Participants: Phillip Sizemore (Host)
Series Code: LOE
Program Code: LOE000035
|
00:01 Harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.
00:04 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, 00:06 that He will, He will 00:07 send forth laborers into His harvest. 00:10 Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 00:13 "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" 00:18 Then said I, "Here am I. Send me, send me!" 00:23 Life on the edge will enable you 00:25 to be infected harvest before Lord. 00:28 We now invite you into our classrooms to come, 00:31 experience life. 00:43 Welcome, once again to the Lay Institute for Evangelism. 00:46 Right now we're gonna be, 00:47 going into the second half of our health presentation. 00:50 We've done the first half, we kind of laid a foundation 00:53 there of showing that, that God does care what we eat 00:55 He wants our bodies to be healthy, 00:56 He wants us to be healthy both spiritually and physically. 00:59 I'll let you know in between our break here 01:01 that someone brought me a cup of carrot juice 01:03 and I swallowed that down and wash it down with water. 01:07 No, actually I like fresh carrot juice 01:09 and I was telling you about my friend, Wolkeray, 01:11 and he makes carrot juice, 01:12 he puts a little few other things in with it. 01:13 I understand from Anida here they actually put an apple in 01:16 when they mix their carrot juice up, 01:17 run a apple through the grinder 01:18 to make it apple juice, 01:19 I suppose when you run it through. 01:21 And it goes in with carrot juice 01:22 and it sweetens it up a little bit but, you know, 01:24 we do strive to be healthy and I love, 01:28 I love the way I feel since I started eating right. 01:32 And, and for those of you at home 01:33 if you've never experience that, 01:34 if you've never really ate according to the Bible 01:37 and understand what I am talking about, 01:38 it may be a little difficult. 01:40 And as we're going through this study, 01:41 you understand that this is not just a study on health, 01:45 but it's also a study on how we can better serve God. 01:48 And that's the purpose of that principle in the Bible. 01:51 If God has something in the Bible for us, 01:52 that's for our better good. 01:54 Then I think it's beneficial to us 01:56 to follow what He has for us. 01:57 And we're gonna do a quick review here just now, 02:00 overall what you may have missed it, 02:01 you didn't see the first part of the study 02:03 and you're picking up the second half. 02:04 You notice the screen here, 02:05 we are studying health and the abbreviation for the Bible 02:09 marking part of it is "H", once again it is "H". 02:12 And the purpose of it is to show that God cares 02:14 about not only our spiritual but our physical health. 02:18 And that is a new-- that was, 02:19 I got to admit that was a new revelation for me 02:21 after I first become a Christian, the fact that, 02:23 that God wants me to be healthy physically. 02:25 After all you remember I had, I had misunderstanding 02:27 about what happens when you die? 02:29 And if you think about it God would-- if you believe that 02:33 you go straight to heaven right after you die? 02:35 And God want you to be with him 02:37 then He would want you to be healthy wouldn't He? 02:38 He will die quicker and he will get you see quicker right 02:40 to be with you quicker. 02:41 But that's not His purpose right, 02:42 because we know that you're laying 02:43 in the grave waiting on the resurrection. 02:45 But why are you here? 02:46 God wants us to be healthy and able to serve Him 02:49 to be able to go out and do the work 02:50 that He has given us to do and that's to preach the gospel 02:52 in all the world, it's hard to do that, 02:54 if you're unhealthy and you're not feeling well and you're, 02:56 and you're drug down all the time. 02:58 Oh, I thank the Lord for this health message, 03:00 you know, you guys here know pretty well, 03:02 my hours are usually from before day light 03:04 to well after dark before I actually get home. 03:06 I do have a wife for the last 15 years, 03:08 I think that's one of the things that's helped 03:09 keep us together, I'm never there. 03:11 I'm just kidding, we spend a lot of time together, 03:13 we spend a lot of time together. 03:14 But seriously the more you, you tax your body as far as, 03:18 as far as mentally and physically of doing things 03:21 you need to be healthier and eating healthier things 03:22 right to stay, to stay going. 03:24 And so I thank the Lord for this, 03:26 for the health message and the principles 03:27 that He has given to us. 03:28 The Center It part of the study again is 03:31 "Jesus wants us to be healthy?" 03:33 Jesus wants us to be healthy 03:34 both physically and spiritually. 03:36 Now, we left off the last time 03:38 in Leviticus Chapter 11 in verse 47. 03:41 Leviticus Chapter 11, we're gonna go back 03:42 to Leviticus 11 now. 03:44 So, if I can get you that, 03:45 turning your Bibles with me to the Book of Leviticus, 03:48 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 03:51 Leviticus the 11th Chapter. 03:55 And, we had, I believe it was Darleen 03:58 or who has read verse 47 was that you Darleen? 04:02 Where it says, "To make a difference 04:03 between the clean and the unclean and the beast 04:05 that may be eaten and not be eaten." 04:08 That was Shalida, okay, 04:09 that was Shalida that read that. 04:10 So, God had just told us there that, 04:12 that He has it-- there is a difference between 04:14 clean and unclean and then we went to the Book of Genesis 04:16 and we found out that it wasn't just for the Jews, 04:18 but actually before there was every Jew on the earth, 04:21 all the way back in the Book of Genesis 04:22 in the days of Noah, God had made a distinction 04:24 between the clean and the unclean animals, 04:26 do you remember saying that? 04:27 And then He told us in Genesis again, 04:29 Genesis Chapter 8 I believe this is where we're at? 04:31 Genesis Chapter 8 and He says, you know, 04:33 I've given you-- Genesis 9, 04:35 Genesis 9 verses 1, 2, 3, that's where it was. 04:37 He says I've given you every animal, 04:39 everything that moves is food for you 04:40 even as the green herb and we discovered there that, 04:43 that when it says even as the green herb 04:45 that there are some green herbs that if you ate, 04:47 it would kill you, for instance "Poison hemlock". 04:49 You know, hemlock and other herbs that, that are poison 04:52 and there are certain animals that are poison too 04:54 and that's where we're going to now. 04:55 We're gonna find out that God did give us certain animals 04:58 that He said hey, you know, what? 04:59 This will kill you. 05:01 So, don't-- therefore don't eat from that 05:03 and we're gonna find out right now 05:04 what those animals are? 05:05 As we look at one of them now, 05:07 the first one we're going to is 05:09 Leviticus Chapter 11 and its verse 3, 05:12 if you're-- you don't have to take notes on this part, 05:14 because I've just wrote Leviticus 11 up there 05:16 and we're gonna go through these animals, 05:18 but it's not just verse 3, 05:19 it's, it's, it's several verses as we go through that 05:22 describe both mammals and fish and birds, 05:24 where God says, if you insist on eating these things 05:29 there's certain ones I don't want you to eat, 05:31 certain ones it's okay for you to eat. 05:33 And now, we're gonna look at the first one 05:34 as we pick up in Leviticus Chapter 11. 05:36 I'm gonna read verses 1 through 3 right now. 05:39 "And the Lord spoken to Moses and Aaron, saying unto them." 05:42 "Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 05:45 these are the beasts which you shall eat 05:48 among the beasts that are on the earth." 05:50 These are the beasts that you shall eat. 05:52 Now, before we go any further, let me ask you just, 05:55 just so we can get the thought process 05:57 going a little bit here. 05:59 Is God gonna, is God giving these, 06:01 these, these laws to them right now for the Jews, 06:04 as He given to them, because He doesn't want them, 06:07 He wants them to eat certain foods and not, 06:08 not-- certain foods because He's like punish them, 06:11 like, you know, like there is certain, 06:12 there are certain animals out there that may not, 06:14 that may taste really, really good 06:15 and God doesn't want him to have it, 06:16 so He's gonna punish them and say you can eat these animals, 06:18 is this the purpose behind this? 06:20 No, the purpose behind this is we're gonna find out, 06:22 is there are certain ones that are an abomination 06:24 they are unclean, says please don't eat this. 06:26 And there's other ones He says now, 06:27 if you got to eat one at least eat these becuase 06:29 these what we will call clean or a little more healthy. 06:33 A little more healthy, you know, and that's, 06:35 that's the purpose of this, because some people say 06:37 and I've heard it said that these unclean 06:39 and clean dietary laws was only for the Jews. 06:42 But the question I have to have is if the purpose 06:44 behind giving the law is that health purpose 06:46 that God has given them. 06:48 If it's a health purpose, it's the Jew's body, 06:51 if I had a Jewish fellow standing here next to me, 06:53 is his body different than mine? 06:55 We're like okay, he can't eat this, 06:56 but I can because I have a different body, 06:58 it won't affect me but it will affect him, 06:59 is that what the purpose of the law? 07:01 No, if the purposes of these laws are given, 07:03 so that you and I can be healthy, 07:06 then it will be for everybody and not just for the Jews. 07:09 Does that make sense? And that's why 07:11 He gave it all way back in the days of Noah, 07:13 it hasn't changed. 07:14 And we'll get into some difficult texts 07:16 as we get to the end of this because I can hear 07:17 the objections coming up even now. 07:19 Verse 3, "Whatsoever parts the hoof, 07:23 and is cloven footed, and chews the cud, 07:25 among the beast, these that you shall eat." 07:28 Among the beast that you shall eat. 07:29 What must they be before you can eat them, 07:31 they must do what? 07:32 Parts of hoof and chew the cud. 07:34 Does anybody know what part the hoof means? 07:37 And a split hoof like a deer 07:40 or a cow or a pig has a split hoof. 07:43 Okay, so these animals all have split hoofs, 07:45 but it also said not only must have a split hoof 07:47 but it also must "chew the cud". 07:49 Now, what's "chewing the cud?" 07:51 anybody know what chewing" 07:53 now I got these Kentuckians over there, 07:54 they are not chewing the cud, is right? 07:58 Pick that microphone and try it again Mike. 08:00 Wow, it's an animal that grazes. Yeah. 08:03 And then they-- They-- what they do is, yeah, 08:05 they regurgitate the food back up in their mouth 08:07 and chew it some more and swallow it back 08:08 down into another stomach or something 08:10 and it digest a little more and a, 08:11 and a they split it back up in their mouth again 08:13 and it chew on it some more and they swallow it back down, 08:15 it's chewing the cud. 08:16 And it helps in digestion, 08:17 animal must split the hoof and chew the cud. 08:20 So, if you gonna eat an animal 08:22 according to the biblical laws here 08:24 you know, what God has given 08:25 as far as health principles go. 08:26 If you're gonna eat an animal 08:27 that's of the beast of the field it must be both, 08:30 chew the cud and be split hoof. 08:32 Even though the pig, you know, it's split a hoof, 08:33 it doesn't chew the cud and it's interesting 08:36 the descriptions that God gives, 08:37 I mean, you think and now what's that have to do 08:38 with clean or unclean. 08:39 And it's fascinating to me as we go through this 08:41 and you'll see this, that, the animals 08:44 that God gives in this description 08:46 all like the nasty scavenger animals, 08:48 you know, the ones that, that don't fit in this 08:50 what we're looking at the ones 08:51 that don't fit are really pretty nasty 08:53 when you look at their lifestyle, right? 08:55 But the ones that do fit up we tend to think 08:57 they're more little more cleaner, 08:58 for instance a cow? 08:59 A cow doesn't go around eating all the garbage, 09:01 what's it eat? The grass and things like that, 09:03 so it's not like a scavenger out there just eating 09:05 whatever you through down in front of it. 09:08 And so, that it's fascinating to me 09:10 when you find how God categorize this. 09:12 He just said simply this is the things to look for, 09:14 you think what's the part of hoof 09:15 have to do with chewing the cud, 09:16 what God's like or being clean in God's like well, 09:19 when ever I created animals, 09:20 I made it a point to make the ones that had the parted hoof 09:23 and chewing the cud ones they are gonna be clean. 09:26 It's like the way I created them and it's fascinating 09:29 how all the categories do fit with animals. 09:31 So, let me give you few examples, 09:32 can we eat a deer? If you gonna eat this, 09:34 can, is a deer okay, the deer is clean right. 09:36 How about a cow? Yes. All right. 09:38 How about a camel? No, according to this why 09:41 because a camel has a hoof, even though it chews the cud, 09:45 cud, it has the hoof like a horse and so therefore 09:47 horse obviously is unclean or is unclean to eat too. 09:50 So, what we've looked at so far as the animals 09:52 that in the field they must both chew the cud 09:55 and be parted at the hoof. 09:57 Now, I'm gonna read on down here 09:58 a little more into this. 10:00 Let us continue on says verse 4, 10:02 "Nevertheless these shall you not eat of them 10:04 that chew the cud" so the ones that chew the cud 10:07 that you're not allowed to eat "of them 10:09 that divides the hoof, as the camel" 10:12 don't eat the camel, you know, 10:13 what you gonna do now don't you? 10:15 Go home and clear that freezer out 10:16 all those camel stakes you got, 10:20 "because he chews the cud, but divides not the hoof, 10:22 he is unclean to you." 10:24 "And the coney" oh, you know, 10:26 what that means? 10:27 No more hot dogs, it says right there 10:30 that you can't eat the coney. 10:32 Oh, common now everybody follow along with me, 10:33 you know, what the coney is right? 10:34 A coney is a hot dog and it makes a perfect sense-- 10:38 you've heard a Coney Island? 10:40 Right, it's talking about the hotdog, 10:41 and I think it's interesting in the King James, 10:42 I just think that's hilarious myself when you read that. 10:44 It says you can't eat the coney. 10:45 Now, it's not talking about a hotdog obviously, 10:49 its talking about like there's a, 10:50 it's like some kind of a, my understanding 10:52 it's sort of like a, 10:53 does may have different translation, 10:54 it gives another name for it 10:56 because I think it's something if I remember right, Tom? 11:00 The rock hyrax, right, hyrax, 11:02 yeah I thought it was like a mountain, 11:03 like almost like a badge or something 11:05 that lived up in the mountains. 11:06 Leopards and rock badger. 11:07 Rock badger, yeah, something like that, 11:09 so you're not to eat that either, 11:10 because it's unclean. 11:11 And I think it's funny though because 11:12 we can apply that to today's language 11:14 and just you call it a coney. 11:16 You know what a hotdog is right? 11:17 Whatever it is whether its beef or whatever 11:19 they just take the innards and whatever is left 11:21 after they scrape up everything on the fort 11:22 end of the day, they are thrown into machine 11:23 run it through a grinder and out comes a hotdog. 11:27 You know, I love aggravating, 11:28 I love aggravating the vegetarians 11:30 do they eat vegelinks. 11:31 You know what a vegelink hotdog is? 11:33 It's all the scraps at the end of the day 11:34 at the broccoli factory, you know, 11:36 it's thrown all in and you run through there 11:37 and that's what comes out as a hotdog. 11:40 It's all the, it's all the nasty stuff 11:41 that's left, right? 11:43 I'm just kidding. 11:45 But you get the point, you know, 11:46 hotdogs are unclean, you know, 11:48 as far as biblical goes, because it is, 11:50 it's not, it has the part you are not supposed to eat 11:53 as far as the flesh hotdog goes. 11:54 I can take a little bit that one says 11:56 allow me to turkey dog, 11:57 oh great you're eating the turkey guts. 12:00 All right, then the turkey blood and what's left? 12:01 You ever noticed that is, 12:02 it doesn't look nothing like a turkey, 12:04 you know, a turkey dough looks nothing like a turkey, 12:06 you've ever noticed that? You open it up 12:07 than it doesn't look like 12:08 a breast meat or anything like that, 12:10 it's pretty nasty. 12:12 And if you ever go to one of those places 12:15 in my understanding I have a, there was a guy, 12:17 I had the privilege of baptizing. 12:19 Oh, actually know it wasn't him it was his friend, 12:21 the other guy that didn't get baptized 12:22 because he worked at a factory 12:24 where they processed pigs. 12:26 And, you know, and they put them in the, 12:28 in different, different animals 12:29 I understand as well but they-- 12:30 he done all that work, you know, 12:32 butchering and everything like that putting them 12:33 in the machines and he will not eat meat that stuffing. 12:37 He is like, do you saw what this stuff was, 12:39 you won't touch it and so if you ever think that, 12:43 that oh there is nothing wrong with eating this stuff, 12:45 go talk to somebody that works in one of those places, 12:47 there are like all vegetarians. 12:51 Anyway not all but I would be and, 12:54 and the lot of them are, a lot of them 12:56 are they see what goes on there, you know. 12:58 Could you imagine at the end of the day, 12:59 they just or whatever they just take 13:01 left over's of everything that left over 13:02 and they put it in a machine, 13:03 they make hotdogs out of it, and then you eat this. 13:09 Okay, so we're looking here now 13:11 as we're going on you're not allowed to have the coney, 13:12 no more hotdogs, because he choose the cud 13:15 but divide us not the hoof. 13:17 So, even though the-- even though the coney or the, 13:19 or the rock badge as you said and the camel, 13:24 even though, even though they chew a cud 13:26 their hoofs aren't divided, so no eat them. 13:29 And then in verse 6 it says, 13:30 or the hare, now what's the hare? 13:32 Oh, man, eat nothing better than the rabbit is there? 13:36 Eating it, now it depends on where you're from, right? 13:39 Remember, I grow, we, we if it moved we ate it. 13:41 And so, and so it says don't eat the rabbit, 13:43 don't eat the hare because, 13:44 because the rabbit even though it chews the cud, 13:47 he has a paw, and its so cute, 13:50 that's what the girls say. 13:53 Because he chews the cud but does not divide the hoof, 13:55 he is unclean to you. 13:57 And the pig or the swine, now meddling aren't they? 14:01 Now, from the beginning of the study, 14:03 from the very beginning God says, 14:04 hey the principle here is I want you to prosper 14:07 in being good health even as your soul prospers 14:10 and so He gives dietary laws, 14:11 He gives certain laws, He says if you obey these, 14:14 you'll be healthier. 14:16 And so as you read down through this, 14:18 as you're giving a study 14:19 or you're preaching or whatever you're doing, 14:20 as you're reading down through these keep in mind 14:22 that's the purpose of this. 14:23 Sometimes we can, we can kind of fall over into, 14:26 yeah and stop eating this and stop eating that, 14:28 if you eat that you're going to hell. 14:29 No, that's not the point, the point is with the, 14:32 with the laws that God has given us 14:33 is that God wants us to be healthy. 14:37 Now, if you would were not eat these things 14:39 and you become healthier, is it worth it? 14:42 I mean even if you, even you 14:43 set the spiritual part aside, 14:45 I mean, just I'm not willing to do 14:46 that right but if you set that aside 14:48 and you're just like living out in the world 14:49 and you're just living for yourself 14:51 and it's all about the here and now being and, 14:53 and having your money and things like that, 14:54 what good is it to have your money 14:56 if you can't enjoy with good health. 14:58 So, even if, even if 14:59 someone were to take this spiritual aspect 15:01 of this whole thing and put it aside 15:02 then serving of God which God wants us to be healthy 15:04 and serve Him in health. 15:05 Science even the day, good science actually, 15:08 you know, teaches us the same thing 15:09 that the Bible tell us all along, 15:10 the best diet is not to be eating these things. 15:14 You know, your high cholesterol things 15:15 like that it comes from eating things 15:16 that God says don't eat. 15:19 I think I told you guys at the beginning of the first study 15:21 that I had like cholesterol of almost, 15:23 it was like 200 and something 15:24 and it was pretty high I remember that. 15:26 And ever since I quit, 15:28 changed my diet everything is fine. 15:30 No, no problems, you know, I feel good. 15:33 So, and so I am totally sold on 15:35 what the Bible has given us here, 15:37 because I've tried what God has said 15:39 and given the example, I know, that it works. 15:42 You know, it's funny to me 15:43 because very ones that mark me for doing this 15:45 are the ones that never tried it. 15:48 You know, they would say oh, 15:49 that's a bunch of boney, bunch of boney 15:50 and they're taking the blood pressure medication 15:52 and getting their insulin shots and all this kind of stuff 15:55 and they originally have these problems. 15:57 The doctors have realized that it comes upon 15:59 because of their, because of their diet, 16:01 the way they have been living and eating 16:02 and not exercising and these kind of things 16:04 but yet those are the very people 16:05 that make fun of me for living like this. 16:08 Something strange about the way 16:09 we live in this world, isn't it? 16:11 All right, let's carry on verse 7, 16:13 "And swine, though he divides the hoof, 16:15 "he is not clovenfooted, yet he choose not the cud, 16:17 he is unclean to you." 16:19 "Or their flesh, of their flesh, 16:22 "he shall not eat, and their carcass 16:24 "you shall you not touch, 16:25 they are unclean to you." 16:27 So, just stay away from this stuff 16:28 as disease that's what He says. 16:31 "These," verse 9 "These shall you eat of all 16:34 that are in the waters." 16:35 So now we're gonna start talking about the fish here 16:37 the things that are in the waters, 16:39 that's okay and not okay to eat 16:41 according to the Bible. 16:42 Now, let me, let me just, 16:44 we just throw it out here and, and, 16:45 and we'll go over some examples, 16:47 "whatsoever has fins and scales in the waters, 16:50 "and in the seas, and in the rivers, 16:52 them shall you eat." 16:53 That's pretty simply isn't it? 16:55 I was listening to Mark Finley preach one time 16:57 and he was telling the story about, 16:59 I understand after a World War I 17:01 before World War I and World War II, 17:03 you know, like the time World War II is breaking out, 17:04 or something along those lines. 17:06 That the government had a problem they said, 17:08 you know, while our pilots have gone down in the, 17:10 in the ocean and things like that close to islands 17:12 and they and they-- they would go to an island 17:15 they would get there and they be by themselves 17:16 and then they would end up eating 17:18 something out of the water or something that we killed them. 17:20 And so they wanted to come up with the handbook 17:21 that the pilots could have that if they, 17:24 if they were to be stranded somewhere 17:25 and while they were waiting to be rescued, 17:27 they can use that handbook to figure out 17:28 what will be okay, not okay to eat in the waters 17:30 if they caught something to eat. 17:32 And so they, they went 17:33 and they paid this guy lots of money, you know, 17:35 hundreds and thousands of dollars 17:36 or whatever it was, you know, 17:37 and they done this research and everything 17:38 and they come up with this handbook 17:40 and he was telling him the story to come up 17:41 the handbook like that thick 17:42 and the pilots can keep it with them 17:44 and if they went down they can always look 17:45 in their handbook and see if it's okay to eat this, 17:47 how to prepare the food and stuff like that. 17:48 And in the handbook itself they had a statement 17:51 like at the end of it. 17:53 If you loose your handbook and you're stranded 17:56 and you don't want to do if it doesn't have 17:58 fins and scales just stay away from it, you'll be safe. 18:01 I could have saved them 18:03 hundred and thousands of dollars, right? 18:04 And just said hey if you open up the Leviticus 11, 18:07 that's exactly what God said. 18:09 So, it has to have fins and scales. 18:10 Let me give you guys a quick quiz, 18:12 now, I'm a fisherman myself. 18:13 And there, I understand for sure 18:16 that there are certain foods that are clean 18:18 and certain ones that are unclean, right? 18:20 As far as fish goes, now used to 18:22 up until recent time not to long ago 18:24 I used to eat clean fish, okay? 18:27 I will go catch them fish myself 18:28 and when I'm pulling those big fish, now, 18:30 I had this friend, I always went fishing with Bob, 18:32 and he really taught me how to fish really good 18:34 and we're gonna go to the screen here now 18:36 and we're gonna see on the screen here 18:37 a picture of Bob, up there. 18:39 And he was, he was actually get that picture of him 18:45 and he's not as good at catching fish 18:46 as some of the rest of us are, 18:47 you see those little thing he has there? 18:49 He calls that a fish and you'll see the lure 18:51 he is using, is actually almost 18:52 as big as the fish he caught is. 18:54 And so, and so Bob he had survived on fish, 18:58 he doesn't do so well. 18:59 And I'm about the same way often times myself, 19:03 when I will go fishing if-- if I had to survive 19:07 on that we would have been hungry. 19:09 So, you know, it may tell you something 19:11 even though fish is not plentiful for me and for others. 19:15 The, the fruits and the vegetables 19:17 and grains and nuts since I can get plenty of those, 19:19 I never had one get away, all right. 19:23 But there are certain fish if you gonna eat them 19:25 and the one like you see there with that Bob there, 19:27 that was a Bass and a Bass is that clean or unclean? 19:29 So we throw up back or keep it 19:31 although he would haven't threw that back, 19:32 because this is too small and it's against the law 19:33 that keep them that small. 19:35 So, is it okay or not okay to keep a Bass? 19:37 It's okay, because it has fins and scales, right? 19:40 How about, now here's one that get some people some times 19:44 and we're gonna eat one. How about a carp? 19:46 It's clean exactly right and carp, 19:48 you know, everybody thinks oh, carp, 19:49 they are always nasty fish 19:50 but it has a mud vein in the back of it, 19:52 you know, those of you there are fisherman 19:53 and understand a little bit about it, 19:55 but they have fins and scales. 19:56 And it is kind of interesting because all the nasty stuff 19:59 gets in that mud rain as far as I know,you know, 20:00 but they, they are pretty nasty looking as far as that goes. 20:03 All right, how about a catfish? 20:06 So, biblically can we eat a catfish? 20:08 No, let me tell you a story about a catfish. 20:11 I was fishing down on the Kentucky river one time 20:13 and ran into these guys and tell me a story about, 20:15 they was out there in their boat 20:17 and they look up the way up the river 20:19 and they see the water moving around, 20:20 turning up there, up ways, 20:21 it looks like something is out in the water, 20:22 but looks like someone is 20:23 laying on the bank close to them. 20:24 And so they take their boat and they didn't want to go 20:26 running up to real fast wide open with their motor 20:28 and they are both scare whatever it was away, 20:29 so they kind of just creep up there 20:31 real soon as they get closer and closer 20:32 and they start seeing something, 20:33 its like what is that? 20:34 And they finally get close enough and they see what it is. 20:36 On a bank is a dead dog, you know, 20:39 a big, a big dead dog like this 20:41 and this is gonna sound disgusting, 20:42 I hope you're not eating at home 20:43 because if you are, you might want to leave the room, 20:45 I'll give you a second, okay, times up. 20:48 And this dog is laying there with its guts hanging out, 20:50 right it's rotting, its half decayed, 20:51 its been dead there, with its guts hanging out 20:53 and what was moving in the water 20:55 was his two big cat fish were up there 20:56 and they were eating that guts out of that dog 20:58 that was left leg like half in the water 21:00 and half on the bank. 21:02 And you know what lot of people would do with that point? 21:03 They would catch those catfish 21:05 and take them home and eat them. 21:08 What do you think you're comfortable with that, 21:09 that's pretty disgusting isn't it? 21:11 But now, here's what fascinating about this. 21:12 A catfish what makes it unclean, 21:15 is it because it eat those things? 21:17 Because it has no skills, when God designed the fish, 21:22 He says, okay, the things that are gonna be 21:23 scavengers they are gonna be eating all the garbage, 21:25 I'm gonna designed it a certain way 21:26 so that you and I just can look at it and say, 21:28 no, no I can't eat that, 21:29 you know, if I'm hungry and there is nothing else to eat 21:31 I can't eat that because it's unclean, 21:34 and it's a scavenger, it can kill you. 21:36 And so you have that, that case there with the catfish. 21:40 Now no one was ever gonna want to eat catfish again are they? 21:43 Like when they see that country fried catfish. 21:45 And then now hear this 21:46 and they were feels I hear this or I get letter. 21:47 But that's farm race catfish. 21:50 You know, they don't go eating dogs, 21:52 they eat other garbage. 21:55 God has said, don't eat it, 21:56 because He wants you to be healthy. 22:00 You know, it's fascinating 22:01 is that like my understanding 22:03 and I've read about this before 22:05 that some of the highest cholesterol animal 22:07 of all the animal that most people will eat, 22:09 but one of the, one of the ones 22:10 would like the highest cholesterol, you know, 22:11 what it is lobster. I understand that lobster 22:15 is almost like the highest cholesterol, 22:16 you know, it's like. 22:17 And you know what the lobster does, 22:18 it's pretty nasty, you know, how they catch like crab 22:20 and offspring things like that, right. 22:22 They just get a bunch of dead stuff, 22:23 they put it in a cage and they will come and eat it. 22:25 That's what their job is to clean up 22:26 the dead stuff out of the oceans. 22:28 And then we go and we take the thing 22:30 that's been eating all the dead stuff out of ocean, 22:31 the dead and decaying things. 22:33 And they would say, oh, this stuff is so good. 22:37 All right, but that's not the best thing for us, is it. 22:40 If God wants us to be healthy, we must obey His rules. 22:42 I mean, if we want to be healthy as God wants us to be, 22:44 we must obey His rules. 22:46 "So these shall ye eat of all that are in the waters, 22:49 whatsoever hath fins. 22:50 Leviticus Chapter 11 verse 9, "it has to have 22:52 "fins and scales in the waters. 22:54 "And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, 22:56 "and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, 22:59 "and in living thing which are in the waters, 23:00 they shall be an abomination to you." 23:02 Does God change? No. God doesn't change, does He? 23:07 So if God says, it's an abomination 23:10 that's a serious word doesn't it? 23:12 Does God say, okay, there's no longer abomination 23:14 my followers can eat it, this is not abomination any more, 23:16 it makes no sense whatsoever, does it? 23:19 It just, well, I got to admit 23:20 when I first started understanding this myself, 23:23 I had a lot of trouble with this, 23:25 it's very hard, it was very hard for me. 23:26 And I had to just say, Lord, not my will, 23:29 but yours be done. 23:30 If God does asking you or asking me 23:32 not to eat or to eat something 23:34 then it will be very beneficial us, 23:35 beneficial for us obviously since He is the creator, 23:38 so He is the one that wrote the handbook. 23:41 I don't want to take this body that He is given me 23:43 and try to turn it back into Him 23:44 all messed up and everything say, can you fixed it. 23:47 I want to obey the handbook 23:49 or as the illustration we use the earlier with a car. 23:52 You know, we want to do what the people 23:55 that designed the car tells what to do with it, 23:57 so it could be best for the car, 23:58 this is what God has given us. 24:00 And so these things that we are going over right now, 24:02 I'm try to make it as light hearted as I can, 24:05 but, yeah, it is serious thing. 24:07 You know, when I give this study 24:08 especially in certain parts of the country, 24:10 you know, that there are certain people 24:13 that they depend on even in United States 24:15 it maybe hard for some people to understand. 24:17 But they depend on the things they catch 24:19 and the things they kill for food throughout 24:21 times in their life because that's just 24:23 their means of getting foods still. 24:25 And they around the world that's the same way, 24:26 so God says if you're going to eat this, 24:28 please, I want you to be healthy, 24:30 there is no good to eat things and stay alive 24:32 if you're going die of multiple, 24:34 you know, problems with heart and lungs 24:36 and arteries and things like that clogging up is there, 24:39 it doesn't do as much good. 24:40 And so He does give us His principles 24:42 because He wants us to be healthy. 24:45 All right, now we're going on, we're moving on here, 24:47 we're still in Leviticus Chapter 11, 24:49 and we just got done with the fish part of it. 24:51 Now we're gonna look at the birds, 24:52 the birds, verse 13. 24:56 "And these are they which ye shall have in abomination 24:58 among the fowls or the birds, 24:59 they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination." 25:02 And it starts giving examples of certain kinds of birds 25:04 that you will notice something about these birds, 25:06 they are all scavengers, they are all predators, 25:08 they are all the ones that are hunting 25:11 and killing things and eating them. 25:12 For instance, it says, the vulture, 25:14 oh, let me backup the eagle first, 25:16 and then Ossifrage, now that's not, 25:18 that's not an ostrich, but in the King James, 25:21 it's a Ossifrage, and does anybody have 25:23 a different translation there to give me 25:24 another name for that bird? 25:26 Nobody. Vulture. 25:28 Okay, a vulture and the osprey, 25:30 now they have those in Florida. 25:31 Oh, osprey, now those are the things 25:35 we have in Florida, Heron, as the white birds 25:37 with its spit tale coming out like that, 25:39 does it what they are, osprey, I think is what they are called. 25:42 You know, it's very, it's very sad to me, 25:43 I was, I was golfing with the Pastor's Scot 25:45 and couple other guys one day on the golf course. 25:47 And, of course, you golf from the golf course. 25:49 But anyway we were standing there and I see, 25:52 I hear a noise and I just as I look over, 25:55 Scot, says, look at that, we look over and this osprey, 25:57 he comes down and he dives right down to the corner 25:59 of this tree and grabs the sparrow 26:01 and starts flying off with the sparrow in its close, 26:04 and the sparrow just squalling and squalling 26:06 and the other sparrows are trying to hit that big bird, 26:07 and knock over the bird and it is just like, 26:09 if I had someone just stopping that, 26:11 you know, I couldn't stop it, 26:12 but you know, what the osprey did? 26:13 It went and ate that sparrow. 26:15 So no one has a problem not eating osprey, do they? 26:19 Actually, if I would like to kill the thing myself, 26:21 if I had an opportunity, yeah, that would have, 26:24 if I had, I had impact 26:25 I want to save the sparrow, but I couldn't. 26:30 So anyway, you think about these animals 26:32 and the birds that were looking at here 26:33 and here's what funny most people, 26:35 you say, don't eat a crow, 26:38 of course, I'm not gonna eat a crow. 26:40 Don't eat it, don't eat it black bird, 26:41 I'm not gonna eat the black bird, or a vulture, 26:44 ooh, nasty, right? 26:46 Don't eat a pig, why? 26:48 For the same reason you don't eat a bird 26:49 or you know, the same reason you don't eat a black bird 26:51 or vulture or one of those things right? 26:53 Because God says though. 26:57 All right, and the owl, and the night hawk, 26:59 the cuckow, how we say that, 27:02 and the hawk after his kind, the little owl, 27:04 the cormorant, and the great owl, 27:06 the swan, the pelican, and the gier eagle, 27:09 the stork, the heron after his kind, 27:11 and lapwing, and the bat after his kind. 27:13 And all fowls that creep, upon all fours, 27:16 shall be an abomination to you. 27:18 All right, so let's look at over couple of birds, 27:20 it just gives a list of birds that are unclean, 27:23 would a bird that is a forager that fit in this category. 27:27 Forager is like a chicken right, chicken clean or unclean? 27:33 Biblically it is clean right? How about a dove? 27:39 You know, dove is clean, because we sacrifice them right, 27:41 they wouldn't, we wouldn't sacrifice unclean animals. 27:44 And so, you also have that the pigeon, 27:47 the same category as a dove. 27:48 All right, so you can eat these things, if you insist. 27:50 But, God has said the best diet is what? 27:54 Stay away from these things, stay away from them even. 27:57 So these are things that are clean, 27:58 if you want to go and eat, how about turkey? 28:01 Turkey is clean, yeah, these may you eat 28:05 of everything that creeping upon, 28:06 that goes upon earth are four, 28:07 which have legs above their feet. 28:09 I've almost have struck with that, 28:11 just reading out in the King James, 28:12 I've never went looked at up any other place 28:13 but something has legs above its feet. 28:16 I don't know anything doesn't have 28:17 a leg above his feet. 28:19 Well, there must be something that I'm missing there 28:21 which have legs above their feet to leap 28:23 with all upon the earth, verse 22. 28:25 "Even these of them may you eat, 28:27 the locust after their kind, 28:29 and the bald locust after his kind, 28:30 and the beetle after his kind, 28:32 and the grasshopper after his kind. 28:33 Hey, Mike, have all the grasshoppers 28:35 you want brother, as matter of fact, 28:36 you can have mine too. 28:37 Yeah, so you need these things if you insist locust 28:40 and you remember John the Baptist 28:41 come along eating what? Locust and wild honey. 28:43 Now I've had people say, well, that's locust bean. 28:45 Well, I've never been to prove that 28:46 and no one has ever shown it to me either from the Bible. 28:48 So may get a letter, someone can 28:49 actually send me a letter and show me, 28:51 oh, this is why it is. 28:52 I've had people try to just make that statements said, 28:55 John the Baptist, so we can eat that, 28:56 what was called the locust being and honey and I say, 28:59 well, locust bean, is that sweet? 29:00 Yeah, so you're eating honey and sweet locust beans. 29:05 All right, so they're warning there when you look it up, 29:09 it actually, when I looked it up in the concordance it said, 29:11 it was like the bug, the locust bug, like the grasshopper. 29:14 So if he wasn't eating that, if he was locust bean, 29:17 I'm fine with that too, I'm just trying to 29:18 my best to stick with the scriptures here 29:20 and go by that. 29:22 So if you want to eat the bugs 29:24 you can eat a locust or grasshopper or an ant. 29:29 You can still eat your chocolate 29:30 with couple of ants I understand, 29:32 but actually you shouldn't have the chocolate. 29:35 All right, now we cover the bugs, 29:37 we've covered all that stuff and verse 23, 29:39 "But all other flying creeping things, 29:40 which shall go upon all four feet, 29:43 shall be an abomination to you." 29:44 Now comes the difficult part, 29:48 because lot of people would say, 29:49 okay, I'm following the scriptures, 29:51 I'm following the Bible, I'm eating healthy 29:53 and I'm eating my cow, my deer and these kind of things. 29:56 But didyou know, that when you eat those things 29:59 today in our country, especially in around 30:01 and lot of places around the world. 30:02 You're not actually eating clean animals 30:05 because the Bible also forbids the eating of blood and a fat. 30:09 Let us go to our next text here, 30:11 Leviticus 3:17, and whom I'm going to get to 30:13 read Leviticus 3:17, as we turned there 30:15 Leviticus Chapter 3, Anida, would you like to 30:17 read that for us? 30:21 This is also another part of this message, 30:24 you know, well, we'll just get into this, 30:26 go ahead as soon as you get there. 30:28 "It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations 30:31 "throughout all your dwellings, 30:33 that ye eat neither fat nor blood." 30:35 So The Bible says here, "You eat neither," what? 30:38 Fat. Fat or blood? 30:39 And,you know, when you go to the grocery store, 30:41 and you see, you're in the meat section there 30:44 of your local index or whatever it is 30:45 or the Wal-Mart or the Kruger 30:47 whatever you're in the meat section. 30:48 And you see that, you see that nice big display 30:51 of all that good looking tasteful cow, 30:54 and all these other kind of hands 30:56 and things over there right. 30:57 And you like at them, they're red and juicy, 30:59 you know what's the juice is right? 31:00 It's blood. 31:01 And you know, what's in the blood? 31:04 Urine, you know, when you eat a big juicy steak, 31:07 you're eating blood and urine. 31:10 Doesn't it sound good? 31:12 Somebody, I know people that love to eating their steaks, 31:15 almost rare, and you like just little brown on top 31:17 and the bottom eating all the juicy things. 31:19 They're just like animals, when you're eating like that, 31:22 you are just like an animal. 31:24 And so, the Bible says, 31:25 "Don't eat the blood or the fats." 31:26 So if you're eating that big fat juicy steak 31:28 and you're eating the fat around the edge, 31:30 you're disobeying what God asks you to do. 31:34 You're disobeying God. 31:36 I never thought of that like that before, 31:37 probably have you, early some people haven't, 31:39 you know, may be listening this, 31:40 never they thought like that, but its simple principle, 31:42 I'm doing what God has asked me not to do. 31:45 Do you think God is gonna bless that? 31:47 No, I know that, it's going to be come up 31:48 and say, wait a minute, the Bible says, 31:50 as long as you prayed it is blessed, no it doesn't. 31:53 We'll go there, it's in 1st Timothy Chapter 4, 31:56 and we'll go there later on in the answers, 31:58 answer part of this section. 31:59 But just kind of think it's true, 32:01 is God gonna contradict Himself? 32:03 Is He gonna say, one places in abomination to do this, 32:05 in other place He says, oh, yeah, go ahead, 32:07 eat whatever you want. 32:08 That is not the God that's in the Bible. 32:10 He says, "I'm the Lord and I do not change." 32:13 He does not change. So He says, 32:14 "Don't eat the blood or the fat." 32:16 And then we're going to Deuteronomy 32:17 Chapter 12 and Verse 23. 32:18 Deuteronomy, it's on the screen there, 32:21 from Leviticus, where do we go to get Deuteronomy? 32:24 To the right one book, yeah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 32:27 and Numbers, Deuteronomy Chapter 12, 32:30 Deuteronomy Chapter 12. 32:34 And we can get somebody to read that? 32:40 Mike, you want to read that, 32:41 Deuteronomy Chapter 12 and read verse 23? 32:46 "Only be sure that thou eat not the blood, 32:49 for the blood is the life, 32:50 and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh." 32:53 Okay, what's another reason that He gives us 32:55 besides a health reason I'm not eating the blood? 32:58 That's what the life is. 32:59 That's the life of the animals in the blood and, 33:01 you know, what God says, "I don't want you eating that, 33:02 I don't want to eat that." 33:03 And if you remember in a sacrifices, 33:05 when they would kill the animal, 33:06 they would take the blood. 33:08 And they would use that as a symbol of the sin 33:10 being transferred from the animal 33:12 that you just confessed your sins over 33:14 into the holy place and he would sprinkle 33:15 in the holy place there right. 33:17 So in the blood, is the symbolism and also the sin. 33:22 And then it would take, and He says, 33:23 "I don't want you eating a blood, 33:24 that's where the life of the animal is, 33:25 that's where the life is, you can eat the carcass. 33:28 And He say, like that, it sounds a lot, 33:29 lot more like, I don't want to have it, 33:30 but you can eat the carcass of the animals He says, 33:33 but don't eat the blood. 33:34 And you cannot hardly find food today, 33:39 as far as flesh food goes without the blood in it. 33:43 Have you had kosher meat, I mean, 33:45 completely kosher without the fat or the blood. 33:48 You know, I think beef churkey is probably 33:49 about close as you can come to having that. 33:50 You know, and no more reason it has any flavor to it, 33:52 because they put spices in it. 33:56 So the fried juicy steaks and things like that is not 33:59 what you called kosher in the Bible. 34:01 You're still disobeying God. 34:03 I mean, if He says, don't eat the fat and the blood, 34:04 and you eat the fat and the blood, 34:06 that's the same thing as eating something unclean. 34:09 So all of us out there that says, 34:10 oh, yeah, I'm following the Bible, 34:12 I'm not eating unclean foods. 34:14 You are, if you're eating them in an unclean way, 34:16 you can eat a clean food in the wrong way, 34:18 and it would be unclean. 34:20 Have you thought of that one before, 34:22 pretty serious isn't it? 34:25 But I'm just presenting this 34:26 because I want everybody to understand 34:28 as well as what the Bible is giving us 34:30 that God wants us to be healthy, 34:31 but He doesn't wants us disobeying Him. 34:33 Have you been doing these things all along, 34:35 may be it's time to do what God wants us to do. 34:39 Again this study here is about for the people 34:42 that have that relationship with the Lord, 34:44 and they want to please Him. 34:46 I made a statement little early 34:48 before we had class and I was telling them, 34:49 telling my students I've had people tell me, 34:51 when I tell them that, you know, 34:52 I want to keep the Sabbath and I want to obey God 34:56 with the health principles and I want to do these things 34:57 because I love God, and I've had people say, 34:59 you're trying to earn your salvation. 35:01 You're trying to do things so that God will love you 35:03 and you don't understand that God already loves you. 35:05 And in fact the Lord gave me something just yesterday 35:06 and I want to share right now, 35:07 because I think this is the good place to share it. 35:10 You know, when I was dating my wife, 35:12 we did not have a relationship yet. 35:13 We were just, like I just started like seeing her 35:16 and I was doing all kinds of things 35:17 to try to get her to love me, right. 35:20 I'll be doing things for her 35:21 to try to get her to love me, right? 35:22 But now after we've been married 35:24 and we were married for sometime, 35:26 they coming up tomorrow again 35:27 is our 15th wedding anniversary. 35:29 Tomorrow, you know, even during different times 35:32 in my life, I do good things for her, 35:33 am I then doing good things for her 35:35 to try to get her to love me. 35:36 No because she already does, 35:37 why am I doing good things for her then? 35:39 Because we already do love her and my argument back now that, 35:43 this is like, this is just epiphany, 35:45 like God give me this Revelation here, 35:47 is when someone tells me that's claiming 35:48 to be a Christian, 35:50 they're claiming they love God and serving God. 35:51 And they come to me and say, 35:52 the only reason you're doing these things 35:53 is to try to get God to love you, 35:55 because you don't understand He already loves you. 35:56 You know, it's like they're telling me, 35:59 they don't really have a relationship with God 36:01 and they see that, if they do anything 36:02 to try to do anything for God, 36:04 they're gonna be doing it for God, 36:05 in order try to get Him to love them, 36:07 because they really don't have that relationship with Him 36:08 because if they did, they would understand 36:10 that I'm doing things for God because I already love Him 36:12 and He already loves me, just like I do things for my wife 36:14 because she already loves me and I already love her. 36:17 When you first start doing that, 36:18 when you first see your wife, 36:20 you're trying to get her to love you, right? 36:21 And when people first come to Jesus 36:22 and they may not understand the gospel, 36:24 they may want to start doing things for the wrong reason. 36:26 They may want to start doing things thinking 36:27 if I do these good things for God, 36:29 He wanted to love me. 36:30 He wants to love me more that way, right? 36:32 And they don't understand the relationship 36:33 and those people may be never grow in their walk 36:35 with the Lord and they never understand 36:36 why somebody else can be doing things 36:39 and wanting to just give up things in their life, 36:41 wanting to do things to make Him happy. 36:44 And it's not to try to get Him to love me. 36:46 It's because He already does love me 36:48 and I already love Him. 36:50 That's the difference in the reasoning 36:52 between for a lot of people. 36:54 So I just want to throw that out right here 36:56 because I often times I'll say, yeah, 36:57 you just try to earn your salvation, 36:59 you're trying to get God to love you. 37:01 No, I believe He created me, I believe He redeemed me 37:06 and out of appreciation and love for what 37:08 He's already done for me and how much He loves me. 37:10 I want to please Him. 37:11 That's the relationship with God. 37:14 I want to continue on here to our next 37:15 Proverbs Chapter 23 verse 29. 37:18 We're going now and making the transition here 37:20 a little bit, Proverbs 23, did you know that 37:22 God is interested in what you drink, 37:24 as well as what you eat. 37:27 Some people think that drinking alcohol 37:30 is an okay thing, you know, 37:31 the Bible says, contrary to that. 37:33 So we're gonna go to the Book of Proverbs. 37:34 Does anybody know which direction we go 37:36 from Deuteronomy to get to Proverbs. 37:38 Right. I'm in Ezekiel which way 37:40 I need to go? Left, left. 37:42 All right, I'm in Isaiah. Solomon. 37:45 Solomon, Proverbs. 37:49 All right, they're move me back to the left 37:51 from Ezekiel and Isaiah, you keep going back to left 37:53 and you get to Proverbs 37:55 and we're going to the 23rd Proverbs 37:57 Chapter 23 verse 29 through 35. 38:01 And I believe Vanessa can read that for us. 38:08 Twenty-nine through thirty-five. 38:10 Yeah, and I'll probably interrupt you quite a bit, okay. 38:12 All right, don't laugh at me, you just, 38:14 you just concentrate on your reading. 38:15 All right, all right. 38:18 "Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? 38:22 Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? 38:26 Who hath wounds without cause? 38:29 Who hath redness of eyes?" 38:31 Well, the only person I've ever known 38:33 like that was the friends, I used to run around 38:34 with before I become a Christian. 38:37 They had all these things. 38:38 You know when they headed on, you know, 38:39 when they add these things happening to them 38:41 every weekend, right? 38:43 I was always the designated driver until I said, 38:45 you know, one night, I'm going to end up in jail 38:47 with the bunch of drunk, so I quit designating driving 38:48 for them, you guys just go on, carry on." 38:52 "They that tarry long at the wine, 38:55 they that go to seek mixed wine." 38:58 So, who has the red eyes and all these problems? 39:01 The people that are drinking wine, right? 39:02 All right, keep going. 39:04 "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, 39:09 when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it move, 39:13 moveth itself aright. 39:16 At the last it biteth like a serpent, 39:21 and stingeth like an adder. 39:25 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, 39:29 and thine heart shall utter perverse things." 39:34 Okay, hold on just a second. 39:35 The people that spend their time drinking the alcohol, 39:38 the wine, now I want you to understand in the Bible, 39:41 very rarely and anyway makes the distinction 39:43 between what will be, we will call fermented wine 39:46 and unfermented wine, right? 39:48 So something like, what we may call grape juice, 39:50 the Bible will call the fruit of the wine or wine, 39:52 but now it's making a distinction right here 39:54 what you're reading its taking about that wine 39:55 when it turns red, don't look upon it. 39:57 In other words, when it's alcohol 39:58 and when it's turned to alcohol 39:59 and it's fermenting, 40:00 don't even look upon it, and the people that do, 40:03 they're morals decline quite a bit, 40:07 because, you know, you start looking 40:08 upon strange women, they have the red eyes, 40:10 they have things that happening to them, 40:11 they don't even remember, keep reading. 40:14 "Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down 40:17 in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth 40:22 upon the top of a mast. 40:25 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, 40:29 and I was not sick, they have beaten me, 40:33 and I felt it not, when shall I awake? 40:38 I will seek it yet again." 40:40 What they are talking about here? 40:42 He is talking about someone that's addicted to alcohol. 40:45 You know, like I'll go ahead 40:47 and I'll take this stuff, and then when I wake up, 40:48 I want it again because I just, 40:50 I just have this thirst for this alcohol, right? 40:52 But, when I have it, people beat me up, 40:54 I don't recognize it, you know, 40:55 I lay with strange, women, I didn't recognize it, 40:57 that cause a lot of problems. 41:00 You know, if you just took, at this point, 41:03 we're not gonna talk about the other things 41:04 that destroy our bodies beside just the foods. 41:06 and I'm, I'm little more passionate about this here too, 41:08 even a little, little farther than 41:11 I was about the food thing, 41:12 but I want you to think about something. 41:13 If we just took the Bible and none of us had a Bible at all, 41:16 and we're just living through this world, 41:17 living our lives through this world, 41:18 and we're just trying to find out 41:19 a way through and find out what's best and what's worst, 41:22 common sense that God has given you, 41:24 tells you that you just stay away from alcohol, 41:27 all the arguments that He try to say well, 41:28 a little wine is good for the belly, 41:30 And all this kind of stuff and they say, 41:31 "Is He talking about fermented or unfermented." 41:33 Oh, it must be talking about fermented, 41:34 God doesn't care if I was drinking fermented wine. 41:37 Let me tell you something, 41:38 statistically one in every five people 41:40 that taste alcohol become addicted, 41:43 one in every five. 41:45 Now, I'm preaching now, I got to preach here because 41:47 I'm little more passionate about this, 41:48 and when I give the Bible study, 41:49 if I'm dealing with somebody 41:50 that does have alcohol issues, 41:51 I get very passionate with him too, 41:53 because I care about their soul. 41:54 When you gives Bible studies, 41:56 if you don't care about their soul, 41:57 your Bible study is not gonna be affective anyway, 41:59 you understand, if it's just words 42:00 that you're giving and there is nothing 42:02 that's in your heart that God is giving you 42:03 for a passion, for the soul of this person 42:05 that you're studying with 42:06 or you're preaching to or whatever it maybe. 42:08 If you don't have us, if you don't have 42:09 a burden for their soul, 42:10 it's gonna be pointless anyway because 42:11 the Spirit of God is not gonna be there working. 42:13 So I'm gonna be a little more passionate right here, 42:15 but I want you to think about something. 42:16 If one out of every five people 42:19 get addicted to alcohol they taste it statistically, 42:21 would you keep a dog in your yard 42:22 bit one out of every five people 42:24 that came by, or it depends on who was it came by, right? 42:27 You know, I think it was that salesman 42:29 that won't go away or whatever it is, 42:30 yeah, I wouldn't mind it, but you'll be sued. 42:33 You understand what I was talking about here. 42:35 And they say, you know, I don't think we go to that. 42:37 Let me see here, no we don't. 42:39 That story about Jesus in the Book of John, 42:41 his first miracle, he changed his water to-- 42:44 Wine. Wine and I've heard people, 42:46 actually trying to argue, and make the point that, 42:48 it was fermented wine because they said, 42:51 "Hey, you save the best stuff to last, like, 42:53 like the best stuff is the most alcohol firmament 42:55 or whatever is there." 42:56 No, the best stuff is the freshest grape juice 42:58 that we'll be talking about, think about it. 43:00 Would Jesus give His blessings 43:02 to a wild drunken party of where he make 43:04 gallons and gallons of fermented alcohol? 43:08 That's just ridiculous, 43:09 I mean, that's just so ludicrous, 43:10 I almost feel embarrassed saying it, 43:11 but I've dealt with people that's try to argue 43:12 that that was the point, that that's what he done, 43:15 he created alcohol, it's okay to have it. 43:18 No, no. You know, the violent crimes and rapes 43:23 and almost everything that you find 43:25 going on has alcohol tide right to it, 43:28 all the major crimes, all the things they're going on, 43:29 the people were on some form of alcohol, 43:32 it destroys your body, it destroys your mind, 43:36 you don't think clearly, you do stupid things, 43:39 and they were church people. 43:41 For church people, actually say, 43:42 it's okay to have a little that is foolishness, 43:47 just common sense. Now, let's go back to the Bible, 43:49 I'm just, I'm just talking common sense, 43:53 and you know, I know this for a fact because, 43:56 I was, I wasn't drinking the alcohol 43:58 or anything like that, I was even before 43:59 I became a Christian, I kept myself clean, 44:01 you know, I just, you know, 44:03 you wondered why I kept myself clean 44:04 mostly because I knew it will disappoint my dad 44:05 if he found out I was doing things. 44:08 Even when I was away from home 44:09 or whatever moved away, 44:10 I was, I was, I was going 44:11 to my the electronic school in Lexington, Kentucky 44:13 and moved away from home, I still in my mind, 44:16 could not do things like that because I was, I knew, 44:18 if he found out, he'll be so disappointed. 44:20 But now the rest of the guys I went around 44:22 with did plenty of that stuff, you know, 44:24 and I saw plenty of it, 44:25 and I saw how dump it made them act. 44:28 You know, I got admit, 44:30 I did try it or like twice there, 44:32 and I thought this is so stupid. 44:35 You know, we all messed up from time-to-time and move, 44:37 but not, not since becoming a Christian, 44:39 I'd never even consider that. 44:41 You know, because now it's not afraid 44:43 if my dad's going to find out, 44:44 now I know that my real dad does see it. 44:49 And so without even going in all the details 44:51 of the alcohol part, and the arguments 44:52 that people try to make, you know, 44:54 if you're a born again Christian, 44:56 if you've faith for the Lord Jesus Christ, 44:59 this is an even, not even an issue. 45:02 You know, and the people that say, 45:04 well, it doesn't matter, 45:05 you continue along that road, 45:07 that's the same thing that Eve said 45:08 when she looked at the fruit, it doesn't matter. 45:10 You know, it's very dangerous, 45:13 I just feel, to me it's almost embracing 45:15 that Christians actually had to bring this up 45:17 and talk to other Christians about not drinking alcohol 45:19 that it is sinful, and its wrong 45:20 and its destroying your body. 45:22 When you drink alcohol, it destroys brain cells. 45:25 I need all the brain cells I can get. 45:27 So does God want us to whatever we do, 45:30 whatever we do, whatever we eat, 45:31 drink, whatever we do, 45:32 must we do all to the glory of God. 45:34 And it's not bringing glory to God, 45:36 when you drink alcohol and act like a fool 45:38 and to say, well, I just drink 45:39 to get a little buzz, well, I just drink for the flavor, 45:41 I don't get drunk at all, I don't get a buzz. 45:43 Then why do you drink? Why do you drink? 45:47 I mean, if you don't drink to get to have, 45:49 even get a buzz or what everything like that 45:50 then drink fresh grape juice. 45:53 You know, you drinking to in order 45:54 to get that numbness in your mind, 45:55 that numb feeling you get, 45:56 whatever it is when you're drinking, 45:58 you drink for that. 45:59 And you, what you're doing is you're taking yourself 46:01 and you're lowering your morals 46:03 and things like as you put 46:04 that stuff in your body. 46:05 And you're gonna do things, that's disappointing to God, 46:07 I don't want to take that chance. 46:09 It's hard enough to fight the devil off 46:10 with the clean mind and clean heart 46:12 and serving him much less to start lowering 46:14 my abilities purposefully 46:17 in order to and still try to serving Him, 46:20 it's foolishness that's my sermon on it. 46:25 But think about it, most auto accident are from what? 46:28 Drinking, they are already in this, 46:31 in fact they are mail texting-- 46:35 with distracted driving, you know, 46:36 whatever it is, but alcohol does it to you. 46:39 So we're gonna continue on here 46:41 to the next text Proverbs 20:1, 46:43 we're gonna hammer on this just a little bit, 46:45 Proverbs 20 and verse 1, 46:48 oh, man we're gonna run out of time, 46:51 I'll read this one, Proverbs 20 verse 1, 46:53 "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, 46:56 whosoever is deceived thereby is very wise." 47:00 Oh, did I misread that, yeah, they are not wise. 47:03 And what's it called, what does the Bible called wine? 47:06 A mocker and he says, you're deceived by it. 47:10 In other words deception, remember what we said, 47:11 deception was. 47:12 Thinking everything is okay when its not. 47:15 Brothers and sisters, for those you at home, 47:18 I remember my friends when I run around with them 47:21 they were doing the alcohol, 47:23 they thought everything was fine 47:24 when actually it wasn't. 47:27 They were very deceived by alcohol. 47:30 And if you think its okay to use that, 47:31 you're going totally against the scripture 47:33 here and common sense. 47:35 First Corinthians 6:10, 47:37 1 Corinthians Chapter 6 and verse 10, 47:41 look what it says. There was a guy 47:43 come to my church one day 47:46 and he was a homeless guy, 47:50 he was a drunk guy off the street. 47:51 And he interrupted the church service 47:53 and few things like that and he says, 47:55 he yells out, he says, I want to get help with my, 47:58 with my problems, my alcohol, 47:59 Michael was there that day and he just was yelling out, 48:01 disrupting the church. So we took him back, 48:02 we had a conversation with him 48:03 and we pray with him and we were trying to help him out 48:05 and things like that. 48:07 And you know, you know what the guy told me, 48:08 he told everyone of us. 48:09 He said, this is not a issue of whether or not 48:12 I'm gonna be save, he says, I've already been saved, 48:15 I was baptized and the Bible teaches, 48:16 once saved always saved. 48:17 He says, so I can keep drinking alcohol all I want, 48:20 because I've been, you know, 48:21 he was taught from the people that taught him 48:23 from the Bible that it didn't matter, 48:24 you can drink alcohol, 48:25 you do whatever you want to do, 48:26 because he is saved. 48:30 Ludicrous isn't it? 48:31 Because look what the Bible has to say about that. 48:32 First Corinthians 6:10, 48:34 this is what we quoted him, he said didn't matter. 48:39 Robert, you want to do that one, 48:41 First Corinthians Chapter 6 and verse 10, 48:45 this is about, speaking about the people 48:46 that are not gonna be in heaven. 48:49 Okay, the people that are not going to be in heaven. 48:52 "Nor thieves, nor covetous, 48:58 nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, 49:05 will inherit the kingdom of God." 49:08 So the Bible says, and thank you so much, Robert, 49:11 there for reading that for us. 49:12 That drunkards, revilers, and extortioners 49:16 will not inherit the kingdom of God. 49:17 Will drunkards be in the kingdom of God? 49:19 No. So is it safe to drink alcohol? No. 49:23 I mean, even if you're drinking not to get drunk, 49:25 but there is a chance you may get addicted to it, 49:26 is it safe? 49:27 I mean, if there was a one, 49:29 one in one thousand percent chance, 49:31 one chance in one thousand, 49:32 if it was one in one thousand chance 49:34 that you may become addicted to alcohol 49:36 and end up being lost to be a drunkard, 49:37 would you want to take that chance? No. 49:39 No, not even close. 49:41 So the Bible is very clear that the people 49:43 that are doing these things are not gonna be 49:45 in the kingdom of God and I want to make sure 49:47 I'm in the kingdom of God, don't you? 49:48 So God has given us principles to both 49:50 on how we eat and how we should drink. 49:52 Let me ask you just a few things in general. 49:54 Do you think, now we've learned this 49:55 that its okay to smoke marijuana, 49:57 just a little bit. 50:00 All right, how about this one, 50:01 is it safe to do a little bit of cocaine, 50:05 how about just a little bit of morphine, 50:07 you know, just like everyday 50:09 you get a little bit morphine to keep that, 50:10 keep that feeling, is it okay for that? 50:12 How about just a little caffeine. 50:16 Oh, oh, you guys didn't give me such a reply. 50:19 You know somebody is throwing stuff to television. 50:22 Look, drugs are classified 50:23 by the last three letters of their name. 50:26 If you're taking, you put up on a screen 50:27 and you have, you have cocaine, 50:29 it ends with ine, 50:31 you have morphine it ends with ine. 50:33 You put up there caffeine it ends in ine, 50:36 it's just a milder form of that. 50:38 Did you know, you can overdose on caffeine, 50:40 did you know that's possible? 50:42 Yeah, you can get too much Caffeine in overdose. 50:43 Now I want you to think about 50:44 what's going on in our country, 50:45 in our world today. We got all these drinks out there, 50:47 they are putting out for people, 50:49 and they are loading people, young people 50:50 on caffeine just like. 50:51 I mean, They're like becoming 50:52 totally addicted to caffeine. 50:54 And they're going to school that way, 50:58 you know, they go stop in the morning 50:59 on the way to school and they drink one of those 51:01 what they called Surge, or something like that, 51:03 Monster, yeah, I've seen those things 51:05 and one called Red Bull or something like, 51:07 I've seen their advertisements, but I don't touch the stuff. 51:09 Can you imagine me on caffeine? No. 51:11 Like I don't touch the stuff, I stay away from it. 51:13 I mean, you will be just like this, you know, 51:15 I love that at least I can make them laugh. 51:19 But, could you imagine me on caffeine? 51:21 I used to be, oh, man, 51:23 I was like this all the time, you know, 51:25 and I can remember when I first learn this truth, 51:28 I've been in the church sometime 51:29 and no one had told me that caffeine was bad. 51:32 And then somebody come along and said, 51:33 they saw me drinking like my mountain dew, 51:35 you know my, my big thing mountain dew 51:36 and I have couple of them in a day 51:37 and just wired up all the time, right. 51:40 And I wouldn't sleeping well, and I just, 51:42 I was just, can you imagine I was hyperactive. 51:45 You should have heard how fast I talked 51:47 when I was on caffeine. 51:49 And they said, hey, 51:50 You're not supposed to have that? I say why? 51:52 I don't see anything Bible says that, 51:54 And then they start to explaining to me 51:56 that it was a drug, and it was affecting my body. 51:57 And that drugs change things in your body, 52:00 you know like even though it doesn't say in the Bible 52:03 not to smoke marijuana. 52:06 We know that, even though 52:07 that Bible doesn't say to do that, 52:08 that is wrong because it effects you 52:10 and destroys brain cells and it changes things, 52:13 chemical things in your body, in your mind, right. 52:15 Same with cocaine and same with heroin 52:17 and this kind of drugs we don't do those 52:19 because we know that the Bible principle teach us, 52:21 we shouldn't have those things. 52:23 I say, wow, and caffeine is the same way, 52:24 they said, yeah, I said, okay. 52:27 Now this is why I have a real bad problem 52:30 in being a minister in the ministry. 52:34 The reason I have a real bad problem 52:35 right here with this, is because I know, 52:38 I can't relate to someone that says, 52:41 I'm just addicted I can't let go this. 52:43 When they told me I needed to quit 52:44 doing the caffeine, you know what I did. 52:46 I quit doing the caffeine, as I quit drinking mountain dew. 52:49 They said, didn't you have headaches? No. 52:51 Oh, didn't you have, didn't you have 52:52 like withdrawals. 52:54 Not that I can think of. 52:56 And so I just quit doing, 52:58 I just quit doing the caffeine all together 53:00 and it was no problem, I didn't have a problem. 53:02 So when I have to deal with somebody 53:03 and they say, you know, 53:05 I just can't get the victory over this, 53:06 I just can't seem to get rid of caffeine. 53:08 I say, well, you know what, 53:10 I can't relate to you 53:11 but I know somebody that can, 53:13 you see the Bible teach us. 53:14 So let's go to our next text, Romans Chapter 13, 53:16 Romans 13th Chapter, is our next text. 53:22 First of all, the Bible tell us, 53:24 who has Romans 13 ready by the way. 53:28 Romans, the 13th Chapter, 53:29 everybody be turning with their texts with this. 53:33 Acts, Romans 13, Chapter 13 and verse 14. 53:41 All right, I'm there by myself, 53:43 Gloria, would you like to read that for me? 53:53 Gloria, I have it, I'll do to it, I'm sorry, 53:55 because we're running short of time, 53:56 I will go ahead and grab it for you. 53:58 "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, 54:00 and make no provision for the flesh, 54:02 to fulfill the lusts thereof." 54:05 So the Bible tells us that we're not, 54:07 we're not to make provision for the flesh. 54:09 In other words if you have a problem 54:11 with being addicted to something, 54:12 say it's caffeine or whatever it is 54:14 and you're addicted to something. 54:15 The Bible says, "Don't go to that thing 54:17 and make provisions to be there, 54:19 flee from it, get away from it." 54:20 Like if I have problem let say, 54:22 for instance smoking, you know the best thing 54:24 I can do to quit smoking 54:25 is don't buy cigarettes anymore. 54:28 And then what I'm going to withdrawals, 54:29 I'm having a bad time with it 54:30 or things like that. 54:31 You know, I don't have with there 54:33 so I can't smoke it right. 54:34 But wait a minute, 54:35 what if its too much for me, I can't handle them. 54:36 I'm just gonna have a nervous breakdown 54:38 if I don't have one. 54:39 Look at the promise from the Bible Philippians 4:13, 54:42 look what the Bible promises. 54:43 Now again this study here is for Christians isn't? Right. 54:47 And so if you are Christian, 54:48 you can believe the Bible and trust in the Bible 54:50 can't you? 54:51 So we're gonna find out what the Bible tells us 54:53 in the Book of Philippians Chapter 4 and verse 13, 54:56 if you think, feel like that just 54:57 by not making provision for the flesh, you're staying 55:00 away from it, will help you. 55:01 The Bible says, 55:02 you got a promise from a word of God, 55:03 Philippians Chapter 4 and verse 13, 55:06 I'm gonna go ahead and read that one too. 55:08 I can do all things except give up cigarettes 55:11 and caffeine and eating pig through Christ 55:14 that strengthens me. 55:16 Oh, it doesn't say that, does it? 55:18 What does it actually say? 55:19 I can do all things period through Christ 55:23 who strengthens me. 55:24 In other words God can give me 55:25 the victory over whatever it is I'm having trouble with, 55:28 no matter what it is, 55:29 no matter what I'm struggling with. 55:30 God has promised that He can, He can help us, 55:32 He can get us through it, 55:33 He can give us the victory over whatever it is 55:36 that we need victory over. 55:38 Now some people say, but you know, 55:42 I really like these things, I mean, 55:45 I really love it. 55:46 Why would God takes something from me 55:47 I like so well. 55:49 You know, doesn't the pig taste good? 55:52 Oh, man, I'll tell you 55:53 there is nothing better than a pork chop, 55:54 it's delicious. 55:56 And so why is God taking these things from me? 55:58 God says, I'm not asking you to give up anything. 56:01 Psalm 84:11, 56:03 Psalm 84 and verse 11, 56:11 "For the Lord God is a sun and a shield, 56:15 The Lord will give grace and glory 56:17 and no good thing will he withhold from them 56:20 that walk uprightly. 56:22 Is God going to, is God gonna hold 56:23 any good thing from you? 56:25 No, in other words when we think 56:26 there is something good for us. 56:28 By faith we must believe 56:30 that when God say its not, then its not. 56:33 Are you understanding That? 56:34 He's not gonna withhold any good thing from us, 56:36 He's gonna make sure that, whatever it is that's good, 56:39 He has provided for us. 56:41 The problem is that often times we have an idea 56:43 of what we think is good and what we want 56:45 and it's not what God wants us to have. 56:48 Let's go to our closing text, 56:49 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5 and verse 23, 56:52 when you given this study, 56:55 you're gonna have a lot of objections. 56:58 Especially if the person has not being converted. 57:01 You know, if the person doesn't understand 57:03 the whole principle between loving God enough 57:05 to one that serve Him more than anything else. 57:07 You understand what I'm saying, 57:09 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 23, 57:13 "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, 57:17 and I pray God your whole spirit, soul, and body 57:20 be preserved blameless 57:22 into the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 57:24 Paul's appeal to us, 57:25 as he wants us to be preserved blameless, 57:27 he doesn't want our bodies to be defiled 57:28 by the things of this world 57:29 whether it's physical or spiritual. 57:31 God is calling for you and for me right now 57:34 to surrender all things to Him and He has promised 57:37 He will give us the strength to overcome. 57:39 I want to invite you people at home to continue 57:41 to go along with us 57:42 as we continue to study the Bible. |
Revised 2014-12-17