Stephen Lewis shares the most important message he will ever deliver. This message is so vital that he has revisited and reposted it: The Greatest Gift of All—Salvation through Jesus Christ. In this episode, Stephen will share the Gospel from the late Evangelist Billy Graham, sourced from his website, BillyGraham.org. If you know someone who has not yet invited Jesus Christ into their life, please share this message with them. If that person is you, praise God! Sit back, relax, and open your heart to Jesus Christ. If you decide to ask Jesus Christ into your life, please let Stephen know so you can connect. God bless and love to you all!
Kingdom Community TV Podcast
What Is The Greatest Gift?
(upbeat music) - Welcome to Relevance for Today, a show where you will be encouraged, inspired, and fed through the Word of God. You will find relevant teachings, tips, discussions, interviews, and more for both believers and even non-believers who are considering salvation through Jesus Christ. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Hey folks, Steve Lewis here, welcome to Relevance for Today. Great news, I've got a great series for you called the Greatest Gift Series. Powerful series about salvation. My prayer is that you will come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. If you know of anyone who has not asked Jesus Christ into their life and you don't feel comfortable sharing the gospel with them, gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of the good news, please, by all means, share this series with them, spread it out, get it out there, folks. Time is short, tomorrow isn't promised to any of us. God bless, enjoy the show. Hey folks, Steve Lewis here, welcome to Relevance for Today, the day after Resurrection Day. Here with a special message, we're gonna be talking about salvation. Stay tuned, folks. This is a life changer. ♪ I've tried some cap day, day is right now ♪ Okay, folks, thanks for tuning in once again. I know I've shared messages before, but this time I thought, you know what? I'm gonna do something different. I'm gonna actually share from Billy Graham's messages, and this one's gonna be the message of salvation. So I thought, you know what? Why not pick Billy Graham, the mighty evangelist? He died in 2018 and I said, you know what? Here's a man who God used to share the gospel to billions. You wanna know how many shared it with? So they estimated the number who heard him preach were 2.2 billion. 250 million were estimated that he preached the gospel to at live events. An estimated number of people at his crusades who responded to the invitation to become a Christian. 2.2 million. Praise God, can you imagine the day he passed away and went to be with the Lord? Can you imagine the cheers and the greetings and just all the people coming up to him that he never even knew? Because out of all those people, 2.2 billion of them seen him preach on TV, heard him on the radio. So it's amazing how one man, God used one man to reach all those people. And I'll share with you who shared the gospel with him after this message at the end, because it's amazing. The one person who shared the gospel with Billy Graham praise God also for him. But what I decided to do was to share from his page. And it's basically it's www.billygram.org, you should go check it out, lots of great information. The man is a mighty man of God. You know he is, he shared the gospel, that's what he did. He evangelized. And I thought, you know what, instead of doing it this way, I'm gonna do it through Billy Graham. Because you only need one message, the message of salvation. Isn't that right? We don't need 50,000 different methods. So I wanna share it from his point of view. And I love the way he shares it. He uses the scripture, he uses the NIV Bible. And he does a great job. So I'm gonna do it. So you're ready? They're probably like, all right, Steve, we've heard enough. Would you get on with the message? Well, first of all, once again, thanks for tuning in. Thanks for communicating. It's great to hear from all of you all around the world. Thanks for sharing the podcast episodes with others. Continue. I really appreciate it. So here we go. Nothing can compare with all that is ours in Christ when we find salvation, amen. Forgiveness, justification, adoption, eternal life. Just give me goosebumps. What a glorious life the gospel offers to those who are searching for purpose and meaning. Or to those who have found that materialism and sensual pleasure are not the answer to the deepest yearnings of the heart. That's where I came from. You know, went down a rough road. God, pull me back on track. Chased after the Lord, here I am today. The crown and glory of salvation is promised when we enter into the presence of the King. We have a home in heaven, praise God. Reserved for us and awards that await us. That's beautiful. No wonder the gospel is good news. It really is, folks. It's really good news. Unfortunately, many people today have distorted the meaning of salvation. Saying that it means only political, social and economic liberation in this life. Certainly, Christians should be concerned about injustice and do what they can to promote a more just world. But lasting and complete liberation from social injustice will come only. This is important. I'm gonna read that part again. But lasting and complete liberation from social injustice will come only when Jesus Christ returns to establish His kingdom. Praise God. Man, powerful. Biblical salvation is far deeper because it gets to the root of our problem, the problem of sin. Only Christ can change the human heart and replace greed and hate with compassion and love. Do you understand God's plan of salvation? There are certain points we all need to understand about the heart of the good news of Christ. First, so number one, all are sinners and stand under the judgment of God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3.23. We might believe that we are good enough to win God's favor or that we can perform certain religious acts to counterbalance our bad deeds. But the Bible states that we are all condemned for there is no one righteous, not even one, Romans 3.10. Now, before you beat yourself up, stay with me now because there's good news. That's what this is all about, the good news. It's telling you where we were considered to where we're going to be. And that's the important part. Second, we need to understand what Christ has done to make our salvation possible. God loves us and Christ came to make forgiveness and salvation possible. But what did he do? He died on the cross as the complete sacrifice for our sins. Powerful. He took upon himself the judgment that we deserve. You and me, he took that upon himself. And as you can tell, everyone, so I'm throwing him on words. So he took upon himself the judgment that we deserve. Third, we need to respond to God's work. God and his grace offers us the gift of eternal life. But like any gift, it becomes ours only when we take it. When we take it, when we take Jesus Christ into our life, when we ask Him in, we must repent of our sins, repentance carries with it the idea of confession out of our mouth, sorrow, turning and confessing. Sorrow, turning and changing. We cannot ask forgiveness over and over again for our sins and then return to those sins. Okay, remember that. Expecting God to forgive us. We must turn from our practice of sin as best we know how and turn by faith to Jesus Christ. Turn by faith to Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is by grace you have been saved through faith and this not from yourselves. It is the gift of God not by work so that no one can boast. So no one can brag and say, I save myself. It's only through the grace of God. Ephesians two, eight through nine. Christ invites us to come to Him and God has promised to all who received Him to those who believed in His name. He gave the right to become children of God. Amen, John 1 12. Fourth, we must understand the cost of coming to Christ and following Christ. Jesus constantly called upon those who would follow Him to count the cost. A person must determine to leave his sins behind and turn from them. Some people may be unwilling to do so and there may be other costs as well when we decide to follow Christ. In some cultures, a person who turns to Christ may be disowned by family, alienated from social life, in prison or even killed. And yes, folks, this is a real thing. These are real things that are going on in the world right now. Just look up the Christian martyrs. The ultimate cost of true discipleship is the cost of renouncing self. Self will, self plans, self motivations. Christ is to be Lord of our lives. Christ declared, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me, Luke 9 23. Jesus does not call us to a life of selfish comfort and ease. He calls us to a battle. He calls us to give up our own plans and to follow him without reservation, even to death. Yes, it costs to follow Christ, but it also costs not to follow Christ. And that's so important, folks, remember that. It costs both ways. It costs the Apostle Paul the prestige of a high level position in the Jewish nation, but he declared, "Whatever was to my prophet, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things." Philippians three, seven through eight. Christ calls men and women not only to trust him as savior, but also to follow him as Lord. Very important, I'll say that again. Christ calls men and women not only to trust him as savior, but also to follow him as Lord. Fifth, so number five, salvation is intimately linked to the cross. The man who hung there between two thieves was without sin. His virgin birth by the miraculous intervention of the Holy Spirit meant that he did not inherit a sinful human life, a sinful human nature. Neither did he commit any sin during his lifetime. Mary gave birth to the only perfect child. He became the only perfect man. As such, he was uniquely qualified to put into action God's plan of salvation for mankind, bringing back that connection between man and God after Adam and Eve had sinned. So why was Calvary cross so special? So different from hundreds of other crosses used for Roman execution. It was because on that cross, Jesus suffered the punishment for sin that we all deserve. He was our substitute, man. If you ever get a chance, if you've already seen it, watch it again. We always watch it on resurrection weekend. We sit down and watch the passion to remind us of everything Jesus went through is so important, folks. He suffered the judgment and condemnation of death that our sinful nature indeed's deserve. God made him who had no sin to be sinned for us so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. Oh praise God. Second Corinthians 5-21. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." First Corinthians 2-2. Paul knew there was a built-in power in the cross and the resurrection. And finally, faith is essential for salvation, but we must be absolutely clear on what we mean when we speak of salvation by faith. There are various kinds of belief or faith and not all are linked to salvation. In the New Testament, faith means more than intellectual belief. It involves trust and commitment. I may say that I believe a bridge will hold my weight, but I really believe it only when I commit myself to it and walk across it, so important, like that put one foot in front of the other. Saving faith involves an act of commitment and trust in which I commit my life to Jesus Christ and trust him alone as my Savior and Lord. Man, that's beautiful. And so he shared a personal example and I'm gonna do the same. And so what happened with me is, you know, as a minister, I truly believe in when you get the opportunity, you take it to share the good news, to share the gospel with somebody. It's so important, folks, 'cause you never know what's gonna happen tomorrow, you really don't. And I just found it the other day, I was reading through some of my Bible study notes and I found where I had shared my testimony of 2014 where my mother-in-law passed away, our great aunt passed away, my uncle passed away, my niece passed away in Canada. There was just so much going on. So we had loss of death in the family and a few other things happened in our family life. There was a lot going on. My mother-in-law was in the hospital for eight months. My wife and I were traveling back and forth with her every day. It was just a hard year and in that year, Barb's great aunt passed away. And so we just finished visiting the family after finding out that our 22-year-old niece had passed away. We pull in the yard, then my daughter comes out that let us know that our great aunt passed away and praise God two weeks before that or a week before that I had the opportunity to share the gospel with her. She looked at me. I was sitting beside her. She looked at me and she said, "What's gonna happen to me?" And at right then and there, I knew I had to do what I had to do and the opportunity to share the gospel with her, the opportunity to ask her did she have Jesus Christ in her life? And when I walked out of that room, she was afraid to die when I came in. And when I left after sharing with her, the good news about Jesus Christ asking her. She wanted to ask him in his life. She repented of her sins. She said she asked Jesus Christ into her life right then and there. She asked what she told me, totally changed her life. She passed away a couple of weeks later, but that night after I left her daughter got in touch of me and told me her mother was totally different, totally different atmosphere. She wasn't afraid to die. She even asked me to do her funeral. It was a beautiful funeral. It was an honor to do on Rita's funeral. So it was truly a blessing. But I just wanted to share that piece because you never know when you're gonna get the opportunity. I also had a gentleman call me one time and said, Steve, I've got, he had third stage or his last stage, the worst stage of cancer he had. He says, I'm gonna die. And I need you to come pray with me. And I said, okay. And I grabbed my Bible. I grabbed a little notebook. And I went over there and on the way over, I was praying and I knew when I got in that house, I had to tell him, are you ready now? 'Cause I'd been asking him about salvation. I said, are you ready to ask Jesus Christ into your life? Do you want to know where you're going when you die? And yes, we did pray for healing. But at the same time, the most important thing he wanted to do was get prayer and ask Jesus Christ into his life. So that's what we did. Share the gospel with him and it was powerful. It was a blessing to be used, put it that way. It wasn't Steve Lewis. It was all the Holy Spirit using me, working through me to save someone's soul. And so, hey, I'll read it and Brett, both in heaven. It's awesome. You just never know. But I want the same thing for you listening to this right now. If you haven't asked Jesus Christ into your life, do not wait another day. It's so important. The world is going crazy. You know it is. You see it right in front of you. You see it right in front of you. You've heard people talk about Jesus. Maybe all of us haven't represented the way we should have, but you've seen true Christianity out there. You've seen true followers of Jesus Christ, loving, sharing the good news, showing the hope and love that Jesus Christ shows. And so we're gonna move right on 'cause I could have kept talking. So how to receive Christ. So I hope this message has helped you to understand what Jesus Christ has done to save us and what our response must be. If you are not sure that you are right with God, you can be sure right now. Right now listening to this recording, right now watching this video, you can be sure right now about your relationship with the Lord. Remember, we must admit that we are sinners. We must turn away from our sins and to Christ. We must trust Him as our Savior and follow Him as our Lord. God promises that when we do this, God promises that when we do this, He will save us and make us His children and we will live with Him forever. Will you turn to Christ now? I'm gonna ask you again. Will you turn to Christ now? And as I reach out my hand for the screen, I'm reaching out for you. You know who you are. The one who's been battling life. The one who's been thinking about asking Jesus Christ into your life. I'm reaching out to you right now. Will you turn to Christ right now? The good news is God loves you so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for your sins. If you believe in Him, turn from your sins and make Jesus the Lord of your life, you will have eternal life with Him in heaven. Will you pray this prayer? And before you get upset and say, it's more than just a prayer. You're right, it's more than just a prayer. But this sure is a start to ask Jesus Christ into your life and repent of your sins. And it starts right now, today. Right now, will you pray this prayer? Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior. From this day forward, guide my life and help me to do your will. In your name, amen. And that's what Pastor Billy Graham, the evangelist Billy Graham had put up. And you can also add to that, not only asking the Lord to guide your life and help you, but also Lord, open up doors of opportunity, show me people, send people my way, send people your way that are gonna be able to disciple you and take you to the next step and take you into the Bible and get you into the word of God. That is so important. One of the big things is sharing the gospel of salvation but then not sharing the rest of the story which is it's not gonna be easy. There's gonna be rough times still but you gotta lay it at God's feet and you've gotta look forward and stay focused. You've gotta get in that word. You've gotta get a Bible. If you don't have a Bible, let me know. I know we're behind on a couple places overseas but if you're in the United States, let us know what state you're in or something that we can make contact with people that are near you. And if you know me and you're locally, then get in touch with me. But get yourself a Bible that you can understand and read, get connected, get into a church that's preaching from the word of God. They're preaching the gospel, the gospel of the kingdom of God. And I don't wanna go too crazy with telling you a bunch of stuff but at the same time, this is a very important decision for your life. Okay, if you prayed this prayer, that's step one. You've asked Jesus Christ into your life. You've repented of your sins. You're focusing on turning away and heading in the right direction. And what I believe I'm gonna do for the month of April is continue to talk about salvation and to talk about steps and things like that to get us to the next step because the world is changing fast and the world needs Jesus. And so once again, if you prayed that prayer, please let me know. Send me a message, send me a private message or write it in the comments section. This is the time to ask Jesus Christ in your life, turn from the ways of the world and turn to God. It's so very important. And lastly, I wanna share this before I pray. What were Billy Graham's last words when he passed away in February, 2018 at the age of 99? This is amazing. I'll be in heaven for one reason. Many years ago, I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ who died on the cross to make our forgiveness possible and rose again from the dead to give us eternal life. Do you know if you will go to heaven when you die? Mm, that's powerful. And he went to be with the Lord. And so the last little nugget I wanna share is all because of one man, Billy Graham, was saved and reached over 2.2, did I say 2.2 or 22 billion people? He reached a lot of people all because one man shared the gospel one night and Billy Graham stepped up and asked Jesus Christ into his life. And that one man was Mordecai Ham. Mordecai Ham had an altar call and Billy Graham asked Jesus Christ into his life all those years ago and he was saved. Powerful, powerful, powerful, let's pray. So Heavenly Father, I just thank you so much for the opportunity to share the gospel today through Billy Graham's words, but guidance by the Holy Spirit. We thank you so much for salvation. We thank you so much, Lord, for all that you've done for our lives. That while we were yet sinners, you came and saved us so that we didn't have to be called sinners. We could be called children of God. We could be called followers of Jesus. So we thank you so much, Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for anyone and all those who asked Jesus Christ into their life during this message. I look forward to hearing from them so we can take them to the next steps. Lord, that this message would reach people all around the world, Lord. In over a hundred countries that someone in each country, if not 10 of them in each country, would ask you into their life. Praise God, that would be an amazing blessing. But even if we get one, then the fishing is done. We did a good job, you did a good job. It's all about you, Lord. So I planted the seed, the rest is in your hands, Lord. We just thank you so much for this opportunity. Thank you for freedom in Jesus. We thank you for all these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen, hey, there you have it, folks. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for taking the time to listen. If you know someone who does not have Jesus Christ in their life, share this message with them. Once again, if you do know someone in your life who does not have Jesus Christ as a Savior and Lord, share this video with them. It's not easy sharing the gospel, I know, but boy, it sure is nice when you can take a video or something and sit down with a person and play it, and they can get to know who Jesus Christ is that way. And then you can take them on to the next step. So stay tuned in the coming weeks. I'm gonna have some information. I'm gonna have some things about discipleship, and we're gonna dig into this and help you to grow in Christ. Sound good? Hey, with that being said, hey, God bless you all. Stay in contact. Got all kinds of connections down there, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music. You name it, we're on it. Thank you so much for tuning in as always. Take care of yourselves. Welcome to the kingdom. If you ask Jesus Christ into your life. Love you all, take care of yourselves. Peace. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪