I Believe | Tyrone P Jones | We Believe | Full Service

days in addition to before and after school care. We are currently preparing for worship. Welcome to church for the city. It's great to see you. If you're watching online, you can use the digital connect card. You can learn about things like baptism, take next steps, go to open house, learn more about the church, lots of things you can do. If you're here in person, we would be happy to help you at the connect table in the lobby. We always open for worship. We're open for all of you. We're open for all of you. We're open for all of you. We're open for all of you. We're open for all of you. If you're coming in here struggling or worried or burdened by what's going on or maybe you're grieving, maybe you've been led astray by someone or something. But this is the will of God for your life. The will of God is that he desires to repay to you all of the years the locusts have eaten. Everything you feel you've lost can be restored and so much more than that because our God is good. And he gives us more than what we need. Let's pray. Father, we are so thankful for you. God, we're so thankful to be in your house this morning. We love you, Jesus. I pray that your love permeates our hearts as we prepare to worship you.

God, let our praise be genuine and honest and vulnerable and reckless and radical. God, let us sing to you in a new way with a new spirit this morning. God, we are just glad to be here. Come on. In Jesus' name, we are just glad to be here. Amen. Amen. Amen. In Jesus' name, we are just glad to be here. Thank you, Father, for who you are in your name. Amen. Let's worship, guys. Let's worship. Let's worship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You've got me running on decay . . . Hallelujah, here I go Hallelujah, here I go Hallelujah, hallelujah Hallelujah, hallelujah

No longer I who live, but Christ in me For I've been born again, my heart is free The hope of heaven before me, the grave behind Hallelujah, you brought me back to life I won't forget the moment I heard you call my name Out of the grip of darkness and into the light of grace Just like Lazarus, oh, you brought me back to life Where there was dead religion, now there is living faith All of my hope and freedom are found in Jesus' name Just like Lazarus, oh, you brought me back to life No longer I who live, but Christ in me For I've been born again, my heart is free The hope of heaven before me, the grave behind Hallelujah, you brought me back to life When something says I am guilty, I'll point to the price you pay When something says I'm not worthy, I'll point to that empty grave Just like Lazarus, oh, you brought me back to life No longer I who live, but Christ in me For I've been born again, my heart is free The hope of heaven before me, the grave behind Hallelujah, you brought me back to life How can I begin to thank you for all that you've done for me? Jesus, to fully praise you, it will take all eternity Just like Lazarus, oh, you brought me back to life Oh, you brought me back to life Oh, you brought me back to life You brought me back to life No longer I who live, but Christ in me For I've been born again, my heart is free The hope of heaven before me, the grave behind

Hallelujah, you brought me back to life No longer ♪ For I who have the Christ in me ♪ ♪ For I've been born again, my heart is free ♪ ♪ The hope of heaven before, the grave behind ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, you brought me back to life ♪ ♪ Oh yes, you brought me back to life ♪ ♪ You brought me back to life, we praise you Jesus ♪ ♪ We praise you Jesus, we praise you Jesus ♪ ♪ The enemy thought he had me, but Jesus said you are mine ♪ ♪ The enemy thought he had me, but Jesus said you are mine ♪ ♪ The enemy thought he had me, but Jesus said you are mine ♪ ♪ The enemy thought he had me, but Jesus said you are mine ♪ ♪ The enemy thought he had me, but Jesus said you are mine ♪ ♪ The enemy thought he had me, but Jesus said you are mine ♪ ♪ The enemy thought he had me, but Jesus said you are mine ♪ ♪ The enemy thought he had me, but Jesus said you are mine ♪ ♪ The enemy thought he had me, but Jesus said you are mine ♪ ♪ The enemy thought he had me, but Jesus said no longer I do ♪ ♪ You left the Christ in me, for I've been born again ♪ ♪ My heart is free, the hope of heaven before me, the grave behind ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, you brought me back to life ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, you brought me back to life ♪ Thank you Jesus. ♪ A precious fountain from Calvary's mountain ♪ ♪ From Calvary's mountain flowing down to you and I ♪ ♪ It washes us clean, oh what a mystery ♪ ♪ The red blood makes me white ♪ ♪ Does it make you wonder? Or something so profound could be so simple? ♪ ♪ The blood, the blood, the blood, oh the wonderful blood ♪

♪ Your love, your love, your love, oh the marvelous love ♪ ♪ Let the red ears sing a song, praises belonging to the Son ♪ ♪ The blood, the blood, the blood, oh the wonderful blood ♪ ♪ My precious Jesus, oh I'm so thankful for the day you saved my life ♪ ♪ As I remember, my heart grows tender to take Him to fill my life ♪ ♪ And isn't it wild? And doesn't it make you wonder? Or something so profound could be so simple? ♪ ♪ And isn't it wild? And doesn't it make you wonder? Or something so divine could be so simple? ♪ The blood, the blood, the blood Oh, the wonderful blood You love, you love, you love Oh, the marvelous love Oh, the redeemed sing a song Praises belong to the Son Oh, the blood, the blood, the blood Oh, the wonderful blood Come on church, turn your attention to the screen as someone goes public with their faith. I didn't always understand what it meant to have a relationship with faith. I was trying to discover who I was, figuring things out, and sometimes feeling unsure of who I was and overwhelmed. But when I started coming to church for this city, I felt something different. Like I was seen, welcomed, and loved exactly as I am. I've learned that God's love isn't something you can earn or have to be perfect for. During the youth conference, God showed me that He loves me in all my messes, in my growth, and in every step of my life. At that moment, I surrendered my life to Christ. He showed me that I'm never alone and that God is always with me, guiding me and giving me strength. Getting baptized today is my way of showing that I want to live a new life with Jesus. This means letting go of my old worries, choosing faith, trust, and hope. I want to reflect God's love through my actions as I go public with my faith. I choose to follow Jesus with all my heart and trust Him to guide me in every step of my life. This moment isn't just about today. It's about the start of a new journey. Today, I am going public with my faith.

Jocelyn, Jesus said every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And because of your confession of faith, today I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And according to scripture, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. All of our sins forgiven And now we get to live The wonder of the working God The cross was your decision The death was not yet You rose and now we're risen The wonder of the working God The work you did is finished All of our sins forgiven And now we get to live The wonder of the working God The cross was your decision The death was not yet You rose and now we're risen The wonder of the working God The wonder of the working God The wonder of the working God The wonder of the working God The blood, the blood, the blood Of the wonderful God You love, you love, you love All the marvelous love of God The blood, the blood, the blood Of the wonderful blood of Jesus You love, you love, you love All the marvelous love Let the readings sing a song

Praises below to the sun The blood, the blood, the blood Of the wonderful blood The work you did is finished All of our sins forgiven And now we get to live The wonder of the working God The cross was your decision The death was not yet You rose and now we're risen The wonder of the working God The wonder of the working God The wonder of the working God The wonder of the working God The wonder of the working God The wonder of the working blood How precious is the blood That makes me whole The wonder of the fountain of Nothing but the blood of Jesus How precious is the blood That makes me white as snow The wonder of the fountain of Nothing but the blood of Jesus The wonder of the working blood Nothing but the blood of Jesus The wonder of the working blood Nothing but the blood of Jesus The wonder of the fountain of Nothing but the blood of Jesus

Yeah, yeah, well, God bless you. Welcome to Church for the City, where we'll teach the Word of God and encounter the presence of the Lord. What a great time in worship right there. That was something special. And we'll spread the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. How many are excited to be in the House of God? Isn't it a great place to be? No better place to be right now than in this house. On the screen, you're going to see the promotion for our Easter weekend, Easter services. We'll be doing Good Friday at 6 p.m. This is all at the Civic and Convention Center. We'll be doing Good Friday at 6 p.m. And on Resurrection Sunday, our services will be 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. So it's easy to invite people to church as it is, really. But it's really easy on Easter. People want to go to church. And so don't come without somebody. Bring somebody with you. They'll want to be there. It's a great weekend at the Civic Center. Thank you for your generosity that allows us to do that.

We just had in our heart about five years ago, I think it was, to do Easter for the city. And we just promoted, projected as being the place to be on Resurrection Sunday morning. Your generosity allows us to do that. It costs about $35,000 to do that weekend with rent in the Civic Center and all the equipment. So thank you for your offerings, your tithing, just being generous and obeying the Lord and helping us touch lives. Honestly, it has a great impact among thousands of people in our community. So thankful for your faithfulness for that. All right, I want to pray. We're going to stand and pray. I did get a couple of messages this week of some healings of people we've been praying for. Deb had stage 3 liver disease. They were working on a transplant, but then her last scan came back. Her liver is completely normal. Come on, God. Come on, the Lord. Yeah, He's so faithful. And then Ron, 12 years of prostate cancer, done his last scan for his follow-up, not a trace of cancer in him. God is good. Come on. All right, let's stand.

Let's pray. If you got on a cap or a hat, if you don't mind taking that off for just a moment as we go before the Lord. Father, I want to thank you for this just great opportunity to be in your house, just to worship together with the people of God. sing the songs of Zion, and to bring forth the Word. Lord, I know our other two services have just been wonderful, and so I just trust the same in this one. I do pray, Lord God, that you would just give me some clarity and wisdom in delivering the message, Lord, that I will connect with those that are listening, those that are watching, those that are in the house, those that are in the prisons, the jail, Lord, I just pray that the Word of God will speak to everyone who's tuning in, and however they may be present. I do need your anointing to do so. I just need your anointing, Lord, so that it's not me, but you're working through me. I pray for every pastor and leader in our county that's leading churches. Our desire is for every church in our county to be healthy and to grow. And so, Lord, we do our best from our position at CTC, but we ask you also to help them. We want more people to know Jesus Christ, want them to walk into a healthy church. And so, Lord, we pray that you will work greatly and mightily in the churches in our community. Father, I do pray for the military men and women that are, A, serving around the world, but particularly we have those in the area of the Middle East and Iran. I pray for the U.S. troops, the Israeli troops. Father, that you will protect them, that you would watch over them.

I pray, Lord God, for the protection of those communities in the sense of the innocents. The innocent are protected, civilians, or just communities to be spared. Lord, as this war carries out, I do pray for the freedom of the Iranian people. And, Lord, I pray with that freedom comes opportunities for the gospel to be preached, for more and more people in the Middle East to come to know the Jesus that we know is the one true God. And so, Lord, our local leaders, I pray for, our state leaders, our national leaders, President, Vice President, those that are surrounding them, I pray that the decisions that they make, Lord God, will be moral, will be right, and be done with integrity. And, Lord, that you will be glorified in all things. We thank you for your goodness and your grace. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen. Remain standing, if you would. If you don't mind taking your Bible, we're going to look at Hebrews Chapter 11. These two verses we're going to read won't be on the screen. We're going to refer to them again later on, but they won't be on the screen, where I think most of all the other verses will. Hebrews Chapter 11, Verse 1 and Verse 6. Verse 1 and Verse 6. Here's the word of the Lord. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. And Verse 6, and without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. So far, the reading of the word. Can you say amen?

Men, you may be seated. Thank you. Thank you, Alex, so much. Now, we're in the series, We Believe. It's based off the words of the Apostles' Creed. We're five weeks in, I believe, and I'm on a stretch of nine straight weeks of preaching through this, so we got nine weeks at least left on this. But millions of Christians around the world have stood today or maybe still standing, and they speak those words. It's been echoed through the church for centuries. I believe in God the Father, Creator of Heaven and Earth. The Apostles' Creed, which I'm going to read to you here now, has been the basis of churches knowing whether their doctrine is sound and solid. As it reads, I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to hell. The third day, He rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there, He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church. Catholic there, as you know, as I said in the first few messages, means worldwide church. Believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and... life everlasting. Amen. Now, when you read this, recite it, it's a summary of what we believe. And there are certain things that you declare, and you're declaring that you do believe in the triune God, that there is one God who has operated for our salvation in three persons.

The Father desired and will for all mankind to be saved. The Son came down to earth to take up on the sins of mankind, that man can experience a freedom and a holiness to be in relationship with God, and the Holy Spirit has come to sanctify us and preserve us until the return of the Lord. You're declaring that you believe in the creation, that it was God the Father that created all things, everything, including us. You're declaring that you believe in the incarnation, that the Son of God stepped down into humiliation through the virgin birth, crucifixion, a death and a burial, which was followed by an exaltation, which included a resurrection and ascension. Right now, even, reigning heavenly reign and future reign, as he will prepare to judge from the throne. You're declaring that you believe in the Holy Spirit, that we are supernaturalized by the Spirit of God, and it's the Holy Spirit that transforms our character so that we may be more like Christ. You're declaring that you believe in the church, a community of believers all over the world that are sustained by God as a community for worship and for work and for witness, that we're a worldwide body of Christ everywhere. Even though we may be distinct in our social circles, and we may be distinct in our racial persuasion, we might be distinct in gender and age and educationally and professionally and politically, but yet we are one church in Christ Jesus. We're declaring that we believe in the forgiveness of sins, that it's the Spirit of God that's caused us to come to know that we were in rebellion, that we were separated from God. We were lacking that holiness to be in unity with Him, but that same Spirit caused us to realize that our sins have been forgiven because of what Christ has done. It was secured by Christ's atoning death, and as a free gift, every one of us can have faith in this risen Lord. And we're also declaring that we believe in the Christian hope. We know that this life we're living is not the end of life. This is not the end of it all for us, that we absolutely look forward to being reembodied in the resurrection and the glorification that will occur when the unending and unaging, ushering in of eternal life will come in from our God. These are the things that...

This is a summary, actually, of the Apostles' Creed, which every point of it is what we, as Christians, believe. Today, I want to focus in on those first two words that just simply say, I believe, because these words are not casual. They're not just religious decoration. They're not some poetic tradition. It's a declaration of our faith. When we say, I believe, throughout the centuries, there were many people who were persecuted because they made that statement, I believe. I believe in Jesus. I believe in the Lord, in the face of, say, it was the Romans or whomever who wanted them to declare that Caesar were Lord, or even when we get to the Nazi regime, who wanted all loyalty to be to Hitler. People have died for that particular statement of, I believe. I recalled in the first two services the story of Polycarp, who lived in the mid-second century. He was actually brought to the faith by John, the apostle that we read about in the Scriptures, lived to be of old age, 84, 86. I don't know if I should say that's old age since I'm getting close, but who lived to be quite up there. I'll put it that way. But he stood firm on his belief. If you read the book of...Fox's book of mortars, you can read so many stories of people who, in the face of being threatened, they knew that they were going to be burned, or they knew that they were going to be killed on a stake, or they knew that they were going to be stabbed with daggers to death, but they still stood strong and declared their... belief in the Almighty God. And here's what we know, when you believe in something, it's living, it's active, it's dynamic, it's personal, even to the point if there is a risk to it, you stand on the faith that you believe in. All of our life is a life of faith, whether it be faith in ourselves, whether it be faith in friends, or faith in family, or faith in plans, or faith in people, or faith in ideologies, or faith in instructions. People even have faith in forces beyond themselves. All of us look for a rock or an anchor, something that we can cling to when the world feels like it's going on a merry-go-round, just spinning out of control. It's within us. Our human experience is to have some faith in something, some firm conviction

that we hope will happen one day, or a confidence about the future, when certain things look uncertain. But the Bible tells us, and again, people can have faith in so many things, but the Bible teaches us that our faith should be in God. It should be in Him. Hebrews 11, 1 is re-read, and Hebrews 11, 6, it tells us what faith is. It's assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. There's an assurance. What we hope in, there's a certainty to it. There's a conviction that is proven and goes along with our belief. And so, he says, without this faith, it's impossible to please God. And anybody who draws near to God must believe that He exists. And when you do that, then the Scripture says, He rewards those who seek Him. So, to have faith means that we believe that God is there, that God is with us, that God is for us, that God offers us a world beyond our own little scarce imagination. We all got certain needs. We got food. We got a need for food. We got a need for shelter, a need for purpose, and a need for companionship. But I don't want you to miss this. Everyone whose eyes is up on me, I'm telling you right now what your greatest need is. That's to connect with the God who knows you and who created you. That's the greatest need that you have. Augustine said this, you have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you. So, when we say, I believe, we're saying that we've reconnected with our Maker and have found a satisfaction to our spiritual hunger in Him. And so, this is what I know. Christianity is a faith to believe. From the very beginning, Christianity has always been a faith that calls for belief. The Christian life starts with belief. Many people can know facts about the Bible and may accept those facts. But knowledge about those things and just having facts about those things is not the same as saving faith. James tells us real clearly that even demons know that there is a God that exists. But that's not the same as saving faith. Not the same. Saving faith is much deeper. It means that we're resting our life in Christ. We're resting our life in the one

in whom we believe. John 20 verse 31 says this, but these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, that by believing in Him, you will have life by the power of His name. Life here is the word zoe, not bios life. You already got that. You're sitting here. If you're sitting here breathing, you got bios life. But zoe life. You have life in Him by the power of the name of Jesus. That zoe life is life eternal. So, when we say we believe, we're using that Bible word that means that we're trusting something as to be true and we're trusting ourself to it. That, in this case, of course, is God our Father. And that's a personal confession. I believe is a personal confession. It's interesting that the creeds don't start off with the words, we believe. It's I believe. Now, we may say it together, but it's I that needs to make that profession. Not we believe, I believe, because no one can come to be a Christian by their parents' faith. You can't be a Christian because you were born in a home of Christians. Now, I really do believe that something happens to people when they walk into this building, but just walking into this building don't make you a Christian. There is that I believe, that personal expression. of what you know to be true to you. Now, Jesus wanted to make sure his disciples understood that. And we have it in Matthew 16, 13 and 16, Jesus is with them. They've probably been walking maybe two and a half years, maybe close to three together by this time. But Jesus wanted to make sure they were willing to have that personal confession. So he says, Jesus came to the district of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Now, Jesus could have just let that go. He could have just said, okay, yeah. I mean, that's who they say I am, but just let them think that. No, no, that was not satisfactory because the point wasn't really, who do they say? The point was his next question. Okay, now I just heard you say what they say, but who do you say that I am?

That's really where the rubber meets the road. People can say all kinds of things about Jesus. You know, you got some religions, you got Jehovah's Witnesses just believe he was a good man. You got Muslims who believe he was some form of prophet, but he wasn't the Son of God. We can go right on down the list on what all of these different religions and faith. They can say what people believe about, but who do you believe that Jesus is? Am I talking to the right church? Peter says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Peter is letting us know that faith is always personal before it goes out public. But when it goes out public, you're making a confession that you believe. And this faith is a declaration of allegiance. When you make this declaration, when you say Jesus is Lord, you're expressing a loyalty to him. Now, I told you about Polycarp again. I could tell you about so many others during the time of the Roman Empire where they were forced to say Caesar is Lord or they would lose their life. Thank God, many of those Christians refused. Instead, they would confess that Jesus is Lord. And when they said that, they were saying that my faith in Christ, my belief in Christ is over this empire, it's over the emperor, it's over the government. Faith is not merely some intellectual agreement. It absolutely is loyalty to Christ, your allegiance, your loyalty to him. Here's what Philippians 2, 10 and 11 says. At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. Now, you may read this and you read in the English word and you may read this word should meaning that maybe you can and maybe you won't. No, this word should in the Greek, it means you will. It's not should, it's you will. So, hear me. Everybody that's looking at me right now, hear this. You will one day bow down and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You will do that. You will do that. Now, I'm going to tell you, it's better to do that and surrender your life to Jesus now than be made to do that when you're standing before him in judgment because it'll be a little too late and the alternative after saying it then is not the same as willingly saying,

I know who he is and I declare that Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life. You all doing all right? And so, when we say that, we're making a clear statement that our life belongs to him. It belongs to him. And because of that, that ought to be the posture of our life, that no matter what happens in the world, no matter what confusion comes, chaos comes, no matter what religious lunatics float around, that your stand is your stand. You know what you stand on. You know what you believe. You're firm in that. You know who your God is. You know who your savior is. And you stand there. It's not just a spiritual challenge, it's a physical and a public one. I love seeing the baptisms. That baptism of Jocelyn right there, I just love that young girl's wording, making it real clear. She didn't leave any guessing in what she believed in that testimony. She made it real clear. Publicly, I'm making my declaration that Jesus Christ is my Lord. That's how faith is. Faith may begin in the heart, but eventually, it shows up in the body. And so, we're told in the scripture to stand firm in it. 1 Corinthians 16, 13 tells us this, stand firm. Firm in the faith. Stand firm in it. Don't waffle. Don't waver. Don't be wishy-washy. Stand firm in the faith. One of the great stories on this is in 1 Kings Chapter 18. Elijah had not yet been carried up to heaven and had not turned over to man until Elisha. They were under the rule of King Ahab and Jezebel. And Ahab and Jezebel were actually some very hard and very cruel kings, kings and queens, leaders. Instead of them serving the one God, Jehovah, as all of the people of Israel was taught to, they started serving Baals and Asherah gods. And they were leading people in that direction. They had so much power over people. I mean, anybody that was serving the one God, they were taking people's lands and just doing all kinds of stuff. Elijah is watching this and realizing that the people of Israel who know that there

is one God and one Lord are starting now to lean toward the gods of Baal and the gods of the Asherah, starting to lean in that direction. Elijah gets frustrated with it, and he calls the people at a place called Mount Carmel. He calls them there, and he makes a statement to them. Here it is in verse number 21, 1 Kings 18. Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, how much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? This is what was going on. He's using language to say that sometimes you're going this direction with the one God. Then the other times you're going this direction with the gods of Baal. He said, how long are you going to keep hobbling around like that, not making a commitment on who you're going to serve and who you're going to believe in? How long are you going to keep on wavering and not make a public decision on who you truly believe in and will live for? So he says, if the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, then follow him. And he's not even trying to tell them who God is. Now, he's going to set it up that God proves it. But he says, won't you just make up your minds? Go ahead and follow who you believe you ought to be following. But the people were completely silent. He's saying, stop wavering, stop hobbling, declare an allegiance, stand decisively, make a public decision. Now, what Elijah did, though, to prove who the one God is, he called those 450 prophets of Baal, called them together against him, one man, Elijah. And he says, let the God prove himself. What we're going to do is set up this altar, you're going to put the sacrifices out, and you go ahead and call on your God. And if fire comes down from heaven and receives the sacrifice, then that means your God is God, that Baal is God. And then when my turn comes, if I get a turn, maybe you're going to be right, then I'm going to call on my God and we'll see what happens. So sure enough, those 450 prophets, they build the altar, they lay out their sacrifices. And for three hours, I believe it's three hours, I think they started at like 9 a.m. morning, went on to noon. They're jumping around, calling on their God,

cutting themselves, screaming, all kind of gyrations, trying to make their God show up, nothing. Elijah started mocking them, maybe your God's on a date, maybe your God is sleeping, maybe your God's going to the bathroom, just mocking them until he got fed up with it. And he said, listen, that's enough. You're doing all this, you're all cutting yourself, hurting yourself, just get out of the way. He said, but let's just make this even more challenging. He had water thrown on the sacrifice, so to make it a little bit harder for the fire to light, pour water all over, all over the sacrifice. One man stands before those altars and calls out to God, one man, and prays, and asks the God of heaven to reveal himself, and immediately fire comes down from heaven, licks up the sacrifice, and destroys the altar, proving that this God is God. When they heard this, 1 Kings 18.39 says, when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried, the Lord, he is God. Yes, the Lord, he is God. He wanted them to make a visible response, to profess and express their allegiance to the one God. Declare it, confess it, speak it. Sometimes that allegiance is under pressure. Now, again, I don't think we here in America are experiencing the same things that people are experiencing. in other countries, I guarantee even as I'm speaking right now, someone is under threat of death if they proclaim that Jesus is Lord. In some of these nations and countries, nations and countries we go to and where there's churches and underground churches. We haven't got to that place here in America, not as of yet. But that doesn't mean that you don't have pressure. You have pressure. You can be in a circle of people that are not living the same life as you. Maybe some of their actions, some of the things they say, some of the things they do, and maybe for a long time, you're all part of that, but then you start realizing, this ain't who I am. This is not the person that God has made me to be. But you find it hard to step away from that because you're a little bit concerned on what people are going to say about you or what they're

going to think about you, or maybe they're not going to include you anymore. I'm telling you, I've been in family situations, in my own family, where certain decisions that I made, I was ostracized from the family or made fun of because I'm deciding that I'm not going to do those things anymore. Some people have a hard time being called a holy roller. I don't care. They can call me a holy roller. I'll roll right in front of them. Don't bother me one bit. Don't bother me one bit. I don't mind being called a Jesus freak. I'd rather be a freak for Jesus than some of this freaking they're doing with the freaks they're freaking with. I'd rather be a freak for Jesus. And thank God I kept saying freaking, right? But I'd rather be a freak for the Lord. But some people have concerns about that, and they got to make those decisions. I've talked to several people in our congregation when they were in relationships and realized that those two weren't walking in agreement, and they had the pressure of making a decision of pulling out of that relationship. Ran into a young man while we were in Tennessee who explained to us what he was going through in a Christian environment and some of the things that they were asking him to do and some of the compromising. And he said, I just couldn't keep doing that. It was hard on me to make that decision, and it cost my family, but I had to pull out of that. But allegiance sometimes comes under pressure. This passage here, this story here in Daniel Chapter 3, in Daniel Chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar is the king of Babylon. And he had ordered that, I think it was him that ordered, it might have been one of his folks, they ordered a statue to be built up in his honor. And at certain times and certain occasions, everyone, all the Jews at that time were under the Babylonian authority, living in Babylon, those that were living in Babylon. And at certain times and certain occasions, these Jewish people who believed in the one God, the same Lord and creator and maker that we believe in, they were told that when this horn blows or whatever the indication was, they had to bow down to this statue, this statue of Nebuchadnezzar. Many of the Jewish people didn't do it. We got recordings of three, Daniel is another, but many of them didn't do it.

They took the three young men and they threatened them, said, if you don't do this, then we're going to throw you in a fiery furnace. Whoever doesn't bow down to this statue, but they stood their ground. It's here, Daniel 3, 16 through 18, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now, Lady V ain't here, she's upstairs. After second service, she told me not to say this no more, but I'm going to say it since she ain't here. Because in the black church, when I used to preach this, it was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. She ain't here. She ain't here. But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So, oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power and your majesty. But even if he doesn't, we want to make it clear to you, your majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue that you have set up. Listen to the position that these fellows have taken. They've made the position, listen, we understand what's going to happen here. We're going to get thrown in the fire, but they're looking him in the face and said, that's not going to matter to us. We get the pressure, but our allegiance is to the one God. To the one God. So, then the king says, turn the fire up seven times hotter. It didn't change them. No, no, we are committed to this one God. We have an allegiance. The fire was so hot that those who threw those three in, they got burned up. That's how hot the fire was. And yet, the flames didn't touch them. As a matter of fact... The Scripture says when they looked in there, the king looked in there and said, I don't just see three of them, I see a fourth man, and that fourth man looked like the Son of God. I'm telling you. It's amazing. Under pressure, they had this allegiance. They didn't bow down. They stood strong. Their faithfulness in the face of culture was to the Almighty God. And so, us as believers, we speak what we believe. We speak what we believe. Romans 10.9 says this, if you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe

in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. If you believe in your heart, there's two parts to that, you believe in your heart and you confess it with your mouth, that that inward faith refuses to stay silent, that inward faith comes out. Jesus himself said this in Matthew 10, verse 32. He says, everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my father. Listen to what Jesus is saying. If you want to be acknowledged before my father, then you need to acknowledge who you are before other people. Nobody is sneaking up on the throne of Jesus in the last day. You ain't sneaking up there. When we're standing there, when everybody who's professed Christ and then somebody going to sneak who've been private about their faith all along and going to sneak up to the throne and say, Jesus, can I talk to you? You know I've been one of yours, but I didn't want to tell nobody. Ain't none of that nonsense. Ain't nobody sneaking up there trying to have a private meeting with Jesus because they faith been private? This thing is public. We ain't ashamed of it being public. We don't mind it being public. Let me just tell you something. I really do believe the greatest days of the church is ahead of us. I really believe it. Now, hear me. At the same time, I believe the world that's ahead of us is going to get worse. That's why I believe the church is going to get greater. I really do. Now, hear this though. I do believe we'll see miracles. I believe we'll see supernatural things. I believe all of that. I believe we'll see more people come to Christ, but that is not going to be the strength of the church. The strength of the church is going to be people who are willing to publicly, boldly, and courageously say, I believe. That's going to be the strength of the church. Courageously and boldly have a public loyalty to Christ. And so to say, I believe in Jesus Christ our Lord is a publicly declared, that Jesus is my King, Jesus is my Savior, and Jesus is my Lord.

The team, you can come. In the 1930s under the regime of Hitler, the Nazi regime, which, you know, Hitler was a lunatic in a lot of ways, and some stuff was just silly. Here's a dude just going around. This ain't got nothing to do with the sermon, but it's on my mind. Here's a dude trying to go around and make this perfect race with blonde hair and blue-eyed people, and he got black hair. How stupid is that? I don't know. I just thought I'd make you think about that for a minute. But anyway, what the Nazis began to do, they did not close down churches per se, but they wanted to conform, reshape Christianity to where it would align with or certainly not challenge Nazi theology. And I see that when I go to China. There's many churches in China, but they're not Christian churches that the pastors and the leaders have the authority to lead in the manner according to the Scripture. They're state-ran churches. Some of the pastors are even appointed by the state, and they inform them of what they cannot teach or what they cannot preach. Hitler was doing the same in Germany. And many of the churches started removing, at least in declaration, parts of the Scripture and certainly minimizing the lordship of Christ. So what the people had basically was a watered-down system of things that were true, but beliefs that didn't challenge the Nazi theology. But there was a group of leaders, pastors who had courage and who had boldness, who made a decision they weren't going to compromise. There was a lot of churches... that did, a lot of them. But there was those who decided they were not going to compromise. They called themselves a confessing church. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was not the only leader of it, but he was one of them. And his books, reading novels or biographies about him, or even watching the movie Dietrich Bonhoeffer, you will certainly understand what I'm sharing here. A group of those leaders came together in 1934 and they wrote the Barman Declaration. It had six tenets to it. This was in the face of being threatened by the Nazi regime. This is what they declared. Jesus Christ is the one and only word of God to be heard and obeyed. Christ has a claim on the believer's whole life. The church is solely Christ's property and must not change its message for political whims. Church offices are for services,

not for some rule to be ruled by others. The state has a divine task of maintaining justice, but it's not the total order of human life. And the church's mission is to deliver the message of free grace to all people, making a statement that we're remaining who we are. We're believers. We're Christians. We're standing true to God's word, not the government, not the state, not the Nazi regime. We are standing true. Many, many, many congregations, again, went this route and joined the confessing church. And each time they would gather, I say each Sunday, it could have been more often, they would stand together and recite the Apostles Creed, which is obviously what we're focusing in on, because they knew those would be the tenets of faith that they were going to stand by no matter what. They didn't do that out of routine, folks. They did that out of defiance. They wanted to make a statement loud and clear that we are not under the authority of the state when it comes to our faith and our belief in Christ and the work of salvation. We are absolutely under the authority of the one God, one King, and one Lord who's above us, and our allegiance is to Christ alone. Several of those pastors was killed, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1945. But this wasn't just about theology for them. It was about loyalty. Standing and confessing those words they knew would cost them either freedom, their freedom, or their life. But they stood. They made it clear, I believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord, and that they were not going to have allegiance to any other ruler, nation, or power except Christ. This is what we are saying when we say, I believe. We're standing with others. Listen, when we say, I believe, even though you're here, you're standing with Elijah on Mount Carmel when you say, I believe. When you say, I believe, you're standing with Peter in front of the Sanhedrin. When you say, I believe, you're standing with Shadrach, Meshach, and that bad Negro. You're standing with them saying, I believe. When you stand in that manner, you're standing with all the mortars that have lost their life. You're not being asked to do anything that people through the centuries have not done because they absolutely believed that what they were standing on was right and was true and would be proven in the days to come and in the end. We're saying that the Lord is God. That's our statement. Jesus is Lord and that we absolutely belong to him. Can you say amen to that? Everybody stand if you would. Prayer team, you can come. I'm going to pray. The team will be here. Of course, they'll be here for you to pray. Becky, I didn't have a chance to tell you, but that food you cooked the other night was so doggone good. I know that's real random, but it was outstanding. Thank you so much. All right,

so prayer team, y'all come on. We're going to pray and listen. My prayer is that all of us that know this Christ would be affirmed in our faith. We don't waffle. We don't waver, but there may be somebody here who hasn't made that confession. There's no better day than today to confess that Christ is your Lord and Savior, that you're going to be loyal to him. You're going to give your allegiance to him. The scripture says he rewards those that diligently seek him. I'm telling you, there's a promise that he'll give you that he will keep. Stand firm on it. Trust in him. Every head bow and every eye close. Father, I want to thank you now for this opportunity to share your word. I appreciate, Lord, your truth. I pray, Father God, that every one of us that know you will be affirmed in our faith, that we will stand. strong that we will give our allegiance and that we will be loyal and lord those in the house today that have not made that commitment father i'm asking you to work to draw them closer to you that they may even say out of their mouth that they confess that jesus christ is lord and that they will live that all the days of their life father we love and we thank you in christ's name we pray amen god bless you have a great day not the end is is the wonder of the working oh it's we love you church and we'll see you next sunday