House Calls

Living By Faith, Pt. 2

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton

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Series Code: HCL

Program Code: HCL120002


00:01 Hello, friends, grab your Bible and a friend
00:02 and sit back as we explore God's word
00:04 together on this edition of House calls.
00:23 Welcome to another edition of House calls,
00:25 and you guessed it. That's John. I'm John.
00:29 And this-- this is the program.
00:31 If you have a Bible, this is the program
00:34 that you should be watching every time it comes on.
00:36 This is the book and thank you for tuning into
00:39 what we believe is one of the best Bible programs,
00:42 I made a mistake, the best Bible program
00:45 on the television right now.
00:46 That's why you're watching it.
00:48 Thank you for tuning into 3ABN and my name is John
00:50 and you are also John. Is that correct?
00:52 That's right-- that's right.
00:53 And we have come to bring to you what God wants
00:56 to share with you today from His words.
00:58 So get your Bible, get your pens, get your friends,
01:02 hit record if you want to do that.
01:03 Because we're gonna continue our topic
01:05 on faith, something everyone needs.
01:07 Before we do that though, we always take
01:09 your questions, your comments, and we'll tell you
01:11 how to send those to us in just a moment
01:13 but before we go any further, we need to pray.
01:16 John, would you have prayer for us today.
01:18 Let's pray. Father in heaven,
01:19 we are so thankful for an opportunity from week
01:21 to week to study Your word, to open up Your truth.
01:25 And Lord, we're talking about faith,
01:27 we need faith and part of why we are getting together
01:31 here in these few programs is to
01:34 strengthen our faith and our trust in You.
01:37 So, Lord, as we exercise that faith today,
01:39 we pray for your Holy Spirit to come dwell here,
01:41 within us, and to lead us to where You want us to go
01:45 as we look in faith to Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
01:48 We thank You for His presence here today.
01:50 In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
01:53 And as you know, those of you who sent questions,
01:57 you know where to send them.
01:58 But for those of you who haven't, you can send
02:00 those questions to housecalls@3abn.org.
02:04 That's housecalls@3abn.org. That's our website.
02:07 But if you like sending letters like these,
02:12 don't send huge letters with very small print
02:15 and pages written back and front with oh,
02:18 we get some letters, don't we, John?
02:20 I mean, we get some bold, underlined.
02:22 But if you have a question, send them.
02:24 Try to make it as small as you can
02:26 probably not as big as this envelope.
02:28 And we will try to answer those questions on the air.
02:30 Send them to PO Box 220,
02:33 West Frankfort, Illinois, 62896.
02:35 And then, send them attention
02:37 House calls, and I'll get them.
02:39 But, John, we have some questions today,
02:41 and I like this part of the program because
02:42 this is where the people say, hey, answer me.
02:46 Yeah. Tell me what the Bible says about this.
02:48 Where do they send their questions into?
02:49 They send it to housecalls@3abn.org.
02:51 They send to you actually. Yeah.
02:53 Well, I mean, they send them in by email.
02:56 They send them in--you can actually call them too.
02:57 You can. That's our call center
03:00 handles fields calls or questions.
03:02 That's right. We'll give that phone number later.
03:03 But we thank you for being a part of our program
03:05 as John is saying and I want to share with you
03:08 here a first question that came in.
03:10 All right. And the question is,
03:12 "Was Jesus brought into the God head?" Okay. Wow.
03:16 Good question. I thank God for your program.
03:18 Thank you very much. He's saying, he looked
03:21 at Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1, Proverbs 8:22-30.
03:29 I believe in the Holy trinity and Holiness of Jesus.
03:33 However, was Jesus brought into the God
03:36 head at some point in eternity past?
03:40 And so the question is, you know, and I think
03:42 we feel other types of this question which is, you know,
03:46 "Was Jesus' created by God, by the Father?
03:49 You know, in fact, sometimes the begotten--
03:53 the word begotten is turned into
03:55 the creation of Jesus at some point in time.
03:57 We'll look at that here in just a minute
03:59 but let's read first of all,
04:01 Colossians 1 verses 15 through 17.
04:05 We'll pick up both verses on either side of 16.
04:08 It says, "He is the image of the invisible God,
04:12 the firstborn over all creation.
04:14 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven
04:19 and that are on earth, visible and invisible,
04:22 whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
04:26 all things were created through Him and for Him.
04:29 And He is before all things." He's before what?
04:33 All things. All things and in Him all things consist.
04:37 All right, so a couple of things in here and it's
04:40 important to read these things
04:41 in their proper context.
04:43 What this passage is saying is that,
04:46 Jesus is the firstborn over all creation.
04:51 Now some would say, okay, that means He was born.
04:53 You know, you have to understand that firstborn
04:56 doesn't mean born or created.
04:59 Firstborn means, first in line, in other words
05:02 the one that is over all, in charge of all.
05:05 That's the idea of the first born in the Old Testament.
05:08 The first born was always the one that received what?
05:11 The inheritance. Right? That's right.
05:12 He was in charge of everything.
05:14 He was given charge over everything.
05:15 And so in that context, Jesus is the one
05:20 that did all the creating.
05:21 He's the one that holds things
05:23 together in which they consist.
05:25 He's also the one that is in charge over all creation.
05:29 I think another verse, in fact,
05:30 maybe you can find this one, John.
05:32 It says that, He's first born and that
05:34 He's preeminent over all creation.
05:36 It's speaking of His preeminence
05:38 not that he was actually born.
05:40 But in another verse that I think gives some
05:42 real help here in this topic is to whether or not
05:45 Jesus was created at some point or brought into
05:48 the eternity and given His Godness,
05:49 which we do not believe the Bible describes too.
05:52 No. Is John Chapter 1?
05:55 And so we'll turn here quickly to John Chapter 1
06:00 and I'll just read a couple of verses here for you.
06:05 Verse--verses 1 and actually let's do 1 through 3.
06:10 Okay. In the beginning was the Word,
06:13 now the Word is capitalized there
06:14 denoting that it's speaking of Jesus.
06:17 So it's the name Word not the written word
06:22 but the name Word, and the Word was with God,
06:27 and the Word was God.
06:29 He was in the beginning with whom?
06:31 God. With God. All things were made through Him
06:35 and without Him nothing was made that was made.
06:40 So another words, there's two things
06:42 we can gather from this.
06:44 He was in the very beginning with God.
06:46 In other words, there was no time that He was
06:48 brought into the God head. Okay?
06:50 Pretty, pretty clear on that one, John?
06:52 Oh, I'm very clear on that.
06:53 He was in the beginning with God.
06:55 In other words as the God had comprised as three,
06:59 three beings or individual personalities of God,
07:03 yet, is comprising one God in purpose.
07:08 Jesus from the very beginning was part
07:10 of that a triune God, that God head that
07:13 existed from the beginning.
07:14 But secondly notice it says here that,
07:17 nothing was made that was made,
07:19 that didn't come through Him.
07:22 In other words before anything was created
07:25 in the universe, what happened? Nothing.
07:30 So God, Jesus was there in the God head
07:33 from the very beginning, you know, it's hard--
07:35 it's a hard concept to grasp for us who are
07:39 created beings that anything would have
07:42 an eternal existence into the past.
07:45 But this is exactly what has--what the Bible
07:47 is telling us that God has always existed and Jesus
07:51 is clearly identified in this passage as being with
07:54 the God head that has always existed.
07:57 So I can't find anyway around that but to say
08:00 God and Jesus in no way
08:02 was created at any point in time.
08:05 Now this idea kind of came back, if you want to
08:09 kind of put it to a point in time came through
08:10 the Arianism kind of a perspective
08:13 where Jesus was a created being.
08:15 And so I recognized that some
08:16 denominations actually hold to that.
08:18 I won't name them out of respect, but it is important
08:21 to understand that in Christian orthodoxy,
08:23 in the standard of Christianity,
08:25 as we understand it, Jesus was not
08:27 a created being nor has He ever been
08:29 a created being, He is God fully.
08:31 Right. And, you know, the problem with that concept,
08:33 John, is or the problem as I speak to our audience is
08:38 if He's not the creator, He is the created.
08:43 He can't be both. That's right.
08:45 I can't be the-- I cannot be the--
08:51 if a mother gives a baby life, the mother
08:55 can't also be the baby. Follow me carefully.
08:59 Yes. The mother procreates.
09:03 In the context of Jesus, the Bible says in that text,
09:09 I was gonna stop you there for a brief moment
09:11 because it reads so powerfully when we just
09:15 consider what it says in First John,
09:17 sorry in John 1 and verse 3.
09:19 It says, all things were made through Him.
09:23 King James says, by Him and without Him
09:27 nothing was made that was made.
09:29 What was made before Him? What was made without Him?
09:33 Nothing. Nothing.
09:34 That means not even any other created being.
09:40 So if all things were made by Him.
09:43 It means, He wasn't made and then other things were made.
09:46 It says, all things were made by Him.
09:48 The mystery of the God head is this.
09:53 All powerful, all knowing, ever present but also
10:00 always existing and that is something
10:03 that men have tried to put into a bottle.
10:06 We've tried to find a way to, okay,
10:08 but we know that they had to have a start somewhere.
10:11 Well, surely we know that but you have to come
10:14 to grips that John 1 goes further
10:16 back than Genesis Chapter 1.
10:18 Hebrews 1 goes back farther than Genesis Chapter 1.
10:23 These are books telling you how was
10:24 even before the world was created.
10:26 So in the beginning was the Word,
10:27 the Word was with God, the Word was God.
10:29 That's just how it is, simply.
10:31 And for us to try to determine, well,
10:33 some where along the way Jesus had to come in.
10:36 What John was saying a moment ago
10:37 is when the phrase, the first begotten of God
10:39 is in the same context as the Bible used about David.
10:43 Now David wasn't,
10:45 David wasn't the first born at all.
10:47 He was the youngest of all of his brothers.
10:48 Yet, he was referred to as the first born. Why?
10:52 Because of the position that God put him in.
10:55 David, he was the youngest, but he was
10:59 referred to as the first born.
11:01 How could the youngest be the first born?
11:02 The oldest is the first born.
11:04 But in the same context, preeminence.
11:05 That's what you're talking about preeminence.
11:07 God put him in a position to inherit all things
11:09 that the Father passed down to him.
11:11 So that's the context that Jesus has spoken of.
11:13 And in Colossians, when he's speaking about Jesus,
11:15 he's speaking about Jesus in his earthly context.
11:19 Firstborn over all creation. He is the preeminent one.
11:21 He is the one that created all things.
11:23 So He comes to redeem His creation.
11:26 You don't send-- you don't send another--
11:30 I want to try to make this as human as I can
11:31 and as easiest as I can, but the problem is
11:33 you kind of break divinity down.
11:34 I have a couple of more texts
11:36 I'm gonna share with you.
11:37 But unless there's something wrong,
11:41 this is probably not the best example
11:42 so bear with me.
11:48 A mother has the most joy of being the first one
11:51 to hold her baby, unless you decide
11:54 to give that child up to another woman.
11:56 It is often said and I've-- you know, I'm a guy,
11:59 I don't know this is true or not, but it is said
12:02 the first bond that is made is
12:03 when a mother holds her child. Okay?
12:06 In the very same context, the creator,
12:09 the greatest bond is the one who brings
12:12 the creation into existence.
12:14 Jesus the procreate-- Jesus the creator
12:17 brings us into existence.
12:19 So there's no other person between us and He.
12:21 There's only one--that's it. That's Him.
12:24 But if you think about his preexistence,
12:26 He even addressed that question in John Chapter 17.
12:30 Jesus said, speaking to His Father,
12:34 and now, O, Father, glorify Me together
12:37 with Yourself, with the glory,
12:39 which I had with You before the world was.
12:44 And somebody may say, well, I know that's what it says,
12:46 but then maybe He was created before the world.
12:48 Undoubtedly Jesus existed before the world.
12:51 But there's another text here in Isaiah,
12:54 'cause Isaiah speaks of the preexistence of God.
12:57 You know, sometimes people think that,
12:58 sorry the preexistence of Jesus, who in fact,
13:00 is God, had He not been so,
13:03 the Jews would've been, in fact telling the truth.
13:06 When they said, you being a man, consider yourself God.
13:10 That's blasphemy. Well, Jesus made it very clear.
13:13 Well, if I'm not God, you're in trouble.
13:15 Right. He didn't say it that way. That's right.
13:18 Let me go ahead and make this point
13:19 here in Isaiah 44 and verse 6,
13:23 and I'm reading from the new King James Version.
13:24 And the Bible speaks of the Father
13:28 and the Son in this wise.
13:30 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel
13:35 and His redeemer the Lord of hosts.
13:41 Who's saying? Both of them are saying.
13:42 The Lord, the King of Israel, and his redeemer,
13:45 the Lord of hosts, I'm the first, and I'm the last,
13:50 besides me there is no God, singular.
13:54 So the Father and the Son are spoken of here as one.
13:58 And you find clearly when Genesis brings them
14:01 into different categories.
14:02 When Genesis began to understand,
14:04 help us understand that, yes they are one,
14:07 but they are three at the same time.
14:09 And this mystery has been one that men have
14:11 with futility tried to make clear.
14:14 So what we do is just go as far as the Bible
14:17 allows us to go and simply say, this is a mystery
14:20 that we will understand even more clearly,
14:23 when we are before the Father and before the Son.
14:25 Bottom line for me is, He is my redeemer.
14:29 He is my Lord. He is my savior.
14:30 He created all things,
14:32 and He recreates us into His image.
14:35 That's the most important thing to me.
14:37 And to suggest that God, the Father
14:41 would have created Jesus and then
14:43 at some point given him his Godness--
14:46 Right. Is, is simply speculation
14:50 and far reaching speculation with that because
14:53 to suggest that, the very element of God
14:56 and who He is, is His eternalness.
14:58 Okay. We can't have deity without eternity.
15:02 So you can't give Christ, He's God standing.
15:08 Either He's God and He's always existed
15:11 or He's not God, and there's only two ways about.
15:15 And to suggest that there's this somehow
15:17 He receives his Godness or He's brought into,
15:19 you know, the God head at some point is just
15:22 not even from--is beyond the realm of possibility.
15:25 Nor does-- and the Bible say anything
15:27 or suggest anything about that.
15:29 The other thing to is kind of-- just I'll add to this.
15:33 I know it's not part of the question, John,
15:34 is that it's only most who deal in or believe
15:40 in this respect about Christ that somehow
15:42 He was created at some point or given his Godness
15:45 or something happened there also believe that
15:49 the Holy Spirit is not a person of the God head.
15:52 Right. These are package deals here
15:55 and there're different veins or roads kind of
15:59 and conclusions that people go on.
16:01 But a lot of times, it's a reaction to not wanting
16:05 to accept the Godhead as three in one
16:09 or the trinity so to speak.
16:11 And I would say the trinity because there's
16:13 this baggage that comes with it, well.
16:15 Somehow that's a concept of the Roman Catholic Church,
16:20 the papacy, so we need to stay away from that.
16:22 That's their thing, the trinity.
16:23 But now actually if you look back at how
16:26 that whole thing came into being, it was very much
16:29 as a result of scripture reading,
16:31 and an established truth the churches have accepted
16:34 as orthodoxy for many, many years,
16:36 not only Rome but the reformers.
16:39 So you have to be very careful when you tread on
16:42 this ground especially when it comes to God.
16:44 Because it is something that is not easily understood
16:47 and I like what you're saying John,
16:48 there when you say, we can only go
16:50 as far as the Bible will tell us.
16:51 Right. To make speculation beyond that point,
16:54 I believe frankly, is kind of dangerous ground.
16:56 So-- Yeah. It is.
16:58 I'm not sure we can spend a lot of time on that.
17:00 I can see our time is slipping away
17:01 fairly quickly as far as our question time but--
17:03 The last one. Go ahead.
17:04 The last point of this Hebrews 1 because you
17:06 mentioned this and it brought,
17:07 it brought this thought to my mind.
17:09 Yeah. I've got it here with verse 8.
17:11 Okay. Why don't you read that?
17:14 But to the son, He, that is the Father,
17:16 God says, your throne, O God is forever and ever.
17:22 So he refers to Jesus as God and immediately,
17:25 like we said deity without eternity,
17:27 that's an impossibility.
17:29 He ascribes God that is Jesus to a eternity past.
17:34 Right. Point very well, very well, made.
17:39 Now I have a question here, from a gentleman.
17:43 I like his name, sounds like he's from France.
17:47 Jean Pierre that name is so common. I mentioned--
17:51 I don't usually mention full names,
17:52 but I just had to get the roll, Jean Pierre.
17:56 You, I like the way he spelled you, Y-U.
17:59 Yeah, I agree with that. Why waste another letter?
18:02 Y-U. Y-U are my favorite preachers with Pentecost.
18:08 I'm Jean Pierre. Wow. From Cairo, Egypt.
18:14 Yeah. Praise the Lord. Welcome Egypt.
18:18 And wow. That's great.
18:22 On one hand, some preachers taught--
18:27 this is the question he had.
18:28 Who are the five king--five kingdoms that had fallen?
18:32 On one hand, some preachers taught that those
18:35 kingdoms are the empires that opposed the Lord.
18:38 So they stopped back at the time of Egypt,
18:42 Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece,
18:44 Pagan Rome and Papal Rome.
18:46 On the other hand, some preachers taught
18:48 from Babylon going down to Pagan Rome and Papal Rome.
18:51 If you can send me a small text because I'm in Lebanon
18:57 now where there is no 3ABN live in my sister's house.
19:02 We gotta change that. We got to get 3ABN Lebanon.
19:05 That's right. Okay. I will surely appreciate it.
19:07 Well, I hope you're watching the program today.
19:09 We'll try to go ahead and respond by email too.
19:12 But I have--you know, John, because
19:14 this is an unfolding prophecy here, meaning
19:17 this is not one that you'll lock down
19:19 and just say okay it has no other meanings.
19:21 Instead of going to kingdoms,
19:23 I actually-- the five have fallen.
19:26 The one is, the other has not yet come.
19:28 When he comes, he must continue a short space.
19:30 I actually go to systems,
19:33 which applies to all these kingdoms.
19:34 Which apply-- it could apply to Egypt,
19:36 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, the papacy.
19:39 You could apply all the way across,
19:41 because what I see-- and let's go to Revelation.
19:44 Just to add really quick here--not just ruining
19:47 your thought here, but the suggestion there
19:51 that it would be a system is not out--
19:52 necessarily out of the context in Revelation 17.
19:55 No, not at all. We're talking about Babylon here.
19:56 Right. So Babylon is described
19:59 as a false system of worship.
20:01 A system of worship.
20:03 So it's not out of the context here of this passage
20:08 to suggest that these that are
20:10 risen and fallen are systems.
20:12 And the point that is really important is,
20:15 we have to keep in mind when John mentions
20:16 five are fallen, John is on the island of Patmos.
20:19 So by his time, five of those systems that comprise
20:24 the seven and then the eighth comes later on.
20:26 You can't miss out the prophecy because
20:28 the prophecy actually talks about eight.
20:30 Five are fallen, and one is not yet come.
20:31 When he comes, he must continue short space.
20:33 And then it says, there's also an eighth,
20:36 who is of the seven, but he is coming
20:37 out of the bottomless pit.
20:39 So we know clearly whenever the Bible talks about
20:41 the bottomless pit, it is referring to Satan himself,
20:43 satanic activity, the one that comes
20:45 and joins them altogether.
20:47 My approach to this whole prophecy was this,
20:50 all throughout, ever since the entrance of sin,
20:53 Satan has had systems through which he has worked.
20:57 Introducing them as time has gone on.
21:00 And when we get to the end time, all of these systems
21:04 will now coalesce together in the final push
21:08 against the forces of light and the forces of truth.
21:12 Thus Babylon finally coalesces together.
21:15 The word coalesce simply means, they're all in unity.
21:20 They're all in harmony, they're ready now to put
21:23 all their forces of darkness finally against
21:26 the people of God, and then, what happens
21:28 is they all are fallen because
21:30 the topic is Babylon is fallen, is fallen.
21:35 So what happens now by the time John gets this picture,
21:39 remember now, this is a study altogether by itself.
21:42 When John begins to write on the island of Patmos
21:46 up until that point, five of the systems
21:48 of Babylon have already fallen.
21:50 He says five are fallen.
21:51 But it was not completely fallen yet.
21:54 So what I'm saying is when John wrote this
21:57 five are fallen, but Babylon was not yet completed.
22:00 That's why this is the message that's repeated
22:02 in Revelation 18, because it had to be
22:05 complete in its scope, all seven systems
22:08 before it would fall completely together.
22:11 You follow me carefully? So five by John's time
22:14 was fallen meaning they were exposed
22:16 for what they really are.
22:17 So understand this, the first system that I
22:21 suggest was introduced, which could fit
22:22 into anyone of these nations.
22:24 So it's not even getting rid of Babylon,
22:26 Medo-Persia, Egypt, Greece, Libya, Lydia.
22:28 It's not getting rid of any of those because
22:30 these systems, the first one that was introduced
22:32 at the entrance of sin was what, in the Garden of Eden?
22:34 What's the first lie told? You shall not--
22:37 Surely, die, yeah. Okay.
22:39 What was that introduced? Spiritualism.
22:42 The first thing introduced that has been working
22:44 ever since the Garden of Eden is spiritualism.
22:48 That has-- that system has been
22:50 operating for the longest.
22:53 And so by the time John writes this prophecy,
22:57 he is in essence saying because of
22:59 the coming of Jesus, that system has been exposed.
23:02 Spiritualism has been exposed.
23:03 As a matter of fact, the way that Jesus
23:05 exposed spiritualism in his own life,
23:07 was he completely obliterated--
23:09 by raising Lazarus, he completely obliterated
23:13 the idea that men don't really die.
23:17 Because he said to Mary, Lazarus is dead.
23:19 That's why he stayed away four days because
23:21 this whole teaching of Neo-Platonism
23:26 affected the Greek Church.
23:28 The Jews were affected by this.
23:29 And they believed that the soul took three days
23:33 to attempt to get back into the body and after
23:35 three days if it was not successful,
23:37 then he was really dead.
23:39 Jesus stayed away four days and he said this to Mary,
23:42 I'm the resurrection and the life killing spiritualism
23:46 right there because according to what
23:49 Satan says, you shall not surely die.
23:51 Jesus said to Mary, Lazarus is dead.
23:54 He said it to the disciples Lazarus is dead.
23:57 He made it clear I've come that the glory of God
24:00 may be revealed through this act of raising Lazarus.
24:03 Okay, so spiritualism was the first one.
24:04 And then you have, what happened not too long after--
24:08 well, it doesn't actually say how long,
24:10 but the first major event to impact
24:12 our world was the flood.
24:14 What was the predominant existing system
24:19 that Satan used then? Heathenism.
24:22 I mean you look at Genesis, it talked about the thoughts
24:25 of men's hearts will only evil continually.
24:27 Matthew, Mark, and Luke contributes to that.
24:29 You wanna say something to this point?
24:31 I don't want to keep from-- No. Keep going.
24:32 Okay. Matthew, Mark-- see you have spiritualism,
24:34 then you have heathenism,
24:35 strong and rampant in the earth.
24:38 But then after that, you find at the tower of Babel.
24:43 There was another system introduced.
24:45 This is after the flood, which today we can commonly
24:48 refer to this system as the post flood system,
24:51 which today, I believe,
24:52 is the foundation of all atheism.
24:54 This distrust in God. We cannot trust God.
24:57 Atheism introduced there God confused the languages.
25:01 Because by the time God called Abraham,
25:04 we know that the knowledge of God was almost
25:06 obliterated from the face of the earth.
25:09 So you have spiritualism. You've heathenism.
25:11 You've atheism. But then you've something else.
25:15 Then God called that entire nation
25:18 and that nation eventually rejected Him.
25:20 Then you have Judaism. What did they leave out?
25:22 They rejected the Christ, so the Judaism today
25:25 is the system that rejects Christ.
25:27 Every one of these systems rejects Christ.
25:29 Every one of these systems put divinity
25:31 outside of that system.
25:33 Judaism accepts God, but they don't accept Jesus.
25:36 You believe in God, believe also in me.
25:38 Spiritualism, heathenism which today
25:40 is embodied in secularism. You've atheism.
25:43 You've Judaism. You've these four systems.
25:46 Then John is existing during the time of Rome.
25:50 How's Rome embody today?
25:53 How does Rome exist today? Under what system?
25:55 Papal. Papal Rome exists today.
25:59 So, John, Jesus also exposed that system.
26:02 He exposed the powers of Rome.
26:05 He made it very, very clear, I'm not connected.
26:07 My kingdom is not of this world.
26:09 So today we call that system of Rome Catholicism.
26:12 So get this, spiritualism, heathenism,
26:14 atheism, Romanism, by the time John was writing this,
26:17 those five systems have been exposed.
26:19 They have fallen already. Judaism as well.
26:21 Yeah, Judaism. But you also have,
26:24 oh, this one, I left out.
26:26 This one I left out here, which I'll--
26:28 I'll include in just a moment here.
26:29 You've Islam also included in that. Okay.
26:32 So then you have two more coming.
26:35 You've--that are not yet here.
26:39 What came during the dark ages?
26:40 God brought back to the surface Protestantism.
26:43 We are Protestants, are we not? Okay.
26:45 But what will happen to-- what will happen to
26:47 Protestantism eventually? It will become what?
26:50 Apostate Protestantism and if you go throughout
26:53 all history-- all of human history,
26:55 you find that Protestantism--how will
26:58 Protestantism become apostate Protestantism?
27:01 Yeah. Rejects the law of God and the whole
27:06 system that He's established of truth.
27:08 As has--as had every other system,
27:11 they reject the truth about Jesus.
27:15 The truth about Jesus is rejected and then you final--
27:18 the last one that comes, the eighth,
27:21 who comes to pull all these false systems-
27:23 spiritualism, atheism, Judaism, Islam,
27:28 Catholicism, apostate Protestantism,
27:30 who comes to put them altogether?
27:32 Revelation 17 look at that very quickly as we segue.
27:35 Revelation 17, as we segue,
27:40 all right and it says down in verse 11.
27:45 Okay, we'll start with verse 10.
27:47 These--they are also seven kings now.
27:50 Five have fallen, one is, when John was existing,
27:54 Rome was in power, one is, the other has not yet come,
27:58 Protestantism is yet to come to the surface,
28:02 when he comes, he must continue a short space.
28:04 Out of all the systems that existed,
28:06 Protestantism is the youngest.
28:09 Finally and the beast verse 11, that was,
28:14 and is not, is himself also the eighth,
28:17 and is of the seven, and is going to perdition
28:20 and then you find that what's going to happen
28:22 with all these systems, these will have one mind.
28:25 They'll have one mind because they will all
28:27 ultimately reject the truth about Christ
28:29 and they will all join together to fight against
28:31 those who embrace the truth about Christ.
28:34 Now you can apply that to Babylon, Egypt,
28:37 Libya, Persia, Rome the papal system,
28:40 you can apply that all the way across the board.
28:43 So I have a little different approach to that.
28:44 It's just my thoughts, this is not solid
28:47 doctrinal based but these are my thoughts
28:51 showing that Babylon is a complete system from
28:53 the very beginning to the very end
28:54 and so the king of all of that.
28:56 Yeah, because we don't really know definitively--
28:58 Right. Exactly. Definitively.
28:59 This is prophecy and it's still not fully revealed
29:02 but very interesting points and I appreciate that.
29:05 It's--I think sometimes we don't think about
29:09 the entire structure of the enemy and how he's put
29:12 this thing together so beautifully
29:15 from his perspective to deceive the world
29:17 at the end of time and just having that
29:19 explain the view I think is very important.
29:21 That's a very good point, John, and on that note
29:24 we wanna say that one of the reasons why it's important
29:26 to look at the larger picture is because
29:29 individual nations rise and fall but the system
29:33 of Babylon as it will present itself from
29:35 the end time against the people of God
29:37 will be a collision that finally pulls together
29:41 all of its forces and then Babylon is fallen,
29:45 is fallen, one in the eyes of God already.
29:48 Finally, it'll fall on the eyes of man.
29:51 Well, thank you for your
29:52 questions and comments today.
29:54 We took a little bit of time on that because
29:55 that was a very rich question.
29:57 Thank you so much for that.
29:58 But if you've any more questions,
29:59 you can send those questions to housecalls@3abn.org.
30:03 That's housecalls@3abn.org and we'll try
30:07 our best to get to those questions.
30:09 But thank you for your faithfulness, your prayers,
30:11 your financial support of this program,
30:13 and also this network.
30:16 Now John, why don't you lead us into our topic today?
30:20 We started on the topic of faith, but I'll go ahead
30:25 and let you get us back into that topic,
30:28 very widely important topic.
30:29 Yeah, we've been talking about different aspects
30:31 of faith and how important it is to exercise,
30:34 to practice that faith in an active way,
30:37 not a passive way, a passive way would be
30:40 just a mental ascent to God's existence.
30:44 Right. You know, He is there.
30:45 An active faith is the day by day walk in,
30:48 in putting your trust in-- your faith in God
30:52 and holding onto Him to provide,
30:54 where you know, you can't provide for yourself--
30:56 That's right. And your family.
30:57 And so we're gonna start looking
30:59 at the different nuances of that.
31:00 We've already kind of started with that in trouble.
31:03 You know, we saw that God
31:04 will avenge His people speedily.
31:06 We can have confidence in that.
31:07 We learnt that in the Book of Revelation it talks about
31:10 those that have faith in Jesus in response
31:13 to that question, will there be faith in the world?
31:15 The people will have faith in Jesus and they will keep
31:18 the commandments of God in conjunction with that.
31:20 So there's an obedience element to that as well.
31:22 Faith and obedience go hand in hand.
31:23 They go hand in hand. Okay.
31:24 And so now the question we kind of wanna dive into is,
31:29 under what circumstances,
31:32 will faith help us to endure?
31:33 In other words what kind of environment
31:36 are we right now in, in this world.
31:38 And, I mean, John we look around this world today
31:41 and we see tornadoes devastating,
31:45 you know, the mid west.
31:46 We see climate change and the heat
31:49 is changing a situation there.
31:51 The world seems to be falling apart in kayos.
31:54 You know, the middle of-- the Middle East crisis
31:56 and terrorism is rampant and all these things
32:00 that are happening that weren't there 10 years ago.
32:04 True. So the world has changed
32:06 significantly over the last 10 years.
32:09 We as Seventh Day Adventist pastors and Adventists
32:12 in general believe that this is a sign
32:14 that the end is imminent.
32:15 Right. And so we're looking for what's happening here.
32:19 We're very careful as, I love the words of Jesus,
32:22 He says, you know, hymn, watch and pray.
32:26 So we're watching the signs and what's happening,
32:28 but we're praying and that's a parfait.
32:31 And so although the signs are happening,
32:34 being fulfilled around us that's the environment,
32:36 you know, prayer is how we link
32:40 and trust and hope that God.
32:42 And a faith that God will deliver us and so
32:45 that's kind of what we want to dive into now.
32:48 And we'll start with Revelation 13,
32:50 I think verse 10. Okay.
32:52 It's a good place to kind of segue. All right.
32:56 And so Revelation 13 verse 10 I'll read that.
33:04 And he who leads into captivity shall go
33:07 into captivity, but who--he who kills
33:10 with the sword must be killed with the sword.
33:13 Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
33:17 So as Revelation, the Book of Revelation
33:19 is revealing this time of trouble where
33:24 the saints are keeping the commandments of God.
33:26 They're holding fast to Him and they're
33:28 keeping the faith of Jesus. Jesus, their redeemer,
33:31 the one is gonna avenge them and deliver them.
33:33 What we find is they're doing that in the midst
33:36 of persecution, trouble, in the form of even death
33:44 is what they are facing and while we're not there now,
33:48 although I would suggest some Christians are
33:50 in parts of the world are being persecuted.
33:52 Faith is the only thing we have and so I think
33:57 as these things--times come, it's gonna reveal
33:59 whether or not, we've been strengthening
34:01 our faith prior or in advance of this
34:03 and are ready for that time of trouble.
34:06 I'm glad you brought that up because our faith
34:08 is the faith that we have
34:11 is in fact what God has imparted
34:14 to us to get us ready for that difficult time.
34:17 We think about the faith chapter.
34:20 We think of Hebrews 11.
34:21 But if this is not new to you bear with us,
34:25 but there is a faith book in the Bible.
34:28 The faith book is the Book of James.
34:31 All through the Book of James, James is actually
34:34 broken down into capsules of expressions of Gods--
34:39 of the faith that we must have in Christ
34:41 and so when I think about this time that's coming,
34:46 I want to say this it is not enough
34:47 to just say, we trust God.
34:50 It is not enough to just say we have faith in God.
34:55 So the Lord allows difficulties in trials
34:57 to come to test the fabric of our faith.
35:00 How strong is your faith?
35:02 What can your faith do for you?
35:04 Can your faith really cause you to endure
35:06 and so if our faith is going to be the means
35:11 through which we endure faith and Jesus
35:13 we're gonna be the means by which we endure.
35:15 How do we know our faith is being developed today
35:18 is the question I would like to lead into.
35:19 And for the answer I'd like to go to James Chapter 2.
35:22 How do we know that our faith is being developed
35:26 to the place where we could endure when the time come.
35:29 When that time of trouble comes and here it says,
35:31 we're going then to James. Here's what I wanna say.
35:34 The devil knows that faith will endure,
35:37 will keep us in the time of trouble, but he also knows
35:41 that the lack of strengthening our faith
35:44 now in preparation for that time is going to
35:47 bring people down and this is why the secret rapture
35:53 and the teaching of a second chance is so deadly.
35:56 Right. Because around the world there're Christians
35:58 today almost goes back to that apostate Protestantism
36:02 we talked about in that one question.
36:04 The present world today has embraced this futuristic--
36:08 the futurist approach to interpreting
36:11 the second coming of Jesus, which is a secret appearing,
36:14 a rapturing out of the church
36:16 prior to the time of trouble. Right.
36:18 And Christians are going around today with this false
36:21 sense of security that they will not be here
36:23 when trouble comes.
36:25 Yet throughout the Bible, we find no where,
36:28 any evidence of God taking somebody away
36:30 from trouble not to experience it.
36:32 He instead allows them to go through trouble
36:35 and He keeps them through that time of trouble.
36:38 So I know we don't-- this is in a subject
36:40 on the secret rapture, but I do wanna say
36:43 that this we see this here at House calls, John, and
36:46 we've talked about this and taught on this many times.
36:48 We see the secret rapture as absolutely deadly
36:52 for Christians today because they are not aware
36:55 nor are they're watching for
36:57 the time of trouble soon to come.
36:58 And they'll be-- they will find themselves
36:59 in the middle of trouble without a faith
37:02 strong enough to stand.
37:04 We want to see your faith strong enough to stand.
37:07 So that's why we have programs such as this.
37:12 So back to that initial question, how do we know
37:15 our faith is growing in preparation
37:17 for the time that's ahead of us?
37:19 James 2. Look at this. And by the way,
37:28 very powerful example here in the life of Abraham.
37:35 First of all I wanna begin with verse 18.
37:41 But someone will say,
37:44 "You have faith and I have works."
37:48 Show me your faith without your works,
37:51 and I will show you my faith by my works.
37:56 You believe that there is one God. You do well.
37:59 Even the demons believe and tremble.
38:03 But to you-- but do you want to know,
38:07 oh, foolish man that faith without works is dead?
38:11 Was not Abraham our father justified by works,
38:14 when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
38:17 Do you see that faith was working together
38:21 with his works and by works faith was made perfect
38:25 or made complete and the scripture was fulfilled,
38:28 which says Abraham believed God and was
38:30 accounted to him for righteousness
38:31 and he was called the friend of God.
38:34 You see then a man is justified by works
38:37 and not by faith alone.
38:40 Likewise was also Rahab the harlot justified by works,
38:42 when she received the messengers,
38:44 and sent them out another way.
38:46 So as the body without the spirit is dead,
38:48 so faith without works is dead also.
38:51 So what the Bible in essence saying here is your faith
38:54 has to be substantiated by the way
38:56 that your life is lived, and the reason,
38:58 I say works is a lot of people think well, okay
39:00 what work does the Bible call me to do?
39:02 The Bible doesn't call you to do a work,
39:05 but the Bible calls you for a work.
39:08 There's altogether different.
39:10 It doesn't call you to do a work but it calls you
39:12 in preparation for a work.
39:15 You're not saved by your work,
39:17 but you're saved for work.
39:20 Well, you almost have to go to Ephesians 2.
39:23 Okay. All right. That's the segment--
39:25 that's the segment as you-- or the segue
39:27 that the growing progression of what faith really does.
39:31 See faith isn't something you receive
39:33 at one point in time and then you're good.
39:37 There's a false conception of faith.
39:38 The faith is something that you receive
39:41 as a mustard seed. It's small. Okay.
39:44 But Jesus talks about how that mustard seed grows
39:46 into this mustard tree so to speak and it bears fruit.
39:54 Something happens-- things happen as a result
39:57 of that faith and so you know--and Paul speaks off
40:01 when you first come into the faith
40:02 that you're baby. That's right.
40:04 Babies got to grow up. So a lot of us
40:07 aren't growing up, increasing our faith
40:10 that's part of growing up. You're right there.
40:13 Yes, matter of fact, the apostle said
40:15 as you go to Ephesians, you want
40:17 Ephesians 2 verse 8, 9, 10. Okay, the apostles
40:20 and leading into that ask Jesus,
40:23 they said to the Lord in Luke 17:5,
40:26 Lord, increase our faith, see. So faith is not static.
40:32 It is ever growing, ever being nurtured. Okay,
40:35 take us to that Ephesians 2 verse 8-10, John, go ahead.
40:41 All right. Verse 8, for by grace
40:45 you have been saved through faith,
40:47 and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,
40:51 not of works lest anyone should bow.
40:53 So we can pause there and we can say
40:55 there is no possible way to be saved
40:57 except through faith in Jesus by His grace.
41:02 It is a gift. It is free. You cannot earn it.
41:04 You cannot work to get it. There's nothing you can do
41:08 that would allow yourself to be seen as worthy
41:10 to be saved for God.
41:12 God does it all through Jesus Christ.
41:14 That's right and I'm glad you said that
41:16 before we go to verse 10. I mean,
41:18 you just said a moment ago, just as you tailed off
41:20 that statement very, very powerful
41:21 because a lot of times you read this text
41:23 and you say we're saved by grace through faith.
41:26 No we're not. We're saved by Jesus.
41:28 Yes. His grace. Through our faith in Him
41:32 is what brings that salvation to us.
41:34 For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation
41:36 has appeared to all men Paul says in the Book of Titus.
41:39 So when I say by grace through faith,
41:41 grace which we don't, we have no claims to.
41:46 By our faith in the Christ that we don't see,
41:49 connects us to the God who does exist
41:51 and He is the one that saves us.
41:53 So how we're saved? We're saved by Christ.
41:55 Grace we don't merit. Faith gives us the eyes
41:59 to see the one who extends to us salvation.
42:02 Very important point. You know, and before I read
42:04 this too can I inject something real quick
42:06 here on grace? I think you can.
42:09 I have your permission. You know, grace--
42:12 I think is very misunderstood today. It is.
42:15 Grace is some ethereal kind of God is so good grace.
42:18 Yes, but that's not the full grace in its power.
42:23 That's right. You know, we define--
42:26 or the definition of grace is unmerited favor.
42:31 I don't use that even anymore.
42:33 It's correct but I don't use it anymore
42:35 because it's just too brief. And here's how I explain it.
42:40 Just in my ministry as it evolves,
42:43 I've transitioned to this definition.
42:44 Okay. So I'll give to you. Anytime God reaches out
42:49 and down to do anything for us that's grace.
42:53 That's right. Very, very--
42:55 Anytime He reaches down to save
42:57 that which is unsavable by any other means, grace.
43:00 That's right. When you're weak
43:03 and you need strength and He gives you strength,
43:06 He just gave you grace.
43:07 His grace is efficient.
43:08 Grace is power. Grace is favor.
43:12 Grace is anything God does for us
43:15 that we can't do for ourselves.
43:16 Uh, beautiful, I like that. That's grace. Right.
43:19 So we can't save ourselves only God can do it.
43:22 That's grace and the way you connect.
43:24 I got this word from a friend of ours,
43:26 Andy, who works in soy business.
43:29 You know, who I'm talking about. Yeah.
43:31 The stuff that he's working on,
43:32 they've been looking for what makes soy so healthy
43:36 and they've kind of boiled it down to this thing
43:39 that seems to activate, the healthiness
43:41 of the soybean, you know, this--this agent within it,
43:45 that's causing it to be so healthy.
43:46 Soy agent. Well, yeah,
43:48 but I love what he uses, what he--
43:50 the term they use. It's the activating agent.
43:55 Faith is the activating agent for God's grace. Amen.
44:01 When you exercise your faith,
44:03 it activates a response from God to stoop down,
44:06 to come down and do it for you
44:07 what you can't do for yourself.
44:09 In essence that's an every area of our walk.
44:11 No matter, yeah, whether it's when you
44:13 first believe or when you need faith
44:15 and strength to move on.
44:17 That's God's grace and it's activated.
44:19 It's an activated agent by, the agent is faith.
44:23 So exercising faith boom, God moves, that's grace.
44:26 So this text has become so powerful--
44:29 I've a whole sermon series on just this text.
44:32 You sound excited about it.
44:33 Oh, I am--I love it because it's done so much
44:35 for my life in developing this understanding
44:37 and I just, I praised God, so now as we transition now.
44:40 But you-- I've to respond.
44:42 Go ahead. Go for it. I'll be excited. Okay? Go, go, go.
44:44 Because truly when you think about that
44:45 and I wanna emphasize what you just pointed out
44:48 but a different way.
44:49 God really doesn't owe us anything.
44:51 I mean He doesn't owe us a thing.
44:52 He doesn't have to do anything for us.
44:53 As a matter of fact, as I pointed out one of my studies
44:56 if the Lord did any, if the Lord decided
44:58 He wants to destroy us,
44:59 Hewould be just in wiping out
45:01 every human being that is ever sent.
45:04 But He is, is grace the song we sing that I once said
45:09 if I hear that song, "Amazing Grace"
45:11 one more time, I'm gonna just lose it.
45:13 But you know I'm beginning to appreciate
45:15 because it is amazing,
45:16 it's amazing that God would even want
45:19 to do something for us. Yeah.
45:20 But that goes back to for God so loved us
45:24 Yeah, that His love is-- His love is accented
45:29 through the grace and then He helps us
45:32 through grace when we're weak.
45:33 He comes to our side through grace
45:35 when our faith is waning.
45:36 His grace keeps us. His grace guides us.
45:39 Yeah. Gracious. You see that phrase, gracious.
45:42 So I'm working on another sermon now
45:45 you just gave it to me. Powerful, powerful.
45:47 But I'll let you preach it.
45:48 So what does grace do? I mean
45:50 now that we've activated that grace by faith
45:52 because that's our subject today. Right.
45:54 Then we read in verse 10 here,
45:56 for we are His workmanship. We're not our workmanship.
46:01 He is the work-- He is the master.
46:03 He is the one working on us where His workmanship--
46:05 Created in Christ Jesus for good works,
46:09 which God prepared beforehand,
46:11 that we should walk in them.
46:13 If someone comes to you and says,
46:15 you know, works aren't the issue.
46:17 When it comes to being saved, it's all about faith.
46:20 Let me tell you, faith without works
46:23 we've already is dead. That's right.
46:25 James clearly tells us that.
46:27 It's a misunderstanding of faith
46:29 being this namby pamby. Kind of,
46:33 I mean, what else do I say? How do you describe it?
46:36 This, well, God's grace and we just kinda--
46:38 it goes off as if it doesn't do anything for me
46:40 except it just makes sure that I'm gonna be in heaven.
46:42 You know, God's grace transforms.
46:45 It takes what you don't have and gives you
46:47 what you can have through Christ,
46:49 bringing Christ into the life
46:50 and then generating good works.
46:54 So if there're no good works,
46:56 if you don't see the Christians life changed,
46:59 then you know that faith hasn't taken.
47:02 Faith isn't the faith that activates
47:04 the grace of God and is allowed
47:06 to transform the life. Right.
47:07 We want to encourage our viewers
47:10 and our listeners out there
47:11 to exercise their faith in a way
47:16 that transforms their life
47:19 and that means that it generates works.
47:22 I've gotta add something here to this.
47:24 I'm not advocating you say now,
47:26 okay now I gotta quit my lesson,
47:27 go out and do my works. Exactly.
47:30 Because we know Philippians 2. Okay.
47:34 Right? You know where I'm going, Philippians 2:13,
47:38 for it is God who works in you
47:41 remember we are His workmanship.
47:43 It's His workmanship. It's God who works in you
47:47 both to will that is to cause you to want to
47:49 and to do, to actually help you do it--
47:52 Of His good pleasure. Of His good pleasure.
47:54 That's right. So you--
47:57 all you can do is choose to be used by God.
47:59 You can't choose to do the works of God.
48:01 You can choose to be used by God
48:03 and that's what God's grace is all about.
48:05 That's what faith can generate or cause
48:08 to happen in the life of the Christians.
48:09 So that's what Paul the apostle means
48:11 when he says for God will finish the work
48:14 and cut it short in righteousness.
48:16 He's doing the work. Oh, wow,
48:19 you know, boy, that's powerful.
48:20 It just got me. Ah, man, okay, my shoulder,
48:26 this completely puts a whole different spin
48:29 on the works that we say we're doing.
48:31 It's-- we don't do the work anymore
48:33 than the extension cord makes our computer work.
48:37 That's right. The extension cord in fact
48:40 would be representative to me of our faith
48:44 that connects us to a source that,
48:46 that sends through us the power
48:48 to activate in our lives those things--
48:50 You want to hold there, Alan?
48:52 Why did Jacob dream about a ladder?
48:53 Wow. That's right. The ladder that faith that reaches up--
48:58 The power cord that reaches up to God.
48:59 You know, so we're like power--
49:01 we're like extent--no, we--
49:02 we're more than extension cords but in fact
49:04 God works through us, He works through us--
49:07 Through the extension cord of Christ to us
49:09 to activate the computer. Wow.
49:11 The work that He's doing in us
49:12 and so we don't have any claim to that.
49:14 We can't even say well thank you Lord,
49:15 thank you Lord, now I need my reward for my work.
49:18 He said no although and that's you know,
49:19 I've mentioned that what's so powerful
49:21 about the work that God does in us
49:22 and we always want the topic of grace and faith,
49:24 what's so powerful about that is when time rolls,
49:28 when eternity rolls, and we are not standing before God,
49:31 this is the beauty of God.
49:32 He says I will now give to every man
49:35 according as his work shall be.
49:36 And in that, it's Him who's doing the work
49:39 through us but we're simply vessels
49:40 making ourselves available to God. Wow.
49:44 That shows you that salvation is a very, very--
49:47 salvation brings you to the place
49:49 where God says okay, now are you--
49:51 I've just saved you, are you willing
49:53 to let me work in your life now.
49:55 Uh, yeah, it's so powerful. I mean this is the elements.
49:58 This is the eliminate principles of,
50:01 of, of Christianity. Right.
50:03 This is where it's got to start
50:05 and I don't think we're understanding this
50:06 to the degree that we should.
50:07 I wanna read a verse here. Sure.
50:09 Because, you know, we're talking about--
50:11 I'm John 14 now. So I--
50:14 you know, we've got this,
50:15 I love the term you use extension cord
50:17 because the power is in heaven. That's right.
50:20 The powerless is on the earth
50:22 and the only way to get the power from heaven
50:24 to earth is through the conduit of Christ
50:27 who is the representation of this ladder.
50:30 What Jacob was dreaming about was, the ladder was Christ
50:35 and angels are going down back and forth
50:37 on Christ which is, are His merits
50:39 giving and ministering to those
50:42 who need the power down here.
50:44 So now here's the other element to this.
50:47 Here's the other element to this.
50:48 Slow down. I love it.Okay.
50:50 John 14. Look at verse 16 through18. All right.
50:54 And I would pray the Father,
50:56 and he will give you another helper
50:59 that he may abide with you forever;
51:01 the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive,
51:03 because it neither sees him nor knows him,
51:05 but you know him; for he dwells with you,
51:08 and will be in you. Number one
51:11 the Holy Spirit can dwell with you.
51:14 Another words he can work on you from the outside.
51:16 He can work on your mind. He can consciously--
51:20 he can be your conscience. He can work as much as
51:22 he can with you, but God notice--
51:25 but Jesus wants him to be in you. That's right.
51:28 So he's telling disciples he will be with you
51:33 and in you. We want the Holy Spirit
51:36 with us and in us.
51:37 We don't want him just with us.
51:38 With us is conviction,
51:40 those things that draws us to Christ
51:42 In us, is the power.
51:44 Okay, Now look at verse 18.
51:48 I will not, this is Jesus now,
51:50 I will not leave you orphans;
51:51 I will come to you. That's right.
51:55 Jesus is coming into you through the Holy Spirit,
51:59 which was once only outside of you at work. Okay, exactly.
52:03 So the power cord has been plugged in,
52:05 the Holy Spirit's coming in, Christ has taken his throne
52:09 on upon your heart through the Holy Spirit.
52:11 And what we have today now
52:13 are a contrast in Christianity,
52:16 one with the power and one without the power.
52:19 Problem for us pastors is they're both sitting
52:22 in the pews. We want you all to be powered,
52:27 empowered spirit filled Christians.
52:29 Right. That's what, yeah.
52:31 You know, and when you think about this,
52:32 it comes down to the whole picture here,
52:34 Christ in you the hope of glory.
52:36 But now with that very foundation
52:39 you laid in John 14, John 15 comes now
52:42 and says okay, I am the vine, the power cord,
52:45 you are the branches, the extension cords.
52:48 And that's why Jesus when He left
52:50 and, you know, this is a very remedial earthly term
52:53 when we use the phrase extension cord
52:55 and connect it to Jesus Christ.
52:56 There's so much more power there than extension cord.
52:58 Right. But we just wanna use
53:00 a kinda an object lesson here.
53:02 He said I'm one extension cord while I'm here,
53:05 but when I leave, I'm gonna turn my whole church
53:08 into extension cords.
53:09 That's why He says more works than these will you do.
53:13 Can you imagine unplugging one extension cord
53:16 and plugging it again? I'm plugging it,
53:17 and unplugging it again. The Lord says wait a minute.
53:20 Let me just give you 28 million
53:23 extension cords and we could do a lot more, a lot faster.
53:26 And does that through the Holy Spirit.
53:27 It does that Holy Spirit activates our lives,
53:29 extends us to the world and so when we read
53:32 Ephesians 2:10 where we come to the--
53:35 for you are his workmanship.
53:37 It is not ending at verse 8 and 9,
53:39 save by grace or faith. It's going to verse 10
53:41 and say okay, yes Christ wants to work in my life.
53:45 He does it by me accepting him by faith
53:48 but now He activates me. Thank you, John.
53:50 He activates me now to be a moving active agent
53:54 of His power all through the earth.
53:57 And it doesn't take away the will,
53:59 the power to choose and our choice,
54:02 the only--the choice we have to make day by day
54:04 is to exercise our faith.
54:06 That's why it comes down to faith.
54:07 If we're not continually exercising that faith
54:10 that we've been given, even though
54:12 it was very small at first,
54:13 it can't get stronger and not only that,
54:17 the Holy Spirit and here's where you got
54:20 this one's saved always thing comes into play.
54:22 The Holy Spirit-- you can actually
54:24 quench the Holy Spirit. How do you quench?
54:28 A PCB equipment from working, how do you stop it?
54:32 You'll pull the power cord out. Right.
54:35 So what happens here is when Paul says,
54:39 do not quench the spirit,
54:40 what He's saying is don't turn the lifeline,
54:44 your Christian experience off.
54:46 Right, don't disconnect.
54:47 Don't allow yourself to become lost
54:50 when you've already been saved
54:52 by such a wonderful grace and power
54:55 the God has given to you. Wow.
54:57 So we continue to exercise our faith
54:59 which is keep that power source
55:02 from God running through to us
55:04 and in us and God is asking us
55:07 and has given us that faith, that ability to do that
55:10 and He's saying don't ever give up.
55:13 There's one message we can give
55:14 to all of our congregations. It would be never give up.
55:17 That's right. Never give up even we you're failed.
55:19 The devils weren't telling you,
55:20 you can't get on your knees again.
55:22 That's right. Get on your knees immediately
55:24 when you fail and say Lord I'm sorry.
55:25 I put my faith and trust in you again
55:27 that your blood will blot that sin out.
55:31 Anyway that's another subject.
55:33 But now so the person who says okay, well,
55:37 I love the Lord, but I don't have
55:39 as much faith as I think I could have.
55:42 Uh, Romans 10 verse 17. Faith comes by hearing,
55:48 hearing by the word of God.
55:50 Boom you wanna hear what God--
55:52 you want that constant flow on a constant divine power,
55:55 I've come to the conclusion
55:57 that this is not just a Book of Books.
56:00 It's not just a--this is the only living book on the earth.
56:05 Well, it's the word of God which suggests
56:08 an element of audibility or at least at a transference
56:13 of a message from God to you. That's the way He does it.
56:15 A living word. Jesus we know is the living word
56:18 but he transfers the power into His word
56:21 and as Paul says in Ephesians,
56:23 it effectively works in you who believe.
56:27 So if you need to increase your faith,
56:28 which is what we just talked about here,
56:30 ever increasing faith John-- Luke 17:7,
56:33 increase our faith.
56:34 You got to do by the constant study of the word of God.
56:36 Which Paul also says is able to save our souls.
56:40 Uh, that's right.
56:41 So the word of God brought into the life maintains
56:46 that connection first of all but also allows God to speak
56:51 His will to give to put His will in place of our will.
56:54 To the point where you know,
56:56 Paul says I die daily that I--
56:59 that is I die to my will daily.
57:01 It's no longer Christ who lives in me, right?
57:05 It's no longer, I who--
57:07 I'm sorry, I who live, but Christ who lives in me
57:09 Right. And that continued relationship,
57:12 that continued allowing Christ to live, that's--
57:15 that's what we want to have by faith.
57:16 That's right and faith is so widely important friends.
57:19 You know we believe here in House calls
57:20 that faith is available but you have to reach out
57:22 by God's power and take hold of the faith
57:26 that He wants to extend to you.
57:28 Give your life to Christ. Try His word
57:30 and your faith will always increase.
57:32 God bless you till we see you again.


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Revised 2014-12-17