Voice of Believers sermon 9/17/06

Voice of Believers on 9/17/06, Pastor Joe Carter speaking:

1. Stop trying to act Christian until you are one (must have grace for Christianity to work)
a. If there’s no evidence of faith + works, there is no salvation
b. The only goodness is what God puts inside of you
i. Matthew 7:17-19
c. Some people are going to hell because Christians are telling them they’re not; if God’s not done anything in your heart, ITS NOT OK
d. What kind of children are being birthed in God’s kingdom by Christians? There is a difference between children born of the flesh and children born of the Spirit.
e. You still have to be born again (not just about going to church or being polite to others)

2. God’s here to straighten you out, not you straightening the world out

3. Knowledge carries you only as far as knowledge can carry you.
a. Solomon asked for wisdom in humility (“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble”)
b. We blame God for different things (bad finances, poor health, etc)
c. We blame ourselves for not having enough faith or for not being brave enough (sometimes ignorance causes us to do these things)
d. We need a little wisdom from God
e. Knowledge will NEVER replace God

4. The most unappreciated person in the Godhead is the Holy Spirit
a. Agent of the Father and the Son (“no one comes to the Father unless something draws him”)
b. He can be grieved by your sin (He loves us)
c. He convicts, saves, and seals us
d. He cannot bear witness to anything but the written Word
e. When you grieve the Holy Spirit, He leaves you to yourself to show you how weak you really are
f. He helps us to show us when we’re wrong, not to help us stay in sin
g. If you’re born again, God will never leave you completely, but shows us how much you need him

5. Worshipping God in your own will is useless
a. It’s of the flesh and of an outward appearance
b. You must worship the LORD in Spirit and in truth

6. The security a Christian has doesn’t come from a covenant made between you and God, but from a covenant made between Jesus and God)
a. If you yourself have to make a covenant with God, you’ll never make it

7. If Christians hide the truth from this generation, what will happen with the next generation?