True Knowledge of Self

Traps of the Enemy - Appetite, Part 3

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Dwayne Lemon, Lance Wilbur

Home

Series Code: TKS

Program Code: TKS000020


00:30 Hello, my name is Dwayne Lemon.
00:32 And I'm Lance Wilbur.
00:33 And we'd like to welcome you to another program on TKS,
00:36 A True Knowledge of Self, where we get to know ourselves
00:40 from a biblical perspective.
00:42 We thank you again for joining us
00:44 as we're continuing in the word of God.
00:46 We had a very in-depth study as we were looking at
00:50 a thought process that the Bible introduces to us
00:52 that for many has never been considered.
00:56 You know, we live in a world, we live in a culture
00:59 where there is indulgences is almost the middle name
01:03 of our experiences day by day.
01:05 We have appetites, we have appetites for fashion,
01:08 we have appetites for power, money, prestige,
01:11 whatever it may be.
01:13 And we most importantly understand appetite
01:14 as it relates to eating and drinking.
01:16 And we've been studying the Bible to look at
01:19 what does the word of God say
01:20 when it comes to the subject of appetite
01:23 and then the experience of indulgence in appetite.
01:26 We were looking at the word of God
01:27 to get an idea, to understand
01:29 what does God say to us on this point.
01:32 You know, growing up I know that for me,
01:34 especially me and my father,
01:36 we would eat whatever we could find that could move.
01:39 And there's a lot of people who have this experience
01:41 and we don't consider what is it doing to our body,
01:44 what is it doing to our minds,
01:46 how does it affect our walk with God?
01:47 Does it affect our walk with God?
01:49 And this is why we're studying this subject out
01:51 because with the true knowledge of self,
01:54 when we understand ourselves, our weaknesses,
01:56 our frailties, our intemperance,
01:59 we can begin to see that we need to tap
02:02 into a power source outside of us,
02:04 so that we can get that temperance,
02:06 that self control on the points of appetite
02:09 because if we can get control on the point of appetite,
02:13 it is the most perhaps one of the greatest
02:16 stepping stones that prepares us
02:18 to get victory over a lot of other appetites
02:21 beyond eating and drinking.
02:22 So we've been looking at the Bible,
02:24 we looked at the subject of Babylon
02:25 and we saw that this was one of the plans
02:27 of Nebuchadnezzar
02:28 when he tried to introduce the indulgence of appetite
02:31 to Daniel and his fellows.
02:33 And we saw the Daniel demonstrated the discipline
02:35 that was very, very necessary because he understood
02:38 the great controversy he was in.
02:39 And, friends, we are realizing more and more that
02:41 we're in a great controversy.
02:43 We're realizing that in urban culture today,
02:46 a lot of the influences that come,
02:48 connected to hip-hop culture and lifestyle as we look at it,
02:51 we see that there're all sorts of indulgences
02:54 that we can put our hands to at a moment's notice
02:56 and we can partake of it
02:58 in many respects to the point
02:59 that we can take no more to our full.
03:02 God wants us to be people of temperance.
03:04 He wants us to be people of self control.
03:06 This was the life of Jesus and for Christians,
03:10 this is to be our life as well.
03:11 So we were studying and looking at the fact
03:13 that the body is the temple of God
03:15 and we saw that God made it clear
03:17 that he has a plan for us as it relates to the temple.
03:20 And He wants us to make sure that we do nothing
03:22 that would bring any defilement to it,
03:24 so that we would be unfit to do His work,
03:27 fulfill His will and His ways.
03:29 And we're gonna continue to pick back up on this now
03:31 because we've been fairly general for the most part.
03:34 We're talking about specifically appetite
03:36 as it relates to eating and drinking,
03:38 but what we're doing now in this session is
03:40 we're gonna deal more with the specifics.
03:42 I remember when I was still in the entertainment industry
03:44 and I remember going through some experiences
03:47 that I'm gonna talk about in our session today
03:49 with Brother Lance where I learned some things
03:52 as it related to my body and what God requires of me
03:55 to put in it and not put in it
03:56 and the reasons why that blew me away.
03:59 And I remember learning these things over 20 years ago
04:02 and it's amazing to me
04:03 how God has allowed me to see these blessings
04:05 realize in my life as a result of following His will.
04:08 We want this for you too.
04:10 So we're gonna go ahead and transition now, Lance,
04:12 and we're gonna start getting into the word
04:14 and looking at this, you were talking to us
04:16 about the body being the temple,
04:18 you were talking to us about how God takes very seriously
04:21 how we take care of His body temple
04:24 and the fact that there can be some ramifications
04:27 if we don't take care of it properly.
04:29 And therefore the question is this,
04:32 does the Bible speak about specific things.
04:34 You know, sometimes we're very generic.
04:36 It's kind of like a parent telling to a child,
04:38 now that I'm a father especially of four,
04:40 I've learn it's enough to tell a child what to do
04:43 but it's also important to show them how to do it.
04:45 Yeah, stay out of trouble. That's right.
04:47 You know, so if you just tell a child to stay out of trouble,
04:49 you have to define what trouble is.
04:51 And then when the child understand
04:52 what trouble is then they know
04:54 that they need to stay away from that.
04:55 Well, we've been talking about the body,
04:57 temple, appetite, defiling and all these other things,
05:01 but now the question is,
05:03 you know, what are the specific things
05:05 that the Bible does address
05:07 that God says this is what I mean,
05:09 don't put these things inside of you,
05:11 don't put these things upon you because these are the things
05:13 that can debilitate the mind, fever the blood
05:15 and causes not to understand God and His law
05:18 and to be faithful to Him
05:20 in these very last moments of earth's history.
05:22 All right, so we're gonna be going to several text
05:24 but as we discussed that,
05:26 you know, sometimes we think that,
05:28 well, you know, God's not really concern with the body.
05:30 Okay, the body is gonna die
05:32 and it's almost that dualistic mentality,
05:35 you know, that ancient philosophical mentality.
05:38 But, on the other hand, if God created us,
05:43 then He knows how best to govern our being.
05:47 He knows what is the best nutrients to provide energy
05:52 and essentially this is what we're talking about,
05:54 we're talking about eating and drinking.
05:56 We're talking about what does my body need to produce energy?
05:59 Right, because we don't eat an apple
06:01 and the apple magically goes into our body parts,
06:04 the body extracts the nutrients and absorbs the nutrients,
06:08 the vitamins, the minerals, the carbohydrates etcetera
06:11 out of the food to deliver to our cells
06:14 because our cells need the energy to function.
06:17 Our life can't exist without it,
06:19 the water and so and so forth.
06:20 So God is trying to give us the best possible fuel
06:24 to provide the best possible energy,
06:27 the most efficient energy for our body's function.
06:30 And if our body functions, then again it affects the mind
06:32 and so on and so forth.
06:34 So if we're using this analogy of the temple
06:38 that the Bible uses, we didn't make it up, right?
06:40 Right.
06:41 And so this brings to the mind of the Bible student,
06:46 well, God had a temple, a physical temple, okay.
06:49 Began with Moses, right in Exodus 25:8,
06:52 "Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them."
06:55 But we know that God desire to dwell closer than that
06:57 and eventually He desired to dwell in
06:59 each and everyone of us as individuals
07:01 through His spirit.
07:02 Well, are there rules and regulations
07:05 that governed the administration
07:08 of the physical tabernacle in the wilderness,
07:10 the physical temple that Solomon built
07:12 and all these things?
07:14 Absolutely, there's entire chapter
07:15 is dedicated to it,
07:17 in the Book of Exodus, the Book of Leviticus,
07:19 there's entire chapters and verses dedicated strictly
07:23 to how the temple is to administered
07:25 down to the fabric and the layout,
07:27 the measurements, the materials used,
07:30 the garments of the priest,
07:31 all of these things that were strictly guarded
07:35 because God wanted to show how important it was
07:38 to keep the temple clear from defilement.
07:42 Because it was a representation of God's presence amongst men
07:45 and God does not mingle with uncleanness
07:50 if you will, with filth.
07:53 And even at that level, so if that's the case,
07:57 is it true for our bodies.
07:58 I think we've concluded already that it is
08:00 but we want to get more specific.
08:02 And there's a verse in a Book of 2 Chronicles.
08:04 We're looking at 2 Chronicles 23:19
08:09 that kind of summarizes,
08:11 it's just one text of many that shows how important it was
08:14 that God kept a things, unclean things
08:17 outside of the physical temple at that time,
08:20 the physical temple, the literal temple.
08:23 And in 2 Chronicles 23:19, it says,
08:27 "And he set the porters
08:28 at the gates of the house of the Lord,
08:31 that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in."
08:37 So at this point there were guardians placed at the temple,
08:41 at the door of the temple if you will,
08:43 to make sure that nothing unclean,
08:46 nothing unclean whatsoever entered in at any time.
08:51 So, this is an important principle
08:52 and that was for a temple
08:54 that God was just using as an illustration,
08:57 a teaching of His plan of salvation that eventually
08:59 when Christ came, was no longer necessary,
09:02 the sacrificial system in the temple economy
09:04 if you will.
09:05 And now we're seeing that I'm going to dwell in you
09:07 through my spirit, as an individual
09:09 your body will become my temple,
09:11 your mind if you will, will become my temple.
09:14 And so, do the same rules apply?
09:16 And I think there is, you know, well, let's just to the Bible
09:20 and we're looking at the Book of Leviticus
09:23 because the Book of Leviticus has a strict guidance.
09:26 Remember, it's very important, I guess that people understand
09:30 that we don't have time to go through
09:31 and build all the graphics and what not.
09:33 But the Book of Leviticus
09:36 is actually the most important book of the five books of Moses
09:41 what's refereed to as the Torah.
09:42 You know, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
09:44 Numbers, Deuteronomy.
09:46 Leviticus is actually the most important book
09:48 and again there you have to,
09:51 you know, it will take me some time to explain why
09:53 but we can study that perhaps at some future moment.
09:55 And you're referring to the chiastic structure
09:57 that this is what you're dealing with
09:58 but we can build on that at a different time
10:00 'cause it requires a lot of explanation.
10:02 Yeah, this is a literally device that Moses used,
10:05 you know, through inspiration to highlight.
10:07 You know, it's like if we make something bold
10:09 and underline it and put it all caps.
10:12 We want to highlight that thing
10:13 so when you're reading the narrative or the document,
10:16 all of the sudden there is this thing that stands out
10:17 is highlighted.
10:18 Well, they used different literally devices
10:20 a little more sophisticated than we do, very simple,
10:23 but nevertheless so that the reader,
10:25 the student of the word would understand
10:28 what is the highlighted point.
10:30 And Leviticus is the highlighted book
10:32 of the five books of the Torah.
10:34 All right because in it in Chapter 16
10:36 is the Day of Atonement,
10:37 the atonement where God cleans the temple
10:40 from all sin and defilement from the blood if you will
10:43 from the sacrifices once per year.
10:45 So that was actually the apex of the Book of Leviticus 16
10:48 and so this is where God is directing the importance.
10:52 So Leviticus is all about how to live.
10:55 It's practical instruction
10:56 and how Israel was to govern itself.
10:59 How the priests were to operate,
11:01 the religious system was to operate.
11:03 How your festivals
11:06 and all of the religious celebrations were to operate.
11:09 How your household was to operate.
11:11 How to keep your house hygienic and clean?
11:14 How to deal with sanitation and sewage
11:16 and all these things?
11:17 And how to deal with cuts and wounds?
11:19 How to deal with disease and all these things?
11:21 All of these instructions are given in the Book of Leviticus
11:23 and there's also instruction
11:26 in regards to eating and drinking.
11:29 So we're gonna to the chapter,
11:30 one of the chapters that deals with these Levitical,
11:34 this health instruction, this health instruction.
11:36 And we're going to Leviticus 11
11:38 because Leviticus 11 clearly outlines
11:42 what would be clean or unclean for the children of God to eat.
11:47 And let's make this clear,
11:49 when we're talking about clean and unclean in this context,
11:51 we're talking about healthy versus unhealthy
11:54 to make it very simple, right?
11:56 So God is going to say, this is healthy for you to eat,
11:59 this is not healthy for you to eat.
12:01 You know, it's that simple. Okay.
12:03 In the practical, God is very practical.
12:05 So Leviticus 11 and we're gonna read,
12:08 you know, several verses here, just to kind of get an outline,
12:11 does God get specific?
12:13 Yes, He does. All right.
12:14 Leviticus 11 and I'm going to just read verses,
12:18 we're not gonna read through the whole thing
12:20 but I have some verses that we selected
12:21 and I'm going through verse 3.
12:24 Leviticus 11 and I'm reading from verse 3, it says,
12:30 "Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted,
12:36 and cheweth the cud, among the beasts,
12:39 that shall ye eat.
12:40 Again there's a little,
12:42 you know, some archaic language there,
12:43 this is the King James Version.
12:45 But I'm just gonna ask you as you understand it.
12:48 What does it mean cloven hoofed,
12:51 parteth the hoof, clovenfooted?
12:54 Yeah, when you look at in animal,
12:55 if you look at the foot, you would see that there would,
12:59 if this is the whole foot,
13:01 there would be a clove that would come down
13:04 and it would kind of create almost a section here,
13:06 a section here for lack of better terms.
13:08 It would be a clove in between, so it's a clove and hoof.
13:11 Right, so it's the hoof and the split in the middle
13:14 and it kind of looks like two parts.
13:15 Correct. All right.
13:16 So I was talking about, number one,
13:18 the first criteria is the beast of the field,
13:22 animals that have that style hoof.
13:24 Now, if we were, if we were to consider that,
13:26 then let say, we take this principle now and we say,
13:29 all right, well, let start looking at animals.
13:30 You know, let say I'm a person that,
13:32 you know, I like to eat meat or what have you.
13:34 If I'm looking at animals, then what I'm getting
13:36 from what you're reading here is that,
13:38 if I'm going to consume,
13:41 you know, animals that it God's instruction was
13:43 that there should be a split hoof or cloven hoof
13:46 and then it must also chew the cud
13:48 which is another term for let say grass.
13:50 Yeah, like grazing. Yeah, grazing.
13:52 Herbivore. Okay.
13:53 Something like that, yeah.
13:54 So and these two have to be combined,
13:56 it couldn't be like it chews the grass
13:59 but it doesn't have the cloven hoof
14:00 or it couldn't be that it has a cloven hoof
14:02 but it doesn't chew the grass, it would have to be both.
14:04 So then when I look at that
14:06 and see this is very interesting
14:07 because then what this means then
14:09 is that when I look at things like,
14:11 okay, one product of food
14:13 that I know I grew up on eating was pork.
14:17 And in eating pork,
14:19 you know, I then would come to realize
14:21 after I review these studies that according to the Bible
14:24 then a pig does not do what you just read there.
14:29 And these, what you just read was the animals
14:31 that were permissible to eat.
14:32 If they're cloven hoof and then also chews the cud.
14:35 So therefore pork would not be included.
14:37 Right. And the reason why?
14:39 The pig has the cloven hoof but it doesn't chew the cud.
14:42 It is pretty much anything.
14:43 Yeah, it's kind of a forager, scavenger, it digs,
14:46 you know, and so, it doesn't fit.
14:51 Now, here's the thing that's very interesting.
14:53 You remember in the previous programs,
14:54 we were talking about how, you know, there are sometimes
14:58 the mixture of good and evil.
15:00 Whenever we were looking at
15:01 the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
15:02 and false education
15:04 and that evil is not always gonna come out
15:06 100 percent evil but it's one of the greatest evils
15:09 is when it tries to mix or blend itself with good
15:12 because it makes it less apparent.
15:13 And it has a deceptive affect upon the minds of the hearers.
15:16 Well, here is that this is one of those points now
15:18 because you're showing us that,
15:20 you know, when it comes to the pig especially
15:23 that this is an animal that does not fit
15:26 within the picture
15:27 of what God gave as it related to the animals
15:29 He permitted man to eat
15:30 with the cloven hoof and the chewing of the cud.
15:33 And, you know, when you talk about the chewing of the cud,
15:35 you mentioned about them
15:37 eating of the herbs or the grass but, you know,
15:39 there is additions to that, is that right?
15:40 Right.
15:42 Those kind of animals basically consume the food
15:45 and then they have a process of regurgitation
15:48 which then become, you know, they eat it several times
15:51 over after regurgitating, eating again.
15:53 So this is included in the idea
15:55 or the concept of chewing the cud.
15:57 Okay. And we know for sure the pig does not do that.
15:59 So therefore it is definitely a pig would be put
16:02 under the picture of an animal that is unclean.
16:07 You would definitely say that without a doubt.
16:10 Now, when we look at
16:11 the influences in hip-hop culture,
16:13 this is one of those areas where they teach good.
16:16 This is one of those areas where we definitely see
16:18 for the most part when it comes to knowledge itself
16:20 and dealing with the various points
16:22 of eastern influence with eastern religion
16:24 that we see they definitely identify this
16:26 and that was something both you and I identified with.
16:28 I remember when even though
16:30 I was very much in hip-hop culture,
16:32 I would not eat a piece of pork because that's not good.
16:35 I stopped eating pork years and years before
16:37 I ever heard of, you know, Adventist or Christianity.
16:40 Exactly, and it became a point of confusion for me
16:42 because I would look at Christians and I say, okay,
16:44 you believe the Bible but it's written in your Bible,
16:47 you know, that we are not supposed to be consuming this
16:50 and God never redeemed the pig, he redeemed people,
16:52 but he didn't redeemed the pig.
16:54 If the pig was unclean from day one,
16:55 it's still unclean today,
16:56 so, you know, in my mind that always challenged me.
16:59 And so, we find that,
17:01 you know, and we can include a lot of other things,
17:03 dogs and cats and horses
17:05 and, you know, I mean there's lots of land animals
17:07 that do not fit under what you just read
17:09 in Leviticus Chapter 11, but we highlight pork
17:11 because there's a large chance
17:14 that there are many of our viewers
17:16 who more than likely
17:17 may partake of these type of things and therefore
17:19 this is a major point of education for them
17:22 to see, wow, I didn't know that
17:24 and then there are some in hip-hop culture that say,
17:26 yeah, that's right, that's true.
17:29 So there are things that are taught
17:30 in hip-hop culture that are correct
17:32 but the dangers are is that there's a mixture
17:34 of the right and wrong,
17:36 the good and the evil, the truth and the error.
17:38 So, you know, we went through it
17:41 and God set a standard
17:43 and he doesn't make it that complicated,
17:46 it's very simple.
17:47 If it fits in this category, it's healthy for you to eat.
17:50 If it doesn't fit in this category,
17:52 don't eat, it's not healthy, it's unclean for you, right.
17:54 So, if we go down to verse 9
17:56 'cause God doesn't just deal with,
17:58 what is classified as the beasts of the field,
18:00 then we discussed some of them.
18:01 Some have the cloven hoof but don't chew the cud.
18:04 Some chew the cud, don't have the cloven hoof.
18:06 Now, he goes into the sea animals,
18:10 I don't know what you want to refer to them as.
18:12 So, we classify them as fish and going back in Leviticus 11
18:17 and skipping down to verse 9, Leviticus 11:9, it says,
18:24 "These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters:
18:28 whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters,
18:34 in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat."
18:36 So it talks about freshwater and saltwater,
18:39 all the animals that dwell in the water.
18:41 The classification here
18:43 for healthy that you can consume,
18:45 it has to have fins and scales.
18:48 If it doesn't, it's unhealthy or unclean.
18:51 Now, this was the point of contradiction for me
18:54 when I came to this revelation, the very night that I was,
18:57 I remember being in my room and here it is that
19:00 I'm heavily influenced by the hip-hop culture
19:03 and Nuwaupu, and, you know,
19:06 this movement called Nuwaupu which was kind of like,
19:09 you know, the Five-Percent of movement
19:10 and I remember going through this battle in my mind,
19:13 I had the Egyptian tablets as it were here
19:18 and then I had the Bible here and I'm praying to God
19:19 and saying, Lord, what do you want me to do?
19:21 And the following day a friend of mine finds a flyer,
19:24 laying on the street and she takes me,
19:27 it's a flyer telling me about the tent meeting
19:29 taking place 15 minutes from my house.
19:31 And the subject that night
19:33 was called the African-American and the pig.
19:35 You know, I'll never forget it.
19:37 So here I am, I'm at this stage of my life
19:39 where I'm trying to figure out myself
19:40 and get a knowledge of myself.
19:42 And here it is that I get this flyer,
19:44 so it was 15 minutes from my house, so I said, I'm going.
19:46 Was a Christian meeting.
19:48 That's why, it's a Christian meeting,
19:49 I'm not a Christian, I'm right at the point
19:51 where I'm leaving Christian influence all together
19:53 because the Nuwaupu Movement was very, very attractive
19:56 and appealing to me.
19:58 Well here it is that as I'm getting ready to--
19:59 As I go down there, I'm listening to the minister.
20:02 And he is going over these points
20:03 like you just read in Leviticus 11,
20:05 first dealing with the pig.
20:06 When he dealt with the pig, it blew my mind
20:09 because I'm saying to myself Christians actually teach this
20:13 because, you know, everywhere else I went
20:14 from Baptist to Methodist to Pentecostal
20:17 or what you have, you know, when there was potluck,
20:20 pork was always on the table, you know, always.
20:22 And as he is going through the verses,
20:23 what is your reaction as you're sitting there?
20:25 Yeah, I mean he is going through the verses
20:26 and as he is saying the pig is this,
20:29 the pig is that, I got so excited
20:31 that I became a little disruptive in the meeting
20:32 because I'm like, that's right preacher,
20:34 that's right preacher, tell these Christians,
20:36 you know, because I'm feeling like
20:37 there's a vengeance in my heart
20:38 coming against all these ignorant Christians,
20:40 that was going on in my mind.
20:42 And, you know, I'm just in total agreement
20:45 with this minister as he's showing from the Bible
20:47 in a Christian meeting
20:49 that the pig was never designed for mankind to consume as food.
20:54 Well, when he did that,
20:55 I was like, wow, this is amazing.
20:57 But here's the problem.
20:58 Myself and many others who were heavily influenced,
21:01 heavily influenced through the hip-hop culture
21:04 and the teachings of Nuwaupu and the Five-Percent Movement,
21:07 many of us, though we didn't eat pork,
21:09 often we would be found at the Chinese restaurant
21:11 ordering shrimp with broccoli or sometimes getting,
21:14 you know, shrimp with lobster sauce on it,
21:16 you know, and all these different things,
21:18 so we were eating shellfish, so it was different.
21:20 It was like I was never taught through hip-hop culture
21:24 that I was exposed to,
21:25 I'm not saying that they don't teach it at all,
21:26 but I would say from what I was exposed to,
21:28 never saw or heard anyone refute shrimp and lobster
21:33 and crab and all these other things,
21:34 but the pork was always clear as day.
21:36 Well, here it is, the minister is going on the pork thing
21:38 and I'm like that's right, that's right.
21:40 But then he says, and also the shrimp,
21:43 the lobster and the crab and he read the same verses
21:45 you just read and I was like, what?
21:47 And I mean, man, that thing blew my mind.
21:50 And I was like, I can't believe it,
21:52 that's in the Bible too.
21:54 And you got to understand,
21:55 I was a seafood lover par excellence.
21:58 I was the kind of guy that on my birthday,
22:00 every March 22nd I would go to Red Lobster
22:03 and I would order a shrimp platter
22:05 and I would get a cream soda and I would get a cheese cake
22:08 from Junior's in Brooklyn, New York
22:09 and that would be my birthday gift to me.
22:11 So you're talking about a guy who really loved seafood.
22:15 So this was devastating to me
22:16 when I found this out initially,
22:18 but it was a blessing to me because now,
22:20 you know, I stand before you at 40 years of age
22:23 and, you know, diabetes and high blood pressure
22:25 runs down my father's line
22:26 and cancer run down in my mother's line
22:28 and I'm thankful that as a black man at the age of 40
22:32 that God still has blessed me
22:33 with the total clean bill of health.
22:35 My mind has never been sharper,
22:36 my body has never felt so strong
22:38 and I've never been more available for God service
22:40 than I have been at this stage of my life.
22:42 So I'm very thankful for the benefits now
22:44 of understanding that my body is a temple.
22:47 I need to keep it clean
22:48 and God does not want me to put anything
22:50 that is unclean.
22:51 And the things that we once loved,
22:53 through the powerof Christ we can hate and we can choose
22:54 not to put in our system anymore
22:56 for the glory and honor of God.
22:57 We can eat and drink to the glory of God.
22:59 So there's a powerful blessing.
23:01 This is good news what you're sharing.
23:03 This is not news of condemnation.
23:05 This is not news of depression.
23:07 It's definitely a news of change,
23:09 but through Christ we can make those changes
23:11 and we will see the benefits practically.
23:13 Yeah, so we talked about this now,
23:15 so we have the cloven hoof, chew the cud,
23:18 now we have fins and scales,
23:19 so anything that doesn't that lives in the water,
23:21 no fins and scales, both unclean, unhealthy
23:24 including all shellfish you mentioned
23:26 and other things catfish and others, right?
23:30 Now, skipping down Leviticus 11
23:32 and we're looking at verses 13 to 20
23:35 because it talks about now the birds if you will,
23:38 the fowls, right.
23:39 And we're starting at verse 13 of Leviticus 11 and it says,
23:43 "And these are they which ye shall have
23:46 in abomination among the fowls, they shall not be eaten,
23:50 they are an abomination: the eagle, the ossifrage-- "
23:54 And again some of these,
23:55 well, I'll keep reading and then we'll talk about it.
23:57 And the ossifrage, and the vulture,
24:00 and the kite after his kind, every raven after his kind,
24:04 and the own, and the night hawk,
24:05 and the cuckow,
24:07 and the hawk after his kind, and the little own,
24:10 and the cormorant, and the great owl,
24:12 and the swan,
24:14 and the pelican, and the gier eagle,
24:15 and the stork,
24:16 the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat,
24:19 all the fowls that creep, going upon all four,
24:23 shall be an abomination unto you."
24:26 So it now highlights, it just lists all of these particular
24:30 and most of them are birds of prey or scavenger birds.
24:32 Right, for the most part. Yeah.
24:35 Yes, some of these, you know, in the translation,
24:39 there's questions asked is it specifically this bird,
24:42 specifically that bird but, you know, most people know,
24:45 most people don't eat, you know, heron,
24:48 great blue herons and pelicans, you know,
24:53 people eat chicken in the poultry and turkey
24:56 and things like that and pheasants, so, you know,
24:58 most people don't have a problem with not eating
25:00 birds of prey or vultures.
25:01 Right.
25:03 It doesn't even come to most people's mind,
25:05 I'm sure there's some people that will eat anything.
25:07 So the Bible gives in every category
25:10 of the animal kingdom,
25:12 God gives guidelines, this is healthy, this is not,
25:16 this is healthy, this is not.
25:18 And again, it's not punishment.
25:20 It's for man's benefit because God knows what's best for man
25:25 because He created us
25:26 and not only did He created us but He purchased us
25:29 with the blood of His Son.
25:30 Amen. Amen.
25:32 So this is the goal that God wants to accomplish.
25:34 God knows that it's not enough to just give
25:36 open abstract instructions because mankind's mind,
25:40 we are very frail people
25:41 and we are very easy to private interpretation,
25:44 this is why the Bible had to specifically say
25:47 that the scriptures cannot by the will of man
25:49 or by any private interpretation,
25:51 the holy men of God spake
25:53 as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
25:54 This is the reason why
25:56 God does not want to leave it up to us.
25:58 He wants to spell it out so it can be clear enough,
26:01 succinct enough that we can see it,
26:03 understand it and then put our will on the side of God,
26:07 so that we may follow His will and receive the benefits
26:10 of following His will.
26:11 Right and let's-- You know, there is no confusion here.
26:14 Again we talked about Eve and the senses, the stimulus.
26:18 We're not talking about feeling or preference here.
26:20 And we're not saying that anything that God says
26:23 not to eat doesn't taste good.
26:25 There's all kinds of indulgences that we can engage
26:28 in that feel good or look good or taste good, right?
26:30 That's right.
26:32 So this is not what we're dealing over here.
26:33 We're dealing with biblical principle.
26:35 God knows better
26:36 because He created and designed my body,
26:38 He knows best and I'm going to taken for His word.
26:40 So this is what we're about on that side.
26:42 And now, going forward,
26:44 there's many objections people have
26:46 and we're going to deal with those objections
26:48 in the next episode.
26:49 People have objections, they say,
26:51 well, the Bible says this and the Bible,
26:52 what about this and what about that,
26:54 God changed some of this,
26:55 this is for the Jews, not for us.
26:56 What does the Bible say?
26:58 We're going to go over some of those objections
26:59 and I think it will get some clarity.
27:00 Yeah.
27:02 And I really forward to it because I know for me,
27:04 one of the things I was tired of was being confused.
27:06 I don't like being confused, I like things to be clear,
27:09 I like things to be plain, most importantly practical.
27:12 And therefore, it is important
27:14 because I can assure you that there are individuals
27:16 who more than likely are listening to us
27:18 and they're thinking to themselves,
27:20 never heard this before
27:21 or atleast maybe I never heard it this clear before
27:23 so straight and therefore it can have an affect on them
27:27 to the point that they're saying,
27:29 what about these things I heard,
27:30 whether be from ministers, friends, family
27:32 and the list goes on,
27:34 so I'm thankful that we have an opportunity where we can by
27:36 God's grace bring some clarity on some of these points.
27:39 Well, friends, we got to another point
27:41 where we're right at that climax,
27:43 that cliffhanger if you would
27:44 and we're just on the edges of our seat,
27:46 wanting to understand these words,
27:48 but we're gonna ask you to just continue to hold on,
27:51 tune and come back for out next episode
27:53 where we'll go deeper into these points.
27:54 And always remember Proverbs 2 and 6,
27:57 that it's the Lord that gives wisdom and out of His mouth
27:59 comes knowledge and understanding.
28:01 God bless.


Home

Revised 2016-03-03