Why This Matters | Tyrone P Jones | We Believe | Full Service

we'll be back next week. Good morning, CTC family. Why don't you go ahead and stand with me as we come into service. Well, happy Sunday. I don't know about you, but I am so thankful that I am here in the house today. My name is Kyla and I'm here just to welcome you. If it's your first time gathering with us, we would love to help you feel at home and be connected here. So you can either tap the tap disc on the seat in front of you, or you can stop by the connect table on your way out of service and our team will help you get plugged in. We are gonna start off our morning in scripture. I'm gonna be reading out of Psalms chapter nine verses one and two. It says, I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart. I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing the praises of your name, oh most high. How many people in the house today have a reason to give God praise? How many people in the house today have a reason to tell of all the wonderful things that he has done? He has been good, amen, church? All right, let's go ahead and pray together. Lord, we thank you so much for this morning.

God, we thank you that we get to be in your house, that we have fellowship, that we have worship, that we just get to be together, God, as one body praising you. Lord, we lift up this time in the house today. We pray that we receive your word, God, that we just come to you with full, grateful hearts, God, that we don't hold anything back, Lord, that we just lay everything at your feet today. We love you, Jesus. We pray this in your name, amen. All right, let's get ready to worship together. All right, come on, church. Let's put our hands together this morning. Come on, sing this out. ♪ I'm free, sin was stained on me ♪ ♪ Shame was running deep ♪ ♪ Your love was spilled on Calvary ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, I'm free ♪ ♪ God, how can it be ♪ ♪ I'm ransomed and redeemed ♪ ♪ I'm standing on your victory ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood, I'm as good as new ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood, I'm conserved ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, I'm free ♪ ♪ It's not what I had to lose ♪ ♪ What you took from me ♪ ♪ You laid it all upon that tree ♪

♪ Oh, hallelujah, I'm free ♪ ♪ Love has overcome me ♪ ♪ Mercy is serving me ♪ ♪ Dancing in your victory ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood, I'm as good as new ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood, I'm conserved ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood, I'm as good as new ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood, I'm conserved ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water ♪ ♪ Because you took a wish ♪ Come on, sing it out, church. ♪ If you never see the cross ♪ ♪ Then you're running out the grave ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, yeah ♪ ♪ Because you took a wish ♪ ♪ If you never see the cross ♪ ♪ Then you're running out the grave ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, here I come ♪ ♪ Took away my shame, you took away my shame ♪ ♪ Yeah, you nailed it to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running out the grave ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, here I come ♪ ♪ Because you took away my shame, you took away my shame ♪ ♪ Yeah, you nailed it to the cross ♪ ♪ You got me running out the grave ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, here I come, hallelujah, here I come ♪

Here I come, hallelujah, here I come Oh, everybody praise the Lord Hallelujah, hallelujah Hallelujah, hallelujah I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood I'm as good as new, oh hallelujah I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood All because of you, oh hallelujah I come into the atmosphere, Spirit of God, you're here You have all authority I pray over my heart and mind, and I am healed by your stripes Your blood declares that I am free, in the mighty name of Jesus I pray, calling on the power of heaven I proclaim, every weapon formed against me You must pray, it's in the mighty name of Jesus I draw you up from the moon down, bring you down The enemy has no allies to call, come on Hold me in my family Close me, whatever you do to me, no matter the circumstances The cross has sealed my destiny, it's in the mighty name of Jesus I pray, calling on the power of heaven I proclaim, every weapon formed against me You must pray, it's in the mighty name of Jesus It's in the mighty name of Jesus I know, all the power of fear and darkness You must know, it's every key to every victory I know, it's in the mighty name of Jesus I will not fear, I will not fear The enemy comes near On the doorframe of my life

Is the blood of Jesus Christ And I will not fear, I will not fear There's an army of angels here Protected on all sides By the blood of Jesus And I will not fear, I will not fear When the enemy comes near On the doorframe of my life Is the blood of Jesus Christ And I will not fear, I will not fear There's an army of angels here Protected on all sides By the blood of Jesus Christ In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, calling on the power of heaven I proclaim, every weapon formed against me You must pray, it's in the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus I know All the power of sin and darkness In my soul Is every key to every victory I have In the mighty name of Jesus In the mighty name of Jesus Oh, it's in the mighty name of Jesus Jesus Come on, we give Him praise and honor Worthy are You, Lord Come on, we just continue to worship

We thank You, Jesus Hallelujah, we worship You, Lord We just stand here in awe of Your presence, Jesus Come on, Jesus, we're after Your heart, Lord We're after Your heart, Jesus And only You, Jesus Lord, here's my heart again I come just as I am All that I have, I give to You I don't have much to bring Faith like a mustard seed All that I have, I give to You And I put all my hope and trust In Your promise Oh, I'm reaching for the hand Of Your God Oh, I'm desperate for You My Jesus, I won't live without You And I want Your presence I'm after Your heart Where You are, I am running I'm after Your heart Just one touch of Your glory I'm a victim of all Your ways I seek You all my days For You alone, my satisfaction I'm a lover of my sin What else would I long for When You alone would satisfy I put all my hope and trust

In Your promise Oh, I'm reaching for the hand Of Your God Oh, I'm desperate for You My Jesus, I won't live without You And I want Your presence I'm after Your heart Where You are, I am running I'm after Your heart Just one touch of Your glory Oh, I'm reaching for the hand Of Your God Oh, I'm desperate for You My Jesus, I won't live without You And I want Your presence I'm after Your heart Where You are, I am running I search for love, validation, and peace everywhere except where it truly comes from. I lived in sin, not because I wanted darkness, but because I was desperate for relief. In 2016, that pain led me to a breaking point, and I tried to take my own life. From waking up in the hospital bed, I remember hearing clearly, It's not your time. Even then, I didn't fully believe, and I kept living without purpose. As I continued to spiral, I found myself so lost and broken that I knew I would be safe at a church. So I pulled into the parking lot of CTC during a weekday. I entered those doors, and I was so loved and encouraged by the staff, I decided then to attend awakening prayer, and God met me in my brokenness. Crying uncontrollably the whole service, I felt the Holy Spirit, and I knew I couldn't keep trying to control everything, so I let go of it all and surrendered my life to Jesus. After giving up my life to Jesus,

Jesus, I stopped worrying about things that are out of my control. Every time I open my Bible, Jesus reminds me that I'm going to be okay. God has provided again and again, financially, emotionally, and spiritually. Even when I interact with my friends, I ask myself, how can I mirror Christ to them? My whole life has changed because of him, and I will live with him. Today, I'm going public with my faith. Amanda, 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. ♪ Come down, come down, come down, come down, come down ♪ ♪ Come down, come down, come down, come down, come down ♪ ♪ Come down, fall down, oh I wanna see you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Consume me and fill me, oh I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Touch you, Jesus, come down, fall down, oh I wanna see you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Consume me and fill me, oh I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Come down and fall down, oh I wanna see you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Consume me and fill me, oh I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Come down and fall down, oh I wanna see you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Consume me and fill me, oh I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh I wanna touch you, Jesus, oh I'm desperate for you, Jesus ♪ ♪ And I won't live without you, and I want your presence ♪

♪ I'm after your heart, turn it around, I am in your love ♪ ♪ I'm after your heart, just one touch of your glory, oh ♪ ♪ Come down, fall down, oh I wanna see you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Consume me and fill me, oh I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Come down and fall down, oh I wanna see you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Consume me and fill me, oh I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh I'm desperate for you, Jesus, oh I wanna touch you, Jesus ♪ ♪ And I won't live without you, and I want your presence ♪ ♪ And I'm after your heart, turn it around, I am running ♪ ♪ I'm after your heart, just one touch of your glory, oh ♪ ♪ Fill me, oh glory ♪ The majesty of souls and praise the name of Jesus. Lord God, you say you pour out your spirit upon all flesh on the young and the old God we hunger for you, and we desire you Lord God in every area of our life, God we surrender and we exalt you on the throne We praise the almighty name of Jesus, this morning and God we glorify you today God may you inhabit the praises of your people this morning as we lift you up in worship Be enthroned upon our praise God Be enthroned upon our praise God We love you Jesus It's in the precious almighty name of Jesus The church declares, Amen Amen church, what an amazing experience in the presence of God as one body together We're gonna prepare for the message, but before we do if there's someone you've never met before

find out where they are, greet them where they're at and prepare for the message Amen Right. All right, good morning to you. Welcome to Church for the City, where we'll teach the Word of God, we'll encounter the presence of the Lord, and we'll spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How many of you are glad to be in God's house? So good, amen. Good to be in the house of the Lord. Now, you should have got some invite cards when you come in, when you came in, and of course, that's to invite people to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. This Friday, we'll be at the Civic Center. They'll start preparing that this week. We rent the building for a whole week so that we can be sure to get everything set up and prepped for people to come. So Friday at 6 p.m. on Friday night, please invite somebody, bring them. It's going to be a full house and it's going to be a great, great service. One service on Friday night. Sunday morning at the Civic Center will be two services, 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Now, I need you to hear me on this because you guys are the...and maybe this won't be an issue for you since you're the later crew, but if you're planning on coming at 9 a.m. and you're inviting people, which you should be inviting people, you want to be sure to meet them so that you can all sit together. The ushers will not be able...we are overcrowded. We're able to hold 1,400 in each service. That first service is over full. And so if you come and you want seats saved, they won't be able to save seats for you, first of all. They're not even going to pay attention to you saying that. The second thing is, if you are preparing to be at first service and you know you're going to be late, hear me, just come to second. You will not get in first service. Just come to second. Now, since you're all here at 11.30, I got another message for you all. We start at 11. We start at 11 on Sunday. So please, please, start a trend. Come on time. Just come on time at 11 o'clock for that service. Everybody all right? And bring somebody with you. All right. Your generosity, every time you come into the building, of course,

there's opportunities to give with the offering boxes all over the building. So thank you for your generosity. This week, one of our rooted group, which is one of our discipleship arm, they packed 600 backpacks for kids that need food over the weekend. And they took those to five schools. And there's three people that made all the deliveries of these 600 backpacks, Chris Espinoza, Irma Lozano, and Sylvia Kempton. Thank you so much for doing that. And so they've been delivering food, but this is, again, a great opportunity for us to serve people in our community. So thank you. Thank you for that. All right. Let's go ahead and stand. Take your Bible. I'm going to sit down today because I'm doing more teaching than preaching. But if you'll stand, we're going to go to Matthew 1. We're going to look at verse 18 through 25. It's usually what would be read during Christmas. So don't think your past was a little twisted on the holiday. I know what's happening, but this is where we're at today. Matthew 1, verses 18 to 25. I'll be reading this out of the ESV. It says, now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way, when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph. Before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph walked from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. Can you say amen for the word? Father, I do want to thank you now for this opportunity to share. your word. I thank you for every person that's in the house, those that are in prison that are watching, those that are in jail that are watching. Lord, those that are watched later on in the week,

I just pray that you be with every person that's listening. And Lord, as a message comes forth, first of all, what I need from you is your anointing. I believe I've prepared the message as best as I can and have heard from you, but I need your anointing to deliver. I do pray that what I do speak, that the words of the Holy Spirit and the word of God will be louder than my voice and that each person that's here and that's listening will hear what the Spirit of the Lord and the word of God is saying to them, that we may apply it, that we may allow our lives to come subject to the word of God. Father, I also pray for every church in our county, that the gospel will be preached, that every church will grow, that the leadership, the staff, the teams of their churches will be healthy and strong, and more and more people in our county will know Jesus Christ as Lord. And Father, I also want to pray for every family that's represented here in this room and those that are even watching and listening. I don't know what each one may be experiencing, what they're walking through, what challenges they may have, but Father, I know that you are God that's able to be present and you're able to help them. And so, Lord, people that are hearing my voice right now, they may have prayers, Lord God, that haven't been prayed. They got tears that's been cried. Lord, they got emotions. Some may be on the brink emotionally and mentally and, Lord, need... they're desperate for you. I pray, come, Lord God, and intervene in their situations. Give them guidance. Give them wisdom. Be a God who rescues. Be a God who saves. Be a God who helps. And so, Lord, we join with the people of God here today in faith, in Jesus' name, believe in you to be one that hears them and answers them. And we trust you to be glorified. In Christ's name, we pray. May the people of God say amen. Amen. You may be seated. Now, we're in the seventh week of the series, We Believe, and as you may... on this one today, it's titled Why This Matters. As you may recall, we're teaching from what we know to be the truths of the gospel that are presented in the Apostles' Creed. And I believe the creed will be up on the screen for you. We've already dealt with I Believe in God. Last week, we talked about the Father Almighty, Creator in Heaven and Earth. I'm going to focus on this line this week. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. And you may recall, of course, that the idea of this is that what we believe as a church, Christianity as a whole, is found in this creed. Now, the big idea of this message is that if Jesus was not conceived by the Holy Spirit, and if He was not born of the Virgin Mary, then He could not be our Savior. He could not be. That the conception by the Holy Spirit

and the birth of the Virgin Mary was a must. And so because He is, then He is indeed our only Savior. And so I just have three things that I want to point out to you, and hopefully you'll follow along and say amen. If it's true to you, then let's say amen. All right? So now here's the first thing. The first thing, it does matter who Jesus is. That matters. And so as a reminder, just so you know, that Jesus Christ is not an idea. He's a person. He's not an idea. The creed does not start with a concept, but it starts with a person with a name, and that person is Jesus. Jesus, the word means the Lord saves. The Lord saves. It doesn't mean the Lord advises. It doesn't mean the Lord suggests. It means the Lord saves. We see that emphasized again in Matthew 121. I read it earlier in the ESV, but here's in the New Living. And she will have a son, and you're to name him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. Now, there's a few things to unpack out of this, but to kind of make it simple, because some of it I'll probably unpack as we go. Jesus absolutely will save everyone who's called by His name, everyone chosen by Him, by the Holy Spirit, everyone drawn to Him. But know this, none of us come to Jesus unless there's a work of the Holy Spirit first in our life. We have to be convinced that we need a God. We have to be convinced that we need a Savior. So the Holy Spirit begins before we even cry out to Him. The Holy Spirit breaks through our brokenness, breaks through our mess, breaks through our false thoughts and crazy thoughts. idealistic views and even breaks through our pride so that we come to a place to recognize, I do need a God, that I cannot operate this life on my own. So he saves all of his people. There is no one who comes to him that is not saved. Are you following that? And that salvation is by Jesus. He's the one that comes into our brokenness. He's the one that steps into our sin. He's the one that steps into our mess. Jesus, our God, our Lord, our Savior, he did not stay at a distant. He came near to us. Now, as we get ready to go into Easter weekend, just know this, and I'm sure you do, but there's going to be people that's going to come through those doors. Some have never been into a church service at all. Some may have not come into a church service for years. They're not coming because they need better advice. That's not why they're coming. They're coming because they know that something in their life is not working. They're coming in there because maybe they got a strained marriage,

maybe they got some anxiety that's overwhelming to them, maybe they got an unclear purpose in their life. When they come into those doors, they don't need to be told, just try harder. They don't need to be told, you can just be better. What they need to be told is that Jesus saves, that Jesus saves. Can you say amen to that? And so, Jesus Christ...I had a young man last week who came up to me when I was at the altar, and he said, does Jesus have a last name? I thought it was so cute. And I said, well, we call him Jesus the Christ or Jesus the Messiah because it defines who he is. Christ is the Greek word, Mashiach is the Hebrew word, which means Messiah. It means the anointed one. That Christ Jesus is the one who was spoken of and who was anointed by God to be the one that comes and saves mankind. This was for a promise for generations. From the time that Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, the first statement made that this God who created us to have relationship with him, mind you, even after Adam and Eve sinned, he did not leave us in that sinful, hopeless condition. From the time that even Adam and Eve sinned, in Genesis 3.15, he gives a promise that a Messiah was coming to save his people because he wanted us in relationship with him. Well, they repeated that promise for generations, generations. The Jewish people were raised to know that there was a Messiah coming, someone who can be a rescuer, someone who's going to be a deliverer, someone who's going to be a savior, someone who is going to introduce us to God, to the Father. They knew that. Jeremiah, this was probably maybe 800 years before Christ was born, Jeremiah 23.5. It says, for the time is coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David's line. He will be a king who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. So it was verses like that, it was statements like that, they heard for generations. That the Messiah, the God in the flesh would come through the line of David. That one of David's descendants would be the one who would sit up on the throne, the throne, of course, being the everlasting throne, the everlasting kingdom.

And that he would be one who would rule with wisdom. He would be one that was just. He would be one that was righteous. So they're raised to teach their children that there is a Messiah. We're looking for the Messiah to come and live their life unto God as the Messiah comes. Well, Jesus in the New Testament reveals that he is this Messiah. Here's John 3, 16 through 18. And there's so much to unpack in here that I won't be able to unpack it all, but here it is. For this is how God loved the world. He gave his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Now, again, I could unpack this and spend the rest of the time, but notice what it's saying. God gave his son. God is the one that initiated this. He gave his son. And it says one and only son, that everyone who believes in him will not perish. In other words, if you want eternal life... Life this passage and many others is really clear that eternal life comes through believing in Jesus alone Not anyone else Not anyone that put puts himself up to be a Messiah or a king or Lord or a savior That salvation for us can only be not just for us not just for you in this room But for anyone can only come through Jesus. This is not a statement that makes Christianity Arrogant it's a statement of truth No one can save you but Jesus No one can give you eternal life, but Jesus it says if you believe in him, and I like the fact that it says Everyone who believes in him because many of the Jewish people even up to this time believe that salvation was just for the Jews Jesus comes along and says no no no Everyone who believes in me no matter what culture no matter what ethnicity no matter where you come from If you believe in me, you will not perish you will not come to ruin But you will have eternal life God sent his son in the world not to judge the world But through him the world saved the world through him There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged. That's the judgment Do you believe in Jesus or not for not believing in God's one and only son now? Now it's important that you understand this whole whole term of one and one and only son

Only son or only begotten son. The term here is a monogenous only begotten son monogenous all of us are That know the Lord are sons of God and daughters of God But none of us are sons of God like Jesus is He is one of his kind Because Jesus was the only one the only son of God born of God who was who was who was born out of a holy act of God all of us Were born into corruption Because we had a corrupt seed of our father and the sin of our mother When you first held that baby and looked in that baby's eyes you thought this is the sweetest most innocent most wonderful child There is no child as wonderful as this child you're holding and what you're holding is a bunch of corruption Sorry didn't mean to be so cruel Because none of us are born without being corrupted Because there's a corruptible seed in us That's why all of us have the propensity to sin and that's why all of us need a Savior If we were born here uncorrupted, then we wouldn't need a Savior And if you don't need a Savior, you don't need a church. You don't need a preacher. You don't need a pastor You don't need the gospel you wasting your time To be in here but the reason that you're here is because you recognize that I am a person living in a world of chaos who's been corrupted by the chaos and I need a Savior and so Jesus was the only one of his kind all of us was created But not Jesus. He was begotten God himself came down in flesh He was begotten not created. His whole nature is that he's fully God He is the Son of God. That's the Word of the Lord now again Let me tell you why this is important. You're gonna you're gonna see on the screen

this is the the the temple that's now on the top of the the dome of the rock in Jerusalem we took this the last time I was there What I really want to show you I couldn't get the picture Close enough. You're actually not even supposed to take pictures when you're on when you're up there The Arabs the Muslims they're all around protecting things This ain't part of the message, but like you can't hold hands with your wife when you're up there You can't you can't kiss because you know, we rebellious we went around the corner. No, I'm just kidding. But but But but but but the Muslims, you know, you can't you can't do those things not supposed to take pictures, etc but this isn't they built this building this temple after the Muslims came in and Conquered or took over the land Persecuting and killing Christians Jews, etc And they built this as their temple that they believe is gonna last for a lifetime Now they're already deceiving themselves because I'm telling you right now it ain't gonna last a lifetime when Jesus come back He gonna split that bad boy wide open when he comes back but it's it's got eight sides it's an octagon every one of those that blue that you see around there it has words in arabic all around it on each octagon i'm not going to read you all eight i'm going to read you four sides of it and and you'll know where i'm going with this here's the here's the south side it says this in the name of god the merciful the compassionate there is now it's in arabic of course i'm reading it in english there is no god but god he is one he has no associate say he is god the one god the eternally besought of all catch this he beget us not nor was begotten and there is none comparable unto him muhammad is the messenger of god the blessing of god be upon him that's the south side southwest it says this in the name of god the merciful the compassionate there is no god but god he is one he has no associate muhammad is the messenger of god lo god and his angels shower blessings on the prophet here's the west side oh ye who believe ask blessings on him and salute him with a worthy salutation in the name of god the merciful the compassionate there is no god but god he is one here's the northwest side praise be to god who have not taken unto himself a son and who have no partner in the sovereignty nor has he any protecting friend through dependence and magnify him with all magnificence muhammad is the messenger of god now this is the substratum

of the islam doctrine islam faith i'm going to say this and i say it with no reservation the most dangerous religious teaching and ideology in the land today is islam the most dangerous and oftentimes we're sitting around paralyzed watching what's happening to society without taking any kind of resistance against ideology and religious teaching that's absolutely destructive and an affront to christianity now let me tell you what they're saying with this this statement is not against god they believe in one god just like we do they're confused about who the one god is they believe the one god is allah they're confused about one god but they believe in one god this statement against is against the son jesus and let me tell you why it's against the son jesus because in the islam faith you cannot have a personal relationship with god you cannot know god you cannot know him personally you can only cry out to him worship him surrender yourself to him but you can never know him and the only way that you can even know about his teachings is through his messenger the muhammad named muhammad who by the way is dead so now we have to listen to a guy or listen to a guy who is the messenger of god who is now dead for us to embrace eternal life that right there ought to give you a clue but let me tell you what the real problem with that is if there is no son of god named jesus then none of us can have a personal relationship with the god that we serve the reason that jesus came to earth is so you and i can personally know there is a god who loves us there is a god who cares for us there is a god that has substituted himself for us true we believe in the one god but when they say there is no associate to god they're saying there is nobody else who can even help you get to know him what would that do to our salvation if we didn't know jesus we wouldn't get to know him personally if we didn't have the holy spirit we would never be made anew that's why the islam doctrine is a sham and it's false and the only way you can know god is to know him through jesus christ receive the holy spirit and have a relationship with god the father that's for all eternity it's only through jesus it's only through jesus he is absolutely the decisive revelation of god the reason we know god is because god made himself known through his son jesus christ colossians 1 15 says this christ is the visible image of the invisible god the visible image of the invisible god he talking about jesus existed before anything was created and it's supreme over all creation. For through Him, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He, talking about Jesus, made the things we can see and the things we can't see, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the

unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him. He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together. That's our Jesus. That's our God. That's our Lord. That's our Savior. Can you say amen? Hebrews 1, 1 through 3 says this, long ago, God spoke many times and in many ways through our ancestors, through the prophets. And now in these final days, He has spoken to us through His Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son, He created the universe. The Son radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God. So here it is real clear. God ain't speaking through Muhammad. God ain't speaking through popes. God ain't speaking through Joseph Smith. God ain't speaking through presidents and kings. He only speaks through His Son, Jesus Christ, that gives us life for all eternity. Now, here's the second thing I want you to know. How God came to us really matters. It's called incarnation. You've heard that term time and time again, the term incarnation. And that's God Himself manifesting Himself in flesh. God came down from heaven, revealed Himself in flesh so He could be touched, He could be seen, He could be embraced. And so the incarnation was for redemption. None of us could have been saved without the incarnation. So indeed, the Son becomes flesh in order to save sinners. How did that come about? Well, through the conception of the Holy Spirit and the virgin birth. Here's Luke 1, 31 through 35. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His ancestor David, and He will reign over Israel forever. His kingdom will never end. Mary asked the angel, but how can this happen? I'm a virgin. The angel replied, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy and will be called the Son of God. Listen to the miraculous work that God did to bring about this salvation for us through this holy child, Jesus. Why is it that it had to be a virgin birth? Because if Mary would have had a child through the seed of a man, we've already talked about it, what would that seed have been?

It would have been corrupt, which means that child would not be holy because every one of us are born unholy. I don't know what you're trying to convince your wife or your husband. You ain't all that. We were all born unholy. It took a miracle of God for the Holy Spirit to overwhelm the womb of Mary, and in that miraculous moment, Mary becomes impregnated by the Spirit of God, no man involved at all. And through that womb comes the child, Jesus. That's why he's called holy, because he's born without sin. There's no sin in him. Now, this also tells us something about our salvation, that our salvation is not by human achievement. It's by a divine initiative. It wasn't us. It wasn't us who initiated it, who started it, who came up the idea. Do you think any of us would have came up with the idea for a virgin to have a baby? That was all initiated by God, the whole work, the whole idea. And get this, Jesus did not come down to us because humanity reached up. We could not reach up to him. We're far from him. We have no heart and desire to serve him, accept the Spirit of God work in our life. Jesus came down because God came down to mankind. God came down to mankind. Listen to this, Matthew 1.23. Look, the virgin will conceive a child, and she will give birth to a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. God was with mankind through Jesus Christ. When we know Jesus, then we know God. Am I talking to the right church? And so it's just... This is important, though, that you know that he was truly human. He was all God. He was all man. He wasn't pretending to be human. He was born like we were born. He had a mother. He had a body. He entered our world. He suffered with hunger, with fatigue, with suffering. He became one of us. He came and stood in our place. The son of God truly stood in our place among sinners with sinners so that we would truly belong to God. The only way we could get to him was for God to come down to us. The only way we could. I mean, just just think about it. If you if you're a lifeguard and you're on

the beach and you're in your stand or you're at a swimming pool and you see somebody drowning and you stand up in your stand, you see the person drowning and you're shouting to them instructions on how to save themselves. How is that gonna work? I'll just just dip this way and catch the wave and catch the current and you'll come back to. You're not gonna save him that way by standing up, shouting instructions on how they can save themselves. The reason you're called the life guard is to go into the water and save them. God did not stand up and shout down instructions to us. I'm told the 1st and 2nd service. Um, before I was before I was full time with the church, we had started the church, but I worked three part time jobs just so the church would have the money to even get going. And one of the jobs that I did, uh, was delivering bread on a wholesome bread truck. I don't even know if wholesome bread exists. I don't know what the name of bread is anymore. I don't I don't go shopping, but but but it was called wholesome bread. My late friend John Vance on the on the the route. One day we were making a delivery at what's called Bubba's. I think it's still called Bubba's on 4th Avenue there. And, you know, we park in the back, of course, and getting ready to walk into the the back of the restaurant and in the parking lot on the on the side there, there was a group of folks that was standing around looking down at something. I didn't know what they were looking down on at first until we got up to him. I'm talking four or five people standing around, and there was a man that had passed out, and he wasn't breathing, and he was laying on the ground. And the folks that was standing around him, his name was Gene. They're looking down on him, and they're saying, breathe, Gene. Stand up, Gene. Get up, Gene. Breathe. They're standing, saying this to the man who's passed out on the ground. When we get there, John immediately goes down to the ground, starts CPR, puts his flesh on the man's flesh, breathes in him, pumps his chest till the man start breathing again, and he was able to stand up. But God is not looking down upon us in our fallen, dead state, saying, breathe, Tyrone. Stand up,

Tyrone. Breathe, Tyrone. No, God comes down flesh to flesh through Jesus, puts himself on me, and breathes life into me. Breathes life. And so, the issue is, after defining that he's Savior indeed, the issue is, who is your Lord? Because that's what matters. That's where the rubber meets the road. And honestly, this is where, oftentimes, we struggle. We don't have much problem with Jesus being Savior. We got a problem with him being Lord. Because being Lord, the word here, Lord, is kairos. The word here means authority, sovereign. He's ruler. He's master. Jesus is not, or should not be, just Savior to us. He has to be ruler. He has to be Lord. And he's got the authority to do so. Matthew 28, 18 says, Jesus came and told his disciples, I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. That's Jesus. Jesus is the one. That's why we proclaim his name in baptism, and proclaim his name in prayer, proclaim his name as healing, because he's the one of authority. We love the fact that he's Savior. We love the fact that he's helper. We love the fact that he's provider. But we struggle with Lord. We struggle with giving up authority. We struggle with giving up rule. We struggle with giving up our Whole surrender to him So so he here's the issue We want forgiveness But we want it without surrender We we want grace But we want it without obedience We want heaven, but we want it without submission But that's not the Bible He's both Savior and Lord now I can tell you just what little bit of coaching. I've done over these last few years if we give the team a play to run out on the field and Then they go out there and the quarterback calls whatever he wanted to play what he wanted to do He won't be playing very long not a human Catholic. That's for doggone sure

He doesn't have the authority to do that You you if you want to coach you you follow what he does if you want a doctor my grandmother she passed at ninety nine and a half years old my grandmother did and For a few years Me and my grandma actually had the same doctor So Virginia was with me on several occasions and our doctor was he was kind our family He would have our family pictures up there and all of that kind of stuff in his in his office Almost every time I would go in we'd have small talk and then then I'd say what you know Has have my grandma been in? Oh, yes. She was here last week How did it go? He says the same as always He says I check her out. I tell her what's going on. Elnora is my grandma's name Elnora. This is happening This is happening. This is happening. We need to do this. We need to do that Inevitably, she would look the doctor in the eye and say I ain't doing none of that. I Ain't doing none of that So he so he said well, why do you come to the doctor? She says I come to the doctor because I'm supposed to but I can doctor myself That's what a lot of us is doing with Jesus He tells us you got this you need to do this We need to respond this and we look at Jesus said I ain't doing none of that. I Need a Savior, but I don't need nobody telling me what to do Am I talking to the right church and So so the issue is we got competing Lords in our lives because you do have a Lord you have one it may not be Jesus, but you got one there is Something sitting on the throne of your life that you have made that the focus and the authority of your life For some people their Lord is comfort For some people their Lord is control For some people their Lord is success. All of their life is built around that for some people. It's approval but for others The Lord of their life is their past

The past got more control over their life Than the Lord that they have above For some people your pain your hurt has more lordship over your life Than the promises and the word that God has given you for some people it's their fears Their fears got more control and authority over their life than what God said. Yes, and a man to over your life But here acts 236 don't miss this Let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified To be both Lord and Messiah Jesus is both Lord and Christ and if Jesus is truly the Lord of your life It ain't just lordship on Sunday mornings folks If Jesus is truly the Lord of your life, it ain't just lordship when you got these emergency urgent prayers It shouldn't be lordship just when you need God to give you Attention if he's Lord, then that means every one of your decisions belong to him Every relationship belongs to him Every priority of your life Belongs to him your identity belongs to him This stuff matters. This stuff really matters team. You can come this is why this matters because of if Catch this if Jesus was only God Then he couldn't die for you Because he'd be a spirit He'd be a spirit that has not taken on humanity. If he was only God he couldn't die for you on The other side of the coin if he was only man, he couldn't save you Because he's just as corrupt as the rest of us, but because Jesus is both God and man I'm telling you his death changes everything Everything is changed because Jesus is both God and man and so since Jesus is God's Son and Lord then I absolutely know that my sins are actually forgiven and

My life has changed and my future is secure because God came near Christianity is not about us reaching up to God It's about God coming down to you and the good news is he did not wait for you to get your life together He didn't wait for it. I Still talk to people today People that I love people who know what I do people that know my life and I and I of course I asked man Why why isn't it? What's what's the deal and so many times people say man Tyrone as soon as I get my life together I'll go to church. You're never gonna get your life together My wife is a witness. I'm 62 years old my life ain't together But thank God I got a Lord and a Savior that helps me through my junk and my brokenness and my sinfulness And when I come unhinged, there's a God there that's able to help us. He comes after us He comes after us. He makes a way for us So it's not even an issue of whether you understand all this fully you there's there may be some things about Christianity You don't understand but the real question is will you just trust him completely? That's the real issue and I'm telling you can fully trust Jesus not part. He ain't partly sufficient. He's he's not just helpful He's not just an option among many. He is the one and only God and Savior God did not send down a representative He came himself He came himself here. It is in Philippians 2 5 through 8. You must have the same attitude that Jesus Christ had Though he was God. He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to Instead he gave up his divine privileges He took the humble position of a slave and Was born as a human being talking about Jesus when he appeared in human form He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on the cross Listen to this you see the movement there. He went from heaven to earth From the throne to a manger from glory to a cross

That is the most greatest dissent in all of history in all of history He did this for us. That's why we're not forgotten. That's why we're not abandoned. That's why we know that we're loved and so really it just really boils down to you being willing to take your weakness and Bring him to Jesus Bring it to Jesus. He understands our human struggles. It's not self-help. That's gonna fix it. It's not It's it's it's it's it's not religion. That's gonna fix it only Jesus can and And so you you got to respond to that. You really do got to respond to that now When I say that I want you to get this if Jesus is both saving Lord, then you can't stay neutral You can ignore him And you can reject him But let me tell you what you can't do. You can't reduce him You can ignore him and you can reject him, but you can't reduce him. He is who he is You're ignoring him or you're rejecting him. Don't change anything. You can't reduce him And so I'm telling you the best thing for you to do is surrender to him Surrender to him and I'm and I'm telling you what I love about the Lord is he has a marvelous way Can I just say this of disrupting our life It isn't it isn't it isn't it a Holy Spirit disruption whenever we come to Jesus a lot of times is when we don't know We're not expecting it You can be in the middle of a drunken fest and the Holy Spirit will come up on you and absolutely start jacking with your mind and your spirit and you got to get yourself out of the whole God has a way of Letting you know when it's him. You heard it on that testimony. We hear it every week This really has nothing to do with salvation. But this is this is this is clearly how God works in life. I I told people for years When I was single, I was not getting married again, I told hundreds of folks thousands of folks Matter of fact every woman that got close to me. I don't know why cuz I ain't getting married I just let them know I don't know what you up to but I ain't getting married. I was meeting with some folks coffee shop, or I'm sure it was a coffee shop and They asked me about marriage, I don't know if they were new to the church

church or, I don't know, just trying to get to know me, I can't recall. But they asked me about marriage, and right away, I said, nope, not getting married, already dealt with that, me and God dealt with that. As soon as that came out of my mouth, I heard a pop, like somebody had broke a two-by-four in my head. And I hear these words from the Holy Spirit, you took lordship over that, not me, you did. Now, I'm hearing this, this is coming from here. They're sitting in front of me, still talking. And I'm trying to see, man, was that really God? So everything that they're saying, Leanna, while they're still talking, it was like the Charlie Brown. They're talking, I'm like, I'm hearing, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. Nothing they said was registering at all because I'm trying to figure out, did I just hear from God? Did he just disrupt my life with that statement? I finished what I was doing, I got in my vehicle, I sat down in my vehicle, I looked up to heaven, I said, Lord, if that was you, you're going to have to make it real clear to me, real clear. I pull out of the parking lot, I get on Fourth Avenue, I go around the big curve, I get somewhere by the dealerships, and I get so flooded with emotion, I couldn't even drive. I had to pull over and God made it absolutely clear, it's me that's coming into your life to speak to you and tell you. That's how God does it. God loves you enough that he's going to divinely disrupt your life. We call it an interruption, I call it a divine intervention because he loves you enough to prove to you that I've sent my son to save you and I got the Holy Spirit working in you. Sooner or later, you're just going to have to come out with your hands up and

surrender to the Almighty God. And the greatest story of that, the way it ought to end for all of us is when we see Thomas in John 20, first time that Jesus came to the disciples after the resurrection, Thomas wasn't there. And all the rest of them see Jesus, they tell Thomas, Thomas said, I ain't buying it. I ain't buying that until I see him myself and touch him myself. And the Lord loved Thomas so much, he comes again. While they're all locked behind the doors of a room, by the way, and aren't you so glad that locked doors don't stop God? That God can come through locked doors of your life, locked doors of your heart, locked doors of your mind, locked doors of your emotion. He can come right on in and show you who he is. He comes right on to Thomas and say, go ahead and touch me. And Thomas sees Jesus and he touches him and he says, my Lord and my God. I'm telling you, when you can say, my Lord and my God, you have just touched heaven, you have just touched eternity. You have just made it to that place of eternal life. Everybody stand, if you would, prayer team, you can come. Just going to say one prayer here. If you're here in this place and you have not made a commitment to Jesus, you're not here by accident, the Holy Spirit is working on you and you're drawing you. If you're here in this house and you haven't made that commitment to Jesus, today is the day that you can make that commitment and new life will begin for you. New life will begin. I'm going to pray a prayer. If you determine how long, how long you're going to keep running from the God who loves you, who sent his son down here to die for you, who cares so much that he's willing to intervene in your life for your good and his glory.

And so, if you want to make that commitment to Jesus, I'm going to ask everybody to close their eyes just for a moment. I'm going to count to three. If you want to make a commitment to Jesus today, we can follow up with you, but I can pray for you right where you are. But if you want to make that commitment to Jesus today, I'm going to count to three. And I just want you to lift your hand. I'll pray for you where you are. We'll take it from there. But know that he loves you. What you're feeling right now, what you're experiencing right now in your heart, right now in your mind, it's the Holy Spirit calling you. And today, Jesus can be your Lord. On the count of three, if you want to make a commitment to Jesus Christ, raise your hand. One, two, three, wherever you are, just lift your hand up. God bless you. I see that one. I see that two. See that three. See that four. See five, six, seven, eight, nine. Come on, 10. God bless you, 11. Hallelujah. Come on. We thank God for his goodness. Thank God for his grace. Everybody pray with me if you would. Dear Father, I thank you for sending Jesus Christ.

Today, I accept him as my Lord and Savior. I commit the rest of my life to follow Him. I look forward to your return that I may live eternally with you forever. In Christ's name we pray, amen, amen, amen. God bless you. Have a great day. Come down, fall down. I want to see you, Jesus. Come down, fall down. I want to see you, Jesus. Consume me and fill me. Oh, I want to touch you, Jesus. Come down, fall down. Oh, I want to see you, Jesus. Consume me and fill me. Oh, I want to touch you, Jesus. Come down, fall down. Oh, I want to see you, Jesus. Consume me and fill me. Oh, I want to touch you, Jesus. Oh, I'm desperate for you, Jesus. And I won't live without you. I want your praises. I'm after your heart. Where you are, I am running. I'm after your heart. Just one touch of your glory. Come down, fall down. Oh, I want to see you, Jesus. Consume me and fill me. Oh, I want to touch you, Jesus. Come down, fall down. Oh, I want to see you, Jesus. Consume me and fill me. Oh, I want to touch you, Jesus. Oh, I'm desperate for you, Jesus. And I won't live without you. Oh, I want your praises. I'm after your heart. Where you are, I am running. I'm after your heart. Just one touch of your glory.