Discipleship and the Spirit Filled Life as Christ’s Bride

It's good to seek the Lord for everything we do. Father, I lean on you. Lord, we lean on you. Whether it's me speaking or the others listening, whatever we do, Lord, even our listening is not something we can do in our own strength. We ask you to give us ears to hear what the Spirit has to say. We don't want to just hear the earthly words. We don't want to just hear something temporary that won't change our lives for eternity. Lord, we want an eternal work. We want to hear an eternal word that doesn't come from any man, but the word that comes from you, Lord Jesus. Faith comes from hearing the word of Jesus, the word of Christ. Lord, I pray that we will hear that word afresh this morning. Thank you. Thank you especially for our children, Lord, and as we seek to impress these truths, especially on their hearts, but for all of us, that you will do it, Lord. We recognize our incapability even as parents. I pray our children also will learn from a young age that the Christian life is not something they can live in their own strength, that they will learn to lean on you from beginning to end. You are the beginning and the end of everything. May they know that. Pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay children, we're going to do a little bit of a revision. I'll hopefully finish the rest of my thoughts on what I started sharing last Sunday, and we were talking about laying a foundation for eternal life, and this is, we talked about two tracks, two paths. One that we are born into. We didn't choose it. We were born into it, and it's just like a cow was born a cow and didn't have anything to do with it, will die a cow. A dog that's born a dog will always be a dog. I mean if you have a dog at home, do you expect that someday you come home and find out the dog's actually a cat now? No, you never hear of such a thing, or any other animal like that, and we human beings by birth are exactly the same. We will always be human beings until the end of our lives, unless God being powerful, infinite, and the eternal God can take something inside of us that makes us human beings and changes us to be something eternal, and God never did that for any of the other of creation. He doesn't say dogs you can have my spirit within you, cows you can have my spirit within you. Even the angels who were pure, and he created the angels just like he created the rest of the world. He created the angels before that, and he has never made a way for the angels to partake of his divine nature. Okay, leave aside the bad angels who became the devil and all his demons. What about all the good angels who didn't fall away with the rest of the angels who fell away? Don't you think they watch God working in us and think, I wish I could have had that chance. I think they do. At least I use my imagination to think they do. They see the work of salvation so beautifully. I don't think they know the end and all that. They read God's Word. They see God. They're in his presence. They know he's going to work it all out, but don't you think that they see that here we were created beings just like they are, and just like the dogs and the cats and the cows and plants and everything, and of all of creation that was on this track and was forever going to be on this track, he said, Santosh, and put your name there, human beings, I'm going to pick you as the ones I'm going, the only ones, I'm going to allow to be on this track, to be moved to this track. I hope in my taking time to explain it that way, you think, Lord, I better not waste this chance. Angels long to look, we read. They long. The old prophets in the Old Testament, everybody, all those men and women of faith in the Old Testament longed to see what we see. Children, you know that there are children who live 3,000, 4,000 years ago that would have loved to be sitting at our LCF and hearing the things we're hearing. Oh, they would have said, you kids, you don't know how fortunate and blessed you are to hear this and to know it, that you know Jesus. They would have given anything. So, let's not neglect it. The book of Hebrews says, let us not neglect this great salvation. Don't be careless with it. So, some child, tell me, I want to say one more thing about this, these two tracks, before we get into, so if you have a few minutes, remember what we talked about. These are the three blocks we talked about so far. But before that, these two tracks, I would say, there's one characteristic that differentiates, that is the difference between this track and the other track. The track that all of creation is forever going to be bound in, human beings who remain on this track will always remain that. They won't have the eternal life of God in them. But the distinguishing factor, what's different between these two, is this. I look at it like this, is if you look at their eyes, not their physical eyes, but the eyes of their heart. And so, children, again, I'm trying to speak especially to you all this morning. If you want to know, how do I know whether I've really gone from this track to this track? And if the children can get it, hopefully us adults can also know, have I really come to this side? Children, the reason this is important for us in this church is because we don't want you, as I said last week, to get to be 30, 40, 50, 60 years old, sitting in a church meeting, attending a church every Sunday, and thinking somehow you're on this track when you're not. If you've really received Christ and the Spirit of Christ dwells in you, that's wonderful. But if you're not sure, if you're on the fence, and you think I'm just sitting in the church meeting, or I'm in a home where we read the Bible and we pray and all that, that's not going to put you on this track. It must be something you choose to receive. But the difference, very simply as this, is where are the eyes of your heart? What does that mean, actually? What do you spend a lot of your time thinking about during the day? What are you most interested in? The book of Colossians, maybe children you can turn there with me. To me, this is the key difference between the two tracks, Colossians chapter three. The eyes of your heart, you read about that in Ephesians chapter three also, but the eyes of your heart is essentially, I think of it like the affection of your heart. What do you love deep down, deep in your heart, children? What is it that you're most interested in? Is it winning the game that you're going to have this week, or getting an A in the class test that you have this week, or being popular with your friends? All of those things are an indication. If that's what you're most interested in, then it means that you're still on this whole track. It's okay to do well, it's okay to succeed, and it's good that you work hard, but fundamentally, deep down, deep down, if you look at it, you take away everything else, what are you most interested in, children? This is what we must be interested in. Colossians 3 verse 1, if you have been raised up with Christ, if you have been moved from this track to the other track, if you are born again, if you have been raised up with Christ, the proof of that is that you will keep seeking the things above. That means what you're most interested in at the end of the day is something heavenly. Okay, maybe you failed in your test. Work a little harder next time, young boy, young girl, but keep seeking things in heaven. Don't lose out on the things in heaven. Okay, maybe you lost that game that you were trying so hard to win. That's okay. Keep seeking things above. So what's changed deep down at the root, at the bottom of it all, what should have changed if you are a child of God, if you're born again, is that everybody that's on this track, whether it's dog, cat, cow, horse, pig, human being, they're seeking things on this earth. The characteristic of all of the rest of creation is their head is down. You watch dogs, you watch chickens, you watch, you know, we have a few of those, and you watch pigs, always down, down, something here, and I think if the angels could take a picture of human beings, they would say the same thing. Look at human beings, they're always down. How can I win this game? How can I get a little bit more money? How can I, this, how can I have more friends? This, my eye is down, down, down, down, down. You see how, if that's how you live your life, you're no different than the pig, and the dog, and the cat, and the chicken. Always looking, there's something here. You scratch that, scratch that, there, there, got a little bit of seed, okay. Scratch that a little bit more. The dog's always digging something here, something downward. But the moment you're born again, the moment God puts you on this track, your vision is lifted upward, like we said. Lift your vision, seek things above. Yeah, if I get something here, that's fine. I'll work a little harder, but my eye is there. That's the difference, children. So what does that mean? Throughout the day, when you're sitting in class, or you're doing homeschool at home, or you're playing a game with your friends, constantly remind yourself, hey, okay, they scored a goal, or it looks like I might be losing, or something else happened, I'm little sick today, that's okay. I don't want to lose sight of my vision. I'm on this track now. Everything I'm ultimately interested in is a little bit here, that's okay, but at the end of the day, I'm interested in something heavenly. That's how you know that you've been moved from the old track to the good track. And I'll tell you, as adults, we have to check ourselves. That's why the word is written here, keep seeking. That means when you were raised from Christ, see that word keep, that means keep doing what brought you from this track to this track. When I was raised with Christ, I used, before I was raised with Christ, I used to always think about what can I get out of this. So children, for you, that might be, how can I get the biggest piece of cake, or the largest bowl of ice cream, or how can I, you know, have, get more for myself. That's me, me, me, me, me. If you have been raised with Christ, then what's happened is now you're not thinking about me all the time, you're thinking about Christ. What will help Christ more? What will glorify him more? And now, if that's really true, keep doing that. So the encouragement for Sadal says, keep doing what brought you to this side. And if you find that you've been sitting and calling yourself a Christian, perhaps even sitting in RLCF, but you're still seeking your own, still seeking only the things of this earth, a better life for yourself here on this earth, perhaps you're still on this track, brother, sister, friend. But if you are really a child of God, it means that you're seeking something above. Okay, I wanted to share that. That's the difference. Your I, your affection, your love, what you're ultimately interested in is heavenly. So some child tell me, somebody that's a Sunday school class, 12 years old or younger, let's say, what was this first foundational thing we talked about? You remember? Somebody shout it out. Honesty. Very good, very good. Honesty. That's where it starts. Now, I want to also say that all of this foundation is Jesus Christ. First Corinthians 3, I think I showed you that verse last week. No man can lay a foundation except that which is Jesus Christ. So Jesus is all of these things. We're not to take away from Jesus the person, but it's the different characteristics of Jesus so that we can experience his life are here. Jesus is completely honest. What you saw on the outside was what he was on the inside. Now it sounds kind of weird to say Jesus was honest. Of course he was honest. He's always tells the truth. But it's when you think about it deeper that if you saw something of the outside of Jesus and you could look on the inside of Jesus, there's absolutely no difference. That's the honesty I'm talking about. I'm not talking about telling lies and being honest or you always tell the truth. That's one level of honesty. But the Christ-like level of honesty is that what you are and who you are on the inside is exactly who you are on the outside. It's no difference. And because Jesus had no sin, he was transparent. And so like I also said last week, it doesn't mean you have to confess all your sins to everybody. Confess them to God. But if you if you had a bad thought, confess it to God. You don't have to tell others about it. But if you hurt somebody, then set it right with them. Then what was the first one? The next one we talked about? Anybody remember? Repentance. Repentance means on that basis of that honesty where I acknowledge I'm not I'm on this track. I'm headed to hell and no matter how many memory verses I say and what church I'm sitting in and whether I pray before on my meal and I say I'm a Christian, if I'm not on this other track, I am going to hell. I'm never going to have eternal life. And so I repent. I turn from that sin. Repent. That means you turn 180 degrees. You were headed this way. Now you're turning the other way. So that's repentance. And together with repentance, we also heard about faith. Very good. I'm so glad the children were paying attention last week. So I we have a slide where I can pull those up. If we pull up that first slide. So I'll show it to you in picture as well. So honesty, repentance, and faith. Very important. And I want to talk about what holds these together and that is the way of discipleship. The way of discipleship. It's a big word. But let's turn to Luke chapter 14 where Jesus told us exactly what discipleship means. Now up to this point, I would say, I think most of Christendom is preaching these things or a significant portion of Christendom. I think repentance, it's one thing that's missing in a lot of churches. Unfortunately, a lot of church, a lot of preaching, this is what you get. Honesty and faith. But even honesty, that's sometimes hard for people. But repentance is missing. Repentance means you must turn. You can't just say a prayer and remain the same person that you are. And unfortunately, there are churches that are, whether they realize it or not, are communicating the gospel in a way that doesn't turn people from their sinful life. They're told you can say a prayer, sign a card, say I'm a Christian from now on, but they've not actually turned. So remember, repentance is so important. Repentance and faith. But then, even many of the, much of the teaching that talks about honesty and repentance of faith doesn't talk about discipleship. Discipleship. Discipleship is essentially saying that what's different when I've gone from this track to the others, I have decided to follow Jesus. Not, you know, like we sing in that song, I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. So following Jesus is not just something that says, oh, I've decided to look to Jesus. I think many people are hearing that message. Look to Jesus. Yeah, you can look to Jesus, that's fine. You see him dying on the cross and you, you hear about what he did and you say, oh, wonderful, Jesus, thank you for doing that for me. Please forgive my sins. You're looking to him and you're getting something from him, but you're not following him. Which means, if you add this third piece here in the middle, you can't just stay where you are. Following has a continual aspect to it. Means you're continuing to do something. This, your honest, you could just sit where you are and remain honest. You could turn, you could repent and turn, like you say in a chair. You could believe, but if you stay in that same place, being honest, having repented and believing, you're not a Christian. You're not a true Christian. The true Christian, having been honest, having turned and having believed, now must be moving, must be following, must be following Jesus. So, remember that. Luke 14, verse 26, Jesus said that following Jesus is, means that every day there's a little bit more of detachment. That means Jesus is cutting off things from my own life in my following him. And first of all, he said, Luke 14, verse 26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Now, children, I'm only going to focus on the last part of that. I'm not going to preach to you about hating your father and mother or hating your brother and sister. That's a message for us adults and your own wife and your children, because you may not understand that fully. The time will come when you will need that truth, when it'll be important for you to hate your father and mother because you're attached to them. But very simply, remember this. I would say this. You must hate anybody that you're attached to in a way that prevents you from following Jesus. For you, it's probably friends. Friends you have at school or friends who are not Christians. Friends who want to draw you and make you, help you be popular. Friends that you want to be popular with. Friends whose opinion matters to you. Friends who do things that you like to do with them. You must hate them. Do you want to be a child of God? Be honest, repent, believe, and now hate those friends in the world who will draw you away from Christ. And for us adults, it could be your father, mother, somebody you're attached to in a way that prevents you from following Jesus. So, very simply children, you must be attached to Jesus 100%. And any love you have for friends or even your family ultimately must be through Jesus. That means I'm loving my friends. If you love your friends, if you like to hang out with them, it must be through Jesus. That means everything that happens with them and that you do with them, even the games you play with them or the interactions you have with them, you go over to their house or they come over to your house, you play on a football field together, Jesus must be the center of that relationship. Even if they don't know Jesus, in your heart, you must say, Jesus, I know I'm having a wonderful time with these friends but remind me Lord, help me to remember you are the center of my life now. I'm not on this track anymore. When I was on this track, I could enjoy all the things that I enjoy with them but now I can only enjoy it if you can enjoy it with me. That means if those friends are telling a story or they're looking at you boys, maybe you're with some friends and they're looking at a girl that's passing by, they're talking about how pretty she is or something like that. If you were on the old track, you could just have that conversation and you could also join them. Oh yeah, she's, I wish I could be with her or something like that. But now that you're on that track, you know that that's wrong. You know that your life and your heart and your eyes belong to Jesus and so when they start to talk like that and do things that you know that's not right for me to talk about that, you have to leave because Jesus is the center. When they start to show you something on their phone perhaps or they talk about some movie they watched or some book they're reading, you used to be able to do that. That's why I'm so glad that most, I think none of you kids have phones that you're on when you're here together. I love that. Why? Because I see this happening in the world where kids even from the age of 10, 12 have their own phone and they have data and they can go on the internet and now even the kids that don't have a phone are gathering around them looking over their shoulders and seeing what that kid has on a phone. And children, maybe you're around other kids in other places where they have phones and dad and mom are not there but like I was saying, deep down when you move from this track to the other track, it doesn't matter if daddy and mommy are watching or not. Jesus is watching. God is watching. The eyes of the Lord are in every place it says. Beholding the good and the evil. You know now that God is watching everything. That's what character, that's what differentiates, that's the difference between this old track and this new track. God is watching and I can't do that. I'm a new person. The old me used to be able to do that. I can't do that anymore. So a detachment, a disconnect, a cutting off of attachment or close friendship with anybody that's here on this earth especially if it prevents me from being with Jesus. Then he goes on to say you must carry, verse 27, your own cross. What does it mean to carry your own cross? Again something that you rarely hear in churches. In a lot of churches you'll hear about Jesus carrying his cross but what we speak about often is you carrying your cross also. Not to take away in any way from what Jesus did but if you don't carry your cross and you only know about Jesus carrying his cross you're not a disciple of Jesus. You're not on this track. It's just plain and simple in God's Word. If you're not carrying your cross every day you're not a disciple of Jesus. Now what does that mean children? You may think well I've heard that a lot but Santosh can you explain it? Very simply it means that you, your old way of living, only seeking yourself, what I want, what I want to do, what will help me and I, me, me, me, me, me, that's this old way of life and to carry my cross means that not only have I died to that old way of life I'm continuing to choose a life where Jesus and what he wants is most important to me and I give up what's important to me. Carrying my cross means you know if you saw somebody carrying his cross in Jesus day you knew they were gonna die. They had seconds left to live and so to carry your cross today dear children please listen to this means that I'm no longer interested in myself. I give, I'm only interested in Jesus Christ and he will take care of me. He will provide for me. I'm not thinking about me, me, me, me, me all the time. That's what means to take up your cross and it's something you must do every day. So every day very simply children I hope you'll pray this prayer. Lord Jesus help me to take up my cross. Help me to deny myself. Help me to in a situation where I could choose what I want and what will feel good for me or what will glorify you, what will please you, help me to choose that what will please you. So many adults the root of sin is this ultimately self-pleasing. Whether it's lust, whether it's anger. You know why so many fathers are always so angry? You know why? It's because it feels good to be angry to them. You know why so many grown-up men are still defeated with lusting with their eyes? Because it feels good. It pleases oneself. You know why so many women perhaps gossip is because it feels good to hear gossip and to talk about others. All sin deep down when you examine it, it's pleasing myself. Pleasing myself. Popularity. Pleasing myself. So at its root when you're only interested in pleasing yourself, the kind of sin that you will do will be many many different things. Seek to please God alone. Never seek to please yourself. And then the last one is verse 33. Talked about hating your old friends and attachments in the world. Hating yourself, that which pleases yourself. And last thing, hate the possessions of this world. Be free from the love of money. Many of you children are now old enough where you're seeing kids that have nice things. Maybe they have nicer clothes or nicer toys or they have a nice phone or they have a nicer house or all these things. Those are possessions. If God has allowed you to have it, that's great. But don't seek after those things. Don't desire to have more things in this world. Verse 33. None of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his possessions. So let's say young lady, young girl, if you have a nice dress, don't be proud of it. Give it up. It's okay to wear it. That's fine. But don't think that you're somehow more important because you have that nice dress. That's a possession. And if that dress was somehow to be destroyed, okay Lord you took it away from me. You can feel a little bit sad if it got torn or if it's too small for you now. But don't be attached to that thing. Maybe it's something you want to do. Something that you're interested in doing or something you're going to do. Some fun thing you're going to do. That's great. But if God allows you not to have it, that's okay. Don't hold on to anything. Maybe it's a sport you're gonna play and you're excited about playing that. Don't hold on to it so tightly. Hold on to Jesus alone. This is what it means to be a disciple. That God can take away anything that he gives you here on this earth. As long as he doesn't take away himself. Please listen to this carefully children. You can at a young age come to a life where you say Lord you can take away anything you want from me. Just don't take away yourself. I know it's hard. Oh I'm not trying to tell you that that it'll happen overnight. But you say Lord Jesus will you help me so that the only thing I want from this day forward even as a young boy and a young girl is only you. And yes I'll enjoy all the things you allow me to have. But if you take away any of them, it's not going to be the end of the world for me. This is what it means to be a disciple. So hating our earthly attachments, hating our own life and hating those things. We're not possessing anything. If you really come to this place where you've been honest, you've repented and you have faith in Jesus Christ. Faith also. I talked about that last week. But that means that no matter what I do, my honesty and my repentance and even my discipleship means nothing if it isn't recognizing that it's through faith in Jesus Christ. It's my trusting him, his work of salvation that makes all these other things meaningful. The next step I'll talk about is baptism in water. Now most of you children are probably not baptized and it's good that you understand what this is before you are baptized. But if not, this is essentially what baptism means. Baptism is only meaningful if this foundation underneath that is there. And unfortunately there are many, again, many denominations in Christendom that are baptizing children, what they call baptized, and I'll talk about that in a moment, or saying children you're baptized, when this foundation of honesty, repentance, faith and discipleship has not been made. So baptism in water. Now it can happen as soon as you're born again, as long as that foundation is there and you know what you're doing in baptism. Baptism essentially means immersion. Means putting completely into water. Putting completely into water or burial. Burial in water. Let's use that word. If you've ever been to, if you had a somebody that you knew that died and you went to a burial ceremony or the funeral, you saw that, perhaps you saw if they did it this way, that that body was put into a coffin and that coffin was put into the ground and that mud was put over it and that's completely gone underground and at some later point they'll put a stone over it usually. And now you know that that dead person is buried. That's exactly what baptism is. Except we don't actually put you into the ground, we put you in water because that's what God said you can do is put into water that that's a symbol of a dead person being buried into the ground except it's a burial into water and it doesn't stop there. If you ever went to a funeral, you saw that the body was put into the ground and then the mud was put over it and that's it. Nothing else happens. But in the spiritual baptism, in the spiritual burial, that person that's you goes completely into the water, completely buried and that means that you're dead now. Completely dead and God brings back up a new person. So when I was baptized in water, Santosh was buried into that water, completely put underwater. No part of me was left above, completely put underwater. That means from this day forward I'm saying, Lord Santosh is dead. What Santosh used to be interested in and how he felt and what people thought of him, all these other things are completely dead. It doesn't matter anymore. Dead. And then Christ brought a new person up in the same body, in the same physical body. Now a new person came up out of that water, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ in Santosh's body came up out of that water. That's what baptism means. Isn't it a wonderful thing when you know that oh I always fight with my brother, I always fight with my sister, I'm always jealous of, I always don't like to share and I tell lies or I speak disrespectfully, speak rudely. I wish I wasn't that way. Isn't it wonderful that you can be baptized? That you that loves to do all those bad things can be put into the water completely and now Jesus who loves to tell the truth, who loves to share, who loves to be kind to others, who will never say a bad word, who will never wake up in a bad mood. Isn't it wonderful that that Jesus can live in you now? That means you never have to have a bad mood again. The old you used to say well if I didn't if I didn't have a good day I'm going to be in a bad mood or if I didn't sleep well I'm going to be in a bad mood. But the new you which is Jesus living in you says no that's not an excuse anymore and you could say Lord Jesus since it's you that's living in me I don't have to sin ever again. I don't have to ever have a bad mood. I don't ever have to tell a lie. I don't ever have to fight with my brother or sister because it's you living in me. Baptism is a wonderful wonderful thing because it makes available to us the opportunity to die. You have the chance to die dear child, dear young boy, dear young girl. God says hey are you tired of that old life? No matter how hard you try you still keep falling. No matter how many times dad mom tell you not to do that you still do it. Are you tired of that? I hope you are. Good news you can be baptized. You can choose first of all to die. Allow God to allow you to die and he can raise up Christ in you. A Christ who is full of joy, full of love, full of peace, full of honesty, full of sharing and kindness, doing good wherever he goes. This is what baptism does. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 28. Matthew 28 at the end of his life his time with the disciples he left these parting words and that's why we're basically saying the same thing even in this message. He says before he ascended he said to them all authority verse 18 has been given to me in heaven and on earth and so the commission this is what the world calls commission. It's a big word for you children but this is our job you can say. Somebody says what's your why are you here on this earth? Very simply children it's for you to be a disciple like we just heard and to go and make other disciples. You be a disciple and you get as many others also to be a disciple with you. This is your job here on this earth. Along the way maybe you'll get your work doing this or you'll play this sport or you'll study that subject. You live in this particular town. That's all different for different people but the one thing that's true for all of us Christians is this we are disciples who are trying to make as many other disciples as possible. That's it. Children you can if you're a disciple yourself you seek to make other disciples as well. So he says go therefore in verse 19 and make disciples you disciples go make other disciples of all the nations and a disciple is essentially this he goes on to say I would say a baptized obeyer a baptized obeyer this is a disciple a baptized obeyer so he says baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey observe all that I commanded you and then if we do that Jesus says I'll be with you so children you want Jesus to be with you until the end of the age until the end of your life do these two things be a disciple and make other disciples be a baptized obeyer and that's why children if you have reached this place where you're honest you've repented you're trusting God and you've repented you're you're a disciple of Jesus you must be baptized and it's good for you especially if you're now you're in your teenage years or so and you're you're starting to know you you're able to make that decision I've decided to follow Jesus no turning back if that's really the testimony of your life don't delay to be baptized because what does baptism it's saying that the the burial is happening you know in some cultures they wait quite a while before they bury the the dead person but that's not common most usually if somebody dies within a few days sometimes within a few hours you bury the person so if you have truly died if the person is dead if the old you is really died which you've chosen to do you say yes I'm really dead I want to be dead for the rest of my life then what are you waiting for to be baptized bury him already and let Jesus be the one living in your body so that's what baptism is but Jesus so a disciple is a baptized obeyer and it means that from now on I only want to obey Jesus is that the story we heard this last Wednesday I think from Mother Ava of how she said that she realized to be a disciple of Jesus is essentially to say I never want to disobey God ever again young people children can you say Lord Jesus I want to live a life where I never disobey you even once for the rest of my life if you really mean that then you'll testify to that in baptism and you can read about that you know a lot of the things that I'm sharing at some point when you're old enough to read it which I think many of you even if you're 10 years old or above should read my dad's book a good foundation where it's explained in a lot more detail so I'll leave you with that with that the next one I want to lay on top of this now this is no picture is perfect I want you to know and so it's not necessarily that some of these things do need to happen first you must be honest before you can repent and you must have repentance and faith in order to be a disciple you can say and you must have all of those things in order to be baptized in water but from here on out it's not necessarily one has to happen before the other you read in the book of Acts for example some people were filled with the Holy Spirit baptized in the Holy Spirit and then they would they took baptism in water so from here on out it doesn't have to necessarily happen one after the other but if you have been baptized in water and when you are baptized in water and even before that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is something that again very few people know some even deny that such an experience is possible in the same way that baptism in the water is a complete dipping in water fully put into water and then brought back up it's not sprinkling it's not even pouring you see baptism is it because it's a picture of death must be a burial burying of that old man now baptism of the Holy Spirit you could say there's two ways of getting something wet you could put it completely into a tub of water or you could pour a fountain a waterfall of water over it and the baptism of the Holy Spirit you can picture a little bit more like a waterfall it's coming to a place where the fire from heaven it's a baptism in fire where the fire from heaven comes and consumes every part of my being and in order for that to happen you must lay every part of your life on the altar children you're now we're getting into a little bit deeper of the Christian life but it's something that you all can understand as well I believe you know when we read in Acts chapter 1 let's go there actually Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost you children and I think in the primary class maybe memorize this a few weeks ago yeah you guys probably know where it is but it's the one that talks about that this promises for you and for 39 yes thank you Acts 2 verse 39 these people who heard the message that Peter preached said verse 37 brethren what shall we do Peter said to them repent I already talked about that and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and the next step is you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and in other passages scripture talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit so that's what we're talking about now you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit as a seed and from that grows a fullness but he goes on to say verse 39 listen this life of being filled with the Holy Spirit Acts 2 verse 39 the promise is for you and your children that means really everything that you hear children is you recognize that this promise is for you as well do you like you know do you like that God called you out as children especially there I think that's because it would have been easy for us to think well this is only for the adults and unfortunately many churches act like that this promise is for the adults children you go off and do your fun things play or you know do some activities for you but the promise of the teaching and all this deeper stuff is for the adults only no the promise is for you and your children I love that I don't know if the children were actually there many of them had traveled from other countries but they went back filled with the Holy Spirit these men and these women perhaps they went back to their homes and they said children gather on I have something to tell you we've got a gift something has been given to us something far greater than money we have been given the Holy Spirit children you can have it too and I imagine those conversations that these men and women had with their children when they went back to their far countries they said come around I want you also to have the Holy Spirit that's the burden on my heart is afresh this morning children that you will know that the promise of the Holy Spirit is for you so children pray I love that many of you children pray father please fill me with the Holy Spirit and if you really mean it don't just say it because you hear us about saying it but if you really mean it Lord I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit I don't even know fully what that means I'll tell you children I'll be honest with you there are times when I pray Lord fill me with the Holy Spirit and I don't even know fully what that means the reality of it God through the fire of his Holy Spirit puts that within me fills every part of my being I can't explain it in words sometimes and I thank God I can't because that would make it earthly and so if you feel like you don't understand it just pray in faith and say Lord you said this promises for me the Holy Spirit is for me will you pour out your Holy Spirit within me and you make that your prayer all the time day and night I can tell you honestly children for the last number of years anytime I'm conscious of it I say Lord Jesus please fill me with your Holy Spirit right now this moment I I can count on my hand maybe once or twice I've had some kind of sensation of a feeling that's happening in that moment usually when I'm about to do something that I need that special anointing for but ninety nine point nine nine nine nine nine percent that means most of the time when I pray for it I believe God fills me but I'm not necessarily aware of that feeling I just say Lord I'm just gonna believe that you fill me and move forward and if you have been honest you've repented of all sin that means you've confessed all your sin you believe in Jesus Christ that your right to be filled with the Holy Spirit is not because you're so good or you've done you've been so good the last week no because of Christ's righteousness and you're a disciple of Jesus you really want to be his disciple you've taken baptism in water which you only need to do once then when you cry out to be filled with the Holy Spirit simply believe that you've met the conditions to be filled with the Holy Spirit and you open up your heart open up your mouth Psalm 81 says open your mouth wide I will fill it we look at that verse this is a verse I think about often children I want to make it as simple as possible so that you will front least from this day forward make it your prayer to always be filled with the Holy Spirit you should spend any moment not filled with the Holy Spirit God wants you to be filled with the Holy Spirit 24 7 that's true about us adults as well Psalm 81 verse 10 open your mouth okay verse I the Lord am your God who saved you from your sin that's what brought you out of the land of Egypt means I the Lord am your God who brought you up from the land of Egypt who saved you from your sin I'm the Lord who saved you from your sin and the same God who saved you from your sin is the God who wants to open and who fill you the same God if he was able to save you from all your sin is able to fill you with the Holy Spirit Psalm 81 verse 10 write down that verse children so that anytime you're not sure what to do just look up to heaven this is actually what I do often in my mind open I look up to heaven and I imagine the mouth of my heart being open wide and saying Lord please fill me with your Holy Spirit when I came to you full of sin I needed to be saved from sin all I did was say Lord Jesus please forgive me for my sin and you did and in the same way helpless way that you've forgiven my sins and save me from him I'm coming to you now saying Lord please fill me that's it it's not more complicated than that oh I'm not ready or I need to do this and meet these conditions to be filled with the Holy Spirit no you just haven't opened wide enough or you're not believing enough open your mouth wide is it mean you have to open a little bit wider than do that open your mouth wide and look at what he says I will fill it oh he will fill it open your mouth wide and I will fill it a wonderful promise now why do we need to be filled with the bath filled with the Holy Spirit let's go back to Acts chapter 1 when you're filled with the Holy Spirit you'll go about doing good and that doesn't mean that you'll go to Molokai and be a missionary to the lepers like we heard about father Damien maybe he will it could be as simple as giving somebody a tissue when they need it because you're filled with the Holy Spirit because your thoughts have been changed to not just think about yourself but to think of others Jesus full of the Holy Spirit Acts 10 verse 38 went about doing good at the age of 18 it never preached her sermon yet he just did good full of the Holy Spirit and his brothers who never heard a sermon from him when he was growing up saw the father exemplified in his life and later on as soon as he was raised from the dead we read that they started following him he didn't have to go and preach to them anything they had seen his life for 30 years living with him and even though they mocked him and didn't believe in him somehow that bore witness to them later on so Acts chapter 1 though we read that you will be filled with the Holy Spirit you will receive power verse 8 Acts 1 verse 8 you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you power to be my witnesses so the reason that we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit is so that we can be witnesses of Jesus Christ that means we what when people see us they can see Jesus in us there's two aspects to being a witness the first is by our lives being a witness means more than just speaking the witness of Jesus Christ it means first of all that I am a witness like Jesus Christ is within me his life is within me and so I when people interact with me they are interacting with Jesus you know if my children interact with me as a father it's not only when I'm speaking to them right when I'm speaking to them they're interacting they can hear me but even when they can't hear me I'm still their dad I think about being a light being a witness of Jesus Christ in the world even if you're quiet there ought to be a witness of Christ in you because Christ is in you you don't have to say anything it's still there a testimony of the life of Christ in you we heard about cookman Alfred cookman some months ago in our biography prayer meetings of how somebody became a follower of Jesus Christ and they and they said yeah Alfred cookman was the one who was a example to me and somebody asked him okay what sermon of cookman was it that made you want to follow Jesus he says I never heard him preach but I saw him walking down the street one day and I said there's something different about this and then the next day I watched him walk I watched him walk and I knew there's something different about this person I've never heard him preach that a wonderful testimony to have that they've never heard you preach most of you will never preach a sermon and many people think in order to be a witness I need to be a preacher I need to speak I need to have all these gifts of speaking no be a witness let the life of Christ be so fully in you because you have so thoroughly died to yourself that God can put something in that other classmates of yours heart say see that boy he's different see that girl she's different you're not around there hitting people over the head with them with a Bible verse and all that stuff preach to them if you have the opportunity share a track with him that's great but if God can see that you are so dead to yourself and Christ is in you he will point you to others point out others to you say see that boy that's a child of mine and they'll want to come talk to you they'll know there's something different so this is being a witness but in addition to that is speaking a witness and that's also the overflow of the heart the overflow of that life results in us speaking so children the time will come when you will also need to speak and be a bold witness which means if anybody asks you you know for example children here's a very simple thing it can start with this whenever you eat lunch with others pray now you're praying first of all not just to give thanks to God yes it's good to give thanks but most of the reason that I pray in public when I when I'm in a restaurant with my children one of the biggest reasons I pray I'll tell you honestly my heart is always thankful I give thanks to the Lord whether I'm in public or not but I especially do it in public because I want somebody to notice that we're praying I want to be honest with you children when I was a young college boy you know before that I wasn't really around people most of my meals were at home but when I came to college at the age of 18 I tell you I prayed quick prayers I wanted to pray quickly because I didn't want people to see me pray I because they might ask me what what is this you're a Christian really I want to tell you it's the exact opposite now I said Lord change me change me so that fill me with your Holy Spirit so that I'm a bold witness or I'm not trying to say the quick prayer and even do it with my eyes open so that nobody would even know that I was praying lest they should ask me now it's exact opposite I'm going to take a little longer Lord do you want me to still be praying because you want somebody to notice that there's this family sitting around a table and they bow their heads all together even the youngest one they're praying I want people to see that I'm a disciple of Jesus now that comes only through being filled with the Holy Spirit this was exactly true about the disciples before that they were ashamed when the soldiers came they all ran away including Peter who said who was the boldest of them all in his personality Peter was the boldest of all the disciples in personality but even he when they came and said are you a disciple of Jesus Christ a little girl a 13 year old girl who was a servant said Peter you know I don't want to decide no no no no no no what are you talking about I'm not disciple of Jesus and then he was filled with the Holy Spirit and he stood up in front of thousands of people and said I am a disciple of Jesus Christ I decided to follow Jesus no turning back and I will die as he did on a cross saying I am a disciple of Jesus Christ some of you children may have the privilege some of us may have the privilege of dying for Jesus I used to be afraid of it now I'm not I say Lord if you give me that privilege oh it would be wonderful you you've decided Lord how I will die you decided how I was born and you know how I will die but regardless of whether I die physically I've already died anyway Santos is dead inside is Christ living in him and I want to be as bold a witness of that Christ who lives in me as possible this is why you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit that there's no shame you're not ashamed to be a witness and that happened for the disciples on the day of Pentecost it can happen for you children as well seek to be filled so like I said make it the simple prayer if you don't know what all that means just believe that God hears your prayer say Lord Jesus you hear my prayer will you you are the baptizer of the Holy Spirit I don't need anybody to lay hands on me to be filled with the Holy Spirit but you lay your hands on me Lord and fill me with your Holy Spirit I imagine to some of you six seven eight year old children praying this prayer even right now or later on today and throughout this week Lord will you fill me with your Holy Spirit and Jesus getting such delight because in your simplicity of your heart you're praying that and oh he will I imagine him putting those hands on you and you being filled with the Holy Spirit and you may not feel anything children but you pray that every moment of every day I tell you in six months you'll notice a difference we'll notice a difference we'll see a difference in the Sunday school classes we'll see a difference in our meetings where you children full of the Holy Spirit are praising and lifting your hands even though we don't ask you to and you're crying out to God a spirit of praise in your lives a spirit of triumph the conversations in the lunch dining hall will change the conversations on those fields will change because a younger generation of children is filled with the Holy Spirit oh that you will do that will you do that you can be baptized in water yes but even before that today you can be filled with the Holy Spirit children and I hope that you children will set an example for many of the lazy adults who go on day after day week after week month after month year after year sitting in our LCF without the power of the Holy Spirit I'm not here to hit anybody of you on the head please understand I was that defeated Christian not sure I would ask I would go through periods of time when I would seek to be full of the Holy Spirit and I just get lazy about it but not anymore brothers and sisters not anymore I spent every moment of the day when I can think about it where I'm conscious of it crying out opening my mouth a little wider saying Lord fill me with the Holy Spirit I long for that and he's changing my life there's so much self sell there was so much selfishness and self centered in me there's taken a long time but like we sing in that course he's changing me my blessed Jesus I'm not the same person that I used to be although it's slow going this I'm knowing one day like him I shall be and that's why he's filled me with the Holy Spirit all right the last one is gonna put this on top we're preparing for a marriage feast don't lose sight of that it's like a girl a young woman who is whom a young man asked to marry he says can I marry you that's what Jesus came to me and I wasn't pretty when he asked me to marry I wasn't attractive when he asked me to marry him he's the most handsome I'm talking spiritually now most handsome one and he looked at me filthy and ugly and horrible and unloving and he knew I would fight with him even after he asked me to marry him and all this ugliness in me says will you marry me and it took me a long time for some reason because I had little things that I want he says if you marry me you'll have to give up this these stones that you play with and that mud and that muck and that dirty dress you have you'll have to give up all of that and I looked at my dirty dress and thought well it's kind of I like it and these friends that I play with in the mud I'm gonna miss those friends really but one day I said yes Lord I will accept your offer to marry me and he took me into his house of love and set me at the banqueting table the dinner table and I saw the feast he's laid out in front of me and he says I'm gonna marry you and the book of Revelation talks about a marriage feast but before we do that 2nd Timothy 4 verse 8 we're talking about the difference between those who are on this track and those who are on the new track of eternal life one of the characteristics of this also is there we're looking forward to his coming I tell you this dear brother dear sister of you if you've been a Christian for a number of years and somehow today there's not a looking forward to Jesus coming I say check your foundation something's not right do you didn't did you not wake up today and in some aspect think Lord maybe I'll get to see you face to face today perhaps because I I'm not looking to see somebody else I'm not looking for a little bit more money or to get that promotion or anything I'm looking forward to Jesus my bridegroom and if this should be the week when he calls me home praise be to his name Paul had this battle you know he didn't want to run away from the calling God had for him on his life and neither am I I have a responsibility I have a work that I want to finish on this earth but I know that if God says okay Santos this is the week when I get to finish the work in your life I say thank you Lord that's great you'll take care of all the other things that are left behind 2nd Timothy 4 verse 8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have what loved his appearing I love that phrase this must be the characteristic of my life this is the characteristic of people on this track they love the second coming of Jesus Christ that's what they're waiting for because that means now we can have the marriage feast Revelation chapter 22 the last verses of the Bible all of this that we saw in God's Word was given for this reason it ends with this Revelation 22 you read about the marriage feast in the previous chapters finally he gets to Revelation 22 verse 20 he who has written all these things up to this point says I am coming soon I'm coming soon and the response of the bride it's like a bride like I said a woman who's been engaged to a young man who's far away and then he sends a text message or a letter saying hey I'm coming soon what do you think a young lady who's a waiting to begin to get married who's been waiting her whole life to get married to this handsome young man finally gets the letter says I'm coming soon you think she'll say oh man you mean that that other girl party we were gonna have and that other thing I was gonna do you mean I can't get to do that and I can't get to do this no you mean you're coming soon yes no more waiting the bridegroom is coming we see that come oh he's coming the king is coming I've heard his blessed voice the trumpet sound the king is coming the king is coming for me oh the king is coming even so amen let it be so Lord come Lord Jesus even so come Lord Jesus so remember dear children all of this it's not because God is a killjoy I used to think that when I was a kid because I couldn't do this I couldn't do that other thing and no you can't do this you can't watch that movie you can't hang out with those friends and God takes away things that seem fun so that you can have the things that will last forever the joy that lasts forever to be his bride will last forever nobody will ever be able to take that away from you so now when you face difficulties in life and God asked you to give up certain things give up not do certain other things be a certain way be filled with the Holy Spirit all of it is for what because he was gonna marry you he's married he's chosen to marry you one day we will sit at that banqueting table that wedding table with Jesus for all eternity Lord Jesus I pray in my feeble words that I've sought to share with especially with the children what you put in my heart and the relationship with you that you're making more and more of a reality Lord I pray that they will see it I can't do it Lord I I don't even think I've done come close to expressing the reality of it but I pray you do it supernaturally through your Holy Spirit will you write on their hearts the truth that is in your word thank you thank you Lord I believe you will do that that not one of these children will be missing from that wedding table in Jesus name