Joseph Prince - How To Be Strong In Grace
Hallelujah. Grace Academy. Amen. I can see all the graduates already. Praise the Lord. You know, we are always learning, amen. We never stop learning. The reason we came up with this, actually, it all came up from my heart, all right, sharing with the pastors, and I felt like, we need to embark on a teaching program for our people that instead of just waiting for every Sunday, you know, I know that there are many of you also doing your own devotional every day, whether you're using my devotional book or any other book, doesn't matter. You're spending the quiet time that we all need to spend with the Lord, right? You are doing that, right? Besides watching TV, are you all doing that? I'm sure you're all doing that, amen. But you cannot just wait for Sunday to Sunday to Sunday, because there's so much that God wants to teach us.
And do you know that, what I have on my, JPM app and what our Gospel Partners have access to is more than 1,000 sermons. Now, I started preaching way before that, of course, right? But we only take the year 2000 until the year 2022. Exactly 22 years, hey, think about that, 22. Twenty two years, amen? So, it's been more than 1,000 sermons, and we have covered so many things, so many areas that you may have, a question about, that you may be going through in your life right now, that perhaps you are faced with a situation that those answers God has given in His Word in those sermons. In fact, we are a teaching church. How many of you realize that we are a teaching church? Every church has its emphasis. Yeah, you can give praise to God for that, amen, hallelujah.
And we are always learning, learning from the Lord, amen, first of all about Jesus, and then about His ways and the New Covenant. We are to be students of God's grace. But I find that time is short, and because time is short, Jesus is coming back. We all can sense that, we all can sense that. You know, and we see the signs of the times, you know, and we... Yesterday I heard something I never heard before, I think it was yesterday or two days ago. There's a new, like, pox. It's monkeypox. Don't look around. There's no monkeypox here, amen. There's only Pastor Mark. No, Pastor Mark is healthy and strong. So, there's no... don't, don't worry about it. But, you see, all the sudden it's like one thing after another? We don't know how far this thing, you know, may go and all, but we do not know, all right?
So, let's not be alarmed. The thing is this, that in the end times Jesus says about plagues. Plagues will increase. It's always been there, right? Wars, are we seeing something now? And then rumors of wars, which means news of wars, Jesus says will all be on the increase, amen. We are living in these times, people, and because time is short, you cannot just wait from one week to another week to another week to learn. Embark on learning God's ways, amen. Feed your spirit in a way that's convenient for you. We'll give you more details later on, whether, you know, you can do it online as well as participate or whatever, we'll let you know, but a-a-are you excited about the Grace Academy, that you can be a part of it, amen? And, you know, right now all our Gospel Partners of Joseph Prince Ministry, they all have access already to more than 1,000 sermons, and this is the same report that keeps coming back, "It is like my own Bible school".
You know, sometimes I do not know where to go, and I just ask God to lead me and then I just choose at random, and God speaks to me from there. You know, it's time and time again, it's like, the urim and thummim. It just shines out. Just the other day I was sitting down with the pastors, and I was sharing with them things about, learning about the Bible, how to study the Bible in ways that it's not the traditional way. You know, most of the time what I shared with them that night compared to what you see on YouTube, for example, how to study the Bible, you know, those methods are not wrong, right? There's a lot of methods, all right? There's, inductive method, there's, a discipline method, you go through, you know, M'Cheyne's way of reading the Bible and you study that, but the best way, I believe, right, the way I've learned from the Lord, and I've tried these methods, but the best is really the Holy Spirit way, all right? And I was sharing to pastors how I do it and how God speaks to me.
You see, Bible study becomes really, really fun when God speaks. When God speaks, it's no more just words. And they're all the word of God, the logos, but it becomes the rhema. "Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart," amen. It becomes a rhema, it speaks to you. Oh, I'm telling you, it's like everything about you becomes reinvigorated, because the Bible says God's words are health to all your flesh, amen. Everything about you, your mind comes alive, your body becomes healthy, vivacious, amen, energetic, and, you just, you just leave that moment, leave that place of Bible study after that different. I want you to experience that. We'll be teaching this also in the Grace Academy, all right, and materials that I want to share. Many times I share in a sermon, like, today and every Sunday, but then I got so much more. Do you hear me saying that?
Oh my goodness, I just got the introduction into the main body, but then time's up, because you all have to go and? Eat. Pastor Mark will have to go and eat. Pastor Lawrence especially must go for his steak. Look at that body, amen. So, because of that we have to let you go, amen. You need to collect your children and all that, and, a lot has... There's still a lot there, amen. You know, when God shows me something, it is like, it's concentrated. It takes week to slowly dispense of it. You know, it's like, you have to not dilute it, but break it down, unpack it. It takes time to unpack it, amen. So, I pray that you will avail yourself of this Grace Academy, amen, and nonetheless, already gospel partner, you have access to more than 1,000 sermons. Whichever stage of life you go in, right, just ask the Lord to speak to you and learn from His Word.
One of the saddest indictments in the Bible is when God said, "My people", not the people of the world, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge". Not the lack of good intentions, not the lack of good works, charitable, you know, contributions, being involved in a lot of social work, not a lack of all that. It's a lack of knowledge. And lack of knowledge can be quite merciless, how many know that? God wants His people to be knowledgeable because God knows how evil it is, how terrible it is that there are people whose lives are cut short because they don't have knowledge, all right? Even in the natural, for example, on a dark, stormy, heavy you know, rainfall, all around you, and, you can hardly see the road as you're driving, okay? Then you see the cable, you see a cable has dropped across the road, and, out of the kindness of your heart because of other motorists and all that, you thought you wanted to remove the debris, right? But it's a cable, right?
So, you pick up the cable, thinking it's a branch, and it's live. What happens? You don't imagine that, right? Now, can I ask you a question? Do you have good intention? Yes. Do you care for others? Yes. Were you doing something selfish? No, you were trying to remove the debris, right? But there was a lack of knowledge, a lack of knowledge of what that thing really is. This is what God's Word reveals to us, the true nature of things, and then God's solution, God's wisdom, amen. So, let's dive into the Word of God today, praise God. Along the lines of what we are sharing, we wanna share with you also that we are always students. Actually, Jesus said in the Great Commission, "Go into all the world". Now, many of your Bibles says, "Make disciples of all nations," but actually the word down there is "make students". "Make students of all nations," make disciple, the word disciple, okay, learn this. The word disciple, people, is from the Greek mathétés. Mathétés, say mathétés. Okay, mathétés.
Now, in the Hebrew it is talmid, say talmid. Talmid from the Hebrew limmud. There's a, you know the Hebrew alphabet, A to Z, there's a letter there called lamed. Lamed is actually to teach. That's where you get the word disciple, limmud. So, a disciple is nothing more than someone who is learning. Okay, someone who's learning. The unfortunate thing today is that disciples, discipleship programs and all that, are portrayed as if it's something that makes you a superior Christian, makes you a greater Christian than what you really are. Actually, it's nothing more than always be a learner, always be a student of God's grace, amen. Now, I am not against the word disciple, I'm not against the concept of learning, because we have to learn. In fact, all that I said just now is to encourage you to learn and continue learning.
How many know that we'll continue learning until we see Jesus face to face or until your old age, amen? You will continue, you are a lifelong of God's grace, come on. We are lifelong students of the New Covenant, amen, we are still discovering it, amen. So, I'm encouraging you to be a student, but what happened is that people take the word disciple and they say that, oh, to be a Christian is no cost, but to be a disciple is a different level. So, be a Christian is at this level, but you gotta be a disciple at this level, okay? Now, the thing that I wanted to ask is this. If you study the scriptures, you find Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you find Jesus has disciples, amen. Gamaliel, a very famous rabbi in Jerusalem, he has disciples. In fact, even today in Israel there are rabbis having disciples. Disciples means followers of a certain teacher, followers of a certain rabbi. Are you with me so far?
All right, you're all disciples, amen, strictly speaking. But the idea that being a Christian is not enough, right, if you wanna be a holier Christian, a more devoted Christian, you must be a disciple. Actually, we are regressing. A Christian cannot but be hungry. The Bible says, "As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word". Are you all hungry for God's Word? That's why you are here this morning, amen. Come on. Praise the Lord. Amen, this is your real self. This is who you are. You are a new creation in Christ. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. You don't for one moment think that you are defined by your failures. No, no, no, no. You might be a righteous man, like, a butterfly sometimes fall among trash, but it is still a butterfly. It doesn't metamorphosize into a caterpillar again because I fell among trash. No, you are still a butterfly.
Get up, be who you are. That butterfly needs to go to New Creation Church and be told who you are. We're not telling you who you are to make you who you are, we are telling you who you are because that's who you are. Amen. A new creation in Christ. Old things are passed away, all things have become new. So, every failure, every, expedition into the sinful realm that you find people going to, every addiction, every fall, everything that is negative in our lives that we think they should not be there anymore, but we are still experiencing it, whether it's sinful habit or addictions or depression, whatever it is, let me tell you this, it's because we don't realize who we are or we are fighting an enemy that has been defeated. We are repressing a nature that doesn't exist, but the, the echo of it is still there.
We fail to realize that the enemies, the Egyptians are dead, washed on the seashore. We are not on the side of Egypt, we are on the other side. Christ has died on the cross. But what happened first, I feel this temptation to lust, I feel this temptation to anger. It is telling you it's alive, right? It's not. That is where the reckoning comes in. Pure, raw reckoning. You do it in spite of this is who I am, I'm not what I feel. I'm not this lying symptom coming in my body, telling me that I'm depressed. This is who you are, amen. You look at the world, it becomes dark, bleak, amen. You think the worst of every situation, you think the worst of every person, your mind is clouded with darkness. The devil says you are depressed, don't accept that label. Amen, you are not depressed, and you have the peace of God, amen. Then what is this, Pastor Prince? It's trying to tell you this is who you are. It is from the outside trying to come in, it is not from the inside declaring itself. Are you listening?
So, I am against the idea of, people saying that "Now you're a Christian, great," all right? "There's no cost, Jesus paid everything, but to be a disciple, there's a great cost". People love that. I mean, the flesh loves to hear that. I wanna pay the cost, I wanna pay the... You know, it's not, my friend. Actually, all right, we are regressing. There were disciples and discipleship before there were Christians. Long before there were Christian, there were disciples. You find them in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Jesus' disciples were disciples long before they were Christians, long before they were called new creations, and then something interesting happened. I challenge you to look in the scriptures. Look at all the Spirit-inspired epistles of Christ through the Apostle Paul.
All the letters to the church through Peter, James, Paul. Paul wrote most of it. Jude, John, in all the Spirit-inspired letters to the church after the book of Acts, you don't find one single mention of disciples anymore. Does that mean we stop learning? No, but why did the Holy Spirit choose not to use that word? Because the Holy Spirit knows we tend to put these kind of wrong ideas about being a student, we complicate it, as if something you have to do to progress farther. Actually, it's a regression. Pastor Prince, don't we all need to learn? Yes, but let me tell you this, it's in the heart of every believer to learn. In fact, when you heard back, Grace Academy, I don't have to tell you, you need to learn. You know. I'm just reminding you of that hunger that you have, and now we give you, an avenue for you to learn even more faster. You can even learn every day.
But to say, you know, teach people how to learn, it's like saying to a baby... A baby is a son, am I right? A true son of the father and mother, am I right? We are saying, "Baby, now that you are born, now you're in the family, it's good you are born, but you got to learn to be hungry". Trust me, babies will let you know they are hungry at all the different hours of the day and night, and all the parents, and mothers especially, because fathers can sleep through, amen, mothers all said? Need your support here, mothers, come on. You don't have to say, "Now, now, baby, listen, I'm gonna teach you seven steps to hunger". That's the kind of thing that I'm not for, because rather than, you know, and that's why the word disciple does not appear, because the Holy Spirit has replaced it with sonship, with sonship. You are now a son and daughter of God.
Now, what's the difference? Disciple, you can be a disciple, but it's not a family. In fact, in those days the rabbis, whichever rabbi it is, Gamaliel and all that, to be a disciple, you have to renounce your family, you have to renounce your natural occupation, whatever, and come and follow him. Now you are a follower of Gamaliel, you know? Now a follower of Gamaliel. That's why I don't like to say, okay, Pastor Mark is my disciple, I don't like to say Pastor Lawrence is my disciple. No, no, no, they are sons of God. But are they disciples in the sense of the Greek word mathétés? Yes, they are students of God's grace.
Now, I said just now, in the Great Commission Jesus says, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel," and many translations says, "And make disciples of all nations". It just means, the word there is the verb of mathétés, of being a student. Mathēteuō, and you know which translation has that? The King James. You look at the King James Bible, it says, "Go into all the world and teach," mathēteuō. It just means teach. "Make students," amen. All of you here, you got saved because I taught and preached on the gospel of Jesus Christ, right? And then after that you keep on coming because you want to learn more about the New Covenant, become a student of God's grace, amen? That's why you keep on coming, you keep on hearing, am I right?
So, we are making students of all nations. I just let you know something, it's okay to put, "Make disciples of all nation," because as long as you understand make disciples means make students, amen. But actually this is Matthew's Great Commission, and Matthew was written to the Jews, and they understand clearly the concept of discipleship, because before Jesus came there were disciples and there were rabbis, amen. So, Jesus is telling them, when you preach the gospel, make students. They understand that, the Jewish would understand that, but in the Great Commission of Matthew, He didn't say to them, "Go," He says, "Wait". So, which is it Pastor Prince? "Wait until you receive the promise of the Father from on high, until you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, don't go just yet".
And the Great Commission, all right, not in Matthew, but in Luke you find Him saying, "When you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, then you start preaching", where? In Jerusalem, in Samaria, all right, and in the uttermost parts of the earth. So, Matthew says, "Go into all the world," because the Jewish people tend to feel like the gospel is only for them, amen, the good news is only for them, so Jesus is saying, no, it's for the whole world. So, He spoke against the natural tendency to think that we are the only ones. But for the...Luke, return to the Gentile, amen? Now we can all benefit from it, of course, it's all returned for our benefit, okay? But strictly speaking the different ones are written for different groups. Luke is written to the Gentile, and what did Jesus say? Wait. And for the Gentile, amen, there's a message there.
The good news must be preached in the guiltiest city, where Jesus was crucified, where they rejected Him. Isn't this grace? Beginning in Jerusalem and then Samaria and then the uttermost part, that's into all the world. So, there is...you must take all the Great Commission together. And Jesus never breathed one word about the church. He never breathed one word about the mystery of the church, why? Because that will come with Paul's ministry, and Paul wasn't saved yet at that time. So, even on the night, think about it, three and a half years, and finally the night before Jesus was crucified, do you know what He said to His disciples? "I have many things to say to you, but you are not yet able". And we think Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John encapsulize all the entire teaching of Jesus, and then Paul... many people think Paul's letters as, you know, Paul's opinions here and there.
My friend, Paul's letters are the words of the ascended Christ. When He was here, even on the last day before He was crucified after three and a half years of teaching them, you know what He says? "I have many things to say unto you, but you are not yet able. But when He, the Holy Spirit, comes, He will guide you into all truth". So, if you wanna follow strictly, the Great Commission, right, you gotta follow Luke's account as well, and you gotta start preaching in Jerusalem first. Does that mean we stop preaching the gospel? No, the idea of preaching the gospel is there, but you talk about being strict about every little word, all right? Then you gotta tarry and preach in Jerusalem first. Every missionary must start preaching in Jerusalem. What makes us put Matthew's Great Commission above Luke's Great Commission? It's the same Jesus giving the commission. We have to study and study the context as well.
By the way, the disciples go, the one that He spoke to go into all the world, they didn't. They all stayed in Jerusalem. You know what the Bible calls that? Disobedience. So, even then, they didn't go. Even after they got baptized in the Holy Spirit, they still didn't go until there was a persecution. Then they were scattered. They actually went, they obeyed because they were scattered. Now they are going into all of Samaria, uttermost part of the earth, and then God raised Paul, amen. And then listen carefully, something happened. So, the word disciples are there throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the word disciples are there in the book of Acts throughout, but something happened in Acts 11.
Look at this, this is interesting. Acts 11, when he had found, Barnabas found Paul. Paul had just got saved, and he brought him to Antioch. "So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch". What are you? You are not a disciple anymore. The disciples are now called Christians. And from then on in the books, in the letters of Paul, which is written directly to the church, all the Bible is for us. I repeat, all the Bible is for us. You gonna quote me, quote me, ah, saying that, ah? Every scripture is God breathed, amen. But some in the book of Ezequiel, Nahum, Micah, are written for the Jew. Can we benefit? Of course, God put it in His Word. We can benefit by example, we learn, all right, but the words literally is not written to you, amen.
What can we learn? We can learn principles, yes, but remember it's not written directly to you. The only letters that are written to you directly are the epistles, the love letters of the Holy Spirit to the church through Paul, Peter, James, John, James, Jude. That doesn't mean we neglect Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. No, I love Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John because it gives me a vision of Jesus. I see Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. What about His teachings? Remember, His teachings were kingdom focused. Which kingdom they rejected, because they rejected the King. There was no revelation. In fact, Jesus only spoke two words in all three and a half years about the church. "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them," amen, and church discipline, He talks about that, and about "The gates of hell cannot prevail against the church," but the mystery of the church, He knew that they weren't ready to receive the mystery of the New Covenant and the church, and that came through the Apostle Paul, who was born again very much later on.
So, here the disciples in the book of Acts... and by the way, the book of Acts is the one that ends the word disciples. You don't find them anymore. Does that mean there's no more students? No, like I said, we continue to be students. Paul taught, by the way, Paul taught Timothy. Right, yeah, Paul discipled Timothy, Pastor Prince, Paul discipled. You can use that word, you won't be wrong, but, again, I said the idea of that word carries that connotation of, like, the way it was taught by the rabbis. It's been brought back to the church. So, did Paul disciple Timothy? I said the word disciple didn't appear. Then how did Paul regard Timothy? My disciple? No, my son. It's a family thing now, it's sonship, the focus is on sonship.
Amen, look at, 1 Timothy, chapter 1. "To Timothy my true son in the faith," not my disciple. Disciple is less, son is greater. Today we have reversed the whole thing, we have regressed into discipleship, amen, and the spirit of sonship has suffered. My greatest concern is that the spirit of sonship has suffered, because I'm a follower of Jesus, I'm a disciple. You are just Christians, all of you, you are sons of God, yes, but I'm more than a son, I'm a disciple, like you have achieved something greater. No, you are regressing, and if you don't watch it, you'll catch the spirit of discipling and lose the spirit of sonship. Sonship is greater, the greater has come. Are you listening? In chapter 2 of 2 Timothy, again he addressed Timothy. He says, "To Timothy, my dearly beloved son". Mark, "My dearly beloved son". Come here, come here, come here. Come here. Amen. God bless you. Don't forget. Call me father, he just called me father. Yes, my beloved son. Don't forget your monthly allowance. Amen? That's how they did it.
What's the idea? You see, you can have, uh, a relationship of a disciple and a master, it's a student kind of thing, but it's not family. But do children families, do they learn from the father? Yes. At least, they're supposed to. The Bible standard. Now, yes, Lawrence, you're also my beloved son. Yes, Gabriel, you're also my true son in the faith. Which other pastor here? Not once I start, right? They're all wondering, "Does Pastor Prince only love Pastor Mark"? Mark, be careful, and as many as I love, I rebuke. Of course. So, we have this. Now, in... he discipled Timothy, right? But he never used the word disciple. Disciple means teach. Because why, why did Holy Spirit...didn't...I mean, not one instance in the epistles did the Holy Spirit choose the word disciple, being the noun or the verb. You don't find it.
In fact, in 2 Timothy chapter 2, it says that "You therefore, my son", again, my son, "be strong," Paul is writing to Timothy. "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," strong in grace. The focus is on grace. Strong in grace, then he tells him, he teaches him mentorship. All right, you can call it disciple, student, apprentice, then you get the right definition of the word disciple, all right. He's saying, "The things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also". Okay, Mark, come, Lawrence and Gideon, come. When I say come, come fast. Don't walk like old men, eh? I know you're 75, but you must spring up. He always tell me, people ask my age, right? I always say, you know, 75, 80. Then they look at me and say, wah, so young. I don't know, is that wisdom or not?
But, okay, Paul is saying, if you look, how to be strong in grace, how to be strong in grace. The idea of grace is there, right? Okay? Strong in grace. He says that "The things that you have heard from me," all right, Timothy, my dearly beloved son. All right. The things that you have heard from me, so the things that you have heard from me, what I've taught you, commit to faithful men. Commit to faithful men. The things you heard from me, now you continue, commit now to faithful men. But Pastor, that's discipleship! But why did the Holy Spirit never use that word? It's done in sonship spirit, it's done in a family spirit, not a master-student. We must learn in that spirit. Sonship is greater, sonship, see, the greater always includes the lesser, come on. The greater always includes the lesser. Sonship is greater. It also encapuslizes discipleship. But don't let anyone make you feel like, you know, sonship and all that, it's not enough. You are regressing.
So, the things you heard from me, all right, in Grace Academy, 'cause you are my gospel partner, you've been with me all the time, you're my son in the Lord, you imbibe my milk, amen. I take the food, I chew, chew, chew, make it soft, and then I put it in your mouth. Amen. What I feed, you swallow. The things you heard from me. Now, this is talking about teachings, right? The things you heard from me, commit to faithful men, commit to faithful men who are able to teach. Now, the faithful men, you see, God looks for faithfulness. God doesn't look for people with ability to teach. This is a secret of teaching. The gift of teaching comes later. If you are faithful, it will come. Watch this, commit to what? Able men who can teach? No. Sometimes it's dangerous to give to men of ability, because they get proud very fast. Amen, look for faithful men. People are always that day in, day out. Commit to faithful men "who shall be able to teach," that's future. They are now faithful, but one day they shall be able to teach. "Who shall be able to teach others".
The things you heard from me, commit to, you can face him. "The things you heard from me, commit to faithful men who shall be able to teach others". Okay, now watch this. Where did Paul receive his revelation? Not from himself. From who? Jesus. Watch this, it starts from Jesus, right? Jesus gives to Paul, Paul gives to Timothy, Timothy gives to faithful men, faithful men teaches other faithful men. You can call it apprenticeship, you can call it discipleship as long as you don't miss the spirit of what the Bible is saying. Watch this, grace is what number in the Bible? Five, the fifth time Noah was mentioned, it says, "Noah found grace". Five stems the measurements of the Tabernacle, it's full of grace.
Okay, now watch this, Jesus one, he's always the first one, he's number one. Jesus, Timothy, two. Timothy...sorry, Paul, two. You are awake. You are a good student. Good disciple, amen. So, one, two, three, Timothy. Timothy to faithful men, four. Faithful men to others, five. To be strong, it start with be strong in grace. All right, give them a hand, praise the Lord, thank you, Jesus. And there are so many things to learn about marriage, God's plan, God's paradigm, parenting, amen, how to study the Bible, our gifts and calling. Each one of you have a calling, you have a gift. Don't die, and, you know, don't die with that gift latent, hidden, unused, unutilized. The greatest fulfillment is to do what you dream of doing and then you get paid for it, and you never dream you'll get paid for doing something you enjoy.
Do what you enjoy, the money will always follow. Don't worry about the money. Do what you enjoy, the money will come, the money will flow. Don't go for the money, and then you find you end up with this empty feeling, amen. Day in, day out, looking, looking, looking until your eyes are burned, until your eyes nearly fall out, amen, looking at the stock market or whatever. Unless you're called, be very careful. You know, don't go into areas whereby it is not your joy, it is not your pleasure. I have so much more to teach about gifts and calling and how you can be alert, how you can flow into it. Can you increase the gift? Yes, amen. Gift can be increased, amen. You can stir it up, you can even increase it, you can cultivate it as well. For more, join the Grace Academy. It's not possible to teach everything in one session, right?
So, back to this again. Why did the Holy Spirit not use the word disciples in all the Spirit-inspired letters to the church? Because he knew that sonship has come. So, he renamed the disciples for the first time in Acts, again. He named them what? The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. So, which is more important? The disciples are now, the names are changed to Christians. We should be calling each other sons of God or Christian. The word, you know what's Christian or not? Once upon a time, there was the Christ. You know what it means? Maschiach in Hebrew, the anointed one. That means whatever He touches that is evil, evil departs. Anointing breaks sickness that's a yoke, amen. When anointing is on you and you speak, it's effortless, and the words go deep. All right, it's like the oil, this way it's like the oil, it's always, typified like the oil. If the door sounds creaky, all right, something's getting old, something is falling into disuse, what do you do? You put oil on the hinges, and then you don't hear the noise anymore.
You know why there's so much complaining? People are...the oil, either the oil has become stagnant, because oil can become stagnant. You need fresh oil. And in Psalms 92, which is a psalm they use for the Sabbath every Sabbath, Psalms 92 comes after Psalms 91. See, whoo. And Psalms 92 is a song of the Sabbath. At the end it says that "Even in your advanced age, you will flourish like the palm tree," and the palm tree doesn't grow old. It keeps on producing even in its old age, all right? That's the last part of, Psalms 92, but somewhere in between it says, "I shall be anointed with fresh oil," amen. So, that is the song of Sabbath. Every Sabbath you are supposed to be anointed with fresh oil. We gotta be students of God's grace. But sonship is most important.
Now, back to this again, this is important. I asked God to speak to me further because I knew about this sometime ago, and many of you, you know that I have a teaching. If not, I'm letting you know now. I have a teaching in 2013 that I did on discipleship and, sons of God, but back then I don't have some of the revelations that I have even now, because I asked God to confirm before I preach it. You know, I always ask God to confirm further and further, and this one is a fresh one. You know what the Lord said to me? All right, study the Word. The disciples were first called Christian, and I found out this word is no ordinary word. It is the word chrématizó. All right, it's pronounced chrématizó, it's a glottal sound, chrématizó.
All right, try, try. You have your mask on, so nobody will feel like you're spitting on them. All right, say chrématizó. There's a glottal sound. Chrématizó, all right, chrématizó is...the word chréma, you know what is that? The oracles of God, you know what's oracles? Prophetic oracles. You know, the new age peoples, they go to oracles, and, they believe that, you know, a spirit being will talk to them. They call it oracular, oracles. Oracle, back in the Bible times, oracles of God, God's voice. This word here chrématizó is literally divinely called. The disciples were divinely called, the Holy Spirit changed disciples, the name disciples to Christians, anointed ones. You are all anointed one. Christians means what? Anointed one. Christ-ian, amen. We are all part of... our Lord Jesus is Christ, the Messiah. There's only one Messiah. We're all Christians, like Him.
When he's anointed, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with fire, amen. The Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all. With anointing, there's a power to heal. You find it easy to pray for the sick, amen. Why? Where there's the oil, bondages break. Evil spirits don't like oily places. They seek what? Dry places. Jesus says when the evil spirit leaves a person, it seeks dry places, amen. I got another teaching altogether, oh, so much to share, so little time, praise God. So, let's go on. Divinely called, now this word, divinely called, chrématizó, look at the Youngs. Youngs is the only that...so this, I noticed, I searched the whole thing, and Youngs put down that "the disciples also were divinely called in Antioch Christians".
Have you noticed the Holy Spirit changed the name? And how often do we say Christians? Now, I think I've heard people say, "To be a Christian is not enough, you must be a disciple". We have just downgraded what was a revelation peculiar to the New Covenant. It's greater. It's like this, remember last time I taught you all that Israel, they were under the law? Right, when they were under the law, what were they? Real quick, Galatians 3, "Before faith came," before justification by faith came, before Jesus came, before grace came.
Now, "Before faith came," there's the idea of faith, justification by faith, "Before faith came, we were held captive under the law", under the Ten Commandments, "imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came", watch this now, "in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian," and who is this guardian? The law, the Ten Commandments, right? It says that very clearly. God married Israel at Mount Sinai, amen, before the day was, you know, before that time of they stayed there was over, 3,000 had died. And then on Mount Zion God gave the Spirit, and 3,000 people were saved. We are no more under law, under the guardian. At one time the guardian tells you when to wake up.
You know, in those days, right, the guardian of the Romans ready, I speak for established, wealthy families and all that, they have guardian for their young son. In fact, the guardian have authority to tell, want them to wake up, go to your gym, do these exercises, all right, do this homework, algebra or whatever, and then come back, he will give you more lessons, more physical exercise, whatever, tell you when to sleep and all that. But once he comes to maturity, the guardian has no more say to him. Does a Christian need the Ten Commandments to be told don't lie, don't commit adultery, really? You have to be...no, it is written in your heart. You know it. Sonship is greater. So, after faith has come, we are no longer under the guardian, are you with me so far? So, if you go on, it says, "But now faith has come, we are no longer under guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith".
Now, people, sons of God here is the word huios, say huios. Now, keep this in mind, there are different words for sons, different periods of growth. Baby stage is népios, say népios. Think of nappy, nappy, diapers, nappy, all right? Népios, all right? Népios is infant, huios is full grown sons. They can drive their father's car. They can run his business, amen. Pastor Mark and Sons, which is Mark and Sons, Private Limited, except that the word limited is there, but for God, God and Sons Unlimited. So, you're a son, a full grown son, amen. Then we go to chapter 4 real fast, it says that, "I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child," a népios, infant.
"As long", the heir, the heir! Let's say that a billionaire, he has only one son. The son is the heir, right? But as long as he's a child, "He's no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything," am I right? He cannot enjoy filet mignon. He's a baby. He cannot enjoy the father's private jet plane, right? He can be on board, but he cannot enjoy it. It takes maturity to enjoy, right, things like this. He cannot drive his father's car, amen. Why? Not mature. So, Paul is saying, "As long as you're a child, infant, you're no different from a slave, though you are the owner of everything", technically speaking the owner of everything, "but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father".
Now, this is referring to the time of Israel under law, when Israel was under law, under the guardian, they were népios, infants. "In the same we also, when we were children", népios, "we were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world". Real fast, I'm gonna tell you this Greek word for elementary principles is the A-B-C. It is the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments actually is the A-B-C. You read up, it's referring to the law. We were under that. Now, again, I said, doesn't mean you become lawless, without moral. No, when God writes on your heart, okay, not only you don't commit adultery, the very thought down here, all right, it's like you're averse to it. More than that, you fall in love with the woman that you married, because you can don't commit adultery and not love the woman that you married. That comes from the Lord.
And all of a sudden, you realize that God forgave me so much of my sins, why can't I forgive her for her mistakes, for her failures? People need grace in their marriage, and we'll be sharing grace as well, it's part of the curriculum, amen, in marriage. Praise God. Hallelujah. I can't tell your face with the masks that you wear. The sad thing is that when you laugh, right, must indicate, amen? Try to laugh with your eyes or move your head. Praise God. All right, so, "In the same way we also, when we were children, we were enslaved to" these A-B-Cs of the faith, which is the law. Drop down. "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law," so that we might receive what? Sonship. "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law".
Now, listen carefully, strictly speaking, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is Jesus still under the law. All His disciples were under law. In fact, let me tell you this, none of the disciples were saved or born again. How can they be saved? Nobody was saved. They were followers, yes, they were disciples, yes, but they were not saved. Why? How do I know that? Because Jesus has not yet died. He has not risen again. So, they were followers of Jesus. Were they Christians? No, they were disciples. Put that right. He has not yet died, he has not risen, how can they be saved? Now, after He died and rose again from the dead in the Upper Room He appeared, right? Says, "Shalom," and then He breathed on them. That's when they were saved. They received the Holy, that's when they were saved. But they were baptized in the Holy Spirit when? Fifty days after, right? On the day of Pentecost. They were baptized in the Holy, then what is the first breathing? They were born again.
Was Judas there? No. Judas didn't lose his salvation, he never had it to begin with. He never followed all the way with the disciples to the Upper Room where Jesus breathed on them and they were born again. They were the first group to be born again. So, until then they were followers of Jesus, they were disciples of Jesus, but we are saying right now, you can be a Christian, oh, that's good, but you know, being a Christian is not enough, you gotta be a follower of Jesus. You know, that phrase is not used. The closest I can find is Peter saying, "Follow His steps". Right, Paul is saying, "You are one with Jesus. Allow Him to express himself in you". Follow means He's outside, I follow, all right? No, He's inside, I listen. The New Covenant is you are one with Jesus. Don't fall from your high place that God has given you. Are you listening, people?
So, the word used is sonship. What are you all? Sons. You know, one time I was praying, I was praying, and I don't know what happened to me, but somehow, maybe I had a stressful season at the time, I started praying with like, I think it's earnestness. People think earnest is something that means you, ooh, you are very, you know? But actually earnestness is the power of the Holy Spirit generating in you. But so I pray with more, like, kind of intense. You know, I say, "God, please, God, God, please, you know, I need this to be done, Lord. Lord, Father, I pray in Jesus' name, Father, please," you know? And all the sudden I felt the Holy Spirit correct me. This was years ago. He correct me, and from this came the teaching on sonship. He said this to me. "Why are you praying to Me like that? I'm your Father. Why don't you talk to Me like a son"?
If you know father loves you, it's a family thing, sometimes somethings you take, you don't even ask your father. The father will say you can take. You go to the fridge, you take, you drink, right? It's a family relationship. Family relationship is that you know the father's heart. It's a family speaks of love. The word huios for full grown sons has the idea of dignity of the relationship. Disciples, no. Sons means you are in the...it's a dignity to be a son of God, I'm telling you. It, hallelujah, it carries the idea of dignity and character. Who are you? Who are you? The angels are looking into all of your lives and looking at the mystery of salvation. Are these the people?
They see us losing our temper, they see us impatient, they see the things we say to our spouse, and then the angels say to one another, "These are the people He died for"? The other angel probably think, "What is it about them? We are powerful, we can, we want, bat of the eyelid, we are in the other part of the earth. We want another bat of the eyelid, we are back in heaven. There's no time or space for us. We move really fast, greater than the speed of light. Oh, but these people, they move very slow, and they call their bike, hmm, they call their bike, hmm, this is as fast as they...and they call that fast? What about these people that the Son of God, the Son of God gave His life for"?
Do you know, people, Jesus never died for Lucifer even though he fell? That's why there's something in him, when he looks at men, right, he hates men. Jesus did not die for angels. There's a verse in Hebrews that says, "He did not give aid to angels that fall, but He gave aid to the seed of Abraham". He loves you. Another angel will come and say, "These are the people. Never speak against them. These are the people that He redeemed. They must be precious. Watch over them". All right? The archangel will say, "Watch over them". Sons of God. So, I was praying, and all of a sudden I stop. Yes, I check myself. I feel a sense of distance, like God is far away. All of a sudden, become God, not Father. So, I slowed down, and I say that, "I'm trying to get the answer, I'm trying," causes stress.
So, I stop, and I reestablish the sense of consciousness of son. And I say, "Father, Father," sometimes the word Father alone is enough, just to say Father a few times. "Father, Father". See, notice? He might be El Shaddai to Jacob, He might be Yahweh to Abraham, He might be El Elyon to Melchizedek, but He is Father. The name that Jesus came to reveal, it's a family feel. It's loved, love. You know, a company can have a lot of people working, a lot of students as well, but sons have a special place. A son sometime can not come on time, but in the end the inheritance goes to the son, the company goes to the son. Are you with me so far? Sonship, I begin to rest... oh, yeah, why am I... Father, I'm Your son, You are my Father, and I know that You want me to have this more than I want it, 'cause I've seen in Your Word that You want me to have it. Maybe it's a healing or whatever. Father, You want me healed because You love me. Which Father?
Some fathers would rather take that disease on himself than see his child suffer. Many mothers are like that, right? So, Father, thank You this, the children's bread, I receive it. I'm telling you, the answers to prayers like that when you pray in the spirit of sonship is amazing. And I always have to guard myself, because, you see, the prodigal son, right? Remember the prodigal son? Two sons, there was two sons, say two sons. And then they left, one of them...uh, sorry, they actually both left in a way. One left in heart, one left in presence, right? The younger son went to his father's inheritance and squandered, told his father, "Give me my inheritance now, I can't wait for you to die, give me now".
So, the father gave it to him, he went to a far country and spent money, on harlots and, all kinds of, riotous living and all that, and then when his money ran out, his friends ran out, and then the only job he could have to feed his stomach was to feed the pigs in the pigpen, that is really the worst place to be, that place for a Jew. Because you know, Jews don't eat pork. I know you like wonton and all that, but they don't eat. I know you like bacon and all that, they don't eat. So, for him to even want to eat, not the pig, want to eat what the pigs are eating. You know what pigs eat or no? They want to eat what the pigs are eating. That is the pits.
Then he says, "My father's house, there's more than enough. I know what I'll do. I'll go back to my father and tell him, because the servants in my father's house", and the word there is hired servants, all right, the employees in my father's house, "They are, well fed. I'll go to my father. Make me an employee". The word literally is wage earner in the Greek. "I'll go to my father". You realize his speech. "I'm no more worthy to be called your huios, make me a wage earner," all right? But hardly those words come out of his mouth, the father saw him from far, the father ran. And who is the one telling this story? Jesus. And the father hugged him, the father kissed him all over, amen. And before he can say his rehearsed speech, "I'm no more worthy to be called your son," amen, "make me your wage earner," he never got the last part out. The father says, "Bring forth the best robe! Bring forth the ring"!
In those days the ring is your, like, your credit card, right? Your checkbook. You just, punch the clay tablet, it is a sale. It's greater than those things, actually, it's a direct sale, amen. It carries your family emblem. "Bring forth the ring, and put shoes on his feet". Under the law God told Moses, "Take off your shoes, the place you're standing is holy". Under grace, the father says, "Put shoes on his feet, he has a right to stand in my presence," amen. So, now then, the father said this, listen carefully. "My son," but pastor, by now he's back to a népios, really. This guy, he's back to a népios. But the father says, "My huios was lost but now is found". So, while they were celebrating and the father says, "Bring forth the fatted calf," right, "kill it, let's celebrate and eat".
So, there's a picture of Jesus, there's a price to our forgiveness, amen. For a holy God to take sinful men in, amen, Jesus paid the price. So, God can unleash His heart of love for all men, because that righteous and holy barrier has all been fulfilled by Jesus at the cross, He paid the price. So, it was killed, then there was music and dancing. There should be music and dancing in God's house. All right, I know many of you are 50% there, but there should be music and dancing in God's house. All right? Then the older brother came from the field, the older brother came from the field, and he heard music and dancing, and he says, "What is this? Music and dancing"? And one of the servants said... you see, an older brother, a self-righteous person doesn't know how to celebrate. They hear music and dancing, all right, they cannot accept it.
So, what is this? "Oh, your brother has come, and your father killed a fatted calf because he's received him safe and sound". He was angry. He was mad. He refused to go in the celebration. He refused to celebrate. He was outside. So, the father came out, and the father says, "Come, celebrate". He says, "No". He says that "What is this"? Then he says these words, look, look. "All these years I've kept your commandments". His eye was on what he did, all right? You asked me whether there is a spirit of sonship or no. "I've kept your commandments". He didn't even say, "Father, I kept the comm..." No, he said, "Lo". Now, unless the father is a Chinese, all right, you don't say, "Lo, I have kept your commandments". But then, you know how he address his brother? Not as my brother, but "As soon as this son of yours came who devoured your living on prostitutes," that's what he said.
The word prostitutes never appeared. He did live a sinful lifestyle, I mentioned prostitutes just now, but I'm just referring to the brother, what the brother said. That could be, all right, but that was his focus for some reason, strange, hmm. "As soon as this son of yours came and devoured", he didn't even say my brother, "Spending, your spending on harlots, you gave him the fatted calf". And then the father said, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It is only right we celebrate, your brother was dead, now he's alive. He was lost, and now he's found". Listen, when the father called him son, the father used a different word than huios. The father said, "teknon". You know what's teknon? Child. But was he a son?
Now, the Bible says when the older son was in the field earlier, and he heard music and dancing, the word the Holy Spirit used is the "the older huios". He was a huios, but he meant in a spirit of slavery. "I kept your commandments. I never violate anything. You never gave me," he told the father, "you never gave me even a kid", a goat, small goat, "to celebrate with my friends," not with you, "with my friends". Can you see it? He was a son, but he lost the spirit of sonship. He went into the spirit of slavery. No wonder he was self-righteous, he was condemning. Do you know of Christians like that? Self-righteous, bitter, angry, resentful. The problem is not trying to remove all those things, look for the root. The root is that you become legalistic, and you're looking at your performance, not your Father and His love. You're looking at your performance. Okay, ah. I do all this for You, ah. All right, You must give me, ah.
The prodigal son came home and found grace. When the father says, "My son was lost and now he's found, bring forth the best robe, bring forth the ring, put shoes on his feet," you know what the son who came back, you know what he said after he saw all these things put on him, you know what he said? Nothing. That means he accepted what was given. Some people cannot accept the best robe, the robe of righteousness. I'm just telling you, come back to sonship spirit. Amen. But do you stop being a student? No, we are lifelong students of God's Word. In fact, I'm encouraging you to get involved in a program to learn God's Word in all the different areas of your life. Can I have a good amen? Is this blessing you? You want one more, one little, you want it? We still have a bit of time, one more? You don't want, I don't give, no.
So, we go back to...this is Galatians 4. Drop down to verse 6, do we have verse 6? All right, here's...okay, "Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' You are no longer a slave, but a son, and if you are a son, if you are a son, if you're a son, brothers and sisters, if you are a son, if you are a son, then you are heir through God". But Pastor, does that mean that only one day in heaven I receive everything? No, no, the word heir and heir apparent is different. Prince Charles in England right now, he's an heir apparent. Is he the heir? Yeah, you can say, heir usually means right now you you inherit. Heir apparent means you are waiting to inherit. The Bible doesn't call you heir apparent, you are an heir. Amen. Sons and daughters of God, what a privilege to wash your feet.
]Well, I wanna share with you, and I close with this, this the last part, Luke 14 and 15. You know, in future we'll share with you more on this. Luke 15, Luke 14 and 15. I always like the compare and contrast. Luke 15 open, I share you a story just now, the prodigal son, right, you know where is it from? The parables of grace, from Jesus in Luke 15, but Luke 15 begins like this. "Then all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to Jesus to hear Him. And the Pharisees," the older brothers, "and scribes complained, saying, 'This Man receives sinners and eats with them.'" Drop down, "So He spoke this parable to them, saying: 'What man of you, having a hundred sheep...'" You all know this parables of grace, the third one is the prodigal son which I shared just now, all right? But notice the context, the context is before He shared the parable of grace, the sinners came to Jesus. Jesus love it when sinners come to Him. He loves it.
You see, why? How do I know He loves it? Because of the way He shared the parables of grace. Talking about the joy of the found, the joy of recovering the lost, the joy of finding the lost coin, the joy of finding the lost sheep. When asked, when God is asked, "What's your reason for saving people," you know how He answers in all these parables? There's only one answer. "I find joy in it". What an answer. What an answer, that warms our heart. "I find joy in it," amen? Apostle, I still feel he might be a disciple. Listen, before Luke 15, okay, go back to verse 1 again. "Then all the tax collectors," look now, for the word "Then all the tax collectors came," there must be a precedent something, right? Look at the last part of chapter 14 before this. "Then great multitudes went with Jesus".
Now, I'm gonna teach you how to thin a crowd. 'Cause Jesus didn't always grow the crowd, you know? I mean, He would thin the crowd. "A great multitude went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 'If anyone come to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.'" Why? Why did He say that? In this context here, the crowd came to Him not to see Him as Savior, but to see Him as just a teacher. Ah, this is the last part of Luke 14. That's why Luke 15 opens, after this crowd went away, then drew near the sinners, 'cause how do sinners look at Jesus? Not as a teacher, as a Savior. When you are drowning and somebody come by and say, "What's wrong"? "Oh, I'm drowning, help, help"! "Okay, I got a book, 'How to Swim,' nah"! You don't need a teacher, you need a Savior. Sinners look at Him as Savior. "I need Him". "Where's teaching? Give me the teachings. I don't have to have you, give me the teachings".
So, many of them, they're not adverse to coming to Jesus. They just see Him as a, "Wah, he's another, a great teacher. I wanna learn from Him. It's because I'm smart. I know who to go to". See, their pride, but Jesus, you can see that Jesus is not comfortable, so He turn around to the crowd and says, "If anyone come after Me and hate not his father and mother and all that and forsake all that you have, you cannot be My disciple". In those days, all right, all this not repeated in the letters to the church by Paul, Peter, James, or John, but in that day and age when Jesus was there, yes. "If you wanna be My disciple, it'll cost you everything. Take up your cross". You know, when you see a cross in those days, someone carrying a cross, you know he's on his way to what? Death. Because to be a Christian, actually, is to pass from death unto life. Jesus is telling him, telling them, it's not enough. "Following Me is not just, you know, renouncing this and renouncing this or take My teachings. It is to be born again". Are you listening?
And I believe many of them left. "Then drew near," the next chapter, "Then drew near to Jesus". You look, Luke 15, "Then drew near, therefore then," Luke 15, Luke 15, verse 1. Luke 15. Verse 1. Where? All below. Pastor it's your fault! I agree. I always aim high, I don't look lowly. Okay, verse 1. Next time put Luke down there so that I can look at Luke. All right, so, can you see verse 1 down there? So, all this come down here, "Then all the tax collectors, then all the tax collectors," which means what? That group, they are not there to be saved, they are there to learn. Then Jesus says, "Just give them a very hard", I mean, let's agree it's hard. In those days, to follow a rabbi is to renounce your family, renounce your job, and follow him full time, itinerant. And I'll show you another one, all right, and with this we close.
John 6, John 6, "And Jesus said, 'There I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.'" Wow, that means what? How many of you are saved, let me see your hands? I'm saved, hallelujah. One more time, saved. Saved, shout saved. Amen. If you are saved, you know how you are saved? You know who drew you? If there's no drawing, you'll never be saved. The Holy Spirit drew you. In fact, in the parable in Luke 14, I wish I can go there, but never mind, there's no time. God drew you, but many of the disciples that followed Jesus, not the 12, there was 70 that followed Jesus in those days, do you know that? Not just the 12, there were 70 others, and they were disciples. The Holy Spirit used the word mathétés, but look at this. "And Jesus said to them, 'No one can come unless the Father draws you,'" right? "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more".
So is it possible to be a disciple and not be saved? Yes. You know why they were offended? "I'm here to learn from You. I came because I was very smart. I saw You have good teachings, so I come to learn. Maybe there are some things I can learn, can You see how humble I am? But then You come and tell me that no one can come to You unless the Father draw me? No, I came to you because I see how smart and intelligent You are, how erudite a scholar You are of the Torah, so I come because I wanna learn more. I have a few other rabbis as well I follow". This is disciples in those days. They were disciples, and they walk away. It doesn't mean it gives you special status above sonship. "From that time many of His disciples", I like this, because you know why? It's John 6:66. "Many of His disciples went back, walked no more," 666, the spirit of antichrist. You know why? They cannot take grace. Grace is always the demarcation line.
And then... I'll close with this, Jesus turned, 67, "Then Jesus said to the twelve," now the twelve are left, all the 70 are gone. How to grow a church. I told you, Jesus is not interested in crowds. He's interested whether you come to Me because you see your need of Me. "I am your bread and life, I am your, the truth. The truth is not precept or whatever you apply, it is Me, and I'm the life. If you're sick, I am the life. Amen. I am the resurrection". He's gotta be everything to us. Like, the sinners, when they come to Him, they don't come to learn, although they did learn. They learned of God's grace, but they came to see Him as Savior. The rest see Him as teacher. "Then Jesus turned to the twelve," all right, "and said, 'Hey, you guys wanna go also?'"
I love it, the Lord is so cool, you know, amen? "Mark, you gonna go also"? People are saying some bad things about me, Mark, you gonna follow them? So cool, he's not hard up. Peter answered, "Who else"? There's always a Peter, Mark, among the pastors, you know? "Simon Peter answered and said, 'Lord,'" you see, he called Him Lord. By the way, just to let you know, ah, on the night of the Passover, when Jesus, "One of you shall betray Me," each of them turned to Him and says, "Is it me"? You know how they address Him? Lord, is it me? Lord, is it me? Came to Judas, you know what Judas says? "Rabbi, is it me"? See the difference? It's there in the Bible. Each of the disciples says, "Lord, is it me"? Judas says, "Rabbi, is it me"? That's, like, it tells you, it belies how he views Jesus. "And Simon Peter says, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,'" amen.
Have you believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? God bless you, praise the Lord, amen. And for those of you who are watching right now at home or wherever you're watching this, Jesus wants to come into your life. Primarily not to be the teacher. Yes, he's the greatest teacher I know, amen, he's the greatest teacher, but more than that you have to be born again, born as a son of God, amen. Now, the word son is generic, it includes daughters as well. Sonship, God wants to bring you into a sonship, amen, but for those Christians, all right, who are truly born again, remember the word there is that God called you to be a Christian. The same word, chrématizó, the disciples were first called Christians, was first used by God warning Joseph in a dream with the baby Jesus, "Don't go this way," all right? The word there is chrématizó, divinely warned.
Another time, Luke, remember Simeon, Simeon, who came and carried the baby Jesus, and God said to him what? The Holy Spirit said he will not see death. You know what the word there? It was revealed to Simeon by the Spirit, and the word is chrématizó, the same word used, divinely revealed. The disciples were first chrématizó Christians in Antioch. It's not just man saying, "Let's call ourselves Christians, lah? Let's have a nice ministry of disciples, huh"? No, no, no, God called them Christians. God never used the word disciples after that in the church anymore, amen? But we continue to be learners, praise the Lord.
Every head bowed, every eye closed all across the places that's watching this right now, here, in MBS, in GRC, also at home. This is your moment to be born again. I'm not asking you to embrace a religion, I'm not asking you to, follow Jesus, amen, and do your best to implement all His teachings. No, I'm asking you to be born again, to see Jesus as your Lord and your Savior. Only He can save. There's salvation in no other name, amen. If that is you, wherever you are right now, pray this prayer with me. Say:
Heavenly Father, I thank You for the gift of salvation, the forgiveness of sins. It is a free gift, but it was paid for by Your Son, my Lord Jesus Christ. He died on that cross for all my sins, and You raised Him from the dead, conquering death for me. I stand before You right now, born again, filled with Your Spirit, a new creation. And let me continue, Father, to be a student of Your grace. In Jesus' name, Jesus Christ is my Lord, amen.
Praise the Lord. If you prayed that prayer, you are now a child of God. Welcome to family, amen. And because you got saved here, New Creation Church or Grace Revolution Church is your home. Praise the Lord, thank You, Jesus. Amen, amen, amen, praise the Lord. Stand to your feet, church. Thank You, Lord Jesus. Okay, I was about to dismiss you all, but I gotta obey this. Real quick, somebody just got diagnosed with, a liver, you just went this past week, a liver condition, amen. It can also be people in the later service, but let me just say this. God is healing your liver, all right? I see, like, there's a marker, like, a... I see black dots. You know who you are, amen. Those black dots are disappearing, amen. I just saw the Lord gave me that word, and He wants you to know that. He wants you to know that, praise the Lord.
This coming week the Lord bless you, and the Lord keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be favorable to you. The Lord lift up His countenance on you and grant to you and your families His shalom wholeness, well-being, and peace. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all the people said, amen.