- Heavenly greetings in Jesus' name.
Welcome back here to the University of God,
where today we are on part three in a series
that we've been doing all about the process of believing.
So if you were there with us in part one,
we talked about knowledge, revelation knowledge,
how that knowledge comes into your heart,
a seed of divine life, which is the Word of God,
and brings knowledge of the truth,
which brings light out of darkness.
And then in part two we talked about understanding,
that you can never believe something
which you don't understand.
The Holy Spirit brings understanding of the knowledge
of the Word of God, and that understanding will lead you
to conviction, which then brings real movement
and action in your life.
And that's what we're gonna talk about today, part three,
which is all about conviction.
Yes, you can know about the truth, you can accept the truth,
but are you convinced about that truth?
And that conviction,
when you're convinced about the Word of God,
that is when it'll enter your heart
and will produce real movement in your life,
to take you from where you are now
to where God wants you to be.
So are you ready to come with us on this journey
to explore more about the process of believing,
talking about conviction?
Where's the Holy Spirit gonna take us to today?
- So we can see the importance
of the Holy Spirit in our lives,
that faith is a gift from God.
Faith is an ability to come from God.
So when we talk about faith, Jesus say, "Have faith in God."
For faith to come in God's Word,
you must know the promise of God in that word,
because without a definite promise, faith is not real.
God promised to do something in your life
and that's the seed hidden in the word.
Now, to appropriate that promise in your life,
you must pass for the first ingredient of faith,
which is knowledge.
Remember in Act 19:1-5, when Paul came to Ephesus,
he realized that something was lacking
in the worship of the church in Ephesus.
And he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit
when you believed?"
Something told him that they didn't have the Holy Spirit.
They worship was carnal,
and Paul perceived it as a spiritual man.
They said to him, "We have never heard about a Holy Spirit."
So how can you have something you ignore?
Faith demands revelation knowledge.
Once you know a promise, definite promise,
and you are convinced that promise is true for your life,
then you can appropriate that promise.
These are the ingredient, the stages of faith in our lives.
So faith demands for revelation to know the mind of God,
the will of God in the matter concerning you.
Once you know it, you must have fully understanding
of that revelation, his truthfulness.
Now once you come to that stand,
you will no longer reject that truth.
You're ready to accept it.
But when the Holy Ghost tell you,
that that promise is for you, it is true for your life,
then it will take you to conviction.
What this conviction mean?
Yes, this is true for me, it's true for my life.
Then I can act faith to appropriate it
or to claim that into my life.
And that brings to movement born by faith.
That's what the Bible says,
because I believe, I'm convicted it is true,
therefore, I confess to Jesus as my Lord.
So this is the process of believing
in the power of the Holy Spirit, divine faith, faith in God.
So, last time we talk about understanding the question,
what do you do with the truth?
When he come to the knowledge that Jesus is Lord
and he died at the cross of Calvary for you and me,
because Jesus sad at the cross, "Father forgive them."
- Hmm. "They don't know what they do."
- It includes you. It includes me.
Because he did not die for a certain type of people,
but for the whole world.
Not only for Israel, but for the whole world.
That was the promise of heaven.
To everybody who believes in the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
receive forgiveness of sins upon repentance
and eternal life by faith believing in Christ Jesus.
So we must meet the condition
given in the Word of God for salvation.
The conviction is to believe, genuinely. That is it.
That's the highway to heaven.
Believe, that's our connection to heaven, to eternal life.
Now today, we realize that someone may have a revelation,
but that revelation will not be active, alive,
until you come to spiritual understanding
that the revelation is for now. (chuckles)
Some believe it's a history.
"So, I just see history of the Bible by New Testament,
so I don't think it's real for me."
Faith is now.
You have to believe that this reality is for me.
Now faith acts now, believes now, and receives now.
So it means, what act of faith means, it is not our brain,
someone may believe, you can reason somebody
to believe something,
but that belief cannot stand the test of time.
When circumstances contrary to that belief comes,
if the person has no root, belief is a root,
he can be shake and say, "Hey, I don't believe anymore.
I went back."
Many saw the miracle of Jesus.
We in the first section we talk about in John 6
when Jesus multiplied the bread and the wine,
people saw the miracle and they followed Jesus
for selfish reason.
Jesus knew that.
To test their faith Jesus said, "He who eats my flesh
and drinks, my blood has everlasting life."
They say, "Ha. It is hard to believe."
- They didn't understand. - And they were offended.
And they left Jesus,
because they failed to understand what he was saying.
They were in the natural. Jesus was in the spiritual.
We have seen another case,
we talked when Peter received revelation from God,
he resisted the revelation
because he lacked understanding, until the Holy Ghost came
and guide him into the understanding of the vision.
And then, only then, he believed and move on
to the house of (indistinct).
So today, we said faith is a conviction.
That's the foundation.
We go to Romans 14:5, Word will lead us to Roman 14:5.
Yes.
Now, we are not here just to take the Bible as history,
but to live in it, to make it work.
The Bible never works by itself. We make it work.
How do we make this Bible alive in our lives?
Let's listen.
- One person esteems one day above another;
another esteems every day alike.
Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.
- Go ahead.
- He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord;
nd he who does not observe the day,
to the Lord he does not observe it.
He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks;
and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat,
and gives God thanks.
- Thank you. Why we are asked to be convinced?
Human being expresses his will through his mind,
his thinking, because God made us free moral agent.
We are not a robot.
God give us discretion, the ability to say yes or to say no.
I believe, I do not believe.
That discretion is the free moral agent
of capacity to take a decision
to express my own will based on my own knowledge,
and that's where the problem is.
The Bible says, our will must submit to God's will
before his power can work in our lives.
For the will of God to become alive,
my will must submit to the will of God.
That's when the power of God come
to exercise the will of God, not my own will.
This means my mind need to be renewed
in circumstances I may face,
I may be tempted to express my own will on the matter,
my own way of things.
That's temptation.
Devil said to Jesus, "If you are a Son of God,
command the stone to become bread."
He wanted Jesus to express his own will,
his power to do this.
But Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone,
by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."
That means my righteous shall live by faith, Romans 1:17,
and the enemy took him somewhere and said,
"Oh, see all this kingdom and the glory,
if you worship me, I will give it to you."
Jesus said, the Bible said,
"Thou shall worship the Lord your God and Him alone."
He took Jesus to the highest summit,
the pinnacle of the temple, say,
"The Bible says in the book of Psalm 91,
if you believe it, jump,
he will give his angels charge over you.
If you believe what the scripture say, jump."
Jesus say, "You'll not tempt the Lord your God."
- You'll not have put him to the test.
- Absolutely. Jesus is moved by the will of the Father.
In John 4:32, he say, "My will, my food
is the will of the Father.
I never came to do my will, to do what I want.
To do the will of the one who sent me," in John 6.
Now salvation means to be set free from sin and penalty,
and we are all weak when it comes to sin.
Now, I must know what salvation means.
If I don't know the meaning of salvation,
how can I receive and ask for it, eh?
What is salvation?
The moment I know I heard about sin, sin, sin,
but how do I know sin?
In the light of God's Word,
I discover God's standard of doing things.
The Bible shows me clearly God's standard,
Christ's standard, God's kind of lifestyle of righteousness
in God's point of view.
I'm called to do what is right in the sight of God,
not in the sight of man.
What my human understanding can consider good
God may not accept it, and vice versa.
Therefore, if I read the Bible, the Bible tell me,
"Hey, this is not good."
If I know it is not good
and I'm convinced it's not good, I will not do it.
If someone is having some symptoms in his body,
you feel dizzy, you feel...
That thing continue to manifest in your body,
you got worry and you say,
"Ah, I'm going to consult a doctor."
But I come to him, I say, "Doctor, I am having a problem.
I have a constant headache. I'm having dizziness.
I'm feeling this nausea.
It has been happening for so many times,
so it gives me worry.
That's why I come and see you."
Doctor will be going to ask you questions,
and from there he will come to the conclusion,
the deduction, that this is the conclusion,
that this is the problem you have.
And from there, based to his professionalism practice,
he will give you some treatment
to bring solution to it after a while.
But you realize it,
everything started by the patient itself.
So the body send a signal that this is not right,
and one day or somebody said, give you advice,
and nutrition said, this is not good.
If it takes too much of this one, this will happen to you.
Say, "Hey, I never knew this. I never knew how bad this is.
I will not do it again. I stop."
That's the truth revealed in the Word of God.
The scripture says that in John 16:5-10,
that when the Holy Spirit come,
he would open our eyes to show us how wrong sin is.
We would never knew what sin is all about until we discover,
read the holy scriptures, the Holy Bible, God's standard.
And then you will say, "What is sin?
What is this? It's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong."
But Holy Ghost will tell you it's wrong for you also.
You must know the truth, understand it,
and come to the conclusion that, this is not good for me.
This is the cause of my problem.
When the doctor do analysis
and find out you have this, you have this,
"Hey, I've discovered I have high cholesterol,
I don't want to take it anymore.
I be careful."
Now you begin to obey the instruction,
because you have seen that this is not good.
Too much of everything is bad, and (indistinct) your ways.
So I need to discover myself before I come to the doctor.
Jesus is a doctor of the disease of the soul called sin.
If I discover that sin is bad, then I said,
"Does it affect me?"
When I come to the knowledge, it affects me.
Conviction will cumber sin.
I say, "Well, what's the remedy? How can I get out of this?"
They will tell you there's no willpower against it.
What is the way out?
The Bible says Jesus has come to set us free
from the law of sin and death.
- From sin and his penalties.
- Absolutely.
Now, if I'm convinced about the teaching
that who Jesus is, what he has done,
and the benefits of the Calvary
and the substitutional factor of Christ's death for you
at the cross of Calvary, that God offer forgiveness
to everybody who repents and come to him.
If now the Holy Ghost help you give you conviction of heart,
this is true for my life,
I say, "O Lord," you come and give your life to him
and change and embrace righteousness.
That's what the Bible says. You have to believe.
Then, you confess and salvation comes.
Now the question is, many have heard the message
that Jesus died for everybody
to restore their relationship between God in man.
But so many people after hearing the message
never acted faith on the message.
They've heard the message,
but the message found no faith in their heart.
There was no root. Why?
Because they were not convince that that was true for them.
What is conviction? That is important.
When the Word of God is preached and the Holy Ghost help us
to see the reality of what is preached now, he will help me
to understand the consequences of that sin is death.
What is death?
It's not physical death. It's spiritual death.
Once we understand the message
and we discover our need for salvation,
Holy Ghost will convict yourself.
Your conscious will tell you that you have missed the mark.
And then when you realize that, your heart will tell you,
"Run to Jesus for salvation."
John the Baptist came in the morning and say, "Repent.
The Kingdom of God is at hand."
And the Bible says, people came all over,
run to the River Jordan to be baptized by him.
Why?
Because their heart was convinced,
convinced, and they came to him.
They repented, were baptized by John,
to embrace the righteous of God in Christ Jesus.
Conviction is a response of your heart to the message.
Not the brain, our heart.
Now I want to give you a small example
to put it in a practical way,
how Revelation message can come to us
and some will not attend to the Word.
While some we realize that the message is true,
and with the help of the Holy Ghost,
the conscience will react to the message,
their heart will burn
and they will act on the revelation in (indistinct) ways.
Now let's go to Acts 16, concerning Paul Apostle
and Barnabas in their missionary journey.
The scripture says they were led by the Holy Spirit.
We can start reading from verse five.
- So the churches were strengthened in the faith,
and increased in number daily.
Now when they had gone through Phrygia
and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden
by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.
- One second. Sometimes, look at that.
They were forbidden by the Holy Ghost
to preach the gospel in Asia.
The gospel is good news.
So preaching the gospel is something good.
Not just because something is good doesn't mean it expresses
the will of God for you at that moment.
It wasn't the will of God for them to go to Asia
to preach the gospel at that moment.
Why?
We said, when you are preaching the gospel,
you're preaching to the hearts, you are planting a seed.
- So the hearts have to be ready.
- Absolutely. Do you plant your seed...
Which season do you plant your seed?
There's seed time and there's harvest time.
The Holy Spirit knows the hearts of people.
He will go to where people are ready,
prepared to receive it.
He knows the hearts of all human beings.
We may not know, so we may try. We express our own will.
This is the case where they express their own discretion,
their own will.
They say, "Ah, let's go to Asia." That was their own will.
But immediately the Holy Ghost prompted them
and they say, "Ah, okay, Lord, we don't go."
The Holy Ghost stopped them.
They were led by the Spirit of God and they said,
"No, we not go."
Next verse, what happened?
- After they had come to Mysia,
they tried to go into Bithynia,
but the Spirit did not permit them.
- Second time they continue the journey
and they went to Mysia.
Holy Spirit say, "No." He stopped them again.
When you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit,
he will take you step by step.
In each step, intimation, suggestion from the Spirit
will come to go this way or to go that way.
He's the one that leads the missionary journey.
He's the one that determines where to go
and which way to follow when we are led by the Holy Ghost.
So they obeyed, they had revelation
and they knew his voice
and they were convinced and they obeyed.
They didn't go.
And they waited for instruction for the Holy Spirit.
What happened next?
- So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
And a vision appeared to Paul in the night.
A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying,
"Come over to Macedonia and help us."
- Continue. You see that?
The Bible says in the Book of Job 33:14-15 down, he says,
"God speaks in one way or in another,
but no one pays attention."
That's why sometimes God speak to us in dream and visions.
When our mind, our heart is so heavy,
and God knows that we are unable to hearken to his voice,
it will allow us to go to the bed and we sleep.
All this mind is off.
Then it opens the eyes of our spirit
and give us dreams and vision in the night.
Now the question is, when they slept off in the night,
they had a vision of a man in Macedonia.
Let's go again, do it again.
- And a vision appeared to Paul in the night.
A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying,
"Come over to Macedonia and help us."
Now after he had seen the vision,
immediately we sought to go to Macedonia,
concluding that the Lord had called us
to preach the gospel to them.
- Take note of "concluding."
Concluding mean convinced
that this is where God wants me to go.
When the revelation came of the man of Macedonia,
they had spiritual understanding that this person
is asking us to come for salvation's sake.
They conscious bore witness to the heart
that this is the right way to go,
and conviction will settle in their heart.
Could they understood the message,
they understood the dream and say yes, we concluded,
convinced that this is where the Spirit of God
wants us to go.
That's conviction. How conviction come to our heart?
We need to be convinced that's the help of the Holy Spirit.
We are gonna read Romans 9:1,
but before we go there, remember what he said?
When the seed is planted in the heart by revelation,
our duty is to water the seed, to abide in the word,
to meditate for direction,
for instruction from the Holy Ghost in our prayer.
When the word is planted in water,
God is the one that make the seed
to increase, to produce faith.
That's why Jesus said in John 16:10,
that when the Holy Spirit come,
he will convict of righteousness.
He convict of sin when he revealed to us how bad it is
and we come to understanding of it.
Now he convicts us of righteousness.
He will convict your heart
that this is the truth for your life.
So you can act on it. Okay, let's read.
- I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying,
my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit.
- Hear that? Paul said, "I speak the truth.
I am not lying.
My conscience is bearing witness in the Holy Spirit
about this truth."
What is our conscience?
Our conscience is the instrument
God give us to discern spiritual things.
When our conscience is spiritually enlightened
by the Holy Ghost will be able to discern
what is right, what is wrong.
We're able to recognize his voice
with the conviction of our heart.
Our heart will respond, our conscious will respond.
Sometime we say our heart is burning. Jesus is speaking.
One day they said, "No man has ever spoken like this man.
He speaks with his authority."
What caused them to say those words?
Their heart, their conscious was burning, reacted.
That's the conviction of the Spirit.
When the word of life comes to your heart,
it becomes spirit and life,
and then you begin to move your conscience
to act on that revelation.
It cannot leave you indifferent.
So when conviction come, knowledge of the truth,
acceptance of the truth in the midst of your heart
form the conviction, mean this is true for me.
So conviction is an opinion formed with your heart.
That's what we call belief. This is where belief comes from.
Belief is a conviction of the heart
that this is true for me.
I believe it.
And that's where the root of faith start, belief.
Once you have convicted, the Word is settled in your heart.
The root of faith is settled in your heart
and you believe personally.
That's why salvation is a personal decision.
It's a conviction to accept Jesus as your Lord,
your personal Lord and Savior.
No one can give you faith. No one can transfer faith.
It must arise in each person heart
based on intimate conviction that this is true for my life.
- Yeah, anything that comes by force is not faith.
- Absolutely.
- And faith can never be imitation.
- Faith is an application.
I can only apply it in my life
when I believe it is true for me.
When the gospel is preached, the preacher is casting seed.
There will a light into different types of hearts.
When if he falls into the good ground,
the person who believes for salvation,
the person who sees his need for Savior,
will come to Jesus to receive our Lord and Savior,
because he has a conviction in his heart
that this is the answer, this is the Lord.
When he act upon that belief, when he expresses faith
in that belief, salvation comes.
This is a true meaning, Paul said, let's go to Romans 10:6,
to understand the process of believing,
- But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way,
"Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'
that is, to bring Christ down from above or,
'Who will descend into the abyss?',"
that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.
But what does it say?
"The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,"
that is, the word of faith which we preach
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus
and believe in your heart
that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
- To believe in your heart.
This is where the greatest trouble is.
We confess easily with our mouth,
but do we really believe in our heart?
How can one believe in his heart with that conviction
that is true for me?
How can one be convicted in his heart
if he does not understand that truth?
And how can the person
understand the truth without revelation?
You can see the work of the Holy Ghost
begins with revelation of the truth.
Number two, he guides us
into the understanding of the truth.
We said there is salvation in the Word of God.
The Ethiopian eunuch in Act 8
was reading the book of Isaiah 53 about a Savior.
But who is this person? Is it a prophet?
Whom is he talking about?
When Philip came, explained to him the works of Jesus,
the finished book of Christ at the cross of Calvary,
spiritual understanding came,
and the man realizes how far himself has missed the mark,
how far he's far from the standard of God's righteousness.
He realized that he's too, he's a trespasser,
he's a siner in need of salvation.
When he understood that, convinced in his heart,
he said, "There is water.
What can stop me from being baptized?"
Philip saying, "It's only possible
if you believe with all your heart."
The man added it.
"I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
And the act on that faith was his salvation.
Conviction is a root of belief.
The words, the truth settles in our heart
at the point of conviction.
- Oh, so that's when it actually makes its home there.
- Absolutely.
- Write that down,
the truth settles in your heart at the point of conviction.
- Absolutely. You appropriate the truth, become part of you.
Holy Ghost will lead you
to tell you there is salvation in the Holy Bible.
There's salvation in the gospel of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Then, he will guide you
into the understanding of that salvation,
to see the condition you need to meet for salvation's sake.
Once that understanding come,
he will lead you to the application,
because the word is a mirror.
You see God's standard.
Immediately he convicts you
to show you how far you are from that standard.
You discover your need for salvation, convinced.
- You see yourself clearly.
- Absolutely. And then he will convict you of righteousness.
He will help you to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
- So that's the help of the Holy Spirit to convict.
- Absolutely - You.
- That is it. The conviction...
So the truth revealed, settled in your heart,
the truth at the point of conviction,
then the word became a part of you.
Belief start in your heart.
But we said, at that moment it is belief.
It's the root which is dominant.
And that's why after that conviction
will trigger something else.
Your heart, your spirit upon that conviction
will act faith and begin to confess.
That's what it means.
Continue reading, that the word is in your mouth,
the word's in your heart.
- For with the heart one believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
- That mean the word of faith is in two places.
With our heart we believe, with our mouth we confess.
And faith is both.
- It can't be one without the other.
- This is not possible.
If you confess without believing, there will be no result.
But if we believe in our heart first and confess,
the spirit of faith is released.
Can we go to 2nd Corinthians 4:13?
The importance of conviction,
the importance of belief, conviction,
belief is an opinion formed with a heart called conviction.
- 2nd Corinthians- - 4:13.
- And since we have the same spirit of faith,
according to what is written,
"I believed and therefore I spoke,"
we also believe and therefore speak.
- I must believe in my heart, if I confess.
There must be an agreement between your heart
and your mouth for that confession to be true.
Faith, confession and to salvation,
God's Word in your heart must form belief
first in your heart.
So you speak after the abundance of your heart.
Because I believe I speak.
Because I believe that Jesus is Lord,
I confess Jesus is my Lord.
I believe in my heart that God raising from the dead,
and I confess in the mouth that Jesus has from the dead.
So our heart and our mouth must come in agreement
for faith to be formed.
This means knowledge of the truth by revelation,
spiritual understanding, and then conviction
come by the Holy Ghost and we act faith.
You can see no one can be truly saved
without the operation of the Holy Spirit.
That's why salvation is by pure grace of God
and that grace to appropriated we need faith.
That's the faith we call divine faith.
Faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, of Nazareth,
Holy Spirit, at the beginning, at the middle, at the end.
That's why Jesus said, when he comes the Holy Spirit,
he will convict us of sin, number one.
Number two, he will convict us of righteousness.
And number three and of judgment, meaning, first,
he will show us the truth, the salvation in the world
how bad, how wrong sin is because it destroys our life
and damages our relationship both with God
and with human beings.
And number two, now he will convict us of righteousness,
that no man can
by his own act of righteousness save himself.
It's the free gift of God,
because Jesus has done everything we need to be saved.
We just need to receive the grace by faith.
When the Holy Ghost tuned your heart to Jesus
and open your eyes to see the work of the cross
and convict us of righteousness and sin,
we embrace Jesus from our heart.
Belief is formed and then we speak,
we confess and salvation is established.
So you can see by the work of the Holy Spirit,
God will never open the door of salvation
to the one who keeps his Bible shut.
That's the importance of his holy Bible.
When I read it, there's a promise of salvation,
but my eyes, spirit eyes must be opened
to see the reality of that salvation.
And the Spirit of God will guide me
to fully understand that salvation.
When I understand the meaning of salvation,
what it takes to be saved, the condition for salvation
and I believe it and conviction come to my life
to see the mirror of my life
in the light of God's standard in the Bible,
Holy Ghost will help me.
Repentance is a gift from God.
Once I'm convinced of sin, then my heart react positively
and come to God in full repentance,
confessing, receive forgiveness,
and then embrace Jesus as my righteousness.
And the Bible says, if our heart and our mind
is in agreement, faith is established,
and the gift of God coming alive, eternal life, you can see.
From beginning to end, it's pure grace.
That's why we say righteousness is a gift from God.
No one is righteous, not even one.
It's a pure grace of the Most High God.
So what is our duty? Our genuine willingness.
What is genuine willingness?
Genuine willingness is to read the Bible
for salvation's sake.
Genuine willingness is to believe for salvation's sake.
When we believe for God's sake.
That's why Jesus says, "Seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness."
- "And all these things shall be added unto you."
- Unto you.
Let's see. Paul was a self-righteous.
Let's go to the book of Philippians 3.
We just start from verse three.
We come down to see the transformation God did
from self-righteousness works of the law
to the gift of righteousness,
which will receive by pure grace of God,
by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God.
Let's listen.
- Though I also might have confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh,
I more so: circumcised the eighth day,
of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
concerning zeal, persecuting the church;
concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
- Here, he say, "I fulfill all the requirement of the law.
I was circumcised (indistinct) of Abraham,
I was in the stock of the tribe of Israel,
the Hebrews of Hebrews, the deeper side.
As to religion, I was a Pharisee.
As for legally civil righteousness,
I was faultless without blame.
What comes after?
- But what things were gain to me,
these I have counted loss for Christ.
Yet indeed I also count all things loss
for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.
- That is it.
Saul who persecuted the churches the one talking.
- And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is from the law,
but that which is through faith in Christ,
the righteousness which is from God by faith.
- He has discovered there is no self will against sin.
There is no will power against sin.
We wake up in the morning determined to do what is right,
before realize we have missed the mark.
When we realized our need for God for salvation
that we run to God.
He was convinced by the work of the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 9, when you read at home,
you will see how Jesus revealed himself to Saul.
And Saul say, "Lord, who are you?"
"I'm Jesus gonna be persecuted." Revelation came.
At that moment, understanding wasn't (indistinct),
but revelation came when Jesus spoke to him
and Jesus said to him, "Go to the street called Straight,
you'll find a man.
He will tell you what you should do."
When he came to an earth and has began
to tell him about Jesus, when he heard the word of faith,
he received Christ, was baptized,
and righteousness became a reality in his life.
So we have faith to be saved before we become a Christian.
Salvation is by faith, pure grace of God.
That's the promise God made to Abraham,
that whosoever believe in Christ, the Son of the living God.
God has even the power to become sons and daughters of God,
born out of the flesh, not of the will of man,
but he will love God.
Now you can see it is God's power
working through his Word by his Spirit,
mixed with repentance and faith that brings salvation.
That why we have to know the truth in the Word of God-
- And be convinced concerning his will.
- He convinced about it and act faith,
means by hearing the Word,
the revelation come, the knowledge come.
You're no longer ignorant. You know the truth.
- You're no longer asleep.
- Absolutely.
Once you know the truth, and you have the pure understanding
of that truth, now you can begin to apply that truth.
You apply it in your own life, that's conviction.
And then you act on it. And salvation is established.
These are the divine step of true scriptural faith.
Knowledge, understanding, conviction,
and actionable of faith called real movement.
Next time we talk about real movement,
but today we'll talk about conviction.
That's the root of faith.
That's the standard. Belief must come in my heart.
Any action before God,
God looks in our heart to see if there is root,
if there is belief.
If I believe in my heart and speak with my mouth,
whatever I say will come to pass.
Only faith pleases God.
That's why the Bible says in Hebrews 12,
"We look to the cross to Jesus,
who is the author and perfecter of our faith."
That's why any person who genuinely is convinced
about the truth of the gospel of Jesus,
any person whose spiritual eyes are open to realize
what the Bible says about sin, righteousness,
and when the Spirit of God give you the grace
to understand this message and give you the grace
to be convicted personally and to express it,
salvation becomes a reality.
We walk in newness of life.
So this is the highway to heaven, belief in the heart.
Now you can see what we said in the beginning,
that the word of God is a seed of divine life
that comes into our heart at the point of revelation.
And when we understand it, it will remain in our heart.
When we are convicted, the roots come out.
That is belief.
When we act on that belief on the outside by our confession,
we see the fruit of salvation, the evidence will be there.
Salvation established. This is the highway to heaven.
This is the key to receive from God.
Whatever the Bible promises, that promise is only a seed.
It's not just speaking mouth speaking it. It is God's word.
Plenty in my heart by revelation, watered by seeking,
by meditation till revelation come
that brings conviction of heart.
And then I act on that conviction and faith is established.
These are elements of faith, knowledge, understanding,
and understanding lead to acceptance.
When they come to our heart, conviction is there
and then I can trust it and act to faith.
And faith is complete.
- You know, those steps are so important
to having the word planted in your heart.
Because often you can look at yourself
and actually realize
that maybe the word is not actually planted in your heart,
because in the time of trial, in time of test-
- Thank you. - And time of temptation,
the Holy Spirit can only bring to your remembrance,
the Word that's already planted in your heart.
So if that word is not planted in your heart,
the Holy Spirit cannot bring it to your remembrance.
And it can't be the word
that actually comes to rescue you when you need it.
So Christ and the word of one,
Jesus wants to help you in your trial.
He wants to rescue you from your trial.
He wants to be with you in your hard time.
He wants to be with you through every season of your life.
He wants to walk with you through whatever life brings,
but you have to allow him. How do you allow him?
By making sure that his word is planted deep in your heart
and settles in your heart.
And today we learned that the Word of God
settles in the heart at the point of conviction.
So it's then that the Holy Spirit can bring
to our remembrance that word,
if it's already lodged in our heart.
So if you realize that maybe the Word of God
comes in and out,
maybe something you've memorized in the brain
and then you forget, like you learn for an exam
and it's all removed from your memory.
Maybe you're realizing,
"Oh, maybe it's not actually in my heart."
When it's in your heart and you're convinced about it,
that is when it will change your conduct and your character.
And that is when the Holy Spirit will bring it
to your remembrance at the time that you need it most.
- Hallelujah. That's what the scripture says.
I remind you in Romans 10:13, he said,
"Whosoever calls in the name of Jesus Christ
shall be saved."
Now he said, "How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed?"
This mean, if you call the name without belief,
you call the name in vain.
And no one can believe that the help of the Holy Spirit.
If you call that name, you must call it genuinely,
truly from your heart with full conviction of faith
for that confession to be accepted by God.
He said, "And how shall they believe in him
whom they have never heard?"
Though you must hear the message,
you must understand the message, convince, belief,
and act on the message for faith to become real.
So please we advise, everyone,
read your Bible with devotion.
To read with devotion is to read the Bible
with our heart opened.
Then we allow the Spirit of God to give us revelation.
We allow then the word to enter our heart
when we receive that revelation and the Word becomes Spirit.
And when it comes being spiritual understanding
and faith start, when the conviction settle in our heart.
This is what the prophet (indistinct) to say,
"If you take God's word to heart
and truly made it a part of you,
that word will, by its very nature, change you.
And when it does,
you find yourself moved by the life of God."
Take God's word to heart by meditation till revelation come.
The word will enter your heart and become spirit.
That's his nature.
- I love that, "And by its very nature."
That means that nature, the words of God is spirit and life.
- Absolutely.
- That's why Peter said to Jesus, "Where can we go?
You have the words of eternal life."
- Thank you.
And when he does, you find yourself moved
by the life of the Holy Ghost
and called to act with God in your life.
This process of believing is the same process
of working in the spirit.
Because we allow God's intimation, God's Spirit
to come to our voice.
With sense of righteousness,
we descend this voice of the Holy Spirit,
and then we act on it and take the right direction.
That's what we just read,
that Paul divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit,
recognized the vision as coming from God,
understanding him, his heart, his conscience,
bore witness to the Holy Ghost,
this is the truth, and they follow the direction
and they never miss the mark.
That's why no one can plant the seed
without the Spirit of God.
If the Holy Ghost lead you,
you will never speak empty words.
He'll never lead you to the wilderness.
We don't plant seed in the wilderness.
He'll plant the seed
where the heart has been prepared already to receive him.
That's why we need to be led by the Spirit of God.
He will take those who are ready to accept the word.
But when you speak the word,
it enter the right ground, and salvation,
all of God's blessings become a reality in people's heart.
So when you read the Bible by yourself, meditate.
The same Holy Ghost is the helper.
When it comes and see your genuineness,
he will open your spiritual understanding
and it will help you by conviction
to build faith in your heart and to act on it.
And salvation become reality.
So human spirit fails to act faith
unless the Holy God fails.
So when we open our heart to revelation, he will come
and fill us with the spirit of revelation.
He will help us by open the eyes of our heart
to accept, to see the hidden truth of the Bible,
and to convince that it is true for my life,
I act in faith and salvation becomes a reality.
Leading our heart over to the Word by meditation
makes the Word a reality.
God's promises become real and living
to the one who believes it and confess it.
Thank you.
- Amen. So thank you so much for joining us.
This word is spirit and life
and its very nature can and will change you
if you allow it to be planted in your heart.
And where is the right place for it to be planted?
In your heart. That's where the seed can grow.
If your heart is the right place,
that means your heart is open to the Holy Spirit,
because the Holy Spirit is the author of this Word,
this Word, that spirit and life.
So we really pray that this session has helped you
to understand how you need conviction of the Word of God.
And that can only come through the help of the Holy Spirit.
So make sure you rewatch the session,
write down the hidden truths, meditate on them,
go back to part one and part two.
And, you know, you can't get enough of God's Word.
So we can't wait to hear your testimony
of how this journey with us on the University of God,
learning more about God's Word
is impacting your life day to day in Jesus' name.
- Thank you, the Lord be with your spirit.
Stay blessed. In Jesus' name, amen.