How Sin Enters Your Life In 4 Steps

god bless you can be seated there's an interesting scripture in second Samuel as they were preparing to head into battle the commander of the children of Israel said both those who go into battle and those who stay here and protect the stuff will be equally rewarded and I've always believed and I believe I could provide a solid biblical argument for it that though I is an evangelist and as a missionary travel to the ends of the earth and go to a lot of unreached places equally you'll share in heaven with the reward of every soul one to Christ because the Bible says how shall they believe if they've never heard and how shall they hear if no one is willing to go and to preach but how shall one go unless someone sends them so before I open the Bible and share God's Holy Word this morning I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the Faith Christian Center Church family for your kindness to me and for helping us last year when we were here you were incredibly generous I told pastor before service had a donor that matched your gift dollar-for-dollar and with that we were able to take care of almost the entire budget of that Pakistan crusade I'll not get into the details of that but it's the first crusade where we had mercenaries in the budget I had 20 mercenaries that traveled with us with ak-47s military machine guns shotguns that famous Russian pistol that I can't recall the name of because I don't speak Russian you say you don't believe in the angels of the Lord oh I brought them to I brought everything I knew how to bring because I not only felt a responsibility for myself I felt a responsibility for the precious underground pastors and their wives and their children who worked right along beside of us and I'll not take the time to share all of the details of that but before I preach this morning I want to humble my heart not only in the presence of the Lord but I want to humble my heart in the presence of this congregation and your precious pastor and his wife and pastor Austin and his wife and to say I sincerely I sincerely appreciate it and how many of you like my suit this morning after I was here last year I got a call from your pastor and he said I've made arrangements at a closer in Dallas and it's already taken care of but I want you to go down and get two brand-new suits and now I thought Supes but I had never been in a store like this in my life this is the exact same suit president Donald Trump wears when I got into that store I mean it's not often you go into a store and they start off by offering you anything you'd like to drink they had every liquor known to man I prefer a double shot of espresso but they literally gave me a history of of this famous store and took me into a room and showed me materials and took me into another room and showed me linings in the suit and yeah I mean look at that lining I mean I take you over and allow you to pick out the buttons I've never felt more like a donkey at the Kentucky Derby in my entire life but I want to I want to say a heartfelt thank you to Pastor Jean and to his wife it's the most generous gift anyone has ever given me in 40 years of ministry and I appreciate it I asked the Lord to help me not to tear up this morning when I shared that but I guess he wasn't listening to my prayers as intently as I had hoped but it's it's such a blessing I don't take it for granted I've been on the road in 56 countries of the world for 40 years of ministry and when Judy and I started we were homeless for four years literally lived out of a car what an incredible testimony brother to go from homelessness to driving a mercedes-benz that's paid off and you know a lot of people attack prosperity and I understand why there are obviously some idiots who preach it but the truth of prosperity is in the Bible God is a good God and God loves you and God cares about you and he cares about your family and he cares about your children and he cares about the food on your table and he cares about the clothes on your back he cares about the shoes on your feet and he is faithful and when you serve the Lord with full consecration the trajectory of your life no matter where you're at today when you fully consecrate your heart to Christ the trajectory of your life will be onward and upward and ever-increasing because that's the kind of God that we serve if you believe that and receive that give the Lord a mighty hand to praise [Applause] we just completed our audit for our ministry and a report was sent to me via email and I thought you might also like to know this morning in 2018 Faith Christian Centre Arlington Texas was our number one Church supporter in our ministry so thank you so very much if you have your Bibles this morning open with me to Joshua chapter 7 and as you're turning I always say this it's one thing to support a ministry and to give to a ministry but please don't ever forget that equally important is to pray for that ministry because we go to a lot of places that a lot of people don't go and I remember prior to going to the second largest Muslim country in the world my board didn't want me to go most of my family didn't want me to go many of my good friends were questioning why I would go my wife on the way out to the airport put her head on my shoulder and wept and said am I going to be a widow and I said no God didn't send me over there to kill me he sent me over there to preach the gospel and I'm coming home but I can tell you when I got off the plane off that trip I literally kissed the American soil I'm glad I'm an American how about you with all of the faults of our country with all of the chaos and problems that were going through and it is tragic but we still live in the greatest nation on the face of the earth and only God can make America great again may it be so for his honor and glory I had actually prepared a message on Bible prophecy I was going to be preaching a brand new message this morning entitled three major prophecies that were fulfilled in 2018 I've been in Texas almost the entire month of January we did a week-long crusade in Houston we went from Houston did a week-long crusade in Laredo Texas we saw over 500 first-time public decisions for Christ last week on the border town of Laredo thank God for that but here we are in Arlington today but as I was praying towards the end of last week and preparing that message on prophecy to share with you when I was praying in the morning I felt very strongly an impression from the Lord to go in a different direction and that's not my normal method of operation I'm a prepared person I don't like last-minute things I believe the harder you work the luckier you get and I believe in planning and seeking God I believe God knows what we need to preach today but I believe he also knows what we might need to preach next spring he's a God of infinite wisdom knowledge and discernment can you say Amen but the Lord so strongly impressed it upon my heart that I completely changed my direction so if you have your Bibles today open with me to Joshua chapter 7 you only saw a brief footage but one of the things that we did in all of the outreach reaches we did 12 outreaches in six days and but we went into many remote Muslim villages and not only did we feed and and bring blessing to the people but I brought Bibles in their language and literally every village that we went to no one had ever seen a Bible to me that's as much of an investment as the Crusades and the crowds and the phenomenal response because when you get a Bible in a country and I've seen it before often times when they get Bibles and there's not enough to go around I've been places where they literally take the Bible and tear it apart book by book and begin to pass it about the village so that people have a passage of the Bible to read how many are thankful for your Bible this morning was in a church I heard a story of a pastor that got up and he was raising money for Sunday school materials for the children and he asked he said I'm not going to take an offering he said we only need about a thousand dollars to pay for all of the educational materials for our children here would there just be one person I feel that could take care of that and very quickly an elderly lady in the church because the pastor had said if you just give $1000 I'd like you to pick out the three hymns today and so this elderly lady raised her hand and said pastor I'd be happy to buy those Sunday school materials for our kids the pastor said thank you sister Johnson you can pick out the three hymns she said I'll take him him in him that was a pretty good bargain on her behalf I must say I want to preface my remarks by telling you this is not going to be an easy message either for me to preach or perhaps for you to hear but I promise you that I preached this way because I love you my father and my mother raised four boys all of us are in the ministry and because of the grace of God and His faithfulness all of our children are in full-time ministry but my father always used to say if you really love somebody you should love them enough to look them in the eyes and tell them the truth so this morning's going to be one of those Sunday mornings where I love you enough that I'm going to look you in the eyes and I'm gonna tell you the truth on the subject of sin and I want to take you into the seventh chapter of Joshua and speak to you today on the subject how does sin enter how does sin get into our lives we're living in a day in an age in which there's a lot of talk about security and countries being secure and building walls and should we build walls well one of the things the church should be asking is am i protecting my heart am i living ready to meet the Lord because whether you know it or not as a student of eschatology and endtime prophecy we are living in the final moments of human history Jesus Christ promised I will come again there are over 2500 prophecies in this Bible over 2,000 of them have already come to pass with complete and total accuracy the next major event in the Bible prophesied is an event called the rapture of the church there's not one prophecy that remains in the Bible that needs to be fulfilled for that event to take place all of the remaining prophecies that are in this Bible are prophecies that speak of what is going to happen after the rapture of the church after the rapture of the church is a seven-year window of time called the Great Tribulation the Bible tells us that Israel will rebuild their temple and will once again be carrying out the Torah rituals in that temple before they can build that temple they need the ashes of a red heifer prophetic history in Israel tells us that there will only be 10 red heifers born in the history before the return of Jesus Christ or the Messiah in 2018 a certified red heifer was born in Jerusalem and then certified by that board of rabbis it cannot have more than two white hairs in the entirety of its body it has to be not only red in color but red skin red hoofs there hasn't been a red heifer born in over two thousand years this would mark the tenth red heifer that was born in 2018 which now allows them the offering necessary the ritual of justification to sanctify and to cleanse the building of the third temple you may not know this but the Third Temple is already built it is totally complete and ready for assembly these are things that are leading up to that period of time called the Great Tribulation I'm not going to preach on prophecy this morning but just to lay down a foundation I want you to grasp the importance of my message because prophecy should motivate us to live a holy life when you live with the thought in mind that Christ could come at any moment that the rapture could take place at any moment it should cause you to wake up every day and say father help me to live the way you want me to live today help me to be the and that you created me to be today or ladies helped me to be the woman that you have created me to be today it should motivate us not only to live holy lives but to pray and the fast for the salvation of our household because God wants your entire family present in eternity 'he's mourning serving jesus christ is not just a decision that you make personally but the Bible said in Deuteronomy 30 Moses spoke these words he said if you'll fully consecrate yourself to the Lord your God this blessing will not only be upon you but it'll be upon your descendants I'm here to tell you I serve a God that will not only save you and forgive you you'll get a hold of your children and your grandchildren and God is getting ready in the last days for one last call to heaven so if you're a guest or if you're a visitor I want to help you with something because some of you may feel this morning like I did at that store when I was getting this suit made you may feel like the donkey at the proverbial Kentucky Derby somebody may have invited you to church and like in Houston there was a man there on the opening Sunday morning who had just got out of prison after serving 12 years he had just got out on Saturday but somebody had put his name down on a law slam covenant a man who used to be in the same gang and picked him up at the jail when he was released and brought him to church on Sunday morning and Sunday morning when I gave the invitation along with an altar full of people that man who had just got out of prison knelt and gave his heart to Jesus Christ the Bible says that when somebody comes to Christ no matter what their past no matter what their sin no matter what their frailty or failure the Bible says God not only forgives your sins but he forgets your sins and takes a heart of stone out of you and puts a heart of flesh in you and makes you a new creature in Christ Jesus so whoever invited you today you're not here just to appease the invitation of a friend they brought you to here a radical evangelist somebody asked me on a plane a long time ago what do you do for a living and I said I'm an evangelist they said what in the world is that I said well you don't know what that is let me put it to you this way I sell fire insurance because there really is a heaven and there really is a hell eternity is real there is life after death and I want to ask you the most sobering serious question perhaps you've ever heard in your life and if you don't hear anything else this morning please don't miss it do you have a clear distinct memory don't miss it do you have a clear distinct memory of a time in your life when you've gotten down on bended knees in the presence of a holy God and said god I know I've sinned I know I've messed stuff up I know there are things in my life that must be displeasing in your eyes but I'm gonna trust in the mercy of the Bible and so today I'm willing to repent of my sin I'm asking you to forgive me and to come into my heart and to be my Lord and my Savior do you have a clear distinct memory of a time in your life when you've done that not just personally but publicly people always ask me in our lost lamb events all over the world why do you ask the people to do it publicly some know that my hero was dr. Billy Graham who went home to be with the Lord last year some say I suppose he does it that way because his hero Billy Graham always asked the people to come forward publicly that's not the reason the reason I'm gonna challenge you in a few moments to meet me at an old-fashioned altar of Prayer publicly and personally is because that's the only way that we see it in the Sacred Scripture everybody Jesus called he called publicly every Apostolic sermon in the Bible they called the people publicly bill Graham used to say there's something about doing it personally and publicly that will seal it and make it sure in your heart and some of you that are listening to me if you'd be really honest with yourself and really honest with God you don't have that piece you're not sure that you'd be ready to meet the Lord I'm not asking you if you're religious going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a car when I was in Laredo on the border town they took me to many Mexican restaurants it never made me a Mexican you can go to an Italian restaurant after church it's not gonna make you Italian and going to a church does not make you a Christian singing Christian songs does not make you a Christian reading a Bible does not make you a Christian praying does not make you a Christian there has to be a time in your life when you bow in the presence of a holy God and consecrate your life to him with a personal and a public choice jesus said in Luke chapter 12 if you confess me publicly before men I will confess you publicly before my father but if you are ashamed of me before men I will be ashamed of you before my father and the Angels so I'm telling you right up front to meet me at this altar in a few moments and to pray what many people call a sinner's prayer it's gonna take courage it's gonna take faith we don't see this much in the 21st century it's gonna take humility but let me help you with this to live a Christian life to be a true follower of the Lord is going to take faith it's going to take courage and it's going to take you melody the left-foot of walking in Christ is humility and the right foot of walking in Christ is holiness humility and holiness will take you from homelessness to being blessed by the hand of God as we've already seen demonstrated let me give you the background of Joshua chapter 7 Joshua is now the commander of the children of Israel he has succeeded his hero in the faith his name was Moses Moses had appointed him and raised him up God made a promise to Joshua he said Joshua don't be afraid to lead this multitude because the same covenant that I gave to Moses your spiritual father I now extend to you and if you'll read it if you'll believe it if you'll live it if you'll teach it to your children you're going to have good success if you follow me wholeheartedly God said Joshua don't turn to the left don't turn to the right but if you'll remain consecrated you'll be blessed in your coming in and in your going out success will follow you now success in the Bible is slightly different than the success definition of the world because the success of the world has limitations but the success of God touches every aspect of life there is a power in God that can build a holy hedge around the entirety of your life mind body and spirit Joshua did incredibly well he walked in that same path of Moses he was very careful to keep the commandments of God and to lead the children of Israel in the example that God had given to him they drove out all of their enemies they were conquering and taking the land they had a 100% success rate militarily but now they come to a little town called AI and Joshua's special-ops had gone up into the land and done recon and they brought him back a military report and they said Joshua this is a little town they have a very little army and they're very unorganized there is not any sense in sending our entire are me up there it'll only weary our soldiers just send two or three thousand and we can easily defeat them Joshua took the advice of the general in that staff meeting and say well if that's what the recon team brought back for information I trust them let's just do that let's send 3,000 and so they did they sent out 3,000 but the Bible says that they were soundly defeated not only were they soundly defeated but 36 of their Special Forces were slaughtered and they were not only slaughtered but they were humiliated for the Bible says that little unorganized army chased them all the way down the mountain into retreat with that in mind now consider Joshua he's in absolute panic mode because all of their enemies knew that there was a God in heaven who watched over them and it was the reason why they never lost the battle but Joshua now knows that as the word begins to trickle out throughout the land that all of their enemies are going to allied together and quickly come and wipe them off of the face of the earth because the word will be if they couldn't even defeat AI then the God who watches over them is gone or dead and so Joshua gets before God in prayer and here's where we find him go down to verse 10 but the Lord said to Joshua get up not very sympathetic get up why are you lying on your face like this Israel has sinned and broken my covenant now Paul's right there as we read on some of you that might be new students of the Bible are going to see what would appear to you to be on the surface a contradiction because a little later we're going to read akin has sinned and the new student of the scripture might say well there's a contradiction but I says Israel has sinned and then down a few verses it says akin has said contradiction not at all what we know from this in context and in scholarship is that one person's sin can affect the entire camp one person said can cause pain and devastation to the entire family one person's sin can bring problem to the entire body of Christ one person scandal can cause the loss of morale in an entire church there is something that we need to be reminded of in the 21st century is that we need to be responsible for our actions because our actions are not just our actions they are actions that have a rippling effect upon the entire household of faith and upon our own kindred and our own family if you believe it and receive it can you say a big Amen get up why are you lying on your face like this Israel has sinned and broken my covenant they have stolen some of the things that I command it must be set apart for me and they have not only stolen them but have lied about it and hidden the things among their own belongings that is why the Israelites are running from their enemies in defeat for now Israel has been set apart for destruction pause again one of the life lessons that I want you to grasp this morning is that sin has a lifespan and it doesn't start out poorly it usually starts out pleasurably the devil will never entice you with a sin or a seduction that repulses you the devil knows you well enough because you post everything in your life on social media the devil knows you well enough to know exactly what your weaknesses are what your human frailties are he knows where you came from he knows what you used to be addicted to and he'll always try to introduce sin to you through something that appears to be pleasurable and that is why the Bible said and there is pleasure in sin you know when I was growing up it was very easy to tell what sin was compared to now when I was growing up in a Pentecostal church it was very easy to identify sin sin was anything fun if there was any happiness he'd be fun any enjoyment in it you knew it was of the devil and I remember some of those old-fashioned Pentecostal preachers preaching so hard against sin that I'd go to bed as a preacher's kid wondering if the ground was gonna split open and swallow me into hell but as I grew older I realized that the scripture doesn't teach that it says there is pleasure in sin here's a wake-up call for some of you righteous people there are some people who are living in sin who are having more pleasure in their life than you are in your salvation you ever met Christians that are always miserable and they think it's holiness to be miserable got their lower lip rolled out so far you could roll a biscuit on it look like they were weaned on a dill pickle just miserable people yeah I'm a Christian it's a hard old way there are people who are living in wickedness and sin who are having more pleasure in their sin than you're having in your salvation but here's the wake-up call James 1:15 sin when it is finished brings forth death when it's finished it has a lifespan the devil will always try to put a hook in your soul with pleasure but once he has the barb buried and you are on the hook then the pleasure starts to turn to the pain and the pain eventually graduates to the penalty and the penalty of sin James 1:15 sin when it is finished brings forth death the Bible says the enemy comes to steal kill and destroy but I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly how about some straight Texas Sunday morning preach and don't miss it either you get rid of sin or sins gonna get rid of you and this is exactly what God is dealing with Joshua about he's telling them that there's sin in the camp he goes on to say it again get up command the people to purify themselves in preparation for tomorrow stop again when things are not going right when you have fallen off the righteous wagon people make mistakes in life thank God we serve a God of mercy every morning when I pray one of the first things I pray his father if there's anything in my life anything in my heart that is displeasing in your eyes not only reveal it to me but help me to do better help me to remove it I want my hands to be clean when I wake up every day I want my heart to be pure when I go before God I learned a long time ago that the blessing of the Lord the greatest key to the blessing of the Lord is holiness Psalm 84 says no good thing will he withhold from them who walk uprightly and so if we would just get a hold up power of what God is saying to Joshua he said yeah there's a mess in the camp and I'm not gonna be with you anymore but if you'll just get up and purify yourself when I give the invitation in a few moments and many of you that are able to crucify your religious pride can meet me at an altar and pray what many people call a sinner's prayer some of you are going to pray that for the very first time I'm not saying you're not a good person I'm not saying you're not moral or decent I'm not saying that you don't run your business proficiently I'm not judging you or condemning you I'm just telling you that God is holy and we by nature are unholy and until you come to Christ in faith listen friend there is only one mediator between man and God and it is the man Jesus Christ when Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and no one can come to the Father except through me he meant exactly what he said because when Jesus died on the cross he literally took one hand as they nailed it to the cross and he held to the holiness of God's hand when they nailed that other hand to the cross he took that hand and he took my head and he took your head and Jesus Christ on the cross literally became the bridge between where I am and where God wants me to be so there has to be a time in your life when you personally and publicly acknowledge that when we come to the altar to pray what we're praying is God I want to be a real Christian I don't want to just be religious I want to be a real Christian God I need you to help me to do that I don't have the ability and the strength and the discipline to be everything I know I should be but you said you'd help me God I want to be ready to meet the Lord when he comes because Bible prophecy tells us that it's about to happen and it'll happen like a thief in the night by coming to this altar you're saying God I want to make sure that all of my debts are paid in full in the books of heaven purify yourselves in preparation for tomorrow for this is what the Lord the God of Israel says hidden among you Oh Israel are things set apart for the Lord now if you have a Bible highlight this you will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you you will never defeat the opponent of your soul in your life and your health and your happiness until you have your own personal day of purification in the morning you must present yourself by tribes and the Lord will point out the tribe to which the guilty man belongs that tribe must come forward with its clans and the Lord will point out the guilty clan that clan will then come forward and the Lord will point out the guilty family finally each member of the guilty family must come forward one by one the one who has stolen what was set apart for destruction will himself be burned with fire along with everything he has for he has broken the Covenant of the Lord and has done a horrible thing in Israel early the next morning Joshua brought the tribes of Israel before the Lord and the tribe of Judah was singled out then the clans of Judah came forward in the clan of Zahra was singled out then the families of Zahra came forward and the family of Zimride was singled out now imagine how ikan must be feeling because as the day starts there's a mass of people as far as the eye can see and he must be thinking initially Joshua is bluffing but through the power and the discernment of the all-seeing eyes of God God begins to narrow the field and now as the mass of people have been dismissed zim rise family was brought forward person by person and akin was singled out quick lesson you can't hide from God you can hide it from your spouse you can hide it from your kids you can hide it from your boss you can hide it from your pastor but you've never been smart enough not one single day in your life to hide one thing from God and the Bible says in numbers 32 and 23 be sure your sin will find you out let me put it to you in straight English like I used to raise my children life is hard but it's much harder if you're stupid verse 20 akin replied it's true Joshua brings a can out and says make confession tell me what you've done don't hide it it can replied it's true I have sinned against the Lord the God of Israel among the plunder I saw a beautiful world from Babylon two hundred silver coins and a bar of gold weighing more than a pound I wanted them so much that I took them and they are hidden in the ground beneath my tent with the silver buried deeper than the rest you can read the rest of the story in the horrific judgment that now comes upon akin and his entire household but I want to close by taking a quick look at what Aiken said because this is the real meat in the message please don't miss it sin gets into your life in four steps and if you're taking notes here's where you sharpen your pencil number one Aiken said I saw all sin begins within proper discipline of the eyes Matthew chapter 6 and verse 22 the Bible says your eyes are the window to your soul and the Bible says if your eyes are healthy your spirit man will be healthy but if your eyes are diseased your spirit man will be diseased I saw those of you that are taking notes that is theological II the peak at sin sin always begins with an unguarded eye gate that's why the psalmist said in the Bible I will set no wicked thing before my eyes now think in terms of final days and final Bible prophecy we now live in a society according to a report I read three days ago that the average American spends half of their waking hours with a screen before their eyes our mobile phones our tablets our televisions we have become an audio-visual society think of that now in terms of the sacredness of the scripture all sin begins with the disease die you don't have to watch pornography to have a disease die almost everything in our world is moving against the current of God what we would consider normal society normal capitalism normal advertising appeals to the base nature of the flesh targets the sensuality of men and women and if you're spending half of your waking hours with a screen in front of your eyes and you're not spending any time with your eyes in front of this you've already taken the first step towards failure and sin and ungodliness so number one don't ever forget this sin begins step one the peak at sin it can set number two i coveted I coveted is the passion for sin you will never struggle with covetousness until you allow the peek at sin to go unguarded it matters what you watch it matters what you read it matters what movies you attend it matters what you put before your eyes because if you are unguarded in the eye gate you are literally sowing seeds into the spirit man where covetousness is normality number three akin said I took that is the participation in sin the PCAT sin will always lead towards the passion for sin and the passion for sin will always lead towards the participation in sin I took and here's the problem in the 21st century now I'm not talking about the secular world I'm now going to talk about the sacred Church of God both in North America and around the world we don't even identify sin until people say I took we don't deal with sin until people say I participated I did it I'm ashamed but I did it I'm guilty here's what I want you to grasp before I give the invitation I want you to see that if there are only four steps in sins progress and you wait till I took I participated can you not see in simple math that you're already 75% committed towards the action and the average believer does not understand the wisdom of the story of Aitkin it is not just a story of sins separating us from the holiness of God it is not just the story of sin keeping us from victory and success and progress in the hand of the Lord because even Joshua when he came before God and he's pain wracked as a leader he know that he's messed up and he prays this prayer of desperation that's why God was not sympathetic in his response that's why God helped Joshua accountable and after he had this whiny little victim prayer gob said get up why are you lying on your face like this there's sin in the camp and I can't bless you until you deal with it I can't take you forward any more until you deal with are you hearing the voice of God today you have fooled no one but yourself you have not fooled God because holiness is still the standard in the eyes of God for right now right here right today are you living a holy life are you guarding your eye gate or have you participated or have you bought into this modern slop bucket salvation that grace covers everything grace doesn't cover everything anybody that teaches that is not only a poor scholar they're a fool Paul said should I continue in sin so that grace may abound god forbid God doesn't forgive every sin as you hear many preachers on Sunday say oh thank God we serve a God who can forgive any sin not really true the only sin God can forgive is a sin recognized repented of and removed three things you have to do with sin you can have this one for free number one you've got to recognize it number two you have to repent of it number three you have to remove it and then Aikens said I hid the pretense after sin the pretense after CID he hit it don't ever forget that message today that's how sin enters four steps I saw the peak at CID I coveted the passion for sin I took the participation in sin but the gravest of all errors akin made he hid the pretense after sin stand to your feet with me please musicians would you come my invitation today is not complicated I'm not a complicated preacher I believe that the greatest truths in the Bible can be taught in a way that your children can understand them perhaps that's why children flocked to the feet of Jesus he wasn't a boring professor there was something about the life and the teaching and the example of Christ that even children flocked to him to come to this altar is going to take childlike faith to pray this sinner's prayer with me this morning is going to take courage in humility but by coming to this altar and praying this prayer listen some of you it's going to be the very first time that you've done it and I'm here for you if you're the worst sinner in Texas I'm not your enemy today I'm your best friend I am literally extending a hand of hope and help and forgiveness but I can't make that decision for you you're gonna have to man up yourself you're gonna have to make that tough call and I know that getting from where you're at to this altar might seem like a very difficult thing but quite frankly I have a hard time mustering up sympathy in North America for the weakness of our Christian commitments because I spend time around the world with people that have been stoned pistol-whipped beat persecuted I was in a place months ago were just a few months before I was there they gathered up 300 Christians and put them in a building men women and children and burn them alive so we Americans that come to multi-million dollar facilities sound and light perfectly controlled climate control to take a handful of steps from where you're at to the altar to me doesn't really sound like a tremendous step of consecration but for many of you it will be but in light of eternity it's not always easy serving the Lord but it's always worth it some of you that are going to come you're going to have to come and say TIFF I used to serve the Lord but I've taken some left turns and today I need to come home and renew my consecration so whether you're coming to Christ for the first time or whether you're away from the Lord and you need to pay some bills on heaven's books and say God I need to come home we're gonna pray a simple sinner's prayer together before pastor Jean comes to dismiss this service now listen I always ask those of you that have the courage will you be the very first ones to come your courage is going to help somebody else that doesn't have the same courage level you do Christian I'm gonna ask you to do something that will require the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit I want you to take a very careful of an account of the person that might be sitting beside you maybe someone you invited maybe your husband or your wife maybe a child maybe a neighbor a co-worker young people maybe somebody from work or school but if you're not sure that the person next to you has ever made their first time commitment or they're away from the Lord and they need to come home just take their hand right now a summer gathering and say I'll walk with you I'm gonna kneel and pray that God will give you the courage to do what you ought to do and you come and we're going to pray before we're dismissed [Music] my coming you're saying God I want to be a real Christian by coming you're saying I want to live a holy life by coming you're saying I need to be right with Christ I want to be ready to meet him by coming you're saying God don't ever let the spirit of Aitkin be in my heart 30 more seconds we're going to pray I love you and I appreciate you the only reason I'm gonna ask you to pray this prayer with me is because I meet people almost every week sometimes on a nightly basis depending on where I'm at who've never been to church and don't know how to pray repeating a prayer with a pastor a preacher and evangelist a priest or rabbi that's not what forgive SID only God can forgive your sin and the Bible says all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved God will hear your prayer now you wouldn't have come to this altar if you weren't sincere so when you pray with me right now I want you to pray out loud no whispering because God's not your judge today's your father you're not coming to him right now as your judge thank God you're coming to him as your heavenly father and I don't ever want you to feel like you have to talk to your father in shame he's your father so pray out loud with me right now say Heavenly Father today as I was listening to the Bible you were speaking to me down deep in my heart I want to be a real Christian I want to live ready for the coming of the Lord I want to know deep in my heart that my sins are forgiven the curse of sin is broken and I stand in right relationship with you and so today in childlike faith I recognize my sin and I repent of it I turned my back on sin and today I turn my heart to you come into my heart Lord Jesus with the blood you shed on the cross wash me cleanse my mind my body and my spirit make me holy in your eyes for this day I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and I thank you that according to the Bible today I'm saved I am no longer the property of sin I am today a child of God and I'll never be the same I pray in Jesus name Amen and amen give God a mighty hand to praise [Applause] I want you to pause just for a moment pastors coming to give some instruction every Christian has four habits every successful Christian four habits number one read your Bible every day number two pray every day number three be found faithful to the house of God every Sabbath it's one of the Ten Commandments if I lived anywhere in the area this would be my home church that would be my pastor be found faithful every Sunday give God a year of your life be faithful to that and see if it doesn't work and you'll find that it's true number four when your friends and family to Christ because the Lord is coming soon and your decision today can affect your friends and your family may it be so for you for the glory of God I bless you in Jesus name [Applause]

Channel: Faith Christian Center

Views: 44,638

Rating: 4.8482385 out of 5

Keywords: Faith Christian Center, Overcoming Faith Christian Center, great worship, positive message, Austin Lingerfelt, Dr. Gene Lingerfelt, Gene Lingerfelt, churches mansfield tx, churches arlington tx, arlington texas churches, mansfield texas churches, @FCCArington, #livelovelead, church that's not boring

Id: esoKVnLVZK0

Length: 54min 2sec (3242 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 13 2019