I Have Dirt But I'm Not Dirty | Tim Dilena

i try to walk the streets every day and pray over new york city the other day while i was walking the streets here and praying over our city the number one smell on the street is no longer the hot dog vendor or pretzels or the caramelized nut vendor but i want to be real clear the number one odor on the streets of new york is really cannabis it's we it's it's weed it's marijuana that is just flooding the streets of new york it's through central park i watch hotel and retail workers taking breaks um smoking young people next to my apartment with its legalization that is happening in our country the odor is everywhere almost half of america has legalized it and it's coming i'm telling you to all 50 states and as i started praying for our city i saw what's ahead when what happened and what happens when god is no longer in charge and no one has any more answers except legalization listen carefully there is going to be no more beds available i'm telling you in teen challenges across america in the next two to three years in in recovery clinics and especially teen challenge the addiction to drugs is going to be staggering and what is coming to every major city and state in america i believe is an addiction epidemic that legalization has invited an addiction epidemic it's it is it is being made that is it is it is going to make sin and bondage i believe as i prayed over the city accelerate exponentially not just in our city but in city and cities across america nationwide but i have to tell you today this is a message of hope and there is hope because of what romans 5 20 says here's what it says we're sin abounds grace much more abounds hallelujah see when that grace abounds the church i believe is going to be the four in the forefront of these new addicts these these people that have just literally come to dead ends coming through the doors of the church i think just like the new york city that david wilkerson the founder of times square church came to in the 50s and the 60s we are going to see this become that again in the in the in the 2020s when these young converts in the 50s and 60s started entering the church the church was horrified and didn't even know what to do with them and didn't even know how to respond to what god was doing the new believers coming into the church will come i believe from the darkest places but are going to be greatly used by god in the coming years ahead the churches listen carefully that are not preparing will not be ready for what god is going to do by way of salvations that are coming what must we do to get ready for this new harvest here it is the harvest of new christians is going to come i believe digitally and physically through the screen and even through the front door in fact i want to tell you give you a praise report and just tell you a screen story that happened to us and and this individual gave us permission it's a story about rey and it really is the story of how he came through the screen in in a relationship with jesus a few weeks ago one of our team members connected with a man named ray who texted like we say at the end of every message texted 51 000. rey poured out his heart after we contacted him to follow up about his life and his failing marriage he then mentioned that his sister had been telling him about jesus for years and inviting him to church in fact ray then stopped and asked the volunteer maybe you know who my sister is mentions her name and all of a sudden the the the worker goes that your sister is on our team of course we know her it was incredible after almost two hours of conversations think about this he just texted fifty one thousand ray blurts out i'm gonna call my sister now and see if she can baptize me in her bathtub that's exactly what happened in in a in a group text his sent his sister sent that ray was rushing over there to be baptized and not only that rey's sister is walking her brother that she's been praying for sharing the gospel with through the and his next steps is now joining a connect group and our team is following up with him regularly behind every number that is texted 51 000 is a person and every person has a name his name was rey and every name has a miracle story that's about to happen i i have to tell you this brought such joy to my heart i feel this is one of the most important messages to get not only times square church ready but i believe the church ready for who is going to be coming through the doors whether the net is the internet and digital christians like ray who text in 51 000 and all of a sudden is baptized in a bathtub or maybe they're going to be simply the in person in the building christians that people are being delivered from addictions either way the present day church is going to be worshipping listen now is going to be worshipping next to people that they are going to start to feel uncomfortable with because i believe an unprepared church for what god is getting ready to do by way of an influx of new salvations an unprepared church is really could become a judgmental church because the next harvest is not going to look like church people the church is about to change with the next wave of harvest that is coming and i believe this with all my heart an understanding of romans 14 and 15 is a key for handling the end time harvest a harvest of souls listen is always a disruption for the status quo and for the comfortable of the church romans 14-15 gives the church a challenge that was a huge hurdle in the first century and will be a huge hurdle today this is some of the most powerful passages to get us ready for what god is getting ready to do i believe in our city in our country and around the world i want to read this to you because it's what the first century church needed i believe we need it today too here's what paul said he said now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength or the weak and not just please ourself each of us is to please his neighbor for his good to his edification for even christ did not please himself but as it is written the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me for whatever was written and we're going to come to this verse 4 a little bit later on in earlier times was written for our instructions talking about the old testament so that through perseverance and the encouragement of scriptures the old testament we might have hope now me the god who gives perseverance and encouragement grants you to be of the same mind with one another according to christ jesus so that with one accord you may with one voice glorified god and the father of our lord jesus christ and here is a very important verse listen to it therefore accept one another just as christ has accepted us to the glory of god paul describes this is this is key to this passage paul describes two kinds of people in this new church that has just been birthed in acts chapter two here it is he said there's gonna be the strong and there's going to be the weak it will be a church of the weak and the strong and what paul does is say that the strong are going to have the biggest weight of responsibility with this new harvest that will be coming in it will be a church of strong and weak even today i believe like it was in the first century see back then the jewish christians had strong religious roots and this influx of the gentile christians the those baptized and bathtubs and and rivers and and not like the jewish rooted christians that had a real that that had a a monotheistic background but the gentile christians were new converts with no religious roots but they felt like they came in with a lot of baggage but let me just say this we all have baggage and sometimes get this religious baggage is the worst kind of baggage i i want to just emphasize that in fact that's really what even paul was challenging these these jewish christians who were supposed to be the strong because they still had their religious baggage on what what days to observe he talks about this in romans 14 and 15 what meats were prohibited in eating what ceremonies we still do and they were trying to impose them on the new believers and judging some of them for not doing it see this is exactly bear with me now what happened even during the jesus movement in the 60s and the 70s when all of these these young kids from the streets with them were called hippies were getting saved and they were flooding into the church it started on the west coast and one of the churches that god used there was calvary chapel and and the great pastor chuck smith and felt with this influx of brand new christians the weak he felt like there was two things that were that were starting there he that he had to start with verse by verse teaching the bible to these to these brand new christians um and and i believe we're even getting ready to come back to that then worship music the maranatha was birthed out of there people were were beginning to get the word and worship and i'm telling you they were even being baptized in pools and oceans the pacific ocean because churches wouldn't accept them time magazine did a whole front cover called the jesus revolution it started with a generation of young people listen now who were fed up with politics of what was happening with the with with the war and a number of other things and watergate they saw the dead end of drugs and addiction and and the dead end of a society that was what was telling them to have free sex and found jesus being the only answer to their lives and literally hundreds of thousands came into the kingdom and were born again ministries and churches were birthed across america in fact david wilkerson played a huge role in preaching there um to many of those that were getting saved and born again and i believe that the next wave that god is sending to our country is not hundreds of thousands but i believe millions through the method of technology that millions are going to be born again who are dissatisfied with the same exact things not only the the drugs and the only answer politicians have is legalization them being fed up with politics and what's happening all all in in dc and even sexual freedom realizing all of these things are dead and except one person and that's jesus himself and paul was getting the church ready as i believe we have to get ready that most of the strong in the church didn't want the weak in their building he didn't they didn't want them there and the challenge that paul was giving him he was speaking to the strong and say we've got to be careful of what our attitude is here in fact here is paul's challenge to the strong here it is it comes so clearly he says therefore that's this this is the summing up of what paul is doing in romans 14 and 15. therefore accept one another just as christ has accepted us to the glory of god that those i have to tell you those just as christ challenges and verses in the bible they're simple they're they're they're just so forthright but they are like sledgehammers to the soul let me let me give you one let me remind you how intense these are remember this one ephesians 5 25 husbands love your wives here it comes just as christ same thing that paul did in romans 15 7. he does here in ephesians 5 25 just as christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her that just as christ man just comes and wreaks havoc with the soul because you're going like this is huge what god is asking us to do i i pray that ephesians 5 25 verse every single night with cindy the just as christ verse that i guess i always pray over our marriage god help me to love my wife just as christ loved the church and gave himself up for her this this is and then paul here gives the challenge to the strong in in this brand new church and says with these new christians that are coming in i want you to accept them here it comes just as christ has accepted us see i believe that the church that is coming will look like this first century church and the strong those that know christ must get ready to accept the weak in fact i want to just say it this way the strong must be strong for the weak or i'm telling you the the strong will eventually be the weak in the church and in the body of christ the strong must be strong for the weak and that's the challenge accepting those that don't quite look like us i learned a brand new word two weeks ago i was reading a book i didn't even think the word existed i thought it was made up let me read it to you it's the word latitudinarian some of you are going like pastor tim what in the world latitudinarian is a word that just i i thought of that word for this passage it actually means allowing latitude in religion in fact the word the latin word it comes from is a word for breathing breath and it means giving breathing room instead of quickly jumping to judge to being judgmental it's going let there be growth because when you don't when you don't accept people we can jump jump to to cr criticism being judgmental instead instead of allowing room breathing room for the weak to even grow that's why i love the verse i love the verse prior to the just as christ verse to the to the verse that says just as christ except one of the jesus christ accepted you because in that verse just prior to it paul is believing for us that we would have patience and encouragement so we paul was saying the strong and the weak can be one voice together listen to what he says in 15 5 before we get to seven may god who gives this patience patience and encouragement help you live in complete harmony with each other that's weak and strong as is fitting for followers of jesus christ then if you do that with if you have that patience that help that that he's talking about then all of you can join together with one voice thank god giving praise and glory to god the father of our lord jesus christ therefore since you're going to do that you'll have the patience and encouragement to live in complete harmony and be of one voice therefore i'm asking you to accept each other just as christ accepted jews to the glory of god the father this is so important and and i love what the apostle paul does because the apostle is challenging the strong the religious people about weak gentiles he does something very powerful after this in verse 8. i don't want you to miss this because i think it's important for the strong to hear he quotes four old testament passages he goes and and paul is brilliant here he takes four passages from the law two from the psalms and the prophets that's a big phrase whenever you hear lost psalms and prophets that that's a lock that means man this is in and listen to what the apostle paul says he says if you don't believe what's what's happening in the in the church is is from the lord he says let me tell you that this was already prophesied thousands of years before listen what paul says right after he says therefore accept one another listen what he says remember that christ came as a servant to the jews to show that god is true to the promises he made to their ancestors in verse 9. he also came so that the gentiles might give glory to god for his mercies to them that what the psalmist meant when he wrote here it comes for this i will praise you among the gentiles and i will sing praises to your name and then then the apostle paul goes let me quote another one in another place it is written rejoice with his peoples you gentiles and yet again third verse that he gives from the ot from the old testament praise the lord all you gentiles praise him all you people of the earth and paul then goes in verse 12 and in another place isaiah said this is his fourth reference to the scriptures the heir to david's throne will come and he will rule over the gentiles and they will place their hope on him verse 13 then paul goes and i pray that god the source of hope will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trusted him then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the holy spirit did you see what the apostle paul just did he's prophesying he's he's reading the prophets and the psalms and the law of the salvation of the gentiles that are about to come in as a harvest into this brand new church it's the it's the prophecy of the beginning of the church that it's going to be strong and weak jew and gentile and paul goes i'll even give you scriptural background for it and scriptural um a foundation for it see paul not only gives a challenge to them about saying about about accepting them of the these new believers that are coming in but he also has a prayer for them the challenge was this accept one another just as christ accepted you but here's the prayer that he gives we read it let me read it to you now may the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing so that you will i love these next words abound in hope by the power of the holy spirit he he gives this challenge to accept but then this prayer to abound in hope for what's ahead the harvest is going to make the church messy but it's also going to make the church powerful that's why this is so important if you have a church only of strong people and not accepting the weak and the strong eventually become the weak they become the religious the it becomes the hypocrisy in fact their strength turns into hypocrisy and even exclusivity listen and the church that is no longer the church but becomes an exclusive club that you have to be strong to join you have to look like us to join it you have to wear our colors you have to do it like this see god created the church to be strong and weak and and to abound in hope is what the prayer was i i read this this is what brought hope to me in fact abounding hope to me i was reading the description of the church that a local pastor in the midwest was giving he attended a rotary club meeting all the businessmen in town were there and and because while they were there they asked each of the attendees 20 30 people of these men said would you stand up and tell us your name where you're from and what you do what's your occupation and the minister in this little small midwest town stood up to tell everyone that he was a pastor of a church but he decided to tell something a little bit different about the church about the most amazing organization in the world filled with the strong and the weak a church getting ready for the harvest this is what the pastor said best description i've heard of god's church he said this i'm with a global enterprise we have branches in every country in the world we have representatives in nearly every parliament and boardroom on earth we're into motivation and behavior alterization alteration we run hospitals feeding stations crisis pregnancy centers universities publishing houses and nursing homes we care for our clients from perth to death we are into life insurance and fire insurance we perform spiritual heart transplants our original organizer owns all the real estate on earth plus an assortment of galaxies and constellations he knows everything lives everywhere and our product is free for the asking there's not even enough money to buy it and then he closes with this our ceo was born in a tiny town worked as a carpenter didn't own a home was misunderstood by his family hated by his enemies walked on water condemned to death without a trial rose from the dead and i talk with him every day i love that my heart abounds in hope knowing that i'm part of that church not a church of the strong but a church of the strong and the weak a church that says we accept one another and we abound in hope towards those people it's amazing to me because it seems that when you read the life of jesus that carpenter that created the the galaxies and the planets that created you and me that when you read the life of jesus the worst people are more at ease around jesus than the religious people he he was he felt more comfortable or the weak felt more comfortable than the strong around jesus that's why jesus got chilly responses from even the religious crowd the gospels mention eight dinner parties jesus was invited to only three of them were friends the other five were sinners to come to his to to their house to eat and what a what a night of dinner it was to have jesus there jesus went after everyone because everyone was important to him and this is what i realized jesus never met a disease that he could not cure a birth defect he could not reverse and a demon he could not deliver and exercise but what was amazing was but he did meet the religious that he couldn't convince wow i i don't i don't want the strong to become weak it's the strong ministering to the weak that's the challenge from romans 14 and 15. that's why as charles spurgeon said the local church really is the hope of the world and what's coming and that hope of the world i'm so excited times square church we are we cindy and i cannot wait for the reopening on september 12th when finally the doors after some 18 months is finally open right here on 51st and broadway and i believe we are going to start seeing as the doors are opened up coming through screen and front door the weak and the strong coming into this building the weak and the strong that that come into this place i'm telling you it's happening already but here's i want to challenge you times square church the strong have two challenges to accept one another and the prayer is abound in hope let me read those again accept one another and to abound in hope what's the hope that that the strong that the weak are going to grow and begin to become strong one day we'll talk about that in a moment but in order to have a harvest sometimes you have to you need a dirty barn that's what solomon said listen to what he says in proverbs 14 4 without oxen a stable stays clean but you need a strong ox for a large harvest or the niv puts it like this where there are no oxen the manger is empty means there is no harvest but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvesters that's that that's why i'm willing for us to deal with dirt for the harvest that's coming get ready i'm just telling you folks get ready for a church that gets a little dirt in it because of that that's why i think the author john newton of amazing grace said it best he says i'm not this is this is the this is who's coming i'm not what i ought to be and i'm not what i want to be but thank god i'm not what i used to be see the moment we're born again we're all part of that group not what i want to be what i hope but not what i hope to be but not what i used to be that's why the good news is that the week one day if we do our job bound in hope accept one another i'm telling you the good news is this the weak becomes strong to help the weak one day in their own life that's why i want to tell you a story today i want to tell you a story from second kings and tell you what i mean by this phrase listen to it i may have dirt but i'm not dirty i may have dirt but i'm not dirty remember what paul said in that romans 15 passage he said if you want to understand this he says whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction he already gave four old testament passages to show a brand new influx that this is not a jewish christian church this is this is a church for every person that romans 14 and 15 was telling us that's why it gives us four passages he says whatever's written for our instructions that through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope and second kings five is an old testament story of instruction like this verse says and encouragement so that we may abound with that kind of hope it's a story of the strong and the weak it's a story of accepting one another it's a story of of some dirt but the person's not dirty and i'm i want you to see this and it's a story where a prophet was encouraging the dirty manger for the harvest that would that he believed was even gonna come to the nation of syria there are two people in this story one is a general and one is a prophet name it is a syrian army general who is going to get healed but but the after story is amazing elisha is the prophet in israel naaman has just been healed of leprosy by elisha some of you may remember the story in 2nd kings 5 by dipping into the jordan river seven times there's a whole backstory of this but that's not what i want to deal with it was not just a healing moment for naaman but it was a conversion moment for him he just didn't get healed of leprosy naaman found the real god the true god that's where i want to start with his statement after the healing came of leprosy listen to second kings 5 15. he says when he returned to the man of god with all of his company he came and stood before me and said behold now i know that there is no god in all the earth but in israel he found god he found the true god so please take a present from your servant now listen what he said but he said as the lord lives before whom i stand i will take nothing but he urged them to take it but elij elisha refused but here's what naaman said if not please let your servant at least be given this is very interesting he's about to leave and go back to syria two mules loads of earth for your servant and he says will no longer for your servant will no longer offer burnt offerings nor really sacrifice to other gods but to the lord he found god and in this matter may the lord you got to get this now pardon your servant when my master his job goes into the house of ryman to worship there and he leans on my hand and i bow myself in the house of ramen when i bow myself in the house of ramen the lord pardon your servant in this matter i i want us just to pause it because this is amazing this is the week with the strong this is this is elisha the strong with name in the week the new convert this is naaman coming from the streets the the addict coming in this is the the ray just getting baptized in a bathtub now it's it's the strong and the weak we have him face to face and according to romans 15 4 let's get into some encouragement let's get some instruction from this passage here it comes now remember when god saves us it is a complete salvation you're not you're not half saved you're completely safe when you trust your life to god when you are born again it's all in and though we are saved doesn't mean we're perfect but salvation is the starting line of growth naaman has a salvation a god moment that is life-changing for him now remember salvation doesn't mean perfect it's the starting line for growth i'm completely saved let me say it like this even though i may not be complete in in certain areas of my life and here is his salvation um verse after the leprosy he says it behold now i know there's no other god in all the earth but right here he met him and this is what's incredible naaman worshiped the god of in his land in syria god rhymin but started to realize he has a temple he has a statue but his god doesn't do healing his god can't fix leprosy his god can't change his life but on the other side of the golan heights there is a god who does stuff that my idol can't even do and naaman met that god the the weak just walk through the doors of of the church when he meets elijah now watch what happens after his come to god moment i want to read this again listen to it naaman said if if not please let your servant at least be given two mules loads of earth for your servant will no longer offer burnt offerings nobody sacrifices other gods but to the lord and in this matter may the lord pardon your servant when my master goes into the house of ryman to worship there this is this and he leans on my hand and i bow myself in the house of rhyming when i bound myself in the house of rhyme and the lord pardon your servant in this matter this is interesting and i have to just give you just quick background he wants dirt from israel to bring back why because that culture that time those syrians believed in territorial gods that that that lived in in nature that lived in the soil there so if he can if he can go back to syria he wanted to take two mule loads of dirt that says i brought the god of israel back with me he thinks that that the gods live in in in the creation itself instead of thinking how big god is but but he's weak he's just figuring this out he's just getting it he just became he just became a god believer in the god of israel and he's asking for dirt but he's clean in his heart and then second this is incredible he tells them about his job description in syria he says i take my master in the temple of ryman and i'll have to bow down but in my because because it's my job but i know in my heart god is real he says so please pardon me i i don't mean it but he says but that's what i'm paid to do now the new convert is not only caught but what does elisha do years of idolatry next to a real encounter with the living god this is what is incredible folks this is incredible this is the weak and the strong this is encouragement for us romans 15 4 elisha's response is incredible here's what it says in verse 19. listen to his three words first thing team go in peace he asked for two mule loads of dirt and said i may have to do this at my job but you gotta let me read that again verse 19 go in peace he didn't make his face didn't wince going oh i thought you really trusted god he didn't rebuke him this is elisha he didn't he didn't go like let's do a teaching session on this but says to him this is the strong to the weak go in peace he was telling him just because you have dirt two mule loads of dirt doesn't mean you're dirty just because you haven't got it yet doesn't mean you're that you don't have it this is incredible elisha seems confident that naaman is on the right track and he's going to finish well naaman seems to know this is i like this because he's naaman seems to know that there's something wrong with bowing down or he wouldn't have set pardon me his foundation is now i know there's no god in all of israel that's true except this one i i i want to pause for a moment because i want you to hear i want to say this to the strong strong i i have a couple words for you i want you to listen i believe that the new creation that's what the bible calls being born again the new creation is like the first creation do you remember what happened on day one in genesis 1 god said these words let there be light and then something else happened i want to read it to you this is what it says then god said verse 3 genesis 1 let there be light and there was light there's a god god exists then god saw that the light was good he got it now watch this and then god separated the light from the darkness did you see it people will see the light and then god says i've got another work let me start separating the light from the darkness see here's a word for us strong i want to i want to challenge the strong today because of what god is getting ready to do as doors open up on september 12th as god begins to do something both screen and front door i have i have a word for the strong number one have faith in god and let's stop being god if god got naaman this far god's going to get them all the way go in peace naaman is what he says i don't want to be the holy spirit god is i've realized this god is more committed to people than i am and and that's what i love go in peace i know you have two sacks of dirt you have dirt but you're not dirty you you you met you met the living god here's the second thing i don't need people to look like us we need people to look like jesus i don't need the weak to be me i need the weak to be strong in jesus that's why you don't come to jesus strong we all come weak we don't we we all come with with all of our junk and everything else and that's why god is looking for a church today that accepts one another that abounds in hope that god's going to get people all the way and do his work that's why i want to challenge people we don't bring our fixed up self to god but we bring our broken self to god we come with everything we come with all of our hang-ups and we come with all of our our addictions we come with everything we come with our broken marriages and our broken hearts see you don't get good and come to jesus you come to jesus and he makes you good whereas one man said he said it like this he said jesus says i love you just the way you are but i love you too much to let you stay that way see that's why we don't come to jesus strong we all come weak we all come with our our weak hearts our weak minds our weak souls our weak marriages our weak desire all of it and today i truly believe that god is wanting to take some and that that the bible calls if we don't know jesus that we're dead on the inside make them alive and do an amazing work inside of them but you've you've realized man i don't have it together and i'm telling you god wants your not together life he wants all of you i i read this article that the toughest school in the united states to get into nothing against them it's just the toughest school to get into is now stanford university in in on the west coast the the university recently updated i was reading the article updated their admission standards and stated that only five percent of applying students ever accepted they said just before covent they had over 42 000 students applied and about 2 000 got in think of that and they said on their website they give students realistic answers they said what is the academic standard this is the number one question what is the academic standard to be accepted just like romans 15 7 accept one another here's what it is an act score of 33 or higher will put you in the top 50 percentile of applicants however the average score for accepted students the 2000 you have to have a 35. do you understand that the perfect score is the 36 acceptance students will also need an sat score 1520 which 1600 is a perfect score and then this one got me you need a gpa of 4.18 4.0 is an a is a's they want 4.18 plus a robust resume of extracurricular activities leadership qualities references and recommendations this is what the article said in conclusion no offense stanford in conclusion if you want to get into standard stanford you better be perfect or amazing thank god he's not stanford thank god that you don't have to be amazing to come into the to come into the family of god thank god you don't have to have it all together and be a 4.18 to have an incredible resume people think god is stan stanford and only accept the strong i'm telling you god wants us our broken selves see that's why listen close the church is a hospital for sinners not a museum of saints it's a mute it's it's a hospital we're all broken and some are finding life and strength the more we walk with jesus but i'm telling you listen perfect people don't go to heaven but forgiven people go to heaven and christianity starts with forgiveness the journey the journey on the road to heaven starts with being born again and that's why i have to tell you i i love and i have some of you need to hear this i love what author brennan manning says he says this i don't need to apply spiritual cosmetics to make myself presentable to god to get my resume all together so god would love me he said god loves you unconditionally as you are not as you should be because nobody is as they should be thank god thank god that's why he says accept one another just as christ accepted you it's the challenge for the church but let's not miss that he accepts you whatever condition that you're in today see that's why christianity does not work without christ if you leave christ out of it and you think it's church and you think it's a building and if you think it's a a christening or a baptism or a communion you've left christ out of it i i am accepted in god the beloved because of christ and his work because that's the the it's the it's the most important question i can i can never ask you have you have you been born again have you entered into a relationship with god and some of you are already going like i don't have the resume i i've never been baptized i've never had communion i've never been to church i'm watching this because someone sent me like let me just tell you you don't need a resume to come to god he accepts you he loves you and he wants you to be part of his family but you have to start somewhere and jesus said this he uses the word you have to be born again pastor tim what does that mean [Music] jesus was saying just as you had a first birth physically you need a second birth spiritually though all those other things are good i go to church my family is religious i'm a good prayer all those things are good that's not what jesus said jesus said whatever your background is whatever whatever you felt like you've messed up and have been broken and and and you you you are trying to get good and so you so god would love you i'm telling you none of that works he wants to change you right now and it can all start today by being born again you you you can experience a miracle today you may have dirt you may have two mule loads of dirt on you today and i'm gonna tell you but you can go in peace today because god can be gonna give you a clean heart how does that happen pastor tim when jesus says in john 3 3 that no man can see the kingdom of heaven unless they've been born again i i want to make it as simple as i can and this is this is what what i believe makes it as simple it's as simple as abc taking those three letters that we would tell to a first grader you have to learn your abcs each one of those letters apply i i believe to to the way to seeing god come in and change everything a it's admitting that i'm a sinner that i am broken i don't i i can't apply enough of uh spiritual cosmetics to make god like me anymore it's when i get honest with god that all of us myself included have a condition called sin and i can't fix it i i don't have enough of i don't have enough to to fix it with a promise going to a program a priest or a pastor we need help to fix it we're broken on the inside and the diagnosis of sin and i have to admit that i'm a sinner and then and then it's be believe believe that god sent his son to fix it since i couldn't fix myself none of us could fix ourselves if we could fix ourselves then why would god even have to send his own son to die on the cross for us if i can get to heaven by being good then jesus would never have to die on the cross but jesus did come to become my sin bearer he did come to do what i couldn't do for myself he died the death that i should have died live the life i had no chance of living and gave me a reward forgiveness heaven a brand new life i didn't even deserve and finally it's confessing jesus is lord saying you're in charge now god did not send his son for 33 years to go to the cross rise again and and go to heaven to to become our great intercessor to simply tell you you better do better you better get a good resume god is not stanford god god accepts us in the condition that we're in and god's goal is not to simply get you to church his goal is to get you to eternity coming to just to get you to show up at a church on sunday on september 12th that's what religion wants you got it you got to do this you got to come here being born again is a relationship it's walking with god every single day that's why christianity is coming to a person not a place so the church can be shut down for 18 months and you can still start a brand new relationship with jesus with all the churches closed i believe that god wants to change your life today that just as you had a first birth today is going to become a second birth for you and that can happen right now wherever you're at if you're here if you're if you're listening right now i want you to pray a prayer with me i want you to take the challenge today to say i want to take the first step pastor tim i'm not perfect exactly none of us are this this i feel like naaman i've got a whole bunch of stuff and sacks of dirt that's okay god wants to clean your heart today and he'll start separating light from darkness just like he did in the first creation he's going to do it with a new creation but if you're wherever you're at today whoever you are whether you're waiting in an airport you're in a fitness center driving in a car walking and listening on a on a pair of um headphones to a message i want you to pray this prayer with me i want you to start a brand new journey with god i want you to i want you to be i want today to be your born again your second birth date come on pray this with me if you can pray it out loud say these words dear lord jesus i believe you are the son of god i believe that on the cross you took my sin my shame and my guilt and you died for it you faced hell for me so i wouldn't have to go you rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven a purpose on earth and a relationship with your father today lord jesus i turn from my sin to be born again now say it with me come on god is my father jesus is my savior the holy spirit is my helper and heaven is my home in jesus name amen a man [Music] i don't care if you're broken i don't care if you have sacks of dirt with you i'm telling you you can have dirt but you're not dirty god's cleanse your heart and we're going to watch those sacks begin to fall off as you grow as the weak becomes strong and i'm going to tell you this there's some strong people that want to help you today and if you made that decision and just like ray did i want you to text that word decided because that's what you did you made the greatest decision like text to 51 000 and then there are some strong volunteers that are abounding in hope accepting one another just as christ just as christ accepted them they're going to lead you on a path towards strength to looking like jesus not looking like us not looking like people but looking like jesus and i'm going to tell you today we want to celebrate with you in fact we want to celebrate with the times square church choir led by greg thomas that we want to say thank god for making the greatest decision of your life god bless you

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 4,406

Rating: 4.879518 out of 5

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Id: UjfimLnEJdc

Length: 47min 15sec (2835 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 18 2021