The Need for Salvation

I want to start this lesson with the first prayer that Jesus taught His disciples. Do we remember the statement, "Lord, Teach Us to Pray"? Their prayer was for Him to teach them HOW TO pray. Many times we come to the Father and we say everything but the right thing; we instantly start begging. Many times we start off saying give me this or give me that, but we forget to start off and say, "Father, forgive me for my sins". But I want to submit to you that God is holy and with Him being holy, we cannot approach Him haphazardly. In the Old Covenant, before the high priest could enter into the holy of holies to offer sacrifices, he had to cleanse himself. But now many of those old customs are done away with and we believe that we can approach God in any fashion, but again my friends, I want to submit to you that if you hate your brother you cannot approach God and He is not listening to you. If you hate one another you cannot take this hatred to God and expect Him to listen. It doesn't work like that. He is holy. Hatred is not in Him. God is love and He forgives.

St.Matthew 5:23-24

23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

If we do not forgive those who may offend us, we cannot approach God. I know our minds have been constructed to believe that we can approach God any kind of way, but as a man of God, it is my responsibility to tell you the truth. Many "pray" but in actuality, God does not hear those prayers. Many of the prayers that we pray do not go past the ceiling. Consider this . . . If I hate my sister in the Lord, and I don't want to speak with her and I have iniquity in my heart against her, my heavenly Father will say, "Don't talk to me until you get it right with your sister in the Lord." Let's take this to a natural scale. For those of us who are parents, it is generally our desire to see our family come into the unity of what a family is supposed to be; people who are living without hate, malice and backbiting between one another. As parents, we do not let our natural children hate and sidestep each other. Because we love our children we tell them "No, you have to get it right with you sibling first, and then come to me. But if this is our sentiment as parents, how much more is this sentiment true with our heavenly Father?

St.Luke 11:2-4

2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

3 Give us day by day our daily bread.

4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Look at what Jesus says here, Hallowed be thy name. Even Jesus realized that He had to approach God with respect. He recognized that God was holy and that His name was to be reverenced. We must do the same. We cannot approach God as if He is one of our homeboys. We, too, must realize that God is Holy and we must approach Him as such. Although many of us may come to church and while that is very commendable, the most important thing is that Jesus shows up. I have been in many services and many people have shown up; all the who’s who were there, but the only person who didn’t show up was Jesus. In the end, a service is only successful if Jesus is in the building and Jesus is who we need to see. Recently, I was listening to a talk radio station, and the upcoming election was the topic of discussion. The question being addressed was, “Was there any man more famous than Senator Obama, currently in America, because of where he has come in the polls?” Senator Obama can call a meeting within a week and tens of thousands can show up. This is not an attempt to rally for Obama, but read on to hear the point that I am making. In this discussion, another question was raised who else can do this? Oprah Winfrey, T.D. Jakes, President Clinton and other names were raised to say that they could make such accomplishments. But one of the commentators made a point that stuck out to me. He said that, “Now, if you’re a Christian and Jesus said that I am meeting in Orlando, I believe He would draw the biggest crowd.” This comes to show that even the world knows that Jesus is someone who is holy and someone who is worthy to be reverenced.

St.John 3:1-3

1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Now the story above deals with Nicodemus who was a Pharisee, one who knew the Law of Moses. He came to Jesus and told Him all of what he knew of Him, but look at Jesus’ response. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was not just an ordinary man unknowledgeable of the oracles of God; he was a religious leader himself. But even being a Pharisee, he was not made privy to the mysteries of God. He did not know what He was looking at when he looked at Jesus. This is what Jesus is saying. Oftentimes we look at the people of God and we assume that they are ordinary people but these people are people who have been born of the Spirit of God and they are a new race of people. They are not black or white. They are spiritual. The work that God performed on the inside did away with all the racial lines. The Holy Spirit makes us kindred. We are not what we used to be. A young lady recently approached me saying that it is natural for the African American male to want more than one woman, because in Africa they practiced bigamy. But no, it is not my nature to have more than one woman, if I do that now, it is by choice. Now this may sound foolish to the natural man, because remember what Jesus said, they cannot see the kingdom of God. We as a spiritual race of people are bound by another law. It is okay that you may not see the kingdom, because I will continue to preach the kingdom of God. I preach it because it is the truth, not because it’s a popular message. Jesus got on a cross and died so that my nature would be changed. Before salvation, we had the nature of the “I can’t help it”. Although we wanted to do good, we couldn’t. Why? Because it was our nature to do evil. Look at Apostle Paul’s writing on this matter.

Romans 7:19-21

19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

God said in order for us to stop doing what we were doing, we had to have something greater than us living on the inside. He had to give us a savior. Do you remember this state? Do you remember being in a relationship with someone and you knew it wasn’t right and you wanted to change it, but you had the “can’t help its.” There was something in you that just agreed with you. This is why women stay with men who beat them. Why? There is something in her emotions that won’t let that man go. Just as Paul says in the eighth chapter of Romans, I too thank God for salvation. Nicodemus came and gave Jesus flattering words, but Jesus told the man, that he didn’t know what he was looking at. Nicodemus couldn’t fathom in his mind that he was standing face to face with God Almighty. Why would I bring this up? Because for those of us who are saved, I do not want you to fret when the world does not understand you, neither do I want you to fret when the Church does not understand you. Many won’t understand because it is not their nature to if they are not saved. Don’t become dismayed if people do not understand what God has told you to do. Many times God will put you in situations where no one will understand. Take Noah for example. It is all about being born again; being peculiar. The world doesn’t understand that. The world does not understand that there are some people who desire to be holy. I thank God that among our local assembly here in Bible Teachers International we have some who really want to be holy. And yes we have some who may fall in sin even with that desire but what is important is that they get back up again and continue to press for that mark. Why is this? God has their attention. All may not be saved. But again, God has their attention. I don’t doubt that there may be some who may have a reputation that they do not want to please God because they may do this or that, but I see God doing a work in our young people and we should promote the good that we see God doing. I believe before it is all said and done, many of our young people will be preaching the gospel. Yes, even with all their mistakes. I know this because I have made many mistakes before I got to this point and after I got to this point but God’s effectual power in my life kept me. That was the power of the Holy Ghost. It did it in my life and I know that it will be done in the lives of the young people. The power of the Holy Ghost will make you new. Remember this . . . God cannot fail. If you are not saved, there is one thing that you will have come to the belief whether you find Him on the altar calling on Jesus or if you find Him silently in your heart. The key thing is that you find Him. Don’t let anyone tell you that you do not need the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is a comforter. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can just get all you can from just coming to church and being there at the church functions. No, quite the opposite is true. You need the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. You have to allow it to change you and make you a new creature. In order to receive the Holy Ghost you have to want it more than anything in the world. You will have to want it more than your desires for friendship, love or any relationship. The Holy Ghost is the indwelling of the Kingdom of God. It puts you in the Kingdom. You instantly become a resident of the Kingdom of God. I want to encourage you for those who are apart of the Kingdom to walk in the Kingdom that you are in. But for those who are not in the Kingdom, it is my hearts desire that you seek the Holy Ghost until you find Him. The Holy Ghost will make you new. It will change all the desires that are not like God. You will find the peace that your heart seeks. Let us live and walk in the Kingdom. I love you, Apostle Mike