Faithful Promises: Living as Citizens of Heaven

1) "We must acknowledge him daily. We must trust him daily. Lean on him every single day. And sometimes we think we can just keep going a little further on that last meal. But you start getting all, ooh, start getting all hangry, start getting all fussy. And in the same way, our spirit man needs to eat over and over and over and over. And over and over and over. I love something that Abby said when he preached a few weeks back. He gave that example that he said to that gentleman that said, this doesn't work. He said, hey, did you have breakfast? Did you have dinner yesterday? Did you have lunch? Well, I guess it must have not worked because you're hungry again. And the reality is that we need of God every single day and continually." [49:06] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "But no, I will continue to press through. I will continue to fight. I'm going to stay there until my number is called. And then I'm going to testify to everyone what God has done. But God, God made a way where there looked to be no way. I'm reminded of the book of Isaiah. We read this in our daily Bible reading over the last couple of days. When he says, again, I'll make a way in the wilderness. He says, again, I'm going to make a way because he's made a way before. You're here today because God made a way. You're here today because he has spared you. You're here today because he loves you. And he did it before. He will do it again." [51:33] (51 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "And faith is continuing to believe in spite of what we see. So Father, even right now in the name of Jesus, I pray for our faith to be strengthened and emboldened. To believe again. Father, to believe that me and my house will serve the Lord. To believe that we will be able to do it. To believe that we can have peace in the midst of turmoil and circumstance because you have given us peace. To believe that we are walking in freedom because Jesus has set us free and who the Son sets free is free indeed. God, I pray that our faith is strengthened and stirred this morning. To believe that you are our healer. That you're our deliverer, our vindicator, our defender, the one that restores us. To believe that you will take us out of the miry clay and put our foot upon a rock." [52:27] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "And the things that we've been saying over and over again is that on the Sermon on the Mount, we find the characteristics of citizens of the kingdom of heaven. And I don't know about you. Here on earth, I have a passport that says United States of America. But my true citizenship is from heaven. I am a citizen of heaven. This is temporary. This is my earth suit. And a citizen of heaven, we have certain characteristics that should make us distinguishable to the people around us. People should be able to encounter and know that we're different simply because of our behavior and our actions, the way we conduct ourselves." [54:05] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "Church, it is imperative that we read the word of God and that we follow the word of God and that we apply the word of God. It's imperative that you and I read the word of God because we need to ensure that what we are listening to from a pulpit is rooted in the word of God. Can I tell you? Unfortunately, there are pastors all around. There are pastors all around the globe that have made congregations dependent on them. As if we're the only ones that can hear God, or we're the only ones that can pray, or we're the only ones that are supposed to read the word. No, you are just as much as a son of God as I am. You are just as much a daughter of God as I am his son. And scripture is for you." [01:00:31] (54 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "Jesus is the only way. This is what he said in John 14, verse 6. I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one goes to my Father. I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one goes to my Father, except through me. There is only one way to Jesus, one way to God. His name is Jesus. There is only one way to God. His name is Jesus. Only one way to God. His name is Jesus. We cannot earn our salvation. Let's be very clear on that. You and I cannot earn our salvation. There is nothing that we can do to earn it. We are not good enough, nor can we be good enough, nor can we do enough good deeds to get salvation." [01:03:21] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "And if we firmly have believed that and believe it and know it, we must be telling and preaching the gospel to everybody, everywhere, at all times. We must be preaching the gospel. Because people are dying every single day without Jesus. And when we understand that he's the only way, and we're not sharing that. That way, there's a problem. We have to make the choice and have the boldness to share Jesus. Where do we share Jesus? Everywhere. At the grocery store, at the workplace, in the marketplace, everywhere. Share Jesus. Yes, with your words, but with your actions. With the way you conduct yourself." [01:05:48] (59 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "The closer we're getting to Jesus, the closer we get to Christ, the narrower the road becomes. Because we get saved, and maybe we cursed like a sailor, and now you went to say something foul, and you had read scripture that said, let no perverse word, corrupt word come out of your mouth, and the Holy Spirit gives you a little kick. And you're like, oh, I shouldn't have said that. And you start to grow. In Christ, and you start to eliminate words out of your vocabulary. There were things that we were doing before Christ that were not illegal, but when you do them, you're like, ah, I don't think God enjoyed that. Narrow path. Narrow path. And the closer we get to Christ, the narrower it gets." [01:12:42] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9) "And when we understand that we're not living lives based just on laws, but we're living lives based on the righteousness of Christ, things begin to change. Do we need to exercise our right to vote? Absolutely. Do we need to get informed about what are the things on the ballot? Who's on the ballot? Absolutely. Do we need to pray for whoever is in whatever office, whether we'd like them or not? Absolutely. Whether they're saved or not? Absolutely. Because the Bible says to pray for those in authority, for the kings and the rulers and everybody else. It doesn't say the word president, but he's the ruler of this country. It doesn't say Congress, but they're the ones making and passing the laws. What do we need to do? Narrow path. Pray for them." [01:16:18] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10) "Laws are external. We must live by what God said. Laws are external. We must live by what God says. Now, church, this is not a message to bring condemnation to any of us. This is a message to stir us as believers to choose to walk every day down the narrow path. This is a message for us as believers to be able to stop and look and say, God, does this action please you? Before we say that next sentence, we actually stop and think, God, would this please you to leave my mouth? When a thought comes in, we make the choice. I'm not going to meditate on this because Philippians 4, 8 says, whatever is true and whatever is pure and whatever is praiseworthy and whatever is worthy of praise, if there's any good reported and anything that is worthy to be talked about, meditate on these things." [01:29:44] (63 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)