen you need to stop kicking against the waves the waves are far more powerful than you you can't swim in or out swim the waves it will crush you you need to let the waves take you brother sister it's the same thing for us we must allow the great love of christ to take us where he need to take us stop fighting against his love allow his love to take you to shore safety and brother sisters so what is the second step the second step is conviction understand that as christ is drawing us with his love as we see a fresh revelation of his love for us we then our job is to either accept or reject you see we need to stop resisting that love of god and so as i mentioned it is far easier for us to be saved than to be lost because all we're doing is letting go of that resisting of that love and allowing love to take us where we need to go so the second step we're going to see that god then places conviction in our hearts and so notice what it says in john chapter 16 and verse 8 and when he has come talking about the spirit of god he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment so understand that when jesus sent his holy spirit the holy spirit is going to repe reprove us of our sin why because the the holy spirit needs to reveal to us the thing that is separating us from god then as this holy spirit is revealing to us our sin we're then going to realize well if i'm this sinful then what is my hope then the spirit is going to reveal to us our need for the righteousness of god so that way we can stand true to god in the day of judgment so i don't think we truly understand what we're asking for the outpouring of the holy spirit we have a tendency to ask uh we're asking for the holy spirit to see this external work that we read about in acts chapter two that three thousand were baptized in one day but the work of the holy spirit is to really convict us of sin and see our need of righteousness so we can stand true to god in that day of judgment and so brothers and sisters when we're really asking for the holy spirit and for the outpouring of the holy spirit what we're really asking is that lord reveal to us our sin and our need for you and i don't know i said my check i'm not seeing this happening in a corporate sense we're looking at it how many people can we baptize well how can god bring more people into the fold when the people within the in the fold don't even understand fully their need for jesus selected messages volume says that it is through the influence of the holy spirit that we are convicted of sin so the simple fact that you are convicted of that wrongdoing is evidence that the holy spirit is working in your heart and brother sisters when we are convicted then we're going to feel our need for pardon none but the contrite are forgiven but it is the grace of god that makes the heart penitent he is acquainted with all of our weaknesses and brothers sisters and infirmities and he will help us so understand that as we are being drawn by his love the second step he places the holy spirit in our lives to be convicted of sin so we can feel our need to even ask god to forgive us for that sin oh but the grace of god i love it he is acquainted with all of my weaknesses he is acquainted with all of my shortcomings and we see that the promise is given that he will help us acts chapter 26 verse 18 it says to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of satan unto god that they may receive forgiveness of sin and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in me god wants our eyes to be open that we have been in darkness but he wants to reveal to us his wonderful light so that way we don't have the the power of satan controlling our lives but that we may be empowered by the power of god to so so we can receive forgiveness of sin that we can receive that inheritance and ultimately brothers and sisters we can be sanctified and the way that we are sanctified is by faith and i want you to notice what desire of ages page 104 states it says god does not send messengers to flatter the sinners you see i understand that this message may not be popular because i'm i'm going to tell you now as we continue on with the steps i'm gonna have to start addressing some things that may make you feel a little bit uncomfortable but this is why it's important for us to lay the foundation that god is doing this simply out of his love for us and so god when he raises up mouthpieces prophets and speakers and evangelists and pastors he's raising them up not to flatter the sinner he delivers no message of peace to lull the unsanctified into fatal security notice he lays heavy burdens upon the conscience of the wrong doer and pierces his soul with arrows of conviction conviction and the ministering angels present to him the fearful judgments of god why to deepen the sense of need and prompt a cry what must i do to be saved so if you're a speaker if you have been gifted with uh with a gift to minister to those uh through the talents of speaking understand that god is raising you up not to make the audience fall in love with you or or to be a comedian on the pulpit god is giving you a message to awaken the need of jesus in the individual's lives you see when god presents the fearful judgments of god it isn't to scare us but to for us to realize that we need him and to sense our need of him so we can ask the question what's what must i do to be saved and so what is our part you see god sends his holy spirit to convict us of sin till we can feel our need for pardon and as we fill our need for pardon we're simply acknowledging lord i need your help i realize that there's nothing that i can do to save myself and so lord help me and so we're seeing that through love god sends his spirit he convicts us and then we feel our need for pardon so we can confess that sin to god so we can realize so he can strengthen us in our moments of weakness so what is our part we must acknowledge our guilt and confess that sin to god and so notice what it says in jeremiah chapter 3 verses 12 and 13 return faithless israel says the lord i will not look on you in anger for i am merciful says the lord i will not be angry forever only acknowledge your guilt and you rebelled against the lord your god so understand brother sisters that god desires for us to acknowledge our sin and the reason why is because sin is what's separating us from christ sin is the root uh reason or the root cause of the pride that is in our hearts and so the simple fact that we're acknowledging our faults is removing the pride from our life and god and christ is making us much more humble in that process so what we're seeing here in jeremiah chapter 12 and verse 13 he says i'm not looking at you in anger i am merciful the only thing i want you to do is to acknowledge your guilt and that you rebelled against me that's what i want you to do i want you to acknowledge that you need me but if we don't acknowledge that we need god then how can god continue to do his work you see men professing to be followers of christ fall to a low level always mourning over their shortcomings but never overcoming and bruising satan under their feet you would be surprised how many fellow believers constantly tell me about their battles about their struggles and their shortcomings how are you doing sister how are you doing brother well you know god is good you know life has just been hard i've been beat up you know and it's like man if that's the spirit that you're having how is it that you are going to be used by god to go tell people about the goodness and mercy and love of god when you are not experiencing victory you can't share the good news with others who who are struggling with the same thing that you're struggling you see many people who are professors of followers of christ we see that they're always mourning about their shortcomings but brother sisters god says i don't want you to mourn about your shortcomings i want you to be overcomers that is what god promised guilt and condemnation constantly burden the soul and they cry of such might as well be o wretched man that i am who shall deliver me from this body of death and so we see that many fellow believers are constantly talking about their struggles and their battles and their shortcomings but they never fully understand that they can be victorious in jesus christ they allow guilt and condemnation to constantly by uh uh to to to press down on them and and they ultimately cry out the same words of paul where it says oh wretched man that i am who's gonna deliver me oh brothers and sisters but did you know that god places guilt in our hearts did you know that it's actually a gift notice what it says here in thoughts and the amount of blessings god reveals to reveal to us our guilt that we may flee to christ and through him be set free from the bondage of sin my mind was blown when i first read this and understood this when i feel guilty over the sin that i committed that guilt is not meant for me to be separated from god god places guilt so i may flee to him brother says how many times have we fallen into sin we have prayed the same prayer over and over again over that sin that we can't seem to overcome and we and instead of fleeing to god in those moments after we fell into the sin even after we we've questioned our sincerity about our prayers how often have we sat there and said you know what i'm not going to pray today i just feel so guilty i feel so shame and so we don't pray we we we don't have our devotions for a day or two because we want to truly feel remorseful for the thing that we've done so we can come to god with a contrite heart brother sisters that's not biblical god places guilt in our hearts so we can flee to him not run away from him and so we kind of come to god after two days of not praying and studying our bible and say lord you know i come to you god says i did not place guilt so you can run away from me i place guilt so you can flee to me we see that example in genesis chapter 3 what happened after sin came into this world we see that god comes and the first words that are being spoken after sin entered into the world is a picture of god looking for his lost children and he asked the question where are you you see god never leaves it's us that we leave we we choose to leave him and so what happened to that relationship with adam and god we see that that that that relationship changed it was broken now adam saw god as a god of love but after sin he that view of god was distorted and now he looked at god as a god who was vengeful who was out to get him and so what did adam do he hid himself from god he says when i heard your voice i was afraid but god says why i place guilt there so you can flee to me and brother sisters we have allowed the enemy to use guilt to allow us to separate ourselves from god instead of realizing that god placed guilt in our lives in our hearts after we commit a sin so we can flee to him and remove that sin from our lives it says his first testimonies testimony volume 1 page 156 the guilty know just what seems to confess that their souls may be cleaned before god jesus is now giving them the opportunity to confess and to repent in humility brothers and sisters the guilty those who are convicted of sin know exactly what sins to confess we don't confess sins to god as if god doesn't know that we committed that sin we confess to god to realize where we have fallen short so we can ask for his strength and his spirit to allow us to be overcomers this is why god places guilt so as we are feeling guilty for that sin we know exactly what sin to confess we need to stop praying these general prayers lord forgive me for my sins god says i'm willing to do so but what's in it in particular do you want forgiveness over and and so god says i want you to identify your shortcomings i place guilt so you can acknowledge where you are falling short so you can have victory in my name jesus is giving us the opportunity now to confess so we can repent and acknowledge our shortcomings to him we see that steps to christ page 37 states those who have not humbled their souls before god and acknowledging their guilt have not yet fulfilled the first condition of acceptance so brother sisters the first step in the process is understanding knowing and believing that god loves you now we're seeing that in the first condition for us to be accepted is that we must confess our sins before god but brothers and sisters we have allowed pride to enter into our hearts and we say nope i didn't do anything wrong nope that was her fault that was his fault they caused me to act this way but we're seeing that if that's the attitude that we possess we have not even first take the firs we have not even taken the first step in that process to humbling ourselves and acknowledging our guilt brothers this is as we acknowledge as we confess we meet the condition of christ accepting you see god has already made the provision to save everyone but it's up to us whether or not we want to accept it and the first condition of accepting or being accepted into the family of god is first realizing that you need god reviewing herald states that come to christ just as you are and contemplate his love until your hard heart is broken we must focus and meditate on the love of god contemplate him make sure uh oh make it your study and and and and and your life work to know who jesus is and brothers and sisters love him until your heart heart is broken notice it is the virtue that goes forth from jesus which strengthens the purpose of the heart and turn away from sin and to cleave to truth it is christ's virtue that makes repentance sincere and genuine oh i hope that you see the beauty of what we are studying together god loves you so much he realizes that there's nothing that you can do to save yourself he says listen while you were still sinners i died for you so as we was out rebelling as a sheep that was led astray as we were going and doing our own will living our own life disregarding god brothers sisters god says listen i've already made provision to save you and once you come to the realization of how much i love you once you see what i've done for you on the cross the choices and the decision that i made in good seventy because understand that jesus did not feel like going through gethsemane you see he as he entered into gethsemane he says lord not my way if it's if it's up to me i want this cup to pass from me that word that that is interesting because in the jewish traditions cup signifies destiny so what jesus was ultimately saying he said listen i don't want this to be my destiny i don't want to be eternally separated from you and so as he entered into gethsemane he was torn with the decision and saying should i do what i want to do and listen if jesus decided to say you know what let humanity suffer the consequences of their choices he would have been completely justified in doing so but jesus realized it wasn't about him it was about pleasing his father and fulfilling the father's will and he says nevertheless not my will but your will be done and as he beheld the cross he endured that cross and the book of hebrews states that it was for joy that he endured you see nothing about the cross seems to be enjoyable but brothers and sisters it was the joy of knowing that there will be souls that would see his love at the cross and accept him as a lord and savior we're seeing that god is doing everything in his power to woo us to himself he is constantly drawing us to himself he says listen why are you resisting my love for you know that i love you believe that i'm never going to let you go and as you let go and allow my love to take you where it needs to go and take you he says i'm going i'm willing to do everything in my power to not only save you from your sin to allow that struggle that you're experiencing right now to and allow that the struggle to ultimately dictate your your ability to be on overcomer he says i'm willing to help you every step of the way and god sent his son to die for us but when jesus left he says listen i'm going to send you a comforter i'm going to send you the holy spirit and that spirit is going to have you draw closer to me more than i could ever be with you while i'm here on earth and so jesus sent his spirit and as the spirit is revealed in our hearts we are then feel conviction over the sin that we have committed and as we behold the cross as we see his love for me for you and for me we are then naturally want to confess that sin that we've committed that put that innocent man to death and he does so so we can acknowledge our guilt he removes he wants to remove the pride and the sin from our lives because pride will cause us to think that we have never did anything wrong and christ says the first condition of being accepted into the family of god is to know that you need me and to believe that i'm willing to save to the uttermost and brother sisters my question for you do you believe jesus do you believe that he's willing to do everything in his power to save you that though you may be struggling at the moment god promises you joy and victory at the end you see but it's not until we see jesus for who he truly is it's not until we contemplate his love until we understand that it's his loving kindness that draws us to him we will never fully surrender the one thing that he desires which is our hearts you see as the old hymn states jesus paid it all all to him i owe sin had left a crimson stain and he washes me white as snow brothers sisters are you willing to accept jesus today are you willing are you willing to allow the holy spirit to convict you of the sin that is separating you from that source of love and life he says listen i have placed guilt in your heart not so you can run away from me but that you can flee to me i know who you are i've created you to be much greater than what you what your current struggle is and what your current sin is he says i have given you victory because i came to this world and i was able to experience victory and my victory can be yours today are you willing to accept jesus are you willing to contemplate him to your hard heart is broken are you willing to understand his love for you as i said jesus made a choice and he made that choice to save you regardless of what what regardless of whether or not we choose to uh choose to accept that love in our lives and so as we conclude understand that there's seven steps in this process we've covered two steps so far step number one he's constantly drawing us with his love as philippians chapter 2 verse 12 and 13 states there is a cooperation god wills god god places in our heart to do his good will and then he empowers us to do so so god is constantly working in our hearts or constantly drawing us with this love we already established today that it is by uh not resisting that love that we are drawn to him which leads us to the second step which is conviction and we see that god sends his holy spirit to convict us of our sin and he and he does so so we can see our need for him so we can stand true to god in that day of judgment and so it's not until we are convicted of sin it's not until we acknowledge the sin that we have uh committed and realizing our need for his righteousness that we're able to stand true to god during that day of judgment but then we see that our part is to simply acknowledge our guilt and sin to him and so brother sisters jesus is doing everything in his power to save his children and he's wanting you to cooperate in this process so now we see that love is a first step now we see that conviction is what christ placed in our hearts in order for us to receive him and my prayer is that you would contemplate jesus on that cross and the great sacrifice that he has paid for you and for me and that we can make it our study in our life work to fall in love with jesus is that your desire if so let's conclude with a word of prayer father we just thank you so much for your love for your grace and for your mercy we thank you so much for the goodness that is your son jesus christ who came to this world to die for us because he loved us thank you for your spirit to convict us of our sins thank you for placing guilt in our lives so we can flee to you and not run away from you and i pray that is my desire and those who are listening and watching these presentations that they may be drawn to that beautiful image that is your son jesus christ for we ask this in jesus precious and holy name amen [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021