Michigan Family Camp: 2021
Table of Contents
Lay Hold on Eternal Life
Address—Bob Thonney
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Alright, 9111.
Right. Gracious.
Father, what a privilege.
To reflect on that tremendous sacrifice.
Of thy beloved Son of us.
The one who is the creator of the vast universe.
But the one who came?
And asked.
The tremendous cost of my life. It's LED down the lights of us, oh Lord Jesus.
We bow thy feet tonight to praise Thee, to thank Thee, to bless thee for that sacrifice.
But Lord Jesus, help us.
To have the right perspective on life down here.
Plus they are their young brothers and sisters. We do pray Lord, as they are at the beginning of their lives, that they would live their lives so at the end they will not have regrets, but that there will be truth for all eternity. We pray that blessing as we open my word this evening.
The name or what did you say that?
I'd like to start with.
An expression that's really just 5 words.
That's repeated twice.
In First Timothy chapter 6.
Timothy was a young man.
And he had a good start. We don't know very much about his father.
00:05:03
Only that he would agree doesn't tell us if he was a believer even.
But he had a grandmother and a mother and who there was living faith and so there was also Internet intimidating is a beautiful example to be challenged by, but I'd just like to read this expression that is found in.
Verse 5:00 and also.
Verse 19 I'm going to read.
In verse.
11 First of all, before we get to that.
I'll point out what the five words are that I want to focus on. There's 11, but now whole man of God we these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience.
Fight the good fight of faith. Here's the five words I want to focus on.
Lay hold on eternal life.
Rental are also called and has professed a good professionally for many ways.
Now, verse 17.
Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
That they do good. That they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.
Lane up in store for themselves, a good foundation against the time to come that day.
May here's the expression again. Lay hold on eternal life now. Sometimes they're bad. Didn't somebody have eternal life?
Wasn't he a believer and doesn't ever believe you have a journal line?
Of course that's true.
Then what does he mean by that hold on eternal life?
You know, it comes to me, their young brother and sister and the Lord, that we live in a culture that.
That is very self-centered and.
Unfortunately, that wants to please itself.
And that is not eternal life.
And say the ones to push that onto us so that we.
Will miss out on what is eternal life. I'm just out of this as far as our salvation is concerned, but as to our practical 1.
New translation reads. I think it is in that first time.
That which is really like and once it is presented in the United States of America to have a good time, come on, enjoy like you got money in your pocket, you can get a good job, you can make lots of money, you can have everything you want. That is not what we're talking about.
Those things are often distractions.
You know what was such a challenge to me?
I was 26 when I finally got to go to Bolivia the first time.
With Eric Smith.
And.
Umm, never forget. We were riding on the back of a truck. There were five of us that went down from North America. Eric Smith and Ramon Alarcon from Mexico, Fleming Cannon and Doug Buchanan and myself.
And, uh, the cabinet track where it's.
Only room for two passengers besides the driver and so Eric Smith and Ramon have a colder up there. So let me get it. And Doug and I were in the back.
Standing all day, jostling in the back with a whole bunch of other brother two that were going to a conference.
And towards the end of the day, we're going down this riverbed because the roads of times are through riverbeds and, uh, toward the end of the day, here we come to this.
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The river bread and they knew we were coming and so they were waiting for us so they said. I stood in a semi circle there to welcome their experience and he was their spiritual father and.
The driver just let the truck roll to the stop and they were singing. So yeah, I looked through the little window up into the cab to see here.
Through God's eternal day. I don't want to go in that other direction.
It was such a.
Given to 100 and almost 102 years old.
Actually almost 103.
Was two days short of 103 years old when he passed away.
I'm gonna choose room. You can no longer talk and sit in this wheelchair. I greeted him in the catch what Indian language that he had learned to give the gospel.
The only response I got is the nod in the head. Understood what I said.
But it was not too long after that.
It was a New Testament. It's quoted six times in the four Gospels. I want to read it to you briefly.
That has been a tremendous challenge to me. I've got them jotted down here, so I'll just run through them in brief form. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 10.
First of all.
And verse 39.
He doesn't find it. His life shall lose it.
And he that loses his life, for my sake shall find him.
Did you get that?
Go over to Matthew 16 now.
And verse.
25.
These verses are quite similar to this little variation center.
For whosoever after 1625 will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find him.
That interest.
Mark chapter 8.
Verse.
35.
R 835.
You'll notice that they're very similar. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it.
That whosoever shall lose his life for my sake in the Gospels, the same shall save him.
Luke Chapter 9.
And verse.
24.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
Chapter 17. Luke. Chapter 17.
And verse 33.
Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it. Whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve.
Little details that are thicker.
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Now John. Chapter 12.
And verse 25.
I'm gonna wait for a verse 24 down to verse 46.
Verily, verily, I say it to you. This is the Lord Jesus speaking. Accept the corn of wheat. Fall into the ground.
And die.
You divide us alone.
But if it die, did bring it forth much fruit?
That love of his life shall lose it.
And he that he does, his life in this world shall keep him.
Isn't that interesting?
Eight July. What? No world.
Fixture line, that's the word.
The Lord uses a little.
Like a parable here of a four and a week. 3 a week.
We're going to keep that green a week on that table nice and dry. Nothing can affect it.
Don't let any microorganisms attack it. They're going to keep it really well. How much fruit is there going to be for macaroni?
You know.
We're going to do something different. We're going to take that green away, put it in the ground.
For the moisture, it's going to soften it. For the migraine, organisms are going to attack it and it's going to die.
In Iraq.
But in that day it is placed to watch fruit.
What do you want in your life, dear young people?
Your life to count with much fruit.
Or you want to see really well preserved down here. Keep yourself just right.
There will be.
No for.
By if there was.
Effort. I'm sure some of you may have read about it in Ecuador, there were some savage.
Indians in the jungles of Ecuador, and there were five missionaries that went from the United States to try to reach those.
Savages.
They were on a river.
And.
One of the missionaries that went was a pilot and he had found a, uh, bar of sand on one of the rivers that he could land on and take off from. And so they went in and they were waiting to make friendly contact with the Indians.
Well, they came out once or twice.
And seemed to be fairly friendly.
But then they were waiting another day, and the Indians came in.
And steered them all to death.
I remember as a young person hearing about it.
There was nothing that shook the Christian world quite so much as that event.
But I must say, the death of those five missionaries is a tremendous blessing. And then?
The most unthinkable thing? The widow of one whose name is Jim Elliott.
And the sister of the pilot went in to those same missionaries.
And they were able to communicate the gospel. And today many of them are real behaviors.
Was it in vain that those men died? No.
There was much fruit that resulted. I can still remember the challenge that that was to me.
And my desire to young people in speaking to you tonight is to challenge you to use your life in whatever way the Lord may direct you. But I want to put it before you, get before the Lord as to what He would have to do in this life that will result in truth for all eternity. So that when that day comes.
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When we cross the line and stand before the Lord at that judgment seat of Christ, there will be fruits.
So we'll ask for all eternity. Let me desire for you. It's my desire to. I know that there's been a lot in my life that has not been self sacrificial.
That's my desire. You're young people and I play it before the Lord again this evening.
Timothy was one who evidently did not think of his own interests. Look at Olympians chapter 2.
Want to speak about Timothy a little bit because I think it's an encouragement to see his testimony.
Lithium Chapter 2.
What Paul says about Timothy.
Verse 19. Philippians 219.
I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy a sharp unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state, for I have no man like minded who will naturally care for your state.
For all their own, not the famous, which are Jesus Christ.
But ye.
Know the proof of Him, that as the Son of the Father, He hath served with me in the Gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, as soon as I shall see how it will go with me. So there is a man. He was a young man. He did not see his own, the things that were Christ Jesus.
Now I'd like to go over to Second Timothy chapter.
Sure, 1-2 See what the apostle Paul says to Timothy. Remember this last This is the last book that Timothy wrote. In the 4th chapter he says that.
He was ready for the offer. The time of his departure was at hand.
And he encourages Timothy.
Verse six he says, Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on my hands. I want to say to you, young brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus is that God has given you.
A specific gift.
I don't know what the gift he may have given you is.
But it's very clear in Scripture, when you look at it, that every single member of the body of Christ has received a gift to be used for the blessing of all the rest.
And I want to encourage you to the exercise and use of it, you young sisters, just because you can't speak out in the public meetings.
Doesn't mean you don't have a gear.
You do, and I thank God for the gifts that I see. And dear sisters, you know there's a gift and I think it's in First Corinthians, as mentioned, of service.
There's a particular place in South America when I go, there's a particular system there.
It's always serving time.
Yes, and enchanted with the way that sister has the gift of service. Beautiful. Don't think about yourself, think about others. There's so many that have tremendous needs. Use your guests, your young brothers too. You know, sometimes young brothers say, what gift do I have? How can I know what gift I have? I don't really know what the answer to that is.
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Remember saying that to Chuck Hendricks years ago when I was a bit younger.
And he gave me this answer.
The Lord Jesus.
Remember, his mother said to him at the wedding feast in King of Galilee.
Says they don't have any wine. And Jesus said, woman, what have I to do with thee? My hour has not yet come.
And you remember what Mary, his mother, said to the servants?
Whatever he says to you, do it.
The Lord Jesus then told the servant, spill those water pots up to the brick with water.
And Lord, yes, the miracle, his first miracle. I think that's so good.
You don't have to know exactly what your gift is, what the Lord tells you to do. Do it.
Whatever issue you can do it. I found that when you do what little you may be able to do, the Lord will bless it.
He sees in you that desire to be useful to Him, and so He's encouraged as to the gift He had. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind. Now notice what he says in verse 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me.
His prisoner. But be thou articularly The afflictions of the Gospel, according to the power of God, will save this, and call this with a holy calling.
Deflections of the Gospel.
No, people.
It's not easy to go out with the gospel in many parts of this world. You know yourselves that much of this world is under the domination of Muslim religion, and they're extremely violent against Christians.
But the Lord is blessing in the marked way Iran, which is one of the most bitter enemies United States.
The Lord is calling people to Himself.
In ways that you would never expect.
I just read the other day some facts.
Umm, especially the Asian continent. That really challenged me and I don't know what it may mean to you, but let me read some of these facts. It touched my heart.
And I would love to be used to the Lord as an instrument that indicates that to me.
30,000 people a day start to get from lack of food.
That we need anything to you.
There are about 13 million orphans in the world.
Half of the world's population live on less than $2.00 a day.
Incredible.
70% of Asians have never heard of Christ. That tragic.
Even if the Bible is translated, 4.7 billion is the population of planet Earth is about between 7 and 8 billion people. Now 4.7 billion either cannot read or do not read.
I need to hear fireworks and that.
There's a lot more here, but I just wanted to read those.
North Korea.
85% of the children children in North Korea founders.
The tragic situations that this world lives in.
You and I.
Live relatively.
00:30:01
Prosperous lives. I really do believe what it says here in second First Timothy 6 the the rich of this world. I think we are the rich of this world.
Let us lay hold on eternal life.
But I want to go on with Timothy because here in second Timothy one.
Notice Paul says in verse 12. Remember he said in verse.
Eight he says, Timothy, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me His permission. Now in verse 12 he says, for the witch, 'cause I suffer these things.
Nevertheless, I am not ashamed.
Nevertheless, uh, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that.
Beautiful.
Paul says I have suffered.
I'm not ashamed that to me speaks so powerful. Timothy, don't be ashamed.
All says I'm not ashamed. And then there was one more of this chapter in verse 16. Lord give mercy into the House of a missile forest, for he off refresh me and was not ashamed of my shame.
Oh, what a wonderful privilege it is to suffer for the Lord. You know, one of the test, the testimonies of our brother over in China is so beautiful to hear.
They are often imprisoned for the Lord's sake. You know what they say. That was one blessed experience I had when I was in prison.
Know what they do? They start preaching the gospel to their fellow believers, and often many of them are saved as well. It is tremendous the testimony of the way God uses them.
And they say to us in the West to have so much liberty.
Don't pray that the persecution ceases, pray that we might have the right perspective on it all because God is blessing us in a tremendous way. You know, in China there are approximately 1.4 billion Chinese.
They say there could be as many as 100 million Christians now in China. Isn't that interesting how God has blessed the gospel in China?
I just mentioned these things that you and I will be exercised about our brethren and other parts of the world. We profess together on the truth that there is one body, and those dear brethren over there are as much one body in Christ with us as we are.
The part of the body of Christ and so we have to pray for them. We should be interested in them. We should do everything that is possible to be a help and a blessing to them. Now I want to go in the verses for the time that's still remaining to chapter 2 because the chapter 2 we have.
Seven figures of a believer to teach us.
Specific lessons for our lives.
So he begins chapter 2 with this word. Thou therefore, my Son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. It's not an outward.
Compulsion. It is what is inward. The love of Christ constraineth us. Nobody's standing over my head and saying you've got to live your life for the Lord.
No, when I stand at that cross and see the Lord Jesus, God's eternal Son, suffering in that awful death of the cross, I say I don't have any longer any desire to live for myself. I want to live for him who died for me and rose again. That's my desire. So it's an inward compulsion and I don't come here.
To outwardly force you into a life of sacrifice for the Lord.
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You don't when you stand at that cross, you don't realize that that you and I have. I'm not going to say another word to you. But when I stand there and see him suffering not only at the hands of man, but suffering in those three hours of darkness at the hands of God, because if God had not been satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ, there would be no mercy for me.
And so in those three hours, God lays our sins on him.
And he picks up his rod of judgment, and punishes him to the full extent of divine judgment.
And there's no complaint from that center cross through those three hours of darkness. Don't worry.
What? He says. My God, my God, why don't forsake me?
Young people, I'm chapped with that man who died in my cross. It's something that he's done in my heart. I can't spend my life pleasing myself. That's not life.
Life, real life is sacrificial, even Christ, please, not himself. So we have a #7 brief I'm going to speak in a brief way of these seven different figures of a believer in verse two we have.
Faithful men.
Who is a faithful man? Paul says the things which thou has turned to be among many witnesses. The same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.
There's four generations there, Paul, Timothy, faithful men and others also.
But what's the faithful man? He doesn't say. Timothy, I want you to look for some real good preachers. Some real eloquent then.
Hey, well man, what's a faithful man? It's a man that does what he's told to do. That's a faithful, and that's the one God is going to use.
Second one is verse three and four. Thou therefore endure hardness.
Suffer, suffer hardship. I mean, this is in the new translation. As a good soldier of Jesus Christ, no man that wore it entangled himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who have chosen himself to be a soldier, chosen him to be a soldier. He doesn't please himself.
The only thing he's thinking about is to please his commander to obey How important that is.
Run young people to obey.
Doesn't matter if you lose your life. That doesn't matter. What matters is obedience.
Verse five is an athlete.
A man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive.
Lawfully. In other words, if you're gonna run a race, you gotta do it according to the rules. You don't respect the rules, even though you might get to the goal. First of all, you're not gonna win the prize.
So how important it is to be acquainted with the word of God, to run according to their principles of the precious Word of God.
That's the third one. Now the 4th one, verse six. Husband was a farmer that had that labor. Must be first partaker of the fruits. Mr. Darby's translation gives a little clearer.
You must first labor to be part of your fruits. In other words, you're not going to see fruit immediately. Don't get discouraged if you don't see fruit immediately.
Later on.
When people in this part of the country playing ****.
Takes I don't know any corn farmers here.
How long does it take?
Huh.
100 days, so you shouldn't get discouraged if they don't get you through after 10 days.
No, that's right. Later on there will be fruit in the end. These are lessons. So he says in verse seven, consider what I say in the Lord, give the understanding in all things. In other words, there's a spiritual lesson to be learned in these figures of a believer. How important.
00:40:11
And then notice per SE verse to this chapter.
Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. I often went used to wonder, why does that come there?
And it's come to me.
That's Paul teaching Timothy.
That the results are not going to be seen in this life. The results would be seen in the other side.
And so the Lord Jesus, the end of his life, how many disciples did he have? 12 disciples? Is that all? Just 12 disciples? Come on. One of them was a traitor, another one denied him three times, and the rest they all take off.
It looked like his wife was complete failure.
Remember Timothy, Jesus Christ of the seed of David, raised from the dead according to my gospel? God's answer isn't it that other side in resurrection? So don't be discouraged if you don't see results down here.
I'll Timothy was Paul was trying to teach him, to encourage him.
Holiday Inn's Facebook of the Lord so that they have a lot of people following him. No, all those that they said forsaken him.
Only one person at the end of chapter one looks him up in prison. You think he felt a little bit discouraged on that score?
Uh, there was reason for him to feel that way. I don't think he felt that way, but he was waiting at any day for them to call him out of his cell.
To lay his head down on a chopping block and have it chopped off. Other moments?
I understand that's what happened according to tradition.
Was it worth it?
I am not ashamed, Paul says. I think that's so beautiful. Remember Timothy, Jesus Christ is the seed of David raised from the dead, according to my gospel. God's answers and resurrection, though it's going to be a wonderful day when we stand there and see God's answer.
So faithfulness to Him in this life.
Now we go down to church, verse 15.
The 5th figure of the believer study to show myself approved unto God, and work them that need us not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Doesn't say exactly study the word, but study to show yourself approved unto God.
Not approved into the brethren. Approved unto God. Live before God, dear young brother and sister.
And so it's so important to rightly divide the word of truth. Today's Christian circles, there is a movement, covenant theology, that says that the church and Israel are basically the same thing.
Rather, South America said to me the other day, he says.
Moses neighborhood were in the church too.
Come on, the Lord Jesus said Matthew chapter 16. I will build my church. He hasn't started building it yet. It's a completely separate entity, but people don't distinguish. They don't know how to rightly divide the word of truth. Israel was an earthly people. The church is a heavenly people. It's so important to keep those things straight.
Otherwise you will not be able to rightly divide the word of truth. How important that is to be able to do that.
Now the next one is inverse. We're going to read from verse 19. It's in actually in verse.
20 If you're in a vessel. In other words, each of us are a vessel. A vessel is something that contains something.
Container could use.
That, uh, were that, yes.
00:45:03
Verse 19 it says nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord N them that are his, and let everyone that name is the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but I will also have wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor.
If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel.
Unto honor sanctified and need for the Master's use and prepared unto every good work. So each of us is a vessel.
What do you contain?
You to change price in your vessel. Oh, it's a wonderful thing when a person really knows and enjoys the work. You know it shows on people's to remember in the department store. I was one time and I happened to be one section of it and I looked over and about 50 yards away it was a family.
But I just looked at that and there said, OK, they look the way they're talking, the way they're acting, jordanship, they've got to be Christians. So I made-up my mind to go over and say, hey.
Are you people Christians? Yeah, we're just missionaries that came back from overseas. We're looking for some new clothes.
It was so evident, the very way they acted. It showed, oh young people, it's not only what you say, it's what how you act that shows.
If you have a treasure in your vessel, here it is though, in connection with the Great House.
Chapter three of First Timothy speaks of the House of God, which is what we all are as the church.
But here it doesn't say the House of God. It says in a great house because it includes so much that is not real.
It's all those who name the name of Christ, the name of the Lord.
If they name that name, there is a responsibility to depart from an equity.
Keep your vessel pure for him, your young people. There's things that contaminate this vessel physically.
Keep your vessel for the Lord.
And there's things that contaminate on the soul, what you like, what you don't like. If that consumes you, it's going to show.
And then there is that which can contaminate on the spirit level, but the as it says in First Thessalonians 5 at the Lord's coming and that we would be sanctified Holy Spirit soul and body with His voice. Now the last one is in verse 24.
And the servant of the Lord must not strive.
But the gentle unto all men have to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
So the 7th figure of a believer is the servant of the Lord. Oh dear young people, what a privilege to serve them. And it may not be anything dramatic, I just want to encourage you. Whatever little thing the Lord has laid on your heart, do it faithfully unto him.
Says in with chapter 16, he that is faithful of that which is least is faithful so much. And I'm amazed some of our Latin brethren how the Lord has raised them up, brethren that I never expected to see take up the word in such an effective way today on our Zoom meetings in South America. Thank God for it.
So I want to encourage you, whatever little thing it is, is put on your heart, Do it.
Diligently unto him.
You two are a servant of the Lord. I cringe. And I see people mark certain ones. They are the certain Lord's servants. They're the ones that go around visiting. Yeah, I hope I do serve the Lord. That's not the only serve of the Lord. Every single believer, brothers and sisters, are servants of the Lord.
00:50:21
You know who was a real servant of the Lord in the New Testament was.
Mars, you know she got over occupied with their service one time and the Lord had to tell her not to be used to occupy with that. But the next time we see Martha in chapter 12, she's serving again. I got 4 Martha and her service. Lord help us to be encouraged to use.
Whatever he gives to us so that when the day comes when we stand at the judgment seat of Christ there we're going through.
Credit balance for all eternity.
That's just great. Thanks, Father.
For this group of dear young people.
How we long to see them use the gifts, their talents, their means for that which will last for all eternity. We pray for Thy blessing on them and these days with meetings we're having together.
Make it a blessing to them, we pray, Father, commending ourselves for the rest of the evening giving thanks to the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Treasure
Gospel 1
Session #1
A Point of Beginning
Address—Tim Ruga
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Good evening everyone.
I'd like to start the meeting we could by sending him #76 in the appendix.
Thine Jesus, Thine no more. This heart of mine shall seek its joy apart from thee. The world is crucified to me, and I am thine. 76 in the appendix.
Thank Jesus.
I.
Know.
Sounded, in the end, joy of heart.
Thee.
Wow, it's written by the beginning of the beginning.
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Let's pray. I thought that Father, we thank thee for this opportunity that we have to be here again, and thank you for take care today in the camp.
Where safety for bringing others to be with us too. And we just talk to thee for a time this evening. We pray that as we have been fed so well here that we would.
Be able to get so much needed food also from my work. We pray for help for the speaker, each one of yours as well. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
So tonight I want to speak a little bit to, uh, those who are saved. And my subject is a point of beginning or a starting point. I'll explain that in a minute, but.
00:05:14
As I said, I wanna speak to those who are the Lords and in particular the young people who are here.
If you are not one of the Lord's own, then there's a different starting point for you.
A most necessary and wonderful one. That is, of course, the gospel that we heard last night and the gospel that I can give again right now in just a moment at the beginning of this meeting, that if you don't yet know, the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
That is a transaction you can make with God in just a moment while you're sitting here. Does the Word of God says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son? But whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And so that simple act of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is all that is needed for you to turn from death to life.
If you haven't done that, the rest of what I'm going to say probably won't make much sense to you.
But for those who I intend to speak tonight to tonight, my assumption is I'm going to grant everyone the benefit of the doubt. That's what you actually want to do as a believer. Is that the things that Brother Bob Tony spoke on two nights ago or what is your interest as well?
That you have a desire that you should live what is really like, and that you should go on to serve the Lord.
In your life and spend your life on those things that are important for eternity. And what I'm going to speak on is just a small part of that. It's intended to be a help, a starting point. And I can just relate it a little bit in terms of my own life that when I took an interest in trying to understand more of the truth of God, it was very helpful. I found, I found to get a starting point on the different trees.
And.
There are many different truths in the Word of God, I've just taken a selection from them.
Some of the ones that I found to be maybe more difficult in some ways or more challenged and umm, I just selected those ones and I want to give in the brief time that we have a brief starting point. So if we could, let's just turn. I'll explain that more in a minute, but let's turn over the second Timothy chapter one.
Second Timothy One.
The verse that we often refer to here at camp.
1St.
13.
Says hold fast the form of sound words and I'll just stop there. This morning we were going over an outline of things. And that's really what the thought is here, an outline of sound words. And that's important. But what I want to do tonight really starts at the beginning of that. And I think of it in terms of a profession that I'm not quite in, but I work with them surveyors. And when you have a surveyor, it goes out to do a survey.
Of land, he starts with a point. It's called apoba, point of beginning, and surveyor has to have that point. It's very important. If they don't have it, then the rest of the survey may not make much sense. I think of the rest of the survey, say, the outbounds of a property, as being something like an outline, right?
And an outline is good, but if you don't have a good point of beginning, the outline may not be so good.
Think of it also in terms of the treasure map. You can have a perfect treasure map without a point of beginning, and you have no idea where to start to follow so many paces to get to that tray and then go right so many paces. If you don't know where that first point is, it's difficult. Now, the Scripture isn't exactly like that because every truth of God has a number of verses that bear on it, But still, in my own life I have found that there are certain verses.
That were very helpful as starting points.
And that's what I'd like to try to pass on with the Lord's help here this evening. And so I'd like to just begin with, uh, the first one that I had on my list. And really I could ask it as a question, Is the Bible inspired? And you say, yes, the Bible is inspired, at least I hope so if you're a believer.
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The next question is where in the Bible does it say that and?
Probably quite a few in this room or right now thinking of a verse, maybe even several verses. But it's good to have a verse. Somebody asked you that and you want to know, you want to be able to turn somewhere in the Word of God, and it's good to be able to do that right there for these basic things. And so let's just go over a little further in Second Timothy.
To the verse that probably many in this room just thought of. These aren't gonna be hard things tonight.
They're going to be, most of them, quite simple things, and so I might be speaking to a younger audience, but that's exactly where I was once. And if that's where you are, I hope this will help. Feel free to take some notes. So second Timothy, chapter 3.
And verse 16.
Every for all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
And it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof and so on. But just that first part. Every Scripture is given by inspiration of God. That's a simple verse and it says it directly, and I would suggest it's a good verse to know.
This is challenged a lot. Many other things too related to it. We could take that up, but that's the subject. And you might want to go on from here and get a whole outline of a subject, the inspiration of scripture, but at least know the basics. Where does the scripture itself say that?
It's inspired and you might go to other things like what is Scripture and what does inspiration mean? Well, we could talk about that. Actually. The word is right here in this verse is God breathed and so inspiration. So you know what the words mean and the starting points. It means that God actually breathed out what He has in his words.
In his word. And that is not just the umm.
Subject that we have in the Bible, but it's the very words themselves are given by God as breathed from himself. God spoke, it says in another place, and this is what the inspiration of Scripture is. So I'll just leave that. I don't want to go into too much detail with that.
My next one would be What is the Bible about?
Let me say, well, the Bible is without a whole lot of things, Adam and Eve, and it goes all the way to Revelation. But still, the Bible is about something, or more correctly, someone, and it's good to know that.
The Bible is about the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's actually a very important thing, because if we understand that, we won't get caught up into all kinds of confusion on things when we read the Word of God.
We will come to understand that what we're reading there must be in some way related to the Lord Jesus Christ, and if not, we're missing the point. Now where does it say that? What would be a point of beginning? Maybe there would be a number of them, but the one that comes to my mind is found in John chapter 5.
Sorry, usually I'm cold.
John 5 and.
Next chapter here.
And verse 39 says search the scriptures, bring them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify or bear witness of me.
Here's the Lord Jesus speaking, and he plainly says so. It's not the only place where he said that the Scriptures spoke of himself. You find this in other places as well. But this is a good place to know the word of God is about the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you go and you read in the Old Testament and you find out what's written there, you come to many different things and it's just a few quick examples. You have Abraham.
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And Isaac going up to offer his son. This is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and the cross.
Do you have Joseph a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ delivering his people? Many other types.
Uh, and shadows that are in the Old Testament all about the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you don't understand that, you can also get into errors. I remember reading one time, umm, have someone who said the book of Song of Solomon was just a marriage, umm, manual for Christians. Well, that's pretty interesting. How does that fit in with?
The Bible being about the Lord Jesus Christ, and I don't doubt that there's some very good things in there for Christian marriages, but that's not what the book of Psalmist Solomon is about. It's about Christ. And we need to learn to understand that wherever we're reading that in some way or another involves the Lord Jesus Christ and his glory. So that's just another starting point I want to give you now.
The history of the world, that's a big subject.
But did you know the Bible breaks it down into really the history of two men?
That's important thing and an important thing to understand as Christians. It has the history of this world is really the history of two men, and where do we get that?
It's actually in a number of places, but the place that comes to my mind is First Corinthians chapter 15, so let's go there.
My brother used to really hammer this in when I was young and I didn't forget it and I hope you can remember it too. 1St Corinthians 15.
Long chapter down near the end and it says in verse 47 the 1St man is of the earth earthly, the 2nd man is the Lord from heaven. And so this is what God has before him as to the history of the world.
That He put man on this earth and responsibility and He intended for man to act for him on this earth, to keep this earth. And of course man failed right away at the fall, and there was other failure there, but God always had before him the 2nd man, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so this second man, it says here very plainly, is the Lord from heaven. And this is important to understand.
That God has a man and that man is the center of his purposes. That man is going to rule and that man is the Lord Jesus Christ, the 1St man in his failure. I want to go on and talk about a little bit further now because it's important to much of the truth of Scripture. But first of all, have you ever wondered about this?
Creation, whether God may do something else like it again? Would there be another race of men? Before we pass on, I just want to point out.
That this very passage says no.
There will not be another race of men.
Proverbs 8 we have the Lord Jesus saying, my delights with the sons of men. That's where God's purposes were in connection with man. And right here in this chapter it tells us just up a few verses.
In verse 45, and so it is written, the 1St man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening.
Correct, the 1St man Adam of course is the Adam of Genesis chapters 1-2 and three and and that was the Adam who sinned in the garden and the Lord God gave him breath and made him a clicking a a living soul. But the second man we read about as the Lord from heaven and he's in this verse is called the last Adam.
Speaks of Adam when he talks about the head of a race. Adam was the beginning of the race of mankind.
But the Lord Jesus came to be the head of a new race, and that is in resurrection life, the head of the new creation. The Lord Jesus is the head of that race. And all those of us who are believers are now part of that race. We're under him. And you notice it doesn't say the second atom, it says the last atom because there won't be another race.
This is the fulfillment of God's purposes so.
I point that out because it's really connected with in my mind. The point is beginning on these two men. Good to remember these verses that we have right here. Now, the next one that I have in mind is in connection with that first man, and that is the utter depravity of man or total depravity of man.
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This is a truth that is actually much denied, not just in the world around us today, but.
Among Christians say that no, there is good in man and the Word of God teaches very definitely otherwise. And so you may often get into a discussion with Christians and they just don't agree. They feel that there is good in man and as a result we should be working to bring that out and we should be working for the betterment of society and and this world to improve conditions of things here.
But is that what the word of thought says?
So there's the point of beginning that I think of on this one is in Romans chapter 3, and I actually have two on this one. I'll give them both. Romans 3 is the 1St.
And we'll just take a few of the verses here.
So verse 10 says it is written there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understand it, There is none that seek it after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are all together become unprofitable. There is none that do it good, No, not one.
So not a single person is righteous before God. But it's even worse than that. That's why I want to go to the other verses that are found in Romans 8.
Romans 8.
And verse.
Eight or verse seven says, because the carnal mind or the mind of the flesh, that's what everyone born into this world is born with.
Is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can see.
That's saying impossible, just can't see.
Goes on to say more here the next verse so they that are in the flesh can.
Not please God. That's the other depravity of man. That which would please God, would make man in some way pleasing, in some way good. Each and everyone is found in this condition that we have here, but we don't have to reason that. We don't have to argue it. We have to read it and understand that this is what God says.
And believe it now this subject.
Umm, the first man and the utter depravity of man leads me to another one, and that is the whole subject of dispensation, and that's a very large subject.
And one that we couldn't cover in the rest of our time, we couldn't even probably begin to do it justice in the remaining time. And I remember talking to an old missionary once and he said, when it comes to dispensations, he says, I look at it very simply.
He said there's a verse.
That just proves the whole thing for me. Doesn't say everything about them and they turn to John chapter one. I'll give that as a point of beginning because I can't think of a better one to this day. John chapter one.
And verse 17.
Says For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
The idea of dispensations is that there are different times when God is dealing with man in different ways, and many reject that thought that this verse plainly says it. God gave the law to Moses and Moses gave it to the people was given by Moses.
And that's how God acted at that time. He put man under law.
Because man thought that man could do something that would please God. And that's the whole point of dispensations.
You go right from the beginning, whatever way God tested man, whether it was under conscience or government or law or any other way that God tested man, even grace and truth by Jesus Christ when he came.
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As a man on earth, it was all rejected, entirely rejected by men. They brought out nothing in man that was pleasing to God. In fact, when you take up this subject right to the very end, you find what the Lord Jesus says about it. He said in John chapter 15 He says if I had not come, they had not sinned. But now have they both seen and hated both.
My Father and me. So the Lord Jesus came, that perfect one, when they saw who God really was, rather than please God, they said.
We hate him, we're going to do away with him, and they crucified the Son of God.
That's the history of the 1St man.
The history of the trial of God of the first man the history of dispensation is really properly ends than at the cross. I'm just going to say that while we're on the subject. John chapter 12. The Lord Jesus says now is the judgment of this world. No longer was man on trial after that God acted in pure sovereign grace with man. He now commands all men to repent. The gospel goes out freely to all that which.
They did and their hatred against the Son of God. The end point of it all is that God goes out and grace to man and saves whoever will believe. And so that really to me is a very good starting point for dispensations.
Umm, if we could, I'd like to just go on to.
Another one, but I think it's important, and that is what God's eternal purpose is.
And a lot of people.
Think that God's great purpose in this world is the salvation of man.
And that certainly is a great purpose of God, no question about that. And thank God for it. But that is not the eternal purpose of God. That isn't really what sums up God's purposes as revealed in the Bible. For that we can go to a verse that I think many know so very, very well. It's Ephesians chapter one and verse 10.
You probably heard this many times, but.
If you don't know where this is, learn it.
It's an important verse.
Says in Ephesians one, verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, you might gather, actually, let me back up. Sorry about that. Let's go to verse nine. We're in.
My glasses on, having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He has purposed in Himself.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him. Now notice in this verse.
It uses the word dispensation. We'll talk about that in a minute too, but this is the great purpose of God. It calls it His eternal purpose of the purpose of the ages when it brings us in, in connection with this in chapter 3.
And God's purpose is to glorify Himself in the person of his Son, and part of that glory is that his Son should have a bride, that is his body.
This is the eternal council and purpose of God. And when we think about man as the center of God's purpose, that man is to be saved, even if it is to bring glory to God, that misses the point.
And the central point of God's eternal purpose is that his Son should be glorified, and we're brought in in connection with that. The Lord Jesus Christ is the center of God's purpose. It's important to know that now we have those four dispensation, and this is actually one of the dispensations. It's a future one. I don't think of it so much as a trial, but this is a time when God is now committing.
All that he wanted man to have in his hands to his Son. It's speaking about the Millennium that we introduced this morning, talked about for a little bit. The thousand year reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he is going to execute all that God wanted from man in absolute perfection at the end of that period of time, tells us in First Corinthians 15 that he's going to deliver that Kingdom up to God, even the Father.
00:30:03
That will be done in absolute perfection.
So this is a dispensation, a way of God's feelings with man. And they don't want to say more about it than that. But the thing that's important that I want to look at this first is we're going to come back to later on, is what it says about things which are in heaven and which are in earth, even in him. And it really means not that he's going to bring them together, but He's going to head them up.
That's what the J&D translation translates that as. So we head up in the Lord Jesus Christ and there's two spheres.
In which he's going to be head over and receive his glory and one of them is things in heaven. The other one is things in earth important that we understand that that's one of the reasons why this is such an important verse to get as a point of beginning that we understand that God has two spheres of operation. They go on into the future and the Lord Jesus has to do with both of them.
And so we're gonna come back and talk about that a little bit more.
At the end of our meeting, umm, but I just want to go on to the next thing and that is.
The different subject, but one that many people struggle with, that is God's sovereignty.
Which is the fact that God sovereignly chooses those who are to be saved. And then there's another side to that and this man's responsibility, and that is.
That man is responsible for God's offer of salvation, and if he doesn't receive it, then he is damned to eternal hell because he refused it and he was responsible.
That sounds like it doesn't add up maybe, but I want to see it. The important thing here is that we see what God says, not that everything makes sense to our finite minds. So the first one, the sovereign choice of God, we had just earlier in this chapter.
And let's go back and look at it verse 4.
Says according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be.
Fully and without blame before him in love.
So this first shows that God chose us before he ever made the world.
Remember this first. It's important. It teaches this subject, one of the number of verses that do, but it's maybe the clearest, at least for me, on this subject, that God chose me and everyone here who's trusted in Christ before He ever made this world. Did I have anything to do with that? Absolutely not. I wasn't there.
When I was born, it was just something God saw on me that was delightful to Him.
No, we already read about that. Everything about me was completely against God. It couldn't please him. But God saw me and chose me in spite of all the bad he said. I want Tim Ruga and I want each one here who is saved. That was his choice. But what about man's responsibility?
The survival teach that yes, it does, in the most definite way, and I want to give just one verse for that. There's many.
Let's go over to Revelation chapter 22.
OK.
Verse 17.
Says And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that heareth, Say, come and let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. And so we preach the gospel, and this is what the word of God says, Whosoever will, do you desire to take the water of life freely?
We already spoke about John 316. Whosoever believeth in him will not perish, but have eternal life. Are you that whosoever?
God has said it. So yeah, that's me. I'm, I'm some of the anyone. So whosoever.
Then police take the water of life. That's what God says. Can you accept that? If so, you have life. So how do we put these things together?
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I don't know.
I don't know that I'll ever know. I don't think that's important either. What is important is that this is taught in God's Word, and you find these two truths running side by side in the Word of God, very clearly presented, and we just simply accept that There are many things I don't understand. I don't understand Infinity.
Endless time. Time that had no beginning, for instance.
Makes your head hurt. I don't understand God. I never will. Many things that none of us will ever understand.
And we need to let this be one of them. If I chooses that it should always be. So this makes perfect sense to God. He has taught it. There's no conflict here simply because God has said it, not because it has to make sense to me for there to be no conflict. So just a couple of verses on this subject of thoughts.
Sovereignty and man's responsibility.
Another subject I want to go on to is sanctification.
That's a difficult one there was for me, first of all, because it's a long word I hear a word like sanctification that so that just, we don't even talk that way. So what does that mean? And there are terms in the Bible that we don't use in our everyday speech and we need to come to learn them and what they mean and why they're important.
It's good to know that, and for this sanctification, it's good to have a point of beginning. And so if we take this subject, another thing I found about it was very confusing to me because there were different kinds of sanctification in the word of thought, and that just makes it more difficult to begin with. But when I realized that.
Of the different kinds of sanctification of the Word of God, there were two main ones.
And I'm just going to present them tonight. If you understand the two main ones, I think you'll have a pretty good idea of what sanctification is.
So first of all, what does it mean?
Sanctify means to set apart, and that's more like how we might talk today. I'm going to set this apart. I'll set this clean thing apart from these 30 things so it remains clean. For instance, we do this all the time in the kitchen.
And but it also has the thought and scripture of to make holy or more like the character of God and his character of life. And so really that's the thought of sanctification.
And what happens is that we are set apart to God. And that's the first kind that I want to talk about. The first major kind of sanctification that I want to present to you tonight is absolute sanctification. And this is what God does. The moment you believe the gospel, you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
And God takes you, and he sets you apart to himself.
Set you apart from the world and all the filth and everything that you were involved in, and now he sets you apart to himself.
And averse for that. There's a number of good ones, but the one that I'd like to give is in Hebrews chapter 10.
Hebrews 10 and verse 14 four by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. You see that it's those that are sanctified. God makes them perfect forever. And how? By one offering of Christ. We could take up the passage and look at it, but you can do that later.
This is speaking about the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now we offered himself to God.
Because of my sins and your sins, and now because of that work.
We're made perfect forever. Am I perfect right now?
No, not in a certain sense.
Umm, I might easily go on and offend you. I probably have said something's wrong already in this meeting. We're not perfect, are we?
But yeah, God has made us perfect and this is something absolute that God does. It has to do with our standing before God.
00:40:00
He sets us apart perfectly to himself forever. There's no change with that, no coming back from it. It's wonderful. It's good to get an idea of what that is. And so you read this in a lot of verses in the New Testament and umm, first Corinthians chapter 6, for instance, talks about a whole lot of awful things that the Corinthians had been. He says that's where some of you, but you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified.
They completely have been changed positionally by God.
Made something entirely new, and that's what we are, sanctified, perfected forever because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's another kind, and let's just look at that briefly if we go to 2nd Thessalonians.
Sorry, first, that's 11.
Chapter 5.
So I think these are good verses to remember.
Again, I I don't, I'm not trying to say anything new here tonight.
Or go over these truths and my staff, but just to give some of the younger ones hopefully a starting point.
First Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved, blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So here and now we have the ongoing work. It's often called progressive or practical. I like practical sanctification. So work of the Holy Spirit of God in my life.
And your life as a believer?
To increasingly set me apart to the Lord, set me apart from those things that displeased Him, to make me more like the Lord Jesus in my life. And this is an important work that the Spirit of God does in US. And we could go on to talk about many things about how He does by occupying us with Christ. Second Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18 and verses like that show us how this works.
This whole process of sanctification, but it simply means that to be increasingly set apart by the Spirit of God to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
So very important subject, one that if you're young, don't wait to get acquainted with some of these true sanctification and, and also understand I'm skipping a lot of other major ones too, justifications so on. We just don't have the time to go into them all wonderful things, take them up and learn them as well. But I want to go on to another major one that we already had here, but it's often confused.
And that is the church.
And Israel and brother Bob gave this in his meeting. Umm there are so many verses that talk about this.
But I always like the one that her brother Bob used. So I want to give that as the point of beginning. Matthew 16. I think it's a great point of beginning because it really proves that there is a difference. And from here you can go on to see so many other things about that difference and other proofs of it.
But if you need one simple verse that most people know just to get in your mind, I don't think you can do better than Matthew 16 and verse 18.
Says And I say also unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church in the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. It doesn't take much in this passage.
Who are this part of the Word of God? To see that there's a difference between the church and Israel, you just go back, for instance, to Matthew 15 and verse 31. You see that they're glorifying the thought of Israel. No question that Israel had been around, was around at that time, and had been around for a long time already.
But here the Lord speaks of something new. He says I will sell my shirts. Don't forget that.
It didn't exist yet. It was going to be built on the rock of himself, and it couldn't be built until the Lord Jesus went back up into heaven. And this is all further part of this truth, and sent the Spirit of God down to form His body on earth, and then His church would be formed.
00:45:02
And all of those verses you'll find laid out one by one. But get this one at least simply in your mind that the church is different from Israel. And it was future to when the Lord Jesus said these words in Matthew 16. It hadn't happened yet. It was going to be sometime after that. And then you won't get confused by those who try to mix these things up and say that Israel is the church somehow.
It's the church in the Old Testament they like to go to in the book of Acts.
Which doesn't mean that at all. It's just simply speaking about an assembly there and so simple verse get it and I think it'll be a help to you. The next one that I'd just like to look at is the place that is our home. A lot of Christians aren't too clear on this either and we sometimes say our home is in heaven. Our home is not here and so.
In the assembly, we have a sense of that, but where does it say anything like that in the Bible? And it's good to get at least one simple verse that you can turn to. And if I had to pick one, I would pick the one in Philippians chapter 3. So I'm going to give that one to you.
Philippians, Chapter 3.
And verse 20 says.
For our conversation is in heaven.
From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Or we look for the Lord Jesus to come as savior. I think there's a sense of that. But that word conversation really is our Commonwealth, the place of our Commonwealth. Or we might just say our citizenship.
That's our country. That's what this person is saying. The place of our Commonwealth or the place of our citizenship is in heaven. Not the only verse that says this, but I think it's very clear and it's important that we understand that we are people of heaven. We are not people of earth. The Lord Jesus is going to come and he's going to take us there to heaven, to our home.
And that's what he says in John chapter 14. He says in my father's house are many masses, are many dwelling places.
He says I go to prepare a place for you. Is that on earth? No, that place is in heaven. Just what this verse says. Another one you can remember. We all know John 14, right? Many learn those verses. So it's another good point of beginning on this subject.
But that brings up the next subject, the Rapture. Do you know where the Rapture is? I would think probably many. Most would, but if you're young.
You've heard of the rapture. We talked about it this morning, how that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come at any moment out of heaven and he's going to give a shout and call us away from this earth and we're going to be with him. But where is that in the Bible? Somebody asked you about the rapture. Can you turn to it? There are those who say the rapture isn't even found in the Bible. So that becomes a special challenge now, doesn't it?
And in fact, the rapture is found in the Bible. So let's turn to.
First Thessalonians, chapter 4.
And we'll just read two of the verses here at the time.
So first Thessalonians 4 and verse 16 the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.
With the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
You can remember those verses. Very helpful. They're not the only verses on the rapture, but they're the only verses that actually speak about what is properly the rapture.
And that is this word that we had in verse 17 caught up.
The Latin form of that is rapture, and it simply means to ****** away the Lord. Jesus is going to come and he's going to raise the dead as we read. He's going to change them. You get all that in First Corinthians chapter 15. And then those of us who are alive, we're going to be caught up together with them, snatched away by the Lord.
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And we're going to be there with him in the air. We're gonna meet him in the air. We're gonna forever be with the Lord that says that we're gonna go, as he said, to that place where he's prepared dwelling places for us, the Father's house. That's where he's going to take us to be with himself. Our proper home. Heaven. Now our time is pretty much gone. I just wanna end with.
The future and we're taking up prophecy.
Umm, a little bit in the morning meetings for those who've been with us today.
So I just want to say something about prophecy. Somebody asked what is prophecy? What is the definition of it? And so in the context that we're taking up prophecy is is speaking about things that haven't happened yet. There's another meaning in Scripture, but in the context of what we're speaking, prophecy is foretelling the future. And we considered this morning how.
There were two parts to prophecy laid out in theater about how the prophet spoke and spoke about the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. To go right through the Old Testament, you find so many prophecies all having to do with those two things, and that's really what we're trying to take up a little bit in the morning meetings, but if I could give.
A starting point, it's not a very common one. There's one verse that in light of all that we had tonight that I think is very helpful. Let's just turn over to Daniel.
Manual.
In Chapter 7.
And I'll just spend the remaining time instead of it on this.
Says in verse 27 and the Kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom.
Under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the Most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, should be His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him. To start at the end of that verse and go back to it for a moment.
His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom. Do we know who that is?
If we understood Ephesians one verse 10, we do know who that is. Isn't it the eternal purpose of God to head up all things in Him, things which are in heaven and which are on earth? And now in this verse we have.
These things mentioned, there's a heavenly place and there's an earthly place, and there's two groups of people, one for each of those places. They're laid out right here. Those who denied, I don't know what they do with this verse. It's a good verse to remember.
Because it speaks about the beginning of it. It says about the Kingdom and dominion, the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven. This is clearly under heaven that is speaking about, talking about the earth here. And who is this Kingdom on earth to be given to, is to be given to the people of the Saints of the Most High.
That's not one people, is it? That's two people. There's a Saints of the Most High and then.
They're the people of the Saints of the Most High, two different groups. And so these people are going to be given that Kingdom that's on earth. And then there's others that are the things of the Most High. And we have that all the way through the New Testament that we're already seated with Christ right now in heavenly places. That's what this term really is referring to.
We are those people, the most High plus Old Testament Saints that have died, martyrs of the coming days. There's a number of them that are going to be with us.
With Christ and glory there in heaven, but these people are going to be the Lord's people, Israel on the earth in that coming day. And this is just one verse. I picked it because it has all these elements just found in one verse. Uh, there's so many others that bring these things out very clearly. And we don't have to confine ourselves to one verse, but, uh, I just thought I'd give that for tonight.
00:55:02
And in closing, I want to just turn over because.
I wanna make the point at the end that what we went over tonight is just a point at the beginning, a starting point, and if you were to trace out all of these things and all the other teachings as well.
Umm, to the full outline and all the details that fill in those outlines. You still wouldn't have the whole. I think it's important to know that. So I'd like to just stand on the first second, Peter.
Chapter One.
Second Peter chapter one and verse 5.
Emphasize this.
Giving all diligence, Add to your faith virtue, and add to virtue knowledge. We've been talking a little bit about knowledge tonight. That's just one small piece of the puzzle. Christianity is so much more than figuring out what the Bible says.
It's important to know what the Bible says. It's important to get this point at the beginning. It's important to get the outline to fill in the details. But there's much more to the Christian life than that. And I just, even though we don't have time to go into it, the meeting is finished. I want to make that point just to keep this in context. He goes on to stay here and he says.
Add to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience.
And the patient's fuzziness. And to godliness, probably kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity or love. For these things be in you, and abound. They make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful. And the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's a more complete picture and I just want to leave you with that, I suppose, with prayer.
Our God and our Father.
We thank thee so much for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for Thy eternal councils, for Thy sovereign choice and eternity past, that we should be associated with Him.
We rejoice in this Father. We thank thee so much.
That we can take up these things and know what thy mind is and what my purposes are in Him and our place with Him. That is just about to be fully realized when He comes to take us home.
We pray that in the meantime that that would help us to live more for His honor and glory, since that would help us, each one, to take up more with Thy Word, Thy truth, but not just the knowledge, but every other Christian virtue, that we would be set apart more and more by Thy Spirit practically in our lives until that day when He comes to take us home.
And we ask it in the name and for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Session #2
Q&A
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
For that reason that it expresses the power of God at its greatest in that happen, and that power will go on to every other blessing that will come.
An abuser to believers and otherwise in the restoration of this creation.
I was giving a POV.
Just give one more on the Spirit then, because.
Somebody questioned the verse and always made it such that the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, and you say, well that's speaking about him. That's God the Father, the grace of Jesus for the day.
But it definitely says at the end of that verse that you still cooking your mortal bodies by your spirit. Well, and so I think that's a very legitimate verse. But just to give another one, first Peter chapter 4.
There's chapter 3 when you know well verse 18.
For Christ also hath 1 suffered for sins, adjust to the unjust, and he might pray us to God. He put the death in the flesh, but quicken by the Spirit. And so that was very definitely as well says the same thing. The Spirit of God involved, as you say, and the reason of the Lord Jesus.
Our next question.
Is doctrinal evil worse than moral evil? And if so, why don't more Christians?
Realize the seriousness of the doctrinal people.
I.
There's different levels of moral evil, different levels of doctrinal evil. Let's go to Second John, chapter one.
And look through verse nine, second John one, verse 9.
Silver transgresses and abides not in the doctrine of Christ, as not God. He that divided from the doctrine of Christ, He has both the Father and the Son.
And so when you have the top final evil that that.
Disparages the person of Christ or the work of Christ.
He has not God.
It's very serious now more illegal. Let's look at verses in First Corinthians 6.
00:05:05
In First Corinthians six started verse 18.
We could read more verses, but let's start at verse 18 please. Formation. Every sin that a man does is without the body, but he that commits fornication sins against his own body.
What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and you're not your own for your bought with the price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods. And so when we when we moral evil, at least as far as fornication, it is sitting against our body. Our body is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and so we're just honoring God.
With our bodies, With the moral evil.
First Corinthians chapter 5 we have.
Mentioned in verse 6.
A little 1111, the whole one.
And here we are dealing with moral evil. Notice the list of.
Things that are mentioned, it's not a complete list, but it says in verse 11 Now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother.
Be a fornicator or Celtics or an idolater, or a railer or a broker or an extortioner. With such an arm, know not to eat.
Leaven is something 11 leaveneth the whole one.
Here it's in connection with doctrinal. When we say doctrinal, it means doctrine for what is high.
So somebody gave the illustration that helped me to understand the difference between those two. Which is worse?
To be a drunkard.
Or to teach other people to be drunkards.
Which is worse?
Well, you know, the second one is going to be contaminated a lot more. So yes, doctrinal evil is more serious, but I don't think you can say that moral evil isn't serious either. They're both serious because.
Ball contaminated and if they're not dealt with, it's gonna wreck you.
Young people I know in today's world, it's moral evil is on every side and there's great temptation to get involved in it.
Please keep your bodies.
Lord help us to be careful, especially about.
The person of Christ and the work of Christ. Those are fundamental.
Basic doctrines. And so it is very important to be clear as to that.
And I the question is, why don't more Christians realize the seriousness of doctrinal evil?
I just don't think that they hired really well taught if they don't realize the seriousness of it. That's my answer.
One other point that's been helping me in seeing the.
How doctrinal evil is worse?
Is that?
Moral evil is sin, and a lot of times even this world will look on and say that's not right. They might not see that before God, but they'll say it's not right. And you get that thought in First Corinthians 5 where he says this sin is not even named among the Gentiles. But with Doctrina Legal, it purports to come from God. It pretends as if this is something that God is saying.
And when you're attributing something that is evil.
Like Bob's example with instructedness with God as God is telling you to do this. That is going to be far more serious. And that I think is is borne out with how the Spirit of God addresses the First Corinthians and how he addresses the Galatians with the with with the Corinthians in First Corinthians, he's able to say and commend them in different things. Again, not saying that moral evil isn't that, but when it comes to Galatians when he's taking up.
00:10:17
There is no commendation for them at all.
In First Corinthians 15, he does get into some doctrine, right? So, and there's a, there's a really important verse there, verse 33.
The error had to do with the doctrine of the resurrection.
And Paul quotes the famous Greek way, I think, that the Corinthians would have been familiar with. There was a line in the play that was something like this bad company leads to bad manners or something like that. And it's translated here, Evil communications, corruption.
Conversations corrupt good manners.
And to go along with Obama saying one of the reasons why people don't think evil doctrine is bad is they think it's just words. It's just, it's just a conversation. How bad could it be? But Paul says, be not deceived. This is something that the world even understands in in a, in a certain measure that once the idea begins to be played around the conversation.
It has tremendous consequences. Now the most dangerous weapons are ideas and.
We see that born out of history only from church history as well as secular history.
But.
This evil doctrine leads to evil.
And so it's so important, you know, these little expressions be not deceived. It's it says that because there's it's easy for us to be deceived by it. I think that goes right to the the question that we're just easily to see that it's just worse doesn't mean anything. It's just an idea just tosses it around.
What it has disastrous practical consequences.
Thank you, I'll find you OK background feel in most cases.
Crimes. All cases.
It introduces one thing that is dishonoring our Lord Jesus Christ. There's work. This person is external, viaggy or whatever it may be, and often in a very subtle way in mentioned.
Background evil, that was.
Starting to keep the law, I was going to say.
The thing to keep along with us where you like it and all.
Why was lace?
Push as something that should require. What does it do? It's questioning the finished work of Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, if I say, well, it's nice to be saved, I need to keep the law too and maintain my salvation. I'm telling Lord Jesus, well, it's nice job you did trust.
What a terrible dishonor. So you'll find, I think, that in many, many cases of doctrine of evil.
It's it's honoring the Lord Jesus Christ and self, sometimes very subtly.
And me beyond darkness. And I didn't answer to perhaps the second part of that question.
That is one of Satan's greatest aim.
Dishonor for Jesus Christ people in a very subtle way that they're wanting to sign in.
One reason why Persians don't realize so it is something that I think is.
Be very, very careful about it.
Perhaps majority reps all background.
His Honor, Jesus Christ himself and.
I would say two. It's.
What you said about being flushed, but it's even worth it. Being flushed and spoken against in the scriptures is holding it.
Obviously if I have some thought, nobody else knows about it.
To say I'm holding it and how is that hurt? Well, that's that's not what we need, but.
00:15:02
Holding it usually comes out in some way like we've been talking about. It's expressing words even if it's in a limited sphere and it starts to do a lot of damage. And one of the examples of this in Scripture you get in Revelation chapter 2 and what the Lord says to the assembly as Pergamus as to what was.
Being held there and it was doctrinally bull and it was moral legal.
And I think it's helpful to see it says in.
Revelation chapter 2 and verse 14. I have few things or I have against the because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine available.
They were just holding it.
It says, but it was known who taught. Balak had passed his stumbling blocks. He put the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto idols in the commitment fornication. I don't think know exactly how this doctrine was being held or disseminated there, but they were held responsible because it was known. And then he goes on to say, So has thou also them that hold the doctrine of Nicolaitans?
I'm not sure what that was, thought maybe it had to do with the clergy.
Setting up man in the place of the Lord in the assembly.
But it was something the Lord needed and it only says they they held it here and you get on to the next assembly. It does go further there they're teaching, but just the whole is something that's needed by the Lord.
It's a very serious thing, has been present.
I think it's important that we recognize it with subtle, like Joe said, because it's something that the courses that come from God, I think often as Christians who fall asleep on it, because when it comes to God trying to leave all, it doesn't necessarily.
Seem to be especially when it comes to the personal work price doesn't seem to be something that we relate to as much as to ourselves we tend to be selfish we understand how fornication hurts people but.
Some of these errors with respect to the Lord, and let's be jealous for the Lord and really think about how this affects Him or His work. We tend to fall asleep on it and it's important that we go. These are serious things that the Lord regards that way, and if we have a jealousy from Him, we'll be very careful with what is called.
Make it help us realize.
That's for sleeping.
In a lifetime I could be speaking to.
Those of us who are older.
There's a bunch of that paper of sitting in those chairs.
Jesus, chapter 4.
Season chapter one was mentioned.
Tells me the price is what the foundation of the world and so forth and now.
Scripture and outline of prophecy.
Agents 4/13.
Do they all come in the unity of the day?
Perfect man.
Statute full success.
This verse of people.
Henceforth.
We don't want kilograms.
Across to and fro carried about every wind of doctrine.
Legislative men.
Practice.
Why don't any Christians realize the seriousness of it?
Because the young people in the children.
Doctors.
This is.
00:20:05
Yes, it's more illegal.
Lottery address.
I.
The other things out there.
These graduates, young people trained and members of.
Young people on the street and they are burst into the cocktail. What are you bursting in? Young people sitting down those chairs. What do you know about this course? What do you know about the persons that Christ you hold on every day?
Luke's gospel, those things which are most surely for the among us when we put a challenge to you, this is what Tuesday? I want each one of you to write down four things that you honestly believe in by Friday. Collect them all. See if they're all the same thing.
If they're different, write them all down to see how many we can come up with.
24 chapters in the book of Luke.
I've gone through it myself. At least 21 doctrinal principles found in blue. How many can you find? It's a challenge. Jehovah Witnesses. They go out to my two an older person and a young person.
They're indoctrinating the young person. We're not trying to do doctor that you. We're trying to present you with truth, a person to person of Christ.
This is the word of God. That's that what you call this offer.
Life as soon as you consider these things, why don't more Christians realize?
For a more personal life person, what do I realize about?
And.
The Son of God loved me.
Doctrinal people worse. I believe it is. I believe it is because it's been brought out. It's all about Christ as the good godheads and falls and everything with regards to us. Salvation, redemption, justification.
Art, rapture, everything famous. God is for you.
That it's precious to young people.
So this are just not academic things we're talking about. This is brave, this is living, and the devil is going to ****** from Boston destroying velocity, destroy your family. He wants to destroy your children. He wants to destroy the testimony. That's what he's doing. Just the side that's touching to me.
What happened in there? January 1830s?
Authorities.
Very convoluted truth. Philadelphia. Philadelphia, but it was striking. Mormonism, 7th dead. Venice and all the witness spiritualism. When did they all start? As soon as.
Mr. Nargis Recovery 18 fifty 1960s eighteen 70s that one doesn't want you to know the truth, young people, he wants you to errors. Don't be positive and proud of everyone. The doctor lay hold of Caroline lay hold his brother with.
All of them is real.
00:25:02
I.
Our next question.
If I have been praying for someone for a while and now there is nothing going on, what should I do?
Pray for another while.
So let's look at Proverbs 18.
In verse 22.
Whoso finds a wife finds a good thing and obtain favor from the Lord.
In this verse, the man is the one who is searching. He's looking.
The man is going to be the head of the relationship, and so the man has that responsibility. He's responsible to search and find, and he's responsible after the marriage to be the head in that relationship.
And some of them I think the prayer is very important to trust the Lord before a wife. And so a man needs to prayerfully search.
But the woman needs to be prayerfully available to be found.
And I was just thinking about Abraham.
Isaac in Rebecca.
Rebecca was not searching for.
And Isaac, he wasn't really searching himself.
Abraham and Isaac had a service that went out and found the woman who was available. God made her available to the servant. The servant would represent the Spirit of God. So I believe the Spirit of God will bring a man and a woman together in a way that you will know that.
You may take some work, something on your part to to get to know the person and but the Spirit of God will make it known and.
The Spirit of God in the story of Abraham and Isaac and Rebecca.
The Spirit of God, the servant brought the woman to the man.
When Adam was.
God made Adam because it's not good for a man to be alone. It's.
So God made a woman and brought a woman to Adam.
So.
Gives us the principle that.
God will bring you together.
It's probably not the woman's.
Place to search for the man which he can pray that God will.
Bringing the man to her, but the man needs to have that responsibility too, to search.
To be, to be in the presence of the Lord to the Lord, and guide you to the one that He has for you.
I take it to him that this is about a spouse. Is this what the equations and I believe so, OK.
Yeah, I I that I was thinking about about.
Adam. Let's read it in Genesis chapter 2.
Says.
Verse 20.
Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air to every decent appeal, but for Adams there was not in health meet for him.
There is definitely a feeling of life.
00:30:07
And what happened?
And I'm going to make mention that verse you put it in Proverbs stem and says he that find that the wife find it a good thing.
It doesn't say he that searches for a wife.
But he that blinded the white, and I think there is a reason for that.
I have to confess for myself, I didn't get married till I was 30 years old.
And I felt a definite lack of my life.
But I have to say that in the measure that I took the initiative myself.
I got myself into situations that were not positive.
Thankfully, the Lord cast.
When I'm at the right one.
Something clicked.
And I was so scared of my own initiative at that time.
That I wasn't going to go ahead until I got some direct.
Confirmation from the Lord.
Don't go by your natural impulses, Wait for the Lord to guide you.
Verse that the Lord used a lot in life in this question in brought Psalm 32 That I want to pass on this to an encouragement to young people who are.
Definitely you feel the desire for companionship that is proper.
But wait for the Lord to bring the right one. Adam was asleep when he was being prepared. He wasn't around looking around for a spouse. He was asleep like you said Jim when Eve was formed.
The Lord God brought, and he who immediately who this wise is healthy.
And I really believe there was only one.
Help meeting for Adams.
Each one of you, dear brother and sister, in the Lord Jesus, there's only one. Help me.
That God has in mind.
Wait for him to show you. Here's the verse in Psalm 32 That was such a help to me.
Psalm 32, verses 8:00 and 9:00.
I will instruct thee. This is the Lord speaking to us. Here's a promise. I will inspect thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with my eyes.
Your translation says with my eye upon.
It's just like.
You look at your mom or your dad and they are looking at you and you know exactly what they're thinking.
By the way, they're looking at you get into the Lord's presence.
He can guide you with understanding. So the next verse says be not as the horse word as the mule which have no understanding.
Whose mouth must be held in with bitten bridal as they come here in the sea.
God wants to guide us with understanding.
So it's going to take time.
Don't be in a rush about such an important position.
I remember when I.
Was interested in barred but I wasn't sure yet. I told her. I said I would like you to know that I'm praying about you.
And I would like you to pray too.
He says OK.
And so we prayed a while and I have to say to young people that in this state space of about two to three weeks, the Lord gave me an answer so clear was just as if.
You said, OK, this is it, Bob.
00:35:05
You know what happened.
I went back to tell Barbie, she says. I'm not so sure.
Well, that's fine, we keep on praying. And the time today when she.
Yes.
Am I ever thankful I waited for the Lord's answer? Not my own impulse. I just want to encourage you. Wait for the Lord to show you He can. He's given you the promise. I will instruct the deepest in the way that shall go. I will guide you with my eye upon me. Given to the Lord's presence. And I have to say.
Other interests I have of other sisters in the Lord. They were nice sisters.
I didn't have peace in my soul about it.
But when the Lord gave me this answer, it was clear, and this is the way it was, I think, without Him, when He saw He.
There she is.
Just one other verse in Proverbs 4 verse we know well it says keep your heart with all diligence. We're out of this brings the issues of life.
I think, Harvey says keep your heart above all that is guarded or out of it are the issues of life. And it's possible that you see a your girl, you see a boy, a boy, you see a girl and in your mind.
Your mind just flies.
You're, you're dating, you're engaged, you're married, you have kids, you have grandkids. You see that your whole life before you and, and you, you dwell on this, this thought and what is that affecting? It's affecting your heart and you're going before God. And then your prayer life is based upon this, this scenario that you have built in your mind.
And so then we come to James and it says you ask and you ask a miss because there's already been this decision in your mind.
And we need to be careful about that as well. We need to do what mob is saying, actually pray before the Lord, whatever his will, his will be done. Not I have this idea and this is definitely what the Lord.
Sometimes the conference is planned. We have the Lord's mind to go ahead.
And.
Struck and said to be cancelled.
He had the assembly not have the minds of the Lord to go ahead and land for conference. Or did they?
Jumping gun.
Sometimes a man and woman are interested in each other and their relationship progresses.
They feel they have the words mind in it.
They're not pushing their own desires.
Because they didn't have the Lords mind? Or can we learn something from these these?
I don't want to say they learned something from these experiences when we have the Lords mind and it doesn't work out.
Yeah.
A lot of times also the management of hindsight.
00:40:02
We have a clearview of what the Lord was actually doing in your life.
You know sometimes the things that you thought you wanted or pop sidewalk with your *** or maybe Joe would say we will in the DH would have not been the right thing for us and and with the benefit of time, you know instead of 77 pending.
You know our our web of time He was. You know you can look back times on your life and see the things that seem to be your biggest disappointments and how carefully they were crafted by God.
And you can see the beauty of of what he's doing with you individually and what he's doing classically. And I think that in in that process, there's times where there's a lot of sorrow, there's years. And I think what David said that it's the songs are are not my keep my tears in a vial.
There are times where we need to pour our hearts out to the Lord and when we feel the grief of, of, of disciplines and, and when we feel the grief of going through a very difficult world and feeling lonely at times. And, and, and you know, Hannah was a good example of that. She was praying towards the Lord and she poured out her heart to the Lord and see the tremendous blessing that was there for her and the blessing that was experienced by many.
So sometimes we need to instead of running away from those emotions.
Really pour out our hearts to the Lord and let him let him know. And also if Matthew talks about our heavenly Father and and he knows what our eats are, we need to be patient busted. But don't be afraid to don't be afraid to shed those tears and shut them in front of them and shut them with them. He is about.
Wow.
You know, sometimes.
It happens lot in our lives that the.
Lord, Lord directs us.
And we act in faith. Trustee knew this, the Lords mind we don't know for sure, but in faith we go forwards. And later on tonight, my fault.
What? What the Lord wants by the active forward. You know what you say well, because.
Because it didn't workout, I didn't have the Lord's mind. Because then they can't go on either with.
You know the authorities he chose.
There was 12 disciples, okay, One of them was Judas.
Doesn't mean that.
Max who was wrong?
And he was a disciple, false disciple.
There was a lesson in it and.
There's a left in it for all of us.
And.
I believe in all our lives where we don't know what they may bring forth, but we act in faith, trusting we have the Lord's mind to go forward.
And now we find that, you know, if it was nice.
Are directly different.
So I think I have the number 2, there's no.
Cut and dry patterns. Appreciate it. Obviously the story there wonderful.
But the Lord works in other ways. Different couples. My grandparents never met each other.
Grandmother came to Michigan from the Netherlands. My grandfather met her at the train station Grand Rapids and pretty much went straight to the area.
The only person right now.
Well, they were. I didn't know them, but.
Once apparently they're very close. Couple in order new.
They could not get by without, so you took them both on.
Well, there's an example into that.
00:45:02
Everyone survived the Lord.
Never made it.
Well, it's a very interesting story and it's probably too long really not. But if anyone would like to hear more details of those stories, it's quite fascinating how to work with those two Roger together. And yeah, it was a huge she sent a letter to headed off and there was like a year's time and letter was a year. Alex later in the state in this case.
Gave to the messenger boy to post it and now it and gave him posted. He took postage 3 letter ways.
Whatever way you order again, she realized that in order to interrupt the letter, and he must, he must. That's kind of what I really see.
Like today with one verse.
That I think it is important in the way the Lord allows us sometimes to make mistakes and Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12 well known verse, not the word of God.
The Word of God is quick or living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword here seem even to the dividing the center of soul and spirit.
Soul is our emotions, our likes and our dislikes. The spirit is the God conscious part by which we should be guided.
What is the difference between those two? I can't distinguish where the dividing line is.
And so sometimes we make mistakes.
And the Lord allows us to make mistakes. Why?
It's a discerner is dividing us under soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow. In this part is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
So the Lord is showing us in our earthly pilgrimage down here, what are the thoughts and intents of our hearts that we don't even know ourselves.
So keep that in mind.
Keep the Word of God open in their life. Read it. Seriously, read it. I find so many young people are not reading the scripture seriously. You need it in this world where there's so much evil.
And the word of God is just serves the thoughts and intents of the heart. I've got thoughts that are not right. I'm going to know it. The word of God is living inoperative in in the training extremely much. So Lord help us to keep the word of God open before us.
Walk in exercise. Remember the Lord is a real man.
And he wants to have fellowship with you. And if you're walking conscious of his presence in your life.
He wants to guide you, He has promised I will instruct thee, and deepest in the ways thou shalt. Lord help us.
Let's start playing.
00:50:06
644 in the minutes.
44.
Mysterious way.
To practice.
In the sea and rise up on the storm.
Serve, Sacrifice, Suffer for Christ
Address—Tim Roach
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Good evening. It's time for the meeting and I'd like to start by seeing him #147.
To him that loved us, gave himself, and died to do us good. He gave all he had. He sold all that he had so he could buy that fuel to purchase his drive. He gave everything #147.
To him that loved escape himself, and I did, he was good.
That was the drama of Charlotte.
In his most precious.
Blood.
Who had taken his life and prayed to man alive and flower and rain by our land.
To him, we turn off the law, everyone.
Ready to go?
By.
Tomorrow, Gracie, Henry the eighth and get through all the seasons.
In Christ as far as the.
Skin himself.
And I do.
Last time.
Our God and Father we give thanks for the Lord Jesus. We give thanks that we have been bought by the blood of Christ. We give thanks that we have the privilege to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. We just ask for help this evening as we consider our service for the Lord. We just commit our evening to You. Father. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Say it with us.
The soldiers screamed as they kicked and punched the young boy's faces and bodies. All It is God and Muhammad is his prophet. Say it.
The four young Sudanese boys and I'm reading a quote from The Voice of the Martyrs.
The four young Sudanese boys cried and screamed out for their mothers, but they refused to repeat the words that would mean saving their lives.
Yet renouncing their Christianity.
By the sword wielding Islamic fighters Now they watched as their four young friends and relatives were beaten to death. The youngest boy was only five years old. The soldiers had already forced each of the older boys to lie over the hot coals and ordered them to repeat the Muslim creed and to join the Islamic faith.
None of the boys would say the words, despite the excruciating pain. There are 14 boys and 13 girls abducted or kidnapped in the raid that day. The girls have never been located and were likely sold as slaves or concubines in northern Sudan. All the boys were tortured, but none relented. The next night, the older boys escaped, still bearing the scars of the previous night. Not one of the boys.
Renounce their faith.
This is a reminder of the persecution coming to America soon. I want to look at a verse in First Peter 4.
First Peter 4.
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And verse 1415 and 16.
Verse 14 If he be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye for the Spirit of glory, and of God. Rest upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. Let none of you suffer as an evil, as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busy body in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God.
On this behalf.
Many of you have already suffered in some way for the name of Jesus. We have not suffered like these boys in Sudan, but maybe we have been laughed at or ridiculed or ignored. But the point is, we need to prepare ourselves for what is coming to America soon. This world hates Christians and we should not be surprised because the Lord Jesus said that this world hated me before it hated you.
Whether we face persecution or not, we have a job to do. Our job is called service, and each one of us has our own work that we can do to serve the Lord in our own little sphere. And we can do it where the Lord has put us. We just need to remember that the work that He gives us is not for our own glory, for our own importance. The work is the Lord and the glory goes to Him. And when I get a little bit of glory for some job that I've done for the Lord.
I robbed Jesus from getting that same amount of glory. Let's go to John Chapter 4.
Maybe we ask ourselves.
How can I serve the Lord?
And as you begin to think of ways whereby you can serve Jesus Christ, I want to begin by talking about.
The Harvest John 4 verse 35.
The harvest.
Say not ye there are four months, and then cometh the harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.
Four months to harvest, the verse says. Are you going to put off serving the Lord for four months? Will you wait until you graduate?
Or until you retire.
Will you wait until your friends want to serve with you?
Or will you wait for something else?
You can begin serving the Lord right in the circumstance that you find yourself in at this present time, at work, at school, or anywhere.
You don't need to go to another country for another continent. You need to ask the Lord to show you what His will is for you, right where you find yourself now.
I like to think of the harvest as the salvation of souls, but in reality I believe it's bigger than that.
Because after people get saved there, there is a responsibility to do something with the harvest.
And after people are saved, they need to know how to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus, and they need to come to the knowledge of the truth. And I believe there's two parts of going into the world to preach the gospel. The gospel part one is the message of salvation.
The Gospel Part 2 is teaching of discipleship. Now when we talk about discipleship.
Remember that after the reapers bring in the harvest.
The harvest needs to be discipled. They need to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Last night Mr. Ruga was Speaking of the POB, the point of beginning of the many facets of the truth that we that we practice.
And I wonder, did you take notes? Did you begin your outline of truth? And if not, why not?
How? How can we be a spiritual help to anybody?
If we don't have an outline of truth.
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How can we be useful servants of the Lord Jesus if we don't have an outline of truth?
And sometimes when the Lord asked us to do something for him in his harvest.
Our first response is something like not yet.
It costs too much. I don't want to leave my family.
I don't want to leave my friends. Life is too good. Not now. Lord ask me again in four months. But no, our verse. In our verse, Jesus says the harvest is ready now.
Are you willing? Are you ready to go out among the harvest? Let's go to Luke, Chapter 210.
Luke, Chapter 10.
And I like to use this verse as the second part of the gospel harvest, the teaching of discipleship.
And verse 2.
Luke 10 Verse two. Therefore he said unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. The harvest is ready.
The laborers are few.
The Spirit of God is looking for a few godly men and women to work among his harvest.
And God wants something done with the fruit of the harvest. He does not want to let it just sit there idle in his storehouse.
The harvest needs instruction, and God wants His servants. That's you and me. We are His servants, and He wants us to go out into His harvest among the harvest.
And to go out and to guide them and teach them and show them the way of God.
They don't know how to live like a Christian. They they've never been a Christian before.
They don't know how to worship like a Christian according to the word of God. They don't know how to function like an assembly led by the Spirit of God.
For many of you in this room today, you know all of this in your head. You've done it all your life. Many of you have this down in your heart and it has gone down into your feet, and you live it every day.
You live these things and they have become a part of who you are.
And on top of that, some of you have an outline of truth. You need to know your POV.
Some of you may be praying and wondering and asking yourself.
How can God use me in his harvest? How can you serve the Lord beyond what you are doing right now?
Do you know that you have something valuable that God can use?
For his honor and glory, you have something that you can share among the harvest.
As I visit the harvest of Christians in the Congo.
And in South Africa, and in Angola, and in Mozambique, in Malawi, in Burundi, there is interest in many of these places to being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
And they need basic teaching. They need to know what you have been learning all your life. You have a message that people want to hear. North America. A lot of people don't want to hear it, but there are people who want to hear. You just need to find those people and share those basic teachings that you know. Share those basic teachings with these ones Who wants to know?
Let's go to Romans chapter 10.
Romans, chapter 10.
And verse 14.
How shall they hear without a preacher?
The Christians in the Congo, they are ready to hear right now, and they are waiting for someone to come and receive them into fellowship at the Lord's Table. They are patient. They want to be gathered according to the word of God.
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And so they are willing to wait for someone to come and visit them again.
And to receive them at the Lord's table and to teach them and to show them how it's done. But they've never seen a meeting conducted by what we might say, a meeting led by the spirit of God. They only know a Christianized take off from the Roman Catholic format, where they have a priest or a pastor that's in control.
And Christians, Christians who come out of the religious systems, they most of them only know how traditional Judeo Christianity church services are performed.
And they need a servant or two to go and spend some time with them, and to show them by example how to conduct a meeting according to the Christian only principles without the Judaism.
They want to know how to conduct a meeting and they have asked me and they have said show us, show us a meeting that is led by the Spirit of God. They want to see and they want to know how the church can function with Christ in his place as head of the body.
They only know how to have a pastor lead the meeting and how and how to have a pastor umm be the head of the congregation.
On a side note, I want to make it clear that many of these pastors, they are led by the Spirit of God as an individual servant of God. They have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, and they are led by the Spirit of God. But our subject here is the whole assembly being led by the Spirit in the function of the assembly meeting.
But they they want to know what it means to worship Christ outside the camp of Judaism.
But they need someone to show them, and they want someone to teach them for three or four weeks. Remember Paul? He would stay three Sabbath days with the Saints at least one time. He did. They need time when they're when they're new, to understand and to be shown and to be told how to function as an assembly. Who here among you cannot afford to take three weeks?
To go and spend some time with these Christians in the harvest. They want to know what you know.
And now it is important to realize that not just anybody can go to serve anytime they want in this way.
First, you must be sent.
Not sent by me, not sent by an assembly, not sent by a mission board. You need to be sent by the Spirit of God.
In the process starts with desire, desire to serve the Lord, and then the process requires devotion, devotion to know the Lord's will and devotion to do the Lord's will according to the scriptures.
And then the process requires the process of service, requires dependence, dependence on the Lord to act in faith and to step out and whatsoever capacity the Spirit of God.
Has called you to serve.
And then you must go where he sends you.
Then it requires desire, devotion and dependence. Let's go to Romans 10, again, Romans 10.
And verse 15.
Romans 10/15 How shall they preach except they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings a good thing?
In this verse we have two points, and we're preaching these two points, the gospel of peace.
And the glad tidings of good things.
The gospel of peace is to the saving of souls and the glad tidings of good things. This involves the fact that Christians need to be taught the scriptures for worship and service and to live by faith, and they need to hear these, these.
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Glad tidings of good things.
We've spoken about service.
Now I want to talk about sacrifice. We're going to talk about service, sacrifice and suffering. And so let's talk about sacrifice. Let's go to Romans chapter 12.
Romans chapter 12 Now for a Christian to step out in faith as a servant of the Lord, to be his disciple, you need to understand. You need to understand that it is going to cost you something and there will be sacrifice required.
For anybody to serve the Lord.
Romans 12 verse one. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
That you present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
How much are you willing to sacrifice your body?
For Jesus.
How much is reasonable for me to sacrifice my body in the cause of the harvest?
Well, how much did Jesus sacrifice for you?
Jesus gave everything he had.
And that puts the reasonability of my service, of my sacrifice.
Up to 100%.
I must admit my sacrifice is not up to 100%, but that is what is reasonable.
It is easy. It's easy for us to make a good life for ourselves in this world and we surround ourselves with family and relatives and friends and.
And we enjoy the comforts of home in a car and surround ourselves with various luxuries and entertainment systems.
And Paul spoke about this lifestyle in the book of Corinthians. Let's go to 1St Corinthians chapter 3.
First Corinthians chapter 3 and verse one.
I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
You know, when Paul said that these Christians were carnal, he meant that he could only talk to them as people who understood only the things about the world. They had not been growing spiritually. And when these good things of life interfere with our service and our devotion to Christ, we have a problem, and it becomes hard to serve Christ and the good life at the same time.
We sang at him last night and #283.
Said all these things.
All the main things that charm us most, we sacrifice them to His blood. Sacrifice 100%. All of these things we enjoy so much. Lord, you want me to be willing to sacrifice 100%? Isn't that a little bit radical?
Are you willing to be radical for Jesus?
I think that is what Jesus meant when he said in in Luke's Gospel chapter 14.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 14 and verse 26.
If any man come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brother and sisters, and yay his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
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When Jesus says.
You cannot be my disciple. He does not mean that you're not saved. It doesn't mean that we can't enjoy our friends and our family.
But the meaning of Jesus is very clear in these verses. If you are going to be a disciple of Jesus, there will be a cost.
And when he says you cannot be my disciple, it means Jesus wants us to be free from distractions so that we can serve him.
Let's go to Philippians chapter one.
There's two gifts in this verse for the believer.
Philippians chapter one.
And verse 29 For it is given for unto you, it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.
Two gifts that are given to the servants of the Lord in this verse. One gift is to believe on him. That means you need faith to do the service of the that the Lord has entrusted to you.
And the second is the gift of grace. According to this verse the servant of the Lord will be given the gift of suffering for his name. And so you need to have the gift of grace to suffer for Jesus sake.
I often think.
That I could not suffer like those people I read about in the voice of martyrs.
But when the time comes, God will give you the grace that you need to meet your Crucible.
As you take up your cross and follow Jesus.
He gives more grace. He gives grace upon grace.
And your sacrifice, for Christ sake, might be the loss of your health.
It might take time away from you being with your friends.
You might miss conferences.
Might not be able to celebrate birthdays. No family reunions.
You might need to use up your vacation time. You might miss Why young people events. You might miss family camps.
You might have to endure without conveniences.
You might have to eat different food.
And when you choose to serve the Lord.
It could lead you.
It could possibly lead you into long term sacrifice and suffering.
For Christ's sake, are you willing to give up any of these things?
Take up your cross and to follow Jesus.
We've discussed service.
And sacrifice. Now I'd like to talk about suffering.
We go to Luke chapter chapter 10.
You know, the Lord Jesus is so faithful to us. He asked us to serve him, and He's faithful to tell us that it will require sacrifice.
But now he is telling us we are going to suffer on top of the sacrifice.
What kind of a deal is that you want to serve when you know you're going to sacrifice and suffer? Luke, chapter 10, verse 3.
Go your ways.
Behold, I send you forth as Lambs among the wolves.
Living as a Christian in the life of faith and service is not always an easy thing.
There are problems, there are disappointments along the way, and that is why Paul said he could do all things through Christ, who gave him the strength to serve the Lord even when the going got tough, even when the sacrifice was too much, even when the suffering was unbearable.
00:30:17
And as you go into the life of faith and service.
You may face mockery.
And persecution.
You'll be cheated. You'll be betrayed. You'll be taken advantage of. You'll be like a lamb among the wolves.
Persecution.
We struggle in life to be someone, to be better than others, and we desperately want to be accepted, but we get bullied.
We get mobbed and persecuted and cheated and denied.
Do you know what it feels like to be chased around the school yard because the kids want to beat you up?
Do you know what it's like to be punched in the face and when you turn the other cheek, they hit that one too?
Do you know what it's like when you're walking home from school and some adult man that you don't know comes to you in the middle of a narrow one lane bridge to beat you up because your father is a Christian?
Have you ever been mopped and bullied for being a Christian in school?
Have you ever been called Holy Roller and other derogatory names? I want to encourage those of you who are bullied in school.
It's not a nice thing, but don't let it bother you too much. Yes, it is a real pain at the time and it affects you emotionally. But if you can overcome the downside of being bullied, it can work out OK for you as you get older and you learn to deal with life. Because when you start to serve the Lord and everything goes wrong and people talk bad about you and people cheat you and they steal from you and they threaten you and they chase you through the African market.
You will have a head start in realizing you are nothing in this world.
And the sooner you realize that you are weak and you can't do it by yourself, the sooner you will experience the grace of God to give you the strength to do whatever the Spirit of God has given you to do.
When the Apostle Paul he was beaten and mopped and persecuted and shipwrecked, he kept on going like he was invincible. But it was not until he was physically impaired that he finally realized he was not invincible.
Service for the Lord is not all about who I am and what I can do in my own strength and abilities. When the Apostle Paul realized this and the Lord told him I'm not going to fix your health problems, he said I'll give you the grace needed to give you the strength to do what I've asked you to do.
In Second Corinthians chapter 12.
Jesus, said my grace.
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Paul, my strength is made perfect when you are weak and it is amazing because when Paul heard this he was happy and Paul said in Second Corinthians chapter 12.
And verse 9.
Most gladly, therefore will I rather glory in my infirmity, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasures and infirmities in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions.
In distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.
Let me tell you this, there is danger in serving the Lord. But whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lords. And many times the Lord Jesus said be not afraid.
Because fear is a disease, and when we are controlled by fear, we cannot take a step of faith. You can't do both at the same time.
And the Lord Jesus is greater than any fear.
00:35:04
Let's go to Luke chapter 6.
And I want to compare the wise man and the foolish man.
Luke Chapter 6, verse 47.
Whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings, and do with them, I will show you to whom he is like. He's like a man which built in house, and dig deep and lay the foundation on a rock. And when the flood rose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house.
And could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock.
These verses are often used in the Gospel, but in reality they are referring to Christians, One Christian who is wise and the other Christian who is foolish. The wise man is an obedient Christian who hears the will of God and he does it and he's saved and he has a useful life for the Lord. He reads his Bible and he prays and he develops a fellowship with God his Father.
And he knows.
Why? He believes what he believes and he can defend his faith and he lives his faith and he has taken up his cross to follow Jesus.
And when troubles come, his confidence is in the Lord and he stands firm.
At the judgment seat of Christ.
He will be rewarded for his faithful service, and he will hear those words well done, thou good and faithful servant.
Enter into the joy of your Lord, but now look at the foolish man. Verse 49.
But he adheres and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built in house upon the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately he fell, and the ruin of that house was great.
The foolish man is what we sometimes call a lazy Christian who has heard the word of God, but he decides to live a carnal life.
He has a saved soul but a wasted life.
And Jesus. So let's look at verse 46. Jesus says to the foolish man in Luke 4646, why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say?
He is saved, but he has no fellowship with God his Father. He does not have confidence in God. He does not obey Jesus as Lord.
He is saved, but he is busy enjoying the carnal life. He only understands things about this world.
In the day of testing and trouble.
He won't stand firm in his faith and in the review of his life at the judgment seat of Christ, His works will all be burned up. What a waste of life.
He will suffer loss, yet he himself will be saved.
You know, there's more to life than worldly friends.
In sports and entertainment and movies and social media.
Nice cars, nice house money. These things are not a sin to do, and it's not a sin to have them. But we need to recognize that the carnal life provides no lasting benefits for anybody.
So don't let the carnal life grab your heart's attention.
And when the testing comes, the foolish Christian will crack under pressure.
I'm going to read you another story from The Voice of the Martyrs.
In the story, one man was wise and he remained strong when trouble came. The other man was a foolish Christian and he could not stand strong in the storm of life.
This from the voice of the martyrs.
This story takes place in communist Romania few years ago, where churches were closed and pastors were arrested as part of a seven-year drive to eliminate the nations of all superstition. So when Brother Vasile and his wife began holding more church meetings in their little home, they knew it would not escape the attention of the government forever. Every evening Vassily prayed God, if you know some prisoner who needs my help.
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Send me back to jail, his wife shuddered while she mumbled A reluctant Amen.
Then they learned that one of the church members homes had been raided and copies of the celery's sermons had been confiscated. They also learned that the assistant pastor, who was their friend and coworker, became an informant and had denounced Vasile. It was 1:00 in the morning when the police raided the little apartment.
And placed Vasily under arrest as they handcuffed him. Placille said I won't leave here peacefully unless you allow me a few minutes to embrace my wife. The police reluctantly agreed they would have their way Soon enough. The couple held each other and prayed and sang with such emotion that even the captain was moved. Finally, they escorted Vasile out to a police van.
With his wife tearfully running after them, I see they turned and called out his last words before disappearing for many years. Give all my love to our son and to the pastor who denounced me.
The wise man, Basile. He lived by the faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him. Vasile was strong in the face of testing. He was able to meet the extreme betrayal with extreme forgiveness.
Vasile, he's a wise man.
But Vasily's friend, the assistant pastor, he was a foolish Christian who was weak in the time of testing, and he heard the instructions, but he didn't listen to it and he failed to obey the teaching.
He made the decision on what he thought would be best for himself at that time.
And when his carnality came to the surface, the thoughts of his mind, when something like this, I'm going to betray Vasile, because that is better for me.
He was controlled by the carnal principle of the world.
What is best for me?
When the storm came, the foolish Christian cracked under pressure.
As we look in from the outside, we can condemn that man as a foolish Christian. But I wonder how would I respond if I were to be put under some extreme pressure? Would I stand strong?
Or would I cry?
Will I be controlled by my carnal mind to do what is best for me?
Over the years, we Christians who are gathered to the Lord's name, we have accumulated so much knowledge.
But knowledge without works is not. Why?
Knowledge does not make me strong.
When the severe trials come, we need wisdom. And in times of severe testing, the wise will live by faith and not by fear. They will survive. They will survive through the toughest times.
But the foolish they only know how to talk about things of the world.
They may put fear.
In the place of faith and when the when the when the tough times come.
They look for the easy way out. They do what is best for me.
The foolish Christian will have a saved soul but a lost life.
John 12. I believe that's what John speaks about here in John chapter 12 and verse 25.
So 1St 25 He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternally.
00:45:04
I'd like to share a final story on suffering now. Suffering comes in many different forms. I remember when we had a weekly Bible study in our home in Taronga, Malawi.
The mechanic. He was always present at the Bible study and he encouraged other people to come and he encouraged them to listen to the teachings. He would say these teachings are very important, listen to what he has to say. You need to listen to them and the mechanic.
He had done a lot of work in my truck. Oh, I had AI like that truck. It was a strong South African built Nissan 4 by 4 is a pickup truck, but there are always parts that needed to be replaced and fixed.
Let's go to loop 6.
Luke Chapter 6.
This mechanic.
Had one Bible study.
The mechanic asked the question.
He said What do these verses mean?
Luke 6 verse 28.
Bless them that curse you, pray for them which despitefully use you. Verse 30 And of him that takes away thy goods, ask them not again.
This guy was setting me up. He wanted to know how I would react when I found out that he was taking good parts off my truck and replacing them with faulty parts. And when it broke down again, he'd repeat the process. He'd take another good part off and put another faulty part in place.
Eventually the engine of my good truck stopped working and the truck died.
You know, the heartbreak in the service of Jesus Christ.
Can be devastating. And on top of that, I'm supposed to forgive this guy.
Has retribution for being fired from working on my truck.
He gathered together a band of hoodlums from his home village and they they attacked the informants as he walked home and they beat him and they clubbed him. They put him in the hospital.
Satan is behind much of the suffering in this world, and if your life is going to amount to anything for Jesus Christ.
You can be sure Satan will be right there to destroy and to discourage.
If the confidence of your soul is not established on Christ the Rock, when the floods come, you're going to have a rough time of it.
Satan is relentless.
He cannot go beyond the bounds that God allows him, but he is relentless. Satan is going to do everything possible to discourage you and to disappoint you and to make you doubt the goodness of God.
And so I exhort you.
Be established in the faith.
Establish your faith in Christ now and hold fast to that which is really life.
So when the floods and the storms of life come, you can stand strong with confidence in Jesus Christ.
In closing I want to say this.
If anyone is interested.
And praying about what you can do in your service for Christ. Please come and talk to me. I'd be happy to hear about your thoughts and the directions of your heart in connection with your desire for service for the Lord Jesus.
The harvest is ready now.
Let's sing that song we sang last night for two nights ago, 283.
Three nights ago.
#283.
And in the second verse it says.
All the vain things that charm us most, we sacrifice them to His blood.
When we survey.
00:50:00
100 and cry out.
Umm.
Nsnoise.
That's great.
Our God and Father to give thanks.
That the Lord Jesus gave so much for us 100%.
We just asked for help in each of our own personal lives as we step out in faith.
To serve the Lord Jesus.
Then we might go in the confidence of the Lord Jesus.
That we might live by faith.
We know the harvest is ready.
You just asked that we might.
Be willing to take that step to go out into the harvest.
We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
Session #3
Q&A
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Our first question.
When this retired, this makes it impossible for the whole family to make it to the night meeting.
In the day to sweat the family and one there to take those who can go for me to stay home together as a family and maybe we can maybe have a kind of treating and prayer together instead.
James chapter one verse five says if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask to God they give it to all liberally and upgrade it on and it shall be given to him. So it has 30 times on the situation. So we need to ask permission to know what to do in that situation if somebody sick.
I.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think there's any particular.
One way or the other you can say it, but.
I would like the University Hebrews 10/25 that I think applies.
Not forsaking the assembly of yourselves together.
As the matter of some years by an extraordinary one another there is so much the more as you see the day approaching.
So assembly meetings are important and I would say, I wouldn't say to split up the family. If some have to stay home, it's not splitting up the family, but you have to determine each. Each head of the family has to determine what is best for the family. But there might be something that can't go but.
It's possible whoever can get together.
Assembly, aliens, Jesus. Very important to maintain.
I think it's good that whoever put this question and recognizes the importance of having the word of God before the family, that's that's a very important thing and that's commendable.
And like Tim said, I don't think we can.
We can't be prescriptive about this, like break anything in Christianity. We don't live under law. This is better than that. Given these circumstances, we really need to go to the Lord about that and seek His guidance as to what we should do in a particular circumstance.
But what we can do, I think is offer general principles. And so if Bob is doing, and I had a similar thought on that when you go through in the Scriptures to see how very important it is.
For the most people to be together at the beginning, they work. You find that they were together constantly in the beginning of Max, whenever they could be.
And so it is today when there's persecution, isn't there? The Lords people just feel that need to be together.
And actually think it's Chapter 4, it's this big let go of anyway to their own company that is the natural thing for Christians to desire to do. And then we see a little bit later on.
John marks mother's house and together over.
On their knees before the Lord about these are in prison, and this is a tremendous thing.
So Acts 21, they find that how long is Caesarea Philippi? And they all go down with the women and children down to the seashore and go down to France and together. And so it's a very important thing.
That we should be exercised about and in addition to the verse brother-in-law bread. I was sending the one in Ephesians chapter 4.
Ephesians chapter 4 where it brings out how the Lord having ascended up on high gate, yes for the perfecting of the states at verse 12, the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ.
00:05:05
But when you get to the end of that section, it says in verse 16.
Well, the end of verse 15 that had even Christ had moved the whole body Bitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplier.
According to the official working in the measure of every part they can increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. That's a pretty strong statement about the assembly how God intended it to be that we aren't just to go there for convenience, but we all have a role to play in the assembly and it's for the self building up of the body of Christ on earth.
And we all need to be exercised about that. It's easy to say what would be better for me or what would be better for my children, but.
What does the Lord desire? He has a body on earth and He wants it to be held up. And it's easy to just think about our part and walk away, and that needs a discouragement. We have assemblies where, sadly, when the Word of God is being read and prepare being made, we have fewer and fewer in attendance. Why?
And when you go and ask and you find out, there's always good reasons.
But are we arranging our lives so that we can be together this way? The Lord is meant to be intended something we really need to be exercising about. We can't say you need to be empathic, but what would the Lord have me to do? What does he desire from?
I would comment I just want to read one verse, something to share with me.
First Samuel, chapter 20.
There's 18.
Says Ben, Johnson said to David, tomorrow is the new moon and now shall be there because they seem to be empty.
The same you should have a love for each other. I think that you admit that when you're gone you miss seeing you, so there might be some more common.
Not just particular scripture, but if you look at statements, there's three words.
That can magnify.
Very searching.
Tiredness.
And we were.
Too sick?
Really too tired to come to me. That worked maybe really nice.
That is like to be talking about a principle. I just like to read in.
I'm sorry.
In Exodus chapter 12.
And verse 2425 and 26. I just want to get a principle out of this.
And ye verse 24 and ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee forever, and to thy sons, and include daughters there your family forever. And it shall come to pass when he comes to the land which the Lord will give you according to seeth promised, that he shall keep this service.
It is sometimes the past when your children shall say unto you, what meanly by this service. And I think these verses showed the importance of passing our values down through our children because children are great and impacted by the things that parents do and the things that parents don't do.
And they know what's important to you as a parent. And if they see that to be going to the Bible meetings, the assembly meetings are important to you.
It'll be important to them that maybe they don't, maybe they sleep, maybe they don't really want to be there, but you'll see it's important to you. And then it'll they'll have a big influence on their life and their attitude towards the media and going to the meet the Lord at the.
00:10:14
And so if you skip a meeting for any reason.
You have a good reason, like Jim said.
Your children know that it's OK to this meeting for.
Made you tired. Maybe you're 6-8 years, you're busy if you have a great schedule to be there so it's OK to miss. Maybe there's a family reunion so I'll skip meeting this week because I'll go to a family reunion. The children know that the family reunion is more important than the assembly. They know that being sick is more important than going to the assembly and.
That's true. You don't want to improve your sickness and your germs to the assembly.
That could be another principle in the law of the leper. The leper has to stay away from the people. He didn't want to share the term with everybody else and he's just like covering over his mouth and and he had to say unclean and not come near anybody. Well, if you have a contagious cold or, or smooth, you don't want to bring that into everybody else. So probably why is it stay home?
Our circumstances.
Something that would.
Senior children, the idea that it's okay if you have a reason to stay away from the assembly because they they say well that's not important in assembly. But now when your children are are being responsible and they have to make decisions, they will know that they can make any reason to mislead it and they will miss more than he will and their grandchildren is willing to see them as you need them. They will need to know who Jesus is so.
It has some bigger effect than just staying away from the simple music.
Saying connection with that too.
That.
Our heart affects not only our children, but it affects everything in the long term and in the short term.
Why are we doing it? It's easy to go to the meeting.
Because that's what you do.
It's easy to have a family Bible reading because that's what you do, but.
Question is why am I doing things? And yes, our children will see that pretty quickly a little bit.
When we do go to the meeting, what do we do? If we're brothers? Do we speak to me before? The Lord is to exercise India there, and He's given us yes, in the exercise there.
If it's a meeting for the exercise of our priesthood, do we seek to do that or do we just go?
To put an appearance there, because that's what you do after the meeting. We're together. We visit together. Well, I guess we could just run off, you know, right away. It's easy to do that too, right?
But that's not exactly what they were doing in the Scripture. It's hard to do what we have in the verses of we just come in lately, Berlin, and we don't spend any time with our brethren.
That were we made use of the Lord to build up the body.
His body, these are real things and we need to very much think about every single believers involved in that and the Lord knows our hearts, he said before. We can't make rules in it.
But especially for parents, yes, the children are going to see what we're about. And maybe we're just going on with the poor condition. These things aren't real with us in our hearts. And they'll say, well, why should I continue with that? Like they would say at such a good point. And I think we need to examine our own hearts because that's not the good reason. I mean, that's a very important reason if we want to keep our kids. But.
More important than that is the Lord and His body that He cares so much about. Every single one of us needs to exercise about the body of Christ and honoring Him in our place in His body.
With another good reason to go to meet and be.
00:15:00
That the Lord Jesus Christ is present there just as much in the night meeting as on Thursday morning. So another good reason to to want to be at the assembly meeting to be in the Lords presence.
That's very good, David, because we can. It's not very easy to get on and not do it immediately, but the presence of the Lord is not on Zoom. He's in the ascendant meeting. And so there's a danger there of of Zooming and Satan knows that if he's worth using it very cleverly, Yes, yes, Zoom has a a good use.
And we've been benefited with it over the last couple years, but.
We can use that as a crutch to not be able to use it well. Time is up for that question. That question #2.
When the Lord comes to take us home, will the people we know we work for who aren't believers, will they know that we went to heaven?
You can't imagine that you're sitting here in this room.
And the Lord came.
This morning.
And all of a sudden, everybody's gone.
And you're sitting there, looking across the room with your friend. Go.
Where did everybody go? They must have gone to heaven. It was true, the Lord Jesus came.
The neighbors come by. Where did all the people go?
You'll know. You can say he's the same. They went to heaven. Well, why did you go?
I didn't believe.
Where will you go?
I guess I'll go to hell.
Don't reject the Lord Jesus.
We want to see you in heaven. We want to see.
I do believe that in 2nd Thessalonians 2 it gives us to understand that after.
The Lord comes. Let's just read the second lesson, verse 6.
Versus there.
How do you know what withholdeth or?
Hinders that he might be revealed in his time for the mystery of iniquity that already worked, only even now that it will that until he'd be taken out of the way, and then shall that wicked be revealed. It's talking about the Antichrist.
Both the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, and then that perish because.
They received not the love of the truth that they might be saved, and for this cause God shall send them strong delusions, that they may believe that they should believe our lives. So I really believe that after the Lords coming, the Holy Spirit.
Is God, and so you can't say he'll be taken away from this world, but the hindrance to iniquity will be lifted and will be a flood of iniquity and there will be strong division and I think there will be probably other explanations.
Through why so many believers disappeared, I've heard of quite a few different possibilities and it's interesting but.
Scripture against us to understand that there will be strong delusion after the Lord comes.
Of course, it's going to get worse as the Tribulation advances, but I believe that there will be perhaps people who don't know much about the Scriptures, what they believe, some of those strong leadership.
00:20:08
Important what Tim was saying is to those.
At least who professed to be Christians and work real. I believe Matthew 25 would basically say what Tim was saying is to their knowledge.
And Matthew 25 towards in the first verses is the five wires and five fluids, speaking about the coming of the bridegroom and.
It says.
And that the boom is going to buy oil for their lamps. And verse 10 while they went to buy the bright room games, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.
Afterwards came also the other person saying Lord, Lord open to us. They knew that the bridegroom had come and they knew that the door was shut and they were asking that the door be open. And he says not to them. Barely, I know not so.
It seems to me the scripture of the indication, at least for those who the fullest represent those who made for fashion but had no oil.
They weren't saved, they were left out and the door was shut and they understood that the right thing and so it will be. There may be some in this room like Kim said, that no, they even professed to be a Christian. They're going on as if they're Christian, but they haven't truly trusted in Christ. Is that your case?
Because this is going to happen what it says here.
And it would be an awful thing if there was somebody here would be one of these. You will not and it will be too late.
I remember my brother many years ago getting back.
Point out that one who heard the gospel be making their own, but they're left behind and the Lord comes and said you will have an awesome solemn responsibility to have another where all these people have gone and there is no hope.
Certainly makes you want to examine your own heart. We've all had to say to the Corinthians. Examine yourselves with the continent of faith. Looking at the way they acted, he wondered if they were real.
And I must say, young people.
In my time growing up, young people I grew up with, some of them are not really. Some of them are now professed atheists. I can't believe that they were breaking bread at the Lords Table and now they're atheists.
What is happening is because, I mean, we know that a real believer can never be lost.
But there are those who say they are, but never have submitted to the lordship of Christ.
We have never repented for their sins. I know it's different when we're brought up in the meeting and I was brought up in the meeting and.
To the repent from your sins. So he said, what sins do I have?
I have a particular problem when I was young.
Tell the lies.
Thankfully, I had a dad.
That made me learn it hurts to tell lies.
And I had to come to a recognition and change my mind about that. That's what we meant, this is.
We all have those.
Natural tendencies and if there's not a coming to the Lord Jesus.
And a bowing at his feet, the recognition of his authority. That's why it says in Romans 10/9 says if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus as Lord doesn't say Jesus as Savior, He is the Savior, but it says as Lord. That means do you recognize his lordship? Are you Lord of your life? You do what you want to do.
00:25:16
But he recognized his lordship and believe in thy heart that God reason from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And so he just wanted to say very specially, I can't look at you and say if you're saved or not. I don't know. But I say certainly I'm going to examine yourself when you're in the face.
Our next question.
1St in John 18, verse 36.
A Christian that gets into politics.
It's really a result of not really understanding the difference between synchronization of Israel and the dispensation of the Church.
And here's what the Lord says as the dispensation was changed into the coming into the Church period of grace.
To Kurt jokes John 18 verse 36, Jesus answered my Kingdom is not in this world. It's like in the world of this world. That was my service fight that I should not do it for the Jews, but now that my queen do not compensate and so the Lord says, I think it's not my time.
I've rejected not my time is arranged.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 5.
At verse 20.
Now then.
We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ, dead in ye, reconciled to God.
I think we all understand that an ambassador in a foreign country is there to represent his country.
But it is prohibited for an ambassador to get involved in the politics of a particular country.
The only way to make statements that represent his country, that is in place, but to get involved into the politics of that particular country. If he does, he will probably be recalled. That is out of place for a real believer, but it shows the importance of what we were talking about that person.
He's been busy that we had about the difference between Israel and the church. And so covenant theology basically says there's no difference, that the church is just an extension of Israel. And so you go back to the Old Testament, you find Daniel was high up in the political world of Babylon and so is justified in the political.
Of Egypt, why don't you do your Christian duty and so they when they have that perspective, it really changes everything and so it shows the importance of distinguishing Israel, which was an earthly people from.
The church which is a heavenly people and adverse very good that you read in John's 18 the Lord Jesus says my Kingdom is not in this world. If it were then when my servants fight and then you see, rather than the place that we have in this world.
Is to represent the Lord Jesus.
00:30:02
OK, so Tim can't say this and I will. If you haven't listened to Tim meeting at camp last year, go back and listen to it.
Find an helpful but it's just like to point out a few more things to go to Solomon.
They go along with what is just been said by President Bob and.
Psalm 110 and verse.
Sorry, verse one, the Lord said unto my Lord.
Sit down in my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. That's what the Lords use, is to feel it. Right now he's sitting at the right hand of the Father until his enemies have been disposed to it. And the idea that.
That we should go ahead with him in this world and try to affect things, whether he politics or otherwise, to change things here in this world.
Before God makes his enemies, is supposed to.
They said absolutely wrong, daughter. That's not the time wherein it's not what we're given to him. The Lord Jesus is waiting. Why should we be going ahead and doing what he himself is not getting to do, but say, well, maybe we're not sent here for the same reason, but that's not true either. And let's just turn over to John chapter 20.
And the Lord Jesus rose them to the dead. This is what he said to me, disciple, he said.
And verse 21 That says Jesus to them again, peace be unto you as my Father has sent me, Even so said I you, so how is the Lord Jesus said he was sent into this world to represent the Father. He was sent here to represent what was true and what was right and he was rejected.
Completely rejected while he was here, his father sent him knowing that would be the case.
We are spent the same way disciples learn and we are and we are here to witness like he did in this time of his rejection, until he comes again and is the one that chases that which is rightfully his. Says in the Old Testament, I will overturn, overturn, overturn until he comes whose right it is. So we get involved in politics to keep some things being overturned.
Why would he do that?
God has already said it's going to be absolutely otherwise.
And then he's going to give it to his son. Until then, we're called to follow with him in his rejection and represent him here.
One of your help me with this sometimes I find myself following the what's going on in the world and then I start the whole thing. Certain candidate can see it because you know that will make my life as a Christian easier or whatever it is, but I listen to a meeting and brother Red this verse multi verse all the streets but John 17.
The Lord's Prayer, he says.
In verse 15.
Because I pray not that thou should have taken out of the world that thou should keep them from legal. And this is this is the verse. They are not of the world, even as I and not of the world. And his brother said how much was allergies? That's not of this world. And he just left it there. And I think it's very surging, not just in the politics, politics aspect, but in other aspects of our life.
But if you just read through the gospel, you see how none of this world he was. And then we can emulate that.
I think there could be.
A couple of different ways to take I'm into politics and the main one has been the way the main one has been quite well and I care.
Not good enough, but it's also, I think it's possible to be into politics in a way where you don't care, but it intrigues you more. Sometimes our human nature, we can be attracted to arguing really quite literally. And it can be also a hobby. That's a little bit of a different way to take the question. I'm into. I don't really necessarily care, but it's part of my life. There is a badge pressed off and.
00:35:00
I think we take it that way. We can become as much the same answer. Go back to what Bob said about how it really should not be our focus for ambassadors.
There's much better ways to serve our time.
Easily get caught into it.
It's not necessarily like you know, specifics in heaven and and that, but you're still into the trees. There can be different reasons for someone saying that statement, but then by and large that it is not a positive thing and it doesn't have to do it more happens here.
A lot of the properties in politics.
It tells us what's going to happen, so it's interesting to see what's happening in the world of politics.
These days and we can see how spiritual is being fulfilled.
And and, and how it's leading up to the prophetic events that are that are.
It is interesting to observe.
And if you read Mr. Kelly, it's very evident that he was up to date with the politician of the time and.
I don't think he was into it, and that's a bit but.
He obviously knew what was going on at the time.
And how that fight is proposition?
So, time for another question.
When the Lord suffered after there be only One Cup and one plate passed around on the basis of only One Cup being spoken of in the mouth also.
In the unity of the body, seeing the cup and then the broken bread, where is it only seen in the unbroken low?
Would like to open the discussion with First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 16.
In reference to the cup, there only be 1 cup.
There's 16 The cup of blessing has singularity because of blessing, which we bless. This is not the community of the blood of Christ.
Blessings. That's not talking about the vessel that's sitting on the table.
Your tub of blessing is everything that the blood represents is a tough as the wine is, wine cannot be limited to.
But the line didn't want to be poured on my hand. It doesn't stay there in one, it all falls down the ground.
The line represents the blood of Christ.
And that cup represents everything, all the benefits we receive from the from the customers and from the blood of Christ. We have pronunciation, we have justification, we have Jesus, God for what life to God. So many benefits that we have through the blood. And that's because the blessing sometimes you hear someone say.
When they're talking about an issue, well, that's not my cup of tea.
You're not talking about, you're not even talking about a cup of tea. Talking about what that cup of tea, that's not much you would not represent. There's really a cup of blessing is what is represented by the When we have a cup of two cups for each individual cups, the line is representing the cups.
00:40:12
You can notice in that portion and.
You read Jeff Levers 16%.
Let's go out and read verse the rest of the verse The bread would be great. Is it not the communion of the body of Christ for weaving many our notice one bread and one body where we are all partakers of that one thread.
It never says in scripture in any place you can look it up 1 cup. It never says that.
Save the cops, and I think what you said is a very good explanation to them, but it does say one goal that's important, that there be one low.
And.
It represents here the body of Christ. How many bodies are there in this world?
1/5.
Church.
And even when we break it and pass it from 1 to another, we are showing something. When I take a piece of that bread and eat it, I am saying in a public way, I am a member in part of one body. And so I partake of this one goal. So everyone.
That Partick is saying I am a member of that one body. You do not partake.
You are saying I not really a bad boss.
And so it should be an exercise for you young people who understand what that means and are not breaking bread yet.
There's nothing hindering your life. You should be partaking of that one law too. But I just wanted to make it clear because we wrestled with this issue and Latin America as well. Scripture never says 1 cup.
It does say one breath or one lower because the unity of the body is not in the top, it's in the low. Even after it's broken. It's the same one vote that is passed around and all who partake are saying in effect by family member.
In part of one's law.
Remember some time ago in Bolivia outside a conference and the.
Brother and I don't remember how you were there in the 200, They didn't have a very big low.
Brother there didn't, I don't know, they didn't think they had, but it was just about.
Halfway through passing around and the loaf was there was much left. I don't know if I was right in doing it, but I stood up and said brethren, your brother over there that haven't partake in our members of the body of Christ too. Keep that in mind when you don't take such a big peace.
If you're a big first, big member of the body of Dryswell, understand you want to take a big piece.
So it's important. I remember one time I had found this in.
And Toronto, where there was 1200 presidents at the office center, wow, it was a big role. It's important that it be one goal because it's the testimony of the truth that the body of Christ is one.
How do you see it? How does the apostle Paul say, for we are all partakers of that one bread, and if he was not partaking in the same physical losses, physical one loaf is the curriculum.
In each place there is one bolt, and I take it that sense, And each local place there's one globe, and that's the testimony in that place of the truth of the one body.
00:45:24
Yeah, yeah, you're 11% exhausted breath and drink the stuff which shows a large fat that the top door we showing it to.
I believe first of all, we're showing you to God the Father.
Valuing his son, and we are, we are honoring the request of the Lord.
We're giving glory to the Lord that gives glory to God the Father because he sees how we respect and honor His Son to this race. So I believe he showed to the Father and then again, we show it to the Lord Jesus. He's the one who asked us to do this and we showed Him that we really care. We show. And like Bob says, when we take that bread and we eat it, it says, if I don't fart in that bread and I'm part of that body, if I let the bread pass by me and I don't take a piece and I don't.
I'm saying I'm not part of that. I'm not part of the body of Christ. What you're saying you are part of the body of Christ, but you're saying I'm not because you didn't partake. And and so we're showing it to the Lord Jesus. He asked us to do that.
And then we show it to.
Everybody in the room.
Is the savior. He's tired of the modern parties.
You should be afraid, but that's what that's what it represents and you show it to the angels. We see the angels are watching and as the angels are are singing, what is going on? They're learning. They're learning and they see the women with their head coverings on. They see that there's a respect of subjection to Christ.
They see the men without their hearts on. They see the men in the protection.
And all this objection to the and so we show it to one another and.
That's why we say where there is a place where they break red, there's a testimony in that place because we're showing something. But notice in chapter 10 and verse 10.
You're showing that we are members of one body. Chapter 11 in the Lords Supper, Lord chapter again, it's the Lord's Table we're talking about in Chapter 11 is the Lord's Supper and says verse 26.
We show the Lords death, telling God.
Showing something?
Public way.
The question says one plate, so we cover the one top. What about one plate and the the jacket says nothing about one place.
You can have 1000 flights. What's critical is that at the beginning you have one unbroken look.
And that everyone partakes of that one broken load. So I believe that there is unity being in that unbroken load. And I believe that there's unity expressed and partaking of that broken load that's passing around. Whether or not it's torn into 1000 pieces is fine. It should never start as waivers at the beginning or pieces of bread at the beginning. That does not express what's here. This is one load.
And just to continue with what Bob was saying, you know, you had a confidence and you had sometimes the women have to go out with their their kids.
What guys? And they're out in a separate room and you're having the remembrance. Do you place a separate loaf out there for them for ease, for convenience and say no way that would deny what is plainly written here?
Critical that we have to want to love and one and so we go to great extent. I can't imagine what that wrote look like I remember when I was a kid I used to go to Toledo and they had over 1000 people. I don't remember what time the load but I'm sure it's huge one load and.
00:50:00
Today we need to be careful because there are things that are happening and that we are allowing into the assembly that ended up themselves are not bad. But when they contradict this verse and we introduce multiple loads in different ways, we're going against what Scripture points out as being a way that he is frustrated and we're denying a Scripture space. We need to be careful. We need to make sure that we always come back to us Scripture.
Well, I've heard somebody say that like when you break bread and remember Lord over soon and we have a hope at our house and you have to open your house, give a comment on that.
I think that when we do that, we're introducing multiple loops.
If we are having a singular remembrance and we are allowing different people to zoom in on that remembering. So when that brother stands up at the table, he gives thanks to that vote and he breaks it and the people on Zoom take their loads and they break it based off of that prayer that was just mentioned. We have introduced multiple clothes.
That is contrary to what this verse says. It plainly says that we have one threat. Somebody might say, well, you know, we have a loaf here in Dorothy and there's a loaf in Mount Saber, There's a loaf in Woodbridge. And those are separate gatherings. And when you zoom in on a, on a meeting.
You're saying that this is a singular meeting?
I heard some who have their remembrance meeting right before the.
Emblems are doing thanks for doing this come back and every home individually.
Remember the Lord in this death. That's fine, that's scriptural. I I would ask why you could zoom in. We have more in the scripture for having breaking bread.com If for some reason you cannot make it out, use scripture to break bread.
Go with the scriptural roots. Don't introduce something that is contrary to scripture approaches for convenience or ease or any other reason.
Oversight.
It's another, it's another big topic, but it's an important thing to realize what these persons are saying and not to allow any circumstance to come in and say, well, this circumstance allows us to go beyond the word of God. Where, where does, when does that end? It will never end.
Yeah, they grow bread in their home and.
To Jerusalem cost the house home and then later on you read, but at least instincts in the era of the assembly, just one assembly only, but there was different tones. So they were breaking bread. You see the same thing at the end of First Corinthians, the end of roses. This is something that was done and of course they did that fellowship with their denial.
Black.
The way Joe does, and if they're on Zoom here, you've got a load, you can look at Zoom, you see another load and all those are present at least in that connection.
It does not seem to be the pattern or what you have in this future as far as I can see.
I will say that from what I've heard, the intention, the motive has been good. One of the motives or intentions that I've heard is that we want to show as much unity as possible. We don't want to be broken up into the local 1St.
Those things in Jerusalem.
And so we we go to great lengths to show this unity by getting on the using that scripture says.
We're practicing by having one blow, not by trying to show you.
00:55:18
Unless somebody has another comment.
We don't have time for another president.
I.
Well, I'll say this might say.
If we had, and if we do continue with prophecy, my thought was to go through some of the different scriptures.
In the order that would be I think very helpful to keep it up. So if you just starting out prophecy.
My suggestion would be to go to the book of Daniel and take that up first, and it's very helpful. Brother Bob mentioned the other day that Daniel gives us the times of the Gentiles and God and intended to have rule here to his people in Israel. They fell into complete idolatry and he could no longer continue with them. He took that role.
Away from that nation and transferred it to the Gentiles.
And that you gave the Daniel, particularly Daniel chapter two.
So we could we had more time to look at that, but as you go through Daniel, you'll find that both is broken right in half there's.
12 Chapters. The first six are stories.
And the last six are prophecies that are directed verse six. The stories are all prophetic and the 2nd chapter gives us a great image that has four parts to it and outlines the entire times of the gentiles.
And as you go through Daniel, you get to the second part of particularly the Chapter 9. I would suggest taking up very carefully.
And the verses from about clicking 4 to 27.
About angels 17 weeks and getting a good idea of what that's talking about. And you'll find there in particular introduced the 70th week, which is the tribulation period that we were talking about.
Before and I guess it was Monday morning.
So Daniel is a great place to start. Then perhaps you can go to Matthew 24. I found that was very helpful before hitting something like the Book of Revelation.
But don't shy away from the Book of Revelation.
Tremendous book and you can't understand it. It says blessed are they that greed and keep the Saints of this operation. First chapter and ever these that again for the last chapter and it music. We need to take off that book and understand it and then there are many other places that you can go and learn details. We already referred to the Second Thessalonians.
Earlier in this meeting to find out much there about what's going to happen in the future.
Just recommend go back to it in that order so you can get the outline so you can fix what the order of events is. Then you can come back in and fill in the details with other prophetic scriptures like Second Thessalonians, the book of Isaiah, the book of Zechariah, and many other places.
That give details that will then naturally fit into the outline that you'll get from Daniel Matthew 24 in Revelation.
I wonder if you could go back to the chart that we have that there's is that possible? But back up there just to thank you, just to show you where the times of the Gentiles that Daniel mentioned that Daniel talks about.
You have to go way back to the left of that chart to when Nebuchadnezzar came into Jubia and took away the.
Raised the Kingdom.
From the children of Israel, like you said, I God had given it to the descendants of David, and to this day it is in the hands of Gentile powers.
Yeah, Israel is back in their land, but they could not be there but wasn't for the sufferance of Gentile powers. It's the times of the Gentiles and that time ends at the very end of the Tribulation when the Lord Jesus comes back as the King of Pings to take back the control of the government of this world. And it will be again in the in the descendants of the House of David, the Lord Jesus.
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King of Kings, that's when the times the Gentiles and just wanted to make that clarification because I think it helps.
256 Keep up, Lord, of keep us leaving to thyself, and still believe, because of the power of our receiving.
Promised stories would be 256.
Ways to save you.
Forever.
Changing.
Himself.
And we shall be prepared. We will be and we shall.
Be right, we shall be.
Raised.
Right. For God and Father, we give thanks for this time. You can have to have these questions before us. We just pray for each one in this room. I think that the answers that have been given, we trust that there's been answers from by word. We pray that it we've heard something that has been a help or a correction, maybe even that we would just take it.
As from yourself and not.
And not just the opinion of them, but we really take these things to heart. So we just pray that we would be kept as we've been reminded of leaving to our Savior until He comes for us. So we just pray that you'll be found watching and waiting when he returns just.
For help through the day, for safety and the activity that is helping everything, we give thanks to the name of our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ United.
Apostasy Arrived at Through Science
Address—Joseph Countouris
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Can we start this evening by singing #312 Lead on Almighty Lord, lead on to victory, encouraged by Thy blessed word. With joy we follow they 312.
Hang on to his head, Korean.
That's for help.
Our God and our loving Father, we would just ask for your help here this evening.
We would pray that.
You would bless your word to the benefit of those of us who are believers, and for any who are not, you just bear this up before the throne of grace and your name you pray, Lord Jesus, Amen.
So the night I have on my heart to talk to you about.
Apostasy.
And it's apostasy arrived at through science.
I was traveling this summer, went out West to Morningstar camp, and I was talking to a brother at Morningstar camp.
And he was telling me that in his area.
This is somebody who is raised in the assembly. He's gathered.
That in his area there are upwards of 10 people about his age.
Who are atheists?
Atheist is somebody who does not believe in a God. These are not just random people that he knows from town.
These are people that he grew up with in the Assembly.
These are people who are raised in families like you're being raised in.
With parents who are saved.
To no doubt love the Lord who talks to you about the Lord Jesus, to tell you about the gospel, the good news of salvation. How about the Lord Jesus Christ came to die on the cross?
To suffer for your sins so that you wouldn't have to spend an eternity apart from Him.
Apart from the father.
These are people who are who were or who did go to Sunday school and heard the gospel.
Week after week after week.
These are people who had a gospel meeting and they're assembling and they heard a gospel week after week after week.
And.
They are ones just like you today.
Who professed to be saved? At one point they said I'm a believer. I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins.
I was talking to a brother here at the camp. He was telling me about somebody from his assembly.
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Who? Up until not too long ago.
There's no way that he would think that she was not a believer and today she is an agnostic.
Somebody who believes that maybe there is a God, a deity, a creator, a force.
Of power, but there's no way to have a personal relationship with them. I know one in my generation, perhaps a little bit beyond the generation of the brother who I spoke to over the over the summer.
And I can probably list about 10 myself. Same situation from the assembly.
Bob, Tony this morning was talking about ones that he grew up with.
And so I wonder if I look around this room, we have probably about 150 to 250, uh, 150 to 200 people here.
Who here is just faking it? Who here is just making a good show of it?
You've been raised in the meeting. You know what to say. You know all the brethrenisms, You know how to talk.
You know the verbiage, the phrases.
You know how to answer the questions. You've heard them over and over and over again, and yet I wouldn't doubt that there's somebody here this evening.
Who's faking it? Don't fake it anymore.
You're literally playing with fire. Eternal fire.
Don't keep faking it.
Whatever Satan is telling you that is keeping you from accepting his Son, the free gift of salvation.
And then knowledge of eternal life. Stop believing.
What he is trying to sell you.
Is faith.
What is apostrophe? How do we define it?
How does Scripture define it? Let's look at Hebrews chapter 6.
Hebrews chapter 6 and verse four says, For it is impossible for those who are once enlightened in that taste of the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. Think about all those things that I just read.
If they fall away to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put into an open chain.
These ones have enjoyed and are took in the benefits of Christianity much like Jude did when he was here walking this earth with the Lord, walking around, no doubt casting out demons, no doubt doing miracles and the power of the Spirit of God.
Fake no life.
In hell right now.
If you are somebody who has professed to be a believer tonight.
And you're not real. You are on the precipice.
Of being what this verse tells us.
Alive and yet impossible to be saved.
Dead spiritually forever.
Yet still living.
Don't keep faking it.
Sometimes we think of apostasy, and we might think that.
It's the fringe young people, it's, it's the fringe people in the assembly, the fringe older ones. I, I could, I could definitely see that person.
Being an apostate, let's look over at Matthew Chapter 7.
Verse 21 not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?
And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
These are not French. These are people who you might look on and say there's there's no way these people are solid.
Maybe you've got a soft tool tonight.
Maybe you've got us all fooled into thinking that you're solid.
That you're definitely safe and yet you're not. You've been faking it.
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Empty profession. You're on the precipice.
Of going to an eternity.
Separated from a loving father and a loving son.
Don't keep faking it.
Don't keep pretending. Is it because perhaps?
You've gotten to be a young person and you're afraid that if you get saved, Satan maybe is telling you, uh, you're going to get rid of fuel. You're don't even worry about it. People are going to make fun of you. Forget for, for waiting too long.
I don't know what he's telling you. That's a lie of the devil. The angels are waiting to begin rejoicing as our way.
Don't keep faking it.
Tonight I'd like to speak to directly to those who are not saved, those who are just professing.
But I'd also like to speak to those of us who are safe, and I hope that we are built up in our most holy faith as we take up the subject and we get grounded and the truth that we believe. So just a verse for us in first John chapter 5 and verse 13. I'm not reading or speaking about these things to cast doubt.
On anybody who's real.
Consider this first. These things I have written to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know.
That you have eternal life like hold of that. Don't doubt it. If you have believed on him, you are saved. You're secure, you're in those hands. And even if you wanted to, which you can't, you couldn't get out of them. But tonight, if you're faking it, if you're just simply professing it, if you've been making a fair show of it, stop.
Accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
I said I wanted to look at the subject through the the Avenue of science. So what is science? If you were to, umm, Google define science, this is the definition that you would get from I think it's dictionary.com.
The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation.
And experiment. I want you to remember and continue to think about those last two words, observation and experiment. The branch of science that mainly deals with what we're going to talk about is, is called natural science and a definition for natural sciences, the study of naturally occurring phenomena, things that occur naturally.
Can anybody here tell me a simple experiment, a simple science experiment that we can do right here?
Anybody.
Yeah. What was it? Drop a buck. And what is that? What is that showing us? Gravity.
Now that happened one time. What if I do it again? What do you think will happen?
Why?
OK, so if I do it again, it happens again right Now. What about this time? Ready everybody look at this.
What happened? Same thing happened, right? So is science inherently bad? Is it? Is it evil?
No, nothing wrong with science. The science was bad. I just send by dropping this thing over and over.
Science is just the study of the attributes and laws and and things that God has put into his creation. Nothing wrong with science. Science is an incredible thing. Science leads us to understand incredible things about God, about his creation, what we can and cannot do.
Boundaries that we can push or not push.
Let's look over at First Timothy chapter 6.
First Timothy chapter 6 and verse 20.
Oh Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. Avoid profane and vain babblings and opposition of science falsely so-called. Now this word for science here is not science like I've been explaining or like we just experimented with. The word has more to do with.
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Knowledge. However, science very much falls under the umbrella of the word knowledge that's used here.
Two things that are important. One, Timothy needed an expectation.
Perhaps Timothy Umm had a a mind for science. Perhaps he had a weakness for science.
And.
Perhaps the Spirit of God had the apostle Paul write him an expectation to be careful about what he was listening to.
Second thing that's important to see here is that there is science falsely so-called knowledge falsely so-called. There is a bad science, there is a bad knowledge and we need to make sure that we know how to tell the difference.
The verse first John chapter 5.
First John chapter 5 and verse 19.
We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
Beware of science, falsely so-called. I'd like to ask you tonight.
Where do you put science in your life?
Where do you put the knowledge that comes out of the scientific community?
If this room were 1,000,000 miles high.
And.
God, we're at the ceiling.
And we're on that table, just the general public, where you put science.
Where you put all of their learning, all of their understanding, all of their.
Wisdom. Where do you put it?
Beware of science, falsely so-called.
The whole world lies under the sweat of the wicked one.
Other question.
Is the scientific community generally composed of a majority of Christian God fearing men and women?
Or are they atheistic?
Do they not believe in God?
Generally speaking, the vast majority of the scientific community and those who fund them are atheists. They do not believe in God. It's not saying that there aren't Christian Scientists. There are tremendous through history.
And yet the vast majority are not.
Those ones are under the sway of the wicked one. Do you think that the wicked one, Satan, has your good in view? Do you think he has your care in view?
Do you think he can sway a scientist?
Or is a scientist with only the flesh in him honorable and upright?
And he has your good view. The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. Beware of science, falsely so-called.
Let's look at, uh, some verses that talk about scientists.
First Corinthians, chapter one, verse 18.
It generally speaks about the entire community.
Scientists, philosophers, the wisdom of this world, smart men, the Einsteins, the Stephen Hawkings, the ones who could make our heads spin with knowledge.
For the preaching of the crosses to them.
That perish foolishness, but under 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? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
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For after that the wisdom of God.
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 which believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greek speak after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling block, and under the Greeks foolishness.
Is it foolishness to you tonight? Have you been going on pretending, making a good show, but in the back of your mind you're holding on to things that the scientific community is telling you? Are you trusting in things like evolution?
While saying that you're saved and you believe in God, that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but really it's just empty profession.
What do you believe? Do you believe in Almighty God, a creator of heaven and earth? This entire universe that men are just scratching the surfaces that seeing?
Or do you believe in the God who created all of it?
And what they have no ideas out there and the things that are happening out there for the good pleasure of his own will. Who do you believe tonight?
But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see you're calling, brother. And how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.
We just did a simple science test of gravity. You think scientists understand gravity? They don't.
They scratch the surface at gravity.
Something we we benefit from every day so we don't float away.
And the base things of the world and the things which are despised that God chosen. Yeah. And the things which are not to bring to not things that are that. No flash.
Should glory in His presence.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is of God, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. But according as it is written, he, he that glorious loving glory in the Lord.
Where do you stand today? Where do you stand in relation to this paragraph that we just read, written almost 2000 years ago? Are you going to take your place with the wise of this world?
The finite minds of this world before an infinite God.
How do you think that's going to play out? Do you think you're going to win?
You can't win.
Satan is telling you hold out.
Hold out. Don't believe.
Don't trust the foolishness of men. Don't put your faith in a man, a creature. Put your faith and trust in an Almighty God.
The one who created all of these wise men.
Stephen Hawking said there was no God.
Has Stephen Hawkings ever been able to create a law in this universe?
At the event, Ever, ever been able to create anything that we give an attribute to this world? What about Einstein, who believes that there was a God, a force of power?
But not a personal one.
Was he able to ever able to do anything to this universe like gravity?
He couldn't. They can't.
The only thing they can do is look out into God's universe and study it and say these are the confines of it.
These are what happens. This is what happens when I drop something. This is what happens when I drop two things.
Now that's simplistic. Their minds obviously can go far beyond. They can go out to the stars and the planets and things like black holes things. I, I, I'm not a scientist. I have, no, I don't have much interest in science.
I wouldn't be able to explain it to you, but the best they can do, the smartest, most genius person in the entire world can only tell us.
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Truthfully.
What God has done, what God is doing with this universe?
Where are you going to put your faith in?
That man who died and is in hell.
Who could speak of all kinds of things in this universe? Smart man, and yet he was a fool.
And he's in hell. And if you're faking it tonight, you're on the road to follow him. Stop thinking.
Don't pretend anymore.
I heard a quote uh about 3 weeks ago. It said when science changes.
It didn't lie to you, it simply it simply found out more information.
When science changes, it didn't lie to you, it simply found out more information. Is that true? Yes, it is true.
Science is just studying naturally occurring phenomena, natural science studying natural occurring phenomena. What happens in this world? What happens in this creation? What happens with the stars and as time goes on?
We find out more information.
And that information changes.
And yet the way that the scientific community operates.
And what the scientific community?
Largely atheistic.
Under the sway of the Wicked One, what they portray is that you cannot question science.
I remember growing up.
Hearing a brother at conferences saying that science is the God of the 21St century.
Science is the God of the 21St century. For who can question science?
Who in question science?
The science, scientists, the scientific community don't ever. Hardly ever. Rarely. I can't remember the last time they were putting this out there, but we might get some more information in the future that would deem this null and void. So take it for what it is. This is the information that allowed us to arrive at this situation, but we're not sure about where this is going or what we might find out in the future. Have you ever heard, umm, information process like that? Never.
It is this is true.
Believe it. This is true. Believe it. They ever tell you that about evolution. They ever tell you, you know, we, we believe that that evolution is real, that we came from these simple cells and then complex and then monkeys and then humans and umm, that's what we believe. But we might, we might come into some more information in the future. Now it is. If you don't believe that, you are a fool.
Who do you believe tonight?
Those who are under the sway of the wicked one.
Those who take science.
The study of naturally occurring phenomena.
And they move outside of the realm of the word of God, and they begin.
To preach and to teach a lie. And they mix it in with truth like gravity and other things. And they say you all just like gravity, just like evolution, just like whatever you want to believe, it's all, it's all true. Look, gravity is true, so.
Evolution must be true.
Examples of science changing.
So I just have two here.
I have a question. Ask in the 18th century, how old do you think the philosopher scientists thought the world was in the 18th century? Somebody can raise their hand and just throw out a number, or just throw out a number. You don't have to raise your hand.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
40,000 + 75,000 In the 18th century, scientists thought the world was 75,000 years old.
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In the early 19th century, how old do you think it was? How old do you think they said it was? Brought a number. Doesn't matter if you're wrong. 500,000 They thought it was hundreds of millions.
It went from 70 and 100 years. It went from 75,000 to hundreds of 1,000,000. So we'll just say like 500 million. I don't know how many hundreds of 1,000,000 Darwin comes along.
What do you think Darwin caps the world at the age of the world? Couldn't be beyond this, according to Darwin. Throw out a number.
Five building.
5 billion, it actually went backwards. 100 million, I don't know why 100 million? What do they say the world is today?
How old do you think that they say the world is today?
4 1/2 billion, somebody said that 4.5 billion.
Imagine living in the 18th century and saying I think the world's 4.5 billion years old. You're not. Or saying you thought it was 6000 years old.
You're not. So what? Whatever it is, it's 75. That's the way science works, right? That's the way science, the scientific community works, and yet it constantly changes. The number constantly changes. I'm not here trying to take up creation or how old the world is. I'm simply giving this as an example. I'll give you another one. I'm sure everybody here knows, or most know about spontaneous generation.
Spontaneous generation is the thought.
That was believed for hundreds of years that life formed from dead material. Life formed from dead material. So what would happen is they have like rotting meat out on the umm, out on the shelf there on the counter, or they throw it outside and there would be maggots all over it. And so the scientists concluded that somehow wife must just spontaneously generate.
From this meat.
Now that might seem crazy to us because.
It is crazy, but that's what they believe, right? And certainly nobody back then would ever criticize somebody for thinking opposite, right? Because that's not the way the scientific community thinks. They think that they're just going to throw out some information. They're going to allow, allow everybody to understand that more information might come, right? That's how it works. Well, listen to this statement that's from 16.
52 sounds very similar to what we what we hear today.
When people question science.
Sir Thomas Brown may doubt whether in cheese and timber worms are generated, or if beetles and Wasps and cow dung, or if butterflies, locust, grasshoppers, shellfish, sails, eels, and such like, the procreated a future 5 matter which is after receive the form of that creature to which it is by formative powers imposed. To question this is to question reason.
Sense and experience. If he doubts of this, let him go to Egypt.
And there he will find the fields swarming with mice. He got of the meta mud of Niles to the great calamity of the inhabitants. Quote by Alexander Roth, 1652.
The whole world under the sway of the wicked one. Nothing's changed. Nothing will change, except for science, falsely so-called.
Where are you going to put your trust? Where are you going to put your faith?
Is it in man? In his wisdom?
In his desire and his efforts to prove that there is no God.
That this universe disappeared.
And his proof that it's true, that changes over and over and over.
Or are you going to put your tray, your your faith and your trust and almighty God?
Who loves you and sends his son to die for you?
What are some things that science cannot tell us?
The first thing, I have three things here. There's more. The first thing that science cannot tell us is where we came from.
Why can't science tell us where we came from?
Because where we came from is not naturally occurring phenomena.
00:35:07
We came from a divine creator, and where I say came from, I'm talking about the.
The universe. Let's look at Hebrews Chapter 11.
Hebrews 11 and verse three. Through faith we understand that the world were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made by the things which do appear.
That is not naturally occurring phenomena.
Scientists will never be able to tell us where we came from, where the world came from, where this universe came from, because it is outside of what is observable and experimental.
It came from God's Word, He spoke it, and it came into being.
What else can't scientists tell us?
And I'm just gonna go back. Scientists spend billions of dollars trying to tell us where we came from, trying to indoctrinate where we came from, trying to take your mind and set it against God, against His word. They tried to present something to you, that is.
Beyond.
Being able to refuse it.
If it goes contrary to this world, this word, because contrary to God's word.
Don't believe it, stop believing it.
Believe God, the one who created the scientists, the one who? The one who created this entire universe.
Everything scientists can't tell us is why we are here. Why are we here? What a mystery to man in the flesh, under the sway of the wicked one. What are we doing? Let's try to get to another planet before we run out of resources.
Let's look at first Colossians chapter one.
Verse 16.
There are many things, many verses that we could turn to that would outline why we're here, things that we've taken up already in this, uh, at this camp in regards to.
At the Christian, the believer and what we're supposed to be doing now, I'm speaking very generally.
Fossils chapter one and verse 16. All things were created by him and for him.
You are a creature of a creator.
That creator created you for him.
For the good purpose of His will, you can read the last two verses of Revelation chapter 4. Very similar thought what we have here.
You're here because he wanted you to be here.
God, a loving God. The one who is actively sustaining you by the word of his power, The one who's giving you the breath that you are breathing in and out. The one who is allowing all of your organs to function without you even doing anything about it.
That God loves you. That God sent his Son to die for you.
Those scientists that are teaching you things that are going to send you to hell do not love you. The one who is behind them, the wicked 1 does not love you. He does not have your good in view. He wants you to go to hell as well.
Don't believe him?
What else can't I tell us? Science can't tell us where we are going.
Let's look at Luke chapter 16.
It's chapter 16 and verse 19. There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain vaguer named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and looked at stores, and it came to pass at the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment.
And see if Abraham a far off and Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me.
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And send Lazarus, that he may get the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. Brian tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receive us like this thing, and likewise Lazarus, evil things. But now he is comforted and now we're tormented. And beside all this, between you, between US and you, there is a great golf fix. So that they which would pass from hence to you cannot either, can they pass to you, to us.
That would come from that from fence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou would send him to my father's house, for I have 5 brethren, that he may testify into them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses, and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham. But if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though 1 rose.
From the debt.
Who are you putting your faith and trust in tonight? The one who is taking you to the place, The same place that this rich man has been at for over 2000 years.
Or are you putting your faith in one who rose from the dead after having all my sins on him?
Who is punished for every single one of my sins? They've all been paid for.
And all your sins tonight.
Can all be paid for tonight, the transaction done.
If you'll put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Science will never tell you where we're going. Live your life, they'll say, benefit the next generation. Think about the future.
Think about hundreds of years from now, what's going to happen?
Global warming.
Be worried about it.
Brass turning brown hair.
Your eternity. It's all fake. Don't think about it.
A creation, a universe that points to a divine creator.
Don't think about it, they say. Who are you going to put your trust in tonight?
The foolishness of man for the wisdom of God.
I'd like to look at Luke chapter 4.
There was a time when God.
And the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Was walking in this world.
As a man like you and I.
Cinepart.
And Satan came to him.
To tempt him.
Not to prove to God that he could withstand the temptation, but to prove to us who he was.
That he was God.
And I'd like you to think, as we read this about the arguments, that's the most intelligent.
Godless being presented to the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, and what arguments he left out.
And the devil said unto him, verse three, If thou be the Son of God, command the stone that would be made bread. And Jesus said, answered him, saying, It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
And the devil, taking out, taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them.
For that is delivered unto me all the sway.
All the world under the sway of the wicked One.
For that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it.
If thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said to him, Get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.
And him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, Thou be the Son of God, Cast thyself. From hence it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time they'll dash thy foot against the stone.
00:45:12
And Jesus answering, said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all his temptation, he departed from him for a season.
Did the devil mention anything to?
The Lord to God about evolution.
Did he say, hey, you know that evolution thing is real, you should believe that.
Now, hey, you know God isn't real. You should believe that. Did you say that? No. Why? Because Satan knows.
The Angel the the fallen angels know. They tremble. He knew that he was speaking to the Creator.
He knew he was speaking to the one who created him, the most powerful, intelligent, godless thing this world has ever known.
And yet today we're going to fall for a scientist who tells us.
There was a Big Bang and we came from themselves that got more complex to turn into a monkey and turn into A to a human.
If that isn't what you believe, maybe you believe some other.
Ave.
I'm not sure what it would be that you will leave, but whatever it is.
Did they use that to try to tempt the Lord? He had this one chance in his mind where he could foil God's plans. What's he going to use? The most believable thing, if that's what you're believing tonight, is that what was used? Probably not.
What are you going to believe tonight?
Who are you going to believe? The wicked one? Are you going to come under his sweat? Or Almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth, the one who sent his Son to die on the cross for you?
Couple questions.
In relation to what we just went over.
If the science community says that we are here because we have evolved from simple cells to complex creatures to monkeys to humans, what do you say?
You say I don't believe that or well, maybe. I mean, I mean Stephen Hawking. I mean, I, I, you know, he's pretty smart guy.
Lot more than I am.
What we have to do every single time something is presented, whether it's the scientific community or your friend or Tim Ruga or me or anyone else.
Aaron, Dave.
Whoever it might be.
We have to come back to the Word of God every single time. What does the word of God say?
Let God be true and every man a liar. So when this world preaches evolution, let's just turn to Genesis chapter one, verse 24. What does God say?
God says Genesis one and verse 24, let the earth bring forth a living creature according to its kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind, and it was so, And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind.
And everything that creeps on the the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, let us make man in our own image according to our likeness. Let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image. And the image of God, he created him, male and female. He created them. That's what God says. Believe that. Don't believe some man who's taking you to help.
Who's trying to deceive you?
By the deceiver to put it off a little longer. Don't believe that it's a lie. It is not for your eternal benefit. It is not for your present benefit.
The science community says that the world began by a chemical reaction resulting in a Big Bang creating all the matter in the universe. Would you say we already read the verse by faith? We understand that the world's refrained by the Word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Word of God, simple Word of God, come back to the Word of God. Somebody tells you something, come back to the Word of God. Is it in the Word of God? Does it say what that person is saying? If I said anything here tonight that is not according to the Word of God or not from the Word of God, leave it, drop it. It's useless if I said some phrase or some saying or something.
00:50:19
Leave it. Drop it.
Go back to the Word of God. What does the Word of God say? That is what it's going to benefit you.
Believing God and His Word.
The science community said that they can produce life. What do you say? I have no doubt that there's coming a day, probably pretty shortly.
This is what I think that the science community is going to say they can produce like they say, they're on the verge of it. They're about to be able to do it.
First John 1/3.
All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made. We can look at other verses as well. Just a few down and Him was life.
Come back to the word of God when anyone tries to tell you anything. If it is contrary to the word of God, get away from it. Stop reading it if it's if it's hindering you.
Get away from that.
Don't go on with it.
I just like to end with the verse that we began with first Timothy, sorry that we read, uh, a little bit into it. First Timothy chapter 6 and verse 20. Oh, Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust. Avoid propane and vein babbling and opposition of science, falsely so-called.
Just thank you for the time.
Our God and our living Father, we think of the.
Solemnity of the Subject of Apostasy and How.
Heartbreaking it would be if there were some in this room who would leave here tonight, go on and live their lives.
Once professing and then to deny you.
And we pray, Father, that this would not be so.
That if there are any in this room tonight that have just been simply professing that are still lost in their sins, that tonight you would grant them life, but they would be saved. Father, we just ask this in the name of your son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
Session #4
Q&A
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Well, it's time for our questions. I'm glad, Bob, that you mentioned Afghanistan friends to them. So we are told to pray for those who are in bonds. And I I heard yesterday someone sent a message that 229 Christians were to be executed today in Afghanistan.
Listen to the Lord for His.
Honor and board.
Our first question.
How can we reconcile predestination with?
Free will.
We've heard a little bit about their destination for the last couple days here and there. Maybe somebody could explain what is free work?
So I'd like to try to make a clarification.
On this, have you been happier with the question is reconciling predestination or election with man's responsibility but.
Free will is not something taught in the Bible.
The Bible does say this. Whoever will may come.
It does speak about man as being under ******* minded by Satan and having a well that cannot please God and so I just really like to start there. I know we can say much on this but.
Some of the verses that to me are so clear on this that you did read the other night just recently again and Romans chapter 8.
And there it says in verse 7.
Because the farnal mind, the mind of the flesh, that mind that we were born with.
Is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed.
1St is not allowed as far as I speak and thought of the free will.
Man is under ******* and the next verse goes on to continue that thought so that they have learned the flesh again. Not please come just.
Impossibility.
So we talked about man being responsible. The Bible definitely says that. I think we should distinguish those things.
May not make sense, but we need to distinguish.
So I'm upset about the only case. Pretty well was before having to sin in the garden with Eden, he was.
When you talk about free will, you're saying basically you are free from all outside influences to make up your own mind as to what is your bad, and like you say, that is just not the case.
Of mankind today. As soon as Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, they fell under the influence of Satan, who was there very evidently. And they have from that time on there is that.
Make sure that is simple look at.
Ephesians chapter 2 And as I read these verses, you decide whether the person that is talking about here has free will.
He's without any outside influence to do what he wants.
00:05:04
Reverse is under reverses one through 3, and you he quicken as he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Wherein in time fast he walked according to the course of this world, there's one thing that has a powerful effect on.
According to the Prince of the Power of the Air, there's another thing that has powerful effects. See.
The spirit which now worketh in his children of disobedience. That's the nature we have, among whom also we all had our conversation by fast and the rest of our class. There's the other enemy. The world, the flesh, and the devil are all named there and we're.
Affected by those things, we're not free.
Fulfilling the desires of the flesh of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
So I.
Agree 10 The better word is responsible. We are responsible for what we do. We will give account for what we do. That's a better will. More than three will. If you go back to predestination, go back to the first chapter of Ephesians.
And there we have predestination.
Notice in verses four and five, verse four is election, verse five is predestination.
And it's different in this sense. When it's election, it's choosing people. When it's predestination, it's a place that they are going to occupy because God has chosen us. He's elected us. He has a.
Destiny in mind for us predestined.
According as he hath chosen us, in Him there's election.
Before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame. Before Him in love.
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children, brought into a place of sonship in God's families by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
There's three destinations, and I like the illustration that somebody used to help me with that question. How do you reconcile predestination and responsibility, man's responsibility?
They said there are two truths that run right through the word of God. Like 2 rails of a railway. If you look down a straight stretch shuttle right away it looks like maybe it touches up there in the distance, but it never touches.
It runs side by side that in mind when you read the Word of God, there's that which concerns God's sovereign sovereignty in the electing and predestinating, and then there's the side where we are responsible moral agents. And so it helps me to see that. But I'll give one more thought that I must say I enjoy.
Somebody said how can where did those two things touch predestination and?
Responsibility.
This was the answer. I know of nothing so powerful as God in his sovereignty.
I know nothing so weak as man in his responsibility.
Any place they got, she's scared.
There is an expression that goes like this.
All they come.
That's the gospel that we're familiar. All may come.
Done would come.
Because of our makeup.
Some shall come.
And that's the predestination part. God's great love.
00:10:07
I know there's many verses on this, but maybe we could look at a couple in John One.
That's been a help to me. John 1 and verse 11.
Talking about the Lord Jesus Christ coming into this world, it says He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
But as many as received them, to them gave me the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name, who were born.
Receive Life.
Not being naturally born.
Not of blood, not because you came from some family, not because your parents are safe. Nor of the will of the flesh. Nothing in the flesh would choose God. Nothing in man from Adam on chooses God, nor of the will of man. Not because your parents want.
Not because your parents want you to receive blood, but of God. He is the one who gives life.
I can't force my kids to get sick, my kids can't be safe because they were born into my family and my kids can't be safe because the flush washer.
Sovereign act of God is not somebody'd choice. It's not free will.
I sometimes say, Joe, you didn't decide to be born in your natural family, did you?
That's pretty evident.
But when you ask people, did you decide to be born again? And the people say, yes, I made a decision.
If I see that you made a decision.
But the reason you made a decision was because God in his sovereignty had chosen you, and it was by God's will. God wants children in his family, so he shows us.
Let me give another verse that I think really helps to make this clear. On God's side is the choosing and.
That's Acts 13 and 48. There are many verses that we can turn to 1St on both sides of this large sovereignty and man's responsibility.
This one I think is really good that we should know.
Acts 13 and verse 48 says when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were courting.
That word ordained could be translated, chosen as many as were ordained, or chosen to eternal life belief.
That have been chosen and then there came that time when they heard and they believed. And that's what the scripture teaches. This first plaguely lays out what happened that day and it happened every other time a person who got saved, they have been chosen before.
Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. There comes that time that the word of God comes in and that person who was chosen believes.
Ephesians chapter 2 and verse eight that we all know speaks about that.
Faith being the gift of God.
He does not face to believe something. God does the whole work. When it comes to the will we saw it wasn't by the will of man.
Go to James chapter one and verse 18 that says by his own will he have to begotten us who might be the first fruits of his creatures. And so is the will of God that is involved in this thing. It's not the will of man in any way. And as far as the responsibility is concerned, the scripture is clean on that. There's many that show it but one verse that I can think of.
Would be in the end of March.
It tells us in the March 16th.
It says in verse 16 you that believe it.
But he never believeth not shall he say.
There it is, those who don't believe.
They're judged, they're damned, they're condemned.
00:15:01
They live is the one who does that. He's not unjust. This is how we know man is responsible. We don't believe that God judges them for that.
Does that seem right in my mind? Yes, it does, because God said does it make sense to me? I have to admit, no, it doesn't make sense. This is not the way my mind thinks.
But I know it's right because it's here in the Word of God. God has said we have to accept it.
I think there's another thing that he is quite interesting that.
It says is it removes all prey for me, my salvation.
We have.
Reservation for rain later on this morning.
And I want to draw an umbrella for me after meeting about maybe head outside and I really get drenched. And I was the only one to drive. I'd say, well, at least I had enough sense to bring on it. It's not that way. It was salvation. You'll never be able to say, well, at least I had no sense. Accept the offer.
They're lost didn't know it's the gift of God. You have faith for instruction. First of all, that has been right now and it's like it's been called and predestinated and even paid for trusting in this particular thought so.
I can't come.
With any take any credit whatsoever.
All the work of God. So I like the change there pretty well.
Responsibility.
My responsibility to that.
No credit. I can't claim one. I need their credit.
Just go back to that verse 15 of Mark 16 at.
Was mentioning it says glory to all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. God does not have favorites in this world.
And so the gospel is a message to everyone. We are responsible to preach it not just to the the elect or the predestinated, but judiciary, because God wishes that all men will be saved.
And come to the knowledge of the truth, if they go to the last eternity, you will be by because of their own responsibility that happened injected the offer.
This leads us nicely into our next question.
I know it's always good to give the gospel.
But there is this person I've given the gospel to and pray for for almost three years, and I've heard some brothers say that God has chosen us Christians ahead of time. Does this mean he may never get saved? What's the point of hurting myself emotionally over and over?
There's there's some verses. Let's look at Matthew 16.
And verse 24.
Then Jesus said unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
There's several other verses similar to that.
When you go into all the world and preach the gospel.
You need to take up your cross. There's going to be disappointments.
It's going to be difficulties. You're going to get hurt emotionally, you'll get hurt.
But take up your cross and follow the Lord Jesus. Don't. Don't give up.
They don't expect that you yourself are going to accomplish the whole work with that person.
00:20:01
We have we read that one one shows another waters, but it's God that gives the increase. Your job may just be to plant that seed. Years later that seed made germinate and they that person may be saved.
But so don't think that your your efforts are useless. Continue to pray for your friends.
I have a friend that I have had since junior high school.
And we've been pretty close. We used to go fishing together.
But after?
Graduated from high school, he turned more, which of course was.
A tremendous disappointment to me and I continued to pray for him until this day.
Almost 60 years later.
And I tried to follow up once in a while.
So far I've not seen religion pretty hard. I'd like to read the verse in.
Two or three verses of first Timothy chapter 2 which gives you to understand that.
And here it says the question says, what's the point of hurting myself emotionally? Just think of this young person how God hurts.
When he sees somebody determined to go to a lost eternity, God hurts. And so if you hurt, just think of this, that you're in fellowship with God about these matters. Yeah, it hurts.
But look at this in First Timothy chapter 2.
First verse.
I absorbed, therefore, that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made.
For all men, not just for a certain.
Percentage for kings.
And for all veteran authorities that we might need a quiet and peaceable life and all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have notice this, oh man, to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. I I find that very helpful to see.
Give on personary and prayer.
When you pray for something, you say, well, maybe we have to persuade God. That's not the point. God has a lot more desire that that person gets saved than you do. But in pray that way we come into fellowship with God. And I love to think about that. I don't have to persuade him, but God wants me to feel as he does.
So if you heard, remember.
God heard the Spirit.
Just a few more verses in Isaiah 55, verse eight says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my way, you said to the Lord, whereas the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts and your thoughts were as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, do not return there, but water the earth and make it bring forth the bud, make it spring forth the bud that it may give seed into the to the sower.
And bread to the eater so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth shall not return any void I usually we stop there because that's we like that right We like the thought of fruit and in our minds what fruit is is that when we get the gospel, somebody is going to get saved. So we have to remember we're dealing with God, a sovereign God and we have to leave all this with him. So the next part of this verse says but.
Accomplish what I please, what God pleases. We don't know where that person is at and the fact that God is bringing him.
And it shall prosper in the things. The thing for which I sent it. That's God.
Just do what God has told us to do, to give the gospel, and then leave everything else to Him. He is God.
The first to go along with that show you can carry everything else to him is in Genesis chapter 18.
00:25:13
Many of them how we're doing this the end of verse 25 shall not the judge of all the earth do right and you can have that confidence company.
My answer to this would be don't give up.
Three years for a long time.
And he was not saved and he was.
He asked that I'm not saying no. He's pray for my name many times in the assembly term meeting.
And pray for thy name, I suppose, in every verb the gospel that he had.
Grew up in the Navy and the merchant marine. Sailed the 70s.
And his family moved to the West Coast West.
And he was not saying.
And one day, his uncle was still going back and.
Got a phone call at 4:00 in the morning.
His boys dad, I said.
Harold.
And three or I don't know how many years.
He said yeah.
Yeah. So I'd say don't give up.
I'm sure that Father pray for the joy every day.
Or I prefer wow.
Our next question.
How did God speak to people in the Old Testament?
And how does he speak us speak to us today?
I think God spoke to people in the Old Testament in many different ways.
With that of the need if you came down and walked in the garden and he helped with that and he.
Talk to Moses in a burning Bush.
He communicated.
With Moses in the in the wilderness.
The priest head of Europe.
Different ways the the deep gold and eat buds.
Sometimes there are visions.
And there are other ways that God spoke to his people.
Today we have the written word of God. God speaks to us through His words and it's and it's through the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you want to communicate with God.
You speak to him, he speaks to you.
You read the word of God. God is speaking to you.
You pray you are speaking to God and you can develop a relationship with God as your Father through reading and praying.
Chapter One.
God, who had sundry times, and died for the manner, spake in time past unto the Father by the prophets, and half of these last days spoken unto us by His Son, to whom He had appointed air of all things, by whom also He made the world.
7.
00:30:18
That's good.
A lot has spoken to us by His Son. Very nice Hebrews chapter 12, verse 25. He tells us that He now speaks to us from heaven.
And that is still by his Son. But these are those things that we have in the Word of God, I think.
The Lord Jesus said before he went up to heaven, his.
But she cannot bear them now until you send it up on high, he said. The Holy Spirit down.
Doing dwelling so that we could hear those things, and then he spoke them through the apostles and prophets. We have them all in the word of God.
And Paul says in Colossians chapter one that it was given up, given to him that built up the word of God. All that revelation from God is to the church and the Christian doctrine that we needed.
But couldn't receive until the Holy Spirit was sent down. So it's given through those men, through the apostles and prophets, the foundation of the church, and now we have it in the Word of God.
And there is nothing left to complete that. So when Paul writes to the Thessalonians, he says First Thessalonians chapter 2.
Turn into a verse there.
He says in verse 13 for this cause also thankfully God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God which he heard of us, he received it not as the word of man, but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you the police. And so this is how God speaks to us today.
Let's do his work.
That isn't to deny that.
He may leave us by His Spirit.
He does. We're all led by the Spirit of God.
Those that are led by the Spirit of God and the sons of God. He tells us from the date every one of us who is his Son of God is.
Led by His Spirit. And so the Spirit of God is leading us along day by day.
And in that sense God speaks to us, but it's always consistent with the word of thought is generally through the Word of God. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth. And as the Lord Jesus said in John 17, thy word is truth. You never see the Spirit of God except for the Word of God. And so God speaks us to us today by His Spirit and through His Word.
And those other things that would pretend to be from God.
Are not from God at all. This is how he does it.
Let's look at Psalm 19 just a minute there, because I think we see two ways that God speaks and I.
The emphasis on the written Word of God that we have now because there's no way we can say we're not responsible when they have His word in our hands.
God has His testimony in another way as well. We have it in Psalm 19. Notice the first verses from 1:00 to 6:00 is talking about creation. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament should His handiwork day unto day uttereth speech.
And night of tonight, show us knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
So here it shows that.
The creation is a very powerful testimony, and God uses that to speak.
00:35:00
Then you come down to verse seven and we have those verses that speak the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise and simple, and it goes on from there. But it's about this written word and that's so important as well. So God has his way of speaking.
To me it's very interesting if you go over to the book of Romans, chapter 10.
And is speaking there about the gospel that we preach and.
Notice it says in verse 13, Whosoever shall fall upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they fall on him, and whom they have not believed? How shall they believe on him in whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a creature? How shall they preach, except they descend as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring.
Glad knightings a good things, but they have not all obeyed the gospel.
Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard?
And notice this quote is from Psalm 19. It is verily their sound went into all the earth, and it's the testimony of creation that was speaking about it. So God is not limited in His testimony. You think of people who have never seen the written word of God.
Are they responsible to? Yes, because of the testimony they received in creation. So I think it's just helpful to see that detail there. Think those verses are good too, Bob, because how do people hear from God today?
They need a preacher. We have a lot of preachers in this room today. You're a servant of God, you.
People are going to hear the words for you, your friends, your Christians, you other Christians who can share the word of God with them too. You can can share together the word of God and it speaks to one another through Psalm 10 spiritual songs and and your communication. But I the back in Hebrews chapter 12, there's another verse.
This shows how God speaks to us.
At least this is how God spoke to me several times.
Hebrews 12, verse six. For whom the Lord loves, He chastened, and encourages every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chases not?
Before I was saved.
Was that the gospel thing with Mr. Berry? And he took some of us down to the stream to go swimming, and I drove off the rocks out into the water, But I didn't die about far enough, and I landed on the rocks below and split my head open and injured my neck.
Later that they took me to the hospital and on the way Mr. Barry asked me, Sam, if you had died and drowned there in this accident, would you have gone to heaven? When I lied to him and I said yes.
Then he dropped me off at my house and my dad got in the car and drove me to the hospital and Dad asked me the same questions. Tim, if you, if you had died, you would be gone to heaven. I lied again.
Later that summer, Mr. Berry was speaking in the Gospel.
And I made sure I got saved that night.
So God speaks to us through experiences in our life and accidents.
In in so many other ways.
And then later in life, yes, I was saved. The Lord had my soul, but He didn't really have my heart.
He didn't have my lordship.
And I had a motorcycle accident.
North School Board.
And that motorcycle accident, I was driving along 65 miles an hour and the car hit me and I rolled down the highway.
We get small streets up.
I didn't listen.
Bought a bigger motorcycle so the cars could see me.
Then ten years later, I had a football accident and I broke my neck.
00:40:01
I didn't know it was broken so many years later, but it was hurting so bad I went and had some X-rays. In the end it was broken. I didn't listen.
Then I had a car accident. I was hurrying home to take two Ruger to the up to the airport.
Stupid now.
And I missed the stop sign and ran into broadside into the side of an onion truck and they took me out on a stretcher, took me to the hospital unconscious. The Lord spoke 1/3 a time.
The Lord speaks once, His voice give man heareth it not. Sometimes the Lord uses some tragedies in our lives to waken us up. We don't listen. Being tested do it again and again. So you also, I know many of you have had experiences, daughters talking to you. He wants to wake you up. He wants you to follow Him, to take up your cross.
And follow Jesus.
Appreciate the clarification and correction.
What I said the Lord certainly speaks other ways. I guess I was thinking too though that it might be in this question.
Glad that the Lord speaks and.
Revelation today because many people do claim that I don't know if that was in the mind who who asked the question but there are those claiming to be prophets today to speak fresh revelation from God and.
That would be false, so it tells us in Ephesians 2.
And in verse 20 that we are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
That was the foundation we're built on, that the foundations laid. We have it, the word of God and to add to this word as to the mind of God.
In Revelation is a work of the Savior. I don't know if that's in the question or not there.
Can also speak through the conscience. Especially the conscience is exercised by the Word of God.
Our next question.
Why did Jesus need to pray to God when he was in constant fellowship with him?
Lord Jesus said he was always in the bosom of the Father.
As a man.
He was dependent and subject to God his Father.
And so he took time to communicate with this father, with father, father.
And then a nice example for us.
I think that's beautiful to see that the Lord Jesus was.
God and very man, and every sense of the Word and.
Mass place is to be dependent and obedient.
Since he was a real man, he was dependent and obedient. Dependent.
00:45:09
Because God has all power, obedient, because God has all authority. And so he gave us the example of what a man is to be. And you see him in prayer. So it's beautiful to think of prayer. Sometimes we think we have to pray.
Let's think of it. It's a privilege to pray.
Just think.
I sometimes think I have a particular place in my house where I go to break.
And I hear down there.
And sometimes I think I'm not just coming into this place in my house.
By faith, I'm going right into the very presence of God.
To the throne of grace.
Think of the millions upon millions of angels that surround that throne.
When I go there, those angels have to open their ranks to let them go right into the presence of God. Now that is privilege of the highest story. Oh, young people counted a privilege.
To pray, we need to pray, yes, but let's think of it not as a constraint, but as a privilege.
A verse we should give is First Thessalonians chapter 5.
Verse 17.
Pray without ceasing.
Here's the brother. Tim, do you do this?
You don't give up.
Let us see what we have to be on our knees all the time, doesn't that?
By driving down the.
Freeway.
And I don't close my eyes.
I hope you don't either.
He's right next.
And you cultivate conversation with him. What would you think? Your brother and you see my wife.
Going to be next month. 47 years married. But you say that she talks to me quite often. I don't pay any attention to her. I say a healthy relationship.
Oh, something's wrong there.
The Lord is right next to us.
Do it for tonight, fellowship with him. Take time. Lord is just so great to know that you're right beside me, that you're helping me every step of the way. I just don't feel able for what's I had today. But you're with me and you have all wisdom. Help me just to converse in your heart. You don't even have to say it with your lips.
But cultivate fellowship with him.
Pray without ceasing.
So it sends in this question.
It has to do with.
More with how that the Lord Jesus needs to do that.
That he was in constant fellowship with God. And I think that's what brothers tried to answer. I don't think there is another answer. This is the mystery of the incarnation and this is something that we can go beyond avoidance.
The point of what's revealed in the scriptures in our mind, we.
Just have to leave it, don't we? How the Lord Jesus.
00:50:04
As man.
Would have to be in that place of dependence and obedience.
When he was at the same time the sustainer and a holder of all things.
That's just a divine mystery of the incarnation. We tend to come and we wonder about things like this, but and it and it's not a terrible thing to do, but we have to understand that we can't go beyond what is right. And if we do that, we're going to get into trouble.
So the Lord Jesus is the one who was walking here on earth and in John three and John One has sent us up there and put him to mention that that he was in the bosom of the Father. How do you understand?
At 1:00, at the same time he was in the bosom of the Father.
We can understand that nothing like who we are, and yet he was holy man as we are.
And John chapter three, he says no man have to send it up into heaven. See the Son of Man who is in heaven.
Was great dead at one at the same time in heaven.
These are things we just read and we can't go beyond in our minds.
We understand that the Lord Jesus was in cause of fellowship with God, and there he was in perfect dependence. He prayed the whole night.
How often he did that.
And we read that and we understand, as it said, it's an example for us.
And it was perfection in him.
To go beyond.
Its only grounds fair for us to stop and worship.
Next question.
What is the person praying say Amen if it is meant for agreement?
Well, in the Lord was teaching his disciples to pray the Lord's Prayer. Let's look at that in.
Matthew 619. Matthew 6.
And verse started verse 9.
After this matter, therefore pray. The Lord is teaching them how to pray. He's not teaching them what to pray, but how to pray. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name psychings, and come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day Our Daily Bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, and lead us on to temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom and the power of the glory forever.
Amen. The Lord Jesus said Amen at the end of his prayer.
He agrees with his prayer and and the word Amen means it is true.
And I agree with you.
When we're praying in the assembly.
The brothers praying.
He should say Amen.
But not only him.
But you should say Amen. But I'm a sister. You should say Amen. You're a sister. You are a member of the body of Christ. And that brother in the assembly is praying on behalf collectively of everybody in the assembly. And so if you are sleeping or you're not paying attention.
You don't say many, but you're awake and you're listening and you agree. You say Amen. All the people said Amen. And so we have that in the First Corinthians chapter 14.
00:55:11
And everyone, let's start at verse 15 of the 1St 14. He's talking about friends.
If I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the Spirit. I will sing with the understanding also. Else when thou shalt bless with the Spirit, how shall he that occupy at the room of the unlearned, and say Amen as I giving you thanks?
Seeing he understands not what you are saying. So this is talking about a prayer in the assembly.
Somebody comes in and they hear the prayer, they want to say Amen, but if they don't understand what you're saying, how can they say Amen? So it's assuming here that everybody is saying Amen at the end of the prayer. And so when when a brother praying here in this room at the end, you should hear a chorus of.
In Nehemiah, Jacqueline.
By he says, an editor over the book, in the sight of all the people where he was above all the people when he opened it, all the people stood up and entered across the Lord and great God and some of the people answered Amen, Amen. Well, to follow along. He doesn't say that. He says in all the people answered Amen, Amen. So it's good to say Amen prayers.
For an agreement to the Lord.
Nehemiah, Jeffrey.
35 and six.
Spend any extra time on this foot. Meet a lot of pimples.
Finished with e-mail this week. A couple of weeks. No concern to its highest 3/15.
All the with the region, the level of community based with you all. Amen.
We are leaving the grace of our ordinances with your Spirit. Amen.
Just give me one more.
And the first year these one another with the shifts and charities with you all.
Tell our country.
I think the difficulty here might be in the premise of the question.
Question seems to be suggesting that again the entire break, and I don't believe that's the meaning of Amen.
I think it means so lead.
So when we say it, it's an emphasis, so let it be.
And that's why the person who says it or the end of the epistles.
They have a net and then of course, if we agree with what was said, then we can also say so that it can and then there's agreement.
So it isn't men before agreement necessarily or only it's meant to express. So let it be. And that if we go and say Amen along with the person who expressed it, then we're showing that we have great.
I remember.
And I think we went back and say Amen, I wish to say.
Is the private conversation mentioned that?
You know, encouraging for the younger ones to pray if they heard a rousing. Amen.
I don't know how to go. Finally looked up the courage, the Gray in the public way. It's wonderful to hear those old friends saying Amen.
Really encouraging. So I would encourage everyone.
I'm just wishfully and.
It was heard rousing Amen as one of the year.
We could practice.
Everybody together say Amen.
Amen.
01:00:06
The time is up.
We're seeing the last two verses of #39.
And.
#8.
The last line is Amen.
God their Father needs with certainty acknowledgement, greatness in glory, and say Amen to it many times over. We just think of.
01:05:02
How wonderful it is that thou has given us life. I know well chosen that we should see that greatness and glory to see the Lord Jesus and all of his loveliness and.
Be associated with Him for all eternity. We thank Thee so much for these things. Thank you for Thy word. We have to consider something of it this morning and we just look to do for the remainder of this day. We ask for that protection and care and health through today for all the laborers, all the activities and participating that each one of us would be much encouraged and blessed.
This time together.
To not forgetful of them. Anyway, I thought we just asked this and thank you once more for this time and even the Lord Jesus we pray.
Moral Lessons from Prophecy
Address—Josh Stewart
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
And often I think of prophecy is maybe a dry subject and umm, I understand why that is, but I want to tell you something.
I believe the Lord used prophecy in my life to touch my heart and it was.
It was really prophecy that drew me as a believer deeper into God's Word. I still remember where I was. I was in my office at work. I think there was actually someone sitting a few feet away from me. I was reading. I was reading my Bible at lunchtime.
I was reading in the prophet Hosea.
And I read something in the prophet Hosea that touched my heart, and I want to share that at the end of this meeting. Maybe it's the last point. I'll try to make sure we budget time to to get to it. It was something in prophecy that touched my heart, and it was something that the Lord used to draw me into a deeper study of the Word of God.
And I can say stand here and say that I don't find prophecy as a dry subject at all.
We had a the first question and answer meeting. We took up the question Why study prophecy?
And there was many reasons that were given, and I wholeheartedly agree with all of those reasons that were given. So I would just encourage each one of you to take out the study of prophecy.
That's what prophecy is. The world is dark and obscure. There are lots of things happening.
That are very hard to understand, but prophecy shines a light and causes us to see things as God sees them.
We see many things in this world, we look into prophecy and we see where those things are going to end, and it helps us to know how to Live Today.
It goes on to say, until the day dawn and the day start arise in your hearts.
And you know, we have much more than prophecy. We have the full light of the New Testament revealed.
And that light is so much greater it, it swallows up the light of prophecy. It's like having a flashlight. Maybe children have used the flashlight here at camp. It's so important to have that flashlight as you're finding a way from maybe the bathhouse back to your tent. But then when the day dawns, the, the superior light of the sun, uh, just overwhelms it. Well, we have the full revelation of the New Testament.
But prophecy is still important.
And that will, that lamp of prophecy can still is still used by God to illuminate things around us.
While we wait for the Lord to come.
And so I would just like to again, look at a few lessons. These are, this list is not exhaustive. There are so many things we can learn, but I just want to look at a few that have really impressed me. I have put together some slides that I hope will help For many of these, I really didn't need slides, but there's a few charts, so I thought I'd make a slide for each, uh.
For each point. So the first point I would like to speak about is something that was already previously covered and that is God's eternal purpose, Ephesians chapter one. So let's just turn over there. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this point, although I will say this, I believe it's the most important point.
Ephesians, chapter one.
Verse 9.
Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to the good pleasure that He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ.
Both which are in heaven and which are on earth. Even in Him this verse is we've we've had explained to us before gives us God's eternal gusts.
You know, it is amazing that this verse is hands.
It is amazing that God has told us His great, eternal purpose. How many of you have been on a team, maybe playing a sport that you weren't familiar with, and you've gotten a little bit confused about what the goal of the game was?
It's a bit of an uncomfortable feeling because you're working, but everyone else seems to know what's going on and you feel a little bit lost, a little bit confused. You know, God doesn't want us to be like that as Christians. He doesn't want us to be working and serving without understanding the big picture, without understanding the goal, the big purpose that he's working toward. So he has given this, this.
00:05:24
Tremendous revelation that God, that his purpose.
A purpose that he had before the foundation of the world.
Was that he was going to glorify Christ, to gather together in one to head up all things in Christ and heaven and an earth. God's goal of all that he's doing, of all that he's done, it's all working towards this one singular purpose to glorify his Son.
And we look at, when we look at prophecy, we see the steps that God is going to take to accomplish that purpose.
The lesson?
The lesson that we learn.
From that I believe is that it is all about Christ. He's the center of God's purpose. It's all about him. And that is so practical. You know, we tend to be so selfish. We focus on ourselves. Umm, and I speak for myself not as one who has learned this lesson, but one who's learning it but.
You know, if God's purpose is to glorify His Son, then that should be our purpose as well. In every decision we make, in every action we take. It really should be.
How can this bring glory to Christ?
It, it, it affects every area of our life, what we do with our job, what we do with our time, what we do the minute we get up from this meeting, you know, do I go up to a person that I really enjoy having a conversation with?
Because it makes me feel good.
Or do I follow the impulses of the Spirit of God?
To maybe engage in a conversation with someone that maybe needs encouragement. Maybe I don't enjoy speaking to them, but maybe it's something the Lord that would bring the Lord glory. You know, it affects every detail of our life. So young people, understand the big picture, understand God's eternal purpose and have that affect your life.
The next thing I want to speak about is the return of Christ. Let's look over for a verse in second Peter. This this ties in a little bit with what umm, our brother spoke on yesterday evening.
You know, the return of Christ is something that has been spoken about from the very earliest chapters of the Bible.
The return of Christ was spoken about by Enoch.
We're gonna read that prophecy in just a minute.
God has been speaking.
Since the beginning of man's history here in this world that Christ is coming to judge.
This is something that the world categorically rejects. Let's just read a verse here in the second P Second Peter 3.
And verse, uh, let's, let's read from verse 3.
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
This is what we're seeing around us. We see a world that's full of people, and many of them are scoffers like the ones we read about here in this verse that say, where is the promise of this coming?
They doubt the fact that God is coming back to judge sin. They think that the party is just going to continue.
But it's not going to continue.
It is guaranteed.
That one day Christ is going to return and is going to return in judgment. Let's just jump over to June to that prophecy I referenced. The 14th verse gives us the prophecy of Enoch.
And Enoch also the 7th from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his Saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all of their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their heart speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
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It's a reality. It's a reality. Christ is coming and he is going to judge evil. And so prophecy is like a light that shines in a dark place, and it shows us the end of all things around us.
I have to speak for myself that my heart in the flesh goes out after the things that the world has to offer.
The great things in this world.
The institutions of man, the successes of man, the inventions of man, you know, the pride of man is is incredible.
But when we look into prophecy, we see that Christ is coming and he's going to judge all of that. That great image of Nebuchadnezzar with the head of gold, the chest and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet of iron mixed with clay. When Christ comes, he is that stone cut out without hands that smashes the image on its feet and the whole thing.
Comes crumbling down this whole thing that the gentile.
Mind has developed all of this.
Tremendous prosperity.
All of them.
All of it mixed up with sin and corruption and self glorification. This whole thing is going to come crashing down. You know, I, I think about this is very practical.
You know, are we looking for places of power here in this world? Are we looking for places of prestige? Are we looking for rewards that this world would have to offer? Remember that golden chain that belt Shazzer offered to Daniel in chapter 5? Did Daniel want that golden chain? No, because he had just prophesied that the end of that Kingdom would take place that night.
The end of this world is right around the corner.
Why are we going after those things?
That pertain to this world. It is all gonna come under judgment and so prophecy in this way I believe.
Causes us.
To remain separate from those things because we know that Christ is coming.
All right, the next one.
We're gonna jump now to the Old Testament.
We're going to go to Isaiah chapter 18.
Isaiah chapter 18.
This is, uh, an extremely interesting chapter in prophecy.
Going to try not to spend too much time on the details, although I find them quite interesting.
Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
Translated the rivers of Kush, that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying doggy, swift messengers to a nation scattered and peeled to a people terrible from their beginning. Thereto the nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled.
So what we have in this verse?
It's a prophecy in connection with a land shadowing with wings beyond the rivers of Kush. What I have on the, on the slide here is a map of, of the world focusing on the Middle East. And uh, I have Israel highlighted. I don't know if you can see that. And then I have umm, outlined what I believe are the rivers of Kush. The rivers of Kush would, would be those rivers where the descendants of Kush settled.
In Genesis chapter 10 we read about Kush, who is I believe the son of Ham and his descendants settled in these areas largely along the Euphrates River and along the Nile River.
And these two rivers are referred to twice in uh, in the verses we just read, it says whose land the rivers have spoiled Israel's enemies and the great empires that came, they came in contact with in the Old Testament.
Had to do with these rivers whether it was Egypt located on the Nile, whether it was Babylon on the Euphrates or Assyria on the TI on the Tigris river, which is very close to the Euphrates.
And the prophet Isaiah is speaking to a land that is beyond or outside of the rivers of Kush. Israel was intimately familiar with those rivers and everything inside it. But there was some great political power that's unnamed in the book of Isaiah beyond the rivers of Kush, and we believe by comparing other scriptures.
00:15:14
That this great power is what we call the beast.
Roman Empire outside the rivers of Kush.
And.
It says here the land shadowing with wings.
And so the picture of, uh.
Of shadowing with wings is the idea of protection, and what is happening in this chapter is there is a warning that this land beyond the rivers of Kush is going to come in and try to shelter the land of Israel from the judgment of God.
Like a great bird spreading out its wings.
God has a controversy with Israel, and in prophecy what we have is a time of great judgment that's going to fall on all the world, but especially on the nation of Israel.
It is God's judgment, his government on them.
For their idolatry, for breaking the law, but especially for rejecting the Savior, their Messiah.
And now we have an outside power.
The revised Roman Empire, the land shadowing with wings that comes in that says.
Do you have a problem?
I can protect you from this problem. Israel has a great problem in prophecy. There's a great power to the north and to the east of them that is looking to destroy them.
And they have this problem. And what that is, is it's God's judgment on Israel. And this land comes in and says, I can protect you from that.
What we find in this chapter is an outside power that steps in to intervene in God's discipline over Israel.
This presents to us a powerful moral lesson.
Woe be to those who interfere with God's discipline. We we had earlier, I think it was today maybe in the Q&A, that God is speaking to us through chastening. God is working in our lives through discipline.
That's one of the ways. Thankfully, it's not the only way.
And so often when that happens what what I wanna do is get help from under that in any way I can.
Take the shortcut rather than learn what God is seeking to teach me. But the way to blessing is through that chastening, not getting out of it.
And the same applies when it comes to others. God is working in the lives of others as well, and He is chastening, He is disciplining, He is allowing things to come into the lives of others. And woe be to us if we interfere in what God is doing.
And so you might have a parent.
Who is disciplining her child?
And maybe you think, man, that poor child, I'm just going to go over and comfort them. They seem so sad. It's so sad that they're crying or whatever because they've been disciplined. Let me go over and comfort them. And we think that we're doing the right thing, but what we're really doing is interfering in the work of those parents and disciplining their child.
We might have a similar situation in the assembly where someone is under discipline.
Of some form of discipline. And we we might think it's so harsh. I'm just, I just wanna go in and make them feel better.
And so we step in. We shadow with winds.
And we think that we're doing the right thing.
But what we're doing is we're only making the situation worse. And so whether it's in our life or in the lives of others, we need to realize that God is doing a work.
And the warning is not to interfere with his discipline. This is a point I, I, I got from my brother, Wayne Coleman, uh, really, uh, appreciated it and it really spoke to me.
This shadowing with wings that takes place between the beast and Israel, I think it takes the form of a covenant.
With Israel, we're gonna talk about that on the next, uh, on the next point, there is a covenant between, uh, the beast and Israel. So let's look at Daniel Chapter 9 and verse 27.
00:20:06
I, I hope that, uh, going over some of these points.
Isn't going to be too confusing because we don't.
Uh, have all the details that come in between, but I trust you'll be able to follow along. And even if it's somewhat disjointed, you'll be able to take the, the lessons as we, as we go along.
Daniel Chapter 9 is uh, has been has been called by many of the backbone of prophecy and it uh, truly is one of the most important chapters in prophecy.
But in verse 27 it says, And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.
That's all I'm gonna read because to get into more would just take too much time.
But umm, the heat in verse 27 is the leader of the revived Roman Empire and many in this verse or the many refers to Israel. So the leader of the revived Roman Empire is going to make a covenant with Israel. So we have this confederacy of nations we find elsewhere. It's a 10 nation confederacy.
We call it sometimes the revived Roman Empire. It's made-up primarily of of Western Europe.
And allies.
And there's a covenant between.
The beast in Israel.
There are other scriptures we could turn to, but I believe the covenant really has to do with protection. We saw the over spreading of wings, the sheltering with wings. It has to do with protection, perhaps military protection. I don't know that we can be 100% certain, but in exchange for money, I think there are verses that would show perhaps that there is, uh, military protection exchange for, for, uh, financial.
Resources.
It's a covenant that the leader of the revived Roman Empire makes with Israel, and is a covenant that Israel begins to trust in.
I mentioned already that there's a a great enemy of Israel to the north and to the east called the king of the north in Daniel Chapter 11. That's the great threat to Israel, and this covenant provides protection to Israel from this great threat.
But it's a horrible covenant because it's made in opposition to God. And so let's look now at Isaiah.
Chapter 28.
This is what God thinks of that covenant.
Isaiah chapter 28.
And verse 14.
Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people, which is in Jerusalem, because he has said we have made a covenant with death and with hell. Are we at agreement? You see, they think they've, they've made a good decision to enter into this covenant.
To make this covenant. But the Lord says you've made a covenant with death and with hell. You're in agreement.
They said when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us. That overflowing scourge is the king of the north who's gonna descend and sweep down through the land of Israel. They say when it comes through, it's not gonna touch us because we've got a covenant, we've got an agreement, and the beast is gonna protect us.
For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
This is God's alternative.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.
He that believeth shall not make haste.
Trust in Christ, that is God's alternative.
And they see this threat gathering like storm clouds.
To the north and to the east.
And their solution is to make a covenant.
An evil covenant to man for protection rather than trust God, and God says trust me.
What are they going to do?
Well, there are two parts to Israel and prophecy. There is the the the majority of the nation, which sometimes we call it the apostate nation of Israel, but there's also a remnant. There's also a chosen elect group of individuals whose heart, whose hearts God have has touched. He's given them life and they will indeed.
00:25:23
Do what the Lord says here. They're going to put their trust.
They're going to believe on him and they're not gonna put their trust in that covenant, but the majority of the nation will.
Do you think that covenant is going to protect them?
Henry, what do you think?
Nope, you got it exactly. The verse goes on to say judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet. And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be dis annulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When the overflowing skirt shall pass through, ye shall be trodden down by it.
And that is exactly what is going to happen. The overflowing schedule sweep down through the land of Israel, unleashing a horrible judgment of God.
On that nation of Israel, millions perhaps will be killed. Blood will be shed like water.
And Israel.
Will will face, uh, their most serious defeat.
And their land will be desolated.
Well, what is the lesson from all of this that we can take for ourselves? Trust the Lord. He is begging us to put our trust in him. You know, man has so many things to offer you. And he says, look, look to me.
But it's a trick. And our brother spoke on this last night. Who are you going to trust? Are you going to trust man? Are you going to trust the God who created this world, the God who sent his son?
To die on the cross, to save you from your sins. Who are you going to trust? This is the lesson Israel is going to learn, and this is the lesson that we need to learn in our lives as well.
The the next thing I wanna look at is the rise of Antichrist. Let's, uh, just jump right over to Matthew.
Matthew, Chapter 12.
In John 5, the Lord Jesus said to the Jews.
He said I have come in my father's name and you have not received me. Another will come in his own name and him you will receive. He was speaking about Antichrist.
Well, without getting into too much detail, Antichrist is a very prominent figure in prophecy. Antichrist is.
Also called the False Prophet in the Book of Revelation and he leads a huge system of false idolatrous worship.
And he also poses as the false king of Israel.
Antichrist is part of God's judgment on Israel for rejecting the true Christ.
So I just wanted to look at some verses in Matthew chapter 12.
And verse 43, before I read this, just for a little bit of background, in Matthew chapter 12, we have the formal rejection of Christ by the nation of Israel. And so the Lord goes on to say this.
When the unclean spirit has gone out of the man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return to my house from whence I came out. And when he has come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they endure in and dwell there in. The last state of that man is worse than the 1St.
Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
Lord Jesus here is giving a prophecy. He's speaking about Israel and he says they're like.
A man.
Who has just been relieved?
Of an evil spirit that was indwelling.
And I believe what the Lord is referring to is Israel after the captivity, after they return from being taken captive. Israel was possessed with an evil spirit of idolatry.
00:30:05
That was the reason why they were taking captive in the first place.
But when Israel was taken captive and then God brought a remnant back to Israel, they did not take up a gun with idolatry. We do not read of idolatry being practiced in Israel after the return. But you know what?
The state of Israel, after they were done with idolatry, was like a house that is empty, swept and garnished.
And when the Lord Jesus came.
They did not receive him.
They left the house empty.
And because they left the house empty, the Lord says.
That that spirit is going to come back. Idolatry is going to come back to Israel in the Tribulation period, but it's not going to come back alone. It is going to come back like this demon with seven other demons.
And the last state of that man is worse than the 1St.
Idolatry will come back to Israel, but it'll be far worse. It won't be the worship of Bale or one of these other false deities. It will be the worship of a man. A man.
Who sets himself up in the place of God?
An Antichrist is going to lead that worship, sit himself down in the temple of God.
And this is viewed as the judgment of God on Israel.
How could it get this bad?
How could things get this bad in Israel?
It's because they left the house empty, swept and garnished.
They rejected Christ as they did in Matthew chapter 12, and that is why Antichrist will rise up.
The lesson I would like to bring from this is simply this.
You and I.
Have things in our lives.
And by the grace of God, maybe through his chastening, as with Israel, those things are put out of our lives.
Maybe we have a problem with something, maybe it's an addiction, maybe it's a an unhealthy habit and somehow we're able to put that out of our lives. It leaves a void. What is going to fill that void?
We need to fill that void with Christ, just as Israel without idolatry needed to receive their Messiah. But because they did not fill that void with Christ, it was filled with something.
Satanic.
We need to fill the voids in our lives with Christ. You know, it's important that we put out what's evil. It's important that we take those things out of our life that are wrong.
But it's just as important that we fill that void with Christ.
If we don't, that thing is gonna come back in an even worse form.
So I I I trust the point is made.
The next lesson I wanna speak about has to do with the nation of Edom.
You know, all of the old enemies of Israel. We find them again in prophecy. We find the land of Eden, we find Moab, we find Ammon, we find Philistia. We find all of these nations that surrounded Israel in the Old Testament. We find them once again in prophecy.
And each of these different lands, these these different peoples, they had a particular character to them. And we see that character throughout scripture.
But one solemn example is that of Edom.
Edom is the is the people of Esau, the the brother of Jacob.
And if you trace the history of Esau and his people through the Word of God, you will find that they're characterized by hatred, by envy, and by bitterness toward their brother Jacob.
All the way through.
The Book of Obadiah takes up.
The land of Edom, and takes up the judgment of Edom.
And we find an Obadiah that God gave Eden many chances.
00:35:00
Many chances to judge that sin of bitterness, hatred, envy, whatever you want to call it. But they did not. They did not take that opportunity. They continued in that Obradiah verse one, the vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom.
So it's about Edom. The whole book is about Edom. Verse 12.
But thou shouldst not have looked on the day of thy brother, in the day that he became a stranger. Neither shouldst thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, neither should the thou have spoken proudly.
In the day of their distress.
Slicker Verse 15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee. Thy reward shall return on thine own head. And then verse 18 The House of Jacob shall be afire.
And the House of Joseph aflame, and the House of Esau for stubble. And they shall kindle in them and devour them. And there shall not be any remaining of the House of Edom, for the Lord hath spoken it.
The lesson that I.
I take from this is that we must judge the roots of sin in our lives particularly.
The root of malice. You know, Paul in First Corinthians 5 speaks of the leaven of malice.
MMM bad thoughts towards others. If we don't judge that, those bad thoughts turn into feelings of hatred. Maybe we're envious of someone for maybe some success they've had. Maybe something they have that we don't have. That envy turns into bitterness if we don't judge that it grows and grows until it consumes us. You know there are other scriptures that speak in prophecy.
Who will join in the great attack of the, uh, Eastern Confederacy sweeping down through the land of Israel? And the men of Edom are shouting, raise it to the ground as they plow through the temple and destroy it. They are so consumed by their bitterness and their hatred. You know, if you have bitterness in your heart towards someone else.
You need to judge that if you do not judge that if you do not judge that root.
It will take hold and it will consume your life. And there are people whose entire lives have been wasted, sadly.
Their families have been ruined because of that hatred.
Forget, let it go. See your brother or your sister as Christ sees them, realize that that sin that they committed against you, that offense, it's gone. You say, well, they did this to me. That's sin has been taken away by the blood of Christ. You can forgive them.
As God has forgiven you.
Well, the next lesson.
Has to do with the Jewish remnant. I'm just going to speed along here because I would like to get to the end.
We know from Matthew 24.
That the gospel of the Kingdom is going to be preached.
There are gonna be those of Israel especially, I believe, who will take the gospel of the Kingdom.
And who are going to preach it through all the cities of Israel?
It says in Matthew 10 that you will not be through all the cities of Israel until the Son of Man has come. But then it says in Matthew 24.
If they're going to take the gospel of the Kingdom throughout the whole world and preach it to every nation.
Going to take the gospel and they're going to spread it through the whole earth.
These are those of faith. Remember I spoke about the two parts of Israel.
The remnant is what we're talking about now, the faithful remnant of Israel.
But as they go with this gospel throughout the world, we're gonna pass through many places.
Particularly the neighboring countries around Israel, but perhaps many other places as well.
And when we come to Matthew 25, we find that the Lord is going to.
One of the first things he's going to do when he sets up his Kingdom.
She's going to deal with the nations.
Of the world.
00:40:01
Matthew 25, verse 31.
When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them from one another.
As a shepherd divided his sheep from his goats.
So the Lord is going to have his throne here in this world. He's going to establish it, and then he's going to gather all living gentiles who haven't been killed in some of the other judgments of the tribulation. He's going to gather all of them before his throne, and he is going to separate them into two classes. He's going to separate them just as a shepherd separates his sheep from his goats. He's going to send the sheep off to his right hand.
He's going to send the goats off to his left hand.
What is the basis on which Christ is going to separate these Gentiles?
It is so solemn.
1St 31St 34 Then shall the King say unto them, on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and he gave me meat. I was thirsty, and he gave me drink. I was a stranger. And he took me in naked. And he called me. I was sick. And he visited me. I was in prison. And he came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger?
Freddie or thirsty, and gave thee drink, when saw we be a stranger, and took the inner naked and clothed thee, Or when saw we thee sick or imprisoned, and came unto thee. Then the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done unto one of the least of these my brethren.
He had done it unto me.
It is the brethren of the King as they went out through the nations. How were they treated?
Were they given a cup of water? Were they visited in prison? Were they shown kindness? That is the basis on which the Lord of Glory, the King on his throne, is going to separate the sheep from the goats.
And as we read, the sheep are going to inherit the Kingdom and.
Horribly. The goats are going to go into hell. Fire to eternal fire. I'm sorry.
I suppose you it's obvious to know the lesson that we can take from this.
The way we treat our brethren is what we think of Christ.
The measure of your love for Christ is how you treat the Lord's people. The apostle John would write and say this.
How can you say you love God?
Whom you cannot seek, if you do not love your brother whom you can see.
Or something like that. I'm not quoting it exactly.
That is the measure.
Of our love for Christ.
I'm just gonna make one brief comment on this next lesson earlier this year.
Few of us took up a study of, uh, the songs. From a prophetic standpoint, I was.
Totally amazed by how much of the songs really are prophetic and in those songs we have expressions of one in suffering and trial, crying out to God for deliverance.
And finding deliverance through it.
And those songs are prophetic of Christ.
But they're also prophetic, prophetic of the Jewish remnant. And what we find, I believe, is that Christ and his earthly pathway passed through circumstances that made him able to sympathize with that remnant. And so those those expressions in some cases are Christ. In some cases they're the remnant, but in many cases they could be both. He felt what they are going to feel.
And if it's true for them, it is no less true for us. We read and the book of Hebrews that Christ is our.
High priest and he is able to sympathize with us.
He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
It's going to move quickly through this next point.
The reuniting of the divided nation of Israel. We know the sad history of Israel, how they were divided in the days of Reabong.
00:45:09
The 10 Tribes and the Two Tribes prophecy speaks a great deal about that, and it speaks about how they're going to be reunited again.
If we had time, I I look at these verses, but I'm just going to skip over them in the Book of Zechariah Chapter 11.
We read of the profit being given to Staffs.
One is called beauty, and we are told that it represents the relationship, the covenant, I should say, between Jehovah and Israel.
And the other is called bands and it represents the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. And God tells Zechariah to break first the staff beauty.
And then to break the staff bands and that was the order of things, Israel went into idolatry. Sadly, it was Solomon that officially brought idolatry.
Into the Kingdom wasn't David, wasn't even Saul. It was Solomon, sad to say it himself, a type of Christ who brought idolatry in.
But it was because of that, it was because of that departure from the Lord, that God divided the two from the 10.
And in prophecy, we we could read the Scriptures, but we won't take the time. There's going to be a work of repentance in Israel. They're going to go back to the root.
And there's going to be an acknowledgment.
That they departed from the Lord and then God is going to heal that old division. He's going to bring those tribes back together and they're going to be established in the Kingdom.
And the lesson that I would like to take from this.
Is simply this.
When there is an estrangement between brethren, when there is a division between brothers, when there are two, who will not look each other eye to eye? Who will not shake hands when there is a division in the assembly?
The reason is not different personalities.
The reason is not.
The particular straw that broke the camel's back there is a deeper reason, and it's because we have departed from the Lord.
There has been a departure in our souls from the Lord. That is the cause.
And that breach will not be healed until we go back to the root of that. If we walked with the Lord, there would not be divisions. There would not be separation. There would not be these heart breaking.
Situations that come among the Lord's people.
And if those things are going to be healed, what we need to do, each one of us.
Now point the finger at each other, point the finger at ourselves. Get back into the Lord's presence, turn to Him and He will mend those divisions. Here is a division. Think of it 3000 years old.
Is God able to heal the division in your assembly?
In your family.
Yes he can. He's gonna heal one that's 3000 years old.
But it's going to require humility.
And repentance. Lastly, the restoration of Israel. This is the one that touched my heart many years ago when I was I don't know.
20 or 21 years old. I can't quite remember how old I was.
We don't know the story of Hosea because our time has gone. I'm just going to suggest that you read it. He was asked by the Lord to do something that was.
Very hard for him and for us to understand. He was asked to marry a harlot and to have children by her.
And the Lord passed him through circumstances so that he could understand the Lord's heart towards Israel and this woman that he married, Domer.
She has three sons. Each of the sons represents some blow to Israel, some defeat, or some captivity that took place. The last one, there's one called Jezreel, one called Lo Ruhama, and then one called Lo am I. The last one is low. Am I call his name? Said God, verse 9. Lo, am I, For ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
00:50:10
That's the state of Israel today. They are not God's people. They are not recognized outwardly as his people in his government. According to the counsels of God, they are still his people. But outwardly today they are in the place of being not just people. This woman Domer, who has these three sons, then abandons Hosea and she goes back after her lovers.
For the cheap price of flaggings of wine.
Read through chapter 2. This is the chapter that really touched my heart. It speaks of all that she has done and all the judgment that's going to come upon her.
And then verse 14.
For no reason.
It says this, Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
And Israel is going to be blessed and brought into tremendous blessing. And at the end of the chapter it says this.
I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy. And I will say unto them, which were not my people, Thou art my people, And they shall say unto me, Thou art my God.
Jose is told to go and to buy this woman back.
She had, she was able to begin with, she was a sinful woman to begin with, and then she abandoned him and ran away again. And the Lord says go back and buy her back.
That is God's love for his people, Israel. He is going to buy them back.
His love for us is no less.
No matter how far we go.
Don't underestimate the heart of God.
The time is gone. We're going to close in prayer.
God and Father, we think of this.
Time we've had, we think of these lessons.
Many of them for our conscience, many of them for our heart.
So just pray that we will take these things.
And they will be made good to our souls. We give thanks for that love, that love unbounded, without measures, without act.
Pray for help through the rest of our evening. In the name of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Session #5
Q&A
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Before we start the questions, I just want to say that we have a lot of questions and thank you for so many good questions. We're going to have to move through them fairly quickly, so we don't want to spend a lot of time on one question.
But we don't want to shortchange.
The question either, so we'll do the best we can to move along.
The first question.
Will anybody be sent alive into hell before the Great White Throne of Justice?
We know from Revelation that.
All the dead, small and great, will be raised up to stand before the Great White Throne.
But the question is about.
Will anybody be thrown into hell before they die?
It would probably be good to distinguish that. Hell, that word in the Greek is 80s.
It is the temporary above of the soul and spirit until that judgment of the Great White Throne.
Probably this. Instead of hell it should be the lake of fire and there are two that are thrown into the lake of fire at the end of the great tribulation if you go to Revelation chapter 19.
And we have one of the battles that takes place at the beginning.
Of the great fibrillation, that's between the piece that we were hearing about last night and the head of the revived Roman Empire and the Antichrist, which is called here the false prophet. And they, they come out to do war against the Lord.
Verse 19 of chapter 19 I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, those king 10 kings that support him.
Gather together to make war against him that sat on the horse, that's the Lord Jesus, and against his army, and the beast who's taken, and with him the false prophet that rod miracles before him with which he had deceived them, that had received the mark of the beast.
Them that worship this image is both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. So that's the lake of fire is the eternal abode of the lost.
So hell is used in Scripture as the temporary place where a person without Christ goes, as we have in Luke chapter 16. The rich man died and was buried and in hell he lifted up his eyes. That's the temporary place until the judgment of the great white throne. That rich man is going to be resurrected at the great white Jones grown judgment.
In hell now, but he will be then cast into the lake of fire.
Yes. Will there be any others?
Besides those two.
Go ahead.
I think there will be. If I understand rightly, Joshua was mentioning in Matthew 25 last night about the sheep and the goats.
We go back there.
End of Matthew 25 verse.
In verses 44 and 45 and speaks about what the sentence is, the judgment on the votes. There are those who did not receive the messengers of the gospel, the Kingdom in that day. And it says in verse 46, these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. So I take it they too would be put there.
Is that how you feel, brother?
00:05:05
I.
You know when you see a person who dies have unsafe, you say he's gone into everlasting punishment.
It doesn't really set a time frame. And I've wondered about that. Honestly, I don't stay out of that clear about it, whether these are dispatched and then are resurrected, because the judgement here in Matthew 25 is based, like Josh said last time, on how they treat the messengers of the Kingdom.
Say that their whole lives were opened up, and I wonder if they will be less erected at that great white community. Give account of their whole life. You know that will happen at some junction as it happened here. That's what's not clear.
In that case, they'll be sent alive into hell.
OK.
Into hell or into the Lake of fire?
Well, the brothers Bob is saying it would be into hell to be raised again, to be judged for their sins. I don't say that what I say.
I just have to consider it.
That just seems to say.
All I can say is what it says here is to the process by which they end and everlasting function and I don't know what's going on.
There's a verse in Revelation 20 which may be a little help in clarifying it.
Verse 10 of Revelation 20.
Says the devil then deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are.
They we saw that they were cast there in the previous chapter.
20 It doesn't mention anyone else at that point. And this, of course, is the great White Throne judgment at the.
End of the Millennium, so no one else has mentioned there. Doesn't mean necessarily that there's no one else there, but it is interesting that these two are mentioned as being there.
I guess the Spirit of God wanted us to know there are more there. He would have said plus over each other. So it just mentioned those mentions, those two.
So there's a lot we don't know, isn't there?
OK, question #2.
Can you talk about how women or girls in the church body of Christ should dress? I feel like some women are dressing like women in the world.
In First Timothy 2 verse 9.
First it starts in verse 8 about the men praying everywhere, lifting up holy hands, which means they need to have a holy godly life. Well, the women also need to have a holy godly life. In verse nine, in like manner also the women adorn themselves.
In modest apparel with shame face innocence of rising not avoided hair, gold, pearls.
For business array, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works and so on.
So it it talks about modest apparel and I think the men need to have modest apparel as well. I.
Women need to be careful. God's created them with beautiful bodies and curves and and if we're coming into the presence of the Lord and our closing is manifesting our physical attributes.
00:10:11
Then that's a distraction and.
If you're at the beach, you're going to wear different clothing than what you would wear.
At your.
At your dinner table or if you're going to visit somebody in their home.
And you might wear something different when you come to meeting. We're not under laws to what we're to wear. It just says we should have modest apparel.
I'm not going to go up and down the road and say you're modest, you can stay in the meeting. You're not. And you got to go out and and one by one, no, it's not.
It's to some extent it is my responsibility because my camp as to what people wear and don't wear, but.
It's not really the man's responsibility to.
So the women, it's really the responsibility of the older women to talk to the younger women.
Of the heart because we don't buy a piece of cloth or if we buy it, we have it in the closet. When we pick up something it has to have a specific reason if it's cold outside and put something work so we always have a specific visa and if that reason.
The reflects on that state of the heart, that's where it comes from. It has to do with the body of the heart when it feels happy for us.
I find it interesting to see in Genesis chapter 3 when the sin entered into the world, what God did for out of the need.
It's this converse that our Genesis 321.
Adam also, and to his wife with the Lord God made cooks of skins and clothes them.
To recover them.
That's important.
In a world like we live in.
I don't know that girls realize that sometimes when they dress scantily.
They can sight looks that are not profit and that's why I think, like you say to him, that the older women should get help to the younger women.
I must say that all times, the way a girl or a woman dresses in the meeting.
Is a distraction.
And I can't concentrate like I would like to because of.
The lack of covering, so just with that out, I think that's important. God gave clothing to man and woman to cover themselves. He was to be just for Adam, not for anybody else.
And so you really believe there is one companion for you? Don't get yourself out into common view of everything.
When you dress scandal.
So it's important to cover.
The Darby translation in that verse in.
Verse Timothy 2 is a little helpful there. Shamefacedness is.
I'm not sure I can describe what that really means, but.
I'll read it in the new translation. There will therefore that.
Black men are also the women in this decent department.
Dress during themselves with modesty and discretion.
Discretion, it's interesting and I change I think there.
Discretion means you put a little thought into it and.
How's it going to How are they going to look at me this way? Bob is pointing out. Can be a great distraction. But.
Nice, have a little discretion.
00:15:12
Others may have a better definition of modesty, but I think of it as.
Hearing so is the show off what what one has for the purpose of drawing attention so and I think you can see it in this chapter the 1St that was referenced that it's not.
Not only the physical form, but it's also well, obviously I think we think back on the days in which all is right. The ticket later was there was not not a huge metal blast. There was a lot of very wealthy and a lot of very important.
And it was not a lot of very low, very wealthy and a lot of very, but the, there was a possibility that some would flop their wealth in front of others through expensive clothing and jewelry and so on. So that's another form of immodesty. But certainly it's it's, it's been brought up to show off.
The form is another type of commodity, but.
As our brother was mentioning.
The world doesn't have the same.
Principles that the Christian has and so the question asks how how women.
In the world, Women in the church dressing like women in the world.
They've really, it really depends on on the case and what was meant by women in the world, but very often in the context of the verses that have been presented, women in the world.
Who are safe?
Don't have the new nature. And so very often they're governed by the lust of the flesh. And one of that, one of those.
Desires of the questions to have the attention of others.
So that could lead to immodesty, whether it's showing off our body, whether it's showing off our wealth or our connections, probably other forms of it.
So as a believer, it should be nothing but Christ.
Not trying to draw attention to ourselves and.
Show off what we've had.
So I think it's it really does come down to as our brother mentioned, the motive of the heart, but the Christian has a motive that the people of this world government.
And that's what makes a whole difference.
It's interesting to me and both.
Timothy 2 and in First Peter 3 Scripture says that women should adorn themselves.
That's interesting because sometimes people think that we are against that. You know, the woman should adorn themselves. Notice what it's with. And First Timothy 2 it says.
In verse 10, but which becomes women professing godliness with with worse.
And there are some.
Without her there to serve. I think that's so beautiful. See, and young women at first Peter 3. The adornment is the ornament of a meat and quiet spirit, which is the sight of God, of request. Beautiful, beautiful Hornets that a woman should adorn themselves with, not outward, but inward.
Difficult when we take up questions like this because we don't know exactly where the person who's asking the questions coming from.
We don't know what their idea of the world is.
And so we look in our society and there is a culture and that culture has a standard of stress. And you go to a department store and you have that standard address to deal with the purchase.
And if we were to look at this very legalistically, this question, you could say, well, you can't buy anything that the world felt like we would look like the world.
00:20:03
And we need to make our own clothes. Maybe we need to make it like super extreme going the opposite way, which in fact would offend us very picking up the first decade.
It would be in August.
So we need to make sure that in our application of this, we don't go beyond what is, we don't go beyond structure. And our brother pointed out that earlier is oftentimes a question of the heart. And as we all know in our life, there is a process, right? We are we are changing from glory to glory.
And.
It's not to excuse sin, not to excuse and honesty. Where that needs to be addressed, needs to be addressed, but we need to make sure that we don't judge by our standard, a standard that is not given in Scripture specifically for a doctrine. We need to make sure that we don't go beyond.
And require everyone else to meet our standard. Whatever that standard is, however, changes for life. That's reality.
Do we need to be interested in what Scripture says as modesty? Absolutely. Whether one extreme or the other, we do be interested in what Scripture said structure costs about modesty. But how we apply those things, how we apply the conform to this world from these twelve, one and two, those are personal exercises.
We take my personal exercise and I push it on somebody else and I say you are offending that because I see it this way. You can get into a real trouble, so you need to be careful about that as well.
Just a little antidote.
Going Assembly, California.
There was a young lady that came in the Celtics meeting and.
It was, it was kind of interesting.
And it's that now, and one of the.
She's probably one of the oldest women in the something there at the moment.
And there happened to be a shawl and she brought the shawl over two young ladies and oh sweetheart, you're going to be really chilly and help your dreams over your shoulders and.
Very, very active, I remember that.
But you know, there's there's grace.
This is not so this.
Still is a. It was obviously something I remember.
Gracious with handling the fishing.
Our next question.
What are biblically correct steps to take when there is emotional or physical abuse in a Christian marriage?
That's a tough one.
That's account for divorce if somebody is going to let these people because the Bible is based receiving what gossip is a ground over divorce.
For the emotional part, I think that's a very clear area and varies from one person to another how they interpret that emotional part.
In case of a drastic physical abuse, I think there is ground for separation in order to protect the flight for the children.
00:25:02
But separation is different than the words.
Suppose there's different ways we could try to answer the question.
So different the different parties involved.
One would be the one who is suffering the abuse, another would be the one who's.
Abusing.
Another would be.
The assembly, if it becomes known another would be any other Christians who know about it would seek to be a help. You might address it a little different from each one of those viewpoints, I would think.
As far as correct steps.
I don't know that I could.
Do any correct steps? Because the case is different but those steps must be taken.
Very, very carefully.
With a lot of prayer.
A lot of dependence on the Lord.
And no doubt with a lot of tears shed.
Steps. I believe that's going to when you get off and they do correct steps perhaps.
Yeah. I think that's really helpful, Roger.
If it's from the outside, my experience is it's very, very difficult to know what the truth is.
And the scripture is clear that we need to have every matter established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. And that's one reason why this is so particularly difficult. You get 2 witnesses oftentimes that they don't agree on what they're saying. And it can be difficult to know how to do that. And that's step of what you're saying is vital.
That should be a lot of prayer living on the Lord is to.
The right thing to do and the real pair to not safe size but really just discern what's happening.
As to the one who's abusing, that's clear enough. I mean, it's just nothing like Christ, is it?
I don't think that's a hard case, but the hardest case might be the one who's suffering and.
That is just a very, very difficult thing to deal with how that one reaches out. But the one thing that's clear, I think, is they need to do the as the first step. What you said as well, shouldn't they? The one who's suffering needs to take it to the Lord first.
Sometimes I don't know that that's what happens.
It's easy whenever I get into trouble, not this, but if I get into trouble, whatever it is, I go looking for help and I don't make the Lord the first stop. I, I just tell you that's what happens. And, and I, I feel so ashamed about that later on. But we need to think about that. The Lord needs to be the first place to go to and he is able for these things. He's able to.
Put an end to it. He's able to give strength for it.
And I'm not saying that's where it ends. I don't.
Think that would be the case. The Lord uses others to help and.
So many cases, but that does need to be the first time what you're saying just get down really prayerfully before the Lord about that matter.
I like to give a few scriptures just to consider as principle. Like you say Raj is not steps exactly but principles because every case is different.
We were created in adversity. We go back there.
And verse one.
Likewise your wives.
00:30:02
In subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, there were cases where life would have a husband that was not a believer. And of course there would be those kind of things and those kind of marriages that they also without the word, may be won by the conversation for the matter of life.
Of the wise while they behold your teeth conversation.
Gobbled with fear.
Always remember the case it will hack in Mexico of a.
Sister that I came to the meetings and her husband was not a believer.
And she saved her own other children all day, and her shoulders were bruised from the paintings she got from her husband.
He said to her.
Go back and cook his meals even better than you did before.
And make sure you do is.
Clothes and laundry very well.
And when you have a chance to invite them to come and hear the gospel.
You know what she did that. I don't know how much more she had to take, but it wasn't too long before her husband came in. Heard the gospel was safe.
Assassin is not what is commonly thought of proper in our culture, but there are cases in which women have won their husbands in that way. That's the case the way I sister that has a husband that is not a believer. Now we hope that a real believer would.
Not.
Do emotional or physical abuse.
If there's a person.
Titus that I would like to give that I think helps. And like I say, it's just a not exactly a step, but it's a principle. Titus Chapter 2 and Titus is told to exhort the older women and then the youngsters. Yeah, the the older wolf. I'm sorry, First of all, he exhorts the older men.
And then the older women in verse after two in verse 3.
The age of it says you're the older women likewise that they need to behavior has become holiness, not false accusers not given too much wine teachers and good things 100 and plus to teach in this case, yes.
That they may teach the young women to be slaughtered to love their husbands not afterward. Love is not agape love that we enter to love our wives with. It's the female love. It's interesting so love their children get in the street, chase keepers at home, good obedient to their own husbands. The word of God be not blessed me and other words the older women.
Were to take the lead in the teaching of the younger women how to react and so often when a young woman gets married.
She really doesn't know how to handle certain situations in early married life, and I think that is so helpful when there is confidence in an older sister that there can be help and counsel given in those situations. And if there is emotional or physical abuse, then the older sister will become aware of it as well because it's a very delicate country like you said.
So I just suggest that as a principle to be considered.
When the volcano real believers.
There is in scriptures. Given that they are both believers in the Lord Jesus, I would say that there is a principle in Matthews Gospel in chapter 5.
And it's in connection with personal offense.
And our emotional or physical abuse could be taken in that way since they are both believers.
Notice it says in verse 23 of Matthew 5. Therefore, without bring life yes to the altar and there remember us that thy brother or could be sister as well half odd against state so a man is abusing his.
00:35:12
The wife in a certain way.
I need to remember so I didn't treat my wife very well.
Leave thy gift before the altar and go that way. First be reconciled with my brother, thy sister, and then come and offer thy gift. In other words.
He comes to the Lord's table and those things have happened in our life. We need to reflect, we need to invest, Scripture says in First Corinthians 11. Judge ourselves.
What happened this last week?
So I had that.
Strong words of my life and I think I wounded her. There should be that reflection and judgment of yourself.
There's one other in Matthew chapter.
18.
Deals with personal offense.
Verse 15.
Or over thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.
That he shall hear thee thou hast gave thy brother. But if you will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more of that. In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
You shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church that, but if you neglect to hear the Church, let it be unto thee. Isn't he the man in the public? And I understand that this is to be taken the context of assembly, because when it comes to the Church, but I think there are principles there that where there's personal events.
What to do and the Lord can give you direction. So I just suggested as some principles. How they may apply or not apply I understand, but I just present them to consider.
When it gets to the point where it does come to the church.
First Timothy Chapter 3 we see the qualifications of an overseer, an elder in the assembly.
First Timothy, chapter 3.
Verse 2A Bishop then must be blameless the.
Husband of one wife. He must have a wife.
Only one life, but he must have a life.
And he must have children.
The husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, have to teach, not given to wine, No striker, not greedy, of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler and not covetous. Verse four, one that rules his.
Rules rule of well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity, but we know that children.
The you have friction in the home because of the children, because the children, they fight with one another, they take their, their, their brother or sisters toy and they tease them and, and the father needs and the parents need to know how to act and to settle disputes with the children. That's the, the the home is a training ground for the assessment.
And so that's why the requirement for an overseer is to have. I know some people say they're not requirements, but.
Their standards that God gives for a man who's going to be in a position of oversight as an example to others. So he needs to have a his home and water able to control his children, able to teach them the way of God and and have a good relationship with his wife.
All this so important because sometimes when there's abuse in someone elses marriage, they need to go and talk to them. Guess the overseer needs to have an exemplary life and an exemplary family and and so he and his wife can go and speak to the husband and wife and you don't want the man going speaking to the other woman just by themselves. So that's why God.
00:40:01
Wants them to have one wife so they can go.
And together and so they can counsel the the the person who has been hurt and abused. And they need to have the wisdom of God to be able to know how to answer. We're not used to dealing with such things. And so we can only get our wisdom from the Lord. And as our brother Adu saying, if we look at First Corinthians Chapter 7.
Sometimes separation is necessary when there's abuse.
Sometimes abuse goes beyond personal offense and there needs to be some other further action. And so in verse First Corinthians Chapter 7.
And verse 11.
Ten I command unto the Mary that command, not yet, not I with the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband. But sometimes there are situations but and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. God wants reconciliation.
Sometimes that reconciliation can't come unless the person has changed, has repented.
And and.
And so there are there are cases when there needs to be separation for protection for the wife or the children and.
This, this is a real call to the young men and women before they're married, because sometimes.
A man is not able to control his emotions, he's not able to control his actions. And if he takes that lack of control into a marriage, there's going to be lack of control in the marriage. So it's good to get yourself.
Checked out by God? Check yourself out with God.
Examine yourself and correct those things before you enter into marriage.
One time when I was 10, my younger sister and I got into an argument and then she started to talk me and said something like hippie, hippie. And I remember weekly hitting her and my father coming to me and saying you never do that and.
You never do. You cross the line which cannot be crossed. And so often I've read a book by a man who's a Christian who does this for a living, and he said one of the mistakes that the church makes is.
Taking a situation where there's abuse and saying that the answer is this marital counseling. And he said that's just another opportunity for abuse until abuse is acknowledged for what it is, a boundary that's been crossed.
There's no excuse. There's no anger. You know, I can't control my anger. I can't control it. There's a boundary that's been crossed and that needs to be acknowledged first before things can be need to confess the sin for what it is in that sin.
Or going onwards.
I've heard it said that the assembly should not get involved in the cares of a relationship because it always ends in disaster.
And we take that same thought with adultery.
Do we say we don't get involved because it's going to end in disaster now we say that's it and we have to deal with it. If we look at First Corinthians chapter 5 in regards to what the assemblies ultimate position and this question may come to, obviously there should be all these steps that they're taking before we look at the new translation. It says in verse 11, and I have written to you if anyone.
Call the brother the fornicator.
Or there are there new patients right now there or abusive, abusive.
In our translation that says railroad, but it's just abusive.
Somebody who is abused.
The assembly is responsible for the assembly, not just when we're assembled as we assembled. And if there's somebody who is abusive, who's going on in unjust skin, which is the context of this chapter.
Unjudged sin.
It needs to be done. It's not just a matter of being a husband and a wife. Yes, we need to make sure that all these other steps are followed. We should just rush in and we need to make sure that we understand the situation. I'm talking about the ultimate of you suspend been confirmed and the husband or wife is saying that's not sin, I'm justified, it is righteous anger or whatever. I think it needs to be dealt with. It's abuse, it's sentence.
00:45:34
If you go further down in chapter 5.
It brings us to our next question.
1St Corinthians 5 talks about not keeping company eating with certain people who are Christians but act in a different way.
Are there any exceptions to this example if the person is family or if you think the person needs help in some way?
I don't think the question is very clear because a bad word is different.
Person can be different in all different ways.
This week you find that.
I think what they meant is a different way from a Christian.
I don't know that that was the point of the question, at least not the way I took it. So that those are great sins they have to put be put away for I assume the person asking the question is not questioning that part, but this one was legitimately put away for being a wicked person given that fact.
Are there exceptions to what it says in dealing with military?
Are there cases whereby we wouldn't necessarily?
Put them entirely away out of our fellowship and.
Think that's what's meant.
Yeah.
And I do think there are exceptions.
I don't know why all of them would be the one that I can think of as in First Timothy 5.
Says if any provide not for his own, especially those of his own house. He have denied the faith and is worse than infidel. And so private child in the home is at the Lords table and has to be put away as you have the 1St Corinthians 5.
And then I still have her responsibility to provide for my child.
And.
Yet I think there's something.
That needs to be different. I don't treat that child as if everything is OK, because it's not. But in this case, there's another verse that shows that I have a responsibility to continue on, to provide in some way for that child, and I need to do it. If it's not my child, I would act differently.
So I understand that. So I just suggest that is at least one.
Case where there would be maybe a little bit different action taken towards one, it was put away.
I think it's good to distinguish that way. There is.
The responsibility and the assembly. There's responsibility in the home and there are two different circles that God is the opera and gives us instruction for. And I suggest that verse in Leviticus chapter 21.
That they show this.
00:50:01
Chapter 21 Verse One from the Lord faith said unto Moses, unto the praise the sons of Aaron, and said to them, There shall none be defiled from the dead among these people, but for his skin that is near unto him, that is for his mother, for his father, for his son.
For his daughter, for his brother, and for his sister. Virgin, that is nice to him.
Which have had no husband for her. May he be defiled.
This is interesting. Is the priest that's talking about?
And there was one exception that could be defiled in case of a year again. And I think that goes along with what you say and.
So that person has to realize it does say you shall be filed and so you need to be careful like like you say no treatment exactly the same.
Another case might be one flash husband and wife. Well, God is joined together, let not man part asunder.
I don't personally see how the husband or the wife could refuse to eat with the other if they if they're put away.
So there are these cases that we have.
Different spheres where I think it would be an exception.
Thank you, Jasmine, this last night.
We need to be really careful.
Somebody is under.
Discipline.
Not to mess with what God is doing.
So I guess that totally.
Clear where that volume is at, so I'll just make that between.
Thank you. Tim was put away from the assembly and I would love you and they're all glad and I wasn't a flat tire. I think it'd be alright stuff.
But to go over to 10,000.
Play the game, Chef.
Try to make it like it isn't a problem.
Desperate because we can.
Mess up the exercise of soul that God is trying to put a person through.
And that will tell you personally, I think that there have been times that I'm guilty of.
Going to.
Help somebody out in a way that was.
So I do think that are there a substance, it just need to be really careful.
The next question may take a little more time than we have, so we'll go to the question asked for the next question.
Can we ever understand the entirety?
Of God's flow.
Maybe you should read the versions that they have mentioned there. Ephesians 319.
And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that she might be filled with all the fullness.
Gov.
We can know a little bit of the love of God, and I think we'll be learning about it more all throughout Insurgency.
It passes knowledge.
So we can know a little bit of the love of God. We can enjoy the next question. The next verse is First Corinthians 216.
00:55:05
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
So can we ever understand the entirety of God's love?
The verse in Ephesians 319 is really interesting to have a follow up question.
In verse 1718 he says we that we may be able to comprehend with all faith the Bradley doesn't height and to know the love of Christ.
Which would assume you can go to the love of Christ.
But then the next verse, maybe This is why the question was that the next clause says capacity knowledge. So how can you know something that.
That is, how can you know of Christ? But it also passes our knowledge. Seems like oxymoron.
I enjoy.
That word comprehend in the game chances in Darby is African.
Somebody in the simple way illustrated it.
For me this way, he says. You go out to a small tree and you can put your arms all the way around. That's concrete.
But I come up to a huge folk and I can't get my arms very far around it. I have apprehended it, I haven't comprehended and I think that that is the word that issues there. It's interesting that it is two different things.
In a convention, Kyle and.
Verse 18 when it says to apprehend with falsehoods.
The breadth and length and depth and height, we apply that for the love of Christ, but I think that is greater than that. It's they all God's councils and ways.
And to know the love of Christ.
Which passes knowledge.
Pretty clear that it's not something we will. We will never be eternal beings in the way God is eternal. Yes we have eternal life but.
It will be wonderful. I think there is a time when knowledge will be complete, says the 1St that Corinthians chapter 13.
We know in part now.
But the time is coming when we will no longer know in heart.
But I don't know that we will ever know the entire.
I like Mr. Willis, Christopher Willis example on this, he said. One day this little girl came home and said, Daddy, I've seen the sea today.
Did she see the sea?
She didn't see this, the whole sea, But she saw the sea. She really did. That's God's love. We're not going to see all of it. It's way too vast, the love of Christ. But can we see it? We sure can. No. Wonderful. We'll never get to the end of it. We'll keep seeing it.
This is the prayer of the apostle of the 17th verse. He says that ye being brooded and grounded in love, he wants them to be rooted and grounded in love and verse 18 the way they rooted in grounded in love is to understand that Father said God.
01:00:00
Dispensational ways, but his internal castle bar with Christ in the church. We might think of Christ in the Church of being like a more intellectual sign. That's not very practical. The last three chapters show that it's very, very practical. Then he goes on to the love of God. This is brought out also in Colossians chapter 2. Very similar.
That are coming out of Boston, it was just a head instead of the body and he says in verse two that their parts might be comforted again. Prayer was very conflict personally after you that there are parking might be comforting being knit together and love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the necessary.
Dot com and as a father and Christ again bring in.
The number 72 in the appendix I got one one statement first mark.
To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.
We know that the love of God is so great. We're not everyone understand the whole thing, but we know that love. We've been departing that love. So we know a little bit of it and we learn. Go ahead, Mark. What was that #72 in the appendix?
What were you going to say today?
One of the key parts to that first technician says to comprehend with all the things. I think that's important because I know like I can go. I've been on a trip by myself and I saw some beautiful scenes, but I was by myself. I couldn't share.
And that is like an adhesion.
And when we it's not individually our we are enjoying the love of Christ, but rather collectively. And that's like the remembrance and we share together as we comprehend. And I believe that's one of the greatest privileges that we have on this earth is to do that.
Maybe we can stand and sing #72 in Japan.
01:05:33
Everyone.
Gracious Father.
Bless my precious word with that ball to end this evening.
Of such goodbye of by law.
Scripture tells us that thou art God.
Our blood, and so we will never be able to comprehend it at all, but we do apprehend in very measures.
And help us to do it.
If All Saints in the nation that we can and give thanks for this having time asking for blessing on my word.
Wherever it goes out Father today.
For lost souls and provide dear people. So we commend the rest of the day in black hands giving thanks, Father, that most wonderful name, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Adorning the Doctrine
Address—Bernie Roossinck
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
I know that many of you are making decisions.
Decisions about your spiritual future.
Decisions about.
Following Christ or not decisions about.
Careers decisions about Relationships decisions about.
Paths of study.
I know that many of you know and love the Lord Jesus, and I'm so very thankful for that.
And what I would like to do with our time tonight is speak a little bit about.
What the Lord Jesus means.
What he wants to do in your life and then how we can as young people and this adults to shine out.
The glorious light of the gospel of Jesus Christ to your neighbors, to your family, to your folks at school. So the topic I had before me is in Titus two, and I've had this on my heart for a long time.
And the subject is this adorning the doctrine?
Now most of you know that.
In our house, there's five women and a female dog.
I'm not sure what gender efficient is that a girl too? No. OK, so there's a fair bit of adorning that goes on in our house.
And really, what adorning means, young people, when you look it up, is to make something more beautiful or more attractive.
And I know that many of you know the gospel, many of you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior. But I want to challenge you with this is that.
A real deep.
Heart meaning in your life? Or is it something that's pretty clear and maybe as clear and as cold as ice?
And people at your office or at your school would be surprised to hear that you were at Michigan camp.
I hope that's not true.
I want to help you.
Look into the scripture and I just wrote down a list of things that came to mind about adorning the doctrine.
So let's read first in Titus chapter 2.
And we'll start with.
The time is pretty sure here, so I be careful how much I read.
We'll begin with verse seven and all things showing thyself a pattern into good works.
In doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity.
Sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things. Not answering again, not stealing. That's what purloining means, that purloining by showing all good fidelity.
That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that.
Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.
Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Who gave himself for us?
That he may redeem us from mother nicotine, and purify unto himself. But peculiar people sell us with good works.
These things speak and exhort and relief with all authority.
Well.
My intent was to have a bag of hyacinth bulbs here. How many gardeners in the room?
So those of you that know about hyacinth bulbs know that they look like onions.
Looks like a red onion. Same shape, only shrilled up.
00:05:04
And if you try to chop that up and put it in chili, you would say, what a nasty weed.
No taste, no smell, drive junk.
You know young people.
That's how the unsaved world sees the gospel.
It's foolishness to them.
They look at that and go no value at all.
But if you would take that hyacinth bulb and plant it, cultivate it.
You would get out of it to shoot and then that shoot would be a lovely spray of flowers. I like blue ones.
Fragrant.
Lovely, beautiful, and that is what I want to try to bring out spiritually to you tonight, that the gospel of the race of God is such a marvelous, beautiful thing, a gift from God and to be able to adorn that and bring out that glory of the Lord Jesus in your life.
Rather than have it just sit there and go here, look, I have one too, and people look at it and go, I don't see anything that looks like junk to me. So I want to help you adorn the doctrine.
But first of all.
We need to talk about the subject of the gospel, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's not my intent to go into all the work of salvation. Tonight, I want you to spend a few minutes talking to you about being in the school of God.
What the Lord Jesus as your teacher?
We've read here in verse 12 That we should live soberly.
Righteously and godly in this present world. And I would suggest to you, the young people and older ones, to you that.
There are three parts of the school of God in your life. The first one is personal and that is to live soberly. The second one is really in relation to others and that is deliberateiously.
And the third one in relation to God, and that is to live godly. There are three very important aspects of the school of God.
So let's talk for a little bit about the lovely Lord Jesus.
How many of you kids love the Lord Jesus and adults?
I'd like to speak to you for my heart tonight.
But a few things that I love about the Lord Jesus. First one is in Matthew 11.
I got.
Number of verses I want to share. So if you're not that good at finding the verses, you can just listen. This is Matthew 1128.
Let's start with that.
Come unto me.
All ye that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me where I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find a rest unto your souls, for My yoke is easy.
My burden is light, young people. Some of you I know today are tired.
Maybe not physically tired. Maybe you're all physically tired. I know what time I get to bed and I think it's before you.
How about in your soul and in your heart? You're weary, tired.
The last couple of years have not been easy.
You know, we went to Carrollton Conference this year and thank you, Joe for inviting us.
We walk in that room, you know I.
I told Bacchus what a.
Thrilled to sit in a room like this with the Lord's people.
And to be over the Word of God, and to be glorifying Lord Jesus and singing together.
What AI loved, it was so great, but young people, some of you, some of you older ones want to remind you, the Savior, the Lord Jesus, he says come to me if you're tired.
00:10:09
Are you weary?
I'll give you a rest.
Take my yoke upon you, you know when you're in a situation in your life and all of us are at a different station of life.
The Lord invites you, says take my yoke upon you now a yoke. I've had a yoke here before, most evil remember a wooden harness that hooks to you animals together and they pull on that load together.
The Lord Jesus says.
Come to me.
Will be yoked together in this walk through this world. And so that's the first aspect that I wanted to speak to you about is are you tired? Are you weary in your soul? Bring it to the Lord Jesus, he says, I will give you a rest.
And there's no rest rather than like that.
All right, Luke, Chapter 10.
The Lord Jesus in his earthly pathway through this world.
Found refuge in a few homes and one of them that we know he resorted to multiple times was the House of Martha.
Luke, chapter 10.
And verse 38 came to pass as they went, that he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
She had a sister called Mary which also sat at Jesus feet and heard his word.
But Martha was cumbered about with much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, the sonak care that my sister had left me to serve alone. Bitter therefore that she helped me.
Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.
One thing is needful, and Myriad shows him that good part which shall not be taken away from her.
Brethren.
We need to be like Mary and to be sitting there at the feet of the Savior.
Just being with them.
This hearing is words, letting that pour into your soul. Young people, you open the word of God and read it. You sit up the feet of the Lord Jesus.
Hope you don't mind this man, but I'm going to call you out last Sunday when you shared those verses.
It's hard.
And I returned, keeping composure. And I want to tell you, young people, don't be ashamed to love the Lord Jesus.
Read about him.
Sing about him, think about him in a certain way, just sitting there like Mary, and the Lord says she has chosen the good part.
So young people.
Love the Lord Jesus like that and sit there.
And just let him love you.
I know Beck's dad will say that sometimes in our family, especially to the grandkids, just sit there and let Jesus love you.
All right, related to that run, I got this from your dad.
I love you, Dad, son of Solomon. Chapter 2.
The Song of Solomon can be read.
In a number of ways.
I believe it could be read as Jehovah and Israel. I think it could be read as.
Christ in the Church.
It could be read as a husband and wife.
It could be read as I want to apply it right now as the Lord Jesus and you.
Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 3.
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.
00:15:06
I sat down under his shadow.
I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his spirit was sweet to my taste.
What a beautiful picture the Lord Jesus there pictured in what I just read.
As a fruitful bow, we know that Joseph has spoken of that way. Joseph is a fruitful thou whose Frances gone out over the wall, and so on.
Here this one can say.
I sat down under his shadow with great delight.
And I just want to impress upon you, brethren.
There's such a lovely.
Communion in such a beautiful connection. Just sit there under the shadow of the blessed Lord Jesus with great delight.
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.
I want to encourage you young people.
Whatever time you get up in the morning.
Get up 1/2 an hour earlier than that or more.
Get comfortable, get your Bible, get a cup of coffee.
And sit down.
Under his shadow.
With great delight, you'll find out and spread the sweet to your taste.
All right, now let's go to Ruth.
Those of you that know me know that I love the book of Ruth.
There are so many beautiful messages in this book.
Maybe you would say to me, Bernie.
Amount of strength in the Christian race.
When he introduced you to the man whose name means in him is strength.
Road Chapter 2.
I am going to take that. Most of you know this story. We don't have time to develop it. Let's read.
Verse 8 then said Boaz had the roof herest thou nod, my daughter going out to glean in another field.
Neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maintenance. But thine eyes beyond the field that they be reaped, go thou after them. Have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou art a thirst, go through the vessels and drink of that which the young men have thrown.
Well, Boaz is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus. Ruth is a picture of somebody that was brought in the blessing by the sheer grace of God. And that's how we've been brought into blessing to brethren. And Boaz means the name means in hemisphere.
And here's Ruth, an outcast from Moab. According to Mosaic Mosaic law, she wasn't to come into the congregation of Israel for 10 generations.
And yet here she is in Boaz's field, and Boaz says don't go anywhere else. You stay with me and with my own.
And I just want young people to encourage you.
Stay in the Lord's field, that beautiful Savior, that one, that in him is strength. He says don't go glean anywhere else. Everything you need is right here. I also find this encouraging. At the end of this chapter, Naomi says to Ruth, Where did you go today?
Like where physically have you been? She was, oh, I'll tell you who I was with. It was Boaz. I love the answer.
You know, Naomi is on. Where'd you go? I was like, oh, I was with the guy, Boaz.
And he told me to stay here.
Well, one more before we get into some of the things I have on adjourning the doctrine, and that is Second Corinthians 3, verse 18.
00:20:07
2nd Corinthians 3, verse 18.
But we all with open face beholding leave out as in a glass.
We all with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And the reason I read this verse, young people, is this.
The Lord Jesus has done everything possible for you.
And that glorious gospel of the grace of God that brings us into such blessing. This is the.
This is him. I I really enjoyed it when Mr. Makowitz said a couple of times. He's here.
This is the one and we don't have that. This verse is referring back to you, the time when Moses face was shining because he had he wanted a sense of Lord, let me see your face. And the Lord told him, you can't see my face, but when I pass by, I'll put my hand over and you can see my back.
And Moses came down out of that mountain, and the people were on.
What's wrong with your face? We can't even look at you. That's the glory of the Lord is just shilling off of his face. And what I want to tell you, young people, is this.
Little editorial. The scripture says precept upon precept, line upon line. Here little there little.
Love the word Jesus, pour Him into your soul, sit down under his shadow, and you'll find in your life that you're changed from glory to glory.
I hope I'm not misrepresenting what that verse is teaching. That's what it means to my own soul.
Changed the old Bernie that didn't know much this little at a time, being occupied with the word Jesus, letting that lovely man pour into your life and you know.
You start to.
Want more in your life to please him and walking away to serve him and that's really.
Giving us this desire to adorn the doctrine. So it's not just, hey, I'm a Christian. Well, what does that mean? Hey, I believe it's God died on the cross. Lord Jesus, that's it. Now it's so much more than that. It's it's a life. It's a full, complete, absolute transformation.
And so it's not just like that old dried up bulb. Is there life in there? To the outside world, the same looks like junk to me.
But you begin to be changed with glory to glory, and that growth is coming out and pretty soon those first little blue flowers around and more and more of them, that fragrance.
I want that in your life for you young people.
Now for the next rest of the time, I think in speaking about adorning the doctrine, we probably could make a list of thousands of items so.
I got about 400 slides and we'll have doing this Friday at midnight.
No I don't. I just wrote down.
Some things that came to my mind and heart. This is not an exhaustive list.
And there are probably things that you'll be able to say after meeting. Oh, you forgot about the big important one. Yes, I know. I, I forgot about it. I just want you. This is the new order, young people. I don't want to offend any of you, but I'm going to speak pretty frankly to you for the next half hour about adorning the doctrine.
It's not my intent to make anybody mad. I want to encourage you to let some of this sink into your heart and ask yourself, where am I at in adoring the doctrine? First one is contentment.
First Timothy, 6/6.
Godliness with contempt is great game.
I'm going to tell you something that happened to me quite soon after I started dating my wife.
I was here in Michigan staying at Janice Hurley's house as I was an intern and they were kind enough to host me and I met my lovely wife that summer.
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And at the end of the summer, I went back. I left Michigan, went back to Nova Scotia and moved into my little one room apartment.
And a couple days later I got a letter in the mail from BEX Mom.
Was a.
I didn't expect that, but it was a lovely letter basically telling me.
How about their daughter? And one of the crowning things she wrote in there is the Spurs.
Think one of the primary features of backing at that time was godliness with contempt in this great game.
That was a big encouragement.
I want to ask you young people this are you content?
So much in this world to make us discontent.
You contend with your body.
I wish that I.
Was skinny and taller.
And I guess I could do something about that, at least the skinny part.
I was born with a cleft palate. When I was a kid, I had a lisp. Kids called me flat nose. I wasn't content with my body at all.
You know, I thought that I was righteously mad about that. You know what it really did in my life? It turned me into an ugly, angry kid.
That's what happened.
And I want you to think about whatever station of life you are in right now.
Are you adorning the doctrine by being content? Are you discontent that you're single?
I know that some of you are at that station of life where you are looking for a spouse, but I want to encourage you, and there's nothing wrong with that, by the way, but I just want to say this to you.
Whatever station of life God has you in right now, be all there.
It's important, otherwise you're sitting there going, oh, I can't wait till next year.
I remember being a kid thinking, oh I want to be old enough to drive our vehicle or use the chainsaw or whatever. Be learn to be content where the Lord has put you right now.
Now I'm not saying this if you're in a place where you are not living in a godly life change 100%, but I want to encourage especially you younger people.
Learn to be content. Tomorrow will be to its own. The Lord brings you along the path by one step at a tone. And by not being content, you can really turn yourself into an angry and bitter person. And people see that and they're like, if that's what Christianity is, I'm out. You look at Bernie, dude. This is cranky and wrapped around the axle every day.
That's that Christian is not for me.
So I hope you get what I'm saying here. Adoring the doctrine. Part of it is be content. God will open up the next thing for you in his own good time.
But learn to be content.
All right, next one is obedience.
The ultimate example, of course, is the Lord Jesus.
John chapter 4, The Lord Jesus was speaking with the woman at the well there, Jacob's well, and the disciples had gone off to get food and they came back and here he is speaking with this.
Samaritan woman and they're like.
Here we write some of the evening, he says. I got meat to eat that you don't know about. Really. Somebody bringing something.
I guess the Lord is saying my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. I hope I quoted that right.
John, Chapter 4.
34 My need is to do the will of him assembly and to finish his work.
Now the reason I went into this time at the beginning to talk about the Lord Jesus and how we can sit under His shadow and learn of Him as He is the ultimate example. It says in Peter Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in his footsteps.
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Now obviously we can't follow the Lord's footsteps in redeeming the world from sin. I'm talking at practical living and adorning the doctrine. Obedience is important.
Mrs. Tony is not here anymore, but some of you young people from the Maritime School chuckle at this. Maybe some of the older ones. Her dad would walk around conferences with Norman Berry and he might get you up against the wall or off to the side. Young man, what's the key to happiness?
Money. Nope, I'll be back.
Hour or two later, young man, what's the key to happiness?
And the answer he was looking for is, if you know these things, happy are you if you do them.
That is the key to happiness. Happiness and obedience go together, young people. If you are living a course in your life that is in disobedience to the Word of God, you're not going to be happy and it will show.
You will be a surly.
Unhappy person. You know, I'll just tell you this to young people.
The Christian that is living.
A life for themselves and outside of the will of God is the most unhappy person you can imagine.
They're not happy in their Christian life.
They're not happy in the world.
Because that new nature says this is not right.
But still you're trying to walk two paths, you know it says the Lord said you can't serve 2 masters if you love the one and hate the other. I just want to encourage this to dear young people.
Learn to obey and that will help you adorn the doctrine and shine out this lovely man, the Lord Jesus. Learn to obey.
All right, language and conversation.
Through first, I'm just going to quote some of these because we won't have time to finish the list. In Luke chapter 4, it says.
When they heard the Lord speaking, they marveled at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, Who is this? Isn't that this with Joseph the carpenter's son? Yes, it was, but much more than that, it was son of the Almighty God.
And those gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth.
You know, this is a challenge. I know that most any of you that are in the secular workplace, as I am, is surrounded by communications that are filthy.
And it can rub off on you.
How is it, kids, that a man that's swinging a hammer hits his thumb, cries out the name of Christ in vain?
We've all heard that happen, right?
Don't allow that to permeate your thinking and your operation, your day-to-day life. It can happen since they're an acts about.
The apostles. It says that.
They took knowledge of these men, that they had been with Jesus.
Let's look at the First Timothy chapter 4.
For sympathy 4.
Verse 12. What? No man despised thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in Word, in conversation, and charity, and spirit, and faith and purity, young people.
You may love the Lord.
I know that many of you do. Don't ruin your testimony by allowing filthy speaking or even going along with bad jokes and other things.
00:35:00
To let people think that you're just like everybody else. You're not just like everybody else. I'll tell you a story. I can't remember which brother this was about. I think it might have been Mr. Ernie Wakefield.
The guys in his office were after him to go to the Christmas party.
I might be getting this story wrong, so pardon me if one of you can correct me afterwards. So finally he relented.
And somebody told him this off color joke and he said, men, I live in the presence of God.
Last joke that they ever told him, they asked him the next day, why did you like the Christmas party? He said. Man, I would have had a better time at a good Christian field.
And you know, I've been to funerals where I could say that.
You know, it's sad when you lose a loved one, but you know when when somebody that is ushered into the presence of the Lord Jesus, you know what? You're going to see him again. They're waiting for that resurrection day and it's such a joy.
To yes, said, but such a joy to think of that loved oneness. You know, I think of my own dad's passing.
Sad. Absolutely. Joyful. Yes, Cindy.
So you can have more fun at a good Christian funeral than a worldly Christmas party.
I'm not saying that all Christmas parties are that way, but the point I want to make you as young people is this. Don't allow those outside influences that is normal for everybody else to become who you are and shut your mouth to the gospel.
This is. I didn't have this one written down but it pops in my mind.
One time when I was a kid, I got a hunting knife.
I think that's probably 4th or 5th grade and there's leaves in here.
Becky.
Faye, Pauline and Mary from our assembly, older ladies took us into a place called Wild Copond in New Command and we went in there trout fishing and had this knife. So proud of that knife. I loved it.
Yeah, I always idolize Faye Hyland's father because he was a man of the woods and he could go in there with three nails and a hatchet and come out with a palace. And I thought, man, it'd be great to be Gerald Byrne.
Greg, your dad is instrumental in leading that man to the Lord Jesus, and I thrilled when I heard that he got saved.
Glad that I'll spend eternity with general burden. But anyway, I had this knife. So we're sitting in the gospel Pennant. My dad's preaching the gospel, and I didn't do this intentionally, but this is what happened. I kept taking that knife out of its sheath and holding it up and moving it around.
Afterwards my mom said to me son.
He took that knife and cut the ears off of every kid in this tent to the gospel.
Because I wasn't sincerely. I was basically playing around when my dad was trying to pour the gospel into these kids. It wasn't my intent, but that's what happened. Be careful.
To adorn the doctrine just in something as simple as sitting respectfully and meeting is adorning the doctrine not because we have rules, but because we want to honor the Lord Jesus and give him the full focus. It's all about Him, young people.
Service.
This is written on the board down in the kitchen. Romans 12/1. I beseech you, therefore.
Brethren, by the mercies of God, that it presents your bodies of living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Young people.
Find ways to serve.
Don't sit around.
Wasting your life.
Find ways to serve.
It might be something kids as simple as.
Washing the forks at the meeting room for vacuuming the floor. Picking up the invoice.
00:40:02
And as you do that, the Lord will give you more and more to do for him, and it honors Him, and He has worked for each one of us to do.
And it adorns the doctrine to serve.
Serve God, serve the Lord Jesus, serve your brethren, serve your family. Mandy, you serve your wife.
I hope that you do. This can be very practical.
I'll just give you an example.
Serving your wife. I hope this doesn't embarrass my wife. I'm in now.
I mentioned before that I wish them a skinnier and not.
And part of being this chubby means I snort too much.
And my wife sometimes would be out on the couch.
Then do something about it.
Serving your wife? Just a practical example. I went and got a breathing machine. The snoring is gone.
I hate that stupid machine.
The cord gets all wrapped around your head.
But you know what? I do sleep better so. But this is the side. This is very practical.
Serve your wife, serve your husband, serve your brothers and sisters. The Lord is calling you. It adores the doctrine. It puts a lovely.
Attractiveness to the gospel of the grace of God.
This next part about service.
Touches me deeply.
One of the things that I've been doing during Covic is writing out the word of God.
And they wrote this out a couple of weeks ago and Mark chapter one.
Mark 117 Now this is the scene. Here is the Lord Jesus is walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and here he sees Simon and Andrew and he says to them in 17 Come be after me, and I will make you fishers of men and.
Straightway, they forsook their Nets and followed him.
Can I ask, this is mainly to myself, but I want to speak to you men. Are we willing to put our Nets down and follow the Lord? How important is my job over the Lords things?
The very searching question to me.
The horses.
Ready. Follow me. Oh, I'm busy. I got obligations, man.
It searches my soul.
Forsake the Nets and follow it in me immediately.
Young people.
You get a call to do that.
To work, do it, do it.
Do it.
All right, we're never going to get through my whole list here. Let's talk about trust and prayer March chapter one again. It says about the Lord Jesus a great while before dawn.
He arose and went into a solitary place and tree.
Absolute dependence upon his father. Young people develop a habit of getting into the Lord's presence. Took me a long time in my life to learn to pray properly. I thought for many years you had to have this formal structure and go through a certain order. And there is. It is good to go through a certain order. You know, it's not all about me.
Our prayers simply Lord, it's me. Here's my 10 top needs of the day. Thanks. Have a good day.
That's not praying. So it is important to have structure. What I'm saying is get into the presence of the Lord and just talk to Him, commune with him. Sometimes I don't even use words. I just maybe I'm just sitting there.
In my heart, speaking with the Savior, sometimes it's through a hymn, a lot of times it's talking out loud and you're driving down the highway.
Whatever.
Is talk to him, learn to pray and to trust we have in Proverbs chapter 3 is a well known verse. It's probably written on every graduation card that's ever been handed out in this room probably and all by ways acknowledge him and he shall direct bypass trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Proverbs 3.
00:45:23
It's important.
Do you trust the Lord?
Are you trying to do things in the arm of the flesh and in your own power and strength? Learn to trust and adorns the doctrine.
Attitude Study. Hebrews 12.
You know, we really could spend a week on Hebrews 12 alone. Right now we're just going to read verse 15, looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness bringing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. You know, young people, it's easy to get bitter. It's easy to be critical.
And all that's really going to happen is you're going to turn into someone that nobody wants to be around.
That root of bitterness creeps in. I'm angry with Tim Ruga. He did me wrong.
And if I get the chance, I'm going to burn and that root begins to go down.
And it blows into bigger and bigger things. Pretty soon my whole character is consumed by I'm angry.
I was done wrong. I'm bitter about it. Don't do that.
Did that route out get rid of it? Now, I know we still have the old nature, and some of us were talking earlier about this a little bit. But you know, young people, when there's something in your life like this, this root of bitterness, don't cultivate it. Dig it out and get rid of it.
Is if you don't, you may be able to control it in your youth.
And.
Maybe give people the impression that your life is all together and down inside your stomach. If somebody walks in the meeting room and go, oh, it's that guy.
And you wouldn't say that publicly. You know what happens when you get old.
And you don't have the energy of youth anymore. That bitterness comes out.
Might not be bitterness, it could be any other attitude problem.
Deal with it at the root. Get it out. When you're young moms and dads, you see that tendency in a child. Work on that with them. Get it out. If you don't come so hard to get it out, it gets you the end of your life and you lose your capacity.
It starts to flow out like sewage.
If you go visit an old folks home today, you find people that have an undealt with rooted bitterness and it's evident that does not adorn the doctrine.
All right, we're never going to cover all these. I'm just looking for.
So let's talk about dependence and abiding in the mind. John 15.
Down chapter 15.
Verse five Hide the vine, year the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit.
Or without me can do nothing.
Young people.
Learn to be dependent on the Lord Jesus. Learn that he is the source of all blessing in your life. You picture, you know, I asked about the gardeners before you have this plant there. We'll use a Grapevine as the Lord Jesus was using. And spring comes and that SAP starts to get sucked up those roots and up the up that vine it goes and it gets to those little tender.
And they start to push out and the flowers are there and it starts to run along down the trellis wire. Pretty soon there's all this grapes growing.
All that blessing and goodness comes from the vine, It's the Lord Jesus. Don't try to live your life in your own power. Live it abiding in the mind. Be dependent on Him. He has your good and your blessing at heart and you're not going to get anywhere in your own power. It says here we can do nothing without Him.
00:50:01
It's important and if you try in your life, you won't be adoring the doctrine. You'll be striving day after day to get ahead. Man, I wish I had a boat like Brians or I wish I had a long tractor like David or whatever and is.
Constantly struggling now.
Be dependent on the Lord for what she needs. Take it from Him. Abide in the blind. Be dependent.
Faithfulness.
So it's in.
1St Corinthians 4 and I got this from you Josh toward the other night when Timmy were taking over the water buckets for me. It's required in a steward that a man be found faithful.
And he was a good job, but much more young people in your lives, faithfulness to God.
We are stewards for God, we're ambassadors for Christ and.
To profess to be a believer and then not to be faithful and the things of the Lord perhaps living one way Sunday and Wednesday in a completely different way Saturday night. It's not being faithful, us being deceitful and dishonest. It will end in massive problems.
It's required to be faithful.
I got a whole bunch more written down here. We're going to end with Be thankful.
One time.
There was a kid Newfoundland. There's like a meal called boiled dinner, which involves salt pork, cabbage, turnips, carrots and potatoes all boiled into one mash. And I thought it tasted terrible so.
Still votes.
And we had that supper one night and I suggested to my mother that if she wanted a happy unified meal time, we wouldn't be having this anymore.
Well, I ate the boiled dinner on the basement steps and then when that was done, I had to paint the text that said be thankful. She hung it out on the kitchen wall for a lot of years. The young people in your whole Christian life, be thankful.
You know, it adorns the doctrine. It's who wants to be a Christian when the only people they know are angry, surly, bitter, unthankful, complaining about the roads, the sidewalk, the garbage man, the snowplow guys? No, be thankful.
You know, think about.
Our brethren in Afghanistan tonight and what they're facing, look what we have here. Air conditioned room, freedom, all kinds of food, fellowship, Zero worry about somebody charging the door in and swooping off with their young women to turn them into sex slaves. We have so much here and they have so little and yet here we are complaining.
Oh, what's so hot?
Yeah, it's a bit worse. Be thankful that adorns the doctor. I hope I'm being. I don't want to be funny about it. I don't want to be real. This is real stuff.
And there's a whole long list of other things and man were already passed, so I hope I whet your appetite for this.
Adorn the doctrine, young people, and learn to love the Lord Jesus.
With your whole soul, spirit and body. It's worth it. We love you. We want the very best for you. The Lord Jesus wants the very best for you. Give them your life. Give them your heart. Let's pray.
Blessed God and Father, thank you so much.
The tremendous bossing that you've given us, thank you for the Lord Jesus, your beloved Son, that Good Shepherd, the Man of Sorrows.
That obedient servant.
Lord Jesus love you.
Help us to live in a way that or brings honor and glory to Thee.
Lord Jesus, our God and Father, there are so many different needs in this room, I can't possibly know where to begin. I just ask that you would bless and keep and guide each one until that day when we're taken home. Thank you and we love you. Amen.
Session #6
Q&A
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It is time for our questions.
Last day I should have made this announcement the first day that some people aren't hearing what's being said. So if you have a voice, speak up so everybody can hear. Don't speak quietly because it's.
Like Paul's, the apostle Paul said he'd rather say 5 words so people can understand. But if you have a very important points that nobody can hear, it's not valuable at all. So let's let's all speak up when we answer the questions.
Make an apology because yesterday we, we answered a question that did not that, that that was confusing. And so I'm going to read the first question so you'll understand what the confusion was.
The statement was made yesterday that men are not responsible for modesty.
Business, the husband and father who answers to God and his ultimate responsibility for what happens in his home.
That's a very good point. Yesterday the question was about the the church. The assembly was not about the home. So this point did not get addressed. But it is very important because the home is where modesty begins, and that's where it's taught The the father has that responsibility to teach his children.
If you look in Hebrews or Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 4.
Ephesians 6 verse four says he fathers provoked not your children to rest, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So the requirement of the father to instill in his children, whether it's their boys or the girls, that modesty is important, especially when you.
As the question asked yesterday, especially as you come into the church, so according to the Assembly, So what you are.
In everyday life, it's going to spill over into the assembly. So it's important for the fathers to take an important role in the teaching their children about the about modesty. Well, the question goes on.
Maybe somebody could read Proverbs 30 verse 19.
Proverbs 3019 Laying a needle in the air, the way of a servant on the rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a mate.
As a woman, how can I know what is indecent to a man?
Things differently than women and as a woman and I as a woman need and appreciate my father's input on modesty. While my mother was very important in helping me to be modest, sometimes my father's opinion was critical. I think the critical meaning in this one is critically important, not criticizing.
My father's opinion was critical because we don't know how many things.
Like was alluded to yesterday, the more beautiful body you have, the more careful you need to be in how you dress, especially in public because.
Men, they are attracted to a good looking woman.
At least their eyes are attracted and there's a verse I couldn't find it something about.
Turning away our eyes from Maybe someone can help me out with where that verse was about the men turning their eyes from looking at evil or.
00:05:26
Is that the person joke about the covenant with my eyes?
I think so. You know where that person.
31 verse one I made a covenant with my eyes. Why then should I think upon a maid? And so Joe realized he had to take an active role in not looking at the women who were passing by in a lessonful way. So.
But it's a two way St. There's responsibility on both sides for the man to make a covenant with his eyes and for the woman not to lure intent a man so.
Be careful how you dress, men.
Some of you have good looking bodies just like David. David. That said, he had a beautiful confidence.
So we need to be careful how we dress in public, in front of other people, and especially in the church when we come together to have our focus on the Lord. We don't want to draw our focus to ourselves.
I agree with the what was mentioned in this.
Question and just an expectation to the.
Young people, especially the.
Girls who are under the authority of parents.
Especially your father. And it's to listen to them.
And you're going to you're living in a society today that has no reference at all.
And.
You might even have friends who are Christians.
Who dressing things that your parents, your father does not think it's appropriate?
Don't get angry right now. God made that man for your mother, your father, your mother.
He was his breath. Receive that instruction.
And walk with the Lord with them. There's going to come a time when you are going to and there's a suggestion of your your husband, the longer your parents and you're going to have children yourself possibly. And you're going to have to be given these same instructions. So to walk and learn. And then I would just say one thing to those of us who are parents as a parent who fails every day.
And that is that we need to raise our children to the back, because if they don't obey when they're two or four or six or eight.
They're not going to pay when they're 10 and 12 and 14 and 16 and 80.
And the simple instructions of instructing a child to come is going to and it's and it's provoking to them. It is going to be the simple instructions of you shouldn't wear that and it's going to be provoking to them if you have something to do with that. So they need to make sure that parents we are bringing them up in the nurture and discipline. We don't have a translation in our terms of discipline of the Lord.
Or when we get older, we're going to have the same place, just in a different place.
Question #2.
I know that we must obey the authorities that God has set up to rule over us, but do we have to obey them if they are trying to make us do something that is against the Scripture?
00:10:10
There are three spheres of authority, the authority of the secular government over the society, Then there is the authority of the the assembly, and then there is authority in the House.
The Husband and the Father. So because there are three spheres of authority, we have to keep that in mind that the head of the Church is Christ and.
Especially more authoritarian governments and I live down under one for many years.
The first, they always have to make sure that what they do is not against the future. So the demands of the government many times were against the future. So at that point they no longer.
In fact, it was unlawful in Romania to read violence or to read violence from the outside. So the end result would be that no believer would have any Bible and there were lots of brothers involved in smuggling fireworks from the West.
That was contrary to the latter country, and it was contrary to the express orders of the Government. But without that nobody would have been.
Or what about in that particular city where I lived, they had an order from the local government, from the national government, to remove, to replace all the Bible verses with praises with the Communist Party president.
So that's a dilemma. Do you obey the order of the government which interferes in the affairs of the church or not?
And some Bible the some brothers they said well it doesn't say anywhere Bible that we have 3 verses on the wall.
And other brothers, they said, well, but it's not saying where we have this party.
And it was a dilemma and they didn't know what to do. They decided not to take any action. They just played. And that particular weekend, the person in high position, we gave that order to get a car accident with his family and everybody died. So they didn't have to respond very much. But these are examples of where the government is overstepping the field.
So just a few verses in regards to the governmental authority what our brothers been bringing out in Romans 13. It says let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, but there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained.
Nobody in authority that God is not allowed to be placed into.
You can look at the old fashioned, we can see and Daniel that he set up over the Kingdom surface world basis of that. They think that there are great fighting, but he calls them the basis of that.
Who's whoever therefore resisted the power resistant to the ordinance of God? And they that resist shall receive to themselves to a nation. For rulers are not as terror to good works. But the evil will then now not be afraid of the power to do that which is good. And thou shalt not praise of the same. For he is the minister of God for thee, for being for good. But if thou do which is evil, be afraid for America, not the sword in vain.
But he is the minister of God or Avenger, to execute wrath upon him that he was healed.
Therefore you must be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience. So we need to obey for our own conscience to make sure that our conscience is in line with God who has established those authorities. And then another verse in first Peter chapter 2 That gives the other side of us.
Around 13, it says submit yourself to our reorganisation of man.
For the Lord's faith, whether it be the King of supreme, or the governors, or under them, that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing He may put asylum to be ignorant of foolish men. So it's submitting ourselves not only for our conscience, but also for the Word.
00:15:21
Now, as my brother pointed out, what happens when?
These authorities that have been established by God that are very that God allowed them to be an authority, even ones like Zero who were burning Christians for life at his sex particles. What do we do when these rulers.
Teach us to do something that is contrary to.
Take a look at Acts.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 40 apostles were taken because they were preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Acts chapter 4 it says in verse 19. But Peter and John answered in seven to them, whether it be right in the spite of God to hearken unto you more than unto God judge you. So he asked the question and then if you look at Acts chapter 5.
They're told not to preach.
At least they were eating.
And then the next chapter, chapter five, he makes a statement. Somebody.
29 What was it? 29?
Then Peter and the other apostle lanterns and said we ought to obey God rather than that.
Now somebody might ask this doctor, and one thing that's going to help to me is if you read this verse and it says we ought to obey God rather than men, and you turn it around. Is that never true? Is there ever a time where we would say we got to a big man rather than God?
And would be crazy. We would never obey man over God. We always obey God over man. And so when the authorities are telling to do something that is contrary to the word of God, we have to obey God over man. So this principle is important. We never was important. We never lose sufficient.
We might not submit to the government because they're telling us to do something that's contrary to God, but it's not that we're not submitting. We are submitting to a higher authority.
If it's ever a question that we're deleting, in my heart, I will not listen to that man. I will not listen to that authority, even if they're telling us to do something that's contrary to word about being a wrong spirit. We always need to have a spirit of dependence and submission to some authority because we are under authority.
Whether it's parents and at home just telling you to do something that is completely against the work job, you can do it, you can't do it and you have to submit to a higher authority.
Whether it's in the assembly where the assembly is telling to practice evil and you see I cannot commit that. And you might have to separate and define. And so certainly chapter 2. And yet it's not just in rebellion, it's committing to a higher authority. We can look at verses of that I rather mention where we have authority, but it's never rebellious. It's always recognizing that we need to submit to God.
When I add a little bit to what Joe said, I was looking at that verse in Acts 5.
I think it's helpful in emphasizing when he's just said to read that verse 29 and pause and Peter, the other epistles answered and said we ought to obey.
That remains true, for that is man on the earth. That's from the gardens of Eden forward. We ought to obey. You can put a period there with this name. Description of the life of man on earth.
Clarifies there's something added to it and goes on through that nicely.
Another person along that line in John chapter 8.
Sorry, I was looking to it and my eyes skipping along the column without landing on it again. I where the Lord says.
Always turn 29 and he that sent me, the Lord Jesus speaking is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I do always those things that makes him for never out of that place. We are never looking for what authority we shouldn't be under. We're always looking to please our place of obedience as mankind of the earth and whatever out of it.
00:20:18
One other thought, again going along with some things to do.
And I think you referenced the verse at the end of verse Acts chapter 5 and verse 45.
They have been beaten.
Says in verse 41. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And then what did they preach? They ceased not to teach and preach. Jesus Christ didn't speak about their government. They didn't go on about what they thought about it. They didn't go on about how they were treated.
They rejoiced. They were identified with Christ.
Spoke about him and perhaps that the burden of what's coming out of our mouth is not that there's a need for.
Fresh exercise on a matter of obedience.
It's already been mentioned here, but there are a number of spheres of authority that God has established beneath himself and I've already been listing. Have the assembly and those that are in the assembly submit the authority of the assembly. You have in the family, children submitting to parents and in the marriage wife to the husband, and then you have.
In government, the citizens of the ruler and I. I don't say this to find fault, but I just want to point out this distinction because I think the term submit and obey have been used interchangeably.
In the last couple minutes, but I have found it an interesting study. If you go through those different spheres of authority, you will notice that the scripture maintains a distinction in terms and whether it tells you to submit or whether it tells you to obey. In some of those spheres you're told to obey. Children are told to obey their parents, but in verses of the citizens of the government.
The term next use is a myth, and I would suggest this distinction.
I believe that is always the case that you submit to the government.
There are times when you cannot obey them because you have to obey God. So what does that look like? Well, we've already mentioned that case and Acts. When obedience to God did not allow them to obey the command that came from that governing authority, what did they do? They submitted to the consequence of it, and they received that feeding in the right spirit.
And so I would just suggest that I think just echo what has already been said here.
But that is one way in which it can be the case that we do always submit a scripture as instructed, even if there are instances, because what we need to God, we cannot obey.
That's very good. Like could you give us a definition of submit?
Well, I kind of used that.
Maybe someone can bring out that distinction better. I think it's about recognizing your authority about to it.
Before we go to the next question, I just want to make a comparison here.
In Titus 3 verse one.
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates ready to be ready to do every good work, and so on be subject to principalities.
Now look at Ephesians chapter 6.
And verse 12.
We don't submit every time.
Where we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but we wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. So we're to submit to the government, but we're also supposed to wrestle with things. They're two opposite things. And so how do we, how do we know when we should wrestle and when we should?
Submit or be subject.
00:25:02
And so it takes wisdom and we need to ask the Lord for that wisdom to know at this time, many of the governments are not, we submit to the government votes. They are not controlled by their own governments. As we see that more and more, especially in this time of COVID in the world trying to establish some sort of a, a centralized government, it's being controlled by the powers of darkness.
And we're to wrestle against that.
Many countries you're not allowed to meet together, you're not allowed to have communion, you're not allowed to have the the remembrance meeting because you can't take the cup.
You can't take the bread, you can't touch anything that anybody else touched.
That's the direct opposition to what the Lord says just do in remembrance of me as often as you eat this bread and preach his health, you to show the Lord's death till I come and believe. Thankfully there's ways we we can we can.
Done together, we can use multiple cups as we better sometimes they break the bread and give it on a different place. There's ways we can still obey the word of God and yet still be subject to the government. And so we need to wrestle against the powers of darkness and that's what this world is becoming and it's always been under the powers of darkness, but it's very.
Prevalent in our day-to-day.
I think we need to keep on moving for the next question.
As a young person.
I find it hard to transfer a conversation that is not pleasing to the Lord into something positive.
For me personally, conversations like this happen with those that are older than I and I'm unsure also how I should end that conversation.
My place to tell someone who should be respected that the topic brought up doesn't honor the Lord. Do I just change the subject? And if I go this route, is this not speaking out for the Lord and the First Timothy 51 and Philippians 4/8?
Let's look at First Timothy 51.
Reviewed not an elder, but entreat him as a father.
And the younger men his brethren.
So this is stopping this question is in the context of other Christians. Older Christians that are speaking their languages isn't very good as their subjects aren't very good.
And then Philippians 4/8.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest and whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are a good report. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things and.
So how do we address?
Fellow Christian, especially an older person when their conversation is not pleasing to the Lord.
1St going to be 51. The new translation says reduced, not an elder shortage.
But to treat him as a father, Something like that. So it seems obvious that sometimes older ones have to be reviewed. But it all comes down to how you do it and what your tone is and.
What do you show up? Respect for their age says they're good. Not an elder, sharply, but they're making a time when you have to say something.
00:30:01
Subversive in Ephesians 5 and verse 11 Says have no fellowship of the ungrateful works of darkness.
But rather approve them. For it is the same even to speak of those things which are none of them in secret. But all things that are approved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever that may manifest his money. And so.
It would be better to turn away.
That's a question states. And to continue in the conversation that would be that would be good. Don't continue it. It would be better to reprove it because that will be a help to the person who you're recruiting because it brings light to that conversation and that lights.
Shows where that conversation stands in relation to.
There's a huge variety and correction that can be given the questions broad and whatever the circumstances is, whatever the circumstance specifically is, may dictate the level of the way the light has to be brought in. The gentlest, perhaps there's a gentler review than this, but the gentlest correction tracks I could say that I know of in the Word of God.
Kind of begin the scale and it can go up from here and that's in John 13.
The deathless correction that I'm personally aware of, and it's beautiful.
Perhaps the direction to begin here?
The Lord just watched his disciples speed in John 13 and he's giving what I think is a lovely example of how to watch peace.
And in verse 13, he says to his disciples, he called me Master and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am beautiful. He takes them up on their speech. He speaks kindly to them.
This you say, well, so I am, and then the next verse.
If I then you're What does he do?
Switches the order by then your Lord and master.
What he's saying to them, ever so gently, is I'm Lord first, I'm Teacher second. They were putting Teacher 1St and Lord 2nd and it was something that had suddenly slipped into their hearts. And here he is. He's taking his word, he's gently watching their feet, and he's switching the order on them right after speaking so kindly to them, perhaps in a conversation.
Depends on the circumstances and so on, but perhaps it's just a very simple, gently bringing in God's truth, the light of God's word, and mere fact that it's done. I've immediately reached the conscience. Beautiful, gentle, the soft pal here, and it goes up from there. The Lord goes all the way to go into you, strives, Pharisees, hypocrites, and the most powerful.
Review that I'm aware of. In the Word of God, there's a whole gamut.
I can give you a couple examples.
I've been reviewed many times for things they've said or the way I've said things.
Sometimes.
My kids challenged me on something I say.
That's a review.
Sometimes in Malawi.
They don't always understand English real well.
But if I say something that they think is different from what I taught them a year or two ago, they'll challenge me on it.
That's a review. It's not a sharp one, but it's a review.
And then yesterday I made some comments that were were understood wrongly that a man has no responsibility for modesty.
And so a young person came to me with a question.
That was a review. So there's many ways where we can review somebody who says things that aren't quite right. I know this is, I'm not sure exactly what this the conversation in the in the word in this question is, but it could be anything.
00:35:00
So don't be afraid to question somebody about something they say.
Because we we learned from it, we should try to be careful how we work things the next time.
Next question.
Is it bad to love our life because we have it better than so many people in the world? So shouldn't we love how good we have it?
John 1225 says he who loves his life shall lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
So are we supposed to hate our life?
While the words are the same, the meaning is different. The worst sculpted in John is speaking about.
It's big and about being thankful. It's fighting about thankfulness.
So in one case we can say we have a good life and that is being thankful for it, and in another sense.
We.
Love so much whatever we have in this life that we love those things more than the Lord.
So something could be incredible for something better.
Let's move if we love our life better than we love the Lord.
You cannot be my disciple, the Lord says.
You need to hate your father and your mother and your brother and your sisters and.
Follow me.
That doesn't mean we if you listen to the meeting we had the other night, it would cover as much of this about hating our life.
And it doesn't mean we hate our brethren and sisters and family. It's important that we don't put anything to be more important than the Lord Jesus. And so if you, if you love them.
How good you have things you can't. You can only love a person.
But we love the Lord and if we and if we take our love and we focus that on a life or a style, lifestyle or something else, it's not really love.
If you can like things.
But when we turn it into a love for something that's not God, we cannot be this is. So we need to be careful that we don't.
So we don't put other things in front of Christ.
I think the example that's given in John chapter 12 is upper arms self.
The Lord spoke about his death, said in the 1St 24 barely, barely, I say to you, except the corner feet fall into the ground and die. Divide it alone, but if it died, the turn of course much further, either loser and so on. The Lord Jesus is a dependent task, is a perfect man.
That if he was he thankful for Mary and Joseph, sure what he was saying. Was he thankful for the food that God provided for him in his pathway?
For his circumstances, surely he was thankful for all of that.
But if he cling to his.
This human life so strongly that he would go past the cross, that he would say, I'm going to keep this life rather than lay it down, you know, be willing to sacrifice that life that we might live. That much fruit can be brought to God. So he is the perfect example of this. And that is applied to us. Any man served me.
I can call you. And so we need to follow the Lord's example of that.
And I agree with what's been said, we we ought to be thankful for all that God is provided for us not to despise it. But when it comes to cleaning to our life, cleaning to and refusing to lay it down and sacrifice to God, we should follow the Lord Jesus in that who like that cornably he gave up the life that he had on the very first break for truth to God.
00:40:49
The danger is also that the more we have and the better this life is.
This is the more of a danger it is for us to.
Hold on to that light. So you take somebody you know, Bob, you know yourself as often as and 10 people in Malawi from South America, people in.
Pretty much all over the world.
Have hardly anything. What are they grasping on here? It's a lot easier for them to not grasp off this. Like not that it is an injury done as well. We have it so good here, so such a danger for us, the whole office.
And set them above what God like people asking us to do at the disciple in this life or even our life itself.
God has put us into a society where things are good.
We're in a rich society without us putting our brethren in Malawi his way for society and we can't.
Decide, well, I'm just going to give up everything that I have in this world just so I can be like my president over there it it doesn't work.
In.
Sometimes we take what we have for granted, but we need to be thankful for what we do that.
Be grateful to God for what we do have, but don't be so occupied with it that.
It hurts our relationship with the Lord, so don't think that you have to.
Sell your car and your house and live a legend. Poverty just because some others live in poverty. Poverty is a lifestyle for most people.
They don't know how to live any other way and if you gave them.
$10,000.
They wouldn't know how to accuse it or spend it, and after two months they'd be just back in their poverty. Poverty is a lifestyle.
And it's a mindset, so don't give up.
Hit your mind to be able to be like.
Another lifestyle. But don't take what you have for granted. Trust the Lord for each and every day of your life. But don't.
Fish, don't put anything in front of serving the Lord. If your lifestyle hinders you from serving the Lord, telling you might have to change things.
God puts you into society and the circumstances where you are and you need to learn how to serve God between your spirit that he has put you.
Next question.
Does unequally yoked refer to more than just a believer and an unbeliever? Can it also mean a new believer with someone who has been studying the word for a long time?
It would be good to just read that first and 2nd Corinthians 6.
00:45:04
Verse 14 together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship have righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion have light with darkness, and what conquered has Christ the ability of our peace, or what part that he doesn't believe us with an infidel? And what agreement that the temple of God, the title for years the temple of the living God.
I think the verse is.
Pretty clearly in its interpretation referring to between believers and unbelievers, and I believe this is a reference back to Deuteronomy where the Lord gave instructions to the children of Israel and then Deuteronomy 22 verse 10.
The Lord said to Israel verse 10, thou shalt not follow with an oxygen and ask together so they were not to you know these two different animals, two different species of animals together in the same goat and followed them and it's not really expounded on here on the 2210 why they want to do it.
But it's interesting that when we come to the New Testament, we have this verse that would indicate.
That there is a difference, a great difference, between a believer and an unbeliever.
And just the two different animals, the *** have different natures. And so it was not of God for those two to be built together because they have different temperaments, they have different tendencies and they have perhaps a different case as well. And I don't know much about plowing with animals, but.
I'm assuming that there was some practical reasons why you wouldn't want to do this, but believer and an unbeliever have different natures.
Believer does not have the life of Christ, and so fundamentally they have.
A different direction they're going and so it is very dangerous to be in an unequally dealt with an unbeliever. So I think in the meaning of this it seems pretty clearly to refer to yokes and believers and unbelievers. I was just thinking about the question here. Can it mean a believer, a new believer was someone who.
With more experience, it's interesting that it doesn't say you should not plow with an older ox of the younger ox.
In fact, I think I remember hearing about the way they would train some of the younger oxen is by yoking them with an older one and they would plow together and through that experience of the yoke component was older, they would learn. So I I don't think that it's a matter of spiritual maturity that would that would hinder one from being guilty to another.
But I I do believe that.
If there is carnality, not not just a just a just a new, a new convert, but if there is real carnality, if there is worldliness, if there's maybe some problem.
That's leaving 1:00.
In a different direction, if you're following Christ and you're considering an unequal sorry, and you're considering a yoke with someone who's going a different direction, you may, they may have the new nature, they may be a believer, but if the direction of their life is going a different way.
It could make that guilt very difficult.
So if you're if you're seeking to serve the Lord and following the example of the Lord of Livingston, complete devotion to him, and you're considering a joke with someone, who cares.
A lot about their career.
And they're obsessed with it. Maybe they have hobbies that they are just completely entrenched in, and although they may be a believer, their life isn't going in a different direction to your life. Those are just a few examples, but I know it's a lot broader than that. While it may not be an unequal yoke in the sense of Second Corinthians chapter 6, it still could be.
Very detrimental to your service to the Lord.
To enter into the guilt with that.
00:50:01
I'd like to look at a verse in Amos chapter 3.
Amos 3, verse 3.
Can two walk together?
Except they be agreed.
Maybe you are gathered to the Lords name?
You understand why you are gathered to the Lords name.
And you believe it.
And you have the faith.
To be gathered to the Lords name.
And you know it's the right thing to do.
But then you're interested in a young lady or a young man who maybe they go to another church they don't understand.
And then you want to get married.
They want to go to their church, he wants to go to the assembly.
Maybe your your friend has really studied the word and they understand a lot of things in scripture.
As.
As was mentioned.
It's not an unreasonable joke in the sense of a married, of a believer and an unbeliever.
But it doesn't always work. It says How can two altogether except they be agreed?
You know in order for you to agree when you have two different concepts of walking in space.
You need to compromise in order to.
In order to walk together.
And so those who.
Understand.
More.
Of the Word of God.
Maybe you've been raised in it.
It's it's going to you're going to have to compromise what you believe and why you believe it in order to marry a person who is from another another.
Page but another.
Denomination or.
They go to a different place of worship.
One of you is doing that to call our lives.
And it's usually.
The less instructed person who wins because they're not going to come up to your level, but you'll need to go down to their level.
I don't like to take them down to their level because they may be very much more.
Spiritual than anybody else you've ever met.
But I just talked about your walking faith to practice what you believe and why you believe it. You're going to have to give up. Why practicing your faith if you go with someone who doesn't understand the same way you do.
This diverse in relation to marriage.
Married, I don't, I don't know the business, but some of these principles of the same business.
And and 1St Corinthians 7 and verse 39 it says the wife is bound by the law as long as her husband love it, but if her husband be dead she is delivering marriage because she will only in the Lord.
And I believe that expression in the Lord would speak to us of those two, as has already been pointed out, coming together with the Lordship of Christ in their life and.
One thing to consider if you're a if you're.
A woman girl asking this question.
And you're considering marrying a believer who's half the novice for absolutely saves. But as it's already been brought up extensively, make sure that this believer has the worship of Christ in his life. But then if they're if they are simple in regards to the scriptures, just understand that your husband is the spiritual head of that relationship.
And you are going to be put into the place of submission.
And certainly you can be a help.
Just like Sarah was to Abraham. But there's going to come a time perhaps when you both disagree on what Scripture says. And I'm not saying this is going to make it a great, but just understand this that you will have to submit.
00:55:12
A.
Certainly you can give instruction at your. If you're both in that relationship as being in the Lord, then it should be.
Fairly easy, however I will stay longer than that. Marriage is very difficult.
Marriage is not this very thing that the movies presented us, that TV show presented us, that book presented. Marriage is every day and work. It's work. It's a good work, it's a beneficial work. And the more work you put in, the more benefit you get. But it's worth. And if you have as soon as 20 hours, you got the fundamental differences.
You're a believer, you're both believers, but if you have these fundamental differences, you are adding a lot of extra stress and work.
That relationship and you need to be before the board, before you let your park get engaged and something that is going to take you down a path that might.
For the rest of your life. So just consider that off till Board of Health.
Word about this first, and the Lord talk about what that means to Him.
Don't just dive in because your heart says I want to spare him. It's a lot of work.
I would just encourage anyone that is thinking of these yokes as a relationship with someone that they're planning on getting married with and not looking at it from a business standpoint or some other relationship.
Make sure you have these conversations before you get married that it Sometimes it's it's easiest to have a conversation with someone about something fun, but that's a really crucial part of the relationship before you get married to settle these things.
And no, don't just think you'll you'll figure it out when you get married. That's going to cause some serious stress in your relationship and it's going to cause big problems. Things that you you thought that you were clear on or you thought that your fiance or boyfriend or girlfriend was clear on.
If you're not clear on it and you oppose each other after you're married, then it's going to cause some big struggles. So makes less fun conversations to have. But you have to have those conversations before you get too far into a relationship. That's what you have to both be.
That going for if you're going, if you're both centering your relationship on the Lord and have those conversations and be specific about what things you care about. Even if you're from the same assembly or you grew up doing the same things, talk about what you're going to do as a family, as a couple. Talk about what your preferences are or what your priorities are for.
Bible studies and prayer meetings and what what it means to you to remember the Lord and how important it is. It's it's a very important thing to get that established before you commit to marry someone.
I want to thank everybody for their questions.
We didn't get through them all, but time is up. Supposed to apologize to those who don't get their questions answered.
This time around.
We started out hoping to do some processing each day, but.
Then it ran out of we had so many questions, good questions, that we had a separate prophecy aside.
Experience that later.
We say #17.
01:00:05
#17.
Her godfather we just give thanks for.
All of the questions that we've had over the past week and we just give that score.
The interest that all the young people have and learning.
Scriptural answers to these.
Different things in their lives.
Just prayed that.
It all desire to know what is the truth when I work and just so that our appetites would be wet and then when we go home that we would continue to dig into thy word and seeking out answers.
We just pray that we would all.
Grow more and more and stay and learning more of our Lord Jesus Christ and learning more from thy word, our daughter. Father, we just pray for safety for everyone and say travel home today and tomorrow the next day just trade for continuing safety throughout the day. We'll continue blessing on.
Our activity and conversations here.
Just give thanks and pray these things. The most worthy and precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Obedience, Dependence, Humility
Address—Stephen Rule
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Good evening, a little housekeeping thing. Want to take care of once so that I don't repeat myself. I'll apologize ahead of time. I realized umm type up there is a little small for some of you. This isn't the program I'm used to working out of, but I couldn't get it to work so I'll do the best I can. When I expand and close outlines, I'll have to close things up a little because it's a little different than the program I'm used to working in.
Umm, with that out of the way.
Let's begin.
Like the thing just one stanza of #257 stanza 4. If someone could start that for us.
Deeply more.
In half a game.
OK, and turn off Christmas and I love you and all the flavours of the rationale.
That's right.
God and our Father, we just ask, because we're together with Thy word, open, that our hearts would be open too, that Thy Spirit would be given freedom to work in each of us, and that the end result would be greater glory for thyself. Lord Jesus, we just ask it and Thy name, Amen.
Like to share with you some lessons that the Lord is in the process of teaching me that I think are applicable to every single age in this room.
And then he's one listening as well. They're lessons that are related to obedience, dependence, and humility. So we'll look at those three different topics tonight. And I just kind of like to link it a little bit with what you heard last night or last night about growing things and adorning the doctrine and having beautiful, figuratively speaking, flowers growing in your life. Tonight I'd like to talk about the soil that that grows in.
I think sometimes in our lives things come up and we wonder where did they come from?
And there's something down underneath. And if it's a weed, there's a root. But we don't always trace it down far enough. And I guess what I'd like to encourage in your life and in mind is the process of always.
Building the soil of your life, if you will, and the building the soil, the life as a person here on this earth is growing in obedience.
It's growing independence and it's growing in humility and we'll look at a lot of different examples and we'll look at how those different.
There we go. We'll look at how those different things grow, but I don't. I very, very much hesitated to include humility in there because who would like to give the ten key pointers on how to gain how I gained humility or whatever? It's not what we're looking for tonight. What I'm looking for is things that promote those.
In the life and looking at it in the life of the Lord Jesus, looking at how he walks, looking at what he was is that perfect man. I don't want to share it together with you as something that I believe helps that every single phase of life, but I think it it touches on so many different areas. I prayed about sharing different examples and I just felt hindered in doing so in part because I think it's hugely.
Individual in your life. So I'm going to give you one at least there's only one in my mind it's.
From last week to pick anyone a number of ones, but last week was meditating on. I think it was humility of these different topics and thoroughly enjoyed the word. Thoroughly enjoyed the meditation and then umm came down to the breakfast table and it was much cooler than average August day and it's beautiful. I got a better than average sleep feeling fair amount of energy. We had a very nice family Bible reading.
Sang a hymn at the end of the family Bible reading. Got in the car, my uh, 97 Ford Escort rust bucket rolled down the window, stuck my elbow out. Which is great to be able to do. And August and Chicago.
00:05:09
So you're finishing the car anyway, hold to the end of the to our dead end St. out onto the main thing. And there was the light ahead of me and the light ahead of me. I was the longest one on the way to work and hit it just right. And there was a Cadillac late model, very sporty. I don't know cars well at all, but it was late model sporty and it was a Cadillac in the right lane and I was feeling quite energetic and I was in my lane behind.
A a Hyundai and I just made that.
Turn beautifully. It's kinda cleared the edge of the lane just about perfect three feet. Didn't have to slow down at all. So you could. I tried to drive the speed limit, but I love going around curves and stuff because you get the feeling of speed and you're still doing the speed limit and come around that curve beautifully. Made it around that curve and the just up ahead of me that where the Cadillac and the the Hyundai and the Cadillac got boxed out by the Hyundai and completely spontaneous.
Not thinking about it. No one was watching. But you're watching. Umm, my arm was out the window. I said don't get him, Elantra.
Pulled up behind the, uh, Sonata at the light and uh, Cadillac in the next lane. The second longest light on the way to BCP. Very brief pause. Pulled through the light and the Cadillac got boxed out and now he's in behind me. Glancing at him in the rear view mirror and uh, he turned to the next light and continued on. And the race being over, going nicely around the speed limit.
I thought, oh, humility.
Uh, these things touch every single moment of every day. Obedience is going to look very, very different for you tonight, tomorrow morning than it might for me. But the principle of it is the same. So I want to begin there with the first one here on the list. What I meditate when I'm burning Bible reading, I'm reading Mr. Darby's translation. So all these are there, but I'll read them in the Bible in front of me as well. So if you don't see it up there.
It's quite alright if you don't read to me. This is. If you can't read it up there, I'll read it to you here in my Bible and Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 7.
This is the Lord Jesus quoted from the Old Testament speaking in prophecy of what his life would be. And he says then said, I hello, I come the volume of the book. It is written of me to do thy will.
Oh, God, like this is one of the most challenging and beautiful verses in the Bible. There are many. So I'll just put it in the category of challenging and beautiful. You know how it worked back then, right? They didn't have a bound volume with leaves in front of them. They had scrolls. And so the scrolls sat in these little cubicles like you may have seen from an old post office or something. They've got a whole bunch of these little cubicles, the scrolls that inside each one and.
The person could pull it out of the synagogue. The rabbi could pull it out of the synagogue.
And unroll it. But on the outside of that scroll there was often a summary of its contents. You can imagine flipping through something like the word of God. A big book and pages are pretty handy. That's why we use them. Imagine unrolling a scroll to try to get to the right spot and finding you're in the wrong scroll. And so this one is written on the outside.
The summary of its contents written on the outside of the light.
The Son of God become man. Are these words.
I come.
To do thy will hold on.
It summarized everything that he did.
Just about everything in the world around us is going to push for self-reliance.
And all kinds of things that are built on self getting to what self needs and what self wants.
But written on the pages of the every single page of every single moment of the life of the Lord Jesus as a man in this world.
Were those words, I come to do thy will.
Oh my God.
And death, he cries out to his God, and he says, when he's being made sin, my God, my God, nothing broken in his heart. And the relationship that he had with his God, obedience into and through and beyond death.
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If we're going to live our lives, it would be a wonderful thing to cultivate.
That same desire, that same spirit.
And God works to cultivate that spirit in our lives. And one of the things that he does, what he uses is His word and.
I'm going to have to hide it quickly. In fact, since the outline doesn't work here properly, I think I snuck ahead and threw it in with some question marks. The book of Deuteronomy. It's a wonderful book. I I would challenge you to read the book of Deuteronomy if you've been encouraged in prophecy in this week.
Read the book of Deuteronomy and then read through the prophets, and as you go, try to look at all the linkages in my electronic Bible I went through and I underlined through the book of Deuteronomy after I'd gone through the prophets. I guess I did it in the opposite order. And you'll find a tremendous number of links because God is calling His people back to something that He'd already given to them. He wanted to establish a relationship with them. That's something beautiful in that book.
There's an expression that comes, and Moses uses it in his writing. An expression is Jehovah thy God.
Moses wrote five books, and Jehovah Thy God occurs more than anywhere else in the book of Deuteronomy, but it's used in some of the other books.
Don't feel uncomfortable not knowing the answer to this question. I couldn't have told it to you a month ago.
If you have any guests, how many times he says Jehovah thy God and say.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers.
It's actually very important, so I want you to pause and just think about the actual numbers. Not important, the frequency is.
The idea genesis wild guess approximation never occurs once.
Looking back to this expression.
No one wants to hazard a guess. That's fine. 9 times numbers and Leviticus 0.
Deuteronomy.
It's beautiful. I'm going to show you in the book of Deuteronomy, and I want to come back to here. Here are the occurrences. You don't have to read a single one of them. The point is watching me scroll here.
OK, here we go. I'll expand it. There's your list. There's Genesis. You've got one.
Here's Exodus. You've got your nine. You come to.
Numbers in Leviticus missing. Here's pseudonym. Watch it.
Fired yet?
We're not halfway through the book yet.
And, and in fact, if I can save you, I will. No, I guess I can't. Sorry about that. Here you go. I can't get my off my mouse to find the down arrow. I'll go back up.
234 times.
Moses uses Jehovah thy God 244 times total in this writings. 234 of them are in Deuteronomy. Why? Why is it so often in that book? Why does it come up over and over and over and over again? And I believe that there are two things that come up over and over and over again in the book. One is obedience and the other is the relationship that God wants with you.
He wants a relationship with you. And something I didn't even notice this afternoon suddenly occurred to me. Whoops, I didn't get them all. Jehovah thy God. You know, it says Jehovah your God in the book of Deuteronomy as well. And Moses uses that knowledge, right? About half of them are in Deuteronomy. Jehovah your God. There's around 40 of them. And again, I maybe it's a small detail, but I want you to catch it because I think it's beautiful.
Jehovah.
Your God. For years and years I could never keep straight these eyes vow your Which one's plural? Which one's singular? So somebody finally told me, are singular. So if you say it right, the Zion's our singular and you won't forget it. At least I haven't seen.
Jehovah thy God, the singular Moses is talking to this crowd of people. They're in the plains of Moab. They're about to enter the land. And what does he say to them? 40 times is Jehovah your God? It's plural, it's to the group. But 234 times he addresses them in the individual. When it comes to obedience, your relationship individually to your God is vital.
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It's absolutely essential.
That when you obey God, you are obeying a person in whom with whom you're in relationship. You know, they were brought into the land. And just to touch on Deuteronomy a number of times, they showed clearly that they didn't have in themselves the ability to obey. And you and I have been given that life, the life of Christ that delights to obey, the life that will enjoy a little bit in the life of the Lord Jesus himself and a couple of these other examples.
Not life delights to obey. We have the Spirit of God. That's the power to carry it out.
But the principle of it is throughout this book, your moms and dads in this room, and some of you are going to become moms and dads. You want obedience in those children, God's children, He establishes relationship with them and then he calls for that obedience. Now the child, we had the verse earlier and very clearly, and rightly so, a child doesn't say, well, mom and dad, you know, our relationship hasn't been that good lately.
You've been a little bit busy and so I'm going to act up.
And you can't say anything about it because you blew it doesn't work that way. When it's quoted in Ephesians, it's quoted clearly children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. The child can't claim that as an excuse to not obey, nor should the parent pass over it as Oh well, we'll throw this one out. But this is what I want to emphasize.
You have that child. God with his children establishes an individual 1 to one relationship with everyone.
234 times in this book, almost seven times per chapter, he says, Jehovah thy God.
Want to establish a relationship with a child? Each one is an individual. We only have one child, very much an individual, but everyone tells me when you have two, they've got two individuals. When you have three or three individuals, and so on. Each with their own unique twist, maybe some more like the other and some a little bit more different than the rest, but each truly unique.
And God establishes that unique relationship, and He calls to obedience in that relationship.
Move to the.
Third one.
Kind of had to guess that this was coming I suppose, but if you look.
At Temptations, I suspect most of you know it.
But I'll have to flap those outlines again.
For time, the Lord answers and the temptation of Luke, the answers from isn't that beautiful? Do you have the answers from the word of God? There are many, many things We're not going to go through the temptations and all that we can learn from them. There's so much to learn there, but I think it's beautiful that the Lord when the answer says answered from the word of God and the answer from in every case, the book of Deuteronomy.
He walks and that absolutely perfect relationship.
With his God and the word of God, you could say, I suppose put it this way, saturated him and there was absolutely perfect obedience. And so even in the way that the Lord quotes and if the answer is Satan and the temptations, the answer is beautifully and in obedience. And I just want to call your attention to a couple of the points here.
Umm.
I have to make that. Well, I'll turn to read it.
And Deuteronomy chapter 8 think it that we're familiar with the first temptation relating to mana.
I just want you to notice something that had to be said to the.
Two, but the Lord didn't need to quote.
Verse 3, Deuteronomy, verse three. And he humbled thee separately to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not. We're going to get into dependence here in a little bit. We're going to get into humbling a little bit. They're both here in this verse. Neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know that man. And now the Lord picks up.
This, as he quotes it, Man does not live by bread alone only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
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And we take in the Word of God that promotes obedience. And the Lord quotes the Scripture. Why didn't he quote the first part of the verse?
For the Lord need to be humbled.
Lord humbled himself, didn't he? Lord didn't have anything that needed humbling. We'll look at what's humbling ourselves means in a little while. But he didn't need anything that needed humbling. But he goes and he perfectly responds to that temptation. Let's go over the middle one and I want to look at this.
And look for.
Look for in verse 12.
Time I'll read it. And Jesus answering said to him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Notice if you go back and you look at that temptation.
What were they asking?
It says that temptation is given in umm Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 16. You should not attempt voting for Mr. Darby, Jehovah, you're God, as he tempted him in Masa or in Meribah. That's an Exodus 1717. You go back to Exodus 17.
And you look at it, what were they asking?
They were asking, is the Lord among us or not? That was the question, is the Lord among us or not?
And so most of strikes the rock, they get water in that story, but.
Afraid they can't bring it out clearly enough, briefly.
But here's the thought. The Lord Jesus had a relationship with his God that was absolutely perfect, didn't need to test it, and he didn't need to question it. When we're walking with the Lord in obedience every moment of every day, when he sends those circumstances that are difficult, when he sends those circumstances that we can't make sense of.
When there's that disease, when there's that illness, when there's that difficulty that comes up.
If we're walking in that relationship with perfect obedience in it, when that happens.
There's no need to try to test to see whether the Lord is still there or whether he left. That was the Lord's walk in perfect obedience. I'm not saying that I walk in that way. I'm saying the pathway of obedience and happiness, even in trial, is possible when we know in our hearts day-to-day.
Through obedience, really, that the Lord is there and for us. Maybe I should go back and pick up one detail because it was important here and I skipped it earlier.
Go back to the Lord thy God. I did summarize at the top, rather than going through all 234 the kinds of expressions that come with that statement. The Lord thy God, look at them. Half given, given, half blessed, cares for frothy out of Egypt, will choose, will bless, will raise up, half cut off the nation's love thee.
Redeem the when he establishes that relationship with each one of us, he proves it to us and the Lord is proving to you and to me every single day that he loves us and he spoke to us last night. Among many other things of contentment and contentment is a can be built. It grows as we watch what God does. Thankfulness is another way that it fills as we watch what God does and it enhances and makes the obedience.
That much easier and so when we come into the trial it becomes much easier to go through.
I'm going to step forward and.
Skip over Saul's missed opportunity if you want to look at it. I'm happy to send these and I I have.
Dozens, if not hundreds more verses that didn't make the cut. They're on a different list. I'm happy to send them to you via e-mail. You don't have to capture them all. I want to go to Daniel 4 to give you just a little quick one last one on obedience.
Daniel, his face will never Nebuchadnezzar, and he finds that he has to interpret a dream that's going to cause him to say something that Nebuchadnezzar that no prideful human walking in arrogant arrogance see, like Nebuchadnezzar that's about to be judged wants to hear.
00:25:10
And it says that Daniel was quiet, I think it says for about the space of one hour now when he answers him.
He answers him, and he comes to the end of the answer. He interprets the dream in Daniel chapter 4 and look at this, He says in verse 27, Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins.
By righteousness, thine iniquities, by showing mercy to the poor. And I want to pause there to share with you something that I've enjoyed. You can test it out for yourself. You're going to have to look into it for yourself. But throughout that book of Deuteronomy again.
There's righteousness and there's mercy. Over and over and over again. It mentions the Father, the widowless, the stranger, the Levite. There's not just righteousness, there's righteousness and mercy. I want to suggest to you that Daniel is now outside his land. He's outside where he can enjoy the relationship that God wanted to bring him into in that land. He can't enjoy it the way.
That God meant it to be.
But Daniel's heart is there. We know he read the word and he quotes Jeremiah. Later on. He was reading Jeremiah. Here he is, and he has, if you want to call Nehemiah's prayer, where he paused and he gave answer to the king. This is Daniel's moment from his Bible readings. He's ingested the whole book of Deuteronomy, and he wants to say something to this man, this powerful man, about government. What does he give him? He gives them the essence of the book.
In the essence of the person who wrote it, go back and meditate on it for yourself. I believe this is a beautiful example of someone who did ingested the word of God, taking it in for himself. Couldn't live in the fullness of it because he's been taken out of that land. But he loved the God who'd given it to him. And in that moment he gives the absolute perfect advice to that king about how to rule, and he gives it from God himself.
The essence of the book.
Distilled into those two words righteousness and mercy.
Let's move on. So the next one dependence.
Let me switch the order here. I'm going to go to the second one.
Before I do.
Many of you have ever heard a child say something like the following? This expression I've heard exactly. Maybe your child has said something similar older brother later earlier in their life and your parents quoted maybe a younger sibling Child says I do it myself.
Maybe I heard something similar to that for the action.
Isn't that part of us and it's part of natural growth. I'm not taking anything away from this wonderful. You know, if you had a child who's now 15 who's still wanting to sit in the high chair and be spoon fed, you've got problems. I'm talking about, well, there's developmental disabilities and so on. I'm not meaning that at all. I'm just talking about the fact that there's natural, proper development. So there's nothing wrong. Children need to learn.
To do it themselves.
But encapsulated in that is a spirit we carry throughout our life. We don't like others to have to do it for us. And somewhere deep inside all of us, I suggest, there's a desire to do it myself.
I want to read a verse from Luke chapter 2.
I think it's beautiful.
We capture the spirit that's here.
To keep us from so many difficulties.
So that would only give one personal example. I'll stick with it. This is one of the Lord's working very hard on me on at the moment in Luke chapter 2.
I'm going to.
Save myself a moment and umm.
Myself the reference.
For six.
So it was while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered and she brought forth her first born son. This is the phrase I want you to look at and wrap them in swaddling clothes and laid them.
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Look at the Manger in the end for the moment. Just want to focus on the middle part of that verse. She wrapped them in swaddling clothes. Laid them.
Let's get those hands do.
What could those feet do?
The perfect Son of man, the one who never sins, entered this world. And the moment he enters, the angels, praise the heavens, erupts. The shepherds come to look. So what are they looking at? They're looking at a man who would be absolutely dependent for moment one.
So the moment of his death.
And it symbolized for us and hands that can't move and feet that can't move, and a child that must be lifted and carried and laid in that Manger that is our Savior, that's our Lord, an absolute perfect dependence. And how did he exit this world?
He exited this world and the symbol is the same. His hands were nailed to the cross.
The feet were nailed to the cross and then the hands and feet aren't carrying out the actions.
Of a man and when he's taken down from the cross, what happens?
You know the expression and having taken it down, wrapped it.
Placed a minute to virtually the same two exact expressions, wrapped and placed or laid in that tune from beginning to end. The book ends of his life here. Absolute dependence. Yes, as he walked through this world, he did many, many things with those hands and feet, but he did them. And I believe it's the symbolism of it.
An absolute dependence. The bookends from end to end, perfectly dependent on his God throughout. You want to see absolute, amazing, incredible dependence, read Psalm 22. Just read that word, those words from the cross, from that man, as he asked, with absolute obedience and absolute dependence, while those nails, hands, and those nailed feet didn't move.
Let's look at another figure of it.
When they entered the land.
People entered the land.
Read it from.
Five or many of you have in your hands Deuteronomy Chapter 11, verse 10. For the land whither thou goes into possess it is not as the land of Egypt from when she came out where thou sowest thy seed and water sit with thy foot as a garden of herbs.
Egypt.
Vast majority of, you know, just a refresher, I guess he just has that big river that flows down to the middle of it, the Nile. It brings all that silks from all the way along its way until it gets down to lower to Egypt near the Mediterranean. And then it dumps that rich silk out in the delta there in Egypt. And that's where the land of Goshen was. That's where the children of this world were placed. That's what they were familiar with, and there was water.
365 days a year. As far as I know in recorded history, the Nile has never run dry.
And so to get water on your crop, they had a little water wheel and I had a foot pedal. And you can find them in the ancient monuments, the drawings of them or the sketches of them in the ancient monuments. And there they have that foot wheel. And they watered the land with their foot little hamster wheel.
Little paddle wheel and you could get your steps. Didn't need to buy your Peloton, Just get on your wheel and water your crop. The work of your feet. That's the land they've been in as long as any of these people could remember, That's the land they've been in and now they're about to leave it and they're going to go to a place that's totally different.
And so Moses is preparing him for it. Verse 11. But the land where there you go to possess it is as a land of the hills and valleys.
And drink a water the reign of heaven.
The land which the Lord thy God careth, for the eyes of the Lord thy God are upon it from the beginning of the year, even unto the end of the year.
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Soak that one up for a moment.
Many of you here are.
Work on or near grain farms.
With no irrigation.
Don't have any?
Everybody here has irrigation. How many of you depend on a good rain at the right moment to get the quality crop you'd like to see?
A few.
If you're dependent on the rain from heaven and you're Jews standing on the hillside and you have your crop there, what can you do about it?
You can talk to the one that makes it.
You can talk to the one who says that he has his eye on that land and he sends the rain, but you're utterly dependent. They're going from where they could work for it to where they had to receive it.
Utterly dependent on the blessing from their God. And you know you and I in our lives for all those things. You're a parent in the home, you're cultivating a work and your child, you're saturating them with the word of God. You're building that relationship with them.
You're bringing in discipline where it's needed, correction where it's needed, but you're waiting on the Lord, totally dependent really on the Lord to do that work in the heart. Utterly dependent. We also recognize that at every moment of every day, just like these Israelites needed to recognize them. Their blessing came from above. We could look into the detail if there were time. You know, the Elijah prayed and closed the heavens because of their.
Three. Let's look at a different one.
Umm, just going to go down the last two quotes you could search out for yourself. In the book of Luke there are many examples of prayer, but I want to look at two specific ones as an encouragement. Believe prayer is something that cultivates dependence. Spend time in the Lord's presence and it cultivates dependence. We wait on them and look. Chapter 9, verse 28.
Says.
And it came to pass about an 8 days after these things he took Peter and joint John and James and went up into a mountain.
Right. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, as Raymond was white and glittering. The other two gospels that give the count of the Transfiguration, Matthew and Mark, don't give this part of the account. They don't tell us about prayer.
But Luke that presents the perfect dependent man in his life here in this earth, presents prayer. Just want you to notice the circumstances of this prayer.
This are rough moments in life. Lord was going through a real difficulty here at this stage and so we pray.
Context again is the Transfiguration. His glory is going to be on display to His disciples.
I think what the Lord is showing us here is this. They're not always difficulties in our lives. Sometimes there's some really encouraging things. Sometimes there's some really happy moments. Just naturally speaking, they're joyful. We have the happiness and obedience that were spoken to last night, and that's cultivated as we obey. But there are other natural joys and we enter into them. Maybe there's praise and it's.
Well meant.
Perhaps in one sense deserved.
It's a tendency of our heart. It's not independent.
To take that moment and kind of revel in it and say, well, OK.
Maybe I deserve that one. That's kind of nice. I'll take some more. So Lord, entering into this moment of glory, where is he? He's on his knees.
The Apostle Paul had to learn how to be a base, yes, but he also had to learn how to abound.
Those beautiful moments he had to learn to enter into, learn how to go through in perfect dependence. Second example was an encouragement I hope in Luke Chapter 11.
Came to pass first one, that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord.
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See just to pray as John also taught his disciples. So I encourage you with this.
If you live a life of dependence, and you live it because you're living that life independent, knowing your relationship to the God who gives, your hands are open to receive. As I understand, lifting up holy hands simply meant that in the New Testament, the hands were open. Palm up wasn't lifting up holy hands and waving around so that others noticed you. It was.
Fully hands open and ready to receive the blessing that God gave. Utter dependence on God to give. Wonderful figure, wonderful symbol. And as that is practiced in our lives, others come along and say, I want that too. Others that have the Spirit of God in them. Here the disciples come to Lord and say teach us to pray. Maybe they.
John and his disciples, maybe there's a little envy in their hearts, they don't know, but I like the fact that it occurs when they saw him praying that they come to him and actually ask the question. And so in our lives, when we walk in simple dependence on the Lord, it will be an encouragement to others.
Let's go on and I'll leave the other couple multiple examples here. Let's go on to humility and.
So start with this one here. So the most well known but I, I.
Just because they're well known.
Doesn't mean they're deeply valuable. I'm just going to read the verses with very little comment. I think they speak for themselves.
Perhaps make them remark or two, but Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5.
You read the whole epistle, it's pretty clear that stripes have come in, pretty clear that there was an issue with humility, and before it's gotten to in the 4th chapter, these verses come in and other examples.
But this might be and you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation.
And took upon him the form of a servant. Just hold that in your mind. We'll come to that later in other verses. Took upon him the form of a servant. Was made in the likeness of men.
Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
I want to extend on it here, but just hang on to those words. Humbled himself.
Took upon him the form of a servant. Let's go to the next one.
And Peter?
Peter, Chapter 5.
I'm going to read it from what I have up on the screen.
There's something there that I want to draw out, and I don't know the memory to memory, remember many of the references, let alone the extra that I have there. So I'm going to read it. Likewise, the younger be subject, It's a verb. It's in a Greek tense called. The heiress will come to it in a moment to the elder, and all of you bind on humility.
Bind on. It's in the same Greek tense, the heiress towards one another. For God sets the present, tends himself against the proud.
But to the humble gives present tense grace humble.
Theorists yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt to the ARS.
In the due time, having cast Heiress all your care upon him, for he cares the present tense about you.
Not a Greek scholar and I suspect there aren't any world renowned Greek scholars in the room. Umm, so double check me, I don't want to make an error here on this.
But I'll give you my understanding of it. The tense has basically the sense of do it once and be done with it, be in the state going forward of having done it. It's something that where there's a verb, we don't have an exact equivalent in English. So the actions done.
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The results continue live in the results.
And so it says, buying on humility.
You know what that is? It's putting on the servants cloak. He took upon him the form of a servant. He took on him the form of a servant and he's going to serve you and me forever. There is no end to eternity. But people, we, we borrow words from time to try to express what really we can't comprehend. And so if you look to the end of eternity and then beyond because there is no end.
To that man.
We'll serve you and me forever, but now it's your and my opportunity to bind on humility towards one another.
You and I, when we interact with one another, have.
This life.
To not put ourselves above one another, the act and service and care and love for one another.
This is your opportunity in mind in this life. He's going to do it forever. And you know it says God sets himself against the proud. He'll do it, but to the humble gives grace. And then it says humble, do it once, be done with it yourself, be done with the action but the value of it continuing yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God.
I'd like to suggest to you that means this.
Humbling ourselves doesn't mean talking about ourselves doesn't mean saying negative things about ourselves doesn't mean sliding down in our chairs so that people don't notice us, or hiding behind others so nobody thinks we're trying to be something special. I believe the sense of humbling yourself before God is simply being in the presence of God without anybody else there.
In our thoughts, they're not there.
For the presence of God, you know, if we measure ourselves against anyone else, we might kind of keep looking and looking and looking until we find whatever aspect we're measuring. We're in our finite mind. We think, well, at least I'm a little better than them. There's 99 more that are better than me, but OK, I'm a little better than them. Or maybe we'll say there's a hundred better and I'm last.
So we're sitting here, we're still thinking about ourselves, we're still comparing ourselves among ourselves.
But humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God is sitting down in the mighty, majestic, awesome presence of that person in His Word. It could be in creation. Maybe we need booster shots at Sierra's tents here. Well, I just get done with it and live our whole lives there. But some of us need booster shots.
Maybe more than one.
Say they wouldn't hurt.
But when we enter via His word, it could be via the creation too. Really. You're in the presence of that one, and you pause and you think about it and you think about Him. There can't be any greatness that we put on ourselves. We're humbled in His presence. We don't need to be humbled. Remember the children of Israel, they needed to be humble. That is, they hadn't sat down in His presence.
They didn't know their relationship to him and who he was relative to them, so they needed to be humble in the wilderness. Provided that. Sometimes we need to be be humbled because we're looking at ourselves in reference to one another.
But if we humble ourselves before God is simply we recognize in His presence the mighty God that we have to do with.
I had a hard time reading because it's just hard to believe.
But it says that he may exalt you in due time.
And that's in the heiress too, because he's going to do it and it will remain amazing, isn't it? You and I have a future associated with Christ where we share with Him in glory. It's a shocking thing. It's something that will be done and have lasting benefit forever, and it's His work. The point is not see if you can get more humble so that it'll exalt you now. It's not really the point of it getting this presence.
God to be God.
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The day is coming when it is infinite grace. It's going to take each one of us that belongs to them and allow us to sit down and enjoy eternity with this Son to reign over this earth for 1000 years. He will exalt in a way that never needs to be changed, but it's His work, not ours.
Time for one more.
Just going to give to you in Luke 9 brief summary, the disciples were arguing which of them should be the greatest.
And so the Lord answers. It's in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all of them. I will only read to you the two verses from Luke Chapter 9.
And verse 47.
And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him, and said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name, received with me, whosoever shall receive me.
Receiveth him that sent me, for he that is least among you all the same shall be great. I'm going to read the accounts in Matthew and Mark, but I want you to enjoy with me for a moment.
Little bit that comes in from Matthew and Mark.
Start there with the one that's at the top of the screen.
If you take all three accounts, we're going to find all these things that these children did.
Says he called them to to him in that case.
It came when called.
You've been sitting in one of the meetings in this week.
And you've heard the call of the Lord for whatever it is. So it was something last night, perhaps in one of the earlier meetings. And you've heard that call. Simple humility as a child comes when called.
They were held in the Lord's arms. What actions did the children take in the story once they reached the Lord? It says.
He took them in his arms. I don't read anything else of what they did. At least I don't remember.
They were in total dependence.
They were silent. The Lord did all the speaking.
Spend my desire and prayer this evening that in your heart.
You would hear not my voice, the Lords, and as a child depended on him and on his spirit, that the voice that you're hearing at the moment, that the voice of God speaking to you properly when we're serving as the Lord was teaching his disciples.
What were they? The children were silent. They were used in blessing for others with no credit to themselves.
Many churches have you passed that, said St. Child of the Lord's Arms.
And see Saint Philip the Apostle in the town where I live. And so on. You've got Saint Matthew in Saint Mark and Saint Luke.
Maybe there is one. This is not quite as popular as the others, and my point is simply this. They didn't get any glory out of it, but they were used in tremendous blessing to those disciples.
They were used publicly. They were set in the midst without any glory for themselves. They received not glory, but himself.
If we're going to walk as the Lord wants us to walk, we won't look for any of those other things. We'll be content to be what the Lord taught those disciples to be children. Children who are silent, who come when calls to allow the Lord to have the glory. And yet as a result.
On the deepest, most personal, nearest possible relationship to that one that they love. You can't lose when you walk in dependence. You can't lose when you walk in obedience. You can't lose when you walk with only God before you. Which is true humility.
Want to conclude with one?
I very much enjoy. There's a couple ones already been referred to last night.
You can find obedience, dependence on humility beautifully and Mary at Jesus feet. Enjoy it. Uh, look it up for yourself. Let me share one with you, uh, that I've enjoyed recently to conclude.
00:55:04
I'm an encouragement in these things.
Let's have a cup and the moments that are left. I just want to share with you a couple of details that hopefully will put one single point before you. The book of Deuteronomy. They were to walk in relationship and in obedience.
And they would enjoy the fruit of the Lamb. The Lord promises them in Deuteronomy chapter 8, and they're again in Deuteronomy chapter 30, at least six things. There's actually more, but there's six that pop up on how to have a cut. Chapter three, He promises them that if they were faithful, they would have a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees, also oil, olive, and herds and flocks.
Which are those six you get without rain?
By keeping your cattle if you don't have rain for a long time.
Start keeping your flock for a long time. Or if there's not rain and it's the rain that comes from heaven, they're dependent on God for every one of these six things, or dependent on that rain from heaven for all of them. And as a nation, they fail. As a nation, they've given it all up. And in the book of Habakkuk, in the first chapter they're talk to, Habakkuk is talking to the Lord. He has a lot to say and he's wondering why. Why is this county incoming? He's not racist. He's not going to do the right thing. He's not.
Going to be fair, these are your people. And eventually in the course of the three chapters of that book, Habakkuk quiet down, he pauses and he listens and he hears what God has to say. And at the end of the third chapter, which is the end of the book, he makes these statements. For those think trees shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, The labor of the olive tree shall fail in the fields shall yield no food.
The flock shall be cut off from the fold and there should be no herds and stalls.
Notice this? He didn't say my with any one of those.
The nation was being cut off. God had said it was coming. What he's doing here because he's accepting what God said. He's taking where God had placed him and he's saying yes, but he's come to know the God that's there, that's speaking to him. And so in his circumstances, he can say yes, I there's where he says aye.
Yeah, I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my there's my salvation. Jehovah the Lord is my strength and he maketh my feet like Hinds feet, and he will make me to walk upon my high places. We live at the end of the day of grace. We live in a moment when the public testimony.
The Candlestick is about to be removed.
There's failure everywhere you look.
But Habakkuk isn't looking at that failure here. He acknowledges it, and he acknowledges that the righteous judgment of God is coming. But then what does he say? The God that I've gotten to know, the individual of obedience, the individual of dependence, and the one before whom I walk as an individual, that one I know.
And I will rejoice in him. You cannot be put in a circumstance in your life.
For the circumstance, we'll cut you off from God.
You cannot go there. God will not put you there. And if we walk nurturing that soil of obedience through the word, dependence in prayer and humility by simply sitting down in His presence.
We will joy in that one. Let's thank him. Dear Lord Jesus, we just ask for these things would be made practically good in our lives every single day.
Let's just ask Lord that we would each grow.
In these.
Characters.
Without a show while I was here, Lord Jesus just asked that we would become more likely. We ask it in thy name, Amen.
Be An Encourager
Clean and Unclean Animals
Children—David Stewart
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
OK, it's time to start Sunday school.
I just want to warn you guys right off the bat, I'm really bad with caves so I'm not even going to try. I'm just pointing at you if you have the answer to a question or if you have a song you want to sing.
So do any of you boys and girls have a song you on a thing this morning? Yes.
Jesus loves me. I'm going to have to ask someone to help start this for me and not get to start anything.
Jesus.
Yeah, my baby, you know, she's my opinion.
Love, love, love, love.
You crying, I have to stay to the whole thing of life.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
She is not my name. The Bible tells me so.
All the way and I trust him till I die.
In my life.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Anyone else have one? Yes.
88.
So that's there once, like a wild little dog.
Once was a while.
It had to be.
And.
Praying.
00:05:10
OK. Does anyone else have down on the end? Yes.
OK.
Jesus who lives above the sky, someone who knows things started.
Number in our.
That is in our 5656.
All right, all right, how about another one?
Yes.
Into a tent.
Where a gypsy boy like.
Did I not perish? My hand will be full. Nobody ever.
Again, and I will wake you up again.
Salvation Salary.
00:10:01
Cancel the children of men.
The power has so many people.
Nobody ever has told me.
I am so glad that coordinated Western whisper while saying the sun in the world the Lord.
Again. Something that again.
Salvation story and feeling. Feeling more and more.
Let's stop with the with the songs for now. Did any of you boys and girls memorize a verse this week? I didn't get some of these little papers, so I don't know if any boys and girls, you memorized your birthday. You want to say it, You can't. You don't want to. You don't need to.
Very good. All right one down here.
OK, you can go ahead.
Another recommendation.
Say good job. Anyone else all right down here?
Or will not that I said unto thee, You must be born again? John 37.
Good job. Is there anyone else?
Good job. All right, another one.
All right. Any others?
I don't see any other hands up. All right. Oh, here's another one.
All right. Good job.
All right, well, that's a lot more volunteer to stay in the verse this morning. That's a good job. It's really good to learn Bible verses when we're young, and we're going to talk a little more about that this morning. But before we do, I'm just going to ask someone for help. OK, so let's just pray God and Father, we just.
Thanks for this opportunity we have this morning to talk to boys and girls here and she.
Them gobbling buttons from thy word. We just pray for help and the message would be as clear as possible and OK with all.
Wearing something or take away something from it, that would be a blessing to them in their lives. So we just pray for each of these kids here, especially that there's any of them who aren't safe, that they would be safe while they're young. So we just pray for each one here.
00:15:14
You say these things, the most important precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
All right, can any of you just.
What we're going to be talking about this morning.
Yeah, I'm clean animals. I guess you can read right? So unclean animals.
And I wanted to talk about this topic because I know lots of boys and girls love animals and and I was a little boy, I loved animals and I still like animals. I don't know very much about them, but I think animals are very interesting.
And the Word of God is full of animals. There's animals in a lot of different verses in the Word of God. So if you are interested in animals, I would just encourage you to read the Bible because there's lots of animals in there you can't read.
You can ask mom or dad to read a verse to you from the Bible that has animals in it.
But today we're going to be talking about unplanned animals and some clean ones.
But these animals are mentioned in Leviticus 11.
Those of us here who have Bible, you can turn there, but kids don't need to turn there.
Because I have some slides that will help us go through that.
These animals are mentioned in Leviticus Chapter 11.
Now, some of what I'm going to talk about might be a little hard for you to understand.
You don't understand it. That's OK. Just I hope at least you, you can see how many animals there are in this passage and hopefully maybe that'll interest you in reading some more scripture that has animals. Okay. But I hope some of you, at least some of you learn some of these lessons. So these animals in Leviticus 11.
There's I believe 30 or 35 different specific animals mentioned in this chapter.
Of the law of animals.
And these animals?
Are classified as clean or unbetween to the Israelites.
If they were a clean animal, that means Israelites could eat them. If they were unclean, that means Israelites could not eat them.
Now we are not under the law and this, these rules are not for us. So we can eat any animals, right?
But we can still learn some really nice lessons from these clean and unclean animals. So I wanted to go through some of these animals and see what lessons we can learn.
Well, the first thing I mentioned in this chapter and the requirements for.
I believe it's beasts.
Which would be like cows and goats and sheep and those kind of animals. The first requirement that I had is first.
But that the animal had to have a cloven hoof for it to be clean.
Does anyone here know what that means to have a clothing poop?
It's kind of a funny word, isn't it?
Yep, Yep, exactly. So it's who's that's divided in half so I have a picture of it.
Go, here we go. So there's a picture of two hoops and they're clothing.
And I believe this is a deer, but you can see that there's a split right down the middle.
And you can imagine a horseshoe, right? A horse does not have a clothing hoop. Their hoops are all solid. They're one solid piece.
But you can see here these are split.
And the cloven hoof allows these animals that have them to run along and climb and walk along really rough and and rocky and difficult terrain. These hoods are very excellent for getting them through.
00:20:08
That terrain.
So have any of you boys and girls seen pictures or seen in person mountain goats?
You have so I've seen some pictures of them climbing some pretty steep cliffs and it looks like some of these places they get to are impossible. I even saw a picture of 1 where there was a concrete dam that had just a very very very steep incline. It almost looked vertical but there was goats up there.
Somehow using their clothing hoops.
They climbed up there and were licking the salt that was coming out of the walls of the dam.
So these hoops allow them to walk through rough terrain without getting tripped up or bogged down with it. So what's the lesson we can learn from this?
Well, we should as Christians.
I'm speaking to boys and girls. If you're already saved and you're Christians, and I hope you are, but as Christians we can have cloven hooves like these animals.
And we can do that by walking through this world.
Walking through life without getting shipped out, without getting bogged down or distracted by the things that this world has to offer.
And.
I'd like to be a little hard to understand, but I'll just give you an example.
Thank you boys go to public school or or anything else like that where you can meet other boys and girls who maybe are Christians.
They might those those boys and girls might do some bad things, so they might have some bad habits. Well, to have a problem, who would be to?
Not be influenced by these boys and girls who have those bad habits to not pick up those bad habits and not do those same bad things, but just to keep pleasing the Lord and not let those things affect you. So that's how we have a clothing hoop. So what is the next requirement that this chapter lists?
It is.
Animals must chew the cud for them to be clean.
Animals must chew the cud. Is anyone else want to try and describe what chewing the cut is?
Animal.
Can bring it back up to their mouth and she will look again. Exactly. When an animal eats, they bring the food that the bird feeds back up into their mouth to eat again. So here's a picture of a cow chewing.
And here's a scientific diagram of chewing the cut, but you can see it'd be hard to see. But on this diagram it shows the cow eating the graph.
Swallow it. It goes down here into this.
Area, I'm not sure that's another stomach or what and then it comes back up and around into this area and eventually it oh, from there it turns into this red line, shoots back up into their mouth. They chew on it, swallow it and then it's done.
I'm not sure if that happens more than once or not, but they at least do it once.
So that's an interesting thing, isn't it, for animals to do that, to chew on the same thing that they already chew on and swallow. You know, I was at the Philadelphia Zoo.
A year or two ago and there was a giraffe there and giraffes have really long packs, right?
Well, giraffes chew the cud and their necks are so long. This tie, they're this food that they're bringing back up into their mouth to chew on again has to go all the way back up their neck. And I remember I can do you can see the lump moving out the giraffe tank as it went back up into their mouth. It was pretty funny because it took a few seconds for it to when it started.
Mountain and it was just kind of funny to see this lump moving up its neck and once it reached its head and start chewing and then swallow a little while later again.
00:25:12
Well, what's the lesson we can learn from this?
So as Christians.
We should learn to chew the cud.
And there's a little hint as to what this lesson is in the name of animals that chew the cud. Does anyone here know?
I I think it's the scientific name of animals that chew the cub.
Any of you, boys or girls? Any adults?
Yes, yes, they are ruminating animals. And that word ruminate has several meanings.
I guess in the case of an animal that's used to cut, it's just talking about animals that choose a cut. But another meaning for ruminate is to meditate or think deeply about something.
So we are going to be like these animals, like this cow that chews the cut.
How can we do that? Well, the first step is to read the Word of God. And I heard boys and girls quoting some verses this morning. So it sounds like a lot of you already have step one complete. You're reading the Word of God. And for those of you that can read, I hope you read every day. For those of you who can't read, I hope you pay attention to Mom.
When they read the Bible to you in the morning or at night, that's the first thing we need to do. We're going to be like these animals that you.
So the next thing we need to do is to meditate on it or to think about it. Think about what we read. You know, I remember when I was a a boy, I was in elementary school.
Would have a Bible reading in the mornings, have breakfast and I remember sometimes I would be so tired that I would be at the table listening and I would hear mom reading and it would be going in one year and right out the other.
That's not cheating. I wasn't thinking about what I was reading. So when we're reading the Bible or when mom or dad are reading it to us, let's try and think about what they're reading. Think about what the words mean. Think about what God is telling us in the university.
And and enjoy it too. So that's how we can chew the cut like this cow. Well, animals had to have both of these things. It wasn't OK for an animal to chew the cud and not have it divided tooth. And it wasn't OK for an animal to have a divided tooth and not chew the cut. It had to have both.
And I think the lesson we can learn from this is that.
If we chew the cut, if we meditate, if we think about the words that mom and dad are reading to us, if you think about the words and the verses that we're reading and we really think about them and enjoy them, and it should sink into our heart and get down to our feet.
You should obey those words for really thinking about them and enjoying them. You should have obeyed them. So an animal had to have both of these things. And one of the examples of this chapter list is a camel. Oh, I was actually going to have you guys guess what animal it was, but it's pretty obvious it's a camel.
If any of these boys or girls guess if this is clean or unclean, just remember there's two requirements. It has to have a divided loop like those deer loops that we were looking at, and it has to chew the cub like the cow anyone stacks this camel is clean or unplanned.
Do you think it's clean? Is anyone else up against?
I'm clean. OK, You have two cabins. Clean or unclean? Well, you know, at first you think it's probably clean because camels definitely chew the cud and their hooves look pretty divided. But Scripture tells us that they're in pain. And if you look closer at camel hoops, you can see on on the screen here.
00:30:11
There's a zoomed in picture of camel feet.
They're actually not foods, I don't think. Or maybe they are called.
But they actually have two toes with.
Toenails and not divided hoops.
Camera was unfreeze. The camel replaced someone to.
Thinks about the word of God, reads it and thinks about it, but then doesn't walk in it and it's not good. We need to have both. We need to both read the word of God, think about it, and then obey it.
The next the next animal that it mentions is.
Read that. Can anyone guess what this is?
A rock badger. Wow.
Okay.
All right, yes, this is a rock fashion and.
You might read Tony in your Bible or some other word. It's really hard to know what are the exact animals with the original Hebrew meant, but the closest I could find was a rock badger.
Anyone guess just from looking at this picture if the animal is clean or unclean?
You are the answers.
It doesn't have foods. That's right, this animal is unclean. It's just like the camel. Apparently it used because.
But it doesn't have clothing, whose scripture tells us.
All right, can anyone guess what this is?
A rabbit? Yes it is. Does anyone know another name for a rabbit?
A funny Yep. Anyone else know another name?
They have buds.
Another name is a hair, but just the same thing. I think maybe there's a technical difference but it's a hair or a rabbit.
You want to get to this cleaner, right? Please.
It's long years, clean or unclean.
In the middle.
I'm playing. Why do you become clean?
That's right, it doesn't have for the news. Just like the camel, just like the rock sizer. Who? All right, can anyone guess what this animal is?
OK, that's right.
It's a case now. This animal is different than the other ones we just read about. Anyone want to get to this cleaner on screen?
Well, it doesn't show it in this picture, but pigs do have *****.
So does anyone else want to guess?
Yes, yes.
Your dusting is clean OK.
What's your guys?
Your dusting is clean. OK. All right. Well, most of you said clean.
But it's actually unstable.
You know, paid have foods and they have clothing boots. They're divided, but kids don't chew the cuts like a cow. They just eat whatever they can and swallow it and don't think twice about it.
And I know that from Syrians because we used to have six and they would be anything you throw in there.
So pigs are unclean. They are like someone.
Who maybe is a good person? You look at them and you see how they walk and you can't find anything wrong.
But they haven't been reading the word of God and thinking about it, so their motivation for doing this is not right. They might be doing it to look good in front of mom and dad or someone else.
But they are not chewing the cud. They're not reading the word of God and thinking about it so.
00:35:03
It is unclean that you need to have both. Remember, as Christians we need to both think about the word of God and obey it all right.
So the next thing it mentions are fish in the water, and it has some requirements for animals to be clean if they're in the water. The first requirement is that the fish had to have been.
You guys all know what the things are on the fish. Yeah, that's a picture of them. So those are, I think those are pins.
So the fins on the fish allow the fish to swim through the water. The fish don't have any fins. It'd be really hard for it to propel itself through the water, right? It would wiggle and move, but it probably wouldn't get very hard. So the things allowed the fish to swim through that water.
You know, as Christians we can have things like a fish, and this one might be a little harder for you boys and girls to understand.
But it's like us having spiritual energy to continue on pleasing the Lord as you walk through this world.
Fish propel it through the water. We need to have spiritual energy to keep us moving on and keep us pressing on to the Lord.
You know, there might be times in our life where we get discouraged. Maybe you were playing with a friend and they keep taking one of our toys or doing something that we don't like. And we know that we should please the Lord. So we just let them go ahead and have that toy or let them go ahead and do that thing that we don't like.
But maybe they keep doing it over and over again and we get so discouraged that we just give up and say, OK, I'm not going to please the Lord anymore. I'm going to get angry at this person and take this toy back. That's not having spiritual energy.
You need to have spiritual energy and despite the circumstances that were and despite whatever situation it is that we're in, just keep praising the Lord.
That means you can only come from the Lord.
All right, the next thing that the fish had to have.
Scales. So here's a close up picture of scales. It's.
Is zoomed in pretty far.
But that almost looks like some sort of farmer doesn't.
Like the like the fish has a surrounding of armor all around its skin and this keeps the water out of the fish and it just protects the fish as it swings through the water.
So what's the lesson we can learn from this?
Well, armor reminded us of something that we've learned about in the Word of God, and I'm sure you boys and girls have heard of armor in the Word of God having the reader verse in Ephesians chapter 6.
Ephesians chapter 6.
In verse 11 Says put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the Wiles of the devil.
So go north and provided us armor that you can put on. As we walk through this world, the devil is always trying to attack us.
But the Lord has provided us some armor, so I'm just going to go over each part of the armor quickly.
So that you can know how to have scales like a fish. So the first one is the loin skirt about the truth. So we need to, as we've already spoken about, read the word of God and learn the truth that's in it. We need to understand the truth and.
And as I said, meditate on it. Learn the truth. That's how we have our mornings heard about the truth. The next part is the breastplate of righteousness.
So when we learn the truth, we need to obey it. We need to walk them.
00:40:02
Just learn the truth and then disobey it. We need to walk in this tree.
The next one is our deep shot. I want to say actually shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I believe so, to have our feet shot.
Is to understand.
That we have peace with God. We need to have a clear conscience with him if we're doing.
Something in our life that doesn't please the Lord. You can't really have pizza in family. It's hard to have pizza in if you know we're not pleasing it.
So if we make sure that we're not doing anything bad, then we have a clear conscience and we can have peace with God. And that's how we can shout our feet. All right, the next one.
Is the shield of faith.
So this would be to have.
Confidence in God to understand that He is for us.
That He loves us and that will never stop loving us.
By the circumstances that we have that understanding and then we can have the shield of faith. So the next one is the helmet of salvation and I believe.
Yes, the helmet of salvation. Do we understand and believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for us? Do we know that our sins are all washed away?
You know, I think sometimes it happened to me when I was a younger boy. I was saved. I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and I was saved.
And I knew that, but a short while later, after I was saved, I sort of got scared that maybe I wasn't actually saved.
But you know, the word of God tells us that once we're saved, we're always saved.
And you can never be lost again.
So we need to understand we are saved. We need to understand that our sins are all gone, that the Lord Jesus Christ and died on the cross and saved us forever. And the next one is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
So we've already mentioned reading the Word of God and understanding it once we read the Word of God and.
Get to know it, then we can use it.
Against the attacks of the devil. This might be a little hard for you to understand, but I just want you to know that there are things you can do, things you can put on spiritually that allow us to have armor like these fish that have scales, okay?
So here's a question for you guys.
Yes, it's a shrimp. Is a shrimp clean or unclean? Remember, I have things and I have time scales.
Anyone does?
Yes, unclean. Why is that clean?
That's right, it doesn't have scales, and I don't know if I have spins or not either, but it definitely doesn't have scale.
So this will be hard and clean and I think all shellfish, like a shrimp, would be on stage. It's none of those fish have scales, right? Crabs don't have scales. Lobsters don't have scales.
Anyone tell me what type of fish this is?
Big Blue whale? Nope, not a Big Blue whale.
Nope, not a shark.
Yes, that is a tuna.
Anyone want to get this clean or unclean?
Why is it unclean?
What?
It doesn't have scale. That's right, two knots. Could be wrong about this but pretty sure that I googled it that the tuna don't have proper carrots like most other fish.
00:45:05
Have a smoother skin, so a tuna is unclean, at least in this type of tuna.
All right, well, the next category of animals it goes over are birds.
That's right.
All right, so the next animal is the bald eagle.
Does anyone know what this is?
The bearded Vulture.
OK, this is the Buzzard. Anyone see what it's eating?
The dead rabbit.
This is a Falcon. It's just every time pain.
The kite which you said the same thing.
This is the hawk. Scripture says it's unclean.
Sure you won't drown, although it says it's an hour. That's right, Scripture satisfying something clean.
I get it.
Unclean.
Condor.
I'm saying stork unclean.
Parrot uncleaned that unclean.
Global examples have in common. I got to speed this up, so I'll try and go through this stuff. Well, all of these animals.
Other animals, they eat flesh.
What's the last we can learn from this? Well, the Word of God says that we need to have our thoughts in heavenly places. We shouldn't be earthly minded animals. They fly up in the sky, but they focus the gaze down on the earth and they feed on the flesh. So we don't want to be like them, right? If they're on the scene, we don't want to have our focus on our own.
Flexibly.
Interests. We don't want to be constantly trying to please ourselves, right? All right, let's go through this next group super quick.
The Raven sunscreen ostrich Unclean. There you go. Unclean 120.
What do all these have in common? Well, they are all omnivorous, which means that they'll eat anything. I think it's sort of the same lesson as as what we had from the first set of birds. We don't just want to have our.
Our thoughts and our what we feed on spiritually to be just anything we need to feed on the word of God and think about heavenly things just.
Whatever comes into our life.
Why impacts are pretty much all March is unclean.
Flying insects fly around. They all have wings.
But a lot of them crawl around on the ground.
But a lot of them crawl around and their focus is on this earth.
Focus. Does anyone know if it's clean or anything?
It's an insect, but scripture says that it's clean.
Without a cricket, didn't check too.
The the cricket is clean as well. So the locusts and the cricket and other insects that have big old legs see these big old legs behind the wings that allow it to jump.
Those sorts of incessant things. So the lesson that we can quickly learn from this is that we should have faith to rise above our circumstances.
And I know that might be a little hard for you to understand, but there's a lesson in all of these animals.
There's a hole.
Your mouth.
A lizard, unpaid.
Echo unclean, chameleon unclean. So these all these animals creep and crawl around on the earth, and there they are.
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Little creeping critters, this Moto dragon is a little and big, but they, they're focused again is virtually they never look up. They're always looking down and focus down on the earth. And so we, we don't want to be like these animals, right? We want to have our focus having word. That's what the Lord Jesus is and that's where we're going someday.
Well, that was a really quick breeze through the second-half and.
That's not, I don't think that's every animal in there. It might be, but there's more animals listed in that chapter. I just hope you boys and girls remember that the word of God is full of animals. If you enjoy them, you can read lots of scripture about animals. And when you look around outside and you see animals, remember.
There are lessons you can learn from them.
So I hope that's.
I hope you boys and girls learn something today. Let's just close with the word of traffic.
Our godfather, we just.
We'll just pray for this one of these boys and girls and young.
Learn something and just just pray that they would learn to be.
Meditating on the word of God, just thinking about it, and not just thinking about it, but letting it get to their walk and.
And you may want to call it.
Just pray to you that they would have spiritual energy and to continue on despite the circumstances that they they may begin and that they would put on the whole armor of God to.
Withstand the Devil and.
As well than any other lessons that we learned with the birds that they would have their focus having words, their thoughts would be from fleshly things down on the side. And so we just pray for each one of these boys and girls with self bandage. All of us here as adult as well.
Those hurdles are sustained with the Lord Jesus Christ and.