Is Life a Game or a Battle, Here is The Gospel - Good News

Welcome to episode 25. You know how it begins, in the Gospel of John chapter 1, verse 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.

Welcome to episode 25. If this is your first time joining us, I want to thank you for being a part of this. I'm going to continue what I've been talking about for the last few episodes. I've kind of opened up the spiritual realm and kind of tried to take a peek behind the curtain, you know, that we have a physical realm and a spiritual realm. And, and now today I kind of want to turn the page a little bit. I've been talking about sin, and we're going to continue to talk about sin because the Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So all in this instance means everybody, everybody listening to this podcast, anybody that's walking on this earth all have sinned. So that income, that pretty much gets everybody in the same bucket. So I thought that that was a very important topic to cover. I wrote a book on it, and I'm not going to belabor the book. It's a— I tried to see what sin looks like to try to help you better see it coming into your life, or how it might attack you, or however, because I say Satan is a punk And he is, and I can't stand him. But I want to quit talking about him. I am all about the Word of God and digging into the Word of God, and you know that if you've listened to any part of these podcasts. You know that the foundation that I talk about is Jesus, and Jesus is the Word, and Jesus is God. So I want to make sure in every episode that I emphasize the importance of the Word, and I think I've done that. I want to ask you a question, and it's something that kind of came on my mind because the Super Bowl was just recently played, and it's a, it's a pretty big deal. Used to be a lot bigger deal, I think, but it's still a really big deal here in America. But is, is the question, and the question that I want to ask, is life more of a game or is life more of a battle? And I think, you know, some people say, you know, the game of life, and you hear that terminology, and I'm here to say that I believe, based on the Bible, that this is a battle. And this is a battle between good and evil. It's between heaven and hell, and it is fought daily. And that's why I say you need to dig into the Word. You need to build your life on the foundation of the Bible, because there's no other book that takes the beating that the Bible takes day in and day out. There's people that roll their eyes. If you're here on this podcast and you don't believe in God and you think that I'm an idiot, which you're probably— the second part is probably closer to true. But there is a God, and I may be an idiot compared to you, but I'm here to tell you that the Word of God is true and that there is a— there is an entity that is evil, and it— his name is Satan, and he comes only to steal, to kill, and destroy. And there is a heaven and there is a God and God is real and he comes to give abundant life. You can find, you can find Jesus' description of the thief in John 10:10, and it says, the thief comes only to steal and to kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly. So you can't ask for a more compared and contrasting scripture verse than John 10:10, where we've got the thief and his job is to steal and to kill and to destroy And we have Jesus who is to give abundant life. And I've talked in a previous episode on Joshua where a famous, uh, scripture in Joshua— I think it's in 24— where he said— you see a lot of these verses on while I walk into houses, I'm showing houses and stuff, and where it's Joshua 24-something, I don't know exactly where it is, but it says, as for me and my house, I will serve the Lord. Very, very popular scripture, and it is very true.

You, you—

there's got to be a decision made. And that is my whole point, is there is a heaven and there's a hell. And there is the, the good news is that Jesus came and lived a life of perfection and died a death that you and I were worthy— we should have died. But Jesus came and died so that we could live. And I want to introduce you to the gospel because the gospel of Jesus, the good news, is that everyone— since all have sinned, there has to be an answer for sin. And I don't know that I have specifically— I mean, I know I've talked about it, and I don't want to beat around the bush. I just want to come right out and tell you that this is a war, this is a battle, and heaven is real and hell is real and eternity is forever. And we need to, with our conscious effort mind, we need to determine which side we are going to choose. And it— there's some scriptures about hell, about gnashing of teeth, and about how miserable it's going to be. And then there's pictures of heaven and how wonderful it's going to be. And I just want to tell you that Satan is real and he will fight. He don't want— he hates everything that God has made. He hates God. He is the father of lies. He is deceitful. But all he's got are deception, and all he's got is weapons to just confuse you or to make you angry or hate or divisive. You can see a lot of this stuff. And really, why one of the 27 reasons I'm here is because there's so much fear and there's so much hate and there's so much division going on in the world today that some— I just had to do something. I had to come into this empty room and speak to this microphone because I know someone is going to be listening that needs to hear this. And I'm just, I'm just praying that if you're listening to this and you've never heard this, or if you have heard the gospel and thought, well, I don't know, I, I was Back in January 10th, 1993, I did not know God from a billy goat. I went to a service. I really didn't, never really went to church, but I went to a service and this man told me that Jesus was real. He walked this earth. He lived a life. He never sinned, never missed the mark, and that he took all of the sin of all of the world and he put it on his back. Jesus put it on his back, and then they nailed it to the cross. And if that was the case, he was born a virgin. Jesus was born from not the bloodline of Adam. He came from Father God. He had perfect, sinless blood when he was walking here on earth and never sinned, never missed the mark. And then took that perfect blood and nailed it, spilt it on the ground here on earth, nailed it to the cross and died for you and I. And then on the third day, and if that was the end of the story, then it would be a sad story. But at, on the third day, just like he said in his word, on the third day he rose again and he's never gonna die again. And if we will humble ourselves and say, God, I cannot— we've all sinned. So the one thing that we have to do, we have to humble ourselves. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. So we have to— it's called repentance. It's called just not being in control. It is, it is just coming to the conclusion that there's something bigger There's something else in this life, but you have to do it for yourself. It says to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. I believe Paul said that. This is an individual— this is not something your mama can do for you. This is not something that your wife or your husband or your best friend— this is a personal declaration. This is you between you and God, because I believe in my mind that you are going to stand before God and he's going to give you one question. What did you do with my son? And based on your answer is where I believe you're going to spend eternity. It's not going to be how many times did you sin, or how many times did you screw up, or how many times did you fall, how many times you missed the mark, what kind of car did you drive, what kind of house did you, did you have. All of those things may be important to you now, but in eternity, the only thing that's going to matter In my reading the Bible, in my humble opinion, did you do with Jesus? And I want to ask you, I encourage you to dig into the word of God. It says that all have sinned. We've talked about that in the last 2 or 3 episodes. I kind of tried to give you a picture of what that is. Instead of thinking it's an act, it's actually just answering the knock of a door in my mind. Is that you've opened the door, and we've all opened that door to the punk. And so we've all messed up. The Bible is clear saying we all, but there is an answer. Jesus died once for all sin. And sin is no longer the issue between you and God. It has been paid for. Jesus paid the whole price. We are not worried about sin any longer. It's still an issue down here, because it's— Satan is still running around. He hasn't been banished to the lake of fire yet, so he's still active. But between you and God, you need to get it right with him. And the only way to do that is to say, God, I'm, I'm— I messed up. And this is what I did over 28 years ago. I just asked God, please forgive me, I'm such a screw-up. And I— and it— the Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. It was preached and it said that if you'll confess, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Christ from the dead, you shall be saved. And so I just took that and something just rose up in me. The Holy Spirit came right next to me. He said he'd never leave me nor forsake me, and he was here with us. And I've taught on another episode that one of the, one of the most awesome scriptures, when Jesus was talking to his disciples saying that it's to your advantage— I think it's in John 16— but he said, it's to your advantage that I go. And he has left. He is sitting at the right hand of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is here. He is here. He is right there with you, and he is encouraging you. If you will humble yourself and ask Jesus, ask God to forgive you of all the mess-ups Just humble yourself and say, hey, I can't do it without— there's no way I can live this life, a perfect life. That's not even the issue. It is, do— what do you— what do you think Jesus did? Do you think Jesus was just a good guy, or do you think he was God and died for your sin? That is the question. And if you deny Jesus here on this earth, then Jesus, it says, will deny you in front of his Father. So I'm, I'm praying, I'm gonna— I'm prayed over this, I've prayed over this podcast, this episode, and I've prayed over what I— how I was going to deliver this. But I want to ask you, if you have never accepted Jesus, or if you're— if you question— there's, there's some other scriptures in there that where Jesus denies people that were in church. So just because you're in a church doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get to go to heaven. I— a pastor of mine, I loved him to death, said you could spend your whole life in a garage and that's not going to make you an automobile. It don't matter how many days or how much you go to church. Going to church does not make you a Christian. It is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior with your mouth and believing it in your heart. And that is the only way in. And I will I will lead you right now in prayer. This is going longer, but it's worth the time and it's worth the effort. If you have— if you've never really taken care of business, or if you know somebody that hasn't taken care of business, I want to put this out here because Satan is a punk and I hate him, and all he wants to do is drag you to hell with him. And we just— we need to let him go by himself and bring everybody to heaven. So Father God, I thank you. If anyone is listening to this episode that does not know you as their personal Savior and you are drawing them. I pray in Jesus' name that you would just draw them to yourself, and I pray that they would ask you to forgive their sin and any kind of mess up and then accept you as their Lord and Savior and ask you to come into their life and to be part of their life and to show you— lead, lead these people, lead this person just like you led me. Lord, just have them open your word and start at John and just ask the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, help, help me live for you. And Lord, I thank you that you are there with them and that you would accept their prayer and that they will become a Christian and they will have a new, they will have a new life and their spirit man will be, will be brought to life just like mine. And Lord, I thank you for being a part of my life and I thank you for being there with this person And I want to pray in Jesus' name that you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Thank you for listening. The church that I go to is Gateway Church. I go online. I try to go over there and visit as much as I can, but they have a wonderful system to help get you started in your Christian walk. If you've made that decision, it's the first time you've ever done that, or if you want to rededicate yourself. It is decision— just type decision to 71010, and that is decision to 71010. That is going to be the best way to get in contact with someone that'll, that'll pray with you, help you with the next steps. But I also— I'm going to also try to set up something, but I'm telling you, I'm still with my email and all of this technology. I just don't want it— this is such an important Next step, that I know that, I know that Gateway has something in, in the works right now, and I don't want you to have to wait. And decision, text decision 71010, and they will get you the information. And I want to thank you for making that decision, and I will find a way, and I will post this if you're listening later, I will post a way to get in contact with me as well. But I want to thank you for this podcast again, and I want to thank you for getting here to the end, and God bless you.

Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.