Participants: John Lomacang, John Stanton
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL110015
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00:01 Hello, friends. Grab your Bible
00:03 and a friend and sit back as we explore God's word 00:05 together on this edition of House Calls. 00:21 Hello, friends. 00:22 Welcome to another edition of House Calls, 00:25 so glad that you've chosen to tune in 00:26 and join with John and John. 00:30 Good to have you here, John. 00:31 It's great to be here. 00:32 Oh, should be good to have me here, it's been a while. 00:36 Yeah, good to have you back. 00:37 Yes, it's been a while. 00:39 And we always enjoy House Calls program, 00:41 but we enjoy even better when both of us 00:44 are in the saddle since it's something we love to do. 00:47 And we want to encourage you to get your Bibles, 00:50 get your pens, don't forget that 00:53 we do take your questions. 00:54 Anytime you have a question you want to send to us, 00:56 you can send them right here to us, 00:57 and we'll give you that email address 00:59 in just a moment, but thank you for tuning in. 01:01 We have a very important topic today. 01:03 We're gonna be answering your questions 01:04 and then also get in to the answering another question 01:08 which is in the minds of many, 01:10 why so many denominations? 01:13 A lot of people ask that question, 01:14 why so many types of cereal in the store? 01:16 We know why that's the case. 01:17 Why so many churches all claiming to have 01:20 the Bible as they rode map. 01:21 This gonna be a very interesting series 01:23 over a number of programs, and we encourage you to 01:26 tune in and invite your friends to watch it, 01:28 or maybe tape it and share that with your 01:30 friends and family and churches. 01:32 But before we do anything, John, 01:34 would you have a pray for us today? 01:35 Absolutely, let's do that. 01:37 Gracious Father in heaven, 01:38 we're so blessed to be able to be here, 01:40 to sit here, to open your word and to know that 01:44 as we divided, you are there to lead us and guide us. 01:47 We pray that You would speak to our hearts today 01:50 and that You would open the minds and hearts 01:51 and ears of those who are listening, 01:54 who are viewing this program. 01:55 Lord, bless us, and may we understand the topic today 01:59 and go away from this place, this study, 02:01 knowing you more fully, in Jesus name, amen. 02:06 Also as I mentioned, we enjoy taking 02:08 your questions, if you have any questions, 02:10 you can send them here to housecalls@3abn.org, 02:13 that's housecalls@3abn.org. 02:16 Upload them to the Internet and we'll download them 02:20 and make sure that we can answer 02:21 as many as we possibly can. 02:23 And if you don't have a computer, 02:25 which is getting more and more rare, 02:29 you can send them to here at 3ABN, PO Box 220, 02:33 West Frankfort, IL, 62896. 02:36 But we like questions so thank you so much 02:39 for sending them and being faithful to ask us 02:41 questions that sometimes challenge us. 02:44 John, what do we have for the first question today? 02:46 We got a question that's, it's an interesting one, 02:50 we haven't had it before. 02:51 So I thought I pick this up and, 02:54 it's a good one and I think we can 02:56 all learn little bit, which we can be challenged 02:59 a little bit but learn a little bit by the question. 03:01 It says, from the time the Holy Spirit put Jesus 03:04 in the womb of Mary, he was developing just as 03:08 any other baby in the womb would develop. 03:10 My question is, where was 03:13 Jesus mental capability during that time? 03:16 And even after He was born, 03:17 where was it as He was developing 03:19 toward the age of reasoning things out. 03:22 Was His mental capability stored in 03:23 some nebulous state of suspended 03:25 animation during that time? 03:28 And did He have no communications 03:30 with the Father whatsoever? 03:32 Also during that time, was there in effect 03:33 only two persons of the trinity 03:35 until He reached the age of reason? 03:37 I appreciate your discussion on this. 03:40 Okay, so, you know, one of the things that 03:42 we find as we look through the word 03:46 especially with regard to Jesus early life. 03:49 Is that it is really fairly quite on what His 03:53 young childhood life was like. 03:56 In fact, you go from in most gospels, 03:58 you go from the baby to, you know, 04:01 baby and child to 12 years old on. 04:04 In fact, 12 years old it's only a brief 04:06 pause of Him in the temple, meeting and talking 04:09 and teaching and sharing and dialoguing 04:11 with the teachers of the day. 04:13 And then all of a sudden you get to almost 04:15 30 years of age which is when He began His ministry. 04:18 So I want to go to a text here, 04:19 I think it does tell us a little bit, John. 04:22 Give us some insight here and that's Luke Chapter 2-- 04:25 Okay, let's go there. 04:26 Luke Chapter 2 and verse 40, and this verse, 04:32 the sequence of this verse comes 04:34 to into play right after Jesus was 04:43 circumcised and basically His parents have brought 04:48 Him to the temple and I'm missing 04:50 the word, he was dedicated. 04:53 Boy! My mind is not working well this morning. 04:55 Dedicated at the temple, and so we have now 04:58 then going back to Nazareth and there are these words 05:01 in verse 40, it says, the child grew and became 05:04 strong in spirit, filled with wisdom 05:08 and the grace of God was upon him. 05:10 This is pretty much the passage that tells us, 05:13 He grew up to know His father 05:15 and to know who He was ultimately by the age of 12. 05:19 So the question is and it's a good question 05:21 what, you know, when it comes to Christ 05:23 and His knowledge of who He was 05:26 and His godliness so to speak, 05:30 where was it at that time? 05:32 Well, one of things that I think is implied here 05:34 in the question that isn't really a reality. 05:38 Is that our mind or somehow our knowledge is stored 05:41 somewhere else besides our head. 05:45 We do not believe, nor does the Bible teach in 05:47 a separate soul that is capable of thinking, 05:51 of consciousness apart from the brain, body. 05:57 So you know where was Christ mind 06:00 when He was a child, and He was growing up? 06:02 Well, I think this verse says a lot. 06:04 It grew, He became knowledgeable, 06:07 He was filled with wisdom as He grew 06:09 and developed over time. 06:11 And here is one thing that's interesting 06:13 to know about Christ life. 06:14 In no time during Christ life, 06:16 did He depend upon His divinity 06:20 to be able to overcome temptation, 06:22 to be able to get through this life 06:24 because He came to live as a man 06:26 to be in our place and so then He had to develop, 06:30 He had to grow in the same way 06:33 that you and I would grow. 06:35 So the question really answer, 06:36 the answer is how do we get to know 06:39 to grow and to know the Lord. 06:40 Well, it's because we read, we study, 06:43 we learn from our parents, we read then, 06:45 we begin to study, and read on our own 06:47 the Bible, the scriptures. 06:48 And then we become, we get to a point where we have 06:51 grown in the knowledge and stature of the Lord. 06:55 And Jesus did the same, now I do believe 06:58 at some point He was given the knowledge by his Father 07:02 that he was in fact the Messiah 07:04 that he had been learning about. 07:06 And from that point on he grew exponentially 07:08 as he studied the scriptures. 07:09 I believe the Holy Spirit led him to understand 07:12 not only his mission, but who he was 07:15 beyond being the son of man. 07:16 He was also the son of God. 07:19 And so that's really, John, 07:21 we don't have any special in depth synopsis 07:25 or analysis through the word 07:28 with regard to Christ's early life. 07:30 His early childhood, you know, 07:31 someone and I know the question comes up. 07:33 Well, you know, I'm sure he was tempted out there 07:35 as he was talking with his friends 07:37 and they were out playing. 07:38 He was tempted to do things that 07:39 they often what's so come to or do, 07:42 and you know did he sin that, 07:43 and what the Bible tells us, 07:45 so without sin, so evidently not. 07:48 We know that he did not so come to sin in any case. 07:50 So there were things about Him, John, 07:53 I'm sure that were very special, 07:56 but no time that He used any supernatural power 08:00 to overcome the enemy. 08:01 The power had come from God through the Holy Spirit 08:04 to strengthen Him as a man to overcome temptation. 08:08 And I think overtime He developed the 08:10 knowledge and wisdom that His father had taught him 08:12 through the Holy Spirit of who He was. 08:15 You know, what's so interesting about this 08:16 particular topic and I thank you 08:19 for bring that one up, John, because I remember when 08:22 John mentioned that question, I said, wow! 08:24 That's a, you know, it's almost like 08:26 asking us to psychoanalyze Jesus. 08:29 And for us to even try to explain his mental state 08:33 would almost be to dabble in the laboratory of eternity 08:36 which we don't have the capacity to do. 08:39 Well, what we can't do is point or something 08:40 and I like the fact that and I want 08:42 to reiterate what he just said. 08:44 Jesus grew up as any childhood, 08:47 and coming through being born into the world, 08:50 as a matter of fact, let me just give you 08:52 a couple of scriptures that will give you 08:53 some of the foundation here. 08:55 Galatians 4:4, But when the fullness 08:59 of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, 09:03 born of a woman, born under the law. 09:07 He came if to be born through a woman, 09:11 he had to born as any babyhood, 09:14 but his mission was very defined before 09:16 he even came because, God sent. 09:18 For God so love the world, 09:19 that he gave his only begotten son. 09:20 It wasn't against Jesus as well, 09:22 but it was a cold mission, in other words, 09:25 they were together in this mission, 09:27 the mission to say fallen humanity. 09:29 And he goes on to say in verse 5, 09:31 in Galatians 4 verse 5. 09:32 What was the purpose of Jesus? 09:34 This one that was born of a woman. 09:36 It says, to redeem those who were under the law, 09:41 that we might receive the adoption as sons. 09:45 So what was His mission, 09:46 to redeem those who are under the law? 09:49 The first mission He had was to His own people. 09:52 He came to His own, John 1:16 says, 09:54 John Chapter 1 says, "He came to His own, 09:56 and His own did not receive Him" 09:58 but going back to the mental state, 09:59 not going back to the issues of the Jews, 10:01 he was born a flesh. 10:03 Therefore, one of the beauties of the God 10:06 head which we will understand 10:08 or the phrase or the word condescension. 10:12 Somebody want to say condescension. 10:15 But the condescension the bring down of divinity 10:18 clothing it in humanity and then making it's 10:21 subservient without the use of any divine powers 10:25 to all the temptations, all the struggles that 10:27 any one of us would have. 10:28 That's why the Bible says he was tempted 10:30 in all points like we are. 10:32 Well, agree without sin, but let's go back to the 10:35 who was He when He was born? 10:39 Matthew 1 verse 21 says, 10:45 "And she will bring forth a Son, 10:48 and you shall call His name JESUS, 10:51 for He will save His people from their sins." 10:55 Verse 23. And they shall call His name Immanuel, 10:59 which is translated, "God with us." 11:01 So clearly who is this child? 11:04 And who is this child, he is God with us, 11:08 He is Jesus the savior. 11:10 You go to verse 8 in Luke, 11:12 in Matthew Chapter 2 and it says, 11:14 "And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, 11:19 Go and search diligently, for the young child." 11:22 Jesus was a young child. 11:24 "And when you have found Him, 11:26 bring back word to me, that I may come 11:28 and worship Him also." 11:30 So they recognized, so Herald recognize that, 11:34 hey, there is a king born who is worthy of worship, 11:37 so even as a child Jesus was worthy of worship. 11:41 So was he ever at a point that he wasn't divine? 11:44 No. Was there ever a point 11:46 that he wasn't human in his condescension? 11:48 No. You go through the Bible 11:50 you're continually seeing 11:51 the phrase young child, young child emphasized 11:55 there in Matthew Chapter 2 verse 20, verse 21, verse 8, 11:58 young child verse 11, young child in the house. 12:01 So any young child, any baby has to grow 12:04 and learn the processes. 12:06 That's why Jesus is our Savior, 12:09 because He came and walked as where we would have to walk, 12:12 tempted as we would have to be tempted, 12:15 or as we are tempted, 12:16 learned as we would have to learn, 12:18 he took no divine advantages over 12:21 what we would have as humans. 12:23 That's why it says He was tempted 12:24 in all points just as we are. 12:27 So was He a child like John and I were children? Yes. 12:31 One difference though which was not a divine difference 12:36 but a choice, was He did not allow 12:40 sin to come into His life. 12:42 Because the Bible made it very clear, Jesus said, 12:45 the prince of this world has come 12:46 but he has nothing in me. 12:48 Had he had any point, yield that his sin, 12:50 he would have cease to be our Savior. 12:52 That was the fragile nature, 12:55 that was the fragile circumstance 12:57 under which Jesus was born. 12:59 That was really amazing. 13:00 And one of the interesting things too 13:01 is that you hear repeatedly throughout, you know, 13:06 many preachers whether you're listening to them 13:08 on TV or you hear them on the radio or something, 13:10 they give Jesus this, well you have the picture 13:15 that Jesus used His divinity to overcome. 13:18 But you know, they missed the part that 13:20 if Jesus was not one of us. 13:22 If he didn't come in the likeness of sinful flesh, 13:25 in our flesh, our weaknesses 13:26 and overcome in our flesh, 13:29 then He could not be our Savior. 13:32 And so He identified with human kind, 13:34 He identified, He was one of us 13:37 but and overcame as one of us, 13:39 but He did so was an example to us 13:41 that we could also depend upon our Father in Heaven 13:45 and through the power the Holy Spirit overcome 13:48 as Jesus overcame while He was here. 13:50 Does that mean that we can be perfect. 13:52 Well, all of us have sinned and fallen sort of 13:54 the glory of God, it's too late. 13:55 We, sin has already entered 13:57 into our flesh, we are tainted. 13:59 Christ was never tainted by sin, 14:01 although he experienced 14:03 four thousand years plus at that time, 14:06 of the effects of sin on human kind as well. 14:09 So, you know, praise God that we had a Savior 14:12 that was one of us, and now gives us 14:15 his perfect life in exchange for our sinful life. 14:17 And don't forget friends, there was never a time that 14:23 He did not have everything that was necessary to be God. 14:26 Colossians 2, this is really a couple of verses 14:30 I want to give you before I let this one go. 14:31 Colossians 2 verse 8 to 10. 14:33 It says, "Beware lest anyone cheat you 14:37 through philosophy and empty deceit, 14:39 according to the tradition of men, 14:41 according to the basic principles of the world, 14:44 and not according to Christ. 14:46 For in Him," this the Christ that walk the earth. 14:50 "For in Him dwells all the 14:52 fullness of the Godhead bodily. 14:56 And you are complete in Him, 14:58 who is the head of all principality and power." 15:00 So in him dwelt all the fullness of the 15:03 Godhead bodily, that was very important. 15:06 How do you harness divinity in human flesh? 15:09 That's something will understand in eternity. 15:12 It's like putting a nuclear, well, 15:15 I will try to get this, this is a comparison 15:17 that's very, very probably falls far short 15:20 of comparing divinity to humanity, but I'm aware, 15:23 I know somebody that works at a nuclear power plant. 15:27 Matter of fact, a lady in California, 15:30 and she says, I ask, 15:33 can you ever look at the nuclear core? 15:35 She said, yes, you can. 15:36 I said, well, how and not die? 15:38 She says through a veil of water. 15:41 You see the same water we drink 15:44 is the barrier between the radiation 15:47 that's on this side and the human that was on that side. 15:51 And I thought about that and I thought the sin 15:54 that could so easily destroy us, 15:57 the one between us is Jesus the water of life. 16:02 In Him, He is so powerful, 16:04 He can keep back all of the forces 16:05 that can destroys yet. 16:07 We can partake of Him, and not die. 16:09 And it's amazing to me to think that 16:11 all the Godhead bodily, all the power of eternity 16:14 is in Him that He can walk with us and talk with us 16:17 and dwell among people and we not be consumed, 16:20 because He is dwelling now 16:21 and is all veiled in a bodily form. 16:25 It's just, just amazing to me. 16:27 It's powerful, it's difficult to comprehend 16:29 which is one of the reasons 16:31 why there are so many questions today. 16:32 About this. Oh, yeah. 16:33 Yeah we're gonna talk about some of those things. 16:35 Now, here is another one. 16:39 This one is really good, now I want you to turn to 16:41 Matthew Chapter 13 for this question, 16:43 because the person here obviously has a passion 16:49 for things that He sees that are not right. 16:53 There is so little if any, 16:56 I can look up to the Adventist Church. 16:59 There is so little if anyone, 17:02 I can look up to the Adventist Church. 17:03 How can I convince people that the Adventists 17:06 have the truth if none practice what they preach. 17:10 Those are big broad brush strokes, you know, 17:12 everyone know, when people uses those words, 17:15 we say the only time they should be used is, 17:17 no one should ever use the word 17:19 no one and ever, and everyone. 17:22 Never use everyone, no one, 17:24 because those are blanket statements. 17:27 But he goes on to say, there is so much adultery 17:29 in the history of church, 17:31 in the history of churchgoers. 17:32 I've recently joined them. 17:35 Come from a charismatic church, 17:38 the only difference is Adventists keep the Sabbath. 17:42 Both living by the influences of this world, 17:44 the more I get to know the Adventist, 17:46 the more disappointed I am. 17:49 How can I stop judging? 17:51 I know the word says, I'm not to judge others, 17:53 but if the Adventists have the truth 17:55 why doesn't it set them free? 17:58 So obviously once again broad, broad, broad strokes. 18:01 You know it's like saying, 18:02 why can't I find a Honda that works, 18:04 why is my Ford always breaking down, 18:07 why is my Chevy not giving me good gas mileage? 18:09 Well, those are broad strokes, 18:11 their Chevy up in around for 30 years that worked 18:14 just great because a person maintains it. 18:16 Therefore, it's never broke down, 18:17 the Hondas that always break down. 18:20 So let's not make those broad statements 18:21 but here is the point, whenever a person, 18:25 whenever a person joins a Church 18:27 and this is something that I always tell 18:29 people are new in the Church to really be careful. 18:32 Because what happens is they get this complete 18:35 dose of truth that they use it to just become 18:38 a measuring tool for everyone else except themselves. 18:43 And they founded what I call 18:44 the avenue of criticism, very, very, very critical. 18:48 Everything is wrong, nobody is doing right, 18:50 everybody is, you know, going down on wrong path, 18:53 everybody is committing adultery, 18:54 nobody is living by what they believe. 18:56 That is not true. 18:57 They are many that are righteous, 18:59 matter of fact, Elijah. 19:02 You're saying this, I'm thinking 19:03 are you gonna mention Elijah. 19:04 Go ahead and say it. Gimme a break. 19:06 You say there is no one that serves Israel, 19:07 in Israel, except me. 19:09 You say, I'm the only one left. 19:10 The only one that's faithful. 19:12 And the Lord said, there are 19:13 seven thousand Israelites who they haven't bowed to Baal. 19:16 Right. So, yeah. 19:18 So be careful, I want to caution you to try to 19:21 not to get into I-ism, because that's just 19:24 a bad disease, the I-disease. 19:25 Everybody has a problem except me. 19:27 What I want you to see though, 19:28 is the condition of the world and the Church 19:31 is if I were the devil I would work as hard 19:34 on those who have the truth as I possibly can. 19:36 And I would create in the atmosphere of the hearts 19:38 that are not yet converted, 19:39 even the hearts that are struggling. 19:41 You have to keep in the mind the Church, 19:42 every Church is a divine hospital. 19:45 People are there to get healed, 19:46 they are continuing to grow and grow in grace, 19:50 not grow into grace but they're 19:52 growing in the grace of God. 19:53 We need grace because we are imperfect. 19:55 But the Lord has begun to work in them, 19:58 Philippians 1:6, the Lord has begun a work in them 20:02 that he is going to complete once they submit 20:04 to the surgical process, using that example, 20:07 you know, a guy heard about that got really 20:10 in a terrible motorcycle accident, 20:11 looked like he wouldn't live. 20:13 After being in the hospital, 20:14 four months he walked out on his own strength. 20:17 Didn't look like he would survive 20:18 when he first got there, he looked hopeless. 20:21 There were many that look hopeless, 20:23 multiple marriages, adultery, lying, 20:26 embezzlement, don't support the church 20:28 with his tithe and offerings, say one thing do another, 20:31 leave one way during the week, 20:32 another way on the weekend. 20:33 That's true in every denomination. 20:35 Well, there is also a glass half full glass, 20:37 half empty thing here, so it's like. 20:40 What are you looking for when you're looking 20:42 in the Church and you're interacting with them, 20:44 are you looking for the worst in people, 20:46 or you're looking for the best in people? 20:48 Because I've found that even though people 20:50 make mistakes, even though they commit errors 20:52 and sins and stuff that you just wouldn't 20:55 even consider doing yourself. 20:57 There are things about them that are positive, 21:00 that you can, you know, then you can enjoy 21:04 and help to nurture and encourage and, you know, 21:07 make it your ministry, you know, 21:09 to help and lift up these people and pray for them. 21:13 This is a positive approach to the life in the Church. 21:17 Don't be negative, don't separate 21:18 yourself as me and them. 21:19 You know, one of the mottos that I've used 21:22 and I use it every Church I pastor. 21:24 And you can even come into the Church 21:25 and you can say, what's the pastor's favorite 21:28 saying in this Church and they'll tell you this. 21:32 "Judge yourself, extend mercy to others." 21:37 What is it we often do as Church members? 21:40 You judge others and extend mercy to ourselves. 21:43 And so when I came in there from the 21:46 very beginning and this is same point, I said, 21:48 now the greatest thing I expect of my elders 21:50 and of people that are members of the Church, 21:52 our humility, is humility. 21:54 That's the biggest characteristic I really 21:56 want to see everybody have. 21:57 But the second thing is that you would 22:00 judge others, or judge yourself 22:02 extend mercy to others rather than judging others 22:04 and extend mercy to yourself. 22:06 Of course, that is the fruit of humility, isn't it? 22:08 Recognizing your own failures other than 22:11 looking at others failures. Right. 22:13 So really we need to, this is the mind set 22:15 that Christ wants to have, I mean, 22:16 can you imagine Christ as He was going around. 22:19 I mean, His people who received Him not, 22:22 what if He had gone around and said, 22:24 these people are just a bunch of hopeless folks. 22:27 I mean, His approach, 22:28 He looked to the possibilities, 22:30 not at their failures. Right. 22:32 He knew what they could be through Him 22:34 and through His power, not what they were. 22:36 You know, many years ago I taught my niece, 22:39 my wife and I gave these 22:40 little Bible cards to my niece. 22:42 She is now in her early 30s, 22:46 she probably is not happy I just said that. 22:48 However, whenever we call her to this very day 22:51 we say, okay, Luke 19:10, what is that? 22:54 "The Son of Man has come to seek 22:56 and to save that which was lost." 22:59 And I mention the text and she would tell me 23:01 the verse, I mention the verse, 23:02 she tell me what the text says. 23:05 The fact of the matter is, 23:07 if you go to a hospital and you get upset 23:09 because people are sick, then it's not the people 23:13 are the problem it's you. 23:15 Because that's where sick people are supposed to be. 23:17 Where are sinners supposed to be? 23:20 In the Church, not practicing sin 23:24 but at the feet of a Savior who has come to seek 23:26 and to save those who are lost. 23:28 The more people you look at, 23:30 the more you will come to the realization 23:31 that they are sinners, who are in need 23:34 of the saving grace of Christ everyday. 23:36 They will fall along the way, and the Lord says, 23:39 however, there are those who practice lawlessness. 23:42 There are those who are determined not to do right, 23:45 those are the ones who are living in inequity. 23:46 But if a person falls, a person does wrong, 23:49 a person stumbles, those are not the year marks 23:52 that we now say, I see, 23:54 that's the reason why this Church is bad. 23:56 We could say that of every denomination under the son. 23:59 Every Church has a preacher that's gone bad, 24:02 every Church has members that are living right, 24:04 every Church has -- but, but what you do? 24:06 You go to the hospital where they're all being 24:09 ministered to and getting better 24:11 or you leave them out in the world 24:12 where they die in their malnourished sin. 24:15 That's the difference between the church and the world. 24:17 But there is hope in the church. 24:18 That's why the Lord says this and let me give you 24:20 this text here, first in Matthew. 24:24 In book of Matthew Chapter 13, 24:27 something very, very important, 24:28 the Lord made a very clear in Matthew 13:30, 24:32 speaking about the wheat and the tare. 24:34 He says, "Let both grow together until the harvest, 24:37 at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, 24:39 'First gather together the tares 24:41 and bind them in bundles to burn them, 24:43 but gather the wheat into my barn.' 24:45 "In the Church they are wheat and tears. 24:47 That's a fact. So what must we do? 24:50 Here is the text of the counsel, 24:52 Hebrews 12 and verse 2. 24:53 You got to start looking unto Jesus, 24:56 the author and finisher of your faith, 24:59 keep your eyes on Christ, there is nothing 25:02 wrong with His Church, there is nothing wrong 25:04 with the Bible, there is nothing wrong 25:06 with the teachings in the Bible, 25:08 but the only problem in the Christian Church 25:10 is people like you and me, we're in it, okay. 25:14 What if someone say, I went to the perfect Church 25:16 and the moment I sat down, it was a problem. 25:18 Okay, there you go. 25:20 The only perfect church is an empty Church, 25:22 however, when you think about the church, 25:25 Jesus has upon this rock I build my church, 25:27 when He comes back, however, 25:29 He is going to present to His father, 25:30 a church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. 25:34 So submit to the process and the people that 25:36 right now look like they're not going to be saved, 25:39 will be enjoying the kingdom with you, 25:41 if you give them the room for Christ to work on their life. 25:44 No, there has been no greater success 25:47 for the enemy then causing someone to be hurt 25:50 by another in the Church and then that individual 25:53 gets so hurt, they leave the church. 25:56 It's not what the preacher says, 25:57 it's not the truth from God's word, 25:59 it's not what -- you know, 26:00 it's not about Christ, it's about someone 26:02 in the church hurting someone else with their words, 26:05 with their actions, with something they've done 26:07 and the devil sits back and goes, wow! 26:09 That was easy. Yeah. 26:11 You know, we sit down as pastors to some 26:13 who have been, haven't been to church 26:15 for ten years or more times. 26:16 And you just ask, you know, 26:18 why aren't you in church, what happened? 26:20 Well, way back when this person did this and that, 26:23 and they left the Church. 26:24 And we're wondering, 26:25 brought them I wonder what brought them 26:27 to church in the first place? Was it Christ? 26:30 Or were they there for the people, 26:31 for the social club and other things. 26:33 You know, we're there because 26:34 this is the place we worship Jesus. 26:37 This is the place we follow our master, teacher. 26:39 This is place we learn from Him 26:41 and give back to Him everything 26:43 that we have and in that respect, 26:45 if our eyes are kept on Christ then the things 26:47 that people do to us are nothing less 26:50 than prompting us to pray for them. 26:53 So that we all may get to the kingdom of heaven together. 26:56 So thank you, John. 26:57 Here is one thing you want to avoid. 26:59 I just segue to the topic on this particular text. 27:03 There are 12 tribes mentioned in the Bible. 27:06 In Genesis Chapter 49 you find them 27:08 in their original context. 27:11 In Revelation 7 you will find I mentioned again. 27:14 There is one particular one that I want to 27:16 point out that is not in Revelation, his name is Dan. 27:19 Genesis Chapter 49 verse 19, 27:21 and here is the reason why 27:22 he is not mentioned in Revelation. 27:24 Although it's mentioned in Revelation are 27:25 overcomers, they are symbols of those 27:27 who have overcome, but Dan is not mentioned, 27:29 here is what Dan problem, 27:31 here is what Dan's problem was. 27:33 Genesis 49 verse 19, sorry, 27:36 Genesis 49 verse 16. 27:38 "Dan shall judge his people." 27:43 "Dan" verse 17, "shall be a serpent by the way, 27:47 A viper by the path, That bites the horse's heels 27:51 So that its rider shall fall backward. 27:55 I have waited for your salvation, O Lord!" 28:00 Daniel or Dan is one who is a stumbling block. 28:05 Or Dan is one who judges everybody but himself. 28:08 And those are the characteristics there. 28:10 Right. The characteristics there, 28:11 and so that's Dan's characteristic. 28:13 He never judged himself so therefore, he never overcame. 28:16 If he never overcame he was never one that 28:18 mentioned in Revelation 7, 28:20 all those who are part of the over comers. 28:22 So anyway look to Jesus, let's not judge others, 28:24 there is nothing wrong what the church's teachings, 28:26 there is nothing wrong with the Bible. 28:28 The problem is people are still growing 28:30 and they are still being nurtured. 28:32 Thank you for you Bible questions 28:34 that you've sent to us. 28:35 If you have any more questions you like to 28:37 send to us, you can send those to 28:38 housecalls@3abn.org that's housecalls@3abn.org 28:44 and we promise to do our best 28:46 to respond to them according to the scriptures. 28:48 We appreciate your input so much. 28:52 Today we're going to dive into a topic 28:54 that's going to occupy, I'd say at least 28:57 the next six or eight programs. 29:00 We're talking about why so many denominations 29:04 or in a single word denominationalism, 29:08 that's a big word ism, all those isms, you know, 29:11 capitalism, communism, 29:13 denominationalism, gadgetarianism. 29:18 That's the one I like people that have 29:20 an issue with gadgets. 29:22 But why are there are so many denominations? 29:27 Where did all this variety as the spice of life come from? 29:31 There are so many people that, well you know, 29:33 go to supermarket, or go to Safeway, 29:36 if I got to Hog, if I go to Piggly Wigglys. 29:39 You know, if I got to whatever store I go to, 29:42 you know, let me just Kroger, 29:44 let me just pick a cereal and that's good enough for me. 29:48 Well, nowadays, John, doctors are saying, 29:50 no that's not good enough for you. 29:51 Look for something with high fiber, low sugar. 29:55 So they're even saying to us, 29:56 that's not the best measure 29:57 just because it's on the shelf. 29:59 On in the very same way, we're gonna be 30:00 talking about over the next coming number of programs, 30:03 just because it says it's a church 30:05 it's not necessarily always good for you. 30:08 But how do we know which church is 30:11 where we need to be, I know some of you may be saying, 30:14 Ah! they're gonna talk about their church. 30:16 You are absolutely right. 30:18 We're gonna begin by judging and examining our own church. 30:22 Well, they may be thinking you're gonna 30:23 lead us to your church it's the only right church 30:25 but let me, we're gonna tell you 30:26 some problems with the church. 30:29 You know, yeah. It's good, bad and ugly. 30:33 You know, John, I think the launching pad here 30:35 is Ephesians 4 and I know that it's... 30:38 That's a very good point. 30:40 You know, was this ordained by God, 30:41 did Christ want His churches divided? 30:45 Did He want multiple denominations 30:47 and people to worship separately 30:49 and to believe different things. 30:51 Well, it says here in Ephesians Chapter 4 30:57 and I'm gonna begin with verse 1 31:00 'cause I like the context here. 31:02 "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, 31:04 beseech you to walk worthy of the calling 31:07 with which you were called, 31:09 with all lowliness and gentleness, 31:12 with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 31:15 endeavoring to keep the unity of the 31:17 Spirit in the bond of peace." 31:19 So the goal, the objective here, 31:21 Paul was admonishing the church to be unified. 31:24 That's right. 31:25 But then you look what he says, 31:27 going on because this is what Christ has given the church 31:30 as far as a directive emission. 31:33 "There is one body and one Spirit, 31:37 just as you were called in one hope of your calling. 31:41 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 31:45 one God and Father of all, who is above all, 31:48 and through all, and in you all." 31:51 So how many? John, how many are of these things? 31:55 One. One, unified, there is just one 31:58 and I believe throughout time, as Satan saw this happening, 32:03 as Satan saw the early Church and the unifying of the body 32:07 under Christ and his direction. 32:10 I think one of his goals. 32:12 John, one of his strategies was to divide, 32:14 it always is the enemy seeks to divide and then conquer. 32:19 And he began to divide and he did it over the very issues 32:22 that they were supposed to be one in. 32:25 And that is, you know, one body, one spirit, 32:28 one hope, one Lord, one faith, all these things actually, 32:30 in fact, each of these as an individual teaching, he divided. 32:34 That's right. He has a different account of teaching on. 32:37 And so we'll explore some of these and the time to come, 32:39 but you will see that, it wasn't God's design ever 32:41 to have multiple thousands of denominations as we do today? 32:45 Matter of fact, to strengthen that point even further, 32:49 you will notice that when Jesus speaks, 32:51 He doesn't speak duplicitously. 32:54 He speaks singularly. 32:56 He says, upon this rock I build my, 33:01 I build my church, this rock, not those rocks, 33:07 not those rocks, on this rock I build my, singular. 33:12 He is building his church, not many. 33:14 He is not talking about just throwing all these, you know, 33:17 pick whatever color you like and wear it. 33:19 He says, I build my church, 33:21 and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. 33:23 Or newer transition say that gates of Hades. 33:27 All the attacks of the enemy cannot prevail against that. 33:30 And so you begin to see, 33:31 he also says in John 10 verse 16, 33:33 Other sheep I have that are not of this, 33:37 he doesn't say, are not of these folds, 33:40 that are not of this fold. 33:42 One Lord, one faith, he's talking about one fold, 33:45 one shepherd, John 10 verse 16. 33:47 So when you go back one Church, 33:49 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 33:50 one God, one Father of all, one, one, one, one, one. 33:53 How did we get to the place today 33:55 where there are so many different denominations, 33:59 and the sadness, John is this, there are people 34:02 that are fearful of putting their faith to the test. 34:07 There are people that are fearful of saying, 34:09 okay, I know what my Church teaches, 34:10 but can it stand upon against the scrutiny 34:13 in examination of the Bible. 34:14 Because, in fact, if I give you directions 34:18 and the directions needed to be check or examine, 34:22 the best way to check them is against the map. 34:24 Google map, Rand McNally map whatever the case maybe, 34:27 check it against the map. 34:28 We always have things calibrated, 34:30 check it against the GPS, and one of the reasons why 34:33 we all trust our GPS's for the most part, 34:36 sometimes we know a shorter route. 34:39 But one of the reasons why we buy those device, 34:41 they're selling by the millions is, 34:42 we believe that they have been program to get us 34:44 from where we are, to where we need to be. 34:47 Well, the Bible is written by God to get us 34:49 from where we are to where we need to be, 34:51 but the devil along way have thrown some splinters 34:54 or shavings in the engine 34:56 under different leaders throughout the ages. 34:58 And people are off into all different directions 35:01 saying we're going one place. 35:03 It's not really logical, it's not really truthful. 35:06 And so we're gonna begin to examine starting 35:08 with our Church what we teach, 35:10 and are there duplicitous fractions 35:13 and conflicts in our own denomination. 35:16 Let's explore further before we dive into the Church. 35:21 Let's explore one aspect I think 35:23 it's very important to talk about which is, 35:26 you know, does a Bible have anything to say 35:28 about the counterfeit. 35:31 Satan's strategy, you know, what he is doing to, 35:35 to divide the church and set up a multiplicity 35:38 as you're saying of Churches and of doctrines, 35:41 and of faiths and all these things. 35:43 We know there is a multiplicity already of religions. 35:45 Right. So that's His first tiered strategy, 35:47 you know, create other forms of religion, 35:50 but even within the Church, 35:51 because if you look at the scriptures clearly 35:53 it says that Satan war is against Christ's Church. 35:57 Right. Not just establishing other religions. 36:00 The Church of Christ itself, he's warring against that. 36:02 So what do we find here? 36:04 And if you go to the book of Revelation, 36:06 okay, which is, you know, sometimes, 36:08 John, I call Revelation, the Revelation story 36:11 because it is a story, it's a story of, 36:15 it takes us way back before earth's history began 36:18 and it's a story that takes us way beyond 36:20 where we are today. 36:22 And if you look at Revelation, 36:25 it's just briefly you begin in Chapter 12 36:28 you will find that there is this sign of a woman 36:31 that appears in verse 1, "she appears in heaven 36:37 clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, 36:40 and on her head a garland of twelve stars." 36:44 And if you look at, in fact I had a chance, 36:46 John, in a previous program, you were gone for scheduling. 36:51 But I offered to our listeners and our viewers, 36:56 a chart that's a Revelation symbols and explanations chart. 37:00 Lot of you sent me an email and I sent that back to you. 37:04 But if you look at that you will find that clearly in scripture, 37:07 a woman is a representative of a Church. 37:09 Right. A body of believers. 37:12 And so the woman can represent Israel of old, 37:15 but the woman can also represent Christ's church 37:18 in the New Testament, the early Church. 37:20 That's right. And you find here that 37:24 this symbol is not only carried or isn't just identified here 37:27 in Revelation, but it's throughout scriptures. 37:29 When Jesus saw that the children of Israel 37:32 were rebelling against Him, 37:34 when they were backsliding against Him. 37:37 He referred to them as a harlot. That's true. 37:41 So they weren't His pure Church at the time they were a harlot. 37:44 In fact he said they were playing the harlot. 37:47 And even actually called them a harlot, 37:48 they were playing the role of a harlot. 37:51 And so as you look that and you start to see, okay, 37:54 woman pure, God's Church harlot, 37:57 impure, backsliding, not God's Church. 38:00 You begin to see the symbols 38:02 then coming alive here in Revelation. 38:04 And so kind of with that I want to throw this to you. 38:06 Take us to Revelation 17 and where we go from there, 38:09 because Revelation just doesn't depict a pure woman. 38:13 There are something else that is telling us about 38:15 what happens to this woman going forward. 38:18 Matter of fact, I will use Revelation 12 38:20 then jump into Revelation 17. 38:21 Look at Revelation 12, we're there already, 38:24 and I'm not gonna go through the whole book, 38:26 but I'm just gonna show you a very important part of it. 38:28 Because Revelation 12 is the history of the Church, 38:31 as John pointed out very clearly more specifically 38:33 the New Testament church. 38:35 And it talks about how Satan sought over and over 38:38 and over and over again to wipe the church out. 38:40 But God provided protection, 38:42 historically we know that the Lord had the church 38:47 in refuge munitions in the rocks 38:50 and the mountains of Europe and caves 38:52 and people had to literally hide for their lives 38:57 and serve God in secret because of the domination 39:01 of the Church for 1260 years, 39:03 but there is a particular one that's gonna cause us 39:06 to jump from where we are going right to Revelation 17. 39:09 Look at Revelation 12 in verse 14, well, 39:12 verse 13 and 14, because 13 leads us right in. It says, 39:16 "Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, 39:19 he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 39:23 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, 39:27 that she might fly into the wilderness, 39:30 to a place where she is nourished for a time 39:33 and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent." 39:37 And so clearly you see here 39:38 for 1200 time, time and half a time. 39:41 A time literally--I want to just kind of put this one to sleep, 39:47 a lot of times people say time, time, 39:48 and half a times refer to Jewish calendar. 39:51 This more specifically refer to time, times, 39:54 and half a time in the astronomical sense. 39:57 Remember this is written in the Greek here. 39:59 And in the context of astronomy, not astrology, 40:02 astronomy one time refers 40:05 to one complete revolution round the sun. 40:09 Right. That's 360 degrees. 40:11 Times refers to two revolutions that 720. 40:15 You combine that and half a time is 180, 40:17 so you add 360, 720, and 180 and you get 1260. 40:22 So is a time, times, half a time. 40:27 That's right. That's where the 1260 come from. 40:29 Not a different calendar because when you start 40:31 having all these different calendars, different dates. 40:33 People can honestly say, we've lost track of time. 40:36 You know, and the other thing too is don't get 40:37 thrown off too by our current 365 day year. 40:41 Right. Because it was always counted 40:45 as 360 days throughout the history of Israel, 40:49 and that's the way their calendar treated 40:52 every month was 30 days. 40:53 It was based on the moon and its cycle. 40:57 So it's hard because, its count, 40:59 it becomes a little obscure today. 41:01 But the principle, we understand 41:03 what the principle is you're saying. 41:04 And they always had to add a little extra time 41:06 and we call now leap years to make up the difference 41:09 in the seconds of the clock. 41:11 But, so you find a woman going in to the wilderness. 41:15 She goes in pure, what happens 41:19 while she's there? Revelation 17 it says, 41:25 so he carried-- Revelation 17 and verse 3, 41:30 "So he carried me away in the Spirit" that is now in vision. 41:34 "Into the wilderness. 41:36 And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, 41:40 which was full of names of blasphemy, 41:43 having seven heads and ten horns. 41:47 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, 41:49 and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, 41:52 having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations 41:55 and the filthiness of her fornication." 41:57 Let's stop there for a second, 41:58 because something jumped out at me 42:00 that I haven't really thought about or talked to, 42:02 specifically in point of, in 12 you had a dragon 42:08 that was warring after a woman who was pure. 42:11 Now you have a beast, that's red scarlet, 42:15 it's the same, I mean, you're talking about 42:17 another dragon, it's a red beast. 42:18 Right. With seven heads and ten horns 42:20 only this time what's the woman doing? 42:22 She's riding it. She's riding it. 42:23 She's in harmony with him now. 42:26 She's not running from it, she's on it. 42:29 A matter of fact, you see that transition 42:31 when you go to Revelation 13, 42:32 you see the seven heads and ten horns, 42:34 and it says, the dragon gave him his power, 42:38 his seat, and his great authority. 42:41 So you see that Satan found a way 42:44 into the church during the dark ages, 42:45 this is so appropriate for the setting of our topic, 42:49 of all the different denominations. 42:50 The devil found the way into the church during the dark ages 42:53 and by the time you get to this picture, 42:55 during the dark ages you find here, 42:57 the woman is sitting on the beast now, 43:00 riding the scarlet colored beast. 43:02 No longer in opposition and now the Bible describes her, 43:06 in the condition that she has now in the present condition 43:10 that she, I would use a phrase metamorphosized into, 43:15 she was pure before. 43:16 Sun, moon, stars, 43:17 but now wait a minute something is missing here. 43:20 She is called in Revelation 17 verse 5, 43:23 "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of harlots 43:28 and of the abominations of the earth." 43:31 And so you clearly see her now, 43:32 she is not by herself but she has harlots. 43:36 Harlots meaning she is the madam 43:39 and she has women working for her. 43:41 They're all under her rule. 43:43 Now you got to get this because this is powerful. 43:45 You see the symbol in the Bible for the Church is-- 43:49 Woman. The woman. 43:50 Okay, so if the woman has daughters, 43:53 break that down for us. 43:54 Well, if the woman is pure, she's single, 43:57 notice that the purity of that woman starting 44:00 in twelve is showing us that God has a pure Church. 44:03 And no daughters. And no daughters. 44:05 Okay. That's right. 44:06 And then you get to Chapter 17 44:09 and we see that her name is Mystery, 44:10 Babylon the Great, the Mother of harlots. 44:12 She herself is a harlot, and she has harlot daughters. 44:17 And so all of them are women. Okay. 44:20 So therefore, you must have then in the situation here, 44:23 a church that is no longer following Christ but is being, 44:26 is riding around on the beast, 44:29 and notice who is doing the driving? 44:31 The beast. The beast is driving it, 44:33 not the woman any longer. 44:34 So she is riding around on this beast and she has children, 44:38 she has daughters, also women, 44:40 also churches who have followed her example, 44:44 they are harlots as well, they've apostatized as well. 44:46 And they're following her, established doctrines, 44:52 her lead, her everything that she teaches. 44:55 And not everything, I mean, there are parts 44:56 that may be that they've changed 44:57 and we'll see where this all comes from. 44:59 But this is where we're at, 45:00 by the time you get to Revelation 17. 45:02 The church is changed and it is multiplied 45:06 but it hasn't multiplied as a good thing, 45:08 it's not multiple pure daughters, 45:11 it is multiple harlot daughters. 45:13 And so, so the Bible puts her in the category of Babylon, 45:19 calls her Babylon, that's her name, 45:22 not just the woman but Babylon. 45:25 What is her condition? 45:27 She is obviously in a terrible state 45:30 because now she is hanging out with the beast, 45:32 the very one that warred against her. 45:34 He has found a way to get her to be in line with him, 45:38 but what else does it say about this woman? 45:40 Yeah, and I was gonna see may be we should define Babylon, 45:43 what does Babylon mean? 45:45 Okay, well, here Revelation 18, I am going ahead now. 45:47 Go ahead. Revelation 18 and verse 2, 45:51 Revelation 18 and verse 2, it says, 45:55 "And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, 45:57 Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, 46:00 is fallen, and has become the habitation of demons, 46:02 a prison for every foul spirit, 46:06 and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!" 46:09 But I want you to get something, we got to go to verse 4, John. 46:16 Why is Babylon described that way? 46:18 "For all the nations have drunk of the wine 46:21 of the wrath of her fornication," 46:23 read verse 3 continually John. 46:26 "The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, 46:29 and the merchants of the earth have become rich 46:32 by the abundance of her luxury. 46:34 Then I heard," look at verse 4. 46:36 "I heard another voice from heaven saying, 46:38 'Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, 46:43 and lest you receive of her plagues." 46:45 Okay, now get this. My church, my people. 46:52 The Lord says, I will be in my church 46:54 and then here it says my people. 46:57 Now the gates of hell will not prevail against this Church. 47:00 So this church has not been pulled in by Babylon 47:03 'cause it's not gonna happen. 47:05 But I have some people that are mine, 47:07 I got to get my people into my church thus 47:11 John 10:16 other sheep I have that are not of this fold them 47:15 also I must bring, 47:16 the call has come out of her, my people. 47:20 So here is an interesting point, 47:21 there is difference between the church and the people. 47:25 That's right. Church is God's established church 47:29 including its system of teachings 47:31 and that if follows Christ, 47:33 it is pure in its doctrine, in its truth. 47:36 The people that worship in her are following God's teachings. 47:40 But there are people that are God's, 47:42 that are in other churches that have apostatize 47:44 that aren't teaching truths. 47:46 That are following error. 47:47 He's got to pull his people out of there and bring them 47:50 into his true church so that we can be all together, 47:53 one flock with one shepherd. 47:54 And you know what, the people that are there, 47:56 many of them have not followed these cunningly devised fables. 48:02 Willingly but they've followed it ignorantly. 48:06 And the reason why they have fallen under the guise 48:09 or the deceptions of the Church of Babylon, 48:11 of the teachings that are there. 48:12 It's because this says in verse 3, 48:13 for all nations have drunk of the wine. 48:16 When you drink wine you get inebriated. 48:19 Another single word of inebriated 48:21 is drunk or intoxicated, and the hardest thing 48:24 for drunk person to do is walk a straight line, 48:26 you can get, that's why when a police pulls you over, 48:29 they do the breathalyzer test. 48:31 You see the breathalyzer test says, 48:34 says there is lot of spiritual obligation here. 48:36 It says, I can tell by examining what comes out of your mouth, 48:39 what's inside of your body. 48:42 I can tell by your inability to walk a straight line 48:45 that there is something wrong. 48:46 So when your teaching are not straight, 48:48 like the Bible says, make straight paths for your feet, 48:51 the road to eternal life is a narrow path, 48:53 that means, straight. 48:55 You see clearly that somebody is messing up 48:58 the way that God wants His people to walk. 49:00 And He says, they love me but they are in the wrong place, 49:02 I got to get them out of there. 49:04 So what we wanna do at the very beginning of the program, 49:06 is we don't want to talk about the people. 49:08 We're gonna talk about the various things 49:10 that have gotten people where they are 49:12 and why in this very critical hour of earth's history, 49:15 God is saying to His people, if you hear my voice 49:18 as He says in John Chapter 10, 49:20 if you hear my voice you will come out, 49:22 you will follow me, you will get on to the path 49:24 that's straight and narrow. 49:26 You know, and, when His talking about the wine 49:28 that is dispensed, 49:29 it dispensed by the church, not the people. 49:31 It's the teachings of the church that deceive the people. 49:35 Right. And you say, well, how you arrive at wine 49:37 being the teachings of false teachings of the church. 49:40 We know, we got to give you a text for everything, right? 49:42 Okay, go for it. Micah 2 verse 11. 49:44 Right. Look at this, Micah 2 verse 11, 49:47 "If a man should walk in a false spirit and speak a lie, saying, 49:53 'I will prophesy to you of wine and drink,' 49:58 even he would be the prattler of this people." 50:02 So when you're talking about wine dispensed, 50:06 you were talking about false prophesy, 50:08 deceiving, deceitful words, things to move or mislead, 50:12 to guide or to make go astray. 50:15 And this is why the people are drunk 50:17 because they don't know what to follow, 50:19 they can't stand on stable ground 50:20 'cause the ground's always moving. 50:23 And so the wine is causing the people to be deceived. 50:27 So the truth reaches out to the people, 50:30 brings them out of Babylon 50:32 so they can not only be in God's true church, 50:33 they can be as one as with God's people. 50:36 That's right, and God wants His people to be one, 50:39 so it's very important that we don't get hung up on the label. 50:45 I remember one person once saying, 50:46 well, how do I know where to come and how, 50:50 how do I find out where I'm supposed to be. 50:52 I'm just off again, you know, I'm not even gonna go to Church 50:54 because I am just so confused. 50:56 It's not that difficult. 50:59 It requires study, but it's not difficult. 51:02 The Lord can lead us and guide us, 51:04 which He promises to do through the Holy Spirit. 51:06 John, there was a, there was a quick story. 51:08 Sure. On the radio the other day, 51:10 there was someone that was teaching some, 51:11 some truths about how important it is to know their Bible. 51:15 And He was suggesting that all the people not just follow 51:19 what their pastors were telling them blindly. 51:22 If they go to the word of God and actually study 51:28 the stuff for themselves to determine 51:30 whether or not it's truth or error. Right. 51:31 And by the way, this was not an Adventist preacher, 51:33 this was another teacher that was saying, 51:36 don't just believe everything you hear, follow it. 51:38 And you know, what the response was when a person said, 51:41 well you know, that would be a lot of work. 51:46 And I thought my, oh my! 51:48 You mean, it would be a lot of work to find the truth. 51:52 When Jesus says, they will know 51:54 the truth and the truth will what? 51:56 Make them free. Make them free, 51:58 the question is do you want to be free. 52:00 Sometimes when you're in bondage 52:02 it takes work to become free. 52:05 And Jesus is saying that He will set you free by His truth. 52:08 If you study it, if you read it out, you will be free. 52:11 Isn't it worth the work? 52:13 That's right, it is worth the work. 52:15 Absolutely, it surprised me to hear that 52:17 and hear someone say, well that will be a lot of work. 52:19 What our world has done today is just taken 52:22 what I called the process out of the hands 52:24 of so many other people. 52:25 We just kind of wanted, 52:27 you know, we wanted all packaged 52:29 and put to together just kind of-- 52:31 Okay, so we go and buy the book. 52:34 We have inundated ourselves with so many people's books, 52:39 that we have ignored thee book. 52:42 If you study this one book you won't get confused, 52:45 it will guide you through prayer 52:47 and study of the word you will be guided 52:50 in the right direction. 52:51 But people are comfortable with books and preachers 52:53 and teachers and there is pretty much saying, 52:56 well, you know, my pastor doesn't look like a guy 52:59 that we wanted to deceive me, 53:00 but then again that's part of the deception. 53:02 He doesn't look the part. 53:04 Satan says, okay, I have ministers 53:06 who appear to be ministers of righteousness 53:08 but inwardly they are raven, ravenous wolves. 53:12 First Corinthians, second Corinthians 53:14 Chapter 11 verse 13 and 14, 53:16 he says, they look the part, 53:19 that's what makes a deception so easy, 53:21 they look the part. 53:22 Read that text for me, John, for such, 53:24 I think it's very 13 and 14. 53:25 Yes, verse 13 of second Corinthians 11. Yeah. 53:28 "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, 53:31 transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 53:34 And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself 53:37 into an angel of light. 53:39 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers," 53:43 note that Satan has ministers. 53:44 "If his ministers also transform themselves 53:47 into ministers of righteousness, 53:49 whose end will be according to their works." 53:51 Isn't that amazing? He has ministers, 53:54 so when you say, minister so and so, or minister so and so, 53:57 or minister so and so, you know, 53:59 it doesn't mean anything to me, 54:00 it doesn't mean anything to God either. 54:02 Is He a minister of righteousness? 54:05 And the other interesting thing too is... 54:06 Is He a minister of truth? 54:08 Absolutely, if you look at the book of Job, verse 5, 54:11 it says, "Certain men have crept in unnoticed." 54:14 Right. You know, and they aren't, 54:16 you can't just see, you can't know by looking at him. 54:20 You can only know by what? 54:22 Hearing what they teach. 54:24 A person, oh, right, exactly you have to know 54:28 by the what the, you will know them, 54:30 you will know them by their fruits. 54:32 There are many Christians that are, 54:34 they just so love the Lord. 54:36 Their fruits are beautiful, love, joy, peace, 54:38 longsuffering, gentle, meekness, patience. 54:40 Then there are some who would know 54:41 the truth that are just so harsh and some people say, 54:44 well, I want to go where the nice people are 54:45 and I want to ignore the harsh people. 54:47 Don't judge the truth by the people, 54:49 judge the people by the truth. 54:52 You see, and that's what Jesus is saying, 54:54 He is just not that one is more important than the other. 54:57 But I tell you what I rather be on a plane 55:00 with cantankerous people and get home. 55:05 Then be on the place with-- 55:06 to be on a plane with nice people and get lost. 55:08 The other thing too is Satan work harder 55:11 on those that are in the truth to be cantankerous, yes. 55:14 Then will who think with people who think they're just fine. 55:17 Right, because he wants the people to judge the church 55:20 by the people or the Christ by the people. 55:22 That's why this gentleman who send us 55:24 that email talked about oh, people are just so bad. 55:26 They're doing all these things, 55:27 let me just added another caveat to that, 55:28 another component to that. 55:30 They are those who love the Lord 55:31 who are in the right place, 55:32 they are those who have patience, love, and kind, 55:35 who accept the truth and love the truth. 55:36 Praise God for that. 55:38 So look at the good flowers. 55:40 When you go to the store just the same way 55:42 you pick those fruits that really look, 55:43 pick the right fruits, don't just start painting 55:47 the entire kit and kaboodle bad, because not everything is bad. 55:50 But as we dive more and more into this topic, John, 55:53 we're gonna begin to see this thing, 55:54 we're gonna begin to see God's truth unfold in a miraculous 55:57 and an amazing way to show us what, in fact, is truth. 56:01 And we also find that there is, 56:02 it's a lot of confusion out there too. 56:04 We understand this is a confusing environment 56:06 for people to go into. 56:07 There are those looking for a church and looking to follow 56:10 the Lord and it's very confusing 56:11 'cause this church teaches one thing, 56:13 this church teaches another thing. 56:14 What's right? But it shouldn't surprise you, 56:17 because even the word Babylon, 56:18 if you go back to the Old Testament, 56:20 the word Babylon is Babel, which the derivative is, 56:25 the meaning of that word is confusion. 56:29 Remember at the tower of Babel, 56:30 if you read the story, we don't have time for it, 56:32 but if you go there, read the story, 56:34 Jesus confused their language and that confusion 56:38 was a reference to Babel. 56:41 In fact, I pronounce the word wrong 56:43 because when you talk about like a little child, 56:46 and wa-wa-wa, what are they doing? 56:48 They're babbling on. 56:50 And so Babel is a reference to confusion. 56:53 So don't get confused or don't get disheartened 56:57 by the confusing messages out there. 56:59 We believe God's truth will shine through. 57:02 That's right. You know, the Bible says, 57:03 in Second Timothy 4 verse 3 "For the time will come 57:08 when they will not endure sound doctrine, 57:10 but according to their own desires, 57:13 because they have itching ears, 57:15 they will heap up for themselves teachers." 57:18 They are those who are looking for teachers to say 57:21 what they want them to say, and here what they want to hear. 57:25 And so, friends, don't get discourage, 57:27 here at House Calls we believe in teaching the truth 57:29 because one day the Lord will come 57:31 and we'll have to account for it. 57:32 God bless you until we see you again. |
Revised 2014-12-17