Praise the Lord Saints of God! Praise
the Lord Everybody! I offer my greetings to everyone in the mighty, wonderful,
and awesome name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I thank God and this congregation for
the opportunity to minister to the people of this church. It's always an honor
and a privilege to stand behind the anointed desk and bring forth the word of
God.
If we could all
stand for the reading of the word:
Matthew
10:37-39 He
that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross,
and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall
lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
You
may be seated:
Webster defines a conviction as: a strong belief,
being convinced.
A Judge once defined a conviction in his
courtroom. To him a conviction was: Something you believe in to the point you
would rather die than change.
How do you feel about the gospel of Jesus Christ?
· Are you ready to die for it?
· Are you ready to die to
yourself for it?
· Are you ready to live it?
· Are you ready to teach it?
· Are you ready to preach it?
· Are you ready to give it to
others?
Tell me how do you really feel about the gospel of
Jesus Christ?
· Is it the controlling factor
in your life?
· Does it influence what you
do?
· Does it influence what you
say?
· Does it influence what you
don’t say?
· Does it influence where you
go?
· Does it influence where you
don’t go?
· Does it play the leading role
in your life?
· Is it the final authority
and determining factor in all that you do in life?
If the gospel of Jesus
Christ doesn’t have the utmost influence over every part of everything you do
in life, I have to wonder just how much conviction you have. I have to wonder
how willing you are to die for Christ. How willing you would be to sell out
your brother or sister in Christ just to save your own hide.
There’s a time that’s coming
and it’s closer than many of you may think. That time of great tribulation when
people will be killed for their faith. It’s happening all over the world, just
not here yet!…. Unless you count 9-11…. And I think I would!
· Are you willing to lay down
your life for the gospel’s sake and for the sake of your brother or sister in
Christ?
· Would you take the mark of
the beast if you were starving to death?
· Are you willing to die,
rather than worship the devil just so your kids can have food to eat?
· Just how dedicated are you
to living for God?
· Do you really think that trial
and tribulation will never hit here in America just because we're Christians?
If you think that, here’s a few things to think
about:
Luke
21:12-19
But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before
kings and rulers for my name's sake. 13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony. 14
Settle it therefore in your hearts,
not to meditate before what ye shall answer: 15 For I will give you a mouth and
wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. 16 And
ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends;
and some of you shall they cause to
be put to death. 17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. 18 But there shall not an hair of your head
perish. 19
In your patience possess ye your souls.
· Are you willing to be hated
by all men for the sake of claiming the Lord’s name in salvation?
· Are you willing to be
tortured for the name of Christ?
· Are you willing to die
rather than deny His name?
Furthermore, we're not only
to be willing to die for his name’s sake, we're to be so in tune with God that
when they accuse us of evil things that God will give us the words that He
wants us to speak. We need to be spiritual enough to hear those words and brave
enough to speak them. We need to have conviction, and yet many of us have so
little that we can’t even spend time reading the word of God much less obeying
it!
Revelation
6:9-11 And
when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that
were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10 And
they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost
thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11 And
white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that
they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and
their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
Here
are examples of people who had conviction, they died for their faith! Today in
America, while the Government, Hollywood, and the Media are constantly bashing
Christians. While they are trying to prevent us from freely worshipping our
God. While they violate our Constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of
worship. We're not yet having to resist to the point of shedding blood for the
cause of Christ.
We
still have it easy compared to a large part of the world! In many parts of the world,
being a Christian is a death sentence. In Muslim controlled areas, people are
regularly killed just because they're Christians. In Communist controlled
areas, Christians are killed, imprisoned, or turned into slaves. In Hindu
areas, they're beaten, burned, or killed. In Buddhist areas they're persecuted,
beaten, banished, imprisoned, or even killed….. And they try to say that these
are peaceful religions?
In
this country we still have the right to go to church any day of the week that
we please. For the most part, we have freedom to witness wherever we go. We can
still pray over our meals in public places. We can have Christian bumper
stickers on our cars, and we can listen to Christian radio stations. It’s not
even illegal to own a bible yet!
Mark
12:29-34
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.31 And the second is like, namely this,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these. 32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master,
thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
33
And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with
all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings
and sacrifices. 34
And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not
far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
We're
commanded to love God will all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Do you love
God that much this morning? Do you have a love relationship with God this
morning? Are you IN love with God this morning? Do you have a personal,
intimate, eternal, relationship with God this morning?
If you don’t have that kind of
relationship with God today, you need to start down that road just as soon as
possible! It’s not just "knowing" about God that
counts in the end, it’s knowing Jesus and Jesus knowing you! You can be doing
the will of God in the works that you do, but without that saving relationship you’re
still lost! Without that personal, intimate, eternal relationship that I’m
always talking about, you won’t enter into the kingdom of heaven. Let’s look at:
Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name
done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from
me, ye that work iniquity.
How
do we know Jesus? By studying the word of God! How do we have a personal
relationship with Jesus? Through fellowship with him by prayer and fasting. How
do we have an eternal relationship with Him? By repenting of our sins, by
washing them away through water baptism, by confessing Him as our Lord and God,
by baptism in the Holy Ghost as evidenced by speaking in an unknown tongue as
the Spirit gives the utterance.
I can show you all these
things scripturally. Pretty soon we're going to start through our “Basic
Christianity” series of bible studies. If you want to know more now, we can
give one on one bibles studies if need be.
· We want everyone to be
saved!
· We want everyone to go to
heaven!
· We want everyone to hear
“Well done thou good and faithful servant”!
We all live forever, the only question is: Where will you live?
Smoking or Non-smoking?
· We want everyone to live
forever on the correct side of the lake of fire!
· We want everyone to escape
the fires of Hell!
· We want everyone to escape
the worms that eat those who are damned for eternity!
But what do we need to have
in order to live for God in this present world? We need to have conviction, but
do you have it? How do we get convicted? By praying, by fasting, by studying
God’s word, by being obedient to God’s word. Let’s look at:
1
Samuel 15:22-23 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as
great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of
the LORD? Behold, to obey is better
than sacrifice, and to hearken than
the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as
the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is
as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD,
he hath also rejected thee from being
king.
It’s
not enough to know God’s word; we have to be obedient to God’s word! But to
know God’s word we have to read it, we have to study it! We have to hide it in
our heart, we have to live it! That’s where the rubber meets the road! That’s
where the price tag hits the pocketbook! That’s where the flesh rebels but the
spirit fights for that which is right! That’s where the decision is made and
the battle is fought.
How
willing are you to die to the flesh that you might have eternal life with Jesus
Christ? How willing are you to give up those things which you might enjoy if
the word of God says that they're wrong? How much of your life are you willing
to sacrifice in order to have eternal life? Let’s look at:
Acts
21:13 Then
Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not
to be bound only, but also to die at
The Apostle Paul knew what he believed
in. He was ready to die if necessary in order to fulfill what God had called
him to do. What is God calling you to do today? What do you hear Him telling
you to do? Can you even hear God yet? What are you going to do in order to hear
Him? Is God convicting your heart today that you need to do more in order to
have a personal, intimate, eternal, relationship with God? Are you willing to
die to your flesh for the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Let’s look at:
Job
13:15 Though
he slay me, yet will I trust in him:…..
No
matter what the world threw at Job, he was going to live for God! The Devil
threw a lot of things at Job. But Job had a made up mind! Job wasn’t about to
quit no matter what it cost him! Job was willing to die for God, even if God
himself was the killer! Job knew that even though God slew him, he would live
again in that last day! Job knew that he would live forever with God! Job knew
that nothing was worth living for in this world if it meant losing out with
God! Job had conviction! Do you have it?
What
about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? The King said bow down to the golden
image or die a horrible death. They would be burned alive in a fiery furnace!
But they had convictions! Let’s look at
what they said in:
Daniel
3:16-18
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O
Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to
answer thee in this matter. 17 If it be so,
our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and
he will deliver us out of thine hand,
O king. 18
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
We
who have been in church for any length of time know what happened. They threw
them into the fiery furnace that was heated seven times hotter than it had ever
been heated. They lived and yet those who threw them in died! God saved them;
in fact they didn’t even smell like smoke. Anyone who has ever been around a
wood fire knows that you will smell like smoke when you get away from it. God
saved them even from the smoke of that fire!
What
are we really giving up if we live for God with all our heart, soul, mind, and
strength? We’re only giving up the smell of smoke! Let’s look at what it says in:
Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever
and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his
image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
In truth, we’re only giving up torment and the smell of
smoke in order to live for God. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being
tortured or tormented! I prefer being loved! I prefer being comfortable! I
prefer being filled rather than starved! I prefer to be saved and to go to
heaven and live forever with the Lord than to live forever in the torment of
hell! Do you have what it takes to live forever with Jesus Christ? Do you have
conviction today that you're going to live for Him? Are you willing to die to
yourself in order to live with God forever? It says in:
Revelation
2:10 Fear
none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be
tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and
I will give thee a crown of life.
I'm
closing at this time:
We
can live for God if we just have conviction! Jesus had conviction. He had so
much conviction that He died for us upon a cruel and rugged cross. He died to
himself, He died to His flesh. Not because He had to, but because He wanted to.
He died for us because He loved us more than live itself. He died for us
because He had conviction. It says in:
John
15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends.
With
every head bowed and every eye closed… I need to ask you a few questions today.
I don’t want anyone to raise their hand outwardly, but if you can raise your
hand in your heart to any of these questions, please do so.
We’ve heard today about
having conviction. I want to ask you today…
· Do you have need of
conviction in your heart?
· Do you have need of more
conviction than you already have?
· Is God convicting you right
now that you need to serve Him better than you have in the past?
Here’s some questions I hope you can raise your hand
to:
· If it were a crime to be a
Christian, and you were put on trial. Would there be enough evidence to convict
you?
· Remember what the Judge said
at the start of this message. A conviction is something you would die for
rather than change your mind.
· Are you willing to die to
the flesh today because of your conviction that living in heaven with God, is
better than living in hell with the devil?
· Are you so sold out for
Jesus, that nothing will ever change your convictions concerning Him?
· Are you willing to come to
this altar right now and seek Him for more strength and more conviction? If so,
then come on down. (Pause)
· Are you willing to come to
this altar right now and start a personal, intimate, eternal relationship with
God? If so, then come on down. (Pause)
I pray that everyone in this
church right now, who is physically able, would come down to this altar and
seek a greater relationship with God. I pray that all who claim to know Christ
would have enough humbleness of spirit to come down and pray for those who are
already here.