"Is My Christianity Real? (Part 1)" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

want to talk about something that's very important matter of fact I think any pastor worth his salt will talk about this at one point or another in a series during the year and that's basically the question do we know that our Christianity is authentic you see Jesus when he began preaching one of the very first things he did was he encouraged the religious leaders to look at the authenticity of the religion he said are you praying to be seen of men are you giving to be seen are you fasting to be seen is it all superficial or is it heart religion religion so often people become preoccupied with the actions and we forget the attitudes and then Jesus shares this very sobering parable that was given envy and actually not a parable a statement of truth in our scripture reading today in Matthew chapter 7 he said in verse 21 not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he that does the will of my father many don't miss when Jesus has many and few because when he says many he means majority many will come to me in that day saying Lord Lord have we not prophesied in your name and cast out devils in your name and done many wonderful works in your name and then they'll hear those terrifying words I never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness and they discover to their astonishment they thought they were saved but they're not now I don't know about you but when I read that that troubles me I I would hate to think that I would come to that point and then discover it wasn't real and so we're gonna ask that very important question today is my Christianity real and is there a way to know you know one of the most deadly diseases in the world and is the most deadly disease in the world well it's the second most deadly disease in the world's malaria it's interesting smallest insect causes the the most dense malaria has stopped armies it infected several US presidents it stopped construction on the Panama Canal at one point it still infest hundreds of millions of people every year Karen nine Uganda we're a little worried because it was one of the most the country that struggles the most with malaria in Africa and a child dies from malaria every thirty seconds over a million people a year but there's some good news they just developed a new test to help them identify malaria very quickly it's called an art DT a rapid diagnostic test and this has been one of the struggles is being able to test it identify it and treat it but you know the Bible tells us that if we are gonna do something about counterfeit Christianity or if our Christianity isn't real first you've got to identify that is that right and so there's some preventative screening that happens now I don't know if you've been to the doctor for a regular checkup but if you go for a check-up you don't always want to wait until you're sick and then go to the doctor as you get a little older they say you ought to go do some preventive health screening something simple like a blood pressure check you could prevent death by a simple test like that a blood test they could tell you about your blood sugar diabetes diabetes can kill a person you can slip into a coma if you tell you about your cholesterol levels they could help you prevent a heart attack a whole scope of different things can be determined by that cancer and so doing some preventative screening can save your life how many of you have known somebody and and they came down with some terrible terminal disease and then somebody will say if they'd only had that checked a little sooner they could have done something but they waited too long your heard that they waited until was too late right now praise the Lord if you're alive and hearing my voice you probably have not grieved away the Holy Spirit and it's not too late for you to ask those important and penetrating questions questions is my Christianity real because there will come a time when it'll be too late so now's the time to find out how sad it will be on that day to find out that you are self deceived that you you figured well and this was the world standard of Christianity and I measured up to the world standard and so I thought I was gonna make it but to hear the words from Jesus say I'm sorry I don't know you I can't think of anything more frightening than that and so if you're going to know don't you want to know and what did you want to know soon enough to make a difference now some people get angry when I talk like this and they reproach me and they say pastor Doug you are so works behavior oriented we are not supposed to be looking at ourselves we're just supposed to be looking at Jesus and it is true our Christian principle he wants to fix their eyes on Jesus but what I'm saying to you is biblical and we're a Bible Church listen to what Paul says 2nd Corinthians 13:5 examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith test yourselves there is a time for us to scrutinize to test to examine I'm gonna come back to this verse but I want to show you it's not the only one because you need at least two or three witnesses here look for instance in 1st Corinthians 11:28 Paul talking about the Lord's Supper he said some people eat and drink the Lord's Supper unworthily to their own destruction it's pretty serious so how do you know he says but let a man examine himself and so let him eat the bread and drink the cup so there's to be a self-examination and where sometimes pretty good at examining each other but who are we supposed to examine in this ourselves another verse Psalm 159 sorry psalm 119 verse 59 there is no Psalm 159 just in case you were looking at up psalm 119 verse 59 I thought about my ways and turned my feet to your testimonies that means he spent some time looking at his ways and said you know I need to make a course correction here lamentations 340 let us search out and examine our ways and turn back to the Lord checking out a search in the book of Haggai chapter 1 verse 5 now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts consider your ways so do I have your support that there is a time the Bible says that every now and then we ought to do a little bit of introspection look at our hearts look at our ways you really need to look at your ways because your hearts can be deceitful the human heart is utterly deceitful the Bible says and then figure out if there needs to be some changes now you don't want to be driving a car looking in the rearview mirror all the time the rearview mirror is there and it's very important but if you spend all your time looking in the rearview mirror you're gonna have an accident you got to be looking where you're going so principally a Christian wants to be forward-thinking amen you want to look ahead you want to keep your eyes on Jesus you want to keep your eyes on the goal but every now and then you better check your mirrors you'd better take the situational awareness as what they call it and make sure that you're where you're supposed to be you're not drifting into the wrong lane or someone's not coming up behind you're gonna plow into you and so there needs to be a self-test the heart needs to be changed we need to know that we're converted if our hearts are changed if we are born again there'll be a difference and you read in the book steps to Christ if the heart has been renewed by the Spirit of God the life will bear witness to the fact so we're gonna go through some simple tests there are some tests I heard one time about this mission organization that was placing missionaries in different parts of the world they had a unique way of testing the missionaries the candidate was told to arrive three in the morning for the exam three in the morning and so there's one candidate he came a three in the morning he went to the room where he was supposed to meet the examiner and he waited there until 5:00 in the morning nobody there so he waited a little longer until 8:00 in the morning finally the examiner came in at 8:00 in the morning he said can you please spell the word Baker for me he said Baker be a keer it's a very good said now can you please tell me how much is two times two said four he said very good he said I I think that the Mission Board is gonna accept you as a missionary man he got up and he left that afternoon the examiner went he met with the Mission Board he said you know that candidate that I had an appointment with he said I think he's gonna make a good missionary said I tested him on self-denial he got out of a warm bed on a cold night while I know he was still tired and he came so I tested him on patience I made him then wait from 3:00 in the morning until 8:00 in the morning before I showed up I then tested him on humility I asked him questions that any child would understand and he was not offended when I asked him a simple equation of addition and he answered it correctly and politely and he said he's got what it takes to be a missionary it's gonna require self-denial perseverance patience humility and so there were tests well there are tests in the Bible there if you're saying Doug how do I know if my Christianity is real I want to know can I know good news there's a test the Bible actually gives you several tests and in the next two weeks I thought I'd fit it in one message but as a week went on a thought huh I can do this in two weeks next two weeks we're gonna talk about what are those tests they'll be about 14 different questions so how do you know if you're real Christian number one you know start right with the most important love do you love the Lord supremely what's the great commandment love the Lord with a little bit of your heart what percentage 85% isn't that greedy to God with 100% natural love the Lord with all of your heart all of you so all of your mind and this is a test Gospel of John chapter 14 verse 23 jesus said if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come and make her abode with him he that does not love me does not keep my word so what's one of the criteria for loving the Lord keeping his word first John 2:15 and 16 if anyone loves the world meaning but more than Jesus the love of the father's not in him for all that's in the world the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life it's not from the father but it's from the world how do you know that you love something a breakfast one morning a voice edgers father I'm gonna get married to that girl father said you're gonna marry her why are you gonna marry her just because I'm in love well how do you know you love her are you sure that you love her he said I'm sure I love her how do you know you love her so well last night on the front porch when I kissed her good night I didn't even know that her dog bit me until I got home it was all-consuming love and so when you love the Lord you know it now you might be thinking pastor Doug I don't know if I love the Lord enough you know this isn't this test isn't designed to say that there isn't room for growth you may be in a saved condition and that doesn't mean you don't still have room to grow because everybody who is in a safe condition still has room to grow is that right so don't be discouraged because if you were to ask me right now should you love the Lord more I'd say absolutely I'm sometimes amazed how little I love God but I do love God we want to love him more don't we because the better you love him the better you'll serve him so you've got to have love and you need to love him more than the world is the test James 4:4 do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God so we're gonna have a struggle going on and one of the principle tests is do we love the Lord now what if we find Lord I don't love you as much as I should or maybe some of you are thinking you know I love the Lord but I used to love him more when I first became a Christian I always been ready to do anything go anywhere Jesus wanted me to go I was so grateful when I realized he died for me on the cross well there's hope Jesus speaking to the church in Ephesus he said in Revelation 2 for nevertheless I have something against you in that you've left your first love he didn't say you don't love them anymore you just don't love me the way you first did a lot of couples might say that to remember therefore so what's the solution remember from where you have fallen repent and do the first works or else I'll come to you quickly and remove your candlestick from its place now I want you to notice something that in the verse that's really the foundation for this whole sermon sickening a second Corinthians 13:5 he said examine yourself to see if you're in the faith whether you're in the faith what does that mean there's a possibility that you might think you are and you're not so how do you know test now there's two words he uses examine and then he says test and the word examine means to carefully test and the word test means to scrutinize and if you go back to the original words when it's talking about evaluating if you're in the faith or not it's like if you are to say I'm gonna do a test of this country I'm going to write a book about the US and so I'm going to take a picture of the u.s. I'm gonna write a book about it now if you want to if you want to write a book about the u.s. you need to go through the US last week Karen and Nathan drove from Atlanta to California they can now write a book they've been through the US so when you are testing yourself go through yourself you ever shopped for car I don't know about you but when that happens half the fun of a new car for me is shopping before even buying I have fun doing the research now you can get online and there's all these tools and you can you can line up all the different models that are comparisons you can find the horsepower works about gas economy your comforts all the different I just love doing that stuff and then you go and you walk around it and as soon as you walk on a car lot you know they're they're circling and they're you think oh there's nobody here you get out of your car five people show up and they're very nice and you start asking them a few questions and you walk around you kick the tiles you look at the sticker you have a heart attack right and then if you're really interested you don't walk in and say okay let's sign of the bottom line even the salesman would be shocked if you didn't say let's take it for a drive there's one dealership I know they said we'll let you even keep it overnight well it sounds pretty good take it for a drive so when you're testing yourself the word is talking about really taking a serious honest look in and around your heart and your life and find out am i measuring up so one thing is do I really love the Lord another test is not only loving God is hating evil how did you know job was a man of God says there was a perfect and upright man so job's a good example right job is gonna be in heaven says he loved the Lord he hated evil it's not just loving the right things it's heating the wrong things and the longer you walk with the Lord the more you will hate sin you've heard it said before the longer I live the more I know I don't know right it's also true the longer you walk with the Lord the more sinful sin will appear if you're drifting from God the more you begin to accommodate and ignore sin so does sin grevioux is one of the tests the sin hurt you because you know sin hurts God if you doubt that look at the cross the sin grieve you they had a deadly Ebola virus that went through Sierra Leone and a couple of other countries I see dr. de Rosas here he wrote a book about it we're out Sierra Leone and what were the other countries Liberia yeah we're in the area over there and did you ever see when they were treating that how the people had to dress they had between fifty and seventy percent of the people that contracted it died I'd be pretty serious so if you knew that you're taking care of somebody that's sick and if you get what they've got you got a 50 to 70% chance of nine would you put on the protective gear that's the attitude we ought to have about sin is you don't want to get near it you don't want to touch it you know that it's deadly you know that it hurts Jesus and that it hurts you and that it hurts out others a great commandment love the Lord love your neighbor love yourself sin is the opposite of that sin hurts God it hurts others and it hurts you and so you got to recognize sin as an awful thing that it is Ezra you ever read about this and Ezra chapter 9 verse 3 when Ezra heard about the terrible things that some of the people were doing he said I tore my garment in my role but plucked out some of my hair that explains my condition and beard and sat down astonished he was so grieved and it wasn't even his sin it was the sin of the people you've probably seen that every time you go in and you order a Subway sandwich assuming you sometimes do that that between customers they keep changing their gloves to just make sure that the sandwich is sanitary and safe and they're not spreading anything and I was a little offended one time when they were real busy and they were making someone ahead of me a ham sandwich and they're just digging their fingers down damn and then they said I said I want the veggie and I saw him stick their hand me fingers in the vegetables and I recoiled that am I the only one that's thank you you know that's how it should be with sin it's like you were revolted by it David when he realized about his sin he said I had sinned he says therefore he pleaded with God he fasted he laid on his face all night for seven days because of the sin now we live in a sins saturated world and you can get used to it and that's dangerous Romans seven thirteen Paul said sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful we want to understand the Paul said you know I was before I was converted I thought I was a great Pharisee and then sin revived and I died I saw myself for what I really am sometimes it's only in the light of the Cross we see how bad sin is and so that I think is an accurate test another verse Isaiah 33 15 he who walks righteously and speaks up rightly who despises the gain of oppressions who gestures with his hands refusing bribes who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed he shuts his eyes from seeing evil it sounds like a fanatic but listen to what Isaiah says he will dwell on high with the law the person who is a friend they plug their ears the hearing of violence they shake their hands when someone tries to bribe them they cover their eyes from seeing evil you know what that's called that's trying to be holy in a wicked world you'll have an attitude will you'll understand something about the sinfulness of sin now you might think we'll pastor Doug that makes me feel bad how long are we supposed to be that way you know it's it's actually a good sign the closer you come to the Lord the Lord is light the Bible says God is light and in him is no darkness so the closer you come to the Lord the closer you come to the light the more painfully distinct every spot of defilement comes in your character it can read something about that in the book steps to Christ verse 29 one gleam of the purity of Christ penetrating the soul lays bare the deformity and defects of the human character so as you continue to walk closer with the Lord you may spot more and more wrong with your life that doesn't mean you're not saved really it's it's a test are you still sensitive about sin or have you gotten where you're just not bothered by it anymore because through overexposure you become numb it's like a person who lives by the railroad track and they just don't hear the train anymore right while you're in the the flight path of an airport you don't even notice friends are visiting the whole house is shaking as a jet comes in for landing and you go what noise you just don't hear it our teenager who learns to sleep through the alarm clock it wakes up everybody in the house but it doesn't wake them up it's kind of frightening that's where you get to the point where you're grieving away the Holy Spirit when you're not convicted by sin it's a dangerous thing so that's one of the tests and so that's test number two number three do I obey Jesus as Lord we often call him our Savior and some say Lord and Savior well what is the Lord the Lord is someone who gives commands and you obey no matter how difficult those commands might be now this is a Bible test first John 1:6 if we say we have fellowship with him and we walk in darkness we lie and we do not practice the truth John 14:15 he said if you love me you know that keep my Commandments amen first on to verse 3 through 6 now by this we know him if we keep his Commandments Hughes as I know him and does not keep his Commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word truly the love of God is perfected in him and what's the reason for keeping it the love of God by this we know that we are in him notice the wording here Paul said let us examine ourselves whether we are in the faith whether we are in Christ John tells us here's a test by this we know if we are in him he that says he abides in him ought himself to walk as he walked being a Christian is not accepting theories it's doing tough things and of all self-sacrifice because you say this is what Jesus would do that's sometimes hard he said you got to take up a cross I remember hearing about this brush and war that was taking place between the French and the Prussians and this one soldier named Pierre was standing by his cannon and the general Noel came over to him and he was looking through his little spy telescope at the enemies surrounding Paris and he said that Pierre you see that bridge you see the house on the hill by the woods by that bridge is that house is full of prussian snipers i want you to aim your cannon at that house and blow that house to smithereens and he saw the blood drain from Pierre's face but obediently he took a mortar and he put it in the cannon and he accurately calibrated and aimed it and he set it off and he fired that ancient cannonball blew the house up and then he could see that he's a good shot the commander said Pierre Pierre was shaken I said what's the problem he said general he said that actually was my house and it's all I owned in the world they had occupied my house I had to blow up my house but when the commander gave the order he did whatever he was told to do Jesus said you've got to love him more than father mother sister brother husband wife houses or lands whatever it is he needs first place in your life but what do you get when you do that do you get everything else being a real Christian means that you obey the Lord you're not just the hear of the word James 1 chapter 1 verse 22 but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves that's what I don't want friends I don't want to come and stand before the Lord in that day you what you think of me doesn't matter at all you know that I mean there's days I care but in the big picture it doesn't matter what's really gonna matter is what does he think isn't that right what you promised me doesn't matter what he promises me is what matters and if I stand before him and he says I don't know you because I have deceived myself James says here's one of the ways you could deceive yourself as thinking if I've got the words I don't need the deeds he said if you're not a doer of the word and only hear you're deceiving yourself for anyone who has a hear of the word and not a doer he's like a man who observes his face in a mirror he observes himself II and goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he is but he who looks into the perfect law of Liberty meaning the commandments and continues in it not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this one will be cursed no he'll be blessed you want to be blessed there's also blessings that come with the commandments now is God asking us to keep 80 percent do we get a 10% discount he just wants 90 percent some churches thing 90 percent it's all you need or does the Lord say Deuteronomy chapter 5 I think it's verse 29 oh that my people would fear me and keep all of my Commandments always that it might be well with him that's a blessing and their children forever he's calling us to obey all that we know and he promises you'll be blessed this is how you separate the genuine from the counterfeit now I'm not saying that you're not a real Christian if you said is that clear the Bible makes that clear you look at 1st John 1:8 the same guy who said you need to be in a doer of the word and obey he said if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves he's talking to the church there but what's the difference for the true Christian what has dominion Paul says do not let sin reign reign is on the throne do not let sin heaven minion over your sin should not control your life there should be no area of your life where the devil has a regular foothold it doesn't mean that we don't fall it doesn't mean we don't make mistakes you have to apply these tests and you'll understand there are fruits of sin it's adultery fornication uncleanness lewdness idolatry sorcery hatred contentions jealousy outbursts of Wrath you have an anger problem selfish ambitions dissensions heresies evil murders drunkenness revelries and the like those are called the the fruits of the flesh he says let all fornication and uncleanness or covetousness let it not even be named once among you as fitting for saints so there ought to be a difference in the life of the saints whoever says I know him and does not keep his Commandments he says as a liar all right test number four talked about loving God who else you supposed to love your neighbor do you love your neighbor now this is very important jesus said that his followers will be known by love by this all people will know that we are his disciples by our love for one another and this is crucial if we're gonna be genuine Christians first John 4:20 if anyone says I love God and he hates his brother he is a liar for he who does not love his brother who he has seen how can he love God who he does not seen and this is the commandment that we have of him whoever loves God must also love his brother so is that clear is that ambiguous I should say an unambiguous again Jesus said everyone who is angry with his brother without cause is liable of judgment we're supposed to love our brothers Matthew chapter 6 verse 14 if you forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you but if you do not forgive men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses so one of the tests is not only do you just love people do you care about the needs of others do you have sympathy and compassion in your heart for others did the the crying need of poverty and the problems in the world when people don't know the gospel art do you feel concern for your fellow man but have you forgiven people you know Jesus said that this is the benchmark he's if you're gonna come to my altar and ask for mercy but you've got anger in your heart for someone else Jesus says what I'll leave your gift at the altar go be reconciled with your brother then bring your gift the Bible says you should love your neighbor and the Bible says you should love your enemy I think that it's interesting that he says love your neighbor which is your night brother and then he says love your enemy and it is possible that's because so often in the Bible hearing my brother becomes your enemy you notice the biggest problems in the Bible was with friendly-fire Joseph's brothers sell him David's son hunts him David's King tries to kill him you often find the disciples are arguing among themselves which of them is the greatest sometimes it's those closest and there are people who are married for years the people that they feel like they're enemies what could be closer than a spouse it's a part of salvation is loving and forgiving those that are close to you that would be brothers and sisters in the church what's gonna do the most for evangelism all men will know you are my disciples by your love for one another in the early church they would marvel they'd say see how they love each other and so this is one of the criteria do we have that primitive Christian love have we forgiven others you know one of Abraham Lincoln's early political rivals was a man named Edwin Stanton and he was just absolutely vicious in his attacks of Lincoln for his politics he called Lincoln an ape a gorilla he called him terrible things well when Lincoln became president he said I once Stanton to be the Secretary of War and everyone said are you kidding he's your worst enemy he said yeah but he's the best man for the job and I forgiving him yeah you know who spoke at Lincoln's funeral Stanton and he said here why is the most perfect ruler of men the world has ever seen because Lincoln knew how to forget and he knew that he put into practice the things that he saw in the Bible Peter said first Peter 4:8 above all things have fervent love for one another for love will cover a multitude of sins you know I think this is so important because I always want the extra credit here's a test you want you know this is a quiz here's when you get extra credit if you love and forgive others you seem to get extra credit and in the judgment doesn't the Lord say he'll not say did you not commit adultery did you not kill did you not steal those things are important but he said I was hungry did you feed me I was naked did you clothe me and so he's asking did you love your brother that's so important so that's an extra credit question just in case you were looking for one where is your treasure question number five and if you're keeping track I'm only gonna do seven today Jesus said lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupts where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be where is your heart we your treasure you can quickly tell where persons priority is if you could just peek at their ledger peek at their checkbook you can see what their priorities are if they've always got plenty for their personal interests and they never have anything for God's work and for people in need that's where their their heart is it'll be reflected isn't that right no one can serve two masters these are the words of Christ for either he will love one and hate the other he'll be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve God and money and what happens with people who end up serving money does ever really bring them the lasting satisfaction you know Howard Hughes was a contemporary of my dad they're both in the airline business at the same time Howard Hughes owned TWA my dad actually owned Western Airlines they knew each other they did not like each other Howard Hughes wrote my mom my mom was a model and he wrote her a note and asked her if she wanted to go out on a date but at that point she was married to my dad she used to wonder she married the wrong one of course I want to be here now but in 1966 at the age of 60 Howard Hughes was the world's wealthiest man he also lived in constant fear of contagious disease he insisted the people who work for them frequently wash their hands and wear white gloves he'd even burned his own clothing fearing that he had been around somebody and he might contract an illness he was personally filthy he never bathed he never brushed his teeth they eventually rotted out he were tissue boxes on his feet he never cut his hair his nails grew grotesquely long toward the end of his life he was daily injecting coding and taking valium he had once been 6 feet 4 inches he does ate candy bars during the day his frame shrank to about 90 pounds finally when flying to a hospital in 1976 interesting he was a pilot who died in an airplane of kidney failure the FBI insisted on taking fingerprints to confirm that this pitiful shell of a man was the legendary tycoon aviator had all the money in the world and he died he looked like a homeless person what profit is it if you gain the whole world and lose your soul and yet some people have been hypnotized by the advertising of our world into thinking that happiness is gonna come from stuff we have more stuff in the world than we've ever had and people aren't any happier matter of fact some of the happiest people in the world live in the South Pacific and they have almost nothing but I've discovered that they smile as much as people anywhere happiness does not come from money where is your treasure do you want to know where your heart is if you're ready for the Lord's coming if you know what's the solution if you know that spiritually you are poor and wretched and miserable blind and naked then Jesus said he can make you rich they've got to understand your spherical spiritual poverty and he can give you the riches another test this one you already knew what are the fruits Jesus said you'll know them by the fruit what kind of fruit are you bearing in your life what kind of what's the output Galatians 5:22 love joy peace long-suffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control you're not saved by your works but your fruit is going to tell whether or not you are saved do you have the fruits of the spirit if the Holy Spirit is in your life you're saved if you're being led by the spirit you're saved and what is the fruit of the Holy Spirit ruling in your life it's gonna be all those good things Galatians tells us that in Matthew chapter 7 said do men gather figs from thistles even so every good tree will bear good fruit you want to know if you're real or not what kind of fruit a bad tree has bad fruit a good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a bad free bear good fruit by their fruits you will know them you ever heard the expression if it swims like a duck if it waddles like a duck is it paddles like a duck if it flies like a duck if it quacks like a duck what is it it's a duck isn't that right and so you start applying some of these tests and you use it does you talk like a Christian does you spend like a Christian does he love like a Christian does he or she obey like a Christian that's a Christian do you have the fruits you know what else Jesus doesn't just say you're supposed to have the right fruits you're supposed to you have lots of them says every branch that abides in me will bear much fruit so you might say well I got a little love and I do make a little donation and I do everybody I mean you know even the people in jail obey God some of the time so you're gonna find a little bit of good and everything but Christians should have much fruit in their lives amen you might be surprised where do you think you would find the most productive grapevine in the world France Spain or Napa none of them England in wet freezing England you get the most productive it's a great fine that has been in a greenhouse since 1768 it's hundreds of years old it's 13 feet around in its base the vine its longest branch is a hundred and twenty feet and one year bumper crop 2001 this one grape vine produced 845 pounds of delicious black desert grapes in Hawaii it's being very tenderly cared for by specialists in viticulture it's pruned it's watched over its water it's fertilized because it's nurtured it's abundantly fruitful and if we will be examining and guarding our lives and nurturing our lives by feeding on the right kind of food we're gonna have the fruits of the spirit Oh No amen last point I'm going to share with you today another test number seven do you share Christ with others and it's very simple if you believe those who know Jesus have everlasting life and those who don't know Jesus have everlasting death and you don't care about sharing that with anybody it probably means you either don't believe it or you don't care about them if you don't care about them you're probably lost because you don't love your brother and if you don't believe it you're probably lost and so am I going too far insane that there's really no such thing as a Christian that is not interested in sharing the gospel you're either interested in sharing the gospel or you're backslidden because if you really love your neighbor first of all it's good news and you can't keep it to yourself you're gonna want to share it with other people now not everyone's an evangelist and not everyone has opportunity or skills or knows how to do that people can be praying for the loss people can be investing and helping others find salvation but that's one of the criteria is that we're sharing the good news jesus said Luke twelve eight everyone who acknowledges me before men do not deny your relationship with Christ Missy Yama Christian but I'm I'm a secret Christian there is no such thing as a secret Christian if you are a secret Christian either the secret will destroy your Christianity or your Christianity will someday destroy the secret you won't be able to keep it in you'll tell people it doesn't last that way he said if you're ashamed of me the Son of Man will be ashamed of you if you don't ever want to tell anybody about me then I won't tell my father and my angels about you but if you confess me in this enemy territory I will confess your name in heaven isn't that good news if you're not afraid to risk ridicule and risk embarrassment by asking someone are talking to someone about Jesus he said if you speak up for me first of all you'll be surprised more people are interested than you might think so the harvest is great the Labour's refused secondly so I will confess your name before my father and the angels in heaven just like you see it happening in the book of Job and so do you share Jesus are you interested in seeing others save Psalm 51 12 restore to me the joy of your salvation uphold me with your generous spirit then when you're saved I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will be converted to you 2nd Timothy 1:8 therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord don't be ashamed of Jesus psalm 119 verse 46 I will speak of your testimonies also before Kings and I will not be ashamed 1st Peter 3:15 sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give a defense to anyone that asks the reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear we should be armed and ready all the time to say something for Jesus like I said we may not know the pastor who baptized me he was a missionary in Burma his name was Joseph Phillips he's the love telling me the story I heard him tell it 10 times so I never forgot he said he had one man in the village that became a Christian where he worked in Burma his name was flour precious flour he always thought that was a very interesting name for a man there would be a tough name here but I guess there it wasn't that tough well these days it would be an acceptable name but it's been anyway back then it was a tough name and he said he couldn't read but he said he brought more people to the Lord because he bring a Bible to different people in his community in their language and he said but he knew where in the Bible all the verses all the proof texts were marked for salvation he said oh I can't read this is a wonderful can you read this verse to me and they read it to him you say oh that's what get over on this page he had the pages mark could you read this one to me and he had people reading to him studying themselves into the truth and they said well this is what was this book this is wonderful were these positive Christian teaching you want to come with me to church pastor I'll tell you more about the boy and he kept bringing people to the Lord and he couldn't even read but he had a way of doing it so if precious flower can do that what is your excuse everybody can do something I heard about a man on a commuter train in Long Island years ago and he was a regular he was on the 5 o'clock local that was going from Jamaica to Long Island and and when the plane train finally took off he'd go make his way up to the front he was always dressed very nicely and he'd walk down the aisle and if he saw anybody with glasses already saw anybody with a cane he'd say you have a problem with your eyes he said you got to go see this doctor I was losing my vision and he saved my sight he had cards he'd go to the doctor's office and he'd take these cards from the eye doctor he says I was going blind and he gave me my sight so you got to see I think just worth telling everybody about this dr. gahl was his name who was a specialist and eyes he could not keep it to himself because he was so happy about what had happened to him that's one of the tests if you love your brother if you're sharing your face that's a sign of a new Christian now probably a good thing I'm breaking this up in a couple of weeks because it's about all we can handle for one session right but don't be discouraged I remember years ago when I was taking my pilot's test it's been now about 40 years ago and yeah I had to do a little here a little there and so I kind of took my pilot training to different places in Texas in one place in New Mexico but finally when I got my license I was in Lubbock Texas I still remember because I see his name in my logbook he signed it off John couch was his name guy was like six foot four and he would fold himself up into the seat of this little tomahawk trainer and he would teach me and always was worried because he was so big I thought if this thing's gonna be overloaded it's just you that's doing it and but I felt pretty confident doing my flight training that's a high you know brother is a pilot stepbrothers pilot father's a pilot won't what you know they can't learn I can learn it right and then one day after we did all my ground school I had my first 40 hours behind me he did it some touch and goes or whatever and he climbed out of the plane I said where you going he said you're gonna solo said wait can it came over me I thought oh no I was really scared because flying while you know in many ways it's safer than other modes of transportation is extremely unforgiving if you make a mistake if you're doing your test drive and you panic you just pull over and you put it in park in a car you can't do that in a plane once you're off the ground you got to put it down on the ground and there's a lot involved in doing that so when he got out of the plane I'm going all sudden I lost all my confidence went into a spin is it don't worry you'll do fine as I did that he said look look at your checklist and he said I'll be watching you and I'll be on the radio got a problem call me I'll talk you in and so with that little bit of reassurance I let him close the door and I said a number of prayers yeah all right taxi taking off I wasn't worried about taking off they kind of take off by themselves if you gun the engine taking off and I flew a pad on a couple of times and and I talked to him once or twice on the radio you know I said yeah five to echinoderm her downwind and he said you're doing fine now straight level everything's okay and a little airport out Lovick nobody was there except me if it was a busy Airport I would have really been scared but just knowing I had the checklist and everything said check check check check check on the list before I took off then you got a checklist for landing you go through the list that you learned better check your prop you check your fuel you go through the carburetor heat you're getting your little list flaps on and I just went through the list that said everything's green here at him on the radio I survived as you already knew you know I never understood what pilots would say any landing you walk away from is a good landing I wasn't satisfied with that that sounds like you wrecked the plane you walked away I wanted to survive and save the plane if possible and so yeah I I learned to do it because I had that checklist and I knew I could always call out to the flight struttin you know when you're flying even caring neither years we were flying around town here as soon as we take off I call Sacramento approach five to echo November and they said we've got you and there's knowing that someone's there watching so the Lord is not trying to you ever have a teacher tried to give you a surprise test and so they could flunk you and show you who's boss they wanted to show everybody how little you knew so I mean hopefully not too many teachers like that but I think we all felt like we had a teacher there's trying to prove her dumb and they'd spring a test on us the surprises and not help us know what's on the test Jesus is not trying to flunk you Jesus wants to pass you he wants you to make it he's telling you what the questions are do you know I am I dropped out of high school but I got a GED do you know how I passed my GED maybe they're gonna take it back once I tell you this they actually provide a book that tells you every question that could be on your GED test now it's actually got four or five different tests at least they did back then so I didn't know which test they were didn't give me but it had every question that might appear on the GED I went through the book and I memorized all the answers and I still barely made it but it was great that they provided the answers you can get to heaven cuz God has given you the test questions and he's giving you the answers I don't know about you friends but when that day comes I don't want to find out too late that I didn't have the real thing I want to be a real Christian don't you a lot of counterfeits in the world today and we want to be real we want the Holy Spirit to be poured out and we can get closer we can do better and the Lord is hearing these things with us now because he wants us to pass the test how many of you want to pass the test when Jesus counts amen we're gonna sing our closing song I would draw nearer to Jesus because I think as you look at the test questions all of us are thinking I'm okay but I could do a lot better that's 310 and the words will be on the screen let's stand together [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I was thinking about doing the appeal during the song but if I did the peel the way I wanted to do the appeal the desired effect would be everybody would come forward in which case there'd be no room my appeal is how many of you want to draw in you her to Jesus you see there's room for improvement you want to know that you're a genuine Christian is that your desire we need the baptism of the holy spirit we need to be real Christians I hope that you'll take in all parts of this presentation including next week because that's where some of the the solutions will be found let's pray father in heaven we are so thankful that you love us so much that you've told us in advance you've given us fair warning so that we can take the test and know if our if our relationship with you is real if our salvation is genuine and then you tell us what the answer is Lord search us try us see if there be any wicked way in us and lead us in the way everlasting Lord we know our lives are limited in short help us today come to you and surrender all I pray that you'll give us your spirit that we might love you with all of our hearts that we might love our neighbor and I pray Lord that we will be real Christians that this church will model in our community then in our families we'll really have a revival of primitive godliness and once again see what real Christianity is about bless us for this purpose Lord thank you again for all of your goodness and blessings be with us through this Sabbath day we pray in Jesus name Amen if you could just be seated for a moment and give the

Channel: Aaron

Views: 53,647

Rating: 4.7831326 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: dAPVoZimTFI

Length: 56min 43sec (3403 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 07 2018