True Knowledge of Self

Traps of the Enemy - Appetite, Part 4

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Dwayne Lemon, Lance Wilbur

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Series Code: TKS

Program Code: TKS000021


00:30 Hello, my name is Dwayne Lemon.
00:32 And I am Lance Wilbur.
00:33 And we like to welcome you to another program on TKS,
00:36 a True Knowledge of Self,
00:38 where we get to know ourselves from a biblical perspective.
00:42 We thank you again for joining us
00:43 as we are continuing in the Word of God.
00:46 We had a very in depth study
00:48 as we were looking at a thought process
00:51 that the Bible introduces to us
00:53 that for many has never been considered.
00:56 You know, we live in a world, we live in a culture
00:59 where this indulgence 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,
01:11 prestige whatever it may be,
01:12 and we most importantly understand appetite
01:14 as it relates to eating and drinking.
01:16 And we've been studying the Bible
01:18 to look at 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.
01:25 And 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
01:33 I know that for me, specially me and my father,
01:35 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 mind?
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 a true knowledge of self
01:54 when we understand ourselves,
01:55 our weakness, our frailties, our intemperance,
01:59 we can begin to see
02:01 that we need to tap into a power source outside of us
02:05 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
02:14 perhaps one of the greatest stepping stones
02:17 that prepares us 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 that 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
02:41 that we are in a great controversy.
02:43 We are realizing that in urban culture today
02:46 a lot of the influences
02:48 that come connected to hip-hop culture
02:50 and lifestyle as we look at it,
02:51 we see that there are 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 in many respects to the point
02:59 that we can take no more to our folk.
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,
03:08 and for Christians this is to be our life as well.
03:12 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
03:33 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
03:40 is 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
03:50 where I learned some things as it related to my body
03:53 and what God requires of me 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 realized 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.
04:15 You were talking to us 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 their child,
04:38 you know, now that I'm a father especially of four,
04:40 I've learned it's not 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 understands what trouble is,
04:53 then they know that they need to stay away from that.
04:55 Well, we've been talking about the body, temple, appetite,
04:59 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,"
05:12 because these are the things that can debilitate the mind,
05:15 fever the blood and cause us not to understand God
05:18 and His law 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, that dualistic mentality,
05:35 you know, the 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.
05:46 That's right.
05:48 He knows what is the best nutrients
05:51 to provide energy and essentially
05:53 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
05:58 to produce energy, right?
06:00 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 on 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
06:31 then again it affects the mind 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 this Bible student.
06:45 Well, God had a temple, a physical temple, okay,
06:49 it 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 desired to dwell closer than that
06:57 and eventually He desired to dwell
06:58 in each and every one of us
07:00 as individuals 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 chapters dedicated to it,
07:17 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 be administered
07:25 down to the fabric, and the layout,
07:27 the measurements, the materials used,
07:30 the garments of the priests,
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.
07:52 That's right.
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 the Book of 2 Chronicles.
08:04 We're looking at 2 Chronicles 23,
08:07 2 Chronicles 23:19, that kind of summarizes,
08:11 it's just one text of many
08:12 that shows how important it was that God kept things,
08:16 unclean things outside of the physical temple
08:19 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 anything should enter in."
08:37 So at this point there were guardians
08:39 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
08:59 that eventually when Christ came
09:00 was no longer necessary,
09:02 the sacrificial system in the temple economy,
09:04 if you will.
09:05 And now He's saying that I'm going to dwell in you
09:07 through My Spirit.
09:08 As an individual,
09:10 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...
09:19 Well, let's just go 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
09:29 I guess that people understand it,
09:30 we don't have time to go through
09:31 and build all the, in the graphics and what not,
09:33 but the Book of Leviticus
09:36 is actually the most important book
09:39 of the five books of Moses,
09:41 what's referred 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 it's there, you have to,
09:51 you know, it would take me some time to explain why,
09:53 but we can study it out perhaps in some future moment.
09:55 And you're referring to the chiastic structure,
09:57 this is what you're dealing with,
09:58 but we can build on that at a different time
10:00 because it requires a lot of explanation.
10:02 Yeah, there's a literary device that Moses used,
10:04 you know, through inspiration to highlight,
10:07 you know, it's like if we make something bold
10:09 and underlined 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
10:15 all of sudden there's this thing
10:17 that stands out, is highlighted.
10:18 Well, they use different literary devices,
10:20 a little more sophisticated than we do,
10:22 a very simple
10:23 but nevertheless so that the reader,
10:25 the student of the word
10:27 would understand 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 cleanse the temple from all sin,
10:40 and defilement from the "blood,"
10:42 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, the festivals
11:06 and all of the religious celebrations
11:07 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 structures are given
11:22 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 go to the chapter,
11:30 one of the chapters that deals with these "Levitical,"
11:33 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, all right?
11:56 Yes.
11:57 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.
12:02 Okay.
12:04 In that practical and God is very practical,
12:05 so Leviticus 11 and we're going to read,
12:08 you know, several verses here, just to kind of get an outline.
12:11 Does God get specific? Yes, He does.
12:13 All right, Leviticus 11
12:16 and I'm going to just read verses,
12:18 we're not going to read through the whole thing
12:20 but I got some verses that we've selected
12:21 and I'm going to verse 3.
12:23 Okay.
12:24 Leviticus 11 and I'm reading from verse 3.
12:28 It says, "Whatsoever parteth the hoof,
12:33 and is clovenfooted,
12:36 and cheweth the cud, among the beasts,
12:39 that shall ye eat."
12:41 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 an animal,
12:56 if you look at the foot, you would see that there would,
12:59 if this is the whole foot there would be a clove
13:03 that would come down
13:04 and it will kind of create almost a section here,
13:06 a section here for lack of better terms,
13:08 it will be a clove in between, so it's a cloven hoof.
13:11 Right, so it's the hoof and it's split in the middle
13:13 and it's two, it's kind of looks like two parts.
13:15 Correct.
13:17 All right, so it was talking about number 1,
13:18 the first criteria is the beasts 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's say we take this principle now
13:28 and we say, all right, well, let's start looking at animals.
13:30 You know, let's say I'm a person that,
13:32 you know, I like to eat meat or what have you,
13:34 then if I'm looking at animals
13:35 then what I'm getting from what you're reading here
13:37 is that if I am going to consume,
13:41 you know, animals
13:42 that God's instruction was that there should be a split hoof
13:45 or cloven hoof
13:47 and then it must also chew the cud
13:48 which is another term for let's say grass or...
13:50 Yeah, like grazing. Yeah, grazing.
13:52 Herbivore. Okay.
13:53 Something like that.
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 a cloven hoof,
14:00 or it couldn't be that 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, this is very interesting
14:07 because then what this means then is that
14:09 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.
14:16 Yeah.
14:17 And in eating pork, you know,
14:19 I then would come to realize after I review these studies
14:23 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 chew the cud,
14:35 so therefore pork would not be included.
14:37 Right and the reason why the pig has the cloven foot
14:41 but it doesn't chew the cud.
14:42 It eats pretty much anything.
14:43 Yeah, it's kind of a forager, a scavenger, a digs,
14:46 you know, and so it doesn't fit.
14:51 Now here is the thing that's very interesting,
14:53 you remember in a previous programs
14:54 we were talking about how,
14:56 you know, there are sometimes the mixture of good and evil
14:59 when we were looking
15:01 at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
15:02 and false education,
15:03 and that evil is not always gonna come out 100% evil
15:07 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 effect upon the minds of the hearers.
15:16 Well, here it 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 specifically
15:23 that this is an animal that does not fit
15:26 within the picture of what God gave
15:28 as it related to the animals
15:29 He permitted man to eat with the cloven hoof
15:31 and the chewing of the cud.
15:33 Right.
15:34 And, you know, when you talk about the chewing of the cud,
15:36 you mention about them
15:37 eating of the herbs of the grass
15:38 but, you know, there's additions
15:40 to that, is that right?
15:41 Right, those kind of animals basically consume the food
15:45 and then they have a process of regurgitation
15:48 which then becomes,
15:49 you know they eat it several times
15:51 over after regurgitating eating again,
15:53 so this is included in the idea of the concept
15:55 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
16:02 would be put under the...
16:04 under the picture of an animal that is unclean.
16:07 We would definitely say that without a doubt.
16:10 Now when we look at the influences
16:12 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 of self
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 I understood.
16:34 Yeah, I stopped eating pork years and years
16:37 before I ever heard of,
16:38 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
16:44 and I say, "Okay, you believe the Bible
16:45 but it's written in your Bible,
16:47 you know, that we are not supposed
16:48 to be consuming this
16:50 and God never redeemed the pig,
16:51 He redeemed people but He didn't redeemed the pig.
16:53 If the pig was unclean from day one,
16:55 it's still unclean today."
16:56 Right.
16:58 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 and,
17:05 you know, I mean there's lots of land animals
17:07 that do not fit under what you just read in Leviticus 11,
17:10 but we highlight pork
17:12 because there's a large chance that
17:14 there are many of our viewers
17:16 who more than likely may partake
17:17 of these type of things and therefore
17:19 this is a major point of education for them to see,
17:22 "Wow, I didn't know that,"
17:24 and then there are some in hip-hop culture that say,
17:27 "Yeah, that's right, that's true."
17:29 So there are things
17:30 that are taught in hip-hop culture
17:31 that are correct
17:33 but the dangers are is that there's a mixture
17:34 of the right and wrong, the good and the evil,
17:36 the truth and the error.
17:38 Right.
17:39 So, you know, we went through it
17:41 and God set the standard
17:43 and He doesn't make it that complicated,
17:46 it's very simple, if it fits in this category,
17:48 it's healthy for you to eat,
17:50 if it doesn't fit in this category,
17:52 don't eat it, it's not healthy, it's unclean for you.
17:53 Right?
17:55 So if we go down to verse 9
17:56 'cause God doesn't just deal with what is classified
17:58 as the beasts of the field and 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 sea animals. The sea animals.
18:09 Sea animals, I don't know
18:11 what you want to refer to them as it,
18:12 so we classify them as fish.
18:15 Going back in Leviticus 11 and skipping down to verse 9,
18:20 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."
18:37 So He talks about fresh water and salt water,
18:39 all the animals that dwell in the water.
18:41 The classification here for healthy
18:44 that you can consume,
18:45 it has to have fins and scales, if it doesn't,
18:49 it's unhealthy or unclean.
18:51 Now this was a 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
18:59 and here it is that I'm heavily influenced
19:01 by the hip-hop culture and Nuwaupu
19:05 and, you know, this, this movement called Nuwaupu
19:07 which was kind of like,
19:09 you know, the Five-Percenter 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
19:19 and I'm praying to God and saying,
19:20 Lord, what do You want me to do,
19:22 and the following day a friend of mine
19:23 finds a flyer laying on the street
19:25 and she takes me,
19:27 it's a flier telling me
19:28 about a tent meeting taking place 15 minutes
19:30 from my house
19:31 and the subject that night was called
19:33 the African-American and the pig,
19:35 you know, I'll never forget it.
19:37 Right.
19:38 So here I am, I'm at this stage in my life
19:39 where I'm trying to figure out myself
19:41 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
19:45 so I said I'm going.
19:47 It's a Christian meeting.
19:48 That's right, it's a Christian meeting,
19:49 I'm not a Christian
19:51 and I'm right at the point where I'm leaving
19:52 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,
20:01 I'm listening to the minister
20:02 and he's 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,
20:08 it blew my mind because I'm saying to myself
20:10 Christians actually teach this 'cause,
20:13 you know, everywhere else I went
20:15 from Baptist to Methodist to Pentecostal
20:17 or what have you,
20:18 you know, when it was potluck pork
20:20 was always on the table, you know, always.
20:22 And as he's going through the verses
20:23 what is your reaction as you sit in there?
20:25 Yeah, I mean he's going through the verses
20:26 and as he's saying
20:28 the pig is this, the pig is that,
20:29 I got so excited that I became
20:31 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
20:41 and, you know, I am just in total agreement
20:44 with this minister as he's showing
20:46 from the Bible 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 I was like,
20:55 wow, this is amazing but here's the problem,
20:58 myself and many others who were heavily influenced,
21:01 heavily influence 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 a 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
21:22 through hip-hop culture 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
21:28 to never saw or heard anyone refute shrimp
21:32 and lobster and crab and all these other things
21:34 but the pork was always clear as day.
21:36 Yeah.
21:37 Well hear it is, the minister's going
21:38 on the pork thing and I'm like that's right,
21:40 that's right but then he says and also the shrimp,
21:43 the lobster, 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 and you got to understand
21:55 I was a seafood love par-excellence.
21:58 I was the kind of guy that on my birthday
22:00 every March 22,
22:01 I would go to Red Lobster
22:03 and I would order a shrimp platter
22:05 and I would get a cream soda
22:07 and I would get a cheesecake
22:08 from Juniors 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
22:24 and high blood pressure runs down my father's line
22:26 and cancer run down my mother line
22:28 and I'm thankful that as a black man
22:30 at the age of 40 that God still has blessed me
22:33 with a 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
22:39 for God's service
22:41 than I have been at this stage in my life.
22:42 So I'm very thankful
22:43 for the benefits now of understanding
22:46 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 power of Christ
22:54 we can hate and we can choose not to put it
22:55 in our system any more for the glory and honor of God,
22:57 we can eat and drink to the glory of God,
22:59 so it'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 or anything that doesn't that lives in the water
23:21 no fins and scales both unclean,
23:24 unhealthy including all shellfish you mentioned
23:26 and other things catfish and others, right?
23:29 Yes.
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,
23:49 they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination,
23:52 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 ospray, and the vulture,
24:00 and the kite after his kind, every raven after his kind,
24:04 and the owl, and the night hawk,
24:06 and the cuckoo, and the hawk after his kind,
24:09 and the little owl, and the cormorant,
24:11 and the great owl, and the swan,
24:13 and the pelican, and the gier eagle,
24:15 and the stork, the heron after her kind,
24:17 and the lapwing, and the bats,
24:19 all the fowls that creep,
24:21 going upon all four shall be an abomination unto you."
24:26 So it now highlights all and it just lists
24:28 all of these particular
24:30 and most of them are birds of prey
24:31 or scavenger birds, right?
24:33 For the most part. Yeah.
24:35 Yes, some of these,
24:37 you know, in the translation there's questions ask to is,
24:40 is it specifically this bird, specifically that bird
24:43 but you know most people know most people don't eat,
24:47 you know, heron, great blue herons,
24:49 Right.
24:50 And pelicans,
24:52 you know, people eat chicken
24:53 and, you know, poultry and turkey
24:56 and things like that and pheasants.
24:58 So, you know, most people don't have a problem
24:59 with not eating birds of prey or vultures.
25:01 Right.
25:03 It's doesn't even come to most people's minds,
25:05 I'm sure there're some people that will eat anything.
25:06 Yeah.
25:08 So the Bible gives in every category
25:10 of the animal kingdom,
25:12 God gives guidelines this is healthy,
25:15 this is not, 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
25:23 what's best for man because He created us,
25:26 and not only did He create us
25:27 but He purchased us with the blood of His own 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
25:36 to just give open abstract instructions
25:38 because mankind's mind,
25:40 we're 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 came not by the will of man
25:49 or by any private interpretation
25:51 but holy men of God speak
25:53 as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
25:54 This is the reason
25:55 why 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
26:04 and then put our will on the side of God
26:07 so that we may follow His will
26:09 and receive the benefits of following His will.
26:11 Right and let's, you know, there's no confusion here,
26:14 we're not, again, we talked about
26:15 eve and the senses, the stimulus
26:18 and we're not talking about feeling
26:19 or preference here
26:21 and we're not saying that anything
26:22 that God says not to eat doesn't taste good.
26:25 There's all kinds of indulgences
26:27 that we can engage in that feel good
26:29 or look good or taste good, right?
26:30 That's right.
26:31 So that's not, that's not we're dealing with here,
26:33 we're dealing with biblical principle,
26:35 God knows better
26:36 because He created and design my body,
26:37 He knows best and I'm going to take Him for His word.
26:40 So this is what we're talking about on that side
26:42 and now going forward,
26:44 there's many objections people have,
26:46 and we're gonna deal
26:47 with those objections in the next episode.
26:49 People have objection, they say,
26:51 well, the Bible says this and the Bible says
26:52 what about this and what about that.
26:53 God change some of these,
26:55 this was for the Jews not for us.
26:56 What does the Bible say?
26:58 We're gonna go over some of those objections
26:59 and I think it will get some clarity.
27:00 Yeah, and I really look forward to it
27:02 because I know for me one of the things
27:04 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 because I can assure you
27:15 that there are individuals
27:16 who more than likely are listening to us
27:18 and they are thinking to themselves,
27:19 "Never heard this before,"
27:21 or at least, "maybe I've never heard this clear
27:22 before so straight,"
27:24 and therefore it can have an effect on them
27:27 to the point that they're saying,
27:29 "but what about these things I heard
27:30 whether it be from ministers, friends, family,"
27:32 and the list goes on.
27:34 So I am thankful that we have an opportunity
27:35 where we can by God's grace bring
27:36 some clarity on some of these points.
27:38 Yeah.
27:39 Well, friends, we got to another point
27:41 where we're right at that climax,
27:43 that cliff-hanger 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 in, come back for our next episode
27:53 where we will go deeper into these points,
27:54 and always remember Proverbs 2:6
27:56 that it's "The Lord that gives wisdom
27:58 and out of his mouth
27:59 comes knowledge and understanding."
28:01 God bless.


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Revised 2017-06-05