Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP180034A
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00:31 Welcome to 3ABN Sabbath School Panel, I'm Shelley Quinn,
00:34 and it is so much fun to have this opportunity to share 00:40 a teaching with you to study the Bible together, if you will, 00:43 particularly to study with the rest of the panel. 00:46 I always enjoy their input. 00:48 Let me introduce the panel to you... 00:50 We have Pastor CA Murray, Jill Morikone, 00:53 Mollie Steenson, and Pastor Kenny Shelton. 00:58 We're enjoying this Quarterly, are we not? 01:01 We are studying the Book of Acts. 01:03 Today our entire study will come from Acts 15. 01:07 We're going to be talking about "The Jerusalem Council," 01:12 and if you don't have a study guide, I want to encourage 01:16 you to do one of two things... 01:17 You can go to the internet and download it, just go to: 01:20 ABSG.Adventist.org 01:26 or drop by your local Seventh-day Adventist Church. 01:31 They would love to meet you. 01:32 They'll give you a copy of this Quarterly, 01:35 and probably invite you to stay for church and have a 01:39 fellowship meal with them. 01:41 Pastor Shelton, would you please - can you open 01:45 with prayer for us? Absolutely, let's pray shall we? 01:47 Our Kind, Loving Heavenly Father, 01:50 What a privilege it is to be part of 01:52 the family of God this morning. 01:53 We thank You for Your love, Your mercy, your longsuffering. 01:56 Lord, we pray for the divine appointment that we have 01:59 with You today and each of Your children. 02:01 We ask for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; 02:04 how desperately we need to hear from heaven; 02:06 how we need a spark in our life; how we need the Spirit of 02:08 the living God to take these poor old minds that we have, 02:11 and to energize them with the Spirit of the Living God. 02:14 Help us to understand and be with Your people today. 02:16 Open ears, eyes, hearts and minds - may we understand 02:19 and sense more of the coming of Jesus. 02:21 May we sense the time in which we live. 02:23 May be we ready for that day and bless each one 02:25 of the panel members, each one that our hearts will be 02:28 lifted to the throne room of God that the God 02:31 of heaven can speak to us; that we will hear it, 02:34 and respond to that and I thank you in advance... 02:37 in Jesus name... Amen 02:38 Amen! Amen! There was a sermon in that prayer! 02:43 Let's do our memory text together and before we do, 02:47 let me share this... This is Peter talking, 02:50 and he sounds just a whole lot like Paul here, 02:54 so let's look at Acts 15:11 and our memory verse is from 02:58 the NIV and it says... 03:00 "We believe it is through the grace of our Lord 03:04 Jesus that we are saved, just as they are." 03:09 So what is Peter saying? 03:11 He is saying - salvation is a free gift. 03:15 So what's happening here, we have Paul and Barnabas 03:19 have concluded their 2-year mission trip. 03:24 They've gone back to Antioch to give a report, 03:26 and this is the church that sent them out 03:29 out on their missionary trip. 03:30 So they go back to provide a report at what God 03:33 had done through them in reaching the Gentiles, 03:35 and many Jews were converted as well. 03:38 But what had happened is after the baptism of 03:41 Cornelius and his household, there were a whole lot of 03:46 Gentiles who were becoming members of the church, 03:49 and it was creating a problem. 03:51 Now the Hellenistic Jews were much more readily 03:56 acceptable of the uncircumcised Gentiles that came in. 04:01 Hellenistic Jews were Jews that had been either scattered by the 04:07 diaspora or they were Jews that were just in other areas 04:11 of not living in Jerusalem and Judea; they spoke Greek; 04:16 and they used the Septuagint which was the Greek translation 04:21 of the Old Testament, that was their Bible. 04:23 Paul was a Hellenistic Jew. 04:25 You know, we don't always think of him as that 04:28 because he was trained in Jerusalem and so 04:31 he spoke Greek, he spoke Hebrew, 04:33 he was a very well-rounded person. 04:36 But now, one thing about the Hellenistic Jews... 04:42 they recognized that the death of Jesus Christ - it was easier 04:48 for them to accept that the death of Christ ushered in 04:51 the New Covenant, that Christ had nailed more 04:54 than our sins to the cross, that He had nailed 04:57 the Old Covenant ceremonial laws to the cross. 05:00 Perhaps it was easier for them because they weren't in 05:04 the practice of worshipping several times a day 05:07 at the temple, but what you've got going on... I mean they 05:13 would go in, of course, for the major feasts and things, 05:16 they would go to Jerusalem, but you've got 05:18 these Judean Jews who they speak Hebrew, 05:22 they always lived in the land of the patriarchs, 05:26 they're right there in the proximity of the temple... 05:30 they went frequently and so they had a little more difficult 05:36 time in letting go of the ceremonial laws. 05:39 It was their tradition and so when people converted, 05:45 they believed that if they were Gentiles that 05:48 because they were still zealous to the ceremonial law. 05:52 They believed that they had to be circumcised. 05:56 Now I think part of it is a national pride issue. 06:00 They wanted to maintain their 06:02 unique differences, don't you think? 06:04 I think that always the Jews had been like that, 06:09 but they were slower to recognize that Christ had 06:12 nailed these ceremonial laws to the cross, 06:16 and they wanted people who were coming in to be circumcised 06:22 in order to be saved and to have fellowship with them. 06:25 Now the New Testament refers to these people 06:29 as Judaizers and the problem reached a critical level. 06:34 So what happened is the Jerusalem Council was 06:37 convened probably in AD 49, and it proved to be 06:43 a turning point in the history of the Apostolic Church 06:47 as far as its worldwide mission is concerned. 06:50 So let's look at Sunday... "The Point at Issue" 06:54 From the beginning of the church at Antioch, there were 06:56 Hellenistic Jews and uncircumcised Gentiles, 07:00 and they had peaceful fellowship 07:03 until the Judaizers showed up. 07:05 Acts 15:1-5... A serious problem is going to arise 07:10 with the arrival of the Judaizers. 07:12 The Scripture says... "And certain men came down 07:14 from Judea and taught the brethren, 07:17 unless you are circumcised... ... now they're coming down 07:20 from Judea, so what does that make them? 07:22 That makes them Pharisees coming down... 07:27 these are the Judaizers... 07:29 "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom 07:31 of Moses, you cannot be saved." 07:33 Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small 07:36 dissension, a dispute with them, they determined that Paul 07:40 and Barnabas and certain others of them should go 07:43 up to Jerusalem to the apostles 07:45 and the elders about this question. 07:47 So being sent on their way by the church, 07:49 they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing 07:52 the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great 07:55 joy to all of the brethren. 07:58 And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received 08:01 by the church and the apostles and the elders and they reported 08:05 all these things that God had done with them. 08:07 But some of the sect of the Pharisees, 08:10 these are the Judaizers, 08:11 who believed rose up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise 08:17 them and to command them to keep the law of Moses." 08:21 So here they are saying, "Hey, you can't be saved if 08:25 you're not circumcised." 08:27 What they had.. they had grace; they had learned that... 08:32 I mean, they accepted Christ, these Judaizers, 08:35 but to them it was grace plus works. 08:38 They were saying that Christ wasn't sufficient as the Savior; 08:42 they denied that He fulfilled all of the ceremonial laws 08:46 saying... "You've got to become a Jewish proselyte, be a Jew 08:50 before you could even become a Christian." 08:52 So the demand of their requirements were absolutely 08:58 opposed to the very nature of the gospel of God's grace. 09:03 And Paul and Barnabas, as they are arguing with these 09:07 aggressive Judaizers, they have this heated 09:10 discussion and they realize, "Hey, this is too important 09:13 of an issue just to be settled on a local level. Yeah 09:17 So the church sends Paul, Barnabas and others, 09:20 other delegates, to Jerusalem to get the matter settled. 09:25 And, you know what, I imagine that some they were wondering 09:28 if the mother church had sent these men... 09:31 don't you imagine? Well of course. 09:32 And so, they weren't sent by the church at Jerusalem, 09:37 the Judaizers went on their own initiative. 09:39 I want to show you that at Acts 15:24... 09:42 Because when the council wrote the letter, 09:45 they included this disclaimer. 09:47 This is James speaking... "Since we have heard 09:50 that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, 09:55 unsettling your souls, saying, "You must be circumcised 09:58 and keep the Law - to whom we gave no such commandment." 10:05 So that - we know the Judaizers went on their own initiative 10:11 and how often do we have somebody who you get a new 10:14 convert in the church and suddenly you've got 10:17 somebody saying, "If you don't eat right, you can't be saved." 10:22 There's things that people do 10:25 that they've got no business doing and we have to 10:27 remember that Paul was a Pharisee before his conversion, 10:32 so that's very important because he calls these 10:36 Judaizers "troublemakers." 10:40 He says that they are "false brethren with vile motivation." 10:45 And, when he wrote to Galatia, and you remember... 10:48 that Galatia was the southern Roman providence 10:54 or a providence of Rome and there, Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, 10:59 Antioch - all of these churches were there. 11:02 When he wrote to them, I want to read you what he 11:04 wrote about these Judaizers. 11:06 In Galatians 1:7, let me read this one from the Amplified... 11:10 Galatians 1:7...So Paul is writing to all these churches 11:15 that had had these Judaizers coming down. 11:17 He says, "There are obviously some who are troubling 11:22 and disturbing and bewildering you with a different 11:25 kind of teaching which they offer of the gospel; 11:29 And want to pervert and distort the gospel of Christ 11:33 the Messiah into something which it absolutely is not." 11:39 So he is saying... they are wrong, wrong, wrong, 11:42 and then he says, in Galatians 2:4, 11:44 "This occurred because of false brethren... 11:47 these are the Judaizers... secretly brought in 11:52 ... and he said - these guys came in by stealth 11:55 to spy on the liberty that they had in Jesus Christ 12:00 that they might bring us into bondage... 12:03 And then he says in Galatians 5:10... 12:05 "I have confidence in you and in the Lord, that you will 12:10 have no other mind... in other words, 12:12 he's telling these churches in Galatians, 12:14 If you'd heard the true gospel, you'd know that Christ 12:18 is all... I mean salvation is totally dependent upon God. 12:23 Salvation is a gift, Jesus Christ is your Savior, 12:27 and there's nothing you could add to that to be saved. 12:30 So he says, "I have confidence in you and in the Lord 12:33 that you will have no other mind, but he who troubles you, 12:37 ... speaking back about these Judaizers... 12:40 shall bear His judgment whoever he is." 12:44 Now what judgment is he talking about here? 12:47 Well, if you go just a few Scriptures before... 12:52 Paul is saying that the Judaizers are going to bear 12:56 the judgment that he had written about 12:59 in Galatians 5:3-4. 13:02 Now all of this is important, listen to this Scripture... 13:05 He says, "I testify again to every man who becomes 13:10 circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 13:16 Now listen to verse 4... You have become estranged 13:22 from Christ, you've been separated 13:24 from Christ, you who attempt to be 13:27 justified by law." 13:30 To be justified means that you are put in a right position 13:35 with God and that He has declared you "pardoned," 13:41 He no longer sees any evidence to think of you as "guilty." 13:45 It's that moment when you are converted and your sins 13:49 are washed away by Jesus Christ. 13:52 But he says, "You who attempt to be justified by law, 13:58 you have fallen from grace." Ooo, mercy! 14:02 Now another episode took place in Antioch with Judaizers, 14:06 and we will remember this one very well. 14:10 He talks about it in Galatians 2:11-13. 14:14 When Peter had come to Antioch... this is Paul writing, 14:18 "I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 14:22 before certain men came from James... not that James sent 14:26 them, we've already established that, they came down from the 14:29 Jerusalem church... he would eat with the Gentiles; 14:33 but when these Judaizers came, he withdrew and separated 14:37 himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 14:41 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, 14:44 so that even Barnabas... who was a Hellenistic Jew... 14:47 was carried away with their hypocrisy. 14:50 Hypocrisy is often fear-based. 14:54 Peter had been instructed by a vision from God saying... 14:59 "Don't call men unclean who I have said are clean." 15:04 He was sent to the house of Cornelius, an uncircumcised 15:08 Gentile, and he saw God pour out His Holy Spirit there, 15:11 and he knew that God had no preferences - that He 15:16 accepted men from all nations. 15:18 So, the Jerusalem Council had already decided 15:24 that they didn't have to be circumcised - the Gentiles, 15:27 and now Peter is separating himself just because 15:31 of fear - and guess what? 15:36 Hypocrisy is contagious, Barnabas separated himself 15:40 as well. 15:42 The main point is that Christ's death and resurrection 15:48 is sufficient for our salvation and we don't have 15:52 ... in the New Covenant, we do not have to 15:55 adhere to ceremonial laws. 15:57 Brother Murray... 15:58 Thank you so very much for setting that foundation. 16:01 The fact of the matter is that traditions and rules of 16:09 practice, don't develop in a vacuum. That's true! 16:12 There usually is some history... the problem is when you try 16:17 to create Christians in your own image and your methodology 16:23 often shows your motive. 16:26 If you're sneaking around and doing things, 16:29 it may be because your motives are not pure. 16:32 The Bible says, "Men love darkness because they're 16:35 deeds are evil." 16:39 So I want to look at a little of the cultural context 16:41 for circumcision and how this got so tightly woven 16:46 into the Jewish mindset - that they felt you had to 16:50 go through Judaism on your way to Christianity. 16:54 We have established, I think fairly thoroughly, 16:57 that the early church was predominantly Jewish. 17:01 The initial work began in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, 17:05 Jewish places in Palestine, then moved out. 17:09 But your first evangelists were Jewish, your first converts 17:14 were Jewish, so the question naturally arises... 17:19 How much, and I will coin a phrase, "Jewishness" 17:24 do you have to have infused in your religion 17:28 before you can become a Christian? 17:30 Before you can move into this new Christ-faith force, 17:35 how much Jewishness do you have to sort of drag 17:38 along with you before you are accepted? 17:40 And that was the basis of this discussion. 17:44 Circumcision was not a human instituted practice. 17:50 It didn't come from man, it came from God. 17:53 God, Himself, commanded it as a sign that He and Abraham 18:00 and Abraham's descendants were the chosen people. 18:04 And I'm going back to Genesis 17 very quickly. 18:07 Genesis 17 and I think it's 7 through 9, I want to read. 18:12 We're in Genesis 17 and 9 thru 11 is what I want. 18:18 Very quickly... "And God said to Abraham, 18:21 as for you, you shall keep My covenant and you and your 18:26 descendants after you throughout your generation. 18:29 This is My covenant which you shall keep between Me and you 18:34 and your descendants after you. 18:35 Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 18:39 and verse 11... And you shall be circumcised 18:42 in the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a SIGN 18:47 of the covenant between Me and you." 18:50 So circumcision didn't start 18:51 with Abraham, it started with God. 18:53 And God said, "This is going to be a sign between 18:57 Me and you, Abraham, and your descendants. 19:01 So, it is something that had been practiced for years 19:04 and years, and years and years as part of the SIGN 19:08 that these were God's people. 19:10 So, this privilege and the covenant blessings 19:14 attended to it, were also extended to slaves, 19:18 and sojourners who wished to identify with God's people. 19:22 If you want to be part of the family-fellowship, dare I say, 19:26 the post-circumcised person, the stranger, 19:31 enjoyed the same status socially and in the spiritual 19:36 economy as natural Jews, 19:38 so you could identify with them through circumcision. 19:46 Exodus 12:48... "He shall be as a native of the land." 19:53 So, you could fully enjoy the rights and prerogatives 19:57 of the Jewish nation through the rite of circumcision. 20:02 You are as a naturalized Jew. 20:05 So circumcision was a nonnegotiable act 20:10 to being a member of Israel's covenant community, 20:14 and once you DID that, you were fully accepted. 20:18 So here's the thought trajectory... 20:20 1... Circumcision was God's idea, not man's. 20:24 2... Circumcision was a sign of a covenant relationship. 20:28 3... God instituted it with Abraham the first Jew 20:33 for the father of the faithful. 20:35 4... All male Jews had to undergo circumcision. 20:39 5... Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. 20:45 6... This new faith comes from the Jewish Messiah. 20:51 7... You get Christianity through Judaism. 20:55 8... Christians must be circumcised. 20:58 That's the logical progression of the mindset as to why. 21:03 Now Paul as Shelley so eloquently read in Galatians 5, 21:09 and I'm going to look at my time to see if I want to go 21:10 there to read it, but Shelley did read it... 21:13 To him circumcision was putting God's people who had just 21:19 become free in Christ Jesus back under a work 21:24 bondage-based system that really left no room for Christ. 21:31 So He is giving there, in clearest possible terms 21:37 His feeling as it appertained to circumcision. 21:43 I want to read something from the lesson because I 21:45 think the lesson does a really fine job in addressing this... 21:51 "By saying that no Gentile could be saved without first 21:55 joining Judaism, these men were mixing up 21:59 two distinct concepts... and you touched on this 22:02 Shelley, just a moment ago... 22:04 Covenant and salvation - so they are conflating the two, 22:09 and they should not be. 22:10 Being a member of God's covenant community did not 22:14 guarantee salvation." 22:15 That's like being a member of the Seventh-day Adventist 22:18 Church or any particular church, having your name on the book 22:21 doesn't guarantee salvation. 22:23 It's not where you joined, it's who you are. 22:27 In addition, Abraham, himself, was saved, that is justified 22:32 by faith - that should be remembered. 22:34 This was just a SIGN of a preexisting condition, 22:38 we said that before... 22:40 what happened before and not because he was circumcised." 22:44 He was already one with God, this was just a sign 22:46 of their oneness, dare I say. 22:49 Salvation was always... my time is up... 22:51 Salvation has always been by faith, whereas, 22:54 the covenant was a gracious provision and I really 22:57 like this... which God would make Himself 23:01 and His saving plan known to the entire world. 23:06 So there is a covenant that is in effect 23:09 and we're going to show the world this covenant 23:12 by this act, but the covenant is already there. 23:14 The relationship is already preexisting. 23:18 Just a little more... "The problem, however, was 23:21 that by too closely associating covenants and salvation 23:25 these believers came to view circumcision as meritorious. 23:30 Now they've moved over into legalism. 23:32 God's saving grace, however, does not operate 23:36 where human works operate. 23:38 So, to impose circumcision on believing Gentiles 23:42 as a means of salvation, was to distort the gospel truth. 23:47 Amen! You see, you're making it 23:50 an idle, you're making it a test of salvation 23:53 and it shouldn't belong there. 23:54 Thus it nullifies God's grace and makes Jesus of no benefit. 24:02 Furthermore, my last line... It was the denial of the 24:05 universal character of salvation. Paul could never 24:09 agree to this type of thinking." Amen! Amen. 24:13 Amen! Thank you so much Pastor CA and Shelley 24:17 for laying the foundation for what's taking place here 24:20 at the Jerusalem Council as we would say, here in 24:23 the Book of Acts, Acts 15. 24:26 I like this passage, I just have to be honest with you, 24:30 and you might say, "Why in the world do you like this 24:32 discussion about circumcision," but I would say for over 24:36 20 years, I have really liked this chapter in Acts... 24:41 and the reason is, I believe it gives us keys 24:44 to decision-making in the New Testament Church. 24:48 You know in the church today, whether it's church or 24:51 community or place of work or home, there's always 24:54 going to be some sort of rub, 24:56 some sort of discussion or conflict and when I 25:00 look at this chapter, to me it shows how the 25:03 New Testament Church dealt with that issue and how they 25:07 handled that problem, as it were. 25:09 And so, before I get to my section, my section is 25:13 Acts 15:7-21 and what it focuses on is 25:18 the leadership and what they said in response. 25:21 We see that Peter - he rose up and spoke. 25:24 And then we see James as the leader of the New Testament 25:27 Church and what he said, that's my section... 25:30 But before we get there, I want to look at 25:32 8 keys to decision-making in the New Testament Church. 25:36 Key #1... Shelley already talked about is in verse 2. 25:41 Key #1 to bring the question to leadership. 25:46 There was this discussion, the Judaizers had gone to 25:49 Antioch as Shelley already so aptly described. 25:51 And Paul and Barnabas had not a small dissension, 25:55 they had a BIG disagreement with them. 25:57 And so, they could have said, "Well, we're gonna 26:00 fight this out ourselves, Pastor Kenny, we're gonna 26:02 deal with this ourselves," and what did they say? 26:05 We need to go to the leadership, to the apostles and elders 26:09 in Jerusalem and discuss this matter with them. 26:12 So to me, the first key is to bring those vital matters, 26:16 those big discussions to leadership. 26:19 #2... The leadership met and we see that in verse 6. 26:22 Now the apostles and elders came together 26:26 to consider the matter. 26:27 Now the leadership could have said... Pastor CA, they 26:30 could have said, "Well ya know what? 26:31 This is your issue, you deal with that." 26:33 But instead, they considered it vital and important enough 26:37 to sit down and to meet about this. 26:40 #3... They allowed discussion. 26:43 Peter could have stood up right away at the beginning 26:45 and said, "This is what I'm going to say..." 26:47 And James could have said, "This is the decision 26:50 of the New Testament Church." 26:51 Instead, they allowed discussion - you see that in 26:54 verse 7... "When there had been much dispute, 26:58 then Peter rose up and said to them. 27:01 So to me, Mollie, that says they allowed healthy, 27:03 engaged discussion for dispute. 27:06 #4... They truly listened - not just the leadership, 27:10 but everyone listened, we see that in verse 12... 27:13 "Then all the multitude kept silent and listened 27:18 to Barnabas and Paul. 27:19 So you see them being quiet, of course there was healthy 27:22 discussion and they did have that and then they were quiet, 27:25 and they listened... you also see that in verse 13. 27:28 It said, "After they had become silent, James answered saying.." 27:32 #5... The leaders spoke. There was this healthy 27:37 discussion, after people listened to other peoples' 27:41 points of view, then the leaders got up and addressed. 27:44 We see that Peter rose up in verse 7 and he said to them, 27:47 and he gives his address. And James rose up in verse 13, 27:51 and he gave his address. 27:52 #6... Then we see they actually came to a decision. 27:57 Now the decision was not made just by the leadership, 28:00 but the entire church agreed with the decision that James 28:04 made when he made that decision. 28:07 In verse 22... It said, "It pleased the apostles 28:11 and elders with the whole church and then it goes on 28:14 with what the decision and the determination was... 28:16 which is not my day, so we won't get into that. 28:18 But the point is - that they had come together and 28:22 the entire church was involved in that decision. 28:26 #7... They actually wrote out their decision. 28:30 You see that in verse 23, they wrote it 28:32 by letter to the people. 28:34 Sometimes Pastor, we make a decision and then, years later, 28:37 "Oh, I think that's what we decided and Shelley says, 28:40 "Oh no, I think that's what we decided and so we might 28:43 have a different remembrance or different 28:46 perspective of what was decided. 28:48 In this case, they wrote it out - there was no question, 28:51 Mollie, what the decision was. 28:53 #8... We see in verse 30 and 31 that the membership accepted 28:58 the decision. Amen! 28:59 It says that, they got the letter, this is Paul and 29:02 Barnabas - went back up to Antioch, they received the 29:04 letter and they accepted the decision. 29:06 So let's look - we're going back to Acts 15:7. 29:10 This is Peter when he stood up and spoke to the council. 29:13 After there had been much dispute here and he stood up 29:17 and he spoke. 29:19 It's interesting to me that Luke records. 29:22 He does not record what the Judaizers said at the council 29:25 or even if they were present at the council; 29:27 neither does he really record what Barnabas and Paul said. 29:32 He does say that they recounted miracles, 29:34 but he doesn't say anything else what they said. 29:36 To me, that shows the importance of what the Apostolic Church, 29:41 the weight, as it were, that they put to the opinion 29:44 and the insight and the wisdom of Peter and of James. 29:49 You know, if you've sat at a board meeting, 29:51 if you've ever been at a board meeting, 29:53 sometimes in the manner of discussion, certain people 29:57 begin to speak... you know what happens when certain 29:59 people speak? I sit up straight and I listen. 30:03 You know why? Because either that person, 30:05 Mollie, has special wisdom and I respect them or maybe that 30:10 person isn't given to talking a great deal and when they 30:13 speak, usually it's something that's very valuable 30:15 to be heard or it could be a person in authority. 30:20 You're right Pastor, it's somebody that's in authority 30:22 that you listen because of that position of authority. 30:25 So Peter and James were in authority in the early church, 30:28 and so they share here... 30:30 Peter says, "Men and brethren, you know that a good while 30:34 ago, God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles 30:38 should hear the word of the gospel and believe," 30:40 that's when he went to Cornelius. 30:42 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by 30:45 giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 30:49 and made no distinction between us and them, 30:53 purifying their hearts by faith. 30:55 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke 30:59 on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers 31:02 nor we were able to bear? 31:05 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus 31:08 Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they." 31:12 I see three points in Peter's speech to the council here... 31:15 First, God was the One who began the work of evangelizing 31:19 the Gentiles - you notice that in verse 7. 31:22 He said, "You know a good while ago, God chose 31:25 among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles 31:28 would hear the word of the Lord." 31:29 He didn't say, "I chose Mollie to go out and preach the word 31:32 of the Lord to the Gentiles." 31:33 He didn't say it was his decision, what did he say? 31:36 "God chose." 31:38 So he's saying God is the One who decided to 31:41 evangelize the Gentiles. 31:42 #2... God confirmed their beliefs by the sign of the 31:46 Holy Spirit - we see that in verse 8. 31:50 "God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by 31:52 giving them the Holy Spirit. 31:55 And the third thing I see in his speech here to the council, 31:58 is that God saved them by faith, not by works. 32:03 It says in verse 9... "God made no distinction 32:05 between us as Jews and them as Gentiles, purifying 32:09 their hearts by faith." 32:10 They have the same access to the Father, 32:13 the same entrance through the Lord Jesus Christ 32:16 and through faith. Amen! 32:18 Then in verse 12... "The multitude was silent 32:20 and they listened to Barnabas and Paul, but they didn't 32:23 give a speech here - it just says they recounted 32:25 the miracles and wonders what God had done through them, 32:28 to the Gentiles. 32:29 And after they were silent, we're in verse 13, 32:32 now here is James' speech... 32:34 He answered saying, "Men and brethren, listen to me: 32:37 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the 32:40 Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name." 32:45 James, we know, is the leader of the church at Jerusalem. 32:50 He speaks with authority; he and the elders even told Paul 32:55 what to do - this is in Acts 21, and he is presumably 32:59 accepted by the readers as authoritative and as the 33:03 leader of the New Testament Church here. 33:06 And so he says, Peter already has related to you how God 33:11 visited the Gentiles and how the Holy Spirit 33:14 was poured out upon them... that he quotes, 33:16 from Joel, and then he goes... 33:18 Let's go down to verse 19... "Therefore I judge that we 33:21 should not trouble those from among the Gentiles 33:24 who are turning to God." 33:26 Here he makes a judgment or a decision as the leader 33:30 of the New Testament Church, the Apostolic Church. 33:33 He's saying... "We are not going to require the Gentile 33:36 Christians to be circumcised in order to be saved. 33:40 They are not going to have to become a Jew, as it were, 33:44 in order to become a Christian." 33:46 And he says here, But we will require four different things 33:49 from them and I think, Mollie, you talk about that! 33:51 I do and thank you so very much for laying out the debate. 33:56 You know, something you said Jill - that they did was 34:01 they wrote down the outcome so that it couldn't be argued 34:05 later and I think that was a very wise thing. 34:08 I am in James 15 and I'm going to be looking at... 34:13 "Acts..." You know, I wrote James' 34:15 name down because James is the one doing the talking... 34:18 So we are going to hear from James, but we're in Acts 15 34:25 starting with verses 28-29. 34:28 And the Scripture says, "For it seemed good to... 34:32 what's the next two words? 34:33 to the Holy Spirit and to us," so he's affirming from the 34:39 very beginning that this isn't just man's ideas, 34:43 this is the Holy Spirit giving us instruction... 34:47 and to us to lay up on you no greater burden 34:50 than these necessary things... now he calls them necessary 34:54 things and isn't that much what Peter said himself? 34:58 He didn't want to burden the Gentiles. 35:01 ... that you abstain from things... 35:04 this is called the "Apostolic Decree" - that you abstain 35:09 from things offered to idols, from blood, from things 35:14 strangled and from sexual immorality. 35:18 If you keep yourselves from these, you do well." 35:22 Now the main issue... what was the main issue here? 35:28 It was circumcision, so the main issue for which the 35:32 council had been convened was resolved 35:36 because salvation is by grace; therefore, believing Gentiles 35:42 were exempted from circumcision. 35:44 That was the decision that they wanted to arrive at 35:47 when they joined the church. 35:49 Yes, there were four prohibitions, 35:51 now I'm going to over these again. 35:53 These four, we're calling them prohibitions, that were imposed. 35:57 The first three deal with dietary issues... 36:00 did you all notice that? Yes! 36:03 #1... Meat offered in sacrifice to idols in pagan rituals 36:08 and then served in a temple feast are sold in the market. 36:12 They were saying, "Don't eat those." 36:15 #2... Blood consumption. 36:18 #3... Meat of strangled animals, that is meat whose blood 36:24 has not been drained. 36:26 #4... Sexual immorality of any kind. 36:31 So those were the four issues. 36:34 James calls these prohibitions, as we mentioned earlier, 36:39 "necessary things," and he said "they were arrived at not 36:44 just by those men who made up the Jerusalem Council, 36:48 but by them and in the Holy Spirit." 36:52 Now, there is a quote that I want to share with you 36:56 from "Acts of the Apostles" and it's on page 195. 37:01 Let me read this to you... 37:02 "And dealing with the Gentile converts, James sought to 37:08 impress the minds of his brethren with the facts 37:12 that in turning to God, the Gentiles had made a great 37:17 change in their lives and that much caution should be used 37:21 not to trouble them with perplexing and doubtful 37:26 questions of minor importance, lest they be discouraged 37:33 in following Christ." 37:35 Now that's beautiful, isn't it? 37:36 "The Gentile converts, however, were to give up the customs 37:42 that were inconsistent with the principles of Christianity." 37:47 Now don't you think that is a wise thing? 37:49 I think about people coming into our church wanting to be 37:53 baptized into our church, become a member of the church... 37:57 Should we not give them instruction on how to live 38:02 godly in Christ Jesus? 38:04 What is acceptable and what is not acceptable and I know 38:08 through God's word, we come into that understanding, 38:10 but it's wise to bring these members that want to become 38:17 a part of our church to bring them in and give them 38:21 instruction, to give them Bible studies so that they will 38:25 understand the importance of living godly in Christ Jesus. 38:28 This is what James is saying... 38:30 "Let us show them things... to live in this Christian 38:34 community - this is what they should or shouldn't do." 38:38 Okay, now there is an argument that these dietary 38:44 prohibitions imposed by the Jerusalem Council were just 38:50 temporary - temporary recommendations because 38:54 each of the items listed were particularly repulsive to Jews. 38:58 Now this is the argument... 39:00 The argument continues that it was only intended to bridge 39:06 the gap between the Jews and the Gentiles as though 39:11 these prohibitions were quickly thought up to handle a 39:16 sticky situation at the time. 39:19 Now here is the danger in that... 39:24 When we start picking and choosing what portions of 39:28 the Scripture we want to accept and hold to, 39:31 where is it going to end? Amen! 39:34 Because have we ever seen 39:36 anybody pick and choose Scriptures? 39:40 Let's just think about the Ten Commandments... 39:44 Are there any of those Ten Commandments, the moral 39:47 law of God, that we see in anybody picking and choosing 39:51 which ones... No. Wait, what about that fourth 39:55 commandment? Somebody just quote 39:56 the fourth commandment for us. 39:58 "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 40:00 Six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work, 40:01 but on the seventh day, is the Sabbath of the Lord 40:04 thy God... in it you should... 40:07 Nothing has changed, it's no different today 40:11 than it was yesterday. 40:13 People still want to pick and choose - there is danger in it. 40:16 Now this argument that these were just quickly thought up 40:20 and something that was just for a temporary time, 40:23 it rebukes the strength and foundational 40:27 purpose of the decree. 40:28 The Apostolic Decree imposed by the Jerusalem Council 40:32 was neither temporary, quickly thought up, nor a new code of 40:37 Christian ethics... 40:38 Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit 40:40 didn't James tell us that. 40:42 The apostles and elders of the church reproduced 40:47 the regulations of Leviticus 17 and 18 which 40:53 concerned Israel's resident aliens. 40:56 Now I got a quote from Jill, I think from your lesson. 41:00 "Those which normally would be required for foreigners 41:04 who wish to live in the land of Israel." 41:07 That's all they were doing was... if you're going to live 41:11 in our land, here are the things that 41:13 you need to adhere to. 41:15 In the context of Leviticus, these prohibitions 41:19 meant the renunciation of paganism. 41:23 Any foreigner who wished to live in Israel had to abdicate 41:27 or renounce those pagan practices to which 41:31 they were accustomed; likewise, any believing 41:34 Gentile who wished to join the church, 41:37 was required to take a firm stand against paganism. 41:42 So these prohibitions concerning diet were imposed 41:47 to counter not just unhealthy food consumption, 41:51 which they certainly were, but to counter what? 41:55 Paganism! 41:57 Now what is paganism? 41:59 It's worship of a false god, that's what paganism is. 42:03 Do you think it's a good idea that we counter fake 42:06 paganism - the worship of a false god? Yes 42:08 As we look back through the Old Testament, 42:11 we find numerous instances where God's chosen people 42:14 wandered away after false gods - do we not? Yes 42:17 God was forever dealing with His people to come back to Him. 42:22 He would define their actions as committing adultery with 42:26 false gods. 42:27 Let me read these two Scriptures very quickly... 42:30 "To the angel at the Church of Pergamos, Revelation 2:14 42:35 But I have a few things against you because you have 42:40 there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, 42:43 who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the 42:46 children of Israel - to do what? to eat things sacrificed 42:51 to idols, and to commit sexual immorality." Sound familiar? 42:56 Okay, now let's go to the Church at Thyatira... 43:01 Revelation 2:20... "Notwithstanding, I have a 43:04 a few things against you. 43:05 That's in Revelation 2:20. 43:07 Revelation - is it 2:20? Okay, sorry, I've got 43:11 12 in both places, sorry, 2:14 and 2:20. Thank you so much. 43:14 Revelation 2:20... Nevertheless, I have a few 43:17 things against you because you allow that woman 43:20 Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and 43:23 seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality 43:27 and eat things sacrificed to idols." 43:30 Do you see a pattern here? 43:32 So what God is doing is giving instructions 43:36 that will protect the sanctity and the holiness 43:39 of this young church. 43:40 Okay, nothing God does is happenstance or ill thought out. 43:45 Everything God does is redemptive. 43:48 He always has our best interest foremost in His mind 43:52 and His desire is for all of us to renounce anything 43:57 that would separate us from Him. Pastor Kenny... 43:59 Amen! Praise the Lord! That was good now! 44:01 Praise the Lord for that. 44:03 You remind me when you were talking about this is 44:05 being raised in the home, there were rules, 44:09 and if you want to be a part of that home... 44:11 My dad always said, the little things that we have 44:14 and to be a part of it, this is kind of what we're 44:16 all going to do - so we all get along. 44:18 And so I think kinda that was set way back in my mind 44:20 back then, so it's not so hard to grasp right now. 44:23 So my part of the lesson is to actually go over what 44:26 each one of you, I think, has discussed in 44:29 a round about way, we'll look at it closely here. 44:31 I'm going to go to Acts 15 and I'm going to read some of 44:35 the same passages that you did, but I'm just going to hit 44:37 a few lines though because of our time and then move on 44:39 because they've been covered very well. 44:41 But we're talking about the letter, so we've come to the 44:43 point now that the letter had to be written and that they 44:45 wanted to make sure that the letter was going to be 44:48 taken care of, that it was going to be accompanied 44:50 by a couple of men and make sure that when it was read, 44:54 everybody was going to understand it, 44:55 they made it real clear, so I think this was good. 44:57 Acts 15:22, the Bible says here that... 45:01 "Then it pleased the apostles and elders and the whole church 45:04 to send chosen men of their own country to Antioch 45:07 with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas. 45:12 Now notice verse 23... And they wrote letters 45:14 by them after this manner, verse 24, skip, skip, skip, 45:19 skip them quickly, so just jot them down. 45:21 "Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which 45:24 went out from us have troubled you with words subverting 45:27 your souls saying, "You must be circumcised 45:31 and keep the law to whom we gave no such commandment." 45:34 So you see, we've read some of these, but let's put them 45:35 together... Verse 25- "It seemed good to us 45:38 being assembled with one accord to send chosen men 45:41 with you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul. 45:44 Men who have hazard their lives for the name of Christ 45:47 our Lord Jesus Christ. 45:49 Notice verse 28... For it seemed good and 45:51 you covered it well, that the Holy Ghost and to us 45:54 to lay upon you no greater burden than these 45:57 necessary things..." and then it certainly goes down 45:59 to cover what you just covered there nicely. 46:02 I like the point where you were talking about 46:04 ... they didn't want to lay anymore on individual 46:08 new members coming in as necessary, 46:11 and I certainly agree with that nowadays too. 46:13 We have to be careful when their coming in, 46:14 new members - that we get them as the Holy Ghost 46:17 is feeding them and not try to give them more than 46:19 they are able to be able to accept. 46:21 We realize that this is the first letter that was written 46:25 and certain that the council's decision, they got together, 46:28 wrote this letter, wrote all these things down. 46:31 The church appointed two delegates, 46:33 I thought it was very interesting, 46:34 they were going to make sure it gets there, 46:36 two witnesses were going to go along to make sure... 46:38 carry the letter to confirm the contents 46:41 so there could not be any mistakes. 46:42 Sometimes we're trustworthy and we just may jot a little 46:46 note down and say, "Take this and deliver it," 46:48 and it gets confusing that way sometimes. 46:50 So here it was down in letter form; two men went to say 46:53 This is exactly what the council agreed upon; 46:56 this is exactly the way it was written, 46:58 and they were witnesses to that. 46:59 But once again, what happened? 47:01 You had the Judaizers that has been spoken about, 47:03 here again, what did they do? 47:04 These were devout converts of Judaism. 47:09 The King James - one of us said there, "The Jews religion," 47:13 so we have to be very careful and it's kind of 47:14 an interesting thought... Jew's religion. 47:16 So they were meeting together, they're making sure all 47:19 was clear; they're after this letter; they took it, 47:22 and they arrived at their destination. 47:24 Acts 15:28... I like it again. It says it summed it up. 47:27 Summed up to me was their love for the Gentiles. 47:30 This is good, we have to have love one for another. 47:32 All these other things is useless without love 47:34 one for another; love for God; love for our fellowman. 47:36 Now I think that this said it as clear as anything 47:40 could be said because they said, "Not wanting 47:42 to put too much upon them 47:44 at once, that was then brought out. 47:45 Verse 28 reads... "For it seemed good to the 47:47 Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden 47:51 than the necessary things." 47:53 Now this goes along, doesn't it, as we read 47:55 the Scripture about Jesus... He promises the Holy Spirit. 47:59 The Holy Spirit is given to us to guide His disciples 48:02 into John 16:13... "into all truth." 48:05 And so the Holy Spirit then was active. 48:07 The Holy Spirit was guiding upon the men, 48:09 but then the enemy wants to come in too. 48:11 Luke speaks about the Holy Ghost and about 48:14 being filled with the Spirit. 48:17 I noticed that the council was real quick 48:19 to say the Holy Ghost is leading and the question 48:22 came in my mind really quick - how nice 48:24 that would be if always that we could understand that 48:27 if, by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit can be leading. 48:30 And should be leading, but not all the time 48:32 we see it and hear it as we studied - that the 48:35 Holy Ghost was trying to get through. 48:36 The Holy Ghost wanted to get through, but sometimes we 48:39 ... maybe you guys don't, but every once in a while 48:40 I get in the way and the good Lord has to kind of 48:43 give a little spanking and then, you know, 48:45 kind of draw us back to that. 48:47 We have always said, you know, 48:48 the Holy Spirit is leading, guiding and directing... 48:50 How did the Antioch Church here, quickly, just 48:52 react to this letter? I thought it was interesting. 48:54 How did they react? Acts 15:30-33, 48:58 I'll just do it here and start with verse 30... 48:59 Acts 15:30 says... "They came to Antioch," 49:03 a large group of believers came together. 49:05 We discussed part of this, but maybe a few things 49:07 might be added here, as we go to verse 31... 49:09 "When they had read the epistle... they read the letter, 49:13 what did the people do? 49:14 And Ooo, they rejoiced! 49:15 Somebody got happy, they were all getting happy. 49:17 You see, it was consolation it was talking about here, 49:21 but the consolation was felt by Jews and Gentiles alike, 49:24 is what I like... that was the whole group. 49:26 And you could say, "Well why?" Two things that came in my mind. 49:29 Why, but the Jews, they would know on what basis 49:32 they could receive the Gentiles. Right 49:35 That makes sense - now they know they can accept them, 49:37 but it would be on this basis. 49:39 The Gentiles, because now they were free from that yoke, 49:43 as it were, of the ceremonies and the rituals, 49:46 and circumcisions, so on and so forth. 49:48 So they felt the freedom, we can join now because 49:50 it has been decided by the council, but, you know, 49:53 there was a need of this letter and I felt the bottom line 49:56 was the little crux of it down there is just what we 49:59 talked about several times. 50:00 It was not necessarily what they all should be doing... 50:04 it's what would be expected of each group, 50:07 so that we'd get along well in the church and that so, so, 50:10 to me, so very, very, very, very important there. 50:13 The "Acts of the Apostles," p.197, I want read that 50:16 because I thought it was kind of interesting here. 50:18 P.197... It says, "Even the disciples were not all 50:21 prepared to accept willingly the decision of the council. 50:26 Think about that one! 50:28 Not all, even the disciples were not all prepared, 50:31 it didn't mean they were not going to and they would, 50:34 but prepared to accept the decision on the council. 50:37 Then you have... I put "but" in my notes... 50:39 BUT there's always something that goes on... 50:42 A man told me one time, you know, God has His 50:45 lambs, right? But they all follow Him, right? 50:49 And what is the goats? 50:51 The goats always say, "I will but," right? 50:54 The lambs just follow, the goats say, "I will, I will 50:57 BUT...so we don't want to have that, but here even 51:00 in this lesson, there's always.. they wanted to go along, 51:03 yet they had difficulty going along and then the "but" 51:06 comes in.. "Acts of the Apostle, p.197, says... 51:09 "Broad and far-reaching decisions of the General 51:13 Council brought confidence in 51:15 the ranks of the Gentile believers." 51:18 So even though there were some that are not quite willing, 51:20 yet it brought confidence in the church and I don't know 51:23 about you, but I think we need that... AMEN! 51:26 We need confidence in our leadership. 51:27 We need confidence in our pastor. 51:30 We need confidence in one another that we're 51:33 trustworthy in the name of Jesus. 51:34 See, I always say to myself, "I don't trust myself." 51:37 In yourself, you should always be honest, 51:39 but within ourselves, we're not trustworthy. 51:41 But it's only the Holy Spirit that lives in us, 51:43 then by the grace of God we become trustworthy, 51:47 and that's very needed in the church and today. 51:50 There's another problem that rose up, 51:52 "Acts of the Apostle," p.196, says... 51:54 "The entire body... notice this, of Christians was not called 51:58 to vote upon the question." 51:59 Remember, many were involved, multiple people were involved, 52:02 and we read that and everybody was talking about it, 52:04 but notice, "The entire body of the Christians was not called 52:08 to vote upon the question. 52:09 The apostles and the elders, the men of influence and 52:13 judgment framed and issued the decree." 52:17 So they wrote the letter and they didn't get everybody, 52:19 so what do you think happened? 52:21 Some got upset! 52:23 You see, so no matter how you handle things, 52:27 sometimes you're going to have little issues here. 52:30 The letter was framed, but framed nicely, 52:32 and it made it clear, everybody could know. 52:34 But some of the church members, they thought 52:36 they were left out because they did not get the vote. 52:39 There was counsel, there was a lot of talking that went on, 52:41 but when it came down to the actual letter, 52:44 and I'm not saying that was wrong, you know, 52:46 there was a certain group, comes down here, 52:48 council gets together sometime and then leaves 1 or 2 or 3 52:50 to finish it out and to get it going. 52:52 And notice this, and what did they do? 52:55 This is the sad part. It's sometime when you 52:57 don't agree, we don't just set out and say, "Well I 53:00 don't understand it and maybe try to find out. 53:02 What we try to do is try to destroy the work 53:04 of those who God is leading. That's true. 53:07 See and that causes division. 53:08 They tried to destroy them, destroy their character, 53:10 destroy their work, rather than leaving it 53:12 alone and/or going to the proper source and trying 53:16 to sit down and talk and say, "Now why didn't we 53:18 maybe get a vote in this thing." 53:20 There are ways to handle it that would be pleasing 53:22 and I believe in the sight of God. 53:23 Bottom line - This is it, bottom line... 53:26 We just mentioned it several times. 53:27 When the letter was read, the CHURCH was filled with 53:31 great joy because of the encouraging message. 53:35 and I believe today, we have a lot of good - don't you? 53:38 encouraging messages and it would be good if we 53:40 really get down on those encouraging messages. 53:43 To get the people on fire, let's fall in love with 53:45 Jesus again - this is what it's all about. 53:48 We'll be reading - I'm reading one from here, a letter, 53:51 from Jesus Christ - let's read that letter and let's 53:53 follow it by the grace of God, and one of these days 53:55 we'll be able to be in the kingdom together. 53:57 Won't that be wonderful? AMEN! 53:58 No division, no separation, but all together. Amen! 54:02 Thank you so much, Kenny, you made 54:04 some excellent statements. 54:05 I've enjoyed so much this study and CA, I really 54:09 appreciate that you brought out the fact that 54:12 Abraham had already entered into the everlasting covenant 54:17 with God... He was justified by faith, the Bible says, 54:22 "before circumcision." 54:24 Circumcision was just a sign of that covenant. 54:28 Give us a little re-cap on yours - one thought. 54:32 One thought - Before we do anything, we must be in Christ. 54:38 The Jewish religion was a "do religion," the religion that 54:41 Christ inaugurated was a "BE" religion, 54:44 we must BE in Christ Jesus. Amen! Amen I love that! 54:48 And Jill, when you were talking about the church, 54:52 I liked the way you presented that with these were the 54:56 seven things that took them to that decision-making 54:58 we might ought to add prayer there because if the Holy 55:03 Spirit, verse 28, was leading them, I think 55:05 that was it, but give us a little re-cap of yours. 55:10 I would say, "Don't be afraid of discussion." 55:13 Don't be afraid if maybe you have a differing viewpoint 55:16 from someone else, sit down, pray together, 55:18 study the word of God and know that God can bring 55:21 you into agreement. 55:23 Amen and Amen! 55:25 And Mollie when you were sharing about the 55:28 four prohibitions, #3 being dietary, I think some 55:32 of us are old enough... I mean you and I came out 55:35 of a different denomination, but I remember very clearly 55:40 being taught - we weren't taught that you couldn't 55:42 eat meat, but, boy if you didn't have it well-done and if 55:46 you ate it with the blood in it, it was a sin, 55:49 and because God said that "Life is in the blood," 55:53 so that's been a dietary restriction throughout the 55:57 entire Bible. 55:58 Give us a little re-cap on yours. 56:01 Well I'm thinking of "If it's in the word of God, 56:05 we're to accept it and I will do it if God says it. 56:08 It's not God said it, I believe it... 56:11 and I'll stand by it... 56:13 It's God said it, and that settles it! There you go! 56:16 If God says it, don't second guess God. 56:19 He knows what He's talking about. Amen! 56:22 And then what you were saying Kenny... you know you think 56:25 about here in AD 49 probably, the first General Council 56:31 of the Christian Church was held in Jerusalem, 56:35 but I like so much what you said when you were talking 56:38 about the fact that... not everybody got a vote, 56:41 the leaders got the vote because it wasn't a democracy, 56:44 it was people who were following the Holy Spirit 56:48 who had that maturity, who knew what God wanted. 56:52 Give us a re-cap on that. 56:53 Amen, I think it just goes back it to what we 56:55 talked about in verse 28, "For it seemeth good 56:58 to the Holy Ghost and to us." Amen! 57:00 If we keep it with the Holy Ghost and with us, 57:02 by the grace of God, it's going to work out. 57:04 Amen and I just have to finish with this and that is 57:06 Galatians 5:4... "You have become 57:10 estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be 57:13 justified by law you have fallen from grace." 57:17 We never want to fall from grace. 57:19 Everything that we're studying is about the love of God 57:22 and the grace of God, and a wonderful 57:25 Savior, Jesus Christ. 57:27 Join us next week as we go again. |
Revised 2024-08-06