“Ye Must Be Born Again” to Walk
With God
First, you absolutely MUST be born-again. We
are all born in iniquity, having a sinful nature inherited from Adam (Romans
5:12). We were all born spiritual dead, alienated from God. Man's spirit
from birth is dead; thus, he cannot fellowship with God. God is a Spirit,
holy and righteous. Sinful man cannot fellowship with a holy (morally
perfect) God. This is why Jesus Christ was sent into the world, to bridge
the unsurpassable gap between God and mankind. So Jesus, the man, mediates
between man; and Jesus, almighty God (deity), mediates with God the Father.
Jesus is our Mediator. 1st Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God, and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” So if you want
to come to God, then you MUST come to Jesus, Who is the very manifestation
of the Godhead to the world (Colossians 2:9; 1st Timothy 3:16; John
1:1-3,14). Here's How To Get Saved.
If you don't get saved, then you CANNOT walk
with God, for only through the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God
in each and every Christian's body (1st Corinthians 3:15-17; Romans 8:9) can
we know God. 1st John 4:13, “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he
in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” What a beautiful thing!
When we come to God the Father, acknowledging our sinfulness for breaking
His commandments, and we place our faith in the Gospel (i.e., the Good News) that
Christ died for our sins upon the cross, and He was buried, and then He
miraculously resurrected from the dead after three days, we are saved.
Salvation is a miracle wrought by God in response to one's childlike faith (John
1:12-13).
Perhaps you ask, “Well don't I have to repent
of my sins to be saved?” There is no such teaching in the Word of God. You
cannot show it to me. To “repent” simply means to “change your mind” toward
God (Acts 20:21), which facilitates believing the Gospel. We are not saved
by repenting, we are saved by believing; but no one has ever repented who
didn't also repent. So they are inseparable. Truthfully, you don't even need
to bring up the subject of repentance when witnessing to someone. To repent
and be saved literally means, to think differently and believe the
Gospel (Mark 1:15). I'll quote the doctrinally sound and helpful
words of one of my favorite preachers,
Pastor
Harry Ironside (1876-1951)...
"When
anyone comes promising salvation to those ‘who make full surrender' of all that
they have to God, and who 'pay the price of full salvation' he is preaching
another gospel, for the price was paid on Calvary's cross and the work that
saves is finished. It was Christ Jesus who made the full surrender when He
yielded His life on
Calvary that saves us, not
our surrender in any way to Him."
SOURCE: Harry
A. Ironside, from the Gospel tract, “Another
Gospel.”
[Dr. Harry Ironside (1876-1951), a godly Fundamentalist
author and teacher for many years, served as pastor of Chicago's Moody Memorial
Church from 1930-1948]
Kindly, there are many false prophets, like Ray
Comfort, Paul Washer, John MacArthur and Paris Reidhead, who require a full
surrender of one's will to God in order to be saved. This is a total abandonment of
the biblical teaching that eternal life is a FREE GIFT which cannot be
earned (Romans 5:15; 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9).
God Must Be in Every Part of Your Life
to Walk With Him
If you're not growing in grace, you're not “walking” with God. You've
got to move forward. We're not talking about sitting with God, but
walking with God! You MUST include God in everything if you want to walk
with God. Amos 3:3, “Can two walk
together, except they be agreed?” Have no secrets with God. Let Him into
every crevice of your life. Let God into your work, play, recreation,
kitchen, garage, shed, basement, attic, car, every area of your life!!!
What's in the inner chamber of your life, that place where nobody sees
except you? What does God see that no one else does? You're only as good a
Christian as what's in your chamber. What's in there? ... pride, lust,
greed, lust, envy, gossip, evil thoughts, dirty attitudes... GET IT OUT!!!
You'll never know what it means to walk with God until you invite God
into every area of your mind, heart and life. Psalms:19:12, “Who can
understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.” If you want
to walk with God, you cannot have any secret places where you could not
welcome God. WALK WITH GOD THE ENTIRE CIRCLE!!!
If you want to walk with God, you're going to
have to LIVE with Him! John 15:4-5, “Abide
in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye,
except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth
forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” We must ABIDE in
Jesus Christ if we want to walk with God the Father! John 14:9, “Jesus
saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not
known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest
thou then, Shew us the Father?”
If I abide in Christ, I have reached up into
Heaven and brought my mansion down here to earth, where I can live
temporarily in my mansion with Jesus as I abide in Christ!!! Psalms
16:11, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of
joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” If you want to
walk with God, do what He wants you to do, go where He wants you to go, be
what He wants you to be!!!
“Christianity is
basically, first and foremost, the God of Heaven fellowshipping with His
creatures. That's what it's all about. That's what God made you for; God
made you to fellowship with Himself. And if you bypass that fellowship—I
don't care what church you attend, I don't care what school you attend,
I don't care if you're the fastest growing church and the biggest Sunday
School in America, I don't care what kind of organization we have—We can
have colleges, and high schools, and elementary schools, and junior high
schools, and senior citizen's departments, and all the rest of it,
juvenile homes, and orphanages, and all the rest of it!—But our church
will never rise any stronger, than our personal, individual, fellowship,
with the God who made us and gave Himself, that we might be saved. Spend
time with God!”
SOURCE:
A life-changing quote from Pastor Jack Hyles' 1971
sermon, “So
You've Seen Better Days.”
Get Water Baptized In a Local New
Testament Church
If you are saved, but have never been water
baptized, you need to get baptized. I heard Dr. Jack Hyles in the sermon
titled, “THEN,
SATAN,” say that the reason why First Baptist Church of Hammond
(where Dr. Hyles pastored between 1959 to 2001) baptizes their converts
right away is because many believers never get water baptized because they
delayed. Dr. Hyles also makes the observation that most of the believers he
knows who are disobedient to God have never been water baptized.
I agree with Brother Hyles, that is, if
you don't obey the very first commandment after getting saved to be water
baptized, then you're likely not going to obey all the other commandments of
God either. It is important to get water baptized, not as part of salvation;
but rather, as an important first step of obedience, demonstrating your
faith in the gospel, which is our public profession of faith in Christ's
death on the cross for our sins, His burial and His resurrection from the
dead three days later.
You don't have to be water baptized to walk
with God, but not getting baptized will hinder that walk, since you are
holding out on God. The Lord knows if you haven't had the opportunity to get
water baptized. We're talking about having perfect peace in our Christian
walk with God. Baptism is a biblical command.
“Search The Scriptures” To Learn
About Jesus
If you want to know Who God is and
become close with Him, then you need to get close to Jesus as a believer.
This is why we read in John 5:39, “Search the
scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they
which testify of me.” Did you read that? The Scriptures
TESTIFY CONCERNING JESUS! The Bible contains 31% prophecy (the Muslim Koran
contains none). We read in Revelation 19:10, “And I fell at his feet
to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy
fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship
God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
The purpose of all prophecy is to TESTIFY OF JESUS!!! Jesus! Jesus!
Jesus! Amen!
People who claim to know God, like
false prophet Eli Soriano (Church of God) in the Philippines, but reject the
Biblical doctrine of the deity of Christ (that Jesus is equal with God the
Father) DON'T truly know God. They cannot, because they have adopted ANOTHER
JESUS (2nd Corinthians 11:4-5) who is not part of the Godhead, one with the
everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6). Jehovah's Witness are also a false
religion, a satanic cult, who (just like Eli Soriano) deny the deity of
Jesus that He is equal with the Father.
Friend,
JESUS IS ALMIGHTY GOD!!! Jesus is
not only equal with the Father, but is one with the Father in the Godhead
(1st John 5:7 - all quotes taken from the trustworthy King James Bible). If
you desire to know the God of the universe and the holy Bible, then you need
to learn all about Jesus Christ, because Jesus was burn of a virgin into the
world as the Godhead incarnate (in the flesh). When you met Jesus (and can
still meet Him today in the Word of God), you are meeting God the Father in
Christ. Isaiah 9:6 calls Jesus... THE EVERLASTING FATHER, THE ETERNAL GOD!!!
Jesus introduced Himself as
Almighty God to John on the isle of Patmos in Revelation 1:8, “I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and
which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
Run, as fast as you can, away from anybody who diminished Christ's
deity. Ron from demonic Mormonism that denies Jesus' deity. Run from the
Christian Science religion that denies Christ's deity. Run from
Roman Catholicism that elevates Mary to the same level of deity as Jesus.
The faithful King James Bible and a handful of faithful Independent
Fundamental Baptist Churches, and others, still uphold the preeminence of
Jesus Christ in the Scriptures! Revelation 19:13 even says that Jesus' very
name is THE WORD OF GOD. John 1:1-1,14 proclaim that Jesus IS THE WORD OF
GOD! Jesus is the living Word, and the Bible is the written Word.
If you want to draw close to God
the Father, then SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES which testify of Jesus. One of
the best ways to get the Word of God into your mind is by HEARING THE BIBLE.
I highly recommend Alexander
Scourby's DVD (or other audio formats) reading the King James Bible. I
love giving them to others. Alexander Scourby's read the entire King James
Bible in 78 hours on one DVD. Scourby originally recorded the Bible on
long-play 78 LP record for the blind, but what a blessing it has been for
the seeing as well since 1955.
No one can walk with God who
doesn't abide in the Scriptures (John 15:7-8). Everything that the Holy
Spirit of God does is through the Scriptures. Beware of unsaved liberals and
modernists who speak about God, heaven, hell and spiritual matters, but
never teach using the inspired Words of God in the Bible. Oprah Winfrey is a
classic example of a liberal and a modernist, continually speaking about
spiritual matters while totally rejecting the Word of God. Oprah is of the
devil! Satan loves to fill people's minds with religious ideas, while
keeping them woefully ignorant of the truths of the Word of God.
Attend A
Bible-Believing Local New Testament Church
Every Christian believer needs
fellowship with other believers. You don't go to church to get help with
your problems but rather, you BECOME THE CHURCH. That is, when you get
saved, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you (Romans 8:9; 1st Corinthians
3:16-18). Our goal in attending church should not be to get what we can get
from our church; but instead, we ought to ask what we can do to help our
church. We should all pray, and fast if your health allows it, asking God to
bless the church elders, ministries, missionaries and services.
FIND A CHURCH
The New Testament Church is God's
method for evangelizing the world. Every church should send out
missionaries, or at least prayerfully, financially, generously, joyously and
consistently support existing missionaries through a trustworthy missions
board like Baptist International Missions Incorporated (BIMI) in
Chattanooga, Tennessee. They are King James Bible only, thank God! I am
leery of IBM Global (although I have supported their missionaries)
because they DON'T believe that we have a perfect Bible today. They say only
the originals are perfect. I am 100% convinced that the precious King James
Bible IS THE PERFECT, INFALLIBLE, INERRANT, PRESERVED, INSPIRED, WORDS OF
GOD ALMIGHTY!!!
We all need church. The basic
purpose of the Church is to:
-
EXALT the Savior.
-
EVANGELIZE the Sinner.
-
EDIFY the Saints.
I heard a wonderful MP3 sermon recently by Dr.
Hyles titled,
“THE GIFT OF PROPHECY.” In this sermon Brother Hyles shows a side of him
that many people often miss. The Bible teaches in 1st Corinthians 14:3 that
prophesying is the most important gift in the Church, and prophesying
(speaking forth) is three things:
-
Building up the home (edifying)
-
Lifting up the fallen (exhorting)
-
Encouraging the people of God (comfort)
Dr. Hyles plainly teaches that these three things
are more important than preaching against abortion, booze or other sins. Now
preaching against sin is very important, but it's not the most important.
Teaching people how to build their home is more important. This is good
stuff! Most people who attack Fundamentalism haven't the foggiest clue what
Fundamentalism is all about. The malicious attack against Pastor Jack Hyles
and his ministry are rooted in a hateful spirit against a holy God, an
offensive King James Bible that steps on toes, and Biblical Fundamentalism.
No believer is an island into himself. Without the
fellowship of other believers, the faithful preaching of the Word of God,
corporate prayer, church outreach ministries and the family of God, no
believer is going to grow in the Lord as they should. The purpose of the
Church is not to educate people; but rather, to DISCIPLE them. We DRAW
people into the Church with the love of Christ, and then we ATTACH
them to the truth of God's Word. We all need preaching to help us think
straight!
I hear many people complain that they cannot find
a good church in their area or city, and no doubt, it's becoming harder each
day to find good old-fashioned, Bible-believing, soul-conscious,
God-fearing, doctrinally sound, separated from the world, separated from
ecclesiastical error, fundamental, churches anymore. Personally, the only
church for me is an INDEPENDENT FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST CHURCH, preferably with
a Bus Ministry. There's nothing like a Bus Ministry to encourage a church
congregation, seeing the church alive and growing in the Lord.
Albeit, a growing church is not necessarily a sign
of a godly church. As any mortician will tell you, anything that's dead
swells. Many of America's churches are swelling in numbers only because they
are dead in apostasy and sinful ecumenical compromise. Our first and
foremost priority ought to be to OBEY, not to GROW. We are not commanded to
GROW, but we are commanded to OBEY!!!
“You could be
the best Christian in this building tonight, and still be backslidden!
Yeah, you could be the best Christian in this building, and that's
exactly what happened to Job. I believe that Job was the best Christian
on earth, and yet was backslidden. And Job said, 'I'm the best Christian
on earth!' Bat your eye, I've stood the test.' Job was backslidden, away
from God; I mean, away from God, I mean, God lost his presence! You
could be the best Christian in this building tonight, and still be the
most backslidden in this building; for 'backsliding' is having known
better days than you know tonight! ... Job made the mistake of seeing
how far up he had come, instead of how far down he still was! Job made
the mistake of measuring from whence I came, instead of where I have to
go! Job made the mistake of measuring himself with those human beings on
earth, instead of measuring himself with the glory of God! When Job did
that, he found himself backslid. ... When he backslid, the next thing,
he thought others had changed; always is the case!”
SOURCE:
A life-changing quote from Pastor Jack Hyles' 1971
sermon, “So
You've Seen Better Days.”
Weep And Be Afflicted
Over Wickedness
1st Peter 1:15-16, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye
holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I
am holy.”
If you want to draw nigh unto God as a Christian believer, then you must
weep over evil as God does. You must be afflicted over the wickedness of
SIN CITY, HELLivision and HollyWEIRD. We ought to mourn with God over
the demonic teaching of bogus Evolution to children. We ought to weep over
murderous abortion, vile homosexuality and the shameful smut-filled American
society. We ought to have heaviness of heart over the treason being
committed by our nation's top leaders. Immodesty, feminism rebellion and
lewdness are everywhere in America today. God is no longer blessing America,
because we have forsaken His Word. God will not bless a nation that
disregards His commandments.
Micah 6:8, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and
what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to
love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” If you want to be close to God, then you need to become concerned about
what God is concerned about. God weeps, mourns and has heaviness of heart
over the evils in the world. If we are to draw near unto God and walk with
Him, then we need to be burdened over wickedness. God hates evil. Proverb
8:13, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the
evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” Those who fear God hate
evil, pride and arrogancy, just as God hates those sins. No one can walk
with God who hurts their neighbors, cheats others, abuses people and
mistreats anyone! God is a good God, and those who walk with Him are good
people!!! God is love and those who walk with Him are loving people!!! I
didn't say they are not saved if they are mean and bad, I said they don't
walk with God! The truth is that some of the most horrible people are
believers, but they are saved as by fire, carnally-minded, not following
Christ in their daily walk.
One cannot pursue a life of partying, selfishness and living in sin, and
expect to draw near unto a holy God. God says to come away from the worldly crowd,
stop participating in their unholy parties and the ways of wickedness, and
then one can begin to view life from God's perspective. James 4:4, “Ye
adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is
enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the
enemy of God.” God has many enemies today. Most people are worldly,
including believers, and place God at the end of their list of priorities.
Living biblically and sharing the Gospel with lost sinners means nothing to
them. They are far away from God.
To Walk With Jesus, We Need To Think Like Jesus!
To walk with God, we need to “Let this mind be in you, which was also
in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Many people desire to please God
while also pleasing themselves, which cannot be done. There is a reason why
God tells us to turn our laughter into mourning, and our joy into
heavenliness of heart—because the world is a wicked place, and because most
people are going to burn in Hell for all eternity. Is it nothing to you? So
many people spend their lives racing cars, riding horses, playing music in a
band, playing sports, et cetera; but they never do anything for God. They
are carnally-minded and their reward will be small in Heaven, if they're
even going to Heaven. So many people can dazzle the crowds with their
talents, but what have they ever done for God? They have the praise of men;
but they have not the praise of God (John 12:43). God is upset with them for
failing to be rich toward God. They are God's enemies.
The music aired in many restaurants is
offensive, Godless and evil. The U.S. music industry is saturated with
sinful pride, evil and lasciviousness. The music videos produced by MTV and
CMT are evil to the core, filthy and morally reprehensible. Christians ought
not view such demonic filth. TV is the most detrimental spiritual poison to
a Christian today. Break the TV addiction, find a hobby. The television
desensitizes people to the Bible. The Bible does the exact opposite, it
sensitizes the reader to sin, making sin exceedingly sinful. Most people
today who claim to believe the Bible, don't read the Bible, and their life
is filled with worldliness, sin and selfish interests. They worship God with
their mouth; but their heart is far from Him (Matthew 15:8).
A lot of people, including phony religious people, make light of my
ministry. They criticize my labors for the Lord, but God is on my side,
because I am on His side. Do you think God is more pleased with my ministry,
for exposing the wickedness of our time; or with the hypocrites who rebel
against God, disregard His Word, use corrupt Bible versions, and slander God-fearing Christian like me
who stand for God and truth?
Everywhere we turn in society today, we see
people wanting to party, have a fun time and couldn't care less about what
God cares about. Philippians 2:20-21 tells us to care about the things
of Jesus Christ. Colossians 3:1-3 tells us to set our affection on things
above, where our Lord sitteth on the Father's right-hand.
Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me, and I will
answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
Notice in Jeremiah 33:3 that the Bible doesn't say to ask God for
anything and He'll give it to you. It says “Call unto me,” that is, walk
with me. God says, “Talk to me and I'll give you stuff you'll be surprised
at.” It doesn't say ask me; it simply says talk to me. God is saying, “I not
only know your needs, but I also know your appetite. You hang around me and
I'll give you the appetites for what you want.” God not only knows what's
best for us to HAVE, but He also knows what's best for us to WANT.
Philippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh
in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
It's best not to ask your children for a
Christmas list of what they want. If you don't get what they want, then they
won't be happy. Perhaps you won't be able to afford what they want. It's
best to surprise them and then they'll be happy. You simply tell them to be
good all year and then you'll get them something really good. Likewise, we
ought to let God provide as He sees fit. You just walk with God and delight
yourself in God, abide in the Scriptures and live on your knees, and you'll
get more from God than if you go around begging all the time. There's
nothing wrong with making a list and asking God for what you want, but
you'll get more from God if you walk with Him and allow Him to decide what
you get.
To Walk With God, Be Concerned
About Getting People Saved
Amos 3:3, “Can two walk
together, except they be agreed?”
The dearest and nearest thing to the heart of
God is soul-winning, that is, preaching the gospel to others. Luke
15:10, “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels
of God over one sinner that repenteth.” The Bible says that there is
rejoicing IN THE PRESENCE of the angels. It's the saints who are already in
Heaven who are rejoicing in the presence of the angels every time a sinner
repents and believes the gospel to be saved. Heaven rejoices when sinner's
get saved.
In sharp contrast, carnally-minded people
rejoice when they win money on a game show, or their favorite professional
sports team wins a game, or they get front row tickets to their favorite
Rock star's music concert. These are worldly things. It's sad that thousands
of people will sleep outside the ticket gate, in the rain and cold, waiting
to be the first to buy tickets to a Paul McCartney Wings concert, but
you can't get people to have an interest in the things of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 2:20-21, “For I have no man
likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For
all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.”
So if you want to be close to God and walk in sweet fellowship with Him,
then you must start caring about THE THINGS OF JESUS CHRIST (prayer,
attending church, fasting, giving to the poor, patience, love, preaching the
gospel, tithing, supporting missionaries, modesty in dress, obedience,
fleeing the love of money, motherhood, being an obedient wife, being a godly
husband, loving thy neighbour as thyself, working hard, being honest, to
name a few things). The world is selfish, self-righteous and self-conscious;
but as Christians we are commanded to live for OTHERS (Philippians 2:4-5).
You'll never truly know what it means to walk with God until you get out of
the SELF LIFE!
Hello my friend. If you have never known the sweet peace of walking with
God, then you are missing out on the sole purpose for which you were
created. God almighty created you to fellowship with Him, to praise and
worship Him, to walk with Him in obedience and love by faith. How does a
person walk with God? 
