Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL120005
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00:01 Hello, friends, grab your Bible and a friend
00:03 and sit back as we explore God's word 00:05 together on this edition of House calls. 00:22 Welcome to another edition of House calls. 00:24 My name is John Lomacang and to my right 00:26 is my good friend, Pastor John Stanton. 00:28 And we are in the saddle again getting ready to go 00:32 and carry you with us on an excursion 00:36 through the word of God. 00:38 And it's gonna be exciting because whenever you go 00:40 into the word of God, there are treasures 00:42 that you always discover. 00:43 So thank you for tuning in. 00:44 Get your Bibles, get your friends, get your pens. 00:47 Hit record button and stay for an hour 00:49 of exhilarating Bible study together. 00:52 Good to have you here, John. 00:53 It's good to be here, John, 00:54 and ready to open up the scriptures 00:56 and let the Lord speak to us. 00:58 Praise the Lord. And, you know friends, 00:59 we always like to let you know that, 01:01 whenever we join you, there is a time 01:04 for the spirit of God in heaven, 01:06 to connect to the hearts of humanity on earth. 01:08 But it always happens most effectively 01:10 if we begin with prayer. 01:11 So, John, pray for us today. 01:13 Let's do that. Our Father in Heaven, 01:14 we need You today as we do everyday. 01:17 And we pray for Your presence to be here to guide 01:20 and to lead throughout the program 01:22 to be with every aspect of it. 01:24 And to be with us as we open up the scriptures, 01:26 we look at a few questions, and try to do our best 01:30 to provide the answers that come from on High. 01:33 And so we thank You Lord for the promise 01:35 You've given to us that You would send 01:36 the Spirit to anyone who asks. 01:38 And so we ask believing and knowing 01:41 that we'll receive, in Jesus name, amen. Amen. 01:45 As you know, friends, a lot of this program 01:46 has to do with your questions and your comments. 01:48 Today, I have snail mail, not that it is slow 01:53 but if you could send an email and get here 01:55 in a matter of a nanosecond. 01:58 For those of you who don't have internet, 02:00 we still accept mail through the postal service. 02:03 And we have two of them here today, 02:05 but John has the hi-tech mail. 02:08 And we're gonna begin with the hi-tech question, 02:10 back to snail mail, back to hi-tech, 02:12 back to snail mail. 02:13 And we're gonna have a good time in the study today. 02:16 Amen, amen. 02:17 You know, this question is coming, 02:18 actually it's come to us several times before, 02:21 but I am not sure we really have 02:22 spent time on it here of late. 02:24 And it comes from Andrew. 02:26 And he says thank you for the great job 02:29 you guys are doing, thank you very much, Andrew. 02:31 And my question centers around 02:34 the new and Old Covenants. 02:36 There seems to be so much confusion 02:38 regarding what stays and what goes. 02:43 In specifics, how does eating pork and other 02:47 unclean meats still relate to modern Christians? 02:51 Is it a sin to eat such things? 02:53 And then, there're some other things that he asks 02:55 in regard to like Passover and a feast. 02:58 Should we be keeping those kinds of things? 03:00 And so we'll try and touch on a few of those items, 03:02 but first of all, let's really dive into, 03:07 what the essence is 03:09 in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. 03:11 Now first, we're gonna start with the heart. 03:14 If you go to Exodus Chapter 24-- 03:19 Exodus Chapter 24, you're gonna find 03:23 how the Old Covenant was established. 03:26 And I'm gonna read here from verses 3 through 7. 03:33 Exodus 24:3-7 it says, so Moses came 03:36 and told the people all the words of the Lord 03:40 and all the judgments, and all the people 03:42 answered with one voice and said, 03:45 "All the words which the Lord has said we will do." 03:49 What verse are you in again? 03:50 I am in verse 3 of Exodus 24. Okay. 03:53 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord 03:56 and he rose early in the morning and built an altar 03:58 at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, 04:02 according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 04:04 Then he sent young men of the children of Israel 04:06 who offered burn offerings and sacrificed 04:08 peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 04:10 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, 04:14 and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 04:16 Then he took the Book of the Covenant, okay, 04:19 so we're looking at this Book of the Covenant 04:21 now that has been established and read it 04:24 in the hearing of the people. 04:26 And they said, and here's the second time, 04:29 "All that the Lord has said, we will do, and be obedient." 04:35 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people 04:37 and said, this is the blood of the Covenant 04:40 which the Lord has made with, excuse me, 04:43 with you according to all these words. 04:45 Talk for a second, John, because-- 04:46 Yeah, you got--you've got crud going on in there. 04:49 Well, you know, the Lord makes the covenant, John. 04:51 This covenant that He makes first of all is a covenant-- 04:54 if He makes a covenant, He is the one responsible 04:57 for keeping the covenant. 05:00 But also, covenant can't be made with just one person. 05:02 A covenant is a two-sided agreement. 05:04 You know, for example, if you go and purchase a car 05:07 you make a covenant with the car manufacturer 05:09 when you sign the dotted line 05:11 as we use that phrase, the dotted line. 05:13 Well, when the covenant is made, 05:15 the covenants have to be first of all put 05:19 that is constructed, agreed upon, and ratified. 05:25 And so you see every time there was 05:27 the shedding of blood in the Old Testament. 05:31 After the Lord established that covenant 05:33 that was a continuation to reiterate that, 05:36 we agree with the covenant that you made. 05:39 You agree to follow your side of the agreement 05:45 and we will agree to follow our side of the agreement. 05:49 But even more than the human side, 05:52 one of the things that makes the covenant 05:53 so wonderful is when one high priest died, 05:56 the covenant still continued. 05:58 When the people or the leaders of the tribes 06:01 of Israel passed on from generation to generation, 06:04 the covenants still continued. 06:06 Because the most important part of the covenant 06:07 it is made by God and God's covenants 06:10 are eternal because God is eternal. 06:13 Now when we speak about Old and New Covenant, 06:17 each of those covenants served a specific purpose 06:20 and had a specific timeframe. 06:22 You're gonna talk about that-- That's right. 06:23 In a moment before we transition. 06:24 Yeah, I think one of the few things 06:26 to remember here as we're looking at the covenants 06:28 is that God has made a covenant with mankind 06:32 and that covenant is an everlasting covenant, 06:35 a covenant that was established 06:37 from the beginning to redeem mankind. 06:39 We find evidence of that in the garden 06:42 just after the Garden of Eden between Cain and Abel, 06:44 we find the two altars there that the only acceptable 06:47 sacrifice was that from the Lamb 06:50 that was put on the altar by Abel. 06:52 The one that was not sac-- accepted was that, 06:54 that was put on by Cain, 06:56 which was the fruit of his own labors. 06:59 And so what we're finding here in the Old Covenant 07:01 is God coming back to Israel and saying 07:04 here's the covenant, the book was read 07:07 in front of the people and the people 07:08 responded saying that they will do that. 07:10 Did you read verse 8, by the way? 07:12 I don't know if you read verse 8, yes. 07:13 Okay. Yeah, all right. 07:15 Yeah, and so as you look then at this covenant 07:19 established or ratified, I guess, you would say 07:22 with the people of Israel what they're communing to do 07:24 is to obey that covenant as we read from verse 7. 07:29 Well, the problem with the Old Covenant 07:31 is that asking a sinner to-- in his own power 07:38 to obey something that God has given is impossible. 07:42 And that's the situation that Paul writes about 07:45 especially in the Book of Romans where he says, 07:47 you know, we're carnal, we're sold under sin. 07:49 It's not possible that we would even 07:51 be able to keep the law of God. 07:53 And so the Lord knew that He would need to do 07:57 more than just ask the people 07:59 to keep their end of the deal. Right. 08:01 And so what He did was He sent Jesus who is the seed 08:06 that would come and be established. 08:08 He would be the one individual that would be 08:10 established, the New Covenant 08:11 would be established upon, and that He would 08:14 bring about all of the blessings and the fruit 08:18 that would come as a result of the covenant, 08:20 the everlasting covenant, 08:22 as it transitions from old to new, 08:24 and so what we find here in Ezekiel Chapter 36. 08:29 If you look at Ezekiel Chapter 36 here, 08:33 and starting around, I think, it's verse 27, okay. 08:44 Okay, I am there. All right, it says-- 08:50 in fact, let's start with verse 24, okay, 08:52 for I will take you from among the nations, 08:54 gather you out of all countries 08:56 and bring you into your own land. 08:59 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, 09:01 when you shall be clean, I will cleanse you 09:03 from all of your filthiness and from all your idols. 09:06 I would give you a new heart 09:08 and put a new spirit within you. 09:10 I will take out the heart of stone 09:12 out of your flesh. And give you a heart of flesh. 09:17 I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk 09:20 in my statutes and you will keep 09:22 my judgments and do them. 09:24 So what we have is a transition here 09:28 from the Old Covenant, which was an outward 09:31 obedience and effort that the people 09:32 would go into engage in to obey God. 09:35 To where God would takeover, put His spirit within them 09:39 that these commandments that were on stone 09:43 now are written on the heart and then 09:46 the heart of each individual then now empowered 09:48 by the spirit of God will be able to then keep 09:50 the commandments because it's not they 09:52 who are doing it in their own flesh, 09:54 in their own power, it is God in them 09:57 who was going to work to will and to do 09:59 according to His good pleasures. 10:01 You read in Romans-- or Philippians Chapter 2:13. 10:05 And so you'll see that Paul wrote about this 10:09 in 2 Corinthians 3:5-8. This is the last one. 10:11 I'll kind of transition it over to you, 10:13 John, to make some comments, but if you look at 10:15 2 Corinthians 3:5-8, you'll see that this is exactly 10:20 what Paul was talking about and writing about. 10:26 It says, not that we're sufficient of ourselves 10:28 to think anything as being from ourselves 10:30 but our sufficiency is from, who? 10:32 From Christ. From God. 10:35 Who also made us sufficient as ministers 10:39 of the New Covenant not of the letter but of the Spirit. 10:42 For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives what? 10:46 Life. Gives life, but if the ministry of death 10:49 written and engraved on stones, 10:51 do you see the trends, the same language here? 10:53 Was glorious so that the children of Israel 10:55 could not look steadily at the face of Moses 10:57 because of the glory of His countenance, 10:59 which glory was passing away. 11:01 How would the ministry of the spirit 11:04 not be more glorious? 11:06 For the ministry of condemnation had glory, 11:08 the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 11:10 In other words, when the Holy Spirit comes 11:13 and takes over under the new covenant 11:14 and brings Christ into the life, the individuals empowered 11:18 then to keep the covenant that God has established 11:23 with and to obey Him, and in response to 11:27 the great love that God has for him and her, 11:29 they are able to give back to God the obedience 11:32 that comes from the heart because now 11:33 it is the spirit driving that obedience, that's right. 11:36 That is the essence of the internal transition 11:39 from old to New Covenant. 11:41 Now, I recognize we're going to get into 11:42 some of the aspects of the Old and New Covenant 11:45 because-- some of the other aspects 11:47 because the question was in regard to certain things 11:49 to eat and other stuff too. 11:51 So we'll comment on that here in just a minute. 11:53 But do you wanna add anything, 11:54 John, on the stuff we're talking about here so far? 11:56 Well, when you speak about the covenant, 11:57 Hebrews--the Book of Hebrews is wonderful. 12:00 If you look at Hebrews Chapter 9, 12:02 it speaks in detail about the first covenant. 12:05 Then Hebrews Chapter 10 introduces the second covenant, 12:08 but the point that's made is both covenants are ratified 12:12 or brought into effect 12:16 by the shedding of blood, really important. 12:19 But some of the differences is what I want to point out 12:22 because you'll find one of the reasons today 12:24 we don't sacrifice animals, blood of bulls, 12:26 and goats, and calves, and doves. 12:28 The reason why we don't do that any longer 12:30 is because each of those aspects pointed to the coming of Christ. 12:33 Letting you know that the first covenant was temporary. 12:36 That's why Galatians says when the fullness 12:39 of time had come, God sent forth his son, 12:41 born of a woman, born under the law. 12:43 Jesus even made it very clear He says. 12:45 Not one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass 12:48 from the law, till all be fulfilled. 12:49 Lot of times we only apply one covenant there 12:53 but He was speaking about 12:55 all of the aspects of the old covenant 12:57 was to be fulfilled through His life. 12:59 But the commandments were to continue that's why 13:01 He says not one jot or tittle 13:03 shall in no wise pass from the law. 13:05 And then He says if anyone therefore shall break 13:07 one of the least of these commandments. 13:09 So He's put up the law and the commandments there. 13:11 But one of the points I wanna make here 13:13 in Hebrews 9, look at verse 1, 13:17 then I am going to go through a few of those 13:20 and then probably around verse 10 stop. 13:23 Hebrews 9:1 it says, "then indeed even 13:26 the first covenant had ordinances of divine service 13:29 and the earthly sanctuary for a tabernacle was present." 13:33 The first part it describes all of the tabernacles. 13:36 Verse 4, which had the golden altar 13:37 describing all the articles of furniture. 13:39 And verse 6 says, "now when these things 13:41 had been thus prepared, 13:43 the priest always went into the first part 13:44 of the tabernacle performing the services." 13:47 Then it was an earthly priest. 13:49 But under the second covenant, 13:51 it's Jesus the High Priest. 13:53 That's the difference, a major difference. 13:55 One is as an earthly priest, 13:56 which was replaced over and over and over again. 13:58 That's why the Bible says, Jesus is a priest 14:01 after the order of Melchizedek. 14:03 He didn't need the temple and the tabernacle 14:05 and all that to be the High Priest. 14:07 Melchizedek was a priest before this was established. 14:10 So Jesus is that priest which meant eternal priesthood, 14:15 not one that sits up and sits down 14:16 because there's a tabernacle or not. 14:18 Goes on further he says in verse 9, 14:24 "it was symbolic for the present time 14:26 in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, 14:29 which cannot make him who performed this service 14:32 perfect in regard to the conscience." 14:34 And here is the difference, 14:35 "concerned only with foods and drinks, 14:39 various washings, and fleshy ordinances imposed." 14:43 And here is the key "until the time of reformation". 14:46 And look at the transition, the time of reformation, 14:49 "but Christ came as High Priest. 14:51 Of the good things to come with a greater and more 14:54 perfect tabernacle not made with the hands, 14:59 that is, not of this creation." 15:01 And I like this here in verse 12, 15:03 "For if the blood of bulls and goats, 15:06 the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean 15:08 sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 15:12 how much more shall the blood of Christ, 15:14 who through the eternal spirit offered Himself 15:17 without spot to God, purge your conscience". 15:20 And here is the covenant here, 15:22 "from dead works to serve the living God." 15:25 And for this reason, He is the mediator of the, 15:28 what covenant? Better. 15:29 A New Covenant in verse 15. The New Covenant. 15:32 So verse 18 therefore not even the first covenant 15:35 was dedicated without blood. 15:36 So you clearly see that there could be 15:39 no covenant unless there was blood. 15:41 But now go to Hebrews 10 and we begin to see in 15:43 two places the New Covenant spoken about. 15:46 Hebrews 10 particularly verse 16. 15:49 "And this is the covenant that I will make with them 15:52 after those days," says the Lord, 15:54 "I will put my laws into their hearts, 15:57 and in their minds, I will write them". 15:59 Then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds, 16:02 I will remember no more." 16:03 Now the reason why He mentions that, 16:05 remember no more is because in the 16:08 earthly tabernacle, this is powerful. 16:11 He says, every year there was a remembrance of those sins 16:14 because all these blood, all these sacrifices. 16:17 It was a constant remembrance 16:19 in the most holy place the sins linger there 16:22 all year long until the-- Day of Atonement. 16:27 But it said in Christ though there was 16:29 no remembrance of those sins. 16:31 He, as the Bible says, puts them into 16:33 the depths of the sea and remembers them no more. 16:35 Their sins and their lawless deeds 16:37 I will remember no more. 16:39 And so one, an earthly priest, 16:42 secondly Christ, a Heavenly High Priest, 16:46 the major differences in the covenants. 16:48 Now as we look at the covenants 16:50 and we apply to some practical aspects. 16:52 'Cause the question is here with 16:53 what about the eating of pork. 16:55 And say the festivals and other thing that were 16:58 associated with the Old Covenant. 17:00 Because as you look at Exodus, 17:02 as you look at Leviticus, you see clearly 17:07 in those two-were in politic in general, 17:12 a delineation of the things that 17:14 were under the Old Covenant. Right. 17:16 Now one of the things you're finding there is, 17:21 I'm gonna search for the best word to say this here. 17:23 You'll find basic principles that God had 17:27 given his people back then that will place 17:30 within the context of the Old Covenant. 17:33 That still remained under the New Covenant 17:37 because their principles are good, and pure, and holy. 17:42 Okay. 17:43 So there are things that are-- that foreshadowed 17:47 the coming of Christ and what He would do 17:50 as He took over his ministry 17:52 that pointed directly to His ministry yes. 17:55 Those things were done away with. 17:56 Specifically, those were the ceremonial aspects 17:58 of the law, the sacrifices of bulls and goats 18:02 and the shedding of blood. 18:05 Even with regard to the feast, 18:07 we do not keep the feast today 18:08 because the feast pointed to the various ministries, 18:11 the things that Christ did when He came 18:13 as a minister of the New Covenant 18:14 that He has already fulfilled. 18:17 And He is still fulfilling. 18:19 But still in Christ is where we stand 18:21 not on those things. 18:23 But now let's talk about a couple of aspects, 18:26 few aspects, with regard to the Old Covenant 18:29 that are good for us to still abide by. 18:31 Number one, you'll find throughout 18:33 the Old Covenant, John, this constant commandment 18:36 to continue to wash, to be clean. Right? 18:40 And I'm not talking about 18:41 the ceremonial aspects of being clean. 18:43 I'm talking about just the 18:44 general cleanliness of individuals. 18:47 God knew what sin was going to do. 18:50 And He repeatedly was trying to instruct 18:51 the people in many areas of life, 18:53 how to live a full and abundant life? 18:56 To not allow the diseases to come upon them, 18:59 like another thing you could say is that 19:01 He did not want His people to eat a lot of meat 19:07 or to even meat at all. 19:08 But the people asked for it. 19:10 God gave permission for them to do that. 19:12 But He did so knowing that they would suffer 19:15 as some consequences as a result of that. 19:17 I think consequences we're still suffering from today. 19:20 So these things were put into 19:22 the confines of the Old Covenant. 19:24 But they weren't ceremonial per se. 19:26 So when you talk about eating pork, 19:28 God says in the Old Covenant that, 19:31 that was something that was unclean. 19:36 The animal itself was unclean 19:37 and therefore was not fit for food. 19:39 Now John, one of the things that I've been 19:41 studying here lately or a few months ago, 19:44 actually did some study on it, 19:46 was the subject of clean and unclean foods. 19:49 'Cause this question comes up from time to time 19:51 and I know that many of those 19:56 who are out there who are listening 19:57 or viewers of this program, 19:59 probably do eat some of these things. 20:01 But let me try and give you kind of 20:03 a synopsis what I've discovered. 20:05 Within the Bible from the very beginning 20:08 even in the day of Noah, He took seven clean animals-- 20:13 of each of the clean animals into the Ark, 20:15 he took only two of the unclean. 20:17 Part of that was I think because ceremonially 20:21 they were to only sacrifice clean animals. 20:23 Right. Because only Christ could be represented as clean. 20:26 As something clean. 20:27 The secondarily, I think he was looking ahead as well 20:30 in the reproduction of these animals 20:31 that they would be available or that He would get 20:34 permission to use them for food. 20:36 I think that's probably the lesser of the two. 20:38 But still here is the principle. 20:40 When God said you can eat, all of the animals 20:45 that are from the clean line as food, 20:50 but you could not eat any of the animals 20:52 that were from the unclean line for food. 20:56 What He was saying was 20:58 that the unclean animals are not food. 21:04 The clean animals are food so when you use the term 21:08 or anyone uses the term unclean meat 21:11 or unclean food, it's a misnomer. 21:17 It's kind of an oxymoron there. 21:18 Because if it's unclean-- It's not food. 21:20 It can't be food. Right. 21:22 So all this arguing we do sometimes back and forth 21:25 about whether or not we can eat now unclean foods. 21:30 If you look back at the principle, 21:31 it's an oxymoron. 21:32 There is no such thing as unclean food. 21:35 Right, people don't even eat in unclean plates 21:37 let alone unclean food. 21:38 Every bit all the food that was spoken of 21:43 and debated over as being clean or unclean 21:45 in the New Testament especially in the writings of Paul, 21:48 they are in regard to food sacrificed to idols. 21:53 By virtue of a clean animal being sacrificed to idols 21:57 that are not part of the-- 22:02 all those things that are sacrificed many were 22:05 debating over as to whether or not you could eat them 22:07 after they were offered to idols. 22:10 And so that was the debate within the church. 22:13 There was no debate on whether or not you could 22:15 eat from the line of unclean animals 22:18 and use them now as food. 22:19 It doesn't make any sense. Right. 22:21 They didn't have that kind of debate. 22:23 It wasn't food in first place. 22:24 That's why we're so repulsive to Peter 22:26 when he had the vision in Acts 10. 22:28 Lord, I never-- 22:29 I never, never eat anything common or unclean. 22:33 It wasn't an issue because He didn't say 22:36 when He said He never ate anything common or unclean, 22:39 because I know I'm not supposed to. 22:40 It's just unclean. 22:42 You don't eat that kind of stuff. 22:44 And the Lord had to use these examples 22:46 because of the fact that they considered 22:47 the gentiles to be unclean. 22:49 That's why even Jesus had to breakthrough 22:51 the mindset of the disciples when He referred to 22:54 the Samaritans and those who were 22:55 not Jews as dogs or swine. 22:59 You know, "cast your pearl among the swine 23:02 or you give the food of the children to the dogs." 23:05 He made that--He made those statements 23:06 because they didn't dog and they didn't eat pig. 23:09 And they consider these people unclean. 23:11 But the Lord made it clear. 23:12 Nobody that I have created 23:14 human-- humanistically speaking is common or unclean. 23:18 And so to suggest or to argue under the New Covenant, 23:22 that God has taken all of a sudden 23:24 an entire line of unclean that is never been 23:27 available for food, nor has He ever called it food. 23:29 And make it food is simply not Biblical. 23:33 Not scriptural at all. Is not scriptural at all. 23:34 So don't go back and don't get into debates 23:37 over whether something that is unclean food-- 23:40 remember that's not a right term. 23:43 Is now food or available for food. 23:45 It's the fact that there is nothing 23:48 in the unclean line that's ever been food. 23:51 And so we shouldn't even be talking about it. 23:52 That's right, you know it's amazing 23:54 that you bring it out. I was looking at some texts here 23:56 because you was talking about wash and the clean. 23:58 There were four kinds of laws in the Bible. 23:59 The health laws, dietary laws, 24:01 ceremonial laws, and moral laws. 24:04 And so you find lot of times people said 24:07 while the ceremonial laws were the ones 24:09 that were nailed to the cross. 24:11 Well, the dietary laws, the health laws, 24:15 the moral law was not nailed to the cross 24:18 because at no point do you say to your children, 24:20 from now on you could be unhealthy. 24:23 From now on, you can eat anything. 24:25 From now on, it doesn't matter 24:26 whether you kill, or lie, or steal, or cheat, 24:28 or violate the Sabbath, or commit adultery. 24:30 Those things were never a part of God's character. 24:33 The only purpose is for the ceremonial law, 24:35 which were the clean and unclean foods 24:37 also couldn't because Christ is not represented 24:41 by anything that's common and unclean. 24:44 So that's the only reason for the 24:45 clean and unclean in a ceremonial sense. 24:48 But there was clean and unclean in a dietary sense. 24:51 That's where the people get it mixed up. 24:53 Dietary clean and unclean, don't eat this stuff. 24:56 That goes back to Genesis, Chapter 2. 24:58 He says, this is what you should eat. 25:00 This is what I've given you for food. 25:02 This is what I've not given you. 25:03 That's way back to Genesis, 25:05 before sin entered the world. 25:06 That's the health, the dietary principles of it. 25:09 The ceremonial were added in Galatians, 25:13 I think it's Galatians 3:19, 25:14 they were added because of sin 25:16 till the seed should come. 25:17 That was dealing with the sin problem. 25:19 So the only thing that was nailed to the cross 25:21 where the ceremonial laws, not the dietary, 25:26 not the moral, not the health. 25:28 Right. Okay. Very good point. 25:29 Galatians 2 speaks of that because it speaks about 25:31 the ordinances that were specifically guiding 25:34 the ceremonial aspects of the law, 25:36 the shadow of things to come. 25:38 Various washings, carnal ordinances imposed on. 25:42 By the way, festivals are in there. 25:43 Yeah, exactly. That's right. 25:46 So all those things were-- 25:48 all those were part of the ceremonial law. 25:51 And anyway, but very, thank you very-- 25:54 that was a lot of explanation but it was 25:55 very important and very necessary. 25:58 Here's a quick question we have here 26:00 about okay--about two to three weeks ago 26:04 you stated that if a person handled church problems 26:08 anyway beside Matthew 18 26:10 that they were using the devil's methods. 26:13 Let me explain that even further. 26:14 The specific issue we were speaking about is 26:17 brother to brother, sister to sister. 26:21 When it came to issues in that respect 26:23 for not all church issues-- we are not speaking about 26:27 when it comes to building projects 26:29 or settling issues interdepartmentally. 26:31 That's not the issue. 26:32 The issue that we were speaking of is, 26:34 whenever there is a controversy between 26:36 brother and sister, the Bible outlined principles 26:39 clearly as to how those need to be handled 26:41 and that's were Matthew 18 comes in. 26:44 Matthew 18 beginning with verse 15. 26:46 It says "moreover if your brother sins against you, 26:51 go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. 26:56 If he hears you, you've gained your brother." 27:00 What I was saying is there are lot of churches 27:01 that are split and divided. 27:03 We get these chiefs and Indian chiefs 27:05 that sometimes when a person is injured, 27:08 socially injured, or spiritually injured, 27:10 or injured however, where they feel that 27:12 somebody has done something against them. 27:14 They go and take it to this person 27:16 and that person and they go take it to the board. 27:18 They submit a letter to the church board. 27:21 And they say we would like you to call this person in. 27:23 Matter of fact, I had a guy once who sent me a letter. 27:26 I was pastoring one of my churches. 27:27 I won't tell you which one. 27:29 And he said to the church board, 27:31 I demand you to call my wife in and say-- 27:36 and demand her because in this particular instance 27:39 was another state I was in. 27:40 He says, she wants to leave me because 27:42 she doesn't want to stay with me any longer. 27:44 I suggest you call her and demand 27:47 that she stays with me. 27:49 And I said, well have you spoken to your wife about this? 27:51 Oh no. 27:54 How do you bypass one-to-one conversation 27:57 in a covenant relationship, husband and wife? 28:01 And then says to the church board 28:03 call her in here and demand that she stays with me. 28:06 And the kind of life this guy was living was the kind of life. 28:09 You know, I don't recommend people 28:11 leaving and staying with each other. 28:12 But I said his situation was the most ideal 28:15 if anybody wanted to find reasons 28:17 to not stay with a person, 28:19 she had all the reasons in the world. 28:21 But the point of the matter is, 28:22 when it came to moral issues, 28:24 and lot of people bypassed the process here. 28:26 And they go and tell and I've said to 28:29 many church members when they come to me with an issue, 28:31 I said have you spoken to so and so about it? 28:33 No, I haven't. 28:34 Well, go talk to them about it. 28:36 Uh, but I'm afraid. Well, don't be fearful. 28:38 We'll give you--we'll help you in the method of approach. 28:41 But you must speak to them about it before we 28:43 hit them with the heavy artillery. 28:46 Because it goes through levels. 28:48 First of all, you go one to one 28:49 and then verse 16 says, "but if he will not hear, 28:52 take with you one or two more. 28:54 That by the mouth of two or three witnesses 28:56 every word maybe established." 28:58 In other words you go-- it wouldn't be your word 29:00 against his any longer. 29:01 It is you were there, you heard. 29:04 You heard his response and there are situations 29:06 you have to deal with that way because 29:08 the Lord wanted everybody to be dealt with 29:10 equitably and that's the key thing. 29:12 No rush to judgment. 29:14 Don't--like the Bible says, 29:16 Jesus said I would not bruise. 29:19 I would not break a bruised reed. 29:22 I would not quench a smoking flax. 29:24 That means if the coal is just about to die, 29:26 you don't take a whole board of church members 29:30 and just go after this person who's barely have 29:33 enough faith and just douse it on them 29:34 and put their fire out. 29:36 Or if they are also injured, 29:37 you don't carry after them a baton with you 29:40 and just break this, break this bruised reed. 29:43 He's preventing these things. 29:45 And lastly, it says in verse 17, 29:47 "and if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. 29:51 But if he refuses even to hear the church, 29:55 let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector." 29:59 And so it goes-- and whatever you, 30:01 "in this process, this is the process 30:04 where the Lord says where two or three 30:05 are gathered in my name, 30:06 I will be there in the midst of them." 30:08 That's what he was talking about. 30:09 Not just, if two or three people gathered together 30:12 for an evil thing, God is not in the midst of that. 30:15 He was talking about a process by which we deal 30:17 with people equitably and lovingly and kindly. 30:21 He said I'm in the middle of that. 30:23 But I'm not in the middle of rush to judgment 30:24 or mobs to take people to the board 30:26 and beat them over the head. 30:28 That was the context of the statement. 30:30 If we use any other method than that, 30:33 we are using Satan's methods. 30:34 That's what I meant by that. 30:35 One of the big reasons for doing that is because 30:37 often it's said, well so and so hurt me. 30:39 They need to come to me and apologize. 30:41 And you're talking about that on one of our last program. 30:43 You know, and-- the Matthew 18 principle is 30:46 that the one that is hurt goes to the one that 30:48 did the hurting first to let them know 30:51 that they were hurt to try and work out the issues. 30:54 And the reason they do that is because 30:55 in hope that the one that was doing the hurting 30:57 isn't going around, doing a lot of hurting of someone else. 31:00 And you can let them know what their-- 31:02 what the problem is in treating people like this 31:05 in the hope that they might turn or change 31:08 and see the error of their way. 31:09 And that's what it is talking about. 31:11 If they hear you and then they change, 31:14 you've gained obviously a brother. 31:17 That's right. That's right. 31:18 Or a sister, but in the context of brother, 31:20 it's a spiritual sense. 31:21 You know, we are brothers in Christ. 31:23 That means a brotherhood, which also include 31:26 "the sisterhood," so to speak. 31:29 Well, we spent some time on our questions today. 31:30 We have some questions coming up 31:32 in other programs that we'd like to address. 31:34 But if you have any questions, 31:35 if you have any comments, if you have any statements 31:37 that you'd like to make, brief please, 31:40 send those to housecalls@3abn.org. 31:42 That's housecalls@3abn.org and we do appreciate 31:46 all you do to follow this program 31:48 and get into the hearts, and homes, and lives 31:50 of those who are supporters as well as 31:53 maybe new adherents to our broadcast station here at 3ABN. 31:59 We're going to transition today into a topic 32:00 that is widely important. 32:04 You know, John, today lot of people pray 32:06 but we're gonna talk about aspects of prayer. 32:08 How--what are the barriers through prayer? 32:12 What are some of the prayer killers? 32:14 Why is it so important to pray? 32:17 One of the things we have nowadays in society-- 32:19 I should've done this with my cell phone in the hand. 32:22 But I don't have it here. 32:23 We always turn our cell phones off. 32:25 We like to communicate. 32:26 I mean, we are the most communicating 32:29 social network, computer literate. 32:33 We are electronically bought and sold. 32:38 We love to keep in touch. Generation is just-- 32:41 it's truly the generation of information. 32:45 The ironic thing about that though 32:46 and this fits into the topic today is, 32:50 we are one of the most inept generations 32:52 when it comes to personal relationships. 32:54 Yeah, one to one. 32:56 One to one, because the family, 32:57 the child communicates on Facebook. 32:59 I actually saw John-- this is funny. 33:01 This happened in my church office. 33:03 There were two young people sitting on the couch 33:04 and they were texting each other. 33:05 And they were sitting right next to each other. 33:08 They were sitting right-- they're texting each other. 33:11 And they look like this, did you get my text? 33:12 Did you get my text? 33:13 And I'm thinking, could you just 33:15 look at each other and talk already? 33:18 And in this same sense, some of us are so 33:22 computer so bought and sold and we are so controlled 33:26 by devices that we have lost the art 33:30 and the beauty of spending time talking to God. 33:34 And that's something that cannot be replaced by devices. 33:37 I met somebody yesterday that we were having lunch 33:40 at Subway and having a nice pizza 33:44 with all the fixings and veggie meat on it. 33:46 It was really good. It was filling. 33:48 But this person said on Facebook, 33:50 they pray on Facebook. 33:53 They could not do it audibly. 33:54 So they type out their prayers. 33:55 Because they said if somebody says pray for me, 33:57 they don't want to forget later on. 33:59 So they literally type out their prayers. 34:00 I think in that sense for another person it's acceptable. 34:03 And sometimes we write our prayers out for God. 34:05 But today we're gonna talk about 34:06 some of the most beneficial aspects of prayer. 34:09 Why it's so vitally important? 34:10 How and how not to pray and what we can do to 34:16 strengthen our life of prayer? 34:19 The Lord wants us to pray to Him. 34:22 There is no doubt about that. 34:23 He wants us to communicate with Him, to seek Him. 34:26 He is available 24x7, 365. 34:31 He wants us everyday to come to Him. 34:34 And, I think, He longs for us to communicate with Him. 34:38 And how often do we engage in prayer each day. 34:43 Really, I think to a degree it's can measure it 34:45 with how strong our spiritual relation or spiritual walk is. 34:51 Paul gets to-- talks about getting to 34:53 a point of praying without ceasing, 34:54 this constant attitude of this constant attitude of prayer 34:56 throughout everyday that keeps that line open. 35:00 John I-- just a quick story, 35:01 I went through a period of time where I was convicted 35:03 that I wasn't praying enough. 35:06 And it hit me that-- well, 35:12 it was the way that God taught me this. 35:14 I did not use amen at the end of prayers for a while. 35:19 Because--this isn't a theological thing. 35:22 It's not the reason why. 35:23 Because I want to keep the communication line open. 35:27 There are sometimes I felt like 35:28 when I was saying amen that I was saying I'm done talking. 35:32 Oh, okay. Okay. 35:33 You know, to be real--I mean-- It's like the capping off. 35:36 If we pray and all of a sudden we say amen and we go. 35:38 Well, I was feeling like that. 35:40 It was too much a part of amen. 35:42 So I got to the end of the prayer and I said Lord, 35:44 you know, thank you so much for being with me today. 35:47 And I pause and I just getup. 35:51 And I just--I was impressed that the line stayed open. 35:54 And it was the way that I think God was teaching me 35:57 this attitude of prayer throughout the day 35:59 of seeking Him, of communicating with Him, 36:01 keeping that line of communication open, 36:04 not to say that that's the way you should do it. 36:05 I'm just saying that's the way that God kind of helped me 36:08 understand that-- my prayer line, 36:10 the prayer line with God needed to stay open 36:13 throughout each and everyday. 36:14 And the point is here in all of this, 36:17 is that we need to keep the line open. 36:18 We need to keep prayer constantly going. 36:20 It's not just something we do in the morning really quick 36:22 before we leave the house. 36:23 It's not something that we do. 36:25 I mean, come on, all of us have been on our bed 36:26 and we're praying this, we fall asleep. 36:28 We're saying, Lord thank you so much for the day-- 36:32 I mean, we have all done that and God deserves our time. 36:38 That's right. And He wants to give us His time 36:42 And so we're gonna spend some time here 36:44 on all these different aspects of prayer 36:46 and how you can improve your prayer life. 36:48 And also the expectancy that God will answer your prayers 36:51 because I think, all of us would like to think that 36:53 we are talking to God and He is hearing us. 36:55 Not, that we're talking to a wall that can't respond. 36:58 I've heard people say as I feel like 37:00 I'm talking to the ceiling, but my prayers 37:02 are going no further than the ceiling. 37:04 We're gonna hopefully try to give you some tools here. 37:08 And this may take a couple of programs, actually. 37:12 Because it's a great, it's a dynamic topic. 37:14 As a matter fact, what I'd like to do is begin with probably 37:19 one of the most famous, 37:21 famous passages on prayer in the Bible. 37:24 And it is in fact, I could sometimes refer to it 37:29 as the blueprint for success. 37:34 Second Chronicles 7:14, second Chronicles 7:14, 37:40 this is the--okay, as a matter fact, 37:44 we were speaking about covenants a moment ago. 37:48 This is the prayer through which the Lord confirmed 37:52 His covenant with the children of Israel. 37:56 And there are certain passages in the Bible 37:59 that have a whole lot more to it. 38:01 At the beginning of it and toward the ending of it, 38:05 but the middle of it is so vitally important. 38:08 I did--I did a study on this and just looked 38:12 at the word over and over my, my, my, my, my. 38:17 And I counted from verse yes, 38:21 I counted from verse 14 down to verse 21. 38:26 And let me just do that one more time. 38:27 One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 38:31 eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen times. 38:35 You find though single word my. 38:37 So there was no doubt that the Lord was in essence saying, 38:41 "My people, My face, My eyes, 38:45 My ears, My heart, My statutes, 38:48 My judgments, My commandments, My land, My sight, My name," 38:52 over and over again. 38:53 There was no doubt as to who was in fact 38:56 pleading with the people of God here. 38:58 So John why don't you walk us through Second Chronicles 7:14 39:04 and at those places emphasize that, 39:06 do you want to say something-- 39:07 Well, I was gonna say, I like to start with 12 39:09 to give them the context-- Okay, let's do that. 39:10 How the Lord is appearing to Solomon here? Okay. 39:12 "And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, 39:14 and said to him, I've heard your prayer." 39:17 "And have chosen this place for myself 39:19 as a house of sacrifice. 39:23 When I shut up heavens and there is no rain, 39:26 or command the locust to devour the land, 39:28 or send pestilence among my people, 39:30 if my people, who are called by my name, 39:34 will humble themselves and pray and seek my face 39:38 and turn from their wicked ways, 39:40 then I will hear from heaven 39:42 and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 39:46 Is that a blueprint or what? As just beautiful. 39:49 But you know, notice what's happening, 39:52 verse 13 is huge because verse 13 is a lot of time 39:57 the experience that people have, 40:00 their plans are not working out, 40:02 everything they do just doesn't-- 40:05 it just keeps falling apart it seems like all their savings 40:09 or a being consumed and it talks about here. 40:13 Sometimes the Lord would do that or allow that to cause 40:19 His people to turn and, and go into the direction 40:22 that He wants them to move. 40:23 And that's what I see is happening here, 40:26 read verse 13 one more time and I want to stop you 40:28 at few points there. 40:31 Well, I'll just go ahead and read the socket, 40:32 since you read it first, I'll just reiterate. 40:35 He says "when I shut up heaven," okay. 40:37 Now what happens when heaven is shut? 40:41 Oh, when heaven a shut-- 40:42 No rain, no answers to prayer, 40:44 because the flipside of that He says in Malachi, 40:48 "I will open for you the windows of heaven 40:51 and I pour out of blessing that they're will not 40:54 be room enough to receive it." 40:55 So what happens as if heaven is shut, 40:57 the blessings are not coming. 40:58 That's right, even the blessing the Holy Spirit, 41:01 the former and later any power. 41:02 All of that. It's not coming. 41:03 So what's happening here He says, 41:05 if I shut up heaven that means, 41:07 I'm not even responding because I'm just not really into 41:10 what you're into. 41:11 God is saying I'm not into that 41:13 and then He says, and there is no rain. 41:16 "Or command the locust to devour the land." 41:20 So what's happening, that mean you're planting, 41:22 you're waiting for the harvest. 41:24 In Malachi this is such a-- this is such an opposite 41:27 to Malachi here, such a contrast to Malachi because it says, 41:30 "I will rebuke the devourer for your sake. 41:35 Neither shall your tree cast his fruits 41:37 before the time into the field," 41:39 says the Lord of the host. 41:40 So He isn't saying, when God is blessing you 41:43 He is rebuking the devourer. 41:47 I tell you this brings to my mind so many stories 41:50 about how God rebuke the devourer. 41:52 Can I testify it briefly? Yeah. I've done the same. 41:54 I'll tell you, I remember so often you know 41:57 when you look at the children of Israel 41:58 and they traveled through the desert. 41:59 Their shoes didn't wear out. 42:01 Their clothing didn't wear out because the Lord was with them. 42:03 And I have seen in so many instances where, 42:07 you hear about things that are happening all around you, 42:10 but then you're moving right along in a prosperous way, 42:13 not in abundant way. 42:14 Not in a way where things, you know, 42:17 where your pockets are flowing over with money 42:18 and your fridge is always jam packed with food. 42:21 But God has sustained you 42:22 against all obstacles and all odds. 42:26 And we had a number of instances that way, 42:28 my wife and I, in our lives, over and over and over again. 42:30 As a matter of fact, we would we were considering 42:33 writing a book about just blessings, 42:35 how God blesses us. 42:36 But these are the principles right here. 42:38 He, He keeps the devourer from, 42:44 from eating up all your crops. 42:46 But when you're not obedient He commands the locust, 42:49 I mean, He created the locust. 42:52 He commands them and the pestilence 42:55 also comes among us people. 42:56 So these are, these are opposite to blessings in verse 13, 43:00 but look at how it turns it around, John. 43:02 And walks us through that verse again. 43:03 What does God want us to do? 43:05 I'll try to stop you as you go from one point to the next. 43:08 13 or 14. 14, sorry. 43:10 "If my people, who are called by my name, 43:13 will humble themselves." First thing. 43:15 That's important. "And pray and seek my face." Three. 43:21 "And turn from their wicked ways." Four. 43:25 "Then I will hear from heaven." One. 43:28 "And will forgive their sin." Two. 43:30 "And heal their land." Three. 43:32 Notice what happens the transition, if then. 43:35 If you, if you wrote a very, very short story, 43:37 if you behave yourself 43:39 then I'll give you the keys to the car. 43:40 It's essentially a trill of things on both. Oh, yes. 43:43 Because I think you're looking at "humble themselves, 43:46 pray and seek my face, turn from their wicked ways," 43:49 there is three. Right. Right. 43:50 God says, "then I will hear from heaven 43:52 forgive their sin and heal their land." 43:54 That's right. So in giving the three, 43:58 He gives back the three. 43:59 That's a very good point, 44:00 humble yourself and pray exactly. 44:02 That's is one, seek my face two, turn from their wicked ways-- 44:05 Well, I was thinking pray and seek my face, 44:06 'cause when you pray that's what you're doing. 44:08 You are seeking the face of God. 44:09 But anyway, you see a trill I think here it said, 44:12 is that if you do this, the trill of things 44:15 I will respond in these ways. 44:17 Okay, I can see that humble yourself 44:18 and pray and seek my face, two, 44:20 turn from your wicked ways, three. 44:21 Yeah, then I will hear from the heaven 44:23 to give you something," 44:24 that's right three up, three down. 44:25 Yeah. Very cool. Oh, man that's a good sermon. 44:28 You need that. You need that, that's a good sermon. 44:31 You know, one thing John here and when we are ready 44:34 to leave this here and maybe we are-- 44:36 I want to show you how Laodicea, 44:38 the last church, is the antithesis of this? 44:42 Because if you look at Laodicea in Revelation Chapter 3, 44:46 the language there is very much the opposite 44:51 of what's happening here, even the language. 44:55 Because if you look at the language there, 44:57 you know, we have obviously initially it's says 44:59 in regard to Laodicea that it says, 45:04 because you say I'm wealthy, I've became wealthy, 45:09 I've needed nothing, I'm rich and do not know 45:11 that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. 45:15 Those words you say we glass over them, 45:17 you say, but I say. 45:22 See. So that's the response, you say this. 45:25 But I know you are wretched, 45:29 miserable, poor, blind, and naked. 45:31 But then if you go on a little further, 45:32 you look at Revelation 20, you have the exact words 45:35 that are coming as the result which is 45:38 "behold I stand at the door and knock, 45:39 if anyone hears my voice," what will I do? 45:42 Open the door. I open the door 45:44 and I will come in and I will sit with him. 45:46 And then there-- if anyone hears my voice. 45:50 See sometimes we're so busy just talking 45:54 because you say, that we're not listening what he says. 46:00 And humility here is when we turn from 46:04 what we say and hear what he says. 46:08 And that's what he says, then I will hear from heaven. 46:12 Then your prayers will become effectual before me. 46:17 And I think that's what we're talking about here is 46:19 how do I-- how can I have confidence 46:21 that my prayers are heard by God. 46:24 And that is, make sure we are humble, 46:27 praying and seeking God's face 46:29 and that we've turned from our wicked ways, 46:32 which is put away the sin from our lives. 46:35 That's true. You know the Bible give us examples of prayers 46:37 and so many different aspects, sometimes you will read 46:40 entire chapters where there is a constant prayer 46:43 where David prayed long and lengthy prayers. 46:46 And then you have the opposite of that 46:47 where Peter prayed a three word prayer, Lord save me. 46:50 And both were honest and both were 46:52 responded to immediately. 46:53 So length in prayer and sincerity of prayer 46:58 are not always the same thing. 47:00 If you're heading towards the ground, 47:03 if you are in a difficult situation and your life 47:05 is going down quickly, you don't say, 47:07 "oh Lord, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, 47:10 the shelter from the stormy blast, 47:11 and our eternal home." 47:12 You don't get into the soliloquize thought, 47:14 eloquently reciting the Bible. 47:16 You know, Peter would've drowned he done that. 47:19 And there are some situations we have to say, Lord save me. 47:23 And He immediately reaches down and He gets us. 47:25 And then there are those, the prayer of repentance. 47:28 John sometimes when we get on our knees 47:31 and I'm speaking to myself to because both of us 47:33 are in a spinning world, 47:36 you know, our world is a very, very fast moving. 47:39 But sometimes you have those moments 47:41 and thank the God they are more frequent than they are rare. 47:46 Where you sit down and you just say, 47:48 I'm gonna just talk to God. 47:50 I remember this morning, I just talking to the Lord, 47:55 last night just talking to the Lord 47:57 before you go to bed. 47:59 We talk to the Lord, our Father, 48:02 you know just speak to Him. 48:03 And I just said, dear Lord in heaven, 48:05 you know, our Father who art in heaven, 48:06 those sometimes fallen to the cookie cut of prayers. 48:10 So God wants us to be sincere and open with Him. 48:12 And that's why we are gonna cover some principles 48:13 about prayer today, how vitally important it is 48:16 in the development of the Christian. 48:20 If you look at your cell phone bills, 48:23 those of you who are communication addicts, 48:26 nothing wrong with that you can communicate 48:27 as much as you can, but if you, if you, 48:29 if you got a bill from the Lord for using your cell phone 48:32 how much would that bill be? 48:34 You know, that is just to prayer line to God. 48:37 Thankfully, He could hear us all without sending us a bill. 48:40 That's the beautiful thing, but how many calls 48:42 would be listed in your prayer call? 48:44 And, or your prayer chart, and that would be really, man! 48:48 How many times have I called God today? 48:51 Look at Jeremiah 29:11 or 13. 48:54 Another beautiful--Similar to what we're talking about. 48:56 About another beautiful, okay. 48:59 Jeremiah 29 beginning with verse 11. 49:01 Hey, I'm almost there, here I am, I'm there. 49:04 It says, "For I know the thoughts 49:06 that I think toward you, saith the Lord, 49:08 thoughts of peace, and not of evil, 49:11 to give you a feature and hope. 49:13 Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me, 49:17 and I will listen to you. 49:19 And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me 49:23 with all of your heart." 49:25 And that is, is really what God was telling Solomon, 49:29 king Solomon that, 49:31 is that when you humble yourselves 49:32 you pray and seek my face, you put away from you 49:35 the sins in your life. 49:36 That's when we can communicate with each other. 49:39 That's when I listen to you. 49:41 That's when I see that you want my will for you, 49:43 the plans I've established for you. 49:46 And when you search for me that's when we engaged 49:50 in this two-way communication to where I lead you through life 49:54 and you know, that I'm with You. 49:55 And I think all of us want that confidence 49:57 that we know God is with us. 49:59 And He is taking us though life working out His plans. 50:01 By the way, the words thoughts there 50:02 in the New Kings James Version, and the King James Version. 50:05 If you look at up in the descriptions here, 50:07 it's intense it's, it's-- that's why it's translated 50:11 in many versions as "plans I have you" 50:14 because it's intentive, it's preconceived. Okay. 50:20 God has something He's already prepared for us 50:22 we just aren't connecting with Him, 50:24 asking for Him to work out His plans 50:27 those good thoughts that He has for us. 50:28 Isn't that nice? 50:30 Jeremiah is also the one he said 50:31 "before any of days who came to pass I saw them all." 50:34 Yeah, you know, that's also the beautiful thing about that, 50:37 the Lord has plans for us, 50:39 but if we constantly say Lord, hey check this out. 50:43 I got some plans, You check this out. 50:44 We are doing all the talking like Laodicea is, 50:46 you say, we keep rather doing when He is talking. 50:50 And he wants to say wait, wait, wait, 50:52 like I could tell the story now 50:54 that we're near the still, of Elder Cleveland. 50:56 I was in a convocation, 50:58 that's like a big camp meeting inside of a church 51:01 in Sacramento, California in 1999, 1998. 51:08 I was singing in there and afterwards, 51:11 I was so excited to see Elder Cleveland 51:14 and I ran over to him. 51:15 And I was just pouring out accolade, 51:17 Elder Cleveland, God bless you. 51:18 Love to hear your voice, love your sermons. 51:21 He turned to me and he said, young man, shut up. 51:26 He just said to me, shut up young man. 51:30 And I said, you know-- 51:33 Something for appearing is like. 51:35 He said, and he said to me, 51:37 I need to tell you something, you know, he says. 51:40 And I said, okay he says, God has an anointing on you. 51:46 And you know what? 51:47 He said that two more times that evening 51:50 and praise the Lord 51:52 you know, from a person that way 51:53 who doesn't have to give any accolade at all 51:56 who is not a person is bought us all by, 51:59 you know, vexing anybody or complimenting people, 52:02 it was an honor to hear those words. 52:04 But I couldn't hear them, this is a point. 52:06 It's not so much what he said, but I couldn't hear them, 52:08 if I was continuing to talk. Right. 52:10 And so the Lord is, in essence is saying, 52:12 "if you seek me, you'll find me. 52:16 But I've got plans and have you asked me--" 52:19 so one of the things that I like, 52:21 one of my favorite authors Ellen White says, 52:23 submit your plans to God. 52:25 But at the same time, what are your plans for today? 52:30 Wouldn't that be nice? 52:31 If you are working with God to know what His plans are, 52:34 so that you could know that when you go up, 52:36 get up off your knees 52:38 you're actually living in His plans. 52:40 So that's what talking to God is all about. 52:41 Well, it's the foundation 52:43 for one of the most powerful subjects prayer, 52:46 when you do less talking. 52:48 And so I heard people say, 52:50 okay Lord I've spoken to You, now speak to me. 52:55 And some people have just sat in quietude of their home 52:57 and just allow the Lord to, 52:59 to speak to them through His word 53:01 and then some people have done of this way. 53:03 They've read the Bibles, 53:04 then they have had prayer and then they wait on the Lord. 53:07 And the Bible says, "wait, I say, on the Lord." 53:10 And sometimes you do that through quiet solace 53:12 and not humming and being new age, 53:16 but sometimes a meditation is a beautiful thing, 53:19 mediate on God's word and ask God to let you know, 53:23 from what you read today, 53:25 what His will for this day particularly is. 53:27 Yeah, yeah. 53:29 My last, the last two sermons I did 53:32 before I came down here, the title was I'm listening. 53:37 And so it's exactly on this topic. Right. 53:39 And I just-- I learned so much 53:41 in studying for that message, 53:43 on how we can be better listeners to God, 53:45 not just constantly talking. 53:47 You know, David says in Psalms 81 verse 13, 53:53 actually he's referring to what God is saying, 53:56 "oh, that my people would listen to me, 54:00 that Israel would walk in my ways." 54:02 If they would listen. 54:03 "If they would listen to me and walk in my ways." 54:05 Wow! 54:06 And what I found was over and over again 54:09 listening equated with doing. 54:15 Your not a good affective listener 54:18 unless you put what you hear into practice. 54:21 True. 54:23 God biblically listening 54:25 has nothing to do with hearing God's voice only. 54:28 He has everything to do with hearing 54:30 and responding and doing. 54:32 So these words, all that they would listen to me 54:35 and walk in my ways, 54:37 is the model that we should have when we listen, 54:41 when we say I'm listening Lord speak to me. 54:44 We should be also ready to say, what you tell me, I will do. 54:49 And to expect or to not anticipate 54:52 that we will have to do something 54:53 that maybe is contrary 54:55 to our own personal plans in life, 54:58 is not true active listening for God, 55:00 because He already knows the intense of your heart, 55:02 and if He knows you're gonna do 55:03 what you're wanna do anyway. 55:04 Why would He give you any message? 55:06 Why would He speak to you? 55:08 God will speak to those who are not only hearing, 55:11 but are willing to put into practice 55:13 the things that He puts in place 55:16 or puts in their heart, lays upon their heart. 55:19 And there are several ways that He speaks to us. 55:22 John He speaks to us several ways. 55:25 First of all, He speaks to us through His word, 55:28 through the written word. That's right. 55:29 He speaks to us audibly, 55:31 okay now people make, oh are sure about that? 55:34 Through angels, 55:36 through someone coming and giving a message to us. 55:38 Checking out there. 55:39 The third is strong impressions, 55:41 the conscience, He works through that 55:43 avenue two, and then fourth 55:44 through their circumstances of life. 55:47 Those are the four ways God's speaks to us. 55:48 He speaks to us even through the mundane, 55:50 the things are going in life. 55:52 How many of us have pushed open a door, 55:54 forced open a door that God's trying to keep closed 55:57 because we are not listening? True. 55:59 A circumstance in line that He shutting a door on it, 56:02 but we keep pushing it open and once we do, 56:04 we go that way we realize I wish I'd never gone there. 56:07 Oh, man I could tell you some stories about-- 56:09 Those are circumstances in life that we've done that, 56:12 the God is trying to speak to us, saying don't, 56:14 I'm not opening this up for you. 56:17 But we push it through and we do it anyway. 56:19 So these four ways He speaks to us, 56:20 I think maybe if we want to cover 56:22 in the next program a little deeper. 56:23 But these are the ways God speaks to our hearts 56:27 and I believe that if we're listening 56:30 and if we're active listeners listening 56:32 knowing we put into practice 56:33 when He speaks then we will hear Him 56:35 in those ways much more clearly. 56:37 You know, Luke I like the way he says, 56:39 "why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord' 56:42 and do not do the things which I say." 56:45 And so we don't just call Him Lord, Lord 56:47 but sometimes we call Him Lord, Lord. 56:51 Yeah. And he says, wait a minute. 56:52 What did you do it I say? Yeah. 56:54 And that's really what prayers all about. 56:56 Sometimes people just in the, they caught in the cycle, 56:59 the vicious cycle of wanting to drive their things home 57:03 and not listen to the Lord what do He have to say to us. 57:06 Yeah. In both cases it is about two or three cases 57:09 where Lord, Lord appears, the double Lord. 57:11 It's always negative. 57:13 I'll tell you. That's right Luke, 57:15 Luke is one, Matthew is another one. 57:17 And so here at House Calls we believe in calling our Lord. 57:20 We're gonna talk about that in one of our upcoming programs 57:22 but know this, if you begin your day with prayer 57:25 and seek God's face, He promises us, 57:27 He will hear from heaven, 57:28 forgive your sin and heal your land, 57:30 have a great day as you listen to the voice of God. |
Revised 2014-12-17