-Transcript-
00:25 Amen.
00:27 Thank you for joining me. Welcome to the program. Welcome to the cafe.
00:30 Happy New Year. If you’re listening to this in sequence, amen. Should be on the new year right now.
00:35 What a blessing. Well, guess what? We are on the final episode of season one. This would be episode 365, if my math is correct, and that’s awesome.
00:49 Next episode, the very next day here, we’ll be starting season two as we walk through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We’re going to go through it little by little, 15 minutes at a time, studying God’s Word. Amen.
01:04 So here today in our final episode of our final season, or excuse me, first season, not final season, first season, we’re going to look at a very important topic, and that is that Jesus loves you.
01:23 Oh, he loves you so much. He loves you so much that he had to bear an awful, awful cost.
01:29 He had to pay an awful price to make sure that you could be in heaven with him, and that is going through and suffering on the cross at Calvary and dying for your sins and my sins and being raised from the grave the third day so that all could believe and so that all could be saved.
01:49 Now, not all will believe and not all will be saved, but Christ makes the opportunity universally accessible for everyone, and Jesus Christ loves you so much. And we see that Jesus Christ is not your ordinary person.
02:05 He’s not even an ordinary God, quote-unquote. He is a creator of all things, Colossians 1:16-20. For by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
02:25 All things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
02:40 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself.
02:51 By him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. That’s Jesus Christ. He has all power over all things, thrones, dominions, principalities.
02:59 They’re all created by him. Imagine, I would go with a model train reference, but I feel like that’s kind of not as big of a deal, so let’s go Lego. Imagine you have like a Lego village that you create, right?
03:19 You create a village full of Lego characters and maybe a shop or two, or you know, a studio, whatever else you got there.
03:33 You’re the creator of that village, right? And if you want to, you can make the village bigger or smaller, you can add more people, you can take them away, you can put a light over the village, you can make it dark, you can do whatever you wanted. You made a village, right?
03:47 It’s your little village, okay? And if you need proof of this, just ask my kids. They are very creative, they make all kinds of stuff all the time.
03:53 And it’s using their imagination, they’re creating things, okay? If you created that village, you’re the owner of that village, you’re the creator, you kind of have ownership over this thing.
04:03 Well, what we see, and what we don’t see here on earth, God created it all. You know, I live in North Carolina, God created that, you know, on Kings Mountain, God created that place.
04:11 You know, on so-and-so road, God created that. You know, using a computer, God created that. Now, man may say they created it, but how did man have the intelligence to do it? God created it.
04:23 That’s powered by electricity, God created that. I mean, on and on. God created everything.
04:28 He has preeminence. He is the creator. And so, on a linear path, if we think of God as the creator, we’re very blessed to know that he has control of all things.
04:44 Now, Adam and Eve, they’re in the garden, everything’s going well, and all that devil creeps in, and the devil tempts Adam and Eve. By the way, who created the devil? God did. He created everything and everyone.
04:54 They’re tempted, they fall into sin. Once they sin, death enters the picture. They’re expelled from the garden, the sin curse on man begins, okay? And it’s still going on today.
05:17 It’s still happening today. We all fall short, we’re all sinners. And so, Christ had to come in a human form and pay that sin price for all humanity, him being perfect and sinless and spotless.
05:33 He goes to Calvary and willingly, obediently gives himself, I mean, he has all power, okay? If you doubt that Jesus has all power, why is the devil in the desert tempting Jesus, telling him to fly down from this building and turn a rock to bread?
05:50 Why was the devil doing that? Because Christ could do it. He could do anything he wants. He’s God.
05:53 He created everything, right? But he willingly subjects himself to death on the cross, to shed his precious blood, to pay for the sin debt of all humanity, past, present, and future, all that would believe.
06:08 It’s not automatically applied. It’s appropriated to those that would trust Christ as Savior.
06:13 So all you have to do is believe. But if you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and you ask him to come into your heart, you say, Lord, please, I accept you as Savior, you will be saved.
06:21 And once you’re saved, amen, you get the Holy Spirit living within you.
06:30 That’s the third part of the Trinity. That’s God, my friend. Now you’ve got God living in you.
06:34 And on top of that, you have eternal life. Your name’s written down, Lamb’s Book of Life, never be blotted out, never be erased.
06:49 And on top of that, all those promises that God makes to his children are applicable to you now because you are grafted in, amen. You are saved, secure in Jesus Christ.
06:52 You’re one of his own. Now you’re a child of God. Not everyone’s a child of God.
06:56 Born again are children of God. And you get that from simply believing on Christ. And unbelief is what makes God so mad.
07:00 And unbelief is rampant in the world today. If it weren’t, then people would be flocking to the church house on and on. You can see unbelief in people’s actions.
07:10 Forget their words. You know, forget their words. You can see somebody at a fast-food establishment that tell you they’re on a diet and they have a plate full of food that’s clearly not diet food.
07:22 They told you one thing, but by looking at their actions or looking at their waistline, another thing is apparent, right?
07:31 Someone could go to the gym and tell you that they’re working out three hours, but if you see them split after 20 minutes, again, you know, they told you one thing, but their actions are telling another story.
07:38 People can say they’re believers. People can say they love God, but look at their lifestyle.
07:44 And in God’s poetic way, as you study the Bible, you learn what godly behavior looks like, right? And when you go out in the world, you see what people, how they’re living, and you realize, okay, that doesn’t jive with the Bible.
07:58 So while they may, you know, pretend to be Christians, God knows that most aren’t. And so that leads us here to the final part, which I think is very appropriate to end Season 1 of KJV Cafe as we go into Season 2.
08:14 We need to be about our Father’s business.
08:18 We need to make this new year all about sharing the love of Christ, sharing that great love that I started this message with, sharing that great love of Jesus Christ.
08:32 There’s a Bible that’s full of words for it, the agape love, amen, the sacrificial love, the great love that Christ showed us. If we are partakers in it, we need to make 2024 all about Jesus Christ and sharing his great love.
08:48 We don’t wait for someone to come and tag you with the title evangelist, just go be about your Father’s business.
08:55 And I believe in this last day and age, and this is just a preacher talking for a minute, but I believe maybe we’re, and I hate to say this, but you tell me, moving towards a post-church society where most of the lost won’t be reached in the walls of the church. Now, I hope that’s not it, but I look around and that seems it.
09:16 And whatever it is, let’s be honest about it and go about our Father’s business. Now, I’m not advocating anyone leave Church of Anything, we all need to go more,
09:24 but what I’m advocating is now is the time to use those tools that God gave you, whether it’s a laptop, a tablet, a phone, to start getting the message out there. Get the, I mean, GospelTracks,
09:37 I think you can get 25 for $4 or $3, I mean, they’re cheaper than a Gatorade or something, you know, they’re dirt cheap.
09:46 Get some GospelTracks, start creating some testimonies, start looking at ways, creative ways, that you can reach people. You know, there’s so many creative ways that you can reach people today.
09:56 Maybe you love to sew, how about sewing some scripture into a blanket? Maybe you’re, you’ve got one of these new gadgets, there are so many gadgets out there that will heat press or embroider.
10:07 I know a lot of people like those things. We have a t-shirt printer here. Why not print some scripture on some shirts or embroider some scripture? You know, look, make it a conversation starter.
10:22 You know, look at, at setting up at the farmer’s market, with selling some Bible cases or giving away some literature. I know a church out near Lake Norman, I believe, in Denver, and at the Apple Festival in Lickington, they set up about, no joke, 15 tables long, and they give away, like, wood trinkets and stuff with scripture on it and materials just to help win souls.
10:40 And you know when people are at the Apple Festival? A lot of people, a lot of people.
10:45 I want you to start thinking strategically, and here is how God’s going to use you. You’re going to pray and seek His will, pray and seek His will.
10:53 You’re going to be faithful to your local church, you’re going to be in the Word, you’re going to do these things the best that you can.
10:59 I know some people are shut-ins and so forth, but if you’re able, be in the house of God, Lord willing, a Bible-believing house of God, they need you, amen.
11:08 Go to church, read the Bible, pray, and you do two of those three every single day, and the other one every time they’re open. Make God your number one priority, and this is what’s going to happen.
11:18 As you internally focus on God, He will externally use you, right? The Bible talks about the idea of abiding in Christ.
11:33 The more that we abide in Christ, the more useful we could be to Christ, and the more that great ministries will just pour out of you because you are spending time with Him all the time.
11:41 That’s how this works. It doesn’t work in the inverse, where you decide to go do something and, oh, during that time you’ll spend time with Him.
11:50 It doesn’t work like that. The way that it works, the only way to defeat all of the spiritual opposition that you’ll face is, you know, let the devil find out you’re going to start spreading the gospel,
11:59 you’ll face opposition, but God is able to overcome that opposition, and God is able to use you mightily, and what is our purpose here on earth other than to bring Him glory, to be the light, and to share the light with others, to help people understand that we are different?
12:16 I mentioned earlier in the podcast that, look, when you get into the Bible and you start reading about how God would have us to act, that’s very different than the natural man.
12:25 I mean, on the outside, you know, can you imagine a young person, imagine a young female really dressing modestly? That would look very differently in this society.
12:36 You know, imagine a young man or an older man guarding his mouth and never saying a bad word. You know, imagine someone going and giving away their bonus check to the soup kitchen, you know, and nobody even knows about it except maybe one or two people that say, wow, that’s a really different person. They did that, and they didn’t even seek recognition for it.
13:01 Wow, they must believe in God that there’s a heavenly reward that’s greater than the reward here on earth. They didn’t even put it on Facebook. No one knew.
13:06 You see, as we live for God, as we live for God, He can use us, but how can we properly live for God in these end times, in these last days, if we keep Him at an arm’s length?
13:20 You know, thank God He didn’t keep us at arm’s length when He went to the cross at Calvary. In fact, He spread His arms out wide and said, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I will go through this. You know, I can’t imagine what it’s like.
13:34 I can’t imagine what it’s like for Jesus. I can’t imagine what it’s like for God the Father, and I know they’re both equally God, but can you imagine?
13:45 I mean, God gives us the example of Abraham and Isaac, you know, and I can’t imagine. Little CJ up there, I can’t imagine.
13:52 I can’t imagine, but God can. He doesn’t need to imagine. He knows what He gave.
14:05 He knows the price that was paid, and He knows what people are doing with it, and so as we enter this new year, let’s make our life about serving Jesus Christ. All things are made by Him and for Him, and it’s about time we recognize His preeminence and we operate on such a way that allows us to be witnesses to others by, firstly, getting right within ourselves, and secondly, seeking out opportunities to share the love of Christ using the talents, skills, and resources that God Himself, Creator God Himself, chose to give us.
14:30 Think of it like that.
14:31 God Himself chose to give you certain things to use to draw people to Him. Lift Him up, He’ll draw all men to Himself. Thank you for listening.
14:38 Tune in next time as we start a new season. Take care. God bless, and amen.