Participants:
Series Code: BTLP
Program Code: BTLP000153S
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00:38 Hello and welcome to Behold the Lamb Presents.
00:41 I'm Chris Shelton, your host. 00:42 I want to thank you for tuning in 00:44 to study with us again today. 00:46 Our message for today is entitled, 00:48 "Was Peter the First Pope?" 00:50 We strongly believe here at Behold the Lamb Ministries 00:52 that the Bible is the foundation 00:54 upon which we should find what truth is. 00:58 But, this is sadly a world with so many winds of doctrines 01:01 that are blowing constantly 01:03 to try to pull and to push us 01:05 in many different spiritual directions. 01:08 Yet the Bible's teaching is clear that, 01:10 "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way 01:13 which leadeth unto life, 01:14 and few there be that find it." 01:17 You can find that in Matthew 7:14. 01:21 In today's message, 01:22 Pastor Kenny Shelton 01:23 will look at various teachings of the Catholic faith, 01:26 to see just how they line up with the Word of God, 01:29 as well as questioning our own faith 01:32 so that we may, 01:33 this is something we need to do, friends, 01:34 every day we may examine our own personal walk 01:37 with the Lord. 01:39 God is going to have a people, 01:41 He's going to have a church that will stand for truth, 01:43 though it appears 01:44 that their whole world is crashing down 01:46 all around them. 01:47 We hope that 01:49 your desire to be a part of God's last day 01:51 remnant church, 01:52 therefore it behooves us 01:54 to carefully compared doctrines, 01:56 to carefully compared traditions 01:58 with the Holy Word of God. 02:00 This includes who or what His church is built upon. 02:04 We must be as the Bereans, who studied the Bible daily. 02:08 Look that up in Acts 17:11, 02:11 and although this message is entitled, 02:13 "Was Peter the First Pope?" 02:16 In this message, you will discover 02:17 that Pastor Kenny Shelton found himself 02:20 addressing the one 02:21 whom our faith should be built upon, 02:24 and that being Christ the Lord, 02:26 while exposing doctrinal errors with a two-edged sword, 02:29 that's the Bible, 02:30 while barely touching upon the subject in the title. 02:34 Yet we truly believe 02:36 that you will be blessed 02:37 as you join Pastor Kenny Shelton today 02:39 for this inspiring message. 02:41 But first let's visit 3ABN 02:43 and listen to our sister-in-law, 02:46 Yvonne Shelton 02:47 as she sings 02:48 "Solid Rock." 03:13 On Christ, The solid Rock, I stand 03:20 All other ground 03:23 Is sinking sand 03:27 All other ground 03:29 Is sinking sand 03:40 My hope is built On nothing less 03:44 Than Jesus' blood 03:46 And righteousness 03:51 I dare not trust The sweetest frame 03:56 But wholly lean On Jesus' name 04:01 On Christ, The solid Rock, I stand 04:06 All other ground Is sinking sand 04:11 All other ground Is sinking sand 04:23 When darkness veils His lovely face 04:28 I rest On His unchanging grace 04:35 In every high and stormy gale 04:39 My anchor holds Within the veil 04:44 On Christ, The solid Rock, I stand 04:49 All other ground Is sinking sand 04:55 All other ground Is sinking sand 05:05 His oath, His word, His blood 05:07 Support me In the whelming flood 05:11 When all around My soul gives way 05:13 He then is all my hope And stay 05:21 When He shall come 05:25 With trumpet sound 05:27 Oh, may I then in Him be found 05:33 Dressed in His righteousness Alone 05:39 Faultless to stand Before the throne 05:49 All other ground Is sinking sand 05:54 All other ground Is sinking sand 06:00 On Christ, The solid Rock, I stand 06:05 On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand 06:09 All other ground Is sinking sand 06:15 On Christ, The solid Rock, I stand 06:35 Thank you for joining us once again 06:37 here at Behold the Lamb Ministry. 06:39 Again it is our pleasure, our delight, 06:41 we're excited that 06:43 we can bring to you the Word of God. 06:45 We have... 06:46 These to me is exciting message for today, 06:49 "Was Peter the First Pope?" 06:51 This is asked all over the world. 06:53 Many people, one man said while ago, 06:54 I asked him, he said, "I already know who it is." 06:56 I said, "Well, we can have prayer 06:57 and go home early." 06:59 But that's not going to happen 07:00 because we need to get into the Word of God, 07:01 because you have the answer, praise God, 07:03 there are millions that do not have the answer. 07:06 And why? 07:07 Number one, because they're not looking. 07:09 They may not be looking for it. 07:10 They believe what someone has said 07:12 over the years. 07:13 And so we're going to look at several of these things. 07:15 As we looked the last time that we came together, 07:18 we looked at the subject that was very, very heavy duty. 07:22 And if you're like I am, I'm looking in the Word of God 07:25 to find out what truth is. 07:27 This is the revealer of what? 07:29 Of truth. 07:31 And I know everybody says, 07:32 "We got the truth, we have the truth." 07:33 The way you get the truth is you study like the Bible, 07:36 the way the Bible says line upon line, 07:38 precept upon precept, 07:40 here a little and there a little. 07:41 You know, I'm very skeptical of any pastor or teacher, 07:44 anyone who gets up 07:46 and gives a whole sermon 07:47 based upon one or two lines in the Word. 07:50 Hello. 07:52 Think about it. 07:53 Because the Bible says you study it, 07:55 see what Isaiah had to say about it, 07:57 see what Jeremiah had to say about, 07:58 John the Revelator, 07:59 what Jesus had to say about it, 08:01 the given subject, 08:02 and then you can find the truth. 08:04 So again, we're going to look at it 08:05 from the Word of God today. 08:06 I'm going to be going over some of the last things 08:08 that we did last five minutes of a subject we did before, 08:11 but again, we're looking for truth. 08:13 And so we're going have to find it 08:14 from the Word of God. 08:16 If it's not truth, 08:17 then why are we upholding it? 08:18 I'm going to kneel and have prayer. 08:20 And I just want you to pray with me. 08:22 You may not be where you can kneel, 08:24 but I know that you can still pray with me. 08:25 Shall we pray together? 08:27 Loving Father in heaven, 08:29 we thank You for the possibility 08:30 that we have today. 08:32 And the blessing that we have 08:35 to be able to come before Thy people. 08:37 We ask of Thy Holy Spirit to bless in a very special way. 08:39 Open our hearts and open our minds, 08:41 that we may hear Your voice 08:43 that we may see these beautiful truths. 08:45 Help us to realize we're looking today 08:46 as what the enemy has done 08:48 and what You have done in Your Word. 08:50 We're looking in because we gonna have to make a choice 08:52 of whose side that we're going to be on. 08:54 And so we ask that 08:55 Your Holy Spirit now will invade our hearts 08:57 and our minds in a way 08:58 that we understand what truth is. 09:00 Thank You for hearing 09:01 and thank You for answering prayer 09:02 in Jesus' name, amen. 09:04 Again, the subject is, 09:06 "Was Peter the First Pope?" 09:08 But we're going to, I don't wanna say dance around, 09:10 but we're going to be doing several things today 09:12 in this subject. 09:14 And I'd like to start, 09:15 has anybody ever asked the question. 09:17 Now again, you think that 09:19 we're picking on papal Rome today, 09:22 the Roman Catholic Church in case you happen to be one 09:24 and if there are none here, 09:27 there are millions or there's thousands 09:30 that will hear my voice. 09:31 Though we're not trying to upset you, 09:33 we're not trying to make, 09:34 you know, you mad or any form 09:36 because we realize 09:37 God has good people everywhere. 09:38 But there is a, you know, there's reasons, 09:41 there's things that are given in the Word of God 09:43 in history 09:45 that we need to look at very carefully, 09:47 because sometimes we're just not concerned 09:48 because when we go by every church we see, 09:50 we'll say, 09:52 "Well, just, it's just a church." 09:53 It's okay, God accepts. 09:55 Remember, God accepts, 09:57 right what you understand is truth. 09:58 "To him that knoweth to do good and do with it not to what? 10:02 To Him, it is sin." 10:04 Not somebody else, but to Him. 10:06 So all the light that God gives you, 10:08 He requires us to live up to that light. 10:11 So have you ever asked the question? 10:13 Where did the Roman Church, Roman Catholic Church? 10:15 How did it really develop? 10:17 How did it really come about? 10:19 And that's no different than you do. 10:21 We say, "Well, we go church on Saturday, 10:22 we're Seventh-day Adventist." 10:24 Everybody and their brother gets online 10:26 and finds out Adventism, 10:27 when it came into being and how it was developed, 10:29 and so on so. 10:31 We're not doing anything with any of that. 10:32 That's not done about us here. 10:34 And so if it's good, praise God, 10:35 if it's not, then we'll look at it 10:37 from the standpoint of the Word of God. 10:40 In the Great Controversy, I like this 10:41 and I guess I could probably always offer this book, 10:44 the Great Controversy. 10:45 If you want to know 10:46 what's going on in the world today, 10:48 if you want to know the outcome 10:49 of what's taking place, 10:50 this would be a good book to read. 10:52 So harmonizes with Scripture that we can tell. 10:54 See, some of us are just going around blindly today, 10:56 because of what's happening in the world today. 10:59 We are, some people are afraid, 11:02 because of what is developed. 11:03 And we sense that 11:05 something big is developing right now, 11:07 you sense that? 11:09 Something is getting ready to bust loose. 11:10 Why? 11:12 Because it's not the way that we've always seen things. 11:15 It's not the way we were raised and things are changing. 11:17 And they've changed so fast that we don't know, 11:20 we fear that they won't return like they used to be and, 11:23 you know, I hate to burst your bubble 11:25 if you think that. 11:26 I don't know that it will ever return 11:27 the way that it was 11:29 because we're so near the end of time. 11:30 We're so near the end of time. 11:32 So we have to find out what truth is 11:33 and then we have to stand on the side of what is truth, 11:36 or you're going to stand with error. 11:38 So regardless, 11:39 it's not picking on a group of people 11:40 or this individual 11:42 is what does God say in His Word? 11:44 Hope that makes sense. 11:45 What does God say in His Word 11:46 that will develop 11:48 of those who will make it to the kingdom? 11:51 So it's not any certain group, 11:52 it's not a certain amount of people, 11:54 the ones because, 11:55 you know, on the door is written 11:57 such and such a name. 11:58 We don't get there by that. 12:01 Get to heaven by following God's Word. 12:04 That's throughout Scripture, as you will know. 12:06 I just want to give just a few paragraphs here, 12:10 surrounding the Great Controversy 12:11 because we know this. 12:13 We know the time has come. 12:15 It's way past time 12:17 that the truth be proclaimed against falsehood and error. 12:22 You've read that many times. 12:24 The Bible is clear 12:25 that God expects His people to do what? 12:27 Proclaim what is truth, 12:29 to stand up against those things 12:30 that are what? 12:32 Are error. 12:33 Those things that are untruth. Why? 12:34 Because everything you throw out, 12:36 there's somebody that listens, 12:37 somebody that's going to grasp it, 12:39 somebody is going to receive it, 12:41 and they'll count it as a truth because the pastor said so. 12:46 The preacher, you know, the evangelist said so. 12:49 This group said so. 12:51 Listen, you know, if you're like I am, 12:53 I listen to what people have to say. 12:56 Then I go back to the Word of God say 12:57 this what, is this what it says in the Word of God? 13:00 Is this what Jesus taught? 13:02 Is this the way Jesus lived? 13:04 Then I feel pretty comfortable with that. 13:06 But if it didn't harmonize with Bible, 13:08 or you know Scripture, the life of Christ, 13:10 I'm not buying into it. 13:12 I'm just not going to buy into it. 13:14 So we need to stay close to the Word of God. 13:16 It's time then 13:18 when we hear untruth, then what? 13:20 We need to proclaim what? Truth. 13:22 That's what God wants us to do. 13:25 We know 13:26 and we'll talk about it more as we go along. 13:27 The man of sin is going to be revealed. 13:30 Now, if you've not studied 13:31 the Book of Revelation and Daniel, 13:32 and you've not went through all of these things, 13:34 bless your heart. 13:35 There's a lot of people who are in the dark about this. 13:37 God still loves them. 13:38 He's calling them out of darkness into what? 13:41 Into marvelous light by these kind of things. 13:45 Now we must remember 13:46 some of these things are startling to people 13:48 who have never heard them before. 13:51 It is startling, it would be to me, 13:53 it startles me now. 13:55 You know, I've been in out of the Word of God all my life, 13:57 as it were, you know, 13:59 trying to understand these things. 14:00 So that what? 14:01 So that I can get right myself 14:03 and might help others 14:04 to get ready for the coming of Jesus. 14:07 If you're not ready now, when will you get ready? 14:10 What a question. 14:12 When will you get ready? 14:13 What is it going to take for you to get off the fence, 14:16 me to get off the fence and to do the right thing. 14:21 Because we have this man of sin, 14:22 the Bible said 14:24 and we'll read a little later on 14:25 about he's going to try to exalt himself above God. 14:28 It's going to be a religious power 14:30 that's going to do it 14:32 because the devil loves to play church. 14:34 Is that true? 14:36 See, devil's joined the church. 14:37 He's not outside, well, he joined the church. 14:39 Just make sure he's not sitting beside you. 14:45 And you'll know if he is or not 14:47 because he will always go contrary. 14:49 Yeah, Brother Will is looking around. 14:51 You don't need to look at Sister Jean now. 14:54 A child of God. 14:55 No, it's good that we do that, 14:56 you know, and we're thinking now 14:58 because the enemy then 14:59 he's going to be trying to impress your mind 15:02 to go against what Scripture says. 15:05 Say, "Oh, well, it doesn't matter." 15:07 Yes, it does matter. 15:10 The Bible said in Matthew 4:4, 15:11 "Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." 15:15 The Apostle Paul said, 15:17 Great Controversy and about 49, page 49. 15:20 It goes on a couple pages, 15:21 I just want to read a few things. 15:22 If you want to know 15:24 how the Roman Catholic Church developed. 15:25 I always did all of my life. I've heard about it. 15:27 We read in history, in church, 15:29 and we read about the Dark Ages. 15:30 We read about the persecution, 15:33 killing of the saints by the church, 15:35 and so on so forth. 15:36 You know, several 100 million people, 15:38 they were fed to the lions. 15:40 I never did quite understand all of that. 15:42 But the Bible said it was going to happen. 15:44 And it did happen. 15:46 They said there'd be a deadly wound 15:47 that will be given to this power, 15:49 but the deadly wound would be what? 15:50 Would be healed 15:52 and all the world would wander after the beast, 15:53 and they are those 15:55 whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life. 15:57 So unto you it's just saying this is a hate speech, 15:59 this is a love speech. 16:02 Hope somebody gets that. 16:04 It's not about hate. 16:06 Because we realize you get in trouble 16:07 for more and more and more 16:08 if you mention another person's religion, 16:11 another person's belief, you get yourself in trouble. 16:14 It's called a hate crime. 16:17 In books, you pass them out. 16:19 Right in Canada, you get year... 16:20 You can get some years in prison 16:22 by passing out a book 16:23 that might give the message 16:24 that God has given us 16:26 that even is written in history. 16:28 You can't really say it because 16:29 see, people are so touchy nowadays. 16:31 Everybody's hurt about something. 16:32 And if we don't like it, 16:34 we're going to go raise a stink somewhere. 16:36 You thought, you know what I'm saying. 16:40 Now's the time right to get right with God. 16:42 The Apostle Paul, 16:43 in his letter to the Thessalonians, 16:45 he told me about the great apostasy 16:46 that would happen before Jesus came. 16:49 And then he said what? 16:51 As this apostasy, come out of apostasy, 16:53 you find the papal church was developed. 16:57 "Mystery of iniquity," 16:58 here on page 49 says, 17:00 "carried forward a deceptive and blasphemous work." 17:03 Hmm. 17:05 "Heathenism found its way into the Christian church." 17:09 See, it begins with what? 17:11 There was a fight 17:12 that was going on between 17:13 true Christianity and the heathen religions. 17:16 And all of a sudden, there began to be a... 17:18 Listen, a compromise, 17:21 a compromise of truth and error, 17:23 just what's going on what? 17:24 Today. 17:26 See, there's a compromise of truth and error. 17:29 And here we've got apostasy, 17:31 and we find the man of sin 17:32 then was going to be revealed, the Bible says so. 17:35 It said, 17:37 "The spirit of compromise and conformity 17:38 was restrained for a time by fierce persecution 17:42 was to church endured under paganism. 17:46 But as persecution ceased, 17:48 the Christianity entered the courts 17:50 and palaces of kings, laid aside," 17:53 notice this, 17:54 "humble simplicity of Christ. 17:57 His apostles and the pomp 17:58 and pride of pagan priests and rulers 18:01 in the place of requirements of God, 18:04 she substituted human theories and tradition." 18:07 So become a true Christianity, paganism, right? 18:11 Compromise that you came up 18:12 and what all that developed papacy. 18:16 Traditions of men. 18:18 Now remember, 18:19 we won't have time to read them all today. 18:21 I've got a gob of information you want to stay up here. 18:23 But remember, the Roman Church says what? 18:26 They value tradition above the Bible. 18:30 That's in all kind of their own writing. 18:32 So I'm not saying anything that's bad, 18:34 they don't hold up. 18:36 They value what? 18:38 Tradition above the Bible. 18:41 There is nothing to be put above the Bible. 18:44 We know that, isn't that right, the Word of God. 18:47 And if we don't believe that, 18:48 then we know 18:50 we need to get back on our knees 18:51 and ask God to help us 18:52 to get into the Word 18:54 because this is what we need to know. 18:56 "Compromise between paganism and Christianity 18:59 resulted in the," 19:01 notice this, 19:02 "development of the man of sin, 19:03 the papacy, foretold in prophecy." 19:06 Now again, this has to go through a lot of prophecy 19:08 if you've never heard it before. 19:09 If you've never studied the Book of Daniel, 19:11 there's all kind of prophecies in there. 19:12 The Book of Revelation, 19:14 there's all kind of prophecies in there 19:15 about this man of sin. 19:19 And it's just identifying marks one after the other 19:21 as you can't miss it. 19:23 The man of sin that would develop 19:25 would be the one 19:26 who would try to set in the place of God, 19:28 isn't that right? 19:29 Take God off of the throne, sit in it, 19:31 one that would claim to be God, right? 19:32 That's what Isaiah 14:14 talks about. 19:35 I will be, he said what? 19:37 Like the Most High. That's what this power says. 19:42 A power that would claim to forgive sins on earth. 19:45 We just have to put everything together. 19:46 Wish we had time to go into all of that. 19:52 All of this right here that we're reading, 19:54 the doctrines of papal supremacy 19:56 is directly opposed to the teaching of Scripture. 20:00 So here's, this is what it boils down to, 20:02 I can't really spend any more time on that, 20:03 because it's just going down so quickly right now. 20:06 But our point is right here. 20:07 Remember, it says 20:09 the whole world wandered after this power. 20:12 So... 20:13 And they worshiped the dragon and they worshiped the beast. 20:17 So once again, it has to do with what? 20:19 Who we give our worship to. 20:21 So it has to do with Christianity. 20:23 So God had a true church, as we well know, Revelation 12, 20:27 that woman, you remember the woman standing on the moon, 20:28 it was, oh, and then you had what? 20:32 represented the harlot or the false church. 20:37 So remember, God has His church, 20:39 and then the enemy has his church. 20:41 And He's very plain about the, you know, 20:43 we look at the Rome's church, so we look at their teachings, 20:48 we look at God, we look at His teachings, 20:51 and then by the grace of God, 20:52 we can figure out where we want to be. 20:55 So I would say this. 20:57 Someone says they have a doctrine, 20:59 then we want to study that doctrine, 21:00 we're going to look in the Word of God 21:01 to see whether it be so. 21:03 So I can ask you several things. 21:06 Now I mentioned before that the Bible is the foundation 21:09 upon which we should build our belief, 21:12 is that true? 21:14 It's the foundation of... 21:15 Now remember, if you're, if you don't care about truth, 21:18 then this is not going to matter to you. 21:20 And the majority of the world, I'll just be bold about it, 21:22 I don't believe that they do. 21:24 You know how hard it is to find someone today 21:27 that really cares about coming to church, 21:31 about studying the Word of God. 21:33 Now I know he has his people out there. 21:35 He says, Go to the highways and byways 21:37 and compel them to come in. 21:39 If we don't have that desire, 21:41 if we don't want to be learning, 21:43 wouldn't it be well that we say, 21:44 God, I don't want to, but I know I need to. 21:48 And God will send you somebody. 21:50 Because I'm telling you this, my brother and sister today, 21:52 and I said both, you're going to heaven or hell. 21:56 You're going to heaven or hell. 21:59 It's one or the other. 22:00 People don't like to hear that. 22:02 They'd rather come and see how wonderful and sweet 22:04 and wonderful things are. 22:06 But this is where it's boiling down. 22:08 If you look at the world today, 22:09 tell me how many sweet things that's going on in the world 22:11 that you can see blowing up in our face? 22:14 About everything I can think of that I hear on the news, 22:16 and you can go Fox News 22:17 or any of the news station right now, 22:19 everybody's up in the error. 22:20 Nobody knows what's going on. 22:22 And I want to say this, I think everybody's lying. 22:27 Is it okay to say that? 22:32 And I say that because I see one guy say something like, 22:35 "Hey, this, I have never, ever done this." 22:40 They go right over here and they put up a page, right? 22:43 And he's filmed and he says, he's already said exactly that. 22:49 I didn't say it. Well, he did. 22:51 They're all doing. 22:52 I'm not trying to take one side or the other. 22:53 I'm just saying, 22:55 there are things that are going on in the world. 22:56 So the world is used to a lot of liars. 23:01 And then they're not just out in the world, 23:03 they're in the church. 23:05 We're liar, 23:07 if we profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, 23:09 and then we're doing our own thing. 23:11 That makes us the liar, does it not? 23:14 So let's just be bold with it, shall we not? 23:17 Let's mention a couple beliefs here quickly 23:20 that we talked about. 23:22 Now listen, 23:23 if this is the foundation of your church, 23:26 if it's the foundation of my church, 23:29 then I must say, 23:30 now I'm looking at my foundation 23:31 because I want it solid. 23:33 Number one, my foundation has to be Jesus Christ. 23:36 It has to be the Rock, 23:37 we'll look at here because Peter was called the first pope 23:39 because he was what? 23:41 They said, 23:42 "A rock instead of a little stone." 23:45 We'll look at that a little bit later. 23:47 But if we're building, 23:49 Christ is building His church with His first disciples, 23:51 it need to be built on Jesus Christ, 23:54 not upon a man. 23:56 Something that is solid, 23:59 something that you can prove from the Word of God. 24:02 And we looked at several of these things, 24:03 we won't go into them all 24:05 because the Bible said we were warned 24:07 that there would come a falling away 24:08 and this man of sin would be revealed. 24:11 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and 4. 24:13 We won't read those right now. 24:14 Daniel 7:25, 24:16 he shall think to change times and laws. 24:18 Matthew 24, read the whole chapter. 24:20 Acts 20, just read the whole chapter. 24:23 Revelation 12:17, read that verse. 24:26 "The dragon was wroth with the woman, 24:27 and went to make, " what? 24:29 "War with the remnant of her seed, 24:31 who keep the commandments of God." 24:34 Man, this is heavy duty. 24:36 Revelation 13, we can read all... 24:38 12:5, and so on, it goes on. 24:40 But if I just ask you the question, 24:41 because I'm looking here at this man of sin, 24:45 Bible says, this... 24:47 I'm telling you, big group of individuals, 24:52 it's either their teaching 24:54 for doctrines the commandments of men, 24:56 or the doctrines of Christ. 24:58 And there's nothing wrong with the doctrine. 25:00 I challenge anybody with that. 25:02 Jesus taught doctrine. 25:04 And for a church to say, 25:06 "Why go to church? 25:07 It's non denominational." 25:08 Ho-ho. 25:10 Can I say that? Can I do that? 25:12 Think couple of moments, I don't know. 25:15 Think about it. Non-denominational. 25:17 No, you have your beliefs, do you not? 25:22 And okay, what church you go to, 25:23 you believe certain thing 25:24 whether they be good, bad or ugly, you do. 25:27 Yeah. 25:30 And so, if I ask you, 25:32 here's some of the teachings here of Rome. 25:35 It says, first the veneration of angels and dead saints, 25:39 or the worship of angels or dead saints. 25:43 Now, is that scriptural or not? 25:45 Thank you. 25:47 No. 25:48 They believe in worshiping angels or dead saints. 25:54 They make things and they worship them. 25:56 That seems... 25:57 I'm looking, again I'm saying, 25:59 "Oh, if it's scriptural, let's do it. 26:00 If not, then that's error, that must be from the enemy." 26:05 How about prayers for the dead? 26:09 No, that's just the truth. 26:10 This is part of the doctrine and the Catechism. 26:13 They believe in prayers for the dead. 26:15 I'm not trying to condemn them, I'm looking, I'm saying, okay, 26:17 I'm looking into this faith, 26:19 maybe I should be a part of this faith. 26:22 Does that make sense? 26:23 Because I need to study to show myself approved, 26:25 I need to know where I belong, 26:27 I need to know where God wants me to be. 26:30 But I'm looking into and everybody does 26:32 to the teachings of that church. 26:35 They look into it to see whether they're going to, 26:37 some people look, 26:39 see whether they're going to fit or not, 26:40 or if it fits their lifestyle, 26:41 they don't want to make any changes. 26:44 The prayers for the dead is not found in Scripture, 26:47 but it's a doctrine. 26:50 And when they make doctrine or their teachings, 26:53 you know, we're talking about infallibility. 26:55 They say they don't change it, because it's perfect. 26:57 It's right. Well, I don't see in Scripture. 27:01 And I'll just make it simple here. 27:03 How about the sign of the cross? 27:05 Is that in the Word of God? 27:07 No. 27:09 Again, it's not trying to cut anybody down. 27:10 It's just making it the sign of the cross, 27:12 we say is this religious type thing? 27:13 No, it comes from pagan and heathenism. 27:16 It is not in the Word of God. 27:19 And if I'm using the Word of God, 27:21 you see, then I'm going to have to stay with the Word of God. 27:25 Yeah. 27:26 How about the use of images? 27:32 Yeah, that's a good, you know, 27:34 they couldn't deal with the Ten Commandments, right? 27:36 They had to take the second one out, 27:38 not bowing down and worshiping, you know, the images, 27:40 take it out, but split into two and raise every one of them up. 27:44 They're out of order, 27:45 the way God wrote Him with His own finger. 27:48 Let me get something maybe close and personal. 27:51 Again, if people don't know that God understands that too 27:53 but if you know better, then we need to say, 27:55 "That's not founded in the Word of God." 27:58 How about mass? 28:01 No. 28:03 That's not found in the Word of God, 28:05 the way it's conducted. 28:07 How about the doctrine of purgatory? 28:09 No. 28:11 You know, you go to purgatory, 28:12 and then you put a bunch of money in 28:14 and do some praying 28:15 and you get them out a leg and arm at a time. 28:19 Isn't that true? 28:21 That's basically the way... 28:22 Right? 28:24 I mean, man, if I'm happy to be there, 28:25 and you can pray me out or buy me out of there. 28:30 But let's not do the finger and arm at a time, 28:32 let's play the whole lump sum. 28:33 That doesn't work that way, you understand? 28:35 I'm simply saying that's not in the Word of God. 28:38 But that is a pillar 28:39 and that is a teaching of this church 28:41 that the Bible said 28:42 the world would all wander after. 28:45 Hmm. 28:50 How about praying to Mary? 28:57 No, Mary, she, 28:58 a wonderful mother, no doubt about it. 29:00 But, you know 29:02 she is not between us and Christ. 29:06 Christ is there. 29:08 There's no one but I say, 29:10 "Well, how do we know this?" 29:11 The Bible said there's only one mediator 29:12 between God and man, and that is who? 29:14 That's Jesus Christ. 29:17 But the men of the world, 29:18 we're talking billion over a billion. 29:21 Many of them believe and they're all supposed to, 29:23 since this is supposed to be stuff 29:25 that you can't err on, 29:26 because it's moral. 29:28 And when the pope says it's moral issue, 29:31 he's infallible is what they say. 29:33 We have plenty of time. 29:34 We certainly need to just prove that quickly. 29:39 How about 29:40 when you really need something to some holy water? 29:43 Do you find that in the Word of God? 29:46 I don't find anything in holy water. 29:48 They went to the tap and got it just like I go, 29:51 okay. 29:52 Holy Water. 29:55 It's not in the Word of God. 29:57 How about, 29:58 "Oh, I'm fasting on Fridays 29:59 and Lent and all this right here." 30:01 Man made, it's very simple. Man made. 30:03 I mean, you can even look in history, 30:05 in the history books. 30:06 And you can see that, 30:08 that was a little before 1000 AD 30:11 that Lent and fasting on Fridays 30:12 came into being. 30:14 It was hasn't always been. They just adopted. 30:16 Everything I mentioned, 30:17 there's a date in which history says 30:18 this is when it was developed. 30:21 But we tried to use this truth based on the Word of God 30:24 from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden. 30:27 Isn't that right? 30:28 Where God set it up, where it was perfect, 30:30 not just after 3 or 400 years, 30:32 we decided we better do it this way. 30:35 If you find it in a Word of God, so be it. 30:36 But this is not in the Word of God. 30:39 How about, how about the rosary? 30:42 It's not in the Word of God. 30:45 I mean, we have some ex 30:47 individuals are belonging to that church now. 30:49 And they'll tell you, 30:50 "Oh, no, that's not in the Word of God, 30:51 but we're taught to do that." 30:53 And maybe people don't know any better. 30:54 God's not going to hold it against you 30:56 if you don't know any better, but who's going to tell you. 30:59 See, who's going to talk about this? 31:01 Who's going to let people know 31:02 that there's no power in that rosary? 31:04 That rosary is fear of paganism, 31:06 as it were, the enemy is in charge of that, 31:08 if there's things that might be answered. 31:10 I'm going to say it's going to be the enemy 31:11 that's going to do it. 31:13 Are you still with me? 31:14 See, that's heavy duty stuff. 31:16 But the honest in heart 31:17 are doing maybe the best they understand with that. 31:21 But God doesn't want you to stay there. 31:22 He doesn't want me to stay there. 31:24 He wants to show me a better way 31:26 that I can pray to Him. 31:28 He's the one that answers prayer. 31:29 He doesn't need anything in between. 31:31 He's God, right? 31:32 He's Christ, He's what we need. 31:37 How about the sale of indulgences? 31:38 Is that in the Word of God? 31:41 That'd be time in my life, 31:42 I'd go borrow some money in the bank 31:44 and pay him. 31:45 Somebody not with me at all. 31:46 I should close it and just sit down. 31:48 Is that right? 31:49 Indulgences, what does that mean? 31:52 John, you should know. 31:55 Indulgences, you can go what? 31:57 Buy as it were forgiveness of sin in advance. 32:02 You can go to the priest, 32:03 you can give so much money and he would sell. 32:05 I wish we had time to go through, 32:07 we're not going to have time to even touch it, 32:08 27 minutes left. 32:10 But if we're talking about there is, 32:11 there, you can go do it. 32:13 But remember, this came into being long 32:15 after the church was developed and begin to get strong, 32:18 that these things came into being 32:20 and they're counted as truth in the Word of God 32:22 and they're not. 32:25 They're selling indulgences during the Dark Ages. 32:28 Man, they were selling them. 32:30 So anyway, 32:31 all you have to do is buy the indulgence, 32:32 if you want to go out and live it up. 32:36 You don't have to worry about it 32:38 because it's taken care of. 32:41 The priest told you then you make it to heaven. 32:43 "If you happen to die in this mess that you're in, 32:45 don't worry about it." 32:46 I mean, they were doing that during World War II in 1944, 32:49 they were still selling indulgences. 32:51 And they would sell them 32:53 to the young people who were there, 32:54 were getting killed by the thousands and thousands, 32:56 they'd sell them. 32:57 You know how much they sold them for back then? 32:59 Forty dollars. 33:01 Forty dollars, 33:02 they sold and it said every soldier needs it 33:04 because you may not come back. 33:05 But the good news about, 33:07 the good news about all this was, 33:09 you didn't have to pay the whole 40 at once. 33:14 You can make payments on it. 33:15 See, I mean it does sound like come on now. 33:18 But this was, 33:19 you know, true to many believers 33:21 and they believed in this. 33:22 Why? 33:24 Maybe because there was no one 33:25 that ever told them any different. 33:28 And see they need to because God loves them. 33:30 He wants them. 33:32 It will do me no good to believe a lie. 33:35 It's no good to believe a lie. 33:37 Well, God understands. 33:39 Yes, He understands what a lie is. 33:41 But He understands what truth is too. 33:43 And that's what He's looking at His people 33:45 who are just simply willing by His grace and strength 33:48 to follow Him. 33:49 Doesn't mean we don't fall short. 33:51 When you fall short, you get back up. 33:53 When you fall down, you get back up. 33:55 When you do something wrong, what do you do? 33:56 You get back up by the grace of God 33:58 and keep going. 33:59 Ask for forgiveness. 34:01 Ask for strength. 34:04 How about the... 34:05 In the Bible is it found that 34:07 we are to confess our sins to a priest? 34:09 No, I'm not spending time on this. 34:12 But that to me, it is so important. 34:15 Because millions do it. 34:18 The Bible nowhere. 34:21 We are to confess our sins to whom? 34:23 Because He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins 34:26 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 34:28 That's biblical. 34:30 Yes. 34:32 Oh, He died for us, ain't that right? 34:34 He shed His blood for us. 34:36 We have no... 34:38 Ever going to a priest as the middleman. 34:40 Oh, lo and behold, going there and tell him your problems. 34:43 He needs to probably tell you some of his. 34:48 You know what I'm talking about. 34:51 I'm just not going to do it. 34:53 I'm just not going to. 34:55 Now some of you may do it 34:56 and you've done it maybe for years you did it 34:57 because you didn't understand and didn't know, 34:59 but really there's only one that we go through, right? 35:02 Because Jesus is the only one between us and the Father. 35:05 He's the only one 35:07 that can take our prayers to the Father. 35:09 He's the only one that can answer them. 35:11 He's the one that hung on the cross 35:12 so that I might have eternal life. 35:14 He's... Whoo! 35:16 He's for me. 35:17 He's for me. 35:19 He wants me in heaven. 35:20 He looks at you and He looks at me today, 35:22 He sees a miserable mess right here. 35:25 He sees a miserable mess. 35:27 He may look at you and see a miserable mess. 35:29 But what does He say? 35:30 "Oh, I want you. 35:32 I want you in heaven with Me." 35:34 He told the Father, 35:35 "Right where I am, let them be with Me." 35:40 I mean, how wonderful that is, how can He do that? 35:42 We see somebody that's little bit miserable, 35:44 a little, somewhat off centered a little bit, 35:46 we just say let them go. 35:48 Well, we can't deal with them. They're nothing but problems. 35:52 I'm glad Jesus didn't say that about me. 35:55 But He could look at me and say, 35:56 "He's nothing but problems. 35:58 He's going to cause nothing but problems." 36:01 But He doesn't look at it. He looks at me, Brother Jan. 36:03 He says, 36:04 "I see what he can be through Me. 36:07 I see what he can be. 36:09 He's not there now, but I see the finished product. 36:13 I see the finished product." 36:14 The world may see a mess right now. 36:16 He's laying out on the street. 36:17 He's doing this, he's doing that. 36:19 God says, "I don't see it, I see Him finished." 36:23 Looking to Him, the author and the finisher of our faith. 36:25 That's awesome to me 36:27 because He knows 36:28 when you're going to mess up next. 36:29 He knows what's going on in your heart, in your mind. 36:31 But if you come to Him confessing your sins, 36:33 He accepts it right there with honest heart 36:35 and He cleanse you right then and there. 36:37 Then where you go, then that's... 36:39 Right? 36:40 Then you have a choice. Every day, we have a choice. 36:43 Every day, I confess sins and shortcomings 36:47 even if I can't name them one by one. 36:50 Certainly, if we can name them 36:51 and we know we need to lay it out 36:52 at the feet of Jesus. 36:54 We need to make sure 36:55 we're in time of investigative judgment. 36:56 We're in the time of the atonement. 36:58 He's making atonement for our sins, 37:00 taking sin out of our lives by the grace of God, 37:02 but we have to confess. 37:03 He that confesses and forsakes, right? 37:05 He's going to forgive. 37:10 Confession to the priests, no. 37:12 Even the Jesuit order, we realize it's not scriptural. 37:19 My, that didn't, I mean, 37:20 that didn't come into being until about 1534 AD, 37:24 1534, during the time of the Reformation, 37:27 to get rid of the Protestants or the protesters. 37:30 Are you still with me? 37:33 Because the protest was going great and big, 37:35 and they were coming up with truth. 37:38 When the Roman Church took the Bible, 37:39 and they hid it, 37:41 they took it away from the common people, 37:43 they chained it to the prison, 37:45 you know, the cells or whatever, walls. 37:47 They didn't let them read it. 37:49 And you realize today, 37:50 that's one thing that the church they say, 37:52 everybody I talked to goes to the church, say, 37:53 we're never really encouraged to read the Bible. 37:56 That's always been 37:58 because the devil realizes 37:59 if you read the Word of God, whoo! 38:02 It's a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. 38:07 And so the devil says, "I don't want them to read it, 38:09 because they're going to figure out my plan. 38:11 So I'm going to keep it away from them." 38:12 And that one church has always done that, 38:15 rather than Jesus said, we need to get into the Word. 38:17 Study to show yourself approved unto God. 38:21 Stay in the Word of God. 38:23 It's a light. It's life. It's encouragement. 38:25 That's why people go around sometime depressed 38:27 and worn out and just, oh, they can't hardly make it. 38:29 They just can't keep going on and on, 38:31 because they have no hope. 38:33 The Word of God gives hope. 38:35 Even we talk about these, 38:36 there's hope in the Word of God. 38:42 They even boast of absolute, you know, infallibility. 38:46 We know better than that. 38:50 Matthew 16 that we read for our text in a few moments. 38:54 Let's see how far we can go in about 15-16 minutes, 38:56 is that all right? 38:58 Anybody getting tired? 39:00 Well, a couple of you look like you're worn out. 39:02 All right, let's go on. 39:04 Matthew, right? 39:05 Matthew 16. 39:06 Man, if you ever get tired, 39:08 just stand up and shout where you're at. 39:09 Get the blood circulate and then let's go, 39:10 isn't that right? 39:12 This is... 39:13 Listen, you're not going to always have this opportunity. 39:15 I'm not always going to have this opportunity. 39:18 It could very well be my last up here, 39:20 could very well be your last. 39:21 It doesn't matter. That's the way life is. 39:23 You think you're going to live forever. 39:25 I kind of felt like I would. 39:26 I felt like for years, 39:28 well, when I go I'll just die in my sleep. 39:32 I guess I was telling God how I wanted to die. 39:34 He said, 39:35 "Well before that there's going to be a lot of issues 39:37 you don't know about son." 39:40 Well, I not want to go that way. 39:44 But you can be going along 39:45 just smooth as you can be in one second 39:48 and the next second your whole life is changed. 39:51 I've been through that. 39:52 I understand it and many of you have been through here 39:54 and maybe until you go through it, 39:56 you don't realize how precious life is 39:59 and how short that it is, 40:01 even though I read it all my life, 40:02 it said it's like a vapor. 40:04 Life is like a vapor, it's like a dew. 40:05 It's here, we're gone in the minute, 40:07 we're gone. 40:08 But then what? 40:10 Lot of people say, well, 40:12 the Bible said then this is judgment. 40:14 So whether you like it, or whether you don't like it, 40:16 or whether I like it or whether I don't, 40:18 there's going to be a judgment, 40:20 and I'm going to be in it. 40:22 By your deeds you will be justified 40:24 and by your deeds you will be condemned. 40:27 Wow. 40:28 Not that you work your way into heaven. But what? 40:30 We have a life. 40:31 What are we doing with our life? 40:33 Are we using it for others? 40:34 Are we trying to work in behalf of others? 40:38 Hmm. 40:40 Matthew Chapter 16. Let me just go there quickly. 40:42 I'm just going to read verse 18. 40:43 Matthew 16:18, what does the Bible say? 40:46 Bible said, 40:48 "Unto thee, that thou art Peter, 40:50 and upon this rock, I will," 40:53 do what, 40:54 "I'm going to build my church, 40:56 and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 40:59 Jesus said what? 41:01 Notice He's talking, Jesus is talking here. 41:04 Talking to His disciples. 41:06 He said, right now, 41:08 I'm going to build, I'm going to build, 41:09 I'm going to build this church. 41:11 He said, "Peter, I'm going to build a church, 41:12 and I'm going to build it on the rock, 41:14 and the rock is Jesus Christ." 41:15 It's not Peter. 41:18 We'll look at that little closer as we go, 41:20 but how interesting this. 41:21 And then he says, 41:23 "And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 41:26 The devil can beat 41:27 and he can bang, and he can jerk, 41:28 and he can take you and throw you around, 41:30 or throw me around if we allow him to do that. 41:32 But the what, God's church is His church. 41:35 He's going to have people that are faithful 41:37 and going to make it into the kingdom of God. 41:39 I want to be a part of that. 41:41 Paul said, 41:42 "Apostasy would come in. 41:44 The man of sin would arise and exalt himself as God. 41:49 He's going to place himself in the temple 41:51 saying he is God." 41:54 Do we see this fulfillment? 41:56 Have we been studying about this fulfillment? 41:58 Is there anyone who has surfaced on the scene? 42:01 Certainly many, many years ago in Bible prophecy 42:03 that said that they were God on earth. 42:07 Oh, that was sure sick. 42:10 Thank you. Yeah. 42:12 Well, yeah, I think, yes. 42:15 God said it, Isaiah 14:14 and we talk about, 42:18 He's going to claim to be God on earth. 42:20 He's going to claim to forgive sins. 42:22 When this power comes up, right? 42:24 He's going to come up in 538 AD, 42:26 the Ostrogoths, the Herulis and the Vandals 42:28 and the very last one, 42:29 because there was, remember 42:31 when it broke down Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. 42:33 And then after Rome was what? 42:34 Pagan Rome. 42:36 When Rome broke down into what? 42:37 Ten kingdoms. 42:39 And the papacy became a separate. 42:40 Out of those 10 would come a little horn. 42:42 It had eyes like the eyes of a man 42:44 and a mouth speaking what? 42:46 Great things and notice this, 42:48 that was the papacy, there's no doubt about it. 42:50 History is clear on it. 42:51 It's not, well, that's the Adventist teaching. 42:53 It's Bible teaching and its history. 42:56 There's a horn coming out, there was 10, 42:58 but it said what? 42:59 Papacy come up and say, 43:00 "This is the way we're going to run the world, 43:02 we're going to be the head of it now." 43:03 Pay attention. 43:04 When I say three of those ten said no. 43:07 If there's only 10 nations, 43:08 that wouldn't be a whole lot to keep tabs of 43:10 what it like there is now, 43:12 but three of those said, 43:14 "No, we're not going to area nationwide, 43:16 we're not going to do it." 43:17 And so the papacy said about them 43:19 destroying those three, 43:21 because it said that when this papacy, 43:23 when it came into being, it would last 1260 years. 43:28 That's an identifying mark. 43:29 So I need to see when it came up 43:31 and attained his power. 43:33 And it came up when the last one 43:34 with the three went down. 43:36 When the first of the three went down, 43:37 it wasn't in full power, wants two more against it. 43:39 Then the other went down, no, still one more. 43:41 When the third one went down, 43:43 Ostrogoths, Herulis, Vandals, 43:44 that was the very year though history says it was 538. 43:48 If we're on target 538, and it says, the Bible said 43:51 "He had last 1,260 years." 43:53 I simply add. 43:55 Then it said that, ooh, 43:56 it said there'd be a deadly wound 43:58 that would be given to this power. 43:59 Did you get it? 44:00 A deadly wound would be given to them after 1,260 years. 44:02 All I have to do is take 538 when it came up, 44:06 add 1260 years, and I come up with 1798. 44:11 And exactly 1798, 44:13 the pope was taken into captivity 44:15 by General Berthier, you remember, 44:16 marched across Europe, 44:18 he took the pope into captivity, 44:19 put him in jail, he died in that year and what? 44:21 The papacy was, as they say was destroyed, 44:24 a deadly wound would be given to the papacy, 44:26 just exactly like God said. 44:28 But it said it would destroy the saints. 44:30 It would persecute and kill the saints. 44:32 He would think to change times and laws. 44:34 There's so many identifying marks 44:36 that we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt. 44:39 We don't have to guess. 44:41 I will be he said like the Most High. 44:43 Remember, 44:45 it's not the individuals we're talking about. 44:46 It's the organization, a massive organization 44:49 that the enemy said this is mine. 44:52 These are my people because what? 44:54 Oh we're just making up the things 44:56 as we go. 44:57 We don't go by the Bible, we go by tradition, 45:01 Matthew 15:9 says, 45:03 "In vain do they worship me, 45:05 teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." 45:07 Tradition, 45:09 but they esteem tradition above Scripture. 45:11 Why? 45:12 Because when they held Scripture up, 45:14 it exposed their errors. 45:16 Does that make sense? 45:17 But when you took the Bible away 45:18 and use that tradition, 45:20 you could just go any way you wanted to go. 45:23 So we need to look at it carefully. 45:28 Many people today, including Protestants, 45:30 we're talking about today, Catholics, 45:33 they're not investigating 45:35 what they believe or why they believe it. 45:39 They just simply say, 45:40 "Well, if you're a Christian, you go to church, 45:42 this is good enough." 45:45 Why does over and over in Scripture 45:47 that we're to check out, right? 45:51 In the last days, God said we're to check out, 45:54 there's going to be spirits working. 45:57 There's going to be things taking place in the world. 45:58 We need to study, show ourselves approved. 46:01 But many of us are not doing it. 46:03 We're leaving it to the preacher, 46:04 to the evangelist, to the pastor, 46:07 or it's just good enough, it doesn't matter. 46:12 Really, you need to be and I need to be convinced 46:16 of what we believe from the Word of God. 46:18 If you cannot do that, 46:20 I encourage you to get into the Word of God. 46:24 Many today right now, 46:26 many today are more interested in the stock market. 46:30 They're more interested in the ball games. 46:33 They're more interested in their business. 46:36 More interested in making money. 46:40 They're more interested in houses and lands. 46:43 They're more... 46:44 Oh, they're more interested in their love life. 46:48 Is it okay to say that? 46:52 It's true. 46:56 Than their own salvation. 46:58 Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 13:5, 47:01 2 Corinthians 13:5, come on, say with me church. 47:04 It says, 47:06 "Examine yourselves..." 47:07 Do what? 47:09 "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith, 47:13 and prove your own selves." 47:14 Isn't that interesting? Yeah. 47:16 The test is to prove your own selves, 47:19 not somebody else looking at you and trying to... 47:21 But prove yourself. 47:23 Examine yourself to whether you're in the faith or not. 47:26 "Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?" 47:28 "Do you believe that He can forgive sin?" 47:30 "Do you believe that He died for you?" 47:32 "Do you believe that He's coming back?" 47:33 These are some little test questions. 47:36 Yes, I do. 47:37 "Do you want to follow in His footsteps?" 47:38 Oh, yes, I do. 47:40 A little book I love is a kind of devotional book 47:42 that I may know him. 47:44 Page 191 says this. 47:47 We know that falsehoods are coming in 47:50 like a swift current. 47:51 And that is just the reason why we want every ray of light 47:54 that God has for us. 47:56 See, I'm talking about if we, 47:58 do we really want 47:59 every ray of light that God gives us. 48:02 Many of us have more rays of light 48:04 than we're willing to deal with right now. 48:08 Think about it. 48:10 There's things in your life, 48:11 things in my life that need to be tweaked, 48:15 tuned up. 48:16 What does a mechanic do? 48:18 Tune up your vehicle. 48:20 Brother Johnny, tune up that vehicle. 48:24 It doesn't run well, because it's not tuned up. 48:27 It may not take a whole lot to tune it up. 48:29 Maybe a filter, you know, a fuel filter, 48:30 maybe your air filter, 48:32 and maybe in my day when you get, 48:34 used to be the little spark plugs 48:35 and little condenser and distributor cap, 48:38 that was years ago. 48:40 Not like it is today. 48:42 But we need to be tuned up and we tune up by what? 48:45 On the Word of God. 48:46 Why? Because of falsehoods. 48:49 The Bible is clear on it. 48:50 Read it in 2 Timothy and so on so forth. 48:52 These are last days. 48:56 These things will be coming into the church 48:57 and we're going to have to deal with them. 49:02 I believe with all my heart 49:04 that we are on the borders of a better world. 49:08 We're on the borders of a better world. 49:11 I think I'd say it again, 49:13 I believe we're on the borders of another world. 49:15 That means you're standing right up against it. 49:18 Now here, 49:19 see somebody should jump over pew. 49:21 I mean, to me, 49:23 that's just the excitement of it. 49:24 We're on the borders of another world, 49:27 this one soon to pass away 49:29 somewhat, well, you know, 49:30 if you say this, well, you know, my dad said, 49:32 my grandpa said this and everybody said that, 49:34 you're just fitting in with Scripture. 49:37 Jesus said, there would be those 49:39 that would say that so they tried to discourage 49:41 but remember, every day of your life, 49:42 you don't, you may not be alive when Jesus comes. 49:45 You may be gone tomorrow. 49:47 So hey, that's pretty near, isn't it? 49:49 You're on the borders right now. 49:51 There's thousands who are on the border. 49:53 Thousands are dying right now. 49:54 Thousands are going to Christ-less graves. 49:58 And they have not found Jesus. 50:00 No one's exposed the man of sin 50:02 and all of his teaching and doctrine, 50:04 and we just feel like it's good enough. 50:06 That's what we've heard. 50:07 Mama said it was good, and pops said it was good, 50:09 and great grandma said it was all good. 50:10 Maybe it was for them, but is it good enough for you? 50:14 Since God has revealed more light to you. 50:19 We've got to be in harmony with heaven. 50:22 Paul commended the Bereans. 50:25 You remember that in Acts Chapter 5? 50:28 Not 5. What is it, Acts 17? 50:30 Acts 17:11. 50:31 He commended the Bereans for studying the Bible daily. 50:36 Yeah. 50:37 Think about that. 50:38 Think about how many of us... 50:40 I don't care if I take some time 50:41 or not with it. 50:42 It's all right. 50:44 Think how many stay away from the table 50:47 all week long. 50:49 Well, have mercy. 50:53 Think about it. 50:55 Oh, we get up, 50:56 first thing in the morning we're hungry. 50:59 Some of you're not because you, 51:00 well, I don't like breakfast 51:01 or light breakfast is your best meal, 51:03 it should be. 51:05 Because you should have fasted all over the night 51:06 and about 10 to 12 hours of no food, 51:08 you should wake up like a bear. 51:11 All right, throw that in. 51:17 But think about it. 51:18 How many of us do, but we can do the Word of God. 51:20 We can leave it off that day. 51:21 And we can leave it for the next day, 51:23 we leave it for the next day, we leave for the next day. 51:24 We won't do. 51:25 In other words we think more of our physical food 51:27 than we do our spiritual food. 51:30 But again, 51:32 put it in perspective that must be true, 51:33 because when we think we can do without 51:35 and we're still all right. 51:37 But the other one, the system says, 51:38 "No, we can't. We've got to have that. 51:40 Yum, yum." 51:41 And then we find something good. 51:43 What do we say? Seconds? 51:46 Right. 51:47 Oh, that dessert was really good. 51:49 Let's hit it again. 51:51 I'd love somebody say, 51:52 "Ooh, that message was good. 51:54 Oh, Brother, did it start over." 51:56 I don't guess I have to worry about that. 52:00 Boy, I'd like to hear it again. 52:03 We've done that every once in a while 52:05 we sing a song. 52:06 I'm going to say some, somebody I think at the funeral, 52:09 was last week, whatever, said, 52:10 "Hey brother, get back up here and sing it again. 52:13 Give us another line of it." 52:14 It's good. 52:17 In the Word of God, let's do that. It's good. 52:19 We tasted and we've seen that it's good. 52:24 Bible says in Romans 12:2, it says, 52:27 "With that we are to prove what is good," 52:29 and what? 52:30 "Acceptable and perfect, will of God." 52:33 How do we prove really the will of God? 52:36 By His Holy Word. That's how we prove it. 52:42 We are accountable to God 52:43 and not to any man for our salvation. 52:46 Romans 14:2 tells us, 52:48 every one of us shall give an account to what? 52:51 Of himself to God. 52:52 See, again a guy said, 52:54 "I don't have to, I'm not going to 52:55 because I'm a not a believer and I don't want..." 52:57 You're going to give an account to yourself to God, 52:59 whether you like it or don't. 53:00 I'm not trying to be ugly about it. 53:01 Why do I say that? 53:03 Because the Bible says, 53:04 every man is going to have 53:05 to give an account of himself to God. 53:07 Some of the account we have to give, 53:08 Lord have mercy, we need a Savior. 53:10 We need to be covered by the blood of the Lamb. 53:12 He can take all the mess of your life 53:14 and everything that you said, 53:15 everything you've done is dirty and rotten 53:17 and you know that it is, 53:19 that we can, let it be covered by the blood of the Lamb. 53:21 We can be fresh and new and clean. 53:23 And may I say at that moment when you ask for forgiveness 53:25 and you mean it from your heart, 53:27 you're clean, you're whistle clean. 53:31 You stand faultless before Him. 53:34 No one else can do that. 53:36 The priest can't do it, the pastor can't do it, 53:37 the evangelist can't do it. 53:39 Only Jesus can do it. 53:41 But are we really doing that right now? 53:45 Some of you said, you know, well, Proverbs 14, 53:49 there is a way that seemeth right 53:51 unto a man but what? 53:53 The end, thereof, good, are the ways of death. 53:56 Pray, I encourage you. 53:57 Study the Word of God. 54:00 Your faith is going to be strengthened. 54:02 You know what's going to be strengthened in? 54:04 In the infallible God, not fallible man. 54:08 This is so desperately what we need today. 54:11 Not a substitute of God, we need the real God. 54:16 We need the real truth. 54:18 Oh, bless their hearts. 54:19 We never even got on board, 54:20 Peter bless his heart was the first pope. 54:24 No proof on that. 54:26 I'll probably go back to that, the wife of mine might say no, 54:28 but I may go back do it anyway. 54:31 Because there's so much delicious truth 54:34 in this Word, in the Word of God. 54:36 Because what, 54:37 because people are believing 54:39 these things as the true Word of God 54:41 when it says, in the Word of God it says, 54:43 "No, it's not." 54:44 If it's not truth, then what again? 54:46 It's error. 54:48 And the enemy is the author of that. 54:50 Your job and my job as Christians 54:52 by the grace of God 54:53 is to expose error, expose the man of sin, 54:57 expose those things that the enemy has hoodwinked 54:59 the majority of the world 55:02 and yet he's calling every one of us out. 55:05 You should not be hoodwinked 55:07 because you should be studying the Word, Word of God. 55:08 I should not be hoodwinked 55:10 because I should be studying the Word of God. 55:13 Just have 20 some seconds left, 55:15 I'm going to kneel right here and have prayer for you. 55:17 And I want you to be sure and pray for us. 55:18 Let's pray, shall we? 55:20 Our Father which art in heaven, 55:21 we thank You for Your precious Word. 55:23 Thank You for those 55:24 who have made decisions right now. 55:25 They also have heard things may be very difficult and hard 55:27 for the very first time, 55:28 but they love You and they want to follow You, 55:30 I thank You for that, in Jesus' name, amen. 55:33 It's been good to spend this time with you. 55:35 Praise God. 55:36 We look forward to your cards and your letters, 55:38 support the gospel 55:39 to get this message around the world. 55:40 And we'll see you next time. 55:44 Hello and welcome back. 55:45 As I mentioned in the open today, 55:47 Pastor Kenny was so carried away 55:49 by the Spirit of God 55:51 to present the value in holding the Bible 55:53 as our moral absolute of truth 55:56 that the tradition of Peter 55:58 being the first pope was scarcely touched upon. 56:01 But I believe by now 56:02 after listening and studying along with Pastor Shelton, 56:05 could the question, 56:06 "Was Peter the First Pope" 56:08 actually be a misunderstanding of the Scripture 56:11 as found in Matthew 16:18? 56:14 Could it be, just think about it? 56:15 Could it be that Christ 56:17 was referring to Himself as the rock 56:19 in which His church would be built? 56:22 Christ said that 56:23 the gates of hell would not prevail 56:25 against this rock. 56:26 Clearly, Peter was found stumbling 56:29 even as he denied Christ three times 56:31 before Christ's crucifixion. 56:33 Yet, it was Christ that never failed. 56:36 It was Christ that never faltered. 56:38 It was Christ that was obedient unto death, 56:41 and that the chains of death 56:43 could not hold Him in the grave. 56:46 And as we compare 56:48 line upon line of the scriptures, 56:50 we do find clear scriptures 56:52 such as one found in 1 Corinthians 10:4, 56:55 that refers to Christ as being the spiritual rock 56:59 whom the Israelites drink from. 57:01 These are just thoughts, 57:03 just thoughts that you can pray about, 57:05 as we await Pastor Shelton 57:07 to take this study up again in the future, 57:09 as he mentioned in his closing today. 57:11 But until then, 57:13 with the wonderful clarity of several truths 57:16 that was found in the Word of God 57:18 and were presented in this message, 57:19 "Was Peter the First Pope?" 57:21 We truly believe that you will be blessed. 57:23 And we would love to send you this message in DVD 57:26 form to study time and again. 57:28 All you need to do is contact us here 57:30 at Behold the Lamb Ministries. 57:32 In the United States, 57:33 you can call us at (618)-942-5044 57:38 or you may write to Behold the Lamb Ministries, 57:40 PO Box 2030, Herrin, Illinois 62948. 57:45 You may also email us 57:46 at Contact@ BeholdTheLambMinistries.com 57:50 or visit us on our website at BeholdTheLambMinistries.com. 57:54 Friends, until next time, 57:55 may the Lord richly bless you and yours. |
Revised 2021-01-15