A Sharper Focus

Gifts of the Spirit Part 6

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

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Series Code: ASHF

Program Code: ASHF000185A


00:21 Hello, friends, welcome to another Bible study here
00:23 at the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:25 This is A Sharper Focus,
00:27 named that because we do believe
00:29 that the more we study the Word of God,
00:31 the sharper it comes into focus.
00:34 Thank you for taking the time tonight
00:36 to continue to join us.
00:37 And if you're joining for the first time,
00:38 remember this channel,
00:40 we believe that studying God's Word
00:42 strengthens our walk with Him.
00:44 Can we all say amen to that? Amen.
00:46 And so we thank you for joining us here,
00:47 wherever you're joining us from.
00:49 In just a moment,
00:50 I'll tell you how to get a copy of the lesson.
00:51 But before we do anything else, we always begin with prayer.
00:56 Heavenly Father, we thank You for the opportunity
00:58 of opening Your Word.
01:00 We pray that Your holy angels will come and surround us
01:03 that You will connect us to our listening
01:05 and viewing audience.
01:06 And that because the topic is about the Holy Spirit,
01:10 may Your Holy Spirit have His way tonight
01:13 in our hearts and in our lives.
01:15 Make Your Word clear
01:17 and give us the desire
01:19 and strength to continue to follow You.
01:21 In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
01:25 Now go to this following website asf.3abn.org
01:29 and download lesson number 41
01:32 "It's the gifts of the Spirit."
01:34 Lesson number 41 asf.3abn.org
01:38 at that very website there are about 181 videos
01:42 and lessons all these outlines
01:43 that you can download and share with your friends
01:46 and your church and or your neighbors.
01:49 But something else we do before we go any further.
01:51 We have our theme song.
01:53 Our theme song is... What is it?
01:55 "Victory in Jesus."
01:56 Let's sing this together.
02:06 I heard an old, old story
02:10 How the Savior came from glory
02:14 How He gave His life on Calvary
02:17 To save a wretch like me
02:21 I heard about His groaning
02:25 Of His precious blood's atoning
02:29 Then I repented of my sin
02:33 And won the victory
02:35 Together.
02:37 O victory in Jesus
02:40 My Savior, forever
02:44 He sought me and bought me
02:48 With His redeeming blood
02:51 He loved me ere I knew Him
02:55 And all my love is due Him
02:59 He plunged me to victory
03:03 Beneath the cleansing flood
03:07 I heard about a mansion
03:10 He has built for me in glory
03:14 And I heard about the streets of gold
03:18 Beyond the crystal sea
03:22 About the angels singing
03:25 And the old redemption story
03:29 And some sweet day I'll sing up there
03:33 The song of victory
03:36 Key change.
03:37 O victory in Jesus
03:41 My Savior, forever
03:44 He sought me and bought me
03:48 With His redeeming blood
03:52 He loved me ere I knew Him
03:56 And all my love is due Him
03:59 He plunged me to victory
04:03 Beneath the cleansing flood
04:07 He plunged me to victory
04:11 Beneath the cleansing flood
04:17 Amen.
04:20 The gifts of the Spirit, that's our topic tonight.
04:24 And once again, if you don't have a lesson,
04:26 if you just joined, go to asf.3abn.org,
04:29 download lesson number 41.
04:32 The Holy Spirit is the gift
04:37 that gives the gift.
04:40 The Holy Spirit is the gift that gives the gift.
04:44 If Jesus did not give the gift of the Holy Spirit,
04:48 we would not have the gifts of the Spirit.
04:51 So this transaction...
04:53 Let's go to John Chapter 16 to lay some foundation.
04:56 This transaction was guaranteed by Jesus
05:01 for the benefit and the blessing
05:03 of the New Testament Church.
05:06 But I wanna make it very clear,
05:08 the Holy Spirit was also active
05:11 among the Old Testament people of God.
05:13 The prophets could not have done
05:15 what they have done
05:16 had there not been a Spirit.
05:17 Remember, Elisha asked
05:19 for a double portion of the Spirit
05:22 that was upon Elijah.
05:23 So the Spirit of God is always been active,
05:26 but in the New Testament there was a transitional stage
05:29 because you finally Old Testament
05:32 while God was working on His people
05:35 so that eventually He can work through His people,
05:39 He never got to work through them
05:42 because they did not respond to Him working on them.
05:45 And so He made an attempt in the New Testament
05:49 by choosing, how many disciples?
05:52 How many say?
05:53 Twelve. Twelve disciples.
05:55 And then through the work of the Holy Spirit,
05:57 He trained them for three and half years.
06:00 And before He left,
06:02 He was now beginning in the New Testament
06:05 what He intended to do in the Old Testament
06:07 to carry the gospel to the world.
06:10 Look at John 16 and verse,
06:15 let's see verse 5.
06:19 Let me see if want to go further back.
06:22 Okay, I wanna go to verse 1.
06:25 How did I get to verse 1?
06:28 The Bible says,
06:29 "These things I have spoken to you,
06:32 that you should not be made to stumble."
06:34 And this is a prophecy that
06:37 the apostles were told would eventually happen.
06:41 "They will put you out of the synagogues.
06:43 Yes, the time will come
06:46 that whoever kills you will think
06:47 that he offers God service.
06:50 And these things they will do to you
06:51 because they have not known the Father nor...
06:54 They have not known the Father nor Me.
06:57 But these things I have told you,
06:59 that when the time comes,
07:01 you may remember that I told you of them.
07:03 And these things
07:05 I did not say to you at the beginning,
07:08 because I was with you."
07:10 But now here is the transition.
07:12 "But now," what's next three words?
07:16 Say with some fervor, I what?
07:18 "I go away."
07:19 He is leaving.
07:21 "I go away to Him who sent Me,
07:24 and none of you asks Me,
07:26 'Where are You going?'
07:29 But because I have said these things to you,
07:32 sorrow has filled your heart."
07:34 And this is the beauty.
07:36 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth.
07:39 It is to your advantage," to your what?
07:42 "It's to your advantage that I go away,
07:45 for if I do not go away, the Helper, or the Spirit,
07:48 or the Comforter will not come to you.
07:53 But if I depart, I will send Him to you.
07:57 Let me pause and make a point right here.
07:58 The Holy Spirit is not an it,
08:02 Him.
08:03 "He will come,
08:05 if I don't go away, He will not come.
08:07 I will go away, and I will send Him."
08:10 And the Bible doesn't use this word
08:12 in an arbitrary way,
08:13 it's literally using it in the masculine way.
08:17 This is the masculine description
08:18 of who the Holy Spirit is.
08:19 And we'll find out in our lesson another,
08:21 a number of other attributes about the Holy Spirit.
08:24 "When I go away, He will come.
08:27 I will go away, and I'll send Him."
08:29 So this idea
08:30 that the Holy Spirit is some kind of ethereal cloud
08:32 that floats around and effects people's lives.
08:35 And like wind,
08:36 His work is unpredictable like the wind.
08:38 But He's very much
08:40 the third person of the Godhead.
08:41 Can we say amen? Amen.
08:42 The third person of the Godhead,
08:44 not the third entity.
08:47 "And when He has come,
08:48 He will convict the world of sin."
08:50 This is His operation.
08:52 Let me make a point right here.
08:53 One of the reasons why Jesus said
08:54 it's to your advantage that I go away
08:57 is because once Jesus took on human flesh,
08:59 He will forever be in the form of human flesh.
09:03 That omnipotence that He possessed
09:06 before He condescended to the earth,
09:08 He will no longer possess,
09:10 He became the Son of man, He became our brother.
09:14 So with one hand,
09:16 He connected humanity to divinity
09:20 and with the other hand,
09:21 He connected divinity to humanity.
09:24 But the great price...
09:25 That's why He said it is to your advantage
09:27 or expedient that I go away
09:29 because He now after taken on the form of humanity
09:33 cannot reverse that,
09:35 He will either be victorious in the form of humanity
09:38 by the help of His Father,
09:40 or He will be defeated in the form of humanity
09:42 and forever be a slave to Satan's kingdom.
09:45 Thank the Lord, He won. Amen.
09:48 But He's saying it's necessary that I go away.
09:50 "I've got to go
09:51 because I cannot do now what He is going to do."
09:54 He's going to be omniscient.
09:56 Sorry, omnipresent, also omniscient.
09:59 But He's gonna be omnipresent,
10:00 He's gonna be able to work
10:02 through all of you at the same time,
10:04 He's gonna continue to work in you.
10:05 And you'll find that so many examples
10:07 in the New Testament.
10:08 For example, when Philip
10:11 was sent into the desert
10:13 to do an evangelistic series,
10:16 how many people attended his evangelistic series?
10:19 One. One, and who was he?
10:21 The Ethiopian eunuch.
10:23 And after that baptism, what happened?
10:26 The Spirit swept him away,
10:28 that would not have happened had the Spirit not been active.
10:31 So the Lord is saying,
10:32 "There's another work that must continue,
10:34 but it won't happen,
10:35 it would not happen until I go away."
10:38 Let's look at a couple of other things
10:39 that are very important about the Holy Spirit.
10:41 And by the way, this is the work
10:43 the Spirit is doing, convicting the world of sin.
10:45 And you'll see later on of righteousness
10:47 and also of judgment.
10:50 What verse am I up to? Verse 8?
10:53 "And when He has come,
10:54 He will convict the world of sin,
10:56 and of righteousness, and of," what else?
10:59 "Of judgment, of sin,
11:00 because they do not believe in Me of righteousness,
11:04 because I go to My Father and you see Me..."
11:07 No more. That's right.
11:10 "And you see Me..."
11:13 Am I saying that correctly?
11:16 "And you see Me no more."
11:18 And verse 11.
11:23 Mine just all of a sudden it flipped here
11:25 and did something really strange here.
11:27 In verse 11, let me just open here.
11:31 I had a glitch in my iPad. Here it is.
11:34 Further down.
11:35 "Because you see Me no more, of judgment,
11:37 because the ruler of this world is judged."
11:41 And then this is the part that was so beautiful verse 12.
11:44 "I still have many things to say to you,
11:47 but you cannot bear them now.
11:50 However," I love that, however.
11:53 So as much as the Lord showed the disciples
11:55 there was still something more He had to show them.
11:58 So the reason
11:59 why they were called disciples and later apostles,
12:02 discipleship is training, apostleship is function.
12:07 You're getting ready.
12:09 And now you're sent.
12:10 Discipleship is, "I'm mentoring you.
12:14 Apostleship is, "I'm sending you."
12:16 And that's why he said later on,
12:18 "I send you forth as lambs among wolves."
12:20 So I got you ready.
12:22 I'm gonna tell you more things,
12:23 but I'll only give them to you as you need them.
12:26 So it says here in verse 13.
12:29 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth,
12:32 has come, He will guide you into,"
12:34 how much?
12:35 "All truth."
12:37 Let me make another point right here.
12:38 It's not possible to say that
12:40 you are being lead by the Spirit
12:42 and not willing to accept truth.
12:46 If the Spirit is leading you,
12:47 and you're responding to the Holy Spirit,
12:49 truth is not an issue.
12:52 Right, Emma Lou?
12:53 Not an issue at all.
12:55 Right, Ramona? Not an issue.
12:58 And He says,
13:01 "But whatever He hears..."
13:05 Well, let me finish.
13:06 "For He will not speak on His own authority,
13:08 but whatever He hears He will speak,
13:11 and He will tell you things to come."
13:13 Another phrase for things to come,
13:15 what's the single word
13:16 we could use for things to come?
13:19 Future? Okay, what's the word?
13:21 Say it again?
13:22 Prophecy. That's right.
13:23 The Holy Spirit is going to pour upon the church
13:29 this understanding that they don't presently possess.
13:32 And the reason why they didn't presently possess it
13:34 is because the New Testament Church
13:36 didn't start yet.
13:37 It didn't start until Jesus left.
13:39 So while He was discipling
13:41 what was still in place was the aristocracy,
13:47 was the Jewish leadership, was the Sanhedrin,
13:50 and the Pharisees, the Scribes,
13:51 all of those that should have for more than 1,000 years
13:55 been communicating the gospel to the world,
13:58 but they didn't.
13:59 So the Lord is now training a new group of workers
14:03 to do what the Jews fail to do.
14:06 And this is really humbling
14:07 because I wanna make this point.
14:09 We don't have the truth, the truth has us.
14:12 If the truth doesn't have you,
14:14 then the Lord will give the truth to somebody else.
14:17 So we don't possess the truth,
14:18 the truth is intended to possess us.
14:21 All right?
14:22 And lastly, I'll transition here,
14:24 verse 16,
14:25 "He will glorify Me,
14:27 for He will take of what is Mine
14:28 and declare it to you."
14:30 So this is important.
14:31 Should we glorify the Holy Spirit?
14:33 Yes or no? Yes.
14:35 No.
14:37 You don't glorify the Holy Spirit,
14:39 not even the Holy Spirit glorifies the Holy Spirit.
14:41 Am I right?
14:43 The Bible says the Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus.
14:48 He doesn't even glorify Himself.
14:50 So we're not to glorify the Holy Spirit.
14:52 We can thank the Lord
14:54 for the work He does in our lives
14:55 through the Holy Spirit.
14:56 But the Holy Spirit is not glorifying Himself
14:59 and His work is to glorify Jesus.
15:02 Say that again.
15:03 Some churches glorying. Right.
15:05 Some people make the Holy Spirit
15:06 the highest focus in their walk,
15:08 when in fact Jesus says,
15:09 the Holy Spirit never says if I be lifted up,
15:12 it's if Jesus is lifted up.
15:15 All right? And let's end on this note.
15:19 Verse 15,
15:20 "All things the Father has are Mine.
15:23 Therefore I said that
15:24 He will take of Mine and declare it to you."
15:26 Now look at the trinity right there
15:28 or the Godhead, whatever phrase you wanna use,
15:30 whatever word you wanna use.
15:31 The Father,
15:33 everything the Father has belongs to Jesus,
15:36 and the Holy Spirit is gonna take
15:37 what belongs to Jesus and declare it you.
15:40 Right there showing carefully
15:43 the connection between the three.
15:46 "All things that the Father has are Mine."
15:49 Father and Mine, that's Jesus.
15:50 "Therefore I said
15:52 He will take of Mine and declare it to you."
15:55 Passing the torch
15:57 from the Father, to the Son, to the Holy Spirit.
16:00 But tonight, we're gonna look...
16:02 Since we've gone through 17 questions.
16:05 Tonight, we're gonna dive down to question number 18
16:08 and ask some very important questions
16:11 because what we're gonna talk about tonight
16:12 is the indispensability of the Holy Spirit.
16:16 When I say indispensability
16:18 that means something you can't do without,
16:20 someone you cannot do without.
16:22 If you don't have the Holy Spirit,
16:23 you have no power.
16:27 But there's another reason
16:28 why the Holy Spirit is necessary.
16:30 So look at question number 18.
16:32 What makes the gift of prophecy indispensable?
16:35 And by the way,
16:36 the gift of prophecy is one of the gifts
16:38 that the Holy Spirit has imparted to the church.
16:41 What makes the gift of prophecy
16:45 indispensable?
16:48 Okay.
16:51 And we're gonna go to Matthew 26:56.
16:56 Go back here, all right?
17:02 Important, here's the answer.
17:08 "But all of this was done
17:09 that the Scriptures of the prophets might be,
17:13 " what?
17:14 "Fulfilled."
17:15 That's the focal point of the verse.
17:17 So the gifts that the prophets exercise,
17:23 the message that they communicated...
17:26 When Jesus talked about the events in His life,
17:29 and by the way, Matthew 25, Matthew 26, and 27
17:32 are talking about the passion of Christ,
17:35 His arrest, His trial,
17:38 His conviction of nothing He did wrong,
17:42 of His scourging, of His crucifixion.
17:45 The disciples were concerned, why is this happening?
17:47 And He said it,
17:49 "That the Scriptures of the prophets
17:50 might be fulfilled."
17:52 So if the Spirit wasn't working through the prophets,
17:55 then they would not know these things were going to happen.
18:00 So this indispensability, and you'll see,
18:03 let's go to another passage.
18:04 This is extra, we did this in the past.
18:07 Go to Amos 3:7.
18:09 So write the answer down.
18:10 The answer is...
18:13 Say it again, honey.
18:14 Scriptures may be fulfilled. Scriptures may be fulfilled.
18:18 That's right.
18:20 The Spirit has been working in ages,
18:21 but He has been working through the gifts
18:24 that the prophets have.
18:25 Amos, go to Daniel, Hosea, Joel, and then Amos.
18:29 You find Daniel, you can't find Daniel,
18:31 go to Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos.
18:40 You know, when you think about the story of the road to Emmaus
18:42 was a powerful story.
18:44 Jesus walks with Cleophas and another disciple.
18:47 And the Bible says, Jesus revealed to them
18:50 all things in the Scripture concerning Himself.
18:53 Now can you imagine, this is one of those passages.
18:57 So that means every prophecy from the first prophet,
19:01 from the first prophecy...
19:03 What was the first prophecy in the Bible about Jesus?
19:07 What book was He found in?
19:09 Genesis. What chapter?
19:10 What verse? Okay.
19:13 I will put enmity.
19:15 So Jesus when He's walking on the road to Emmaus,
19:19 every prophecy in the scriptures
19:21 concerning Himself,
19:22 He revealed to Cleophas and the other disciple.
19:25 Can you imagine, Marlena,
19:26 what kind of Bible study that was?
19:30 You think He missed the Scripture?
19:31 No.
19:33 He is the living Word, every scripture...
19:35 And that's why when they realize it was Him,
19:38 what did they say?
19:41 "Wasn't that something else?"
19:43 They didn't have indigestion, they had heartburn.
19:47 They had a heartburn for the good reasons.
19:49 I think it was Pastor Ivor Myer that
19:50 he took a flip on that scripture.
19:53 When you get heartburn?
19:54 Did not our hearts burn within us?
19:56 Something you can only get
19:57 when the Word of God is filling your heart.
19:59 That's the good heartburn.
20:01 When you don't accept that, then you get indigestion.
20:05 Look at what the Lord says here.
20:07 A couple of passages.
20:09 And by the way,
20:10 how many men that I say
20:12 Jesus was walking with on the road to Emmaus?
20:14 Two men. Okay.
20:15 Look at verse 3 of Amos Chapter 3.
20:21 Amos 3:3, "Can two walk together,
20:24 unless they are agreed?"
20:25 And what's the answer?
20:26 No, no.
20:28 But then verse 7, which was the one
20:30 that I wanted you to focus on initially.
20:32 The Bible says,
20:34 "Surely the Lord God does nothing,
20:37 unless He reveals His secrets to His servants the prophets."
20:42 So what is being referred to here
20:44 by Jesus in the Passion Week
20:47 was revealed through His servants,
20:49 the prophet, His prophets,
20:51 He was revealing that so therefore,
20:53 what was now happening,
20:55 Jesus was saying to His disciples,
20:57 "This had to be fulfilled."
20:58 And they tried their best
21:00 to extricate Jesus or to deliver Him
21:03 from what was happening to Him, but it had to be fulfilled.
21:06 It had to be fulfilled so that they will know
21:08 He is the Messiah.
21:10 Okay, let's go to the very next question.
21:13 Question number 19.
21:15 Question number 19.
21:17 What assurance does the Bible give concerning a true prophet?
21:21 Number 19.
21:23 What does the Bible...
21:24 What assurance does the Bible give
21:28 concerning a true prophet?
21:30 You'll see that on the screen
21:31 those of you who are in the home audience.
21:34 What assurances does the Bible give concerning a true prophet?
21:36 In Jeremiah 28:8 and 9.
21:39 Let's look at that together.
21:43 All right.
21:52 We read, "The prophets
21:55 who had been before me and before you
21:59 of old prophesied against many countries
22:02 and great kingdoms of war and disaster
22:06 and pestilence.
22:09 As for the prophet who prophesies of peace,
22:13 when the word of the prophet comes to past
22:15 or pass that prophet will be known
22:18 as one whom the Lord has truly sent."
22:23 So what is the assurance
22:27 that the Bible gives concerning a true prophet?
22:32 What they say, what?
22:34 Comes to pass.
22:35 That's the assurance
22:37 if the prophet says it, and it comes to pass.
22:39 But there is a caveat there, there is a caveat.
22:44 A caveat is like a caution.
22:47 Hold on a moment.
22:48 Don't go too fast, kind of moment.
22:51 I want you to see that.
22:53 Go with me...
22:56 to Deuteronomy.
22:59 Let me just see where that one is,
23:00 I'm going right here.
23:02 Come on, bring it up here.
23:03 Deuteronomy, and we are gonna look at...
23:08 I believe it's Chapter 13.
23:20 Yeah, Deuteronomy Chapter 13.
23:24 Yeah.
23:30 Now the reason I'm reading you this passage
23:32 is because
23:33 who else knows
23:35 that the test of a true prophet means
23:36 they say something that happens,
23:38 who else knows?
23:39 The devil does.
23:41 And have we been warned?
23:44 No, let me not just give you the answers?
23:45 What have we been warned of concerning the last days?
23:51 False prophets will arise and do what?
23:54 Deceive. Deceive many with, what?
23:57 Signs and wonders.
24:00 In other words, they will do things
24:01 that if your eyes were the only way
24:05 that you can confirm whether or not it's true,
24:08 you'll be deceived.
24:09 Right?
24:11 They'll do many things in Jesus' name.
24:12 And those things will be...
24:14 The Bible says
24:15 they will be of such magnitude that if it were possible,
24:18 they would deceive the very elect.
24:20 So one of the keys is you have to make sure
24:22 all the parameters are in place.
24:23 Here's the reason why.
24:25 Deuteronomy Chapter 13.
24:27 I'm gonna read this very quickly
24:28 as you walk with me through the passages.
24:31 Verse 1, "If there arises among you a prophet
24:35 or a dreamer of dreams,
24:37 and he gives you a sign or a wonder."
24:39 That's why the Bible says
24:40 he'll show many signs and wonders
24:41 in Matthew 24.
24:44 "And the sign of the wonder comes to pass,"
24:47 Boom, if you stop there, you'll say
24:48 he's got to be a true prophet.
24:50 But look what he adds to it.
24:52 "Of which he spoke to you, saying," now watch,
24:54 he adds the condition to that.
24:56 He says now that you know it's true.
24:58 Follow me.
25:00 Now that you know it's true, follow me.
25:02 And look what it says,
25:03 "Saying, 'Let us go after,' what,
25:07 'other gods,'
25:08 which you have not known and let us do," what?
25:11 "Serve them."
25:13 Look at the injunction.
25:14 "You shall not listen to the words of that prophet
25:18 or that dreamer of dreams,
25:20 for the Lord your God is," what?
25:23 "He's testing you.
25:25 He's testing you to know
25:27 whether you love the Lord your God with," how much?
25:30 "All your heart and," with what else?
25:32 "All your soul."
25:33 And then he says,
25:35 in verse 4,
25:37 "You shall walk after the Lord your God and," do what?
25:41 "Fear Him," and what else?
25:44 "Keep His commandments and," what else?
25:46 "Obey His voice, and you shall serve," what?
25:49 "Him and hold," what?
25:51 "Fast to Him."
25:52 Now it's all about Him, Him, Him.
25:54 So sometimes,
25:56 and this is something you have to put on,
25:57 you know, put a red dot on this in your brain.
26:01 Sometimes a false prophet would say,
26:03 "I did not tell you that was gonna happen.
26:06 Yeah, it didn't happen.
26:07 So why you're not gonna join my movement?"
26:10 Then you ask him,
26:12 "Do you honor the commandments of God?"
26:16 Well,
26:17 and you know right away,
26:19 that that person is not sent of the Lord.
26:21 He's trying to draw you away.
26:23 And the reason for this,
26:24 and God is always forward looking.
26:26 What's that word I use?
26:27 He's always forward looking because today,
26:29 more people will pack into a miracle service
26:33 than into a Bible seminar.
26:36 When you put those big miracle...
26:37 Sir Benny Hinn or Benny Hill, whichever one he is,
26:41 when he comes to town,
26:43 people will be coming in the droves,
26:44 they'll be filling stadiums,
26:46 giving out miracle oil and miracle letters
26:49 and red claws and splinters from the tree that...
26:53 As one person once said
26:54 there was so many splinters soul
26:55 that people claim that come from the tree
26:58 that Jesus was crucified on.
26:59 It's said it was enough to make Yosemite forest.
27:03 But false prophets do that, they lie to you,
27:07 they sell you stuff
27:08 that is not connected to the true prophet.
27:10 That's what they do. And people get deceived.
27:12 They said, "Well, he did heal that man,
27:14 and he's walking normal now."
27:17 Well, the devil could put on a malady on somebody
27:19 and then remove it, just to deceive you
27:22 if that's what it's going to take.
27:24 Question number 20.
27:26 Question number 20.
27:27 Let's turn there.
27:32 Okay.
27:35 Okay.
27:39 How can we know
27:41 that the prophet is connected to the true God?
27:44 How can we know
27:45 that the prophet is connected to the true God?
27:48 Okay.
27:52 1 John Chapter 4,
27:54 let's go to verse 2 and 3.
27:57 I'm gonna turn my Bible there.
28:00 I try not to spoon feed you.
28:03 I know you have your Bibles when you go to yours,
28:05 then those who are on the screen,
28:07 who are joining us may not have theirs.
28:09 1 John 4:2 and 3.
28:13 And here's what the Bible reveals to us.
28:15 It says, "By this you know the Spirit of God:
28:19 Every Spirit that confesses
28:22 that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God."
28:26 Now the word Spirit there doesn't mean a different Spirit
28:29 or disembodied entity.
28:31 It means the attitude of a person.
28:35 If that person is speaking by the Spirit,
28:37 that person is speaking truth, and they must confess.
28:41 So that's in essence saying,
28:42 a sincere individual will confess
28:45 that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
28:47 that person is of God.
28:48 "And every Spirit that does not confess
28:50 that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh,
28:52 " what does it say?
28:54 "Is not of God.
28:56 And this is the Spirit of the Antichrist."
29:01 And by the way, that doesn't mean
29:02 against Christ that means in place of.
29:05 "Which you have heard was coming,
29:07 and is now already in the world."
29:10 So how can we know that the prophet
29:11 is connected to the true God?
29:15 How can we know?
29:21 They'll confess that Jesus Christ
29:22 did come in the flesh.
29:24 Now this is huge
29:26 because to this day,
29:30 the Jews have rejected the fact
29:32 that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.
29:34 This was the context of this passage.
29:37 John is speaking
29:39 as one of the apostles of Christ,
29:41 who was a disciple of Christ,
29:43 and the very nation that Jesus chose
29:45 rejected the fact
29:47 that this person standing in the flesh is not.
29:51 They rejected the fact
29:52 that this person in the flesh is Christ.
29:55 "When the fullness of time had come,
29:57 God sent forth His Son born of a woman."
30:00 Galatians 4:4.
30:02 They rejected that.
30:03 So back then,
30:04 the test was as they went to the Jewish churches
30:08 as they continue preaching the gospel.
30:09 Okay, let me check you.
30:11 Do you believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh?
30:13 No, no. Okay, you're antichrist?
30:18 Do you believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh?
30:20 And that was the test that they had to continue
30:22 to apply throughout the New Testament church
30:24 because it was so close to the rejection of Christ
30:28 that John had to say, "Do you believe?
30:29 Do you believe? Do you believe?"
30:31 And when they said yes.
30:32 "Oh, great. You're safe."
30:35 But the test is broader today
30:38 because what the devil has done
30:40 is he's found a way to deceive those
30:41 who do believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.
30:44 That's why he's added another component.
30:46 Let's go to 1 John 2:3 and 4.
30:49 That's why he's added another component.
30:52 And by the way, when I said another component,
30:54 he didn't give something
30:55 that's not already in the Bible.
30:57 But the tests have expanded because back then,
30:59 the big issue was did Jesus really come in the flesh,
31:02 and to this very day,
31:04 to this very day
31:07 the Jews are waiting for the coming of Messiah.
31:09 They're waiting for Jesus to come.
31:12 The Age of Aquarius the New Age believers,
31:14 they're waiting for the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.
31:16 Remember that song?
31:18 I didn't wanna sing it because right now
31:19 in some of your heads, you hear it,
31:22 am I right?
31:24 Right? You hear it?
31:26 But the Age of Aquarius.
31:28 Among other like in Buddhism
31:32 and Eastern religions,
31:34 they're looking for this great leader to come.
31:37 Everybody's looking for someone to come
31:39 who has already come.
31:43 And that's why we're among the rare ones.
31:47 Let me go a step further.
31:48 Are you ready for a step further?
31:50 That's why it was so key
31:51 for the Jerusalem to be established
31:53 as the capital of Jerusalem
31:58 because the evangelicals believe
32:02 that Jesus is gonna come back to walk the earth
32:04 in physical earthly Jerusalem.
32:07 But He's not coming back, we'll meet Him, where?
32:10 In the air. And we did he go?
32:13 I don't wanna do this because it's already out there.
32:14 Where did he go?
32:16 He went to prepare us a place.
32:18 We're not preparing Him a place.
32:20 He's going to prepare us a place.
32:22 And what does they call? The New...
32:24 Jerusalem.
32:26 That's right, a New Jerusalem, not down here.
32:29 We've been to the Middle East, I call it the Bible lands,
32:34 not the holy land.
32:36 The holy land is up there.
32:38 I call it the Bible lands because Bible...
32:41 You cannot take an atheist to the Bible lands
32:43 and he come away still being an atheist.
32:45 It's not possible.
32:48 He'll have to either be willingly blind,
32:50 deaf, and dumb.
32:51 Because even those
32:53 that don't accept Jesus in the Middle East,
32:56 still tell of the prophecies of Jesus.
33:00 The guy that did our Bible tour,
33:03 remember that, honey?
33:04 He was a religious Jew.
33:07 And he was fascinating us
33:09 with all these prophecies about Jesus
33:11 and how they came to pass.
33:14 And then I asked him the question,
33:15 "So why didn't you accept Jesus?"
33:20 And he said, "It's a complicated question."
33:24 He didn't accept Jesus.
33:25 And he's telling us about all these prophecies.
33:27 And he's showing us
33:28 the scriptures in the Old Testament,
33:30 the fulfillment in the New Testament.
33:31 For him, it's a job, not an experience.
33:34 It's amazing but sad.
33:36 And he's saying it came to pass exactly as Jesus said,
33:39 and I'm thinking, "Am I missing something?"
33:42 And we left with a great experience,
33:44 but the sad reality
33:45 he's talking about the coming of Jesus,
33:47 and he's confirming everything that Jesus said,
33:49 and I said, "Why don't you accept him?"
33:53 And the reason I said that
33:54 is because right now in the Middle East,
33:57 many of the sites that are connected
33:59 to the life of Jesus
34:01 are now owned by the Catholic Church.
34:03 You know why?
34:05 Because the Jews rejected Jesus.
34:09 If they didn't reject Jesus,
34:10 all those holy sites
34:13 would have chronicle the life of Jesus
34:15 through the Jewish nation.
34:17 Okay, so what did I say?
34:19 1 John 2:3 and 4.
34:22 This is the additional test.
34:25 Verse 3.
34:26 "Now by this we know that we know Him,
34:28 " if we do what?
34:30 "If we keep His commandments.
34:31 He who says, 'I know Him,'
34:33 and does not keep His commandments,
34:34 is a liar," and the what?
34:36 "And truth is not in him."
34:38 So the test is not just Jesus came in the flesh
34:40 because that was suitable for that society then.
34:45 But today, it has to be something additional,
34:47 not just that alone.
34:48 So are we at question number 21 now?
34:51 Yes. All right.
34:53 So question number 21. Let's look at that.
34:56 When prophets are in vision
34:58 what is connected to their experience?
35:00 When prophets are in vision
35:02 what is connected to their experience?
35:04 Prophets have various experiences.
35:08 But the Bible records one of those experiences
35:10 that Daniel experience.
35:12 In Daniel 10:16 and 17.
35:16 Ezekiel then Daniel.
35:22 Okay.
35:25 Here I am.
35:31 I'd like to add verse 15,
35:33 and then we'll dive into verse 16,
35:35 all right?
35:41 "When he had spoken such words to me," verse 15,
35:45 "I turned my face toward the ground and became," what?
35:49 "Speechless."
35:50 Now verse 16 which is on the screen.
35:52 "And suddenly,
35:54 one having the likeness of the sons of men
35:59 touched my lips,
36:01 then I opened my mouth and spoke,
36:04 saying to him who stood before me,"
36:06 What that he say?
36:07 "My lord,
36:08 because of the vision
36:10 my sorrows have overwhelmed me,
36:13 and I have retained," what?
36:15 "No strength.
36:16 For how can this servant of my Lord
36:20 talk with you, my Lord?
36:21 As for me," what?
36:23 "No strength remains in me now, nor is any," what?
36:27 "Any breath left in me."
36:29 He was breathless.
36:31 He was without strength. He became weak.
36:33 You know, the amazing passage here.
36:35 And this is where the Apostle Paul
36:38 communicates the connection.
36:40 You'll notice something happened to Daniel here,
36:42 he was weak, and he was, what?
36:43 Also what else?
36:45 Breathless.
36:48 But who wasn't weak and who wasn't breathless.
36:52 You know,
36:54 who wasn't weak and who wasn't breathless?
37:04 Who wasn't weak and who wasn't breathless?
37:06 Say it again?
37:07 The Lord. Right.
37:08 The Lord that appeared to him
37:10 the angel was not weak and was not breathless
37:11 because the word their lord is in small L.
37:15 The angel wasn't weak. It wasn't a trick question.
37:17 You guys just didn't wanna give me the answer.
37:20 Xenia kind of whistled it out.
37:25 But you were correct.
37:27 So what happens here now
37:28 you see why the Apostle Paul says,
37:30 "In our weakness," what happens?
37:32 "His strength is made perfect."
37:34 So we don't have to be strong, as long as He is strong.
37:40 We depend on His strength.
37:41 I can do all things through Christ
37:42 who strengthens me.
37:45 So here one of the experiences, when the prophets are in vision
37:48 what is connected to the experience?
37:49 What happens?
37:51 Sometimes they lose their strength,
37:52 sometimes they cannot breathe.
37:58 All right.
38:03 Let's go to number, what?
38:06 Twenty-two.
38:08 Number 22.
38:13 How can we know
38:15 that a prophet is being led by the Spirit of God?
38:20 I had a discussion today I was doing my therapy today.
38:23 If my therapist is watching, hello there.
38:26 I just said that really quickly
38:27 'cause she said she'll be watching tonight.
38:29 But I was doing my therapy today.
38:31 And it was just a little Christian circle.
38:33 The guy sitting to my right was a new pastor.
38:35 I gave him some of the three angels'
38:37 messages booklets.
38:38 And my therapist and the other one,
38:40 they were Christians.
38:41 I think one was Baptist, one was Catholic,
38:42 and he was like,
38:45 I think, nondenominational
38:46 and then I was obviously Adventist,
38:48 an Adventist.
38:50 And she says,
38:51 "So what's gonna be on TV tonight?
38:53 What's coming on tonight?"
38:55 I said, "Well, our Bible study."
38:56 "What's it on?"
38:57 I said, "It's on the gifts of the Holy Spirit."
39:00 "Oh, really?
39:02 Well, explain that to me."
39:03 So and I began explaining.
39:06 "I'm not ashamed of the gospel."
39:08 And we were having a wonderful Bible study.
39:11 And then I said, "Well, so many people misunderstand
39:13 and misuse and miss apply,
39:15 the Holy Spirit works on us, then in us,
39:17 then eventually through us."
39:20 And when He gives us gifts, we can't pick the gift,
39:22 He gives us the one that He knows we need.
39:24 And I did specifically sought talk about
39:26 how sometimes the gift of tongues is misused
39:28 because there's a pastor that was sitting next to me,
39:30 he's just getting a church started.
39:33 And when I heard that,
39:34 I had to give him some material to read.
39:36 And so it's amazing that
39:38 last week his therapy was the same time as mine,
39:42 and it was also the same time as mine today.
39:46 And I said, "Now get in touch with me."
39:48 And so when I was leaving,
39:49 my therapist was walking down the front, she said,
39:51 "Hey, I hope tonight's sermon is really good."
39:54 And she said out loud, overheard everybody.
39:56 You know, Kim.
39:57 "I hope tonight sermon is gonna be really good.
40:00 Can I tune in? What time is it again?"
40:01 I said, "7 o'clock."
40:02 So hopefully,
40:04 she's taken advantage of that.
40:06 But you know, the beauty of it is,
40:07 God has His people everywhere.
40:10 And He wants to lead them and guide them.
40:11 He doesn't want them to just remain hostage
40:14 where the truth is not being proclaimed.
40:16 He wants us to reach out unashamedly
40:17 and share the gospel.
40:19 But here's one of the keys.
40:20 How can we know
40:22 that a prophet is being led by the Spirit of God?
40:24 And by the way, this is a test for anyone
40:26 who claims to be a Christian.
40:31 Matthew 7:15-16,
40:33 the reason why I use the word prophet
40:35 is because that's the context of the question
40:37 in Matthew Chapter 7.
40:39 Let's go there.
40:42 That's the context of the question
40:44 in Matthew Chapter 7.
40:46 All right.
40:49 Here it is.
40:51 "Beware of" say it with me "false prophets,
40:55 who come to you in" what?
40:57 "Sheep's clothing but inwardly they are" what?
41:01 "Ravenous wolves.
41:04 You will know them by their," what?
41:06 "Fruits." And here's the question.
41:08 Do men gather grapes from thornbushes
41:12 or figs from thistles?
41:14 And what's the answer? No.
41:16 So one is gonna produce one,
41:17 the other is gonna produce the other.
41:20 False prophets will look the part
41:24 who will not measure up to the part.
41:26 And today in a world today.
41:28 I mean, can you imagine how long ago this was said?
41:31 Jesus said this about 2000 years ago.
41:34 Is it true today?
41:35 It's very true today, it's very true today.
41:38 So much has been,
41:40 people have been motivated by so many different things
41:43 and we are living in the time
41:44 where many will not endure sound doctrine
41:46 so you cannot...
41:48 What that means is,
41:49 now let's look at another caution.
41:52 What else is this saying to us
41:53 that we have to be careful of...
41:56 Talk to me.
41:58 Okay, false prophets.
41:59 Well, how would we know?
42:04 By their fruits, and also by what else?
42:08 By the word.
42:09 If they don't speak according to God's Word,
42:11 and not just portions of it.
42:14 But the caution that this text is giving to us is,
42:17 don't go by what you see.
42:19 That's what is an essence being said,
42:21 don't go by what you see.
42:23 Measure by God's Word.
42:25 And also,
42:27 the other thing that's being pointed out here
42:28 is measured by their fruits.
42:30 And let me tell you why the first aspect
42:31 is vitally important.
42:33 Because there are I believe, this is my firm conviction.
42:37 I believe that there are many religious leaders
42:40 who honestly don't know.
42:43 I don't believe that everybody is just on this torpedo
42:48 just to destroy everybody that believes the truth.
42:49 I don't believe that.
42:51 I believe that there are some
42:52 who are honestly not fully understanding
42:54 of what the Word of God teaches.
42:55 I believe there are a lot of sincere pastors out there,
42:58 and a lot of sincere religious leaders.
43:00 On the other side, there are some sheep,
43:02 there are some wolves in sheep clothing.
43:04 But when you see a person, like I had a good friend,
43:07 I won't mention his name.
43:09 When we lived in California, remember,
43:11 when I did music at that program,
43:15 the pastor who invited me back over
43:17 and over and over and over again.
43:19 His first program we did was on Sabbath versus Sunday,
43:22 and he didn't really know about Sunday,
43:24 and he invited me
43:25 and I invited Pastor Doug Batchelor
43:27 and I invited Alan Reinach
43:29 who's with Religious Liberty.
43:30 And he said, okay, you bring two guys
43:32 and I'll bring two guys and we'll debate the Sabbath.
43:36 His debate was,
43:37 we could go to church on Sunday.
43:38 And he said,
43:40 you have to convince me that is Sabbath.
43:42 And his board asked him if he lost his mind.
43:46 They said, are you kidding me?
43:48 You're gonna bring two guys to debate the Sabbath.
43:49 And when he brought the idea up,
43:51 he said to the, the board members said to him,
43:53 so where are you gonna find somebody
43:54 for that kind of debate?
43:56 And I was there that day singing.
43:58 And earlier that day, I prayed Lord,
44:00 I know I'm here for something other than singing.
44:03 And I literally and I kid you not,
44:05 like see the room how nicely lit it is.
44:07 I went in the corner of the studio
44:09 while they were on the couch.
44:10 Face to wall and I said, Lord, reveal to me why I'm here.
44:14 And I was sitting in the foyer
44:15 waiting for that program to end and they had their meeting.
44:17 And his board said,
44:19 so where are you gonna find somebody
44:20 to talk about the Sabbath?
44:22 And he went like this, there, he is right there.
44:26 And I have the video, I keep telling you about it.
44:28 I got to show it to you.
44:30 And, but he was honest.
44:31 He said I was preaching on the Ten Commandments.
44:33 When I got to the Sabbath,
44:35 I honestly didn't understand it.
44:37 So the only thing I told my congregation was,
44:40 make sure you have an honest work ethic.
44:44 But I want to know about the Sabbath.
44:45 Well, he didn't win that debate.
44:47 But because he didn't, he realized something.
44:50 And he invited me back a number of times
44:52 to support his beliefs that we did have in common.
44:56 And he asked about Ellen White,
44:59 he asked about diet, he asked about jewelry.
45:02 And that was funny. It was an amazing experience.
45:04 His wife was right there
45:06 with all this jewelry on and he said,
45:08 tell me what you believe about jewelry.
45:10 What does the Bible teach about jewelry?
45:11 And I said, honestly, really,
45:13 your wife is sitting right there.
45:14 He said, my wife
45:16 and I don't agree on everything.
45:17 Just tell me what you think the Bible says.
45:19 And I revealed to him what the Bible says.
45:21 And then she got him back though.
45:23 She said, no.
45:24 I won't mention her name.
45:25 She said, we've got to go, you know,
45:27 because it's our anniversary.
45:28 It's our seventh anniversary.
45:30 And seven is God's number, remember that.
45:33 So she poked him back,
45:35 but I believe that there are sincere,
45:38 honest people that want to know and it's our responsibility.
45:41 First before we let our lights shine,
45:45 they will examine our fruit.
45:48 So we are fruit inspectors,
45:52 is that okay?
45:54 Not judges but fruit inspectors.
45:57 Let's not take that too far.
46:00 Okay, so write that down.
46:02 What's that question?
46:04 How can we know that a prophet is being
46:05 led by the Spirit of God?
46:07 Examine their fruits.
46:08 The fruit of the Spirit is, what?
46:10 Together love, joy, peace,
46:12 longsuffering, gentleness, meekness,
46:15 patience against such there is no law.
46:18 Look at what kind of Spirit they have.
46:19 I've met some sincere pastors.
46:22 Wonderful man that said, I didn't know that.
46:24 I could add to that list.
46:28 When I was in Northern California
46:29 and the Ministerial Association
46:31 would not let the Catholic priests become a part of it
46:33 because he said he's on with the system of Antichrist.
46:38 I would always visit with him
46:39 because he had the nicest attitude
46:40 out of all of those guys.
46:42 And we would laugh and together and his name was John.
46:44 I never call him Father John.
46:46 I call him John, he called me John.
46:48 But there are people that have a different Spirit
46:51 and it's not up to us to judge their Spirit,
46:53 but it's up to us to reveal our fruit.
46:57 Let's look at the next question.
46:59 Okay.
47:01 Okay, question number 23.
47:06 What promise has the Lord made
47:09 to those that follow His instructions?
47:13 What promise did the Lord...
47:15 What promise has the Lord made to those
47:17 that follow His instruction?
47:19 We're going to 2 Chronicles 20:20.
47:25 We're in the 2 Chronicles now.
47:27 My wife and I,
47:28 we started that last week
47:30 we're reading through the Bible together.
47:33 You ever see that people...
47:34 Some people read the Bible through in a year?
47:36 You won't remember anything?
47:38 It's too much to suck.
47:40 I mean, can you imagine
47:41 you just like flying, you on a race,
47:43 will take five years to read the Bible
47:45 through an year.
47:48 We did that, we did like
47:49 seven years we did the Bible.
47:51 And we can remember where we were
47:52 when we read certain parts of the Bible.
47:54 We remember our journeys on the road
47:55 when we were in certain parts of the Scripture and right now,
47:58 we're in 2 Chronicles.
47:59 So 2 Chronicles,
48:01 and what chapter are we in ours.
48:03 So we're in 2 Chronicles Chapter 4
48:04 in our own personal reading, but here we're 2 Chronicles 20,
48:09 and we're gonna begin with
48:14 verse 20.
48:16 All right, it says,
48:19 "So they arose
48:20 early in the morning and went out
48:22 into the Wilderness of" what?
48:25 "Tekoa,
48:28 and as they went out,
48:30 Jehoshaphat stood and said,
48:33 'Hear me, O Judah
48:37 and you inhabitants of Jerusalem.'
48:41 "Here it is now.
48:42 Let's read it together.
48:43 "Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be" what?
48:47 "Established,
48:48 believe His prophets, and you shall prosper."
48:51 What do we need to be established
48:54 and to prosper?
48:57 To believe. To believe.
48:59 To believe in the Lord,
49:01 to believe the words of His prophet.
49:03 Now the reason why this was shared
49:05 and let me give you the context is because when you go...
49:08 Let's go to Acts Chapter 7, okay.
49:11 Instead of giving it to you, let me show it to you.
49:15 Okay.
49:18 Acts Chapter 7,
49:20 and let's see, okay.
49:27 Acts Chapter 7 is a long chapter.
49:31 And I'm gonna go ahead
49:33 and just do something real quickly here.
49:36 It's a beautiful passage.
49:38 As you arrange and I got to Acts A-C-T 7
49:43 and you'll see here that this is the stoning of Stephen.
49:51 Okay, good. I have it here.
49:53 So let's look at Acts 7
49:56 and verse 52.
50:03 Stephen is on a roll.
50:06 And he is referring to prophet after prophet
50:10 after prophet after prophet.
50:13 And then he gets down to verse 52.
50:15 And the reason why Jehoshaphat said
50:18 what he did is because this was the constant pattern
50:21 among the Jewish leaders.
50:24 Those who were in rebellion,
50:25 they didn't want to listen to the prophet.
50:27 Look at verse 52.
50:32 Well, verse 51,
50:33 we got to add that in for extra credit.
50:35 You stiff necked
50:37 and uncircumcised in heart and ears.
50:40 Now you know why he said uncircumcised in heart and ears
50:42 because they always focused on circumcision.
50:44 But he said, guys,
50:46 your heart and your ears are not circumcised.
50:49 That means something's blocking your function.
50:52 Then he says, you always resist who?
50:56 The Holy Spirit as your fathers did
51:00 so do you.
51:01 So now you know what he's saying.
51:03 The Holy Spirit was working on your fathers,
51:05 they resisted him.
51:07 You're doing the same thing.
51:08 And what did he say they were guilty of.
51:11 Verse 52.
51:12 Which of the prophets did your fathers not, what?
51:15 Persecute and they killed those
51:19 who foretold of the coming of the just one
51:22 of whom you now have become the betrayers
51:26 and murderers,
51:29 who have received the law by the direction of angels
51:34 and have not kept it.
51:35 In other words, God has done so much,
51:37 He gave you exclusive rights to the law,
51:40 but you wouldn't even keep it.
51:41 And the prophecy sent to you, what did you do?
51:43 You persecuted them.
51:46 So when you read 2 Chronicles 20:20,
51:49 the issue was the same problem
51:53 that Stephen said the church had,
51:54 where the fathers had,
51:56 that's exactly what Jehoshaphat is talking about.
51:58 If you would simply,
51:59 you believe the Lord, but believe His prophets too.
52:04 And that's why between Malachi and Matthew,
52:06 the Lord was silent.
52:07 He spoke through no prophets
52:09 until the next one came.
52:12 Who was the next one that came after?
52:18 Say it.
52:19 John the Baptist.
52:21 See, Xenia is whistling those words out tonight.
52:23 It was John the Baptist.
52:26 Quiet from the Prophet Malachi,
52:27 the very next one was John the Baptist,
52:30 and he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
52:33 He came loud and bombastic,
52:37 which you need to be loud
52:38 when you're proclaiming the coming of the Lord.
52:43 No amens necessary.
52:46 And by the way, this is really amazing.
52:48 Today our devotion in the book, Oswald Chambers,
52:50 My Utmost for His Highest
52:52 was about listening to the voice of the Lord
52:55 and was amazing.
52:56 Oswald Chambers, he was saying, I won't give the date
52:58 because I don't want to date the program.
53:00 But he was saying that
53:01 many people would rather listen to a minister
53:04 than listen to the voice of God.
53:06 Because they listen to the voice of man
53:08 and what the man says they think of it as optional.
53:11 But when God speaks directly, they know it's mandatory.
53:15 So the problem today he uses Samuel as the example.
53:18 He said, Samuel said, speak Lord for, what?
53:22 Your servant hears.
53:23 So he says, we must get to the point
53:24 where we tune our ears to hear God's voice,
53:28 not just the voice of man.
53:30 So many pastors feel like their hands are handcuffed,
53:34 because we're proclaiming what God has said
53:36 just like Moses, and Elijah, and Noah,
53:39 and the people think of it sometimes as optional.
53:42 But if God came down
53:44 and said it was like man instant response.
53:46 And He is gonna come down one day.
53:48 He says, His voice this time is not gonna shake the earth,
53:51 but the heavens also.
53:53 And what a voice? What a voice?
53:56 So we have to get used to hearing God's voice.
53:58 So what's the prophets?
53:59 What's the promise that God has made?
54:01 Believe in the Lord and believe in His what?
54:03 In His prophets for establishment
54:06 and for prosperity, prosperity.
54:09 And I tell you through the gift of Ellen White,
54:12 the church has been become so prosperous.
54:15 The servant of the Lord,
54:17 the church has become so prosperous.
54:19 Even Paul Harvey did a commentary
54:23 on this woman
54:24 who was a way ahead of her time medically.
54:29 And then also Time magazine did an article.
54:32 They entitled it
54:34 the woman that was 100 years ahead of her time
54:36 and Time magazine,
54:38 which at that time was a Catholic owned magazine.
54:40 They said if she was right on so many things,
54:43 what else can she be right on?
54:45 The Lord had blessed her wonderfully
54:47 with the gift of His Holy Spirit,
54:50 the gift of prophecy.
54:52 Let's go on to the next question.
54:54 Question number 24.
54:56 See if we could,
54:57 how any more we can get in here.
54:58 Question number 24.
55:02 Okay, here it is.
55:05 How do we know
55:07 that the gift of prophecy is still active?
55:12 How do we know
55:13 that the gift of prophecy is still active?
55:15 And we're gonna 1 Corinthians12:28,
55:21 when the Lord established the New Testament Church,
55:23 the Apostle Paul now to the Corinthian believers
55:26 he's establishing God's...
55:30 He's establishing God's offices that he wanted the church
55:32 to have to function.
55:34 Every church needs functioning offices.
55:38 Like any organization
55:39 the church needs functioning offices.
55:41 And God gave ecclesiastical authority to the church.
55:44 But for that authority to be effective,
55:46 He told them what the church needed.
55:48 Look at 1 Corinthians 12:28, here it is.
55:52 "And God appointed these in the church,"
55:55 let's read it together "first," what?
55:57 Prophet. Second, what?
55:59 I mean "first apostles, second prophets, third," what?
56:02 "Teachers," all right.
56:04 And then also "after that miracles,"
56:06 then what else?
56:08 "Gift of healings," what else?
56:09 Helps, what else?
56:11 "Administrations" and what else?
56:13 "Variety of tongues."
56:14 Varieties of tongues, that means various languages.
56:17 So notice what else, you never...
56:19 I mean, why don't people say,
56:21 oh, I'm praying for the Lord to give me the gift of helps.
56:28 Because people want the gift of tongues
56:30 which doesn't require any actions at all.
56:33 But the church needs the gift of helps.
56:35 Help me somebody. Amen.
56:37 Am I right? The church needs help.
56:39 The Lord needs help.
56:41 Pray that the Lord of the harvest
56:42 will send forth laborers in the field.
56:44 The harvest is ripe but the laborers are few.
56:46 The church needs what? Help.
56:49 And the Lord has given the gift of helps.
56:51 Not only that, administration.
56:53 When somebody says
56:54 that they don't want to be a part of an organized church,
56:56 they're rejecting that gift.
56:58 Because the Lord has given the gift of administration.
57:01 Administration is necessary, isn't it?
57:03 Am I right? Am I right?
57:05 Administration is business.
57:09 David the Psalmist says,
57:10 "Do not handle the Lord's business slothfully, lazily."
57:15 Administration is there so the church can function
57:19 as it's supposed to function.
57:20 That's why I'm praising Lord about the way
57:22 the Adventist church is established.
57:24 I mean, accountability at every level,
57:25 administration,
57:27 and praise the Lord but not only that,
57:31 apostles, those carry the gospel, prophets.
57:34 We have teachers,
57:35 largest educational institution,
57:36 but not only that, of education teachers,
57:38 but those teaching the Word of God.
57:40 Miracles,
57:41 many examples of miracles happening around the world.
57:44 Gifts of healings, helps,
57:46 administration and varieties of tongues.
57:49 And I tell you it's really so sad
57:50 that our lesson is ending.
57:52 But I tell you, we're gonna continue in this lesson
57:54 on our next program,
57:56 and we encourage you to continue studying
57:58 because one day it will come into
58:00 A Sharper Focus.
58:02 God bless. Where did the time go?


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Revised 2019-05-06