House Calls

Unity In The Faith, Part 2

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton

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Series Code: HCL

Program Code: HCL130004


00:01 Hello, friends.
00:02 Grab your Bible and a friend
00:04 and sit back as we explore God's word together
00:05 on this edition of "House Calls."
00:22 Hello and welcome to another
00:23 "House Calls" program as you can tell.
00:26 You've made the call we're in the house.
00:29 So thank you, for choosing to join us today.
00:32 That's a new word, I say it's catchy.
00:33 I've never done that you made the call we're in the house,
00:35 "House Calls."
00:37 We don't come to your house,
00:38 thank you for coming to our house.
00:40 And for the next hour or so we're gonna sit down
00:41 and discuses the Bible something we absolutely love to do.
00:46 It's a book that never runs out of things to talk about.
00:49 And I have my good friend John here today.
00:51 Good to have you here, John.
00:53 It's great to be here, looking forward to it.
00:54 You know, you went ahead and moved to the upper north-west
00:58 to the Upper Columbia Conference
01:01 and here you left me in the shoe string,
01:04 small part of the mid-west that's okay, its okay.
01:07 I'm not upset. It's all good.
01:10 I love to say. But I'm glad that you're here.
01:13 You know, we started out years ago
01:14 in Northern California Conference together at Fairfield
01:18 and here we are sitting down enjoying something
01:21 that we dreamed of doing
01:23 and that of sharing the Bible with the world.
01:26 And that's a pleasure to have you as my right-hand God.
01:28 You know, I didn't tell you this
01:30 but the reason why we like doing this program together
01:33 is we think so much alike but he is actually--
01:37 Same way going.
01:38 Ain't that right? Mm-hmm.
01:39 And we--God has unified our minds together.
01:43 Anyway so much for all of that introduction.
01:46 Thank you for tuning and get your Bibles,
01:47 get your friends, get your family and your pens.
01:51 No specific order.
01:52 You're using that last few times too
01:53 like you almost have like a little talk rap there going on.
01:56 Yes, really working now
01:57 and get ready for an exciting program on God's word.
02:02 But before we do anything, you know, we like to pray.
02:05 I always pray off the air just in case you're wondering
02:07 and I'll let John pray on here.
02:09 So John, let's have a prayer to God.
02:10 Happy to do it.
02:12 "Father, again we come before Your throne and ask for grace.
02:16 Grace and strength to open Your word and rightly divided it
02:20 that truth that You've given to us,
02:21 so precious and so dear to each one of us.
02:23 And so we thank You Lord, for this great blessing
02:26 and we pray that You'd attend our ways.
02:29 We look into this special topic of unity
02:32 and what Your desires for Your church today
02:34 and answer all the questions that we have to.
02:37 So Lord, we thank You for all, in Jesus name, amen.
02:40 Amen, amen.
02:42 Now normally John begins the questions.
02:45 But since I have two questions I'm gonna go ahead
02:49 and start with the question today.
02:52 I have been the handler of the snail mail.
02:56 We got a question from Denise in McAdoo, PA.
03:02 I have never heard of McAdoo, it's probably not a huge city
03:06 but if it is forgive me for saying
03:08 that you're not a big city, McAdoo, this person says,
03:14 "I became a Seventh-day Adventist two years ago,
03:17 I was a Catholic for 55 years.
03:20 I was brought to the truth through
03:22 Kenneth Cox Ministries on 3ABN."
03:25 Praise the Lord for the work
03:26 that God is doing through Pastor Kenneth Cox.
03:28 He's been an evangelist for oh, 40, 50 years,
03:33 always on the cutting edge, praise God for that.
03:37 "I could not have believed
03:39 I would have changed my faith a few years ago.
03:44 However Christ is so generous
03:47 with the truth that I was praying for."
03:50 And that's so wonderful.
03:51 You know, when you pray for the truth,
03:53 God never stops guiding and leading.
03:54 And I'm so glad that this person wrote it
03:56 because I want to say this.
03:57 It fits right into our topic.
03:59 In some degree God is looking for the--to unify us
04:01 but not so much on the bases of things
04:04 that we'd like in common but the truth of God's word.
04:07 We're gonna talk about that more
04:08 in the second half of the program.
04:10 But here is where the question comes in.
04:13 "Your program 'House Calls' is excellent
04:15 and so helpful in teaching the Bible.
04:19 I watch all the time and learn so much through it.
04:24 As you always say on the program--"
04:28 And I just want to say this in the context,
04:30 there's some faith that don't read the Bible very much
04:33 and my family being 90% plus Catholic,
04:35 they don't spend a lot of time in reading the Bible.
04:38 So lot of what has been
04:39 communicated has been traditional.
04:41 And so this person after studying the Bible
04:44 decided to change her faith.
04:46 "The reason I'm writing--"
04:48 And here is the question, good getting right down to it.
04:52 "I would like to ask a question.
04:53 When God created man was it being only one family,
04:59 how did God populate the earth?"
05:02 Well, let's go to the Book of Genesis.
05:04 I'm gonna go and lean forth
05:06 because I just had a-- and go ahead,
05:10 go with me to Genesis Chapter 2.
05:15 It's a very simple answer.
05:18 You had Adam and you also had Eve,
05:25 one man, one woman, when God made them both,
05:30 He gave them a commission
05:33 and the commission was very, very carefully communicated.
05:37 He said to them, "Multiply and replenish the earth."
05:44 So when they multiplied they both man and woman,
05:48 they are the progenitors of humanity.
05:52 Only one man, one woman
05:53 and as the races began to multiply
05:55 then in and amongst those, in and amongst those
05:58 that began to multiply the families came out of that.
06:01 That had to be God's original plan
06:03 for there was no one else any other location on the earth
06:07 waiting for Adam and Eve to show up to start repopulating
06:11 because there was more than one family,
06:13 that's clearly the answer.
06:15 I think its Acts 17:26, the Bible says,
06:19 "From one blood came all nations of men."
06:23 So the clear answer and I think that
06:25 what needs to be answered after this is.
06:27 So then why is it that we no longer intermarry today
06:33 or populate cousin with cousin, you know,
06:38 family member with family member.
06:40 As time went on the Lord established clearly that,
06:43 that was no longer a part of His plan,
06:47 but you have to clearly see that when creation began
06:50 there was only-- it's a pretty simple answer
06:52 there was only one man and one woman,
06:55 they had son Cain and Abel
06:57 and you'll discover after Cain killed Abel,
07:01 then you notice that division began to occur significantly
07:05 because what happened after Cain killed Able,
07:09 there was only what?
07:11 Cain was the only son left.
07:13 He had children and then his children had children
07:16 and Adam and Eve had other children
07:18 doesn't give all the names of all the family members
07:21 that they had but that was clearly the way
07:23 that the earth was populated.
07:25 No surprise to us because that's how God began.
07:27 And we're talking about centuries of time here going by.
07:31 You know, lot of people will say,
07:32 "Well, how did Cain, you know, propagate himself.
07:36 You know, how was there procreation on his line?"
07:38 Well, Adam and Eve had many more sons and daughters
07:42 and some of those daughters did also rebel,
07:45 join Cain's clan and from there,
07:48 there's an entire linage of Cain that goes from that.
07:52 And so, I mean, the answer is fairly easy,
07:53 we just have to think intelligently and understand
07:55 the amount of time it goes by, it was many centuries.
08:01 And so really right here in verse 28 of Genesis 1,
08:04 "Then God blessed them, and God said to them,
08:07 'Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it,
08:12 have dominion over the fish of the sea,
08:14 over the birds of the air and over every living thing
08:17 that moves on the earth.'"
08:19 That was the command that God made very, very clear.
08:22 Obviously after sin entered the world that wasn't simple
08:25 because in Genesis 3:16, the Lord said,
08:27 "In sorrow you will multiply your conception
08:32 I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception."
08:36 So the only difference was after sin,
08:39 having children was more painful, before it wasn't.
08:44 But--I think that's a straight forward answer right there.
08:48 But this person has a second answer, John or second question
08:52 which I would like to go to the Book of Exodus.
08:54 Exodus Chapter 20.
08:56 Anything you want to add to that by the way
08:58 before I segue to the next question?
08:59 No, they were good. All right.
09:02 Exodus, what? Exodus Chapter 20.
09:09 And putting back--putting this back into the context
09:12 of the question that's being asked by Denise.
09:17 Remember she came out of the Catholic faith
09:20 and I know traditionally they are relics
09:23 that are so much part of the worship
09:25 of the imagery worship in the Catholic faith.
09:30 Now, people don't-- and I want to,
09:32 and I want to try to be very delicate here
09:35 take into consideration
09:37 many of my family members are Catholic
09:40 and I love them dearly.
09:41 I think people are wonderful regardless
09:43 of what faith they choose
09:45 understanding also the tenets of each person's faith
09:50 that is traditionally some are more driven by tradition,
09:54 others are more driven by what the Bible actually says.
09:57 And in some place they try to mix
09:59 tradition and scripture together, right.
10:01 But in the context of tradition there are those
10:04 who in the chanting of their prayers
10:07 or in the repeating of their prayers,
10:10 they would say this in the crucifix
10:12 that is often used either the cross
10:15 which is referred to the crucifixion
10:17 or the rosary which has the crucifix at the end of it.
10:20 Their prayers that are repeated
10:23 and then every ten beats then you have one more
10:27 that different prayers said.
10:29 And this person asked the question
10:30 in the context of the use of the crucifix.
10:36 "I understand \that the statement--
10:41 that the statues and images are against the Ten Commandments,
10:45 however is it also forbidden
10:48 to have a cross or crucifix in my home?"
10:52 Now, I would say that the image itself
10:58 is not an offensive image.
11:00 The image itself doesn't make you saved or lost
11:03 but here is where the dividing line comes in.
11:06 In Exodus Chapter 20, when the Lords says in verse 4,
11:10 "You shall not make for yourself any carved image,
11:15 or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,
11:17 or that is in the earth beneath,
11:18 or that is in the water under the earth."
11:21 And here is where the difference,
11:22 here is where the dividing line comes in.
11:24 And read verse 5, John,
11:25 just so we could give a different tone of voice
11:28 and may be that could...
11:30 "You shall not bow down to them or serve them,
11:33 for I the Lord your God, I am a jealous God,
11:37 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
11:40 to the third and the fourth generation
11:41 of those who hate me."
11:43 Okay, so here is the key.
11:45 I know that in the practice and I have seen this happen
11:48 and I'm gonna be very vague,
11:51 in the church where my family attends.
11:54 When they climb the steps to the church
11:56 some people as they get to the image of Mary
11:59 right at the entrance of the church they bow down
12:01 and they do sign of the cross
12:02 and then they--I think the phrase the word genuflect,
12:06 we call it bow down but there is a certain terminology used
12:10 and they do the sign of the cross and then they go in.
12:13 And that is taught traditionally that that is the way
12:16 that they revere these images.
12:19 But specifically they are not worshiping the wood and stone
12:22 but they are worshiping what that represents.
12:24 So they say, they believe in the--that Mary still exists
12:28 and that she's somehow involved in the mediatory work of Christ.
12:31 So they pray "Holy Mary, Mother of God,
12:34 pray for sinners now and at the hour of their death."
12:37 Well, according to the Bible and this opens so many doors,
12:41 John, really does.
12:42 According to the Bible,
12:43 Mary though chosen by God is not a mediator.
12:49 There's only one Man between us and God
12:52 and that is the Man Christ Jesus.
12:54 There's only on mediator between God and man
12:57 and that is the Man Christ Jesus.
12:59 And there is no other name given among men
13:01 whereby we must be saved then the name of Jesus.
13:05 He shall save His people from their sins.
13:07 So there is nobody else that is between us and God,
13:11 not Saint Peter, not Luke, not Thomas,
13:15 none of these are to be mediatorially involved
13:20 in the work between us and God, only Christ.
13:23 So in that context the crucifix
13:27 being an image of representation,
13:30 if you can have that in your home and not worship it,
13:34 I don't see that the having of that image in fact
13:36 will cause there to be any kind of condemnation.
13:40 But I would caution carefully, when you have images of statues
13:45 that have eyes, but they can't see,
13:47 hands but they can't touch, ears but cannot hear.
13:49 The Bible specifically forbids that kind of thing,
13:52 it really does not to make any graven images
13:55 and to have any representations of anything in heaven above
13:58 or that is in earth beneath.
14:00 So let's be very careful.
14:01 There's a very fine line there
14:03 but I think it's even more delicate
14:04 when the religion that this person has had most of her life
14:09 included this forms in worship.
14:11 And, you know, she is a fairly new Adventist
14:15 and there is also going to be some implications
14:20 here with regard to your fellowshipping
14:22 with your church family now, your new church family
14:25 and you want to be cognizant of,
14:27 of their ideas as far as this crucifix and another things too.
14:32 So you want to be careful where you place it,
14:35 how you keep it and especially some will object
14:37 because it's mere fact that it was for the purpose of worship
14:40 before and because it was made as a graven image
14:44 I would be very careful in,
14:46 in allowing it to continue to remain in place
14:49 where it could look like it was still in a place of worship
14:53 and so you need to be little careful there.
14:55 One of the specific councils from the word of God is,
14:58 "Do not be the stumbling block in your brother's way."
15:02 It could become a stumbling block to your growing in faith
15:06 and your bonding with your new family
15:07 if they think there're some still some Catholic roots
15:09 held on to there with regard to the worship.
15:12 And I don't think you're saying that
15:13 and I don't think that Denise is saying it all.
15:16 But at least just be aware of how it might be perceived
15:19 and then, you know, respond accordingly.
15:23 So I would not personally,
15:28 I would not keep a statue of Mary in my house
15:31 because Mary's not to be even thought of as rev being revered.
15:37 The little images of Thomas, I know,
15:40 I can't remember all the meanings of them
15:42 but some people driving their car
15:43 and they have a little plastic statue on their dashboard
15:47 and they say well, this is a saint that protects me.
15:51 This is the saint of protection.
15:53 That's not supported by the Bible at all.
15:55 That in fact is a violation of the commandment
16:00 where it says, "Thou shall have no other Gods before me."
16:03 That's right, that's right. What do you have, John?
16:06 I have a question that comes from Ron from Phoenix.
16:10 And he says here let's see,
16:14 being sealed by the Holy Spirit is a spiritual transaction
16:19 done outside of ourselves and not of ourselves.
16:22 And it is a quote from him and a very appropriate quote
16:25 because spiritually, we are sealed
16:28 not being anything that we can do
16:29 but the Holy Spirit is who seals us.
16:33 We are then or are we then, excuse me,
16:35 capable of doing something in the physical life
16:37 in and of ourselves to unseal ourselves?
16:42 This seems to be an impossibility, is it?
16:47 And so anyway just wanted to look at a few texts
16:50 here with you in regards to this,
16:53 the verse that was brought up here
16:56 that you mentioned at the beginning
16:57 I didn't read that part was from Ephesians 1:13
17:02 and so we'll start with that.
17:04 Ephesians 1:13 which says
17:09 "In Him, you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth,
17:13 the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed,
17:16 you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
17:20 who is the guarantee of our inheritance
17:23 until the redemption of the purchased possession,
17:26 to the praise of His glory."
17:28 And so what we find here is that
17:32 upon accepting Christ as our Lord and as our Savior,
17:36 there's a process of once being justified,
17:39 now you're being sanctified,
17:41 set apart for holy use
17:42 and the Holy Spirit then comes down
17:45 and fills our lives, fills our heart
17:47 and seals us in so to speak to the truth
17:50 that we have now accepted and we now live by
17:53 which has as its head Jesus Christ,
17:56 not only the head of the church
17:57 but the head of our body
17:58 and the head of our life, our Master and Lord.
18:01 And so the sealing is a very individual experience.
18:07 It's something that comes from God as result or response
18:10 to our declaration of faith and our commitment to live
18:12 according to Him and usually follows baptism by water
18:16 which is the death of the old life
18:18 and the resurrection of the new life
18:19 we have now in Jesus Christ.
18:23 There are a couple of things just to talk about here
18:25 and we have some verses that I'll bring up
18:28 just to mention in regard to the sealing.
18:30 There's a sealing that happens individually by the mere fact
18:33 that the Holy Spirit does come into our life
18:35 and does seal us in as Christians
18:37 committed and faithful to God.
18:40 But there's a greater sealing
18:41 that happens in the context of prophecy.
18:44 In that--the Book of Revelation indicates
18:46 that at the very end of time,
18:48 as we find a polarization of two camps,
18:53 one that worships God and it's faithful to Him
18:55 and one that worships the enemy and is unfaithful to God.
18:59 And included within that camp
19:01 are fairly pretty much two groups,
19:03 one that believes they're still worshiping God
19:06 and those that never really claimed God
19:08 but are going along for the ride essentially,
19:11 for the last events that happen in this world's history.
19:14 Those that are committed to God and faithful to God are sealed
19:18 with a greatest sealing of settling us into truth.
19:23 Sealing us and to protect us from anything
19:25 that would happen during persecution
19:28 from the certain point on.
19:29 So while we are sealed in our life as committed Christians,
19:33 we're also to a greater degree sealed
19:35 in for this last great time of persecution,
19:40 the time as such as never been mentioned in the Book of Daniel,
19:43 mentioned by Christ Himself, which is soon to come,
19:46 the time of tribulation that ends all things.
19:49 And so with that sealing, I just want you to see in that context,
19:53 Revelation Chapter 7 which describes that sealing,
19:57 an end time sealing.
19:59 Revelation 7:2, "Then I saw another angel ascending
20:03 from the east, having the seal of the living God.
20:07 And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels
20:09 to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying,
20:12 'Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees
20:15 till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.'
20:20 And I heard the number of those who were sealed,
20:22 a hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes
20:24 of the children of Israel were sealed."
20:26 Of course, there's a lot of symbology there,
20:28 there's a lot of symbolism there that is happening
20:30 that we don't have time to go into.
20:32 But clearly we're finding a group here,
20:34 as the four winds are about to be released.
20:36 That is the winds of strife coming upon this earth
20:39 that are sealed in by God's Spirit
20:41 to a greater degree of settling them in,
20:44 securing them into the faith and the truth,
20:47 so they cannot be moved.
20:49 And so that is to come, today though
20:53 we're individually experiencing a sealing
20:55 by God's Spirit dwelling within us,
20:57 that is growing us as a sanctified individual
21:00 set aside for the purpose of glorifying God.
21:04 And there's some other ones here too,
21:05 we have--I think the other part of the question here,
21:09 and the main part of question is there's something
21:11 we can do to unseal ourselves?
21:13 Now, in the context of our being sealed by the Holy Spirit
21:16 as He grows us spiritually,
21:18 there is something that can happen
21:20 and I'm gonna bring up a couple of text here,
21:22 one is from the Book of Ephesians.
21:24 So let's go back to that Book of Ephesians 4:30.
21:35 Hey, here we are.
21:37 Which says "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
21:41 by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
21:46 Do not grieve, that word grieve is to push away, to make,
21:52 to make sad enough to depart.
21:55 The grieving is to push away and to cut off
21:58 the influence of the Holy Spirit
22:00 in his work in our lives as Christians.
22:04 Paul also spoke of that in 1 Thessalonians 5:19.
22:11 Do not quench the Holy Spirit.
22:14 So this quenching, this grieving is something that we do,
22:17 it's a command not to do that.
22:19 And if you read little further on it,
22:20 essentially what this grieving is or this quenching is,
22:24 is allowing sin to come back into the life
22:28 which then with this practice of sin, grieves the Holy Spirit,
22:31 it crowds the Holy Spirit out of our life,
22:33 so that we begin to fall back into the world
22:36 that we had once left
22:38 to commit our life to Christ, to follow Christ.
22:41 So we have to be sure that we're not allowing these sins
22:43 that we're very careful to watch
22:45 and to pray and to read scripture
22:47 and to make sure that God's growing us
22:49 and feeding that spiritual nature
22:51 that He's given us to avoid the Holy Spirit
22:56 grieved by our sin that we might allow into our life again.
23:00 And, you know, one person said that one way to crowd out sin
23:05 is to feed the righteousness, feed the Holy Spirit,
23:09 what He wants to do and what He wants to bring into your life,
23:13 and one way to allow sin to come back in
23:15 is to feed the old nature, the carnal nature.
23:17 What we feed tends to be the direction
23:19 that we go as Christians.
23:21 And so although Christ is sealing us
23:24 and does that through the spirit,
23:25 we can quench or grieve the Holy Spirit
23:28 and essentially push him out.
23:29 We did it a recent program on once saved always saved
23:32 and the different aspects of that.
23:34 And this ties in very similarly here that we make,
23:36 can make the choice to allow sin back in
23:39 and to crowd out Christ
23:41 if we're not careful to make sure
23:42 that we're staying on that narrow road
23:44 and following Him and the vow
23:46 that we made to commit our lives to Him.
23:49 When you think of-- and I think the initial question
23:52 is what can I do to be unsealed?
23:56 So much have flooded into my mind
23:58 and I give God the glory for that
24:00 because we don't really just sit down here and say,
24:03 well, what else do I remember?
24:05 Yeah, exactly. God lead us in.
24:07 When you think of the days of the antediluvian,
24:11 and if that word is not familiar with--
24:13 to you that is before the flood.
24:18 The Bible says in Genesis Chapter 6, go there with me.
24:23 Genesis Chapter 6 and the Bible makes it
24:29 very, very clear in verse 3, "The Lord says
24:33 'My Spirit shall not strive with man forever,'"
24:37 or if you have the King James,
24:39 "shall not always strive with man, for he indeed is flesh,
24:42 yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
24:46 And it talks about the condition of the earth
24:48 and it got to the point where it says in verse 6,
24:51 well, let's read verse 5.
24:53 "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man
24:57 was great in the earth, and that every intent,
25:00 that is thought, every intention of the thoughts
25:04 of his heart was only evil continually."
25:06 Yes, that's something that you can
25:08 by having continually evil thoughts,
25:12 the spirit of God will not always strive with you.
25:15 He won't stay there
25:17 because your thoughts are only evil continually.
25:19 Just think of that in the context of an evil,
25:20 a child whose evil continually, parent will say,
25:24 I don't know what else to do?
25:26 I've done everything I possibly can,
25:28 I'm just gonna let you follow your own natural course,
25:31 you do what you want to do
25:33 and whatever happens is in your responsibility,
25:38 it's in your hands to do that.
25:39 And so you find here, it got to the place
25:42 where the Bible says in verse 6 of Genesis 6
25:44 and the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth
25:48 and He was grieved in His heart.
25:50 Now the reason why that came 'cause you mentioned grieve not,
25:53 sometimes we tend to separate grieving the Holy Spirit
26:00 from grieving God and say,
26:02 as long as we don't grieve God, we're okay.
26:05 But if we grieve the Holy Spirit,
26:06 man, we're in trouble.
26:08 I want to point you to a section of the Bible
26:11 where you'll clearly see that you're endangered.
26:14 And, John, I don't know, did you read Matthew 12:31?
26:17 Read Matthew 12:31 and then I'm gonna go ahead
26:21 and add another component to that
26:24 in other section of the Bible.
26:25 Remember here, what had happened in the antediluvian world
26:28 is they grieved God and because of that he says,
26:32 My Spirit, it's not always gonna be hanging around,
26:35 My Spirit is not gonna always appeal to their heart
26:36 because I'm grieved.
26:38 So God was grieved and the work of the Holy Spirit was hindered.
26:42 So they could by their evil, continual evil they can grieve
26:47 the Spirit of God by their continually evil thoughts
26:50 and if you look at the world today,
26:51 it's kind of getting into that point.
26:53 In some cases, God see us already that way
26:55 in some people's lives but we can't determine.
26:58 Read Matthew 12:31 and this is what I think
27:00 that happened in the days of the antediluvians
27:03 where God gave them up.
27:05 "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy
27:08 will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy
27:10 against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
27:14 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man,
27:16 it will be forgiven him,
27:17 but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit,
27:20 it will not be forgiven him,
27:21 either in this age or in the age to come."
27:24 And so you see clearly there is a line of division
27:28 but now go with me to Acts Chapter 5--
27:30 Well, we do think alike, don't we?
27:32 Verse 3 and 4.
27:33 I'm gonna let you read that since you're going there.
27:35 And I'll lay the foundation for this
27:37 because in this particular story,
27:38 you have two people Ananias husband, Sapphira the wife.
27:43 I preached this sermon many years ago,
27:45 I wish I could say I was original
27:46 but I got this from a dear pastor of mine
27:48 who is now deceased, it was called
27:49 heart attacks in holy places and Pastor Leroy McCarty,
27:55 who is now resting in the Lord
27:58 preached that sermon and I was so fired up
28:00 as a young man when I heard that.
28:02 It came back to my mind years later and it was amazing.
28:05 But look at the content of these verses,
28:09 verses 3 and verse 4
28:10 and you'll see how we cannot say,
28:13 well, I can't--we can't come to the conclusion
28:17 that if I grieve God, I'm saved
28:20 but if I grieve the Holy Spirit, I'm in trouble.
28:24 Read this, John, Acts 5:3-4.
28:27 "But Peter said, 'Ananias,
28:29 why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit
28:32 and keep back a part of the price of the land for yourself?
28:36 While it remained, was it not your own?
28:39 And after it was sold, was it not in your own control?
28:42 Why have you conceived this thing in your heart?
28:44 You have not lied to men but to God.'"
28:47 Notice, Holy Spirit, verse 3, God, verse 4.
28:53 He doesn't separate the two and what we have to keep in mind
28:56 and this is where the line sometimes
28:59 we don't want to refer to grey
29:00 because the Bible is not grey at all.
29:02 But where we can become grey in our thoughts of saying
29:04 oh, as long as I don't say anything against
29:07 the Holy Spirit, I could call God,
29:08 I could put God's name in a curse,
29:11 I could use God's name in vain,
29:12 I could repeat God's name over and over, I'm still safe.
29:15 Oh, don't venture down that road because these two individuals
29:19 Ananias and Sapphira they made a pledge to give God
29:22 whatever you blessed them with, they had good intentions.
29:25 But I think this statement may have come from,
29:27 the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
29:31 But their intentions changed
29:32 after God had abundantly blessed them.
29:36 And the Bible says,
29:37 "Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin
29:41 and say before God, it was a mistake."
29:43 And that's what happened here.
29:44 They came and they plotted together
29:47 when they went into church to return to God
29:50 where He blessed them with and Ananias said,
29:53 here's what God, God gave me $30 for this
29:56 and Peter said, did He really?
29:59 Yeah, when God really gave him a $100 for that.
30:03 And he lied and he lost his life
30:05 and his wife came and not too long after
30:07 and she lost her life.
30:08 Because here, he lied to the Holy Spirit,
30:12 and he says you've not lied to man,
30:14 but you've lied to God.
30:15 You cannot separate divinity, so be very, very careful
30:18 when you think one is safe and one is not safe. Right.
30:21 Very true. Okay.
30:23 And one last reference
30:25 just to write it down 1 Samuel 18:12,
30:27 Saul, the King of Israel, the Lord departed from him
30:32 but he didn't even know it.
30:34 And what took over an evil spirit,
30:36 because he exposed himself to the Witch of Endor
30:41 and then evil spirit now is working in his life.
30:43 And the spirit of the Lord departed from him.
30:46 1 Samuel 18:12.
30:47 So be really careful,
30:49 because that led to his demise and his death. That's right.
30:51 Well, thank you for your questions and comments.
30:53 As you can tell we really enjoy that,
30:55 and the first step of our program is always
30:58 the work that you do.
30:59 So keep doing the work that you do
31:00 and send us the Bible questions and your comments.
31:03 And you can send them to housecalls@3abn.org
31:06 that's housecalls@3abn.org
31:09 and we surely will get back to you as soon as possible can
31:12 and thank you for your patience
31:13 and your kind support of this network.
31:16 John, take us back into this topic.
31:18 One you put together, I really appreciate it.
31:20 I thought we're gonna be able to go through it quickly
31:22 but it's very deep. Yeah, it is.
31:24 And it's about unity in the faith
31:26 and making sure that within the church
31:28 God's body here on this earth,
31:30 the visible church we're talking about,
31:32 that the members are unified in purpose.
31:35 And the mission of the church
31:38 and it's sharing of the everlasting gospel,
31:41 proclamation of the gospel to all the world.
31:43 The biggest thing that Satan does
31:46 as we mentioned this in the last program
31:47 is that he looks to divide and then conquer.
31:50 If he can divide us within the church,
31:51 he knows that we cannot complete the mission
31:53 that God has given us to do. That's right.
31:55 And so it just extends his time,
31:57 but if we're unified and we stay together,
31:59 in spite of the diversity that we have,
32:01 the diversity of views and the diversity of styles,
32:06 worship, lifestyles, other things,
32:10 then we can complete our mission.
32:12 You know, John, I think as we were getting there
32:15 toward the end of the last program
32:16 we talked about, reading from Christ words
32:20 and His prayers specifically in John Chapter 17.
32:24 And so Jesus definitely had a vision
32:26 for what His people would be doing
32:28 once He returned to heaven. That's right.
32:30 As they were sharing this wonderful gospel with the world.
32:35 And so we want to start with that here today
32:38 from John Chapter 17, we'll begin with verse 20. Okay.
32:41 And I will go ahead and read that John,
32:43 and then we can dive into various aspects of it
32:46 because there's an actually a lot here.
32:48 Verse 20, "I do not pray for these alone."
32:53 In other words Jesus had prayed first for Himself
32:55 for strength to be able to overcome
32:58 this challenge of the cross coming
32:59 to that He's about to face.
33:02 Then He prayed for His disciples.
33:03 That's right. And now He's praying for us.
33:06 And so as He's praying for us,
33:07 he says, "I do not pray for these alone,
33:09 but also for those who will believe in Me
33:11 through their word, that they may all be one,
33:15 as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You,
33:19 that they also may be one in Us,
33:22 that the world may believe that You sent Me.
33:25 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them,
33:28 so that they may be one just as We are one,
33:32 I in them, and You in Me,
33:35 that they may be made perfect in one,
33:38 and that the world may know that You have sent Me,
33:41 and have loved them as You have loved Me." Beautiful.
33:44 Two things connected here, John, I don't want to miss out on.
33:48 Unity and love. That's right.
33:51 They are absolutely inseparable.
33:54 You cannot be disunified, divided and love.
33:59 You cannot love and not be united.
34:02 They go hand in hand. Think of any marriage. Right.
34:05 When a husband and woman are united in marriage
34:08 they're proclaiming a bond of love.
34:12 Unity and love. These go hand in hand.
34:15 And when we're talking about the church,
34:17 the oneness of the church and unity of the church,
34:19 we must be talking about love
34:20 and how we share that love between each other.
34:23 As Jesus said, they will know you by your love
34:26 for one another. Right. And so that is the clear thing.
34:29 I think mentioned-- we mentioned last time
34:31 that kind of our foundational picture of this,
34:36 one of the text we used to it
34:37 to kind of spring of it was from 1 Peter 4:8,
34:42 "And above all things have fervent love for one another".
34:47 And I really like that because it's saying
34:49 He's really saying that love this unity and this love
34:53 that we have is the greatest focus of the church
34:56 as we work together for God's kingdom.
34:58 What are the things that we have to be careful
34:59 of it's not to major in minors and minor in majors.
35:03 A lot of times we look at the ancillary practices of our faith
35:09 and make them the major focal point rather than--
35:14 rather than the fabric.
35:17 Let me use example, you could have on a suit,
35:20 but you could focus on all the buttons. Right.
35:23 Well the most important thing is that,
35:25 your clothed is the real focal point here.
35:28 We don't want to become button Christians
35:30 when in fact the suit is the most important aspect of it.
35:34 Okay, if you loose one button on a suit,
35:36 you still have on the whole suit.
35:38 My analogy there simply saying this,
35:40 there are some individuals
35:42 and as a pastor, now we're going to 26 years here.
35:46 Wow, okay I just got over this.
35:51 I have seen all kinds of internal divisions.
35:55 For example we were at Fairfield together.
35:57 Sometimes we had a person at our church there
36:01 that whenever we had fellowship lunch,
36:03 they will go through and say, okay what's in that,
36:05 what's not in that, what's in that,
36:07 well we say its vegetarian. They will say, okay.
36:10 And they may have had intolerance to certain things
36:12 that are acceptable for vegetarians
36:14 like gluten intolerance and all,
36:16 when I talk about health issues.
36:18 But sometimes, what had happen is--
36:21 they had become the food inspector
36:24 and they started rubbing people the wrong way.
36:28 It started irritating people
36:29 to the point where even if a guest came,
36:33 they will say to the guest, now, what did you put in it?
36:36 What kind of oil did you use?
36:38 Was it canola oil, was it vegetable oil,
36:40 was it virgin olive oil?
36:41 What was, you know, did the oil, was it Crisco
36:45 and it got to the place
36:48 where there were majoring in minors
36:50 and minoring in majors.
36:52 And the thing that John brought out as a major is
36:54 having love one for the other.
36:57 Because we hadv a very amazing example here at our church
37:02 a number of years ago when one of our members
37:04 who is now deceased just came to be a member of our church
37:08 in that fellowship lunch
37:09 and understand what I am saying here.
37:11 I am not saying that we should ignore what we eat or drink.
37:13 That's not at all.
37:15 But my--the focal point here is sometimes,
37:19 sometimes we can major so much in the minors
37:21 that we could loose someone before Christ
37:23 even gains access to them fully.
37:26 This particular person brought beans to fellowship lunch
37:30 three weeks in a row.
37:31 And it was one of the first things to be gone
37:33 and before he even learned about all the tenets of the faith.
37:36 He said, wow, what did you make out of these?
37:39 And he said, well I just put
37:40 a little slice of bacon in there.
37:43 I love it. It's too funny.
37:45 You know I tell you--
37:46 And I laugh at his innocence. I mean he was innocent.
37:48 He was so innocent, he was so innocent.
37:50 Now we didn't say, well, keep doing that.
37:53 We realized-- That's right.
37:54 We need to tell him now
37:56 that this is not what we eat. Right.
37:58 When that was a health principle outlined by the Bible
38:00 that we should not put those things in our body.
38:03 But this person out of the desire
38:05 to just simply contribute
38:07 didn't understand and did not know.
38:10 And then we had a another example
38:11 and I am talking about these because
38:12 these are the issues that sometimes causes
38:14 to major in minors and minor in majors.
38:16 That person learned and that did not happen again
38:19 and surely we are careful about what we do eat
38:21 and what we drink because we recognize our bodies
38:23 to be God's temple in honor of the Lord.
38:26 But I visited a country number of years ago
38:29 and the people in that country
38:31 didn't have access to all other vegetarian substitutes
38:33 we have here access to in America.
38:35 And they invited us to their home
38:37 and Adventist Pastor and his wife
38:39 and she labored all day to make a really,
38:42 really special dish for my wife and I.
38:46 And it was just amazing and I am sitting there
38:50 and we sit on with our plate, we have the dinner
38:53 and we have the prayer
38:55 and we cut open this thing look like a nice pastry
38:59 and I looked on the inside and I thought--
39:02 well, sometimes aren't we make things
39:03 that look like beef maybe it's not.
39:05 And we bit into it
39:06 and I hadn't had beef in so many years.
39:08 I have forgotten how long it was.
39:09 And I bit into it and I look that anti and cheek
39:11 kind of similar to the same thing.
39:13 We looked at each other
39:14 and then the wife caught a glimpse of our face
39:16 and the husband realized what it happened at that moment.
39:18 He's pastoring, they're both members of the Adventist Church
39:21 and they looked at us and instantly she saw that
39:26 she felt the pain of, oh, I didn't even ask them,
39:29 if they were vegetarian or not.
39:30 And we looked at them and we thought,
39:32 this is one of those moments
39:34 where we could offend this lady terribly.
39:36 Well thank her and you know what she said,
39:38 you don't have to eat the whole thing.
39:40 But you know we thought, its not gonna kill us,
39:43 now this wasn't unclean
39:45 and that was the first time in probably 20 plus years
39:47 that I had any beef.
39:49 And she understood, but here's what I am saying,
39:54 I am not saying lower your guard
39:56 on health reform or become so stringent
39:59 that you examine every aspect of what's placed before you.
40:03 But what John is saying is these are the things
40:06 that sometimes in the church, in the Adventist church
40:09 can becomes such points of division
40:11 that it makes, it creates barriers
40:13 for somebody who even wants to examine your fate. That right.
40:15 And so you become the people of what don't you do
40:18 rather than the people of what you do. Yeah.
40:20 All right, that's what I think what you're talking about.
40:22 You know, even the one admonition
40:25 within Romans Chapter 14 is in regard to the practices
40:29 of what we eat and don't eat. That's right.
40:31 And it says in verse 19,
40:33 "Therefore let us pursue the things
40:35 which make for peace
40:37 and the things by which one may edify another.
40:41 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food." Right.
40:46 And, you know, I--I won't tell you who it is
40:50 but someone in our family.
40:52 We are sitting there at the table
40:54 and they've been practicing
40:56 very strict vegetarianism for years, many years.
41:01 And so we're talking
41:03 and where the subject of meat comes up.
41:07 This couple that was eating meat
41:08 and they were surprised by that.
41:10 Anyway so I made the simple comment.
41:11 I thought it was very simple.
41:13 I said well, eating meat is not a sin.
41:17 And individual went like this.
41:23 Because he knew it was right. According to the scriptures.
41:26 But the immediate reaction was
41:28 that's the way they felt about it.
41:31 And we can feel so strongly about
41:33 something that we can start to equate it as sin or not sin
41:36 rather than a lifestyle choice. Right. Which is what it is?
41:39 In fact, according to the Bible, yeah.
41:43 Eating meat clean is not sinful. No.
41:48 But when you start making it the issue,
41:52 then you even the one that doesn't eat it
41:55 can become sinful in forcing a very strict practice
41:59 on somebody else going beyond
42:01 the boundaries that God has called you go
42:03 in your relationships within the church.
42:07 And at the same time I have an individual
42:09 that in a church I pastored not to long ago
42:13 who really battled with this idea of labeling food.
42:18 I mean there are lots of not even in the church,
42:20 there are lots of vegans and vegetarians
42:22 and lacto-ovo and non strictly vegan and things--
42:26 and one person came with the suggestion saying,
42:30 you know, it really will be helpful
42:31 if we could label foods because, I have certain allergies
42:34 and I can't eat anything that has nuts in it.
42:38 And it wasn't just peanuts, it was several kinds of nuts.
42:41 And he said it really be helpful for us to do it.
42:43 So we started talking about labeling.
42:45 You know, just putting little toothpick in there.
42:46 This is, you know, has nuts in it or whatever.
42:49 And someone say, well, we should be basically label
42:51 so we can allow our,
42:52 some of our vegan eaters to come back
42:54 and contribute to the potluck and things to.
42:56 And there's a whole discussion debate over labeling food.
42:59 And I said, wait a minute.
43:00 Why are we so opposed to just labeling food.
43:04 I mean its just giving someone a courtesy
43:07 as to what's in this dish and what's not in this dish.
43:09 And they do that in a lot of restaurants.
43:11 And in doing that it allowed
43:12 vegans to participate in the potluck.
43:15 Those are just vegetarians to participate in the potluck.
43:18 And those are with food allergies
43:20 to participate in the potluck.
43:21 Of course some of them are what is the new one,
43:23 it's really strong as the gluten intolerant.
43:27 They're gluten intolerant. Gluten intolerant.
43:29 And that happens today, yeah.
43:30 So, anyway I just bring this up
43:32 because these issues of lifestyle also its not--
43:38 they don't stand alone,
43:39 there's issues of music as a worship style,
43:42 there's issues of all kinds of practices within the church
43:45 that we fight over that, we shouldn't be fighting over.
43:50 And it is causing a significant not only division in the church
43:54 but it's causing us to be crippled from the mission
43:56 that God has given us.
43:58 So, John, let's look at the early church
43:59 and maybe go through some of the things,
44:01 that that they did.
44:04 Some evidence here is to what they experience as a church
44:06 because we're not just because
44:08 we're living in the day we live, doesn't mean that
44:12 back then that they didn't have a same kind of issues.
44:14 Nothing is new under the sun, we've the same issues,
44:16 that they were grappling with back them.
44:18 And the Bible has a lot to speak about all those.
44:20 You know, Paul addressed
44:21 some of these things in Romans 14,
44:22 that's a Romans 14 by the way is a very familiar passage
44:26 that people try to use in a small component
44:29 to want to whether or not you should eat
44:31 or eat clean or unclean.
44:33 They tried to say, that doesn't really, really matter.
44:35 The whole purpose of Romans 14
44:36 is not to put you in one camp or the other
44:39 but the very context of Romans 14 is in verse 1.
44:42 Romans 14:1, it says
44:44 "Receive one who is weak in the faith,"
44:47 but do not "but not to disputes over doubtful things.
44:53 For one believes he may eat all things,
44:57 but he who is weak eats only vegetables."
45:00 You see lot of people read this and say,
45:03 I could eat anything,
45:04 it really doesn't matter what I eat,
45:06 because I don't want to offend anybody
45:08 I'll just eat whatever is before me.
45:10 When you look at the whole context of this,
45:14 we--it tells us that we don't live onto ourselves,
45:17 but we live onto the Lord.
45:18 So we're accountable before the Lord.
45:20 But the issue that was being addressed
45:22 here among the Romans is
45:24 that they were minoring in majors
45:27 and majoring in minors.
45:29 And I thought it was really interesting
45:30 that the whole issue of
45:31 the issue of judging one another.
45:35 One esteems one day above the other,
45:37 one esteems, the other esteems all day is alike.
45:40 This was the ceremonial issues that were becoming a problem
45:43 in and among the Roman believers.
45:46 And it was by no means speaking about the Sabbath.
45:48 But there were many ceremonial observances
45:50 in the transitional period
45:52 between the ceremonial law being done away with
45:55 and the Christian church being established
45:57 many people were not yet sure.
45:59 Well, do we still do that?
46:01 I said, no. Done away with.
46:04 Do whatever-- no that is ceremonial,.
46:08 No that was ceremonial.
46:10 And they were struggling over these issues.
46:12 And that's why it says well one person esteems
46:14 one day above another, verse 5
46:16 and another one esteems every day alike.
46:18 Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.
46:21 And so for time, John, if you follow the practices
46:24 they were many that continued
46:26 certain aspects of the ceremonial law
46:28 that wasn't a hindrance to their faith
46:32 but for their own security, Paul didn't say to them,
46:37 you know, this is kind of really make you be lost.
46:40 Like for example, some of them still observe Passover,
46:43 some of them still observe aspects of their faith
46:46 that was part of their tradition.
46:48 And they're still some today
46:50 and I want to bring up this issue.
46:51 They're still some today they said,
46:53 well, should we keep the feast
46:55 or should we not keep the feast. You see what I am saying?
46:58 If they want to keep the feast, let's go ahead. Fine.
47:01 You want to keep the feast, there's one more thing
47:02 that you don't have to do, but if you want to,
47:05 there are some object lessons in that,
47:07 that would not tend to take away
47:10 or add to your salvation. That's right.
47:12 So that's what we're talking about.
47:14 The issue is when people want to make them salvational
47:18 that everybody has to do what they are doing. Right.
47:20 Which really then crosses the line
47:24 into in the enemies territory. Right.
47:26 Now I was going to read some verses here
47:28 but in the essence of time though from Acts.
47:32 I'll just mention a few of the verses,
47:33 if you look Acts 2:1, Acts 2:46-47.
47:37 Why don't you read those?
47:38 Well, because there's so much here for 10 minutes left.
47:40 You read verse 46 and 47, that was really good.
47:42 Okay, Acts 2:46-47, "So continuing daily
47:46 with one accord in the temple,
47:48 and breaking bread from house to house,
47:50 they ate their food with gladness
47:51 and simplicity of heart,
47:54 praising God and having favor with all the people.
47:57 And the Lord added to the church
47:58 daily those who were being saved."
48:00 The Lord was adding to the church
48:03 that was unified in purpose.
48:06 That was--you know eating their food
48:09 with gladness and simplicity of heart.
48:11 Not making a complicated issue about foods.
48:13 God was adding to those even in their diversity daily
48:17 because they were in one accord
48:18 and that's the thing to remember.
48:20 And these verses are repeated throughout Acts,
48:22 aren't they John?
48:23 I mean Acts 2, we talk about one accord all the time.
48:26 It starts with Acts 1 even they
48:27 got together to pray in one accord.
48:30 Acts 4, prayed and assemble together in one accord,
48:34 they were filled with Holy Spirit.
48:36 Principle there is unless you're in one accord
48:38 the Holy Spirit cannot operate. That's right.
48:41 Corporately that is.
48:42 He be blessed person individually
48:44 but you rob the church of the blessing,
48:46 that's why, when Akiane was in the camp,
48:48 the Lord removed Akiane and his family from the camp,
48:50 because the blessing of protection
48:51 was taken from church individually. That's right.
48:53 She says, that's the vision
48:54 that could rob us of our blessing. Okay.
48:57 Another one--okay you wanna-- No, go ahead.
48:59 Another one that you bring out and so far we've talked about
49:02 something about laws of dietary things that,
49:05 we gave a couple of examples.
49:06 But here another one that could cause division
49:08 and you had this on the other page Titus 3:9-11
49:12 and that was beautiful.
49:13 "But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions,
49:16 and strivings about the law,
49:18 for they are unprofitable and useless.
49:21 Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition,
49:25 knowing that such a person is warped
49:27 and sinning, being self-condemned."
49:30 Wow, that's-- That's pretty powerful.
49:34 That's amazing because its saying,
49:35 there are some people that in Mathew 18 principle
49:37 and this where Mathew 18 comes in.
49:39 There are some people that are so bent
49:42 on having their way
49:43 that they're suspicious about everything the Pastor does.
49:47 And they'll say, see
49:48 did you hear that word in the sermon?
49:50 He was aiming at that.
49:51 Disputes, contention strivings right there.
49:53 And they--and they and so you go to them
49:55 and that's why it says after the first and second admonition,
49:57 that's the principle of Mathew 18.
49:59 Go to that person first, then take another witness
50:02 and then the third time bring it before the church
50:04 and after that they don't listen,
50:06 deal with them as heathen.
50:08 Because you got to savor the things as Paul says,
50:12 "Mark those that cause division among you and avoid them."
50:15 Did you see?
50:17 And so sometimes as a leader,
50:19 you have to take a stand against it because,
50:21 if you don't take a stand
50:22 against those things that divide,
50:24 you give license to the division,
50:25 don't you think so? Absolutely.
50:27 What's another one here? Roman 16:17 and 18.
50:30 "Now I urge you, brethren,
50:31 note those who cause divisions and offenses,
50:34 contrary to the doctrine
50:36 which you learned, and avoid them."
50:37 In other words these things are contrary
50:41 to the oneness we have in Christ. Right.
50:43 "So note those that are causing this divisions"
50:46 for those verse 18,
50:48 "For those who are such do not deserve our Lord Jesus Christ,
50:51 but their own belly, and by smooth words
50:54 and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple."
50:57 You know, I find that some of this false doctrines
50:59 that are coming in we find some of the--
51:03 about you had Shepherd's Rod
51:05 that kind of came and they pulled many away.
51:08 You had your Brinsmeads, Davidians.
51:10 Davidians, yeah, even now
51:11 you have the Mill Millerite Movement.
51:14 The Mill Millerite Movement is really becoming fairly,
51:16 fairly strong and causing divisions in places.
51:19 Same kind of thing it ends up pulling people away
51:22 and then separating from the church.
51:24 But this happening is, we should note these divisions
51:28 that offences and that they are not of God. Right.
51:31 And, you know, John, what's amazing about
51:32 that we're living in day and age and I want--I don't want
51:34 to cause you to be frighten about the Adventist church
51:36 because as were said by the prophet of old,
51:41 "They that be with us are more than that
51:42 they with them. "That's right.
51:44 The church is a whole is secure in its foundation,
51:48 in its institutions, in its belief, in its practices.
51:52 But as in the case in any denomination
51:54 you've got always those individuals
51:56 that want to have people following after themselves.
51:59 And Paul warned against it.
52:01 He says, grievous wolves will enter in,
52:03 not sparing the flock.
52:04 Why to draw away disciples after themselves.
52:08 So that's where the contention comes in. Yeah.
52:10 And these-- In fact the next two verses
52:12 we have here from 1 Corinthians
52:14 are all within the same context of this happening.
52:17 That there was an argument within the church,
52:18 some were saying, well, I'm of Paul,
52:20 well, I'm of Apostle.
52:22 You know and so and this-- we're gonna share here
52:24 from 1 Corinthians, 1 and 1 Corinthians 3,
52:26 they're all in the context of that contention.
52:28 Yeah, do that.
52:30 "Now I plead with you, brethren,
52:31 by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
52:32 that you all speak the same thing,
52:35 and that there be no divisions among you,
52:37 but that you be perfectly joined together
52:39 in the same mind and in the same judgment.
52:42 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren,
52:44 by those of Chloe's household,
52:46 that there are contentions among you."
52:49 Of course then you have some other verses there
52:50 and things within the same context
52:52 chapter 3:1 it says, he continues on
52:55 "And I, brethren, could not speak to you
52:57 as to spiritual people, but as to carnal,
52:59 as to babes in Christ.
53:01 In other words, with these contentions, they are babies.
53:04 What can I do?
53:05 They are not growing, I have to speak to his babies
53:07 because you don't understand any other language.
53:10 "I fed you with milk and not with solid food,
53:13 for until now you were not able to receive it,
53:15 and even now you are still not able,
53:17 for you are still carnal.
53:19 For where there is envy, strife, and divisions among you,
53:21 are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?"
53:26 I mean basically when you see some one divisive
53:28 and angry and deviling you know,
53:30 separating from someone else and criticizing things.
53:33 They are carnal, they are acting out of their carnal nature.
53:35 They are not spiritual beings
53:37 even though they may claim to be high and mighty
53:39 in their spirituality. That's right.
53:40 I want to read Galatians 5, but I don't--
53:42 I'm gonna leave that as a capstone.
53:44 Look at James 4:11,
53:46 another thing that causes division.
53:47 And it could be doctrinal
53:49 but sometimes it could just be the malice of a person's heart.
53:52 James 4:11 " Do not speak evil of one another, brethren.
53:55 He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother,
53:58 speaks evil of the law and judges the law.
54:01 But if you judge the law,
54:03 you are not a doer of the law but a judge."
54:06 There are some people that will magnify
54:07 the fault in somebody else's life
54:09 thinking that will minimize the fault in their own lives
54:12 and that is so divisive.
54:15 But Romans 12:10
54:16 "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love,
54:20 in honor giving preference to one another.'
54:22 That's Romans 12:10.
54:24 And that is the amazing part. That's right.
54:25 Giving preference to one another.
54:27 The same chapter a few verses later,
54:29 "Be of the same mind toward one another.
54:31 Do not set your mind on high things,
54:32 but associate with the humble.
54:33 Do not be wise in your own opinion."
54:35 Verse 16 Romans 12.
54:36 So you're seeing, not only are we talking about
54:39 what the issues are but we are saying there
54:40 are remedies to that.
54:42 But when you analyze,
54:43 you go to a doctor and he analyzes your condition.
54:46 He also gives you a prescription to remedy that.
54:49 To the church of Laodicea, Jesus says
54:51 "Buy of me gold tried in the fire,
54:52 that you may be rich
54:55 and that the shame of your nakedness may not appear."
54:57 I know your eyes what I saw that you may see, see what?
55:00 See your own condition.
55:02 See instead of the condition of our brother
55:03 and our sister and the answer there,
55:05 I was gonna bring up is Galatians 5:25-26
55:08 on the first page, John.
55:10 This is the answer to all this division.
55:12 "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
55:17 Let us not become conceded, provoking one another,
55:20 envying one another."
55:22 When the spirit is involved,
55:24 what is the law of this spirit?
55:25 The foot of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
55:29 gentleness, meekness, patience against such there's no law.
55:35 So when we have the spirit leading,
55:37 we're not contending to have the best seat
55:40 or contending to always be praised
55:42 or contending to be, oh you, oh you're really good.
55:45 We're not contending for that.
55:47 We're giving preferences to the other person.
55:48 We're not saying could I do that program?
55:50 Could I do that?
55:51 We're giving preferences to the other person
55:53 and God is glorified by that.
55:56 It says very well in Philippians
55:58 same concept Philippians 2:3-5.
56:00 Yeah, read that one.
56:02 "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition
56:03 or conceit, but in lowliness of mind
56:05 let each esteem others better than himself."
56:09 "Let each of you look out not only for his own interest,
56:11 but also for the interest of others.
56:13 Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus.
56:18 That mind of humility giving preference to the other."
56:21 Thank you for putting in the context by the way
56:23 because so many people read verse 5,
56:25 but don't read what he's meaning about the mind being in unity,
56:29 about the mind that Christ being in us.
56:32 Christ was not conceded, He was not selfishly ambitious,
56:34 He was lowly of mind.
56:36 He did not looked for His own interest.
56:37 Did he John? No, no, no.
56:40 And so you see clearly there.
56:42 I think we have time for one more scripture.
56:43 Go for it. Colossians 3:12-13.
56:46 "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved,
56:49 put on tender mercies, kindness, humility,
56:52 meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another,
56:55 and forgiving one another,
56:56 if anyone has a complaint against another,
56:58 even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
57:01 That's the love for the brethren
57:03 and for the sake of unity to keep Christ
57:06 as the head of the church
57:08 and the church moving forward in its mission.
57:10 Thank you, John, for putting this together.
57:12 This is a wonderful topic as often time
57:13 we think of doctrinal issues.
57:15 Most cases are not doctrinal issues
57:17 that are separating people that have the same doctrines,
57:20 it's the majoring in minors and the minoring in majors.
57:23 Let us do what Christ says,
57:24 "If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Myself."
57:29 May you do that today and be unified in Christ.
57:32 God bless you.


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Revised 2014-12-17