In this sermon, the speaker shares a powerful story of a woman who encountered a dangerous criminal in a shopping mall. Despite the man's evil intentions, the woman boldly spoke to him about Jesus and the presence of God overwhelmed him. He eventually prayed to Jesus and experienced a radical transformation, becoming a born-again Christian. The story highlights the power of sharing the gospel and the ability of Jesus to change lives. The speaker emphasizes the importance of serving God above all else and not being swayed by the opinions of others or societal movements.

Well, we continue our study on the Church, and if you remember, we talked of the Church through the age, the Church age, over that first evening together, the prophecies of Jesus concerning the Church. Last week we looked at Christ, the head of his Church. And tonight I want to look at Christ, the foundation of his Church. Now, you all know the scriptures on this, because you will know this scripture, for example, in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 10, and according to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, this is the Corinthian Church, and another builds on it, but let every man take heed how he builds on it. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the foundation of his Church. And if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the work for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he has built on it, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss. But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Alright, so the foundation of the Church is Jesus Christ. Now, when we read in Matthew chapter 16, again obvious truth which we will come back to again next week, as we continue to look at this same subject with a slightly different angle, but here it says in Matthew 16, it says, the famous words, verse 15, Jesus said to them, Whom do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. You are the Son of God. And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say also to thee that thou art Peter, a stone, and upon this bedrock, two different words, that you are Peter, a stone, and upon this bedrock I will build my church. The bedrock being Christ, the Son of the living God. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So there's the second truth that Christ is the foundation of his church and no man can build another foundation. There can be a variety of things laid on the church, but the foundation is clear. Now, let me just bring this into contrast with one more verse before I want to speak something in Romans chapter 15. We have a strange verse in respect to what I've just said. Christ, the foundation of his church, but now in Romans chapter 15 it says, verse 20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation. Alright, another man's foundation. Now that's a puzzling statement because you would say, well wait a moment, there's only one foundation. And there's a slight difference here in this reference to a foundation because you see, when you look at the churches, all the churches are built on one foundation. And we'll see it tonight. There's only one foundation for every church that is truly a church. If a church is not built on this foundation that we'll look at tonight, it is not a church. But having said that, the churches are different. Have you noticed that? The churches are different. And when you look across the... I'm talking about the churches of true believers. I'm not talking about, you know, all the different kinds of churches. I've been to Calabar in West Africa, in Nigeria, where there's a church in every corner. I don't know how many churches there are. The name I most remember was the Church of the Holy Faith. But they had so many different titles for the church. The Church of the Holy Faith, the True Church of Jesus Christ, the True Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, and so it goes on. So many. If there are so many churches, say in Bracknell, how many churches are there in Bracknell? Well, they're all a different manifestation of the church, if they are individually, if the church is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. But even so, every church is different. And we've got a clue to here. So this one, we read that he's like, I don't want to build on another man's foundation. He's not referring to Jesus Christ, because that foundation is the same. But there is something different about every church. And perhaps we'll come back to this another time, but I'll just speak about this for a moment. What's the difference between the churches? And this is something that is very critical and of great importance for every local church to understand. Because if I call the foundation of a church Jesus Christ, I would say there are facets about church life that are not foundational. They are sometimes incidental. They are sometimes built on men's leanings. Sometimes they are built on men's characters. So the sense of humour of the founding members will fit into church life, or the lack of it. And preferences for church buildings will be apparent from the founders. Now this is true in incidentals. It will be true in your choice of things which are not foundational, such as choice of hymn books. All right. Now a church is not built on its hymn books. It's built on Jesus Christ. But the choice of hymn book, if you go to a church and say, oh I don't know that church, I don't sing from our hymn book, then you would be utterly judging that church mistakenly, and you would need to learn something more about how to discern the body of Christ. But if I mention a hymn book, we can all smile because this is something we talk about from time to time. In different churches it becomes an issue, and so on. I don't think it's ever been an issue in our church. But there's another dimension to this which I would call the soul of a church. The soul of a church. When you get to know a church, you realize there are things that are put in place which are so strong in that church, and yet you can't put your finger on it. Things that you say, well, why is the thing done like this? Why is it like that? Why? And the reason is because the founders made it so, possibly because of their characters, sometimes historical influences in the church, sometimes upsets, difficulties in past history. Various things affect what I would call the soul of a church. Now that's not necessarily biblical, that's Les Wielden's explanation. You don't have to build much on what I'm saying now in this sense. Other than that this is scriptural, you can already see that wood, hay, stubble, ore, etc. build on the foundation, we've already read that scripture. But what you find is that when you come up against the soul of a church, you're in trouble. Because if you're trying to change things that have been there, ooh, don't you dare try and change this, we've always done it this way. Well, who said you should do it that way? That doesn't matter, this is how we've already done it. And I remember being in a council meeting in a church in another country, and we were discussing the leadership and the patterns of running churches, and of course some of us got our Bibles out, and said, in the Bible it says this, this and this. And these old pastors stood up and said, we have never done it this, and in our constitution it says, and they said, yes but is your constitution in the Bible? And you could almost feel the earth beginning to quake. And it's sad to say in those meetings, there was no way that those men would renounce their hold on the soul of their church. Now let me give you, the reason I say this is important, because I know that in my going on with God, God has to break me. And in doing that it's painful. Some of the brokenness is God's dealings with my habits of thought, my prejudices and my pride. And I have to be broken. Now that is true of me as an individual, and it is true of churches as a whole. Churches must go through seasons of brokenness, where they lose their clinging, tenacious grip on things that are not foundational. There's a time when we don't notice these things, and they're not important. But there's a time when these things are beginning to get in the way of God moving. And we will then have a choice either to be broken, humbled, and weep and repent, and let God move again. I can't tell you what the things are in the soul, the background, but I'm not saying this and saying this church or that church. All I know is that every church will have things accruing, glowing on it, which are not essential. And we have to watch it. Blessed is the church that learns to change as the Lord leads us, and to let things go that are not foundational, and hold fast to things that are, and grow in the things of God. We have to change. One of the things I notice about myself is I have changed. I'm a different person to the person I was some years ago and more years ago, and things change about me. Things happen to me. Sometimes I notice how I change, sometimes I don't, but I look back and I realize I've changed. And I've grown softer in my heart and more compassionate and caring, and in some things I've grown firmer and clearer and more determined, and less compromising. We all learn to grow, and this is the thing that we must be broken, and as churches we must watch that we are open to the dealings of God with other churches. And when God puts his finger on things, we have to begin to weep in repentance, not in protest, seeking God's wisdom as to what is foundational. Because God wants the church to go on. It must go on. God's church is to be his witness, his light in the earth for the generation around us. Now we can't all thereby try and follow the fads and fashions of our day, because God's doing something in a church here, it doesn't mean we have to follow it. Remember that God's dealings with the churches are just like individuals in one way, on a greater scale, but you notice that there are people that each one of is fashions to reach, and each church is fashions to reach certain people. Now we could say we should all be reaching everybody, yes that's true, but the truth is that we're all different, and we're all being used of God, and if we're in the hands of God he will use us. You know there's people you can witness to that I can't witness to, and it's simply because you've won their heart by the person you are, they understand you, you understand them, and they feel that they're finishing. I wonder if it's just like somebody when they meet somebody with a Mohican hairstyle, and rings coming out of every place possible, what they do is they run a mile, because they think how can I ever witness to this person? You know and if they do they say, you must take those things off and you can see it, you know get a haircut, well that's not how you witness to such a person. The first thing you want to witness to such a person, you have to love them in such a way that you don't even notice those things. But one other thing, you just accept them and love them, and you'll find they're just a normal person underneath. But the thing is there's people fitted to reach them, and there's churches able to reach different people. Now I'm not saying ideally, if the church grows in its fullness and in its glory, the church will appeal to every single soul. But we're just lingering for a moment to notice the differences in churches. Just for a moment. So let's go on now back to the question of foundation, because now church history, because I've not forgotten Judas and Petee to talk about church history. So don't worry Judas, I've not forgotten. My little apeth of church history will be thrown in. Not much, but it's there occasionally. Now church history, because you see, in the history of the church, I suppose really occasionally I will go into some details over church history, but again it's a general thing to remark about church history. When you look into the past, and you look at various things that happened, one of the attacks of the enemy is directed at the person of Jesus Christ. And much error in the church, if not all in the end, can be traceable back to error in the understanding of him. Now for example, here's a man who was born in 85 AD. So that was, what's that, about 52 years after the cross. His name was Martian. And he got his theories out, he liked certain parts of the Bible, and he didn't like others. But this is what he believed. He did not believe that Jesus was born of a virgin birth. He was not of Mary. And his body was not material. Would you believe. Now you can see certain things appear again and again. You can hear people in our day talking that Jesus was not born of a virgin birth. People say these things. But there's a man who, this attack, within a very short time there's people saying these ridiculous things. But the two of these are not that unobvious. But the thing is, look at this, the first council of the church in, what was it, I've forgotten, I must have mentioned the date last week, it's AD 320 something, the council of Nicaea. The council of Nicaea was not really a a great meeting of the church in its, in the way we would consider it. But it was a, it called bishops from the whole Roman Empire, 300 bishops, elders, leaders, called by the Roman Emperor. And their chief discussion was about the teaching of a man named Arius. The alien controversy. And Arius said that the Son of God is a created being. And one of the results was the Nicene Creed. Whatever we think about the Nicene Creed and the way it was arrived at, there's some beautiful statements. True God, very God of very God, begotten, not created, and various things. The Nicene Creed. And so there's a second great heresy, the Aryan heresy. Now that heresy appears again in our day with the Jehovah's Witnesses. It's just the same thing. How long have the Jehovah's Witnesses been around? Well they've been around since a hundred years or so, 150 years or something. But actually, their kind of thing has been around for well, 1950 years. It's been around a long time because the attacks of Satan against the church are attacks on the person of Jesus Christ. If there can be something that knocks away that foundational truth. And there were other there are other modern groups that attack the person of Jesus Christ even though they claim to be believers in Jesus Christ. One of them is called the Christadelphians. Some of you may have heard of the Christadelphians. Who do not believe that Jesus existed before he was born in Bethlehem. Do not believe he was God. And there's all kinds of groups. You can find another group here. This is one going back a long way again. The Gnostics who thought matter was evil. And therefore they said the resurrection of Jesus was not physical. And all kinds of things. These things are a bit of a of these heresies. But the point is that the church is being troubled by them. And groups are rising and with a voice. Now when you look at these different groups the sad thing about them is that they are not merely men. They are demonic. These different attacks are demonic attacks against the truth of God. The Jehovah's Witnesses driven by a deceiving spirit. And the Christadelphians and others. In it there is a deceiving spirit. Now some of these groups have godly men in them. And you are going to distinguish between the error and deception. In other words, a man who is deceived does not know that he is wrong. He may be doing it uprightly. And I notice because my wife was a Christadelphian and she grew up in a Christadelphian family I have noticed how many Christadelphians have come to the Lord. My wife was the first in her family to come to the Lord. She led her own parents to the Lord. Her brother, her two brothers, different members of the family, various ones have all come to the Lord. And have we heard of different ones from the Christadelphian sect? They have come to the Lord in a wonderful way. One of the reasons I believe is because despite all the spirit of error that is working in that group of people, there is something very much like the Old Testament law, which is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. Even with all the error they were like prepared soaked in the Scripture. They read the Bible once a year as a family. My wife had read the Bible. I heard the Bible read 16 times by the time she was 16. What a wonderful thing. Well the third thing is whenever they read anything about Jesus being God they contradicted it. But this is not new. Jehovah's Witnesses are not new. And Christadelphians are not new. These are things that have been around in Church history at various times. The Arian controversy and deception and lie was there in that time and is simply the Jehovah's Witnesses in that age. And it's the attack of Satan against the foundation of the Church. And the foundation of the Church is this. It is the person Jesus Christ. He is the head of the Church. But many of these groups will admit that he's important in the Church and give him certain acknowledgments of importance and so on. But we're talking about the person of Jesus Christ being the foundation of the Church. And we are to be brought into a knowledge an awareness an experience of the person of Jesus Christ. And that is how we are in the foundation of the Church. Now that's how we are part of the Church. Now I said last week that we are brought in. We are baptised into the body of Christ by the Holy Ghost. These are simple truths. We get to look at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and various things connected with that. But the truth is that the Holy Spirit reveals the person of Christ. You know that when my wife left home and she went to college, there she met various Christians who she argued with them and various things. Until one day she realised she was wrong and she prayed and she let God deliver her from an evil spirit and she received the Holy Spirit. She went home took out her Gospel of John and read in John chapter 1 verse 1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and it flooded into her soul the truth, He's God that which she had never accepted or spoken before she knew it instantly the Holy Spirit within her and the Word of Truth that she was reading, He's God and as she read through John's Gospel, I don't know how much is underlined but she was going through it, couldn't stop reading it because the revelation that flooded into her said He's God and this is a foundational fact not just a fact, it's a foundation that we experience the Godhead of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit He shall glorify me, said Jesus of the Holy Spirit He shall take of mine He shall show you of me and reveal, this is what he's saying the Holy Spirit will show you and give you understanding about me, you shall be founders on an experience knowledge and awareness of me and what does that awareness bring us to? it brings us into the awareness of who Jesus Christ is and so you can tell by the very fact that a person denies that Jesus is God, that he is not saved it's obvious truth, but it is true just recently someone I preached on Hebrews chapter 1, which I will turn to in a moment, somebody came to me after it and said you've gone beyond scripture they said Jesus is the son of God but he is not God the son now this is a bit too difficult for me so I said I said to this person now come on, I really want to know what you're trying to say, and we talked about it for a while and he then said look I was challenging to try and find out whether he was denying that Jesus was God, this is important I want to know and he said I'm totally orthodox, I said that's fine, but can you say then that Jesus is God, just say that Jesus is God he couldn't say it he could not bring himself to that confession that Jesus is God something blocking another person an older person now many different experiences of moral re-armament some of you will have heard of that movement various different groups worked in various different places but the one difficulty she had is loving Jesus Christ, the idea of a father okay, but to love Jesus no, can't do it can't relate to Jesus, struggling to be a Christian but Jesus just leaves the call now, what I want you to see is that you're you are founded, not because you believe something about Jesus but because you have experienced and that your hard response is I know him, he's God and I know him he's the creator and I know him and I love him that's the foundation of the church there can be no other, you're brought into a vital awareness of the person of Christ you know him, not just by your beliefs, you know that beliefs are what we all have, we all have beliefs if you have a statement of faith, you'll write it your beliefs I think there's a famous tape by Mr Norton Believe Your Beliefs I think, is that right? Believe Your Beliefs and that's the truth, you have to believe you believe he's the son of God, you have to believe your beliefs the trouble with people is they have a whole system of beliefs that they've got in the drawer and they don't know what they are and there are people who say, tell us what we believe, and I'm thinking what do you mean? when Jesus said, who do you say that I am? he was this is the touchstone of every person's life, whether they are in the church of Jesus Christ, who do you say Jesus is? that will tell me you may not be able to articulate it but something in you will say at some point, like Thomas my Lord and my God Thomas did it when he got the revelation of his longing he wanted to know who Jesus is now the church is not a social club or gathering, it is a group of people who have come into direct living contact with Jesus Christ, and the result is worship of Jesus and of his Father just turn with me then for a moment to Hebrews chapter 1 and chapter 2, and I'm going to tell you what these chapters are about and in Hebrews the whole of this book of Hebrews in fact the whole of the New Testament revelation rests on these two truths at the beginning of Hebrews, chapters 1 and chapters 2 chapter 1 the revelation is Jesus God the Son, I've put it that way around so that nobody may misunderstand me not just the Son of God God the Son, in the beginning was the Word the Word was with God, that means distinct from God with God and yet at the same time was God, that means indistinguishable from God if I've left you there confused, well I'm sorry but that's the fact, he is a distinct person, and at the same time he is God, that's the revelation chapter 1 of Hebrews God the Son chapter 2 of Hebrews the Incarnation he became a man and that's at the very foundation of John's Gospel, the Incarnation Jesus did not begin in Bethlehem he began in eternity he created all things, all things were made through and again this is very simple things but they're there in John and they're in Hebrews chapter 1 and so on the Creator God, now here in Hebrews chapter 1 and 2 resting all on these two things, that the one who was born in Bethlehem was God the one who died on the cross was God the Son now why is this important? well I'll tell you why it's important, because if ever you witness to a Jehovah's Witness, the people can say different things who've talked to them when they come to your door I like to refer to people as them, but you know what I mean people come and you can say various things, but one person I know said to them has he taken away your sin? and that absolutely threw them taken away my sin no, what do you mean? because you see it's Jesus the Son of God who is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world what Hebrews shows is that the measure of salvation is God the measure of God's work in the soul of his people in the life of his people is the measure of God the measure when you talk to a Jehovah's Witness the measure of his salvation is very shaky are you certain of your salvation? nobody can be Chris Wilkins can't be do you know that you ascended? are you certain? do you know that something has taken place in your life? another question that somebody asked a Jehovah's Witness, are you born again? showed in John chapter 3 about entering the kingdom of God through are you born again? and the answer was no, I'm not who can know? but the truth that's going to come through Hebrews as you go on through it rests on this foundation that when God works in the life of a person it is a God like work not a man like work it's of the dimensions of God one of the words of Hebrews is this, of the new covenant it's quoted in the Old Testament, but Hebrews says this I shall be to them a God and they shall be to me a people now that is a tremendously powerful word, I will be a God to you, he's not saying I will be a system of beliefs to you, I will not be a system a religion to you, I will not be just as gathering on Sundays, I will not be just a building I will not just be a Bible I will be a God to you I will be God to your sin in other words, I will deal with it I will be God to your need, I will not just stroke you and sympathize with you and say oh you poor thing you need this and that, I will be God to it I use this example if I was dressed in rags and said to somebody my father's a tailor they would say well what kind of tailor is he? or if I said my father makes I don't know, cars or something, he owns a car factory and I was walking with walking up the road, what kind of cars have he made? I've got my father in the shoe shop and I'm walking barefoot Jesus is my God what kind of God is he? to leave you in your need and your sin, he can't be God and that's the conclusion they come to because there the Jehovah's Witnesses say these things because they have skirted the issue of the promises and all this and they've reduced everything down to the level of uncertainty and not too sure in the level of man, this is what the Christadelphians do they've reduced the power of the Holy Spirit the Christadelphians have reduced the power of the Holy Spirit down to the influence of good the Holy Spirit is not an influence he is a person who must be received Jesus Christ is not a general influence in the church he is God who wants to be God to you and God in your need and God likes in his dealing with your sin if God poured out his son's blood, which is what Hebrews is saying then that is the measure of our experience because we are founded in that one who is the son of God, this is why you know that this man David Jenkins, the former Bishop of Durham, I don't believe he's Bishop now of Durham is he? he's not there anymore but the Bishop of Durham who denied the resurrection is proving by his statement that he does not know anything simple things about the truth of God and the truth is this, that a person who has been saved just one day will know more than the Bishop of Durham, or the former Bishop of Durham he will know the resurrection took place, he will know there was a virgin birth, he will know these things why? because he has experienced God working in his life now what we are saying is this is to be something that you are to discover and to lay hold of we are not a gathering like we are a minority, we are the people of God and we are to be fashioned according to the measure of God in our midst now here in this chapter one of Hebrews you'll notice this, it says this about Jesus in verse 6, when he brings in the first begotten into the world, I remember we looked at this chapter I think back in July but just to mention a few things here when he brings in the first begotten into the world he said let all the angels of God worship him now there's Jesus now if I said to you now look I want you all to worship me tonight as I walk around you can kiss my hand and you can fall down at my feet oh you can just drown aren't we when we say things like this, but there's a man who does that he is the Pope he lets people kiss his hand he actually wants them he lets people kiss his feet people fall down before him these things happen and there are other men of God, I remember seeing somebody they may not be other men of God other men of the cloth or men of something, I don't know what I remember seeing a man preach on a video my father-in-law showed me this video and I watched it and at the end this man stood there he didn't pray he received applause and he bowed and he received it something in me shuddered, I'd never seen it before I'd never seen people clap somebody in the church after preaching I thought this is awful this is awful let all the angels of God worship him and when people fell down and worshipped Jesus Jesus didn't say stop it that's what John said in the Revelation John fell down to worship the angel and the angel said stop it don't the little one said don't do that and in Cornelius' household Cornelius fell down before Peter Peter said don't but when they fell down before Jesus he virtually said he didn't say with his lips yes and when the lady anointed his feet with perfume and tears and gazed and worshipped and loved him it was right he's God and I believe that when those people worshipped him like the man whom he'd healed the blind man whom he'd healed I have a belief in my heart, I can't prove it that when they sat there like that lady who was a sinner and anointed his feet, when she worshipped him and opened her soul up entirely in abandonment to honour him with everything she was I believe she had an experience similar to the baptism in Holister I believe she felt waves of love, joy cleansing in his presence and I believe it was just a foretaste of something to come but he is himself our saviour you can read this in Hebrews chapter 1 look at this, that all the angels of God worshipped and then it says in this let's read it from verse 1 it says God who at hundred times and in diverse manners different times, different places, different ways God spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets that he has in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he has appointed to own everything, by whom he made the world and the ages through which they pass Jesus being the brightness of the glory of God and the express image of his character and Jesus upholding everything that is by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty and high being made so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they and here we've got the comparison of Jesus throughout the book of Hebrews here he's compared with prophets far greater, with angels the angels worshipped Jesus and he's compared with Moses he's compared with Joshua he's compared with all those great men, but in the end they're always Melchizedek, this great man far greater than anyone, but Jesus he's the great one he's God and this is why we read in verse 8 unto the son he says, in verse 7 he says of the angels he says, who make us his angel spirits, God makes angels but he doesn't make the son to the son he says, thy throne O God is forever and ever throne of Jesus God saying to his son O God, there's God the son, not just the son of God there's God saying to his son O God, thy throne O God it's so obvious isn't it, when you look at it Jesus is not just the son of God, he is God the son because the father looks at Jesus and says, O God your throne is forever and ever and here's this foundational truth, that when we open our beings to Jesus, to receive him we are changed you know I, on the way some month, maybe maybe a year ago too, I don't know somebody gave us a tape I just brought it with me tonight it was on the car coming over here and it was a tape of a lady on the radio Focus on the Family this story of a lady who went in America in California, she went to a shopping mall shopping center I suppose we'd say when she came back to her car there was a man there with a gun and he ordered her into the car and he was one of the FBI's 10 most wanted men in America there was a great search on for him throughout the nation he was a rapist murdered he murdered a young lady that morning just 12 hours previous to this encounter and she didn't know who he was but obviously got a gun and he was obviously abducting her and had evil intentions, various things but all that happened was this in her boldness the spirit of God gave her she said it was completely beyond her it was something she just knew, the spirit of God came to her in calmness and witness and boldness and she talked to him about Jesus, she talked to him about Jesus and the man was utterly overwhelmed by the sense of the presence of Jesus and the upshot of the day was that after a few hours of talking various things, the man eventually began to calm down, whatever it was at some point he called on Jesus to change and she said on this tape he immediately became different after he had prayed this prayer he was a different man, his look had changed he was born again and later that day he had released her the whole thing it just became normal people sharing the Lord with him and later that day the FBI arrested him he was tried eventually, he was found guilty obviously of the murder of that lady in the morning 2am, that previous woman that he murdered and he was executed but he died a Christian but the thing is this that the measure was the power of God she talked about Jesus that's amazing when you tell somebody about Jesus you have to say, I want you to come to our church I want you to believe what we believe I want you to come on mother, if you can believe this believe that Jesus is the son of God and believe that he was born of the virgin Mary and believe this then everything will be alright that's about it if somebody believes that Jesus isn't God they're only showing they don't know him when you open your heart to him and say, Lord this is my need look what's happening to my marriage or look what's happening to my heart look what's happening to my mind my emotions, my will, my life is going to pieces Jesus will you come and save me the truth that he's God is what happens next here it is in Hebrews chapter 1 when he had by himself purged us he purged your sins by himself now if I say to you at the end of this I'm going to purge your sins by myself ridiculous statement it's expressed in different ways in the New Testament by saying he's washed us by his blood it's expressed in but the simple truth is if a person will let Jesus Christ come in and have them and yield to him he will do a work that is measurable by God alone churches can put you through courses and do various things to you baptise you and confirm you and all this but they can't wash away your sin only Jesus can do that but he's God and he can do it he can deliver you from the fear of death he can raise if he can raise from the dead, a man who was dead for days and he's promised to do it for the whole world who has died one day, this is God we're talking about can he not work in your situation that thing that's so grievous to you that thing that's crushing you the thing that's destroying the life out of you, can Jesus not be God for you or are we saying that he's only God in name but not in reality, which is what most of the churches believe most people go to church on Sunday morning and they stand up and say the creed, to sit down and think about Sunday dinner or something, they don't even think they know what they've said you've got to believe your beliefs all at the feet of Jesus Christ I'm looking at everything everything I was talking with someone just today and I'd be watching a video with this person and I I got up and I put it off and I said I'm not watching this I don't want to watch it I don't like it, and the person said, I gave my reasons the person said, oh but this one likes it that one likes it he's a Christian she's a Christian and I said, well, what do you think Jesus Christ thinks of it because he's my Lord my Master it's all got to do with that, he's my Lord and he's my Master, it has everything to do with it he's my God, and I'm his child I serve him, I listen that's what it has to do with I don't care what so and so thinks, or this one thinks or that one thinks, I'm not serving a movement in a, what do people think I'm serving him I'm living for him he's my God the church is not my God I pray to God I serve God I don't serve the church, you understand I serve the church because I serve God I don't serve the church full stop I serve the church because I'm a servant of God the church is not my Master in people's thinking it may appear that way because obviously we pour our lives out for the church you pour your life out for the church because God is your Master, if God is not Jesus Christ is not your Master, you won't pour your life out for the church anyway you'll do it for men this is what people do but he is to bring you into the foundation, the foundation is that Jesus Christ is God and became a man through the virgin birth and appeared in this world to manifest God to us and to die for our sins he died and rose again on the third day he ascended into heaven and from that place he is now pouring out the Holy Spirit which is ministering through the power of the Holy Spirit, all that he is, into our lives and situations if we'll let him the church is all built on the glorified Son of God, the person not the idea his power his glory his person flooding through us the awareness of him coming to us as he ministers to us from above that's what the church is and because he is a heavenly person, we are the heavenly people, because he is a holy person we are the holy people, we are filled with the divine nature with the power of God to live for God we are not filled with the encouragements of God to live for God, we are filled with the power of God to live for God God is the God who is worthy of the name of God and Jesus is God he has a Father, we can talk about the Trinity if you like, but the point is, we're talking about that the church is built on this foundation your life is built on this the power and the person of Jesus Christ all you've got to do is let him save you, let him be God to you, let him be himself to you, you know I often think that the revolution that we often say is this or that, the revolution is simply this, that which takes place when we let Jesus be Jesus to us let him be himself to you and see what happens, let him just be himself, let him be God to you and see what happens and you'll find that the revolutions that take place in the church are actually only returning to these simple revolutionary truths, how awful when a church obscures Jesus through its human dimension what I said earlier on, the soul differences in it, the church has a soul things we won't change, we're whole to them, and somehow people come in and they can't see Jesus all they see is people moulded by a church, but you see it they need to see people looking at someone who is invisible you know I've met many people who were converted when they saw people worshipping they went into a meeting and they said I've never seen such heavenly people I've never seen such, such rapt concentration in love it converted them that's what makes the church and we're built on that foundation let's pray shall we