What a Christian Must Know

Hello, welcome to my show. This is Dr. Ray Self and this is Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self - what an original name. Anyway, today's show is, is a very important show. I've been a teacher and a pastor for many years and I've been disturbed so many times how little many Christians know about their faith, and this is critical information. So I want to talk about that. What do you have to know? What is it that you have to know? And it's not hard, but it's important for your life, it's important for your destiny. And this show is sponsored by the International College of Ministry. It's a college that I founded full of Spirit and truth; that's our logo, Spirit and truth, and we are enrolling now at icmcollege.org. icmcollege.org. If you have a financial hardship, we will help you. Money is not an issue, what is an issue is getting equipped and trained for the purpose of God in your life and getting an accredited associate's, bachelor's, master's, or even a doctorate degree so check it out, icmcollege.org. Let's get into the show. Thank you again for listening to Self Talk.

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Okay, welcome to Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self. That's me, myself, himself and all the other Self puns. I've been away for a few weeks but we are back doing some more shows. In this show, I want to talk about vital Information. You know, I'm a believer in Christ and I think most of my listeners are believers or Christians, but there's things we need to understand as a Christian that affects our walk, that affects our understanding, that affects our belief. See, to me faith is, is everything. As a Christian, you know that we're justified by faith, we're saved by faith, redeemed by faith; but faith is useless without knowledge. You see, faith must have an object. What is the object of our faith? So you say “I'm a believer,” but what are you believing? So I want to talk about that just a second. I'm not going to go into deep theological discussion because I think Christianity is just common sense, but I think if you get this it can affect you. It can give you peace, it can help your understanding, it can help your walk.

Okay, let's get into it. So the first thing to understand is God. Now understanding God is difficult but many people I think have a wrong picture of God. The Bible declares that God is perfection, the Bible declares He's absolutely flawless and sinless; He's a perfect being. He's also told in many scriptures that this perfect being is also a perfectly moral and righteous judge of the universe. You'll see this mentioned multiple times in Psalms and other, other scriptures. I'm not going to get into that, look it up, this, just- all you have to do is this when you do your biblical search, write in the word judge and you'll see God, uh, a description of him. But many people in the world see God as this loving kind of teddy bear figure. Well, He is- God is love. The bible says that God is love, the bible says God is perfect love and He does love us and we are His children and He loves his creation, okay? Now God is not the creation, He is the Creator. There's where we separate from the New Age people who believe that creation is God. And pagan people for thousands of years have worshiped the creation instead of the Creator which is a big mistake and really upsets God.

Let me just make a little rabbit trail here just for a moment. If you really want to anger God, and hope you don't want to do this, just get into anything spiritual that's not about Him or Jesus Christ. And there's a lot of spiritual stuff out there that is not centered on God. Um, the New Age stuff, you know, astrology, uh, mysticism transcendental meditation, yoga- yes yoga, is deadly. It's not good; bad stuff because yoga is a spiritual exercise and the worship that you do, the poses you do in yoga are actually worship poses to Hindu gods. The word yoga means union with god and it's not Jesus you're, you're forming a union with. You're actually trying to enlighten yourself with demonic presence. I don't want to get into a big speech on that but if you're doing yoga, repent, repent. Um, just look it up; it's very demonic, it is a doorway. But the point is God is holy, God is righteous, God is perfect and we're not perfect. The bible says we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. So I'm imperfect, I've messed up, I have sinned- so have you. I've done things I shouldn't have done.

Now our perfect God, our perfect God actually creates rules for us, standards for us; and there's standards that are pretty tough. As a matter of fact, they're so tough that nobody can live up to them. As a matter of fact, when you read the Old Testament and you look at God's, standards, matter of fact in the book of Leviticus, there's 630 laws that God put out there that nobody could, could really do. And one of the laws said if you violate any one law then you are under a curse. In other words, if you do 620, if you obey 629 laws but you disobey one law, then you have failed. It's like if you take a test and there's 630 questions and you get 629 right but you miss one, you fail the test completely. And one of the laws is that the wages, or the cost of sin, is death. Death. Your sin will kill you.

So we have a problem here. We have a standard that has been set by a holy and righteous God that nobody could live up to. Why did we have the Old Testament? Why do we have the law? The Apostle Paul said the law gives us a knowledge of sin, so what the law did was tell us that we need a savior. The law of God in the Old Testament, these rules and regulations and requirements set down by our Lord, tells me I need help, I can't do this, there's no way I can do this, there's no way I can be good enough for God. And that's true; I cannot. So what's the answer? What's the answer? How do we appease this righteous judge and come before God not guilty? Because if we come before God as guilty, the wages of sin is death. 

So what do we do? We need a savior and God knows that so God sent us - and this is the good news, this is incredible news - God sent us a savior, His name is Jesus. He sent us a savior and what did the Savior do? The Savior- you remember God said the wages of sin is death, if you disobey My law, you die. That's a tough law. This stuff. But Jesus gave his life for us. Jesus paid the price; Jesus died. He died. Why did He die? He died on a cross, He was brutalized, He suffered a horrible death on the cross because it was a punishment for all mankind. He took Rey Self's place, He paid the price that I owed God. I have failed God with my life, with my sinful nature, with things I've done. I have failed God who's holy and righteous. He's loving and He loves me but He's holy and righteous. But Jesus paid the price for me and if I believe that and I trust in that, then

And this is what I want you to get: what do you have to know? You must believe that Jesus has paid the price for your failures, Jesus has paid the price for your shame, Jesus has paid the price for your guilt, Jesus has paid the price for every curse that would come upon you; He has paid the price. And then on the third day He rose from the dead and what's significant about that is because the Apostle Paul tells us that when Jesus was buried, we died with Him but when He rose from the dead, we rose with Him. Now how does this work? Why am I saying this? What's important- it is absolutely maybe the most important thing you could ever know - is to believe (coughs), excuse me, believe this, know this with all your heart. See, because, you see, if you believe this that Jesus died your death and Jesus rose in victory and that is your victory, then you become identified with Christ. This becomes your death and your resurrection. And how does this work for you? By faith. So if you believe what I'm telling you and the word confirms this, just read- especially the writings of Paul; this explains it so clearly: this is what every Christian must know. You must know that you died by faith, by faith. You died on the cross with Jesus. Now that sounds kind of weird, how did you die on the cross with Jesus? Well, I believe that Jesus was substituting His life for mine and then I believe Jesus rose from the dead and that was a substitutionary victory for me. And so the faith that justifies me- the word justify means to be declared not guilty- so if I'm not guilty, then I can come before a perfect and holy God and say, “hey God, how you doing? Excuse me, like, but what's up God? I need to talk to You, can You talk to me?” I can come boldly. The writer of Hebrews says come boldly to the throne of grace.

Jesus died on the cross and rose in victory for us and if I believe that with all my heart then this- what Jesus did becomes accredited to me. In Corinthians it says “He who knew no sin became sin - which was us - that we might be made righteous.” So Jesus took our sin and gave us righteousness. What does righteousness mean? Righteousness means right standing, right standing with God. So when the bible says I've been made righteous by Jesus who became my sin, that means because I'm righteous, I could have a relationship with God. God will hear my prayers, God will talk to me, God will give me wisdom, God will give me power, God will send the Holy Spirit to me - which is a whole other topic - and empower me to do the works of Christ. This is incredible and this is what every Christian needs to understand.

Now we can argue theology as sometimes we turn Christianity into this intellectual pursuit. Yeah, you don't want to be a dumb Christian and there are some really deep things to understand, but it's not intellectualism, it's revelation. It's getting this into your heart who Jesus is and don't overcomplicate it. He died on the cross and rose on the third day from the grave to give you victory. And you by faith, because you believe this, because you understand this and you believe this, that means the death He died was your death and the resurrection He- when He rose, you rose too. Romans 6 explains this very clearly and this is the fundamentals of our faith. That gives me the right to have a relationship with God, the right to be called a child of God, the right to have the Holy Spirit live within me, the right to eternal life, the right not to go to hell which is really good. And this is truth, this is the truth that will set you free. But you must know this and understand this. This is why this podcast says this is vital information for all Christians. And this is not about being Baptist, Methodist or Catholic or Presbyterian, or independent whatever you are, that's fine. Whatever you want to do, that's your business but you have to believe this to be saved.

Salvation means to be saved from everything that was due to you. Let me tell you something. If you're listening to me, you have grieved God, you have rebelled against God, you have disobeyed God. Everybody has; and I need to be saved from the consequences of that. That's what salvation is. Salvation saves me from the horrible consequences of my sin, salvation brings me healing, salvation brings me hope, salvation brings me eternal life. As a matter of fact, salvation is a benefit package. Salvation- “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” He gave us Jesus. “Whosoever believes,” believes- that's what I'm telling you today- “believes, [you] shall not perish but have eternal life.” You'll have eternal life. And these loved ones who have gone on before you- maybe you lost your mom or your dad or your grandmother, your granddad, you'll get to see them again if they were Christians.

So this information I'm giving you today, it's not complicated. This actually, this makes good sense. If God is holy and perfect and righteous and I'm not, how can I have a relationship with Him? I couldn't. there's no way. But Jesus made a way because Jesus paid the price to make Ray Self, and whoever's listening to me if you believe what I'm telling you, and to make Ray Self and Self Talk listeners like you righteous. Justified, not guilty; redeemed, brought back from the power of the devil. Let me tell you something. Before you were saved and redeemed, Satan had a hold on you and you know that. But the price that Jesus paid on the cross, it did a lot of things. I could go on and on and on about everything He accomplished for us. I mean, He died, paid the price for our guilt, He took upon the cross, He took our shame, He took our condemnation, He took disease upon the cross, He put, took the curses - you've heard of curses; the bible talks a lot about blessings and curses. There's over 400 mentions of blessings and curses in the New Testament. Jesus took the curse upon Himself. We're not cursed, we're blessed. If the curses are gone, the blessings remain, amen.

So the point of this whole podcast is, this is just Christianity 101. Don't just have blind faith, know and appreciate what you're believing. And I would hope that if you're believing what I'm telling you, you'll give Him thanks every day. You know, we like to sing praise songs, we want to praise God; well, when you understand what I'm telling you, you've got a lot to praise Him for. Every day we praise Him for. Jesus said “apart from Me, you can do nothing”, and actually, when you translate that, He, it means “apart from Me, nothing exists.” It's all about Jesus. He's given you life, He's given you your health, He's given you blessings, He's given you everything. But if you're going to be a believer, know these truths, know the basics of Christianity and believe them with all your heart because you see, without faith you cannot please God. That's what the bible tells us. Your faith, your belief in what Jesus has done for you is what, what makes you justified and it's what gives you your standing, your right standing with God. Amen. Amen.

Sounds like a little sermon; maybe it was, I don't care, it was truth though so let me pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for each person listening to this show today. I pray, Father, the truth; the simple, amazing but incredibly powerful truth of what your son Jesus has done for us. We’ll seek it, that we'll know it, receive it, believe it, and walk in it every day. I thank You for each person listening to this show, that your Holy Spirit fall upon them now. Holy Spirit, touch them, Holy Spirit, begin to touch each person listening to me now. Fall upon them. Let them feel Your anointing, let them feel Your presence now, in Jesus’ name. Lord, let them feel Your presence, let us come to a new level of understanding and appreciation. Touch them, Holy Spirit, touch them, Holy Spirit. Heal, Holy Spirit. Spirit of heaviness, you must go. Uh, spirit of disease, the spirit of uh, affliction, this uh, you've had flu for weeks, you can't shake it. That- this that must go. Those flu symptoms will go in Jesus' name. Just some things that the Lord’s showing me right now. I thank You, Father, thank You, Father. The spirit of rebellion will leave your house in Jesus’ name. I thank You, Father, I thank You, Jesus. I praise You, Father, I thank You, Father. Spirit of calamity. The spirit of calamity will go and I, I command generational curses to be broken in Jesus’ name, in Jesus’- spirit of fear and abandonment, I rebuke you in Jesus’ name. I rebuke you, spirit of fear, spirit of abandonment. I rebuke you, spirit of heaviness, you’re gone in Jesus' name. Lord, we thank You, Father; we praise You, Father; we thank You, Father, for the show. I thank you for each person listening. In Jesus’ name, amen. Amen.

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Hey, it's Dr. Ray again. Thank you so much for listening to today's show. I hope it's been a blessing to you; I really appreciate you. Hey, don't forget to uh, you know how you- we need you to subscribe and follow and all those good things; that really, really helps us. I want to get the message out, that's all I want to do, and you do that- if you go to the website for the show, that's where you can subscribe and follow and also see every episode we've ever done. And that website is icmcollege/selftalk. icmcollege/selftalk. Also, I'm offering some free courses to you, um, for any donation and I need donations to do this show. This show is expensive, it takes a lot to do it so I have some really cool things I want to offer you right now and again, this is up to you; you pray about it but we have some, we have some shows here that uh, the courses uh, Counseling Victims to Freedom - it's a course, it's a six lesson course. These are courses from International College of Ministry, Dealing with Controlling People, Foundations in Spiritual Warfare, Homiletics, The Art of Preaching, Redeeming Your Past, The Holy Spirit, these are courses for a- typically like a donation of at least thirty five dollars but if you make a donation and you put in the comments for your donation which course you would like or if you want me to choose a course, we can. I'll be happy to send it to you so that's my free offer…Well, it's not really free; I'm asking for a donation. if you really don't have the donation, I'll send it to you for free anyway. God bless you, thank you so much for listening to today's show. This is Dr. Ray Self and God bless you. Amen and goodbye.