0:06 This week I I just had a strong a strong sense of what it means to try to be a living church. A church where the presence of the Lord is. And especially for me as one of the elders in the church, I was thinking 0:25 earlier this week, I think many of you respect me as an elder as God was somebody God has placed with responsibility in the church. Uh and it's possible that some of that may come just from a sense of maybe gift God has given me which I take 0:45 no credit for. Or other things maybe knowledge of the word or speaking and things like that. But I really had a really strong word from the Lord this week. And the Lord asked me this question, do 1:03 you think that the devil respects that? Do you think that the devil is one bit afraid of the fact that you know my word? I've given you some gifts to use to bless the church perhaps. 1:23 And even if all of the world and even Christians respect that, do you think the devil respects that? You see the devil knows that it is possible for somebody to have tremendous gift and yet in a moment be cast down into 1:39 hell cuz he was that one. He was a far more gifted preacher, far more gifted musician. He led the praises in heaven. Closest to God of all created beings and he is the most opposite of God now and will 1:58 one day spend his entire eternity in the lake of fire. So the devil's not afraid of gift. It's not afraid there will be people, you read in Luke in Matthew 7 who cast out demons, did miracles in his name, 2:17 um and did all kinds of amazing things in the name of Jesus who will be with the devil in the lake of fire for all eternity. And the devil reads Matthew 7:21. He knows that that's there. And so as he sees a lot of gifted 2:38 ness in Christianity, that doesn't scare him. And he's probably sitting in a lot of churches where there are gifted people preaching gifted sermons, singing gifted songs, and doing gifted things. 2:56 And this week I had a strong sense of the Lord asking me, Santosh, is it possible that the devil is comfortable sitting at RLCF? That's the one thing that matters. Is it possible that you have no authority over him? 3:14 Even with all the good preaching and singing and all the good things people say about RLCF these days? Is it possible that the devil's like, yeah, let them think that everything is good. We pray often that 3:32 to bind the work of Satan. And if Satan has a foothold in even one life in this church, this is exactly what the Lord's been speaking to me this week, brothers, sisters, and children. If the devil has a foothold in even one 3:48 life in this church, if you're a member of this church, whether you're a child or an adult and the devil has a foothold in your life or in your marriage, and we don't have the authority to cast him out, then we needed to take a strong look at 4:04 ourselves. We can only do so much and we'll continue to make sure that the fire of the presence of God is here and the authority of Christ is here that either the devil will be cast out or the one who wants the devil to 4:20 continue to reign in their life is cast out. It's two ways to get rid of the presence of darkness. Is the best is that the darkness itself is cast out and the person is set free. But if somebody doesn't want to be set free, they love their sin too much and 4:38 they love themselves too much, then it's best better that they get cast out. And I don't say that lightly. But it's become more and more a burden on my heart that we as a church and not just me as an elder, yes, it starts with me and I must 4:53 answer to the Lord for that. Starts with us elders, but that all of us uh recognize that we have authority over Satan and we're exercising that authority over Satan. And that there's not even one person under 5:12 our care where the devil has a foothold. And fathers, you should be taking that to heart for your homes. Husbands, you should be taking that to heart for your marriages. That the devil has no foothold anywhere in the area in which God has placed you 5:29 and given you responsibility. That's the one thing that matters. I don't have zero interest in how big this church is or how small, how many people are in this building, how many people watch online. It's become less and less 5:43 attractive to me. What has become increasingly the passion of my heart as an elder is that the devil will have no foothold anywhere. That's why recently the emphasis has been for our children. A lot of churches are trying to think 6:00 how many who else from outside can we get in here while their own young people are being lost to the world. While their own children are falling away. And what good is it if I bring somebody else half converted to sit and give 6:14 money into a box if the person whom God has placed in my home is lost. That's why we have a burden that before we even get to adding one more person to this church, let's make sure that everybody in this church is truly born 6:29 again. If they're old enough to know what it means to be born again, let's start with that. And what a wonderful thing God has been doing, hasn't he? Over the last few weeks, the last month or so that he's placed a burden on our 6:44 heart for that the children especially in our church would be born again. We're seeing a move of God in our midst. Dear family, I don't say this lightly. I believe we will look back on 2025 as a year when God when the move of God was here 7:01 at RLCF. Our children will look back on it. I hope you are believing that. It's not just we had a some messages last week and we move on. I hope you're believing that God is moving in our midst and moving in our children. And we must continue that 7:18 work. Praying for them, encouraging them, supporting them, and taking up our responsibility, all of ours. Not just those who do the preaching. And praise God for the testimonies we've been receiving the the last couple weeks 7:37 or so of especially children who have committed their lives to the Lord. I rejoice over that. And because heaven is rejoicing over that. Did you hear the heavens rejoice because this week there were some children who decided that they were 7:53 going to follow Jesus? You don't have to know who the children were, but I hope you heard you're in tune with heaven. I hope you're in touch with the Holy Spirit that you know that heaven is rejoicing. And we don't just 8:08 pretend like, oh, you know, we don't cast any doubt over it. When a child says, "Daddy, I want Jesus to come into my heart. I want to give my life to Jesus." I take him at their word cuz I I know they have nothing to prove. They have a 8:21 whole world of pleasure ahead of them. And for them to choose a life of following Jesus now, that's better than anything else they could do on this earth. I hope parents you believe that. This is what we're living for here on 8:36 this earth. That our children will grow up to be wholehearted disciples of Jesus. If you're a father, if you're a mother who has children, make that your one prayer even if you don't pray for anything else. That not a single one of your children 8:50 will be lost. And family, I hope you have faith for that. God is increasing his the faith in my heart that not a single child at RLCF will be lost. That if you made a decision as parents 9:08 to bring your fam your family here to RLCF because we are a praying church, because we are elders who I don't I don't say this braggingly, please understand, but I thank God that we're small actually, small enough that we can pray according 9:21 to our faith. That not a single child who's a part of this church will be lost for eternity. That's the vigilant prayer I pray every day, Lord, not just for my six children, but for the children at RLCF that not a single one will be lost. Not even one. 9:37 We can't afford to lose one, brothers and sisters. We can't afford to lose one. And I hope you're praying fervently for that. And if you say, "Well, Lord, how do I know?" Ask God to give you the faith for that. God has given me the faith for that 9:55 because this is RLCF in which he has placed me as an elder. Maybe he doesn't give you the faith for that. I hope he will, but at least for your children in your home, the the sons and daughters he's given you, you should have the faith for that. 10:08 And you can't imagine it, you can't make it up. If God gives you the faith for it, you'll be able to pray for it until it happens. And you've heard me tell the story of George Mueller's five friends that he prayed for. And even after he 10:23 died, it was years later and every one of those was saved. It wasn't the whole world. I don't pray for the whole world cuz I don't have the faith for that. I pray for those in whom God gives me the faith for and I want to tell you 10:37 children, I wish I could look each of you children in the eye. I am praying for you because I have a responsibility before God to pray for you that you will be a child of God's permanently, eternally and we'll spend eternity together in heaven. What a 10:53 joyful thing that's going to be. Praise the Lord. So, you gave your heart to Jesus. Now what? That's what I'd like to speak on today. If you haven't given your life to Jesus, I'll talk about that at the end, but you can do it now 11:13 while we're while I'm speaking. I know the Lord's been working on you children and but I thought I would speak on this. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 1. And we have a responsibility adults and parents especially to encourage our 11:28 children in this. I um in the days after my children who who have given their life to Jesus and made that confession of faith, um all of them when they were young, um in the days after that, I made a 11:47 conscious effort every now and then when I would see them in the house to go up to them and says, um can you believe it? Jesus is inside you? I wanted them to be excited about that. You know, as children and perhaps as for 12:01 us as adults as well, so easily those doubts can come in. You think, well, I asked him, but did something really happen? I didn't feel anything different. Cuz that's what it was like for me when I was born again. I didn't suddenly have a halo over my 12:17 head and some warm fuzzy feeling in my belly or anything like that. I had to remind myself based on God's word that when I asked him to come in, he came in. And dear parents, that can be hard for your children. I hope you know that. 12:35 It's hard enough for us adults to believe God's word. How do you think it is for the children? Now, they may actually believe it a lot easier than us. But what you and I can do as adults who care about them is remind them. 12:47 And I would go up to my children and especially in the days after they said that prayer, I would say, can you believe it? Jesus is inside you. And I'm excited about it and I'm ex and and now continue to remind them of course about it. But in those early 13:03 days, it's kind of like that seed that's just been planted into the ground and it's a tender moment. It's it's make or break. It's life or death. The devil could easily come in and bring doubt into their heart that could 13:18 permanently leave them doubting and unbelieving and they could forever question, was I am I really born again? And you could be the one that like an incubator, this little chick that's hatched, now watch over it and encourage 13:34 the life of God that's in them that's just coming to birth as much as you would a newborn baby. Remember when you a little baby that's born, if you have children, you know what that was like, how protective you were and you made sure there were no 13:48 germs and you covered them up and you you swaddled them and snuggled them. You would overprotect over the little life that was just beginning. How much more for the spiritual life in them. So parents, watch over your children. 14:05 If if they are born again, if the life of spirit of God if the spirit of God dwells in them, encourage it, fan that flame. Don't be one that allows that smoldering flame to die out, that smoldering wick to die out. Fan it. Encourage them. 14:24 Matthew 1:20 is a beautiful verse. It's a verse that the angel came to Joseph to say when Jesus was formed in Mary in the same way that Christ is formed in us when we're born again. Joseph was a little perplexed about 14:51 this. He says, I've known Mary. I'm paraphrasing here a little bit. I know Mary's a woman of integrity. She would not lie. And she's telling me that she never had sex with another man. And that she's pregnant and that the 15:09 baby in her is through the Holy Spirit. What am I to do about this? He's perplexed. It's not possible. He's like, I I can't find an explanation for it and I'm using that as an analogy for how it might be for our children or for you if you're a 15:22 newborn believer that you're trying to find an explanation for I asked Jesus into my heart, but now what? What's the logical explanation for that? And the whole the the angel was a picture of the Holy. We don't have to rely on angels anymore 15:40 thankfully. We have something far greater, someone far greater, God himself, the Holy Spirit who comes to us with the same word of comfort and says, little child, 29, do not be afraid 15:56 for that who is who has been conceived in you is of the Holy Spirit. I paraphrase that word. And oh, if you would comfort your children, oh, if you would comfort yourself with these words, that which is in you, he who is in you is of the Holy Spirit. 16:15 The Jesus in you is the Holy Spirit himself. The spirit of Christ is there in you. And so remind your children often of this if they've made that confession. And children, I want to tell you the essential difference now that you're 16:30 born again is this. You may not feel any fuzzy feeling. You may not feel any different. In fact, when you're tested in different situations, you may find yourself sometimes reacting the same way like you used to and you think, 16:45 am I really born again? Let's turn to Galatians chapter 2. Verse 20. See the there's something real and powerful that happens when you believe. If you actually believe, 17:04 you cannot explain it, you cannot see it in your in your physical eyes or even hear it with your physical ears, but if you actually believe in the spiritual realm, something powerful happens. That's just how it is and God's word 17:19 makes that over and over and over clear that if you believe, something actually happens. You don't have to see it, you don't have to hear it, you don't have to feel it, you don't have to taste it or touch it or anything like that, but 17:31 something happens when you actually believe. And you must that must be the operating principle. That must be how you live your lives children if you're born again. And all of us, if you are born again, now you must live a life that if you 17:46 of believing God's word and knowing that just because you believed, something's happening. And you don't have to think, well, I ah, you know, the devil will immediately come in and say, well, how do you know it's happening? Don't chase away those 18:00 thoughts. If you believe God's word, something's happening. It is happening inside of you. And the essential difference between before you were born again and after you were born again is this. Before you were born again, whatever you 18:17 did, whether it was good or bad, it doesn't necessarily have to be good or bad. Whether it was good or bad, it was you doing it. That's the difference. The moment you were born into this earth as a little baby, little boy, little 18:35 girl, everything you did was decided by you. That's what it means to be born of Adam. The moment Adam and Eve ate out of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they made a decision that you and I being born of Adam, born of flesh, were 18:53 born with this nature that says, I will decide what I want to do. Now that you're born again, now that you're born of a different race, of a different spiritual race, this race of people, these people are descended from Jesus 19:12 and the quality, the characteristic of this group of people is they say, I do what Christ wants to do, not what I want to do. So it's not that you'll no longer do any bad things or you can say, I haven't done a whole lot of bad things. I'm a 19:29 pretty good person. You're still a sinner. Sin is this, that I do what I want to do. It's not adultery, murder. None of you children has murdered anybody. None of you children has committed adultery. None of you has gone out and robbed the 19:47 bank or anything like that. And you may think, why am I a sinner? Yeah, sure. I hear read the news about people who do those bad things, but I'm a pretty good person. Yeah, I'll disobey every now and then and I fight with my 19:58 siblings now and then and I I I grumble and complain, but that's not that bad, right? And that's why you can grow up in a church like this where we speak about living good lives and you can clean yourself up a little bit. You can even say sorry every now 20:14 and then when you disobey daddy and mommy or fight with your children and think, "Yeah, I'm a pretty good person." The problem is not whether you're doing good things or bad things. The problem is who is doing it. Now, this is good for us adults also to 20:28 think about, isn't it? And you might think, "I've been born again for 20 years." Are you still the one doing it then? Maybe you're not born again and there are many people in this world sitting in churches who have never been taught 20:45 that to be born again is I used to be the one deciding what I wanted to do, whether it was bad or good, and now it is Christ deciding what I do. That is it. If you've heard any other explanation or description or definition of what it mean means to be 21:02 born again, you've been deceived, dear friend. To be born again is that it is no longer I deciding, it is Christ deciding. Galatians 2 verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ. This old person that was born according to 21:21 Adam is now dead. I've been killed with Christ. It is no longer I who live. And to live means essentially to make decisions. And that's why you don't actually have to physically die. When it says, "It is no longer I who live," he's not talking 21:37 about the physical life, obviously, because as you and I who have been born again know, when we were actually born again, we didn't physically die. So, you can say, "What does it mean to be born again? I didn't die." Well, you did. You should 21:50 have. So, what is it that died then? What died is who makes the decision. So, let me read this Galatians 2:20 this way. I The one who makes the decision has been killed with Christ. 22:10 And it is no longer I who makes the decision, BUT CHRIST in me makes the decisions. And the decision-making, which I still have to do in the flesh, I do I make the decisions by faith in 22:29 the Son of God. So, God is not going to make you a robot is what he goes on to say. He's not going to program you and now you'll always obey like a robot. He still make gives you the power to make the decision, but he's going to 22:43 call you to this life of believing, faith in the love of God, in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. So, children, if you recently or a long time ago, and adults, gave your life to Jesus, what changed is this very simply. 23:02 You used to make all the decisions, even if it was, "I will share my toys." And you think, "I'm a good Christian." No, you're not. If you shared your toy because you thought, "I will be a good person by sharing my toy," you're still still a 23:16 sinner who needs salvation. Now, on the other hand, is somebody who's born again who in whom Christ actually lives and is making the decision, but still grabs their toy. Please listen carefully about this 23:35 example. Here's a child who's not born again or anyone, a person who's not born again, who very graciously shares their toys because they are so proud of it and they like to share their toy. They share their toys. Sure, there's a little bit of hurt in 23:51 it, but they feel good about themselves doing it. But they're not born again. It's not Christ making the decision in them. They're making the decision. Sometimes they fight and steal keep the toys to themselves. Other times they share. 24:07 And here on the other hand is somebody who's been born again. And now when they're born again, there's this battle. Christ in them is saying, "Share. Obey. Don't grumble or complain." But now they have to make the decision. 24:23 They're still the one there and they they're going to allow grace Christ to make the decision in them or still choose the old way. And children, that's what's next now for you. God is not going to program you to automatically obey daddy and mommy, 24:37 automatically share. And so, I want to make sure you don't get discouraged by that. Even though you asked Jesus into your heart, and now you said, "Jesus, you'll be my decision-maker." He's just going to guide you into that. 24:54 And he will help you. There's a story that my dad tell to I heard from him years ago. When I was a little boy, I think I heard it in a message first and then I read it. It's written in his book, The Good Foundation, which you can read sometime, 25:09 but I'll just tell you the story briefly. Um you might think after you're born again, why is it then that I still sometimes still complain or grumble. I still I find that I I thought everything would be nice. I'd always 25:27 obey daddy and mommy. I'd always do everything without grumbling and complaining. I'd always be excited to share. But why is that not the case? And my dad tells a story about a picture of a a gang of robbers that's coming to steal 25:43 things from a house. And that's your house. Your house that God has given you, your heart, if you will, is like a house. And this gang of robbers comes in and you wake up one morning and you look around and you see that everything's 25:57 been stolen. And you wonder what happened. And then you realize that the security guard you have is part of the gang. And so, when they come uh and they set a time, "Oh, Santos he's going to bed around 10:00. Why don't you 26:16 come in around 10:30? I'll open the door, let you in. We'll We'll steal his whole house, all his stuff, and then we'll go celebrate later." And I realized that the security guard who's supposed to be guarding my house is part of the gang. 26:31 And no wonder. They don't have to I'm asleep. They come in and ransack my house and everything is stolen. When you're born again, what God does in you, that old security guard is a picture in Romans is used in is a picture in Romans 26:48 6 of what what Romans 6 calls this your old man. Whether you're young or old and whether you're a boy or girl, man or woman, you have an old man. That's just what the Bible calls him. But that's this old security guard. If 27:04 you're not sure, you read Romans 6. Your old man has been crucified with Christ. What does it mean? When you were born again, when you made that wonderful decision to say, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart and make me your child." What God did in 27:18 you, Romans 6 makes it clear. Is he killed that old security guard? That's the problem. The gang is still there. But the security guard is the problem. He's the one opening the door and letting the gang in and all your goods 27:33 are being stolen. So, God kills your old man, this old security guard that's the problem. And he puts a new security guard in place. That's the day you were born again and you say, "Thank you. I have a new security guard. It's Christ living in 27:48 me. And now everything's going to be great." And you go to sleep, a little bit more at rest because you have a new security guard. Jesus Christ lives in your heart. Some of you children who recently asked Jesus into your heart, I'm sure you slept 28:03 wonderfully that night. But you woke up the next morning and looked around and found house was ransacked again. Everything was stolen and you think, "What happened? I thought the old security guard was killed." And you wonder, "Was I really born 28:22 again? Did Did that old man security guard really die? He looks the same." And then you realize, if you continue reading Romans 6, that this new man living in you is Christ. It's the spirit of Christ. But if you could spy on what's going on 28:39 at 10:30 at night. So, you stay up late and you watch what's going on and you realize the robbers still come. And the robbers are a picture of the lust in your flesh. So, you have two enemies. Children, please listen carefully. 28:52 Uh you have two enemies. You have the devil. Everybody knows about that and his hosts. But you also have what the Bible call lusts in your flesh that you're called to crucify, to fight against through the power of the Holy 29:05 Spirit. The spirit fights against these gang of robbers, the flesh. And that's the lust in your flesh. And that's Just think of it like a gang of robbers that's out to steal what God wants you to have. Happiness, joy, peace, eternal life. 29:23 And they're the gang of robbers. And if you could spy, you stay up at at night and watch what's going on, you'll see that this new security guard, the gang of robbers, knocks on the door assuming that the door will be opened for them. 29:36 But the door didn't get opened. What happened? The new security guard has locked the door. He's not going to open the door to them. So, they decided to push against the door. And they push against the door, and they bang against the door, and they bang 29:50 against the door, and the new security guard is trying with all of his might to hold the door closed, but he's not strong enough. And finally, the gang of robbers breaks through. And they steal everything. And this new security guard feels so 30:07 bad. He's like, "I I didn't want them to come in." And and if you could wake him up in the morning, he'll tell you, "I tried my best. I just They were so many of them, and they were too powerful for me." Dear children, that's what's 30:18 going on in you. After you're born again, if you find that you still fall into sin, don't let that cause you to question whether what God actually did in you was real. Because that's the thing the devil tried to get me with. 30:32 That nothing really happened. See, you you you still fought with your friends. See, you still grumbled and complained in that situation. See, you still did this. And the devil would love to come in and get you. See, one of the thing 30:45 the devil loves to do is to question the real work of God. That's the devil's business. If God does something, he's going to say, "No, no, no, he didn't really do it." He'll try to bring a little question mark over it. When God said something, the first thing 31:00 the devil came and said after that, "No, he didn't really say that. Did he really say that?" It starts with the question. So, you say, "God, you've made me born again. You crucified my old security guard. I have a new security guard." The 31:13 devil will come and say, "Did he really? Look, today feels about the same as yesterday. What really happened?" And you must fight that, dear children. You must fight that, dear friends. If you are truly born again, if you know that 31:27 you've repented of your sins, and you've asked the spirit of God to come and dwell in you, you must fight the lie of the devil that wants to say, "No, it hasn't really happened." If you believed it, it has happened. That's why I said there was a 31:41 power that happens when you believe. You don't have to see it. You don't have to hear it. You don't have to feel it. You don't have to have any emotion over it, even. If you truly believed it in your heart Jesus Christ is Lord, then you will be 31:55 saved. And there will be fruit of it, of course. So, this new man lives in you. It's not the old man anymore. But you must feed this new man. You must strengthen him. This little the spirit of Christ in you, you must allow it to grow through the 32:11 word of God. You must allow it to be filled through the power of the Holy Spirit. Those are the things we talked about. That's why we want you to memorize scripture. It's so that you would know God's word. What are we trying to do, children, when 32:23 you come up here and say your memory verse? You would know God's word. It would go into your heart. It would you would hide God's word in your heart in Psalm 119 that you won't sin against God. That is strengthening this new security 32:39 guard. I hope that story that blessed me so much when I was a little child when I heard it will bless you, however old you are, and for those listening as well. I want to leave you with two exhortations, dear children. Now that you are 32:54 a child of God, if you are a child of God, now that you asked Jesus into your heart, now what? I want to leave you with two very simple exhortations. Never allow yourself to be discouraged. Romans chapter 8. 33:14 And this is good for us adults, also, because many Christians, adults who have been born again, been Christians for many years, struggle with discouragement. Are defeated by discouragement. And if children, if you have a a little 33:29 sheet, or you have a bulletin, or a book, or something in which you write notes, write this down. Never allow yourself to be discouraged. If you don't know how discouraged is spelled, get close enough, and I'll help you spell it correctly later on. 33:45 But never allow yourself to be discouraged. Romans 8 verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation. No discouragement for those who are in Christ Jesus. If you're born again, if you're in Christ, that means you're in Christ 34:02 Jesus. There is no condemnation. No discouragement. Now, before you were born again, let's say you were born again last night this morning. Let's say you were born again this morning. Yesterday, you had every right to be discouraged. 34:21 In fact, you should be discouraged, I would say. Why do I say that? I'm not trying to be silly, but turn to John chapter 3. You have you should say, "Santos, I have the right to be discouraged." I would say, "Are you born again?" You say, "No, I'm 34:38 not born again." I said, "Yeah, sure. You have every right to be discouraged then. You should be discouraged. You should feel condemned." John 3 verse 18 says, "He who believes in him is not condemned." He who believes in Jesus 34:53 Christ is not condemned. Same thing that we said in for Romans 8 verse 1. He who believes in Jesus Christ, he who is in Christ Jesus, is not condemned. But he who does not believe has been condemned already. So, you say, "I feel condemned today. 35:11 I'm feeling discouraged today." And I ask you my first question to be to you would be, "Are you born again?" And you say, "I'm not born again." Okay, then I say, "Yeah. I can't I have don't have a I can't encourage you. 35:25 I can't solve your problem. I can't say anything that will make you feel better, cuz you're not born again. According to John 3 verse 18, you are condemned. You're already condemned. You should feel condemned. And that's God's mercy 35:40 that he allows a spirit of condemnation to weigh on you so that you will be born again. And dear friend, if you're carrying a weight of condemnation in your heart today, and it's because you're not born again, that's from God. 36:00 He has allowed that spirit of condemnation to be over you because you know, "I'm not right with God." Thank God for that. Because if he didn't, you would go on your whole life thinking, "Oh, it's fine. I don't feel any problem." And you'd one day wake up 36:14 standing before the judgment seat of Christ and realize you're going to spend all eternity away from him. Thank God for his tremendous mercy that he allows that condemnation to be over you until you're born again. That's what draws people. 36:33 That's what saves them from hell. Because then it's too late. And if you're feeling It's kind of like God in his mercy has allowed pain in your body so that when you get that pain in your body, you realize, "Hold on, there's infection in there. 36:52 There's some infection in there. That infection could spread through my blood into my heart and into my brain and could kill me." And if you're feeling pain in your soul, dear friend, dear brother, dear sister, dear child, if you're feeling a 37:05 heaviness in your soul because at RLCF they preach that I must be born again, and my parents keep reminding, "I can't keep putting this off." Then there's an infection in you. There's pain in your soul, and it's a good thing. 37:19 And I pray it remains there until you are actually born again. Until you finally give up and say, "Yes, Lord, I want to be born again." But once you are born again, and so if I if you say, "Dear Santos, I I'm I'm discouraged today. I'm feeling 37:34 condemned today." And I ask you, "Are you born again?" He says, "Yes, I believe I'm born again." Then I say then, there's no condemnation if you're born again. The If you're in Christ Jesus, there's no room for condemnation. There's no 37:48 room for discouragement. And so, this is the first exhortation I want to give you, dear brother, dear sister, dear child. If you're born again, never allow yourself to be discouraged. When you feel that discouragement coming in, just 38:00 say, "I I'm in Christ Jesus now. Yesterday, before I was born again, sure, maybe I could be discouraged. But today, I'm in Christ Jesus." And you must speak to yourself, dear children. You must speak to yourself. When I feel the temptation to 38:16 be discouraged, I tell myself, "Santos, what are you doing? Discouraged? Me even heading down that pathway? You're in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation. There is no discouragement in Christ Jesus. Turn away from it. Cry out to 38:29 God." And so, usually discouragement will come when you fall. And as I already said, it's possible that you will fall into sin even though you're born again. So, when you fall, what should you do? Immediately get up. As soon as you fall when you find that 38:45 you still disobeyed or still complained or still told a lie, immediately get up and ask for forgiveness. First of all, and say ask God, "Lord, please forgive me. I did that thing, and I'm a child of yours now, but I'm not 38:59 going to allow discouragement to allow me to remain in that pit. I'm going to get up right away, ask you for forgiveness, and I'm going to continue following you." That simple. And if you've been born again for 10 years, 20 years, however long it is, if 39:15 you fall today, get up immediately. The first thing you must do as soon as you fall is not sit there and feel bad for what you did. Before you feel bad for what you did, get up. This is something that many Christians don't get, either. They think that in 39:28 order to really show my repentance, I must lay down and still remain down while I feel bad for what I did. That's not the gospel. The gospel is the moment you realize you've fallen, get up immediately, and then yes, feel bad for what you did. 39:44 But your feeling bad for what you did must be from a position of standing up, brother, sister. Oh, I hope this sets you free today if you needed to hear it. Your repentance, your regret, your sorrow, which the Bible talks about and 40:00 which is truly spiritual, must come from a standing-up place, not a down-in-the-muck place. You can never truly repent if you're still in the muck. I'll tell YOU THAT. GET UP. STAND UP. AND FROM THAT STANDING-UP place say, 40:16 "Lord Jesus, I repent with all of my heart. Yes, my heart is broken, but I'm standing up because you've given me this standing-up position." As he stands in victory, since power has lost its sins lost its power on me, and 40:33 so I stand. Why can you stand up today even though you just sinned? Because Jesus Christ is standing up. And he commands you to stand up. And yes, ask for forgiveness, set things right, apologize, and continue following, but get up. 40:52 If you need to get up this morning, get up. Don't wait another second, brother, sister, child, don't wait another second. Get up now. Jesus commands you to get up. And you will be free. And continue following him. And 41:11 uh when we were singing, I thought about this wonderful thing, no power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand. Do you believe that, dear brother, dear sister, dear children? John 10. It's not just words that Townsend and 41:28 Townend and Getty wrote. They borrowed it from Jesus himself. John chapter 10. Children, you must know this verse. If you are a sheep, because you're born again, if you're truly a sheep, John 10:27, here will be the proof. Never forget 41:47 these words. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them. Jesus knows you by name now in a special way. And they follow me. You're following Jesus. And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish. 42:07 And no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one. No one can snatch you out of Jesus' 42:24 hand. And it's just Jesus and the Father are saying, "We're one, and we've got our hands on you." And this is a beautiful thing that happens when you're born again. God's got his hands on you. Yes, it's true that his hand is over 42:39 you, maybe. You know, this what I like to think. Um Um before I was born again, God's hand was over me, waiting for me to put myself in his hand. And so it's yeah, he watched over me and he kind of like he does over all of 42:54 creation. But now that I'm born again, I'm in his hand. Oh, that's a much better place to be. Would you rather have God's hand over you or be in God's hand? And if you're born again, children, you're in God's hand. Nothing, nobody can 43:12 steal you from that, from God's hand. Everything happens in the spiritual realm through faith. Now, you might say, "I don't know if that's really true." It won't be true for you. But one day, when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, God will show 43:29 that everyone who simply believed it, "Lord, I'm your sheep. I asked you. I didn't feel anything. I didn't feel any different. I didn't feel any better or worse. It was kind of like, yep. Yeah, I was just joyful that I asked 43:40 Jesus into my heart, but nothing else spectacular happened. But I just believed that now, because I asked, because I said it and because I believed in my heart, I'm in your hand. I just believe it, Lord." And the devil tried to get me to doubt 43:55 it, but I'm not going to doubt it. And one day God will show you, "YOU WERE RIGHT FOR BELIEVING IN ME." I love this thought that heaven will be all about proclaiming, "You were right for believing in me." Not you were right because you did all 44:12 the right things or anything like YOU WERE RIGHT BECAUSE YOU TRUSTED ME. THAT'S IT. THAT'S WHAT MADE EVERYTHING RIGHT. YOU TRUSTED ME SIMPLY. You were right. See how everything was right in your life? I made all things right. This is 44:26 the power of faith. This is the power of faith. So, that's one. Never allow yourself to get discouraged. And the second is never stop giving your whole heart to Jesus. I'm sure when you were born again, because we you were taught that, 44:43 we taught you, "Give your whole life to Jesus." That's what it means to be born again. Give your whole life to Jesus. Now, to be born again is to say, "Never stop giving your whole life to Jesus." And so this giving my whole life to Jesus is 44:58 not just a one-time thing. And again, many in Christendom aren't taught that. They They're taught, "You say a prayer, give my whole life to Jesus, and then I pretend like everything's okay." Let's turn to Luke 14. Uh Luke 6 first of all. 45:24 Actually, keep a finger in Luke 6. I'll come to that. Luke 14, I do want to show you that. Luke 14 verse 33. So then, none of you can be my disciple who does not forsake 45:42 all of that which he possesses or she possesses, all of his possessions. No one can be my disciple who does not forsake or give up. That's what forsake means. Who give up all of their possessions. And so, when you were born again, dear friend, 45:59 dear child, especially, what you were saying is, "Lord, I give up my whole heart to you. I give up it, and now I want to be your disciple. And so I'm your disciple." But what will happen as you continue to walk with now you you know, we said we 46:15 saw in John 10, we follow Jesus. No My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me. As you follow Jesus as his disciple, he will start to show you what you thought was your whole heart was actually not your whole heart. It was just 46:31 as much as you could see. So, you gave your whole heart to Jesus, little child. Oh, it's so good that you did. That was your whole heart as far as you could see, and God calls it your whole heart. Don't doubt that. But then you walk with Jesus because 46:45 you're his disciple. This is the part a lot of churches don't teach. Praise God that you sit here, and you can hear it, that now, because you really love Jesus and you follow him, he shows you your whole heart is actually a little bit 46:59 bigger. There's another little room or another little area of your heart that you weren't even aware of. THAT'S YOUR WHOLE HEART. YOUR WHOLE HEART actually is quite a bit. And by heart we mean all that you love, that you want, your possessions, 47:17 everything about you. It's actually quite big, but you only see this much right now. All of us see some part of that. And God judges us only according to the light we see. So, when you're born again, he allows you to see this 47:31 this I say, "Lord, I gave you my whole heart. Here it is." And he says, "Thank you. I'm filling my light into that whole heart." But as you walk with Jesus, and I hope you will, day by day, week by week, month by month, he'll show you your whole heart 47:46 is a little bit bigger. And now you've got a little bit more that he says, "I want you to love me with my with your whole heart." Remember when you decided, "I want to Lord Jesus, I love you with my whole heart. You have 47:57 my whole heart." You gave it to him, and you were born again. Now starts the journey of continually giving him your whole heart. Give it to him every day. And you will find that as you follow Jesus, this whole heart, which you thought was 48:15 just this, is actually a little bit bigger. Now he wants you to give him that as well. And that as well. And as you grow older, and as you grow older, and you become more and more aware of ways in which you own things and love things and possess things, he 48:32 wants you to give that to him. So, never stop giving your whole heart to Jesus. And I think of it like this, that on the last day of my life, whenever that is, it could be today, I don't know. Lord may call me home. I hope he'll give 48:46 me a little bit more time here on this earth to love him with my whole heart, but my whole life is this, to love Jesus with my whole heart. And on the last day I'll say, "Lord Jesus, I'm giving you my whole heart today again." 48:59 On the very last day of my life. Because that's what I wanted to do my whole life. Will you make this your ambition, dear friend? If you didn't understand it this way, that you'll do so now, that let every day say this simple prayer, "Lord Jesus, I 49:13 give you my whole heart." It started the day I was born again, and maybe I lost my way somewhere along the way, but here I am today, Lord. This message has spoken to me, so from today onwards, I'm going to give you my whole 49:25 heart. You maybe you weren't born again, sure. Don't go back into the past and question whether it was real or anything like that. That's fine. Just today, today is the day of salvation. Today is the day you can decide you're going to give God 49:38 your whole heart. And you make that your prayer. Lord Jesus, I'm giving you my whole heart. And for me, my whole heart is a lot bigger than what I thought it was when I gave in my life to Jesus when I was a little boy. AND THANK GOD HE SHOWED ME THAT that he 49:54 could show me how to love him with my whole heart and that's grown and grown and grown and on the last day of my life, my final prayer was will be again, Lord Jesus, I want to love you with my whole heart. And he made me so. Luke 6 50:14 verse 40. This is what we speak about when we say disciple. A disciple is simply this, one who loves Jesus with his whole heart or her whole heart. That's it. A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone after he has been fully 50:32 trained, that's the what I what I pictured as me becoming more and more aware of how big my whole heart was. After he has become fully aware of what this whole heart is, will be like him. Will be like Jesus. This is how we 50:51 become like Jesus, that throughout my life every day I'm simply saying, Lord, I want more. I want to love you more. I want to give you my whole heart. We will be fully like Jesus. You speak often here in this church of being fully 51:05 like Jesus. That's how you become like Jesus is you simply say day by day, I want to give you my whole heart. I want to love you with my whole heart. Before I close, I do want to speak again, like I said, that if after all you've heard over the 51:20 last few weeks or even the years that you've been in this church, and you're not yet truly born again, I don't want to close before addressing that. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew 13 51:49 I'd like all of you, especially children, to read this You know the story, but it's worth reading again. You can read Matthew 13 verses 3 onwards through verse 23. The story of the sower and the seeds and the ground, the 52:05 seed and the grounds. And not going to go into the whole story in the interest of time, but there are four types of soil that are described there. And that's a picture of what's happened. Now that you heard the message, what it 52:21 means to be born again, and you've not just heard it last week, you've heard it in some form throughout your time of being here. But even after the emphasis last week that we received on what it means to be born again and even after what I've been 52:35 saying this morning about being born again, if you're still not born again, here's what's happening. That's what this story is about. In verse 3, the preachers went out to preach the word. I'm paraphrasing a little bit. We 52:50 had meetings at RLCF to tell, especially our children, what it means to be truly born again. And then in verse 18 onwards, Jesus explains the spiritual meaning of this. And children, you must understand this. Please pay attention. 53:06 Verse 19. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it. Now you must know care first of all, when it says does not understand, it's not because they could not understand, it's because they didn't want to understand. 53:25 And Jesus explains that in verses 10 through 17. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and I would say if you read what Jesus said, See, Jesus tells the story and then he later on explains the story, but in between he says something which 53:42 is very important. You read verses 10 through 17, you say you'll see that he says, I explained it to them. I spoke to them, but they didn't want to understand. And so I have a a stern warning for you children or anyone else. I'm not 53:59 here to scare you. Please don't mistake this the wrong way. But if you know that God is pulling on your heart to be born again and you've been resisting him. If your heart is not 100% right with God and you've been resisting him and 54:14 resisting him and resisting him, it's very clear here according to verse 19 that you don't want to understand it. You don't really want to get it. That's a very dangerous place to be. Now God hasn't given up on you. There is hope 54:28 for you, but you can't play that game any longer. You can't play that game for a long time. If you've heard the message of being born again and you're old enough to know that you should be born again and the Holy Spirit's been convicting you about 54:43 it. And if you really want to be born again, you would go to somebody who one of the preachers, your parents or somebody else says, I want to be born again and I'm I'm just not getting it. Okay, that's great. But if you just stuff it and 54:55 stuff it and stuff it, then you're who Jesus described as the first type of soil. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it because they choose not to, the evil one comes and snatches away 55:13 what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. So Jesus talked about seed that was sown on the side of the road and the birds of the air. So you know, when the brothers were preaching last 55:26 week, when you heard the preach the teaching, there were birds around here. Aware of what's going on in your heart, there were birds. You didn't see the birds. You couldn't hear them. They're very quiet birds. The birds of the air. 55:39 And even now as I'm speaking, there are birds of the air based on what kind of a heart you have. It has nothing to do with what's being preached because it is the same seed that was preached on all of these soil. And as it's being preached based on 55:53 what's in your heart, that only you know before God, the bird God allows those birds to come in and see, yeah, Santosh is not really that doesn't really want to understand it. Doesn't really want to give up everything and love me with his whole 56:07 heart. The birds come and take it away and take it away and take it away. Dear friend, you cannot afford to play that game for very long. Cuz this might be your last day. And there are people in hell today whom for whom the birds just came and 56:22 snatched it away. They missed it. Doesn't have to be like that. They chose not to understand. Then in verse 21 it says, uh uh verse 20. It talks about those who fell on the the on whom the the seed fell and it was 56:41 like a rocky soil. Verse 20, the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places. This is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Immediately they're excited. Wow, that was a great word. I'm finally born again 56:56 or I loved it and maybe something actually happens, but it goes on to say in verse 21, yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary. Examine your heart, dear friend. Is this you? Where you receive it and you like coming 57:16 to RLCF because of the preaching and you recognize I probably need sound strong teaching and I I'm actually EXCITED ABOUT IT, BUT it's only temporary excitement. I'll go up to the brother and say, thank you for that word. But 2 days later, 57:32 when affliction or persecution comes because of the word, when the word now causes me to decide, are you really going to continue to be the one to make the decisions? Are you going to continue to be the one in charge? Are you still 57:47 going to continue to love yourself? Have you really NOT FORSAKEN ALL? THAT'S THE affliction and the persecution because of the word. When when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. 58:02 And they fall back to the old way of life, the old defeated, discouraged, condemned life, defeated by sin. And then there's verse 22. The one on whom Actually, if you read verse 7, 58:21 it says the seed fell among the thorns and the thorns came up and choked them. So this was soil where the seed there was room for the seed to go into the ground, but there was also some extra room for other things to be planted. 58:39 Here's a question the Lord's asking you, dear friend. How much room do you have in your heart? Do you have room in your heart for the word of God to be planted plus a few other things to be planted? What things? Let's read in verse 22. 58:52 The worry of the world. Do you allow room for the devil to plant the worry of the world? Yeah, you've got the seed. That's good. But there's a little bit of land that's not sown with good seed and the devil plants a worry 59:08 into the in there. Because you left it there. You didn't allow the word of God to be planted in that area of your life. Your day your discipline of meditating on God's word every day, whether it's a few phrase a phrase or a few phrases or 59:24 a verse or whatever, you haven't planted that area. Think about it today. Think about your day like Think about your life like a plot of ground land. God wants to make sure that the word of God is planted in every area of that, 59:40 every every square foot. And today is another square foot. And today you're like, "Ah, I don't have time to read the Bible. I just got to do this, do that. I have time to read Twitter, read time to read social media, but no time for God's word." That's one 59:53 square foot that you didn't give God's word, and the devil will come in and plant worry. And eventually, now you may not notice anything right away. But a few days later, the worry will come up like a thorn alongside the word of God that's planted 1:00:09 elsewhere and will choke out the word of God. And you'll find your life plagued with worry. Oh, what's going to happen to my family? The economy is on the down and my job, I hear they're going to lay off people and I hear they're laying off 1:00:21 people. What's going to happen? Yeah, how did it happen? Because there was room for the devil to plant a seed of worry, which is a thorn. This is the man, it says verse 22, "The worry of the world." It says the thorn sprang up. 1:00:38 It was planted among thorns and the thorn sprang up also. And what's the other? The deceitfulness of riches. Is there Are you allowing some area of your life to be drawn by the riches of this world? The deceitfulness of riches. The fact 1:00:57 that, "Oh, if I had that amount of money, I would be fine. I wouldn't I would be free from worry. If I could just make it to that stage in my life. If I could just do this or I JUST PLAN EVERYTHING RIGHT." The deceitfulness of riches, and if 1:01:12 you've ever chased that dream, you know it's a never-ending one. The moment you I mean, think about it. Dear Dear men, especially for us who have the responsibility to take care of our families, God has blessed us far more than we thought we could be 1:01:26 blessed. I know I that's true about me. I mean, look back even 10 years ago. Don't you know God Don't you see how God has blessed you more than that? But is Is your life free of worry? And you thought, "I could I could get to 1:01:39 this point, I would have enough money and my children would be somewhat settled and I'd be FREE OF WORRY." NO, BECAUSE YOU STILL HAVE THE dream that you're chasing, the deceitfulness of riches. And that's coming up and choking out the 1:01:51 word. The deceitfulness of riches. Choke out the word and it becomes unfruitful. It came up for a while. There was fruit in your life. You can think back on the time when you were excited about the things of God and the hope was there, but the worry of the 1:02:09 world, the worry and the deceitfulness of riches choked it out and now there's no room for that word of God to grow and you're still sitting at RLCF and we're still planting seed, but there's no room. Now the thorns have 1:02:22 overcrowded your heart. Oh, that you'll come and allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to burn up those thorns. And today will be the day that you say, "Lord, every single plot part of this land is yours. My whole life now planted 1:02:35 with your word and your word alone, Lord, and that your word be my guide. Let your spirit take control of my whole heart. I give it to you a fresh today." And then there's the final soil, the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil. 1:02:50 This is the man who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and brings forth fruit. Some 100-fold, some 60 and some 30. And there too, I'm not going to dig into what that means, but you could decide, "Okay, 1:03:09 I'm not going to allow the birds of the air to steal it. I'm not going to be the rocky soil, no matter what I go through. This is the life I want to live. I'm not going to allow the worries of this world and the deceitfulness of 1:03:22 riches deceitfulness of riches to choke it out, but I'm just going to be a 30% Christian. I'm just going to give myself 30% to the work of God. That's 70%. I still got to take care of my family. I got to do the things I got to do. 1:03:38 And so I'm a 30% sure. You're not in the thorns, but you get there to the end of your life as a 30% Christian. What do you think eternity will be like, friend? It's an honest question. If you think, "Okay, Santosh, I'm not 1:03:53 one of those that you've described, but I'm just a 30%. I give 30% of my time and my energy and my commitment to the Lord and his church." 60%. My friends, I can't afford to reach the end of my life as a 99% Christian. 1:04:12 Paul said, "If I finish 99%, I will be disqualified." For read it, 1 Corinthians 9:24. "Run as if to get 100%, otherwise you'll be disqualified." That's a word the Lord's speaking to my heart afresh this morning. I can't afford to be 99% 1:04:31 Are you 99% even? Run to win. Children, run to win. This is an This is a wonderful God we serve. He's given us um like we sang in that song, "What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer and by his 1:04:48 power I've all that I need to live." Dear friends, God has given US ALL THAT WE NEED to live. If you want this life with all of your heart as I do, he's given us everything that we need. His Holy Spirit will strengthen you. Be 1:05:01 encouraged. Be encouraged. Never allow yourself to be discouraged and never stop giving your whole heart to Jesus. It's a wonderful life. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that this will be a life-changing day, not because of anything I've said. 1:05:16 Lord, there's no power in my words, but the fact that everything that I've tried to say is in your word and it's something that we can put our whole we can bank our whole life on. And I choose today to believe everything that's in your 1:05:31 word. And I pray that every one of us at RLCF at least will be those who bank our life completely on everything that's in your word. I pray for our children especially, Lord, for these the tender ones who have recently asked you to be the Lord of 1:05:47 their lives, that you will watch over this tender shoot. Thank you that you do. This bruised reed, this smoldering wick that's coming to life. Watch over it, Lord, and give us grace to watch over them. Give us words of prophecy to fan the 1:06:02 flames of the Holy Spirit in them. And if there are any, Lord, who are still here who haven't yet committed their lives to you, however old they might be, Lord, I pray that today will be the day that they will do so. Give us grace also to watch over their 1:06:15 hearts in the same way. We thank you for your word in Jesus' name. Amen.
