Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24468 - Grace Triumphs Over Legalism Pt 2 - Acts 15:13-35

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#24468 - Grace Triumphs Over Legalism Pt 2 - Acts 15:13-35 · 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 To learn
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more about the many resources available through Abounding
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Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. And this is Part 2 of the Bible
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study that I entitled Grace triumphs over legalism.
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Grace triumphs over legalism. Great disagreement has come into
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the church here in Acts chapter 15.
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This chapter is so pivotal in the future vitality of the
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church. Great disagreement has come in
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that is very serious. It's such a serious matter that
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it's greater than what they dealt with.
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With Ananias and Sapphira. As serious as that was, I mean
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that was a serious one. As compromise and lies came into
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the church, it's greater than the outward persecution that
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they've experienced already. As hard as that is and has been
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where people are coming against the church, trying to destroy it
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from the outside, trying to destroy it from the inside, it's
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greater than gossip and all the damage that gossip can do.
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It's a greater issue than even division.
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And you go, well pastor, what issue was it?
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The disagreement and the conflict that entered the church
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here in Acts 15 surrounded the requirements of salvation.
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Or you could say the question How is a person saved?
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How you answer this question will determine your spiritual
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vitality as well. There's only really two options.
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You're either saved by grace through faith or you're saved by
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works. Your own works we've learned
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through the teachings of Jesus and all throughout the book of
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Acts that a person is saved by grace through faith.
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No question. Later on, Paul will write to the
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Ephesians Church in Ephesians chapter 2, verse eight, that we
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are saved by faith. It's by grace that you are
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saved, not of works. He makes it abundantly clear,
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perhaps even here in verse 12, that's what he was sharing, even
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though we don't have his exact words.
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But there were those that came into the church to try to
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disrupt the simple faith of the Gentile believers.
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Remember, we learned there are two categories of people right
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now. In the early church, there were
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the Jews because the church was buried in Jerusalem.
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So the early believers were Jewish.
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In the early days of the church, it was predominantly Jewish
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until that persecution happened in Jerusalem and the church left
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and the gospel went throughout the world, which was filled with
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Gentiles. When you hear the phrase
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Gentiles in the New Testament, it refers to everyone else but
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the Jew. Every tribe, tongue, and nation,
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with the exception of the Jew. They're identified as Jews.
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So the Gentile salvation among the Gentiles is exploded like
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wildfire and the question now comes up, what are we going to
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do with them? How do we respond to them?
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Notice in verse one of chapter chapter 15, certain men came
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down from Judea and they taught the brethren, Unless you are
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circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be
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saved. This is serious stuff now.
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We've studied Acts 15 for a few weeks.
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Now go back and listen to the study starting in verse one.
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But this is serious. They've come and looked at a
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believer, someone who is born again and said you can't be
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saved. What has happened to you is not
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real, not true. I mean, you have to you want to
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contextualize this personally. You have to understand you
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experience salvation. You you are born again.
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You may not be as far as you want to be.
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You may not. You look at all your
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imperfections and such, but you know you're saved and you have
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somebody coming in and they come to you looking in the eye and
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go, you are not saved. And you're like, what?
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Who are you? First of all?
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He's like, where'd you come from?
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What do you mean? You're not saying.
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Well, how can I be saved? One here they tell you.
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Well, you need to be circumcised.
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Nah, bro. No thanks.
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I don't think so. And you need to keep the law.
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What do you mean keep the law? Nobody can keep the law.
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The purpose of the law was not to be kept and we learned this
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all in previous studies. The purpose of the law was to do
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2 things #1, to reveal a perfect God.
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That's what the law does. A perfect God-given us a perfect
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law, and it reveals his perfection.
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And second thing that the law was to do was to tutor us or to
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teach us. And the thing we need to learn
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about the law is that we are not perfect.
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It introduces it to a perfect God.
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And secondly, we are not perfect because none of us can keep the
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law. So what they're what they're
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proposing here is impossible, let alone the New Covenant.
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Jesus came to do a new thing, New wine, new wineskins,
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replacing the old Covenant. The real question is this, Do
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they do we need to make Gentiles become Jews first, then once
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they're Jews, then they can be saved.
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And the leadership of the church calls what we are calling the
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first church council to address this matter.
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But not I just say this, mark the phrase in verse one.
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Certain men. It's always certain men that
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disrupt the flow of a church. Most people live by faith and
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love Jesus. But there are always a few men
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and women, certain men unique. Just there's always just a few
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that love to disrupt the flow of the Holy Spirit in people's
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lives. They they come to churches like
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ours. They show up at work.
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You might be sharing with somebody in your family or
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friends and they start. They're just certain people that
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aren't happy with the change in your life.
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They're not happy with what God's doing in your life.
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They're not, You know, what the really issue is, is they're not
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happy with their life because they're separate from God.
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And they've got all this internal difficulty, and they've
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dealt with this internal difficulty their whole life.
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And maybe you did it with them. I remember getting saved myself
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and all the people I party with and all the people I hung out
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with immediately that stopped. And not everybody was happy with
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that because it revealed in them a conviction that if I was
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willing to say it was wrong and they weren't willing to say it
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was wrong, there's conflict. But what we were doing was
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inherently wrong. It doesn't matter what our boy
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approach was. It was.
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It was obviously bad and sinful, and not every it's just going to
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be a few people, but a few people nonetheless.
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Turn over to Jude. Jude is right before revelation,
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so turn over to Jude. There's only one chapter there.
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I want to show you another use of this phrase.
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It's used a couple times, but notice in Jude chapter one, I'll
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draw your attention to verse four.
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There Jude writes in, well, verse 3.
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Jude, one Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you
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concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to
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you, exhorting you to defend the faith, or contend earnestly for
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the faith which was once and for all delivered to the Saints.
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And that what is that phrase in verse four?
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For certain men crept in unnoticed who long ago were
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marked out for condemnation, Ungodly men who turned the grace
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of our God into licentiousness and deny the only Lord God of
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our Lord and our Lord Jesus Christ.
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These certain men from Judea are doing something very similar.
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The leadership comes together and we hear from four people.
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In our last study, we heard from Peter and Peter.
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What does he do? He shares his testimony.
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Remember, in Acts 15, we're about 20 years or so into the
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early church. Peter goes back and starts
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rehearsing the past about God's calling on his life and how God
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used him, no doubt taking him back to what happened in
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Cornelius's house in Acts chapter 10.
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And he watched it with his own eyes that God was validating
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these confessions of faith with the Holy Spirit.
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He was validating that they were saved just like the Jews were
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saved, that this is all from God.
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And it was a powerful time. It silenced the crowd.
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Then in verse 12 we don't have much but the second two people,
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Barnabas and Paul. They start speaking about the
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present. Notice then all the multitude
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kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how
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many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among
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the Gentiles. Barnabas and Paul.
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Well, you remember they were in the church in Antioch.
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There in Antioch they were ministering to the Lord.
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And what happened? The Holy Spirit spoke and said
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what separate to me, Paul and Barnabas, for the work that I
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have them, and they sent them off as the first missionaries
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ordained by God. This is at the end of that
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missionary journey. It's very fresh on their mind.
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So when they're sharing it, it's the present, they're they're
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giving first hand account. You will not believe what God is
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doing among the Gentiles. It is fascinating, amazing
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miracles, wonders, signs, families change.
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They're giving their testimony. Then in verse 13 we have James,
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and following where he's going to speak to the future, going to
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give a little bit of his point of view, but then come to a
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conclusion the Holy Spirit ratifies it.
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They all agree, and then they write a letter to the churches
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to settle the matter. And remember, it's not just
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certain men in verse one, but also in verse 5.
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They're dealing with these Pharisees.
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The Pharisees are believers, but they're believers with a lot of
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baggage. They're beginning to agree with
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this too. They say the same thing.
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It's necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep
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the Law of Moses. And all of this is happening.
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The apostles and the elders come together in verse 6 for this
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church council. And now James is speaking verse
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13. After they had become silent,
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James answered saying men and brethren, listen to me.
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Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles
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to take out of them a people for his name, and with this the
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words of the prophets agree just as it is written.
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After this verse 16, I will return and will rebuild the
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Tabernacle of David which has fallen down.
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I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up so that the rest
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of mankind may seek the Lord. Even notice all the Gentiles who
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are called by my name, says the Lord who does all these things.
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James settles it by quoting Amos.
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This is it. I know what Peter said, Paul and
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Barnabas. But here's what the Bible says
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and he quotes Amos and it affirms and ratifies what Peter
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said, what Paul and Barnabas said, what James about to say.
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Because their lives and their actions and their testimonies
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line up with the scripture. You cannot miss in verse 17 when
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Amos says all the Gentiles that are called by my name, the Lord
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that does all these things. This is the work of the Lord
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Gentiles being saved. This is the work of the Lord.
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James wants them to know without a doubt that God's heart has
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always been to save the world. Every tribe, every tongue, every
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nation. They have twisted the gospel
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away from God's heart and God's intent.
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Now pause here for a second and we have to ask the question what
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James is this because there's many James mentioned in the
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scriptures. This is the James that is the
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half brother to Jesus. The half brother to Jesus.
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He is the leader of the Jerusalem church.
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He could even be considered the leader of the apostles, which is
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fascinating to me because he wasn't a believer during the
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time of Jesus. He didn't become a believer in
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his own brother, Messiah, until after the resurrection.
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And it's amazing to me, no matter what you bring, no matter
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what mistakes are in your life, if you bring him to the Lord, he
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can turn it around. He can turn it around for good
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in your life because you look at your life around.
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You don't understand it. It's so messed up.
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And it's so, hey, just come to the Lord, man.
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Just come. Just let him do a work in your
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life. You go, well, you know, look at
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me. I grew up with Jesus, and I
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didn't even know he would say, yeah, but you came to faith,
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James. So thank you very much.
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I'm going to use you greatly. And James would even later write
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a letter. And you know what the title of
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his letter is? James.
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That's right. He's the same guy that wrote
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James. Very practical.
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Now when he quotes Amos here, the point that Amos is making is
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very simple. It's always been God's heart to
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save the Gentiles. That's what he's doing.
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He's going to reach out to the Gentiles for sure.
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And Amos makes no mention. Note this, no mention that any
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Gentiles coming to God, he doesn't say they have to become
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Jews first. They can come as they are, which
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is the one of the principles of our church.
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Just come as you are and we, the Lord will meet you where you're
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at, and He has the ability to change your life from the inside
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out. It's amazing what God wants to
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do. But there's also a bigger
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picture here, a phrase that I want to introduce you to.
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If you're not familiar with it, but some of you are very
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familiar with it, just jot it down.
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Romans Chapter 11 and verse 25. Paul is writing to the Roman
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believers and he says I don't want you to, for I do not
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desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this
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mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion.
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That blindness in part has happened to Israel until the
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fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
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This quote of Amos also has a future prophetic importance, and
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it reveals to us that there is a time period of God reaching out
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to the Gentiles. Paul says it is the fullness of
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the Gentiles. That's a phrase referring to
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God's attention now primarily being among the Gentiles.
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If you go to Israel with us on our tour, what you will learn is
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most of Israel today is secular. They have no relationship with
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God. It's very religious, very
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outward religious, very few believers in Israel today.
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Why? Because they've rejected their
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Messiah. They've rejected their Messiah.
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And in that rejection now God's attention is now turned toward
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the Gentiles. And even today, 2000 years
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later, the amount of believers among the Gentiles in proportion
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and number compared to Jewish believers is astronomically
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higher, which has LED some to conclude, unfortunately, that
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God is done with Israel. That is not true.
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God is not done with Israel. We learn that in Romans chapter
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910 and 11. It is a very popular doctrine
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today because it is part of the theology that has come out of
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the Roman Catholic Church and spread into Reformed churches.
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It's called replacement theology.
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And in replacement theology, and a very simple explanation,
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replacement theology just says God is done with Israel and the
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church has replaced Israel and all the promises toward Israel
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now go to the church. But that's simply not a biblical
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teaching. It's untenable from the
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scriptures, even with this one one, even with this one.
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It like like on a practical level, not just a doctrinal
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level, but on a practical level. If God would just be done away
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with Israel and turn his back on them completely, the apple of
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his eye, can you trust him that he won't do the same with you?
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That speaks to his character and his nature.
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And here Paul's letting us all know that there's coming a time,
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the fullness of the Gentiles began here with Cornelius and
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it's going to continue. There is a fixed amount of
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people. God knows we don't know.
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But there's a fixed amount of people that God's going to save.
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And if the last Gentile gets saved, that is the end of the
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era or the epic known as the fullness of the Gentiles, that
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last Gentile. And by the way, if you're that
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last Gentile, would you get saved today?
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The Lord's coming back at the end of the fullness of the
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Gentiles. A lot happens prophetically.
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We've studied it in depth through our studies in
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Revelation. At the end of the Gentile age,
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the rapture of the Church will happen and the temple will be
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rebuilt. What's interesting about Acts 15
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here? I know I'm giving you a lot, but
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stick with me. This is amazing stuff.
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The Bible. This is all in the Bible.
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Man, this is everywhere. What's amazing right now is
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James is quoting Amos. Let's just say he's standing on
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the southern steps. There he's got if if you were
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looking over James shoulders, you know what you would see the
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temple. It's still standing when James
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is saying, sharing this prophecy.
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The temple's still there. Now, of course, if you go to
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Israel with us today, we walk up the southern steps.
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We can't get to the Temple Mount.
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You got to go around. But if you got to the Temple
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Mount, you would find that there is no temple there today.
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It doesn't exist. There are two large buildings up
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on the Temple Mount that are dedicated to the false worship
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of Islam. The Temple isn't there, but the
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Bible predicts that it will be rebuilt in that very place which
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James is tapping into in Amos. That relates to the fullness of
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the Gentiles and the return of the Lord.
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Amazing stuff. But James, the principle we want
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to learn here is when there's a problem, he goes to the Word and
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that's what settles it. And he uses a very powerful
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scripture. Notice verse 18, now known to
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God from eternity, are all his works.
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Now that's James giving a conclusion tying in to verse 17
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to the end of Amos, which is Amos Chapter 9 or so.
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But I love this scripture because in its interpretation
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here, while James uses uses it, it's like all these Gentiles
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being saved. It's no surprise to God, no
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surprise to God. God knows ahead of time.
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But I also sensed among us today that some of you walked in that
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need to be encouraged by this truth, that God knows what he's
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doing with your life. He knows it all.
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And I know you walk in today with heavy heart.
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Some of you, you walk in with heavy hearts.
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You don't know what the future's going to be.
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They don't know how the bills are going to be paid.
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You don't know where you're going to live.
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You don't know what's going to happen with your prodigal kid.
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You're not sure where the future of your marriage is or single,
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and you just have all this heavy stuff, and you don't know what
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the future holds. And it's made you very anxious,
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made you very worried. I want to remind you today,
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while you and I, we don't know what the future holds.
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We know the God of the future, and he knows, and he draws you
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to himself so you can walk by faith that you can trust him
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with your life. You can even look back on times
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in your life where God has been faithful in the past when you
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were worried about that situation and God resolved it
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because he already knew and you can trust him even if you and I
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don't know. God has resources and people and
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things that we don't know anything about.
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He's able to mark this over here and move this over there and
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he's able to touch another person and speak to that like
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God is able, and you can lay your anxieties down and your
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worries and trust him moment by moment.
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But God knew he was going to save the Gentiles.
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All his works. He knew this verse 19.
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None of it's a surprise. Therefore, I judge that we
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should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are
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turning to God. That's right, you better not
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trouble them. But we're to write to them, to
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abstain from things polluted, from our idols, sexual
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immorality and things strangled and from blood.
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For Moses has had throughout many generations, those who
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preach him in every city, being read, in the synagogues, every
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Sabbath. The doctrinal issue is solved.
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This is God's work. Let's not trouble them.
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They don't need to become Jews. I mean, so much is said in such
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a small amount of words, but the doctrinal issue is solved.
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James now is going to deal with an equally or, you know, it's a
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little bit less important, but it is an important issue and
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that is unity in the church. The Gentiles being saved
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combining with the Jews are going to cause conflict.
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So let's help minimize the conflict.
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That's wisdom from God. That's wisdom.
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It would be very easy to come and just solve the doctrinal
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issue and close the Bible and move on.
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But James is walking in the spirit here.
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These leaders are in the spirit here.
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And they're like, OK, the doctrinal issue is actually the
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easier part. The harder part is all the
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disagreement that's going to come from this.
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And the church has been wrecked by disagreements over non
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essential things, the essential things we need to take a stand.
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We've already established that. But over non essential things.
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The church has just been wrecked because men and women have
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forgotten how to disagree agreeably.
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They've forgotten how to value each other.
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They they've stuck in the head and they're stuck in the mind.
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And they forgot the heart of the matter.
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They forgot agape. They forgot love.
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They forgot how to value the person in front of you, even
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though you might disagree. They forgot nuance.
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There's a, you know, so many things, they just have a nuance
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to them. The doctrinal part.
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Hey, no problem. You're saved by grace.
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It's not Jesus. And you're saved by Jesus.
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Only it's his finished work. That's easy.
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OK, we're done. The doctrinal issue is over.
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No, no, no, it's not that way. I read this and OK, calm down,
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calm down. Because now you're creating,
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you're creating more division for no reason.
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Why don't we all just agree and move on?
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But some people don't want to agree and move on.
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They're going to stake their claim in some issue, and they'd
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rather they'd rather destroy a sister and destroy a brother
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than just learn how to disagree. And I think it's important not
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only in the church, but in your life outside of the church,
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because there's a lot of differing views in this world, a
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lot of different opinions. Some are very offensive to you
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and to me, but we need to learn how to live in this world with
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very offensive things. We need to learn how to navigate
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in our relationships to keep the conversation going as long as we
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can, because the conversation is not over until you get to the
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empty tomb. And so you want to continue to
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express love to someone, not just winning an argument.
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You can spend. And I'm sure there's many of
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you, very smart, very theological sound that can go
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out and win argument after argument.
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But God has not called us to win arguments.
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God has called us to win souls. And so we are here where James
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is using wisdom. The doctrinal issue is actually
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the easier part. The harder part is how do we
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live it out and how do we live it out with all these differing
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viewpoints. So he gives them some Hey, let's
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tell the let's tell the Gentiles to watch how they live, and
23:59
let's give them a few things to watch out for that might be
24:02
offensive to the Jews, because they're already not going to
24:05
like the answer. They're already stuck.
24:08
Circumcision got to keep the law.
24:11
They're going, they're already many of them are not going to
24:13
like the answer, But if they get over that, then they're going to
24:16
be upset with some of the freedoms that the Gentiles
24:19
express. And here is the word of the Lord
24:22
for us too. We all have the same freedom
24:25
that's being taught of in the scriptures today.
24:27
We need to learn to use our freedoms to progress the Kingdom
24:31
of God. Because freedom in our country
24:34
and our how it's been handed down to us, we speak of freedom,
24:37
of how it benefits us and how we get to do this and we get to do
24:41
that. And you can't tell me what to
24:42
do. But the biblical definition of
24:44
freedom is actually the opposite of that, that God has given you
24:48
freedom so that you might be more effective in someone else's
24:52
life, so that you might learn how to die to yourself.
24:55
The freedoms that you get to enjoy or for the sake of someone
24:59
else, they're not for the sake of you.
25:00
And and here's the thing, you know, we the fastest we learn
25:05
how to die to ourselves. The more we'll learn how to use
25:08
freedoms for the sake of the gospel, not just for us, you
25:11
know, because we, we think of freedom today.
25:13
As you go, you know, you can't tell me what to do.
25:15
Pastor. I'm not trying to tell you what
25:17
to do. Just read your Bible.
25:18
I'm just asking. You read the Bible.
25:19
You can't even ask me to read. All right, all right, all right.
25:21
I don't know how to. I don't know how to argue with
25:23
you. You don't want to listen.
25:24
What do you mean? I can't tell you what to do.
25:26
I have freedom. I can do whatever I want.
25:28
I know. But if the Holy Spirit was in
25:30
you, you wouldn't want to do that.
25:33
So you have a problem? Oh, no, I don't have a problem.
25:36
No, you do, bro. The Holy Spirit doesn't go
25:39
around robbing banks. Why are you robbing banks?
25:41
You know? Well, because I have freedom.
25:44
I can rob banks if I want. Yeah, but the Bible says don't
25:46
steal. Yeah, but I have freedom.
25:48
And you get where I'm going. This is the condition of
25:51
Christianity Today. You confront somebody or talk to
25:54
somebody about something very basic, and that's their answer.
25:57
You can't tell me what to do. Like, I I'm not interested in
26:01
living your life. Trust me.
26:03
Just Ed talking. I don't.
26:04
I have a harder knife time abiding in Christ myself and
26:07
living my own life. I don't want to live your life,
26:09
but I'll tell you what I do want.
26:11
I want you to experience the fullness of what is yours by
26:14
faith in Jesus Christ. So there are times where I have
26:17
to open the Bible and say no. Look, yeah, but I have freedom.
26:20
Yeah, but you're misusing your freedom.
26:24
You're misusing it. You're you're mischaracterizing
26:29
what God has given to you as a gift, and you're wasting your
26:32
life along the way. And so wouldn't it If you were
26:35
wasting your life along the way, and you were really born again,
26:38
and you were really, like, using your freedom improperly,
26:41
wouldn't it make sense that God loves you so much He would send
26:44
somebody to you to tell you? You might cop an attitude about
26:48
it, but God loves you enough to tell you the truth about your
26:50
life. He loves you enough to put that
26:53
new person at work. He loves you enough to give you
26:55
a godly grandmother who's been praying for you every breath of
26:58
her life since you were in the womb.
27:01
Because God loves you as much as your mom or dad or grandma loves
27:04
you. You know God loves you more.
27:07
And here the freedoms that James it's just such great wisdom to
27:11
remember the person. So it says in verse 22.
27:15
It says Then it pleased the apostles and the elders with the
27:18
whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch
27:22
with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, who is called Barsabas
27:25
and Silas, leading men among the Brethren.
27:28
You'll hear more of Silas later. Verse 23.
27:31
They wrote them a letter. The apostles, the elders and the
27:33
Brethren to the Brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch,
27:37
Syria, and Silesia. Greetings.
27:40
Since we have heard that some of went out from you, from us, have
27:43
troubled with words and unsettled your souls.
27:47
This is what they were doing. Just pause there for a second
27:49
because this is still happening today.
27:51
Isn't it amazing that cults, they don't go after the lost.
27:54
They always go after believers to confuse and confound because
27:58
their message has no hope. They're just wanting to trouble
28:01
you. They're just wanting to unsettle
28:03
your soul. I mean, we have our fair share
28:05
coming through the church from time to time.
28:07
They're coming in to unsettle your souls.
28:09
They want, hey, you can't be saved like that.
28:11
You can't be baptized that way. You can't.
28:14
You can't. You can't.
28:15
You must. And those are just words of
28:17
someone like that, isn't that? They just came to trouble you.
28:21
As a matter of fact, if you're taking notes, the word trouble
28:23
means to agitate, to make you fearful like they trouble your
28:28
soul. Like maybe it's true.
28:29
Maybe I didn't get saved, maybe I don't have the right Bible,
28:31
maybe I'm not in the right church.
28:32
Or whatever it might be. When you were just fine walking
28:35
in the spirit, you were just fine living out the fruit of the
28:38
spirit until somebody came and started messing with your head.
28:42
Or you mess with your own head and you go ahead.
28:45
What do you mean? Well, the Bible says in the last
28:48
days that there will be men and women in the church that don't
28:51
endure sound doctrine but instead will reap raise up for
28:55
themselves teachers that will scratch those tickling ears.
29:01
And that's a lot. There's a lot going on to that
29:04
where the teaching that you're sitting under, you just don't
29:07
like it. You don't want to hear it.
29:09
You're having sex with your girlfriend right now and you're
29:13
like, yeah, I can do whatever I want.
29:14
I have freedom. And the Bible says you're in
29:16
sin. Well, I'll just go to another
29:19
church. Well, I hope you go to another
29:21
church that tells you you're in sin, and then we'll just go to
29:25
another one. And eventually you just find out
29:27
the problem isn't the church, it's you.
29:30
You're taking advantage of her, or she's taking advantage of
29:33
you, and one of you needs to be spiritual enough to repent and
29:39
you need to hear the truth. You guys dabbling in pornography
29:42
and then coming and raising those same hands under the Lord.
29:44
Seriously. You really think that's God
29:47
blesses that He doesn't, and there is freedom.
29:52
You want to know freedom. I'll tell you right now, God is
29:55
giving you the freedom to never participate in pornography.
29:58
The rest of your life. You want that kind of freedom.
30:01
It's yours by faith. You don't have to be living in
30:05
sexual sin. You don't have to be lying.
30:07
You don't have to be complacent or lazy or 1000 other things.
30:11
But there's a day in which we live well.
30:12
I don't want to hear that. I know.
30:14
I know. Trust me.
30:15
I know. We know.
30:18
And we're saddened over it, and we're saddened to see you put
30:22
yourself in such a vulnerable place that someone could trouble
30:25
you and agitate your soul. And instead of following Christ,
30:30
you're going to start following them because, you know they
30:32
don't really care about immoral sexual immorality.
30:34
Well, God does. And they don't really care about
30:37
pornography, they found, but God does.
30:39
And they don't really care about drunkenness and partying and the
30:42
club scene, but God does. But because you don't care about
30:47
the things that God cares about, you find someone that you could
30:50
follow instead of Jesus. That's what these guys are
30:54
doing. But they're going right at it.
30:57
They're going right at it. They're going deeper than just
30:59
actions here. They're going to the core of
31:02
your relationship with God, and people will do that here.
31:06
And I just want you to know if you're coming here and you're
31:08
starting, you're part of Calvary, you're listening,
31:09
watching, and you're trying to plot of what to do.
31:12
And I'm just going to show up at that church and agitate and
31:14
trouble. Don't, don't, don't do it.
31:18
Repent. This is where I would go, you
31:20
know, go to another church. But I don't even want you to go
31:22
to another church. Repent.
31:24
I don't want you troubling any church in town.
31:26
I don't want you causing grief for any believer.
31:28
I want you to repent and get right with the Lord.
31:30
This is not. It's even as James says.
31:33
He says they troubled you with words and suddenly your souls,
31:37
verse 24, saying you must be circumcised and keep the law.
31:40
To whom? We gave no such commandment.
31:42
So James are going. We never sent those guys.
31:44
They're not from us. That's not the truth.
31:47
And even here in our church, you know, we've been doing ministry
31:50
here in Colorado and Denver now for coming up on 25 years.
31:53
And there are people always trying to drop my name on
31:55
different weird stuff or even drop the name of this church on
31:58
weird stuff. And I'll just tell you guys
32:00
ahead of time, if it's anything weird, it didn't come from here
32:04
and you don't just like, no, no man didn't really believe that.
32:06
No. No.
32:08
Some weird dude is trying to trouble you and agitate your
32:11
soul and trying to use the credibility of someone's name or
32:15
ministry for their own gain and church as you abide in Christ.
32:21
You won't fall for this stuff. As you read your Bible and pray,
32:25
pray every day, you're inoculated from this stuff as
32:29
you seek to obey God. You won't fall for these traps,
32:32
but they do. Come.
32:34
We have in our own church here a church council of leadership
32:39
every Wednesday. You know what we call it?
32:41
We call it a pastor's meeting and we get together every
32:44
Wednesday for two, one or two hours.
32:47
And we talk about and pray about the things going on in our
32:50
church as a pastoral team. So we can talk about people and
32:55
situations and widows and widowers and hospital visits and
32:59
ministries and on occasion, difficult false teachers that
33:03
have tried to come through or maybe get connected in a small
33:06
group with the men's ministry or the women's ministry or the
33:09
marriage ministry. And as shepherds of the church,
33:13
we do what James is doing here. We will confront, and we will
33:17
hope the best. But ultimately we will follow
33:20
Jesus and we will protect the flock.
33:23
You can be assured of that. That's our commitment to you, to
33:26
the best of our ability. We will walk in the discernment
33:29
that God gives us. But here's the good news.
33:31
As we wind down today, the discernment that God has given
33:35
to us as pastors is the same discernment you can have.
33:40
You don't need us to do that. You have the same Holy Spirit.
33:46
You can see a false person a mile away.
33:50
I think of all the televangelists that have become
33:53
multi millionaires on the backs of faithful believers.
33:57
One of the things they're capitalizing on is the sin of
34:00
greed. That is unbelievers.
34:03
Otherwise, why would anyone ever believe that if I give some
34:08
ministry Yahoo on television 100 bucks, then I'm going to get
34:12
some 100 fold return unless it's tapping into something or I want
34:17
100 fold return. God isn't like that.
34:20
God has already provided for all that you need.
34:23
You don't need someone ripping you off.
34:25
So what is it required with false teachers or you're going
34:28
through? It's not really television
34:30
anymore. It's YouTube and social media.
34:32
You need to be very, very careful asking for discernment
34:35
that God would give you wisdom so that you don't fall prey to
34:39
this stuff. And you sit under the systematic
34:43
teaching of God's word. You read your Bible, but you
34:46
don't. You don't be taken advantage of
34:48
by these people because they're they're all around.
34:50
And we won't have it here. And I just have to say out loud,
34:53
you're not welcome here. If you want to take advantage of
34:55
this church, you're not welcome here.
34:57
And the moment we find out is the moment you're going to be
34:59
confronted, and we're going to confront in hope, but we're
35:03
going to protect this church. All right, so it says in verse
35:06
25, it seemed good to us being assembled with one accord, to
35:10
send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men
35:14
who have risked their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus
35:16
Christ. That's their testimony.
35:18
These guys had risked nothing for the gospel.
35:21
They just have a weird doctrine. But they haven't done anything
35:24
for Jesus except trouble and unsettle people.
35:27
But these guys have risked their lives.
35:28
Verse 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also
35:32
report the same things by the word of mouth.
35:35
And we know God was in that meeting, right?
35:37
God was in that meeting. Verse 28 because it seemed good
35:40
to the Holy Spirit and to us the Holy Spirit was there.
35:44
This was not just some men coming around.
35:47
And how many counsel God was there.
35:49
And he said, don't lay upon any greater burden than these
35:53
necessary things. So there's three things he says
35:56
#1 abstain from things offered to idols.
35:58
Why? Because the Gentiles, they they
36:01
idolatry was rampant, and in the Pagan temples of the day they
36:06
would sacrifice meat. They would sacrifice animals,
36:09
and next to the temple often would be a butcher shop where
36:12
the best cuts of meat would be sold to anyone going by.
36:16
But the problem is, is that the animal was sacrificed to an
36:19
idol, which would be very offensive to a Jewish person.
36:22
So they said, just don't buy meat there anymore.
36:24
Just think of others when you're even buying the food that you're
36:27
going to have, because it could stumble them.
36:29
The second one, it says this one's obvious that they would
36:33
abstain from things offered to idols.
36:37
And then secondly, blood and from things strangled.
36:40
Well, that makes sense because there's tying back to Moses and
36:43
to the law here. And this would be in Leviticus
36:47
chapter 16. They were told how to given
36:50
direction, how to kill their animals and to do it delicately
36:54
to make sure the blood was poured out completely.
36:56
Because they believe, like we do today, that life is in the
36:58
blood. So watch out with blood.
37:01
Don't do, don't play around with that.
37:03
It's very offensive to the Jew. And then the final one is an
37:05
obvious one, abstain from sexual immorality.
37:08
If you need any emphasis on what I just shared with you a few
37:10
moments ago, it's right here in the Bible.
37:12
Stay away from sexual sin. What is that?
37:15
Sexual sin in marriage is called adultery.
37:18
Adultery. Stay away from it.
37:20
You were to have eyes for your spouse only.
37:23
You made a covenant and a commitment.
37:25
You're not to have eyes for any other man, any other woman.
37:28
You have problems in your marriage.
37:30
Work it out. Ask for God to rekindle the
37:32
desire and love. But it is a sin to commit
37:36
adultery, both physically and also in the mind.
37:38
Jesus said just lusting after women, lusting after men.
37:42
That's sin. Abstain from it.
37:44
Stay away from it. Sex outside of marriage.
37:47
If you're not married and you're single sex outside side of
37:50
marriage is known as fornication.
37:52
Abstain from it. You don't have sexual sin, don't
37:55
try to explain it away, which would include all manner of
37:59
sexual activity, not just the ACT, all manner of sexual
38:03
activity. Jesus would say that it's it is
38:06
a hard issue, not just an action issue.
38:10
And even back when they're having problems in the early
38:12
church this was a problem. And James says don't, don't,
38:16
don't go there. For the pagans, for the Gentiles
38:19
is very important because again in their Pagan worship in the
38:21
temple, their temples were were really more like brothels and
38:26
the priestesses of their Pagan temples were more like
38:29
prostitutes. And that's where the money was
38:31
made in the exchange, where the prostitutes would descend into
38:34
the city and invite men and they could worship their false gods
38:38
through sexual activity that would be very offensive to the
38:41
Jews. But more importantly, all of
38:43
these are very offensive toward God.
38:45
So he writes the letter sends it out.
38:47
The Holy Spirit confirmed with the leadership when we shared it
38:51
with the people. Remember, this wasn't a
38:52
congregational vote. This is what everybody What do
38:55
you think? What do you think?
38:56
The leaders took care of it. The church agreed with it.
38:59
Notice in verse 30. Now when they were sent off,
39:01
they came to Antioch. This is where the missionary
39:03
journey started, where the Gentile Church and the mission
39:07
of the church started. And when they gathered the
39:10
multitude together, they delivered the letter.
39:11
And notice when they read it, they rejoiced over its
39:15
encouragement. Don't you think they've rejoiced
39:18
over their encouragement? I do.
39:20
Let's just be practical for a moment.
39:22
You know the first reason? I think they were happy.
39:24
They're like, we don't have to be circumcised.
39:26
Yes, it's awesome. Yes, that's wonderful.
39:31
But also that the problem was solved because it feels like
39:35
sometimes that man, what's going to happen?
39:37
There's so many problems in the church today, so many problems
39:40
with pastors falling and sinning and doing all kind.
39:42
Is there any hope? Is there any help?
39:44
Yes. God's going to take care of his
39:46
church. The church is going to outlast
39:49
every pastor that sins. As hurtful as that is.
39:52
It's going to outlast every division, every split.
39:55
The Church of Jesus Christ, the gates of hell will not prevail
39:58
against it. So this is encouraging.
40:00
They solved it. We're saved.
40:02
I mean, part of it too is like, we're actually saved.
40:05
This is real. And notice Judas and Silas
40:09
themselves. Verse 32, being prophets, they
40:11
exhorted the Brethren with many words and strengthened them.
40:14
And after they had stayed there for a time, they sent back with
40:17
greetings from the Brethren to the Apostles.
40:19
Now in the 21st century, just understand they don't have
40:22
texting. They, you know, we live in a
40:24
world where we automatically read into the text.
40:27
They're not texting. They're not.
40:28
I am ING. They're not on social media like
40:30
that. When they communicated, they
40:32
sent messages with people. So time is passing.
40:35
So here they're going back with a message to let James know
40:39
everything's great, man, that's going to take some time.
40:42
We're so used to instant communication, but they went
40:45
back. However, it says it seemed good
40:48
to Silas verse 34 to remain there.
40:50
Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch where they started
40:53
because they're going to go out on a missionary journey again,
40:56
but they go back to Antioch teaching and preaching the word
40:59
of the Lord with many others also.
41:01
That's where we're going to stop here.
41:02
But I want you to notice something.
41:04
The troubling and the agitating stops the progress of the
41:07
gospel. This would have eliminated.
41:10
It's a false Christianity. It would have eliminated the
41:13
gospel completely. But for the sake of all this
41:15
difficulty and drama and Division, I want you to just to
41:18
see and this could be a Bible study in and of itself.
41:21
I just want you to see what stops when your walk with the
41:25
Lord isn't solid and you create conflict with others.
41:28
Notice this is what stops in the church verse 32 or at least it's
41:31
hindered there. There is a no no longer is there
41:35
exhortation because now the leaders have to deal with the
41:38
problem. But now that the problem solved,
41:40
exhortation came back to the church.
41:42
Not only that, verse 32 that the strengthening of the church
41:45
stops because the leaders have to stop strengthening the church
41:48
to go solve the problem. Then they come back.
41:50
Not only that, Paul and Barnabas, they started in verse
41:53
35, teaching and preaching. And so the teaching and
41:56
preaching of the church, the exhorting and the strengthening
41:58
of the church, stops when the leaders have to stop what
42:02
they're doing, what God has called them to do to solve the
42:04
problem, get people back on track so we can get back to
42:07
doing what God wants us to do. There's a lot going on behind
42:10
the scenes, let me tell you, when it comes to leadership in
42:13
the church. So just pray for your pastors,
42:16
pray for your lay leaders, pray for your church, and God will
42:19
bring rejoicing and encouragement to our church as
42:23
well. Amen.
42:24
So Lord, thank you for your word and a lot to cover.
42:27
And we wish we had more time. But we're grateful of what
42:30
you've done this weekend, reminding us of the children
42:34
that are being exploited. How you're sending a family, a
42:39
family to stand in the gap and many to partner with them.
42:43
And we sometimes in the world feel like we don't know what to
42:45
do. We can't do everything and and
42:47
so we may decide to do nothing. But that's not your heart, God.
42:52
Your heart is for us to do something.
42:55
So we pray for the mark hearts as they head out in a couple
42:58
weeks. We pray for any division that
43:01
might be among us in our church that you give us wisdom.
43:04
Lord, we pray God for anybody who wants to take advantage of
43:07
this church that we would have discernment and courage to stand
43:13
in the gap. And and again that whether it's
43:16
sexual morality or stealing or dishonesty or whatever, let us
43:21
have true lives that reflect your character, Lord in this
43:24
world, not make excuses for it, but to honor you with our lives.
43:30
Because only one life will soon be passed and only what's done
43:33
for Christ will last. Let us live that out day by day,
43:36
in Jesus name. Amen.
43:38
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study
43:41
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church for
43:44
prayer. Call us at 87730 Grace.
43:49
That's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
43:55
entirety or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
43:59
online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
44:05
Church app. Be blessed as You Worship Jesus
44:07
this week.