Welcome to NECF sermons. Each message here is
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the end for a rewarding experience. Let's dive
right in. All right, so we'll continue from where
we started on Sunday and I'll just put a little
bit of things. aligning them well for today's
teaching. So John chapter one, verse 12. It's
one of the scriptures that we talked about believing
in Christ as the resurrected Christ, right? Believing
in Jesus as the resurrected Christ. John chapter
one, verse two. As many as are resurrected. Can
you go to verse 10? Can we start from verse 10,
please? It was in the word, and the word was
made by him, and the word knew him not. 11. He
came to his own, and his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them he gave,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name. Even to
them that believe on his name. In this context,
what we see is that John was actually writing
about what happened in the lifetime of Jesus,
right? He was in the world, the world was made
by him, and that he came to his own, right? He
came to his own would be that scripture that
we read, and the James, the brothers of Jesus
were telling him, go and show yourself to the
world. That's one of it, right? Also, he's a
Jew, and he came to the Jewish people as well.
We can see that their rejection is also found
in that right is also included in that so it
came to his own his own people rejected him and
said well as many as received him to them he
gave the power to become the sons of god even
to them that believe on his name so here he was
talking about uh i know yes most of time we are
prudent to ourselves as well uh but most of that
was actually talking about the context of the
people that received Christ right the people
that receive him uh we can say that the people
that believe him as the messiah the people that
believe him as the one that has come not his
brother at that time but people that followed
him we can say his disciples give them the rights
to become the sons of god as many as believe
that this is the messiah that was prophesied
right we can put that in that context and say
they received him right as many as receive him
give them power to become give them the rights
to become the sons of God. And the reason is
that because if you check 1 John chapter 1 verse
3, 1 John chapter 1 verse 3, state it in another
way, right? State it in another way by saying
that now are we the sons of God, right? 1 John
chapter 1 verse 3. Say now are we the sons of
God. Now, that shows right a little bit of a
contrast not so much of a contrast but something
uh that has taken place right something that
has taken place so first John chapter i said
that three verse one okay so first John chapter
three verse one said behold what manner of love
the Father has bestowed on to us that we should
be called the sons of God therefore the world
knoweth us not because it's Know him not. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. And if they not yet
appear, what we shall be, we, but we know that
when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For
we shall see him as he is." Right? So one says,
as many as receive him, given the power to become
the sons of God, right? They will become the
sons of God. As many as believe him, they will
become the sons of God. So it means that as many
as believe, While Jesus was alive, as many as
received his word, he gave them the right to
say, these ones will come to me. These ones are
the ones that will come to me. These ones will
believe they will be where I am, they will be.
So now at resurrection, they are now the sons
of God. They are now the sons of God, even those
that believe in his name. Just to clarify that,
but he's still in line with the resurrection,
believe in Christ as the Messiah and as the resurrected.
Christ. So we see a little bit of goodness. So
we can say that now we are the sons of God. Now
we are the sons of God. Good. Now the next thing
we need to also do point out a little bit is
that on Sunday, we classify people into groups,
right? And we mentioned those who believe in
Jesus as the prophets, right? People believe
in Jesus as a prophet and they save people who
also believe in him as agents or believe in Him
as an agent, but Himself not being God. The question
we want to try to answer is, are they saved?
Right? Are they saved? Now, to answer such questions,
it is difficult to just say, oh, because they
said Jesus is just an agent and is not God, they
are not saved. If you do that, it will be too
short to give a proper way to address the issue.
But we have to check one or two things in their
beliefs. Okay? So we have to check one or two
things that align or shift away from what we
understand from the scripture. Okay? To be able
to establish that. Now the first thing that is
crucial in the statements that Jesus is just
one of those persons that God sent right, is
that first they deny the Son of God. That unique
sonship of Jesus, they deny it. That is the first
thing. Do you remember when Jesus told them that
it came from above, right? Even the Pharisees
understood better. They said you commit like
you just equate yourself to God. So when Jesus
described himself that is from the Father and
is the expression of the Father expressing that
the Father has understood clearly that the man
Jesus was saying is God in the body. So the first
thing we will see is that these people who say
he's just a person and he's a prophet is that
they deny the sonship. Now let's see if the sonship
of Jesus is part of the gospel. Let's see Matthew
16, 16 which is one of the things that we know.
Matthew 16, 16, which is very common when Peter's
answering Jesus, right? He said, and Simon Peter
answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God, right? Thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God. So he did not just
acknowledge and say, well, you are the one who
will save Israel. Okay? He said, you are. the
Son of the Living God. Right. Now from history
you will understand that there were many typologies
of the Messiah who saved Israel. Okay. There
were many typologies of the Messiah who saved
Israel. Right. Moses was one of them. Right.
Moses was one of them. Now let's see one in Hebrews
chapter 4. If I get that very right, Hebrews
chapter 4, we will see that one of the persons,
Hebrews chapter 4 verse 8, is for if Jesus had
given them rest, then should he not afterward
have spoken of what? Another day. Right spoken
of another day now in some translation. You will
see that that Jesus is actually what? What is
it was the name of the person that we expect
to be there? Joshua right so Joshua therefore
was one of those people that tried to give Israel
rests Right now try to give it is it but if you
are truly giving them rests right there would
not be another day to talk about another day
of rest which is we can say today because today
is a day of salvation right as scriptures will
say right so it would not have talked about another
person who would come to give Israel rests or
another day where God would deliver them from
their enemies right so we see that very specifically
this one was almost I mean put in parallel to
the Messiah the son of the living God so there
were many people across history that were living
so they were not just but the Son of the Living
God reflects much more what God Himself will
do okay it reflects what God Himself will do
which is the unique appearance of God salvation
will come from God right despite all this men
across history it will come from now again Romans
1 verse 1 to 3 also adds from layer of this to
today so from verse one as a poor observant of
jesus christ called to be an apostle called unto
the gospel of god which he had promised afore
by his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning
his son jesus christ our lord which was made
of the seed of david according to the flesh and
declared to be the son of God with power according
to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead right by whom we receive grace
and apostleship for obedience to the faiths among
all nations for his name so we see a lot of emphasis
of course also on whom being the son of God Being
the son of God concerning his son and if you
have been following we explain much more that
that son Right that son is not procreation Means
Jesus, I mean God given births biologically,
but we said is God's appearance in the body,
which is incarnation in the body Right is unique
appearance in the body. So it therefore means
that if we if they say that he's not god right
they have denied his sonship they have denied
that it is god himself who saved man okay that
is the first thing uh we see that they deny the
fact that if they call him a prophet because
you remember matthew 16 right so some called
him John the Baptist, some called him Elias,
right? It's like calling him an agent or calling
him a prophet. So what do you call, I mean, what
do you say? What is your revelation? And he said,
you are the Messiah, the son of the living God.
That distinguished Jesus away from anybody who
has come to save Israel across history. So denying
the son of God is one of the sonship of Jesus
is one thing that we see in their context. Now
let's see the second parts denying the pressing
of the holy spirit denying the pressing of the
holy spirit now in most of these uh phases or
groups of uh explanations Right? They claim,
right, that the Holy Spirit is not a person.
They claim that the Holy Spirit is just God using
some wind and forces and things to make things
happen. So again, they deny God in that. Right?
They deny God in that, saying the Holy Spirit.
So they deny the person of the Holy Spirit, saying
it's not a person, but God walking through agent.
So another way is, To put it is that they also
classify the Holy Spirit as another agent of
God Right, so they classify the Holy Spirit as
another agent of God, but let's see who the Holy
Spirit is, which is who? It means he is a person
right Ephesians 1 3 Ephesians 1 13 and 14 Ephesians
1 gives that Ephesians 1 chapter 13 and verse
13 and 14. purchase possession unto the praise
of His glory. Now let's take this gradually right
it says verse 14 which is the earnest soul being
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which
is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption
of the purchase possession unto the praise of
His glory. So what does this reflect? This means
that at the resurrection of the body writes,
the Holy Spirit plays a role. The same spirits
that raise Christ from the plays a role in the
resurrection of the body. It means that at Christ
appearing, right, the Holy Spirit is the seal,
right, said is the ennest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the participants. So
it means that in that translation, as some people
say, we, the Holy Spirit plays a role, right,
the Holy Spirit in the believer Please let's
go to visuals for 30 as well This is a group
not the Holy Spirit by which you were sealed
onto the day of redemption so it's talking to
believers and we know that is not talking about
our Salvation in terms of believing in his name,
but talking about a time of redemption, right
a time of redemption Do we get it? So it's talking
about a time of, for example, a time where the
body would take up, I mean, immortality as 1
Corinthians 15 would say. So the role of the
Holy Spirit at Jesus appearing, right, is also
denied when they deny that the Holy Spirit is
a person. Do we get it? So the role of the Holy
Spirit is also denied. It means that They remove
the Holy Spirit from the context of what will
happen at the redemption of the body. Right?
That is just God's agent and is just God's force.
So while some of them preach the dead burial
resurrection, they don't preach the ascension,
which is what we'll talk about. Right? So they
say, oh, we believe in the dead burial resurrection.
We believe in the suffering of Christ. But in
their teaching, in the encompassing things in
their teaching, they take away, right, they take
away the significant person of the Holy Spirit,
right, in the life of the believer. And therefore,
when it comes to the redemption of the body,
the question you would ask is, so what will happen
to them, right? If they don't believe that the
Holy Spirit is the promised seal, right? unto
salvation unto redemption what will happen to
them so these two things right denying the sonship
of christ which is jesus and denying the person
of the holy spirit as a person right reflects
that they do not actually believe right it reflects
that they do not believe right in christ because
he promised the spirit in in john chapter 14
Right? John 14, verse 14, 15, John chapter 16,
explained about the Comforter. Right? It talks
about another spirit, which is Alus Paracletus,
right? Another spirit. So it means that the entirety
of that teaching about how Jesus will abide with
them forever is not found in them. Right? Is
not found. in their teaching therefore we can
see we have the Holy Spirit right and therefore
they can't be saved because they didn't believe
in such people now we can go uh we can go further
let's see in John 1st John chapter 2 verse 19
let's start with 1st John chapter 2 verse 19
No doubt I've continued with us, but I went out
that they might be made manifest that they were
not all. They were not all of us, that they were
not all of us. Now go to Hebrews 10, 39. This
one is talking about people who are in the gathering,
right, and seem to be as if they were part of
the body of Christ, right? It said they left.
as a proof. So they are living, right, as a proof.
It means that there can be people that seemingly
look like the part of the Christian body, but
they are not part of the Christian body. Okay?
They are not part of the Christian body. They
might, they might seemingly look like Christian
body. They might even use similar books. Now,
Hebrews 10, there's a lesson of, I think we read
this, of whom natural appellation means support.
See, support, suppose ye, again of our most sure
punishment supposing shall he be taught worthy
who are trodden on the foot the Son of God and
counted the blood of his covenant wherewith he
has sanctified an unholy thing and had done this
right unto the spirit of grace right unto the
spirit of grace talking about the Son of God
again God himself is sacrificed and the spirit
of grace so all of this is together that's why
when we teach salvation we teach all of this
in encompassing right when we teach about salvation
we teach all of this in a comparison uh talking
about christ means son of god a sacrifice and
a spirit that is why we teach about his ascension
his presence his indwelling right christ indwelling
so in those teachings you will never find them
say christ spirit is the holy spirit Right, so
the moment they cannot say Christ spirit is the
Holy Spirit Then there's a challenge there because
the Holy Spirit which is Christ himself indwelling
so the The evidence of salvation is the indwelling
Right the evidence of salvation is the indwelling
but all that Christ Sacrifice was not for you
to be empty What's that you will be found in
him? So the indwelling is the evidence of salvation.
So the question is do they have the indwelling,
do they believe in it, do they have it? And therefore
if they don't then they can't in essence do greater
works. It will be difficult or impossible for
them to do greater. So what he was talking here
is about people who have not believed. Hebrews
10 verse 10, right? Talking about people who
have not believed, and emphasizing that they
probably, they had this information, but they
looked away from it. So if you read from verse
26, it said, for if we say willfully that after
that we have received knowledge of the truth,
there remain no more sacrifice for sins, but
a sudden fearful looking of judgment and fear,
indignation, and all of that. So it means that
in this assembly, the Word was preached. The
knowledge of God of Christ was preached, right?
In this assembly. It was preached. The truth
of the knowledge was preached. The sacrifice
of Christ was explained to them. The sonship
of God was explained to them. The sonship of
Christ, rather, was explained to them. The spirit
of race was also explained. But in denying the
existence of all that, right, there's no salvation.
So there's no more sacrifice for sin. So we can
see that the people that were they were talking
about fear are similar to the people that we
talked about that they don't believe in the spirit
of grace and in what Christ uh has his final
walk in us his final walk in us so most of the
time what we find them doing is kind of appreciating
Jesus for doing what God sent him to do right
so they will say Oh, we are thanking Jesus because
He really did well. Right? He did well. That
is the kind of teaching we get. Oh, we need to
find a day to celebrate Him because He did well.
Right? Not that God saved man. Right? Because
they don't equate that together. So we add this
as part of the teaching. Now, we will notice
that this is different. These people are different
from people like John Mark. Right? Here, they're
talking about someone who has just believed the
gospel right not someone who has believed now
let's go to Acts chapter 13 or Acts chapter 12
let's start from Act 12 let's show you someone
who actually believed the gospel and uh maybe
drew back in ministry right someone who has believed
the gospel but drew back in ministry we can see
that very clearly in the case of uh the person
named John Mark chapter 12 verse 25. He said,
and Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem,
when they had fulfilled their ministry, they
took with them John, whose son name was Mark.
Right? So they came back to Jerusalem, right?
North Jerusalem, of course, where the apostles
are, where the teachings are being done, and
they took John Mark alongside for their walk.
Now in Acts 13 -13, John Mark left them and returned
back to Jerusalem where they took him from. Right,
so he said, and when Paul and his company moved
from Paphos, right, they came to Pagia and Pamphylia,
and John Mark departed from them, returned to
Jerusalem. Right, he returned to Jerusalem. Now,
what was happening here is he drawing back from
a particular ministry, right? He left the field,
right? They were going together and he just left
the field. He went back to, probably he wanted
no comfort, you know, because what Paul and his
company were facing and Barabas is not something
for the weak. You know, maybe we can say his
fate is weak in this context. We don't know the
reason, but it just shows clearly that he went
back, he left them and returned to Jerusalem.
Of course, we know Jerusalem is much easier for
him. There is no problem in leadership role for
him. You just need to receive a lot of that.
So, those are my speculations, but we can check
that in Acts 15 verse 36, there was an issue
between Paul and Barnabas. And some days after
Paul said unto Barnabas, let us go again and
visit our brethren in every city where we have
preached the word of God. And see, to take them,
John, whose name was Mark, but Paul thought not
good to take him with them, who departed from
them, from Parthelia, and went not with them
to the walk." You see? He did not continue in
the walk with them. So this is not a loss of
salvation. It's actually someone drawing back.
So this person is saved. Okay? This person is
saved, was under the teaching in Jerusalem, was
under the apostle's teaching. He followed Paul
and we see that's clearly in the scripture. So
we can say he's saved, but he drew back from
the war. Now let's see another person that sometimes
we wonder clearly if he was saved, or we've thought
previously probably he was not saved. But let's
check the scripture and see. Let's check Apollos.
Right, let's check Brother Apollos. Acts. Right,
we move to Acts chapter 18. Right, we move to
Acts chapter 18. Let's pay a little bit of extra
attention to what we are reading. From verse
24. knowing only the baptism of John. Right,
knowing only the baptism of John. And he began
to speak boldly in the synagogue when Aquila
and Priscilla had heard, right, they took him
into, they took him unto them and expel unto
him the way of God more perfectly. And when he
was disposed to pass into a care, the brethren
wrote, exalting the disciples to receive him.
Now, it's quite a little bit of a task to check
this, but the first thing we would see is that
it was going about teaching in the synagogue.
Right? The first thing we would see, there is
someone that is going out teaching in the synagogue.
So that's the first thing we can pick there.
There is an eloquent man, mighting the scriptures,
referring to, he knows the scriptures very well,
maybe not the interpretation, maybe not the correct
interpretation, right? But he knows the scriptures,
right? He could tell you, you know, as much scriptures,
we can say he knows so much. of the scriptures
where the scriptures are how the scriptures are
written and all of that but the revelation of
the scripture is needed right so he came to Ephesus
and he was instructed again he was instructed
in the way of the Lord that's another thing right
he said he was instructed in the way of the Lord
fathomed in spirit and thought diligently the
things of the Lord learned only the baptism of
John so most times not only the baptism of John
is where we get stuck right is where we get stuck
because uh the baptism of John sometimes we take
some parts of John's baptism or some parts of
John's teaching the baptism of John referring
to John's teaching okay he wasn't talking about
that Apollo's uh Paul John dipped him into water
probably and probably they never even met right
but Simon taught him about the teachings of John
so in the teachings of John sometimes we pick
some parts and leave some part. So if you pick
some part of John's teaching, right, you would
actually say, ah, it was not saved, right? You
would say it was not saved. But if you pick the
entirety of what John taught, right, you would
know that he said, but does not have a clarity
on what he should be preaching, right? It does
not have place on what he should be preaching,
but it was saved. Now, how would we say that
if you check John's teaching? While he tries
to point to the Christ, it does not end there.
In John's teaching, he tries to point to Jesus,
but it does not end there. He told them that
he will baptize them with what? The spirit and
fire. So he already taught all of that about
what Christ would do, about a salvation that
will come through Christ. So it was not just
trying to identify, we're trying to tell them
that this is the person you should follow. So
he already preached Christ. Right? He already
preached Christ to them. So he talked about the
Spirit of God. So we can say John denied the
Holy Spirit. No. In John's teaching there is
no denial of the Spirit. There is no denial of
the Spirit and therefore we know that his teaching
is definitely complete. Right? complete. So it
means that there are certain ways that appellers
were teaching, right, that needed to be corrected
by those people who spoke to him. So Aquila and
Priscilla saw the way he taught and took him
in for what we can call a teaching meeting. Okay,
Aquila and Priscilla took him in for a teaching
meeting. It is different from when you see, when
Paul see people and we see other people and they
have not believed. and they pray for them and
they teach them about the salvation of Christ
rather it was a teaching about the teachings
it was already teaching so it wasn't anything
new but from the teaching from the scriptures
it knew there were explanations onto him so we
can continue to check this so we can say this
person to some extent is uh we can say that he's
saved using all all of this so He's not someone
who is uh, what can we say? He's not someone
who is throwing down the son of god. It doesn't
fit in into what ibris 10 verse 29 would say
it doesn't fit in into that doesn't also fit
in into into john all right, so We can say that
this is different and therefore you can't categorize
them as people who don't believe Right in the
spirit of god and in christ as being the son
of god, right in the spirit of god and in christ
as being the Son of God. All right, so therefore
we can say that these people, they are fates.
They are fates in God. We can't think that. We
can definitely say Apollos had faith in God.
We can definitely say John Mark also had faith
in God, okay? He had faith in God. Now, that
will take us to what faith is, right? That will
take us to what faith is to, because Pastor already
started teaching on that. I think Pastor Chidi,
also opened us up to that. But I just put it
in same thing putting it in just some facets
to help us see how faith is used. So I said they
have faith. They have faith in God, right? They
have faith in God. They've expressed their faith
in God. So first we can see that faith, the word
faith, right? The word faith is used to explain
salvation, to refer to salvation. Like salvation
directly right is used to refer to salvation
Faith is used to refer to salvation And we can
see Galatians 3 26 speak of your scriptures Galatians
3 26 Version 5 verse 4 1st John 5 verse 4, let's
write it down then 2 Colossians 3 verse 6, 1st
John 5 verse 4 we can pick 1st Corinthians 6
verse 12 Second second Corinthians, sorry, it
should be second Corinthians 6 verse 12. We pick
second Corinthians 6 verse 12 That should be
Let's start with Galatians. I'm gonna correct
part of scripture. Let's start with Galatians
3 verse 26 Galatians 3 verse 26. Can you put
it up? by faith in Christ Jesus, right? So, they
are all the children of God by faith of Christ
Jesus. Talking about, we are children of God
by salvation in Christ Jesus. Talking about salvation
here, right? What brings a man into, right, into
Christ, talking about salvation. The next scripture,
1 John 5 verse 4. For whatever is born of God,
overcomes the world. And this is the victory
that overcomes the world, even our faith, right?
It's talking about the salvation of man here
that overcomes the world. Now, the scripture
I was looking for is in 2 Corinthians 13 verse
5. That should be the scripture. I think there's
a typo here. Hi Jack first first Corinthians
Was a typographical in my studies That's inverse
five Okay, so that's inverse five second Corinthians,
yes second Corinthians 13 verse five examines
yourself whether you be in fluid right prove
yourselves prove your own selves, know that your
own selves are that Jesus Christ is in you, except
ye be republished. Now, this is kind of a, what
I say, a rhetorical question, right? It's not
saying that they should actually take themselves,
whether they are saved, because in the next line,
it says Christ is in you, right? In the next
line, it says Christ is in you. It says except
ye be republished, right? So, in this context,
we can see in a little way right uh pointing
to salvation right pointing to salvation that
they are in the faith in the faith now he's not
using working here he's not using uh some action
word that would make us think uh that is faith
in terms of lifestyle but he's saying so examine
yourself that you're in the faith and he says
christ is in you so that's salvation right that's
uh clint salvation in that context So again,
we can see faith in that essence as salvation.
Let's see, faith is used also for teaching, which
we can write down. Faith is also used for teaching.
It's also used for teaching to explain the doctrine
of Christ, the word that we receive. 1 Timothy
6 verse 12, 1 Timothy 6 verse 12. I'll just write
the scriptures down there. We'll read it again.
1st Timothy 6 verse 12. Then 1st Timothy 4 verse
6. And Jude chapter 3. Jude verse 3. Now here
saying fight the good fight of faith they hold
of an eternal life way unto doubt also be called
Maybe we can read from verse 11, right? If you
can just take it back a little bit All right,
let's get the first Timothy Six but that one
man of God free these things and follow after
righteousness godliness faith love uh patience
next then it's a fight a good fight of faith
now in this chapter right it's actually emphasizing
on the doctrine right fighting for the faith
right a good fight of faith is talking about
fighting for the doctrine right uh staying stable
for the doctrine contending for the doctrine
right contending for the faith similar words
you say you contend for the faith for what is
being thought about Christ, right? Containing
for the faith, fighting for the faith. Jude 3
is the one that says, content for the faith,
right? We're going to go to Jude 3. It says,
content for the faith. Jude 3, right. It says,
beloved, when I give all diligence to write to
you of the common salvation, right, as it was
needful for me to write to you and exhort you
that you should earnestly content for the faith,
which was when delivered unto the saints. So
what is delivered unto the saints is the doctrine
of Christ, right? The teachings of Christ reflect
that the doctrine of Christ is faith as well.
It's faith. And 1st Timothy 4 verse 6 uses the
word of faith, the word of faith that is being
preached to us, right? The word of faith that
we receive, the word of faith that is explained
to us. So we can see also that it's also used
as the same word, faith. 1 Timothy 4 verse 6.
If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these
things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus
Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and
of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
So again, doctrine explains here in faith. So
again, faith, the third one, faith is also used
in the scripture to explain the response to the
word of faith. Faith is also used to explain
the believer's response to the word of faith.
Response to the word of faith. Romans 10 verse
8 explains this. Romans 10 verse 8. Romans 10
verse 8. It's about what's in it. The word is
in... is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, in thy
heart. That is the word of faith which we preach.
Now, verse 17. Can I go to verse 17 of that same
chapter? Verse 17 of that romance. So then faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of
God. So here it talks about the response, right?
The response of the believer. There are other
scriptures that also talk about this. It talks
about the response of the believer. Now, let's
go to the fourth one. Then I would explain some
further things to us. Faith is also used to explain
the lifestyle of the believer. Faith is also
used to explain the lifestyle of the believer.
It means what the believer does like what's the
believer does like what the believer what a believer
does So second Corinthians 5 verse 7 second Corinthians
5 verse 7 Second Corinthians 5 verse 7 Ephesians
6 verse 16 Ephesians 6 verse 16 Ephesians 6 verse
16 James 1 verse 6 to 8 James 1 verse 6 to 8
James 1 verse 6 to 8 James 5 James 5 verse 16
James 5 verse 16. Then add this filament chapter
1 verse 6 and we can start with that. Filament
chapter 1 verse 6. So let's start with that.
Let's start with that. Let's start with filament
chapter 1 verses. We'll just take it back with
him. We'll go up there again. Okay. So what this
is saying is that the believers light is a life
of faith. The Big Bangs lifestyle is also called
faith. That the communication of thy faith may
be factual by acknowledging every good thing
which is in you, right? In Christ Jesus. This
can refer to first acknowledging is the first.
So we can say that by acknowledging every good
thing that is in you, the communication of your
faith will be effective. We can say that, right?
So acknowledging all that is yours in Christ.
makes the communication of your faith effective,
right? It makes the communication of your faith
effective. And communication there would also
mean what you do as a believer, right? What you
do as a believer effective because you acknowledge
all that is yours in Christ, right? What you
do as a believer, the communication of your faith
because your lifestyle is faith. Now let's go
to the next one, James 5. James 5, verse 16,
which talks about the prayer of faith, right?
The prayer of faith. Confess of what's one another
and pray for one another, that give me the effect
of having prayer of the righteous man abelitmo.
So we just use the prayer of faith, right? Abelitmo.
So it's talking about the life of the believer,
what the believer does, right? What the believer,
the lifestyle of the believer, an activity that
is found within the believer is faith. So prayer
can be referred to as faith in this context.
Now the next one is James chapter 1 verse 6 to
8. So Balani Maxin we find is Ephesians 6 verse
16, Ephesians 6 verse 16. Above all, taking the
shield of faith wherein ye shall be able to quench
of the fairy are that of the enemy right so taking
up the shield of faith right referring to what
the believer right engages in what the believer
engages we're talking about an activity that
a believer is not talking about salvation or
talking about fight here in terms of fighting
we're talking about what a believer engages in
an activity found within the space of the believer
the next one please and second Corinthians 5
7 Because what we want to establish is actually
to say that what we do, right, should be regarded
as faith, is faith, not should be regarded, is
faith. For we work by faith and not by sight.
Now, where are we going with all of this is to
bring all the scriptures together to explain,
right, to explain that your inactivity in the
areas of your life that the scripture says, right,
is reflecting a weakness of your faith. But the
more you do it, it's showing you are strong in
faith and it strengthens your faith. Do we get
it? So that's where we're going, that the lifestyle
of a believer is faith itself. Then when we don't
see you walk in those things, we can begin to
ask you, where is your walk of faith? We can
question, what is your walk of faith? Means the
things that we see in you that makes us, we don't
need to tell you to explain Matthew 16 verse
16 for us. We know that you are in faith. The
lifestyle that moves. So it means that, it therefore
means that in addition to, Knowing how to interpret
the scriptures and following the Bible and all
of that, every aspect of your life you must check
to ensure that you are engaging in them. Do you
get it? So it's not like a substitution like,
okay, I'll do evangelism, I want to read my Bible.
Or like me, I'm a prayer person. I only do prayer,
I don't do Bible study. Right? Or you say, well,
me, What the gift of God for me is my voice and
that is my point of meeting God, right? There
is nothing as such. You are weak in everything.
You are hiding under voice. That is what you're
doing. You are hiding under voice or you say
this is the aspect that me I think I can function.
I only stay on the engine. You don't study the
Bible. You don't pray. It shows that You are
working in faith in those areas. You are not
working in faith in those areas. Right? So you
know that regularly it is necessary for the believer
to sit down and take a stock, take an account
of yourself. Right? So regularly you need to
say that, okay, prayer, how is it going? Evangelism,
how is it going? Studying the word, how is it
going? You need to regularly take stock of every
part of your life. to ensure that you are working
the work of faith. And last week I said, on Sunday
I said, most of the things that you will discover
in that accounting is that there is anxiety somewhere,
especially when it comes to evangelism, right?
There's lack of commitment somewhere, right?
There's lack of, you would find out many things
and by that you are able to make corrections.
So, what we are saying is that every part of
the believer's life is a walk of faith and is
exercised in faith. That's another thing. It
is exercised in faith. So it's not like after
you take those talks, you now say, well, this
is my strategy. Yes, you can have, you know,
a good strategy and all of that, but you must
know that this thing is by faith. Sometimes you
don't feel like, but you must do it. Sometimes
it doesn't make any sense. Sometimes you just
go out because you have set that time that you
will go out. But your mind and your body is not
feeling it. Just go. There are many times that
we've gone through evangelism that you just go
out and you're not planning to meet this particular
guy who is in the second category that we'll
talk about. Some of you know the second category.
There are so many words in their head. They've
received many doctrine about Jesus, but they
are unbelievers. And they are ready to argue
with you, right? Sometimes you just go, but I
mean, I won't say it's the wrong thing, but fortunately,
not unfortunately, that's the person that you
met, right? And you are able to convince them
about the person of Christ. That shows that it
is not by your own strength, right? There was
one day, I think we were doing a evangelism on
campus and I was supposed to be the second man,
not the front line person. You know what I mean,
right? The person that would talk and the other
person is the... So, we went and the person was
talking and I wasn't necessarily plan to talk.
And after the guy had gotten to some points,
I asked him, brother, come and be the second
man. Let me be the first man so that this person
will not think that we don't know what we came
here to do. So, I didn't really plan to talk
on that day, but when I got there, from where
the conversation dropped, I just picked it. And
the Holy Spirit just flowed, right? And the guy,
what the guy said was, they've not taught us
like this. Sincerely, he said, they've not taught
us like this. This is not what we think. It was
about Jesus, it was about Jesus being the procreation
of God. And after I explained, they said they've
never taught us like this. You know, he was in
the other boys department, so I tell him, he's
in your department, please go and read. And that's
another thing. We need a whole lot of knowledge
to help us to grow. So sometimes you just go
out and you just jam it. And you have to really
trust the strength of God, the wisdom of God.
Sometimes in my office, I'm not interested in
doing evangelism at that time. I'm just trying
to finish the work. and this professor just coming,
Emmanuel, what do you think about heaven? He
brings himself all the time. And even if that
work is very important, sincerely, I drop it
and I just sit down and we start talking. He
calls me my pastor. He says, my pastor, I like
your view. But you know, the end point is not
my view, right? The end point is to get him saved.
So sometimes we can go on paper boat... You must
always trust in the strength of the Holy Spirit,
right? You must always trust. Sometimes even
when you want to approach people, you are thinking,
you are contemplating, but when you trust in
the strength of the Holy Spirit, right, it just
flows. It just flows. So, while it is a work
that we do by faith and we take stuff of our
life, what we must know is that we depend on
the strength of the Spirit. Praise God! Can we
just pray that we are strengthened by the Spirit
of God in our inner man. We appreciate you being
here today. We hope you carried this word with
you throughout your week. Don't forget to check
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