Participants: John Lomacang
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000091
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00:21 Hello, friends,
00:23 welcome to another Wednesday night Bible study 00:25 here at A Sharper Focus. 00:27 We are joining you from the 3ABN Worship Center 00:29 here in Southern Illinois. 00:31 Thank you so much for tuning in for this continued study 00:34 on "The Truth about God's True Church." 00:37 You know, we've been following a series, 00:39 "The Truth about the Truth." 00:40 And just so that you don't think 00:43 that's a redundant statement, 00:45 The Truth about the Truth, 00:47 The Truth about Jesus really is the focus of the topic. 00:51 And why is that important? 00:52 Because not everything that people say 00:54 is connected to Jesus. 00:55 People say a lot of things that Jesus did not say. 00:58 And for that reason we like to encourage people 01:01 to search the scriptures to find out what Jesus did say. 01:05 And so tonight we're covering the topic, 01:08 The Truth about God's True Church. 01:11 Now before I tell you where to go 01:12 to get a copy of the lesson to follow along, 01:14 we'd like to begin by opening with a word of prayer. 01:16 Let's bow our heads together. 01:18 Our gracious Father in heaven, thank You, Lord, 01:20 for the opportunity to open Your Word, 01:22 and to study it together. 01:25 We know, Lord, that You continue to lead us 01:27 and to guide us and we pray that 01:28 as Your Holy Spirit comes, 01:31 that You will unify us not only in this place, 01:34 but wherever the audience is joining us 01:37 from around the world. 01:38 Lord, send Your Spirit to be the teacher tonight 01:41 we pray in Jesus' name. 01:43 Amen. 01:45 Now everyone should have lesson number 27. 01:48 If you're joining us, 01:49 go to this website asf.3abn.org 01:54 and download lesson number 27, 01:57 The Truth about God's True Church. 02:00 On that very same website, you can go to one link over, 02:04 there are some tabs, one has lessons, 02:07 the other one has videos. 02:08 And if you've missed any of the past studies, 02:11 you can get those on that particular website 02:14 the same place. 02:15 And there are about 88 videos there right now. 02:17 There's some that need to be added. 02:19 But when they get added, 02:20 you can follow the studies from, 02:22 I think it's been almost two years 02:23 now we've been having A Sharper Focus, 02:25 and all those studies and lessons 02:27 are there to follow along. 02:29 But before we start our lesson tonight, 02:30 we're gonna sing our theme song. 02:32 What's our theme song? Victory in? 02:34 "Victory in Jesus." 02:35 Let's sing our theme song together. 02:46 I heard an old, old story 02:50 How the Savior came from glory 02:53 How He gave His life on Calvary 02:57 To save a wretch like me 03:01 I heard about His groaning 03:05 Of His precious blood's atoning 03:09 Then I repented of my sin 03:12 And won the victory 03:15 Together. 03:16 O victory in Jesus 03:20 My Savior forever 03:24 He sought me and bought me 03:27 With His redeeming blood 03:31 He loved me ere I knew Him 03:35 And all my love is due Him 03:39 He plunged me to victory 03:43 Beneath the cleansing flood 03:46 I heard about a mansion 03:50 He has built for me in glory 03:54 And I heard about the streets of gold 03:58 Beyond the crystal sea 04:01 About the angels singing 04:05 And the old redemption story 04:09 And some sweet day I'll sing up there 04:13 The song of victory 04:15 Key change. 04:17 O victory in Jesus 04:20 My Savior forever 04:24 He sought me and bought me 04:28 With His redeeming blood 04:32 He loved me ere I knew Him 04:36 And all my love is due Him 04:39 He plunged me to victory 04:43 Beneath the cleansing flood 04:47 He plunged me to victory 04:51 Beneath the cleansing flood 04:57 Amen. 05:00 Plunged us to victory. 05:02 You know, this topic about God's Church, 05:05 The Truth about God's True Church 05:07 is vitally important as we talk about the victory. 05:10 Now, there is no victory outside of Jesus. 05:15 But as you study the Bible, 05:16 you'll discover something vitally important 05:20 that when the message of salvation 05:22 was extended to humanity, 05:24 God established a way, 05:26 a method by which that method of salvation, 05:30 finds the people of God uniting in one place. 05:34 We talked about this last week. 05:36 I wanna begin by peaking back at that, 05:38 go with me to Ephesians. 05:40 Let's go to Ephesians Chapter 4, 05:42 and wanna show you that it's vitally important 05:45 to understand why this topic is important. 05:50 Now today, as I stand here, 05:52 there are about 33,000 different bodies 05:58 that have established themselves 06:01 as a church. 06:02 I wouldn't say denominations because 06:05 they don't necessarily fall 06:06 into the category of denominations. 06:08 Denominations like Pentecostal, Presbyterian, 06:11 a Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, 06:13 Adventist, Anglican, Catholic, 06:15 those are denominations, 06:18 but identified churches in America, 06:21 there are more than 33,000 registered churches, 06:25 anywhere from an independent church 06:26 owned by one individual 06:28 to a church belonging to an entire organization. 06:31 And so when you talk about 06:32 the Truth about God's End Time Church 06:34 or The Truth about God's True Church, 06:36 it's important to understand 06:37 that all these churches we have today, 06:39 that was not the way that Jesus intended it to be. 06:42 Look at Ephesians Chapter 4. 06:44 Let's look at verse 4. 06:45 And we're gonna go down to verse 6. 06:47 Ephesians 4:4-6. 06:51 All right? 06:53 "There is," how many bodies? 06:56 "One body and," what else? 06:58 "One spirit, just as you were called 07:01 in one hope of your calling," together, 07:05 "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 07:09 one God and Father of all, 07:12 who is above all and through all and in all." 07:17 So when you look at the word one, 07:18 how many times is one mentioned? 07:20 One, two, three, four, five. 07:23 Four or five times the word one is mentioned. 07:25 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 07:27 one God, one Father of all. 07:29 So the question together, as we just simply, 07:31 I want to review very quickly 07:33 as we simply summarize the topic about 07:35 all the different churches around the world. 07:37 I mentioned to you last week, 07:39 we talked about a time period 07:41 from the year 1798 to the year... 07:44 From the year 538 to the year 1798, 07:47 it's known as the blank ages, what is it called? 07:50 The Dark Ages. The Dark Ages. 07:51 During the Dark Ages, 07:53 the church went through a dark period, 07:56 the church went to a time of persecution, 07:58 and there were no more multiple copies of the Bible, 08:01 just reviewing from last week, 08:03 the Bibles were not in multiple copies, 08:05 you can get a Bible, 08:07 you couldn't have one and you couldn't have one, 08:09 the churches owned the Bible and the Church of the Dark Ages 08:12 is the Church of Rome. 08:13 So whatever copies of the Bible they were, 08:15 they were chained to the altars 08:16 in the cathedrals in throughout different stations in Europe, 08:20 but the Roman Church was over all the churches 08:23 that existed at the time. 08:25 And so whatever was taught 08:26 that people had to simply accept it 08:28 as being found in God's Word. 08:32 For that reason, during that time period, 08:34 many doctrines crept into the church. 08:37 Let me not use the word crept, they were sold to the church. 08:41 You know, you can only creep in 08:43 if there's something already there. 08:44 That's true. 08:46 But many doctrines were taught 08:47 to the church that were not true. 08:49 Matter of fact, there's a new movie, 08:51 not a new movie, but another showing of a movie 08:54 that came out a number of years ago 08:55 called Left Behind. 08:57 And that somebody told me about this, 08:59 this famous actor by the name of Nicolas Cage, 09:01 who's gonna be starring as the chief star 09:04 in this movie Left Behind, 09:06 communicating the idea that people disappear. 09:09 And, you know, while they're flying the plane, 09:10 if they're Christian, the pilot disappears. 09:12 Or if they're driving a car, the driver disappears. 09:15 And various things happen around the world. 09:17 Well, that was one of the teachings 09:18 that were born during the Dark Ages, 09:20 known as the gap theory, 09:26 or the tribulation, 09:28 or the rapture theory. 09:30 It was also called the gap theory 09:32 because it jumped from the 69th to the 70th week in Daniel, 09:36 by many, many, many, many, many, many years, 09:38 hundreds of years between those two periods. 09:41 But that's in the church today, 09:42 are the teaching about an eternally burning hell 09:45 was introduced into the church, 09:46 the teaching of infant baptism, and purgatory, 09:50 and limbo were introduced into the church at that time. 09:53 So many of the things being taught in the church today 09:56 were not there in the initial stages 09:59 of the teachings of Jesus, 10:01 and they were not found in the Bible, 10:03 but they were introduced during the Dark Ages 10:05 when the light was turned off. 10:09 So tonight, what we're gonna do is 10:11 go through God's Word together 10:12 and discover that we're gonna go back to the Bible. 10:15 In other words, what happened to bring people 10:17 back to the Bible, it was called the Reformation. 10:20 What was it called? 10:21 The reformation, reforming, or more specifically, 10:25 the Protestant Reformation, people now, walking back, 10:29 marching back to the Word of God 10:31 because the light began to dawn, 10:33 and the Word of God began to be translated 10:35 into the common language of the people. 10:37 We know the story of Martin Luther, 10:39 one of the great reformation leaders. 10:42 He's known as one of the chief leaders 10:44 of the Protestant Reformation, 10:46 but there was Calvin, Zwingli, Hus, Jerome, Wycliffe, 10:48 and the list goes on and on and on. 10:50 So tonight, what I wanna begin with, 10:52 is by going to Matthew, our fourth question, 10:56 since we covered one, two, and three 10:58 last week, I wanna go to Matthew Chapter 28. 11:01 And we're gonna begin by asking this question. 11:04 How does the Bible describe the mission of God's Church? 11:13 There's a mission that God's Church has, 11:15 how does the Bible describe that particular mission? 11:19 Let's go to Matthew Chapter 28. 11:22 And we're gonna look together at verse 19 and verse 20. 11:26 Matthew 28:19-20. 11:31 All right, are we all there? 11:34 Okay, let's look at this together. 11:35 Matthew Chapter 28, 11:37 the commission that Jesus gave to His disciples, 11:39 just before He returned to the kingdom, 11:42 that is to heaven. 11:43 The Bible says, "Go therefore and," do what? 11:47 "Make disciples of," how many nations? 11:49 "All nations," and what else they're doing? 11:52 "Baptizing them in the name of the Father 11:55 and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," 11:59 and doing something else, "teaching them to," do what? 12:03 "Observe all things that I have commanded you, 12:08 and lo, I am with you," how long? 12:10 "Always, even to the end of the age." 12:14 Some translations say to the end of the world. 12:16 Now, this means the very same thing, 12:18 the end of the age. 12:19 The end of the age is the same as the end of the world. 12:22 But notice what the Lord says, 12:24 He says, "Go therefore and make disciples, 12:27 but also go therefore and teach." 12:29 So you have teach, baptize, and then what else? 12:33 Teach, but you also don't have just teaching, 12:37 but you have making disciples, 12:39 a disciple is one that follows Christ. 12:43 So the church began with how many disciples? 12:46 Somebody tell me, 12 disciples, 12:48 but after the disciples were finished their training, 12:52 their title was changed from a disciple to what? 12:56 Apostle, apostle, somebody once said, 12:59 not understanding what an apostle means 13:01 and not understanding what an epistle is. 13:03 Somebody said an epistle is an apostle's wife. 13:06 That's not true. 13:07 An epistle... 13:09 Somebody thought... 13:11 Actually somebody I said, I say, "What's an epistle?" 13:12 An apostle's wife? 13:14 No, an epistle is what an apostle preaches. 13:17 It's a message, it's a contained message. 13:20 Okay, you have to calm down now. 13:23 The Lord gave the apostles an epistle 13:25 or a message to proclaim. 13:28 So after they were finished their disciple training, 13:31 they were now sent. 13:32 And so the word that indicates they were sent 13:35 is a two letter word. 13:36 What's the two letter word? 13:38 Go. 13:39 Go. 13:41 Go therefore and make disciples of how many nations? 13:45 Okay, now we have to get this clear. 13:47 So the message will go to how many nations? 13:50 All nations. 13:52 So God's message to the world, I just gave you the answer. 13:56 God's last day message goes to how many people? 13:59 The whole world. 14:00 All right, it's a worldwide message. 14:02 The Lord didn't say, go to the community. 14:05 He said go to how many nations? 14:08 All nations, 14:09 but it's very important to understand something 14:12 because the message of God does something. 14:14 You see when Jesus came, go with me to John Chapter 1. 14:18 Go with me to John Chapter 1. 14:20 When Jesus came, He came at a time 14:25 that was not unusual 14:26 in the sense that 14:30 was not unusual 14:32 in the sense that he didn't understand the times. 14:34 Jesus always understands the time. 14:36 But I want you to see something 14:38 that is said clearly in His Word. 14:42 All right? 14:43 John Chapter 1. 14:46 All right? 14:48 The Bible says, let's look at verse 4. 14:52 All right? 14:53 Okay. 14:55 It says, "In Him was life, 14:59 and the life was," what? 15:01 "The light of men. 15:03 And the light shines in," what? 15:05 "Darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." 15:10 All right, let's go down to verse 9. 15:13 Well, let's go to verse 8. 15:15 Okay. 15:17 Well, let's go to verse 9 15:18 because let's talk about John the Baptist 15:19 in verse 6, 7, and 8. 15:21 But let's go down to verse 9, going back to Christ, 15:24 "That was the true Light which gives light to every man 15:28 who comes into the world. 15:31 He was in the world, 15:32 and the world was made through Him, 15:35 and the world did not know Him. 15:38 He came to His own, and," what? 15:41 "His own," what? 15:43 "Did not receive Him." 15:45 So what happened? 15:46 The light of the world came, and what happened to Him? 15:50 He was not received. 15:52 So the gospel if you look at this, 15:54 if Jesus is the Light, 15:56 what else can we call the gospel? 16:00 I just gave you the answer, the light. 16:03 Let's go to 1 Peter Chapter 2:9. 16:06 1 Peter 2:9. 16:08 Let's expand on that very thought. 16:11 1 Peter 2:9. 16:13 All right? 16:17 Okay. 16:21 Okay. 16:24 Speaking of, He chose the disciples, 16:27 and He also chooses us. 16:29 1 Peter 2:9, 16:31 speaking of the church, He says, 16:34 "But you are a," what kind of generation? 16:37 "Chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 16:41 a holy nation, His own special people, 16:46 that you may proclaim the praises of Him 16:49 who called you out of," what? 16:51 "Darkness into His," what? 16:54 "Marvelous light." 16:55 If you look at the Word of God, 16:57 the Word of God is not just light, it is what? 16:59 Marvelous light. 17:00 The Word of God is marvelous light. 17:03 I wanna just walk you through some things 17:04 that are very true about the Word of God. 17:06 Go to Matthew Chapter 4. 17:09 Matthew Chapter 4, let's look at a couple of things 17:11 in the Bible about this wonderful light. 17:17 Okay, Matthew, I believe it's Matthew Chapter 4. 17:22 And yeah... 17:27 Matthew 4:16. 17:30 The reason why the gospel is so necessary the light, 17:33 the Lord says here, 17:35 "The people who sat in darkness saw a," 17:37 what kind of light? 17:39 "Great light, and upon those who sat in the region 17:42 and shadows of death," what has dawn? 17:44 "Light has dawn." 17:46 Now, what you have to keep in mind 17:48 is Jesus is the Light of the world, 17:50 is He not, amen to that? 17:51 But when Jesus left, 17:53 He gave this light to His disciples, 17:55 then He said of the church, 17:57 you've been called out of darkness 17:59 into this marvelous what? 18:00 Light. 18:01 And in Matthew also says to the people, 18:03 to His disciples, you are the light of the world. 18:05 So now in the absence of Jesus, 18:07 who does He want to reflect His light? 18:10 Us. 18:11 Let's go now to Isaiah Chapter 60. 18:13 Let's go to Isaiah Chapter 60. 18:15 Notice the Bible leads line upon line, line upon line, 18:18 precept upon precept, Isaiah Chapter 60. 18:23 All right, this by the way, 18:26 if I could give this to proper context, 18:29 this passage is a proclamation of the coming of Jesus. 18:35 This proclamation is the coming of Christ, 18:38 but not only that, 18:39 of the impact of the coming of Christ on the people 18:42 that received Him, Isaiah Chapter 60. 18:45 Look what it says, verse 1, 18:47 "Arise, shine for," what has happened? 18:50 "For your light has come! 18:53 And the glory of the Lord is risen," where? 18:56 "Upon you. 18:57 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, 19:00 and deep darkness the people, 19:03 but the Lord will arise over you, 19:06 and His glory will," what? 19:09 "Be seen upon you. 19:10 The Gentiles shall come to," what? 19:13 "Your light, and kings to the brightness of," what? 19:17 "Your rising." 19:19 So here's the key. This is so vitally important. 19:21 As we study the Word of God. 19:22 As we study the theme of Jesus, 19:24 the light gets brighter and brighter. 19:26 It is as a light that shines 19:28 more and more on to that perfect day. 19:30 The truth of God's Word, 19:32 does it get darker or does it get brighter? 19:34 It gets brighter. 19:35 So as the light of God enlightens our minds, 19:38 and people see the difference that is made in our lives, 19:41 the Lord says in His Word, 19:42 "The Gentiles come to the brightness 19:46 of your rising." 19:47 In other words, they see what difference has it made 19:49 in Terry's life and in Brother Hutchinson life 19:51 and my wife's life, 19:52 and what difference has it made in a person's life 19:54 that receives this message? 19:57 It makes a major difference. 19:58 But let's answer question number four. 20:00 Let's go there very quickly. 20:01 How does the Bible describe the mission of God's Church 20:03 to do what? 20:05 Make disciples, baptize, and continue to teach. 20:10 Make disciples, baptize, and teach. 20:12 And what we are teaching is the gospel. 20:14 Another phrase for the gospel is the good news. 20:19 Amen. 20:20 And the good news is who? 20:22 Jesus, "For God so loved the world 20:24 that He gave His only begotten Son." 20:27 Now last week, when we talked about this, 20:36 we included the message of Revelation Chapter 14, 20:39 we included one of the three angels' messages. 20:42 Now peak back there with me 20:43 in preparation for the next question. 20:46 Go to Revelation Chapter 14, 20:48 peak there with me to Revelation Chapter 14, 20:50 in preparation for the next question. 20:53 All right. 20:55 I want you to see Revelation 14:7. 21:00 Revelation 14:7. 21:05 Well, verse 6 and 7 21:06 because it's a continuing sentence. 21:09 All right? 21:11 Verse 6, "Then I saw another angel 21:15 flying in the midst of heaven, having the," what gospel? 21:19 "Everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth 21:22 to every nation, kindred, tongue, 21:26 and people saying with a loud voice," do what? 21:29 "Fear God and," do what? 21:31 "Give glory to Him, 21:33 for the hour of His judgment has come 21:37 and worship Him who made heaven and earth, 21:40 and the sea and the springs or fountains of waters." 21:42 Now what I want to focus on 21:43 is contained in question number five. 21:46 We'll see what I pulled that verse 4. 21:48 Let's go to question number five. 21:51 This verse will remind you very quickly, 21:53 of why question number five is so vitally important. 21:56 All right? 21:57 Here's question number five. 22:00 What are we called to do that is connected 22:03 to the everlasting gospel? 22:05 What are we called to do? 22:06 Now when you read Revelation Chapter 14, 22:09 as Bible says, "Fear God and," what to Him? 22:13 "Fear God and," do what? 22:14 "Give glory to Him." 22:16 Now let's see... 22:17 Now let's look at the question. 22:18 What do we call to do 22:20 that is connected to the everlasting gospel? 22:21 Go to 1 Corinthians 10:31. 22:24 1 Corinthians 10:31, this is a three text answer. 22:29 1 Corinthians 10:31. 22:32 Now as you're turning to the page, 22:34 or to the scripture, let me make this statement. 22:37 The gospel doesn't just give you 22:39 intellectual knowledge. 22:42 The gospel gives you experiential knowledge. 22:45 The gospel also gives you applicable knowledge. 22:48 The gospel doesn't just change the way you think. 22:50 The gospel also should change the way you live. 22:53 Amen? 22:54 If it doesn't change the way you think, 22:56 it's just something we're adding to our mind 22:58 this intellectual content. 23:00 But the gospel is not just intended 23:02 to give you information. 23:04 The gospel is intended not to just inform, 23:07 but to transform. 23:10 It's not just intended to renew your intellect, 23:13 but to renew your life. 23:15 So while your mind is being renewed, 23:17 your life is also being renewed. 23:20 So what are some of the ways that we can give God glory? 23:26 Let's look at this first one. 23:27 All right? Look at the first one. 23:29 Let's read this together. 23:31 1 Corinthians 10:31. 23:33 Are you ready? 23:34 "Therefore, whether you," what? 23:37 "Eat or drink, or whatever you do, 23:40 do all to the," what? 23:42 "Glory of God." 23:44 Now, it's amazing. 23:46 Is it possible to eat to the glory of God? 23:49 Is it possible not to eat to the glory of God? 23:52 Of course, so if this verse says, 23:55 "Whether we eat, or drink, or whatever we do, 23:57 do all to the glory of God." 23:59 It is possible to glorify God, not just in our songs, 24:03 and in our singing, and in our preaching, 24:06 and in our teaching, but in how we eat and we drink. 24:10 So let's first put that answer down. 24:11 What are we called to do that 24:13 is connected to the everlasting gospel? 24:15 In our eating, and in our drinking, 24:18 give glory to God. 24:20 Because honestly, there's some people 24:22 that try to find excuses in the Bible to drink alcohol. 24:25 And they say, "Jesus turned the water into wine." 24:27 Have you heard that excuse before? 24:29 They say, "If He didn't intend for us to drink alcohol, 24:32 He would not have turned the water into wine." 24:35 Well, now we know that Jesus did not turn 24:38 the water into moonshine. 24:40 Right? 24:41 He didn't make ripple. Amen. 24:43 Help me out somebody. 24:44 Jesus did not make alcohol 24:46 to get people at the wedding drunk. 24:49 Matter of fact, He left the best for last. 24:52 Now there's a reason for that. 24:53 If He made it first 24:55 people would have naturally said, 24:57 you know, that wedding lasted seven days. 25:00 At the end of those seven days 25:01 that grape juice would have fermented 25:04 because they didn't have refrigeration like we have now. 25:06 It was in tall vessels, tall jugs, tall flasks, 25:11 and it would have just naturally kind of like, 25:14 how many of you ever had apple juice at Thanksgiving? 25:19 That really the real apple juice 25:21 that they say when you open it, 25:23 don't forget to put it in the fridge right away 25:25 because if you forget the next day, 25:27 you open it, you know, you hear, 25:30 the fermentation is already started. 25:32 And if you leave it out for two days, 25:34 or three days, 25:35 after a while you can start 25:38 tasting the development of alcohol 25:40 in the natural apples. 25:42 Well, there's reason I said that 25:44 Jesus left the best for last. 25:48 At the end of the wedding feast, 25:50 which means the last day of the wedding 25:52 is when He provided the best wine and they said, 25:56 "He has saved the best for last." 25:58 That's where that term came from. 26:00 He saved the best for last. 26:02 So Jesus didn't make alcohol or fermented grape juice 26:06 to get the wedding guests drunk. 26:08 So therefore, 26:10 He intended that even through his own example, 26:13 and when He was on the cross, 26:14 they tried to give Him vinegar to drink, 26:16 which when you study that, that was cheap Roman's wine, 26:18 it was vinegar and fermented grape juice mixed together, 26:22 which would have tainted Him as the spotless lamb. 26:26 He chose not to drink that. 26:29 All right, but let's see the reason why 26:30 it's important that we eat and drink to the glory of God. 26:34 Let's go to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. 26:39 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. 26:42 Sometimes I like to read this in the King James Version 26:44 because in the King James Version, 26:47 Paul the Apostle begins with the word, what! 26:50 Have you noticed that? 26:52 If you have the King James Version, 26:53 he begins with the word what! 26:54 In other words, don't you know, 26:56 but we're in the New King James. 26:58 So here it is. 27:00 I'll just put the word in there, 27:01 "What do you not know that your body is the," what? 27:06 "Temple of the Holy Spirit who is," where? 27:10 "In you, whom you have from God, and," what? 27:14 "You are not your own?" 27:16 When people say, I can do what I wanna do. 27:18 Let's look at the rest of the text. 27:20 "For you were bought," what? 27:22 "At a price, therefore glorify God 27:25 in your body and in your," what? 27:27 "Spirit, which are God's." 27:29 Now let's pause before we go to the next text. 27:31 Some people say, "I'm in the spirit." 27:33 It's okay to be in the spirit. 27:34 But he said what you do with your body 27:36 while you're in the spirit 27:37 is vitally important also, amen? 27:39 Some people say, 27:40 "Oh, the Holy Spirit was really heavy today." 27:41 And they leave and they just do any anything to their body 27:45 that they want to. 27:47 And part of the call to be a follower of Christ 27:52 is to recognize that we are owned by Him. 27:55 Let's look what it says, 27:57 "For you were bought at a price or with a price." 27:59 What was the price for us being purchased? What? 28:02 The cross, His life, His death, He bought us back. 28:06 And the word for that is Redeemer. 28:10 Redeemer. 28:11 Now some of you have been by army basis 28:14 and we were down in North Carolina, 28:16 where my wife's sister was, her husband was in the army. 28:19 I don't know, I can't remember the name of the base, 28:22 Fort Bragg. 28:23 And many of the soldiers just before they, 28:27 you know, go overseas, 28:28 they take maybe their radio or their guitar 28:31 to the pawn shops, 28:33 and they pawn them in because they want money. 28:37 And when they pawn them in, they get this little ticket. 28:40 It's called a redeeming ticket. 28:43 And what happens is, 28:45 say for example, they turn their guitar 28:46 and they get like 40 bucks for it. 28:48 Well, to get their guitar back, they got to do what? 28:50 Pay $40 plus whatever interest, 28:53 the guy decided to add to that while they got the loan. 28:56 Well, if they lose that ticket and somebody finds it, 29:00 now they could go and redeem that guitar 29:03 because they have the ticket. 29:04 That's called redemption value. 29:07 We were by sin sold cheaply 29:12 and Jesus came and redeemed us. 29:14 Amen? 29:16 His redeeming price was His blood. 29:18 The redeeming ticket was the blood of Jesus, 29:21 was His broken body, was His shed blood. 29:23 That's why communion service includes those two emblems. 29:26 But remember, we are bought with the price. 29:28 So therefore, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, 29:31 we also have to keep in mind when the Bible says, 29:33 "Do you not know that your body is the temple 29:35 of the Holy Spirit who is in you?" 29:36 What we have to keep in mind 29:38 is when we give our lives to Christ, 29:39 the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us. 29:42 You see, matter of fact, let's go to Romans. 29:44 All right? 29:46 Romans Chapter 8. 29:48 Let's go to Romans. 29:49 Let's look at this very quickly. 29:51 What I like about these studies 29:52 is you don't have to rush through them. 29:54 Romans Chapter 8. 29:56 Okay. 30:00 If the spirit is living in you, how do you live? 30:03 Romans Chapter 8. 30:04 Look at verse 1. 30:06 This is the chapter talking about 30:07 how the spirit delivers from the power of the flesh. 30:11 Therefore, Romans 8:1, 30:14 "There is therefore now no," what? 30:17 "No condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, 30:22 who walk not according to the flesh, 30:24 but according to the Spirit." 30:26 So now this is an amazing context. 30:29 This is powerful. 30:31 Let's try to look at this picture. 30:32 Get this in your head. 30:33 We are in Christ and the spirit is in us. 30:38 We are in Christ and the spirit is in us. 30:43 We're in Christ. 30:45 If anyone is in Christ, 30:48 but then we are in Christ and the spirit is in us. 30:52 Now, I know some of you are looking at me 30:54 like that's hard to imagine. 30:56 Let's think of it this way. Anybody has wallet? 30:59 You have a glasses case. 31:00 Do you have pair of glasses? 31:02 Just give me that illustration. 31:03 Okay, your glasses, 31:05 let's just use this illustration. 31:06 Okay. Let's just go ahead. 31:07 Here we are. 31:09 This is us. 31:10 When we become Christians, 31:12 we are in Christ, 31:16 but the Holy Spirit is in us. 31:20 The Holy Spirit's in us, we are in Christ. 31:24 We are covered by Christ and filled by the Holy Spirit. 31:29 You got to get that. 31:30 So if we are in Christ, 31:31 He covers us with His righteousness. 31:34 Then He fills us with His redeeming power, 31:38 the Holy Spirit. 31:39 See, so we are taking care of on the outside 31:41 and on the inside. 31:43 So you have to keep in mind 31:45 that as you live your life, it should make an impact 31:47 on the outside as well as where? 31:50 On the inside. 31:51 If you paint your house 31:53 and somebody sprays the outside of your house, 31:55 would you say, ah, no big deal, 31:57 they just sprayed the outside of my house. 31:58 Would you care? 32:00 Because it's your house. 32:01 Now, what if your house was that you paint your house 32:04 and they did nothing to the outside of the house, 32:06 but they came inside your house and sprayed your furniture, 32:08 would you care? 32:09 Why? 32:11 It's the inside, nobody sees it. 32:13 At least people driving by 32:15 can't see all the graffiti on your furniture, 32:17 but it's your house. 32:19 See, the outside and the inside belongs to Jesus. 32:22 Amen? 32:23 Let's go to the next part. 32:25 So the answer to question number five, 32:27 part two is, we are bought at a price. 32:32 We do not own ourselves. 32:35 You can put it in any words that will make sense to you. 32:37 We are not owned by ourselves. 32:40 The spirit lives in us. 32:42 We are in Christ and the spirit is in us. 32:45 All right, here's the next one. 32:48 1 Corinthians 3:17. 32:51 That's why later on, 32:53 we're gonna do a topic on health 32:55 because a lot of Christians 32:56 don't understand the topic of health. 32:58 It makes a difference. 32:59 Matter of fact, this is so true. 33:01 I got to change my phrase for matter of fact, 33:03 but it's a matter of fact. 33:05 Some people say, he says matter of fact so much 33:07 because it is a matter of fact. 33:09 In Daniel Chapter 1, where prophecy begins, 33:12 this is amazingly interesting. 33:15 Let's finish this question. 33:16 Then we'll take a peek at Daniel Chapter 1, right? 33:19 The third one, the third reason, 33:21 the third thing that is connected 33:23 to the everlasting gospel, how it impacts our lives. 33:25 Here it is. 1 Corinthians 3:17-18. 33:30 Another question by Paul, together, 33:33 "Do you not know that you are the," what? 33:38 "Temple of God 33:39 and that the Spirit of God dwells," where? 33:42 "In you?" 33:44 Now, this is powerful. 33:47 "If anyone defiles the temple of God," 33:49 what will happen? 33:51 "God will destroy him. 33:52 For the temple of God is," what? 33:54 "Holy, which temple you are." 33:57 This is vitally important. 33:59 There are many ways to defile the body. 34:01 It's not just by putting the wrong things in it. 34:04 It's not just by putting things in the body 34:07 that pollutes the body. 34:08 But it's also how you take care of the body. 34:11 It's also the misuse of the body. 34:12 And I want to just peek into another category 34:15 just carefully because when God created man, 34:18 He created man to be married to woman, 34:21 He created woman to be married to man. 34:23 When a man joins up with a man 34:24 and a woman joins up with a woman, 34:26 that's another way of defiling the temple of God. 34:28 Can I get an amen somewhere? 34:30 Because the temple belongs to God, 34:31 the outside and the inside. 34:35 And so we have to be very, very careful, 34:37 how we handle the temple of God. 34:40 You know, 34:43 the phrase that comes to mind 34:44 or the word that comes to my mind 34:46 that brings these three passages 34:49 into context is the word Lord. 34:53 Now let's look at the different descriptions of Jesus. 34:55 Call His name Jesus for He'll save His people. 34:58 He is our Savior, is He not? 35:00 All right. 35:01 But He's also our Lord. 35:04 What phrase today in common society 35:08 is the word Lord a part of? 35:13 For those of you that live in an apartment building, 35:15 what do you have? 35:16 Okay. Just wanted to see, 35:18 for those who are renting a house, 35:19 what do you have? 35:21 A landlord. 35:22 Now, can you make any changes 35:23 to the house that doesn't belong to you 35:28 without checking with the landlord? 35:29 Yes or no? 35:32 You can, but you will pay. 35:34 You can do whatever you want, but you will pay. 35:36 The landlord will say, "Wait a minute. 35:38 You didn't ask for permission 35:39 to put those windows in my house. 35:41 You didn't ask for permission to paint my kitchen." 35:44 Right? 35:45 So Jesus is Lord. 35:49 Here's my point. 35:50 Whatever we do to the body that doesn't belong to us, 35:54 we got to get permission from the Lord. 35:58 Only one Lord. 35:59 One Lord. 36:01 So the Savior, the Redeemer, the Lord, 36:04 the soon coming King, 36:05 the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley, 36:07 all those titles describe a specific function of Jesus. 36:10 Now I said, we're gonna go 36:12 to Daniel Chapter 1, very quickly. 36:13 Go there with me. 36:14 Daniel Chapter 1, 36:16 we're not gonna spend a ton of time on it, 36:17 but I'm gonna show you that this concept is not new. 36:20 Paul the Apostle didn't come up with this. 36:22 But the children of Israel knew, 36:25 the children of Israel knew 36:27 that when God called them to be a particular people, 36:31 even while they were in a foreign land. 36:35 Daniel could have easily said you know what? 36:38 We in Babylon now, I mean, like the Babylonians, 36:42 would drink like the Babylonians. 36:44 I'm gonna live like the Babylonians. 36:45 Well, he knew that no matter where you are, 36:50 there's an accountability. 36:51 All right? 36:53 I'm gonna go down to verse 4. 36:55 Just go ahead and, you know, 36:56 they were now in the courts of Babylon, 36:59 they were recognized for their skill, 37:01 their intellect, their ability. 37:02 And then Daniel 1:4, 37:06 "Young men in whom there was no blemish," 37:10 they had really good skin, "but good-looking, 37:14 gifted in all wisdom, 37:15 possessing knowledge and quick to understand, 37:18 who had ability to serve in the king's palace, 37:21 and whom they might teach 37:24 the language and literature of the Chaldeans." 37:26 Or the Chaldeans however you wanna say that. 37:29 Now it says they were good-looking, 37:33 gifted in all wisdom, 37:34 possessing knowledge and quick to understand. 37:36 Do you know that what you put in your body 37:38 determines how quickly your mind responds, 37:42 you can clog your body with so much 37:43 that your mind becomes sluggish. 37:46 I met a man a number of years ago 37:47 that his nationality doesn't matter, 37:50 but he was from the Philippines. 37:53 And we were having a conversation. 37:55 And he in the middle of the conversation, he said, 37:57 "I had triple bypass." 38:00 A triple bypass for what he said, 38:02 "I used to stop at Dunkin' Donuts every day 38:05 and buy a dozen donuts 38:07 and a 32 ounce of coffee every day." 38:12 He wasn't old, he was maybe 53, 54 at the time, 38:17 looking fair and in great health 38:19 because I forgot what I was doing that 38:20 even made him bring that up of some kind of challenge. 38:22 And, you know, I'm always in some kind 38:24 of sport challenge. 38:25 And he said, "Oh, I got to take it easy," 38:27 because of his triple bypass. 38:29 He said, he ate so much junk knows that one day at work 38:31 while he was eating a donut, he had a heart attack. 38:35 And they said to him 38:36 that his arteries were so clogged 38:38 from the donuts, all the sugar, 38:41 and the incessant amounts of coffee every day. 38:46 I say, "What happened?" 38:47 He says, "No more donuts for me. 38:50 No more coffee for me." 38:53 I had a guy that worked with me 38:55 at Chemical Bank in New York City. 38:56 Every day, we tell him, 38:59 you know, guy that's not really good. 39:01 Don't put that in your body. 39:03 Well, we didn't see this guy for a long time. 39:04 It's been like 35 years ago. 39:06 So I can mention, his name was Vincent. 39:07 He was one of the officers, 39:09 he would come into our little humble section of the bank. 39:12 And he was, 39:13 he was one of the officers always dress a nicer than us. 39:17 We hadn't seen him for like two months. 39:19 And when he finally came back 39:20 'cause every time we said, don't eat that, don't eat, 39:23 too much salt in it, 39:24 Vincent, you got to back up on that pepper. 39:27 And came back after a couple of months, 39:29 I said, "Vincent, what happened?" 39:31 He said, and he leaned over the counter 39:32 and just started laughing 39:33 'cause we had a relationship like that. 39:35 He said, "Man, I can't eat nothing." 39:38 I said, "What happened?" He said, "Man, I was sick. 39:40 I was in the hospital for two weeks. 39:42 I'd have, it wasn't bypass surgery, 39:45 but they had have a stent put in." 39:47 I said, "Why?" 39:49 He said, "Man, they took me off the pork. 39:50 They took me off the cheese. 39:52 I can't drink this, I can't eat that." 39:54 And my supervisor, Wendell Skinner, 39:57 who was a member of our church, he looked at me 40:00 and we just high fived each other and I said, 40:03 "Vincent, we told you about that, didn't we? 40:04 Right?" 40:05 He said, "Now I can't eat nothing." 40:07 And even my uncle down in the Virgin Islands. 40:10 You know, his entire diet changed 40:14 after there was a death in the family, 40:17 from the way that individuals eat fish 40:19 to crabs, and the shrimps, and the lobsters, and all that 40:22 clogging the Bible, clogging God's temple. 40:25 And some people say, 40:26 "Well, why do I have to take care of my body? 40:29 I'm gonna get a new one one day." 40:30 We are gonna get a new one. 40:32 But the Lord says, "Wait a minute. 40:33 Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. 40:36 I just sent the Holy Spirit to abide in you." 40:39 This is His temple. 40:40 Huh? 40:41 And, but what you need. 40:44 Thank you, honey. What you need is John 10:10. 40:48 The thief come, but to steal, kill, and destroy. 40:52 But Jesus said, 40:53 "I have come that you might have life 40:55 and have it" how? 40:56 "More abundantly." 40:58 And the thing about the gospel is, 41:00 it gives you abundant life. 41:02 Just to break down, you know, 41:04 you would not buy a $35,000 car or $40,000 car or $15,000 car 41:09 and just pour sugar into gas tank 41:11 and put gas in the oil tank 41:12 and oil in the gas tank and say, 41:14 well, it doesn't really matter or exactly, 41:17 or walk behind the car and suck the exhaust, 41:20 I mean, you really wouldn't. 41:22 The way that you treat your body. 41:25 You should treat your body better than you treat your car 41:28 or your house. 41:29 If you had a million dollar horse, 41:31 would you give him potato chips and keep them up late at night 41:32 and give him some Pepsi? 41:35 Okay, we wouldn't do that to a million dollar horse. 41:38 Our body is worth more than that. 41:39 Amen, somebody? 41:41 So health has a lot to do with that. 41:42 And we gonna do a program on health coming up. 41:44 We're not gonna spend... 41:45 Right now we're laying the foundation. 41:47 Not only is God's Church to be a worldwide movement, 41:50 not only is God's Church 41:51 to be preaching the everlasting gospel, 41:54 and establishing methods of taking care of the body, 41:58 but the church has another function. 42:00 Look at question number six. 42:05 Three verse 17 and 18, and verse 17 and 18 42:08 talks about the fact that we read that, 42:10 "That if we defile our temple, it leads to destruction." 42:14 What else can you do with a car when there's no more use? 42:17 What do they do with those cars? 42:20 They put them in a little small metal cube, 42:21 right? 42:23 Shipping back over to China to make a new Toyota 42:24 and send it back to us. 42:26 When you break down something that has no more function, 42:29 you just could destroy, that's it. 42:32 All these diseases, 42:33 and we're gonna get into that in specifics. 42:35 I could cover ton tonight, 42:36 but I wanna get into those 42:38 when we cover the topic of health, 42:39 but that's vitally important. 42:41 Matter of fact, 42:43 there was a program a number of years ago, 42:44 some of you may remember that 42:45 in America where they were offering 42:47 $1,000 trade in flat, 42:49 even if you dragged your car in, 42:52 even if it didn't function, they said, 42:53 you bring your car and we'll give you... 42:56 Was it $1000, $2000, $5000. 42:58 I forgot what the amount was. 43:00 And what they did was they, when the car came in, 43:04 they seized up the engines intentionally, 43:06 even if it function little bit, even if you drove it in there, 43:08 and it was a junker. 43:10 They seized up the engines and engines intentionally, 43:12 made a scrap metal and send it overseas 43:15 because there was a need for more metal 43:16 to be sold overseas. 43:18 And that's how they facilitated that 43:19 by bringing junky cars in. 43:21 And dealerships gave you a certain amount of money 43:23 towards a new vehicle. 43:25 But outside of the health component, 43:27 there's something else 43:28 that the Lord has called His church to do. 43:30 Here's the question. 43:32 What worship component is connected 43:33 to God's True Church? 43:35 Question number six. 43:36 Let's go to Exodus Chapter 20. 43:39 Exodus Chapter 20. 43:42 All right. 43:44 Exodus Chapter 20. 43:47 Okay, here we are. 43:49 Here we are. 43:52 And here's the answer. 43:53 I want us to read this together. 43:54 And we're gonna look at verse. 43:57 Yeah, we're gonna do verse 9 also. 43:59 All right, Exodus Chapter 20. 44:01 Let's just go start on verse 8 together. 44:04 The answer, everybody knows that. 44:06 Let's read that together. "Remember the," what? 44:08 "Remember the Sabbath day to do," what? 44:11 "Keep it holy." 44:12 But we're gonna continue, 44:14 we are gonna continue because here's the key. 44:17 Today in the world, this is amazing thing. 44:20 We are so far removed from the way 44:23 that God established His Church to function 44:26 that people are saying, 44:28 "Hey, Yannick, what day would you prefer?" 44:30 "Hey, Terry, what day would you prefer?" 44:32 "David, what day would you prefer?" 44:33 Pick a day and that's just good enough for me. 44:35 No! 44:36 What's the first word in that commandment? 44:39 What is that, if God says remember, 44:41 what does that mean? 44:43 Huh? 44:45 If God says remember, what does that mean? 44:48 Exactly. He said, "Remember." 44:50 In other words, don't forget. 44:54 Now, is there any impact in forgetting 44:57 what God says, remember? 45:00 If I said, remember, we're leaving tomorrow at 3:30. 45:05 Be ready, and you're not ready. 45:07 What happens? 45:08 I'll leave without you. 45:10 One person said, 45:11 he's made an agreement with all the airlines. 45:14 He said, "If I don't show up in time, 45:16 you leave without me." 45:17 And he said, 45:19 "They've always kept their end of the bargain." 45:21 Whenever he didn't show up in time, 45:22 they left him in the very same way. 45:25 Now let's look at remember, let's begin to break this down. 45:27 Go with me to Ecclesiastes Chapter 12. 45:31 Ecclesiastes Chapter 12. 45:34 All right? 45:36 Okay, here we are. 45:42 Okay. 45:47 And then we're gonna go to another passage. 45:50 I'm turning to the next passage 45:52 while you guys are going to Ecclesiastes Chapter 12. 45:56 Okay. 45:58 All right, here we are. 46:01 Now, Ecclesiastes 12:1, what's the first word? 46:06 Remember. "Remember," when? 46:08 "Now your Creator in the days of your," what? 46:12 "Your youth." 46:13 So today to the young people, 46:15 is it important for young people 46:17 to remember the Creator? 46:18 Yes or no? 46:19 Is it important for young people 46:21 to remember Jesus? 46:22 What happens if they don't remember the Lord? 46:25 Let's just look at society. 46:27 Just look at society, 46:28 rather than having to turn there. 46:30 Remember the Creator in the days of your youth, 46:33 that's to the young people of the world, 46:35 but to Christians that are hung up on the world, 46:38 there's another passage in Luke, 46:39 remember Lot's wife. 46:42 Remember Lot's wife. So here's the question. 46:44 Should we remember and not follow 46:46 the example of Lot's wife, yes or no? 46:49 Don't follow Lot's wife's example. 46:51 The Lord says, "Come out and don't look back." 46:53 Should we look back? 46:54 No. Right? 46:55 So that's important, that remember is important. 46:57 Now, is it important for the young people 46:59 to remember the Creator while they're young? 47:00 Yes or no? Okay. 47:02 So if it's important to do what Dr. Luke says, 47:06 and it's important to do what Solomon says, 47:09 and we remember those, 47:11 why is it not important to do what God says? 47:15 So it amazes me, 47:16 we say to young folk, you need Jesus. 47:18 We say to Christians, don't look back, 47:20 God's calling, don't look back. 47:22 But somehow somewhere clergy have said to Christians, 47:26 doesn't really matter what day you keep. 47:29 God said, "Remember," but, you know, 47:30 actually, that was a suggestion. 47:33 What is this command a part of? 47:35 The Ten Commandments, not the ten suggestions. 47:38 This is not multiple choice. 47:40 Let's look at Exodus 20:9. 47:43 Look at Exodus 20:9. 47:46 Go back there, you're turning there. 47:49 And this is an example that if you follow, 47:52 matter of fact, 47:53 I was visiting someone in the hospital today. 47:55 And in our visit, 47:57 they said a number of people have come to their room 47:59 and they've had occasion to give Bible study, 48:01 you know, Brenda Kiefer, 48:02 they had occasion to give Bible study 48:04 and they were very excited about that. 48:06 But they said, the most common question 48:07 that they were asked is, 48:09 how do you know that Saturday is the Sabbath? 48:11 How do you know that Saturday is the seventh day? 48:13 You know what amazes me? 48:15 It's amazing how people don't know 48:16 what day Saturday is. 48:19 But if you say to them, 48:20 come and pick up your check on the sixth day of the week, 48:22 they'll all show up on Friday. 48:24 Did you hear what I said? 48:26 If you say, come pick up your check 48:27 on the first day of the week, they'll all show up on, when? 48:30 Sunday. 48:31 If you say, come and pick up your check 48:32 on the fourth day of the week, when will they show up? 48:36 Wednesday. Wednesday. 48:39 Yeah, David wouldn't get a check. 48:44 So you got to know, you have to know, 48:46 let's look at it clearly, the first day have clearly. 48:50 And so when you look Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, 48:54 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, clearly, 48:59 but let's look at what the Lord established. 49:00 And this is more than just a day, 49:03 vitally much more than just a day. 49:05 Look at Exodus 20:9, 49:08 "Six days you shall labor and do all your work," stop. 49:12 Let me make a point. 49:13 The Lord didn't say. 49:15 And some people say, "I worship God every day." 49:17 Should we worship God every day? 49:19 Yes or No? 49:20 Of course, that was not the point. 49:24 If you decide to keep the Sabbath every day, 49:28 then you fall into the category of lazy 49:30 because if you keep the Sabbath, 49:32 you're not supposed to work, the Lord said, work, do what? 49:36 Work. 49:37 Get up in the morning and work, right, Tony? 49:39 Work. Tony's a worker. 49:41 Work, get up to work. 49:44 But if people say, well, I, you know, 49:45 I worship God every day. 49:46 You should worship God every day. 49:48 I don't know how they get worship God, 49:50 and remember the Sabbath to keep it holy as well. 49:55 I could do that every day. 49:56 If you did that every day, 49:57 you'll do what even the Lord didn't do. 49:59 He rested on the Sabbath. 50:01 But it's not just about the day, 50:03 it's even bigger than that. 50:04 Look at verse 10. 50:06 "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord," 50:11 whose God? 50:13 "Your God." 50:14 It comes down to the simple question 50:16 that has only one answer. 50:18 Who is your God? 50:20 If you can answer that the God of creation is your God, 50:22 then you don't even have to waste time 50:24 to try to pick the day, 50:25 because he said the seventh day is the Sabbath 50:27 of the Lord your God. 50:28 If May 22nd, anybody in here 50:30 is May 22nd special to anybody in here? 50:33 Raise your hand. 50:34 What's it, what is May 22nd mean, honey? 50:36 Our anniversary. Our anniversary. 50:39 Now, that didn't say any day is our anniversary, 50:43 you said what day, honey? 50:45 May 22, that's vitally important. 50:48 So that date has no bearing to anybody in this room, 50:52 except to this one lady. 50:54 So when that day comes, and I say to my wife, she said, 50:57 "Hey, honey, this is our day." 50:58 I say, "Honey, wait a minute, wait a minute, 51:00 today's a Super Bowl." 51:03 What would you say? 51:04 Can we, can I watch the Super Bowl instead of... 51:07 Okay, there's no way. 51:08 See, this is being told we're all over. 51:10 So if you guys invite me on May 22, 51:12 I won't be there 'cause it's my anniversary, 51:14 our anniversary. 51:16 You see, the reason why that day is special 51:18 is because just like our relationship, 51:20 it was blessed, and sanctified, and made what? 51:24 Holy. 51:25 Here, you can worship God every day, 51:27 but you're not going to find any day 51:28 but one that was blessed, sanctified, and made holy. 51:31 Now let's go back and see where that happened. 51:33 Let's go to Genesis quickly. 51:35 Let's go to Genesis Chapter 2. 51:37 Look at Genesis Chapter 2. 51:39 And by the way, when you look at Genesis Chapter 2, 51:41 we're gonna look at this text very quickly here, 51:43 and then we're gonna hit one more question very quickly. 51:45 Question number seven. 51:47 And the next week we'll try to go from 8 to 17. 51:49 It's so good that we don't have to finish these in one night. 51:52 Amen? 51:53 We could just milk this 51:54 because there's a lot of food here. 51:56 Genesis Chapter 2, and let's look at this. 51:59 This was at the end of creation week, 52:01 if you're a Christian, 52:02 you should believe in creation. 52:05 If you believe in creation, 52:06 then this passage is vitally important 52:08 to the way you worship. 52:10 We wanna follow God's example. 52:12 We wanna follow Jesus' example. 52:13 Look at this. 52:16 Genesis 1:31, 52:19 "Then God saw everything that He had made, 52:22 and indeed it was," what? 52:25 "Very good. 52:26 So the evening and the morning were the," what? 52:28 "Sixth day." So get this now. 52:31 Sixth day had ended, what day is coming next? 52:33 Boom! 52:35 Genesis Chapter 2, 52:36 "Thus the heavens and the earth, 52:40 and all the host of them, were," what? 52:42 "Finished. 52:43 And on the," what day? 52:45 "Seventh day God ended His work which He had done, 52:50 and He," did what else? 52:51 "Rested on the seventh day 52:53 from all His work which He had done. 52:56 Then God," did what? 52:58 "Blessed the seventh day and," what else? 53:00 "Sanctified it, 53:02 because in it He rested from all His work 53:05 which God had created and made." 53:07 It is amazing how that is over and over He rested, 53:10 He rested, He rested on what day? 53:13 The seventh, He not only rested, 53:14 but He blessed and He sanctified. 53:17 When something is blessed, it is made special. 53:20 When it's sanctified, it's set apart. 53:23 And by the way, I want you to know, 53:26 the Jews were more than 1500 years in the future. 53:29 This had nothing to do with the Jews. 53:32 This was long before the Jews were even a spark. 53:35 This is just a man and his wife. 53:37 His name is Adam and his wife's name was Eve. 53:41 So this was long before there were any Jews. 53:43 So when people say you keep the Sabbath 53:45 because you're a Jew, 53:46 go back to this text, there were no Jews around. 53:50 None at all. 53:51 None whatsoever, not a single Jew. 53:54 You couldn't call Abraham, Isaac, nor Jacob. 53:57 Their lineage was yet to be established. 53:59 And by the way, the call of this great nation 54:02 came through the call of Abraham. 54:03 And even Abraham wasn't a Jew. 54:06 He was a Chaldean. 54:08 He was in the province of Babylon. 54:09 To be honest, he was a Babylonian citizen 54:11 to spread the territory wide. 54:14 And let's go to Genesis 26:5, 54:16 you know, we may not get to question seven, 54:18 but you need this, we may not get to it so, 54:21 but stay tuned for the next program, 54:23 God Willing. 54:24 Let's look at Abraham. 54:26 Genesis 26:5, 54:28 because some people say 54:29 the commandments didn't show up until Mount Sinai. 54:31 That's not so. 54:32 Look at Genesis 26:5. 54:34 Why did God bless Abraham the way He did? 54:37 Look at verse 5, 54:38 "Because Abraham obeyed My voice." 54:40 What happens when you obey God voice? 54:42 You do what Abraham did, and he did what? 54:44 "Kept My charge," what else? 54:46 "My commandments," what else? 54:48 "My statutes and," what else? 54:49 "My laws long before Mount Sinai." 54:52 Get this, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the 12 sons, 54:57 then the 12 tribes, then the sojourn to Egypt, 55:02 then 400 years of bondage, then freedom, then Mount Sinai. 55:07 Look how far in the distance, the writing of the commandments 55:10 on the tables of stone were to be, 55:12 and the Bible says, 55:13 "Abraham kept God's commandments." 55:16 So you can't say, it started at Mount Sinai 55:17 because Abraham kept the commandments. 55:19 Why was it not written down? 55:21 Because they had an intellects of such great ability, 55:25 they didn't have to write this record down. 55:27 But God wrote it down 55:29 after 400 years of bondage in the land of Egypt 55:32 because after you've been a slave 55:33 for that many generations, you sometimes forget. 55:36 But God says, wait a minute, 55:38 let's make this document permanent 55:40 on tables of stone. 55:41 And today, let's go to one more text. 55:44 Let's go to one more text. 55:45 Quickly, Hebrews Chapter 10. 55:48 We're gonna wind up on this one, 55:49 I think because time is moving faster 55:52 than I like it to move. 55:54 But that's what you call the clock. 55:56 Hebrews Chapter 10. 55:58 See we have a Bible study here. 56:00 We use all the Bible. 56:02 Hebrews Chapter 10. 56:03 And let's look together at verse 16. 56:07 Hebrews 10:16, okay, 56:11 "This is the covenant I will make with them 56:14 after those days, says the Lord. 56:18 I will put My," what? 56:21 "Laws into their hearts, and in their," what? 56:24 "Minds, I will write them." 56:29 Where is God's law written today? 56:31 I'm pointing to it, heart, where else? 56:33 Mind. 56:35 In other words, when we are about 56:36 to do something wrong, oh, we know it. 56:39 Why? 56:40 Do we know because we're dragging 56:41 a big two tables of stone behind us. 56:43 Okay. 56:45 I wonder which commandment that is. 56:46 Is that how we know? 56:48 No, we know where because it's where, Yannick? 56:51 Here, where else, Brother Hutchinson? 56:53 Right here. We don't need. 56:54 Oh, let me go home and check the commandments out 56:56 to see if I could do this. 56:57 Where is it, David? 56:59 Right here and where else is it? 57:00 Right here. 57:01 In our heart and in our minds. 57:03 When the mind is sanctified to God, 57:06 when the mind and the life is sanctified to God, 57:10 the body will be sanctified to God. 57:12 The way we worship will be sanctified to God, 57:15 how we eat, and how we drink, 57:16 will be choices that we make to give glory to God. 57:19 And so we're beginning to see 57:21 that the church that God established 57:22 was not just a church, 57:24 not just a church with doctrinal integrity, 57:27 but a church with a health message. 57:28 A church that was to reflect to the world 57:31 what true worship is 57:32 remember God's Sabbath day to keep it holy, 57:35 not any day that we choose. 57:37 And so as we continue this study 57:39 on God's true church, 57:41 one thing you will discover 57:42 is as God called the people of His day 57:45 out of darkness into this marvelous light, 57:47 He's calling people from every nation, 57:49 every walk of life out of darkness 57:51 into this marvelous light. 57:53 And as the ark was being built, 57:54 the church is being established. 57:56 So if you wanna be a part of God's Church, 57:58 keep studying and, friends, if it doesn't make sense, 58:00 one day, it will come into A Sharper Focus. 58:03 God bless you. |
Revised 2019-06-28