Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #16212 - Living in an Antichrist Culture - 1 John 2:18-23

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#16212 - Living in an Antichrist Culture - 1 John 2:18-23 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen.
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Open your Bibles first, John chapter 2.
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We're going to begin in verse 18 where we left off and cover a
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few more verses in our verse by verse study.
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I've entitled our Bible Study Day Living in an Antichrist
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Culture. John is addressing that in these
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verses. We just learned about the
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command not to love this world, the system of this world, the
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culture of this world to watch out for, as as you noticed back
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in verse 16 of chapter 2. For all that is in the world,
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the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
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life is not of the Father, but is of the world.
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And the world is passing away and the lust of it.
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But he who does the will of God abides forever.
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Little children. It is the last hour and as you
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have heard that the Antichrist is coming.
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If you have a new King James, you'll notice Antichrist is
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capitalized there because it's referring to a person.
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So you know that the Antichrist is coming.
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Even now. Many Antichrist lowercase have
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come by now we know. That it is the last hour.
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John is a good pastor. He's a good model for us.
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In this letter we get a great insight of what he learned from
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Jesus, the disciple that Jesus loved, the apostle that Jesus
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loved, and as a good pastor he knows what it takes to protect
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the flock. It says in John chapter 10 verse
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11, Jesus declares I am the Good Shepherd.
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The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep, and like Jesus,
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according to Psalm 23, a pastor carries the rod and the staff in
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the care and concern for the. Flock of God.
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John hasn't hesitated in sharing the truth with the church,
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especially the emphasis, which was a strong one not to love the
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world. Again, go back to verse 15.
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Do not love the world or the things in the world.
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Now we spent some time in this last time, but we have to pause
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here and just kind of consider there's no one listening to me
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right now that is not guilty of this in some way, in some
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fashion. Don't love the world or the
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things in the world because there's a battle.
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If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
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him. That makes sense.
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It's impossible in a very practical way to have two
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competing loves. Or Jesus said it's impossible to
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serve 2 masters. So John steps in with great
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warnings, strong warnings. Warnings are good for us.
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We may not always like them, but warnings are good for us.
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They help prevent injury. Warnings can caution US against
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upcoming harm. They can counsel us toward the
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right decisions if we're making wrong decisions.
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Some warnings are harder to hear, while others are gentle.
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I found a scripture reminded as I was looking at this just
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before coming in. Notice in Jude just a few pages
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to the right, right before Revelation.
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You might want to mark this. Jude only has 1 chapter when you
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get there. Or draw your attention to verse
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20. Warnings that are stronger,
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warnings that are lighter. They're both important, but Jude
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puts it this way. Pick up in verse 20 Jude chapter
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1. But you beloved, building
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yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy
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Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the
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mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
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On some have compassion, making a distinction, but others save
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with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the
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garments. Defiled by the flesh.
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Sometimes warnings can be very gentle, delivered in such a way
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depending on the person. Other times it's pretty dramatic
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and I don't know exactly what's being described here.
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Pulling them out of the fire. But it's a a.
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Strong, rescuing and then hating the the garment of the flesh and
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not wanting to see someone hurt. Either way, strong or soft, we
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need them, we need to hear them, and we also need to heed them.
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And after warning about loving the culture, John turns his
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attention to the last hour in verse 18.
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Little children, it's the last hour.
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It's the last hour, he said. If he said it back then in the
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1st century, an assessment of our day and age today, I think
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we can safely say it's a lot closer today than it was in the
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1st century. The return of the Lord.
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The last hour or the last days is a technical term and there is
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a time clock on the last days. It may surprise you to learn
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when the last days officially started.
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Or let me show you. Turn back to Acts chapter 2.
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It's been many, many years since we studied Acts verse by verse.
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It seems like so long ago. But in Acts chapter 2, notice
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what happens on the day of Pentecost and what Peter quotes
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from Joel describing what was happening as the early church
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received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
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It says in Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 14, Peter
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standing up with the 11, raised his voice and said to them, Men
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of Judea and all who dwell on Jerusalem, let this be known to
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you, and heed my words, for these are not drunk as you
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suppose, since it's only the third hour of the day.
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But this is that what was spoken by the prophet Joel, and notice
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what he says, verse 17. It shall come to pass in the
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last days. Says God that I will.
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Pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters
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shall prophecy. Your young men shall see
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visions, the old men shall dream dreams on your menservants and
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on my maidservants. I will pour out my spirit in
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those days, and they shall prophecy and show wonders in
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heaven above signs in the earth, beneath blood, fire, vapor of
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smoke. You see here that as the day of
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Pentecost arise in the baptism of the Holy Spirit happens on
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this early group of believers. The last day started right
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there. It was like the first day
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started the last days and you begin to live your life with the
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urgency of the soon return of Christ.
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It is the last hour church. I don't know where you stand on
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this. I don't know where you believe
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if you're very in your infancy on this or you're a little more
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far, far advanced. But understand, I believe the
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Bible would have us and God would have us every age of
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Christians to live as if it's the last days, but also to live
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as if it's the last day, living your life to matter.
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God was specific in passing on, and I think this is what's
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missing in many parts of our lives is an urgency to fulfill
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the will of God through our lives.
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Like the real urgency, not putting off things for tomorrow
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that you can accomplish today. Like I am with chores at the
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house, like I am not really excited about them.
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So I'm always finding a way to get out of them.
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And just so you know, we can do them tomorrow, we can do them
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tomorrow, we can do them tomorrow.
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Do you know if I leave my trash can on the street one extra day,
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you know what happens? I get a ticket.
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They actually write tickets. Hey, I want to warn you, we're
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going to find you if you don't get your trash can in on time.
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But you know, I kind of weigh it out.
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When was the last time I got a warning?
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Can I go out? It's a little cold.
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You know, I I treat things that I don't really see as important
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as non urgent. I treat things that I don't see
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as important as non urgent. Now imagine that definition
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related to the urgency you live in your life toward the coming
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of the Lord and the urgency of the gospel.
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How? Easy it is.
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To put things off spiritually, to find a reason, to find a way
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to avoid those things perhaps that we don't want to do about
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dealing with that lingering issue, that sin issue or that
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compromise or are really fulfilling the commitments you
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made here in the new year. But I find when you mentioned
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the last days in general, there are basically three ways people
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respond, three basic ways. They're not exclusive, but
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consider them. I'm sure that you have seen or
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experienced some of these. You know, you're at work just
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talking about the last days, talking about some news article,
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taking it out of the way the world frames it and bringing a
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biblical perspective to it. And inevitably you're going to
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talk about the last days, the return of Christ in some way,
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some fashion. I mean, I don't know and expect
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you to be preaching a gospel at your desk, but you're going to
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talk about the things of the Lord and you're going to talk
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about the return of the Lord in three ways.
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I find the last days or the urgency of the return of Christ.
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Number one, typically the person is a believer and they realize
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that it's true. Let's they agree with you.
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It's like, I can see it, I understand it.
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Perilous times have come and I can see it and I agree with you
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#2 the person's a non Christian and like it.
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We were warned in Second Peter chapter 3.
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They mock you and make fun of you, which almost conditions you
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to be quiet next time. So you don't want to deal with
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that. You want to be mocked.
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You want to be made fun of. I mean, you're just wanting to
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talk about what you know the the floor was open so we can all
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talk about the way we see the world until the Christian speaks
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up and then now they'll belittle you and make fun of you and mock
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you. You can jot it down in second
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Peter chapter 3 in verse 2, it says in the last day scoffers
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will come, mockers, scoffers that says a walking according to
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their own lusts saying where is the promise of his coming?
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For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as
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they were from the beginning of creation.
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Now that's not a true statement in and of itself.
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All things are continuing since the beginning.
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There's been a lot of changes since the beginning of creation.
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But again, it's mockery. It's to undermine you.
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And in verse 5 it says this. They willfully forget that by
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the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing
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out of water and in the water. And he continues to.
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Describe the work of the Lord through the ages, the last days.
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Believers, typically, you know, believers are excited, you know,
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depending on where you are and the the excitement of the
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rapture of the church and the return of the Lord, unbelievers
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have a tendency to dismiss it, mock it, make fun of it, maybe
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go after you. But the third one actually
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covers both categories of believers and unbelievers.
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And I think of the three, it happens to be the most popular.
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And that is people respond apathetically.
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Apathetically. Let me define for you apathy, a
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lack of interest, a lack of concern, a lack of interest or a
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lack of concern. It seems today that so many are
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walking around in a daze, spiritually sleepwalking, going
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through the motions. They think that tomorrow will
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always come. There's always another time to
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repent. There's always another time to
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get things right, but the Bible says today is the day of
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salvation and perhaps thinking of the Antichrist culture and
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capital A and little A, maybe today the Lord would just have
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you to add the word urgency to your vocabulary to begin to
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examine your own life of the areas of apathy you have toward
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the things of God. Perhaps it's you're not even at
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that place of being apathetic toward the things of God or till
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the last days because you're apathetic to read your Bible to
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be stirred up in the spirit. You're apathetic in your prayer
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life. Now I don't examine the room.
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I'm typically in a prayer group on our prayer times on
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Wednesdays myself. So I'm not peeking and I'm not
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looking around. I'm praying with my.
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Group. But if I did, I am certain to
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find there are those within the room not engaging in prayer.
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And you have to ask yourself, why is that not important to
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you? I mean, it's an important
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question to ask yourself, not to answer for me, not to answer for
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anyone in the group, but for you.
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Why is that not important to you to gather together with the
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believers to you know, I think of those downstairs that are
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just chit chatting and talking while we're praying.
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Why is that not important to you?
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I mean that that that you have to answer that question.
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Be real before the Lord. And if if the spiritual areas of
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life are not important to you, not important to me, then I have
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to ask the next question. And that is what is important to
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me. What do I spend my time on?
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How do I rearrange my life? What do I get passionate about?
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What am I excited about and is it really the things of the
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Lord, especially as the day of the Lord, the return of the Lord
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approaches. As the day of the Lord
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approaches, I need to examine my life of what really has my
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attention. I have to say, in my own life,
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I'm not always super excited or living with the consciousness of
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the return of the Lord of my life.
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And if that goes on for quite a while, you know, days, maybe
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weeks, I'm not even thinking about the return of the Lord.
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I mean, I get might get caught up here.
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We were talking recently teaching in our Bible study
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about a heavy doctrine. I might be spending a couple
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weeks just wrestling with the doctrine, wrestling with an
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attribute of God. Not, not not that I'm
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disconnected from God, but it's also like I'm not in
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relationship with me. Like I'm not enjoying my
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relationship. I'm not keeping myself in the
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law. I'm enjoying the study, but am I
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enjoying the God of the study? And I think if you look at your
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life, you can see areas in your own life where, you know, maybe
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work, maybe it's just work. That's all it is.
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It's just work. It's overwhelming.
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So much, so much more work, so much more business, so much more
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paperwork. And before you know it, a week,
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2-3 weeks, you're passionate to get the stuff done at work.
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And maybe there's a goal, maybe there's a promotion, maybe maybe
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there's something that takes you away from, hey, look, Maranatha,
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Even so, Lord, come quickly. It is on the heart of every true
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believer, even if it's not upfront.
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And I mean, I don't want to be caught sleepwalking in my life.
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I want to have that eager expectation of Jesus soon
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return. It works in us to change us from
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the inside out. God has really noticed in first
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John chapter 3 in verse 3. We'll get to this when we get to
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chapter 3, but let's just get a sneak peek in chapter 3, verse
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three. It speaks of everyone who has
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this hope. Now what is this hope?
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The context is back in verse 2 that we will see Him and be like
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Him. We will be in His presence.
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Everyone who has the hope of being in the presence of God
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purifies Himself just as He is pure.
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There is a work that goes on spiritually when our hearts are
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desiring the return. Of the Lord.
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So a couple of things I can think of when I remember the
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urgency of the return of the Lord, it gives me #1 an urgency
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to share the gospel, an urgency to share the gospel, to talk.
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About the things of the Lord. You know, not every discussion
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you have with a Co worker or a friend is like the complete
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giving of the gospel. You know that right?
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You don't have to feel guilt about that.
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You don't have to have. You know, heavy.
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Burdens like I didn't share the gospel, What is it?
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I didn't give all the points, I didn't call into repentance.
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And not every encounter with people is going to be to be
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every form and facet of the gospel, but every encounter that
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you bring Jesus into the discussion is going to talk
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about the Lord. Something that's going on in
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your life, something that's going on that God has done for
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you. Some kind of prayer for that.
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Like some people plant, some people water, God gives the
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increase. And so you have an urgency to
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bring Jesus into it's bring Jesus into the conversation.
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You know, we, we just watched the Super Bowl.
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It was so sad, wasn't it? So sad.
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Broncos weren't there. They would have easily taken
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care of like they should have been there, all all of that.
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And so you're talking Super Bowl at the office.
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Somebody's real happy. Yeah.
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You know, like, oh, Seattle won. And I'm like, yeah, it's such a
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bummer that Jesus allowed Seattle.
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To win, you know, whatever. They just start inserting the
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the gossip you just so you just like, yeah, I watched, I went to
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church in the morning, then I went home and watched it.
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I even went to the Saturday night service so I could have
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all day and it wasn't worth it. It was such a boring game.
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Those commercials were boring. The game was boring.
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It was all boring. But Jesus is not boring.
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You know I don't know how you bring it in but any conversation
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is a bridge builder depending on the connection point of your
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friend or your Co worker, your family.
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To bring Jesus into the conversation.
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But if you think you're going to do it, you have always have
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tomorrow. You always have tomorrow.
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You always have tomorrow. You always have tomorrow.
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You're going to always have tomorrow until you don't.
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That's how it's going to work. Number. 2 When we have that
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eager expectation, the urgency of soon return, we're going to
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have a. Correct perspective of material
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things. We're going to understand that,
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as we said in verse 17, the world's passing away and we're
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going to own our possessions instead of our possessions
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owning us. And the possessions that we own
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will remind us that we're just stewards of them.
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We actually don't own them at all.
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We get to use them. We may have ownership in the,
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you know, the context of our culture, in our society, but
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like everything belongs to the Lord, came from the Lord, goes
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back to the Lord. And when we pass on from this
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life to the next, we've taken nothing with us.
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You know that nothing and so it gives us a perspective on how to
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use what God has entrusted to us for the furtherance of the
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gospel. And finally it like it says here
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in verse 3 of chapter 3, there's a purity and holiness that comes
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in our lives, not like a fearfulness, you know, like
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dad's coming home. So get get right, stop fighting,
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but rather an expectation of living a life holy and pure unto
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the Lord because Jesus said Jesus put it this way.
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Matthew chapter 24, verse 46. The less it is that.
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Servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing the
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less. It is the servant that when his
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master comes, he's exactly where he needs to be doing exactly
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what he needs to be doing. Now coming back to our text in
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chapter 2, you see the word Antichrist used here both with
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the capital A and the lower case A.
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The word Antichrist is only used by John in his writings.
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An anti can have one of two meanings, and often can use both
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meanings #1 anti can mean in. Place of in place of a
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replacement, and #2 The prefix anti can mean against, anti in
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place of, anti against. And in the Bible specifically,
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this term refers to at least three things.
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And you can just jot them down, write down the Scriptures, and
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look them up. But #1 we see in verse 18 here
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the term Antichrist refers to a literal person.
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Literal person. Second Thessalonians, chapter 2
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we studied also in Revelation. All those studies are available
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if you want to go in depth of our view of the Antichrist.
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Capital A. We've taught on that. #2 the
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word Antichrist with a lower case a can refer to false
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teachers, people within the church, many false teachers.
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We see that in first Timothy chapter 4.
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Although the word Antichrist isn't used, they're described
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there. Last days perilous times will
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come and all these guys will come in teaching super.
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False doctrine, which was is a summary of verses one through 3
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in First Timothy. And then the third one, I don't
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know that we pay too much attention to until we're in it
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in the Bible here. So John is building on this,
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this concept, this truthful concept of the culture and the
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atmosphere that you live in, not just a person, not just people,
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but also thirdly, it can refer to a system of opposition, a
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system of opposition to those that follow Christ or what we
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would call today Christianity, opposition to Christianity.
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It was Warren Wearsby that said this.
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And I quote Satan and his frenzy is fighting Jesus and his
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eternal truth, and he is substituting his counterfeits
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for the realities found only in our Lord Jesus Christ.
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We step back and say, OK, how do we know it's the last hour of
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the last days? Well, first of all, we learned
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the last day started. On the day of Pentecost.
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But now we have another piece of of evidence that we're in the
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last days, and that is the Antichrist is coming.
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But many antichrists are already in the world.
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So I've given you a small little definition, a little
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explanation, a couple different scriptures.
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Just out loud, I'm going to ask you a question.
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Once you answer it, can you say with your observation of the
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world in which you live, that we are in the last days by the
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amount of antichrists that are in the world?
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I agree, 1st century was that way so it's 2000 years later.
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There's way more with all the tools and technology that's
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available and the population explosion, way more.
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There are little but growing pockets of anti Jesus movements
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around us and I know it's easy. This is why short term mission
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trips when we go out of the country, you're so helpful for
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you even in country because you get out of your norm.
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But This is why getting out of the United States is so
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important, especially serving people in the name of Jesus,
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because we ask the question, you know, are there many Antichrist
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and we just think, well, you know, we're just looking in the
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context of our own country, but you have to broaden your.
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Scope of the world, not just your own country, not just your
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own city. You got to OK, I mean.
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You could look in your own city, you can look in your own state,
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you can look at your own country.
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But when you survey the world, the number is exponential of the
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Antichrist movements that exist, Antichrist, false religions,
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false teachings, people. I mean, just just the amount of
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false teaching that is on one website, just one website,
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YouTube, it is astronomical what is happening in the world, this
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antagonism and angst and. Pure hate toward Jesus.
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Of course we see the spirit of Antichrist today.
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Every religion is encouraged. Talk about anything and
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everything except Christianity. Then you're in trouble.
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Then you'll be attacked. The spirit of Antichrist is in
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the world. Do you know in the last 50 years
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and this is an outdated? I couldn't find an updated one
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on time but just an outdated. A few years ago I found this
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quote. Or this statistic.
23:55
That in the last 50 years over 1500 people claimed to be Jesus
24:00
and people chose to follow them 15115.
24:05
Did I say that 1500? That is a lot of false Christs
24:10
and they were able to influence people to follow them.
24:14
The spirit of Antichrist is already upon us and growing.
24:17
And don't forget the audience of First John.
24:20
Coming back now to verse 18. Don't forget the audience.
24:23
He's talking to believers, but the backdrop was their own false
24:27
teachers of the Gnostics. That were there.
24:30
Undermining Jesus. They held to unorthodox and
24:34
strange beliefs about Jesus and misled many believers with their
24:39
false doctrine. Don't hesitate to point them
24:42
out. Teach against them.
24:44
We know it's the last hour. False teaching is always
24:48
Antichrist in its core. Many of you newer to the Bible,
24:53
new to the Bible, growing in your understanding of the Bible.
24:56
Excellent, wonderful. We studied not too long ago
24:59
about the stages of maturity. We're all in a different stage
25:02
of maturity. Nothing wrong if you're younger,
25:05
nothing so much better that you're older.
25:07
We all need it together. But here's the.
25:09
Point It doesn't really matter if you know everything there is
25:12
to know about the Bible. When somebody gives you
25:14
something false, you can reduce it down to one thing.
25:18
What do they say about Jesus? If you know Jesus well, what do
25:22
they say about Jesus? Well, you know he's not the Son
25:24
of God rejection because they're calling Jesus a liar on his
25:28
face. Well, he's not God in human
25:30
flesh. Rejection like you don't even
25:33
need to go. You know how people will confuse
25:35
you and they'll go, what about this?
25:36
And I know this verse and if you add this verse with this verse
25:39
and this verse. You get 666 and I counted the
25:44
letters on your church sign. Oh, you're in trouble.
25:48
You're 66. Five, you're almost there, you
25:51
know, OK, You don't even need to go.
25:53
I don't know what you know. Some of you are listening.
25:55
I'm going to count the let. Don't, don't, don't.
25:57
I'm making it up, making it up to get your attention and make a
26:00
point here. It doesn't matter.
26:02
Those stuff. That stuff doesn't matter.
26:03
Find out what they believe about Jesus.
26:06
Who do they think Jesus is? Where do they substantiate that?
26:10
In the Scriptures, The two most popular cults today, the Mormons
26:14
and the Jehovah Witnesses, deny the deity of Jesus Christ.
26:18
I don't need to read any other books.
26:20
I don't need to hear them at my doorstep or on the corner or get
26:23
one of their pamphlets. When you deny Jesus Christ, I
26:27
have no time for you. I mean, I, I guess I do have
26:30
time for you to rebuke you and share the gospel with you, but I
26:34
that, that's, I don't need to receive that.
26:37
That's part of the Antichrist culture and the Antichrist
26:40
teaching. When I read passages like this,
26:44
as I was reminded myself, I'm just reminded that I need to be
26:47
spiritually discerning as a leader.
26:50
I need to pray for that more, the ability spiritually,
26:54
supernaturally, not just with my mind.
26:56
You know, a lot of times we limit ourselves just by sticking
27:00
to our minds. Like we just try to figure
27:02
things out or we're looking like God can give you instant
27:06
discernment that bypasses your mind.
27:09
You hear something and you're not quite sure and then you get
27:11
stuck in your head. The Holy Spirit can get you
27:14
unstuck very quickly with the manifestation of discerning of
27:17
spirits, the ability to tell the difference between right and
27:21
wrong, false and true. And I need to pray.
27:25
I see as I'm reading this I just need more discernment to know
27:29
what I'm dealing with quicker so that I can either use my staff
27:34
that God has given to me as a shepherd.
27:35
And lead you or use the rod. Because there's really only one
27:40
thing to do with wolves, and that is to remove them.
27:45
You know, you think of a wolf in sheep's clothing.
27:47
The only thing that will help a wolf is if he becomes a sheep.
27:52
You can't just change his clothing.
27:53
He's still a wolf. You can't just put another.
27:56
Well, you know, he's in sheep's clothing.
27:57
So I'll take this sheep's clothing.
27:58
I'll put a better sheep. No, no wolves in sheep's
28:00
clothing. You know what they are?
28:02
Wolves. And unless a wolf becomes a
28:05
sheep, wolves need the rod while sheep need the staff.
28:11
And how do you know the difference?
28:14
Discernment. And how do you equip yourself
28:17
with discernment? The Word of God, because the
28:20
Holy Spirit activates the Word of God and you learn the
28:24
character and the nature of God. And John, I appreciate him.
28:29
He wasn't afraid of offending as long it was as long as it was an
28:33
offense to the truth and not personal offense.
28:37
He wasn't trying to personally offend the Gnostics.
28:39
He was giving the truth and anyone that is offended by the
28:42
truth needs to deal. Now.
28:44
Our delivery doesn't need to be offensive.
28:47
Our delivery doesn't need to be offensive in a very offensive,
28:50
you know, sensitive culture that we're in right now.
28:53
This Antichrist culture has become hypersensitive to the
28:56
truth and would rather have their own truth as they make it
28:59
up instead of hearing the truth. So we have to learn new.
29:03
Techniques in communicating with our culture.
29:06
It's not enough to just get in their face, you know, I, you
29:09
know, different the different ways throughout the years just
29:12
to. Well, you know, I gave them the.
29:13
Truth. Yeah, but.
29:14
But did you? Give them in such a way that
29:16
they would receive it. Did you value them as a human in
29:19
front of? You did you.
29:20
Talk to them. Did you get to know them when
29:22
those opportunities are available to you?
29:24
Like it's not just enough just to scream in someone.
29:26
'S face Jesus love you. You're a lost.
29:29
Like you have to build a relationship with people that
29:31
you can. But to be offensive, the truth
29:34
in itself, Jesus is an offensive.
29:37
He is an offensive person because he said that He's the
29:42
only way truth in life and no one comes with a father.
29:45
That's pretty like depending on what side you are of that
29:48
statement, it could be very offensive.
29:49
What do you mean you're the only truth?
29:51
Hey, look, I'm not saying it. I'm not saying I'm the way, the
29:55
truth and the life. I'm saying Jesus said that.
30:00
He's the way. And I choose to follow him.
30:03
He's. The life, and I've been living
30:05
that life for 30 plus years now. He is the truth and I've been
30:08
learning that truth for 30. He is the standard and just that
30:12
statement will be offensive. I wouldn't be surprised at being
30:16
offensive and I wouldn't be so quick to give up.
30:19
If the first response from someone is offense, that
30:24
shouldn't surprise you. It shouldn't surprise you that
30:27
someone would be offended by you telling them the truth.
30:32
And maybe you get a second conversation, but maybe you
30:35
don't. But John wasn't afraid to be
30:38
offensive. He wasn't afraid to let the
30:40
truth be offended, to offend those that were listening.
30:44
He then goes to describe a group.
30:46
Notice verse 19. They went out from us, but they
30:52
were not of us, for if they had been of us.
30:56
They would have continued with us, but they went out that they
30:59
might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
31:05
He's describing a group of people under the category of
31:09
little, a Antichrist, false teachers.
31:13
Those that were bringing false teaching into the church or
31:17
while they were in the church, picked up false teaching.
31:19
He's got a group in mind. They came for a while,
31:23
participated among us, but what John is saying here is that they
31:27
purposely left the truth and as a result, purposely left the
31:32
church. It was Eugene Peterson that said
31:36
this, and I quote, certainly you may quit if you wish.
31:40
You may say no to God. It's a free faith.
31:42
You may choose the crooked way. He will not keep you against
31:46
your will, but it's not the kind of thing you fall into by chance
31:51
or slip into by ignorance. Defection requires a deliberate,
31:57
sustained, and determined act of rejection.
32:02
Notice what they denied verse 22, or excuse me out, jump to
32:07
verse 22. Look what they denied who is a
32:11
liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ.
32:14
So denial #1 they denied that Jesus is Messiah.
32:19
And then verse 23, well, excuse me, he's Antichrist who denies
32:24
the Father and the Son. Whoever verse 23 denies the Son
32:28
does not have the Father either, who acknowledges the Son has the
32:33
Father also. They deny that he's Messiah, but
32:36
also deny that Jesus is God in human flesh.
32:41
These were not side issues then and they're not side issues
32:44
today. They are.
32:45
They are and still are fundamental issues of orthodoxy,
32:50
Jesus said in John 10:30. I and my father are 1 John 14-9.
32:56
Jesus said to them. Have I been with you so long and
32:58
yet you have not known me? Philip, He who has seen me, has
33:02
seen the Father. John 858 Jesus claims to be the
33:07
I am of the Old Testament now. We have to be careful here as we
33:15
describe a group. Because there's a very specific
33:18
this is referring to the Antichrist that we're in the
33:20
church but left because they can't stay in a healthy church.
33:24
False teachers cannot stay in a healthy church.
33:28
The healthy body of Christ like a healthy human body.
33:32
Will. Purge out its poison very
33:36
naturally. Not to say that poison won't try
33:39
to get in. The enemy's always looking for a
33:41
way to infiltrate the church. Always, always, always through
33:45
people, through false teaching. But what John is not saying
33:49
here, let's be careful. He's not saying that if someone
33:53
leaves the church or leaves your small group, that they're
33:57
Antichrist. Let's be careful here.
33:59
It's very specific. Well, you know, Johnny used to
34:01
be here. I'm sorry, Johnny, if you used
34:03
to be here, but I'm just, that's the name that came to mind.
34:06
I don't know, but Johnny used to be here and he's not here
34:08
anymore. Little Antichrist.
34:11
You can't conclude that you don't like.
34:13
You need to, you need to talk to him.
34:15
See what's up. Now there is a application here
34:20
because in that conversation of whether someone loses their
34:25
salvation or not, I don't hold to that.
34:29
I think you know that by now that I believe that you'll be
34:31
kept by the power of God. So that, well, what?
34:35
Happens when that person he was worshipping next to me, he was
34:38
his hands were lifted, he was giving up his tithes and
34:41
offerings. But now he left the church and
34:43
became an atheist. My conclusion is that he was
34:47
never saved to begin with. You can participate in a lot of
34:50
Christian activity and not have a real relationship with God.
34:54
You know what they call that? Usually religion.
34:58
You can participate in religious activities, you can give to a
35:02
church, you can adapt moral codes of churches, you can sing
35:06
the songs of the church, you can own a Bible, you can read it.
35:12
But that doesn't make you a Christian.
35:14
You know what makes you a Christian?
35:16
You must be born again and there'll be evidence of a born
35:20
again believer by the fruit of your life.
35:22
The tree trunk of your life will bear fruit and what will you
35:26
see? What will you see?
35:28
You'll see Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
35:33
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
35:35
It's a few things. You'll start to love what God
35:38
loves. For some that's a pretty
35:40
startling, isn't it? Because before you were saved,
35:42
you didn't know what God loved. You didn't care.
35:45
But now all of a sudden you're starting to love what God loves
35:47
you. You get excited, you know, when
35:49
someone responds to the gospel and you're like, that's another
35:51
life changed. You get excited when you get a
35:54
nugget of truth from a Bible study or two or three.
35:57
You get excited when you're you have a whole brand new birthday.
36:00
Now, for some of you, your spiritual birthday is more
36:02
important than your physical birthday because that's just the
36:04
change of your life. I mean, you appreciate your
36:07
physical birth for sure, but the one that you really look forward
36:10
to is I'm two years old, bro, you look like 40.
36:13
No, I'm two, I'm two years old. And that what does that be that
36:17
gives you, you bring a cupcakes into the office and tell
36:19
everybody got a big two on them and you got that big 2 candle.
36:22
You got it. Safeway popped it on, on and
36:25
you're like, come on, let's celebrate two.
36:27
What do you need? 2?
36:27
Ha ha, ha. I know we don't like to say our
36:29
age either. No, no, no.
36:31
I'm two years old, following Jesus.
36:34
And again, and now that you can see you can turn anything around
36:37
as an opportunity to connect someone to the gospel.
36:40
I don't want your cupcakes. Great. 2 for me.
36:43
You don't have to eat my cupcakes.
36:45
That's fine. I mean, I even got you the
36:46
gluten free one. I won't eat it either, but we'll
36:48
find someone else. Like I was thinking of you.
36:52
Our spiritual birthdays are so important, so vital.
36:57
So just because someone left doesn't mean that they're
36:59
Antichrist. But I do know this.
37:02
I have watched it now. You know, sometimes you read in
37:05
the Bible, you haven't experienced it yet.
37:07
That's how I was coming here. I had a few years serving in my
37:10
home church, but never responsible as the lead pastor
37:13
or anything. And so when I'm starting to
37:15
experience episodes and scriptures as a lead pastor,
37:19
I've seen this time and time again, false teachers come in.
37:23
Sometimes they announce themselves.
37:24
I've certainly met a few that have announced themselves and
37:27
given me their card. I mean, they hand it over to me
37:31
and others don't announce themselves, but I've watched a
37:33
lot of people leave and not come back because of the health of
37:36
this church and the strength of this church doctrinally, not
37:40
just from the pulpit, but from you, because they're going after
37:42
you. I mean, they can go after me,
37:44
but it's going to be a much harder hit than going after you.
37:47
I just received an e-mail right before we came out of somebody
37:50
that was out here in the parking lot, asked a woman to pray with
37:53
her, and the woman gave her horrible advice.
37:56
I just want to let me know. Hey, not everybody in your
37:58
parking lot is giving good advice.
38:00
I. Know you need to test all things
38:05
and fold fast to. What is good, you may not meet
38:10
the strongest Christian in the parking space next to you, but
38:15
one day you're going to be the strongest Christian in the
38:17
parking space that you use. You walk with discernment.
38:21
So you know, again, we hope the best.
38:25
We don't know if they're backsliding or they're not
38:27
saved. I don't know.
38:28
But there is a group that John says one of the ways you know
38:31
that's false teaching is because false teaching will not continue
38:35
strong in a healthy church. And I commend you for studying
38:40
the Bible and praying and even this year, we're coming into the
38:43
second month and some of you you made a commitment reading the
38:46
Bible. Maybe you're not keeping up with
38:48
it, but whatever you've done is good unto the Lord.
38:52
Just get jump back in just jump back in feed yourself on the
38:56
word. Faith comes by hearing hearing
38:58
by the word of God give God a chance to minister to you.
39:01
You know the you can jot it down in Galatians chapter one what
39:05
what these false teachers were doing was preaching another
39:09
Jesus it. Wasn't too long ago we were in
39:11
Galatians and the warning of Paul goes, hey, if anybody comes
39:14
to you with another gospel, I don't, even if an Angel comes to
39:17
you, reject them. Don't listen to demonic spirits
39:22
at the foot of your bed giving you a false doctrine.
39:25
That's basically what he's saying.
39:26
He goes. Does that happen on occasion?
39:30
It's not very often, but it certainly does happen.
39:32
And like a healthy body, a healthy church will always purge
39:36
itself of poisons false teachers cannot hide for very long.
39:41
It takes time. It does take time for the truth
39:45
to be revealed. But listen, time is always on
39:51
the side of truth, and truth is always on the side of time.
39:56
Given enough time, the truth will be revealed.
40:00
And So what do we need? We need the patience of the
40:02
Lord. Truth is always on the side of
40:06
of time. I think of Judas was finally
40:10
revealed, not in the beginning, but he was finally revealed.
40:13
I think of Dimas. Poor Paul.
40:16
And all the difficulties he faced with the men that served
40:18
alongside of him, but especially Dimas over time.
40:22
Dimas left Paul for the world. He went back to the world.
40:26
And you know, the question always was he saved or was he
40:28
not saved? Look, all we know is he left and
40:31
he was in the world. Let the Lord sort out whether he
40:34
was saved or not. But the world is not the right
40:36
place to go. I'm warning you right now,
40:39
living in the world, well, maybe I'm saying, maybe I'm not say,
40:41
look, the world is not good for you.
40:44
Don't love the world or the things in the world.
40:47
That's not where you want to end up.
40:49
You want to end up in the presence of the Lord.
40:51
You're in the world as believers, not of the world.
40:54
Now, why do false teachers leave and head out to another church
40:58
or another group of believers or a little small group?
41:00
Or why? Why is that?
41:01
Here's a couple of things to consider.
41:03
Number one, they leave because they failed to convince anyone
41:08
of their false teaching, and the truth always wins.
41:11
They fail to convince anyone of their false teaching #2 the
41:15
facts of their character come to light, their characters
41:20
revealed. Because if you are, and I am a
41:23
true carrier of the truth, then our character will follow.
41:28
Now we don't have fully formed character and we don't have
41:30
fully formed mature perfect lives, but there is a character
41:35
that is consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ, your
41:38
character who you are at your core.
41:41
So false teachers, they they can't last.
41:43
They can only. Fake it for SO.
41:44
Long. And you listen and you hear and
41:48
you watch and you see, like, OK, And they don't stay for long.
41:53
And ultimately, number three false teachers will move from
41:56
group to group because ultimately they're just found.
41:59
Out they're exposed, and instead of repenting, they take off to
42:03
the next church. And here, if we find out about
42:06
something here, and we find here, and we find out what
42:08
church you go to, guess what? We all have a phone and we're
42:11
making a phone call. Hey, that guy was here.
42:14
You watch out for him. He did damage here.
42:17
He hurt the ladies here. He hurt men here.
42:20
He was taught false teaching. You watch out for him here and
42:23
there have been on more than one occasion.
42:24
Oh, don't worry about it, Bowser.
42:26
We'll take care of it. You're duly warned.
42:28
I'm getting back to business. I'm telling you right now and
42:32
you're duly warmed and if you think you can pass with them a
42:36
wolf better than me, fantastic. But they're not going to hurt
42:40
anymore of the flock, Not here. So it's important that you know,
42:44
as Paul is saying, according, let me read you a scripture and
42:46
then we'll close out today in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse
42:50
14. I love this.
42:52
You might want to hold on to it, memorize it.
42:54
Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 14 For God will bring every work
43:00
into judgement, including every secret thing, whether good or
43:06
evil. There are good secrets and there
43:10
are evil secrets. Ecclesiastes 12/14 and you can
43:16
just trust the Lord. You walk in wisdom, you walk in
43:19
the discerning of the Holy Spirit, you walk in love, you
43:22
serve the flock, you're observant.
43:25
If you ever perfectly joining our school of ministry, one of
43:29
the things you'll learn is one of the best tools you have in
43:32
serving the flock of God is your eyes.
43:36
Just be a good observer and watch.
43:38
Just watch. Watch the flock, watch over the
43:41
flock, watch the flock take what you see under the Lord.
43:45
Well, you'll see all sorts of things.
43:47
There'll be times after service while I'll just say, hey, turn
43:49
around, what do you see? And then we'll just talk about
43:52
what you see. And that becomes a discipleship
43:55
moment. It's like what?
43:55
That's what you. See.
43:56
Oh, I didn't even see that. Let me tell you what I see.
43:58
And there's someone crying over there, or there's a group over
44:01
there, or there's a group over there, or you know all.
44:03
Sorts of things to be seen. And as the pastors and leaders
44:08
of the church, we want to oversee our flock.
44:10
Well, notice now let's close on on a high note in verse 20.
44:14
Now let's come back. But but you have an anointing
44:18
from the Holy One and you know. All things I have not written to
44:23
you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it
44:26
and that no lie is of the truth. You have an anointing of the
44:30
Holy One. That's another way of saying you
44:33
are filled with the Holy Spirit believer.
44:36
You have an anointing. In the Phillips translation, he
44:39
translated it this way. It's a paraphrase.
44:41
By the way. I write to you because your eyes
44:43
are clear enough to discern a lie when you come across it.
44:48
I'm writing to you because you have enough discern, you can see
44:52
clear enough to discern a lie when you come across it.
44:55
All Christians have been given the Holy Spirit and if you like
44:59
to write in your Bibles, you can write in verse 20.
45:03
The word no there is the Greek word audios and it refers to the
45:08
intuitive knowledge given to us by the Holy Spirit.
45:12
You know the knowledge of God because I'm living you.
45:15
You have the Word of God, the Spirit of God in you.
45:19
And what a blessing the Spirit of God is in our lives.
45:24
Too often, I believe we take credit personally for the
45:31
ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
45:35
You know, we might have a really good month that's just say a
45:37
really good month and you now because you really good month in
45:40
reading the Bible and praying like so now you've just been
45:42
going for it, been very faithful and you're beginning to see this
45:46
spiritual life come alive. And if you're not careful, you
45:52
associate your new spiritual life coming alive to what you
45:56
did when the Spirit. Of God has always.
45:59
Been waiting for you to cooperate with him.
46:02
He's always been waiting for you to look to him.
46:04
Every time you open your Bible, you.
46:05
What you're saying, whether you say it out loud or not, is God.
46:07
I'm looking to you for wisdom. I'm looking for you to inside
46:10
talk to me, speak to me, help me, encourage me, love me,
46:14
correct me, instruct me. Yeah, I know we don't do that
46:16
every time we open it, but maybe you should.
46:18
Here I am, Lord. I'm open.
46:21
And as you open yourself to him, the Holy Spirit, you give room
46:24
for the Holy Spirit to be the helper that he is.
46:27
You give room for the Holy Spirit to be the teacher that He
46:31
is. And one thing that I've found
46:33
that I've been depending upon more and more is I'm depending
46:38
on the Lord to bring to remembrance to help me remember
46:41
the things I've learned. My memory isn't all that it
46:46
could be or should be or used to be.
46:47
I'm noticing and I really am depending and asking.
46:51
I don't, you know, the earlier days I didn't ask so much.
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Lately I've been asking, Lord, help me to remember.
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Remind me, Lord, lead me, bring to mind a name or a face.
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I need to remember what you have taught me and what you've shown
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me. I know I'm in this section of
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the scripture, but maybe today I need something else.
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And so I'm going to read what I'm in because that's where I'm
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at. But Lord, help me to remember
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another area that perhaps I don't even know.
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I need to know today, and I'm open.
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So it is good that you present yourself to God, and it is good
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that you grow. But be careful not to take the
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credit. For the work of the Holy Spirit
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in your life, not to take the credit of his presence.
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John says, I want you to know the truth.
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He doesn't say you have an anointing and you know like
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this. Knowing all things is not an
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all-encompassing. And how do we know that?
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Because number one, we look at the definition of the word and
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you're right. If you look up the word all in
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the Greek, you know what it means.
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All. But never.
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Forget. Words have a context, so this
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word all is in reference to the teachings of Christ, the truth
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and error. Christ and Antichrist is really
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where He's out here. You know these things.
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The Spirit is in you. I'm reminding you, but you
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already know these things. You know all things He says.
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I'm not written to you because you don't know the truth.
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You know the truth, you know the truth.
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I'm reminding you of verse 21. I'm writing it to you because
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you know it and when you know the truth, you know the lie
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because no lie is of the truth. When he is speaking to us as a
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church now 2000 years into the last days, closer to their soon
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return of Christ than any generation of believers, any
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generation is closer to the return of Christ then we're
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closer than anyone. What he's also encouraging, I
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believe, is not only can you know, but you should.
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Can you know, Yes, and you should, you should walk in the
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wisdom of God. Someone reached out to me
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recently this week, another pastor in another state, very
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difficult situation in their church, and I prayed with them,
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walked around my park near my house, prayed with them while
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I'm walking around the park and then checking in on today how it
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went. It went OK and and I said, OK,
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we're just texting this time. So I, because I was in meetings
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today, so I just sent him a little text and and then the
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response was the Holy Spirit reminded me of a scripture.
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And I said, here's here's something I want you to take
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into the next meeting. And that is James describes
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wisdom from above. And when you walk in, I don't
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know what the response is going to be.
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I don't know how it's going to turn out.
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I don't know. I'm not going to be there.
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He doesn't even know. I don't know how it's all going
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to turn out, but I do know this. You can tell when someone's
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walking in the wisdom of the Lord or not.
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You say, pastor, how do you know?
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Well, let me show you real quick.
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Let's just turn there, James, let me find it.
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I think it's James chapter 3. And so you can walk in the
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wisdom of the Lord. You can hear the wisdom of the
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Lord. You can sense the wisdom of the
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Lord. And it often has these
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characteristics, he says in verse 13.
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Verses chapter 3 James verse 13 who is wise and understanding
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among you? Let him show by good conduct
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that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.
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OK, but. If you have bitter envy and self
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seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
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This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly.
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Sensual and demonic. So he gives a brief description,
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but the big picture of. Wisdom that's demonic and
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sensual and not from the Lord is self seeking.
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You just know for your own self whether you're walking in the
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wisdom of God and myself seeking.
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Now this is a problem for us because we can justify around
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our self seeking and we can make our self seeking sound very
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spiritual. And so you just have to have the
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Spirit of God. You know all things because the
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Spirit of God trust him because notice you can look for this
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well verse, actually he describes it in verse 16 where
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envy, self seeking exists, confusion.
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Every evil thing will be there, but the wisdom that is from
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above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle.
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And here's 1 willing to yield full of mercy and good fruits
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without partiality, without hypocrisy.
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You know, sometimes you have conflict with other people and
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you may not be willing to yield with that other person.
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That's not what he's talking about here.
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He's talking about being willing to yield to the Lord.
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He'll deal with the person. So if you go in, I'll just.
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I'm not willing to yield. I'm not going to budget.
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We already know you're walking in with no wisdom from God.
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Like, what do you mean you're not going to budget?
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And why even me? Well, you know, I just want to
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hear him out. Why don't you wait till you get
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wisdom from above and walk into that gathering willing to yield?
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Yeah, but they're 100% wrong. Maybe so, but maybe they're 99%
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wrong and you're 1%. Oh, it could never happen.
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Well, you're not willing to you. How about this one?
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Maybe you're and 99% wrong and they're one.
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How will you ever know if you're not walking in purity and peace
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and gentleness? Sometimes this Matthew 18, it's
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kind of applied like it's going to be a fight and it's rarely a
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fight. It's rarely needs to be a fight.
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It's more of like a tearful conversation about what
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happened. And usually it's like, oh, I
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didn't know, I didn't mean it, please forgive me.
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And you walk off with the unity of the Lord.
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You have to look for these characteristics.
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Maybe that's just a word from the Lord that God gave me
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earlier for someone else, but it's also for us.
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So Lord, thank you for your word today and the clarity.
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Thank you for my voice, being able to stand through the time
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here. Beautiful.
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Like a little extra time too, to pray and to study your word with
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a little bit of depth, Lord. And I pray, you know, thank you,
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God, for helping us through the years with wolves and sheep's
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clothing that would want to do harm to your flock.
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I know we don't always see it right away because they're very
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deceptive. And I know we don't catch it
53:29
right away. They're very deceptive.
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But I know that time is on the side of truth and you will help
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us to shepherd the flock of God and you will help us to protect
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the flock and to share the truth and to step in.
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I pray right now those there are some among us that just need
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more discernment. Lord, I pray you would give that
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to them, that they would walk in discernment, not the fear of
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man, not in people pleasing, but in discernment that we might be
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able to speak forth what we see or what we think and have a
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conversation. Just talk it through, Lord.
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So thank you for protecting us and guarding us through the
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years. Thank you for healing the wounds
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that we've had through being bit and just, you know, hurt by
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wolves by false teaching or false beliefs or just a little
54:24
bit of confusion here and there. And for those that have been
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here and left in our own little church, I just pray God that if
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they're prodigals that return to you and if they're they were
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fake believers, that they would be born again.
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That's what they need. And I pray that over some of the
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faces coming through my mind right now.
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Just pray for them, Lord. You love them, You care for
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them. No one's beyond your reach.
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Just continue to draw them with cords of love, so much you can
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do in their lives if they would just turn to you and for us in
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the room right now, God, so much you can do in our lives if we'll
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just turn to you. And so today we obey you and
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casting our cares upon you, the things that are on our hearts
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and our minds to receive instant strength, instant comfort.
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Your word says the joy, the Lord is our strength.
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And so pour out your spirit on us today.
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We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
55:34
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
55:38
prayer, call us at 87730 grace that's 877-304-7223.
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55:50
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.