Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 661 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Tony Talbert: I tell you, I'm rejoicing in the truth we heard here in these songs this morning.

( congregational amens ).

I don't know, I just feel like the Lord...I need it--I need it myself. I feel like the Lord's wanting to encourage us this morning. You know the Lord is...He's a many-faceted God. His intent and purpose is to help His people first. But I know we sing a song that shows that He can be the lily in the valley. He can be the comforting hand when we need it. And then, He can also get the rod out and He can use it when we need it. So, I think this morning He's wanting to encourage us.

I thought of this scripture. This is real familiar in Revelation 12. You know, we would need to be reminded of where we stand as the people of God, 'cause we get to...sometimes we get involved in a battle and maybe it's in our mind...our battle's always in our minds, but, maybe we get involved in a battle and we forget of what exactly...where we stand.

I thought of this scripture came to me and I'll be real brief and I'll shut up and sit down. In verse 7 it says, "And there was war in heaven..." Did you know there was war in heaven? If you don't, I want you to know that this morning. I need to know that. "...There was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not..." Did you know that?

( congregational amens ).

The devil prevailed not. Praise God! "...Neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out..." Listen. This is truth, beloved. And if we reckon on it, it'll help us. "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice..." Do you know why it was loud? It wanted to be proclaimed.

( congregational amens ).

"...Now is come salvation..." Praise God! Now we have salvation! We don't have to wait on it. It's ours now.

( congregational amens ).

"...And strength..."--Strength--and whatever strength we need to overcome, we have it now, beloved!--"...And the kingdom of our God..."--It's with us now!--"...And the power of his Christ..."--He's with us now, beloved--"...For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." He don't never stop going before our God accusing us. He accuses before our brethren. He accuses us before our Lord. He accuses us before our self. But that's all he can do is accuse us. He can lay no charge to God's elect--no charge.

( congregational amens ).

"And they..."--Who is they? That's us, beloved. "And they overcame him..."--How have we over...that's past tense, notice that--"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb..."--Thank God for the blood we heard about this morning. The blood was shed for our sins, beloved. Praise God! It's done paid the debt that we could not pay--don't need to offer no more sacrifice for sin. It's paid for--"...And by the word of their testimony..."--That's where we come into play. The word of our testimony--that's the Word that God's put in our hearts and in our minds.

"...And they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens..."--We need to rejoice like Jim was encouraging us to do this morning. I don't care if your toes have turned in, your nose is turned up, your ears are caved in...it doesn't make any difference. We need to rejoice this morning, beloved--doesn't make any difference what circumstances we're in--"...Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

We need to rejoice, beloved, in the Truth and where we stand this morning. Let's don't give the enemy even one inch in our lives, in our minds to try us to think anything else. Let's remind him of the Truth. Praise God!

-- Brother Brian McMillan: I was thinking of...we sing "The People of God" and I always think of...people...they have what they call an 'identity crisis.' Teenagers are particularly suspect to identity crises. When I was young, I was this one time--one year and the next year, I was--I was part of this other group. I don't even know what the groups are, I'm so far removed from that now.

( laughter ).

( laughing ).

I think the teenagers know what I'm talking about. I was just thinking about nerds...I don't think anybody plans, well, I'm gonna be a nerd this year.

( laughter ).

( laughing ).

But that group there, you don't want nothing to do with it. I mean, the nerds are kind of like Christians. You're born into it.

( laughing ).

( laughter ).

You are one. You can't help it. But Praise God for nerds...I love 'em.

( laughing ).

( laughter ).

I love God's people, too. Amen. But anyhow, I thought of this. There's two groups. There're sinners and there're sinners saved by grace.

( congregational amens ).

And a lot of times, we suffer an identity crisis, and the devil helps us. We sin 'cause we're sinners and then he helps us forget the other part...that we're saved by grace. He'll paint such a dark picture that he keeps us in that group of just sinners. And the identity crisis is that we know--we have to remind ourselves...yes, but we're saved by grace. We're saved by the blood of the Lamb that was shed on the cross.

( congregational amens ).

And, I thought of this scripture here. Whenever you're in that dark corner--that low place and you've forgotten who you are and your standing in Christ, remember this scripture here. 1st Peter chapter 2 and verse 9, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people..."--You see, there's the nerds there.

( laughter ).

That probably doesn't mean odd, it probably it means that we're peculiar to God--that we're His. "...That ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." We're not just sinners. We're called out from that. We're called to His light. "Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God..."--just like that song teaches us--"...which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."

I thank God He's wonderful...He helps us. He gives us the weapons we need. He helps us, to remind us of who we are, like Jim said, you know...the devil...that illustration he gave...the devil will try to tell us we're going that way, but we need to tell him we're...that where we're going and where he's going are two different places.

( congregational amens ).

And just helping us to remind us of who we are and where we're going, that we're victorious and just to have that Word that'll help us in any situation we find ourselves. I'm thankful that we're part of the people of God, that we're a peculiar people.

( congregational praise ).

-- Brother Jimmy Johnson: Praise the Lord. I appreciate Jesus Christ, don't you? I appreciate the way that He's been lifted up in our midst this morning. You know the Word says--He said that, in fact. He said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." And, I appreciate the fact that we're complete in Him. You know, the enemy would come and point out to us our shortcomings. He's gonna do his work until the Lord gets rid of him, but I really appreciated what Dad said up here this morning. We can point him to his end.

( congregational amens ).

And also point him to our end. And I'll guarantee you, our end has nothing to do with us earning anything. It's the righteousness that's been placed to our account through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The Word says that He who knew no sin was made sin for us, thank God, "...That we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

I appreciate that. I had a few verses I might read in 1st Corinthians, starting in verse 18. I was thinking about the fact that...Brian was up here talking about nerds. Jessie tells me all the time that when I was in school, I was a nerd. I don't know how she knew that, 'cause she wasn't back there, but...I don't know, maybe she got my yearbook and checked it out or something.

( laughter ).

The fact of the matter is, no matter what class of people you consider yourself to be in, whether it's...and I'm not maybe as far removed as you are, brother.

( laughing ).

( laughter ).

I don't know that I can name 'em all. There's probably some new classes I don't know about, but you got your rednecks and your preps.

( laughter ).

And all the other different ones, but...and they all think that they've got it, except maybe for the nerds. And I don't think even sometimes they think they've got it. I'm not sure. You know, they made a movie here not too long ago called "The Revenge of the Nerds."

( laughter ).

But, I'm gonna tell you right now, none of us got anything to brag about.

( congregational amens ).

I don't care. We're all just made out of the same clay. Praise God! And we need help. We need a Savior and that's what this is about. Starting in verse 18, it says, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

"Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness."

You know, people just can't believe that what Jesus did for us at the cross was enough. That when He said it was finished, that it was genuinely finished. There's not anything that we need to add to that. Surely there's got to be more to it than that. You know, and it's got to be by faith. Righteousness comes by faith and, 'course, "...Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

That's why we have these services, to try to minister faith to ourselves and to one another. We begin to proclaim what Jesus did for us and if God can quicken that to your heart and somewhere along the way it becomes more than just a nursery rhyme--somewhere along the way it becomes more than just a story...all of a sudden you don't know 'about' God, you 'know' God. You don't hear about Jesus, you 'hear' Jesus, and that faith is ministered to your heart.

And then, as the Word says, "...If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." But, "...the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised..."--Isn't that something? That God has--"...chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.

"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory..."--in the fact that he feels good. That's not what it says, is it? It says, "...let him glory in the Lord." Brethren, I'm gonna tell you right now, we need to be rejoicing...like Tony said up here this morning. We need to be rejoicing. If we know Jesus Christ...if His righteousness has been placed to our account, if our home is in heaven, what else do we need?

( congregational amens ).

We need to be thanking God for His faithfulness to us, and just giving Him praise with our lives. I'll tell you, He's worthy. I appreciate Him this morning.

-- Brother Jerry Krummrich: I really appreciate the Lord this morning in the worship service. He, kind of tenderized my heart, helped me. For some reason, it was one of those times when some of my past iniquities were before me. You know, all the miserable stuff was there. But, not for one second, was it the devil bringing up any thing against me. It was God saying, this is what I saved you from. You did this...and He didn't have to convince me. I know what I did. These were pictures of my past that came up in my mind, you know. There was no...it was me doing this, doing that--doing this, it was all there. It just unfolded, just for a few moments there when I was worshipping. And every one said, this is what I saved you from--this is what I saved you from.

( congregational amens ).

And it just...as the worship service went on, it just brought out more thankfulness, more appreciation for the blood that was shed for me.

( congregational amens ).

Jimmy was talking there about...you know, you hear 'about' God. But some day, you hear God speaking to you. What makes it real, folks, is when we're reminded...is the message when we finally know it's God talking to us, what do we hear? Do we hear, I made the sunset? That's true. But do we hear, I sent my Son to die for your sins? And if I hadn't done that, you would have no hope. But I did that for you and you do have hope.

( congregational praise ).

Is that what we hear--is that what we hear when the Lord talks?

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! The scripture's in Romans 3, verse 24, "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed." (NKJV). That's our sins--my sins in particular.

When you read this, is that...can we apply that to our hearts? By God's grace, we say, this is me, a needy person...that God is passing over my sins. "To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." That's what we need to believe. You know the word believe is used quite regularly. Do you believe, brother? We need to believe that Jesus did what it says right here. We need to believe that He had to come. Our faith is in Him as our Savior, because it's been made real to us--we needed one.

The other thought I had was when we were singing there...the phrase in that song "People of God" just stuck out to me--"delivered from shame." ( congregational amens ).

It never really...in the context of what the Lord had done for me in the worship service...knowing that He had delivered me from shame, the shame of being said 'guilty,' go over there. Instead of having to go over there where I was supposed to go, because of the blood that was shed, I've been spared from that.

( congregational praise ).

Oh God, if we can receive from Him an appreciation for what He did on the cross. That's what He's doing for His people when the Word comes forth like this--when He's exalted, when He is honored. God, that we can leave here and say, God, I want...I'm different now. I've been touched by You. I live different. I see things different. I see me different. I see everything different, 'cause of who You are and what You did. I believe God's working and I'm thankful and I know He's gonna keep working in His people.

( congregational amens ).

--Brother Jim Johnson: Just thinking about this victory that was won for us there on Calvary, Jesus paid that debt and it's a one-time thing. He don't have to go back and do battle with the devil like we do, you know. We fight around with him on Monday, and then Tuesday we've got to line back up and fight another round with him. I tell you what, though, we always need to go back to the cross, 'cause that's where the victory was won. The Lord Himself, He don't have to do that, 'cause He knows what was accomplished on the cross.

( congregational amens ).

In chapter 10 of Hebrews, verse 10, it says, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (KJV). And it refers back to the old priest in the Old Testament. It says, "And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins." And they never were able to completely take away sins. "But this man..."--Jesus--"...after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God..."--In other words, it was a finished--it was a completed thing. It is finished. He don't have to go back and do it again--"From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."

That's you and I--those that believe in the provision of the cross. We've been set apart--sanctified. And it has 'forever' perfected us. Now, can you imagine that? Forever perfected...now, is that what the devil tells you? That you're forever perfected?

-- Congregation: No.

-- Brother Jim Johnson: Matter of fact, he comes to you every day...and if you're a normal human being, every day you'll have a shortcoming somewhere in your life, and he will absolutely zero in on that and say, look how sorry you are. It is true. You are sorry. You were sorry, but in Christ, we are perfected and that'll never change and the devil can't do anything about it! All he can do is just spout off at the mouth and try to beat you down! And he'll do it, if you allow him.

"Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them." And listen to this, beloved. "And their sins and iniquities will I remember..." every Thursday?

-- Congregation: No more.

-- Brother Jim Johnson: Well, how about every January the 1st.

-- Congregation: No more.

-- Brother Jim Johnson: "...No more." I thought of that song that we got from...Christine sings it, "He Has Forgiven Me." God, I'm gonna tell you, that's wonderful news, beloved.

( congregational praise ).

My sins have been cast...what is it? Put into the..."washed from His memory." Our sins! That's not just yesterday's sins, beloved. That's all of 'em!

( congregational praise ).

I'll tell you right now, we can shout about that. What God is showing us today is ground for us to be rejoicing! It don't have a thing to do with your shortcomings or what you might be suffering. You are alive in Christ. You will forever be alive in Christ. Your sins have been completely dealt with and you are His! Sealed! You have nothing but a rosy future to look forward to. Well...say, well yeah, I've been confronted with death. A lot of us are, from time to time. But death ain't even gonna have no effect on you! It ain't gonna change your destiny! Your destiny's sealed. Folks, that ought to be shouting ground.

( congregational praise ).

Truth of the matter is, death lays before every single one of us--the passing off of this scene. But here, we don't have anything anyhow! The only thing that we have is what is eternal--those things that are before us. I'll tell you right now, our mind--our mind needs to be renewed, that's it. It's the devil's business to get you earth-bound in your mind. It's the Lord's business to get your mind transformed and get you to seeing something that's real out there that He has for us. And you've already entered into it! We're already seated with Him in heavenly places!

( congregational amens ).

I'll tell you right now, this is Good News. This is shouting ground. "Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." There's no more offering for sin. It's been done. It's been taken care of. The Lord's resting over there. He's just waiting for us to become aware--fully aware of our right, our inheritance. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." Don't you ever listen to the devil's voice that tells you, you don't have a right to go before almighty God. You'll never earn the right to go there. You never have and you never will. But Jesus Christ shed His blood and that's your right!

( congregational amens ).

And that's sufficient, beloved! In light of all accusations the devil...in light of all shortcomings, all sin, we still...the blood still washes away a multitude of sins and we can enter into the holy of holies. And we can fellowship--I mean sweet fellowship with almighty God. I gonna tell you right now, we're blessed--blessed. Those that have been brought to faith are blessed. My God, we ought to be rejoicing and praising God every moment of every day.

( congregational praise ).

I'm so thankful that He condescends to visit with us and encourage us from time to time, because the devil's busy. Thank God, He's busy too. I appreciate His presence, don't you? I appreciate Him helping us.

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